So, you think it hurts Trump's credibility to be speaking about an issue in Africa while showing an article that happens to contain a photo of Africa?

This says more about your credibility than Trump's.  Why would we trust someone who makes up a scandal out of nothing just because he's biased against the President?

You are too short sighted and interested in defending Trump.

Most Americans don't deep dive into these issues looking for all the nuance and reasonableness. If the average voter sees Trump hold a photo of Congo and said it was South Africa they are going to think it looked dumb of Trump. They aren't going to go asking who gave Trump the print out or all these other things, they are going to see the story and judge it on its surface.

If you don't think it hurt Trump's credibility in your eyes that is fine.

there is a distinct difference
he said "these are articles about south africa" and all you idiots jumped all over "but the picture is of the Congo!!!"
FOCUS

A distinction without a difference. If I hold up my phone and on the phone is displayed a photo, do you point out that I showed you a phone with a photo and not a photo?

You are too short sighted and interested in defending Trump.

Most Americans don't deep dive into these issues looking for all the nuance and reasonableness. If the average voter sees Trump hold a photo of Congo and said it was South Africa they are going to think it looked dumb of Trump. They aren't going to go asking who gave Trump the print out or all these other things, they are going to see the story and judge it on its surface.

If you don't think it hurt Trump's credibility in your eyes that is fine.

So, your argument is the public only knows what they see in pictures? 

i guess it really depends on where you get your news.  Those of us NOT harping on Trump's alleged mistake (i don't see it that way) must be smarter than the ones who need to be told what to think and believe.

So, where do you get most of your "news"?  It appears wherever that is, it's not someplace that treats Trump fairly.

FOCUS
THIS DID NOT happen "Trump hold a photo of Congo and said it was South Africa"
STOP F'ing LYING...

You are too short sighted and interested in defending Trump.

Most Americans don't deep dive into these issues looking for all the nuance and reasonableness. If the average voter sees Trump hold a photo of Congo and said it was South Africa they are going to think it looked dumb of Trump. They aren't going to go asking who gave Trump the print out or all these other things, they are going to see the story and judge it on its surface.

If you don't think it hurt Trump's credibility in your eyes that is fine.

FOCUS
THIS DID NOT happen "Trump hold a photo of Congo and said it was South Africa"
STOP F'ing LYING...

Is he lying, or simply trying to gaslight everyone into believing his BS?

Is it lying if you believe the lie to be true -- even after having it proven to be a lie over and over again?

My understanding is, "Yes, you are a liar if you should have known the lies you are spreading are not true."

Being shown proof it's a lie is enough to prove lying was willful and intentional, even if they refuse to admit the truth.

FOCUS
THIS DID NOT happen "Trump hold a photo of Congo and said it was South Africa"
STOP F'ing LYING...

You covered this and he once again refuses to admit he was wrong.  IDK how many times you or anyone needs to explain it so he can understand.  He then moves goalpost to try to justify not having to admit he was wrong again.

Is he lying, or simply trying to gaslight everyone into believing his BS?

Is it lying if you believe the lie to be true -- even after having it proven to be a lie over and over again?

My understanding is, "Yes, you are a liar if you should have known the lies you are spreading are not true."

Being shown proof it's a lie is enough to prove lying was willful and intentional, even if they refuse to admit the truth.

There are also a spectrum of things that would cause a person to keep a lie going after being provided the facts.

The fake news tried to downplay the Iran USA bombings. And SecDef had to do a PC to clear things up and call them out on it.  Then they tried to sex bait him and his reply was we don't play that game, male or female, they got the job done.

Newsmax had some fake news. The headline was something like "Trump: I will withhold federal funding if that communist in NYC is elected Mayor".  In reality, what he said was something like "If he doesn't do the right thing, federal funding will be looked at strongly." Then he went on to say that this applies to anyone who is the Mayor of NYC.

The fake news is going hard on the "people losing medicade".  And our comrade Green also stated 400,000 will lose medicade.

The fake news is going hard on the "people losing medicade".  And our comrade Green also stated 400,000 will lose medicade.

One of the biggest reasons people seek full time employment is the benefits including medical insurance.  Prices for healthcare keep going up in part because free government healthcare enables beneficiaries to pay for services without having to kick in for the costs via premiums, reasonable co-pays and annual deductibles.

If you can get what you need from the government, why work? 

Those who need the help should get it, but those who refuse to work but can should not be carried by tax payers.

Medicaid and Medicare fraud schemes pop up all the time, milking the system of billion$ per year.  It's in part because the government hasn't implemented sufficient safeguards to identify and stop these rackets.  i saw a documentary years ago of how one doctor kept shutting down his bogus practice and reopening over and over again under new names.  By the time the government spotted the scam, he'd folded his tent and moved on.  He was basically scamming Medicaid by enlisting illegals out of work.  The illegal would claim to have some ailment the doctor decided on, then file claims on the patients' behalf and giving the patients a portion.  In the end, he was making millions per month with hundreds of bogus claims each month.

National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results
in 324 Defendants Charged in Connection with
Over $14.6 Billion in Alleged Fraud

Largest Justice Department Health Care Fraud Takedown in History
More than Doubles Prior Record of $6 Billion

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-health-care-fraud-takedown-results-324-defendants-charged-connection-over-146

Eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Medicaid

Under the Biden Administration, States and healthcare providers were
permitted to game the system.  For example, States “taxed” healthcare
providers, but sent the same money back to them in the form of a
“Medicaid payment,” which automatically unlocked for healthcare providers
an additional “burden-sharing” payment from the Federal Government. 

Through this gimmick, the State could avoid contributing money toward
Medicaid services, meaning the State no longer had a reason to be prudent
in the amount of reimbursement provided.  Instead of paying Medicare rates,
many States that utilize these arrangements now pay the same healthcare
providers almost three times the Medicare amount, a practice encouraged
by the Biden Administration.

These State Directed Payments have rapidly accelerated, quadrupling in
magnitude over the last 4 years and reaching $110 billion in 2024 alone. 
This trajectory threatens the Federal Treasury and Medicaid’s long-term stability,
and the imbalance between Medicaid and Medicare patients threatens to
jeopardize access to care for our seniors.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/eliminating-waste-fraud-and-abuse-in-medicaid/

When the system collapses under its own weight, no one will get benefits.

One of the biggest reasons people seek full time employment is the benefits including medical insurance.  Prices for healthcare keep going up in part because free government healthcare enables beneficiaries to pay for services without having to kick in for the costs via premiums, reasonable co-pays and annual deductibles.

If you can get what you need from the government, why work? 

Those who need the help should get it, but those who refuse to work but can should not be carried by tax payers.

Medicaid and Medicare fraud schemes pop up all the time, milking the system of billion$ per year.  It's in part because the government hasn't implemented sufficient safeguards to identify and stop these rackets.  i was a documentary years ago of how one doctor kept shutting down his bogus practice and reopening over and over again under new names.  By the time the government spotted the scam, he'd folded his tent and moved on.  He was basically scamming Medicaid by enlisting illegals out of work.  The illegal would claim to have some ailment the doctor decided on, then file claims on the patients' behalf and giving the patients a portion.  In the end, he was making millions per month with hundreds of bogus claims each month.

National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results
in 324 Defendants Charged in Connection with
Over $14.6 Billion in Alleged Fraudhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-health-care-fraud-takedown-results-324-defendants-charged-connection-over-146

Eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Medicaidhttps://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/eliminating-waste-fraud-and-abuse-in-medicaid/

When the system collapses under its own weight, no one will get benefits.

Funny how Green is also silent on how the state is exempt from having to pay for health insurance like everyone else.  The law states an employer can only charge their employee 1.5% of their weekly wage for medical insurance.  So someone who makes $1K a week, that's $15 a week toward their medical.  Yet the basic plan the state offers is $800 for a single person.

I have a few friends on FB who are reposting a story about Trump removing the ridges from the quarter.

I would assume it cost more to make these ridges as when the die gets dull, they have to replace it sooner than a di with a smooth edge.  I could be wrong though.

But the ridges are old school when quarters/coins used to be solid silver/metal.  People would use a knife and shave a sliver off to keep for X reason.  Thus coins would get smaller and smaller and not hold it's true value.  So the ridges were put on so one could easily tell if anything was shaved off.

The left is still looking for any reason to bash Trump.  What they don't realize is if he didn't have good morals, he could do what ever messed up thing he wanted to do cause "fuc* it, they're gonna talk bad about my decision anyway". They have set the precedent.

I have a few friends on FB who are reposting a story about Trump removing the ridges from the quarter.

I would assume it cost more to make these ridges as when the die gets dull, they have to replace it sooner than a di with a smooth edge.  I could be wrong though.

But the ridges are old school when quarters/coins used to be solid silver/metal.  People would use a knife and shave a sliver off to keep for X reason.  Thus coins would get smaller and smaller and not hold it's true value.  So the ridges were put on so one could easily tell if anything was shaved off.

The left is still looking for any reason to bash Trump.  What they don't realize is if he didn't have good morals, he could do what ever messed up thing he wanted to do cause "fuc* it, they're gonna talk bad about my decision anyway". They have set the precedent.

The reason you gave dates back all the way to the 17th century in England before the US was colonized.  Once the US Coinage Act of 1965 was passed, the metal composition of coins no longer makes clipping the edges worth the trouble even if the ridges are removed. 

After 1965, in order to save money, they saw no real reason to change out the existing machinery since the ridges caused no issues. 

Assuming machines are at end of life and that newer, more automated minting machines are available, maybe it's time to consider a redesign,

There is still one reason to keep the ridges.  They help the visually impaired tell dimes from pennies and nickels from quarters.  I think one thing that could help the visually impaired is have the Braille for each denomination stamped on the front and/or back.  It could be easily incorporated into the design without too much trouble, and it would be more specific than having the ridges alone to go on.

Braille for the 4 denoms would look like:

01 => ⠂
05 => ⠢
10 => ⠂⠴
25 => ⠆⠢

The fake news has been going after ICE hard the past month or so.  They show stories of "immigrants" being arrested and leave out the illegal immigrant part.  They show stories of US citizens being arrested and leave out that they're hindering an arrest of an illegal or blocking ICE vehicles from moving.

I wonder what's next.

Now the fake news for the past week as been blaming the GOP for the shutdown as they "control" the votes.  Many DNC politiicans posting on how it's the GOP's fault their constituants premiums are increasing a lot due to the open enrollment for 2026 happening.

If no bill was signed yet, how can premiums increase and it be the GOP's fault?  Are all insurance companies automatically increasing premiums in case the bill passes as is?

The ACA screwed me. Prior to it, I was paying about $88/mo for years with Kaiser.  Then the first year it increased to $242/mo.  Then to $800/mo the next. So in 2 years of the ACA passing, my premium went up 10 fold.  Keep in mind I was single and in my 20's with no health problems.

Now the fake news for the past week as been blaming the GOP for the shutdown as they "control" the votes.  Many DNC politiicans posting on how it's the GOP's fault their constituants premiums are increasing a lot due to the open enrollment for 2026 happening.

If no bill was signed yet, how can premiums increase and it be the GOP's fault?  Are all insurance companies automatically increasing premiums in case the bill passes as is?

The ACA screwed me. Prior to it, I was paying about $88/mo for years with Kaiser.  Then the first year it increased to $242/mo.  Then to $800/mo the next. So in 2 years of the ACA passing, my premium went up 10 fold.  Keep in mind I was single and in my 20's with no health problems.

To pass the budget, the Senate requires 60 votes in the affirmative.  Normally, a simple majority is needed to pass a budget, but in this case, the Democrats are preventing cloture, which allows them to filibuster and prevent a vote on the bill.

There are only 53 GOP senators out of 100 seats.  Seven Democrats need to side with the GOP as a minimum to get pass cloture and onto the actual budget -- more would be needed should any Republicans go over to the 'Nay" side.

To pass the budget, the Senate requires 60 votes in the affirmative.  Normally, a simple majority is needed to pass a budget, but in this case, the Democrats are preventing cloture, which allows them to filibuster and prevent a vote on the bill.

There are only 53 GOP senators out of 100 seats.  Seven Democrats need to side with the GOP as a minimum to get pass cloture and onto the actual budget -- more would be needed should any Republicans go over to the 'Nay" side.

That's what the DNC politicians and others are leaving out.  Then they began to shift blame to the GOP and how the DNC cannot support the bill cause it's bad.  They dropped the "GOP has control" topic.

fetterman says gop should go for nuclear option...

fetterman says gop should go for nuclear option...

That is an option -- do what the Dems did in the Senate when they couldn't get a bill passed.

I feel like Trump is enjoying the power to terminate more unnecessary gov't employees this shutdown offers. 

if this lasts into next year, we may have the first balanced budget in 25 years.