Sound The TRUMPets! A Thread for Presidential Pondering 2016-2020(?)

[Karl Henning]

I don't see how the US stock market falling back to the level it traded at way back in December 2017 constitutes "shattering long-term momentum"

Careful, it's starting to sound as though you are gloating over financial losses.

That said, it will be interesting to see how the Trump crowd managed to give Trump credit for the run-up and somehow blame Obama for the correction...

Ed Yardeni, a longtime stock market analyst, points out that the current bull market has been going since March 2009. In all these years, we've had four official corrections, so not many, but we have also had 60 "panic attacks," as Yardeni likes to call them. Those are periods where the market dipped and people predicted the worst, but we didn't even end up in a true correction.

"You can't make too much out of a couple of days of craziness," said Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research. "I believe this, too, shall pass."

A bull market for the past nine years?  Thanks, Obama.

[Karl Henning]

I do confess scratching my head over it.   

Cambridge, Mass. is its own ecosystem  0:)

[Karl Henning]

Reality is catching up with [El Tupé] — everywhere

[El Presidente Tupé], in his State of the Union address last week, boasted to the nation about stock market gains: "The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion and more in value in just this short period of time."

He has boasted about the booming market in tweets no fewer than 54 times since taking office. Including boasts he has made in speeches, he has celebrated stock market gains roughly 100 times. In January alone had extolled the "record stock market," the "most explosive stock market rally," the "incredible" gains, and more.

And how is that boast working out for him now?

[Karl Henning]

And, even at the National Review:

The Memo Doesn't Make Its Case

[Florestan]

Cambridge, Mass. is its own ecosystem  0:)

What if the future really looked like that?

[Karl Henning]

What if adulthood looked like puberty?  Oh.  There is the White House.

[Florestan]

What if adulthood looked like puberty? 

Well, will all those safe spaces, trigger warnings, no platform and the likes, it doesn't seem that the millennials show much interest in adulthood. Eternal and undisturbed puberty is more like them. And they get encouragement and support from professors who are actually adults. Go figure!

[Christabel]

Well, will all those safe spaces, trigger warnings, no platform and the likes, it doesn't seem that the millennials show much interest in adulthood. Eternal and undisturbed puberty is more like them. And they get encouragement and support from professors who are actually adults. Go figure!

I don't think the professors ARE actually adults, which is very confusing and somewhat sad.  Totally agree with the rest of your comments except the infantilization has now fully affected all the age groups;  that's what happens when you have your government as a 'nanny', absolving the people of personal responsibility.  It's insidious.

[Christo]

Is this your idea of "late 20-th century"? 

Though you're quoting my line, you obviously didn't read it:

this was the very name used by pre-WWI revolutionary socialists and communists

Anyway, it's interesting that you talk about "democratic socialists", thus obliquely acknowledging that there are also "undemocratic socialists"

Of course there is. Had you read my post, you'ld know that I responded to your disqualification of "the dreamed of", i.e. democratic branches of socialism. My post is about democracy & its friends (Popper) only.

[milk]

I don't think the professors ARE actually adults, which is very confusing and somewhat sad.  Totally agree with the rest of your comments except the infantilization has now fully affected all the age groups;  that's what happens when you have your government as a 'nanny', absolving the people of personal responsibility.  It's insidious.

What does the government have to do with it really? For all my personal failings, and the failings of those around me, I never thought of blaming the government. There are many failed institutions of course; there always are. But for all of that, things aren't so bad compared to the rest of human history. Complaining is contagious. Our dear leader complains most of all even though he has led a fat glutenous life, gorging himself on porn stars and hamburgers, golf and TV, Howard Stern and Oprah. 

[Florestan]

I responded to your disqualification of "the dreamed of", i.e. democratic branches of socialism.

The identification of post-WWII social-democracy with what "some spoiled offsprings of the Western bourgeoisie" dream of and talk about is entirely yours, as is the identification of pre-WWI social-democracy with revolution and communism.

[SimonNZ]

Trump's 'marching orders' to the Pentagon: Plan a grand military parade

"President Trump's vision of soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington is moving closer to reality in the Pentagon and White House, where officials say they have begun to plan a grand military parade later this year showcasing the might of America's armed forces.

Trump has long mused publicly and privately about wanting such a parade, but a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals in the Pentagon's tank — a room reserved for top secret discussions — marked a tipping point, according to two officials briefed on the planning.

Surrounded by the military's highest ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, Trump's seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.

"The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France," said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. "This is being worked at the highest levels of the military."

American shows of military strength don't come cheap. The cost of shipping Abrams tanks and high-tech hardware to Washington could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it."

[milk]

Trump's 'marching orders' to the Pentagon: Plan a grand military parade

"President Trump's vision of soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington is moving closer to reality in the Pentagon and White House, where officials say they have begun to plan a grand military parade later this year showcasing the might of America's armed forces.

Trump has long mused publicly and privately about wanting such a parade, but a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals in the Pentagon's tank — a room reserved for top secret discussions — marked a tipping point, according to two officials briefed on the planning.

Surrounded by the military's highest ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, Trump's seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.

"The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France," said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. "This is being worked at the highest levels of the military."

American shows of military strength don't come cheap. The cost of shipping Abrams tanks and high-tech hardware to Washington could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it."

Oy veh

[SimonNZ]

FEMA Contract Called for 30 Million Meals for Puerto Ricans. 50,000 Were Delivered.

"For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany Brown, an Atlanta entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief and at least five canceled government contracts in her past. FEMA awarded her $156 million for the job, and Ms. Brown, who is the sole owner and employee of her company, Tribute Contracting LLC, set out to find some help.

Ms. Brown, who is adept at navigating the federal contracting system, hired a wedding caterer in Atlanta with a staff of 11 to freeze-dry wild mushrooms and rice, chicken and rice, and vegetable soup. She found a nonprofit in Texas that had shipped food aid overseas and domestically, including to a Houston food bank after Hurricane Harvey.

By the time 18.5 million meals were due, Tribute had delivered only 50,000. And FEMA inspectors discovered a problem: The food had been packaged separately from the pouches used to heat them. FEMA's solicitation required "self-heating meals."

"Do not ship another meal. Your contract is terminated," Carolyn Ward, the FEMA contracting officer who handled Tribute's agreement, wrote to Ms. Brown in an email dated Oct. 19 that Ms. Brown provided to The New York Times. "This is a logistical nightmare."

Four months after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, a picture is emerging of the contracts awarded in the earliest days of the crisis. And examples like the Tribute contract are causing lawmakers to raise questions about FEMA's handling of the disaster and whether the agency was adequately prepared to respond."

[Karl Henning]

Trump's 'marching orders' to the Pentagon: Plan a grand military parade

"President Trump's vision of soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington is moving closer to reality in the Pentagon and White House, where officials say they have begun to plan a grand military parade later this year showcasing the might of America's armed forces.

Trump has long mused publicly and privately about wanting such a parade, but a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals in the Pentagon's tank — a room reserved for top secret discussions — marked a tipping point, according to two officials briefed on the planning.

Surrounded by the military's highest ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, Trump's seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.

"The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France," said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. "This is being worked at the highest levels of the military."

American shows of military strength don't come cheap. The cost of shipping Abrams tanks and high-tech hardware to Washington could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it."

Way to give Putin a big laugh!

[Florestan]

American shows of military strength don't come cheap. The cost of shipping Abrams tanks and high-tech hardware to Washington could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it.

Iow, there is enough money for deploying the US army all over the world for decades, but not enough for a parade in Washington.   

Way to give Putin a big laugh!

Indeed. 

[Christabel]

What does the government have to do with it really? For all my personal failings, and the failings of those around me, I never thought of blaming the government. There are many failed institutions of course; there always are. But for all of that, things aren't so bad compared to the rest of human history. Complaining is contagious. Our dear leader complains most of all even though he has led a fat glutenous life, gorging himself on porn stars and hamburgers, golf and TV, Howard Stern and Oprah.

The people turn, doe-eyed, towards government to solve all their problems.  Result;  deep state. And you're absolutely right; things have never been better in human history - but try telling that to the competitors of the Victim Olympics.  There are so many victims these days they need their own international event.  Whatever happened to personal responsibility?  (Don't ask!)

You got Trump in the USA because the people were desperate;  they didn't want any more PC, identity politics, thought and speech control (on campus, in particular) and open borders.  They voted for a huge battleship to come in a drain the swamp and those folks were labelled 'deplorable' simply because they grew tired of the status quo.  I dislike Trump but I do see the nexus between his election and the fatigue from the people of having people living inside the political beltway telling them how to think and what to think.  What many here fail to realize is that the vast majority of people living in western democracies are basically conservative people who want to raise their families and get on with their lives.  They don't care about women screeching like hyenas about #metoo or any other marginal issue which just isn't going to affect their lives.  They want to have jobs, love their country and be left alone.  Amen to that.

[Karl Henning]

"Oh, look! Another draft-dodger wants the world to see him as a strong military leader!"

[milk]

The people turn, doe-eyed, towards government to solve all their problems.  Result;  deep state. And you're absolutely right; things have never been better in human history - but try telling that to the competitors of the Victim Olympics.  There are so many victims these days they need their own international event.  Whatever happened to personal responsibility?  (Don't ask!)

You got Trump in the USA because the people were desperate;  they didn't want any more PC, identity politics, thought and speech control (on campus, in particular) and open borders.  They voted for a huge battleship to come in a drain the swamp and those folks were labelled 'deplorable' simply because they grew tired of the status quo.  I dislike Trump but I do see the nexus between his election and the fatigue from the people of having people living inside the political beltway telling them how to think and what to think.  What many here fail to realize is that the vast majority of people living in western democracies are basically conservative people who want to raise their families and get on with their lives.  They don't care about women screeching like hyenas about #metoo or any other marginal issue which just isn't going to affect their lives.  They want to have jobs, love their country and be left alone.  Amen to that.

What is the deep state? You mean bureaucracies? I don't know what it is. America is huge and has huge institutions built up by every administration during the "American century." We got Tump because Clinton was a crappy candidate - because of that the election was basically tied (Tump down a couple million in votes but up in points). I don't think campus politics was an issue in 2016, actually. The deplorables are the "birthers," those are the racists but not all Dump voters are like that. I think you are too extreme about #metoo. I take a middle position: rapists and harassers like DJ had their way for sure. Woman have endured a legitimately bad situation for too long. What I probably agree with you about is the sudden fad of "guilty because accused" and the witch-hunt mentality that has overtaken society. I also share your disgust of campus politics and skepticism of "identity politics." I also wonder if the rise of social media is partly to blame for the toxic aspects of the left and right.         

[Karl Henning]

[...] Woman have endured a legitimately bad situation for too long. What I probably agree with you about is the sudden fad of "guilty because accused" and the witch-hunt mentality that has overtaken society.

And, of course, that there has been some faddish exaggeration, does not mean that there is not a genuine, serious, systemic problem.

But that is too nuanced for the right-wing bobble-heads.