Tuesday Open Thread | Steve Schmidt: There is blood on Trump’s hands

Posted on May 15, 2018 by SouthernGirl2

After the death of 58 Palestinian protesters, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt says Trump is using incitement to shore up his base — consequences be damned. “He destabilized the region with not having any clue what he is doing.”

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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71 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread | Steve Schmidt: There is blood on Trump’s hands

  2. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 15, 2018 at 9:52 pm

    Punk’d so hard……………………..😂😂😂😂😂

    https://twitter.com/AP/status/996579621595475973

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    JUST IN: Judge in D.C. denies Manafort motion to dismiss charges. Says “the indictment falls squarely within that portion of the authority granted to the Special Counsel,” and it was “logical and appropriate” for investigators looking at coordination to focus on him.

    Reply
  8. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 3:53 pm

    Fabulous hashtag 🙌👏🎉

    #BlackAndHooded

    Will make you smile 😄

    Reply
  10. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 15, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    Useless. Primary him. Who need @Democrats like this?

    https://twitter.com/MarkWarner/status/996464410272071685

    Reply
  11. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 15, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    PLAYED. HOODWINKED. BAMBOOZLED.

    😂😂😂😂😂😂

    https://twitter.com/AP/status/996467041698828288

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    THIS is who they are:

    A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Oklahomaallegedly argued this week that those unable to support themselves whether they’re disabled, children or otherwise – should view euthanasia as an option rather than burden taxpayers through use of SNAP food assistance. Christopher Barnett – registered to run in this year’s Oklahoma gubernatorial election – told a commenter to his campaign’s Facebook page that “…why are we required to keep them up? Sorry but euthanasia is cheaper and doesn’t make everyone a slave to the Government.”

    Though Facebook appears to have removed the comments, he still stands by them as he stated in another comment, “I stand by my comments.”

    Reply
  14. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 15, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    I told y’all this is the trend now….calling cops on Black people

    https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/996463969068961793

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 11:45 am

    The Royal Family Was Reportedly ‘Blindsided’ When Meghan Markle’s Dad Dropped Out of the Wedding
    Tess Koman

    Just one day after confirming he would not attend the royal wedding, TMZ reports Kensington Palace and all of its residents were completely taken aback by his announcement.

    The royal family was reportedly all set with Markle Sr.’s accommodations for later this week. He was scheduled to have a security detail, as well as access to many of the weekend’s private events.

    The site also reports now that Meghan’s father isn’t coming, her Meghan’s mother – with whom the soon-to-be Duchess is extremely close – will be the one to walk her down the aisle on Saturday.

    Reply
    • vitaminlover says:
      May 15, 2018 at 12:10 pm

      I believe that the Royals have circled the wagons around Ms. Meghan. They will make her look good which will make them look good. She’s tough. She will be fine. That family is a bunch of clowns on a path of trying to destroy her but it won’t work.

      Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 11:43 am

    This is Meghan’s Biggest Royal Wedding Nightmare
    Diane Clehane

    With less than a week until Meghan Markle weds Prince Harry at St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, it’s understandable that she’d be suffering from pre-wedding jitters, but the source of her anxiety is worrying royal watchers who have commended the former actress for adapting so quickly to royal life.

    But today’s news that her father, Thomas Markle, has backed out of the wedding amid reports he secretly cooperated with Los Angeles photographer Jeff Rayner, is deeply upsetting news the to the bride-to-be.

    TMZ is reporting Thomas Markle told them he suffered a heart attack six days ago, but checked himself out of the hospital so he could attend the wedding. According to the website, he’s now decided not to go because he doesn’t want to embarrass the royal family or his daughter. He also said admits the staged photos look “stupid and hammy.” Markle told the site he was just going along with the paparazzi agency, which he now deeply regrets. He is now planning to stay away from the wedding

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:59 am

    Don’t Expect White Evangelicals to Be Troubled By Violence in Gaza
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    May 15, 2018

    Yesterday we witnessed why so many Republicans have talked about moving the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, but none of them ever actually did it. While Jared and Ivanka celebrated the move with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli military killed dozens of protesting Palestinians and wounded thousands. The situation in Gaza was so horrifying that they put out this called for help.

    Medical services in #Gaza at breaking point as already weakened hospital and healthcare system deals with almost 2000 injured in a single day, over 900 from live ammunition. Health authorities in #Gaza appeal to the international community for assistance.

    — amnestypress (@amnestypress) May 14, 2018

    Trump’s secretary of state wouldn’t even address a question about the violence.

    When we asked SecState Pompeo if he had anything to say –anything– on the violence in Israel right now… he turned his back, and walked away.

    — Michelle Kosinski (@MichLKosinski) May 14, 2018

    …………………….

    Paul Waldman had the right take on what this all means.

    Throughout, the United States has presented itself as not only a necessary partner in negotiations to end the conflict but, at the very least, a semi-neutral arbiter — one concerned about the future of both parties despite its closeness to Israel. It has remained committed to the goal of a two-state solution, in which Israel has the security it craves, the occupation of Palestinian lands ends, and the Palestinians are granted the right of self-determination.

    Until now…

    The policy of our government may be unstated, but it is crystal clear: The United States will no longer seek peace. The Netanyahu government is free to do whatever it wants — no matter how brutal — and we will not object. As for the Palestinians, we no longer care. They can accept their subjugation or they can cry out in rage against it, but it’s all the same to us.

    Reply
  25. Ametia says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:46 am

    Real’ Americans are a myth. Don’t you dare buy it.
    Republicans’ attack on ‘elites’ is ugly and hypocritical.
    Eugene Robinson

    Read more » https://s2.washingtonpost.com/69d809/5afab6b8fe1ff63b7971b1b8/YXdhcmVvZjQxMUBnbWFpbC5jb20%3D/15/85/3a569220054ddfca9b49a25bb24a75b5

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:45 am

    Stop Comparing the Resistance to the Tea Party
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    May 14, 2018

    Many people have chronicled the failures of major media outlets during the 2016 election. Perhaps the best documentation of that came from a report by the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard titled, ““Partisanship, Propaganda and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 Presidential Election.”

    The roots of that failure began during the Obama administration when journalists committed to “both sides do it” failed to report on the asymmetric polarization that fueled Republican obstruction. Throughout those eight years there was an attempt to find Barack Obama to be equally at fault for gridlock and polarization, even as a lot of liberals critics found him to be too accommodating. The assumption of bothsiderism between the two political parties distorted the lens through which major media figures viewed what was happening and created a narrative that was at odds with the facts.

    In many ways the presidency of Donald Trump has tested that narrative, even for those who clung to it so assiduously in the past. But I still see the remnants of bothsiderism in commentary that attempts to compare/contrast the current resistance movement to the Tea Party of 2010. Even in an effort to highlight the differences, Sahil Kapur falls prey to some of the underlying assumptions of bothsiderism.

    ………………

    Let’s first of all note that the first big wave of primaries this month all happened in states that Trump won. Similarly, the special elections that have occurred since the 2016 election have almost exclusively been held in red states and districts. It therefore stands to reason that moderate Democratic candidates have done well. As the primaries move to more predominantly blue states and districts, we are likely to see candidates prevail who embrace more liberal platforms.

    But the biggest problem with Kapur’s analysis is to equate the resistance movement with the “rebellious activist flank” in opposition to “establishment-friendly candidates.” To make that point, he notes that in the Democratic primary for the Ohio governor’s race, Dennis Kucinich—who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders’ organization Our Revolution—lost to Richard Cordray by over 40 points. That assumes that the resistance movement is made up of Sanders supporters who are lining up to do battle with the establishment.

    ………………………………………………..

    By contrast, the Tea Party was less about policy and more about capitalizing on cultural resentment among older white voters…In the end, the true power of the Tea Party was in channeling voters’ revulsion to demographic diversity, a phenomenon embodied in the election of the first black president. “The Tea Party movement became effective because they were able to vilify President Obama and tag every Democrat to him,” says Mike Caputo, Democratic minority whip in the West Virginia House of Delegates. “If you were running for dog catcher, they would do a mailer telling about how you and Obama used to have lunch together.”

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:37 am

    Conservatives’ ludicrous new excuse: Liberals made us vote for Donald Trump!
    Despite the whining of Bari Weiss and others, conservatives are adults. The left didn’t force them to support Trump

    AMANDA MARCOTTE
    MAY 15, 2018 9:00AM (UTC)

    It’s hard to believe it’s come to this point, but apparently this needs to be said: Republican voters are adults, not children. They are responsible for their own choices. Liberals did not force them to vote for Donald Trump or support his policies.

    One would think none of that needs to be said, especially since conservatives like to style themselves as the defenders of “personal responsibility.” But apparently the idea is really taking root among the chattering classes that liberals practically held conservatives down and tormented them into voting for Trump. The argument is, I guess, that those who publicly decry racism and sexism are so obnoxious about it that they make conservatives double down on these bigoted beliefs. So progressives and liberals have more responsibility for electing Trump than the people who, you know, actually voted for him.

    This bewildering thesis started spreading like a contagion after the resident troll at the New York Times, Bari Weiss, wrote yet another article arguing that well-compensated bigots with enormous audiences are being oppressed because liberals won’t pretend to be impressed with their bad arguments. Weiss was laughed at online, which is what you get when you say silly things in public. And as trolls are wont to do, she then had a tantrum on Twitter.

    Second: When conservatives, classical liberals or libertarians are told by the progressive chattering class that they–or those they read–are alt-right, the very common response is to say: Screw it. They think everyone is alt-right. And then those people move further right.

    — Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) May 11, 2018

    Weiss’ premise that liberals are somehow forcing conservatives to act like fools and bigots should be self-evident nonsense, but it appears to be an attractive proposition to many in mainstream media spaces. Andrew Sullivan argued in New York magazine that while he understands that Kanye West’s praise of Trump is foolish, he found himself “instinctually siding” with West because the critics are just so gosh-darned critical. Then Gerard Alexander wrote yet another piece for the New York Times arguing that the “backlash against liberals” — a backlash he openly declares liberals are causing with their supposed self-righteousness — “is going to get President Trump re-elected.”

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:32 am

    Looking out over Daley Plaza. Urban Prep is going to have the College Decision Day Rally here. Good for them. Can’t wait to see the young men all decked out in their school uniforms :)

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:31 am

    Tom Wolfe has died at 87. With books like “The Right Stuff,” the innovative journalist’s colorful prose captured the American experience. https://t.co/nTweMJIeta— NYT Obituaries (@NYTObits) May 15, 2018

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:15 am

    He spent his ENTIRE election campaign shytting on immigrants, and you didn’t think that there would be consequences if he got elected?

    PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.

    “Eddie Devine voted for [Trump] because he thought he would be good for American business. Now, he says, the Trump administration’s restrictions on seasonal foreign labor may put him out of business. ‘I feel like I’ve been tricked by the devil,’ said Devine, owner of … Devine Creations Landscaping. ‘I feel so stupid.’”

    ***
    That’s why Devine thinks the Trump administration’s stifling of guest-worker programs has more to do with racism than economics. ‘I think there’s a war on brown people,’ he said.

    “But what makes him most angry is that Trump’s properties in Florida and New York have used 144 H-2B workers since 2016. ‘I want to know why it’s OK for him to get his workers, but supporters like me don’t get theirs,’ Devine said.”

    ………………..

    Devine says it has been years since he could find enough dependable, drug-free American workers for his $12-an-hour jobs mowing and tending landscapes for cemeteries, shopping centers and apartment complexes across Central Kentucky.

    Then, maybe you ought to pay higher than $12. You mean you can’t find high schoolers, off for the summer, willing to earn $12/hour?

    Reply
  32. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:13 am

    Nikki Haley enrages me with that fugging bullshyt…………..

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:05 am

    The comments are pure gold. Worth reading.
    People.are.not.having.her.bullshyt.

    And, I got a little pep in my step reading the comments:

    Crain’s Business Detroit. How my president’s tariffs would cripple my company

    Second generation business owner Mary Buchzeiger: oh noes. Trump’s tariffs gonna put me in big trouble. Her American employees inspect and repackage automotive components manufactured offshore. She works with seven Asian factories, and 50 USA employees inspect, repackage, and forward the components on when they return. Not much skilled labor with her company — the assembly is handled further up the food chain, which she brags is “thousands of American jobs,” implying they’re attributable to her. If you say so, Mary.

    Best part of this article is the reader comments. Leopards, meet face, and so on.

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 15, 2018 at 10:53 am

      I love the comments. I’m feeling like a rabid dog today and it warms my soul to know I’m not alone.

      Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 9:43 am

    This article by Evan Osnos in the New Yorker about the razing of the federal workforce at all levels is an eye opener:

    Across the government, more than half of the six hundred and fifty-six most critical positions are still unfilled. “We’ve never seen vacancies at this scale,” Max Stier, the president and C.E.O. of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that works to make the government more effective, said. “Not anything close.”

    Some of the vacancies are deliberate. As a candidate, Trump promised to “cut so much your head will spin.” Amid a strong economy, large numbers of employees are opting to leave the government rather than serve it. In Trump’s first nine months, more than seventy-nine thousand full-time workers quit or retired—a forty-two-per-cent increase over that period in Obama’s Presidency. To Trump and his allies, the departures have been liberating, a purge of obstructionists. “The President now has people around him who aren’t trying to subvert him,” Michael Caputo, a senior campaign adviser, told me. “The more real Trump supporters who pop up in the White House phone book, the better off our nation will be.”

    If they cannot find a Trump loyalist to fill a position they simply leave it empty.

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 9:30 am

    A bruising Democratic primary in Pennsylvania: Dark side of the blue wave?
    The race to replace Charlie Dent: Democratic infighting may endanger a likely House pickup in Pennsylvania
    MATTHEW ROZSA
    MAY 15, 2018 10:00AM (UTC)

    The recent un-gerrymandering of Pennsylvania’s congressional districts has terrified Republicans and some, like Rep. Charlie Dent, a relative moderate who was often critical of President Trump, have opted to retire rather than face their new constituency. While that has certainly invigorated the Democratic field in the Keystone State, it has also caused bruising intra-party fights that threaten the party’s chances to take advantage of an impending blue wave during this fall’s midterm elections.

    As I attempted to sift through the mountain of campaign advertising in this Democratic race to replace Dent in Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district — which will come to a head in Tuesday’s primary election — it became impossible to ignore how much of it was negative, adding to an already dirty race.

    As someone who has resided in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley for 20 years and held local party office, I have seen all manner of primary and general elections. Things get tough in this area, no question about it, but there is a reason why Pennsylvania has a mostly centrist reputation. There is an underlying civility toward our political process, a pragmatic recognition that pulling out all the stops against one’s opponents can also leave you vulnerable, that has at least partially stayed hands that might otherwise sling mud.

    Not this time around.

    Perhaps it’s because the recent and abrupt court-mandated redistricting of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation has invigorated the Democratic field and terrified the Republicans. Or perhaps, given President Donald Trump’s abysmal approval ratings, Democrats are certain this is a ripe year for their party and Republicans are desperate to prove them wrong. The one thing that I know for sure, though, is that the state of Democratic politics in the Lehigh Valley reveals that things have changed in this once-sleepy district.

    The race pits attorney Susan Wild against Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli and Pastor Greg Edwards.

    Considering that Wild would be the first woman ever to represent the Lehigh Valley in Congress, and Edwards would be the first person of color to do so (he identifies as both black and Latino), I figured it was appropriate to ask her about these possibly historic milestones.

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 9:18 am

    LIPS PURSED.

    Rauner pushes to reinstate death penalty for cop killers, mass murderers
    | Tina Sfondeles/Sun-Times

    Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday proposed reinstating the death penalty for mass murderers and those who kill police officers –– putting on record a package of public safety reforms that he can tout to voters ahead of a heated November election.

    It was one of a series of sweeping changes the Republican governor attached to an amendatory veto. And a move deemed “political” by a key sponsor of the legislation.

    With an election some six months away, the branding of a comprehensive package — even if it goes nowhere — shows voters that Rauner has a public safety plan.

    Its evolution, however, is a little murky. Some legislators in the governor’s bipartisan Public Safety Working Group said just two of Rauner’s proposals were discussed within the group: the 72-hour holding period legislation for gun purchases and the use of revenue to add school resource officers or mental health workers.

    The governor’s office said Rauner didn’t attend those meetings. His chief of staff Rodger Heaton, a former U.S. Attorney, attended instead.

    There are six elements to the amendatory veto: reinstating the death penalty provided the suspects are found “guilty beyond any doubt”; extending the 72-hour period to all gun purchases; banning bump stocks and trigger cranks; using restraining orders to disarm dangerous individuals; making judges and prosecutors explain why charges are reduced in plea agreements for violent gun offenders; and the use of revenue to add school resource officers and mental health workers when needed.

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 8:13 am

    Meet Rashan Prailow. He is a former @BarackObama White House Staffer who has his sights set on becoming Camden’s youngest city council member.
    https://t.co/vB8DGP54xK

    — #becauseofthemwecan (@Becauseofthem) May 15, 2018

    Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 8:11 am

    JUST IN: Pence PAC hires ex-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowksi https://t.co/8baAkC3RLv pic.twitter.com/RUNTCQWPfa

    — The Hill (@thehill) May 14, 2018

    Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 8:09 am

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    A mere 72 hours after the Chinese government agreed to put a half-billion dollars into an Indonesian project that will personally enrich Donald Trump, the president ordered a bailout for a Chinese-government-owned cellphone maker.
    “President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast,” Trump announced on Twitter Sunday morning. “Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!”

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 8:01 am

    This is among many reasons why the KKKeebler Elf will NEVER resign. He can only be fired. When folks like me say that this racist muthaphucka is living out his White Supremacist fantasies – we mean it.
    And, he is top on the list of why those who made this happen WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN.
    You can’t purse your lips to tell me that President Hillary Clinton would have let this racist SOB anywhere near the Justice Department.
    But…her…emails…..

    …………………………………

    … Sessions has stepped into the immigration system in an unprecedented manner: giving himself and his office the ability to review, and rewrite, cases that could set precedents for a large share of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants with pending immigration court cases, not to mention all those who are arrested and put into the deportation process in future.

    He’s doing this by taking cases from the Board of Immigration Appeals — the Justice Department agency that serves as a quasi-appellate body for immigration court cases — and referring them to himself to issue a decision instead.

    Sessions isn’t giving lawyers much information about what he’s planning. But he’s set himself up, if he wants, to make it radically harder for immigration judges to push cases off their docket to be resolved elsewhere or paused indefinitely — and to close the best opportunity that tens of thousands of asylum seekers, including most Central Americans, have to stay in the United States. And he might be gearing up to extend his involvement even further, by giving himself the authority to review a much bigger swath of rulings issued in the immigration court system…

    Immigration courts aren’t part of the judicial branch; they’re under the authority of the Department of Justice. Their judges are supposed to have some degree of independence, and some judges are certainly harsher on immigrants and asylum seekers than others. But their decisions are guided by precedent from the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is basically the appellate court of the immigration system and which also answers to the DOJ and the attorney general.

    If the attorney general doesn’t like that precedent, he has the power to change it — by referring a case to himself after the Board of Immigration Appeals has reviewed it, issuing a new ruling, and telling the immigration courts to abide by the precedent that ruling sets in future…

    In theory, Sessions’s office is supposed to make its decision based on amicus briefs from outside parties, as well as the immigrant’s lawyer and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prosecutor. But advocates and lawyers’ groups say they can’t file a good brief if they don’t know what, exactly, the cases Sessions is getting involved in actually are — and Sessions is withholding that information.

    In one of the cases Sessions has referred to himself, the DOJ refused to provide a copy of the decision that Sessions is reviewing or any information about where the case came from and who the immigrant’s lawyer was. In another case, congressional staff happened to find the decision under review on a DOJ website days before the deadline for amicus briefs.

    That opacity makes it basically impossible to know whether Sessions is planning to issue relatively narrow rulings or very broad ones. In the case in which the decision under review was discovered by congressional staffers, both the immigrant’s lawyer and the Department of Homeland Security (serving as the prosecution) asked Sessions’s office to clarify the specific legal question at hand in the review — in other words, to give them a hint of the scope of the potential precedent being set. They were denied…

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 15, 2018 at 9:15 am

      “…those who made this happen WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN.”

      Co-sign. They wanted to “blow things up” and they have. Re-building won’t be easy and it will take a hell of a lot longer than the demolition.

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 15, 2018 at 9:26 am

      I’d like to slap this deplorable upside the head. That’s the kind of mood I’m in right now. But also, this level of entitlement just blows me away. She voted for Trump without it ever crossing her mind that his reckless incompetence would ever harm a good little Republican bitch like her. She can go f*** herself.

      From the article:
      “Does President Trump know that his tariff on imported components threatens almost every manufacturing job in Michigan?

      Does he know that my little company in my little corner of Michigan would lose 90 percent of its business overnight? Does he understand that a 25 percent tax on the components Lucerne uses would evaporate my profit margins? That it would shut us down?

      I don’t think he does. Because I know my president cares — and I’ve got to believe he will change his mind, grant sensible exclusions, and help companies like Lucerne make America great again.”

      Reply
  58. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 5:11 am

    No lies told by Schmidt.😠😠

    Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    May 15, 2018 at 5:10 am

    Good Morning,Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

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