I didn't miss the point. And gifts don't go on display at the National Archives. They go into storage. When every prior president was gifted anything, that went into storage in the National Archives (not display).

And yes, every president is given gifts from other countries. It's what they do. And nobody's complaining about the gifts that Trump gets that just go to the National Archives. The problem here is that Trump wants to accept the gift and use it as Air Force One--then keep it for his library foundation. And he says that we're being stupid for pointing to the Emoluments Clause. Trump really is an imbecile.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for ICE agents who can't bother to get a signed warrant before barging into courthouses to arrest people. It's called "due process" and is the core aspect of our government that keeps us from tyranny.

Sure, American Presidents have received foreign gifts before. And those gifts go to the National Archives, and presidents don't get to keep them.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/12/us-presidential-foreign-gifts-laws-rules-ntwnfb

When the Statue of Liberty was gifted to the United states, Congress passed a bill directing President Cleveland to accept it. Congress still hasn't passed any bills asking Trump to accept any gifts, much less that plane from the Qataris.

I agree that Boeing has taken too long to finish the work, and it was originally supposed to be finished by now, but Trump's the one who renegotiated that contract. And here we are.

But you're right, in that foreign governments give gifts to the US president. But those usually just go to the National Archives. And besides, the the Qataris' "gift" is supposed to to to the USAF, then get converted (taking a couple years) and then "just before" Trump leaves office, it gets "transferred" to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation. So it's a loan, then a gift? Either way, it's a mess, and another example of Trump's corruption.
www.politico.com/news/2025/05/14/wicker-jet-donald-trump-00349116

Your rebuttal would be better if you knew more about the subject.

Here's something from the US Constitution.


Until Congress votes to let Trump accept a gift from the Qataris, accepting the airplane is plainly unconstitutional (along with all the money he takes in from his resorts and golf courses). And even though Republicans hold majorities in the House & Senate, they obviously don't have the votes to let Trump accept that white elephant of an aircraft.

So in the news recently, we hear that Trump plans to accept a gift of a luxury airplane from the royal family of Qatar, which to many is a clear bribe. Aside from being wrong to accept a foreign gift--it's actually unconstitutional, the story is complex. It's also just another example of Trump taking payments from foreigners, which is illegal without Congressional approval.

Remember when Republicans were figuratively grasping their pearls over President Biden's family having ties to foreign organizations? So quaint. Trump is literally taking $millions from foreigners at his resorts, and through his meme coin sales--which his company gets a commission of EVERY TRANSACTION, on top of the coins they owned and already sold. Trump doesn't report his earnings from these activities, but it's estimated to be in the $billions.

Stephen Colbert Flags The Trump Quote That Makes His Qatar Jet Gift Even Worse
www.huffpost.com/entry/stephen-colbert-trump-qatar-jet-gift_n_6822d7fce4b0abb58358dc06
* Trump previously recognized Qatar as a sponsor of terrorism


Trump’s free plane is not so free
www.politico.com/news/2025/05/12/trump-qatar-air-force-one-taxpayer-costs-00342299
* The new jet is not yet ready to serve as Air Force One & needs hundreds of $millions in work to get up to spec.
* Work on the planes already being fixed to become the next AF1 would slow if they also had to work on the new plane
* The Qataris maybe be gifting the plane because it's so expensive to operate

Why Qatar is bribing Trump
popular.info/p/why-qatar-is-bribing-trump
* Qatar wants to keep the Al-Udeid Air Base open (largest US military base in the Middle East)
* Qatar wants access to advanced markets and technologies
* US A.G. Pam Bondi, formerly a paid lobbyist for Qatar, says that the gift is not a bribe
* Qatar supports Hamas

Got any examples that weren't already going to happen because of Biden's CHIPS or Inflation Reduction Acts?

Not deranged. Mr. europeanimport7 is right on every point, but we probably should move that to another thread. Too much to list here how many ways Trump is a criminal and national disgrace.

Meanwhile:
Trump Takes Credit for American Pope in Barely Coherent Post
nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-takes-credit-for-american-pope.html

That's a super long blurb. Could be a problem. Long prose is good when you have a story to tell, but you should probably trim that down a lot! The "ladies" asking you for money and your Signal username are probably dudes in Africa or Asia, anyway.

Good luck and I hope to see some of the ladies on here share their opinion, too.

I checked and it's an OK profile. Not very interesting, but covers the basics. Some notes: Learn where your camera lens is when snapping a selfie. Maybe get a friend to take the picture and you can easily look at the camera lens.

"I have a good job" is not an occupation. Try using a title like "propane salesman" or "electrician" or "international arms dealer" or whatever you do, as appropriate.

I found your blurb a little boring, and while I'd try harder to be funny and intriguing, it's still better than nothing, and maybe that's the real you, and maybe the woman you seek is the type that can read between the lines. But for the profile that could probably use a minor rewrite and some better photos, I'd only rate it 7/10.

Good luck!

American car manufacturing coming back to the us?
Tariff-related layoffs hit five US auto plants that supply factories in Canada and Mexico
www.cnn.com/2025/04/03/business/tariff-related-layoffs-hit-five-us-auto-plants/index.html

Trump's tariffs on all imports are clobbering businesses all over, but the auto industry is getting hurt by their business practice of moving assemblies across borders in their manufacturing process, and the 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel make it unprofitable to build cars in the US.

I checked and couldn't find anything about Canada charging a 300% tariff on lumber. There is an anti-dumping tariff on dairy products, (up to 250%) but the US never exported enough dairy for that to kick in. And now many Canadians are boycotting US products, so even less.

The Catholics elected a new Pope today

www.cnn.com/2025/05/08/world/pope-leo-xiv-robert-prevost-wwk-intl-latam

I'll apologize right away for people of other religions, or of no religion if discussing this offends, but I was following this more closely after recently watching the movie "Conclave" starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow. I had also seen "The Two Popes" a few years back,--also an excellent film! I'm not a Catholic, anymore, but I found Pope Francis very charming on TV, and hope the best for the new guy, Pope Leo XIV.

Anybody else follow this story, or have opinions about the related movies?

I only based my 50% failure rate on the published statistics from the war in Ukraine, where Russian cruise missiles often land so short of their target that they hit Russian cities, and several major hardware failed because of theft. The post-nuke strike strategy is just NATO doctrine. Nobody really knows how a nuclear war would go with Russia, but I'd guess that Russia would be way more open about their testing if they knew their stuff worked.

The BLS isn't for/against anybody. They just track the numbers. So if you've got a beef with them, the bias is all yours.

Also, your point about investment coming into our country is a bit premature, since the tariffs are fostering a mountain of ill will toward the US. We've seen the boycotts from Canada and Europe, and this thing has only just started. The tariffs are so stupid, even Trump's own team won't tell you what's going on. You've been told that the tariffs are reciprocal, when most of the countries he's levied tariffs on had no tariffs on the US. And while most of the countries had a trade surplus vs. the US, even the countries that had a trade deficit (according to Trump, They're getting ripped-off) they still got a 10% tariff. All you've got to show for it is the garbage that Trump tells you. You think $trillions are coming into the country? All the investment that Trump has called out so far is from Biden's CHIPS Act, that was going to come in, anyway. See, that's what happens when you put your beliefs in what you want to hear.

Where do you see that those were manufacturing jobs? I checked the report at www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf and it shows <1% of the 228K jobs were manufacturing. I guess it'd be overly optimistic of me to expect you to support your claim.

I think you need to keep in mind that not everyone on this site are looking for a traditional man-woman relationship. There are many people with different kinks, and/or looking for a same-sex relationship that you may not like. Get over yourself and try to be objective.

With that in mind, I think SleazySlamSlave has a profile that could use some more work. The profile photos are somewhat redundant & the text blurb is short.

The photos are basically the same pic (the 1st & 3rd are identical). On the other hand, it's well-lit and framed, so it could just be a favorite shot. I know it's not easy to get a good shot with lighting and focus, so OK, but maybe it'd be better to also post another photo in a nice outfit, or out in an interesting place. At first look, I thought this might be a fake account to embarrass someone, so maybe give that some thought.

The text blurb could say a lot more, but if that slam session is all he wants, then I guess there's no need for more. Hard to judge since I'm not into that, but the text does make it clear to those *not* looking for that, too. Nice filter!

Some of the biographical information is missing, like whether he smokes and religious affiliation, and while smoking/non is important to me, maybe he's trying to say it's not important.

So while SleazySlamSlave's focus is extraordinarily narrow, and the directness is jarring, the profile probably says as much as really needed, and people looking for that will probably recognize it. But for the redundant photos and the missing information, I can only rate it 7/10.

Good luck!

Biden was negotiating with Russia way before any demonization, and Russia wasn't having any of it. Russia promised they weren't going to invade Ukraine despite all actual intelligence on the matter showed the opposite. Troop formations and international monetary activity showed anybody willing to look that Russia was set on attacking Ukraine. That's why Biden exposed it, and why Russia went ahead with it anyway. The operation was years in the making so it happened. Coincidentally, it would've happened even if Trump won reelection.

However, it's also unlikely that Putin will resort to nukes. Firstly, because that would be a huge escalation that even Russia doesn't want. Even if *only* Ukraine was struck by nukes, the NATO countries would rightfully have to respond by taking out all the Russian nuclear delivery systems. Every Russian ICBM-carrying submarine, military installation and strategic bomber (they've only got a few dozen) would be targeted by systems that have been built to fly deep into Russia to take them out. Secondly, Russia's nuclear stockpile is completely unreliable. They've gone decades without the needed maintenance, and even Russia's newest missiles have a 50% failure rate. You think a Russian ICBM still exists that hasn't fallen into disrepair or had its copper wiring stripped to pay for someone's vodka? I don't.

Trump Is Openly Bragging About Crashing the Stock Market
www.yahoo.com/news/trump-openly-bragging-crashing-stock-172517779.html

Not likely. Trump has started a trade war. There are no winners in a trade war, and since trump has levied tariffs on *every* other country, it's going to hurt us the most. Our prices will go up, and the other countries will just trade more with each other. The US will lose international influence and China will be ascendant.

And seriously, what is Trump trying to accomplish with this trade war. He wants more stuff made in the USA. For what? So we can pay more for the stuff we used to buy from China or South America? He's trying to dismantle the global free market, but factories in China and Vietnam aren't going to just stop making stuff because the US makes the same thing. And US unemployment is already down to about 4%, so who's going to work in those new factories in Trump's dream?

In the mean time, the US population will be stuck paying more for the things we buy and the rest of the world will grow animosity toward the US and boycott US-made stuff, as is happening now in Canada and Europe. I hope you're happy.

Trump is an imbecile.

What do you mean? Never had a choice? The tariffs are completely crashing US and international markets, and if this was about the national debt, they could simply raise taxes, including on the highest incomes.

Back in 1930, congress passed Smoot Hawley Tariff Act to raise revenues, and it caused widespread market turmoil, unemployment and actually lower revenues until it was reversed in 1932. It caused the "Great Depression." Higher marginal tax rates are what we had back in the 1950s and the country and markets were stronger than ever before. Of course the upper class made sure to squash that, since they were paying a top marginal tax rate of over 90%. But now Trump wants the country to "suffer for the country" regardless of how much it costs.

Trump has several choices on how to handle things, but he's starting a trade war. It's like the dumbest option. But that's Trump.