Trump

[Tolvo]

More and more it sounds like people on here are using twitter and as a constant twitter user oh god it's all hell. Great for networking and getting news early also endless people fighting and bullshit.

[Callie Del Noire]

Twitterverse has been going nuts over that picture.  Like, analyzing what tech would be needed to get that shot, and the implication of what it means that we have the shot to begin with.

Drone, or long range recon sensors from an aircraft, possible a keyhole camera shot.

Could be a generated photo via computer... I really hope it wasn’t from one of the intel briefings he keeps forgetting to read.


Hell it could have come from a dozen or so sources, groups or such.. hell someone could have paid someone within the Iranian military services.

[Oniya]

Drone, or long range recon sensors from an aircraft, possible a keyhole camera shot.

Could be a generated photo via computer... I really hope it wasn’t from one of the intel briefings he keeps forgetting to read.


Hell it could have come from a dozen or so sources, groups or such.. hell someone could have paid someone within the Iranian military services.

Pretty sure I've seen all - and I mean all of those ideas floated.  The thing that makes me twitchy about it is that I don't think I'd seen even a whisper of a suggestion that the US had anything to do with it until the denial that we had anything to do with it popped up on Trump's Twitter.

It's that feeling like when you come home and your kid meets you at the door and says 'Before you say anything, I just want to say that I had nothing to do with this!'

[Oniya]

And Reuters seems to be confirming the worst suspicions:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-space-launch-usa/trump-iran-photo-tweet-raises-worries-about-disclosure-of-u-s-surveillance-secrets-idUSKCN1VK280

A U.S. defense official told CNBC that the picture, which appeared to be a snapshot of a physical copy of the satellite image, was included in an intelligence briefing on Friday.

[TheGlyphstone]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/ex-canadian-pm-apologizes-rooting-hurricane-dorian-hit-trump-s-n1048506

What has gone wrong with this world when I'm forced to agree with Mike Huckabee?

[Oniya]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/ex-canadian-pm-apologizes-rooting-hurricane-dorian-hit-trump-s-n1048506

What has gone wrong with this world when I'm forced to agree with Mike Huckabee?

A broken clock is right twice a day?

[gaggedLouise]

Twitterverse has been going nuts over that picture.  Like, analyzing what tech would be needed to get that shot, and the implication of what it means that we have the shot to begin with.

Trump's level of bizarre fuck-ups to show off his ego is reaching new heights all the time. First his glossing-over of a string of North Korean missile launches ("nothing special" or just silence), then  the Greenland bid and the insulting spat with Denmark, then "why do I have to go to the G7 summit?" and now this. 

Two comments out of many on Trump's tweet:

Steve  @spinetanium
2 hours ago

I used to have to sit through four-hour safety briefs on the consequences of doing what @realDonaldTrump just plastered all over Twitter.
At what point is the intelligence community going to say his behavior is a threat to National Security?

Kboy @Kboy06
10 hours ago

@realDonaldTrump is the ANTICHRIST.

[Oniya]

You'll appreciate this one.  The visit happened in Feb 2017 - he wanted to visit on Martin Luther King Day, which would mean that the museum would have had to have been closed to the public (for security reasons).  The museum director pushed back and got the visit to occur on a different date.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/what-happened-when-trump-visited-the-african-american-history-museum-according-to-its-former-director/2019/08/30/5471494e-cb5a-11e9-a1fe-ca46e8d573c0_story.html

Trump stopped at

an exhibit that discussed the role of the Dutch in the slave trade... I felt that maybe he was paying attention to the work of the museum... As he turned from the display he said to me, ‘You know, they love me in the Netherlands.’

[legomaster00156]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/ex-canadian-pm-apologizes-rooting-hurricane-dorian-hit-trump-s-n1048506

What has gone wrong with this world when I'm forced to agree with Mike Huckabee?

Don't worry. Here's something to remind you of the many ways he is wrong.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mike-huckabee-values-civility-hate

[gaggedLouise]

Trump cancelled the visit to Poland too - Pence went there instead. He's citing Hurricane Dorian as the chief reason; guess he'll want to make sure the golf courses at Mar-A-Lago are well protected...

[Oniya]

Except he's golfing in Virginia.  And tweeting about Debra Messing, instead of the shooting in Texas or the hurricane, which is now a Cat 5 (like Katrina) and slowing over the Bahamas.

[Tolvo]

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u-s-spy-satellite-behind-president-trumps-tweet?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Amateur satellite trackers have discovered which satellite Trump's photo came from. Since he tweeted it they were able to use the knowledge of when the photo was taken by using the shadows of the towers as sun dials, angle of the shot, and cross reference with satellites in the spot that could have taken it via their orbits. Which meant it was a specific satellite the USA launched that is rather classified. Experts then cross referenced their work and confirmed it.

[Callie Del Noire]

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u-s-spy-satellite-behind-president-trumps-tweet?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Amateur satellite trackers have discovered which satellite Trump's photo came from. Since he tweeted it they were able to use the knowledge of when the photo was taken by using the shadows of the towers as sun dials, angle of the shot, and cross reference with satellites in the spot that could have taken it via their orbits. Which meant it was a specific satellite the USA launched that is rather classified. Experts then cross referenced their work and confirmed it.

Shit, if he wasn’t the president he’d be jail bound even now

[Oniya]

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/02/756673481/amateurs-identify-u-s-spy-satellite-behind-president-trumps-tweet?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Amateur satellite trackers have discovered which satellite Trump's photo came from. Since he tweeted it they were able to use the knowledge of when the photo was taken by using the shadows of the towers as sun dials, angle of the shot, and cross reference with satellites in the spot that could have taken it via their orbits. Which meant it was a specific satellite the USA launched that is rather classified. Experts then cross referenced their work and confirmed it.

And here he is, complaining that the security departments are 'scolding' him.  Because 'we had a picture, and I released it.  I'm allowed to do that.'

As a grown man, you're 'allowed' to eat an entire, 5-gallon tub of orange sherbet.  However-  Oh wait, that would explain a lot.

[Tolvo]

Something to always remember when you put things in the sky is a lot of people have telescopes and free time and you can track anything in space, there is no stealth in space. It does not matter what you do it is physically impossible to prevent the hundreds of ways objects are tracked in space from shadows to radiation to interrupted light and frequencies to just the orbit of other objects being disturbed, when you launch something people can watch the speed and angle and know where that thing will be for over a hundred years at any given time.

[Oniya]

Right - it's impossible to hide the thing, but it's possible to hide its purpose - until some blithering idiot tweets out a picture that could only come from that angle.

[Mathim]

Despite all the reports I'm hearing about how low he's polling as far as his chances in 2020, no one's breathing any sighs of relief. Anyone have any more insight on whether we're safe from the orange antichrist staying in power via voting rather than from his burgeoning dictatorship?

[TheGlyphstone]

It's entirely dependent on if the Democrats can field a viable candidate who will siphon away the Anyone But Hillary independents. Right now it looks to mostly be a three-way fight between Biden, Sanders, and Warren, with the latter two fighting to be the 'most left' and Biden sticking to the left-center lane. Harris is still in shouting distance, Buttgieg, Booker, and O'rourke are the only other ones I'd still even give long-shot odds at this point.

[Oniya]

Okay - the trip to Poland was to commemorate the anniversary of the Nazi invasion 80 years ago - I expect something equivalent to the US's Memorial Day in terms of 'somber occasions'.  Trump (from the comfort of 'anywhere but Poland') was asked if he had a message for Poland on this anniversary.

He congratulated them.

Pence did better, correctly identifying that the start of the war was a horror that 'is difficult for any of us who are not Poles to fathom' in his speech.  Pence is now heading for Ireland, where - instead of staying in Dublin (where his meetings are taking place), he's staying at the Trump National hotel in Doonbeg - about 3 hours away.  This is like staying in Baltimore when your meetings are in New York City.

Also in the first linked article, Trump - when asked recently about the guerrilla group known as FARC breaking the 2016 peace treaty - at first didn't associate it with Colombia, and then launched into something about how we 'have a great relationship with Columbia' but that Columbia has a problem with 'the Venezuela' [sic].  Something, something, immigration, something, something.

In 2018, he even talked over Colombian president Iván Duque when a reporter at the UN meeting asked about whether the peace process was going to be discussed.  (Duque had to interrupt Trump to take over the question as Trump launched into one of his 'I'm going to say something so it looks like I've got even half a clue about whatever's going on here' rambles.)

[gaggedLouise]

Okay - the trip to Poland was to commemorate the anniversary of the Nazi invasion 80 years ago - I expect something equivalent to the US's Memorial Day in terms of 'somber occasions'.  Trump (from the comfort of 'anywhere but Poland') was asked if he had a message for Poland on this anniversary.

He congratulated them.

Pence did better, correctly identifying that the start of the war was a horror that 'is difficult for any of us who are not Poles to fathom' in his speech.  Pence is now heading for Ireland, where - instead of staying in Dublin (where his meetings are taking place), he's staying at the Trump National hotel in Doonbeg - about 3 hours away.  This is like staying in Baltimore when your meetings are in New York City.

*groans*

On the topic of presidential addresses and history, I just realized something last week. By November next year, Trump (provided he hasn't been unseated by then) will most likely be leading memorial events and holding some kind of speech to conmemorate the 400-year jubilee of the arrival of the Mayflower in present-day MA. The Pilgrims first anchored at Provincetown on November 11, and the landing at Plymouth took place just over a month later. The journey and these landings are kind of sacred events in American history as taught in schools and many churches, I understand - and Trump is likely the most unfit president in modern times to take on the role of memorializing them and speaking for the nation. Especially after a very divisive and bitter election... :(

[Oniya]

A few days ago, Trump tweeted about Hurricane Dorian, mentioning Alabama.  The NWS came out and corrected him, that Alabama was not in the predicted path.

Now this:

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1169300628000124929

If you look at the video, when the time stamp is at about 0:30-ish, he puts a chart of the projection cone on an easel.

1) The projection cone is almost a week old at this point.
2) HE DREW ON IT WITH SHARPIE! 

'God damn it, I'm going to be right about panicking an entire state when they weren't in any danger!'

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/photos-president-donald-j-trumps-fema-briefing-hurricane-dorian/

We can clearly see the difference in the pictures here. See the lack of the cheap sharpie? :)

[Sara Nilsson]

Sorry forgot to add:

Trump of course has said he doesn't know if someone edited the map.

https://twitter.com/feliciasonmez/status/1169325821254877184

Felicia Sonmez
‏Verified account @feliciasonmez

A reporter just now asks about the map Trump showed in the Oval Office today, which looked like the president may have used a Sharpie to draw a circle to intersect Alabama.

Trump ... doesn't say no.

"I don't know. I don't know. I don't know," he says.

[Oniya]

I mean, I'm more familiar with school-kids than business-men, but when someone's drawn on the wall in Sharpie, and one person refuses to use anything but a Sharpie - there's a certain level of 'reasonable suspicion' that goes in with that.

[Mathim]

Is that enough of a 'high crime' to finally get something done about him?