• The Joe Scarborough conspiracy theory

    From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to Kees van Eeten on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 07:43:13
    Ofcourse declaring everything one does not like "Fake New", meets your standard of respect.

    There's so many things that surprise me about how this fool could be elected to the highest office in USA. Most of all that they obviously don't have a test even remotely like the test to become a US citizen.

    Doesn't he even know that everything he writes on Twitter is registered as an official document and later on can be requested as per the Freedom of Information Act?

    He spends more time on twitter while watching Fox News than in the oval office. Now there's a through of historical information to write masters theses from for decades.

    What a critter. If the world will ever remember a POTUS for centuries to come, it sure as hell will be Donald J. Trump. Not for very good reasons, though...



    ..

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  • From Lee Lofaso@2:203/2 to Björn Felten on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 07:43:13
    Hello Björn,

    Ofcourse declaring everything one does not like "Fake New", meets your
    standard of respect.

    There's so many things that surprise me about how this fool could be elected
    to the highest office in USA. Most of all that they obviously don't have a test even remotely like the test to become a US citizen.

    The test to become a citizen is not easy. Melania passed it,
    as did her parents. But I seriously doubt Donald could. Even if
    he tried.

    Doesn't he even know that everything he writes on Twitter is registered as an official document and later on can be requested as per the Freedom of Information Act?

    Everything he writes on Twitter is a public document, not necessarily
    an official document. Although in theory it could be.

    He spends more time on twitter while watching Fox News than in the oval office. Now there's a through of historical information to write masters theses from for decades.

    It is not so much the historians who will be poring over documents
    and policies of the Trump administration. Think of all the shrinks who
    will be studying him and his actions ...

    What a critter. If the world will ever remember a POTUS for centuries to come, it sure as hell will be Donald J. Trump. Not for very good reasons, though...

    The American general public has the attention span of a gnat.
    Five minutes after the next president takes office, everybody
    will forget all about the current president. As if he never
    even existed.

    --Lee

    --
    More Doctors Smoke Camels than Any Other Cigarette

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  • From Björn Felten@2:203/2 to Ward Dossche on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 07:43:13
    What amazes me with the US that they come up with weird candidates ... Trump against Hillary, Trump against Biden ... there must be better
    people hiding somewhere. In the past Romney, GWB, Goldwater, McCain, ... OK, GWB made it but how can you vote for such people?

    I've wondered the same for decades. I don't know how many USAians are of POTUS age (35yo), but I guess it must be at least 150, maybe even 200 million?

    So, out of this ocean of candidates, the only ones they can come up with are those?

    I think I can see the problem here. The US people are not allowed to vote for their preferred candidates. Just like in the former Soviet Union and all other dictatorships in the world, they are given a short list of "approved" candidates to vote for. Usually two, to make the democracy illusion complete.

    No wonder they revolted four years ago and voted for Trump...


    ..

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  • From Lee Lofaso@2:203/2 to Ward Dossche on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 07:43:13
    Hello Ward,

    Ofcourse declaring everything one does not like "Fake New", meets
    your standard of respect.

    There's so many things that surprise me about how this fool could be
    elected to the highest office in USA. Most of all that they obviously
    don't have a test even remotely like the test to become a US citizen.

    I've spent a fair portion of my life in the US and I do understand how he got elected.

    Special rules for special folks.

    Found this post by a blogger on a site devoted to politics
    that sheds a bit of light on the subject. Especially given your
    own experience with the same kind of social media -

    -=begin=-

    In some ways Trump is right, they are not adding flags to anybody
    elses posts that they may not be factually correct. But this shouldn't
    be the case anyways, the only reason they need to do this is because
    they give Trump and other politicians a different set of rules than
    everyone else that allows them to attack people without suspension or
    removal of their account.

    This isn't a free speech issue, this is a Twitter "terms of service"
    issue where they are letting Trump be crazier and crazier without
    retribution. The answer isn't to flag Trumps posts, but to remove him
    and suspend him like they would for attacking people and inciting
    violence against people, like they do with other users.

    -=end=-

    Would government regulation of social media solve this problem?
    Should government regulate what companies such as Twitter, Facebook,
    and others can and cannot do?

    Politicians never lie. They are just more expedient with the truth.
    And then there are those who are not politicians, who cannot tell the difference as to what is true and what is not. See there? Two kinds
    of people (just like news) in this world. Only two. Now. Am I real?
    Are you real? Is anybody real? Could be everything is fake ...

    Everybody in Europe figured Hillary would have an easy victory but in 2016 I
    was in the US first week of June through somewhere in September. Upon my arrival home I said it was not a run race and Trump stood a fair chance. I may have mentioned it in Fidonet as well.

    Clinton ran a poor campaign. Especially the last two weeks. But as
    someone from Europe rather than the US, one who has spent time in this
    country, your take on things is a unique perspective.

    The reason is simple ... people were looking for something else than traditional politics ... Hillary was the symbol of that. The alternative was Trump.

    Clinton represented a liberal (globalist) worldview, while Trump
    represented an illiberal (isolationist) worldview. Trump's worldview
    was on the rise (both in the US and outside) and Clinton's worldview
    was in decline.

    GOP-voters are pretty stable, they'll vote Republican anyway.

    What we have today is Trumpism, which has in effect replaced
    the Republican Party. That is why so many Republican US Senators
    (such as Susan Collins of Maine) are so far behind in their bid
    for re-election.

    The difference was made by Democrats, probably Bernie Sanders people, who figured they'd vote against Hillary but didn't realize there was only one other option.

    Bernie's people were mostly young, many of whom were not even
    registered voters. After their candidate failed to win the nomination
    most of them simply stayed at home, rather than vote at all. To his
    credit, Sanders did endorse Clinton, and actively campaigned for her.
    But the bottom line is Clinton had to sell herself, as nobody else
    could do it for her.

    Voting away from traditinal politics happened in other places too ... Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Netherlands barely kept its traditional majority.

    Look at what is happening in Central Europe today. Democratic countries
    such as Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary have become more and
    more autocratic, as their rulers claim almost dictatorial powers. This
    may be in response to an increasingly aggressive Russia, but there are
    other factors.

    What amazes me with the US that they come up with weird candidates ...

    Both Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter claimed to have seen UFOs.
    That is weird enough. But neither of them was as weird as Richard
    Nixon, who invited Elvis Presley inside the White House and made
    him a secret secret service agent. The best Donald Trump could do
    was to sit down with Kanye West for a chat inside the White House.

    Trump against Hillary,

    The Deplorable against Nasty Woman.

    Trump against Biden ...

    Bad Man against Good Man ...

    there must be better people hiding somewhere.

    Jimmy Carter is still in Plains, awaiting his call to duty.

    In the past Romney,

    More people voted for Obama than Romney.

    GWB,

    More people voted for Gore than GWB.

    Goldwater,

    More people voted for LBJ than Goldwater.

    McCain,

    More people voted for Obama than McCain.

    ... OK, GWB made it

    More people also voted for Clinton than Trump.

    but how can you vote for such people?

    Usually by using one's finger.

    From a European perspective Trump has already made himself un-electable, but
    come November the GOP will unite, the military is strongly GOP, the mormon church is GOP and there are enough braindead farts to pull it off again anyway.

    Aside from "there are enough braindead farts to pull it off
    again" you are wrong on all counts. The GOP is no more, having
    been replaced by Trumpism. The military continues to distance
    itself from the GOP (which is no more). The state of Utah (and
    the entire Mormon community) uses vote by mail (which Trump is
    trying to ban). And Mitt Romney still has not changed his vote
    to remove Donald Trump from office.

    Also, do not forget, the November elections are about more than the presidency.

    The vice presidency is also at stake.

    It's also part of the Senate, the House, Governors, more local people.

    The US does not have national elections.

    If the Dems win the Senate too but Trump gets elected anyway, which is not all that unlikely, then his 2nd term will become dead meat.

    It is becoming more and more likely for the Democrats to win control
    of the Senate, although the outcome could result in a tie. In which
    case the vice president would be able to cast a vote as President of
    the Senate if there is a tie in any given vote.

    The most likely scenario is for Trump to lose in a landslide, getting
    no more than 35% of the popular vote. But in theory, he could win with
    just 20% of the popular vote, given the electoral college.

    Question is: where lies the power?

    In Trump's mind, it is all about him. And only him.
    He is the fixer. The one who gets things done. Nobody
    else can do it but him.

    And where do people think the power lies?

    Somewhere else.

    Governors have a bigger say than we think here and even GOP-governors don't
    eat out of Trump's hand.

    Federalism. A word that is not in Trump's vocabulary.
    I have never heard him speak a single word that has more
    than one or two syllables. Not even when he reads from
    a prepared text.

    Just to say ... interesting times lie ahead.

    Confucius say he had Chinese virus.
    But now recovered.
    That why Confucius statue not wear mask.

    --Lee

    --
    The more you play with it the harder it gets

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