US General Election 2016

Dear Mr. President,
This is David Lynch writing. I saw that you re-tweeted the Breitbart article with the heading – Director David Lynch: Trump ‘Could Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents in History.’ I wish you and I could sit down and have a talk. This quote which has traveled around was taken a bit out of context and would need some explaining.
Unfortunately, if you continue as you have been, you will not have a chance to go down in history as a great president. This would be very sad it seems for you – and for the country. You are causing suffering and division.
It’s not too late to turn the ship around. Point our ship toward a bright future for all. You can unite the country. Your soul will sing. Under great loving leadership, no one loses – everybody wins. It’s something I hope you think about and take to heart. All you need to do is treat all the people as you would like to be treated.
Sincerely,
David Lynch

At Trump rally, Fargo ND.

Take pictures.

Tell Melania not to wear dodgy jackets.

halfwise wrote:Take pictures.

Taking pics and some vid will post when I get home tomorrow.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/27/this-is-bull-inside-the-gops-immigration-meltdown-680106

Wow. this gives a picture of how complicated congressional negotiation can be, and this is mainly inside the Republican party. Working between parties must be an unending nightmare.

Yep.  They seem to get more and more disfunctional every year.  
I've been saying for a long time that we should just fire the lot of them. Then we could hire two minimum wage workers to replace everybody and their staffers, making one wear a blue blazer and the other a red blazer, and telling each to vote against whatever the other voted for.
We'd get just as much done as we do now, but with a lot less theatrics and drama, and we'd save hundreds of millions of dollars in the process!

- I arrived "early" at 12pm when the parking lot opened up. There were people who had camped out since early morning. I was right at the point where the queue began a zig-zag formation.


-Queue hooks all the way around the parking lot. We were out in 90 degree weather with no substantial cloud cover for 4 plus hours.


-Finally inside a little after 4pm, people still waiting to get in! Absolutely insane crowd size.





-Fake news getting set up.    


-Attempt at a pano.


-Trump took the stage a little after 7pm. In retrospect maybe I should have gotten a spot on the floor, but I was kind of sick of standing. When Trump came out, and during the whole speech it felt like a rock concert. He spoke for a little over an hour. I was able to beat the crowd and got out of the parking lot and back to the hotel before the traffic jam started.

But was just 'concert' of his greatest hits, or did he actually say something new and worth coming for?

Some of it's greatest hits, some that pertained to the area. He was stumping for the ND GOP senate candidate.

But even if it wasn't "all new" I probably would have gone anyway. It was exciting, his supporters want to see him. I had found out about the rally in Duluth last week on the day of the rally. Checked the calendar, next week Fargo, same day of the week, I've got work off. Sounds good. I don't regret going.

{{Meanwhile in the real world outside the show arena Trump was today boasting about Make America Great Again whilst marking an investment by a company called Foxconn's-

'"America is open for business more than it has ever been open for business. Made in the USA: It's all happening and it's happening very, very quickly.  Today we're seeing the results of the pro-America agenda. America First, Make America Great Again. Greatest phrase ever used in politics, I suspect."

Problem is-  }}

'Trump's celebration came against a backdrop of less-rosy economic news: Harley-Davidson recently announced it is moving some motorcycle production oversea.... Trump highlighted Foxconn's investment in the U.S. as statistics show an overall decline in the purchase or construction of factories and facilities in America by foreign companies....Such investment fell 40 percent last year after hitting record levels in 2015 and 2016, according to U.S. government data analyzed by the Organization for International Investment. The organization represents large overseas companies such as Toyota, Nestle and Sony. Foreign investment remained weak in the first three months of 2018.'- Fox Business

When it was discovered that the newspaper shooter wasn’t a foaming-at-the-mouth Trump supporter...

It was kinda silly how when Fox News reported very soberly that there seemed to be no political motivation to the shooting, a bunch of newspapers started screaming that Fox was trying to politicize the shooting.

I don't have much patience for the Fox commentators and "analysts", but their pure news division is pretty straightforward.

{{One of the weirdest aspect of US news media as an outsider looking in at it, is that they are obsessed with each other and themselves, both sides. Its very odd to see, maybe harder to see just how odd unless your outside, how much time your news media spends reporting on, well, the news media. }}

{{{ More talent lost from the US civil service under Trump. A US Ambassador who served 29 years, Jim Melville has resigned saying-

"A Foreign Service Officer's DNA is programmed to support policy and we're schooled right from the start, that if there ever comes a point where one can no longer do so, particularly if one is in a position of leadership, the honorable course is to resign. Having served under six presidents and 11 secretaries of state, I never really thought it would reach that point for me."
"For the President to say the EU was 'set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank,' or that 'NATO is as bad as NAFTA' is not only factually wrong, but proves to me that it's time to go."

Just the latest in a long line of talent that have chosen to jump rather than carry out Trump's policies, bit it does leave you wondering what sort of people are left, or what sort will replace folk like this and will they have the experience and knowledge they are replacing? I doubt it. }}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{One of the weirdest aspect of US news media as an outsider looking in at it, is that they are obsessed with each other and themselves, both sides. Its very odd to see, maybe harder to see just how odd unless your outside, how much time your news media spends reporting on, well, the news media. }}

From the outside it looks like most of America is more interested in the other lot and themselves in the same way. You are either a rasicst, Nazi gun lover or you are a ultra-feminist god hating libtard.

Just like in many places, it seems like the extremes have managed to get their hands in some power through lack of the rest of the population both being given much if an other choice.

Everything has turned very tribal and, with all of the problems going on in the world, i cant see it changing any time soon.

{{It does seem so Lance, sadly. Still weird though- like if BBC news24 spent half its air time attacking Channel 4 news, and ITV news spent half its air time attacking BBC news24Just cant imagine that sort of thing happening with our main news outlets here, yet attacking other news outlets seems a daily routine for US news networks. }}

Lancebloke wrote: Everything has turned very tribal

Sad but true. It was feeling like things were getting back to normal for a while, but now that the next round of elections are coming around it seems that all the tribal bonfires are being stoked again

{{Yesterday Fox news were wall to wall in ridicule democrats mode- specifically any suggestions of disbanding ICE in any way- calling the very idea left wing loonacy, severe radicalism and signs of a swift step to the extreme left by the democrats.
Right now Fox's headline story however is this-

'Nineteen senior investigators at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have called for the government agency to be disbanded in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
The agents’ letter, first reported by the Texas Observer, expressed concern that President Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants has made it more difficult for them to conduct investigations into significant national security issues.
HSI is “supposed to be out there making these major cases, these big cartels that are smuggling guns, drugs, money,” Alonzo Peña, a former ICE deputy director, told the Texas Observer. “And because of this whole immigration rhetoric — that immigrants are bad, that they’re criminals and rapists and all that — the focus is totally off mission.
The agents, who work to combat things like drugs and arms trafficking, wrote that their investigations “have been perceived as targeting undocumented aliens, instead of the transnational criminal organizations that facilitate cross border crimes impacting our communities and national security.”


Their position does not seem to me radical or extreme or left wing and I doubt 19 serving ICE investigators have all sudden gone radically left- but merely that Trump's rhetoric, turning immigration into a political football, and using ICE as his enforcers of his rhetoric is not actually related to physical actual reality of their job- where all he is doing is making the job impossible, unpopular and more importantly distracting the agency from what it should be doing- stopping, preventing and investigating real threats and risks not imaginary political ones whilst being used as pawns by the President. }}}

This reminds me of the French Revolution, you had a rich bloated elite for hundreds of years, and then the 'people' got fed up of them and had a revolution, and then a band of eager amateurs got to rule in the 'name of the people', then it quickly went pear shaped as loony toones elements with issues took over and The Terror began, short and extremely bloody chaos and murder, swiftly followed by charismatic leader who makes himself emperor, and the whole rich bloated elite starts up again......swings and roundabouts, I reckon we are at the stage in the US just before the Terror starts up. happy days. and as the Chinese say, 'may you live in interesting times'.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-venezuela-invasion-crisis-rex-tillerson-advisers-meeting-a8430571.html?amp&utm_source=reddit.com

Donald Trump lifts ban on importing elephant hunt trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Putting politics aside this is a devastating blow to the protection of elephants. ???? ????

His sons like to hunt. That's all it takes for a major policy change.

chris63 wrote:Donald Trump lifts ban on importing elephant hunt trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

When did this happen Chris? I see there was some loose talk about it back in November but it didn't look like anything ever came of it....

If that's true its very disappointing to hear.