How has the disgraced, CONVICTED FELON, former but once again President Trump pissed you off today? (Part 1)

The BBQ Pit
9962

With regard to sharks and the Potomac, there’s this bit of trivia:
Shark bite left its mark in Chesapeake history, researchers say

In August of 1640, an English-born laborer stepped off from the sandy shoreline of one of Maryland’s tidal rivers — and into the maw of history. He had only just begun wading in when a “huge fish” sunk its jaws into his thigh and tore away a giant chunk of flesh.
…
Flash forward nearly 400 years. A pair of unlikely collaborators — a former federal marine scientist and a physician who moonlights as a history book author — has rescued the account from obscurity to make a bold claim: This was the first documented fatal shark attack in North America. (Read their research paper here.)

The 1640 incident predates by two years an attack off what is now New York City, currently listed by the Shark Research Institute as the earliest recorded unprovoked shark attack on the continent. [snip]
…
One afternoon that summer — Mountford and Fernicola believe it was August — the overheated laborer decided to swim in the St. Mary’s, a Potomac River tributary just a few miles upstream from the Chesapeake Bay.

Per the letter: “Scarcely had he touched the water when a huge fish having suddenly seized the wicked man, before he could retreat to the bank, tore away at a bite, a large portion of his thigh, by the pain of which most merited laceration, the unhappy wretch was in a short time hurried away from the living.”

Copley’s description matches up neatly with a typical bull shark attack, according to Mountford and Fernicola. (Historical accounts often deploy terms such as “huge fish” when referring to sharks, they said.) The blunt-nosed, round-bodied species is known to venture into freshwater. And they often employ a “bump and bite” method with their prey, which appears to be the case here, they said.

It looks improbable but not impossible that a bull shark could swim upriver to DC (bull sharks have been reported as far up the Mississippi as St Louis). But not in January.

9963

Remember when it turned out it’s okay to straight up murder someone on a subway train when, after you murdered him, it turns out he had record which included assaults on women?

Amateurs! Trump’s storm of seditionists are doing so very well now they’ve been released. The below comes from Yahoo.

“The Daily Show” host Michael Kosta on Tuesday took a look at what’s been going on with some of the Jan. 6 rioters that President Donald Trump blanket pardoned in one of his first acts after returning to office last week.

“I’m sure they’re making the most of their second chance, right?” asked Kosta.

The host noted how one man, Matthew Huttle, had been fatally shot by an Indiana deputy after he allegedly resisted arrest during a traffic stop.

Another is wanted for a 2016 charge of solicitation of a minor, a third faces child pornography charges, and a fourth is incarcerated for two counts of child pornography.

Only the best people!

9964

Nothing says ‘tough guy’ quite like collecting pictures of naked children or trying to diddle one.

9965

What’s gotten me so pissed off because of him is how he’s managed, with his complete incompetence, total lack of empathy, horrid bigotry, narcissism, sociopathy, and flat-out stupidity, to make the handling of this disaster on his watch somehow worse than the tragic event itself.

Wow.

9966

I started skipping that press conference when Trump was trashing Peter Buttieg for destroying aviation entirely and how Trump would have bought the good computers for ATC to use. Nothing about his advisor Elon Musk saying the FAA shouldn’t exist and his hand in getting the head of the FAA to resign.

It was the helicopters pilot’s fault yet there were probably dwarfs or epileptics in the ATC tower. Or maybe not enough brilliant genius’s iike himself. He also said “bullshit” where “malarkey” would have been just as appropriate. And if night vision makes it harder to see commercial airplanes then it must be crappy gear that Obama or Biden bought.

So not my fault, I created the best programs - better by far than Obama - and Biden wiped them out. Yet it was clearly the pilots fault. It’s called “practicing” to play around on runway approaches and if that is a bad thing then Obama or Biden started it.

I’m still furious at the sociopathic “want me to go swimming?” reply.

9967

I do, in fact, want him to go swimming.

9968

That would be quite funny I’m sure. Pro Tip: “Don’t eat first” Not Trump, but any observers.

9969

Finally, Trump could add some value to a tragedy:

An orange navigational buoy can indicate a hazard, a control area, or an information area.

9970

Well… 1 out of 3 anyway.

9971

I would not characterize it so benignly.

As the articles explain, their are two classes of ambassadors - the political appointees and the career set.

This is like Trump firing all the DOJ employees that worked on the cases against him. It’s normal to replace Cabinet appointees. It’s not normal to fire anyone in the DOJ that doesn’t make a pledge of loyalty to the incoming President.

Or the Department of Transportation, or the Department of the Interior, or any other government agency.

This loyalty pledge is very worrying. It’s a play from the Soviet Union, where political loyalty is more important than knowledge or competence. And it’s a stepping stone to the more malignant form of political loyalty, where insufficient zeal can be fatal.

This is exactly what he pledged, he wanted to clear out career civil servants and make all their jobs political appointments again. Even without the slippery slope into totalitarianism, it’s a recipe for confusion and mayhem as all the people who now what to do and how to do it are let go and new hires brought on without training, nevermind experience.

Of he had just waltzed in and told everyone their job was now a political appointment, people would resist with lawsuits seeing injunctions, relying on civil servsnt laws as protection. But by asking for a loyalty pledge, he technically hasn’t violated civil servant laws. That makes it a lot harder to resist, and people may be less willing to resist because they don’t want to work for him anyway.

The question is if this violates other laws about government employees, especially oaths.

I feel for you. Social workers are probably high on the list of services to terminate. “Helping people in need is to woke, and it’s a Democratic agenda anyways. Those people should be self-sufficient, dammit!”

Especially sexual assault survivors. The Rapist in Chief can’t have sexual assault be recognized.

9972

You may very well end up being right.

Having read three or four different articles on the subject, though, I can’t say I’m 100% clear on the plans … for State. The NSC? Yeah. He’s executed a purge.

But even one of the AP articles linked upthread says:

One longtime government employee said he ran into a senior Trump administration official in December who told him that Trump’s team would look to be more thoughtful about how they were vetting appointees and even detailees. Those are nonpolitical, career experts on topics that range from counterterrorism to global climate policy who are loaned to the White House from other agencies for extended assignments.

So, the vast majority of the political appointees are clearly toast, and that’s far from unusual. I just don’t have a strong feeling yet about the career civil servants.

Why would they be spared the same fate by this administration? I can’t think of a single reason. In fact, I’m inclined to think they’ll be purged as well.

I’m just not sure I’ve seen it across all departments … yet.

9973

So, the pledge doesn’t really mean jack in the legal world, does it? So, take it, throw up in your mouth.

Oh, he’ll fire you eventually when you don’t lick his boots enough, but fired is fired.

Personally though, I wouldn’t take a pledge to anyone, let alone that asshole.

9974

Just don’t put your hand on the bible or your hand on your heart when you pledge.

9975
9976

Put your hand on your wallet, because that’s where his will be.

But he’s previously stated he wants to get rid of civil servants. He’s put a hiring freeze on the entire government. He’s talking buyouts and forcing all federal workers to in office work, calling them lazy. He has a department aimed at “government efficiency”, i.e. downsizing.

It’s all in lock step. There’s no indicator that he won’t be doing it to the entire Federal government. FDA inspectors? MAGA or get out. FAA - already in work. VA - privatize that shit. Medicare - he claims he won’t touch it, but will go after “waste”, but had already rolled back price caps on medications put in place by Biden. He will justify cutting benefits by calling them wasteful and unnecessary.

And he’ll purge all the people in those offices who process and distribute funds and manage the program. Not because those jobs need political vigor on board with MAGA plans and goals, because he wants cronies and yes-men.

Tell me a department you don’t see him purging.

9977

The Department of Buying Countries and Renaming Things!
Strange that we seem to have plenty of money for those stupidities…

9978

The Department of Being Stupid, Impulsive, Vengeful and Self-Centered.

9979

Seriously? Look at the vows that brides and grooms make at the altar and how much those words actually mean just a few years later. A person can utter the most solemn, heartfelt pledge, but when it comes to matters of true conscience, oh, that was just something I said to get the job.

9980

Whoosh,

9981

In the United States of America, it’s not normal to have an oath of loyalty to a president. Even the military oath of office does not go that far. The oaths do require obedience to orders; however, the constitution is the supreme law of the land and it has been long established in law that obedience to unlawful orders cannot be required.

We’ve already seen what that means in hot flaming action in regards to California: make state laws align with his wishes or no federal funding, no federal assistance, no federal anything.