The 20th anniversary of 9/11

claws · September 09, 2021, 12:20:31 AM

Is a very special day for some.

indianasmith · September 09, 2021, 06:36:49 AM

I don't know which I find more repugnant - that the office of the Presidency should be degraded to the level of a carnival barker, or that the former President is skipping the memorials of 9/11 in order to compass that degradation.

Every day I find new reasons to be glad that despicable man is no longer President. Here's yet another.

RCMerchant · September 09, 2021, 10:02:00 AM

^ Why is anyone giving that lying blowhard a platform? Why???

zelmo73 · September 10, 2021, 04:00:36 AM

Quote from: RCMerchant on September 09, 2021, 10:02:00 AM
^ Why is anyone giving that lying blowhard a platform? Why???

Because 75 million of us voted for him last November and will undoubtedly vote for him again in 2024.

RCMerchant · September 10, 2021, 07:47:17 AM

^ Lotsa stupid folks in this country, I reckon...

Allhallowsday · September 10, 2021, 11:29:21 AM

Quote from: zelmo73 on September 10, 2021, 04:00:36 AM
Quote from: RCMerchant on September 09, 2021, 10:02:00 AM
^ Why is anyone giving that lying blowhard a platform? Why???

Because 75 million of us voted for him last November and will undoubtedly vote for him again in 2024.

I have lived in NJ my whole life and was keenly aware of his existence for much of that time. If you lived in the tri-state area you would have too. When trump was a Democrat I was aware of his existence because he did everything he could for press coverage (a true publicity hound) and often was in the press for buying the Empire State Building, for going bankrupt in Atlantic City casino, for posing in PLAYGIRL magazine...

In the 1990s while still a Democrat, trump said on TV that if he ever ran for President he'd run as a Republican because "all Republicans are stupid". A clip of that was floating around the web for a long time... when he was elected to his first public office - the highest in the land - that clip became a moving target, taken down here, put up there, taken down there...
He doesn't care about his constituents. He is not a successful business man, he inherited wealth after starting his "business" with a 10 million dollar loan from his father, he has publicly lied repeatedly (on Putin" "I know him"... "We've never met"...) He is clearly stupid, embarrassing Americans in front of the whole world because he thinks the world is even stupider than him. Y'know, the guy who met the Prime Minister of Japan and said to him "I remember Pearl Harbor..." Aside from the fact it happened 5 years before he was born, why even go there at all? Because he is so ignorant he has nothing to say to anyone but mid-20th century tropes. He said "I've always had a great relationship with the blacks..." And "If you're famous, you can grab her by the p***Y..." Draft dodger, got out of the draft by having a doctor LIE about bone spurs... Bigot, sexist, coward, liar, cheat. You hate America but not in a logical way.

zelmo73 · September 11, 2021, 01:37:09 AM

Quote from: Allhallowsday on September 10, 2021, 11:29:21 AM
Quote from: zelmo73 on September 10, 2021, 04:00:36 AM
Quote from: RCMerchant on September 09, 2021, 10:02:00 AM
^ Why is anyone giving that lying blowhard a platform? Why???

Because 75 million of us voted for him last November and will undoubtedly vote for him again in 2024.

I have lived in NJ my whole life and was keenly aware of his existence for much of that time. If you lived in the tri-state area you would have too. When trump was a Democrat I was aware of his existence because he did everything he could for press coverage (a true publicity hound) and often was in the press for buying the Empire State Building, for going bankrupt in Atlantic City casino, for posing in PLAYGIRL magazine... In the 1990s while still a Democrat, trump said on TV that if he ever ran for President he'd run as a Republican because "all Republicans are stupid". A clip of that was floating around the web for a long time... when he was elected to his first public office - the highest in the land - that clip became a moving target, taken down here, put up there, taken down there...
He doesn't care about his constituents. He is not a successful business man, he inherited wealth after starting his "business" with a 10 million dollar loan from his father, he has publicly lied repeatedly (on Putin" "I know him"... "We've never met"...) He is clearly stupid, embarrassing Americans in front of the whole world because he thinks the world is even stupider than him. Y'know, the guy who met the Prime Minister of Japan and said to him "I remember Pearl Harbor..." Aside from the fact it happened 5 years before he was born, why even go there at all? Because he is so ignorant he has nothing to say to anyone but mid-20th century tropes. He said "I've always had a great relationship with the blacks..." And "If you're famous, you can grab her by the p***Y..." Draft dodger, got out of the draft by having a doctor LIE about bone spurs... Bigot, sexist, coward, liar, cheat. You hate America but not in a logical way.

And yet...he was still the President of the United States of America.

Allhallowsday · September 11, 2021, 10:55:19 AM

Quote from: zelmo73 on September 11, 2021, 01:37:09 AM
...And yet...he was still the President of the United States of America.

Lame response. The only reason I can rattle off his "accomplishments" is because of that fact.

ralfy · September 12, 2021, 03:54:30 AM

Many support him because they are realizing that both parties are basically the same: promoting neoconservatism/neoliberalism since Reagan.

RCMerchant · September 12, 2021, 11:14:12 AM

^ What's neo mean?

I know what a Neo-Nazi is- and they seem the same as Nazis.I don't know.
I DO know Trump's a grifter, because he's too stupid to do anything else. But he has money- so he pays people to do it for him. And not, has he has said, "the best people." He fired most of them, and many were arrested or just plain quit.
So now he's doing a job he knows less about than his last one!
I seen him try to dance- It would be funny to see him box!

I would like to see him in a shark cage! With Great Whites!

LilCerberus · September 12, 2021, 01:18:23 PM

So did any body catch this?
Was it worth the hype, or the heckling?

claws · September 12, 2021, 01:55:21 PM

I don't think there was any hype. Would be Interesting to know how the die-hard Trump worshippers reacted to this.

zelmo73 · September 12, 2021, 06:20:45 PM

I didn't watch it. Don't even care who won the fight. Holyfield hasn't been relevant since Mike Tyson bit his ear off.

Allhallowsday · September 12, 2021, 11:16:59 PM

Meanwhile, I did something I have avoided for 20 years. I watched a documentary film about the WTC attacks and saw much non-news footage I had not seen, and also much anecdotal personal moments caught on camera all during unfolding events of that day. Footage of firefighters in the lobby of the north tower - after the south had collapsed - and phone calls from people on the planes, people in the towers, footage of people dropping... I had tears running down my face and hadn't realized it. I'm choked up again, but learned "time heals all wounds".

ralfy · September 14, 2021, 03:11:43 AM

Quote from: RCMerchant on September 12, 2021, 11:14:12 AM
^ What's neo mean? I know what a Neo-Nazi is- and they seem the same as Nazis.I don't know.
I DO know Trump's a grifter, because he's too stupid to do anything else. But he has money- so he pays people to do it for him. And not, has he has said, "the best people." He fired most of them, and many were arrested or just plain quit.
So now he's doing a job he knows less about than his last one!
I seen him try to dance- It would be funny to see him box!

I would like to see him in a shark cage! With Great Whites!

Neoconservatism is an ideology which emerged during the early 1960s, influenced by philosophers like Leo Strauss and others. Unlike conservatism, which supports tradition and isolationism, neoconservatism extends that belief to using the military and foreign policies to protect the same against enemies of the country. In Reagan's case, it was the "evil empire" of Communism. Other Presidents came up with similar, such as the "axis of evil" and so on. The goal as stated to the public is to preserve "freedom and democracy" of many countries but the actual goal was to make sure that oil and other resources were made available for exploitation by the U.S.

Neoliberalism, meanwhile, is an ideology that stems from the end of WW2, and refers to the idea that freedom must be upheld economically. That means less government interference and more globalization. In Reagan's case, that meant deregulation, which allowed the rich to engage in more financial gambling, but it also involved policies that forced poorer countries to open up their economies and even resources for exploitation. That took place through financial aid with strings attached via agencies controlled by the U.S., like the World Bank and the IMF.

The results of both are decades of warfare, with millions dead and suffering worldwide, and oil and other resources exploited in other countries for personal gain. Some believe that this is also the background of 9/11, where the event was used to justify attacking Iraq and Afghanistan, and thus gain the opportunity to control oil and mineral resources. Meanwhile, financial gambling eventually led to the 2008 crash, which spread to many countries; the rich recovered their wealth thanks to bailouts, especially in the U.S., where around $16 trillion in funds remained unaudited.

Right after 9/11, bin Laden's relatives were allowed to leave, and many found out later that the bin Laden and Bush families are very close, with the former earning from military construction contracts in Saudi Arabia and the other through oil deals also with the latter. There were claims of attacks by the Al Qaeda, but more are now arguing that that vast terror network may have been an invention of the Bush and Obama administrations. In Iraq, the U.S. tried to strike deals with Saddam's former officials (and that's the same Saddam which the U.S. armed for many years), Islamic fundamentalists, and their puppet regime, but that didn't work. The same failed in Afghanistan, and before Biden admitted only recently that the U.S. had no intention to help Afghanistan but just wanted to take down terrorists.

Finally, the public paid for all of that: the military costs, bailouts, etc. The rich gained, together with the politicians who worked with them. For the war in Afghanistan alone, the cost is likely in the trillions of dollars, with up to a million dead.

All that took place for decades long before Trump became President, and even he was part of it when he wasn't a politician. For example, his wealth was inherited from his father, who gained from lucrative contracts with the government, and like other rich people was able to avoid paying lots of taxes and even bankruptcy thanks to provisions for the rich made possible through his, Obama's, and Bush's administration.