Lets see if we can keep this thread a little more civil.

I found this interview very interesting.  A lot of soft balls thrown at Trump, he explained his back pedalling on his more extreme issues as a lot of his claims as opening bids for negotiation purposes.  Which .. whatever .. I still think that those are insincere claims he used to get elected.

He does now come across way more presidential then he did prior to the election.  A lot of his noise, yelling, and rhetoric has been scaled back.

Do respect this one though:

Quote

 

Lesley Stahl: Are you gonna take the salary, the president’s salary?

Donald Trump: Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no. I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year. But it’s a -- I don’t even know what it is.

Donald Trump: Do you know what the salary is?

Lesley Stahl: $400,000 you’re giving up.

Donald Trump: No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-donald-trump-family-melania-ivanka-lesley-stahl/

Local police blocked tactical units from engaging Robb Elementary School shooter for an hour: report
   
When a specially equipped U.S. Border Patrol tactical team arrived on the scene of Tuesday’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, local police who were already on the scene wouldn’t allow them to engage with the shooter, The New York Times reports.

“The agents from Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at some point between 12 p.m. and 12:10 p.m., according to the officials — far earlier than previously known,” The Times’ report stated. “But they did not breach the adjoining classrooms of the school where the gunman had locked himself in until a little before 1 p.m. Members of the federal tactical team killed the gunman.”

But officials speaking to The Times say the Uvalde Police Department prevented the agents from going in sooner.

The new details further call into the question the thinking behind how law enforcement responded to the shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers. The Border Patrol and ICE agents say they did not understand why they were force to wait. All of the 21 victims died in the area where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos had barricaded himself in.

Oklahoma GOP gubernatorial candidate: Ban abortion nationwide because life begins 'before' conception
   
Mark Sherwood, a Republican candidate for governor in Oklahoma, asserted that he is against all exceptions for abortion because he believes life begins "before" conception.

"No life, even conceived in the most heinous or even less-than-ideal circumstances is a mistake," Sherwood told Real America's Voice host David Brody after revealing that his mother was likely a victim of rape. "As I sit here and talk to you, I can tell you unequivocally, even the people who are pro-choice are not mistakes. Everybody has a purpose."

"So I believe life begins in God before it begins at conception," he said, noting that his "plan is to push the legislators on both chambers as per their Republican GOP stance in Oklahoma to present this bill to the houses with the people behind it."

Sherwood insisted that he "will sign that bill because it's the right thing to do and we'll make it the law immediately to abolish abortion, no exceptions."

The candidate admitted that women would continue to seek abortions even if the practice was outlawed. He compared illegal abortions to the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

"Is it going to stop abortion all the way by people's choices? No," he said. "But do we need to create laws that match the punishment, that match the crime? Yes. And if we do that, God's hand and blessing will be back on this land. And it's going to take hard calls. It's going to take some guts."

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/oklahoma-republican-life-before-conception/

 

A disgrace of a human being

 

5 hours ago, bustamente said:

A disgrace of a human being

 

A ghoul is a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena. It lures unwary people into the desert wastes or abandoned places to slay and devour them. The creature also preys on young children, drinks blood, steals coins, and eats the dead.

 

Edited May 28, 20223 yr by Mark F

On 2022-05-27 at 11:37 AM, Sard said:

The cops were too afraid to go in and get shot yet they expect a teacher "good guy with a gun" to have been able to stop this guy.

I don't think they expect that at all. It's just another excuse to not enact common sense gun laws. Eventually some teacher will flip out and shoot students or some student will get the teachers gun and reek havoc. Then their answer will have to be arm all students. ( or at least the white ones )  Face it , they are a failed state. Nothing that happens down there makes any sense. Better to prepare and brace our selves for the collateral damage from their implosion.

5 hours ago, bustamente said:

A disgrace of a human being

 

Trump is unworthy to be referred to as a human being. He is a pile of excrement in a suit.

2 hours ago, Tracker said:

Trump is unworthy to be referred to as a human being. He is a pile of excrement in a suit.

Garbage in a human suit. 

Americans are lunatics

1 hour ago, bustamente said:

Americans are lunatics

The family that loads together, explodes together.  They must be sooo proud.

 

 

                                                

On 2022-05-26 at 3:29 PM, TrueBlue4ever said:

All the trained police standing around, and the GOP expects that teachers could handle the chaos better if they were armed. “Good guy with a gun” is a joke, unless they want to admit police are in fact bad guys with guns to maintain that myth. 
It is hard not to get numb to all of this. After Sandy Hook and the lack of response it became clear that any will to stop this lunacy by the people was gone, even though they were in the majority. It’s hard to try and keep caring from afar when those with a direct stake in it can’t be bothered to care enough to change things. Sad fact, for all the claims of “it’s a mental health issue, not a gun issue” that usually gets brought up, the worst mass shooting in US history (the Vegas Mandalay Bay concert shooting) still has no identifiable cause. I have talked directly to police who have read the full FBI investigation and they say the reason for the shooting has never been figured out, and likely never will be. The shooter left no note, had no known underlying mental health, psychological, or personal or financial issues that would have triggered him. Just an anonymous seemingly normal guy who had access to a massive arsenal and exploited it, and had planned out an attack like this in Chicago before settling on Vegas. Blows every excuse of the NRA out there of the water.

Finally, this may be too sensitive for some and and I’m not entirely sure if this is appropriate, but it is powerful and maybe the best example I have seen of a dramatization of a school shooting, certainly on network TV. It comes from a Canadian police show called “19-2” which filmed an episode called “School”. It was originally done in French and re-done shot for shot in English a couple of years later for the Anglophone version.  It has NSFW language and certainly content, but is very gripping and strongly brought home the terror and chaos of the situation for all involved. I am attaching the link here but if I do not mean to offend if anyone finds it exploitive or “glamourizing” these tragedies, not my intent. Just a reminder whenever I want to shrug and say “oh well, just another stupid day in the US, they don’t care why should I” what the human stakes are.

 

That was powerfully unsettling. I could hardly make it thru.

11 hours ago, Tracker said:

 

 

                                                

It's totally not a racist thing to be obsessed with guns to "defend" yourself. 

Disturbing that people are that hateful, and angry.
 

 

Edited May 29, 20223 yr by Mark F

Hate and racism is not going away any time soon, it will take generations and even then their will always be pockets of this way of thinking

2 hours ago, bustamente said:

Hate and racism is not going away any time soon, it will take generations and even then their will always be pockets of this way of thinking

It is going to get worse in the US. Average family income is falling as is literacy. The rich as getting richer, the middle class is getting wiped out, and the poor are getting poorer and more desperate. 

Architect of Trump election theft attempt is recruiting an army of conspiracy-fueled poll workers: report
   
With the midterm election just months away and Donald Trump still eyeing a third presidential run in 2024, the New York Times is reporting that one of the architects of the former president's attempt to throw out the results of his 2020 loss is currently working on recruiting conspiracy-minded poll workers and watchers that have state election officials fearful of future chaos and disruption.

According to the report, attorney Cleta Mitchell who rose to fame as a participant on Trump's infamous phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where the former president demanded the Georgia Republican "find" 11,780 votes, is working with the Election Integrity Network which has financial ties to Trump's still-thriving political operation.

As the Times' Alexandra Berzon writes, Mitchell has been busy traveling the country and meeting with far-right activists, instructing them on how to get deeply involved with the election process in their states, putting them in a position to challenge election results and disrupt certification of the votes.

According to Berzon, no position at the state level is considered too small by Mitchell, who recently told over 150 conservatives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, "We are taking the lessons we learned in 2020 and we are going forward to make sure they never happen again.”

Pointing out that Mitchell was a participant in multiple lawsuits by Trump to challenge election results at the state level -- none of which succeeded -- Berzon writes that she is undeterred as her conspiracy theories are debunked and that she has the financial backing of several conservative groups.
"In seminars around the country, Ms. Mitchell is marshaling volunteers to stake out election offices, file information requests, monitor voting, work at polling places and keep detailed records of their work," the Times report states, adding that an examination of her efforts reveals " a loose network of influential groups and fringe figures."

Her supporters "include election deniers as well as mainstream organizations such as the Heritage Foundation’s political affiliate, Tea Party Patriots and the R.N.C., which has participated in Ms. Mitchell’s seminars. The effort, called the Election Integrity Network, is a project of the Conservative Partnership Institute, a right-wing think tank with close ties and financial backing from Mr. Trump’s political operation."

.alternet.org/2022/05/poll-workers/

"peach tree dish"

'Methodical' Merrick Garland 'fears no person' — and he's coming for Trump: legal scholar
   
Like other forms of fascism, authoritarianism and reactionary politics, Donald Trump's so-called movement is a symptom of deeper problems in society, not the cause. Trumpism is not a boil that can be lanced, thereby ending the infection. It's more like a tumor growing from the bones.

It's not exactly true that the Republican Party was conquered or "taken over" by the Trump movement, as many observers still perceive it. The seeds of Trumpism were planted in Republican soil decades ago, and found it a hospitable environment. It's more accurate to perceive Trumpism as the next evolutionary (or, more properly, devolutionary) stage of the Republican Party and the overall conservative movement. It's where right-wing politics were going in America, whether leading conservatives understood that or not.

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/merrick-garland-2657413761/

For fans of John Oliver, here is this week's look at American politics:

 

 

Texas Gov Abbott who keeps blaming shootings on mental health just slashed millions from the budget for mental health a month before Uvdale. Money went to patrol the border with Mexico.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2022/05/30/gov-abbott-attributes-mass-shootings-to-mental-health-issues-a-month-after-cutting-211-million-from-mental-health-commission/

30 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Texas Gov Abbott who keeps blaming shootings on mental health just slashed millions from the budget for mental health a month before Uvdale. Money went to patrol the border with Mexico.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2022/05/30/gov-abbott-attributes-mass-shootings-to-mental-health-issues-a-month-after-cutting-211-million-from-mental-health-commission/

It probably all comes down to Margaret Thatcher's attitude about her slashing services and supports for the poor, disabled and mentally ill. When questioned about how she could conscience grinding the less fortunate, she said," F..k them. They don't vote anyways." 

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

It probably all comes down to Margaret Thatcher's attitude about her slashing services and supports for the poor, disabled and mentally ill. When questioned about how she could conscience grinding the less fortunate, she said," F..k them. They don't vote anyways." 

It still amazes me that people think she was this great woman, that took on the unions. She was a garbage human being, who destroyed the British economy.

Uvalde Police Lied: A Teacher Never Left The Door Open

Law enforcement tried to blame a teacher who left a door open for the Uvalde shooting, but surveillance video shows that the school employee closed the door.

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/05/31/uvalde-police-lied-a-teacher-never-left-the-door-open.html

Ohio Republican Senate nominee JD Vance has called for a total ban on porn— he suggests porn is responsible for mass shootings, along with abortion. He previously declared porn “a public health crisis.” 

“Vance said the country is being run by left-leaning ‘childless cat ladies,’ a swipe at Vice President Kamala Harris, who is a stepmother, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has since adopted twins with his husband.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-senate-pornography_n_628d3ba1e4b05cfc2692705b

And here I thought Porn was just leading to increase sales of lotion, klenex and socks.