Trump 53: Orange Florida Man Awaiting Indictment

[47of74]

Fuck knob’s Facebook ban has been upheld. 

Quote

Facebook was justified in banning then-President Donald Trump from its platform after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol but will need to reassess how long the ban will remain in effect, the social network’s quasi-independent Oversight Board said Wednesday.

The decision to uphold the ban is a blow to Trump's hopes to post again to Facebook or Instagram any time soon, but it opens the door to him eventually returning to the platforms. Facebook must complete a review of the length of the suspension within six months, the board said.

Facebook created the Oversight Board last year as a kind of "supreme court" to hear appeals from users like Trump who have had their posts removed or who want to challenge other sensitive or contentious moderation decisions. The decisions of the 20-member globe-spanning board are not binding, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to abide by what it says.

“Given the seriousness of the violations and the ongoing risk of violence, Facebook was justified in suspending Mr. Trump’s accounts on January 6 and extending that suspension on January 7,” the board said in its decision.

 

[formergothardite]

Trump becoming a blogger is one of those things that no one could have predicted. 

[GreyhoundFan]

His blogs will look like he attended the SOTDRT, complete with misspelled words, bad grammar, rampant exclamation points, and random capitalization.

[GreyhoundFan]

I'm sure it does, but I won't give him clicks to find out.

[Cartmann99]

6 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

His blogs will look like he attended the SOTDRT, complete with misspelled words, bad grammar, rampant exclamation points, and random capitalization.

Someone will be tasked with adding seizure-inducing graphics to his screeds.

[GreyhoundFan]

44 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Someone will be tasked with adding seizure-inducing graphics to his screeds.

I imagine that any web designer working for him would feel like this.

[Cartmann99]

 

[Alisamer]

So his response to being banned from other social media was to...

Start a Livejournal?

[fraurosena]

45 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

Yesterday I saw that @Devin Nunes Cow reported numerous (I believe four or five) accounts similar to this one. They've now all been banned as well. How desperate Trump must be to get back on Twitter... and that he's thwarted at every turn makes me giggle every time.

[AnywhereButHere]

On 5/5/2021 at 5:43 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

I imagine that any web designer working for him would feel like this.

My husband is a graphic designer (not for Fucknut - thank god...), and yup. Sounds about right! This is a pretty frequent rant ?

[GreyhoundFan]

No surprise, the former guy and his wife didn't want to be inconvenienced. "The 'headache' Trump left behind for Biden on the White House lawn"

Quote

(CNN)The project that's currently tearing up the White House's South Lawn initially landed on Donald Trump's desk.

The White House was in need of substantial upgrades to its future security apparatus, updates that would include digging deeply and extensively, from the upper main driveway to the lower, across acres of pristine green grass. Times had changed since the last substantial overhaul of systems, and with the country facing new, known and unknown security threats from various entities, it was paramount the updates happen, the United States Secret Service told the White House, according to two people familiar with the plan who spoke to CNN.

Many workers would be involved, with machinery, temporary gates and plenty of inconvenient closures and re-routes likely to occur, perhaps for several weeks, possibly longer. The United States Secret Service, the National Park Service and the White House worked in tandem to formulate a plan for the massive, multimillion dollar overhaul, one that could be done in phases, so as not to disturb the first family in residence, noted the sources.

The final step of implementation was for the Trump White House's chief usher, Timothy Harleth, to explain the plan to the President and first lady, and then signal to the Secret Service and National Park Service the system was a "go."

But the Trumps weren't so inclined. They didn't want the noise and, Melania Trump in particular, wanted to avoid disrupting the aesthetics on the back lawn, where there could perhaps be events. The first couple decided to "pass it to the next guy," said one of the people familiar. That next guy ended up being President Joe Biden.

The project, which has now been ongoing for several weeks on the south side of the White House campus, is one of the largest in scope and scale at the White House in several years. It has crept up from the farthest southern juncture of the lawn to now just to the foot of the South entrance of the actual White House.

For more than a month now, Biden has had to meet his helicopter, Marine One, on the Ellipse, the park below the South Lawn perimeter of the White House and just north of Constitution Avenue. Marine One has had to land and take off from this not-usual spot because of the construction, and Biden has had to motorcade approximately two minutes from the White House to the Ellipse to depart and arrive, where before he could ostensibly walk out his back door a few hundred yards and board his private transport.

"It's been a headache," said one Secret Service source with knowledge of altered movements to circumvent the construction.

Upgrading security

The last time there was a dig this big was during Barack Obama's presidency, when upgrades were made on the north side of the White House that included similar security measures to the ones happening now, another person familiar with the work told CNN.

"In order to maintain operational security, the U.S. Secret Service does not comment on the means and methods used to conduct the agency's protective operations," a Secret Service spokesperson told CNN when asked about the work on the South Lawn. The White House tolld CNN the South Lawn work is an eight to 10 week project. The National Park Service referred CNN to the Secret Service.

According to contracts obtained by CNN, the majority of the current updates are happening underground, where an extensive route of ducts is being placed. Those ducts have the capability to contain miscellaneous security apparatus, from wiring to cameras to lighting and alternate power sources. The scope of the system includes a swath of White House acreage from 5,000-15,000 linear feet, or about one to three miles. The contract for the bulk of this work was awarded in 2019 to The Whiting Turner Contracting Company for $17.9 million.

The selection of Whiting-Turner to manage and operate the work suggests that there may be sensitive security needs being addressed with this duct-building project, and that behind the tall wooden fences that have been temporarily erected to prevent prying eyes, major technical components are being installed. Whiting-Turner, a construction management and operations corporation with massive federal work already under its belt, has overseen projects for, among others, NASA, the Department of Energy, the Architect of the Capitol, the Executive Residence at the White House, the Justice Department, most branches of the military, and a number of organizations in the national intelligence sphere. Whiting-Turner on its website touts its expertise in "anti-terrorism and force protection" as well as its experience constructing and implementing "classified and top-secret requirements." The company is also proficient in installing "uninterrupted power systems and emergency power," per its website. Whiting-Turner declined comment to CNN on its projects, including the White House contract.

Presidents forced to adapt

Trump may have been smart to pass off the project to "the next guy," considering the weeks of disruption and noise that have already occurred, and will likely continue for at least two to three more, according to a person familiar with where the work stands.

A White House spokesperson says neither the President nor his senior staff have been frustrated by the changes to the typical routing.

But it's not just Marine One that has had to re-route. The entire South Lawn encompasses several acres of land, tended to by the National Park Service. It is home to the White House Kitchen Garden, a basketball court, the White House swimming pool, several historic and ceremonial plantings and, as of last year, the new tennis pavilion. It is also where most of the events the White House hosts for the public are held, notably the Easter Egg Roll, as well as many large-scale pomp-and-circumstance ceremonies, including state visits and some of the accompanying state dinners. To have it be entirely shut down, dug up, and seamlessly put back together (which is the goal) is a carefully choreographed operation.

The tricky part, of course, is to accomplish this needed and essential security upgrade for the President and his family while not disrupting them too much in the process.

The West Wing under Obama received a two-year, $86 million renovation that also addressed security concerns, put in place ducts, and included major modernization to the HVAC and telecommunications systems. Josh Earnest, who was then White House deputy press secretary, said when the work was completed: "Now that the sights and sounds of construction workers and their equipment are gone, my outlook on the North Lawn of the White House has, literally, brightened."

While the Obamas -- and their staff -- lived through the renovation, there was discussion of possibly having to move Oval Office operations to another location, according to news reports at the time. If the President was indeed displaced, it would not have been the first time such a thing happened to accommodate construction. In 1934, there was a major expansion and renovation of the West Wing, forcing Franklin Roosevelt to temporarily move from the Oval Office to the Blue Room on the State Floor of the White House. The rooms between the State Dining Room and the East Room on the State Floor include the Blue Room, the Red Room and the Green Room; Roosevelt liked to have his staff in the adjoining Red and Green rooms while he met with people in the Blue. The rooms on the State Floor are open to White House tours and privately used for formal events and visits.

"It was brief, but Roosevelt turned the Blue Room into his office for meetings, and used the Yellow Oval upstairs in the Executive Residence for his private office," said Matthew Costello, senior historian for the White House Historical Association.

The most extensive renovation of the White House took place from 1948-1952 under Harry Truman, forcing the Trumans to live in Blair House across the street for most of that time. Among other disruptive renovations, Costello also noted the building of the White House's third floor, and the construction of a new roof, which in 1927 made Calvin Coolidge flee the noise and chaos. "Coolidge moved to the Patterson Mansion off of Dupont Circle (several blocks from the White House) until the renovations were completed," Costello said. "Presidents, too, have to adapt."

"There are many times these big projects are approved by a previous administration, but they don't go forward until the next one," he added. In much the same way Trump passed on this current South Lawn work to Biden, Obama signed off on the North Lawn fencing project, but that didn't get underway until Trump was in office.

"Sometimes they bump them down the road a bit," Costello said.

 

[47of74]

Fuck knob called a horse a junky 

Quote

“This is emblematic of what is happening to our Country,” grumbles the former president

Donald Trump will connect any bit of news to his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him…even a failed drug test for the horse that won the Kentucky Derby. 

On Sunday, news broke that Medina Spirit, which won the Derby last weekend, failed a postrace drug test and now risks becoming only the third winner in the 147-year history of the famed horse race to be disqualified, pending a second test and potential appeal from trainer Bob Baffert.

Trump, who has turned to posting statements on his own personal website since being banned from Facebook and Twitter in the final days of his presidency, saw horse racing’s latest ugly headline as new fuel for his grievances.

My response is best summed up as

 

[church_of_dog]

50 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Fuck knob called a horse a junky 

My response is best summed up as

 

And what's his issue with defunct bookstores?

*ducks and runs*

#capitalizationpolice

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, church_of_dog said:

And what's his issue with defunct bookstores?

*ducks and runs*

#capitalizationpolice

Took me a second LOL thanks for a giggle in the midsts of Monday afternoon doldrums

[GreyhoundFan]

The former guy didn't look this good 40 years ago:

Edited May 10, 2021 by GreyhoundFan

[GreyhoundFan]

I love Trevor:

[AmazonGrace]

Of course he knows it's a horse, he's a stable genius after all.

[47of74]

Another piece of the fuck knob legacy has been swept away. 

Quote

Lafayette Square, the park across from the White House, has reopened to the public. 

It closed after U.S. Park Police officers forcefully dispersed protesters from Lafayette Square before former President Donald Trump walked across the park to stand near St. John's Church to pose before cameras holding a Bible.

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by 47of74

[GreyhoundFan]

Amen:

[WiseGirl]

I hope to Rufus that Seth is right and Cheney and her allies bring him down. (It's part of a thread but I still can't seem to bring threads over properly). 

 

[WiseGirl]

Oh please, please, please let this be true.

[WiseGirl]

Wait. Is this true? HAHAHAHA 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, WiseGirl said:

Wait. Is this true? HAHAHAHA 

 

Yes, Rachel Maddow had a segment. Apparently the word is a warrant is coming and DeSantis won't honor extradition to NY, so his minions are scrambling. Mar-a-Loco usually shuts down for the summer in late May. I mean, where is he going to go? Bedminster, in NJ, where he usually spends the summer? Um, I thing the Governor of NJ will extradite him to NY. The other properties I know of are in Virginia, DC, California, and Illinois. Pretty short sighted to only build in blue states (except for FL).

[GreyhoundFan]

"Forty Dollar Chicken, Ferraris and Mesh Masks: Two Months in Donald Trump’s Fauci-Free Palm Beach Utopia"

Quote

When I told a Breitbart reporter I would be leaving Covid-wracked New York and my cramped Brooklyn apartment to spend a month and a half in balmy Florida, he called me a “political refugee in the land of Ron DeSantis.”

I didn’t know then how right he was.

I wanted to get to a fingertip feel for what had become the new center of the GOP’s political universe—Palm Beach, where top Republicans were migrating to soak up the Florida sunshine, liberate themselves from Covid-19 rules they view as overly restrictive and bask in the glow of Donald Trump, who has set up his post-presidential court at his Mar-a-Lago beach club.

What better place to see up-close the jockeying for power and influence at this especially fraught and uncertain time in American politics, with Trump still claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him, while playing coy about his plans for 2024.

But first, I needed a Covid test. Vaccines for my age group were still weeks if not months away, and I had zero intention of catching it—I had made it this far! In my deep-blue Brooklyn enclave, I took the disease with seriousness verging on paranoia: I bleached my food, I wore a mask while running, I applied anti-microbial gloves for the subway, and I waited for hours in cold, long lines every week for a swab in the nose. Anthony Fauci would have found me extreme.

But in Palm Beach, it was surprisingly easy to get tested. You could simply go online and book a spot 15 minutes ahead of time without the Hunger Games-style scheming required in New York. I tested myself so often the Palm Beach County health authorities practically greeted me like Norm stepping into the bar on “Cheers.” Perhaps the ease was because no one else there wanted to get tested, but for all the national criticism of DeSantis’ anti-lockdown approach to the pandemic, my general impression was that Florida had figured out a few things that eluded New York’s by-the-book political leaders. Or had they just reached herd immunity by the time I arrived?

My first journalistic task, though, was covering the Conservative Political Action Conference 170 miles away in Orlando, which was the base-tan burn I needed to adjust to life in the center of the Republican resistance. The three-day conference, which was in a way a massive political protest against Covid restrictions, was my first introduction to Florida’s devil-may-care culture around the pandemic. Minders had to be installed just to enforce mask wearing. Some of those masks were mesh. Any attempt to encourage social distancing was a joke as crowds thronged to the GOP’s rising stars.

Back in Palm Beach, I ate dinner al fresco every night. Sure, the tables weren’t six feet apart, but DeSantis said the virus doesn’t like humidity, so they crammed us in at trendy restaurants like Le Bilboquet. The infamous Manhattan boîte had just opened its Palm Beach sibling in February. And already flocks of well-to-do women in pearls and wide-brimmed hats took over the patio for lunch, while their bronzed, blonde and younger successors danced all night to electronica beats with men whose hair was so full and slick that they could have been Spanish royals. But this scene wasn’t too ostentatious for Ron DeSantis, who dined at the French restaurant in a private room in May.

While I was twitching over the sheer mass of people, the other 30-somethings at my table, who were riding out Covid with their wealthy parents, didn’t flinch. They were all vaccinated—at least one shot. “It’s basically 80 percent immunity,” one woman explained, as a French speaking waiter hoisted around a bottle of Moet & Chandon that shot sparklers while people stood up at their tables to clap and dance.

My Covid anxiety peaked days later when I walked into a packed sports bar. There were no plastic shields breaking up the bar tops, just people shoulder to shoulder eating and breathing viral loads all over each other.

“I’ve already had Covid,” a bartender reassured me as she saw me standing at the bar uncomfortably with my surgical mask. “We all have.”

I told my friends I had to go before I even sat down.

I realized that if I was going to survive in Florida, I needed a vaccine. I asked one of my new friends how they had landed a jab at 36. No shocker—there was a concierge doctor hooking up the rich with vaccines based on random pre-existing conditions. If I wanted one, I needed a referral. I passed. I would just wait for Publix.

Despite the exorbitant wealth in Palm Beach, I rarely saw real, Hollywood celebrities. Sylvester Stallone had recently bought a house and Bill Murray was randomly spotted at a hotel in town, but no young, hot A-listers. This was a town full of bright paisley dresses and velvet loafers worn by the scions and heiresses of the bluest bloods in America. And yet, they weren’t craving celebrity sightings. They were sufficiently amused by the Trump stars who blew through town.

There was Lindsey Graham at the rooftop restaurant at the Ben Hotel. Mike Pompeo spotted with his security detail at The Colony, advertised as “the pinkest boutique hotel in Palm Beach.” Matt Gaetz hiding behind a surgical mask at a reggae bar, mainly to disguise himself from fans asking for selfies and sending over shots. Then there was Rudy Giuliani holding court at Café L’Europe, talking about a book he’s working on and his low-key visits to Mar-a-lago. At Buccan, there were Trump ambassadors ducking his key-note address at the RNC retreat to have dinner with Democratic lobbyist Tom Quinn, whose son Piper owns the trendy hot-spot.

At Cucina, a place widely dubbed “Covid-cina” because it was packed with people violating distancing rules under disco balls, Corey Lewandowski was spotted in the back of the dance floor. (Hogan Gidley was seen at the same haunt but outside at what Cucina called its “beach,” which was in reality the back parking lot filled with sand. Gidley, a former White House aide who like many others down in West Palm was cashing in on his Trump-world celebrity, was there mingling with socialites, who threw a party for, to quote the invite, “the campaign for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Woman of The Year for Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast.”)

I found that name-dropping Jason Miller—Trump’s de facto post-presidential spokesman and gatekeeper—to a hostess could get you a better table at Palm Beach Grill. When I considered moving to Palm Beach permanently, it was a former Trump ambassador who tried to sell me real estate.

Everywhere you looked there were Bentleys, Ferraris and Rolls Royces. (Even the county clerk drove a red Ferrari.) The price of chicken at Café Boulud was $45. My dog Pancetta was served first at brunch. The big debate every weekend was whether to go to Polo in Wellington or have brunch at Sant Ambroeus, where David Beckham was eating with his future in-law, billionaire Nelson Peltz. Is that Republican strategist Ryan Williams ransacking the Stubbs & Wootton end of season sale?

Within a month, I was fully enmeshed in the culture. My Covid-phobia waned to the point where even I started questioning Fauci and the CDC. Why did we have to wear masks outside? Here in Florida everyone was happy. People sat at long tables at brunch and walked from table to table to chitchat with others. I bought a thinner, leopard mask. After all, it was hot outside.

At one point, a local couple (originally from New York, of course), asked if I was a socialite as I sipped on iced coffee under a wide-brimmed straw hat at the posh Royal Poinciana Plaza with my Pomeranian-like dog.

I joked that I was undercover. “I’m actually a political reporter,” I confessed.

They were thrilled to meet a young woman with a job, who of course, reminded them of their daughter.

“You should really go after that Hunter Biden story,” the husband said.

Just another day in Palm Beach.

 

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Yes, Rachel Maddow had a segment. Apparently the word is a warrant is coming and DeSantis won't honor extradition to NY, so his minions are scrambling. Mar-a-Loco usually shuts down for the summer in late May. I mean, where is he going to go? Bedminster, in NJ, where he usually spends the summer? Um, I thing the Governor of NJ will extradite him to NY. The other properties I know of are in Virginia, DC, California, and Illinois. Pretty short sighted to only build in blue states (except for FL).

Bless his heart. Looks like he's going to be stuck in Florida all summer.

Spoiler