All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Tami]

APNewsBreak: Miss America seeks ouster of 3 states’ leaders

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The Miss America Organization has widened its purge of state officials who have opposed the national leadership, terminating the licenses of New Jersey, New York and Florida.

So far, eight states could have their pageant leadership replaced. The Associated Press obtained revocation letters from two of the states and confirmed with leaders of a third that it had been revoked as well. Earlier this year, it moved against Georgia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, and Colorado’s leaders quit in protest. The targeted states have 10 days to appeal to Miss America’s executive committee. The turmoil involved a revolt by dozens of states this summer against the national leadership of the pageant headed by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson. State officials say their dissatisfaction stems not from the elimination of swimsuits, but by the way Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper ran the organization since taking over in January. The Miss America Organization did not immediately comment.

[Tami]

[Tami]

Trump’s Team Considers Removing Mike Pence from 2020 Ticket

President Donald Trump and his advisers are weighing whether Vice President Mike Pence should remain on the 2020 ticket amid concerns about Pence’s viability as a galvanizing force for a president in political turmoil.

“He [Pence] doesn’t detract from it, but he doesn’t add anything either,” says one source with knowledge about the meeting who says that a team of advisers presented Trump with new polling data which indicates, as Vanity Fair put it, that Pence does not “expand Trump’s coalition.”

Another source, this one a veteran of Trump’s 2016 campaign, noted that the president has not spent as much time focusing on re-election in 2020 as he should.

I doubt anyone could put a shine on the Trump tarnish. If Pence has any ambition to be President, his only chance is if Trump gets impeached. If Trump doesn't and he drops him from the ticket, that pretty much ends his political career without resolving any possible liability that came from being associated with Trump. not to mention if Muller has anything on Pence.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump’s Team Considers Removing Mike Pence from 2020 Ticket



I doubt anyone could put a shine on the Trump tarnish. If Pence has any ambition to be President, his only chance is if Trump gets impeached. If Trump doesn't and he drops him from the ticket, that pretty much ends his political career without resolving any possible liability that came from being associated with Trump. not to mention if Muller has anything on Pence.

To add my two cents worth, my guess is that Red Grant spent the last two years straddling a huge fence. On one hand, he wants to be seen (heavy emphasis on "seen") as being loyal to Trump like any vice president would be faithful to his Commander-in-Chief, but, on the other, Pence has deliberately kept Caramel Caligula at arm's length, not wanting Trump's mud splashed on him, thus negatively affecting his chances of becoming president down the road. Regarding the latter speculation, it doesn't take Stephen Hawking to figure out Trump doesn't like it that Pence isn't rabidly defending him 24/7 like everyone else in his administration, in the Republican controlled Congress (though not for much longer), or on Faux News is doing, and, in his eyes, that's an unpardonable sin. In Trumpworld, you either kiss his ass or you're his enemy, no middle ground, no shades of gray. Pence is gambling he can outlast Trump until Orange Hobgoblin is either impeached or loses in 2020, but it's starting to look like he's going to lose that bet and wind up on the outside looking in.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

1. We’ve been over this! Red Grant is cool. Stop comparing creepy Pence to him.

2. Pence will probably make Dems hesitant to impeach Trump

[Tami]

Ukraine parliament votes not to prolong Treaty of Friendship with Russia

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has chosen not to prolong the term of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

The relevant bill received support of 277 MPs, while 20 legislators voted against it.

UNIAN memo. The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation was signed by the then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin on May 31, 1997. The document fixed the principle of strategic partnership, the recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, respect for territorial integrity and mutual commitment not to use its territory to harm the security of each other. It automatically renews on each 10th anniversary of its signing, unless one party advises the other of its intention to end the treaty.

[Tami]

Bush funeral: Trump sits with fellow presidents but still stands alone

From the moment he crossed the transept of the soaring Washington National Cathedral, tore off his overcoat and took his seat in the front pew, President Trump was an outsider.

When the others sang an opening hymn, his mouth did not move. When the others read the Apostles’ Creed, he stood stoically. And when one eulogist after another testified to George H.W. Bush’s integrity and character and honesty and bravery and compassion, Trump sat and listened, often with his lips pursed and his arms crossed over his chest.

Wednesday’s state funeral was carefully orchestrated to be about one man and his milestones — Bush the father, the friend, the war hero and the lifelong public servant. But inevitably it became about Trump, too, for it was impossible to pay tribute to the 41st president without drawing implicit contrasts with the 45th.

“His life code was: ‘Tell the truth. Don’t blame people. Be strong. Do your best. Try hard. Forgive. Stay the course,’ ” Bush biographer Jon Meacham said in his eulogy. “And that was, and is, the most American of creeds.”

The mourners did not deliver the searing rebukes of Trump the nation witnessed in September for the funeral of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

But despite being crafted to honor Bush’s legacy, their words also served to underscore the singular nature of Trump’s presidency.

Trump was in the company of all his living predecessors for the first time Wednesday, and the encounter was plainly uncomfortable. By 10:49 a.m., when Trump and first lady Melania Trump stepped into the cathedral, a cool hush had come over the pews filled by American dignitaries and foreign leaders, past and present. Trump handed his black overcoat to a military aide and took his seat on the aisle next to his wife, with three past presidents and first ladies seated to her side.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

1. We’ve been over this! Red Grant is cool. Stop comparing creepy Pence to him.

2. Pence will probably make Dems hesitant to impeach Trump

1. Oops! I forgot about your plea. My bad!

2. You're probably right. As everything Trump has done in office has been driven by ego, greed, malice, populism or a combination of the four, Pence is all about religious dogma and precious little else. I've said that while Trump is noisy crazy, Pence is quiet crazy, and, in a way, that makes him worse, perhaps far worse. One can only hope that when Mueller finally brings the hammer down on Trump, it'll be a two-for-one and Pence goes down with him.

Bush funeral: Trump sits with fellow presidents but still stands alone

Again, Trump has no one to blame for being isolated but himself. It was his decision and his decision alone to be an asshole, to be the ultimate bull in a china shop, carpet bombing EVERYTHING that's good and decent about the presidency, insulting and belittling all his predecessors, not to mention world leaders because that made him look good in the eyes of his knuckledragging base. I only watched snippets of the funeral yesterday, but Stevie Wonder could see from Trump's posture and the sour look on his face that he no more wanted to be there than David Duke would want to hang out in Harlem. Like I said in a post yesterday, you can't tell me most of the assemblage, including the Bush family wished he wasn't there as he was about as welcome as a busload of lepers, that's how radioactive Trump is right now.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

APNewsBreak: Miss America seeks ouster of 3 states’ leaders

Look, I'm far from being a prude (twenty years in the Navy cured me of that), but I can't for the life of me understand why beauty pageants, archaic as the Model-T and the World's Fair are still allowed to exist today. In this age of female empowerment, headlined by the #MeToo movement that's brought down the rich, male and powerful, why in hell would women willingly participate in a sequin gowned, high heeled, tiara topped cattle call like Miss America? After reading that article, it's clear to me the long running mess involving Miss America is out of control, what with all the infighting, bickering and the organization now using strongman tactics to crush dissent like in a dictatorship. Short and sweet, this shit is crazy and, in my opinion, the pageant needs to be put out of it's misery.

[Tami]

Look, I'm far from being a prude (twenty years in the Navy cured me of that), but I can't for the life of me understand why beauty pageants, archaic as the Model-T and the World's Fair are still allowed to exist today. In this age of female empowerment, headlined by the #MeToo movement that's brought down the rich, male and powerful, why in hell would women willingly participate in a sequin gowned, high heeled, tiara topped cattle call like Miss America? After reading that article, it's clear to me the long running mess involving Miss America is out of control, what with all the infighting, bickering and the organization now using strongman tactics to crush dissent like in a dictatorship. Short and sweet, this shit is crazy and, in my opinion, the pageant needs to be put out of it's misery.

Maybe it should be replaced with something more 21st century, like a STEM Challenge Competition for scholarships for women. Or a Public Speaking / Debate competition for women's scholarships. I agree, swimsuits and tiaras are passe.

[Tazirai]

1. Oops! I forgot about your plea. My bad!

2. You're probably right. As everything Trump has done in office has been driven by ego, greed, malice, populism or a combination of the four, Pence is all about religious dogma and precious little else. I've said that while Trump is noisy crazy, Pence is quiet crazy, and, in a way, that makes him worse, perhaps far worse. One can only hope that when Mueller finally brings the hammer down on Trump, it'll be a two-for-one and Pence goes down with him.



Again, Trump has no one to blame for being isolated but himself. It was his decision and his decision alone to be an asshole, to be the ultimate bull in a china shop, carpet bombing EVERYTHING that's good and decent about the presidency, insulting and belittling all his predecessors, not to mention world leaders because that made him look good in the eyes of his knuckledragging base. I only watched snippets of the funeral yesterday, but Stevie Wonder could see from Trump's posture and the sour look on his face that he no more wanted to be there than David Duke would want to hang out in Harlem. Like I said in a post yesterday, you can't tell me most of the assemblage, including the Bush family wished he wasn't there as he was about as welcome as a busload of lepers, that's how radioactive Trump is right now.

Real bulls in a China shop

[Mecegirl]

Aren't the TV ratings for the pageant shit anyway?

[Vic Vega]

Aren't the TV ratings for the pageant shit anyway?

It got clobbered this year because it aired against Bears/Packers.

Them even trying to put it on against Sunday football says they are giving up IMO.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It got clobbered this year because it aired against Bears/Packers.

Them even trying to put it on against Sunday football says they are giving up IMO.

The pageant used to be on Saturday night if memory serves, but that's long since turned into a ratings dead zone.

[Iron Maiden]

Trump’s Team Considers Removing Mike Pence from 2020 Ticket



I doubt anyone could put a shine on the Trump tarnish. If Pence has any ambition to be President, his only chance is if Trump gets impeached. If Trump doesn't and he drops him from the ticket, that pretty much ends his political career without resolving any possible liability that came from being associated with Trump. not to mention if Muller has anything on Pence.

If they could somehow convince Nikki Haley to agree to be on the ticket, the Democrats will have a problem countering that IMO.