The Wall
Dismantling Obama Care
Opening the throttle on coal
Mass deportations
Chairman
Vice President-elect and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence
Vice Chairs
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions
Members of Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee
Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta
Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
New York Rep. Chris Collins
Jared Kushner, Trump son-in-law and publisher of New York Observer
Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Marino
Rebekah Mercer, hedge fund heiress
Steven Mnuchin, Trump campaign finance chairman and former Goldman Sachs partner
California Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee
Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital
Peter Thiel, venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus
Trump Campaign CEO Stephen K. Bannon
Trump children Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump
Executive Director
Rick Dearborn, chief of staff to Sen. Sessions
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, circa 9 years ago?
So to avoid conflict of interest, he is going to put his businesses into a "blind trust" where his children run them. The same children that are on the transition team.
Shafpocalypse Now wrote:So far it seems Trump has backed off some shit.
A lot of Trump Watchers claimed that all of his positions were "negotiation." For example, he started at the extreme end of the spectrum on immigration to occupy the field and to generate massive press, which he did.
But this is all "negotiation." Trump never intended to build a forty foot Wall and make Mexico pay for it. Sort of like when your offer on a new car is 80% of the sticker price.
Or when the President-elect swears an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Don't get your hopes up. A Wall, or at least portions of it are going up, and Obamacare is going down. The Leftist surge to put coal miners and coal plants out of business will stop. Illegals will get deported.
A wall the whole way when we have technology and reserve/guard military airplanes specially configured for ISR that are perfect ways to monitor the border is iffy. But make no mistake the Border patrol will stop the catch and release Obama policy. Preexisting conditions and up to age 26 on parents plan may get to stay, if the left comes to the table. If not good luck. Getting coal plants to natural gas and smoothing miners concerns is gonna happen. And illegals will start leaving and sanctuary cities may keep giving them succor, but on their own dime. See how long that goes. No need to deport them all if they register and aren't felons and are self supporting.
The horsetrading is commencing. Dems need to take what they can get. Better for them and better for progress. Everybody wins. A little bit at least.
"Start slowly, then ease off". Tortuga Golden Striders Running Club, Pensacola 1984.
"But even snake wrestling beats life in the cube, for me at least. In measured doses."-Lex
powerlifter54 wrote: The Leftist surge to put coal miners and coal plants out of business will stop. Illegals will get deported.
coal's biggest problem is natural gas, which is a cleaner and less expensive fuel.
executives at electric utilities are going to be cautious about making investments in coal, which take years to be repaid, just because donald is in charge for the short-term.
Really Big Strong Guy: There are a plethora of psychopaths among us.
Trump's going to be fucked one way or another in 2020 - his Huey Long-populist pledges to create jobs and revitalize infrastructure will be incredibly expensive to pursue but his proposed tax plan will slash federal spending.
The GOP Congress has generally been comfortable running huge deficits under Republican Presidents, but that was before the Tea Party put so many people in office. Do they cater to the White House or follow what has been a primary ideological plank thus far?
2020 rolls around and he's either running on a moribund economy with no significant job growth for the people who put him over the top - or the right has been deprived of its budget hawk credentials.
Actually being something other than an establishment Republican is going to require a lot of hard, boring work, because you need to find and recruit smart, competent people who share your vision. That may not be his thing. So far it seems the answer is "Let Pence figure it out," and Pence seems eager to re-fight the culture war on gays and abortion and eliminate the fairly minimal Wall Street regulations that are in place. There aren't a lot of areas where the Democrats overwhelmingly have an advantage in overall public support, but those are three.
As for Obamacare, the talking point has long been "Repeal and Replace," since just taking health insurance away from 20m people is probably not a winner. Pretty hard to come up with a replacement that doesn't go further left, and the GOP hasn't tried so far because they don't appear to have expected to have the opportunity. 6 years though. Should have been able to present something by now.
One of the downsides of the Internet is that it allows like-minded people to form communities, and sometimes those communities are stupid.
The Ginger Beard Man wrote:I'm looking forward to finding out if conservative's tears taste as good as those of liberals.
The history is pretty clear, eventually every Administration is brought down by their own hubris. But not right now. The Republican's will lose the presidency again eventually. But not right now.
"Start slowly, then ease off". Tortuga Golden Striders Running Club, Pensacola 1984.
"But even snake wrestling beats life in the cube, for me at least. In measured doses."-Lex
powerlifter54 wrote: The Leftist surge to put coal miners and coal plants out of business will stop. Illegals will get deported.
coal's biggest problem is natural gas, which is a cleaner and less expensive fuel.
executives at electric utilities are going to be cautious about making investments in coal, which take years to be repaid, just because donald is in charge for the short-term.
powerlifter54 wrote: Getting coal plants to natural gas and smoothing miners concerns is gonna happen.
The horsetrading is commencing. Dems need to take what they can get. Better for them and better for progress. Everybody wins. A little bit at least.
"Start slowly, then ease off". Tortuga Golden Striders Running Club, Pensacola 1984.
"But even snake wrestling beats life in the cube, for me at least. In measured doses."-Lex
milosz wrote:Where was this horsetrading verve when the GOP was out of power?
To be honest i am ok with the Dems getting a little of what they want. But if they want to play hardball i say bury them. Deep. Obama didn't throw any bones. But i think Trump is much more deal maker than a true believer like Mr Obama. But we will see.
"Start slowly, then ease off". Tortuga Golden Striders Running Club, Pensacola 1984.
"But even snake wrestling beats life in the cube, for me at least. In measured doses."-Lex
Shafpocalypse Now wrote:So far it seems Trump has backed off some shit.
The Wall
Dismantling Obama Care
Opening the throttle on coal
Mass deportations
Chairman
Vice President-elect and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence
Vice Chairs
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions
Members of Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee
Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta
Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
New York Rep. Chris Collins
Jared Kushner, Trump son-in-law and publisher of New York Observer
Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Marino
Rebekah Mercer, hedge fund heiress
Steven Mnuchin, Trump campaign finance chairman and former Goldman Sachs partner
California Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee
Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital
Peter Thiel, venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus
Trump Campaign CEO Stephen K. Bannon
Trump children Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump
Executive Director
Rick Dearborn, chief of staff to Sen. Sessions
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, circa 9 years ago?
I don't think he has backed off anything.
And Kushner and Thiel and Ivanka will lead the transition. With Thiel taking control because he is by far the smartest and most accomplished guy at the table. Those are not Old Guard types at all. The other names are rewards without power.
James Comey, Ray LaHood, Judd Gregg (nominated but withdrawn) and Robert Gates - all Republicans in top jobs. How many Democrats in the Cabinet or heading federal agencies under Dubya and Trump? (I can answer for Dubya - one)
Obamacare - essentially a copy of the '90s GOP plan (which is suddenly less offensive after six years)
The stimulus that he proposed involved a number of tax cuts
Sotomayor and Garland were incredibly moderate Justices for a Democrat to nominate, both former federal prosecutors
What bipartisanship efforts were thwarted by Obama, out of curiosity?
The issue with coal versus gas isn't just that gas is cheaper it's the fact that several coal plants were being forced to shutdown or transition to gas under the new EPA rules. New plants are gas but if Trump eases up the EPA mandates and timeline to the swap you'll see a big uptick in coal to the already operating coal burners and job growth on the railroad side alone.
i haven't followed the latest rule making. any proposed changes will result in litigation, and i don't know whether coal operators would be prevented from cranking up the volume during the legal wrangling.
more coal burning means more heart attacks among the elderly. also lung problems for infants and the elderly. plus a jot of mercury in kids' brains. that's part of the cost-benefit calculation. income for coals miners (and railway workers, apparently) versus compromised health of those downwind.
not to mention global warming. how long will it be until the day when the chinese hoax causes the atlantic to wash across the driveway of mar-a-lago and soak donald's shoes?
Really Big Strong Guy: There are a plethora of psychopaths among us.
Holland Oates wrote:The issue with coal versus gas isn't just that gas is cheaper it's the fact that several coal plants were being forced to shutdown or transition to gas under the new EPA rules. New plants are gas but if Trump eases up the EPA mandates and timeline to the swap you'll see a big uptick in coal to the already operating coal burners and job growth on the railroad side alone.
Explains the Soros and Buffett investments in those industries.
"Liberalism is arbitrarily selective in its choice of whose dignity to champion." Adrian Vermeule
Coal traffic dropped just shy of 30% from last year to this year and intermodal traffic didn't come up as expected so things are tough for new trainmen.
No more than the Republicans were in 2008 or the Democrats in 2000 or the Republicans in 1992 (remember Dan Quayle's lol primary run?) etc. etc.
The Democrats have a few good bench options that weren't ready or pushed out this time - Kamala Harris, Sherrod Brown, Tammy Duckworth, Liz Warren all of whom would have infinitely more outsider/populist credibility than Hillary. Who even as flawed as she was won the popular vote and without Comey or with Rust Belt campaigning would be President.
