- Reaction score
- 397
- Points
- 810
The businesses went bankrupt, not Trump. He made money on the deals…every time.
Trump administration 2024-2028
- Thread starter dimsum
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 7,520
- Points
- 1,260
A few years ago I worked at the newly formed Supply Ontario, as the lead for their Digital Strategy. Like many Canadian jurisdictions and companies, they voluntarily abided by the US standard, much as the CAF acknowledged Leahy Vetting in Iraq and elsewhere
- Reaction score
- 1,827
- Points
- 1,160
Never heard of Leahy Vetting until now. Learn something new every day.
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Fossil
- Reaction score
- 46,766
- Points
- 1,160
Clearly a shady customer...
One man arrested was David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, who owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft.
He said he stopped by the pool during his 64-mile bike ride on Friday to see what was going on.
Mr Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, told the Associated Press he reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating.
He said he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to.
https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=news.sky.com
But, Mr Hearn said, he was then detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released on Friday night.
"I'm a curious citizen," Mr Hearn said in a telephone interview. "I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery."
The Washington Post first reported Mr Hearn's arrest, and he said he has a date to appear in court next month and is looking for legal help.
'Vandals arrested' as Trump's $14m reflective pool project sees it turn green again
The president launched his refurbishment of the pool to mark America's 250th anniversary, as he said his predecessors had let it turn an algae-stained green.One man arrested was David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, who owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft.
He said he stopped by the pool during his 64-mile bike ride on Friday to see what was going on.
Mr Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, told the Associated Press he reached into the pool because he wanted to examine the peeling new coating.
He said he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to.
https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=news.sky.com
But, Mr Hearn said, he was then detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released on Friday night.
"I'm a curious citizen," Mr Hearn said in a telephone interview. "I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery."
The Washington Post first reported Mr Hearn's arrest, and he said he has a date to appear in court next month and is looking for legal help.
- Reaction score
- 12,032
- Points
- 1,040
Yeah, people reach into public fountains and pools out of curiosity all the time. I can't get close enough to toss a penny in anymore due to the press of people waiting their turn to feel the slimy textures.
- Reaction score
- 12,032
- Points
- 1,040
Yes, the cracked frog pond they had before which had also been imperfectly repaired by a previous administration (at much more than twice the cost) was so much better.
Mills Bomb
Member
- Reaction score
- 279
- Points
- 780
Trump has actually been very clear in the fact most of his plans to 'restore' Washington would essentially be resurfacing.
Not just the pool, but this was by his own words the solution for the roads, walkways, medians, and other fixtures as well.
He actually prefers asphalt over concrete saying it's "no good" since it takes too long, and is too much work later.
This guy is all about the quick cheap fixes that deliver instant gratification.
Now, shortly after the resurfacing... Nobody touch the water! The resurfacing job is fine, what's happening is due to vandals, and even worse, Joe Biden!!!
- Reaction score
- 12,032
- Points
- 1,040
What I'm observing is that people bitter about Trump are bitter about all the cleanup being done for 1776 + 250. Any excuse to criticize will do.
$850M for Obama's eyesore, though - what a magnificent deal.
- Reaction score
- 397
- Points
- 810
The difference is….Obama, unlike Trump, went through proper approvals including Congress, there was open-bidding on the job as opposed to Trumps sole-source crony contract and Obama didn’t waste bandwidth chest-thumping his own greatness as a saviour of national icons…..that promptly came apart. And don’t forget, Obama was dealing with deep-seated and long-standing structural issues from 40 years of deferred maintenence, hence the cost.
- Reaction score
- 6,936
- Points
- 1,160
What you also could be observing is a blowhard narcissist end running every rule and procedure in the books to remake public property then bragging that it is the greatest, bestest thing that no other president had the courage to do, only have it unravel. Washington is a popular tourist destination. I suspect it would stoke public curiosity and be newsworthy if it turned into a swamp with or without new paint.
You seem to becoming quite the apologist. Would you be ok with our PM, of any stripe, playing fast a loose with our public Ottawa spaces? Unilaterally hiring a buddy contractor to tear down 24 Sussex?
I don't know the details or timelines of the reflecting pool fiasco. If they simply painted it then filled it, what did anyone expect?
- Reaction score
- 12,032
- Points
- 1,040
You're right. The important thing is, process was followed. (Not entirely, since the foundation appears to stiffing the backstop fund requirement.) And Obama does a lot of his own chest-thumping. Of course, it's not a mere presidential library. It's a presidential center, which is not a novelty (it essentially is the new standard), but it certainly sets a new benchmark for scale. It's amusing that Obama has beaten Trump to the goal of being the first ex-president to undertake such a massive monument to himself. It's instructive that the same amount of heat from the sources that reliably deplore Trump's latest (weekly) self-promotion has not accompanied this one. I'm dissatisfied with the general situation, but as long as the deplorable behaviours and candidates continue on both sides there isn't really satisfactory third option yet. The return to George Will Republicanism will have to wait, and it's doubtful a return to Ronald Reagan Republicanism is possible. I see no path for Democrats to return to any prior version of moderation at all.
Politically this is going to be hard to correct. Administration supporters are pretty happy with some of the things that are just getting done. My read on the political temperature is that whatever passes for the base is beyond caring about due process short-cuts and cronyism. The moderates aren't resigned to it; they reliably object in the places inhabited by political moderates (eg. NRO, Reason). But it's over to states to show whether it's possible to have governors and legislatures that can get shit done, in a timely fashion, on budget, without being interminably bound up in processes. They are neither looting the treasury on a small scale to enrich themselves and their cronies, nor on a large scale to provide money streams to activists.
- Reaction score
- 12,032
- Points
- 1,040
Everything Trump touches is that way. His bluster is a distraction not worth paying any attention to.
I just leave the area whenever he comes on TV; I don't read transcripts of anything he says except when I (rarely) want to confirm whether the way people are spinning some inflammatory statement is correct in context or not (eg. "fine people"). Nothing he has to say is useful or interesting or durable, and it just unhinges others present and makes them unpleasant to be around. I take political corruption and cronyism ("beak-wetting") and double standards for granted (in all politics). I measure his administration by its policies and compare it to the alternatives. I'm probably the moderate in any room.
Here is the heart of the position: right now, in America, any kind of Republican control on offer is preferable to any kind of Democratic control on offer. The bluster and corruption have been weighed, and found inconsequential in balance with what the true alternative is.
For 24 Sussex, and a lot of the blight problems facing communities, probably. A template is this: something needs to be done; a need has existed for years (maybe decades); nothing has been done; so, "the system" can't or won't do it. I reject the premise that "the system" may be a permanent obstacle; so, I'd entertain alternative processes.
They attempted to seal it. That's not an impossible job, but it can be done imperfectly. (I'd laugh if I learned they used the same blue goo that I once used to prepare a bathroom floor.) If it was done imperfectly, it merits criticism. An early return of algae in late spring/early summer does not merit an immediate Nelson Muntz Moment, though. And now there's a tug-of-war between activists who want the algae to return and stay as a rebuke to Trump, and those who would rather see it gone but use it's current presence as a rebuke to Trump.
The reasonable points of criticism have, again, been lost in the circus. And I'm through with the circuses.
- Reaction score
- 18,351
- Points
- 1,160
If you want Washington "Resurfaced" the Brits and Canadians did a great job last time and are willing to do it again.
On a more serious note, I suspect changing the PH levels in the pond will help reduce algae.
On a more serious note, I suspect changing the PH levels in the pond will help reduce algae.
- Reaction score
- 7,989
- Points
- 1,260
Sadly the Brits are currently focused on burning down their own right now.
The Obama Presidential Centre was privately funded.
- Reaction score
- 12,032
- Points
- 1,040
Not yet it isn't. There are invoices outstanding - contractors are complaining, some alleging they face ruin - and the backstop fund meant to prevent a public bailout is nowhere near the widely-claimed goal. By appearances enough money was raised to cover the total construction cost (including the inevitable overruns) and fill the backstop fund to the amount widely claimed to be the target, but the latter has not been filled. They should be able to get to "privately funded", but they have to finish the journey first.