Your Once and Final Supreme Double Impeachee

[rogue]

His covid-19 update yesterday was a cross between a campaign speech (I build a wall between use and Mexico to keep the virus out) and a lot of misleading information. I understand that he wants to put a positive spin on things, but people want facts, not "guesswork" turned into facts.

I'm sure he is thinking this, but won't say it: "Think about all those people on medicare/medicaid/ssi disability/public assistance who are getting sick and dying. We're saving billions of your tax dollars." Or "Think about people who are costing their families thousands upon thousands of dollars to keep them in nursing homes. This will save them money, money that they can now use to help our economy."

[chalsall]

Not meaning to cause offense here, but watching this from afar is just mind-blowing.

It's almost like a bad apocalyptic sci-fi novel, except that it's happing live on CNN and FOX...

This story, for example, strikes me initially as "this can't really be happening, can it???

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Not meaning to cause offense here, but watching this from afar is just mind-blowing.

It's almost like a bad apocalyptic sci-fi novel, except that it's happing live on CNN and FOX...

This story, for example, strikes me initially as "this can't really be happening, can it???

Like Il Duce, Ted Wheeler is up for re-election this year. I guess we'll see whether getting tear-gassed is the end of Mayor Wheeler. He's been getting an earful from Black Lives Matter activists, but perhaps standing up to the tear gas from jack-booted government thugs will give him some street cred.

Meanwhile, in the "Waaait, THAT not real" category (obscure cultural reference to Gary Larson "The Far Side" cartoon), Il Duce has declared that COVID-19 has made it too dangerous for R-delegates to convene in Jacksonville FL (which place he chose after he decided NC was being too restrictive about COVID-19), but continues to insist that school children should be crammed into classrooms this fall.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by chalsall

This story, for example, strikes me initially as "this can't really be happening, can it???

Not available to European viewers.

Tells me something about the NY Daily News attitude to privacy.

[rogue]

Here is the text of the article:

President Trump called Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler “pathetic” after the Oregon politician was gassed by federal troops while standing among protesters outside a courthouse.

“He made a fool out of himself. He wanted to be among the people, so he went into the crowd and they knocked the hell out of him,” Trump said during a prime-time performance with Sean Hannity on Fox News Thursday. “That was the end of him. So that was pretty pathetic.”

Protesters have been regularly active in Portland since unarmed Black Minnesota man George Floyd was killed in police custody in late May. The president sent federal troops to confront demonstrators, which Wheeler referred to as “an unconstitutional occupation.”

Federal officers in camouflage fatigues have been apprehending citizens and using unmarked vans in recent days. Protesters have complained about not knowing why they were being detained or who their captors were.

Wheeler, whose role as mayor makes him the commissioner of the Portland Police Bureau, has been taking it from both sides. Some critics fault him for restraining law enforcement. Other politicians blame him for what they believe to be strong-arm tactics by Portland’s police force. Wheeler told protesters Wednesday he was literally and figuratively standing beside them as he was tear-gassed.

“It stings. It’s hard to breathe. I can tell you with 100% honesty I saw nothing that provoked this response,” Wheeler told the New York Times of the incident early Thursday. “I’m not afraid but I am pissed off.”

During his video chat on “Hannity,” the president said “we want to go in and help the cities” where peaceful protests as well as violence and vandalism have occurred.

“We’ll put in 50,000-60,000 people who really know what they’re doing,” Trump said. “They’re strong, they’re tough, and we could solve these problems so fast.”

An executive order signed by Trump last month allows him to deploy federal troops to protect historic monuments and federal facilities.

The president noted that he would like for the politicians who run cities like Chicago and Detroit to ask for his help, but warned, “At some point we’re going to have to do something that’s much stronger than being invited in.”

Trump also boasted to Hannity about how well he had been doing as president before the pandemic spun out of control, the economy crashed and protests erupted from coast to coast.

Hannity praised the president for his work with the African-American community and claimed Joe Biden, Trump’s presumptive opponent in the November election, is “adopting the position that police are the enemies.”

[Dr Sardonicus]

Il Duce's recent "economic relief" executive orders bring to mind an old George C. Scott movie, The Flim-Flam Man.

The payroll tax deferral is a classic. Being only a deferral, it is at most an interest-free loan -- the government can demand that money later on. But the Con Man-in-Chief has that covered, too. He promises that, if he wins the election, he will make the cut permanent. Never mind the fact that the President doesn't have the authority to do that -- only Congress can. And never mind the obvious question -- if he could do that, why wouldn't he do it now?

Also never mind: The deferral of the payroll tax would cut off something to the tune of 40 billion dollars a month that funds Social Security and Medicare.

Or that, if the cut were made permanent, everybody could kiss any prospect of Social Security or Medicare benefits goodbye.

Oh, wait, WH economic adviser Larry Kudlow says the government would simply borrow the money to make up for any shortfall in Social Security.

The payroll tax cut is being pushed by campaign advisor Stephen Moore, co-founder of the "Club for Growth," an anarchist anti-tax organization.

[rogue]

It isn't clear to me if Trump's goal is to kill Social Security and Medicare or if it is to help bankrupt the US so that it doesn't have to fulfill its debt obligations. The latter seems more likely since he has declared bankruptcy six times. It would be his crowning achievement. Actually, his crowning achievement would be a constitutional amendment to overturn the 22nd amendment on term limits, thus allowing him to become a de facto king.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by rogue

<snip>
Actually, his crowning achievement would be a constitutional amendment to overturn the 22nd amendment on term limits, thus allowing him to become a de facto king.

I would rate the chances of this happening as slim to none.

Amending the Constitution requires

1) Either a two-thirds vote in both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives, or application by the legislatures of two-thirds of the States (at least 34 states);

and then,

2) Ratification by three-fourths of the State Legislatures or by conventions in three-fourths of the States (at least 38 states).

If the 28^th Amendment, repealing the 22^nd were enacted, it would IMO signal the complete subversion of our democratic institutions, and that subversion would be Il Duce's crowning achievement.

I note that the Equal Rights Amendment proposed in 1972 failed because (1) there was a deadline (seven years) for its ratification, and (2) some states which had ratified it withdrew their ratification before the deadline. At the time the deadline passed, it had the approval of 37 states, one fewer than required.

The prime mover in the STOP ERA movement was Phyllis Schlafly, who had previously been instrumental in scuttling Nelson Rockefeller's 1964 presidential campaign.

With regard to 1964, it is an oft-told tale that it was Rockefeller's divorce and remarriage that did in his candidacy. However, a convincing case can be made that it was, rather, his support for civil rights, and Barry Goldwater's opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, that propelled the latter to the nomination.

In 2016, Phyllis Schlafly endorsed Il Duce for president. Then she died of cancer.

[Uncwilly]

Trump And His Campaign Amplify Untrue 'Birther' Conspiracy Against Kamala Harris

"I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements," Trump said. "I have no idea if that's right. I would have assumed that the Democrats would have checked that out before she gets chosen to run for vice president."

Officials from Joe Biden's campaign quickly denounced the remarks. Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for Biden, responded, calling Trump "the national leader of the grotesque, racist birther movement with respect to President Obama and has sought to fuel racism and tear our nation apart on every single day of his presidency."

"So it's unsurprising, but no less abhorrent," Bates said, "that as Trump makes a fool of himself straining to distract the American people from the horrific toll of his failed coronavirus response that his campaign and their allies would resort to wretched, demonstrably false lies in their pathetic desperation."

"This is what racism sounds like," Biden senior adviser Symone Sanders tweeted.

[rogue]

Trump continues to feed Qanon.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Does Kamala Harris meet the requirements to be President? Let's see: Natural born citizen? Born in Oakland, California. Check. At least thirty-five years old? Born October 20, 1964, so is 55 going on 56. Check. Resident in the US at least fourteen years? Has been serving in public office in the US since at least 2003. Check.

I guess she doesn't meet the requirements for the same reason the SA consular offical didn't think "Alphonse" (Officer Murtaugh) really wanted to go to South Africa.