Trump's departure

[Elixir]

The President is not part of the process of choosing the football carriers. It's a military posting, not a political appointment. And the vbackground check makes my Top Secret+ clearance look like applying for a Blockbuster membership.
Does Trump even KNOW anyone who would pass a TS:SIOP clearance?

You seem to be confusing Trump and his Trumpistas for law abiding citizens, with the best interests of the USA as their foundation.

No, i'm saying that this job is out of his hands entirely, whatever he may have wished, or whatever he may have tried to influence. It's part of a whole pipeline to create officers that can be in that position.

B-b-but, can he still sign the football?

 

[Keith&Co.]

No, i'm saying that this job is out of his hands entirely, whatever he may have wished, or whatever he may have tried to influence. It's part of a whole pipeline to create officers that can be in that position.

B-b-but, can he still sign the football?

If he did it before his term ended. After that, it'd be criminal to give a mere civilian unauthorized access.

 

[lpetrich]

Melania Trump leaves Donald Trump alone in front of the cameras – video | US news | The Guardian
noting
Melania Trump's photo snub prompts speculation over post-White House path | Melania Trump | The Guardian

One last time, the internet has run wild over viral video of first lady Melania Trump apparently spurning the conventions of her role, triggering speculation about the state of her marriage to the now former president.

...
Trump himself paused to wave at photographers but his wife, in dark glasses and a striking print dress, continued walking, deadpan, until she was firmly offscreen, leaving her husband alone.

“If ‘ain’t got to do this shit anymore’ was a person” was the biting verdict of one user who posted the footage of Melania apparently at last on the way to life as a golf widow and – she seemed to a watching world to hope – relative obscurity, out of the public spotlight.

Ever since Donald Trump entered the Republican primary in summer 2015, speculation over his wife’s view of him – and her role as first lady – has run rampant. The Trumps were reported to keep separate White House bedrooms, their actions in public frantically parsed for clues to the state of the marriage, the 45th president’s third.

That's weird.

 

[ideologyhunter]

On Friday, I hired Kellyanne Conway to clean house for me. This was my part in the Unity Theme. Anyway, she stole a stack of laundromat quarters off my dresser. So much for that.

 

[lpetrich]

Trump Returns Home to Mar-a-lago Crowd of Supporters - shows Trump's motorcade going through West Palm Beach on its way to Mar-a-Lago.

Also, Air Force One returning to DC. It will have a new First Passenger.

Finally there.
Donald Trump arrives at Mar-a-Lago resort

Trump leaves Washington, returns to Mar-a-Lago | WPEC

Once in West Palm Beach, Trump's motorcade then weaved its way to Mar-a-Lago, as a crowd of supporters lined Southern Boulevard to wave goodbye.

...
On the other side of the street, supporters of President Biden gathered to show their support for the new administration.

...
After Trump's motorcade made the 13 minute drive to Mar-a-Lago Air Force One returned to the nation's capital.

I was expecting him to go to Moscow, but Mar-a-Lago will do.

 

[lpetrich]

Mar-a-Lago is about 2 mi / 3 km south of central Palm Beach. That resort is on a long barrier island a little off the mainland's coast. Its elevation above sea level is very small. I've found numbers like 3 ft / 1 m and 16 ft / 5 m.

In "Contact across the Solar System" I wrote

The residents took turns driving over the flat land on the way to Orlando, passing by numerous farms along the way. On the way, the conversation turned to global warming and how vulnerable Florida is to it. If the Earth's polar ice melts, most of the Florida peninsula would drown, taking all that farmland with it. Then how some fossil-fuel supporters have obstructed action to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by making misleading and false claims about it, claims that some of them knew to be false. Also how some Florida politicians seemed to believe these supporters, despite the vulnerability of their land. Not a very pleasant thing to think about as one was getting ready for making contact with the people of the Earth.

 

[bilby]

Fox News was able to confirm that Trump got a "warm Florida greeting". So much so, the article includes a very close up photo of four people somewhere along the motorcade route to his golf course.


That and Germany couldn't defend the post worth a damn.

"That won us WWII" was a bit of an overstatement.

But still. That football would be hugely valuable to a hostile foreign power like Russia. If the government has to shoot Trump to get it back I'd be fine with that.
Tom

Its complicated, of course, and no one single thing literally "won the war"... but historians all agree that without breaking their code, we would have not been able to defeat their navy by being able to listen in to their encoded secret messages without their knowledge. There were ambushes that would have devastated the allied forces if not for being clued in. Battles were won and planned such that they didn't belay our ace in the hole. Hitler suddenly lost his Naval advantage and had no clue why his strategies stopped working in that theater.

If that didn't just hand us the war, it certainly was critically contributory to the German's defeat.

Not that Trump is capable of comprehending that, or even so, caring even a little bit about the potential impact.

Very little 'ultra' intelligence was shared with the Soviets. They still beat Hitler, and would have done so regardless of the Polish and British success in breaking German codes.

Without the code breaking, things would have been much worse for the British. There might never have been an invasion of occupied France. It's difficult to know exactly how things would be different, but it's a certainty that Hitler would still have been defeated.

 

[crazyfingers]

On a more than petty note from an amazingly petty person

https://news.yahoo.com/bidens-were-...4soHrteU5O4sCadYIEH2-kYAsvuQ_ChQFNBjpDFTCLOY9

The Bidens were reportedly left waiting outside the White House on Inauguration Day because Trump sent the staff home

Joe and Jill Biden may have been waiting to enter the White House for longer than necessary on Inauguration Day because there was a lack of staff there to greet them.

In a break from White House protocol, the new President and First Lady were left standing in front of closed doors as they took photos outside of their new residence for the first time on Wednesday.

The Trumps "sent the butlers home when they left so there would be no-one to help the Bidens when they arrived," a well-placed official not associated with the Biden administration told The National Journal.

A veteran White House social expert told The National Journal that it is a "big protocol breach for the president to ever stand in front of a closed-door at the White House."

"That may be why there was nobody to open the doors to the Bidens. You couldn't expect the Biden staff to know to do that. Doors are opened and closed by ushers. There are rules about all these things and everyone has their job," they added.

However, one former White House official told the publication that the couple's team might have specifically requested the doors closed for the photo-op.

"But what should have happened is that a Biden staff member should have alerted the usher or staff person on the other side of that door that it was time to open it. That was a staff mistake," they said.

Biden's entrance was a complete contrast to Trump's first visit to the White House on his Inauguration day four years prior.

On January 20, 2017, Donald and Melania Trump were greeted by former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, who posed for the photos with the couple before they entered the building together through open doors.

Trump broke tradition by opting not to attend Biden's Inauguration ceremony last week. Instead, the former president made a brief farewell address at Joint Base Andrews before flying to South Florida with his wife.

Representatives for President Biden did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

 

[ZiprHead]

American supporters of Donald Trump expressing growing interest in obtaining Russian passports – Foreign Ministry

Oh yes, Please go. I think they will be in for a huge surprise.

 

[TomC]

American supporters of Donald Trump expressing growing interest in obtaining Russian passports – Foreign Ministry

Oh yes, Please go. I think they will be in for a huge surprise.

What does "increased interest" mean, exactly?

If two people expressed interest before Trump got kicked out, and four people expressed interest a week later, then technically there's a 200% increase this week.

But it's still only four out of three hundred thirty millions.

Let them all go! Encourage them to go!

I'm good with Trumpistas slamming the door on their way to Russia.
Tom

 

[crazyfingers]

American supporters of Donald Trump expressing growing interest in obtaining Russian passports – Foreign Ministry

Oh yes, Please go. I think they will be in for a huge surprise.

What does "increased interest" mean, exactly?

If two people expressed interest before Trump got kicked out, and four people expressed interest a week later, then technically there's a 200% increase this week.

But it's still only four out of three hundred thirty millions.

Let them all go! Encourage them to go!

I'm good with Trumpistas slamming the door on their way to Russia.
Tom

I agree, let them go.

But it sure shows how lots of Trumies are not Republicans. Or Republicans are nothing like what they were only a few years ago. Republicans of only a few years ago would view Russia/Putin as the total Boogieman. These Trumpies are plain old authoritarian followers.

 

[Elixir]

Republicans of only a few years ago would view Russia/Putin as the total Boogieman. .

To their credit, they seem to have been correct about that.
Pootey has been a key ingredient in the utter collapse of the GOP, as well as eliminating the right's claims to patriotism.
Losing the White House and both chambers of Congress in one term probably couldn't have happened without him.

Damn! If only that coup thingy had gone the other way, right?!

 

[lpetrich]

You might find this fun: As an American who recently received Russian citizenship, the decision has made me cherish conservative values more than ever — RT Op-ed

Russia says American system ‘archaic’ & not up to ‘modern democratic standards’ after rioters raid Washington’s Capitol building — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union - though it didn't go into much detail.

 

[jab]

Melania Trump leaves Donald Trump alone in front of the cameras – video | US news | The Guardian
noting
Melania Trump's photo snub prompts speculation over post-White House path | Melania Trump | The Guardian

One last time, the internet has run wild over viral video of first lady Melania Trump apparently spurning the conventions of her role, triggering speculation about the state of her marriage to the now former president.

...
Trump himself paused to wave at photographers but his wife, in dark glasses and a striking print dress, continued walking, deadpan, until she was firmly offscreen, leaving her husband alone.

“If ‘ain’t got to do this shit anymore’ was a person” was the biting verdict of one user who posted the footage of Melania apparently at last on the way to life as a golf widow and – she seemed to a watching world to hope – relative obscurity, out of the public spotlight.

Ever since Donald Trump entered the Republican primary in summer 2015, speculation over his wife’s view of him – and her role as first lady – has run rampant. The Trumps were reported to keep separate White House bedrooms, their actions in public frantically parsed for clues to the state of the marriage, the 45th president’s third.

That's weird.

Well, I wouldn't want to sleep in the same bed or bedroom as someone who had to ware adult diapers, even if I loved that person dearly.
She did do a little wave when she got to the car in Florida.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

You might find this fun: As an American who recently received Russian citizenship, the decision has made me cherish conservative values more than ever — RT Op-ed

Russia says American system ‘archaic’ & not up to ‘modern democratic standards’ after rioters raid Washington’s Capitol building — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union - though it didn't go into much detail.

Vlad the poisoner critiquing America on democracy? What an evil old fool.

 

[Jarhyn]

You might find this fun: As an American who recently received Russian citizenship, the decision has made me cherish conservative values more than ever — RT Op-ed

Russia says American system ‘archaic’ & not up to ‘modern democratic standards’ after rioters raid Washington’s Capitol building — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union - though it didn't go into much detail.

Vlad the poisoner critiquing America on democracy? What an evil old fool.

The worst part is that while he is hypocritical, he is not wrong. In fact, he worked really hard to leverage the archaic system. But it doesn't change the fact that the bugs were there, the exploits sitting open and unpatched. The GOP would have found the holes if he hadn't first.

Yes, he is a poisoner. Yes he is the leader of a country that doesn't have real elections at all. But it doesn't change the fact that he was right about our system being for shit.

Yes he is evil, but that doesn't make him a fool.

 

[ZiprHead]

George Conway hands Biden's DOJ a roadmap to make sure Trump ends up in jail
Conway notes that future Attorney General Merrick Garland must appoint a special counsel — or two

On Friday night, writing for The Washington Post, conservative attorney George Conway laid out the way forward to investigate former President Donald Trump for his criminal conduct in office now that he is a private citizen — and prosecute him where appropriate.

"Trump departed the White House a possible — many would say probable, provable — criminal, one who has left a sordid trail of potential and actual misconduct that remains to be fully investigated," wrote Conway. "A desperate fear of criminal indictment may even explain Trump's willingness to break any number of laws to stay in office despite losing his reelection bid, democracy and the Constitution be damned."

While President Joe Biden is correct to pledge to stay out of prosecutorial decisions surrounding Trump, wrote Conway, the Justice Department should not — and everything from the Russia obstruction of justice, to the Ukraine bribery scheme, to his attacks on the election and incitement of the Capitol riot, should be on the table to prosecute.

 

[TomC]

You might find this fun: As an American who recently received Russian citizenship, the decision has made me cherish conservative values more than ever — RT Op-ed

Russia says American system ‘archaic’ & not up to ‘modern democratic standards’ after rioters raid Washington’s Capitol building — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union - though it didn't go into much detail.

Vlad the poisoner critiquing America on democracy? What an evil old fool.

The worst part is that while he is hypocritical, he is not wrong. In fact, he worked really hard to leverage the archaic system. But it doesn't change the fact that the bugs were there, the exploits sitting open and unpatched. The GOP would have found the holes if he hadn't first.

Yes, he is a poisoner. Yes he is the leader of a country that doesn't have real elections at all. But it doesn't change the fact that he was right about our system being for shit.

Yes he is evil, but that doesn't make him a fool.

Totally this.

I think Putin decided to put some Russian cunning behind Trump specifically because he knew that Trump would help weaken the USA. Trump's personal life and his willingness to use division and deceit and casual disregard for laws made him the ideal candidate to advance Russian ambitions.
Tom