The All-Purpose Political Thread

[Allhallowsday]

I have to keep reassuring myself that my mental health gets tests all the time, so I must either be acceptably crazy or still north of the cutoff line.
Sven's a lot older than you'd think, and I'm not angry, just poking the turd on the beach with a long stick.
This place is my sound-off zone, and in my day to day life I'm a lot more....shrug. I bet 20% of the times I've cussed in my life have been on this site.

Oh yeh?  How old is he?      

Of course I came out of my Mama b***hing and screaming and havn't stopped since.
I f**king hate everything. 
I get so p**sed I just wanna drop an atom bomb on the whole f**king world. 
Then I have a drink and smoke a bowl and I'm OK.
Self medication.

Yes, that's true, but then it's just incoherent rants jumping from subject to subject uninterested in anybody else's words.  Werdz.  Wurdz.  Turds.  Ha!  Back on topic!  Now what beach did said turd wash up on? 

[RCMerchant]

The turds on your beach!
Poke me! Whip me , beat me, make me write bad checks! 

[Allhallowsday]

The turds on your beach!
Poke me! Whip me , beat me, make me write bad checks! 

Well, at least you've got a sense of humor. 

[LilCerberus]

I just found out Trump wants to legalize pot.

GET THE PICTURE, LIBS; NO WALL, NO WEED!

[indianasmith]

I wrote this and posted it to my FB feed this afternoon:

IS DONALD TRUMP THE NEW JOE MCCARTHY?

First of all, I would ask all my Trump supporting friends to read this post in its entirety before commenting on it. Same with you who are Trump critics - frankly, I think both sides will find some points to agree with here, and perhaps some points for discussion and debate as well. Just, please take it all in FIRST, then comment.

Now, a history lesson. Joe McCarthy was a no-name Senator from Wisconsin, generally scorned as an exceptionally useless member of that body who had served four years without sponsoring a single significant piece of legislation. He was doomed to be a one-term wonder, except that he caught hold of a hot-button issue that he rode to re-election and eternal notoriety. Four years into his lackluster term of office, he stunned Washington and the nation by boldly claiming that the United States government was riddled with Communist spies; particularly the State Department. For the next four years, he accused pretty near every Democrat in the country of being a Communist or a Communist sympathizer; even going so far as to say that Secretary of State George Marshall, a five star general and the architect of America's victory in World War II, was a dupe of Stalin. (Note: It was Marshall's plan to reconstruct the war-torn nations of Western Europe that KEPT Greece, Italy, and possibly France from going Communist!) The fact that virtually every person mcCarthy accused of having Communist ties was actually innocent meant nothing to him. The Senator was drunk on power - when he wasn't literally drunk! - and ruining the lives of his fellow Americans meant nothing to him, as long as he remained famous as America's anti-Red crusader. Eventually his lies and false accusations caught up with him, and he fell from power spectacularly, was censured by the Senate, and drank himself to death.

Here is the truly ironic part: America's government in 1950 WAS riddled with communist spies! We know now that Stalin had planted multiple agents throughout every level of the U.S. government and the military; he boasted to the Politburo on one occasion that he had agents in every Executive Department of the government and in every branch of the American military. What McCarthy did, by his vicious rhetoric and nonstop false accusations, was totally discredit the cause of anti-communism and create sympathy for the very people he despised most. In short, Joe McCarthy was the worst thing that ever happened to the cause of anti-communism - at the very beginning of the Cold War, no less! Had it not been for the feckless Wisconsin Senator, American history might have been much, much different.

Seventy years later, a strange parallel emerges. You see, illegal immigration is a REAL problem in America. We do need to have more secure borders, a better idea of who is coming and going, and a comprehensive reform of our immigration system that will allow people who want to come here and work to do so legally while keeping out those who are coming here with malicious intent. Illegal immigration places a huge drain on our social services, especially down here in the border states (one reason health care professionals, especially emergency room workers, get so emotional about this). Although the crime rate among undocumented workers is exaggerated by right wing demagogues, there is still no doubt that drug trafficking and human trafficking do take place along our Southern border, and we need to shut those things down. In short, Trump has a valid point!
But President Trump's approach - his constant flow of hateful and abusive speech towards all critics, his disdain for compromise and finding a middle way, his avalanche of untruths (yes, all politicians lie, but none has ever lied with the frequency that Trump does - an average of 30 falsehoods a day!), and his hateful speech about Latinos, stereotyping refugees desperately seeking asylum as armed invaders out to plunder our border towns - have made real progress on the issue impossible. By banishing the middle ground, Trump has destroyed the one place where real reform comes from. By feeding the fires of racial and ideological hatred, Trump has gotten Americans so busy yelling at one another that they have quit talking to one another. By his insistence on the Wall, the whole Wall, and nothing but the Wall, Trump has made sure that other border security measures are either neglected or relegated to secondary status. By demonizing his critics and political opponents as "open border fanatics," he has CREATED open border fanaticism at a level that never existed before. Not a foot of his wall has been built yet; with a Democratic congress about to take office, it likely never will be. The first act of his successor will most likely be to undo whatever measures Trump is able to undertake along our Southern border, likely making the problem worse in the name of correcting racist policies. Trump's rhetoric has alienated far more Americans than it has attracted, and will make it impossible for any real progress on immigration reform or border security to be made, now or in the near future. Somewhere, the shade of Joe McCarthy is surely laughing.

[Alex]

If he does get his wall built, my guess is someone will just dig tunnels beneath it and the whole damn thing will turn out to be an expensive waste of money.

[Rev. Powell]

If he does get his wall built, my guess is someone will just dig tunnels beneath it and the whole damn thing will turn out to be an expensive waste of money.

Really? You think? 

But he and his base will get to declare victory over the "leftists" and "libs," which is what it is really about for them--not improving the lives of Americans.

[LilCerberus]

If you want to talk McCarthyism, you could start with the bamster, who threw a guy in jail for making a video nobody'd heard of to cover up his Benghazi debacle, A president under whom cartoonists couldn't make some wisecrack about some zoo primate that had to be put down without a visit from the secret service, as it could somehow be twisted into some vague threat on the bamster's life in some very strange way. An administration under which his opponents really had to watch what they said, lest they be called all sorts of ridiculous names associated with racism.

Compare that to the number of death threats & name calling Trump and his supporters have had to put up with daily since 2016. It's been my opinion from the very beginning that Trump's crass behavior is the byproduct of eight years of name calling as an argument.

[indianasmith]

If you want to talk McCarthyism, you could start with the bamster, who threw a guy in jail for making a video nobody'd heard of to cover up his Benghazi debacle, A president under whom cartoonists couldn't make some wisecrack about some zoo primate that had to be put down without a visit from the secret service, as it could somehow be twisted into some vague threat on the bamster's life in some very strange way. An administration under which his opponents really had to watch what they said, lest they be called all sorts of ridiculous names associated with racism.

Compare that to the number of death threats & name calling Trump and his supporters have had to put up with daily since 2016. It's been my opinion from the very beginning that Trump's crass behavior is the byproduct of eight years of name calling as an argument.

I was no fan of President Obama, but he NEVER behaved or spoke the way Trump does.  I disagreed with many of his policies, but at the end of the day I could have some respect for him as a person.  Trump's behavior is beyond the pale for an 8th grader, much less for a President.

[LilCerberus]

To make a long story short, Trump is reacting to his enemies on a level they would understand.

[Rev. Powell]

To make a long story short, Trump is reacting to his enemies on a level they would understand.

I understand that this is not your position but your explanation of Trump's behavior, so this is not an attack on you personally.

You make it sound like an younger brother complaining that his older brother called him a name first.

We've got an real life country to run here. We can't afford immature politicians and name-calling. It's actually dangerous.

[Svengoolie 3]

Speaking of politics,  plus the fact this  is the time to make predictions for the new year, I'm going to bet I can predict one of trump's dick moves of the year.

This is the year that the so called "American Taliban". John Walker Lindh, gets out of prison after a 20 year sentence.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/23/john-walker-lindh-detainee-001-in-the-global-war-on-terror-will-go-free-in-two-years-what-then/

Also some other people who were hit with massive sentences post 911 are approaching release dates.

I bet you trump will pull something to stop this just to appeal to his base. Just to make himself look and feel like a tough guy.  Maybe he will order Lindh seized upon release and held indefinitely as a potential terrorist. That ought to make his base feel good. They love it when they're hurting someone "not of the body".

His release is scheduled for may, when he plans to move to Ireland.

I think he and his family need to be prepared for a little "trumprise" on or near his release date. I honestly would not be surprised if trump set tis up in secret and no one hears about it until Lindh is literally released, only to be instantly seized and whisked away at the gate.

Given trump's childish cruelty and sadism I could see that ochre tumor setting this all up in secret,  having lunch "released" while he family is waiting for him,  only to be tackled and pigpiled at the gate,  dragged back inside and held indefiniteky under the presidents  powers under the badly named "patriot act".

I can just see trump calling a press conference,  waddling up to the mic,  asking if peolle remmebr "the american taliban" then saying he was just released from prison,  then!  With a bug evil smile,  announcing he had a little surprise for him,  and ordered him detained as a terrorist suspect,  ending with "He ain't getting out while I'm in office!"

His fans will love it,  they seem to love  hurting other people .

If I make it to may we'll  see if I was right.

[LilCerberus]

To make a long story short, Trump is reacting to his enemies on a level they would understand.

I understand that this is not your position but your explanation of Trump's behavior, so this is not an attack on you personally.

You make it sound like an younger brother complaining that his older brother called him a name first.

We've got an real life country to run here. We can't afford immature politicians and name-calling. It's actually dangerous.

Somebody needs to explain that to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer

[Rev. Powell]

To make a long story short, Trump is reacting to his enemies on a level they would understand.

I understand that this is not your position but your explanation of Trump's behavior, so this is not an attack on you personally.

You make it sound like an younger brother complaining that his older brother called him a name first.

We've got an real life country to run here. We can't afford immature politicians and name-calling. It's actually dangerous.

Somebody needs to explain that to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer

They called me a name first. Mom! 

[Svengoolie 3]

For 8 years president Clinton was abused and assaulted constantly, the term 'libtard" was coined for anyone not in the fox new collective,  democrats we're called traitors and Satan worshippers by Ann counter and others,  jokes about killing liberals became popular,  etc.

Then for 8 years we we're told we had to support the shrub or we we're j patriotic,  and criticism of l'il bush was considered treason.

8 years of Obama resulted in more jokes about killing Obama,  his family,  etc.  During the 2016 campaign a trump supporter called for a "liberal genocide" in america,  which the media barely mentioned.

After decades of having excrement,  threats,  jokes about being murdered and more thrown in our fades we non conservatives are throwing it back. Do unto others, remember?  

So get used to it,  snowflakes,  your own vileness is coming back at you now.  Amd cry all you want abiut it,  I look forward to making trump lover tears martinis.

And yes after decades since the days of Reagan of democrats and liberals  being subjected to an ever increasing level of hate,  abuse and violent rhetorhic I have come to hate the far right,  as embodied by trump and his supporters. I hate them and am not ashamed of it.