Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Oops - your Trump presidency discussion thread
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
You'll need Post access to see this, but the flagship paper has a major story today analyzing Trump's Russian weakness. He cannot, emotionally or psychologically, admit that the Russians meddled in the election; he has to have won because of his own wonderfulness and charisma. And therefore he cannot contemplate Russian interference. And so nothing is being done about it, which means that over in Moscow they're busily organizing for next time while no one is defending the ramparts.
This is a major story, Pulitzer quality material.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
If you click at just the right moment to stop the page from loading, you can still get the article before the splash screen comes up asking you to subscribe.
-------------------- "I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
If you have a card to your local public library, use it at the library web site to log in. Often you can access many newspapers through their portal, since they subscribe. And, if you have a .mil or .edu address, Jeff Bezos will give you a Post subscription.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Crœsos
Shipmate
# 238
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Brenda Clough: You'll need Post access to see this, but the flagship paper has a major story today analyzing Trump's Russian weakness. He cannot, emotionally or psychologically, admit that the Russians meddled in the election; he has to have won because of his own wonderfulness and charisma. And therefore he cannot contemplate Russian interference. And so nothing is being done about it, which means that over in Moscow they're busily organizing for next time while no one is defending the ramparts.
A competing analysis is that Trump is guilty of some pretty big offenses relating to Russia and the 2016 election and is thus very motivated to shut down any discussion of the subject. I'm not sure we can definitely say whether Trump's behavior is due to a fragile ego or evidence of a cover-up (and it could very well be both!), but it's kind of amazing that the very simple explanation that Trump doesn't want to talk about Russia because he's hiding something doesn't even seem to be considered in most media accounts.
-------------------- Humani nil a me alienum puto
Posts: 10706 | From: Sardis, Lydia | Registered: May 2001
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Ohher
Shipmate
# 18607
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Posted
Out of curiosity, I wonder if T's borrowing bucks from Russia pre-run is a legal problem (beyond the fact that such debt, if it exists, could potentially render him vulnerable to blackmail by a hostile power)? That is, are US businesses permitted to borrow funds from just anybody, or are there restrictions on private business transactions involving governments with whom the US is at odds?
And I wonder if that's what hiding his tax returns is all about?
-------------------- From the Land of the Native American Brave and the Home of the Buy-One-Get-One-Free
Posts: 374 | From: New Hampshire, USA | Registered: Jun 2016
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
@Croesos
I agree. It's probably both, as you say, but I am sure he's hiding something, rather than just being vain.
-------------------- Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The tax returns are key; without them we'll probably never now how hard the Russians are squeezing his balls. 300 days, to November 2018.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
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Posted
I suspect the big thing is the likelihood that Trump's main business for the past two decades has been laundering money for Russian and Kazakh gangsters. His role was probably pretty passive, but it's unlikely he didn't know what was going on. There was a pretty well-sourced Financial Times story a few years ago that pointed in that direction.
-------------------- When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion. - C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Can someone put any perspective at all on this? quote: Trump administration officials are forbidding officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases... in any official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.
(...) The forbidden words are: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
Especially arresting is the suggestion that quote: Instead of “science-based” or “evidence-based,” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes,”
Any precedents? Any defensible reasons? Romanlion, care to comment?
-------------------- Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
That is horrid. Echoes of 1984. Here, from the Appendix, is a telling quote
quote: The particularities of Newspeak make it impossible to translate most older English (oldspeak) texts into the language; the introduction of the Declaration of Independence, for instance, can be translated only into a single word: crimethink.
[ 17. December 2017, 06:58: Message edited by: Barnabas62 ]
-------------------- Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
The banning of these words makes me wonder how long until the burning of science books begins.
As so many have mentioned, every time I think things can't get worse, something like this happens. This is terrifying.
-------------------- Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
They won't be burning the Bible, though.
Well, not the King James Authorised Version, of course - all the rest will be consigned to the flames, I daresay.
Gropo the Great's America is becoming almost surreal in its hideousness. You couldn't make it up.
IJ
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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romanlion
editorial comment
# 10325
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Eutychus: Can someone put any perspective at all on this? quote: Trump administration officials are forbidding officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases... in any official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.
(...) The forbidden words are: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
Especially arresting is the suggestion that quote: Instead of “science-based” or “evidence-based,” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes,”
Any precedents? Any defensible reasons? Romanlion, care to comment?
Ecclesiastes 1:9
-------------------- "You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook" - Harry S. Truman
Posts: 1486 | From: White Rose City | Registered: Sep 2005
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Which readeth:
Ecclesiastes 1:9 King James Version (KJV)
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
YMMV.
IJ
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Romanlion you earlier alleged that a Trump presidency would have no impact on your life. This policy is likely to have a negative effect on public health. Do you still feel unaffected?
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
that romanlion's Elf remains good, under the Pussygrabber President's regime...
IJ
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Administration policies should all be perfectly fine for you, as long as:
- you don't plan to retire - you don't ever get sick or disabled - you can afford your own birth control - you can, always and into the future, support all your own children, who must naturally never get sick or be disabled. Ditto your aged parents. - you never lose your job (ideally you do not need to work, having inherited wealth) - you are white, and ideally male and older.
Easy! Let us not repine, but contemplate these new beatitudes and be grateful we don't have to deal with those old ones any more.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Public health policy can impact your health even if you're otherwise healthy. It's to do with things like disease prevention and the social determinants of health. Worse general public health is bad for the economy, nurtures crime, and impacts society in general. [ 16. December 2017, 16:28: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
-------------------- Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Mr. Obama probably appreciated that, but Pussygrabber? Hah!
IJ
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Stephen
Shipmate
# 40
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Posted
Isn't he coming over here next year? Perhaps someone could shut him in the Tower and accidentally on purpose lose the key? Trouble is you've got to pay to get in these days!
-------------------- Best Wishes Stephen
'Be still,then, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth' Ps46 v10
Posts: 3954 | From: Alto C Clef Country | Registered: May 2001
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Stephen: Isn't he coming over here next year? Perhaps someone could shut him in the Tower and accidentally on purpose lose the key? Trouble is you've got to pay to get in these days!
I will happily pay if you promise to keep him there.
-------------------- "...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe." ~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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ChaliceGirl
Shipmate
# 13656
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Pigwidgeon: quote: Originally posted by Stephen: Isn't he coming over here next year? Perhaps someone could shut him in the Tower and accidentally on purpose lose the key? Trouble is you've got to pay to get in these days!
I will happily pay if you promise to keep him there.
-------------------- The Episcopal Church Welcomed Me.
"Welcome home." ++Katharine Jefferts Schori to me on 29Mar2009. My KJS fansite & chicksinpointyhats
Posts: 710 | From: Philadelphia, PA, USA | Registered: Apr 2008
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Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378
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Posted
I have been reading a book on Grant by Ron Chernow and am wading through the history of the presidency of Andrew Johnson In many ways Johnson and Drump are very similar. Both are white nationalist sympathizers, both were out touch with reality. Both have been candidates for impeachment. It would seem to me if Congress flips to Democrat, there will be a very strong movement to impeach Trump. I think there is also grounds to impeach Pence since he lied to the Congress. That would leave the Speaker of the House as next in line. Paul Ryan has hinted very strongly he is retiring, and if Congress goes Democrat, that would mean the likes of Nancy Pelosi could become president by default.
Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I was thinking on the way home from church...
What if all fifty states decided as one to secede? We could stay right where we are and set up as the New U. S. of A. or some such, and leave T. stranded on a little island of No-Longer-Our-Government. If the whole country secedes, is it really a secession?
-------------------- Er, this is what I've been up to (book). Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
They're laying the ground-work to fire Mueller during the holiday news lull.
(I'm not sure that Henry II invented the trick where you get rid of the political enemy during Christmas when no one is paying attention, but it's been a solid go-to since at least 1170.)
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan: They're laying the ground-work to fire Mueller during the holiday news lull.
The one thing people learn from history ....
.... is that people do not learn from history.
But I suppose Trump is not really "people", is he?
Here is a nice quote from the first link.
quote: First, Trump has a very strong motive to fire Mueller: He is probably guilty.
Firing Mueller would pretty much confirm that. But it still leaves open whether the present GOP would step up to the plate. Now that's a good question.
-------------------- Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
They were set to seat a pedophile in the Senate last week, so extrapolate from there...
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
How can someone get this far?
I can't watch the video. I feel for him.
quote: However, Senator Kennedy said in an interview on Monday that Mr Trump called him on Saturday and said he did not personally interview Petersen and said his staff had chosen the nominees.
"He has told me, 'Kennedy, when some of my guys send someone who is not qualified, you do your job,'" the senator said.
His staff have a lot to answer for. Doubt this can be pinned on the Groping Orange Menace (or can it? do Presidents often take a hands-on role here?), but surely some basic suitability check would be done.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
If Petersen had any sense of dignity, he would simply have said, "Excuse me, gentlemen, but I'd like to withdraw my name from consideration" and would have left the room.
-------------------- "I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Truman had a sign, 'The Buck Stops Here.' Crooked Don should have seen to it that his staff did its job. We assume here that he cannot do the work himself. To pass the blame to them does not excuse him in the slightest. Can't he take half an hour off from tweeting and groping to do the job he swore to do?
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
Trump. The Beast's Prophet? This is a declaration of war, sorry defence through the rampant arsenal of nationalist capitalism. Isn't it intriguing that in The Apocalypse it's the environment that fights back? [ 19. December 2017, 13:53: Message edited by: Martin60 ]
-------------------- Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Well, not the end of Christianity in toto , but perhaps the end of that pernicious simulacrum* of Christianity purveyed by the right-wing conservatives....
....in which case, no bad thing IMHO.
IJ
*A lovely word. I've been trying to find a use for it all week.
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Dear God. What a ghastly vision.
America, rise up! And GET RID OF THESE BASTARDS!
IJ
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Stephen
Shipmate
# 40
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Bishops Finger: Dear God. What a ghastly vision.
America, rise up! And GET RID OF THESE BASTARDS!
IJ
It is ghastly Bishops Finger and a reason I suspect why Dickens wrote 'Christmas Carol' to begin with
Getting rid of them is easier said than done in a democratic country and besides which we've got a few like that ourselves......
I would however recommend a perusal of the Book of Amos which contains naught for their comfort and of course the Magnificat. I'm sure Blessed Mary would also have a thing or three to say about it!!
-------------------- Best Wishes Stephen
'Be still,then, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth' Ps46 v10
Posts: 3954 | From: Alto C Clef Country | Registered: May 2001
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Yes, I was getting Rather Heated when I posted in such immoderate terms.
As you rightly say, easier said than done.
IJ
-------------------- Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
300 days. Election day 2018.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
Big surprise, but I might as well post that the tax bill passed the house.
-------------------- On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Brenda Clough: Trump-related only, but Crooked Don is presiding over the end of Christianity in this country. White American Christianity is dying of fear.
Superb Brenda. The arc is long, but there is hope. Once all the dross is burned away, real Christianity will shine in the ash.
-------------------- Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Martin60: Superb Brenda. The arc is long, but there is hope. Once all the dross is burned away, real Christianity will shine in the ash.
I admire your optimism. Wish I had it.
I don't doubt a Glorious Revolution - for some time; but power will get to people's heads, as it always has. Or so thinks cynical me. I think we can but hope for a few faithful witnesses.
Sorry to be a downer.
Posts: 7800 | From: On the border | Registered: Jul 2001
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Nicolemr: Big surprise, but I might as well post that the tax bill passed the house.
Yesterday I finally did something I'd never done before -- called one of the Senators from my state (I refuse to call him "my Senator"). Senator Flake was supposedly still undecided yesterday, so I called and spoke with his voicemail. The other Senator from the Great State of Arizona is John McCain, who recuperating from his cancer treatment here in Arizona and won't be there for the vote. (I seriously doubt that he'll be going back to Washington at all.)
-------------------- "...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe." ~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
No, poor man, I think this is the end for him even though he won't admit it. And in more local news, my state of Virginia has just flipped the state legislature. After weeks of recounting, it came down to =one= vote! The Post analysis: "Their victory was confirmed when Democrat Shelly Simonds won a recount Tuesday for a seat in the Virginia House by just one vote. A judicial panel needs to certify the results on Wednesday, but Democrats are claiming victory. That means Republicans and Democrats will have a rare tie in that chamber — something even the most optimistic Democrats didn't think was possible going into last month's election. Republicans had held the majority in this statehouse for two decades, and before last month, they controlled 66 out of 100 seats. After Tuesday, both sides hold 50 seats."
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
I really hope this link works: From Russia with Love.
-------------------- "...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe." ~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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simontoad
Ship's Amphibian
# 18096
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Posted
There was talk of not seating the new Democrat senator until after the vote on the tax thing. Is that still the case?
Its no surprise I suppose. McConnell is a master of the dark art of process.
-------------------- Human
Posts: 1571 | From: Romsey, Vic, AU | Registered: May 2014
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