192
   

monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

 
 
Setanta
 
  3  
Thu 8 Mar, 2018 11:44 pm
@revelette1,
From the Fluffington Post:

http://78.media.tumblr.com/560236d90ecef80390516fa6678e69e7/tumblr_inline_p56z3rChaM1qd834x_500.jpg

Waffles the cat, who joined the White House as senior national security kitten in October, has resigned. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times broke the story overnight.

This is the fourth major pet departure from the White House in just over a year. A few months ago, Waffles replaced Whiskers, who left abruptly after reports surfaced that she had spent $24,000 on a new litter box for her office.

“Waffles was supposed to be a steadying force in the White House,” said Alan Cockrell, a senior policy fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Where Whiskers had a reputation as a no-holds-barred, chase-every-laser-pointer-she-sees kind of kitty, Waffles was known to have a more of a ‘find a good sun spot an take a nap’ kind of disposition.”

His departure from the administration is unexpected, but not totally surprising.

“Pets just haven’t lasted long in this administration,” said Cockrell. “It’s a fairly chaotic place and these cats can find better opportunities in the private sector.”

Simon & Schuster has reportedly offered Waffles a seven-figure book deal.
izzythepush
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 01:49 am
Quote:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump are to meet in person as early as May, it has been announced, an extraordinary overture after months of mutual hostility.

News of the meeting was delivered by South Korean officials after talks with Mr Trump at the White House.

They passed a verbal message from Mr Kim, saying the North Korean leader was "committed to denuclearisation".

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said the news "came like a miracle".

"If President Trump and Chairman Kim meet following an inter-Korean summit, complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula will be put on the right track in earnest," he said.

The development came days after the South Korean delegation met Mr Kim in Pyongyang.

Speaking outside the White House after briefing Mr Trump, South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong passed on a message that Mr Kim was "committed to denuclearisation" and had "pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests".


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43339901
glitterbag
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 01:57 am
@izzythepush,
I really don't know how I feel about all of that.
Setanta
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 02:11 am
I wouldn't give Plump any credit for it, but even if the conservtards who support him crow, I won't care--it needs to be done. However, Kim is no dummy--he has said that the U.S. needs to withdraw the "nuclear umbrella" from South Korea and Japan. He left himself an escape hatch.

I guess we shall see what we shall see.
0 Replies
 
izzythepush
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 04:53 am
@glitterbag,
Jaw jaw is better than war war, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
blatham
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 05:56 am
@revelette1,
Yeah. Thiessen will now and again say something reasonable. But the next day it's something else...like Hooray for torture.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:04 am
@hightor,
The only reason one might not read anything/everything Jane Mayer writes is if we get intimidated by someone who does reporting at that level of excellence. FWIW, she and Chris Hitchens were longtime friends.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  0  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:05 am
@izzythepush,
God, I’d love to be a fly on *that* wall.

These two people in one room.

Anyway, good on Trump for ending Kim’s bullshit.
Olivier5
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:09 am
@Lash,
That's a bit premature. The meeting itself could lead to a whole lot of BS, why with two morrons in the same room trying to impress one another.
hightor
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:14 am
@Lash,
Quote:
Anyway, good on Trump for ending Kim’s bullshit.

It actually may be the other way around.
Lash
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:20 am
@Olivier5,
Of course, anything is possible, but it definitely appears that Kim is promising to stop rattling his sabre and make nice.

The direction is quite appealing, and a gargantuan improvement on the past few decades.

(They are unable to say it.)
Walter Hinteler
 
  4  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:21 am
@hightor,
I think that Trump really might be successful, with his well-known abiding interest in and passion for the art and craft of diplomacy and international relations, analytical temperament, relevant earlier experiences ...
He's just a genius.
Lash
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:23 am
@Walter Hinteler,
Looking back on the crashing failures of diplomacy in the last three administrations, guess it was time to try something else...
blatham
 
  1  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:24 am
@BillW,
Likely, the Brennan center has good, accessible data on the barriers put up by Republicans in various states. The usual pattern is GOP politicians relying on model legislation developed and disseminated by ALEC and related right wing legal teams
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:31 am
@Lash,
The US and North Korea have rarely interacted since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953).
The USA as tried to isolate since the early 2000's.
Perhaps really threats of "fire and fury" towards North Korea and especially towards its "short and fat" leader works better - it did so in similar situations before, from Medieval Ages till the 19th century.
blatham
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:34 am
@Real Music,
Quote:
It's hard to believe that this type of authoritarian crap is actually happening in America.
Modern US conservatism is marked by a political extremism that easily moves into authoritarian modes of thought and policy. If only one faith is legitimate and if only one political ideology is legitimate and if only one party is legitimate - and if doing/thinking anything else will inevitably result in the destruction of America, which god has designed to lead and give light to the world - authoritarianism is not trick at all. It becomes morally mandated.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  0  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:39 am
@Walter Hinteler,
You should read back on the expensive attempts by Clinton, Bush, and Obama re NK’s development of the nuclear warheads that Kim’s been shooting off recently.

There certainly was contact. Failed contact.

0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:39 am
@Setanta,
a cute kitten picture makes it past the the guards, who were drunk
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:47 am
@izzythepush,
Quote:
Re: glitterbag (Post 6610245)
Jaw jaw is better than war war, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
We'll see. But I share your skepticism. So much of this stuff is just theater.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  2  
Fri 9 Mar, 2018 06:53 am
@Walter Hinteler,
Quote:
He's just a genius.
Not "just" (merely). His genius is marked by very stableness.

As it happens, we have photographic documentation here in our "Photos of a Very Stable Genius" file. This is just (merely) one of hundreds...

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcScuIluC7jOsZE5DRJi7x3SRPmLJxSKw7GOazGouLqxwCDtRrASmQ
0 Replies
 
 

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