Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Mnuchin asks the country's six largest banks if they have enough money on hand and no one knows why. Current Dow futures indicate it'll open 200 points down on the news.

*******************************

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/12/23/treasury-secretary-makes-unusual-pre-christmas-call-top-bank-ceos-amid-market-mayhem/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.791d488af561

[Jeff Buchanan]

....... moreover, if this is being offered as a a defense of Trump's action regarding Mattis, it misses the larger point.

What precipitated Mattis' resignation was what appears to be General Mattis' view that after providing the president with advice and council on US military presence in Syria - his duty to do as SecDef - Trump, against that advice, undertook a complete withdrawal of US forces from Syria. It also appears that this was done at the behest of Regip Erdogan, the president of Turkey. There are good reasons to be alarmed by that. After Mattis uncharacteristically expressed his many disagreements with the president as an underlying reason for his resignation, Trump petulantly moved the date of his departure from office up a month.

The point here is that the president is demonstrating a pattern of a rogue actor. That is destabilizing and leaders abroad are reacting to that. The markets are reacting to what appears to be a state of chaos in Washington. Whether or not there actually is a state of chaos, the perception that there is is what matters. Again, Trump appears to savor this kind of circumstance where he can then jump in, do something meaningless yet dramatic in appearance and claim that he has saved the world from catastrophe. It's unnerving to have a president like this. At least it is for me and plenty of other reasonable Americans.

[Ghengis Jon]

A quick blurb about Mattis and his relationship with Trump. A disturbing insight into how Trump "governs".

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/23/opinions/the-man-who-said-emperor-trump-has-no-clothes-mattis-bergen/index.html

[millenwasmyfavorite]

Tacking on to above in response to WF:

The push to illustrate a parallel with Obama (but, why?) can't be seen as anything more than an impotent whataboutism.

Above is a fairly specific chain of events (not a vague hyperbole references to failings) that explain how far Trump is out of water not only in undercutting his own SecDef -- but, for whom he is undercutting for. It also describes a situation where a fairly respected General, and certainly the lastly revered in this cabinet, approached understandable fatigue at a position that would seem to be a dream job for any hawkish military man making the transition into politics.

Those should be the alarms -- and trying to remedy them with suspect timelines for SecDef in a democratic admin following Bush comes off desperate.

[millenwasmyfavorite]

Again, Trump appears to savor this kind of circumstance where he can then jump in, do something meaningless yet dramatic in appearance and claim that he has saved the world from catastrophe. It's unnerving to have a president like this. At least it is for me and plenty of other reasonable Americans.

Yes. When you describe it like this -- it literally describes munchausen syndrome by proxy

[hack]

LOL. When the material writes itself.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...WTXiW_aefwoCIQ

[froot loops]

When you are president, you are going to get criticized every day no matter what you do. LBJ joked that one day if he walked across the Potomac the headline in the next day's paper would read "President Can't Swim." You have to have a thick skin, Trump would be advised to grow a thicker one.

If he was actually thinking about trying to fire Powell, there's no words to describe how stupid that is.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Trump is no LBJ. I know you're not comparing him but I just wanted to point that out.

[froot loops]

No he pretty much is the exact opposite of LBJ in a lot of ways especially legislatively.

We are seeing the problem with a president who pays attention to cable news and its a negative feedback loop. Turn off the TV and get to being president.

[Kapture1]

Gates, Panetta, and Hagel were the first three of Obama's Secretaries, not the last three, and at least two of them had tenures longer than what Mattis will end up having (because Trump wants him fired right away and doesn't care about an orderly transition). Gates in particular (holdover from Bush) lasted until the summer of Obama's third year. So he at least was considerably longer than Mattis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...ary_of_Defense

who was the one's wife Biden was being inappropriate with while he was giving his acceptance speech?

[Ghengis Jon]

Fruit - that is the soundest advice, and most unlikely scenario, for this presidency.


We have Yosemite Sam watching 3 Stooges' shorts for political guidance.

[froot loops]

Moe Howard would be a step up in political guidance from Ann Coulter, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity.

[CGVT]

48415655_10212952694003909_7932803354466451456_n.jpg

[froot loops]

Its well worn trope to liken this presidency to the other movies but it's normally like a Coen brothers movie or Goodfellas, today a surprise appearance by It's a Wonderful Life with the Mnuchin bank panic nonsense statement yesterday.

[Jeff Buchanan]

This NRO, Andrew McCarthy piece illuminates the complexity of the Syria-Turkey-Kurd relationship and why it is a good thing Trump is ordering a pull-out of US troops in Syria. As is usually the case, folks lose site of the facts - no surprise as the media tens to gloss over complexity to get us all stirred up - in these complicated matters.

McCarthy, though, does not let Trump off the hook:



I share that view and question why the heck Turkey, under Erdogan's Islamist leadership, is considered among our allies. That Trump consorts with this bully is consistent with Trump's cozying up to such unsavory characters and at the same time repugnant for that same reason.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/more-syria-thoughts-the-case-for-intervention-was-never-made/