The Politics Thread

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passepartout
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Re: The Politics Thread

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shrek2 wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 6:57 am I think that Biden pardoned his son because his conviction or innocence has nothing to do with politics. Hunter wasn't running for office but Republicans tried so hard to try to tie Joe to Hunter. They wanted to impeach Joe Biden in order to get an inquiry going on whether he did anything illegal. Well, first you have the evidence, then you impeach. Not the other way around.

The article below talks about the annexation of Canada per Trump. Can you say anschluss. :lol:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/does-trump-w ... 29214.html
Exactly

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Re: The Politics Thread

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Building on the Great Steal thread. We can get down to specifics. Count the ways to shake down the country.

First, nothing like starting a war to pad that bank account. The Iraq War was fought on the premise that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be false. An estimated 138B was spent on the war, with 39.5B awarded to Halliburton, the Houston Texas based company whose CEO was Dick Cheney, the VP of George W. Bush. Two private companies in Kuwait were the next two largest financial beneficiaries of the war, even though Kuwait had the money to repair its infrastructure, along with the top five US defense contractors. The Iraq War was unprecedented in the use of private contractors used in providing war services, there were more private contractors on the ground than US military troops. One must wonder, how many of those private companies had republican interests? Further study would be interesting.

Today, I would not be surprised if Trump decides to take a hard line against the Houthis and Iran. The Houthis of Yemen have been fighting against Saudi influence in the region and the first official visit in Trump's first term was to SA. SA also seeded Jared Kushner's investment firm with 2B dollars as the first Trump term ended. The Houthis are funded by Iran, and SA and Iran are hostile neighbors. It is no secret why Trump ended the Iran treaty and has been publicly belligerent to Iran. I do not believe that Trump would start a war with Iran, it would be dangerous, and the military establishment would probably not support it. US Mideast policy with an eye on grifting bears watching.

Expect a slow drum beat of negative Iran reports as we move to potential conflict.
Last edited by passepartout on Thu Dec 05, 2024 10:43 am, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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The second way to shake down the nation is by deregulating the financial sector.

Deregulate financial services. There's the small stuff, like removing interest rate collars on payday loans, reducing required equity stakes in purchasing financial assets on margin, reducing interest rates to inflate real estate values, etc. All these actions would increase systemic risk and threaten markets during a recession. But we don't care about tomorrow or the effects on the livelihoods of others not when there is money to be made today.

The 2007 Great Recession. Banks and financial firms went under as the economy faltered and the house of cards built on mortgage fraud began to crumble. The value of mortgages held by banks, pension funds, and individual investors tanked and the credit markets froze. With no lending or financial trading occurring, the economy would collapse. The governments unprecedented provision of liquidity and purchase of risky assets from financial firms saved the global economy.

So what caused the huge systemic problems? The US housing market is huge. A home asset is a large proportion of one's net worth, home equity allows ordinary folk to grow their asset base, secure retirement, and provide a secure place to raise a family. The impetus is to support the housing market with government initiatives to enhance ownership and help its citizens join the middle class. But there is a need for strong regulation in this area. The US housing market is estimated to be worth 47T dollars, a tempting target for thieves.

In the runup to the Great Recession, mortgages became collateralized, individual mortgages were grouped together to offer potential purchasers; banks, pension funds, and public entities to purchase what they believed were investment grade investments with varying coupons, maturity dates, and liquidity levels to fit the buyers requirements. But there was one hidden problem that would end the party. A growing portion of the individual mortgages in the collateralized mortgage obligations were of poor quality and default became a problem as the economy began to weaken. The fraudulent part of the whole affair was the poor credit mortgages were being joined with good quality mortgages in the CMO's and the rating agencies, ignoring the problem mortgages, granted the collateralized mortgage obligations, CMO's, an investment grade rating. The investment grade rating made these instruments acceptable to banks, pension funds, etc whose investment charter required investment grade securities in their portfolios, and as these CMO's became insolvent, the banks, pension funds, etc too became insolvent.

A lot of money was made by mortgage issuers, mortgage originators, mortgage insurers, trading in the secondary mortgage markets, and the issuers of CMO's. As of today, no one has been held accountable, and the taxpayer has paid all the bills. This area bears watching as the republicans return to power.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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My last attempt to shed light on the corrupt, malfeasant, and sociopathic republican party involves an instrument that has been in the news for only a decade. Before I say anything more, anyone want to take a guess? A hint is to look at Trump's cabinet picks, a dead giveaway.

And as for greed, someone wrote:

Trump is like a starving man at a hotdog-eating contest, shoving weenies in one after another. He doesn't seem to care what's in them as long as they're within reach. As in, hanging around Mar-a-Lago. And if there's a place to stuff one, in they go.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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It's confirmed, we are a plutocracy, government is for sale, a banana republic with legalized plunder from the billionaire class.


https://www.ft.com/content/5f962d83-01d ... bfed400c00

Elon Musk donated more than $250mn to Donald Trump’s election campaign, including at least $75mn in the final weeks before the vote, US electoral filings have revealed.

Filings submitted on Thursday to the Federal Election Commission show that Musk donated more than $238.5mn to the America Pac, a political action committee that the Tesla chief executive himself set up and which became one of Trump’s main fundraising vehicles.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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I think that the US just doesn't have enough of Angela Duckworth's "Grit." There's no leadership in the US to uplift society to be more competitive in the world market. I read in the news this morning that Trump is planning to eliminate birthright status. It's just another way of protecting the unskilled labor force that needs jobs.

And, after a meeting with Zelensky in Paris, Trump is calling for a ceasefire. Hmmm, how can Ukraine participate in a ceasefire when they are the ones being attacked?

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Re: The Politics Thread

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shrek2 wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2024 6:55 am I think that the US just doesn't have enough of Angela Duckworth's "Grit." There's no leadership in the US to uplift society to be more competitive in the world market. I read in the news this morning that Trump is planning to eliminate birthright status. It's just another way of protecting the unskilled labor force that needs jobs.

And, after a meeting with Zelensky in Paris, Trump is calling for a ceasefire. Hmmm, how can Ukraine participate in a ceasefire when they are the ones being attacked?
Trump admires people like Putin, he wants to be him. "All roads lead to Russia". Will he sacrifice Ukraine and European security for Putin?

Assad's Syria has fallen. There is a big hole in the ME's political arena that could be filled with extremists, extremists like Trump. Trump's response? "its not our fight".
Trump the Russian agent, would prefer the US stays out so that Russia can still have some influence. Another note, with Russia engaged with Ukraine, Syria was left alone and fell. Will we do the same with Ukraine as Trump's takes office? Will Ukraine fall? Watch.

As for it's not our fight, did you forget that the Tower bombers were Saudi's? That we fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc? That Russia and China may move in and have influence in the oil rich region? That there are weapons of mass destruction in Syria and with existing technology they can be used anywhere? Nineteenth century isolationism doesn't apply in the 21stC, one day we will have ourselves surrounded and without mutual defense treaties or trade agreements because he ended them all.

What is Trump doing in France and England hobnobbing with Macron and William? He needs to fill out his cabinet, he has left that to extremist elements of our society because he has the attention span and intelligence of a grade schooler, has anyone read of Trump's problems understanding national and global events in his morning briefings? Trump is more interested in hamming in front of a camera when he is about to take office in a month. WTH is going on?

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Re: The Politics Thread

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passepartout wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2024 7:36 am
shrek2 wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2024 6:55 am I think that the US just doesn't have enough of Angela Duckworth's "Grit." There's no leadership in the US to uplift society to be more competitive in the world market. I read in the news this morning that Trump is planning to eliminate birthright status. It's just another way of protecting the unskilled labor force that needs jobs.

And, after a meeting with Zelensky in Paris, Trump is calling for a ceasefire. Hmmm, how can Ukraine participate in a ceasefire when they are the ones being attacked?
Trump admires people like Putin, he wants to be him. "All roads lead to Russia". Will he sacrifice Ukraine and European security for Putin?

Assad's Syria has fallen. There is a big hole in the ME's political arena that could be filled with extremists, extremists like Trump. Trump's response? "its not our fight".
Trump the Russian agent, would prefer the US stays out so that Russia can still have some influence. Another note, with Russia engaged with Ukraine, Syria was left alone and fell. Will we do the same with Ukraine as Trump's takes office? Will Ukraine fall? Watch.

As for it's not our fight, did you forget that the Tower bombers were Saudi's? That we fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc? That Russia and China may move in and have influence in the oil rich region? That there are weapons of mass destruction in Syria and with existing technology they can be used anywhere? Nineteenth century isolationism doesn't apply in the 21stC, one day we will have ourselves surrounded and without mutual defense treaties or trade agreements because he ended them all.

What is Trump doing in France and England hobnobbing with Macron and William? He needs to fill out his cabinet, he has left that to extremist elements of our society because he has the attention span and intelligence of a grade schooler, has anyone read of Trump's problems understanding national and global events in his morning briefings? Trump is more interested in hamming in front of a camera when he is about to take office in a month. WTH is going on?
Trump actually has the attention span of a gnat.
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Re: The Politics Thread

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When I saw that the United Healthcare CEO was murdered, the first thing that came to mind was that there are a bunch of Republicans rushing to get to the front of the line in the race to become a billionaire in the new unregulated healthcare industry being promoted by the Republicans. The Democrats created the need and demand for healthcare for all, now the Republicans want to eliminate ACA and replace it by a bunch of companies selling health insurance. This is all conspiracy theory stuff but the execution comes right after the election.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-major- ... 19217.html

He's going to fix it. Things are going cost more. So, he can say that's not a lie.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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Continue tax cuts for the rich will not reduce the deficit and the tariffs will raise costs for the lower to middle class.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/10/us/p ... riffs.html

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Re: The Politics Thread

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-now-sa ... 06161.html

Shocking! As how you say? Promises are made to be broken.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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Whoever believed Trump in the first place?


Link
Maybe 51% of the population?

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Re: The Politics Thread

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Sadly, we as a nation, failed the ethics/morals test that was this election. As one commenter wrote:

And it’s a severe lack of making the connection that politics is always personal, everything is political. Voting and making a political choice are not just an individual preferences or personal opinions, it’s how you value human beings, from yourself to everyone else who exists.

If you were willing to vote for Trump or frankly any other republican, you undervalue trans people, immigrants, people of color, people who can get pregnant, people without wealth, people without social/economic/political power, Palestinians, etc. It’s a judgment of someone’s humanity.

All across this country, people are grappling with what to do with their relationships with family members and friends who voted to dehumanize them, devalue them. Trump voters took the risk, whether consciously or not, that their loved one could be treated as subhuman by the incoming administration. How do you go to Christmas and sit at the same dinner table with someone who acted affirmatively to cause you harm or place you at risk of harm?

This is happening in my own family. There are people I don’t know I can ever forgive for placing their wealth over my ability to stay married to my wife. What do I tell my kids? I undervalue myself and who we are so much that despite whoever’s belief that my family shouldn’t exist, we’ll sit quietly at the table with him?! Absolutely not.


Yes, a little melodramatic but accurate. Prejudice and greed has won over compassion and charity.

Trump reminds me of Cesare Borgia in the 1949 movie Prince of Foxes with one of my favorite actors, Tyrone Power.

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Re: The Politics Thread

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Following up in the Great Steal series. The next effort the republicans will use to separate people from their money will be with digital currencies. Bitcoin is already past $100,000 per unit. The Trump presidency will attempt to give Bitcoin and other digital currencies a measure of legitimacy, and the rubes will pile in AFTER the smart money has gone all in. Some of Trump's cabinet picks are supportive of digital currencies, and the hedge funds/financial types will laugh all the way to the bank.

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