Prediction: HRC will be President

Politics and Social Issues
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Keep you eyes on the prize. Make no mistake; this is a life-or-death fight. The future of the US for decades will be determined in the next few months. Every social issue we care deeply about including environmental protection, global warming, universal health care, countering evangelical influence with Islamic immigration, removing in God we trust everywhere, elimination of the electoral college, women’s rights for abortions, control of the Supreme Court and the establishment of a universal secular socialist republic are at risk.

Our path forward:

One. Impeachment of Trump. Accomplished.

Two. Chief Justice of SCOTUS to preside over impeachment trial mandates Senators unwilling to be fair jurors are recused, not permitted to sit during trial. State governors appoint temporary Senators (17th Ammendment). Replacement/elemination of at least four Republican senatlors gives a Democrat Senate majority.

Three. Impeachment of VP Pence. Obvious collusion with Trump, conspiracy to obstruct, etc.

Four. Argument: President incapacitated by impeachment not eligable to nominate VP replacement, Speaker of the House as next in succession to President declines becoming acting President, becomes acting VP.

Five. Pelosi, as President of Senate sets rules for impeachment trial. President and VP tried concurrently, convicted, removed.

Six. Argument: Russian interference effectively makes 2016 election a deadlock tie. Kaine declines nomination for VP to keep Senate seat. Pelosi voted VP by Senate (12th Ammendment).

Seven. HRC voted President by House of Representatives (12th Ammendment). Coup complete.

Constitutional Amendment Twenty-eight: Popular vote for President. Assures Democrat White House for foreseeable future.

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The only thing wrong with that odd scenario, is just about EVERYTHING.

Suffice it to say, everyone, of the Democrats are tired of HRC being pushed around and hence we all want her to go away for the most part. The conservatives may want her back, so they will have a rich rallying point for their conspiracy theories.

The far out possibility that Pelosi would become POTUS by T rump and Pence both being removed from office is so unlikely a prospect in it’s own. But it is at least in the realm of what is REMOTELY possible. But HRC? No. The HRC bus has departed for good or ill and will not return.

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Constitutional Amendment Twenty-eight: Popular vote for President. Assures Democrat White House for foreseeable future.
So, you think the majority of voting Americas are Democrats? Pollsters also believe an even larger majority of non-voters are Democrats.
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TimB: “The far out possibility that Pelosi would become POTUS by T rump and Pence both being removed from office is so unlikely a prospect in it’s own.”

Under current law the line of succession to the Presidency follows the order of: vice president, speaker of the House of Representatives, president pro tempore of the Senate, and then the eligible heads of federal executive departments who form the president’s Cabinet. Slick lawyers would make the case that the law applies upon removal.

HRC has been waiting in the wings very quietly, like a spider sitting on the edge of her web, unnoticed but ready to pounce. Given the current crop of Dem candidates, I suspect she would be welcomed back should the 2016 election be declared a tie or Trump’s win invalidated altogether. I believe few Dems would turn down the opportunity.

Lausten: “So, you think the majority of voting Americas are Democrats? Pollsters also believe an even larger majority of non-voters are Democrats.”

Yes. We have seen a call by the Dems to overturn the Electoral College after every recent Republican win. I think it was Tocqueville (I may be mistaken) who said that any state would soon be bankrupted where the people could vote themselves pleasures from the treasury. Such pleasures include social programs and free this and free that. It is no wonder that that a liberal majority has evolved where traditional values like family, work and individual responsibility have given way to dependence on the opioid of the masses, big government.

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traditional values like family, work and individual responsibility have given way to dependence on the opioid of the masses, big government.
There is just so much wrong here. If you are not seeing that "family values" was code for male dominance by now, I'm not sure that you ever will. Those programs are for kids. Kids who's father's died working in horrible factory conditions or going to war because they had no better choice. Over half of our budget is military, and most of that is going to millionaires, not the hard working people. As for voting themselves money, just do the math. We spend lots of hot air arguing over a few percentage points of the budget, but what got voted in last year? Another tax cut for the wealthy.
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Bob, the opioid of the masses is actual opiates. Masses keep dying everyday. Lots of money has been made from supplying opiates to the masses. That’s poorly regulated capitalism for you.

Bob, HRC can lurk wherever. She is not going to be welcomed as the Dem Candidate even in the VERY UNLIKELY event of a brokered convention.

Bob, you talk about traditional values. The former Republicans are now Trumpublicans. They value T rump, and whatever he wants, above all else. That is the only real “value” they have left.

And family values??? T rump takes babies from the arms of their parents, if those parents have the audacity and courage to try to seek asylum in order to save their family’s lives. T rump and his Trumpublicans value T rump’s family. And maybe their own.

You show disdain for social programs that are based on supporting families.

You seem to be a champion of the uber wealthy. They have no problem with being responsible for pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, because they have really nice boots, and can hire as many ppl as they want to stand them up, anyway. They don’t have to worry about jobs. And they don’t have to worry about creating jobs, because they can make more money, more easily other ways.

You have the old Republican value system in mind when you talk about values. So that is a crap argument, anyway. But even the old value system is based on faulty assumptions. You think if the poorest of the poor is given free money, that will insure there further dependence on society. Would you like for society to just let them die? Do you want families of the poorest to just die?

The Nobel Prize for Economics this year, showed thru their research that the poorest people, who were given free money, were slightly MORE likely to find work. Do you not realize that you have to have some resources to begin with to even get a job? No clean presentable clothes for the job? No job. No transportation to the job? No job. You can’t leave your child in order to be at work? No job.

You are worried about the poorest people getting “pleasures” from social programs. I guess the extra food one could get from $80 a month of food stamps for their family could be considered a pleasure. As it is pleasurable to have food. I guess it is relatively pleasurable to get a college education and not be in debt for it the rest of your life. Is it pleasurable to not have toxic chemicals in our air food and water? Probably not, because for the most part we don’t know about it. And when it screws up the children, we don’t know for sure that is what it is from. But again, it is not valuing families. It values unregulated industries making the absolute most money. It values T rump’s assinine proclamations such as Global Warming is a Hoax started by the Chinese.

“Personal responsibility” is so great for anyone who currently has enough resources to keep themselves free and happy. But no one is really born, and lives their entire lives, without social support.

Stop the BS propaganda lies.

 

 

 

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Actually, It is a good sign, I think, that Trumpians are glomming on to a conspiracy theory that HRC is waiting in the wings for the Dems to promote her into the Presidency. This suggests to me a desperation of Trumpians to find something to unite against. And Hillary is your old standby for that.

Some conspiracy theories just die a slow death despite their preponderance of absurdity. She will not be America’s 1st female POTUS. But keep trying to terrify the masses of Trumpians with HRC boogie man stories. Surely, even they cannot deny reality forever. Of course, they will just move on to some other ridiculous lie.

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Really, I thought you guys might like a little something uplifting, perhaps even inspiring, to read after you got home from church last Sunday. No takers.

Oh well, I think we can get 14 chapters out of it. Need to add some sex, a frightened young couple, a deep throat defection, an assassination plot, family members under duress, a last minute disaster avoided and several surprise confessions. Or, in other words, politics as usual, except for the confessions of course. That’s the part that will make it fiction.

As for the rest, I suppose socialism is inevitable once the people have the power. Maybe someone can remind me who described the states of the society cycle ending with the fourth when the people who had everything given to them throw it away. Its been a while since I looked at that.

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Bob? Are you okay? You don’t believe that people should have power in the selection of its government? Who, pray tell, do you believe should have that power?

How terrifying it would be if the people were so well democratically represented that the government responded justly and fairly with all of the people, rather than the people that controlled most of the money and their flunkies! And the people who have been given everything? (you do know that in reality, not in your fairy tale, those people are most of the wealthy). Are you saying that the wealthy by seeking to continue expanding the disparity of wealth, will kill their goose that laid the golden egg? Meaning they will push that envelope too far and the general populous will take over? If that is what you meant, then yes, I can see that.

As far as your ranting being your version of a Stephen King goes to Washington story, I say go for it. Maybe you can market it.

 

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Hillary is done for.

The current crop of democratic candidates are far more attractive than Hillary ever was; and that’s really saying something, because they’re terrible.

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The current crop of Dem Candidates are ALL extraordinarily qualified to be POTUS, (with the possible exception of one), in comparison to Donald John T rump.

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TimB, I agree with you on two items. First, Trump was, and probably still is not, qualified to become an effective force within the DC culture as most would like their POTUS to be. I think his appeal to voters is evidence of widespread discontent with that culture. Second, the goose is in danger.

As best as I can remember, the fourth phase of the societal cycle is ushered in by corruption in government, intransigent leaders, income disparity and overreaching government control of almost everything. These are prevalent under socialism. Discontent erupts violently, anarchy leads to tribalism, tribal leadership is consolidated into kingships and wars produce dictators.

The first phase of the new cycle begins with the struggle for freedom: the old order must be destroyed before building a new order begins in phase two.

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I think the thing not to overlook its that Sree is expressing what 40% of our nation seems to passionately believe. Dismissing it like we have been doing for the past couple decades won’t do anyone any good.

 

As best as I can remember, the fourth phase of the societal cycle is ushered in by corruption in government, intransigent leaders, income disparity and overreaching government control of almost everything. These are prevalent under socialism. Discontent erupts violently, anarchy leads to tribalism, tribal leadership is consolidated into kingships and wars produce dictators.
Hmmm seems like capitalism has been great at bringing around those hideous conditions - but again that Alt-right wing crowd only knows black and white and is happy to manipulate and bastardize every fact to cram it into their self-serving totalitarian belief structure.

 

I’d be curious if Bob and Sree are God Fearing and believe that the only way to heaven and everlasting life after death is through Jesus. Toss in a little Prosperity Doctrine and all’s fine and dandy. I’d love to ask, but can’t imagine getting a serious answer, so I’ll just leave it hang’n.

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Bob says “… the fourth phase of the societal cycle is ushered in by corruption in government, intransigent leaders, income disparity and overreaching government control of almost everything. These are prevalent under socialism. Discontent erupts violently, anarchy leads to tribalism, tribal leadership is consolidated into kingships and wars produce dictators.”

I say that T rump has “ushered in” more “corruption in government” than any POTUS of modern times. He and his Trumpublicans are the essence of intransigence. Income disparity has been growing for decades due to poorly regulated exploitative capitalism NOT DUE TO SOCIALISM. And tribalism as advocated by all of the forces of the Alt-Right, leads to anarchy, not vice a versa. And we are creating a dictator RIGHT NOW in the form of a fat orange 73 yr old Narcissus without having a war. T rump always projects that coups are being attempted on his power. The actuality appears to be that he is performing a coup on the US system of govt. And that coup is approaching fulfillment.

 

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I believe the 2016 and 2018 elections are ample evidence of public dissatisfaction. We voted for change. We voted against, not for, the order of the previous decade. People didn’t vote for Trump so much as they voted against HRC. The Dems got the House and several Governors. If we didn’t have staggered terms I think the turnover would have been greater. We are far from united.

The greatest expansion of the USA happened prior to the imposition of the income tax. It seems to me that big ideas need big profits to execute; reference the last 30 years. It wasn’t a new deal from the granddaddy of socialism that ended the great depression, it was war and the profits made from it.

We and several other nations have capitalism for the few and socialism for the masses. I think that system is just not sustainable in the long term. We demonstrate such schizophrenia when we enjoy using ebay, amazon and facebook, products from apple, microsoft and many others but decry the profits the inventors accrue.

Throughout history the resources for generating incomes have been owned by the few. Only revolution and disaster have turned that around and only for brief periods. Wealth, by definition, only happens when those resources are consolidated in the hands of the few. The cycles continue.

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Throughout history the resources for generating incomes have been owned by the few. Only revolution and disaster have turned that around and only for brief periods. Wealth, by definition, only happens when those resources are consolidated in the hands of the few. The cycles continue.
Interesting. You understand that part, but what's your solution? To vote for disruption? I totally agree that unregulated capitalism is the cause of this cycle, and thus the cause of needless wars. How do we keep resources from consolidating in the hands of the few? Could paying people who package up all the junk we buy off amazon a decent wage with health care be a solution?
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Bob opined: “The greatest expansion of the USA happened prior to the imposition of the income tax. It seems to me that big ideas need big profits to execute; reference the last 30 years. It wasn’t a new deal from the granddaddy of socialism that ended the great depression, it was war and the profits made from it.”

TimB thoughtfully cites this quote (from https://fee.org/articles/what-ended-the-great-depression/) “Some economists—especially Robert Higgs—have wisely challenged that conclusion. Let’s be blunt. If the recipe for economic recovery is putting tens of millions of people in defense plants or military marches, then having them make or drop bombs on our enemies overseas, the value of world peace is called into question. In truth, building tanks and feeding soldiers—necessary as it was to winning the war—became a crushing financial burden. We merely traded debt for unemployment.”

TimB further says: After WWII, cutting taxes probably did help our economy build. The top tax rate, at the time was decreased. To 86%. 86%! Decreased! to 86%! Today with T rump’s tax bill, the effective overall rate across wealthy corporations is around 12%! And Corporations do not have a cash flow problem. They aren’t using their vast profits to MAGA. They buy up their own stock, instead.

The tired old trope of capitalism v socialism is a non-sequitur. We have regulated capitalism (the only kind that works -emphasis on “regulated”) AND we have social programs financed by taxes. (We also promote big corporate profits, in some cases, with our taxes.)

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Lausten: “How do we keep resources from consolidating in the hands of the few?”

I think the social cycle is just the way it is, a natural human phenomena. 10,000 years of civilization and we haven’t conquered our nature. Don’t you find it interesting that all the so called “great” civilizations were kingships of one kind or another?

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And just a interesting how many of those kingships collapsed because of Me First obsessions.

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That’s a sad statement on humanity Bob