Post to this Thread - Printer Friendly - Home Page: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]
BS: Trump Actions and Effects
Stilly River Sage 17 Jan 22 - 11:22 PM
Donuel 17 Jan 22 - 09:25 AM
Donuel 14 Jan 22 - 06:37 PM
gillymor 12 Jan 22 - 12:08 PM
Steve Shaw 09 Jan 22 - 04:37 PM
Charmion 09 Jan 22 - 04:26 PM
Steve Shaw 09 Jan 22 - 11:58 AM
Jeri 07 Jan 22 - 09:31 PM
Rain Dog 05 Jan 22 - 12:17 PM
robomatic 31 Dec 21 - 06:23 PM
Steve Shaw 31 Dec 21 - 04:33 PM
robomatic 31 Dec 21 - 12:20 AM
Donuel 31 Dec 21 - 12:19 AM
Donuel 27 Dec 21 - 05:56 PM
Subject: RE: BS: Trump Actions and Effects
The Trump Org Stiffed a Hotel. His Kids May Pay the Price
That dodged payment is now the crux of the attorney general for the District of Columbia's latest effort to put the Trump Organization back in its crosshairs in an ongoing investigation into how the Trump kids used the Presidential Inauguration Committee to throw lavish parties of their own.
"It was their friends. It should never have been sent to the PIC. That's misuse of funding. The Trump Organization being involved in any way and getting the PIC to pay any sort of balance anywhere on their behalf? It just doesn't seem legitimate," said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who coordinated inaugural events and is now the government's lead witness in this case.
Winston Wolkoff is no friend of the Trumps—any more. Although she was close to the family for more than a decade and eventually became "Trusted Adviser" to First Lady Melania Trump, there was a fallout after Winston Wolkoff felt that the Trump White House made her the scapegoat for inauguration misspending. The New York Times identified a company associated with her, WIS Media Partners, as the recipient of a whopping $26 million, and Winston Wolkoff later overcame Justice Department resistance to publication of her tell-all book called Melania and Me.
That book catalogs the events around the Inaugural committee work, and will in the end serve to clobber the Trump children, if not Trump himself.
From: Donuel
the new GOP Virginia Govenor and Trump wannabe at the peak of this pandemic wave, school staffing problems and a rise in child infections made an EXECUTIVE ORDER to remove all mandates for masks in schools.
The 'tear' and crying voice in Sinema's speach doesn't fool anyone.
Sinema had better get used to the idea of being a one-term senator.
Right before Biden was going to ask Congress for voting rights, Senator Sinema gave her Meatloaf speech. "I would do anything for voting rights but I won't do that".
She won't change the super majority rule so Democrats don't have the votes. Its not looking good for democrats.
The Trump Supream court ruled big business may not mandate vaccine for its workers under OSHA saftey law.
Mandates under HHS for health care workers was ruled they must be vaccinated.
If I were Biden I would not kill or carve up the Filibuster.
I would RESTORE it to its original form.
The plastic surgury modified Ivanka doll comes in many versions; airplane unmasked, insurgent, prom queen, jewelry mogul, incest trophy, unvaxxed super hero and pseudo cabinate member.
Collect them all- accessories are seperate.
Voters all agree rule by violence is more thrilling than Democracy.
So... Trump wins in advance, or else.
this message is approved by wealthy racist power brokers who have the most $ to lose and can afford a civil war. Not the disenfranchised red neck racists who only have their lives to lose.
The Times offered a number of related articles adjacent to the one above. Like A Farewell to the Trump Aesthetic
Four years of hard-core branding, soap opera chic and designer trolling are coming to an end. What have we learned? A look back in gilt.
Clever - gilt, not guilt. :)
"The political costume department of our collective imagination will never be the same."
His willingness to make himself into an orange-tinted, vanilla-custard-combover meme invited mockery — until some realized that, silly as the president's appearance may have seemed, it was also, in its singularity and consistency, unforgettable. As Doug Mills, a photographer for The New York Times who has covered every president since Reagan, said, the result was "iconic."
Adding to the effect was Mrs. Trump, his ornamental equal, able to manipulate public perception strategically on her own. And cast in the supporting roles were, first and foremost, Ivanka and Jared, the effective prom king and queen, skin and hair and teeth polished to an impenetrable sheen. Arrayed beside them, like a Foxified Greek chorus, Tiffany Trump, Lara Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Hope Hicks and Kayleigh McEnany. Plus Don Jr. and Eric.
From: gillymor
It's the grift that keeps on grifting.
Surprising it took a full year for this to come around, but maybe Melania's allowance has been reduced lately. Selling Melania Trump, One NFT at a Time
A year after leaving the White House, the former first lady tests the water for her brand.
Non-fungible tokens sound perfect for the Trump family to start selling. What do you want to bet they're harder to trace or tax? From Wikipedia: NFTs have drawn criticism with respect to the energy cost and carbon footprint associated with validating blockchain transactions as well as their frequent use in art scams. Further criticisms challenge the usefulness of establishing proof of ownership in an often extralegal unregulated market.
No wonder Donnie can't believe he lost. He got ~ 40 Republicans to forge electoral college results. There was election fraud by golly.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/after-2020-trump-backers-forged-election-docs-three-states-n1287287
The Republicans that signed, certified and notarized the exact forgeries can not be held accountable for the crime because they were politicians that can't be sued for their actions.
Wisconsin is the only state that is still weighing prosecution.
Arizona, Michigan and Wisconson all sent forged documents to Congress and archives saying Trump won in 2020. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/gop-official-dodges-questions-after-she-is-accused-of-sending-forged-certificate-claiming-trump-won-b1990348.html
The story is breaking at Politico and is not at this time on the web.
Link fixed. Be careful to grab the entire long URL when posting these links. I've fixed broken links lately from several Mudcatters. ---mudelf
My favorite nonsensical cure for not dying of Covid is blindfolded driving.
Charmion, many of us have that thought daily, while not saying it out loud or committing pen to paper. It's a not wanting to be jinxed thing, one of those sedition thoughts one keeps in mind only, in case someone in the future decides to act. Senator Joseph McCarthy's ghost is among us still.
Here is a piece of nonsense that, since it isn't a COVID cure, does belong in the Trump bullshit camp. This kind of fighting against common sense comes straight from that horse's ass's mouth. (The Daily Beast is no longer considered a reputable news source, but it's the kind of place that this guy will talk to.)
Anti-COVID-19 "Vaccine Police" leader Christopher Key has a new quarter-baked conspiracy theory for his anti-vax followers to use to cure themselves of COVID-19: Drink their own urine. "The antidote that we have seen now, and we have tons and tons of research, is urine therapy. OK, and I know to a lot of you this sounds crazy, but guys, God's given us everything we need," Key said in a video posted over the weekend on his Telegram account after being released from jail over a trespassing charge. "This has been around for centuries," he added. "When I tell you this, please take it with a grain of salt," the anti-vaccine advocate warned while saying people might now think he is "cray cray." "Now drink urine!" he continued. "This vaccine is the worst bioweapon I have ever seen," he concluded. "I drink my own urine!" Reached for comment by The Daily Beast on Sunday night, Key doubled down on what he calls "urine therapy" and railed against "foolish" people who took the COVID-19 vaccine, which is safe and effective.
The United States has only approached a democracy since 1965. Women could vote but people who were not white faced barriers to voting by Jim Crow laws. The Conservative party was founded on the premise of keeping the vote white. William F Buckly proposed that the Consevative party was not biased enough against minority voting.
While fascism is not conservatism it is important to know the reasons for American authoritarianism.
LBJ brought voting rights to law against steep odds. Its an amazing story. He could not have done it without a JFK. TRUMP COULD NOT BE PRESIDENT WITHOUT AN Obama.
The thin majority of Republican voters 55% would prefer a candidate other than Trump. There is no shortage of Trump wannabes.
Betting on a natural death without conspiracy theory is less likely than an inside straight.
From: Steve Shaw
You're not alone. It's been a year, and those who oppose Trumpism don't seem to have got very far. Yet he has.
From: Charmion
I read the American news every day with a sinking heart; Canada is a lot closer to the USA than any other nation except Mexico, which already suffers severely from the proximity.
I can't be the only up-to-now fairly good person who heartily wishes that Mr Trump would just wake up dead one day soon. There's never a major cardiovascular accident around when you need one.
If not a treaty how about an Armistice?- or is silence consent.
answer to Observer.
If removal from ever holding office again can be done without proving a crime punishable by incarceration it would be preferable and avoid any martyrdom.
Another view from this side of the water from The Observer (the Sunday version of The Guardian) entitled The Observer view on Joe Biden's Capitol Hill anniversary speech
The piece praises Biden for finally taking off the gloves but it calls for every sinew to be stretched to nail Trump legally in order to stop him from standing in 2024. It's a lengthy read, but it ends:
"The legal path to investigate the leaders of the coup attempt is clear. The criminal code prohibits inciting an insurrection or 'giving aid or comfort' to those who do, as well as conspiracy to forcibly 'prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law'," veteran Harvard constitutional law expert Laurence Tribe wrote recently. It's a widely held opinion.
The many documented actions of Trump and his circle in attempting to overturn the 2020 vote provide numerous grounds for criminal investigation and prosecution. Why is Merrick Garland, the attorney general, still dragging his feet? Biden can righteously rage. But the best antidote to toxic Trump's dangerously lawless spree, and fears of civil war, is the law itself. Take him down – before it's too late.
It is like saying "yes Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney & daughter are correct" BUT Steve is right, a fascist undemocratic USA is a threat to allies. Steve is not the only one late to the party, there are perhaps 70 million Americans who know not who Trump is.
For me this calamity started twelve to twenty years ago and others would say since 1865.
The high court looks like they will now be eliminating the 50 year old OSHHA law that protects the public and will deny Biden's health mandate.
Anyway, back to the fray. Increasing numbers of Republican politicians are buying into the stolen-election lie. Republican states are rewriting voting laws in order to make it difficult for minorities and the poor to vote. Biden's approval rating is rock-bottom, lower than any president at this stage bar Trump. He talks and looks like an old man, and there's no obvious Democrat successor in sight. He was badly damaged by the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan (even though it was largely not his fault). So far, no step has been successfully taken which would disqualify Trump from standing in 2024, and, if he's still around then, I can't see any alternative Republican standing, unless we want to rely on Ms Cheney. Wow. The midterms are coming later this year, and, bar a miraculous turnaround, they will leave Biden a lame-duck president. A lame duck that might well have to take on Trump next time around
That's how it looks from over here. Call me Mr Simplistic and tell me that I don't "get" US politics (but don't tell me to keep my nose out, not because I'm clamouring for my free speech but because what happens in 2024 is going to affect the UK and the rest of the planet as much as it affects the US). We have a massive problem in this country also. Trump back in power will also empower the illiberal right-wing here. Between them, Trump and Johnson are more than capable of unravelling western democracy, starting in 2024. That's everybody's business.
A good read on the Trump threat is in the Guardian: The Trump menace is darker than ever - and he's snapping at Biden's heels by Jonathan Freedland.
From: Jeri
Look at this thread.
Count the posts by Donuel, and by Steve, and notice how many are off-topic.
Donuel provokes you, Steve, and you never fail to react. One wonders what would happen if this cycle were broken
Of course, I don't think the thread has much purpose other than sniping.
I don't know why but the military branch of choice for extremists has been the airforce. Better than army demolition experts I guess.
Similar to today half the country thought making war on Fort Sumpter was a great idea and the majority half thought it was horrific.
A bloodless coup of making all vote counting a republican process is at odds with your average Joe Bully making death threats and rioting at school boards and State Capitols. During the Obama years many new facist militias and Klans were formed. Their favorite members are Tim McViegh like military veterans. Releasing the mob is like releasing the Kraken, it will go out of control. It will be defeated at the cost of more violence than first anticipated. That is, if the future rhymes with history.
I'll try this bit again, on its own. It's the editorial from Wednesday's Guardian and it represents one view of aspects of US politics from this side of the ocean.
The threat to American democracy may be greater today than when the insurrectionist mob swept into the US Capitol one year ago, attempting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power following a free and fair election. Joe Biden is ensconced in the White House and with the passage of time, the shock of their lethal assault has faded. But if the danger appears less immediate, addressing it is no less urgent.
We know more than we did a year ago about the full violence and menace of the riot, and about what preceded it – including the PowerPoint presentation turned over by Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, detailing ways to stage a coup. Rioters have been jailed, but so far no case has been brought against those who encouraged and incited them. Mr Trump himself has resurged, with a cult-like grip upon his party. He and his allies have longer to plan for this year's midterms and 2024. State legislatures are constructing an election-stealing machine. In short: 6 January was not an end, but a beginning.
Listen to the warnings from America's political scientists. One says that the US is "closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe". Another warns that the insurrectionists of 6 January are not part of a fringe: he sees a new mass political movement with violence at its core. Others foresee a slide to Hungarian-style competitive authoritarianism in which the trappings of elections remain, but so rigged that Democrats cannot win.
Faced with an electorate that has rejected them, the Republicans have already entrenched their advantage in the electoral college, Senate and supreme court. Yet it is Republicans who claim that the system is cheating them. A vast swathe of the population is now detached from both political reality and political ideals – believing the 2020 election stolen, and believing that force is an acceptable response. "Alternative facts" have become mainstream belief: according to a recent poll, 68% of Americans think there is no evidence of widespread electoral fraud in 2020 – but 62% of Republicans disagree. While 60% of Americans think Mr Trump bears either a "great deal" or a "good amount" of responsibility for the storming of the Capitol, 72% of Republicans say he bears "just some" or "none at all". Another survey found that 9% of Americans believed that "use of force is justified to restore Donald J Trump to the presidency".
It is hard to know where one might begin to tackle the sprawling rightwing disinformation ecosystem. The aspiration to a policy response to the political chasm – the Build Back Better Act – has been killed by Republican opposition, with the aid of conservative Democrat Joe Manchin. He and fellow Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema will also tank the fresh push on voting rights if they remain opposed to amending the filibuster.
Meanwhile, Republicans who attempted to rein Mr Trump in on 6 January, or publicly criticised him afterwards, have long since fallen back into line. In 12 short months they have rewritten history. Their hostility to the select committee investigation, rushing to report before November's midterms lest it be closed down afterwards, is another attempt to silence the truth. Last year's tidal wave of voting restrictions at state level continues, and election sabotage is gaining ground, with Republicans giving legislatures control over vote counts and replacing nonpartisan officials with Trumpists. Against these are ranged the steady, committed efforts of activists, politicians and ordinary voters to defend their rights and protect their democratic institutions.
More political violence is likely in future, not least because the GOP elite have helped to legitimise it. Senior Republicans have not merely made their peace with Mr Trump and his tactics, but embraced them. Next time, such efforts might gain support from within the services. Yet the deeper threat may be that force will not be required. The dismantling of American democracy could be bloodless: quieter, more sophisticated, more cynical – and nonetheless devastating for it.
Speaking of egregious you feel superior to Americans in the same way some whites here feel toward blacks imo.
I am not the somnambulist. Given the choice of being ruled by the Violence Party or the Peace Party I still have faith the American people will wake up and realize the con. During the W Bush administration people woke up when Wall St was allowed to take their homes. Racism was the issue many celebrated in Trump. They may wake up again. The LIE is what people want to hear. The awful Truth is a bitter Pill to swallow.
Republicans now deny the insuurection ever happemed - it was the FBI or Antifascists. They know silently that if they don't hang together they could hang seperately, as Ben Franklin said.
The solution to a bad leader is a good leader.
Lincoln did not deny Gettysburg happened.
The New Yorker has run its article today "Are we headed for a Civil War"
I have warned all for over 15 years right here that civil war is possible along with bio war and other fates. Shaw does say I am obcessed with Trump and I'm barking at the moon
I say he is the one obcessed with self.
The New Yorker is a little late in my book.
Stuff it for a while, Shaw. You're not proving anything and you're clearly not reading the in-depth stories about this process. You can worry about Boris.
This is a bottom-up operation, the low-level folks are rolling on each other and on the planners. Every t must be crossed and i must be dotted to get this prosecution to go forward.
You yanks are sleepwalking into impending disaster. You've nailed nothing on Trump, and his following is uneroded. Biden is an old man. He sounds and looks like an old man. He'd be 86 by the end of a second term. Bloody wake up, yanks. The world depends on you not re-electing Trump. From this end, you look paralysed and your politics looks infantile. Prove us wrong.
There is a thin line, no, a knife's edge between fearing the violence to the point of preparing to do counter violence and ignoring accountability of insurrectionists. Jefferson said he would prefer a country with journalists and no government over a government with no press.
Media has suffered along with the entire country.
From: Rain Dog
The following programme was just broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
"Did the storming of the Capitol damage US media?
A year on from the storming of the US Capitol and the media is still coming to terms with what happened. Some US news outlets have been accused of "obsessing over" the scenes on 6 January 2021. Others have condemned parts of the media for "normalising" the violence. So how can these divisions be healed? And in the week that several political figures were banned from Twitter, what role do the tech giants now play in our democracy?
Guests: David Folkenflik, Media Correspondent at NPR; Robert Costa, Political Reporter at the Washington Post and co-author of Peril; Susan Ferrechio, Chief Congressional Correspondent at the Washington Examiner; Chris Stokel-Walker, tech journalist; Zing Tsjeng, Editor-in-Chief at Vice UK."
The tech giants certainly do have a very powerful role with their ability to ban elected officials from their platforms and their control of how media outlets are able to use the tech platforms to spread their news and views.
Minority rule by technicality is what Republican think tanks are good at. Perhaps they are studying a take over of our nuclear missiles, Courts, Governors and armed forces by 'technicality'.
Wait a minute, they already tried that on Jan. 6
Greene got her ass kicked off of Facebook also. But this is window dressing, compared to the groups that need to be eliminated from the site. FB knows who they are, but their eyeballs bring in dollars.
The undecided voter is extinct. They are replaced by the secret bigot.
Once Trup can control elections and arrest any opponent at will like Putin, it could take a generation for the Republic to re-emerge if ever.
Subject: RE: BS: Trump Actions and who it Effects
It is obvious who is unaware of the peril this country is in. They are MIA. Regarding a dictator taking over the US it is very possible with the support of the entire Republican party.
But not so fast... It is more probable for racist reasons than for nazi ideology.
While the reps and dems are still playing political wind testing, actual response to voting restrictions could have been done already. Naturally the catter bigot willing to file a false police report for personal political reasons wants secrecy unlike everyday trolls like the OCD man.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congressperson from Georgia who has no committees because she was stripped of them after past misbehavior, has finally lost her personal Twitter account. NPR story.
On Saturday, Greene tweeted a screed about the public health measures imposed during the pandemic, criticizing many of the efforts health officials say were critical in preventing more deaths from the virus and slowing its spread in the U.S.
The Georgia Republican's official government Twitter account is still active, the company confirmed.
Greene, in a statement following her Twitter suspension, said Twitter was an "enemy to America and can't handle the truth."
"That's fine, I'll show America we don't need them and it's time to defeat our enemies," she said.
Her pronouns are problematic in that last statement. It sounds like she is saying that she doesn't need America. That sounds about right for this woman.
We keep hearing about this new Trump media company that (in one version) is going to try to clobber all of the traditional media outlets (television and print magazines with a web presence). He still can't broadcast or publish in most of those places, and he wants to supplant the traditional news sources with his own. How he plans to carry off this fantastical plan is anyone's guess. I just went looking for any projections of the launch date (to hear some folks talk it is already working, but not that I'm aware of) but find it has been missed:
Trump SPAC social media company appears to miss its first product deadline was published exactly one month ago by CNBC.
Wikipedia entries are edited by interested parties so I imagine this contains some of the party line, so to speak. They say the company launched in February 2021, but it's still only on paper as far as I can tell. News back in early December was that Devon Nunes would resign from the House of Representatives as of today to lead the group, but I don't see news of that happening yet. A good place to start reading about this is at the Washington Post, they've been all over the story with news and opinion pieces.
From: robomatic
Date: 31 Dec 21 - 06:23 PM
"Here endeth the lesson...."
The quote is "Magic mirror on the wall..."
The story goes that the wicked witch's gardener overheard her appealing to the mirror. After she'd left the room he sneaked in and intoned:
"Mirror mirror on the door
Make my penis touch the floor..."
It worked: his legs dropped off...
I'm pretty sure Trump is positioning himself for a Presidential run. (Thank you, Mitch Macconnell for making that possible). And by positioning I mean posturing.
He has come out as strongly favoring the vaccine. And emphasizing his vital part in Operation Warp Drive (He was breathing at the same time as world medical infrastructure was developing the vaccines).
This drew a rise out of Alex Jones. I will not go further with Jones as he is a danger to OPM (Other Peoples' Minds). But he declared that Trump might actually be 'evil'.
I am thinking of working on a Venn Diagram of Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and Donald Trmp scanned over the qualities 'CRAZY' 'EVIL' 'POLITICAL' but that is better left to others. I was in a conversation with a definitely rational friend who tends to be more conservative than me and who classified Trmp as EVIL which even I am hesitant to do. I don't find BS and greed to be evil in themselves. Maybe I need to rethink that.
Back to 86: "If only he had used his reflections for good!"
Jan-6-panel-urges-supreme-court-to-deny-trump-bid-to-shield-records
Barbara Feldman is very talented and beautiful.
Each of us have a different camera; mine has a wide angle lense, robo's camera is variable focus and Steve has a swallowable camera that traces the journey of all that he cooks and eats as well as a phone camera that only takes UK political pictures.
Dr. OZ weight Loss Pill snake oil salesman is running for Pennsylvania's Senator. He is a New Jersey Trump supporter.
Don'l: Zees ees KAOS! Vee Don't do nozzing but eastern block pawaphwaziss here!!
Robo - who dated 99 before she settled down with 86.
You must be a member to post in non-music threads. Join here.