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The Trump Administration

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    Mr KhanMr Khan Not Everyone WAHHHRegistered User regular
    KetBra wrote: »
    Nothing would satisfy me more than the GOP choking on the ACA

    Some of 'em are smart enough to get that when their people start dying of preventable diseases, they might not be able to successfully blame the democrats.

    Not that their replacement would be any good, but a half-assed return to the status quo ante is going to do harm enough to put the GOP in the crosshairs (and folks like Cotton from the 2014 crop are up in the next presidential election year).

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    AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    This is the best thing (and super on topic):
    Revenge, by Elisa Chavez

    Since you mention it, I think I will start that race war.

    I could’ve swung either way? But now I’m definitely spending
    the next 4 years converting your daughters to lesbianism;
    I’m gonna eat all your guns. Swallow them lock stock and barrel
    and spit bullet casings onto the dinner table;

    I’ll give birth to an army of mixed-race babies.
    With fathers from every continent and genders to outnumber the stars,
    my legion of multiracial babies will be intersectional as fuck
    and your swastikas will not be enough to save you,

    because real talk, you didn’t stop the future from coming.
    You just delayed our coronation.
    We have the same deviant haircuts we had yesterday;
    we are still getting gay-married like nobody’s business
    because it’s still nobody’s business;
    there’s a Muslim kid in Kansas who has already written the schematic
    for the robot that will steal your job in manufacturing,
    and that robot? Will also be gay, so get used to it:

    we didn’t manifest the mountain by speaking its name,
    the buildings here are not on your side just because
    you make them spray-painted accomplices.
    These walls do not have genders and they all think you suck.
    Even the earth found common cause with us
    the way you trample us both,

    oh yeah: there will be signs, and rainbow-colored drum circles,
    and folks arguing ideology until even I want to punch them
    but I won’t, because they’re my family,
    in that blood-of-the-covenant sense.
    If you’ve never loved someone like that
    you cannot outwaltz us, we have all the good dancers anyway.

    I’ll confess I don’t know if I’m alive right now;
    I haven’t heard my heart beat in days,
    I keep holding my breath for the moment the plane goes down
    and I have to save enough oxygen to get my friends through.

    But I finally found the argument against suicide and it’s us.
    We’re the effigies that haunt America’s nights harder
    the longer they spend burning us,
    we are scaring the shit out of people by spreading,
    by refusing to die: what are we but a fire?
    We know everything we do is so the kids after us
    will be able to follow something towards safety;
    what can I call us but lighthouse,

    of course I’m terrified. Of course I’m a shroud.
    And of course it’s not fair but rest assured,
    anxious America, you brought your fists to a glitter fight.
    This is a taco truck rally and all you have is cole slaw.
    You cannot deport our minds; we won’t
    hold funerals for our potential. We have always been
    what makes America great.

    ACsTqqK.jpg
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    CoinageCoinage Heaviside LayerRegistered User regular
    Burnage wrote: »
    "They" in my ambiguous sentence refers to "The Republicans"
    Yeah the leadership is very good at having two conflicting ideas at the same time. "We need the government so small we can drown it in a bathtub! Except for our foreign policy, which requires us to be the most powerful country in the history of mankind and able to invade anywhere on the planet"

    so, lately I've been getting a lot of pleas to donate money in return for one of these

    https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/media/images/trump_inaugural_3_1481141440.png

    Which...no. Although Reagan did the same thing- great-grandparents left me a couple "Gold Executive Committee Member" cards from his campaign.

    What organization is asking you to donate, out of interest? Aren't calls for donations kind of... unusual after the election's over?
    The RNC and DNC are always looking for money.

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    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    Twitter is buzzing about some sort of appeal tomorrow regarding the invalidity of fifty Republican electors. Real or not real?

    I've been seeing it, too. But I have no idea what it would be besides pointing out that the EC is stupid.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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    djmitchelladjmitchella Registered User regular
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    Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    MuddBudd wrote: »
    Taramoor wrote: »
    So, they're taking Healthcare away from people first, what's next?

    -Gay Marriage
    -Abortion
    -Education
    -Religious Freedom
    -Net Neutrality
    -Freedom of Speech
    -Right to Vote
    -Freedom of the Press

    Gay Marriage is fairly safe for the time being.

    They are going to go after other LGBT rights though, and they are ESPECIALLY going to go after trans people.

    Doubtful at the national level. Texas just did their part to ensure the safety of children in bathrooms by introducing a bill to enforce a jock inspection for all bathrooms.

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    GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular

    Entirely unimportant almost certainly.

    wbBv3fj.png
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    SleepSleep Registered User regular
    edited January 2017

    Ha!

    The irony of this is fucking hilarious to me.

    Especially the part where not one motherfucker will care.

    Sleep on
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    MuddBuddMuddBudd Registered User regular
    MuddBudd wrote: »
    Taramoor wrote: »
    So, they're taking Healthcare away from people first, what's next?

    -Gay Marriage
    -Abortion
    -Education
    -Religious Freedom
    -Net Neutrality
    -Freedom of Speech
    -Right to Vote
    -Freedom of the Press

    Gay Marriage is fairly safe for the time being.

    They are going to go after other LGBT rights though, and they are ESPECIALLY going to go after trans people.

    Doubtful at the national level. Texas just did their part to ensure the safety of children in bathrooms by introducing a bill to enforce a jock inspection for all bathrooms.

    I am not sure what you mean by doubtful here. But on the national level there are some executive orders they can cancel once Trump is in office.

    And yeah the trans stuff will be on a state by state level but conservatives in Congress will do everything they can to support that sort of thing.

    There's no plan, there's no race to be run
    The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
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    Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    MuddBudd wrote: »
    MuddBudd wrote: »
    Taramoor wrote: »
    So, they're taking Healthcare away from people first, what's next?

    -Gay Marriage
    -Abortion
    -Education
    -Religious Freedom
    -Net Neutrality
    -Freedom of Speech
    -Right to Vote
    -Freedom of the Press

    Gay Marriage is fairly safe for the time being.

    They are going to go after other LGBT rights though, and they are ESPECIALLY going to go after trans people.

    Doubtful at the national level. Texas just did their part to ensure the safety of children in bathrooms by introducing a bill to enforce a jock inspection for all bathrooms.

    I am not sure what you mean by doubtful here. But on the national level there are some executive orders they can cancel once Trump is in office.

    And yeah the trans stuff will be on a state by state level but conservatives in Congress will do everything they can to support that sort of thing.

    Oh, I meant on the more 'personal liberties' scale. They'll let STATES' RIGHTS! do their thing for them. The things on your list that would be less likely at a state level are net neutrality and the first amendment list. Though, it wouldn't surprise me to hear of some states instituting their own internet clampdowns for whatever pathetic reasons.

    Even if congresscritters support this shit, they likely won't actually do anything at that level unless it's to stop 'blue' states from enacting shit like higher minimum wages or 'be good humans' laws or something. That's when the Daddy State takes over...

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    LoisLaneLoisLane Registered User regular
    Does anyone know if this is true?
    The Daily 202: Republicans run the spread offense to ram through Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees

    THE BIG IDEA: By scheduling six confirmation hearings for the same day, the Senate GOP is working to prevent any one Donald Trump nominee from dominating a news cycle. The gambit is very likely to succeed.

    It’s no coincidence that Republican committee chairmen scheduled hearings for some of the president-elect’s most controversial and polarizing nominees next Wednesday.

    Trump, after putting it off repeatedly, will also finally have his first press conference since the election at the same time. And Mitch McConnell plans a budget vote-o-rama, including votes related to the repeal of Obamacare. This will further distract the press and the public.

    The GOP leadership’s approach will minimize unflattering process stories and prevent Trump’s nominees from receiving the kind of full airing and scrutiny that they would otherwise.

    ...........

    In fact, the conventional wisdom inside the Capitol right now is that all of Trump’s picks will get confirmed, no matter how many red flags several have in their backgrounds.

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    GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    LoisLane wrote: »
    Does anyone know if this is true?
    The Daily 202: Republicans run the spread offense to ram through Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees

    THE BIG IDEA: By scheduling six confirmation hearings for the same day, the Senate GOP is working to prevent any one Donald Trump nominee from dominating a news cycle. The gambit is very likely to succeed.

    It’s no coincidence that Republican committee chairmen scheduled hearings for some of the president-elect’s most controversial and polarizing nominees next Wednesday.

    Trump, after putting it off repeatedly, will also finally have his first press conference since the election at the same time. And Mitch McConnell plans a budget vote-o-rama, including votes related to the repeal of Obamacare. This will further distract the press and the public.

    The GOP leadership’s approach will minimize unflattering process stories and prevent Trump’s nominees from receiving the kind of full airing and scrutiny that they would otherwise.

    ...........

    In fact, the conventional wisdom inside the Capitol right now is that all of Trump’s picks will get confirmed, no matter how many red flags several have in their backgrounds.

    Too bad for them the dems have already made there decision to filibuster like no ones ever busted a fili before and thus the Confirmation kek strat won't work.

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    Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/black-marching-band-controversy-donald-trump-inauguration-talladega-college-a7507821.html
    A marching band from one of the oldest black colleges in the US South, has sparked controversy by accepting an invitation to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration.

    Organisers of the event in Washington DC on January 20, have been hampered by the slew of performers and groups who have refused to play for Mr Trump.

    While a number of historically black universities said their bands would not perform at the event, the group from Talladega College, Alabama’s oldest private, historically black college, has accepted an invitation. The decision has sparked huge debate, both among current students and members of the college’s alumni.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_thly6vVJpE

    “We were a bit horrified to hear of the invitation,” Shirley Ferrill, who graduated from the college in 1974, told the Associated Press.

    “I don’t want my alma mater to give the appearance of supporting him. Ignore, decline or whatever, but please don't send our band out in our name to do that.”



    The news agency said the move had lit up Talladega College’s social media sites with debate. Some people voiced strong opposition, while others support the band's participation.

    “After how black people were treated at Trump’s rallies, you’re going to go and shuck and jive down Pennsylvania Avenue? For what,” said Seinya SamForay. “What they did is a slap in the face to other black universities.”

    The Presidential Inaugural Committee announced last week that the Talladega College Marching Tornadoes were among 40 groups, including high school bands and military organisations, scheduled to perform in the parade.

    Ron White of Atlanta, a 1997 graduate of another historically black college, Fort Valley State University in Georgia, said he questioned why band members from Talladega “should be playing all these patriotic tunes for someone who has degraded us”.

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    Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    If they play 'Send In The Clowns', I'll probably be okay with it.

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    BursarBursar Hee Noooo! PDX areaRegistered User regular
    They haven't yet said what they're going to play. The most delicious irony is when bad people sincerely invite entertainers who hate them to perform. (See: Stephen Colbert at GWB's Correspondents' Dinner)

    GNU Terry Pratchett
    PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
    Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
    Spoilered until images are unborked. egc6gp2emz1v.png
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    SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    My favorite bit was how the school's president said that it'd be a 'learning experience' for the students

    steam_sig.png
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    Giggles_FunsworthGiggles_Funsworth Blight on Discourse Bay Area SprawlRegistered User regular
    I mean Strange Fruit is already on the program right? I wasn't planning on tuning in but watching it shape up, I just might. Seems like it's gonna be a trainwreck.

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    furbatfurbat Registered User regular
    Trump is short sighted enough to push the Senate to nuke the fillibuster on supreme Court justices and appoint whoever he wants. It'll happen.

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    PLAPLA The process.Registered User regular
    KetBra wrote: »
    Nothing would satisfy me more than the GOP choking on the ACA

    I'm happy no matter what they choke on.

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    Panda4YouPanda4You Registered User regular
    Viskod wrote: »
    KetBra wrote: »
    Nothing would satisfy me more than the GOP choking on the ACA
    They're going to.

    Republicans, when in total control are literally their own worst enemy.

    Their control of the government had preceded every economic disaster we've ever had.
    When has this ever reflected badly upon the party?
    It almost came to that after GWB but not really, I feel like? 2008 was just bad times, can't fault anyone for that... And Obummer and spendocrats making a mess trying to clean it up of course. :wink:

    It's time for adults, the party of fiscal responsibility, to handle the reins now, etc. etc.

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    CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    If they play 'Send In The Clowns' The Imperial March, I'll probably be okay with it.

    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
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    Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    edited January 2017
    Panda4You wrote: »
    Viskod wrote: »
    KetBra wrote: »
    Nothing would satisfy me more than the GOP choking on the ACA
    They're going to.

    Republicans, when in total control are literally their own worst enemy.

    Their control of the government had preceded every economic disaster we've ever had.
    When has this ever reflected badly upon the party?
    It almost came to that after GWB but not really, I feel like? 2008 was just bad times, can't fault anyone for that... And Obummer and spendocrats making a mess trying to clean it up of course. :wink:

    It's time for adults, the party of fiscal responsibility, to handle the reins now, etc. etc.

    Who's W.? Obama was the president back then.

    How can people say this with a straight face?

    Harry Dresden on
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    Crimson KingCrimson King Registered User regular
    i'm sick of these implausible, pipe-dream economic fantasies the conservatives are trying to sell us

    i want the kind of pragmatic, down-to-earth financial policy that only liberals can provide

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    cckerberoscckerberos Registered User regular
    Bursar wrote: »
    They haven't yet said what they're going to play. The most delicious irony is when bad people sincerely invite entertainers who hate them to perform. (See: Stephen Colbert at GWB's Correspondents' Dinner)

    I don't think W was the one who invited Colbert.

    cckerberos.png
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    enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    cckerberos wrote: »
    Bursar wrote: »
    They haven't yet said what they're going to play. The most delicious irony is when bad people sincerely invite entertainers who hate them to perform. (See: Stephen Colbert at GWB's Correspondents' Dinner)

    I don't think W was the one who invited Colbert.

    Yeah, the press did, and Colbert hates them so much.

    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
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    Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    cckerberos wrote: »
    Bursar wrote: »
    They haven't yet said what they're going to play. The most delicious irony is when bad people sincerely invite entertainers who hate them to perform. (See: Stephen Colbert at GWB's Correspondents' Dinner)

    I don't think W was the one who invited Colbert.

    At the time many conservatives, including in government, thought he was one of theirs. They literally couldn't tell a satire of themselves from the real thing.

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    Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    This is the best thing (and super on topic):
    Revenge, by Elisa Chavez

    Since you mention it, I think I will start that race war.

    I could’ve swung either way? But now I’m definitely spending
    the next 4 years converting your daughters to lesbianism;
    I’m gonna eat all your guns. Swallow them lock stock and barrel
    and spit bullet casings onto the dinner table;

    I’ll give birth to an army of mixed-race babies.
    With fathers from every continent and genders to outnumber the stars,
    my legion of multiracial babies will be intersectional as fuck
    and your swastikas will not be enough to save you,

    because real talk, you didn’t stop the future from coming.
    You just delayed our coronation.
    We have the same deviant haircuts we had yesterday;
    we are still getting gay-married like nobody’s business
    because it’s still nobody’s business;
    there’s a Muslim kid in Kansas who has already written the schematic
    for the robot that will steal your job in manufacturing,
    and that robot? Will also be gay, so get used to it:

    we didn’t manifest the mountain by speaking its name,
    the buildings here are not on your side just because
    you make them spray-painted accomplices.
    These walls do not have genders and they all think you suck.
    Even the earth found common cause with us
    the way you trample us both,

    oh yeah: there will be signs, and rainbow-colored drum circles,
    and folks arguing ideology until even I want to punch them
    but I won’t, because they’re my family,
    in that blood-of-the-covenant sense.
    If you’ve never loved someone like that
    you cannot outwaltz us, we have all the good dancers anyway.

    I’ll confess I don’t know if I’m alive right now;
    I haven’t heard my heart beat in days,
    I keep holding my breath for the moment the plane goes down
    and I have to save enough oxygen to get my friends through.

    But I finally found the argument against suicide and it’s us.
    We’re the effigies that haunt America’s nights harder
    the longer they spend burning us,
    we are scaring the shit out of people by spreading,
    by refusing to die: what are we but a fire?
    We know everything we do is so the kids after us
    will be able to follow something towards safety;
    what can I call us but lighthouse,

    of course I’m terrified. Of course I’m a shroud.
    And of course it’s not fair but rest assured,
    anxious America, you brought your fists to a glitter fight.
    This is a taco truck rally and all you have is cole slaw.
    You cannot deport our minds; we won’t
    hold funerals for our potential. We have always been
    what makes America great.

    This is dope as FUCK.

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    RonaldoTheGypsyRonaldoTheGypsy Yes, yes Registered User regular
    http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/trump-ambassadors.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
    WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition staff has issued a blanket edict requiring politically appointed ambassadors to leave their overseas posts by Inauguration Day, according to several American diplomats familiar with the plan, breaking with decades of precedent by declining to provide even the briefest of grace periods.

    The mandate — issued “without exceptions,” according to a terse State Department cable sent on Dec. 23, diplomats who saw it said — threatens to leave the United States without Senate-confirmed envoys for months in critical nations like Germany, Canada and Britain. In the past, administrations of both parties have often granted extensions on a case-by-case basis to allow a handful of ambassadors, particularly those with school-age children, to remain in place for weeks or months.

    ...

    With the world already primed to be worrying about such an abrupt change, “this is just a very concrete signal that it is going to happen,” Mr. Pearson said.

    At a White House farewell reception that Mr. Obama held on Wednesday night for noncareer ambassadors, many of them commiserated, attendees said, comparing notes about how to handle the situation.

    Some expressed dismay that Mr. Trump, whose wife, Melania, has chosen to stay in New York to avoid moving the couple’s 10-year-old son, Barron, to a new school midyear, would not ensure that such allowances were made for American ambassadors.

    Derek Shearer, a professor of diplomacy at Occidental College who is a former United States ambassador to Finland, said it was difficult to see a rationale for the decision. “It feels like there’s an element just of spite and payback in it,” he said. “I don’t see a higher policy motive.”

    The State Department informed all politically appointed ambassadors in a letter the day after the election that they were to submit letters of resignation effective Jan. 20. It instructed those who wanted to seek extensions to submit formal requests explaining their justifications.

    Incoming presidents of both parties have often made exceptions to allow ambassadors to wrap up personal affairs and important diplomatic business while their successors were in the confirmation process, which can take months. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Mr. Obama all granted extensions for a few politically appointed ambassadors.

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    BlindPsychicBlindPsychic Registered User regular
    NY Times is reporting that Trump is basically shit canning all ambassadors. Must have their shit packed and gone by inauguration
    http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/trump-ambassadors.html?_r=0
    WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition staff has issued a blanket edict requiring politically appointed ambassadors to leave their overseas posts by Inauguration Day, according to several American diplomats familiar with the plan, breaking with decades of precedent by declining to provide even the briefest of grace periods.

    The mandate — issued “without exceptions,” according to a terse State Department cable sent on Dec. 23, diplomats who saw it said — threatens to leave the United States without Senate-confirmed envoys for months in critical nations like Germany, Canada and Britain. In the past, administrations of both parties have often granted extensions on a case-by-case basis to allow a handful of ambassadors, particularly those with school-age children, to remain in place for weeks or months.

    Mr. Trump, by contrast, has taken a hard line against leaving any of President Obama’s political appointees in place as he prepares to take office on Jan. 20 with a mission of dismantling many of his predecessor’s signature foreign and domestic policy achievements. “Political” ambassadors, many of them major donors who are nominated by virtue of close ties with the president, almost always leave at the end of his term; ambassadors who are career diplomats often remain in their posts.

    Also I think there's a decent chance the next big push will be anti-porn. Lord knows it probably won't be super effective, but its in the GOP platform, and SC, UT, and VA all have bills floating around to 'combat' it in some way.

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    knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    No way Trump lets them ban porn.

    He's appeared in pornographic films, after all.

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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    CoinageCoinage Heaviside LayerRegistered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    No way Trump lets them ban porn.

    He's appeared in pornographic films, after all.
    Literally banning it is impossible, but it could be like the UK where ISPs attempt to filter it and you have to contact them to opt-out.

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    OghulkOghulk Tinychat Janitor TinychatRegistered User regular
    http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/trump-ambassadors.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
    WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition staff has issued a blanket edict requiring politically appointed ambassadors to leave their overseas posts by Inauguration Day, according to several American diplomats familiar with the plan, breaking with decades of precedent by declining to provide even the briefest of grace periods.

    The mandate — issued “without exceptions,” according to a terse State Department cable sent on Dec. 23, diplomats who saw it said — threatens to leave the United States without Senate-confirmed envoys for months in critical nations like Germany, Canada and Britain. In the past, administrations of both parties have often granted extensions on a case-by-case basis to allow a handful of ambassadors, particularly those with school-age children, to remain in place for weeks or months.

    ...

    With the world already primed to be worrying about such an abrupt change, “this is just a very concrete signal that it is going to happen,” Mr. Pearson said.

    At a White House farewell reception that Mr. Obama held on Wednesday night for noncareer ambassadors, many of them commiserated, attendees said, comparing notes about how to handle the situation.

    Some expressed dismay that Mr. Trump, whose wife, Melania, has chosen to stay in New York to avoid moving the couple’s 10-year-old son, Barron, to a new school midyear, would not ensure that such allowances were made for American ambassadors.

    Derek Shearer, a professor of diplomacy at Occidental College who is a former United States ambassador to Finland, said it was difficult to see a rationale for the decision. “It feels like there’s an element just of spite and payback in it,” he said. “I don’t see a higher policy motive.”

    The State Department informed all politically appointed ambassadors in a letter the day after the election that they were to submit letters of resignation effective Jan. 20. It instructed those who wanted to seek extensions to submit formal requests explaining their justifications.

    Incoming presidents of both parties have often made exceptions to allow ambassadors to wrap up personal affairs and important diplomatic business while their successors were in the confirmation process, which can take months. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Mr. Obama all granted extensions for a few politically appointed ambassadors.

    this is so incredibly short-sighted and stupid

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    GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/trump-ambassadors.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur
    WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition staff has issued a blanket edict requiring politically appointed ambassadors to leave their overseas posts by Inauguration Day, according to several American diplomats familiar with the plan, breaking with decades of precedent by declining to provide even the briefest of grace periods.

    The mandate — issued “without exceptions,” according to a terse State Department cable sent on Dec. 23, diplomats who saw it said — threatens to leave the United States without Senate-confirmed envoys for months in critical nations like Germany, Canada and Britain. In the past, administrations of both parties have often granted extensions on a case-by-case basis to allow a handful of ambassadors, particularly those with school-age children, to remain in place for weeks or months.

    ...

    With the world already primed to be worrying about such an abrupt change, “this is just a very concrete signal that it is going to happen,” Mr. Pearson said.

    At a White House farewell reception that Mr. Obama held on Wednesday night for noncareer ambassadors, many of them commiserated, attendees said, comparing notes about how to handle the situation.

    Some expressed dismay that Mr. Trump, whose wife, Melania, has chosen to stay in New York to avoid moving the couple’s 10-year-old son, Barron, to a new school midyear, would not ensure that such allowances were made for American ambassadors.

    Derek Shearer, a professor of diplomacy at Occidental College who is a former United States ambassador to Finland, said it was difficult to see a rationale for the decision. “It feels like there’s an element just of spite and payback in it,” he said. “I don’t see a higher policy motive.”

    The State Department informed all politically appointed ambassadors in a letter the day after the election that they were to submit letters of resignation effective Jan. 20. It instructed those who wanted to seek extensions to submit formal requests explaining their justifications.

    Incoming presidents of both parties have often made exceptions to allow ambassadors to wrap up personal affairs and important diplomatic business while their successors were in the confirmation process, which can take months. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Mr. Obama all granted extensions for a few politically appointed ambassadors.

    Wait, hold the fuck on: he wants them to resign after dragging them to his inaugeration?

    Why in the fuck would anyone do that?

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    Mx. QuillMx. Quill I now prefer "Myr. Quill", actually... {They/Them}Registered User regular
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    OghulkOghulk Tinychat Janitor TinychatRegistered User regular
    I'm really starting to feel like we're seeing the end of our country right now.

    Like, it just feels so incredibly tense, and the things that the new administration wants to do with a congress that will allow it is just

    I mean fuck. I'm just getting more and more nervous.

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    Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular


    So this is one of the top Google returns for 'Mexico president' (I'm not really going to link to brietbart...)
    President of Mexico wants to Negotiate that “Wall”

    Nov 12, 2016 - Mexico is very worried that President Trump will actually follow through on his ... Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto's phone call to ...

    I can see the worry from my house!
    Trump wrote:
    I'll get the best deals, believe me!

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    GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
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    Magus`Magus` The fun has been DOUBLED! Registered User regular
    I feel like banning porn wouldn't be very popular.

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    knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    What would happen if we stopped having politically appointed ambassadors

    Like set up an independent commission to make the appointments, set the terms so they overlap presidential terms, etc

    I'm not a big fan of ambassadorships being plums for wealthy donors, which is what they seem to be under the current system

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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    GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    Magus` wrote: »
    I feel like banning porn wouldn't be very popular.

    I'm pretty sure the battle against porn ended in defeat back in the 80's.

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