Senate The US Politics discussion

What about his comment that buzzfeed is a pile of garbage? We can all agree with that one right?

 

Buzzfeed certainly has a lot of crap, A LOT. It's mostly entertainment with stupid quizzes, list and product ads. But, on occasion they do some pretty decent investigative journalism. Granted, this wasn't so much that as 'We got a hold of it, no one else is going to release it so we are." But they, on occasion do things right.

Edit: And Trump really shouldn't be threatening them, even if they are crap. I'm sure they'll spin it as he was saying that they'll stop getting hits and therefore go under, but saying they'll 'suffer the consequences' isn't something the President Elect should be saying about journalism.

 

No? Buzzfeed's got one of the better investigative journalism arms out there at the moment? Are we saying Teen Vogue is also terrible because it's Teen Vogue? I mean, to varying degrees, a bunch of newspapers have some good investigative arms at times (and certainly Carl Bernstein -- who gave this dossier report to CNN to write-up for co-credit on the byline qualifies), as do Cosmopolitan (yes), Teen Vogue, Buzzfeed, etc.

Remember that, for a while (post-2001 when the NYTimes investigative journalism arm got killed by Judith Miller, et al), Playboy of all places had the best investigative journalism in the US. This is not a backhanded compliment.

 

You are all crazy.

 

BuzzFeed releasing the dossier was irresponsible and shows a complete lack of journalistic integrity-- integrity being the reason others sat on it since October because their investigations turned up nothing. The unsubstantiated, outlandish, likely mostly false claims in the memos-- similarly to "RUSSIA HAXXORED THE ELECTION"-- also serves to distract from comparatively boring but much more dangerous facts such as Trump's complete failure to effectively separate himself from his business.

 

Eh, there's at least some journalistic rationale because it's been passed around the upper-levels of the government, including POTUS and PEOTUS, as well as heads of the intelligence community, the FBI, and the Gang of 8.

I agree it's unsubstantiated, which they noted, but to say there's no there there is... a bit disingenuous. Certainly there's more there than any of the email issues during the campaign, or Pizzagate, etc.

 

It's okay right now Democrats are gonna believe anything and everything outlandish and stupid said about Trump. Kinda like how a certain other group of people believed anything and everything outlandish said about Obama in 08.

"Who cares about the scary **** Rex Tillerson and Jeff Sessions have said this week, I have bush-era war criminals who have mildly criticized trump to praise and pissgate to laugh at!"

 

Eh, Watersportsgate is funny but, no, not concerning in the report. All of the other stuff is concerning.

Also, we can be concerned that the PEOTUS is potentially in a blackmail scenario AND that his appointments are terrible. Multitasking is easy, yo...

 

Carl Bernstein thinks there is something to all of this, and I would say he knows a thing or two about corrupt American Presidents. He only literally co-wrote the book on it.

If there is any justice in this world, Trump is toast.

 

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Did appleseed just post something. . .hopeful?

 

Well, considering the fact that there is no justice in this world and Trump gets away with things that there is proof of him doing, much less just rumors.....more a wish than a hope.

 

"... hope ..."

 

There's the appleseed we know and tolerate!

 

So, it appears that Tillerson may have lied under oath today, in regards to (shocking!) sanctions on Russia.

Again, the WSJ -- normalization of lying aside -- appears to have no compunction about doing the same to Trump's appointees...

Byron Tau

✔@ByronTau

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There are 14 lobbying reports where Exxon lists lobbying on sanctions between 2006 and 2014, despite what Tillerson just said under oath
10:44 AM - 11 Jan 2017 · Alexandria, VA

Byron Tau

✔@ByronTau​

Here a 2010 lobbying report from Exxon listing where the issue of sanctions lobbying is listed seven times. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/pdfform.aspx?id=300327950 …
10:45 AM - 11 Jan 2017 · Alexandria, VA

Byron Tau

✔@ByronTau​

Here's a 2014 lobbying report from Exxon where it lobbies on "provisions related to sanctions" in a Russia bill. http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2014/Q2/300667995.xml …
10:46 AM - 11 Jan 2017 · Alexandria, VA

Byron Tau

✔@ByronTau​

I could keep going, but you get the point. Exxon lobbied on sanctions and disclosed that activity in public reports. Period.
10:47 AM - 11 Jan 2017 · Alexandria, VA
tl, dr from the http://disclosures.house.gov/ld/ldxmlrelease/2014/Q2/300667995.xml
16. Specific lobbying issues
S. 2277: Russian Aggression Prevention Act of 2014; provisions related to sanctions

 

Is that were Menendez basically nailed him to a wall regardnig the sanctions?

 

The transcripts (other than his opening statement) is not yet up on senate.gov so I'm not sure who asked him. But the WSJ has done a pretty decent job with actual numbers of things, and apparently is not letting Trump appointees get away with lying, like they do the PEOTUS.

 

So maybe Wiki isn't the only thing that leaks. BAHAHAHAHA ha ha he..ahem.

 

This is scary because it's true. Hospitals are a perfect example of how difficult it is to provide coverage for everyone and while simultaneously trying to control cost. The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) mandates that all individuals seeking emergency medical treatment be covered, which is paid for by a mixture of cost-shifting and state/federal government subsidies. Without them, hospitals would have collapsed a long time ago.

The ACA helped alleviate the need for government subsidies to an extent by expanding the pool of the privately insured (which was what it was supposed to do), but if the law is suddenly repealed, hospitals will once again be under extreme stress, and be forced to turn to taxpayers to prevent closure. At the very least, smaller hospitals will quickly face bankruptcy, and many may not survive.

The irony is, most of those small hospitals are in rural areas in red states, yet another example of the GOP cutting off its nose to spite it's face. So when Mr. Trump says he'll keep the popular parts of the law and force insurance companies to cover everyone for less, what we will see is the same situation that hospitals will face, but with insurers instead. The collapse will happen faster, though, if the government cuts off all revenue to help support private insurers' ability to cover those who are unable to pay, or subsidies to those who cannot afford to purchase insurance.

It's going to get ugly, and fast. Repeal and delay will be catastrophic for health care, and once it the chaos begins, laws from Washington will not make it go away. Like stocks, the market will have to straighten itself out, and that will likely take months, if not several years, as hospitals and insurers figure out, and then adjust to, the new normal.

I haven't even mentioned physicians, either. The rate of non-participation in Medicare and private insurance is skyrocketing at an alarming rate. But that is a topic for another post.

 

I hope Trump tipped the hotel staff heavily after leaving that mess for them to clear up. What a waste of a mattress.

I also very much enjoyed the Daily Mash's coverage of his speech today: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...h-rambling-and-demented-speech-20170112120054

 

They dug up Bob Dole's shambling corpse.