The Rose Garden and White House happenings: Listening to voters’ concerns

Back to the shutdown.

Trump is giving an "Oval Office address" Tuesday night, the networks will be browbeaten into carrying it.

A European bookmaker is running a line on the over/under of how many lies Trump will tell.

https://www.bookmaker.eu/live-lines/politics

nohero said:
A European bookmaker is running a line on the over/under of how many lies Trump will tell.

I suppose it depends how many sentences he speaks.  

I wonder if Trumpy will bring up the fact that two-thirds of the undocumented in the US don't cross the border on foot, but by plane on holidays or for university and overstay their visas; or whose flights are paid for by farmers during harvest and then won't be able to return to Mexico because of a wall; or that the wall makes us look like East Berlin to the world; or that much of the geography won't accommodate a wall; or that the drugs that flow in from down south come through at border check points hidden in legal cargo; or that the real cost as estimated by MIT for a 100% coverage wall is closer to $31 billion; or that ladders are light and go up and down walls; or that recent flooding in Arizona wiped out large parts of the high steel walls there; or the maintenance costs; or that tech and human surveilance are more effective means of border control.   Nah, he and his Republican flunkies are money-wasting dopes.

From Speaker Pelosi --

"Now that the television networks have decided to air @realDonaldTrump’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime."

https://twitter.com/speakerpelosi/status/1082451281967570951?s=21

nice. The Speaker isn't mincing any words. 

So, the President and his administration believe that the nation can afford to spend years finding ways to pay for the border Wall and its staffing etc, but can’t be bothered supporting the Washington community itself for its St Patrick’s Day parade??

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46792047

I’m not sure how things work there, obviously, but it seems strange to me that your national capital city is missing out on something relatively simple while massive egos are grandstanding within it. 

The networks should put some sort of "heads-up" on the screen when Trump gives his border wall speech.  Something simple but direct.

I posted on Twitter that they should do this:

I suppose it's something of a positive development that outside of Trump's hypnotized base, virtually everyone is well aware that the president will do nothing but lie in his speech tonight.

You can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Day two, Strike Two:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/us/uber-driver-murder-trial.html

His connection to the car service some years ago is noted in the next to last paragraph — some days, or weeks of employment — yet the car service’s name is featured in the headline and photo caption.

Relevancy to his heinous murder spree: 0

Guilt by association: Uber

Background checks are not fail-safe.

mtierney said:
Day two, Strike Two:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/us/uber-driver-murder-trial.html
His connection to the car service some years ago is noted in the next to last paragraph — some days, or weeks of employment — yet the car service’s name is featured in the headline and photo caption.

Relevancy to his heinous murder spree: 0
Guilt by association: Uber
Background checks are not fail-safe.

He was an Uber driver when he committed the crimes.  And there is this:

"After Dalton's arrest, police quoted him as saying a 'devil figure' on Uber's app was controlling him on the day of the shootings," the AP said.

I know the voices in your head are telling you to attack the NYT, but their mention of Uber in this case is not some unwarranted as you seem to think.

mtierney said:
Day two, Strike Two:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/us/uber-driver-murder-trial.html
His connection to the car service some years ago is noted in the next to last paragraph — some days, or weeks of employment — yet the car service’s name is featured in the headline and photo caption.

Relevancy to his heinous murder spree: 0
Guilt by association: Uber
Background checks are not fail-safe.

 Three thoughts:

1.  This is in the second paragraph:  "The driver, Jason B. Dalton, terrorized the Kalamazoo area on Feb. 20, 2016, when he drove wildly through the city and its suburbs, shooting people outside a car dealership, a Cracker Barrel restaurant and a townhouse complex. Over a period of hours, he gave Uber customers rides between the seemingly random shootings."  So, yes, he was an Uber driver during and between shootings.

2.  As for his "connection to the car service some years ago", as it also says in the article, "Mr. Dalton, who was arrested the night of the shootings …"  That explains why he hasn't been out driving for Uber since then.

3.  This raises the question - What's the obsession with creating phony accusations against a media outlet?  Is this just to "soften up" the audience for when you really need to label a truthful report as a lie?

mtierney said:
Day two, Strike Two:

what was "strike one"?  If you're referring to the Jazmine Barnes story from yesterday, there was absolutely nothing journalistically questionable in it.  It's not the fault of the NYT that you decided that some of the details they included in the story cast the victims in a questionable light. None of the rest of us found any of that information noteworthy.

Most of us didn't even bother to do the math that you did to look down on a 30-year old woman with a teenage daughter.  Some women have babies when they themselves are teens.  Most people don't choose to condemn that, so the NYT including the mother's age wouldn't be "yellow journalism."  Also, for someone like yourself who is so rigidly anti-abortion to look down on a teen mother seems strange.  Why not celebrate that she decided to give birth to that child?

ml1 said:
I suppose it's something of a positive development that outside of Trump's hypnotized base, virtually everyone is well aware that the president will do nothing but lie in his speech tonight.
You can't fool all of the people all of the time.

 It will be the standard Republican (or is it Trump party now?) script. Fear and anger. Be afraid of the criminal hordes crossing our border. Be angry that the Democrats are allowing it. Realize that this rises to the level of a national emergency. But trust me to fix it.

FDR: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

GOP: "The only thing we have to give is fear itself."

BG9 said:
FDR: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
GOP: "The only thing we have to give is fear itself."

DJT: "I have the best fears, believe me!"

South_Mountaineer said:
From Speaker Pelosi --
"Now that the television networks have decided to air @realDonaldTrump’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime."
https://twitter.com/speakerpelosi/status/1082451281967570951?s=21

 If they are given the time I hope they pick Dave as the spokesperson based on his last post.

joanne said:
So, the President and his administration believe that the nation can afford to spend years finding ways to pay for the border Wall and its staffing etc, but can’t be bothered supporting the Washington community itself for its St Patrick’s Day parade??

 After antagonizing the Hispanics, Blacks and Jews, might as well alienate the Irish!

dave said:
I wonder if Trumpy will bring up the fact that two-thirds of the undocumented in the US don't cross the border on foot, but by plane on holidays or for university and overstay their visas; or whose flights are paid for by farmers during harvest and then won't be able to return to Mexico because of a wall; or that the wall makes us look like East Berlin to the world; or that much of the geography won't accommodate a wall; or that the drugs that flow in from down south come through at border check points hidden in legal cargo; or that the real cost as estimated by MIT for a 100% coverage wall is closer to $31 billion; or that ladders are light and go up and down walls; or that recent flooding in Arizona wiped out large parts of the high steel walls there; or the maintenance costs; or that tech and human surveilance are more effective means of border control.   Nah, he and his Republican flunkies are money-wasting dopes.

They're money wasting but not dopes. This wall is the Republican play book of fear and anger at its best. A created crisis. They really have nothing else to offer to the masses. Use fear and anger to get the masses to vote against their interest.

Everything else is bs for enrich the top .1%. The national debt - see how quickly that concern went out the window when they took over.

 STANV said:

South_Mountaineer said:
From Speaker Pelosi --
"Now that the television networks have decided to air @realDonaldTrump’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime."
https://twitter.com/speakerpelosi/status/1082451281967570951?s=21

 If they are given the time I hope they pick Dave as the spokesperson based on his last post.

joanne said:
So, the President and his administration believe that the nation can afford to spend years finding ways to pay for the border Wall and its staffing etc, but can’t be bothered supporting the Washington community itself for its St Patrick’s Day parade??

 After antagonizing the Hispanics, Blacks and Jews, might as well alienate the Irish!

 There is an equivalency disconnect in Joanne’s comment. Also, there is the issue that St Patrick is a Roman Catholic Saint!

As far as a DNC rebuttal, I vote that their brand new, potty-mouth representative be given the job.   

Question for ml1: you often respond as though representing a group — lots of “us” verbiage in your posts. Whom are you speaking for, and, likewise, who are the outsiders on the blog? I am able to cope with the verbal abuse, but I wonder if there are any “others” out there who are intimidated? 

If I am,indeed, the only “other” around, than I say Hooray! I always believed I was rather unique! 

mtierney said:
Question for ml1: you often respond as though representing a group — lots of “us” verbiage in your posts. Whom are you speaking for, and, likewise, who are the outsiders on the blog? I am able to cope with the verbal abuse, but I wonder if there are any “others” out there who are intimidated? 
If I am,indeed, the only “other” around, than I say Hooray! I always believed I was rather unique! 

 all the other people commenting here on the article 

and my replies to you are very, very far from "abuse."

mtierney said:

As far as a DNC rebuttal, I vote that their brand new, potty-mouth representative be given the job.   

I disagree.  I don't care for potty-mouths of any stripe and just because you support a vulgar, racist misogynist doesn't mean it is right to counter vulgarity with vulgarity.  I still believe Michelle Obama was right to say "when they go low, we go high".

tjohn said:

mtierney said:

As far as a DNC rebuttal, I vote that their brand new, potty-mouth representative be given the job.   

I disagree.  I don't care for potty-mouths of any stripe and just because you support a vulgar, racist misogynist doesn't mean it is right to counter vulgarity with vulgarity.  I still believe Michelle Obama was right to say "when they go low, we go high".

I have to believe that anyone given a prime time slot to speak to the nation will avoid profanity in his/her speech.  I also believe that if the president does his usual and lies his face off tonight, that "going high" shouldn't preclude the use of the word "lied."

ml1 said:

tjohn said:

mtierney said:

As far as a DNC rebuttal, I vote that their brand new, potty-mouth representative be given the job.   

I disagree.  I don't care for potty-mouths of any stripe and just because you support a vulgar, racist misogynist doesn't mean it is right to counter vulgarity with vulgarity.  I still believe Michelle Obama was right to say "when they go low, we go high".

I have to believe that anyone given a prime time slot to speak to the nation will avoid profanity in his/her speech.  I also believe that if the president does his usual and lies his face off tonight, that "going high" shouldn't preclude the use of the word "lied."

They might use multisyllabic  synonyms for "lie", just to go over the heads of Trump's base.    

dave said:
I wonder if Trumpy will bring up the fact that two-thirds of the undocumented in the US don't cross the border on foot, but by plane on holidays or for university and overstay their visas; or whose flights are paid for by farmers during harvest and then won't be able to return to Mexico because of a wall; or that the wall makes us look like East Berlin to the world; or that much of the geography won't accommodate a wall; or that the drugs that flow in from down south come through at border check points hidden in legal cargo; or that the real cost as estimated by MIT for a 100% coverage wall is closer to $31 billion; or that ladders are light and go up and down walls; or that recent flooding in Arizona wiped out large parts of the high steel walls there; or the maintenance costs; or that tech and human surveilance are more effective means of border control.   Nah, he and his Republican flunkies are money-wasting dopes.

All that is true and I expect that's how the Democrats will respond. But that's been said before and its really a weak response.

Democrats need to be assertive. Speak truth.

Start by saying that the Republican party and Trump are using fear and hate. State that as Americans we're supposedly above fear.

Then say that Trump ran on the promise to have Mexico build his useless wall. So why even ask the American taxpayer for the money?

Point out that we the Democrats, will pass bills in the house to fund departments, one by one. For example, funding the Treasury department. And If McConnel refuses to post the bill in the senate then run adverts and on talk show asking "The Republicans are preventing us from getting our tax refunds, why?". You can do that with other departments like agriculture, telling farmers their aid is being prevented by the Republicans.

nohero said:

ml1 said:

tjohn said:

mtierney said:

As far as a DNC rebuttal, I vote that their brand new, potty-mouth representative be given the job.   

I disagree.  I don't care for potty-mouths of any stripe and just because you support a vulgar, racist misogynist doesn't mean it is right to counter vulgarity with vulgarity.  I still believe Michelle Obama was right to say "when they go low, we go high".

I have to believe that anyone given a prime time slot to speak to the nation will avoid profanity in his/her speech.  I also believe that if the president does his usual and lies his face off tonight, that "going high" shouldn't preclude the use of the word "lied."

They might use multisyllabic  synonyms for "lie", just to go over the heads of Trump's base.    

 I see you, now, use potty talk! Who would have thunk it? Multisyllabic, in deed. A way for calling folks ignoramuses or hayseeds? Not nice.  

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/msnbc-to-air-obamas-2004-convention-speech-during-trumps-address-to-nation

Eh, I am not a lawyer, but isn't this pretty much the definition of collusion?

And bear in mind, this is not all the evidence, this is just the stuff that was "accidentally" leaked by Manafort's lawyers.

"Manafort discussed a Ukrainian peace plan with Kilimnik, his lawyers acknowledged. He also shared polling data related to the 2016 presidential campaign with Kilimnik, Manafort's legal team acknowledges in their court filing."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/08/politics/manafort-russia-court-deadline/index.html

“”equivalency disconnect”? I don’t understand what you mean, nor do I see what you’re reading in what I posted. 

A community parade, especially one that has been staged annually for several decades, binds the community especially in divisive or fearful times. It helps to remind everyone of the values they share, and the creativity and heroes living in their community. 

Projects like festivals and parades makes communities stronger. Funding for these projects reminds the volunteers that the work they do is acknowledged and valued by the government authorities that provide the daily infrastructure everyone lives in and abides by. 

I am aware that St Patrick’s Day can be viewed as a religious observance, and there’s another thread discussing funding of such endeavours. However this is also a cultural and communal calendar marker beyond a liturgical significance.

Supporting government workers, families and the Washington community by supporting the St Patrick’s Day parade is a relatively small and simple way to thank them and build strong secure networks in the nation’s capitol. I thought the president loves parades.

Leaving aside the monuments and government buildings, DC itself has always been a bit of a red-headed stepchild:  lots of poverty, no vote in national elections (or did that change recently?), no voting representation in Congress....

Looking for anything to watch tonight at 9pm? https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/8/stormy-daniels-fold-laundry-her-underwear-instagra/