It seems for all the world based on this reporting that Paul Ryan has forced the resignation of the House chaplain for not hating poor people enough, or at least not sufficiently supporting tax cuts. You know, just like Christ. Paul Ryan doesn't worship any Christian god or messiah I ever learned about in church. His deity seem to be Ayn Rand. If Jesus came back tomorrow, Republicans would immediately paint him as an anti-American, radical leftist:
Now, should we even HAVE a House Chaplain?? Almost certainly not. But if Republicans are going to continue this charade in which they represent Christian values, perhaps they should, I don't know, read the New Testament, or at least get the Cliff Notes version. Here, I'll help:
His approval with Republicans is like 80 percent right? What are they thinking or hearing? Mass delusions, hallucinations, and projection. That's the only possible explanation. Or just the need to burn down the world.
That's not okay, @smeagolheart. Criticize Trump all you like, give conservatives reasons not to support him, but don't accuse people of being delusional or destructive simply because they support someone you find reprehensible. There's more to American politics than just "my side" and "the crazies."
His approval with Republicans is like 80 percent right? What are they thinking or hearing? Mass delusions, hallucinations, and projection. That's the only possible explanation. Or just the need to burn down the world.
That's not okay, @smeagolheart. Criticize Trump all you like, give conservatives reasons not to support him, but don't accuse people of being delusional or destructive simply because they support someone you find reprehensible. There's more to American politics than just "my side" and "the crazies."
I do not know if I agree with this or not. It feels like I should as it is the reasonable position in most cases, so my uncertainty troubles me.
Consider the rise of extremist groups or extremist positions to power throughout history: the KKK, slavery, fascism, totalitarian communism and several cults. Positions that turned out to be both delusional and destructive.
For each of them you could find voices like yours: They have so many supporters, so they can't be fundamentally bad. We should respect them. We can't accuse them of being destructive or plain evil. That many people can't be completely wrong.
Holy cow--the DPRK and South Korea are going to officially end the Korean War, which has actually still been in effect since the cease fire in 1953. Actual reunification might take place within a decade. If you don't believe me then check out the name of the summit which Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in just had: Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula.
I agree the language being used at the moment justifies some optimism about the future in Korea - here's the declaration from the summit, including proposals for arms reduction and denuclearization. Let's hope the momentum stays strong.
The real question is whether NK will actually be willing to abandon its USSR ways. Rather hard to tell. It took us two changes in country leadership (Gorbachev and Yeltsin) to get rid of that cancer. I kinda doubt that Kim is really about to let go of the "proud and independent pit of despair" ideology. But then again, his actual image may be distorted in worldwide media.
Holy cow--the DPRK and South Korea are going to officially end the Korean War, which has actually still been in effect since the cease fire in 1953. Actual reunification might take place within a decade. If you don't believe me then check out the name of the summit which Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in just had: Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula.
I wonder how something like unification can actually happen. For example - if we're talking about legitimate unification (One government), I dont see why Kim would want to step away from power and why South Korea would want to abandon a democratically elected government either.
When this happened last (Germany) - West Germany just incorporated East Germany (If I am not mistaken, the current constitution of Germany is actually the old constitution of West Germany). I think East Germany just had a series of elections that largely replaced their socialist ideology (after the USSR started to reform itself as well). So it kind of came together.
I doubt the DPRK will do anything particularly similar to that, right? So what does that unification actually look like? It's an exciting thing to see happen.
Actual reunification might take place within a decade. If you don't believe me then check out the name of the summit which Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in just had: Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula.
Perhaps they just mean "unification" as in "stand together as allies"?
Has either side actually said that they want to become one country again?
Actual reunification might take place within a decade. If you don't believe me then check out the name of the summit which Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in just had: Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula.
Perhaps they just mean "unification" as in "stand together as allies"?
Has either side actually said that they want to become one country again?
The declaration from the summit does indeed talk about ways of establishing close cooperation rather than becoming a single country.
As skeptical as I am, I can't help but hope that this is a genuine sign of a future peace deal that resolves the North Korean threat. The devil is in the details, but a non-military solution would be ideal if it works.
It seems the House intelligence committee has issued another pair of reports on the Russia issue. The Republican report claims that the committee investigated all possible leads and found no evidence of collusion; the Democratic report claims that the committee failed to investigate all possible leads and there are still suspicious details that never got fully explored.
This is exactly why we need an independent assessment from the FBI. It's pretty clear that at least one party is trying to distort the findings of the House committee, and if the House committee is dominated by partisan politics, we need an investigation that is not.
After well over a year, the FBI has issued neither a condemnation nor absolution of Trump while the investigation is still ongoing. Even while everyone else is shouting out their own conclusions, the Mueller investigation has stayed quiet and avoided rushing to judgment. the FBI had the option of jumping into the political fray, and has not done so even now. That's the non-partisan investigation that we need.
It seems the House intelligence committee has issued another pair of reports on the Russia issue. The Republican report claims that the committee investigated all possible leads and found no evidence of collusion; the Democratic report claims that the committee failed to investigate all possible leads and there are still suspicious details that never got fully explored.
This is exactly why we need an independent assessment from the FBI. It's pretty clear that at least one party is trying to distort the findings of the House committee, and if the House committee is dominated by partisan politics, we need an investigation that is not.
After well over a year, the FBI has issued neither a condemnation nor absolution of Trump while the investigation is still ongoing. Even while everyone else is shouting out their own conclusions, the Mueller investigation has stayed quiet and avoided rushing to judgment. the FBI had the option of jumping into the political fray, and has not done so even now. That's the non-partisan investigation that we need.
I am enjoying this race to the top (or bottom?) to see if Trump or Comey goes to jail first.
Why would Comey go to jail?? And there is also NO comparison between the Republicans and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. One of the parties is in charge of it and their Chairman has been caught about half a dozen times blatantly coordinating with the White House (in almost farcical ways) and the other party is simply telling people about it. It's this kind of ridiculous false equivalency that has given us this situation in the first place. If there is a party that is distorting the findings of the House Intelligence Committee, it would stand to reason that would be the party whose chairman was on Trump's transition team, was caught red-handed "delivering" evidence to the White House that the White House had given him in the first place, and who released a memo that contradicted every actual point they had been trying to make in the lead-up to the release. But this CONSTANT assigning of 50% of the blame on everything to Democrats when they control absolutely no levers of power in Washington (and I mean the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches) is just so, so tiresome.
His approval with Republicans is like 80 percent right? What are they thinking or hearing? Mass delusions, hallucinations, and projection. That's the only possible explanation. Or just the need to burn down the world.
That's not okay, @smeagolheart. Criticize Trump all you like, give conservatives reasons not to support him, but don't accuse people of being delusional or destructive simply because they support someone you find reprehensible. There's more to American politics than just "my side" and "the crazies."
Fair enough. I think I was conflating his delusions, hallucinations, and projection onto his supporters. I really don't get how any honest objective person can support this guy. Listen to him speak and objectively view him and you gave a vain old man with serious mental issues who only acts in bad faith and who only seeks approval and praise for himself alone.
You are a fool if you think he is in your side. You are only on his side until he casts you aside because he's only on his own side. Support him until he casts you aside. Then you'll wonder like Comey does, why has the Republican party cast me aside? They are giving their blind allegiance to Trump not to America, not the Republican party, not the flag, only the golden calf Trump.
Does Trump deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for Korean peace? I'd say absolutely not. Korean peace is great and Trump absolutely appears to have something to do with it, but there are serious problems. Trumps contributions appear to consist of insulting Kim Jong Un as "little rocket man" and getting into a phallic insult contest claiming his di-er button is bigger. And he has pressed China and called for all the Sanctions, all of them, on North Korea. It appears as if Kim Jong Un realizes that Trump is completely unhinged and such a wild card that his best bet is to make peace with South Korea to neutralize this crazy wildcard.
So Trumps great achievement here seems to be he's completely insane and unpredictable. I'd argue that you don't deserve a Nobel prize for that. Kim Jong Un has been the one to push for peace, Trump has pushed for more sanctions and escalation. Kim Jong Un has more of claim on the peace process.
Additionally, and this is important - Trumps attacks on the first ammendment and freedom of the press have reverberated in America and around the world and not in a good way. A media-bashing enthusiast, Trump has referred to reporters as ‘enemies of the people,’ a term once used by legendary genocidal Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. Around the world dictators and tin pot leaders are cracking down on free speech and freedom of the press and using Trumps phrasing of fake news on things they don't want to hear about (such as their own corruption).
The U.S. droppped from 30th in 2014 to 45th in ranking of countries based on freedom of the press under Trump. Trump is placing pro-torture individuals in key government positions such as NSA director Bolton, Secretary of state Pompeo, and CIA director nominee Hassel. By attacking freedom of the press in America, promoting discriminatory 'religious freedom' laws, promoting divisive policies such as the Muslim ban and the Mexican Wall, and lying about everything great and small President Trump has shown himself as an individual that definitely deserves not deserve a Nobel prize.
But this CONSTANT assigning of 50% of the blame on everything to Democrats when they control absolutely no levers of power in Washington (and I mean the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches) is just so, so tiresome.
Was it also "tiresome" when the EXACT same thing was done to Republicans after the 2008 election?
Democrats have been vigorously declaring their intention to impeach Trump, or find some way to remove him from power, from the MOMENT he was elected - that's unprecedented in this country's history. They've also spread tons of misinformation and spiteful rhetoric in the process. Local leaders have been going out of their way to defy or undermine every executive action by Trump with complete disregard for whether those actions actually benefit their own constituents. They deserve every bit as much criticism for being senselessly obstructionist as the Repubs did almost a decade ago.
Does Trump deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for Korean peace? I'd say absolutely not. Korean peace is great and Trump absolutely appears to have something to do with it, but there are serious problems. Trumps contributions appear to consist of insulting Kim Jong Un as "little rocket man" and getting into a phallic insult contest claiming his di-er button is bigger. And he has pressed China and called for all the Sanctions, all of them, on North Korea. It appears as if Kim Jong Un realizes that Trump is completely unhinged and such a wild card that his best bet is to make peace with South Korea to neutralize this crazy wildcard.
So Trumps great achievement here seems to be he's completely insane and unpredictable. I'd argue that you don't deserve a Nobel prize for that. Kim Jong Un has been the one to push for peace, Trump has pushed for more sanctions and escalation. Kim Jong Un has more of claim on the peace process.
Additionally, and this is important - Trumps attacks on the first ammendment and freedom of the press have reverberated in America and around the world and not in a good way. A media-bashing enthusiast, Trump has referred to reporters as ‘enemies of the people,’ a term once used by legendary genocidal Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. Around the world dictators and tin pot leaders are cracking down on free speech and freedom of the press and using Trumps phrasing of fake news on things they don't want to hear about (such as their own corruption).
The U.S. droppped from 30th in 2014 to 45th in ranking of countries based on freedom of the press under Trump. Trump is placing pro-torture individuals in key government positions such as NSA director Bolton, Secretary of state Pompeo, and CIA director nominee Hassel. By attacking freedom of the press in America, promoting discriminatory 'religious freedom' laws, promoting divisive policies such as the Muslim ban and the Mexican Wall, and lying about everything great and small President Trump has shown himself as an individual that definitely deserves not deserve a Nobel prize.
You're right, only sane, honest, and likable people like Yasser Arafat deserve a Nobel Peace prize.
Obama received a prize for some intangible nonsense about "a political climate" while he spent his presidency relentlessly killing people with drone strikes, subpoenaing press records, flagrantly lying about his health care plan in order to dupe just enough people into supporting it, and invading the privacy of millions of his own citizens as well as foreign diplomats.
For the Nobel Committee to refuse to give Trump a prize not only makes complete hypocrites of themselves, but is basically saying, "You can DO whatever the eff you want - just don't be a jerk about it on Twitter while you're doing it."
But this CONSTANT assigning of 50% of the blame on everything to Democrats when they control absolutely no levers of power in Washington (and I mean the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches) is just so, so tiresome.
Was it also "tiresome" when the EXACT same thing was done to Republicans after the 2008 election?
Democrats have been vigorously declaring their intention to impeach Trump, or find some way to remove him from power, from the MOMENT he was elected - that's unprecedented in this country's history. They've also spread tons of misinformation and spiteful rhetoric in the process. They deserve every bit as much criticism for being senselessly obstructionist as the Repubs did almost a decade ago.
No. Obama and campaign did not collude with foreign powers to get elected and violate the constitution every day since he's been elected. They have not spread misinformation, that's been all Trump since he day one he's been lying starting with the crowd size and going on everyday since then. What's to support anyway? Killing poor people by taking away their health care? Pass. Giving rich people a gigantic tax cut? Pass. Building a wall? No bro immigrant fear mongering is not the problem, they've got no power were bring screwed by the rich and corporations. Um yeah. What's to like? A dictator wanna be who is a narcissistic liar who is enriching himself and screwing over the rest of us? Pass.
But don't blame democrats. Trump is digging his own grave with his lies and illegal behavior and there are Republicans in charge of the investigations. And in charge of both houses of congress. And the Supreme Court. Trump will never take ownership of his own failure in case you haven't noticed everything good is him while everything bad is someone else.
@SharGuidesMyHand: That clip didn't answer the question at all. Anderson Cooper isn't even suggesting there that Comey committed a crime, e.g., unauthorized disclosure of classified information. He's saying that Comey engaged in behavior that falls under the common, broad definition of "leak," which includes the non-criminal disclosure of potentially embarrassing but unclassified information. That sort of thing can get you fired, not put in jail.
I fail to see what Trump would have done to earn the prize. He had no role in this still-to-be-seen Korean peace deal. He did not call for Moon and Kim to meet. He did not call for them to make a joint statement. If anyone in the Trump administration had anything to do with this, it would be Mike Pompeo, who actually met with Kim, not Trump.
As an Obama supporter, I don't think Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize then or now... nor do I even know any Obama supporters who have said he did. But Trump didn't do anything to merit the prize--this event occurred without his involvement.
I fail to see what Trump would have done to earn the prize. He had no role in this still-to-be-seen Korean peace deal. He did not call for Moon and Kim to meet. He did not call for them to make a joint statement. If anyone in the Trump administration had anything to do with this, it would be Mike Pompeo, who actually met with Kim, not Trump.
As an Obama supporter, I don't think Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize then or now... nor do I even know any Obama supporters who have said he did. But Trump didn't do anything to merit the prize--this event occurred without his involvement.
Agreed, I like Obama but think he did not earn the Nobel Prize. I guess they were really really impressed with American leadership after the W Bush years which were not great as far as American prestige. And yes he drone struck and wiretapped too much. It'd be nice for any American president to stop that. And drone strikes are way way up under Trump
The Long War Journal keeps track of the number of drone strikes per year and country based on reports published by the military. These numbers count the drone strikes themselves and not casualties because determining casualty counts is sometimes impossible--the numbers reported by the military sometimes differ from numbers provided by local sources and we cannot independently verify any numbers. You can't even count an average number killed because some strikes kill only 1 person while others can kill as many as 25. Trump has a long way to go to catch Obama (he had 8 years of opportunity) but the overall rate of drone strikes is up (count the total then divide by length of term--8 for Obama, 1.33 for Trump).
The Korean peace agreement is a win for Trump because he was definitely a factor in it coming about but there is no way he was involved or influential enough to earn a Nobel nomination. Of course, the Nobel Peace Prize no longer has any meaning since Obama won it for not being Bush. Oh, and this is a win for Pompeo, as well, our new SecState.
Not even Obama believed he deserved the prize. I remember news reports at the time saying that when he woke up and received the news, he wasn't even remotely happy about it, because he knew the distinction unearned was FAR more trouble than it was worth, and he was right.
Not even Obama believed he deserved the prize. I remember news reports at the time saying that when he woke up and received the news, he wasn't even remotely happy about it, because he knew the distinction unearned was FAR more trouble than it was worth, and he was right.
I don't know, it's still worth about $1M. I'm sure he got over it!
Not even Obama believed he deserved the prize. I remember news reports at the time saying that when he woke up and received the news, he wasn't even remotely happy about it, because he knew the distinction unearned was FAR more trouble than it was worth, and he was right.
I don't know, it's still worth about $1M. I'm sure he got over it!
He gave it away, I'm not sure it would have even been legal for him to keep it since it was so tied in to his position. Trump would probably use it to sell hats and golf balls:
Mind you, at this point, while Obama certainly had a bunch of cash from his book deal, 1.4 million dollars still would have been nothing to sneeze at at the time, given that it was almost 10x his yearly salary.
The Long War Journal keeps track of the number of drone strikes per year and country based on reports published by the military. These numbers count the drone strikes themselves and not casualties because determining casualty counts is sometimes impossible--the numbers reported by the military sometimes differ from numbers provided by local sources and we cannot independently verify any numbers. You can't even count an average number killed because some strikes kill only 1 person while others can kill as many as 25. Trump has a long way to go to catch Obama (he had 8 years of opportunity) but the overall rate of drone strikes is up (count the total then divide by length of term--8 for Obama, 1.33 for Trump).
Even as early as last April, Trump was ordering almost 5x as many drone strikes on average as Obama:
The Long War Journal keeps track of the number of drone strikes per year and country based on reports published by the military. These numbers count the drone strikes themselves and not casualties because determining casualty counts is sometimes impossible--the numbers reported by the military sometimes differ from numbers provided by local sources and we cannot independently verify any numbers. You can't even count an average number killed because some strikes kill only 1 person while others can kill as many as 25. Trump has a long way to go to catch Obama (he had 8 years of opportunity) but the overall rate of drone strikes is up (count the total then divide by length of term--8 for Obama, 1.33 for Trump).
Even as early as last April, Trump was ordering almost 5x as many drone strikes on average as Obama:
Also he is much more indiscriminate in his targets. He has said several times he wants to kill terrorists and their families. No surprise that civilian and innocent bystander deaths are way way up under Trump as well.
Trump has "unleashed" drone strikes meaning he is fine if drones don't hit their target or if they hit anyone nearby. If they hit the odd child or family so what, right.
No. Obama and campaign did not collude with foreign powers to get elected and violate the constitution every day since he's been elected.
He violated the Constitution every bit as much as Trump has - he assassinated US citizens, forced media groups to reveal their contacts, and monitored the activities of millions of everyday citizens without their knowledge.
They have not spread misinformation, that's been all Trump since he day one he's been lying starting with the crowd size and going on everyday since then.
Right from the beginning, Dems made baseless allegations of "voter fraud" that won Trump key battleground states. Based on that, people donated MILLIONS of dollars for recounts in those states - one resulted in a net gain of votes for Trump, another revealed improprieties that actually favored Hillary.
Building a wall? No bro immigrant fear mongering is not the problem, they've got no power were bring screwed by the rich and corporations.
This part is FALSE, it isn't "rich corporations" who are hacking children to pieces with machetes and scattering their body parts throughout woodlands and parks where I live (Long Island). Violent crime being carried out or perpetuated by illegal immigrants has been increasingly RAMPANT here for close to 2 decades, but it wasn't until Trump/Sessions got personally involved that there was any concentrated federal crackdown or national attention given to the issue. Most recently, police here uncovered a plot to assassinate officers and their families in retaliation for arrests. And yet despite this, Gov. Cuomo and other Dems like Mayor DeBlasio STILL persist in trying to undermine efforts to crack down on ILLEGAL immigration, and distort the issue as "vilifying immigrants" (Cuomo's exact words), instead of acknowledging it as the anti-CRIME issue that it is. It's a spit in the face to tax-paying citizens who live and work here and have to deal with this issue on a daily basis - and it's coming from the left.
Right from the beginning, Dems made baseless allegations of "voter fraud" that won Trump key battleground states. Based on that, people donated MILLIONS of dollars for recounts in those states - one resulted in a net gain of votes for Trump, another revealed improprieties that actually favored Hillary.
Hey. Trump was the one that said that 3-5 million people voted illegally. Three to five MILLION. Remember? He also said his crowd was teh biggest evar. Both lies. Jill Stein, not a democrat, went for the recount effort. Voter Fraud doesn't appear to be enough, from what we know, to have swayed the election.
But what did influence the election was Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the Trump Campaign, to spread misinformation and lies among the right. Also Russian hackers and troll farms whose help was gleefully accepted by Trump.
This part is FALSE, it isn't "rich corporations" who are hacking children to pieces with machetes and scattering their body parts throughout woodlands and parks where I live (Long Island). Violent crime being carried out or perpetuated by illegal immigrants has been increasingly RAMPANT here for close to 2 decades, but it wasn't until Trump/Sessions.....
Violent crime has been increasingly rampant (rising) in New York for two decades?
So you are wrong. Maybe you "Feel" that crime has been rising.
Trump called for the death penalty for the central park 5. Who were innocent. Has he apologized yet for that?
You have seen something in right wing media, and you believe it. When someone dies from a bee sting or from a vending machine falling on them it doesn't make the news. But when one person is hacked (1 person dead), OMG hackers are hacking everywhere be afraid!
This is what Republicans offer - fear and hatred. You've bought it. Immigrants don't want to attack people and kill. Do you want that? They want to take care of their families and earn a living. When you push people into desperate situations, they may feel they have no choice but to do desperate things.
If you are sure immigrants are more violent than non-immigrants then you are misguided and possibly have fallen for racism. For one thing, immigrants, even illegal immigrants, are less violent than non-immigrants. A wide range of studies back that up. You wouldn't believe that if you watch Fox News all the time and all they show is immigrant crime and ignore the non-immigrant crime.
So why do Republicans fear monger about immigrants, muslims, gays, etc etc. Because they play on peoples fears of others. "You don't understand a muslim? Omg they are scary." The unknown is scary. And fear is a great motivator. Don't be afraid.
The rich pay Fox people, to get the middle class, to hate poor people. Then while you are distracted, they run away with all the money.
Comments
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/385035-house-chaplain-forced-out-by-ryan
Now, should we even HAVE a House Chaplain?? Almost certainly not. But if Republicans are going to continue this charade in which they represent Christian values, perhaps they should, I don't know, read the New Testament, or at least get the Cliff Notes version. Here, I'll help:
https://www.openbible.info/topics/jesus_and_the_poor
Consider the rise of extremist groups or extremist positions to power throughout history: the KKK, slavery, fascism, totalitarian communism and several cults. Positions that turned out to be both delusional and destructive.
For each of them you could find voices like yours:
They have so many supporters, so they can't be fundamentally bad. We should respect them. We can't accuse them of being destructive or plain evil. That many people can't be completely wrong.
It took us two changes in country leadership (Gorbachev and Yeltsin) to get rid of that cancer. I kinda doubt that Kim is really about to let go of the "proud and independent pit of despair" ideology. But then again, his actual image may be distorted in worldwide media.
When this happened last (Germany) - West Germany just incorporated East Germany (If I am not mistaken, the current constitution of Germany is actually the old constitution of West Germany). I think East Germany just had a series of elections that largely replaced their socialist ideology (after the USSR started to reform itself as well). So it kind of came together.
I doubt the DPRK will do anything particularly similar to that, right? So what does that unification actually look like? It's an exciting thing to see happen.
Has either side actually said that they want to become one country again?
This is exactly why we need an independent assessment from the FBI. It's pretty clear that at least one party is trying to distort the findings of the House committee, and if the House committee is dominated by partisan politics, we need an investigation that is not.
After well over a year, the FBI has issued neither a condemnation nor absolution of Trump while the investigation is still ongoing. Even while everyone else is shouting out their own conclusions, the Mueller investigation has stayed quiet and avoided rushing to judgment. the FBI had the option of jumping into the political fray, and has not done so even now. That's the non-partisan investigation that we need.
You are a fool if you think he is in your side. You are only on his side until he casts you aside because he's only on his own side. Support him until he casts you aside. Then you'll wonder like Comey does, why has the Republican party cast me aside? They are giving their blind allegiance to Trump not to America, not the Republican party, not the flag, only the golden calf Trump.
So Trumps great achievement here seems to be he's completely insane and unpredictable. I'd argue that you don't deserve a Nobel prize for that. Kim Jong Un has been the one to push for peace, Trump has pushed for more sanctions and escalation. Kim Jong Un has more of claim on the peace process.
Additionally, and this is important - Trumps attacks on the first ammendment and freedom of the press have reverberated in America and around the world and not in a good way.
A media-bashing enthusiast, Trump has referred to reporters as ‘enemies of the people,’ a term once used by legendary genocidal Russian dictator Joseph Stalin. Around the world dictators and tin pot leaders are cracking down on free speech and freedom of the press and using Trumps phrasing of fake news on things they don't want to hear about (such as their own corruption).
The U.S. droppped from 30th in 2014 to 45th in ranking of countries based on freedom of the press under Trump. Trump is placing pro-torture individuals in key government positions such as NSA director Bolton, Secretary of state Pompeo, and CIA director nominee Hassel. By attacking freedom of the press in America, promoting discriminatory 'religious freedom' laws, promoting divisive policies such as the Muslim ban and the Mexican Wall, and lying about everything great and small President Trump has shown himself as an individual that definitely deserves not deserve a Nobel prize.
Was it also "tiresome" when the EXACT same thing was done to Republicans after the 2008 election?
Democrats have been vigorously declaring their intention to impeach Trump, or find some way to remove him from power, from the MOMENT he was elected - that's unprecedented in this country's history. They've also spread tons of misinformation and spiteful rhetoric in the process. Local leaders have been going out of their way to defy or undermine every executive action by Trump with complete disregard for whether those actions actually benefit their own constituents. They deserve every bit as much criticism for being senselessly obstructionist as the Repubs did almost a decade ago.
Obama received a prize for some intangible nonsense about "a political climate" while he spent his presidency relentlessly killing people with drone strikes, subpoenaing press records, flagrantly lying about his health care plan in order to dupe just enough people into supporting it, and invading the privacy of millions of his own citizens as well as foreign diplomats.
For the Nobel Committee to refuse to give Trump a prize not only makes complete hypocrites of themselves, but is basically saying, "You can DO whatever the eff you want - just don't be a jerk about it on Twitter while you're doing it."
But don't blame democrats. Trump is digging his own grave with his lies and illegal behavior and there are Republicans in charge of the investigations. And in charge of both houses of congress. And the Supreme Court. Trump will never take ownership of his own failure in case you haven't noticed everything good is him while everything bad is someone else.
The U.S. government has put Canada on the same list as China regarding IP concerns labeling them "as inadequately protecting U.S. intellectual property rights"
The reason?
We have cheaper pharmaceuticals that end up in the U.S. through Canada, because, you know, profits before lives.
It is definitely a NAFTA play as well, an eye rolling one if I must say so as it just illustrates where this administrations priorities are.
It may also be a NAFA play, but if it is, it is a poor one as Canada has the moral ground.
As an Obama supporter, I don't think Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize then or now... nor do I even know any Obama supporters who have said he did. But Trump didn't do anything to merit the prize--this event occurred without his involvement.
The Korean peace agreement is a win for Trump because he was definitely a factor in it coming about but there is no way he was involved or influential enough to earn a Nobel nomination. Of course, the Nobel Peace Prize no longer has any meaning since Obama won it for not being Bush. Oh, and this is a win for Pompeo, as well, our new SecState.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12nobel.html
Mind you, at this point, while Obama certainly had a bunch of cash from his book deal, 1.4 million dollars still would have been nothing to sneeze at at the time, given that it was almost 10x his yearly salary.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-is-ordering-airstrikes-at-5-times-the-pace-obama-did-2017-4
“Why did you wait?”
https://lawfareblog.com/why-did-you-wait-moral-emptiness-and-drone-strikes
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/381925-trump-asked-cia-official-why-drone-strike-didnt-also-kill-targets
Trump has "unleashed" drone strikes meaning he is fine if drones don't hit their target or if they hit anyone nearby. If they hit the odd child or family so what, right.
And he doesn't want to take blame if things go wrong either which should surprise no one since he is all about taking no responsibility for failure.
"they lost Ryan"
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-yemen-raid-fatality-235517
And he has given up his authority over drone strikes to the CIA (again wants no blame, only credit)
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/323808-trump-gives-cia-power-to-launch-drone-strikes-report
Right from the beginning, Dems made baseless allegations of "voter fraud" that won Trump key battleground states. Based on that, people donated MILLIONS of dollars for recounts in those states - one resulted in a net gain of votes for Trump, another revealed improprieties that actually favored Hillary.
This part is FALSE, it isn't "rich corporations" who are hacking children to pieces with machetes and scattering their body parts throughout woodlands and parks where I live (Long Island). Violent crime being carried out or perpetuated by illegal immigrants has been increasingly RAMPANT here for close to 2 decades, but it wasn't until Trump/Sessions got personally involved that there was any concentrated federal crackdown or national attention given to the issue. Most recently, police here uncovered a plot to assassinate officers and their families in retaliation for arrests. And yet despite this, Gov. Cuomo and other Dems like Mayor DeBlasio STILL persist in trying to undermine efforts to crack down on ILLEGAL immigration, and distort the issue as "vilifying immigrants" (Cuomo's exact words), instead of acknowledging it as the anti-CRIME issue that it is. It's a spit in the face to tax-paying citizens who live and work here and have to deal with this issue on a daily basis - and it's coming from the left.
But what did influence the election was Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the Trump Campaign, to spread misinformation and lies among the right. Also Russian hackers and troll farms whose help was gleefully accepted by Trump. Violent crime has been increasingly rampant (rising) in New York for two decades?
12/27/2017 - Crime in New York City Plunges to a Level Not Seen Since the 1950s
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/nyregion/new-york-city-crime-2017.html
"Over the past 20 years, New York has seen one of the most astounding drops in homicides and other major crimes in American history. "
https://newrepublic.com/article/147738/london-can-learn-new-york-crime
So you are wrong. Maybe you "Feel" that crime has been rising.
Trump called for the death penalty for the central park 5. Who were innocent. Has he apologized yet for that?
You have seen something in right wing media, and you believe it. When someone dies from a bee sting or from a vending machine falling on them it doesn't make the news. But when one person is hacked (1 person dead), OMG hackers are hacking everywhere be afraid!
This is what Republicans offer - fear and hatred. You've bought it. Immigrants don't want to attack people and kill. Do you want that? They want to take care of their families and earn a living. When you push people into desperate situations, they may feel they have no choice but to do desperate things.
If you are sure immigrants are more violent than non-immigrants then you are misguided and possibly have fallen for racism. For one thing, immigrants, even illegal immigrants, are less violent than non-immigrants. A wide range of studies back that up. You wouldn't believe that if you watch Fox News all the time and all they show is immigrant crime and ignore the non-immigrant crime.
So why do Republicans fear monger about immigrants, muslims, gays, etc etc. Because they play on peoples fears of others. "You don't understand a muslim? Omg they are scary." The unknown is scary. And fear is a great motivator. Don't be afraid.
The rich pay Fox people, to get the middle class, to hate poor people. Then while you are distracted, they run away with all the money.
George Carlin sums up class structure and the purpose media of divisiveness