[TheZookie007]

By the way, unlike what some people in a bid to distract from the main issue and to rewrite history are trying to imply, "the left" didn't say "When they go low, we go high". That was First Lady Michelle Obama during the 2016 Democratic National Convention. And the reason why she said that was because a 2005 video had just been released of the current leader of the Republican Party when he was caught on a hot mike bragging about sexual assault, among other deplorable things.

You know what everyone should REALLY be worried about? This:

Russian Cyber Hacks on U.S. Electoral System Far Wider Than Previously Known
by Michael Riley and Jordan Robertson
Bloomberg News, June 13, 2017, 5:00 AM EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-13/russian-breach-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections

"In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, one of them said."

"Such operations need not change votes to be effective. In fact, the Obama administration believed that the Russians were possibly preparing to delete voter registration information or slow vote tallying in order to undermine confidence in the election. That effort went far beyond the carefully timed release of private communications by individuals and parties..."

This is the sort of thing that should keep all Americans up at night. Because you don't need to change a single vote in order to undermine our confidence in the election process.

But the American government has meddled with the domestic politics of foreign countries in the past too, so it doesn't matter.

But her emails!, so it doesn't matter.

But Benghazi!, so it doesn't matter.

But our guy won, so it doesn't matter.

</sarcasm>

[TheZookie007]

Meanwhile, while the Attorney-General testifies about his collusion (along with the rest of the principals in this "administration") with the Russians, the GOP secretly is writing a healthcare "plan" and not letting the Democrats see it:

That rush is a particularly bitter irony for anyone who, like me, worked on writing the ACA originally. Republicans accused Democrats eight years ago of drafting the health-care law in secret, despite dozens of public hearings and work sessions. But now it’s their own process that is highly secretive, with U.S. Capitol Police guarding a basement room where the draft legislation is kept hidden from voters, the news media and even members of Congress.

The GOP tried to use one quote in particular to drive its message back then. In 2010, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” What Pelosi meant was that people would realize the benefits of the law once they became tangible — which is exactly what polling shows has happened. But Republicans spun and truncated the quote to suggest that Democrats were hiding something.

In fact, the process to enact the Affordable Care Act was thorough and transparent. I was there for the whole thing, as a Democratic staffer for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee...

The House GOP also voted to repeal Dodd-Frank and gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In energy news, while certain people hanker for "the good old days" when coal was king and when smog enveloped Los Angeles, the rest of us in the real world have long since realized that, as this headline from an energy commodities website says, "The Decline Of The Coal Industry Is 'Long-Term' And 'Irreversible'". So instead of doing wrongheaded things like announcing the pulling-out of the US from the Paris climate accords, the supposed big businessman should have realized (as even oil companies like ExxonMobil and BP have) that the writing is on the wall: world coal production just had its biggest drop on record; as such, it's time to get in front of it and move to a "clean energy" future along with the rest of educated humanity.
 
Finally, just in time for his birthday, the current occupant of the White House will make a short trip from his bunker in Mar-a-Lago to Miami, where he will gleefully announce another dig at Pres. Barack Obama: reversing the travel policy to Cuba. Funny, I can't remember any of his supporters saying that this was something they so desperately wanted, especially since none of them own passports and wouldn't even want to visit the Caribbean island in the first place. Sad!

[andrat2000]

Jeff Sessions should be replaced as Secretary of the State. He's incapable doing his job.

It's quite obvious that he has a very strong case of dementia.

[Cutter]

Jeff Sessions should be replaced as Secretary of the State. He's incapable doing his job.

It's quite obvious that he has a very strong case of dementia.

Sessions is head of the Dept. of Justice.

Tillerson is Secretary of State. 

Let 'Em Ride.  I want to see how long it is before Trump fires them himself.

[andrat2000]

Jeff Sessions should be replaced as Secretary of the State. He's incapable doing his job.

It's quite obvious that he has a very strong case of dementia.

Sessions is head of the Dept. of Justice.

Tillerson is Secretary of State. 

Let 'Em Ride.  I want to see how long it is before Trump fires them himself.

You're absolutely right ... my mistake.

[rtpoe]

Technically, Jefferson Beauregard "Skippy" Sessions III is the Attorney General; the nation's (that's the *people* of the US) top attorney. Not the top attorney for the White House. But we're getting into hair-splitting territory here.

Speaking of energy news and the environment, a very unusual and interesting lawsuit passed a key hurdle.

U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken issued an order Thursday denying motions filed by the Trump administration and the fossil fuel industry that sought to appeal her Nov. 10, 2016 order in Juliana v. United States to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unless the Trump Administration can get its writ of mandamus petition approved (and move the case to a hopefully more favorable court), the case is cleared to go to trial.

What's all that about, you ask?

Last year, a group of 21 young plaintiffs (aged eight to nineteen), along with the environmental advocacy organization Earth Guardians, and Dr. James Hansen of Columbia University, acting as guardian for future generations, filed this action against defendants the United States, President Barack Obama, and numerous executive agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alleging in their complaint that the defendants "deliberately allow[ed] atmospheric CO2 concentrations to escalate to levels unprecedented in human history."

The legal issue covered by the opinion was "whether defendants are responsible for some of the harm caused by climate change, whether plaintiffs may challenge defendants' climate change policy in court, and whether this Court can direct defendants to change their policy without running afoul of the separation of powers doctrine."

The plaintiffs are basically claiming that the entire environment is a "public trust", and the defendant's failure to fully address climate change is violation of that trust.

It's worth noting that a couple of fossil fuel organizations have petitioned to be dropped as defendants....

[TheZookie007]

Technically, Jefferson Beauregard "Skippy" Sessions III is the Attorney General; the nation's (that's the *people* of the US) top attorney. Not the top attorney for the White House. But we're getting into hair-splitting territory here.

Actually, there is no hair splitting. The A.G. is "is the chief law enforcement officer and chief lawyer of the United States government", whereas the top attorney for the White House (i.e., the person who "is responsible for advising on all legal aspects of policy questions, legal issues arising in connection with the President's decision to sign or veto legislation, ethical questions, financial disclosures, and conflicts of interest during employment and post employment..." is the White House Counsel. It should be noted that "[a]lthough the White House Counsel offers legal advice to the President, the Counsel does so in the President's official capacity, and does not serve as the President's personal attorney."

 
Speaking of energy news and the environment, a very unusual and interesting lawsuit passed a key hurdle.

U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken issued an order Thursday denying motions filed by the Trump administration and the fossil fuel industry that sought to appeal her Nov. 10, 2016 order in Juliana v. United States to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unless the Trump Administration can get its writ of mandamus petition approved (and move the case to a hopefully more favorable court), the case is cleared to go to trial.

What's all that about, you ask?

Last year, a group of 21 young plaintiffs (aged eight to nineteen), along with the environmental advocacy organization Earth Guardians, and Dr. James Hansen of Columbia University, acting as guardian for future generations, filed this action against defendants the United States, President Barack Obama, and numerous executive agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alleging in their complaint that the defendants "deliberately allow[ed] atmospheric CO2 concentrations to escalate to levels unprecedented in human history."

The legal issue covered by the opinion was "whether defendants are responsible for some of the harm caused by climate change, whether plaintiffs may challenge defendants' climate change policy in court, and whether this Court can direct defendants to change their policy without running afoul of the separation of powers doctrine."

The plaintiffs are basically claiming that the entire environment is a "public trust", and the defendant's failure to fully address climate change is violation of that trust.

It's worth noting that a couple of fossil fuel organizations have petitioned to be dropped as defendants....

Yes, I've been following the case closely for awhile now. It's an incredible case, since basically they are literally fighting for the rights of future generations to clean air and water, and accusing the adults of fucking things up for them. I believe this case may make it all the way to the Supreme Court. And it is telling that even the fossil fuel guys are like "you know, maybe we need to back away from this since we are going to lose..."

[StrikezOne]

Julius Caesar, right? The classic Shakespearean play that's not about killing your leader, but about how it's bad to try to stop approaching tyranny by violent acts? The half of the play after the assassination that deals with the infighting between the conspirators that leads to a civil war in which tens of thousands are killed?

CarlTL made a point.

By the way, unlike what some people in a bid to distract from the main issue and to rewrite history are trying to imply, "the left" didn't say "When they go low, we go high". That was First Lady Michelle Obama during the 2016 Democratic National Convention. And the reason why she said that was because a 2005 video had just been released of the current leader of the Republican Party when he was caught on a hot mike bragging about sexual assault, among other deplorable things.

You just refuse to take even one loss dont you?
Hillary Clinton repeated this statement at her rallies and even during the debates against Trump. The crowds in her rallies said it along with her. They made signs. Im sure it was a hashtag, im sure it was trending. Come on dude.

This is the sort of thing that should keep all Americans up at night. Because you don't need to change a single vote in order to undermine our confidence in the election process.

Russia should keep ALL Americans up at night? Wow. That sounds like pure propaganda rhetoric 101.

Okay, how about this: if the people who dont believe this Russia stuff as much as others do - if they accept the possibility of Russia somehow influencing the election, would people like you consider the possibility that Russia didnt do a damn thing or a damn thing worse than CNN/MSM and maybe acknowledge Wikileaks and Vault 7's proof of CIA/NSA and their assets can hack and leave the trace to Russia?

Or is that completely out of the question and we have to completely blame Russia and fear for our lives?

[gonZo]

Regarding the version of Julius Caesar causing a stir, it's only fair to note that the play is performed in modern dress, Caesar is portrayed as a blonde man wearing overly long neckties, and his wife Calpurnia speaks with an eastern european accent. Those are the only deviations from the traditional Shakespearian play.

[andrat2000]

The drums of war closing in on Trumpel, the bombs dropping closer and closer to him. And what's his reaction?

Witch hunt ...

A lot of former leaders didn't realize it was time to go. Erich Honecker is such a former leader. And quite a few more ...

[TheZookie007]

Mike Pence has lawyered-up, and so has Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for the current occupant of the White House.

Also:
LA Times: "'Julius Caesar' has sparked controversy. But where was corporate outrage when a movie killed President Obama?"

On Sunday, Delta Air Lines' and Bank of America's decision to pull funding for the New York Public Theater over a production of "Julius Caesar" which featured a titular character resembling President Trump sparked debate over the role of corporate sponsors in the arts. 

House of Cards creator and playwright Beau Willimon tweeted a call to action to boycott the companies. "Now I know where not to bank & who not to fly with," he wrote. "Actions like this create a culture of fear. We must support free expression, not punish."...

As my former Daily Beast colleague Asawin Suebsaeng reminded me Monday morning, nary a corporate suit batted an eye in 2015 when a Hollywood blockbuster blew the head off of an Obama-esque POTUS in even more spectacular fashion.

I wrote then of the historic cinematic killing of President Obama in 20th Century Fox's Kingsman: The Secret Service, the first film to depict the then-POTUS's death onscreen. In it, an Obama look-alike, one of several world leaders in cahoots with Samuel L. Jackson's bad guy Valentine, gets his head blown up in the film's bombastic denouement.

"The White House and Obama-ish president — there's no other symbol about a global power than the White House," director Matthew Vaughn said of the depiction months before its release. Later he backpedaled, insisting that the onscreen president bearing an unmistakable resemblance to Barack Obama was not officially supposed to be Obama.

"First of all, it’s not Obama," he told Entertainment Weekly. "I just want to be clear. This is not an attack on Obama at all. This is an attack on all politicians, but the easiest way to making the point where people knew that Valentine was in power was to have the White House. We needed someone who was reminiscent of Obama, so that people got the point."

The point of Kingsman was much less pointed than fitting Julius Caesar (played by actor Gregg Henry) with a familiar blond coif and a business suit. But no corporate partners distanced themselves from Kingsman. It opened in wide release, grossing $414 million worldwide, and now has a sequel set for release in September.

The Trumpius Caesar-disapproving Delta Air Lines even extended its partnership with 20th Century Fox post-Kingsman, launching a big cross-branded campaign for the studio's Snoopy movie later that year.

The difference between Kingsman and the production of Julius Caesar? Pressure from right-wing outlets such as Breitbart and Fox News and tweets from Donald Trump Jr., which led Delta and then Bank of America to withdraw their support of the production. One which was not, in fact, financed by the National Endowment for the Arts, as Donald Jr. had asked on social media, the NEA clarified.

Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik points out that a similarly contemporary production of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's masterwork about perceived tyranny and its consequences, was staged by Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater in 2012 featuring an Obama-esque protagonist. "Delta, which was a sponsor of the Guthrie though not of this particular production, wasn’t heard to object," Hiltzik wrote....

Perhaps a cele brity-led boycott will nudge Delta and BofA into reconsidering their de-patronage. We'll find out in September if the Kingsman: The Golden Circle sequel will take similar aim at President Trump -- and if any corporations care then too.

[rtpoe]

Over at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum, in a comment on Pence's "lawyering up", summarized the situation (quoted in its entirety):

---

This is just astonishing. The FBI is actively investigating ties between the president’s campaign and a hostile foreign power. Ditto for his former national security adviser. The FBI director has been fired for refusing to kill the investigation. The attorney general has recused himself. The deputy attorney general has appointed a special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is busily hiring experts in money laundering. A few days ago Mueller widened the scope of his inquiry to include a criminal investigation of the president. Bipartisan congressional committees are holding hearings. The president himself has lawyered up, and now the vice president has lawyered up too.

This would not be completely unprecedented if it happened in 2022, six years into Trump’s presidency. But it’s happened in Trump’s first five months. And while we’re all busy gaping at the spectacle of the whole thing, Republicans are trying to take health coverage away from millions of people so they can use the money to fund tax cuts for the rich.

In secret.

This. Is. Not. Normal. It is nowhere close to normal.

---

I don't think anyone can summarize it better than that.

And with regards to Shakespeare, we're all getting a chance to brush up on our knowledge of the Bard of Avon. It's probably not worth a separate thread, and not silly enough for the "Funny Politics" thread. But that meeting of Trump's sycophants cabinet earlier this week put me in mind of a scene from King Lear - a story which did not end well for the title character:

[TheZookie007]

More like The Tempest, Part 2: Caliban Becomes King.

-- TheZookie "except Caliban was a good person when compared to this lot" 007

[andrat2000]

Mike Pence has lawyered-up, and so has Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for the current occupant of the White House.

Also:
LA Times: "'Julius Caesar' has sparked controversy. But where was corporate outrage when a movie killed President Obama?"

On Sunday, Delta Air Lines' and Bank of America's decision to pull funding for the New York Public Theater over a production of "Julius Caesar" which featured a titular character resembling President Trump sparked debate over the role of corporate sponsors in the arts. 

House of Cards creator and playwright Beau Willimon tweeted a call to action to boycott the companies. "Now I know where not to bank & who not to fly with," he wrote. "Actions like this create a culture of fear. We must support free expression, not punish."...

As my former Daily Beast colleague Asawin Suebsaeng reminded me Monday morning, nary a corporate suit batted an eye in 2015 when a Hollywood blockbuster blew the head off of an Obama-esque POTUS in even more spectacular fashion.

I wrote then of the historic cinematic killing of President Obama in 20th Century Fox's Kingsman: The Secret Service, the first film to depict the then-POTUS's death onscreen. In it, an Obama look-alike, one of several world leaders in cahoots with Samuel L. Jackson's bad guy Valentine, gets his head blown up in the film's bombastic denouement.

"The White House and Obama-ish president — there's no other symbol about a global power than the White House," director Matthew Vaughn said of the depiction months before its release. Later he backpedaled, insisting that the onscreen president bearing an unmistakable resemblance to Barack Obama was not officially supposed to be Obama.

"First of all, it’s not Obama," he told Entertainment Weekly. "I just want to be clear. This is not an attack on Obama at all. This is an attack on all politicians, but the easiest way to making the point where people knew that Valentine was in power was to have the White House. We needed someone who was reminiscent of Obama, so that people got the point."

The point of Kingsman was much less pointed than fitting Julius Caesar (played by actor Gregg Henry) with a familiar blond coif and a business suit. But no corporate partners distanced themselves from Kingsman. It opened in wide release, grossing $414 million worldwide, and now has a sequel set for release in September.

The Trumpius Caesar-disapproving Delta Air Lines even extended its partnership with 20th Century Fox post-Kingsman, launching a big cross-branded campaign for the studio's Snoopy movie later that year.

The difference between Kingsman and the production of Julius Caesar? Pressure from right-wing outlets such as Breitbart and Fox News and tweets from Donald Trump Jr., which led Delta and then Bank of America to withdraw their support of the production. One which was not, in fact, financed by the National Endowment for the Arts, as Donald Jr. had asked on social media, the NEA clarified.

Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik points out that a similarly contemporary production of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's masterwork about perceived tyranny and its consequences, was staged by Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater in 2012 featuring an Obama-esque protagonist. "Delta, which was a sponsor of the Guthrie though not of this particular production, wasn’t heard to object," Hiltzik wrote....

Perhaps a cele brity-led boycott will nudge Delta and BofA into reconsidering their de-patronage. We'll find out in September if the Kingsman: The Golden Circle sequel will take similar aim at President Trump -- and if any corporations care then too.

You know comparison of the theater with movies is no good / invalid / Or whatever say right wing extremists. They want to have their own ruling and court over this theaters acting...

[StrikezOne]

You know comparison of the theater with movies is no good / invalid / Or whatever say right wing extremists. They want to have their own ruling and court over this theaters acting...

Why are all people who dont share the same opinions as you right wing extremists?

Do you know what a fallacy is?