Trump

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

^^^^ She bats for both sides too

[Bend it like Repka]

Normally you have to despair about pretty much everything trump says or tweets.

But he has absolutely caned Macron on Twitter, admittedly from the safety of the other side of the Atlantic the weasel.

"By the way, there is no country more Nationalist than France"

"Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along."

Putting the D in diplomacy.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46198297" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sendô]

I think he meant to say - after the US came along late, and the Russians crushed the Germans in the east.

[bubbles1966]

I think he meant to say - after the US came along late, and the Russians crushed the Germans in the east.

I think you'll find that Germany handed France it's arse on a plate well before then...

[IronworksDave]

Trump may be rude and obnoxious but handing Macron his head on a plate is fine by me ... the French constantly gloss over the fact they quit WW2 without even defending their major cities .... the Russians fought to the last street, and then burnt that street down, to stop the Germans gaining ground ...

The French gave the Germans infrastructure and defense which later cost the allies 10's of 1000's of lives to take back ... the Russians stopped the Germans with 'scorched earth' they suffered unbelievable losses to do that but it and turned the war on it's head ...

Who the feck would ever want the French in charge of an army? ... with the Italians in support?

He may be an odious **** but Trump nailed em'

[bitter-iron-ny]

Surprised no one has mentioned this. Maybe he didn't want it to ruin his bizarre hair!

https://abcnews.go.com/US/trumps-rain-c ... d=59119504" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's pathetic. He once home he also blew off going to Arlington National Cemetery. Friend of the Veterans? I don't think so.

[IronworksDave]

It's pathetic. He once home he also blew off going to Arlington National Cemetery. Friend of the Veterans? I don't think so.

Go look up how many other recent Presidents have blown off not only Veterans day but Memorial Day as well .. Bush, Bush, Reagan, and Obama, Obama because of rain (not that he was attending at Arlington he'd gone home for the weekend) and he still blew it off and went back to Washington ...

On Memorial Day 2010, President Obama was scheduled to honor America’s fallen heroes with a speech at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago, while Vice-President Joe Biden took his place at Arlington; however, a thunderstorm in Illinois interrupted the former ceremony, and President Obama instead returned to Washington

But that wouldn't allow the media to suck in the gullible would it ... how feckin' stupid do they think we are? oh wait a minute looking at the responses I guess we are that stupid .... doh ...

[Rays Rock]

Go look up how many other recent Presidents have blown off not only Veterans day but Memorial Day as well .. Bush, Bush, Reagan, and Obama, Obama because of rain (not that he was attending at Arlington he'd gone home for the weekend) and he still blew it off and went back to Washington ...

So they’re all C##ts then, including Trump.
The office that sends them to their death should attend whatever commitments are expected of them, no matter who sits in that office.

[IronworksDave]

So they’re all C##ts then, including Trump.
The office that sends them to their death should attend whatever commitments are expected of them, no matter who sits in that office.

Make you right with that ......

[sendô]

I'm more interested in why the Americans have Memorial Day and Veteran's Day - are they not much the same?

[Hummer_I_mean_Hammer]

I'm more interested in why the Americans have Memorial Day and Veteran's Day - are they not much the same?

Memorial Day, which is the last Monday in May, honors the memory of every service member who gave his or her life in our nation's wars.
Veterans Day always falls on November 11, and it honors everyone who served in the U.S military, full stop. It's not limited to people who were wounded or killed, or who fought in combat, or who even served during a time of war.

https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/memo ... ember.html

[WCpete]

The truth about these fires will be far more simple, and predictable, than you can imagine ...

It will come down to miss-management but it will be miss-management of dead and fallen trees in the vicinity of power cables, a problem identified back in 2014 but deemed non urgent ...

It will be Pacific Gas & Electric or Edison who will get the blame, rightly so, as it will have been their equipment that started these fires ...

But the real problem lies with the State of California who have been repeatedly warned that catastrophic fires were not an if, but a when, if preventative action wasn't taken ...

No action was taken and now people have died because of that ... the law suits will be stratospheric

All across the state power lines which are supposed to have 20m 'clear zones' and zero overhanging trees, in fact haven't been checked let alone cleared in a decade or more ...

At the moment I'm guessing most of this but I'm 99% sure this will be proven to be true ...

Whilst Trump got all his facts wrong and blamed the wrong department ... he was right in that the State of California's failure to oversee the enforcement of fire prevention will be the root cause ...

I'm fairly certain that the California Public Utilities Commission is responsible for managing regulations re: power line maintenance, but it's not their responsibility to actually maintain the lines themselves. As you mentioned that is down to PGE and it's local subsidiaries and to property owners. I believe it is the responsibility of the citizenry and of the utility companies to monitor the condition of the lines. California is responsible for enforcing safety regulations when cases are presented to them, but they don't survey the lines. That is PGE's purview.

The Santa Rosa fires from last year started in the hills when a branch fell on a power line during hurricane force Diablo winds. I know PGE has been inundated with a wave of suits since then, but I shouldn't imagine there will be any resolution on any of those for many, many years. Frankly, PGE is under a near permanent state of at fault litigation.

Whatever the case, I'm not as confident as you that Trump had any idea what he was talking about. There's generally a method and purpose to his shoot from the hip commentary, but I don't think he was thinking anything other than 'here's a foothold into accessing natural resources on federal lands' opportunity.

Just having a look at the Sacramento Bee. They have video of Paradise aftermath taken from a drone. You can see from this what I was saying before. It wasn't the trees that burned. Even the foliage on the trees are mostly in tact. It was brush, dry grass, dry sticks etc on the ground that burned.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/calif ... 01095.html

[WCpete]

I'm more interested in why the Americans have Memorial Day and Veteran's Day - are they not much the same?

Veteran's aren't yet dead. And it's cheaper to have a holiday then actually pay for their care when they return from war. And we really, really like the military.

[CMNinja]

Off the main topic but I'm always amazed at how many times I've been in America and seen people go out of their way to say 'thank you for your service' to strangers in military uniform. It's a really nice gesture. Mind you, these people probably didn't spend their teenage weekends being chased around Colchester by pissed up squaddies. Regardless, it's a big cultural difference and a nice one.

[sendô]

^ Sounds a lot different to the plot line in First Blood.

[IronworksDave]

I'm fairly certain that the California Public Utilities Commission is responsible for managing regulations re: power line maintenance, but it's not their responsibility to actually maintain the lines themselves. As you mentioned that is down to PGE and it's local subsidiaries and to property owners. I believe it is the responsibility of the citizenry and of the utility companies to monitor the condition of the lines. California is responsible for enforcing safety regulations when cases are presented to them, but they don't survey the lines. That is PGE's purview.

The Santa Rosa fires from last year started in the hills when a branch fell on a power line during hurricane force Diablo winds. I know PGE has been inundated with a wave of suits since then, but I shouldn't imagine there will be any resolution on any of those for many, many years. Frankly, PGE is under a near permanent state of at fault litigation.

Whatever the case, I'm not as confident as you that Trump had any idea what he was talking about. There's generally a method and purpose to his shoot from the hip commentary, but I don't think he was thinking anything other than 'here's a foothold into accessing natural resources on federal lands' opportunity.

Just having a look at the Sacramento Bee. They have video of Paradise aftermath taken from a drone. You can see from this what I was saying before. It wasn't the trees that burned. Even the foliage on the trees are mostly in tact. It was brush, dry grass, dry sticks etc on the ground that burned.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/calif ... 01095.html

Wasn't implying that Trump was in anyway making an informed comment .. he just got lucky that he was somewhere near the truth for a change ...

PG&E have dropped 25% of their share value ... pretty sure they don't have the insurance coverage to pick up all the forthcoming lawsuit (SEC filing yesterday) ... the State of California will no doubt end up picking up the multi-billion tab ... or the poor bastards who have lost their homes will get shafted ...

The problem is nobody is any longer doing fire prevention, just fire fighting when it's all to late ... with less and less ground water the seasonal 'die-back' of grasses and shrubs will just make this problem worse where no clearance work is undertaken ... there is a report from California's own Department of Forestry and Fire Protection saying exactly this in 2014, seems it just got ignored ...

[WCpete]

I don't think it goes ignored, it's just a problem that has been fiscally insurmountable. California has been in deficit for yonks. Jerry Brown declared a balanced budget a little while back, the first in my recent memory, but we're apparently back in the red. There's simply no money. And like you said, the water tables have subsided to a point where central California farm lands have literally sunk 2 feet. And the forest service sells what little water it has to companies like Nestle, in an attempt to subsidize itself, but that's a story for another day.

California is f***ed. And PGE is f***ed. This state is going to burn. It's going to get an awful lot worse in the next decade.

[IronworksDave]

I don't think it goes ignored, it's just a problem that has been fiscally insurmountable. California has been in deficit for yonks. Jerry Brown declared a balanced budget a little while back, the first in my recent memory, but we're apparently back in the red. There's simply no money. And like you said, the water tables have subsided to a point where central California farm lands have literally sunk 2 feet. And the forest service sells what little water it has to companies like Nestle, in an attempt to subsidize itself, but that's a story for another day.

California is f***ed. And PGE is f***ed. This state is going to burn. It's going to get an awful lot worse in the next decade.

Spot on ... the population of California has grown 50% from 20m to 40m in less than 50 years ... yet it's state income has only grown 34% over the same period ... it's no wonder they're skint

A state, country, planet can only accommodate so many people, at some point you have to stop growing the population and start taking care of the ones already there ... that's nothing to do with immigration, there are bucket loads of sustainable empty lands in the USA, just none in California ...

[bitter-iron-ny]

It's pathetic. He once home he also blew off going to Arlington National Cemetery. Friend of the Veterans? I don't think so.

Go look up how many other recent Presidents have blown off not only Veterans day but Memorial Day as well .. Bush, Bush, Reagan, and Obama, Obama because of rain (not that he was attending at Arlington he'd gone home for the weekend) and he still blew it off and went back to Washington ...

On Memorial Day 2010, President Obama was scheduled to honor America’s fallen heroes with a speech at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago, while Vice-President Joe Biden took his place at Arlington; however, a thunderstorm in Illinois interrupted the former ceremony, and President Obama instead returned to Washington

But that wouldn't allow the media to suck in the gullible would it ... how feckin' stupid do they think we are? oh wait a minute looking at the responses I guess we are that stupid .... doh ...[/quote]

Hi Dave. You're missing one important detail. The event you reference was cancelled:

Just as President Obama was about to speak, a violent rain storm interrupted the Memorial Day honors for America’s war veterans at the national cemetery here. [See how people around the country are observing Memorial Day.]

Instead, as an umbrella threatened to blow from his hand, Mr. Obama told the crowd to seek shelter from the lightning and rain, leaving the proceedings on hold. After waiting in a nearby building the see if the weather would clear, Mr. Obama left and the rest of the ceremony was canceled.

The sky, sunny for hours while people assembled in 5,000 folding chairs, blackened right before the program began. Lightning cracked at the conclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance, and the downpour came just as the president was introduced.

Under a nearby tent, Mr. Obama conferred with a Secret Service agent and then strode forward with an umbrella to address the crowd. The power apparently out, he could hardly be heard urging the crowd, including babies and disabled veterans, to seek safety.

“A little bit of rain doesn’t hurt anybody, but we don’t want anybody struck by lightning,” he said, urging the crowd to play it safe and take cover in their cars.

https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/201 ... day-event/

So Barry went there and the inclement weather led to the ceremony being cancelled. That's a lot different than staying at home in your bathrobe eating McDonalds because you think the rain is going to mess up your hair. And that same regard for those who made the ultimate sacrifice was on display for that minor little ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day:

On Saturday morning, Trump skipped attending a rain-soaked ceremony at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery to honor the Battle of Belleau Wood. When his absence became a scandal, the White House said the decision had been made because Marine One reportedly could not fly in the rain, and Secret Service did not want Trump traveling by motorcade. One Republican briefed on the internal discussions said the real reason Trump did not want to go was because there would be no tent to stand under. “He was worried his hair was going to get messed up in the rain,” the source said. “[John] Bolton and everyone was telling him this was a big mistake.” A former administration official said Trump hates being outside in wet conditions. “What I honestly think? He woke up and said, ‘It’s pouring rain. This is a joke and I’m not doing this.’”

This from a guy who never served, nobody named Trump has ever served! Trump promised millions of dollars to veterans charities but has yet to provide evidence that the money was every sent. He also has yet to visit any US troops anywhere on the planet who are in harm's way. Instead, he's wasting $200m to run the army down to the south Texas border so 10 of thousands of active duty personnel get to miss Thanksgiving with their families in setting where there is legally nothing they can to do support the border patrol in confronting the mythical killer caravan, the one where some of the more motivated among them have made it to the border near Tijuana, 1300 miles due west from where the troops have been deployed.

[bitter-iron-ny]

It's pathetic. He once home he also blew off going to Arlington National Cemetery. Friend of the Veterans? I don't think so.

Go look up how many other recent Presidents have blown off not only Veterans day but Memorial Day as well .. Bush, Bush, Reagan, and Obama, Obama because of rain (not that he was attending at Arlington he'd gone home for the weekend) and he still blew it off and went back to Washington ...

On Memorial Day 2010, President Obama was scheduled to honor America’s fallen heroes with a speech at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago, while Vice-President Joe Biden took his place at Arlington; however, a thunderstorm in Illinois interrupted the former ceremony, and President Obama instead returned to Washington

But that wouldn't allow the media to suck in the gullible would it ... how feckin' stupid do they think we are? oh wait a minute looking at the responses I guess we are that stupid .... doh ...

Hi Dave. You're missing one important detail. The event you reference was cancelled:

Just as President Obama was about to speak, a violent rain storm interrupted the Memorial Day honors for America’s war veterans at the national cemetery here. [See how people around the country are observing Memorial Day.]

Instead, as an umbrella threatened to blow from his hand, Mr. Obama told the crowd to seek shelter from the lightning and rain, leaving the proceedings on hold. After waiting in a nearby building the see if the weather would clear, Mr. Obama left and the rest of the ceremony was canceled.

The sky, sunny for hours while people assembled in 5,000 folding chairs, blackened right before the program began. Lightning cracked at the conclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance, and the downpour came just as the president was introduced.

Under a nearby tent, Mr. Obama conferred with a Secret Service agent and then strode forward with an umbrella to address the crowd. The power apparently out, he could hardly be heard urging the crowd, including babies and disabled veterans, to seek safety.

“A little bit of rain doesn’t hurt anybody, but we don’t want anybody struck by lightning,” he said, urging the crowd to play it safe and take cover in their cars.

https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/201 ... day-event/

So Barry went there and the inclement weather led to the ceremony being cancelled. That's a lot different than staying at home in your bathrobe eating McDonalds because you think the rain is going to mess up your hair. And that same regard for those who made the ultimate sacrifice was on display for that minor little ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day:

On Saturday morning, Trump skipped attending a rain-soaked ceremony at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery to honor the Battle of Belleau Wood. When his absence became a scandal, the White House said the decision had been made because Marine One reportedly could not fly in the rain, and Secret Service did not want Trump traveling by motorcade. One Republican briefed on the internal discussions said the real reason Trump did not want to go was because there would be no tent to stand under. “He was worried his hair was going to get messed up in the rain,” the source said. “[John] Bolton and everyone was telling him this was a big mistake.” A former administration official said Trump hates being outside in wet conditions. “What I honestly think? He woke up and said, ‘It’s pouring rain. This is a joke and I’m not doing this.’”

This from a guy who never served, nobody named Trump has ever served! Trump promised millions of dollars to veterans charities but has yet to provide evidence that the money was every sent. He also has yet to visit any US troops anywhere on the planet who are in harm's way. Instead, he's wasting $200m to run the army down to the south Texas border so 10 of thousands of active duty personnel get to miss Thanksgiving with their families in setting where there is legally nothing they can to do support the border patrol in confronting the mythical killer caravan, the one where some of the more motivated among them have made it to the border near Tijuana, 1300 miles due west from where the troops have been deployed.[/quote]