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

[sawasdee]

I signed the petition against Tangerine Toddler being invited on a State visit to the UK. This is NOT a normally extended diplomatic invitation - those only involve the Government, not the Queen. Obama was in office for 3 years and a known quantity before he was accorded such an invite - tRump 5 days, and what was known of his quality was, to say the least, discouraging.

I now wait in horrified fascination for how he comports himself with our 91 year old sovereign, who has been at the heart of our political affairs for over 65 years. Will he put a chummy hand on her shoulder? Will he hug? Will he attempt to air kiss? Or will he break both her and her 96 year old consort's hands and dislocate their frail shoulders  with a pull grip? I doubt she's sleeping well.........

ETA He apparently also has said he doesn't wish to meet the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, because of his views on climate change and conservation.

[fraurosena]

1 minute ago, sawasdee said:

I signed the petition against Tangerine Toddler being invited on a State visit to the UK. This is NOT a normally extended diplomatic invitation - those only involve the Government, not the Queen. Obama was in office for 3 years and a known quantity before he was accorded such an invite - tRump 5 days, and what was known of his quality was, to say the least, discouraging.

I now wait in horrified fascination for how he comports himself with our 91 year old sovereign, who has been at the heart of our political affairs for over 65 years. Will he put a chummy hand on her shoulder? Will he hug? Will he attempt to air kiss? Or will he break both her and her 96 year old consort's hands with a pull grip? I doubt she's sleeping well.........

It just seems to be such an obviously sycophantic move by the British government.
We made an oopsie and have to leave the EU. Let's get chummy with the US, and try and alleviate the fall-out!

[RoseWilder]

This isn't directly about Trump, but it's about Russia so I'm sticking it here: 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Well, the leaders of the HBCUs who were trotted out for a photo op are now realizing they were not being taken seriously by this administration.

Quote

After meetings with the Trump administration last month, leaders of historically black colleges and universities expressed cautious optimism that the increased funding they requested might actually make it into the White House budget. It did not.

Instead, Trump’s first presidential budget released Thursday calls for “maintaining” $492 million in appropriations for HBCUs and minority-serving institutions. Combined discretionary spending for those schools, however, is actually $577 million right now. The White House directed questions about the discrepancy to the Education Department, which did not respond to requests for comment.

There is no mention in the budget of any federal investment in scholarships, technology or campus infrastructure for historically black colleges that leaders requested. And instead of expanding Pell grants for low-income students to cover summer courses as they had asked, the budget raids nearly $4 billion from the program’s reserves.

“Less than three weeks ago, this administration claimed it is a priority to advocate for HBCUs but, after viewing this budget proposal, those calls ring hollow,” Rep. Alama Adams (D-N.C.), a graduate of the largest HBCU, North Carolina A&T State University, said in a statement.

...

 

[RoseWilder]

His approval ratings are sinking like a rock: 

 

[sawasdee]

It's late at night here, and I'm musing.

I worked for years as a tour manager for well to do Americans visiting Europe. Most were well educated, with at least an undergraduate degree.

But the level of knowledge of what was outside the US was appalling. I would not call them insular, but parochial - they had information about their own state politics, but often I knew more of federal policies than they did. And as for knowledge of world history, and the lessons to be learnt from it - with some honourable exceptions, almost nil.

I really do not wish to offend here. Posters on FJ are on the whole knowledgeable and informed - but are you a minority? Is there a chance that this shambles we are living through will break Americans out of this insularity? If so, tRump may have inadvertently done the US - and the world - a favour.

 

[47of74]

12 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

It's late at night here, and I'm musing.

I worked for years as a tour manager for well to do Americans visiting Europe. Most were well educated, with at least an undergraduate degree.

But the level of knowledge of what was outside the US was appalling. I would not call them insular, but parochial - they had information about their own state politics, but often I knew more of federal policies than they did. And as for knowledge of world history, and the lessons to be learnt from it - with some honourable exceptions, almost nil.

I really do not wish to offend here. Posters on FJ are on the whole knowledgeable and informed - but are you a minority? Is there a chance that this shambles we are living through will break Americans out of this insularity? If so, tRump may have inadvertently done the US - and the world - a favour.

 

Sometimes I honestly think there is a virulent strain of anti-intellectualism in this country, that people in the US who are knowledgeable and well informed are becoming more and more of a minority all the time.   The reich has been attacking public education for the past 40 years, they do not want a knowledgeable, educated populace who can see through their bullshit.

When I travelled outside the US to Europe I always tried to avoid US politics altogether and any conversations about the workings of US government.  I wanted to get away from the latest dumb fuckery that people like Sarah Palin, Bitch McFuckstick, 'Murica's Leading Social Darwinist Paul Ryan, and the GOP candidates for President were pulling. 

[sawasdee]

20 years ago I would have said that tRump or Palin would have lasted about 3 minutes in the UK political arena - now, I'm not so sure.

UK politics are dumbing down - newspapers like the Daily Fail print absolutely unsourced scare stories about immigrants, people on benefits etc as a matter of course, and with the decline of the serious print press are getting away with it. Add to that Sky News - Murdoch's British version of Faux - and the impact of more credible sorces such as ITN and the BBC is diluted, sometime dangerously. (Brexit, anyone? The pro faction admitted immediately after the vote that a lot of their figures favouring Brexit were - conjured from the air?)

I don't know the answer. In my more dystopian moments, I wish the internet had never been invented - and if that couldn't be stopped, then at least ban politics on Facebook!

It seems that we seem to have more information, but as a population are more ignorant, as fact and fiction become indistinguishable.

In both the US and the UK, I mourn the imminent passing of critical thinking.

[47of74]

23 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

20 years ago I would have said that tRump or Palin would have lasted about 3 minutes in the UK political arena - now, I'm not so sure.

UK politics are dumbing down - newspapers like the Daily Fail print absolutely unsourced scare stories about immigrants, people on benefits etc as a matter of course, and with the decline of the serious print press are getting away with it. Add to that Sky News - Murdoch's British version of Faux - and the impact of more credible sorces such as ITN and the BBC is diluted, sometime dangerously. (Brexit, anyone? The pro faction admitted immediately after the vote that a lot of their figures favouring Brexit were - conjured from the air?)

I don't know the answer. In my more dystopian moments, I wish the internet had never been invented - and if that couldn't be stopped, then at least ban politics on Facebook!

It seems that we seem to have more information, but as a population are more ignorant, as fact and fiction become indistinguishable.

In both the US and the UK, I mourn the imminent passing of critical thinking.

Then you also have Teresa May who imagines herself to be Margaret Thatcher II, trying to kiss up to der Trumpenführer.

 

[VelociRapture]

1 hour ago, sawasdee said:

I signed the petition against Tangerine Toddler being invited on a State visit to the UK. This is NOT a normally extended diplomatic invitation - those only involve the Government, not the Queen. Obama was in office for 3 years and a known quantity before he was accorded such an invite - tRump 5 days, and what was known of his quality was, to say the least, discouraging.

I now wait in horrified fascination for how he comports himself with our 91 year old sovereign, who has been at the heart of our political affairs for over 65 years. Will he put a chummy hand on her shoulder? Will he hug? Will he attempt to air kiss? Or will he break both her and her 96 year old consort's hands and dislocate their frail shoulders  with a pull grip? I doubt she's sleeping well.........

ETA He apparently also has said he doesn't wish to meet the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, because of his views on climate change and conservation.

That's cool. I don't think Prince Charles would want to meet Trump either. He doesn't strike me as someone with much patience for overgrown man-children who only care about themselves.

And I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty sure the Queen would absolutely annihilate Trump in a verbal diplomatic fight. She could deliver the sickest passive-aggressive burns and he'd probably be sitting there thinking how well the visit was going for him. I'd pay good money to see that.

And I agree with @47of74. There are people here who have been waging war on public education for years. It's truly scary to me that some of them are now in charge of public education here - especially since I know so many teachers (who are rightfully worried) and because I have a young daughter and nephew. It pisses me off that my sister and I were responsible by waiting to have kids until we were ready and now these assholes may fuck things up so much that they may not receive adequate educations when they start school in a few years.

[JMarie]

2 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Ya mean like this?

 

Excuse me now while I go hurl.

She looks like she's offering support to someone with an unsteady gait.

[fraurosena]

I hate to say it, but as @sawasdee said, Americans do not have a particularly favorable image in the rest of the world. Her thoughtful post put me in mind of a commercial we had here a couple of years ago, for pizza's if I remember correctly. In it, a Dutch family is showing a visiting American family around. At everything the Americans see, they say: but ours are bigger, or ours are better, or larger or nicer. Then the pizza's come out and the American dad looks at them, hesitates for a moment and says: but our plates are bigger.

We all thought it was pretty funny. But actually it's pretty sad, when you think about it. 

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Germans were also targeted by anti-immigrant sentiment.  For example we had the probably unconstitutional Babel Proclamation here in Iowa which forbade use of foreign languages in public, over the phone, in schools, (both public and private), in conversations in public areas, at all meetings, and in all religious services.

And now we have descendants of the same Irish and German immigrants who really ought to know better engaging in the same behavior that others engaged in against their ancestors.  Facepalm.  Goddamn facepalm in fact.

 It's a sad rite of passage that after you've been in America long to be accepted, you receive the right to be a jackass to the newer immigrants. 

We also have a lot of folks here in Texas with German roots. Even today, there are towns where most of the residents have German surnames. The version of Chicken Fried Steak that is commonly found in my area, can trace its roots back to the influx of German immigrants to the central Texas region in the 19th century.

Sorry, I'm talking about food again. I seem to spend the majority of my time either talking about food or politics. 

[47of74]

45 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

And I agree with @47of74. There are people here who have been waging war on public education for years. It's truly scary to me that some of them are now in charge of public education here - especially since I know so many teachers (who are rightfully worried) and because I have a young daughter and nephew. It pisses me off that my sister and I were responsible by waiting to have kids until we were ready and now these assholes may fuck things up so much that they may not receive adequate educations when they start school in a few years.

Yeah the reich here in Iowa didn't waste any time in passing collective bargaining changes to fuck over the public sector unions.  Now Minnesota is kind of licking their chops and aiming their recruitment efforts to the south to get Iowa teachers who decide fuck it and want to move out of Iowa.

30 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I hate to say it, but as @sawasdee said, Americans do not have a particularly favorable image in the rest of the world. Her thoughtful post put me in mind of a commercial we had here a couple of years ago, for pizza's if I remember correctly. In it, a Dutch family is showing a visiting American family around. At everything the Americans see, they say: but ours are bigger, or ours are better, or larger or nicer. Then the pizza's come out and the American dad looks at them, hesitates for a moment and says: but our plates are bigger.

We all thought it was pretty funny. But actually it's pretty sad, when you think about it. 

I never did that when I was overseas.  I suppose the closest I ever came when we were at a place in Florence when I noted a tour guide using a fork and knife to eat a hamburger and found myself wondering outloud if she knew the proper way to eat a hamburger.

What I do remember is my first overseas trip to  Italy the tour guide said she thought some of us Americans in the group were actually being a little bit too polite.  I think it was us trying to not come across as ugly Americans.

[fraurosena]

1 minute ago, 47of74 said:

I never did that when I was overseas.  I suppose the closest I ever came when we were at a place in Florence when I noted a tour guide using a fork and knife to eat a hamburger and found myself wondering outloud if she knew the proper way to eat a hamburger.

What I do remember is my first overseas trip to  Italy the tour guide said she thought some of us Americans in the group were actually being a little bit too polite.  I think it was us trying to not come across as ugly Americans.

Oh, don't take what I wrote personally! 

These are generalizations, and we all know that not everybody is like a stereotype. Heck, if that were true, I'd be sitting here with my clogs on and and a silly little lace cap on my head with ear-irons on. Which I can assure you I am not. 

I do have two dogs on my lap though... and one of the cats is eyeing me to see if she can fit somewhere in between them and my laptop 

[fraurosena]

I have no idea what the Tangerine Toddler is trying to say as he's spouting his usual nonsense about wiretapps again, but just look at the new Leader of the Free World's non-verbal communication, especially when he says they might have something in common.

 

[47of74]

14 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I have no idea what the Tangerine Toddler is trying to say as he's spouting his usual nonsense about wiretapps again, but just look at the new Leader of the Free World's non-verbal communication, especially when he says they might have something in common.

 

Yeah she's like Jesus he's that fucking stupid. 

I suppose the day he'll still be spouting that shit after he's impeached too to anyone he thinks will listen.

[onekidanddone]

3 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

His approval ratings are sinking like a rock: 

 

Is the going to start call FoxSpews fake news?  43 and plummeting. 

10 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Yeah she's like Jesus he's that fucking stupid. 

I suppose the day he'll still be spouting that shit after he's impeached too to anyone he thinks will listen.

People are laughing at him. Not with him.

11 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Yeah she's like Jesus he's that fucking stupid. 

I suppose the day he'll still be spouting that shit after he's impeached too to anyone he thinks will listen.

 

Oh so it is  Fox's fault? Time to go kick another hole in the wall 

[Ali]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Ugh. What a blatantly rude little tangerine toddler he's being! 

So is he upset because she is a strong woman putting him in is place or he would rather be doing something else (tweeting, playing golf, having a rally so people can worship him, leaving early for Mara Largo, etc.) or both?

[onekidanddone]

I can't fathom how people are going to show up for a rally after he announced his budget. Don't they get it now?????? Don't the get how they screwed themselves and the rest of us?  Poof there go their veterinarians benefits.  Poof there goes there parent's meals-on-wheels. Poof there goes their kid's school lunches. Their health insurance.  Is Congress really going to approve all this?  How long will it take for the orange zombies to WAKE THE FUCK UP? Ugh.  

With out going into specifics, if Orange Julius Cesar's new 'budget' is approved I'm out of a job.  Out of health insurance.

Indulge me while I rant a bit This just happened yesterday, My kid was just prescribed an Epi pen after an anaphylactic (sp?) "event" at school (we don't yet know why).  I was working from home thank heavens when the school nurse called said she was having trouble breathing. I'm only a mile from the school and I arrived about the same time as the rescue squad. She received two  epinephrine  shots by the school nurse and more in the ER. She was breathing fine pretty soon after that and after 5 hours they let us go home with a script for the pens. A trip to Walgreens and 169 dollars later we were home. ONE FUCKING HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE dollars... That is with insurance. With out it is over 700.

These orange fucks who have kids with serious allergies are going to have to choose between rent or hope their children don't go all cyanotic on the playground.

All three of us have preexisting conditions. Insurance providers won't touch us if I didn't' have it through my employer.

I'm the main wage earner in my family. I don't work we could last a while. When the savings run out well I suppose I can join all the orange fuck faces in the non-extant lines for the closed food banks.

I'm blisteringly angry. Can you tell? I've called my reps on the Hill. I live in a blue area, I know they are working hard against orange shit stain, but I still call because the people who answer the phone are for the most part understanding and kind

Okay..carry on.

[fraurosena]

37 minutes ago, Ali said:

So is he upset because she is a strong woman putting him in is place or he would rather be doing something else (tweeting, playing golf, having a rally so people can worship him, leaving early for Mara Largo, etc.) or both?

No, he's upset because she turned down his offer to trade bilaterally with the US. She's sticking to her guns, and he'll have to make a trade deal with the whole EU or no one at all. And I don't think his boss over in Russia will like that news... Another little plan to cause division within the EU failed.

 

[onekidanddone]

3 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

No, he's upset because she turned down his offer to trade bilaterally with the US. She's sticking to her guns, and he'll have to make a trade deal with the whole EU or no one at all. And I don't think his boss over in Russia will like that news... Another little plan to cause division within the EU failed.

 

Wait until he tweets. Angela Merkel, not great.  SAD.  I'm great. I'm so great people love me. She is SAD.

[onekidanddone]

5 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

It would have been amusing to see because if he tried his usual weird handshake where he tries to pull the other person's arm off, Angela would probably stand her ground and pull his arm off instead.

Well really she is better off. Who the hell knows where that orange hand has been.  Even worse, when was it last washed?

[fraurosena]

Oh guys. They say a picture says more than a thousand words. Here's a pic from the Telegraph:

He reminds me so much of my youngest son as a little kid. When he got angry because he wouldn't get what he wanted, he used to sit exactly like this... 

[onekidanddone]

1 minute ago, fraurosena said:

Oh guys. They say a picture says more than a thousand words. Here's a pic from the Telegraph:

He reminds me so much of my youngest son as a little kid. When he got angry because he wouldn't get what he wanted, he used to sit exactly like this... 

How long till impeachment? 

5 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

This isn't directly about Trump, but it's about Russia so I'm sticking it here: 

 

What did Jill Stine do with the nearly 7.5 million dollars she raised to contest the election?