US Politics

This article about Mar-a-Lago - how Trump obtained it at a knock down price then waged war on all and sundry, including the town of Palm Beach itself, with lawsuits and bully boy tactics - seems to pretty much sum up Trump's 'business acumen'.

Said acumen seems largely to consist of a massive sense of entitlement and wearing people down until they feel they have no option but to give in.

In 2006 he sued the town over his American flag. Not just any flag, but a Trump-huge, stadium-size flag atop an 80-foot pole in front of Mar-a-Lago—double the height allowed by local ordinance. When Trump was fined $250 a day, he sued the town for $25 million. But when the fines for the flag reached $120,000, Trump finally moved the pole and lowered the height, while reaping some good publicity by promising to donate $100,000 to veterans’ charities.
“He always wins,” says an exasperated resident. “And now his club is the winter fucking White House.”

Grim. But a good read.

http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/12/how-donald-trump-beat-palm-beach-society-and-won-the-fight-for-mar-a-lago

Don't make them bring back spitting image.

Putin was excellent!

And there was this one (which is brilliant)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pRt4dFBkCA

I can't imagine it went down well at the White House.

so good...

http://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/2/11/14577834/garry-kasparov-putin-trump

This is fucking insanity.

I read that some of the journalists working on Snowden's leaked docs used to put their mobile phones in the fridge they were so paranoid about hacking of the phone cams. Here we have the inner circle waving mobiles at possibly classified material in a public dining room.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/12/politics/trump-shinzo-abe-mar-a-lago-north-korea/index.html

Then Trump crashed a wedding reception.

Has anybody mentioned the Trump hand shake thing yet?

Yeah, such a hacky, aggressive, "businessman" move.

https://youtu.be/-SSclEtLXJ8

Ha! Looks like Chris Christie actually fought back on that one.

Seriously though, it looks so weird and aggressive when he drags people towards him like that. I'd just let go and and call him out on it in front of everyone and make it super awkward.

I can't wait to see the Juncker-Trump handshake showdown.

I've noticed that. It's difficult to describe it as anything other than pathetic. Still, if you knew you were going to meet him, at least it would give you a reason to use one of those strange executive toy grip strengthener things so you could try to break the bones in his hand.

Handshake tactics like that are the middle management equivalent of using tips from a pickup artist. Excruciating and ultimately a sign that you're really quite insecure about your place in the world.

we're all gonna die lol. wtf were you thinking, rick?

/possibly not true caveat

WTF?! Those guys are meant to stay anon!

Maybe the real guy is anon, and some dumbass tourist got a selfie with a random uniform bloke carrying his sandwiches in a big lunchbox.
At Westminster, the policemen outside have an unofficial competition to see how many people they can get to believe made up shit. There is a big statue of Richard the Lionheart in the carpark, and American tourists are always told that Richard's horse was called Judy.

Trudeau takes a round in the World Wrist Wrestling championships

President Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House. https://t.co/n7TqA3VDnW pic.twitter.com/5TcpyDfZx5

— ABC News (@ABC) February 13, 2017

Pretty boy did OK I reckon

Would #rep

I was thinking this. If I were a world leader (I'm not at the moment) I'd be down my local dojo / dojang / whatever it's called in kung fu learning some sweet wrist locks to put him on his arse.

looks like trump pulled himself off balance.

trudeau had his game plan sorted. foot forwards for balance. hand on back of arm to prevent yanking.

9.5/10