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Off Topic Thread 3.0

Zzippy

All things non-rugby related here.

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Buer

If anyone has a spare 10 minutes and wants a giggle, here's an article in The New Yorker resulting from a conversation between the new White House Director of Communications and one of their reporters sticking the knife into his fellow White House senior staff members. Batsh*t insane and hilarious in equal measures.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon

My favourite quotes are:

“Reince is a ****ing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” Scaramucci said. He channelled Priebus as he spoke: “ ‘Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the ****ing thing and see if I can cock-block these people the way I cock-blocked Scaramucci for six months.’ ” (Priebus did not respond to a request for comment.)

“I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said, speaking of Trump’s chief strategist. (Bannon declined to comment.)

The writers House of Cards, Veep etc. must be gutted. They simply cannot come up with satire this good.

[Deleted User]

Having watched all 7 series' of the West Wing at least twice, is Priebus not more senior than this lunatic?

thomond2006

Buer wrote: »

If anyone has a spare 10 minutes and wants a giggle, here's an article in The New Yorker resulting from a conversation between the new White House Director of Communications and one of their reporters sticking the knife into his fellow White House senior staff members. Batsh*t insane and hilarious in equal measures.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon

My favourite quotes are:

The writers House of Cards, Veep etc. must be gutted. They simply cannot come up with satire this good.

WWN called it in March.

[Deleted User]

Would any of you know, I have a few share certificates at home, they're physical certs. I want to sell them. How do you actually go about this and what is the cheapest way of doing it?

Buer

Interested Observer wrote: »

Having watched all 7 series' of the West Wing at least twice, is Priebus not more senior than this lunatic?

Yes. He's the Chief of Staff i.e. the highest ranking member of the WH staff.

But Donny has set it up such that Scaramucci reports directly to him and not Priebus which is very unusual, I would think.

irishbucsfan

Interested Observer wrote: »

Having watched all 7 series' of the West Wing at least twice, is Priebus not more senior than this lunatic?

The Mooch was originally after a position in the White House in January and even sold a big stake in his company in order to free himself up to join.

But Priebus didn't like that idea at all so he blocked it (which The Mooch even references in that article, saying that Priebus "cock-blocked" him).

So now The Mooch has been appointed by Trump. But he doesn't report to Priebus, he reports directly to Trump.

It's insane. Everything that happens is something I wouldn't have believed possible the previous day. The Mooch tweeted saying he made the mistake of trusting a reporter, despite making it clear he knew he was on the record. He has probably the most 'prestigious' press secretary job in the world, and he doesn't have a clue what he's doing.

[Deleted User]

The healthcare loss last night is fairly huge considering how senate republicans had to go about trying to get it passed. It was their tent-pole issue coming into this election and I think they are pretty much out of options now (need a larger majority for any future amendments).

Republicans will now not realistically be able to pass any major legislation this side of 2018 and will have to settle for the Supreme Court seat (which is not an insignificant steal on their behalf).

Eitherway, if Priebus goes the GOP will turn on Trump, he's the last Washington GOP'er in the White House since Spicer went.

For those that don't know, Republicans released their healthcare bill two hours before the vote, and rather than debate it, a republican senator stood up and told stories for two hours to prevent any debate. They then had a vote (after midnight) after no review, no debate and no proper scoring. If that happened in Ireland the most popular Government we've ever had would collapse instantly.

The Senate majority leader said after Obama was elected "the single most important thing we can do now, is ensure that Obama is a one term president". Since then they have not voted on a single Democrat piece of legislation. It's amazing that despite having a majority int he Senate that after the vote failed last night he stood up and blamed the Democrats. Shocking stuff. Gutter politics.

Podge_irl

American politics is utterly and completely ****ed. It may be my bias showing through, but I think the Republicans are about 80% to blame. They didn't even pretend to be doing anything other then deliberately obstructing legislation just for the hell of it.

awec

The American political system is a bit of a joke tbh. All about the money, various senators and representatives in the pocket of various lobby groups. The average person seems to be an irrelevance.

And the blatant gerrymandering of their electoral districts is a sight to behold.

Buer

awec wrote: »

And the blatant gerrymandering of their electoral districts is a sight to behold.

As an Ulster man, we'll bow to your superior knowledge on that topic! :pac:

[Deleted User]

The maddest thing is this healthcare bill seemed to have nothing in it that benefited the working or middle class (correct me if I'm wrong). Looked like millions would have lost their insurance. McConnell and Trump won't shut up about how the American people deserve this great healthcare... but how the **** do they define great? Are they just blatant liars or do they honestly believe, from some dogmatic position, that healthcare not being a right for American citizens is somehow of benefit to them? That massive cuts to Medicaid would have some net benefit to the nation?

I just can't understand their position here.

irishbucsfan

Interested Observer wrote: »

The maddest thing is this healthcare bill seemed to have nothing in it that benefited the working or middle class (correct me if I'm wrong). Looked like millions would have lost their insurance. McConnell and Trump won't shut up about how the American people deserve this great healthcare... but how the **** do they define great? Are they just blatant liars or do they honestly believe, from some dogmatic position, that healthcare not being a right for American citizens is somehow of benefit to them?

I just can't understand their position here.

They believe that opening up the market will create a vast glorious empty space into which private health insurance companies will rush offering extremely good value health insurance which American citizens will be able to afford. And they believe that this will be cheaper and better for the population than obamacare. Someone like Rand Paul doesn't think the government should have any involvement whatsoever in healthcare.

But anything remotely sensible they were suggesting, like provisions that would encourage private health insurers to compete in more areas, were removed from the bill a long time ago.

There is unfortunately a rather large number of Americans (and not just Americans) who subscribe to a fairly broken type of policy that are about 300 years out of date.

awec

Republicans biggest problem with Obamacare is they are afraid it shows that semi-socialised government policy works.

Buer

In the USA, big business drives politics (which can be argued for many places) and politics toes the line.

It's telling that the insurance and pharmaceutical industries spend far, far more lobbying government than other industries. For context, the pharmaceutical industry has spent more than 4 times the amount this year lobbying than the automotive industry has. It's impressive that the ACA even managed to get passed in 2010 even with the Democrats having a large majority. Many Republicans represent the wealthier elements of society who lobby so aggressively. They're not going to cut their noses off to spite their face. They have no incentive to do so nor is there a precedent so they're just fine with things continuing the way they always have.

America is a capitalist society and that is what the public buys into whether they're a wealthy executive or a working class guy struggling to make ends meet. It's the American dream, land of opportunity etc. It's a brand and many citizens are completely on board with that. Those people don't expect healthcare to be made available to them and think it's a crazy concept. It's not a constitutional right and, if it ain't in the constitution, then you're on your own.

Of course, there's also the fact that people take blanket stances i.e. "I'm a conservative/liberal" and they stubbornly support anything that falls into that bracket regardless of whether they feel it's more suitable to their needs or the needs of their community.

thomond2006

Am I right in understanding that Obamacare pushed up premiums for those already able to afford insurance? So they were in effect subsiding new entrants?

Buer

thomond2006 wrote: »

Am I right in understanding that Obamacare pushed up premiums for those already able to afford insurance? So they were in effect subsiding new entrants?

In many cases, yes. There were certainl essential elements that needed to be covered by a health insurance plan. Many people had plans that didn't cover all of those elements so their plans ceased to exist and they had to purchase new, more expensive plans.

It also raised taxes on high earners. You can face additional taxes if you don't purchase health insurance.

But there are significant benefits too. It's far from perfect but it's a step forward for American as a nation. I don't think it will last in its current format. .

[Deleted User]

Buer wrote: »

In many cases, yes. There were certainl essential elements that needed to be covered by a health insurance plan. Many people had plans that didn't cover all of those elements so their plans ceased to exist and they had to purchase new, more expensive plans.

It also raised taxes on high earners. You can face additional taxes if you don't purchase health insurance.

But there are significant benefits too. It's far from perfect but it's a step forward for American as a nation. I don't think it will last in its current format. .

Obamacare was basically an attempt to turn a 100% for profit industry (Healthcare) and make a part of it non-for profit. He wanted there to be a public option that would force competition but this was defeated by 1 vote. Had this been accomplished I don't think Healthcare would have been part of the debate this election cycle.

Podge_irl

Buer wrote: »

In many cases, yes. There were certainl essential elements that needed to be covered by a health insurance plan. Many people had plans that didn't cover all of those elements so their plans ceased to exist and they had to purchase new, more expensive plans.

Many of those plans were simply worthless though. They had absurd deductibles, caps on total cost of care etc. People complained about losing them because the new plans cost more, but they just didn't realise how useless their original plan was.

stephen_n

irishbucsfan wrote: »

He has probably the most 'prestigious' press secretary job in the world, and he doesn't have a clue what he's doing.

The dog resembles the owner as they say.

Neil3030

stephen_n wrote: »

The dog resembles the owner as they say.

For a moment, I had forgotten that this was the OT thread, and thought we were talking about Barry in the IRFU.

irishbucsfan

Who is Barry's owner?

Buer

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Who is Barry's owner?

Andy Farrell.

stephen_n

Lost

Bazzo

stephen_n wrote: »

Lost

There's footage of Andy Farrell turning around and shouting "**** you Barry!" At a cameraman floating about somewhere.

wp_rathead

Anyone know anywhere in Dublin to leave a backpack for few hours while I go Croke Park on Sunday?
I know there are lockers in Bus Aras but I'm skeptical over them, half of them look banjaxed

ClanofLams

wp_rathead wrote: »

Anyone know anywhere in Dublin to leave a backpack for few hours while I go Croke Park on Sunday?
I know there are lockers in Bus Aras but I'm skeptical over them, half of them look banjaxed

Tipperary House, very close to Heuston, five euro for the day.

http://www.tipperaryhousedublin.com/baggage-storage/

Buer

wp_rathead wrote: »

Anyone know anywhere in Dublin to leave a backpack for few hours while I go Croke Park on Sunday?
I know there are lockers in Bus Aras but I'm skeptical over them, half of them look banjaxed

Jervis St shopping centre has lockers that are in good condition. They're upstairs down the corridor towards the toilets.

A couple of the internet cafoffer luggage storage though if you want somewhere that will be supervised. There's one on Amiens Street just across from Connolly Station. There's another up on Talbot Street near the corner of Gardiner Street. At least they used to.

wp_rathead

ClanofLams wrote: »

Tipperary House, very close to Heuston, five euro for the day.

http://www.tipperaryhousedublin.com/baggage-storage/

Ah yes saw that alright thanks- unfortunately I'm booked on GoBé bus as heading down to Cork at 6:30 so mighnt have time to get out to Heuston to collect the bag there and back again
I found place on O'Connell Street that holds bag's but seems to close at 6 which is a ball's
I'll probably just chance Bus Aras

ClanofLams

wp_rathead wrote: »

Ah yes saw that alright thanks- unfortunately I'm booked on GoBé bus as heading down to Cork at 6:30 so mighnt have time to get out to Heuston to collect the bag there and back again
I found place on O'Connell Street that holds bag's but seems to close at 6 which is a ball's
I'll probably just chance Bus Aras

Ah right, there's an Internet cafe on grafton st close enough to McDonald's i think, upstairs, tanning salon in same place. They used to do it, would imagine they still do.

Contact details on this if ya wanted to confirm

http://www.centralinternetcafe.com/index.php/opening-hours.html

Bazzo

wp_rathead wrote: »

Anyone know anywhere in Dublin to leave a backpack for few hours while I go Croke Park on Sunday?
I know there are lockers in Bus Aras but I'm skeptical over them, half of them look banjaxed

I see you're joining the great exodus. Sunday will be a sort of reverse Cromwell situation by the looks of things.