Today Trump gave his “Attorney General” Barr (who has shown himself to be a loyal political Trump lapdog), the superpower of declassifying any information that he wants and releasing it as he wants. This will very likely be used in a cherry picking fashion to mislead the public and to support some of Trump’s craziest narratives about elements of the govt committing treason in an attempted coup against him. This new power bequeathed upon Barr could be used to undermine the truth in any fashion that he wants, to achieve just about any aim. Barr has already shown that he is eager to misrepresent the truth by how he supplied the very misleading 4 pages of his about the Mueller report and then leaving that as the only indicator of the truth while holding up the release of the actual report for a month.
This comes on the heels of Trump over-riding Congress to give Billions of military hardware to the Saudis. And of course it is another breakdown of our system of checks and balances that is occurring, such as Trump’s blocking EVERY attempt by the House to investigate him, by denying, requests, subpoenas, and by keeping anyone he can from testifying before Congress. And by pursuing interminable delaying tactics thru the courts. (Not to mention Trump’s recent declaration that he would not allow anything to go thru Congress while they are pursuing any oversight activities of him.)
Trump is gradually becoming more and more effective at undermining our system of govt. If he is given enough reigns I expect that he will complete his apparent objective of becoming our autocrat, at some point.
Hopefully we can hold out to the 2020 election. But if he gets past that, we better start learning how to spell “Zieg Heil!”
“Hopefully we can hold out to the 2020 election. But if he gets past that, we better start learning how to spell “Zieg Heil!””
I’ve always thought, what with a heavily armed citizenry and all, the US would plunge into civil war if that became apparent. However,I also suspect those with the brains to understand would be vastly out numbered by the cattle. Plus I’d be interested to see how the heavily armed citizenry do against trained soldiers with tanks and jets. It’ sa joke
Upton Sinclair wrote something like “If fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross” He also wrote; “Fascism ; capitalism plus murder”
I’ll start worrying about Trump when reports about people disappearing begin to emerge. I mean disappearing into landfill, not Guantanamo Bay.
Is it just me as an outsider, or do any Americans see something rather sinister about “The Department For Homeland Security”?
I think the US had already made a start towards fascism long before Trump was elected. I refer to the suspension of Habeas Corpus allowed by the Patriot Act and denied to those ‘rendered’ to say Egypt, or thrown into prison in Guantanamo Bay without due process. Such treatment is, I believe ,in breech the Sixth Amendment of the US constitution…But I’m no lawyer, what do I know?
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
PD, I can understand your not being as imminently concerned as I, since you are a literal world away, but for Americans, waiting until civil war is imminent and people are disappearing, is too late, I think. As u say, if the military is on one side, that side will have the advantage. The rest of Americans will be split, and I imagine that if it is a matter of who has the most guns, Trumpublicans probably hold the advantage.
9/11 was a MAJOR victory for the Al Qaeda, and only slightly so because of the success of their murder and mayhem that day. The real success that ensued for them was the wars that took so much of our blood and treasure for essentially nothing and the undermining of out American ideals that we abdicated in seeking security and vengeance.
“9/11 was a MAJOR victory for the Al Qaeda, and only slightly so because of the success of their murder and mayhem that day. The real success that ensued for them was the wars that took so much of our blood and treasure for essentially nothing and the undermining of out American ideals that we abdicated in seeking security and vengeance”
Seeking security and vengeance? Much of your blood and treasure???.
America slaughtered over a million in iraq. 50,000 in libya and who knows how many in syria in helping and working with Al Qaeda to overthrow assad. Wonder how many will die in its push for war with iran.
The US has given rise to ISIL and is seen as the greatest threat to world peace by the world majority. It is not a force for good.
Of course. Insensitive of me. In his initial few months, I had the fear that someone from the lunar left might assassinate your brand new prez.
I love the US, been a few times. Wonderful scenery and was treated with kindness and almost overwhelming hospitality wherever I went. (Lots of relatives from mum’s side ) .Always had a great time.
I decided not to go to America again when, following the national nervous break down after 9/11, The Patriot Act was passed. I read it and was horrified. My thought was along the lines of "if they will do that to their own citizens ,what would they do to a foreigner? I thought I may have overreacted. Then Trump was elected.
Apropos of being niggled by a troll; The You Too Fallacy
At the end of WW, the allies tried a bunch of Nazis for ‘crimes against humanity’., In response to the charges relates to the Holocaust, the Nazis pointed out the allied bombing of Dresden and the treatment by America of its black citizens. That defence was rejected.
The Nuremberg defence is based on a logical fallacy, called ‘you too’. (Latin:Tu quoque) If I say that man committed murder ,and he responds with “so did that other guy”, he is using a Tu Quoque fallacy. That someone else may have committed even the same crime is irrelevant in that circumstance. It does not diminish the guilt of the first accused.
“Tu quoque (/tjuːˈkwoʊkwi, tuːˈkwoʊkweɪ/;[1] Latin for “you also”), or the appeal to hypocrisy, is a fallacy that intends to discredit the opponent’s argument by asserting the opponent’s failure to act consistently in accordance with its conclusion(s). The Oxford English Dictionary cites John Cooke’s 1614 stage play, The Cittie Gallant, as the earliest use of the term in the English language.[1]”
Honestly, I have been surprised by the depth of imperfection of American character during my lifetime. I have always tended to be a bit naive in that respect. E.g., as a kid, watching race riots on TV I was appalled and frightened, but then listening to Martin Luther King Jr., I thought, oh well, of course, this guy’s got it right, surely this will resolve the problems of racism in America. And actually his efforts made a big difference, but racism did not magically disappear. And it was not apparent to me for a long time that racism was going to remain. How’s that for naive?
And now I have been surprised again by something closing in on 40% of Americans loving the likes of Trump, to the extent they are willing, perhaps eager to abandon truth.
Truth, Justice, and the American way, used to be words that seemed to fit together.
“Truth, Justice, and the American way, used to be words that seemed to fit together.”
Well yeah, when we were 12 and read Superman.
I may have mentioned this before, so forgive me if I repeat myself. An American friend once said to me " Be sure you’re always nice to America, otherwise we’ll bring you Democracy"
"Be sure you’re always nice to America, otherwise we’ll bring you Democracy”
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
What? u have a problem with Superman? Our stories tend to embody our ideals.
also:
What? u have a problem with Democracy? U prefer totalitarianism or libertarianism? Nothing matters to the dead. Destruction is generally not good for children or other living things, so destroying things in the name of Democracy only makes sense at all, if the alternative is MORE destructive.
I am obviously all for idealism. I am also all for practical realism. (One can be both. Imo, one should be both.) One is a guiding star, the other is the actual pathway ahead.
Btw, a lot of ppl voted for W to have the power to do the Iraq war. They were fooled by the WMD narrative. But they didn’t vote for him to mismanage that war day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year (except those who voted to re-elect W. Those who re-elected W. were parties to his awful incompetence, imo.)
Sure they did. WMD was a transparent PR con job from the gitgo - Then it was proven - and then Americans still reelected the Cheney/Bush War Profiteers by a big margin, while the liberals looked on with the thumbs up their asses.
Look at the news these past decades, like Viet Nam wasn’t a clear cut enough lesson. Americans love being fooled, hate critical thinking, it too tough, so long as they can sit down after a tough day to their junk food and a boob tube of their choice to plug into.
But there were times that we were SO CLOSE to history going a different way. The 2000 election, stolen over some hanging chads. We might have started the new millennium actually doing something to stop climate change. 9/11 and the Iraq war might never have happened. And even Trump’s improbable win required a trove of various factors in combination and with propitious timing to have happened.
We have sometimes been so close to not being exposed as blatant A-holes.
“Well the fact that we have Trump as POTUS is pretty good evidence for what A-holes we Americans are collectively speaking.”
I wouldn’t go that far. Most of the Americans I’ve met are fine people, if a bit insecure and rather paranoid.—BUT are you paranoid if entire countries really do hate and fear you?.
In keeping with my realpolitik perception, I think the US problem is a lack of imagination with politicians together with the staggering power of the military-industrial complex. This has been in charge of US foreign policy since 1950.
Imo, the phrase ‘gunboat diplomacy’ pithily describes US foreign policy overall. . (although Us sabre rattling and aggression is not limited to naval power)
Last night, I started rewatching a show with my favourite US president, Saint Josiah Bartlett. I started with the episode where Zoey gets kidnapped. It is in this episode that Jed commits a 'stunning act of Patriotism" (that from a Republican) . He gives the keys to a political enemy because he realises he is unfit for the office because of his distress about his daughter.
In my life time, we have had perhaps two great political leaders, on Sate, one Federal . Both Labor party (left) . --This week, former primeMinister, Bob Hawke, and darling of the left, finally died. I always loathed him; I thought he was an alcoholic demagogue who should never have been in office. My late father and party member and I almost came to blows over Bob Hawke.