Don't get me wrong here, But I LIKE Donald Trump.

[onetrack]

Someone needs to come up with a good parody version of "MAGA" - Make America Gag Again", would be a good one.

[willedoo]

30 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Someone needs to come up with a good parody version of "MAGA" - Make America Gag Again", would be a good one.

I can't remember the context involved with it, but someone once referred to it as ' Make America Grate Again'.

[Marty_d]

With Trump's frequent hissy fits, maybe it's "Massive Arsehole Goes Apeshit".

[old man emu]

A list of campus slang from the University of New Mexico appearing in a December 1951 article in the Albuquerque Journal gave “he went ape” as an example, glossed as “to extremes.”  More profane versions of the expression were catching on in the military. The earliest known example of "go apeshit", as recorded by Jonathan Lighter in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, appeared in Troubling of a Star, a 1952 novel by Walt Sheldon set among Air Force personnel serving in the Korean War. One character says, “What do I want to fight for? You going apeshit?” From around the same time, Lighter also cites a songbook from the 41st Fighter Squadron, which flew air defense during the war: “They’ll drive you ape shit, they’ll drive you insane.”

 

"Go apeshit", is a far more intense expression of lack of control than the more innocuous go ape. For some, the phrase might bring to mind the image of a primate flinging its faeces, but -shit is working as a more general intensifier here. As the lexicographer Kory Stamper wrote on the Strong Language blog, “go ape" tends to imply a happy, usually harmless frenzy, whereas "go apeshit" almost always refers to violent or other ill-mannered explosions.”

[Yenn]

Is the USA at last waking up to Trump. He should have been certified insane by Pence, before the 2020 election, but Pence didn't have the guts to do it and that probably saved his life. The man is a Narcisist of the worst order and it seems that very few are willing to accept it. Didn't a group of 40 or so psychiatrists try to tell the electoral commission, or whoever runs elections that he wasn't sane enough to be President and haven't we seen ample evidence of that fact.

Of course Trump is not the only politician with those sort of tendencies, we are seeing more and more coming out of similar bad behaviour in our own pollies and they seem to be proud of it.

[rgmwa]

He's not insane but he does seem to have one or two character flaws. He doesn't drink though, which is probably very wise given his personality. 

[facthunter]

Yes He shouldn't be allowed to get off by using insanity as his excuse, though if you really want to know, Read His Neices, Mary Trump's book. SHE IS a qualified Psychologist and knows his upbringing in detail.  It's readily available. Nev

[octave]

Just now, facthunter said:

Yes He shouldn't be allowed to get off by using insanity as his excuse, though if you really want to know, Read His Neices, Mary Trump's book. SHE IS a qualified Psychologist and knows his upbringing in detail.  It's readily available. Nev

Yep a fascinating read.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, Yenn said:

Of course Trump is not the only politician with those sort of tendencies, we are seeing more and more coming out of similar bad behaviour in our own pollies and they seem to be proud of it.

 

One of the reasons I can see is that the electorate keep voting them in regasrdless of what theyt do.. generally. The last election saw the LNP get pummelled but more on climate inaction I would proffer than their corruption and illegal activities. While some high profile pollies got smashed, how on earth was ScoMo and Angus whatzisname.. and Dave Sharma re-elected? Political parties know that they can generally count on a lot of the vote, so branch stacking with ideaolouges occurs and you get nutjobs. Hasn't there been articles about how Hillsong and other nutjobs churches are stacking the LNP? And the branch stacking of the Vic ALP?

 

While the population aren't prepared to send their vote the other way, or turn up and en masse turn in blank ballots when the options are bad, we will keep getting idiots.

 

Also, the press don't help.

 

<rant over>

Edited November 17, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[willedoo]

36 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

While some high profile pollies got smashed, how on earth was ScoMo and Angus whatzisname.. and Dave Sharma re-elected?

Jerry, Dave Sharma wasn't re-elected. He got bumped off by one of the teal independents.

[nomadpete]

3 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

One of the reasons I can see is that the electorate keep voting them in regasrdless of what theyt do..

Jerry, don't blame the voters.

You well know that the only reason these parties get elected is because the electorate is not allowed to vote the whole lot out. We can't say " no suitlabe applicants for the job". We only get to choose those we think are the least worst.

[Marty_d]

ABC played a bit of his rambling speech the other day and it made me laugh.  At one point he said "Make America Great And Glorious Again!"  Which, as well as sounding like an official pronouncement from North Korea, turns the MAGA caps into MAGAGA...

[Jerry_Atrick]

37 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

We can't say " no suitlabe applicants for the job". We only get to choose those we think are the least worst.

But, we can..  Just by simply casting an empty ballot paper.. if enough people did it, it would send a clear message the applicants aren't good enough. I would love to see it one day. In reality, of course, it would never happen as those competing and their family/mates/party would vote.. But if informal votes were, say 99% of the votes, that would send a clear message no one has a mandate. And if the candidates are all that incompetent, what difference would it make who got in?

 

We were taught in high school, and it seems generally accepted that if one doesn't vote, then they can't complain. That is on the basis of apathy, but I have not voted many times and I consider it not apathetic, but sending a clear message none of them are worth the taxpayers dollars they could  get. I have the right to complain because it is a conscious decision not to vote.. And democracy does not stop at the ballot box.

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[nomadpete]

Sure you have a right to vote informal or otherwise spoil your paper.

But when only a minority do this, it is totally ignored by everyone. So, has nil impact on the system.

True, if a serious lot of votors did so, it would make the news.

But even then I doubt it would change things. Wouldn't the AEC just tally any valid votes as per usual?

Unless there is some legal electoral requirement for the aec to receive a minimum number of valid votes?

Even if there is (which I doubt), is there a process to disqualify all candidates and call for a new bunch of hopefuls? I can't see that happening.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Yes.. they AEC would tally the remaining valid votes.. And the one that could win a majority oif the valid votes would win. But, if you're candidates are equally useless, does it matter which one gets in? They're going to be equally useless.

 

One of the problems is that we are taught an informal or non-vote is not participating in democracy, so people think, "IOh, I have to vote or I can't complain" And they pick who they think is the least incompeetent, or just vote the same way they have al ltheir life - which I would argue is more reason to be deemed not participating in democracy and  having less reeason to complain than not voting for anyone. In the absence of puttinng Mr/Mrs/Ms/GenderFluid Nobody as the number 1 candiudate on the ballot, the only way to expres dissatisfaction with all candidates is to spoil or put in an informal ballot paper.

 

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

But when only a minority do this, it is totally ignored by everyone. So, has nil impact on the system.

That is my point.. I would love to see all those who think there is no alternative to put in their paper informally

[Old Koreelah]

15 hours ago, rgmwa said:

He's not insane but he does seem to have one or two character flaws.

The understatement of the century!

 

15 hours ago, rgmwa said:

He doesn't drink though, which is probably very wise given his personality. 

I often tried to figure out that old Australian saying “never trust a man who doesn’t drink”. Perhaps the one advantage of getting someone blotto is that thier filters are removed, revealing the real underlying character for all to see. For most voters, that would be sufficient, but trump’s dumb followers seem to be immune to reason, decency and common sense.

[Yenn]

Our voting system is flawed. Not so long ago the mayor of Rockhampton was criticised by those who are above her and told she had to apologise, then she could continue to be mayor. Now I have never thought she was a good mayor, but I applaud her for not apologizing, but this led to a new election for mayor. The rules at the time said that the second place getter in the previous mayoral election, should take over without an election if the election was less than a year past, which it was. The Qld government didn't want the no 2 to become mayor, so they changed the rules and Rocky elected a new mayor. Having listened to the second place getter on the radio I can understand why the Premier did not want him, but it was a corrupt way of getting what she wanted. The no 2 got only a small proportion of the votes and he was the only one to stand against the old mayor in the previous election.

[red750]

5 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

I often tried to figure out that old Australian saying “never trust a man who doesn’t drink”.

Hang on a minute!! I don't 'drink'. My liquid refreshment comes in 1.25 lt plastic bottles for 75c.

[red750]

The Independent

 

Former Attorney General Bill Barr says it looks “increasingly likely” that Donald Trump will be “legitimately” indicted on criminal charges by the Justice Department.

 

Mr Barr’s comments came on the day that current AG Merrick Garland installed a special counsel to oversee investigations into the one-term president.

 

The Republican was asked in a PBS interview about the legal danger facing Mr Trump over the probe into top secret documents the FBI found hidden at Mar-a-Lago.

 

“If the Department of Justice can show that these were very sensitive documents, which I think they probably were and also show that the president consciously was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the government and playing games after he had received the subpoena for the documents, those are serious charges,” said Mr Barr.

 

“I personally think that they probably have the basis for legitimately indicting the president. I don’t know, I’m speculating. But given what’s gone on I think they probably have the evidence that would check the box.”

 

Mr Barr added that it was important for the Justice Department to prosecute anyone, including a former president, if they had broken the law, but that it also had to be weighed up against the damage done to the office.

 

Earlier in the day, Mr Trump reacted angrily to the appointment of the special counsel Jack Smith and bizarrely insisted he would not “partake in it.”

[red750]

On Friday, the New York Post reported that Allen Weisselberg, the longtime CFO of the Trump Organization, revealed at trial that the children of former President Donald Trump realized he was using shady accounting tricks to cook the books at the company — and then gave him a huge raise.

 

"Eric and Donald Trump Jr. in 2017 learned Weisselberg, 75, and two other top execs had been getting cushy perks that they didn’t report on their taxes — yet nobody was penalized, Weisselberg testified at the Manhattan Supreme Court tax fraud trial against the Trump Org," reported Priscilla DeGregory and Khristina Narizhnaya. "The sons learned of the tax cheating during a 'cleanup process' the company underwent with tax auditors when Trump took office as president, Weisselberg said."

 

"When prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked the longtime chief financial officer if the Trump Org demoted or punished him in light of the discovery, he said no," said the report. "'Were you in fact given a raise … that totaled approximately $200,000?' Hoffinger asked. 'Correct,' Weisselberg replied on his final day of testimony."

 

Weisselberg, long considered to be one of the most loyal members of the Trump's inner circle and the one person who had access to the Trump Organization's entire financial operations, took a plea deal earlier this year, admitting to accepting $1.7 million in non-monetary benefits from the company as a way of evading taxes.

 

Among other things, Weisselberg had the Trump Organization pay school tuition for his grandchildren, and received free use of company-owned cars and an Upper West Side apartment.

 

Weisselberg's testimony, which he provided as part of his plea agreement for a 5-month prison sentence, revealed a number of new details publicly, including that Trump himself "authorized" the accounting tricks that helped the business skip on paying taxes, and that he was never really fired, continuing to be paid and handle the Trump Organization's money even after the company publicly claimed to sever ties with him to limit their legal exposure.

[Old Koreelah]

Why isn’t that POS behind bars?

 

 

[facthunter]

Good question, but he has millions of people who choose to believe the BS he sprouts.  They should have seen enough by now but they are blind to facts if they are adverse to the Don.   Nev

[kgwilson]

The US justice system moves at super slow glacial pace. Almost everything seems to be able to be appealed even subpoenas. Trump just gets new lawyers. He has refused to pay some as I understand it & the ones he gets on board are as crackpot as he is. eg Rudy Giuliani and that weird woman who reckoned a dead South American politician changed the software in the vote counting machines.

[red750]

A friend from the Men's Shed sent me this:

 

No matter which side of the AISLE you're on, THIS is FUNNY!!! 

 

Judy Wallman Trump, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that President Donald Trump's great, great uncle, Remus Trump, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and President Trump share this common ancestor. The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana territory. On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: “Remus Trump, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.”

 

So Judy recently e-mailed the President for information about their great, great uncle, Remus. Believe it or not, President Trump's staff sent this response back.

 "Remus Trump was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad.  Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed.” (Isn't this hilarious 🤣??)

 

Now THAT is how it's done, Folks!!!   That's "TRUE POLITICAL SPIN"!!

[red750]

Trump rages at Bill Barr for saying it was increasingly likely ex-president would face criminal charges.

 

Read more here.