Now That Trump's President... (not any more!)

trump clearly wants jeff sessions to resign so he can replace him with someone loyal enough to fire mueller, and avoid the saturday night massacre style goings on if he fired rosenstein + subordinates

  On 7/25/2017 at 9:39 AM, Squee said:

Soooooo... that Boyscout speech, huh?

The 'neutral' BBC described it as "rambling", I'm not sure whether I want to endure the whole thing.

So you've got Trump trying to intimidate Sessions,

Tillerson thinking of resigning

Mueller possibly getting fired if he digs into taxes

McCain dealing with cancer, previously one of Trump's biggest Senate critics

Spicer resigned

greasy wannabe Soprano takes over

Fuckabee Jr new spokeswoman

fucking House of Cards 2017

spent a week offline - only saw local news in WY

For a conservative state it was actually the least amount of right-wing bumper stickers and/or mouthy locals I've encountered - people there really seem to keep to themselves and/or practice what they preach instead of projecting their political BS on everyone. granted it is the most remote state in CONUS. plenty of American flags without any other baggage (Confederate imagery, don't tread on me crap, 5%er oathkeeper stuff, blue lives matter stripes, etc)

It was nice.

  On 7/25/2017 at 8:11 PM, joshuatx said:

spent a week offline - only saw local news in WY

 

For a conservative state it was actually the least amount of right-wing bumper stickers and/or mouthy locals I've encountered - people there really seem to keep to themselves and/or practice what they preach instead of projecting their political BS on everyone. granted it is the most remote state in CONUS. plenty of American flags without any other baggage (Confederate imagery, don't tread on me crap, 5%er oathkeeper stuff, blue lives matter stripes, etc)

 

It was nice.

It's sort of the same way up here in AK. While a red state, I've actually seen about the same amount of Trump bumper stickers as I have Bernie ones, lol

But it seems like most people here don't openly project their political stances in public.

  On 7/25/2017 at 9:39 AM, Squee said:

Soooooo... that Boyscout speech, huh?

Now it's facing backlash, as a bunch of parents are now starting to pull their boys out of BSA: http://reverepress.com/news/parents-pulling-sons-boy-scouts-trump-speech/

(disregard clickbait on the right)

  On 7/25/2017 at 5:01 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

OG Kush and Ivanka strike a nibba as very missionary despite all the Judaism & whatnot

pretty sure they were deep into dirty talk at the start and had a sort of agreement that they never acknowledged any hot 'perversions' and only let those things out of the closet when they naked and sweaty.. i mean perspiring.. and making the missionary beast w/two backs.. but by now.. to keep things hot after having kids and being a bit deeper into the relationship they are full on pissing and shitting on each other's faces and rolling around in excrement and stuffing it into each other's holes... only to roll up the sheets and put them in plastic bags and throw them in some basement incinerator (is a deal breaker if they don't have an incinerator in their residence) and then they for real spray bleach into each other's faces and scrub with brushes for 20 minutes on each section of skin.  then the following month is a gearing up for future bedroom sports.. every day is another step forward towards the date when they get to piss and shit on each other and start anew. 

  On 7/25/2017 at 7:32 PM, Rubin Farr said:

So you've got Trump trying to intimidate Sessions,

Tillerson thinking of resigning

Mueller possibly getting fired if he digs into taxes

McCain dealing with cancer, previously one of Trump's biggest Senate critics

Spicer resigned

greasy wannabe Soprano takes over

Fuckabee Jr new spokeswoman

 

fucking House of Cards 2017

this is bannon's plan though right?  chaos and taking apart the administrative bureaucracy.. not making appointments. leaving positions empty.. lack of faith in federal politics etc.. 

3:15 onwards

Perlman has always been funny, but the only comedy I remember him from was Ice Pirates.

Trump announces ban on transgender people in U.S. military - http://wapo.st/2uYUo0g

In tweets Wednesday morning the president wrote: “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you”

^fucking unacceptable

Does trump make all his statements through twitter? Can they permaban him?

All this does is make me think what the grubby 'publicans want to get done behind the scenes while the inevitable outrage over this goes on as a distraction

asking me to disable adblock to view your shit = closing tab and finding another source.

  On 7/26/2017 at 3:32 PM, usagi said:

asking me to disable adblock to view your shit = closing tab and finding another source.

  On 7/26/2017 at 4:08 PM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

...aaand now transgender people aren't allowed in the military

yeah thanks a lot usagi

^there are so many issues with the military - we overspend. it's corrupt, it's inefficient, it's neglecting the needs of veterans and combat enlisted personal. we have more 3 and 4 star generals than ever in history but the fewest amount of personal overall since WW2. 

Trump is literally throwing more money at it and cutting personal on the basis of petty discrimination. The decision is like watching someone walking into a house on fire and saying "we need to fix that crooked picture on the wall."

  On 7/26/2017 at 4:29 PM, joshuatx said:

^there are so many issues with the military - we overspend. it's corrupt, it's inefficient, it's neglecting the needs of veterans and combat enlisted personal. we have more 3 and 4 star generals than ever in history but the fewest amount of personal overall since WW2. 

 

Trump is literally throwing more money at it and cutting personal on the basis of petty discrimination. The decision is like watching someone walking into a house on fire and saying "we need to fix that crooked picture on the wall."

I think the right way to cut spending would be to close all bases overseas, and focus strictly on a self-defense role, like Japan. No more dropping-bombs-on-civilians-in-the-Middle-East bullshit.

Of course that idea would be considered outrageous be the powers that be, but then again I question their judgment more and more these days.

  On 7/26/2017 at 4:29 PM, joshuatx said:

Trump is literally throwing more money at it and cutting personal on the basis of petty discrimination. The decision is like watching someone walking into a house on fire and saying "we need to fix that crooked picture on the wall."

Apt analogy.  This is all so very, very fucking stupid.

  On 7/26/2017 at 6:33 PM, ambermonk said:

I think the right way to cut spending would be to close all bases overseas, and focus strictly on a self-defense role, like Japan. No more dropping-bombs-on-civilians-in-the-Middle-East bullshit.

M-I Complex: "No."

When Trump does something petty/stupid/vindictive, and or retarded, it usually means something incriminating is about to drop in the news. 

  On 7/26/2017 at 6:40 PM, Bob Dobalina said:

 

 

 

  On 7/26/2017 at 6:33 PM, ambermonk said:

I think the right way to cut spending would be to close all bases overseas, and focus strictly on a self-defense role, like Japan. No more dropping-bombs-on-civilians-in-the-Middle-East bullshit.

 

M-I Complex: "No."

 

Yes and no. A lot of our blunders in Afghanistan and Iraq are now in the past unfortunately though. Ending all overseas fighting/deployments has actually been something many far-right, Tea Party, and libertarian GOPers have said flat-out: end all deployments and wars overseas period. It's noble, even if coldly anti-global as many of those folks are, but it's impractical. 

Part of the reason Japan has such a clear-cut defense only policy is because the U.S. wrote their constitution and they, like Germany, were reinstated with military forces only after we occupied their countries and wiped their fascist militant governments and nationalist ideologies out of power. Also Japan's defense is still heavily leveraged by our offensive abilities deployed their. Their detente from the USSR (now Russia), China, the DPRK, etc. is essentially provided by the US military and Pacific Command. 

Something most people don't realize, including very knowledgeable and intellectual ones, is that the US military's strategic focus is #1 on Russia and China, rogue states with nuclear weapons, threat of terrorism domestically, with other conflicts including being secondary, including ironically Afghanistan and Iraq, which have cost us the most money and lives. Those countries can wipe us out with nukes and vice-versa. Those countries can end up waging economic de-stabilization and havoc without weapons even being used. That's why Trump's cozy relations with Russia, anti-FBI vibe, and nationalist economic tones are so fucking alarming. He's dangerous. No one wants to work with him (vacancies are still very high in state department and defense offices) The fact that he's a self-centered corrupt asshole is a moot point. 

Personally I have no qualms with Japanese or NATO obligations, the "speak softly, and carry a big stick" approach. The cynic realist isn't that bothered by middle eastern air strikes, deployments, realpolitik alliances, etc. The problem is Trump is trying to bully and bruise his way diplomatically with military might and that's inherently foolish and dangerous. Obama was very much a lame duck - Hell W even got the Iraq withdrawal plan put together before leaving office - so he essentially let W's foreign wars fizzle out instead of taking more bold actions, but his indecision were made up for his caution. Clinton and HWB were the same way. Reagan spent and expanded the military but he did so while the USSR was still a very looming threat, and he (or his advisers anyway) literally made that country implode financially. Ironically I feel like the US military is a similar breaking point and Trump is speeding it up.

  On 7/26/2017 at 8:48 PM, Candiru said:

When Trump does something petty/stupid/vindictive, and or retarded, it usually means something incriminating is about to drop in the news. 

you know, if a monkey looks at a mirror, it understands it's looking at a reflection of itself. but if a gorilla looks at a mirror, it thinks it's looking at another gorilla. 

i read /r/the_donald a lot, because i'm tryng to understand where the most loyal trump supporters are coming from. it seems, the more i read their comments, the more i realize, like the gorilla, trump supporters are unable to understand what they are looking at. because they have separated everything between them, and "the others".

so as an example, when trump put the ban on muslims entering the country- despite the fact that he narrowed it down to a few islamic countries- all his supporters heard was that muslims were being banned from entering the country. because they've failed to recognize, there are muslim american citizens

another thing i love is a trump supporters inability with focusing on reality. when something happens in the trump administration they don't like, they love to fall back on their patriotism by referencing seth rich- who was coincidentally a democrat.

  On 7/26/2017 at 6:33 PM, ambermonk said:

 

  On 7/26/2017 at 4:29 PM, joshuatx said:

^there are so many issues with the military - we overspend. it's corrupt, it's inefficient, it's neglecting the needs of veterans and combat enlisted personal. we have more 3 and 4 star generals than ever in history but the fewest amount of personal overall since WW2. 

 

Trump is literally throwing more money at it and cutting personal on the basis of petty discrimination. The decision is like watching someone walking into a house on fire and saying "we need to fix that crooked picture on the wall."

I think the right way to cut spending would be to close all bases overseas, and focus strictly on a self-defense role, like Japan. No more dropping-bombs-on-civilians-in-the-Middle-East bullshit.

 

Of course that idea would be considered outrageous be the powers that be, but then again I question their judgment more and more these days.

I used to argue that point and think it was a possible, if improbable, scenario.

I've come to see that it's literally impossible for that to happen. Not in our lifetimes. America feeds upon that international psuedo/actual military presence and political play. It has benefits for our presence and world stature, and perhaps most importantly the American dollar. Even if we dial it back some we'd still have our hands in so many things in so many places.

I still think that we should do that, at least work towards it, but I just sort of accept that at best we're looking at a reduction, not a turn around. And even a reduction isn't particularly likely as the fields of battle and power are changing (with long range, space eventually, interconnected influence via internet, etc.) every year. We're always going to be the world police/instigators, until we're not.

edit a dozen times: we're already so far ahead of every other military that until someone else really gets closer to it, we're going to be top dog, indefinitely.

  On 7/26/2017 at 9:23 PM, Nebraska said:

you know, if a monkey looks at a mirror, it understands it's looking at a reflection of itself. but if a gorilla looks at a mirror, it thinks it's looking at another gorilla. 

 

i read /r/the_donald a lot, because i'm tryng to understand where the most loyal trump supporters are coming from. it seems, the more i read their comments, the more i realize, like the gorilla, trump supporters are unable to understand what they are looking at. because they have separated everything between them, and "the others".

 

so as an example, when trump put the ban on muslims entering the country- despite the fact that he narrowed it down to a few islamic countries- all his supporters heard was that muslims were being banned from entering the country. because they've failed to recognize, there are muslim american citizens

 

another thing i love is a trump supporters inability with focusing on reality. when something happens in the trump administration they don't like, they love to fall back on their patriotism by referencing seth rich- who was coincidentally a democrat.

This is so true.

I've been in some discussions IRL with Trump supporters and even when I remain calm, focused, and on point they will literally not understand hypocrisy, illogical claims, even flat out falsehoods even when I literally and simply spell it out. 

Typical strategies:

- Going low and getting ugly - it's impossible to fight this. It's the easiest to fall into. People without standards will readily pretend to have them when the opposition fights fire with fire.

- Emotional plea - claim you are brainwashed, unpatriotic, indifferent, uncaring (lol, seriously - also this is very ironic b/c they have very negative, even simplistic nihilist worldviews), etc. They will also call you cynical or pessimistic for being skeptical or dismissive of wild promises made by Trump. They will readily play the victim.

- Selective memory - they'll tell you to give Trump a chance or they'll retroactively say they were for/against something contrary to what they did in the past. Iraq War is a big one - they'll gladly say that was a mistake in order to make Trump seem better than W or Obama

- Make undeniable point disproving them is replied with "so what?" or "well that's the point anyway" / "well whatever"

- Change subject: I recall abortion being brought up in the middle of a very abstract discussion about the symbolism and controversy that is embodied by the Confederate flag 

- ^ as with above, bring up HRC, Obama, or liberals/Dems

- Bring up vague, anecdotal story or "trend" - political correctness is a big one, so are out of context or misleading news stories or historical "facts" they learned from biased sources. the idea of "elitists" and "insiders" and the "swamp" all follow this same pattern

- Ask you more questions, loaded or misleading trap questions, in response to points that leave them stumped

- Use right-wing news and talk radio binge-ing to their advantage: their 'knowledge' and perpetual absorption of 24/7 cable news arms them with this feeling that they know more and are better informed. It lets them falsely dismiss you as well as feel that more in-depth coverage is irrelevant or fake

- embrace negative attributes - name calling, being mean, being childish, being irresponsible, lying, being an asshole, being innaccurate, etc. as "being real, edgy, unpolished, a change of pace, etc."

- Troll

The next US president (if you guys manage to elect someone who's not a complete fucking psycho) will have an easy job at winning over everyone who has more than 2 brain cells

  On 7/26/2017 at 10:23 PM, Squee said:

The next US president (if you guys manage to elect someone who's not a complete fucking psycho) will have an easy job at winning over everyone who has more than 2 brain cells

UR GODDAMNED RIGHT 

WINNING

#MAGA

(oh man it really is scary how little effort is need to be pro-Trump)