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The USA Politics Thread

#4521 User is offline   EmperorMagus 

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Posted 23 January 2017 - 11:42 PM

View PostTiste Simeon, on 23 January 2017 - 11:26 PM, said:

The TPP thing is that actually a good move? I've not read/understood enough to grasp it but it never seemed like a good idea so this might be one of the things he does that actually makes sense?



The problem I have with TPP is that it extends the ridiculous/retarded US IP protections to the member countries. This is by itself a deal breaker for me, because it would inevitably lead to overly long drug IP protections causing artificially high drug prices. The same thing can be said about the idiotic US copy right protections.

Disclaimer: IANAL, this is just my interpretation of the deal text.
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#4522 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 01:32 AM

I haven't heard any specific controversy about that. People seem to find that moment fairly cute.

An SNL writer did write a pretty mean tweet about Barron, but it had nothing to do with the peek-a-boo photo. She's since been indefinitely suspended from the show.

The Tweet is deleted but it said "Barron will be this country's first homeschool shooter."
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#4523 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 03:38 AM

You know, there's a notion some subscribe too -- in earnest, I mean, not glibly or as a dig -- that DJT is actually in the early stages of dementia. His lapses in memory, his mood swings & tantrums, his awful attention span, his tendency to go along with the last thing he was told, his increasingly rudimentary point of view. And his father had Alzheimer's disease for years. I dunno, I'm not saying I'm convinced, but there's certain things he does that just seem like someone with a faculties impairment.

https://www.washingt...m=.d3855e212478

Trump had a meeting w/ congressional leaders where he "spent about 10 minutes at the start of the bipartisan gathering rehashing the campaign. He also told them that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused him to lose the popular vote. The discussion about Trump's election victory and his claim that he would have won the popular vote was confirmed by a third person familiar with the meeting."

I mean it's also very believable that he's a narcissist (in the diagnosable sense) and he's making these things up himself. But sometimes I worry that someone or several someones tell him these very plain, straightforward lies and he accepts them as true because he's unable not to.
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#4524 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 03:51 AM

^^^^^Probably I'm just being paranoid.

More likely it's just setting the GOP foundation for your average, everyday voter disenfranchisement legislation.
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#4525 User is offline   Una 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 05:02 AM

Narcissistic people can get old and become demented too!
The dementia is going to amplify the badness and make him even more unstuck from reality that either condition alone would. This is completely plausible.

Sometimes I think that the Americans deserve everything that's coming to them because they picked this lunatic. Other times, I shake my head and remind myself that no one deserves this. I really can't decide. Ultimately though, it's going to be the most vulnerable people who are going to bear the brunt, and that does make me angry.
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#4526 User is offline   Tapper 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 08:57 AM

Early stages of dementia and drug (ab)use have both been named as possible causes for Trump's speech pattern, which often features multiple repetitions shortly after one another ("natural talent. He is a natural. He has natural talent"), and multiple contradictions and abrupt changes of topic in one conversation or speech.

I guess the thing with Trump's key lines (the wall, Mexico paying for the wall, the popular vote being lost because of illegal votes) is that these are explanations he likes (or got him cheers) and thus he repeats them, whether it is false or true. Many of his biographers mention that he spends over an hour every morning going through papers and magazines and underlining articles in which he is named, which explains also his feuds with the press: he doesn't like being proved wrong, being wrong is weak, Trump is never weak, therefore, he must be right and he knows best.

See his comments on terrorism and the military (I know more than our generals) and his comments on 'cyber' (they're based on Barron being able to use a computer. Trump himself has never used one: he instructs others to google things for him, per his biographers).
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#4527 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 02:04 PM

View Postdeath rattle, on 24 January 2017 - 03:51 AM, said:

^^^^^Probably I'm just being paranoid.


Not necessarily worry, you could VERY well be onto something. Sidebar: my wife is in the health industry specializing in geriatrics and things like dementia are entirely in her wheelhouse of knowledge, so I hear about this stuff all the time Since his family has documented cases of diagnosed Alzheimer's including his own father, it's entirely possible that at 70 he's experiencing early signs of the same affliction (not early onset, as that would mean prior to 65). It would certainly explain some of the more outlandish behaviour (which fits very cleanly into the early-dementia milieu diagnoses, which most often showcase as slight memory issues, and extreme mood changes).

Not saying this is the case, but you may not be as paranoid as you think Worry. It's very much a possibility with his family history.

------------------------------------

Also, how telling is this clip? Does this mean that Melania is frightened of her role gong forward...or she dislikes her husband? If I had to guess, I'd say both.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 24 January 2017 - 02:13 PM

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#4528 User is offline   Tapper 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 04:31 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 24 January 2017 - 02:04 PM, said:

View Postdeath rattle, on 24 January 2017 - 03:51 AM, said:

^^^^^Probably I'm just being paranoid.


Not necessarily worry, you could VERY well be onto something. Sidebar: my wife is in the health industry specializing in geriatrics and things like dementia are entirely in her wheelhouse of knowledge, so I hear about this stuff all the time Since his family has documented cases of diagnosed Alzheimer's including his own father, it's entirely possible that at 70 he's experiencing early signs of the same affliction (not early onset, as that would mean prior to 65). It would certainly explain some of the more outlandish behaviour (which fits very cleanly into the early-dementia milieu diagnoses, which most often showcase as slight memory issues, and extreme mood changes).

Not saying this is the case, but you may not be as paranoid as you think Worry. It's very much a possibility with his family history.

------------------------------------

Also, how telling is this clip? Does this mean that Melania is frightened of her role gong forward...or she dislikes her husband? If I had to guess, I'd say both.

I'd say she's contractually obliged to show the world the Donald is the best husband. With the largest hands.
And her and her sons fortune is probably tied to her staying with Trump, as much as she might not like him, she is probably not the one to press for divorce.
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#4529 User is offline   Mezla PigDog 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 04:45 PM

I think the only scenario that has her enjoying this recent turn of events is if she's a Lady Macbeth type and is pulling the strings. That's obviously not the case.

I feel really sorry for her, she's in way over her head. She's already been publically humiliated with the pussy grabbing tapes and stands to be humiliated more if she makes a proper go of being First Lady.

The woman has earned her access to the Trump lifestyle. She's seen things that cannot be unseen.
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#4530 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 05:30 PM

View PostMezla PigDog, on 24 January 2017 - 04:45 PM, said:

I think the only scenario that has her enjoying this recent turn of events is if she's a Lady Macbeth type and is pulling the strings. That's obviously not the case.

I feel really sorry for her, she's in way over her head. She's already been publically humiliated with the pussy grabbing tapes and stands to be humiliated more if she makes a proper go of being First Lady.

The woman has earned her access to the Trump lifestyle. She's seen things that cannot be unseen.


Indeed, I agree.
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#4531 User is offline   HoosierDaddy 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 06:05 PM

Wouldn't be the first time we elected someone with mental issues (Reagan's Alzheimer's).

But still, that'd be a kudos and bravo to the American people!
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#4532 User is offline   Vengeance 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 06:20 PM

View PostHoosierDaddy, on 24 January 2017 - 06:05 PM, said:

Wouldn't be the first time we elected someone with mental issues (Reagan's Alzheimer's).

But still, that'd be a kudos and bravo to the American people!


Console yourself with the fact that the majority of the population did not vote for him.
How many fucking people do I have to hammer in order to get that across.
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#4533 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 06:52 PM

So you know that Neo Nazi guy who got punched during an interview...Richard whatever? Twitter has started setting it to music and it's damned funny.
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#4534 User is offline   Gorefest 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 06:58 PM

The Netherlands introduce themselves to Trump, in his own language. Awesome stuff. With English subtitles as well, for all those unfortunate souls who do not speak Dutch. Not that you need it, because the actual promofilm is in English, but oh well.

http://youtu.be/ELD2AwFN9Nc/

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 24 January 2017 - 06:58 PM

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#4535 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 09:03 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 24 January 2017 - 02:04 PM, said:

View Postdeath rattle, on 24 January 2017 - 03:51 AM, said:

^^^^^Probably I'm just being paranoid.


Not necessarily worry, you could VERY well be onto something. Sidebar: my wife is in the health industry specializing in geriatrics and things like dementia are entirely in her wheelhouse of knowledge, so I hear about this stuff all the time Since his family has documented cases of diagnosed Alzheimer's including his own father, it's entirely possible that at 70 he's experiencing early signs of the same affliction (not early onset, as that would mean prior to 65). It would certainly explain some of the more outlandish behaviour (which fits very cleanly into the early-dementia milieu diagnoses, which most often showcase as slight memory issues, and extreme mood changes).

Not saying this is the case, but you may not be as paranoid as you think Worry. It's very much a possibility with his family history.

------------------------------------

Also, how telling is this clip? Does this mean that Melania is frightened of her role gong forward...or she dislikes her husband? If I had to guess, I'd say both.


It's not a theory that originates with me, for sure, and I shied away from mentioning it here until yesterday because of the crowdpleaser tendency you mention -- but here he did it not in front of an audience of fans, but congressional leaders in a private meeting, for TEN minutes. That just seems bizarre. The alternative explanation would be that he and GOP leaders in attendance are fine w/ flexing their muscles in front of the Dems -- I wouldn't put petty bragging about their victory above any of them.

On the other hand, while I don't want to add to the glut of pop culture parallels (everything about the election was apparently Game of Thrones and/or Harry Potter), there's at least potential here for some very Theoden/Wormtongue scenarios. And as HD points out, this isn't unprecedented even in our recent history.

As for Melania, I agree with y'all and tend towards sympathy. As some friends w/ much more wisdom about this have said, it looks like the reaction of a DV victim (or at least DA, including verbal/emotional abuse). The headline calls it a scowl, but it looks like something sadder and more exhausted than that to me. If you know "How To Fight Loneliness" by Wilco, then you know the kind of smile she gives him.
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#4536 User is offline   Itwæs Nom 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 09:10 PM

Out of curiosity, are there any laws regarding mental health of an US president?
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#4537 User is offline   EmperorMagus 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 09:26 PM

View PostItwæs Nom, on 24 January 2017 - 09:10 PM, said:

Out of curiosity, are there any laws regarding mental health of an US president?



The assumption is that the voters will not vote for the crazies (or the ones possibly suffering from dementia)

I don't think the American "founding fathers" even imagined the possibility of breitbar and infowars.

This post has been edited by EmperorMagus: 24 January 2017 - 10:12 PM

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#4538 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 10:00 PM

Scientists are having a hell of a time right now: http://thehill.com/p...mp-social-media
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#4539 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 10:27 PM

View PostItwæs Nom, on 24 January 2017 - 09:10 PM, said:

Out of curiosity, are there any laws regarding mental health of an US president?

The 25th Amendment talks about "discharging the powers and duties of the office". There would have to be an incapacitated Prez - going under for surgery (Reagan and W Bush), Reagan's assassination attempt, Nixon resigning - for the power to move to the VP or Speaker of the House.

There is some small elaboration on the amendment itself, but it's purposely vague to allow flexibility.

So doctors declaring a President unfit enough to require a 25th Amendment shift are going to be hard to find. That's a huge move to make on someone who flat out wants to be the most powerful person in the world and a vengeful President will ruin careers. I think the Reagan administration actually hid his Alzheimer's for years to avoid this.

I doubt Trump will ever be declared unfit to be President for medical reasons or specific mental health reasons.
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#4540 User is offline   Terez 

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Posted 25 January 2017 - 12:44 AM

View PostQuickTidal, on 24 January 2017 - 02:04 PM, said:



As someone with resting bitch face, I can attest that smiling for long periods of time actually hurts. I have this problem when I'm hanging out with people who make me smile and laugh a lot. It actually gives me a headache.

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Please proceed, Governor.

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There it is.

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