The Trump Presidency

Discussion in 'Politics' started by joepistole, Jan 17, 2017.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    54,036
    They purchase more Democracy than me. It's not supposed to work that way.
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. Bells Staff Member

    Messages:
    24,270
    Sooo..

    In the last 24 hours or so, Trump has:

    Withdrawn the US from UNESCO.
    Again threatened the 1st Amendment.
    Threatened to cancel and withdraw all aid to hurricane devastated Puerto Rico.
    Praised the man who posted tweets of giving a Nazi salute as being a "source of truth".
    Signs EO to start winding back Obamacare.**

    And the US health department is looking to draft a plan to declare that life begins at conception..

    Hmmm...

    And it's not even the end of the week yet.



    ** Updated as it went from a threat to his signing the EO in a matter of hours.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2017
    douwd20 likes this.
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,938
    I can't say this one surprises me... after all, we are currently being driven by a bunch of bible-thumpers that want to "put women back in the kitchen" and make sure they "know their place", all the while screaming to "save the fetus" while saying fuck the child and begging their out-of-wedlock mistresses to have abortions to protect their own image...

    The more educated the public is, the less power they will hold.

    Fucking hypocrites, every one of them.
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    #antiAmerican | #WhatTheyVotedFor

    This is #WhatTheyVotedFor.

    One of the interesting things about political messaging over the last half-century is that we should not be surprised to discover, after all the accusations against liberalism, all the flag draping and patriotic poseur routines, it's not just that conservatives and Republicans are simply dangerously ignorant and corrosively greedy, but that they are largely antisocial and very nearly perfectly anti-American.

    We should have learned a long time ago to watch their focus. They have actually told us this for years—(make your weakness your opponent's, pretend your opponent's strength is yours)—and, having carved out the opportunity, would now prove the point.

    It sounds really, really stupid, and therefore conservatives howl at the sting of insult, but at some point it really does seem like the conservative purpose has become to wreck the American government so they can crow triumphantly that they were right all along about how government just doesn't work, while simultaneously blaming Democrats for various Republican acts.

    Take the ACA, for example. The artificial death-spiral from the "let it die" argument wasn't coming fast enough, so the president, seeing Congressional Republicans fail to do it the way they say they want, will deliberately issue executive orders.

    It also seem worth noting that the term "Obamacare" no longer applies to the Affordable Care Act. If prior threats and manipulations had not claimed title, this latest maneuver does. The Affordable Care Act is now, officially, #Trumpcare.
     
  8. iceaura Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    30,994
    Romneycare was always a better name - watching the Dems get the blame for this Republican kludge, this "free market" crap with no cost controls and no public option and wheelbarrows of money delivered to insurance agency execs at everyone else's expense (my dentist has full time staff for dealing with insurance complications), was a fine opportunity to say "we told you so", but of no comfort otherwise.
    Until the people in control of the US news media get the memo, it's going to be Obamacare regardless of how badly the Republicans screw it up. Because both sides, and now tribalism, and the news media refuse to take sides.
     
  9. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    Got any dirt on Trump that would lead to an impeachment?

    "$10 MILLION FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO THE IMPEACHMENT AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE OF DONALD J. TRUMP."

    $10
    million on offer from Hustler founder Larry Flynt
    Src: many
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...t-trump-impeachment-award-20171014-story.html
    Flynt said. "I don't think you can live as recklessly as Trump has for 30 years and not leave some baggage along the way . . . I can't think of something more patriotic to do than to try to get to get this moron out of office."
    Dare I suggest that Trump is in trouble now. Every hooker in the USA is now going to be diggin' for gold.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2017
  10. iceaura Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    30,994
    Unless Mueller comes through spectacularly, he's not. Anything else would be just more fake news.

    We're in more trouble than he is. The media is currently engaged in separating Trump from the Republican Party, using him as a scapegoat for Republican dysfunction, and absolving Congressional and State Republicans from the consequences of his behavior. If they succeed, the Dems may actually lose major ground in the midterms - including the filibuster in the Senate.

    (Nobody has to worry about the effects of that on Trump's base voting Republican - they have been well conditioned to see and hear only what they are supposed to, from certain viewpoints).
     
  11. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    So the only solution is to give the republicans their head and hope that when they do stuff up , and they certainly will stuff up, that they stuff up so badly that that the USA many even become a temporary one party state. As in no republicans at all. ( if you catch my drift)
     
  12. iceaura Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    30,994
    Here we go, as anticipated: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/enemy-combatants-again_us_59e50369e4b0ca9f4839d36c

    Trump has revived the term "enemy combatant", and the W innovation of using terminology like that to allow American citizens (and noncitizens arrested in the US) to be imprisoned and abused indefinitely without charge or other due process, by the US military or intelligence agencies. In this case, somebody captured in Syria - we don't know for sure who, why, or what for, and we may have to impeach this pos to find out.

    Obama discontinued that terminology and the policy involved with it in 2009, and since then dozens of alleged terrorists have been charged, tried, convicted, sentenced, and imprisoned under due process of law in the US. Meanwhile, even alleged perps of 9/11 are still in military custody awaiting disposition of their cases 16 years later - W's torture policy created a damn mess, costs a fortune, and never yielded a single established positive benefit, while betraying every single principle this country ever stood for. ( That the same people who flew the American flag over the torture prison archipelago W established are now accusing some football quarterback of disrespecting that flag by quietly taking a knee during the anthem, is solid proof of their character).
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2017
  13. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,938
    http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/1...96d4368db4c88779e6ab#cmpid=nsltr_stryheadline

    Man without a country deported by Trump administration
    Isn't that just peachy... 18 years in America, no criminal history, complied with everything he was asked to do... and now he's given das boot...

    https://thinkprogress.org/mamadu-balde-sierra-leone-b267cdddb64e/

    18 years in the US... his life is here. His kids, his wife, his job... everything... and now, it's being ripped away from him.

    To all here who voted Trump - this, and many stories like this, are on your head. You are splitting up loving families, deporting hardworking people, and depriving employers of good, dedicated employees. You are leaving children without their mothers and fathers. You are the ones driving these people underground, rather than coming forward and working towards legal citizenship.

    Congratulations, assholes.
     
  14. Quantum Quack Life's a tease... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    23,328
    According to Forbes, Trumps net worth took a dive of over $600 million, down 92 spots to 248 over last 12 months.
    src: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-net-worth-plummets-forbes-richest-list-n811471

    I would hate to speculate on how much of a dive the USA took in the same period, but would guess that it would be massively more ....
    Certainly when it comes to credibility and honoring commitments , contracts etc...

    The amount of opportunity lost due to Trumps behavior ( lack of honor) and the fear he generates would be massive IMO
     
  15. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    54,036
    Yeah but, black people are disrespecting the flag.

    You can't appeal to the compassion of people who have none.
     
  16. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    #hatred | #WhatTheyVotedFor

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!


    Click for subtle poison.

    I need my fellow Americans to understand something: These are Republicans. Learn the goddamn lesson.

    Nothing a conservative tells you should ever be trusted. Ask yourself a question: What is a fair sales job? If I point to the fuel efficiency, the new transmission, the interactive communications station with GPS and a wi-fi, maybe I can sell the average consumer a car without them asking about that Consumer Reports assessment on braking. Then again, the review could have been worse.

    Now, then: If the customer asks,we have a preset answer about the brakes: Lie and say the other company's cars explode into flame when you apply the brakes.

    And if you were caught doing that with the car someone just bought, they would complain.

    If you just did that with their civil rights, a Republican will vote for you and blame Democrats for stealing civil rights.

    When they told us they were worried about undocumented immigration delaying and interfering with legal immigration, they were lying.

    This cruelty is precisely #WhatTheyVotedFor. Any Republican or self-identifying conservative pretending otherwise is lying to you. We've been through this over and over and over again for at least twenty-five years, and here we are, and quite clearly the destruction not only of "American values" but also the United States of America.

    Do not allow the identifying conservatives and Republicans around you to squirm out of the question of when they decided to oppose the United States of America. Not one of them who takes offense and tells you they didn't or don't is representing truth.

    For over a quarter century, now, my personal political sphere, the decisions I as a voter, citizen, and member of community am asked to make, has included a large and influential political movement, and its associated political party, hoping to make it legal to murder me. Pretty much anyone who supports this movement or its party organization announces themselves a mortal threat to me and many others. Here's the sick part: As a subject bloc, mine is about as well off as any group Republicans and conservatives would seek to inflict suffering upon.

    That is to say, yes, they want to murder me and people like me, but, hey, my particular bloc is in good enough shape right now that we'll be participating in the defense of other target blocs.

    And all those people who demanded others lighten up on conservatives and traditionalism, who bent over backwards and tied themselves in knots trying to hamstring the human endeavor according to some pathetic pretense of being fair, have precisely no credibility left in such matters. There are plenty who will say they knew all along that their conservative and Republican neighbors really were bloodthirsty antisocials, and some of them were right, and some were just following on, and some are just making up braggadocio for whatever reasons, and nor did anybody actually mean what they said↱.

    But one thing is clear: When the Southern Strategy meant a pretense of offense—("Why is everybody who disagrees with you a racist?")—it was as much of a lie as it sounded and read. The fallacy is clear; I cannot recall anyone ever saying such things to me while opposing the racism on the table. Still, though, the fallacy has effect; indeed, variations arise in other discourse about bigotry and supremacism, and altogether seem instrumental to the reactionary context of sympathetic narrative explaining why certain ranges of voters buried their own interests in order to vote for Donald Trump. This cruelty is what they want; it is what they voted for; it is, within its range, definitive of character insofar as any would attempt to justify themselves. They ran out of excuses for how this is an accident a long, long time ago. The hatred they show has become what it means to be an American conservative.

    Congratulations, indeed.

    Here's a tougher question, though: To a certain degree I'm just fine with saying what I've said in this post because I am confident about the history; what feels considerably less certain is at what point making the point is mere fishwalloping, because at some point, if we cannot convince these people to be ... what, what do we want to say about them here? ... useful? decent? ... we still need to find a way to move forward. It is absurd to me that the heart of traditional Americanism would, in the first place, and, moreover, should have such power as to even conceive to attempt, call the whole thing off.

    That is to say, this is a very difficult time for these United States of America, but there is no way we surrender the Republic and actually validate the fact of the lie. Here's a fun fact: The one portion of the U.S. Constitution that is not actually binding and effective under law is the part that tells us what it is for.

    But as we read through the Preamble↱

    We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

    —it becomes clear that Republicans really haven't been in on this part of the social contract for a while, now. Conservatives, traditionally, have never been in on this part of the social contract, and no, not even when Democrats were the conservatives. Think back to Maryland. The Catholics wanted to be different from their Protestant persecutors, so they passed a religious tolerance law for Christians. Protestants plantationed a majority, struck the tolerance law, and began persecuting Catholics.

    We recall Abigail Adams: "Remember the Ladies!" Her husband's response↱

    As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh. We have been told that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government every where. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient―that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent―that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent to their Masters.

    But your Letter was the first Intimation that another Tribe more numerous and powerfull than all the rest were grown discontented.―This is rather too coarse a Compliment but you are so saucy, I wont blot it out.

    Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems. Altho they are in full Force, you know they are little more than Theory. We dare not exert our Power in its full Latitude. We are obliged to go fair, and softly, and in Practice you know We are the subjects. We have only the Name of Masters, and rather than give up this, which would compleatly subject Us to the Despotism of the Peticoat, I hope General Washington, and all our brave Heroes would fight. I am sure every good Politician would plot, as long as he would against Despotism, Empire, Monarchy, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, or Ochlocracy.―A fine Story indeed. I begin to think the Ministry as deep as they are wicked. After stirring up Tories, Landjobbers, Trimmers, Bigots, Canadians, Indians, Negroes, Hanoverians, Hessians, Russians, Irish Roman Catholicks, Scotch Renegadoes, at last they have stimulated the to demand new Priviledges and threaten to rebell.

    —for some reason, is not nearly so famous.

    Okay, that's not fair; we need not wonder why.

    Indeed, I should clarify: That traditionalism should have such power as to even conceive to attempt calling the whole thing off is not surprising, merely absurd. We are, after all, Americans. Quite often we point out that the dumbing down of society bears a bitter harvest, but at the same time we might recall the prospect of enlightement always did violate the delicate sensibilities of traditionalistic sleights of rhetoric.

    It precedes the Republic. The trial of Anne Hutchinson↱ reminds this subtle poison has been with us since before the whole time. It is not subtle, anymore; all my life, the one thing we were supposed to not accept was happening is what is happening right now, and it can't be happening right now if it wasn't true the whole time. This is not ex nihilo.

    At some point, the obvious logical thing to do is believe what we're seeing. Meanwhile, regardless of what you or I might think of their psychomoral priorities, pretty much anyone wearies of perpetual fishwalloping.
    ____________________

    Notes:

    Adams, John. "John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1776". Adams Family Correspondence, eds. L. H. Butterfield et al. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963. HERB.ASHP.cuny.edu. 17 October 2017. http://bit.ly/2gN3rt4

    Perdurabo, Fr. "Onion Peelings". The Book of Lies. 1913. BibliotecaPleyades.net. 17 October 2017. http://bit.ly/2pWgPxe

    Trial and Interrogation of Anne Hutchinson . 1637. Swarthmore.edu. 17 October 2017. http://bit.ly/2kXa6RJ

    Constitution of United States of America. 1992. Law.Cornell.edu. 17 October 2017. http://bit.ly/2ik6HzQ
     
    Write4U likes this.
  17. Write4U Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    20,069
    George Carlin painted a great picture of the current landscape.


    Does this remind of the current state of affairs? Follow the chronology of these observations.
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2017
  18. cluelusshusbund + Public Dilemma + Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,985
    Congratulatons are also in order for the Azz-Holes who just stayed home or didnt vote for Hillary.!!!
     
  19. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    Ten months↱, by the way.

    Who could have imagined the adventure along the way?
     
  20. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    ^^^
    Why? More people voted for Clinton than for Trump.

    <>
     
  21. cluelusshusbund + Public Dilemma + Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,985
    Yep... but sadly she lacked elector votes... an the stoopidity/hypocrisy is laffable for those who didnt see much diference between Trump an Clinton so they just stayed home or voted ther "conscience" for a third party canditate... especially when they now have the gall to only mention Trump voters as bein Azz-Holes.!!!
    ..............

    An to the other... who coudnt have emagined the adventure along the way... why... the Dum-Azzes mentoned above ^^^ thats who.!!!
     
  22. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    Briefly: I think there is something to be said about the difference between the United States of America in 2017 and our international neighbors in the so-called industrial world that we can easily discern from news that Gord Downie is dead.

    Today, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood before the nation and informed whoever was left and hadn't heard of the worst news our northland neighbors can hear this side of a mass shooting, that the lead singer of the Tragically Hip has died. Knowing it was coming doesn't help; music fans around the world join their Canadian neighbors in hoisting a tearful toast.

    And the Prime Minister wept with his people. He couldn't help it; I mean, come on, it's the fucking Tragically Hip.

    It's Gord Downie: Good night, sir, and thank you.

    Our president could never do the same, nor would the voters who elected him respect and support such pathos.

    There will be music again in Canada; we might rest assured they're playing loudly tonight, but it still sounds like silence.

    Still, that's the thing. Canada will carry on; they're going to be okay.

    North of the border, a nation just showed greater respect for the passing of a pop star than Donald Trump can muster for the soldiers we send out to die for us.

    And for anyone who ever gave a damn about the fact that a country called Canada exists, and happens to live right next door, and we're supposed to like them because we're not funny without help from Toronto, that difference ought to mean something.

     
  23. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    Woman who gave Trump the middle finger fired from her job


    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!




    A woman whose picture went viral after she raised her middle finger at Donald Trump as his motorcade passed her on her bicycle has been fired from her job.
    Juli Briskman was cycling in Virginia last month when she offered the gesture in a gut reaction to Trump’s policies, she said.
    “He was passing by and my blood just started to boil,” she told the Huffington Post. “I’m thinking, Daca recipients are getting kicked out. He pulled ads for open enrollment in Obamacare. Only one third of Puerto Rico has power. I’m thinking, he’s at the damn golf course again.
    “I flipped off the motorcade a number of times.”

    A photographer traveling with the presidential motorcade snapped Briskman’s picture and the image quickly spread across news outlets and social media. Many hailed Briskman as a hero, with some saying she should run in the 2020 election. Late-night comedy hosts also picked up the story.
    Briskman had been working as a marketing and communications specialist for a Virginia-based federal contractor, Akima, for six months. She thought it best to alert the HR department to the online fuss. Bosses then called her into a meeting, she said.

    “They said, ‘We’re separating from you,’” Briskman told the Huffington Post. “‘Basically, you cannot have lewd or obscene things in your social media.’ So they were calling flipping him off obscene.”
    She said the company was displeased she had used the image as her profile picture on Twitter and Facebook, and told her it violated social media policy and could hurt the company’s reputation as a government contractor.
    Briskman said she pointed out that her social media pages do not mention her employer, and that the incident happened on her own time. She also said another employee had written a profane insult about someone on Facebook, but had been allowed to keep his job after deleting the post and being reprimanded.
    Virginia, however, has “at will” employment laws, meaning private-sector employers can fire people for any reason.
    Suddenly, the 50-year-old mother of two found herself looking for a new job.
    Briskman, who votes Democratic, said she planned to look for a new job with an advocacy group she believes in, such as Planned Parenthood or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

    After leaving his Virginia golf club and before passing Briskman, Trump’s motorcade passed a pedestrian who gave a vigorous thumbs-down gesture. Another woman had been standing outside the entrance to the golf club, holding a sign saying “Impeach”.
    As news of Briskman’s firing spread, many social media users asked why she was being penalized for expressing free speech on her own time, under the first amendment to the US constitution.
    Akima did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, its website went down. Someone began a crowdfunding page online to raise money for Briskman.
    Briskman said she had no regrets about the attention her public show of displeasure received. In fact, she said, she was happy to be an image of protest.
    “In some ways, I’m doing better than ever,” she said. “I’m angry about where our country is right now. I am appalled. This was an opportunity for me to say something.”

    <>
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page