Caroline Kennedy --- 2020

[guido]

The one that scares me a little is Steve Mnuchin for Treasury. That guy is super qualified, but in the way that one day the country wakes up and wonders where all the money went. It all just seemed to disappear. That guy is too smart!

Not smart enough to do his disclosures correctly... But very effective at gathering all of the chips in his pot, no question about that.

[j44ke]

Not smart enough to do his disclosures correctly... But very effective at gathering all of the chips in his pot, no question about that.

I think he knew he was doing them incorrectly. That's an old game. You have 25 things that are horrific. So you leave 1000 things off your vetting paperwork. They call you on it, so you apologize and add 500 things. They ask for more, so you fill in another 200. They want more, so you add 50. To infinity. You never enter the 25. And they get tired of asking for more. Or they run out of time.

My wife had a case that required 7 months to unpack a series of transactions that took a handful of seconds to create. Those transactions effectively hid the assets of a national bank that had been privatized. What people like Mnuchin are doing with their money is at least as complicated and likely even more so. There is no way that a couple weeks of vetting by Congress is going to develop an actual picture of who exactly Mnuchin is financially.

edit: I should clarify and say that I don't think Mnuchin is a super criminal or something. Just the idea that vetting could work as it is meant to work for someone like Mnuchin is laughable. You need a long time to figure out where everything is and eliminate any conflicts.

[doomridesout]

I think the idea of filibustering Gorusch and leaving the Jeff Sessions appointment alone is the dumbest thing in the world. Gorusch appears to be a regular old Federalist society originalist, for whom I've got little love, but at the very least there's some reverence for the Constitution there. It wouldn't surprise me if Sessions had lunch with the KKK, and he's the guy who I'd imagine will bend over backwards for Bannon when he asks to go knocking on the doors of the undesirables. They're going to end the filibuster at some point, might as well take the shot at Sessions, not Gorusch, IMO.

[vertical_doug]

Attachment 99916

Two other things which caught my eye this week,

1. Steve Bannon seeing himself as Thomas Cromwell. Let's see, use legal means to get your king the divorce he wants, then orchestrate a smear campaign against the papacy, culminating in a wholesale ransacking and looting of catholic institutions for the crown. ..hmmm

2. Someone like Scarramucci who is definitely pro-business but not necessarily a true believer in the rest of the ideology being shunted away from a White House adviser role, so something else farther away. We may begin to see a pattern of moderates (relative term) being replaced by hardliners.

[j44ke]

I think the idea of filibustering Gorusch and leaving the Jeff Sessions appointment alone is the dumbest thing in the world. Gorusch appears to be a regular old Federalist society originalist, for whom I've got little love, but at the very least there's some reverence for the Constitution there. It wouldn't surprise me if Sessions had lunch with the KKK, and he's the guy who I'd imagine will bend over backwards for Bannon when he asks to go knocking on the doors of the undesirables. They're going to end the filibuster at some point, might as well take the shot at Sessions, not Gorusch, IMO.

I agree. But these guys in Congress have all been playing golf with Sessions for years. Wink wink nod nod.

Attachment 99916

Two other things which caught my eye this week,

1. Steve Bannon seeing himself as Thomas Cromwell. Let's see, use legal means to get your king the divorce he wants, then orchestrate a smear campaign against the papacy, culminating in a wholesale ransacking and looting of catholic institutions for the crown. ..hmmm

2. Someone like Scarramucci who is definitely pro-business but not necessarily a true believer in the rest of the ideology being shunted away from a White House adviser role, so something else farther away. We may begin to see a pattern of moderates (relative term) being replaced by hardliners.

And what about Kushner & Wife? Everyone was all up in arms about hiring family, and it only took a week or two for Bannon and Miller to change the door locks and leave the daughter and son-in-law standing out in the vestibule. I can just see the conversation at the gate: "Jared Kushner. No, Kushner. K-U-S-H-N-E-R. I'm the President's son-in-law. No really....."

[guido]

Given the left over anger over the Garland snub, the Supreme Court is where the democratic constituency's attention is focused. Also at 49 Gorusch is going to be around for a very long time, Sessions can only make a mess for eight years.

[j44ke]

Given the left over anger over the Garland snub, the Supreme Court is where the democratic constituency's attention is focused. Also at 49 Gorusch is going to be around for a very long time, Sessions can only make a mess for eight years.

Good point.

[Scott G.]

Bannon as Cromwell, hmmm.

His Master has gone thru several wives, check.
Good at making enemies in the old order, check.
First presidential adviser sent to Gitmo, TBD

[guido]

Bannon as Cromwell, hmmm.
...
First presidential adviser sent to Gitmo, TBD

You are getting our hopes up now...

[Cookietruck]

seems to be par for the course, sending in special ops without doing much to verify the constraints of the situation.
U.S. military probing more possible civilian deaths in Yemen raid
| Reuters

also, i'm sure you guys are reading about the donald's call with the Australian PM, abruptly ended it halfway through while stressing about 1200 refugees that we are already arranged to accept...
threatening tweets to Iran and Mexico too. Trump is a clown. This is our next 4 years.

Atleast Gorsuch seems like a decent guy...though, it seems discrimination against people because...religious freedom...is going to be rampant very soon. Pretty sure an Executive Order will be coming on that one.

One other thing, many of trumps nominees spoke of differing views with trump while congress was interviewing them, we will see soon if they just played the GOP or not...

[GeneK]

Not for nuthin' but shouldn't the title of this thread be changed?

[guido]

Not for nuthin' but shouldn't the title of this thread be changed?

No thread drift around here. No sir... ;-)

[Corso]

seems to be par for the course, sending in special ops without doing much to verify the constraints of the situation.
U.S. military probing more possible civilian deaths in Yemen raid
| Reuters

also, I'm sure you guys are reading about the donald's call with the Australian PM, abruptly ended it halfway through while stressing about 1200 refugees that we are already arranged to accept...
threatening tweets to Iran and Mexico too. Trump is a clown. This is our next 4 years.

Let me get this straight: Australia refuses to accept these refugees themselves, keeps them in detention centers on islands off the Australian mainland, the US (Obama) agrees to take them, and now Trump is the bad guy here for questioning the “previous deal"?

No one know what was said between the 2 leaders, some “unnamed white house source” tells the spite, and the world runs wild with crazy headlines basically declaring war between us and Australia?

The press needs to calm down. “unnamed whitehouse source” can be anyone who ever stepped foot in the white house at any time. Do you think someone in Trumps small circle, who was there for the call, in the oval office, ratted him out on something like this?

Think people.

I have not seen one media report bashing Australia for not accepting the refugees in the first place. Maybe they know something we don’t.

Yes, this is our next 4 years. Blame the last “clown" for the new “clown".

[BBB]

Attachment 99916

Two other things which caught my eye this week,

1. Steve Bannon seeing himself as Thomas Cromwell. Let's see, use legal means to get your king the divorce he wants, then orchestrate a smear campaign against the papacy, culminating in a wholesale ransacking and looting of catholic institutions for the crown. ..hmmm

Pretty dumb way to view yourself...seeing Cromwell ultimately found himself being executed!

[BBB]

Let me get this straight: Australia refuses to accept these refugees themselves, keeps them in detention centers on islands off the Australian mainland, the US (Obama) agrees to take them, and now Trump is the bad guy here for questioning the “previous deal"?

No one know what was said between the 2 leaders, some “unnamed white house source” tells the spite, and the world runs wild with crazy headlines basically declaring war between us and Australia?

The press needs to calm down. “unnamed whitehouse source” can be anyone who ever stepped foot in the white house at any time. Do you think someone in Trumps small circle, who was there for the call, in the oval office, ratted him out on something like this?

Think people.

I have not seen one media report bashing Australia for not accepting the refugees in the first place. Maybe they know something we don’t.

Yes, this is our next 4 years. Blame the last “clown" for the new “clown".

Australia has been copping grief over its refugee policy for years.

The story is about Trump blasting the Australian PM, bragging about the size of his electoral victory (funny considering the other fella got three million more votes) and then hanging up on a scheduled one hour call after 25 minutes. Not exactly good form. Childish and petulant come to mind.

[Cookietruck]

Australia has been copping grief over its refugee policy for years.

The story is about Trump blasting the Australian PM, bragging about the size of his electoral victory (funny considering the other fella got three million more votes) and then hanging up on a scheduled one hour call after 25 minutes. Not exactly good form. Childish and petulant come to mind.

well said, and yes, the hardline immigration policy of Australia is extremely unpopular. so much so that the PM will probably lose his seat soon.

[Matthew J]

Let me get this straight: Australia refuses to accept these refugees themselves, keeps them in detention centers on islands off the Australian mainland, the US (Obama) agrees to take them, and now Trump is the bad guy here for questioning the “previous deal"?

You did not get it straight. The US and other countries were going to take some of the refugees in exchange for Australia bringing those (Australia having less than a 10% of US population) it can accommodate out of the detention centers and into Oz. As it happens, the refugees are mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan, countries that happen to be disrupted as direct result of US policy.

No one know what was said between the 2 leaders, some “unnamed white house source” tells the spite, and the world runs wild with crazy headlines basically declaring war between us and Australia?

The press needs to calm down. “unnamed whitehouse source” can be anyone who ever stepped foot in the white house at any time. Do you think someone in Trumps small circle, who was there for the call, in the oval office, ratted him out on something like this?

Think people.

Rich from someone who has posted multiple claims of fact about the prior administration on the basis of hearsay and internet scuttlebutt.

I have not seen one media report bashing Australia for not accepting the refugees in the first place. Maybe they know something we don’t.

You must not be looking because WaPo, NYTimes, Atlantic, and many others in the US alone have criticized Oz in depth - Global media even more so.

[Corso]

Rich from someone who has posted multiple claims of fact about the prior administration on the basis of hearsay and internet scuttlebutt.

I’ll accept that criticism, but you didn’t quite answer the source question, did you?

If I recall, on the first day a reporter told the world that Trump had removed the bust of MLK. of course, he just didn’t see that someone was standing in front of it, but so many are so fired up to slam the president, I believe the press is willing to print anything they want without investigating.

Anyhow, gotta run. Having Dinner with Milo to discus freedom of speech in California.

[j44ke]

DDoS attack in 4,3,2....

[bcm119]

The violent protest at Berkeley was a real shame. I was at the gym that night and when I came outside to walk home I heard the helicopters and sirens, and curiosity got the best of me. I walked up Bancroft to the scene and arrived a little after the violence had ended, and things were still burning and the students were walking around looking bewildered and taking lots of pics and video. From what I saw and heard from the students, the protest had been going just fine until a pretty large group of black-clad "anarchists" showed up and proceeded to break the police line, smash windows, launch fireworks and smoke bombs, and light stuff on fire. They acted swiftly and were organized and well prepared. The students were generally very angry, at least the ones I overheard and talked to. "this is NOT a peaceful protest" many of them were saying.

I'm not sure if the black-clad group were just local anarchists or alt-right supporters trying to create a scene to make UCB look bad. In any case they were not UCB students. It's too bad many media outlets failed to distinguish between the group responsible for the violence and the students trying to put on a peaceful protest, because there was a clear distinction and it caused quite a rift. The students helped clean up the damage early the next morning, which was also not covered in most stories.

The "free speech" aspect of the story escapes me. The content of Milo's speeches is quite well known and publicized, and the protest was clearly aimed at his beliefs, not the fact that he was allowed to speak, although some students were angry that he was even on their campus at all. The UC allowed the Berkeley College Republicans to bring Milo to campus and hold his event at their largest auditorium. Most of the students supported the event's existence, but were protesting the content of his speeches, which it isn't going too far to categorize as hate speech. I think someone like Milo should expect to be given an opportunity to speak in this country, but not without consequences, given his hateful rhetoric. In this country, those consequences are and always have been peaceful protest. In this case a group of outsiders spoiled the party and stole the headlines, which is very unfortunate. If trump succeeds in pulling federal funding for the UC, effectively punishing the students for being present when their protest was sabotaged, that would be even more unfortunate.