Did Turnbull make any statements to the public about the 1250 refugee deal prior to his phone call with trump? Wondering what sort of perceived slight might have triggered trump.

Ah. Found this article about the poll I just quoted. They used online surveys.

And later:

That's much more in line with what I would have expected.

Nope. I don't watch much news here but I hadn't heard anything about this deal until the Trump call. I suspect neither had Trump and when he found out about it he went ape**** at Turnbull.

Paging Rudy, cyber need u!

www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/feds-arrest-five-congressional-it-contractors-at-the-capitol

Man, I would love to hear that convo, or even have the transcript.

Chris,

It's interesting that the US poll (at least the one I google'd) is also 49% in the US, but we are much more polarized.

Those are some pricey assed avocados Too high in omega 6 fatty acids, too.

Hitting The Ground Running: Steve Bannon Spent His First Meeting On The National Security Council Describing The Way He Would Kill Each Person In The Room

I think the Roy Morgan one, which was a proper telephone poll, is a better measure. It found 36% opposed.

Australian politics is a lot less polarized, although it may be getting worse. There are a lot of factors, one I've mentioned frequently is compulsory preferential voting and the lack of primaries. This means politicians are constantly compelled to appeal to the center. Stunts designed to appeal to your base can be a winning strategy for getting a seat in parliament, but they're a losing strategy for getting control of government.

Edit: Also if you ask people here what the most important issues are, things like cost of living, healthcare, employment etc score way higher than immigration or terrorism. But we haven't had a major terrorist attack since the Bali bombings in 2002, so that could all change.

Yup, simple and true. Needs to be hammered home in every corner of Trump country. Tariffs won't bring the jobs back. They will only increase the cost of the goods you buy every day.

Australian site Crikey has a "transcript" of the Trump call.

It honestly doesn't seem that far off the probable reality.

Prior to now, has an elected leader ever questioned the legitimacy of the election that they won? It's such a bizarre thing to do that I can't imagine any precedent for.

Kellyanne Conway is just as dumb as her name.

My favorite twitter reaction

This is so relevant now

Does Nazism fit cleanly as either right or left, politically?

Depends who you ask. At the time, it was a syncretic politics drawing aspects from the left and the right. Now it's hard right, unquestionably, whatever some libertarian toting a two-axis graph made in MS Paint wants to tell you.

Considering it purely as a subset of Fascism:

^Always a fun one to bust out when the "Fascism is left-wing don't you know" crowd come rolling around. Poor old Benny was turble confused about Fascism.

I think you need the two-axis graph. If you want one axis and fascists to be on the right, it should be about free vs. unfree and then Stalin and Mao end up on the right as well, and you have to put someone like Milton Friedman at least somewhat on the left.

That still least to the "social welfare is fascism" argument.

weekend

I went to nerd summer camp at Western Kentucky University in middle school and high school. One day I accidentally dropped an apple off a pedestrian bridge which landed on a car's windshield. The car almost crashed, but didn't.

The driver reported the incident, and it was interpreted as if one of us summer campers had intentionally thrown an apple at the car, and we were collectively punished by not being allowed to have our evening ultimate frisbee game, even though I immediately explained what had happened.

Everyone at camp was mad at me for a few days, and it sucked. And that is the true story of the Bowling Green Massacre.

No, I'm saying a two-axis graph is too few, not too many. Don't ask me how many, because I'm really not that into making graphs.

Trump taking credit for jobs created under Obamas administration?

Must be a weekday.

Ah, sorry. Yeah, definitely more than two, but who knows?

I want to pick a rooting interest in the Superbowl in order to maximize awkwardness. Do I go for:

- The Patriots, so Goodell has to give them the trophy?

Or

- The Falcons, and hope they bring John Lewis along on the White House visit?