The Political Thread

[Hawkmumbler]

Sharky, with all due respect, I sincerely AM worried. I have friends in the states who will suffer if this downward spiral continues, flippancy and rhetoric are not needed right now.

[Frank]

we do NOT have THE TIME for this shit

Quite. The Obama era content on Whitehouse.gov was archived, leaving the site a blank slate for Team Trump to fill as they please. The Trumphouse haven't specifically removed content about gay issues - or anything else.

The kids at Snopes are going to be surviving on caffeine and working in shifts for the next eight years.

[The Legendary Shark]

Hawkie, I'm not being flippant. I've been saying for a long time that this kind of thing is the Number One danger of government - you get some dick who doesn't like Minority X and so thinks he/she has the RIGHT to victimise them or strip them of their rights. And because it's "democratic," you have to put up with it because, if you don't, you're some kind of anti-civilisation loon.

Well, maybe that's exactly what I am but you will never, ever, find me believing the rights of another human being to be less than mine - or anyone else's - based on sexuality. It's wrong. I know it, you know it. I don't need some orange muppet telling me otherwise and neither does anyone else.

I too am concerned about human beings effected by this and other "government" inspired hatreds, not just in the US but throughout the world. We have to grow beyond the current idiotic system before it tears us apart.

[JOE SOAP]

Aaaand the LGBTQ+ code of human rights has been removed from the white house website. Jesus...

As has all reference to climate change.

Seems more of a blank slate - like the man himself - than specifics.


Just as the @POTUS Twitter account transitioned to the Trump administration today at noon, everything that was previously on the White House website has been removed and replaced by new pages. All of the old content from President Obama's administration can still be found at the Obama White House archive. Similarly, all tweets from the Obama administration that were previously on @POTUS are now located at @POTUS44.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/20/trumps-white-house-website-deletes-climate-change-lgbt-pages/

[Modern Panther]

Trawling through this hypocrisy so you don't have to...

President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule. Lifting these restrictions will greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than $30 billion over the next 7 years.

Protecting clean air and clean water, conserving our natural habitats, and preserving our natural reserves and resources will remain a high priority.

Remove environmental protections preventing the Dakota pipeline. The CEO of the company building the pipeline donated to the Trump campaign and Trump is a shareholder.

our military dominance must be unquestioned.

Yikes!

lower rates for Americans in every tax bracket, simplify the tax code, and reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate,

a moratorium on new federal regulations

I hope you like less schools and more lead in your paint...

a state-of-the-art missile defense system to protect against missile-based attacks

Sounds familiar...

develop defensive and offensive cyber capabilities at our U.S. Cyber Command

Hacking, of course, is a real threat. 

Our job is to make life more comfortable for parents who want their kids to be able to walk the streets safely. Or the senior citizen waiting for a bus. Or the young child walking home from school.

Trump has previously said the best way to increase racial harmony was increasing stop and search.  I hope none of those people waiting for that bus look...y'know...suspicious to the boys in blue.

Supporting law enforcement means supporting our citizens' ability to protect themselves.

Folks, the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.  Of course, the best way to stop a good guy of any kindis a bad guy with a gun.

deporting illegal aliens with violent criminal records

Change of policy there.

Melania is also a successful entrepreneur.  In April 2010, Melania Trump launched her own jewelry collection, "Melania™ Timepieces & Jewelry", on QVC.

No link, unfortunately. 

Mrs. Trump cares deeply about issues impacting women and children, and she has focused her platform as First Lady on the problem of cyber bullying among our youth. 

I'm sure...

If your an American citizen you might want to head over to the Whitehouse petitions page, where they're calling for Trumps tax returns to be released and for his business assets to go into blind trust, since a US president accepting money from foreign powers is a constitutional breach.

[Professor Bear]

We must now hope our American friends rediscover their founding virtues of violent anti-establishment domestic terrorism.

[The Legendary Shark]

With Bush it was "let's see his hanging chads because he stole the election!" With Obama it was "let's see his birth certificate because his real name's Barry Sotoro!" With Trump it's "let's see his accounts because he's a crook!"

Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss.

[M.I.K.]

No.

None of the old bosses sent unhinged hate mail to Selina Scott for months on end until she threatened legal action.

None of the old bosses whine on Twitter every, single, time, somebody impersonates them on telly.

None of the old bosses denied ever having met Samuel L. Jackson after Samuel L. Jackson accused him of cheating at golf, even though there are photos of him with Samuel L. Jackson right there beside him, FFS.

None of the old bosses tried to obtain a compulsory purchase order in an attempt to force people off their own land, simply because he thought their homes spoiled the view from his golf course and hotel, then proceeded to block their view with tons of soil.

None, (well, not many), of the old bosses have demonstrable ties to organised crime, going back several decades.

Then there are the fake universities, attempts to force people out of their flats using various forms of intimidatory behaviour including turning their heating and hot water off, testimony under oath that he knew he was hiring illegal Polish immigrants as builders, his numerous refusals to pay contractors, and  the numerous accusations of sexual assault including one from his ex-wife in a sworn deposition during divorce proceedings.

And that's not even the half of it. The list has been ongoing for years, with a steady stream of unrelated individuals constantly popping up to point out what a decidedly dodgy & horrible git he is. Yet, somehow, he's President now.

...and I didn't even mention all the bankruptcies.

[M.I.K.]

Oh, and none of the old bosses is the actual, confirmed, real-life basis for the main baddie in the Back To The Future films.

[The Legendary Shark]

Well sure, he wasn't a member of Skull and Bones, didn't dodge the draft for Vietnam, didn't give free beer to college students to win their votes, didn't sell 212,140 shares of Harken for $848,560 just before the company announced poor quarterly earnings, wasn't arrested for cocaine possession in 1972 but used his father's political connections to get a little community service instead of a cotton-picking jail sentence and his record expunged, didn't have his driver's license number changed because he was worried about a DUI arrest record surfacing, didn't mock a woman he'd put on death row, didn't authorise the executions of 152 people to make himself the second most bloodthirsty Texas Governor in history despite being described as a "person of interest" himself in a Texas murder investigation, didn't use his connections to cover up a vehicular homicide committed by his wife and was never arrested for stealing a Christmas tree (and these are just some of the allegations against GW Bush alone), but yes, new boss - old boss, basically the same thing: one flawed human being pretending to represent/rule over 325 million other flawed human beings.

Even if Jesus had been elected to the office of President there'd be a campaign to stop it based on his questionable parentage, unreasonably violent reaction to temple money changers and claims about being dead for three days.

I'm not defending Trump, or Bush, or any of them. They're all the same. They're all flawed - as are we all - and none of them, and none of the rest of us, is fit to hold such a position. That's what I mean when I say the old boss is the same as the new boss, just as the next boss will be the same as the new one we just got.

[Hawkmumbler]

Emphatically untrue in so many ways.

[M.I.K.]

I'm not saying that none of the rest of them have dodgy stuff in their past. I'm saying Trump has the most dodgy stuff in his past, continues to have dodgy stuff in his present and will continue to have dodgy stuff in his future. He's the dodgiest of the dodgy, (and did dodge the draft).

Trump isn't just another bad boss, he's the worst boss.

[IndigoPrime]

There's no point in arguing with Shark on this. And, frankly, if someone can't see the difference between, say, Obama and Trump, there's no reasoning with them whatsoever. You might was well just argue with a wall.

[M.I.K.]

Arguing with walls is a handy way to get information to folk on the fence.

[The Legendary Shark]

I'm saying that they're both flawed, as are we all, and that we are all the same in that respect. Given this fact, Obama and Trump are both the same, and they are both the same as the rest of us in that NOBODY is fit to wield such power. If people want to vote for what they perceive as the least-worst option and call that acceptable then that's fine, they can do so and suffer the consequences. Me? I don't believe any of them has the right to make me, or you, or anyone else act against their conscience or will.

It doesn't matter who is President or Prime Minister - Obama, Clinton, Trump, you or me - at some point we'd all have to act in the same manner, act with force to impose our will or policies. None of us could tolerate a single person saying "no" because that undermines the position. If we do tolerate people saying "no" then our power evaporates and the position becomes pointless.