YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:36 pm
You start to see how razor thin Trump's victory actually was.
Sure, but then the American people elected a known cartoonish con-artist. Say what you will about "razor thin" but it's still disconcerting.
If the American people had elected Dracula (who identified himself as a vampire as part of his campaigning) by a "razor thin" margin, there would still be cause for alarm.
YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:36 pm
You start to see how razor thin Trump's victory actually was.
Sure, but then the American people elected a known cartoonish con-artist. Say what you will about "razor thin" but it's still disconcerting.
If the American people had elected Dracula (who identified himself as a vampire as part of his campaigning) by a "razor thin" margin, there would still be cause for alarm.
YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:36 pm
Throw in those Jill Stein voters.
Be careful about Stein voters rejecting Trump as a given. Dissonance is a powerful thing.
GreenGoo wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:38 pm
I'm mildly surprised there aren't riots at this point.
Things are fine until they're not. I've never had anxiety about mass civil violence in the US until the end of 2016. Now it's omnipresent but fortunately always in the background.
Last edited by LordMortis on Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:36 pm
You start to see how razor thin Trump's victory actually was.
Sure, but then the American people elected a known cartoonish con-artist. Say what you will about "razor thin" but it's still disconcerting.
If the American people had elected Dracula (who identified himself as a vampire as part of his campaigning) by a "razor thin" margin, there would still be cause for alarm.
It's hard to get Americans marching in the streets unless they're getting screwed on a personal level. And the fact is that from a short-term perspective, most people are still A-OK. The economy's good, unemployment is low. We're not in the middle of any wars. Trump is bad, but the badness is from judiciary appointments (yawn), environmental effects (we'll let our kids take care of it), Russian collusion (doesn't impact me personally)....the list goes on.
Americans are used to getting their revenge at the ballot box, and I think that's why you see a general level of calm. The system for removing politicians we don't like, until proven otherwise, is still working as intended. And I think that's why nobody's motivated to upset the apple cart.
As many crazy mad people there are in this country.......how many people are easily brainwashed.....and how many trump core supporters there are......I still worry about midterms never mind 2020.
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I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake. http://steamcommunity.com/id/daehawk
"Has high IQ. Refuses to apply it"
Im a bilingual. A bilingual illiterate. I can't read in two languages.
With Trump you can never dismiss a war with China / Russia/ North Korea.
Then again with Trump you cant dismiss a war with Britain / Canada / Australia
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I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake. http://steamcommunity.com/id/daehawk
"Has high IQ. Refuses to apply it"
Im a bilingual. A bilingual illiterate. I can't read in two languages.
One thing I don’t get is how paying off mistresses “influences an erec...election”?
That seems to be the only tie to Trump, here, correct? That he paid off two women to keep quiet. Something he would have done as candidate Trump, or plain ol’ shitbag citizen Trump.
If that’s the case, I really don’t get all the excitement, because that seems to be some weak ass sauce to me.
Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:53 pm
One thing I don’t get is how paying off mistresses “influences an erec...election”?
That seems to be the only tie to Trump, here, correct? That he paid off two women to keep quiet. Something he would have done as candidate Trump, or plain ol’ shitbag citizen Trump.
If that’s the case, I really don’t get all the excitement, because that seems to be some weak ass sauce to me.
Seriously? I mean I know it’s Trump but most candidates prefer not to have embarrassing news about them come out during an election campaign.
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. – G.K. Chesterton
Especially if Democrats manage the blue wave of their dreams in the midterms
I guess you folks don't see the multiple #WalkAway videos getting posted daily that I do. Maybe those are Russian bots? LMAO
I guess you don’t see the large number of Republican leaders who have announced leaving the party? Seriously, you expect us to be worried about publicity seeking video makers? Funny how the polls and party registrations don’t reflect this massive wave
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. – G.K. Chesterton
Carpet_pissr wrote:Do what now? Afghanistan, Syria....maybe Yemen (not sure how many troops we have there, but it's definitely "hot")
Correction. Any wars still in the news.
Begin rant. Afghanistan has been making prominent news for the past week as the war there is not going well at all. The government lost a strategic provincial capital for five days and the Taliban have taken most of the province. Today mortar rounds fell on Kabul while the president gave an outdoor speech. An American soldier died in Iraq two days ago (helicopter crash), so those advisors aren't just sitting around their bases. The public doesn't notice or care beyond the reflexive "thank you for your service."
When I'm the dictator I will decree that taxes must increase in wartime. The public needs to have some skin in the game if we don't want wars to simmer in obscurity for 17 years.
Its as if the US Gov doesn't think there is a war in Afghanistan.
--------------------------------------------
I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake. http://steamcommunity.com/id/daehawk
"Has high IQ. Refuses to apply it"
Im a bilingual. A bilingual illiterate. I can't read in two languages.
A juror who participated in the trial of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, said just one holdout prevented the jury from convicting Manafort on all of the 18 federal charges he faced.
In a Fox News interview on Wednesday, Paula Duncan, a self-described Trump supporter, said the unidentified juror was not convinced that Manafort was guilty of all 18 criminal charges he faced.
"We all tried to convince her to look at the paper trail, we laid it out in front of her again and again," Duncan said during an interview with Fox News host Shannon Bream.
Manafort was ultimately convicted on eight counts on five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failure to report a foreign bank account. The judge declared a mistrial on the remaining 10 counts.
Duncan claimed that the holdout juror is the one who prompted them to send a note to Judge T.S. Ellis asking for an explanation of the term, "reasonable doubt."
"Most of us did not want that question out there ... we felt a little foolish," Duncan said.
"The evidence was overwhelming," Duncan said. "I did not want Paul Manafort to be guilty, but he was, and no one is above the law. So it was our obligation to look through all of the evidence."
"What? What?What?" -- The 14th Doctor
It's not enough to be a good player... you also have to play well. -- Siegbert Tarrasch
Trump's latest attempt came in a friendly taped interview with Fox News, which was conducted on Wednesday but aired a day later. Trump sought to put distance between himself and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who admitted to campaign finance crimes in federal court on Tuesday and implicated the President by saying he'd directed the action.
And he sharply decried those who testify against former confidants to ease legal troubles, bemoaning the longstanding practice.
"It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal," Trump said in the interview, adding he's witnessed similar scenarios over his decades in public life. "I know all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go."
Trump's latest attempt came in a friendly taped interview with Fox News, which was conducted on Wednesday but aired a day later. Trump sought to put distance between himself and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who admitted to campaign finance crimes in federal court on Tuesday and implicated the President by saying he'd directed the action.
And he sharply decried those who testify against former confidants to ease legal troubles, bemoaning the longstanding practice.
"It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal," Trump said in the interview, adding he's witnessed similar scenarios over his decades in public life. "I know all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go."
I....I.....I have no words. Its like we elected a severely brain damaged Tony Soprano.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
Although this may be nothing as he does consider himself a Trump confidante. He may just be trying to point the finger for everything at Cohen instead of his orange God.
Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:53 pm
One thing I don’t get is how paying off mistresses “influences an erec...election”?
That seems to be the only tie to Trump, here, correct? That he paid off two women to keep quiet. Something he would have done as candidate Trump, or plain ol’ shitbag citizen Trump.
If that’s the case, I really don’t get all the excitement, because that seems to be some weak ass sauce to me.
I'll take a stab at this...
I *think * it actually isn't illegal to influence the campaign IF the payment was at or under the legal limit for contributions. Which, again, I *think * is $2700. I mean that's the whole point of donating to a campaign right? Is to influence the outcome. So that part could be legal. But obviously it was more than $2700 and then of course they didn't report the 'donation' either which is also illegal.
Or I could be completely wrong. But I can definitely see how this isn't moving the needle much for trump lovers. Campaign finance laws are byzantine at best and all of us, trump haters and lovers alike are convinced all politicians are corrupt.
Like y'all have said it should be a watershed moment for America but...
OR
cry in a corner that the world has come to a point where you have to pay for imaginary shit.
The good news for Trump-haters is that a crime is a crime whether people understand it or not. And this is a significant crime that is much more cut and dry than obstruction or other crimes that are open to interpretation and difficult to prove.
It really puts the GOP Congress in a difficult position. You may be able to weasel out of condemning someone for an ambiguous wrongdoing, but it's much harder to refute black and white breaking campaign finance law. The GOP may find themselves in the position of either holding Trump accountable or openly and brazenly refusing to do their job of overseeing the executive branch.
I mean, Lindsay Graham is today opining on how it'd be fine if Trump fired Sessions. Not exactly promising as far as GOP congresscritters treating this as cut and dry.
Whatever is happening or happens at the very least I hope it makes Trump mad enough to provide us with more entertaining Twitter rants.
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I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake. http://steamcommunity.com/id/daehawk
"Has high IQ. Refuses to apply it"
Im a bilingual. A bilingual illiterate. I can't read in two languages.
Zaxxon wrote:I mean, Lindsay Graham is today opining on how it'd be fine if Trump fired Sessions. Not exactly promising as far as GOP congresscritters treating this as cut and dry.
I think what Senators say publicly and what they say behind closed doors are two different things. I was reading a great article the other day about the Democrats' contingency plans should Trump pull a Saturday Night Massacre to get rid of Mueller. Schumer has been working the aisles hard and there are plenty of GOP Senators on board to keep the investigation going even if Trump should do the unthinkable.
--------------------------------------------
I am Dyslexic of Borg, prepare to have your ass laminated.
I guess Ray Butts has ate his last pancake. http://steamcommunity.com/id/daehawk
"Has high IQ. Refuses to apply it"
Im a bilingual. A bilingual illiterate. I can't read in two languages.
Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Aug 23, 2018 5:32 pm
Did Trump ever release his taxes?
They got an extension until October for this year's taxes. The presumption is that they will be released then, but I'm sure Trump et al. will find an excuse to withhold them.
As for Graham, I wouldn't assume he is doing anything differently behind closed doors. He is a full-on Trump sycophant. At this point, it looks like the playbook is to wait until after the November elections, then fire Sessions and appoint someone who will stop the Mueller investigation. The GOP seems to be getting behind that plan (see Grassely's comments today as well).
Trump's latest attempt came in a friendly taped interview with Fox News, which was conducted on Wednesday but aired a day later. Trump sought to put distance between himself and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who admitted to campaign finance crimes in federal court on Tuesday and implicated the President by saying he'd directed the action.
And he sharply decried those who testify against former confidants to ease legal troubles, bemoaning the longstanding practice.
"It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal," Trump said in the interview, adding he's witnessed similar scenarios over his decades in public life. "I know all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go."
Well he should be happy to learn that it almost is illegal.
She echoed Trump in calling the special counsel probe a “witch hunt.” But she said Manafort was guilty all the same, of crimes pertaining to hiding income earned from his political consulting work overseas and other fraud counts.
“Certainly Mr. Manafort got caught breaking the law, but he wouldn’t have gotten caught if they weren’t after President Trump,” Duncan said.
There are not enough in the world for that statement.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.