This is so pathetic and stupid.

This isn’t aimed at Russia or China, whom the article calls out by name.
This is a dick measuring contest with Iran and North Korea.

I mean - he made the announcement in South Korea.

Diplomatically, Trump (well, his administration) has stated to learn that befriending and allowing tinpot dictators to humiliate the U.S. is non-viable. So they’ve moved to cold-war era tactics of arms races and implied threats of nuclear holocaust.
They, of course, are focusing on smaller nations that while powerful in their own right, aren’t actual threats to the U.S. global hegemony. Not that I support continued U.S. dominance on the world stage, but it’s a weird priority.
Maybe by the end of the admin, they’ll be caught up to Clinton, who realized the best way to apply pressure was economically and via international partnerships — assuming the U.S. has an economy and international partnerships to leverage by then.

I don’t think it’s individual evidence, really. I suspect it’s probably more the bot farms and pressure campaign. Those carry a lot of water for the illusion of continued group consensus.

I know. I was just seeing if you would notice. awkward laughter

(But thanks, I was trying to wing the conversion and started off with 3.3ft =1m and then did the numbers meme while my fingers typed gibberish.)

I have an FDM printer (Ender 3 clone) that is mostly 2020 aluminum extrusion as the frame. A few years ago I found some 2020 on sale and built a set of shelves for my wife’s plants out of it. (Now - I know. It’s not the most economical use of materials, but it was the middle of winter, and I didn’t want to go work in the garage. Plus the 2020 was on sale.) It’ll support a slew of plants over a 4-foot span (~1.2m) without any sagging or other concerns. It can be wobbly side to side, but that’s a matter of bracing and connectors.

His detractors don’t get it. The doctors just called him back for his second once a year exam to admire him. Trump is in unbelievably good health.

It’s Trump’s business acumen showing again. He gets his yearly checkups each calendar and each fiscal year.

Saying this is a check up is a cover story. The doctors obviously called him in to consult on a particularly tough case.

Yes, these are jokes. I hope president pudding brain remains cognizant enough to see all he built crumble, see his reputation ruined, his criminal enterprise dismantled, see his children jailed, to realize that he’s going to die before his political and criminal enemies, and that it all unfolds exceedingly quickly. Not all hopes are rational or possible, but I’ll accept any part of the above.

To be fair, I also suggested he might be stupid.

So the person who is lying is Ted Cruz. Or he’s too stupid not to conflate the statements. But it’s likely the former.

I promise if they enlist me, I will be utterly incompetent.

I mean. Choose your own conspiracy.

Coup against democracy. Coup for democracy (unlikely, but hey, who knows when you get that many people with that much power together to talk). Mass firings. Loyalty tests. War against Venezuela. War against Russia? Going to withdraw from the international stage entirely and let China have Taiwan/Russia go full tilt at Ukraine. Gonna invade Greenland. Maybe the U.S. just is planning to fire off all the nukes on October 14th to mark the biggest and only Charlie Kirk Day.

One of my overdue projects is to disassemble a magic 8 ball, remove the dice from it and make a digital magic 8 ball. I plan to bequeath the removed “dice” to a DM I know.

Good. I don’t want them bitches to think they know me.

He can’t even unite both sides of his face.

After reading that, some wild and ungrounded part of my brain: Putin used the Russian version on him of whatever Vance used on the Pope!

The what?

Edit: What the fuck?

I agree with you, and your point is valid, but the larger context is that it probably doesn’t matter.

The U.S. has been fucked since… well, probably when it didn’t prosecute Nixon, but definitely since 2011.

Apologies for the WP link - I’m sure better people than I could have provided an archive link. It doesn’t present a paywall to me (or even an Adblock warning, which is interesting…)

Several nations have tried to restore democracy after populist strongmen. It was never the same.

Short of pushing all the way through and becoming something else entirely, I don’t see how the current system can be fixed. And I don’t have much faith that ‘something else entirely’ would wind up being better for the people of the U.S., given that its media and all of the leading political figures are in the pocket of the oligarchy, some of whom have already prepared to rewrite the U.S. constitution (the Koch’s) and are salivating at the opportunity to implement a government that is even less useful to the populous (read: even more friendly to their interests).

My point with sharing this is basically… well… despair. I guess my horrible, mediocre comment can be summed up as “The U.S. is fucked, so it might as well keep choosing the lesser of two evils. Sorry. 😕”

Within the last day or so -

Burning the flag, renaming DOD to Dept. of War, trying again to deport Kilmar Abrego, signaling they’re going to ban the COVID-19 vaccine, and attempting to sue California to prevent their redistricting while allowing Texas’ to proceed.

Is this more of the gish-gallop that Bannon described that they’re pulling to overwhelm the news cycle so that a few of the bullshit things they’re pulling don’t get overturned, or are they specifically looking to push out some stories, like Trump’s obvious failing health, Epstein-related stories (inclusive of the latest on Gislaine), or possibly the redistricting one above.

Ugh. They’re up to more bullshit than usual, but the signal to noise ratio is hard to discern.

Well…

Stewart dropped a line that made Hasan pause: maybe Democrats just need “the right reality host” to take over the party.
Hasan’s reflexive response — please, no more reality hosts — came with one notable exception: “Unless Jon, you’re thinking of throwing your hat in the ring… we can talk about that.”
Stewart laughed. He didn’t deny it. He didn’t wave it off. He just leaned back, smiled, and chuckled.

As another commenter brought up, when the idea has been suggested in the past, Jon has unequivocally and instantly shut it down.

Big “Hmmmmm” vibes here.

I should have said reaffirm to capture my intended meaning there.

It’s not that he would change the scheduling, but change the handling of it. Right now the federal government more or less takes a strategy of non-enforcement at the intra-state level, but I could see Trump choosing to selectively meddle after reaffirming its schedule I status.

Expecting Trump to declare cannabis to be a schedule I drug, cancel the plans to reschedule it, and begin federal raids on legal dispensaries within California to harm their economy.

Bonus points if he collects state purchasing records (nationwide) to selectively threaten/silence people based on their social media history.

Google search trends identifies concerning uptick in “how to give yourself cancer” as a search term.