The US being close to the UK (and the other english-speaking countries) is nothing new. An agreement between May and Dump was obvious. (because they speak the same language->>> five eyes).
American Politics thread: No Nazis Allowed
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Tuesday Group chairman: 'We're completely relevant'
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/335526-tuesday-group-co-chairman-were-completely-relevant?amp
The Tuesday Group's chairman argues in a new interview that the informal caucus of moderate Republicans is still "completely relevant" in the wake of the resignation of one of its leaders.
"We've always been relevant because we're the governing wing of the party. Our leadership needs us to get anything done," Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) told the*Washington Examiner.
"Anytime they need to get something done of consequence, we're the people that are seen as the ones… leading the coalition to enact these types of measures. That's always the case. So we're extremely relevant and they need to pay attention to us."
Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) resigned as a co-chairman of the Tuesday Group last week, following his negotiations on the GOP's healthcare plan.
Many members of the Tuesday Group thought MacArthur was pulling the bill too far to the right and that he shouldn't be negotiating with the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
MacArthur told members while resigning last week that he thinks the Tuesday Group is divided and not committed to finding solutions to problems.
"For two years, I listened in meetings as some in the Tuesday Group complained about the group's lack of relevance and inability to get things done. I ran for co-chairman of Tuesday Group because I felt I could help change that - both in perception and reality - and move the ball forward on a number of key issues," MacArthur told group members during their weekly meeting.
"While some embraced my efforts as co-chairman, others have bristled. Clearly, our group is divided. Many in the Tuesday Group are eager to live up to our ideal of being problem-solvers, while others seem unwilling to compromise. The recent healthcare debate was illustrative," MacArthur said
Also, A few notes from today's https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2017/05/29/Day-130/ that I'm not certain have come up yet:
Trump is considering big changes at the White House in an effort to contain the escalating Russia investigation that threatens to consume his presidency. “Everything is in play,” an advisor said. Trump may bring back a trio of former campaign officials (Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie and David Urban) to handle communications and political duties related to the Russia investigation, and – shockingly – he’s even considering having lawyers vet his tweets.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-considers-major-changes-amid-escalating-russia-crisis/2017/05/27/44d1a016-4230-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-eyeing-white-house-shakeup-1495831679NSA chief: “I would not be concerned” by backchannel communications with Russia. H.R. McMaster didn’t specifically comment on the controversy surrounding Kushner.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/27/politics/jared-kushner-russia-gary-cohn-hr-mcmaster/The Senate Intelligence Committee wants all of Trump’s Russia-related documents, emails and phone records going back to his campaign’s launch in June 2015. It’s the first time that Trump’s official campaign structure has been drawn into the Senate committee’s ongoing bipartisan investigation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/05/26/senate-intelligence-committee-requests-trump-campaign-documents/The Trump campaign likely didn’t preserve digital documents. “You’d be giving us too much credit,” a former aide said. “The idea of document retention did not come up. The idea of some formal structure did not come up.” Failure to keep track of emails, messages and other records could expose Trump’s current and former aides to criminal charges down the line.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/27/trump-russia-probe-risk-238878Tourism to the US has declined 11% since Trump took office, hitting a low of 16% in March
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/tourism-u-s-has-been-decline-trump-took-office-n764206 -
On France:
To be honest, that article with Macron saying 'I held his hand longer, that wasn't innocent', is just complete gobbledy-goop. Perhaps Macron's words made sense in French, but what exactly was he trying to achieve with a 'long handshake'? Just… Ugh! Come on, what are these leaders, children? There's no way holding someone's hand for a longer than normal amount of time will affect their policy choices, other than perhaps making France look bad in Trump's petty eyes.
On Merkel:
As for Merkel's comments, I really... how do I put this? I don't trust the Guardian to report honestly what Merkel actually said in German, without twisting it. The headlines sounds really really antagonistic... She said 'the EU must take its fate in its own hands' and 'the time for relying on eachother is, to a certain extent, over'. Which I guess does make sense in a context where the US is saying 'pay up for NATO' and 'Fuck climate change', while the UK is going 'fuck the EU'. But does that translate to not being able to rely on the US and the UK? Not necessarily... her words are a little more nuanced than that. She also said they'd strive for good relations with the US, UK and Russia regardless. It's not Merkel's style to be outwardly antagonistic to the UK, she's more of a diplomatic leader, she doesn't do that kind of powerplay thing. That's Junker's job.
Addendum ranting about EU:
Either way, I still maintain the EU is a big ugly monster, and from the European perspective, they brought brexit upon themselves. It's a real pity that it couldn't be just a freedom of movement, services and labour without all the clunky ugly bureoucracy, the undemocratic law-making and the judicial activism at the ECJ's level, constantly removing EU countries' sovereignty while ignoring the limits of the treaties...
On Agent Orange:
Yeah fuck that guy. Fuck his stupid anti-climate change stance, fuck him for not understanding how the EU tariff system works (germans bad, sell too many cars to brussels, bad!) when ALL EU COUNTRIES HAVE THE SAME TARIFF SYSTEM! It's a bloody glorified FTA you big oaf. And fuck him for acting like a douche with the president of Montenegro. Poor guys are irrelevant as it is, no need to act like a pompous peacock around the leaders Trump.
Lastly, on the UK election:
Go lib dems… :ninja:
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The EU is such an undemocratic entity that every single law passed through the commision requires unanimous support from all 28 democratically elected national governments.
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On France:
To be honest, that article with Macron saying 'I held his hand longer, that wasn't innocent', is just complete gobbledy-goop. Perhaps Macron's words made sense in French, but what exactly was he trying to achieve with a 'long handshake'? Just… Ugh! Come on, what are these leaders, children? There's no way holding someone's hand for a longer than normal amount of time will affect their policy choices, other than perhaps making France look bad in Trump's petty eyes.
Trump is. He's been noted on more than one occasion to pull the "intimidating handshake" gambit on other leaders. That's why Marcon did what he did. To make it clear he was having none of it. Trump's obsessed with seeming strong, often without an idea of what being strong actually means. So he pulls stuff like this. In his eyes you look either bad, weak, or useful. Marcon picked the first.
The EU is such an undemocratic entity that every single law passed through the commision requires unanimous support from all 28 democratically elected national governments.
I confess I'm not a hundred percent certain if you're being as sarcastic as it seems you are, right there.
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I am contesting the false widespread idea that the EU is an autocratic superstate, so yes I am being sarcastic.
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I am contesting the false widespread idea that the EU is an autocratic superstate, so yes I am being sarcastic.
I'd direct you to the ECJ's numerous decisions involving the extent to which the treaties can be read. What you find is that the EU countries sign a treaty, agree to keep quite a large number of powers, and then the ECJ comes along and essentially gobbles up massive swathes of statecontrolled competences by reading the treaties in the widest way possible.
Direct effect of Regulations? (EU laws directly apply in member states without state legislation being necessary) ECJ created that.
Direct effect of Directives (which direct states to create laws of things)? Also an ECJ creation.
Indirect Effect? (non-EU laws must be read in compliance with EU law, even when the matter is not related to EU matters per-se, but rather only briefly touches upon an EU competence) Also an ECJ creation.Yes, the EU countries then ratified these ECJ creations into treaties, but that's not really the point. The ECJ keeps on taking EU treaties, applying the widest possible interpretation, and there is no recourse systemfor countries to contest this occurance because the ECJ is a final court of appeal and never undoes its own decisions, nor can it be contested by any national court.
I genuinely have no problem with the FTA and Free movement principles of the EU. (Okay maybe I'm a little against unlimited free movement, but it's not my biggest concern).
What I do have a problem with on the legislative side of things is that the system isn't really accountable. You, voter, cannot know what is going on behind closed doors, nor can you know which country is pushing what at the commission stage. You, voter, can't vote against the EU 'government' should it pass laws you do not like. Sure, you could vote against your own party in your home state, but then perhaps you'd have to vote for a shitty party when it comes to home affairs. If the EU does something you don't like, you can't exactly vote your home government out of office to change things at an EU level. The EU parliament is the only place where you can select your representatives, and it's plagued with anti-EU people because it's the only way people who don't like the EU overextending its political powers can vote to change that is by voting in people who are outwardly anti EU. That's why the UK has a tory government, no UKIP members of parliament, but the has a massive amount of UKIP MEPs.
Essentially its a bad system, it's worthy of the label 'undemocratic', and it's a just a bit sad that the EU states can't fall back into a nice free trade, services and labour cohesion that doesn't require a supranational lawmaking organisation with bureocracy in the place of a functional government that can be voted in or out.
I'd really rather a single European Suprastate with sensible accountabilty to the people than what we have now. What we have currently is just bad.
EDIT: also, I may be wrong about this, but I'm fairly sure that most laws don't require all 28 states' support to pass. It was changed after the treaty of Nice to QMV instead, for the sake of expedience (because getting 28 states to agree is hellish). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_the_Council_of_the_European_Union (see the table at the bottom referring to voting changes to QMV from unanimity)
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The US being close to the UK (and the other english-speaking countries) is nothing new. An agreement between May and Dump was obvious. (because they speak the same language->>> five eyes).
Language has nothing to do with this, its the mix of the Tories chaining themselves to Brexit under May, and the already NATO/EU skeptic Trump in charge. If you guys had elected Le Pen she would be in the same clique. If Hillary had won our election, or even a garden variety conservative, this situation would not look quite like this. Odds are we'd be playing more of a middle peacekeeping role, rather than the totally out there moron role of Trump.
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@Monkey:
Language has nothing to do with this, its the mix of the Tories chaining themselves to Brexit under May, and the already NATO/EU skeptic Trump in charge. If you guys had elected Le Pen she would be in the same clique. If Hillary had won our election, or even a garden variety conservative, this situation would not look quite like this. Odds are we'd be playing more of a middle peacekeeping role, rather than the totally out there moron role of Trump.
Would you look at that, for once I fully agree with you :ninja:
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Trump is. He's been noted on more than one occasion to pull the "intimidating handshake" gambit on other leaders. That's why Marcon did what he did. To make it clear he was having none of it. Trump's obsessed with seeming strong, often without an idea of what being strong actually means. So he pulls stuff like this. In his eyes you look either bad, weak, or useful. Marcon picked the first.
I know Trump is a kid. What concerns me is that Macron is stooping to his level. 'Ooo, this will work, I'm so smart, holding his hand for long like he does to other leaders. He'll take us seriously now'. I mean… really?
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I know Trump is a kid. What concerns me is that Macron is stooping to his level. 'Ooo, this will work, I'm so smart, holding his hand for long like he does to other leaders. He'll take us seriously now'. I mean… really?
I'm not sure the message was really meant for Trump himself. More of an overall "ain't putting up with this, nosiree"
That said I think you have a point. There's a quote (I think Mark Twain) that you never try to compete with a moron at their level because they'll beat you to death with experience.
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@Monkey:
Language has nothing to do with this, its the mix of the Tories chaining themselves to Brexit under May, and the already NATO/EU skeptic Trump in charge. If you guys had elected Le Pen she would be in the same clique. If Hillary had won our election, or even a garden variety conservative, this situation would not look quite like this. Odds are we'd be playing more of a middle peacekeeping role, rather than the totally out there moron role of Trump.
I said something similar somewhere on this forum. But the language factor is stil real though. This is something that exists whether it is with english language or another. How do yo explain the "five eyes" then ?
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I said something similar somewhere on this forum. But the language factor is stil real though. This is something that exists whether it is with english language or another. How do yo explain the "five eyes" then ?
Scroll down and notice that there are dozens of similarly nicknamed agreements completely ignoring language. Also notice that a complete native Anglophone thing would be "six eyes", unless you think Ireland is not anglophone.
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Is there really a big deal with this handshake ? He did the same thing with Shinzo Abe and we never talked about it later. Macron is just mentioning it because he needs to look "presidential", as a new and young leader to like he'll protect the interests of the country against the US (or Russia) if needed. And there are legislatives elections in 2weeks, he needs to look more and more modern by facing Trump, Poutine and Erdogan (to name a few).
In other words, he had no interest to look like Abe there
Anyway, it really doesn't put him in the same league as Trump. -
Is there really a big deal with this handshake ? He did the same thing with Shinzo Abe and we never talked about it later. Macron is just mentioning it because he needs to look "presidential", as a new and young leader to like he'll protect the interests of the country against the US (or Russia) if needed. And there are legislatives elections in 2weeks, he needs to look more and more modern by facing Trump, Poutine and Erdogan (to name a few).
In other words, he had no interest to look like Abe there
Anyway, it really doesn't put him in the same league as Trump.I think the difference here is that Macron made it uncomfortable, not Trump. With Abe it was Trump being Trump. Nobody expects anything of Trump anyway, so nobody even mentioned it. But Macron made it awkward here, and he then brought it up as a sort of 'political move' (pretty lofty one if you ask me). In my case, I'm just mocking Macron for thinking this was even something appropriate for adult heads of state should do to deal with 'the Trump problem' . What's next, stealing his wig to make Trumpy 'respect France?'
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@Monkey:
Scroll down and notice that there are dozens of similarly nicknamed agreements completely ignoring language. Also notice that a complete native Anglophone thing would be "six eyes", unless you think Ireland is not anglophone.
Yes, but still doesn't change that the language factor is real.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Macron made it uncomfortable, not Trump.
Is there really a difference? or are yo saying that Trum was going for a normal handshake and Macron behaved like an ass? anyways, this is really nothing. Let's just skip that.
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Yes, but still doesn't change that the language factor is real.
And not in the magic current philosophical alignment sense that you were implying earlier.
The idea that Canada and New Zealand fit into such a world view is absurd for instance. And that Canada IS a G7 member not mentioned in the earlier framing you seem to have ignored, and lol if that reason is because Trudeau is Quebecoise. -
The Daily Beast published an article afew days ago I thought was pretty interesting. It goes over financial records from 2015 dealing with stock owned by 40 Republican representatives who voted for the AHCA. 2016 financial records were not released yet, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a follow up story. Anyway, the article doesn't accuse anyone of any wrong-doing or foul play, but if you're curious, it does cite afew of the 40 representatives by name along with their investment shares in health-care companies.
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The real way to fuck with Trump would be to explicitly help him down some stairs.
Anyways, this is a small incident everyone will forget about before long. More than anything it's Macron setting the tone for how he wants to be seen rather than indicating what he's actually like. The possibility of increased cooperation between Canada and France is probably the bigger story in the long run.
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The real way to fuck with Trump would be to explicitly help him down some stairs.
Anyways, this is a small incident everyone will forget about before long. More than anything it's Macron setting the tone for how he wants to be seen rather than indicating what he's actually like. The possibility of increased cooperation between Canada and France is probably the bigger story in the long run.
Hah. Ushering him down a flight of stairs like a 90 year old grandma.
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Isn't a fear of stairs really common in dementia patients?
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Isn't a fear of stairs really common in dementia patients?
Is it? I have a slight paranoia especially if they're steep and there's no railing and I'm in heels…But maybe that's just self preservation instincts lol.
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Is it? I have a slight paranoia especially if they're steep and there's no railing and I'm in heels…But maybe that's just self preservation instincts lol.
Trump's pretty consistent in it no matter how gentle or short the staircase or slope. Remember that picture of him walking up about a eight foot hill with a man on every side of him?
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Trump's pretty consistent in it no matter how gentle or short the staircase or slope. Remember that picture of him walking up about a eight foot hill with a man on every side of him?
I don't remember seeing that. Still the stairs thing was not something I've heard associated with dementia.
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Isn't a fear of stairs really common in dementia patients?
I don't know if a fear of stairs is common but I do believe that the gradual loss of depth perception really fucks with their ability to use them safely
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Is there really a difference? or are yo saying that Trum was going for a normal handshake and Macron behaved like an ass? anyways, this is really nothing. Let's just skip that.
This is exactly what I'm saying. And he played it as a 'political move' to boot. lol.
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This is exactly what I'm saying. And he played it as a 'political move' to boot. lol.
Trump's handshake is atrocious. I don't see a problem with countering the way he did.
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Trump's handshake is atrocious. I don't see a problem with countering the way he did.
AfroSamurai's tradition of stalwart assured ignorant posts will not cease in the face of things he is unaware of.
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Trump's handshake is atrocious. I don't see a problem with countering the way he did.
It's petty and unneccessary and makes France look like shit? If Theresa May or Gentiloni had pulled that kind of stupid move, I'd be embarrassed, it's just so stupid. The whole point of meeting world leaders is diplomacy. Being an ass because the US president happens to also be an ass is not an excuse.
Similarly, Trump's hand things with the pope was perhaps the cringiest thing I've seen all week. God, it's just so creepy. Ugh. EDIT: nvm it's fake, thank god.
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It's petty and unneccessary and makes France look like shit? If Theresa May or Gentiloni had pulled that kind of stupid move, I'd be embarrassed, it's just so stupid. The whole point of meeting world leaders is diplomacy. Being an ass because the US president happens to also be an ass is not an excuse.
Similarly, Trump's hand things with the pope was perhaps the cringiest thing I've seen all week. God, it's just so creepy. Ugh.
He did a hand thing with the Pope? I saw a gif of the Pope slapping Trump's hand away. But that's not real.
I didn't see it as a bad thing. Trump is massively oblivious and doesn't understand humility. I think countering with a crushing handshake is fine if it prevents having your shoulder dislocated. I don't think less of France for it. Trump is a bully and kindness is wasted on him. Trump's tour (minus the Hawaiian shirt) revealed himself as the most Ugly American. It was massively embarrassing. And I'm glad the other leaders were having none of it.
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Didn't Trudeau do the same thing as Macron anyway?
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Didn't Trudeau do the same thing as Macron anyway?
Trudeau just resisted the tug, whereas Macron went out of his way to out-gorilla Trump and actively kept him from ending it.
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The thing is, a handshake was just a handshake until Trump's weird handshakes became headline news. The way Trump offers handshakes (or doesn't) makes the receivers look incredibly uncomfortable and awkward,
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so it's only natural for a leader of another country to not want to experience that.–--
Late, but:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/26/statement-president-donald-j-trump-ramadan
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We talkin bout handshakes, not a game, handshakes (and stairs)?
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Yuuuup o_o
That's pretty much why the Macron and Trudeau handshake was seen to be a big deal or whatever.
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Thing for world leaders to do now is troll Trump lol.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/335591-nordic-leaders-troll-trump-orb-photo
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What was the significance of that orb, anyway? Assuming there was some at all.
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What was the significance of that orb, anyway? Assuming there was some at all.
it's their collective lich phylactery
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What was the significance of that orb, anyway? Assuming there was some at all.
The orb was just a touch activated thing that started up some video they were watching.
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it's their collective lich phylactery
The orb was just a touch activated thing that started up some video they were watching.
Much as I'm enjoying the joke answers, I'm seriously asking if that orb was actually anything.
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Fearless leader suggests the opposite of his own Healthcare legislation would be better. Good for him figuring that out all on his own I guess.
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Much as I'm enjoying the joke answers, I'm seriously asking if that orb was actually anything.
Mine was not a joke answer.
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Mine was not a joke answer.
Oh, my apologies then. So it was basically just a decoration in a museum, then, if I'm reading that right?
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Oh, my apologies then. So it was basically just a decoration in a museum, then, if I'm reading that right?
Yup. Lol. No worries. I'm super amused you thought I was kidding though.
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Yup. Lol. No worries. I'm super amused you thought I was kidding though.
Happy to help. More seriously, I think it's a product of the current time that it's genuinely difficult to suss out jokes from the reality.
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but her emails
…annnd that's the new low. I keep thinking this is the end, and I keep explaining that I thought the last time was the end. But Trump keeps finding ways to disappoint. I'm impressed!
For some reason I wonder what his relationship with his father was like. I've never read into it if a book exists (I've ignored this man until he became President), but I feel like it ended in a series of disappointments too. Just a hunch.
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For some reason I wonder what his relationship with his father was like.
At his father's wake, Trump said:
“My father taught me everything I know. And he would understand what I’m about to say,” Mr. Trump announced to the room. “I’m developing a great building on Riverside Boulevard called Trump Place. It’s a wonderful project.”