The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2)

[Monty]

@Coriolanus

ETA: If I have time for more confusion, I was flying to Helsinki via Dusseldorf and went through the EU line. I was then taking a boat to St. Petersburg and the Russian Passport control could not figure out how I got to Helsinki (Russian visa on USA passport). .I shrugged. They shrugged and I got on the boat.

I thought the procedure on exiting is to present the passport you used to enter the country. For proof of eligibility to enter the next country, present the passport which you will be using to enter that country.

[crowmanyclouds]

@DavidNRockies

My cites:

Two dolls instead of 30? Toys become the latest symbol of Trump's trade war

https://newrepublic.com/post/194841/trump-kids-less-pencils-toys-tariffs

No one will ever convince me that what those two cites reference is/was Donald complaining about the Christmas presents he didn’t want to buy for the daughter he didn’t want to fuck.

[Coriolanus]

@Monty

I thought the procedure on exiting is to present the passport you used to enter the country. For proof of eligibility to enter the next country, present the passport that you will be using to enter that country.

That’s what confused the Russian Passport control. The line/queue to enter Düsseldorf for non-EU countries was long, and the EU line was “walk on by”. So then I fly to Helsinki, and my USA passport has no stamps. I am surely not going to offer that I had an Irish Passport, yet what are they gonna do? I have a USA visa to Russia and somehow some passport guy didn’t stamp it. My USA passport had many visas to Russia as well. They’re not idiiots, yet what could they do yet let me on the boat?

[Gyrate]

@Monty

I thought the procedure on exiting is to present the passport you used to enter the country. For proof of eligibility to enter the next country, present the passport which you will be using to enter that country.

Not the way I do it. I travel to the US using my US passport at both ends of the trip. Travelling back to the UK I use my UK passport at both ends. Switching passports mid-journey creates problems because your passenger records don’t match.

[DesertDog]

@crowmanyclouds

was Donald complaining about the Christmas presents he didn’t want to buy for the daughter he didn’t want to fuck.

Replacing the daughter, surely.

[Q.Q.Switcheroo]

@Coriolanus

I was then taking a boat to St. Petersburg and the Russian Passport control could not figure out how I got to Helsinki

“Practice, practice, practice.”

[Monty]

The felon wants to abandon Europe, Asia, and Africa, and, of course, take over all of the Americas.

President Donald Trump intends for the U.S. to keep a bigger military presence in the Western Hemisphere going forward to battle migration, drugs and the rise of adversarial powers in the region, according to his new National Security Strategy.

The 33-page document is a rare formal explanation of Trump’s foreign policy worldview by his administration. Such strategies, which presidents typically release once each term, can help shape how parts of the U.S. government allocate budgets and set policy priorities.

The Trump National Security Strategy, which the White House quietly released Thursday, has some brutal words for Europe, suggesting it is in civilizational decline, and pays relatively little attention to the Middle East and Africa.

It has an unusually heavy focus on the Western Hemisphere that it casts as largely about protecting the U.S. homeland. It says “border security is the primary element of national security” and makes veiled references to China’s efforts to gain footholds in America’s backyard.

“The United States must be preeminent in the Western Hemisphere as a condition of our security and prosperity — a condition that allows us to assert ourselves confidently where and when we need to in the region,” the document states. “The terms of our alliances, and the terms upon which we provide any kind of aid, must be contingent on winding down adversarial outside influence — from control of military installations, ports, and key infrastructure to the purchase of strategic assets broadly defined.”

Of course it’s based on the rantings of a bigoted imbecile. But this next part is golden orange.

The document describes such plans as part of a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.

That’s quite reminiscent of a certain other dictator, isn’t it?

theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the development of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development

Felon’s News Network really doesn’t like the First Amendment.

Fox News star Laura Ingraham declared that it is “borderline illegal” for Democratic lawmakers to label Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “thugs,” saying comments like that are “beyond irresponsible” and there “has to be accountability here.”

During a Thursday night interview with Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem and ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, Ingraham brought up remarks made by Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-IL) on the House floor earlier this week about ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents.

“Since taking office, Trump has declared war on our community,” Garcia stated. “Masked ICE and CBP thugs – and I call them thugs because they don’t identify themselves – they have detained parents on their way to work. They have kidnapped U.S. citizens. They have tear-gassed people.”

Turns out the January 6th pipe bomber is a magaflathearther.

The man charged with planting two pipe bombs in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot told the FBI he believed the 2020 election was stolen, according to a report.

Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, was arrested on Thursday and is now speaking with the FBI, people briefed on the matter told CNN. Sources separately told NBC News that Cole told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the election.

Federal prosecutors charged Cole with transporting explosive materials across state lines and attempting to destroy a building with explosives. He is scheduled to appear in D.C. federal court on Friday afternoon and has not yet entered a plea.

The felon and his fellow war criminal will soon have egg on their faces.

TUCSON — Sen. Mark Kelly scoffed at the possibility of facing a court martial as he ridiculed President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth as unserious people.

Just days before the Dec. 10 deadline for the Navy’s secretary to report to Hegseth on any military case against Kelly for taking part in a video Trump has labeled “seditious,” the Arizona Democrat said he hasn’t heard from the Pentagon, and nothing substantive from the FBI.

“We got something from the FBI. We got one thing. It didn’t even have a point of contact on it,” he said Dec. 5 after a town hall event in Tucson. “That’s how unprofessional this (Justice Department) has become.”

The FBI is pressing its domestic terrorism investigators to open a probe against the Democrats who took part in a Nov. 18 video that urged members of the military to refuse illegal orders, Bloomberg Law reported. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

Kelly went on to say that if the threats of legal fallout directed at him and the other Democrats didn’t involve Trump, they would be seen as “crazy.”

“It’s certainly unconstitutional. It’s also in violation of the separation of powers of me as a United States senator. But also, they haven’t been serious enough about this to even notify me other than on Twitter. … They’re not serious people and I’m not backing down.”

Kelly told the 200 people on hand for his town hall that he expects Hegseth “is just going to take a hike. That’s what I ultimately expect him to do, or he can try to prosecute me. But I’m not going away.”

No matter what the felon and his flacks do, they will look like huge losers. And you know how much the felon hates being shown to be the loser he is. No court-martial is an admission that the felon is wrong. Court-martial and losing it will be proof the military is not rolling over for a dictator. Court-martial and winning it just isn’t going to happen.

You’re fired! You’re not! You’re fired! You’re not! Guess again!

WASHINGTON – Facing a backlog of school discrimination cases, the U.S. Department of Education has asked hundreds of employees it fired months ago to temporarily return to work.

A Dec. 5 email obtained by USA TODAY shows the agency ordered a significant portion of staffers in the Office for Civil Rights to come back later this month. In the “return to duty” directive, officials acknowledged they’re facing a sizable caseload of civil rights complaints, and they underscored a need to utilize every resource at the government’s disposal to work through them.

The agency said the request applies to roughly 250 workers who’ve been on administrative leave for months amid legal challenges to their March firings. Julie Hartman, the Education Department’s press secretary for legal affairs, stressed there still aren’t any plans to fully rehire those workers permanently.

Personally, I’m surprised at anyone who was “furloughed” for the RIF not resigning. Nobody deserves to be treated that way. And this is for the Department of Education, one of the top targets of the felon. There’s zero job security there.

[dtilque]

@Monty

The man charged with planting two pipe bombs in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot told the FBI he believed the 2020 election was stolen, according to a report.

So there’s a pardon in his future.

[Monty]

Unsure about that. He’s not exactly pale.

[Coriolanus]

@Gyrate

Switching passports mid-journey creates problems because your passenger records don’t match.

It was Air Berlin in 2010. Some combination of a better deal than the other airlines and both the opportunity for a 10 hour tour of Helsinki and an overnight ferry to St. Petersburg. It did cause some confusion at the Russian Passport Control in Helsinki (they check again in St. Petersburg) yet I suppose a few previous visas to Russia in good standing saved the day.

In this previous summer’s trip, I flew out of Heathrow on Virgin showing my Irish passport, arrived at JFK and just went to the “US Citizen’s lines” and they just facially scan you (entry to the area you just show your passport is USA) and on return I was all Irish passport as that was what my ticket says.

I believe the law for the USA on arrival you are supposed to show your USA passport (even if it’s just a cursory glance to see you’re in the right set of lanes) and oddly enough, the picture on both passports and my UK drivers license (and Irish provisional/learners permit) are all the same so at least 10 years old.

[JKellyMap]

That is nuts!

I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. “You don’t have to tell me,” I said. “I’m off the team, aren’t I?” “Well,” said Coach, “you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you’re wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times.” It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that’s when I felt the handcuffs go on.
–Jack Handey

[Euphonious_Polemic]

@dtilque

So there’s a pardon in his future.

I believe his lawyer is arguing that Trump’s blanket pardon of all the J6 insurrectionists must also include this guy, since he was also trying to destroy government buildings and kill people for political reasons.

[Tatterdemalion]

Granting Pardons And Commutation Of Sentences For Certain Offenses Relating...

(b) grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021;

This is the exact wording of the pardon from the Whitehouse website. I’m afraid that the guy has an argument. The pipe bombing did occur at or near the Capitol after all.

[Atamasama]

@Tatterdemalion

This is the exact wording of the pardon from the Whitehouse website. I’m afraid that the guy has an argument. The pipe bombing did occur at or near the Capitol after all.

The guy’s legal argument isn’t stupid. It was the pardon that was stupid.

[kenobi_65]

@Tatterdemalion

I’m afraid that the guy has an argument. The pipe bombing did occur at or near the Capitol after all.

Maybe if he had waited a few more hours to place those bombs. As per the FBI’s web page on the incident:

On January 5, 2021, an unidentified individual placed pipe bombs near the DNC and RNC offices in Washington, D.C., between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. EST.

The pardon specifies “events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” a day later.

[Railer13]

He hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. Does the pardon include all future convictions as well?

[Atamasama]

@Railer13

Does the pardon include all future convictions as well?

Now that is a great question. I really don’t know.

[kenobi_65]

@Railer13

Does the pardon include all future convictions as well?

Yes, it can, so long as the actual crime had already been committed when the pardon was issued.

Pardons need not follow convictions but can be issued before or during a criminal prosecution. The rationale for so-called “pre-emptive” pardons is that there is no point in requiring a person to live in fear of conviction or to go through a trial if the offense of which he is or might be accused would ultimately be pardoned. Pre-emptive pardons do, not, however apply to offenses not yet committed.

Presidential pardons: Settled Law, unsettled issues, and a downside for Trump...

[Smapti]

Behold this year’s Kennedy Center honorees - Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, KISS, and the guy who sang Phantom of the Opera.

Donald Trump gives medal to unexpected British icon at deeply weird ceremony

[Jack_Batty]

And by KISS, they mean Gene and Paul. Ace is dead. Chris is persona non grata and the other two guys playing with them now are just the other two guys playing with them now.