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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Oops - your Trump presidency discussion thread
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
There is an opportunity for the president to be -- OMG, am I really typing these words? A force for substantial good in the country. If he does this, I promise you I will start using his name. And that's a major concession! But I think I am safe in making it; even the columnist says this is not a very likely prospect. The 1600 Weathervane is not known for steadiness of purpose or mature focus; I give it one news cycle before he moves on.
[ 23. February 2018, 13:51: Message edited by: Brenda Clough ]
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
An Unholy Trinity indeed. There is a certain amount of unravelling going on. No doubt the NRA accounts will reveal any evidence to be found of some kind of money trail.
Curiouser and curiouser ..
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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simontoad
Ship's Amphibian
# 18096
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Posted
An achievement like that in this environment would put him right up there in terms of Greatness. He'd be remembered fondly once his sins were a distant memory.
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Human
Posts: 1571 | From: Romsey, Vic, AU | Registered: May 2014
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
There is an opportunity for the president to be -- OMG, am I really typing these words? A force for substantial good in the country. If he does this, I promise you I will start using his name. And that's a major concession! But I think I am safe in making it; even the columnist says this is not a very likely prospect. The 1600 Weathervane is not known for steadiness of purpose or mature focus; I give it one news cycle before he moves on.
What is the article suggesting? I can’t access it, it’s behind a paywall.
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
It points out that only Nixon could go to China. It will take a foaming-rabid GOP president to enact gun control and force his party to swallow it. The doors of history open, and who is standing there? Could it be a great president? If it is then we will know that not only does God look out for this country, She has a great sense of humor.
And I must append the tweet of our last great president. “Young people have helped lead all our great movements. How inspiring to see it again in so many smart, fearless students standing up for their right to be safe; marching and organizing to remake the world as it should be,” former president Barack Obama tweeted on Thursday. “We’ve been waiting for you. And we’ve got your backs.”
The line that moves me the most is 'We've been waiting for you.'
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
Maybe he will.
On the other hand, it would be far more in character for him to hear about this of Fox and pick a Twitter fight with the “ ungrateful” survivors. I give it 24 hours.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Ohher
Shipmate
# 18607
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Posted
You're thinking of the wrong president. Brenda quoted Barack Obama; you're thinking of the current usurper.
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From the Land of the Native American Brave and the Home of the Buy-One-Get-One-Free
Posts: 374 | From: New Hampshire, USA | Registered: Jun 2016
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ohher:
You're thinking of the wrong president. Brenda quoted Barack Obama; you're thinking of the current usurper.
Wait, Obama was a "foam raving GOP President"?
(Which is my snarky way of saying that I was responding to paragraph 1 of Brenda's post.)
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
It's now being widely reported that former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort created a paper trail, which Mueller and his team were able to use to create the foundation for some fraud charges.
Specifically, he had a real financial statement for one of his companies in PDF form, but needed to edit it to add fake assets to the assets line. So he emailed it to Robert Gates, with a request that he convert the document to Word and send it back, which Gates did. After adding the necessary zeroes, he sent it back to Gates to re-convert to PDF.
I'll be the first to admit that going from PDF to Word isn't always easy. But has this guy never heard of Google?
Real criminal geniuses at work...
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Ach. I hate these things, because they always tempt me into dreaming of the criminal masterpieces I could commit with my superior knowledge of basic computer use... ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Every time I think we've plumbed the depths of lunacy, we find a new bottom This is not outrageous nor shameful, merely jaw-droppingly stupid. A free click from Vanity Fair, which is doing some sterlng journalism these days.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
Brenda, that is indeed stupifyingly stupid. Thank you for the link.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
If a British cabinet minister said something that moronic they could not survive the day. Eggwina Curry anyone? Is this a first at cabinet level in America? This administration seems to have achieved a new low across the board and it hasn't hurt it at all. I feel it's because there is no equivalent of the BBC and its audience. You can't go too low in US politics. The ridicule doesn't work. Thank God it does here.
That we are not as this publican...
[ 24. February 2018, 22:29: Message edited by: Martin60 ]
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Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
A new day, a new depth. Stupidity in heaps all around! Somehow Michael Steele has gone all this time without looking around the room and noticing all the lily-white faces around him. But, unsatisfied with this, a GOPer actually declares that Steele is the token black man. Didn't you get the memo, pal? The whole point of hypocrisy is -not- to say it out loud.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
More edifying is the now-released Democrat memo to the House Intelligence Committee. Key takeaways include confirmation that Carter Page was mixed up with the Russians while still working for the Trump campaign (contrary to Trump's repeated claims) and that the FBI were investigating the Trump campaign well before the Steele dossier.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
Adam Schiff responds to the Trump tweet.
The facts are in Adam Schiff's favour, as a comparison of both memos makes clear. But Trump won the news cycle victory and his support base are likely to accept Trump's scornful rebuttal.
And the news cycle is currently majoring on protection of schools post-Florida. Those of us who are looking at the details were inclined to believe the partisan nature of the Nunes memo anyway.
Another example of Trump making the truth a matter of loyalty; the facts are secondary.
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
Perfect B62, perfect. The liberal intelligentsia need to actually use intelligence. In all meanings of the term. It's like none of them have read The Righteous Mind.
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Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Somehow Michael Steele has gone all this time without looking around the room and noticing . . . that [he] is the token black man.
That'll larn him to think a black man can hobnob with Republicans. Steele actually appears to be quite intelligent, witty and downright affable, judging from his appearances on Rachel Maddow's program. I'd be delighted to include him in my circle of friends. Republicans' loss. Let's hope he can capitalize on what he has learned.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378
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Posted
Regards, the comment about Grover Cleveland upthread: he is the only president who served two non-consecutive terms. He is considered the 22nd and 24 president, with Benjamin Harrison being the 23rd. Think of it as administrations. While other presidents served two or more terms (in the case of FDR) their administration did not change. Cleveland had to name a new administration when he was elected the second time.
Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
One of the reasons I had at least some time for Sarkozy was him doing almost that: here he is when mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1993, negotiating in person with a suicide bomber holding a class of nursery school children hostage - and bringing one out in person.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
America has a long history of Presidential bad-asses stepping in and solving problems in crisis situations. You may remember an episode from the Ford administration where the POTUS single-handedly took on a group of terrorists who had infiltrated Air Force One.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
Apparently Air Force One is Trump's favourite Harrison Ford movie.
Does make you wonder about the way Trump separates fantasy and reality in view of his recent statement.
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Crœsos
Shipmate
# 238
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
This is from the POST but is so charming it may well be worth a click to you: the $30 Million Dollar Man says he would have rushed in to save the Parkland FL students from the gunman.
Yeah, I'm having trouble picturing Cadet Bone Spurs (h/t Senator Duckworth) running towards danger. Anyone remember this 2008 interview with Howard Stern [audio]?
quote:
I was at Mar-a-Lago and we had this incredible ball, the Red Cross Ball, in Palm Beach, Florida. And we had the Marines. And the Marines were there, and it was terrible because all these rich people, they’re there to support the Marines, but they’re really there to get their picture in the Palm Beach Post… so you have all these really rich people, and a man, about 80 years old — very wealthy man, a lot of people didn’t like him — he fell off the stage.
<snip>
And you know what I did? I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away,” said Trump. “I couldn’t, you know, he was right in front of me and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him… he’s bleeding all over the place. I felt terrible, you know, beautiful marble floor, didn’t look like it. It changed color. Became very red. … His wife is screaming — she’s sitting right next to him, and she’s screaming. I was saying “Get that blood cleaned up! It’s disgusting!”
People say he's a germaphobe, but he's (allegedly) willing to have unprotected sex with a porn star. I'd classify him as simply "prissy".
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Humani nil a me alienum puto
Posts: 10706 | From: Sardis, Lydia | Registered: May 2001
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Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378
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Posted
We could only wish a 70-year-old obese man would run into a building without a gun to face a boy armed with a AR-15.
Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I suspect this isn't serious, but these days, you never ever know: Is Donald Trump the Anti-Christ? ― 666 Fifth Avenue Mark of the BEAST, which contains among other things, all the ways that anything trumpy likes or is affiliated with adds up to 666.
Probably not serious, but I will just say... the weekend before the election the lectionary handed me 2 These. 2. The parallels were so obvious it was really, really hard not to point them out. Really hard. Had I not been thoroughly and comfortably ensconced in my liberal dream-land* at that point, utterly sure he was headed for a big and humiliating defeat, I probably wouldn't have been able to resist.
*Lord, I do miss that liberal dreamland. (sigh)
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Barnabas62:
Apparently Air Force One is Trump's favourite Harrison Ford movie.
Does make you wonder about the way Trump separates fantasy and reality in view of his recent statement.
I periodically run through the fictional US presidents I'd rather have. HF's version is definitely on the list.
T certainly isn't that president. (Understatement of the century.)
I think T is often messed up about fantasy and reality and whatever is running around in his head. I think he often walks around in a fog, and the only reality is what's in his mind.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Re bone spurs on T's feet:
I'm confused as to why people (here and elsewhere) make fun of this. If he didn't really have them, ok.
But it's an actual, painful condition. The Army rejects potential soldiers with flat feet. I'd think people with bone spurs on their feet would be rejected, too. Soldiers, even in training, have to walk, march, and run for miles, wearing heavy packs. Their feet need to be comfortable enough to do that dependably.
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
bone spurs . . . it's an actual, painful condition
Easily treated by podiatrists whose fees do not present a burden to persons of the moneyed class.
[ 27. February 2018, 09:23: Message edited by: Amanda B. Reckondwythe ]
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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simontoad
Ship's Amphibian
# 18096
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Posted
I don't believe he had bone spurs, ever. He dodged the draft that's all. I don't particularly have an issue with people dodging the draft, but if they do they should shut up about the war service of others. That gets me steamed about Trump every time.
[ 27. February 2018, 09:46: Message edited by: simontoad ]
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Human
Posts: 1571 | From: Romsey, Vic, AU | Registered: May 2014
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Crœsos
Shipmate
# 238
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re bone spurs on T's feet:
I'm confused as to why people (here and elsewhere) make fun of this. If he didn't really have them, ok.
But it's an actual, painful condition. The Army rejects potential soldiers with flat feet. I'd think people with bone spurs on their feet would be rejected, too. Soldiers, even in training, have to walk, march, and run for miles, wearing heavy packs. Their feet need to be comfortable enough to do that dependably.
simontoad gave a pretty good answer to this. The New York Times gives details:
quote:
Back in 1968, at the age of 22, Donald J. Trump seemed the picture of health.
He stood 6 feet 2 inches with an athletic build; had played football, tennis and squash; and was taking up golf. His medical history was unblemished, aside from a routine appendectomy when he was 10.
But after he graduated from college in the spring of 1968, making him eligible to be drafted and sent to Vietnam, he received a diagnosis that would change his path: bone spurs in his heels.
<snip>
In an interview with The New York Times last month, Mr. Trump said the bone spurs had been “temporary” — a “minor” malady that had not had a meaningful impact on him. He said he had visited a doctor who provided him a letter for draft officials, who granted him the medical exemption. He could not remember the doctor’s name.
“I had a doctor that gave me a letter — a very strong letter on the heels,” Mr. Trump said in the interview.
Asked to provide The Times with a copy of the letter, which he had obtained after his fourth student deferment, Mr. Trump said he would have to look for it. A spokeswoman later did not respond to repeated requests for copies of it.
The Selective Service records that remain in the National Archives — many have been discarded — do not specify what medical condition exempted Mr. Trump from military service.
Mr. Trump has described the condition as heel spurs, which are protrusions caused by calcium built up on the heel bone, treated through stretching, orthotics or sometimes surgery.
Mr. Trump said that he could not recall exactly when he was no longer bothered by the spurs, but that he had not had an operation for the problem.
“Over a period of time, it healed up,” he said.
For the record, Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946. This means he had a draft number of 356 [PDF]. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, each American man of a certain age was given a number from 1 to 366 based on their birthday. The lower your number the more likely you were to get drafted and sent to Vietnam. Given his high number he was virtually immune to being drafted regardless of the condition of his heels.
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Humani nil a me alienum puto
Posts: 10706 | From: Sardis, Lydia | Registered: May 2001
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Augustine the Aleut
Shipmate
# 1472
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re bone spurs on T's feet:
I'm confused as to why people (here and elsewhere) make fun of this. If he didn't really have them, ok.
But it's an actual, painful condition. The Army rejects potential soldiers with flat feet. I'd think people with bone spurs on their feet would be rejected, too. Soldiers, even in training, have to walk, march, and run for miles, wearing heavy packs. Their feet need to be comfortable enough to do that dependably.
I, too, have a bone spur condition in my left foot. With correct shoe fitting, I was able to (last May and June) walk 850km across northern Spain, with pack.
Posts: 6236 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Oct 2001
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Crœsos:
[QUOTE]For the record, Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946. This means he had a draft number of 356 [PDF]. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, each American man of a certain age was given a number from 1 to 366 based on their birthday. The lower your number the more likely you were to get drafted and sent to Vietnam. Given his high number he was virtually immune to being drafted regardless of the condition of his heels.
Clarification: he had a draft number of 356 in 1970. A new lottery was held each year (shades of Hunger Games) so last year's 356 could become next years #1. And deferments could take some time to process, so most men would start working on obtaining them long before the lottery was held.
I too would not sneer at anyone who sought a deferment-- as did Bill Clinton and George W and a vast number of young men in the 70s. But I do have a problem with someone who took that route now maligning and denigrating those who did serve, or proffering ridiculous fantasies about how courageously he would act in a life-and-death situation.
[ 27. February 2018, 13:58: Message edited by: cliffdweller ]
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Crœsos
Shipmate
# 238
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
quote:
Originally posted by Crœsos:
For the record, Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946. This means he had a draft number of 356 [PDF]. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, each American man of a certain age was given a number from 1 to 366 based on their birthday. The lower your number the more likely you were to get drafted and sent to Vietnam. Given his high number he was virtually immune to being drafted regardless of the condition of his heels.
Clarification: he had a draft number of 356 in 1970. A new lottery was held each year (shades of Hunger Games) so last year's 356 could become next years #1.
That's not how it worked. The 1971 draft lottery only applied to men born in 1951 (i.e. not Donald Trump). Once you had a number, that was your number regardless of what subsequent lotteries determined. Of course, by the time of the 1971 lottery Trump would have been outside the age normally drafted.
There was a study a few years back that found a correlation between draft number and political opinion. American men of the Vietnam draft generation with lower draft numbers seem to have a greater tendency towards liberal politics and, most interestingly, not just on questions of war and peace. The correlation held the same for those who were ultimately drafted and those who were not. Trump, with his high draft number and very conservative political views, seems to be a confirming case.
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Humani nil a me alienum puto
Posts: 10706 | From: Sardis, Lydia | Registered: May 2001
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Crœsos:
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
quote:
Originally posted by Crœsos:
For the record, Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946. This means he had a draft number of 356 [PDF]. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, each American man of a certain age was given a number from 1 to 366 based on their birthday. The lower your number the more likely you were to get drafted and sent to Vietnam. Given his high number he was virtually immune to being drafted regardless of the condition of his heels.
Clarification: he had a draft number of 356 in 1970. A new lottery was held each year (shades of Hunger Games) so last year's 356 could become next years #1.
That's not how it worked. The 1971 draft lottery only applied to men born in 1951 (i.e. not Donald Trump). Once you had a number, that was your number regardless of what subsequent lotteries determined. Of course, by the time of the 1971 lottery Trump would have been outside the age normally drafted.
Ah, thanks for the clarification-- I had remembered incorrectly. Being female and 14 at the time it probably didn't have the same staying power as those who had to suffer through the anxiety of wondering if "your number's up".
quote:
Originally posted by Crœsos:
There was a study a few years back that found a correlation between draft number and political opinion. American men of the Vietnam draft generation with lower draft numbers seem to have a greater tendency towards liberal politics and, most interestingly, not just on questions of war and peace. The correlation held the same for those who were ultimately drafted and those who were not. Trump, with his high draft number and very conservative political views, seems to be a confirming case.
fascinating!
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The Lion of MarALago is of the era and class where excuses were found for rich boys to avoid military service. George W. Bush was another one -- the state national guard was a popular refuge to avoid going overseas, and if you had connections you could easily get a slot where a poor brown kid could not. Another famous chicken hawk is Wayne LaPierre, NRA president -- he got out of Vietnam by claiming mental issues. Guess those haven't gotten better, eh? Men of this type are always ready to yell for others to go and die for their country, or to demand parades with lots of armaments and missiles. Their personal inadequacies have to be compensated for continually with guns and blood. (My son, my daughter, and my son-in-law all are or were Army officers, and so my scorn for these cowards is infinite and unquenchable.)
Over at MSNBC you may view further unkind commentary about Our National Super Hero.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
Service in Vietnam is such a strange thing in American politics. Clinton, Bush, and Trump were all criticized for not serving, but they all ultimately won their elections. McCain and Kerry both built their careers off of service in Vietnam, and both lost. Both have also faced accusations of overstating their bravery from political opponents (Kerry more visibly than McCain, but both take their licks).
It's one of those things that people talk about as if it is hugely important, but I have seen no indication that it actually matters to significant numbers of voters when it comes time to cast a ballot.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
Brave people do not boast about bravery. And there are many forms of bravery.
President Trump's characterisation of the resource officer as a coward may backfire.
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Maybe, but t will still twist the facts to suit his own 'view'. It sounds as if it's the Sheriff who needs investigating, not Mr. Peterson.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
What the demonising of Scot Peterson demonstrated is the President's complete disregard of due process - except when it suits him of course.
Of course I do not know whether Scot Peterson's explanation will hold up to critical scrutiny. Though it does seem he had at least one witness with him throughout the process, and talked to more than one person.
But there is something remarkably un-Presidential in his wanton disregard of any reputation but his own. Of which this is only one example.
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
FWIW, I've got bone spurs. There was an initial very painful period which brought me to the podiatrist's attention, and I ended up with a couple cortisone shots, some exercises and a pair of orthotics in my shoes. 25 years on, I no longer remember the things (which still exist) because the orthotics handle it.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Barnabas62:
But there is something remarkably un-Presidential in his wanton disregard of any reputation but his own. Of which this is only one example.
I keep thinking this, but then I keep reminding myself that it must play really well with his base, and that is all he is aiming for.
It's really hard to get out of our echo-chamber and get into the heads of his supporters.
I'm intending to get The Faith of Donald Trump when I can bring myself to order it, with a view to trying to do so at least as regards evangelicals.
[ 27. February 2018, 18:19: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Barnabas62
Host
# 9110
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eutychus:
It's really hard to get out of our echo-chamber and get into the heads of his supporters.
Aint that the truth! Too easy to dismiss the base.
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
You might go over to Amazon and use the 'look inside' feature to scope out the first chunk of it. If it's utterly intolerable then you won't have wasted your money.
From the Post, a magnificently charitable interpretation of the Hair Horror's boast. He wanted to be a good person! That's a positive sign! We have to take them anywhere we can find them.
[ 27. February 2018, 18:35: Message edited by: Brenda Clough ]
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
You might go over to Amazon and use the 'look inside' feature to scope out the first chunk of it. If it's utterly intolerable then you won't have wasted your money.
See, this is where we part company.
Empathy is about getting inside the heads of people we find utterly intolerable, trying to understand things in their terms and from their perspective, and empathy is the first stage in winning hearts and minds.
It seems to me that in the US a bigger danger than Trump is falling into the trap of treating "the other side" as less than human, and that this, more than anything else, is the ultimate aim of Russian meddling.
Besides, that's what the Greek word for "devil" means: quote:
"unjustly criticizing to hurt (malign) and condemn to sever a relationship"
[ETA convinced by my own rhetoric, just ordered it]
[ 27. February 2018, 18:48: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Oh, sorry -- I was thinking purely of the production quality of the book. If it is full of mis-spellings, if it's formatted poorly, if the notion of guttering or bottom margins is unknown, then the work is unreadable however congenial the actual content is. In other words, it may be a fraud and a scam, rammed rapidly onto the market to lure money out of your pocket.
You may see that I have no expectation of quality from anything that has the T-word on it, an instinctive self-protective recoil.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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LutheranChik
Shipmate
# 9826
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Posted
I live, move and have my being in the midst of Teump’s base. Don’t psychoanalyze/romanticize their grievamces overmuch. The idea that they’re all laid- off blue collar workers mourning the loss of good union jobs not requiring a great deal of education is oversold, frankly. The ties that bind that subsection of Trumpists with small town Chamber of Commerce types, senior citizens and other unlikely allies are racism, first and foremost; served with generous sides of xenophobia and a kind of toxic nostalgia for an image of the US that is white, patriarchal and self- consciously pious. It is a vision of America where African Americans are either invisible ( here in flyover country) or segregated and subjugated; where sexual minorities are marginalized to the point of criminalization or hospitalization; where women know their place; where immigrants, if tolerated at all, must instantly assimilate and constantly thank non- immigrants for allowing them to even dip a toe into the national melting pot.
You know that psychological maxim that in a family, the sickest, least functional member of the family becomes the thing around whom the rest of the family must orbit? Trumpists, for a whole variety of psychological reasons, are the people in our country least informed, least comfortable with change, least able to handle ambiguity and paradox, least comfortable interacting with “the other,” least able to cope without an external authority mediating reality for them, least able to articulate their feelings and aspirations and fears in a rational, civil way....and they’ve become this malignant force in the country that draws the rest of us around them in their morbid sentimentality, fearmongering and endless mantra of resentments.
[ 27. February 2018, 19:27: Message edited by: LutheranChik ]
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Simul iustus et peccator
http://www.lutheranchiklworddiary.blogspot.com
Posts: 6462 | From: rural Michigan, USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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