Trump Administration

[anticlimatic]

No, he didnt Because he was able to sort out his feelings, actually. If he hadnt known so clearly where the discomfort came from and owned it, he'dve had a chance that hat discomfort might feel threatening to him - and gotten frustrated/angry. I never claimed rightwingers are threatened - though i di believe they are more likely to feel threatened/label something a threat in general, from what ive seen. But the inability to sort out your feelings is like any other skill - if you fail at it, it will cause you to feel helpless and inadequate to solve your dis-ease. And i do believe that the recent amount of changes i society - on gender among other things - are causing that kind of dis-ease, especially with those that are less equipped to deal with change. Note that im not naming political affiliations here. (Now, to go there - the last 50 years our society has undergone massive changes - both technologically and yes, on the social front. That stuff is disorienting to say the least and we re still not done. I do think that people who like things in a traditional sense are affected more by that and likely need a breather - hence the strong response on the political field) To return to feeling threatened - typically it provoked a flight or fight response. And the fight response involves anger in all its gradations. That means from irritation to full blown physical fight mode. So yes, i consider irritation to be an indication of feeling a level of threat. Yesterday, there was a rude person who acted offended while ignoring the rules of the establishment we were at and almost flattening me in her impatience. She threatened my peace of mind and the cozy date night we had planned. It only got worse when she was then seated next to us and became the loudest person in existence, escalating my minor irritation to full blown frustration at her now posing a very real threat to my plans. Its a minor threat and i did sort out my feelings quickly so i could salvage my night after we left and let it go. But if you re not able to do that, those frustrations build up to true animosity and get generalised to others who look like her, making me in effect 'allergic' aka oversensitive to her type. Considering she cannot really inflict any horrifying and longlasting damage to me, that would be a waste of resources, diminish my life quality AND that of those around me as this shit spreads like a virus. Being angry and reacting to threats isnt evil or something to get rid of. But like any tool it can spin out of control when it doesnt actually get used properly and with awareness. And i do think that this is happening to both sides. The minorities react understandably to the very real threat they grew up with and fight to have that rectified. Those that see their world changing fight against the very real fear of losing control of their world. And yes, sorting feelings like my brother did would do a lot to keep that alleric reaction from spreading like a virus and mutating the way its currently doing in the world. ...and now im gonna go hide

You know what? You're pretty great.
I can get down with all of this.

[Jonny]

I'm seeing an evolution in the Trump agenda from populism to Neoconservativsm (though no real evolution in the behavior of Trump himself--e.g. whether he eats fish or chicken he chews with his mouth open). This makes sense given Trump is a man who finds success through iteration, and in this context views "success" as how he is perceived by others. The constant barrage of negativity resulting from his initial attempts at setting a populist agenda à la Bannon are motivating him to "experiment" until he finds something that clicks (i.e. is met with approval)...

There's a video out there of Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus fielding questions at, I think, CPAC, wherein Steve Bannon attempts to distill what Trump's agenda/worldview is, all the while maintaining that it is Trump's, and not his own. It will be interesting to reconsider his statement after a few more years.

Looks like we needn't wait years. The Bannon-Trump love fest is officially concluded, and Trump's defacto Neoconservative agenda is moving along full speed. RIP Bannon and his farcical populism.

[ceecee]

Looks like we needn't wait years. The Bannon-Trump love fest is officially concluded, and Trump's defacto Neoconservative agenda is moving along full speed. RIP Bannon and his farcical populism.

Yeah I'm not so sure it's actually concluded, although "you're dead to me" is one of my favorite lines. And I admit, the stuff he's been saying about Kushner and Jr. is hilarious. Plus Bannon did say the Russia probe would focus on money laundering. Speaking of money laundering...

Manafort sues Mueller, Justice Department over Russia probe - NBC News

You can't file a lawsuit because you don't like being charged with the shit you actually did, "no matter how remote".

[Virtual ghost]

Today my government publicly announced that it will start to send invitations for free medical tests regarding lung cancer and prostate cancer. Cancer treatmens are covered by the state in this country, but too often the diagnosis is made too late and therefore this has to be changed. So the groups that are considerd to be extra vulnerbale will get invitations, especially since this is already the practice with various other cancer types.


The government budget is in slight surplus so why not.

[Virtual ghost]

EU eyes a fresh start in Cuba relations


Why not ? If US doesn't care about keeping it's front yard away from Russia and China then someone else has to do it.

[asynartetic]

Justice Department to crack down on legal marijuana with roll back of Obama policy

"This move represents a broken campaign promise by the president,” said Tom Angell of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority. “He clearly and repeatedly pledged that he would respect state marijuana laws if elected. With polls showing that marijuana legalization is way more popular than the president is, this will likely turn out to be a huge political disaster for the administration. Either way, it's not going to stop even more states from modernizing their cannabis laws."

so much for states' rights.

It ought to say something when even fairly conservative states like VA are seeing an increasingly vocal support for legalization. Populist President my ass.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sessions is a weasely little elf who is in the pocket of big pharma and the private prison industry. Legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana would create a problem for the private prison industry, as the justice system keeps prisons full by sending non-violent offenders to jail.

[ceecee]

Justice Department to crack down on legal marijuana with roll back of Obama policy



so much for states' rights.

It ought to say something when even fairly conservative states like VA are seeing an increasingly vocal support for legalization. Populist President my ass.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sessions is a weasely little elf who is in the pocket of big pharma and the private prison industry. Legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana would create a problem for the private prison industry, as the justice system keeps prisons full by sending non-violent offenders to jail.

Dems should be putting this front and center - something like 65% of Americans support legalization.

There will be more of this.

Being Black in Trump Country: Dozens of People Arrested for Less Than an Ounce of Weed

[asynartetic]

Dems should be putting this front and center - something like 65% of Americans support legalization.

There will be more of this.

Being Black in Trump Country: Dozens of People Arrested for Less Than an Ounce of Weed

Dems tend to pussy out on the issue of legalizing weed, hopefully that will change. The cultural views on pot have changed, I even hear more people from my grandparents' generation mellowing on the issue. Hehe, mellowing. I wonder why that could be.

[The Penguin]

Dems tend to pussy out on the issue of legalizing weed, hopefully that will change. The cultural views on pot have changed, I even hear more people from my grandparents' generation mellowing on the issue. Hehe, mellowing. I wonder why that could be.

In the HBO miniseries John Adams, his wife Abigail said that [people] need to think they make their own decisions, not have decisions forced on them.

She's right. It's like that. That's why.

[asynartetic]

In the HBO miniseries John Adams, his wife Abigail said that [people] need to think they make their own decisions, not have decisions forced on them.

She's right. It's like that. That's why.

Good, maybe people will get tired of the executive branch of the federal government pushing unpopular policy decisions on marijuana.