The Trump Presidency – 2016

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Perhaps, but democracy doesn't work long-term if the party that gets the most votes isn't given power. It's a recipe for the whole thing to fall apart.

The United States is not a democracy. It's a constitutional republic.

[Brian Swartz]

Not everybody considers that to be a good thing though.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by bob

but be careful, because you open up a lot of questions about federal vs state power. Would you want Trump to have been the one in charge of shutting down the states if hypothetically governors didn't have that power.

For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governors decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government. Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2020

Yeah, that ship has sailed. You elect a Trump, you get a Trump.

Part of the reason I am against the GOP is because it wants to nationalize every issue. Local power is important, IMO.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Not everybody considers that to be a good thing though.

I think it's worked pretty well for 231 years. A lot of "democracies" have risen and fallen in a much shorter period of time. The checks and balances that prevent the popular will from overreacting to short term events has served us well in my opinion. Others may disagree.

[albionmoonlight]

re: Trump's tweet about the states.

He wants to take absolutely no responsibility. But he can't stand the idea that he does not have the power.

50% of the country loves this guy and will be very sad if he isn't in charge of us next year.

[tarcone]

Its going to be an interesting election.

I am really up in the air. Neither of these guys do anything for me. Trump is acting more and more bufoonish every day. Biden is getting accused of sexual assault in a time when that is a hot button issue. No viable 3rd party candidates.

Another damn election of the lesser of 2 evils. Whatever happened to the time when we had dynamic, energetic, competent people running for president?

[ISiddiqui]

Well y'all (the general y'all) didn't want to vote for Warren or Rubio (I picked Rubio as the one that fits those buckets for 2016 Republicans) .

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

The United States is not a democracy. It's a constitutional republic.

Again, these are the rules, isn't a good answer to the question, why do fewer votes get more power than more votes? If the party with more votes consistently can't get power through the system, the system will be overturned.

Maybe we're not close to the system breaking, but I'm sure we get closer to that every time power is withheld from the party that gets the most votes.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Again, these are the rules, isn't a good answer to the question, why do fewer votes get more power than more votes? If the party with more votes consistently can't get power through the system, the system will be overturned.

Maybe we're not close to the system breaking, but I'm sure we get closer to that every time power is withheld from the party that gets the most votes.

I believe what is going to break the system is the country being so divided and the idiots both parties throw up in every election and the corporations actually running the country. These are the factors that will break the system, not the fact that the Dems cant get a foot hold in areas that are determining the EC.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I believe what is going to break the system is the country being so divided and the idiots both parties throw up in every election and the corporations actually running the country. These are the factors that will break the system, not the fact that the Dems cant get a foot hold in areas that are determining the EC.

Citizen's United is probably the worst Supreme Court decision in the past 60 years. We'll probably see more bad rulings since the court's are stacked in 1 party's favor and nearly every vote right now is 5-4. The fact that we have an administration abusing the Supreme Court isn't helping.

We have a minority party running things and stacking power in their favor as demographics continue to turn against them. We're going to reach a point where either the GOP breaks things so bad they can't be fixed or the demographics change to the point that they struggle to win national elections. It's a race to see which happens first right now as the GOP leadership realizes their time in power is limited so they're taking everything they can right now with no regard to the future of the country. As they see it, a future without GOP ideals isn't a country worth saving anyway.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Biden is getting accused of sexual assault...

This literally should have no bearing when the other guy literally admitted to grabbing women by the P*&$% while the person you reference has denied it all. This is going to piss e off to no end when I heard die hard Christian women around me in my industry absolving Trump of the Sexual assault admission with a waxing of "locker room talk" yet now will try to hang their coat on the Biden might've done it too? Fuck me, where's justice Kavanaugh when you need him? Oh yeah, he's busy raping someone too... or did he? Depends on if your narrative is colored Red or Blue. A big fuck you to every single person who waivers from one side to the other on this depending on your bend. Youu either believe them or don't. When Trump admitted to it that was it. He admitted it. At least Kavanuagh had the smarts to deny and will hopefully deny until the day he's dead.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

As they see it, a future without GOP ideals isn't a country worth saving anyway.

Jon would say something along this line of thinking, but only in more colorful and much more aggressive.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Jon would say something along this line of thinking, but only in more colorful and much more aggressive.

When people tell you who they are listen to them.

For years, they have been saying that they'd rather destroy the country than not be in charge of it.

They aren't lying. They were never lying. We share some fault for not believing them. They've never been bashful about it.

[JPhillips]

Hoyer says that barring an emergency the House won't come back until May at the earliest.

Hard to imagine what an emergency might be if this doesn't qualify.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Hoyer says that barring an emergency the House won't come back until May at the earliest.

Hard to imagine what an emergency might be if this doesn't qualify.

They really need to institute virtual voting.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by molson

I'm sure the Republicans don't want it for appropriate reasons, but many European countries have gone to full-privatization of mail, or have a big private component to their postal systems. I'm sure there's different obstacles for the U.S. like with other European models some people want to adopt (The U.S. being much more rural for one) but, maybe that can be a longer-term goal to work towards that makes sense in a world where mail volume have changed dramatically. Or USPS can stick with letters and rural areas and private carriers who pay taxes can run package-delivery.

In other contexts, I read about how Europe is so enlightened and superior and that we should just do what they do. Even they saw that that governments couldn't effectively run postal services any more. Why isn't this something that has more appeal from the side of the political spectrum who otherwise think that European countries do things better?

The US Postal service seems to be run well. I can send a letter to someone across the country for 50 cents. What would it cost FedEx to do the same?

Never understood the argument that the post office needs to be profitable. It's a service. No one complains that the fire department isn't profitable. Or the local park isn't profitable.

If there are ways to make if more efficient, I'm all for it. But I feel it's a valuable service to all Americans and worth paying for. We spend more on fighter jets that can't even fly than we do on the postal service.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

They really need to institute virtual voting.

Difficulty: they can't do that by unanimous consent because you know one GOP Representative would object. They'd have to come back in session to vote to implement it.

Catch-22.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

I think it's worked pretty well for 231 years. A lot of "democracies" have risen and fallen in a much shorter period of time. The checks and balances that prevent the popular will from overreacting to short term events has served us well in my opinion. Others may disagree.

Checks and balances stopped working when Mitch McConnell hijacked judge confirmation, first in refusing to hear Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, then removing the filibusterer on judges and ramming through completely unqualified people into the judiciary. There are no more checks and balances. The Executive ignores congressional oversight, and subpoenas. They are using a favorable court to destroy voting rights. We are seeing this democracy failing.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Difficulty: they can't do that by unanimous consent because you know one GOP Representative would object. They'd have to come back in session to vote to implement it.

Catch-22.

Right, I know. But I was speaking more as a general pandemic and/or disaster Continuity of Operations Plan.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The US Postal service seems to be run well. I can send a letter to someone across the country for 50 cents. What would it cost FedEx to do the same?

I saw a Fed Ex employee say it would cost a minium $11.50 to just send a post card cross country.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I saw a Fed Ex employee say it would cost a minium $11.50 to just send a post card cross country.

And they would probably just hand it off to the USPS anyways.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Checks and balances stopped working when Mitch McConnell hijacked judge confirmation, first in refusing to hear Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, then removing the filibusterer on judges and ramming through completely unqualified people into the judiciary. There are no more checks and balances. The Executive ignores congressional oversight, and subpoenas. They are using a favorable court to destroy voting rights. We are seeing this democracy failing.

My brother feels the same way. That we're headed towards a demagogue-like autocracy for a while where one party rams through whatever they want until there's some sort of popular uprising at the polls to overcome it all. he prays it wont be too late.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

And they would probably just hand it off to the USPS anyways.

Those USPS guys are pretty impressive, I've got to admit. If you want to save time, fast forward to 3:30 to witness some of their skills.

[thesloppy]

I can't wait to drive for 45 minutes to some industrial shithole FedEx/UPS/OnTrac/DHL warehouse to pick up my mail every week, because there's nobody at my home at 11am on Mondays.

I've noticed that both my local UPS and FedEx have moved from attempting deliver 3 times, to exactly one attempt, before they dump your package at some random spot miles away. Oh I'm sorry, I thought I had paid to have this "delivered".

[Lathum]

Okay, I've been with USPS for several years now, so here's my big dumb #SaveThePostOffice thread. I don't know how many tweets it's gonna take for me to ramble through my thoughts, so stick with me. Or don't, whatever.

— Dingus J McGee, ESQ*, OBE* (@DingusJMcGee) April 10, 2020

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I can't wait to drive for 45 minutes to some industrial shithole FedEx/UPS/OnTrac/DHL warehouse to pick up my mail every week, because there's nobody at my home at 11am on Mondays.

I've noticed that both my local UPS and FedEx have moved from attempting deliver 3 times, to exactly one attempt, before they dump your package at some random spot miles away. Oh I'm sorry, I thought I had paid to have this "delivered".

The amazing thing about it, like so many other things with Trump supporters, is they will be the ones this impacts most.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I've noticed that both my local UPS and FedEx have moved from attempting deliver 3 times, to exactly one attempt, before they dump your package at some random spot miles away. Oh I'm sorry, I thought I had paid to have this "delivered".

If you're lucky they'll actually knock. Hell sometimes they don't even bother with an actual delivery attempt but log it as a failed delivery.

A couple of years ago I ordered a TV off of amazon. It was shipped Fed Ex. My son was home all day and we got a failed delivery notice with online tracking, but no paper notice on the door. The next day I stayed home, called amazon to complain, and while on the phone with amazon the amazon rep told me another failed delivery notice was logged. While I'm at home. On the phone with amazon.

I've also had UPS send a package to their warehouse with 3 failed delivery attempts, but when I picked it up from the warehouse there was no tracking info on the package showing delivery attempts.

That's not even getting into the seasonal hires who are just as likely to make a package "disappear" as they are to delivery it if it's anything of obvious value.

[Lathum]

My in laws live on a farm. It is a bit of a walk from the side of the house to the front door. I would say 80% of the time they leave their packages along the side of the house, often directly under where the gutter drains.

I had amazon drop off 2 packages yesterday. One mine, the other for a house across town. Street names not even remotely close. Not sure is it was incompetence or laziness. Both the level of inexcusable.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Atocep

while on the phone with amazon the amazon rep told me another failed delivery notice was logged. While I'm at home. On the phone with amazon.

Ha!

[tarcone]

Yes, where else can you get a piece of paper delivered to Alaska for 50 cents in 3 days?

Yeah, F the USPS. If this dies, our country is in trouble.

[Atocep]

My personal rankings of the delivery services based on my experiences over the past several years:

1.) USPS - not always the fastest but I know the package is going to either get here or where I sent it

2.) Amazon - bonus points because I've twice had a driver call my cell and ask if it's ok to leave a package at the door because I'm not home

3.) UPS - meh, I've had some problems but not as many as the others. Gets worse than Fed Ex during the holidays

4.) Fed Ex - 50/50 whether I get a shitshow or not.

The rest:

On Track - No idea how these guys are in business. Look, I know we said by 8pm, but 11pm with no knock is the best we can do.

DHL - Delivered to the wrong house the one time I recall receiving something from them. It was my son's baseball pants that he needed the next day. I had to go door to door at around 9pm looking for the package. The people weren't home at the place the package was left at so I had to explain to the neighbor sitting on his front porch what I was doing. Good times.

[RainMaker]

FedEx is usually OK with business stuff if you're using express. But their residential delivery is a shitshow.

[Ben E Lou]

"When somebody is President of the United States, the authority is total."--Donald Trump, a few moments ago

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

"When somebody is President of the United States, the authority is total."--Donald Trump, a few moments ago

Must be time to get rid of the 2nd amendment, because we trust in the feds.

Time to go buy a couple guns. I think that is what Im using my stimulus check for.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

"When somebody is President of the United States, the authority is total."--Donald Trump, a few moments ago

That campaign style video as well

[Lathum]

Based off my twitter feed I am glad I stopped watching those shit shows

[albionmoonlight]

I do think that CNN is playing into his hands, though, with making the snarky Chryons.

When you stoop to his level, he wins. He is better at a name-calling gutter fight than you will ever be.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I do think that CNN is playing into his hands, though, with making the snarky Chryons.

When you stoop to his level, he wins. He is better at a name-calling gutter fight than you will ever be.

Why? That's literally all Fox ever does. You can't play fair with a bully. The only thing you can do is pummel them with their faults.

[tarcone]

Im buying guns with my stimulus check

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I do think that CNN is playing into his hands, though, with making the snarky Chryons.

When you stoop to his level, he wins. He is better at a name-calling gutter fight than you will ever be.

Something about pigs and mud.

SI

[miami_fan]

I LOL'd

WWE deemed 'essential business' in Florida, mayor says

"I think initially there was a review that was done. They were not initially deemed an essential business," Demings said. "With some conversation with the governor's office regarding the governor's order, they were deemed an essential business. So therefore they were allowed to remain open."

Essential businesses that are supposed to remain open during the state's stay-at-home order include those in the health care, financial, energy, food, communications and transportation sectors. Demings did not elaborate on what put the WWE into that category.

Given that many of the local strip clubs aligned themselves with the pastor that was arrested locally because they also wanted their "freedom to assemble", I can't wait to find out which category RAW is in.

Ahh Florida,

[CrimsonFox]

SUCK IT GOP

Wisconsin Supreme Court election: Jill Karofsky wins over Daniel Kelly

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I LOL'd

WWE deemed 'essential business' in Florida, mayor says



Given that many of the local strip clubs aligned themselves with the pastor that was arrested locally because they also wanted their "freedom to assemble", I can't wait to find out which category RAW is in.

Ahh Florida,

Today in Florida Part 2.

Exhibit A for my comment in the poll thread about when we open up.

Florida should social distance until a vaccine exists — even if it’s next year, surgeon general says

Floridians will be keeping their distance and wearing face masks for up to a year until a COVID-19 vaccine exists, Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said Monday before being whisked away by the governor’s spokeswoman.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

SUCK IT GOP

Wisconsin Supreme Court election: Jill Karofsky wins over Daniel Kelly

it's almost as if they should have let more people vote

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

SUCK IT GOP

Wisconsin Supreme Court election: Jill Karofsky wins over Daniel Kelly

Oh, that is so, so sweet. The GOP saying the election was invalid in 3, 2, 1....

[GrantDawg]

Isn't it great that the party for limited federal control and states rights now has a leader who says he has supreme authority and that the state and local authorities can't do anything without his approval?

[CrimsonFox]

Gee I wish we had his own words to refute his own words...

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

[CrimsonFox]

[JPhillips]

Sen. Burr is filling up his financial crimes Bingo card.

Senator Richard Burr Sold D.C. Townhouse to Donor at a Rich Price
In a private transaction, Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, sold the townhouse to lobbyists who had business before his committees.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Sen. Burr is filling up his financial crimes Bingo card.

Good thing we have a President who is draining the swamp.