Trump's America

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ugh, yes. I posted the most egregiously silly one somewhere else - "Amendment #7 - do you want to ban offshore drilling AND public vaping?" I hates it.

Yeah, it is ridiculous and makes a bad system (while I think that direct democracy is in theory a good thing, the initiative process is broken throughout the country, certainly including here in California) even worse. That having been said, the reform that your state passed restoring voting rights to almost one and half million felons, a high percentage of whom are people of color, could end having been the most signficant result of Tuesday's election. Given how close elections are in Florida, and what a pivotal role it often plays in the electoral college count, that might have been pivotal moment in Mr. Trump losing his reelection.

[Dave_LF]

Tee hee:
Scott Walker narrowly loses Wisconsin governor's race – and he can't ask for a recount because of a law he put in place

If a candidate in Wisconsin is losing by less than 1 percent, they can ask for a recount — but Walker lost by 1.2 percent.

Business Insider reports that the threshold is due to a law Walker signed after President Trump was elected. Mr. Trump won Wisconsin by 23,000 votes, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who received just 1 percent of the vote, demanded and received a recount, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. In response, the state legislature passed a measure mandating that in the future, candidates could only request a recount if they were losing by less than 1 percent.

[River]

Welcome to democracy, Mr. Walker.

In all seriousness, why doesn't Wisconsin have term limits?

On another note, while Trump's caravan hysteria may have played well in some parts of the country, the Congressional districts along the US-Mexico border are now awash in blue. In a way this makes sense - the people closest to the border tend to have more nuanced/less fear-driven opinions about it than the people hundreds or thousands of miles away.

[RoseMorninStar]

Oh sweet karma kisses Scotty Walker. I am not sorry to see him go.

I have relatives who live in Arizona (who watch Fox news) and they are all riled up in fear over Trump's caravan propaganda.

[Frelga]

https://twitter.com/marklowen/status/10 ... 6979076096

In today’s ⁦@lemondefr⁩: When #Trump received the leaders of #Estonia, #Latvia and #Lithuania, he began by blaming them for the war in Yugoslavia. It took them a few moments to realise he’d mixed up the Balkans and the Baltics. ⁦@SylvieKauffmann⁩ https://t.co/HYQYpbqgGs

There was a joke in the late Soviet years, when Brezhnev's dementia became impossible to conceal, that today in Kremlin he took the French ambassador for the Italian and had a productive conversation. (Comparing Trump to Brezhnev is a compliment. Brezhnev had been on the front lines of WWII, and shown himself as a competent administrator. He used his position to ensure a lavish lifestyle for himself, and sent dissidents to mental institutions, but when seen on the scale of other Soviet leaders, he was practically a sweetheart.)

I also like how Le Monde prints "fake news" in English, without translation.

[River]

I have no words for that one. Absolutely none. If it were a coworker I'd either let it slide or gently correct them, but the POTUS really needs to be held to a higher standard.

I suppose next he'll be commiserating with the Austrian contingent about the terrible losses to the ANZAC forces at Gallipoli.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'll put this here as I think Avenatti is very much an example of Trump's America. Obviously, he is innocent until proven guilty, but hopefully this is last we will hear of his presidential ambitions.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... flex-views

[RoseMorninStar]

I don't quite have the disgust & animosity you have toward Avenatti (and, as you share a profession I think he deserves your derision) but I DO NOT want to see him run for president. Enough of the ego-driven theatrics. Please.

[Primula Baggins]

Voronwë, I hope you’re right. I don’t think he’d have a snowflake’s chance in Hell, but he’s a publicity hog and could be a distraction.

[elengil]

Ruthlessly optimistic in the face of certain destruction.

[Impenitent]

I'm not so sure...these days in 'merica, abusing women seems to be no hindrance to presidential success.

Sent from a tiny phone keyboard via Tapatalk - typos inevitable.

[Primula Baggins]

I'm hoping the 2020 U.S. national election shows that it does catch up with you eventually.

Certainly 2018 was a good election for women, overall.

[elengil]

I'm not so sure...these days in 'merica, abusing women seems to be no hindrance to presidential success.

Sent from a tiny phone keyboard via Tapatalk - typos inevitable.

Not sure how much comfort this is, but that seems largely to apply only to Trump. Other candidates with questionable morals have been falling rather steadily in many places, Kavanaugh notwithstanding. Trump seems to be the only one who doesn't seem to be hurt no matter what the accusation slung at him is, even when he flat out admits it!

While I hold no illusions that our elected government is filled to the brim with unsavory sorts in one way or another, it at least seems that for the vast majority of candidates, their actions and statements do matter. For some reason the orange one is just untouchable.

[RoseMorninStar]

Trump administration's reported effort to 'barter' a US resident to convince Turkey to ramp down Khashoggi probe stuns foreign-policy veterans

No words.

[yovargas]

This is ultimately such a minor thing but it is precisely how minor it is that makes it so baffling to me - we currently have a president who blatantly lies about easily disprovable things and constantly gets away with it:

Finnish president denies ever discussing ‘raking’ with Trump

Why would you lie about something so stupid???

[RoseMorninStar]

Because he knows FOX news won't fact check it. His followers won't read/watch anything that reports it. They will claim that the 'lame stream media' is picking on poor victim Trump.

Rake America Great Again.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I don't think he was lying, in the sense of intentionally saying something false. I think it is far more likely that he heard what he wanted to hear, or later thought he did, and spoke accordingly.

[RoseMorninStar]

That's very possible, but it's not a one-off occurrence. It's his modus operandi. He doesn't seem to be a great listener nor do I think it matters to him one way or another.. truth, lie, fact, fiction.. it's whatever fits his narrative so why bother to listen or make accurate statements. I think it's all the same to him.

[Dave_LF]

I seriously believe based on the various leaks that the man could have some sort of medical condition that leaves him legitimately unclear about what's real and what isn't.

[Griffon64]

I seriously believe based on the various leaks that the man could have some sort of medical condition that leaves him legitimately unclear about what's real and what isn't.

Affluenza, right?

Seriously though, there's no medical condition in the case of Donald Trump. Just a pretty canny understanding of people and the coddling effects of inherited wealth. Here, have a read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... fd1c8df427