Trump inauguration

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Joun_Lord
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by Joun_Lord »

Raj Ahten wrote:Then look at the evidence you can independently verify then. Such as WMATA's ridership numbers. Or the number of Bus parking permits issued by the District of Columbia for various events. Or just look for real sourcing in the stories you see. There is a difference between an anonymous intelligence agency source being the sole basis for a media report and one that gets info from multiple sources willing to go on the record for instance. Reports using sources like the aforementioned ridership figures, on the ground photographs and interviews with actual attributed witnesses should be taken as far more credible.

Also for the Photos being shown with the crowds in comparison between 2009 and 2017, both were taken 45 minutes before the respective speeches began (at least according to the NYtimes). That easily accounts for more people flowing in for a photograph taken later being different in that graphic you linked to.

Also the point has been made, by others better than me, that part of the point of Trump's blatant lies and "alternative facts" is to sow uncertainty. After all If basic facts are in dispute by the each side how can you trust anything? The answer is to use a bit of critical thinking and weigh the news you read based on the quality of its reporting rather than become a total cynic.
Like I said, I don't really doubt the numbers are lower then Obama's first even if for nothing else then the fact this inauguration was not on the same historical or noteworthy level.

The fact there would be any doubt at all shows just how in my mind and the minds of many the media has become incredibly untrustworthy. Their own blatant lies and "alternative facts" sow uncertainty too. They lie, they misrepresent facts, they make it so a shitbag who has nothing but shit come out of his mouth almost looks truthful or atleast more believable to some, certainly makes people have more reason to wonder if the fucking douchenozzle.........sorry PRESIDENT Fucking Douchenozzle's version of event is more grounded in reality. Makes it so the bastard can get away with saying "its all media LIES!!!!!! ALLL LIES!!!!" because they have lied.

I am a total cynic because of the quality of reporting that has been happening.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I or anyone else should believe the Trumpster either but certainly shouldn't take what the media says at face value either. I think they are two peas in a pod, made for each other, both lying assholes.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by General Zod »

You shouldn't take the media at face value but it strikes me as lazy to lump "the media" all together as if they're some sort of hive mind and then claim that they're just as dishonest as Trump. This sort of ideological purity is how Trump got elected.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by TheFeniX »

General Zod wrote:You shouldn't take the media at face value but it strikes me as lazy to lump "the media" all together as if they're some sort of hive mind and then claim that they're just as dishonest as Trump. This sort of ideological purity is how Trump got elected.
Do you remember Stewart getting laughs at how the media loves to copy and past their buzzwords? Remember "Gone Rogue!" during a certain election campaign repeated ad nauseam across multiple news channel?. And to be fair, I didn't watch it a whole lot, but during this election even Fox gooddamn news was showing a bleak outlook for the Trump campaign, even in the primaries. Fox news couldn't be tasked with taking Trump seriously because they all had this kind of "click-baity content aggregation buzzfeed" shit going on. It's only become worse over the years IMO.

And I don't think there was a single news station giving Trump more than "extremely long odds" to win this election, because they were so out of touch with how Trump was motivating his voters. They looked at what should have tanked Trump. And even when it didn't sink him for the eleventy-billionth time, they still refused to keep harping on his bullshit and just kept giving him free airtime. John Oliver pointed out how long it took the media to start calling out Trumps blatant bullshit (read: way too fucking long), instead just playing his videos unedited.

Because Trump was cheap(er) reality television.

So, no: not as bad as fake Facebook articles, but it makes you pine hardcore for a certain Jewish comedian who ended up the most trusted newsman in America. I only recently "found" John Oliver on HBO GO and goddamn that's another comedian after my heart because he'll actually look at a situation, hammer the facts, and get some (admittedly pretty fucking bleak these days) laughs out of it.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by Raj Ahten »

I think we are being intellectually lazy when we call The Media one thing and lump it all together. Everything from somebody's blog, to Facebook entries, to cable news to a newspaper is The Media. It really helps if you are criticizing The Media you refer to the specific outlets you are having a problem with. So I will say large portions of The Media are utter garbage these days. I'm talking about the outlets that simply take a story written elsewhere, add a little bit of commentary and call that journalism. Hell that's all most cable networks do these days. A similar garbage approach is just to have various paid commentators duke it out. Not journalism.

Meanwhile there are still outfits out there who do practice actual journalism such as old standards such as The New York TImes as well as newcomers such as Pro Publica. Are these outlets perfect? No, but what the hell is in life? Expecting every news outlet to be some sort of purveyor of a perfect truth is a bit ludicrous. I'll settle for outlets that do some actual journalism from time to time and I'll pay for their work.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by TheFeniX »

Raj Ahten wrote:I think we are being intellectually lazy when we call The Media one thing and lump it all together.
That's true. When I'm talking about "the media," I'm talking about what you'll come across when you flip through TV channels. They've become (IMO) much less about fact checking and much more about "click-bait" and constantly picking up 1-2 popular topics and just beating them to death. Stewart took shots on them for years for doing this. I remember a point where you couldn't turn on a news station without hearing the phrase "going rogue" in 2008. In fact, Palin was a fucking moronic nobody who didn't deserve the time of day, but TV news media made her worth talking about, overshadowing the actual presidential candidate.

And it's not like this is a new thing. Good god, during the Brittany Spear's melt-down? OJ Simpson trial? But as annoying as those were, neither of those people were running for president. So, they want their celebrity click-bait? Fine. But the application of this mentality to politics leads to people like Palin and Trump getting way too much coverage and, by extension, legitimacy.

Sadly, what saved us from McCain/Palin was the same thing that doomed us with Trump: Obama worked the media the best he could. As positive as his message was (vs the negativity of Trump), he was powerful in his speeches and got people who watched him riled up (either for good or bad). News stations could bank on showing him on their network. But he also worked social media to reach those people either disgusted by or not interested in TV media. And Republicans, running a "standard" campaign couldn't touch him at the end of the day. He played a game they didn't even know existed.

And somehow, Trump "Obamaed" Democrats, even though I really believe they screwed themselves as Republicans didn't show up to vote for Trump like Democrats did to vote for Obama. But Trump got them by allowing them to vastly underestimate the votes he was going to get, even though he really just got the standard "straight party ticket" vote from what I can see.

The only thing special about this election was that it seemed even Fox News was so disgusted by Trump, they joined in on the echo chamber.

I'm not saying The Media shouldn't have an agenda: they are always going to have one. You have an agenda just by choosing what you want to use air-time to show. My issue is that the media treated Trump as free-ratings rather than calling out the consistent and easily disprovable bullshit he was spouting. They bought into the e-mail "scandal" over and over and over because it was "news worthy."They are at fault for constantly underestimating Trump and showing multiple polls putting him at laughable odds to win. They are at fault for not reminding voters that people generally don't like having one party in charge of the White House for an extended period of time. And really, they are at fault for not reminding every that anyone with a (D) or (R) next to their name in a national election has very good odds at getting elected if you don't get off your ass and vote.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by ANGELUS »

Trump Declares His Inauguration Date as ‘Day of Patriotic Devotion’

Donald Trump on Friday issued a proclamation declaring January 20, 2017, the day of his inauguration, a “National Day of Patriotic Devotion.” The decree was uploaded to the Federal Register on Monday and spotted by journalist Ken Klippenstein. The document is scheduled for official publication on Tuesday. “I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2017, as National Day of Patriotic Devotion, in order to strengthen our bonds to each other and to our country—and to renew the duties of Government to the people,” the decree reads.
The document further asserts that “there is no freedom where the people do not believe in it; no law where the people do not follow it; and no peace where the people do not pray for it. There are no greater people than the American citizenry, and as long as we believe in ourselves, and our country, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.” The decree sets the holiday on January 20, 2017, which has already passed. It does not specify whether the anniversary of Trump's inauguration would also be celebrated as the National Day of Patriotic Devotion.
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The Romulan Republic
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by The Romulan Republic »

This is seriously some Kim Jong Un-level self-adulation.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by General Zod »

Maybe he'll get the tanks he wanted next year.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by The Romulan Republic »

I mean, I can literally imagine those exact words coming from North Korean state media. Its fucking creepy.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by Elheru Aran »

At least the media, or parts of it, seem to be pushing back a bit after the absurdity of Spicer's tirade on Sunday and Conway's 'alternative facts' nonsense. But just come the fuck on, man.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by General Zod »

Elheru Aran wrote:At least the media, or parts of it, seem to be pushing back a bit after the absurdity of Spicer's tirade on Sunday and Conway's 'alternative facts' nonsense. But just come the fuck on, man.
It's not Spicer, it's Sphincter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... llege.html
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by ANGELUS »

The Romulan Republic wrote:I mean, I can literally imagine those exact words coming from North Korean state media. Its fucking creepy.
What is he even aiming for here? other I mean, what is the use of this other than giving himself a pat in the back?
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by The Romulan Republic »

That's exactly what he's aiming for.

This is why I make the Trump small dick jokes- because he lives his whole life like an ode to overcompensation.

But seriously, I think that while he's always had these tendencies (obviously), it'll likely be even more pronounced now. Because on the one hand, he won the Presidency, and that power could go to anyone's head.

But on the other hand, deep down, he knows that he lost- that he is President not because the people chose him, but because of illegal intervention and the Electoral College. He knows he is despised, that his approval rating is shit. And that makes him insecure, so he'll need to overcompensate even more.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by EnterpriseSovereign »

Apparently now Trump is to announce US embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Yup. Pander to the zionists, fuck the Muslims.

At least all the KKK anti-Semites who voted for him will be disappointed. But fuck them too.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Trump inauguration

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Elfdart wrote:I know I'm a bad person for laughing til my ribs ached as neo-Nazi Richard Spencer got suckerpunched to the tune of the Yes song Roundabout, but it was the tiniest ray of sunshine on a day which shall live in infamy.
It's been remixed a lot, but I think this one's more appropriate. :lol:

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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by cosmicalstorm »

Bullshit circus continues with little attention to real policy.
January 23, 2017
Distracted Media Fails To Catch Trump Policy Decisions

For two days the media have been busy counting people gathering in Washington DC. 90.3% of the voters in Washington DC had chosen Clinton.

A recent DC gathering of a Republican aligned crowd on a rainy work-day attracted many people. A following gathering of a Democratic aligned crowd on a work-free day without rain attracted more people.

The media watched, counted and was "astonished". Thousands of lines of "political analyses" were written to explain the difference of the crowd size without mentioning the significance of where it happened, what day of the week it happened and the environmental circumstances. The result of such analysis was a lot of bullshit.

The new Trump administration was quite happy about this diversion of attention. It additionally lampooned the media when its new spokesperson condemned the press for not being able to count at all. More lines of bullshit analysis were written about that insult.

Just like during the election campaign the media fell for the cheap stunt and thereby missed the serious processes and the decisions that were taking place behind the curtains.

Today the Trump administration announced the end of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement:

The president’s withdrawal from the Asian-Pacific trade pact amounted to a drastic reversal of decades of economic policy in which presidents of both parties have lowered trade barriers and expanded ties around the world. Although candidates have often criticized trade deals on the campaign trail, those who made it to the White House, including President Barack Obama, ended up extending their reach.
The NYT seems astonished that, unlike Obama, Trump stood by his words. The media had expected different and was distracted. It failed to report the issue until the decision was taken.

The TPP would have imposed "free trade" on more countries and products. The "free" in those trades would have meant that private companies would have been "free" to overrule national governments and their jurisdiction. They could have sued for "compensation" if a country, for public health or environmental reasons, rejected or hindered one of their businesses. Everyone should be happy that this monster died.

In another policy surprise a new coordination between Russian and U.S. intelligence circles in Syria is bearing fruits:

Russia has received coordinates of Daesh targets in Al-Bab, Aleppo Province, from the US via the 'direct line,' the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.
The United States has provided coordinates of the terrorists' targets in the city of Al-Bab in Aleppo province for Russian airstrikes. After the reconnaissance check, Russia and two coalition jets have conducted joint airstrikes on the Daesh targets in the region.

The U.S. military seems to deny:

Any involvement or participation of American assets on the ground in country, in support of a series of Russian airstrikes against the northern Syrian town of al-Bab was “100 percent false,” said Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway.
The U.S. coalition spokesperson also said it is:

"not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria"
Before jumping up and down and claiming that the Russians are lying the media should take a fine comb and reread the statements.

The DoD only denied it coordinated airstrikes or helped with "assets on the ground". It does not deny the transfer of coordinates. The Russians do not claim U.S. airplanes took part in the mission - only "coalition jets". Turkey is part of the U.S. coalition and coordinates airstrikes with the Russian forces in Syria:

Earlier, Russian and Turkish combat planes have carried out a new series of joint airstrikes against Daesh targets in war-torn Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"The Russian and Turkish planes carried out joint airstrikes against Islamic State terrorists in the outskirts of the town of al-Bab in Aleppo province on January 21," the ministry said in a statement.

The Russian statement is likely as correct as the DoD statement.

The political significance here is the transfer of ISIS targeting coordinates from some U.S. agency directly to the Russian forces in Syria. That is something Russia has asked for for over a year and it now suddenly seems to happen.

This is next to the TTP decision a second significant change under Trump the media missed to report on as it developed.

While the blustering against Trump in U.S. media as well as in some countries abroad goes on and on, serious decisions are taken and implemented by the new administration. The media fail in some systematic way. Minor diversions from "political correctness" are blown up into big headlines while big policy decisions pass unnoticed. It is simple: The task with reporting on the Trump administration is the same as with any politician. Do not listen to what they say, watch what they do. It is high time for the media to get back to that basic rule.

Digression:

As a German I am embarrassed on how much my government failed to anticipate Trump and, since he is elected, fails to prepare for the coming onslaught on its export orientated economic model. Wages in Germany were held down by all means (including by importing additional workforce from Syria and elsewhere) and a huge export surplus was created that benefited only a few moneyed pockets. The scheme created a huge imbalance in Europe and the credit crisis in Spain, Greece and elsewhere. Trump's policies will finally blow this model apart.

But neither of the ruling parties in Germany has yet developed an alternative or prepared a way towards one. Germany needs to re-orientate its industry from export to local consumption. That requires higher buying power for the general public via higher wages and lower taxes. A lower degressive VAT compensated by higher progressive taxes on non-work income would be a way to go. If such steps are delayed the economic damage will be serious and further open the way for a demagogic right.

Posted by b on January 23, 2017 at 02:26 PM | Permalink
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/01/di ... sions.html
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by Flagg »

Long live President Pussygrabber! May his rein be short and hilarious.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by Crazedwraith »

cosmicalstorm wrote:Bullshit circus continues with little attention to real policy.

-snip article-
You realise 'the circus' is not about whether his inauguration was bigger than Obama's or not. It's about that he pointlessly lied about it to salve is own ego.

And there's been plenty of focus on his policies as well.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by Wild Zontargs »

Crazedwraith wrote:
cosmicalstorm wrote:Bullshit circus continues with little attention to real policy.

-snip article-
You realise 'the circus' is not about whether his inauguration was bigger than Obama's or not. It's about that he pointlessly lied about it to salve is own ego.

And there's been plenty of focus on his policies as well.
The circus is a smokescreen, and the media is doing exactly what Trump wants. It's the same shit he's been doing through his entire campaign. Say something absolutely batshit, and the media goes into circus-mode chasing click-bait, while Trump continues to do whatever he wants while everyone's distracted.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by Ziggy Stardust »

Yet, I've seen MORE headlines about TPP, the Secretary of Education nomination, the cutting of funding to the National Endowment of the Arts, etc. than I have about the inauguration numbers stuff. What major policy decision has the Trump administration made that has not been widely reported on? I'm not buying this narrative.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by GrandMasterTerwynn »

Ziggy Stardust wrote:Yet, I've seen MORE headlines about TPP, the Secretary of Education nomination, the cutting of funding to the National Endowment of the Arts, etc. than I have about the inauguration numbers stuff. What major policy decision has the Trump administration made that has not been widely reported on? I'm not buying this narrative.
Indeed. Just this morning, in fact, I'm reading widely published stories about how Trump has just accelerated the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, and how he's rewarding James Comey's meddling in the election by keeping him on at the FBI. The inauguration kerfuffle is already ancient history.
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Re: Trump inauguration

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The Romulan Republic wrote:This is seriously some Kim Jong Un-level self-adulation.
It always is.
Office of the Press Secretary
------------------------------------
For Immediate Release January 20, 2009
NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.
We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.
On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.
So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
Barack Obama
This kind of shit gets entered into the federal register all the time.

Seriously, though - people need to stop chasing every click-baity squirrel the press throws out there to get outrage traffic, and focus on what matters. Like the healthcare, medicaid and medicare "reforms" that Eddie Munster and Co. have planned, or on writing the members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor & Pensions to vote no to Amway Betsy on the 31st. Online "activism" in the form of hashtags or outrage over nothings on a message board echo chamber will accomplish diddly-squat.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by The Romulan Republic »

False equivalency.

Commemorating Inauguration Day in some way... fine. A little tasteless and self-congratulatory in any case, if you ask me, but if that's the tradition, okay. Its not a big deal.

But the words you choose matter. "Renewal and Reconciliation" has very different connotations from the leader announcing a day of "Patriotic Devotion" when he's sworn in. The former suggests an attempt at uniting to improve the nation. The latter (particularly from a man with a history of flagrant narcissism and despotic rhetoric) invokes imagines of loyal, obedient citizenry.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Trump inauguration

Post by whackadoodle »

The Romulan Republic wrote:False equivalency.

Commemorating Inauguration Day in some way... fine. A little tasteless and self-congratulatory in any case, if you ask me, but if that's the tradition, okay. Its not a big deal.

But the words you choose matter. "Renewal and Reconciliation" has very different connotations from the leader announcing a day of "Patriotic Devotion" when he's sworn in. The former suggests an attempt at uniting to improve the nation. The latter (particularly from a man with a history of flagrant narcissism and despotic rhetoric) invokes imagines of loyal, obedient citizenry.
False equivalency. I don't think you know what that term means, even though you throw it around all the time.

They're the same. Both presidents made statements that appealed to the respective bases.

Democrats and liberals in general love "Kumbaya". Republicans and conservatives in prefer "America, Fuck Yeah!".
I have come to the conclusion that my subjective account of my motivation is largely mythical on almost all occasions. I don't know why I do things.
J.B.S. Haldane
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