monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Back on topic....

The Trump admin trotted out Mnuchin to the morning shows today, to loudly proclaim that the point of the tax cut bill is to 'help the middle class' and 'not to give the rich a tax cut.'

Am I taking crazy pills here or what? Their plan specifically:

- lowers top tax brackets directly
- Retains the Mortgage interest and charitable deductions
- Entirely repeals the estate tax
- repeals the AMT
- doesn't address carried interest rules

I mean... this is explicitly a giveaway to the wealthy. Each one of those items either grants tax breaks for the wealthy or preserves special rules that really only benefit the wealthy.

Didn't they used to put more art into this, than simply lying and claiming the opposite of reality is true? Or am I wearing a rose-colored monocle?

Cycloptichorn

2 Replies

@Cycloptichorn,

In two tweets sent Sunday morning Trump wrote: "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man...Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" (More at WaPo)

So Tillerson is the next to leave ...?

1 Reply

@maporsche,

maporsche wrote:

You just attempted to insult him by suggesting that he's gay?

You're right about one thing, eh, Ma? That would indeed be quite an insult, if true. Among the worst insults imaginable.

2 Replies

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

In two tweets sent Sunday morning Trump wrote: "I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man...Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!" (More at WaPo)

So Tillerson is the next to leave ...?

I saw that quote. I guess the calluses on my shock reaction haven't grown as thick as I thought, because this quote really got me. So, here's the president basically telling the Secretary of State to stop trying to talk to the unstable nuclear power. I mean, wtf!?

1 Reply

@layman,

layman wrote:

maporsche wrote:
You just attempted to insult him by suggesting that he's gay?

You're right about one thing, eh, Ma? That would indeed be quite an insult, if true. Among the worst insults imaginable.

You think calling someone gay is an insult, and you don't know what's wrong with that. I have shoes that are smarter than you.

0 Replies

@Cycloptichorn,

Quote:

Didn't they used to put more art into this, than simply lying and claiming the opposite of reality is true? Or am I wearing a rose-colored monocle?

You are quite right. And this obviously comes as a consequence of Trump himself. When Spicer kept insisting that the inauguration crowd was larger than the following day's Women's March, that bald-faced lie would have been directed by Trump. And that's just one example among hundreds of such obvious lies from Trump. This isn't something we've seen before in any WH or president.

If Trump has any lasting legacy at all, it will be this. Future GOP politicos and supporters will surely draw a lesson that truth has no value whatsoever if the things you say make the base happy and otherwise just cause confusion.

And this is the most compelling reason why the man really must, somehow, be impeached. He is a poisonous influence on American civic and political life.

0 Replies

@snood,

Quote:

So, here's the president basically telling the Secretary of State to stop trying to talk to the unstable nuclear power. I mean, wtf!?

It's very possible (I think highly probable) that Trump said no such thing to Tillerson. Trump always does a sort of performance art where he'll say anything in order to project an image of power and dominance and unpredictability. Everything is about him, about how he demands to be perceived.

1 Reply

@layman,

Hey, instead of blathering about how this place sucks and you're going to leave, why don't you **** right off with your homophobic speech and see yourself out? Or are you all talk, I guess

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

A personal and sincere request to everybody...

First, the level of personal insult we're seeing here is increasing. That's the wrong direction. It just makes the board or this thread and engagement here less agreeable and far less valuable. If you are experiencing an urge to slice another ribbons, please have second and third thoughts about doing so.

Second, we've recently seen the return of one poster who seems to thrill at the prospect of writing posts where personal insults reign. He's not alone in this but he's exemplary. I simply cannot fathom why such voices are responded to (or even read). Years of experience ought to be enough for us to learn the lesson that responding to them produces little if any valuable change in their mental/emotional machinery. As to the hope of correcting false information, that's a valid desire but it has the failing alluded to in this deservedly celebrated cartoon...

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png

1 Reply

@maporsche,

maporsche wrote:

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

You should know about what lubricates an asshole. Me, I've no use for the sphincter except as a means of delivery.

You just attempted to insult him by suggesting that he's gay?

People still do that? In 2017? I'm pretty sure that I stopped doing that in grade school almost 25 years ago.

I guess I thought more of you Finn. Maybe I'm wrong.

If I'm not mistaken the man is gay and has stated so several times. Nothing wrong with being gay and I don't consider being gay to be worthy of insult.

But if someone who is gay is going to respond to a post not directed to them in this way:

Quote:

Lubricant should help you...unless you're attempting to somehow fit all of Trump's foibles, missteps and lies up there.

Then I see nothing wrong (or untrue) about what I wrote.

I actually look on his contributions to this forum as favorable and often agree with him. I don't recall ever getting into a pissing contest with him, although this isn't the first time he's gratuitously popped off at something I wrote, so it's quite possible we have had words in the past, but there is no long history of animosity. It's perfectly fine that he did this time, and I was hardly complaining, nor am I now.

He made his smart-ass comment and I made mine in response.

If it makes you feel less of me, I guess I'll have to live with it.

1 Reply

Now this is typical Trump style communications. You can bet he was directed to go onto Fox and speak this way.

Quote:

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long on Sunday swiped at San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and others he claimed “spout off” about relief efforts in Puerto Rico after the island was devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

“What I don’t have patience for is the fact that what we’re trying to do and what we have successfully done is we have established a joint field office within San Juan,” Long said on “Fox News Sunday.”

He said the agency is “having daily conversations with all of the mayors” and “working with the governor and his leadership to be able to create unified objectives.”

“If mayors decide not to be a part of that, then the response is fragmented,” Long said. “And the bottom line is, is that we’re pushing everybody, we’re trying to push her, in there.”

“Is Mayor Cruz not participating in the FEMA effort?” Fox News’ Chris Wallace pressed Long, who did not answer.

“You know, we can choose to look at what the mayor spouts off or what other people spout off, but we can also choose to see what’s actually being done, and that’s what I would ask,” Long replied.

TPM

0 Replies

@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Then I see nothing wrong (or untrue) about what I wrote.

You wouldn't. You didn't exactly frame things in an inclusive there's nothing wrong with being gay, sort of way. You were sneering, using innuendo in a pejorative manner which you knew would appeal to homophobes like Layman. After welcoming him back you threw him a nice piece of prejudice to chew upon.

And now you've been found out you're backing off with more weasel words and insincerity. At least Layman's honest.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

Blathan will be angry that you didn't comply with his passionate request.

Me? I couldn't care less, especially not when it comes from someone who was banned from this forum for a period because he couldn't stop himself from blatantly calling someone else a pedophile.

0 Replies

@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

why don't you **** right off with your homophobic speech and see yourself out?

Yeah, admittedly, I'm not a homophile, like cheese-eaters are.

I'm sure that must be one of the many banable offenses in this forum which are derived from not agreeing with cheese-eaters. Why don't you report me to an admin? Stupid question, I'm sure you already have.

Even if they don't ban me, I imagine that they will offer to give you a prolonged, sympathetic consolation session like they did with the girl in the video I just posted. Every good Mama will at least do that much, ya know?

0 Replies

Quote:

Mrs. Betty Bowers‏ @BettyBowers 55m55 minutes ago
More Mrs. Betty Bowers Retweeted Donald J. Trump
Ordering NFL to stand for anthem is Trump making America like Donald Trump: So insecure, it must demand, rather than deserve, its praise.

Yes. This is the authoritarian impulse and behavior.

0 Replies

Quote:

Thomas E. Ricks‏Verified account @tomricks1 23h23 hours ago
More Thomas E. Ricks Retweeted David Corn
I think the deal is, The rich can have tax cuts if the base can have white nationalism.

That sounds right.

0 Replies

How many of you saw this tweet and thought, that (bolded portion) looks certain to be total bullshit?

Quote:

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
...people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military. All buildings now inspected.....
5:26 AM - 1 Oct 2017

Well, of course, it was.

Quote:

Brian Stelter‏Verified account @brianstelter 5h5 hours ago
More Brian Stelter Retweeted Donald J. Trump
"I'm not aware of such inspections, there are areas of Puerto Rico where we really haven't gotten contact," Gov. Ricardo Rosselló tells CNN

0 Replies

How did America get where it is?

Kurt Anderson has some ideas about it.

Quote:

People see our shocking Trump moment—this post-truth, “alternative facts” moment—as some inexplicable and crazy new American phenomenon. But what’s happening is just the ultimate extrapolation and expression of mind-sets that have made America exceptional for its entire history.

America was created by true believers and passionate dreamers, and by hucksters and their suckers, which made America successful—but also by a people uniquely susceptible to fantasy, as epitomized by everything from Salem’s hunting witches to Joseph Smith’s creating Mormonism, from P. T. Barnum to speaking in tongues, from Hollywood to Scientology to conspiracy theories, from Walt Disney to Billy Graham to Ronald Reagan to Oprah Winfrey to Trump. In other words: Mix epic individualism with extreme religion; mix show business with everything else; let all that ferment for a few centuries; then run it through the anything-goes ’60s and the internet age. The result is the America we inhabit today, with reality and fantasy weirdly and dangerously blurred and commingled.

Get the book - Fantasyland

Read the article
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/how-america-lost-its-mind/534231/

listen to the interview
http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/sunday-edition/segment/14202201

I recommend the interview because I've gone to the dark, podcast, side of media and Michael Enright with Kurt Anderson is a win.

1 Reply

@blatham,

I think that this is Trump's idea of playing the ole Good Cop/Bad Cop routine.

1 Reply

and in Canada (in our contemporary moment)

the new leader of our federal New Democrat Party (announced about 3 minutes ago)

Jagmeet Singh!!!!!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/queenspark/2017/02/10/mpp-jagmeet-singh-makes-a-splash-in-gq/jagmeet-singh.jpg.size-custom-crop.1086x0.jpg

he got it on the first ballot - amazing!

young, smart, charismatic, a political creature to the core

1 Reply

monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know