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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

TobiasDrake Queen of Good Things, Honest (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Queen of Good Things, Honest
#191776: Jun 3rd 2017 at 9:37:54 PM

Women can't even have opinions on the internet without receiving a flood of death threats. Why wouldn't they be sent to a woman trying to run for government office?

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#191777: Jun 3rd 2017 at 11:11:31 PM

Translation: Trump reacts to London attacks by requesting a new migratory veto. http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/estados-unidos/article154265894.html

He just really thinks that Humanity should be divided in fear, isn't he?

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#191778: Jun 3rd 2017 at 11:36:10 PM
Thumped: Wow. That was rude. Too many of this kind of thump will bring a suspension. Please keep it civil.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#191779: Jun 3rd 2017 at 11:50:18 PM

He wants a "win". He wants his travel ban to go through. And he's willing to do or say anything heedless of others or of consequences to "win".

Disgusted, but not surprised
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#191780: Jun 4th 2017 at 12:14:01 AM

[up] He won't win that one.

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#191781: Jun 4th 2017 at 12:33:44 AM

All those protests make me nostalgic about my own old protest days.....though what I went on the street for is benign compared to this.

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#191782: Jun 4th 2017 at 12:35:15 AM

[up] You mean the actions of the policemen?

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#191783: Jun 4th 2017 at 12:41:16 AM

Ah, I remember my BLM protest days.

Such a simple time, comparitively.

New Survey coming this weekend!
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#191784: Jun 4th 2017 at 4:21:03 AM

[up][up] No, I mean the reason...I was fighting against the introduction of student fees and questionable school reforms. Semi-successful. Some of the stuff went sadly through, but a lot didn't.

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#191785: Jun 4th 2017 at 5:59:34 AM

The State Department's still on Standby Trumplomacy: Has Trump sidelined Rex Tillerson?

Last month when Rex Tillerson tried to translate "America First" into foreign policy terms for a bemused audience of State Department employees, he probably didn't expect it would come to mean "America Alone."

The secretary of state was, by all accounts, a member of the "Remain Campaign" lobbying against a US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

How much of a personal setback is not clear because on this, as on other issues, Tillerson kept a low profile.

Twenty-four hours after the decision, the only comment he'd made was an aside at a photo-opportunity. He declared that the US would continue its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and appealed for partners to keep things "in perspective".

Tillerson had previously said the US should "maintain its seat at the table" on international climate conversations, a sensible position for the nation's top diplomat and one that he reportedly maintained in White House debates on the Paris Agreement.

But publicly he showed none of the passion demonstrated by his predecessor, John Kerry, who powered negotiations on the deal. It seems the president's daughter, Ivanka, took the lead in fighting the corner for the Remainers. And the role of super-engaged interlocutor apparently fell to the climate change sceptic in the administration, Environment Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, who spoke at the Rose Garden ceremony.

Mr Tillerson did not attend, whether out of resignation or as an everyday-act-of-resistance, we don't know. A State Department official said only that he was in his office and "maintained his schedule, preparing for his trip today to Australia and New Zealand".

No doubt Pruitt (and his ally, White House adviser Steve Bannon) had an easier task than Tillerson, given that he was preaching to a president sympathetic to his economic and nationalist arguments.

...And the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has even less diplomatic experience than he does, has forged a parallel foreign policy track from the White House.

Clearly, the Paris withdrawal was also bad news for the State Department, which has yet to issue a statement.

Where it once straddled the front lines of global climate negotiations, it's now been dropped off the map.

The US does remain a member of the UN framework for climate change issues, the UNFCCC, but those meetings have become mostly about the Paris Agreement.

...in private chats, international diplomats from across the global spectrum complain that normal channels for getting and giving information at the State Department and White House are still unstaffed. They struggle to find the people who can listen to their concerns or tell them what's going on.

So while this will not break alliances, it could be more difficult to pick up the pieces and say we can still be friends.

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#191786: Jun 4th 2017 at 6:20:14 AM

Why? It's been known for a long time that Tillerson is a figurehead.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#191787: Jun 4th 2017 at 6:25:00 AM

Honestly, this obsession of which fraction in the White House currently has the power is amusing to me...especially when the answer is pretty clear: Who ever managed to stroke Donald Trump's ego last. This is not in any shape or form a functioning government.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#191788: Jun 4th 2017 at 6:26:22 AM

They are trying to run the diplomatic affairs of a super power out of the Executive Branch. Even a competent West Wing couldn't do that, you need more warm bodies.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
kkhohoho Since: May, 2011
#191789: Jun 4th 2017 at 7:27:27 AM

[up][up]Which is the only reason America hasn't become an all-out facist hellhole. ...Yay?

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#191790: Jun 4th 2017 at 7:50:18 AM

I kind of feel like the rest of the world has just decided to wait this out on the assumption that Trump will be gone in four or eight years. Not like they can do much else.

edited 4th Jun '17 7:50:29 AM by AceofSpades

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#191791: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:00:27 AM

[up] Nobody is waiting. Everyone is moving pretty fast, either in order to do damage control or to position itself in a favourable position globally.

Zendervai Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy from St. Catharines Since: Oct, 2009 Relationship Status: Wishing you were here
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
#191792: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:05:47 AM

Yeah. For one, China is very clearly trying to step into the power vacuum Trump is actively creating and become the new world leader.

...better China then Russia, if only because China, as far as I can tell, has no interest in propping up very dangerous political groups.

Not Three Laws compliant.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#191793: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:08:37 AM

[up]

if only because China, as far as I can tell, has no interest in propping up very dangerous political groups.

Yeah, China only props up a dangerous lunatic regime. *cough* North Korea *cough*

Disgusted, but not surprised
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#191794: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:14:16 AM

[up][up] China bears its own set of dangers in that it could undermine our economies by stealing patents and dumping prices by underpaying workers. But it is a threat which is overall pretty manageable, especially since China currently shows no interest in expanding its territory or meddling in the politics of other countries. But the EU can't allow that China is setting the standards.

The whole climate deal might also lead to the downfall of Russia and Saudi Arabia. Both are countries which are extremely dependent on the Oil price, and while the move to renewables will be a slow process, the less oil is needed, the more they will loose in power and influence.

edited 4th Jun '17 8:15:38 AM by Swanpride

TobiasDrake Queen of Good Things, Honest (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Queen of Good Things, Honest
#191795: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:31:05 AM

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if China steps up to fill the void we left as the world's economic leader. Which also means that anyone holding out hope for liberating the people they trampled on to get there probably shouldn't hold their breath, but the same was always true of us too. "Sucks to be Tibet" is becoming the new "Sucks to be Cherokee".

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#191796: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:34:51 AM

China is mostly concerned with the politics of its regional neighbors, it couldn't give a damn about the internal affairs of its global trading partners if it doesn't impact their bottom line or rile up their population.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#191797: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:34:57 AM

Wasn't there a poster here way back when who's Single-Issue Wonk was exactly that happening with China?

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#191798: Jun 4th 2017 at 8:38:13 AM

[up][up]That's pretty much true of Russia as well, we just care more about the neighbors they're messing with. We have close relations with most of western Europe, all of which are affected to a greater or lesser extent by Russia throwing its weight around. With China, the list of countries in the region we care about is basically just Japan and South Korea.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#191799: Jun 4th 2017 at 9:12:48 AM

[up] Russia is currently not just throwing its weight around, Putin wants to establish dictatorships around the world, but especially in Europe, an area where democratic governments are currently the norm.

In international politics, nothing counts as much as your last act.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#191800: Jun 4th 2017 at 9:17:18 AM

Less establishing dictatorships and more trying to make sure the least qualified people end up running Russia's rival nations (which is most of Europe and America). Said dumbfucks just happen to be authoritarian assholes too.

Disgusted, but not surprised

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