The Trump Crime Family

[sambuca]

Je suis désolé mon ami. I have no idea why anyone believes self-flagellation in regards to exploiting fossil fuels is going to encourage anyone to use solar panels and other green initiatives. Perhaps Justin is a secret member of Opus Dei. I hope his guilt is relieved. There is so much oil in the earth that no country alone will ever be able to drive up the price of oil. You would need worldwide rationing for producers and consumers to limit oil production.

Peak Oil, the propaganda that the world was soon to run out of oil, was a giant fraud on developed countries. I'm not 100% certain, no one can be, but I fear we might one day say the same thing about man-made climate change. Since I'm actually interested in varying points of view, let's dole out a few billion for studies that try to disprove man-made climate change. Then we can stack up all the bought and paid for studies against each other. Right now, we only have billions that have been spent on studies to prove man-made climate change.

I've seen the nasty photos of the Alberta tar sands. What you never see is what the tar sand areas look like before and after mining. I'm guessing Canadian mining companies have been asked to make the area greener than what it was naturally. I'm also guessing they have posted bonds to ensure they perform their exit obligations from the mining areas.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

I've seen the nasty photos of the Alberta tar sands. What you never see is what the tar sand areas look like before and after mining. I'm guessing Canadian mining companies have been asked to make the area greener than what it was naturally. I'm also guessing they have posted bonds to ensure they perform their exit obligations from the mining areas.

First off it is oil sands not tar sands, easy to see that you follow left wing news. The pictures you see are of old sites and not reclaimed. The sites after are better than before, The first Suncor site has a huge lake with fish breeding. I have worked up there most of my life, when we dig a 3 meter deep trench for a pipeline we have to pump the natural bitumen out daily, it is free flowing.
Oil companies do what is called SAGD, no more big pits.
Please keep more informed. Albwrta has the most environmentally friendly oil in the world, other countries come here to get advice.
Stay away from left wing news.

 

[sambuca]

I'm actually agreeing with you. I have seen various former mining sites in North American where the land has been improved from its original, natural state. While tar sands might be a liberal perjorative, this is how they have been commonly referred to down here for decades. I'm also not using it in a negative context.

My point was (and you may concur) this is all part of the broader liberal PR campaign against fossil fuels.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Justines dad hated the west and Justine is following in his footsteps. Racism/bigotry starts at home most times. You can research Justines past comments about the west compared to Quebec before his enter into politics. True bigot.

 

[jalimon]

Justines dad hated the west and Justine is following in his footsteps. Racism/bigotry starts at home most times. You can research Justines past comments about the west compared to Quebec before his enter into politics. True bigot.

What? PET was very well known to like Ontario and the West much more then Quebec. He was despised in Quebec. Beside he saw population of Quebec not up for his intellect. To which Justin is following footstep if you ask me.

Just my 2 cents

Cheers,

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Pardon! Pierre did his best to shut down Alberta with his NEP, he bankrupt thousands of families. Go and mention PET name and see the response you get back.
https://globalnews.ca/news/3208413/...father-gave-western-canada-the-middle-finger/
Not sure where you get your info from

 

[sambuca]

I would think the Trudeaus dislike of the West is similar to the Coastal elitism we see here in U.S. politics. If I flip it around, I would say many Republicans representing rural districts seem to dislike the big city population.

Some of this comes down to where you find your votes. Regional differences have always played into politics. I doubt a Liberal candidate could hold their coalition together trying to expand their appeal to Alberta and Saskatchewan. Hillary's problem was she was being told she was going to win handily and she left too much of Middle America on the table. And yes, Hillary didn't seem to enjoy campaigning in the Heartland like her husband.

 

[sambuca]

I got to say I really like Trudeau as a person. I think he's a better person than Trump. I don't agree with many of Trudeau's policies though.

Americans are getting use to the concept of having a leader they don't necessarily like. However, he could in his own manner get things done and shake-up the status quo. (I'm surprised how many people in both the U.S. and Canada can be conned into defending the status quo by politicians and the media. Seriously, you're defending the global trade system. Defending the current U.S. immigration system and border security or total lack thereof.)

Warning to the Canadian Liberals on the board, the hatred for Trump down here is amplified by our media. American people are very pragmatic. While they might tell a pollster they don't like Trump, they will go behind the curtain and vote their pocket book, their safety and security.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

I got to say I really like Trudeau as a person. I think he's a better person than Trump. I don't agree with many of Trudeau's policies though.
.

Why do you like him as a person? Is it the way he stutters and speaks when asked a sensitive question, perhaps the way he spends our tax dollar for his holidays and foreign sending, could it be his arrogance towards non Quebecers... Maybe his love for Islam...

 

[jalimon]

Me too I much like him as a person. Did not vote for him but still he is a good human being. Much better then the arrogant racist mister 7 bankruptcy ass hole south of the border....

Cheers,

 

[sambuca]

Why do you like him as a person? Is it the way he stutters and speaks when asked a sensitive question, perhaps the way he spends our tax dollar for his holidays and foreign sending, could it be his arrogance towards non Quebecers... Maybe his love for Islam...

Trudeau seems like a genuinely good guy and good father. Trump is probably a better guy than he is portrayed by the media. He also seems like a good time and a good father.

STN, I think Trump is egotistical and very thin-skinned. I think he should fight back a bit with the media, but he looks petty when he's responding to every criticism in tweets. A good example of stupidness (is that a word?) was the nonsense over pardoning himself. Mental masturbation is totally fine until you ask the American public to participate. STN, some of your personal attacks on Trudeau sound very similar to the attacks on Obama. I discourage my friends from personal attacks on politicians, but I'm interested in your views on policy.

Perhaps, I would pick Trump to join my crew on a mongering trip to Montreal. However, since I like people of all different personalities and temperaments I would call Justin and tell him to meet up with us.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I am sorry but the statement that he would pardon Muhammad Ali takes the cake for stupidness even over Trump saying he would pardon himself. Ali has no convictions and isn’t in need of a pardon. So far Trump’s wielding of the Presidential pardon power has been based on personal pleas by Sylvester Stallone and Kim Kardashian on behalf of third party, would be pardonees they favored. This is not the way the Presidential pardon power should be wielded. It should be wielded to correct oversights of the Justice system, not to dispense “celebrity justice.”

 

[sambuca]

Me too I much like him as a person. Did not vote for him but still he is a good human being. Much better then the arrogant racist mister 7 bankruptcy ass hole south of the border....

Are you talking about that sentence commuting racist?

I'm sure Canada has similar business practices. Rich guy starts 100 companies. 3 go bankrupt and investors and lenders eat the loss while the rich guy is largely unaffected. The one thing that people should understand is that Trump's biggest bankruptcies were New Jersey casinos. It's a dirty business not because it's gambling, but because you're totally dependent on a State government not getting greedy and flooding the market with casino licenses. I believe many New Jersey casinos in Atlantic City went under shortly after Trump's casinos.

 

[sambuca]

This is not the way the Presidential pardon power should be wielded. It should be wielded to correct oversights of the Justice system, not to dispense “celebrity justice.”

This is exactly how Presidential pardon power has been wielded. I wouldn't bore people with a list of past and questionable pardons, but people with the luck, celebrity and/or money to get the attention of the President of the United States receive pardons.

We could criticize the process, but don't criticize the man sitting in the Presidency for this. I don't care for Kim Kardashian, but if she could use her contacts to help this woman Alice Johnson I think it's a wonderful thing. I'm not going to question Kim Kardashian or Trump's motives.

Shame on you EB. You know if Obama had done this pardon there would be trumpets and floral bouquets tossed into the sky as he rode down Pennsylvania Avenue in a chariot.

 

[EagerBeaver]

It’s not about Alice Johnson, or Jack Johnson (who deserved his pardon, BTW). It’s about this celebrity justice and Trump seems to be pandering to it. I don’t think this is how it should work. Presidents should not respond to celebrity agendas. They should respond to legitimate legal watchdog groups which know better than Kim Kardashian who are the greatest oversights in the Justice system. Trump is just handing out favors to rich and famous people to satisfy their personal senses of justice.

 

[sambuca]

There have always been tacky, questionable pardons all the way through the Obama Presidency. You've simply found fault in Trump's approach, but perhaps not even fault in the result.

Now that Trump's offered the NFL players the opportunity to recommend pardon candidates, this will surely aggravate the Left. Hopefully, he will try to make serious reforms to our criminal justice and correctional systems.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Sambuca, why do you always type with such certitude when the actual record is not on your side? Obama commuted the sentences of many people like Alice Johnson who had unduly long sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, so no extra adulation necessary because it fit with the type of people Obama granted clemency. As a matter of fact, the Obama Administration reviewed Alice Johnson's case. She just didn't make the cut even though well over a thousand sentences were commuted. That's because Obama, like being Bush before him, had a system in place to vet people deserving--and that system had nothing to do with having connections but with submissions to the Pardon Attorney. Any case that made it to the President was likely due to luck (you did mention that), case merit or some factor that didn't involve a celebrity advocate. That you think money may be involved in some cases and it hasn't miraculously leaked (that'd be very corrupt) is downright risible.

To be sure, Trump did a good thing here but pardons based on personal connections mean only the well-connected get pardoned; the deserving, based on the case's merit, might just slip through the cracks. And perhaps you'd care to list Obama's controversial pardons. I may have missed a lot but the last pardon I remember as "controversial" is Clinton pardoning his buddy Mark Rich. Oddly enough, it was Clinton's crony pardoning of his buddy that led Bush to revamp the pardon system.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Carmine,

I think you, unlike Sambuca, correctly analyze the issue. The issue is not whether Alice Johnson and Jack Johnson were worthy of their pardons- they probably were. The issue is the way in which they were selected for pardon candidacy. There should be an independent group, a legal watchdog group, which submits a list of objectively verified, worthy pardon candidates to the President. And then, from that list, of say a top 50, the President can then choose whom to pardon. It is screamingly obvious that this is the way it should be. Sambuca's fawning over, and resignation to, a deeply flawed system that simply rewards cronyism is appalling. Ironically somewhere in his life, Sambuca will be beaten out for a job posting by a less worthy candidate based on either cronyism or perhaps nepotism. He will then be taught the needed lesson because it's no different than what is going on here.

 

[cloudsurf]

It`s all good as long as they don`t tamper with the pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey.

 

[Steely Dan]

I think Trump offering up these pardons is a very cynical political move. I saw him yesterday reaching out to the football "kneelers" asking them to offer up names of people they deem to have been treated "unfairly" so Trump can consider them for pardon. The key word here is "unfairly". This is the same word he uses when speaking about the Manaforts and Cohens under investigation and or indightment under the Mueller probe.

So when he pardons the people under the probe and faces the firestorm of criticism he can point to previous pardons of people deemed to be treated "unfairly" be they left or right and claim consistency on his part and hypocrisy from those same critics in not voicing concerns when pardons were given out to "their" people.