I keep finding things of interest that I want to use in an Open Thread, but by the time I get time to put it together, it is old by my standards and the OT never comes to fruition. Well today is different. Today’s ‘My Universe’ features a different and dangerous animal in its new home.
Short Takes
Daily Kos — Kansas State legislature sent a shot across the bow of Candidate for Governor and sometimes Secretary of State Kris Kobach, telling him the state’s taxpayers would not be paying for the results of his courtroom antics.
The legislation was offered by Rep. Russ Jennings, R-Lakin. He said the move would prohibit using any state money for defense or penalties involved in a finding of a contempt of court by statewide elected officials. That would include the governor and the secretary of state.
“You pay your own bills if you get yourself in that kind of trouble,” Jennings said.
This from his own party no less. And this is how it should be! Kobach has come under fire numerous times for voter suppression and is your basic black hat Republican, evil to his political core. The free ride is over! Kobach is an example of Republican entitlement . . . feeding, or rather gorging from the public trough!
Reuters — South Korean President Moon Jae-in said U.S. President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme, a South Korean official said on Monday.
“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to a presidential Blue House official who briefed media.
Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday pledged to end hostilities between the two countries and work towards the “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula in the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade.
I would like to think the Nobel Committee would have the moral fortitude to turn down Trump’s nomination. I for one, do not believe that Trump was the impetus for the two Koreas coming together. Of course, he thinks he is and will take all the credit.
USA Today reports that 18 Republicans Congress critters have nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Click through the article for the names of the “infamous 18”.
It’s official: President Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
On Tuesday, 18 members of Congress — all Republicans — sent a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, nominating Trump to receive the award for his work to “end the Korean War, denuclearize the Korean peninsula, and bring peace to the region.”
Here’s what they wrote:
“Since taking office, President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons programs and bring peace to the region. His Administration successfully united the international community, including China, to impose one of the most successful international sanctions regimes in history. The sanctions decimated the North Korean economy and have been largely credited for bringing North Korea to the negotiating table.
The nomination comes days after the leaders of North and South Korea announced they would enter a “new era of peace” and denuclearize the peninsula, though they provided few details on how that would happen.
As it is, Trump is an insufferable narcissist. Should the Nobel Peace Prize committee support the nomination and make him a Nobel Laureate, he will be even more insufferable.
Quartz — If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the past couple of weeks or so, you know that America was introduced to the concept of “alternative facts.” After Trump administration press secretary Sean Spicer rebuked the media for accurately reporting the relatively small crowds at president Donald Trump’s inauguration, senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Spicer wasn’t lying—he was simply using “alternative facts.” …
Other outlets have resisted labeling Trump’s misstatements as lies. Earlier this year, for instance, the Wall Street Journal’s editor-in-chief Gerard Baker insisted that the Wall Street Journal wouldn’t label Trump’s false statements “lies.”
Baker argued that lying requires a “deliberate intention to mislead,” which couldn’t be proven in the case of Trump. Baker’s critics pushed back, raising valid and important points about the duty of the press to report what is true.
As important as discussions about the role of the press as fact-checkers are, in this case Baker’s critics are missing the point. Baker is right. Trump isn’t lying. He’s bullshitting. And that’s an important distinction to make.
This article dates from February 2017. I found the philosophical difference between bullshitting and lying interesting, and something I had not considered previously. There has been discussion about Trump’s lies . . . are they lies or is that his reality? Based on the definitions, I agree with the author . . . Trump is a bullshitter, a dangerous bullshitter! What do you think?
My Universe
Resist the Republican Reich!!!
6 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 05 May 2018”
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DK: Good! More states should follow suit in doing this!!
Reuters: Absolutely disgusting that he’s (dt) is even being considered or even thought of. 3 IDs from TX. ugh!! Our tin-foil ‘pretend’ potus getting a Nobel Peace Prize?? …..uhhhh, NOPE, not in this lifetime.
Quartz: Liar, or bullshitter, he’s both (imho) and he’s not worthy to hold the position of being the President. He can’t even handle his daily routine w/o making stuff up, and having a sense of grandeur, he doesn’t and hasn’t even respected these words at his inauguration. “”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The guy is flat out bonkers, imho.
Cartoon: Yes, please. I think of him everyday, as the picture shows! …lol.
Thank you, Lynn for your post, appreciate it.
DKos – Republicans being Republicans, this is hysterically funny. (It’s also, incidentally, a slap at Trump’s pardon of Arpaio.) Sure, it’s as it should be … but when did Republicans ever do anything as it should be done?
Reuters – Well, he might have been the impetus if he scared Kim into thinking “This dude is crazier than I am! He might actually kill me!” But that’s hardly worthy of a prize other than a booby prize. I think Moon is trying to flatter him into staying the hell out … and I pray it works.
USA Today – The members of the Nobel Committee are all way, way smarter than the average American Republican voter. They will all see right through this. I hope they are as impervious to pressure as they are intelligent – that of course is impossible to predict. A list of the 18 names would be helpful – and here it is, from the article:
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas, Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Del. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa, Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California, Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia, Rep. Brian Babin of Texas, Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, Rep. Pete Olson of Texas, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Rep. Jim Renacci of Ohio, Rep. Evan Jenkins of West Virginia, Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia.
Sure am glad NOT to see Colorado on there. The names I know are no surprise. The ones I don’t probably want attention.
Quartz – That may have been mostly true in February 2017. In May 2018, it’s harder to believe his contortions to avoid indictment, impeachment, conviction, and prison do not include “a deliberate intention to mislead,” though.
My Universe – from your monitor to God’s eyes!
RESIST!!! and PURR-SIST!!!
Drumpf does NOT deserve the Nobel Peace Prize!, plain and simple.
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A perfect rule for Kobitch!
I fully agree. I think Moon is just stroking Trump’s ego, in the hope that he won’t ruin the negotiations between Moon and Kim.
Narcissist is an understatement.
I think Trump is so full of bullshit that he lies without thinking of it.
Great piece, Squatch!
DK: Wonderful news! The change offered by Republican Russ Jennings passed with 103-16. The overall budget bill that includes the prohibition is still a ways from making it to the governor’s desk so it may yet be dropped along the way, but the signal is loud and clear! Clean up your own mess, Kobach! Let’s hope voters also take note of this clear signal and do not want him for their new governor either.
Reuters: Wow, South Korean President Moon Jae-In is some smooth-operating, and cunning diplomat. By making Drumpf out as the guy who got the two Koreas together in peace-talks and dangling the Nobel-Peace-prize carrot in front of him (he, unlike some other fools, hasn’t actually nominated Drumpf) Moon Jae-In makes sure that Drumpf will not throw a spanner in Moon’s works or walk out as soon as Kim Jong-Un makes it clear he won’t strip himself of all (nuclear) missiles and leave his country open to being overrun.
USAT: Those 18 Republicans have made fools of themselves by nominating Drumpf for the Nobel Peace prize when everyone knows that it was Kim Jong Un who has made the two countries come together for talks AND when the summit from which Drumpf has promised to walk away from when things don’t go his way, hasn’t even taken place yet. Kim Jong-Un can’t possibly humiliate Drumpf more than by keeping him running after that carrot and agree with everything he puts forward. A dangerous game to play with volatile Drumpf.
I really wonder what (or who?) made these 18 Republicans do this.
Quartz: I think Drumpf has a malignant personality disorder, exacerbated by some form of senility and the stress of the looming outcome of several investigations. For me it is beside the point whether his statements are called lies or bullshitting, they are dangerous to the country and warrant impeachment in their own right.
I do wish it was HIS Universe already, Lynn.
DK: Kobach belongs behind those bars, along with Dumpy!
Reuters: Of course Steve king would join these asses! If Dumpy gets the prize, the Nobel committee will have to hope that Alfred Nobel can’t come back for them!
Quartz: Dumpy could well be a bullshitter, coming from the alternate reality that he inhabits, called “The Land of the Orange Delusions.”