Donald Trump and the Fellowship of the Alternative Facts (Part 14)

[Audrey2]

Go get 'em, George!!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/george-takei-donald-trump-fbi-russia_us_58d2516ce4b0b22b0d183d36

 

Quote

“If Trump colluded with Russia, then his election and each and every action and appointment he has made must be declared null and void.”

 

George Takei ✔@GeorgeTakei

If an Olympian is found to have cheated, the gold medal is stripped away and given to the next contender.

George Takei ✔@GeorgeTakei

If a thief is caught he must disgorge all his ill-gotten gains. He isn't allowed to keep the spoils.

George Takei ✔@GeorgeTakei

The concerted actions of Russia, in collusion with Wikileaks and in all likelihood the Trump campaign, cost the Democrats bigly.

George Takei ✔@GeorgeTakei

Impeachment is an insufficient remedy because Pence and the GOP should not be permitted to gain office through anyone's treason.

George Takei ✔@GeorgeTakei

The only equitable remedy is to award the other candidate the election, or to hold free and FAIR elections for President.

George Takei ✔@GeorgeTakei

Until the investigation results in charges or exoneration, this "president" should get no appointments, no agenda, no cooperation.

I don't think the tweets embedded in the article will post correctly here.

 

George has had some wonderful quotes standing up to the Groper in Chief, but I really like these new ones, calling for the removal of Republicans and the undoing of appointments, etc. since Trump became President. 

 

Throughout the past year, my respect for George Takei has grown. I know he spent time in the Japanese Internment camps, a particularly horrendous and embarrassing time in United States history, and I really appreciate the way he speaks out and stands up to those who need it and for those who need it. 

[RoseWilder]

I think this Trump-Russia scandal just kicked into high gear. 

 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Trump is not so Machiavellian after all"

I don't think Machiavelli would have spent his time playing on Twitter.

Most of all Machiavelli was clever and appreciated cleverness. He thought it was an essential attribute to his Prince who had to be as sharp as a razor blade. While Trump...well he surely can't claim to be the sharpest tool in the drawer.

Also, the Prince was clearly modeled after Lorenzo de' Medici, called il Magnifico, who was a political genius and de facto kept order among the different political entities in Italy (and to a lesser extent in Europe) for twenty years. Machiavelli analyzed Lorenzo and described what in his opinion was key to his success and imagined what he could have done in addition, had he been perfect. In fact the international political balance that il Magnifico sought and maintained died with him. Machiavelli hypothesized what he could have done to make it lasting. 

Unfortunately of all he wrote he is now remembered and reviled for the moral relativism he advocated. Funnily, because basically all politicians of importance do often compromise on ethics. For example, Obama avoided the whole "boots on the ground" in Syria, something that surely spared many American soldiers lives and avoided excessive military spendings whele the country was recovering from recession. Instead he pursued a new warfare, he never declared war but sent drones that, according to independent sources (ie Amnesty International) caused many more civilian casualties than Obama's Administration cared to admit.

Personally I think that Clinton is a lot more machiavellian thanTrump and Bannon put together. Compared to the Prince though she lacks in communication skills and is too transparent in her moral relativism. Something many Americans couldn't get over only to choose Trump who doesn't even know what ethics is but who would never violate the capitalism code.

ETA the RCC always condemned Machiavelli's relativism, only to buy into it in regards to management of internal matters. For example, pedophilia and errant priests are evil and must be condemned, except that to do so would compromise the image of wholesomeness of the Church and we can't have that. There was a greater good that trumped the vulnerables.

[RoseWilder]

I can't wait until all of these people go down in flames: 

 

[47of74]

I just saw this on Twitter about Agent Orange's O face.

Since that's so much for getting sleep tonight for me I thought I'd share the pain....

[GreyhoundFan]

12 minutes ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

Most of all Machiavelli was clever and appreciated cleverness. He thought it was an essential attribute to his Prince who had to be as sharp as a razor blade. While Trump...well he surely can't claim to be the sharpest tool in the drawer.

Also, the Prince was clearly modeled after Lorenzo de' Medici, called il Magnifico, who was a political genius and de facto kept order among the different political entities in Italy (and to a lesser extent in Europe) for twenty years. Machiavelli analyzed Lorenzo and described what in his opinion was key to his success and imagined what he could have done in addition, had he been perfect. In fact the international political balance that il Magnifico sought and maintained died with him. Machiavelli hypothesized what he could have done to make it lasting. 

Unfortunately of all he wrote he is now remembered and reviled for the moral relativity he advocated. Funnily, because basically all politicians of importance do often compromise on ethics. For example, Obama avoided the whole "boots on the ground" in Syria, something that surely spared many American soldiers lives and avoided excessive military spendings whele the country was recovering from recession. Instead he pursued a new warfare, he never declared war but sent drones that, according to independent sources (ie Amnesty International) caused many more civilian casualties than Obama's Administration cared to admit.

Personally I think that Clinton is a lot more machiavellian thanTrump and Bannon put together. Compared to the Prince though she lacks in communication skills and is too transparent in her moral relativism. Something many Americans couldn't get over only to choose Trump who doesn't even know what ethics is but who would never violate the capitalism code.

I agree with you about Machiavelli. Also, yes, both Clintons are much more Machiavellian than Agent Orange.

 

Good one: "Being Donald Trump: a president living in his own fantasy world"

Quote

Thanks to the energy of Time magazine's Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer and the self-absorption of our President, someone opened the portal into Donald J. Trump's brain -- like in the movie "Being John Malkovich" -- in the form of what for the want of a better description is a stream of consciousness interview with the 45th President of these United States.

When Woodrow Wilson introduced the concept of the presidential press conference, he stipulated that they should be off the record and that the president would not be quoted directly. FDR was first to loosen those restrictions somewhat, but it was not until the advent of live televised press conferences in the 1950s that some spontaneity and much more transparency were introduced into presidential utterances.

This Trump interview is an argument for perhaps a little less spontaneity in presidential statements, for the sanity of the Republic.

You have to read it for yourself. Highlighting it would suggest a logic and flow that it didn't have. I have read it, and here's what I can tell you: It is crystal clear that Americans elected a man who is happily, though defensively, living in his own reality.

...

But presidential efforts at self-explanation, especially at critical moments, usually involve briefers, speechwriters, editors and the president himself is usually accustomed to thinking in sentences, if not paragraphs. Nixon, Carter and Reagan, for example, kept daily diaries.

The Time interview reflects none of these things. It is Trump, raw, uncut, unplugged and, some might conclude, a little unhinged. The public saw that only a few times with Richard "I'm not a crook" Nixon. With this President, it is almost a daily occurrence.

I can't capture all of what the interview includes, but here's some of what it doesn't:

Remorse for branding the Cruz family as accessories to the JFK assassination: nope, the President says he was just repeating something he read in a "newspaper story." But the problem is not that apparently inside the Trump-portal the National Enquirer is a newspaper worth a presidential citation -- let's not get too elitist, OK?

The problem is that our President can seriously cite "a picture of Ted Cruz, his father, and Lee Harvey Oswald, having breakfast" and not understand that in not having rejected that canard in the first place, he is revealing himself to have no common sense.

Embarrassment for citing a nonexistent event in Sweden? Nope. He claims riots that occurred in Sweden days after he made his statement confirms that he was prescient.

Indeed, the President thinks of himself some kind of latter-day Nostradamus, a seer, who is driven by unfailing instinct. "I'm a very instinctual person," he said, "but my instinct turns out to be right." He repeatedly reminded Time that he predicted that the Leave side would prevail in the Brexit vote.

Regret for imprecise comments about the US commitment to defending its NATO allies? Are you kidding? The President wants us to know that when "Germany was over here" -- Trump either forgot Chancellor Angela Merkel's name or he believes that the entire country visited the Oval Office -- he told her/it that "you have to pay your NATO bills, and they don't even dispute it, OK?" The President does not seem to know that German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen subsequently denied that Germany owed any money to NATO.

...

This trip through the President's brain might seem amusing if did not reveal the enormous cost of presidential self-absorption. He only mentioned Wednesday's terrorist attack in London once -- and only as a distraction from the public paying attention to the Nunes press conference on the wiretapping matter. "Now probably obliterated [the import of Nunes' statement]," Trump said, "by what's happened in London." You can see clearly what mattered most to him.

On social media, there is a lot of sharing of the President's final sentence fragments. Focusing on those last comments is but a reminder that for this President the fact he won legitimates every instinct he has ever had and he is not yet prepared to be challenged, on practically anything. "Hey look, in the meantime, I guess, I can't be doing so badly," he told all of us through Time. "Because I'm president, and you're not."

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I enjoyed this article: "Trump the Dealmaker Projects Bravado, but Behind the Scenes, Faces Rare Self-Doubt"

Quote

WASHINGTON — President Trump, the author of “The Art of the Deal,” has been projecting his usual bravado in public this week about the prospects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Privately he is grappling with rare bouts of self-doubt.

Mr. Trump has told four people close to him that he regrets going along with Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s plan to push a health care overhaul before unveiling a tax cut proposal more politically palatable to Republicans.

He said ruefully this week that he should have done tax reform first when it became clear that the quick-hit health care victory he had hoped for was not going to materialize on Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the act’s passage, when the legislation was scheduled for a vote.

Two of his most influential advisers — Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, and Gary D. Cohn, the National Economic Council director, who had a major role in pushing the bill — came to agree, and did not like the compromise that was emerging. So on Thursday night, Mr. Trump delivered an ultimatum.

He dispatched his budget adviser, Mick Mulvaney, to a conference of House Republicans and told them they had to vote on Friday. And if the bill fails, he said, Mr. Trump will move on.

A president who prefers unilateral executive action and takes intense pride in his ability to cut deals finds himself in a humbling negotiation unlike any other in his career, pinned between moderates who believe the health care measure is too harsh, and a larger group of fiscal conservatives adept at using their leverage to scuttle big deals cut by other Republican leaders.

...

Crashing on the shoals of Congress marks Mr. Trump’s first true encounter with legislative realities and the realization that a president’s power is less limitless than it appears, particularly in the face of an intransigent voting bloc. Mr. Trump is not used to a hard no — but that was the word of the week.

...

If Mr. Trump has any advantage in the negotiations, it is his ideological flexibility: He is more interested in a win, or avoiding a loss, than any of the arcane policy specifics of the complicated measure, according to a dozen aides and allies interviewed over the past week who described his mood as impatient and jittery. Already, he has shown that flexibility by going back on campaign promises that no one would lose coverage when the Affordable Care Act was replaced and he would not cut Medicaid.

To Mr. Trump and his team, the health care repeal is a troublesome stepchild. His son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who is vacationing with his family in Aspen this week, has said for days that the bill was a mistake to support. Yet Mr. Trump wants to fulfill his party’s pledge to roll back President Obama’s signature accomplishment, but only as a prelude to building his wall, cutting taxes and pushing his $1 trillion infrastructure package.

...

Until this week, Mr. Trump was slow to recognize the high stakes of the fight, or the implications of losing. He approved the agenda putting health care first late last year, almost in passing, in meetings with Mr. Ryan, Vice President Mike Pence and Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff.

Staff members agreed on a hasty rollout strategy during weekend meetings earlier this month — with Mr. Pence suggesting that the president maintain distance from the proposal, urging him to refer to the bill as Mr. Ryan’s creation, according to senior Republicans.

Only in the past two weeks, as Mr. Trump focused on his continuing defense of accusations that his presidential campaign colluded with Russia, has he focused his energies and powers of persuasion on ramming through a proposal that is likely to result in the loss of health insurance for millions, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.

...

Gee, maybe if he paid attention to the details, he would have understood the implications of the health care fight.

[fraurosena]

And we have another case of alternative facts:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-keystone-oil-pipeline-create-28000-jobs-us-state-department-50-climate-change-protest-a7647281.html

Quote

The US State Department says the Keystone XL pipeline will create 50 permanent jobs, despite Donald Trump’s previous estimate of 28,000. [...]

The State Department said, in January 2014, that the project could create 42,000 jobs directly and indirectly, but now says just 50 jobs - 35 permanent and 15 contractors -  will be created to maintain the pipeline.

 

[Howl]

8 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Personally I think that Clinton is a lot more machiavellian thanTrump and Bannon put together. Compared to the Prince though she lacks in communication skills and is too transparent in her moral relativism.

Hillary has a brilliant political mind and does not suffer fools.  Her problem (to my mind) is that this is tolerated, even celebrated, in a man but can be brutally criticized in a woman.  This was turned against her as "crooked Hillary".  I thought she would have led our country with skill and insight.  I'm sad and aghast at what we're seeing in the White House today. 

 

7 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

If Mr. Trump has any advantage in the negotiations, it is his ideological flexibility: He is more interested in a win, or avoiding a loss, than any of the arcane policy specifics of the complicated measure, according to a dozen aides and allies interviewed over the past week who described his mood as impatient and jittery. Already, he has shown that flexibility by going back on campaign promises that no one would lose coverage when the Affordable Care Act was replaced and he would not cut Medicaid.

It's important to note that he is  ideologically flexible because he has no moral center.  

[suglo]

Another Trump supporter who misplaced her brain a while back. Boy is she in for a huge surprise when she finds out her hubby can't apply for a green card until 10 years from now. Hope they have enough money for him to vacation in the "Riviera Maya" that long [emoji848]

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_58d4b262e4b02a2eaab244cd?

[47of74]

Indiana Factories to Tangerine Toddle: We're Laying Off Workers Anyway

labor411.org/411-blog/1476-indiana-factories-to-trump-we-re-laying-off-workers-anyway

Quote

President Donald Trump got himself a lot of press in December when he took credit for allegedly persuading Carrier to keep jobs in the US.

It appears that "victory" was short-lived, however, as companies in Indiana have announced big job cuts.

"About 1,500 workers at three Indiana factories are facing layoffs despite hopes that President Donald Trump would convince the companies to reverse plans for moving production to Mexico.

United Technologies confirmed Friday that the first wave of about 50 layoffs happened last week at its electronics plant that had about 700 workers in Huntington. The plant in the northeastern Indiana city is slated for closure.

 

[VelociRapture]

10 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

Go get 'em, George!!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/george-takei-donald-trump-fbi-russia_us_58d2516ce4b0b22b0d183d36

 

I don't think the tweets embedded in the article will post correctly here.

 

George has had some wonderful quotes standing up to the Groper in Chief, but I really like these new ones, calling for the removal of Republicans and the undoing of appointments, etc. since Trump became President. 

 

Throughout the past year, my respect for George Takei has grown. I know he spent time in the Japanese Internment camps, a particularly horrendous and embarrassing time in United States history, and I really appreciate the way he speaks out and stands up to those who need it and for those who need it. 

He spent at least four years in the internment camp as a very young child. He's described how odd and weird it was to pledge allegiance to the flag every morning while surrounded by barbed fencing and armed guards. Anyone who claims it "wasn't that bad" or that we need to bring them back for "national security" seriously needs to hear him speak on the matter.

-------

I told husband that if this health "care" stuff passes and they really do get rid of prenatal and maternity care, I will absolutely refuse to get pregnant again. I've had one miscarriage that we had to shell out around $1300 for (out of close to $6000.) I've had one delivery and hospital stay ($19,000), an epidural ($3,500), and a preterm infant in NICU for a week (around $65,000). Luckily, we hit our deductible before she was born and all those charges were covered.... but I can't risk having one of those things happen again without adequate health coverage in place.

A second week-long NICU stay would wipe out our HSA and both retirement accounts completely. Adding in the epidural and my hospital charges would wipe out our savings account too. We would literally have nothing left - and we're actually doing pretty well financially, which is the scary part because other families would never get out of debt if this happens.

[Childless]

I'm so glad I'm done having babies.  No way would I do it if maternity care wasn't covered by insurance no matter how much I wanted kids.  

[RoseWilder]

A correspondent for Huffington Post did a mega-thread on twitter that lays out the Trump-Russia stuff. It was a great thread, but too long to post all in one post here. But someone on Daily Kos compiled the tweets: 

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/23/1646686/-RussiaGate-blows-WIDE-OPEN-in-Abrahamson-report-High-crimes-and-misdemeanors-by-Trump-Sessions

[VelociRapture]

1 hour ago, Childless said:

I'm so glad I'm done having babies.  No way would I do it if maternity care wasn't covered by insurance no matter how much I wanted kids.  

I feel like I should send my bills to Congress and ask their professional opinions on what I should avoid doing to save money next time. Not get an epidural because women should suffer during labor because Eve and apple? Not seek emergency medical attention - at the advice of my Doctors - because I'm pregnant and bleeding? Forgo prenatal care completely, despite worrying due to a prior miscarriage?  Drag my bleeding and pained body straight home after the birth rather than two days later? Chosen not to have my three tears stitched up, risking infection and complications? Refuse to allow my child to be admitted to NICU despite the fact that it may threaten her life (she forgot what breathing was for a short time and needed a little CPAP love)? 

Seriously, I'd love for these old white assholes to tell me how I could avoid financial ruin if I end up pregnant again. It would make my fucking day for them to mansplain it.

[Childless]

39 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

I feel like I should send my bills to Congress and ask their professional opinions on what I should avoid doing to save money next time. Not get an epidural because women should suffer during labor because Eve and apple? Not seek emergency medical attention - at the advice of my Doctors - because I'm pregnant and bleeding? Forgo prenatal care completely, despite worrying due to a prior miscarriage?  Drag my bleeding and pained body straight home after the birth rather than two days later? Chosen not to have my three tears stitched up, risking infection and complications? Refuse to allow my child to be admitted to NICU despite the fact that it may threaten her life (she forgot what breathing was for a short time and needed a little CPAP love)? 

Seriously, I'd love for these old white assholes to tell me how I could avoid financial ruin if I end up pregnant again. It would make my fucking day for them to mansplain it.

They'd just say you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford them.

[47of74]

19 minutes ago, Childless said:

They'd just say you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford them.

Yeah, the GOP dumb fucks in Congress would just go to their favorite stand by and say it's the woman's fault for spreading their legs in the first place.   I know some Republican politician pretty much came out and said exactly that, but I haven't been able to find the examples of it through my hasty perusal of the googles.

 

[RoseWilder]

Sickening, but not at all surprising. No wonder so many Republicans are trying to keep the Russia stuff from being fully investigated - they know the whole damn ship is going down when the Russia scandal explodes: 

 

[kunoichi66]

12 hours ago, 47of74 said:

I just saw this on Twitter about Agent Orange's O face.

Since that's so much for getting sleep tonight for me I thought I'd share the pain....

You poor thing! 

[VelociRapture]

1 hour ago, Childless said:

They'd just say you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford them.

Would they change their minds if they knew I'm white, my husband is white, and we have a cute little pasty face baby? I feel like it would for some strange reason (having nothing to do with the fact that I suspect they're all hiding nice hooded white robes in their closets.)

ETA: Congress is making me stress eat now. So I should probably send them any bills I have related to food, weight gain, or emotional trauma too. 

[fraurosena]

25 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

So I should probably send them any bills I have related to food, weight gain, or emotional trauma too. 

You could do that, but it would be a waste of postage, I'm afraid. They're certainly not going to pay for it. That's what the whole Tryannotcare act is all about. You only get stuff if you're super rich. Otherwise, tough!

[Howl]

1 hour ago, Childless said:

They'd just say you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford them.

But don't use birth control, because God.  

[Childless]

25 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

Would they change their minds if they knew I'm white, my husband is white, and we have a cute little pasty face baby? I feel like it would for some strange reason (having nothing to do with the fact that I suspect they're all hiding nice hooded white robes in their closets.)

ETA: Congress is making me stress eat now. So I should probably send them any bills I have related to food, weight gain, or emotional trauma too. 

In one breath they lament that the white population isn't reproducing as fast as minority races and in the next breath they tell women to keep their legs closed and not have kids they can't afford all the while doing their damnedest to make sure you never get far enough ahead to afford kids.  I swear they're all insane.  Nothing they say or do makes any sense.

[VelociRapture]

1 minute ago, fraurosena said:

You could do that, but it would be a waste of postage, I'm afraid. They're certainly not going to pay for it. That's what the whole Tryannotcare act is all about. You only get stuff if you're super rich. Otherwise, tough!

Boo! I want them to pay for my fucking cupcakes and penne alla vodka!!! And booze! Because I can drink again and I really feel like I may need to take up recreational drinking if this passes the House. 

And now I'm imagining Paul "I-PICK-THINGS-UP-AND-PUT-THINGS-DOWN" Ryan's face when he opens the envelope and sees the receipts for the horrible (yet so delicious) food.  

[iweartanktops]

4 minutes ago, Howl said:

But don't use birth control, because God.  

No abortions either. God.