[Plantagenet]

Yes. I know just what you mean.


I often look at stuff and wonder how it got there.

[lpetrich]

She likes to be seen with Tlaib and Omar who are both very vocal wingnut anti-semites...

Those two ladies haven't exactly been chanting "Jews will not replace us!"

Also, AOC, RT, and IO have endorsed Bernie Sanders for President, and BS is Jewish. AOC had campaigned for BS back in 2016, so their relationship goes back some way.

[Cog]

Like most Palestinians, AOC and crew support terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah if they are killing Israelis.

[Zarquon]

... All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. - Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)

– Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert

Unfortunately, the spice must flow. And in a well-organized system it doesn't even matter much whether you vote or who you vote for. Come 2017, the treasury would go to Goldman one way or another.

[Cog]

Dohboi perfectly describes what he wants. An authoritarian socialist utopia where a left wing idealogue rules over all of us. Thanks doiboi for the clarification.

[Newfie]

Cog,

I agree that the article is politically biased in that it points to Trump as the start of the “pathocracy” or whatever it’s called. And there is no doubt that Trump is vain and petty.

Where the author gets it wrong is tracing the start to Trump. It would have been far better to trace it to FDR who was only removed from office by death. We then got a short reprieve from Truman and Eisenhower. Since then we have been tending more towards this model. One could easily argue that LBJ and Nixon were both so afflicted.

But clearly Bill Clinton self smitten, and he move the Democrat party far right to secure his power. The best thing for him to do, for the party, would have been to let Gore take over. But he could not let go of the power. GEB led us into an extremely costly conflict approved legislation degrading American freedoms. Obama expander on that and played up to big oil, while mouthing platitudes to keep the masses quiet. And I think there is no doubt Hillary fits the mood and would have been a disaster along these lines.

So I think Dohboi has a good point.

The question is how do we stop this nonsense. It seems we are more interested in making sure our personal psychopath is in power than finding a way to exclude them from power.

[Cog]

Follow the Constitution, respect the individual rights as listed in them, and quit relying on government to solve your personal problems. The issue about dictators goes away if we elect politicians who respect the above.

[Newfie]

I’m not seeing that happen under the 2 party system we have.

While a Trump may be moderately more respectful than Hillary was, or the crop of wanna be’s he is no paragon to be emulated.

In this case the constitution is not at fault, other than it does not prohibit or constrain party politics. I’m advocating some change to the constitution to remedy that.

We need some serious paradigm change. As it is we are just stuck in this frightful polarity. It may be to your advantage today, but when it flips you won’t like it. There will be revenge. And it sucks.

A third party candidate would be a good idea.

[Newfie]

On Trump and black support, who knows which polls are correct...

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jack-br ... -heres-why

[lpetrich]

Like most Palestinians, AOC and crew support terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah if they are killing Israelis.

Evidence?

[lpetrich]

Here are two recent tweets that IMO are very revealing about these two:

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "No normal person would be able to get away with attempting to extort a foreign power to compromise our country. But all too often, the most corrupt and powerful people grow so accustomed to life with impunity that standard accountability feels to them like unjust persecution. https://t.co/mjPF1xZogT" / Twitter

I find AOC's tweet very thoughtful and insighful, and DT's tweet to be angry yelling that suggests mental deterioration.

[Plantagenet]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "No normal person would be able to get away with attempting to extort a foreign power to compromise our country. But all too often, the most corrupt and powerful people grow so accustomed to life with impunity that standard accountability feels to them like unjust persecution. https://t.co/mjPF1xZogT" / Twitter

I find AOC's tweet very thoughtful and insighful.....

Apparently you didn't get the memo that the Ds have dropped the claim that Trump engaged in extortion.

Extortion is a crime. If Trump had engaged in extortion that would be a bad thing.

But the Ds actually didn't charge Trump with "extortion" or "bribery" or any of these poll-tested terms that the dishonest Ds like to toss about when they are on TV.

If you read the articles of impeachment these terms are never mentioned. The Ds (and AOC) are lying when they claim the impeachment is over "extortion," because the actual articles of impeachment contain no mention of "extortion."

Cheers!

[lpetrich]

Extortion, by any other name, is still extortion. H.Res.755 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress has "(1) abuse of power by soliciting the interference of Ukraine in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and (2) obstruction of Congress by directing defiance of certain subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives."

Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!" / Twitter

There is a meme going around Twitter that shows Pres. Trump angrily typing something on his smartphone. It has caption

Imagine if a woman president got on Twitter every morning to complain about people being mean and unfair to her. Weak. Hysterical. Shrill. Bitch. Unfit to lead.

[Plantagenet]

Extortion, by any other name, is still extortion.

Actually, no.

There is no mention of "extortion" in the impeachment charges passed by the Ds.

The Ds abandoned the charge of "extortion" and instead downgraded the actual charge to "abuse of power."

The same thing happened with the other charge. After all the hysteria over Trump obstructing justice, then Ds downgraded to "obstruction of Congress" in the actual charge they passed.

The reason is clear----there is no actual evidence of extortion or obstruction of justice. These are legal terms with specific meanings and Trump clearly didn't do them. SO the actual impeachment bills the Ds passed were watered down to only include charges of "abuse of power" and "obstruction of congress" because these are things with no real clear legal definitions. They aren't even crimes. They are just nebulous complaints by the Ds that may fool some into thinking trump actually did something seriously wrong instead of the relatively minor wrong thing he did do.

I suppose we should be grateful the Ds didn't impeach Trump for having an overdue library book when he was 12. Ooosies...I don't want to give the Ds any ideas.

CHEERS!

[Cog]

In the Dem world, hurt feelings are an impeachable offense, although the Constitution spells out exactly what those offenses are and should be.

[dissident]

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ove ... oger-stone

We see the scale of the rot with this letter. So do these 2000 clowns think that prosecutors are always right? That they are God-like infallible and just? That details of the case never matter and only the opinions of transparently biased prosecutors do?

[jedrider]

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/over-2000-former-doj-officials-call-barr-resign-over-roger-stone

We see the scale of the rot with this letter. So do these 2000 clowns think that prosecutors are always right? That they are God-like infallible and just? That details of the case never matter and only the opinions of transparently biased prosecutors do?

No. No. They don't think that prosecutors are always right.

They just think that some thick line has been crossed about separation of powers of government, that we are not structured like a dictatorship. Our constitution is not written as a corporate legal document. They may have given us room to strangle ourselves.

It's not a physical civil war, but freedoms do have to be fought over now and then.

[Ibon]

I am trying not to focus too much on Trump bashing but the writing on this piece is just so good that it is really worth sharing here.

Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"

Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

"A few things spring to mind.

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

'My God… what… have… I… created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

[Shaved Monkey]

Follow the Constitution, respect the individual rights as listed in them, and quit relying on government to solve your personal problems. The issue about dictators goes away if we elect politicians who respect the above.

The current alternative is the guy Rupert Murdoch picks to run things for him

[Plantagenet]

Trump said that the biggest decision of his presidency would be deciding when to start opening up the US economy....and he started opening it today.

I'm very encouraged that Dr. Fauci and Dr. Brix designed the plan to open up.....heaven knows there will probably be some major issues as the US moves to open the economy, but at least the decision is made and we are now on track to open things back up.

I also agree with Trump's decision to do things on a state-by-state basic rather then trying to move the entire US along at the same time. Places like Alaska, Wyoming, Montana etc. are ready right now to meet the criteria Trump and the CDC set to start opening up, while states like New York or Louisianna probably won't be ready for weeks to come.

The "opening up" process will have three different steps, each with clearly defined criteria set by the CDC. Each step requires meeting health goals for at least two weeks, before moving on to the next step of opening up. That means even the best managed states won't be completely re-opened for 6-8 weeks, while poorly managed states like New York where even now there are still hundreds of covid-related deaths every day are going to take much longer.

Cheers!