[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by PB PM All politicians are self-centred loons. You have to be a little messed up to want to put yourself through that crap. End of discussion.

Been saying this for years, now. Decades. Anyone wanting the job/actively campaigning for it (public office, and all the goes with it) automatically removes themselves from my consideration. The people I'd vote for/support, would never put themselves through the nonsense/circus. Those who want it at all costs, no matter what, are who truly scare/turn me off.

Originally Posted by PB PM Wait, people think she’s hot? Not just now that she older, but ever?

Not I. Ever. Some do. Something about her has always kinda repulsed me. I think she's benefitted greatly from being the daughter of two famous people. Normally, someone so physically unappealing - and devoid of talent - doesn't stand a shot in Hollywood/showbiz.

[709]

Originally Posted by Bryson Also, what they're prosecuting him for is moderately inconsequential.

We don't know yet what the charges are since the indictment is still under seal, but yeah, if it's *just* campaign finance violations then it's pretty weak (though his lawyer did do time for the same charges, so....). I suspect there's more to it than that.

The real meat, imo, are some of the other investigations into criming. The Georgia investigations into election tampering and obstruction, and the special counsel investigations into stolen documents and espionage, Jared and crew funneling classified docs to Putin and the BoneSaudis, etc. Then there's the upcoming rape/defamation trial and J6 civil suits. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things.


EDIT: Instead of clogging the News thread – as much as I love to – I suggest we take any more Trump talk over to that other thread.

[psmith2.0]

Hey, let's not and say we did!

Nothing good ever comes from talking about this graceless, combover fat-ass. His very name poisons everything it touches, even just discussion about him.

[Matsu]

In my previous post I mentioned victims and Trump skating on a legal system that affords a lot of privilege to wealth and power. I'm not naive, I know it was ever thus, but I just want to clarify what I meant by those victims. If we take the sum of his/his company's abuses of tenants, contractors, workers, business partners, and regulations, then Trump has plenty of victims without getting into any of his behaviors as a politician.

His CV really ought to have disqualified him as a candidate back in June 2016: he hasn't had a professional relationship where he hasn't screwed the other guys over in the name of business, or at least tried. That's just not a history that should recommend a man to the office of president.

To me, his current legal predicament/s are still, overall, less interesting than the deeper legal/judicial/regulatory issues that suggest we're all just too comfortable letting the little guy get shafted in the name of business.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Bryson I'm also strongly against the Trump indictment, but for the opposite reason. What trump thrives on is publicity. And now, there's wall-to-wall coverage of him. He's the living embodiment of "all publicity is good publicity." I'd say it betters his chances of re-election, not worsens them.

This is all true — the press is eating it up, and he enjoys the martyrdom.

But "POTUS is not above the law" needs to be established as precedent. If not for Trump (or Nixon), then for people who follow them and feel free to break the rules.

Originally Posted by Bryson Also, what they're prosecuting him for is moderately inconsequential. If they were indicating him for orchestrating a coup on January 6th I might be in favour (although they should have done that a year ago) - but on a technicality of campaign finance / business expense reporting law? Weak sauce.

Agreed, but people get indicted for far less, and having committed a crime as part of his role in the coup may just be too hard to prove. Or it's yet to come.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by turtle I'm sorry but I can't buy it. Yes he is accused of a crime, otherwise there wouldn't be an indictment from a grand jury*. We don't even know what for at this point because it is sealed. The timing and pursuit is pretty clear what the motive is. It has nothing to do with the "victims" he is accused of wronging. It is either to attempt to remove him from being President again or otherwise end his political career. The DA has plenty of other crimes that are WAY more pressing to NYC than Trump. Yet his focus is on a Trump.... right before an election season. Dare I suggest that if Trump didn't announce he was going to run again that the DA wouldn't have probed or pushed for an indictment? * Assuming an actual impartial grand jury, which I do assume to be the case.

There is an assumption at the core of this stance, which I completely and utterly reject: There is a proper time for indictment for politicians. This *alone* says "they are special and above the law that the rest of us are beholden to". Which is, I'm sorry, utter crap.

The idea that certain people should be treated differently by the courts based on their private or professional lives *including* deciding *when* to charge, try, and jail them, is complete anathema to democracy and a just society.

You charge, try, and jail them at the soonest opportunity. Period. Large cases take time. Public cases take care.

When you have a portion of the population that is armed up and willing to start using them against fellow citizens over this shit, you take DAMNED care with it, but you do not let them hold the rest of us hostage to get their way.

I mean, you're absolutely right, I'd have loved it if this had happened last year, or the year before, or, or, or, but this is where we are. How long do you want them to just let it keep going?

What's your idea of 'the right time'?

And what, exactly, is 'election season'? We're nearly *two years* away from the next election. We *just* got past the midterms. What, is there a 2 or 3 month period in 2021 that was acceptable?

The whole premise is ludicrous, and based entirely on a foundation that there are individuals who should be treated differently by the judicial system solely on the basis of their 'specialness'.

And that is undemocratic, un-American, and unacceptable.

[chucker]

US election campaigns are so absurdly long — in part due to the primaries and caucuses, and in party because the media loves a horse race narrative — that… it’s basically always election season somewhere.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by chucker US election campaigns are so absurdly long — in part due to the primaries and caucuses, and in party because the media loves a horse race narrative — that… it’s basically always election season somewhere.

I really wish we didn't do that.

Primaries and caucuses over six weeks, six weeks before the general. The end.

This isn't Teddy Roosevelt campaigning by whistlestop train tour anymore. Between jet planes and digital media, why do we need a year-long cycle?

[drewprops]

The case in Georgia should take precedence. Politicians shouldn't be immune. Donald Trump isn't a politician and never was. He is the leader of a movement, and THAT is problematic, for all the reasons. The system is losing coherence. It is my Balti belief that Ford was on target with the handling of Nixon.


...

[drewprops]

A few days ago I was looking around to see if there had been any changes in the HDD/SSD market and tried to go to Western Digital's website, but it was a bit funky. Not entirely down, but you couldn't really go anywhere.

Turns out Western Digital experienced a breach.

I was suddenly (and decades too late, compared to security wonks) seized by a concern that hard drives and SSDs could be compromised at an atomic level to share data across the web with hackers.

...

[Frank777]

Toronto goes all Fast and Furious with an airport heist...

[709]

Those son of a bitches! Ooaahhh Jiimmmayyy!!!

RIP Ray Liotta

[drewprops]

Gordon Lightfoot has passed.

What a body work.

...

[psmith2.0]

That damn boat song will haunt me forever.

My little acoustic trio played “Sundown” to great applause/singalongification.

[drewprops]

Disc 3 in my box set offers these gems:

1 Sundown
2 Carefree Highway
3 Seven Island Suite
4 Borderstone
5 Cold On The Shoulder
6 Now And Then
7 Rainy Day People
8 Fine As Fine Can Be
9 All The Lovely Ladies
10 Summertime Dream
11 The Wreck Of The Edmund...
12 Never Too Close
13 Betty Called Me
14 Endless Wire
15 The Circle Is Small
16 Sea Of Tranquility
17 Make Way For The Lady
18 Dream Street Rose
19 Ghosts Of Cape Horn
20 Keepin' On Yearnin'
21 Canary Yellow Canoe

and that's just one disc.


...

[psmith2.0]

I have to admit, I don’t know that much from him. Was always more of a Van Morrison or Stephen Stills guy. But that’s quite a list!

[Matsu]

I grew up mishearing "The Wreck of the Ella Fitzgerald" till I was at least 10 and we bought a decent solid state stereo. I think there are still some Gordon Lightfoot 8 tracks in my mom's basement...

[709]

Man, I still to this day know every word to every song on Summertime Dream (the album that The Wreck of... is on). My mom wore that record right out.

[PB PM]

Canadian Railway trilogy was another great Lightfoot song, written for the centennial of the nation. Beautiful, but dark song, so much wrapped up in that part of our history. Funny thing is I had rainy day people stuck in my head yesterday, even though I haven’t listen to it for years! A great folk singer who just loved what he did.

[Frank777]

At this point, it seems like corruption in the US government has hit unprecedented levels.

I mean, how is something like this even tolerated? Is there going to be a resignation, or even an investigation?

[PB PM]

That does look bad, no doubt about it. These people are so sure that nothing will happen to them, which is likely the outcome, that they just don’t care anymore.

[709]

It's a huge problem. There's been some lip service recently but no real movement to address it, afaik. I think there was some tepid legislation introduced in the previous congress that went nowhere, and the current batch sure aren't going to do anything about it.

[Matsu]

Strange bed fellows, but basically correct

[PB PM]

^ Broken link

[Matsu]

Fixed it

[Frank777]

Just wondering if anyone else is slightly concerned that 60,000 pounds of highly explosive materials have recently gone missing.