Melania Trump:Looking for a platform, and a stylist.

[Cartmann99]

8 hours ago, thoughtful said:

That's the second urine-yellow dress she wore on that trip. Coincidence? 

She's wearing Pee Pee dresses to trigger the libs!

[GreyhoundFan]

"In First Lady’s Hometown in Slovenia, the Business Is Melania"

Spoiler

SEVNICA, Slovenia — Melania cake. Melania cream. Melania wine. Melania tea. Melania slippers. Melania salami. Melania chocolate-coated apple slices.

There are few products that the enterprising burghers of Sevnica, a small, rural Slovenian town where Melania Trump spent her formative years, have not sought to brand in honor of the first lady of the United States.

Copyright restrictions mean that most of the items merely allude to her identity: The wine is called “First Lady,” while the slippers (a silvery number garnished with a fluffy white rabbit’s tail) are called “White House.”

But legal kerfuffles aside, Mrs. Trump has been good for Sevnica (pronounced SEH-oo-nee-tsa) — a town of around 5,000 that sits in a forest-lined river valley some 90 minutes by car from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

The town’s only hotel reopened earlier this year. The annual tourist traffic — helped, of course, by Melania-themed tours — has risen by 15 percent, to 20,000 visitors, in the three years since Mrs. Trump’s husband, then a real estate mogul and a star of reality television, became a front-runner for the presidency.

“After Melania, things really changed,” said Srecko Ocvirk, the town’s mayor. “Now we have tourists from all over the world.”

At Kopitarna, the shoe company that makes the Melania-themed slippers, staff members saluted Mrs. Trump for putting Slovenia on the map. “Many other people,” said Marija Balinc, an export manager, “thought we were called Slovakia.”

But press a little harder, and there are signs the novelty is wearing thin, even for people like Lidija Ogorevc, one of the local guides who occasionally takes tourists on a tour of the town’s Melania-related sites for about $35 a head.

“Yes, that is the Melania wine,” Ms. Ogorevc sighed on a recent tour, as she breezed past a bottle of First Lady on sale at the town’s 12th-century castle.

“But this,” she added, pointing to a nearby bottle of Grajska Kri, a Blaufränkisch red, “this is the top wine.”

These days, Ms. Ogorevc does not hide her indifference to all the commotion over Melania. “For me, I really don’t really care about these things,” Ms. Ogorevc said, not seeming to mind how this might sound on a Melania tour. “Sevnica has much more to show than just this story.”

For Ms. Ogorevc, the glory of Sevnica is its castle, on a nearby hill with dreamy views of the Sava river below. “Can you imagine what it’s like in summer?” she said, gazing across the valley from the doors of the castle. “Wow, really nice!”

Her mood darkened as we drove back down into Sevnica, and parked outside a Communist-era tower on the edge of town. “Now we are making a stop at the apartment block where they lived,” she said, referring to the future first lady, then named Melanija Knavs, and her family.

Then she gestured vaguely at the building, and shrugged.

“But I can’t tell you exactly where they lived because I don’t have that information,” she said, a little irritably.

Over in the town’s tourist office, visitors can buy a book about Mrs. Trump’s early life — “Melania Trump: The Slovenian Side of the Story” — and a wide range of First Lady products, like the chocolate-coated apple slices.

But the head of the local tourist board, Mojca Pernovsek, would agree to an interview only if the subject of Melania was left untouched.

There is so much else to talk about, Ms. Pernovsek said. The valley the village sits in. The hiking. The wood-chopping. The men-only salami festival. The wine festival (for all genders). The fishing and beer festivals. And, of course, the castle.

But, Ms. Pernovsek said, “I don’t want to talk about politics.”

Until 2016, when Mrs. Trump rose to global prominence, there would have been little reason to ask.

Sevnica was then better known as a minor industrial hub, housing Kopitarna, one of Slovenia’s oldest shoe companies; Stilles, a furniture company that supplies international hotels; and Slovenia’s largest lingerie company, Lisca.

When Mrs. Trump was a child, her mother, Amalija, worked at another clothing factory, which has since closed. Her father, Viktor, is reported to have sold car parts. Few residents remember them from that time — not even Mr. Ocvirk, the mayor, who is just a year older than Mrs. Trump, and would have attended the local elementary school at the same time.

Mrs. Trump left Sevnica about 30 years ago, first to study in Ljubljana in the late 1980s, and then a few years later to work in the United States.

For some of the town’s younger generation, born after Mrs. Trump left, the association is still exciting.

“I don’t know her as a person, I am just very proud that she’s from my town,” said Maja Kozole Popadic, a cafe owner who sells a Melania-themed apple pie. “For someone from this small town to become first lady of the United States is such a big thing for us.”

But Mrs. Trump has not made a public return to Sevnica, or Slovenia, since becoming first lady, and for most the connection remains primarily a commercial opportunity.

At the Rondo restaurant, diners can sample a “Presidential Burger” — in which the bun is topped with a frizzy slice of fried cheese that looks convincingly similar to President Trump’s mop of hair.

The staff members, however, do not all share the same excitement for all things Donald and Melania.

“I think at the time when he was elected, people were excited, but now it’s kind of worn out,” said Mia Podlesnik, a young waitress at Rondo. “Marrying someone — I don’t think that’s really an accomplishment.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[Cartmann99]

On 7/29/2018 at 8:50 AM, AmazonGrace said:

 

Melania has worn quite a few sleeveless outfits during her time as First Lady, so why is she now wearing long sleeved outfits during the hottest part of the summer? 

[apple1]

7 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Melania has worn quite a few sleeveless outfits during her time as First Lady, so why is she now wearing long sleeved outfits during the hottest part of the summer? 

While you have a point - that picture is from September 2017. For some reason, it has had new life lately in memes.

[AmazonGrace]

Dafuq she need a policy aide for? is that White House for a cosmetologist?

Be best, Reagan. Fly like you really don't give a damn

[Cartmann99]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Melania Trump's parents are now US citizens"

Spoiler

(CNN)President Donald Trump's in-laws are officially United States citizens.

Viktor and Amalija Knavs, the parents of first lady Melania Trump, were granted citizenship Thursday, their immigration attorney, Michael Wildes, announced.

"It went well and they are very grateful and appreciative of this wonderful day for their family," he said in a statement to CNN.

The first lady's office declined to comment.

Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who are from Slovenia, had been living in the United States with green cards and have been frequently spotted in Washington since their son-in-law assumed the presidency.

Wildes told CNN that as of February, the couple were living in the US on green cards -- a status that allows them to live and work in the US indefinitely and paves the way for citizenship.

But it's unclear whether their green cards were granted by a process the President has sought to end.

"I can confirm they are green card holders and legal permanent residents of the United States," he said. Wildes did not explain how they got those green cards, raising the prospect they were sponsored by Melania Trump or another family member based on what Trump has called "chain migration" or family-based migration.

There are only a handful of ways that immigrants to the US can obtain green cards, and the largest share of them each year are given out based on familial connections. A smaller number go to immigrants based on their employment, and other categories include refugees and other special cases. Advocates for restricting legal immigration have pointed to the imbalance in favor of family connections as evidence of the need for reform, calling for a "merit-based" system that would choose immigrants based on need in the US.

The US allows a number of ways for US citizens and legal permanent residents to sponsor family members to come to the US permanently, including categories for parents, adult siblings and adult children, married and unmarried.

Trump and his congressional allies have fought to slash that dramatically, limiting sponsorship to spouses and minor children, including dropping the threshold for minor children from 21 to 18. Experts estimate that could cut overall immigration to the US by 40% to 50%, if those green cards are not reallocated to another category. Trump has advocated a "merit-based" system, but has not proposed any method of admitting immigrants to the US to replace those categories.

Viktor and Amalija Knavs, 73 and 71 years old, respectively, are retired, and they maintain regular contact with the Trump family, often traveling with the first family on trips to Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, New Jersey.

 

[JMarie]

On 7/16/2018 at 11:20 PM, GreatGirl said:

My friend pointed out that lately you have seen Melania in clothes that covers her arms. Is she having dialysis or something and covering needle marks? Also after kidney surgery her face seem to be more tight than usual? Too much botox or were here kidneys in her face?

Her dress looked uncomfortable for current weather. Our first lady is beautiful lady but I must say that her dress was little bit homely. Also she is looking older than she is, she should have more nicer haircut.  On the other hand, she has six month old baby so maybe she doesn't care at the moment.

I wonder if she has a PICC line, and that's why she's covering her arms.  If she had a port or a Groshong, she wouldn't have worn that off-the-shoulder dress (well, she could wear that type of dress, but it would be fodder for the tabloids).

introduction to IVs for non-medical FJers:  https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/central-venous-catheters.html

[Howl]

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Melania Trump's parents are now US citizens"

Ironic isn't it?  She comes in on a "genius" visa, has an anchor baby and brings her parents in through chain migration. 

*Melania may have become a citizen by the time Barron was born.  I have no idea of the timeline to her citizenship, but "anchor baby" sounds very snarky! 

[candygirl200413]

Chain Migration is totally fine for white immigrants but that's it (trumps words 110%)

[AmazonGrace]

 

[JMarie]

On 8/9/2018 at 8:46 PM, Howl said:

Ironic isn't it?  She comes in on a "genius" visa, has an anchor baby and brings her parents in through chain migration. 

*Melania may have become a citizen by the time Barron was born.  I have no idea of the timeline to her citizenship, but "anchor baby" sounds very snarky! 

According to her Wikipedia page, she had Barron on March 20, 2006.  She became a citizen sometime in 2006.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43256318

Quote

Mrs Trump began applying for the visa in 2000, when she was Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model working in New York and dating Donald Trump. She was approved in 2001, one of just five people from Slovenia to win the coveted visa that year, according to the Post.

Becoming a citizen in 2006 gave her the right to sponsor her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who are now in the US and in the process of applying for citizenship.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Deep Thoughts by Melania Trump: Good things can be  good and bad things can be bad.

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[AmazonGrace]

Melania is going to some Shithole countries: 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/20/politics/melania-trump-africa-trip-first-lady/index.html

[fraurosena]

The whole speech is almost as if she’s trolling him. 

p

[AmazonGrace]

What's with the accent? Is she exaggerating it on purpose? It sounds more pronounced somehow in the cyber bullying speech than here, for instance.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Pretty bad, but sadly, I can see this exchange:

[JMarie]

On 7/16/2018 at 11:20 PM, GreatGirl said:

My friend pointed out that lately you have seen Melania in clothes that covers her arms. Is she having dialysis or something and covering needle marks? Also after kidney surgery her face seem to be more tight than usual? Too much botox or were here kidneys in her face?

Her dress looked uncomfortable for current weather. Our first lady is beautiful lady but I must say that her dress was little bit homely. Also she is looking older than she is, she should have more nicer haircut.  On the other hand, she has six month old baby so maybe she doesn't care at the moment.

When she gave a speech yesterday in Maryland, she was wearing a blazer over her shoulders, covering most of her arms.  I think there might be something to the arm covering thing.

[GreyhoundFan]

A good one from Dana Milbank: "One easy trick for Melania Trump to reduce cyberbullying"

Spoiler

It was as though Nancy Reagan had given a “Just Say No ” speech while her husband honored the occasion back at the White House by snorting cocaine during a live news conference.

But this actually happened Monday: Melania Trump participated in the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention’s Summit on Cyberbullying while her husband was home at the White House — cyberbullying.

At the summit, a Twitter official spoke about attempts to make Twitter “a more positive and healthy place.” A Facebook representative talked about “the importance of role modeling” and encouraged those who are “typing in all caps” to “take a step back and look at what those communications look like.” And the first lady herself cautioned that social media can “be destructive and harmful,” and therefore young people should be taught “how to conduct themselves safely in a positive manner.”

Yet in virtual split screen at the White House, President Trump, during the 90 minutes his wife participated in the cyberbullying summit, engaged in his unique form of role-modeling: He fired off a series of tweets to his nearly 54 million followers vilifying “political ‘hack’ ” John Brennan (the “worst CIA director in our country’s history”), disparaging his own attorney general, attacking the “Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt” and spewing vitriol: “phony, dirty and discredited . . . a total joke!”

Earlier Monday, even as his wife prepared to head to Rockville for the summit, Trump used social media to call special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team “thugs” (in a misspelled tweet about the White House “councel”) and a “National Disgrace.”

This created an elephant-in-the-room situation. Summit participants avoided mention of the cyberbully in chief — the equivalent of having a summit on election hacking with no mention of Russia. For good reason: If they stood up to the bully, he might have taken their lunch money.

Joseph Grunwald, a student at the University of Texas who said he has endured bullying, came closest. “Bullying,” he said, “happens in our homes, happens in our communities and it happens at the national level.” Presumably he was not talking about Orrin Hatch. Cyberbullying “is a method of bullying among the most cowardly among us,” Grunwald said.

Melania Trump, seated on the dais, gazed expressionlessly at Grunwald.

The notion of a first lady taking public aim at her husband’s vice is not without precedent. Laura Bush touted literacy while her husband asked, “Is our children learning?” But George W. Bush didn’t do that on purpose.

Trump has no such excuse. In recent days alone, he has cyberbullied his former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman (“dog,” “wacky,” “vicious,” “nasty,” “a loser” “hated,” “crazed, crying lowlife”); John Dean (“rat”); the media (“sick,” “fake,” “disgusting,” “enemy of the people”); Brennan (“loudmouth, partisan, political hack,” “limited intellectually”); his own attorney general (“BLANK Jeff Sessions”); Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal (“Loser!”); Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (“haywire”); New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (“incompetent,” “really dumb,” “having a total meltdown”); Ohio Gov. John Kasich (“very unpopular,” “failed”); and those investigating Trump (“creep,” “McCarthyism at its WORST!” “zero credibility,” “corrupt,” “a fraud,” “lowlife”).

As a result, the president’s underlings at the cyberbullying event had to suppress all sense of irony.

Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services: “Bullying is bullying wherever it occurs, in the schoolyard or the Internet.”

Or the Oval Office?

Holly Ham, the executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: “Bullying . . . must be addressed and stopped, and it has no place in our communities.”

Or in the White House?

Industry representatives didn’t dare mention the First Offender, either. The Family Online Safety Institute’s Jennifer Hanley mentioned “the challenge” some parents face “when their own child might be the bully.”

Or their own husband?

From Facebook, Antigone Davis noted that “in almost all cases when we see online bullying, it’s connected to offline bullying.” That’s true in the schoolyard or at campaign rallies where “disgusting” journalists and “low-I.Q.” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) are taunted. And Trump doesn’t just bully Brennan online — he strips him of his security clearance.

The first lady was no doubt genuine in her four-minute speech, when she spoke about the need to focus on the problem of bullying and the “pitfalls” of social media. She spoke of reducing “bullying through kindness and open communication.”

But the best thing she could do for the cause would be to lead by example — specifically, to use her considerable influence to get her husband to take it down a notch.

The representative from Twitter at the cyberbullying summit, Lauren Culbertson, singled out the first lady and made a self-serving plea. “Twitter is a powerful tool,” she said. “If there’s a way we can help our partners leverage that tool, please let us know.”

If Melania Trump is serious about reducing cyberbullying, she could answer that request with four words: “Delete my husband’s account.”