sunnykerr

Hydroponics (I forgot the "s" before!) is agriculture done without soil. So, for instance, I've seen some companies grow lettuce on water and, in the water, they "grow" fish. So the fish eat the "waste" from the lettuces (I'm thinking dead leaves or whatever) and are fed that way and their feces serves as fertilizer for the lettuce. The point being that, when you have winters as long as ours where the ground freezes, you need to find ways to grow things without the ground.

You know, I can almost understand that ignorant people will think that weapons would have saved the Jews during World War II. I mean, you have to be a special kind of cretin to believe that or to have, like, literally no knowledge of how the Holocaust happened or came to be. But I can almost, almost understand that we have that kind of moron nowadays.

What I don't and will never understand or be able to stomach is a political leader using the kind of language Nazis used back then and not being immediately jailed/fine/reprimanded. I get that I can't possibly have any idea of the kind of power Putin has. I get that. But he gets away with saying the most vile things and... I mean, life isn't fair. That shouldn't shock me each and every time I see evidence of it.

The investigation into Russia's meddling with the 2016 U.S. presidential election was never about the 2016 U.S. presidential election itself. I thought that was clear. No one expecting it to be a ticket for us all to get in a time machine and change what happened then. Still, I should think anyone who values their freedom and democracy would understand that the point is to not cede that freedom and democracy to the whims of a foreign power. At least, that's why I care about that investigation.

Given his marital history, I have to believe Melania knew what she was doing when she married The Donald. I mean, you'd have to be, again, a spectacular kind of informed idiot not to have anticipated how that was gonna go. And we're not in the marriage, so we don't know why she is either. We can't judge her on why she stays or what she knew or didn't know. She's a grown adult. She can make her own decisions.

There You'll Be

That sounds so amazing, and so resourceful. What a great way to take care of the planet, agricultural needs, and the Earth's inhabitants. I see why it would be necessary there.

Every time I see the word "Holocaust" it frightens me, and makes me ill; and Nazi references frighten me so much, so I understand you being surprised. That's not the kind of statements, or the kind of language, that should be happening in 2018.

That's why I care about the Russia probe/investigation, too. I definitely want those in the US who participated in it, knew about it, encouraged it, all held accountable. Every last one of them, no matter who it may be. If it clears Trump, I'll accept that. All I hear is "What if it was Hillary?" Well, if it was Hillary, I'd want her held accountable, too. Whatever they find, America deserves to know. Efforts also have to be made to prevent it from ever happening this way again.

Well, personally, I think Melania is incredibly smart. She speaks 5 languages fluently, and I believe she is intelligent. That's why I look down on their marriage, and the reasons for it.

Democrat Conor Lamb claims victory in Pennsylvania election - BBC News Whether or not it becomes official that he won, or he loses, Democrats tore up a 20 point advantage that Trump and the GOP held. It doesn't bode well for the GOP, if the Democrats stay organized, and active.

canflam

I haven't heard Melania speak much nor have really done my homework on her to know how smart she is. She is married to someone who says he has a big brain, but his actions & most of the words that come out of his mouth these days show me otherwise I think. Anyway, Mike Pompeo is taking over for Rex Tillerson. Wish him the best.

Pompeo replaces Tillerson. Where does that take US foreign policy? - BBC News

There You'll Be

Pompeo is far worse than Tillerson, in my opinion.

I was just coming back to edit my post-the GOP is of course challenging the election results in PA. They're confiscating voting machines. Funnily, the same machines that got the GOP elected all of these years, and Trump, too.

sunnykerr

I didn't know much about Rex Tillerson and I know even less about Mike Pompeo. I would be more worried about Mike Pompeo if anyone stuck around in this administration. It seems to me like a constant revolving door of people coming and out of the White House and no one managing to make that much of an impact on their departments.

Of course, those could be famous last words of mine.

It seems that whatever happens with that race in Pennsylvannia, it's put the GOP on notice. That district has not only gone so automatically to the Republicans in the past that the Dems haven't bothered fielding a candidate for years and years, but it's also been gerrymandering to heck and back to make it even more securely red. So even if the GOP candidate comes out on top, the fact that it's this close is something.

canflam

You knew Rex Tillerson was part of Exxon Mobile though right? Exxon is the world's largest provider of crude oil. He also has ties with Vlad Putin. He was a friend of Igor Sechin who died in 2012 that was the Executive Chairman of Rosnet which is an oil company in Russia. Sechin was also leader of the Kremlin's Sioviki which is there military/security faction. He was thought of as Russia's 2nd-most powerful man in Russia.

There You'll Be

Yeah, I know all of that about Tillerson. On the other news thread, I posted why I'm afraid of Pompeo.

Aside from my other fears about him, Pompeo was in Russia meeting with leaders this past year. I'm assuming for their approval, since they had Trump install Tillerson rather than Mitt Romney. So, I'm sure Pompeo needed to be pre-approved.

The thing that scares me (but isn't the least bit surprising), is Trump wants to purge his entire cabinet, and he wants people who will "let him do what he wants to do, and be like-minded). Including this loser, who he picked off of CNBC, as top Economic Advisor, because he praised him so much. He was awful with economics in theory-I can't imagine what he'll be like in office. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ist/ar-BBKdhta

the WH is spinning Lamb's victory as "He's a very moderate Democrat. He'll vote with the president." The other night it was all "He'll vote with Pelosi if you vote for him!"

sunnykerr

I'll have more time to post after work. But, in case anyone saw this story this morning, I just wanted to say that we were already aware of it:

And when I say "we already knew about it," I mean we were aware that we lose money doing business with the United States.

There You'll Be

I read that online in the middle of the night, when I had a low sugar incident, and couldn't make heads or tails of it. I'm glad you posted that, I'm not the least bit surprised, especially that y'all knew better, or that Trump spouted off a bunch of stuff he knew nothing about.

I'm looking forward to your evening post, so I can understand what is actually going on between the US and Canada.

I don't know what to make out of this, the US imposing sanctions against Russiahttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/u...sanctions.html

ETA-Okay, it wasn't the sanctions that Congress voted on to be implemented in the fall.

All I can say is better late than never, but that it's not going to stop the Mueller investigation. Though I do hear he's about to manage firing Mueller.

Nothing makes sense to me this morning.

canflam

Yeah. Glad you mentioned that. Not surprising that Trump lies, but disappointing that he does it apparently right to 1 this countries biggest allies face. Interesting about more sanctions on Russia is that Trump if I'm not mistaken didn't even agree with the last ones that were passed in congress I think in January if I'm not mistaken.

US punishes 19 Russians over vote meddling and cyber-attacks

sunnykerr

There isn't much to add on the trade deficit nonsense that Trump spouted. By most accounts, we lose money doing business with you guys. But if you look up U.S. trade deficits, you tend to get to the places where Trump's people have decided that we owe you $19 billion somewhere in there. Aside the fact that it's a BS number that has been proven wrong many times over, by people on both sides of the border, it's a drop in the ocean compared to how much you all owe China in trade deficits... And I don't see anyone trying to get theirs back from China, do you?

So, really, this trade deficit nonsense is only being spouted to drum up support for Trump's ridiculous demands on NAFTA. Again, we're already getting the shaft. But Trump wants to get an even "better" deal for the United States from us, your biggest ally.

As a quick aside, the next time you hear anyone campaining about the need for the United States to wean itself from "foreign oil," take a second to remember that Canada is your biggest source of "foreign oil." And we're hardly a country that's in opposition of most of your values.

Sanctions that only come into practice in six-plus months can only mean one thing: They're giving themselves the time to walk those back when it comes down to the wire. Or they're giving Russia plenty of time to set up a way to work around those sanctions. Either way, they're making sure the so-called sanctions don't work even a little bit.

There You'll Be

Trump and factual numbers don't exist in the same sentence. The fact that he lied to Trudeau, and then bragged about it? It doesn't get more insulting than that. I really hope Canada sticks to it's guns while negotiating NAFTA.

I didn't know about the oil needs mostly being met by Canada. I really had no idea. I would have thought, and did believe, it came from the Middle East, after all the troubles to get them to comply.

What is really ironic about the sanctions is they copied the list of people from Mueller's indictments, and the places that are a part of previous sanctions already in place. So, that basically says that Trump believes what Mueller is saying, and the indictments that have been handed down against Russians.

I haven't found anything in the News Lite department, so maybe you guys can.

canflam

Apparently the Canadian government doesn't know which meeting Trump lied to Justin Trudeau in about the trade deficit.

There You'll Be

So, 2 days before his retirement (and 88 days since Trump threatened it) Andrew McCabe, #2 at the FBI, was fired by Jeff Sessions, at the order of Trump. The thing is, by doing this, Sessions is protecting the Mueller investigation. It is also a way to threaten all officials, that if Trump doesn't like you, you're gone.

As awful as it is, if Sessions hadn't fired McCabe, Trump would have fired Sessions, and replaced him with an AG on his side. Who would have then fired Rosenstein, and Mueller. FBI ex-deputy director Andrew McCabe sacked days before retirement - BBC News

sunnykerr

So, what do you think? Is the Canadian government, as a whole organization, unable to pinpoint a specific meeting? Does Justin Trudeau know enough to hear what Trump says and completely ignore it to the point of it not registering? Did Trump lie about lying to Justin Trudeau? Does the Canadian government pretend to not know something for the sake of diplomacy because it doesn't really matter?

I don't understand the level of petty you have to be to fire someone two days before they retire. I get why it was done. For the sake of being able to say that they did it. But, still, how small a person do you have to be to push the lack of basic empathy and decency to that extent?

Speaking of small: Trump lawyers seek $20m in damages from porn star Stormy Daniels It's typical Trump litigeous strategy: try to sue for such an exhorbitant amount that the other side gets scared and backs down. I hope it doesn't work. Just for the principle of never backing down in the face of bullies.

Everest clean-up campaign aims to airlift 100 tonnes of waste That's 100 metric tonnes, so 110 in... whatever kinda tons are used in the United States. I mean, granted, it is a mountain, so lots of room to accumulate trash. But where are they gonna dump all of that?

Tasmania elects majority of women in Australia state first Not to be super cynical, but women usually get elected when they can't win for losing. I don't know anything about anything in Tasmania right now, but I hope this government isn't inheriting a terrible situation where they can't make any headway on any policy.