Really, is anyone surprised by this? This is exactly what everyone who was paying attention was afraid of/assumed would happen. This probably isn’t even the first time - Trump has inappropriately shared info with the Russians. This administration has certainly had other security lapses and mistreatment of vital,…

I think the first question is if they’ve shown loyalty to Trump (he doesn’t reward it, but it is a precondition to working with him). A secondary question is whether they intend to (not whether they can) make businesses (e.g. Trump’s) impacted by that department more profitable/less regulated and/or enact an agenda…

They are standing up - but they’re being identified as liberals, not Christians. Because they’re more likely to be in liberal areas where they get lost - and have less clout because they’re also urban areas. As long as conservative, rural areas have disproportionate political clout in this country, things are going…

That is such a self-defeating approach... you’d think people would realize that.

They are out there, and they are resisting. But liberals are less likely to be involved with organized religion, and they therefore have a smaller impact - it’s easier to get coordinated if it’s via a group that you’re already involved with on a weekly basis. (And it’s easier to have a bigger political impact if…

Yeah, Trump has proposed a pretty radical version of the Reagan idea (which among Republicans has always been strived for somewhat inconsistently). Trump’s difference is even the bits he supposedly wants to strengthen he’s also weakening with his accidental chaos.

Carson is pretty similar to Trump (minus a few of those cognitive/emotional issues) and might have been similar in who he appointed. The other Republicans would have put people in place who had establishment credentials, not guys picked purely because they were liked by Bannon or were pro-Trump and had radio shows,…

It’s because the founding elements of the American Conservative Christian movement were about racism, not religion, and nothing has changed. They’re bigots - their religion is just an excuse for the bigotry.

“you’d assume these types of dipshits aren’t their #1 choices for these roles, right?”

Given his sterling work (or rather, lack thereof), in a reasonable, competent administration he’d not be considered qualified for any position, but for this position he’s not only unqualified, it’s a basic category error for him to even be considered for it. The Aristocrats!  The Trump administration!

When I first saw the screenshot of Trump’s Twitter page, I was almost certain it was a joke - but the little doubt caused me to go look at for myself, and low and behold, it was completely true. I’m amazed it stayed there as long as it did. It really is unbelievable.

Anything connected to Louise Mensch is automatically suspect, I’m afraid. She’s a right-wing crank and conspiracy nut. Definitely not a “reliable source.”

I’m sure recordings of it can be ordered from Amazon, etc., but BBC Radio 4extra every so often runs repeats which can be freely listened to via their website for a month afterwards. (This is true of all the content of all BBC radio stations, no matter what country you are in, which is pretty great. They have all…

I mean they went to the effort of getting his look - and the mustache - right for the cast photo even though it wasn’t necessary, so as a result, even though they absolutely did not pick him for visual resemblance, he’s still a better fit than Branagh up there. Vocally, his performance was great (and had a lot in…

“which has proven to be so incredibly careful and detail-oriented.”

Republicans: “Those Death Panels we were talking about? Surprise - it’s us!”

We’ve got drug cartels using literal submarines to smuggle in drugs. (Trump cutting Coast Guard funds in his budget is an... interesting response to that.) The irony is that drugs being carried by human hands over/through the existing fence is the least likely way they get into the country. Reality is so irrelevant…

Wut

Whenever they talk about the wall stopping drugs, I keep thinking of the picture I saw where someone built a catapult to throw drugs over the wall - built into the other side of the existing wall. The taller the wall, the farther they can fling those drugs. (Though apparently most drugs come in cars, driven by US…

I’m reminded of a kid in my grade school who promised waterslides at the school. It was the kind of promise that at the time I thought clearly everyone should have seen it for what it was, members of the administration that were present made some ineffectual noises of protest, and a bunch of students cheered for it…