The Trump presidency

[camouflage]

Nice little slip of the tongue there. Trump: " We're a very powerful company, I mean country..'

I think this "slip of the tongue" was him signalling his mindset on purpose.

 

[gosub]

Most Irish Americans * descend from victims of the Great Famine of 1845/6. About a million people died from starvation and something like 1/4 of the island's population emigrated to survive. Irish Americans make a big deal of their ancestors' plight under British rule - particularly the famine, which was a man-made tragedy caused by British policy in Ireland.

Irish Americans also make a big deal of St Patricks Day - much more than folks do in Ireland itself. Remembering how forebearers suffered and overcame adversity is a big part of that.

The irony here was that someone who's likely an Irish American descendant of famine victims saying famine relief isn't a priority in the budget. It's the ultimate "I'm alright jack" attitude.

* When poor, starving, Catholic Irish people started arriving en masse in the US, the existing population of Irish people, who were descendants of non-conformist Protestants who came from the North of Ireland 50 to 100 years before, started calling themselves "Scots Irish."

Paddy's day was a thing in America way before the famine, even before the US declared independence. But I'll add it to the list of things its supposed to be about -in reality, a religious fundamentalist trying to bring about the end of days by preaching at the far edge of the known world.

 

[coley]

True!

Probably has lots of hints on where TTT can be found at any given time

 

[1%er]

Good to see the Donald is being true to form and alienating loads of countries and political leaders, keep it up, it is giving many people in countries where the USA has forced a change of government lots of laughs.

 

[gosub]

 

[CrabbedOne]

Most Irish Americans * descend from victims of the Great Famine of 1845/6. About a million people died from starvation and something like 1/4 of the island's population emigrated to survive. Irish Americans make a big deal of their ancestors' plight under British rule - particularly the famine, which was a man-made tragedy caused by British policy in Ireland.

Irish Americans also make a big deal of St Patricks Day - much more than folks do in Ireland itself. Remembering how forebearers suffered and overcame adversity is a big part of that.

The irony here was that someone who's likely an Irish American descendant of famine victims saying famine relief isn't a priority in the budget. It's the ultimate "I'm alright jack" attitude.

* When poor, starving, Catholic Irish people started arriving en masse in the US, the existing population of Irish people, who were descendants of non-conformist Protestants who came from the North of Ireland 50 to 100 years before, started calling themselves "Scots Irish."

Actually the Irish descended population seems to be rather outnumbered by both those of German and African descent and closely followed by Mexicans and English. There's also a big peak of migration after the potato famine but lots of Irish emigration after that.

So it would be a fair hunk of Irish Americans that are descendants of the folk fleeing the famine from 1845-52 but far from all of them. The reality is more the Irish were fleeing over population and poverty than a single catastrophic event.

This provides a timeline and notes the connection with refugee creating events of which the Irish potato famine was just one. There followed about 70 years of panic about Catholic immigration diluting America's very Protestant dominant culture.

The graph above rather shows a basic factor that lies behind Trump's victory: lots of dusky Spanish speaking Mexicans immigrating in recent decades. Ironically the peak in the mid 90s probably relates to the Mexican Peso Crisis which followed the exuberance after the signing of NAFTA.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Trump's barely resisting giving Enda a dead leg there.

Very eloquent though and a big contrast with the obsequious performance of May.

 

[DotCommunist]

get the impression all these head of state cermnial things bore the tits off him. I know they would me. Either that or he's blank faced and thinking up some twitter burns for later

 

[CrabbedOne]

I think this "slip of the tongue" was him signalling his mindset on purpose.

And priorities.

 

[gosub]

get the impression all these head of state cermnial things bore the tits off him. I know they would me. Either that or he's blank faced and thinking up some twitter burns for later

The press bit certainly.

A different Trump greets Merkel at White House -put the clip for the first bit, their actual meeting, which is a lot friendlier then the press spin is giving out

 

[camouflage]

Good to see the Donald is being true to form and alienating loads of countries and political leaders, keep it up, it is giving many people in countries where the USA has forced a change of government lots of laughs.

there's been talk of them trying to regime-change themselves this time.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Redstate President Trump Awakens On Saturday; Engages In Idiotic Twitter Diplomacy

Oh dear, now he's pissed at Merkel and wanting to be repaid by the damned Krauts for making the poor little US spunk away a large part of its GDP on war toys for decades. The man still has no idea how NATO commitments effect US procurement.

 

[CRI]

Actually the Irish descended population seems to be rather outnumbered by both those of German and African descent and closely followed by Mexicans and English. There's also a big peak of migration after the potato famine but lots of Irish emigration after that.

So it would be a fair hunk of Irish Americans that are descendants of the folk fleeing the famine from 1845-52 but far from all of them. The reality is more the Irish were fleeing over population and poverty than a single catastrophic event.

This provides a timeline and notes the connection with refugee creating events of which the Irish potato famine was just one. There followed about 70 years of panic about Catholic immigration diluting America's very Protestant dominant culture.

The graph above rather shows a basic factor that lies behind Trump's victory: lots of dusky Spanish speaking Mexicans immigrating in recent decades. Ironically the peak in the mid 90s probably relates to the Mexican Peso Crisis which followed the exuberance after the signing of NAFTA.

Yes, I think it's true more Americans claim German ancestry than any other. More of my traceable ancestors were "German" than anything else, but that definition tended to include what was considered Germany in the 18th and 19th century and often other German speaking countries. For example, my "German" great, great Grandma was born in Switzerland, according to the census.

Pre-famine "Irish" immigrants to the US were mainly Ulster Protestants and yes, they were among some of the earliest settlers and continued to arrive in dribs and drabs. They referred to themselves as Irish, until the arrival of large numbers of Irish Catholic refugees from famine, then became Scots Irish or Scotch Irish to distinguish themselves. Bit cheesy, but this article from Parade (it was like a Sunday colour supplement that came out with a range of city papers. Ours was with the Evansville Courier.)

If you listen just so to Bluegrass music, you hear something that sounds a bit like Scottish and Irish folk music because, yep, that's where the ancestors of most people living in the Appalachians came from.

 

[CRI]

get the impression all these head of state cermnial things bore the tits off him. I know they would me. Either that or he's blank faced and thinking up some twitter burns for later

Well, I can't imagine they are thrill a minute for most heads of state. But with few exceptions, most have the emotional maturity and manners to pull them off without looking like spoilt toddlers.

Another similarly showy, sulky, stroppy head of state that springs to mind was Colonel Gaddafi.

 

[coley]

"...vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany"
This twat is getting beyond a joke

 

[Puddy_Tat]

mum-tat sent me this from the letters page in today's i

 

[CRI]

Posted on Face Book by Barbara Zack

Immediately after the election, Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller explained that Melania would be staying in New York because there was “obviously a sensitivity to pulling out a 10-year-old in the middle of the school year”.

We have since learned that the cost of security for Melania and Barron to remain at Trump Tower is $183 million/year. There is also no indication that they will actually move to DC this summer. So in essence the Federal government is giving the Trump family a $183 million annual voucher so Barron can attend the elite private prep school of his choice.

Meanwhile, we learned last night that Trump’s budget would completely eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA, with an annual budget of only $148 million, is able to provide seed money for arts programming in literally every Congressional district in the country.

So, on the one hand you have a $183 million school voucher for a single 10-year-old at an elite private school. On the other hand, you have a program that impacts arts and cultural programming throughout the entire nation.

NOT NORMAL.

 

[CRI]

 

[CrabbedOne]

On IJR Transcript: Independent Journal Review's Sit-Down Interview with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

...
RT: There’s not going to be anything, in terms of access, visibility is what we’re doing, there isn’t any other, that I can see, there’s nothing else to it.

EM: Right so your answer is you don’t intend to change this model for your next trip.

RT: It’s gonna be trip dependent. It doesn’t mean we won’t, but we’re gonna look at every trip in terms of what my needs are. Look my ... First and foremost is what is my mission and why am I going? How can I best accomplish that mission? What’s the most effective way for me to do that? I’m not a big media press access person. I personally don’t need it. I understand it’s important to get the message of what we’re doing out, but I also think there’s only a purpose in getting the message out when there’s something to be done. And so we have a lot of work to do, and when we’re ready to talk about what we’re trying to do, I will be available to talk to people. But doing daily availability, I don’t have this appetite or hunger to be that, have a lot of things, have a lot of quotes in the paper or be more visible with the media. I view that the relationship that I want to have with the media, is the media is very important to help me communicate not just to the American people, but to others in the world that are listening. And when I have something important and useful to say, I know where everybody is and I know how to go out there and say it. But if I don’t because we’re still formulating and we’re still deciding what we’re going to do, there is not going to be a lot to say. And I know that you’ve asked me a lot of questions here that I didn’t answer, and I’m not answering them because we have some very, very complex strategic issues to make our way through with important countries around the world, and we’re not going to get through them by just messaging through the media. We get through them in face-to-face meetings behind closed doors. We can be very frank, open, and honest with one another and then we’ll go out and we’ll have something to share about that, but the truth of the matter is, all of the tactics and all of the things were going to do you will know them after they’ve happened.
...

You can really tell Tillerson is a newbie to state diplomacy and politics. Maybe he's thinking of Kissinger's unofficial role as a stealth diplomat but this is spoken like a big corporate CEO who dislikes the limelight. Who has been knackered by endless PowerPoint and nights at the opera. Getting the billionaires to run things is a fuckwit's idea of government but I thought the ex head of Exxon-Mobil might not be a bad pick here. Tillerson would at least understand how the chaotic world works outside the boardroom in various oily places. Exxon-Mobil are practically a sub-state actor running US energy policy often against what State wanted for US interests which may be a key point here. Kerry was terrible but he understood diplomacy is also a public performance just as Lavrov does. When a old Marine with the nickname "Mad Dog" whose quietly moved around the globe clearing up after Trump's incontinent outburst seems to be a better qualified diplomat than the guy running Foggy Bottom things have reached a pretty queer state.

I'm less and less impressed with Tillerson who may be capable but looks easily sidelined by a capricious, bumbling management team. He's like a corporate functionary responding to a vulture capitalist take over which isn't far off what has happen.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

A battle involving some of America's most powerful men and some of Africa's most powerful warlords is being waged in Donald Trump's White House.

At stake are billions of dollars, child labour, sexual violence, and the precious minerals that make our tech gadgets work.

Soon after Trump took office, his plan to suspend the law on what are known as conflict minerals was leaked to the media.

The law was part of former president Barack Obama's 2010 financial reform package known as the Dodd-Frank Act. Section 1502 of the act requires U.S. companies to avoid using conflict minerals from Congo and surrounding countries that are used to fund war, perpetuating human rights atrocities.

It also asked companies to track their global supply chains and provide independently audited reports to the Securities Exchange Commission.

Rights groups called the transparency law groundbreaking.

Big business and some U.S. Republicans have spent years trying to get Section 1502 repealed or radically revised.

Trump order on conflict minerals would send warlords carte blanche signal, say critics

 

[redsquirrel]

"Nasty woman!"

I'd say 'nasty' is a pretty mild descriptive of someone who's policies have increased the infant mortality rate in Greece by 25%. I'd just call her a cunt.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Yes you are correct, that is his actual "beside myself with joy" face, he probably looked exactly like that at the birth of his first child.

Here he is again, full of glee...

This is as good as it gets for Mattis around civilians.

If the camera had panned downward, you'd see that his secretary was giving him head, and that the picture is of his cum-face.

 

[coley]

On IJR Transcript: Independent Journal Review's Sit-Down Interview with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
You can really tell Tillerson is a newbie to state diplomacy and politics. Maybe he's thinking of Kissinger's unofficial role as a stealth diplomat but this is spoken like a big corporate CEO who dislikes the limelight. Who has been knackered by endless PowerPoint and nights at the opera. Getting the billionaires to run things is a fuckwit's idea of government but I thought the ex head of Exxon-Mobil might not be a bad pick here. Tillerson would at least understand how the chaotic world works outside the boardroom in various oily places. Exxon-Mobil are practically a sub-state actor running US energy policy often against what State wanted for US interests which may be a key point here. Kerry was terrible but he understood diplomacy is also a public performance just as Lavrov does. When a old Marine with the nickname "Mad Dog" whose quietly moved around the globe clearing up after Trump's incontinent outburst seems to be a better qualified diplomat than the guy running Foggy Bottom things have reached a pretty queer state.

I'm less and less impressed with Tillerson who may be capable but looks easily sidelined by a capricious, bumbling management team. He's like a corporate functionary responding to a vulture capitalist take over which isn't far off what has happen.

"and we’re not going to get through them by just messaging through the media"
Needs to have a word with his boss?

 

[NoXion]

get the impression all these head of state cermnial things bore the tits off him. I know they would me. Either that or he's blank faced and thinking up some twitter burns for later

If I was getting paid as much as Merkel or Trump I think I could find it within myself to try looking somewhat statesman-like.

 

[8den]

If I was getting paid as much as Merkel or Trump I think I could find it within myself to try looking somewhat statesman-like.

He's not taking a salary tho, remember?

 

[NoXion]

He's not taking a salary tho, remember?

So US Presidents don't get paid? Or did he turn down the money? I find either prospect pretty hard to believe.

 

[CrabbedOne]

So US Presidents don't get paid? Or did he turn down the money? I find either prospect pretty hard to believe.

The US President gets a salary of $400 PA and has to take it. It's a pretty insulting wage by US CEO standards. The also very wealthy JFK donated his salary to charity. Trump has said he'd do something similar but he's a notoriously stingy donor by the standards of his peers.

Meanwhile he's proposing to save the tax payer two million bucks by axing Meals on Wheels while one trip to Mar-a-Lago costs $3 million bucks and he seems to expect a couple of holiday weekends a month.

Don't you just love populism.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On The Daily Kos Two-thirds of American voters don't want to have to pay for Trump's weekly vacations

Expensively swampy!

 

[weltweit]

The US President gets a salary of $400 PA and has to take it. It's a pretty insulting wage by US CEO standards. The also very wealthy JFK donated his salary to charity. Trump has said he'd do something similar but he's a notoriously stingy donor by the standards of his peers.

Meanwhile he's proposing to save the tax payer two million bucks by axing Meals on Wheels while one trip to Mar-a-Lago costs $3 million bucks and he seems to expect a couple of holiday weekends a month.

Don't you just love populism.

$400 PA is a pretty insulting wage by anyone's standards!

 

[CrabbedOne]

$400 PA is a pretty insulting wage by anyone's standards!

Ah yes, missed the K.