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Author | Topic: The Trump Presidency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
Modulous writes: So you think. All psychological evidence says that people know their own minds much less well than they think
Well yes, I'm aware of that. But I think I know my own mind better than you do. That's true of some things, not of others. The way other people react to what we say and do can serve as a measure of how well we're assessing our own thinking.
Was your opinion about approval voting shaped by the outcome of the 2016 election, or would you truly hold it regardless? Who knows, including you. I championed changing the UK General Election for some time. I voted 'yes' when the issue came up for a referendum some years back. I know there was a change, but I don't know the details. Are you saying they changed to approval voting?
Say what? Doesn't this contradict your previous paragraph that you would have held the same opinion that "the selection process is flawed" regardless of election outcome? No, you don't explain what you think the contradiction is so it makes it difficult for me to help explain. I think the selection process is flawed.If a different selection method selected Sanders, one could argue he was a better pick. Where's the contradiction? Oh. Looks like I got it wrong. You used a lot of pronouns, and I thought some of your several "it"'s referred to things other than what you intended.
Yes, I was trying to explain my point in raising the numbers. That isn't me saying 'we shouldn't reform the delegate system' - sounds like a reasonable idea, as I've said. So the fact that I am all for discussing that possibility should lay this issue to rest. Great. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
Modulous writes: I thought that 'given the alternative' was kind of obvious. "Given the alternative" was part of your later explanation of what you really meant. It wasn't part of your original phrasing. Adding that now we get: "Yes, we agree that voting for someone other than Clinton while wanting Clinton to win given the alternative resulted in ironic consequences for those people who did this." Yeah, sure, that's fine. Regarding the rest about the "conditional" and the "hypothetical" and the "could have been" and "blame the voters" and so forth, it left me feeling like we've been talking at cross purposes for a long time. Except for that post to Diomedes, I haven't been talking hypothetically or about blaming the voters. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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Jeff Flake (Republican Senator from Arizona), who announced a couple weeks ago that he would not be running for another term because he could not be party to the Trump's ugly politics, has written an editorial in today's New York Times (Jeff Flake: In a Democracy, There Can Be No Bystanders) containing his reaction to the overwhelming response to his resignation speech. A few excerpts:
quote: --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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Here's an article about how these tweets are affecting our relationship with Great Britain: The Memo: Trump's Muslim tweets roil Britain
Both major parties in Britain condemned the tweets. Best quote from the article:
quote: Alastair Campbell was former Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief spokesperson. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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I always knew Donald Trump would be a bad president, but I had no idea how bad. When I started this thread I imagined that every once in a while Donald Trump would do something boneheaded, and then we would have this thread where we could post about it. Or maybe he'd do something outstanding, and then we could discuss that, too.
But I had no idea that Trump would be doing something lamebrained multiple times a day instead of just a few times a month. He has by far overwhelmed my ability to keep up. Each moronic action or order or tweet deserves to be described here and then discussed, but before anyone's had a chance to even mention it in a post we're already on to the next birdbrained move. I have not had the time to deal with this unexpected wealth of material, but today I will at least mention that the Mueller investigation is moving closer and closer to the Trump inner circle. Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians. Read more about it here and numerous other places: Michael Flynn Pleads Guilty to Lying to the FBI and Will Cooperate With Russia Inquiry --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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What, the board software only allows me to vote for your post once? I’m outraged!
It could be that I just like Simon & Garfunkel, but I think it’s that that was the most outstanding parody stuff I’ve seen in a long, long time. Thank you for that. Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
After listening to Trump recently (I do this as little as possible), I began to wonder what explained his strange, disjointed and fragmented style of speaking. So of course I looked it up on the Internet and found this interesting article:
Trump used to express himself clearly and in an organized fashion, speaking in not only complete sentences but complete paragraphs that communicated complex and subtle thoughts. No more. What explains the change? This article proposes a number of possibilities, among them normal aging (he's 71), stress, fatigue, frustration, anger, a desire to communicate with his base in a style they'll appreciate, neurodegenerative disease and dementia. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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There's a long and thoughtful editorial in today's New York Times (Liberals Need to Take Their Fingers Out of Their Ears) describing why liberalism stimulates the very responses that eventually marginalize it. It's a worthwhile read.
--Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
Yesterday representative Al Green (Dem-TX) introduced two articles of impeachment on the House floor. They were voted down 364-58. I'm frankly surprised that it got 58 votes. I would have expected more like 10. I agree with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's joint comments with Minority Whip Steny Hoyer:
quote: Article here: Democrat Pushes Vote On Trump Impeachment. It Didn't Succeed Anyone recognize this:
quote: It's Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution. Apparently not only can the cabinet remove an unfit president, so can Congress: "...or of such other body as Congress may by law provide...". Representative Jamie D. Raskin (Dem-Md) has written a letter proposing a committee be formed to study the president's fitness to serve. It has 50 House co-sponsors. Read about it here in this Jennifer Rubin editorial in the Washington Post: And about the 25th Amendment Lastly, here's a YouTube video of Trump announcing the move of the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This video includes the first 30 seconds of the speech, during which Trump speaks clearly, and then skips to the last 30 seconds, during which Trump appears to have increasing difficultly enunciating his words clearly, and then at the end completely slurs the concluding words "United States":
Looks to me like Trump is having trouble with a dental appliance or dentures. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
This editorial appeared in today's Washington Post: Why would we abandon Trump? He’s doing what he said he would do.
It's by Gary Abernathy of The Times-Gazette in Hillsboro, Ohio. It ticked me off and I sent a pretty harsh response to gabernathy@aimmediamidwest.com. Here it is:
quote: --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
caffeine writes: Based on my reading of the 25th Amendment, Congress does not appear to have any power to remove an unfit President - only the vice-President does. The "such other body as Congress may by law provide" only comes into play in the event that the VP declares the President unfit, and the President disagrees. You're right that Pence has to be on board, but the point is that it isn't just Pence and the cabinet that has the power to remove an unfit President. It could be Pence and "such other body as Congress may by law provide." That editorial I cited, And about the 25th Amendment was calling attention to a letter proposing that a committee be formed to study this option. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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From Trump accusers call for Congress to investigate sexual harassment allegations against him:
quote: The article contains a good video of the statements of the three women. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
I couldn't find those quotes - maybe you're paraphrasing? Is that what "~Sarah H. Sanders" means?
Anyway, your post brought to mind thoughts that I don't have the time to express right now, but I thought I would call people's attention to this New York Times Editorial:
The editorial reminds us of the lesson learned long ago during WWII, that a people who blindly follow their leaders without questioning orders live in danger of trudging down dangerous paths and of committing terrible crimes:
quote: This is a paragraph that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and all Trump supporters everywhere, should read every day, and then follow the directive it clearly implies: to follow your conscience and your humanity first before any orders. Members of the Trump administration and the Republican party are guilty of complicity on a colossal scale. They have sold out their humanity for a mere pinch of power. Trump supporters are complicit, too, but who can fathom their complicity for they gain nothing, having sold their humanity for a pocketful of mumbles that are nothing but lies and deceit and misogyny and racism and a sellout of our national resources, not to mention higher taxes and down the road reduced Social Security and Medicare to pay for the huge deficits we're about to run. My opinion of yesterday's Alabama election results runs contrary to most editorials in the main stream media - I think it provides little hope. This is not a case of a state rejecting Trumpian values, but of a large turnout just barely managing a win in a state that mostly supports lies, deceit, misogyny, racism and ignoring constitutional law. And there would have been no win had it not been for the added dimension of a scandal involving young girls. [AbE]An editorial was just posted to the Washington Post that is largely very positive but in one of it's paragraphs echoes what I just said and is worth quoting here:: From Donald Trump to Roy Moore, the difference #MeToo and a year makes: quote:[/AbE] The red states remain red, and their residents will vote against decency and humanity if it means (to name the positions they hold most in common) a smaller government and opposition to separation of church and state. Racism? Fine, as long as you're against LGBT. Misogyny? Fine, as long as you're against abortion. Religious discrimination? Fine, as long as you're against Islam. Welching on DACA (dreamers)? Fine, as long as you're against immigration. Are these people even human? In the years before WWII Hitler (sorry, Godwin) led Germany into an economic Renaissance, and Germans were more than willing to avert their eyes to the usurpation and abuse of power under Hitler, even after Kristallnacht. Within a year Hitler was invading Poland and the war was on. Trump is presiding over an economic recovery that began long, long before while Obama was president. After only a year in office he cannot take credit for the economy. But given how friendly Trump is to business what we will see is increasingly good economic numbers for both the country and for businesses while the bulk of the US population sees little benefit. --Percy Edited by Percy, : AbE.
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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Warning, this one's a tear jerker: Joe Biden and Meghan McCain share a moment
If our liar-twit-bully-misogynist-racist-in-chief, Mr. Trump, shows even the briefest moment of genuine compassion during this season of hope and cheer, please post it here. --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22479 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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George F. Will, a conservative, has been around for a long time, and I hope he's around for a lot longer. Reading a George F. Will editorial can almost make one feel blessed. In today's Washington Post he outdoes himself in Trump’s Moore endorsement sunk the presidency to unplumbed depths.
The editorial is best enjoyed by reading it from it's beginning, but (spoiler alert) here's some teasers to get those reluctant to click to change their minds. From the conclusion:
quote: If that's not enough, here are some further gems to whet your appetite:
I think I left in more than I left out, but George is worthy. --Percy
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