We are in trouble

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Oh, Lord….

I just got of an excursion around Ha Long Bay. The stairs to the top deck were rather challenging, so chose not to go up to the top deck. I got stuck in the cabin buy a couple of Trumpers. Some of the more interesting statements made….

Trump never lies, he always tells the truth.
All the world leaders respect him.
Illegals are really Democrat voters.
Science is a big lie.

I wish I had something to write all the things down. I should have gotten up and moved away, but it was like listening to a train wreck rather than rubbernecking it.

[busymom]

He never lies.     Tell that to all 3 of his wives.  And, that doesn't include his "businesses".  

[Opti]

In one opinion article the author spoke to some Trump supporters and posited that they actually do not listen to most of what he says. Many of them hear blah blah blah their buzz word of choice etc. They are afraid of reality it seems as it takes little effort to find many world leaders who do not respect Trump at all. They like the fantasy he weaves for them.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

All that I could think of when I was listening to this (loud) conversation was that we were cruising with a bunch of idiots.  The 2 guys were talking between 2 tables, so you couldn’t help but to eavesdrop on their politics.  

I did get quite a snicker as to how screwed the guy was by the clerk selling jewelry.  I didn’t say anything, because the money talk from dong to $$ was going fast and furiously, and I realized that he didn’t realize what the exchange rate was.  About 25,000 dong = $1.  He paid over $50 for something that should have been about $20.  This is really a problem when you don’t exchange money for local currency.  If you do, I find you keep better track of costs than if they offer you a price in $.  In Thailand, they wanted $5 US for a fridge magnet that I paid about $1.50 in local currency.  

[djAdvocate]

same way here in Mexico. the rates are ridiculous in dollars. best to use CC or Pesos.

Americans are embarrassing, for the most part. i never openly claim to be one.

[tbop77]

I often times wonder whether I'll have a tongue left, I have to bite it so much.  I'm surrounded by Trumpers.  The elderly lady across the street has to say something every time I am over there.  Last time, how much he needs money....


Or, I might snap.  I'm thankful for the 2 friends I have that I can have a normal conversation.   

[busymom]

That's the funny part, tbop77.  If he's THAT rich, why does he need money, especially from his much poorer minions?  It's just part of the con...

[happyhoix]

Apr 7, 2024 8:05:16 GMT -5 busymom said:

That's the funny part, tbop77 .  If he's THAT rich, why does he need money, especially from his much poorer minions?  It's just part of the con...

I think in his mind his money is HIS money that he earned through smart grifting. 

Since he’s only being picked on legally because he is running for president again, and since being president doesn’t benefit HIM but instead benefits the US and the WORLD, it’s right that everyone else pay both his campaign fees and legal fees. 

After all, if he had stayed at Mar A Lago and spent his time playing golf and running his fabulous company rather than being president, he would be much, much, MUCH richer now. So it’s right that he get reimbursed for all the expenses generated by him agreeing to be the best president in the history of the universe and saving the planet for all humanity. 

[Opti]

Apr 7, 2024 13:35:44 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Apr 7, 2024 8:05:16 GMT -5 busymom said:

That's the funny part, tbop77 .  If he's THAT rich, why does he need money, especially from his much poorer minions?  It's just part of the con...

I think in his mind his money is HIS money that he earned through smart grifting. 

Since he’s only being picked on legally because he is running for president again, and since being president doesn’t benefit HIM but instead benefits the US and the WORLD, it’s right that everyone else pay both his campaign fees and legal fees. 

After all, if he had stayed at Mar A Lago and spent his time playing golf and running his fabulous company rather than being president, he would be much, much, MUCH richer now. So it’s right that he get reimbursed for all the expenses generated by him agreeing to be the best president in the history of the universe and saving the planet for all humanity. 

Nice recounting of one of his origin lies. It would be harder to do the I am President, and you can't legally take me to court BS he's peddled for years if he actually was wise enough to stay at Mar Lago or live out of country for a few years.

[djAdvocate]

Apr 7, 2024 6:59:22 GMT -5 tbop77 said:

I often times wonder whether I'll have a tongue left, I have to bite it so much.  I'm surrounded by Trumpers.  The elderly lady across the street has to say something every time I am over there.  Last time, how much he needs money....


Or, I might snap.  I'm thankful for the 2 friends I have that I can have a normal conversation.   

just like that Swaggert asshole.  i have heard that shit forever.

never strikes me as something worthy of response.

[djAdvocate]

Apr 7, 2024 13:35:44 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Apr 7, 2024 8:05:16 GMT -5 busymom said:

That's the funny part, tbop77 .  If he's THAT rich, why does he need money, especially from his much poorer minions?  It's just part of the con...

I think in his mind his money is HIS money that he earned through smart grifting. 

Since he’s only being picked on legally because he is running for president again, and since being president doesn’t benefit HIM but instead benefits the US and the WORLD, it’s right that everyone else pay both his campaign fees and legal fees. 

After all, if he had stayed at Mar A Lago and spent his time playing golf and running his fabulous company rather than being president, he would be much, much, MUCH richer now. So it’s right that he get reimbursed for all the expenses generated by him agreeing to be the best president in the history of the universe and saving the planet for all humanity. 

that's right.  we would all like to send him back there, so that he can go back to being fabulously rich and (mostly) off the radar.

there is always a kernel of truth to what these idiots say.  it is where they go with it that is a problem.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Apr 7, 2024 13:35:44 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Apr 7, 2024 8:05:16 GMT -5 busymom said:

That's the funny part, tbop77 .  If he's THAT rich, why does he need money, especially from his much poorer minions?  It's just part of the con...

I think in his mind his money is HIS money that he earned through smart grifting. 

Since he’s only being picked on legally because he is running for president again, and since being president doesn’t benefit HIM but instead benefits the US and the WORLD, it’s right that everyone else pay both his campaign fees and legal fees. 

After all, if he had stayed at Mar A Lago and spent his time playing golf and running his fabulous company rather than being president, he would be much, much, MUCH richer now. So it’s right that he get reimbursed for all the expenses generated by him agreeing to be the best president in the history of the universe and saving the planet for all humanity. 

The problem with staying at Mara Lago was that while he was president, he got a taste of grifting at another level.  It’s kind of like flying business class once, once you get a taste of it, you can’t back down.  

I’d love to know the total amount he managed to scam over those 4 years off of the US treasury and other nations.  I’d guess it was easily magnitudes higher than his salary.  

[djAdvocate]

i have never flown business class. i can't imagine doubling my ticket price for extra legroom and meals. it is ridiculous, imo. i can use that money for expensive dinners, an extra night in a hotel, etc.

it seems like business class is just a way of waving around your wallet to me. nothing i have ever wished to do.

[dondubble]

Apr 10, 2024 10:26:25 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have never flown business class. i can't imagine doubling my ticket price for extra legroom and meals. it is ridiculous, imo. i can use that money for expensive dinners, an extra night in a hotel, etc.

it seems like business class is just a way of waving around your wallet to me. nothing i have ever wished to do.

We were just quoted $4000 each for a Seattle-Amsterdam-Milan round trip in business class. We purchased first level economy at $1500. At 6’4” I just position myself in the seat and remain as still as possible. Works for me.

[djAdvocate]

**or for those that just like spending extravagantly.

[billisonboard]

Based on my life experiences, I tend to see spending as labor based. "I had to work "x" number of hours to get that amount of money. Will I get enough satisfaction from whatever I am considering to make it worth it?" It has served me well in me spending less over time.

[busymom]

Apr 10, 2024 11:53:26 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Based on my life experiences, I tend to see spending as labor based. "I had to work "x" number of hours to get that amount of money. Will I get enough satisfaction from whatever I am considering to make it worth it?" It has served me well in me spending less over time.

    Yes!  That is a great tip for reducing spending.  Back when DH & I had a lot of debt to pay off, each time I considered buying a new piece of clothing, I'd figure out how many hours of work it would take to pay cash for it.  If I wasn't happy with the answer, I wouldn't buy it.  

[NastyWoman]

Apr 10, 2024 10:26:25 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have never flown business class. i can't imagine doubling my ticket price for extra legroom and meals. it is ridiculous, imo. i can use that money for expensive dinners, an extra night in a hotel, etc.

it seems like business class is just a way of waving around your wallet to me. nothing i have ever wished to do.

Meh, my older bones now demand economy plus on long flights. Meals, who cares but I can easily see how one day, in the not too far off future, I will need the extra legroom and lie flat chairs to accommodate my really old bones on an 11 or even 17 hour flight. Never say never!

[billisonboard]

With recreational items, it is a promissory note to pay back the price with future hours/miles of use.

[djAdvocate]

i didn't say never. i said i could not imagine it.

in 2016, i could not imagine an electorate stupid enough to permit the commander in thief to become president.

now, i can readily imagine it. i can even IMAGINE it happening again.

so, yes, when your situation changes, so does your imagination.

[busymom]

Apr 10, 2024 14:04:45 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i didn't say never. i said i could not imagine it.

in 2016, i could not imagine an electorate stupid enough to permit the commander in thief to become president.

now, i can readily imagine it. i can even IMAGINE it happening again.

so, yes, when your situation changes, so does your imagination.

     Sadly, I CAN imagine it happening again.  His followers are absolute sheep, awaiting their slaughter with smiles on their faces.  It's just unbelievable to me why so many believe whatever ridiculous thing he says, and think he did our country good.  It must be nice to live in such a delusional state.  I'm amazed our country survived a full term with him.  I'm not convinced our country, as we know it, can survive another term.    

[NastyWoman]

Apr 10, 2024 14:04:45 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i didn't say never. i said i could not imagine it.

in 2016, i could not imagine an electorate stupid enough to permit the commander in thief to become president.

now, i can readily imagine it. i can even IMAGINE it happening again.

so, yes, when your situation changes, so does your imagination.

Let's get something straight: unless there is a drastic change in the "sheeple" not only can it happen again, it WILL happen again. Now whether it will be the orange paint addict or one of his (potentially even worse) followers who would get into the WH I can't say, but it will happen and it will be bad!

[tallguy]

Apr 10, 2024 10:40:26 GMT -5 dondubble said:

Apr 10, 2024 10:26:25 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have never flown business class. i can't imagine doubling my ticket price for extra legroom and meals. it is ridiculous, imo. i can use that money for expensive dinners, an extra night in a hotel, etc.

it seems like business class is just a way of waving around your wallet to me. nothing i have ever wished to do.

We were just quoted $4000 each for a Seattle-Amsterdam-Milan round trip in business class. We purchased first level economy at $1500. At 6’4” I just position myself in the seat and remain as still as possible. Works for me.

I hope you are not trying to suggest that 6'4" is tall....

I generally have fairly good luck getting switched to an exit row, but if not I always select aisle seats and spend time standing in the aisle when I need to.  That works too, except that far too many people feel a need to walk up and down the aisle to use the lavatory.  What is wrong with them all?

[NastyWoman]

Whether 6'4" is tall enough to refer to yourself as tall is neither here nor there (IMO 6'4" is right sized but definitely taller than average), but regular economy airplane seats are not designed for people that tall. I hope you will always find someone to switch seats with you tallguy but, to be honest, I would not be the one giving up my seat. Despite just being 5'7" my legs, specifically my knees, need the extra room on long flights. And on short flights I don't even pay to get extra room. I just plop my butt in my seat for a few hours and I am fine

[tallguy]

Apr 10, 2024 16:02:22 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Whether 6'4" is tall enough to refer to yourself as tall is neither here nor there (IMO 6'4" is right sized but definitely taller than average), but regular economy airplane seats are not designed for people that tall. I hope you will always find someone to switch seats with you tallguy but, to be honest, I would not be the one giving up my seat. Despite just being 5'7" my legs, specifically my knees, need the extra room on long flights. And on short flights I don't even pay to get extra room. I just plop my butt in my seat for a few hours and I am fine

I have never and would never ask someone to switch seats, nor do I believe anyone should ever be that entitled and rude.  I ask gate agents if there is one available.  If not, I stick with my economy aisle seat and stand in the aisle occasionally.  My GF keeps telling me, "You're not poor.  Buy the extra legroom!"  Still can't do it yet.  Maybe on long flights when we go overseas I'll be able to justify it, but I doubt it.  

And yes, I can tease dondubble about only being 6'4".  We know each other.  I have been by his house and he has been by mine.  

[NastyWoman]

Cool tallguy . I used to have no problems giving up my seat to someone taller than I am (my sons are dondub 's height) but my knees just won't do it anymore. And the majority of my flights are 11 or more hours long. Definitely worth the upgrade. Maybe that will be true one day for short flights as well but not yet...

[happyhoix]

Apr 10, 2024 12:00:11 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Apr 10, 2024 10:26:25 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have never flown business class. i can't imagine doubling my ticket price for extra legroom and meals. it is ridiculous, imo. i can use that money for expensive dinners, an extra night in a hotel, etc.

it seems like business class is just a way of waving around your wallet to me. nothing i have ever wished to do.

Meh, my older bones now demand economy plus on long flights. Meals, who cares but I can easily see how one day, in the not too far off future, I will need the extra legroom and lie flat chairs to accommodate my really old bones on an 11 or even 17 hour flight. Never say never!

I’m with you. I can remember back to 1971, when I was 11 and my family moved to Europe- we started flying trans Atlanta almost yearly. Back then, the sides were large, the aisles wide, and the planes empty. Yeah I was physically smaller at the time, but I can remember being one of maybe ten people on a flight. (This was back when the flights were subsidized by the government). I can remember laying across a whole row of middle aisle seats to sleep. Seriously.   Then we moved back to the States and there was a prolonged period of no trans Atlantic flying until maybe ten years ago - and wow, how horrible it had become. Not an empty seat on the plane. Seats were smaller, aisles smaller, no leg room, barely room to put your tray down. The first long flight there was an older woman three seats down from me who spent the whole flight verrrry slowwwwly opening these candies wrapped in the loudest possible crinkly paper. I got stuck in a middle seat, strangers on both sides, both of them bogarting the arm rests. 

Nope. Now if we take that kind of long flight we spend the money on the premium economy. Just two seats on the side aisle. Wider, leg room, QUIETER. That plus noise canceling headphones has kept me from being a mass murderer over the Atlantic. WORTH THE MONEY. 

[happyhoix]

Apr 10, 2024 14:14:40 GMT -5 busymom said:

Apr 10, 2024 14:04:45 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i didn't say never. i said i could not imagine it.

in 2016, i could not imagine an electorate stupid enough to permit the commander in thief to become president.

now, i can readily imagine it. i can even IMAGINE it happening again.

so, yes, when your situation changes, so does your imagination.

     Sadly, I CAN imagine it happening again.  His followers are absolute sheep, awaiting their slaughter with smiles on their faces.  It's just unbelievable to me why so many believe whatever ridiculous thing he says, and think he did our country good.  It must be nice to live in such a delusional state.  I'm amazed our country survived a full term with him.  I'm not convinced our country, as we know it, can survive another term.    

I was reading a New Yorker article about Trump and the unions. Trump is actually on record advising companies with unions to shut down their operations and move someplace (like the South) that is hostile to unions. Wait long enough for the people living around the original plant to get desperate, then close the Southern plant and re-open the original plant, this time as a non-union plant. Easy peasy, according to Trump. But the writer attending a rally with Trump at a non-union plant in Michigan, and then interviewed a Union member from another plant who attended the rally and who was so excited about Trump, convinced he really cared about regular Americans. She said she felt really confident with him as President because she trusted him to protect her job. 

I really don’t get it. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Apr 10, 2024 10:26:25 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have never flown business class. i can't imagine doubling my ticket price for extra legroom and meals. it is ridiculous, imo. i can use that money for expensive dinners, an extra night in a hotel, etc.

it seems like business class is just a way of waving around your wallet to me. nothing i have ever wished to do.

I guess that’s a choice one makes.  You may think it’s ridiculous, we do not and it factors in what we pay for trips.  Between my hips and DH’s RLS, business class makes long hauls bearable.  

[busymom]

Apr 10, 2024 19:27:54 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Apr 10, 2024 14:14:40 GMT -5 busymom said:

     Sadly, I CAN imagine it happening again.  His followers are absolute sheep, awaiting their slaughter with smiles on their faces.  It's just unbelievable to me why so many believe whatever ridiculous thing he says, and think he did our country good.  It must be nice to live in such a delusional state.  I'm amazed our country survived a full term with him.  I'm not convinced our country, as we know it, can survive another term.    

I was reading a New Yorker article about Trump and the unions. Trump is actually on record advising companies with unions to shut down their operations and move someplace (like the South) that is hostile to unions. Wait long enough for the people living around the original plant to get desperate, then close the Southern plant and re-open the original plant, this time as a non-union plant. Easy peasy, according to Trump. But the writer attending a rally with Trump at a non-union plant in Michigan, and then interviewed a Union member from another plant who attended the rally and who was so excited about Trump, convinced he really cared about regular Americans. She said she felt really confident with him as President because she trusted him to protect her job. 

I really don’t get it. 

     I know.  The strongest Trump supporter in my extended family is in a union.  I guess he missed the part about the GOP trying to get rid of unions.