Security, Parking, Garbage Irk Ivanka Trump's DC Neighbors

WASHINGTON (AP) — Residents of a posh Washington neighborhood say the Trump clan doesn't make for very good neighbors, hogging parking on an already crowded street and leaving trash bags rotting on the curb. A big part of the complaint: a huge security presence, with even a trip to the playground requiring three vans.

Neighbors of Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their three children have groused that sidewalks have been closed, public parking overrun and that the family and their staff can't even be bothered to learn the trash pickup schedule outside their $5.5-million home.

It has been a three-ring circus from the day that they've moved in," said Marietta Robinson, who lives across the street, speaking with The Associated Press. "They've completely ruined the neighborhood."

The house in the Kalorama neighborhood was bought in December by a company with ties to a Chilean billionaire. The company is renting it to Kushner and Trump, who moved in just after the inauguration of her father, President Donald Trump. Both work in the White House as advisers to the president.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/security-parking-ivanka-trump-dc-neighbors

You dont understand America: Lindsey Graham lectures town hall crowd booing Gorsuch

Speaking at a town hall in his home state, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) faced down boos and complaints from attendees unhappy with how Republicans failed to hold hearings on Judge Merrick Garland to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court.

Making a pitch for Judge Neil Gorsuch, nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the seat left vacant by recalcitrant Republicans, Graham lectured the crowd as boos and grew and the crowd began chanting.

According to Graham, President Barack Obama was not entitled to fill the seat because, “Scalia died in February after three primaries had started a week before the South Carolina primary.””

“Everyone that boos Judge Gorsuch, you’re not persuading me at all,” Graham told the raucous crowd. “Matter of fact, if you can’t understand this is a qualified nominee, then you’re not listening.”

“If you don’t understand that elections matter, then you don’t understand America,” the lawmaker continued as the boos grew louder. “If you think that only liberals can get their nominees and a conservative can’t, then you don’t understand America. And I don’t believe that the Constitution was written so that you get everything you want and I get nothing. That’s not the way the Constitution was written.”


http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/you-dont-understand-america-lindsey-graham-lectures-town-hall-crowd-booing-handing-garlands-seat-to-gorsuch/

Flynn said to be making a deal with the FBI.

Fear of Diversity Made People More Likely to Vote Trump & Economic Populism Might Not Win Them Back

Perhaps socialism never took hold in the United States is because workers believe themselves to be “temporarily embarrassed millionaires,” as a popular saying goes. There is certainly evidence of this. But another explanation is that, throughout history, divides within the working class have been more salient than divides between the working class and the rich. Race, gender, immigration status, and religious status have served as such wedges.

Right-wing movements are rising in places with radically different economic systems. From the laissez-faire United States, to the more government-dominated France, to England and the Nordic social democracies. The former Soviet Bloc members that were once seen as evidence of the power of the mixed-economy, such as Hungary and Poland, have seen a rise in right-wing parties. It doesn’t matter whether the middle class is shrinking or growing: India, the poster child for globalization, has also seen rising populist authoritarianism.

These right-wing parties don’t always take the same approach to budgets and economics, with some favoring populism and others austerity. A study of right-wing parties in Europe finds that immigration and race are more central to their appeal than class, noting that, there are “several examples of populist right parties experiencing electoral success without mobilizing grievances over economic changes or political elitism and corruption.”

Politics in the United States and much of the globe is now defined by the questions of tolerance and diversity. Progressives still embrace an economically liberal program, but Obama’s election and Trump’s rise has raised more urgent questions about whether the country should have an open or closed society. This helps explain the Democratic coalition, which consists of young people, people of color, unmarried women, LGBT people as well as Silicon Valley tech titans. It explains why Clinton faltered with non-college whites while bringing in more upscale, college-educated voters who traditionally voted for Romney. The current trajectory is towards a political system in which battles about class interest are obfuscated by a clash over the openness of society.


https://www.thenation.com/article/fear-of-diversity-made-people-more-likely-to-vote-trump/https://www.thenation.com/article/fear-of-diversity-made-people-more-likely-to-vote-trump/

Donald and Melania Trump Reportedly Sleep in Separate Bedrooms. How Should We Feel?

There are a few appropriate responses to the news, broken by US Weekly on Wednesday, that Donald and Melania Trump allegedly sleep in separate bedrooms. One is anger: How dare this magazine make me think about the president of the United States in the snoring, bedheaded, pajamaed state of slumber or in any proximity to conjugal activity?

Another is boredom. Of course the Trumps don’t share a bed—nothing about their body language or verbal references to one another has ever telegraphed anything approaching affection. Readers of this news may also experience strokes of schadenfreude (wheeee, more evidence that the groper-in-chief doesn’t ever have sex!) and discomfort (aren’t we supposed to think politicians’ consensual sex lives don’t matter?).

Yes, in general, adults should have the right to sleep and sex in whatever arrangements best suit their needs. No one should use a politician’s consensual sexual activity, or lack thereof, to besmirch his or her character or fitness for office. It was gross, for instance, when a Trump surrogate argued during the campaign that people shouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton because he didn’t think she and Bill have sex.

But that’s why this particular bit of news, for this particular president, does matter. Trump used a big-powerful-rich-daddy persona to win the presidency, and he painted that persona with the help of the ever-younger string of women he’s married and claimed to sleep with. All three of his marriages generated press “leaks” that suggested Trump was great at sex and had a lot of it with his respective wives, sometimes multiple times a day. The implication to anyone with eyes is that a past-his-prime man uses money and power to get sex and arm candy service from traditionally beautiful women. The US Weekly report turns that implication on its head.




http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/03/23/donald_and_melania_trump_reportedly_sleep_in_separate_bedrooms_how_should.html

Quick question for DU millennials re. the ACA

How do we get more healthy young people to enroll? As much as I prefer a single-payer system, the ACA is probably the only game in town for a while. How can we get more of you to sign up and make it stronger for everyone?

Trump angry Kushner, Ivanka went skiing during health debate

A source close to President Trump told CNN that the commander-in-chief was frustrated with his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner's decision to go on a vacation in the heat of the debate over ObamaCare repeal.

“[Trump] is upset that his son-in-law and senior adviser was not around during this crucial week," the source said, according to a CNN report.

Republicans abandoned their effort to repeal ObamaCare Friday, when Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) agreed to pull the measure as it became clear they didn't have the votes.

The decision is a huge setback for Trump, Ryan and the GOP, which has promised for years to repeal ObamaCare.

The GOP bill that was debated on the floor Friday seemed doomed to failure. The Hill's Whip List said 36 Republicans would vote no, with many more possibly voting against the measure. The GOP could only afford 22 defections.

Kushner is one of Trump's top advisers. While Ivanka has not been given specific titles she is also seen as having the president's ear and is expected to move into a White House office.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/325741-trump-angry-kushner-ivanka-went-on-ski-trip-while-gop

Action: Call and thank your local D's for standing up to Ryan and Trump.

They should know we are watching and appreciate what they accomplished today.

Prediction: MSM will ask Dems why they don't "reach across the aisle" on Obamacare repeal.

Because we all know "cooperation" has always been a one-way street in the political bureaus of CNN, the Times and the Post.

Trump appointee: Porn responsible for women's fear of male genitalia.

Another day, another report about a Trump administration employee with some, uhhhhhhh, odd beliefs. This time, it's the newly appointed deputy assistant secretary for health technology at the Department of Health and Human Services, former Louisiana House Republican representative John Fleming. He has some questionable ideas about what causes substance abuse. In 2006, Fleming (who is also a physician) wrote a book called Preventing Addiction: What Parents Must Know to Immunize Their Kids Against Drug and Alcohol Addiction, where he suggests that there's a correlation between tattoos and substance abuse, though he concedes that "not all Goths are drug addicts." BuzzFeed looked into this book and published a list of excerpts. Among the gems:

Why opiates are proof of God's existence: "Were it not for these drugs, many common and miraculous surgeries would be impossible to either undergo or perform. In my opinion this is no coincidence at all. Only a higher power and intellect could have created a world in which substances like opiates grow naturally."

How pornography can lead to fear of dick: "Another recent example I can cite is that of an adult woman who was allowed to see a pornographic movie as a child. As an adult, she has suffered from a phobia to male genitalia."

On the correlation between tattoos and substance abuse: "Body art comes into play in drug addiction as well, although obviously, not all who have a tattoo are addicts. A sailer who gets a single tattoo on his arm or an adult woman who has a small butterfly tattooed on her lower abdomen are not necessarily drug addicts or even rebellious — just dumb, at least temporarily!"

On whether goths are predisposed to drug addiction: "Goths usually smoke cigarettes and many practice an odd sort of devil worship, although kids in the 'punk' culture may not have any interest in these non-mainstream beliefs. Not all Goths are drug addicts, but a high percentage experiment with all types of drugs, including hallucinogens... When you see that your child has become interested in body art or has a fascination with the Goth or other subculture, then be on alert, because your child is likely headed into rebellion and possible drug experimentation."


https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/trump-healthcare-appointee-opiates-are-proof-god-exists