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Elephants and Jackasses...

Discussion in 'Permanent Threads' started by Nettdata, Oct 14, 2016.

  1. Kampf Trinker

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    That price is freedom!

    Or liberty when we're fighting the Germans. Sure, you've had sausages, but have you had liberty sausages???

    I think when Bush did it he was the first president in an era where the communication web was omnipresent enough that it got back to him how lame everyone thought it was.
     
  2. Revengeofthenerds

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    A great article by TIME that explains the trump impeachment thing.

    To be honest, before I read that I thought it was just more of the same partisan crap. Trump = bad, impeach him for no reason or any reason kinda deal (and don’t get me wrong, I think his behavior even prior to the election should have made him unelectable).

    But now I don’t see how they don’t impeach him here. So first he threatens to withhold aid from Ukraine, aid which was agreed on by both parties, unless the investigate allegations already proven false? And then someone in the government tries to let Congress know about that, which by law they are allowed to do, and the administration blocks them? Yeah that’s just completely fucked up. In my opinion, even worse than the Russia stuff.
     
  3. Kampf Trinker

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    Biden is already dropping in the polls because of this dumbass impeachment gambit. It's funny because there really doesn't seem to be anything all that suspect in forcing Shokin out, but it's shedding a lot of light on other activities that look less innocent.

    With Biden slipping wall street is now threatening the party that they'll back Trump in 2020. Seems they're not such big fans of Warren and Sanders. How shocking.

    In totally unrelated news, has the DNC offered an explanation about the good ole times when they were paying Ukrainians for dirt on Trump and pressured them to make public statements about the Trump campaign? Not yet? Oh, ok then...
     
  4. Jimmy James

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    Dude, really? Trump is the issue. Why do you care about the Clintons anyway? Neither are POTUS. Stop with the whataboutism already. It's boring and useless.
     
  5. Kubla Kahn

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    Funny when the shoe was on the other foot the democrats ignored, rationalized, and blew off Clinton’s flagrant obstruction of justice, it was more than just a single line about the meaning of “is” in a deposition, and voted partisan lines. It’s not even about Clinton but the left’s hypocrisy.

    I’d honestly be much more on board with scrutinizing trump if the media and the left didn’t go on hyperventilating screeds every time a half baked unconfirmed news story, see latest kavenaugh flap, implied he’s committed another murderous act of treason. If they’d dial back their initial outrage they’d come across much more potent in their argument.

    After 8 years of raising concerns and arguments against Obama’s policies and simply being written off as racist I really don’t care anymore about the discourse. I kinda hope he is impeached and then get re-elected beating out the 2x4 block of wood Elizabeth Warren. The clown world would be utterly complete.
     
  6. Juice

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    Hillary might not be President, but she ran for President and the DNC orchestrated payments to a research firm to get a fake dossier from a foreign intelligence agent regarding bullshit information about collusion with Russia. That entire thing literally ended just weeks ago. Id say its perfectly fair game to draw comparisons to.
     
  7. Kampf Trinker

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    FTFY
     
  8. Revengeofthenerds

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  9. ODEN

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    Explain civic duty in this instance. Did the individual whistle blower overhear the conversation and have first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing? As I recall from earlier reports, they did not. How is that in the best interest of your country to report hearsay?
     
  10. Revengeofthenerds

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    From what I've heard, yes, the whistle blower was there during the conversation. To the point that the report so exactly matched the transcript, that they're now worried about protecting the person's identity once the report comes out because there were only so many people in the room.

    I'd like to think that citizen, regardless of political affiliation, would report such an obvious and egregious abuse of power if they witnessed it. I think that's why you aren't seeing a lot of republicans pushing back on this now. No one's really denying it, just downplaying it or trying to spin it. Because if true, it's a no good very bad day for America. I see this as being a bipartisan vote if the events in question are found to be accurate.

    For me, this one has a different feel. It doesn't make me mad at trump. It doesn't make me angry at representing members of the GOP. It seems like something that might inevitably happen when you get a crazed ego-maniac running the country like his many failed businesses. Except this time he can't file chapter 11.
     
  11. downndirty

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    Seconding the Time article, it's a pretty solid summary and explanation without getting too inflammatory: https://time.com/5686822/trump-bide...ief&utm_content=20190926&xid=newsletter-brief

    One consequence of this is the expansion of investigative powers under an impeachment inquiry. A lot of Trump's stall, deflect, deny and evade tactics aren't legally permissible under an impeachment inquiry.

    Another is the political reality that a "successful" impeachment would require 60 Senators, which given the current makeup of the chamber is not likely to happen. I'm curious if there is any curtailing of presidential power or privilege with an inquiry open.

    Three predictions:
    1. a lot more turnover from the White House staff in the coming weeks. Again, asking a foreign country to help you win an election is treason. Does anyone believe this is the only time Trump might attempt this, or that he will do it without needing anyone's help at all? Imagine the wave of "fuck this" hitting you when he asks you to help him "get dirt" on Joe Biden. How is Dancing with the Stars not a relief?
    2. An extremely long lame-duck period, starting about the time when the first GOP Senator says "yup, that's impeachable". Even if it's a hypothetical, or in private, Trump's legislative agenda, paltry though it was, is dead.
    3. Economic recession, winter 2020, because Trump can't "lose" the trade war, but no one negotiating with him has faith that the agreement will last so he can't win it either. Pick a bubble (tech stocks, housing, education) to burst, a Fed response that woefully underestimated the economic health to begin with (see, historic inequality and trade war with no winners), and a White House/Cabinet under fire and boom, recession.

    I think fundamentally Trump doesn't understand the role of President, and he didn't really want it. Pretty soon, he'll start negotiating an exit strategy that doesn't end with prison or dozens of investigations as a private citizen. If that doesn't go well, he will escalate some tensions and use the threat of war (or actual fucking war) to improve his chances for re-election or to distract from this circus, especially once he loses the ability to control the media narrative. Give it 2 weeks, and you'll see a tweet to the effect of "The Democrats need to get in line and help us confront the threat of Wakanda!"

    One of the things that fascinates me is how far this weird cult of personality around Trump has carried him. He's disliked by the majority of Americans, has historic disapproval ratings, lost the popular vote, and is polling behind literally every serious candidate he's up against in 2020. I genuinely don't see the appeal, but I also don't see the benefit of the mainstream media turning "Trump voter" into the N-word of the 2020's. I can't imagine anyone else getting this far on bullshit, bullying and bluffing ever again. It's so bizarre to see politicians with fans. Much less those fans celebrating shit that he hasn't done, that won't benefit them at all, but that entertained them.

    Looking at his track record of dismissing scandals and getting away with crimes, I can easily understand how this one sounds like another drop in the bucket. But it feels different, perhaps because this is a major escalation. Or perhaps because this is unique in our history.
     
  12. Kampf Trinker

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    This whole thing is such bullshit anyway. They can't get to the 218 threshold in the house, even with their sizeable majority. Forget about the senate. They very recently did the exact same thing(for months by the way, not just a phone call)they are trying to impeach Trump for. How the fuck do any of you take this seriously? How?

    I love how people keep coming up with new terms like 'whataboutism' as if it's somehow going to make having polar opposite standards any less stupid and transparent.
     
  13. Aetius

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    You guys realize you don't have to be on the wrong side of history right? There's no assigned seating; you can come sit with the rest of us any time you like.
     
  14. Crown Royal

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    Our country’s election is a mere few weeks away, yet nobody here knows. Because we can’t hear anything over the sound of your country screaming at each other over an election that is over thirteen motherfucking months away.

    Becoming a mountain-man is looking more cosmopolitan every day. The only two positive things you can get out of discussing politics is 1) hating it and 2) making fun of it. That’s what American politics is: a shitty joke that never fucking ends.
     
  15. Juice

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    [​IMG]

    Canadian politics: super serious.
     
  16. Kampf Trinker

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    So you were all on the wrong side of history for 2 years straight when you didn't care at all about other people doing this? Cool.
     
  17. Kubla Kahn

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    I give the guy credit he's 50 and looks like he's in his late 20s. With those Castro genes he'll live until he's 110.
     
  18. Juice

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    Black don’t crack.
     
  19. Jimmy James

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    It is perfectly normal to have concerns about a president's policy positions. It is not normal for a president to solicit foreign assistance to damage a potential opponent. The media keeps blowing up because Trump does shit that goes beyond policy positions. But yes, it's the media's fault for reporting the stupid shit Trump says and does. Also, to say that this issue is a problem only the left has is either forgetting or ignoring times where the media called Obama giving his wife a fistbump, a "terrorist fist jab", or melting down over a fucking brown suit.

    Still, I think we can both agree that both sides are fucking stupid when the other is in charge. I think the big difference is that one side tends to get indicted and other side doesn't.
     
  20. Juice

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    I think the issue with all of it is that there were calls for Trumps impeachment before he was inaugurated and over absolutely everything aside from the issues that should actually warrant its consideration. People were cautioning that this would occur from day one and now just don’t take it seriously because of it. I don’t even think this one is being taken all that seriously. If it were, Congress would be suspending its recess on Monday and the House Judiciary would be gearing up to vote for an investigation. Maybe it will happen over the weekend, but I doubt it.

    The Democrats spent all their political capital for accountability during the Russia nonsense and now the public will probably never get behind an impeachment unless there is some indisputable bombshell.