Octopus Overlords

Zaxxon wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 9:36 am Well, it does have his signature typos and misuse of capitalization.

Holman wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:42 pm Incidentally, is Captain Beardo there someone I should recognize?

Rip wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:45 pm

Holman wrote: Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:42 pm Incidentally, is Captain Beardo there someone I should recognize?

So you are the one person in the civilized world who hasn't seen Captain Obvious?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVlBQtfbiYU

Holman wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2017 12:06 pm

Remus West wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:46 pm

tjg_marantz wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:51 pm That 36 year old Trump judicial nominee...
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/u ... QgVF?amp=1

Married to white house lawyer. Never declared on form.

Only the best baby.

The fact that these people continue to get passed through on party line votes simply continues to confirm that every sitting elected Republican needs to go. The sheer volume of party before country is astounding.

It gets better:

Before Trump tapped him for a lifetime appointment on the federal bench, he was ghost hunter.

On his questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee, a copy of which was provided to The Daily Beast, Talley says that he was part of The Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group from 2009-2010. The group, according to its website, searches for the truth “of the paranormal existence” in addition to helping “those who may be living with paranormal activity that can be disruptive and/or traumatic.”

[...]

“Mainly we may go into a house between maybe 7 at night and 6 in the morning and stay up all night long and see if we can see what’s going on,” Higdon told The Daily Beast in a phone interview, when asked about the paranormal group’s work generally. “If we go into a private house, we mainly try and debunk what’s going on.”

Higdon said that 85-90 percent of the time, they don’t discover any kind of paranormal activity.

Brett Talley, one of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees with ties to the White House who has never tried a case and is a former ghost hunter with a cult following, has voluntarily withdrawn himself from consideration for the position, Politico reported on Wednesday.

Talley, who was one of two of Trump's judicial nominees that the American Bar Association unanimously deemed "not qualified" for the position, "has offered to withdraw his nomination thus it will not be moving forward," a White House official told Politico.

Talley's nomination has elicited controversy both inside and outside of Capitol Hill in recent weeks.

While Talley's nomination for a federal district court judgeship was approved by the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted along party lines last month, the committee's chairman Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley told CNN he was no longer in favor of Trump moving forward with Talley's nomination.

"I've advised the White House they ought to reconsider," Grassley said. "I would advise the White House not to proceed."

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, told Business Insider in a statement that she hopes Grassley's request will lead "him to reconsider the breakneck speed at which the Judiciary Committee has been considering nominees."

"Moving so quickly makes it more likely that senators will be caught by surprise and end up having to vote for someone whose record they weren't fully aware of," she said.

Last week, Republican Sen. John Kennedy stated that he would vote against Talley "in a heartbeat," pre-empting Grassley announcing his own opposition.

Paingod wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:29 am I never once thought I'd approve of a Trump Nominee, but from what I can see I think Tillerson takes his role seriously and actually wants to perform the job as it should be done - he just is completely hamstrung by the administration refusing to provide him the resources he needs. I almost feel bad for him, in the same way I do for the rest of America.

I'm sure there's a personal agenda behind his seemingly hard work, though. A guy like that is building invaluable contacts for when he's out of there. For those contacts to be worth anything, he needs to demonstrate effort to work with them.

In a minor win for Democrats, the final GOP tax bill will not include a repeal of the Johnson Amendment, a change that would have allowed religious institutions and all nonprofit entities organized as 501(c)3s to endorse political candidates.

President Trump had strongly advocated the repeal.

Trump promised to “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment at the National Prayer Breakfast in February.
...
Democrats knew they would have little leverage to influence the final Republican tax bill because it was passed entirely with GOP votes in both the House and Senate. Republicans are using a process known as reconciliation to pass the tax bill, which only requires a simple majority in both chambers. But senior Democratic leaders in the Senate had one final card to play: They could challenge any part of the tax bill not actually having to do with taxes.

It is formally known as a “Byrd Rule” challenge. The Senate parliamentarian has the final say on what parts of the bill meet the Byrd Rule and which do not. Democrats were already successful in kicking out a provision in an earlier version of the Senate tax bill that would have allowed parents to start tax-preferred college savings accounts (known as 529 plans) for fetuses.

Some Republicans expressed frustration that the Johnson Amendment "fix" wasn't allowed in the final bill.

Max Peck wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:46 am

Paingod wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:29 am I never once thought I'd approve of a Trump Nominee, but from what I can see I think Tillerson takes his role seriously and actually wants to perform the job as it should be done - he just is completely hamstrung by the administration refusing to provide him the resources he needs. I almost feel bad for him, in the same way I do for the rest of America.

I'm sure there's a personal agenda behind his seemingly hard work, though. A guy like that is building invaluable contacts for when he's out of there. For those contacts to be worth anything, he needs to demonstrate effort to work with them.

Tillerson made all the contacts he'd ever need as CEO of ExxonMobil.

His primary accomplishment as Secretary of State has been the evisceration of the State Department. While some of that is due to other members of the Trump administration undercutting him, a lot of it is on Tillerson himself.

El Guapo wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:48 am

Max Peck wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:46 am

Paingod wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:29 am I never once thought I'd approve of a Trump Nominee, but from what I can see I think Tillerson takes his role seriously and actually wants to perform the job as it should be done - he just is completely hamstrung by the administration refusing to provide him the resources he needs. I almost feel bad for him, in the same way I do for the rest of America.

I'm sure there's a personal agenda behind his seemingly hard work, though. A guy like that is building invaluable contacts for when he's out of there. For those contacts to be worth anything, he needs to demonstrate effort to work with them.

Tillerson made all the contacts he'd ever need as CEO of ExxonMobil.

His primary accomplishment as Secretary of State has been the evisceration of the State Department. While some of that is due to other members of the Trump administration undercutting him, a lot of it is on Tillerson himself.

Yeah, Tillerson has been horrendous at the State Department by all accounts. It's not clear how much of that is him and how much of it is Trump, but he's clearly not stopping the withering of the Department at a minimum. I will not miss Tillerson even a little bit if and when he goes.

Remus West wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 12:19 pm All of Trump's cabinet picks were chosen to destroy their respective sphere's of influence. Tillerson is doing a markedly good job in that role.

Holman wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 1:43 pm

Remus West wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 12:19 pm All of Trump's cabinet picks were chosen to destroy their respective sphere's of influence. Tillerson is doing a markedly good job in that role.

The only exception is Mattis, whose reputation is strong and whose active career was of course completely independent of Trump or Trumpian ideology.

Trump asked around for "the toughest guy on Defense," and the Pentagon took the opportunity to name someone good.

Holman wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 1:43 pm

Remus West wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 12:19 pm All of Trump's cabinet picks were chosen to destroy their respective sphere's of influence. Tillerson is doing a markedly good job in that role.

The only exception is Mattis, whose reputation is strong and whose active career was of course completely independent of Trump or Trumpian ideology.

Trump asked around for "the toughest guy on Defense," and the Pentagon took the opportunity to name someone good.

Carpet_pissr wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 12:36 pm Wow, check out this difficult-to-watch video of a Republican Senator grilling an apparently woefully under-qualified Trump pick for a US District Judge.

https://www.npr.org/2017/12/15/57106068 ... ons-of-law

Paingod wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:29 am I never once thought I'd approve of a Trump Nominee, but from what I can see I think Tillerson takes his role seriously and actually wants to perform the job as it should be done - he just is completely hamstrung by the administration refusing to provide him the resources he needs. I almost feel bad for him, in the same way I do for the rest of America.

I'm sure there's a personal agenda behind his seemingly hard work, though. A guy like that is building invaluable contacts for when he's out of there. For those contacts to be worth anything, he needs to demonstrate effort to work with them.

pr0ner wrote:LOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Of all of Trump's lies, this may be the best one.

https://www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump ... 0091943936

Scoop20906 wrote: Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:17 pm Yep. If Trump can’t get his deplorables/voters to the polls then what good is he to the party?


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El Guapo wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:14 pm

Holman wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 1:43 pm

Remus West wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 12:19 pm All of Trump's cabinet picks were chosen to destroy their respective sphere's of influence. Tillerson is doing a markedly good job in that role.

The only exception is Mattis, whose reputation is strong and whose active career was of course completely independent of Trump or Trumpian ideology.

Trump asked around for "the toughest guy on Defense," and the Pentagon took the opportunity to name someone good.

FWIW I am also pretty happy with Trump's pick for the SEC (Jay Clayton). From what I can tell so far he seems like a serious person who cares about the Commission's enforcement mission and protecting investors. I assume he's going to be more conservative on regulations, but Enforcement wise things seem pretty good so far.

Captain Caveman wrote: Mon Dec 18, 2017 12:46 pm Trump apparently doesn't know that the Senate is part of Congress.

He also overlooks a California House seat that a Democrat won.

He also never predicted publicly that Gillespie and Moore would lose.

He's also wrong about 2018.

But congrats on not misspelling any words this time.

Max Peck wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 10:46 am His primary accomplishment as Secretary of State has been the evisceration of the State Department. While some of that is due to other members of the Trump administration undercutting him, a lot of it is on Tillerson himself.

ImLawBoy wrote: Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:55 pm

El Guapo wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:14 pm

Holman wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 1:43 pm

Remus West wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 12:19 pm All of Trump's cabinet picks were chosen to destroy their respective sphere's of influence. Tillerson is doing a markedly good job in that role.

The only exception is Mattis, whose reputation is strong and whose active career was of course completely independent of Trump or Trumpian ideology.

Trump asked around for "the toughest guy on Defense," and the Pentagon took the opportunity to name someone good.

FWIW I am also pretty happy with Trump's pick for the SEC (Jay Clayton). From what I can tell so far he seems like a serious person who cares about the Commission's enforcement mission and protecting investors. I assume he's going to be more conservative on regulations, but Enforcement wise things seem pretty good so far.

So you think Clayton reads these forums, huh?