How ANYONE in their right mind would think that TGs and the US Military would be a good fit is beyond me...

"We're here to preserve democracy. Not to practice it."
-Gene Hackman, CRIMSON TIDE

I think Kelly's tenure may be brief.

I'll quote you on that..

Can you give me a definitive number?? :D

Sound familiar???

How AWESOME would it be if California were to succeed to secede!!!

I, for one, whole-heartedly support California in this!! :D

NOT-45 could be their President!!! :D

{groan}

Just what we need in the White House..

Religion....
{/sarcasm}

:^/

Agency officials admit that the problem with instruments recording low temperatures likely happened in several locations throughout Australia, but they refuse to admit to manipulating temperature readings. The BOM located missing logs in Goulburn and the Snow Mountains, both of which are in New South Wales.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/31/australia-weather-bureau-caught-tampering-with-climate-numbers/

Yea... We can trust the hysterical and fanatical Global Warming "scientists".....

What could go wrong!!?? :^/

My wild guess is 3 months, tops, and Kelly will be gone, one way or another.

You KNOW I am going to hold ya to that. :D

I am glad to see you have adopted the Handy Dandy, Trusty Dusty, Patent Pending Michale Method For When You Are Wrong In Weigantia...

Own it, Admit it, Laugh at it and Move on..

If more Weigantians adopted it, things would be a lot less bloody around here...

If yer gonna go, go BIG... :D

If Kelly resigns or gets fired I think it will mean a whole lot more than Mooch getting the boot. Everyone thought Mooch was an unpleasant sort of joke. Kelly ain't that. He's unpleasant but far from a joke.

But things will look good for awhile before they go sour. 45 isn't gonna like being kept on a leash, though, and I don't think he'll tolerate it for long. Plus, his whole modus operandi is to deflect attention from things like the Russia probe by doing horrible and outrageous things and he will be bursting to lash out.

My wild guess is 3 months, tops, and Kelly will be gone, one way or another.

It looked to me that what happened is Mooch did two things that would have made the President happy. First he took care of letting the faithful know that the Boss had decided to whack Rinsie, but didn't say when. Then he took care of it on an airfield ramp in the rain. Kind of like when Louis whacks the Nazi and he and Bogey stroll off across the airfield ramp in the fog.

What I missed is a bigger reality. It should have been fresh in my mind. I was chatting with michale the other day about an elite that will not suffer irregularity when given Command over units that need shaping up: Marines.

He was just a pawn to force Spicer out?
His NewYorker interview?
His still unsold business?
New Chief O' Staff Kelly?

I think Kelly's tenure may be brief. Kelly will demand chain of command discipline from Trump. Trump doesn't like discipline....isn't capable of discipline. Trump likes to play staff against each other. There is the nepotism problem. The Tweeting.

Trump may have shuffled his feet and sworn to be good for the General, but he'll cross a line and Kelly will resign.

Wrong, but at least spectacularly wrong.

Not wrong about G.G.R. though. At least one op ed and a New Republic piece. Evidently SNL had it first, with Baldwin playing Blake berating Santa's elves. Morning Joe had a clip today.

Or, in this case, in SPITE of his predecessor... :D

Galileo!

Heh

:D

Yea, but it was a breath of fresh air.. :D

<B"She's a breath of fresh ass.. I mean a breast of fresh air.."
-Kevin Kline, WILD WILD WEST

:D

Galileo!

I guess that telling literally everyone that they could all fuck themselves didn't work out for him.

If the White House had a communications director, he could be explaining this, but I guess we'll just have to watch Sarah Huckabee-Sanders stammer through another uninformative press call filled with 'I dunno's' instead.

We'll miss the Mooch.

hehehehehehehehehehehehehe

Now THAT was funny!!! :D

i guess scaramouche couldn't do the fandango after all. perhaps all the thunderbolts and lightning were very very frightening.

JL

So, you agree that President Trump did good.. Awesome.. :D

But things haven't been 'normal' for months now.

Now yer trying to sweet-talk me because I have been saying that since Trump declared his candidacy... :D

I don't recall anyone saying anything like that.

Of course you don't recall that.. You *NEVER* recall ANYTHING that puts Dumbocrats in a bad light...

So let me again mention something GOOD that Trump has done lately: he just signed a bill that limits his (or anyone else's) ability to fire the Special Prosecutor without judicial review. That's good.

Logically, reality is somewhere in the middle.

Now you're trying to sweet-talk me, because normally, that would be my mantra. But things haven't been 'normal' for months now. Scandals that would have sunk any other presidency are now third or fourth on the list of 'Hideous, Criminal or Outrageous Things We Can Do Today' at the White House. For this president, reality is somewhere way over there, off the screen.

Just the morons who said that [the ACA] was going to be the best thing in the world.

I don't recall anyone saying anything like that. Even today, with the ACA being more popular than ever, the best that can be said about it is that it's better than anything the GOP has proposed (except that it was a Republican idea in the first place). I do recall that the left was so upset that the bill didn't include a public option that they adopted the stupid plan of sitting out the next election, which led to the GOP/Tea Party wave of 2010.

Now the military guy is fully and completely in charge...

Perfect!! :D

No more Bohemian Rhapsody jokes. :( Bummer heheheehehehe

I am also constrained to point out that if NOT-45 had one, this recovery and confidence would *NEVER* have happened..

So, this recovery belongs to President Trump and it's a *REAL* recovery, not that abysmal faux-recovery that Obama and Biden touted...

however, if donald manages not to screw it up by february,

Uh... It's July... :D

The albatross that is TrainWreckCare is around the necks of EVERY Democrat in the country..

And when it implodes and leaves HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of Americans without health insurance right before the 2018 midterms???

WHO do you think that Americans are going to blame??

They are going to blame the greedy morons who came up with TrainWreckCare and FORCED it on an unwilling public...

Nope.. Just the morons who said that TrainWreckCare was going to be the best thing in the world...

JL

Sure. And then they'll blame the Democrats for rainy days, fallen soufflés, ringworm, poor posture, the guy who keeps taking their parking space, clap on/clap off ads, and the sinking of the Titanic.

WOW....

Just WOW.....

President Trump is doing A-OK and patriotic Americans are simply tickled pink... :D

You lost... Get over it...

No, yer just displaying yer penchant to concentrate on the bad, spin it like crazy and ignore the good...

Of course, in response, I do the same thing without the spin..

Logically, reality is somewhere in the middle..

President Trump is doing an OK job... :D

Yep. Against this background:

* failed attempt to repeal ACA

* no new tax regime of any kind

* veto-proof bill to limit the powers of the prez

* virtually no new legislation of any sort

Seems to me that Wall Street is celebrating Trump's inability to actually govern.

In 2005, Florida hit a spate of major hurricanes.. 5 or 6 in the span of a couple months...

In 2006, Al Gore and the rest of the Global Warming fanatics jumped on the Fear Monger bandwagon and proclaimed that 2005 was going to the "the norm" as far as hurricanes go...

Now, I just have to laugh my ass off... Because it's been almost **TWELVE YEARS** since a major hurricane has made landfall...

**TWELVE YEARS**

This is *EXACTLY* why it is IMPOSSIBLE to take the Global Warming fanatics seriously..

They have been WRONG about EVERY PREDICTION made....

With THAT kind of track record, I find it hard to believe how ANYONE with more than 2 brain cells to rub together would buy into the Global Warming con...

Oh.. And say hello to Tropical Storm Emily... :D

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT06/refresh/AL062017_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind+png/120350_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png

Tropical Storm.. pffftt.. I don't even get out of bed for anything less than a Cat 2....

And you have yet to explain exactly how I can be a bigot when I am applying the exact same restriction to *ALL* groups and *ANY* groups..

This fact completely negates ANY accusations of bigotry..

You might as well call me "FISH" for all the logic and rationale of the accusation...

Dow hits record high as Wall Street cheers strong earnings season
Seventy-three percent of the S&P 500 companies that had reported as of Friday had topped estimates on both the top and bottom lines, according to data from FactSet.

These results have allowed the stock market to keep notching record highs, one strategist says.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/31/us-stocks-earnings-season.html

Making America Great Again..

Ya'all simply CANNOT deny the FACTS and REALITY any longer...

And you are simply INCAPABLE of finding ANY combat veteran that would disagree with that assessment..

ESPECIALLY when President Trump withholds the illegal subsidies to the Insurance companies... :D

Do ya think the electorate will blame Democrats for this?

Absolutely... :D

Indeed, Dems oughta wake up every morning and give a small 'thanks' to the hapless GOP for having made Obamacare more popular than ever over

Cite???

Enjoy your pyrrhic victory, M, because that's all it is.

Whatever you have to tell yourself to get thru the day... :D

The fact is, I kicked Russ' ass on this debate... You can spin that anyways you want to, but.... as you say..

It's a victory for me..

The pentagon has made clear that they're not about to riff out 15,000 honorably serving forces,

Cite???

You got a bunch of ludicrous claims and, like Russ, absolutely NO FACTS to back them up..

Enjoy your pyrrhic victory, M, because that's all it is. The pentagon has made clear that they're not about to riff out 15,000 honorably serving forces, and there's neither time nor interest in the congress to change the law to forbid them from serving, regardless of how much the lunatic wing cries or stomps their feet.

Here's the follow up article

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/31/goog-j31.html

Here are a few excerpts-

"In a blog post published on April 25, Ben Gomes, Google’s chief search engineer, rolled out the new censorship program in a statement bearing the Orwellian title, “Our latest quality improvements for search.” This statement has been virtually buried by the corporate media. Neither the New York Times nor the Wall Street Journal has reported the statement. The Washington Post limited its coverage of the statement to a single blog post.

Framed as a mere change to technical procedures, Gomes’s statement legitimizes Internet censorship as a necessary response to “the phenomenon of ‘fake news,’ where content on the web has contributed to the spread of blatantly misleading, low quality, offensive or downright false information.”

"Significantly, Gomes does not provide any clear definition, let alone concrete examples, of any of these loaded terms (“fake news,” “blatantly misleading,” “low quality, “offensive,” and “down right false information.”)"

"Gomes revealed that Google has recruited some 10,000 “evaluators” to judge the “quality” of various web domains. The company has “evaluators—real people who assess the quality of Google’s search results—give us feedback on our experiments.”"

-
-

Got that?
A "technical change" using input from people they chose (not a technical change), using criteria they won't share, and without giving any examples to substantiate their claims.

And, again, the whole fake news outrage was not about content from left leaning sites.
It was about fabrications disseminated by right wing sites and spread through social media supposedly affecting the election.

It's a bait and switch to hurt left leaning sites who reported factually accurate stories that were perhaps politically harmful to the establishment... but not fake news.

A

Do ya think the electorate will blame Democrats for this? Not after last week's fiasco. Statements that the Dems "own this" ring hollower than the liberty bell when you control both houses of congress and the executive branch.

Indeed, Dems oughta wake up every morning and give a small 'thanks' to the hapless GOP for having made Obamacare more popular than ever over the course of the last few months. Bernie bros should give thanks that the 'public option' and single payer are more popular than ever, and that, as a result, some version of either (or both) will likely be included in some future version of America's health care plans. We have Trump/Republican incompetence to thank for that. Hallelujah.

And your ENTIRE assessment is based SOLELY on the *fact* that I just kicked your ass in a military-related debate..

:D

I'm not following.
You posted the numbers that showed the massive drop in search related visits and the drop in rankings which occurred directly after Google made the changes, and continue to try to claim other reasons, none of which are substantiated, are to blame... "Could it be that the drop in traffic is the result of people just not liking what they are offering?"
Why are you offering alternate ideas for the results without any evidence, and dismissing the actual evidence... the search change as announced publicly by Google?
That doesn't make any sense.

"So I have a hard time accepting that Google is out to get them."

You detailed the cause and effect yourself.
The change Google made resulted in the massive drop.

You didn't post a link to the article you're referencing, and I don't know that website, but here's what the initial article on WSWS itself said-

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/27/goog-j27.html

Note that the ACLU and Amnesty International were also affected.

And, while the article refers to searches related to "even just the word socialist", most searches are content related... and most of the journalism on WSWS is about current events, not socialism, so those searches shouldn't be affected... but they are.

"the sites were still showing up in the search returns; only they were pushed further down in the results list. And the article said that Google analytics showed that the site dropped from something like 14.9 to 35.6 in their placement on the results page for the one word search. Is that truly what you want to label as "censorship"?

It's not just one word searches, it's affecting all their searches, and if being pushed down in the search returns means fewer people see them, and it results in drastically fewer visits, that is effectively a means of censorship.

If that was your website, and a change made by Google resulted in a 70% decline in search related visits, wouldn't you call shenanigans?

If someone said, well, you're still getting 30% of the traffic so it's not censorship, would that make you accept that losing 70% is no big deal?

I'll post a follow up article in a minute.

A

And your counter argument hinged on your claim that I did not read the report and the stats I quoted were wrong or non-existent..

By your OWN rules, I just proved you are a lying troll...

:D

As far as I am concerned, you are lying about having ever served as well. I'm done having anything to do with you.

RUN AWAY!!! RUN AWAY!!!!! :D

And the next time a member of our military commits suicide, you be sure to send their widow a note telling them that their loved one shouldn't have been serving in the first place.

And once again, you get your ass kicked on a debate and make up a totally nonsensical argument to soothe yer bruised and crushed ego...

I accept your concession, Russ... :D

Your entire argument hinged on stats that you claimed came from somewhere in a 20+ page report which you conveniently failed to specify which page it could be found on. The stats are fictional! I posted the section with the stats regarding suicide. Your refusal to acknowledge that the you never bothered to see if the stats you were quoting were actually in the report you claimed they were from demonstrates an intent to deceive.

As far as I am concerned, you are lying about having ever served as well. I'm done having anything to do with you.

And the next time a member of our military commits suicide, you be sure to send their widow a note telling them that their loved one shouldn't have been serving in the first place.

Yea... TrainWreckCare is *AWESOME*!!! :^/

U.S. Companies Post Profit Growth Not Seen in Six Years
https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-washington-stalls-company-profits-keep-trucking-1501423201

Those who claim that President Trump hasn't accomplished anything are just betraying their Party/Ideological zealotry and are ignoring the facts and reality...

Debating someone who is completely ignorant of the issue is like dynamiting fish in a barrel..

"Jesus, you can be such an arrogant prick, ya know that!!"
-Weigantians

Hi, I'm Michale. Nice ta meetcha... :D

OK, fair enough.. THAT is a logical argument..

Of course, we both know that if the survey had gone YOUR way, you would be touting it to the high heavens...

But, let's go with the argument you are making rather than the reality of your thinking.....

Your right.. This one survey in and of itself is not conclusive...

So, what needs to happen is this..

A ban on TransAms needs to be instituted within the United States Military until such time as a comprehensive study can be done that addresses the issue of suicide contemplation amongst TransAms and their fitness to serve in the US Military...

Said ban would have a waiver program in place where TranAms can submit to closer scrutiny to determine their fitness to serve in the US Military on a case-by-case basis...

Would you agree with this??

Of course not.. Because you don't give a rat's ass about the US Military or this country..

All you want to do is push your Party/Ideological agenda at ANY cost...

Now, get me someone who has served in the military and has seen combat to debate this issue...

Debating someone who is completely ignorant of the issue is like dynamiting fish in a barrel..

KEY FINDINGS

More than two-thirds (71%) of respondents who have attempted suicide have done so more than once in their lifetime, with 46% of those who have attempted suicide reporting three or more attempts.
-PAGE 112
http://www.transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/USTS-Full-Report-FINAL.PDF

Do you want to concede you were wrong???

No???

Didna think so... :D

If by "excellent" defense, you mean running away because he can't refute the FACTS..

Yes..

He's doing an "excellent" defense of TransAms :D

The law-enforcement source added that past proposals to license the creatures went nowhere because most of the panhandlers are illegal immigrants and they wouldn’t register anyway. Besides, the administration at City Hall isn’t interested in going after illegals in this capacity, the source said.
http://nypost.com/2017/07/30/desnudas-have-gone-wild-in-times-square/

Once again, illegal immigrants flout the law and attack innocent people, including children and a Democrat refuses to do ANYTHING to protect his constituents..

But it's interesting...

I have the facts on my side but, because you think I am being a bigot, the facts don't matter..

JL, you wanna weigh in on this?? :D

CNN trying to fix their image..... :D

Too little, too late...

"No studying... hurrumph..."
-Peter Venkmen, GHOSTBUSTERS

Over 70% of the group have actually tried to commit suicide more than once...

Almost 50% of the group have actually tried to commit suicide three times or more...

And you SERIOUSLY think that TransAms have their shit together enough to serve in the US military!!????

You must live in a state where marijuana is legal because you are as high as a kite if you believe that, as a group, TransAms are fit to serve in the US military...

Why should I bother proving you wrong??

You never concede it.

You were wrong on the gang murders where innocent girls were hacked to death by gang bangers..

Did you acknowledge you were wrong???

No..

So, tell me.. Why should I bother???

It wouldn't matter if 100% of those surveyed said they had considered suicide at some point in their lives, because this is a survey. It carries no weight scientifically or legally!

ONLY because it says what you don't want to hear...

If this survey said that the percentage of suicide contemplation was LOWER than the national average, you would be touting it to the high heavens as PROOF POSITIVE that TransAms can serve...

Your bigotry continues to show.

And your ignorance continues to show..

How can it be bigotry if it applies to all groups equally???

Further, how do you explain the fact that, even if it IS bigotry, it's irrelevant to service in the US military...

Answer: You CAN'T explain it, ergo you just ignore it and hope it goes away.. :D

Com'on. You know me better than that!! :D

I posted the PDF...

And I posted what information was listed in the PDF regarding the topic of suicide. So I was correct that you didn't read it. I cannot find anywhere in that PDF where it claims 82% of all trans people have had thoughts of suicide.

ANY GROUP that has an 82% suicide contemplation rate is NOT eligible for service in the US Military..

You haven't shown that to be true. Even if 82% of those people surveyed claimed to have contemplated suicide, that doesn't mean that 82% of all trans individuals have contemplated suicide! Your "group" consists only of people that took the survey.

So there is no reason for me to continue this conversation if you are just creating numbers in your head.

It wouldn't matter if 100% of those surveyed said they had considered suicide at some point in their lives, because this is a survey. It carries no weight scientifically or legally!

Your bigotry continues to show.

You made the claim. You back it up...

Just to save you some work, it won't matter even if you DO find that one or two or three or five have served honorably and with distinction..

Because one or two (or three or five) exceptions do not negate the validity of the rule...

And the rule is that 82% of said group has contemplated suicide...

And THAT fact unequivocally and w/o ambiguity would disqualify **ANY** group from service in the US military...

You can't win this argument, Russ...

Get some military ringer in here to make your case.. :D

You see, that is what ya'all don't get...

Frak the Democrats, frak the Republicans frak everyone who wants to protect the DC Swamp..

Patriotic Americans are behind President Trump 1000%.....

And ya'all will continue to ignore that support, EXACTLY like ya'all did in the run-up to the 2106 election and ya'all will CONTINUE to get ya'all's ass handed to you....

Ya'all just don't get it... And likely never will...

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/20431446_1213538425416802_3878916330460219537_n.jpg?oh=c78ce207629c1960b111a15eda79245c&oe=59F080AD

"There is mimicry and there is mockery and THAT was definitely mockery."
-Dr Leonard McCoy, YESTERDAY'S SON

:D

Trans Americans is too lengthy to type out..

In the interests of brevity, can we just use the term Trans Ams?? :D

heh....

"I crack myself up.."
-Goose, TOP GUN

:D

So, let me see if I understand what you are saying..

You are not disputing the FACTS of the survey...

Your claim is that, because the survey was meant to SUPPORT and help the trans American community, it cannot be used AGAINST the trans American community...

Is that REALLY your claim!!

So, in other words, FACTS don't matter one iota... PROCEDURE is paramount...

Do you comprehend how utterly RIDICULOUS that argument is???

Do you know what DISCOVERY is?? I mean in the legal/lawsuit context, not in the Star Trek context.. :D

"Your honor, I gave opposing counsel all those documents and facts in an attempt to HELP my case and opposing counsel is using the facts and documents to HURT my case. This is grossly unfair and improper and I demand opposing counsel be admonished for this illegal and heinous action and taken out and shot!"

:D

Com'on Russ. That's one of your LAMEST arguments and THAT says something..

It doesn't matter what the INTENT of the study was..

The *ONLY* thing that matters is the facts contained within the report...

And those facts CLEARLY show that, as a group, trans Americans are unfit to serve in the United States Military..

The fact that some members of that unfit group have slipped thru the cracks and have allegedly served honorably and with distinction does not negate the validity of the ban...

A broken analog watch is correct twice a day.. That doesn't mean I am going to take that watch into combat where timing is the difference between life and death for hundreds of soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines..

My point was that the websites complaints are based on their placement in the returns for searches made using only one word (either "socialism" or "socialist"). WSWS complained that many of their users don't bookmark their page, but use google search to get them to the site and they blamed their placement in search returns for the drop in traffic to their site. If their users enter a two word search or choose "WSWS" as their search term, the website shows up on the top of the return page. So I have a hard time accepting that Google is out to get them.

Could it be that the drop in traffic is the result of people just not liking what they are offering? Of course not, because that never happens.

Here's the other thing that bugs me regarding this whiney article, the sites were still showing up in the search returns; only they were pushed further down in the results list. And the article said that Google analytics showed that the site dropped from something like 14.9 to 35.6 in their placement on the results page for the one word search. Is that truly what you want to label as "censorship"? Because personally, that just seems like someone is looking for someone to blame for why their site isn't doing as well as it has in the past. When I hear the term "Censorship", I associate it with being excluded from the search results, not being on page 5 instead of page 3.

I realize all big corporations are evil, but this fails to deserve being called an unjust persecution in my opinion.

Notable Exceptions Noted...

From the start of his unconventional campaign two years ago, Trump has been more of a populist than a Republican, from his combative style to his protectionist stance on trade. His ability to reach voters drawn by his personal appeal rather than his party affiliation has been a source of political strength and possibility in a nation where allegiance to both Republicans and Democrats has eroded.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/07/30/analysis-can-president-without-party-govern/523535001/

This is EXACTLY why ya'all are CONSTANTLY wrong about things Trump..

Ya'all try to put him in the box of a conventional DEM/GOP POTUS and he simply DOES NOT fit...

It's the EPITOME of fairness...

If you don't like the Violent Felons group, apply it to a different group..

Blue Eyed Left Handed group.. If THAT group has an 82% suicide contemplation rate, then THAT group would be banned from service in the US Military..

Weigantian Group. If Weigantians have an 82% suicide contemplation rate, then THAT group should be banned from military service..

How can it be bigotry if I am applying the SAME standard to ANY group???

Answer: It can't.. You're just getting your ass kicked on this debate so you lash out with childish name-calling and immature personal attacks..

It's the Way Of The Weigantian... unfortunately...

I posted the PDF...

Yes, I do. The fact that we have approximately 12,000 - 15,000 active trans military personnel and up to 150,000 reservists that identify as trans is all the proof I need. It is up to you to prove that they are problems for the military.

No, it's not.. YOU made the claim that they have served honorably and with distinction...

Your ENTIRE argument rest on this claim..

You made the claim. You back it up...

Yeah, that example would justify me referring to you simply as BIGOT from now on. Your false equivalency that being trans is somehow the same as someone who chooses to commit a felony crime is repulsive!

It's not a false equivalency because it works for ANY group...

That's what you don't get..

ANY GROUP that has an 82% suicide contemplation rate is NOT eligible for service in the US Military..

How can it be bigotry if it applies to ANY group??

It's the EPITOME of fairness...

It is the belief that those that have considered suicide should not be allowed to serve that is causing thousands of military personnel who are suffering from suicidal thoughts from seeking help! Congrats!

Which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the current discussion of whether or not trans Americans are fit to serve in the US Military...

Let's finish this discussion, THEN we can move on to this other discussion...

You're absolutely right about the Mooch. He's got an annual convention in Vegas that he's turned into Comic-con for hedge fund managers:

https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/skybridge-comes-out-a-winner-in-las-vegas/

So, I'm trying to reconcile the "it isn't happening, but if it is, they deserve it" attitude about censorship of left leaning websites with your, I must say, excellent defense of trans folks in the military.

The "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist..." speech by Niemoeller comes to mind in both cases... but only seems to matter to you in one of them.

I don't understand.
If unjustifiable persecution is wrong...

A

The censorship is being justified using the fake news argument.

If Wikileaks isn't producing ANY fake news, the censorship is completely unjustified.

A

Absolutely agree, for the reasons you cite, and more.
On the other side, I didn't mean to suggest that Scaramucci was a made or even connected guy.

He's a salesman. Way beyond the character played by Alex Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. (Watch by putting watch?v=Q4PE2hSqVnk in a search engine; be advised it's Scaramucci-level profanity. Street level profanity. The way salesmen talk.) Way beyond that, a nine zero closer, selling funds of funds; he's at the top of the pyramid. We'll see if he's at the top of two pyramids if his deal actually closes.

He's very smart, and has good, powerful friends, pre-dating and still reaching far beyond the favor of the President.

My guess is that Scaramucci isn't going anywhere, soon, either.

You want to tell me exactly where in the survey this stat can be found? Also, how many service members do you think believe that if they have suicidal thoughts they cannot tell anyone because of this attitude you are so proudly stating as being FACTUAL???

Page 10 lists under Psychological Distress and Attempted Suicide

• Thirty-nine percent (39%) of respondents experienced serious psychological distress in the month before completing the survey (based on the Kessler 6 Psychological Distress Scale), compared with only 5% of the U.S. population.
• Forty percent (40%) have attempted suicide in their lifetime, nearly nine times the rate in the U.S. population (4.6%).
• Seven percent (7%) attempted suicide in the past year—nearly twelve times the rate in the U.S. population (0.6%).

Let me guess, you read the stats about trans- suicide in some article bashing trans people that linked the full survey as its source, but you never actually read the survey, is that it?

Because if you had read the full report you might have noticed the acknowledgement of the authors that this survey is to be used to understand many of the issues facing the trans community, but that their findings are not meant to be used AGAINST members of the trans community!!! This is a survey, NOT scientifically/clinically verified findings that would stand up in court!

Further, you continue to ASSUME that those trans that DO serve in the military are serving honorably and not causing any problems...

Do you have *ANY* facts to support your claim??

Yes, I do. The fact that we have approximately 12,000 - 15,000 active trans military personnel and up to 150,000 reservists that identify as trans is all the proof I need. It is up to you to prove that they are problems for the military.

See my Violent Felons Group example..

Yeah, that example would justify me referring to you simply as BIGOT from now on. Your false equivalency that being trans is somehow the same as someone who chooses to commit a felony crime is repulsive!

That you fail to recognize this and your insistence on using it to defend multiple positions in your argument only makes it worse. Blaming them for being who they are simply because you do not understand it nor seem to care just reaffirms that you are a bigot where trans- people are concerned.

Here is the part that truly disgusts me the most:

It is the belief that those that have considered suicide should not be allowed to serve that is causing thousands of military personnel who are suffering from suicidal thoughts from seeking help! Congrats!

The military has finally come to recognize this as a huge problem that they are working hard to currently address, which I would think someone who posts:

I, on the other hand, DO have supporting facts and am the acknowledged Weigantian authority on military matters..

...would know.

Exactly Scaramucci's point. But Bannon is protected by the Mercers because his being there advances the larger cause to which Bob Mercer has donated millions, including lending out his data mining firm, Cambridge Analytica, to both Nigel Farage (for Brexit) and the Trump campaign. His daughter Rebekah was on Trump's Transition Executive Committee. My guess is that Bannon isn't going anywhere, soon.

This other guy is cut from the same cloth as many of the guys who were loyal to the President back when he was the Boss.

Sorta. He's from Long Island, but he's no wise guy - he's got a Harvard Law Degree, and is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Economic Forum. He is the vice chair of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board and a trustee of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation. Prior to taking the White House job, Scaramucci was named senior vice president and chief strategy officer for the U.S. Export-Import Bank. He was also still under consideration for a post as ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Do you really think his goal is to be Trump's Press Secretary?

So right now, Mooch is cleaning up Trump's messaging mess, and trying to flatter and channel Trump in the process, but my guess is that his ultimate goal is to be President of the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, I swear to god.

Of course..

Self-delusion ALWAYS improves EVERYTHING..

To the person who is deluding themselves...

Sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "Nyaaa Nyaaaa Nyaaaa I'm not listening to you" always improves things..

When yer 6 years old...

Of course..

Self-delusion ALWAYS improves EVERYTHING..

To the person who is deluding themselves...

Sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "Nyaaa Nyaaaa Nyaaaa I'm not listening to you" always improves things..

When yer 6 years old... :D

"trollfoolery or something more insidious, it is making the comments section of this blog increasingly tedious and repulsive.

I agree. However, I don't think repetitive debate or denunciation of trolls and their sophistry makes the comments environment any better. In fact, I think it probably makes it worse. Trolls live for the sake of argument and sophistry. Don't feed their need.

I can tell you that the most rudimentary blocking cuts the number of lines in the comments section by about 50%, more or less, on any given day. Reading the comments is a breeze.

Blocking is not a perfect solution, but for me at least, it really improves the comments section.

I was actually thinking of Scaramucci when thinking back to Halderman. They both, as the pundits are saying now of the former, were windows to their president's "id." BTW, Krauthammer had "tweets are the window to Trump's id" a month ago. Halderman was also the Chief of Staff, and also the High Executioner.

I would guess that Bannon's philosophy doesn't mean all that much to the President right now. This other guy is cut from the same cloth as many of the guys who were loyal to the President back when he was the Boss.

Loyalty matters. So does the gut feeling telling you if someone is capable of loyalty as you understand the term.

But the fact is, THAT kind of rhetoric is catching hold and where it leads is no where nice..

Put another way..

If I were to pose the question.......

"Do you support the removal of President Trump by any means necessary?"

... I am willing to wager that, if I got HONEST answers, there would be at LEAST a half dozen who would say....

"Yes sir. Drop that fucker! Twice!!"
-Gene Hackman, CRIMSON TIDE

Keep in mind that this election there were MANY on the Left advocating impeachment *AND* assassination even before President Trump was sworn in...

Nobody here is talking about a "soft coup"

That's exactly what people are talking..

Removing a sitting POTUS simply because they think he is incompetent..

You're scaring me here. Even if those statements are fact, your implication is neither the position of a patriot, nor, in particular, of a conservative.

That's because I am NOT a conservative...

But I AM a patriot. And if people are advocating the illegal removal of a sitting POTUS, then I am simply warning the likely consequence of that attempt..

Are you implying that if people hold to those opinions and suspicions, such will be handled by force, because the military and the police will do Trump's bidding?

No, I am stating that if people take ACTIONS based on those opinions and suspicions as it appears they want to do, that the police and military will back the legally, fairly and legitimately elected President Of The United States... This is factual...

HAVING those opinions is no big deal.. ARTICULATING those opinions is also no big deal..

Advocating illegal action based on those opinions *IS* a big deal....

And the response would ALSO be a big deal..

That's all I am saying..

Are you implying that if Trump is removed from office, on the basis of facts which arose from counter-intel and criminal financial investigations, that he would be kept in power by those forces?

I am saying if it is attempted that Trump be removed from office illegally, then those forces will act to preserve the legal, legitimate and fairly elected President Of The United States...

If the Left doesn't advocate illegally removing President Trump, then there is nothing to fear...

But trying to remove the President JUST BECAUSE they *think* he is incompetent??

THAT is illegal..

Just as it would have been illegal if the GOP attempted to remove Obama because they felt that Obama was incompetent..

Imagine the bloodshed if THAT would have happened, eh?? :^/

I seems you clarified from the time I read your comments I then referenced in the last comment.

I sometimes take a few comments to crystallize my thoughts. :D Sorry about that.

I guess I could have forgone all of the afore, then.. I hope my above clarification was actually MORE clarifying... :D

I'm not now pissed off as I was,

That's good because you are one of the very FEW (2) people I would HATE to piss off.. :D

but I gotta say, this country, in truth, is way too close to splitting apart. Partisan rhetoric close to the line is not cool anymore, on either side.

We passed THAT line a long time ago and I can pinpoint to you EXACTLY when it happened..

It was when Democrats accused the GOP of being terrorists, SOLELY because of a partisan difference of opinion..

Once that point was reached, there was no going back..

That point was escalated when Hodgkison went on a GOP Hunt bender and there were many Left Wingers, including some Weigantians, who felt that the attack was "deserved"....

Considering the total and complete HYSTERIA of the Left & Right Anti-Trumpers??

It's going to get worse before it gets better..

Gotta turn up the volume though. That was pre-digital-era original, degrading film recording.

Crank up the woofers.

That brought back memories of Senator Ervin plucking apart Halderman as the money was followed flowing to the campaign. Here's a video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNsnvzFf40U

It's nine minutes of Senate testimony, recorded by C-Span. It shows simple bumbling country lawyer Sam's finger as he reads from the Constitution. At 8:50 on the video is one of his legendary questions. He preambled how he unfortunately hadn't been born yesterday, been around political organizations for a long time, and never had seen one that was a eleemosynary organization. Then he asks Halderman if he thought that the Committee to Re-Elect was one.

CW wrote: Mooch also accuses Steve Bannon of being able to perform (as the genteel folks at CBS News put it) "self-fellatio." #Winning!

But I found the actual accusation that Mooch was leveling against Bannon to be far more interesting. Quoting the original Ryan Lizza article:

Scaramucci also told me that, unlike other senior officials, he had no interest in media attention. “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said, speaking of Trump’s chief strategist. “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the fucking strength of the President. I’m here to serve the country.”

My question is, what exactly is the Mooch accusing Bannon of 'building' over in his White House office? What has Bannon been up to that leads the Mooch to characterize it that way? Is this where the rumours of Trump 'going rogue' from the GOP are coming from?

But Scaramucci isn't a party loyalist, he's a recent convert - he was endorsing Clinton as late as 2015. No wonder Priebus was wary of him. Moreover, his only previous experience in media was as a talking head on financial shows, and as co-host of a resurrected "Wall Street Week". Hardly the credentials one would apply to the job of 'liason to the world press', but it strongly suggests that a major factor in his hire was that Trump had liked him on TV.

Will he butt heads with Bannon? I predict he will. He's richer than Bannon, and less ideological. Trump, on the other hand, has no loyalty to anyone other than himself and his family. Neither man can be sure that Trump won't turn on him without notice.

So who needs 'GOT' when we have this going on every day? Intrigue indeed!

I'm not now pissed off as I was, but I gotta say, this country, in truth, is way too close to splitting apart. Partisan rhetoric close to the line is not cool anymore, on either side.

You're scaring me here. Even if those statements are fact, your implication is neither the position of a patriot, nor, in particular, of a conservative.

Nobody here is talking about a "soft coup" or whatever the echo chamber calls. They're either talking about a president they see as increasingly unstable, or a situation in which a president violated federal laws or, even worse, his oath. There's ample reason, even just among the public discoveries, to suspect either or both, and to hold those opinions.

A "just the facts, ma'm" defense doesn't work against that. You don't think Pence fantasy football isn't a big topic in Georgetown, among partisans of all stripes, including Trumpers?

Are you implying that if people hold to those opinions and suspicions, such will be handled by force, because the military and the police will do Trump's bidding?

Are you implying that if Trump is removed from office, on the basis of facts which arose from counter-intel and criminal financial investigations, that he would be kept in power by those forces?

If you are, either one is CREEPy.

Legally....

And removing a POTUS simply because you THINK he is incompetent is as illegal as it gets....

President Trump simply CANNOT be put into that mold so ya'all freak and advocate "ultimate" solutions and such hysterical garbage like that...

For those of us who live OUTSIDE the Dem/GOP box, President Trump is doing an awesome job..

And OUR opinions are as valid as ya'all's..

Actually, OUR opinions are even MORE valid because..

WE WON...

Ya'all lost..

It's time to accept that...

If ya can't, then by all means.. Continue to advocate coups and removals and all sorts of hysterical violence.. Hodgkison tried that and look how well THAT worked out for him..

Trump is President...

That is the beginning and the end of ANY discussion...

Whine, bitch, moan, throw tantrums and advocate coups and illegal activities all you want..

But the end result is the same..

TRUMP is the President of the United States..

That's the reality...

Deal with it...

Legally....

If you advocate illegal and criminal action??

Then ya'all will have to accept the consequences...

It's THAT simple...

Doesn't Article II give the Excecutive the authority to demand the Legislature suspend other business until they accomplish what the President wants?

Hmm. Just checked, and I'm right. It doesn't.

Welcome to Cold War 2.0...

Courtesy of the Democrat Party...

Who woulda thunked that the DEMOCRAT Party would be the war-monger Party...

Again, that's an opinion not reflective of reality..

It comes from thinking that only the LEFT's opinion matters and the Right's don't matter at all..

That is where YOU go astray...

You are confusing two concepts. Which, sadly, is so very par for the course here.

It's the exact same concept..

Trump does something you don't like so you want him removed..

Pence comes in and what's to stop you from wanting HIM removed when HE does something you don't like??

Answer: Nothing...

Tens of millions of Americans WANT Trump as President..

You HAVE to accept that or it is you who becomes irrelevant..

I'm done with this thread, by the way.

That's another way to go...

So, you are OK with incompetence until 2020, as long as it's not Trump...

It's a moot point.. You can't remove a President and nullify a free, fair and legal election just because opposing Party members and Anti-Trumpers *THINK* the President is incompetent...