President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

A) Politics is the art of the possible. Hence, the middle of the road is where deals are going to get made.

Winning is the best negotiation tool you can have. The other side is not trying to negotiate they are just trying to win and have their opponents come to them.

Originally Posted by Brian249x

B) The progressives are in the same boat with the Democrats as the conservatives are with the Republicans. Both are frustrated with party leaderships, but where are they going to go? The African Americans, progressives, and young people stayed home in November and now we are all suffering for their irresponsible and childish behavior.

Two things.

1. Conservatives and progressives have the energy of both parties and it is only a matter of time before they fully take over their respective parties.
2. Being that the voting blocs you named were the Democrats path to victory wouldn't it be the party and the canindate that was being irresponsible in ignoring those Blocs? At the very least it shows a disturbing level of entitlement.

Originally Posted by Brian249x

C) If progressives wish to pull the country leftwards towards where the polls indicate the true center is, they need to organize and get out the vote in the red states. They also need to get behind progressive candidates in the primaries in the blue states and work unceasingly to fight gerrymandering. It wouldn't hurt to win a lot of jobs at the city and county level to prevent Republican election officials from putting their thumbs on the scales. (I'm talking about ballot boxes from Democratic precincts winding up in the Ohio River and "hanging chads" in 2000.)

The party is going to have to stop fighting them and closing the election process to them. An increasing number of voters are registered as independents and the party closing the primaries may be at the root of the turnout problems in the general.

Originally Posted by Brian249x

The Republicans want to cut back services to the poor at the same time as automation is eliminating millions of jobs. This is not really anything new. Millions of jobs for accounting clerks, secretaries, and warehouse workers have been automated out of existence. Whole layers of middle managers are long gone. Self driving big rigs are on the horizon. We really do need to improve our education system to address the disconnection between needed skills and what students are leaning. But even then, the current methods of divvying up the national income are socially unsustainable. Putting bright people on the street provides the leadership talent for a future revolution.

Some variation of this plan is being played out worldwide. Labor and mangement is being squeezed for the benefit of ownership and how is that going to be sustainable is beyond my ability to comprehend. Austerity is just a breeding ground for reveloution.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by diamelsx

[*]Being that the voting blocs you named were the Democrats path to victory wouldn't it be the party and the canindate that was being irresponsible in ignoring those Blocs? At the very least it shows a disturbing level of entitlement.

I have no sympathy for a bunch of childish m*th*rf*ck*rs who stayed home. We all knew what the Republicans planned to do: 1) repeal the Affordable Care Act, 2) reverse Roe vs Wade, 3)make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security 4) cut taxes for the rich even more. Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, eliminate federal housing programs, rollback environmental protections, pull out of NAFTA and the Paris accords, appoint a Supreme Court Justice to reverse Roe vs. Wade, and deport all the illegal immigrants he could get his hands on. (He also promised to work hard, "drain the swamp," no cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and that no one would lose their health insurance. He is a notorious liar. So, why the hell anybody believed him given his other promises and his campaign behavior, I will never understand. Talk about being plain freaking stupid.!) I have voted for a lot of Democratic candidates I disliked over the years, because I knew what the Republicans stand for. "Billions for bombs & not one cent for the poor."

The progressives need to GROW UP. Twenty somethings have an excuse because they lack experience. "Independents" and "progressives" in this country have handed political control of this country over to a minority party because they have failed to vote in all the local elections and let these sobs capture control of state and local governments, which has in turn allowed the Republicans to gerrymander themselves into more power, commit electoral fraud, and suppress minority turnout.

I am sick to death of a bunch crybabies whining about Hillary and the party leadership. If you wanted more say, spend the thousands of hours volunteering, attending mind numbing conventions and meetings, canvassing and polling, and raising funds that the party regulars have done.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

[Jack Tripper]

Scandal of the day:

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination on Monday as he notifies the Senate Intelligence committee that he will not comply with a subpoena seeking documents.

https://www.apnews.com/aa3818ca3c844...&utm_medium=AP

[Devius]

Originally Posted by Jack Tripper

Scandal of the day:

https://www.apnews.com/aa3818ca3c844...&utm_medium=AP

Hmmm...

“The mob takes the Fifth Amendment. If you’re innocent why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

Presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Iowa in September 2016, a couple of weeks after IT specialists who worked for Hillary Clinton invoked their Fifth Amendment rights during testimony before Congress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR0bIxwAF_k

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

I have no sympathy for a bunch of childish m*th*rf*ck*rs who stayed home. We all knew what the Republicans planned to do: 1) repeal the Affordable Care Act, 2) reverse Roe vs Wade, 3)make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security 4) cut taxes for the rich even more. Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, eliminate federal housing programs, rollback environmental protections, pull out of NAFTA and the Paris accords, appoint a Supreme Court Justice to reverse Roe vs. Wade, and deport all the illegal immigrants he could get his hands on. (He also promised to work hard, "drain the swamp," no cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and that no one would lose their health insurance. He is a notorious liar. So, why the hell anybody believed him given his other promises and his campaign behavior, I will never understand. Talk about being plain freaking stupid.!) I have voted for a lot of Democratic candidates I disliked over the years, because I knew what the Republicans stand for. "Billions for bombs & not one cent for the poor."

All I am hearing is the sense of entitlement that caused the party and the canindate not to go out and work to secure the votes needed to win this election. The thing of it is if a voting bloc does not turn out, blame falls squarely on the the canindate/ party, not the voting bloc. The job of party is to convince the voters to vote for them. The voters job is to chose the option that suits them best and included in those options is the option not to vote. The whole "voting is an obligation" thinking has to die. This is part of the reason people cannot stand politics in general. Your vote to them is an obligation while their promises to you is optional, you're setting yourself up to be fucked over. This is why instead of condemning all the voters who stayed home. Some of them I even applaud.

Originally Posted by Brian249x

The progressives need to GROW UP. Twenty somethings have an excuse because they lack experience. "Independents" and "progressives" in this country have handed political control of this country over to a minority party because they have failed to vote in all the local elections and let these sobs capture control of state and local governments, which has in turn allowed the Republicans to gerrymander themselves into more power, commit electoral fraud, and suppress minority turnout.

The progressives just demonstrated that without them the Democratic Party cannot win an election and add to that the top 2 popular politicans are either in or close to the progressive camp leads me to believe that the party can either give in to their demands or the progressives can end up taking over the party.

I am sick to death of a bunch crybabies whining about Hillary and the party leadership. If you wanted more say, spend the thousands of hours volunteering, attending mind numbing conventions and meetings, canvassing and polling, and raising funds that the party regulars have done.

The thing of it is they did all those things and the party shut them out cause they did not do that for their preferred canindate and they did not want to fundraise from the same sources as they did.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

Which is why they are coming in and weeding the corrupted people out. You may not agree with their actions but don't say they are inactive.

[BRamdington]

Assuming Trump is ever impeached - and he probably won't be given the make up of Congress - there are many levels of shit behind him. Mike Pence - Paul Ryan - Orrin Hatch - Rex Tillerson, etc.

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by BRamdington

Assuming Trump is ever impeached - and he probably won't be given the make up of Congress - there are many levels of shit behind him. Mike Pence - Paul Ryan - Orrin Hatch - Rex Tillerson, etc.

Actually it is the makeup of Congress that make impeachment more likely. They still were not too keen on him running an as his popularity drops and the trouble mounts the knives are gonna come out and once the money gives the ok those knives will go in that bullseye right in his back. Cause the agree that the guys behind him can get the job done better.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by diamelsx

The progressives just demonstrated that without them the Democratic

The thing of it is they did all those things and the party shut them out cause they did not do that for their preferred canindate and they did not want to fundraise from the same sources as they did.

Which is why they are coming in and weeding the corrupted people out. You may not agree with their actions but don't say they are inactive.

You want to talk about corruption and moral bankruptcy. Millions of poor and working class families will lose access to health care. Millions of people will go hungry and children will not be given school lunches. Millions of disabled people will lose what little income they have. Millions of women will lose access to birth control resulting in millions of unwanted pregnancies and thousands of premature deaths. Air and water quality will be returned to levels of pollution not seen in decades. Consumer financial protections will be rolled back to pre-2008 levels. Thousands of children are having their parents grabbed up before their eyes and shipped out of the country. Thousands, if not millions, of seniors will be forced into homelessness and deprived of medical care. Public school budgets will be slashed to subsidize religious and private schools. Our trade relations and economy will be be damaged by flawed economic policies, perhaps resulting in a major global recession. We might even find ourselves in a nuclear war. Why is this happening? It is happening because some so-called progressives are seeking to gain control of the majority political party.

When we talk of raising money and engaging in the political cycle we are not talking for one campaign. People like Joe Biden, Jerry Brown. Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi have working for over fifty years. (Brown was going to sit out in protest of the HRC candidacy, but got involved upon realizing the Trump threat.)

If and when your sainted "progressives" find themselves with seats at the power table they will look every bit as "corrupted" as the current players. The banks, industry, hospital chains, military, unions, state and local governments, etc. all have their claims. It takes money to run government, administer social programs, and build infrastructure. Politics and government is the art of balancing competing claims and compromising to arrive at an optimal blend for the greatest benefit for all. We are now witnessing the result of 30+ years of bad politics. In checking the Poly Sci and Law curricula of prestigious universities it is striking how little exposure students are given to basic economics. Macro economics and economic policy are subjects of debate, but all rest upon a basis of settled micro economic theory. Followers of Austrian School of Economics, followers of Milton Friedman or John Maynard Keynes, or Marxist theoreticians - all agree on micro economic theory.

[Jack Tripper]

This is relevant news:

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pledged a combined $100 million to the World Bank's Women Entrepreneurs Fund, a campaign that is the brainchild of Ivanka Trump.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...fund/22103654/


But of course it's buried under 500 stories of Trump bowing. And of course, unless it's is about Russia in some way, most people don't care. This is the current state of things.

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by Jack Tripper

This is relevant news:
But of course it's buried under 500 stories of Trump bowing. And of course, unless it's is about Russia in some way, most people don't care. This is the current state of things.

I saw an article about the bowing on Sunday that made a big deal out of the fact that Trump made fun of Obama for bowing to foreign dignitaries. I looked at the video and Trump was taller than the Saudi king, the king is 81 years old and appears to have a bowed back. What was Trump suppose to do??? Make this old, bowed back man try and reach all the way up to put the award on Trump???
IMO the polite thing was what he did. I mean if you want to really offend the Saudis in particular and the Arabs in general appear as a typical arrogant ugly American. Of course whichever political side can do something nasty to impact the other side they will.
Give it a break and negotiate compromises and help America first.