Octopus Overlords

Trump: What did I teach you?

Pence (mumbles): You are...the Duke of DC...you’re A-number one

Trump: I CAN’T HEAR YOU

Pence: YOU ARE THE DUKE OF DC! YOU’RE A-NUMBER ONE!

There would be justice in Pence's career ending the moment Drumpf is gone, however that comes about.

GFL - now they are talking about suspending work permits for H-1B spouses. I'm all for reform in the H-1B program but this is just nativist bullshit again.

We don't question the Nationalist Party, citizen. Get back in line.

Has Trump tweeted about finally getting his wall?

Planners in Clare County Council have granted permission for coastal erosion management works at a golf course owned by US President Donald Trump.

Trump International Golf Links (TIGL) sought permission to carry out works around the resort in Doonbeg.

The application to Clare County Council envisaged the construction of two new structures at dunes bordering the links course.

This will involve the use of backstops to prevent further erosion, which would run for around 1km in total, on two stretches of coastline to the west of the property.

So we got condemned by the UN. So much god damn winning! I can't take it! Oh and apparently the dems are going to shutdown the government because they are jealous of how awesome Trumps super popular tax plan is. Seriously fuck this guy...

Keep in mind the UN is a sham organization whose word means nothing. Plus they owe us like a kajillion dollars.

I think the UN is just jealous of Trumps tax plan. The hugely popular one. I heard it's historic, the largest cuts in history. Everyone is going to benefit bigly.

But honestly the UN is routinely anti Israel. This reaction is far from shocking. Not that I support Trump in it but I struggle to think too much of general Assembly votes regarding Israel. This one is notably different because some of our allies that tend to abstain actually voted against us.

At the end of the day it's a meaningless gesture, but to Trump it's a total insult! And seriously we look like f'n fools the last year with all the bullshit he has done.

Octavious wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 3:49 pm At the end of the day it's a meaningless gesture, but to Trump it's a total insult! And seriously we look like f'n fools the last year with all the bullshit he has done.

Look like? He's our president. We are fools.

His threatening the funding of any nation voting against him on this resolution just made him took petulant and weak... especially when he realizes he won't be able to follow through with the threat, as everyone else knew from the beginning.

Sepiche wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 4:01 pm His threatening the funding of any nation voting against him on this resolution just made him took petulant and weak... especially when he realizes he won't be able to follow through with the threat, as everyone else knew from the beginning.

Yeah, I saw that quote this morning and was [even more] disgusted [than usual]. "Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care."

Yeah, taking your ball and going home when someone hurts your feelings is totally a solid basis for foreign policy.

Octavious wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 3:49 pm At the end of the day it's a meaningless gesture

This. It's a way for UN members to show disapproval of certain behaviours.

This vote is only remarkable in that Drumpf did nothing to get allies on board, many of which disagree (whether for good or ill) with the change in capitals.

Basically Drumpf made a unilateral move and now he's pissed that people are criticizing him. Because that's all it ends up being. Just words. And yet he (and his ambassador, who was already "taking names" before Drumpf jumped in) wants to turn it into something tangible to fight over.

Whatever your opinion on the move, the administration's reaction to the UN vote is moronic, as per the norm.

If nothing else, the rest of the world is rapidly learning how and when it can safely bypass/ignore the US, at least for as long as we are diplomatically disarmed.

"If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions." - Abba Eban

It was a completely unsurprising and meaningless gesture by the UN, and that's why Trump's behavior was especially stupid. I could see behind the scenes arm twisting if it were something significant, but publicly doing so with a tangible threat over something so inconsequential? Given that one could have easily predicted the outcome, all he's done is pushed us either to making dramatic changes to our foreign relations if we fulfill his threat, or he backs down and loses face. Either way, it will be harder when we actually need to apply pressure in the future. And he inflated the whole thing by making an incident over it.

Kraken wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 6:33 pm If nothing else, the rest of the world is rapidly learning how and when it can safely bypass/ignore the US, at least for as long as we are diplomatically disarmed.

Given how...er... random... Trump can be, I'm not sure how reliable what they learn will be.

Defiant wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 6:53 pm

Kraken wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 6:33 pm If nothing else, the rest of the world is rapidly learning how and when it can safely bypass/ignore the US, at least for as long as we are diplomatically disarmed.

Given how...er... random... Trump can be, I'm not sure how reliable what they learn will be.

...and it will be invalidated as soon as an adult occupies the oval office again. In the meantime, though, they are routing around the damage. Or cauterizing the wound. Or abhorring the vacuum. Or something like that.

Why does anyone think that a change in governing parties is a given?

Look at the damage that has been done to the democratic process in one year and imagine what can be done in the coming 1, 3, 7+ years.

Putting an adult in the oval office does not require a change in parties. Even Pence could be expected to restore America into the community of nations.

That said, breaking with generations of continuity is going to be irreparable. The next administration will not be able to pick up where the last one left off, because the rest of the world will have moved on.

Kraken wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:38 pm Putting an adult in the oval office does not require a change in parties. Even Pence could be expected to restore America into the community of nations.

That said, breaking with generations of continuity is going to be irreparable. The next administration will not be able to pick up where the last one left off, because the rest of the world will have moved on.

I wonder if Pence would restore much at all.

Republicans won't snap back to Bush1/Bush2 standards just because Trump is gone. Most of the base is committed to fanatic hatreds and policy absurdities, and there's no reserve of wisdom or talent able to stem the tide of Bannonism or resist the march to Hannityville.

I think the GOP is over. They're a white-nationalist/Christianist party now, and their rivals for party philosophy are little more than laissez-faire radicals. Everything calling itself conservative is reactionary, and Pence is fully committed.

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status ... 7866302466
link

When we liberals return to power, ALL WHO SAY "MERRY CHRISTMAS" WILL BE DEALT WITH!!

Here's what I think of the UN. Members of the Human Rights Council include:

Congo
Philippines
Venezuela
China
Cuba
Egypt
Saudi Arabia

No one gives a shit what those countries say, although Egypt has been a strong secular force and US supporter in the middle east, so....yeah.

It's Britain, France, Italy and Japan that are noteworthy.

Hell, even China, if, say, your very economy depended on it, might be someone you would want in your corner, diplomatically.

Canada was like We're staying out of this one. Good luck, America.

At least the US has lost all credibility from the Palestinian side of this, so on the plus side, you might not have to be involved in the peace process in the future. That's got to be a load off, yeah? That has nothing to do with the UN vote.

The US wants to play hardball with the UN? Great. You've picked a great hill to fight on. The very fate of the world depends on where the US embassy is.

Oh, come on you can do better than that. The UN Commission on the Status of Women is chaired by Ireland, a country where the "right to life of the unborn" is in the Constitution. But cherry-picking members of irony like Kuwait and Iran is easy when there are 45 member countries.

There was an interview I heard on NPR on the way home from work tonight about Europe that was an interesting insight.

I wish I could find it online, but it was an interview with the head of a Belgian think tank, and their final analysis was basically: the US population was insane enough to elect this guy, and even if he's unseated and the US returns to reasonable governance, how can we be sure they won't elect someone just as unfit in the future?

I suspect in most parts of Europe, for obvious reasons, they don't get the nuance of our politics, and to them it just looks like we collectively lost our minds and put a madman in charge.

Kraken wrote: Wed Dec 20, 2017 8:30 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Dec 20, 2017 7:43 pm ...and yet, Trump still manages to sit there the whole time with his arms crossed and a sour puss - looking like an adult version of Augusts Gloop. Amazing.

Yeah, that "I'm not eating peas!" posture is totally incongruous. Maybe the meeting went on past his tolerance. He looks like he'd rather be in his happy place, watching TV and tweeting.

South Park has ruined any chance of Trump being taken seriously by anyone who watches Mr. Garrison’s spot on impersonation of his mannerisms and his overwhelming need to be adored at all times. This circle jerk press Conference has been mocked by South Park more than once.

Sepiche wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:36 am There was an interview I heard on NPR on the way home from work tonight about Europe that was an interesting insight.

I wish I could find it online, but it was an interview with the head of a Belgian think tank, and their final analysis was basically: the US population was insane enough to elect this guy, and even if he's unseated and the US returns to reasonable governance, how can we be sure they won't elect someone just as unfit in the future?

I suspect in most parts of Europe, for obvious reasons, they don't get the nuance of our politics, and to them it just looks like we collectively lost our minds and put a madman in charge.

It's a real problem. Even if we survive Trump well enough, the GOP had gone off the rails before him and may well stay crazy after Trump is gone. As long as one of our two major parties is run by lunatics, there's a real risk of a lunatic becoming president.

Oh, the horror! We might not give money that we collect in taxes from our population to foreign people that don't support us. Oh, the humanity!

Here's a hint. You don't provide that aid because you're humanitarians. That's for charities, and the US government is definitely not a charity.

In any case, as was pointed ​out earlier, no aid is going to be cut over a UN resolution.

Europe wrote:the US population Russia was insane lucky enough to elect this guy, and even if he's unseated and the US returns to reasonable governance, how can we be sure they won't elect someone just as unfit in the future?

Answer, they can't be sure, because our current Republican administration refuses to acknowledge Russian interference in our elections, much less do anything to counter it in the future.

It's not like Europe didn't have their own problems with Russia mucking about in everyone's elections.

Holman wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:42 pm https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status ... 7866302466
link

When we liberals return to power, ALL WHO SAY "MERRY CHRISTMAS" WILL BE DEALT WITH!!

It's such a canard anyway. People being sensitive about not swinging around a giant Christian dick themselves does not preclude anyone else from swinging their own.

I'm in a liberal enclave and 80% of everyone says Merry Christmas. 75 year old Jewish doctors say Merry Christmas over the phone during a business call. Every block of every street is loaded with Christmas decorations, both gaudy and tasteful.

Yet occasionally someone might say Happy Holidays. Like say in a mass email or in a storefront. Big fucking deal. If that rattles your faith, maybe take a look at your own commitment first.

The War on Christmas actually happened and people didn't say Happy Holidays. They executed Christians. Calling whatever this is a War on Christmas is so weak.


These strawmen issues are so tiresome.

In east TN ive never had a single complaint when i wish someone a Merry Christmas and thats what people tell me also.

Daehawk wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2017 11:22 am In east TN ive never had a single complaint when i wish someone a Merry Christmas and thats what people tell me also.

Pretty much the same here. I'm wondering where this war is taking place. I guess Starbucks. Oh no!



[Off topic] Are you anywhere near Morristown? [/OT]

The real irony here is that the most thorough and effective war on Christmas was waged by religious conservatives.

An insurance company rep just called me to confirm some details and ended the call by saying Merry Christmas. Thanks Trump!

Moliere wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:22 pm An insurance company rep just called me to confirm some details and ended the call by saying Merry Christmas. Thanks Trump!

Thanks to Trump I've been able to say Merry Christmas to whomever I want for at least the last few decades!

A Jesuit priest just wished me "Happy Holidays."

I fear the war is lost.

If you think that's bad, my son's school didn't have a Christmas play, didn't have any Christmas decorations, and didn't have any kind of Christmas party.

I mean, it's a Jewish school, but still . . . .