Sunday’s Forum
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FILED UNDER: Open Forum
OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through Patreon or making a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks for your consideration.
DJT, aspiring to be a new Sun King.
“WaPo ”
Site would not let me do this as a gift article.
Lots of pictures in the piece.
snip
Delusional demented asshole.
https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace/hall-mirrors?itid=lk_inline_enhanced-template#the-hall-of-mirrors
Putz J D Vance is similar – 40 car motorcade messing up traffic in Rome? Why?
Trump’s conduct at the Pope’s funeral is getting a lot of press – blue suit, posting stuff from his phone, falling asleep, etc.
In my view, this is the least embarrassing conduct we have seen out of him yet. At least while he is asleep, he shuts up for a few minutes. And Melania probably thought it was nice having him sleep next to her for a change.
I remain astounded that the frikken United States of America couldn’t produce a better man that this dipshit for our president.
@charontwo:
I haven’t used all my gift links up yet, this should work:
https://wapo.st/3GE4oma
One really has to see the pictures to get the full impact of how gaudy and gauche it is.
On Up First from NPR, a 31 minute podcast: A Whistleblower Takes on DOGE
This is more than concerning. This is real evidence of potential crimes. And it is not anonymous allegations but someone coming forward, identifying himself, and publicly witnessing.
BTW, Trump and MAGA goons are going after NPR and PBS. It would be nice if they had a sugar daddy/mommy in the wings like Joan Kroc.
Greenland PM visits Denmark as Trump threats loom
Trump keeps saying he’s serious but who knows?
My question is whether Greenland, Denmark, and Canada come to some arrangement. That actually seems to be more natural given the geography and interests.
@Scott:
There is some little island between Greenland and Canada that Canada and Denmark each own half of, so Canada technically actually has a land border with the EU.
@Mikey:
From yesterday’s forum, Trump pictures now hanging in the White House:
“Link”
“Link“
@charontwo:
The one with the flag superimposed on his face makes him look as if he’s behind bars–as he should be.
From the within the lead article
I saw pictures of his interior decoration project and I started laughing, and I couldn’t stop. What came to mind was, this … this … is Dollar Store Tony Montana Scarface Chic.
Last time around he let Melania wreck the Rose Garden, this time around Trump has time on his hands and he wasn’t going to delegate a White House makeover to Lauren Boebert or Lara Loomer, so here we are.
Trump’s economic team estimates that Madagascar’s tariff rates on US products is 97%. However, in a stroke of largess, Trump is enacting a reciprocal tariff of 47%.
(By now, it’s well recognized that Trump’s estimated rate of 97% was based on trade imbalance, not on tariff rates, so we need not get into a discussion of Trump’s misrepresenting Madagascar’s estimated tariff rates)
So it would appear that the US buys more “stuff” from Madagascar then Madagascar buys from the US.
So the problem for Madagascar is what to propose to solve that trade imbalance, considering that Madagascar has one-tenth the consumer base of the US and that the average income of the Madagascar consumer is but 400 US dollars per year.
What then does Madagascar have to offer the US in negotiations?
Trump seems to be shaking the box of universities
@charontwo: You know, I think the one with the flag painted on his face is kinda good. I can’t view that but as an ironic take on his performative patriotism. Did it hit anybody else that way? (I’m sure it doesn’t strike Trump himself that way)
@JKB: Let’s assume that the administrative bloat serves no purpose for Yale. Why is it the governments/president’s job to address this? Isn’t that up to the Yale Board of Trustees? I mean, it’s not like I notice them falling behind.
I know many graduates of the Ivy League personally. For the very greater part, I like them.
AND, I kind of despise the stranglehold they have over some institutions and enterprises. Which is to say, they have social networks that elevate people far over the others that probably had equally good grades and test scores, but did not make it through the admissions process.
Ok, I hate that. However, I don’t think it’s the government’s job to fix it. AND, I don’t think what Trump is doing is likely to fix it.
Capping (administrative) overhead specifically on research grants might have some impact, but it’s a very blunt instrument, and liable to fail. However, it’s hard to place good faith in what Trump is doing since as we all know, he does all kinds of things on pretexts, and he’s currently engaged in trying to bully Columbia and Harvard into giving the government control of hiring and firing of faculty members and effectively, curriculum.
So in some other context, I might be guardedly approving of the government placing a cap on administrative overhead. Doing it on existing grants as a surprise move from a government that displays bad faith every day, not so much.
Do not be put off by the NSFW message, this one is safe:
https://www.oglaf.com/macrame/
(Sort of on topic to the “Gulf” thread).
@Jay L Gischer: @charontwo: The face with the superimposed flag immediately struck me as a Marvel Universe/DC Universe villain.
I would like to see R. Crumb do his portrait.
@Mr. Prosser: Trump as Mr Natural. Or Freewheelin’ Franklin or Fat Freddie.
@becca: Wow, a reference to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and Fat Freddie’s cat. Wish I had kept those comic books.
@JKB: “Yale has approximately one administrator for every undergraduate student”
And Yale has more graduate and professional students than undergraduate students, and Yale operates one of largest teaching hospitals in the country, and more context needed…
Do you have a deep need for Judi Dench or John Cena to talk dirty to you about having sex with minors? Well, Facebook has something for you!
https://bsky.app/profile/jeffhorwitz.bsky.social/post/3lnr76xwats2a
Are you a child who is disappointed that you will not be able to access such content without hitting age restrictions? Don’t worry, Facebook’s AI is happy to escalate to sexy chat with you (in the voice of Judi Dench, if that is your thing).
I continue to believe that there is nothing that is not improved by Judi Dench. This is just her licensed and recreated voice, so not really her. And, honestly, I’m not sure if it doesn’t make this marginally better.
This is why you don’t train your AI on whatever crap you find on the internet.
@Eusebio: “and more context needed…”
Yale wouldn’t let JKB in. Enough context?
@becca: Mr. Natural is way to cool to be warped into an image of Drumf, but even though Fat Freddie isn’t by Crumb I can see him morphed into the hair boy.
@Gustopher:
Goddess, now I want Dame Judi Dench to yell at me. “Get up you depressed sack of shit!”
Yes Dame Judi Dench.
“Take a shower, you haven’t in 3 days and you smell like you’re rotting.”
Yes Dame Judi Dench.
@Bobert: “the average income of the Madagascar consumer is but 400 US dollars per year.”
Well, that explains it. With a per capita income of just 1/100th that of the US, I wouldn’t expect them to buy much of our stuff.
Too bad some of us couldn’t be satisfied with having the world’s reserve currency, high labor productivity businesses, and low unemployment.
@Beth: unpaywalled version of the underlying article:
https://archive.ph/2025.04.27-045358/https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-ai-chatbots-sex-a25311bf
It goes into details about how the system was designed to do this, at the insistence of Zuckerberg, despite warnings by various employees.
I wonder if they have Helen Mirren?
@Beth:
True Dame Judy Dench story…
I was doing a TV series in London in 1995. We attempted to cast Dame Judy Dench in a role. We contacted her agent, and made the offer. Two hours later, I get a phone call from someone claiming to be Dame Judy Dench, asking if we had time for her to come visit the studio the following day at 10am. She promised to only take up 10 minutes of our time. Of course, we said yes, very intrigued.
Next day, she shows up at Ealing Studios, promptly at 10am. She brings with her a tin of biscuits (cookies, in American verbiage) to give to us as a gift. She apologizes for not being able to do the episode which we offered, but she wanted to come by personally to say thank you and to give us an explanation. She explained to us that she really wanted to do the episode, but she simply did not have the time. Here’s why….
Monday-Thursday, she was shooting her sitcom “As Time Goes By”, from which Tuesday-Thursday, she had to be finished by 4:30pm because Tuesday-Friday, she was doing a play on the West End, “A Little Night Music”. Additionally, on the weekends, she was shooting her scenes for “Goldeneye”, the James Bond film. So, simultaneously, she was doing a sitcom, a feature, and a play on the West End.
Yet, she made time to come bring us cookies to apologize for not being able to do our little show.
Class. That lady is pure class.
@Beth:
What ever helps, I suppose, but the screaming at you to get out of bed part should clearly go to BRIAN BLESSED!!
@Jay L Gischer:
This is a MAGA person’s idea of great portraiture. Right up there with Rembrandt, Holbein, etc.
@Mr. Prosser:
Clearly in the area of the old Batman campy TV series, which I could imagine coming up with a hilarious super-villain called “Brain Damage”, an evil-doer with the power to to stupefy with statements so incredibly dumb they numb the mind of anyone who hears them.
Will Batman’s utility belt be stocked with ear-plugs? Will he be able to deploy them in time? Will Robin recover from being told he’s Batman’s Engelbert Humperdinck? Tune in next week, same Bat time, same Bat channel!
Are Ron and Casey getting put on ice in favor of Byron?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/27/politics/ron-casey-desantis-florida-scandal/
Ron blames”leftist” republicans for this “narrative”. That is really pathetic.
@Mr. Prosser: I have a Motor City Comic with both Shelton’s FFFbros and R Crumb’s Mr Natural and Tondalayo Breckenridge. They are forever enmeshed in my mind.
@Beth:
I’m not sure what this says about me, but … you made my day.
Almost gagged up my grapefruit juice laughing. Again, thank you.
At least they are upfront about the grift. It is a bargain at a half a million, Trump has already given insider info that was probably worth billions:
Donald Trump Jr. , along with megadonor Omeed Malik and a group of investors, are set to launch an exclusive club that requires an invitation and a hefty membership fee exceeding half a million.
The club will be situated in Georgetown and aims to become the most luxurious private club Washington has ever seen, catering to business and tech moguls seeking to foster relationships with the Trump administration.
The stringent referral requirements and steep pricing are designed to ensure that top executives can interact with Trump advisers and cabinet members away from the scrutiny of the press and aspiring insiders. Given that Trump’s cabinet is the wealthiest in history, the price tag won’t pose a problem.
Hoping for a very localized lightning strike on opening night. Maybe the place can be incinerated with all the staff getting away safely with no injuries. As for the members…
@charontwo: Still, Canada seems to be approaching the question with some sort of sense of humor.
Canadian Voters Reveal Which Candidate They Believe Could Defeat Trump in a Fight
Lufthansa is going to have to play pool with 787s to avoid tariffs.
Well, that’s good for them since they have an airline bases in Switzerland, which is not part of the EU. I wonder what all the other European airlines.
Man, Marco Rubio looks like absolute shit these days. It’s like all this carrying water for Trump’s lies are affecting his health and looks.
I hope he barely sleeps at night. May it last until his next book deal…..after he gets fired, of course. They never come clean until there’s money to be made.
I got my tax return filed.
TL;DR the filing itself took under ten minutes. The problem was I’d let my electronic signature expire, and renewing it in the last month of tax filing season is not quick. I also failed to understand a default setting, then the accountant told me to start over and change one thing. That done, it took under ten minutes.
BTW, I could have filed without the e signature, but I couldn’t get the tax refund deposited to my account without it, only applied to next year’s taxes.
This system is available to all tax payers. Of course, some have far more complex financial situations and require to enter info the government may have missed. But I dare say for most working people on a payroll, their filing experience is a lot like mine.
Corporate and business taxes are a whole different matter.
Saquon Barkley spent the day golfing and hanging out with trump. I’ve never been concerned with how the Eagles star running back spends his free time, but WTF. Either oblivious to, or totally cool with undermining the press, judiciary, and due process, as well as damage to worldwide democracy and trade. I’m able to change my football watching/following habits.