logo Sign In

Politics 2: Electric Boogaloo — Page 450

This topic has been locked by a moderator.

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

Rocket Man makes a reappearance. And so does the possibility of total thermonuclear destruction.

President Trump took a domestic agenda that has emphasized nationalism and sovereignty and in his first address to the United Nations on Tuesday made it the foundation of his foreign policy.

The speech before the global body was notable for its tone, which largely sidestepped the statesmanlike language of his other foreign policy addresses. In his attacks on the United States’ enemies — especially North Korea and Iran — Trump was bellicose and direct. In those moments, he sounded a lot like his Twitter feed.

Trump referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man” and accused him of being on a “suicide mission for himself and for his regime.” The president promised to “totally destroy” North Korea if it attacked the United States or its allies.

He hinted that he would soon pull the United States out of the international nuclear deal with Tehran, a move that would unnerve U.S. allies who are also parties to it.

“That deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you have heard the last of it,” he said. “Believe me.”

Author
Time
Post link

FanFiltration said:

It has just been reported that Trump is using money raised by the GOP to pay his legal fees.
How do you feel about that? http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/351408-trump-using-rnc-money-to-pay-legal-fees-in-russia

I think it’s acceptable for people who aren’t billionaires.
So go on ahead, Trump, we understand 😉

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

Author
Time
Post link

Puggo - Jar Jar’s Yoda said:

Maybe he’ll bankrupt the GOP too.

This is an older story but an interesting one.

Another question is who will pay the legal fees for the president and administration officials involved in the Russia inquiries. Some in Trump’s orbit are pushing the Republican National Committee to bear the costs, said three people with knowledge of the situation, including one who euphemistically described the debate as a “robust discussion.”

Not sure if this was ever resolved, but he was at least trying to shift the costs to the RNC. Trump has left a trail of bankrupt organizations in his wake. What’s one more?

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

The Murkowski kickback has been found.

The Zombie TrumpCare 3.0 bill has section-by-section summaries describing what it does. However, none of the summaries mention this, which can only be found by reading the full bill text.

In 2026, every state would get almost exactly $4,400 per eligible person, except Alaska, which would get $6,500.

So the question is, does Murkowski think she can convince Alaskans that screwing them less than the rest of the country is a good thing? I guess that depends on if she had any input in this matter, or if this was added by leadership as a sweetener to try to win her vote. We’d only know the answer to that if she votes no.

TrumpCare iterations, by the numbers:

TrumpCare: 23 million lose coverage
Zombie TrumpCare: I forget, but not much different than original TrumpCare
Zombie TrumpCare 2.0: 16 million lose coverage
Zombie TrumpCare 3.0: 32 million lose coverage

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

Author
Time
Post link

Okay, so I’m a little surprised that Russia organized at least 17 pro-Trump rallies in Florida during the 2016 Presidential campaign.

Not that they did it, but that it worked. Russia obviously wanted Trump elected and worked hard to achieve that goal – that’s never really been in question. But I was expecting the wave of Russian intelligence services-sponsored Facebook rallies to come crashing against the land-line demographic* of Trump supporters, like it did with the sparsely-attended event Russia organized in Idaho.

* I’m one of that demographic, BTW.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

Author
Time
Post link

I am confused. What is the big deal? The guy was operating without a permit. That is against the law.

Author
Time
Post link

Warbler said:

I am confused. What is the big deal? The guy was operating without a permit. That is against the law.

Then arrest him, don’t rob him.

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

The cop didn’t rob him. He seized illegal profits. You don’t arrest for all offenses, sometime you write a ticket. You don’t want that to happen to you? Obey the law and don’t operate without the proper papers. Btw, don’t blame the cop, he was just doing what he was instructed to do. If you watch the vid, it says the cops were told to crack down on illegal street vendors, and they were told to seize the profits.

I have a feeling that if this guy had been white and spoke English, no one would make a big deal about him getting ticked and his profits seized.

Author
Time
Post link

Warbler said:

The cop didn’t rob him. He seized illegal profits.

Was that money illegally obtained? All of it? Rhetorical question, don’t answer. Let’s say “sure, he made that money committing the heinous crime of selling hot dogs,” what about everyone else who’s been stopped and had their money taken? An officer can take their money if they even suspect it was gotten illegally. The only way to get that money back is to prove in court that it was actually obtained legally. Is that not guilty until proven innocent?

I have a feeling that if this guy had been white and spoke English, no one would make a big deal about him getting ticked and his profits seized.

Funny, I have a feeling that if he was white and spoke English, he’d have had a much easier time.

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

Asset forfeiture laws can be pretty heinous. Not only are they “guilty until proven innocent”, they are also frequently “guilty even after being proven innocent”. i.e. you don’t necessarily get your stuff back just because you don’t get convicted. You don’t even have to be charged with a crime at all.

Project Threepio (Star Wars OOT subtitles)

Author
Time
Post link

Jeebus said:

Warbler said:

The cop didn’t rob him. He seized illegal profits.

Was that money illegally obtained? All of it? Rhetorical question, don’t answer. Let’s say “sure, he made that money committing the heinous crime of selling hot dogs,” what about everyone else who’s been stopped and had their money taken? An officer can take their money if they even suspect it was gotten illegally. The only way to get that money back is to prove in court that it was actually obtained legally. Is that not guilty until proven innocent?

If you wish to change the forfeiture laws, I would have no problem with that.

I have a feeling that if this guy had been white and spoke English, no one would make a big deal about him getting ticked and his profits seized.

Funny, I have a feeling that if he was white and spoke English, he’d have had a much easier time.

Maybe, but if he didn’t have an easier time of it, no one would care.

Author
Time
Post link

CatBus said:

Asset forfeiture laws can be pretty heinous. Not only are they “guilty until proven innocent”, they are also frequently “guilty even after being proven innocent”. i.e. you don’t necessarily get your stuff back just because you don’t get convicted. Or even charged.

agree. My point is that the cop was just doing what he was told to do. If he is told to crack down on illegal street vendors and ticket them and seize their profits, but doesn’t do it the cop could get in trouble with his bosses.

In any case, it would be real easy for this vendor not to have this problem: go get the proper papers to operate a hot dog stand.

Author
Time
Post link

Jim Jefferies embeds himself with police in Birmingham, England, to find out how the U.K.'s tough gun laws have affected the country’s violent crime rate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf0ThqEdV9o

Little bit of light comedy but a serious look at what it’s like to police a city where every citizen hasn’t got the ability to easily murder the Police.

VIZ TOP TIPS! - PARENTS. Impress your children by showing them a floppy disk and telling them it’s a 3D model of a save icon.

Author
Time
Post link

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/21/trump-agriculture-department-usda-campaign-workers-242951

A POLITICO review of dozens of résumés from political appointees to USDA shows the agency has been stocked with Trump campaign staff and volunteers who in many cases demonstrated little to no experience with federal policy, let alone deep roots in agriculture. But of the 42 résumés POLITICO reviewed, 22 cited Trump campaign experience. And based on their résumés, some of those appointees appear to lack credentials, such as a college degree, required to qualify for higher government salaries.

It’s typical for presidents to reward loyalists with jobs once a campaign is over. But what’s different under Trump, sources familiar with the department’s inner workings say, is the number of campaign staffers who have gotten positions and the jobs and salaries they have been hired for, despite not having solid agricultural credentials in certain cases. An inexperienced staff can lead to mistakes and sidetrack a president’s agenda, the sources say.

Author
Time
Post link

Under Graham-Cassidy, Capt. Pike’s premiums would go up 900%. He wouldn’t be able to afford a new “yes” light.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

Word of the day: dotard.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/21/trump-says-the-u-s-will-impose-new-sanctions-on-north-korea/?utm_term=.cee884662fa1

NEW YORK — President Trump on Thursday announced new financial sanctions targeting North Korea as his administration seeks to build international support for more aggressively confronting the rogue nation, whose escalating nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities have reached what U.S. officials consider a crisis point.

The new penalties seek to leverage the dominance of the U.S. financial system by forcing nations, foreign companies and individuals to choose whether to do business with the United States or the comparatively tiny economy of North Korea. U.S. officials acknowledged that like other sanctions, these may not deter North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s drive to threaten the United States with a nuclear weapon, but is aimed at slowing him down.

Kim on Thursday reacted angrily to Trump’s remarks and actions this week, calling the president a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” and Trump’s earlier speech at the U.N. “unprecedented rude nonsense.” Kim said that he was now thinking hard about how to respond.

“I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the U.S. pay dearly for his speech,” Kim said in a statement released by the official Korean Central News Agency, which also published a photo of the North Korean leader sitting at his desk holding a piece of paper.

“I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue. Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation,” Kim said, saying that he would “tame” Trump “with fire.”

dotard |ˈdōdərd|
noun
an old person, especially one who has become weak or senile.

JEDIT: Here’s the entire statement. It’s incredible, along with this picture:

Author
Time
Post link

The pic is not working.

Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

yhwx said:

Word of the day: dotard.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/21/trump-says-the-u-s-will-impose-new-sanctions-on-north-korea/?utm_term=.cee884662fa1

NEW YORK — President Trump on Thursday announced new financial sanctions targeting North Korea as his administration seeks to build international support for more aggressively confronting the rogue nation, whose escalating nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities have reached what U.S. officials consider a crisis point.

The new penalties seek to leverage the dominance of the U.S. financial system by forcing nations, foreign companies and individuals to choose whether to do business with the United States or the comparatively tiny economy of North Korea. U.S. officials acknowledged that like other sanctions, these may not deter North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s drive to threaten the United States with a nuclear weapon, but is aimed at slowing him down.

Kim on Thursday reacted angrily to Trump’s remarks and actions this week, calling the president a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” and Trump’s earlier speech at the U.N. “unprecedented rude nonsense.” Kim said that he was now thinking hard about how to respond.

“I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the U.S. pay dearly for his speech,” Kim said in a statement released by the official Korean Central News Agency, which also published a photo of the North Korean leader sitting at his desk holding a piece of paper.

“I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue. Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation,” Kim said, saying that he would “tame” Trump “with fire.”

dotard |ˈdōdərd|
noun
an old person, especially one who has become weak or senile.

JEDIT: Here’s the entire statement. It’s incredible, along with this picture:

I seem to remember warning people that Trump would be disaster with the N. Korean problem. Too bad not enough people listened to me.

Author
Time
Post link

… almost nobody here supports Trump. Or are you saying he was elected because the nation as a whole didn’t listen to you?