US Politics

Nice to see Putin sticking his nose in.

I'm sure that won't backfire for Trump. No sireee...

"No politician in history has been treated worse or more unfairly."

I can think of quite a few who have actually, Donald. Quite a number of them were assassinated.

Trump now being blamed for a fall in the S&P 500 today. Things are not going well.

And we continue

Do you hate context? Links at the very least so we can work out our ourselves would be nice.

story above: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html

This is interesting

Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Is Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has appointed Robert S. Mueller III, the former F.B.I. director, to serve as a special counsel to oversee its investigation into Russian meddling in the election, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced on Wednesday.
...
While a special counsel would remain ultimately answerable to Mr. Rosenstein — and by extension, the president — he would have greater autonomy to run an investigation than a United States attorney would. Mr. Mueller will be able to choose to what extent to consult with or inform the Justice Department about his investigation as it goes forward.

Excellent article on Trump's tactics in the New Yorker;

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-the-comey-memo-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-trump

An entertaining piece on dickhead Brits (Mensch, Piers Morgan, Milo) who go over to America

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/07/the-brit-grifters-and-the-designated-american-suckers

“D.A.S.” (“Designated American Sucker”)

Yeah, very good.

And I learned a new word:

Satraps were the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.

The word satrap is also often used metaphorically in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are heavily influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates.

Meanwhile Pence has registered his own PAC (Political Action Committee).

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-17/pence-takes-steps-to-build-war-chest-as-white-house-stumbles

We can all agree that the state of gun control in the US is dumb, but this is pretty good:

Morgan used the program to hammer away at his hobbyhorse of gun control. Amazingly, American viewers did not cotton to a citizen of the nation from which their ancestors rebelled advocating the confiscation of their weapons, and Morgan’s ratings tanked.

Also:

Brits in America are “not like the other immigrants, who made it here as the cleverest, most adventurous in the village,” Gill observed a decade ago. “What you get are our failures and fantasists. The freshly redundant. The exposed and embittered.”

This is fun.

Farage has joined their ranks, too.
That's where the money is though, and it's easier to capitalise on the personality cult in that country.

Eg, Milo Yiannopoulos & Alex Jones. Both essentially just trolly performance artists that say ridiculous shit and get (or got) loads of attention for it. I think most people realise it's all an act now.

Katie Hopkins will be next.

You promise?

Well, my concern would be that we will get more of that kind of shift ourselves. I don't think we're likely to get an influx of Americans, but rather than our growing appetite for opinionated commentators means that we will give ever more airtime to these kinds of people. After all, we've taken back Piers Morgan, and rewarded him with a high-profile role on national TV.

That element of American culture has been creeping in. Combined with our government's continued disdain for people in general, increased privatisation, private security firms, demonisation of anything resembling left-wing in the media, rampant materialism etc, I think we're pretty set.

Not sure if this has been posted, basically the suggestion Trump may have early onset Alzheimer's based on comparisons of his current speech patterns vs speech patterns 30ish years ago.. seems plausible, also seen suggestions that an Alzheimers diagnosis maybe his get out of jail free card when/if everything finally catches up with him.

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/video-suggests-trump-suffering-alzheimers

Summary of research:
http://neurocritic.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/using-discourse-analysis-to-assess.html

Early onset? He's 70... Of course some of his neurons are a bit calcified. Not to mention he really doesn't take care of himself.

You must be mistaken. His doctor said he was the most healthyful President ever to assume office.

@Well_is_it yeah, i've phrased that wrong not 'early onset alzheimers' but the early symptoms of alzheimers.

My take on this is that Trump is a master of avoiding the consequences of his actions. He does this anyway he can, usually by bullying, buying off, counter attacking or distracting from what he has done.

Imagine how much of a distraction he could make as President. He has already launched cruise missiles into Syria, and I'm sure he noted the subsequent uptick in his support/ratings as well as how much it changed the story at the time.

Donald in full Twitter meltdown right now.

This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!

Yeah, hilarious. I had just been reading a story overnight about how it had been said Donny was going to be focusing on the issues, and responding in a more measured way to criticisms.