Monday Open Thread

Posted on May 8, 2017 by rikyrah

Happy Monday, Everyone.

ICYMI

Le Pen defeat brings Europe’s far-right wave crashing to a halt
Anti-E.U. firebrand Marine Le Pen’s overwhelming loss to centrist Emmanuel Macron, whom voters preferred nearly 2-to-1, is a reality check for far-right forces. Despite victories for Brexit and Donald Trump, voters across Western Europe have since elected mainstream candidates to office, likely shutting out far-right candidates for years.

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50 Responses to Monday Open Thread

  6. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 8, 2017 at 5:11 pm

    Just sad @nytimes. All of this groveling. It’s so damn disgusting.

    https://twitter.com/stevesilberman/status/861646767804170240

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    May 8, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    A group of Obama veterans are banding together to invest in tech that can help Democrats win
    The new effort is called Higher Ground Labs, and it’s hoping to help the party in state and local races.
    MAY 8, 2017, 5:00AM EDT

    Hoping to gain new ground after an Election Day disappointment, a group of tech experts who worked with President Barack Obama are banding together to give progressive political candidates a bit of a digital upgrade.

    The effort is called Higher Ground Labs, and it aims to invest in new political technologies so that progressive office-seekers at the state and federal levels can tap the same Silicon Valley-style tools that helped Obama and other nationally inclined Democrats win past races.

    To Betsy Hoover, a former director of digital organizing for Obama’s 2012 team, the problem is that presidential campaigns invest the greatest time and effort into technology to reach and persuade voters — but that “technology typically dies” after the election season ends. Even so, their software can be difficult to adapt to down-ballot candidates, who are seeking to run for congress or their local state house.

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    May 8, 2017 at 2:52 pm

    I read Ivanka Trump’s book this weekend. It’s really striking how she (& her dad) try to pretend they are self-made.

    Ivanka Trump’s life of privilege undermines the credibility of her new book’s message
    By James Hohmann May 8 at 9:56 AM

    Ivanka Trump’s new book unwittingly reveals just how out of touch she is with the lives of the working women who she believes she speaks for.

    — President Trump dubiously claimed during the campaign that he was a self-made man. “My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars,” he told NBC during a 2015 interview, which he insisted he paid back with interest. “A million dollars isn’t very much compared to what I built!” During a primary debate, when Marco Rubio claimed that he had received a $200 million inheritance from his father, Trump replied angrily: “I took $1 million and I turned it into $10 billion.”

    Every fact checker faulted Trump for not giving his father enough credit, for downplaying the connections and the resources he received from the family business. Court documents revealed that the candidate was omitting vastly larger loans and gifts he received over the years. His pop also bailed him out when his Atlantic City casinos went bankrupt.

    — The first daughter (now a White House official) also talks at times as if she is a self-made millionaire. “It wasn’t until I built my own business from the ground up that I understood the vastness of launching your own enterprise,” Ivanka Trump, referring to her fashion brand, writes in “Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success.” “Undeniably, one factor in my success has been the doors that my family’s name and privileged upbringing have opened … But they alone didn’t guarantee my success. … Curiosity, passion, hard work and perseverance have enabled me to prove my value to myself and others beyond my surname. … Anyone who knows me knows that I will outwork anyone…

    — For millions of folks in the Rust Belt – the people who delivered the White House to the Trumps – it is not a matter of “curiosity, passion, hard work and perseverance.” Working hard was not enough to keep the General Motors plant open in Janesville, Wisconsin. Being passionate isn’t enough to keep coal mines churning in West Virginia. Curiosity is not going to bring back manufacturing jobs to Ohio. (Those people also don’t have government employees promoting their products on cable and Twitter.)

    Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      May 8, 2017 at 2:33 pm

      1. Start with every GOPer in N.Y. and California.
      2. Next, every GOP district that Hillary won
      3. Every GOPer in a state that Hillary won
      4. Every GOPer in A state with a Senate seat up in 2018 -Dem or GOP
      5. Every state with a Governors race in 2017 and 2018
      6. Then pick the GOPers enough to add up to 100 GOP house -winning that should be the target – concentrate on 100 seats to flip

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 8, 2017 at 5:43 pm

      That would be Martha “Let’s get this f*cking thing done” McSally from AZ-CD2 my very own district. (She got a little pump when the Republican House punks played the theme from Rocky to excite themselves and she blurted out this F-bomb that got her national attention). Oh, if only there were a video.

      Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    May 8, 2017 at 2:09 pm

    See the videos in this thread.

    Tommy Christopher‏Verified account @tommyxtopher 4h4 hours ago

    1. Incredible string of lies by Republican to a kidney donor. He tells him that he’s ‘ gamed the system’ –
    a KIDNEY DONOR GAMED THE SYSTEM.
    Being a kidney donor – PRE-EXISTING CONDITION

    https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/861595488356900864

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    May 8, 2017 at 1:55 pm

    Mercer Sued by Hedge Fund Worker Fired After Blasting Trump
    May 8, 2017, 2:30 pm

    excerpt:
    The dispute started on Jan. 16 when Magerman called Mercer and asked to have a conversation about his support of Trump, according to the complaint. During the chat, Mercer said the U.S. had started going in the wrong direction “after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s,” according to the complaint. Mercer also said that black Americans “were doing fine” in the late 1950s and are the “only racist people remaining in the U.S.,” according to the complaint.

    “Magerman was stunned by these comments and pushed back,” according to the complaint. Reminded of the racial segregation that existed at the time, Mercer allegedly responded by saying those issues weren’t important.

    Reply
  33. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 8, 2017 at 11:32 am

    This is so barbaric, so inhumane until I can’t read any further right now. I can’t handle it. It’s too much. #DarrenRainey

    https://twitter.com/csmcdaniel/status/861599472559812608

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 8, 2017 at 1:10 pm

      The FL Dept of Corrections “officers” tortured this man to death. It is so gruesome and so extraordinarily barbaric that it is difficult to believe people are capable of doing this, yet they did. And it was the Miami Herald that brought this story into the light of day, they deserve credit for that.

      Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    May 8, 2017 at 8:45 am

    Viva la France 😄😄😄

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    May 8, 2017 at 8:45 am

    Morning Everyone 😐😐😐

    Reply

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