The Goat Pen

This Bernhard Langer story is very strange even for Trump. He doesn't have a problem with his "friend' attempting to commit voter fraud but he's outraged that a couple people from Latin American countries who looked like they shouldn't be able to vote (meaning they are brown) were able to vote. This is his proof of the voting fraud that stole the popular vote from him. If true (it's not) it's proof of attempted fraud but not the kind that he had in mind. This guy is a week in and already has lost his mind.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/u ... MU5TAHryYL

aTm wrote:I gotta say, I can't remember ever seeing an elected president straight up just start trying to do everything he said he was going to do in the campaign.

When you encounter a situation that is working great except for one identifiable problem, you can focus on the problem and try to fix it. But if you have a dozen complaints at the same time, none of them looks special. The whole situation just looks confusing, and you don’t know where to start. So you wait and see what happens. Humans need contrast in order to make solid decisions that turn into action. Trump removed all of your contrast by providing multiple outrages of similar energy.

You’re probably seeing the best persuasion you will ever see from a new president. Instead of dribbling out one headline at a time, so the vultures and critics can focus their fire, Trump has flooded the playing field. You don’t know where to aim your outrage. He’s creating so many opportunities for disagreement that it’s mentally exhausting. Literally. He’s wearing down the critics, replacing their specific complaints with entire encyclopedias of complaints. And when Trump has created a hundred reasons to complain, do you know what impression will be left with the public?

He sure got a lot done.

Even if you don’t like it.

In only a few days, Trump has made us question what-the-hell every other president was doing during their first weeks in office. Were they even trying?

This is headline news in modern politics

[img2]http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb4 ... ltdaxx.png[/img2]

I had a roommate (black) in college who is now a socialist. He is a great guy, but he misses the obvious sometimes. He provides a lot of great social commentary on race. I learned a lot living with him, and I am a better person for it. He loves to talk about privilege and the like, but he misses the obvious. Here is a guy who's mom is a cardiologist with a father who is a CPA. He went to St Albans (grew up in DC 'burbs), but he wants to talk about privilege. I just find it ironic and humorous, even when he makes valid points.

eCat wrote:
In only a few days, Trump has made us question what-the-hell every other president was doing during their first weeks in office. Were they even trying?

They were trying ... trying not to fuck up a good thing, which he seems hell-bent on doing. I think he'll be removed, however which way it happens, from office by summer.

American policy is like one big stereo equalizer. Every lever you move changes the whole dynamic of the experience.

I fear Trump thinks he can just adjust the bass without any consequence arising from it besides the bass. There is a reason national leaders have been deliberate in their actions since the beginning of this country.

We're way too early to say anything other than he has done what he said he would do. We'll hear how it sounds soon enough.

Soooooo, today the top brass of the State Department have all been told they are out of a job...tomorrow. One guy, the head of arms proliferation (or something like that), was on a flight to Rome for a meeting on proliferation treaties was told when he landed to turn right back around...because he is fired Friday. That guy started with State in 1982. Some of them have been in the Department since the 1970s.

Thennnnnnnnn, Politico just reported that a draft Executive Order has been floated around for review lifting all sanctions against Russia. These sanctions are related to the expulsion of Russian diplomats related to the election hacking and also sanctions related to Russia's annexation of Crimea.

This is all happening.

Also...I just heard that some of Trump's Executive Orders were not vetted by counsel. They were drafted with the help of two staffers. One escapes me, the other is Bannon. As a result, some of these orders may not even be enforceable. In particular, the EO regarding the TPP was written in a way that some attorney's contend will be helpful in TransCanada's $15B suit against the US under a breach of NAFTA. This is what happens when a corporate executive tries to govern like a CEO. They're two different animals.

I've started a spreadsheet so I can track all of the fuckery. I'm not getting into the weird shit regarding dead illegal aliens voting in 7 different states on the Wednesday after Election Day. That will be too exhausting to keep track of.

You could have bought milk when Obama was president and it wouldn't even be bad...but this administration has had a list of controversies that eclipse 8 years of Obama's White House.

We'll hear how it sounds soon enough

let it blow

Well, you do have your AK. You're good to go.

Bklyn wrote:Well, you do have your AK. You're good to go.

AK is Russian

AR is American

I thought the AR was Israeli.

Either way, duly noted. I will keep better control of my consonants.

Just did a quick search. AR was designed by a Hollywood, CA company. Back to back incorrect posts. Oops. It was obviously the Russians that did it.

Bklyn wrote:I thought the AR was Israeli.

Either way, duly noted. I will keep better control of my consonants.

you're starting to sound alot like Fox News during the Obama administration in regards to Trump. A spreadsheet?

Bklyn wrote:I thought the AR was Israeli.

Either way, duly noted. I will keep better control of my consonants.

UZI is Israeli

Yeaaaaaah, that's right. I need to get my killing machines lined up right in my gray matter. All this ivory tower living that sardis accuses me of has me slipping. I need to spend some time with my father's side of the family. They may love guns more than they love women.

Hahahaha...naaaaaahhhhhhh. Sike. They may love guns more than they love their wives.

eCat wrote:

Bklyn wrote:I thought the AR was Israeli.

Either way, duly noted. I will keep better control of my consonants.

you're starting to sound alot like Fox News during the Obama administration in regards to Trump. A spreadsheet?

Seriously, it's just too much to keep track of. I don't care about bluster that doesn't impact policy and only impacts mood (which does matter, don't get me wrong, but it's not lasting). HOWEVER, when you have this State Dept thing, the shocking lack of scientists (relative to past presidents) in his cabinet positions, the tariff missteps and backtracking, the volume of EOs that I still haven't read through all of them to understand the ripple effects. I only have but so much bandwidth in my head to sort through.

All that shit has lasting impacts...and some of them are things I need to be mindful of in the work I do. Once we get deep into the regulation rollbacks, my life is going into overdrive. I'll wind up taking another 6 months off from here to sort through it all.

So, nah, I wouldn't call it Fox News-ish. I don't have a maniacal obsession to find something wrong in everything Trump does. But, he's been controversial (at best) and reckless (at worst) enough for me to try to make sense of all the moves, so I can try to figure out where all this is heading...selfishly.

Bklyn wrote:

eCat wrote:

Bklyn wrote:I thought the AR was Israeli.

Either way, duly noted. I will keep better control of my consonants.

you're starting to sound alot like Fox News during the Obama administration in regards to Trump. A spreadsheet?

Seriously, it's just too much to keep track of. I don't care about bluster that doesn't impact policy and only impacts mood (which does matter, don't get me wrong, but it's not lasting). HOWEVER, when you have this State Dept thing, the shocking lack of scientists (relatively to past presidents) in his cabinet positions, the tariff missteps and backtracking, the volume of EOs that I still haven't read through all of them to understand the ripple effects. I only have but so much bandwidth in my head to sort through.

All that shit has lasting impacts...and some of them are things I need to be mindful of in the work I do. Once we get deep into the regulation rollbacks, my life is going into overdrive. I'll wind up taking another 6 months off from here to sort through it all.

So, nah, I wouldn't call it Fox News-ish. I don't have a maniacal obsession to find something wrong in everything Trump does. But, he's been controversial (at best) and reckless (at worst) enough for me to try to make sense of all the moves, so I can try to figure out where all this is heading...selfishly.

FDR is known for all his programs and legislation he got thru, but he had a bunch of failures as well. He tried to upend the Supreme Court, he tried to implement price freezes, among other things - and his failures are just footnotes to History. People remember him for what he got done.

Now I'm not going to get into the Trump is no FDR thing. I'm just saying he said alot of things that people thought was window dressing to get elected. Turns out its not.

I don't support everything he's done, but I support alot of it.

You are right. History remembers what you got right...or got massively wrong...at the end of the day. All the other stuff fades away. You just need to make your triumphs eclipse your massive dumps...and you need to make sure the parties that keep the records, sing the songs and write the history see it the same way.

Bklyn wrote:You are right. History remembers what you got right...or got massively wrong...at the end of the day. All the other stuff fades away. You just need to make your triumphs eclipse your massive dumps...and you need to make sure the parties that keep the records, sing the songs and write the history see it the same way.

he'll try 200 things and get blocked, sued or ignored on 150 of them.

That said I don't have any reason to believe that Trump is going to do anything directly to African Americans...unless they are muslim. They might disappear and reappear in a prison somewhere in Nicarauga.

The way Trump sees it (and alot of other Americans) he's bringing back jobs that need to be filled - and African Americans will benefit from like anyone else.