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Originally posted by iam416
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Heh. The most recent poll of New Jersey (July) had Menendez only up 2. -
There's just nothing there with long-term nutrient, and this piece does a good job showing that. Total empty-calories economic policy. Redirect all that tax-cut money to infrastructure and EVERYBODY would be richer, including the people who lost out on the tax cut. But that's not the way it works now. We've lost interest in growing the pie. It's just about who gets what share of it. Not that this is new or related to Trump. The behaviour of rich people over time shows they would rather have less overall as long as its a greater proportion of the total.Originally posted by Ghengis Jon View PostComment
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Puerto Rico admits for the first time that the actual death toll from Hurricane Maria was far higher than the official number of 64. They now place the death toll closer to 1400
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In the let's wait and see department:
NK - dialogue yes, but more of the same pattern of behavior from the gang of NK leaders despite the clams to the contrary by the president. Moreover, DJT may have compromised any inroads to improved political and military climate on the Korean peninsula by putting trade pressures on China with the hope of extracting concessions from that gang of leaders. NK marches to the drum of it's northern communist neighbor and its recent behavior, amounting to the disintegration of the bromance between Un and Trump, is likely a result of reciprocal moves by the Chicoms to DJT's ill-advised trade policies.
Speaking of trade ....... I still don't see any benefits from Trump's fuck-you, he calls it America First, trade policy. Economists are pretty much uniformly critical of his approach to tariffs offering numerous options that could be more effective. But, like the DJT most of us have come to know, he is stubbornly convinced that his capacity for deal making is superior to any advice he is getting. I think a good argument can be made that his approach to trade is going to be destabilizing to global trade and will increase global tensions in the process.
The economy ...... well, from my perspective things are great. The problem for folks like me is that my group of retirees drawing pensions, receiving SS and, for the lucky ones who actually saved for retirement by funding IRAs and 401Ks while they were working, have become dangerously phlegmatic - an unjustified "what me worry" attitude - about future generations is present among us. Seniors represent a significant voting block yet that group is much more likely to be introspective and protective of their own share of the pie, as Hack suggests above, than politically active in reasonable social causes, US debt reduction and global peace and humanitarian endeavors.
Russia ...... I remain convinced Trump, and the US, is being played by the KGB puppeteer, Vladimir Putin.Last edited by Jeff Buchanan; August 9, 2018, 09:28 AM.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. JH chased Saban from Alabama and caused Day, at the point of the OSU AD's gun, to make major changes to his staff just to beat Michigan. Love it. It's Moore!!!! timeComment
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from the same people that tried to tell us that 1.8% GDP growth was the new normal.Comment
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I'm also shocked that sleazes girl's yacht isn't registered in the us to avoid paying taxes on it. What a great, stand up Christian family. True Patriots!!!!Comment
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From Frida Ghitis, columnist for World Politics Review:
President Donald Trump just called on his attorney general to shut down the Mueller investigation. The only part of this "suggestion" that is more shocking than its brazen effort to obstruct justice is its jaw-dropping timing. Trump's call to end the investigation that targets him and his closest associates comes only hours after we learned that Facebook believes the Russians are already hacking the 2018 midterm elections, as they did ahead of the 2016 elections that produced a victory for Trump.
Trump claims that the probe is hurting America. But the fact is that this is a transparent effort to protect himself from a probe that is closing in, revealing damning information. And it is unfolding against mounting evidence that Russia is already attacking American democracy months ahead of the November election. In fact, Russia never stopped. Why would it? The results of the Kremlin's drive to disrupt the United States and to undercut faith in its institutions are, as the Russians might say, "better than super." Tragically for the American people -- and for people everywhere who believe in democracy -- the guardians of US democracy are refusing to take action to stop Russia.I'm referring, specifically, to congressional Republicans, who are watching this assault and refusing to act in defense of their nation.
By now we know we would be delusional to expect Trump to defend US democracy. And he hasn't. Last Friday, he called a national security meeting to discuss Russian interference. The gathering ended in less than an hour, long enough to allow for an official statement saying he would not tolerate interference. But no decisions seem to have been made. No action taken. It was all a show. The fact is, the President has undercut the conclusions of intelligence professionals and Senate committees that Russia indeed hacked the 2016 election, as it did other elections around the world. We can guess why Trump refuses to do anything. He might think that vigorously protecting the US elections might lend credence to the well-documented charges that he was the beneficiary of Russia's 2016 operation. There might be more. Perhaps he is hoping that Russia's current campaign will help him survive the November election, where control of Congress will be decided, with obvious consequences for a possible impeachment.
That may explain Trump. But what about Congressional Republicans; why aren't they responding with the urgency this crisis demands? The Facebook news is not the only evidence of Russian interference. Last month, Microsoft's head of security revealed that Russia had attempted to hack the accounts of several staffers of members of Congress running for re-election. The hackers' fingerprints resembled those of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence, familiar from 2016. And Sen. Claire McCaskill, up for re-election in one of the most closely contested seats for control of the Senate, confirmed that Russians had attacked her computer network. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said she, too, had been targeted by what appeared to be Russian agents. The risks are not limited to federal races. In Georgia -- where Trump's preferred candidate, Brian Kemp, just won a startling landslide after polls showed him neck-and-neck in the primaries -- a government ethics group has sued the state for failing to ensure fair elections. The Mueller investigation has already uncovered Russian targeting of Georgia's election computers in 2016. But Kemp -- who is not only the Republican candidate for governor, but also secretary of state and thus responsible for the election -- breezily dismissed Russian interference, much like Trump has, as "all a big hoax."
Kemp may not worry, but attorneys general from 21 other states wrote a letter last week imploring Congress for help protecting elections systems. But Congress, controlled by Republicans who act as if they are controlled by Trump, who acts like he is controlled by Russia, refuse to lift a finger to defend the most basic element of democracy, namely clean elections. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy is pushing legislation to fund cybersecurity, but he is getting nowhere. In the House, Republicans blocked a vote on increased spending. The Senate Appropriations Committee did the same. What's behind that united Republican front in refusing to defend the country? Why are Republicans laying down their arms when the attack by the Russians is already visible? Perhaps they are afraid to upset Trump. Perhaps they are hoping to benefit from Moscow's work. That decidedly unpatriotic stance is not only cowardly, it is short-sighted.
The Kremlin's tactic of disrupting US elections is aimed at weakening the United States, at inflaming divisions. The Russians find the fault lines, the topics on which Americans disagree -- race, guns, white supremacy, religious differences, immigration -- and inject them with social media poison so the political system is no longer able to resolve disagreements. Russian President Vladimir Putin likely hopes to diminish America's power and influence in the world by cracking the country's unity, making it ungovernable, and turning it into a distasteful spectacle to other countries that might be looking for systems to emulate or allies to befriend. The plan is to make America seem chaotic and unreliable, and democracy turbulent and unappealing. That's the dream of autocrats who feel threatened by real democracy. In the short run, the Russian scheme may advance by helping Republicans win more seats. But the Russian plot is not pro-Republican. It's anti-America. It's anti-democracy. By trying to stop the Mueller investigation into the 2016 election, Trump is again helping Russia. By failing to do what's necessary to stop the 2018 Russian campaign, the President and his Republican enablers are again colluding with a hostile power. Whether or not they are active co-conspirators this time is up for debate. But they are guilty of a convenient negligence in the face of an ongoing crime against America.“Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” - Groucho MarxComment
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This is a good read for those interested in the debate we've touched on here regarding the role of social media in shaping a completely wrong reality i.e., DJT's tweeting and proclamations of "truth" from various pulpits that the presidency offers to the person occupying that position. Hack, I don't think what the author has to say will surprise you one bit.
There was a time, in another century, when conspiracy theories spread through letters to the editors of newspapers. That is where people claimed,
Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. JH chased Saban from Alabama and caused Day, at the point of the OSU AD's gun, to make major changes to his staff just to beat Michigan. Love it. It's Moore!!!! timeComment
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From Jon's post ........
By trying to stop the Mueller investigation into the 2016 election, Trump is again helping Russia. By failing to do what's necessary to stop the 2018 Russian campaign, the President and his Republican enablers are again colluding with a hostile power. Whether or not they are active co-conspirators this time is up for debate. But they are guilty of a convenient negligence in the face of an ongoing crime against America.
While I might choose to not write with so much assumed authority on this matter, I've thought for a long time that Trump was being manipulated by organs within the Russian government under the direct control of Putin. I think it goes back a long, long time and while the Trumps were conducting business with the Russians It continues unabated by the Russians much because the person of DJT is unable to admit he's being duped. Anyway, the last two sentences quoted above and some of the intent of the piece resonates with me.Last edited by Jeff Buchanan; August 9, 2018, 02:08 PM.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. JH chased Saban from Alabama and caused Day, at the point of the OSU AD's gun, to make major changes to his staff just to beat Michigan. Love it. It's Moore!!!! timeComment
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