A Futile and Stupid Gesture: The History of the First Trump Presidency & Q-Anon

good news, we're doing more war in afganistan. in case you were worried we might actually get the fuck out of there at some point.
 
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Why is Melania wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with the acronym FLOTUS? Is she afraid people won't recognize she's first lady?
 
Anyone think this rescinding of DACA is to throw Congress a small bomb to blackmail them into passing tax reform or The Wall ?
 
"Ivanka Trump interrupted a crucial meeting between President Donald Trump and Congressional leaders Wednesday, much to the annoyance of the Republicans present. In the midst of talks over raising the debt ceiling, involving leading Republicans and Democrats along with Trump in the Oval Office, the president’s daughter stepped in and derailed the negotiations, according to a Democratic aide.

'Toward the end of the meeting Ivanka Trump entered the Oval Office to ‘say hello’ and the meeting careened off topic. Republican leaders were visibly annoyed by Ivanka’s presence,' NBC News reported the aide as saying."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...blicans/ar-AAroY63?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

All she said was hello.
 
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/07/politics/nancy-pelosi-donald-trump-daca/index.html

"Pelosi told House Democrats at a closed-door she spoke to Trump via phone Thursday morning and urged him to reassure those protected in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, two sources said. Trump initiated the phone call to Pelosi, they said.

She 'asked him to tweet this to make clear Dreamers won't be subject to deportation in 6 month window,' according to one of the sources. She did not provide specific wording, just a general idea."

Anyone else want the President to send a tweet? Just pick up the phone.
 
"Twenty-eight-year-old interim White House Communications Director Hope Hicks will serve in the role on a permanent basis. The appointment of Ms Hicks - a former Ralph Lauren fashion model - comes after a summer of staff shake-ups at the White House."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41245690

Definitely much better looking than Scaramucci.
 
All quiet on the Russian hacked the election front. Now they're blaming husbands and boyfriends for visiting Wikileaks and telling they're gullible wives and girlfriends that Hillary would be in jail soon so don't bother voting for her. So much for women Democrat voters!

Very fake news indeed! Can't stop laughing.

Like the CIA or the FBI, you'll never get close.....



Because there's no evidence there!
 
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Trump threatens to 'totally destroy' North Korea at UN

"The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."

Wasn't the UN founded to promote world peace? Is it really appropriate to use it as a forum to ...totally destroy another nation? I thought the point was to get new members not shrink membership.

"'Rocket man is on a suicide mission,' he said, using a nickname for Kim that refers to the North Korean leader's recent missile tests."

I wonder if that's what he'll call him when he negotiates with him in person.
 
Anyone thinks Tillerson is on his last legs? Rumours again this week Haley will take over and the State department bureaucrats aren't happy he neutered the department. He does consistently present messages different or even opposite of the White House.
 
President Trump seems to be on a roll. Irritate North Korea - check. Irritate Iran - check. Irritate sports players - check.
 
A good breakdown of the “NFL players standing for the national anthem is relatively new and they were paid to do it” #fakenews

http://www.snopes.com/nfl-sideline-anthem/

There is a bunch of other stuff I didn’t read, but it states clearly that NFL teams aren’t getting paid to make their players stand and that the players have always stood because they love their country, and loved it until the media started concocting a inchoate race war to undermine the president’s support from minorities.

You kinda have to read between the lines, but it’s still pretty clear.
 
InstaHate said:
A good breakdown of the “NFL players standing for the national anthem is relatively new and they were paid to do it” #fakenews

http://www.snopes.com/nfl-sideline-anthem/

There is a bunch of other stuff I didn’t read, but it states clearly that NFL teams aren’t getting paid to make their players stand and that the players have always stood because they love their country, and loved it until the media started concocting a inchoate race war to undermine the president’s support from minorities.

You kinda have to read between the lines, but it’s still pretty clear.
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I've been to tons of NFL games in person, it was pretty rare to see players out there for it.
 
Across the pond, when English soccer players bring politics to the pitch, they get a hefty fine and told to not to it again. It seems to me that priviliged football players protesting and boycotting the national anthem are somewhat disrespectful of the country that has enabled them to play professionally and be paid rather well. Do they hate America, are they being exploited in the labour market, or is it some anti-Trump thing? It all looks rather petty and demeaning from this perspective. Sports men and women over here stand up in pride and solidarity when the national anthem is played. Regardless of politics.

Whether Trump should stoop so low to comment on these clowns, probably not. But the NFL would do well to fine players who soil the game with politics.

I see the NASCAR sport is tolerating none of this mischief.
 
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Did the NFL players stand for God save the Queen at Wembley for the Jacksonville vs Baltimore game?

Anyway I think it's a load of bollocks. Basketball isn't even in season.
 
Pimpernel Smith said:
Across the pond, when English soccer players bring politics to the pitch, they get a hefty fine and told to not to it again. It seems to me that priviliged football players protesting and boycotting the national anthem are somewhat disrespectful of the country that has enabled them to play professionally and be paid rather well. Do they hate America, are they being exploited in the labour market, or is it some anti-Trump thing?
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Initially it was in protest of some pretty clear racial disparities in the US justice system. Controlling for criminal history, minorities receive heavier sentences than whites for the same crime. Controlling for quality of legal representation, minorities are more likely to be falsely convicted than whites (as measured by overturned convictions). Minorities are also more likely to be searched when pulled over for moving violations than whites as well. I don’t know the data...and I doubt it occurs enough to gain statistical significance...but one of their chief claims is that police brutality is against minorities is less likely to be prosecuted than brutality against whites.

That was it initially, but then Trump gave himself an uneccessary headache by speaking out against it. That probably would have been less a problem if he didn’t have an image problem when it comes to minorities and/or criminal justice (“they send over murders and rapists,” joking about police brutality, waffling on condemning literal neo-Nazis, etc), but since he has this image problem, that this became a protest against race and the American justice system AND against Trump’s views on race and the criminal justice system isn’t really surprising. It probably didn’t help that in the same speech he insinuated that football players were a bunch of pussies for worrying about brain damage (despite the growing awareness of CTE).

As far as protesting during the anthem: both the anthem and the criminal justice system are two powerful manifestations/representations of the abstract idea of America. Given the purpose of a protest—to draw attention to a perceived grievance—the choice makes sense, particularly given its visibility. It has nothing to do with their feelings towards the armed services, though Trump’s populism is framing it that way for those already ideologically predisposed. It isn’t even something that was done until 8 years ago, around the same time the DoD started paying the NFL for displays of patriotism.

Finally, it isn’t like they are doing anything particularly insulting. They are kneeling with their heads bowed. Checking your phone, going to get a snack, talking with your neighbor, etc, all much more disrespectful.

In the end, this is how you protest. It’s the ideal protest. They aren’t throwing rocks at police officers, burning cars, or rioting. I think that a lot of people, regardless of ideology, would prefer it if everyone just protested via email or in some out of the way free speech zone so that nobody’s feelings get hurt.
 
InstaHate said:
Initially it was in protest of some pretty clear racial disparities in the US justice system. Controlling for criminal history, minorities receive heavier sentences than whites for the same crime. Controlling for quality of legal representation, minorities are more likely to be falsely convicted than whites (as measured by overturned convictions). Minorities are also more likely to be searched when pulled over for moving violations than whites as well. I don’t know the data...and I doubt it occurs enough to gain statistical significance...but one of their chief claims is that police brutality is against minorities is less likely to be prosecuted than brutality against whites.
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You would agree that some of the grievances are likely a perception, rather than reality? African American males commit crimes, are involved in gangs and murders at a higher rate than the general population. Despite claims by Black Lives Matter, police brutality is not the biggest threat to the African America, his fellow African American is. They are also more likely to struggle with poverty and already be blighted with criminal records.

So it is quite likely that members of this group will find themselves targetted by police for searches and such like. As your police are armed, often up against meth-heads and armed criminals, any group that has contact with the police in stop and searches will experience higher levels of bad outcomes i.e. escalation by nervous and panicky cops which can lead to brutality or being shot dead.

As an outsider, Trump's comments during the campaign and subsequently on Chicago seem right to me: you need to create wealth and opportunities in those black communities. The Democratic response that even drawing attention to these issues are somehow racist is lamentable. There are ghettos in the US, no good pretending they don't exist.

There's also plenty of black commentators who are vocal on the issues at hand and are interested in commanding respect for their race, raising opportunity and investment in their communities. Rather than wallowing in the devisive segregationist and identity politics are doing something positive.

The attempts by some of the media to link the footballers protest to Martin Luther King's resistance is somewhat tenuous. You have rich likely millionaire footballers, who have status and adoring fans, pretending they're somehow prejudiced against and victims of racism. By any measure of what was hard fought and won, they are not.

The biggest problem the US has is identity politics, limiting people to one special interest group, whilst you should be uniting one nation under the groove.

InstaHate said:
That was it initially, but then Trump gave himself an uneccessary headache by speaking out against it. That probably would have been less a problem if he didn’t have an image problem when it comes to minorities and/or criminal justice (“they send over murders and rapists,” joking about police brutality, waffling on condemning literal neo-Nazis, etc), but since he has this image problem, that this became a protest against race and the American justice system AND against Trump’s views on race and the criminal justice system isn’t really surprising. It probably didn’t help that in the same speech he insinuated that football players were a bunch of pussies for worrying about brain damage (despite the growing awareness of CTE).
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He condemned both sides that included neo-Nazis and Antifida which is the emodiment of a militant, anti-democratic and fascist movement hiding behind and being given a free pass by the Democrats and MSM on the basis of their "Bash the fash!" credentials. So I think Trump was right to call out all sides.

The image problem exists, but mainly with those who cannot accept that Trump was able to mobilize the working class vote and the educated middle class mostly now Democrat voters are sore loses and find mass hysteria the only way to vent their anger.

Police brutality exists, footballers virtue signalling by ignoring the national anthem and pretending it's Alabama in the 1950s and 60s is not the solution.
 
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Pimpernel Smith said:
You would agree that some of the grievances are likely a perception, rather than reality? African American males commit crimes, are involved in gangs and murders at a higher rate than the general population. Despite claims by Black Lives Matter, police brutality is not the biggest threat to the African America, his fellow African American is. They are also more likely to struggle with poverty and already be blighted with criminal records.

So it is quite likely that members of this group will find themselves targetted by police for searches and such like. As your police are armed, often up against meth-heads and armed criminals, any group that has contact with the police in stop and searches will experience higher levels of bad outcomes i.e. escalation by nervous and panicky cops which can lead to brutality or being shot dead.

As an outsider, Trump's comments during the campaign and subsequently on Chicago seem right to me: you need to create wealth and opportunities in those black communities. The Democratic response that even drawing attention to these issues are somehow racist is lamentable. There are ghettos in the US, no good pretending they don't exist.

There's also plenty of black commentators who are vocal on the issues at hand and are interested in commanding respect for their race, raising opportunity and investment in their communities and rather than wallowing in the devisive segregationist and identity politics are doing something positive.

The attempts to link the footballers protest to Martin Luther King's resistance is somewhat tenuous. You have rich likely millionaire footballers, who have status and adoring fans, pretending they're somehow prejudiced against and victims of rascism. By any measure of what was hard fought and won, they are not.

The biggest problem the US has is identity politics, limiting people to one special interest group, whilst you should be uniting one nation under the groove.



He condemned both sides that included neo-Nazis and Antifida which is the emodiment of a militant, anti-democratic and fascist movement hiding behind and being given a free pass by the Democrats and MSM on the basis of their "Bash the fash!" credentials. So I think Trump was right to call out all sides.

The image problem exists, but mainly with those who cannot accept that Trump was able to mobilize the working class vote and the educated middle class mostly now Democrat voters are sore loses and find mass hysteria the only way to vent their anger.

Police brutality exists, footballers virtue signalling by ignoring the national anthem and pretending it's Alabama in the 1950s and 60s is not the solution.
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A perception, but a perception rooted in a great deal of reality. You’ll notice I discussed rates, which controls for the amount of crime being committed.

While BLM does not have central leadership, I’ve not seen anybody claiming police brutality is the most pressing issue for African-Americans. That just happens to be their issue (just as the Lupus Foundation of America doesn’t claim that lupus is a greater problem then lung cancer). That being said, I am sure that there are a few in BLM who explicitly paint it as such for demagogic purposes.

Regardless, the perception that black Americans ignore their endogenous problems is perplexing to me. If you go to black churches and black community centers, issues such as gang violence, poor educational outcomes, and absentee fathers are central issues. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a part of a large association of minority academics, and the conversations at our conference about these issues are split between the internal and the external. I’d argue that black Americans are far better at addressing and discussing their internal issues than Hispanic Americans.

As you point out, there are plenty of black leaders who do this. In my experience, this is most of them, and this is the focus of most day to day social work undertaken by minorities. But because it is an internal problem, one which needs to be addressed internally, it is also a separate issue to those problems which are external. Both require attention, the difference is that because one issue is external, it requires everyone’s attention.

I’ve also not seen any Democrats claim that inner city poverty isn’t a major issue and that it is a major source (and symptom) or racial inequality, so I’m not quite sure what you are referring to. Democrats have long championed investment into urban infrastructure as a way to address inequality, both racial and socioeconomic. This is the one aspect of Trump’s platform that Democrats really like.

I do agree, however, that the focus on identity politics has gotten way out of hand. The Democratic focus on it cost them the election, deservably so.

His condemnation was weak at best. I dislike the so-called antifa because they suppress dialogue, but to suggest they are the equivalent to neo-Nazis and white supremists is nothing more than a wink and a nudge by Trump to a vocal minority of his base. Only one of these groups opposes individuals based on inherent traits. Only one of those groups explicitly prides themselves on an identity rooted in genocide or racial oppression. You can condemn antifa while offering an even stronger condemnation of other, more reprehensible groups.
 
InstaHate said:
I do agree, however, that the focus on identity politics has gotten way out of hand. The Democratic focus on it cost them the election, deservably so.

His condemnation was weak at best. I dislike the so-called antifa because they suppress dialogue, but to suggest they are the equivalent to neo-Nazis and white supremists is nothing more than a wink and a nudge by Trump to a vocal minority of his base. Only one of these groups opposes individuals based on inherent traits. Only one of those groups explicitly prides themselves on an identity rooted in genocide or racial oppression. You can condemn antifa while offering an even stronger condemnation of other, more reprehensible groups.
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The Democrats sought to recreate the plantation and as you well know, plenty of black community leaders and commentators will agree with me on that. The plantation of welfare and poverty of thought and action. When Trump mentioned the reality of impoverished and violent ghettos during the election campaign, CNN and Democrats moved to say that there were no such thing and mentioning the inconvenient fact was racist as "ghetto" was a proscribed word. Not in the Oxford English Dictionary it ain't.

They exposed the truth: they want African Americans in the ghettos and sucking on the tit of welfare.

From a European perspective it looked sordid and not quite right. The racism of low expectations. We know there are ghettos and inequality in America, but here is the man we are told to hate, speaking the truth that is self evident.

As for Antifada it is merely the mask of sanity before it is unveiled as the horror that killed a 100 million in the 20th century. It's equivalence with Mao's cultural revolution is uncanny.
 
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How did we get to a conversation that President Trump is Chairman Mao?
 
I for one have never had antifa try to force me to take a loyalty oath, unlike our Indoctrination Organizations schools.
 
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