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  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited November 2018
    Trump continues today to be STUNNINGLY ignorant of what has caused the wildfires in California, as he continues to blame amorphous officials and management for what is taking place. We know almost for CERTAIN that some type of relatively mundane human activity along with a drought is the cause. It could have been a downed powerline, a burning cigarette, or even a hot tailpipe on a car. But this was decidedly NOT the result of forestry policy.

    As a side note, I have personally assisted victims of this fire numerous times over the past week at my job (obviously I won't go into anymore details), and frankly, this lack of curiosity, knowledge and empathy from this buffoon is just too much to handle at this point. He is standing there with the California delegation talking about the "floors" of the forest and how we need to "rake" them more while comparing the situation to the forests in Finland. Let me break this down so everyone can understand this. Here is the longitude and latitude of California:

    36.7783° N, 119.4179° W

    Here is the same coordinates for Finland:

    61.9241° N, 25.7482° E

    Comparing the likely wildfire scenarios in these two climates is like trying to figure out how good a brain surgeon someone is by seeing how many free throws they can make in a row. Someone just lock this guy in his bedroom and let him tweet into the void. Because this is just goddamn embarrassing. How about having someone put together a 2 to 3 page briefing paper and just READING the damn thing so you don't sound like the dumbest human being on the planet. But no, one of his suggestions to a camera is that we should be doing more to "rake" 33 million acres of California forest.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    ThacoBell said:

    Its never the victim's fault. If this was a set up, its completely on the Trump administration for it.

    Acosta is not a victim here - may be of slander due to the “he assaulted her,” but not for being the setup for proper guidelines from the press Corp, and those guidelines that come out still has to follow the first admendment or else all media outlets will file a lawsuit against them.

    The setup is that Acosta was given a chance to ask a responsible question and failed miserably at it. He had the chance to take the high road and sit down but he failed miserably at that too. In his job, Acosta needs to check his personality at the door and act like a professional. Trump sadly doesn’t. The story should have been “Trump was clearly agitated as reporters asked him questions regarding Asylum seekers and his inability to explain how the thousands of people heading north constitute an invasion,” or “Trump is anxious for Mueller’s report which is allegedly being released soon.”

    Instead every other journalist had to defend Acosta because, in their mind, they need to stick up for one another. So the story shifts away from actual issues to manufactured drama and they fall for it everytime.

    ~

    As for the “enemy of the people” comments, yes it is unacceptable and there needs to be more people, especially from the right, to actually denounce those comments everytime he utters them.

    Everytime he tweets it, I expect every democratic senator, governer and congress person to tweet back and say “This is unacceptable.” Every time. It shouldn’t be just those being attacked having to defend themselves.
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited November 2018
    Balrog99 said:

    Trump continues today to be STUNNINGLY ignorant of what has caused the wildfires in California, as he continues to blame amorphous officials and management for what is taking place. We know almost for CERTAIN that some type of relatively mundane human activity along with a drought is the cause. It could have been a downed powerline, a burning cigarette, or even a hot tailpipe on a car. But this was decidedly NOT the result of forestry policy.

    As a side note, I have personally assisted victims of this fire numerous times over the past week at my job (obviously I won't go into anymore details), and frankly, this lack of curiosity, knowledge and empathy from this buffoon is just too much to handle at this point. He is standing there with the California delegation talking about the "floors" of the forest and how we need to "rake" them more while comparing the situation to the forests in Finland. Let me break this down so everyone can understand this. Here is the longitude and latitude of California:

    36.7783° N, 119.4179° W

    Here is the same coordinates for Finland:

    61.9241° N, 25.7482° E

    Comparing the likely wildfire scenarios in these two climates is like trying to figure out how good a brain surgeon someone is by seeing how many free throws they can make in a row. Someone just lock this guy in his bedroom and let him tweet into the void. Because this is just goddamn embarrassing.

    Well if they'd just raze the forest to the ground they wouldn't have this problem. Duh! Spray some Agent Orange all over the area then rake tons of salt into the ground afterwards and you're good to go.

    Good thing Trump's surrounding himself with the best and brightest, eh? Lots of great ideas from his following of sycophants I'll bet. Yeah, I'm rapidly getting tired of his endless stupidity if you can't tell. I'm not sure if he's really a low watt bulb or if its just an act, but I'm starting to not care...

    My opinion is that he should be kept away from anything that requires one to exude normal human emotions or speak intelligently about.....well, anything. Can we at a bare minimum keep him away from disaster areas and war widows?? He doesn't add anything positive to the situation. What ends up happening is he starts tossing rolls of paper towels at people and ends up leaving the widow sitting in tears after hanging up the phone. He seems totally devoid of empathy, curiosity, or anything that would resemble a sense of humor. There is no point in complaining about his golf trips anymore, so he might as well just STAY on the course 5 days a week if he likes doing it so much. We'd all be better off if he did.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    edited November 2018
    deltago said:

    ThacoBell said:

    Its never the victim's fault. If this was a set up, its completely on the Trump administration for it.

    Acosta is not a victim here - may be of slander due to the “he assaulted her,” but not for being the setup for proper guidelines from the press Corp, and those guidelines that come out still has to follow the first admendment or else all media outlets will file a lawsuit against them.

    The setup is that Acosta was given a chance to ask a responsible question and failed miserably at it. He had the chance to take the high road and sit down but he failed miserably at that too. In his job, Acosta needs to check his personality at the door and act like a professional. Trump sadly doesn’t. The story should have been “Trump was clearly agitated as reporters asked him questions regarding Asylum seekers and his inability to explain how the thousands of people heading north constitute an invasion,” or “Trump is anxious for Mueller’s report which is allegedly being released soon.”

    Instead every other journalist had to defend Acosta because, in their mind, they need to stick up for one another. So the story shifts away from actual issues to manufactured drama and they fall for it everytime.

    ~

    As for the “enemy of the people” comments, yes it is unacceptable and there needs to be more people, especially from the right, to actually denounce those comments everytime he utters them.

    Everytime he tweets it, I expect every democratic senator, governer and congress person to tweet back and say “This is unacceptable.” Every time. It shouldn’t be just those being attacked having to defend themselves.
    I agree Acosta isn't a 'victim' by any means after his combative questioning. However, Trump should have just ignored his ass. He just isn't capable of letting any perceived slight slide and that lowers the President of the United States to the level of a petty journalist. Seriously, I wish Trump had a fucking sense of humor. The whole situation could have been defused with a good-natured jab and a 'Next question'. Instead we're wasting the time of our court system. Pathetic...

    Edit: Please pardon my French but I'm a little agitated today...
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    Balrog99 said:

    Trump continues today to be STUNNINGLY ignorant of what has caused the wildfires in California, as he continues to blame amorphous officials and management for what is taking place. We know almost for CERTAIN that some type of relatively mundane human activity along with a drought is the cause. It could have been a downed powerline, a burning cigarette, or even a hot tailpipe on a car. But this was decidedly NOT the result of forestry policy.

    As a side note, I have personally assisted victims of this fire numerous times over the past week at my job (obviously I won't go into anymore details), and frankly, this lack of curiosity, knowledge and empathy from this buffoon is just too much to handle at this point. He is standing there with the California delegation talking about the "floors" of the forest and how we need to "rake" them more while comparing the situation to the forests in Finland. Let me break this down so everyone can understand this. Here is the longitude and latitude of California:

    36.7783° N, 119.4179° W

    Here is the same coordinates for Finland:

    61.9241° N, 25.7482° E

    Comparing the likely wildfire scenarios in these two climates is like trying to figure out how good a brain surgeon someone is by seeing how many free throws they can make in a row. Someone just lock this guy in his bedroom and let him tweet into the void. Because this is just goddamn embarrassing.

    Well if they'd just raze the forest to the ground they wouldn't have this problem. Duh! Spray some Agent Orange all over the area then rake tons of salt into the ground afterwards and you're good to go.

    Good thing Trump's surrounding himself with the best and brightest, eh? Lots of great ideas from his following of sycophants I'll bet. Yeah, I'm rapidly getting tired of his endless stupidity if you can't tell. I'm not sure if he's really a low watt bulb or if its just an act, but I'm starting to not care...
    Trump isn’t the first to mention this. I remember reading something similar back in the early aughts from Time saying this exact same thing. Clear the underbrush to reduce the severity of the fires, so he is getting this information from a reliable source but they are sitting there going “who can we blame besides global warming?”

    But as you’ve mentioned, the cost to do it is extremely high and needs to be done repeatedly and can’t be done too extremely as this is still habitable areas for wildlife.

    The easiest way to shut him up about it, is to bring up the cost and ask if he is going to mandate that all federal owned lands containing forests be “raked out” at the governments expense.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371

    Balrog99 said:

    deltago said:

    ThacoBell said:

    Its never the victim's fault. If this was a set up, its completely on the Trump administration for it.

    Acosta is not a victim here - may be of slander due to the “he assaulted her,” but not for being the setup for proper guidelines from the press Corp, and those guidelines that come out still has to follow the first admendment or else all media outlets will file a lawsuit against them.

    The setup is that Acosta was given a chance to ask a responsible question and failed miserably at it. He had the chance to take the high road and sit down but he failed miserably at that too. In his job, Acosta needs to check his personality at the door and act like a professional. Trump sadly doesn’t. The story should have been “Trump was clearly agitated as reporters asked him questions regarding Asylum seekers and his inability to explain how the thousands of people heading north constitute an invasion,” or “Trump is anxious for Mueller’s report which is allegedly being released soon.”

    Instead every other journalist had to defend Acosta because, in their mind, they need to stick up for one another. So the story shifts away from actual issues to manufactured drama and they fall for it everytime.

    ~

    As for the “enemy of the people” comments, yes it is unacceptable and there needs to be more people, especially from the right, to actually denounce those comments everytime he utters them.

    Everytime he tweets it, I expect every democratic senator, governer and congress person to tweet back and say “This is unacceptable.” Every time. It shouldn’t be just those being attacked having to defend themselves.
    I agree Acosta isn't a 'victim' by any means after his combative questioning. However, Trump should have just ignored his ass. He just isn't capable of letting any perceived slight slide and that lowers the President of the United States to the level of a petty journalist. Seriously, I wish Trump had a fucking sense of humor. The whole situation could have been defused with a good-natured jab and a 'Next question'. Instead we're wasting the time of our court system. Pathetic...

    Edit: Please pardon my French but I'm a little agitated today...

    Acosta wasn't a victim UNTIL they got on board with the doctored video, which is and will always remain the most inexcusable part of this story. But I DO agree that a one on one fight with CNN is EXACTLY the playing field Trump wants to be competing on on any given day. CNN, in general, sucks balls, and has for long before Trump was in office. My problems with it are entirely different than the ones most conservatives have however. Cable news in general is nothing but a puppet show that occasionally has something decent to say. The real reporting done in this world is not being done by White House correspondents and pundits, who are nothing but stenographers and actors respectively. Real journalism is almost always done in print, and then is regurgitated by the people on TV. Investigative reporters at newspapers and magazines deserve nothing but praise. 85% of the people you see on TV are basically the political entertainment version of Matt Damon or Halle Berry.
    "Puppet show". I love it! Whatever you do, don't look behind the curtain... :(
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    deltago said:

    Balrog99 said:

    Trump continues today to be STUNNINGLY ignorant of what has caused the wildfires in California, as he continues to blame amorphous officials and management for what is taking place. We know almost for CERTAIN that some type of relatively mundane human activity along with a drought is the cause. It could have been a downed powerline, a burning cigarette, or even a hot tailpipe on a car. But this was decidedly NOT the result of forestry policy.

    As a side note, I have personally assisted victims of this fire numerous times over the past week at my job (obviously I won't go into anymore details), and frankly, this lack of curiosity, knowledge and empathy from this buffoon is just too much to handle at this point. He is standing there with the California delegation talking about the "floors" of the forest and how we need to "rake" them more while comparing the situation to the forests in Finland. Let me break this down so everyone can understand this. Here is the longitude and latitude of California:

    36.7783° N, 119.4179° W

    Here is the same coordinates for Finland:

    61.9241° N, 25.7482° E

    Comparing the likely wildfire scenarios in these two climates is like trying to figure out how good a brain surgeon someone is by seeing how many free throws they can make in a row. Someone just lock this guy in his bedroom and let him tweet into the void. Because this is just goddamn embarrassing.

    Well if they'd just raze the forest to the ground they wouldn't have this problem. Duh! Spray some Agent Orange all over the area then rake tons of salt into the ground afterwards and you're good to go.

    Good thing Trump's surrounding himself with the best and brightest, eh? Lots of great ideas from his following of sycophants I'll bet. Yeah, I'm rapidly getting tired of his endless stupidity if you can't tell. I'm not sure if he's really a low watt bulb or if its just an act, but I'm starting to not care...
    Trump isn’t the first to mention this. I remember reading something similar back in the early aughts from Time saying this exact same thing. Clear the underbrush to reduce the severity of the fires, so he is getting this information from a reliable source but they are sitting there going “who can we blame besides global warming?”

    But as you’ve mentioned, the cost to do it is extremely high and needs to be done repeatedly and can’t be done too extremely as this is still habitable areas for wildlife.

    The easiest way to shut him up about it, is to bring up the cost and ask if he is going to mandate that all federal owned lands containing forests be “raked out” at the governments expense.

    Maybe when the caravan arrives and we detain them all we'll force them to rake the forests for the freedom to be sent back to South America without their children. At a certain point, I would have considered this a joke, now I believe it's at least 75% possible.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371

    deltago said:

    Balrog99 said:

    Trump continues today to be STUNNINGLY ignorant of what has caused the wildfires in California, as he continues to blame amorphous officials and management for what is taking place. We know almost for CERTAIN that some type of relatively mundane human activity along with a drought is the cause. It could have been a downed powerline, a burning cigarette, or even a hot tailpipe on a car. But this was decidedly NOT the result of forestry policy.

    As a side note, I have personally assisted victims of this fire numerous times over the past week at my job (obviously I won't go into anymore details), and frankly, this lack of curiosity, knowledge and empathy from this buffoon is just too much to handle at this point. He is standing there with the California delegation talking about the "floors" of the forest and how we need to "rake" them more while comparing the situation to the forests in Finland. Let me break this down so everyone can understand this. Here is the longitude and latitude of California:

    36.7783° N, 119.4179° W

    Here is the same coordinates for Finland:

    61.9241° N, 25.7482° E

    Comparing the likely wildfire scenarios in these two climates is like trying to figure out how good a brain surgeon someone is by seeing how many free throws they can make in a row. Someone just lock this guy in his bedroom and let him tweet into the void. Because this is just goddamn embarrassing.

    Well if they'd just raze the forest to the ground they wouldn't have this problem. Duh! Spray some Agent Orange all over the area then rake tons of salt into the ground afterwards and you're good to go.

    Good thing Trump's surrounding himself with the best and brightest, eh? Lots of great ideas from his following of sycophants I'll bet. Yeah, I'm rapidly getting tired of his endless stupidity if you can't tell. I'm not sure if he's really a low watt bulb or if its just an act, but I'm starting to not care...
    Trump isn’t the first to mention this. I remember reading something similar back in the early aughts from Time saying this exact same thing. Clear the underbrush to reduce the severity of the fires, so he is getting this information from a reliable source but they are sitting there going “who can we blame besides global warming?”

    But as you’ve mentioned, the cost to do it is extremely high and needs to be done repeatedly and can’t be done too extremely as this is still habitable areas for wildlife.

    The easiest way to shut him up about it, is to bring up the cost and ask if he is going to mandate that all federal owned lands containing forests be “raked out” at the governments expense.

    Maybe when the caravan arrives and we detain them all we'll force them to rake the forests for the freedom to be sent back to South America without their children. At a certain point, I would have considered this a joke, now I believe it's at least 75% possible.
    You ninja'd my idea! Naturally we'd have to deploy the 82nd Airmobile to 'police' the raking...
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    ThacoBell said:

    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.

    Let me rephrase:

    Acosta isn’t doing other media outlets any favours by stooping to Trump’s lowness.

    Trump is still all those things and more, but it is hard to take those who need to hold him accountable seriously when they act like Acosta did.

    And it still needs to be established where the first and fifth admendment ends when it comes to reporters covering the White House? Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    Balrog99 said:

    Balrog99 said:

    deltago said:

    ThacoBell said:

    Its never the victim's fault. If this was a set up, its completely on the Trump administration for it.

    Acosta is not a victim here - may be of slander due to the “he assaulted her,” but not for being the setup for proper guidelines from the press Corp, and those guidelines that come out still has to follow the first admendment or else all media outlets will file a lawsuit against them.

    The setup is that Acosta was given a chance to ask a responsible question and failed miserably at it. He had the chance to take the high road and sit down but he failed miserably at that too. In his job, Acosta needs to check his personality at the door and act like a professional. Trump sadly doesn’t. The story should have been “Trump was clearly agitated as reporters asked him questions regarding Asylum seekers and his inability to explain how the thousands of people heading north constitute an invasion,” or “Trump is anxious for Mueller’s report which is allegedly being released soon.”

    Instead every other journalist had to defend Acosta because, in their mind, they need to stick up for one another. So the story shifts away from actual issues to manufactured drama and they fall for it everytime.

    ~

    As for the “enemy of the people” comments, yes it is unacceptable and there needs to be more people, especially from the right, to actually denounce those comments everytime he utters them.

    Everytime he tweets it, I expect every democratic senator, governer and congress person to tweet back and say “This is unacceptable.” Every time. It shouldn’t be just those being attacked having to defend themselves.
    I agree Acosta isn't a 'victim' by any means after his combative questioning. However, Trump should have just ignored his ass. He just isn't capable of letting any perceived slight slide and that lowers the President of the United States to the level of a petty journalist. Seriously, I wish Trump had a fucking sense of humor. The whole situation could have been defused with a good-natured jab and a 'Next question'. Instead we're wasting the time of our court system. Pathetic...

    Edit: Please pardon my French but I'm a little agitated today...

    Acosta wasn't a victim UNTIL they got on board with the doctored video, which is and will always remain the most inexcusable part of this story. But I DO agree that a one on one fight with CNN is EXACTLY the playing field Trump wants to be competing on on any given day. CNN, in general, sucks balls, and has for long before Trump was in office. My problems with it are entirely different than the ones most conservatives have however. Cable news in general is nothing but a puppet show that occasionally has something decent to say. The real reporting done in this world is not being done by White House correspondents and pundits, who are nothing but stenographers and actors respectively. Real journalism is almost always done in print, and then is regurgitated by the people on TV. Investigative reporters at newspapers and magazines deserve nothing but praise. 85% of the people you see on TV are basically the political entertainment version of Matt Damon or Halle Berry.
    "Puppet show". I love it! Whatever you do, don't look behind the curtain... :(

    If you want to talk politics on TV, it's really quite simple. You have to have been some kind of known commodity in Washington DC at some point, either as a former elected official, staff or campaign worker, or lobbyist. Secondly, if you are a woman, it's going to help to be at least somewhat telegenic (clearly there is no such requirement for the males). But more importantly than that, you have to be able to talk in timed soundbites that get the network to the next commercial, which will inevitably involve some pill for erectile dysfunction and reverse mortgages. This is not to say I don't like or agree with what some of the on-air personalities say. But the entire thing is nothing more than a reality show. Which is why I like the fact that Rachel Maddow never has panels like CNN does. She spends at least 20 minutes a night breaking down one topic and if she does do an interview, it is an extended one on one where you can actually learn something. She is decidedly liberal, but at least for one hour a night, it isn't the dumbed down, lukewarm slop being served up by CNN on a nightly basis.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    edited November 2018
    deltago said:

    ThacoBell said:

    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.

    Let me rephrase:

    Acosta isn’t doing other media outlets any favours by stooping to Trump’s lowness.

    Trump is still all those things and more, but it is hard to take those who need to hold him accountable seriously when they act like Acosta did.

    And it still needs to be established where the first and fifth admendment ends when it comes to reporters covering the White House? Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?
    Maybe they should try praising his brilliance and his hair. Get him into a receptive mood then subtly throw out good ideas and see if he bites. The stick isn't working so maybe it's time to try the carrot???

    Edit:
    Acosta - "I must say you look stunningly presidential today Mr. President. I'd like to tap into your wellspring of knowledge and ask you about the caravans. Clearly they're a dire threat to this country but I'm certain you have a brilliant contingency plan to deal with them that doesn't involve using the military or throwing them into internment camps. I'd like to hear it even though I may not be able to fully comprehend it seeing I'm not a genius like you are."
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    Balrog99 said:

    deltago said:

    ThacoBell said:

    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.

    Let me rephrase:

    Acosta isn’t doing other media outlets any favours by stooping to Trump’s lowness.

    Trump is still all those things and more, but it is hard to take those who need to hold him accountable seriously when they act like Acosta did.

    And it still needs to be established where the first and fifth admendment ends when it comes to reporters covering the White House? Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?
    Maybe they should try praising his brilliance and his hair. Get him into a receptive mood then subtly throw out good ideas and see if he bites. The stick isn't working so maybe it's time to try the carrot???

    The only thing the media can do to not FEED Trump's power rather than diminish it is to ignore him entirely, which Trump and the media of course both know is an impossibility. In regards to the pre-election caravan story, there are two culprits: one is Trump for pushing an imaginary narrative, and the second is the media for going along with his bullshit like it should have actually been a news story. And the proof of this is that the caravan apparently magically evaporated into dust on November 7th. If you just arrived from another planet the day after the election, you would never know it existed at all.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371

    Balrog99 said:

    deltago said:

    ThacoBell said:

    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.

    Let me rephrase:

    Acosta isn’t doing other media outlets any favours by stooping to Trump’s lowness.

    Trump is still all those things and more, but it is hard to take those who need to hold him accountable seriously when they act like Acosta did.

    And it still needs to be established where the first and fifth admendment ends when it comes to reporters covering the White House? Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?
    Maybe they should try praising his brilliance and his hair. Get him into a receptive mood then subtly throw out good ideas and see if he bites. The stick isn't working so maybe it's time to try the carrot???

    The only thing the media can do to not FEED Trump's power rather than diminish it is to ignore him entirely, which Trump and the media of course both know is an impossibility. In regards to the pre-election caravan story, there are two culprits: one is Trump for pushing an imaginary narrative, and the second is the media for going along with his bullshit like it should have actually been a news story. And the proof of this is that the caravan apparently magically evaporated into dust on November 7th. If you just arrived from another planet the day after the election, you would never know it existed at all.
    They're probably being put into a two year holding pattern like the Hebrews wandering around in the Sinai only to magically reappear in time for the next election.
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    Balrog99 said:

    deltago said:

    ThacoBell said:

    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.

    Let me rephrase:

    Acosta isn’t doing other media outlets any favours by stooping to Trump’s lowness.

    Trump is still all those things and more, but it is hard to take those who need to hold him accountable seriously when they act like Acosta did.

    And it still needs to be established where the first and fifth admendment ends when it comes to reporters covering the White House? Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?
    Maybe they should try praising his brilliance and his hair. Get him into a receptive mood then subtly throw out good ideas and see if he bites. The stick isn't working so maybe it's time to try the carrot???
    Doesn't work. World leaders have tried that from the get go.

    Media just need to stick on point and call BS when they see it. For example, the 'mismanaged forest fires.

    ~

    And the caravan did disappear. It broke into smaller ones as food was running short and promised transportation was not delivered and it is still in the news, its just Trump stopped talking about it:
    All from the last 24h:

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-one-migrant-caravan-reaches-the-us-mexico-border-and-runs-into/

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/world/americas/caravan-mexico-honduras-guatemala-migrants.html

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/migrant-caravan-won-t-see-armed-soldiers-on-u-s-border-1.4180660

    https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/11/17/us-troops-wont-come-into-contact-with-migrant-caravan-says-trump-advisor-at-halifax-security-conference.html

    But now that its at the border, expect Trump to start his attack again.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811

    deltago said:

    Trump is still all those things and more, but it is hard to take those who need to hold him accountable seriously when they act like Acosta did.

    Still don't understand "act like Acosta did." He was... insistent? In the face of a president who is ginning up a false story and demonizing innocent people, reporters shouldn't try to call him on it and expose the insanity of it? Trump literally said America is being invaded. (And what's happened since then? Has the "invasion" suddenly stopped? Why have Republicans suddenly stopped going nuts about it?)

    How has Trump had twice as many children as me but he can't deal with someone being insistent and greedy and petulant? My three-year-old acts worse at the dinner table but I don't resort to having an intern grab his fork away and then kick him out of the house...
    deltago said:

    And it still needs to be established where the first and fifth admendment ends when it comes to reporters covering the White House? Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?

    How about journalists can ask whatever questions they think are pertinent and important? It's really that simple. News organizations don't last if they don't give their readers/viewers information, so if a journalist is bad at obtaining information, the market will take care of that. (I love how conservatives suddenly lack faith in the market, and are saying we need the government - the Trump government - to regulate behavior. :tongue: )

    And wait a minute, holy crap, I just read the First Amendment and it doesn't require Trump to take questions from Jim Acosta. Trump doesn't have to take questions from anyone he doesn't want to. He can revoke all press passes to the White House and forego all press conferences, and just spend two years having fireside chats with Sean Hannity. Of course there will be consequences in that case too, as he might be seen as a witless and cowardly buffoon who doesn't believe in transparency or accountability for elected leaders. (*Ahem*) But that's up to him.

    So, it seems to me we have perfectly good mechanisms to incentivize each side to perform their duties... why this sudden insistence on the need to test the constitutional limits of how much the government can restrict the freedom of the press? If conservatives claim to love freedom, why are they even interested in that question??

    (That's not rhetorical - I'm perplexed and curious.)
    Yes journalist can ask any question they think is important. HOWEVER, in a group setting like a press briefing, it is proper etiquette to ask one question, and if needed, one follow up question regarding that question or answer. You then pass the microphone to the next journalist and let them ask a question (a further follow up question regarding the topic, or another topic that they themselves are there to cover). This is one of those unwritten rules that now seem to be needed to be written down because of this showmanship.

    You should be there to write/cover one story or event. Acosta broke that etiquette by attempting to ask about Russia AFTER Trump asked him to sit down. If the question that Trump was interrupting was actually about the Migrant Caravan, I might have been more on the fence with how he was acting because the answer he got really wasn't that sufficient when it came to the Caravan, however, the question was lackluster at the same time.

    The perception was that Acosta was there to debate Trump. That isn't his job as a journalist. Acosta isn't acting like a proper journalist and it does no favours for other journalist when he thinks he is there to debate Trump. It might make great reality TV, but news organizations should start shying away from that type of coverage because it does play beautifully into Trump's persona and deflection tactics.
  • Mantis37Mantis37 Member Posts: 1,177
    Grond0 said:

    The Brexit debate in the UK is hotting up with the announcement that officials have agreed a draft break-up agreement. It seems very likely that will be confirmed by all the other EU countries as they have kept a strong line to date in support of the negotiations.

    Whether it will be agreed by the UK Parliament is quite another matter. There has been a recent rash of resignations from May's cabinet - by both Brexiteers and remainers (including the minister who was actually in charge of the Brexit negotiations). The fact that both sides of the debate feel what's been agreed is poor might be an indication that May has found a good compromise position - or it might be an indication that it's just a bad deal. As of today it seems very unlikely that May will be able to get the deal through Parliament. I think she is hoping that when it comes to it many MPs will vote for the deal rather than see a no-deal exit. If that was the only choice she might well be right. However, the calls for a 2nd referendum on the issue are continuing to grow and I suspect that most remainers will believe that if Parliament rejects the current deal that a further referendum would be achievable. May is saying that will not happen, but if the deal is rejected then her position as prime minister would be untenable anyway.

    I thought I might mention one other potential impact of Brexit that hasn't been much discussed. The impact on Scotland has been widely considered and there's still the possibility that a second independence referendum could be triggered there by them being pulled out of the EU against their will. However, there's a similar constitutional implication for Northern Ireland which hasn't received much attention.

    The Good Friday Agreement, which ended the 'troubles' was an ingenious mechanism for allowing some people in NI to consider themselves Irish, while others considered themselves British. The agreement's worked very well in reducing conflicts, but one of its provisions was that the UK government is required (not permitted) to hold a referendum on a reunification of Ireland as soon as it appears there is a majority for that in NI. Demographic changes, with relative increases in Catholic populations, have been gently pushing people towards that for a while, but there still wouldn't have been calls for a referendum in the short term. However, the Brexit process may well mean that significant numbers of the younger generation of Protestants would support a reunited Ireland and could lead to a referendum in the relatively near future. The younger generation have lived in peace times with a friendly Republic of Ireland and don't necessarily have the same emotional attachments to the UK as their parents. The Republic has also changed in other ways in the last 20 years. It is a generally more prosperous country than NI and also (rather surprisingly) has become in recent years more socially liberal than NI over attitudes to things like immigration, gay marriage and abortion. As young adults are generally more socially liberal than their parents this increases the potential attraction of a reunited Ireland.

    It's not at all inconceivable that the Brexit process, that was intended to allow the UK to 'take back control' from the EU, will result in the break up of the UK itself.

    The deal for the transition period May has ended up with is going to be almost untenable in the long term. (Mainly as a result of her own red lines.) It will result in yet more political chaos as soon as the EU pass any regulations which are unfavourable for the UK, which the UK will now be subject to without representation. Due to this threat it is very likely that if any deal is passed the government will try to call a snap general election early on during the transition period, before anything too bad can happen, with the hope of finishing negotiations over the following five years.

    However the parliamentary situation is extremely unpredictable. What seems possible is that the deal fails once, then a vote of no-confidence also fails (DUP don't like Corbyn), then the deal comes up for the vote again with only minor changes. Only if it fails for a second time can I see May thinking about a referendum, although it is possible one might be forced upon her by parliament.

    It is fascinating how fluid sides are. Business favoured remaining but now are swinging behind the deal in the name of stability. Hard remainers & leavers alike oppose it as being the worst of both worlds. Interesting times indeed... and yet another sign of how disastrous a poorly thought out referendum can be.

    The ironic thing about the Irish situation is that NI businesses would actually have an advantage over the rest of the UK if the backstop let them in the single market. The DUP's opposition to this in the name of a minority is another symptom of how the first past the post system can distort politics so parties no longer represent common interests.

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  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371

    deltago said:

    in a group setting like a press briefing, it is proper etiquette ...
    This is one of those unwritten rules ...
    Acosta broke that etiquette ...
    The perception was that Acosta was there to debate Trump. That isn't his job as a journalist. Acosta isn't acting like a proper journalist

    Are you seriously saying you think Donald frackin' Trump should be making sure we all adhere to proper etiquette and social norms? It sure sounds like that's what you're saying...
    No, I think he's saying that Acosta tried to play Trump at his own game and that just made him look bad. I tend to agree with that assessment. Not that I think Acosta is a good journalist so I'm not surprised...
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811

    deltago said:

    in a group setting like a press briefing, it is proper etiquette ...
    This is one of those unwritten rules ...
    Acosta broke that etiquette ...
    The perception was that Acosta was there to debate Trump. That isn't his job as a journalist. Acosta isn't acting like a proper journalist

    Are you seriously saying you think Donald frackin' Trump should be making sure we all adhere to proper etiquette and social norms? It sure sounds like that's what you're saying...
    Trump no, but his administration now has the task of coming up with proper guidelines for press briefings. I would have preferred an independent organization making these guidelines but it is what it is. As I also said, those guidelines cannot cross either the first or fifth amendment so expect them to be common sense "rules" such as "do not ask a question if you are not called upon," "do not interrupt another person asking a question," "ask only one question and if you are asked to give up the microphone, do it." Expect a 3 strike rule with warnings, suspensions and finally banishment.

  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    ThacoBell said:

    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.

    This was only the fourth press conference Trump has given since he's been in the White House. He doesn't give press conferences because he can't handle them. That's why it's mostly his press secretaries who do them. It's also why Trump can't testify to Mueller in person and has to do it in writing. He'd get tripped up and get caught in too many lies. Trump thinks he can talk anyone into anything- that's why he was so eager to testify to Mueller in the beginning. It was only after his own lawyers showed him how dangerous it would be that he backed off of that idea. It's also why Trump's lawyers think testifying to Mueller in person would be a "perjury trap" for Trump. Because he is literally incapable of telling the truth without making stuff up.
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited November 2018
    LadyRhian said:

    ThacoBell said:

    "Combative questioning?" Are you guys serious? This is the man who has been blatantly lying about EVERYTHING from day one, refuses to hold answer question or even hold press conferences, brags about sexual assault, constantly attacks the press and calls them enemy of the state, but Acosta is out of line for asking aggressive questions? Sorry, but that is utter bull. The media has been way nicer to Trump than he deserves. With all the corruption, bad planning, lack of planning, harmful legislation, the media really should be verbally eviserating the entire administration.

    This was only the fourth press conference Trump has given since he's been in the White House. He doesn't give press conferences because he can't handle them. That's why it's mostly his press secretaries who do them. It's also why Trump can't testify to Mueller in person and has to do it in writing. He'd get tripped up and get caught in too many lies. Trump thinks he can talk anyone into anything- that's why he was so eager to testify to Mueller in the beginning. It was only after his own lawyers showed him how dangerous it would be that he backed off of that idea. It's also why Trump's lawyers think testifying to Mueller in person would be a "perjury trap" for Trump. Because he is literally incapable of telling the truth without making stuff up.

    His Press Secretary barely holds any daily briefings compared to other Administrations either. Then again, what is the point of having them when the person at the podium, whether it is Sanders or Trump, is just going to lie to your face on every other question.

    As for his questions to Mueller, first he was eager to talk to him. Then it had to be turned into a written-take home test. Now that they have had MONTHS to answer them, they now say they have done so, but aren't going to hand it in. Personally, I think this whole "yeah, go ahead and answer the questions in writing" is a feint by Mueller to lure Trump into a false sense of security, but beyond that......written questions you can answer at home with your lawyers as opposed to being asked questions in person like ANY other citizen of this country would have to?? And he can't even handle that?? How can they not manage to put together answers that they don't think will perjure him when they have had well over 6 months to craft the goddamn answers?? Of course, that is the fear. They don't actually know what Mueller knows (at least until Whitaker goes and tells them), so any question they submit is a possible landmine, and since Trump is INCAPABLE of telling the truth, they can't even afford to had the written answers in. I mean, you want to talk about pathetic.....this shit should be the definition of it.

    Now, it gets compared to an open-book take-home test because that is the easiest analogy. It's worth noting that an open-book take-home test isn't actually a test at all. It's just copying answers down.
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    deltago said:

    Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?

    No that's assault. with a non-deadly weapon.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694

    Girl scout who led push to end child marriage becomes a state lawmaker at age 19

    https://womenintheworld.com/2018/11/15/girl-scout-who-led-push-to-end-child-marriage-becomes-a-state-lawmaker-at-age-19/?fbclid=IwAR2FF0icQ870PfDwn-t5N8a4yETaaa7RbCVH1ZD84jVq1ZGod97yLPZ731w
    When Cassandra Levesque was 17, she led a campaign to end child marriage in New Hampshire that was dismissed by a state legislator who said that it would be absurd to raise the age of marriage from 13 just because “of a request from a minor doing a Girl Scout project.”

    Seriously, in New Hampshire, girls could get married at 12? Eew. I swear, this could have been a Scooby-Doo episode, where the guy rails at "you meddling kids".

    And, in a similar vein, The Marmalade Godling opened his yap.

    Trump cries foul after Arizona elects nation’s first openly bisexual person to Congress

    https://womenintheworld.com/2018/11/13/trump-cries-foul-after-arizona-elects-nations-first-openly-bisexual-person-to-congress/

    While McSally appears to have accepted the results of the narrow and hotly-contested race, President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday to claim “electoral corruption” and call for a new election to “protect our Democracy.” While it was unclear what factual basis the president had to support such a wild accusation, some speculated that he was referring to a lawsuit filed by the Arizona GOP that moved to omit ballots verified after election day from the final vote. The lawsuit, which did not contain any claims of “electoral corruption” or fraud, but instead was based on a supposed need to standardize the mail-in ballot system, was dismissed by a judge on Thursday.

    i.e. "Republicans lost! HOW DARE THEY LOSE!"
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811

    deltago said:

    Can a journalist take off their shoes and throw them at Trump in protest? Where’s the line?

    No that's assault. with a non-deadly weapon.
    It’s a reference to something that happened to Bush during a press hearing in Iraq. Bush actually down played it as soon as it happened.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    edited November 2018

    The Evidence Pours In: Poverty Getting Much Worse in America

    https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/11/05/evidence-pours-poverty-getting-much-worse-america?fbclid=IwAR1KoBBInICnGJiZ8fMj0FjHhXOTptPufEzEyXlN-F08adKmHJ9F3uEO_TE
    A White House report recently proclaimed that the "War on Poverty is largely over and a success." United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said it was "ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America."
    But it's getting worse, and should be examined. Our feces doesn't smell better than anyone else's.
    1 in 7 Americans is Part of the World's Poorest 10%

    Russian tipped to take over Interpol in Kremlin victory

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-tipped-to-take-over-interpol-in-kremlin-victory-nsvvv086w?fbclid=IwAR3_mfTqkOy7YPMGdY9FZcgkYoLQLQ6z7sjQrCerY97Krro3iYC7crCDOp0

    This is after another head disappeared. Curious, yes?
    Post edited by LadyRhian on
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