Apparently inveterate fools are best completely ignored, especially if they seem to trollishly delight in trying to inflict their own stupidity and superficial thoughts on others. For me, this is a lesson well learned.

Apparently inveterate fools are best completely ignored, especially if they seem to trollishly delight in trying to inflict their own stupidity and superficial thoughts on others. For me, this is a lesson well learned. — John

Yea...I long ago dismissed Agustino as a moral lunatic. My question to the mods some time ago as to whether certain posters can be blocked from one's view was motivated pretty much solely by a desire not to see his ridiculous posts. — Arkady

"Not putting on a display they shine forth
Not justifying themselves, they are distinguished
Not boasting, they receive recognition
Not bragging, they never falter
They do not quarrel, so no one quarrels with them
Therefore the ancients say, Yield and overcome".

I ask myself: "Does this sound like anyone I know?"

It certainly doesn't seem like you'd find such a person right under your nose :)

Man, Pence is loving the ride.

...even if Trump's ideology were not noxious, his incompetence is a threat to all around him. To say that it is amateur hour at the White House is to slander amateurs. The recent executive orders were drafted and signed without any normal agency review or even semi-coherent legal advice, filled with elemental errors that any nursery school student would have caught.

...the Trump administration is less a government than a small clique of bloggers and tweeters who are incommunicado with the people who actually help them get things done. Things will get really hairy when the world's problems are incoming.

The Republicans Deal with the Devil, David Brooks.

About Steve Bannon:

We were standing next to a picture of his daughter, a West Point graduate, who at the time was a lieutenant in the 101 Airborne Division serving in Iraq. The picture was notable because she was sitting on what was once Saddam Hussein’s gold throne with a machine gun on her lap. “I’m very proud of her,” Bannon said.

Then we had a long talk about his approach to politics. He never called himself a “populist” or an “American nationalist,” as so many think of him today. “I’m a Leninist,” Bannon proudly proclaimed.

Shocked, I asked him what he meant.

“Lenin,” he answered, “wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/22/steve-bannon-trump-s-top-guy-told-me-he-was-a-leninist.html

This is the guy that has just been put on the US National Security Council.

The White House National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security and foreign policy matters with senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Since its inception under Harry S. Truman, the function of the Council has been to advise and assist the president on national security and foreign policies.

Bannon is widely believed to have drafted the 'muslim ban' executive order.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-01/donald-trumps-america-land-of-the-free-home-of-the-brave/8226434

This is the guy that has just been put on the US National Security Council. — Wayfarer

Yep.

But on the other hand, as he is truly put into the NSC, whereas the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence just got demoted to have their appearance to be optional (if the national security advisor think they are needed), then Bannon is out there in the focus of public scrutiny having to make himself decisions on issues, not just be the behind curtains guy waiting for others to leave the room and then discussing what Trump should do.

That means Bannon isn't where usually a political advisor would be, behind curtains behind his President with the President doing the stuff, not the advisor. With Bannon on the NSC he simply will be a lightning rod if something will be fucked up. And definately this will happen with this pathetic and incompetent President.

Bannon already got the heat of the hazzle of first having even greencard holders being deported and then Whitehouse backpedalling on the issue. And as you said, all fingers are pointed on Bannon. Now, just think what happens when the next FUBAR moment happens and people start looking for scapegoats (other than Trump himself)?

Perhaps the issue simply is they don't trust Trump going into a council where only Flynn is from the inner cabal and all others are from the various departments. Without Bannon likely the generals would put Trump off the idealistic path that Bannon wants the administration to be in.

Or, more likely, Bannon is a scheming, power-mad revolutionary who has worked out a way to actually enact his program of 'destroying the establishment' because his employer is to preoccupied with how he looks to notice anything important.

Oh he will definately get used to power. But I think he may not have the time to enjoy it. I think he's going to burn so many bridges that he will become from asset (during the election) to a liability. But who knows about the Trump administration yet.

And anyway, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff already countered Bannons bullshit:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says President Trump’s overhaul of the National Security Council (NSC) will not lessen his involvement with the group.

“The recently announced organization of the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council makes it clear the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will fully participate in the Interagency process to provide best military advice to the President and members of his National Security Council,” Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said in a statement Monday, according to ABC News.

See Joint Chiefs chairman: I’ll ‘fully participate’ in NSC

Guess that the armed forces simply made it clear that anything that the NSC deals with is within the "issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise.”

[Bannon's] employer is to preoccupied with how he looks to notice anything important. — Wayfarer

People say that Trump is preoccupied with figurative dick-measuring contests such as proclaiming how many people attended his inauguration, while forgetting that he was involved with literal dick-measuring contests during the Republican primaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nALb4lEbSbA

(My country 'tis of thee...)

Yea...I long ago dismissed Agustino as a moral lunatic. — Arkady

"Yes, it happened when he told me that casual sex is immoral" X-)

>:O

0.999... < 1.

Not again....! :-|

The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!
Love this Tweet.

He doesn't understand the constitution?

But go back to the description given above of narcissistic personality disorder. Is it that he honestly does not understand that his word is not law?

He has to see it on television in order to understand it. The Democrats ought to rapidly produce a 'Judge Judy'-type show, and then get all the characters to speak out the issues involved. Then there would be a chance that he might pay attention to it, and even understand some of it.

I reckon, with this weeks' Trumbull fiasco, that Trump really didn't grasp the fact that the USA had agreed to take the 1,250 until he was on the call. That is why he blew up. Until that moment, he hadn't taken it it.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Trumbull fiasco — Wayfarer

There's an interesting article - lost to memory - that Trumble - er, Turnbull's response was the best way of dealing with a narcissist. Something called being a "grey rock". The idea is that those with narcissistic personalities see the world in terms of "for me" and "against me". Those who are "for me" must put up with the incoherent, inconsistent demands of the narcissist. Those who are "against me" have to put up with the constant attacks. So the best option is to be invisible - a "grey rock".

The problem is, how long can one be a grey rock?

I think that, under the circumstances, Turnbull's muted response was the best one. If he had sounded off or played to the gallery, Trump would be been infuriated and petulant. Probably there's a lot of behind-the-scences diplomacy going on in the bureaucracies trying to steady the ship.

Here.

And while there may be an element of cynical calculation in some of the administration's crisismongering, this is looking less and less like a political strategy and more and more like a psychological syndrome.

Yep. Sit quietly and watch the US implode.

Yep. Sit quietly and watch the US implode. — Banno

~shaking my head in disbelief that you are rooting against the success of the US~
:’(

Trump is not the US.

I don't want this to happen.

I don't think it's against the US, but the catastrophe of Trump having been elected. The President of the US has the power to literally destroy the world and that power is in the hands of a demonstrably unsuitable person.

I think in all seriousness that it's a consequence of too much television, and the inability to distinguish reality and fantasy. And it's really dangerous.

Electing the President is now too important an issue to be left to a nation that has ignored it's people for fifty years.

I sugest in future the President be appointed by the UN Security Council, from a list of suitable US Citizens.

I don't want this to happen. — Banno

Oh give me a break. Of course you do. You're just like Unenlightened. You relish the thought of the 300 million people starving to death or whatever the hell. You both stink of hatred and you have for years.

There are things that could happen that could trigger the collapse of the Western economic order. It damn near happened in 2008 - most people don't realise how close we came. (I bet Trump has no idea). But, a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel, a US debt default - these things could start a chain-reaction which leads to the collapse of the banking system. What happens then? All the banks close, there is no currency, nobody is being paid. Think Venezuela, but global. Don't think it can't happen. With an uninformed egotist at the wheel, it could happen in a blink. Nobody in their right mind wants that to happen, but the doomsday clock is closer than ever.