DramatistDreamer

*files nails* Kushner used private email to conduct White House business "The senior adviser set up the account after the election. Other West Wing officials have also used private email accounts for official business."

Obama's administration must've one a hell of a job then, because Trump has already doubled the number of tests and missile launches in one year than of Obama's entire years in office. As for Trump mentioning P.R. (not the VI??), obviously having U.S. citizens on an island where there is no power, they are scrounging for food because pretty much all the crops have been ruined and don't even have a reliable water supply but where a dam is on the verge of collapse isn't a priority if the so-called Commander-in-Chief only give it a cursory mention. No mention of the U.S. Virgin Islands (also U.S. citizens but not white enough, apparently) where much of the island has been destroyed. I hope people will stop this assinine talk of Trump ever being presidential or these hideous false equivalency narratives of how there would be no difference between he and HRC. Anyone who believes them needs a serious moment of truth.

Ah, just came across this, to prove my point. Has the current occupant of the White House even mentioned Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands? Kim Jong-un has been in power for about four years and this is the worst it's ever been simply for the sheer number of nuclear tests and missile launches that have been done this year. I can't think of any other President or administration where there would've been about a dozen tests/launches done in one calendar year! It's preposterous. Trump is a man who claimed to know more than the generals, what other U.S. President have you ever heard claim this? The N.K. situation was plodding along at something close to a stalemate in the past and perhaps that is all that one can hope for, for the time being. If Kim is being enabled by anyone it is Trump himself as Kim is using Trump's bombastic rhetoric to justify him taking the most aggressive, violent action. I never before heard him threaten to shoot U.S. planes out of the sky. If I'm wrong, someone can feel free to send me a link to where he has mentioned this in the past. I'll wait...

Honestly though @DRW50 I seriously doubt another President would threaten to destroy a country with 25 million people, even a rogue one. Words do matter and Trump is loose and lax with his. Meanwhile Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have gotten little to no aid from the U.S. after being devastated while Trump picks fights with sports stars. (by the way, if someone asks me why I believe that Trump is a white supremacist, I will forever point to these examples--it's obvious for those willing to open their eyes). Where are his priorities? Does anyone seriously believe that other Presidents would do this?

It's getting worse. North Korea Calls Trump’s Comments a ‘Declaration of War’

Yesterday, there was an obituary on a playwright who at one time had been dubbed a "feminist playwright". What truly caught my eye was in later interviews this playwright talked about her eventual disillusionment with feminism and how she got attacked equally by the women because of her lack of "establishment success". I knew someone who knew someone who used to work as Sarandon's assistant who claimed that she was one of the most self-centered person they'd even encountered!

For those who may not be familiar with politics in Germany and want more information on the split in Germany's far right party that @Huntress (thanks for that very informative breakdown of regions and districts!) mentioned in the above post, here's an article that discusses that. That was quite the dramatic exit though. Split emerges in German far right as co-leader storms out of news conference

For what it's worth, Merkel always has a pretty sober expression on her face. I think the U.S. news media is out of touch because the news is fairly USA-Centric but if you watch news shows like PBS' Newshour, you're likely to get a much broader (yet far more focused, nuanced), more global perspective. I have only sporadically kept up with German politics lately (I know that the media was focused on inhibiting the spread of "fake news" by Russian propaganda machine-sponsored bots) but I used to watch a news program called Deutche Welle when I once had satellite TV. Like France 24, I do think they have a livestream for news.

I know some Germans who are pretty upset that this far-right party got any seats at all. It's a first since the second World War. Disturbing indeed.

Trump ought to stay in his lane, which is pretending to legislate.

A lot of us have been saying this for some time, while people, media included, obsessed over voters who are likely going to remain hostile to the Democratic party, their "base" is being neglected. Yes, their base. The language that people use to justify this is very troubling, to say the least.

For what it's worth, the doubles was probably the only category I thought that the World Team could really win. Jack is a better doubles player than singles and Nick knows his way around a doubles court, contrary to what people think. More importantly, Kyrgios and Sock had actual chemistry, unlike Rafa and Tomas. Berdych was definitely was the weak link in the doubles today and Kyrgios and Sock was smart to target him.

@marceline I remember watching a documentary when they mentioned the Kennedy assassination (John) and how many Americans, presumably while grief stricken, claimed to have voted for him and supported him all along in surveys, despite voting and exit poll information that showed that it was impossible for all the people that claimed to have voted for Kennedy, to have actually have voted for Kennedy- the numbers didn't bear this claim out. I'm not sure if most students at Howard realize all those things that Comey has done afterward and I doubt they care (students can be amazingly single-minded that way). What they seemed to have focused in on is his perceived role in providing an entre to the White House for the likes of Trump. They don't see that their role in that, in not showing up at the polls in the battleground states that Clinton needed to win having a part in her loss. Likely, Comey is a visible target for their frustrations, the way Pelosi became a target when she was recently shouted down by DACA supporters (despite her efforts to preserve DACA).

I do think that the protest at BC was more striking, memorable and probably will leave a more lasting impression but in the end DeVos is still helping campus rapists to act with impunity and diminishing the rights of women in college/university life and extending overall inequality in higher education. No matter how loud they are at Howard, the end result will be similar, it won't stop business as usual. At least, they did manage to fit in a chorus of "I Shall Not Be Moved".

Because folks will never forget election 2016

Was just going to post this. Boom!

No problem. I missed most of the match myself but left the livestream going on my laptop so when I returned, I saw the score and the final few points of the match.

I came back to see that there were like 3 TB sets that had been played! Thiem Europe takes it!

It can be difficult to ignore at times (unless you BLOCK) but I liken it to going up against the Taliban in Afghanistan-- the Taliban's intention is not to 'win' war against countries like the U.S., USSR, U.K., etc-- the intention is to keep these big countries entangled in war 'til kingdom come', meanwhile the people, in those big countries, so caught up in 'perpetual war' in the Middle East, allow their own societies to decay (global economic crises, Brexit, Trump, upswing of neo fascism and neo-nazism, alt-right, etc). When the Taliban can entangle the mighty U.S. in a ground war for over a decade, that is victory enough for them. What makes it easier for me to ignore on this particular board is that trolls like #1 Troll often have no intelligent points to make, use dubious source material as supposed proof, and repeat the same garbage talking points repeatedly. It's an obvious waste of time and not worth responding directly to, however tempting.

Good move because it's not worth risking good mental health by subjecting yourself to the same nonsense over and over.

In this thread? Yes ma'am. New tricks but the same result- ain't nobody got time for that!

I heard that about watching on TV but I'm live-streaming it and it looks good! (*shrugs*) It probably looks great for the people in the stands at the O2. I'm pretty sure your boy Thiem would not have wanted this Cup to be in Australia, you know he plays a tournament every 5 minutes, he's probably signed up for one right after Laver Cup.