padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
interesting House of Reps Dem primary here today, btw. well not my part of Chicago, but still Chicago + near suburbs.

gonna see if left lib (by U.S. standards) challenger Newman can defeat anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, relatively pro-Trump incumbent Lipinski.

so far Lipinski is handily winning Chicago part of his district but Newman's killing him in suburban Cook County.

all the internal divisions of the Dems in a nutshell, tho also the nastiness of Chicago politics is a world unto itself.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
+ Lipinski gonna take it barring a late miracle for Newman, largely due to his legislative buds gerrymandering the district to ward off just such a progressive challenge

vicious primary, Planned Parenthood etc + LGBT orgs backed Newman hard, Blue Dog Dems backed Lipinski. the DCCC said fuck this + stayed out.

in other news our gubernatorial race will as expected be between two highly odious billionaires, so looking forward to that

one is a much more terrible Mitt Romney vulture capitalist, the other is v close Rahm ally/developer/the kind of Jew who makes my half-Jewish side ashamed

Illinois politics, truly the way to feel good about democracy
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
51% to 49% though. Seems much closer than it should have been.
can interpret on 2 fronts

1) does phenomenon of progressive Dem candidates taking on more centrist incumbents, sometimes against party establishment wishes, signify stronger Dem base shift to left?

2) how far left can Dem candidates go before it starts to hurt them in the general?

obv House in aggregate much more significant national indicator than individual districts, + all this seems a bit reading tea leaves, we'll see what's what in November
 

droid

Well-known member
This is arguably the most dangerous thing he's done so far. The possibility of war just hugely increased.

Monbiot, bless em tried a citizen's arrest of Bolton a few years back.
 

CORP$EY

no mickey mouse ting
Just can't get my head around these women who had sex with Trump - I mean, the horror! The horror!

Money/fame must be a hell of an aphrodisiac
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Just can't get my head around these women who had sex with Trump - I mean, the horror! The horror!

Money/fame must be a hell of an aphrodisiac

Have you ever seen a photo of him as a (much) younger man? Hard as it is to believe now, he actually used to be kind of handsome. A classic case of someone 'growing into the face they deserve'.
 

Leo

Well-known member
today from axios:

To White House insiders, this is the most dangerous phase of Donald Trump's presidency so far, from the brewing trade war with China that he denies is a trade war, to the perilously spontaneous summit with North Korea.

The big picture:
Checks are being ignored or have been eliminated, and critics purged as the president is filling time by watching Fox, and by eating dinner with people who feed his ego and conspiracy theories, and who drink in his rants.

Both sides are getting more polarized and dug in — making the daily reality more absurd, and the potential consequences less urgent and able to grab people’s serious attention.*

Trump’s closest confidants speak with an unusual level of concern, even alarm, and admit to being confused about what the president will do next — and why.
 

droid

Well-known member
Decent op-ed on Iran in the Guardian

So where does that leave the United States? Alone, with a self-inflicted wound that will injure others as collateral damage.

The best-case scenario is that Iran remains in the agreement for now (which Rouhani immediately indicated Iran would) as the other parties continue to comply in the face of potential US sanctions, which tanks US relations with allies and partners around the world.

The worst-case scenario is war.

There was – and still remains – a much better path. The United States could continue to ramp up its activities to push back against Iran around the region. It could start working with allies and partners now to develop plans for continuing to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons when parts of the deal expire years from now.

The nuclear deal is not perfect, but it reduces the chances for conflict, and achieves a key goal that the United States, Israel, and allies had long sought: stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And yet, in dumping the deal, Trump has offered no alternative to achieve this goal.

It’s not clear that Trump is looking for more violent conflict. But his decision to pull the United States out of the Iran deal very well could place the lives of more Americans – and people around the Middle East and beyond – in danger. And all for nothing.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...mp-manufactured-national-security-crisis-iran
 

Leo

Well-known member
FYI, guy who totally didn't do anything wrong wants you to know that the unconstitutional special counsel is conducting a witch hunt even though it's legally impossible for him to obstruct justice (which he didn't) and he could pardon himself anyway (but he won't), ok?
 

droid

Well-known member
Australian TV has just broken a story about Carter Page that reveals the magnitude of the Russian links.

 

firefinga

Well-known member
Trump will stay POTUS all four years long. Only problem for him could be a devastating defeat of the Republicans this fall/autumn.
 
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