President Peaches

Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, January 12th, 2019 - 150 comments
Categories: class war, Donald Trump, im/migration, International, us politics, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

Image result for trump as a peach

 

In a typically weird statement this morning, Donald Trump has decided the best name for his controversial border wall is, er, ‘peaches’.

“This is where I ask the Democrats to come back to Washington and vote for money for the wall, the barrier. I don’t care what they name it. They can name it peaches.”

This weird statement came as Trump was forced to backdown on his threat to try and build the barrier under a bogus state of ‘national emergency’.

Trump is losing the wall argument. Hell, the man is just losing it.

Still, …. cowboy hats!

 

 

Ah, well. There’s clearly going to be a lot of peaches/impeachment jokes going around today and one hit wonder band Presidents of the USA will thrilled at their unexpected return to relevancy.

Ah, peaches … the fruit of the loon.

 

 

150 comments on “President Peaches ”

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  1. Anne 1
    12 January 2019 at 11:36 am

    This is how a 5 year old responds when they can’t get their way. They will throw something on the floor and when it breaks they say they don’t care anyway.

    He has the emotional intelligence and maturity of a five year old and he’s just demonstrated as much.

    • DJ Ward 1.1
      13 January 2019 at 12:09 pm

      5 year olds who refuse to negotiate like Pelosi.

      If you open the government then we can negotiate the wall funding. Said Pelosi.
      If I open the government will you negotiate the wall funding. Asked Trump.
      NO! Said Pelosi.
      Your wasting my time. Said Trump.

      Yes Pelosi is as childish as a 5 year old. In fact my nearly 5 year old is a better negotiator with far more integrity. Far more honest as well.

      • Anne 1.1.1
        14 January 2019 at 6:23 pm

        I feel sorry for your 5 year old having such an uneducated, uninformed and ignorant father as she/he has. 🙁

  2. arkie 2
    12 January 2019 at 11:49 am

    I object to the Presidents of the United States of America being referred to as a ‘one-hit-wonder’, they had a number of hits including the equally trump-appropriate Lump:

    Their first two commercial albums sold triple platinum and gold respectively; and their musicianship, eccentric performances and actual politics are all sullied by the association with Dolt45 and the short-fingered Vulgarians! haha

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Presidents_of_the_United_States_of_America_(band)

  3. WILD KATIPO 3
    12 January 2019 at 12:38 pm

    Peaches?

    Try Tex Mex , perhaps?

    Tex-Mex Food: A Beginner’s Guide – YouTube

  4. francesca 4
    12 January 2019 at 1:08 pm

    I’m really missing Bill, anyone know where he’s got to?

  5. Dennis Frank 5
    12 January 2019 at 1:46 pm

    Trumps is gonna get sucked into the nexus where the Christians and Greens intersect if he keeps this up. The back-to-the-land movement was three years old when John Prine wrote & sang Spanish Pipedream on his first album, alerting us to the profound effect of peaches:

    “Well, I was young and hungry and about to leave that place
    When just as I was leavin’, well she looked me in the face
    I said “You must know the answer.”
    “She said, “No but I’ll give it a try.”
    And to this very day we’ve been livin’ our way
    And here is the reason why

    We blew up our TV, threw away our paper
    Went to the country, built us a home
    Had a lot of children, fed ’em on peaches
    They all found Jesus, on their own”

  6. Macro 6
    12 January 2019 at 2:59 pm

    ‘Is this how you make America great again?’ — Sen. Jon Tester holds nothing back in his impassioned speech against Trump’s shutdown.
    Interestingly Congress approved $1.8 Billion for improved border security last year – now he wants more – but Trump has no details how it would be spent.

    Warning: The background music isn’t great – not up to” Presidents of the USA” standard anyway

    https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1083824116052963329

    • DJ Ward 6.1
      13 January 2019 at 12:24 pm

      What an idiot.

      Stoping illegal immigration is protecting the country and putting his country first. He just did some childish politics argument. Vote for the wall and open government you hypocrite.

      The money is for building the wall, they know what’s it’s being spent on so he lied as well.

      He says put these laws forward so they can reopen government. The Republicans have and the Dems won’t vote for it. The Democrates are spoiled drop kicks who demand there policy is the only policy. They are the obstruction party.

      • Macro 6.1.1
        13 January 2019 at 1:25 pm

        🙄

      • georgecom 6.1.2
        13 January 2019 at 4:06 pm

        gosh DJ, you must spend a lot of time and energy trying to defend Trump. good luck on that.

        why wasn’t the wall, um fence, er structure substantially advanced in the 2 years Republicans held the 2 houses?

        And anyway, who needs Congress to approve, Mexico is going to pay for it Trump has said

        • DJ Ward 6.1.2.1
          13 January 2019 at 5:06 pm

          The wall is being built now with funding they got in other budgets. Not surprisingly where it is built illegal crossings dramatically drop in number.

          Yes the Republicans have let the president down. A point to remember is Trump is not a Republican so many Senators didn’t support Trump, and the majority was not enough to pass legislation. Hence failure to fix Obamas disastrous health care, or get full funding for the wall.

          Trump is easy to defend because most arguments against him are stupid, or deluded, or blatantly dishonest.

          • McFlock 6.1.2.1.1
            13 January 2019 at 5:09 pm

            Why isn’t Mexico paying for the wall? Wasn’t that the promise?

            • Dennis Frank 6.1.2.1.1.1
              13 January 2019 at 9:55 pm

              Yeah, that still bugs me. Failure to explain that to the American people is one of his biggest mistakes. Bluster more than promise, apparently. Irrationality combined with a lack of political nous.

          • Macro 6.1.2.1.2
            13 January 2019 at 10:11 pm

            Bullshit!
            Do you actually believe every lie the liar in chief utters?
            Here is what is actually happening.

            Where is Trump’s border wall being built?
            If you consider the barrier projects “border walls,” here are some of the locations:

            In April, the Border Patrol began construction of a “border wall” near El Paso at Santa Teresa, N.M. During a press conference, Aaron Hull, Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso sector, mostly referred to the project as the wall, sometimes calling it “fence” but quickly correcting himself. Hull said the metal barrier was the same design as others from the 2006 Secure Fence Act. The new barrier replaced existing metal posts which were designed only to block vehicles.
            In September, the Border Patrol announced construction of “a new 4-mile section of bollard wall” in the historic Chihuahuita neighborhood in El Paso. The new bollards replaced existing chain-link fencing.
            In October, border officials marked the completion of 2 miles of barriers near Calexico, Calif. Crews had replaced older metal fencing with new, 30-foot steel bollards, a project identified as a priority and funded under President Barack Obama.
            In November, Customs and Border Protection officials announced a contract for about 6 miles of “wall system” in the Rio Grande Valley. The project is supposed to include a concrete levee wall “to the height of the existing levee” with 18-foot bollards on top. That barrier is not being built yet; it’s set to be started in February.
            None of those barriers look like the wall prototypes built near San Diego, which Trump visited and praised earlier this year.
            https://www.kare11.com/article/news/nation-now/is-trumps-border-wall-being-built-here-are-the-facts/465-5fb683eb-cb5d-4e3a-9dbe-487c5525a031
            So about 6 miles of new barrier to be constructed next month

            • DJ Ward 6.1.2.1.2.1
              14 January 2019 at 10:50 am

              Your correct there is not much happening because he has only got $1.6 billion in a past budget, replacing old stuff that didn’t work etc. His version, recently approved can’t be build until he gets the funds. You can’t look at what’s being built and replaced now, with a version approved yesterday. That’s an irrational comparison.

              Amazing that the spending on the wall now was Obama policy, continued by the Trump administration. That was OK, but Trumps even better wall design is bad.

              Just over 3 weeks delay, so Dems responsible for 1000 heroine deaths so far. Soon they will get to 9/11 numbers.

              No crisis.

        • DJ Ward 6.1.2.2
          14 January 2019 at 11:32 am

          You don’t understand there system.
          Budgets etc require 60 votes. They only had 51.

          Trumps trade deal easily covers the bill. He never said how. Plus once illegal immigration is reduced, the Mexicans will have to pick up the medical bills that the US presently subsidises, cost of welfare, cost of imprisonment. Easily saving the US the cost of the wall. The Mexicans will pay for the wall one way or the other.

          The Mexicans once the US boarder is closed will have to build there own wall on there southern boarder as all the socialist nations south of them collapse causing huge economic refugee numbers.

    • Tricledrown 6.2
      13 January 2019 at 10:51 pm

      An Iron Curtain (“A Steel Wall lots of Steel, Steel workers will love it, lots of Steel I’m going to build a Steel Wall” qoute Trump the greatest Steel Wall ever of course. Chinese Street and Mexicans will no doubt build his Fence.

  7. Siobhan 7
    12 January 2019 at 3:25 pm

    Democrats taking such a moral stand by not support funding for Trumps fence

    Or Bernie’s “Health Care for All”, a variety of costs for the federal Government, but an overall cheaper spend for the country.
    https://berniesanders.com/issues/medicare-for-all/

    Or Bernies “Free Tuition”, even though The University of California system offered free tuition at its schools until the 1980s..which I’m sure plenty of Democrats benefited from.
    https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/

    But they did like Bush’s Secure Fence Act, (with a wall estimated to cost $50 billion over 25 years, according to analyses at the time).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Fence_Act_of_2006

    And they did like the sound of 1.2 trillion to update their Nukes https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nuclear-arsenal/u-s-nuclear-arsenal-to-cost-1-2-trillion-over-next-30-years-cbo-idUSKBN1D030E

    Bless Them.

    and their support of PayGo.

    “Meanwhile, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act triggered the Pay-Go budget rule. The Pay-Go rule requires an automatic cut in Medicare when tax cuts increase the deficit. Senate Republicans may have a hard time convincing Democrats, who opposed the tax bill, to waive the rule. Without the waiver, the tax act would force Congress to cut Medicare by $25 billion in 2018. It would cut mandatory programs by $150 billion over the next 10 years.”

    https://www.thebalance.com/government-shutdown-3305683

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-pay-go-rule_us_5c2fa6bee4b073352832a24f

    • joe90 8.1
      12 January 2019 at 3:50 pm

      Double oh.

      What is the significance of all of this? I have two big takeaways.

      First, if this analysis is correct, it mostly—though not entirely—answers the question of the legal basis of the obstruction investigation. The president’s lawyers, Barr in his memo, and any number of conservative commentators have all argued that Mueller cannot reasonably be investigating obstruction offenses based on the president’s actions within his Article II powers in firing Comey; such actions, they contend, cannot possibly violate the obstruction laws. While this position is disputed, a great many other commentators, including me, have scratched their heads about Mueller’s obstruction theory.

      But if the predicate for the investigation was rooted in substantial part in counterintelligence authorities—that is, if the theory was not just that the president may have violated the criminal law but also that he acted in a fashion that may constitute a threat to national security—that particular legal puzzle goes away. After all, the FBI doesn’t need a possible criminal violation to open a national security investigation.

      The problem does not entirely go away, because as the Times reports, the probe was partly predicated as a criminal matter as well. So the question of Mueller’s criminal theory is still there. But the weight on it is dramatically less.

      This possibility, of course, raises a different legal puzzle, which is whether and under what circumstances the president can be a national security investigative subject of his own FBI given that it is ultimately he who defines national security threats for the executive branch. But that’s a question for another day.

      Second, if it is correct that the FBI’s principle interest in obstruction was not as a discrete criminal fact pattern but as a national security threat, this significantly blurs the distinction between the obstruction and collusion aspects of the investigation. In this construction, obstruction was not a problem distinct from collusion, as has been generally imagined. Rather, in this construction, obstruction was the collusion, or least part of it. The obstruction of justice statutes become, in this understanding, merely one set of statutes investigators might think about using to deal with a national security risk—specifically, the risk of a person on the U.S. side coordinating with or supporting Russian activity by shutting down the investigation.

      It was about Russia. It was always about Russia. Full stop.

      https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-if-obstruction-was-collusion-new-york-timess-latest-bombshell

      • francesca 8.1.1
        12 January 2019 at 5:17 pm

        Kind of like a tautology.
        or strangulated thinking.
        The collusion’s there or its not , the investigation has legs in terms of finding collusion or not.
        Shutting it down is only collusion if there’s been collusion to cover up.Prove collusion first
        A wild goose chase that the NYT has gone half cocked on many times

        https://www.rt.com/usa/448427-manafort-russia-collusion-polling/

        And as for Russian meddling Bradbury over at the Daily Blog links to a Nation article

        https://www.thenation.com/article/russiagate-elections-interference/

        But I guess the Russiagate industry is keeping a fair few hacks in clover.

        • francesca 8.1.2.1
          12 January 2019 at 6:39 pm

          We’re all ears

          • Macro 8.1.2.1.1
            12 January 2019 at 7:30 pm

            Well I’ve been positively vetted to Top Secret NZ Eyes Only level, and they haven’t told me. So they sure as hell aren’t going to tell you.
            Hint: read the words at the bottom of the tweet which say

            they must have had other incriminating information that we don’t yet know about.

            my bold
            Mind you, RT might have some info on it . In fact I’m sure they will have something to say. Whether we can believe it, however is another matter.

            • francesca 8.1.2.1.1.1
              12 January 2019 at 8:01 pm

              Them dastardly not cricket type Russkies are such devillish hackers I’m sure they know all about it
              RT reporting that the NYT issued a correction,( not Deripaska after all but a couple of Ukrainian oligarchs) is just more of the filthy Russian disinformation , why they probably manipulated the NYT in to publishing the fake news in the first place, with some of their skilfully placed puppy ads
              I look forward to the next NYT Bombshell,….and their sheepish retraction

            • weston 8.1.2.1.1.2
              12 January 2019 at 8:26 pm

              Lol we dont often get people on here skiting about their security clearances !!Odd that you have them Macro cause if you are fascinated by the russian collusion conspiracy theory you,d probably believe anything !!RT or Lamestream ?think i,ll go with RT more interesting more informative even on a bad day imo

              • Macro …
                12 January 2019 at 9:10 pm

                As Granny used to say “if you’ve got it – flaunt it!”
                Each to his own. I won’t criticise your reading of RT – if you don’t try to promulgate it here.

          • North 8.1.2.1.2
            13 January 2019 at 8:19 am

            I too am all ears Francesca. Unlike yours mine are not ‘painted-on’. I recommend Bay Audiology. And Specsavers.

        • DJ Ward 8.1.2.2
          13 January 2019 at 12:43 pm

          He sacked Comey, a Democrate stooge. The other Dem stooges in the FBI went on the offensive.
          He had a meeting with the Russian Ambassador and shared info about Syria. Something he is entitled to do as president. Russia, and the US were cooperating to a small extent on ISIS at the time.
          He asked publicly for the Russians to find Clintons Emails. Something the FBI with Comey were too corrupt to do.
          The Democrates were funding Russian bots, that looked like Russia was supporting Republicans and Trump, but it was Americans funded by Democrates pretending to be Russians.

          They have nothing, never had anything, never will have anything.

          • joe90 8.1.2.2.1
            13 January 2019 at 12:55 pm

            They have nothing, never had anything, never will have anything.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAdGYYsG7yc

            This is the wrong way to think about the entire issue. It helps instead to consider Trump not as a “recruit,” but as an investment. It is ridiculous to believe the Russians had a crystal ball, or a psychic who shook hands with Trump, like Johnny in The Dead Zone, and saw a future president. Rather, they took an interest in a wealthy American businessman with contacts throughout New York’s financial and political worlds. Indeed, as Chait notes, if the Russians hadn’t zeroed in on Trump—a man whose venality, vanity and vulgarity are like a menu of recruitable weaknesses—they’d have been guilty of intelligence malpractice.

            That’s why Chait’s article is worth a careful reading: He has laid out the mind-numbing history and facts of Trump’s dealings with Russia in one place. From Trump’s first meetings with the Soviets (which apparently convinced him that he should become a voice on international security and nuclear affairs) to his numerous dealings with the world of Russian finance, to his jaw-dropping hire of Paul Manafort, a man whose résumé includes work aimed at keeping a Putin crony in power in Ukraine, the litany of direct and indirect contacts with the Kremlin exceeds all possible exculpatory explanations. Trump’s defenders over the past few years have gotten a lot of mileage by isolating each of these facts and treating them as insignificant. Chait, however, has gathered them together, and the picture they present is alarming, much in the way a lot of small debts don’t look like financial ruin until you write them down and tally them up.

            https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/10/trump-russia-jonathan-chait-218966

            From an intelligence standpoint, the numerous Russian approaches to the Trump campaign look like a textbook recruitment effort. Campaign officials were an attractive target for Russian intelligence, of course. They provided a chance to catapult Russian influence into the Oval Office, and to obtain the Holy Grail: to manipulate a sitting presidential administration to act in a way that is favorable to Russia. (And even if their candidate did not make it into the White House, they would have a grip on him and some of his most powerful associates for years to come.)

            But this ambitious goal would not have been foreseeable at the beginning of Russia’s operation. After all, Trump and many of his associates were already on Russia’s radar screen well before he was running for president. This isn’t because Russian intelligence services are geniuses who maneuvered a grand scheme into place. Rather, it is because Russia’s intelligence services, like all intelligence services, are always on the lookout for new assets to add to their toolbox that could be useful in the future. An obvious target would be a wealthy business person interested in working on projects in Russia, or places like Ukraine, or benefiting from Russian investments. By the time a pie-in-the-sky opportunity like a presidential election came along, much of the groundwork for further outreach would already be in place.

            https://www.justsecurity.org/49682/collusion-criminal-threat/

            • DJ Ward 8.1.2.2.1.1
              13 January 2019 at 1:25 pm

              What was the point of that video?
              I get it “says who”

              The left creating a deluded narrative.

              Trump is down in the polls, makes some changes with staff. Why do that?

              Yep the (no supprise it’s CNN) interviewer is an idiot.

              What Nations is a US person committing a crime, if they talk with a person from that nation. Or hire a person who once worked with that nation. Didn’t the FBI, CIA fail in its screening obligations with Manafort. Is Trump required to do indepth background checks on thousands of staff himself.
              Let’s arrest everyone working for NASA. They work with, exchange information, with nuke capable rockets, and Russia. Where do you draw the line.

              Can I have some evidence on Trump.

              Waiting, waiting, still waiting. Thousands of Fake News bullshit, end of the world rubbish. Waiting, still waiting.

              • North …
                13 January 2019 at 2:05 pm

                I suspect you know jack shit about the US Constitution and US constitutional governance, Donald J. Ward. That is usually the case with those who rant as histrionically as you.

                For ‘Founding Fathers’ Trump reads ‘Funding Fathers’. It is that which in the end will destroy his presidency and any hope of an honourable legacy. Mammon. Get used to it.

                • DJ Ward …
                  13 January 2019 at 3:22 pm

                  Funding who.
                  Evidence please.

                  Destroy the Presidency? That’s not rational. In 2024 there will be a new president.

                  • North …
                    14 January 2019 at 4:35 pm

                    DJ.W you seem quite as illiterate as Trump. The term “his presidency” is a reference based in subjectivity, viz. Trump’s incumbency. Quite a different quantity from “the Presidency”……an objective reference to the institution irrespective of incumbency. Of course you’d know that if you knew anything about the Constitution. Imagine that……an angrily puffed-up Deplorable questioning the rationality of others. Phew !

                    As to your trouble with “Founding/Funding Fathers”. Ho ho ho ! Humourless git.

                    • DJ Ward …
                      14 January 2019 at 8:16 pm

                      I knew what you were trying to say about the Presidency. But you made a cliam that is clearly bullshit. So you got contempt in response. You didn’t answer the question.

                      You just went all TDS fact checking and resorting to technical arguments, plus some cliam I don’t know things, or that you are the go to source of Knowledge.

                      Since you know everything.

                      Can you explain what your lame Funding Fathers joke was about. I don’t get it.

    • joe90 8.2
      13 January 2019 at 5:41 pm

      If someone asks if you if you’re working for a foreign power you say No!, not I’m so insulted!.

      https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine/status/1084281902566178817

      • DJ Ward 8.2.1
        14 January 2019 at 10:25 am

        Why can’t he say he’s insulted. Wouldn’t you if you have said no on countless occasions in many different ways. That’s TDS. Your creating a new argument out of nothing. Interpreting things to suit your deluded opinion of the subject.

        This is just diverting attention from the immoral behavour of the Dems shutting down government and refusing to negotiate.

        The article is regurgitated stuff that’s already mentioned 100s of times. Nothing was new, or news. Just a corrupt political act of collusion by the media. Like the majicaly use of the term “manufactured crisis” in unison across all MSM networks at the same time.

  9. SHG 9
    12 January 2019 at 7:35 pm

    In the classic 1980 book “Metaphors We Live By,” George Lakoff and Mark Johnson argued that thought and language really are linked on a fundamental level. “Metaphors as linguistic expressions are possible precisely because there are metaphors in a person’s conceptual system,” the authors wrote.

    The passage of a buck, in other words, is not just an old saying but a concept of responsibility, which can be accepted or passed on from one official to another, but must ultimately land somewhere.

    What then does it mean when Trump says the buck is everywhere?

    Nothing good, says Lakoff, a cognitive scientist and linguist who, nearly 40 years after his book was published, argues that Trump literally tries to “change your brain” by twisting language.

    “This is not mangling anything; this is taking ordinary linguistic uses and changing them,” Lakoff told The Washington Post. “What he’s saying is it’s up to you to pay for the border wall. The shutdown is your responsibility.”

    “And what’s most scary is he’s very, very clever,” he continues. “People think he’s just a 5-year-old, and he’s not. That’s his strength. They don’t understand what he’s doing is changing the way a lot of people think.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/president-trump-is-where-metaphors-go-to-die/2019/01/11/f1ff1644-1522-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.dd614c8996df

    • Dennis Frank 9.1
      12 January 2019 at 9:56 pm

      Yes, that was an important book. Trump’s use of metaphor may only work on his target audience though. Not sure I agree with Lakoff’s evaluation of Trump’s cleverness. But it raises the question of the reason for the govt shutdown.

      Is the cost saving his primary reason? Not trying to shame the Democrats, I mean. So he can say in a couple of weeks “Hey, the shut-down has now saved us the cost of the wall. So now the Democrats can no longer argue that it costs too much. We got the money. By going along with the shut-down, and refusing to pay for the wall, the Democrats have made this fundraising exercise successful.” That would indeed be clever.

  10. Graeme 10
    12 January 2019 at 10:16 pm

    What a bizarre word to use an immigration context.

    I doubt there’s a peach produced in USA that hasn’t had a Mexican hand, or several, and probably un-documented, on it somewhere in process.

    • DJ Ward 10.1
      13 January 2019 at 12:33 pm

      Maybe they are one of the million IRS numbers stolen and used by illegals last year. So not undocumented, just fraudulently documented.

  11. OnceWasTim 11
    13 January 2019 at 8:58 am

    Anyone else seen the ‘Trump in Lyttleton 2019 Calendar” by 55Design?
    Maybe December will be the month

  12. DJ Ward 12
    13 January 2019 at 1:29 pm

    Anyone that thinks Trump Called his wall expansion Peaches didn’t listen in true TDS fashion. The point is it’s OK when the hypocrite Dems voted for a Barrier, some of which is near identicle to the Boarder security accepted design that Trump wants to build. Some of what the incompetent Dems built is a pathetic fence that stops nothing. So if it’s called a wall it’s wrong, but a barrier is OK, fence is OK, so if the Fruit Loop Democrates need to call the wall Peaches, so be it.

    Trump talks in context. Examination of every word like its from God is childish. Plus he likes taking the piss, and separating context from his rough humour requires intelligence. Something some people can’t accomplish. Like 100% of CNN.

  13. North 13
    13 January 2019 at 1:40 pm

    Donald J. Ward……I see that your pejorative comment unkindly likening Nancy Pelosi’s behaviour to that of your 5 year old has been deleted. Guess that means you’ve reconsidered and now would NOT recommend Trump as the ideal role model for young’un ? Well done to you/the adult in the room !

    • DJ Ward 13.1
      13 January 2019 at 1:53 pm

      Not deleted. If promoting hard working, non drinking, non smoking, law abiding, high achieving people like Trump is a bad thing for my kids then I can’t imagine what a good thing would be. Actually they have a good example with there mother, so they will be fine.

      To make sure they are safe from lunacy, I only watch CNN after they go to bed.

      • North 13.1.1
        13 January 2019 at 2:14 pm

        Oh……(gulp)……he IS your preferred role model then……you wouldn’t be a religious-right wacko would ya ?

        • DJ Ward 13.1.1.1
          13 January 2019 at 3:30 pm

          You wouldn’t rely on TDS based bigoted steriotyping would you.
          Trumps not religous, and for American standards he’s more in the middle rather than right wing. He was a Democrate. I doubt you even understand what right wing is.

          Here’s some.
          Have you ever worked in a real job.

  14. joe90 14
    13 January 2019 at 2:23 pm

    Walk on, nothing to see here.
    //

    President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said.
    Trump did so after a meeting with Putin in 2017 in Hamburg that was also attended by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. U.S. officials learned of Trump’s actions when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official sought information from the interpreter beyond a readout shared by Tillerson.
    The constraints that Trump imposed are part of a broader pattern by the president of shielding his communications with Putin from public scrutiny and preventing even high-ranking officials in his own administration from fully knowing what he has told one of the United States’ main adversaries.
    As a result, U.S. officials said there is no detailed record, even in classified files, of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with the Russian leader at five locations over the past two years. Such a gap would be unusual in any presidency, let alone one that Russia sought to install through what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as an unprecedented campaign of election interference.

    http://archive.li/SY8qM

    • DJ Ward 14.1
      13 January 2019 at 3:37 pm

      What if that information involved military plans that needed to be kept secret.
      How many secret private meetings did Obama, or Claire Curren have.

      It’s called off the record. Happens all the time. So bit of TDS making a song and dance about nothing.

      Why is it a requirement that Russia be an enemy. Is it against the rules for Trump wanting to improve relations. Or would you prefer them to be at war.

      Would Puten agree to talk if the conversation was recorded? Answer no.

      • joe90 14.1.1
        13 January 2019 at 3:49 pm

        Elected official don’t have private meetings.

        • Macro 14.1.1.1
          13 January 2019 at 4:04 pm

          Exactly. That’s why Claire Curren is no long Minister of Broadcasting.

          • DJ Ward 14.1.1.1.1
            13 January 2019 at 5:30 pm

            She held a ministerial meeting in secret. She secretly met a journalist.

            The ministers Diary is public but the content of the meeting with the Journalist is off the record. She hid that meeting.
            She was required to take minutes of the ministerial meeting but didn’t.

            Trump is not required to meet or not meet anybody with permission from others, or record any meeting.

            Obama recorded media interviews etc, but like everyone since Nixon there is no general recording of the presidents conversations.

            Was the meeting with North Korea recorded?
            Was Obama and Putin recorded?
            Was Clinton organising a massive donation from her uranium loving Russian freinds recorded? Probably one of the emails she deleted, sorry smashed to bits with a hammer.

            The hypocracy of the left on transparency.

            You have to allow leaders to discuss things off the record. Plus it happens all the time.

            • Draco T Bastard 14.1.1.1.1.1
              13 January 2019 at 6:05 pm

              but like everyone since Nixon there is no general recording of the presidents conversations.

              You did notice that Trump told his interpreter not to record anything?

              The default position is that the meetings are recorded.

              And they need to be so that none of the participants can say that something happened that didn’t nor vice versa.

              It also allows the people to hold their representatives to account.

              Recording is essential.

            • joe90 14.1.1.1.1.2
              13 January 2019 at 7:01 pm

              The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires all Presidential records to be archived as public property and an incumbent can only dispose of current records with the permission of the chief archivist.

              Because tRump took the notes from his translators there are no records, not even classified ones, of what Trump and Putin discussed, and some of Trump’s advisors are in the dark.

              What is Trump hiding?

              • DJ Ward …
                14 January 2019 at 8:01 am

                He’s hiding nothing. He said yesterday that he doesn’t care if the conversation is released.
                He stated the conversation with Putin was about Israel security.

        • Draco T Bastard 14.1.1.2
          13 January 2019 at 4:11 pm

          Exactly. Every meeting they have should be recorded and stored. There may be some justification for some to be held back for security purposes but, IMO, most meetings should pretty much be available live.

          • Macro 14.1.1.2.1
            13 January 2019 at 4:31 pm

            Yes. Even if it is classified – it is still recorded, filed, keep locked up (and referred to as required), until such time as it is declassified – which may be up to 30+ years later.

            • DJ Ward 14.1.1.2.1.1
              13 January 2019 at 5:34 pm

              No they are not. Obama did not record anything discussed in private. Nixon was the last President to do that creating 3400 hours of recordings. Trump vs Comey is the example.

    • francesca 14.2
      14 January 2019 at 8:32 am

      Joe90 on secret meetings with Putin

      So Tillerson was in on it all ?
      And after being fired remains a secret Russian stooge and loyal to Trump
      Get away with you Joe

      “President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said.”
      The rest of the story largely refutes the claim made in its headline and very first sentence:

      “Trump did so after a meeting with Putin in 2017 in Hamburg that was also attended by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
      …
      Trump generally has allowed aides to listen to his phone conversations with Putin ..
      …
      In an email, Tillerson said that he “was present for the entirety of the two presidents’ official bilateral meeting in Hamburg,”…”

      And of course Obama went to lengths to communicate privately to the Russian President when he thought the mike was off

      https://www.wsj.com/video/obama-medvedev-hot-mic-gaffe/5F7CF09D-CFD5-4805-A72C-3378D5F8371E.html

      • joe90 14.2.1
        14 January 2019 at 1:27 pm

        The second meeting, sans officials.

        But Trump and Putin then met for two hours in private, accompanied only by their interpreters. Trump’s interpreter, Marina Gross, could be seen emerging from the meeting with pages of notes.

        • francesca 14.2.1.1
          14 January 2019 at 6:43 pm

          wonder what they talked about
          “Send more arms to Ukraine would you Trumpy
          We could do with some more sanctions, and if some time in the future you could withdraw from that silly old nuclear weapons treaty that would be great, and I really love it when Haley gets in to us at the UN, more of that please.
          Actually, if you could see your way clear to expel a lot of diplomats, and close down some diplomatic facilities, that would really improve my status in the world
          Thanks Darl, you’re a honey”

  15. Andre 15
    13 January 2019 at 6:02 pm

    Just in case all this gets anyone excited about an upcoming ‘peachment, here’s a worthwhile read about Tricky Dicky’s.

    https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/12/donald-trump-impeachment-democrats-nancy-pelosi-tip-oneill-223966

    Remember the Dems had 56 senators then, they’ve only got 47 now. Even if the House passes articles of impeachment, the Turtle might decided he’s just not that bovvered about it all and refuse to put it on the senate order of business.

    • Macro 15.1
      13 January 2019 at 9:26 pm

      I’ve watched this clip a couple of times and I can’t believe the fact that the Repugnants still allow him to occupy the WH. Ok these are edited clips of much longer rants, but the impression is that he is mentally unstable if not senile. They owe it not only to themselves – but also to the country to remove him from office.
      Did you know the tRump is a professional technologist (whatever that is). He noted that all cars have got wheels and they are older than walls therefore a wall is necessary. Because the people coming across the border have got amazing vehicles – so fast – faster than anything the US has, and they drive into the desert, and turn left, usually its a left but sometimes they turn right.
      I mean – I actually feel sorry for the guy – he is way in over his head, and really he is struggling. He needs to go for his own sake as much as everyone else’s.

      • DJ Ward 15.1.1
        14 January 2019 at 9:23 am

        Sack the Dem idiots. They are saying walls don’t work. His point was wheels are a primitive tech. We still use them because they work. We still build walls because they work. We still use wheels because they are the only option, like walls. Like the walls around Pelosi’s home.

        The Dems they send Acosta to the wall. Proving they work.

        Diagnoses TDS.

        Trumps not over his head. He’s dealing with an intellectually corrupt opposition and media. He is also dealing with a humanitarian crisis so must as President act to protect the boarder.

        Trump is offering deals to get this one off payment. The Dems are refusing to negotiate. They asked for the government to be opened, then negotiate the wall. They then said if Trump opened the government without the wall, they would not negotiate the wall seperatly.

        How does Trump negotiate with people who are not trustworthy.

        You linked to comedy. Which is perfect because it’s what I think of your opinion.
        Yes edited clips. I watched the original wheel comment live, so no rant. Taken out of context, for comedy. Obviously you don’t get it.

        • Macro 15.1.1.1
          14 January 2019 at 11:26 am

          The walls of Jericho – fell down

          The walls of Troy – easily breached by a Trojan Horse

          The walls of Jerusalem – Temple sacked in 70 CE
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(70_CE)

          Hadrian’s wall – complete failure
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall

          Walled cities – all susceptible to siege and the use of biological warfare.
          https://contagions.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/plague-at-the-siege-of-caffa-1346/

          more recently
          The Berlin Wall – lasted 10,316 days.

          Yeah Walls are so successful
          Trump knows noting of history and he is determined to repeat it.

          • veutoviper 15.1.1.1.1
            14 January 2019 at 11:50 am

            Wonderful summary!

            Unfortunately I think that DJW is well past reasoning with. Good on you for trying though.

          • DJ Ward 15.1.1.1.2
            14 January 2019 at 1:31 pm

            Wow.

            A wall was attacked by an army. Did they just walk in or did they need to siege the wall. Does the illegal immigrant just walk through the wall or do they have to do something else.

            Hadrains wall didn’t fail. The rest of the Roman Empire failed and they withdrew from Britain.

            The Trojan horse went through a gate. Not a wall. The wall worked as the invading force couldn’t get in, due to its walls. The wall worked. Completely dishonest argument Macro.

            The Berlin Wall worked. Only small numbers got over the wall, just as Trump and boarder security says it lowers numbers by more than 90%. Trumps version is better than current versions so it should be lower numbers of illegal immigrants. The Berlin Wall came down due to the Russian collapse, and loss of control of its puppets. Up until then it worked well for its designed purpose.

            Are the Mexicans going to siege the boarder wall. Sounds like a National security crisis. Bring on emergency powers.

            Pelosi’s wall around her house works well.

            • McFlock 15.1.1.1.2.1
              14 January 2019 at 7:39 pm

              You do realise that the actual bad people already use tunnels under the US-Mex border for their trafficking, right? And that rope and 30-foot ladders are a thing? Just like they were in seige warfare of old?

              • DJ Ward …
                14 January 2019 at 8:45 pm

                Yes McFlock. They also use small submarines, fly with false documents, overstay, etc etc.
                The wall is not a perfect solution. Trump openly admits that. But the evidence is undeniable that where there is a wall illegal crossings drop by at least 90%. A 90% drop from 400,000 is a lot.
                If a person seeks legitimate asylum they can go to a controlled boarder crossing. It’s the people with no legitimate, legal reason for entering the US that the wall stops.

                The best solution is immigration law reform but the Dems being obstructionists would never let that happen. If they did a broad legalising reset of illegals in the US then made it law to immediately deport any new illegal immigrant the issue would greatly reduce.

                • McFlock …
                  14 January 2019 at 9:55 pm

                  lol you really think a border wall will cut illegal immigration by 90%?
                  lol

                  • DJ Ward …
                    14 January 2019 at 11:52 pm

                    That’s not what I said.
                    I said the wall stops 90% plus of crossings compared to not having a wall. Thumps wall is move difficult to climb compared to the present versions.

                    The illegals will shift to the ever shrinking unwalled area. So will the boarder guards. A 90% drop in crossing plus the new technology requires less staff. They can concentrate more on the ever smaller unwalled area until they can’t get through.

                    Then your tunnels etc, etc.
                    In any war, evolution of offence and defence exists.

                    But the result is financial.

                    https://cis.org/Report/Cost-Border-Wall-vs-Cost-Illegal-Immigration

                    So if 200,000 over 10 years pays for the wall.
                    Trump only has to reduce numbers by 20,000 a year.

                    Why don’t you ask them all to come to NZ.

                    • McFlock …
                      15 January 2019 at 12:12 am

                      lol typical tory math: you’re not intending to do any maintenance on it for a decade? Not intending to staff it at all?

                      And yeah, I wouldn’t mind 20k people willing to walk a thousand miles to get here. We can take that off the bankers and 12-day “permanent residents” encouraged over the past decade. Get someone genuinely prepared to work for a living.

                    • DJ Ward …
                      15 January 2019 at 1:04 am

                      How is Tory maths any different from everybody else’s math. I havent read any reasonable counters to that figure. I’ve even read the lefty fact checking sites on it an the other studies figures. I have seen a lower figure just above $60,000.

                      Yes you need to pay for those things as well. But what would be the cost if you spent nothing and allowed anybody in. Like Trump said Mexico is not sending there best.
                      The issue with immigration is, as NZ has found out, you can have quite high immigration, but this needs to match the creation of infastructure and housing. The average immigrant should be at least fiscally nuetral otherwise it multiplies the harm. Lack of infastructure plus lack of housing plus reduction of government spending options. The result of not getting the balance right is increased poverty etc.
                      If your a capitalist landlord it sounds fantastic. House prices rise, rents rise, and all the poor countries stay poor. The educated and semi educated leave to other nations like NZ leaving the poor nation struggling. Unless your an illegal immigrant going to the US. That could be anybody.

                      The population increases, GDP increases, but the per person GDP reduces. IE average income trends lower than inflation. The mean income drops as the immigrants are more likely to be low income.

                      The new Dems maths stops at Free Stuff. I’m still trying to find out how that works.

                    • McFlock …
                      15 January 2019 at 12:59 pm

                      The first problem with your calculation is that you present the upfront costs of the wall and compare it to the lifetime “costs” of an immigrant.

                      The second problem is that you compare tax revenue directly from immigrants with their costs to the taxpayer. Including detention when they finally get caught. They’re evading law enforcement. Many of them would work for cash.

                      Which leads to the third problem, that in the US many illegal immigrants might not pay tax, but they sure as shit keep a number of industries operating. Generally all the hard and gross work, like agricultural labouring or slaughterhouses or hospitality. Those industries do pay tax, millions of dollars of it. Many of those businesses would not exist without cheaper labour. Whether those businesses should exist if they need cheap labour to survive is another matter – the fact is that the benefit of immigrants to the economy is more than the tax they pay directly.

                      But no, you go ahead and compared juked lifetime costs of immigration against a very rough estimate of the upfront cost of building a wall – because it’ll be shoddily made by contractors, poorly engineered, easily breached, and there will be ticket clipping all along the way. It’s not just a bad idea in theory, it’s being spearheaded by a guy who couldn’t even run a profitable casino. It will be a case study in poor implementation.

            • Sabine 15.1.1.1.2.2
              14 January 2019 at 8:49 pm

              Quote” The Berlin Wall worked. Only small numbers got over the wall, just as Trump and boarder security says it lowers numbers by more than 90%. ”

              I am pleased that you admit that the tactic of the Eastern German regime to lock up one half of the german population behind walls, fences, no mans land, mine strips, watch towers, armed men and self shooting system managed to keep its populace and keep them locked up worked.

              so what you are saying is that the sthitstain does not want to keep the southern americans out, but rather that he is trying to lock up the US American population. You know what, i agree with you on that one. Go Figure.

              as for your idea that ‘only small numbers’ got over the wall, let me assure you that no ‘numbers’ got over the wall, only people did. And people died.
              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall#Defection_attempts

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_attempts_and_victims_of_the_inner_German_border

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Peter_Fechter

              • DJ Ward …
                14 January 2019 at 9:27 pm

                Regions of Birth of present illegal residents.
                Mexico and Central America 7,593,000 67%
                Caribbean 351,000 3%
                South America 685,000 6%
                Europe/Canada/Oceania 579,000 5%
                Asia 1,774,000 16%
                Africa 318,000 3%

                So it’s a global assault on the boarder.

                I don’t think anybody in the US other than TDS celebrities want to leave the US. Oops they lied, backtracked, and looked stupid.

                I also have watched a few videos on point to the nation on the world map videos. Some don’t even know where the US is. How could they possibly escape.

            • Jenny - How to get there? 15.1.1.1.2.3
              15 January 2019 at 6:46 am

              Wow?

              Really?

              Does the illegal immigrant just walk through the wall or do they have to do something else. DJ Ward

              Something else

          • Dennis Frank 15.1.1.1.3
            14 January 2019 at 8:51 pm

            Two sides to every story: “Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the number of border walls between nations has more than quadrupled. According to Elisabeth Valet, a researcher at the University of Quebec, there are more than 65 walls currently standing or under construction.” http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=14542

            “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised Trump’s idea for a wall as a “great idea” and a “great success,” claiming on Twitter that his own wall “has stopped all illegal immigration.” While Israel’s wall has definitely not stopped all illegal immigration, it has assisted in cutting it down significantly. According to statistics published by Israel’s Ministry of the Interior, 17,000 African immigrants entered the state illegally in 2011. However, in 2013, after the completion of the wall, the number fell to a mere 43.”

            Btw, better to see me as devil’s advocate on this issue, than someone who wants walls. Some walls are better than others: “Egypt has also erected a massive steel barricade with Gaza. Unlike the Israeli wall, which is more of a fence, the Egyptian barrier is definitely a wall; the barrier is made of bombproof, super strength steel which cannot be cut or melted, and extends an astounding 20 meters underground. In fact, the Egyptian wall is one of the few that can be delineated from space.”

            “Moving even farther west from Egypt, one runs into the border fence of Spain—a 7-mile steel structure that blocks immigration from Morocco. In 2014, 2,100 immigrants successfully crossed from Morocco into Spain, but the fence reduced this number substantially to approximately 100 in 2015.”

            • Macro 15.1.1.1.3.1
              14 January 2019 at 9:41 pm

              Trump is talking 2000 miles of wall not 7 miles or even a 100. There is already an existing fence that is around 700 miles in length. Overseeing the border are drones, surveillance cameras, constant patrols and barriers. Persons attempting to enter the US illegally by simply crossing the southern border are far fewer than what Trump or DJW here alleging. The largest number of illegal immigrants actually enter the US legally on short term visas and then out stay their visa. Even so, the numbers of overstayers has been dropping in recent years.

              When it comes to people in the country without proper documentation, the majority of them didn’t cross the Mexican border at all. Most of them came to the United States legally — but then don’t leave.

              About 700,000 travelers to the United States overstayed their visas in fiscal 2017, the most recent year for which the Department of Homeland Security has published figures. DHS estimated that, as of Sept. 30, 2017, the end of that fiscal year, more than 600,000 of those travelers were still in the U.S.

              During that same year, there were just 300,000 apprehensions along the Southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection

              https://www.npr.org/2019/01/10/683662691/where-does-illegal-immigration-mostly-occur-heres-what-the-data-tell-us

              • DJ Ward …
                15 January 2019 at 12:25 am

                So how is that 300,000 acceptable?
                You didn’t explain that.

                So if the numbers can be reduced so easily as in the Israeli example, and all the other walls it must be a good idea.

                Trump has an obligation to stop illegal immigration.
                It’s illegal.

                Here’s some Democrat hypocracy, and idiocy.

                Trump we want you to not act against crimes, illegal acts, and stoping our drugs. We need them. They’re foreigners and want to secretly cross the boarder and help us in the elections. Please don’t act with integrity. Your the President. Don’t bring shame on your Presidency. Obama was a great President, follow his example. Seperate children from parents, send ICE to get everybody, ang get funding for more walls and boarder security. Oh , ah, shit.

        • North 15.1.1.2
          14 January 2019 at 1:02 pm

          Donald J. Ward engaging the weirdest projection.

          • DJ Ward 15.1.1.2.1
            14 January 2019 at 1:34 pm

            After endless hours of watching fake news I’m not supprised you are finding things like reality and the truth so weird.

  16. ken 16
    13 January 2019 at 6:22 pm

    Build the wall, stop Mexicans crossing the border…….then try and work out who is going to pick all the fruit and veggies, and do the housewotk for below minimum wage.

    • DJ Ward 16.2
      14 January 2019 at 9:54 am

      He has stated he is willing to create work visa deals for farmers or similar. He has no problem with temporary immigration for worker shortages. He just wants it legal. Similar to our NZ examples.

      • ken 16.2.1
        14 January 2019 at 12:38 pm

        The problem is that farmers will have to pay legal immigrants legal wages.

        • DJ Ward 16.2.2.1
          14 January 2019 at 6:09 pm

          Please read, or have evidence Sabine before making defamatory statements.

          Firstly the workers were being paid.
          The workers were themselves knowingly working illegally.
          They are clearly anti Trump.

          But the most important thing. You must have missed this bit.

          “She and Diaz alleged supervisors at the club helped them evade authorities to keep their jobs. But there is no evidence that Trump or executives at the Trump Organization knew about this.”

          So since they are illegal, and it’s the Trump Organisation policy not to hire illegal workers how does this work?
          Since they are trying to get citizenship, do they have any motive to lie about how they got, and illegally used documents to work. A crime.

          No, not me officer, honest.

          It was the supervisor, who has no motive.

          • Sabine 16.2.2.1.1
            14 January 2019 at 7:58 pm

            .

            you still have issues with taking responsibility for once actions? Blame someone else for everything you do?

            • DJ Ward 16.2.2.1.1.1
              14 January 2019 at 9:01 pm

              They entered the country illegally. They knowingly broke the law. Nobody else. I assure you, I was not involved.

              It’s possible the superviser is part of an illegal immigrant worker syndicate but they never suggested they were paying the supervisor a fee. Without the kickback I can’t see what the motive for the superviser is. So there story doesn’t add up.

    • Sabine 16.3
      14 January 2019 at 1:34 pm

      i can’t wait for the white working male and his wife – you know those with economic anxiety – to be forced to take up fruit picking jobs elsewhere or else loose their food stamps, medical care etc etc etc.

      Can’t wait for it.

      Cause you see they could already do so now if they need jobs, but they don’t cause that is not the jobs they want.

      • DJ Ward 16.3.1
        14 January 2019 at 1:36 pm

        Trump is doing so goodly at creating jobs for the working class, his voting base that they no longer need food stamps. They have jobs now.

        • arkie 16.3.1.1
          14 January 2019 at 1:40 pm

          Even with jobs they still need assistance:

          SNAP (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) helps millions of Americans put food on the table each month. While two-thirds of participants are children, elderly, and people with disabilities, who are not expected to work, SNAP also helps workers, both to supplement low wages and support them when they are between jobs.

          https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/most-working-age-snap-participants-work-but-often-in-unstable-jobs

        • Sabine 16.3.1.2
          14 January 2019 at 7:58 pm

          got any links to support your claims or are you just pulling these out of the long drop?

        • Morrissey 16.3.1.3
          15 January 2019 at 6:37 pm

          Te Reo, I know we’re not supposed to call this fellow stupid or anything like that. But what CAN we do with him? He’s a vexatious and irritating presence on this board, contributing nothing but bizarre untruths.

          It’s like he’s the product of some horrific union between Donald J Trump and Theresa May.

          • Andre 16.3.1.3.1
            15 January 2019 at 6:44 pm

            Just treat it as an opportunity for insight into the worldview of others, and ponder that some others view your offerings with the same kind of horrified fascination.

            • Morrissey 16.3.1.3.1.1
              15 January 2019 at 7:03 pm

              Are you trying to be funny or clever, or both? Don’t, don’t and don’t. You’re not up to it.

              Haven’t you got some conspiracist anti-Russian paranoia to watch on CNN?

              • McFlock …
                15 January 2019 at 7:36 pm

                It is actually a serious position to take, moz.

                It’s an interesting and sometimes valuable exercise to put one’s beliefs aside and genuinely try to see something from another person’s perspective. It doesn’t often change my own opinions of the issue, but it can change my opinions of the person and why they believe it. It’s easy to be trite and write them off as stupid, crazy, or duplicitous, but rational peole can have a completely different perspective from one’s own. And that’s a valuable thing. It’s why I still often have time for Bill, for example, even though these days I completely disagree with him on several issues. Whereas other commenters (some now on permabans) are just egos writing cheques their trousers can’t cash.

                Now, I grant you that DJW is a particularly challenging individual to try to understand, but the principle is sound.

          • te reo putake 16.3.1.3.2
            15 January 2019 at 7:13 pm

            Crikey! What’s Theresa May ever done to you?

            The answer is simple, Moz. Point out the stupidity in the comments and leave the commenter alone. Play the ball, not the man, as no one coaching rugby has said, ever.

            • Morrissey 16.3.1.3.2.1
              15 January 2019 at 9:16 pm

              I know, Te Reo, I know. I know, I know, I know.

              Well, here goes. This one goes out to Mr Ward…..

    • DJ Ward 17.1
      14 January 2019 at 5:53 pm

      How the hell is that fascist.

      You keep resorting to calling anybody agianst the morally corrupt Democrats fascists.
      You have no argument when you do that. Especially when the persons point of veiw is obviously not fascist.

      Plus his comment is factually correct.

      • joe90 17.1.1
        14 January 2019 at 6:29 pm

        Best you read up on how totalitarian thugs traditionally ascend to power via declarations of emergencies, special enabling laws, outlawing political parties and sweeping aside elected politicians they deem recalcitrant.

        • DJ Ward 17.1.1.1
          14 January 2019 at 7:53 pm

          So you don’t know what Totalitarian meens then.

          If an emergency is declared, and he has made it clear he would prefer it not happen as he prefers doing a consential deal with the Dems it would be limited to building a wall. It’s not like the military would be walking the streets. Manning the boarder maybe, but that’s nothing to do with complete subservience to the State. That’s virtually always a socialist thing. Like National Socialist, or communism. The action is to an external threat, not an internal one.

          Obama declared an emergency. Was he Totalitarian too. He was definately a warmonger. Libya and Syria. Far from deserving of a Peace Prize. Less people died in that event than 1 week of drug deaths caused by boarder crossings.

          When has Trump suggested outlawing Democracy?
          He has never attempted to remove any elected official. He just makes fun of them and calls a spade a spade. IE if they are useless he says so. He gets to say it a lot.

          An honest politician. Maybe because they are so rare you can’t comprehend it when you see it.

          Have you consulted anyone about your irrational paranoia on this issue. That’s a gigantic leap to suggest he intends to make himself President for life like the China leader. That’s what a Totalitarian State looks like. He has even stated he prefers limiting the number of terms people in office can serve just like the president. Plus he has made it clear 2 terms is enough for a President.

        • francesca 17.1.1.2
          15 January 2019 at 8:55 am

          Hmm
          Declaring emrgencies, postponing elections, shutting down news orgs
          Sounds like Poroshenko in Ukraine
          Joe, you’ve finally spotted it!

          • joe90 17.1.1.2.1
            15 January 2019 at 1:39 pm

            A reasonable response to separatist rebels and their imperialist backer’s malignant interference.

      • Morrissey 17.1.2
        15 January 2019 at 2:48 pm

        “How the hell is that fascist.”

        It’s official: You are the stupidest person on this forum.

        [Calling people stupid is pointless abuse, Morrissey, which is not really on. The lone exception being if Professor Longhair critiques one of his former students, which we’ll allow just for shits and giggles. TRP]

      • Jenny - How to get there? 17.1.3
        15 January 2019 at 7:22 pm

        ‘

        DJ, What in your opinion will “Sweeping aside” entail?

    • Morrissey 18.1
      15 January 2019 at 1:43 pm

      Bernstein used to be great once. Like James Watson, he’s less than impressive now.

      • North 18.1.1
        15 January 2019 at 3:38 pm

        “Bernstein used to be great once…..” Morrissey ? Thank you Oh Lord !
        You do understand it’s the way of things that repeated ‘default Trumpism’ ultimately raise questions about those whose reflex it is ? Poor Hillary…..here she is thinking she’s all washed up with no legacy at all to speak of. But No ! Sweeping know-it-all-ism in a remote corner of the South Pacific suggests otherwise.

  19. North 19
    15 January 2019 at 11:35 am

    Pays to treat everything posted here by Donald J. Ward as the angry ranting of a needy cultist. A reliable indicator of that; somewhere above a straightfaced Donald J. Ward recommends Donald J. Trump as a fine role model……wait for it……for children. Ask yourself……

    Oh dear, when I catch up with my long departed parents I must remonstrate sternly for their cruelly misconceived exhortations of 60 plus years ago that no good can come of trucking with bellicose bullies, moral thugs, pathological liars, crooks. Such defects are signal in Donald J. Trump. Whom seriously maintains otherwise ? Still……how my parents misled me. How shockingly-ill they fitted me for life. How do I know ? Well definitionally Donald J. Ward says so. Wow ! There is cult shit going on here alright.

    • Macro 19.1
      15 January 2019 at 2:05 pm

      👍

    • Andre 19.2
      15 January 2019 at 2:47 pm

      It’s a fascinating insight into the intracranial malfunction of a diehard Trumpkin.

      • Macro 19.2.1
        15 January 2019 at 4:58 pm

        There is a new name for Trumpkins – Wallnuts
        😈

        • McFlock 19.2.1.1
          15 January 2019 at 5:11 pm

          Well, that’s fucking depressing. Paulie was pretty much the only confirmed survivor of that family, wasn’t he? Everyone else either in jail or dead (or at least not confirmed alive 🙂 )?

          • Macro 19.2.1.1.1
            15 January 2019 at 5:23 pm

            Actually it’s quite pertinent

            On November 9, 2016, just a few minutes after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, a man named Vyacheslav Nikonov approached a microphone in the Russian State Duma (their equivalent of the US House of Representatives) and made a very unusual statement.

            “Dear friends, respected colleagues!” Nikonov said. “Three minutes ago, Hillary Clinton admitted her defeat in US presidential elections, and a second ago Trump started his speech as an elected president of the United States of America, and I congratulate you on this.”

            Nikonov is a leader in the pro-Putin United Russia Party and, incidentally, the grandson of Vyacheslav Molotov — after whom the “Molotov cocktail” was named. His announcement that day was a clear signal that Trump’s victory was, in fact, a victory for Putin’s Russia.

            From Trump’s ties to the Russian mafia go back 3 decades

  22. Macro 22
    15 January 2019 at 4:46 pm

    Here is the Answer!

    Thoughts and Prayers

    • Macro 23.1
      15 January 2019 at 8:42 pm

      Here is an op ed piece by Richard Painter, Former GOP Lawyer under GWB, and Leanne Watt, a psychologist.

      Some anti-Trump Republicans increasingly believe there’s more to it than extreme party loyalty – and they’re increasingly being vocal about it. They worry that some GOP congressional members defend Trump while also believing he’s a danger to both U.S. economic interests and national security.

      These Trump critics believe, in short, that at least a handful of prominent congressional Republicans are compromised by Russia, just like Trump.

      In an opinion essay penned as voters went to the polls last November, they say they applied “political and psychological insights, as well as Occam’s razor – the reasoning principle used by scientists and academics that states that the most obvious explanation is usually the correct one – [to make] an evidence-based case” against some of the foremost Republican members of Congress.

      Below are the U.S. representatives and senators who Painter and Watt fear are compromised:

      Lindsey Graham

      Long an institutionalist, Graham began to mimic Trump’s criticism of a “Deep State” and a corrupt FBI out to get the president.

      We know that Senator Graham’s emails were stolen by the Russians

      Mitch McConnell

      They add that between 2015 and 2017, McConnell’s Super-PAC received $3.5 million from “a Russian-American oligarch with close ties to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

      Devin Nunes

      Write Painter and Watt: “There is no logical reason for Nunes to go so far in trying to obstruct the Russian investigation unless he has something personal at stake.”

      Note: there is a family vineyard that he owns, and I believe it is funded by some Russians.

      Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Steve Scalise

      Ryan, McCarthy and Scalise continued to back Nunes as House intelligence committee chairman despite Nunes’ questionable actions. They also sidestepped legislative efforts to shore up election security for the 2018 midterms and protect the Mueller investigation.

      Plus, write Painter and Watt, “Ryan was instrumental in stalling and weakening the Russia sanctions bill … doing a solid for Putin, rather than doling out the appropriate consequences and protecting the United States’ interests against an enemy combatant.”

      Still, they point out that the continued support of these prominent Republicans for Trump simply makes no sense, considering the damage Trump is doing to the “GOP brand” and that “Vice President [Mike] Pence would be Trump’s inevitable successor” if Congress removed Trump via impeachment and Senate conviction.

      “On the surface,” they write, “ushering in a President Pence would appear to be both a brilliant and logical move for the Republicans. … [Congressional Republicans’] failure to create this change suggests that something outside the realm of normal politics cements Republican leaders to Donald Trump.”

      https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/g66l-2019/01/57b774c5098316/congressional-republicans-also-caught-by-russia-so-protect-trump-exgop-white-house-lawyer.html

      • Andre 23.1.1
        15 January 2019 at 9:06 pm

        ” … ushering in a President Pence would appear to be both a brilliant and logical move for the Republicans … ”

        That’s forgetting the ‘when someone hits you hit them back ten times as hard’. They’re just cowering in fear of a vengeful Trumpzilla stomping on their asses with the wrath of millions of scorned Drumpfkins in their next primary.

        • Macro 23.1.1.1
          15 January 2019 at 9:53 pm

          Well yep there is that. In the meantime the GOP is slowly disintegrating as the more rational amongst them loose faith because reality fails to coincide with the baloney.

  24. Andre 24
    15 January 2019 at 8:29 pm

    I’m really curious what’s going on with Macro’s video link at 15.1. It’s regularly updating to some new vid taking the piss from Donny Tantrump. So far it’s given me a Kimmel, 2 or 3 Colberts, 2 or 3 Meyers. I’m grateful for the lolz even though it’s a helluva timesuck, but I’m really curious, can you now link to Youtube playlists or something?

    • Macro 24.1
      15 January 2019 at 8:47 pm

      yeah! I’ve been wondering wtf too. It was supposed to be a link to Seth Meyers monologue on tRumps visit to the border.
      When it all gets too much I have to resort to some sensible commentary from Seth, Trevor N, and Stephen C. Brings it all back to reality.

  25. Edward J Max 25
    25 January 2019 at 2:06 am

    President Trump has been talking with the ACOE for a year. As Commander-In-Chief, he needs to direct the Army to build the wall. The DOD has plenty of $ for this effort.