Trump's Card

[ursus arctos]

One for Tubbs

OGDEN, Utah — In this conservative state, which has not supported a Democratic presidential candidate in more than a half-century, a grass-roots campaign to expand Medicaid is building considerable momentum as Election Day approaches.

If it wins approval here, it could happen almost anywhere.

On Nov. 6, Utah voters will consider a ballot measure that would expand Medicaid to cover up to 150,000 more people under the Affordable Care Act. Two other conservative states, Idaho and Nebraska, will also vote that day on Medicaid expansion proposals.

The states, if the measures pass, will join more than 30 others that have expanded Medicaid under the 2010 health care law. In all three states, advocates are trying to outflank Republican lawmakers who have blocked expansion efforts.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Sounds good. Obamacare also looking a good issue in West Virginia, though they can't call it that.

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm not sure if this should be in this thread, or the WTF thread, but Cynthia Nixon, the day before her primary to become Democratic candidate to be governor of New York ordered...

A cinnamon raisin bagel with lox, onion and capers

I literally can't imagine what it tastes like. As Gothamist says, do you want someone who chooses to eat this to be anywhere near the levers of power? It makes Trump's overcooked steaks with ketchup seem... no, actually, they seem worse still.

[ursus arctos]

Three days before.

The primary is on Thursday because of Rosh Hoshana.

The tragedy here is that she claims to be raising her children in the Jewish faith.

[Femme Folle]

I mean, who does that???

(the bagel thing, not what UA said)

[ad hoc]

That's very weird. However as she's being vilified as anti semitic due to her belief that Palestinians shouldn't be treated like shit, I'm prepared to give her a pass. Far rather a campaigner for social justice who eats weird food than a gourmand who believes in genocide

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

I would happily eat bagels with smoked salmon, cream cheese and onion, with a little bit of pepper and some lemon until I expired, and I'm quite partial to capers, but I think I'd probably pass on the muffin.

[Nefertiti2]

John Bolton on the International Criminal Court

"We will ban its judges and prosecutors from entering the United States. We will sanction their funds in the US financial system, and we will prosecute them in the US criminal system. We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans," he said.

[Femme Folle]

I would happily eat bagels with smoked salmon, cream cheese and onion, with a little bit of pepper and some lemon until I expired, and I'm quite partial to capers, but I think I'd probably pass on the muffin.

What muffin? It was a cinnamon raisin bagel.

[Diable Rouge]

He's called off his Irish stopover.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Ivan Yates was announcing it on the radio and was saying that he was looking forward to welcoming it to Ireland. What is it about aging men who think that putting on that flattering Hugo boss uniform is going to fix their bad back and make their cock work again.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

What muffin? It was a cinnamon raisin bagel.

heh, it was either Muffin, or Chocolate Eclair.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

https://twitter.com/jiveDurkey/status/1039509109534597120/photo/1

Holy mother of Jesus.

[San Bernardhinault]

I know I've asked this before, but how the fucking fuck can I still be reading that Andrew Cuomo "harbors presidential ambitions"? How insanely fucking deluded can he be that he thinks he might be presidential material? When will the media stop including this line on his resume? Surely, even in a line up of the least charismatic presidential candidates you can imagine, he'd still finish last. A Democrat Tim Pawlenty, but with more and worse baggage.

[ursus arctos]

He has had the last remnants of his self-awareness surgically removed and surrounded himself with absolute toadies.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1039599581753946113

[Lang Spoon]

Is herself talking sense? Her stuff seems frighteningly plausible. In which case we are fucked.

https://mobile.twitter.com/sarahkend...21548239585280

[San Bernardhinault]

I think she is, to a degree, although it's hard to tell how much is deliberately smokescreening, and how much is just rank incompetence.

(Her book, by the way, is over-rated. It's got some very interesting points but because it's a series of essays it becomes very repetitive; and her focus on her own narrow fields of expertise leads her to make assumptions about the wider economy that aren't necessarily justified).

[ursus arctos]

Agree with SB

[Femme Folle]

https://twitter.com/brentitude/status/1039330447992545280

Well, there you go.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I like SK (and it's too bad the G&M doesn't seem to be buying her column any more.) But I think she's wrong here. The problem for thinking people — and political writers tend to be thinking people — is that they project Trump's is doing what they'd do if they were him. But he wouldn't. He's way more visceral and short-term-ist. The idea of creating a barrage of scandal to protect himself from his real crimes is way off beam. First of all such a thing would take long term planning and organisation, neither of which has been evident in the last year and a half. More importantly, there's no evidence he can distinguish between a crime and a scandal ie: what is lawful but offends, and what is actually indictable.

[Femme Folle]

I agree with AdC. He reacts instinctively, like a scared dog who lashes out.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

https://twitter.com/TPM/status/1039263139903221762

He is as dumb as a fucking post, as dishonest as is possible, and has somehow made it to 70 without once having put himself in another person's position. Even to con them.

Bruno is spot on, because the scandal side of things serves to destroy confidence in govt. Also these open crooks are making such a mess of things, that real politicians who aren't trying to make things worse are going to struggle horribly, so they will get discredited too and the process can continue.

[The-Reverend]

He absolutely terrifies me. I did my Intelligence training solely on 'Red Forces' (which was Russia but we couldn't say so) as it was pre-9/11 when we found a new enemy. So I have a basic knowledge of how these Red Forces can operate.

Having worked with the US Military and also with US private entities, and having worked with some very professional and Just individuals I always thought that the US was one country that was never open to outside influence and despite all it's faults (like the UK) could be relied on to ultimately do the right thing in the majority of cases (See AHC's brilliant posts on being a public defender)

My old man is cited in FBI hostage negotiator manual and has far more contacts in the US than I do as I was so low it's untrue. For an ex senior copper he has become progressively more left wing as he's got older he was shocked on a recent visit to NY when visiting Police Precincts to see how much the rank and file loved Trump. This is a man who was on Thatchers side during the Miners strike (although, and I am bound to say this, not a cunt) but who usually towed the ordered line, and he is equally scared about the prospect of a continued Trump presidency.

I remember meeting with some CIA blokes at The Dorchester who hated Obama during his tenure, my old man said that these coppers were as pro-trump as the CIA lot were anti-Obama.

Sorry for stream of bollocks, but I just wanted it on record that I think Trump is a cunt.

[Tubby Isaacs]

For people who enjoy this stuff, a 538 Senate predictor. It's quite a handy bookmark for who represents where, if nothing else.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...recast/senate/

It's spectacularly optimistic for the Democrats. eg it gives John Tester a 90% chance in Montana.