xylophone

Money, power, lies and "connections" prevented him being locked away a long time ago for all of the sexual allegations made against him over time by young and older women alike, some of which are included below: – Dozens of women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1970s, and he has been found liable in court for sexual abuse. Several women have described Trump forcibly reaching under their skirts, others said he kissed them without consent, and a handful of beauty pageant contestants claimed Trump inappropriately walked in on them in changing rooms. In total, about two dozen women have spoken out publicly to accuse Trump: Jessica Leeds told The New York Times in 2016 that, in the late 1970s, Trump, who was a stranger to her, reached his hand up her skirt and grabbed her breasts on a flight to New York. She said he “was like an octopus” and his “hands were everywhere” before she fled to the back of the plane. Ivana Trump, Trump’s first wife, accused him in a divorce deposition of raping her in a fit of rage in 1989, when they were married. She later said that she hadn’t meant in a “literal or criminal sense.” Kristin Anderson, a photographer and former model, told The Washington Post in 2016 that Trump sat next to her at a nightclub in the early 1990s and reached under her skirt. Anderson said the incident lasted about 30 seconds, but she and her friends were “very grossed out and weirded out.” Two weeks before the 2024 election, Stacey Williams told the Guardian that she met Trump in 1992 through Jeffrey Epstein, who later became a registered sex offender, was charged with sex trafficking and died by suicide in 2019. Epstein suggested the two visit Trump in Trump Tower in New York in 1993, Williams said, and shortly after they arrived, Trump groped her breasts and her butt. The Trump campaign denied the allegation. Jill Harth, who worked with Trump in the 1990s, accused him of “attempted rape” in a 1997 complaint. She said that in 1993, Trump tried to kiss her in his daughter’s bedroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort, pushing her against a wall and putting his hand up her dress. She dropped the suit a few weeks after filing it, she said as part of a settlement with Trump in a separate breach of contract case, according to the Associated Press. Lisa Boyne, a health food business entrepreneur, told HuffPost in 2016 that she attended a dinner with Trump in 1996 where several women were forced to walk across a table while Trump looked up their skirts and commented on their underwear and bodies. “It was the most offensive scene I’ve ever been a part of,” Boyne said. Five former Miss Teen USA contestants told BuzzFeed News in 2016 that in 1997, Trump, the owner of the pageant at the time, unexpectedly walked into the contestants’ dressing room while they were changing, which they found inappropriate. Mariah Billado said she rushed to put on her dress and remembered him saying, “Don’t worry ladies, I’ve seen it all before.” Victoria Hughes said that it was “the most inappropriate time to meet us all for the first time. The youngest girl was 15, and I was the eldest at 19.” The other three women described a similar situation to BuzzFeed anonymously; however, 11 others said they did not recall seeing Trump in the dressing room at all. In an April 2005 interview on The Howard Stern Show, when asked about Miss USA and Miss Universe, Trump said he would go backstage before beauty pageant shows, the only man in the room while the women were “standing there with no clothes.” As the owner, “I sort of get away with things like that,” he added. He was not asked about Miss Teen USA in this interview. E. Jean Carroll, a writer, said Trump raped her in 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. Carroll wrote about the incident in her 2019 memoir called “What Do We Need Men For?” In May 2023, Carroll was awarded $5 million after a jury held Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, though not rape. Temple Taggart, former Miss Utah, told The New York Times in 2016 that Trump “kissed me directly on the lips” when he met her at the 1997 Miss USA pageant and again when she met with him in Manhattan after he offered to help with her modeling career. Taggart described the incident as “inappropriate” and said her first thought after he kissed her was, “Oh my God, gross.” Cathy Heller told The Guardian in 2016 that Trump forcibly kissed her when she attended a Mother’s Day brunch at Mar-a-Lago in the 1990s. Heller said she was “angry and shaken” after the former president ignored her handshake, grabbed her and went for the lips and became angry when she tried to turn her head away. Amy Dorris, a former model, said Trump forcibly kissed and groped her in his private box at the U.S. Open tennis championship in 1997. Dorris told The Guardian in 2020 that Trump “shoved his tongue down my throat” and “his hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything.” Karena Virginia, a yoga instructor and life coach, told The Washington Post in 2016 that Trump groped her, unexpectedly wrapping his arm around her and touching her breast, in 1998 while she waited for a car outside the U.S. Open. Karen Johnson, who was a regular at Mar-a-Lago, said Trump pulled her behind a tapestry to kiss and grope her during a New Year’s Eve party in the early 2000s. Johnson detailed the incident to journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy, who published it in their 2019 book, “All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator,” along with 42 other allegations of sexual misconduct. Bridget Sullivan, another former Miss USA contestant, told BuzzFeed News in 2016 that she met Trump at a party promoting the competition, and he hugged her “a little low on your back” and gave “a squeeze that your creepy uncle would.” In a separate instance in 2000, Sullivan said, Trump walked backstage while many of the contestants were naked or getting dressed. Tasha Dixon, a former Miss USA contestant, told CBS in 2016 that, in 2001, Trump walked into where she and other contestants were changing. Dixon said she thought Trump “owned the pageant for the reasons to utilize his power to get around beautiful women.” Melinda McGillivray told the Palm Beach Post in 2016 that Trump grabbed her butt without her consent in 2003 when they were backstage at a Ray Charles concert at Mar-a-Lago. Natasha Stoynoff, a former reporter for People magazine, wrote in 2016 that Trump sexually assaulted her in 2005 while she was visiting Mar-a-Lago to work on a story about his first year of marriage with Melania. When they were alone, Stoynoff said, Trump closed the door and pushed her against the wall before “forcing his tongue down my throat.” Juliet Huddy, a former Fox News anchor, said on the “Mornin!!! With Bill Schulz” podcast in 2017 that Trump kissed her unexpectedly and without her consent in Trump Tower in the mid-2000s. Huddy said she “didn’t feel threatened” at the time but later realized she would’ve said no more clearly. Rachel Crooks, a former receptionist at Trump Tower, told The New York Times in 2016 that Trump kissed her “directly on the mouth” without consent when she first met him in 2005. Samantha Holvey, a former Miss USA contestant, told CNN in 2016 that when she competed in 2006, Trump personally inspected each contestant, looking at them from head to toe like “sexual objects,” which made her feel “the dirtiest I felt in my entire life.” Ninni Laaksonen, a model and former Miss Finland, in 2016 told Ilta-Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, that Trump squeezed her butt in 2006 when they were backstage at the “Late Show with David Letterman.” Jessica Drake, an actor in adult films, accused Trump during a 2016 news conference of grabbing her, kissing her without her consent and offering her $10,000 to come to his penthouse hotel room in 2006. Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” told reporters at a 2016 news conference that Trump sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions in 2007. The first was when she met him and he kissed her on the lips. Later that year, Zervos said Trump grabbed her shoulder, kissed her “aggressively,” placed his hand on her breast and thrust himself on her before she was able to pull away and leave the room. Cassandra Searles, a former Miss USA contestant, wrote in a 2016 Facebook post that Trump “continually grabbed my ass and invited me to his hotel room” when she competed in 2013. Alva Johnson, a former campaign staff member, alleged in a 2019 lawsuit that Trump grabbed her hand and kissed her on the side of the mouth without her consent during a rally in 2016. Trump has denied all of the allegations, saying they were lies used to hurt his presidential campaign. When reached for additional comment, Trump’s 2024 campaign declined to comment. https://19thnews.org/2023/10/donald-trump-associates-sexual-misconduct-allegations/

I now use 'MyTello" and it is very good and EXTREMELY cheap.

Something I suggested way back when the thread(s) started, as has happened before, but why kill all of those people if he just wanted to end his own life.........but I guess someone with a troubled mind just doesn't think straight. Such a shame/tragedy.

I thought I would start to watch the second series of the BBC iPlayer "Rogue Heroes" and a major part of this first episode was about the Allied landings in Sicily, and IMO it played fast and loose with the actual events, most probably to appease the US?? My father was with Montgomery in the North African campaign and fought with him at El Alamein, before being shipped to Sicily and then marching up through Italy and although we didn't speak much at all about the war, he did mention that he had no time for "the Americans" and he told me why.......apparently many American pilots were tasked with towing gliders containing British soldiers, across the water to land on the shores of Sicily to start the invasion. In his account, the American pilots ditched the gliders far too early when they came under Italian fire, resulting in the drowning of a huge number of British soldiers who were weighed down with their heavy backpacks and armaments, however in the series I mentioned above, it was stated that the gliders were "American-made" and were too flimsy for the job, thereby breaking up and falling into the water. I will not be watching any more of this series.

His mind is certainly not working as can be seen by his constant "gaffes", many of which have already been posted and the one whereby he stated that Biden elected Powell and it was a bad move, BUT he elected him!!! And another lie/memory loss from trump......According to the WSJournal, the Trump letter contained the outline of a naked woman, apparently drawn with a marker, and had the future President’s signature “Donald” mimicking pubic hair. It ends, according to the newspaper, with “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret”. Trump reacted in a series of furious social media posts, saying: “It’s not my language. It’s not my words. I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.” BUT, US media has published multiple drawings done by Trump in the past, with several dating to the early 2000s when he used his celebrity status to donate sketches for charity. The liar just keeps on lying or forgetting, take your pick!!

And to add to his confused mental state....... Trump in the last 24 hours... Forgot who accompanied him to the event at which he fell asleep, said Obama wrote the Epstein files, made up a story about his uncle teaching the Unabomber, forgot he hired Jerome Powell.

But very close friends, nontheless.......

But here they are.......... Jack Posobiec, a far-right political activist, carries a binder labelled 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1' as he exits the White House in Washington, on February 27.

I downloaded and watched a movie called "The Order" starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult and although I'd seen it before I can't remember too much about it, so I'm pleased that I watched it again. Watching it again made me realise it's significance with regards to what's going on in the US at the moment, and also the mention of the "Turner Diaries" was intriguing in the same way. If you haven't watched it, then I can recommend it.

That will never happen and already his mental faculties are on a downward spiral, so not long before he becomes a complete idiot!

OOPS, nearly forgot this regarding the above post:- https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/he-didnt-fool-me-how-trump-changed-his-tone-on-putin-and-the-war-in-ukraine/TSNQZLRCQFBGTPWGJYCRFFZLWY/

But in stark contrast to this and since his 2016 election Trump has been praising Putin on and off over the years and here is a sound bite or two regarding the lovely things that Trump has said about Putin: – – When Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine in 2022, Trump called Putin a “genius” for moving to seize large swathes of territory — applauding what he viewed as hard-line negotiation tactics. AND....“How smart is that? And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper,” Trump said, adding: “Here’s a guy who’s very savvy. I know him very well". As Putin's army slaughtered civilians in the Ukraine suburb and abducted Ukrainian children to Russia, Trump called such actions terrible, but stressed that he got along with him really well – – yeah right! – Trump also said that although he got along well with Putin, "I'm not happy with Pres Putin at all", Trump said on July 7. And now the absolutely stupendous piece of nonsense and rubbish that beats even what Trump has said previously (apart from stopping the war in 24 hours) when he said, "the Russian president has been duplicitous and he has fooled a lot of people. He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, but Trump said "he didn't fool me". LOL..... And Trump said he would be an exception to what he sees as the list of American presidents whom the Russian leader had outmanoeuvred. Laugh, I couldn't stop. You poor demented soul Donnie, he's been playing with you and fooling you since way back in 2016 and despite all of the Trump threats and words, Putin has done exactly what he wanted to do and poor old Donnie has been helplessly watching from the sidelines. The art of the deal my derrière! Trump is not the sharpest knife in the drawer by any means, but he has a lot of supporters and others with lack of similar mental sharpness........

I haven't been following this thread, however my thoughts turned to the possibility that one of the pilots deliberately disengaged the fuel switches, because of depression or mental problems (suicidal) and so I thought I would post this here: – "When NDTV asked if one of the pilots intentionally switched off the fuel, fully aware that doing so could cause a crash, Captain Ranganathan said, "Absolutely." "It has to be manually done," Captain Ranganathan told NDTV when asked if there is any way fuel can be shut off to the engines of the Dreamliner. "It cannot be done automatically or due to a power failure because the fuel selectors are not the sliding type. They are designed to stay in a slot, and you have to pull them out to move them up or down. So, the possibility of inadvertently moving them to the "off" position doesn't arise. It's definitely a case of deliberate manual selection to move it to 'off'." https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/air-india-plane-crash-report-aviation-expert-flags-pilot-suicide-angle-amid-air-india-crash-probe-8864239

Yes!

Hi Pinot, I recently started a thread regarding health insurance as mine is due for renewal this month and the premium was very high! So I negotiated a 50 K deductible (which I would pay) and they dropped the premium to 160,000 baht, which I think is still quite high, however of course if I changed to another health insurance company, any ailments that had occurred in recent times would have to be disclosed, whereas at the moment they are somewhat "covered" by my current insurance. I investigated the self-insure method and will be doing that next year when it comes up for renewal again. I am with Alliance (formerly BUPA) and have never had a claim although they did pay for a colonoscopy a few years back, which was unexpected. Just to add that my total amount of health insurance is topped at 1 million baht, so all in all it's not a brilliant arrangement at the moment, however as I said, I'm pretty sure I will self-insure next year. PS.Have you thought about this......https://www.allianz.co.th/en_TH/health/critical-illness.html