Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[DarkTZeratul]

Just another unqualified dumbass under the Trump administration. At least with Obama, I believe he had someone that was a nuclear physicist.

Ernest Moniz served during Obama's second term. He was a nuclear physicist, yes, and previously held the positions of Associate Director for Science and Under Secretary of Energy under Bill Clinton.

Before him, in Obama's first term, was Steven Chu. Professor of Physics at Cal Berkeley, researcher at Bell Laboraties, and winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics.

And they were replaced by someone who not only didn't even know what his own fucking department actually did, but had previously called it out as being a useless waste of government funds.

[postman1782]

Ernest Moniz served during Obama's second term. He was a nuclear physicist, yes, and previously held the positions of Associate Director for Science and Under Secretary of Energy under Bill Clinton.

Before him, in Obama's first term, was Steven Chu. Professor of Physics at Cal Berkeley, researcher at Bell Laboraties, and winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics.

And they were replaced by someone who not only didn't even know what his own fucking department actually did, but had previously called it out as being a useless waste of government funds.

Yep, he tried to say it was going to be defunded during his big "oops" moment during their primary debate.

[ati87]

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/pol...abu-story.html

Honestly, I figured Haley for a smarter political player than this, but I guess I've grossly overestimated her political chops. Hasn't she figured out by now that appealing to Trump or trying to placate him is a fuckin losing move? That he's petty and vindictive and the worst person to tie your wagon to? What on earth made her think he'd want to meet with her after she criticized him, a man incapable of accepting any criticism.

Probably because before she was walking a thin line between being "honest with Trump" and sucking up to Trump which you can only get you so far.
And I'm not sure what honest with Trump means really, probably agreeing with jared kushner instead of stephen miller

[bladeXcrasher]

Seriously just like the mayor, Texas Republicans sure do love to tell their constituents that each and every last one of them could die and it wouldn't affect them one bit. You know you would tend to believe that at some point my ability to be surprised by how fucking horrible Republicans can be would hit the bottom. Then you read a story like this and I go "oh hey look, they broke through to another cavern that is at least another 50 foot drop." and down the pit I go.

Texas legislators don't have constituents. They are paid $7500 a year plus a large per diem every other year when they go to Austin for legislative sessions. Outside of that, they are only beholden to whatever corporation bought them to gain access to their legislative seat.

[Felya]

It’s hilarious that the people who voted for Cruz had $1M raised for their relief by one of the members of Congress they hate the most. AOC out there getting shit done while Ted is flying to and from Mexico.

Because he know his voters don’t care... Ben Shabibo is already being pissed at democrats for virtue signaling with their help, while Cruz leaving was the best thing he could do... because he isn’t using up water and electricity. They are arguing that anything beyond ‘let them eat cake’ is just virtue signaling... the money Beto raised, the team he had calling up elderly, literally saving lives... all virtue signaling, while Cruz leaving is the real hero.

If only his daughter cared about Texans more, Ted would have been there... kids these days...

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The US deciding to turn away from manufacturing as the bedrock of our economy did that. Only about 12% of our GDP is from manufacturing, to China's 27, Germany's 23%, South Korea's 29%, and the ROC's 31%. Hard to export what you don't make.

I’m sorry, why do you hate wealthy people? Is this jealousy? Greed is good, my dude...



You put the same people in charge, that caused the problem as private citizens, and expects a different result? I don’t know man...

[Breccia]

So BuzzFeed made a list of pictures Texans have tweeted at Ted Cruz. I tried linking a few but they were huge, so I'll just quote some captions.

Hey Ted Cruz I hope you are enjoying Cancun. Meanwhile at my house we are melting snow to use as toilet water because our town’s water system is down. But at least our power is working again after 31 hours off. Enjoy your vacation. It’s clear you don’t care.

This is a photo of me currently melting snow by flashlight so I can flush toilets. No power, no water since Monday. It’s snowing again, stores have no food. But hey, enjoy Cancun while your constituents freeze.

In Texas, we’re melting snow to get water so we can flush our toilets. Sure hope ⁦Ted Cruz⁩ enjoyed his brief stay in Cancun. We’d greet him at the airport, but we’re kinda busy.

I’m standing in our Central Austin kitchen - our olive oil and liquid dish soap have frozen. Froze inside my house. No power since early Sunday am, no water since yesterday. Ted Cruz is in Mexico.

hey Ted Cruz I’ve been without power for 4 days and I can’t afford food because you don’t make money taking care of my grandfather full time. Not that there is any food at HEB (the only disaster response Texans can actually count on) I’ll accept apologies in my cashapp

(four pictures of empty grocery store shelves)

Hey Ted Cruz - this is my niece & nephew. They live in a trailer home with my pregnant twin sister & her husband. They live in College Station, TX. They have not had electricity since Mon & don't have clean water.

We hope you enjoy your Cancun trip.

I've been having to burn lumber as firewood and melt snow in my tub for toilet water this week, and have been luckier than others in doing so.
So fuck you Ted Cruz for running away.

Special Note: contains a picture of cut up 2x4 next to an indoors fireplace. Either this guy doesn't know how dangerous this is -- or he does, but prevers it to freezing to thirsting to death.

A PIPE EXPLODED TODAY AND THERE IS A HOLE TO THE ELEMENTS NOW IN DALLAS SHE HAS TWO KIDS AND SLEPT IN A 30 DEGREE HOUSE ENJOY YOUR TEQUILA ASSHOLE

[Shadowferal]

Perplexed...they need electricity to flush toilets?
Weird to me. (NJ here)

[Felya]

Perplexed...they need electricity to flush toilets?
Weird to me. (NJ here)

Diet of soy vs raw meat... or their pipes burst due to cold... one of those...

[LilSaihah]

Perplexed...they need electricity to flush toilets?
Weird to me. (NJ here)

Electricity to run the pumps, I presume

[Felya]

Electricity to run the pumps, I presume

Their water pipes burst... it’s not electricity causing them to need toilet water.

[Breccia]

Can this go here? I think it goes here.

Amid severe weather and power crisis, Texas legislators stop talking about secession

At the end of January, a state legislator filed a bill aimed at creating a legislative committee by referendum “to develop a plan for achieving Texas independence.”

The measure quickly won the endorsement of state GOP Chairman Allen West, who said the measure aimed to give Texans “a right to voice their opinions on a critical issue.”

You may not hear much of this rhetoric at the moment. That’s because Texas’ need for assistance from outside its borders has reached a high level of urgency.

On Saturday, Gov. Greg Abbott appealed to President Biden for an emergency federal disaster declaration. Biden promptly delivered, freeing federal assistance to flow into the state by the billions of dollars/

"Surely Biden, like Trump, demanded a pledge of loyalty from Texas in exchange for we all know he didn't."

Of course he didn't. But imagine how much we could save if he did?

The principle overlooked by Cruz, Abbott and the Texas secessionists is that we’re all in this together, and the lives and livelihoods of all Americans are enhanced and protected when all the states pull in the same direction instead of erecting walls at their state lines.

Red states, for some reason, seem particularly enamored of the idea that states with Democratic governments are all about squeezing the feds for all they can get, even though the truth is just the opposite.

For months, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fought pandemic relief for state and local governments on the claim that it would just be “blue state bailouts.”

In fact, McConnell’s state is the biggest freeloader on federal funds in the union compared with its contributions, pocketing $2.89 for every dollar it sends to Washington, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

"It seems awfully out of place to attack McConnell during a Texas freezeover."

It seems comipletely fair to point out the hypocrisy and lies of the Party of Trump in the Shitshow thread. Would you like to know where Texas landed on that same list?

"By context I think I can gu--"

Too bad.


"Why is New York orange?"
"Why, it's because Syracuse is in New York."
"Nobody will get that on a video game site."

That brings us to Texas’ unique electrical grid, its origin in the state’s proud but self-destructive ethos of going it alone, and the consequences, now so apparent, for its residents.

Put simply, Texas decided back in 1935 to create a power grid entirely disconnected from any other state. The reason was that it wanted to evade regulatory oversight by the federal government.

As the late Richard D. Cudahy, a federal judge who had had a front-row seat at the subsequent legal fights over this decision, wrote in 1995, the Texas utilities’ “abhorrence of federal authority” prompted them to establish the state as a “bastion of impregnable isolation,” with the connivance of the state legislature.

Bla bla bla ERCOT bla bla bla deregulation bla bla bla froze to death.

We know most of the rest. There's a good quote from a University professor:

The ERCOT grid has collapsed in exactly the same manner as the old Soviet Union. It limped along on underinvestment and neglect until it finally broke under predictable circumstances.

"Surely the LATimes quotes some commie librul UC-something...he's from Texas, isn't he?"

He teaches at UHouston, yes, but he hosts an energy conference at Yale every year. Out of spite, here is the interview containing that quote, yes it's on CNN, it's not like the rabid fanbase is in any position to complain.

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Perplexed...they need electricity to flush toilets?
Weird to me. (NJ here)

You need pressure to flush toilets. The water and, erm, other contents of your S-bend are pushed out by dumping more water into it. If your pipes are frozen, or if the water company doesn't have power, you're not getting more water into the tank to dump. Snow also doesn't move through pipes very well.

If your power's off, you can flush a toiled by filling a bucket and dumping it directly into the bowl. "How to flush a toilet with a bucket of water" is actually pretty high on the Google search list right now. Now, maybe in Texas they needed to look that up...um, without power somehow...but this far north, everyone already knows it. Pipes freeze up here all the time.

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There's blood in the water. NYState is about to strike.

Not only has the NY AG brought on Mark Pomerantz to the Trump probe (Pomerantz has worked with the DoJ before to bring cases against CEOs) but the probe has expanded to cover Trump Tower, Trump Plaze, Trump International Hotel, and his properties in Westchester.

Also, the latest Trump tax ruling was "he has to hand them over" but Trump appealed to SCOTUS. While it's easy and probably correct to say "the justices Trump appointed will protect him from the laws he broke, even before he lost the popular vote the first time" hopefully that doesn't come to pass. Considering the meat of the case(s) seems to be "Trump told NY one value and insurers another" his taxes seem pretty textbook evidence to me.

[Felya]

If your power's off, you can flush a toiled by filling a bucket and dumping it directly into the bowl. "How to flush a toilet with a bucket of water" is actually pretty high on the Google search list right now. Now, maybe in Texas they needed to look that up...um, without power somehow...but this far north, everyone already knows it. Pipes freeze up here all the time.

We actually have a pressure toilet thing, which came with the house. No electricity needed. Those are a pain in the butt... I had to replace one and I don’t remember why... the gf has hand issues, so she had problems pushing the lever far enough. As a result... I have an Xbox memory card shell taped to the button, so the distance between the button and metal handle are tiny. She uses it as an example of everything in our house being held up by duck tape...

[Shadowferal]

If your power's off, you can flush a toiled by filling a bucket and dumping it directly into the bowl. "

Hmm... I thought a toilet tank was the standard... I mean here, water supply is separate from electricity. I think my ignorance is complete here... Although there is a way similar to siphoning... It's something that's never happened.

[Felya]

Hmm... I thought a toilet tank was the standard... I mean here, water supply is separate from electricity. I think my ignorance is complete here... Although there is a way similar to siphoning... It's something that's never happened.

It is... the issue is with the water company, not the electrical company, even thought electricity going out at the water company... could be the problem. But, odds are their water pipes just burst... you don’t want electricity near toilets... or any water...

[Breccia]

I mean here, water supply is separate from electricity

It is. But how does the water get to your house in the first place? Pumping stations are often involved, and those require power.

Oh, and so do treatment stations. See also: boil water order.

[Felya]

Sure you do. Anytime you want to heat it or use a pump to move it you’re usually going to be using electricity in some capacity.

Toilets... just talking about toilets... and I don’t know anything about wells... I was too young to care when I lived on a farm.

Edit: Pouring a virtual 40 for @Wells... the north remembers...

[Breccia]

This water talk really doesn’t have shit to do with Trump though. DJTJ thinking Texas has a Democrat governor does though, and that shit is hilarious.

Taken out of context. Donnie Dum-Dum Jr was talking about Cuomo and only part of his reply was quoted.

When they should have quoted this:

Now, if I were a Trump, which I am, I'd come up with a nickname for something like this, like Cancun Cruz. It's funny. I can't get on this bandwagon trying to cancel the guy. It's totally ridiculous. It's absolutely absurd.

Because we've talked about "cancel culture" before. And yes, Team Trump is doing it. Yes, that's hypocrisy.

GOP's Thune says Trump allies engaging in 'cancel culture'

Thune is a GOP heavyweight. Not literally, that's Trump.

U.S. Sen. John Thune is criticizing Republican activists and party leaders for engaging in “cancel culture” by rushing to censure GOP senators who found former President Donald Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection.

In his first interview since he voted to acquit Trump, the Senate's No. 2 Republican on Thursday defended fellow Republicans who sided with Democrats on the “vote of conscience” and warned against shutting out dissenting voices in the party.

“There was a strong case made,” Thune said of the Democrats' impeachment presentation. “People could come to different conclusions. If we’re going to criticize the media and the left for cancel culture, we can’t be doing that ourselves.”

So while Donnie Dum-Dum Jr. is saying that cancel culture is bad, look at what Trump, he, and the rabid fanbase are doing to anyone who voted against Trump. Fuck it, look what they're doing to McConnell. Defedned Trump every day of his tenure plus a few weeks, still isn't good enough, called a weak leader, threatens to support his rivals. Say what you want about Thune, at least he's not being a hypocrite here.

Donnie Dum-Dum Jr? Is.

Oh and before @Kellhound says anything, it's completely legit to call Trump and his family immature names, after they spent 5 years doing the same. Sorry. I don't make the rules. I just see to it they're enforced.

[Bodakane]

Perplexed...they need electricity to flush toilets?
Weird to me. (NJ here)

I live in rural Florida. We have wells on all our properties because there isn't a public water utility out here.

No electric, then pump doesn't work so no water either and no flushing.

Lots of places in Hawaii have water catchment systems.

[Breccia]

California investor who donated nearly $1M to Trump inauguration sentenced to 12 years in prison

The Shitshow's not going anywhere for a while.

A Federal Judge in California on Thursday sentenced a venture capitalist who donated nearly $1 million to former President Donald Trump's inaugural committee to 12 years in prison for falsifying records to hide his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. officials.

Imaad Zuberi was also fined $1.75 million and ordered to pay $15.7 million in restitution.

Zuberi, 50, agreed to plead guilty in 2019 to tax evasion, filing false foreign agent registration records and providing almost $1 million in illegal campaign contributions to various presidential election campaigns and other candidates for elected office, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

​He previously donated to a host of Republican and Democratic politicians, including former Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton in 2015, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in 2014, then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2015, and former President Barack Obama's presidential re-election campaign in 2011.

"The violations were part of a larger surreptitious effort to route foreign money into U.S. elections and to use it to corrupt U.S.policy-making processes," Federal prosecutors said in a court filing. They added "the court should reject Zuberi's characterization that illegal foreign interference and by funneling money to influence US policymaking and elections was the 'way America works."

This is why we need election security. I haven't the foggiest idea what kind of person would back both Graham and Harris, even 7 years ago. Except one intent on sewing chaos.

[kaid]

Hmm... I thought a toilet tank was the standard... I mean here, water supply is separate from electricity. I think my ignorance is complete here... Although there is a way similar to siphoning... It's something that's never happened.

Yup that works too you can dump water into the tank and use the flush but taking the top off and on gets annoying. Easier to just fill bathtub up with snow and then dump water directly into the bowl to force a flush.