The Trump Crime Family

[jalimon]

I am the only one who think Palestinian will simply soon join force with extremist Al-Qaïda terrorist in the light of moving the embassy to Jerusalem?

The violent results will be again viewed by right wing America like an attack and it will be forgot that their own stupid decision is what that started it?

I must be wrong... Somehow I am afraid i got it right..

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Doc Holliday, I often agree with you but gotta diverge on this one. Yes the electoral college is outdated, but only in an insane world would a guy as clueless and odious as Trump lose the popular vote by 3,000,000 out of 120,000,000+. Trump was so bad that newspapers that hadn't picked a Democrat for president in nearly a century picked Hillary over him. For some people, there was no objective thought process. Tribalism played a big part: Hillary was a Democrat, Trump was a "Republican" (despite being a Democrat for years) and that was that even though there was a huge disparity between their command of government policy and governance. Gone are the days where we evaluate candidates individually even while acknowledging that we have political leanings.

If Hillary got the same votes as Obama, she certainly didn't get them in the right place. While a vote is a vote, an excess of Democratic votes in California doesn't alter the outcome that Hillary would carry that state. On the other hand, if a fraction of the excess Hillary votes had been cast in Florida or Wisconsin, perhaps history would be different. To that point, for example, African-American turnout in Florida was down. (Hey we get the government we deserve. When a man nakedly pandering to the KKK isn't enough to motivate potential victims of the KKK to stand against him come voting time, we deserve it. Any black person that says Trump is racist but failed to vote when they could can kindly shut the fuck up). As for the Russians, they absolutely tried to undermine our democracy but it's highly questionable the effect was significant. Sure, the swing state psychwarfare likely caused some to vote for Trump. Sadly, that doesn't explain how so many people pulled the lever for easily the most unfit person in any political office, much less the President of the United States.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

I would prefer a parliamentary system like Canada. I don't like divided government. However, Canadians don't actually vote for a Prime Minister. They vote for a MP.

In theory yes but a large majority vote for the PM and not the MP as you say. Last year the media basically said to vote out Harper and look what we got, the US media wanted Trump to lose and it did not happen.

 

[sambuca]

I am the only one who think Palestinian will simply soon join force with extremist Al-Qaïda terrorist in the light of moving the embassy to Jerusalem?

The violent results will be again viewed by right wing America like an attack and it will be forgot that their own stupid decision is what that started it?

I must be wrong... Somehow I am afraid i got it right..

Palestinians supporting Hamas (which is aligned with Iran) is no great shakes. While I think the Israelis can be arrogant assholes, Palestinians stick to the whole "destruction of the Jewish state" position. Not exactly a great place to start a negotiation. I believe the Palestinians have entered this long, drawn-out negotiation with the attitude we will wear you down and we will not change our long-term position. They also play up the "poor, little Palestine" card with the world while they have always had sponsors for terrorism. No wonder Israeli extreme conservatives basically say "fuck it".

Nothing has been happening for decades and Trump made a bold gambit. Let's stop this charade regarding Jerusalem.

I really don't have an opinion whether it was a good idea or bad. Yes, I have problems with more Israeli settlements on the West Bank. I just see Palestine interested in a perpetual state of war.

 

[sambuca]

Doc Holliday, I often agree with you but gotta diverge on this one. Yes the electoral college is outdated, but only in an insane world would a guy as clueless and odious as Trump lose the popular vote by 3,000,000 out of 120,000,000+. Trump was so bad that newspapers that hadn't picked a Democrat for president in nearly a century picked Hillary over him. For some people, there was no objective thought process. Tribalism played a big part: Hillary was a Democrat, Trump was a "Republican" (despite being a Democrat for years) and that was that even though there was a huge disparity between their command of government policy and governance. Gone are the days where we evaluate candidates individually even while acknowledging that we have political leanings.

If Hillary got the same votes as Obama, she certainly didn't get them in the right place. While a vote is a vote, an excess of Democratic votes in California doesn't alter the outcome that Hillary would carry that state. On the other hand, if a fraction of the excess Hillary votes had been cast in Florida or Wisconsin, perhaps history would be different. To that point, for example, African-American turnout in Florida was down. (Hey we get the government we deserve. When a man nakedly pandering to the KKK isn't enough to motivate potential victims of the KKK to stand against him come voting time, we deserve it. Any black person that says Trump is racist but failed to vote when they could can kindly shut the fuck up). As for the Russians, they absolutely tried to undermine our democracy but it's highly questionable the effect was significant. Sure, the swing state psychwarfare likely caused some to vote for Trump. Sadly, that doesn't explain how so many people pulled the lever for easily the most unfit person in any political office, much less the President of the United States.

Carmine, if you're an American and a Democrat, you need to realize the Democrats can take back the House in 2018, the Senate in 2018/2020 and the Presidency in 2020 very easily. They just have to stop letting the far left dictate the platform and listen to a broader spectrum of voters.

I'm kind of surprised you believe anyone gives a fuck what American newspapers say about anything. Hell, even The Economist has been taken over by leftist editors. The fact is that Trump even scares the country club set that hob-nobs with the few, conservative owners that still hold on to a few city newspapers.

 

[jalimon]

Jalimon, to say the Israelis brought this on themselves is so unfair.

I did not say that. I said I am afraid any stupid show act like moving the embassy to Jerusalem is an act to just piss off the Palestinian which is candy for recruitment for AL-quaida no?

(so unlikely, they hate US and Israel lol, they literally just burnt a US flag in their parliament after Trump pulled out of the Nuclear deal and jizzed on their freshly enhanced tits which Obama paid for lol)

I have met many Iranians at conventions around the world. They do not hate Americans at all. They want their non sense political leader to liberate them so they can have the same "way of life" One day the people of Iran will prevail.

Nice post!

Cheers,

 

[EagerBeaver]

One of my friends in college was an Iranian engineering student whose family fled Iran to the USA after Ayatollah Khomeini took power. I think Khomeini managed to drive away a lot of the more educated Iranians.

In any event a bigger problem is the emerging pattern now of American presidents undoing the agreements of their predecessors. It’s reasonably foreseeable that a Democrat could be elected President in 2020 who will then undo and override Trump’s executive orders as Trump did to Obama. If this continues should any foreign government trust any agreement or even bother trying to reach agreements with their American counterparts? Failing to honor agreements has its consequences and I just wonder whether Trump really thinks about any of this. The USA could in effect come to be viewed as politically instable due to constantly changing agendas and initiatives.

 

[anon_vlad]

....Unfortunately Obama resupplied their radical government with a few billion in cash on pallets, and removed all economic sanctions in the nuclear "deal" lol.

You, as many others, are misinformed about this. The US froze Iranian assets (which was meant to be used for the purchase of military equipment from the US). Congress kept the money for nearly 20 years and wanted to use it to pay victims of terrorism. Obama, as part of the agreement to slow down the development of nuclear weapons by Iran, released those funds and removed most, but not all economic sanctions. The reason it was sent in cash was as American sanctions made it nearly impossible for them to use the banking system.

 

[anon_vlad]

Your earlier comment made it seem as if the US gave them funds. We now appear to agree that they only gave back the Iranian's own money.

Of course it's crazy to pay a huge sum of money in cash. The alternative would have been to immediately restore Iranian access to the banking system, which the US had removed as one of their sanctions.

 

[sambuca]

Easily doable because all of Obama’s deals were accords, not senate ratified treaty. They were Obama’s “deals” not America’s. The countries who we negotiate with definetly understand the difference. Iran was thrilled with the deal initially, now that the worst-case-scenario has occcured the reality is they are in the exact same situation as a a year ago, but with a nice pile of fresh n' crisp USD lol. They even have a mild degree of support from Europe due to emerging business interests. Even post mortem, it was a good deal for them haha. Honestly, why do you think Obama had the cash dropped in on pallets in the middle of the night? Haha. Why not just trade debt or something? He figured Hillary hopefully could pass the bill through the senate after the fact, and if she couldn’t and the accord was nullified (as it recently was), he knew we are never getting that cash back anyways. Trump will hopefully choose not to completely work around the senate in foreign affairs unlike his predecessor. Only time will tell. So far he has only nullified terrible accords, he has yet to produce any of his own accords or treaties.

Rosbos, you are an American? That magic wand of yours is American!?

RB is correct. Obama exercised very bad form. Obama was not very interested in Congressional ratification even if that's Constitutional law. It's kind of discouraging that so many people who supported Obama support the idea of Obama's Executive Actions that went outside the Constitutional framework. They can't seem to realize that this is the only thing that keeps Presidential power in check no matter how wet they got for Obama's Presidency. Congressional ratification is how we guaranty continuity between different Administrations. Trump's got his own "pen" and his own "phone" to hark back to obnoxious statement by Constitutional Law Professor Barak Obama.

On the Iran deal there are some bizarre aspects. The entire inspection regime is kind of feckless. Carmine is fond of the "newspapers" take on things. That's what half the American public doesn't understand. Most U.S. newspapers would never criticize anything that Obama wanted to do. So many Americans were never getting any basic information about various public policies.

If someone says they are your mortal enemy, you might want to take notice.

 

[sambuca]

Rosbos, you seem a bit passionate about Israel. What are your thoughts about the West Bank settlements?

Hearing Christian evangelicals like Robert Jeffress speak about Israel's inevitable return to all of their ancient homeland as granted by God is very disturbing to me.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Carmine is fond of the "newspapers" take on things. That's what half the American public doesn't understand. Most U.S. newspapers would never criticize anything that Obama wanted to do. So many Americans were never getting any basic information about various public policies.

I'm not naive enough to think all media don't have an agenda. But save the non-apparatchiks in media, the people in the information business generally do their best to convey info because the very nature of truth is at stake. To that point, you mentioned a few posts earlier the WaPo is out to or doesn't like Trump which isn't the way I'd categorize it. Yes, most of their headlines challenge him, which should be the media's goal regardless of which party is in power. (So shindigs like White House Correspondents' Dinner is inherently problematic. Or are you holding govt accountable or partying with them?) The question I ask about WaPo is not if they seem pro-Trump or not but if what they report is true.

I think it seemed like Obama got preferential newspaper treatment because he's more genial than Trump. But it's those same papers who reported on when millions were deported and families separated under his tenure (save the end of his administration when they focused on criminal aliens), which he did quietly while Trump can't stop talking about it. Same goes for so far, Obama has prosecuted more people for leaks with questionable rationale while Trump mostly bloviates about it. Note that I didn't even touch TV because Obama got a rock star treatment in that regard. He was media-savvy and not as grating as Trump so stands to reason. Obama love was hero worship that didn't examine his many flaws. Obama hatred was oblique attacks on policy that substituted for fact that they didn't like him.

 

[jalimon]

Israel's inevitable return to all of their ancient homeland as granted by God is very disturbing to me.

Granted by God?

Did not even knew god existed

Cheers,

 

[jalimon]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/17/us/new-york-man-restaurant-ice-threat/index.html

Is this what america is leading to? What a fucking ignorant idiot! To the point where it's fucking scary.

 

[jalimon]

Yes I agree with you Sam. Still that idiot on the video is... "a lawyer!"... Can you just imagine the bad decision this dude can make for his client?

 

[EagerBeaver]

Most of the United States was seized from Native Americans by armed force. A very few small pieces of land were given back to federally recognized Native American tribes. They then built Casinos on those lands from which they’ve profited immensely.

Similarly Israel seized the West Bank during Armed Conflict in 1967, during which Israel was attacked (not vice verse) by numerous Arab nations, armed by the USSR. The Arab attackers were dealt a humiliating defeat, and in fact the leader of the Egyptian armed forces was later forced to commit suicide at the behest of the Egyptian government.

I believe a similar model can be applied whereby swaths or reservations on the West Bank should be created where the Palestinians can have autonomy. I believe Israel simply needs to throw a bone to Palestinians as the USA did with the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegan Tribe who now do not have any complaints as they are making too much money to worry about past transgressions.

 

[cloudsurf]

Rosbos brought up one very important bit of factual and relative information.
When war broke out in 1948 there were almost the same number of destitute arabs who left the new State of Israel as there were destitute Jews who left the Arab lands,
All the "Arab" Jews were integrated and became full citizens of Israel while the vast majority of the Palestinian Arabs who fled are still in refugee camps supported by charity and the UN. This is pure politics. Yes they are suffering , but its an Arab problem.

 

[jalimon]

As people in Israel say "We live in the most liberal and free country in the world. We have the best girls, best temperature, best beaches, prosperity... All is good until you see the neighbors"

 

[cloudsurf]

You can count on Jalimon for the best sarcasm on merb.

Change a couple of words in the above post and it changes from sarcastic to factual.
Change "world" to middle east and neighbours to Syria and Egypt.
While you`re at it Jal add freest gays in the middle east with no chance of being stoned to death.

 

[EagerBeaver]

While you`re at it Jal add freest gays in the middle east with no chance of being stoned to death.

Very true. My favorite installment of Anthony Bourdain’s show Parts Unknown is the one featuring a West Bank vegetarian restaurant run by a Palestinian man and his Israeli Jewish wife. They were making some serious falafel, hummus and baba ghanoush. I visited Israel a long time ago and never tasted Falafel as good as I had over there.