Octopus Overlords

Great - so 2 out of 3 of his actual announced picks are highly divisive people. Flynn might have been a competent General at one time but by the time he was bounced from DIA he had allegedly totally lost grasp of reality.

NY Times wrote:Mr. Drumpf and General Flynn both see themselves as brash outsiders who hustled their way to the big time. They both post on Twitter often about their own successes, and they have both at times crossed the line into outright Islamophobia.

They also both exhibit a loose relationship with facts: General Flynn, for instance, has said that Shariah, or Islamic law, is spreading in the United States (it is not). His dubious assertions are so common that when he ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, subordinates came up with a name for the phenomenon: They called them “Flynn facts.”

To demonstrate some hand picked tweets from our next National Security Advisor.
Awesome. Blowing hard on the dog whistle here.
Yep - ISIS which will likely be in full retreat when Mosul falls is coming for the US next according to him. It is possible but this group is a huge existential threat to the US?
Fun fact a certain poster linked directly to this article shortly thereafter from the wacky True Pundit - a site which has no actual human names attached to it and was registered in March. But anyway someone who is supposed to vet intelligence is either peddling bullshit knowingly or can't vet information. Encouraging.
Notable for the reference to #SpiritCooking which was the loonie right discussion about the Clinton camp being full of Satanists that came up the last few weeks of the election. There is our incoming NSA trading in fake news.

Looks like Attorney General was offered to Sessions. Didn't he have some confirmation troubles in the past, or am I thinking of someone else?

He did - he got bounced in the 80s for racist comments that came out during confirmation hearings to be a Federal judge. In the 80s. Come on.

RunningMn9 wrote:Looks like Attorney General was offered to Sessions. Didn't he have some confirmation troubles in the past, or am I thinking of someone else?

Reagan nominated him for a judgeship but he wasn't confirmed due to various racist comments attributed to him.

Edit: Doh, scooped by a minute!

If he is trying to build a coalition of white guys with racist ties that are not 100% documented but just enough to appeal to his alt-right followers - I don't know that he could get a better start. He is a real uniter.

RunningMn9 wrote:Looks like Attorney General was offered to Sessions. Didn't he have some confirmation troubles in the past, or am I thinking of someone else?

He did. Alleged pro-Klan statements that he claims were jokes. Also called the NAACP unamerican commies or some such nonsense.

Seems to be, by and large, your average redneck Alabama old white guy who thinks anything other than the old redneck Alabama white guy agenda is a threat to the moral foundations of 'murica.



Edit. Damn. Folks up early today.

No Haitians to see here.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 7-17-52-39

A surge in border crossings and a lack of immigration jail space have prompted the federal government to start releasing Haitian immigrants who have been entering the country in large numbers in recent months, backtracking on a pledge to jail the migrants.

A U.S. government official told The Associated Press that the decision to free Haitians arriving in Arizona and California is in response to a lack of jail space. The official said releasing immigrants with orders to report later to immigration court is a tactic used when detention space is scarce, under certain humanitarian conditions or as part of efforts to keep families together.

About 5,000 Haitians had showed up at San Ysidro from October 2015 through late September, overwhelming border inspectors. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldana said at a recent congressional hearing that officials told her on a trip to Central America that 40,000 more were on their way. ICE says it has sent 203 Haitians back to their home country since late October.

The Department of Homeland Security last week said there were about 41,000 people in immigration detention facilities, compared to a typical population of 31,000 to 34,000. Secretary Jeh Johnson authorized the acquisition of more bed space for single adults.

The move reverses Johnson's recently announced plans to detain Haitians during deportation proceedings. In late September, Homeland Security began putting Haitians in detention before sending them back to the homeland they fled.

Mike Pompeo for CIA Director. Huge critic of the Iran deal and lover of the NSAs blanket surveillance program and Tea Party darling. Lightly Islamophobic which helps to make him a fit. Less controversial than other picks perhaps still.

I've been trading in prediction markets by making bets against the favorites in the cabinet posts. I figure, as usual with Trump, no one really knows what he's going to do, least of all the "experts". Sessions was the first miss I've had so far. But I only paid 40c for my "No shares", so my exposure's not too bad. Plus, I get a second bite at the apple at confirmation.

Rip wrote:*snip

No one said it was ok. I am saying I would rather engage them and use reasoning to show them where they are wrong than just call them racist, spit in their face and walk away.

Who are you fooling, Trump supporters are not constrained by reason, logic or facts.

Rip wrote:No Haitians to see here.

Where's the Mexican government's collaboration in getting them into the US? It's not a deliberate move by Mexico - it's a number of bribed officials working with human traffickers and collecting their fees.

Archinerd wrote:

Rip wrote:*snip
No one said it was ok. I am saying I would rather engage them and use reasoning to show them where they are wrong than just call them racist, spit in their face and walk away.

Who are you fooling, Trump supporters are not constrained by reason, logic or facts.

In all fairness, some are - they just chose to ignore what they don't like and prop up what they do about him. I'll grant that a number of them are completely unshackled from reality. We do need to remember that this kind of wholesale lumping of angry and disenfranchised with insane and racist was what lost the election for the Democrats.

Still was sifting through the insane volume of Flynn tweets - here he is quoting Infowars! Alex Jones is a source to our NSA. Let that sink in.

Archinerd wrote:

Rip wrote:*snip

No one said it was ok. I am saying I would rather engage them and use reasoning to show them where they are wrong than just call them racist, spit in their face and walk away.

Who are you fooling, Trump supporters are not constrained by reason, logic or facts.

Nor are anti-trump protesters.

One thing that is an easy majority.

Plenty of people to make demands, throw fits, and pat themselves on the back for always being right.

There’s no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There’s no knowing where we’re rowing
Or which way the river’s flowing
Is it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing
Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they’re certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing

Stop the boat!

Jeff Sessions, AG possibly http://news360.com/article/378923291

tjg_marantz wrote:Jeff Sessions, AG possibly http://news360.com/article/378923291

That is truly scary. The man has absolutely no regard for anything in the constitution other than the 2nd amendment.

I'm wondering if he expects them to not confirm Sessions making it a cakewalk to get Cruz through......

Rip wrote:I'm wondering if he expects them to not confirm Sessions making it a cakewalk to get Cruz through......

I thought Cruz was being prepared for Supreme Court nomination?

Alright, so far we've got:

Reince Priebus (worst. name. ever) - WH Chief of Staff (ambivalent, which is I guess a good thing)
Steve Bannon - WH Chief Strategist (dislike, racist piece of shit)
Gen. Flynn - National Security Advisor (no confirmation required, Islamaphobic peddler of Infowars nonsense)
Sen. Sessions - Attorney General (all I really know about him is that he thought Trump should be President, so questionable judgment)
Rep. Pompeo - CIA Director (one of the stars of the Benghazi stupidity)

I mean, these are not inspiring choices to actually get those jobs done. I guess it's good that Sessions and Pompeo don't have obvious foreign conflicts of interest like Flynn, but there's definitely a theme taking shape here.

Actually, I want to walk that last post back.

Sessions has been Alabama's Attorney General and has been a US Attorney. So whatever you think about how he did those jobs, he's not a fish out of water as the US AG. I have questions about his judgment (i.e. thinking that Trump would be a good President), but this seems like a fairly straightforward appointment. I don't like it because I don't like the man making the appointment, and I don't like the sorts of things that I suspect Sessions will focus on as AG (or rather what he'll choose to have the DoJ ignore). But I understand it.

Gen. Flynn has an extensive military intelligence background, and so again as a National Security Advisor, I get it. His judgment also seems suspect. Linking to Infowars should be a disqualifying action.

Rep. Pompeo currently serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and has a military background. I don't see anything on the resume that seems out of place for a nominee for CIA Director of the opposition party. I mean, he's a Tea Party, partisan Benghazi!!! hack, but again, I get it.

I don't imagine that I will like much of what these three will do, but it's not like Trump is appointing plumbers and street vendors to these posts.

RunningMn9 wrote:I don't imagine that I will like much of what these three will do, but it's not like Trump is appointing plumbers and street vendors to these posts.

I'm personally more worried about competent people with certain world views than incompetents with them. The bureaucracy can make up for the second to a degree. If I were a minority and especially a Muslim I would be very concerned right now.

malchior wrote:I'm personally more worried about competent people with certain world views than incompetents with them. The bureaucracy can make up for the second to a degree. If I were a minority and especially a Muslim I would be very concerned right now.

I can certainly understand that.

Yeah, that's been my concern. I mean, look -- he has zero (SEE ALSO: none, zip) experience as an elected official. He can't even claim experience with being on a PTA or local athletic league. We can debate all day long his skills as a business owner, real estate mogul, TV show creator, casino supporter, etc... but as the unthinkable President of the United States? The mind boggles. So to me he's completely open to manipulation by anyone that has a clue about how things work in the political landscape - both domestically and foreign. He's Darth Vader. I'm worried about the numerous Emperor Palpatines that are going to whisper in his ear and make him think he's a genius.

Is it just me or does anyone else also remember folks (former employees of Trump especially) saying that Trump likes to surround himself with women because "they're killers"? Where are the women?

Smoove_B wrote:Yeah, that's been my concern. I mean, look -- he has zero (SEE ALSO: none, zip) experience as an elected official. He can't even claim experience with being on a PTA or local athletic league. We can debate all day long his skills as a business owner, real estate mogul, TV show creator, casino supporter but as the unthinkable President of the United States? The mind boggles. So in my mind he's completely open to manipulation by anyone that has a clue about how things work in the political landscape - both domestically and foreign. He's Darth Vader. I'm worried about the numerous Emperor Palpatine's that are going to whisper in his ear and make him think he's a genius.

Did you watch South Park this week? Spot on. It was brilliant and they even managed to combine the White House music with the Imperial March every time Trump/President Garrison was on.

And then we have this mess. And they are talking about installing Kushner in the WH. Anti-nepotism or good sense be damned. This is a highly manipunable man surrounded by devils. I don't like how this is tracking and we've barely gone down the list. I'm thinking the Romney Sec of State rumors was just a trial balloon and it'll still end up with Guiliani.

malchior wrote:
To demonstrate some hand picked tweets from our next National Security Advisor.

Here's an anti-Semitic tweet he retweeted and later deleted.

Defiant wrote:

malchior wrote:
To demonstrate some hand picked tweets from our next National Security Advisor.

Here's an anti-Semitic tweet he deleted.

Yeah - I saw that but gave it a pass since he retracted it and apologized. Still a case of bad judgement.

Scraper wrote:Did you watch South Park this week? Spot on. It was brilliant and they even managed to combine the White House music with the Imperial March every time Trump/President Garrison was on.

Wow, no I did not. I guess I'm not as clever as I thought I was.

I mean, certainly (to me) Gen. Flynn seems to show a lack of critical thinking (again, linking to Infowars should be a disqualifying act) - and that presumably is a problem in a National Security Advisor (I'm sure Rip sees it as a hidden strength though).

What I mean to convey is that OF COURSE I don't like any of these appointments. That was almost a foregone conclusion short of Trump genuinely surprising me with something like Romney for SecState (and even then, it's not so much due to love of Romney, just that at least I'll feel like there's an adult in the room).

I think the three appointments are bad, and that those three gentleman will do more bad things than good in my estimation. I was just conveying that from a resume perspective, they are at least qualified on paper to do these jobs, and in some ways that more than I expected. The way that unqualified Trump is letting his unqualified kids seemingly run the show, filling the cabinet posts with TV producers or something seemed like a real possibility.

RunningMn9 wrote:I think the three appointments are bad, and that those three gentleman will do more bad things than good in my estimation. I was just conveying that from a resume perspective, they are at least qualified on paper to do these jobs, and in some ways that more than I expected. The way that unqualified Trump is letting his unqualified kids seemingly run the show, filling the cabinet posts with TV producers or something seemed like a real possibility.

Fair enough. I think Pence is the x factor.

Itll be interesting to suss out the discriminators.

1. They have to be qualified enough for the job.

2. Loyal to the boss.

3. Right demographic appeal

4. Ideologically aligned.

5. Establishment glue for the coalition.

It is looking like 2, 1, 3, 4, distant 5. right now but could swap the last two. I guess we will have to see if Romney or other sanes get tapped and throw that into doubt.

malchior wrote:It is looking like 2, 1, 3, 4, distant 5. right now but could swap the last two. I guess we will have to see if Romney or other sanes get tapped and throw that into doubt.

If you are sane, do you want to be tapped? On the one hand, you have a chance to provide sanity and stability to the term. On the other, you are likely being tapped because you will give the appearance of providing sanity and stability but will actually be the sacrificial lamb to insanity and instability. Your sense of civic duty has to be pretty high, knowing what you are getting in to.

I suppose not surprisingly, it doesn't look like Trump is making much of an effort to have diversity in his cabinet:

Smoove_B wrote:

Rip wrote:I'm wondering if he expects them to not confirm Sessions making it a cakewalk to get Cruz through......

I thought Cruz was being prepared for Supreme Court nomination?

I've heard he was going to pick one from that list he floated awhile back.

The names on Trump's list are:

1. Keith Blackwell
2. Charles Canady
3. Steven Colloton
4. Allison Eid
5. Neil Gorsuch
6. Raymond Gruender
7. Thomas Hardiman
8. Raymond Kethledge
9. Joan Larsen
10. Mike Lee
11. Thomas Lee
12. Edward Mansfield
13. Federico Moreno
14. William Pryor
15. Margaret A. Ryan
16. Amul Thapar
17. Timothy Tymkovich
18. David Stras
19. Diane Sykes
20. Don Willett
21. Robert Young

I'm thinking Mike Lee.

Which of those folks publicly kissed Trump's ass? Because that will be the person he nominates.

raydude wrote: Where are the women?

At home, where the GOP believes they belong.

He'll probably never find one willing to put up with his misogynist crap other than his wife and daughter.

RunningMn9 wrote:I think the three appointments are bad, and that those three gentleman will do more bad things than good in my estimation. I was just conveying that from a resume perspective, they are at least qualified on paper to do these jobs, and in some ways that more than I expected. The way that unqualified Trump is letting his unqualified kids seemingly run the show, filling the cabinet posts with TV producers or something seemed like a real possibility.

From a different perspective, I've worked for people like him on a smaller scale. Taking up those positions is going to be like walking into a radioactive inferno and basking in the glow until you're green and peeling. It's good, maybe, that he's not burning up first-rate talent with his first pass at learning politics.

*Edit: As an aside, I actually feel much better since discovering AdBlock Plus let's me set specific images to "Blocked" - RIP's avatar was making me want to punch my screen every time I saw it. Not seeing it makes me so much happier.

Jeff V wrote:

raydude wrote: Where are the women?

At home, where the GOP believes they belong.

He'll probably never find one willing to put up with his misogynist crap other than his wife and daughter.

That may be why Romney dropped by, drop off a few binders of women.

My conservative #NeverTrump sources, which were highly critical of Priebus (unqualified), Bannon (racist douche) and Flynn (crank), seem *very* happy with the Pompeo pick. West Point Grad, Army Officer, Harvard Law (including editor of the Harvard Law Review). Allegedly very intelligent.

They have labeled him a "conventional Republican" pick.

Exodor wrote:Romney would be infinitely better than Guliani or Gingrich but would be interesting to see his approach to Russia - Romney cast Russia as our greatest threat in 2012 while Trump seems to want to improve our relationship with Putin.

I think if Romney were to accept the position, he'd have a long talk with Trump about this, especially regarding support for our NATO allies. I suspect he'd want some guarantees up front from Trump, FWIW. I doubt that Romney would want to go down in history as the Secretary of State when the US abandons NATO/Europe to the Russians. I also believe that if Trump did do this and he were Sec of State, he'd resign. So best for him to force the issue now with Trump if he were to take the position. But that's just my assessment.