DramatistDreamer

I meant to post this earlier but didn't have the time, then got wrapped up in so many other things. This article is somewhat interesting because it discusses the fact that the U.S.' lack of engagement under Trump has changed how other countries are structuring their trade deals compared to when Obama was President. Europe and Japan Near Trade Deal as U.S. Takes Protectionist Path Although there are big trade deals underfoot involving Asian countries like Japan and China with the EU, they seem to be ignoring issues like environmental and worker protections. During the Obama administration, trade deals seemed to be structured to add protections against things like over-fishing, tightening up lax standards in the timber industry and implementing rules against exploitation of factory workers with the countries that the U.S. was entering into trade agreements with. And as a result other countries seemed to do likewise. The implication is that now that the Trump administration has show indifference toward things like human rights, environmental standards, other countries have also backed off pursuing some type of standards for these things in formulating their trade agreements. So now the 'virtuous cycle' in trade deals seems to have dissipated after the departure of the Obama administration, for the time being.

People have taken to calling the GOP's replacement bill, The Unaffordable Care Act.

Is this what passes for the "Art of the Deal" these days?

Bittersweet photo. On the one hand, it's a nice acknowledgement, albeit a diminished one. No Don Hastings, Kathryn Hays and Eileen Fulton. No Grant Aleksander. I'm suprised they couldn't get Kim Zimmer. I guess they were making do with who was available. I'm glad to see some representation from ATWT and GL however reduced.

Yeah, I was just reading about this. About a week ago, I think some other news outlet mentioned that the FBI was taking a look into something to do with Jane Sanders. People talk about the Clinton's supposed obsession with money but it seems that the Sanders have a few instances of shady dealings of their own.

Tennis Twitter is going in on this!

The only thing Evans has consistently done all year is taunt Aljaz Bedene for not being born British while applying for status to play for the British Davis Cup team. Bedene mentioned that he might go back to playing for his native Slovakia er, I mean, Slovenia* because of the repeated rejections by the LTA. Now that Evans may not be available for some time, I wonder will the LTA's attitude toward Bedene change now? Speaking of xenophobic tennis players having a bad day...

So uberBritish player Dan Evans the xenophobic twit gets busted for cocaine less than two weeks before Wimbledon. Is this what one calls (*waits for it*) KARMA?!!

So any guesses as to what Feliciano is doing here?

And the Boeing factory that Trump celebrated over earlier, just announced job layoffs. Trump visited this Boeing factory to celebrate jobs. It just announced layoffs

We know that the Trump administration has 0 integrity, plagiarizes and steals ideas and takes credit for other people's work. Here's another example: TRUMP STOLE HIS SOLAR BORDER WALL IDEA FROM A VETERAN WHO 'DOESN'T MIND SHARING' WITH POTUS So, congressional investigators want to know whether the Trump campaign obtained information from hacked databases but will they actually investigate and how thorough will they be? Investigators probe whether Trump associates got info from hacked voter databases

Are none of Trump's fanatics the least bit bothered that this man lies without even a second thought? He is a compulsive liar and no one in the GOP who is in a position of doing anything seems to give a sh*it. I don't want to hear anyone from the Republican party mention a gottdamn thing about integrity. They've all sold theirs.

I hope he's not trying to ask to borrow money.

Declaring bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean he's dead-ass broke but it does mean that his expenditures are clearly exceeding his income. He's been trying unsuccessfully to sell that house in Mallorca (can't he sell it to Nadal? kidding) for over two years now but in the mean time, he should've been cutting down expenses and living a modest lifestyle instead of trying to live a globetrotting lifestyle beyond his means. He's been doing TV commentary, coaching and there is a tennis academy in China that bears his name (and I believe that the academy was built with privately raised funds), so he's obviously not unemployed. He probably needs to set a budget and live within it, like the rest of us.

Didn't Boris narrowly avoid jail time for a tax issue sometime in the early-mid '00s? He needs financial counseling, he seems to have chronic long-ranged money troubles. Boris Becker declared bankrupt over ‘substantial’ long-standing debt

TBH, I think these people are focused on the absence of MSM's crtical discussion of this topic. We have vigorous discussions about the topic here online but I'm really not sure how much of this has penetrated the public's consciousness, especially those who primarily get their news from TV/cable, rather than reading. I'm still shocked by the number of people who complain that they never knew about Trump's racist rants from the 80s/90s pre-Apprentice image makeover. I'm like "Are you kidding?! How could you not know?!" I think that a few people are actively working on gerrymandering but it's not out of order to ask since underhanded redistricting has been actively undermining the voting systems for over a decade now. Speaking of underhanded maneuvering...so loan sharks will basically be running the student loan system now. Despicable. DeVos picks CEO of for-profit lender to run federal student loan system

I always to try limit the number of Op-Eds I post but the headline alone caught my attention because I've often wondered the same thing. I mean why aren't more people upset about this? Gerrymandering is the biggest obstacle to genuine democracy in the United States. So why is no one protesting?

You have to be specific about what kind of people though. Black women feel hella disenfranchised and we didn't vote for Trump. Also, studies were done and in the final analysis, the showed that the lionshare of media coverage in MSM focused on Hillary's perceived negatives while minimizing Trump's perhaps being overly sensitive to his victimization narrative that the media was somehow out to get him. For those who stayed home, the media coverage helped to cement the false equivalency narrative that somehow both candidates were equally bad.

Wilson Bethel (Ryder Callahan, Y&R) makes an appearance in the first episode of American Koko, a Viola Davis produced web series for ABC's Digital platform. edit: apparently this was produced in 2014 but why am I just seeing this?

Ironically, just days before the first round of the French election, Emmanuel Macron changed his campaign slogan to "Ensemble, la France!" which translates to France, Together! or Together, France!

I guess some people don't want to be bothered with Queens this year and I heard they had raised the ticket prices this year too. Boy, I bet those ticket holders must be pissed!

Just checked the score, Murray's been struggling most of the year...do you think Thompson can close it out?

I am glad for Thanasi and Feliciano. Thanasi has a lot of injuries and battled a dark period and Feliciano is better on grass than people give him credit for. Except for one QFs at Wimbledon, Stan's results on grass have usually trended toward the mediocre.