A.M. Links: Trump Will Address Joint Session of Congress Tonight, Wilbur Ross Confirmed as Commerce Secretary, SpaceX Plans Moon Mission

• 

  Gage Skidmore

  President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress tonight.

• Trump: "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."
• The Senate has confirmed Wilbur Ross as secretary of Commerce.
• "The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is abandoning its longstanding opposition to a key aspect of Texas' toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law, costing voting rights groups their most important ally and possibly encouraging other conservative states to toughen their own election rules with President Donald Trump in charge."
• SpaceX is planning to fly two private citizens around the moon in 2018.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The state of the union is tremendous. Absolultely tremendous. Believe me.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Libertarian]

"And by the way, I won in a landslide. Nobody expected me to win those electoral votes in Pennsylvania. Hillary got schlonged -- again!"

[BigT]

"llary got schlonged -- again!"

Oh, the Huma-nity!

[Citizen X - #6]

There's an umpteenth time for everything.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Trump: "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

They certainly didn't seem to understand it 8 years ago.

[Get To Da Chippah]

The complicated part is taking the ill-gotten cookies away from all the people who got one from the Democrats while still managing to win elections.

[Rich]

This.

[Citizen X - #6]

Thing is, most of those people already had a cookie, but then the Democrats took their cookie away and made them buy a different, worse cookie.

[VG Zaytsev]

You can keep your cookie, if I like your cookie. Period.

[BigT]

A few chocolate chips removed from tens of millions of cookies to make the new cookies.

Diluted pain, concentrated benefits. Those hurt shrug and move on. Those benefited scream bloody murder if changes are proposed. Perfect socialist strategy.

[Konima]

You guys sure sound like you may be playing for team R here. Couldn't be, though.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

You guys sure sound like you may be playing for team R here. Couldn't be, though.

Yes, nothing says "libertarian" like a needlessly complex, opaque health insurance law that forces people to buy a product for simply breathing, expands the pool of Medicaid recipients, and doesn't actually result in lower healthcare costs.

[Citizen X - #6]

Fuck the Republicans, yo. They have yet to start cutting out the tumor because they're still arguing over what tumor they should put back in its place.

[Not a True MJG]

I'm sorry, I thought we had settled on pie for our economic metaphors.

[Bee Tagger]

Trump: "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

It's hard enough just to separate the concepts of insurance and care.

[Fist of Etiquette]

SpaceX is planning to fly two private citizens around the moon in 2018.

Too the moon, Alice.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's right, I wrote too. Deal with it.

[Not a True MJG]

Its like your hardly trying any more, Fist. Sad;

[Citizen X - #6]

Irregardless, he makes a good point.

[Rich]

There's no honeymoon for the Trump administration.

[Libertarian]

I just ralphed a little in my mouth.

[Citizen X - #6]

Not until he gets married again, anyway.

[Zeb]

Presumably, he'll have to upgrade from Melania before too long.

[Enough About Palin]

You know, that poor woman has to suck his dick.

[Zeb]

I know, but I didn't need to be confronted with that knowledge so early in the day.

[pan fried wylie]

Your marriage vows must've been interesting.

[Rich]

Trump will address a joint session of Congress tonight.

"Quick! Before the Attorney General cracks down on it!"

[Bee Tagger]

The Senate has confirmed Wilbur Ross as secretary of Commerce.

In a better world, Mr. Ed would be named secretariat of commhorse.

[Rich]

Oh, you must be *so* glad Swiss has left.

Wait, got something in my eye ....

[BigT]

Swiss left this site full of holes.

[Rich]

*** breaks down sobbing ***

[straffinrun]

*air lifts Rich a box of tissues*

[Citizen X - #6]

My feelings on the matter are neutral.

[straffinrun]

*air lifts Citizen X a new transmission*

[spqr2008]

Shouldn't it be: Wilbur Ross is confirmed, by the Senate, to the Post of Secretariat of Commerce. Trump's quote on the confirmation: "He has the YUGGGGESSST Horse-sense I've even seen!"

[Citizen X - #6]

No.

[Rich]

Trump: "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

Pelosi: "Told you so!"

[Libertarian]

"SpaceX is planning to fly two private citizens around the moon in 2018."

PLEASE let it be Paul Krugman and Robert Reich.

[Citizen X - #6]

Only if they fly them to the other side of the moon and leave them there.

[Bee Tagger]

SpaceX is planning to fly two private citizens around the moon in 2018.

Yet when I moon two fly citizens with my privates people get upset.

[Libertarian]

With the growth of government, I just hope that there are two private citizens left next year.

[Not a True MJG]

Jeff Goldblum deserves your respect, damn it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is abandoning its longstanding opposition to a key aspect of Texas' toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law...

The hard racism of great expectations.

[Libertarian]

I patiently await the mass resignations of more Justice Department employees over this travesty.

[Bee Tagger]

Wow, a shot across the bow of the Dickens estate.

[Citizen X - #6]

It was the best of comments, it was the worst of comments...

[John DeWitt]

Normally the latter

[Citizen X - #6]

It is known.

[Citizen X - #6]

It is known.

[Rich]

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is abandoning its longstanding opposition to a key aspect of Texas' toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law

Sheesh, what's next? Requiring photo IDs to buy booze?!

[Libertarian]

It's practically Prohibition, isn't it?

[Rich]

If buying booze isn't a Natural Right, what is?

[Zeb]

No, I think not requiring ID for booze would be racist. Just like menthol cigarettes.

[Chip Your Pets]

Either that or photo ID to get welfare benefits, get on an airplane, drive a car, avoid being taken off a train by immigration within 100 miles of the border, get into a courthouse, buy a gun, attend an Obama rally, open a bank account, get a job, buy cigarettes, or a host of other things I'm probably forgetting.

[spqr2008]

The problem with the anti-voter ID people is that they don't understand that I am perfectly willing to allow my tax dollars to provide the poor with one free ID, and to lessen the costs of replacement (although, here in Ohio, $26 isn't all that much).

[The Last American Hero]

We have free ID's in my state. If these people are unemployed and disenfranchised, then they can take 2 hours out of their busy day and sit at the DMV to get an ID.

An ID that they need to buy beer.

[Zeb]

To be fair, most of those things shouldn't require an ID (by law anyway).

[Mickey Rat]

Booze requires a more responsible person than voting, obviously.

[Jerryskids]

President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress tonight.

Will he mention the fake news media and the well-done steak-with-ketchup flap without mentioning his own tweeting about DeBlasio caught eating pizza with a fork and knife?

[Chip Your Pets]

Forgive me for trying to class up this place... How do you eat it? With your hands?

[Rich]

Boston Dynamics introduces hybrid robot

I'd like to see this guy in a skateboard competition.

[Citizen X - #6]

Something about Boston Dynamics' robots strikes me as really creepy, but in a way i sort of like.

[Zeb]

The way they move is definitely into "uncanny valley" territory.

[FreeRadical]

Every time I see one of their robots move I'm just incredulous. They are truly amazing. But I get this strange feeling they could suddenly turn on me and attack. I've watched too many movies.

But in all seriousness, their technology makes me think we're closer than I thought to some amazing science fiction-y stuff becoming real.

[Not a True MJG]

Its arms are making me think of the robots in Half-Life 2, creating a confusing mix of feelings. "Fuck, we're all gonna die! And when the hell is Half-Life 3 coming out?"

[Chupacabra]

That's a really unattractive sex bot.

[Citizen X - #6]

Says you.

[DJF]

Damm kids and their skateboards!!!! Shaking my cane!

[Chip Your Pets]

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is abandoning its longstanding opposition to a key aspect of Texas' toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law, costing voting rights fraud groups their most important ally

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Trump: "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

It isn't. Health care legislation is complicated. Needlessly so. Hint, hint.

[creech]

What's complicated is the media trying to keep straight all the sob-stories they are lining up to attack whatever plan the GOP comes up with. Can't reason find some sick little tot whose life is now miserable because of Obamacare???

[Princess Trigger]

"Obamacare is the only thing keeping me alive - and my children. We will all die if you repeal a single line of Obamacare."

[Griffin3]

No, because they are all at work.

[Citizen X - #6]

The Senate has confirmed Wilbur Ross as secretary of Commerce.

Oh, Wilbur-r-r-r!

[Kauzig Kristen]

Watching dudebros in very poorly-thought-out drag, clueless old fatties, and coeds looking for their Mrs degrees wander around Bourbon St. is my entertainment for today.

[BigT]

Fattie Tuesday. Just like every other day, except with a built in excuse.

[Agile Cyborg]

Microscopic auras extricated from iota bondage will form the basis of optimal governance. The granular reveals truths awash in ambition but largely ignored by the mass handlers and hangers.

[Libertarian]

I owe somebody $10. I didn't think you could write two sentences without using the word "fuck."

[FreeRadical]

Iotas are everywhere. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[Jerryskids]

"nobody knew that health care could be so complicated"

Look, you retarded goat-faced baboon, lots of us know healthcare is really complicated - and so is every goddamn thing else. Your "nobody knew" displays a profound ignorance of the fact that for about 250 years, at least since Adam Smith, shitloads of people have known how goddamn complicated shit is and how you can't just pull at one thread without unraveling half the garment. Quit fucking with shit you're too goddamn stupid to know you don't know shit about, which is every fucking thing. Leave people the hell alone and leave them free to pursue happiness in their own individual way. Read Hayek's Road to Serfdom or Sowell's Vision of the Anointed to get an idea of how damn stupid it is for any one person to think they know better than everybody else what's good for everybody else. You don't know what the hell you're screwing around with and too goddamn stupid to know you don't know, you fat-headed bloviating toad - keep your damn retarded monkey-ass paws off all the shit.

[Libertarian]

I'd be very happy if he could make it through "I, Pencil."

[BigT]

He prefers "I, Penis!"

[BigT]

Great rant ! Should be sent to every govt official every day.

[Kauzig Kristen]

Applause

[Not a True MJG]

So you want to keep Obamacare. LOL cuck

[FreeRadical]

WTF?

[Not a True MJG]

Give it a few minutes, then check the comments on Suderman's new post.

[Gadfly]

While technically a "hands-off" approach does mean keeping the status quo, it's obvious from the rant that he desires the government to get very involved in dismantling the current (mostly government created) system and then adopt a hands-off approach. It's highly doubtful that Jerryskids wants to keep Obamacare, since the substance of his comment indicates a belief that things are too complex to be centrally managed and a desire to be left alone.

[american socialist]

If requiring an id to vote is racist, isnt requiring an id to drive or purchase a gun whatever else racist?

Now i understand the difference of right and privelege but these folks focus on the racial aspect and not the actual action

For voting the standards and procedures are the same across race...so if you oppose voting id it should be on grounds of everyone, but the anti voting id folks only care about particular groups

[Chip Your Pets]

It all makes sense if you assume the concern about disenfranchising minorities is a sham to cover up the fact that they depend on voter fraud to win elections.

[american socialist]

Yea. I dont really buy the right vs privelege angle when asked about driving licenses if those are racist when they are perfectly ok with requiring a background check which is more expensive and has more hoops than using id to vote as bearing arms is a right. Ya need id for that

[Raston Bot]

been thinking about that AGW lawsuit by AGs United for Clean Air/Water/Something (??). they're suing Exxon ostensibly b/c they think Exxon has a model that can accurately predict future climate risk to their bottom line and is withholding that information from stockholders and inaccurately reporting future risk on the Qs and Ys to the SEC which would be fraud, i think.

Exxon's defense is "no such model with anything resembling credibility exists".

hypothetically speaking, what would that model have to consider? it would not just be a climate model. it would also have to be a political model. likely other inputs as well. so it's more than just a complicated multi-variate long-term model of the climate. it's a model of models that are all multi-variate and long-term. Curry has a paper out that covers the problems with climate models. here's a graphic from it:

https://tinyurl.com/gmzrfun

a combination of inadequate simulations of natural internal variability and oversensitivity of the models to increasing carbon dioxide (ECS)."

but if you watched Vice episode 1 of the current season, you'd think the model existed and Exxon was trying to keep it all to themselves for profit and that the lawsuit/investigation wasn't a fishing expedition to extort a settlement. Vice does some great work but on the subject of climate they are a joke. Vice is mostly a joke on firearms and militias too.

[Mickey Rat]

Maybe the AGs found that Exxon has a Hari Seldon on their payroll?

[Azathoth!!]

The thing to remember is that if Exxon actually had that model, had something that could predict future climate and weather so accurately the could make business decisions by it, the model would be worth more than all the oil Exxon has sold to date--and probably more.

[FreeRadical]

I'm thinking the only way to really commercialize and develop space infrastructure is to start filming porn up there.

[Raston Bot]

zero-g? ewww

[FreeRadical]

Yeah. There would be interesting logistical challenges. I'm thinking the demand could be stiff.

But, I'm not sure if I would be into it.

[Raston Bot]

yeah, that scuba stuff doesn't work for me either.

[BigT]

Zero G means no saggy tits. So older wymen can be stars!

Getting traction for the pushin might be tough, however.

[Stilgar]

Wouldn't it just be easier if Trump tweeted his address?

[Raston Bot]

where did everybody go?

[DOOMco]

Anywhere else.

[Raston Bot]

it's not that bad. Shackford's still here and ENB. even Root still has posts up every now and again. just stay away from Nick, Chapman, and Shika's horseshit and it's tolerable.

[Raston Bot]

http://www.thegwpf.org/content.....y-2017.pdf

Curry's aforementioned paper on climate models. good stuff for the layman.