2020 US Election (Part Two)

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GenMarshall said:
Why am I tempted to have that as a quoteable? ;)
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Daria's always been eminently quotable.
Commodore said:
Oh...I have a lot to answer for then...
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Yyyess. I remember that earlier you said that the US military wasn't directly responsible for most of the deaths in Iraq in the ongoing war. While that is technically true, perhaps not so much during as especially after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government, the truth is that hundreds of thousands of people would never have died in that war. I'm not blaming you personally, but the big policymakers knew of such a possibility, yet they thought that they'd be able to handle things and at the same timedidn't really care about Iraq or Iraqis.
 
Patine said:
I don't live in the United States, but I have a strong sense of justice, and it bugs me seeing how many Americans (and non-Americans) are thoroughly hoodwinked by the utter scam of soft-power tyrants that is the U.S. electoral system, and even valiant defend it as a viable and free-and-fair that in any way, shape, or form reflects the will of the people and not the high criminals that sit in government and the plutocratic oligarchy that bribes to dictate their policies.

You make the false assumption I'm an Avengers' fan at all. The Fantastic Four and the X-Men were the Marvel Superhero Groups that actually interested me, and the Thing and Colossus were not nearly so mindlessly temperamental.
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So here's the thing

you make all these (solid) claims that the American system is a farce

but then you reject all possible solutions

did you know? changing the electoral college or the bicameral system or first past the post is literally impossible under the existent political scheme? The legislature you depend on to change these things actively benefits from them. In some cases you would need literally unanimous consent. we can't even impeach trump with 50% + 1

it's like depending on the police to reform the police

so the solution is to get rid of the existing political scheme, but you call that extremist, neo-manichean thinking.
 
GenMarshall said:
Full stop here, why do you even care? Seriously, why do you even flipping care? You're a Canadian, you don't have the power to change the American electoral system. As Zardnaar stated, It's "up to the Americans if they want to change it".
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It's called a sense of justice, and one that doesn't at national borders as to where it gets offended and inflamed. I care about other horrid government systems, and abuses by military forces and terrorist groups (both insurgent terrorist groups like the various branches of the IRA, Islamist groups and others, and government funded and sanctioned ones, like the CIA, MI6, GRU, Mossad, and others), organized crime groups, and corporate predations, and religions not following their own doctrines at all, but just serving as vehicles of power to horrid and sociopathic megalomaniacs. But a true sense of justice seems like something truly alien as a concept to you.
 
Zardnaar said:
He benefits from low turnout with his smaller but more fanatical base.
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Don't listen to him, @Berzerker. He's pushing a hard McCarthyist, "if you're not for us, you're against us," narrative. Results of voting Third Party/Independent/Write-in or staying at home, even in the current rigged system, will vary by locale and actions of other voters - both mainstream and disaffected. His absolutist commentary is a guilt trip tactic.
 
innonimatu said:
Given that everyone was doing the influence game as agreed upon in Yalta, Truman (and Churchill) had no cause to create the cold war over it. The cold war cemented those spheres of influence, into military and political alliances that lasted much longer than they would otherwise. It effectively split not just Europe but the world between soviets and americans for 45 years. And it was avoidable: Austria was neutralized without problems. There was no reason for a number of truly independent countries not to gradually emerge in Europe as each drifted away from control by the ww2 victor who claimed influence in its area. That was the key: it was going to take some time without big international tensions for that to happen. No cold war, no NATO and Warsaw Pact, no soviet troops in eastern Europe (apart from Germany), no intervention in Hungary or Czechoslovakia... perhaps no intervention in Greece either, no dirty elections in Italy, etc. Even Germany could have been reunited much sooner provided they agreed to demilitarization.
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That seems like an awfully idealistic view of Great Power relations. You know as well as I do that Great Powers don't take kindly to countries in their sphere of influence drifting out of it.
I don't deny that Truman and Churchill contributed to the development of the Cold War, but Stalin was willingly holding on to the handbag as they marched off to hell.

The US lost an opportunity there and then, in 1945-46, to avoid the MIIC it now still suffers. The echoes of Truman's change of policies, away from the UN concept and into the Cold War, are still present now as the "russiagate" fabrication showed.
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I don't think you are giving Truman enough credit for ensuring civilian control over the military in the aftermath of WW2. During the war the military had gotten used to being given basically whatever they asked for. The Revolt of the Admirals and the removal of MacArthur. The post-war period could have gone a lot worse in terms of military-civilian relations.
 
Berzerker said:
he benefits from people not voting for him?
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His math is absolutist and scare tactic based, not in any way calculated or rational, or based on any local or regional statistics.
 
Michael Cohen's book is coming out and it appears that it will be a "tell all" that dwarf's all others. The book forward has come out and it is devastating in what he he says he will reveal.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/politics/michael-cohen-book-cover/index.html

New York (CNN)Michael Cohen released the foreword of his upcoming book on Thursday, teasing what he claims is a behind-the-scenes exposé of his acts as President Donald Trump's fixer -- from stiffing contractors on a business deal to lying about extra-marital affairs to the President's attempts to "insinuate himself into the world of President Vladimir Putin."

"I know where the skeletons are buried because I was the one who buried them," Cohen wrote in the foreword, which was published Thursday on a website for his tell-all book "Disloyal: A Memoir. The true story of the former personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump."
"In some ways, I knew him better than even his family did because I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man," Cohen wrote in the 3,700-word release.
The White House responded to Cohen's upcoming book, calling it "fan fiction."

"Michael Cohen's book is fan fiction. He readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales. It's unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump," White House deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern said.

The White House did not address specific claims made by Cohen in the book's foreword.
The website and foreword are kick-starting the publicity campaign for Cohen's claimed expose on the decade he spent working as Trump's fixer. Cohen has said he plans to release the book in September so it would be available before the presidential election.
Cohen has not disclosed who is publishing the book. On his website he is selling signed copies for $40 and unsigned hardcovers for $32.50.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress. He was released last month to home confinement after suing the Department of Justice, alleging he was taken back into custody in retaliation for the book. A judge agreed and prosecutors dropped their request to restrain Cohen's communication with the media.
Now, Cohen is launching his publicity campaign. It began Thursday when Cohen tweeted "coming soon" along with a copy of the book cover, which depicts a photo of him dressed in a suit that is imposed over the bars of a prison cell.

In the foreword, Cohen writes that he has received threats, contemplated suicide and had a panic attack the day of his public testimony before Congress, in what would be the first public airing of his years working for Trump following his guilty plea.
Cohen wrote that he was a "demented follower" who acted as Trump's bully, fixer and designated thug.
"I stiffed contractors on his behalf, ripped off his business partners, lied to his wife Melania to hide his sexual infidelities, and bullied and screamed at anyone who threatened Trump's path to power," Cohen wrote.
"Our cellphones had the same address books, our contacts so entwined, overlapping and intimate that part of my job was to deal with the endless queries and requests, however large or small, from Trump's countless rich and famous acquaintances," he wrote.
Cohen also addressed the investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and his role on the Trump Tower Moscow project.
When Cohen pleaded guilty, he admitted that he lied when he told Congress that the discussions about the project ended before Trump's campaign began in earnest -- in truth, he said, they continued well into 2016 campaign -- and about his communications with members of the Trump family.

"Trump had colluded with the Russians, but not in the sophisticated ways imagined by his detractors. I also knew that the Mueller investigation was not a witch-hunt. Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything -- and I mean anything -- to 'win' has always been his business model and way of life," Cohen wrote.
Cohen doesn't provide details of how Trump allegedly cheated.
He alleges that Trump "attempted to insinuate himself into the world of President Vladimir Putin and his coterie of corrupt billionaire oligarchs. I know because I personally ran that deal and kept Trump and his children closely informed of all updates, even as the candidate blatantly lied to the American people saying, 'there's no Russian collusion, I have no dealings with Russia...there's no Russia.'"

In a court filing, Cohen also said that the book will provide "graphic and unflattering details about the President's behavior behind closed doors" including Trump's "pointedly anti-Semitic remarks and virulently racist remarks against such Black leaders as President Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela, neither of whom he viewed as real leaders or as worthy of respect by virtue of their race." He said the book will be based on personal anecdotes and "documentary evidence."
Trump's attorneys sent Cohen a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year to block the publication of the book. Cohen's attorney, Danya Perry, told CNN's "New Day" last month that letter said Cohen signed a non-disclosure agreement but the attorney had no recollection of having signed one.

Perry said at the time she wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't another legal effort to block the book's publication.
"Certainly there's a pattern there, but I expect, just as with some of the previous rulings that we have seen, that attempt will not be successful and this book will be published before the election," she said.

Last week Cohen informed the judge overseeing his release that an unnamed political action committee has offered him employment to provide consulting services and media appearances. Cohen cannot start any employment without the approval of the Bureau of Prisons, according to the terms of his confinement.
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EdmundIronside said:
Looks like Trump did a good job! :thumbsup:
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As far as I can tell, it isn't anything new; merely an acknowledgement of the Gulf Princes being more concerned Iran than any lingering support for Palestinian statehood.
Of course, I'm not sure it shines a good light on Israel: "Look, we are friends with the head-choppers now!"
 
Trump has until Friday to prove voter fraud. :trouble:

(CNN)A federal judge in Pennsylvania told the Trump campaign and the Republican Party that they must produce evidence they have of vote-by-mail fraud in the state by Friday.

The judge's order, in a high-profile case about vote-by-mail in the battleground state, essentially forces the Trump campaign to try to back up President Donald Trump's false claims about massive voter fraud in postal voting.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/...n-voter-fraud-lawsuit-pennsylvania/index.html

:popcorn:
 
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