Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

“woke” is the new caravan.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel / Why Does Fascism Have To Be So Fucking Tacky?

Why Does Fascism Have To Be So Fucking Tacky?

by | 180 Comments

This post is in: ,

It’s just fucking embarrassing:

n what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar — a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.

The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump visits Qatar on the first foreign trip of his second term, according to sources familiar with the plans.

Trump toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as “a flying palace,” while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February.

I don’t even want to go into it because there is so much to discuss, but why does everything he does make me ashamed to be American?

Reader Interactions

180Comments

  1. 1.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    the late lamented Kevin Drum used to wonder why autocrats use to create places like Versailles or the Hermitage but now every building or palace they create is absolutely hideous & relentlessly tacky.

  3. 3.

    Steve LaBonne

    The Italian fascists and the Nazis were extremely tacky. It’s part of the fascist package, because the lumpen elements of society are the source of fascism.

  6. 6.

    Tim C

    @Steve LaBonne: Pretty much.  Fascism appeals to the real degenerates.   The lack of empathy and confusing “style” over anything real is part of it, so is the fact that there is never any inner peace or joy, just endless reaching out for more and more and more.  A void that can never be satisfied.

  7. 7.

    no body no name

    Fascism sucks, upper middle class white professionals are worse.  Our party stands for and protects the later.  Until we are willing to crush upper middle class white professionals we will get fascism.

  8. 8.

    NotoriousJRT

    Because everything he does is shameful? This literally makes me feel ready to upchuck.

  10. 10.

    Rusty

    Real style takes some restraint, and these guys have none at all.  That, and they are just plain evil.

  11. 11.

    Another Scott

    Why?  Because he’s a very bad person.

    Laffy points us to this BBC story from 2018:

    Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it has been given a jet worth around $500m (£380m) by Qatar’s emir.

    Mr Erdogan said Sheikh Tamim Al Thani had donated the Boeing 747-8i to the Turkish state after hearing that it was interested in buying it.

    Opposition MPs had expressed concern that the president was using taxpayers’ money to buy a jet as the country struggles to avert a financial crisis.

    Turkey has backed Qatar in a year-long stand-off with other Arab states.

    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed all diplomatic and trade links with the tiny gas-rich state over its close ties to Iran and its alleged support for jihadists – a charge it denies.

    Turkey sent food by sea and air to prevent shortages in Qatar’s supermarkets after its only land border was closed and ships serving it were banned from many ports.

    The Boeing 747-8i was described by The Drive website as “the largest and most expensive private jet in the world” when it was put on sale last month.

    The aircraft was reportedly only delivered to Qatar in 2015, after being refitted to carry 76 passengers, rather than the usual 400. On board are staterooms, lounges, boardrooms, first class seating areas, and even a hospital.

    [ AFP Recep Tayyip Erdogan embraces Sheikh Hamad Al Thani in Ankara (15 August 2018) ]

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sheikh Hamad Al Thani had insisted on giving the plane to Turkey
    After the jet landed in Turkey last week, an opposition MP tabled a parliamentary question asking Vice-President Fuat Oktay to disclose whether it had been purchased by the state.

    Speaking to reporters flying with him from Azerbaijan to Turkey over the weekend, Mr Erdogan said Qatar’s emir had given the plane as a gift after learning that the Turkish government had expressed an interest in it.

    “He said: ‘I won’t take money from Turkey. I give this as a present to Turkey’,” the president quoted Sheikh Hamad as saying.

    Mr Erdogan told reporters the plane was being repainted, adding: “God willing, we can have a trip with it when all is over.”

    Last month, Qatar’s emir approved a package of economic projects, investments and deposits worth $15bn (£11.4bn) to support Turkey’s economy and currency.

    The Turkish lira has lost almost 40% of its value against the dollar this year, driven by worries over Mr Erdogan’s influence on monetary policy and a diplomatic row with the United States.

    We must not have a Luxury 747 Gap!!1

    Grr…

    While this is infuriating, it’s important to keep an eye on the House and Senate – WARNING – TheHill the monsters are trying to pass their government and safety-net destroying Big Beautiful tax cut Bill before Memorial Day…

    Grr….

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  12. 12.

    hells littlest angel

    Beauty is for pointy-headed intellectual elites. True American patriots are loud, stupid and ugly, whether they’re rally-goers clad in polyester Trump merch or botoxed babes boozing it up at Mar a Lago.

  15. 15.

    Chetan Murthy

    When the first and most important priority for promotion is slavish devotion and loyalty to The Maximum Leader, you can’t go looking for qualities like taste, restraint, and competence in your minions.

  18. 18.

    brantl

    @no body no name:  fascism isn’t being sourced out of upper middle class white people. It is currently being sourced out of rich people, some of the richest people in this country; get a grip. Are some upper middle class white people fascist? Of course they are. Are plenty of upper middle-class white people Democrats and liberals and non-fascist? Of course they are. Your premise is faulty.

  19. 19.

    YY_Sima Qian

    This has nothing to do w/ Fascism per se, but transparent corruption.

    BTW, plenty of edifices constructed by America’s industrialist nouveau riche in the late 19th & early 20th centuries were derided as tacky imitations by European elites, but are now considered classics.

    Of course, nothing associated w/ Trump will ever not be tacky.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    The Thin Black Duke:

    Remember folks, you don’t have to go to every argument you’re invited to, especially when the other guy has already made up his mind.

  21. 21.

    Suzanne

    @H.E.Wolf: Agree. We’ve got a few dedicated trolls, bullies, and subtweeters; they all get ignored.

    As for the question of tackiness…. I think it’s alluring, in part, because it’s transgressive. The modern version of it is lib-owning, but it’s always been partially to offend the aesthetics of one’s enemy.

  23. 23.

    H.E.Wolf

    “Why Does Fascism Have To Be So Fucking Tacky?”

    There’s a whole book addressing this question: the snarky “Dictator Style” by Peter York, published in 2006 and still available.

    York wrote a snarky article for Politico in 2017, which summarizes his thesis.
    https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/trump-style-dictator-autocrats-design-214877/

    Not having read the book, I don’t know whether York touches non-snarkily on the impulse to counter an inner emptiness with outer decoration.

  25. 25.

    2liberal

    This is a meme stock and is VERY RISKY.  Fidelity requires me to sign an online form to allow me to buy this sort of thing.  It also might make your taxes more complicated, don’t ask me how I don’t know yet,  but will probably find out next year.

     

    It’s based on short selling Tesla and right now the cost is $5.85 per share.  The symbol is CRSH and DON”T invest any more than you can afford to lose.

    I thought some of you might like to own a few shares.

     

    https://www.yieldmaxetfs.com/our-etfs/crsh/

    YieldMax™ Short TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF (CRSH) is an actively managed ETF that seeks to generate monthly income from a synthetic covered put strategy on TSLA, while providing indirect short exposure to the share price of TSLA.

    CRSH seeks to benefit when the TSLA share price decreases, however CRSH’s potential corresponding benefit from decreases in the TSLA share price is limited. CRSH seeks to manage potential losses (i.e., cap losses if the TSLA share price experiences significant gains) by purchasing OTM call options.

  26. 26.

    Suzanne

    @H.E.Wolf: The many semesters of art history and visual culture/aesthetics paid off. ;)

    Maybe too well — I can’t stop seeing politics in semiotics and maybe I over-interpret at times. But it’s been really interesting to see how so much is now left- or right-coded.

  27. 27.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Reports of progress from the Sino-US trade talks in Geneva, PRC state media has been sending out positive spin, too:

    US, China hail ‘constructive’ Geneva trade talks, details due Monday

    By Emma Farge and John Revill
    May 12, 20257:38 AM GMT+8
    Updated 2 min ago

    Summary
    Geneva talks hailed as ‘substantial progress’
    China says important consensus reached
    USTR Greer describes result as ‘a deal we struck’
    Bessent, Greer to announce details on China talks on Monday
    No mention of tariff reductions from US officials, White House

    We’ll see what’s announced on Monday, but it appears to be an agreement to continue formal talks, & the actual trade agreement could still be months, if not years, off.

    IMO the PRC can afford to sound conciliatory right now, & just leave the inevitable shortages that is baked in from the month & half of effective mutual trade embargoes to pressure Trump to concede. The US side is overplaying the events, probably to goose the markets.

  28. 28.

    Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: Autocrats of prior centuries were taught the need to at least pretend to enrich the culture. Even robber barons of the 19th Century were compelled to build universities, theaters, opera houses, libraries and other places intended to improve society. Starting perhaps with Hearst, though, the desire for just bigger and more performatively grandiose has taken over, up to now with tous-plus-nouveau riche now building the most offensively extravagant and overdone constructs possible. It’s hard to decide whether the driving force is a d!ck-measuring contest or just a big middle finger to society at large.

  29. 29.

    H.E.Wolf

    Feeding a troll is kind of like giving a pair of one’s own Jockey shorts to an underpants fetishist. Maybe not the most salubrious of actions.

  31. 31.

    H.E.Wolf

    Actually, you know what is tacky? Coming up with excuses to procrastinate on my Absolutely Must Do Them Today chores. I am taking myself offline and chopping wood carrying water. :)

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Actually, you know what is tacky? Coming up with excuses to procrastinate on my Absolutely Must Do Them Today chores.

     
    You’ve just summarized my entire life.

  33. 33.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Suzanne: ​
     I *must* go do my chores… but wanted to thank you for this comment as well.

    – fellow co-member of the semiotics fan club

  34. 34.

    MazeDancer

    Laura Loomer does not approve of Trump taking the jet. “I am so disappointed”.

    She says he can’t take something from “a cult. And funders of the Houthi’s and Hamas. It will “create a stain if he does.”

  35. 35.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Baud: ​
     See also “The Lives of Famous Men” by Jack Gilbert. Speaks to my life too.

    Good night all! Hangin’ up the phone Right Now.

  37. 37.

    John Sterling

    Remember the days when politicians tried to hide the bribes?  Now they brag about them.  “My grift’s bigger than your grift!”

  38. 38.

    Gin & Tonic

    @H.E.Wolf: The really nice thing about the Absolutely Must Do Today chores is that if you don’t do them today, they will still be available to do tomorrow.

  39. 39.

    No One of Consequence

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop:

    Personally, I found Versailles to be tacky. This may have been colored by my understanding of what the current lifestyle of most of the country was at the time.

    The gardens were wonderful. The fact that teams of gardeners awaited word from the Queen’s handmaidens about what the color of the Queen’s dress for that day was, so they could replant before she took her garden stroll, and match the flowers to her dress… well… That fact took some of the joy of the gardens from me.

    The Hall of Mirrors was cool to be in. As was the Royal Theatre, but the latter was the pinnacle of garish things found there, imho. Ymmv, of course, and probably will.

    -NOoC

  40. 40.

    Suzanne

    @John Sterling: Speaking of semiotics….. can’t help that the shameless and tackiness really spiked as old-school mainline Protestantism fell out of favor. Suburban megachurch Evangelicalism is tacky and gaudy AF.

  41. 41.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @brantl: ​
     What we are calling fascism here and now is the European peasant mindset. It has not changed in 1500 years, and that is only as far back as we have records. And the reason why we have the records is because of the ways Christianity had to pervert itself in order to appeal to them. They wanted: (1) a pretext to prioritize the purity of the community; (2) a radical framework for total unaccountability; (3) theodicy.

  42. 42.

    scav

    @MazeDancer: A stain?  How could one stain more be noticed in his existing uniform of corruptoflage?  Ok, granted the desert-themed colors do rather clash with the older Russian-winter theme . . . but not as much as the jungly Korean patches . . . .

  44. 44.

    TheOtherHank

    @Gin & Tonic: ​

    Nazis dressed well, though.

    I’m pretty sure I’ve read contemporary descriptions of the Nazis saying they looked like characters from a crappy opera​

  45. 45.

    brantl

    @Frank Wilhoit: if you were saying that that is the mindset, they wanted the peasants to adapt. I could probably agree with you if you’re saying that’s the mindset of all the peasants. I don’t know where you get that from.

  46. 46.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    I just wonder about the bugs that will be planted in that Qatari 747….and if “someone” will manage to install a “kill switch”.

    Yeah, yeah, don’t threaten you with a good time. Sheesh.

  47. 47.

    eclare

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Some days when I don’t feel well, either mentally or physically, my Absolutely Must Do Them Today chores narrow to two:

    • Brush teeth
    • Feed pets

    That’s it.

  48. 48.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    This is very old world tacky IMHO.  This, like so much about this fellow, is the kind of thing many of our founding generation fled Europe to escape.

    Can you imagine a Puritan inside this thing?  A Quaker?  No.  I can imagine their apoplectic response to it, though.

    Let the Republicans experience the shame their dear leader has so clearly earned for them.

  49. 49.

    pajaro

    I can’t think of a rotten person I’ve dealt with who didn’t have one thing about him that I could say in his favor–until now.  Trump is a nothing, he’s empty, and doesn’t seem human in any way I can wrap my head around.  He exhibits no intelligence, no kindness, no modesty, no conscience, no honesty, no shame, no courage, no love.  He’s an ugly, empty collection of appetites.  Shame on us for electing the guy who told us to inject bleach, who falsely claimed that immigrants were eating cats and dogs, who insulted even those who supported him.

  51. 51.

    lowtechcyclist

    @2liberal: ​

    It’s based on short selling Tesla and right now the cost is $5.85 per share. The symbol is CRSH and DON”T invest any more than you can afford to lose.

    I thought some of you might like to own a few shares.

    I have a strong aversion to investing in anything I can’t understand, but thanks anyway.

  53. 53.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: probably a lot of the truly tacky stuff from earlier times was melted down for the precious metals and gems, destroyed in wartime, or otherwise repurposed (especially the wood, fabric and leather pieces would not have survived well). I don’t know how many of those crazy poulaine shoes from the Middle Ages survived, for example. Also, pre-19th century, a lot of dyes weren’t all that color fast and the heating and lighting would have left a lot of layers of soot, so what were loud colors back in the day faded and were all smoke-stained in about a hundred years or so.

    And before coal-tar dyes were invented, the rich were the ones with the money to buy colorful fabrics, and the color palette with natural dyes also looked different from the coal-tar dyes palette (as I see when I go to the yarn store or festival).

  54. 54.

    No One of Consequence

    ooooohh

    He’s an ugly, empty collection of appetites.

    That’s good. That’s really good, I like that. Bravo.

    -NOoC

  60. 60.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @2liberal: I thought with puts, it involved buying the stock if it goes low to a stipulated $ level.  Wouldn’t want to own any of that Tesla stock..

  61. 61.

    schrodingers_cat

    @scav: You forgot Modi. Who ever dresses him has good taste. He wears more outfits in one day than a model does during fashion week. But it is still tacky IMHO for a PM to pay so much attention to his outfits and call himself a fakir.

  65. 65.

    mrmoshpotato

    To answer your post’s title, it’s because the Kremlin’s orange bitch is a MASSIVELY insecure, 68-year-old child.

  67. 67.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @schrodingers_cat: not tacky to show up at a funeral in royal blue, instead of black, either…//

     

    @Tim C: plenty of people have experienced dissatisfaction, and an emotional void. And yet, we don’t all end up like fascists, or lacking empathy. Your comment could lead to a bunch of inner writing and thought. Thanks for the writing prompt.

    I hear cruelty is fished out to owning class kids, so they grow up ready to dish it out. It sounds so psychologically damaging..

    I wonder if there are already books about the trend with wealthy folks

  68. 68.

    Jay

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    A “put” option is basically a “bet” between two entities, one betting the stock will go down to a certain level or below, with in a certain time frame, the other betting it will not.

    If the put wins, one of two things happen, the put buys the stock at the low market price, and the other party has to buy it at the market price it was at when the put offer was accepted.

    The other resolution is that the other party pays the put party the dollar difference with no stock changing hands.

    In this case, it is a syndicate, (widely shared risk) making the “put” vs Institutional investors.

  69. 69.

    Another Scott

    @2liberal: Interesting post.  Not for me though.

    Motley Fool (from May 5):

    […]

    A lot riding on the June demonstration

    With [EV] deliveries still apparently struggling, a lot is riding on Tesla’s June Robotaxi demonstration that will supposedly feature the company’s unsupervised full self-driving technology (FSD). Tesla trades at 135 forward earnings, much of which depends on the company’s future initiatives.

    The June demonstration could reinvigorate excitement around the stock; it also might come up short. I’m on the sidelines for now, given the big valuation and struggling core EV business.

    Melon will hype whatever they announce – it’s what he does. The real product will be late, cost more than promised, and won’t do everything promised. It’s what he does.

    The usual rule about speculating and market timing, as I understand it, is: Buy on the Rumor, Sell on the News.

    So, I would expect a bunch of buying before June 1 (the earliest expected announcement), and a bunch of selling when he actually opens his yap.

    But that’s just a guess.

    Be careful out there!!

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  71. 71.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Gloria DryGarden: yeah, upper class upbringing (e.g. the English boarding school system and the nannys, governesses and tutors prior to boarding school at 7) made effective and cruel colonial government. Then the various Indian boarding schools to suppress Native Americans, and public schools to educate the future factory workers.

  72. 72.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Lest we forget, as all of the emerging crises around the world has pushed Gaza off the headlines (from the Economist):

    HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN GAZA?

    New research suggests the death toll may be higher than current reports

    May 8th 2025

    The official figure from Gazan health authorities, as of 5/5/25, is 52,615. Guesstimates published in the Lancet range from 77K – 109K, & that is just deaths from traumatic injuries, not including the many thousands from starvation & treatable disease. The high figure would represent > 4% of Gaza’s pre-war population, again not including indirect deaths.

    Meanwhile, Israel has instituted a months long embargo against Gaza, once again worsening the famine conditions, transparent war crimes & crimes against humanity.

    Witkoff is saying that Israel does not want to end the war of vengeance against Gaza (from the Times of Israel):

    Witkoff said to tell hostage families Israel pointlessly extending war, US urging deal
    Envoy’s reported disagreement with Israel’s plans adds to mounting reports of discord between Trump administration and Netanyahu’s government, which both sides have denied
    By TOI STAFF, NAVA FREIBERG and JACOB MAGID
    Today, 12:57 am

    On the one hand, the Trump gang cares even less for the welfare of the Gaza’s & is even less interested in restraining Israeli conduct in Gaza than the Biden Administration (not exactly a high bar). OTOH, Trump really wants that Nobel Peace Price, & he is willing to twist Bibi’s arms to get it.

  74. 74.

    Mai Naem mobile

    How is this legal?  How is it secure? The current GOP senators are just a real special breed of chickenshits. I hate these people.

  75. 75.

    Lily

    Qatar has denied they’re giving him a plane. Said it was discussed, no decision.   T trying to pressure them with his big announcement?

  76. 76.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @YY_Sima Qian: Joe Weisenthal’s take, I’ve started to wonder the same:

    Joe Weisenthal@TheStalwart

    When Trump said last week that the ultimate tariff rate on China was up to Bessent, I started to wonder whether he’s losing interest in fighting a protracted trade war.
    Not much details out yet today, but right now it doesn’t look like Trump is set on a hard US-China breakup.

    As the Trump team tries to gaslight the world & goose the markets to enrich the already rich, worth keeping in mind when reading the headlines:

    *Walter Bloomberg@DeItaone
    CHINA’S VICE PREMIER HE LIFENG: BOTH SIDES AGREED TO ESTABLISH CHINA-U.S. TRADE CONSULTATION MECHANISM

    People’s Art of War 人民兵法@pplsartofwar
    Diplomatic translation: “We don’t know what you’re celebrating. We’ve only agreed how to discuss our negotiating points. Please stop running to the media for a victory lap.”
    Old tactic. If the other side starts grandstanding, you don’t match them. You state calmly and bluntly what was agreed upon behind closed doors. Then you go quiet. Any further action must come from them. If they push beyond, they appear dishonest. If they backtrack, they lose face. If they say nothing, your version holds.
    He who defines the conditions of an agreement before agreement exists, controls the shape of its possibility. China is not yet negotiating terms. But it is trying to pick the battlefield on which it fights for these terms.

    People’s Art of War 人民兵法
    US China joint statement is coming in the 12th tomorrow. The text will show where this is headed exactly.
    Three things to look for in the US China joint statement text:
    1. Balanced Interests. A joint statement need to show a careful balance of each party’s core interests and bargaining position. So neither side appears to have conceded too much. The language must allow both leaders to claim victory domestically. Text precise enough to bind, but elastic enough to adapt.
    2. Depth of Ambiguity Precision where needed, vagueness where useful. The vague sections that are ambiguous should defuse immediate conflict, preserve both side’s leverage, then signal intent without commitment. Best ambiguity gives each side enough to claim progress without conceding ground. Art here will lies in what the statement omits.
    3. Future Engagement A useful joint statement should not just address immediate concerns. It needs to also establish a pathway for continued dialogue or cooperation. The statement should hint at follow up roadmaps to maintain momentum. These are working groups, future summits, etc.

  77. 77.

    Shalimar

    Expected to be the new Air Force One, my ass.  They spent years arguing over paint color in his first administration.  It will take more time than that for the CIA to de-bug this thing.

  78. 78.

    Omnes Omnibus

    “Good taste” and restraint are hallmarks of the intellectual and cultural elites who the fascists are trying to destroy.  In Trump’s case, it is the style language of the Manhattan elite who looked down on the property developer from Queens.

  79. 79.

    Jackie

    @bjacques: According to Rick Wilson on MSNBC this morning: (Republicans Against Trump)

    It looks like Saddam and Liberace’s decorators got together and said, let’s make a flying brothel that will appeal to Donald Trump.”

    “It is the most vulgar thing you’ve ever seen in your life, he added.

    I’m guessing fool’s gold plated.

  81. 81.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Holy shit, look at the pictures of Trump in the link John posted. He looks a like a zombie.

  82. 82.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @scav: ?  All of those guys are copying that old world, aren’t they?  North Korea’s dear leader purports to be a god on earth.  That is so old world it predates Melchizedek.

    The gaudier the glitter the more the peasants are blinded to the rulers mediocre normal-ness is the notion.

  83. 83.

    eclare

    @Jackie:

    I saw a description somewhere that said it looked like a bunch of designers from 1979 were paid in cocaine.

  85. 85.

    different-church-lady

    Can You Imagine If Biden Had Done It, episode one hundred billion…

  86. 86.

    scav

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: I think everybody came up with excess & extravagant bling as an easy marker for success and power.  At the moment, some are leaning into certain details of European military / Royalty / culture to scream power, but they’re generally also pulling on local traditions of similar bling for other propaganda purposes.

  87. 87.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Shalimar: this president insisted on colors that are actually unsafe

    “Further analysis concluded darker colors, among other factors, on the underside of the VC-25B aircraft might contribute to temperatures exceeding the current qualification limits of a small number of components on the aircraft.”

    https://hyperallergic.com/739829/how-trump-also-ruined-air-force-one/

    This president did not care.  He wants what he wants until he forgets about it

  89. 89.

    2liberal

    @Gloria DryGarden:  I thought with puts, it involved buying the stock if it goes low to a stipulated $ level.  Wouldn’t want to own any of that Tesla stock..

     

    I probably got it wrong.  I don’t understand  about the options , I was just thinking it was funny they named it “Crash” and thought some might like to buy a couple of cheap shares, just a jackal’s way of sticking it to the man.

  90. 90.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @scav: I don’t disagree.  It is all gaudy nonsense that our founders and framers avoided at nearly every opportunity.

    Ponder the puritan encountering this flying Epstein.

  93. 93.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: That is measured in hours. But, as Joe Weisenthal suggests, Trump may be losing interest in the trade war, because a quick win (or even something that could be spinned as a win) is not in the cards.

  94. 94.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @2liberal: it is an amusing name, crash. I want to learn to play puts and calls… maybe start very small. There are charts you can use, they show it in some class, but it didn’t stick.
    I hope you do well, and get somewhere with it..

    you really need a friend in congresss to put a thousand of yours into their (legal!) insider trading. So when tariffs go down they can buy, for you, and etc..

  96. 96.

    TS

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    This has nothing to do w/ Fascism per se, but transparent corruption.

    Imagine the outcry from our sycophant media if any Democratic President  tried this one. Another reason to understand how corrupt regimes take over democracies.

  97. 97.

    scav

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: I think you’re over-estimating many of the founding fathers, plus over-egging the contributions of puritans.  Plus many of the founders were leaning heavily into the contemporary old-world fad for greco-roman details — only it turned out to be their take on greco-roman who actually painted the bejesus just about everything that is so “classically” white in our minds.

  98. 98.

    prostratedragon

    Derek Guy on Pete Hegseth. Doesn’t link his critique explicitly to fascism, but there is that failure to understand the value of restraint:

    When men start dressing with more intention, they often fall into the trap of cranking every knob to 11—volume, gain, treble, bass. The thinking is: more = better. But like in music, maxing out every setting doesn’t lead to clarity—it leads to noise.

    Background music:
    Tango “El once”

  99. 99.

    2liberal

    @Gloria DryGarden: I want to learn to play puts and calls… maybe start very small.

     

    I think they do options in lots of 100 and up so starting small isn’t really an option.  I was starting to look at that but I’d have to put some real money into it.  I’m 70 and my portfolio is overwhelmingly  in Treasuries and A grade corporate bonds.

  100. 100.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Gin & Tonic: ​The really nice thing about the Absolutely Must Do Today chores is that if you don’t do them today, they will still be available to do tomorrow.
     [sauntering back into the chat, all virtuous-like]

    Okay, that totally made me laugh. Thank you!

    (I did do the AMDT chores, though. The fact that I’ll need to do them again tomorrow? Immaterial. Today’s triumph is real!)

  101. 101.

    H.E.Wolf

    @eclare: ​Some days when I don’t feel well, either mentally or physically, my Absolutely Must Do Them Today chores narrow to two:

    Brush teeth
    Feed pets

    That’s it.

     Oh, yes. I’m with you on that!

    Wishing you the least possible number of such days.

  102. 102.

    StringOnAStick

    @Gloria DryGarden: It’s a synthetic covered put strategy, not just selling or selling puts.  It’s a fairly complex strategy that acts like shorting TLSA but with protection if the stock rockets back up.  Most institutional use of options is in complex strategies involving combos of stock, calls and puts; the math can get pretty complex.

  103. 103.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Betty: ​Imagine saying hanging up the phone to a young person. You would get a big, Huh?

     Luckily, I’m good at code-switching. :)

    Plus, every young person should have at least one antediluvian relative or acquaintance to expose them to obsolete vernacular expressions – it’s good for the brain synapses.

  104. 104.

    H.E.Wolf

    Heading offline again – re-reading a favorite book as a reward for doing my chores.

  106. 106.

    Librettist

    End state Reagan Revolution. They entombed Ronnie with one of the SAM VC-137s, so of course dipshit is going to hit on this. They should seal all his administration sycophants in it like the Pharaohs of old.

    I believe railfan G.H. Bush has a Union Pacific locomotive (4141??). Republicans build low rent tourist attractions, egghead Democrats go with the institutions of knowledge and learning hooey.

  107. 107.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop:

    the late lamented Kevin Drum used to wonder why autocrats use to create places like Versailles or the Hermitage but now every building or palace they create is absolutely hideous & relentlessly tacky.

    Billionaires (adjusting for inflation) used to build libraries, museums, concert halls. They’d endow orchestras.

    Où sont les Carnegies d’antan?

  111. 111.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @No One of Consequence:

    Personally, I found Versailles to be tacky.

    Never been there, but I felt the same way about the Peterhof Palace. But I’m looking at it through modern eyes.

  112. 112.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, a short thread.

    Roger Parloff
    ‪@rparloff.bsky.social‬

    Will courts ever declare that Trump is unlawfully dismantling Congressionally created agencies? Or will they just treat his actions as if they were ordinary cuts & trims—albeit on an unusually large scale? Will courts ever see the forest for the trees? Thread …
    1/11
    May 11, 2025 at 8:22 PM

    In 2 remarkable recent orders, judges saw the forest. In one, on Friday, Judge Ilston of SF issued a broad temporary restraining order freezing efforts to dismantle 21 federal agencies. In the other, on 4/22, Judge Lamberth of DC saved, for the moment, Voice of America & related agencies …
    /2

    … The hurdle both orders face on appeal is this: Ordinary federal employment disputes get shunted off to administrative bodies that can’t issue injunctions or address constitutional questions. The govt says that that’s what should’ve happened in these cases, too …
    /3

    Judge Lamberth refused. Doing so in the VOA case, he wrote, “would ignore the facts in the record and on the ground. … VOA [had] gone completely dark. … [It’s parent] USAGM’s leadership [had] called the agency ‘not salvageable’ & ‘a giant rot from top to bottom.’” …
    /4

    [ image of decision ]

    […]

    The Forest and The Trees is a great distillation. So is people being Deliberately Obtuse. So is Bad Faith.

    Click on over and read the whole thing.

    It’s important to not be hornswoggled and instead to believe our own lying eyes.

    Forward!!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    @No One of Consequence: @Melancholy Jaques:

    I haven’t been to Versailles, but taking tours of the big palace and family churches in Vienna hurt my eyes.  So very much bling.  Much too much.

    I did like that they were forced to melt down the royal silverware and plates and such to pay for various things at times – so all the plundered gold and silver wasn’t just sitting in a vault somewhere, they were eating on it in the good times.  But even knowing that didn’t make up for how over-the-top it was.  I mean look at the header picture here!

    I wonder if 47 has seen it.  If he has, he probably wants it so bad he can taste it…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  114. 114.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @No One of Consequence: when I went to Venice, I was astonished at how much gold leaf was all over the place, in churches and the pallazzo tourists went to. I found it quite unattractive. How did Jesus feel, up on those big crucifixes, surrounded by so much gaudy gold leaf?

    I’m reminded of when the Vatican show came to Denver, and there were all kinds of gold artifacts and symbolic objects, amongst the many many paintings of men. (all men, btw, the only female depicted in the whole show was Mary in the big replica of la pieta). Someone I know commented, that they stole all that gold by looting it from Mexico. … Which added a second layer to my distaste for so much gold.

  115. 115.

    Archon

    @no body no name: Upper middle class white professionals as in doctors and lawyers and engineers? While they might suffer from NIMBYism they as a cohort ain’t even close to the primary reason why we are on the verge of fascism.

  118. 118.

    Timill

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    that they stole all that gold by looting it from Mexico.

    Not at all… much of it came from South America and the Incas.

    Not sure what they pinched from the Philippines – mostly jewels, I think.

  120. 120.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jay:

    I never want to hear any bullshit about the “thin blue line” or how people just need to comply with the police from moron dipshits ever again.

    The reactions from the WPD officers were absolutely fucking disgusting and inhuman

  122. 122.

    dm

    I am relieved that the US government will not be saddled with this tacky excrescence beyond the end of Trump’s term. When I first heard about this potential deal, I thought of what the next President would have to spend to it to make it presentable.  Hearing that it’s going off to the “Trump Presidential library” comes as something of a relief.

    As it is, it sounds like the Oval Office will need to be stripped to the studs (probably a wise step to remove all the Russian, Chinese, and Israeli listenting devices that have been added along with the gold leaf).

  123. 123.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    From that newsletter, Welcome to Hell World, that Jay linked above.

    It becomes hard to see the difference

    I know people here aren’t going to like what the author has to say, but I was deeply disturbed by what I was reading about how blue states were/are willingly cutting their own social safety nets, all the while blaming migrants and the homeless for placing strain on the system, which is a total myth.

    In August of 2023, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency. The “rapidly rising numbers of migrant families,” she announced, are hitting the Massachusetts shelter system in an “unsustainable manner.” The declaration came with a letter to Biden’s director of homeland security. “Simply put, we do not currently have the tools we need to meet the rapidly rising demand for emergency shelter,” it read.

    Two months later she signed a package of tax cuts that will cost the state $1 billion annually in perpetuity. The big winners there were the offspring of dead millionaires. Estates worth more than $2 million are no longer taxed as they’re passed down to inheritors. Day traders also made out. But the benefits to normal people were negligible, as per tradition. Renters for instance got about $50 each (conditions apply). Upon announcement, she took a victory lap, embarking on the “Cutting Taxes, Saving You Money” tour.

    Within weeks, she also announced cuts to the shelter system, saying “state and local budgets can only stretch so far,” and imposed a new 7,500 family cap. It’s a number that the state was guaranteed to hit, and hit quickly. Families in the shelter system had risen from 5,500 to 7,000 in the months preceding. Most of the new arrivals came from Haiti, a country recently thrown into a new round of chaos, another harvest of empire. Their migration is a symptom of longstanding US policies to keep the country in debt and controlled by our chosen warlords. Massachusetts, with its large Haitian diaspora, is a natural destination.

    Despite the fact roughly half of the families in the shelter system were still “from here,” the governor’s messaging now had a villain in the form of the “new immigrants,” an inciting incident with the “recent wave,” a conflict, meaning “the strain,” and a protagonist known as the “taxpayer.” Coincidentally, the cost of the system was inching toward $1 billion, the same amount the state had just handed back to the rich in tax cuts. By and large the statewide press glossed over that, and left Healey’s narrative unchallenged – to varying degrees of vulgarity.

    In January, Healey, who often brags about having sued Trump more than 100 times as the state’s attorney general, joined eight other governors in penning an open letter to the Biden-Harris Administration, calling for more border patrol agents, more immigration judges, and more asylum claims adjusters. The border, they said, needed fixing.

    In March, the state put a 90 day cap on stays in the shelter system. In July, migrant families were banned from sleeping overnight at Logan Airport. Dozens of families were moved from the airport to a former jail in Norfolk, prompting heated protest from nearby Townie Whites.

    In July, Healey appeared on Boston Public Radio. A caller asked why migrant families are getting all this support while he’s from here and he’s on a section 8 waitlist. Healey didn’t confront the premise. “It has put a strain on us,” she said. The host asked her about recent stories of migrant families sleeping on the street. Healey’s response: “We’ve been to the border and said, you know, Massachusetts is a kind and generous people, but we’re also full here.”

    That first part’s true by the way. She sent a delegation to the border in late June.

    […]

    Understandably the new austerities of the incoming Trump administration are the subject of a lot of chatter lately. But across the country blue states are already doing the job Trump promises, especially on the issues of migration and homelessness. In New York, Mayor Eric Adams cut direct support to incoming families by way of a debit card program. In Chicago, all migrant shelters have been closed. When newly-arrived migrant families have nowhere to go, they necessarily end up in unsheltered homelessness. If they do so in California, Governor Gavin Newsome is ready to throw their shit out with his own two hands. In Massachusetts, we’re following Newsom’s lead. Municipalities are increasingly passing laws to allow their police departments to ticket, fine and arrest people for sleeping outside. Boston passed one in order to clear the large Mass and Cass encampment, as I wrote about for Hell World at the time. More recently, Lowell is enforcing its own “crackdown.”

    We’re forcing families out of shelters and onto the streets, which puts them into the courts, where the ICE agents are already tabbing through arrest reports. All under a Democratic state and federal administration.

    The central lie underpinning the whole operation is that it’s the migrants straining an otherwise functional system. In reality the system has been broken for decades. That’s the more accurate and productive way of looking at it said State Senator Robyn Kennedy, an opponent of the proposed 60-day restriction and member of a commission that’s studied the shelter system. “In the 40 years we’ve had right to shelter, the system has been incredibly broken,” Kennedy told me. “It’s always been just shelter and then along the way kind of restricting eligibility to address growing costs.”

    While the rest of the changes go into effect on Tuesday, the shift to 60 days will require a vote from the state legislature, expected in the coming months. It was an idea first proposed by a Republican state senator, Ryan Fattman, who lives in an exurb populated mostly by insurance salesmen in McMansion subdivisions. Healey didn’t have to lead with this Republican proposal, but she did.

    I encourage you to read the whole thing

  124. 124.

    Ruckus

    @pajaro:

    Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for shitforbrains. Neither did a lot of other citizens. Not enough of us of course but still a large number. We aren’t the problem, we saw the writing on the wall, in the public bathrooms, in the voting booth, really everywhere. But some do not want a rational, reasonable, intelligent human being as their leader. And there seems to be enough of them to vote for shitforbrains. And here I thought it was OBVIOUS why voting for shitforbrains was worse than stupid, it was venial and evil.

  126. 126.

    opiejeanne

    @TONYG: when we visited Versailles in 2012 every American said those words aloud, “no wonder they had a revolution” when they got to the third room.

  129. 129.

    opiejeanne

    @rikyrah: those pictures of the gaudy “gold” stick-ons made me laugh, after I realized that they were WoodUBend or a similar product. I imagine some staffer was handed a bunch of those and a spray paint can and told to get busy.

    How long before the giant gold T is applied to the front door?

  131. 131.

    MagdaInBlack

    Went for nap at 6 pm and now here I am, at almost 1 am, rolling my eyes at the gawdawful gold foam gee-gaws he has glued all over the White House.

    @opiejeanne: Are we sure he has not already installed that “T” ?
    I have not checked recently.

    @NotMax: Perhaps something on the roof, similar to the HOLLYWOOD sign

    Eta: Yay! I have Oreo’s !

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    Lobster tails doing their thing under the broiler. Bottle of Prosecco calling out to be removed from the fridge. Irish butter to be microwaved to liquid when the tails are done.

    Much anticipatory salivation in progress.
    ;)

  138. 138.

    opiejeanne

    I’ve got to say, I love Balloon Juice. Keeping me company while I waited for a wheelchair to be delivered to our hotel. It finally arrived around 7:30 pm and I was able to see a little more of Brussels. Got some nice photos after it got dark.

    My youngest wants me to get rechecked now that the casts for my ankle and wrist have calmed most of the pain in those places, other parts of me are hurting.

    The thing is, they can’t do much for the sore finger and ribs, and the pharmacie across the road will have bigger bandaids for my knee so I don’t know if I should bother.

  139. 139.

    MagdaInBlack

    @opiejeanne: Have you decided yet if you’re going to complete your trip? Too soon to tell for sure

    ( you seem a wee bit more “up” than before)

  142. 142.

    Chris T.

    @lowtechcyclist: I understand it, but still won’t stick money into CRSH. It’s risky and someone else (probably smarter and more experienced than I am, but still, someone else) is trying to manage that risk, and all of that management also costs money. So the risk-to-reward ratio is off, for me.

  143. 143.

    Chris T.

    @Gloria DryGarden:

    I thought with puts, it involved buying the stock if it goes low to a stipulated $ level. Wouldn’t want to own any of that Tesla stock.

    Not necessarily: you can buy and sell puts and calls without buying the underlying stock. There are some variations here (especially US vs overseas markets) but in general a put just gives you the right to force someone else to buy your stock. If you don’t own the stock, you can’t exercise that right yourself, which means that if you paid good money for the put and don’t exercise it, you’re out that money … unless you can sell the put to yet a third party, which, yes, you can!

    The relative values of puts and calls change, very sharply, as the underlying stock price nears or crosses the “strike price”—the point at which exercising a put or call actually makes sense—but it also deteriorates as the “expiry”, the date after which you can no longer exercise the option if you did not already do so, approaches.

    There’s a complicated formula called the Black-Scholes Equation (wikipedia link)  for calculating the value of an option. It requires some amount of guesswork, and actually using it is at best an art.

  144. 144.

    Chris T.

    @schrodingers_cat:

    But it is still tacky IMHO for a PM to pay so much attention to his outfits and call himself a fakir.

    “No, you misheard, he calls himself a faker, not a fakir!”

  145. 145.

    Elizabelle

    @opiejeanne:  Poor thing!  Was this an accident or a fall?  Hope you recover speedily.

    And,  If you are in Brussels, you are not far from Aachen.

  147. 147.

    Elizabelle

    @eclare: Aachen is on my one or two year bucket list.  As you might have seen, Hildebrandt did a wonderful OTR about it last week,

  148. 148.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Here is the PRC Ministry of Commerce’s readout of the Sino-US trade talks in Geneva over the weekend (original Chinese statement through the link):

    Yang LIU@yangliuxh

    Breaking: Chinese Ministry of Commerce@Mofcom released this readout after the Geneva trade talks.

    Since April 2025, the United States Government has imposed so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on China on top of its previous unilateral tariff increases, and China has responded with resolute and legitimate countermeasures. Subsequently, the U.S. side has escalated its tariff measures in turn, raising the rate of reciprocal tariffs on China from 34 percent in the first round to 84 percent and 125 percent successively. The high U.S. tariffs have seriously jeopardized normal bilateral economic and trade exchanges and seriously undermined the international economic and trade order. The talks resulted in a joint statement, which is an important step for the two sides to resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation on an equal footing, laying a foundation and creating conditions for further bridging differences and deepening cooperation.
    The two sides reached a number of positive consensuses in the joint statement. Recognizing the importance of bilateral economic and trade relations for the two countries and the global economy, and the importance of sustainable, long-term and mutually beneficial bilateral economic and trade relations, the two sides will continue to move forward in the spirit of mutual openness, continuous communication, cooperation, and mutual respect.

    The two sides agreed to work together on the following measures:
    The U.S. side commits to cancel a total of 91 percent of the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods pursuant to Executive Order 14259 of April 8, 2025, and Executive Order 14266 of April 9, 2025, and to modify 34 percent of the reciprocal tariffs imposed on Chinese goods pursuant to Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, by suspending the imposition of tariffs on 24 percent of the tariffs for 90 days, and retaining the remaining 10 percent of the tariffs. Accordingly, China canceled a total of 91 percent of the countervailing tariffs imposed on U.S. goods; 24 percent of the 34 percent countervailing tariffs against U.S. reciprocal tariffs were accordingly suspended for 90 days, and the remaining 10 percent of the tariffs were retained. China is also to suspend or cancel non-tariff countermeasures against the United States accordingly.

    The two sides agreed to establish a mechanism for U.S.-China economic and trade consultations, to maintain close communication on their respective concerns in the economic and trade areas, and to conduct further consultations. The Chinese side will be represented by Vice Premier He Lifeng, and the U.S. side will be represented by Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer. The two sides will conduct consultations in China and the United States on a regular or irregular rotational basis, or in an agreed third country. As needed, the two sides may conduct working-level consultations on relevant economic and trade issues.

    The U.S.-China High-Level Economic and Trade Talks have made substantial progress in substantially reducing bilateral tariffs, with the U.S. eliminating 91 percent of its tariff increases and China eliminating 91 percent of its counter tariffs; and the U.S. suspending 24 percent of its “reciprocal tariffs” and China suspending 24 percent of its counter tariffs. This measure is in line with the expectations of producers and consumers in both countries, as well as the interests of the two countries and the common interests of the world. It is hoped that the U.S. side will use this meeting as a basis to continue to join China in moving closer to each other, thoroughly rectify the wrong practice of unilateral tariff increases, continuously strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, safeguard the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, and jointly inject more certainty and stability into the world economy.

    …

    So, the tit for tat tariffs are cancelled, & 24% of the 34% “reciprocal” tariffs are suspended for 90 days to make room for negotiations, & only 10% of universal tariffs remain (same as most other countries). Unclear whether the initial 25% tariffs imposed by Trump 45 during the initial trade war (& kept by Biden) remain, nor the tariffs imposed because of fentanyls.

    Unless I am completely misreading this, it seems the Trump Gang faced the prospect of apocalyptic shortages & caved, deciding to take a mulligan on the trade war. Now wait for the supply chain chaos caused by the snapback. At least that will be temporary, assuming some kind of face saving deal is reached in 90 days.

  150. 150.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @YY_Sima Qian: OK, it seems the 20% mene tariff imposed for fentanyl remains, but the PRC has indicated a willingness to give something that Trump can spin as a win, so most of it may not last:

    CN Wire@Sino_Market

    #BREAKING CHINA MOFCOM:
    UNITED STATES WILL (I) MODIFY THE APPLICATION OF THE ADDITIONAL AD VALOREM RATE OF DUTY ON ARTICLES OF CHINA.
    US TARIFFS ON CHINA TO INCLUDE A 10% BASE PLUS A 20% FENTANYL LEVY.
    CHINA TO REVISE ADDITIONAL TARIFFS ON US GOODS.
    CHINA WILL MODIFY APPLICATION OF ADDITIONAL AD VALOREM RATE OF DUTIES BY SUSPENDING 24 PERCENTAGE POINTS OF THAT RATE FOR 90 DAYS.
    US & CHINA TO CHANGE TARIFF RATES BY MAY 14TH. #CHINA#US#TRUMP#TARIFFS

    Aside from the 20% meme tariff for fentanyl, the tariff rates on imports from the PRC appears to be lower than when Trump 45 initiated the trade war, starting at 25%. For the next 90 days, anyway.

    Whatever the PRC does on fentanyl precursors will do nothing for the fentanyl crisis in the US, which is a demand problem.

    As for all of the other rationale posited for the trade war: re-shore manufacturing, coerce US trade partners to isolate the PRC, tax revenue, etc., all have been effectively junked.

    The US equities markets sure will be goosed today, though.

  151. 151.

    YY_Sima Qian

    This is a BFD!

    Turkey: PKK announces intention to disband
    Elizabeth Schumacher with AP, AFP
    2 hours ago2 hours ago
    The Kurdish militant group said it was “close to completing its historic mission” after decades of conflict with Turkey. The group’s long-jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan had called for a permanent ceasefire.

  152. 152.

    opiejeanne

    @MagdaInBlack:

    I have the wheelchair which has helped my mood, and the major stuff doesn’t hurt as much.
    I’m back at the hospital waiting to be seen
    . The cast is not the reason for the swollen fingers, but they are going to check my index finger for a break. And maybe my right ribcage.

    other than that, I feel pretty good. I have to give myself a shot every morning for 20 days to prevent thrombosis, and I have a box of an enhanced form of Tylenol.
    It’s 11:30 am, and if this doesn’t take too long we will try to take the train to Bruges.

  155. 155.

    opiejeanne

    @Elizabelle:a fall,  a pretty bad fall, as falls go. I know how to fall to reduce the damage but I had no ability to react correctly. So, broken right ankle, broken left wrist, and now they are going to x-ray my left hand and right rib cage.

    yay.

  158. 158.

    ColoradoGuy

    The Qatari plane might be a nice $400 million toy, but it is nowhere close to qualifying for Air Force One.

    At the minimum, it must be EMP-proof, which means ripping out ALL interior fittings and cabin walls and replacing the factory wiring with mil-grade heavily shielded copper or fiber optics. The entire interior must be torn out to get at every single wire, and there’s a hell of a lot of wiring in a 747.

    Oh, and it must have an integral antimissile defense system as well as 24/7 mil-grade secure satellite communications. As you can see, this is basically a total disassembly of a perfectly good civilian airplane, tearing out and throwing away the stuff inside the walls, and basically making into a military plane that looks like a 747 but is pretty different on the inside.

    Estimated cost? Not far off from $400 million. Building the whole thing from scratch might be cheaper. How long? Years, since the conversion process is insanely labor-intensive and requires installation of thousands of mil-grade components in unique physical and electrical configurations. A part made for a B-52 or F-35 is not going to plug-n-play in a civilian 747.

    So Trump can fly around in his new toy, but it will simply be a civilian-grade aircraft, and unsuited for command duty. And the Air Force and Boeing have no particular incentive to do the conversion of a Qatari toy in an expeditious way … not to mention, how about funding?

  159. 159.

    Matt McIrvin

    @ColoradoGuy: So if they follow protocol, it’ll be Executive One, not Air Force One. I wonder if Trump throws a fit about that and demands it get the “Air Force One” call sign anyway, or if he decides it’s Trump One or something.

  160. 160.

    Basilisc

    DT’s defense is revealing. He’s surprised that anyone would turn down a gift – especially a plush, blingy one – and mocks Democrats for actually wanting to pay for it. In Trumpworld, you never pay for anything. People give you stuff. Of course they expect you to give/do something in return, but that can be negotiated later, with the option of screwing them over.

  161. 161.

    Princess

    @YY_Sima Qian: Waking up this morning, I see China is threatening countries that get pressured by the US to take a hardline trade stance with China. Doesn’t sound to me like everything is roses for China- US trade yet. Trump constantly tries to pressure people by announcing as fact things that aren’t remotely true. He doesn’t seem to care about making his word completely worthless.

  164. 164.

    ColoradoGuy

    Thinking about the Qatari gift, considering the years the conversion will take (just sweeping for bugs will take months), it would simply end up being a ramp queen, sitting idle. That would drive T**** nuts … a glittering toy he’s not allowed to use (unless he resigns as President).

  166. 166.

    Princess

    @YY_Sima Qian:  There’s a pattern here I see with how the Canada talks are going. Looks like their bottom line is a ten percent global tariff. It will be inflationary in the US but other countries can seek to avoid it by trading with each other.

  168. 168.

    Matt McIrvin

    @ColoradoGuy: I bet they don’t do the conversion at all–Trump insists on just using it as is. He doesn’t give a shit about it being full of bugs.

  170. 170.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): ​

    I never want to hear any bullshit about the “thin blue line” or how people just need to comply with the police from moron dipshits ever again.

    Indeed. If the ‘thin blue line’ decides their job is to keep the secret polICE safe from the citizenry, then the ‘thin blue line’ isn’t protecting the citizenry anymore.

    It’s been clear for awhile that the police in general care more about their own and each other’s safety and authority than they do about the citizenry they theoretically exist to protect. And they do just enough of the latter to make it impossible to reform them without their consent, which they wouldn’t give if someone in civilian* authority dared ask for it.

    *Yes, I know, the cops are theoretically civilians like us, and it’s the military who theoretically aren’t. But fuck that. My next door neighbor is in the USAF, and when he’s at home, away from Andrews, he’s just another civilian. But the cops can kill you if they feel threatened by you, even if you have no weapon. If I’m going to draw a line between civilian and non-civilian, I’m gonna draw it between me and the police, not between me and my neighbor.

  171. 171.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Princess: I think the PRC made that threat a couple of weeks, & not a single country has shown an inclination to decouple from the PRC in order to get US tariffs down to 10%. Between the UK & the PRC deals, it is clear that most countries need only to stand firm on the major issues, throw Trump a few symbolic bones, & the U.S. will concede to 10% universal tariffs.

  172. 172.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Princess: A 10% universal tariff will not be nearly enough to force reshoring, will not generate much revenue, & will simply induce some inflation & increase the cost of inputs for US manufacturers (rendering them less competitive in the global market). Utterly pointless, worse than no tariffs (or strategic tariffs in service of coherent industrial policy).

  173. 173.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Princess: Also, Trump will almost certainly renege on the deal w/ the PRC (& everyone else), & there is sure to be more drama at the end of the 90 day pauses. However, him trying to resume the trade war will just repeat what we have seen in the past month.

  175. 175.

    Another Scott

    @opiejeanne: I’m really sorry to hear about your fall, but very happy that you are on the mend and getting great care.

    My J loved Bruges when she was there years ago.

    She and her twin sister are in Spain, trying to enjoy hiking and seeing the sites.  Unfortunately, they’ve been getting a lot of rain, but they’re having luck at times.  I think that part of travel should always include non-postcard days, but J wants perfect views and great weather every day so she’s a bit bummed.

    Good luck!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  176. 176.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Matt McIrvin: Yep, but I doubt Beijing (at least) sees the 90 days as a hanging threat, more like a hanging threat in Trump.

    The shambolic trade policy will ensure that no one has the certainty needed to re-shore manufacturing to the U.S. or diversify way from the PRC, at least not in a significant enough manner to substantially alter the current dynamics.

  177. 177.

    opiejeanne

     

    @Another Scott: I went back for a recheck and spent nearly 4 hours waiting to hear what the X-rays showed. The tip of my left index finger is broken so I have a little plastic cap protecting it. My ribs are apparently just bruised.
    The painkiller is a hopped up Tylenol and I’m wiped out because of it. It’s 4:30 pm and I need a nap.
    tomorrow we head to Ghent by train. Still trying to decide if it’s too much to continue the trip or just go home. I was hopeful this morning that we could continue, but now I’m not sure. My left hand is nearly useless and my husband is a terrible wheelchair driver.

  178. 178.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @opiejeanne:

    I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. That sounds pretty rough. Like I said above, I wish you a speedy recovery

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