Donald Trump & 2016 Election

[tim_m]

Harley shipping jobs overseas to fight against Trump tariffs.

Edit: And now the president is threatening an American company for making a business decision, and one that's sort of a no brainer, that he forced them to make through his policy.

You can't make this shit up.

Isn't threatening a private company with taxes the likes they've never seen also illegal?

[pilferk]

Harley shipping jobs overseas to fight against Trump tariffs.

Edit: And now the president is threatening an American company for making a business decision, and one that's sort of a no brainer, that he forced them to make through his policy.

You can't make this shit up.

Isn't threatening a private company with taxes the likes they've never seen also illegal?

Meh?  You'd have to make the case it violates the Hatch Act, and I'm not sure you could do that.  They'd have to successfully litigate the DT twitter feed is his "public" feed, and not a private one.

[pilferk]

SCOTUS Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring.

 

[tim_m]

Bye bye gay and women's rights for decades if Trump is allowed to fill the vacancy.

[JAEBALL]

Bye bye gay and women's rights for decades if Trump is allowed to fill the vacancy.

Yup

The Muslim bam is just going to incite Muslims all over the world and create so many home grown terrorists... putting us all in real danger.

It’s really disturbing and sad that middle America doesn’t understand that.

But hey brown Muslim people are evil and white Christian people are good right?

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Bye bye gay and women's rights for decades if Trump is allowed to fill the vacancy.

I wouldn't be too worried, replacing a supreme court justice will not magically make the rights of people go away. 

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Bye bye gay and women's rights for decades if Trump is allowed to fill the vacancy.

Yup

The Muslim bam is just going to incite Muslims all over the world and create so many home grown terrorists... putting us all in real danger.

It’s really disturbing and sad that middle America doesn’t understand that.

But hey brown Muslim people are evil and white Christian people are good right?

 
I do question how effective this really will be with preventing attacks on the US, but last I checked there were not a lot of Muslims from Venezuela and North Korea which are 2 countries on the travel ban list. 
 


 

[tim_m]

Bye bye gay and women's rights for decades if Trump is allowed to fill the vacancy.

I wouldn't be too worried, replacing a supreme court justice will not magically make the rights of people go away. 

You seriously don't think someone is gonna challenge Roe V. Wade or marriage equality?

[tim_m]

Bye bye gay and women's rights for decades if Trump is allowed to fill the vacancy.

Yup

The Muslim bam is just going to incite Muslims all over the world and create so many home grown terrorists... putting us all in real danger.

It’s really disturbing and sad that middle America doesn’t understand that.

But hey brown Muslim people are evil and white Christian people are good right?

 
I do question how effective this really will be with preventing attacks on the US, but last I checked there were not a lot of Muslims from Venezuela and North Korea which are 2 countries on the travel ban list. 
 


 

It won't since no refugee from any of the banned countries has committed a terrorist act in America.

[tim_m]

So in the last few days Trump calls the media the enemy of the people and Milo whatever the fuck his last name is says he can't wait for vigilantes to start shooting journalists and today we have 5 dead and many more hurt in Annapolis, MD. I dare anyone to tell me this is a coincidence. Even to a Trump supporter that has to look bad. I haven't seen anything about motive yet but it just seems like too much of a coincidence.

[pilferk]

So in the last few days Trump calls the media the enemy of the people and Milo whatever the fuck his last name is says he can't wait for vigilantes to start shooting journalists and today we have 5 dead and many more hurt in Annapolis, MD. I dare anyone to tell me this is a coincidence. Even to a Trump supporter that has to look bad. I haven't seen anything about motive yet but it just seems like too much of a coincidence.

So...it's a coincidence.  At least in terms of motive.

The guy has a 5 year, ongoing, combative, hostile beef with the paper.  They published a story about him when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harrassment charge (he was cyberstalking and harassing an old high school classmate) all that time ago.  He filed a defamation lawsuit, based on that story, and lost.  He lost his appeal a week or two ago.

His escalating levels of hostility predates Trump.

Now...did the rhetoric help? No, probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if that emboldened him to take action.  But the attack doesn't appear to be politically motivated.

[pilferk]

You seriously don't think someone is gonna challenge Roe V. Wade or marriage equality?

Or marriage equality (again).

Or affirmative action (again).

Or a plethora of other issues the conservatives have "lost" based on Kennedy's more centrist-right position on the court.  He was basically a libertarian.

Of course they will.

And the Dems in Congress will rattle some sabers, make some speeches.....and roll over and play dead like they always do.

[pilferk]

 
I do question how effective this really will be with preventing attacks on the US, but last I checked there were not a lot of Muslims from Venezuela and North Korea which are 2 countries on the travel ban list.   

Answer: It won't.  Because (as tim pointed out) none of the countries on the list have ever had a person originating from them commit an act of terrorism in the US.  And because it simply acts as a recruiting tool for ISIS, Hamas, and the like.  It doesn't keep us safer, it just furthers Trumps "keep the brown people out" initiative and isolationism (except when it comes to getting cozy with fascist dictators).

The fact you question it's effectiveness should probably be an indication that there is some other motive at work, no?

As for NK and Venezuela: You mean the 2 countries specifically added, when it was created (according to Bannon) to disguise the EO as a Muslim ban.

Guilliani said, on TV, when he was helping draft the initial order, that it was intended to be a Muslim ban.

Look, he campaigned on a Muslim ban.

Everyone around him (who have left the administration) says the intent was for it to be a Muslim ban.

Call the spade a spade.  They only changed the rhetoric (and slightly softened the language...twice) when they began losing in court and had to change the script to try to get SCOTUS (where they knew they would end up) to let it stand. 

No alternative facts. No alternate history. It is what it is.

[tim_m]

So in the last few days Trump calls the media the enemy of the people and Milo whatever the fuck his last name is says he can't wait for vigilantes to start shooting journalists and today we have 5 dead and many more hurt in Annapolis, MD. I dare anyone to tell me this is a coincidence. Even to a Trump supporter that has to look bad. I haven't seen anything about motive yet but it just seems like too much of a coincidence.

So...it's a coincidence.  At least in terms of motive.

The guy has a 5 year, ongoing, combative, hostile beef with the paper.  They published a story about him when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harrassment charge (he was cyberstalking and harassing an old high school classmate) all that time ago.  He filed a defamation lawsuit, based on that story, and lost.  He lost his appeal a week or two ago.

His escalating levels of hostility predates Trump.

Now...did the rhetoric help? No, probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if that emboldened him to take action.  But the attack doesn't appear to be politically motivated.

Well that is a silver lining.

[tim_m]

You seriously don't think someone is gonna challenge Roe V. Wade or marriage equality?

Or marriage equality (again).

Or affirmative action (again).

Or a plethora of other issues the conservatives have "lost" based on Kennedy's more centrist-right position on the court.  He was basically a libertarian.

Of course they will.

And the Dems in Congress will rattle some sabers, make some speeches.....and roll over and play dead like they always do.

I'm not sure what else they can do since now only a simple majority is needed.

[tim_m]

Anyone else hearing that Justice Kennedy was possibly bribed to retire? Any validity there? Also, it seems satellite images are showing NK upgrading their nuke sites.

[pilferk]

I'm not sure what else they can do since now only a simple majority is needed.

You make the Repubs pay a political price for it, at least.  And you make Repubs like Collins in Maine, and Murkowski in Alaska, and Hellier in NV and Gardner in Colorado answer to their constituents if they vote to confirm someone likely to oppose Roe, or marriage equality, or affirmative action.  You beg, borrow, plead, and get people marching in the streets You use every procedural trick you have to slow down the confirmation until the Senate is in lame duck sessions, and then.....provided the Dems have magically managed to pull Senate control (and I still don't think that's likely...ESPECIALLY now, since this will motivate the Repubs to vote in Nov)...you let your Republican colleagues know that they will be SHUT OUT of normal business on EVERYTHING if they vote before the new Senate is seated. Total and complete blackout...and that the new Senate Majority WILL use the nuclear option to make that happen (even if it's a bluff).
 
But...the Dems aren't going to do that.  They've proven over and over again they're pretty much spineless. They refuse to take a principled stand.  They'll make some speeches.  They'll feign some outrage.  They'll talk to pundits for a few weeks and bang their fists on a few desks.

Then they'll politely roll over and die.

That's what they do.  They don't seem to realize the Repubs have changed the rules of the game, and the Dems are still playing by the old ones.

At the VERY least the Dems need to make sure there is a political price paid by the Repubs, and a steep one.  But I don't think they're capable of even that, til they get their heads out of their asses and show up to play.

[pilferk]

Anyone else hearing that Justice Kennedy was possibly bribed to retire? Any validity there? Also, it seems satellite images are showing NK upgrading their nuke sites.

Bribed?

I don't know about that.

Deciding to get out before a serious conflict of interest is revealed by the press? More likely.

We'll see if there's any smoke to the fire re: Kennedy's son, Deutche bank, and Trump.  Right now, it needs a LOT more substantiation before anyone can rightly label it anything other than a conspiracy theory.  I'll leave those to those on the right.

[tim_m]

I'm not sure what else they can do since now only a simple majority is needed.

You make the Repubs pay a political price for it, at least.  And you make Repubs like Collins in Maine, and Murkowski in Alaska, and Hellier in NV and Gardner in Colorado answer to their constituents if they vote to confirm someone likely to oppose Roe, or marriage equality, or affirmative action.  You beg, borrow, plead, and get people marching in the streets You use every procedural trick you have to slow down the confirmation until the Senate is in lame duck sessions, and then.....provided the Dems have magically managed to pull Senate control (and I still don't think that's likely...ESPECIALLY now, since this will motivate the Repubs to vote in Nov)...you let your Republican colleagues know that they will be SHUT OUT of normal business on EVERYTHING if they vote before the new Senate is seated. Total and complete blackout...and that the new Senate Majority WILL use the nuclear option to make that happen (even if it's a bluff).
 
But...the Dems aren't going to do that.  They've proven over and over again they're pretty much spineless. They refuse to take a principled stand.  They'll make some speeches.  They'll feign some outrage.  They'll talk to pundits for a few weeks and bang their fists on a few desks.

Then they'll politely roll over and die.

That's what they do.  They don't seem to realize the Repubs have changed the rules of the game, and the Dems are still playing by the old ones.

At the VERY least the Dems need to make sure there is a political price paid by the Repubs, and a steep one.  But I don't think they're capable of even that, til they get their heads out of their asses and show up to play.

Pretty much verbatim what Bill Maher has been saying for awhile. We haven't learned to play dirty yet. We always want to take the high road and that isn't working anymore. If the democrat voters would just show the fuck up especially in a midterm year they will not only take the house but the senate too. You think there's literally any chance of one or two republicans with a conscience left to prevent confirmation?

[Dr. Blutarsky]

Anyone else hearing that Justice Kennedy was possibly bribed to retire? Any validity there? Also, it seems satellite images are showing NK upgrading their nuke sites.

If a supreme court justice can be bribed, our democracy is over as we know it. I haven't heard of anything like that.

But I have heard NK was upgrading their nuke sites. That certainly puts any agreement even a preliminary one in jeopardy.