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Post by Kapitan on Oct 11, 2019 13:19:32 GMT
It just seems so counterproductive. I don't like the president's style one bit (or his policies, for the most part, for that matter), but I don't see how a good alternative is with that kind of protest. And I don't like the presumption of the protesters talking about "Minneapolis values" and how the president isn't welcome here. I'm sorry, but while Minneapolis is definitely a heavily Democratic-leaning city, he IS the president and there ARE at least tens of thousands of Republicans in this city--not to mention far more Republican-leaning counties than Democratic ones in the state. (Really only the metro areas of Minneapolis-St. Paul and the smaller ones of Duluth and Rochester voted Clinton; it's just that those have the population to swing the state.)
As long as we're a democratic republic, the president has every right to be here and hold rallies, and his supporters have every right to attend.
And yes, protesters have a right to protest. But I wish they'd consider their tactics and rhetoric.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 15, 2019 19:11:42 GMT
Democratic debate tonight at 8:00 PM EST. I wonder if they'll gang up on Trump or Biden - or both?
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 15, 2019 22:16:12 GMT
Democratic debate tonight at 8:00 PM EST. I wonder if they'll gang up on Trump or Biden - or both? Frontrunners will gang up on Trump (to imply that they're the one most likely to or most capable of it); the lower-downs will gang up on Biden and, I'll bet for the first time, on Sanders and Warren. It's desperation time for a lot of them.
Then again, twelve people on stage, so once you subtract commercials, introductions, bloviating hosts, and stupid gimmicks, each candidate will probably get about 90 seconds to speak. So they can't say much anyway.
I'm not watching it. A friend is in town and we're going to dinner. Can't say I'll miss it.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 17, 2019 12:10:06 GMT
Rep Elijah Cummings (KDS’s Rep?) (D-Md) died early this morning. Only 68, he reportedly died of “complications from longstanding health issues,” per the AP.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 12:44:39 GMT
I haven't commented much and won't much on the impeachment inquiry and the president, but I do want to get this out.
First, this has been an awful week's performance from the president. I think his handling of Syria/Turkey has been an embarrassment to the country, to be honest, and has been directly responsible for a breach of trust, hundreds of deaths, and tens of thousands of displaced civilians. He is right to say the Kurds "are no angels" (as if anyone is), but these non-angels have been staunch allies for us in Iraq and Syria, doing much of the heavy lifting in combat so we didn't have to lose more of our soldiers. To abandon them and allow Turkey to massacre them--and to free hundreds of ISIS fighters in the process--is simply foolish and immoral. That the Turks consider them terrorists ... well, consider the Turks. Erdogan is an authoritarian to put it kindly, a dictator to put it bluntly. The administration "negotiated a settlement" that consists of a brief cease-fire (which Turkey has violated already, less than 24 hours into it) after which Turkey gets exactly what it wants. Meanwhile the Kurds have aligned with the Syrian administration, Russia, and Iran.
How do we win in this situation, exactly? And who will trust us again in the future, exactly?
Second, to brazenly name his own resort as the site for the 2020 G7 summit even as one of the investigations into his conduct relates to emoluments (e.g. making money off of his presidency) seems ... well, it seems like something he would do. If you accused him of stealing a purse, he'd rob a bank on camera. If you accused him of punching a guy, he'd stab a guy at a press conference. Honestly there are days I wonder whether he wants to be booted out of office.
Third, the impeachment investigations... I grant that the Democrats were looking for anything all along. Their motivation is as pure not as driven snow, but of coal dust and smog. That said, the Ukraine situation is not just almost certainly illegal (especially now that Mick Mulvaney has acknowledged that withholding appropriated money was related to the Trump-Giuliani Biden obsession, and several diplomats including former Trump appointees [not Democrats or even career diplomats] have said the same), but just stupid and petty.
Seriously. Is he going to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue to test his early campaign boast/theory?
The above rant isn't an endorsement of Democrats, either specifically or generally. It's not a condemnation of or attack on Republicans generally (though it is, specifically: against Trump and his blind followers--not all of his voters, or even supporters, but the ones who do it blindly, and of course any who break the law). It's really depressing and disappointing.
And the fact that the people who seem to me to be the best combination of ethical and smart are the least likely to run or win the office in the future is even more disappointing and depressing.
OK, back to music and sports!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 18, 2019 13:58:05 GMT
Second, to brazenly name his own resort as the site for the 2020 G7 summit even as one of the investigations into his conduct relates to emoluments (e.g. making money off of his presidency) seems ... well, it seems like something he would do. If you accused him of stealing a purse, he'd rob a bank on camera. If you accused him of punching a guy, he'd stab a guy at a press conference. Honestly there are days I wonder whether he wants to be booted out of office.
This one is a head scratcher. Why? I mean, why would he feel the need to do this? He has to know this gives the fake news media just another opportunity to pile on. Donald Trump isn't the sharpest arrow in the quiver, but sometimes I think he does these things just to bait the media - oh, and they'll take the bait, no doubt about that, like red meat with sharks. He knows that some newspaper or some TV network will send out a spy to look for the invoice(s) for the summit, and they won't find a damn thing. Like I said, Trump ain't too smart, but do you think there's any chance he would actually bill for this summit? Hell, he can eat a week's worth of room and board, and danish and coffee, and sandwiches and filet mignon, and towels and soap, and not even blink an eye. In the end, all they'll find is a bill that says - "No bill for this party". And it'll be just another witch hunt by the media, and something else for Trump to make fun of the media about at a rally. This is the world we live in.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 14:06:42 GMT
There is no doubt he does it to bait the opposition and media.
But he has been billing all along, and continues to bill, every time he (as well as foreign dignitaries) stays at his own hotels. That has been reported and confirmed pretty widely, which is why it's so baffling. As if it weren't bad enough to fail to sell off or put assets in blind trusts or release any personal financial information--the only president in decades to take those tactics--he then explicitly and openly continues to make money and promote his brand. It is illegal and unethical and just unnecessary. He's apparently trying to show a conflict of interest at every turn just to say "no it isn't."
Why? Just ... why? I know there is some kind of release and satisfaction in opposing the duopoly of Washington DC and the bias of the media. But talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face (not to mention slitting the wrists of your constituents, the people).
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Post by B.E. on Oct 18, 2019 14:22:27 GMT
Ah, coincidently, didn't the founders consider these words synonymous with a certain other phrase? Paging Lindsey Graham circa 1999...
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 14:24:29 GMT
LOL.
I will say, I appreciate Sen. Graham's recent spinal rehabilitation regarding Syria, though. (I also enjoyed his presidential campaign, frankly. Less his clearly opportunistic change of heart in the interim.)
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Post by B.E. on Oct 18, 2019 14:32:19 GMT
I will say, I appreciate Sen. Graham's recent spinal rehabilitation regarding Syria, though. (I also enjoyed his presidential campaign, frankly. Less his clearly opportunistic change of heart in the interim.)
Agreed. He also mustered a "nothing's changed" in response to a question about whether he still considered noncompliance with a subpoena an impeachable offense.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 1, 2019 21:35:54 GMT
Happy Trails, Beto.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 1, 2019 21:48:35 GMT
Huge political miscalculation on his part! He really captured lightning with that senate race in Texas against Sen. Cruz, but totally misread the country as a whole. His apparent improvisation on the trail in that race was charming to some degree, but in a presidential campaign, the lack of a strong, coherent message or clearly defined positions on issues makes you, well, it makes you drop out months before Iowa caucuses!
I found him quite unappealing, frankly. Every time I'd see footage, he'd be climbing up onto a table, sleeves rolled up as if he were doing yeoman's work, babbling on about something or other. His "sincerity" seemed completely insincere to me, ad his everyman image belied his rich-kid upbringing. I don't begrudge politicians or anyone else an elite background, but let's not lie about it. FDR was a great president who helped the poor tremendously, but he didn't hide his patrician background.
He probably should have held off and run against Sen. Cornyn in '20 or for governor against Gov. Abbott in '22 (which I suppose he still could do, though now he'll do it with his tail between his legs as a presidential failure).
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 2, 2019 15:24:40 GMT
a) If she wins Iowa, great, that momentum should stimulate fundraising and allow a quick return to New Hampshire to bolster her chances there.
b) If she does OK in Iowa but doesn't win--in other words, good enough to continue--then she continues by heading to a state where she, uh, just closed offices and laid off staff, thus having a weak presence and facing another steep uphill climb as a non-favorite candidate. DOH!
c) If she doesn't do well in Iowa, it's probably over, as she'll still have few resources in New Hampshire.
And how is she doing in Iowa now? Currently tied with Andrew Yang for 6th, behind Warren, Sanders, Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar.
Honestly, she really ought to just clear out. She's not going to win. Her campaign had one allegedly strong moment (which I found repulsive, when she attacked Biden as a "racist"), and she tumbled immediately by having no clear positions on much of anything and seeming terribly inauthentic and generally unprepared.
Some of the other lower-rated candidates are good for the campaign. They have strong positions, they raise important issues. Harris isn't one of those. She's just there. For now. And shouldn't be.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 8, 2019 15:08:16 GMT
I don't share this as an anti-Trump thing (even though that's Egan's takeaway), I mean to share it more as a critique of the divisiveness of wokeness, of call-out or cancel culture, or "ok boomer." We are one country, after all, and beyond that one race (of humanity). It's one thing to have values, virtues, goals, aspirations. It's quite another to be so exclusive that at the slightest--or even at significant--opposition, you have to draw the battle lines and either become insular or rhetorically genocidal.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Nov 11, 2019 5:40:58 GMT
I don't share this as an anti-Trump thing (even though that's Egan's takeaway), I mean to share it more as a critique of the divisiveness of wokeness, of call-out or cancel culture, or "ok boomer." We are one country, after all, and beyond that one race (of humanity). It's one thing to have values, virtues, goals, aspirations. It's quite another to be so exclusive that at the slightest--or even at significant--opposition, you have to draw the battle lines and either become insular or rhetorically genocidal.
I don't have an account to read the article, but this is the biggest reason why Democrats can't wipe out Republicans. I remember when Obama won in 2012, everyone seemed to be pronouncing the death of the Republican party, and even Republicans themselves acknowledged changes needed to be made. It's generally been all downhill for Democrats since then. You pretty much echo my thoughts on the matter (shocking, I know). I didn't vote for Trump in 2016 and very likely won't vote for him next year, but this woke culture nonsense does make me think about it. These people are trying to cater to a smaller and smaller minority and at some point it's just not worth it. I read that Obama agreed woke culture needs to stop, but of course it got hardly in attention from the media. I have to say that I think the ok boomer meme is pretty funny, though. It's a fun way to poke fun at the people who love to call my generation snowflakes and the like.
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