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Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)


Simon

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4 hours ago, unclevlad said:

 

It's a Presidential speech.  In the positive sense.  

 

On the pardons, Bannon was the big one.  The other controversial ones weren't names you'd immediately recognize from the political circus.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/20/politics/trump-pardons-commutations-list/index.html

 

I wouldn't be shocked if Trump signed and handed out physical copies of several hundred pardons to various people. And that they were instructed to not pull them out and show them to the court until after the trial started.

 

And if they used the pardon in that manner, Trump would back them up that it was valid.

 

Gets to waste a lot of the government's time tracking down and prosecuting Trump allies and makes Trump feel very clever for doing it in that manner.

 

There's no obligation to register a pardon with the government or even to have a physical copy of it. All a president is required to do is pardon and specify what they're pardoned for. He wouldn't even necessarily have to notify someone who isn't in prison that they'd already been pardoned and didn't have to worry about it.

 

Keeping it secret helps sidestep the problem that the person who's been pardoned can't fall back on the 5th amendment in order to avoid testifying. So prosecutors might not ask someone to testify or might not bring a case in the first place because they incorrectly assume that they couldn't compel testimony.

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8 minutes ago, death tribble said:

I sent Ding Dong The Witch is Dead lyrics to American friends.

 

The problem is too many people could qualify....

 

Well now that means we need a game.  Which comic, gaming, sci fi, or pulp villain is Donald Trump?  DT offers up the Wicked Witch of the West.  

 

I think I'll go with Brain for now, from Pinky and the Brain.  Besides, that way I can cast Giuliani as Pinky.

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24 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

 

The problem is too many people could qualify....

 

Well now that means we need a game.  Which comic, gaming, sci fi, or pulp villain is Donald Trump?  DT offers up the Wicked Witch of the West.  

 

I think I'll go with Brain for now, from Pinky and the Brain.  Besides, that way I can cast Giuliani as Pinky.

 

The Sutherland Presidency

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4 minutes ago, wcw43921 said:

Trump Supporters Failed To Show On Inauguration Day

 

They can still show up at the polls in 2022, so stay vigilant, people.

Well, yes.  I expect they will vote, which is fine... but we do need to push for that voting too.

 

Given the forces at play on Inauguration Day, I'm not surprised there wasn't anything more.

 

Given that it appears Trump didn't pardon anyone who was at Capitol Hill... I'm not sure what'll happen next

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1 minute ago, Tom said:

We (collective “we”) can spend the next four years arguing the specifics of what he he does, and likely will. That’s not what today is about. 

 

Today is about the fact that I decided to try to start to run my first hero game in a decade this spring or summer :D

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Well, now.  I think we have a new champion in the Man Bites Dog Challenge.  Headline and lead from NYT:

 

Quote

‘A Total Failure’: The Proud Boys Now Mock Trump

Members of the far-right group, who were among Donald Trump’s staunchest fans, are calling him “weak” as more of them were charged for storming the U.S. Capitol.

 

Those who do not value loyalty, get deserve none...

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24 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

I've seen that point raised in commentary before. Having built his political reputation on being a "tough guy" and a "winner," Trump visibly caving as he has may be the one thing that will undercut his support.

 

Been thinking about this, and the curious incident at the inauguration.  But nothing happened at the inauguration, you say.  That was the curious incident.

 

There were 3 factors that combined, IMO, to the lack of anything notable in DC.

1.  25,000 cops and troops.

2.  The reaction to what happened at the Capitol, and the reprisals against those involved.  Legally and in terms of political support;  the public declarations of the withdrawal of campaign support by so many big corps is a Big Deal to the longer-term incumbents;  the rookies are likely to be in for a big surprise.

3.  Trump caved.

 

And I think Trump caving might overall be the most important of the three.  He was effectively the head of the snake, and when he gave in, the head was cut off.  I think it's been a "well now what can we do" moment.  I also think it was important because I haven't seen any significant agitation reported this week.  There aren't 25,000 troops in every state capital.

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Jill Biden intends to keep teaching at her community college.

 

That got me to thinking...if they're having in-person classes...it would be kinda weird to be in a classroom where an armed Secret Service agent is probably up front and close to the instructor, and one or more are stationed at the entrances.  Mind...."our prof is the First Lady!!!!" would be awesome too, but having the Secret Service personnel around would be both comforting and uncomfortable at the same time.

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7 hours ago, Tom said:


Not certain it’s what you mean, but I’ll comment anyhow. 
 

Symbols, and symbolism, are important as well.  
 

We (collective “we”) can spend the next four years arguing the specifics of what he he does, and likely will. That’s not what today is about. 

 

To quote George Carlin: "I leave symbols to the symbol minded." Trump set the bar so low that a weak hop over it is seen as impressive; I'll be impressed once substance takes precedence over speech. There's a real danger that another right-wing nationalist able to tap into that populist verve is going to raise the necessary support in another four years' time, unless a whole bunch of actual progress is made by this new administration. I hope Biden can help direct the nation as best he can past COVID-19 and that should count for quite a bit come the next election, but it won't be everything if there's a three to three-and-a-half year buffer in the interim; we know that the public's collective memory can be astoundingly short-term.

 

P.S. I'm not interested in hearing the word "unity" unless it is preceded by the word "accountability".

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