Skip to content

Politics. The feel in your country.

1432433435437438635

Comments

  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    edited January 2018
    deltago said:

    Botswana summoned the U.S. embassy to clarify if it is one of the "shit-hole" countries Trump referenced.

    What do they hope to accomplish there? What's some diplomat going to say? "Uh yeah, the president said that. Most people don't think that" or "No the President didn't say that it was the lying press!" Either way, not going to get much there. They are inviting the diplomat to apologize and they'll either get that or won't. So what.
    Do something if you're really worried about it.

    I guess it's a symbolic move but come on, the Prez is so random he will be saying Botswana is the most beautiful country ever today and calling it a shit-hole tomorrow.
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    Facebook is changing the way the news feed works. And it sounds like they are going to make an existing problem worse. A big problem is people falling for and re-sharing fake news.

    So facebook announced it will prioritize "meaningful social interaction" which is fake news or opinions generated by people and that facebook with de-emphasize the media, publishers and businesses.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/12/facebook-announces-news-feed-changes-shares-fall-over-4-percent-pre-market.html
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited January 2018
    So.....the main defense I am seeing on TV and social media among Trump supporters is "well, of course they are shithole countries, if they weren't why would they want to come here??". First off, there are almost 9 million Americans living abroad. Does that make us a shithole?? Beyond that, unless you are a Native American or your ancestors were brought here in chains, your relatives and ancestors ALSO immigrated to the United States. Did they all come from shithole countries as well?? I mean, let's get real here. Everyone knows when Donald Trump said shithole about Africa (which he apparently thinks is a country and not a continent full of dozens of countries) and Haiti, he meant "black". And when he referred to Norway as a preferable place to get immigrants from, he meant because it is mostly white. End of story. Let's also face the fact that this is how 30% of Americans think. And then move on from there.

    Good for this guy, whoever he is. He might be the only person with a spine in the entire Administration.
    ThacoBellProont
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736


    I can't even really fathom what most of the rest of the globe thinks of us right now.

    Here in Russia - enjoying the circus, that for once isn't taking place in our own country. Also rooting for Trump as an open and honest guy, but being worried he might accidentally the red button. I'm personally also delighted to watch the butthurting idiots who thought that Trump in presidency was actually better for Russia than Clinton, since I foresaw the button possibility from the moment I learned he wasn't giving a damn about political correctness.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455

    deltago said:

    Botswana summoned the U.S. embassy to clarify if it is one of the "shit-hole" countries Trump referenced.

    What do they hope to accomplish there? What's some diplomat going to say? "Uh yeah, the president said that. Most people don't think that" or "No the President didn't say that it was the lying press!" Either way, not going to get much there. They are inviting the diplomat to apologize and they'll either get that or won't. So what.
    Do something if you're really worried about it.

    I guess it's a symbolic move but come on, the Prez is so random he will be saying Botswana is the most beautiful country ever today and calling it a shit-hole tomorrow.
    Yes, basically there are two ways to approach the issue:
    1) Get a better president
    2) Lower the bar so much, Trump looks like a good president

    You're advocating solution 2 here. If you think about it, solution 1 is probably better in the long term.
    Ardanis said:


    I can't even really fathom what most of the rest of the globe thinks of us right now.

    Here in Russia - enjoying the circus, that for once isn't taking place in our own country. Also rooting for Trump as an open and honest guy, but being worried he might accidentally the red button. I'm personally also delighted to watch the butthurting idiots who thought that Trump in presidency was actually better for Russia than Clinton, since I foresaw the button possibility from the moment I learned he wasn't giving a damn about political correctness.
    Wait, what?
    smeagolheart
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    edited January 2018

    So.....the main defense I am seeing on TV and social media among Trump supporters is "well, of course they are shithole countries, if they weren't why would they want to come here??". First off, there are almost 9 million Americans living abroad. Does that make us a shithole?? Beyond that, unless you are a Native American or your ancestors were brought here in chains, your relatives and ancestors ALSO immigrated to the United States. Did they all come from shithole countries as well?? I mean, let's get real here. Everyone knows when Donald Trump said shithole about Africa (which he apparently thinks is a country and not a continent full of dozens of countries) and Haiti, he meant "black". And when he referred to Norway as a preferable place to get immigrants from, he meant because it is mostly white. End of story. Let's also face the fact that this is how 30% of Americans think. And then move on from there.


    Good for this guy, whoever he is. He might be the only person with a spine in the entire Administration.
    There's also the Dutch Ambassador, who should resign, but hasn't yet.


    Here he is yesterday at a PRESS CONFERENCE refusing to answer reporters' questions in the Netherlands.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/11/trumps-new-ambassador-ignored-questions-from-dutch-reporters-now-u-s-reporters-want-answers/?utm_term=.28523790ce51

    "This is the Netherlands, you have to answer questions."
    image

    They are like, that may fly in the pseudo democracy of the USA but this is the Netherlands and we don't put up with your BS.

    Sad lol.

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosebuchanan/answer-the-question?utm_term=.kplg7MVdK#.soZMpR0Y7

    Donald Trump only picks the best people. And that how the ambassador was treated based on his own comments and actions before trump's "shit-hole" comments.
    Post edited by smeagolheart on
    FinneousPJThacoBellProont
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736


    Ardanis said:


    I can't even really fathom what most of the rest of the globe thinks of us right now.

    Here in Russia - enjoying the circus, that for once isn't taking place in our own country. Also rooting for Trump as an open and honest guy, but being worried he might accidentally the red button. I'm personally also delighted to watch the butthurting idiots who thought that Trump in presidency was actually better for Russia than Clinton, since I foresaw the button possibility from the moment I learned he wasn't giving a damn about political correctness.
    Wait, what?
    Open and honest about his feelings, I guess. Unrestrained by diplomatic norms. Sadly, while it may sound attractive at first glance, it also suggests the lack of restrain in other areas, but they only realize it now.
  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    So Trump has decided not to go to the UK to open the new embassy. He says it's Obama's fault for picking such a downscale location.

    “Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for ‘peanuts,’ only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!”


    But of course there's those little "fact" things.

    The relocation was announced in 2008 under the Bush administration. At the time, U.S. Ambassador Robert Tuttle said the decision to move to the five-acre site came after a “long and careful process.”

    semiticgoddessProont
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    BillyYank said:

    So Trump has decided not to go to the UK to open the new embassy. He says it's Obama's fault for picking such a downscale location.

    “Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for ‘peanuts,’ only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!”


    But of course there's those little "fact" things.

    The relocation was announced in 2008 under the Bush administration. At the time, U.S. Ambassador Robert Tuttle said the decision to move to the five-acre site came after a “long and careful process.”

    I chalk it up to the President being misinformed about why the Embassy was moved.

    I will also let you decide if that is better or worse than lying.

    I will also say it's just an excuse. He won't visit any country that would allow protests against him. His ego can't handle it.
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    Ladies and gentlemen, here we are at the end of the second week of the new year and we already have our 2018 Word of the Year.
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited January 2018

    Ladies and gentlemen, here we are at the end of the second week of the new year and we already have our 2018 Word of the Year.

    @Mathsorcerer is too much of gentleman to use it. All kidding aside, I'm glad some TV anchors and newspapers are saying and printing it. It's well past time this society moves on from it's puritanical and childish views toward what words people can handle hearing. The profanity is NOT the issue any reasonable person has with those comments.

    I mean, look at what we're talking about here. Who the hell wants to be having this discussion?? I don't. But at a certain point (which seems to be the last 24 hours for many, and the last 24 months for others), we have to come to grips with the fact that the person we put in charge of the country is a racist. And that isn't pleasant, or fun. I'm sure it's alot less fun if you are African-American or of Hispanic descent. On FOX News last night, one of their hosts offered the excuse that "this is how real Americans talk at the bar" (I'm paraphrasing). And yes, that is true. This is exactly how every RACIST American I have known in my life talks at the bar. They sound exactly like Donald Trump sounded in that meeting yesterday. At a certain point, he is going to slip up and use the one word we all KNOW he has used in private before, and I doubt it will do a thing to hamper his remaining support.

    I have previously used my best friend's dad as my personal barometer for this type of thing. And when we were 14 and 15 years old, we would laugh at his comments, because we were stupid teenagers. But I remember driving to my best friends wedding, with another one of my friend's from high school, and we spent most of the trip talking about how, 15 years later, he was still the same guy. Still saying the same stuff he used to say in front of us when we were kids. Only now, we were repulsed by it. That even if he held those views, at a bare minimum, his consideration for other people should restrain him from making those views known in public. In high school, he was good for a laugh. By the time we were 30, nearly everyone I knew had completely written him off as a lost cause. With more than a little sadness in that realization that he would never change.
    Post edited by jjstraka34 on
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    Two Republicans Senators, Perdue and Cotton, got amnesia claiming that they don't remember those specific words. Maybe there was an extra "the" used or something but not those exact words!

    So they are trying to blame the guy who reported it not the asshole that said it.

    Lindsey Graham reportedly said something back to the president about his language. Graham confirmed to Tim Scott Louisianas other Senator that the reported comments are “basically accurate.” And Scott reported that to the press but Graham has not himself said a damn thing.
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850

    Two Republicans Senators, Perdue and Cotton, got amnesia claiming that they don't remember those specific words. Maybe there was an extra "the" used or something but not those exact words!

    So they are trying to blame the guy who reported it not the asshole that said it.

    Lindsey Graham reportedly said something back to the president about his language. Graham confirmed to Tim Scott Louisianas other Senator that the reported comments are “basically accurate.” And Scott reported that to the press but Graham has not himself said a damn thing.

    #1 Lindsey Graham has been and always will be a political coward of the highest order. His positions on Trump, the Russia investigation and basically everything else change with the direction the wind on any given day. And he is treated like some sort of moderate sage. He isn't.

    #2 If a person cannot remember what was said by the President of the United States in a meeting they held less than 24 hours ago, then they clearly aren't mentally competent to even hold their jobs. Perhaps they should be committed for an evaluation if that is truly the case. Which, of course, it isn't. I'd have more respect for them if they just came out and admitted that they basically agreed with what he said. And that's the point and the problem with Trump. He says out loud what Republicans have been pushing with dog whistles for 30 years. So they can't play this plausible deniability card when it comes to race anymore.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    #2. Give them a slight break. If Trump started ranting while the rest of the table was attempting to hold meaningful talks, I'd tune him out too.
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    We've reached a point where a revelation that the President paid a porn-star $130,000 in hush money a month before the election is barely even making a blip on the radar, and is only the 3rd or 4th worst story the White House is currently embroiled in. I can't even pretend to bring myself to care considering everything else.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    Do people remember the story about Trump writing in to magazines posing as his own secretary, but being unable to disguise his writing style (he also regularly spoke to journalists pretending to be his own publicist)?

    Reading the statement by the porn star 'Stormy Daniels' I can't help wondering if those are entirely her own words ...
    jjstraka34Proont
  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
    I'm sure she wrote it. Why would anyone willingly admit to having slept with Trump? That's a recipe for misery.
    BelleSorciereGrond0jjstraka34Proont
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited January 2018
    Grond0 said:

    Do people remember the story about Trump writing in to magazines posing as his own secretary, but being unable to disguise his writing style (he also regularly spoke to journalists pretending to be his own publicist)?

    Reading the statement by the porn star 'Stormy Daniels' I can't help wondering if those are entirely her own words ...

    She was probably told what to write. Mind you, the irony here is that, because he revealed himself to every sensible person in the world yesterday as a racist scumbag, no one actually really much cares about this porn-star stuff. I mean, it doesn't even make my top ten list of things to be pissed about for this week.

    But of course he slept with her. He likely paid her back then so she would do it, and paid her again to prevent her from talking in the late days of the campaign. I mean, we have an amount ($130,000). That wasn't just pulled out of the sky by the Wall Street Journal, who broke the story. Of course this happened. You know what else I'm fairly sure Donald Trump has done in his life?? Actually paid for escorts and/or prostitutes, paid for women to have abortions, in all likelihood has raped someone, and I also am 99% sure there is a audio recording out there somewhere of him using the "n" word. I can't prove any of that. No one can. But I would be SHOCKED if 3 out of 4 of those scenarios didn't take place in the last 50 years.

    But again, why is he even bothering to lie about this?? His base doesn't care (even though many of them are supposedly god-fearing Christians). Liberals have about a dozen other things to be pissed at him about on any given day besides the fact that he cheated on his wife with a porn star. But the thing is, he can't NOT lie. He lies about nearly everything at all times. It's astounding. And that's the thing, he doesn't even NEED to lie about this. The idea that his base would turn on him over anything that doesn't involve murdering an infant at this point is fantasy-land.

    As for Melania....one of the most interesting sections of "Fire and Fury" was the part where she reportedly broke down crying on Election Night when he won, because she knew she was going to get hauled around the world as a prop for 4 years. I highly suspect she was going to leave him if he had lost.
    Proont
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    edited January 2018
    Grond0 said:

    Do people remember the story about Trump writing in to magazines posing as his own secretary, but being unable to disguise his writing style (he also regularly spoke to journalists pretending to be his own publicist)?

    Reading the statement by the porn star 'Stormy Daniels' I can't help wondering if those are entirely her own words ...

    She was paid off and signed another one of Trump's NDAs. She can't talk about it or she can get sued. An NDA is where rich people pay off other people to be quiet apparently that's how it works.

    You get 100k in return you can never say anything about what happened or anything bad about the guy.

    If you do say something bad, then you broke the contract and you have to pay back the 100k plus you can be sued for extraordinary damages in a high powered lawsuit.

  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    edited January 2018

    The idea that his base would turn on him over anything that doesn't involve murdering an white infant at this point is fantasy-land.

    FTFY
    smeagolheart
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    The way Wal-Mart is going to recoup their money from the wage increase has been revealed. And hey, give them credit, they were able to hide it for 48 hours this time. They are improving:

    Walmart is cutting thousands of store manager positions and adding new lower-paid positions, Bloomberg reports.

    The retailer is removing 3,500 salaried co-managers and adding 1,700 assistant store managers.

    The managers whose jobs are cut will be able to apply for other positions.

    In a statement to Business Insider, Walmart said the restructuring is meant to meet customers' changing needs with the growth of e-commerce.


    So, there you have it. Again. They are eliminating decent paying management positions, but in their never-ending mercy, allowing those they let go to reapply at a fraction of their previous salary
    ThacoBelldeltagoProont
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    Chelsea Manning is filing to run as a primary challenger for a senate seat in Maryland. I can't say I'm excited about this. Nobody who has been pardoned should be running for Senate - her or Arpaio.
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850

    I'm aware (we are all aware) that on some level, all around the globe, politics will at some point along the chain (maybe many points along the chain) devolve into aspects of corruption and nepotism. That is the trade-off I suppose we make for avoiding anarchy. But what this Administration is engaged in on a daily basis doesn't resemble what I'm talking about. It resembles "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos".
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    So supposedly the appointment for Trumps medical appointment went "excellent". It doesn't say that Trump is the healthiest person ever like his campaign note from his Doctor (wasn't the guy a podiatrist lol or something who supposedly wrote that).

    Anyway the doctor that wrote that the appointment went excellent spelled his own name wrong and signed it unusually. He signed the note Trump released Dr Ronnie Jackson instead of his name and title Ronny Jackson, MD.
    semiticgoddessjoluvProont
  • BelleSorciereBelleSorciere Member Posts: 2,108
    So at least part of what I said should happen is happening

    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/13/16888710/barris-swatting-death-charges

    Unfortunately, the police officer is probably facing minimal consequences.
  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137

    So supposedly the appointment for Trumps medical appointment went "excellent". It doesn't say that Trump is the healthiest person ever like his campaign note from his Doctor (wasn't the guy a podiatrist lol or something who supposedly wrote that).

    Anyway the doctor that wrote that the appointment went excellent spelled his own name wrong and signed it unusually. He signed the note Trump released Dr Ronnie Jackson instead of his name and title Ronny Jackson, MD.

    Ah yes, the "To Whom My Concern" letter. He's a gastroenterologist.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    I see the US State Department has a new system for assessing the risk of foreign travel - level 1 (normal risks akin to US), level 2 (heightened risks), level 3 (reconsider travelling), level 4 (do not travel). The UK is assessed at level 2, along with France, Spain, Italy and Germany - all due to the risk of terrorism.

    The risk classification takes account of the following categories:
    - crime
    - terrorism
    - civil unrest
    - health
    - natural disaster
    - time-limited event (such as an election or sporting event)
    - other
    I've posted before about how distorted the US government's perception of the risks of terrorism compared to other types of risk is and this appears to me to be another instance of this.
    bleusteelThacoBellProont
This discussion has been closed.