Author Topic: The Trump Presidency  (Read 399709 times)

Offline Peter B

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2055 on: February 15, 2021, 06:28:11 PM »
Several Republicans have openly admitted being afraid of their base.  As this proved they should be.  But caving in to them wasn't the correct solution.  I'm just hoping that the majority of voters--who support the process--realize that their leadership is unethical cowards and votes them out.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-16/why-does-trump-still-seem-to-hold-sway-republican-party-us/13155588

This article discusses the problem. In particular it points out how McConnell on the one hand has threatened Trump that he's still on the hook, but on the other hand voted to acquit.

ETA: The Australian ABC has a short weekly TV show called Mediawatch which critiques the less impressive activities of the media. This week's program included a segment about the effects of legal action by the two voting machine companies on some media outlets: https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/fox/13156896
« Last Edit: February 15, 2021, 06:30:39 PM by Peter B »

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2056 on: February 21, 2021, 06:48:58 PM »
I've moved the discussion of the current emergency in Texas and the power grid to a separate topic: The future of the electric grid
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
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Offline Obviousman

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2057 on: February 21, 2021, 08:31:46 PM »
Thank you!

Offline JayUtah

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2058 on: February 22, 2021, 10:20:57 AM »
I've moved the discussion of the current emergency in Texas and the power grid to a separate topic: The future of the electric grid

Good idea.  I originally expected to make it a Rick Perry topic, but the engineering is more fun to talk about.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline Glom

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2059 on: February 24, 2021, 09:24:27 AM »
The Framers understood partisanship. I think they felt that today's hyperpartisanship would not arise.  Or if it did, the "lordly" decorum of the Senate would reign it in.

Our House of Lords seems pretty good in that regards. Unelected apparatchiks with jobs for life and hence no reason to care what you think can counterintuitively work sometimes.

Offline Luther

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2060 on: January 27, 2022, 10:58:44 AM »
But to me, the kicker is that the current and previous two administrations have had a common policy, which is that foreigners (unless they have been lawfully admitted to the United States) have no rights, including the right to be alive.  A legal researcher for the Obama administration spelled its reasoning out pretty clearly.  The United States is at war with an unspecified enemy.  The entire world is a battlefield.  So if you are a non-American located on this battlefield, then you are a combatant.  And combatants may be killed.

Do you have a source for this claim?

The most obvious source in support of this "claim" would be the words and writings of the officials of the three administrations cited.

We're not in the days of Kennedy and Nixon, when assassination of a foreigner would be a covert operation.  They brag about it on television these days.  Calling this a "claim" is a bit like referring to "Joe Biden is the president of the US" as a "claim".  (OK, some people do dispute that particular "claim".  But no matter.)

This may take a while, but we can go a little at a time.  Let's start with this article.

https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1302&context=facpub

Back from 2003, this one clearly would not have anything to do with the Obama or Trump administrations, but we'll get there eventually.

Apart from the wealth of information contained in the article, one might note the quote from then vice-President Dick Cheney, in which he states that foreigners who enter the United States illegally and conduct terrorist operations killing thousands of innocent Americans, do not deserve the "guarantees" and "safeguards" that would apply to American citizens in the "normal judicial process".

Well that certainly shows that I had a serious misunderstanding of the judicial process.  I thought the function thereof was to determine who were and who were not the criminals.  So how do you know whether someone conducted a terrorist operation killing thousands of Americans?  I thought you had a trial, and a prosecution presented evidence, a defence disputed that evidence, and then a judge and/or jury would indicate whether they found the evidence sufficiently compelling to conclude that the person had indeed conducted such a terrorist operation.  In other words, you followed the "normal judicial process".

But apparently, some unspecified party has the ability to determine, outside of the normal judicial process, who has and who has not conducted terrorist operations, and who therefore is and is not entitled to the "guarantees" and "safeguards" of the normal judicial process.  The purpose of which is now unclear to me, since it seems that we have been able to determine the accused's innocent or guilt somehow outside of the normal judicial process, so why is there a need for a judicial process at all?  Does this apply to all kinds of crimes?  Why should murderers, kidnappers, or paedophiles enjoy the "guarantees" of "safeguards" of the judicial process?  If we can determine their guilt or innocence outside of the judicial process, well, just throw them into prison if they are guilty, and let them go if they are not.  Why do courts even exist?  Vice-President Cheney also does not seem to have explained why American citizens who have conducted terrorist operations should have such guarantees and safeguards, but foreigners should not; perhaps it is easier to determine whether or not foreigners are terrorists, than it is for Americans.  I'm not really sure.  Perhaps vice-President Cheney has explained all this somewhere else.

In the 1940s, the Americans were among the allies who opposed Churchill's plans to have summary executions for Nazi leaders.  Apparently the American government has become more omniscient; it could not then determine the guilt or innocence of Nazi leaders without a judicial process, but it can now determine the guilt or innocence of foreign accused terrorists.

But vice-President Cheney wisely applies his doctrine only to foreigners; Americans accused of terrorism must go through the normal judicial process.  This seems a bit odd, doesn't it?  Don't you think that Americans who support the government's position, that it should be able to deal with accused foreign terrorists outside of the normal judicial process, would also support the government's right to deal with them, outside of the normal judicial process?  Or do Americans only support the government's right to imprison or execute other people without trial?

More coming on the rights (or lack thereof) of dirty foreigners, in the eyes of not only the Bush administration, but the succeeding administrations.  But I'll give everyone a chance to have a look at this article first.

Offline Luther

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2061 on: January 27, 2022, 11:09:54 AM »
Is it true Trump can wage war in Iran and he can be "by force of law" 4 more years as president?

Oh, God, who’s making that ridiculous claim?

I do not know who made this claim, but I think I have a guess . . .

Offline Luther

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2062 on: January 27, 2022, 11:14:36 AM »
At this point, he should find it impossible to get delivery, much less hire a lawyer.

I suppose he could pay in advance.

Offline Peter B

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2063 on: February 15, 2022, 02:51:21 AM »
Quote
The Bengals can still win if Mike Pence has the courage.

I laughed when I read the story behind the above Tweet.

Offline Peter B

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Offline Allan F

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2065 on: December 27, 2023, 09:53:52 PM »
Is this true? Has anybody met him, and can confirm it? Or is it just a character assassination?

Well, it is like this: The truth doesn't need insults. Insults are the refuge of a darkened mind, a mind that refuses to open and see. Foul language can't outcompete knowledge. And knowledge is the result of education. Education is the result of the wish to know more, not less.

Offline Zakalwe

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2066 on: December 28, 2023, 04:03:06 AM »
"Old men fart" shocker.

If Trump gets into power again, then his farts will be the very least of America's worries.  "When fascism comes to America, it will come  wrapped in the flag and waving the cross."
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline Allan F

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2067 on: December 28, 2023, 08:55:38 AM »
What is described here, is way beyond normal. This is Lord Meron of Nabol in his last days.
Well, it is like this: The truth doesn't need insults. Insults are the refuge of a darkened mind, a mind that refuses to open and see. Foul language can't outcompete knowledge. And knowledge is the result of education. Education is the result of the wish to know more, not less.

Offline Zakalwe

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2068 on: December 29, 2023, 04:33:00 AM »
What is described here, is way beyond normal.

Trump has been beyond normal for a long time. That he farts and soils himself is little more than another titillation in a festering pile of disgraces and outrages. The shocking this is that he still appeals to so many of his cult. Very dangerous times lie ahead for America if this monster grasps power again.


This is Lord Meron of Nabol in his last days.
I have no idea what any of that means.
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline Halcyon Dayz, FCD

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #2069 on: December 29, 2023, 09:54:33 AM »
I've seen people refer to him as Diaper Don for years.
Allegedly it is his bad diet that causes incontinence.
Hatred is a cancer upon the world.
It rots the mind and blackens the heart.