The Trump presidency

[belboid]

Why don't you have a look? I don't expect you will find that abuse is limited to the working and middle classes. I have no idea whether Melania is in an abusive situation (though do have my own suspicions based on his character). My objection was to the posts that implied that her intelligence or strength made it unlikely. The extension of that is that only weak or stupid women (and men) end up in abusive relationships. A common misconception, see 'why doesn't she just leave him?' etc. Abuse robs its victims of their agency. That's part of the picture. It's a bit of a derail but I think it's important to pick up on that sort of thing; women find it hard enough to be honest about their abuse and you never know who's reading.

I usually just lurk here because it's a bit adversarial for me, so having made my adversarial posts I will now return to lurking

I am well aware that abuse isn't limited to any one social class, but it is a fact that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to leave.

My main point, though, was that without any actual evidence, it makes no more sense to say she might be abused than to say that she might be a secret Russian agent. Some of the comments and memes (like the cake thing someone posted) effectively make light of the whole question of abuse, which helps absolutely nobody.

 

[2hats]

odds on it will conclude "widespread voter fraud" in favour of Clinton. Multiple questions as to the investigation's veracity will be brushed aside as leftwing media lies ...

Turns out Bannon is registered in more than one state...

 

[Treacle Toes]

I am well aware that abuse isn't limited to any one social class, but it is a fact that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to leave.

My main point, though, was that without any actual evidence, it makes no more sense to say she might be abused than to say that she might be a secret Russian agent. Some of the comments and memes (like the cake thing someone posted) effectively make light of the whole question of abuse, which helps absolutely nobody.

I think you make a fair point. I also think that so much of the footage of them on inauguration day was worrying in terms of his behaviour and her body language. I haven't seen one interview with him ever that didn't leave me scratching my head and wondering about the depths of alternative anti-reality and the widespread chaos narrative that has taken over politics at the highest level. Of course people are gonna speculate.

 

[ska invita]

Hang on, the history of protest in this country at least is one with a strong strain of irreverence and mockery towards power. So it should be, surely?

The only exception I can really think of is the last Iraq War march, which was a rather solemn affair due to the huge numbers there who had never protested before. That didn't work either, did it?

irreverence and mockery needs to have some teeth though...satire without a bite is just backslapping and jollity. There are definitely banners I see sometimes that make me think people aren't taking things anywhere seriously enough. Or angry enough.

but this banner critique chat is a bit depressing...feels born of a bigger failure to make change.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Arguably should've happened on the day, though on one level the mass of people and our mood felt powerful enough..

On the day, the demo felt different and felt irresistible - it made me feel that we were stopping the war.

A bit of me died after that day, I think.

 

[Pickman's model]

the big Iraq war demo felt serious and solemn, as it should. Our taxes and government were about to kill hundreds of thousands of people...i think if stwc or preferably someone else independent had called for civil disobedience if they voted for war the public would've gone with it. Arguably should've happened on the day, though on one level the mass of people and our mood felt powerful enough. Naively to me, anyway

on the other point, irreverence and mockery needs to have some teeth though...satire without a bite is just backslapping and jollity. There are definitely banners I see sometimes that make me think people aren't taking things anywhere seriously enough. Or angry enough.

but this banner critique chat is a bit depressing...feels born of a bigger failure to make change.

The big Iraq demo was the first one, the next one on 23/3/03 was still very big - round 100,000 - but after that the numbers took further tumbles

 

[IC3D]

Yea the footage is there but laughing at it and making a meme isn't supposed to be supportive, it's showing contempt for Donald, fair enough but is calous to her. It maybe even shows how the solidarity shown over the weekend extends to certain types of women only for some. Maybe stretching it bit

 

[CRI]

Donald Trump Is Still Using His Unsecured Personal Cell Phone

Donald Trump won the White House by, among other things, relentlessly attacking his opponent for her reckless use of private communications devices while serving in public office. By campaign’s end, the one thing Americans knew about Hillary Clinton, beyond all else, was that she had done some bad things with her emails.

But when Trump threatened to send federal troops to occupy Chicago Tuesday night, many Twitter users noticed something alarming.

Follow
Steve Kopack

✔@SteveKopack
Where did Trump's last two tweets come from? Android. So, is he still posting from his personal phone?

2:29 AM - 25 Jan 2017

 

[bimble]

There was this earlier (before it was deleted and replaced by the one with capital letters and no spelling mistake).
So yeah looks like nobody is getting in between him and his twitter.

 

[camouflage]

I think you make a fair point. I also think that so much of the footage of them on inauguration day was worrying in terms of his behaviour and her body language. I haven't seen one interview with him ever that didn't leave me scratching my head and wondering about the depths of alternative anti-reality and the widespread chaos narrative that has taken over politics at the highest level. Of course people are gonna speculate.

"alternative anti-reality"? headswims, too many colours and sounds, the smell of apples, faints.

I hope alternative anti-reality isn't going to be a thing now, I couldn't cope.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

One good thing to come from the Trump presidency is that at least people are reading again:

Books on totalitarianism now topping Amazon's best-seller list

 

[CRI]

Tiffany Trump is registered to vote in two states

President Trump’s younger daughter, Tiffany Trump, is registered to vote in two different states, reports revealed Wednesday after her father categorized being registered in two states as "voter fraud."

The Washington Post and NBC News confirmed a report by Heat Street that Tiffany Trump is registered in both Pennsylvania and New York.

 

[CRI]

Russia: Life After Trust
Once you lose faith in one institution, you start to lose faith in them all. Lessons from Putin’s Moscow.

Really interesting piece on the slow, gradual decline into cynical resignation. I could easily see this happening in the US under the Trump regime.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Attacking climate science, constricting abortion rights, resuming halted construction of the two most protested oil pipelines in American history, threatening martial law in Chicago, promoting unfounded conspriracy theories, rolling back ACA, enacting a federal regulation/hiring freeze, appointing unqualified family members to cabinet positions, and declaring he will not divest from conflicting investments... and we're not even a week in.

The impeachment of this barbarian tyrant can't come soon enough.

 

[DotCommunist]

Attacking climate science, constricting abortion rights, resuming halted construction of the two most protested oil pipelines in American history, threatening martial law in Chicago, promoting unfounded conspriracy theories, rolling back ACA, enacting a federal regulation/hiring freeze, appointing unqualified family members to cabinet positions, and declaring he will not divest from conflicting investments... and we're not even a week in.

The impeachment of this barbarian tyrant can't come soon enough.

you forgot the arrests of journos and gagging of public park officials.

I would prefer that he 'choke' on his food after it had been dosed. Sic Semper and all that

 

[Jeff Robinson]

you forgot the arrests of journos and gagging of public park officials.

I would prefer that he 'choke' on his food after it had been dosed. Sic Semper and all that

Of course - a slow and humiliating self-inflicted death would be the best outcome. Wouldn't it be great if they found Trump in the Oval Office naked except for a pair of stockings and suspenders, with an electrical flex tied around his neck and a black bin liner over his head, with an orange segment in his mouth. The orange in the violent sexual predator/borderline pedo's mouth would make it look like he had no mouth.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Attacking climate science, constricting abortion rights, resuming halted construction of the two most protested oil pipelines in American history, threatening martial law in Chicago, promoting unfounded conspriracy theories, rolling back ACA, enacting a federal regulation/hiring freeze, appointing unqualified family members to cabinet positions, and declaring he will not divest from conflicting investments... and we're not even a week in.

The impeachment of this barbarian tyrant can't come soon enough.

You also forgot raising the discounted interest rate on poor families who buy a house and defunding a program that works to prevent suicides by veterans.

 

[CrabbedOne]

One good thing to come from the Trump presidency is that at least people are reading again:

Books on totalitarianism now topping Amazon's best-seller list

Buying and displaying ostentatiously is more likely.

 

[camouflage]

Of course - a slow and humiliating self-inflicted death would be the best outcome. Wouldn't it be great if they found Trump in the Oval Office naked except for a pair of stockings and suspenders, with an electrical flex tied around his neck and a black bin liner over his head, with an orange segment in his mouth. The orange in the violent sexual predator/borderline pedo's mouth would make it look like he had no mouth.

wow, that's... a highly realized vision you have there. lot's of vivid detail.

 

[D'wards]

He was just shown on the news enthusing about torture, and how we've fight fire with fire with Isis. He's opening the "black sites" to deal with (suspected)terrorists too, if they ever really went away anyway.

 

[camouflage]

Trump responds to his critics...

 

[CRI]

you forgot the arrests of journos and gagging of public park officials.

I would prefer that he 'choke' on his food after it had been dosed. Sic Semper and all that

Perhaps he could beat William Henry Harrison's record 30 days in office. We used to visit his family home "Grouseeland" for school field trips. No, it wasn't very interesting.

 

[CRI]

Trump White House staffers have active private RNC emails, report says

Top Trump officials including Kellyanne Conway, press secretary Sean Spicer, adviser Steve Bannon and son-in-law Jared Kushner have active private email accounts through the Republican National Committee, according to a report.

New administration advisers are using accounts on the private rnchq.org server based in Tennessee, Newsweek reported Wednesday.

The revelation comes after Trump and his surrogates spent most of 2016 accusing rival Hillary Clinton of criminality for the use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State.

Use of private emails by White House staff is not illegal, though a 2014 law requires that any messages including official business must be sent to an official account with 20 days of being sent.

The Republican National Committee’s system was one also used by George W. Bush officials, and was believed to have resulted in the “loss” of millions of emails, including some involving the lead up to the Iraq War, when the messages were deleted.

 

[CRI]

President Trump takes aim at 'sanctuary cities' like New York

President Trump is taking aim at so-called 'sanctuary cities,' signing an executive order aimed at stripping federal funds for cities like New York that don't arrest or detain immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

Trump used his first visit to the Department of Homeland Security as president to sign an order to withhold federal funding for the cities, enhance immigration authorities' ability to arrest, detain and remove undocumented immigrants, and give the State Department more power to deport undocumented immigrants.

The executive order was paired one that commanded the government to begin construction on a wall along the border with Mexico.

“We want safe communities and we demand safe communities for everyone,” Trump concluded after reading the names of those who have been killed by undocumented immigrants.

 

[ferrelhadley]

The whole opening up federal lands for oil and gas exploration thing: Loads of bought and paid for leases on private lands that are just sat there with drilling rigs in the yards and experienced workers drawing unemployment, working in other fields or the clever ones employing the boom money to skill up in other fields\ pursuits. Price is not there. Its not worth drilling for oil and gas onshore at the moment other than the sweet spots our places where people got rinsed paying for infrastructure like pipes that is not returning enough investment. If oil hits $100 then those places will be first in the cue for new rigs. The federal land thing will be exploited to get cheap land but not to get produce more oil and gas.

There is lots of coal that is being shuttered in because gas is cheap and gas plants have advantages over coal. Increasing US coal consumption is largely outside the gift of a US president, ok he can lift sulphate and mercury emissions standards and maybe people will risk building new plant, but thats a lot of money to lay down and have a dem turn up in even 8 years and put in a load of restrictions that end up shutting the station before its recouped investment.

From conversations with oil people I know a couple have said the KXL pipeline struggled to make minimum subscription. This is all from things they claim to have $100\$130 a barrel oil and this could change.

These are thoughts and anecdotes. Just to pass them on to people who may be interested.

 

[agricola]

Russia: Life After Trust
Once you lose faith in one institution, you start to lose faith in them all. Lessons from Putin’s Moscow.

Really interesting piece on the slow, gradual decline into cynical resignation. I could easily see this happening in the US under the Trump regime.

What argument is there that would suggest this hasn't already happened over there?

 

[2hats]

NYT reporting Trump drafting orders, to be signed later in the week, to withdraw from a lot of UN programme funding, something like a 40% cut, including withdrawing from peacekeeping. Will abrogate various environment/climate treaties as well.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

This is actually worse than I imagined it would be. And I imagined a lot of bad things.

 

[coley]

White House Press Secretary has confirmed the President has banned the VA from hiring more doctors, nurses and other staff. This won't go down well with the military community, but will they have the cajones to stand up?

Probably not, a federal pay freeze, from the bloke who is going to make American worker yugely better off! Thought he might have left it a few months before letting the mask slip, bastard.

 

[coley]

And finally, this from 4th October 2016. The speed at which this shit is happening . . .

Postcard from President Trump’s 2nd inauguration: Steven Strauss
Some 'losers and haters' resisted his efforts to Make America Great Again. But he prevailed.

Bit far fetched, but then we all thought the election of the Buffoon was totally laughable.
Now everything's scarily possible.