For anyone who doesn't want to bother clicking on the link: Gaetz is linking to himself.

He claims there is a law in FL that you can't give anyone something of value to get them to vote. He does not cite the law and claims the FL AG is looking into it.

These guys are so desperate to suppress the vote, aka cheat, yet they act like they are preventing someone from paying for votes. In reality Bloomberg is not paying for votes, he's helping people gain access to voting.

It's disgusting.

No, really, that sounds lovely. You just forgot to include in your wish that he or she be a grown-up with a concern for their country and people other than themselves.

And the right-wingers still insist that we can't call it fascism...

If there's a law like that it's likely intended to prevent bribing people to vote their way. But that's not the same as making it possible to vote, like driving them to the polls. I would think paying off their fines would be seen as a gift as long as they weren't somehow required to vote. And since Bloomberg is giving his money to an established rights organization, not directly to felons, I doubt they can come after him in any case.

Trump — the master of social distancing.



I don't think it means what you think it means.


P. S. I begun wondering why McConnell wears a mask around Trump.

Pro-communist? I take it they never bothered reading it then.

Trump Tweets

I was honored to receive the Endorsement of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association in 2016, and am honored once again to receive their Official Support and Endorsement in 2020. Thank you very much, I will never let you down!

Need you ask? :cool:

Trump Tweets

We thank God for the blessings we share as citizens of the Greatest Country on earth – and we hope, pray, and work for the day when the people of Cuba can finally reclaim their glorious destiny!

Today, we reaffirm our ironclad solidarity with the Cuban People, and our eternal conviction that FREEDOM will prevail over the sinister forces of COMMUNISM...

...60 years ago, these Cuban patriots formed Brigade 25-06 in a daring effort to liberate their homeland from the communist Castro regime. Today, we declare America’s unwavering commitment to a FREE CUBA!

At the very least, 1984 is anti-authority and that would be enough to get it banned in schools by those who want children to worship authority.

Trump didn't type this. If he had, he would be referencing the same "prestigious Bay of Pigs Award" that he's talked about multiple times in the past (which doesn't exist).

The DW (German News Source) fact checked this. The reporter chuckled about Trump's BS. Fact check: it's a no brainer, Trump is lying about China.

DW fact checker Joscha Weber analyzes Trump's UN speech

The link is to the 5 minute video of the segment, sorry no transcript or written version.

On China's actions re COVID: False
US carbon decrease: True
US actions on COVID: False
On the US economy growth: False

I didn't get the take from it that it was actually anti-authority, more anti-totalitarianism and a warning against extremism in Government.

Re banning of 1984:
Leave it to some group in FL to think 1984 was pro-communism. :boggled:

Might be getting off topic here but maybe not given the Trump regime is slipping into Gilead territory.

This is an interesting piece if anyone is interested in more information: Banned Books Awareness: “1984”

Yes, totalitarianism is the authority against which Winston rebels. And, yes, you've identified the main lesson Orwell was trying to convey, but let's get real here: People who go around banning books in schools aren't interested in things like identifying themes or, well, learning.

There are a lot of people who - totally ignorant of the irony - consider it unamerican to distrust or even question the government. They'll say America is the greatest and, as long as it doesn't involve paying taxes, a citizen should always do as the government tells them. These are the sort of people who also worship the police.

Right - the money goes to the state, not the individual, in most of these charities. If the ex-felon decides to vote, or not, is up to them afterwards.

It gets weirder.

Donald Trump calls Pope Francis “disgraceful” after he says Trump is not a Christian.

Even funnier, from the same Twitter feed, a Fox News contributor states that Pope Francis needs to ask Trump’s forgiveness for implying Trump is not a Christian.

Florida currently controlled by Republicans, and they are known to act... unethically. I certainly wouldn't put it passed them to try to start some legal trouble against Bloomberg (even if any criminal charges would be thrown out by the courts).

Without going too far down a probably off-topic rabbit hole, I think one of the reasons 1984 has reverberated in the social conscious is because even though it has strong anti-communist, anti-authoritative, anti-fascist themes, it was written in such a way as to serve as a valid cautionary tale for misuse of government systems of many kinds.

Why it seems only yesterday Trump was hoisting somebody else's bible outside a church he's never visited while waxing philosophically about Two Corinthians.

Except when it comes to wearing a small, cloth mask to save lives.

Patriots; people who would die for a country they would rather die than be inconvenienced for.

Sure, but large swaths of our government (including the subject of this thread) have waffled on making it a requirement in even the most dangerous circumstances (like rallies held by the subject of this thread), so the deplorables can say "not my government" and go on endangering whomever they please.

If we are going that far let’s take one more step and say things like “I don’t have all the facts yet, but I heard that Gaetz is being investigated for a series of murders. People are claiming that LE agencies are investigating his links to a series of murders -but that claim could be completely false. Right now, nothing has been released to the media so we cannot judge the validity of any evidence that has been collected; for all we know, the evidence was never collected. At this point this assertion is all rumor and innuendo, perhaps even a slur campaign from an opponent. But a lot of people are saying that. It is not known if Gaetz has hired a lawyer to defend himself from these allegations of violence.

True. I was thinking more of state governments. But it does not help when the leader of the country pushes back, confuses and sets a bad example.

It's a bit ironic, though, that Republicans (and conservatives), the group that resists federal interference in state level governing, should side with the bad example set by the federal government as justification for resisting mask mandates from states.

Trump on his message to Blacks upset with handling of Breonna Taylor case:
"I love the Black community, and I've done more for the Black community with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln."

Interesting link, thanks. A comment from there that's perhaps relevant:

"The message of 1984, and our own real-world battles with censorship, can be summed up in one of the most impactful quotes in the novel’s dialogue:

“If there was hope, it must lie in the Proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated. Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”"

Going by the link, he didn't actually say Trump wasn't a Christian, just that his views on immigration are anti-Christian.

Okay, I hate to give this clown show attention, but--

:dl:

After reading that last sentence, I sat here and tried to think of standards that Trump has applied inconsistently. I couldn't but only because I couldn't think of *any* standards he has. I think "it makes me feel good" or "it will hurt someone that hurt me" or similar thoughts cannot be called standards in the usual sense of the word. So I have to disagree. Trump is so very reactive in the moment to his surroundings and those with him; this immediacy prevents him from using any standard by which to act.

Then there is the Fox shill Greg Gutfeld claiming the "activist Pope" wants a TV show on MSNBC.

Projection by proxy? :p

My next thought was Oh Gawd! When Trump loses he's bound to become a horrible TV news presence.

I can see The Handmaid's Tale being perceived in a similar light: banned because it had an anti-Trump theme. :p

What they'll probably do is try to get a court to put a stay on the funds until the legality of the process is established. That would not allow the felons to vote and would certainly push any decision till after the election, by which time nobody will give a damn.

When asked for his favorite Bible verse he couldn't even come up with John 3:16.

Shall we see if we can get that going on Reddit? :p

Isn't that the one about wrestling?

Are you sure it's not about promoting liberal values of communism?

Notice my use of the word "accusing". I didn't say it was equivalent. As a former history teacher I am well aware of the whitewashing of history we have taught in our schools. As I've said before, Trump wants the Disney version of Pocahontas, not the Trail of Tears, or the story of broken treaty after broken treaty taught.

Ironic, innit?

And even an equal opportunity racist:

""After phone calls with Jewish lawmakers, Trump has muttered that Jews 'are only in it for themselves' and 'stick together' in an ethnic allegiance that exceeds other loyalties," White House officials told @gregpmiller "

https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/s...326593536?s=19

:id:

You really should have warned people to keep their irony meters away from your post.

"Republicans have threatened to oust Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she tries to impeach Donald Trump for a second time.

Now House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says he would introduce a motion to remove Pelosi if she acted.

Any “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair would need Mr McCarthy and Republicans to secure a majority of House members to oust Ms Pelosi.

Republicans currently hold only 198 seats, versus 232 for Democrats.

“The president is supposed to move forward and they will. The Senate is supposed to take the action and they will, it’s their constitutional right and they are following through,” the California Republican told reporters on Wednesday.

“And I will make you this one promise, listening to the Speaker on television this weekend, if she tries to move for an impeachment based upon the president following the Constitution, I think there will be a move on the floor to no longer have the question of her being Speaker.

“She may think she has a quiver, we do too.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...?ocid=msedgdhp

This. Trump is an extreme present hedonist. This is from Dr. Philip Zimbardo, PhD and Rosemary Sword's excerpt from Dr. Bandy Lee's book:

Oh, he's still just growing up.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlo...63d_story.html

May I suggest the No Donalds Society.

This is also covered in Zimbardo and Sword's excerpt:

However, his niece, Mary, also believes a traumatic event left Donald emotionally stunted and think the traumatic event was the illness of his mother when he was IIRC about 4. After she almost bled to death after a hysterectomy, she was never really well again and withdrew into herself leaving the raising of Donald to his elder sister, Maryanne.

Talk about a completely empty threat. If he had that much backing, there could be no vote to impeach.

He's taking lessons in blustering from Dear Leader.

All due respect to her expertise, but Mary is really reaching with that crap.

Donald was a spoiled rich kid for whom there were no real risks and no real consequences. His father continued treating him as such well into his adult life, bailing him out whenever Donald was in need, teaching him that he could **** up and **** people over and not have to worry about anything coming back on him. Donald spent all that time telling anyone who'd listen what a genius he was, while consistently failing at everything he tried to do. His image was everything, the facts meant nothing.

I don't buy for a second any explanation that lays the blame for his various pathologies on his mother dying when he was 4, except perhaps in the sense that she might have been a good influence on him.

His mother didn't die then. She lived to be 88. But if she was sick when he was a child and then became distant and rejecting, that would go a long way to explaining why someone would be desperate for attention and adulation.

And apparently she lived long enough to express disappointment in her boy:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8037181.html