2020 Election - Thread #5

[robkelk]

Previous threads are previous:

• First thread
  
• Second thread
  
• Third thread
  
• Fourth thread
  

(And the fact that we needed more than one thread for what in previous decades was a simple matter of the citizens of the USA exercising their Constitutional right to select their own government shows just how toxic politics has become in the USA.)

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CBC Analysis: Impeachment will further obscure Trump's contested economic legacy

President Donald Trump claimed to support the little guy against the elite.

But after four years in power, examination of Donald Trump's economic record in reaching that goal has been set aside as the impeachment fight moves on to the Senate.

Just as a new report by a U.S. business group shows Trump's trade battles with China alone led to major job losses, there is a danger that as factions take sides over whether he did or did not incite an insurrection, the president's economic successes and failures will be obscured.

Perhaps one of the biggest flaws in Trump's economic strategy was that he chose policy based on how it would appeal to the ideology of his populist base. Sometimes things that appeal to a large number of people are simply wrong.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in Trump's economic strategy is the one that he celebrated as his biggest success: his $1.5-trillion overhaul of the U.S. tax system. While claiming to speak for poorer working Americans, it has been widely recorded that Trump's financial support came from the rich who benefited from tax cuts and rising markets.

Especially after the impact of COVID-19, those measures have left the U.S. more starkly divided between rich and poor than when Trump took office.

[SilverFang01]

Rob, you were right on calling me out on the ad hominem. I apologize.

But what I get from Comey's suggestions is the same kind of message we are getting from the GOP. Let's forgive and forget, which not publicly pursuing charges against him and everyone else involved will end up doing. And if we want to restore trust in our institutions we cannot do that.

[Bob Schroeck]

Meanwhile, the FBI are pursuing a woman who appears to have stolen a computer from Pelosi's office during the attack, with the intent of selling it to the Russians. Go, you valiant patriot.

[Bob Schroeck]

Trump to issue around 100 pardons and commutations tomorrow.

[Star Ranger4]

Is it time to start singing along with Pink Floyd's "the Wall' yet?

[Bob Schroeck]

Billionaire backer feels 'deceived' by Josh Hawley over election objections

[SilverFang01]

Armed terrorists are gathering at Michigan Capitol

State Capitols, Warned of Threats, Stay on High Alert

[Dartz]

Trump to issue around 100 pardons and commutations tomorrow.

Reopen his Twitter account for a day.

That'll keep him distracted enough so he doesn't bother.

[DHBirr]

Trump to issue around 100 pardons and commutations tomorrow.

Reopen his Twitter account for a day.

That'll keep him distracted enough so he doesn't bother.

Perhaps it'd be better not to actually open his Twitter account ... but make him think it's been reopened, like one of those elaborate illusions the original Mission Impossible crew concocted.  That way, he'd be distracted as you say, but his lies might not get out to the StormTrumpers.

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God made me an agnostic — who are you to question His wisdom?

[Star Ranger4]

well, pretty much ALL his secretaries have disavowed any knowledge of his actions?

[nocarename]

If I were a State AG, I'd be looking at the pardon list like a shopping list.

How many federal crimes aren't state ones, after all? (Okay, crimes within DC, but otherwise.)

[hazard]

Meanwhile, the FBI are pursuing a woman who appears to have stolen a computer from Pelosi's office during the attack, with the intent of selling it to the Russians.  Go, you valiant patriot.

That sounds like an espionage charge waiting to happen.

Billionaire backer feels 'deceived' by Josh Hawley over election objections

Alternative title: Billionaire feels the same way about politician as poor people do.

[robkelk]

CBC video: What security in Washington, D.C., looks like ahead of the inauguration

A "man on the street" piece - literally. There is nobody else on this particular street in downtown DC two days before the inauguration - and the reporter is outside of the security perimeter.

[SilverFang01]

This hits the nail in the head:

[Bob Schroeck]

McConnell says -- on the record -- that Trump "and other powerful people" provoked the Capitol attack.

[Bob Schroeck]

More financial fall-out for Trump:

Palm Beach County looks to end Trump golf course lease after U.S. Capitol riot

And for at least one of his enablers:

MyPillow’s CEO says Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s stopped selling his products

[Bob Schroeck]

Republican congresscritters in trouble:

Democratic lawmaker accuses Boebert of giving tours prior to insurrection

GOP Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene referred to Parkland school shooting as 'false flag' event on Facebook

Meanwhile the President focuses on issues of vital importance to the world: Trump ‘furious’ so many celebrities performing for Biden inauguration

[Bob Schroeck]

Financial fallout, cont'd:

Charles Johnson, Giants Owner, Asks QAnon-backing Rep. Lauren Boebert for Donor Refunds

[aku]

I strongly believe that the words that can hurt you was written in direct response to the various poli-tic-ian back pedaling wrt their association with T and T's actions.

[robkelk]

12 National Guard members removed from Biden inauguration duties

Ten for the usual failure to clear a FBI security check, and two for “inappropriate comments or texts”.

[robkelk]

I mentioned this three threads ago...

May as well post this here, since oil-drilling in Alaska parkland was one of the Nicknamer-in-Chief's pet projects.

RBC - one of the 33 banks on the Swiss Financial Stability Board's list of global systemically important banks (and thus "too big to fail" from an international point of view) and the fifth-largest bank in North America - announced last Friday that they will not fund any oil and gas development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Due to its particular ecological and social significance and vulnerability, RBC will not provide direct financing for any project or transaction that involves exploration or development in the ANWR

(Source)

This puts them in the same position as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs (largest, fourth-largest, and seventh-largest banks in North America, respectively).

Even if the Nicknamer-in-Chief wants it to happen, if nobody's going to pay for it, it ain't happening.

(RBC investments in coal-fired power plants, thermal coal mines, mountain-top removal coal mines and development in UNESCO World Heritage Sites now also require "enhanced due diligence"... which is nice, but considering RBC finances a lot of fossil fuel development in Canada, not as reassuring as an outright refusal to fund.)

Well, the auction of licenses to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was held earlier this week, presumably so that the outgoing administration could take the credit for it.

Of the 22 tracts offered, 10 had no bids, and 8 more only had one bidder: the Alaska Industrial Development and Industrial Authority, a state agency.

The sale raised less than $15m (£11m) - far less than the government had hoped.

So, this plan was a bust from any objective standard.

[Bob Schroeck]

More on the financial fallout:

Lawmakers who objected to election results have been cut off from 20 of their 30 biggest corporate PAC donors

[hazard]

Time to cut off 10 of the biggest corporate PAC donors from their customers if you're in the USA. Or want the USA government to function.

[Bob Schroeck]

Meanwhile, the FBI are pursuing a woman who appears to have stolen a computer from Pelosi's office during the attack, with the intent of selling it to the Russians.  Go, you valiant patriot.

They've caught her.

[Bob Schroeck]

From the "Too Dumb To Live" Department:

Man sends selfie from the Capitol invasion to his girlfriend's brother. Said brother is a special agent with the Secret Service. Guess what happens.