All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[Tami]

Ah, but consider this. Trump gets on a private jet headed to the Cayman Islands. Then, just as the plane leaves US airspace, he tweets his resignation. Could we extradite him?

How long will the Cayman Islands tolerate him? Besides, they are a British Territory, which means extradition. Unless Bo Jo refuses to do so. I doubt he'd be Prime Minister for long if he tried to protect Trump.

Also, the SS would never let him on a Private Jet. Trump would have to sneak out.

[worstblogever]

Ah, but consider this. Trump gets on a private jet headed to the Cayman Islands. Then, just as the plane leaves US airspace, he tweets his resignation. Could we extradite him?

That would only work if he would shut up, but he wouldn't go quietly. His narcissism wouldn't let him. He'd play the victim as a "president in exile", blame the deep state, and incite white nationalists to commit acts of domestic terror in his name more directly.

At that point, we'd need to go collect him with a Seal team, to be collected and taken home to be put on trial properly.

[Malvolio]

That would only work if he would shut up, but he wouldn't go quietly. His narcissism wouldn't let him. He'd play the victim as a "president in exile", blame the deep state, and incite white nationalists to commit acts of domestic terror in his name more directly.

At that point, we'd need to go collect him with a Seal team, to be collected and taken home to be put on trial properly.

Oh yeah. It would only work if he let his resignation be his final tweet ever. But we all know he wouldn't be able to resist criticizing the next President, even if we're talking about Pence until the election. He'd be tweeting about even the smallest error by Pence, bragging how he never did anything like that, even if he did the very same thing.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

How long will the Cayman Islands tolerate him? Besides, they are a British Territory, which means extradition. Unless Bo Jo refuses to do so. I doubt he'd be Prime Minister for long if he tried to protect Trump.

Also, the SS would never let him on a Private Jet. Trump would have to sneak out.

I don’t think ANY country outside of Russia would let Trump in, and even Bad Vlad would have second thoughts as by that time, Dolt45 would have outlived his usefulness as a Trojan Horse’s Ass.

[Spike-X]

Aren't there rules about Foreign influence in US Elections? First Russia, now China (kinda).

There used to be. These days, rules are for losers!

[Spike-X]

Going against fascism and being anti-fascist isn't wrong, one could say objectively so, though that said, whatever noble and well-intentioned goal a group decides to have and actively carry out doesn't make them completely incapable of having reasonable criticism made towards them, such as the argument I've seen others make that violence is only justified in self-defense.

Then again, in this case, perhaps I and other analyzers are just overreacting, and that all the violence and other grizzly actions that will be carried out against the fascists in 2019 and beyond is very much justified.

So, here's the bottom line, if violence is what's very much necessary to mow down and destroy all the fascists and other such bad people in 2019 and beyond, perhaps even akin to the violence used by the Allied powers in World War II, at the risk of going into World War III in the future, then alright, at that point I'll stop questioning it and let it be so for the sake of guiding our planet towards a better future for all, black people, Asian people, Jewish people, etc.

That said though, in the case it's not as necessary after all, and it turns out there are, truthfully, indeed better ways of getting rid of all of the fascist lunatics as opposed to just using extreme violence, then, well, it's quite a different story at that point, isn't it?

Just some food for thought.

If you can think of one, please feel free to share it. So far though, violence seems to be working pretty well.

[Spike-X]

A thought for the day:

Trump was handed the Golden Goose of Economic Growth, Job Growth, and so on.

Instead of letting the Golden Goose continue to lay it's Golden Eggs, Trump decided that he was hungry for a Goose Dinner.

That is where we are now.

He seems to think that any economic decision he makes will be good for the economy, simply because he's the one making it, and everyone knows he's a very stable business genius.

[Theleviathan]

If you can think of one, please feel free to share it. So far though, violence seems to be working pretty well.

How so? I dont feel good about the state of right wing terrorism.

[Tendrin]

I see we have another fine edition of 'buT AnTiFaA'.

[Tendrin]

https://twitter.com/RespectableLaw/s...62406172418048

Andy Ngo, caught on camera looking on and laughing as his Patriot Prayer, also known as 'fascists', plan to assault patrons at a local bar.

Once again for the people in the back: if you want to get rid of Antifa, all you have to do is get rid of the Nazis.

[Jackalope89]

The Orange Menace has just made it even more urgent to get him the hell out of office and behind bars;

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tel...162457862.html

[Tami]

Tainted Water, Ignored Warnings and a Boss With a Criminal Past

NEWARK — In the year after receiving test results showing alarming levels of lead in this city’s drinking water, Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark made a number of unexpected decisions.

He mailed a brochure to all city residents assuring them that “the quality of water meets all federal and state standards.”

He declared the water safe and then condemned, in capital letters on the city’s website, “outrageously false statements” to the contrary.

And he elevated an official to run the city’s water department who had served four years in prison for conspiring to sell five kilograms of cocaine.

Newark, with 285,000 people, is the largest city in New Jersey, but also one of the poorest in the country. It has long struggled with lead contamination, both in the water and from paint in homes.

No concerns have been raised about the source of the water — reservoirs in northern New Jersey. The lead has leached into the tap water from 15,000 antiquated service lines that connect water pipes to homes and businesses.

City and state officials have known for years that the infrastructure was a major risk, but they lacked the funding to replace the aging service lines.

So, the city turned to an approved chemical, sodium silicate, that prevents corrosion and the leaching of lead from pipes into water. For more than two decades, it worked as expected, and no tests showed elevated levels of lead.

Then in 2016, the chemical seemed to stop working.

Here is what appeared to have happened, according to interviews and public records: The year before, the city had tinkered with the water, increasing its acidity to tamp down on possible carcinogens.

But the increased acidity seemed to reduce the effectiveness of the sodium silicate.

I don't expect Mayor Baraka to be elected to another term. The question is, how will Gov Murphy handle this?

[Tami]

Old Video Of David Letterman Challenging Donald Trump Over China-Made Ties Goes Viral

“Rarely do you see Donald Trump caught without something to say,” said MSNBC’s Ari Melber, who shared the clip.

Twitter Link

[Tami]

Danes are trolling the hell out of Trump. Here's Parliament Member @IdaAuken on Trump and windmills.

Twitter Link

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Michigan’s 7th District, Tim Walberg, a pastor and "family values" Republican once learned he had a staffer on his payroll who was arrested and plead guilty on child abuse charges, and yet it took six weeks from the point Walberg learned about it to give the guy a pink slip. This wacky pastor's own political resume also includes cAlling for the impeachment of President Obama over his birth certificate, making comparisons between Democrats and Joseph Stalin over birth control coverage in the Affordable Care Act, has declared gay marriage as something that puts all of society at risk, has spoken on behalf of the Almighty itself on abortion, and claimed that Americans are in a moral crsis where they are slaves to football and pornography. Walberg's voting record is, hands down, one of the most socially conservative in Congress (go figure, seeing that from a pastor). Honestly, that should be abundantly clear, because after the Supreme Court ruled on same sex marriage, Tim Walberg released a statement making his opinion clear... he believes gay people being able to get married is a violation of HIS First Amendment rights.

Yes, Walberg is enough of a hypocrite to pretend he cares about promoting a Christian agenda, but note that he voted for a tax plan that puts the burden upon the poorest Americans, an ACA repeal vote that would leave the sick to die, and he even voted against existing measures that are there to protect the disabled. As such, all has not been right between Rep. Walberg and his constituents. It started back on Valentine’s Day 2017, when they staged a protest at his office by dropping off 20,000 candy hearts to encourage him to have a “change of heart” on completely repealing the Affordable Care Act, and ask that he just work to fix its flaws. It would take several months before he finally would host a town hall, and on May 12th, 2017, he finally did so, being drowned out by boos on his meek statements about the actions of Donald Trump, and his vote for Trumpcare.

But when climate change came up, well, that’s when it got just plain sad:

“I believe there’s climate change. I believe there’s been climate change since the beginning of time. I think there are cycles. Do I think man has some impact? Yeah, of course. Can man change the entire universe? No. Why do I believe that? Well, as a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”

So he doesn’t believe climate change is real, but if it is, no sweat, there will just be divine intervention to fix it, so we won’t do anything to prevent it…

At his second town hall of 2017, Walberg actually managed to be more infuriating to his constituents, telling a constituent who commented on how inappropriate it is to see a POTUS conduct themselves the way Donald Trump does on Twitter to “GET A LIFE.” Dumbfounded, another constituent incredulously asked if Rep. Walberg just really said that, and he doubled down, saying, “I did. I did.” He then proceeded to claim there was nothing in his power he could do to change the president’s insane Twitter ramblings… but that’s really not true, there are things he could at least ATTEMPT to do, if he cared.

After winning re-election in 2018 with 53.8% of the vote, Walberg has gone back to Washington, D.C. and made Michigan’s 7th regret that decision:

• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Walberg voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h49
• February 28th, 2019: Tim Walberg votes against HR 1112,
  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h103
  a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Walberg votes against HJR 46,
  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h94
  which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Tim Walberg is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h156
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Walberg votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h240
• July 16th, 2019: Tim Walberg is one of 187 Republicans who vote against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
  https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h482

We have no idea how Tim Walberg got a fifth term in office after telling a constituent to “GET A LIFE”, but we’re hoping he gets a firm boot to the ass in 2020.