Usa Thread

[Coss]

On Trump, I think the Dems have played this well, look for a landslide in the coming election and the one after that.

It started when Comey said he'd like to see Trump kicked out by the vote, not the court/congress.

And that is a good idea.

As opined in the NYT,  Convicting Trump would “pour gasoline on cultural fires.” (New York Times)

.. because if there's a choice of:  the left protesting on the street with placards, or the right in the street armed to the teeth, I know which I'd prefer. And once the vote is in, there's no moral legitimacy to saying "we was robbed".

If Trump was ejected from Office, he would get all sorts of immunity from prosecution, as part of the process and deals made during.

Once he is out of office, all the crimes that've been discovered, will be advanced and prosecuted.

Of course like Trump, I could be lying.

further disclaimer: I am a Noble Knight Companion of the Order of Solomon's Temple, and though I can't talk more on this, rest assured we have found Trump good for our interests, not directly , but for those of our interests that are subject to U.S. tax law, we are not displeased.

[Coss]

Donald Trump

 

Donald Trump talks a lot about his business successes, but he’s had more than a few failures over the years as well. Here’s a look at some of the missteps he’s made in his long career.

Trump Airlines

In October 1988, Donald Trump threw his wallet into the airline business by purchasing Eastern Air Shuttle, a service that for 27 years had run hourly flights between Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C. For roughly $365 million, Trump got a fleet of 17 Boeing 727s, landing facilities in each of the three cities and the right to paint his name on an airplane. Trump pushed to give the airline the Trump touch, making the previously no-muss, no-fuss shuttle service into a luxury experience. To this end, he added maple-wood veneer to the floors, chrome seat-belt latches and gold-colored bathroom fixtures. But his gamble was a bust. A lack of increased interest from customers (who favored the airline for its convenience not its fancy new look) combined with high pre–Gulf War fuel prices meant the shuttle never turned a profit. The high debt forced Trump to default on his loans, and ownership of the company was turned over to creditors. The Trump Shuttle ceased to exist in 1992 when it was merged into a new corporation, Shuttle Inc.

 

Trump Vodka

 

 

Trump Mortgage

 

In April 2006, Trump announced that, after years in the real estate business, he was launching a mortgage company. He held a glitzy press conference at which his son Donald Jr. predicted that Trump Mortgage would soon be the nation’s No. 1 home-loan lender. Trump told CNBC, “Who knows more about financing than me?” Apparently, plenty. Within a year and a half, Trump Mortgage had closed shop. The would-be lending powerhouse was done in by timing (the housing market cratered in 2007) and ironically enough, given Trump’s Apprentice TV show, poor hiring. The executive Trump selected to run his loan company, E.J. Ridings, claimed to have been a top executive at a prestigious investment bank. In reality, Ridings’ highest role on Wall Street was as a registered broker, a position he held for a mere six days.

 

 

Trump: The Game

In 1989, the Donald teamed up with Milton Bradley to release Trump: The Game, a Monopolyesque board game in which three to four players must buy and sell real estate and try to trump one another in business deals. A year later Trump admitted the game was vastly underselling the predicted 2 million units he and the toy company had hoped for. Not one to abandon ideas, Trump revived the game 15 years later after his success on The Apprentice, making sure to incorporate the series catchphrase “You’re fired!” into the game. Other updated features included a sterner-looking Trump on the box cover, somewhat simpler rules and cards with business tips.

 

The China Connection

 

“The problem with our country is we don’t manufacture anything anymore,” Donald Trump told Fox News a year ago. “The stuff that’s been sent over from China,” he complained, “falls apart after a year and a half. It’s crap.” That very same Donald Trump has his own line of clothing, and it’s made in … China. (O.K., O.K. — not all of it. Salon, which reported this intriguing, head-scratching fact, notes that some of his apparel is from Mexico and Bangladesh.)

 

Trump Casinos

 

Donald Trump’s gambles don’t always go as planned. Especially when that gamble is gambling itself. In February 2009, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the third time in a row — an extremely rare feat in American business. The casino company, founded in the 1980s, runs the Taj Mahal, the Trump Plaza and the Trump Marina. All three casinos are located in Atlantic City, N.J., where the gambling industry has faced a decline in tourists who prefer gambling in Pennsylvania and Connecticut instead. Trump defended himself by distancing himself from the company, though he owned 28% of its stock. “Other than the fact that it has my name on it — which I’m not thrilled about — I have nothing to do with the company,” he said. He resigned from Trump Entertainment soon after that third filing, and in August of that year he, along with an affiliate of Beal Bank Nevada, agreed to buy the company for $100 million. The company reported it emerged from bankruptcy in July 2010.

 

Trump Steak

Donald Trump was featured on the June 2007 cover of the Sharper Image catalog hunched over a platter of meat to kick off his line of premium steaks that he dubbed the “world’s greatest.” The company has since been discontinued—maybe it had something to do with the Trump Steakhouse in Las Vegas being closed down in 2012 for 51 health code violations, including serving five-month old duck.

 

Trump Magazine

 

Trump launched an eponymous magazine in 2007 that, in a press release announcing the publication’s arrival, was described as “[reflecting] the passions of its affluent readership by tapping into a rich cultural tapestry.” A year-and-a-half after the launch, the magazine ceased publication.

 

GoTrump.com

 

Trump launched this luxury travel search engine in 2006, only to shut it down a year later, despite being powered by booking giant Travelocity.

 

Trump University

 

In 2005, Trump opened the non-accredited, for-profit Trump University. In 2010, four students sued the university for “offering classes that amounted to extended ‘infomercials.’” Following the suit, the “university” changed its name to “The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative,” before ending operations one year later. In 2013, the New York Attorney General sued Trump and the “university” for $40 million for allegedly defrauding students.

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“My whole life is about winning. I don’t lose often. I almost never lose.” – Donald Trump

 

and lifted straight from "The Godfather" :

“I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.” – Donald Trump

 

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[Steve]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-domestic-abuse-sexual-assault-definition-womens-rights-justice-department-a8744546.html

Trump administration ‘rolling back women’s rights by 50 years’ by changing definitions of domestic violence and sexual assault

[Steve]

Coss, demographically, the Republican party in its present incarnation will be visibly a minority party. The districts that can go either way are almost all former red. I can't think of any blue areas that are now red/blue or what they call "purple". 

So, the Republicans are getting more and more desperate to win elections and in doing so will violate more and more laws that won't hold up even in a Republican dominated court. Which won't last long as well. The Republicans will have no choice but to change, meaning move closer to the left, or try and co-opt one of the Democratic niches. My guess is women and Asians but even so they will have to concede some of their ideology. 

The future of America is moving left. The middle will be left of center from where it is now. Universal basic income was a non starter 10 or 20 years ago. National healthcare started in the '90s under Clinton and will eventually come to fruition. Even reparations has made it to the Democratic debate, which no one saw coming. 

I think one of the biggest losers of the shift will be the religious right. Young people have stopped going to church and their support has exposed them to young people as hypocrites. The religious right is not going to lose its power. 

I also predict one day we will see the left version of Trump. It won't be pretty. The right at that time may be the party of conscience believe it or not. And it will fall on deaf ears because of their long history of not only intolerance but their support of people like Nixon, Bush and Trump. 

I feel like Nostradamus....hahaha

[Coss]

I've never understood anyone's antipathy to universal health care (like we have in NZ).

I can intellectually understand, the argument that someone has to pay for it, ergo, "why should I pay for yours..." but I find that selfish.

A whole society can be judged, or measured by the way it treats those who are less fortunate.

I cannot understand why there has to be profit in healthcare, or education or infrastructure, except to allow for maintenance and growth.

But profit for private shareholders, no. I could turn the "why should I pay for yours..." argument on its head and say, "why should all of us contribute to a behemoth that provides riches for 2 or 3 of you?"

And the rich will be with without anything of value one day. Imagine if everyone stopped using facebook overnight, Zuckerberg would be hawking around some new vapourware.

I once postulated that Tourism might vanish, once the people had had enough of airlines and being ripped off. This coronavirus is putting a big dent in it, but I think that the marketing machines will survive this scare. But really, I love Laos and LOS, but I'm not a tourist, anymore than I am a tourist, if I visit the next suburb.

[Steve]

Best economy ever, right?

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/farmers-filing-for-bankruptcy-highest-rate-since-2011-trade-war-2020-1-1028861420

US farmers are filing for bankruptcy at the highest rate since 2011

[Steve]

4 minutes ago, Coss said:

I've never understood anyone's antipathy to universal health care (like we have in NZ).

 

Pre internet. Americans rarely traveled other than the rich or pensioners and so the public listened to the corporate dominated media when America touted itself as having the best medical care in the world. The European style was called socialist and how it will never work in America. 

At one time over 60% of all personal bankruptcies was tied to medical expenses. The internet has made the world smaller. Cheaper airline flights made access to Europe as cheap as domestic flights. 

Americans got to know the world outside and what worked. Problem is that the Republican party as well as to some extent the Democratic party establishment take a lot of money from big Pharma. 

Republicans masses are just as if not more financially hurt by the medical system here but vote against their own self interest just because the many Democrats are for it. There are literally Republican counties in Kentucky and other places that rely on medicare/medicaid and vote for people who will cut it. Insane. But that's what you get with identity politics. 

[Steve]

[Steve]

[Steve]