US Politics Mega-thread - Page 7524

On May 14 2017 08:54 IgnE wrote:
i didn't deny my words; i denied kwark's words. i stand by my words. of course.

i thought i won the argument? fbi director serves at the pleasure of the president and anyone who disagrees is a closet authoritarian. it is known.

i wish moltke would appear

On May 14 2017 09:35 Uldridge wrote:
I feel like half of the posts in this thread is just semantics lol.

On May 14 2017 09:46 xDaunt wrote:

Yes, you won, but you'd have been better served being more explicit about the underlying hypocrisy than focusing on the love of "authoritarianism."

On May 14 2017 09:35 Uldridge wrote:
I feel like half of the posts in this thread is just semantics lol.

On May 14 2017 10:41 Danglars wrote:

Yep. It's more often the semantics of political charges (mine was more or less a digression). Previously in this thread and the prior thread:

This poster or this position is a racist, homophobe, sexist, or bigot
This is/isn't disproportionate
This is/isn't a misrepresentation of my points
This is/isn't authoritarianism
This is/isn't fake news
This is/isn't an example of the regressive left

Picking your target and labeling your target is a political tactic as old as time itself.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has made no public announcement about what he plans to do after finishing out his final term in Congress, but he has been telling Capitol Hill colleagues he may soon head to Fox News, the Washingtonian reported Saturday.

Two Republican lawmakers who have spoken to Chaffetz, as well as four House Republican aides, told the newspaper that he said he plans to take on a “substantial” on-air position for the conservative news channel.

This move may come as early as July, according to the report—over a year and a half before his term in Congress would end.

TPM has reached out to Chaffetz’s office for comment.

The House Oversight chairman announced in April that he made “a personal decision to return to the private sector” and would run for no elected position in 2018, in part to spend more time with his family.

“I just turned 50,” he said on MSNBC. “I’m sleeping on a cot in my office.”

Chaffetz left the door open to holding political office in the future, telling the Deseret News he would take a “serious, serious look” at running for governor.

On May 14 2017 10:03 IgnE wrote:


the "authoritarianism" was a humorous jab at our ordoliberal friend, nyx. i just thought it was amusing that other people who are so limited in their intellectual breadth that they only equate that word with trump and hitler latched onto it. what can you do?

in case it wasn't clear: it's in the name ordoliberalism

On May 14 2017 08:18 IgnE wrote:


ok so we know that you are for a fourth branch of American government. i propose we call it the eye of sauron

also how dare you presume to know what i was talking about

On May 14 2017 17:12 RenSC2 wrote:
The FBI is under the Department of Justice, which is part of the Executive branch. If the President, who is head of the Executive branch, wants to fire the head of the FBI, that is within his right for whatever reason he deems fit. However, that doesn't make the situation okay. Without Comey, the FBI investigation will continue for now; however, his firing is a shot across the bow for investigators. Those investigators should feel intimidated and feel like their jobs are potentially on the line if they ask too many questions or dig too deep. That will be especially true once Trump appoints a loyalist to head up the FBI who wont appreciate people questioning the president. Trump has a history of valuing loyalty to him over competence. I doubt the FBI appointee will be any different.

The FBI should not be the one investigating the President because it can't do a good job. Investigating your boss is never a good situation and it's especially bad when your boss is Trump.

Instead, investigating the president should be done through congress, which has the power to impeach the president. Congress absolutely must hire a special prosecutor. They are completely derelict in their duties right now and I'd suspect one of the first acts of the next congress will be to appoint a prosecutor and give him the resources to complete a proper investigation. If Trump is unwilling to cooperate, impeach him.

On Pence taking over as President (from a day or two ago), I'm perfectly okay with it. He's a regressive for sure. Civil rights, tax policy, healthcare, foreign policy, and ultimately the economy will take a step or two back. But they're normal steps back and a large portion of the American population wants that except for the last part (they want the policies that will put us in a recession, but not the recession itself). It's not good, but America can elect a progressive in the next election and we can go back to making progress and get back to where things were at the end of the Obama administration within 4 years and exceed it within 8.

With Trump, there is a significant risk that he can break the system. That he can cause harm domestically and internationally that will take over a generation to fix. Invading Iraq was pretty bad, but Obama restored most of the American reputation abroad within 8 years (mostly with the caveat of "just don't do it again"). Pence could do another Iraq (probably in Syria), but I think Trump could do much worse. We're only approximately 1/12th into his presidency and things keep going FUBAR. He's a real risk of destroying important institutions and destroying America's place in the world.

Yeah, I'll take a Pence and hope the next president can undo his regressive damage.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signed on Thursday a declaration acknowledging the threat posed by climate change to the Arctic and indicating the need for action to curb its impact on the region.

The move appears at odds with the Trump administration's broad skepticism of climate change and comes at a time when President Trump is weighing a potential withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on fighting its effects.

Tillerson signed the Fairbanks Declaration in Fairbanks, Alask,a at a meeting of the Arctic Council, a forum made up of indigenous groups and eight countries with territory bordering the Arctic Circle.

"In the United States, we are currently reviewing several important policies, including how the Trump administration will approach the issue of climate change," Tillerson said at the meeting.

"We are appreciative that each of you has an important point of view, and you should know that we are taking the time to understand your concerns. We’re not going to rush to make a decision. We’re going to work to make the right decision for the United States."

Trump and some of his top administration officials have expressed deep skepticism in climate change, despite overwhelming agreement among scientists that it is real and caused by humans. Trump himself has called the phenomenon a "hoax," and vowed on the campaign trail to pull the U.S. out of the Paris agreement.