What stupid shit has Trump done today?

[coley]

Until the past couple decades, I'd have said yes. We had 3 mainstream TV stations and PBS when I was a kid (actually couldn't pick up NBC due to weak signal.) Satellite and cable didn't reach most rural areas until the late 90s. Most TV, radio and print content focussed on local news, some national and rarely anything beyond (only briefly and superficially where it did.)

I used to chalk up at least part of the ignorance and fear of other social, economic and political systems to lack of access to information. With the advance of the internet, you couldn't argue lack of access anymore.

So, with the chance to read multiple sources of information, independent and international, Americans should be able to analyse and draw more informed conclusions.

However, analyses of media consumption during the 2016 election shows that most didn't do that. They just looked for info that supported what they already believed and ignored the rest. Not all peeps, but many.

My guess is that fear won out. We're told we are the best people living in the best country in the world with the best systems and the best of everything else. The rest of the world is envious and either aspire to be American or conspire to steal/destroy what America has.

It's hard to maintain that view if you keep seeing evidence to the contrary. So, many choose actively not to look for any.

I think an honest view is that a large proportion of the American public is racist on a number of levels and we just need to accept that position.
TTT has just enabled many of them, who, had formerly 'kept their head down' to come out in full public display.
The comments sections in all US MSM has been overwhelmed by jubilant TT supporters in the light of the latest twist by the USSC.
The jubilation and downright hatred towards any of a 'liberal disposition' is more than disturbing.
TTTs (at least the Tea party faction of the GOP) is on a roll, I suspect Muellors investigation will be rolled up within a week.

 

[CRI]

I think an honest view is that a large proportion of the American public is racist on a number of levels and we just need to accept that position.
TTT has just enabled many of them, who, had formerly 'kept their head down' to come out in full public display.
The comments sections in all US MSM has been overwhelmed by jubilant TT supporters in the light of the latest twist by the USSC.
The jubilation and downright hatred towards any of a 'liberal disposition' is more than disturbing.
TTTs (at least the Tea party faction of the GOP) is on a roll, I suspect Muellors investigation will be rolled up within a week.

Oh yes. The nation was founded on genocide of indigenous people and the enslavement of African people imported and later bred specifically for the purpose, so white supremacy is inherent in its foundations and the identity of Americans, whether they acknowledge it or not. Not saying there isn't racism in the UK or anywhere else, but in the US the history, context and legacy are perhaps unique.

I'll admit to being pretty naive in my teens and early twenties - thinking the racism endemic in the community I came from was mainly due to isolation, insularity and the ignorance that brings. It dawned on me later that middle class and upper class white folks, white folks in cities and suburbs, were also racist. They were just better at pretending they weren't.

With the emergence of Trump, no one has to pretend, or even feel self-conscious about their racism, or their misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, etc.

And, because they believe liberals, socialists, antifa, basically anyone to the left of the Tea Party are against the bigotry they embrace and want to maintain, they hate them. Bonus hate points if they happen to be women, people of colour, Muslims, etc.

It doesn't matter whether those they hate genuinely give a monkey's cuss about sexism, racism, Islamaphobia, etc.

As per usual, the middle and upper class white supremacists often use "fancier" language to justify their hatred.

Edit: Just remembered this piece from about 18 months ago - sounds quite prescient given what's unfolded since. Worth a read.

How White America’s fear of Barack Obama has made us all worse off

 

[CRI]

Oopsie!

Senate Republicans Accidentally Killed Some of Their Donors’ Favorite Tax Breaks

On Friday, Senate Republicans rewrote the American tax code over lunch — and passed their (partially handwritten) legislation around 2 a.m. the following morning.

Mitch McConnell never subjected his blueprint for restructuring the world’s largest economy to a single hearing. His caucus never invited experts to offer insight into the bill’s implications for housing, health care, higher education, outsourcing, or tax evasion. This haste had an upside for the Senate GOP: It allowed the party to pass deeply unpopular changes to the tax code before the public had time to learn about them.

In hindsight, McConnell should have asked for an extension. While Republicans were manically outlining their plans to take from the poor to give to the Trumps, they also, accidentally, nullified all of their corporate donors’ favorite deductions.

 

[CRI]

And this is shit. Supreme Court backs Trump travel ban

 

[ohmyliver]

it's all a bit shit.

Was entertained by Manafort being caught secretly co-writing an op ed with a man with links to RIS downplaying, err, Manafort's actions in Ukraine. Which has obviously caused his bail conditions to be re-examined. Stupid Watergate rolls on...
US prosecutors sink Manafort's bail deal over his op-ed with Russia colleague

 

[CRI]

Interesting Twitter thread about gerrymandering, for those who don't mind Twitter. Some bizarre looking district maps that prove the point and links to why (i.e. to minimise the impact of minority ethnic votes, particularly in areas where they are a majority of citizens) are included.

 

[krtek a houby]

So he's raping the environment now, as well.

Trump shrinks Utah monuments in historic move - CNNPolitics

 

[CRI]

So he's raping the environment now, as well.

Trump shrinks Utah monuments in historic move - CNNPolitics

He and the GOP have been intent on that since the election. It's a middle finger to Native Americans and California liberals as well as an opportunity for wealthy prospectors to get richer off new mineral rights. What's not to like?

 

[TomUS]

So he's raping the environment now, as well.

Trump shrinks Utah monuments in historic move - CNNPolitics

This is standard. The Dems protect the beautiful natural areas and the Repubs come in and shrink them.....for the resource extraction industries......all for the local folks of course.

 

[teqniq]

Erik Prince and Oliver North, just let that sink in for a moment....

Let alone the rest of the idea.

 

[Libertad]

Erik Prince and Oliver North, just let that sink in for a moment....

Let alone the rest of the idea.

The new Pinkerton Agency.

 

[Corax]

He and the GOP have been intent on that since the election. It's a middle finger to Native Americans and California liberals as well as an opportunity for wealthy prospectors to get richer off new mineral rights. What's not to like?

It's not just Utah either. The GOP "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" opens the Alaskan wilderness up to drilling.

 

[Corax]

Erik Prince and Oliver North, just let that sink in for a moment....

Let alone the rest of the idea.

It increasingly seems to me, that whilst everyone's focused on the madman in the oval office, Pence is quietly carrying out some of his really dirty work behind the scenes.

 

[MightyTibberton]

Muellers gone after his bank accounts apparently - I reckon he'll try to sack him now.

 

[Yossarian]

It increasingly seems to me, that whilst everyone's focused on the madman in the oval office, Pence is quietly carrying out some of his really dirty work behind the scenes.

Yep, who knows what surprises Pence and the Koch Brothers are cooking up - it's certainly taught me that if I ever want to try to get away with anything shady, I should hire an insane clown to distract people by smearing shit all over everything.

 

[MightyTibberton]

Have you met Boris Johson?

 

[SpookyFrank]

Interesting Twitter thread about gerrymandering, for those who don't mind Twitter. Some bizarre looking district maps that prove the point and links to why (i.e. to minimise the impact of minority ethnic votes, particularly in areas where they are a majority of citizens) are included.

The two parties take turns to move the goalposts and stitch things up to their own advantage, so neither wants to actually do anything to stop it. Same thing as FPTP here, both major parties benefit from it so it's not going anywhere.

 

[ohmyliver]

Muellers gone after his bank accounts apparently - I reckon he'll try to sack him now.

DB have been resisting turning over the information since the summer, M has also asked for financial data on Trump's children. Trump did say that it would be a red line, in a manner of someone saying to a copper, 'you're welcome to search anywhere, but don't look in my socks. '

 

[ruffneck23]

Talking of red lines

Palestinians say Trump has told them of his 'intention to move' embassy to Jerusalem

 

[CRI]

Talking of red lines

Palestinians say Trump has told them of his 'intention to move' embassy to Jerusalem

The fundy Christians will be rejoicing. One step closer to Armageddon and the Rapture. Yippee!

 

[CRI]

The two parties take turns to move the goalposts and stitch things up to their own advantage, so neither wants to actually do anything to stop it. Same thing as FPTP here, both major parties benefit from it so it's not going anywhere.

Um, not quite the "even stevens" that some try to make out though.

Angry from losing both houses of Congress in 2006, and incandescent from the election of Obama two years later, the GOP, and particularly the Tea Party end of it, pumped millions into winning specific statehouses in the 2010 elections, and it worked. In most states, it's the state legislatures that redraw districts every ten years, after each census. They flipped enough states with high populations and thus, lots of seats in congress. Then, they used data analysis technology not available previously to pinpoint, virtually street by street, where to draw boundaries to virtually guarantee a GOP majority in the US House, in perpetuity.

So not tit for tat, but a deliberate effort to freeze out the other party, forever. Add in watering down the Voting Rights Act, disenfranchisement of convicted felons in some states , refusing to upgrade faulty voting machines in districts with a high proportion of registered Democrats, etc. and it looks pretty much like a one party state is their goal.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Um, not quite the "even stevens" that some try to make out though. phistic

Angry from losing both houses of Congress in 2006, and incandescent from the election of Obama two years later, the GOP, and particularly the Tea Party end of it, pumped millions into winning specific statehouses in the 2010 elections, and it worked. In most states, it's the state legislatures that redraw districts every ten years, after each census. They flipped enough states with high populations and thus, lots of seats in congress. Then, they used data analysis technology not available previously to pinpoint, virtually street by street, where to draw boundaries to virtually guarantee a GOP majority in the US House, in perpetuity.

So not tit for tat, but a deliberate effort to freeze out the other party, forever. Add in watering down the Voting Rights Act, disenfranchisement of convicted felons in some states , refusing to upgrade faulty voting machines in districts with a high proportion of registered Democrats, etc. and it looks pretty much like a one party state is their goal.

Yes I do remember reading that the scale and sophistication of gerrymandering has escalated somewhat.

Dodgy voting practices are not limited to presidential or congressional elections either. There's a litany of 'irregularities' regarding the 2016 democratic primaries, such as not enough polling places in areas likely to be pro-Bernie and voters turned away as a result.

 

[Cloo]

Interesting if true:



In hiding, or being restrained by someone else?

 

[MightyTibberton]

He tweeted one of his little films 5 hours ago. Nothing off-the-cuff looking though. After his admission-of-obstruction tweet perhaps his lawyers have got his phone off him!

I saw today someone reporting that none of his tweets (or those of Don Jr or Ivanka) are actually sent by him. He apparently dictates them and then an employee of some sort presses the buttons - some may be vetted, some not. Apparently this is a big deal on the obstruction thing because it might make it impossible to prove it's actually him. I should also say that I've seen it reported in the past that you can (if you know how to do this) tell where the tweet came from by which phone/operating system it comes from - he has an Android phone, and the "team" person who does it for him has an iPhone iirc (none of this is gospel, so please check if you care!).

 

[MightyTibberton]

Again from the film it's notable that he's never shown actually speaking the words - which are really terribly read, awful, drawly... - that you hear and he's filmed very obliquely. I wonder if his behaviour, diction or language is becoming worse/more obviously/visibly worse?

Over here in the UK, we used to have something colloquially and cynically referred to as "the Guinness defence"... also worth bearing in mind.

Ernest Saunders - Wikipedia

 

[MightyTibberton]

I don't know what to say about this:

(A bit off topic, but not entirely...)

 

[Lord Camomile]

U.S. to Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital, Trump Says, Alarming Middle East Leaders

President Trump told Israeli and Arab leaders on Tuesday that he plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel...

Palestinian officials said Mr. Trump told the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, that the United States would move the embassy to Jerusalem. Jordan said the president gave a similar message to King Abdullah II.

I don't see this going very well

 

[2hats]

I should also say that I've seen it reported in the past that you can (if you know how to do this) tell where the tweet came from by which phone/operating system it comes from - he has an Android phone, and the "team" person who does it for him has an iPhone iirc (none of this is gospel, so please check if you care!).

Yes, it was fairly easy to spot which steaming helpings of vomit were Trump regurgitated and which were served up by his staff, difference in device type being one of the key factors. Except Trump also switched to an iPhone back in March.

However, given the idiosyncratic style of his tweets, and the clear differences in writing age between his and his staff’s tweets (sentiment analysis, word choice, style characteristics, grammatical structure), it has proved fairly straightforward to work out who wrote which (indeed every - that site covers every tweet sent from either of his accounts realDonaldTrump, POTUS) via machine learning (modelled to be around 98.8% accurate).

 

[NoXion]

I don't know what to say about this:

(A bit off topic, but not entirely...)

They didn't say "Merry Christmas".

 

[gosub]

I don't know what to say about this:

(A bit off topic, but not entirely...)

what would Jesus drive?