The Donald J. Trump Presidency

Trump is owed a wall.

What the fuck is the matter with people.

Every day I think about straight up bodyslamming Mitch McConnell in the street.

I don't really care about my future anymore but even attempting this would be emotionally devastating to my loved ones and absolutely put them in harm's way so it's just never going to happen.

tjenz wrote:I'm all for building the wall.

Just as soon as the money to pay for it starts rolling in from Mexico.  Until then, no wall.  

I'm 99% certain this is a joke but could you please confirm it for me?

It's a joke.

JK

shit

Yep.

Really hoping Breyer and RBG are in good health.

A little darker each and every day. God damn.

I know Kennedy gets the "swing" label a lot but it's worth keeping in mind this is likely a lateral move. That's assuming the Democrats can't stonewall indefinitely, which they should probably try to do, because the gloves are off. But even if the GOP avoids another Gorsuch and finds a plausible Alito clone, that will just push RINO Roberts into the Kennedy position in many cases.

Also people should brace themselves for Thomas' retirement before 2020 to ensure GOP gets to extend that seat by 30 years. Con, if you are a LOPP progressive, court swings conservative for a generation; pro, Thomas is insane (per Scalia, not a kneejerk lib position) and any bog standard Heritage Foundation pick is a tangible upgrade.

Bigger picture insanity is the political logic that comes out of lifetime appointments. Made sense to founding fathers when life expectancy was 35 (counting infant mortality, etc.) Not so much now when an 81-year-old can shock the nation by walking away from his job.

https://twitter.com/OrinKerr/status/1012193254039678977

Of all the idiotic things about governance and elections in this country, the Supreme Court is probably the dumbest.

Hypothetically speaking, what functions would an accountable, monitored, compassionate ICE actually perform?

Which is to say, I am all for abolishing ICE but I would like to know what essential duties it’s supposed to perform that would then have to fall to some other department.

I love the sound of Abolish ICE but I want to know what it would mean, other than suddenly rendering thousands (?) of authoritarian-types unemployed and eternally vengeful.

Hmm... most of ICE came from INS + Customs Services, right? I mean, assuming no one is in favor of completely open borders, you need some kind of force doing that stuff. Even if you wanted to liberalize immigration policy you would definitely want to process/track everyone on some level. You might even be employing MORE people.

Maybe moving ICE out of Homeland Security entirely would make its tone more administrative/law enforcement rather than incarceratory/pseudo-military. I think "abolish ICE" is just a lot catchier than "reform ICE."

I'd be surprised if the average ICE employee is especially "authoritarian," unless of course you think law enforcement generally is (which may well be a LOPPinion). But I don't think most of these people, like, turned down private sector jobs so they could do this work because it's "meaner." I think authoritarianism by it's nature is going to be top-down policy rather than something expressed at the level of individual workers.

Beyond Abolishing ICE, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should've never been created and could be abolished as well. Roll all those functions back to their original department. DHS is "War on Terror" bullshit that we absolutely do not need.

ICE investigation agents lurking LOPP?

https://www.texasobserver.org/ice-hsi-letter-kirstjen-nielsen-criminal-civil-deportation-zero-tolerance/

Guess who had a handgun pulled on him by a raving lunatic Trump supporter at a 4th of July barbecue, today.  Hint: it was not Andy T.  It was, in fact, me.

Dude was really pissed off about the Illuminati, the Jews, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and especially Maxine Waters for taking his murder weapons away, putting on all the fake mass shootings, and causing today's widespread riots (which I'm sure you all read about in the news, as they were so widespread and riotous).

I think America's done.  I shudder to think what would've happened if I'd actually been engaged in a conversation or, yikes, debate with this dude.  I just listened politely and then, obviously, got the fuck outta there.

Sorry man, sounds terrifying. What was the context? He just wanted to show everyone that he had one and he thought pointing it at someone was horseplay?

His exact words, before he reached into his waistband to pull out the murder weapon and start pretending to blow me, several kids, and a number of elderly ladies away, were, "When that Clinton bitch comes for my murder weapons, you know what I'm gonna do?" This is where he started pointing and pretending to shoot.  "Because it's my constitutional right!"

Safety did not appear to be on, no, but I was, admittedly, so blinded by rage that I may've been mistaken.

But no, not horseplay. Dude was a live wire.