MatthewG.
MatthewG.'s JournalTrump will fire Mueller. Its actually the pragmatic decision for him.
I hate to say it, but I’m honestly starting to think that from a coldly pragmatic perspective, Trump should fire Mueller.
The risks for him don’t appear all that high to me - some Republicans would wring their hands, and a few would loudly complain, but it certainly doesn’t seem like they’d actually break ranks and impeach him. The Democrats have no power to hold Trump accountable, so what would he lose? The respect of moderates? Does that seem likely to stop Trump?
His diehard supporters would back him, using endless “what about” logic : “what about Hillary’s emails/uranium sales/pizza connections?”, “what about Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood ties?”, “what about the FBI’s well known pro-Democratic biases?” “Why should Trump be held accountable for crimes when Democrats always get let off?”
Then Republicans will circle the wagons, loudly saying that the FBI is a puppet of the Russophobic liberal Deep State and that there’s no reason to trust the FBI over Trump. Someone, somewhere will find something Mueller or an individual on his team said about Trump, or some dust mote sized speck of dirt, and that will be endlessly feted as “proof” that the Bureau is hopelessly corrupt.
It would look bad if Trump fires Mueller, and he’ll surely take criticism for it, but it also looks bad if there’s a stream of indictments and guilty pleas affecting his inner circle for the next year or three.
From a cold practical perspective, Trump may as well take the heat in one fell swoop.
If Moore wins, lets redefine social conservatism....
If Roy Moore wins the Senate, with the backing of Trump and the Republican Party, let’s make social conservatism synonymous with child molestation.
I’m quite serious about this. We have to spread that meme online and in print every chance we get.
Use wit, use passion, use social media and mass dissemination. Spread it far and wide.
Nothing to See, my Conservative Friends Explained to me
I’m vaguely amused by my conservative friends’s response to Flynn’s guilty plea.
One of them just screamed “there is NO Trump/Russia connection!! Only stupid liberals believe that!” Nothing at all about the actual guilty plea.
Another explained that the real problem is the ease by which federal prosecutors can secure convictions. “We’re all guilty of federal felonies”, he assured me. “The important thing is that nothing in the guilty plea shows hard evidence of any this supposed collusion I have yet to see proof of. Likely Flynn is doing what he had to to save himself from having his life ruined by overzealous prosecution.”
That’s law and order conservatism for you. When in doubt, attack the prosecutor and the system.
Another sent me three emails about how liberal apologists for Islam were seeding a future Civil War. He did say “if you guys get President Pence, which seems to be what you’re desperate for, you’ll be sorry!”
I fully expect most conservatives would defend Trump if he was caught on camera shooting someone. How do we know that? Well, Trump pretty much said just that...
The Alt-Right is Good at being Annoying, but is Otherwise Extremely Stupid
Has anyone here ever interacted with actual alt-righties? I know one or two, and while they’re good at targeting memes for maximal annoyance, they’re generally very stupid.
One was telling me today that he “redpilled” a foreign national by sending her pro-Trump propaganda memes.
I said to him that “you do know that redpilling someone, as used in the film ‘The Matrix ‘ - which is where the expression came from - to the extent it described anything political meant teaching people to see through what the filmmakers considered the illusory lies of conservatism. This is why the one character in the film who refuses the red pill is named “Reagan”, and why Zion, which is heavily populated by African-Americans, is led by a character played by a Cornell West, a Democratic Socialist.”
He was flabbergasted.
He then admitted that he didn’t know much about “The Matrix” from whence “red-pilling” is derived, but started going on about how the alt-right really caresabout “sculpting reality.”
I told him that the alt-right wasn’t sculpting jack, that he could talk to me about sculpting reality when Republicans carved out a white ethno-state, and they were largely barely tolerated as court jesters providing youth appeal for a GOP which, like Reagan, will pretend to ally with anyone or anything to procure debt-financed tax cuts benefiting the wealthy.
“And that’s the real agenda of the elites, dude.” I said. “Not pedophile pizza rings or “globalist” plots. It’s keeping their taxes low even when everyone else’s share of the pie shrinks. Pretty much everything else you hear from or about spokespersons of conservatism is in practice just a distraction to obfuscate that.”
At least it got him thinking for a bit. Doubt it changed his mind on much.
Navajo Nation President ; President Jackass Pocahontas Attack an Ethnic Slur
“Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye on Tuesday said he believed President Donald Trump’s use of the name “Pocahontas” to refer to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is an ethnic slur.”
“Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Navajo Code Talkers, whose bravery, skill & tenacity helped secure our decisive victory over tyranny & oppression during WWII. Politicizing these genuine American heroes is an insult to their sacrifice.” - Sen. John McCain
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/navajo-nation-russell-begaye-pocahontas-ethnic-slur
President Jackass Strikes Again.
I’m on the fence as to whether Trump is the worst President of my lifetime (George W. Bush still holds that record, I’d say) but he certainly is the worst human being to hold that office in my lifetime. Today’s outrage finds him making racist cracks while honoring the service of Navajo code talkers.
Trump richly deserves to be remembered as a negative role model for children, much like Goofus of the old ‘Highlights’ comic strip “Goofus and Gallant.”
“Don’t chew your food with your mouth open. That’s Trumplike behavior.”
“Don’t be a mean-spirited bigot. That’s how Trump would act.”
“Don’t play with a live radio in the bathtub. That’s something President Trump would have done.”
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43nkdj/yes-trump-just-made-a-pocahontas-joke-to-navajo-code-talkers-vgtrn
How will Obama be remembered?
One year after the election, I find myself wondering how Obama’s Presidency will be remembered.
I believe he will come to be seen as a very good but not great President, who while not completely transformational in the manner of a Roosevelt, succeeded in establishing a basic framework for some sort of national health care policy as well as enacting other important domestic reforms. He also indirectly shepherded important liberal cultural changes in the areas of LGBT rights and drug policy (especially marijuana policy) ; while he came late to backing same-sex marriage his administration was generally supportive of LGBT Civil Rights issues, and while he opposed marijuana legalization, Obama’s policy of tolerating state level legalization essentially set the tone in this area.
I also believe he will be admired for his high ethics and generally decent personal qualities, and that twenty years hence, many conservatives, while not exactly “liking” Obama, will acknowledge the country could have done a lot worse, much like many liberals are now willing to modestly praise Bush Sr.
My main critiques of Obama would be that he was less confrontational with Republicans than he should have been, especially in his first term, and that he erred in entering military action in Libya, the handling of which Obama himself considers his biggest mistake.
What do you think?
(EDIT - some people have suggested that this post was meant as an attack on Obama, or an attempt to stir the pot. That was honestly not my intent. I was merely trying to facilitate friendly discussion on an important historical figure. I have decided to keep this post up, however, I want to make clear this post isn’t meant to create dissension in this group.)
Conservative Christian Child Molestation - the real Pizzagate
Increasingly, it seems like the real Pizzagate is the social conservative predilection for child molestation and preying on underage girls, with a culture of conservative churches and politicians apologizing or overlooking it.
‘Much of the sexual abuse that takes place in Independent Fundamentalist Baptist, or IFB, churches involves adult men targeting 14- to 16-year-old girls. If caught, the teenage victim may be forced to repent the “sin” of having seduced an adult man. Former IFB megachurch pastor Jack Schaap argued that he should be released from prison after being convicted of molesting a 16-year-old girl, asserting that the “aggressiveness” of his victim “inhibited [his] impulse control.” In the wake of the Schaap case, numerous other stories emerged of sexual abuse cover-ups involving teenage girls at IFB churches. In another high-profile case, pregnant 15-year-old Tina Anderson, who was raped by a church deacon twice her age, was forced to confess her “sin” to the congregation.’
Worth thinking about when we consider how many politicians are saying they’d support Moore even if they believed the allegations against him were true.
‘After a long pause, Alabama Bibb County Republican chairman Jerry Pow tells me he'd vote for Roy Moore even if Moore did commit a sex crime against a girl.
"I would vote for Judge Moore because I wouldn't want to vote for Doug," he says. "I'm not saying I support what he did."’
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-brightbill-roy-moore-evangelical-culture-20171110-story.html
If Moore wins...
If Alabama votes Moore in now, knowing his past, loud social conservatism will become synonymous with child molestation for years to come.
Trumps Intelligence Director investigated for kidnapping - Just another day in Trumpland.
Just another day in Trumpland.
“Robert Mueller is looking into allegations that Michael Flynn plotted a kidnapping.There have been longstanding reports, fuelled by testimony from James Woolsey, a former Trump adviser and onetime CIA director, that Trump’s first national security advisor wanted to kidnap Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish dissident living in the United States, and return him to his native country. The story of the kidnapping plot seemed too amazing to be true, more like something a gangster would do than a high government official.
But The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Robert Mueller is now investigating these allegations...”
Allegedly, Flynn was offered fifteen million by Turkey’s government to kidnap Gülen.
Sounds like a complete fantasy, doesn’t it? I mean, if true, and there’s an excellent chance it is true, it would be as out there as the nuttiest kinds of false conspiracies, like pizzagate, which conservatives routinely assert - with ZERO corroborating evidence - Democratic politicians are involved in.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/145780/robert-mueller-looking-allegations-michael-flynn-plotted-kidnapping
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