Australian Atheists Forum

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ump-pardon

Good news, unbelievably!

Now, could someone pass the soma, i could really use some!

pipbarber wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2025 6:42 pm https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ump-pardon

Good news, unbelievably!'s

Now, could someone pass the soma, i could really use some!

Wow, on top of the Jan 6 pardons, law and order fans on the right must be learning some new contortionist tricks to accommodate this.

After reading this account of the pursuit of the Dread Pirate Roberts, I ended up with a low opinion of Ulbricht, he's like Bezos but with bitcoin and drugs. But Trump is transactional, this is the boon granted to MAGA-boosting libertarians, they must be very happy.

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/

Trump interview a remark about pardoning police officers convicted or murder:

Mr Trump foreshadowed his intention to pardon these two former police officers yesterday, though he wasn’t entirely across the details of the case. He said the two defendants were arrested “because they went after an illegal”.

Yep just straight ignorance, doesn't even know or care about the details of the cases he is giving pardons for!

Mr Hylton-Brown was, in fact, an American citizen born in the United States.

Sutton conducted an unauthorised police pursuit of Mr Hylton-Brown after noticing him riding a motorcycle without a helmet. He chased Mr Hylton-Brown down an alley at an unreasonably high speed, which resulted in the 20-year-old being fatally hit by a car.

The court found that, after the incident, Sutton and Zabavsky conspired to cover up what had happened.

So basically murder, they knew it was murder because they tried to cover it up, they have been pardoned, they will probably get hired as police officers again because it is a pardon and not a commutation so can't be taken into account during hiring!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... itizenship

It's just fascinating in an academic and historical sense where this will go. Maga are launching war against democratic institutions and the concept of separation of powers - nothing new in that, it was happening while they were in opposition. What's striking to me is the boldness, and this early on. They've made a blatant and obvious attempt to break through constitutional constraints, and they've only been in government for 4 days! This is the opening salvo.

Does it go to the supreme court? If scotus find for Trump, the power of their constitution is pretty much broken, isn't it?

These 4 days already feel like a 4 years, not sure what 4 years of this will feel like.

pipbarber wrote: ↑Fri Jan 24, 2025 8:11 am https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... itizenship

It's just fascinating in an academic and historical sense where this will go. Maga are launching war against democratic institutions and the concept of separation of powers - nothing new in that, it was happening while they were in opposition. What's striking to me is the boldness, and this early on. They've made a blatant and obvious attempt to break through constitutional constraints, and they've only been in government for 4 days! This is the opening salvo.

Does it go to the supreme court? If scotus find for Trump, the power of their constitution is pretty much broken, isn't it?

These 4 days already feel like a 4 years, not sure what 4 years of this will feel like.

There are only 2 ways it can go, a general revolt, peaceful or not, or the population just surrenders and lets it happen, there are examples of both in history. Trump's EO's, just the ones he made in the first few days, are already starting to stir the population, I mean ICE agents waiting at school bus stops for children to get off the bus? In some areas up to 75% of the workforce has just stopped showing up for work. They are getting picked up while working, while walking into a fast food place to get lunch, driving along the road, and not just the immigrants, massive racial profiling is happening, you have the wrong coloured skin they just start following you down the highway. Egg price is now $9 a dozen in some areas!

We will find out well before 4 years is up I am guessing, he's going hard, but is he going hard to soon? That's the question.

Yes, i also heard yesterday that the 15 states most reliant on federal aid in relation to education and health are all republican states. All this aid is ending. All these programs are being terminated as we speak. All the people impacted by this voted for Trump (or most of them). How the hell does that playout?

pipbarber wrote: ↑Fri Jan 24, 2025 12:50 pm Yes, i also heard yesterday that the 15 states most reliant on federal aid in relation to education and health are all republican states. All this aid is ending. All these programs are being terminated as we speak. All the people impacted by this voted for Trump (or most of them). How the hell does that playout?

Don't forget the infrastructure bill, all funding pulled, guess which states the infrastructure is worst in and most urgently needs upgrading, yep you guessed it, red states because Republican Governors won't maintain the existing infrastructure. Curiously red states are going to be hit far worse by these plans of Trump and his cronies and you know what, they are to stupid to figure that out.

Trump works on a transactional basis, so if he can't see the money moving for him it doesn't exist, so the benefits that are further down the chain of funding, for instance you repair a bridge so people can use it and reduced travel time and fuel costs for a lot of people in the area creates benefits for the local economy and population, Trump can't see that, it doesn't exist for him, only the money spent for seemingly no return. That's the danger of a purely transactional mind.

pipbarber wrote: ↑Fri Jan 24, 2025 12:50 pm Yes, i also heard yesterday that the 15 states most reliant on federal aid in relation to education and health are all republican states. All this aid is ending. All these programs are being terminated as we speak. All the people impacted by this voted for Trump (or most of them). How the hell does that playout?

I think how it plays out is that Trump and his billionaire bullshit factory blame it on the minority of the moment, or on "radical left" phantoms. Now we wait to see if people are stupid enough to believe it, and if they start doubting, how much cruelty and violence will Trump unleash as a distraction, and will it work.

Bernie Sanders took it back to basics yesterday.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ion-speech

Trump has just said, 'We're going to recommend that fema go away'?

Before that it might be wise to recommend that climate change go away, but he doesn't believe in climate change so i guess not.

Obviously, abolishing the agency responsible for responding to natural disasters is monumentally idiotic. It seems to be a case of the grifter in chief asking, 'what's in it for me?' and in the case of fema the answer was nothing. Of course this will most impact Trump supporters in the poorer states, where hurricanes have their own season! But preserving the lives of his supporters doesn't seem that important to Trump.

There are now so many cliff edges on the horizon it's hard to know where to look.

Well I have another one, there are parallels in Trump's current rhetoric abut Canada, he just held a press conference where he claimed Canadians would be very happy to have US health care, because they want to go broke or die because they can't afford to pay for insulin, yeah right! In the past he's said many Canadians would welcome being the 51st state and etc. Also he's got rid of, or in the process of getting rid of military leaders with a clue and replace them with yes men and he's basically shutting down US foreign intelligence and etc.

So where's a parallel you ask? Recall that tanks and troops rolling across Ukraine towards Kiev expected to be welcomed with open arms and bunches of flowers because they were all told the Ukrainians hated their leaders and would welcome being taken over the the motherland. Most Russian intelligence officials were just pandering to Putin and telling him how right he was, military leaders were basically there it get a hold of the money and didn't have a clue. Trump is in fact copying Putin's playbook right down to claims that most Canadians would welcome being the 51st state. Experienced military leaders? Getting rid of them, top military advisors, all political yes men appointed by him, intelligence agencies, what intelligence agencies, gone the same was as the military?

If US troops start doing exercises near the Canadian border I would suggest Canadians be very wary!