[QUOTE=ewmayer;468141][url=https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/the-real-reason-hillary-cant-just-shut-the-fuck-up-and-go-away-4e481b3edf84]The Real Reason Hillary Can’t Just Shut The Fuck Up And Go Away[/url] | Caitlin Johnstone, Medium[quote]If anything, Trump is just more personally obnoxious about doing the things his predecessors did.[/quote][/QUOTE]
I can think of a number of ways in which [i]Il Duce[/i] is significantly worse than his predecessors. First and foremost, he is a narcissist. Not only does he not care about his country or its people, he isn't [i]capable[/i] of caring. Ditto with the notion of at least [i]trying[/i] to do what's right. This man has [i]no[/i] moral compass.

Second, he has fomented a loutish incivility, and disregard for ethics and the rule of law, that is inimical to the ideals of the good ol' USA. It is one thing to say that the USA falls short of its ideals. But with the election of [i]Il Duce[/i], this country gives every appearance of having utterly abandoned any effort of [i]aspiring[/i] to those ideals. And that is the death of whole [i]concept[/i] of the good ol' USA.

Getting down to actual policy decisions, [i]Il Duce[/i] has appointed people to the Cabinet who are hostile to their Departments' missions (EPA, Interior, and Education come to mind). In other cases (such as State) he has left large number of positions unfilled, thereby hampering their ability to fulfill their functions.

The obvious and well-known hostility of the AG to even legal immigration to the US, to voting rights, and other civil rights, marks this Administration as significantly worse than recent predecessors, although Republicans' general hostility to civil rights is well known.

With Clinton there would have been at least a pretense of maintaining decorum.

Scenario: Rocket Man is sufficiently pissed off with the Donald's speech at the UN that he authorizes a 100kT low-altitude airburst delivered by IRBM some 3000km from DPRK at a mostly harmless location in the middle of the Pacific. Assume that the detonation goes to plan. (By "mostly harmless" I mean no person and no economic asset is in the vicinity of the explosion or the immediate fallout zone, neither is the explosion high enough to cause a damaging EMP.)

What in practice do you think the interested parties in the region would do in consequence?

[QUOTE=xilman;468320]Scenario: Rocket Man is sufficiently pissed off with the Donald's speech at the UN that he authorizes a 100kT low-altitude airburst delivered by IRBM some 3000km from DPRK at a mostly harmless location in the middle of the Pacific. Assume that the detonation goes to plan. (By "mostly harmless" I mean no person and no economic asset is in the vicinity of the explosion or the immediate fallout zone, neither is the explosion high enough to cause a damaging EMP.)

What in practice do you think the interested parties in the region would do in consequence?[/QUOTE]The Great Successor would get a message from China to the effect, "We need to talk. In Beijing. Now." He would go. The talks would be held in great secrecy and would be... prolonged.

Actually, of course, the only thing Haircut Man would be displeased with in Combover Man's speech, is that he's [i]already[/i] doing a pretty good job of totally destroying North Korea. I mean, the people are starving. The electrical grid is practically nonexistent. The economy (outside of military hardware and graft) is also practically nonexistent. How [i]dare[/i] this foreign clown say Haircut Man isn't capable of destroying his own country?

Besides, he might actually be quite pleased with The Donald -- PRNK is ruled by the object of a personality cult who likes to act like a raving lunatic, is abusive to those closest to him, and cares only about accumulating more wealth for himself and his cronies, and more military toys for his country. And they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

I am concerned though, that Haircut Man is doing so many tests, he's going to run out of bombs and missiles.

There's a whole lot of destroyed houses and infrastructure in Puerto Rico. Gee, I wonder if [i]Il Duce[/i] and his pals will try to profit from the situation...

[url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/19/politics/donald-trump-2006-hopes-real-estate-market-crashes/index.html]Donald Trump in 2006: I 'sort of hope' real estate market tanks[/url]
[quote]"If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know you can make a lot of money," Trump said in the 2006 audio book, "How to Build a Fortune." "If you're in a good cash position -- which I'm in a good cash position today -- then people like me would go in and buy like crazy."[/quote]

[url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/steven-mnuchins-defining-moment-seizing-opportunity-from-the-financial-crisis-1480547063]Steven Mnuchin’s Defining Moment: Seizing Opportunity From the Financial Crisis[/url][quote]In October 2011, dozens of activists gathered outside his mansion to protest OneWest’s evictions, waving signs and shouting angry slogans. Mr. Mnuchin has said he was rattled, and OneWest agreed to pay for security services at his home.[/quote]

[url=https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/12/profiting-pain-trump-confidant-cashed-housing-crisis/]Profiting off pain: Trump confidant cashed in on housing crisis[/url]
[quote]One of President Donald Trump’s closest friends and confidants took advantage of the Great Recession to build an unprecedented real estate business that makes him tantamount to a modern-day slumlord – buying up homes, bumping up rents and allowing the properties to fall into disrepair.[/quote]

There's an entertaining video I couldn't view on CNN, but could at least [i]listen to[/i] on [url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/honoré-trump-doesnt-care-about-people-of-color/vp-AAsy53R]MSN[/url], which was published at 5:50 pm ET, Wed Sep 27 2017 from Erin Burnett Out Front. She was interviewing Lt Gen Russel Honoré (now retired), who had been brought in to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She played Donald Trump's response to a question about waiving the Jones Act, as he had done after Harvey and Irma:

[quote](Donald Trump) Well, we're thinking about that, but we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people and a lot of, uh, people that work in the shipping industry that don't want the Jones Act lifted.[/quote]

[quote](Erin Burnett) What's your response to that, General, the president seems concerned about the shipping industry.[/quote]

[quote](Gen. Honoré) I want to keep it clean. That's a cryin' damn shame. Uh, I knew since yesterday that big shots in Wall Street were making this call.

And the president has shown again, you don't give a damn about poor people, you don't give a damn about people of color, and the SOB that rides around in Air Force One is denying services needed by the people of Puerto Rico.

I hate to say it that way, but there's no other way to say it.[/quote]

The general is a bit miffed, eh? What would have come out if he weren't being restrained? :sirrobin:

[QUOTE=kladner;468766]The general is a bit miffed, eh? What would have come out if he weren't being restrained? :sirrobin:[/QUOTE]

Meanwhile, the WH has in fact granted a waiver of the Jones Act w.r.to Puerto Rico. Consulting Wall Street and Big Biz first is alas [i]de riguer[/i] in modern times irrespective of which party/person happens to be currently pretending to run the country. [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/lanny-breuer-joins-law-firm_n_2974058.html]Remember[/url] DOJ's #2 Lanny Breuer, in the now-infamous wake-of-the-GFC [i]Frontline[/i] interview in which he admitted that the DOJ gave high consideration to financial firms' public image and share price when weighing whether to prosecute said firms for their misdeeds? If Trump's characteristic crassness gets people to start paying attention to the influence of Big Money on US politics, great, but I find myself doing a lot of "and where was the outrage from --- during the preceding 8 years?"-asking these days, whether in reference to US imperial thuggery, Big Money's hold on government, what have you.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;468783]Meanwhile, the WH has in fact granted a waiver of the Jones Act w.r.to Puerto Rico. Consulting Wall Street and Big Biz first is alas [i]de riguer[/i] in modern times irrespective of which party/person happens to be currently pretending to run the country.[/QUOTE]You might want to check on whether this was done when the waivers were granted for TX and FL after Harvey and Irma. Senator McCain has been trying to get the Jones Act repealed for ages. In a [url=https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=press-releases&id=BA2AB8F1-4CA0-4BCE-8998-481CCAFFB15D]letter to DHS[/url] dated September 26, he asked for the waiver, and raised some interesting questions.

DHS is saying the particular rationale they had for the waiver for TX and FL didn't apply to PR.

Maybe there's something to the notion that things are slowed down because (as [i]Il Duce[/i] has just discovered) PR is an island. It took 6 weeks to restore power to Kaua'i after [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Iniki]Hurricane Iniki[/url]:[quote]Although electrical power was restored to most of the island approximately six weeks following the hurricane, students returned to Kauaʻi public schools two weeks after the disaster. Kauaʻi citizens remained hopeful for monetary aid from the government or insurance companies, though after six months they felt annoyed with the lack of help.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Iniki#cite_note-kauai-9][sup]9[/sup][/url] The military effectively provided aid for their immediate needs, though, and help arrived before local officials requested aid.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Iniki#cite_note-fema-25][sup]25[/sup][/url][/quote]

Of course, FEMA was in pretty bad shape back then.

Memo to [i]Il Duce[/i]:

The commonwealth of Puerto Rico is United States territory. The people of Puerto Rico are United States citizens. They have been grievously afflicted by a natural disaster, and need their country's help. Now is not the time to talk about Puerto Rico's debt. Now is not the time to hem and haw about paying for the rebuilding of the shattered structure of their civilization.

The people of Puerto Rico do not need to hear excuses for hesitating to provide the immediate assistance needed to forestall a great dying. They do not need to be reminded that they live on an island. They do not need to be buried under a mountain of bureaucratic paperwork being raised as a barrier to assistance.

If this is what you call the relief mission going well, then forgive me for asking if the mission is simply to let the people of Puerto Rico die through the willful neglect of their government.

"Heckuva job, [STRIKE]Brownie![/STRIKE] Orangie!