So what do you Brits make of Trump ?

[Stavros]

Meanwhile an Iowa voter admits that she 'rigged' her vote by doing it twice -

A Des Moines woman charged with committing voter fraud has said she voted twice because she was afraid her vote for Donald Trump would be changed to a vote for Hillary Clinton.

Participating in early voting in Iowa, registered Republican Terri Rote allegedly cast two ballots for the Republican presidential nominee. Arrested and charged with election misconduct, she was released from jail on Friday on a $5,000 bond.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/29/voter-fraud-iowa-trump-supporter

[buttslinger]

WMDs in Iraq.
TREASON in Hillary's e-mail.

[Stavros]

All we need now is a new film by that demented clown Peter Greenaway -The Groper, the Flasher his Wife and the President...

Nevertheless, this article by a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution defends Comey (worked for Bush, appointed by Obama) on the basis that he has been even-handed. It is the timing that has made it all look messy and politically inept, thus (and assuming external pressure was not applied to Comey):

But what you can't reasonably say is that Comey has been anyone's political lackey. Over the howling objections of many Republicans, he ended the Clinton email investigation, concluding that "no reasonable prosecutor" would go forward with a case. Over the snarls of the Clinton forces, at the same time, he commented quite disparagingly about the behavior of the woman who is likely to become his boss. And now, with the election only days away, he has amended his prior resolution of the case to deal with new information.

Say what you will about the FBI, but it's surely been independent.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/memo-press-what-comeys-letter-does-and-doesnt-mean

-This also contains a photocopy of the letter Comey wrote to the Chairs of Senate Committees.

[buttslinger]

Unless Comey comes up with an email that 12 out of 12 Americans, ......BOTH democratic and republican, .....agree demands jail time for Clinton,
then this is a stunt to give Trump the only hope he had.
There is absolutely nothing Trump can do to make himself look good.
He has to have outside forces drop a House on Hillary.

If the polls shift 2 or 3 points next week, after the DOJ warned Comey it would,
there will be HELL to pay.

[hippifried]

This is a big bunch of nothing. Again! Still!

But we're gonna have to listen to the republican whiners and snivelers till at least Inauguration Day in January. The FBI is just being cruel and spiteful towards the American people now.

[peejaye]

I hear everything said and all the doubters, let's put it another way; Money talks and Trumps got lots of it.
Everyone as a price! Do I need to spell it out? :roll:
Head of the FBI was asked "why now?" It just seemed right....he replied!
The world is full of very gullible people.

[trish]

Premise 1: Money talks.
Metaphorically. Yes, money talks, but so do duty, loyalty, ideologies and lot's of other things.

Premise 2: Trump's got lot's of it - money that is.
Relatively speaking. But who really knows? There are reports that he doesn't really have as much as he says he does. And he doesn't part with it easily.

Premise 3: Everyone has a price.
Probably false, especially if by price you mean, "Can be bought off with enough money."

Premise 4: Comey hasn't yet given a reasonable answer to "Why now?"

Conclusion: Undetermined. Probably Comey has an ideological (or other) hatred of Hillary that he just can't let go of. Look at the preamble to his more recent announcement that his investigation found nothing that is prosecutable; it too was unprecedented.

[broncofan]

I'd also like to say that the supplementation of the record by Comey was completely unnecessary. I've never heard of someone being accused of perjury or dishonesty because subsequent events cast doubt on the conclusiveness of what they've said previously. Comey said the investigation was concluded, and it was at the time he testified. No rational person could think that means that no matter what new information comes to light it could not be reopened.

If there is substantial and incriminating evidence against Hillary that comes to light later on, that would justify opening the old investigation or beginning a new one. Certainly there was no onus on him to say he might have to do that depending upon the content of emails he has not viewed yet.

I'll post this in this thread too since it's very relevant to the discussion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/opinion/on-clinton-emails-did-the-fbi-director-abuse-his-power.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

[blackchubby38]

I saw an interview with Nigel Farage on GPS with Fareed Zakaria earlier today where he was equating BREXIT with Trump's popularity. He said that people were fed up with globalism and getting involved in foreign wars. That last part is one of the reasons why I was wary about voting for Trump. I was for the war in Afghanistan. While I was against the war in Iraq, thought it should have been executed better. But if those who supported BREXIT and Trump think isolationism is the answer, they're are sadly mistaken.

Its funny how it starts out by people saying we should focus within our borders. But before you know it, that turns into "Well you know if we weren't involved in a certain part of the world, we wouldn't have all these problems."

[Stavros]

I saw an interview with Nigel Farage on GPS with Fareed Zakaria earlier today where he was equating BREXIT with Trump's popularity. He said that people were fed up with globalism and getting involved in foreign wars. That last part is one of the reasons why I was wary about voting for Trump. I was for the war in Afghanistan. While I was against the war in Iraq, thought it should have been executed better. But if those who supported BREXIT and Trump think isolationism is the answer, they're are sadly mistaken.

Its funny how it starts out by people saying we should focus within our borders. But before you know it, that turns into "Well you know if we weren't involved in a certain part of the world, we wouldn't have all these problems."

This is a typical tactic of Farage, to start out with one issue and divert it into another. Farage worked in the City of London and benefited from the 'big bang' in the 1980s which released capital flows and created a new generation of 'financial products' that transformed the way business was being done globally and was thus part of the whole 'globalisation' phenomenon. What Farage resented in both the UK and the EU was state/government intervention in the economy, because he is a 'free market capitalist' who believes markets know better than governments. To campaign for this meant campaigning against the European Union, which is why he joined UKIP -but freely admits to having trousered over a million pounds from the salary and expenses he gets as an elected member of the European Parliament.

The problem is that 'globalisation' in one form or another has been part of the growth of a world economy since the 14th century shaped by the expansion of empire, the intrepid cross-border adventures of fur trappers in the Americas, the spice trade of south east Asia, the silk merchants of Shanghai and Lyon, the slave ships of the Atlantic and Africa, and so on and so on. When Farage and his new best buddy Trump rail against Globalism or Globalisation are they attacking capitalism? I don't think so.

What they want is economic nationalism, a capitalism that benefits the Americans and the British in their homeland. They can't accept that offshoring and outsourcing were part of the very advances they supported when Reagan and Thatcher were in charge, just as they can't handle the fact that capitalism is not a national project as it doesn't know what an international border is, indeed Trump's own business does not exclusively employ Americans, he is arguing for an economic programme he doesn't believe in or practive, while Farage has collapsed everything into a toxic debate on immigration in which the immigrant is viewed as a burden and a threat rather than a benefit. You begin with the problem of state intervention, and you end with the immigrant as the cause.

Just as UKIP scared the Tory party into the EU Referendum on the one issue that has divided the Tory party since 1973, so Trump has exposed the division in the Republican Party that has opened up since the emergence of the TEA Party but which I believe has its origins in the 1960s but did not become clearer until the Clinton Democrats stole half their policies leaving them with the option of either branching out to embrace the diversity of the American electorate, or retreat into a bunker of white Christian exceptionalism 'defending' the Constitution from its liberal and left-wing traitors.

The Republican Party is in a deep hole, how it deals with the next 10 days, win or lose, will be important, but will it mark the end of something or the beginning? And win or lose, what is it that will end, and what new beast will be born from the ashes of this election?

[peejaye]

Brilliant piece that Stavros & very informative. It also happens to be very true.

[Stavros]

Jonathan Chait has written an article for the New York magazine (I first came across it in today's Guardian) which argues that if elected, President Trump's domestic policy would look exactly like the policy agenda Paul Ryan and other Conservatives have been developing since 2008 and that is why Ryan has soaked up Trump's mockery, knowing that the President needs Congress and vice versa, and that Trump in reality lacks the ideological vigour that the Conservatives have, and can be bent to the will of the party in Congress. On issue such as tax and health care Trump and the GOP in Congress agree, just as they are hostile to same-sex marriage, abortion and environmental policy. I am not sure I agree with the 1950s as a turning point that saw an encroachment of Conservative thought in a party that was not always entirely comfortable with it, I see the 1960s as the pivotal decade not least because of Johnson's Great Society Programme and the War on Poverty which took the welfare state to levels not seen before, indeed Chait says this of a Trump Presidency -

It is the tantalizing prospect of crippling the welfare state that has lured Republicans into endorsing a president who has threatened to jail his opponent, go after the business interests of news outlets critical of him, and praised dictators in North Korea, Russia, and China for crushing their opposition. They are willing to give Trump control of the military, the Department of Justice, and the domestic-security apparatus as long as Ryan controls the legislative agenda.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/10/the-gops-age-of-authoritarianism-has-only-just-begun.html

-The problem is Trump by nature is volatile and difficult if not impossible to manage, and is capable -we assume- of making reckless decisions, not least those which could lose the Republican Party votes in the mid-term elections in 2018. It also assumes a degree of consensus within the GOP in Congress that might not hold if revelations about the links between the party and Russian hackers or some other scandal involving Trump takes shape, or the authoritarian trend Chait sees in contemporary American politics going unchallenged even in the Republican Party.
As with Brexit, it is too early to say what will happen, but it is nevertheless a thought-provoking article.

[buttslinger]

Trying to predict what a Trump Presidency would look like is like a trip to fantasyland, if fantasyland was uncertain.
As I've mentioned before, if by some miracle Trump pulls this off, you would have a Republican Senate, House, Supreme Court......
EVERYTHING!!!!!
Trump may have fooled Republican voters, but he didn't fool the actual GOP, trust me, they spotted the wolf in their hen house on Day One. He's more dangerous than Rush Limbaugh to their cover story of legitimacy.
Even Trump knows that as President, his only real power would be at State Dinners and Ribbon Cuttings.
As a disgruntled WRONGED John Wayne, he can create his own TV Network, and keep the TRUMP brand on it.
At least Mitt Romney would have gone through the motions,
Briefing a President Trump on real World Affairs would take four years.

[flabbybody]

"Democracy is the worst form of government...except for all the others". Churchill
"When you keep telling people lies, they'll eventually believe". Goebbels

On Tuesday we'll find out which of these gentlemen of the last century called it right.

[Stavros]

"Democracy is the worst form of government...except for all the others". Churchill
"When you keep telling people lies, they'll eventually believe". Goebbels
On Tuesday we'll find out which of these gentlemen of the last century called it right.

Both statements are wrong, though to be fair to Churchill this is what he actually said:

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
-the source: Speech in the House of Commons, 11 November 1947

Donald J. Trump with his alleged links to/sympathy for the Russian leadership may have heard the quote attributed, at second-hand (a claim made in a book written by one of his secretaries), to Stalin-

"It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes."
-A sentiment that fits nicely into the 'Democratic Centralism' of the Communist Party!

[flabbybody]

just trying to capture the essence of two historical figures with totally opposite approaches towards the role of government.
IMO Churchill would be gravely troubled by BREXIT referendum.
Goebbels would admire Trump's raw, emotional know-nothing campaign style.

[peejaye]

Is it me or does anyone else think the US and here in the UK; we are hearing more and more hostilities towards Putin and Russia? Almost blaming them for everything (we)don't like? I know Putin is no saint but shit! STAY CLEAR, surely?
We hear on UK TV that Russia keeps "coming-up" in the US elections as Clinton seems intolerant towards them both yet Trump is accused of being a friend?
I'm sorry but reading between the lines...I can't help being concerned!

[broncofan]

Is it me or does anyone else think the US and here in the UK; we are hearing more and more hostilities towards Putin and Russia? Almost blaming them for everything (we)don't like? I know Putin is no saint but shit! STAY CLEAR, surely?
We hear on UK TV that Russia keeps "coming-up" in the US elections as Clinton seems intolerant towards them both yet Trump is accused of being a friend?
I'm sorry but reading between the lines...I can't help being concerned!
Russia is no longer a communist country and so antagonism towards them is no longer reflexively right wing (it wasn't always previously either). Much of the antagonism towards them is related to and proportional to how toxic their behavior is. It is a country that does not have free and fair elections. It murders journalists who are hostile towards the regime, sometimes using nuclear material in other western countries. It has been carpet bombing Syria in order to stabilize the Assad regime, which has used toxic nerve gas to murder civilians. I am beyond shocked that there is not more of an outcry against Russia. The defenses and apologetics I see of Putin and Assad on the British left are beyond terrifying; it is the worst case of identity politics gone bad. Is it that somehow defending a despot can be progressive if his country was formerly associated with collectivism?

[peejaye]

I hear/read right-wing rhetoric like this everyday on the BBC or SKY news & in the UK's far right "dirty" press.
You seem to forget who/which countries provide them with ammunition to commit all their atrocities.
But you people don't mention that!
I know what happens in Russia, that wasn't my point. I was with a native of Russia for 7 years.
Personally; I think we could be heading for WW3 if all this rhetoric far-right nonsense doesn't stop.

[hippifried]

I doubt we'll see world war III.
But maybe Cold War II is here now.

[Stavros]

A few days ago the BBC broadcast a special episode in a series it produced some time ago called The Conspiracy Files which looks at the way in which Donald Trump has used conspiracy theories to boost his political campaign. (Link to programme below)

The programme looks in succession at the 'Birther' controversy which Trump in 2011 used to build support for what has become his tilt at the White House, including the claim that the Department of Health manager who signed the Hawaii birth certificate was subsequently murdered, both easily debunked. It moves on to the claim that Ted Cruz's father was an associate of Lee Harvey Oswald, looks at the claims around the suicide of Vince Foster, Bill Clinton's affairs, and Hillary Clinton's email server.

At the beginning of the programme, a former adviser to Donald Trump, Roger Stone, states, categorically that History is a set of lies, agreed upon. It is worth remembering as the kind of language that enables anything to be true, or false, so that ultimately there is no truth, only opinion, and whoever 'controls' that opinion in the public sphere controls everything else, just as Julian Assange being interviewed by John Pilger on Russia Today (where else?) claims the election is sewn up for Hillary because

“My analysis is that Trump will not be permitted to win......Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/julian-assange-clinton-foundation-isis-same-money-saudi-arabia-qatar-funding-a7397211.html

Thus Trump can claim the entire election is a conspiracy, that it is being rigged, without the need for evidence because evidence may be true, and the truth is to be discarded. For if Stone is correct, the fact that incidents took place on the 9th of September 2001 cannot be true, ditto the 7th of December 1941 at Pearl Harbour, because whether you believe 9/11 was an inside job or that the British forewarned the Americans of the Japanese plan to bomb the US fleet, the dates on which the events happened really are not lies, we even have real people who are still alive to confirm it, such as you and me.

One is reminded of the Politician's Prayer: Lord, may my words be always sweet and reasonable, for one day I may need to eat them.

The Conspiracy Files is can be seen here-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgFPOdHOqgc

[flabbybody]

Farage is unofficially part of the transition team. He'll probably have his own guest bedroom at the White House, opposite Putin's.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/305729-farage-spotted-at-trump-tower

[Stavros]

Some countries have a 'National Treasure', we appear to have a 'National Asshole'.
This is a man who led UKIP to win most of the UK seats in the European Parliament elections in 2014 sending shivers down the spine of the Tory Party, provoking two Tory MPs to defect to UKIP and Cameron to agree to an EU Referendum after the 2015 Election to steal UKIP's thunder. But in the 2015 election Farage could not get elected to the House of Commons, and claims to be delighted that he will not be standing as a UKIP MEP next time as the UK will not be in the EU -which means losing his annual €96, 240 [$104,482) salary, his €4,243 [$4641] travel allowance, his annual €51,588 [$56,005] office costs and when he leaves his €39,000 [$42,340] 'transition allowance' to help him back into the 'real world'.
Farage believes he is a very important man indeed, a claim undermined by the chronic shambles which is the party he has shaped since 1997 and is characterised by its resignations, its sackings and defections, the vitriolic abuse individuals in UKIP receive from other members, and most recently a punch-up in Brussels worthy of a bottle party rather than a political party. Above all this Farage sails supremely on, totally unwilling to accept that this shambles is anything to do with him, unable to explain how when he resigned the party elected a woman, Dianne James, who gave up after 18 days claiming she had no authority in the party, which I guess is how UKIP works. At a dinner after her election addressed by the Dear Leader, Ms James sat on her own, a forlorn figure.

UKIP was created by Prof. Alan Sked, an academic historian at the London School of Economics in 1993. He was opposed to the UK's membership of the EU but his party at the outset stated
"It is a non-sectarian, non-racist party with no prejudices against foreigners or lawful minorities of any kind. It does not recognise the legitimacy of the European parliament and will send representatives only to the British parliament in Westminster."

Sked goes on to tell how Farage took the party into a different direction, went to the European Parliament, allowed former members of the fascist National Front to become members and party officials, and quotes Farage himself using abusive language- you can read about it in the link below. And just today the leader of the French National Front, Marine le Pen claims you can't put a hair between the politics of her party and UKIP, though unlike the NF I don't think even UKIP has taken money from the Russians...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/26/ukip-founder-alan-sked-party-become-frankensteins-monster

979034

[flabbybody]

Trump has tweeted he'd like his best buddy Farage in Washington as ambassador. That would be one way to get him out of London. And giving the new president what he wants would reap obvious dividends for U.K.

[Stavros]

Trump has tweeted he'd like his best buddy Farage in Washington as ambassador. That would be one way to get him out of London. And giving the new president what he wants would reap obvious dividends for U.K.

Needless to say Farage was 'flattered' by the proposal even though the last time a US President 'intervened' in the domestic politics of the UK by suggsting leaving the UK was not a good idea, Farage with much indignation told President Obama to 'butt out' or words to that effect. From one point of view Farage is set to lose a substantial sum of money when he ceases to be a member of the European Parliament and he must be thinking ahead in financial terms and the sort of job he needs to maintain his standard of living. On another more political level Farage is desperate to be taken seriously even though he has now failed to be elected to the House of Commons on seven attempts. It sounds like he has decided that to win he should mimic the 'Trump' approach, so that when Trump's proposal was quite rightly dismissed by Her Majesty's Government, Farage's response was to go on the attack and describe Parliament as a 'cesspit' which puts its own interests before those of the British people.
It is actually not so different from those politicians desperate to bathe in the glow of Mandela, or who in 2008 wanted to be touched by the 'Obama magic' in the hope it would revive their own declining careers -a certain Gordon Brown was one who couldn't wait to feel the burn of Obama's fairy dust. And where he is he now?

[Stavros]

Another remarkable week in politics which from this side of the pond makes one wonder what the word 'accountability' means. Some newspapers here -mostly The Guardian and The Independent -have attempted to unravel the timeline with regard to Trump and the Russians, and it does not look good, even if one allows for 'unverifiable' facts.

It is of some interest that it was Republican opponents of Trump -allegedly linked to the Jeb Bush campaign- who initiated the research into Trump and the Russians, in the summer of 2015. They asked Fusion US to look into it, and a year or so later they contacted Christopher Steel, an ex MI6 agent with 20 years of Russian experience. In June 2016 Steele produced a Memo which was sent to the FBI which claimed Trump had agreed with the Russians to change the tone on US-Russian relations, and shortly after that Trump did recognise their 'right' to annex the Crimea, and days later called on the Republican Party to withdraw its pledge to help the government of the Ukraine fight 'rebels' in the east of the country.
On the same day Trump supported Russia's annexation of the Crimea, he publicly invited them to hack Hillary Clinton's emails -indeed, Trump has since conceded that the Russians probably did hack the DNC, a separate issue but an admission of some sort the Russians had targeted the US election with or without his approval.

Throughout the summer the FBI was provided with the increasing volume of information on Trump's links to the Russian government, yet chose instead to focus on Hillary Clinton, climaxing with the declaration by FBI Director Comey that an investigation into her email server was being revived- two days after Rudolph Giuliani had predicted 'We've got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn things around'.

Trump's reaction, as usual is to attack his critics, dismissing the MI6 agent much respected by people on both sides of the Atlantic working in intelligence as a 'failed spy', refusing to allow CNN to even ask one question at the Press Conference and, in effect, taking the view that he can disregard the press anyway as most of his supporters across the US consider the media to be part of a 'broken America' whom they can simply ignore, much as so far Trump supporters when asked either have not read about the Russian allegations or just don't care.

At some point Trump will be accountable, when and on what issue I don't know. But as was suggested on the BBC-2 Newsnight programme last night, we may be entering a phase in politics when the media is simply ignored by those in power and rendered useless as long as the voters do not react to whatever the press is reporting.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-russia-dossier-file-investigation-hacking-christopher-steele-mi6-a7526901.html

[Stavros]

Anyone who saw the photos of Trump holding hands with Theresa May is allowed to wonder how 'special' the 'Special Relationship' could become, not least because Mrs May is the daughter of a Church of England vicar.

In fact, we are now told Trump does have a serious weakness -he can't handle slopes. It is called bathmophobia...

Following their close encounter of the second kind, they went for lunch. But wait, what is this? A starter of
'baby iceberg wedge’ salad with blue cheese...

a)-that sounds like 2/10ths of a Big Mac
b)- in what civilization does anyone eat blue cheese before the main course?
c)- potato puree we feed 2-5 year olds in the UK
d)- a business lunch should be poached salmon with asparagus, heritage carrots and sliced potato dressed with rosemary and lime.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/28/revealed-real-reason-donald-trump-theresa-may-held-hands-not/

[Stavros]

Donald Trump, button your jacket! Why does Trump present himself, even when he is wearing a coat, with his jacket open? It looks slovenly, or is there a hidden message in the way the eye follows the line of his necktie down to a space a few inches above his crotch? Is that what this is about? Sort of like the cowboy entering the saloon led by his dick?

[martin48]

Here’s fashion designer Vivek Nagrani take Trump’s dress sense


As I observed the inauguration of President Trump and the subsequent news coverage of his new administration, I noticed I was no longer listening to the words coming out of his mouth. Instead I was fixated on his sense of fashion and the manner in which he wears clothing.
Society, driven by millennials, has become far more casual and laid back in terms of social graces and etiquette. This is acceptable in everyday life. But we are discussing the U.S. Presidency.
Decorum, a respect for the office and those who came before should be expected. The President sets the tone for the country and how the world views the United States and Americans. Sure, it is judgmental, but it is a fact of life that rules apply to dressing—and these rules create a dress “code.”
To many, this may appear to be superficial, but allow me to translate what President Trump’s style sense, or lack thereof, says to me.
First, the most obvious, the length of his necktie. According to traditional rules of dress, the tie should not extend past the middle of the belt buckle. For the modern man, the tie should sit slightly above the belt buckle. Like everything else, the rules do not apply to President Trump.
However, what this tells me is that he has no understanding of the basic rules of dress, which contradicts his commentary about “class” and “luxury.” Men who actually understand class, understand that a flapping tie dangling at the crotch is reserved for men who never learned how to tie a tie.
Could it be that President Trump wants to draw the eyes of the ladies to his crotch and away from his midsection? You know, so he can let them know he wants to grab some p****?
The most rational reason for the long tie is to create an optical illusion of a more balanced looking body. The 1980s power suits that President Trump dons are created to give his rather circular torso a more “V” shape.
His tailor is to be congratulated for attempting the impossible. The heavily padded and wide shoulders in the jacket and the free-flowing half waist are intentional so as to balance his small shoulders with his large mid-section.
The longer tie should make his torso look longer. If you don’t believe me, take a look at his golfing pictures and you can see for yourself.
Ironically, President Trump was reportedly offended by his Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s ill-fitting suit worn at his first press conference. This is comical because Trump himself wears distastefully ill-fitting suits. Unfortunately, most American men tend to wear suits that do not really fit properly.
For many it is the idea that comfort “trumps” style, but it doesn’t have to. It is not President Trump’s suit that speaks to me, but rather his lack of understanding of how to actually wear a suit. From what he has told us, he is the son of a rich man, highly educated and sets the bar when it comes to class and sophistication.
But from what I am seeing, it appears that he has a disdain for wearing a suit, almost as though he has to wear it solely to project a false image of power and class. He often claims his apartment is the pinnacle of elegance.
Again, we have a contradiction. Men who understand etiquette, know when you are standing, your jacket is always buttoned. (When wearing a three button jacket, the middle button is always buttoned while standing. With a two button jacket, the top button is always buttoned while standing. These basic rules of dress may not mean much at first, but they are in place for a reason.)
This long-standing rule of buttoning your jacket when standing is a telltale sign that a man pays attention to details. It is also a sign of respect when you meet someone or walk into a room.
A buttoned jacket reflects a more formal posture and signals that you understand the art of dressing. An open jacket tells me you are assuming our meeting is causal and unimportant. When a man buttons his jacket, it naturally makes his suit fit better which makes for a kinder impression when meeting others or entering a room. It exudes an elegant presence and implies an understanding of style.
When he walked into the White House, President Trump’s jacket was wide open and his tie was flapping away. This was a clear sign that either he has no respect for the people greeting him or for the House he was about to occupy.
Or, perhaps he has no sartorial clue, much like his understanding of the world at large.
So how exactly should Trump be dressing? To begin with, he needs to change his entire wardrobe. Then he needs to have a tailor work on the fit of his suit and shorten the front of his jackets to compensate for his slouching posture.
He could have his trousers re-fitted to give him a cleaner, balanced appearance and update his choice of ties by offering a slimmer, shorter and less shiny option. Next he could get a real hair cut.
And finally, Trump could be taught how to actually wear clothes.

[martin48]

Apparently, Trump doesn't like slopes! May be fake news - so sad




Anyone who saw the photos of Trump holding hands with Theresa May is allowed to wonder how 'special' the 'Special Relationship' could become, not least because Mrs May is the daughter of a Church of England vicar.

In fact, we are now told Trump does have a serious weakness -he can't handle slopes. It is called bathmophobia...

Following their close encounter of the second kind, they went for lunch. But wait, what is this? A starter of
'baby iceberg wedge’ salad with blue cheese...

a)-that sounds like 2/10ths of a Big Mac
b)- in what civilization does anyone eat blue cheese before the main course?
c)- potato puree we feed 2-5 year olds in the UK
d)- a business lunch should be poached salmon with asparagus, heritage carrots and sliced potato dressed with rosemary and lime.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/28/revealed-real-reason-donald-trump-theresa-may-held-hands-not/

[Stavros]

Martin, thank you very much for the article by Vivek Nagrani, it has given depth to my somewhat superficial if partially accurate observation.

[flabbybody]

WTF. Why would Farage meet with Assange?
http://thehill.com/policy/international/323127-brexit-leader-visits-ecuadorian-embassy-where-wikileaks-founder-is?amp

[Stavros]

WTF. Why would Farage meet with Assange?
http://thehill.com/policy/international/323127-brexit-leader-visits-ecuadorian-embassy-where-wikileaks-founder-is?amp

They share the same agenda: the dissolution of the European Union and a globalized economy where states form trading blocs that offer its members privileges outsiders cannot have. The political anarchism of Assange meets the economic anarchism of Farage who wants the UK to 'stand alone' and takes its chances as a competitive state in a world without the UN or any regulative body, the same view now taken in Washington DC, and in Moscow, and by Marine Le Pen in France.

Assange has placed Wikileaks in the service of of Russia -he broadcasts regularly for Russia Today from inside the Embassy (I believe this may be a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic protocol) -and when last year the Republican candidate for the US Presidency appealed to the Russian government to intervene in the US elections and undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign, Wikileaks duly obliged; and just yesterday Wikileaks re-printed leaked emails from the campaign of Emmanuel Macron in France, and while the leaks may not have originated from a hacking operation in Russia, the Front National campaign has been part-financed with money from Russian banks with the full approval of Vladimir Putin.

Another visitor to Assange in London has been Pamela Anderson, anyone who thinks that is interesting can google it.

[Stavros]

More- or less- on Farage and Assange-
Nigel Farage (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/nigel-farage) abruptly ended an interview with a German (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Germany) newspaper because the reporter asked him about his relationships with Russia (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Russia) and WikiLeaks (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/WikiLeaks) founder Julian Assange (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/JulianAssange).

Mr Farage described interviewer Steffen Dobbert from Zeit Online (http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2017-05/nigel-farage-brexit-ukip-russia-contacts/seite-4) as “a nutcase”, “mad” and “away with the fairies”, when Mr Dobbert suggested Ukip (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/UKIP) and Russia (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Russia) shared an agenda, asked why Mr Farage met with Mr Assange, and said after Brexit (http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/brexit) it might be harder for British people to travel to the European Union.

Eventually, on the advice of his press spokesman — who reportedly interrupted the interview several times — the eurosceptic MEP ended the conversation and asked Mr Dobbert to leave the room.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-russia-julian-assange-meeting-interview-halt-zeit-online-wikileaks-a7744451.html

[Stavros]

WTF. Why would Farage meet with Assange?
http://thehill.com/policy/international/323127-brexit-leader-visits-ecuadorian-embassy-where-wikileaks-founder-is?amp

It is now being claimed that Farage met Assange several times and that on one occasion he passed Assange a 'thumb drive" containing data. Glenn Simpson, head of FusionGPS is said to have told one of the Congressional inquiries into the 'Russia scandal'-

He added: “I have formed my own opinions... that there was a somewhat unacknowledged relationship between the Trump people and the Ukip people and that the path to WikiLeaks ran through that. And I still think that today."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/nigel-farage-julian-assange-secret-meetings-us-congress-evidence-a8168506.html

Maybe Nigel will be invited to Washington to give evidence to the Mueller inquiry? In the meantime, Julian Assange has now been given Ecuadorian nationality but there is no sign of any movement on getting him out of the Embassy, although as the government has pointed out, Assange is free to leave whenever he wants to.

[Stavros]

He cheats at golf, just like Nixon although the latter mostly 'adjusted' his scores...

Donald Trump "cheats like hell" at golf and routinely lies about his score, a professional who plays regularly with him has claimed.

Suzann Pettersen (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2017/08/16/suzann-pettersen-pulls-ofsolheim-cup-recurrence-slipped-disc/), who has known Mr Trump for over ten years, said that she laughs at the US president’s scores because they bear no relation to reality.

Pettersen, who is a former LPGA Tour winner and has often played with Mr Trump, said that he usually skips his final putt in case he misses it.

The Norwegian former world number two even hinted that Mr Trump pays his caddies to return balls he has hit towards the woods back onto the course.

More here-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/30/donald-trump-cheats-like-golf-says-lpga-star-practice-partner/

And Celina Midelfart...
https://www.thecut.com/2016/05/meet-celina-midelfart-donald-trumps-alleged-ex.html

[broncofan]

Says it all really. It's going to become a cliche at some point but the person who cheats at golf is the person you can't trust for anything. The thing is, everybody who plays golf is disappointed that they occasionally miss a four foot putt or hit a ball out of bounds or behind a tree. Golf cheats can't deal with the disappointment of not being as good as they wish they could be. It is in those where there's the greatest difference between how they see themselves and how they actually are that you see cheating.

[Stavros]

Re the 'Nunes Memo' -if this is an FBI document containing classified information that the FBI want s to protect, does this mean that whoever releases it should be arrested and charged? I seem to recall the (alleged) distribution of classified emails led to 'Lock Her Up!' becaming a popular chant during the 2016 election campaign.

Or is it a case that officials of the USA must, must pledge their loyalty to the President, and that in future pledging to uphold the Constitution of the USA will be the second pledge they make after swearing undying loyalty to the President?

As for Rod Rosenstein, who apparently responded to the President's demand:
“Of course, we’re all on your team, Mr President,” Rosenstein replied, CNN quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Does this mean the Attorney General's office is more committed to protecting the President or the Law? And doesn't this mean Rosenstein can no longer be trusted to uphold the law? Guess its just a matter of time before Mueller is sacked.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/31/fbi-nunes-memo-release-donald-trump

[Goodslave]

Trump has been crucified from day 1 by the MSM, CNN hate him with a passion because he won’t dance to their tune, I wish he was Prime Minister of the UK.

[peejaye]

Trump has been crucified from day 1 by the MSM, CNN hate him with a passion because he won’t dance to their tune, I wish he was Prime Minister of the UK.

Couldn't do a worse job than the First Class Full weight c**t we've got at present!

[buttslinger]

QUOTE=Stavros- Guess its just a matter of time before Mueller is sacked....

In Jolly Olde England, Trump is a bounder, and sacks people.
In the Goddam USA, Trump is an asshole who fires people.

We've got this memo that will shock everyone, because that's how the White House wrote it.
Before we had Mueller, we were getting revelations everyday about Trump, we're limited now to government shutdowns, pornstar payoffs, and secret meetings with Russians flown over here Straight outta Putin's office. Even the hero of Bengazi Trey Gowdy announced he wasn't running for re-election after he read the memo.

The Republicans in the House and Senate and Supreme Court MUST see what's going on. I guess they're just holding onto something and gritting their teeth, like everyone else.

https://image.ibb.co/mkrqYm/0000000.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)

[trish]

Re the 'Nunes Memo' -if this is an FBI document containing classified information that the FBI want s to protect, does this mean that whoever releases it should be arrested and charged? I seem to recall the (alleged) distribution of classified emails led to 'Lock Her Up!' becaming a popular chant during the 2016 election campaign.

Or is it a case that officials of the USA must, must pledge their loyalty to the President, and that in future pledging to uphold the Constitution of the USA will be the second pledge they make after swearing undying loyalty to the President?

As for Rod Rosenstein, who apparently responded to the President's demand:
“Of course, we’re all on your team, Mr President,” Rosenstein replied, CNN quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Does this mean the Attorney General's office is more committed to protecting the President or the Law? And doesn't this mean Rosenstein can no longer be trusted to uphold the law? Guess its just a matter of time before Mueller is sacked.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/31/fbi-nunes-memo-release-donald-trump

My understanding is it’s not an FBI document but a memo of the Congressional Intelligence Committee containing cherry picked information lifted from FBI documents that were forwarded to the Committee by the FBI at the Committee’s request. Typically such memos (containing classified information) need to go through a declassification procedure before it can be released to the full Congress or the public. These are not typical times.

It now appears possible (likely?) that the White House was involved in the writing of this memo. As the memo questions the initial reasons for the Mueller investigation, White House involvement in the memo may constitute further obstruction. In my opinion, this is all a prelude to Trump firing Mueller.


Trump has been crucified from day 1 by the MSM, CNN hate him with a passion because he won’t dance to their tune, I wish he was Prime Minister of the UK.

Believe me, you do not want this enfant terrible running your country. But if you insist, please take him. PLEASE.

The White House is now involved in nothing less than a coup to usurp the balance of powers originally conceived by the Founding Fathers. No president, not even Nixon, has undermined the authority of the Justice Department and endangered our National Security like Trump. And why? He has no vision for the Nation. He never gave a shit about the people who now constitute his base. He never wanted anything more than personal aggrandizement. This, in his heart, because he knows that he’s is one of life’s biggest losers.

[Stavros]

My understanding is it’s not an FBI document but a memo of the Congressional Intelligence Committee containing cherry picked information lifted from FBI documents that were forwarded to the Committee by the FBI at the Committee’s request. Typically such memos (containing classified information) need to go through a declassification procedure before it can be released to the full Congress or the public. These are not typical times.

Thanks Trish, I stand corrected on the precise nature of the document, but it does contain classified material, I think that is the point with the rest of your points accepted, but for the last. Someone so lacking in experience might be elected to a local council, but I doubt would get past any selection committee in either Labour or the Conservative Party. The United Kingdom Independence Party, so called might have been the route, but these days it is no longer a party, merely a coven in search of a sacrifice.

[Stavros]

Trump has been crucified from day 1 by the MSM, CNN hate him with a passion because he won’t dance to their tune, I wish he was Prime Minister of the UK.

If CNN does not cover him with pride, it is because the President, as with the candidate that preceded the office, is a blatant liar, and one who does not like being exposed as one. He has also expressed hatred of Americans with a careless lack of interest in the consequences.

The closest we have to this oaf is the city trader who realised he could make more money as a member of the European Parliament he was elected to, who has pocketed over a million quid in wages, claimed every expense the EU has to offer, and in practical terms done sod all to make a difference to policies he claims the EU is responsible for. Two years on the Fisheries Committee and he turned up for two meetings. His marriage has broken down, his children are in expensive private education and he has to wait another 10 years before he gets his pension(s) though he will get a jolly of around £157,000 when he leaves the Parliament -

MEPs leaving Brussels after next month's election will receive a payoff of up to £157,000, in addition to other perks, as part of a "golden goodbye".
---All MEPs who step down or lose their seats are entitled to a "transitional allowance" of at least £39,000. The value of the payment increases with length of time in post, meaning the longest-serving MEPs could receive two years' salary after leaving. The allowance provides one month's salary for each year an MEP has been in parliament, with a minimum of six months and a maximum of 24.
The revelation follows a row last week over the second pensions to which many members of the European parliament are entitled, in addition to their statutory pension. The longest-serving MEPs accrue statutory pensions of up to £55,000 – 70% of their salary. They are entitled to draw this non-contributory pension, which is funded solely by the taxpayer, at age 63.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/27/meps-final-payoff-157000


Not being able to mount a coup to become head of state and thus loot the national treasury, the President realised years ago he can make millions when losing at business by exploiting a tax rule that gets the taxpayer to fund his losses, and make even more by borrowing from any bank that will lend it, and when President, charge the tax payer to fund golfing trips to clubs that he owns. He is determined to make money from the office of President and even used his blow job with Piers Morgan to advertise the merits of the Scottish golf course that bears his name, surely a clear violation of the moral purpose of the Presidency, even if it is not illegal. If he was Prime Minister of the UK, he would probably be in jail.

[broncofan]

Every single person who has been in charge of the Russia investigation has been the subject of attack, a campaign of slander, or an attempt to influence them in a way to challenges the investigation. Comey, Rosenstein, Sessions, McCabe, and Wray.

This memo is another attempt to portray the DOJ as biased against Trump even while many key appointees are Republicans. Nunes originally came into the public eye with the allegations about FISA unmasking that did not hold any water but were timed to distract from the investigation. Now there's this memo that apparently relates to surveillance of Carter Page. It is abundantly obvious that what these people will not accept is any process that leads to scrutiny. Their idea of oversight is for someone to bury his head in the sand.

It seems the issue is Rod Rosenstein's renewal/approval of a FISA warrant to conduct surveillance on Page. The idea is that if Rosenstein can be portrayed as having violated Carter Page's civil liberties, then maybe he can be fired and another Deputy Attorney General can be put in place to curtail Mueller's investigation or fire him. As you can see by the inappropriate answer Rosenstein gave to Trump's question about whose team he was on (the answer should have mentioned his legitimate duties and rebuked the idea of teams), he is not biased against Trump but not sufficiently willing to obstruct justice.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/gop-if-carter-page-can-be-wiretapped-who-among-us-is-safe.html

[broncofan]

Thought I'd include this little blurb that makes the question of whether the FISA application relied on the Steele dossier moot. The FISC almost never turns down applications for warrants. That Republicans have suddenly chosen this occasion to object to an application for surveillance is bizarre given the court's history and how easy it has been to target people thought to threaten national security.

http://reason.com/blog/2018/01/31/it-would-not-have-been-hard-to-justify-s

[Jericho]

In Jolly Olde England, Trump is a bounder, and sacks people.


I really can't say as I've heard anyone call that cunting motherfucker a bounder over here...We're not that fucking jolly! :hide-1:

[Stavros]

Thought I'd include this little blurb that makes the question of whether the FISA application relied on the Steele dossier moot. The FISC almost never turns down applications for warrants. That Republicans have suddenly chosen this occasion to object to an application for surveillance is bizarre given the court's history and how easy it has been to target people thought to threaten national security.


The key point in your link is this:
Trump and his allies say the FBI's warrant application relied on information from former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele without making it clear to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that his research had been funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

In fact, two facts trash this claim:

1) as Fusion GPS have pointed out
Three congressional committees have heard over 21 hours of testimony from our firm, Fusion GPS. In those sessions, we toppled the far right’s conspiracy theories and explained how The Washington Free Beacon (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/us/politics/trump-dossier-paul-singer.html) and the Clinton campaign — the Republican and Democratic funders of our Trump research — separately came to hire us in the first place.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/opinion/republicans-investigation-fusion-gps.html

2) The FBI warrant was not based on evidence in the 'Steele dossier' but information derived from the claims made by George Papadopoulos that he had dirt on Hillary Clinton:
The big takeaway here is that Papadopoulos's claim to such information made its way to U.S. authorities as early as July 2016 -- suggesting the investigation involving the Trump campaign was predicated on something independent of the Steele dossier.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/02/republicans-steele-dossier-conspiracy-theory-was-dealt-a-big-blow-this-weekend/?utm_term=.37f18563bb66

As you suggested above this is a bear-naked attempt to trash the investigation before it is finished. One suspects Mueller by following the money is getting too close to the wallet of the man in the mirror.

Can the President merge the Attorney General's office with his Communications Office and make Hope Hicks Attorney General?

[Stavros]

So farewell, then, Hope Hicks. Nobody knew who you are anyway.

The President's belief that being Chief Executive would make him money may be coming true in some ways -but those 100 golfing trips to his private clubs paid for the by the taxpayer straight into the family till may increase as customer demand in his branded establishments around the world is falling so much the prices are falling too. No wonder the man needs Russian and Saudi money to stay afloat...


Trump slump | How average rates have fallen at his hotels


Hotel
Price January 2017
Price January 2018
% change


Trump Turnberry
£498
£215
-57%


Trump Las Vegas
£637
£237
-63%


Trump Panama
£345
£269
-22%


Trump Doral
£729
£340
-53%


Trump Doonbeg
£334
£357
+7%


Trump Vancouver
£704
£365
-48%


Macleod House & Lodge
£500
£450
-10%


Trump Soho
£575
£451
-22%


Trump Chicago
£633
£454
-28%


Albemarle Estate at Trump Winery
£694
£477
-31%


Trump Washington DC
£1,245
£598
-52%


Trump New York
£1,009
£682
-32%


Trump Waikiki
£892
£692
-22%


Average
£677
£430
-36%


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/06/trump-name-removed-panama-city-hotel-commercial-dispute/

[Stavros]

I don't think many people are now either surprised or shocked that the President of the USA should refer to another American as a 'dog', making one wonder if he did not use the female name for the canine species because even that would mark a new low in his lexicon of hate, or perhaps because he doesn't know what the word actually means given that when he did use the word he was referring to male football players. Or maybe it doesn't matter when the people concerned are black and only worthy of insult and abuse and the words are interchangeable.

Maybe people should start using the words the President uses when addressing senior members of his administration, so you could have:
Mr Sessions, you son of a bitch, what have been the latest developments with regard to illegal immigrants?
Ms De Vos, you dog, why did you go to the state of New York earlier this year but not visit a single state school?

As for Omarosa Manigault Newman, when you realise she was the most senior (and the only) African American in the Administration you have to ask if there is something wrong with the President's judgement, given the calibre of his appointments -self-confessed liars, law breakers on the verge of jail time, spongers using tax payers money to fly around the USA and the world, buying expensive knives and forks...what was it Mussolini said? Drenare le palude...

As for the book, titled Unhinged, it hit the shelves today, and in the WH Smith retail network is on sale at 50% off the cover price.

I think the appropriate word is desperate.

[Stavros]

I wonder what the President's favourite films are -the ones not made by Playboy that is. This is beyond stupid, it may be that all that soda and junk food is indeed rotting his brain:

According to The Daily Beast (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-omarosa-had-a-fcking-weird-fight-with-vietnam-vets), the US president last year met with various heads of veterans’ organisations who were angered over the appointment of the now-sacked Omarosa Manigault-Newman (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/omarosa-manigault-newman) to handle veterans’ affairs.
They were reportedly joined in the March meeting by administration officials including Stephen Miller, Kellyanne Conway, former press secretary Sean Spicer (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/sean-spicer) and Ms Manigault-Newman herself.
During discussions, Mr Trump allegedly angered and confused attendees by derailing a conversation about benefits for injured servicemen by getting into a lengthy argument about a scene from the iconic Vietnam War (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/VietnamWar) movie.
Rick Weidman, co-founder of Vietnam Veterans for America, reportedly asked that a wider number of veterans injured by the herbicide Agent Orange receive payment from the government.
Mr Trump claimed it was “taken care of”, according to sources who spoke to news site, puzzling attendees who informed the president there had not been nearly enough progress.
Mr Trump responded by asking if Agent Orange was “that stuff from that movie”, which people in the room quickly came to understand was a reference to a scene in Apocalypse Now in which US attack helicopters assault a Vietnamese village.
The Daily Beast reported various people informed the president the scene showed the US military using napalm, not Agent Orange.
Mr Trump reportedly refused to accept he was wrong. “No, I think it’s that stuff from the movie,” he is quoted as saying. He then polled people in the room over which chemical weapon they thought the scene depicted.
He finally asked for the thoughts of Mr Weidman, who assured him it was napalm, adding he thought the movie did a disservice to Vietnam veterans.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-apocalypse-now-vietnam-vets-row-war-white-house-meeting-a8496626.html

[Stavros]

A grisly game is being played out in the Middle East (where else?!) as Turkey releases information on the disappearance (alleged execution by Saudi Arabia) of Jamal Khashggi drip by drip to annoy the unelected butchers of Riyadh without taking any meaningful action to protest at a basic violation of the law, if that in itself does not sound too cynical given the manner in which President Erdoga operates in his own country.

The US President has prevaricated, claiming that the $110 Billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia should not be jeapordized by rumours for which there are so far no facts. Fair enough, only that 'arms deal' trumpeted with much zeal in 2017 and since is in reality 'letters of intent' that so far has not produced a single contract. When even the Brookings Institute can all it 'fake news' you know that window dressing is par for the course for the President.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/06/05/the-110-billion-arms-deal-to-saudi-arabia-is-fake-news/

As for Jamal Kashoggi, some of you may be old enough to remember his uncle Adnan Khashoggi, reputedly worth $4 billion in 1980, a man who used his family's historic connections to the founder of the kingdom, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (originally Ottoman Turks the premier Khashoggi was ibn Saud's doctor) to become an arms dealer who may have been involved in the Iran-Contra scandal but was certainly known for his parties, not so much cocktail parties, as lots of cock, and lots of tail. Hardly surprising that Jamal knew the scion of that other family with ties to the butchers of Riyadh, the bin Laden's and their favourite son, Osama.

Somewhere in this gruesome mess you will find the cherubic face of Jared Kushner, a man who seems to have been so dazzled by the seriously richer than he Arabs of the Gulf and the Peninsula to believe them when they talk of liberal reform, and how relaxed they are about Israel. That will be any reform that does nothing to undermine their wealth and authority, even as it funnels money for Kushner's absurd real estate empire and his daddy-in-law's 'business'.

You have to wonder if there is any foreign policy coherence in any of this. At least when FDR made his deal with Ibn Saud in 1945 it was to give the US a competitive edge in the kingdom that became hugely important for the US oil industry. All we have at the moment is a US President soaked in Saudi money terrified of losing access to all dem dollars.

After all, if it is proven beyond doubt that Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Embassy in Turkey and removed what is the US going to do about it?

Background on the Khashoggi-
https://www.voanews.com/a/who-is-jamal-khashoggi/4610403.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi#Early_life_and_education
https://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2018/10/11/jamal-khashoggi-the-profile-of-a-saudi-elite-turned-riyadh-critic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Khashoggi#Personal_life

[Stavros]

Not long ago the President looked a journalist in the eye and told him he was 'sleazy', and the rallies he attends are not just notorious for his attacks on the media, journalists are grouped together as if in a cage and often the target of the audience's vocal abuse. Now hear this:

"There's a lot at stake. And, maybe especially so because this man was a reporter. There's something -- you'll be surprised to hear me say that, there's something really terrible and disgusting about that if that was the case so we're going to have to see. We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment."
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/13/middleeast/khashoggi-saudi-turkey-investigation-intl/index.html

As information drips out of Turkey -a state that imprisons more journalists per capita than any other- it is claimed that Khashoggi first went to the Consulate in Istanbul (the Saudi Embassy is in Ankara) in September and was told his papers would be ready in a few weeks, and he thus returned to subsequently disappear. But, on the day, the Consulate staff were told not to return from their lunch-break and take the rest of the day off -and an hour or so later Khashoggi arrived.

What happened next is not clear as one claim is that Khahoggi was murdered and dismembered, either in an office or in the underground car park, his body parts being buried in the garden of the Consul's residence; while another says his parts were taken back to Saudi Arabia and incinerated while a third version claims he was abducted to Saudi Arabia and is still alive, but they can't prove it as the abduction from the sovereign territory of Saudi Arabia in Turkey would be just as illegal and outrageous as a murder.

Just to prove there are no moral victors in this, the Turks claim to have audio and video evidence of the murder in the Consulate, which means they had it bugged which raises the question -have they secret recording equipment in other Consulates and Embassies?

Then there is the question -did the US know in advance either that Khashoggi was at risk or that 'an event' was planned for the Consulate which turned out to be the man's disappearance? That is the claim in this link, though it raises the other question, does the President ever read Intelligence briefings, does he act on them, or did someone in the Administration deliberately not release this intelligence to embarrass the President and the wonder-boy Kushner precisely because of their warm relationships with the Saudis and particularly Kushner's friendship with MSB?
https://observer.com/2018/10/nsa-source-white-house-knew-jamal-khashoggi-danger/

Although the President will be most concerned to protect his financial interests, which is why he is President, the US is in an impossible position because Israel and Saudi Arabia are its two most powerful allies in the Middle East. Obama proved that it is possible for the US to create a working relationship with Iran, but they are not close to becoming allies again.

The continuing mini-crisis which has seen the Kingdom, Egypt and the USA gang up on Qatar -which has relatively warm relations with Turkey and Iran- adds some spice to this dish, just as Turkey has released the Evangelical pastor -who has since gone down on his knees to ask God to reward the President, a moment almost as bizarre as the Rant of Kan- though he was due for release anyway.

What can actually be done by the US to punish Saudi Arabia? At this stage it may just be holding back on any proposed contracts in the arms sale agreement of 2017, not sending people to the Davos in the Desert conference, maybe not going to their Washington parties, but in the longer term one expects this to have flared up and then die down, with Iran being pushed back into the centre to remind everyone who the 'real' enemy is.

More on the event in Istabul here-
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-1433170798

[Stavros]

From the Guardian-
Saudi Arabia (https://www.theguardian.com/world/saudiarabia) has said it will retaliate against any sanctions imposed over the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, as the Riyadh stock market had its biggest fall in years.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/14/jamal-khashoggi-turkey-looks-to-uk-to-persuade-saudi-arabia-to-cooperate

But it did occur to me that we should at least consider the possibility that Khashoggi left the Consulate and was abducted by the Turks. It is not as if any of these states care if one person dies in the service of their political agenda. Thousands are dying in the Yemen every day, why should one dissident journalist matter in the conflict between Turkey and Saudi Arabia for a controlling influence in Northern Syria? And so far, it is Turkey 1, Saudi Arabia 0.

[buttslinger]

I thought it was pretty much decided that Prince Mohammed bin Whatshisname, the one who locked up all his family members? ...I thought he's the guilty party. I think I heard he was surprised at the World Response. In Japan you can't be boss til you're 40, that's when you get WISDOM Turkey I have never figured out, they're on our side, right? Trump's General Buddies better sit him down and explain the facts of life, I guarantee you what we see is not the way it is. It was so nice before 9-11 when all we had to do was send them billions of oil dollars and they'd keep their terrorists over there.

[Stavros]

I thought it was pretty much decided that Prince Mohammed bin Whatshisname, the one who locked up all his family members? ...I thought he's the guilty party. I think I heard he was surprised at the World Response. In Japan you can't be boss til you're 40, that's when you get WISDOM Turkey I have never figured out, they're on our side, right? Trump's General Buddies better sit him down and explain the facts of life, I guarantee you what we see is not the way it is. It was so nice before 9-11 when all we had to do was send them billions of oil dollars and they'd keep their terrorists over there.

This morning the news is that Saudi Arabia may admit that Khashoggi died during an interrogation but was not murdered- it seems that King Salman is not as ga-ga as was thought and may be restricting his son's access to the media. It may be noteworthy that the US President says he talked to the King, not MSB and that Pompeo will meet Salman, though he might meet MSB.

The President is desperate to protect his investments, but Salman too may be taking action as he was opposed to Saudi Arabia's support for the removal of the US Embassy in Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, and will have got a right ear bashing from the relatives locked up by MSB who then had to pay billions to get released. As Frank Gardner in the BBC (disabled following a bomb attack in the Kingdom when he was a journalist there) has put it-

Encouraged by the state-controlled media, many Saudis have been rallying round their leadership. There is even a popular rumour that what happened in Istanbul is all a plot by Qatar and Turkey to discredit the blameless Saudi kingdom.

But privately, others are now questioning whether the 33-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the man once hailed as a visionary saviour of Saudi Arabia, has gone too far.

He has pitched his country into a costly and seemingly unwinnable war in Yemen. He is embroiled in a damaging dispute with neighbouring Qatar. He has quarrelled with Canada over human rights, and he has locked up dozens for peaceful protest while alienating many in royal and business circles.

More conservative Saudis may well be hankering for quieter times.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45871364

The loser in all this would not just be MSB but the lad he says he has 'in his pocket' -Jared Kushner. If this is the man advising the President on Middle Eastern policy, then maybe it is time for the CEO to make a calculation -what does he value most, his money, or the advice of a juvenile? But who knows what will happen next?

[buttslinger]

We're lucky Trump's in charge.

https://preview.ibb.co/k1vZo0/0.jpg (https://ibb.co/nLpuo0)
title status rebuilt definition (https://carinsuranceguru.org/how-to-insure-a-car-with-a-salvage-title-in-texas)

[buttslinger]

My memory is sketchy, but I seem to recall something about a lot of Saudis being put on airplanes back to the Middle East on the afternoon of 9-11. I also vaguely remember Dick Cheney hosting a meeting of all the top Oil Execs a month before gas prices went sky high. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle aren't above getting rich while they govern, and it's very entertaining to see Trump try and pretend he's going to punish the Saudi Prince just because he killed some journalist. Anything Trump does has dual purposes, those you see and those you don't see. They just did a study that confirms my suspicions, in this world, it is much better to be born rich than naturally talented. In the real world, a Representative in the House couldn't shine the shoes of a Middle East Royal, there's only one business, the MONEY business. Hence, lots of MONKEY business. When you see Lindsey Graham get red in the face and scream injustice, some rich guys just got their way.
This will go down the same way as when cops kill an innocent black guy, they'll put on a show and then in a few months it will be back to business as usual.
Judging a Human Being is difficult, you never know what people are up against, or what people truly care about. But if you empty your pockets, any schoolboy can count the dollars, dimes, and pennies. If you're smart, you're rich.

[Stavros]

My memory is sketchy, but I seem to recall something about a lot of Saudis being put on airplanes back to the Middle East on the afternoon of 9-11. I also vaguely remember Dick Cheney hosting a meeting of all the top Oil Execs a month before gas prices went sky high. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle aren't above getting rich while they govern, and it's very entertaining to see Trump try and pretend he's going to punish the Saudi Prince just because he killed some journalist. Anything Trump does has dual purposes, those you see and those you don't see. They just did a study that confirms my suspicions, in this world, it is much better to be born rich than naturally talented. In the real world, a Representative in the House couldn't shine the shoes of a Middle East Royal, there's only one business, the MONEY business. Hence, lots of MONKEY business. When you see Lindsey Graham get red in the face and scream injustice, some rich guys just got their way.
This will go down the same way as when cops kill an innocent black guy, they'll put on a show and then in a few months it will be back to business as usual.
Judging a Human Being is difficult, you never know what people are up against, or what people truly care about. But if you empty your pockets, any schoolboy can count the dollars, dimes, and pennies. If you're smart, you're rich.

The US has tended to view Saudi Arabia in terms of the regional balance of power in the Middle East, though the initial cause of the relationship was Ibn Saud's refusal to deal with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company which dominated oil exploration and production in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and the Gulf, because it was owned by the British government. At the San Remo Conference in 1920 the British and the French excluded the Americans from entering the Iraqi market, so the Saudi's gave their first oil concession to Standard Oil of California in 1933, and the rest is history as far as Aramco goes.

Thus FDR when he met Ibn Saud on the USS Quincy in 1945 was meeting an important source of US support in the Middle East, even though they disagreed about the Palestinians and the Jews. When Truman and Saud agreed the Point Four programme in 1951 to modernize Saudi Arabia's defence forces an Air Training mission was sent, with the stipulation that it not contain any Jews, and that any Christians would not be allowed to hold any kind of relgious service in the Kingdom. When Eisenhower was President and Ibn Saud first went to the US, in 1957 the US was mostly concerned to limit the influence of Egypt's President Gamal Abdul Nasser (with whom Saudi Arabia would eventually go to war in the Yemen in 1962, a war they lost). Saudi Arabia was lukewarm on Nasser's attempts to create what became in 1958 the 'United Arab Repubic' with Syria, Jordan having rejected it at the same time Saudi took American advice and did likewise.

When he arrived in New York, the Mayor, Robert F. Wagner refused to meet him on the basis of the Kingdom's open abuse of Jews, and the existence of slavery in the Kingdom (not offiicially outlawed until the 1960s). Ibn Saud and his flock occupied seven floors (!) of the Waldorf-Astoria with the initial intention that the King's son Mashur, who had Polio, be treated at a Jewish endowed hospital in the city. To avoid any embarrassment should this leak out, the son was treated at the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC. (In 1985 he spent two weeks in prison in the UK for smuggling cocaine into our blessed land).

Relations with JFK were not good, as the US tried to placate both Egypt, leaning at that time toward the USSR but in receipt of substantial US aid (this has to be one of the least explored and most expensive waste of tax dollars in US foreign policy) and Saudi Arabia over the Yemen, but in 1962 Kennedy decided to recognise the Republican government in Sana'a much to Ibn Saud's disgust, and the war carried on regardless. LBJ showed no interest in the Kingdom whereas Nixon had to deal with the first phase of the crisis that followed the war of 1973 at a time when he was in his own Watergate inspired crisis. A threatening letter sent to King Feisal at the time of the Arab boycott -signed by Nixon, written by Kissinger, was reviewed by Embassy staff in Riyadh who sent it back to be re-written.

Carter was in Saudi Arabia at the end of 1977 at a time when he was trying to persuade them to support Egypt's Anwar Sadat's peace negotiations with Israel but may be noteworthy for the agreement to sell the Kingdom the same F-15 fighter jets that Israel was buying, though not as many. After some hostility in Congress the sale was agreed, but this as with the Truman era underlines the extent to which the US-Saudi Arabian relationship has been one determined by the balance of power in the Middle East -Saudi Arabia as the reliable anti-Communist ally- and the Kingdom's lavish spending on armaments. In all of these cases, the domestic politics of Saudi Arabia has been set aside on the basis it is not the USA's business to interfere in their politics, in spite of the moral qualms many Americans have had about dealing with brutal a family business which, in its religious, Wahabi operations is openly abusive of Jews in the literature which it provides for Saudi funded Madrasas around the world, from Venezuela to Afghanistan.

One could go on at length on the relations as they developed during the 1980s when the US and Saudi Arabia joined forces in Afghanistan in a pact that has to my mind been catastrophic for both the US and Afghanistan, much as that lawless land was for the British who fought three wars between 1839 and 1919 and lost all of them. The fact is that the US is terrified of an implosion in Saudi Arabia where there is no civil society worthy of the name and where, in the absence of any organized opposition to the family the prospects for chaos on the Syrian level are all to bleak to contemplate.

Basically, you are stuck with them, Jew-hating, head chopping crooks that they are. But it was never more about the money than it is now, because the President has been soaked in it for so long, and because he loves it, however much he tries to re-write history:



President Donald Trump said Tuesday that "I have no financial interests in Saudi Arabia" — but in fact he has boasted in the past that "I make a lot of money with them."
Trump has sold apartments and a yacht for millions of dollars to Saudis, and recent decreases in bookings in his New York and Chicago properties since he has been president have been offset, to some extent, by business from Saudi customers.
Trump's tweet denying a financial stake in Saudi Arabia comes amid a growing furor over suspicions that the country's rulers ordered the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.




https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/16/trump-says-no-financial-interests-in-saudi-arabia-but-makes-money.html

[filghy2]

The Saudis have also been the principal supporters of extreme fundamentalist Islam around the world.
https://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/saudi_arabia_funds_and_exports_islamic_extremism_t he_truth_behind_the_toxic_u_s_relationship_with_th e_theocratic_nation/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-yousaf-butt-/saudi-wahhabism-islam-terrorism_b_6501916.html

Supporting them for the sake of their help in combating terrorism is like recruiting arsonists to the fire brigade.

[buttslinger]

The Middle East is a complicated place. My roommate went there on business and they were chopping off body parts of sinners in the City Square. It's like FDR warming up to Uncle Joe Stalin at Yalta. It's a case of bad, or total war. Lucky we've got Trump all over it...…..

[filghy2]

I think it's pretty clear what is going to happen.

1. The Saudis will pin the blame for Khassogi's killing on a few 'rogue' operatives in their intelligence service.
2. Erdogan will extract some favours from the US and Saudis as the price of Turkey going along with the cover-up. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/18/what-turkey-hopes-to-gain-from-khashoggis-murder-221609
3. US intelligence pointing to MBS's complicity will be ignored and covered up. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/18/khashoggi-corker-saudi-arabia-913238
4. They'll all hope the furore blows over and the Republicans in Congress will do little to back up their words with action, as usual. https://www.vox.com/2018/10/18/17996320/saudi-arabia-khashoggi-kushner-trump-nyt

[Stavros]

I think it's pretty clear what is going to happen.


Indeed, so no surprises so far. Having insisted Khashoggi left the Consulate alive, the Saudis now say he did die inside, and have found excuses and culprits in senior positions, though it remains to be seen if they will be put on trial and executed. It gives the President his way out of what some are calling the most serious foreign policy crisis of the Presidency so far, though I don't see it as being that serious. For the simple reason that the President and the Saudis don't care if Khashoggi is alive, dead, a hero, a martyr or any other words you want to conjure up, like 'forgotten' which they hope will be soon. As for violence against journalists, apparently it is one way of getting his support and winning an election.

It is all about the money, and the strategic balance which has consolidated the US-Saudi alliance over the years, and which remains fixated on Iran as the 'real enemy'.

That said, we don't yet know the full impact in Saudi Arabia because while Salman has moved to ring-fence MBS from direct criticism, MBS's reckless actions will give some influence to those Royals who hate him and who also have the ear of the King. One could also argue that Saudi Arabia is more vulnerable to divisions within the Royal Family rather than political opposition across the Kingdom which is easier to crush. It is too early to say if MBS will retain his supreme position or be forced to share it with another Prince.

The other Prince, Jared Kushner must also now be in a weaker position, having built his so-called 'Middle East policy' around the spurious modernizing MBS, an unofficial alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and the alliance with the UAE. The key policy options have been to confront Iran, directly and through its closest friends, Qatar and Syria; to starve the Palestinians into submission by pretending they don't exist -fuelled by the belief most Arab Sultans and Kings have given up on them anyway, which may be true, but ignores a deep reservoir of solidarity for Palestinians among ordinary Arabs; and to see off the 'Houthi' rebels in Yemen believed to be supported by Iran, but primarily because they represent a destabilizing force in the South with the added frisson that by definition the 'Houthi' are not Wahabi, being a 1990s offshoot of the Zaydi Islam that has held sway in this part of the world since the schism in Islam that followed Muhammad's death, although the Zaydi are the Shi'a closest to mainstream Sunni, which the Wahabi are not, being extremists.

The US, like Britain and France, has formed alliances with savage dictators for over a century, usually justified in strategic terms, for example during the Cold War, for economic reasons or both. The US has paid the price for taking sides in the Middle East in the 1967 War, as a result of which various Arab forces have attacked it in the region and inside the US itself. The US has been spared the wrath of the Africans who watched their families and friends slaughtered or imprisoned and tortured by the US-baked Mobutu or through proxies in Angola and Mozambique, though American indifference has seen China become the most favoured nation for domestic investment on the continent, so that the US has lost out on that.

Closer to home, the Caravan of Desperate Hondurans revives the bitter legacy of the USA's choices which supported Military Dictatorship across Central and Southern America, dictatorships that enabled Big Men to help themselves to the national wealth while domestic economic development was neglected and the 'shadow economy' (as if it were not seen!) of narcotics became the next best option but generated a culture of criminality and violence to the extent that in a recent survey, the Worst Place in the World to be a Woman was judged to be, not Pakistan or Afghanistan, but Honduras. It may be a desperate option, but if the choice is between life and death, most people will choose life, just as so many Americans have chosen to puff and sniff on the narcotics that drive the violence that drives people out of the country in despair.

The decisions made by the President today, may result in something terrible, not now, but in 10 years time. Who knows? As usual, the problem is being kicked down the road so that someone else will have to deal with it. Maybe that is the art of the deal, to make a mess of a situation, walk away, and hand the solution -and the costs- to someone else.

[buttslinger]

….The decisions made by the President today, may result in something terrible, not now, but in 10 years time...

You mean like borrowing 2 trillion to give to big business? Or eliminating regulations that curb global warming?
There are reasons my generation skipped a Great Depression, or a World War, you have to take serious steps and pay for them. You need the State Department stocked with our best and brightest. You need NATO.
There was an article in the "STYLE" section this morning that said in an interview with Larry King in 2004, a phone caller asked Donald how he dealt with stress. He had just started "The Apprentice" and with episodes entitled like "ethics schmethics" he said it was alarming to be so famous and yet there were still earthquakes in Pakistan that killed 500,00 people, so he to cope he'd just tell himself IT DOESN'T MATTER. WE'LL SEE. That works OK when your Dad is a multi-millionaire, but not so great for the President of the United States. Two years into Lincoln's presidency he had aged twenty years, Trump is still doing stand up comedy at his rallies. It's well known that Republicans like to Win, Democrats like to be Right. One day some Historian or Psychiatrist will define Trump, and how he became THE spokesman for 40% of the country. Actually, I guess it's really 20% of the country, half don't vote because they think it doesn't matter. Obama was right when he said Trump is not the problem, Trump is a symptom of the problem. I don't think Khashoggi feels that way, and we all need to hope people don't start dying because of Trump. Let's hope Democrats turn that hope into votes, and the Republicans don't rig the voting machines.

[filghy2]

It looks like Erdogan is not going to play along, or maybe the Saudis refused to pay his price. Apart from the brazen cynicism of it, the incredible thing about this episode is how amateurishly hamfisted the Saudis have been. The guy impersonating Khashoggi leaving the consulate even had the wrong shoes. Even Trump seems to have realised belatedly that nobody else was buying the Saudi's story and calling it credible was a really bad look.

[peejaye]

Smarkets.com are offering 17/10 on Trump being re-elected in 2020 ! At the moment; sounds like a license to print money to me?
You won't find better for sure. Think I'll have some of that instead of the football later.:grin:

[Stavros]

How does that Neil Young song go?

There is a wall round San Antonio
All my troubles were there...

https://www.indy100.com/article/donald-trump-mexico-us-border-wall-san-antonio-8737061

[Stavros]

Perhaps now is the time for the Christian pastors who give the President the latest from God Central, to practice what they preach?

Donald Trump (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump) is the living embodiment of the seven deadly sins – pride, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath, envy and sloth – and he is the precise obverse of the seven virtues as enunciated by Pope Gregory in 590 AD: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/21/donald-trump-impeachment-white-house-2020

[Stavros]

Can someone confirm that in the US a subpoena is no longer a legal instrument, that the President is right, that anyone issued with one from the redundant Congress can simply ignore it because Congress is a redundant, useless obstacle to the will of HIM?

10,000 lies, and nobody cares. It is now normal. Funny old world innit?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/28/trump-congress-mueller-white-house-oversight

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/29/trump-false-misleading-claims-fact-check

[Stavros]

I know its good for a laugh, but the man claims to be President.

"I meet and talk to 'foreign governments' every day. I just met with the Queen of England (U.K.), the Prince of Whales, the P.M. of the United Kingdom, the P.M. of Ireland, the President of France and the President of Poland. We talked about 'Everything!' Should I immediately call the FBI about those calls and meetings? How ridiculous!"

No, but maybe call your doctor.

[buttslinger]

Whale, I have to remind everybody that the GOP was thumbs down on Trump about 96% throughout the Republican Debates. Now they are 96% Pro-Trump.

[buttslinger]

Hey! my post just posted itself without me hitting the button!
What a fucking day.
My point was going to be that THE PEOPLE are the danger now, and I don't see a cure for that.

[buttslinger]

Happy birfday, Unca Donald, seventy three years young.


You are quick-witted and versatile. Your nature is a tad contradictory, as you crave change and adventure, yet you also need stability and security. At times impulsive, and other times very deliberate, your dual nature can be both intriguing and frustrating! You are a person who enjoys building and accumulating, and you can be very resourceful. Famous people born today: Yasmine Bleeth, Steffi Graf, Lucy Hale, Marla Gibbs, Che Guevara, Donald Trump, Burl Ives.


https://i.ibb.co/Z826DKc/trump-sign-s-2015.jpg (https://ibb.co/pzhvFZ4)

[Stavros]

The key content of today's meeting on the DMZ between the leader of the Workers Party of Korea and the President of the USA, coupled with the President's words of praise for Mohammed bin Salman: the USA endorses dictatorship, torture and terror, and dismisses democracy, freedom and the rule of law.

The USA -and most other states- does not recognize that North Korea is a legitimate state, yet Kim Jong-un is desperate to be acknowledged as the supreme leader of his country along with the Eternal Leader Kim il-Sung. To him, little else matters as this underlines his authority, and firms up the claim North Korea and the Workers Party has to rule the whole of the Korean peninsula.

Surely Congress, the Senate in particular, must remind the President the USA does not recognize North Korea, that the President alone cannot do that, so that neither man can legally enter either country. The US doesn't even have an ambassador in South Korea.

Or maybe the truth is that Congress is now irrelevant, that the Constitution is worthless, that power is all that matter and only one man has it, and will use it as he sees fit, to spite Obama, to make himself rich, to piss in the mouth of every American because he can, and because he thinks he knows better than anyone how to conduct the political affairs of the USA.

What an idiot, what a fool, what a menace to freedom this man is -get rid of him, America, and do it now!

[dns4809]

Stavros totally agree

[buttslinger]

I think we all agree the other side is wrong, the rednecks are just as afraid that the queers and wetbacks are going to take over as the limp-wristed libs are afraid the backward racists will rule.
If you live in the city, you're used to crime, traffic, high costs, locking your door. Not knowing your neighbor. Trump didn't attack the Democrats, he attacked the illegal immigrants. And he won.
Small Town America doesn't want the World's problems. The World is murdering them.
You won't beat Trump by calling him a dumb racist. You'll beat him by proving he laundered millions of dollars from Oligarchs and Putin made him his sissy because of it. And on Fox TV, that never happened.

When I used to go to the Chronic Fatigue Group meetings, they could tell me the doctor to go to if I wanted to have Lime Disease, and they could tell me the doctor to go to if I didn't want to have Lime Disease. Frustrating.

[Stavros]

Can someone confirm that when George Washington and his troops stormed into John Wayne Airport in 1775 crying "where's the Duke! Where's the Duke!" An eight year old Mexican boy replied, " senor he is at school in Dublin"--?
And it was the Air Force that won the war against the British. Ok?

[broncofan]

And it was the Air Force that won the war against the British. Ok?
We had a huge advantage because all of the British Airways flights were cancelled. The redcoats, stuck on a layover in Atlanta, weary from trying to get their muskets through airport security and trapped by flight commander Sherman at the luggage carousel, finally surrendered.

Their slogan in 1812 was, "this time we fly first class" and they made reservations months in advance, all accommodations paid for. It was a masterclass in travel planning that gave the yankees absolute fits.

[Stavros]

But then – as he discussed his trade war with China – came a new twist as Trump bestowed himself with a new title certain to launch a million Twitter memes.“This is a trade war that should have taken place years ago… somebody had to do it. I am the Chosen One.”That last line echoed a tweet (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1164138796205654016) the president had sent earlier in the day, in which Trump quoted the conspiracist Wayne Allyn Root, who in the past has said that violence including the murder of a peace activist at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was “probably paid actors & infiltrators hired by Soros”.“The Jewish people in Israel love him,” Trump quoted Root as saying on Wednesday, “like he’s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/21/trump-press-conference-greenland-jewish-democrats

Nurse! Come quickly!

[Stavros]

The link below is to an article that argues P45 has three qualities that can win him a second term: authenticity, consistency and emotional resonance. A lot thus depends on whether having used all three or one at the same time will win it again -nobody doubts his ability to connect, but will voters still be seething with rage and resentment when the judgement being made is not on Obama but his successor? And does a new generation of voters connect with that authentic voice and the consistent messages if they don't agree with them? He has to maintain his 37% and maybe more -and a lot depends too on who the Democrats choose, and the skills they employ in their campaign.

There is also an interesting review of P45's August tweetery, which may be disturbing enough to undermine the thoughts in the first link...

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-2020-campaign-success-bill-clinton-strategist-branding-republicans-a9093216.html

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/trumps-wacky-angry-and-extreme-august-twitter

[Stavros]

Well, if there is a consistency in his utterances, it is his strangulation of the English language. Show this to any American prior to the year 2000 and ask them who wrote it, then stand back when telling them it is the 'President' of the USA.

"@realdonaldtrump

To show you how dishonest the LameStream Media is, I used the word Liddle’, not Liddle, in discribing Corrupt Congressman Liddle’ Adam Schiff. Low ratings @CNN (https://twitter.com/CNN) purposely took the hyphen out and said I spelled the word little wrong. A small but never ending situation with CNN!"

Russia, Ukraine -turning out to be, or to potentially be the graveyard of this administration. One wonders if the US has given a commitment to Russia not to defend Ukraine if another slice of its territory is occupied by the Russians.

[Stavros]

Here is a curious thought about the man who claims to be the 45th President of the USA. There is one politician he seems to respect above all others: Vladimir Putin, a man who joined the KGB when he was a teenager and presumaby the Communist Party too, and who seems to me to have been a Communist all his life. I understand he has a framed photograph of himself with the Communist leader of North Korea in a prominent position in the Oval Office. And if the US Government has refused to offer even verbal support to the democracy movement in Hong Kong, it is because the President does not want to offend the Communist Party of China and its leader as they celebrate 70 years in power.
All that anti Communist rhetoric and action in the Cold War, and here we are, the US is now all but allied to Communist countries and at war with Democracy. Maybe the choice at the next election should be between Americans and Communist Fellow Travellers, the slogan for the Democrats handed to them on a plate:
Vote American, Vote Democrat.
Because a vote for the Republican Party is a vote for Communist sympathisers in the Republican Party prepared and willing to sell the US to the highest bidder, with or without the Red Flag, though it be the welcome sign.

[Stavros]

I don't know if it is true but I read somewhere the Pentagon was not involved in the decision to move US troops from their current bases and that US support for the Kurdish militia was going to end. An agreement with Turkey suggests that the US is now willing to withdraw, wholly or partially from Syria (it is not that clear) on the assumption that Turkey will extend its occupation of the border area to 20 miles. It has been noted that Erdogan may want to both take on and crush or weaken the Kurdish militia groups that he claims are allied to Kurdish separatists in Turkey, and that they also have a plan to re-locate up to 3 million Syrian refugees which would also extend the Arabization of traditional Kurdish areas (which were not exclusively Kurdish anyway).

There is an obvious problem here, not just for the Kurds, but the fact that Syria is in the slow business of restoring its sovereignty with Russian and Iranian help, and that by abandoning its Kurdish allies in Syria (and presumably in Iraq too at some point soon), the US President, as I suggested in the earlier post, is delivering for Russia, yet again. Iran also benefits from this move, just as it benefited from regime change in Iraq. Putin must have danced with joy at the news.

Now, one could argue that the US military has been on the ground in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria and its achievements are pitiful, the cost staggering, in terms of lives killed and injured, and dollars. The logic is that if it is not working, then leave. On the other hand, this Republican President seems either indifferent to diplomacy, or simply incapable of doing it. There are ways of leaving, and leaving with a legacy in the form of a peace agreement ought not to be beyond the ability. But the US has been a weak partner in the peace talks that are supposed to bring the parties in Syria to some form of compromise agreement on a settlement to the war. Walking out on the Kurds does not just hand the military control to Russia, it implies that in any peace agreement, it is Russia that becomes the broker. Similarly, frustration in Afghanistan suggests the man wants out, rather than use US power and influence to bring the parties to serious negotiations, just as the government of Iraq appears to be losing control of the streets, and in both Iraq and Syria, remnants of al-Qaeda and Daesh are attempting to regroup and start their campaign for a revived Caliphate all over again.

At some point, the US must decide what its role is, and if it is going to turn its back on its allies, on its commitments, and retreat into an isolation from the world, which many of the President's supporters may want him to do. But there are consequences. The US has stationed troops in Saudi Arabia, and this was a primary cause of al-Qaeda's declaration of war in 1998 that led directly to the bombings in East Africa, the attack on the USS Cole in the Yemen and of course 9/11. The absence of diplomacy may suit a President who conceives of everything as a one-on-one deal where he calls the shots, but the world doesn't work that way. In the past, in Central America, the US paid the governments greenbacks to keep out the wet-backs. The apparent end of that system allied to abysmal corruption and violence has led thousands to vote with their feet and head north -it is this President's utter failure in diplomacy that has provoked a worse crisis on the US border than needed to happen, just as the shabby withdrawal of support for the most successful group that ended Daesh's grim command of territory speaks volumes for the man's complete lack of interest in the US's concept of alliance -even the freedom given to Turkey has a sinister add-on with any extra-ops leading to a threat to obliterate the Turkish economy as if that could be done and would benefit anyone other than crooks and terrorists.

Or maybe he is a 'wise guy', a fully paid up member of the Russian Mafia, dedicated to delivering what Putin wants (for example. the Ukraine)-one has to wonder at the ineptitude of a man who, deep in a Ukrainian hole alienates his closest US allies, I mean, even Mitch McConnell is upset. Obama's caution now stands as the rational response to uncertainty. He too did not achieve much in diplomatic terms other than the JCPOA with Iran, but he was weakened by local politicians squabbling among themselves, unable to or unwilling to compromise and committed to violence -but this President has made the situation worse, and guaranteed that the politics of the Middle East will remain volatile and very dangerous.
And who knows what he is going to do next?

[buttslinger]

As long as Trump doesn't paint his name on the White House, or declare war on somebody, the Senate Republicans will let him collude with Putin all he wants, and amuse their inbred base all he wants. They make deals with the Devil all the time if it keeps them in power and gets Judges elected, and keeps their goddam donors ecstatic, they consider it better than giving Democrats eight years. We've all seen how far they'll go.
I think today's stunt might force the question if anyone has reins on Trump.
I think the Democrats throwing IMPEACHMENT across home plate has Republican Senators nervous, if evidence keeps mounting they are fucked if they are the first ones to kick a President crying and screaming out of the White House, and they are also fucked if they cover for overwhelming evidence of criminal activity in the highest seat in the land.
Trump asked a Foreign Nation for dirt on a Democrat one day after he was "cleared" of getting help from a Foreign Nation against a Democrat. That's carved in stone no matter how many variations are thrown against it. I think the worm has turned. No way in Hell Trump being President wouldn't end in disaster for somebody(s). Only Time will tell who survives.
I now return you to your normal programming.

[Jericho]

Is he working on an insanity plea,or are you guys really fucked?

[buttslinger]

Is he working on an insanity plea,or are you guys really fucked?

Hmmm...MAYBE, and YES. Your guess is as good as mine.
The one thing I am sure of is that you know What the Guardian knows, and I know what CNN knows, and God only knows the truth, no, strike that, I don't even think God knows.
I fear there is an office high above the New York Stock Exchange that knows the West is in decline and China is THE FUTURE and the smart people are cashing in grabbing as much money is they can to buy an Estate overlooking the Mediterranean. The United States I knew as a kid is long gone, and Trump is a symptom of that. Trump keeps saying he is the only person who could have survived what we put him through these past few years, and I think he's right. If he leaves the Oval Office in cuffs or a straightjacket, that's fine with me. I only hope he takes the Republican Party and Putin with him, maybe then we've got a fighting chance to walk out of this nightmare.

[Stavros]

Nancy Pelosi summed it up perfectly yesterday-

Pelosi explained to Trump that Russia has always wanted a “foothold in the Middle East”, and now it now had one with the US withdrawal, according to a senior Democratic aide who was also granted anonymity.
“All roads with you lead to Putin,” the speaker said.
Then things escalated.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/16/democrats-pelosi-meltdown-trump-meeting

[Stavros]

More on the activities of William Barr travelling the world to find material he can use to attack and discredit the Intelligence Services of of the US, presumably on behalf of Vladimir Putin?

Trump and Barr have also been asking other foreign governments for help in investigating the FBI (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/FBI), CIA (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/CIA) and Mueller investigators. The US president has called on the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/scott-morrison) for assistance, while the attorney general has been on similar missions to the UK and Italy.




And the information being requested has left allies astonished. One British official with knowledge of Barr’s wish list presented to London commented that “it is like nothing we have come across before, they are basically asking, in quite robust terms, for help in doing a hatchet job on their own intelligence services”.

Two weeks ago Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, revealed that Barr had visited his country twice in the previous two months, alongside John Durham, the Connecticut attorney he had appointed to lead his investigation, and had pressed for information about the activities of the US intelligence services.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry-latest-russia-mueller-ukraine-zelensky-a9181641.html

[Stavros]

'I don't know Prince Andrew..'
Unverified quote "But I played golf with him and I beat him. I beat everyone I play golf with. If I were not so successful in business and President of the USA I would be the greatest golfer of all time. Sad."

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/191203125719-01-trump-prince-andrew-june-2019-exlarge-169.jpg

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/03/politics/donald-trump-prince-andrew-photos/index.html

[broncofan]

Been a while since I posted on this thread and obviously things are changing. Having watched it on TV I am beginning to think Trump is the safest of the two of them, lesser of two evils :nervous:
It really is an unbelievable choice for the Americans!
My opinion of Clinton is now she is power mad, a warmonger, doesn't like Russia and despises Putin!
That is one lethal, toxic cocktail if I am right?
Honest question: Have you reconsidered this view?

[Stavros]

The Guardian reports on those 'evangelical Christians' ecstatic at the sight of their man standing outside the 'President's church' in Washington DC holding up a Bible. Indeed, one was so excited she burst into 'tongues' which has always made me laugh as there are no 'tongues', just gibberish. Whatever. One in the family put it like this:

“I believe it’s like Ephesians 6:10 through 19,” Horbowy said from Florida. “I believe this is a president who wears the full armor of God.”

Pity he didn't turn some pages back for this:
Ephesians 4:31-32:
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/03/donald-trump-church-photo-op-evangelicals

[Stavros]

The Russian Connection is back...but will it become headline news?

"The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released the fifth and final volume (https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf) of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, which details "counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities."
Why it matters: The bipartisan, 996-page report goes further than the Mueller report in showing the extent of Russia's connections to members of the Trump campaign, and how the Kremlin was able to take advantage of the transition team's inexperience to gain access to sensitive information."


Senate Intelligence acting chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.): “We can say, without any hesitation, that the Committee found absolutely no evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 election. ...
Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.): “At nearly 1,000 pages, Volume 5 stands as the most comprehensive examination of ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign to date – a breathtaking level of contacts between Trump officials and Russian government operatives that is a very real counterintelligence threat to our elections. ... This cannot happen again."

https://www.axios.com/senate-intelligence-russia-interference-971619a8-a806-470a-9de6-1416220ab35b.html

[Stavros]

Listen up, all you suckers and losers-

"Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump publicly denied the Atlantic article and claimed to have done more for the military than “almost anybody.”
-https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/sep/04/donald-trump-military-officers-north-carolina-votes-joe-biden-coronavirus-covid-19-latest-news-updates

Hmmm, anybody? Including General Wlliam DePuy?
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/depuy.pdf

And how about the time when the President accused US troops of being thieves?-

"He suggested that troops in Iraq stole the money (https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/trump-us-troop-stole-millions-and-millions-in-iraq-224352) they were supposed to be handing out: “I want to know who were the soldiers that had that job, because I think they’re living very well right now, whoever they may be.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/03/trump-is-most-anti-military-president-weve-hadand-he-doesnt-even-know-it/

[Stavros]

Hmmmm....Spooky....

"Donald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years and proved so willing to parrot anti-western propaganda that there were celebrations in Moscow, a former KGB spy has told the Guardian.

Yuri Shvets, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Shvets) posted to Washington by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, compares the former US president to “the Cambridge five”, (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/18/cambridge-spy-ring-what-biographers-say) the British spy ring that passed secrets to Moscow during the second world war and early cold war.
Now 67, Shvets is a key source for American Kompromat, (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/635379/american-kompromat-by-craig-unger/) a new book by journalist Craig Unger, whose previous works include House of Trump, House of Putin. The book also explores the former president’s relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein." (https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/jeffrey-epstein-and-donald-trump-epic-bromance)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book

[mrtrebus]

he's a cunt

[Stavros]

I watched all of the 45th President's speech at CPAC last night, and it was as expected, deluded and pathetic. A tribute act that took the viewer down memory lane, repeating more or less everything he has said since 2015 as if nothing had happened since that needed to change. The same litany of fears, to which he did brandish a new lance, the spectre of women's sport dying as so many transgenders smash their records, or 'biological males' as he called them, in what was probably scripted for him. Were he asked to name one transgedered athlete, who would he ID?

He talked about peace in the Middle East which 'they said could never happen' (who are 'they'?), as if he had accolades to share, when the US was, under his watch up to its neck in the savage war in the Yemen he did nothing, absolutely nothing to end, just as he complained about Joe Biden and the USA's 'Endless Wars' but did not end them himself by withdrawing all US troops from foreign fields.

He lied and lied and lied, at one point claiming he was responsible for creating in the US 'the greatest economy in the history of the world' or some similar rubbish, the kind of rubbish that makes you wonder if his speechwriters are as thick as he is -does anyone know who, when where and how had 'the greatest economy in the history of the world'? It can't be the USA with its trillions of dollars of household debt, its trillions f dollars of government debt, and the fact there were fewer people in work when Trump left office than when he entered it.

The call for election reform is already under way in those States where Republicans are determined to make it harder for people to register to vote, and presumably to vote on election day.

He went through the list -the New York Times, ominously, calls it a 'hit list'- of Senate and House Republicans who voted against him, and whe naming Mitch McConnell provoked almost as many boos as Liz Cheney. He only made one categorical statement, that he is no going to break away and form a new party, but that handcuffs the party to a man who refuses to accept that he not only lost the Presidency, but under his leadership, lost the House and the Senate, a triple whammy not experienced since the 1930s, but as the election was 'stolen' he cannot be blamed.

And that is the problem the party has -no attempt to engage with failure and ask why it has no policies other than, on education -'open the schools now!' (On a Sunday?). On Immigration -'stop it!', on elections -'one day only!', and on energy 'Stop the Windmills, they kill birds and don't work when there ain't no wind!'

Most shameful of all, but not surprising, no mention of Mike Pence, whose life was at risk throughout that grim January 6 when Trump called him a coward, inflaming the mob. No mention of the people who lost their lives that day, indeed, no mention at all of the most sustained attack on the Capitol since 1812, or the para-military insurrectionists who did it, chanting his name. One wonders if they consider this lack of recognition a betrayal of their 'sacrifice'. But if this man cannot accept losing an election, cannot accept the responsibility for the sedition that took place on January 6, then he remains unfit to hold public office.

It is fine for an insignificant nobody like Schlapp to attack Christians for their humility and the need to apologize when things go wrong, he says the time has come for 'Conservatives' to stop it- 'never apologize' he recommends. But if this is what the Republicans offer, four more years of grievance politics, a constant complaint that the 2020 election was 'rigged' or 'stolen', at what point in the next four years will people say 'enough!' Change the record!

Teasy-weasy may ask 'Who will it be?', but with only 55% at the Conference wanting it to be him, he may need to be more emphatic sooner rather than later, or maybe he prefers being 'Kingmaker' in the Court, every new Republican candidate making the trip to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the Ring, and wear the Halo of Donald's Endorsement?

The mid-terms will beg the question, but what will be the answer?

[Stavros]

So Mike Pence is still dismissed as a coward, and Mitch McConnell has gone from being a political 'hack' to a 'dumb son of a bitch' -but does this mean that both Pence and McConnell will campaign for the Republican Party of Trump and not respond to the abuse of a man it sees they cannot live without? The oddest thing of all is that in the UK it is considered a fact of political life that voters don't vote for divided parties, but will Trump's now relentless attacks on his own party and some of its most prominent representatives have a negative impact on the mid-terms? And what is Murdoch doing from his Cotswold's hideaway? Fox News does't seem to be interested in the 'civil war' in the GOP, but has Murdoch stopped talking to Trump? I am not in the US so I don't get the daily nuances but it seems the disarray in the party has not become headline news.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/11/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-dumb-son-of-a-bitch-republicans-fauci-chao-mar-a-lago

[filghy2]

It's not much of a civil war when the shots are mostly being fired by one side and the targets are afraid to fire back. The Republican establishment's plan to de-Trumpify the party seems to be to hope that he'll just fade away without them having to do anything to make that happen.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/13/mcconnell-trump-republican-party-spat-481222

[broncofan]

McConnell is too shrewd to ever tangle with Trump except to put a final nail in his coffin. He's not going to get into a public spat with him because Trump is the better demagogue whereas McConnell is a master manipulator. It is a battle between a man who supports pure partisanship and a man who is single-mindedly selfish. McConnell is loyal to party over principle and Trump to self over his constituents.

If McConnell is as committed to the GOP as I think he cannot really go after Trump because it would fracture the base. It may be in the best interests of the GOP to move away from Trumpism but they can't be seen to be doing it deliberately or they will lose voters. And what does a move away from Trumpism mean? Continued partisanship, obstructionism, bad faith, but do it in a way that is not as obviously corrupt, buffoonish, and unhinged looking.

[Stavros]

And what does a move away from Trumpism mean? Continued partisanship, obstructionism, bad faith, but do it in a way that is not as obviously corrupt, buffoonish, and unhinged looking.

Athough I agree with the point you are making, it means that in Congress the Republican Party represents nothing, merely a rejection of whatever it is that the Democrats and the President are proposing. McConnell has no other agenda than the one that was developed when Obama was President, but it also means that the people who voted for them can expect nothing other than the 'partisanship' and 'obstructionism' you list.

But in the States, the Republican Party of Trump is not so coy or locked into a condition of atrophy. They are busy demolishing the right to vote, to merge Tucker Carlson's hysterical view with their own, that there are simply too many 'obedient' Democrat voters and they must be taken out of the process.

The Party of Trump thus stands revealed as a Party that does have policies -to replace the US Constitution with a separate agenda that defines US politics in terms of an Either/Or dichotomy shaped by the historic 'heartbreak' of race. No attempt to re-define the purpose of the party, to amend its policy platform to appeal to a more diverse set of voters, many of whom are probably 'Conservatives' who in normal times would vote GOP.

Instead we have Trump's Revenge, Trump's Resentment, Trump's Bitterness, Trump's Accusation, and a lexicon of foul language and loathing, much of it directed by Trump at people, cowards and 'dumb sons of bitches' who he knows will continue to prostrate themselves before him, tongues ready to lick leather.

Why would anyone vote for such people? But is the base of Trump's support so solid they will turn out and vote in 2022, even for those members of the Trump Party their leader has called 'sons of bitches' or whichever is the latest slur?

[filghy2]

If McConnell is as committed to the GOP as I think he cannot really go after Trump because it would fracture the base. It may be in the best interests of the GOP to move away from Trumpism but they can't be seen to be doing it deliberately or they will lose voters. And what does a move away from Trumpism mean? Continued partisanship, obstructionism, bad faith, but do it in a way that is not as obviously corrupt, buffoonish, and unhinged looking.

They seem to be stuck in a trap where they can't reject Trump because the rank and file love him, but at the same time Trump and his supporters' behaviour alienates the swing voters they need to win elections. The only solution they seem to have is to double down on electoral manipulation so they can govern with minority support.

If McConnell is committed to the party's interests then the question is what is the party committed to. In the past it has been primarily the party of business interests, but that seems to be subordinated increasingly to tribal culture wars. The Republican establishment has assumed that cultural issues could be harnessed to advance its pro-business agenda but the tail may now be wagging the dog.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/14/republicans-big-business-democrats-us-politics

Contrary to Stavros I don't think the Republican Party stands for nothing. What it stands for increasingly is angry cultural nationalism. Its core support comes from people who feel threatened by economic and social change, which they associate with nefarious forces seeking to undermine their way of life. They love Trump because he is so effective at channelling this sense of grievance.

[Stavros]

Contrary to Stavros I don't think the Republican Party stands for nothing. What it stands for increasingly is angry cultural nationalism. Its core support comes from people who feel threatened by economic and social change, which they associate with nefarious forces seeking to undermine their way of life. They love Trump because he is so effective at channelling this sense of grievance.

You make a fair point with regard to my use of language, but if the Republican Party of Trump is now just one long, loud complaint about Immigrants, 'cancel culture' and rigged elections, what does it amount to? It might not be nothing in literal terms, but in terms of the political debate it doesn't amount to much compared to the real issues that concern most people -jobs, health, education, transport, the environment, and as a hot issue right now, policing. Trump has little or nothing to say about real issues, while McConnell sits in Congress hoping, perhaps praying that Trump will just fade away, as if he had not noticed Trump has alowed grudges going back to his childhood to dominate his agenda, and will carry on regardless of that dumb son of a Mitch.

The real question now it seems to me, is, will someone challenge Trump after 2022 when the time comes to make a real decision about 2024? And if he decides not to run, he will still want to be the 'Infuencer in Chief'.

[Stavros]

Ah the coincidences of history....

правда
First published in 1903, in 1912 it was taken over by the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic and Labour Party.

правда Социальное
First announced 22nd October 2021, the media platform of the Trump Media and Technology Group.

Truth, and Truth Social, from two of the greatest, most notorious liars in history. One led a revolution that created a one-party dictatorship, the other....

[Stavros]

I see reports from Florida that Cry-Baby Trump is still stamping his feet and crying because Ameriicans didn't vote for him to be their President. Just as unsurprising has been his claim Putin is 'Smart'. If you are as ignorant as Trump of course Putin is going to look smart. If you have a functioning brain, however, Putin's actions in Ukraine look so risky they might even end up finishing his career. How smart is that?

Now consider this, because Trump, for whom repetition is as dreary as the repetitious Hallellujah! chorus in Handel's Messiah, has said yet again

"No president was ever as tough on Russia as I was".
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/27/donald-trump-defends-calling-putin-smart-hints-at-2024-presidential-bid

If you want a bland version which facts check the claim try this-
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/feb/20/donald-trump/has-donald-trump-been-much-tougher-russia-barack-o/

A more exact thus more damaging debunk is here-
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/seeing-trumps-approach-putin-russia-brutal-new-light-rcna17565

But let's go back in time. JFK faced down the USSR in 1962. The negotiations with the USSR ended with the missiles being withdrawn from Cuba, and though secretly agreed at the time, the US agreed to remove its own missiles from Turkey. Publicly, it was the USSR that was viewe to have been beaten, and as a result, within two years, Khrushchev had been removed from power.

If that is not tough enough, consider Ronald Reagan's response to the USSR's entry into the power stuggle in Afghanistan in 1979 -funding and arming the Mujahideen throughout the 1980s, in concert with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, in a devastating military mistake for the USSR that was fundamental to the succession of Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU, ending the USSR's involvement in Afghanistan and thus becoming one step toward what Gorbachev had not in fact intended, the dissolution of the USSR. Tough!

And has any US President ever relied so much on Russian money to survive? How many had business interests in Russia? How many US Presidents fawned all over the Russian leader of their day, even claiming Russian intelligence is better than their own? And how many President, during an election campaign they know had been infiltrated by the Russians, chose not to defend the US at the time, but take sides with Russia against the USA?

In a company of one, the most unique traitor in American history.

[Stavros]

The latest from the 'Greatest President of all Time' -pleading with ordinary Americans to fund his Trump Force One (because he can't afford it?)-

"So, in the history of our country, nothing like me has ever happened," Trump said. "I don't say that positive, negative. You know, you've never had a businessman."Trump went on to explain that most US presidents have a background in politics or the military.
"So you had soldiers and you had politicians," Trump said. "There's never been an outsider."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-history-country-nothing-ever-165803315.html

Same old Trump- ignorant, self-obsessed, absurd, doesn't know what Google is.

Here are the Presidents who were businessmen-

https://time.com/4547837/donald-trump-business-presidents/

[Stavros]

"I ran twice and won twice, and I did much better the second time than we did the first," Trump said, calling the election results "rigged."
Trump also hinted that he would make another run for president in 2024.
"Now, we may have to run again," he said to applause and cheers from the crowd. He added: "In 2024, we are going to take back that beautiful, beautiful White House."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-floats-expanded-presidential-powers-075706082.html

Hmmm...if he won twice that's it, he can't run for a third term. Or maybe he lost? Just maybe...

[Stavros]

On the basis of these riveting hearings, not that his supporters can be bothered to watch them (but he does, obsessively, of course), history may ask how it was that such a deranged man held hostage other men one might assume to be intelligent enough to know when they have been taken for a ride. I don't know what 'Beast' the Fake President was in when he lunged for the wheel, and it is no surprise that men disputing Ms Hutchinson's account are believed to be so loyal to the Beast to deny her account, whatever, the stunning fact to me was Mark Meadows simply shrugging his head in complete indifference to the events that were unfolding in the Capital of his country. That combination of Judicial Activism and political indifference may be defined as the key components in the decline of the US as a Union.

As for the deluded fool who may be fighting the next ten years on the last ten years-

"Holder: Donald Trump is not a rational player. I mean, he just isn’t. You can’t have a conversation with him in the same way that you can have a conversation with most other people. He is somebody that lives in a different reality. He had started the lie about the election back in 2016. What I saw after the first interview with him in the White House was that he now became someone who believed in his own lie, and that is a person who is delusional. That is a person who is incredibly dangerous, because you can't debate with that person. There is no way that anybody can persuade Donald Trump that he’s wrong. And this is something that’s characteristic of him all the way through his life, and the series goes into this in the sense that he will never accept that he had done anything wrong. He will always double back. He’s always right, and it’s always somebody else’s fault. I mean, he lives in cloud cuckoo land."
Filmmaker who gave footage to Jan. 6 committee: Trump is 'dangerous,' living in 'cloud cuckoo land' (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/filmmaker-who-gave-footage-to-jan-6-committee-trump-is-dangerous-living-in-cloud-cuckoo-land-235650617.html)

[Stavros]

This is weird, as if he were a Medieval King prone to extreme fits. But what should the Music Man play for the 45th? I am trying to think of something venal, but I love music too much. As for me, for what that's worth, I link the sort of thing guaranteed to lift anyone from the pit -with Kleiber at his peak in Munich, my destination in a few weeks time. The whole opera is worth watching too.

"Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s ex-press secretary, has said this week that her boss’s temper was so furious at times during his presidency that his staff would summon an aide dubbed the Music Man, who would play songs to soothe him. The repertoire reportedly consisted of the president’s favourite show tunes, including Memory from the musical Cats.
With this in mind, we would like to hear from readers about their most calming musical choices. What are the tunes you turn to in times of great stress?"
Tell us: what is the song that calms you down? | Music | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/30/tell-us-what-is-the-song-that-calms-you-down)

Enjoy!
Direttore CARLOS KLEIBER - Die Fledermaus - "Overture" - Monaco di Baviera 1987 - Live - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8nfte2IcEY)

[Stavros]

"Arizona (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/arizona) Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Monday his investigators found just one dead voter after thoroughly reviewing findings from a partisan review of the 2020 election that alleged 282 ballots were cast in the name of someone who had died."
Arizona AG says most alleged 2020 dead voters were alive (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/arizona-ag-says-most-alleged-230314683.html)

Trump: I believe, sincerely, those people are dead. (This is not a quote, but an assumption based on what we are told his lawyers will argue is Trump's defence of the Jan 6th Insurrection against the USA).

And if it is illegal for a former President, or anyone else, to display the Presidential Seal of Office at their private golf clubs, why hasn't this man been arrested for breaking the law?

Trump plasters presidential seal across golf club during Saudi-backed LIV tournament despite complaints | The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-presidential-seal-saudi-liv-golf-b2134114.html)

[Stavros]

Is the law catching up with Trump-world? Hope springs eternal...

"Regarding Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, James said: “Mr Trump represented that his apartment spanned more than 30,000 sq ft, which was the basis for valuing the apartment.
In reality, the apartment had an area of less than 11,000 sq ft, something that Mr Trump was well aware of. And based on that inflated square footage the value of the apartment in 2015 and 2016 was $327m.
“To this date, no apartment in New York City has ever sold for close to that amount.
...
“Claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal… No one is above the law.”
New York attorney general announces civil lawsuit against Trump and family (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/york-attorney-general-announces-civil-154014907.html)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Is the law catching up with Trump-world? Hope springs eternal...

"Regarding Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, James said: “Mr Trump represented that his apartment spanned more than 30,000 sq ft, which was the basis for valuing the apartment.
In reality, the apartment had an area of less than 11,000 sq ft, something that Mr Trump was well aware of. And based on that inflated square footage the value of the apartment in 2015 and 2016 was $327m.
“To this date, no apartment in New York City has ever sold for close to that amount.
...
“Claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal… No one is above the law.”
New York attorney general announces civil lawsuit against Trump and family (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/york-attorney-general-announces-civil-154014907.html)The walls are closing in on The Trump Crime Family.

[Stavros]

I read this a short while ago, and I am puzzled -

"Armen Morian, a former prosecutor in the New York Attorney General’s Office, thinks Donald Trump might have a point.The former president has claimed that New York can’t bring a $250m fraud lawsuit against him and his family company because the Trump Organization consistently warned banks and insurers to rely on their own valuations before offering him business.
“What the disclaimers are saying is, ‘Beware when you read these financial statements,’” Mr Morian told Insider. “That’s all it has to do.”
Trump news - live: Ex-president owes National Archives more lost records as Mary says he’s plotting ‘revenge’ (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-news-live-ex-president-051046333.html)

Does this mean that when Trump signs a document confirming its contents are true, that in fact the signature means nothing? Is it always the case that signing a document does not confirm anything, and that say, the Banks can look at a signed declaration by Trump claiming the value of Property A is X, and automatically assume it is false?

How about other documents with signatures, like a marriage licence or
The Declaration of Independence, 4th July 1776, signed by all those traitors to the King?

[tslvr]

I read this a short while ago, and I am puzzled -

"Armen Morian, a former prosecutor in the New York Attorney General’s Office, thinks Donald Trump might have a point.The former president has claimed that New York can’t bring a $250m fraud lawsuit against him and his family company because the Trump Organization consistently warned banks and insurers to rely on their own valuations before offering him business.
“What the disclaimers are saying is, ‘Beware when you read these financial statements,’” Mr Morian told Insider. “That’s all it has to do.”
Trump news - live: Ex-president owes National Archives more lost records as Mary says he’s plotting ‘revenge’ (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-news-live-ex-president-051046333.html)

Does this mean that when Trump signs a document confirming its contents are true, that in fact the signature means nothing? Is it always the case that signing a document does not confirm anything, and that say, the Banks can look at a signed declaration by Trump claiming the value of Property A is X, and automatically assume it is false?

How about other documents with signatures, like a marriage licence or
The Declaration of Independence, 4th July 1776, signed by all those traitors to the King?


I don't want a fight, but please name one bank or lending firm that hands out loans or finances building projects that goes on the word of the borrower. Every car and home loan, I've ever gotten, the lending institution did an appraisal of the the property itself and a background check of my credit. I am not saying a word here about Trump being some kind of nice guy, but someone has to admit that the entire world has gotten pretty chaotic since the last US elections.

[Stavros]

I don't want a fight, but please name one bank or lending firm that hands out loans or finances building projects that goes on the word of the borrower. Every car and home loan, I've ever gotten, the lending institution did an appraisal of the the property itself and a background check of my credit. I am not saying a word here about Trump being some kind of nice guy, but someone has to admit that the entire world has gotten pretty chaotic since the last US elections.

This goes way back years, so the investigations into the allegations by the New York Attorney General James begs a profound question -what was the quality of the due diligence that lenders, auditors, lawyers and others responsible did when evaluating Trump's claims? If it is the case that Trump exaggerated the size of his apartment in Trump Tower, why did nobody notice when, as the AG pointed out, its valuation would have made it the most expensive apartment in New York? Can nobody in the business notice the difference between 11,000 sq ft and 30,000 sq ft?

If it were the case that prestigious Accountants were in on the game, or turned a blind eye to suspicious claims, doesn't this rock the world of New York finance to its knees?

Again, we know Trump was close to bankruptcy in the early 1990s when his New Jersey casinos went belly up, so how did he manage to acquire bank loans when he had a string of business failures and was clearly a risky investment, with a record of rarely if ever paying his debts? Was it the collateral he provided to the banks that convinced the Banks? Was it the value of the property portfolio he inherited from his father?

And again, where is the evidence that Trump was investigated for money laundering for the Russian mafia in his New Jersey casinos -indeed, was this one of the reasons they collapsed?- and did anyone 'join the dots' when Trump went into business in Trump Soho with Felix Sater, a convicted racketeer for the Russian mafia? The Scottish Govt is investigating Trump's purchase of golf clubs in Scotland because of the manner in which they were purchased.

To many people, Trump got away with these potential or actual crimes, tying people down through multiple law suits and Chapter 11 bankruptcies, forever using the system to avoid scrutiny of his books, or by settling out of court, as happened with 'Trump University'.

Could it be that what Trump did was involve people in his 'business' schemes that made them liable to financial penalties, and that because of this they went along with them in the hope they would at least get their money back from them?

He was exposed during his 'Presidency' as a liar, a crook and a traitor, and yet he insists he is the Greatest President of all Time, and can de-classify Federal documents merely by thinking it. Like Darth Vader.

It is long past the time when he was exposed to the rule of law, along with the people who enabled him over the years.

[Stavros]

Looks like we have gone from 'Are we on the same page?' to 'Are we on the same planet?'. Maybe these two men really are as stupid as they make out to be, in which case why were they in such influential positions in US Govt?

"Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told incoming Biden White House chief of staff Ron Klain that "no president" received a daily intelligence briefing, after the longtime Democratic aide told his GOP counterpart that the incoming president wanted to be briefed on a daily basis, according to a new book by New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman."
Meadows Told Ron Klain 'No President' Received Daily Briefing: Book (businessinsider.com) (https://www.businessinsider.com/meadows-klain-trump-biden-presidential-transition-daily-intelligence-briefing-book-2022-10?r=US&IR=T)

"CNN reports (https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/politics/michael-fanone-kevin-mccarthy-january-6/index.html) that Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader in the House of Representatives who stands a good chance of becoming its speaker next year, told officers who fought with the mob that then-president Donald Trump had no idea it was his supporters causing the violence – even though he addressed them just prior to the attack"
Kevin McCarthy claimed Trump had no idea his supporters carried out Capitol attack – live (theguardian.com) (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/oct/10/midterm-election-jan-6-mccarthy-republicans-democrats-biden-latest)

[broncofan]

I don't want a fight, but please name one bank or lending firm that hands out loans or finances building projects that goes on the word of the borrower.
It doesn't happen in the normal course of business.

It has happened numerous times in well publicized cases of corruption. Sometimes there's an entanglement between a loan officer or bank executive and the borrower that permits the uncreditworthy person to get a loan and sometimes the bank's underwriters are fooled by fraudulent financials that are provided to them. On this last point, many documents that are provided to a bank when someone secures a loan are created by the borrower. Even if you provide tax documents, we have a system where the taxpayer calculates his own taxes and is subject to audit only in rare cases.

This is just one example but there are numerous ones from the 1980s and 1990s. https://www.deseret.com/1990/7/6/18870285/u-s-seeks-24-million-from-ex-s-l-chief

Edit: in the article you'll notice Spiegel did many things wrong. Note the 28 million dollar loan to Howard Schneider, who spent the rest of his life in prison.

[filghy2]

Even if you provide tax documents, we have a system where the taxpayer calculates his own taxes and is subject to audit only in rare cases.

Presidential tax returns are supposed to be subject to mandatory annual audits. During the Trump years the IRS failed to apply it's own policy.
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2022-12-22/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight

[broncofan]

Presidential tax returns are supposed to be subject to mandatory annual audits. During the Trump years the IRS failed to apply it's own policy.
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2022-12-22/irs-mandatory-presidential-audit-policy-goes-under-spotlight
Good point. I guess my main point is that during the lending process there are lots of inaccurate disclosures a person can make that banks might rely on.

For the post above, I could have added that in some cases Trump had gotten appraisals of properties, didn't like the appraisals and provided his own made-up values. Now I'd assume if the bank ordered the appraisal they would be provided a copy of it, but he shouldn't have provided the bank with phony financial statements. It is possible that whoever approves the loan relies on the financial statements, is not aware of the appraisal, etc.

'James also said the Trumps “received a series of bank ordered appraisals for the commercial property at 40 Wall Street in New York City that calculated the value of the property at $200m as of August 2010 and $220m as of November 2012.


“Yet in his 2011 statement, Mr Trump listed 40 Wall Street with a value of $524m, which increased to $530m over the next two years, more than twice the value calculated by the professionals."

[broncofan]

I don't want a fight, but please name one bank or lending firm that hands out loans or finances building projects that goes on the word of the borrower. Every car and home loan, I've ever gotten, the lending institution did an appraisal of the the property itself and a background check of my credit. I am not saying a word here about Trump being some kind of nice guy, but someone has to admit that the entire world has gotten pretty chaotic since the last US elections.
I also want to point out that the valuations he lied about were used to determine his net worth. Banks do not typically order appraisals for every asset you claim to own. For instance, he lied about the value of an apartment he owns by inflating its square footage by threefold.

The bank will order an appraisal of the property you're getting the mortgage to purchase (and they apparently wanted appraisals of other selected properties bc maybe they thought them crucial to determining his creditworthiness), but if you lie about your net worth and holdings, they are not going to be able to confirm that. And how much his other properties are worth relative to the debt on them matters a lot.

[filghy2]

Good point. I guess my main point is that during the lending process there are lots of inaccurate disclosures a person can make that banks might rely on.

There's also a problem with incentives in the financial sector. Someone would be making a commission from writing the loan.

As you know, there is moral hazard in banking because the government is forced to bail them out if necessary to protect deposits. Bank executives are rarely prosecuted - there were only a few minor officials prosecuted after the 2008 crisis. The worse that can happen in general is that their contract is terminated with a big payout.

Add in political influences, and I can see why noone might have looked too closely at Trump's valuations.

[Stavros]

"“In conversations I’d been in the room for, President Trump would explicitly say that he’d love a country that was totally an ‘eye for an eye’ — that’s a direct quote — criminal justice system, and he’d talk about how the ‘right’ way to do it is to line up criminals and drug dealers before a firing squad,” a former White House official told Rolling Stone."
Trump is planning to bring back firing squads if re-elected (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-planning-bring-back-firing-182344896.html)

Why a firing quad? Maybe he should propose public beheadings in the town square, and ask Saudi Arabia or retired ISIS fighters to show America how its done?

[Stavros]

Set aside the fact that Critical Race Theory is not part of the high school curriculum, as far as I know, and the verified fact that he can't spell three letter words correctly, and consider this from .45-

"“We have to get back to common sense, and that is reading, writing, arithmetic,” Mr Trump told the crowd in Davenport, in response to an audience question about schools becoming “indoctrination camps” that are “focused on sexualising our children”.“What they’re teaching in schools today is insane,” said the 76-year-old Republican, who is running for president again after failing to win a second term in 2020."
Donald Trump tells voters he will ban ‘critical race theory’ being taught in US schools (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-vows-ban-critical-110508277.html)

This is a man who lives in Florida where it was legal for a 74 year-old man to marry a 14 year-old girl, because child marriage is legal in the State. Does it mean it is wrong to 'sexualize' children in school, but not in marriage, when the girl is 12 or 14 and the man 74? Is Florida a paradise for paedophiles? One wonders when Trump told law enforcement his buddy Jeff was breaking the law, when all Epstein needed to do was marry the girls....funny old world, innit?

[Stavros]

And here's another thing....don't mention the Russians....the Russians...the Russians....he doesn't like it.

Federal investigators examined Trump Media for possible money laundering, sources say | Donald Trump | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/15/trump-media-investigated-possible-money-laundering)

[Stavros]

This is not satire, I think they are genuine, but it is surely taking a Cult of Personality to a new low?

"The New York Young Republican Club has put out a statement that managed to stand out among the many other voices defending Donald Trump.
"President Trump embodies the American people – our psyche from id to super-ego – as does no other figure; his soul is totally bonded with our core values and emotions, and he is our total and indisputable champion. This tremendous connection threatens the established order."
(1) Donald Trump to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon, New York court officials say – live (theguardian.com) (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2023/mar/31/donald-trump-indictment-former-us-president-first-to-face-criminal-charges-stormy-daniels)


Just like the old times....

THANK YOU DEAR COMRADE STALIN FOR A HAPPY CHILDHOOD!

https://libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-online/files/fullsize/d2c98004293a061fc24c50ab2512b05f.jpg

[Stavros]

For once, Trump has outlined a policy -on the Homeless. For a Republican it makes for interesting reading. Here is a summary-

"To combat homelessness, which is driven (https://www.sightline.org/2022/03/16/homelessness-is-a-housing-problem/) first and foremost by high housing costs, Mr Trump is proposing opening large “tent cities,” or camps, where homeless people would be forced to live if they did not want to go to jail.“We will then open up large parcels of inexpensive land, bring in doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug rehab specialists and create tent cities where the homeless can be relocated and their problems identified,” Mr Trump said in the video. “But we’ll open up our cities again, make them livable and make them beautiful.”
Trump reveals new homelessness policy: Tent cities for rehabilitation and jail for those who refuse (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-reveals-homelessness-policy-tent-212222422.html)

To most Republicans I would imagine this sounds like Socialism, or the Feds taking control, and that is before the funding is clarified. Maybe best to spend a few billion building prisons and shove the homeless in there. Or re-locate them from LA and San Francisco, to newly built prisons in Alaska and call it the 'Gulag Archipelago'?

[filghy2]

To most Republicans I would imagine this sounds like Socialism, or the Feds taking control, and that is before the funding is clarified. Maybe best to spend a few billion building prisons and shove the homeless in there. Or re-locate them from LA and San Francisco, to newly built prisons in Alaska and call it the 'Gulag Archipelago'?

Sounds a lot more like fascism. The Nazis did something similar.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqrfj6f/revision/4
"Concentration camps - Homosexuals, prostitutes, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, alcoholics, pacifists, beggars, hooligans and criminals were often rounded up and sent away to camps. During World War Two 85 per cent of Germany's gypsies died in these camps."

It's unconstitional to inter people without due process, so this proposal entails making it a crime to be too poor to afford housing. I'm sure all those freedom-loving Republicans will be objecting vociferously.

[Stavros]

Yes, I prefer your definition. I guess if he does win the Presidency -and Dominic Cummings has crunched some data to show it will happen- he will ditch the Constitution and rule by Executive Order.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Civil justice:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna82778

[Fitzcarraldo]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/31/donald-trump-classified-military-document-recording-iran

[Stavros]

I guess Trump is bored with merely insulting and abusing Americans, be they Veterans, Journalists, other Politicians, he can't seem to do much else -only he has stepped up a level, and now he wants to kill them. Or, as is common with cowards like him, get someone else to do the killing. I don't suppose he was actually thinking of Black Americans....was he?

"When former President Trump hysterically called for shoplifters to be shot in a speech last week before California Republicans, we know who he thinks he’s talking about: Black and Brown people. “We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft,” Trump said. “Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store. Shot!”"

but then

"According to a 2014 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry, 77.5 percent (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4104590/)of shoplifters are White, significantly above their 59 percent of the national population. Only 8 percent of shoplifters are Black and only another 8 percent are Latino, well below their shares of the national population. That study said, “Shoplifting was significantly more common in individuals with at least some college education, among those with individual incomes over $35,000 and family incomes over $70,000.”"
Donald Trump Says Shoplifters Should be Shot, but Does He Know Who Most Shoplifters Are? (yahoo.com) (https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-says-shoplifters-shot-204900247.html)

What the hell, kill them anyway. Shoot 'em dead. Problem solved.

[Stavros]

The Mad Hatter is in need of a...Tea Party...?

-Jesus could be Speaker of the House.
(That will be Jesus of Nazareth, not Jesus, an LA taxi driver who once ripped me off).

-"“We did nothing wrong,” Trump said. “This is all Biden’s stuff … I was never indicted. You practically never heard the word.”"

-"Trump tells Republicans to focus on watching votes being counted on election night instead of getting out to vote:"You don't have to vote, don't worry about voting. The voting, we got plenty of votes."
(Does he mean the votes printed by Bannon and Stone and smuggled in to the count under cover of darkness?)

-"Trump also remarked that “U.S.” and “us” are spelled the same and noted that he’d “just picked that up.”“Has anyone ever thought of that before?” he asked the crowd. “Couple of days, I’m reading, and it said ‘us.’ and I said, you know, when you think about it, us equals U.S."
(And leave out America...)

-"On meeting Viktor Orban: "Trump: I was very honored, there’s a man, Viktor Orbán. He’s the leader of Turkey"...

-"Trump says he will prevent immigrants who “don’t like our religion” from entering the United States".
What is Trump's religion? Trump, Money, Publicity, or all three?

-"We don't get scared. I don't mind being Nelson Mandela."
Words fail me.

-"Last week, he told reporters outside a New York City courtroom that his Mar-a-Lago estate was the “most expensive house (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-false-claim-mar-a-lago_n_652eb3aae4b00565b621ac65) probably in the world”.
Note to Trump: Mar-a-Lago is a club, not a residence.

Trump Falsely Claims He 'Was Never Indicted' Despite Being Indicted 4 Times (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-falsely-claims-never-indicted-224111700.html)

[Stavros]

Litigation, litigation, litigation -has there ever been a man so addicted to litigation? And who is going to pay the fees for the lawyers lining up to be the next roster of (probably unpaid) legal representatives?

And is this not a shameless attempt to swindle investors out of their capital? Their reaction? To sue him. Memo to High School leavers -be a lawyer, you will always be in work, though you might not always get more than your expenses paid....

" Donald Trump has sued two co-founders of his newly public Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., claiming they set the company up improperly and shouldn’t get any stock in it.
"In the latest legal skirmish over who gets how much of the hot but flailing meme stock, Trump alleges that Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss violated an agreement about the setup and don’t deserve their 8.6% stake, currently valued at $606 million.
The lawsuit, which was filed on March 24 in Florida state court and hasn’t previously been reported, comes after the pair brought their own suit against the former president in Delaware Chancery Court over their promised stake in the social media company."
Trump Sues Truth Social Company Co-Founders to Zero Them Out (yahoo.com) (https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-sues-co-founders-truth-190328312.html)

[Stavros]

And then there is the by now predictable links to a suspect in a criminal case-

"Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media managed to go public last week only after it had been kept afloat in 2022 by emergency loans provided in part by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation."

The problems with financing his fines

"led Trump Media to take emergency loans, including from an entity called ES Family Trust, which opened an account with Paxum Bank, a small bank registered on the Caribbean (https://www.theguardian.com/world/caribbean) island of Dominica that is best known for providing financial services to the porn industry.Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger."
Exclusive: Trump Media saved in 2022 by Russian-American under criminal investigation | Donald Trump | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/03/trump-media-es-family-trust-2022-loans)

Presumably if Trump wins in November, and he is out of prison, ex-con Navarro will be made either Secretary of State or maybe even Vice-President?

[Stavros]

I forgot to add these links

Just what were Donald Trump’s ties to the mob? – POLITICO (https://www.politico.eu/article/what-were-donald-trump-ties-to-mob-mafia-casino-atlantic-city-real-estate-investigation/)

Donald Trump, Mob Boss—Then and Now – Mother Jones (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/08/donald-trump-rico-indictment-georgia-mafia-ties/)

[Stavros]

"“And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise, and said: ‘I need a caretaker,’” booms a video that Trump shared (https://twitter.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1743306613497426058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1743306613497426058%7Ctwgr% 5Ea434ad5b6985d6cb5ef0c37bc43df4ea4dacfbf5%7Ctwcon %5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.snopes.com%2Ffact-check%2Fgod-made-trump-video%2F) on his Truth Social account, and that has been played at some of his rallies (https://twitter.com/costareports/status/1746591492527825327?lang=en).“So God gave us Trump.”
The video, made by Dilley Meme Team, a group of Trump supporters, continues:
“God said: ‘I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, fix this country, work all day, fight the Marxists, eat supper, then go to the Oval Office and stay up past midnight at a meeting of the heads of state.’ So God made Trump.”
Christian nationalists embrace Trump as their savior – will they be his? (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/christian-nationalists-embrace-trump-savior-110002714.html)

Something has happened in the US over the years, and I cannot explain it to any degree of satisfaction. The mere fact that some people believe this raises more questions than answers. I can only assume most Americans who vote are not so deluded. But at the same time I feel there is a lost generation there somewhere, and I see no means whereby this portion of the American public can be reconciled with the rest, the chasm of reason is too wide.

[Stavros]

Is this going to be a daily occurrence now?

"Donald Trump (https://www.rawstory.com/trump-news/) said (https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1716528846302859763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1716528846302859763%7Ctwgr% 5E98fdaead938d2f4e85f4b7b883cba7ee4fb3e170%7Ctwcon %5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Ftr ump-jesus-house-speaker-republicans-congress-emmer-2023-10) Monday that Jesus Christ would be the only viable candidate for speaker of the House".

Only Jesus Christ could be a successful speaker of the House: Donald Trump - Raw Story (https://www.rawstory.com/jesus-christ-speaker-of-the-house/?utm_source=msn)


WHAT ABOUT JOSEPH, MARY AND THE WEE DONKEY?
I think its time this trinity had a go at government. On current form a donkey would do a better job than Mike Johnson, and may even certify the results of the 2024 election, given that Johnson refused the certification in 2020 and is probably going to reject the next one too. Yeah I know about the mascots, but the US is not in need of a mascot, or a jackass for the matter, as there are plenty of them to go round.

[Stavros]

And here was me thinking the man is a slob, walking around without buttoning his jacket- but not according to Herr Miller-

"“The most stylish president and first lady in our lifetimes are Donald Trump and Melania Trump (https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/melania-trump),” said Miller, "
He’s A WHAT?!? Stephen Miller Schooled For Truly Weird New Claim About Donald Trump (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/hes-stephen-miller-schooled-truly-074702105.html)

[Stavros]

"A Kremlin spokesperson had a pretty aloof response to Donald Trump’s latest claims about his bond with Vladimir Putin today.The ex-US president alleged on social media that, if re-elected, he would use his relationship with Putin to help secure the release of a US journalist.
The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich has been held in Russian prison for more than a year under spying charges."
Kremlin Responds To Trump's Claim Putin Would Grant Him – And Only Him – A Particular Favour (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/kremlin-responds-trumps-claim-putin-154603936.html)

What? You don't need an election to make a phone call. Call Putin. Call him now, or shut up.

[filghy2]

The ex-US president alleged on social media that, if re-elected, he would use his relationship with Putin to help secure the release of a US journalist.

I'm sure Putin would be happy to provide this small favour in return for Trump abandoning Ukraine (and probably the rest of Eastern Europe).

[Stavros]

Maggie Haberman and Jonah E. Bromwich write about Trump's links to convicted criminals as being part of his 'shtick' though the Libertarians didn't much take to their 'rebel' 'outlaw' as a hero.
Trump Leans Into an Outlaw Image as His Criminal Trial Concludes (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-leans-outlaw-image-criminal-122047300.html)

The authors have skipped over the earlier connections, be it Roy Cohn and the Italian Mafia, or the Russians, be they Mafia or Felix Sater, or 'Putin's People' as discussed in this review of Elton's book, on page 5-
OLESON_Book_Reviews_from_AFIO_Vol26_No1_INTEL_Fall _2020.pdf (https://www.afio.com/publications/OLESON_Book_Reviews_from_AFIO_Vol26_No1_INTEL_Fall _2020.pdf)

Or this series on Trump's connections to organized crime-
Donald Trump, Russian Intelligence, and Eurasian Organized Crime: Convergence in Brighton Beach(1974–1994) | by Peter Grant | Medium (https://medium.com/@petergrant_14485/donald-trump-russian-intelligence-and-eurasian-organized-crime-convergence-in-brighton-beach-44deaffb1fd3)

It beggars belief that anyone would endorse a man with such connections, of which he seems to be proud rather than ashamed, but then he is rarely if ever called to account for the 'dark materials' in his past, least of all by the fawning TrumpPuppets who think he ihas been sent to them by God or whatever passes for the Almighty in the swamplands of the South -or New York City.

When nobody is ashamed of Donald Trump, you know the USA is in peril. They are not ashamed, because they don't care, it's that simple.

[Stavros]

If you can get to the end of this weird freewheelin' spiel about electric boats, sharks and fishermen, you might wonder why the people who yearn for an America of the 17th century don't rely on the Mayflower solution -use sails.

Donald Trump's Brain 'Malfunctioned' Amid His 'Incoherent' Rant About Sharks, Boats, Batteries and Water at Las Vegas Rally: Watch (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/donald-trump-s-brain-malfunctioned-amid-his-incoherent-rant-about-sharks-boats-batteries-and-water-at-las-vegas-rally-watch/ar-BB1nY150?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=EDGEESS&cvid=d19064e78d9c42bebb5d82ded2f59841&ei=75)

[Stavros]

Heather Cox Richardson, particularly good from 08.34. Yes, the outcome of the election is still uncertain, and yes he is so erratic that he may even sabotage his own agenda, and the Supreme Court handing over rights to the States is surely one of the key long term problems for social policy. But we also need more debate -not just in the US- on cryptocurrency, given the nexus of billionaires who want it (eg Peter Thiel) and who are close to the Trump-Vance Olympics of Lies.

Compelling stuff

Star historian issues STUNNING WARNING about Trump (youtube.com) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j389dk8dzIY)

[Stavros]

I don't think this even gets close to the man's image of himself. So why doesn't he just announce to the world that he is the greatest and more important and most popular person who has ever lived on Planet Earth?

"The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech talking about freedom and fighting for Comrade Kamala Harris for President, yet she hates Israel and will do nothing but make its journey through the complexities of survival as difficult as possible, hoping in the end that it will fail.
"Trump added: "Yet Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had. I have done more for Israel than any President, and frankly, I have done more for Israel than any person, and it's not even close."".
Donald Trump Tears Into 'Highly Overrated Jewish Governor' Josh Shapiro - Newsweek (https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-josh-shapiro-jewish-governor-dnc-kamala-harris-israel-gaza-1942755)

Anyone want to start a list of people who did something for Israel and the Jewish People (what, all of them?) even more than The Great Leader, Donald J Trump?

[Stavros]

The man and the money. On the one hand success, with playin' cards, on the other hand the stock of Truth Social is headed in only one direction, and it ain't up -yet as usual he may turn this failure into a couple of billion dollars. Makes you wonder why he bothers with politics.

"“By popular demand, I’m doing a new series of Trump digital trading cards,” he says in a video posted this morning to his Truth Social account (https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113034481955481796) (which his newly resurrected account on X has not shared).“These cards show me dancing and even me holding some bitcoins,” he continues, adding that those who buy 15 digital cards will get a physical card mailed to them for free – which will have a piece of the suit he wore at his presidential debate against Joe Biden (which he says is known as the “knockout suit”, because it indeed proved disastrous for the Democrat’s campaign) sewn into it.
“We’ll be talking about it for a long time,” the former president promises at the video’s end."
Trump to reportedly name Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard to transition team – live (theguardian.com) (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/aug/27/trump-harris-campaign-election-latest-updates)

As for Pravda Sozial, and its forgotten investors...

"Meanwhile, Trump is likely also getting ready to offload his 114 million TMTG shares — roughly 60 percent of the company's outstanding stock — as soon as next month. The six-month lockup period determined by the SEC is set to expire as soon as September 20, clearing the way for Trump to pull out.

As Quartz reports (https://qz.com/donald-trump-media-stock-holdings-djt-lockup-selloff-1851629076), Trump could make upwards of $2 billion, a hefty sum — but a fraction (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-media-dwac-merger-vote-3-5-billion-lock-up-cbs-news-explains/) of what he could've gotten away with earlier this year, before the price inevitably crashed.
The selloff, however, could prove devastating to investors who somehow still haven't jumped ship. Shares have been on a rollercoaster ride (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-medias-stock-rapidly-approaching-153433158.html), plummeting to record lows this month (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-truth-social-stock-hits-195535748.html). If Trump were to sell, shares would likely continue their freefall."
Truth Social Exec Dumps Stock as Price Plummets (yahoo.com) (https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/truth-social-exec-dumps-stock-145822626.html)

[Stavros]

"The former president on Tuesday “reTruthed” a response to a photo of the women smiling side by side that read: “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently…”"
Trump shares MAGA supporter’s disgusting remark about Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton | The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-harris-hillary-clinton-sexist-b2603417.html)

One wonders what role blow jobs have played in the marriage of American, or immigrant women, to rich men. Perhaps we should be told.

That the comment is disgusting but has not been the lead item on the news is further indication of what the US has lost. Decency.

Like using the graves of fallen soldiers as a photo opportunity in an election campaign.

[Stavros]

"Donald Trump told ally Mark Levin that he had “every right” to interfere with the 2020 election in comments aired on Fox News on Sunday."
Trump Tells Fox News He Had ‘Every Right’ to Meddle With 2020 Election (yahoo.com) (https://uk.yahoo.com/news/trump-tells-fox-news-had-060353641.html)

I don't understand why Trump is never challenged on this by his interviewers, who could at least ask him to cite whichever law it is that gives the President of the US the right to decide the outcome of elections. As far as i know, the Constitution, and probably every State election law, gives the President no role at all, while the attempt to prevent Congress from completing its business, as on Jan 6th 2021, is defined as Sedition. Trump and others should have been arrested at the time, and had they been, we might not be listening to the garbage dressed up as reason that is Trump whining on and on about an election he lost.

But then the rules on the conduct of people -all people- in Arlington is documented and known, so how Trump could even allow a photographer to be present begs the questions, but hey, rules and laws apply to everyone except him, innit?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

"Donald Trump told ally Mark Levin that he had “every right” to interfere with the 2020 election in comments aired on Fox News on Sunday."
Trump Tells Fox News He Had ‘Every Right’ to Meddle With 2020 Election (yahoo.com) (https://uk.yahoo.com/news/trump-tells-fox-news-had-060353641.html)

I don't understand why Trump is never challenged on this by his interviewers, who could at least ask him to cite whichever law it is that gives the President of the US the right to decide the outcome of elections. As far as i know, the Constitution, and probably every State election law, gives the President no role at all, while the attempt to prevent Congress from completing its business, as on Jan 6th 2021, is defined as Sedition. Trump and others should have been arrested at the time, and had they been, we might not be listening to the garbage dressed up as reason that is Trump whining on and on about an election he lost.

But then the rules on the conduct of people -all people- in Arlington is documented and known, so how Trump could even allow a photographer to be present begs the questions, but hey, rules and laws apply to everyone except him, innit? The more Donald-The Orange Rambling Clown-Trump talks the he incriminates himself. And the stunt he pulled at Arlington National Cemetery was despicable,disgusting and disrespectful to people who served in the armed forces and their families.

[Stavros]

"Trump’s campaign of sexual insinuation that launched with the phony Morissette song has been reliant on a far-right, mainly anonymous social media group called the Dilley Meme Team, which advertises itself as producing “the dankest memes and original content for Maga brands and campaigns”. During the Republican primaries, the group made crude videos of Nikki Haley as a prostitute and Casey DeSantis, the wife of Ron DeSantis, as a pornographic actor. It also created a video of Biden as a pedophile. The group was behind a video that Trump retweeted (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/21/donald-trump-video-unified-reich) in May hailing his return to power with a mock newspaper headline proclaiming the “Creation of a Unified Reich”.Trump has worked closely on these productions, “privately communicated with members of the meme team, giving them access and making specific requests for content”, according (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/us/politics/trump-meme-trolls-2024.html) to the New York Times."
Donald Trump is deeply threatened by Kamala Harris – and desperately flailing | Sidney Blumenthal | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/04/trump-kamala-election)

Also a pungent critique of Trump's misogyny, which he shares with too many supporters inside and outside his Party.

[Stavros]

What??!

""Nobody can draw crowds like me... I'm the greatest of all time, maybe greater even than Elvis," the former president said."Elvis had a guitar, I don't have a guitar. I don't have the privilege of a guitar," he told a rally in New York."".
Elvis, bitcoin and voting astronauts: odd US election moments (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/elvis-bitcoin-voting-astronauts-odd-152700052.html)

Elvis Presley - All Shook Up (Official Audio) (youtube.com) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23zLefwiii4)

[Stavros]

"“Nobody’s done more for the Jewish people than I have” Trump said. “No person has ever been better to the Jewish people, probably no person, period, to the Jewish people and Israel.""
'As a Jew, I am alarmed': Trump's Oct. 7 anniversary remarks spur shock and outrage (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/as-a-jew-i-am-alarmed-trump-s-oct-7-anniversary-remarks-spur-shock-and-outrage/ar-AA1rQzxN?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=e142d86b9b9e4bb1843e983fb870d07a&ei=4)

How about Raoul Wallenberg? There is a street named after him in Stockholm, I walked on it the other day. How many lives has Trump saved?

Dolly Parton has given $1 million to the Hurricane Helene relief effort -has multi-Billionaire Trump given so much as $1?

And Americans want this jerk in charge?

[Stavros]

1) How many times did Trump call Putin after he left office? If a Democrat did this there would be no other item on the news. The response to Woodward's claim has of course meant a fusillade of tantrum-heavy denial

"Amid reports that Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book would reveal that Donald Trump called Putin as many as seven times after leaving office and secretly sent him Covid-19 testing machines during the pandemic in 2020, the former president’s campaign has issued a flurry of personal attacks against the veteran investigative journalist.
In a statement, the campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung also said Woodward’s reporting was false:
"None of these made up stories by Bob Woodward are true and are the work of a truly demented and deranged man who suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Woodward is an angry, little man and is clearly upset because President Trump is successfully suing him because of the unauthorized publishing of recordings he made previously. President Trump gave him absolutely no access for this trash book that either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue. Woodward is a total sleazebag who has lost it mentally, and he’s slow, lethargic, incompetent and overall a boring person with no personality.""
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/oct/08/kamala-harris-donald-trump-us-election-hurricane-milton-latest-live-news

2) Even more this, which would have had Republicans and the media going berserk

"Steele discusses the reported occasion in May 2017 when Trump shared “top secret intelligence”, allegedly about an Israeli asset working inside the terrorist group Isis, with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. Sources, Steele says, believe Russia told Iran, which tipped off Isis, leading to the death of the asset.

Steele then cites his “impeccable source” saying Trump took documents concerning British naval secrets to Mar-a-Lago. He also says the British government knew of links between Trump and Moscow before his intervention, as the Australian government reported activities involving a Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos, in 2016."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/08/trump-christopher-steele-book

The man is a traitor, simple as that.

[Stavros]

What?!

Donald Trump bizarrely claims Democrats want to ban cows (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/donald-trump-bizarrely-claims-democrats-want-to-ban-cows/ar-AA1sbAyj?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=f361037e2050473caa10bb82f703cb31&ei=5)

Typical
‘Vengeful’ Trump withheld disaster aid and will do so again, ex-officials warn | Donald Trump | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/13/trump-disaster-funding-warning)

[Stavros]

What?!

"“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that with all due respect to women, and I love women,” he said. “But this guy, this guy, this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’ I had to say it.”"
Trump Calls Harris a ‘Shit’ VP, Talks Arnold Palmer in Bonkers Speech (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-arnold-palmer-penis-size-calls-harris-shit-vp-pennsylvania-speech-1235138168/)

Did Palmer also use it to be unfaithful to his wife, like Gary Cooper, alleged to have the biggest dick in Hollywood in them days?

Now you know why Trump showered alone after a round of tax-payer funded golf at his own venues (are guests charged extra to use the showers?).

[Stavros]

The Man has a fixation with Pennsylvania. Yesterday he said he would bring back jobs to the State, I think around 500,00 or so as he ranted on about the job losses, the loss of manufacturing and steel to China....that began when Ronald Reagan was President...and this from a man who had his Bibles printed in....not Pennsylvania, but, yep you guessed it, CHINA...

Trump’s Broken Promises on Pennsylvania’s Economy – Third Way (https://www.thirdway.org/talking-points/trumps-broken-promises-on-pennsylvanias-economy)

[Stavros]

Trump said this on the Rogan show yesterday

"Trump doubled down on his criticism of Detroit, saying that the Michigan city makes the US look like a “developing nation.”“Globalist politicians like Kamala Harris sold you out and let other countries loot and pillage and plunder your wealth and our jobs and our American dreams, 40 percent of Michigan auto jobs were annihilated after NAFTA, the worst trade deal ever made. And I ended it. I ended it with the USMCA,” Trump said."
Election 2024 live: Trump attacks ‘stupid women’ critics in outburst during 3-hour Joe Rogan interview (https://uk.yahoo.com/news/trump-ex-staffer-claims-once-080046721.html)

NAFTA -'the worst trade trade deal ever made' -made by a Republican.

Has he told Musk to bring all his foreign manufacturing 'back' to the USA? After all, when it comes to trade the Trump position is clear-

Markets will not make the decisions, the Govt will. The 9 words that has Reagan squirming in his grave.

This leaves no doubt that Trump has little or no interest in free markets, and for this reason it makes no sense for him to claim any legacy of Ronald Reagan who I believe he used to admire -he cannot, because he has rejected what Reagan stood for, just as JD Vance attacked Senator Biden for voting for NAFTA without mentioning that also voting Aye were Mitch McConnell, Charles Grassley, and in the House, Newt Gingrich while, of course, the inconvenient fact that it was Reagan's policy from Day One was ignored.

So here is the Great Communicator saying what he meant, as a contrast to the man who doesn't believe Markets Know Best, but that he does.

Origins of NAFTA: Ronald Reagan and the North American Union - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcTPwHY-LpY)

[ceejay100]

This was the welcome given by Janey Godley, who passed away yesterday, when Trump visited his Turnberry Golf Course in 2016.

I think that sentiment is equally valid today

1472272

[filghy2]

This was the welcome given by Janey Godley, who passed away yesterday, when Trump visited his Turnberry Golf Course in 2016.

Yet another investment by the 'business genius' that loses money
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnberry_(golf_course)

[Stavros]

How did the US end up with Trump and a Govt of Billionaires? This article looks back at some of the historical decisions made, mostly by the Supreme Court, that enabled this to happen. It is quite a long read, but an interesting one.

How America became a 'Mafia State' — right under our noses | Opinion (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/how-america-became-a-mafia-state-right-under-our-noses-opinion/ar-AA1uq2xE?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=EDGEESS&cvid=fbf487ec5dd540bcbaa324a39ef40137&ei=51)

[Stavros]

Another one! Is he going on a merch spree before he can't do it, or will flogging tambourines and drumsticks be legal if it is part of his duties as President?

Trump Is Now Selling American Flag Eagle Guitars (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-american-flag-eagle-guitars.html)