A.M. Links: Trump Ousts Tillerson, Pennsylvania Special Election Today, ICE Spokesman Resigns Over 'False' Statements by Sessions

• 

  Todd Kranin

  President Donald Trump has reportedly asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to step aside.

• Voters in Pennsylvania's 18th District head to the polls today for a special election to fill a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Donald Trump won the district by 20 points in 2016, but polls now suggest that Democrat Conor Lamb may prevail today.
• Britain is demanding answers from Russia after a former Russian double agent was attacked on British soil with a nerve agent originally developed by the Soviet Union. Prime Minister Theresa May says it is "highly likely" that Russia was involved in the attack.
• Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee say that Russia did not attempt to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election.
• President Trump plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in California today.
• "The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned over what he described as 'false' and 'misleading' statements made by top-ranking officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and ICE Acting Director Thomas D. Homan."

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Voters in Pennsylvania's 18th District head the to the polls today for a special election to fill a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Like a Lamb to the... laughter?

[loveconstitution1789]

Keystone cop state?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Britain. The poorer weather version of California of Europe.

Hello.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Donald Trump has reportedly asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to step aside.

Hit the bricks, Rex!

[colorblindkid]

I don't know if this is different, but this has been the rumor for like a year. Every few months a report comes out that Trump is going to force out Rex.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And they were proved right!

[Juice]

He seems to pick people that he really likes, then he gets bored with them after a while or something. Why the hell did he fire Tillerson?

[loveconstitution1789]

Keep the other parties guessing?

The US Government has for decades been pegged by foreign powers on what the USA will do. Changing things up every once in a while is not what these elitist tyrants around the World are used to.

China is allowing Xi Panda Bear to stay Fuhrer for life, so everyone knows what he's about.

[Zeb]

This is why nuking the moon is such a compelling foreign policy strategy.

http://www.imao.us/docs/NukeTheMoon.htm

[loveconstitution1789]

Pretty funny stuff but I don't make the rules, I just enforce them.

[Zeb]

All I know is that if I were president, the moon would be good and nuked.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

I wonder if this move was dictated directly by Putin himself!

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Who is worse, OBL, Putin or Mugabe?

[Inigo Montoya]

Hit the bricks, Rex!
And don't you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more

Ah, if only he'd sing that song to Sessions.

[FlameCCT]

Doubt he will do that to Sessions. It appears that Jeff has been working in the background as we see with the CA law suit. It takes more than a few weeks to put that type of case together. Makes me wonder if Jeff has been working on other issues in the background while everyone ignores him.

[Zeb]

Rexit.

[Rufus The Monocled]

/narrows gaze.

[loveconstitution1789]

Till...yer...son about it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee say that Russia did not attempt to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election.

It just worked out that way?

[FlameCCT]

It's the only way it could work out without implicating the DNC/HRC, who had more foreign contacts including paying Russian FSB agents.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

Hilary was playing n-dimensional checkers, which is why she both won and lost. Russians and Trump just don't do anything less than chess, so, yes.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""It just worked out that way?"'

I don't think those silly memes made a difference.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Trump plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in California today.

Spoiler alert: there's already a fence there.

[Bee Tagger]

President Trump plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in California today.

I'm wondering if he might just go awol

[Leo Kovalensky II]

He's going to go all in for AWOL. Big, beautiful an example AWOL will be. You'll never see AWOL better than this one. In fact if Mexico isn't already supporting AWOL, they'll support it after today. AWOL is just what we need, and AWOL is just what we'll get!

He might even quote the conservative hero Ronald Reagan:
"Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent... Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same ? still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state... Yet, it is here in [redacted] where the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world."

[loveconstitution1789]

Why would Trump recite a quote about a wall designed to keep people from leaving the Communist block?

[chemjeff]

Walls that keep people out also are walls that keep people in.

[loveconstitution1789]

Is that how that works? Your open borders mentality is clouding your judgment on how things work.

I have a retaining wall and it keeps dirt inside its protective barrier and out too. Says Chem.

[Citizen X - #6]

You called it. A privately-owned retaining wall is functionally identical to a taxpayer-funded border wall, and people are exactly like dirt.

[loveconstitution1789]

Yup. and it keeps dirt in.

[loveconstitution1789]

You people really crack me up and stick together too.

You dirtbag.

[Citizen X - #6]

What do you mean, "you people"? You're such a racist.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

People inside the wall are 'us people'

[Griffin3]

Keeps dirt out of your driveway. Unless you've got a shite wall.

[Leo Kovalensky II]

chemjeff, you're looking at this all wrong. Think about perspective. lc1789 clearly gets the difference in perspectives here.

Reagan, then at Brandenburg Gate, was clearly on the side of the wall that was free and didn't wish to impose the will of the state on the movement of peoples. You have to think about it from the other side of the wall, because that's what we're striving for here. Suppose people want to cross your border in search of freedom? Well you simply can't have that. The scarcity of resources like jerbz and welfarez, the USSR couldn't afford to lose people to freedom anymore than it could afford to allow people to come in seeking more of the state's resources... they are the state's after all, are they not? I mean there are two sides to every wall, and you have to ask yourself which side are YOU on. lc1789, Trump? They know which side is preferred.

[Rat on a train]

Not if you put in a one-way pedestrian turnstile.

[Careless]

Really? You think you'll be stopped if you try to leave the US after the wall is built? Of course not, so why are you making such obvious and stupid lies?

[Leo Kovalensky II]

I just found the words inspiring, and relevant (even today). Trump can use those words if he wants.

I mean I realize that the words don't directly apply. Right to travel? Yeah, I mean clearly that only applies to people wanting to flee our bitter enemies. Totalitarian state? I mean clearly that was meant only to describe the regimes that seek to restrict the free movement of people, people who may be fleeing a poor circumstance in hopes of finding more freedom. That certainly doesn't apply to our border, our wall.

Mostly I thought the words were pretty. The meaning is likely irrelevant.

[Azathoth!!]

Yeah, I mean clearly that only applies to people wanting to flee our bitter enemies.

Well, yeah.

The door is wide open to visitors from our allies--like Mexico. They can come and visit all they want. Because they're free to do so.

I mean clearly that was meant only to describe the regimes that seek to restrict the free movement of people

Exactly.

We don't. We allow free movement in and out.

In and out.

What we DON'T allow is folks just wandering in and staying without asking. We don't like that at all.

Most countries don't. Countries that you, Leo, set forth as examples for our better behavior, have immigration laws that make ours look like trails of cash leading to our borders.

But, somehow, the little border enforcement we do is always the most heinous crime. What Mexico does, What France, Germany and the Nordic countries do--that's just fine.

Be what we do? Pure evil.

[Leo Kovalensky II]

"Be what we do? Pure evil."

Evil? Not really. Freedom? Not at all.

[BYODB]

If freedom can only be an absolute to you, than you'll find yourself without any.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned over what he described as 'false' and 'misleading' statements made by top-ranking officials...

Buddy, you were in the wrong business.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Britain is demanding answers from Russia after a former Russian double agent was attacked on British soil with a nerve agent originally developed by the Soviet Union.

The Limeys don't even realize that Reagan ash-heaped the Soviet Union 25 years ago?

[Shirley Knott]

As if.
The Soviet Union was a suicide, not a murder victim.
Reagan was an irrelevancy.

[Juice]

Gorbachev killed it, mostly. The Soviet Union could have kept going as it was indefinitely, like Cuba or North Korea. Once Glasnost opened the door to a bit of free political expression, you had to have Perestroika, which opened the door to a bit of market activity and more political activity. After that, the barn door was opened and the fate of the Soviet Union was sealed. Did US policy under Reagan hasten its demise? You can make a case for that, I guess.

[Rufus The Monocled]

The way I see Gorby is he put the Soviet Union out of its misery while it lay dying. He just finished it off with soft strangulation.

[loveconstitution1789]

A Soviet leader by himself did not kill the USSR.

The USSR disintegrating is well documented and has many reasons. The death toll and loss in Afghanistan getting back to the Russians was a major factor. Russians stopped believing the USSR was invincible.

Other factors included: People hungry but party leaders were fat and corrupt, the truth of how rich the West was was reaching a bigger audience, the Soviet Republics were sick of Moscow dictating how things would go.

[Juice]

But that was the way things were the whole time. What I'm saying is, that even under the strain of war and hardship, which the Soviet Union had suffered before, and even with the undercurrent of unrest, it could have kept going despite its miserable state of affairs. What helped the system start to unwind was the fact that Gorbachev actually loosened the noose a bit instead of tightening it, which had been the way so many times before.

[loveconstitution1789]

That was part of it. The Russians are used to suffering war, yes, but war and suffering also takes its toll.

Their economy was also in shambles.

[John]

You are exactly right Juice. Contrast what happened in the USSR with what happened in Cuba and North Korea. Cuba and North Korea tightened the nose and exist in all of their totalitarian horror and misery today. The USSR didn't and completely fell apart.

That being said, I do not think that the USSR could have kept control over Eastern Europe no matter how hard it tried. It would have taken multiple 1968 Czechoslovakia type invasions to keep control of Eastern Europe. And the USSR had neither the money nor the will to do that. It would have been lucky to have held the provinces. But it would have survived I think.

[Azathoth!!]

As if.
The Soviet Union was a suicide, not a murder victim.
Reagan was an irrelevancy.

I bet you think the Holocaust was fake too.

[Tony]

Today's lesson is don't call the president a fucking moron. Guess I'm out for national security advisor. =(

[loveconstitution1789]

Billions in free publicity.

[Old Mexican - Mostly Harmless]

You're likely better off. Even though the White House's security background check system is a little sketchy as they let in practically anyone, court intrigue and the volatile nature of Trump's hair which may, or may not, be an alien parasite from outser space in the form of a hairpiece, would turn your stint into a living hell.

[Citizen X - #6]

It's not an alien parasite, it's a Peruvian caterpillar.

[Old Mexican - Mostly Harmless]

A Pwruvian alien caterpillar?

[Citizen X - #6]

Possibly an illegal alien caterpillar. Call Alanis Morrisette!

[Rufus The Monocled]

Creepy! Maybe it's true!

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

That caterpillar spins a cocoon out of bullshit.

[Citizen X - #6]

President Donald Trump has reportedly asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to step aside.

HOW DID HE PHRASE IT, THOUGH?

[Ska]

MAKE LIKE A TREE, AND GET OUT OF HERE!

[Citizen X - #6]

"Rex... i'm gonna have to let you go."

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

"Rex, our needs no longer match your skill set."

[Palin's Buttplug]

Rexit fired by Tweet.

[loveconstitution1789]

What Pennsylvania's special election can tell us about Democrats' chances to take back the House -WaPo

As opposed to election 2016 and the special elections lost by Democrats in 2017?

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

I guarantee Democrats will re-take the House in November's #BlueWave. The opposition party typically does well in midterm elections, and with Drumpf being even worse than expected and voters calling for common sense gun safety legislation, the writing is on the wall.

[loveconstitution1789]

Just like in election 2016! It was a blue wave, alright.

Default to anything the lefties think will happen will end up the opposite.

[colorblindkid]

I still have yet to see an explanation for why House Republicans got 1 million more votes than House Democrats in the 2016 elections, with a higher overall percentage than Hillary got in the popular vote. The House elections are far more similar to a true national popular vote election than the Presidential election is.

[John]

Is that guarantee as good as the one that Hillary was going to be President?

[TrickyVic (old school)]

I saw where Hill had a little problem navigating some stairs in India.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

I've only been posting here for a few months so I never made such a guarantee. For those who did, their prediction only went wrong because of unforeseen complications.

Hillary won the popular vote by millions, and only "lost" under the absurd, outdated Electoral College rules. Russian interference had just enough of an impact to give Drumpf narrow victories in a few key swing states. That type of thing is very difficult to account for in mathematical prediction models.

Oh, and let's not forget the Comey letter, which according to statistics expert Nate Silver probably had a big enough effect to change the election's outcome.

[John]

The narrative was right, the facts just got in the way. And yes, the fact that the Democratic nominee committed multiple national security felonies probably had something to do with Trump winning the election. But win he did. He is your President. Be proud of what a great thing that is.

[Rebel Scum]

Hillary won the popular vote by millions, and only "lost" under the absurd, outdated Electoral College rules.

Hildawg "won" nothing. Those are not the rules of the game. And the ec is not outdated. It ensures that the States elect the president of the States, among other things.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

Elections are decided by who makes the most convincing argument for free stuff (which includes free rights like equal pay).

PA can't convincingly promise free stuff to most of the voters, so what happens there doesn't mean much.

[Old Mexican - Mostly Harmless]

"The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned over what he described as 'false' and 'misleading' statements made by top-ranking officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and ICE Acting Director Thomas D. Homan."

I don't think they were misleading statements and I trust them at their word that they want to round up immigrants to have themselves a lovely lynching, with potato salad to the side.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The thought of holding hands with him made her sick, but fortunately he convinced her to marry him.
...When Sandy and I were dating, I attempted to hold her hand one night. She jerked back and said that the thought of holding my hand kind of made her sick. She said it in the nicest way possible, but for whatever reason, I simply wasn't appealing to her....

...My temptation was to lick my wounds and walk away. Instead, I told her that I wasn't in this relationship to hold hands or do anything else but be with her. Well, that obviously had an impact on her because we eventually did hold hands. Furthermore, we eventually got married....

[Longtorso, Johnny]

At some level at least Arterburn had to know what he was writing wasn't true. The book the quotes above are from was published in October of 2001. In the introduction to Every Single Man's Battle Arterburn explains that some time in 2002 he learned that Sandy was cheating on him, and when he confronted her on it she filed for divorce.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

So, "And yet he persisted" is the thing? I'll let Harvey know.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Is Toxic Masculinity a Valid Concept?
...In no culture ever studied have women repeatedly preferred to mate with pear-shaped, low-status, tepid men possessing high-pitched, nasal voices. In no documented culture do women's sexual fantasies revolve around granting sexual access to unemployed, unambitious men who occupy the lowest stratum of the social hierarchy. Instead, women are attracted to "toxic masculine" male phenotypes that correlate with testosterone, and they are desirous of men who are socially dominant, who are strategically risk-taking in their behaviors, and who exhibit patterns of behaviors that will allow them to ascend the social hierarchy and defend their positions from encroachers....

[John]

If Masculinity is so toxic, why do kids of both sexes who grow up without fathers do so poorly compared to those who do grow up with fathers? If masculinity was toxic, growing up around it should be a bad thing rather than the good thing that it appears to be.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

You don't want to have the nurturing male be the same as the sperm donor. You want to breed with the bad boy and live with the gay guy.

[John]

Yeah because you son growing up with a gay guy as his male role model or your daughter growing up with a male role model as someone who can't deal with or be attracted to women is going to turn out so well.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

I probably should have said 'sensitive nice guy'.

I think breeding with the bad boy and having the nice guy as the family provider / nurturer is a very likely outcome of long term successful evolutionary strategy, and I seem to see it reflected in women's actions fairly frequently.

[Sevo]

"Warriors head coach Steve Kerr an authority on gun violence"

OMG! I'm sure he's studied the issues and tried to come up with something which accepts the authority of A-2 and yet attempts to limit gun ownership, right?
Well, no:
"His father Malcolm was assassinated in 1984 in Beirut when Kerr was an 18-year old college student. That gives him moral authority on the issue"
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/
article/Warriors-Kerr-activist-speak
-at-gun-violence-12748184.php?cmpid
=gsa-sfgate-result

Good hoops coach, brain-dead lefty

[Rufus The Monocled]

Why I don't watch the NBA reason 3455.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Is he a good coach, or did he just get luck w/ the team he was handed?

Would he have the same moral authority if he spoke out against Islam with the same background?

[Rufus The Monocled]

"His courage is not to be underestimated," Khanna said. "It's so unusual to see someone of his stature take a stand on a political issue. It speaks to how important and personal it is to him."

I stopped here.

If Kerr was pro-gun what would have happened?

[Sevo]

"If Kerr was pro-gun what would have happened?"
Out of town on a rail! NOW!

[Rufus The Monocled]

Is that Beirut, Lebanon? If so, I don't get the connection.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Good hoops coach, brain-dead lefty

Even calling him a good hoops coach is a stretch, considering the team wins even when he's not on the bench.

[John]

By that logic, I am an authority on health care and cancer treatment because my mother died of cancer. Moreover, don't the people who have used a gun to defend themselves and save both themselves and in many cases, their families from grave harm have moral authority as well?

Silly me, only leftists positions have moral authority.

[H. Farnham]

Tillerson out, Pompeo in.

Refill the swamp!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Rex didn't go along with the nutty talk that the Iran deal was "the worst deal in history". The Dotard likes to spew that bullshit.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook
An ambitious U.S. task force targeting Hezbollah's billion-dollar criminal enterprise ran headlong into the White House's desire for a nuclear deal with Iran.

In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation.

The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed evidence that Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into an international crime syndicate that some investigators believed was collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities....

[Palin's Buttplug]

Good. Cocaine should be legal anyway.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Legalizing it and aiding terrorists and criminals who sell it are two different things, dipshit.

Does cocaine hurt or help with the problem acne, Weigel?

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

The acne is so severe because I assist him in the process of shooting loads into his own face.

[John]

It should be legalized so criminals like Hezbollah can't make money selling it dumb ass.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Yep, but aiding them while it is illegal is still a crime by Obama.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Makes you wonder about that pallet of cash Obama sent Iran.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

How goes the problem acne, Weigel?

[Citizen X - #6]

Oh lord, are you on Simple Mikey's shreek = Weigel train too? That train's an express to Tardtown, where it will derail and kill everyone aboard.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Weigel was busted more than once. I busted his ass using his love of the word 'ratfucker'.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes, "ratfucker" is a common political term that only DW may legally use. You are too smart for this site .

[Longtorso, Johnny]

No, it really isn't all that common.

How goes it with the problem acne, Weigel?

[Citizen X - #6]

That's the criteria? Well, shit, i didn't know that several of my friends were also Dave Weigel. They're gonna be pretty surprised when i tell them.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

How is their problem acne?

[Maddow's Fleshlight]

You seem weirdly too invested in defending PB, Citizen.

[Citizen X - #6]

I attack shreek all the goddamn time, Fleshlight. I just think it's baffling and hilarious how so many people believe David Weigel runs a clearly deranged sock puppet on Hit'n'Run just to mess with them.

[Maddow's Fleshlight]

I'm sure that's true, but it's just strange how predictable your defense of PB against charges of being Weigel are.

[Azathoth!!]

It's because PB is Shrike.

And Shrike's been around forever.

Possibly pre-Weigel even.

[Citizen X - #6]

What Azathoth!! said. I first started lurking on Hit'n'Run in 2007, at which point shreek was already well established as the elder statesman of delusional trolls. Not sure when Weigel started, but shreek could well pre-date him.

[H. Farnham]

Seemed to be a lot they didn't agree on. I was surprised he lasted as long as he did. Too bad, I kinda liked Tillerson. He was an Eagle Scout, just like ole Neil Armstrong... America.

[Palin's Buttplug]

George W. Bush Reportedly Sounds Off On Trump: 'Sorta Makes Me Look Pretty Good'

Former president zings Trump in candid comments.

https://goo.gl/nEfdg2

RETARD FIGHT!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

How goes the problem acne, Weigel?

[Sevo]

"RETARD FIGHT!"
Not if you're not in it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Dotard "BACK OFF, REX! LIL' KIM IS LIKE A SON TO ME!"

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Acne clearing up, Weigel?

[Ken Shultz]

Actually, Tillerson has long been in favor of opening talks with North Korea, but since when have facts ever slowed you down?

The most likely explanation for the move is that Trump lost faith in Tillerson, personally, for some reason, or it may be that he's just gained so much faith in Pompeo.

Either way, I'm reading that Tillerson was always in favor of opening a dialogue with North Korea. That Trump wanted the change before the meeting with North Korea doesn't that's the reason the change was made. If he was going to make the change anyway, it may just be that he wants his long term guy calling the plays, and he wants to give him time to get ready. A lot is riding on that North Korean summit, and for the sake of U.S. security, I hope it's wildly successful. Don't you?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Without Tillerson, the prospect for "success" with North Korea just fell significantly.

Face it, Trump is surrounding himself with fellow "morons" (Tillerson's term).

[John]

No it didn't. Why would it? Does Tillerson have some kind of special influence over Kim?

God you are a retard.

[Ken Shultz]

Whatever the forces are that drove North Korea to seek this dialogue are probably still driving their thinking regardless of who's the Secretary of State.

I suspect you would rather North Korea remain a nuclear threat to American security--so long as Trump doesn't get any credit for it. It's not that you're a traitor, exactly, it's more like you're so retarded in your TDS that it just makes you look like a traitor to the cause of American security.

[John]

North Korea as bad as it is, is not the same threat or in the long term as big of a threat as Iran. The Iranian government has real aggressive intentions. They are building nuclear weapons so they can establish a Shia hegemony over the Middle East. North Korea, despite its propaganda to the contrary, doesn't want to be a regional superpower. North Korea wants to survive and sees building nuclear weapons as a means of doing so. You are never going to talk Iran out of having nuclear weapons unless you convince them to give up their desire to establish Shia dominance over the Middle East, which as long as the Mullahs are in charge they are not going to do. You could, however, get North Korea to give up its nukes if you can convince them that they are not needed for their survival. That is not easy to do but it is possible.

[John]

I think a deal with North Korea is possible because all of the parties agree on the fundamental issues. Seriously.

1. No one wants North Korea to collapse. The Chinese don't want it. The South Koreans don't want it because it would be a humanitarian disaster that would likely bankrupt them. Korea has remained divided for 70 years because neither China nor Japan wants a united and potentially hostile Korea on their doorstep. And now even the Koreans don't want that.

2. No one wants war. A Korean war would destroy the economy of South Korea doing untold damage to China and Japan and result in the destruction of North Korea and likely the death of all its leaders.

3. No one really wants North Korea to have nukes. China doesn't want North Korea to have nukes. They have their own nukes and North Korea having them just gives North Korea more independence from China. Even North Korea only wants nukes as a means of extorting funds to allow it to survive. If the US is able to make not having nukes preferable to having them, they will give them up. But to do that you have to make life impossible with nukes and survival assured without them. That is a tough challenge but not an impossible one.

[Ken Shultz]

If I'm the fat kid, I'm looking around, and I'm seeing that I could be more like Myanmar.

You don't have to be paragon of virtue to enjoy the benefits of not being on America's shit list.

China is moving more towards an emperor model, and we're not about to break off relations or trade with them over that.

Why can't North Korea be like that?

They don't worry so much about people starving to death in China like they used to do.

Part of what pulled China out of its central planning model was the example of Hong Kong sitting there on the other side of an imaginary border. They couldn't help but think, why can't we be like Hong Kong. And now they are more like Hong Kong!

I imagine the fat kid looking across the DMZ at Seoul and thinking--why can't we be like that?

We should offer them a big trade agreement--in exchange for x, y, and no nukes.

[John]

The fat kid has one big problem, the people below him will kill him and take over if he looks weak and gives them even the slightest reason to think they can do it. He is more afraid of his own people than he is of the US or China or anything else. So he can't just give up his nukes because doing so would make him look weak and likely get him killed. He can only give up his nukes if he gets something really great in return that does not make him look weak. Even if he gets that, he has to figure out a way to open up North Korea without it collapsing into anarchy and him and the entire North Korean elite ending up at the end of a rope that they so richly deserve. If he doesn't do that, no amount of goodies he gets in return for giving up nukes will help him because the country is unsustainable as it is. He will just run through the money and be left extorting or begging for money again.

[Ken Shultz]

"Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee say that Russia did not attempt to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election."

But they didn't convincingly answer the question of whether Hillary should have won, so the witch hunt goes on.

[$park? leftist poser]

Prime Minister Theresa May says it is "highly likely" that Russia was involved in the attack.

Get in line, sister. It's "highly likely" that Russia is involved in everything these days.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Russia turned me into a newt.... I got better.

[Libertarian]

Rex T is leaving? There go all my gong-a-bang jokes. ALL OF THEM.

[Ken Shultz]

"The San Francisco spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned over what he described as 'false' and 'misleading' statements made by top-ranking officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and ICE Acting Director Thomas D. Homan."

I'd love to believe that there's nothing more to this story than a bureaucrat spokesman bravely falling on his sword rather than saying something misleading to the general public, but I wasn't born just yesterday.

I don't think I'm cynical, but I'm sure as hell not naive.

[Ken Shultz]

"Britain is demanding answers from Russia after a former Russian double agent was attacked on British soil with a nerve agent originally developed by the Soviet Union."

Speaking of not being naive, when the Russians assassinate somebody in such a way that only the Russians could have done it, it's because they want everybody to know that the Russians did it.

[John]

Someone made a good point yesterday that I had never thought about. Hillary was in India yesterday talking about how stupid and backward everyone who voted for Trump is. In response, this person made the point that as crass and insulting as Trump is, he only insults other politicians and public figures. He never insults actual voters. I cannot think of an instance where Trump has insulted Democratic voters as opposed to individual Democratic politicians and celebrities. Does anyone on here know of an example? If there is one, I haven't seen it. I am talking about Trump making the sort of blanket "people vote for Hillary or the Democrats because they are stupid and backward" condemnation of voters that Hillary did yesterday against Republican voters and Democrats seem to do about daily.

Trump seems to understand that you don't get people to vote for you by insulting them. You get them to vote for you by insulting the people they support. Democrats don't seem to understand that. But Trump is the dumb one.

[Ken Shultz]

"Trump seems to understand that you don't get people to vote for you by insulting them."

When I made this point to Hazel, she thought it must mean that I'm a redneck.

It isn't just Clinton or the Democrat leadership. There's something fundamentally elitist about progressive thought.

I'm thinking it permeates everything about them. My standard definition of a progressive is someone who thinks that the coercive power of government should be used to force people to make sacrifices for their idea of the common good. I don't think that's far away from assuming that what you're forcing people to do is for their own good.

And how can you believe that you know what's better for other people than they do for themselves without being contemptuous of them? I know what's better for you than you do--isn't that what elitism is all about?

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

It's especially laughable considering that their personal sense of superiority is completely delusional.

[$park? leftist poser]

And if anyone knows about a delusional sense of superiority, it's this guy.

[Ken Shultz]

Can anybody guess what this is supposed to mean?

[$park? leftist poser]

I know it's way too brief for you, Ken. But I didn't think three paragraphs were necessary. Sorry.

[Ken Shultz]

So, you're just trolling then.

Great.

[$park? leftist poser]

So, you're just trolling then.

Obviously it's a job that has to be done. Would you prefer the Russians do it? I'll bet you would, wouldn't you?

[Maddow's Fleshlight]

"Can anybody guess what this is supposed to mean?

Child looking for attention.

[$park? leftist poser]

You seem weirdly too invested in defending WCR, Fleshlight.

[Maddow's Fleshlight]

It's kind of sad that you've been reduced to this.

[$park? leftist poser]

It's kind of sad that you've been reduced to this.

I'll have you know that this is a HUGE step up for me.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Wasn't that the argument you just made towards X?

[John]

The lasting effect of Obama on the Democratic Party has been to make being Democrat a brand. Voting Democrat is sold as a way of showing that you are part of the smart and tolerant elite fighting the backward and stupid. It worked for Obama because Obama had the media to portray him as a nice guy and the Republicans ran two awful candidates against him that a lot of people didn't see as much different than him. So the people that the Democrats were insulting didn't feel personally insulted by Obama and felt ambivalent about the Republican candidate.

Along came Hillary. She was so awful even the media couldn't cover for her. She made the famous deplorable statement. And 8 years of Obama had gotten the Democrats drunk on hatred and smugness. They thought that they could base their entire party on showing your superiority to middle and lower class whites. That didn't work because they no longer had the feel-good vibe of voting for the first black President to cover it up and the Republicans finally ran someone that didn't act ashamed to have those people's support.

Going forward, it is difficult to see how the Democrats reach out to the middle and lower class white vote. Doing so would deprive many of their supporters of a reason to be Democrat. But if they do not, it is difficult to see how they beat Trump.

[Ken Shultz]

It's the nature of their coalition now, too.

What's the point of being BLM if you can't denounce the white, blue collar, middle class for being racist?

What's the point of being an environmentalist if you can't denounce the white, blue collar, middle class for being selfish?

What's the point of being a feminist if you can't denounce the white, blue collar, middle class for being misogynist?

What's the point of being an LGBTQI+ activist if you can't denounce the white, blue collar, middle class for being homophobic?

At some point, yeah, the white, blue collar, middle class may get the idea that the Democrats don't like them very much--after all, the groups that are driving the bus are denouncing them at every turn for being racist, selfish, misogynist, homophobic, . . .

You're right, that's not the way to make friends and influence people.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

We hate you and hold everything you believe in total contempt. We want you dead or enslaved. Vote to give us unlimited power over your life.

[Ken Shultz]

But haters gotta hate, and SJWs gotta SJW.

The SJWs driving the bus can't blame the SJWs for their losses because they're the SJWs and you can't be an SJW without denouncing the white, blue collar, middle class for being racist, selfish, misogynist, homophobic, . . .

They can't stop themselves. It's who they are.

Ever heard the story about the scorpion and the frog?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Going forward, it is difficult to see how the Democrats reach out to the middle and lower class white vote.

The Democrats have no message for middle and lower class whites that isn't dripping with condescension and hatred. "You're going to be replaced by third world labor so just deal with it." "Non-citizens are more important than citizens." "Move to the city and learn to code if living in the country is so bad." "It doesn't matter if you're struggling to pay your bills, you're still privileged." Arthur Kirkland's posts are the epitome of how the Democratic party thinks, and are the end state of the SDS's ideology taking root in the party beginning in the late 60s.

Cosmos have similar messages, but at least they'll let these folks keep their guns.

[John]

A while back Brett Stephens, who is an almost perfect example of the sort of idiot son of the elite cosmo douche bag, wrote a column explaining how the country belonged to immigrants not the people who live here. I would love to ask him who he thought that column was going to persuade. He was telling Americans that they have no claim to their own country. The column understandably generated an enormous amount of backlash and ill will. Stephens was totally puzzled by this., Not only does he think Americans have no claim to their own homes and nation, he thinks they are racist and xenophobic for not meekly accepting that.

To give my favorite quote these days courtesy of Citizen X, "Christ what an asshole!!"

[Citizen X - #6]

Heroic Mulatto first brought that line to Hit'n'Run. I believe he got it from the New Yorker.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

All they have is "we deserve power because we are better than you". They phrase it as credentials and technocratic apolitical expertise, but it really is just their faith in their innate superiority over us. When they say they represent the 99%, knowing they will never, ever get 99% of the vote, they are saying they represent us whether we like it or not. We aren't fit to make that decision. They speak for us, they speak for future generations (who don't exist), they speak for nature (that can't speak at all, and is just another abstraction). We don't really exist to them either. We are just hairless chimps to be protected in a safe natural habitat while they exercise power for our own good. We are zoo animals who sometimes escape. We are sub human.

We have gone from the divine right of kings to the consent of the governed to the consent of the Harvard faculty. The dictatorship of the proletariat is real to them. We are the proletariat and they are the dictators. Everything they stand for is tailor made for a corrupt authoritarian state - remember their "fuck your claims of corruption; we're dying" responses to Herself's financial abuses?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The first amendment doesn't apply when it is in their way. The second amendment doesn't apply when it is in their way. Laws against financial corruption don't apply when they are in their way.

No laws apply to them. 99% of the people, as represented by them, say so:

James Clapper avoids charges for 'clearly erroneous' surveillance testimony

[Ken Shultz]

Part of it is utilitarianism, which always fails to account for people's qualitative preferences.

If I have a qualitative preference for freedom, that can't show up on anybody's spreadsheet. No expert can address that without insisting that my qualitative preferences should be ignored.

And yet that's the stuff that makes our lives good or bad--our qualitative preferences.

Incidentally, that's one of the best things about markets is that each of us gets to represent our own qualitative preferences in a market. That's in contrast to politicians and bureaucrats making choices for us--with the input of experts.

Your experts say that strawberry is the only flavor for me?

It's very much like saying that my safety is more important than the fun I have riding my motorcycle or owning my own gun. How can anybody claim to make qualitative judgements for other people better than each of us can make qualitative judgements for ourselves?

[John]

There is an old and very truthful saying that economists fail because they are bad psychologists. Too often economists assume that people's only qualitative preference is for more wealth. While that is often the case, it is not always the case. Economists forever forget that and wind up advocating solutions at odds with the actual preferences of people.

[Citizen X - #6]

I saw a bumper sticker this morning that said "FUCK SAFETY BE HAPPY," so some people get it.

[John]

The appeal of leftism has always to a large degree been an appeal to the ego. Being a leftist means getting up every day knowing that by virtue of your politics you are on the right side of history and supporting the forces of progress. Leftism is a fantasy ideology that allows its believers to see the world as a morality play where they are not only the forces of good but more importantly can actually bring forth a better world. This is very seductive to people.

To see the world as it is is to be humbled. The truth is that you are one person and your ability to change the world for the good is very limited. And even if you could, your ability to know the good is even more limited. The Christian parable about humans being blind and only God can see is a very accurate description of life. We all stumble around blind doing our best not to run into each other or do harm but doing it anyway.

Leftism provides a way to avoid facing reality. It lets you pretend that both the good is knowable and you can be a part of bringing it about if you just believe. That is something that will always appeal to people, especially intellectuals.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Leftism... allows its believers to see the world as a morality play

Isn't that most "ism"s, though?

You mention Christians: it doesn't get more "morality play" than God vs. Satan. Sinner vs. Saint. Sin and Pennance.

Seems to me, if you're an adherent to a political philosophy, religion, value system, etc., one reason is that you believe you and your fellow travelers are in the right. And it follows that others are in the wrong... even to the point of being malicious or evil.

[John]

It is true of all Utopian ideologies. The key difference between Leftism and Christianity is that Christianity believes in heaven being in the next world. A central tenet of Christianity is that man is fallen from God and the world will always be wicked and full of sin so long as God isn't here to rule it in person. No Christian should believe that heaven can be created on earth. To the extent that Christians have, it is because they have become infected with other Utopian ideologies like leftism.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Voters in Pennsylvania's 18th District head the to the polls today for a special election to fill a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Donald Trump won the district by 20 points in 2016, but polls now suggest that Democrat Conor Lamb may prevail today.

By the way, there's a bit of comedy in all this because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is illegally attempting to erase this district that these guys are running for.

The Obamatards have a tough time winning elections fair and square by the law of the land, so naturally they have to cheat, break the law, usurp authority they don't have, and try to rewrite the rules on the fly to have a chance.

[Rebel Scum]

President Donald Trump has reportedly asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to step aside.

#You'reFired

[Rebel Scum]

but polls now suggest that Democrat Conor Lamb may prevail today.

#BlueWave

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

It's also noteworthy that to the extent that Lamb has been actively and visibly campaigning (which hasn't been all that much), he has NOT been campaigning as a Sanders/Pelosi/Obamatard culture warrior. He has been campaigning as an old-school moderate to conservative blue dog democrat.

Whether or not he actually really is like that or he's practicing the Saul Alinsky politics of deception and ilfiltration remains to be seen should he win.

[John]

Lamb is pretending to be a Republican. This is the dodge the Democrats pulled in 2006. They ran all of these guys who swore they were reasonable centrists only to have them vote in lock step with the nutty left of the party once they got into office. The issue is whether the public is dumb enough to believe them again.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Usually I'm inclined to give some benefit of the doubt to someone I don't know anything about, but there's pretty good reason to be skeptical of his campaign message given that the old school blue dogs have been slowly getting driven out of the party into extinction for years now.

[Rebel Scum]

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee say that Russia did not attempt to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election.

That's exactly what Russian agents want you to think.

[Brett Bellmore]

"President Donald Trump has reportedly asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to step aside."

Is somebody confused about the difference between "asking" and "telling"? I'm pretty sure Tillerson didn't have any choice in the matter.

[John]

The same people who have spent the last two years claiming Tillerson was a tool of big oil and was destroying the state department are today claiming Trump's firing him is a disaster for the world. Amazing how these people can turn.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

What would their lives be if not for eternal ephemeral panic?

[Jacky888]

Free download Towelroot apk v5/v6/v7 - latest version view website

[Jacky888]

The 8 best wifi router under 100 http://the8best.com/best/the-8.....-under-100

[Jacky888]

kazam trooper 451 firmware download site

[Jacky888]

lg m257 firmware go here

[Jacky888]

the 8 best digital camera for money the8best

[Jacky888]

root z718tl bestandroidtoroot

[Jacky888]

the 8 best monitor for photo editing under 500 http://the8best.com/best/the-8.....-under-500

[Jacky888]

polaroid p791 firmware gofirmware