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#121 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 28,824
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All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power & profit - Thomas Paine |
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#122 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Next door to Florida Man, world's worst superhero.
Posts: 15,635
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The important thing for Trump and the electorate to remember is that the institutions of government are built to transcend the administration with stewardship of said institutions. There is no percentage in in going all in with a particular steward, regardless of party when you have a career that will likely encompass both parties in charge.
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#123 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 66,149
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Trump has a catch 22 with Manafort and Flynn. If he pardons them to eliminate Mueller's leverage, that could easily be seen as obstruction of justice.
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#124 |
Grammar Resistance Leader
TLA Dictator Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Pattaya, Thailand
Posts: 37,728
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I don't think it's really Manafort and Flynn that are the not-so-subtle audience to this pardon. They'll stonewall any enquiry, anyway. It's everybody else up and down the food chain. This was stated by Schiff, yesterday. The minions who might have details of meetings and conversations now have a clear signal from da boss dat he likes people what stay loyal. Proteck da family and da family will proteck you.
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Ha! Foolmewunz has just been added to the list of people who aren't complete idiots. Hokulele It's not that liberals have become less tolerant. It's that conservatives have become more intolerable. |
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#125 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 2,232
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#126 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Adirondacks, NY - with Magrat!
Posts: 7,647
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I used to think I was happy. then I met Magrat... |
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#127 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 38,836
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Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein. |
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#128 |
post-pre-born
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 22,522
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#129 |
post-pre-born
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 22,522
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#130 |
post-pre-born
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 22,522
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I agree with your second paragraph but not the preceding one. Trump is no aberration; no, he is the end result of 3-4 decades of Nixon's Southern Strategy, which called for politics to be based on fear: fear of "others" (read: blacks at first which grew to include browns then all minorities). Fear of "the elites" (remember when being elite was to be admired - it was the GOP that changed connotation of elite). These days it's utter nonsense like fear of the "deep state" which, for god's sake means absolutely nothing. Or people like Jones and all the scam preachers like Bakker selling the coming doom.
No, he's no abberation and it's not happening in a "moment of malfunction". He's a logical result of a decades-long cancerous growth. |
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#131 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Cymru
Posts: 24,121
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#132 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 9,357
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#133 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Next door to Florida Man, world's worst superhero.
Posts: 15,635
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Yes, he's tweeted about it. He's been pleasuring himself in public over what a great job he's doing managing everything from Camp David. The VP actually tweeted something useful, giving people a website they could check to monitor the path of the storm.
The Hair did take a break from congratulating himself to commit yet another ethics violation but hocking David Clark's book and including a link for where it can be purchased. |
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#134 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Next door to Florida Man, world's worst superhero.
Posts: 15,635
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Quote:
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#135 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 6,537
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A historian assesses where we are, and where we're headed:
https://www.salon.com/2017/08/26/his...e-rule-of-law/ |
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#136 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Next door to Florida Man, world's worst superhero.
Posts: 15,635
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#137 |
Ewige Blumenkraft
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Ivory Tower
Posts: 15,678
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[nevermind]
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Then They Came for the Globalists |
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#138 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 38,836
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And Trump now has his first major domestic crisis with the flooding in Houston reaching catastrophic proportions.
Could be worse then New Orleans since Houston is a MUCh bigger city...America's fourth largest in fact. |
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Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty. Robert Heinlein. |
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#139 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: The Great Northwet
Posts: 16,118
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Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant. |
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#140 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 9,626
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Why does the orange turd seem excited about Harvey?
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#141 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mineral Bluff, GA
Posts: 4,987
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“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that...I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” - President Donald J. Trump, January 20, 2017. "And it's, frankly, disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. And people should look into it." - President Donald J. Trump, October 11, 2017. |
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#142 |
Becoming Beth
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Central Vale of Humility
Posts: 20,915
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"It never does just what I want, but only what I tell it." ![]() *********************************************** "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." - Saul Bellow |
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#143 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: The Great Northwet
Posts: 16,118
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__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant. |
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#144 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 9,357
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#145 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 9,357
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Oh good lord!
https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonal...42677461229569 He needs a padded room. What kind of demented individual would end that weather punditry with, "thanks!" Why didn't someone steal his phone and post actionable information instead? |
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#146 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 28,824
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For all of his twitter garbage, he hasn't flubbed this one. He actually appointed a qualified person to the head of FEMA and the job is getting done, unlike when Bush appointed a crony.
It would be nice if all of his appointments were filled based on qualifications as well. |
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All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power & profit - Thomas Paine |
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#147 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 10,457
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#148 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 28,824
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__________________
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power & profit - Thomas Paine |
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#149 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,596
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I swore a while back that I'd give Trump credit whenever he got something right. He appears to be Presidenting adequately with regard to the Harvey situation. He gets an "exceeds expectations".
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#150 |
Time Person of the Year, 2006
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Right here!
Posts: 19,246
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And to think he just did this a few weeks ago.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-res...192411092.html
Quote:
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I've always believed that cluelessness evolved as an adaptation to allow the truly appalling to live with themselves. - G. B. Trudeau A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Kay, Men in Black. Enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon |
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#151 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 66,149
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To summarize: Trump has Obama to thank for repairing GW's damage to FEMA.
And his and the GOP legislators' cronies get to reap the benefit of infrastructure investment with no restrictions on building in flood plains. Buyer of said infrastructure beware. (Links posted in the Harvey thread.) |
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#152 |
Mafia Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 18,534
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Trump's advent is less of a "malfunction" than you posit here.
I don't think the GOP bosses are intent on going fascist. But thus far, they've been playing the part of Von Papen, Brüning and Hugenberg in that they enabled a fascist rising to power. I don't think it's a safe bet that the GOP Congresscritters would not pass the equivalent of an Enabling Act, because after all, their party would still be in power. I agree, though, with your diagnosis of "mentally disorganized". Thus far, at least, Trump doesn't seem to cut it to pull off a fascist putsch. Hitler's consolidation of power didn't happen overnight either, but took some one-and-a-half to two years, and was certainly not planned in advance, but he knew how to seize the opportunities that presented themselves. I disagree here. The American system offers much better opportunities than that of other countries to radically change the course of the ship of state. Let's take the UK as a counterexample. When a new UK government comes in, the PM makes about 30 appointments of senior and junior ministers - political posts - and that's it. All the civil servants remain in place and carry on doing what they always did. The BBC made an excellent documentary on this back in the 1980s, called "Yes Minister". The Sir Humphreys serve for decades on end, outlast half a dozen PMs and ministers and guarantee a continuity in government. By contrast, when a new US president comes in, he appoints around 4,000 people (soure: presidentialtransition.org). Of those, around 1,200 require Senate approval, but really, do you think that the Senate can adequately vet them all, and not just the dozen or so cabinet positions? And those other 2,800 appointees are not vetted at all. The US president, more than any government leader in the democratic world, can change the senior staff and thus the mission and activities of not just departments, but also agencies in those departments. To the average European reader, the idea that the head of FEMA would be a political post that is appointed by every president anew is ludicrous; the idea that the head of the (federal) police, the FBI, would be a political post likewise. AFAIK, all over Europe and in other democratic countries, the same applies as in the UK: only a few dozen ministers are appointed by a new government, and the rest, the civil servants, are simply career professionals who remain at their post and outlast governments. |
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Founder of the group "The Truth about Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu aka Mother Teresa" "I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people." - "Saint" Teresa, the lying thieving Albanian dwarf |
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#153 |
Devilish Dictionarian
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: An elusive house at Bachelors Grove Cemetery
Posts: 16,613
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"You must not let your need to be right be more important than your need to find out what's true." - Ray Dalio, Principles |
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#154 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 10,485
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US is nowhere near going fascist. The democracy is in place, the checks and balances are functioning and there is no indication Trump has anywhere near the support necessary to pull something like that off. An attempted putch by the Republicans is the wet dream of a fanatic Democrat party loyalist (i.e. a large portion of Democratic Underground), because it would essentially purge the Republican party and it would go the way of the Whigs in short order.
That said, Trump is normalizing behavior and actions that were unthinkable just two years ago. Whether by design or accident, he is setting the stage for what could eventually amount to a populist takeover. The damage thus far is reversable, most easily with an massive landslide for Democrats in 2018, followed by a either bipartizan impeachment or a complete sidelining of the presidency until another such landslide in 2020. Barring another 9/11 this looks plausible. If Harvey will do to Trump what Katrina did to Bush it may even be inevitable. McHrozni |
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لا إله إلا رجل والعلوم والتكنولوجيا وأنبيائه |
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#155 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mineral Bluff, GA
Posts: 4,987
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“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that...I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” - President Donald J. Trump, January 20, 2017. "And it's, frankly, disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. And people should look into it." - President Donald J. Trump, October 11, 2017. |
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#156 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Next door to Florida Man, world's worst superhero.
Posts: 15,635
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#157 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,900
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Speaking of military police... Trump to lift military gear ban for local police
Quote:
President Obama did it, so it obviously has to go. The police need grenade launchers and APCs. How else can they do their jobs? |
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#158 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mineral Bluff, GA
Posts: 4,987
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It's all consistent with narcissism and a profound lack of historical perspective.
Harvey is bad. But... Katrina? Andrew? Galveston? No-name from the 1930's that killed thousands south of Lake Okeechobee in FL? Not diminishing the "historic" flooding in Texas at all. But for "historic" to have any meaning requires some sense of history. |
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“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that...I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” - President Donald J. Trump, January 20, 2017. "And it's, frankly, disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. And people should look into it." - President Donald J. Trump, October 11, 2017. |
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#159 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 8,270
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He's a narcissist. As far as he's concerned, we only really exist for his entertainment and benefit. He's not thinking about the human devastation. He's not thinking about the economic damage. He's not thinking about the lives lost or the hard slog ahead to help people recover.
He's thinking about getting to watch a really exciting disaster movie, complete with months of news clip length sob stories of poor people suffering. Remember, as a proponent of the Prosperity Gospel, Trump's religion, such as it is, depicts the poor as morally inferior, judged by God for their failings. In his faith, such as it is, the people too poor to get out of the storm's way deserve to suffer anyway. He's excited because the disaster will keep him entertained. |
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Why bother? You're not going to click this anyway |
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#160 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 1,900
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