Octopus Overlords

Chaz wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:03 am

Octavious wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:59 am I think Trump has made a huge mistake with the handling of the Saudi Arabia crap. I actually think this one could turn out very bad for him especially if real evidence comes forward. For the president to offer up a crazy conspiracy theory just blows my mind. When he can't sink any lower he always still finds a way.

I think you're drastically underestimating the Trump admin and the GOP's ability to completely ignore or handwave evidence of things. Trump has already said that selling arms to Saudi Arabia is way more important to America than whether or not they killed some non-US citizen journalist overseas. Even if evidence comes out, he'll just say that it's not real, not from a credible source, and who cares anyway?

Octavious wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:59 am I think Trump has made a huge mistake with the handling of the Saudi Arabia crap. I actually think this one could turn out very bad for him especially if real evidence comes forward. For the president to offer up a crazy conspiracy theory just blows my mind. When he can't sink any lower he always still finds a way.

“What I said [was] the person we’re talking about didn’t know the year, the time, the place,” Mr. Trump said. “I was just saying she didn’t seem to know anything. And you’re trying to destroy a life of a man who has been extraordinary.”

“I didn’t really make fun of her,” the president said, adding that he thinks he treated her with respect.

“I’m not going to get into it because we won,” he concluded. “It doesn’t matter. We won.”

Kurth wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:09 am

Octavious wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:59 am I think Trump has made a huge mistake with the handling of the Saudi Arabia crap. I actually think this one could turn out very bad for him especially if real evidence comes forward. For the president to offer up a crazy conspiracy theory just blows my mind. When he can't sink any lower he always still finds a way.

Not sure if my sarcasm detector is malfunctioning again, but are you being serious? How is this going to turn out poorly for Trump? Think about all the crazy shit that has happened here and how little that crazy shit has moved the needle. Why do you think anyone here is going to give a rat’s ass over Saudi Arabia torturing and killing one of their own.

You heard Trump: It happened in Turkey. Not a U.S. citizen. We have business with the Saudis. QED.

“It doesn’t matter. We won.”

60 Minutes Interview wrote: STAHL: What are your options? Let’s say [the Saudis] did. What are your options? Would you consider imposing sanctions, as a bipartisan group of senators have proposed?

TRUMP: Well, it depends on what the sanction is. I’ll give you an example: They are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order. Russia wanted it, China wanted it, we wanted it. We got it.

STAHL: So would you cut that off —

TRUMP: Do I — well — I tell you what I don’t want to do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these com— I don’t want to hurt jobs. I don’t want to lose an order like that. There are other ways of — punishing, to use a word that’s a pretty harsh word, but it’s true.

Octavious wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:59 am I actually think this one could turn out very bad for him especially if real evidence comes forward.

malchior wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:55 am That whole Stahl interview was depressing and some of the realpolitik we saw on display was brutal. To wit the below.

60 Minutes Interview wrote: STAHL: What are your options? Let’s say [the Saudis] did. What are your options? Would you consider imposing sanctions, as a bipartisan group of senators have proposed?

TRUMP: Well, it depends on what the sanction is. I’ll give you an example: They are ordering military equipment. Everybody in the world wanted that order. Russia wanted it, China wanted it, we wanted it. We got it.

STAHL: So would you cut that off —

TRUMP: Do I — well — I tell you what I don’t want to do. Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these com— I don’t want to hurt jobs. I don’t want to lose an order like that. There are other ways of — punishing, to use a word that’s a pretty harsh word, but it’s true.

Analysis: The amoral, despicable part of him is literally saying that even if we don't take the blood money, our competitors will happily do so. That is absolutely true but we used to have some semblance of values. Now we are in a race to the bottom folks and we'll happily win that race!

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:04 pm It's even worse than that. He's using the arms deal as cover. It's really about the family business. He doesn't give a shit about jobs. He only cares about his personal net worth.

I'd also argue that is not open and shut that the Saudis would dump the US to deal with Russia or China so easily. They want out stuff, it's better. And they certainly don't want the stink of Syria that comes with a Russian deal. Obviously this administration could tear down decades of Saudu dimplomacy pretty quickly but the we aren't there just yet.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:57 am

Octavious wrote: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:59 am I actually think this one could turn out very bad for him especially if real evidence comes forward.

For the thousandth time with this guy, this is a perfectly logical thought that will be proven to be completely wrong.

Alefroth wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:46 pm Deficit increases 17% to $779B, McConnell blames entitlements.

Not sure threatening Social Security and Medicare three weeks before the mid-terms is all that wise.

Alefroth wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:46 pm Deficit increases 17% to $779B, McConnell blames entitlements.

Not sure threatening Social Security and Medicare three weeks before the mid-terms is all that wise.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Wed Oct 17, 2018 10:15 am Bust unions, lower wages, get government contracts, let the feds feed the starving populace. Seems to work. As a bonus, the contracts come with tons of personal perks to assuage the conscience.


You know what is really awesome? Walmart employees get like $6.5B in federal assistance so Walmart can pay them less. And Walmart gets over $18B in food stamp purchases alone. Doesn't include medicere, Medicaid, DME, pharma, etc. It's like Kentucky in corporate form.

Octavious wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:33 am I seriously loath anyone that supports this piece of crap. Even if it's friends and family. Each day is more depressing than the last. I think I will lose my mind if the Dems don't take the house. FYI his approval ratings are going up not down. I think he was right about being able to just murder someone in the street and nobody would care.

Enough wrote: Thu Oct 18, 2018 11:12 pm That whole Twitter thread is bonkers.

Octavious wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:33 am I think he was right about being able to just murder someone in the street and nobody would care.

Paingod wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:45 am So there's this. Not that it matters.

TL;DR: Trump intervened directly in the FBI building plan (have a developer build them a campus, and then swap their old location to the developer). The developer would very likely have put in a beautiful hotel that would be in direct competition with Trump's own new hotel a block away. Plan's been in the works for how long? Everyone's on board? Can't have that. Investigation difficulty: Everyone in the White House has been directed to remain silent on this.

Trump "was directly involved with the decision to abandon the long-term relocation plan and instead move ahead with the more expensive proposal to construct a new building on the same site, and thereby prevent Trump Hotel competitors from acquiring the land," wrote Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Gerry Connolly of Virginia, Dina Titus of Nevada, Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Mike Quigley of Illinois.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:51 amMore spending a ton of taxpayer money to get a little more money to Trump.

Paingod wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:55 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:51 amMore spending a ton of taxpayer money to get a little more money to Trump.

Why on earth would he care? He'd spend $1m in taxpayer dollars to get a free ice cream cone. Two scoops, of course.

Zarathud wrote: Fri Oct 19, 2018 11:10 am This should shock no one. Trump was selling access via that hotel since winning the Republican nomination.

GreenGoo wrote: Fri Feb 02, 2018 12:53 am Money's nice. Being alive is nicer though. Clean air, clean water, corporate responsibility, these are things that are needed for quality of life for the general population and must be balanced against wealth generation for that same population.

President Trump, along with local leaders Congressman Devin Nunes and Congressmen David Valadao, met in Arizona for the signing of a Presidential Memorandum.

The White House says the memorandum would reduce regulatory burdens and improve water reliability, while protecting endangered species.

The president has directed the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretory of Commerce to streamline regulatory processes and remove unnecessary burdens.

The administration says this new process will provide certainty for California farmers who need more water to restore farmlands crippled by drought and regulation.