Post Everything Here

[#1]

[JMOldeVintage]

This is Why: 

"Journalists covering the White House are calling on President Donald Trump to condemn a graphically violent parody video, which was shown at a meeting of his supporters at his Miami resort and depicts a likeness of the president shooting and stabbing his opponents and members of the news media in a church.

In the video, first reported by The New York Times, Trump’s critics and media members are portrayed as parishioners fleeing his gruesome rampage. The fake Trump strikes the late Sen. John McCain in the neck, hits and stabs TV personality Rosie O’Donnell in the face, lights Sen. Bernie Sanders’ head on fire and shoots or otherwise assaults people whose faces are replaced with news organization logos.

The “unauthorized video” was shown last week “in a side room” at an American Priority conference at Trump’s Doral Miami resort, the event’s organizer, Alex Phillips, said in a statement. Trump was not present for the event.

“This video was not approved, seen, or sanctioned” by the event’s organizers, Phillips said.

The White House Correspondents Association, which represents journalists covering the president, issued a statement late Sunday saying it was “horrified” by the content.

“All Americans should condemn this depiction of violence directed toward journalists and the President’s political opponents,” said Jonathan Karl, WHCA president. “We have previously told the President his rhetoric could incite violence. Now we call on him and everybody associated with this conference to denounce this video and affirm that violence has no place in our society.”

The video includes the logo for Trump’s 2020 campaign but Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for the campaign, told the Times the “video was not produced by the campaign, and we do not condone violence.”

Phillips told the Times the video was played as part of a “meme exhibit” and was not associated with or endorsed by the conference “in any official capacity.” ″American Priority rejects all political violence,” he said, and is looking into the matter.

The setting for the massacre is the “Church of Fake News,” capturing Trump’s familiar refrain about news stories and organizations that he deems unfair.

In the video, Trump’s face is superimposed on a killer’s body as he shoots people in the face and otherwise assaults them. Among the targets: former President Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Rep. Adam Schiff, who as Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is leading the impeachment inquiry of Trump.

CNN, The Washington Post, BBC, PBS, NBC and Politico are among the news organizations depicted as victims of the fake Trump’s violent fury.

The White House declined immediate comment."

IF Trump, his campaign, his Admin. really, honestly & truly find this video despicable then A Tweet Condemning it would have already been posted on any account Trump uses. Still waiting.............

[finickypatternshop]

But they claim video games are the problem. Sure. Are there no adults in the room at these events. Saying they didn't make the video and weren't aware of it is NOT condeming it. Hypocrisy.

[TheShoppingMoll]

Remember when Kathy Griffin took a picture of a fake head and trump supporters on here literally lost their minds. They tried to ruin her career, and chastised the left for weeks about how violent they were? Think we’ll hear from those same people today over this video?

[TheShoppingMoll]

I have no respect for Crenshaw. He has been a strong advocate for trump up until now.

I consider the ones who created this video as terrorists. They are using social media to promote violence against others. Twitter suspended their account.

[That70sChickVintage]

Videos like this have been circulating on social media since the beginning of this admin. I used to report them on Facebook, along with memes promoting running over protesters ( I think it was vanguard or something like that.) That was before that guy did run over the group of protesters. FB didn’t remove them because it didn’t meet their standards for removal. I left FB shortly after. 

The throngs in office/ campaign super pac people that support him only pretend to care now, or deny knowledge of it because they got caught promoting it. But they reallly don’t care. He’s been inciting violence since the beginning. I only wish his supporters could see that, or that they would care, instead of either brushing it off, thinking it’s funny, chanting hateful rhetoric along with him at the rallies, or in the case of the CNN bomb guy and the El Paso terrorist- acting on it. It’s like c’mon people, connect the dots here. 

[marandydesigns]

we're coming into the home stretch. Things are going to get worse but then.........it will take us over 10 years to fix everything Trump has damaged. When Trump falls you will see a lot of politicians go down with him, including Democrats. They will be arrested for years over this. Trump will be given a deal of no prosecution (I don't know if this will include NY) His family may also be given immunity.

Trump was smart in that he knows how to divide and conquer. Biden is the perfect example. Warren is leading. Watch for him to go after her next. Trump cronies also knew how to find the dirt on everyone and he holds this over their heads. 

Trump knows he's finished which is why he has gotten so nasty and will do anything to try and hold on. He knows know that removing the troops in Syria was a mistake but didn't understand why. He is completely ignorant in politics and doesn't understand how it works. He really believed that being President he was free to do whatever he wanted and wouldn't have to answer to anybody about it.

I am at a point where I no longer blame Trump because he is just not capable of understanding. He only understands how to scam people, how to make them believe things that aren't true, how to lie, and how to cover his butt so others are blamed for what he does. I DO blame the GOP though who completely understood but stood by and did nothing. When all this comes out I think we are going to see that some of these politicians did some really, really bad things and that is what they were being blackmailed for.

Hold on, we almost thru the dark tunnel.

[JMOldeVintage]

Twelve hours since I posted the AP News Story on the "Trump killing his enemies" video. So far the only mention of it is from Press Secretary stating that it is strongly condemned. But has Trump personally, or thru the POTUS account or White House account posted a tweet condemning it? "NO."  Sadly, this is what we have come to expect.

[TheShoppingMoll]

trump is too busy tweeting

about Project Veritas video about Facebook wanting to take down Trump

Now he's tweeting  that the ABC footage of the Turks bombing the Kurds is fake. It wasn't the Turks who let the ISIS fighters out of prison, the Kurds deliberately did it. Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved."

The U.S. has the worst of the ISIS prisoners. Turkey and the Kurds must not let them escape. Europe should have taken them back after numerous requests. They should do it now. They will never come to, or be allowed in, the United States."

"Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting the Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte. I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away!"

Typical narcissistic sociopathic BS that shows the unhinging of a very fragile mind.

"The House has gone rogue"

[JMOldeVintage]

Saw a headline where Trump is now averaging 36 (Yes, Thirty Six) tweets a day. This is the POTUS we're talking about. Where does he find the time?

[JMOldeVintage]

On the 'lighter side', last week's news you've come to expect from our great State of Florida. Yes, we have a GOP run State:

"A Florida representative is trying his luck again after filing the "Guide to a Healthy Marriage" measure.

Jacksonville Rep. Clay Yarborough (R) filed his second attempt at the bill Wednesday, reportedly in an effort to help curb Florida divorce rates and save taxpayer money.

Among the goals of the measure, the legislation would require Florida residents applying for a marriage license to read a “Guide to a Healthy Marriage,” created by a marriage education committee chosen by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Florida as a whole has the seventh-highest divorce rate per capita...."

[JMOldeVintage]

Cracks in the "bond" with Allies?

"Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.K. Prince Khalid Bin Bandar has described United States President Donald Trump as a “tweet monster” over his belligerent response to the attacks on Saudi oil facilities at Abqaiq last month.

Speaking at defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute in London on October 14, Prince Khalid was asked about Trump’s initial response that the U.S. was “locked and loaded” and ready to respond to the attacks.

“He is a tweet monster if you like. He loves engaging with people on social media,” said the ambassador, who was appointed to the role earlier this year. “He does so very quickly and sometimes it's just his initial reaction.

Prince Khalid also had some sharp words for what is happening in northeast Syria, where Trump recently decided to abandon America’s long-time Kurdish allies and gave the green light to Turkey to invade parts of northern Syria.

Choosing his words with some care, Khalid said of the situation on the ground “We don't like it. I’ll be a little bit more undiplomatic in that I think it's a disaster for the region…The last thing we need is another front of chaos in the region and I think we just got it. How we solve that I don't know.”

Asked whether Riyadh still sees the Trump administration as a trustworthy ally, Khalid said “We are concerned, no question. What has happened in Syria with Turkey and pulling out the troops, it doesn't give one incredible confidence.”

However, Prince Khalid also acknowledged that Trump had recently agreed to send more troops to Saudi Arabia. “We saw them sending quite a lot of anti-missile batteries to Saudi and some troops to help us manage the northern defences. It's difficult to judge,” he concluded.

The comments may not be wholeheartedly welcomed by Khalid’s sister, Princess Reema Bint Bandar, who is the Saudi ambassador to Washington D.C. Their father, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, was also a former ambassador to Washington D.C.

The doubts about U.S. reliability as an ally during the Trump administration comes at a time when Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is visiting Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to cement Moscow’s position in the region, potentially at the expense of Washington.

“Putin's visit comes at an incredibly useful time considering what's happening now in northern Syria,” said Khalid. “Hopefully, we can work from whatever formula they may have.”"

[finickypatternshop]

Is anyone else getting the sense that every decision trump makes is to benefit putin and not the US, the country he claims to want to protect. He lies.

[JMOldeVintage]

A Long Read - From The Atlantic - 

"President Donald Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds stung deeply. “They trusted us and we broke that trust. It’s a stain on the American conscience.” These, according to The New York Times, are the searing words of an Army officer who has worked alongside the Kurds in northern Syria.

Kurdish forces played a central role in aiding the United States in fighting the Islamic State. But in a phone call a week ago Sunday, Trump gave the green light to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to invade northern Syria—and, in the process, to engage in what even one of Trump’s most loyal supporters, Senator Lindsey Graham, describes as the “ethnic cleansing” of the Kurds.

According to Jennifer Griffin and Melissa Leon of Fox News, Trump was supposed to tell Erdoğan to stay north of the border, but instead “went off script.” By Wednesday, the Turkish offensive began, with Erdoğan’s aim to push back the Syrian Kurds from the border region. The results have been swift and brutal: the displacement of more than 100,000 people, executions and war crimes, the escape of hundreds of Islamic State prisoners. (If Islamic State fighters escape, they’ll “be escaping to Europe,” Trump said last week—as if Europe’s problems don’t affect the United States.) For the Kurds, the consequences of America’s policy change will only get worse. “I don’t know how many people will die. A lot of people will die,” a senior military source told Fox News. Yesterday the Trump administration tried frantically to make Turkey stand down, but enormous damage has already been done.

For once, Republicans have forcefully spoken out against Mr. Trump. Graham said our Kurdish allies had been “shamelessly abandoned by the Trump administration.” Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said Trump’s decision is having “sickening and predictable” consequences. Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Air Force veteran, said on Face the Nation that “leaving an ally behind … is disheartening, depressing.” He added, “The Kurds found out on Twitter, for goodness’ sake. We have left them to the wolves. And the message this is sending to our allies around the world, I think, is really going to be bad.” Senator Mitt Romney, the Republican lawmaker who has been the most willing to speak the truth about Trump, declared on Twitter, “The President’s decision to abandon our Kurd allies in the face of an assault by Turkey is a betrayal.”

Indeed it is. But betrayal is hardly new to Trump, who routinely abandons people who trust in him or the nation he leads. By now, this behavior should come as a surprise to exactly no one.

Betrayal is a leitmotif for this president’s entire life. Think of how he cheated on his wives. Think of the infant child of a nephew who had crucial medical benefits withdrawn by Trump because of Trump’s retaliation against his nephew over an inheritance dispute. Think of those who enrolled at Trump University and were defrauded. Think about the contractors whom Trump has stiffed. Think of Jeff Sessions, the first prominent Republican to endorse Trump, whom Trump viciously turned against because Sessions had properly recused himself from overseeing the investigation into whether Russia had intervened in the 2016 election. Think about those who served in Trump’s administration—Rex Tillerson, John Bolton, Don McGahn, Reince Priebus, Gary Cohn, James Mattis, and many more—who were unceremoniously dumped and, in some cases, mocked on their way out the door.

Also think of how Trump has disparaged his own country while making excuses for strongmen. When MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said Vladimir Putin “kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries,” Trump replied that “at least he’s a leader.” Besides, Trump asserted, “I think our country does plenty of killing also.” And when asked whether Erdoğan was exploiting the coup attempt to purge his political enemies, Trump did not call for the Turkish leader to observe the rule of law, or Western standards of justice. “When the world sees how bad the United States is and we start talking about civil liberties, I don’t think we are a very good messenger,” he said.

As McKay Coppins put it in The Atlantic shortly after the president was sworn in, “Trump built his success on his willingness to toss aside mentors, friends, and family members during moments of frustration and chaos.” Serial betrayal is a central trait of Trump’s character, and his critics warned from the start against elevating such a person to the nation’s highest position of public trust. When the consequences are the serial humiliation of Cabinet secretaries and White House aides, they are easier for Trump’s political supporters to rationalize or overlook. But as the professor Robert King once declared, “Betrayal is a garment without seams.” The danger is far plainer when the victims of Trump’s betrayal are longtime American allies facing deadly force.

Individuals like Donald Trump, who chronically betray others, are incapable of authentic relationships or genuine human connections. They view other people solely in transactional terms. For malignant narcissists, they themselves are the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Other human beings don’t have inherent dignity; their worth is determined solely in terms of what they can do for the person who is the betrayer. If the answer is nothing, then others are dismissed, discarded, and abandoned. There is no empathy, no sympathy, no guilt or shame.

The Kurds were a mere afterthought to Donald Trump. Turkey’s Erdoğan is the type of authoritarian leader who can easily manipulate the president. Erdoğan wanted something done, and Trump was willing to do it.

A year ago, President Trump was praising the Kurds as “great” allies, vowing to protect them. “They fought with us. They died with us,” Trump said. “We have not forgotten.” But just a few days ago, he dismissed the Kurds this way: “They didn’t help us in the Second World War. They didn’t help us with Normandy, as an example.”

President Trump doesn’t interpret his abandonment of America’s faithful and intrepid Kurdish ally as betrayal because he can’t even understand why betrayal is a vice. It’s like trying to explain color to a person born with no eyesight. He doesn’t appear to comprehend that a relationship without trust is not a true relationship; it’s merely an exchange of needs—and President Trump will betray anyone who no longer serves his needs.

“We should expect our current president to betray anyone or any principle or any norm or any ally whenever he has the impulse to do so,” a friend of mine who is a psychologist told me via email. (To make sense of the Trump years, an understanding of psychology is at least as helpful as an understanding of politics.) “This should scare us all, and there’s no evidence he is capable of deferring to someone else when his relationship indifference could (again) cost lives.”

My friend, who asked not to be named because she wanted to avoid being part of the political controversy, went on to say, “Expect betrayal, because [Trump] does not know what that even means.”

The betrayal won’t stop with the Kurds. Every individual, every institution, every government agency, and every American ally could meet a similar fate. Donald Trump’s loyalty runs exactly as deep to his fellow citizens, the rule of law, the Constitution, America’s best traditions, and traditional codes of honor and decency as it does to his previous wives, to his former aides, and to those he has done business with. “A stain on the American conscience” isn’t just a characterization of what Trump did to the Kurds in northern Syria. It may also prove to be a fitting epitaph for the Trump presidency as a whole."

[finickypatternshop]

He doesn’t appear to comprehend that a relationship without trust is not a true relationship; it’s merely an exchange of needs—and President Trump will betray anyone who no longer serves his needs.

His base will be betrayed next. Well it's already happening but will become more blatant. Dare say one word in disagreement with him, you're done. Blind praise or one has no value to him.

[finickypatternshop]

Another from The Atlantic, I was just reading it. (Just parts)

Trump’s Middle East Policy Is a Fraud

Until days ago, a small number of United States troops were stationed in northeastern Syria alongside Kurdish forces who helped defeat ISIS and guard its jailed fighters. Now, the troops are gone on President Donald Trump’s orders, Turkey is invading, the Kurds are fleeing, leaving their prisoners unsecured, and ISIS fighters are escaping.

How does Trump defend this situation?

“Some people want the United States to protect the 7,000 mile away Border of Syria, presided over by Bashar al-Assad, our enemy,” he tweeted. “I would much rather focus on our Southern Border which abuts and is part of the United States of America.”

He’d have us believe that this is a campaign promise kept: an America First foreign policy that refuses to risk American blood or waste U.S. dollars in the Middle East.

“Now,” he claims, “we are slowly & carefully bringing our great soldiers & military home.”

But it isn’t so.

... “Since May, U.S. forces have increased in Middle East by ~14,000 ... There are currently more than 60,000 U.S. troops deployed to various countries and aboard warships.”

In fact, even as Trump ordered those U.S. troops stationed beside the Kurds to move elsewhere in Syria or the Middle East––not back to the United States––he ordered other Americans to risk their lives thousands of miles from their families: He sent almost 2,000 U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia, a rich country with its own military, controlled by a regime that perpetrates brutal human-rights abuses.

Trump’s interventionism on Saudi Arabia’s behalf is certainly unacceptable to Congress, the body that the Constitution vests with the power to declare war. Earlier this year, the House approved a resolution, 247 to 175, directing the president to withdraw the U.S. from the Saudi war on Yemen. A bipartisan Senate majority had already approved the same resolution. But Trump defied those majorities. And he defied the will of Congress again to sell the Saudis arms....

Some Trump supporters will believe anything the president says. He relies on their credulity and misplaced trust. But anyone with Google and the slightest bit of skepticism can verify for themselves that Trump simply isn’t ending U.S. interventionism in the Middle East.

“He is a fraud,” Amash says. “His sudden concern about endless wars is just cover for his having facilitated a disaster.”

He’s flailing. There’s no telling what’s next.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/trump-fool-us-middle-east/600010/?utm_medium=socia...

..............

Remember when The Clinton Foundation taking money from the Saudis was a huge issue for some trump supporters, money that at least was being used for good. I wonder how the US now being 'guns for hire' for them is viewed.

[JMOldeVintage]

For those who think Trump & Company doesn't consider the POTUS a "Reality TV Star", well maybe this might change a mind or two:

"You can almost imagine the reality-show excitement that surely went into the ill-considered plan to introduce Anne Sacoolas, the American diplomatic wife who killed 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn when she drove down the wrong side of an English lane in August, to Dunn’s grieving parents. Sacoolas left the U.K. in early September under diplomatic-immunity protections and has not been seen in public since.

The Dunn family, now in the United States to drum up support to send Sacoolas back to the U.K. to face justice, had accepted an “urgent” invitation by the White House from National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, to visit Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. Trump, it seems, thought he could convince the Dunns to meet the woman who killed their son, and would do so by opening a side door through which she would walk. The whole scene would be captured by a pool of photographers who had been summoned for the meeting.

But the Dunns would have none of it and refused to meet her. Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger said that the family felt “ambushed” when the “bombshell” was dropped that Sacoolas was next door.

They had envisioned meeting her one day, but as Seiger told The Daily Beast, “only on British soil” and “only with mediators, counselors, and their legal team in tow.”

In a statement on the Dunn's Justice 4 Harry Go Fund Me Page, Seiger explained what happened. “The family had four surprises yesterday,” he wrote. “Firstly, being invited to the White House in the first place which came right out of the blue.”

In fact, Dunn’s father Tim had suggested on CBS News earlier in the day that he would like to meet the president “man to man, father to father” to plead with him to send Sacoolas back to face justice.

Seiger said the second surprise was that they had not expected to actually meet the president in person. But the third was the doozy.

“Thirdly that Mrs. Sacoolas was present in the building and fourthly that it was the president’s intention for Harry’s family to meet Mrs. Sacoolas in the Oval Office in front of several photographers in what was obviously designed to be a press call,” Seiger wrote in his statement...."

[finickypatternshop]

trump is sick.

[OwlTalk]

Saw this in the morning --- horrible! "Ambushed" is the right term. That poor family.

[PillowDetails]

Watched the debate last night, off and on.  My impressions - Bernie and Biden coming off angry, rather than impassioned.  Biden = defensive.  My fave - Elizabeth Warren.  Cool under pressure.  Also really like Harris and Buttigeig.  

What were your impressions?

[JMOldeVintage]

Agree, Biden defensive & Bernie came across has having too much "ego". I like Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigeig. Harris appears to get easily side-tracked onto topics that, at the point this Country is at right now, are no so important, at least to me. 

Look forward to smaller debate group in the future so time constraints won't be as big a factor.

[OwlTalk]

Unfortunately, I missed it. Will have to catch up with what was said when I get a chance. Apparently everybody was ganging up on Elizabeth Warren (mainly about how she wouldn't state that her plan for Medicare For All requires a tax raise) --- at least according to the CBS This Morning show (the little bit I caught).

[finickypatternshop]

I have liked Elizabeth Warren all along but had my doubts her views would be embraced in the US, I'd love to be proven wrong. I do like Bernie too. She/he would actually fight for citizens over wealthy donors. Loyalty to the rich is an odd thing especially when wages are stagnant or they don't pay taxes that they should. 

I only seen parts of the debate but found it frustrating that the moderators ask a yes or no question to something that requires more than a yes or no answer, thus providing talking points for the GOP. It doesn't help that other Dem candidates pile on to that. Why is the focus on increased taxes for universal healthcare over how much money citizens will have left in their pockets. From what I seen Warren tried focus on that but some piled on.

Yes, our taxes are likely slightly more here than in the US but our jobs are not tied to our healthcare (freedom in that), we won't go bankrupt if we become ill (or a family member) and our drs and not an insurance company decides what treatment we need if we do become ill, no approval needed. With all that our overall household costs are still likely in line or less than most US citizens who pay for healthcare insurance. 

The focus should have been that trumplicans have said they would repeal and replace Obamacare since it started, they had over three years with trump and they FAILED to come up with ANY healthcare plan and are actually destroying ones in place, likely why they lost in the midterms. They did manage to pass tax cuts for the rich though, priorities right. So ANY plan the Dems come up with WILL be an improvement. Build on Obamacare or have something else but they should squash the trumplican talking points, they had their chance and failed.

I like fearless leaders but they are in short supply, both here and in the US, just different issues.

[finickypatternshop]

Apparently this letter from trump to erdogan was leaked or given to that extra dramatic fox host (I think trish) and White House confirmed it is real, he is dense enough to be proud of it. Hopefully it's just one of their lame 'owning the libs' thing.

"October 9, 2019

His Excellency

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

President of the Republic of Turkey Ankara

Dear Mr. President:

Let's work out a good deal! You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy-and I will. I've already given you a little sample with respect to Pastor Brunson.

I have worked hard to solve some of your problems. Don't let the world down. You can make a great deal, General Mazloum is willing to negotiate with you, and he is willing to make concessions that they would never have made in the past. I am confidentially enclosing a copy of his letter to me, just received.

History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don't happen. Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!

I will call you later.

Sincerely,

trumps signature (I think lol)"

[TheShoppingMoll]

trump has already taken the crown as the devil when good things don't happen. It is a very juvenile style of writing. And trump is supposed to be such a business professional. He should know how to write a State letter. He really needs to Google more.

[finickypatternshop]

Looks like trumplicans are already using the letter as a talking point, as though it absolves trump of the slaughtering of Kurds, so likely a plant. That is what they have become, backing up the slaughter of allies and defending trump no matter what. No doubt putin is smiling, he got what he wanted from his puppet. One can only imagine what he has on trump.