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posted by martyb on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the real-progress-or-false-hope? dept.

foxnews.com/us/2018/03/06/trump-cites-possible-progress-in-talks-with-nkorea.html

Trump commented Tuesday on Twitter after the South Korean government announced that North Korea has agreed to halt tests of nuclear weapons and missiles if it holds talks with the U.S. on denuclearization. South Korea and North Korea have also agreed to hold summit talks in late April.

Trump tweeted: "Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!"

The Associated Press has some additional information:

While the offer of talks could ease tensions, the adversaries will still have to overcome deep mutual suspicion. The U.S. has consistently demanded North Korea give up its nukes, which the reclusive socialist state had previously insisted was off the table until Washington abandoned its "hostile policy" toward it. At a minimum, the Americans wanted a halt in nuclear and missile testing for talks to begin.

"Maybe this is a breakthrough. I seriously doubt it," Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told a Senate hearing Tuesday. He said his doubts are grounded in what he called failed efforts by previous U.S. administrations to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear program.

Coats said Kim is "very calculating" and views his nuclear capabilities as "essential to his well-being as well as the well-being of his nation."

[...] Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. would remain "firm in our resolve" whichever direction talks with North Korea go. "All options are on the table and our posture toward the regime will not change until we see credible, verifiable and concrete steps toward denuclearization," Pence said in a statement.

[...] On returning from Pyongyang, Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's presidential national security director, said North Korea expressed willingness to hold a "candid dialogue" with the United States to discuss its nuclear disarmament and establish diplomatic relations. Chung said North Korea "made it clear that it won't resume strategic provocations like additional nuclear tests or test-launches of ballistic missiles" while such talks are underway.

[...] But the administration will have difficult questions of its own as it gauges North Korea's intentions. An initial hurdle could be presented by U.S.-South Korean military drills that were postponed during the Olympics and are due to resume next month. North Korea is likely to push for a suspension of the drills which it views as a provocation and a threat, and may ask for relief from U.S.-led economic sanctions.


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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:06AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:06AM (#648938)

    Trump was asked at his press conference with the Swedish PM what he thought had changed the political situation in Pyongyang, to which he replied; "Me"!

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @12:30PM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @12:30PM (#648963)

      There was a mild reaction, and he quickly replied to himself "No...", as a comedian would do. Then, after a pause, he said as if to himself "No one got that one", just like a comedian would.

      It's called banter, folks. It's called humor. It's called having a rapport with your audience.

      Now, where's my "Informative" tag?

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:07PM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:07PM (#648971) Journal

        Now, where's my "Informative" tag?

        It stuck to the linky to the video containing the clown's performance

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:54PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:54PM (#648982)

        It's called banter, folks. It's called humor. It's called having a rapport with your audience.

        But why would you want to banter and establish rapport with the enemies of the people?

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:28PM (2 children)

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:28PM (#649129) Journal

        It's called banter, folks. It's called humor.

        And if he hadn't cried joke-wolf so many times before when it was obvious he was serious we might believe him.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 09 2018, @12:45AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 09 2018, @12:45AM (#649791)

          Believe what you like [twitter.com]

        • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:21PM

          by Sulla (5173) on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:21PM (#650965) Journal

          I get that you like to just make kek up because it makes you feel better, but you need to watch a rally or two. Him bantering is consistant across platforms. In the most recent rally he said that this only happened because China stepped up to the plate in a big way.

          --
          Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 08 2018, @12:17AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 08 2018, @12:17AM (#649240)

        It's called banter, folks. It's called humor. It's called having a rapport with your audience.

        In case you hadn't noticed, Trump seems to be woefully lacking in this area.

        Now, where's my "Informative" tag?

        If you should write anything informative, I'm sure you would probably get one. As it is, I think the +1, Interesting upmod is already a bit OTT. Just sayin'.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @12:53PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @12:53PM (#648968)

    Kim Jong Un has said that he only has nukes for self defense, and is willing to get rid of them as soon as he believes he doesn't need them.

    So this should be easy for Trump. Just offer Kim a deal where the US and North Korea both get rid of all their nukes.

    That is, if the USA is serious about this... Which I don't believe until I see it.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:24PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:24PM (#648973) Journal

      Which I don't believe until I see it.

      Trump is bound to run in hordes to organize a video demonstration so that a S/N AC would believe. Again.
      I mean believe again [vevo.com]. Or was it this one [youtube.com]?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 07 2018, @05:33PM (1 child)

      by Freeman (732) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @05:33PM (#649087) Journal

      Ideally, it would be a crime against humanity for Any Nation to have Nuclear Weapons. A weapon with that amount of destructive power is beyond what anyone should have. Especially with all of the environmental concerns that go with even using one. Quickest way to destroy the earth is for a War to break out between Nuclear Powers. While one could hope that no country would be stupid enough to use Nuclear Weapons; especially a large number of them. It's naive to think that it wouldn't be a possibility.

      Onto the separate issue of trusting a Dictator/Emperor/Self Proclaimed god to keep his word about giving up power. Hahahahahhahahhahahahahhahahhahahaha!!!! Oh, you actually think, Kim Jong Un would get rid of his Nuclear Weapons? That's rich. Even, if he did. The USA isn't the only country with Nuclear Weapons. The entire world needs to give up on Nuclear Weapons. The entire world needs to disarm. At the Same Time, and the entire world (Hello United Nations) needs to go after Any country that thinks about stockpiling / using them.

      The only way to get 6 people to stop pointing their guns at each other is at the same time.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:48PM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:48PM (#649135) Homepage Journal

        This isn’t a guns situation. I think that mental health is your problem here. We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries. This is a very -- based on preliminary reports -- very deranged individual. A lot of problems over a long period of time. As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that's his problem, not mine.

        As part of our defense, we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, hopefully never having to use it, but making it so strong and so powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression by any other nation or anyone else. Powerful enough that if we "shoot" first, we will win overwhelmingly. Perhaps someday in the future there will be a magical moment when the countries of the world will get together to eliminate their nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, we are not there yet, sadly.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:37PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:37PM (#649130)

      offer Kim a deal where the US and North Korea both get rid of all their nukes

      With how Trump was portrayed leading up to and after winning the election you'd think he would have achieved this already by using every nuke the US has to eradicate North Korea and thus its nuclear aspirations. Can't let this madman get his hands on the nuclear codes!!

      • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:06PM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:06PM (#649142) Homepage Journal

        A few Dems sound like you. The ones who didn't vote for me but wish they had. Our great investors are VERY HAPPY I have nuclear codes -- we call them Gold Codes. Our Dow was 18,000 on Election Day. It went over 26,000. We have NEVER had 70 Dow Records in a one year period. Wow! And it's going much, much higher. Because I dumped Gary Cohn, my economic advisor. Kicked him to the curb. He says he resigned, I told him he could resign. Or get FIRED! And trust me, I'll move very strongly on Korea if I have to. Very strongly.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:16PM (#649149)

      'm sure Putin would love that.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:25PM (24 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:25PM (#648974) Journal

    Who are the most horrible national leaders in the world? There's a new ranking out, of US Presidents, and Trump was so bad, he took over last place from Lincoln's predecessor, Buchanan: https://sps.boisestate.edu/politicalscience/files/2018/02/Greatness.pdf [boisestate.edu]

    Trump is the Worst. US. President. Ever.

    The Kims are terrible leaders. North Korea has had famines because they mismanaged the country, and not because they were unavoidable. And of course they play around with nuclear weapons, using the threat of them to blackmail the rest of the world into giving them stuff. Possibly the only reason they won't be as infamous as certain national leaders during WWII, is that North Korea is much too small and weak to start a war and take over half the continent.

    So both could really use a boost to their credibility. No, they're not really going to give up their nukes. Most they'll do is collaborate on a show, pretend to disarm a little bit. If, that is, neither decides to "man up" and try his level best to humiliate the other guy so he can brag about it to his side.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:57PM (#648984)

      Trump is the Worst. US. President. Ever.

      Damn, now I can't say he didn't achieve anything in his first year in office!

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:49PM (21 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:49PM (#649027) Journal

      and Trump was so bad, he took over last place from Lincoln's predecessor, Buchanan

      Or perhaps instead, it's a demonstration that these people are ridiculously biased. One can also see it in the ranking of Obama in 8th place which is just being silly.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:26PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:26PM (#649048)

        khallow, you do not represent the average opinion of all Americans. Have you ever considered that you might be biased?

        • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:21PM

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:21PM (#649150) Homepage Journal

          We don't pick our presidents according to the average opinion of all Americans. If we did, I would STILL win overwhelmingly (Jesus would come in 2nd but he's not a Citizen). We go by the opinion of the Americans who show up to VOTE. At the Electoral College.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:44PM (2 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:44PM (#649163) Journal

          khallow, you do not represent the average opinion of all Americans.

          It's amazing how much is wrong with that simple sentence. First, they didn't poll anything resembling an average opinion of all Americans.

          Respondents were current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, which is the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics.

          Second, by my disagreement I state that I don't represent their average opinion. It's not a revelation.

          Third, the average American neither knows enough about US presidents to provide a fair ranking (such as comparing the relative virtues of Calvin Coolidge and James Monroe) nor has an average opinion (on average they will disagree substantially with the average opinion, let us note, past the first two).

          It is rare that someone manages to show such a glaring ignorance of the subject of criticism. Congrats on making the internets a dumber place for everyone.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:05PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:05PM (#649195)

            Twiggahd!

          • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday March 08 2018, @01:29AM

            by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday March 08 2018, @01:29AM (#649262) Journal

            First, they didn't poll anything resembling an average opinion of all Americans.

            This one did. Although, it's "only" worst since WWII.

            Poll: Trump picked as worst president since World War II [thehill.com]

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:42PM (5 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:42PM (#649055)

        How many other Presidents have we had that were actually better than Obama? Seriously. He wasn't great IMO, but it's not like we've had some huge number of great Presidents. George Washington is usually considered the best ever (considering how things were at the time and what he had to contend with), and a few other founders are also highly-rated. But overall, we just haven't had all that many really good Presidents, more like a bunch of very mediocre ones or worse. Obama wasn't great, again, but he's probably the best I've seen in my lifetime. The Clinton years were great but that wasn't really Clinton's fault, and he did a bunch of lousy stuff (like signing the law that overturned the Glass-Steagal Act, leading us to the mortgage meltdown in 2008). Bush II was a disaster, Bush I was lame, Reagan sucked, Carter was ineffectual, etc. #8 does seem a little optimistic to me, but still, there just haven't been that many Presidents I can think of who were obviously better than Obama, in so far as you can fairly rate them given how much society has changed since the late 1700s.

        • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @05:56PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @05:56PM (#649096)

          Let's look at this another way: find the most recent president that was equal or worse than Obama.

          I think that might be LBJ. If not him, it's FDR, who was clearly worse.

          We can do similar for Trump. Worse would obviously be Obama, so let's flip it around: find the most recent president that was equal or better than Trump.

          It is probably Theodore Roosevelt. It might be Eisenhower or Reagan.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:31PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:31PM (#649157)

            All of them.

          • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:36PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:36PM (#649161)

            Even Dubya thinks Trump makes him look good.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:51PM (1 child)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:51PM (#649166) Journal

          How many other Presidents have we had that were actually better than Obama?

          I'd wouldn't put him below Nixon or Dubya. LBJ is a close call though Obama didn't manage despite a fair bit of effort in Iraq to rope us into a Vietnam-scale war. I'm similarly out on Trump just because he has three years to go. Doesn't look good, but he still might turn out better than Obama. Carter was ineffectual, but at least he was someone honest.

          • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:25PM

            by Sulla (5173) on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:25PM (#650966) Journal

            Until Trump actually ends some wars overseas he can't beat Nixon.

            --
            Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
      • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:57PM (2 children)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:57PM (#649064)

        (continued from my last post; being able to edit would be nice here...)

        Of course, the list is biased, since different people have different opinions and political views. But looking at the list, I have some of my own problems with it. LBJ is 2 spots down from Obama at #10, but he's the guy who doubled down on the Vietnam War and got 50,000 Americans killed there (plus far more Vietnamese). But he does get some credit for passing the CRA, and at least trying to help things with his "great society" program even if it had some big problems. Why is Reagan at #9? He didn't do anything useful except run up a massive deficit, and fire a bunch of striking ATCs, and honestly it seems like there was a bit of a conspiracy there with the Iran hostage crisis, and also he was involved in the Oliver North scandal. FDR at #3 signed the executive order to deprive Japanese-Americans of due process and stick them in concentration camps, not much better than the Nazis really. Truman at #6 dropped two atomic weapons on an already-defeated country just to show off to the Russians. Eisenhower at #7 should probably be much higher, or at least higher than those guys. Bush 43 at #30 got us into 2 wars, one of which was obviously bullshit; he really should be closer to the bottom. Jackson at #15 set us up for the Depression by closing the US Bank, was a strong supporter of slavery (at a time when it was waning), and is directly responsible for the Trail of Tears which really puts him in the same league as the Nazis. Coolidge, way down at #28, should be ranked higher: he was a strong supporter of racial equality, restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals (including the Teapot Dome scandal) of his predecessor Harding, and managed to leave office with considerable popularity.

        • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:52PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:52PM (#649167) Journal

          Why is Reagan at #9?

          End of Cold War without a billion people dying.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:54PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:54PM (#649168) Journal

          Truman at #6 dropped two atomic weapons on an already-defeated country just to show off to the Russians.

          Part of what makes him #6 to be honest. With that and the Korean War, he stopped the Soviet military machine. It's educational to compare the number of countries that the USSR absorbed up to 1945 with the number they absorbed after.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by captain normal on Wednesday March 07 2018, @06:07PM (5 children)

        by captain normal (2205) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @06:07PM (#649099)

        Funny that this study was run by two deep red state universities.

        --
        Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
        • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @06:47PM (3 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @06:47PM (#649113) Journal

          Funny that this study was run by two deep red state universities.

          There aren't many "red" universities even in red states. Plus, look at the biases in the sample.

          The 2018 Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Gre atness Survey was conducted online via Qualtrics from December 22, 2017 to January 16, 2018. Respondents were current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, which is the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics. 320 respondents were invited to participate, and 170 usable responses were received , yielding a 53.1% response rate.

          Even if every person in that group came from red states, it would not be an unbiased sampling of those states.

          • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:22PM

            by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @07:22PM (#649126) Homepage Journal

            This is how the Dems pick their presidential candidates. They do a poll of their best people, the superdelegates. Looking forward to 2020!

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:08PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:08PM (#649197)

            God damn you try hard! You must have one of the most limber minds around here with all those mental gymnastics.

            Oh woops, I forgot you started off as a rock, so you're probably just about "oak tree" level now.

            • (Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Thursday March 08 2018, @12:44AM

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 08 2018, @12:44AM (#649249) Journal

              You must have one of the most limber minds around here with all those mental gymnastics.

              That's the point for me of engaging in debate and thinking. Limber minds are far better than locked up ones.

              Oh woops, I forgot you started off as a rock, so you're probably just about "oak tree" level now.

              Well, the good news is that now, you're only dumber than an oak tree. Your situation is improving every day!

        • (Score: 1) by milsorgen on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:47PM

          by milsorgen (6225) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:47PM (#649211)

          BSU is not red at all, it's also right in the middle of Boise a democratic stronghold here in Idaho.

          --
          On the Oregon Coast, born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days...
      • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday March 07 2018, @09:12PM

        by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @09:12PM (#649174)

        One can also see it in the ranking of Obama in 8th place...

        And Reagan in 9th place, the first of your idiot joke presidents is also the 9th best?

        That sets a pretty low bar.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @11:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @11:37PM (#649226)

      This is the "American Political Science Association" doing the judging. They are communists.

      The more they hate a president, the better he is. Trump wins again!

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:34PM (15 children)

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @01:34PM (#648978) Journal

    I really don't care if I ever read again about what Donald Trump is Tweeting. Let him face the press. Or otherwise I really don't care - it really doesn't matter what he panders out to his base, and it really does give him undue influence when the entire press establishment waits with baited breath to re-report what he's Tweeted about a situation he has very little to actually do with. Twitter is NOT news, ever.

    Yes, that should be a journal entry if I used the journal. But I also believe that I'm probably not the only one who thinks the press doesn't need to report on what he has tweeted today.

    --
    This sig for rent.
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by JNCF on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:42PM (10 children)

      by JNCF (4317) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:42PM (#649024) Journal

      Twitter is NOT news, ever.

      Even when the tweeter has a nuclear football? Are Trump's statements about Korea newsworthy when said at a press conference, but not newsworthy when tweeted? If so, why does the medium matter? Given that he can nuke North Korea at any time, I'd have a hard time arguing that Trump has very little to do with the situation. He could wreck that whole house of cards at the whim of a hat (unless there's a deep state conspiracy to stop him).

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by ilsa on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:16PM (4 children)

        by ilsa (6082) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:16PM (#649042)

        The problem is that he is in the news const-fucking-ly. I'm so god damn sick about hearing about Trump this, Trump that. The only way to not be constantly bombarded with Trump bullshit is to join an Amish commune, and even then it's only a maybe.

        Trump's administration has been the biggest trainwreck in US history. That's bad enough, but the never ending bombardment of inanity of it has deadened people to other matters that require just as much, if not more attention.

        • (Score: 4, Interesting) by JNCF on Wednesday March 07 2018, @06:20PM (2 children)

          by JNCF (4317) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @06:20PM (#649105) Journal

          The problem is that he is in the news const-fucking-ly. I'm so god damn sick about hearing about Trump this, Trump that.

          Yeah, that tends to happen when somebody becomes president. Suddenly, they're newsworthy. I suspect it's exacerbated by him being a huckster-reality-TV-persona.

          Trump's administration has been the biggest trainwreck in US history.

          That's an overstatement. Remember that time we genocided the Native Americans? How about that thing where we spent nearly a century owning human slaves? Hiroshima? Nagasaki? Dresden? The Tuskegee experiments? Operation Midnight Climax? The Gulf of Tonkin false flag?

          ITT: liberals are sad that conservatives control part of government. It's understandable, but not exactly newsworthy.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:26PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:26PM (#649153)

            Patience. He's only been in office for a little over a year.

            • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:36PM

              by Sulla (5173) on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:36PM (#650971) Journal

              Its really quite scary, we are only 25% done with this thing and he has already not bombed Iran, and partially withdrew from Syria, and gotten further with Korea than any president in 30 years, and lowered unemployment to 4.1%, and gotten rid of the individual mandate tax, and not gotten us into a new cold war, and is addressing the trade defecit...

              Im concerned that with three more years he might actually achieve peace in Korea or keep us out of Syria long enough for Russia/Assad to stabalize! We cant have that, why wont someone think of the military industrial complex!

              --
              Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:57PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:57PM (#649170)

          Suppose the president ordered people into concentration camps due to their ethnicity. Compared to the "biggest trainwreck in US history", how would that compare?

          In case you've forgotten, that actually happened. FDR, a democrat, shipped off the Japanese. Some were even shot.

          BTW, the Amish flipped Pennsylvania. They voted in record numbers.

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @09:01PM (1 child)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @09:01PM (#649172) Journal

        Even when the tweeter has a nuclear football?

        Yes, damn it. That bullshit has crowded out more important stories about Trump. Because Trump has complete control over his Twitter message, he can use it to "Squirrel!" any news story that's running against him. Such as muttering about North Korea in order to derail a national conversation (such as it is) about his family cronyism in the White House.

        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday March 07 2018, @09:20PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @09:20PM (#649177)

          I am not going to worry too much about Mr. Trump and the nuclear codes as I have faith that the adults who run the US government are self interested enough to route around Mr. Trump and ensure things tick over pretty much as they always have.

          That might not always mean good things for ordinary people around the world, but I am fairly sure it will continue to mean no nuclear war.

      • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:22PM (2 children)

        by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:22PM (#649203) Journal

        I thought about before I first posted, and yes. I'll stand by first of all that what Trump puts out on Twitter is not news. It's not information. It's data, at best - there is not enough content to make it information. News must be informative and this isn't really at all. That's quite aside from as DannyB points out below about it not being questioned because the one thing Trump can't seem to do is stand up to questioning. So it should not be rewarded with my attention at all. Ever.

        As to his holding the button, I'll trust in the sanity of the rest of the chain of command on that one (for anything except the kind of emergency the football was genuinely made for).

        Aside from that, the only way to deal with a narcissist is to continue to live your life and clear from a narcissist is simple: Pay them no undue attention. So yep, my advice is to ignore the Tweets. It's better for me personally, and as more people do that it takes away the fuel that Trump needs to keep going. The hope (which I really don't believe in, but it's also the only thing going) is that if enough people ignore him eventually he'll have to conform to continue to receive attention.

        In fact, I think I'll expand that: Don't just ignore his Tweets (although yes, do that). Ignore him entirely.

        --
        This sig for rent.
        • (Score: 1) by milsorgen on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:50PM (1 child)

          by milsorgen (6225) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:50PM (#649214)

          Did you know a synonym for data is information?

          --
          On the Oregon Coast, born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days...
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday March 07 2018, @05:23PM (3 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 07 2018, @05:23PM (#649080) Journal

      The reason Trump tweets is so that he doesn't have to face the press.

      He is unable to handle any criticism. Or unfriendly questions. "Fake News" he cries! And the free press is the enemy of the people.

      Using twitter and a lying press secretary, he doesn't have to face any "fake news" (aka, unfavorable questions or criticism)

      I guess Spicer didn't have the stomach to continue doing it. Imagine being required, as your very first duty on inauguration day, to LIE about the crowd size. Something easily verifiable. And what a way to set the tone for the start of the administration.

      --
      When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by milsorgen on Wednesday March 07 2018, @11:20PM (1 child)

        by milsorgen (6225) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @11:20PM (#649221)

        Politics aside, you are putting entirely too much faith in the corporate media.

        --
        On the Oregon Coast, born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days...
        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 08 2018, @05:28PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 08 2018, @05:28PM (#649570) Journal

          I have plenty of skepticism about the corporate media.

          But calling all media (except FoxNews) the enemy of the people seems just a tad bit much.

          If anything is fake news, it is Fox News.

          --
          When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
      • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:41PM

        by Sulla (5173) on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:41PM (#650978) Journal

        CNN ran an article about how Trump hates women for not supporting paid maturnity leave, when he had it included as part of a campaign speach the next day they ran an article about how Trump hates women because paid maturnity hurts women.

        If they wanted to be treated like legitimate news they would act that way.

        --
        Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:51PM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:51PM (#649028) Journal

    Is this the tweet where he didn't actually know which Korea he had spoken with?

    Trump was referring to South Korea when he said he spoke with North Korea: report [thehill.com]

    That's some grade A diplomacy right there!

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by mrkaos on Wednesday March 07 2018, @11:29PM (1 child)

    by mrkaos (997) on Wednesday March 07 2018, @11:29PM (#649222)

    What country would give up their nukes? The world saw what happens to a country that gives up their nukes, now they all think "If you don't have nukes the US will kick the shit out of you".

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday March 08 2018, @02:14AM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday March 08 2018, @02:14AM (#649281) Homepage Journal

      So true, that's so true. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. And we sent a very bad message, as you know. But I have a new message. If a Country has nukes, and I say "don't have nukes," they'd better denuke. Or they will be met with fire and fury and, frankly, power. The likes of which this world has never seen before!!!!

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