Immigration, World Poverty and Gumballs - NumbersUSA.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE
time 6.07
Reminds me of the time of Bob Geldoff's "Live Aid" "Band Aid" world wide concerts, to help drought stricken war torn Ethiopia.
Ethiopia population was about 34 million in the late 1980's.
Now, Since then it has been recognized that Ethiopia has one of the highest Gross Domestic Product in Africa.
Now Ethiopia's population is over 94 million, and of course a wonderful GDP now.
Well per ca-pita it is basically the same as the 1980's, a little better in the urban areas, and just as difficult in the rural areas.
Now it would almost seem easy to send out a million emigrants per year from Ethiopia, for them to live a much better safer life.
Immigration Gumballs Part 2#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DFPKNdYFkE
8m 54 secs,
a different intro , then onto to the gumballs, and different points at the end.
Still always good to aid, educate, but some of our ideas need to be reworked.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
New England Patriots lose, Atlanta won! !
Once a upon a time......
Of course ! ! that is how the game is played
and they lived happily ever after.......
Of course ! ! that is how the game is played
Um Atlanta actually won if you look at this other metric that nobody counts.#notmysuperbowlchampion
and they lived happily ever after.......
Friday, January 27, 2017
Over the top? Voter fraud? ID?
Voting fraud and ID issue
I think Trump is right. It is common knowledge that vote-rigging on a massive scale has been achieved in favour of the Democrats in some parts of the USA. Double voting, multiple identities, dead voters, illegal immigrants, etc etc.
I think Trump understands the nature of the political war that the Left has long since been waging. Taking on the MSM head-on is part of this. No-one on “the right” had ever thought this possible before. The default consequences is media talking heads effectively running the country, including through the terms of caretaker “centre right” governments who simply continue the left’s long-term agenda for them so as to be able to say they “won”.
The Left has come to assume that there would never be any push-back, hence their arrogance and over-reach on such basic things as voter fraud. I would put money on it that a proper investigation will reveal rotting skeletons all over the place.
Is there proof of voter fraud?
---------------------------
In DNC campaign worker/contractor Scott Foval’s words:
https://youtu.be/hDc8PVCvfKs?t=42
https://youtu.be/hDc8PVCvfKs?t=42
Foval worked as the deputy political director for People For the American Way and the national field director for Americans United for Change (AUC), two progressive 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations. He also worked as a contractor with Democracy Partners, a political consulting firm.
---------------------------------------
Why is “requiring ID” ever “racist”????
This is classic lefty bait-and-switch political argument.
It is like saying proper policing is “racist” because a disproportional amount of the criminals caught are of a particular race. The remedy according to the left, is to stop policing and especially stop policing the racial minorities involved. This is actually effectively a license to commit crime.
“ID” is simply a sensible part of a properly functioning trust-based society. Abolishing any requirement for it would lead banks offering credit facilities, for example, into loss-making and bankruptcy, because they would become a target of organised opportunists. Is “the vote” so unimportant that we don’t need to bother about preventing fraud through simple ID measures? Abandon this requirement on whatever pretext, and as with the other examples, the outcome will be systematized fraud. Not by any particular race, either.
If you don’t have “ID” in this day and age, you might as well go and subsist in the wilderness somewhere. Don’t expect to be granted credit, granted tenancy of a living quarters, granted public library membership – or a vote. What’s so dam hard about that?
He’s just actually properly fighting the political war that the right should have been fighting all along. The left have got so arrogant because of lack of real push-back, that it is common knowledge they are into voter fraud on a massive scale.
----------------------
Again is there proof of voter fraud?
----------------------------------
......... is the sort of McCain-esque, Cameron-esque, Key-esque “righty in name only” who would say “let it go” on the CAGW fraud, “let it go” on the Treaty fraud, “let it go” on enviro and nuclear lies, “let it go” on urban train set and tram subsidies, “let it go” on anti-smacking, “let it go” on middle class welfare, “let it go” on urban planning and house prices, etc etc. Under this approach, “centre right” governments are in the same relationship with the Left as the Vichy government in France was with the Germans 1940 onwards. Basically acting as puppets while pretending they “didn’t lose the war”.
----------------------------
Is there enough proof of voter fraud, and is it on a grand scale?
----------------------
Ultimately everyone to the right of Karl Marx becomes an “extremist” if the left is allowed to keep ratcheting the standard to the left indefinitely.
What I am talking about is blatant lies and frauds from the left going unchallenged by the mainstream “right”, because they have become addicted to virtue-signalling and gaining the approval of MSM talking heads. Historical revisionism is one example, with NZ’s colonial history a classic case. CAGW is another. Enviro propaganda generally is another. Multi-cultural relativist pandering is another.
The USA has a Trump who has stood up and said “the emperor has no clothes” while there are still enough people with enough common sense to actually respond.
----------------------------
I would have thought that looking for electoral fraud, and if found, doing something about it, would be regarded as a very good thing
------------
If found?
------------------------
Exactly! Doing nothing about the systematizing of vote fraud by the Left, just because your side won this time and still has won sometimes in spite of the scale of the fraud, is ridiculous. The systematic fraud certainly won’t do anything other than get bolder and bolder otherwise.
------------------
If fraud is possible (and especially in States without voter ID you will never convince me it’s not possible) it must be guarded against. And you won’t find it without looking for it.
----------------------
Many years of searching has already confirmed that voter fraud is virtually non-existent.
Remember G W Bush firing the US attorneys who refused to waste their time chasing this phantom?
Remember G W Bush firing the US attorneys who refused to waste their time chasing this phantom?
----------------
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/17/no-voter-fraud-isnt-myth-10-cases-where-its-all-to/
1. Dead people voting in Colorado.
2. Illegals found voting in Virginia; only discovered after they self-reported.
3. Some Pennsylvania citizens voting twice.
4. Voter rigging triggers probe in Texas.
5. Indiana voter fraud investigation grows to 56 counties.
6. Three under investigation in Oklahoma for voting twice in the presidential primary.
7. Election fraud in Kentucky.
8. Underage voters found voting in Wisconsin’s presidential primary.
9. Voter registration cards sent to illegals in Pennsylvania.
1. Dead people voting in Colorado.
2. Illegals found voting in Virginia; only discovered after they self-reported.
3. Some Pennsylvania citizens voting twice.
4. Voter rigging triggers probe in Texas.
5. Indiana voter fraud investigation grows to 56 counties.
6. Three under investigation in Oklahoma for voting twice in the presidential primary.
7. Election fraud in Kentucky.
8. Underage voters found voting in Wisconsin’s presidential primary.
9. Voter registration cards sent to illegals in Pennsylvania.
In Georgia, where I have property, I recall stories after the 2012 election of some crossing into North Carolina, where non-photo ID is only vaguely required, to vote again.
But I guess you’d know more about it than I, so I shall defer to you.
............
10. Illegal voters uncovered in Philadelphia; half had previously voted.
------------------------------------------------
Why would needing to prove your identity with photo ID before you can vote be a bad thing?
--------------------------------
Because that would be unconstitutional.
The US Constitution specifically leaves to the states, voting and enrollment.
The US Constitution specifically leaves to the states, voting and enrollment.
----------------------
Yes, but the federal govt can influence the states in many ways. Like the way they deny funding to universities (nominally independent) who don’t do things they want. Or, for a right wing example, the way they deny funding to groups that support abortion, even if they do many other good works as well
--------------------------
The voter-fraud issue is probably bogus, but either way he gets criticised – as you have with this post, or if he does not do anything, then his critics will accuse him of failing to keep an election promise and crying “wolf” during the election campaign.
So he may as well keep the promise. He keeps faith with his supporters, adds to his credibility, and does not waste his time trying to appease or woo those who are implacably opposed to his cause, success and administration.
Good and sensible politics. And I’m no fan of Trump
-----------------------
The issue for me Kimbo is consistency.
If the Dem’s do it its wicked evil and corrupt.
If the Don does it is virtue of the highest order.
If the Dem’s do it its wicked evil and corrupt.
If the Don does it is virtue of the highest order.
Personally I have no problem with the actual action of vote investigation. It’s the pathetic partisan BULLSHIT that has reached eye level.
From both sides!
From both sides!
------------------
No disagreement from me! Out goes Obama, in goes Trump, and their detractors and supporters switch positions and arguments, and rationalise the actions of their new champion or nemesis to equally ridiculous degrees.
-------------------
Criticised either way but also, either way he wins. A review will uncover some voter fraud, even if not much. Or maybe much. He can say – told you so, I will fix it. Democracy and patriotism and all that.
If there is some GOP fraud uncovered, he can say – I’m agin fraud regardless of where it falls. I will fix it. Democracy and patriotism and all that.
Followed by – and Americans, that is why the process in the Constitution was so farsighted and right.
What downside could there be?
---------------------
At least he will fix the system so he has a fair shot at the next election. Voter ID and registration has to be enforced. They might be able to round up a few wanted criminals and illegal aliens at the same time.
-------------------------
You may find that that sort of reasoning could have voter ID laws declared unconstitutional. It is the USA, after all!
------------------
we’re obsessing about the Don , here goes again. It’s all about his ego.
‘Malone has met Trump and did one business deal with him many years ago. “He is very bright. The only thing bigger than his brain is his ego. His ego will drive him to try and be the best president the country has ever had and to win.
“For him, every negotiation is a chance to win. It’s all about winning. He’s trying to assemble a team that wants to win.”
“For him, every negotiation is a chance to win. It’s all about winning. He’s trying to assemble a team that wants to win.”
------------------
The Don is very clever. Investigate find some instances of voter fraud tighten up the rules around registering to vote and the voting process itself and the illegals who support the Democrats dont get to vote.
Problem solved!!!!
And the beauty is the premise is that only those who qualify by the law get to register and to vote.
So whats the opposition to that premise.
-----------------
Blacks can’t afford ID’s so it’s racist.
This is the literal reason Democrats give.
This is the literal reason Democrats give.
----------------------
Actual news story here.
--------------------------A recent voter-ID study by political scientists at the University of California at San Diego analyzed turnout in elections between 2008 and 2012 and found “substantial drops in turnout for minorities under strict voter ID laws.”“These results suggest that by instituting strict photo ID laws, states could minimize the influence of voters on the left and could dramatically alter the political leaning of the electorate,” the study concluded.The question of whether photo IDs are difficult to obtain has become central to cases across the country, where government and civil rights lawyers are challenging new state laws.
There are a couple of things there, ABS, none of which support your claim that the contention is that blacks can’t afford IDs. That might be one part of it, but there are more factors.
It basically comes down to why and how restrictions are imposed. For example, if you are requiring drivers’ licenses as IDs to vote for communities that have a very low level of vehicle ownership then you might ask why that standard is being imposed
---------------------
Simple solution: Tie in Voter ID with Social Security number. Every citizen has one. 1 number, 1 vote. I bet these people have no problems registering for welfare and food stamps or coming up with the required ID to get these.
--------------
To vote you have to be enrolled first, which requires a list of identity items.
To be enrolled you have to satisfy them that you are:
US Citizen
Resident of that state
Over 18
To be enrolled you have to satisfy them that you are:
US Citizen
Resident of that state
Over 18
---------------
States set the rules for enrolments. I was looking at California
Tell me a state that doesnt ask for multiple forms of ID ?
---------------------
The fraud typically happens after enrolment. Opportunities for fraud include:
1. Enrolling in multiple states
2. Voting multiple times on a single enrolment
3. Voting on behalf of someone else (someone who is dead, who has moved away, or who is choosing not to vote)
1. Enrolling in multiple states
2. Voting multiple times on a single enrolment
3. Voting on behalf of someone else (someone who is dead, who has moved away, or who is choosing not to vote)
You’re focusing on enrolment, the GOP are focusing on what you need to do to actually vote, not to enrol.
--------------
Enrol in 1982, then vote every election since? Even though you’re dead? What id does someone who is voting on your behalf need to provide to prove they’re you? I think you’re turning a blind eye to many opportunities for fraud.
-----------------
There is no history of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections. Leading Republicans, including the top Republican in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, have rejected the claims.
Federal investigations of voter fraud are rare. A five-year probe initiated by Republican President George W. Bush’s administration turned up no evidence of voter fraud and ended in resignations and more investigations for the Department of Justice, which enforces federal voting rights laws.
-------------------
Project Veritas = has video of Dem operative explaining how they (Dems) BUS people from location to location to location – to VOTE MULTIPLE TIMES.
True The Vote = court case(s) in at least 1 (or more) USA states where Dems voted MULTIPLE TIMES.
There’s 2 for you. This is the “common knowledge”.
Left was ‘assuming’ the Right was doing WHAT THEY DO.
------------------
Project Veritas has been debunked so many times that anyone using its fake videos as evidence of anything automatically loses the argument.
----------------
Democrat operatives who resigned because of the Veritas vids that they didn’t need to after all,
I’m sure they’ll be very grateful mm, maybe you’ll get a write-up in the WaPo, after all, that’s not “fake news” at all, is it.
----------
“Debunked”??? Like the hockey stick, say?
I love the left’s ability to kid itself it has debunked something. I guess when the entire MSM helps maintain the illusion, you get arrogant. This is now changing, and not before time.
-------------
We are in an age where people are getting the chance to make up their own minds about things instead of getting fed fake news by a hegemonic MSM.
As the blurb for Veritas says, if you are of the left, you are on notice. What you are saying and doing in your echo-chambers and bureaucratic fraud-fests may now be getting covertly videoed by a citizen journalist. Bring it on.
----------------
Heres the direct text out of the California National Voter Registration Act – Subsection 4 Page 20″
“Voter Registration Cards where the voter indicates he or she is not a U.S.
Citizen:
Citizen:
The VRC asks the applicant if he or she is a United States citizen. The voter may check either “Yes”, “No”, or not check either box. If the voter indicates, by checking the “yes” box, that he or she is a U.S. citizen, the registration should be processed normally. If the voter indicates, by checking the “No” box, that he or she is not a U.S. citizen, the registration may not be entered on the voter rolls. The elections
official should send the voter a returnable card or letter requesting clarification as to whether or not the voter is a U.S. citizen. If the voter returns the card indicating that he or she is a U.S. citizen, the VRC should be entered on the voter rolls. If the card is returned and the voter indicates he or she is not a citizen, or if
no response is received from the voter, then the voter shall not be registered. If the voter does not check either the “Yes” or “No” box, and the registration is otherwise complete, the registration should be processed normally and entered on the voter rolls.”
official should send the voter a returnable card or letter requesting clarification as to whether or not the voter is a U.S. citizen. If the voter returns the card indicating that he or she is a U.S. citizen, the VRC should be entered on the voter rolls. If the card is returned and the voter indicates he or she is not a citizen, or if
no response is received from the voter, then the voter shall not be registered. If the voter does not check either the “Yes” or “No” box, and the registration is otherwise complete, the registration should be processed normally and entered on the voter rolls.”
In other words if you refuse to confirm or deny your US citizenry, you are still registered to vote.
--------------
So why is he so obsessed over trying to claim he won the popular vote also, when he clearly didn’t.
Because this is a direct attack against the core of party politics, it will hit the establishment GOP and the Democrats.
Trump is a populist and when he attacks party politics he wins. This is him laying some groundwork for victory in 2020.
--------------
I suspect there is massive voter fraud. The reason Democrats are so happy for illegal immigrants to come into the United States is that they want them to vote. I suspect that they are voting and in places like California they are voting big. I suspect the mainstream media don’t care about this and don’t want to know about this.
The very same people who were wrong about Trump in the election I reckon are wrong now on this issue.
Scott predicts that there will be an investigation and it will show that thousands and thousands and thousands of illegal immigrants will have voted for Hillary Clinton in places like California.
---------------
Well I think it is great that Trump is getting the evidence to confirm that he did not get a majority of the popular vote.
His ego is such that he will not believe this otherwise. Pride and hubris and all that.
That said a lot of this is politics as usual – GOP activists claim there is a problem with illegal voting by their opponents and thus a need for voter ID (but specifying a form that many inner city urban residents do not have – licenses).
But the only positive outcome to this (ego and or GOP partisanship) is if there is development of a better electoral process.
----------------
It’s not a distraction, it’s well calculated. The Republicans are keen to get on with voter suppression and Trump is laying the groundwork by scaremongering about voter fraud
Nonsense – the States run the elections, not central Government and it is clear there are huge problems with the process in some states if not all
One obvious one is people enrolled to vote in two different States and we know people have been bussed to vote in States where they don’t live.
There are probably thousands of people registered in both New York and Florida and it is this phenomena that accounts for Florida being a swing state or contributes to it
Looking into these things is sensible
-------
Is it not amazing that so many people are stumped by Trump doing things that make no political sense yet make tremendous practical sense?
It’s almost as if Trump is not a politician and wants to actually cleanse out decades of politically motivated detritus.
I guess all worshipers of the establishment (left and right) find all this terribly confusing.
Long may it continue, their tears help wash the shit away.
It’s almost as if Trump is not a politician and wants to actually cleanse out decades of politically motivated detritus.
I guess all worshipers of the establishment (left and right) find all this terribly confusing.
Long may it continue, their tears help wash the shit away.
----------------
I agree. What’s more the electoral fraud issue is quite clever. If he goes looking and finds none, he can say the system is great, and he’s checked. If he finds fraud (which I think he will) then liberal heads will expolde everywhere.
Oops:
“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states,” Trump tweeted Wednesday — apparently unaware that his daughter Tiffany Trump, Chief White House Strategist Stephen Bannon and Treasury Secretary pick Steven Mnuchin were all reportedly registered to vote in two states during the 2016 election.------------
I think you got this one wrong DPF. The GOP has long campaigned on voter fraud. The ideal time is when the left is complaining about voter fraud big time. They can hardly complain now, can they?
-----------
a) A very large illegal population concentrated around California and other south west states,
b) A study looking at Hispanics showing that 13% of a group that are definitely not allowed to vote are currently registered to vote,
c) An EXTREMELY LARGE motivation to vote, and vote for Clinton, because Trump was actually going to take action against illegals.
d) No less than President Obama telling illegals to go ahead and vote because “The privacy of the ballot box is paramount”. (I wish he could have been impeached for that.)
e) Extremely lax voting laws in California that rely on people acting on their honour to say if they have citizenship or not (So we’re trusting people who have already proven that they are criminals to honestly say they aren’t citizens), and then getting a ID that allows them to vote. Note that in the Podesta e-mails, he actually says (incorrectly) that illegals are allowed to vote in California.
and then
f) The massive difference in the popular vote in the other 49 states (not including California) where Trump won, and the vote in California,
b) A study looking at Hispanics showing that 13% of a group that are definitely not allowed to vote are currently registered to vote,
c) An EXTREMELY LARGE motivation to vote, and vote for Clinton, because Trump was actually going to take action against illegals.
d) No less than President Obama telling illegals to go ahead and vote because “The privacy of the ballot box is paramount”. (I wish he could have been impeached for that.)
e) Extremely lax voting laws in California that rely on people acting on their honour to say if they have citizenship or not (So we’re trusting people who have already proven that they are criminals to honestly say they aren’t citizens), and then getting a ID that allows them to vote. Note that in the Podesta e-mails, he actually says (incorrectly) that illegals are allowed to vote in California.
and then
f) The massive difference in the popular vote in the other 49 states (not including California) where Trump won, and the vote in California,
and then think that illegal immigrants weren’t voting in HUGE numbers.
This is a fight that has to be undertaken and undertaken NOW. We need to make sure that only USA citizens can vote in USA elections
----------------
a) A very large illegal population concentrated around California and other south west states,
b) A study looking at Hispanics showing that 13% of a group that are definitely not allowed to vote are currently registered to vote,
c) An EXTREMELY LARGE motivation to vote, and vote for Clinton, because Trump was actually going to take action against illegals.
d) No less than President Obama telling illegals to go ahead and vote because “The privacy of the ballot box is paramount”. (I wish he could have been impeached for that.)
e) Extremely lax voting laws in California that rely on people acting on their honour to say if they have citizenship or not (So we’re trusting people who have already proven that they are criminals to honestly say they aren’t citizens), and then getting a ID that allows them to vote. Note that in the Podesta e-mails, he actually says (incorrectly) that illegals are allowed to vote in California.
and then
f) The massive difference in the popular vote in the other 49 states (not including California) where Trump won, and the vote in California,
b) A study looking at Hispanics showing that 13% of a group that are definitely not allowed to vote are currently registered to vote,
c) An EXTREMELY LARGE motivation to vote, and vote for Clinton, because Trump was actually going to take action against illegals.
d) No less than President Obama telling illegals to go ahead and vote because “The privacy of the ballot box is paramount”. (I wish he could have been impeached for that.)
e) Extremely lax voting laws in California that rely on people acting on their honour to say if they have citizenship or not (So we’re trusting people who have already proven that they are criminals to honestly say they aren’t citizens), and then getting a ID that allows them to vote. Note that in the Podesta e-mails, he actually says (incorrectly) that illegals are allowed to vote in California.
and then
f) The massive difference in the popular vote in the other 49 states (not including California) where Trump won, and the vote in California,
and then think that illegal immigrants weren’t voting in HUGE numbers.
This is a fight that has to be undertaken and undertaken NOW. We need to make sure that only USA citizens can vote in USA elections.
----------------
California is far stricter than that, they ask for 4 items for voting, one is :
eg Photo Drivers License, you have to satisfy this list
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1dmy&urile=wcm:path:/dmv_content_en/dmv/dl/dl_info#BDLP
Only the original or a certified copy of one of the following documents is acceptable:
eg Photo Drivers License, you have to satisfy this list
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1dmy&urile=wcm:path:/dmv_content_en/dmv/dl/dl_info#BDLP
Only the original or a certified copy of one of the following documents is acceptable:
US Birth Certificate (certified copy from state or local vital statistics office)
US Certificate of Birth Abroad or Report of Birth Abroad
Federal Proof of Indian Blood Degree
USCIS American Indian Card
Birth Certificate or passport issued from a US Territory
US Passport
US Military Identification Cards (Active or reserve duty, dependent of a military member, retired member, discharged from service, medical/religious personnel)
Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship
Northern Mariana Card
USCIS US Citizen ID Card
Permanent Resident Card
Temporary Resident Identification Card
Canadian Passport/Birth Certificate
Non-resident Alien Canadian Border Crossing Card
Valid foreign passport with a valid Record of Arrival/Departure (form I-94)
“Processed for I-551” stamped in a valid foreign passport
Permanent Resident Re-entry Permit
Refugee travel document.
US Certificate of Birth Abroad or Report of Birth Abroad
Federal Proof of Indian Blood Degree
USCIS American Indian Card
Birth Certificate or passport issued from a US Territory
US Passport
US Military Identification Cards (Active or reserve duty, dependent of a military member, retired member, discharged from service, medical/religious personnel)
Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship
Northern Mariana Card
USCIS US Citizen ID Card
Permanent Resident Card
Temporary Resident Identification Card
Canadian Passport/Birth Certificate
Non-resident Alien Canadian Border Crossing Card
Valid foreign passport with a valid Record of Arrival/Departure (form I-94)
“Processed for I-551” stamped in a valid foreign passport
Permanent Resident Re-entry Permit
Refugee travel document.
Any non US citizens would have the details showing they are non citizens from above
--------------
“In theory”.
-------
That’s the rules for getting a driver’s license. Which in turn is the document the Republicans think you should produce in order to vote. So you’re saying that California already does the thing that Trump wants? In which case, why the excitement about Trump suggesting it? Or are you just obfuscating again in your usual way?
----------
Claims of large scale voter fraud are perennial in the U.S and have never been substantiated.
Small efforts have been discovered demonstrating an ability to uncover such fraud, but never on a large scale.
And it’s been looked for…
Lorraine C. Minnite, Rutgers University-Camden; Under Republican President George W. Bush, the U.S. Justice Department searched for voter fraud. But in the first three years of the program, just 26 people were convicted or pled guilty to illegal registration or voting. Out of 197,056,035 votes cast in the two federal elections held during that period, the rate of voter fraud was a miniscule 0.00000132 percent!
I imagine Trumps, and by extension the Republican parties, plan is not unlike the never-ending investigations into Clinton and Benghazi et al – they’ll use the investigation as a stalking horse to find any little thing they can hang on opponents as click bait for hungry news services to pick over, and ignore anything that doesn’t satisfy that ambition, creating an impression of something bad simply by dint of unending investigation, leaks and manufactured scandal.
--------------------
Trump might actually check on the credentials of the people doing the investigation. Bush was a typical centre-right pushover, no idea of what he was up against. Didn’t even pardon Scooter Libby.
--------------
And that’s the fake news version that GW Bush didn’t push back against, probably because the Republican establishment was trying out an experiment in winning the other side over by being “nice”.
Libby was convicted on the “evidence” of one person’s word versus his – a lefty journalist’s. What is not at doubt is that the identity of the agent was leaked by Richard Armitage, a Democrat hold-over (see how niiiiice the Bushies were?) who was never prosecuted for it. That also happens to be not what Libby was sentenced for: he was sentenced for “perjury”. On the grounds of the word of a lefty journo against his.
According to him, the journo mentioned the agent’s identity first (and this with Libby not knowing at the time that Armitage had told the journo) and all Libby did was respond something like “oh, so you know about that”? On this basis the journo “co-operated with a prosecution” to get a public case made against the whole Bush Admin, by creating dots that didn’t exist, for the MSM to “connect”.
This is how even jury-based justice can be perverted by political narratives from the MSM scum, not to mention enabled by one of their own bearing false witness. It could just as easily have been the journo sentenced for “perjury”. The prosecution went the way it did solely because of the fake-news, contrived narrative it served. Libby was scandalously wronged. Whoever persuaded Bush not to pardon him, is the epitome of the “in name only” syndrome that has been a plague of right-wing parties in the west for a decade or more. The left now has its knickers in a knot because there is a Republican POTUS who is not one of their eunuchs.
-------------
What Trump needs to do is make Federal votes count only if they’re on paper and counted publicly.
No e-votes.
And this is his first move in bringing that in, in time for 2021.
The question is: is he just going after the Dems (who every informed person knows is the most guilty)? But if he was going to just do that why would he investigate more than just this last election (where corruption has been particularly rampant on the Dem side)? Which he has said he is doing:
I think in terms of registration, where you’ve got folks on rolls that have deceased, or moved, or registered in two counties…this is not just about the 2016 election, this is about the integrity of our voting system,” Spicer told reporters when asked about the upcoming investigation.
So he’s going after more than that, more than just the Dems.
I wonder if he’s looking to discredit both major parties. He knows he’s going to have problems in Congress. The only time he’ll get anything passed is when it happens to coincide with what one of the power centres happen also to want. But any other time…
Throughout his campaign he reached over the media to the people. He continues that with Twitter. Maybe this is the opening salvo in another appeal to the people, this time exposing with transparency what has in fact been going on, just previously being covered up by both involved parties. Because they do hold their democracy sacred don’t they, and anyone who damages that, well.
-------------
Worth reiterating. Direct from section IV page 20 of the California Voter Registration Act
“If the voter does not check either the “Yes” or “No” box, and the registration is otherwise complete, the registration should be processed normally and entered on the voter rolls.”
I wonder if others from other countries are able to vote?
An interesting thread,
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Superman; political allegiances
a comic book from 2008 called ‘DC Universe: Decisions’ which was supposed to show which DC heroes were Democrat and which were Republican. The only hero who wouldn’t share his opinion was Superman, who said (in the comic) –
“It would be unconscionable of me to share [my endorsement] with you,” he explained. “Whoever is elected to the highest office in the land should not think that they will not have our full support. That our allegiances are stronger with a defeated candidate. We don’t take sides. The battles we fight are larger than those on the political spectrum. It would pain me to think the president would believe that he or she couldn’t count on us, turn to us, or rely on us.”
Monday, December 26, 2016
Dark Red in Aussie Greens
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/hardleft-faction-forms-inside-greens-aiming-to-end-capitalism-20161222-gtghf9.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nc&eid=socialn%3Atwi-13omn1677-edtrl-other%3Annn-17%2F02%2F2014-edtrs_socialshare-all-nnn-nnn-vars-o%26sa%3DD%26usg%3DALhdy28zsr6qiq
Left Renewal issued a statement of principles that includes the "rejection of the state's legitimacy".
"We believe . . . that capitalism is a violent and antagonistic relation between workers, and those who exploit them. As workers, whether or not we are waged, we experience perpetual violence and that this violence must be brought to an end. We therefore fight to bring about the end of capitalism," it states.
"Capitalism depends upon violent and authoritarian divisions within the working class, such as elitism, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, religious sectarianism, and ableism (among others). It is only with the abolition of these authoritarian relations that we will be able to create a thriving movement capable of transforming society and so must challenge these wherever we encounter it." Left Renewal claims "Australia is based upon an act of genocide which exists within a broader framework of global imperialism".
Despite the party's position against factionalism, members of Left Renewal will be bound to factional discipline.
"As advocates of grassroots democracy, we believe in . . . a degree of tactical unity in order to have real collective influence in the society that we live in. Once a decision has been taken by our organisation in a participatory democratic fashion, it is required by members that they respect, implement and where necessary, bind on the organisation's democratic decisions. In unity is strength," the statement of principles says.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Cologne and few prosecutions?
So the police and prosecutors for whatever reason just close the case.
Die Staatsanwaltschaft Oldenburg stellte die Ermittlungen ein, schrieb dem Opfer: „Es ist durchaus denkbar, dass der junge Mann Ihnen auf diese Weise sein Interesse an Ihnen mitteilen wollte.”
The Oldenburg prosecutor discontinued the investigation, wrote the victim: “It is quite possible that the young man wanted to be notified in this way be interested in you.”
http://www.bild.de/regional/bremen/sexueller-missbrauch/staatsanwalt-verhoehnt-grabsch-opfer-49300650.bild.html
One may have to use google translate.
And another reason why these crimes are not investigated, by the head of police.
And another reason why these crimes are not investigated, by the head of police.
Holger Munch, president of Germany’s Federal Police, said: “There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015.”He added many of those responsible for the sex attacks would probably escape justice because of limited CCTV footage and the fact many were masked.He said: “We have to presume that many of these crimes will never be fully investigated.”
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/688767/German-police-revise-up-number-of-victims-of-Cologne-migrant-sex-attacks
The prosecutor Ulrich Bremer says you are wrong
Cologne’s public prosecutor Ulrich Bremer said only three of the suspects had recently arrived in Germany. The rest were of Algerian, Tunisian or Moroccan origin, while three were German citizens. According to the report, he also said that of 1,054 complaints received 600 were connected to theft rather than a sexual offence.However, Bremen denied the reports the following day as “total nonsense,” telling Associated Press that “the overwhelming majority of persons fall into the general category of refugees.” According to AP, Bremer said 73 suspects have been identified so far that include 30 Moroccan nationals, 27 Algerians, four Iraqis, three Germans, three Syrians, three Tunisians, and one each from Libya, Iran, and Montenegro. A total of 1,075 criminal complaints have been filed, including 467 alleging crimes of a sexual nature ranging from harassment to rape. Twelve of the 73 suspects are linked to sexual crimes, though only one of those—a Moroccan asylum-seeker who entered Germany in November—is in custody, he said.
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/rape-was-a-problem-in-germany-long-before-the-refugees-arrived
Doubtlessly there is an example of a “native” German raping, but the sheer numbers are totally opposite in fact on the Cologne situation, besides the politicized police, and keeping things quiet.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Thursday, October 20, 2016
USA Media and politics interweaving
about the US Media and political culture I found this comment, which concisely (and sadly) sums up what Washington D.C. has become:
[I would figure there is a republican version too]In this world, there are Bill and Hillary, the Podesta brothers, Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner, Christiane Amanpour and Jamie Rubin, Samantha Power and Cass Sunstein, Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan, and on and on. Jorge Ramos goes after Trump; his daughter works for Hillary; and his boss at Univision badgers the Clinton campaign to stay lax on open borders — the lifeblood that nourishes his non-English-speaking money machine.George Stephanopoulos, who helped run the Clinton campaign and White House, and who as a debate moderator obsessed over Mitt Romney’s answers to abortion hypotheticals, is the disinterested ABC News chief anchor.CNN vice president Virginia Moseley is married to Hillary Clinton’s former deputy secretary at the State Department Tom Nides (now of Morgan Stanley) — suggesting “The Clinton News Network” is not really a right-wing joke.Former ABC News executive producer Ian Cameron is married to Susan Rice, a — pre-Benghazi — regular on the Sunday talk shows.CBS president David Rhodes is the sibling of aspiring novelist Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for “strategic communications and Speechwriting,” whatever that fictive title means.ABC News correspondent Claire Shipman married former White House press secretary Jay Carney (now senior vice president for “worldwide corporate affairs” at Amazon: not just “corporate affairs” or “worldwide affairs” but “worldwide corporate affairs”). And on and on.These nice people report on each other. They praise each other, award each other, make money together, and bristle with each other when they are collectively and pejoratively dubbed the “elites.”
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Religious Authority or just Man's law?
SPC
Sure Fletch there are black men and white women who happily subordinate their world view to the inheritance of the Christian regime.
And those who do not are the ruin of that civilisation, due to their secular tolerance for immorality – end of enforcement of godly morality in law.
One problem, the sermon on the mount was an appeal to end religious authority in law, and let faith guide the personal behaviour/ethical standard.Fletch
One problem, the sermon on the mount was an appeal to end religious authority in law, and let faith guide the personal behaviour/ethical standard.
I don’t think so. If we each have our own personal faith and ethical standards and yours differs from mine then whose should we appeal to? The law is already faith-based in a way (the law against murder is based on the sixth commandment). I once read an ex-atheist Christian challenging some people on an atheist forum, and an atheist questioned why murder should be wrong. The Christian replied that there really isn’t a reason, apart from God saying that it is wrong.
Here is the interesting exchange (Christian ex-atheist answers in bold) –
Can I ask a really silly question?You state that divine authority is needed in order to provide a logical basis for morality. That’s fine, many other people have made this claim, too.So, why do we need morals?We don’t.I’m completely serious here. For example, can you provide a single reason why murder is wrong other than “God said so”?No, I can’t.The reason I ask is that your statement seems to imply that you consider a logical moral value system to be a good thing – but you also seem to think that the definition of “good” relies completely and solely on the existance of God. This leaves me wondering what actually is your logical and rational basis for deciding that a logical moral system would be a good thing.I never make the claim that a logical moral value system is a good thing. I simply state that without divine authority, we have no logical basis for the promotion of any value system, no matter what we think of that system. I’m not so much concerned with the definition of ‘good’ as I am with an objective standard. The standard of morality cannot have an objective reality without divine authority.As an example, many people consider “thou shalt not kill” to be a good commandment, but are completely unable to rationalise why they think that. Can you answer this question? “God said so” may be a valid reason why you should obey – at least assuming God is real – but is there any other reason at all why this should considered to be a good commandment?There is no other reason why this should be considered to be a good commandment. None. Zilch. Try to logical prove that killing is morally wrong. You will fail. Other than the reality of a god who declares killing to be morally wrong, there is no logically compelling reason for us to believe it is wrong.Oddly, if you do answer this question, you’ll have to do so by justifying a moral value without reference to God, which you’ve claimed you can’t do. (Before you get offended, I actually suspect you can answer this question – which is pretty much my point. If you have to, prove me wrong by saying you still don’t know why murder is wrong, but I do hope you’re a better person than that.)Oh my! No, you have certainly mistaken me for someone else. I really have no other reason to logically believe that murder is wrong. I could be honest and say that it emotionally upsets me, but I always choose reason over my emotions. If our lives have no inherent purpose or value, we are only kidding ourselves when we establish the facade of morality.Go ahead. Logically prove to me that murder is wrong..Why (assuming you do) do you now believe people are different to termites? is there any reason other than “the Bible says so” or “God says so” ?If we are designed and loved by a god, we have inherent purpose and value as opposed to self-assigned, imaginary purpose and value.
Griff
That is total crap .
We dont murder because we dont want to be murdered .
The golden rule and the basis for morality.
do unto others as you have them do unto you.
No that rule is not Christendoms possession it is found in many different cultures .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
[except there is one major religion that does not follow the "golden rule"]
We dont murder because we dont want to be murdered .
The golden rule and the basis for morality.
do unto others as you have them do unto you.
No that rule is not Christendoms possession it is found in many different cultures .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
[except there is one major religion that does not follow the "golden rule"]
SPC
“If we each have our own personal faith and ethical standards and yours differs from mine then whose should we appeal to?”
No one, simply delineate personal morality from law – personal morality where there is consent, law where there is no consent. Where there is no consent then there is law.
Placing law into areas where there is consent is interference, imposed morality one on another.
What motivates personal morality, whether Godfaith code or mutual respect citizenship (in our dominion) is besides the point or should be.Fletch
SPC, yes but what about if you run across a culture where killing is very much acceptable and their law allows it. Your personal morality accounts for nothing in that case. What is law, then, if not the legislation of moral opinions? Every time a law is made, it becomes an imposition of one group’s opinion upon another’s.
When we throw a person in jail because he has robbed a house, he is being imprisoned because of another man’s opinion that stealing is wrong. Once again, the opinion in question concerns a subjective reality and is, therefore, purely subjective and a matter of preference. Our entire justice system becomes illusory. In order for our justice system to have credibility, it has to be based on an authority that exceeds the mere opinion of men. But with a God who establishes morality as an objective reality, we are no longer dealing with the opinions of man’s preference, but the opinions of men concerning God’s preference.
SPC
No one consents to being murdered or stolen from.
Your refusal to acknowledge the role of consent in modern state law making, is simply because of a preference to (and habit of apology for this) impose God morality in law, in that you apologise for those Jews and those Moslems who (would) do the same.Friday, October 7, 2016
Heaven Hell versions and where is desire? Justice?
Dialogues With The Devil, Taylor Caldwell, 1967, there seem to a series of Dialogues
Written by Lucifer to his brother, Michael:
Certainly, in hell there is no free will, for the damned relinquished it on their worlds. This torment has been denied them by me. Therefore, they cannot will to climb to Heaven by self-denial, by contemplation, by worship, by dedication, by acts of faith and charity. These attributes shriveled in them during their lives, or were rejected scornfully by them in moods of risible sophistications. They can desire to possess them now, but I would keep them safe and warm, as Our Father never kept them so! So, they can will nothing. They can only accept the pleasures -and the pains – I bestow on them.
In Heaven, however, free will is fully released. The ability to reject, to deny, remains with archangels, angels and the souls of the saved. The gift of repudiation is still with them and the possibility of disobedience. Is that not most frightful? What insecurity! What danger! My damned remain with me in eternal slavery because in life they desired only safety, and lacked the fire of adventure, though, God knows, they protested enough on their worlds! But what did they protest? Inequality, which is the variety of God. Instability, which is the light of the universes. Uneasiness of mind, which is the soul of philosophy. Apparent injustices, which are the goad of the spirit. Vulnerability to life and other men, which is a charge to become invulnerable through Faith in God. The presence of suffering or misfortune – but these are a call for the soul to put on armor and serenity. They demanded of their rulers that they remain in constant cocoons, silky and guarded by earthly authority. They did not ask for wings to soar into the sunlight, and the ominous threats of full existence. They rejected freedom for hell. Certainly, they cried for freedom on their worlds, but it was freedom only to live happily without the freedom to be divinely unhappy.
I have satisfied all these lusts of men. Strange, is it not, that my hells, though the ultimate success of the dreams of men, are filled with weeping? And strange, is it not, that they still do not believe in the existence of God? But then, they never did; they believed only in me. They cannot will to believe in God. They see absolute reality about them now, which was their will in life. I will not pretend that I do not understand them, for was it not I who promised them all without work and without striving?
But lately I asked of a newly descended soul which had much acclaim on Terra: “What was your greatest desire on your world, you who were applauded by rulers and admired by your fellowmen?”
He replied, “Justice for all,” and put on a very righteous expression.
That was admirable, for who does not admire justice, even I? But I probed him. He declared that in his earthly view all men deserved what all other men possessed, whether worthy or not. “They are men, so they are equal, and being born they have a right to the fruits of the world, no matter the condition of their birth or the content of their minds, or their capacities.” I conducted him through the pleasures of my hell and he was delighted that no soul was lesser in riches than another, and that every soul had access to my banquets and my palaces, no soul was distinguishable from another, none possessed what another did not possess. Every desire was immediately gratified, he discovered. He smiled about him joyfully. He said, “Here, justice is attained!”
Then he saw that no face was joyful, however mean or lofty its features. He remarked, wonderingly, on the listlessness of my damned, and how they strolled emptily through thoroughfares filled with music and through streets wherein there was not a single humble habituation. He heard the cries of pleasure over my laden tables, and then heard them silenced, for there was no need now for food and where there is no need there is no desire and no enjoyment. He saw that the poorest on earth were clothed in magnificence and jewels, yet they wept the loudest. He was no fool. He said, “Satiety.” True, I answered him, but satiety can only live in the presence of total equality. He pondered on this while I led him to the seat of thousands of philosophers, and he sat down among them. But, as there is no challenge in hell, and no mystery, there can be no philosophy. That night he came to me on his knees and begged for death. I struck him with my foot, and said, “O man, this was the hell you made, and this was the desire of your heart, so eat, drink, and be merry.”
He attempted to hang himself in the manner of Judas, and I laughed at his futility. I meditated that above all futility is the climate of hell.
He said to me, in tears, “Then, if you are, then God exists.”
“That does not follow,” I replied to him. “But, did you not deny Him on Terra? Did you not speak of supra-man and man-becoming, and the ultimate glorification of man on earth, without God?”
“I did not see God among men,” he said, wringing his hands.
“You did not look,” I said. “You were too dull in your human arrogance and too enamored of humanity. You never denounced your fellows for their lusts and their cruelties. You told them they were only ‘victims.’ You refused to look upon their nature, for you denied the infinite variety and capacities of nature. To you, one man was as good as any other man, and equally endowed, for the foolish reason that he had been born. You saw no saints, and no sinners. It was only a matter of environment, though the proof was all about you that environment is but a mere shading or tint on the soul, and is not destiny. You denied that men have gifts of the spirit, often above those of other men. In truth, you denigrated those gifts of striving and wonder. You denied free will. Everything evil that happened to a man was only the result of his fellowmen’s lack of justice. You denied the reality of good and evil, the ability to make a choice. In short, you denied life, itself.”
“Then God in truth does exist?” he asked, after a moment’s miserable thought.
“That you will never know,” I said. “But rejoice! All your dreams are fulfilled here. Delight yourself. Behold, there are beautiful female demons here, and banquets and sports and pleasures and soft beds and lovely scenes and all whom you had wished, in life, you had known. Converse with them.”
“There is no desire in me,” he said. “I want nothing.”
“You are surely in hell,” I replied, and I left him weeping.
Dialogues With The Devil, Taylor Caldwell, 1967
Written by Lucifer to his brother, Michael:
Certainly, in hell there is no free will, for the damned relinquished it on their worlds. This torment has been denied them by me. Therefore, they cannot will to climb to Heaven by self-denial, by contemplation, by worship, by dedication, by acts of faith and charity. These attributes shriveled in them during their lives, or were rejected scornfully by them in moods of risible sophistications. They can desire to possess them now, but I would keep them safe and warm, as Our Father never kept them so! So, they can will nothing. They can only accept the pleasures -and the pains – I bestow on them.
In Heaven, however, free will is fully released. The ability to reject, to deny, remains with archangels, angels and the souls of the saved. The gift of repudiation is still with them and the possibility of disobedience. Is that not most frightful? What insecurity! What danger! My damned remain with me in eternal slavery because in life they desired only safety, and lacked the fire of adventure, though, God knows, they protested enough on their worlds! But what did they protest? Inequality, which is the variety of God. Instability, which is the light of the universes. Uneasiness of mind, which is the soul of philosophy. Apparent injustices, which are the goad of the spirit. Vulnerability to life and other men, which is a charge to become invulnerable through Faith in God. The presence of suffering or misfortune – but these are a call for the soul to put on armor and serenity. They demanded of their rulers that they remain in constant cocoons, silky and guarded by earthly authority. They did not ask for wings to soar into the sunlight, and the ominous threats of full existence. They rejected freedom for hell. Certainly, they cried for freedom on their worlds, but it was freedom only to live happily without the freedom to be divinely unhappy.
I have satisfied all these lusts of men. Strange, is it not, that my hells, though the ultimate success of the dreams of men, are filled with weeping? And strange, is it not, that they still do not believe in the existence of God? But then, they never did; they believed only in me. They cannot will to believe in God. They see absolute reality about them now, which was their will in life. I will not pretend that I do not understand them, for was it not I who promised them all without work and without striving?
But lately I asked of a newly descended soul which had much acclaim on Terra: “What was your greatest desire on your world, you who were applauded by rulers and admired by your fellowmen?”
He replied, “Justice for all,” and put on a very righteous expression.
That was admirable, for who does not admire justice, even I? But I probed him. He declared that in his earthly view all men deserved what all other men possessed, whether worthy or not. “They are men, so they are equal, and being born they have a right to the fruits of the world, no matter the condition of their birth or the content of their minds, or their capacities.” I conducted him through the pleasures of my hell and he was delighted that no soul was lesser in riches than another, and that every soul had access to my banquets and my palaces, no soul was distinguishable from another, none possessed what another did not possess. Every desire was immediately gratified, he discovered. He smiled about him joyfully. He said, “Here, justice is attained!”
Then he saw that no face was joyful, however mean or lofty its features. He remarked, wonderingly, on the listlessness of my damned, and how they strolled emptily through thoroughfares filled with music and through streets wherein there was not a single humble habituation. He heard the cries of pleasure over my laden tables, and then heard them silenced, for there was no need now for food and where there is no need there is no desire and no enjoyment. He saw that the poorest on earth were clothed in magnificence and jewels, yet they wept the loudest. He was no fool. He said, “Satiety.” True, I answered him, but satiety can only live in the presence of total equality. He pondered on this while I led him to the seat of thousands of philosophers, and he sat down among them. But, as there is no challenge in hell, and no mystery, there can be no philosophy. That night he came to me on his knees and begged for death. I struck him with my foot, and said, “O man, this was the hell you made, and this was the desire of your heart, so eat, drink, and be merry.”
He attempted to hang himself in the manner of Judas, and I laughed at his futility. I meditated that above all futility is the climate of hell.
He said to me, in tears, “Then, if you are, then God exists.”
“That does not follow,” I replied to him. “But, did you not deny Him on Terra? Did you not speak of supra-man and man-becoming, and the ultimate glorification of man on earth, without God?”
“I did not see God among men,” he said, wringing his hands.
“You did not look,” I said. “You were too dull in your human arrogance and too enamored of humanity. You never denounced your fellows for their lusts and their cruelties. You told them they were only ‘victims.’ You refused to look upon their nature, for you denied the infinite variety and capacities of nature. To you, one man was as good as any other man, and equally endowed, for the foolish reason that he had been born. You saw no saints, and no sinners. It was only a matter of environment, though the proof was all about you that environment is but a mere shading or tint on the soul, and is not destiny. You denied that men have gifts of the spirit, often above those of other men. In truth, you denigrated those gifts of striving and wonder. You denied free will. Everything evil that happened to a man was only the result of his fellowmen’s lack of justice. You denied the reality of good and evil, the ability to make a choice. In short, you denied life, itself.”
“Then God in truth does exist?” he asked, after a moment’s miserable thought.
“That you will never know,” I said. “But rejoice! All your dreams are fulfilled here. Delight yourself. Behold, there are beautiful female demons here, and banquets and sports and pleasures and soft beds and lovely scenes and all whom you had wished, in life, you had known. Converse with them.”
“There is no desire in me,” he said. “I want nothing.”
“You are surely in hell,” I replied, and I left him weeping.
Dialogues With The Devil, Taylor Caldwell, 1967
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)



PhilBest