The Trump Presidency

[Write4U]

One of the more unusual differences is that Mr Trump's fingers seem to have been made longer."

It is remotely possible that one finger was purposely "shortened" also, but that would seem cheap to me, as does the concept of making a finger "longer".

 

[iceaura]

There are multiple examples of Trump's official photos being photoshopped for vanity.

 

[iceaura]

From your point of view, obviously, given that I do not simply accept your claims without seeing any evidence here,

You do not even remember the existence of evidence posted for you at some trouble. That is expected, because you live in what Americans know as the Republican or "wingnut" bubble: rejecting evidence from the "wrong" sources is an identifying characteristic of its victims.
More to the point, you never check for yourself. You continue to post in admitted - by you - ignorance. You actually believe you can evaluate media bias without information.

Note: To name something "not only false but silly" may impress small children. Among adults, this is nothing but uneducated behavior.

Just information for you. Think of it as a favor - you are making a fool of yourself, warning you is a courtesy, but no one can make you do your homework.

Jonah Goldberg is a paid shill for the very people you claim to deplore and oppose. Everything he writes or says is propaganda, all of it is falsehood or bs, none of it is information. He's a standing joke among serious intellectuals of all political leanings.
Trump is continuing and expanding the longstanding Republican policy of regime change via CIA violence and military coercion and black ops on top of economic sanction, without diplomacy and in violation of international law - Venezuela, most recently. He has been doing that since his first day in office. That is exactly what was predicted of him by informed observers.
Information. Take it or leave it. If you doubt it, check it.

 

[spidergoat]

...
" Social media users were quick to point out the possible tweaks to this image, which was shared on Mr Trump's official Instagram and Facebook accounts.

The original version, which was posted on the White House's Flickr page, appears to have a few key differences..

And the shoulders are wider, projecting an image of strength. I'm surprised he doesn't have a fit body double. It seems trivial, but it's an indicator of how loyal this president is to truth. I could say something about 1984, but they tend to project it back onto the opposition, like criticism of Trump or the recent MAGATWATS in DC are examples of thoughtcrime.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"A shutdown falls on the president's lack of leadership. I mean problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top. A shutdown means the president is weak."
-- Trump in 2013

 

[iceaura]

https://mikethemadbiologist.com/201...published-in-2015-trump-wouldnt-be-president/

So there’s self-aggrandizement at the expense of others. He’s Trump! (and there are some great anecdotes). But what destroyed the league was the anti-trust lawsuit–and the strategy that Trump forced the USFL to take. Put simply, Trump made this about him, rather than arguing legitimate anti-trust grounds, while playing up the ‘mom-and-pop’ aspect of the league. Trump came across as such an asshole (surprising, I know) that the jury decided in favor of the USFL (the evidence for anti-competitive behavior was overwhelming), but only awarded $1. No, that’s not a typo. That’s how much of a dick Trump was.

And lest we forget that this is basically a Republican Presidency, and we are in a science oriented forum:
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6424/218.full

- - Trump acknowledged that Utah lawmakers influenced his decision to carve out large pieces of the monument, saying he did it for Senator Mike Lee (R) and a "very special person," now-retired Senator Orrin Hatch (R).
Mining companies, eyeing the area's rich uranium deposits, also sought the rollback. - -

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...ent-and-fossils-could-rewrite-earth-s-history

In December 2017, urged on by Utah officials, President Donald Trump slashed the size of the 547,000-hectare monument by 85%, leaving just 82,000 hectares split into two separate units. Since Trump's order took effect in February 2018, the excised lands, which hold thousands of Native American artifacts and sites—and possibly the world's densest cache of fossils from the Triassic period, roughly 250 million to 200 million years ago—are open again to mining, expanded grazing, and cross-country trekking by off-road vehicles

 

[iceaura]

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176..._pentagon's_revolving_door_spins_faster/#more

- - - That door, however, is moving ever faster with the appointment of Patrick Shanahan, who spent 30 years at Boeing, the Pentagon’s second largest contractor, as the Trump administration’s acting secretary of defense.
- - -
But Shanahan is unique. No secretary of defense in recent memory has had such a long career in the arms industry and so little experience in government or the military.

Candidate Donald Trump saw the revolving door between government and industry as a problem. “I think anybody that gives out these big contracts should never ever, during their lifetime, be allowed to work for a defense company, for a company that makes that product,” he said.- - -
- - -
Candidate Trump was onto something. However, rather than curbing the blatant conflicts inherent in the revolving door -- the ultimate symbol of the military-industrial complex in action -- President Trump is actually accelerating them.

 

[iceaura]

An overview, opinion piece, status report.
https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/you-cant-get-there-from-here-1831622949

- - - There will be no new work done until he’s out of this job, not just because the venal and idiotic criminality that has defined his life belatedly appears to be catching up with him but because it simply isn’t in him to do new work, and because his current job transparently doesn’t matter to him at all.

 

[iceaura]

Fascists do not make the trains run on time, again:
https://apnews.com/48210bbf243e423e...on&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter

Ann Maxwell, Health and Human Services’ assistant inspector general for evaluations, said last month that the number of separated children was certainly larger than the 2,737 listed by the government in court documents. The department’s inspector general report didn’t have a precise count, but Maxwell said staff estimated it to be in the thousands.

Jallyn Sualog, deputy director of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, said in Friday’s filing that it would take up to eight hours to review each of its 47,083 cases between July 1, 2017, and Sabraw’s June order, which translates to 100 employees working up to 471 days.

The kids in the cages may be the lucky ones - they have a solid chance of being reunited with their mothers and fathers.

 

[Quantum Quack]

The Trump legacy will live on for many years...

 

[Write4U]

The Trump legacy will live on for many years...

I like his idea about walls or fences.
George Carlin had some very creative ideas for the use of fences.

(warning; crude language) but funny....

Could we use this with a Fence around the US?

 

[RainbowSingularity]

I like his idea about walls or fences.
George Carlin had some very creative ideas for the use of fences.
(warning; crude language) but funny....
Could we use this with a Fence around the US?

the metaphor of flip-flop concept between wall or fence allows those who really have no comprehension or desire to comprehend the real working reality of economics or immigration and sociopolitical culture & anthropology to have a bet each way.

currency fence or labor market outsource wall ?
...
lol
now the neo-globalist outsourcers can pretend to support a wall which is a fence keeping the pretend US currency inside and the already outsourced livable wage working poor jobs out of the voter category.

fed was shut down so no financial data ...
irony

George Carlin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin#Death

Death
Carlin had a history of cardiac problems spanning three decades. These included three heart attacks (in 1978, 1982, and 1991), an arrhythmia requiring an ablation procedure in 2003, and a significant episode of heart failure in late 2005. He twice underwent angioplasty to unblock clogged arteries.[61] In late 2004, he entered a drug rehabilitation facility for treatment of addictions to alcohol and Vicodin.[62]

Carlin died on June 22, 2008 at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, of cardiac arrest at age 71.[63][64] His death occurred one week after his last performance at The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In accordance with his wishes his body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered in front of various nightclubs he played in New York City and over Spofford Lake, in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, where he attended summer camp as an adolescent.[65]

medical science which was probably paid for by taxation & the socialist funding of scientific medical research kept him alive since 1978
amazing to think he lived to 71 with what appears to be a massive heart problem & alcohol addiction.

 

[Schmelzer]

After disposing of some lies about me, I see the following:

Jonah Goldberg is a paid shill for the very people you claim to deplore and oppose. Everything he writes or says is propaganda, all of it is falsehood or bs, none of it is information. He's a standing joke among serious intellectuals of all political leanings.

Jonah Goldberg is, nonetheless, somebody who supports his propaganda with arguments, quotes and so on. You don't. And that you use the same defamatory language against him as against me tells me that there is nothing behind your attacks.

Trump is continuing and expanding the longstanding Republican policy of regime change via CIA violence and military coercion and black ops on top of economic sanction, without diplomacy and in violation of international law - Venezuela, most recently. He has been doing that since his first day in office. That is exactly what was predicted of him by informed observers.
Information. Take it or leave it. If you doubt it, check it.

And, as was also predicted, by other sources, and what I have seen already a year ago, he is continuing to destroy the US world rule in ways which cannot be recovered even if the next president will be an Obama-type globalist.

Found today a nice article which supports my position about Trump:
https://michael-hudson.com/2019/02/trumps-brilliant-strategy-to-dismember-u-s-dollar-hegemony/ writes

The end of America’s unchallenged global economic dominance has arrived sooner than expected, thanks to the very same Neocons who gave the world the Iraq, Syria and the dirty wars in Latin America. Just as the Vietnam War drove the United States off gold by 1971, its sponsorship and funding of violent regime change wars against Venezuela and Syria – and threatening other countries with sanctions if they do not join this crusade – is now driving European and other nations to create their alternative financial institutions.

No left-wing party, no socialist, anarchist or foreign nationalist leader anywhere in the world could have achieved what he is doing to break up the American Empire. The Deep State is reacting with shock at how this right-wing real estate grifter has been able to drive other countries to defend themselves by dismantling the U.S.-centered world order.

By the way, he also mentions "isolationism" in relation to Trump:

Trump’s agenda may really be to break up the American Empire, using the old Uncle Sucker isolationist rhetoric of half a century ago. He certainly is going for the Empire’s most vital organs.

and also sees that Trump is reaching the results by overplaying:

The U.S. overplaying its position is leading to the Mackinder-Kissinger-Brzezinski Eurasian nightmare that I mentioned above. In addition to driving Russia and China together, U.S. diplomacy is adding Europe to the heartland, independent of U.S. ability to bully into the state of dependency toward which American diplomacy has aimed to achieve since 1945.

The summary is quite nice:

Where is the left in all this? That is the question with which I opened this article. How remarkable it is that it is only right-wing parties, Alternative for Deutschland (AFD), or Marine le Pen’s French nationalists and those of other countries that are opposing NATO militarization and seeking to revive trade and economic links with the rest of Eurasia.The end of our monetary imperialism, about which I first wrote in 1972 in Super Imperialism, stuns even an informed observer like me. It took a colossal level of arrogance, short-sightedness and lawlessness to hasten its decline — something that only crazed Neocons like John Bolton, Elliot Abrams and Mike Pompeo could deliver for Donald Trump.

What is Trump's game in Venezuela is not yet completely clear to me, but it looks similarly like an overplaying, as in NK and Iran. The development around NK looks fine, the locals (SK, China, Russia) negotiate with NK essentially without the US disturbing them that much. In Iran, Trump has successfully discredited the opposition by openly supporting it. And it looks this works in Venezuela too: There is enough hate against the gringos and a strong enough army prepared for partisan warfare that an open attack by the US army will be too dangerous, at least this is what some observers think about it. The public support of the opposition seems not that strong as presented, and mainly comes from the rich. To start a partisan war from Columbia seems a plausible possibility, but Colombia is happy that its own civil war is more or less finished, and it is quite obvious that supporting such US games would endanger peace in Colombia itself. Not that the US would care, but those in power in Colombia care, and may prefer not to allow this. So, all this already looks like an overplayed game, and if Trump follows what he has done before, the coup ends in failure. (It looks like the only chance of the US is a coup by the military, given that the US would pay them a lot of money for a coup, and there are enough US-influences people in every Latin American army. But if the army remains behind Maduro, then I see a good chance that this ends with nothing.)

After this, the opposition in Venezuela is as discredited as the Iranian, by the open support by Trump. And, moreover, all those European politicians which have cooperated have discredited themselves in their countries too, by supporting open US regime change operations without any legal base. Add the open robbery of Venezuela's gold by GB, which discredits London as a financial market even without the Brexit.

 

[iceaura]

Jonah Goldberg is, nonetheless, somebody who supports his propaganda with arguments, quotes and so on.

And since style points like that are your sole available criteria - you have no basis in physical reality (such as a requirement that the "arguments" actually be supported by the quotes, agree with physical fact, or make sense as put) - you have no defense against even the ridiculous. You get played by even the silliest crap ("leftwing" fascism, etc).

What is Trump's game in Venezuela is not yet completely clear to me, but it looks similarly like an overplaying, as in NK and Iran

It is exactly what was predicted, two years ago, by the people who identified him as a fascist demagogue: US military and economic power put at the service of capitalist corporate hegemony for private profit; imperial rightwing authoritarianism projected globally; no principles except the benefit of private power and capital.

Organized crime, piracy, death squads, etc - government by militarized corporate capitalism. Banana republics.

It's a game completely familiar to US observers in Latin America, thoroughly documented by a variety of analysts for decades now.

. But if the army remains behind Maduro, then I see a good chance that this ends with nothing.)

You see this ending, with a Republican administration in the US?
Silly boy.

And, as was also predicted, by other sources, and what I have seen already a year ago, he is continuing to destroy the US world rule in ways which cannot be recovered even if the next president will be an Obama-type globalist.

As did W before him, bringing war and misery to large regions of the planet.
With the predicted consequences of such Republican-type globalism: nuclear buildup, abrogation of all treaties and agreements whenever constraining, increased reliance on police state and military threat.

By the way, he also mentions "isolationism" in relation to Trump:

Unlike you, he correctly identifies the continuity between Trump and familiar US political forces - the corporate support, the cast of characters, the Republican Party. Nixon - Reagan - Bush - W - Trump. The architect of the Reagan era death squads put in charge. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...cause-he-thought-he-was-eliot-cohen?_amp=true

Like you, he mistakes Trump for an ideological strategist.

Fascism is invisible to you guys. Even confronted with the restart of a nuclear arms race between oil powers in the face of climate change, you can't see it coming.

 

[iceaura]

Science under Republican administration:
https://twitter.com/gennareed/status/1091349145309405186/photo/1
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...te-change-skeptci_us_5c565b84e4b00187b55185fa

Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who was one of Christy’s graduate school supervisors, criticized his selection for the advisory board.

“He has made many statements before Congress and elsewhere that are at odds with the scientific evidence because of his personal value system,” Trenberth told BuzzFeed. “He is not an appropriate appointee for this advisory panel, unfortunately.”

Christy, who has worked as a missionary in Africa, believes whatever happens to the environment is God’s will, Trenberth said. He believes such views have “undermined his science objectivity.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...of-politicians-and-big-agriculture?CMP=twt_gu

In the mid-2000s, the Pew Charitable Trusts commissioned a large study on animal agriculture and antibiotics. - - -
- - - Professors would pull us aside and say they’re under enormous pressure when they get industry funding to kind of cater their research to that.”

Martin estimates that about half a dozen contributing researchers asked for their names to be withheld from the list of authors in the final draft for fear of retribution.
- -
A number of researchers we spoke to across the country echoed similar concerns. Their experiences range from seeing their published work undermined in industry magazines to being discouraged from conducting certain research or feeling undermined by their own deans, and one person was even driven out of the field entirely. Another researcher, who agreed to testify in a lawsuit that threatened to hold industry accountable for pollution, saw his position eliminated just before the court battle began. As soon as the plaintiffs lost, he was re-hired.

“If you wish to get ahead in academia – particularly in a land-grant university, and we saw this again and again through our Pew Report – Big Ag has a stranglehold over land grant universities,” says Jim Merchant, the former dean of Iowa University’s School of Public Health, who was barred from completing his funded research as an emeritus professor.

 

[Schmelzer]

And since style points like that are your sole available criteria - you have no basis in physical reality

To support own claims with arguments, quotes and so on are style points. Ok, the difference between defamatory lies about what I say and correct statements supported by evidence like quotes of what I say is a style point. Nice to hear. It clarifies a lot. Defamatory style vs. scientific style, not?

It is exactly what was predicted, two years ago, by the people who identified him as a fascist demagogue: US military and economic power put at the service of capitalist corporate hegemony for private profit; imperial rightwing authoritarianism projected globally; no principles except the benefit of private power and capital.

This is not a prediction at all. Because this is what everybody is used to expect from the US independent of the puppet in the White House.

You see this ending, with a Republican administration in the US?

Up to now, NK, Iran, and Syria have ended with nothing, with a Republican administration. Ok, the Syrian withdrawal is up to now an increase in the numbers of US occupants in Syria. But this is also well-known US behavior, seen a lot of similar lies in Obama time too.

With the predicted consequences of such Republican-type globalism: nuclear buildup, abrogation of all treaties and agreements whenever constraining, increased reliance on police state and military threat.

Fortunately, the consequences are a bit different. Because, on the one hand, Trump is politically extremely weak (given that the larger part of the deep state openly fights against him), on the other hand, he is overplaying the cards he has and not delivering. If this is simply personal weakness or a clever strategy to harm the globalists does not really matter.

Unlike you, he correctly identifies the continuity between Trump and familiar US political forces - the corporate support, the cast of characters, the Republican Party. Nixon - Reagan - Bush - W - Trump. The architect of the Reagan era death squads put in charge.

The difference is minor, and, in fact, what he implicitly suggests is something slightly different, namely that he uses these hawks to do overplaying. An interesting idea, I have to think about this.

Like you, he mistakes Trump for an ideological strategist.

In fact, I do no longer think that there is much ideology behind Trump, there is too much inconsistency in Trump's behavior. On the other hand, overplaying itself seems to be simply his personal internalized strategy. So, there is not even a necessity for ideology behind this. That this overplaying destroys much of the globalists power, simply as a side effect, may have an ideological background, but may be as well that he simply does not care about this. Or something between, with some ideology telling him there is no need to care about such things.

 

[Beer w/Straw]

Wow!

I missed this yesterday (the video after might be telling as well.)

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics...px.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/

I thought American politics were soft.

 

[spidergoat]

I like his idea about walls or fences.
George Carlin had some very creative ideas for the use of fences.

Could we use this with a Fence around the US?

Fuck George Carlin. He's a comedian. Stop taking him seriously on politics.

 

[iceaura]

To support own claims with arguments, quotes and so on are style points

Not at all.
To mistake the inclusion of quotes and so forth as support for idiocies presented as "arguments" is to mistake form for function, is all. He presents you with nonsense and propaganda dressed up like an argument and support and so forth, and you can't tell the difference because you are ignorant of the underlying physical reality.
Like the folks who fell for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair

This is not a prediction at all. Because this is what everybody is used to expect from the US independent of the puppet in the White House.

It was a prediction specifically of Trump and his Republican administration, and you disagreed with it because you were fooled by the Republican Party campaign media.

Fortunately, the consequences are a bit different.

So far they have been taking exactly the same, predicted, path. When do you think they will begin to differ?

Up to now, NK, Iran, and Syria have ended with nothing, with a Republican administration.

None of those have ended. Neither will Venezuela.

The difference is minor, and, in fact, what he implicitly suggests is something slightly different, namely that he uses these hawks to do overplaying.

Trump has neither the capability or the interest for that. His deals with everybody (including the standard Republican hawks he brought into power with him) are personal, for power and money.
You seem unable to shake loose from the idea that Trump is an ideological strategist.

On the other hand, overplaying itself seems to be simply his personal internalized strategy. So, there is not even a necessity for ideology behind this.

Of course not. He's a con man, a fascist demagogue. That's how they roll.

Or something between, with some ideology telling him there is no need to care about such things.

Living and learning about fascism. You never see it coming.

 

[Write4U]

Fuck George Carlin. He's a comedian. Stop taking him seriously on politics.

It was intended as a little comic relief from the misery. I don't know if you have ever watched Carlin, but if you have you know that he was a brilliant political commentator and a keen observer of human behavior in general.