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sidd

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6050 on: August 11, 2020, 09:41:53 PM »
Stanley at El Pais: Fascism, Trump and the Republican party

"The United States, even under the Trump administration, is at this moment not a fascist regime."

"it would be naïve to be concerned only about regimes that are already fascist. If we only ever worried about regimes that were fascist, we would be helpless in the face of social and political movements that sought eventually to transform liberal democracies in more fascist directions."

"attacks weaken democracies even if a fully fascist regime does not emerge on the other end of the political process."

"Open racism is a characteristic feature of fascist political movements and parties. President Trump’s politics have always involved racism ... And yet Trump is hardly the first president to appeal to racism in his political campaign ... Racism is the norm in American presidential campaigns."

" what is truly alarming about the current moment is not the set of actions that the Trump administration is undertaking, but rather the historical context in which these actions are taking place."

"A one-party state is a characteristic feature of authoritarian regimes ... There is legitimate concern that the US Republican party is a minority party seeking permanent one-party rule."

" the United States has just emerged from a “war on terror” ... It led to the creation of a massive new state administration– the Department of Homeland Security – with new national police-like forces, ICE and CBP, granted extraordinary powers ... Fascist regimes often emerge after colonial wars, where the forces that fought these wars are directed domestically, against political opponents. "

"these actions are taking place in the context of a governing political party that has shown tremendous ruthlessness over a long period in the service of controlling a country in which it has minority support. And they are taking place in a country that has failed to dismantle the security apparatus it developed in a failed Middle Eastern imperialist adventure ... This moment is frightening not just because of current demons, but because the country has for too long allowed its prior demons to persist undisturbed."

https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-08-01/american-fascism.html

sidd

wili

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6051 on: August 11, 2020, 10:31:41 PM »
MSM hasn't quite given up completely on covering AGW:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/08/10/trump-vs-biden-climate-change-policies-mh-orig.cnn

Quote
Trump vs Biden on climate change

President Donald Trump has expressed doubt over the reasons for climate change while Joe Biden has called it an "existential threat."

https://www.cnn.com/videos/weather/2020/08/07/bill-weir-climate-covid-19-project-planet-orig.cnn/video/playlists/project-planet/

Quote
What we can learn from Covid-19 for the climate crisis

CNN's Bill Weir explores what we can learn from Covid-19 to better prepare for the impact of the climate crisis.
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6052 on: August 11, 2020, 10:37:33 PM »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

ralfy

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6053 on: August 12, 2020, 05:56:24 AM »
This is what fascism looks like:

Trump to sign executive order limiting social media fact-checks of his content

Link >> https://old.reddit.com/r/Keep_Track/comments/grxxaj/trump_to_sign_executive_order_limiting_social/

If I'm not mistaken, such an EO would also protect his opponents.

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6054 on: August 15, 2020, 11:02:06 PM »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

The Walrus

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6055 on: August 16, 2020, 01:39:00 PM »
This is what fascism looks like:

Trump to sign executive order limiting social media fact-checks of his content

Link >> https://old.reddit.com/r/Keep_Track/comments/grxxaj/trump_to_sign_executive_order_limiting_social/

If I'm not mistaken, such an EO would also protect his opponents.

True.  It may eliminate whatever truth remains in campaigning.

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6056 on: August 20, 2020, 04:48:41 PM »
'Best People': Steve Bannon, Former Trump Adviser, Arrested for Fraud
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/08/20/former-trump-advisor-steve-bannon-arrested-on-charges-of-defrauding-donors-in-fundraising-scheme.html

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was arrested on Thursday after being charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors through his "We Build the Wall" fundraising campaign.

Investigators allege that the group of conservative leaders defrauded donors and that led to raising "more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States," according to the press release.

The campaign was intended to raise money to help President Donald Trump fulfill a campaign promise of building a border wall along the border. Instead, prosecutors allege, that Bannon and his team profited off of the arrangement.

Prosecutors claim that the defendants "collectively received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from 'We Build the Wall,' which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization's public representations," according to the indictment.

Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett said:  "The defendants allegedly engaged in fraud when they misrepresented the true use of donated funds.  As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth. "

...he would "not take a penny in salary or compensation" and that "100% of the funds raised . . . will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose" because, as BANNON publicly stated, "we're a volunteer organization."

...  BANNON, through a non-profit organization under his control ("Non-Profit-1"), received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which BANNON used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in BANNON's personal expenses.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2020, 07:31:03 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6057 on: August 22, 2020, 07:06:15 PM »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6058 on: August 30, 2020, 11:22:16 PM »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Paddy

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6059 on: August 31, 2020, 05:32:51 AM »
He also promised to "drain the swamp"... then proceeded to profiteer from the role by spending federal money like water on his businesses, hiring many members of his family for roles they were not qualified for in the most blatant show of nepotism, and hiring corrupt types like Bannon who syphoned off further money for themselves from the "build the wall" fund etc.

Freegrass

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6060 on: September 04, 2020, 04:24:09 AM »
It's been said many times before, but calling dead American soldiers losers because they died fighting for their country? Is this the line he shouldn't have crossed?

Is Trump finally done?

90% of the world is religious, but somehow "love thy neighbour" became "fuck thy neighbours", if they don't agree with your point of view.

WTF happened?

sidd

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6061 on: September 04, 2020, 10:34:04 PM »
Taibbi at substack: Trump presidency needs to end

"Donald Trump is so unlike most people, and so especially unlike anyone raised under a conventional moral framework, that he’s perpetually misdiagnosed. The words we see slapped on him most often, like “fascist” and “authoritarian,” nowhere near describe what he really is, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. It’s been proven across four years that Trump lacks the attention span or ambition required to implement a true dictatorial regime. He might not have a moral problem with the idea, but two minutes into the plan he’d leave the room, phone in hand, to throw on a robe and watch himself on Fox and Friends over a cheeseburger. "

"We’re a sales culture and Trump is a salesman. Moreover he’s not just any salesman; he might be the greatest salesman ever, considering the quality of the product, i.e. himself. "

"The question, “What is Trump thinking?” is the wrong one. He’s not thinking, he’s selling. What’s he selling? Whatever pops into his head. The beauty of politics from his point of view, compared to every other damn thing he’s sold in his life — steaks, ties, pillows, college degrees, chandeliers, hotels, condominiums, wine, eyeglasses, deodorant, perfume (SUCCESS by Trump!), mattresses, etc. — is that there’s no product. The pitch is the product, and you can give different pitches to different people and they all buy. "

"to Trump speeches aren’t moral acts in themselves, they’re just “words that he is saying,” "

"The paradox ensnaring America since November, 2016 is that Trump never intended to govern, while his opponents never intended to let him try. "

"it was decided even before he was elected that admitting the president was the president was “normalizing” him."

"Democrats instead turned politics into a paranoiac’s dream, imbuing Trump’s every move with earth-shattering importance as America became a single, never-ending, televised referendum on His Orangeness."

"The last four years have been like living through an O.J. trial where O.J. testifies all day (and tweets at night) ...  it’s constantly implied that being anything less than enthralled by the Trump show is an inexcusable show of privilege"

"His schtick is to provoke rivals to the point where they drop what they’re doing and spend their time screaming at him"

"who’s more annoying, the blowhard, or the people who can’t stop talking about the blowhard? "

"What would he be running on, if he didn’t have Russiagate, “fake news,” and impeachment? "

"Life under Trump has been like an endless Twitter war: infuriating, depressing, filling us all with self-loathing, but also addictive. He is selling an experience that everyone is buying, even the people who think they oppose him the most"

"this is all beginning to feel like a slow-motion rerun of the same car crash from four years ago"

"Trump has made us all crazy, and it’s time for the show to be over."

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-trump-era-sucks-and-needs-to

sidd


ralfy

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6062 on: September 05, 2020, 03:46:04 AM »
His opponents include combinations of neoliberals and neconservatives who work for Wall Street, which in turn is dependent on the petrodollar and funds the military industrial complex.

It's like that Alien vs. Predator movie: "whoever wins...we lose."

gerontocrat

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6063 on: September 05, 2020, 05:04:29 PM »
His opponents include combinations of neoliberals and neconservatives who work for Wall Street, which in turn is dependent on the petrodollar and funds the military industrial complex.

It's like that Alien vs. Predator movie: "whoever wins...we lose."
It's interesting to watch Wall Street shifting ground a bit.

Some realise that they will not be able to control their monster if he gets a second term.
Some smart money is shiftiing out of fossil fuels into renewables.
Many are doing both - they watched the movie. After, morals, ethics etc are for other people.

"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

ralfy

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6064 on: September 06, 2020, 05:02:24 AM »
It's interesting to watch Wall Street shifting ground a bit.

Some realise that they will not be able to control their monster if he gets a second term.
Some smart money is shiftiing out of fossil fuels into renewables.
Many are doing both - they watched the movie. After, morals, ethics etc are for other people.

I also noted the ff., though:

Most of his assets and businesses are in high-class real estate, not financial instruments or even manufacturing and services. That means whatever floats Wall Street's or even Main Street's boat probably doesn't concern him much.

It turns out that he might also be an ally of Xi and other Chinese leaders because they are pro-reformists:

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3046586/donald-trump-really-xi-jinpings-friend-phase-one-us-china-trade

That is, the free trade that he wants is what they wanted all along, as they ended up promising to buy more from the U.S.

Meanwhile, his views of using the military is mixed but appears to veer towards peace, and likely because he is more interested in trade deals and doing business instead of following what Bush and Obama did.

In which case, it's possible that rather than being Wall Street's monster he won unexpectedly. They were expecting Clinton to win and to continue what Obama did, including the pivot to Asia, bailing out Wall Street bankers, and finding more ways to destabilize countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Finally, my understanding about smart money is that it does so for various pragmatic reasons always based on maximization of profit. In that case, the shift probably started after 2005, when oil prices went up and concerns over not just global warming but even peak oil emerged.

sidd

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6065 on: September 06, 2020, 07:35:28 AM »
ooo, anti war afghanisthan ambassador: immediate withdrawal

"Will Ruger to be the next ambassador to Afghanistan ... [Will] Ruger, an anti-interventionist conservative, has long championed an immediate withdrawal of American troops from that country."

"a peace deal between Afghans shouldn’t be a prerequisite for doing the right thing for the US"

"Ruger’s nomination is not only a nod to the Koch empire ... but also a recognition of the growing bipartisan discomfort with America’s endless foreign wars. Last year, the libertarian-leaning Charles Koch teamed up with George Soros in a much-publicized move to fund the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which aims to provide a dovish counterweight"

“Donald Trump wants to get out of Afghanistan because he doesn’t give a fuck about Afghans,”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/09/trumps-pick-for-afghanistan-ambassador-wants-to-withdraw-us-troops-immediately/

Bet his nomination fails. Mil-ind-congress mafia is deep rooted.

sidd

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6066 on: September 07, 2020, 03:24:02 PM »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Paddy

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6067 on: September 16, 2020, 12:27:44 AM »
So the rest of the world may not get a vote, but Trump's international rating is pretty epically bad: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/09/15/us-image-plummets-internationally-as-most-say-country-has-handled-coronavirus-badly/

(Personally, I'm amazed Johnson isn't doing so badly yet. Give him time, I suppose; I imagine the latest stunt won't have done him any favours in Europe).

FishOutofWater

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6068 on: September 16, 2020, 04:28:36 PM »
Trump is the ultimate diversion. While he gets the spotlight the thieves tied to his regime are stealing everything that isn't bolted down with rockbolts.

Even the virus has become a vehicle for the rich to get richer while regular folks die.

Tabbi is mostly right but he gets it wrong by not highlighting the extraordinary level of corruption and how Trump is enabling and normalizing it. The country is dying and burning and the Trump regime sees this as an opportunity to loot while we are distracted by Trump.

Trump is extraordinarily evil and so are his enablers.

gandul

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6069 on: September 16, 2020, 06:55:58 PM »
Trump is the ultimate diversion. While he gets the spotlight the thieves tied to his regime are stealing everything that isn't bolted down with rockbolts.

Even the virus has become a vehicle for the rich to get richer while regular folks die.

Tabbi is mostly right but he gets it wrong by not highlighting the extraordinary level of corruption and how Trump is enabling and normalizing it. The country is dying and burning and the Trump regime sees this as an opportunity to loot while we are distracted by Trump.

Trump is extraordinarily evil and so are his enablers.
Adding the dem led US congress, special mention to Pelosi, and the unanimity of US Senate to your axis of evil, for giving unlimited trillions to failing billionaires and speculators and misery to main street.
It’s funny that even Sanders turned out to be one of the ‘enablers’.

sidd

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6070 on: September 17, 2020, 12:02:46 AM »
Grabell and Yeung at propublica: meatpackers and Trump exec order to keep meat industry going

"In late April ...  President Donald Trump issued a controversial executive order aimed at keeping the plants open to supply food "

"the nation’s meatpackers who were being urged, or ordered, to suspend production by local health officials worried about the spread of the coronavirus."

"Just a week before the order was issued, the meat industry’s trade group drafted an executive order that bears striking similarities to the one the president signed"

"The draft that Julie Anna Potts, the president of the North American Meat Institute, sent to top officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture"

 “Trade associations of all types routinely suggest legislative language, comment on proposed rules, and other provisions that are shared with the government,”

“All policy is shaped by people who have a stake in it ... But I can’t think of something that was so direct between the stakeholder asking for action and getting it.”

"The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents workers responsible for the majority of U.S. beef and pork production, said no one from the White House or the USDA sought its input before the executive order was issued."

" many state and local health officials view the order as superseding their authority or decided to back off in the face of political pressure from the Trump administration."

"Since the order, however, COVID-19 infections among meatpacking workers have multiplied. "

"a strong and consistent message from the President or Vice President like that delivered by the Governor of Nebraska yesterday is vital: being afraid of COVID-19 is not a reason to quit your job and you are not eligible for unemployment compensation if you do."

"as state and local health officials sought to order JBS to shut down its Greeley, Colorado, plant, the company appealed to Gov. Jared Polis and then to Vice President Mike Pence."

"State health director Jill Hunsaker Ryan told the head of the county Health Department that she had received a call from Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"“JBS was in touch with the VP who had Director Redfield call me,” she wrote in an email, first reported by The Denver Post. “They want us to use CDC’s critical infrastructure guidance, (sending asymptomatic people back to work even if we suspect exposure but they have no symptoms) even with the outbreak at present level.”"

"Tyson and National Beef made similar appeals to the Kansas Department of Agriculture when the state Health Department wanted workers to stay off the line for two weeks if they had come in contact with a positive COVID-19 case, public records first reported by The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle show. The state’s secretary of agriculture coordinated with meat companies and the director of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, who then agreed to follow the less-strict CDC guidance.:

" the Bear River Health Department in northern Utah, where nearly 400 JBS workers have tested positive for COVID-19, told the press it couldn’t shut the plant down because of the executive order."

"In Virginia, state health officials had initially recommended that poultry companies close their plants for two weeks ... But the state backed off “to maintain the critical food production infrastructure.” "

"the National Chicken Council wrote to the USDA with complaints that the county Health Department in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was requiring testing of all employees at poultry plants in the area. This would have the effect of closing down the plants, the trade group warned, because they were already short-staffed and testing could cause fear among the remaining workers."

"Smithfield also went to the USDA for help dealing with a local public Health Department in Kane County, Illinois, which had closed the plant days before Trump’s executive order was issued. "

https://www.propublica.org/article/emails-show-the-meatpacking-industry-drafted-an-executive-order-to-keep-plants-open

sidd

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6071 on: September 18, 2020, 10:02:13 PM »
Yes, The United States Did Draw Up A Plan To Drop 80 Nuclear Weapons On North Korea
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36519/yes-the-united-states-did-draw-up-a-plan-to-drop-80-nuclear-weapons-on-north-korea

In 2017, a war between North Korea and the United States was much “much closer than anyone would know,” President Trump claims.

Current  nuclear war plans are among any nuclear-armed military’s most closely guarded secrets. Details of one such attack plan recently became available, however, revealing that the United States envisaged using 80 nuclear weapons in case of war with North Korea. The way this particular detail emerged is also pretty unusual — the associated passage appeared in U.S. journalist Bob Woodward’s book Rage, detailing President Trump’s administration, which was published this week.

In fact, the particular quote from the book was not entirely clear:

"The Strategic Command in Omaha had carefully reviewed and studied OPLAN 5027 for regime change in North Korea — the U.S. response to an attack that could include the use of 80 nuclear weapons."

In an interview with NPR, Woodward cleared up any confusion, noting that the 80 nuclear weapons were part of a U.S. attack plan — OPLAN 5027, which would include ‘decapitating’ the North Korean regime of dictator Kim Jong-un. ... U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis was worried he might have to issue orders for a nuclear strike on North Korea. “The potential we’d have to shoot to prevent a second launch was real,” Mattis admitted.

“You’re going to incinerate a couple million people,” Mattis told himself, according to Woodward. “No person has the right to kill a million people as far as I’m concerned, yet that’s what I have to confront.”

There were alarm bells set up in Mattis’s bedroom and kitchen too, and on more than one occasion during the summer of 2017 they sounded the alert, and he entered the communications room in his Washington DC residency. Woodward explains that Mattis’s car was also constantly followed by an SUV with a team equipped to plot the flight path of any incoming missile, whether it was threatening Japan, South Korea, or the United States. If Mattis considered the missile hostile, he had a mobile communications link to issue launch orders to shoot it down.

... In one of his interviews, Trump tells Woodward he considered that Korean Kim Jong-un “was totally prepared” to go to war with the United States, and that full-blown conflict between the two nations was “much closer than anyone would know.”
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

bbr2315

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6072 on: September 19, 2020, 02:01:13 AM »
Welp. Looks like Rs now have the next few decades of the Supreme Court.

Ktb

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6073 on: September 19, 2020, 03:17:56 PM »
Hopefully nobody here is a woman/has daughters/nieces/aunts/wives/mothers.

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) ladies and gentlemen: Tom Cotton after Trump names him potential Supreme Court nominee: 'It's time for Roe v. Wade to go'

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/515728-tom-cotton-after-trump-names-him-possible-justice-its-time-for-roe-v
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

oren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6074 on: September 21, 2020, 12:32:25 AM »
Hopefully nobody here is human...
But seriously the USA is so fucked up. This will affect all. Very sad.

vox_mundi

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6075 on: September 21, 2020, 02:00:25 AM »
Secret Documents Show How Criminals Use Famous Banks To Finance Terror And Death
https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/global-banks-defy-u-s-crackdowns-by-serving-oligarchs-criminals-and-terrorists/
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/20/leak-reveals-2tn-of-possibly-corrupt-us-financial-activity
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/fincen-files-financial-scandal-criminal-networks

Global banks defy U.S. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists

Secret U.S. government documents reveal that JPMorgan Chase, HSBC and other big banks have defied money laundering crackdowns by moving staggering sums of illicit cash for shadowy characters and criminal networks that have spread chaos and undermined democracy around the world.

The records show that five global banks — JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon — kept profiting from powerful and dangerous players even after U.S. authorities fined these financial institutions for earlier failures to stem flows of dirty money.


And the US government, despite its vast powers, fails to stop it.

... JPMorgan also processed more than $50 million in payments over a decade, the records show, for Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump.

The bank shuttled at least $6.9 million in Manafort transactions in the 14 months after he resigned from the campaign amid a swirl of money laundering and corruption allegations spawning from his work with a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.


Money laundering is a crime that makes other crimes possible. It can accelerate economic inequality, drain public funds, undermine democracy, and destabilize nations — and the banks play a key role. “Some of these people in those crisp white shirts in their sharp suits are feeding off the tragedy of people dying all over the world,” said Martin Woods, a former suspicious transactions investigator for Wachovia.

Laws that were meant to stop financial crime have instead allowed it to flourish. So long as a bank files a notice that it may be facilitating criminal activity, it all but immunizes itself and its executives from criminal prosecution. The suspicious activity alert effectively gives them a free pass to keep moving the money and collecting the fees.

The Trump administration has made it even harder to hold executives personally accountable, under guidance by former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein that warned government agencies against “piling on.”

... In all, suspicious activity reports in the FinCEN Files flagged more than $2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017— including $514 billion at JPMorgan and $1.3 trillion at Deutsche Bank. Western banks could have blocked almost any of them, but in most cases they kept the money moving and kept collecting their fees.

... No wonder Trump doesn't want Deutsche Bank to release his banking records
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

AbruptSLR

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6076 on: September 21, 2020, 04:17:47 AM »
Seth Abramson recently posted the attached list of nine steps that he believes that Donald Trump is planning on to steal the 2020 presidential (& VP) election by claiming fraudulent voting to pressure GOP state official to block otherwise valid electors so that no one gets 270 votes in the electoral college vote thus forcing a contingent election as described in the linked Wikipedia article.  As the voting to determine the next president would be determined in the House of Representatives with each House state delegation casting a single vote; which implies that they would elect Donald Trump as there are more GOP House state delegations than there are Democrat House state delegations.  Furthermore, Seth Abramson believes that the best way to stop Trump's Plan is to expose it as widely as possible so that at least one step of his plan is prevented and Seth suggests that Step 7 "Use GOP official to block electors" is the best place for the public to pressure state officials not to follow Trump's plan to block otherwise valid electors.

Spread the word.

Title: "Contingent election"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingent_election

Extract: "In the United States, a contingent election is the procedure used in presidential elections in the event that no candidate wins an absolute majority of votes in the Electoral College, the constitutional mechanism for electing the president and the vice president of the United States. A contingent election for the president is decided by a vote of the United States House of Representatives, and the contingent election for the vice president is decided by a vote of the United States Senate.

The contingent election procedure, along with the other parts of the presidential election process, was first established in Article Two, Section 1, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, and then modified by the 12th Amendment in 1804. During a contingent election, each House state delegation casts one en bloc vote to determine the president, rather than a vote for each representative. Senators instead cast votes individually for vice president.

All three contingent elections in the 1800s were held by the outgoing Congress, as, at the time, congressional terms ended/began on the same day as presidential terms. In the event of a future Electoral College deadlock regarding either the presidential election or the vice presidential election, it will be the incoming Congress holding a contingent election. This is because the 1933 20th Amendment changed it so that congressional terms now end/begin before presidential and vice presidential terms do."
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
― Leon C. Megginson

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6077 on: September 21, 2020, 12:05:06 PM »
Ktb, hopefully no one here is a preborn baby. They are still at risk of being killed at their mother’s whim.

kassy

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6078 on: September 21, 2020, 03:34:10 PM »
I confirm none of us are recently born babies.
Also misogyny. Grow a womb and you get to vote. 
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6079 on: September 21, 2020, 03:42:43 PM »
Quote
Grow a womb and you get to vote.
That is sexist.

KiwiGriff

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6080 on: September 21, 2020, 08:22:24 PM »
It is the zombie apocalypse.
 We are all just predead corpses.  ;D
Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself.
Notebooks of Lazarus Long.
Robert Heinlein.

kassy

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6081 on: September 21, 2020, 09:42:40 PM »
Quote
Grow a womb and you get to vote.
That is sexist.

You do notice that.
´Killed at their mother’s whim.´ is sexist too.
A whim is something like shall we have a cup cake or kill a baby.

That is is not how it works in real life and the woman knows all the circumstances and you don´t so they get to judge.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6082 on: September 22, 2020, 12:37:52 AM »
That’s the law, kassy. A mother can terminate her pregnancy for any reason whatsoever for nine months. If she doesn’t like what it is doing to her figure she can abort. If the law only allowed abortion to save the mother’s life (say ectopic pregnancy) that would be different but that’s not how it is.
How about we let the baby decide?

wili

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6083 on: September 22, 2020, 04:20:59 AM »
I thought we were not discussing abortion here?

If we are, I have quite a lot to say about it.

Of course you are 100% correct, kassy, that Tom's statements and stance are 100% sexist.

The US Repub politicians' (and that of many in the rank and file) position on this is also 100% fake concern, like pretty much every other stance they so 'fervently' take, as we have just seen in the senate flipflop

They have not been eager to fund prevention, good sex ed, or other methods shown to actually reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions. They have not been eager to support measures that would increase the US's abysmal infant mortality rate, or anything else to really support young children and those who support them.

They have been happy to see small children separated from their parents and locked in cages at eh border.

They don't give a fuck about actual kids and about actually reducing abortions in ways that don't violate women's basic rights to control her own body.

All they want is to destroy those rights, under cover of 'concern' over fetuses.

Again, we have had a very recent example of Senate Repubs doing a 100% reversal on a 'principle' they screamed about from the rooftops just two years ago.

They have destroyed any trust that they have any real convictions beyond the raw desire to stay in power.

And that's all I have to say about that (for now) :)
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."

KiwiGriff

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6084 on: September 22, 2020, 08:15:46 AM »
Abortion is verboten.
No good can come of such a discussion on here.
FWIW
I am with wili and then some.
Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself.
Notebooks of Lazarus Long.
Robert Heinlein.

Ktb

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6085 on: September 22, 2020, 08:22:16 AM »
Seems to me that if somebody were actually against abortion, they would vote for people who have a track record of seeing the greatest percentage decrease in abortion. Not partisan bullshit.

And +1 to basically everything said by wili
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

oren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6086 on: September 22, 2020, 09:32:58 AM »
People who argue against abortion while at the same time arguing against contraceptives. The hypocrisy stinks to high heaven.
I agree though, nothing good will come out of discussing such divisive and religiously-charged issues on the ASIF.

Ktb

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6087 on: September 22, 2020, 10:49:11 AM »
While it may be unpleasant for some to discuss, the reality is that the trump admin and potentially the newest iteration of the Supreme Court will be attacking Roe v Wade (or at least the conservative judges shortlisted to replace RBG have said they will attack it).

So we have something many would rather not discuss that this admin makes a concerted attempt to undermine and attack. We cannot sit idly because some here feel uncomfortable. The short list for SCOTUS picks from Trump is full of judges who want Roe gone. It must be discussed.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6088 on: September 22, 2020, 11:49:38 AM »
Ktb, if you think Trump's SCOTUS picks so far are a Prolifer's wet dream, a lot of Conservatives disagree with you:

The Open Supreme Court Seat Is A Final Test For Trump, Senate Republicans And America’s Conservatives
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-open-supreme-court-seat-is-a-final-test-for-trump-senate-republicans-and-americas-conservatives
Quote
Just because a Republican president nominates a judge, that does not mean that he or she is “conservative”.  We’ve got to quit believing the mainstream media when they put those labels on judges, because the mainstream media should not be trusted.

For example, just consider Neil Gorsuch.  The mainstream media told us that he was “very conservative” when Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court, but instead he has voted with the liberals repeatedly.

But we shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that he has turned out to be a liberal, because he was attending an extremely liberal church when he was nominated…

And in a twist that may surprise religious conservatives who welcomed Gorsuch’s appointment, church leader Rev. Susan Springer, 58, has said she is pro-gay marriage and offers blessings to same sex couples.

The church, which trumpets its ‘inclusive’ ethos on its website, also operates a homeless outreach program that includes an LGBT center and a sexual health clinic in a pamphlet setting out the best places for those in need of help.

And Rev. Springer is so virulently anti-Trump that she attended “the anti-Trump Women’s March in Denver the day after the President’s inauguration”.

Unfortunately, the red flags were ignored and Gorsuch is now a member of the Supreme Court.Next, let’s talk about Brett Kavanaugh.  When he was nominated, the mainstream media couldn’t stop talking about how “conservative” he was, and the left passionately opposed his nomination.

But at the time, I strongly pointed out that conservatives should be the ones opposing his nomination, and the passage of time has proven that I was right.  Kavanaugh has also repeatedly voted with the liberals on the Court, and he has proven that he is not a social conservative at all.

When he was nominated, the way that he was able to get Republican Senator Susan Collins to vote for his confirmation was by assuring her that Roe v. Wade was a settled precedent and by essentially promising her that he would not vote to overturn it if the decision was going to be a 5 to 4 decision.  You can watch Susan Collins discuss her meeting with Kavanaugh right here.

There is no universe in which such a promise would be okay, and Kavanaugh’s nomination should have been immediately withdrawn once this became known.

Instead, Kavanaugh was confirmed and now we are stuck with him.

I vote the candidates endorsed by Right To Life, and I vote the issues as best I can as a Catholic.

Ktb

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6089 on: September 22, 2020, 12:32:49 PM »
When presented with evidence that the abortion rates drop faster under Democrat administrations, he sticks his head in the sand. La la la I'm not listening!!!!!!!

Live as you want. Don't spew bullshit at me.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6090 on: September 22, 2020, 12:34:12 PM »
What is the causal mechanism for such a rate reduction under prochoice Administrations?

DrTskoul

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6091 on: September 22, 2020, 01:05:10 PM »
What is the causal mechanism for such a rate reduction under prochoice Administrations?

Expansion of birth control, expansion of sex ed programs, introduction of plan B, expansion of planned parenthood services, etc

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6092 on: September 22, 2020, 01:29:29 PM »
My understanding of plan B is that it is abortion. A Catholic dogma is that you can't do evil that good may result.
I understand Democratic presidential administrations tend to get more gun and ammo sales than GOP presidents. If you are in favor of gun control should you vote Republican?

Ktb

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6093 on: September 22, 2020, 01:46:11 PM »
I wouldn’t waste your time Tskoul.

As said in the InnuendoStudios video entitled I Hate Mondays: it’s not actually about stopping abortion, it’s about punishing those who get abortions and controlling women.

When Tom and I took the topic of abortion to PM last time, I asked him if holding an 8 week old baby in one hand and a several day old fetus (read a clump of cells in a test tube) and he absolutely had to drop one off a cliff, which one would he choose?

Read his answer for yourself
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6094 on: September 22, 2020, 01:59:54 PM »
Ktb’s question was the no win “Trolley Problem”. It has various variations, all heads I win tails you lose.

wili

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6095 on: September 22, 2020, 04:55:58 PM »
"A Catholic dogma is that you can't do evil that good may result."

Similar to the Repub hierarchy, the Catholic hierarchy has worked very hard to erode its moral authority to something south of zero, since it has become clear that they amount to a criminal enterprise engaged in carefully orchestrated whoring of young children to various of their pedophile priests. They very intentionally did lots and lots of evil for many decades without even any chance of any 'good result,' again, besides the 'good' (for them) result of holding on to power.

Again, that doesn't mean that all of the rank and file Catholics are equally morally bankrupt, but at some point if one continues to support said criminal enterprise, one must accept some responsibility for it.
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6096 on: September 22, 2020, 06:15:28 PM »
Bishops and priests doing wrong does not mean that their dogma is wrong, only that they are failures.

wili

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6097 on: September 22, 2020, 07:51:49 PM »
But why shoould we allow them to impose their dogma, especially when they fail so miserably to follow it themselves...

As the saying goes, their karma ran over their dogma :)









"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6098 on: September 22, 2020, 11:47:56 PM »
Why should the North impose their abolitionist dogma on the South? Why should prochoicers impose their dogma on the children in the womb at risk of being dismembered by the abortionists instruments? Why should the allies impose their dogma on the Third Reich?

wili

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #6099 on: September 23, 2020, 12:01:14 AM »
And...false equivalence rules the day again.

Can't post for a while--father dying.

Best wishes to all in troubled times.
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."