Trump 9: RESIST!

[Destiny]

I'm too angry to come up with anything pithy to say, so continued from here:

Fuck this administration and remember: THIS IS NOT FUCKING NORMAL!

[GreyhoundFan]

I was just coming to post what @JMarie posted in the last thread. Mnuchin and Bannon are registered to vote in two places. Um, voter fraud, anyone?

Quote

(CNN)Donald Trump's nominee to head the Treasury department, Steven Mnuchin, is registered to vote in two states, a CNN KFile review of paperwork obtained through open records requests in New York and California show.

While it is illegal to cast ballots in multiple states, it is not illegal to be registered in two states at the same time. In a tweet Wednesday, the president called for an investigation into voter fraud, including whether citizens are registered to vote in two states.

"I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedure," the president wrote in a pair of consecutive tweets.

CNN's KFile has also confirmed that before Wednesday morning, Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist and senior counselor, was registered to vote in both New York City as well as in Sarasota County, Florida. Since then, the supervisor of elections for Sarasota County said that Bannon was removed from the voting rolls on Wednesday after his office received confirmation from the city of New York that Bannon was registered to vote there too. Bannon's registration status was first reported by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Mnuchin's New York state voter registration lists a Park Avenue home he previously occupied and still owns as active. Records show he last voted at that address in 2008.

Mnuchin's voter registration is also listed as active at his Bel Air home in the state of California. Records obtained through an open records request show he last voted at that address in the state's Republican primary this year.

A Los Angeles county election official had told CNN's KFile that registration records have yet to be updated to show voting records for November's general election.

A spokesperson for Mnunchin did not return a comment request.

 

[Destiny]

It's only fraud if they didn't vote for you. OBVIOUSLY.

Seriously, I'm shaking with rage right now. This is NOT my America.

[47of74]

9 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I was just coming to post what @JMarie posted in the last thread. Mnuchin and Bannon are registered to vote in two places. Um, voter fraud, anyone?

 

Let me translate what Orange Fornicate Face said from Klan-speak to English.  When he says "we will strengthen up voting procedure" what he really means is, "we will keep the poor, women, and non whites from voting."

[iweartanktops]

8 minutes ago, Destiny said:

It's only fraud if they didn't vote for you. OBVIOUSLY.

Seriously, I'm shaking with rage right now. This is NOT my America.

ME, too! I just can't stop obsessing over how completely fucked we are. 

[candygirl200413]

So not gonna lie but I was like shouldn't it be fine if you registered in two different places but didn't vote? Then i read how Tiffany Trump was registered in her college state of PA and home of New York. Then I was like hmm everyone else I know is registered in our home state of PA and the majority of my friends went to school out of state and it never crossed our mind to register for another state in addition too.

 

ALSO ALSO ALSO, the thing that is killing me the most out of everything is this: Trump White House Senior Staff Have Private RNC Email Accounts

Quote

Senior Trump administration staffers including Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon have active accounts on a Republican National Committee email system, Newsweek has learned.

The system (rnchq.org) is the same one the George W. Bush administration was accused of using to evade transparency rules after claiming to have “lost” 22 million emails.

 

Making use of separate political email accounts at the White House is not illegal. In fact, they serve a purpose by allowing staff to divide political conversations (say, arranging for the president to support a congressional re-election campaign) from actual White House work. Commingling politics and state business violates the Hatch Act, which restricts many executive branch employees from engaging in political activity on government time.

 

But after then-candidate Donald Trump and the Republicans repeatedly called for “locking up” Hillary Clinton for handling government work with a private server while secretary of state, the new White House staff risks repeating the same mistake that dogged the Democrat’s presidential campaign. They also face a security challenge: The RNC email system, according to U.S. intelligence, was hacked during the 2016 race. “They better be careful after making such a huge ruckus over the private email over at the State Department,” says former Bush administration lawyer Richard Painter.

(The White House has not responded to queries about the system. Newsweek will update if and when it does.)

It’s not clear whether or how Trump staffers are using the RNC email addresses. If they are using them, they are subject to the “Disclosure Requirement For Official Business Conducted Using Electronic Messaging Accounts," a law, 44 U.S.C. 2209, that went into effect in 2014. If White House staffers have already used the RNC emails system for White House work, they must copy or forward those communications into the government system within 20 days.  

But MSM, let's just focus on Hillary Clinton's email use and just be meh with Trump.

[JMarie]

9 minutes ago, candygirl200413 said:

So not gonna lie but I was like shouldn't it be fine if you registered in two different places but didn't vote? Then i read how Tiffany Trump was registered in her college state of PA and home of New York. Then I was like hmm everyone else I know is registered in our home state of PA and the majority of my friends went to school out of state and it never crossed our mind to register for another state in addition too.

 

ALSO ALSO ALSO, the thing that is killing me the most out of everything is this: Trump White House Senior Staff Have Private RNC Email Accounts

But MSM, let's just focus on Hillary Clinton's email use and just be meh with Trump.

At least Tiffany was registered to vote.  Ivanka (the pretty one) and Eric (the other one) weren't.

[CTRLZero]

Echoing @Cartmann99's post in the previous thread, I'm seeing more indications that the scientists' march on Washington is gaining momentum.

Two of Trump's EPA transition team are from my home state (sorry!), and my husband, who in his working life was dedicated to various environmental issues, is very concerned about the damage these asshats can do now that they have permission to go wild.  Before NPR is defunded (sigh...), here is a link to an article which briefly outlines how the Trump administration is addressing environmental issues:

Trump - EPA scientific integrity policy under review

A couple snippets:

Quote

 

"It's certainly the case that every administration tries to control information, but I think that what we're seeing here is much more sweeping than has ever been done before..."

....

While previous administrations have restricted government scientists' communications to the public, controlling their scientific conclusions is far more rare.

 

 

[church_of_dog]

7 minutes ago, candygirl200413 said:

So not gonna lie but I was like shouldn't it be fine if you registered in two different places but didn't vote?

Nope, when you register in a new location it's supposed to automatically cancel your registration in the prior location (so that there is no risk of being able to vote more than once).  Whether you vote or not, because you always have the right to change your mind and decide to vote (within the rules).

Not sure how a person actually gets registered in two different places -- maybe by using a different name/ID than before? 

[Cartmann99]

Speaking of Trump's wall, imagine a beautifully wrapped gift box from Mexico, with a card that says "Payment for the wall". Inside the box, is a handmade statue of a hand with an extended middle finger.  

For those of you considering a move to the deep red parts of the USA, I love you guys for thinking like this. While I would dearly love to have more moderate and liberal voices where I live, I'm used to people moving in from more liberal places, experiencing severe culture shock, and then moving away again. Do your homework, and be gut level honest with yourself about what it would be like on a day to day basis before making your choice. 

If you do choose to move to my town, we can have #Resistance dinner parties where we strategize and bitch about Snowflake Orange. 

Since Orwell's 1984  is popular again, here's a link to a free audio recording of the book:

https://m.soundcloud.com/pacificaradioarchives/ftv-0539-george-orwells-nineteen-eighty-four-part-1-of-10

 

[CTRLZero]

5 minutes ago, church_of_dog said:

when you register in a new location it's supposed to automatically cancel your registration in the prior location

My daughter fairly recently went through this, and for a period of time she did show up as registered in two locations.  She personally had to take an additional step and cancel her registration in her prior district.  Maybe her experience was an anomaly, but it can happen.

[GreyhoundFan]

Here's an interesting, sobering, and important article: "The Daily 202: 11 stories from President Trump’s first 100 hours that deserve more attention" The article is way, way too long to quote, even under a spoiler, and the pictures/tweets are important, but some of the stuff in that article is scary.

 

And here's another lovely pile of crap from the crapmeister: "Trump on waterboarding: 'We have to fight fire with fire'"

Quote

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump said he wants to "fight fire with fire" when it comes to stopping terrorism, suggesting that he could be open to bringing back torture because he "absolutely" believes it works.

By reinstating enhanced interrogation, Trump would violate a US law ratified by the Senate in 2015 and go against the view of Defense Secretary James Mattis. CIA Director Mike Pompeo told senators earlier this month that he wouldn't sanction the use of torture, though he later said he would consider bringing back waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation measures under certain circumstances.

In an interview with ABC News, Trump said "people at the highest level of intelligence" have told him that torture does work, something military experts have refuted. He went on to say, however, that he will listen to what his Cabinet secretaries have to say about the issue.

"When ISIS is doing things that no one has ever heard of, since medieval times, would I feel strongly about waterboarding?" Trump said. "As far as I'm concerned, we have to fight fire with fire."

Trump's argument was that ISIS is beheading people and posting the videos online, but that the United States is "not allowed to do anything."

"We're not playing on an even field," Trump said. "I want to do everything within the bounds of what you're allowed to do legally. But do I feel it works? Absolutely, I feel it works."

Democrats and Republicans alike have shot down the idea of bringing back torture methods that were used by the Bush administration after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Pompeo said earlier this month that he would "absolutely not" restart the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation tactics that fall outside of Army Field Manuals.

"Moreover, I can't imagine I would be asked that by the President-elect," Pompeo said during his confirmation hearing.

But in a series of written responses to questions from members of the Senate intelligence committee, Pompeo later said that while current permitted interrogation techniques are limited to those contained in the Army Field Manual, he was open to making changes to that policy.

The Senate voted overwhelming to ban torture across the US government in 2015, codifying a ban President Barack Obama issued by executive order shortly after he was sworn in in 2009. Obama then signed the updated defense authorization bill into law.

Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said the use of torture is "settled law" and that "Congress has spoken."

The Senate intelligence committee produced a nearly 7,000-page classified report on torture, detention and interrogation after the George W. Bush administration brought back the practice. The authors of the report found the practice was ineffective and did not produce actionable intelligence.

"Reconstituting this appalling program would compromise our values, our morals and our standing as a world leader -- this cannot happen," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said in a statement on Wednesday. "We can't base national security policies on what works on television -- policies must be grounded in reality."

 

One more good one: "Hacker to Trump: Fix your security settings on Twitter". It's a long article, but this is priceless:

Quote

WauchulaGhost says he found the likely email associated with Melania Trump's handle within twenty minutes. He said the email associated with Vice President Mike Pence was easy to guess once you saw the redacted version: vi***************@gmail.com, which WauchulaGhost pieced together as vicepresident2017@gmail.com. It has since been changed, but the president and first lady's email addresses remain the same. (And the VP account still doesn't have the extra layer of security.)

 

[Terrie]

There's nothing illegal about being registered to vote in more than one place, as long as you don't actually try to vote in both. It happens to tons of people when they move. Same reason many dead people are still on the rolls. The system doesn't prioritize cleanup. Trumperdink trying to call it fraud is another example of his attempt to rewrite reality to his convinence. Don't fall for it.

[Audrey2]

So, Trump still insists that he had the largest crowd for his inauguration. Also, there must be 3 million examples of voter fraud, since he isn't listed as winning the popular vote.

 

I have one word...overcompensation! ( Yes, he does have tiny....hands)!

[GreyhoundFan]

1 minute ago, Audrey2 said:

So, Trump still insists that he had the largest crowd for his inauguration. Also, there must be 3 million examples of voter fraud, since he isn't listed as winning the popular vote.

 

I have one word...overcompensation! ( Yes, he does have tiny....hands)!

to go along with his tiny brain.

[Jucifer]

In case anyone needs inspiration here's a video of the Byrds covering Bob Dylan's song, 'Chimes of Freedom'

. 

 

[Cartmann99]

I know your eyes are bleary from reading, but this will help you when listening to Trump:

Quote

 

So: having had the displeasure of living under an authoritarian regime or two, let me share how to listen to them without losing your mind.

Authoritarians tell the truth about the future. They speak openly about what they are going to do. When they say things that seem absurd — we’ll build walls, ban those people, and so on — believe them.

Authoritarians lie about the past. They lie about the consequences of what they have done. They lie about the magnitude and scale of their achievements. No failure can be allowed. Everything is a success! Number one!! The best! Think North Korea.

 

https://umairhaque.com/how-to-listen-to-authoritarians-without-losing-your-mind-653accfcc4ba?gi=478ee5cfe5d8#---0-380.aegupcx4i

[JMarie]

3 hours ago, Terrie said:

There's nothing illegal about being registered to vote in more than one place, as long as you don't actually try to vote in both. It happens to tons of people when they move. Same reason many dead people are still on the rolls. The system doesn't prioritize cleanup. Trumperdink trying to call it fraud is another example of his attempt to rewrite reality to his convinence. Don't fall for it.

I don't get the dead people voting thing.  It's not like I'm going to vote early on election day, and show up around dinnertime and vote as my recently deceased neighbor, hoping her name is still in the registration book.  My mom passed away at the end of 2015, and her name wasn't in the registration book when I voted in the primary, and I assume other states removes the deceased in a similar timely manner.

[church_of_dog]

3 hours ago, church_of_dog said:

Nope, when you register in a new location it's supposed to automatically cancel your registration in the prior location (so that there is no risk of being able to vote more than once).  Whether you vote or not, because you always have the right to change your mind and decide to vote (within the rules).

Not sure how a person actually gets registered in two different places -- maybe by using a different name/ID than before? 

Quoting myself because I learned something.  (per the SF Chronicle website, who I assume knows of which they write)  Apparently it's not illegal at all to be registered in two places!  I had no idea (and I am a pollworker).  It's only illegal if you try to vote more than once.  I also see others above me have pointed this out -- thanks!

According to that article, the problem happens not when someone moves or otherwise registers in a new location, but because the old location hasn't updated their records yet.  Which is probably fairly common, I would guess.  I do know we have people on our rolls that were people who grew up here, reached voting age, registered, then moved away.  I see the names still on our rolls and have always assumed that means they haven't registered elsewhere -- but I guess it only means my county hasn't updated their rolls in a long time...

[GreyhoundFan]

"People were taking Trump seriously. Now they’re starting to take him literally."

Spoiler

During the campaign, many of Donald Trump’s supporters and even his advisers said they took many of the candidate’s most far-reaching promises seriously but not literally.

Now in his first week at the White House, President Trump is showing that at least some of them were indeed meant literally — putting him at odds not only with critics but with some members of his own party.

The Trump administration is showing every sign of taking the nation far to the right in an effort to make good on a number of his pledges, including barring refugees and immigrants from some Muslim-majority countries, potentially implementing an ideological test for others, working to build a wall on the border with Mexico and even exploring the possibility of reopening a caustic debate over “enhanced interrogation techniques” such as waterboarding.

“He’s never taken a position that he doesn’t agree with. He’s never taken a position that he doesn’t believe in,” said Sam Nunberg, a former Trump adviser. “The idea that he wasn’t going to be a results-oriented president on the platform he ran on, that he designed, was a complete misnomer.”

The White House said that no one should be surprised that Trump is trying to follow through on his campaign promises, starting with bold, if controversial, executive actions.

“The biggest thing is the president is somebody who likes to get things done,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the principal deputy White House press secretary. “He’s very much an executive. He’s a builder. He likes to map out a plan and see it all come to fruition. He mapped out a plan to win the presidency, he won, and now he’s implementing the policies he campaigned on. He’s not somebody who sits back and waits for things to happen.”

With an executive action Wednesday, Trump signaled he would start with one of the biggest: the process of constructing the wall with Mexico.

At the same time, in attempting to fulfill that promise, Trump is illustrating the limits of his approach. His vow to make Mexico pay for the wall remains unfulfilled, and he has not detailed any new plans to accomplish it.

“We do not need new laws,” Trump said Wednesday, a tacit acknowledgment that Congress had not yet signed on to the proposal. “We will work within the existing system and framework.”

Some congressional Republicans, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have already reacted with alarm at reports that Trump could seek to reopen CIA “black sites” and revisit banned “enhanced interrogation techniques” that he advocated during the campaign.

The position would also put Trump at odds with his defense secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis, who Trump said last year had lobbied him strenuously in opposition to the interrogation practices.

But Trump appears to be determined to press the issue, telling ABC News in an interview that he “absolutely” believes that waterboarding works.

Some of his initial executive actions have been more symbol than substance. An executive order aimed at muzzling regulations associated with the Affordable Care Act signed by Trump on Inauguration Day is all but moot until Trump’s Cabinet secretaries are confirmed by the Senate and in their jobs. And his announcement Monday of a withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership was simply the final and expected end for the 12-nation trade deal, which had languished in Congress. Trump also promised Wednesday to stop “sanctuary cities” that decline to help enforce federal immigration laws, but his executive order simply instructs his homeland security secretary to withhold some federal grants from such jurisdictions.

The Trump administration made a show of putting the measures into place, with signing ceremonies staged in the Oval Office and Trump’s visit to the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.

Trump also moved quickly on other items that have long been on the Republican Party’s wish list, beginning with authorizing federal agencies to ease the regulatory burden of the Affordable Care Act, banning federal funds for nongovernmental organizations that provide or counsel women on abortions, and reauthorizing construction on two controversial oil pipelines.

“He is the new action hero for America,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), who declared himself “very pleased” about Trump’s first five days.

Kelly said he was particularly happy about Trump‘s efforts to clear the way for the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. “People kind of sit back and say, ‘I can’t believe he did it that quickly.’ And other people say, ‘I can’t believe it took that long.’ How many more studies do we have to do?”

But some Republicans said that while Trump is making good on his broad campaign promises, he has undermined his success through his inability to focus on a core message, instead allowing himself to succumb to petty distractions.

This week, Trump hosted jobs-focused meetings with auto and other business executives and union leaders and arranged for the groups to hold news conferences outside the West Wing to debrief the media, an opportunity to amplify a message about job creation. But news has been dominated by Trump’s fixation with the crowd size at his inauguration, his press secretary’s airing of grievances against the media and Trump’s unsubstantiated insistence to congressional leaders that millions of illegal votes had been cast in November, costing him the popular vote.

“I thought a lot of what’s happened has actually been good — the meetings with automobile makers, unions and everything else,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). “When you argue over crowd size, when you argue over, you know, voter fraud, things like that, you’re taking your eye off the message and, I think, harming your ability to unify Republicans in the country.”

Trump’s moves have alarmed Democrats, some of whom were cautiously optimistic that they could work with Trump as a self-proclaimed non-ideological dealmaker but who now see him fulfilling their worst fears.

“During the campaign, the president ran against both the Democratic and Republican establishments,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). “But since he was elected he has governed entirely from the hard right, totally ignoring all of the promises he made to working people during the campaign.”

Trump’s week of executive orders, codifying his most contentious campaign positions, has also signaled to Democrats that he does not intend to moderate on much as president.

“I’m particularly concerned with his penchant for pronouncements, his being challenged on those pronouncement and his doubling down and tripling down on them,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I had very low expectations for what a Trump presidency would be, but he’s proven far worse than I expected.”

That last paragraph sums up my feelings. I had low expectations, but it's proving far worse than I expected.

 

"Donald Trump is making major policy pronouncements based on what he sees on TV". You really have to read the article to see the screen shots and the Tweets that came just minutes later. To quote the Toxic Orange Fornicate Face: "SAD".

 

[Cartmann99]

Shocker! Trump's most recent foaming at the mouth about voter fraud, is due to scary brown people: 

Quote

 

The three witnesses recall the story this way: Mr. Langer, a 59-year-old native of Bavaria, Germany — a winner of the Masters twice and of more than 100 events on major professional golf tours around the world — was standing in line at a polling place near his home in Florida on Election Day, the president explained, when an official informed Mr. Langer he would not be able to vote.

Ahead of and behind Mr. Langer were voters who did not look as if they should be allowed to vote, Mr. Trump said, according to the staff members — but they were nonetheless permitted to cast provisional ballots. The president threw out the names of Latin American countries that the voters might have come from.

Mr. Langer, whom he described as a supporter, left feeling frustrated, according to a version of events later contradicted by a White House official.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/trump-bernhard-langer-voting-fraud.

[MarblesMom]

2 hours ago, JMarie said:

I assume other states removes the deceased in a similar timely manner.

My niece runs elections and voting registrations for a county - I asked her about this a while back, and she said they generally review and audit the rolls about every 5 - 6 years.  Last time they did, they took about 10k names off the list.

It isn't a priority in their office due to staff levels and workload.  They do get to it, but not as often as she would like, obs.

I have never "cancelled" previous registrations when I moved - I just assumed the new county/state would notify the previous county and take care of it.

[CTRLZero]

The only bright spot (and it's pretty dim) of the story regarding the famous Bernard Langer is the following:

Quote

The anecdote, the aides said, was greeted with silence, and Mr. Trump was prodded to change the subject by Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas.

We can only hope the people surrounding Trump are able to rein him in on a regular basis.  Words really fail me when it comes to Trump and his "alternative facts."

[47of74]

And Iowa's very own Steve King (R-Douche Nozzle Teabilly Fornicate Stick) is busy calculating his own numbers;

huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-king-illegal-votes_us_5887a01ce4b0441a8f7133df

Quote

In an interview with MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson on Tuesday, King responded to President Donald Trump’s evidence-free claim that there were between 3 and 5 million illegal voters in the election ― an assertion that puzzled even some of Trump’s supporters.

Citing “sample data from certain counties,” King told Jackson he had done his own calculations and determined it was “plausible” that 2.4 million people could have voted illegally.

“I ... did an extrapolation calculation on how many illegals could have or could be voting in the United States,” King said, using an offensive term for undocumented immigrants. “The number I came up with off of that extrapolation was 2.4 million. So it’s plausible ― the number 3 million sounds like it’s a plausible number to me.”

King’s office did not immediately explain how the congressman made his calculation. It’s worth noting that his claim still falls significantly short of Trump’s outlandish estimate.

I'm guessing he pulled the number out of the party of his body he keeps his brain in.

King just really pisses me off.  He makes all of us here in Iowa look like racist douche nozzle hillbilly fornicate sticks who only engage in sexual relations with farm animals and/or family members within the prohibited degree of kinship.

[Zola]

This CBS interview...they keep acting like it's not supposed to sound scripted and edited, but it does. Really does. It seems to be nothing but leading questions asked to allow Trump to try and explain away his bullshit choices and behavior. Looks like Cheeto has been edited to make it sound like he isn't rambling, but you can tell shit's been cut short.

It's nothing but propaganda.

How many times is that idiot asshole going to look directly into the camera?