Trump presidency

[CorruptUser]

Looting America First. Or LAF, he and his cronies are LAFing all the way to the bank.


So I've come to a horrific conclusion. The Media WANTS Trump to be president.

At first, I thought it was all an accident. The Media knew that 2016 was likely to be a Republican year, so they brought out Trump to have something to humiliate the eventual nominee, by constantly reminding people that no matter what Rubio or Bush III said they would always be the party of Trump. But then Trump won, and all the "look at this clown" coverage turned into obvious vitriol. The American public hates being manipulated, so they turned on the media and voted for him regardless.

I used to think that was a media fuckup, but now? No, it was planned. Reverse reverse psychology. Kansas city shuffle. The American people thought the swindle was to get them voting for Hillary, but the swindle was really to get them voting Trump.

Just look at this latest news. Every news story begins with the "shithole countries", not the racist crap. What is the point? Everyone knows that Haiti is a shithole; it wouldn't be generating refugees if it wasn't. So why focus on the non-story? Because they WANT Trump. They want to have someone to hate, all while secretly working to keep him in the presidency.

Fuck the media, and fuck Trump.

[Sableagle]

But in this case, to me, "the worst of the worst" doesn't seem like just a superlative. It implies that those countries are "the worst" to begin with, so that people with that national origin are likely to be shit produced by a shithole place. And then he says that we're getting "the worst" of those people.

I wonder whether he's a Buffy fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzVbteZqwmU

"Kakistos."
"Kacky-trousers?"
"Kakistos is Greek, it means the worst of the worst. It's also the name of a vampire so old his hands and feet are cloven."

The one case where I'd think a government might send the west its unwanted citizens would be if I could build a ridge up to 2km above sea level in the Atlantic hurricane basin, shape it to funnel a lot of the rain into a dam, put one end of a portal on the upstream dam wall and offer Iran a swap of the other end of the portal somewhere upstream of one of their reservoirs for all the LGBQ people. I'd have to have soem more dams and a whole country besides to actually house them, but it's a thing I'd like to do. If anyone knows how I can play From Dust and SimCity 2000 in real life, call me.

Can't imagine Trump or Pence being at all sympathetic to that idea.

Well, Trump might be if we told him they all looked like Ghoncheh Ghavami. I'd have to find a way to stop him "welcoming them personally."

[jewish_scientist]

Donald Trump cancels February visit to UK

When I first read that headline my brain switched the words 'visit' and 'to'. I am being completely honest.

Edited to capitalize the acronym DACA, because The Guardian can't seem to capitalize acronyms:

They were quoting Trump, who did not capitalize DACA correctly. Still, they should have put '[sic]' in there to make it clear that they are not the ones who messed up.

[Liri]

Donald Trump cancels February visit to UK

When I first read that headline my brain switched the words 'visit' and 'to'. I am being completely honest.

Edited to capitalize the acronym DACA, because The Guardian can't seem to capitalize acronyms:

They were quoting Trump, who did not capitalize DACA correctly. Still, they should have put '[sic]' in there to make it clear that they are not the ones who messed up.

It is standard practice in the UK to only capitalize the first letter of acronyms.

[Thesh]

Is DACA normally pronounced as a word rather than initialized? I generally get all my news from reading, and default to reading it as an initialism.

[Pfhorrest]

American news television says “dock-uh” out loud.

[ObsessoMom]

Thesh, I haven't heard anyone refer to DACA as D.A.C.A.

Many of the bigoted YouTube comments I've seen lately (e.g., cheering the "shithole countries" remark) spell DACA as "Doca". I take this as evidence that bigoted YouTube posters tend not to read the news--they just hear it in video clips. WHO KNEW?????

[idonno]

I think most abbreviation that can be pronounced are pronounced. People even pronounce "SQL" as "sequel" even though it has no vowels. I would have thought it the first "A" in "DACA" was a "æ" sound though.

[CorruptUser]

Wait, who doesn't pronounce SQL as "sequel"?

While we are at it, why is "world wide web" 3 syllables and thus only 1/3 the time to say as its abbreviation "double-you double-you double-you"?

Though I think it would be fun to refer to HTML as hate-mail, just for the confusion.

[speising]

Wait, who doesn't pronounce SQL as "sequel"?

While we are at it, why is "world wide web" 3 syllables and thus only 1/3 the time to say as its abbreviation "double-you double-you double-you"?

Though I think it would be fun to refer to HTML as hate-mail, just for the confusion.

i believe the term "world wide web" and its abbreviation were invented at CERN, where they probably spoke german or french? At least in german, it's very easy to pronounce.
Although Tim Berners-Lee is a Brit.

[Soupspoon]

I think most abbreviation that can be pronounced are pronounced. People even pronounce "SQL" as "sequel" even though it has no vowels.

SCSI (one vowel, but not where it could be useful) is delightfully open to interpretation. (Be honest, you probably go for "Scuzzy" rather than "Sexy".)

[orthogon]

I think most abbreviation that can be pronounced are pronounced. People even pronounce "SQL" as "sequel" even though it has no vowels.

SCSI (one vowel, but not where it could be useful) is delightfully open to interpretation. (Be honest, you probably go for "Scuzzy" rather than "Sexy".)

That's probably for two reasons: you get as far as you can before inserting a vowel becomes necessary; and that vowel is by default a schwa.

I heard that Tim B-L was going to make it "tim" standing for "The Information Mine", and changed it to "www" in a last-minute act of modesty. It is annoying for English speakers, but you can always say "wuwuwuh" if brevity is your thing and you don't mind sounding like an 18-month-old.

Anyway, that Trump, eh? What an arse.

[Thesh]

I prefer "dub dub dub".

EDIT: Or "dubber", or "el dubberinio" if you aren't into the whole brevity thing.

[ObsessoMom]

Nixon, 1973: "I'm not a crook."
Trump, 2018: "I'm not a racist."

(Of course, Trump couldn't resist hammering that home with a superlative: "I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed."^{[citation needed]})

[Pfhorrest]

I prefer "dub dub dub".

EDIT: Or "dubber", or "el dubberinio" if you aren't into the whole brevity thing.

"Sextuple-yoo".

[CorruptUser]

Yes, I agree with "sextuple-you".

I... can't believe I hadn't seen that before. OF COURSE everything on the internet starts with sex-you.

[idonno]

Nixon, 1973: "I'm not a crook."
Trump, 2018: "I'm not a racist."

(Of course, Trump couldn't resist hammering that home with a superlative: "I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed."[citation needed])

It is a little bit impressive that he has managed to avoid bragging about how good he is at being racist. People should start trying to state it in ways that causes his automatic brag reflex to kick in.



Spoilered conversation about abbreviations.

Spoiler:

I think most abbreviation that can be pronounced are pronounced. People even pronounce "SQL" as "sequel" even though it has no vowels.

SCSI (one vowel, but not where it could be useful) is delightfully open to interpretation. (Be honest, you probably go for "Scuzzy" rather than "Sexy".)

Actually, I spell out both SQL and SCSI (although I say SQL way more often). I'd never seen that "sexy" option before. Marketing really missed out on that.

Wait, who doesn't pronounce SQL as "sequel"?

Almost no one but I refuse to give in.

Yes, I agree with "sextuple-you".

I... can't believe I hadn't seen that before. OF COURSE everything on the internet starts with sex-you.

Wow unexpected sex twice today.

[ObsessoMom]

Apparently Trump was telling the truth when he said "that was not the language used" re: "shithole."

Some sources say the word was actually "shithouse."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-trump- ... shithouse/

Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey reported that this difference is the basis for the recent denials of Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and David Perdue, R-Georgia, that Mr. Trump used "sh*thole" to refer to the countries. Both senators were present at the meeting when the president was said by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, to have uttered the phrase.

[CorruptUser]

Ow, she's a shit... house
She's mighty mighty, just letting it all hang out
She's a shit... house
That lady's stacked and that's a fact

[cyanyoshi]

Nixon, 1973: "I'm not a crook."
Trump, 2018: "I'm not a racist."

(Of course, Trump couldn't resist hammering that home with a superlative: "I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed."^{[citation needed]})

A silver lining is that he recognizes racism is bad, and that distancing himself from that accusation is a good idea.

[CorruptUser]

*scribbles notes*
Racism... is... BAD

[Liri]

*dictates note*
Racism... is... BAD

[sardia]

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... hy/550628/
Has anyone read about Trump's health exam? It sounds biased, but otherwise Trump isn't going to die in office. Not sure if he's actually healthy.

[Thesh]

Well, it says he's 6'3 and he's not (he's probably closer to 6'1 judging by photos of him next to Jeb Bush, who is 6'3), and that he also weighs 239 lbs. Rumor has it he previously fudged his height so he wouldn't fall into the obese category, which given that he is one pound short and looks heavier than 239, I'd guess both his height and weight are BS for that same reason.

[ObsessoMom]

POLITICO: Trump's driver's license casts doubt on height claims

The license was released to POLITICO by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control through an open-records request related to the central Virginia winery that’s owned by Trump and run by his son Eric.

[CorruptUser]

Probably not the only time he was lying about a few inches.

[Zohar]

Probably not the only time he was lying about a few inches.

What, are you saying Kim Jong Un has a bigger button?

[Weeks]

That man does not weigh 239.

[Zohar]

Yeah, I'm 6'3" and weigh about 275. I'm not sure Trump is fatter than I am but he's pretty close to me.

[CorruptUser]

Probably not the only time he was lying about a few inches.

What, are you saying Kim Jong Un has a bigger button?

...yes. Let's go with that. Trump has a huge button, ladies, huge.

[idonno]

POLITICO: Trump's driver's license casts doubt on height claims

The license was released to POLITICO by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control through an open-records request related to the central Virginia winery that’s owned by Trump and run by his son Eric.

My drivers license says I'm an inch taller than I am. They had me stand up against a hanging wall measurement poster thing and used that height even though I told them it was not accurate. Also, I was not wearing inch heels. They would have been very worn tennis shoes that would have been lucky to be a quarter of an inch.

[LaserGuy]

Steve Bannon is refusing to answer questions from a subpoena by House Intelligence Committee, citing that the White House had instructed him not to say anything. Bannon has also apparently been subpoenaed by Mueller to testify before a Grand Jury.

[Soupspoon]

Well, the Fake News Awarda, which seems to be (from a seemingly earlier-in-the-loop Fox News article¹) have suffered from a bit of an overload of interest, but, once I stopped getting the default "there is a problem" text², I got the following, which I thought I should share..

Code: Select all

<Error>
<Code>NoSuchBucket</Code>
<Message>The specified bucket does not exist</Message>
<BucketName>gop.com</BucketName>
<RequestId>5A4CA68C37B89802</RequestId>
<HostId>
t3+UESc7nrJ//+CB6GSEF+MqSsIb3L2CmUpiFu6X4GUW6jlglPAag7NUBDQaR1GwoWQ776tDwBU=
</HostId>
</Error>

So, it'll have to go back onto my bucket-list, to try again tomorrow…

The thing is, it's keeping us talking about things Trump that aren't his actual accomplishments or failures. Darnit. Distraction Cloak is being deployed heavily, right now.

¹ #11, at the very least, seems to be very much more "believe what I'm telling you", which right now is yet to be seen as such despite mounting protestations, and I'm sure others will be fact-checking the 'fact-checking' of the other ones. Like classifying the errors and slip-ups distinct from the ones 'deliberately faked'. And anyone in politics who does anything press-worthy at all can surelt find a dozen instances of inaccuracy in the reports. Compare that with a couple of thousand proven untruths/non-truths amidst his own recorded/twittered statements (again, needs to be checked against the whole, but still likely more significant).

² Direct to the link or Search function from the (working) front page of gop.com site basically 404ing. And many claims on Twitter that all this interest shows the popularity of Trump, rather than the rather incredulous fascination that I suspect it really is (perhaps with a bit of DDoSIng on the part of some of the more militant internet denizens).

[Pfhorrest]

Yeah, I had forgotten that that was even going to be a thing (and, when I heard about it, assumed probably nothing would come of it), but now that it is apparently a thing an idle morbid curiosity compels me to at least take a glance, when it comes back up.

[sardia]

Trump's approval rating has cracked 40 % as he pushes anti immigration and cashes in on tax cuts. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/tr ... id=rrpromo
Chances of a Trump revival are increasing but he's still unpopular.

I think it'll depend on which groups defect in 2018. If it's rich suburbans or those racist but less conservative whites. It would be awkward but doable if blue collar workers came back to Democrats.

[freezeblade]

Nearly all members of national park service advisory panel resign in frustration after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year. Of course he claims they are lying, but this sounds about right for Trump appointees, who seem to be in place mainly to dissolve or neuter their own departments. Winning?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... effe6592f5

[Izawwlgood]

Definitely - one less obstacle in the way of mining/logging interests!

[CorruptUser]

I was always under the impression that mining in the US was too expensive compared to the world market, due to pesky things like a workforce that demands things like more than 25 cents per hour. Do the mining interests expect to be subsidized too?

[Izawwlgood]

I guess I'm not entirely sure what you're asking? The Trump administration is openly trying to reduce restrictions and regulations involving national park land specifically to promote mining/logging/drilling interests.

[Zohar]

Trump Admin Will Protect Health Workers Who Refuse Services On Religious Grounds

So as a gay Jewish immigrant I can be refused healthcare service now on three different grounds. Supposedly citing freedom of religion as the cause. I'm sorry - if your morals impact your work go to a different line of work. Nothing guarantees that you get to be a nurse if you want to. If you're a cop you don't suddenly get to implement bible law as opposed to written law, no matter how much Roy Moore would like you to do that.