Octopus Overlords

Yeah, I strongly disagree with virtually all of that. She doesn't get the benefit of the doubt, at this point, in this arena. She's well aware of what she's doing.

There's obviously something going on here, and the basic fact is that we'll mostly hate her if she turns out to be supporting Trump and we'll love her if she turns out to be trolling him.

I think I pity her either way, as much as I would pity any Mafia wife who might not have known her man was THAT bad before she got in deep.

So...if we go with the idea that this was not a deliberate statement she was making, what I find interesting is that everyone is apparently so afraid of the Trumps that none of the people that assist her (and I assume she has several assistants) mentioned to her that that coat may be a bit insensitive.

(And that was a run-on sentence to make LM proud!)

hentzau wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:13 am So...if we go with the idea that this was not a deliberate statement she was making, what I find interesting is that everyone is apparently so afraid of the Trumps that none of the people that assist her (and I assume she has several assistants) mentioned to her that that coat may be a bit insensitive.

(And that was a run-on sentence to make LM proud!)

Are we sure anyone you mentioned would notice it is insensitive?

stessier wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:17 am

hentzau wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:13 am So...if we go with the idea that this was not a deliberate statement she was making, what I find interesting is that everyone is apparently so afraid of the Trumps that none of the people that assist her (and I assume she has several assistants) mentioned to her that that coat may be a bit insensitive.

(And that was a run-on sentence to make LM proud!)

Are we sure anyone you mentioned would notice it is insensitive?

Also possible that people raised it with her (I would assume that at least one person would) and she told them to fuck off. If she says that she's wearing it...it's not like anyone is likely to tear it off her or anything.

stessier wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:17 am

hentzau wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:13 am So...if we go with the idea that this was not a deliberate statement she was making, what I find interesting is that everyone is apparently so afraid of the Trumps that none of the people that assist her (and I assume she has several assistants) mentioned to her that that coat may be a bit insensitive.

(And that was a run-on sentence to make LM proud!)

Are we sure anyone you mentioned would notice it is insensitive?

To be clear, you're asking whether the First Lady, or anyone on her staff--the office whose role traditionally consists largely of publicly caring for others--would notice that a jacket stating that she does not care is insensitive?

Zaxxon wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:26 am

stessier wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:17 am

hentzau wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:13 am So...if we go with the idea that this was not a deliberate statement she was making, what I find interesting is that everyone is apparently so afraid of the Trumps that none of the people that assist her (and I assume she has several assistants) mentioned to her that that coat may be a bit insensitive.

(And that was a run-on sentence to make LM proud!)

Are we sure anyone you mentioned would notice it is insensitive?

To be clear, you're asking whether the First Lady, or anyone on her staff--the office whose role traditionally consists largely of publicly caring for others--would notice that a jacket stating that she does not care is insensitive?

Yes. People in my area don't have a problem with it. Why should I think it's any different in her house? I mean, before I saw it, I never would have thought anyone, much less FLOTUS, would wear something like that in that situation, so I'm open to all possibilities.

not just that she doesn't care... she really doesn't care.


It's weird. It's as if they have found 'negative news on Melania' ends up earning Trump sympathy and better polling.

Still weird. It's entirely offensive (even if it was only worn before and after the Boots on the Ground part) given the context.

I could see RIP owning and wearing that coat. No joke. It's more or less his entire message. With the 'do you?' added to torment those that do.

...and yet - I'm of the mind that she hates Trump and would indeed do this just to make things worse for him, but /shrug - makes no sense to me there either - frankly.

Unagi wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:45 am Still weird. It's entirely offensive (even if it was only worn before and after the Boots on the Ground part) given the context.

My guess Nervous Breakdown is in the future. Especially if DJT runs and is re-elected. Something could snap her before then but I think that's what do they call it, an event horizon? And I also guess the DJT will weaponize the breakdown if/when it occurs. She is one of his tools, not a person.

Can you imagine being the President who follows Trump? Hell, even if you were just mediocre at your job you'd be a hero. I may have to consider running.

YellowKing wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 1:44 pm Can you imagine being the President who follows Trump? Hell, even if you were just mediocre at your job you'd be a hero. I may have to consider running.

The bar has certainly been lowered. And not just for the presidency. All appointments can now be filled with whoever the hell you want. How Pruitt is still in at the EPA I cannot fathom.

YellowKing wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 1:44 pm Can you imagine being the President who follows Trump? Hell, even if you were just mediocre at your job you'd be a hero. I may have to consider running.

I don't know... the mess Drumpf is going to leave behind is going to make the mess that W left for Obama look like nothing.

Among many other issues: Even with a rational President in charge the EU is going to be wary of us until the fever in the GOP breaks, and there's going to be a still weaponized conservative media out there more willing than ever to say anything to maintain power.

Granted there will be a lot of low hanging fruit like rolling back these idiotic tariffs, but our foreign policy is going to be a mess for a generation most likely.

First order of business will be shoring up institutions that have depended upon mere norms up to now. A new president and a refreshed congress will have to implement reforms that will make post-Watergate look like a mild adjustment.

As for America's reputation in the world, who knows? We'll probably never recover.

I think we can go ahead and call it right now. Trump killed the American Century.

No guarantee NATO will survive this, says the head of NATO.

I'm sure it will be fine.

Kraken wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:24 pm No guarantee NATO will survive this, says the head of NATO.

I'm sure it will be fine.

I read this yesterday and it hit me kinda hard

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrote:It is not written in stone that the transatlantic bond will survive forever but I believe we will preserve it.

And we're not even 18 months in... Putin is certainly getting his money's worth.

So, the White House's government consolidation plan is out and...oh. Oh no. Read it for yourself here.

Some "highlights" of the plan can be found in this thread, starting here.

https://twitter.com/Laurie_Garrett/stat ... 3985792000

I met Laurie Garrett many, many years ago. She's written two really amazing books on public health, and another one that detailed the aftermath of 9/11. She's the real deal.

The good news is that Congress doesn't seem to care much about what the president proposes on stuff like this.

The bad news is that whatever congressional Republicans propose is also going to be terrible, in different ways.

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 9:54 pm So, the White House's government consolidation plan is out and...oh. Oh no. Read it for yourself here.

Some "highlights" of the plan can be found in this thread, starting here.

https://twitter.com/Laurie_Garrett/stat ... 3985792000

The single most critical question I have is: Can the next president undo this shit easily...?

Unagi wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:59 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 9:54 pm So, the White House's government consolidation plan is out and...oh. Oh no. Read it for yourself here.

Some "highlights" of the plan can be found in this thread, starting here.

https://twitter.com/Laurie_Garrett/stat ... 3985792000

The single most critical question I have is: Can the next president undo this shit easily...?

Trump can't do this unilaterally - he would need Congress to pass the plan. If they do, it can't be undone easily, because the next president would need to get the next Congress to undo it, and Congress doing stuff is not common. But by the same token, Congress is unlikely to pass this (especially in its entirety).

At this least this year. A lot of this stuff is horrific foreshadowing of the kinds of things they'll try in 2019 and 2020 if GOP retains Congress.

Holman wrote: Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:31 am I wonder how the Air Force feels about this. I'm pretty sure they already understood space (at least out to near-earth orbit) to be part of their mandate.

I would not be surprised at all to her that Trump announced this without talking to the Joint Chiefs.

Hey! Do we have an *underground* force?? I'll bet Elon Musk would look awesome in gold braid!

Yeah... turns out that, a few weeks after casually floating the idea, Trump officially announced "Space Force" with no planning or Pentagon buy-in whatsoever.

The Hill wrote:Trump directed the Defense Department on Monday to create the country’s sixth military service branch, a move that shocked Pentagon officials and lawmakers.

People familiar with the decision told the Journal that Trump often throws out ideas in public but then expects his aides and Cabinet officials to create follow-through plans.

Trump gets frustrated and make demands when he feels like his appointees haven’t jumped into action, the newspaper reported.

“He doesn’t forget, and ultimately erupts when he feels slighted,” a former high-level industry and government official said.

Wilson and other senior Air Force commanders reportedly had no idea Trump's announcement was coming when they met for a strategy session last week.

Skinypupy wrote:So, the White House's government consolidation plan is out and...oh. Oh no. Read it for yourself here.

A good buddy of mine who works for the Corps of Engineers sent me the memo they got around this. I asked him what it meant for his job and he responded. "Not good."

He's also an avid Trump supporter. There'd be a lot of schadenfreude there if he wasn't a good friend who I don't want to see lose his job.

Isn't the government restructuring part of Jared's portfolio?

I would look into those plans *very* carefully to see whether there's a profit angle for grifty real-estate investors.

The really sad thing is that some of the ideas probably aren’t bad, maybe even needed, but they are coming from the Trump administration and I cannot trust it.

Thankfully I don’t see a path through Congress for most of it. The 60 vote threshold in the Senate should kill most. Even if McConnel finally gave into Trump and ended the filibuster I suspect there’s enough damage to every state to make all but the far right conservatives hesitate.

If there were considerably more Congress people (and considerably less partisanship) I’d love to see the committees take a fine toothed comb over the entire government and develop a plan that, over time, strengthened working programs while ending or restructuring those that don’t work. I don’t expect to see that in my lifetime.

And fresh off womp womp, Trump has Lewandowski with him on Air Force one going to Vegas. Despicable.

Stigginit.

tjg_marantz wrote: Sat Jun 23, 2018 11:38 am And fresh off womp womp, Trump has Lewandowski with him on Air Force one going to Vegas. Despicable.

In what capacity? Is he still with the administration?

Alefroth wrote:

tjg_marantz wrote: Sat Jun 23, 2018 11:38 am And fresh off womp womp, Trump has Lewandowski with him on Air Force one going to Vegas. Despicable.

In what capacity? Is he still with the administration?

Not sure. But Lewandowski is currently running the Pence PAC. So he's not far from the filth.

The back side of the coin should depict Trump tossing out paper towels.

I live in a backwoods town where I'll see 17 TRUMP bumper stickers to 4 Bernie stickers to 1 Hillary sticker.

Recently we went into Portland, ME and on several street corners I saw people holding up banners and signs like "F##K TRUMP & WHITE HOUSE" and "TRUMP IS TRASH" with people honking in agreement as they passed. I overheard one random passer-by saying that anyone who disagreed with the signs was likely to get lynched if they spoke out.

I haven't been happier in months. I know it's increasing the divide, and I'm more and more okay with that as long as everyone who hates the new GOP is willing to stand against them.

And here we have the President of the United States personally attacking a small business because he feels they were mean to one of his employees.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 6487728133

The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!

I know it's small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but...this. Is. Not. Normal.

And then he follows it up with this one:

I have tried to stay uninvolved with the Department of Justice and FBI (although I do not legally have to), because of the now totally discredited and very expensive Witch Hunt currently going on. But you do have to ask why the DOJ & FBI aren’t giving over requested documents?

Insane.

I wouldn't expect that kind of behavior from a rival business owner, much less the President. There are certain minimum standards of decorum that ADULTS use. He quite literally has mental problems.

Fitzy wrote: Sat Jun 23, 2018 10:33 am The really sad thing is that some of the ideas probably aren’t bad, maybe even needed, but they are coming from the Trump administration and I cannot trust it.

This is what kills me. Sometimes the administration will come up with a good idea (I say the administration because there's no way in hell the Mangerine is coming up with anything that doesn't involve a photo shoot or business opportunity for the family businesses), but it's quickly left on the side of the road by this idiot's need to respond to every...single...supposed slight, and to issue proclamations at 3 am while he's masturbating to Hannity's voice on their private line.

YellowKing wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:26 am I wouldn't expect that kind of behavior from a rival business owner, much less the President. There are certain minimum standards of decorum that ADULTS use. He quite literally has mental problems.

Seriously. I'd boycott a place if the owner there started lashing out at their competition like that. Short of leaving the country, it's hard to boycott the US.

YellowKing wrote: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:26 am He quite literally has mental problems.

And it's not like those mental issues haven't been on display for freaking decades prior to his election.

Every political debate he was involved in should have consisted entirely of his opponent simply reading off his past tweets. No rebuttals, no arguments, just point out that the man is mentally unstable using his own words.