Didn't take long for the North Koreans to defy Trump... not that it will make any difference to adherents of the Trump Party: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06...ze-report.html
Anyone want to take any guesses about the results of the Trump-Putin summit coming up? We pulled out of the UN Human Rights Commission, taking care of that potential snag.
Well, since Putin owns Trump (those naked photos of him, you know) I'm sure we can expect a joint agreement on something like a Russian-American non-aggression pact. Maybe cooperation in intelligence matters, free U.S. college education for Russian kids, a Russian wing added to the White House. The possibilities are endless.Originally Posted by Ma'ake
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"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I think it will be mostly an ice-breaker meeting, devoid of details or agreements (like the UK-NK summit), but with certainly less fanfare, given that 60%+ of the nation still remembers what happened with the 2016 elections and (maybe) 5% of nation remembers about Crimea, Ukraine, the Malaysian Airlines shoot down, the bio-attack in London 3 long months ago, etc. Trump's feeling his oats, the Russian investigation is getting marginalized and discredited, Mueller will be painted as a old patriot deceived by partisan FBI agents who led him in a wrong way.Well, since Putin owns Trump (those naked photos of him, you know) I'm sure we can expect a joint agreement on something like a Russian-American non-aggression pact. Maybe cooperation in intelligence matters, free U.S. college education for Russian kids, a Russian wing added to the White House. The possibilities are endless.
Mostly Putin-Trump will be about further desensitizing the nation about the realignment of the international order - the US involvement in the post WWII western alignment is dissolving quickly, Trump has a clear affinity toward autocratic dictators - Putin, Kim, Duterte (7000+ death squad killings). Put another way - can *you* imagine Obama praising & elevating Kim like that? In the last week Kim executed a military officer who gave soldiers extra food. No joke.
As this point, who cares about any "pee tape" that might emerge? It's sort of irrelevant now, everyone knows Trump is "not an angel" and any outrage would be explained away as Trump Derangement Syndrome by unhinged Dems. The "Fake News" tag is implanted in everyone's brain, more will believe it if the news contradicts what they feel in their heart the good thing that Trump is ruling the nation, and the media is our enemy, etc.
I have to admit fascination at how quickly Republicans have morphed into the Party of Trump. There are a few truth tellers left - McCain, Corker, Graham, Flake [soon just Graham]- and a whole lot of Republicans bailing out, seeing the wave of authoritarian hunger making them forget their previous principles and cower at the new intra-party reality. (I remember some lectures at the U about the Authoritarian Personality complex - it's amazing how accurate those insights were, so long ago.)
I don't believe in the White Horse Prophecy, of course, but I do believe Mitt Romney may play a pivotal role if America will continue democratic rule, in the longer term. He can bob & weave as well as Trump - a key survival skill. But underneath it all, I think Romney has a base moral compass and the intelligence to know when it is being pressured to change. (Hindsight is 20/20, it's impossible to know what the course might have been, but considering what has happened, what we've learned about human nature, I think America might have been better off if Romney won in 2012. How's that for honest reflection?)
But one thing I've learned from our patients is that every day is a gift, and I'm going to go soak up a beautiful Friday here in Los Angeles and think about how I can do something good for the people I love.
Last edited by Ma'ake; 07-01-2018 at 09:43 AM.
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