Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Old Man]

He's been holding ridiculous positions for years. All it got him was the presidency. He's not going to stop now.

[Old Man]

The US reprisal for Russian tampering with the elections is pathetic. But here is the final Joint Analysis Report fingering the Russian government for direct interference (pdf). It's pretty dry.

[megaplayboy]

My preference would be to detonate a half dozen B83s in the Russian ionosphere, but in the alternative redistributing Putin's secret bank accounts to Ukraine might be a good start.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I hope you're joking about responding to this with nuclear weapons.

[Old Man]

Perhaps not nukes, but a military response should certainly have been on the table.  If f--king with our elections isn't an act of war, what is? 

[megaplayboy]

I hope you're joking about responding to this with nuclear weapons.

I am, though I was referring to EMP-ing them back to the stone age rather than incineration of their cities.

[dmjalund]

If Trump wants to get on with his life, he shouldn't have run for President

[Pariah]

I am, though I was referring to EMP-ing them back to the stone age rather than incineration of their cities.

* munches popcorn *

[Old Man]

If Trump wants to get on with his life, he shouldn't have run for President

 

If he'd like to get on with his life and leave government to someone who's not a Russian mole, I'm good with that.

[Michael Hopcroft]

If Trump wants to get on with his life, he shouldn't have run for President

 

 

If he'd like to get on with his life and leave government to someone who's not a Russian mole, I'm good with that.

Problem is his Vice-President isn't all that much better a choice. Mike Pence is one scary dude.

 

Trump's goals appear to be simply -- draw as much attention to himself while his friends loot the nation for all they can grab. It's as if something told him America is doomed regardless and it's time for the rich to grab everything before the bad stuff hits. It will be another "Era of Good Stealings". Which is actually close to how Putin runs his country.

[Pariah]

To me, Donald Trump seems to be exactly the sort of President that Douglas Adams had in mind; e.g., that his purpose is not to wield power, but to draw attention away from it.

[DasBroot]

To me, Donald Trump seems to be exactly the sort of President that Douglas Adams had in mind; e.g., that his purpose is not to wield power, but to draw attention away from it.

 

But he's not a puppet. All his advisers tell him so.

[DasBroot]

The US reprisal for Russian tampering with the elections is pathetic. But here is the final Joint Analysis Report fingering the Russian government for direct interference (pdf). It's pretty dry.

 

Declaring 35 Russian diplomats persona non grata isn't that terrible a response.  

 

Putin, of course, has said that he'll be the bigger man and not expel US diplomats as a response to this baseless action.

 

(Likely because he wouldn't want to lose out on such valuable potential information gathering sources)

[Pariah]

But he's not a puppet. All his advisers tell him so.

Fair enough.

[BoloOfEarth]

But he's not a puppet. All his advisers tell him so.

 

But how does he understand them when they're speaking Russian at the time?

[megaplayboy]

But how does he understand them when they're speaking Russian at the time?

Trump's of German descent, so one of his alt right guys can probably translate for him.

[Iuz the Evil]

I'm of German descent. We do not speak Russian.

[Hermit]

I'm of German descent. We do not speak Russian.

"You're welcome" -Captain America!

 

Kidding...

[megaplayboy]

I'm of German descent. We do not speak Russian.

Ah, you missed the joke, which is that the alt right are basically Nazis and Putinophiles. So they can translate into German for Der Drumpf.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Two thoughts on the whole thing:

 

One is that we know that ever since the start of the Cold War superpowers fiddling around with the elections of other countries has been common. We've been doing it. The Russians have been doping it. The Chinese are probably doing it. That Putin thinks America's elections are fair game is not surprising. It's clear that there are parts of "Do unto others" that governments just don't grasp.

 

The second is more disturbing, in that we will soon have a President who believes that the line between right and wrong is based on what benefits himself. If it gets him something he wants,  it's good. If it stands in his way, it's evil. It is as though he sees the universe as an extension of himself, intended to give him pleasure. Donald Trump has never experience real adversity in his life. Even when he commits deeds that would be felonies for anybody else, the most he has to do is dole out some money from his magic bag and everything's fixed. Consequences are for little people whose daddies didn't leave them the key to the vault. And this is already proving very destructive even before he touches the Bible (for probably the only time in his life).

 

That should have raised red flags in November, but everyone was paying so much attention to leaks of dubious authenticity that they didn't care.

[Badger]

Unfortunately, Trump would likely not be the first President who believe the line should be based on  benefits for himself.  This literally describes EVERY politician, Trump is more obvious I'll give.  And his motivation might be different than you average politician (as in benefitting his business interest rather than for political power)

[womble]

The second is more disturbing, in that we will soon have a President who believes that the line between right and wrong is based on what benefits himself. If it gets him something he wants,  it's good. If it stands in his way, it's evil. It is as though he sees the universe as an extension of himself, intended to give him pleasure. Donald Trump has never experience real adversity in his life. Even when he commits deeds that would be felonies for anybody else, the most he has to do is dole out some money from his magic bag and everything's fixed. Consequences are for little people whose daddies didn't leave them the key to the vault. And this is already proving very destructive even before he touches the Bible (for probably the only time in his life).

 

What you just did was list a bunch of criteria for diagnosing Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I think it did ring alarm bells, but a lot of people thought "Oh, the alarm's gone off, so we don't need to call the firefighters," and proceeded to neglect to vote.

 

 

Unfortunately, Trump would likely not be the first President who believe the line should be based on  benefits for himself. 

 

 This is probably true. Doubly so if you define "benefits for himself" as "increases my chance of reelection", whether their base motivation for reelection was the pure joy of being In Charge or the fervent and honest wish to be able to continue to do the best for the country as they see it.

 

 

This literally describes EVERY politician,

 

Like most absolutes, this holds little water. Many politicians, possibly even a large majority just want to be In Charge, but there are certainly some who are trying to make the world a better place (however much you disagree with their definition of "better"). That they have to play the political game doesn't alter their motivation, though it does tarnish their image.

[Old Man]

And there are those for whom personal aggrandizement is limited at least by plain human decency if not a genuine desire to help their fellow man.

[Armitage]

Continuing the trend of proving that the government doesn't work by preventing the government from working.

 

 

 

The incoming House majority plans to schedule a vote on the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act (REINS Act) soon after new members are sworn in next Tuesday. A top priority of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the leading lobby group for big business, REINS would fundamentally alter the federal government in ways that could hobble federal agencies during periods when the same party controls Congress and the White House — and absolutely cripple those agencies during periods of divided government.
Many federal laws delegate authority to agencies to work out the details of how to achieve relatively broad objectives set by the law itself. The agencies do so by drafting regulations that interpret and elaborate upon these statutes and which have the force of law. REINS, however, effectively strips agencies of much of this authority.
.
.
Under its terms, a new regulation that has an “annual economic impact of $100 million or more,” which is less than 0.0006 percent of the U.S. economy, must be approved by Congress within “70 session days” or it does not go into effect.

[Iuz the Evil]

Continuing the trend of proving that the government doesn't work by preventing the government from working.

Well, that'll pretty much end Federal regulation of corporate interests. Leaves oversight to State and Local government, which can struggle to match the legal resources (even more than the Fed) of multinational corporations.

 

Not even trying to hide it, just totally in the pocket of Big Business.