[Discussion] Hope to Remember The Trump Administration Thread as being 'transparent and honest'

Let's follow and discuss what our newest presidential administration gets up to, the good, the bad, the lawsuits, and the many many indictments.

Politicizing the military justice system is fine and doesn't have disturbing implications at all.

NBC: Trump Strips Achievement Medals From Prosecutors in SEAL Chief's Case: The move appeared to be a highly unusual presidential intervention in a case Trump had personally championed and drew immediate condemnation

Navy officials said Wednesday they are pulling achievement medals from prosecutors who argued the case against a decorated Navy SEAL who was acquitted in the death of a wounded Islamic State captive after President Donald Trump intervened.

Trump tweeted earlier Wednesday that he had directed the secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations to "immediately withdraw and rescind" the Navy Achievement Medal from prosecutors who argued the case against Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted by military jurors earlier this month.

GG, you are painting with pretty broad strokes there, cowboy.

Now that is really really f*cked up. Straight up fascist tactic.

Weird that there was an unlawful command influence finding against President Obama but that there hasn't been any against Trump. Not that this suggests where the military's loyalty lies or anything like that.

Al wrote:

Weird that there was an unlawful command influence finding against President Obama but that there hasn't been any against Trump. Not that this suggests where the military's loyalty lies or anything like that.

I had to google what it was: Obama said "The bottom line is: I have no tolerance for [sexual assault in the military]. ...If we find out somebody’s engaging in this stuff, they’ve got to be held accountable, prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged – period," during a press conference and a military judge ruled that those comments would unduly influence any sentencing of military personnel accused of sexual assault.

Meanwhile Trump just nominated an Air Force general to be the vice chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff who a 28-year Army veteran who served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan accused of repeatedly kissing and rubbing up against her.

I kinda figured that Trump's order to strip the military lawyers of medals was just him being the petty son-of-a-Female Doggo he is. Just like when he had the signing ceremony for the 9/11 responders bill earlier this week he neglected to invite Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the Democratic lead co-sponsor of the bill, Jon Stewart who had long championed the bill, or any Democrat whatsoever. Of course he managed to make the ceremony all about him by falsely claiming (again) that he was at Ground Zero and helped out.

Of course he was there. Trump is ground zero.

SallyNasty wrote:

GG, you are painting with pretty broad strokes there, cowboy.

From your point of view maybe.. but from the perspective of any POC probably not.. does it really matter that there are some "good" white people? My wife tells me every day she feels like its suffocating just having to go about her day to day and dealing with so called woke white people that are either purposefully or ignorantly racist.

I would say that it does matter(and that they typically vote democrat). To be clear, I ultimately I agree with your point, and I would have agreed with your post in its entirety had it not been "White People" and instead been "A large section of White People." The rest was spot on. I just don't think there is any group of people that you can paint with that broad of a brush. I definitely agree that a lot of *woke* white people need to wipe the sleep out of their eyes.

All that said, I am not going to die on this hill, though, so you be you boo and do what you do.

SallyNasty wrote:

To be clear, I ultimately I agree with your point, and I would have agreed with your post in its entirety had it not been "White People" and instead been "A large section of White People."

That's just saying #NotAllWhitePeople.

No. You must not have read most of my post. It is saying #kindofasadlylargenumberofmaybeevenmostwhitepeoplebutnotallofthembecausethereisnogroup-aboutwhomyoucanmakeablanketstatementandhaveitbetrue

That's kind of a distinction without difference

Tanglebones wrote:

That's kind of a distinction without difference

Yuuuup

Don't you find it interesting, SN, that racist propaganda really starts to be rolled out in the leadup to any election? Australia was no different. We've had systematic breaches of the UN Convention on Refugees (we even tried to buy absolution by doing a deal with the Obama administration to release our illegal detainees to the US, which the Trump administration tried to get out of). Despite recognising we have a human rights abuse situation on our doorstep, the voter base was more than happy to vote for the party advocating the loudest for ongoing persecution of outsiders. Outsiders conveniently being anyone who is not white. This has also coincided with the appointment of consecutive immigration ministers who have slowed down visa processing and reduced annual immigration quotas in line with the "white people first" rhetoric bandied about by the ruling party.

Now, I know where you are coming from when you say "not all white people". A good friend of mine in the US is white, and she is one of the most open and tolerant people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. But that doesn't change the fact that your average POC has experienced, and continues to experience, different (and unpleasant) treatment for not being white.

Well, it's now official... Welcome to the Cold War 2.0

US formally withdraws from Cold-War era nuclear treaty with Russia

Washington (CNN)The United States announced Friday it has formally withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow, putting an end to a landmark arms control pact that has limited the development of ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
"Russia is solely responsible for the treaty's demise," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday announcing the US' formal withdrawal from the Cold-War era nuclear treaty.

I find it interesting that this administration is happy to blame Russia for anything that isn't related to election meddling.

JC wrote:

Well, it's now official... Welcome to the Cold War 2.0

US formally withdraws from Cold-War era nuclear treaty with Russia

Washington (CNN)The United States announced Friday it has formally withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow, putting an end to a landmark arms control pact that has limited the development of ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
"Russia is solely responsible for the treaty's demise," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday announcing the US' formal withdrawal from the Cold-War era nuclear treaty.

I find it interesting that this administration is happy to blame Russia for anything that isn't related to election meddling.

Russian arms sales should skyrocket.

JC wrote:

Well, it's now official... Welcome to the Cold War 2.0

US formally withdraws from Cold-War era nuclear treaty with Russia

Washington (CNN)The United States announced Friday it has formally withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow, putting an end to a landmark arms control pact that has limited the development of ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
"Russia is solely responsible for the treaty's demise," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday announcing the US' formal withdrawal from the Cold-War era nuclear treaty.

I find it interesting that this administration is happy to blame Russia for anything that isn't related to election meddling.

WhyNotBoth.jpg

There is money to be made by stoking the flames of the Cold War.

There is power to be gained by stoking fear, uncertainty, and doubt caused by Outsiders.

Boomers and older Gen Xers have ingrained propaganda easily triggered with little effort.

What gets me is the contradiction of supporters holding their guns tight against a supposedly tyrannical leader (Obama) while accepting as truth the lies of an actual fascist (Trump).

JeffreyLSmith wrote:

What gets me is the contradiction of supporters holding their guns tight against a supposedly tyrannical leader (Obama) while accepting as truth the lies of an actual fascist (Trump).

Fox News is a hell of a drug.

Stele wrote:
JeffreyLSmith wrote:

What gets me is the contradiction of supporters holding their guns tight against a supposedly tyrannical leader (Obama) while accepting as truth the lies of an actual fascist (Trump).

Fox News is a hell of a drug.

Again, racism.

This happened faster than I expected...

Trump says Ratcliffe is no longer his pick for director of national intelligence

(CNN)President Donald Trump says Rep. John Ratcliffe will no longer be nominated as director of national intelligence to replace Dan Coats.
"Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country. I will be announcing my nomination for DNI shortly."

Oh wow, that "LameStream Media" burn is a harsh one. Next thing you know he'll start telling reporters that they're basic.

*Legion* wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

To be clear, I ultimately I agree with your point, and I would have agreed with your post in its entirety had it not been "White People" and instead been "A large section of White People."

That's just saying #NotAllWhitePeople.

Have we reached the point in public discourse where the #notall meme has enabled hasty over-generalizations and stereotype accusations as acceptable forms of discussion?

Nomad wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

To be clear, I ultimately I agree with your point, and I would have agreed with your post in its entirety had it not been "White People" and instead been "A large section of White People."

That's just saying #NotAllWhitePeople.

Have we reached the point in public discourse where the #notall meme has enabled hasty over-generalizations and stereotype accusations as acceptable forms of discussion?

When it's targeted at privileged classes? Yeah, pretty much. It doesn't really help the conversation to point out that not allllll white people are part of the problem. That's super, duper obvious. It's better to let people express themselves with passion, than nitpick to save your feelings.

So long as people keep using it to deflect from valid points, people will keep pointing it out when they're doing so.

That is an impressive set of pull quotes. “I’m not racist. I just don’t want her Muslim crap in this country.” Just... wow.

Nomad wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

To be clear, I ultimately I agree with your point, and I would have agreed with your post in its entirety had it not been "White People" and instead been "A large section of White People."

That's just saying #NotAllWhitePeople.

Have we reached the point in public discourse where the #notall meme has enabled hasty over-generalizations and stereotype accusations as acceptable forms of discussion?

I mean if you aren’t racist and have even a modicum of empathy you get the point. For all the so called white woke people and progress for POC in America it’s still pretty much living with a boot on your neck.

There’s a reason America is still spelled with the triple K.

I have a good deal more than a modicum of empathy. I also live nextdoor to the sh*theels who read blanket statements about how all white people are racist and use it as a justification of their condemnation of liberalism. I 100% don't agree with them(even the ones with whom I share blood, as unfortunate as that is) but they have a 1:1 amount of votes that we do. Stengah gets it.

SallyNasty wrote:

I have a good deal more than a modicum of empathy. I also live nextdoor to the sh*theels who read blanket statements about how all white people are racist and use it as a justification of their condemnation of liberalism. I 100% don't agree with them(even the ones with whom I share blood, as unfortunate as that is) but they have a 1:1 amount of votes that we do. Stengah gets it.

Protip they will still be racist no matter what we try and do to appease them. So I’d rather just say f*ck it and figure out how to get them the f*ck outta here.

Protip - there is a difference between appeasement and giving them a constant source of ammunition.

SallyNasty wrote:

Protip - there is a difference between appeasement and giving them a constant source of ammunition.

That’s still called appeasement. Basically it’s the same old argument. “If you don’t stop calling us Nazis then gosh darn it we are just going to be Nazis”. Reality they were Nazis to begin with.