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

[Cartmann99]

4 minutes ago, HeathenBlondie said:

As to the bolded part, what the fuck?! Not that we need this at all, but why the hell do we need an anti-climb texture on the U.S. facing side of this useless wall? It makes no sense.

Crap, I didn't catch that. It only makes sense to me, if they believe we will feel the need to attempt to scale the wall to escape into Mexico. 

[onekidanddone]

16 minutes ago, HeathenBlondie said:

As to the bolded part, what the fuck?! Not that we need this at all, but why the hell do we need an anti-climb texture on the U.S. facing side of this useless wall? It makes no sense.

Because things will get so bad here the line would stretch California/Mexico border to the Washington State/British Columbia border.  

[47of74]

And of course man baby is telling people that he and Merkel had a great visit yesterday;

latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-says-merkel-meeting-was-great-1489845711-htmlstory.html

Quote

President Trump on Saturday followed up what he called a "great" meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by blasting her country for what he said were unpaid bills for NATO defense.

On Twitter, Trump reiterated a point he made at his joint news conference Friday with Merkel that many NATO nations owe money to the alliance and the U.S. because they haven't paid their fair share.

This time, he chastised Germany for not paying enough "for the powerful, and very expensive, defense" NATO and the U.S. provide.

 

Jesus Fucking Christ my swear jar is starting to look like the tip jar at my favorite hangout after a busy night.  Look you orange shit gibbon, you did not have a great meeting with Die Bundeskanzlerin.  You made a fucking fool of yourself yesterday and looked like a goddamn petulant child in the process.  It's not goddamn fake news for people to say that either you shit. 

[onekidanddone]

1 minute ago, 47of74 said:

And of course man baby is telling people that he and Merkel had a great visit yesterday;

latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-says-merkel-meeting-was-great-1489845711-htmlstory.html

Jesus Fucking Christ my swear jar is starting to look like the tip jar at my favorite hangout after a busy night.  Look you orange shit gibbon, you did not have a great meeting with Die Bundeskanzlerin.  You made a fucking fool of yourself yesterday and looked like a goddamn petulant child in the process.  It's not goddamn fake news for people to say that either you shit. 

He is trying too  hard.  The more he protests and stomps his feet the more insane he looks. Oh fuck who am I kidding, he has never been sane.

[RoseWilder]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

First, I want to thank you and @RoseWilder for continuing to draw our attention to the Mercer family and all of the other crap going on in the Trump universe. I would miss a lot of good articles, if you two didn't make comments about them. The efforts you two make are very much appreciated. 

That said, the Mercer family scares the hell out of me.

You're welcome! I'm so glad that the stuff I post is helpful. I always feel like I'm posting too much!

And I agree, the Mercer family is terrifying. I can't even read about them close to bed because it's too hard to fall asleep while thinking about it. 

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

Jesus Fucking Christ my swear jar is starting to look like the tip jar at my favorite hangout after a busy night

Remember a few days ago when they had that press conference with Mulvaney the budget guy, and then Spicer showed up and started spinning like a top about the wiretapping? I cursed so much while watching/listening to that shitshow, that I think I broke my own record for the number of times I used some variation of the word 'fuck' in one day.

I've always cursed, but I have become incredibly foulmouthed since Trump got elected.  

[RoseWilder]

The only thing that makes me smile when it comes to politics lately is watching Republicans go after each other and hang each other out to dry: 

 

[fraurosena]

14 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Unfortunately, that's not an option. Presidents are entitled to protection.

Yes, of course presidents are entitled to protection. Just not by run-of-the-mill police and other security officers because the presidunce just happens to like to take the weekend off golfing, for 7 weeks in a row now, and not get paid for it.  If they get paid, and preferably paid by the presidunce himself out of his own pocket, then sure, protect the heck out of him. But nobody can be made to work for nothing, just because some entitled shit thinks he can take every weekend off to go golfing.

So, like I said, if you don't get paid, don't do the work. 

[fraurosena]

8 hours ago, HeathenBlondie said:

As to the bolded part, what the fuck?! Not that we need this at all, but why the hell do we need an anti-climb texture on the U.S. facing side of this useless wall? It makes no sense.

Don't you see, it's not only a wall to keep the evil Mexicans out, it's also meant to keep the Americans from fleeing... 

[fraurosena]

I am trying to come up with the right words to describe this, but failing woefully. This emoji will have to do:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-supporter-troll-sent-seizure-inducing-message-to-journalist-with-epilepsy-kurt-a7636876.html

Quote

A man has been charged with cyberstalking after allegedly tweeting a flashing strobe image to a journalist with epilepsy, causing him to have a seizure.

The animated image was sent to Kurt Eichenwald, a Newsweek writer and Vanity Fair contributing editor, with the message: “You deserve a seizure for your post”.

The post referred to is believed to be one in which he wrote about President Donald Trump’s myriad conflicts of interest because of his vast business empire.

The day after posting the tweet, this... person... had the temerity to post an obit for the journalist. 

[Cartmann99]

If this has already been posted before and I missed it, apologies to all in advance.

The New Yorker has an article about the Mercer family that I found particularly chilling. I had a hard time deciding which quotes to pull, because so many things disturbed me about this family of bigoted, sociopathic, conspiracy theorists. Not only did the Mercers spend millions, and launch a propaganda war through Cambridge Analytica to get Trump elected, they still have his ear today.

Quote

Magerman told the Wall Street Journal that Mercer’s political opinions “show contempt for the social safety net that he doesn’t need, but many Americans do.” He also said that Mercer wants the U.S. government to be “shrunk down to the size of a pinhead.” Several former colleagues of Mercer’s said that his views are akin to Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Magerman told me, “Bob believes that human beings have no inherent value other than how much money they make. A cat has value, he’s said, because it provides pleasure to humans. But if someone is on welfare they have negative value. If he earns a thousand times more than a schoolteacher, then he’s a thousand times more valuable.” Magerman added, “He thinks society is upside down—that government helps the weak people get strong, and makes the strong people weak by taking their money away, through taxes.” He said that this mind-set was typical of “instant billionaires” in finance, who “have no stake in society,” unlike the industrialists of the past, who “built real things.”

Another former high-level Renaissance employee said, “Bob thinks the less government the better. He’s happy if people don’t trust the government. And if the President’s a bozo? He’s fine with that. He wants it to all fall down.”

If you ever wondered why Trump is so blasé about nuclear war, Robert Mercer may be the reason:

Quote

Another onetime senior employee at Renaissance recalls hearing Mercer downplay the dangers posed by nuclear war. Mercer, speaking of the atomic bombs that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, argued that, outside of the immediate blast zones, the radiation actually made Japanese citizens healthier. 

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency

[Howl]

Random thoughts on a Sunday morning: 

@Cartmann99, I wasn't familiar with the Mercers; the quotes that you did pick are telling....and incredibly scary.  That, combined with Bannon...It's gonna be a rough four years for anyone making less than $150,000  $1,000,000.  Continuing fresh hell, anyone?

Trump's approval ratings are hanging in the 40s.  Let me repeat that: Trump's approval ratings are hanging in the 40s. This is good news to a lot of people, but to me, it means that over 40% of the people in this country (+ or - some small percentage) still think that he is doing a good or Great! job, have not budged from that position and likely won't in the future.  This is Trump's hard core base, and this is who is being addressed in every idiotic statement that comes out of the White House.  These are the Fox watchers, Breitbart readers, the Info Wars listeners, the folks that post that annoying crap on your Facebook.  These are the people who are being left behind by the new Republican policies. Thoughtful people capable of critical thought are not the target of Trump's message.  We're neither courted nor considered and never will be by this administration.  That said, there are people I know who are well educated and pretty thoughtful who voted for Trump -- as a sort of social experiment, I think, because I can't think of any other damn reason.  

Republicans who are up for election at the midterms must be shitting bricks at this point. They know they are in the process of screwing people in too many ways to count, destroying the healthcare system and Federal programs that help a lot of people, who are going to experience and live the reality of what it means to  vote against you own self interest.  There won't be a magical revival of dead industries or jobs everywhere. 

Meanwhile, we DVR'd Saturday Night Live and are watching it now....John Goodman as Rex Tillerson, OMG! It just keeps getting better!!!!!!! Eleventy.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

If this has already been posted before and I missed it, apologies to all in advance.

The New Yorker has an article about the Mercer family that I found particularly chilling. I had a hard time deciding which quotes to pull, because so many things disturbed me about this family of bigoted, sociopathic, conspiracy theorists. Not only did the Mercers spend millions, and launch a propaganda war through Cambridge Analytica to get Trump elected, they still have his ear today.

If you ever wondered why Trump is so blasé about nuclear war, Robert Mercer may be the reason:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency

A sociopath helping fellow sociopaths.  Since Trump is doing every sociopath's wet dream they must be living vicariously through him. 

[onekidanddone]

9 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

The only thing that makes me smile when it comes to politics lately is watching Republicans go after each other and hang each other out to dry: 

 

Republicans eating  their own.

[fraurosena]

At first, I thought I would put this in the cartoons thread. But I think it's more relevant here, as it's not actually funny and the message is sadly quite poignant.

.

 

.

[JMarie]

It's cute that Trump thinks he'll still be in office in 2020

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/19/trump-running-against-elizabeth-warren-in-20202-would-be-a-dre/21902673/

[onekidanddone]

34 minutes ago, JMarie said:

It's cute that Trump thinks he'll still be in office in 2020

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/19/trump-running-against-elizabeth-warren-in-20202-would-be-a-dre/21902673/

You have more faith in the system than I.  I have to push down the feeling of being demoralized and hopeless, because that is exactly what the orange shit blob wants. I really, I can't see his leaving office early unless we take back the Hill in 2018.

[CTRLZero]

Farmers worry about their harvests

Understandably, guest workers (H2-A visas) and illegal immigrants from Mexico are nervous about traveling in the US to work in the fields and orchards in eastern Washington.  Some of the orchard owners, who mostly voted Trump, are afraid their crops won't be planted and picked if the workers stay home.  This will, of course, affect so many of us adversely:  farmers - loss of crops and income; workers - loss of income; consumers - scarcity of goods and higher prices.

I'm sure this is happening nationwide, but I'm interested in reading of what's happening in other states if anyone finds articles regarding immigration/guest worker policies on agriculture.  The article I linked touches on a variety of issues.

Years ago, we had a shortage of guest workers, and our then-Governor pleaded with retirees, students, anyone, to please help with the harvest.  I recall it wasn't very successful because people couldn't afford to temporarily relocate to these rural areas (a few people did come with RVs).  Trump owns a vineyard, so is apparently trying to streamline the visa process.  Again, if it benefits Trump directly, he's all over it.

[Scribber]

It's cute that Trump thinks he'll still be in office in 2020
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/19/trump-running-against-elizabeth-warren-in-20202-would-be-a-dre/21902673/

I am split on this. The conservatives have their heads so far up their asses that it's potential he will still be around. (Anyone else? Impeachment would have already begun...)

I hope he's gone ASAP and that dems take back the house and senate in 2018. But I don't know how much faith I have in this.

Over 40% of the American people still approve of this asshat.

[Cartmann99]

7 hours ago, Howl said:

Trump's approval ratings are hanging in the 40s.  Let me repeat that: Trump's approval ratings are hanging in the 40s. This is good news to a lot of people, but to me, it means that over 40% of the people in this country (+ or - some small percentage) still think that he is doing a good or Great! job, have not budged from that position and likely won't in the future.  This is Trump's hard core base, and this is who is being addressed in every idiotic statement that comes out of the White House.

 

 

 

Reminds me of the theory that roughly 27% of the American voting public is so batshit crazy, that they will approve of absolutely anything their preferred candidate does after they have fully committed to him or her.

[47of74]

Agent Orange got taken to school about NATO after his dumbass tweets (is there any other kind) on NATO.

dailykos.com/story/2017/3/18/1644889/-After-Trump-tweets-embarrassingly-inaccurate-info-former-NATO-ambassador-publicly-educates-Trump

Quote

Needless to say, people who know better immediately began correcting the President of the United States about how NATO is funded. The most notable of Twitter teachers who gave Trump a lesson in how NATO works was Ivo Daalder, the former United States Ambassador to NATO

 

There's a whole series of tweets from Ambassador Daalder explaining how this all works to Agent Orange.  Of couse as dense as he is it'll go in one ear and out the other.

[RoseWilder]

Well it's about time Republicans start pulling their heads out of their asses: 

 

 

[formergothardite]

Be prepared to be angry reading this. It is an article about how Christians can copy Trump. 

Quote

Each suggested Christians have something to learn from the new president’s no-holds-barred approach when it comes to challenging political correctness and supposedly unspeakable taboos

 

Quote

“If he can do that just being Donald Trump, and he can say, forget political correctness and all this stuff, then how much more do we have to be bold for Messiah?

 

Quote

Like many other commentators, including James Dobson and WND founder Joseph Farah, Cahn interprets the election of Trump as a “reprieve,” an opportunity for Christians to try to retake lost cultural ground and spread the faith.

 

http://www.wnd.com/2017/03/the-rev-trump-what-church-can-learn-from-prez/

Instead of trying to be like Trump, maybe they should try to copy Jesus for a bit. Work on feeding the poor and caring for the sick, things like that. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

21 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

First, I want to thank you and @RoseWilder for continuing to draw our attention to the Mercer family and all of the other crap going on in the Trump universe. I would miss a lot of good articles, if you two didn't make comments about them. The efforts you two make are very much appreciated. 

That said, the Mercer family scares the hell out of me. They really do want to turn the United States into some Ayn Rand hellhole, where the superbly rich live inside heavily guarded compounds, while the rest of us are scrambling just to survive.

Thank you! It's such a relief to be able to share and discuss information here -- too many people I know just don't want to hear it. I appreciate the intelligent discourse from so many perspectives here on FJ.

 

20 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

You're welcome! I'm so glad that the stuff I post is helpful. I always feel like I'm posting too much!

And I agree, the Mercer family is terrifying. I can't even read about them close to bed because it's too hard to fall asleep while thinking about it. 

I sometimes feel like I go crazy and am posting too much. Of course, then I see something else that chaps my hide and want to share it with folks who will also be outraged.

 

3 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

Farmers worry about their harvests

Understandably, guest workers (H2-A visas) and illegal immigrants from Mexico are nervous about traveling in the US to work in the fields and orchards in eastern Washington.  Some of the orchard owners, who mostly voted Trump, are afraid their crops won't be planted and picked if the workers stay home.  This will, of course, affect so many of us adversely:  farmers - loss of crops and income; workers - loss of income; consumers - scarcity of goods and higher prices.

I'm sure this is happening nationwide, but I'm interested in reading of what's happening in other states if anyone finds articles regarding immigration/guest worker policies on agriculture.  The article I linked touches on a variety of issues.

Years ago, we had a shortage of guest workers, and our then-Governor pleaded with retirees, students, anyone, to please help with the harvest.  I recall it wasn't very successful because people couldn't afford to temporarily relocate to these rural areas (a few people did come with RVs).  Trump owns a vineyard, so is apparently trying to streamline the visa process.  Again, if it benefits Trump directly, he's all over it.

I'll see if I can find anything about my region, but here's an article about Tweedle-Dumber (Eric) seeking H2 visas for foreign workers to work Agent Orange's winery here in VA. I guess they're the "right" type of foreigners.

 

2 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Reminds me of the theory that roughly 27% of the American voting public is so batshit crazy, that they will approve of absolutely anything their preferred candidate does after they have fully committed to him or her.

My mom and I were discussing this. She says that a goodly chunk of the Agent Orange voters will go to their graves swearing he is right because they can't admit they might have made a mistake voting for him. Of course, there are also a fair number of total nutjobs who truly believe him.

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Hmmmm: "Trump sued over disclosure of personal debts"

Quote

A Washington lawyer is suing President Donald Trump for allegedly obscuring the extent of his personal debts on his federal financial disclosure form.

Attorney Jeffrey Lovitky filed the case in federal court in Washington this week, claiming that Trump's May 2016 disclosure intermingles his personal indebtedness and loans made to businesses or development projects Trump is affiliated with.

While Trump or his businesses are facing at least four lawsuits alleging unfair competition or violations of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, Lovitky's suit makes no claims of impropriety — it simply alleges that the public is being deprived of accurate information about Trump's debts.

All Trump's debts are covered on a single page of his 104-page disclosure. The listed loans exceed $300 million in total, according to the report. The total amount of the loans is known to be much larger based on other data, but the disclosure form does not require details above $50 million for each loan that exceeds that amount.

"Really, the question is concerning the liabilities held by the LLCs [limited liability companies], and we just need more information to be able to know whether or not those are personal or business liabilities," Lovitky told POLITICO. "If you just look at the statement on its face, all those liabilities are assumed to be personal liabilities, but I just do not think that’s the case. I have information that says otherwise."

Lovitky said that most of the debt information Trump provided on the form was already public record because the loans are typically mortgages that are recorded publicly. However, there is no way from land records or company records to determine who is ultimately liable for loans if the debtor is a limited liability company, the attorney said.

Lovitky said he wrote to White House counsel Don McGahn in January to ask Trump to file a corrected disclosure form but received no reply. Under federal law, Trump's next financial disclosure form is not required to be filed until May 2018. Unlike other major presidential candidates for the past several decades, Trump has declined to make his tax returns public, although portions of a couple of returns have turned up in the press.

White House spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment on the suit. A private Trump attorney, Sheri Dillon, referred a request for comment to the Trump Organization, which declined to comment.

Lovitky primarily litigates health care financing disputes, but he also pursues civil rights cases from time to time. Asked why he is pressing the issue about Trump's financial disclosures, the attorney said: "It's mostly the fact that with this president there are very serious concerns about conflicts of interest in this particular administration, and I think it’s important that those concerns be addressed thoroughly."

Several of Trump's largest reported loans are from a division of Deutsche Bank, a large German bank.

Lovitky's suit seeks no damages but asks the court to declare that Trump's disclosure filed last year was illegal and to order him to file one detailing his personal debts. Lovitky said he hopes Trump will simply refile the form rather than fight the suit.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.

I'm hoping that with so many people chipping away at him, he'll soon fall over.