If election weren't dodgy they wouldn't exist anymore
If election weren't dodgy they wouldn't exist anymore
Then it is your fault. YOU chose and hired people to give you advice. If they ALL give the same advice and you don't follow it - well, either you chose the people that are bad advisors (your fault) or you refuse to follow good advice of the best minds you chose out of the 250 mln people (again your fault).
That's like saying "I don't need the spikes, if I weren't at this mid-level of the slippery slope, I'd be a splash of goo at the bottom..." and then sliding further downwards...
It would have been better if noone had congratulated him. At the very least it would somewhat undermine his supporters thinking that he commands respect all over the world and is therefore a suitable strong leader.
"Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu
This is the old crazy idea. I respect my friends more than my enemies and even if not, someone I fear I want to get rid of, someone I respect as a friends or as a good example I want to support.
The fear-based approach is merely the last option for those who fail with the other approach....losers holding on to a straw with force...
"Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu
Even Machiavelli acknowledged it was better for a leader to be loved than feared.
The most stable political systems are so because the people "buy in" to the system enough to put up with its foibles for the greater long term stability, freedom, and advantages it begets. As has been written by wittier folk than I, truly effective governments derive "their just power from the consent of the governed."
Neither fear, nor affection, is the strongest and longest lasting approach to garnering that consent.
Sic transit Trump.
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
Not congratulating him is simply that. It doesn't mean we don't recognize his government. If Trump were a 'normal' politician and this were actually part of some scheme to try and change Russian behavior or get concessions from them I'd be all for a policy of 'detente'. Putin however is escalating his actions and those deserve to be condemned. Congratulating his election without bringing up any of the sticky issues like chemical weapons being used in the territory of our closest ally then it's a very suspicious incident.
I truly to wonder what Putin has on Trump. Did he kill a hooker when he was in Russia, do something pedophilic? Perhaps some gender blurring sex acts? Trumps complete and utter devotion to Putin is absolutely perplexing, merely being indebted to Russian financing can't have created such loyalty.
He's seems to have only signed on to the recent and limited sanctions because Congress voted in such a majority that they'd override his veto.
"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
-Abraham Lincoln
Four stage strategy from Yes, Minister:
Stage one we say nothing is going to happen.
Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
Stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.
Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it's too late now.
McMaster is out.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/u...mp-bolton.html
Ja mata, TosaInu. You will forever be remembered.
Proud
Been to:
Swords Made of Letters - 1938. The war is looming in France - and Alexandre Reythier does not have much time left to protect his country. A novel set before the war.
A Painted Shield of Honour - 1313. Templar Knights in France are in grave danger. Can they be saved?
$5 says we find ourselves in a war with North Korea or Iran by 2020. Bolton is as hawkish as hawkish gets.
On the Path to the Streets of Gold: a Suebi AAR
Visited:
Hvil i fred HoreToreA man who casts no shadow has no soul.
John Bolton is going to a lot of people killed. I can feel my ulcer forming.
There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford
My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation.
Feels a kindred spirit in him. Both are bent on corroding norms and crossing red lines - Trump within his country, Putin - both within and without.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/o...tion%2Fopinion
Trump has what he wants: a national security chief who doesn't bother with the details.
McMaster apparently bored Trump to death with all the little details that made bombing N.Korea and Iran bad ideas.
They may part company on Russia; Bolton is no fan of Putin; but Trump can stonewall on the Russia file 'til he gets his war.
Ja-mata TosaInu
He probably wants a "Gulf One" hundred hours romp. Cannot find out where to make that happen though.
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
Can't we convince Raul to invade a Caribbean island with a medical school with second tier US med students? THAT would be the ticket...
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
Looks like the Palestinian government lost it's free money. I totally agree with it, go Trump
"The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken
Rumors out there that Ryan might not run for re-election.
BIG, if true.
Paul Ryan? I've heard it since December.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...hington-216103
Despite several landmark legislative wins this year, and a better-than-expected relationship with President Donald Trump, Ryan has made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term as speaker. He consults a small crew of family, friends and staff for career advice, and is always cautious not to telegraph his political maneuvers. But the expectation of his impending departure has escaped the hushed confines of Ryan’s inner circle and permeated the upper-most echelons of the GOP. In recent interviews with three dozen people who know the speaker—fellow lawmakers, congressional and administration aides, conservative intellectuals and Republican lobbyists—not a single person believed Ryan will stay in Congress past 2018.Most recent news is denying an impending resignation, which is a different matter.More recently, over closely held conversations with his kitchen cabinet, Ryan’s preference has become clear: He would like to serve through Election Day 2018 and retire ahead of the next Congress. This would give Ryan a final legislative year to chase his second white whale, entitlement reform, while using his unrivaled fundraising prowess to help protect the House majority—all with the benefit of averting an ugly internecine power struggle during election season. Ryan has never loved the job; he oozes aggravation when discussing intraparty debates over “micro-tactics," and friends say he feels like he’s running a daycare center. On a personal level, going home at the end of next year would allow Ryan, who turns 48 next month, to keep promises to family; his three children are in or entering their teenage years, and Ryan, whose father died at 55, wants desperately to live at home with them full time before they begin flying the nest. The best part of this scenario, people close to the speaker emphasize: He wouldn’t have to share the ballot with Trump again in 2020.
Vitiate Man.
History repeats the old conceits
The glib replies, the same defeats
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