All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Karen Bass renounces her praise for Fidel Castro





I don't think, this time, a backtracking will help. It's out there and everyone is going to talk about it.

And there’s still the Scientology episode that could be used as a cudgel. So backtracking on Castro wouldn’t have mattered.

There are ways that someone with his character flaws (a germophobic authoritarian who leaves it to others to do the real work) could have handled this and been popular.

If there were ways, I’m sure Trump would’ve ignored them. That’s what he does. After all, he is the “stable genius”.

Trying to present the idea of a solid front by eliminating the possibility of media catching & recording a whiff of dissent.

Makes sense. Can’t think of any other reason for the secrecy. No matter, the whole business will leak eventually. **** like that always does.

[shooshoomanjoe]

McCarthyism making a well deserved comeback, nice.

If Cuba and China are examples of successful commie nations then I'm glad communism is a dying concept.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Realistically, it shouldn't have taken a world-wide pandemic to weaken Trumps administration to the point where he might not be re-elected. The fact that it did points out how counterproductive and downright dangerous the Republican party has become to the well-being of our nation.

No it just shows that people generally care more about the economy than most issues the politically inclined fight over. The reality is most people look at their job, the money they bring in, ability to pay bills, 401k, other investments, getting kids through college and having prospects of retirement than they care about most other issues reported on the news.

Trump has economy until March. The pandemic is causing mass unemployment, a shrunken GDP, and many businesses are closing down for good so people are afraid their plans will get derailed. So any ability to look the other way is severely dampened for those people

[PwrdOn]

If Cuba and China are examples of successful commie nations then I'm glad communism is a dying concept.

Cuba has a health care system that is the envy of the world and achieves better outcomes than the US despite a tiny fraction of the resources, so don't count on them dying out anytime soon.

[PaulBullion]

Fact check: Trump was doing no better before the pandemic than now.

There was a brief "rally around the flag" effect improving his chances early on in the pandemic, until his horrible mismanagement of the crisis destroyed that. But he still isn't as far behind Biden as on some days before the dying started.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Cuba has a health care system that is the envy of the world and achieves better outcomes than the US despite a tiny fraction of the resources, so don't count on them dying out anytime soon.

Their health care isn't a good trade off for their repressive government.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Fact check: Trump was doing no better before the pandemic than now.

There was a brief "rally around the flag" effect improving his chances early on in the pandemic, until his horrible mismanagement of the crisis destroyed that. But he still isn't as far behind Biden as on some days before the dying started.

I’m guessing the only reason Biden isn’t running away with the race is because Trump’s fanatically loyal base won’t abandon him, no matter how many thousands die.

[godisawesome]

I’m guessing the only reason Biden isn’t running away with the race is because Trump’s fanatically loyal base won’t abandon him, no matter how many thousands die.

Even as a moderate Never-Trumper politically, and thus theoretically exactly the type of person a Biden candidacy is supposed to appeal to over the progressive one, I’d say another part of it how Biden himself doesn’t inspire enthusiasm as much as some of his more successful predecessors for the Democratic candidacy have. As pathetic as it may seem, sometimes the most effective weapon against a cult of personality is another magnetic personality.

Obama had that, even as reserved and chill as he was. Sanders has something of that, and if there were a true moderate counterpart to him in the Dems, that person would most likely be the nominee. One of FDR’s greatest tools was his old school, very “Rooseveltian” charisma, which was why his New Deal program was somewhat more inevitable of a product of his administration than whatever reforms Biden might shoot for.

[Tami]

Even as a moderate Never-Trumper politically, and thus theoretically exactly the type of person a Biden candidacy is supposed to appeal to over the progressive one, I’d say another part of it how Biden himself doesn’t inspire enthusiasm as much as some of his more successful predecessors for the Democratic candidacy have. As pathetic as it may seem, sometimes the most effective weapon against a cult of personality is another magnetic personality.

Obama had that, even as reserved and chill as he was. Sanders has something of that, and if there were a true moderate counterpart to him in the Dems, that person would most likely be the nominee. One of FDR’s greatest tools was his old school, very “Rooseveltian” charisma, which was why his New Deal program was somewhat more inevitable of a product of his administration than whatever reforms Biden might shoot for.

Personally, I never bought into that whole 'Charisma' thing. Charisma implies a quality that is gifted to a person, like a magical power. There are many ways that a person can become a leader (or whatever Trump is). Personality helps, actions help as well. But mostly it is because people see in someone what they want to see, then it spreads to others who also begin to see in that person what they want to see.

Charisma is a quality you impart on to someone else, not an actual trait that they have.

For Biden, he's been in Obama's shadow for a long time, which isn't anyone's fault. Biden has his own way, he's not Obama and that's the glass wall he'll have to break through or workaround. It's possible that, when people see Biden, they see Obama or wish they saw Obama. It's possible that give Biden a year in the Office and you'll start seeing in him qualities that are unique to him yet resonate with you.

Biden inspired enough enthusiasm to run away with the primary in a crowded field. The rest, he'll have to work for and I believe he is.

[Tami]

Deutsche Bank Opens Review Into Personal Banker to Trump and Kushner

Deutsche Bank has opened an internal investigation into the longtime personal banker of President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, over a 2013 real estate transaction between the banker and a company part-owned by Mr. Kushner.

In June 2013, the banker, Rosemary Vrablic, and two of her Deutsche Bank colleagues purchased a Park Avenue apartment for about $1.5 million from a company called Bergel 715 Associates, according to New York property records.

Mr. Kushner, a senior adviser to the president, disclosed in an annual personal financial report late Friday that he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had received $1 million to $5 million last year from Bergel 715. A person familiar with Mr. Kushner’s finances, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said he held an ownership stake in the entity at the time of the transaction with Ms. Vrablic.

When Ms. Vrablic and her colleagues bought the apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner were her clients at Deutsche Bank. They had received roughly $190 million in loans from the bank and would seek hundreds of millions of dollars more.

[Tami]

'I think I will commit suicide': Cargo ship workers have been trapped at sea for months because of COVID-19, banned from ports, and predict 'anarchy' if things don't change

Cargo ship workers are warning of a looming disaster as some 300,000 people are effectively trapped at sea in the coronavirus pandemic.

Multiple sources told Business Insider about conditions onboard, where some workers have not been on land for more than a year.

Seafarers spoke of mounting suicidal thoughts, and described a "ticking time bomb" for potential accidents, in a report published in June by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).

The federation is a group of trade unions, whose members represent around 30% of the global seafaring workforce.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I wish Amazon would do something about these scammers that us their site.

[AnakinFlair]

Portland protests peaceful after federal officers scale back presence

It's almost as if having those brownshirts out there were actually causing the violence instead of stopping it....

[Malvolio]

I’m guessing the only reason Biden isn’t running away with the race is because Trump’s fanatically loyal base won’t abandon him, no matter how many thousands die.

There's another reason. I've spoken to people who truly and honestly think they will make a statement by not voting or by voting third party. They don't get that we don't get to install None of the Above into office, even if the majority of eligible voters don't vote.

[Tami]

There's another reason. I've spoken to people who truly and honestly think they will make a statement by not voting or by voting third party. They don't get that we don't get to install None of the Above into office, even if the majority of eligible voters don't vote.

A statement like that is like shouting in a empty room, in an empty building, in the middle of nowhere. Shout all you want, no one will hear you.