trump is serious!!!!!

[Lord Jim]

I am somewhat troubled by the recent direction of Trump's behavior...

It appears that for the moment at least, he's listening more to long time political pro Kellyanne Conway, than he is to the bomb thrower Bannon...

Two days ago, he gave what by Trump standards is arguably the best speech he's given during the entire campaign...

It was neither a vicious and petty over-the-top stream of consciousness rant, nor a flatly delivered reading of material he clearly had no enthusiasm for; which have been the only two "speeds" Trump had demonstrated previously...

He managed to stay on message while also seeming comfortable and engaged with his delivery, and even managed to work in some faux humility...

He used a teleprompter, but for once he didn't seem like a total stiff while doing so...

Then yesterday he had some pretty good optics with his trip to flood ravaged Louisiana, bringing a large truckload of toys, blankets and school supplies for kids displaced by the floods, and he was shown personally unloading it...(Sure the truth is he spent all of 49 seconds involved in the unloading, and it would have been much better if he had spent more bucks and brought in a convoy of truckloads of supplies or a couple of cargo planes worth, but even so it made him look relatively good...certainly better than the optics of playing golf in Martha's Vineyard...)

And thus far he has managed not to drown out the fairly good media coverage he got from these two events with late night or early morning outrageous tweets...

If he can sustain this kind of approach, given all of Hillary's vulnerabilities, this race is going to tighten up from where it is today...

Of course based on prior performance, that's a yooge "if"...

[Econoline]

• Trump arrives in Baton Rouge
  In the gray aftermath of disaster the desperate crowd gathers before the trucks. The man who would save America descends from his golden plane, "Where is Hillary?" he thunders to the restive crowd. "Where? No matter, I will save you! Gather round, Louisiana, gather round!"
  
  At last, the weary people were delivered!
  
  The trucks opened, the crowd surged eagerly forward. "We're saved!" they cried. Was it fresh water? Food? Sand bags? No it was ...
  
  ... Play-Doh?
  
  Okay, seriously, even for Trump, what the fuck?
  
  Play-Doh? What's the logic here? What? Are they supposed to eat it? Make medicine out of it? Mash it all together, kids! Make a levee! Teamwork that's the spirit!
  
  Play-Doh? Are you fucking kidding me? What was the planning session for this like? Hey! Photo op! Find me something to hand out. What? I don't know. Something. What do poor people like?
  

  

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train
Feelin' near as faded as my jeans...

[Lord Jim]

At first I thought the toy thing was a little odd too, but when I thought about it, for frightened small children living in shelters who have lost their homes and all their toys (and the stressed out parents dealing with them) this is probably something that would be very welcome and appreciated...

[BoSoxGal]

Voters aren't going to forget what's already been said and done, especially as the adverts showing his YUUUUGE and many gaffes will be played over and over. And I simply don't think he's capable of keeping a lid on it.

I'm sick of people saying things about Obama being on the Vineyard; the Governor of LA made clear it would be better for his visit to happen when the major relief effort is not so full on. It takes tremendous resources to do security for a Presidential visit.

[RayThom]

As granny always said, "a tiger cannot change its spots." If granny was alive today she'd be voting for Drumpf.

I'll give the Donald about a week before his head explodes from trying to contain all his hot gas.

[Lord Jim]

the adverts showing his YUUUUGE and many gaffes will be played over and over.

Here's a really good example of that...

The Clinton folks had this one out almost immediately after his speech:

Clinton ad contrasts Trump ‘regrets’ speech with past non-apologies



Hillary Clinton’s campaign is questioning the sincerity of Donald Trump’s new tone, highlighting in a video ad the times he has refused to apologize for his inflammatory rhetoric.

The video released Saturday, titled “No Regrets,” intersperses Trump’s Thursday speech expressing “regret” for not choosing “the right words” at times with clips of his insults of various people an groups.

The clip questions whether the "teleprompter Trump" is the "real Trump,” then shows more than a half-dozen clips of Trump refusing to apologize or acknowledge any regret for controversial statements.

In one of the featured clips, Trump is asked if he regrets getting in a fight with the family of fallen soldier, to which he replies, "I don't regret anything."

In another, the GOP presidential nominee responded to similar question with "I like not to regret anything."

Clinton’s campaign is casting doubt on Trump in the wake of his surprising admission Thursday that he regrets some of his harsh rhetoric.

"Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing,” Trump said a campaign rally Thursday.

“I have done that. And believe it or not, I regret it. And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues.”

The Clinton campaign immediately dismissed Trump’s change in tone.

"We learned tonight that his speechwriter and teleprompter knows he has much for which he should apologize," Clinton deputy communications director Christina Reynolds said in a statement Thursday.

"But that apology tonight is simply a well-written phrase until he tells us which of his many offensive, bullying and divisive comments he regrets — and changes his tune altogether."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/pre ... h-past-non

[Jarlaxle]

My wife has reported that several people have asked for replacements for vandalized or stolen Trump yard signs. She also reports that there will be some thieves with filthy hands, ruined clothes, and possibly damaged car interiors if they return.

One cartridge of sodium-based bearing grease seems to be good for about a dozen yard signs.

[Lord Jim]

My wife has reported that several people have asked for replacements for vandalized or stolen Trump yard signs.

Apparently Guin and BSG have been busy... :

The Trump yard sign-stealing epidemic has gotten seriously out-of-hand in Massachusetts



By
Nik DeCosta-Klipa
August 18, 2016

In Democrat-heavy Massachusetts, being a Donald Trump supporter is not easy. And as some are finding out, expressing their support for the Republican presidential nominee can be even harder.

As a number of Bay State residents have learned, others do not take kindly to the navy-and-white Trump yard signs.

Most recently, as The Boston Globe reported, a Walpole resident affixed his Trump sign to a tree after having two previous signs stolen. On Wednesday, the resident reported to police that his sign had been stolen a third time.

And this time, the thief, apparently viewing the change in placement as a challenge, left behind a rather rudely-worded note.



“I can only believe that you thought you were outsmarting me when you put the sign on the tree,” the self-identified thief wrote. “This is clearly false, because there is no way that a trump [sic] supporter can outsmart anyone. People of your kind are in fact, the most dimwitted, low level, simpletons that any well-developed nation has to offer.”

Victor Scena, chairman of the Walpole Republican Town Committee, told the Globe that 15 Trump signs in the town had been reported stolen. Scena added that the letter’s author was “a sick individual.”

Last week, a resident in Marblehead had their Trump sign stolen for the seventh time. The theft, which occurred late at night on August 9, was even caught on tape and posted by police.

“Regardless of political affiliations, trespassing on private property and the taking of something that doesn’t belong to you (which under MA law is considered Larceny) can land a person in court with hefty fines, the possibility of jail time and a criminal record,” Marblehead police reminded residents.

After being replaced, the home’s Trump sign was stolen an eighth time this past weekend.

Though Trump was officially nominated this past July, stealing the Republican candidate’s signs are nothing new in the Bay State.

A Northampton metal works company reported having its $500-worth custom-made Trump sign stolen in April, after its previous $1,000-worth Trump sign was stolen in March.

Last December, Bridgewater resident Joe Ricci told police he recognized his 16-year-old neighbor stealing his Trump sign after installing a surveillance camera to watch over his property. Ricci said he previously had 13 signs stolen over the course of four to five months.

While police evaluated his total losses at just $26, Ricci said it was more an issue of free speech.

“You can have your opinion, you can say what you want, but you can’t steal things. You can have a Hillary sign straight across the street, and I can disagree with it, but I can’t steal it,” he told NECN.

And in November, an Andover resident’s property was swarmed by police in response to a suspicious-looking black box taped to his handmade Trump sign.

However, as the Eagle-Tribune reported, the device was an old stereo equalizer that 75-year-old Arthur Gonsalves intended to make appear as a “booby trap” to protect his Trump sign. Gonsalves said sign stealing had been a recurring problem.

When Trump signs aren’t being stolen, some are simply being ruined.

Last week, a 57-year-old North Reading woman pleaded not guilty after she was arrested for allegedly defacing a Trump sign in Andover with spray paint. When the sign’s owner confronted the woman, she allegedly nearly hit the man with her car while trying to flee the scene.

That same week, a Haverhill man told WWLP that he had nine Trump signs ripped from his yard and tossed into the street, and another spray-painted with the word “Never.”

In April, a Trump supporter in Northborough told NECN he had four or five Trump signs taken from his yard and tossed into the street, only after he chased down the most recent culprit.

In March, a giant Trump sign in Dorchester was profanely vandalized with spray-paint, according to the Dorchester Reporter. However, the owner, a 79-year-old woman, said she was keeping the sign up (after police hosed off the expletives) until she could get it replaced by the campaign.

And in January, a large Trump sign in Hull mysteriously caught fire overnight.

The destruction and disappearance of Trump signs are hardly exclusive to Massachusetts. Yet, the recent preponderance of thefts has even sparked an editorial piece from a paper in Newburyport denouncing the practice.

“Americans shouldn’t have to install security systems or call police to defend their First Amendment rights to political speech,” the Daily News of Newburyport wrote. “Shame on those who trample on those rights.” [I completely agree. As vehemently as I oppose Trump, this behavior is completely unacceptable, and I hope some of these folks get caught and punished as a deterrent example to others. One of the things most objectionable about Trump is his impulse to want to silence opposing views, and trying to squelch the free speech rights of others makes one no better than he is on this score.]

At this rate, it’s tough to say whose chances are worse: a Trump sign in Massachusetts, or the candidate himself in November.

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/20 ... sachusetts

[Crackpot]

Not to mention it serves as a public warning of where the idiots are.

[Lord Jim]

[RayThom]

I think there's something hinky about the supposed sign thief's note. If someone were to steal the sign -- even for a third time -- would that person really take time to measure the exact height "10 feet and seven inches above its normal spot" and, prior to purloining it, go home, compose a sardonic letter, and then return to the scene of the recurring crime, grab the sign, and nail said letter to the tree? It makes absolutely no sense. I mean, measuring the height, knowing what the 'normal' spot is... c'mon, what kind of opportunistic scofflaw would know, or care, about such things?

It seems to me that only a thoroughly embarrassed, downtrodden, wackadoodle, Trump supporter is desperately seeking attention to a losing cause and this was his way to rage against the machine, and maybe get noticed by his idol. I feel the police should be investigating this "Trumpatic" for filing a false report.

That's my take and I'm sticking with it.

[rubato]

The sign-stealers are actually just kind neighbors being altruistic and removing signs that mark the residents as mentally deficient; easy marks for con artists.



yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

wesw just poured his heart out to everyone and people kicked him aside like a dead raccoon in a gutter in the bad part of town on a cold winter's day.

I hear you, wesw. Your words aren't wasted on me. Well, maybe they are. I'm just a lonesome distant voice in the cyberspace of life...

But if it was already IN the gutter wouldn't you just step over it? Why risk getting nasty rotten dead raccoon shit on your shoes? I mean, if it was on the sidewalk it would be a service to all mankind to give it a little shoe shove into the gutter and keep little old ladies from tripping over it, contacting the carcass and getting rabies so they went around town frothing at the mouth and trying to bite people. We don't need another epidemic like THAT again! People get all sentimental about shooting old Yeller but plonking granny in the pate with a .30 cal slug is not for the faint of heart either. Ok, that makes sense. Logical even. And the really civic-minded would wrap it in plastic and put it in the waste can if this was an urban area but around here a dead raccoon is pretty much a shovel item.


So instead of "kicked him aside like a dead raccoon in a gutter" maybe you could have tried "shot him through the occiput like a rabid granny" because that is a lot more logical, really. You see what I mean?




So what I'm really trying to say is just shovel it.

yrs,
rubato

[Jarlaxle]

Liz reports that there is one sign that will not be stolen. The dude that has the sign also has two good-sized Dobermans. (She didn't bother greasing that one.)

[Guinevere]

Ahem. I don't steal signs and it's childish and juvenile for anyone to do so.

In Hull, as mentioned in the article, we don't steal signs, we burn them and the tree they are nailed to as well (which I had to drive by every day):



To be clear, I don't condone that, either. It was pretty sickening. The sign was defaced first, the paint removed, and then it was burned. It eventually came down.

[Jarlaxle]

No pic.

[BoSoxGal]

[Jarlaxle]

Whoever did that deserves serious jail time (in the 5 year range), and a public flogging.

[Lord Jim]

I'm surprised you'd let them off so easily Jarl...

You must be in an unusually charitable mood...

[Joe Guy]

I agree. Especially since it looks like a tree that could be used to hang someone...