Trump withdraws his Doral resort as the location for next year’s G7. The move had prompted bipartisan criticism >> https://t.co/8DKwuGu2s3
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 20, 2019
WATCH: Washington Post political reporter David Farenthold says Doral is not an ideal place to host the G7 summit. #mtpdaily@Fahrenthold: "If your list was a campground at the top of Mount McKinley, and a Chuck E. Cheese's, and Doral, then Doral was the best place." pic.twitter.com/ld7IuqsclM
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 18, 2019
A group of world leaders show up in a Florida resort with no preparation for a meeting hosted by a complete idiot: This is a pitch for "Mar-A-Lago Is Down" that Hollywood rejected because it was too improbably stupid even for an action flick. https://t.co/TqjEXmJSeP
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 19, 2019
In October 2016, a former State Dept employee was sentenced to 50 months in prison for his role in steering the sole-sourcing of $2M in USG contracts to a company in which his son had a 50% interest. Trump just steered the G7 meeting directly to himself. https://t.co/soCTpAqBWq https://t.co/mLJUF4schd
— Elizabeth de la Vega (@Delavegalaw) October 18, 2019
More immediately:
JUST IN: The House is teeing up a vote on a resolution to condemn holding the G7 at Trump's Doral resort and "rejecting his practice of accepting foreign government Emoluments without obtaining Congress’ affirmative consent"
Rules Committee plans to mark it up on Tuesday.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 18, 2019
If you’re in a paranoid mood (remember, even paranoids have real enemies!): It has been widely assumed that Trump’s ‘special guest nation’ at this G7 would be… Russia. What price a scenario where Putin rejects his puppet’s down-at-heels hotel, and tells him he’d prefer to introduce his own ‘security arrangements’ at Camp David?
mrmoshpotato
Where was this reported?
Gin & Tonic
Isn’t this just par for the course? Asshole does (or threatens to do) something monumentally idiotic, then when he reverses course, we’re supposed to be grateful. Fuck that. This isn’t “good news” in any sense of the word, it’s fucking hostage-taking.
Anne Laurie
@mrmoshpotato: “Widely assumed”, since August…
South China Morning Post: Donald Trump to host G7 summit at his Miami golf resort – and Vladimir Putin could be invited
Reuters: No consensus on inviting Russia to G7 next year: Macron
Lots more if you wanna google for yourself.
Mart
Trump is acting like a snowflake, crumbling under the America haters’ lies. We need Trump to hold that line, and never give an inch to the bastards. It’s so demoralizing.
Mary G
As somebody who’s had rent some banquet rooms at hotels, I know they’re often booked way in advance. especially conventions. It’s like ten months away. Will he even be able to find a big enough hotel or resort willing to kick out everybody’s who’s already reserved. That Soneland guy owns hotels, maybe he can bail them out.
dmsilev
His full-bodied whine is worth reading just for the schadenfreude:
Also, someone please check me if I’m wrong, but I think his claim of “I would have offered this at zero cost if I could” is another lie. Granted, even without any information that’s the smart way to bet.
dmsilev
@Mary G: Wedding chapels in Vegas are used to short-lead-time reservations. We could dress Trump up as Fat Elvis.
TS (the original)
I was reading about the G8 meeting at Camp David in 2012 & noticed this paragraph
So there will be nothing of substance coming out of next years event – if trump is still president*
wiki – 38th G8 summit
rikyrah
I guess folks spelling out how absolutely illegal this was f first got through to someone in the legal team.
Mulvaney was also on the hook for approval of this.
The Dangerman
SNL madly changing it’s opening.
cynthia ackerman
Maybe they got nervous when someone said they’d have to pony up the other choices …
TaMara (HFG)
@Mart: Oh, honey, you picked the wrong place to troll. ?
Jinchi
I’m a little puzzled. Didn’t Mulvaney say that Doral won out in a competition with a dozen other sites? Why do they need to begin a new search?
Mary G
@dmsilev: That’s right, June is wedding month! Also, thanks for straightening out the order of tweets.
@TS (the original): They already nixed climate change.
mrmoshpotato
@Anne Laurie: Ah. Thanks!
Duane
@dmsilev: Trumpov finally is held accountable for something and he cries like a spoiled brat. Get used to it fat bastard. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
Chetan Murthy
@TaMara (HFG): One prays that “Mart”‘s morals are sufficiently destroyed that they’re called back to where they came from. Heh indeed, they picked the wrong place to troll.
Mary G
Video of Beto defending Tulsi:
dmsilev
@Jinchi: All of the other sites, when they heard that they were up against Doral, spontaneously combusted after realizing how thoroughly they were outclassed. Kind of sad, really.
Mary G
@TaMara (HFG): @Chetan Murthy: Somebody named Mart has commented before. I took this as sarcasm, though I could be wrong.
John Revolta
Too bad. I was hoping for him to announce that the guy who ran that Fyre Festival scam was gonna be in charge of running the event.
hells littlest angel
Don’t ever change, Donald “I never settle” Trump.
mrmoshpotato
OT – is NBC (TV channel) broken for anyone else?
Jinchi
@mrmoshpotato:
Trump’s been talking about inviting Russia since the last meeting in August.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-putin-g7-2019-8
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-doral-g7-summit-next-year-trump-national-miami-white-house-says-today-dismissing-concerns-over-ethics-optics/
John Revolta
@Mary G: Beto defending Tulsi
The fucque?
Mary G
Oh Lord, FTFNYT is at it again (I think, since I’m unsubscribed):
Gin & Tonic
@Jinchi:
I know this is a wild and crazy theory, but maybe they were lying about having conducted a search in the first place?
Mai naem mobile
I know there’s no way it would happen but I would love to see it at a Hyatt facility(Gov Pritzker D-Ill) is a Hyatt heir. Just to wind Trumpov up. Realistically I bet there’s only a few places that can handle this kind of event. So I googled this – it’s been held in Denver, Dorado PR, Williamsburg , Houston , Sea Island and Camp David.
Mary G
@Jinchi: Macron’s been cozying up to Putin for a while, making a lot of Europeans nervous. (CNN in August) Trump and Macron agree that Russia should be invited to next year’s G7 conference, senior admin official says
ETA: Two more outs, Astros! Go!
Gin & Tonic
@John Revolta: So Putin’s plan to divide the Dems using Gabbard is proceeding nicely.
RepubAnon
@dmsilev: Yes, the Trump henchmen just strongly implied that they didn’t even look at other sites- otherwise, they’d simply have gone with the first runner-up.
Of course, all the other sites under consideration were probably other Trump properties.
Steeplejack
@Jinchi:
Exactly! Just go to the #2 on your awesome, already vetted list. ?
NotMax
A small selection of anagrams for Trump Doral:
Trump A Lord
Adult Mr Pro
Rump To Lard
La Turd Prom
Palm Or Turd
Old Rump Rat
Mr Pol A Turd
;)
rikyrah
@RepubAnon:
We knew that the search was just a scam.??
RepubAnon
@rikyrah: Trump, running a scam to enrich himself? Next thing you’ll say is that the sun rises in the East…
?
Chetan Murthy
via crooks and liars: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/18/jimmy-rosalynn-carter-become-longest-married-presidential-couple/4025978002/
Steeplejack
@Mary G:
Definitely snark. People have gone crazy around here.
oatler.
@RepubAnon: “Have you ever seen a man eat his own head?”
West of the Rockies
@Mary G:
Beto might make a good state senator, maybe even a solid US representative, but presidential material he is not.
Mart
@Mary G: Thanks for your support. Trying (failed) to note that the only reason they love him is he is an asshole who never stops punching down on libs, the press, and the deep state; and never backtracks / apologizes for anything. This kind of mealy mouth – now we are going to Camp David because of “them” – is the only thing that will hurt him with the base. Hope for more of it.
NotMax
And just think, the whole schmear came this close to being the Enriquez Doral.
:)
hilts
OT
Congrats to the Houston Astros for winning the ALCS!
Fuck those goddamn motherfucking NY Yankees and fuck that ratfucking, shit for brains Donald Trump.
mrmoshpotato
@Mart: Bankrupting their own farms to own the libs!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think Camp David had hosted the G7 before, I suspect that’s the fallback.
@Mary G:
Wow, that’s just… I’ve always been a bit skeptical of him, but that’s just… he’s an idiot.
rikyrah
@hilts:
Yeah!!!?
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Someone ask Beto what he thinks of Tulsi’s love of Assad!
Jinchi
@Gin & Tonic:
It saddens me that you’ve lost faith in our noble President.
TS (the original)
@Mary G: They will defend him to the death – of every Kurd in Syria. They deserve to go 100% out of this world for the horror they have wrought with the emails and other Hillary attacks. Who is getting paid to do this for Trump?
@Gin & Tonic: Indeed it is – so disappointed in Beto who only has to say “Hillary Clinton named no-one”. Every last person who attacks/attacked Hillary Clinton helps/helped elected trump.
Kelly
@Mary G:
@TS (the original): Effective organization at the sherpa level is understood to be essential for the success of a summit meeting.
Millard Filmore
@Mary G:
Is Camp David permanently ready?
What a bookend to his presidency if he can’t find ANY place for the summit.
mrmoshpotato
@Millard Filmore: What a bellend of a presidency? ?
Mart
@mrmoshpotato: Someone has got to have the conviction to stand up to the dirty Commies and lose the family farm if we are gonna keep America great. (I guess I am in a snarky mood this morning.)
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
Naah. That would never stop Trump. What I bet happened is that someone got through that the other countries would not show up if he did it, that Doral is such a shithole they can’t clean it up enough for a major summit.
@Mary G:
So did I. It sounded like classic cheering conservatives on in their march off the cliff sarcasm to me.
Mary G
@Millard Filmore: He can kick people out of Camp David, I would think. He thinks it’s a dump, and Obama had his G7 or 8 there, but he may be boxed in. I’m sure Congress has already voted him money for the preparation, and I’m sure they’d give him more to fix it up. It’s sickening to think he’ll name a big room after Ivanka, though.
ETA: I think the reason he backed off the Doral is that the other countries pitched a fit about the horrible weather and its being completely unsuitable for security to be effective.
mrmoshpotato
@Mart: Those commie Canucks and their universal healthcare and high standard of living!
hilts
CREW Statement on G-7 Doral Announcement
h/t https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/crew-statement-on-g-7-doral-announcement
Trump is the dumbest and most corrupt person to occupy the White House. Given all the atrocities he’s committed since taking office, he deserves zero credit for this reversal. I look forward to celebrating the removal of this malignant cancer from the White House.
Jinchi
@TS (the original):
I think it’s hilarious that Clinton named no-one, so Tulsi decides to point the finger at herself.
TS (the original)
@Mary G: President Obama had a G8 there. Putin did not come – he sent his Prime Minister. It was originally planned for Chicago but the concern re protesters had it moved to Camp David. I have a memory of them all watching football – must have been FA Cup or World Cup or similar.
The Google tells me it was the Champions League
Edit: Angela Merkel – the only woman in the room, should meet up with Nancy Pelosi
divF
@Jinchi:
Clinton displays a general garment and Tulsi claims it’s cut to her fit. What a fascinating revelation.
/Dune snark.
Ascap_scab
@Mary G:
Whelp, another one down. Beto is now dead to me, along with Yang, Williamson, and Sanders.
lgerard
The agenda for the 2019 Summit:
The 2016 election and how trump won despite those corrupt Ukrainians
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
I’m guessing that the FAA and the city of Miami pitched a fit at the prospect of shutting down Miami International Airport for a full week. Not to mention the airlines going berserk.
Mary G
@Mnemosyne: I didn’t even think of that. I thought the foreign leaders would object that somebody would land a plane on them. These people are so inept.
Mary G
Ruckus
@Gin & Tonic:
Come on, lighten up. He doesn’t mean anything, just because he’s trying to steal everything not tied down, destroy the entire federal government, and get himself named king forever…….. Oh and make a billion or so doing the only thing he knows, how to be a massive fucking asshole. So he’s only successful at that last bit, ya gotta admit that does take a special “talent,” that the vast majority of the world knows him to be that massive of an asshole. Now that’s reality TV.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: The runways at MIA are 2 miles from Trump’s shitty golf course.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
GWB showed up in Columbus one morning as I was on my way to the airport to fly to an event for work. Everything stopped for better than a half hour, I sat on the freeway about a mile from the airport, with my plane delayed I of course missed my connection in Atlanta and arrived hours late to the event. All so asshole could come and talk to other assholes who were willing to give him money for his reelection campaign. I can imagine what Miami would be like, shut down for a week……..
tokyokie
@Ruckus: Thursday I tried going to a screening of The Birds at an arthouse in Dallas, taking the train from Fort Worth to avoid the traffic. Except the train halted in the station just before the stop where Lord Fatass was holding one of his hatenannies and sat there for about 45 minutes so that his Lardship’s motorcade could pass through. So I missed the movie. My friend and I went and got ice cream instead, and the Woodstock for Stupid White People event had wrapped up before I started home. But talking to people on the DART platform, they’d been to the Texas State Fair and were trying to get home when the motorcade was making his departure, and the Secret Service stopped all commuter rail traffic again, and they had to get off the damn train, then reboard a half-hour or so later. But hey, DART’s clientele is overwhelmingly black, so no problem. Assholes. I said my missing the movie made me hate the asshole even more, to which one of the fairgoers laughed and said, “Hell, I’ll vote for you!”
Fair Economist
@NotMax:
The winner IMO.
smike
@NotMax:
I know this was a while ago, and this thread may be aging, but I have to say that
sounds perfect. Bumper sticker, that.
mrmoshpotato
@tokyokie: Dump should be impeached just for that alone.
Marcopolo
This is a little OT. We are obviously having out political difficulties and I think our media is also doing coverage of the Brexit situation in Great Britain, but in case people aren’t aware there are massive anti-government protests occurring in a number of other countries right now:
Chile capital hit by violent protests over metro fare hikes; state of emergency declared(happening now)
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/second-wave-of-demonstrations-rock-bolivia-as-thousands-protest-morales-1.4635590(actually a few days ago)
I don’t blame the Lebanese rioters setting Beirut alight – they are hungry, poor and furious(happening now)
Protesters bar Haiti’s president from visiting historic site
The underlying context for these protests is gov’t corruption and economies that are not working for the vast majorities of the population. Then we also have the protests in Hong Kong, and it looks like Spain is on the edge of new large scale protests over Catalan sovereignty. I’d imagine if we had a functioning government that the US would have diplomats in Ecuador & Chile working behind the scenes to try to calm things down. But probably not this administration.
piratedan
imho the right thing to do would be to host it in Puerto Rico, then you can justify the costs of helping to rebuild the island as being tied to the summit itself, you restore the infrastructure needed and still would have a stellar viable locale for the meeting, since you would have to rebuild the island anyway, it suits the purpose and solves a problem… which is why during this administration it will never happen.
smike
@Fair Economist:
As to:
make it:
TRump to Lardo
Old Rump Rat
Mr Pol A Turd
Haiku!
Marcopolo
I’m also wondering if anyone here has any thoughts as to what this trip, which is seems to be happening abruptly and out of the blue, is all about:
Pelosi Leads High-Level Bipartisan Delegation to Jordan
Well, now everyone here knows what is keeping me awake right now. :)
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, back off to bed for me now.
Ruckus
@tokyokie:
Always fun having assholes in your midst. Especially assholes who seem to take joy in watching others suffer. IOW republicans. Makes life seem so much, what’s that word, it’ll come to me, eventually………..
hervevillechaizelounge
@tokyokie:
I recently re-watched The Birds and I liked it a lot less as an adult. Tippi Hedren’s motivation made absolutely no sense—all of her (nonsensical) actions are performed solely to move the plot along. I also took exception to Suzanne Pleshette’s character; is she supposed to be a lesbian? An old maid?
The camera work is still absolutely stunning, though, and the mise-en-cine is great.
JAFD
Good morning, jackals and jackalettes !
The Ironbound Recreation Ctr is about two miles from the end of the EWR runways, and if wind is from west or south, landing planes are close enuf overhead you can almost wave at passengers. (Then stroll to Krug’s Tavern for ‘the best burger in Jersey’ and pick up some fresh-baked at Teixeira’s Bakery for dessert)
PBO gave speech in my neighborhood, in ’15, tied up traffic till 10 PM. I wonder if ’twill be like that, often, if Sen Booker gets elected, whenever he visits home….
Have great week, y’all and all youse !
Mikeindublin
Too bad. It was such a blatantly punishable violation of the constitution.
tokyokie
@hervevillechaizelounge: I haven’t seen The Birds on a big screen since it came out (and I was a 9-year-old whose mother paid little attention to the movies he was viewing). And because of Lord Fatass, I still haven’t. (The Hitchcock series is only one screening on Thursdays.)
TS (the original)
@Marcopolo:
Rather telling who is not mentioned in this message. And where is the reporting on this in the media? I’m still looking.
mrmoshpotato
@hervevillechaizelounge:
I think Hitch would agree with you on this, and then ask, “So?” :)
prostratedragon
@Marcopolo: In one of his recent rambles TFG said something about “the King” being unhappy with something he had done over there (and of course not caring about that). I wondered at the time whether he meant Abdullah. Context made it unlikely to have been anyone else. Too late in the evening to scout it out now.
Mary G
@prostratedragon: Jordan is packed to the rafters with refugees from Syria and even Iraq and ISIS. They probably don’t want to take any more and NP is trying to do Pompeo’s job, because he won’t. Just a guess by me.
Gvg
@piratedan: Hurricane season, same as Doral only more so. Also I doubt there is time. Purto RICO needs a Democratic President and IMO they need to become a state. I know it needs to be ther choice. I have wanted to see polling on what they think for a while now but haven’t come across any. Of course they probably want to avoid notice from Trump right now. He is spiteful.
Jim Parish
@Mary G: For the Jordanians, this has to raise echoes of the Black September crisis in 1970.
Bruce K
@hilts: As a Yankees fan (hey, I was born right over Coogan’s Bluff), I’m sad, but the Astros were the better team, and they deserved to go to the Series.
As for Trump, I hope he dies in Sing Sing and his name becomes poison for the next ten generations (assuming the human race lasts that long).
Aleta
Wonder what the bill will be for that time the aides scouted Doral. Will we learn there’s also a preposterous cancellation fee at “this late date.” Scamalot strikes again.
germy
Frank McCormick
@Gin & Tonic: I took it as a sign that he is sufficiently beleaguered that he can me made to back down. Now, what he does and/or says later today…
Chyron HR
@germy:
Reporter: “How did you keep your campaign afloat for 9 months while polling below one percent and receiving no contributions the entire time?”
Tulsi’s Brain: “Don’t say Russians. Don’t say Russians.”
Tulsi: “It was the Russians.”
Tulsi’s Brain: “D’OH!”
germy
@Chyron HR:
Barbara
@Frankensteinbeck: I suspect both. I don’t know who called him, but it must have been made clear by someone that he can’t do stuff like this and expect house members and senators to stand up for him during an impeachment process. He reportedly talks to McConnelll 3x daily.
Also, he might have been told that Putin would not bother coming if the others stayed home. Well duh, you might say, but he just isn’t that smart.
Barbara
@germy: Like Bush and Cheney were never in office.
Chyron HR
@germy:
Tulsi doesn’t support war, she just wants to kill all the Muslims. Important distinction.
germy
Matt McIrvin
@germy: I’ve been saying for a while that she’s a useful idiot. That’s the definition of one.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
My reaction exactly.
Ken
@prostratedragon: Wild speculation here, but that’s the best kind. Imagine this scenario:
Trump called Jordan to try to get them to cooperate with his whole Ukraine/server/pizza-basement fantasy. During the call he said something absolutely abhorrent and illegal. (Patience, I’m getting to the wild and unbelievable part.)
Jordan, as a functioning government, taped their side of the call. After Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds, Jordan is now furious. They let the Democrats know about the recording, and the delegation is there to hear it and bring back copies.
trnc
I wonder if some heads of state told DT no way were they going to line his pockets or go to freakin’ Miami in the summer.
@germy:
Let’s not start smearing people who enlist in the military. It’s wrong on it’s face, and I guarantee will not work as a political statement anyway. Better to point out that it’s easy for Tulsi to take potshots from the sidelines and that the AUMF vote was made to get the inspectors back into Iraq, It was yet another bad faith republican administration that prematurely shut down the inspections and started the war on false pretenses.
ETA: I do think it’s fair to point out Tulsi’s hypocrisy, but we don’t want to tear down service members in general.
O. Felix Culpa
@trnc: Ah yes, the holy service members, elevated above the rest of us mere citizens and never to be criticized. I agree that it’s a bad look politically to attack those serving in the military, but I’m disturbed by the cult of the military that has grown in our country. Our armed forces deserve adequate resources and quality leadership while serving and when they return. They deserve our thanks and gratitude for serving (as do teachers, social workers, EMTs, etc.), but not our adulation as if they’re some special class apart. I think that’s a dangerous trend in a democracy.
trnc
@rikyrah:
I’d love to think this is true, but how is it any different legally than all the business his hotels are getting from foreign governments (which is also illegal, but he isn’t being penalized)? Is it the fact that he himself made the choice for Doral and would leave the G7 members no other options?
A Ghost To Most
@O. Felix Culpa: Never change, Poltroon Juice. AMF.
trnc
@O. Felix Culpa:
You state my sentiment exacty, then make me out to be a cult member.
Dorothy A. Winsor
His name is Esper, you idiot.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Damn autocorrect!
chopper
@Frankensteinbeck:
and trump’s talk about ‘doing it for free’ is horseshit. you know he’d spend god-knows how many untold hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars ‘sprucing up’ the place.
chopper
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
he’s proud that we’re helping ethnically cleanse our own allies. fuck me, no wonder he idolizes andrew jackson.
O. Felix Culpa
@trnc: Did not intend to attack you or suggest you’re a cult member. (And your ETA arrived after I wrote my comment.) I’m glad we agree about the dangers of military cult-worship in our country.
Brachiator
I’ve largely been away from the Internets for a while. This is a nice bit of good news.
@hervevillechaizelounge:
Kinda standard for a horror movie. But it’s too bad that Hitch couldn’t follow up on one of the themes that he had embedded in the movie and had her become a more active protagonist. But he does allow her moral growth, rare in a standard horror film or most other films of the era in the way that they treated women characters.
Does it matter? I kinda got vibes that she had been in love with the Rod Taylor character.
And of course, it’s too bad that Hitch couldn’t end the film the way that it is rumored that he wanted.
Chyron HR
@A Ghost To Most:
It’s a perfectly cromulent point. Tulsi went to the recruitment office and 100% unironically said, “I want to see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth! Eat dead, burnt bodies! I mean, kill. Kill!”
artem1s
@Ken:
Except we’re talking about Dump here. There is no ‘unbelievable’ part anymore.
And Nancy doesn’t put on shows just to put on shows. Something serious is up. Maybe the intelligence community has decided to rely solely on the legislative branch of the government for leadership? Wouldn’t this normally something the Exec would have the VP be involved in? I’m a little concerned about their safety, frankly.
Another Scott
‘morning everyone.
I don’t know why this wasn’t part of the Doral reporting, but I think it’s important. GovExec:
(Emphasis added.)
I find it hard to believe that Democrats would be willing to remove those G-7 provisions if Donnie was still insisting having it at one of his crappy properties.
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
trnc
@O. Felix Culpa: OK, thanks. I think it’s possible Tulsi is trying to bait actual democrats into bashing the military so that members of the 101st Fighting Keyboardists have something to scream about (ie, military worshippers), so that’s something we need to watch out for.
sheila in nc
@Chyron HR: “You can get anything you want…”
trnc
@Chyron HR:
And, I now know after looking it up, she literally enlisted during the war she is falsely claiming Clinton supported. I thought she had enlisted right after the attack.
sdhays
@Another Scott: I think this is what has forced him to back down. Republicans don’t care, but they’re not willing to shut down the government over removing this language because they know it would be a big, big loser for them. And the Democrats definitely would go to the mat over keeping it.
trnc
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Funny, I was thinking Mike Esper instead of Mark, but he’s not my cabinet member.
I can’t tell you how happy it would make me for the press to bombard Stephanie Grisham with questions like “Has Secretary Esperanto made a statement today?”
sdhays
@Marcopolo:
This is the underlying context for the Hong Kong protests too. If the Hong Kong government wasn’t completely captured by the wealthy crime bosses, the protests would be a lot smaller. The housing crisis there is severe and the gap between the rich and everyone else is huge and getter larger. And the government doesn’t care.
O. Felix Culpa
@trnc: Good point. We have some of what you’re concerned about playing out in real time, right on this here blog. Because, as you suggest, the merest whiff of something less than veneration of our military is clearly cowardice and betrayal. //
sdhays
@germy: What would it mean if Tulsi “goes all the way to the Democratic Convention” and she has 0 delegates? 5? 10? At what point does it stop being a “a tree fell in the woods, did it make a sound” sort of scenario? Saying “not enough to win” doesn’t really mean that much.
Barbara
@trnc: I have become extremely suspicious of politicians who seem to be using military experience as a resume builder. Whether it’s Buttigieg or Gabbard or Tom Cotton or Joni Ernst, etc., it is a demand for an assumption the person has knowledge and expertise of military and foreign policy that usually goes well beyond whatever service level they attained or whatever job description they fulfilled. Why would a fighter pilot be especially knowledgeable about policy decisions? It is not inconsequential that they served, but service is not a proxy for good judgment or every kind of expertise that touches military affairs.
sdhays
@Barbara: Amen. The idea that being in the military “checks a box” for “foreign policy experience” is stupid. But it’s also dangerously widespread. The Beltway Media has operated with this idiotic assumption for as long as I can remember.
germy
@sdhays: Creating chaos and disorder, fueled by her ego and angry supporters.
mrmoshpotato
@germy:
Yeah. Like the WilmerBros were assholes after Hillary beat Vermont Jesus like a rented mule by 4 million+ votes.
Ugh. This primary season is going to suck, isn’t it?
sdhays
@germy: But if she has no delegates, or only so many you can count on your hands, how much chaos can they create?
rikyrah
@trnc:
I learned a lot the past two days about the specificity of the details of government contracts. And this would have been a government contract. An explicit government contract. No.fudging.
There. Are rules as to how they should be awarded. Rules about the contracts themselves. I mean, clear letter, no mushy middle, skate around the edge stuff.
Mulvaney had already put his azz on the line with the approval of it.
No. Some lawyer got up on a table and started screaming about the ways folks could go to jail.
And, there were the handful of GOP Senators that didn’t hem or haw.
But, explicitly said NO.
mrmoshpotato
@sdhays: What about her supporters, ie. Vermont Jesus’s supporters literally throwing money at Clinton’s motorcade?
Miss Bianca
@tokyokie: oh, I am so stealing the term “hatenanie”. Sorry about the rest of your sad story, but L’ingMAO over that term of art!
trnc
@Barbara: Totally agree, and I was ecstatic that McCain’s military story didn’t vault him into the White House. I would say that most service indicates a willingness to risk your life, especially enlisting during an active war. I would make an exception for people like W who clearly got preferential treatment to avoid some of that risk.
trnc
@rikyrah: Thanks. Makes sense.
J R in WV
@Mart:
@TaMara (HFG):
@Chetan Murthy:
Now, see, I thot Mart was making a funny, being totally sarcastic. No chance, huh? Pretty funny from that perspective, tho.
J R in WV
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes, an idiot. I had respected him, no more. Should just run for city council back home in El Paso, where he belongs.
prostratedragon
@Ken: Yeah, something like that sounds really good unless we hear otherwise. And in this case “otherwise” might be a cover story.
sdhays
@mrmoshpotato: But how many physical supporters will she have? I don’t get the rush to conflate her with Bernie 2016. Bernie went into the convention with a lot of delegates. Tulsi won’t. Bernie was basically the only person running against Clinton. Tulsi is one of 25 (or whatever the number is today). The only reason we’re even talking about her is because of Russia. And Russia is grooming her to be Jill Stein 2.0, not Bernie.
Also, don’t forget that “Vermont Jesus” is running again and his problematic supporters are still supporting him. They are more likely to have a decent number of real delegates and are more likely to try to cause chaos. But I think the contested primary works against them on this too. When Bernie fails to win the nomination again, and so do 50 other actual Democrats, it kind of makes it harder to gin up the feelings of victimization. At least, there are a lot more people who will have supported candidates who also didn’t win the nomination, and those people won’t be particularly interested in letting Bernie-supporters make it all about them.
prostratedragon
@Brachiator: What I remember from The Birds is how Melanie, for all her rich-girl brattiness, impressed people by her independence and the capabilities she had: the whole trip up to Bodega Bay on her own, operating the motor boat across the bay like there was nothing to it, things like that. The people up there were amazed. Remember when Mitch dabbed peroxide to her scalp wound? It was as if he was trying out an answer to some other question he was entertaining.
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It’s actually Marcus Speranto. You could look it up. :-)
mrmoshpotato
@sdhays: Fair point. I might just be catastrophing because of the shitshow it’s been so far with way too many people polling 1% still around, and their batshit ideas – looking at you Powerball Yang!
jimmiraybob
@Mary G:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Timothy McVeigh once serve this country? You know, before he didn’t.
J R in WV
@trnc:
As a veteran myself, I can promise you that the military services contain exactly the same proportion of idiots, criminals, and asses as the general population does. Tulsi is obviously a member of one of the set [idiots, criminals, asses] if not all three.
One does not have to be a veteran to make that observation. Especially when a service member expresses hatred for a large population of people (Muslims), and refers to a person (Hillary) who specialized in making peace as Secretary of State as a warmonger, which is obviously both false and stupid.
sdhays
@J R in WV: I’ve always been mystified that people have been willing to treat him as a serious Presidential candidate. I don’t dislike him (although his comment on Tulsi was a particularly stupid thing to say), but I’m a strong believer in making people put in the time and proving themselves BEFORE they get to be the Democratic nominee.
He ran a good campaign in Texas, but he still lost. He was in Congress, but never made it to leadership of much of anything. Running for President now seems to show an impatience and, frankly, arrogance that I don’t like.
I’m similarly mystified by Buttigieg’s support. Jumping from being a mayor of a small city in Indiana to being President is almost as insulting as the idea that a billionaire can jump to being President without first running for city council and working their way up.
sdhays
@mrmoshpotato: Oh, yeah. I want that shithead to go away almost as much as I want Tulsi to stop being a word uttered by anyone.
jimmiraybob
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Why is the first thing that comes to mind the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
Brachiator
@prostratedragon:
Very interesting observation, especially the last bit. Yep, even though Mitch initially takes her to be a flighty, irresponsible socialite, she does early on suggest that there is more to her than that. But I think it fair to say that the character development is uneven as the thriller elements become more predominant.
Matt McIrvin
@sdhays: Been seeing some Bernie people bothsidesing it: “Tulsi and Hillary are both idiots who should go away.” Which, fine, Hillary’s not running.
But the non-Gabbard supporters who are suddenly full of outrage over her shabby treatment worry me. Like, I suspect there’s a frighteningly large fraction of people in the US who recognize that Trump is an embarrassing fool but still are desperately grasping for some rationale for either supporting Trump, or just not supporting his opposition whoever that may be, and this is one more excuse on the pile. Find something the Democrats did that can be spun as wrong and get extremely outraged over it, like it’s so bad that it’s as bad as all of Trump’s crimes combined.
Philbert
@trnc: To add to the fun, Mike Espy was a Sec of Agr undelr Clinton for a while.
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
Can you expound on the rumors? Have no idea about that, not being in a film culture to hear rumors about film.
J R in WV
@sdhays:
Senator McCain was just such a Foreign Affairs expert, was he not? Not! He wasn’t even an expert fighter pilot!
Ruckus
@Barbara:
This.
I was an E5 in the navy. Crossed the Atlantic a number of times so I know all about naval warfare and how our large level of power fits into world domination. Not. I do know that a lot of officers at the time thought that is exactly what being an officer meant. And the reason I say that is that we pulled in the Norwegian naval port in Norway in a snow storm, the first US naval vessel to land there since WWII. Many of the sailors had to “man the rail” – stand at attention around the ship as a salute to the port we were arriving at. Remember the snow? The officers expected a band and the captain of the port and his delegation to meet us. What we got was 2 sailors with pony tails (you notice that sort of stuff when you have to have short hair and a 1/4 inch of skin above your ears-whitewalls they were called) who tied up the ship and then walked away, never having acknowledged anyone.
mrmoshpotato
@J R in WV: IMDB
Fair Economist
@J R in WV: The Birds ends with the characters trying to escape to San Francisco. Hitchcock’s rumored plan was for the last shot to be the Golden Gate Bridge – covered in birds. But supposedly they couldn’t figure out how to do the special effect.
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
Yes.
The people who serve and expect something special for having done that, that serving supplies you with special knowledge about humanity or politics, that’s not service to your country. It’s why I do not like being thanked for my service. It’s condescending, even if it’s not meant that way.
Betty
@Barbara: i agree. It seems to have become some special credential no matter its connection to good governance.
Ruckus
@Betty:
Personally I think it’s a conservative concept, that we need to be at war and the last time we tried that it didn’t work so well and people were pissed off. So now, as we’ve been at some level of war for going on 17 yrs we need to thank and honor those that served so they will continue to do that and think that constant war is not only OK but normal.
Brachiator
@J R in WV:
Fair Economist nailed it.
I’ve seen what some people claim is a story board of the proposed final shots. Don’t know if they are genuine. But this would have been a hell of a conclusion to the film. It would have been as memorable as the final Statue of Liberty shot in Planet of the Apes.
The short story on which the film is based suggests in its conclusion that the birds are attacking everywhere, and not just in the small English community in which the story is set.