Our Special Relationship

JohnL · January 26, 2017

Jules-and-Boo Wrote:

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> he's a rat catcher ;-)

She's taken him with her to the US then ;)

Earl Aelfheah · January 26, 2017

Can someone please put Larry in charge.

red devil · January 26, 2017

I've a feline he would be purrfect...shits in other people's gardens

Earl Aelfheah · January 26, 2017

Quote from the Donald:

?I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence, and I asked them the question ?Does it work? Does torture work?? And the answer was ?Yes, absolutely,??

So that's reassuring.

Jules-and-Boo · January 26, 2017

I doubt he meant intelligence as in IQ.

Although that is the most common meaning.

red devil · January 26, 2017

Larry would like it to be known that although he's an expert mouser, he never resorts to torture, just playful pawwing...

rendelharris · January 26, 2017

keano77 Wrote:

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>

> A bit of perspective required here.

>

> Trump has only been in the job three days. I'm not

> sure what you mean by the damage he's already done

> and I'm not sure what you mean by how this ends

> does not look good at all. Nobody knows how this

> will end. If Trump brings jobs back to many

> depressed areas of the US and restores the idea of

> the American Dream that by working hard you can

> get on in life then he ought to be regarded as one

> of the most successful US presidents they've had.

>

> Give the man time.

Apologies for the ridiculously long list, but this which an (American) friend of a friend posted on Facebook makes interesting reading on the "what damage has he done in three days" front:

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the DOJ?s Violence Against Women programs.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Minority Business Development Agency.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Economic Development Administration.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the International Trade Administration.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Electricity Deliverability and Energy Reliability.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

* On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the Office of Fossil Energy.

* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered all regulatory powers of all federal agencies frozen.

* On January 20th, 2017, DT ordered the National Parks Service to stop using social media after RTing factual, side by side photos of the crowds for the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations.

* On January 20th, 2017, roughly 230 protesters were arrested in DC and face unprecedented felony riot charges. Among them were legal observers, journalists, and medics.

* On January 20th, 2017, a member of the International Workers of the World was shot in the stomach at an anti-fascist protest in Seattle. He remains in critical condition.

* On January 21st, 2017, DT brought a group of 40 cheerleaders to a meeting with the CIA to cheer for him during a speech that consisted almost entirely of framing himself as the victim of dishonest press.

* On January 21st, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press conference largely to attack the press for accurately reporting the size of attendance at the inaugural festivities, saying that the inauguration had the largest audience of any in history, ?period.?

* On January 22nd, 2017, White House advisor Kellyann Conway defended Spicer?s lies as ?alternative facts? on national television news.

* On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a kiss to director James Comey during a meeting with the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture of strange, paternal affection, before hugging him with a pat on the back.

* On January 23rd, 2017, DT reinstated the global gag order, which defunds international organizations that even mention abortion as a medical option.

* On January 23rd, 2017, Spicer said that the US will not tolerate China?s expansion onto islands in the South China Sea, essentially threatening war with China.

* On January 23rd, 2017, DT repeated the lie that 3-5 million people voted ?illegally? thus costing him the popular vote.

* On January 23rd, 2017, it was announced that the man who shot the anti-fascist protester in Seattle was released without charges, despite turning himself in.

* On January 24th, 2017, Spicer reiterated the lie that 3-5 million people voted ?illegally? thus costing DT the popular vote.

* On January 24th, 2017, DT tweeted a picture from his personal Twitter account of a photo he says depicts the crowd at his inauguration and will hang in the White House press room. The photo is of the 2009 inauguration of 44th President Barack Obama, and is curiously dated January 21st, 2017, the day AFTER the inauguration and the day of the Women?s March, the largest inauguration related protest in history.

* On January 24th, 2017, the EPA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to freeze all grants and contracts.

* On January 24th, 2017, the USDA was ordered to stop communicating with the public through social media or the press and to stop publishing any papers or research. All communication with the press would also have to be authorized and vetted by the White House.

* On January 24th, 2017, HR7, a bill that would prohibit federal funding not only to abortion service providers, but to any insurance coverage, including Medicaid, that provides abortion coverage, went to the floor of the House for a vote.

* On January 24th, 2017, Director of the Department of Health and Human Service nominee Tom Price characterized federal guidelines on transgender equality as ?absurd.?

* On January 24th, 2017, DT ordered the resumption of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline, while the North Dakota state congress considers a bill that would legalize hitting and killing protesters with cars if they are on roadways.

* On January 24th, 2017, it was discovered that police officers had used confiscated cell phones to search the emails and messages of the 230 demonstrators now facing felony riot charges for protesting on January 20th, including lawyers and journalists whose email accounts contain privileged information of clients and sources.

Loz · January 26, 2017

rendelharris Wrote:

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> * On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a

> kiss to director James Comey during a meeting with

> the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture of

> strange, paternal affection, before hugging him

> with a pat on the back.

Woooh, what a meanie.

rendelharris · January 26, 2017

Loz Wrote:

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> rendelharris Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> > * On January 22nd, 2017, DT appeared to blow a

> > kiss to director James Comey during a meeting

> with

> > the FBI, and then opened his arms in a gesture

> of

> > strange, paternal affection, before hugging him

> > with a pat on the back.

>

> Woooh, what a meanie.

The implication being that they have a closer relationship than would be usual between an FBI director and a President of three days' standing: Comey was instrumental in stitching Hillary up with the "we're investigating her" then a week later "nothing to see here" incident which took Clinton from a commanding lead in the polls to neck and neck.

Earl Aelfheah · January 26, 2017

Loz- out of interest , what's your view on the loud Trump?

jaywalker · January 26, 2017

Perhaps he is also "strange" (I do think this is a good descriptor) when it comes to the UK. Might we see an embrace during her trip this week? Rather like those spiders who then eat their mate (although it is usually the female who accomplishes this deception I truly doubt it will be so here).

Not at all the same as with Reagan and Thatcher: they had a natural personal affinity and genuinely liked each other (neither he nor she was strange even though one might well have disagreed with their world views).

Loz · January 26, 2017

rahrahrah Wrote:

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> Loz- out of interest , what's your view on the loud Trump?

A serious danger to world peace, at the very least. But I do think people are getting their knickers in a major twist over stuff that either a) any Republican president would have done or b) stuff they think he might do but hasn't done yet. Plus there are people that will criticise him whatever he does (like poking his tongue at the head of the FBI).

He's an unpleasant individual, no doubt. But, like it or not, being a nice person is not a prerequisite to running a country.

So, as I would with anyone democratically elected, I'll give him a little time to see what the whole picture will be. To be honest, though, I'm really not optimistic.

Jah Lush · January 26, 2017

Is this an alternative truth?

This is what Trump has been up to.

For those finding it difficult to keep up - here's a run down of the week so far

To recap: