Our President, the Little Big Man -Tom Engelhardt
 

[URL]https://www.thenation.com/article/president-little-big-man/[/URL]
[QUOTE] From his proposals on health care, to his tax plan, to his border wall, Trump is symptomatic of the nation he now “leads.”
He’s huge. Outsized. He fills the news hole at any moment of any day. His over-tanned face glows unceasingly in living rooms across America. Never has a president been quite so big. So absolutely monstrous. Or quite so small.[/QUOTE][QUOTE]
He’s our Little Big Man.
I know, I know… he induces panic, fear, anxiety, insomnia. Shrinks in liberal America will tell you that, since November 2016, their patients are more heavily medicated and in worse shape. He’s a nightmare, a unique monster. It’s been almost two years since he first entered the presidential race and in all that time I doubt there’s been a moment when the cameras haven’t been trained on him, when he wasn’t “breaking news.” (By May 2016, he had already reportedly received the equivalent in “[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-mammoth-advantage-in-free-media.html"]earned media[/URL]” of [URL="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-has-gotten-nearly-3-billion-in-free-advertising-2016-05-06"]nearly $3 billion[/URL] in free advertising.) He and his endless controversial statements, flubs, tweets, lies, insults, boasts, tales from outer space, and over-the-moon [URL="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/23/donald-trumps-speech-features-superlatives/"]adjectives[/URL] are covered daily the way, once upon a time, only Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination was.
Think of him as the end of the world as we, or maybe anyone, including Vladimir Putin, knew it. To me, that means one thing, even though most of you won’t agree: I think we owe Donald Trump a small bow of thanks and a genuine debt of gratitude. He’s teaching us something invaluable, something we probably wouldn’t have grasped without him. He’s teaching us just how deeply disturbed our American world actually is, or he wouldn’t be where he is.
[/QUOTE]

o Re. the hysterical headlines today about Trump pulling out of the Paris Accords, e.g.

[url=http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-93467359/]Tesla’s Elon Musk and Disney’s Robert Iger quit Trump advisory councils, citing climate change[/url] | LA Times

Not to defend the orange-haired satan, but a whole lotta what is commonly referred to as 'virtue signaling' in there - especially the last sentence. Yes indeedy, 'because the folks at Goldman Sachs care deeply about climate change, rather than Mammon-worship'.

Obama as always talked a great game on climate change, but only signed on to the Paris Accords - and in a legally nonbinding manner - in the waning months of his presidency, as [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/06/01/the-u-s-cant-quit-the-paris-climate-agreement-because-it-never-actually-joined/]even the folks at WaPo acknowledge[/url]. And if the U.S. leadership really wanted to cut US CO2 emissions, how about starting by downsizing that massive fossil-fuel [and nuclear, which begs the question of how the Navy is disposing of all that nuclear waste] energy user, the DoD?

Maybe I'm too cynical in my wacky focus on actual policy? More -

o [url=https://theintercept.com/2017/06/01/will-trumps-slow-mo-walkaway-world-in-flames-behind-him-finally-provoke-consequences-for-planetary-arson/]Will Trump’s Slow-Mo Walkaway, World in Flames Behind Him, Finally Provoke Consequences for Planetary Arson?[/url] | Naomi Klein, The Intercept
[quote]Now that it seems virtually certain that Donald Trump will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, and the climate movement is quite rightly mobilizing in the face of this latest dystopian lurch, it’s time to get real about something: Pretty much everything that is weak, disappointing, and inadequate about that deal is the result of U.S. lobbying since 2009.

The fact that the agreement only commits governments to keeping warming below an increase of 2 degrees, rather than a much safer firm target of 1.5 degrees, was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that the agreement left it to individual nations to determine how much they were willing to do to reach that temperature target, allowing them to come to Paris with commitments that collectively put us on a disastrous course towards more than 3 degrees of warming, was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that the agreement treats even these inadequate commitments as non-binding, which means governments apparently do not have anything to fear if they ignore their commitments, is something else that was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that the agreement specifically prohibits poor countries from seeking damages for the costs of climate disasters was lobbied for and won by the United States.

The fact that it is an “agreement” or an “accord” and not a treaty — the very thing that makes it possible for Trump to stage his action-movie slow-mo walk away, world in flames behind him — was lobbied for and won by the United States.[/quote]

o And on a LULZ-note related to the very serious issue that the real election fraud last Fall was in the Dem primaries which all the ginned-up Russia! Russia! hysteria is designed to distract attention from - I won't annotate the following link because the URL makes it kinda self-explanatory:

[url]http://ibankcoin.com/zeropointnow/2017/06/01/debbie-wasserman-schultz-uses-voice-changer-to-call-law-firm-suing-dnc-forgets-to-disable-caller-id/[/url]

o Lastly, speaking of denial-is-not-a-river-in-Egypt-ness: [url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-lacks-the-remorse-of-conscience-1496359405]Hillary Lacks the Remorse of Conscience[/url] | Peggy Noonan, WSJ - paywalled, but a reader helpfully posted a full-text copy on a discussion board [url=http://investordiscussionboard.com/boards/jstone/no-apparent-remorse-concscience]here[/url].

There was a [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_Trump"]Tour de Trump[/URL]....
[QUOTE]. During the eight-year history of the race as both the Tour de Trump and the Tour DuPont, it was won twice by the Mexican rider Raúl Alcalá and twice by the American Lance Armstrong. The race was cited as evidence of Richmond, Virginia's ability to host international cycle racing when the city successfully bid for the 2015 UCI Road World Championships.

Origins as the Tour de Trump
The race was originally sponsored by Donald Trump and known as the "Tour de Trump" in 1989 and 1990.[1] The idea for the race was conceived by CBS Sports reporter John Tesh, who had covered the 1987 Tour de France and on his return suggested holding a race in the United States to the basketball commentator and entrepreneur Billy Packer. Packer originally planned to call the race the Tour de Jersey. He approached representatives of casinos in Atlantic City for sponsorship, and Trump offered to be the race's primary sponsor and Packer's business partner in the venture. It was Packer who suggested the Tour de Trump name.[1] Speaking at the time of the start of the first Tour de Trump in May 1989, Trump himself stated that "When [the name] was initially stated, I practically fell out of my seat. I said, 'Are you kidding? I will get killed in the media if I use that name. You absolutely have to be kidding'". However, Trump reportedly changed his mind within 20 seconds, and was convinced by the commercial value of the name.[2]

[B]Trump's lawyers subsequently sent a "cease and desist" letter to the organizers of a bike race held in Aspen, Colorado called the Tour de Rump. The letter stated: "You are using the name and mark Tour de Rump in connection with an 'inaugural' cycling event. Your use of that name and mark is likely to cause confusion and constitutes trademark infringement, unfair competition and false designation of origin, all in violation of applicable federal and state laws".[3] The organizer Ron Krajian's lawyer responded by arguing that his race was a local and non-commercial event, and predated the Tour de Trump. No response was received from Trump's lawyers, and the Tour de Rump went ahead.[/B][1][3]

The total prize money on offer for the first event in 1989 was US$250,000, including $50,000 for the winner of the general classification.[2] This, together with the race's place in the international calendar between the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France, made it attractive to high-profile riders and teams, but the event did not attract large crowds.[4] Interviewed on NBC prior to the start of the 1989 race, Trump stated that "I would like to make this the equivalent of the Tour de France".[5] The race filled a gap left by the demise of the Coors International Bicycle Classic, which had been North America's major stage race but which folded following its 1988 edition.[6] Some European teams reportedly missed the Vuelta a España in order to race the Tour de Trump.[7]


Greg LeMond at the 1989 Tour de Trump
The inaugural Tour de Trump started in Albany, New York, and consisted of 10 stages, totalling 837 miles (1,347 km), taking in five Eastern states.[8] The route took the race south from Albany to Richmond, Virginia, and then across to Atlantic City, where it finished in front of Trump's casino.[6] Some 114 riders from eight professional and 11 amateur teams competed. Riders competing included Greg LeMond, who was taking part as part of a comeback from injury,[8] and Andrew Hampsten, and the teams represented included Lotto, Panasonic, PDM, and the Soviet national squad.[4]

The race was met by anti-Trump protests in the first-stage finishing town of New Paltz, New York, where demonstrators held placards reading "Fight Trumpism", "Die Yuppie $cum", "The Art of the Deal = The Rich Get Richer" and "Trump = Lord of the Flies". The 1989 race was won by the Norwegian rider Dag Otto Lauritzen of the American team 7-Eleven, although there was some controversy about the result as Belgian rider Eric Vanderaerden, who had won four stages and was expected to take the lead in the general classification in the final stage time trial in Atlantic City but took a wrong turn following a race motorbike.[1][9] The Soviet rider Viatcheslav Ekimov, who took part as an amateur, won the first stage of the race (following a prologue time trial).[10] Articles published the following year reported that Ekimov "had had the nerve to win a stage as an amateur ... and some pros reportedly rewarded him by jamming a feed bag into his wheel",[11] and that he "threatened to win the Tour de Trump last year as an amateur before the pros banded together to eliminate any chance he had of winning".[12] Nonetheless, the first edition of the race was described as "a smashing success" in Sports Illustrated, which noted: "If you could get past the name, the Tour de Trump, without losing your lunch, and if you could somehow divorce the sporting event from the excess baggage that went with it ... what you had was a pretty nice bicycle race".[13]

Following the first event, Packer wanted to expand the race to take in more states. The 1990 race started on May 4 in Wilmington in Delaware, a state which Trump considered important for his three casinos in Atlantic City, and also visited Baltimore, after Trump agreed to local racecourse owner Joe De Francis's condition that he moor his yacht the Trump Princess in Baltimore Harbor during the race.[1] It finished in Boston on May 13.[14] Entrants in 1990 included 1989 winner Dag Otto Lauritzen, Greg LeMond, who was coming back from a virus and food poisoning, Steve Bauer, who had finished second in Paris-Roubaix that year, Andrew Hampsten, Davis Phinney, Ekimov, in his first year as a professional, and East German rider Olaf Ludwig.[12] The race was won by Mexican rider Raúl Alcalá of the PDM-Concorde team.[15]

After two editions, Trump withdrew his sponsorship of the race due to his business's financial problems.[1][16] According to Packer, reflecting on the event in 2016, he and Trump "parted as good business friends", although he also explained that Trump's personality and celebrity, as well as the scandals surrounding Trump's marriage and business affairs, distracted from the event and annoyed European riders in the race.[1]

DuPont sponsorship
After Trump withdrew from sponsoring the event, DuPont became the primary sponsor.[16][/QUOTE]
Now for what never happened. really. this. did. not. happen.

After Tour of Rump went ahead despite having received a cease and desist letter from Trump's lawyers, Trump turned his eyes to that other similarly named race: Tour de France. He shook his beady little fist but nothing happened - the French race continued. Many years later that same tiny fist was injured in a handshake with the President of France. Here is a picture of Trump grimacing in pain while holding up his mangled mano. [URL="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40135049"]Scientists dispute the 'tiny, tiny' impact of Paris deal[/URL]. Having learned that Paris is in France, President Trump realised that he must break any promises and commitments with anything containing that word: Paris. Further actions may also be necessary. He is traumatized. The world must pay. He keeps shaking that fist saying "Kirk" maybe it's "Khan." And he is grousing about teeny tiny things or just repeating tiny over and over and over again. I would tell him that "teeny, tiny" is linguistically called ablaut reduplication but somehow I don't think he is interested or can be distracted from his obsessions. He talked his plans over with a Fox newscaster so that's good enough I guess.
[QUOTE]The President argued that even if the accord was fully implemented it would only have a "tiny, tiny" impact.[/QUOTE]
When all is said and done he seems concerned with being laughed at and by no means should anyone point and giggle. Do not do this.

[url]http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20170605/[/url]

So when will it be time to predict the next US president?

I'll start: it won't be Hillary Clinton.

But my other prediction was only 50 % correct...

[QUOTE=davar55;460729]So when will it be time to predict the next US president?

I'll start: it won't be Hillary Clinton.[/QUOTE]

I doubt it will be Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, either.

Beyond that, it depends on whether the one we've got now manages to serve out his current term. If not, the obvious successor is Mike Pence.

Of course, the [i]last[/i] time a US President failed to serve out his term of office, it was [i]not[/i] his elected VP who succeeded him.

Alas, I can't think of a Democratic candidate who would be less than 60 years old on 2020.

[url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/leaked_nsa_report_short_on_facts_proves_little_in_russiagate_case_20170607]Leaked NSA Report Short on Facts, Proves Little in ‘Russiagate’ Case[/url] | Scott Ritter, TruthDig
[quote]The NSA document, both in its title and text, is therefore misleading in the extreme. There is simply no fact-based information provided in the report that confirms that the events reported on were being organized and managed by the Russian GRU [the “Main Intelligence Directorate” Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye], despite the document’s assertions otherwise.

This lack of confirmation of any fact-based linkage between the GRU and the cyberattacks on the 2016 election in the NSA document is striking in another regard. The NSA has always been assumed to be the agency that possessed “smoking gun” evidence when it came to Russian attribution in the cyberattacks on the American electoral process.

...

After putting so much capital into accusing Russia and the GRU in meddling in American domestic political affairs—and, by extension, accusing the president of colluding with the Russians in this endeavor—the Democrats had better be able to back up their claims with unassailable, fact-based information. Based upon a close examination of the NSA’s latest analysis, courtesy of the leaked Winner document, this intelligence does not exist.[/quote]
Looks like [i]The Intercept[/i] [url=https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/]royally fubared[/url] this one.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;460834]Looks like [i]The Intercept[/i] [url=https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/]royally fubared[/url] this one.[/QUOTE]

Just asking, for the humour... What does fubar mean?

[QUOTE=chalsall;460836]Just asking, for the humour... What does fubar mean?[/QUOTE]

from google:

[QUOTE]fu·bar
ˈfo͞obär/Submit
adjective
adjective: fubar; adjective: foobar
out of working order; seriously, perhaps irreparably, damaged.
"the clock in the hall is fubar"
Origin

1940s: acronym from fucked up beyond all recognition (or repair ).[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=science_man_88;460837]from google:[/QUOTE]

Never ask a question you don't already know the answer to.

Meanwhile, shock and alarm amongst the UK establishment as this whole "unexpected wave of anti-austerity populism" [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/06/exit-polls-show-may-led-tories-loss-majority.html]continues to surge[/url].

Professional political slimeball-weasel Nick Clegg's quote in [url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/08/exit-poll-points-to-hung-parliament-in-2017-general-election]The Grauniad's piece[/url] about the "oh,snap!" election is precious:
[i]
The former Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, spoke out about the need for the government to be sensitive about huge societal divisions as he was defeated by Labour in Sheffield Hallam.
[/i]
Funny how getting the boot makes useless eaters like Clegg suddenly sensitive to "huge societal divisions" and the suffering of Les Deplorables, innit?