I have just about paid off my credit cards. I could be debt free with a couple of mouse clicks right now.
And the last take on my credit report was 794.
Thanks Donnie !!!
I always think of that as a bigger question, not just about money. True, with a âbusinessmanâ in the White House, I suspect that is inevitably the focus.
But, as well know in our hearts, itâs the experience of our lives, the things we do/did that make up our lives. Not what we own/have, but how we spend our days is, really, how we spend our lives.
So. Are we more honorable, thoughtful, kind, supportive than we were? Is the experience of our being alive more entertaining, more fulfilling, more joyous and hopeful?
Or are we more angry, selfish, mistrustful, and afraid than we were four years ago? Even if we can afford more things.
Are you better now than you were four years ago? The key question to every presidential campaign. I'm betting a hard "No" for you, like the rest of the country.
Hell yes !
I have just about paid off my credit cards. I could be debt free with a couple of mouse clicks right now.
Nancy Pelosi and her choice of words are the least of our problems. Your Great Pumpkin can't run the country to save his life.
The economy is tanking again and the GOP can't put together an economic rescue package. The coronavirus is running rampant in large sections of the country. And Trump is trying to stage "law enforcement" photo-ops against largely peaceful protests to revive his campaign.
You really should try to look at what's going on in the US without your pro-Trump glasses some time. If Obama had been half as incompetent, out-to-lunch and underhanded as Trump has been for the past two years, you'd be foaming at the mouth and stroking out.
Are you better now than you were four years ago? The key question to every presidential campaign. I'm betting a hard "No" for you, like the rest of the country.
In no
small part because of Trumpâs politically charged rhetoric, local
activists and officials have come to view with suspicion the more than
200 agents sent to Missouri from the FBI, Drug Enforcement
Administration, U.S. Marshals Service and other federal agencies. Some
officials said they were not consulted and do not know the precise
plans. After the Trump administration announced Wednesday it would
increase the federal presence in Chicago and Albuquerque, local
officials there greeted the news icily.
Trump,
they feared, was either trying to score political points by casting
himself as the law-and-order candidate, or putting federal agents on the
ground to forcefully crack down on demonstrators, as happened in
Portland. And they wondered how useful the federal presence might be.
In Kansas City, the initiative has so far produced public charges
against one person, even though Attorney General William P. Barr claimed
inaccurately on Wednesday, âThe FBI went in very strong into Kansas
City, and within two weeks, weâve had 200 arrests.â
...
Kansas
City Mayor Quinton D. Lucas (D) was among six big-city mayors â
including those in Portland, Atlanta, D.C., Seattle and Chicago â who
signed a letter to Barr and Wolf this week expressing âdeep concernâ
about the use of federal forces and urging them to withdraw and âagree
to no further unilateral deployment in our cities.â
...
Lucas also
said he was worried that the deployment was being used by the Trump
administration âto distinguish viewpoints on the American city from Vice
President Biden, and thatâs not helpful for us.â
He
said he had little information about how many federal officers had been
deployed in the city, which agencies they were from and what cases they
would be working on.
...
Lucas, the
Kansas City mayor, said he believed FBI, ATF and DEA agents could make a
major impact on unsolved cases by helping investigate ballistics and
criminal gangs that might be engaged in weapons trafficking, rather than
engaging in broad warrant sweeps.
âThose
are the types of things that will help us in the long term change the
outcome of these cases,â he said. âWhat we donât need is, âLetâs go and
pick up a bunch of people.âââ
Homeland Security personnel currently in Oregonâs largest city have eroded scrutiny by obscuring identities, barring the press and failing to press charges.
Meanwhile, the GOP and the Trump administration cannot agree on the next phase in economic relief for business owners, employees, renters, etc. And the last phase of relief is about to run out.
The
PPP loan program was intended to be a short-term measure, just like
extra $600 unemployment benefits, to help get small businesses through
the worst of the pandemic. But the pandemic outlasted PPP.
And don't forget the best evidence of Trump's incompetence: the coronavirus pandemic that never went away:
I didn't post it, but I commented on it. B) kcar even stated in his post that this was Trump's people doing campaign stunts. He and a lot of other people believe that.
A) I just brought up a relevant quote from Biden is all.
He represents the other side of this issue. The side that calls our federal agents like the ones defending the court house in Portland, "Storm Troopers". A direct quote from Pelosi.
I also call that divisive language that exacerbates the situation. Pelosi will call out her own federal agents yet refuses to say anything about the peaceful protesters who are tearing the place up. This is what it is all about. The coming election.
Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.
These are not the actions of a democratic republic.@DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission.
Breaking news: WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is planning to deploy federal agents to Houston and possibly other Republican-run cities as he continues to assert federal power and use the Department of Homeland Security in unprecedented, politicized ways.
(actually, it's Trump, deploying to Chicago and other Dem cities. Now imagine the outcry from the public if you'd seen that top new during his administration. Why not now?)
I didn't post it, but I commented on it. kcar even stated in his post that this was Trump's people doing campaign stunts. He and a lot of other people believe that.
I just brought up a relevant quote from Biden is all.
He represents the other side of this issue. The side that calls our federal agents like the ones defending the court house in Portland, "Storm Troopers". A direct quote from Pelosi.
I also call that divisive language that exacerbates the situation. Pelosi will call out her own federal agents yet refuses to say anything about the peaceful protesters who are tearing the place up. This is what it is all about. The coming election.
Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.
These are not the actions of a democratic republic.@DHSgovâs actions in Portland undermine its mission.
Look, Kurt: I don't need you as my spokesman. Don't spout stuff about what side I'm on or what I think.
I tried to fix an issue with Steely_D's broken link. I didn't check the source of the tweeted video before commenting on it—my bad.
Here's a video clip from a police-protester confrontation in Portland. The protester is a Navy veteran, asking the police why they're not honoring their oath to the Constitution. The police gassed him and broke his hand. Do you think their actions were justified after looking at the video?
WTF are you talking about? Can you point us to any statement from Pelosi about her intent to do such a thing? Or the law(s) that would give her as Speaker of the House the power to do so?
"kcar even stated in his post that this was Trump's people doing campaign stunts. He and a lot of other people believe that."
AFAICT Oregon's governor and Portland's mayor and the OR AG believe it too.
I wonder whether the paper(s) you read are failing to cover this story...or whether you're just not reading the relevant articles. Here, let me help you. Trump's deployment of federal agents into Portland and elsewhere coincides with a HEAVY rotation of Trump campaign ads emphasizing the police's use of force against protests and also trying to ratchet up the public's fear of protests.
The
Trump campaign is spending millions on ads that promote a dark and
exaggerated portrayal of Democratic-led cities, a tactic that reinforces
his âlaw and orderââ campaign message.
As President Trump
deploys federal agents to Portland, Ore., and threatens to dispatch
more to other cities, his re-election campaign is spending millions of
dollars on several ominous television ads that promote fear and dovetail
with his political message of âlaw and order.â
The influx of agents in Portland has led to scenes of confrontations and chaos
that Mr. Trump and his White House aides have pointed to as they try to
burnish a false narrative about Democratic elected officials allowing
dangerous protesters to create widespread bedlam.
The Trump campaign is driving home that message with a new ad that tries to tie its dark portrayal of Democratic-led cities to Mr. Trumpâs main rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr. â with exaggerated images intended to persuade viewers that lawless anarchy would prevail if Mr. Biden won the presidency. The ad simulates a break-in at the home of an older woman and ends with her being attacked while she waits on hold for a 911 call, as shadowy, dark intruders flicker in the background.
So far, the campaign has spent almost $20 million over the last 20 days on that ad and two other similar ones, more than Mr. Biden has spent on his total television budget in the same time frame, and a relatively large sum for this stage of the race. Though the ads predate the federal actions in Portland, they convey a common theme of lawlessness under Democratic leadership.
...
The
focus of the Trump administration in recent days has been on Portland,
where there have been nightly protests for weeks denouncing systemic
racism in policing. In the last few days, federal agents from the
Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals, traveling in unmarked
cars, have swooped protesters off the street
without explaining why, in some cases detaining them and in other cases
letting them go because they were not actually suspects. The protests
have increased in size since the arrival of federal officials.
Mr.
Trumpâs deployment of federal law enforcement is highly unusual: He is
acting in spite of local opposition â city leaders are not asking for
help â and his actions go beyond emergency steps taken by some past
American leaders like President George H.W. Bush, who sent troops to
quell Los Angeles in 1992 at the request of California officials.
...
The president has said he might next deploy federal agents to Chicago, and has listed other cities where similar enforcement could take place, including New York but also Philadelphia and Detroit, urban centers in two battleground states. White House officials said the deployments had grown out of meetings among administration officials after protests in Washington, D.C., in late May and early June.
...
Trump administration officials and campaign aides have woven together the protests that began after the killing of George Floyd in May to try to bolster their claim that under Mr. Biden, the police would be âdefunded.â While Mr. Biden has walked a careful line and said explicitly that he doesnât support defunding police departments, the Trump campaign has continued to claim otherwise.
The most recent ad from the Trump campaign, depicting the break-in at a womanâs home, has a singular goal: terrifying the viewer into believing that claim.
The adâs audio includes a news broadcast that talks about âSeattleâs pledge to defund its police department,â referring to another progressive city with which Mr. Trump has feuded.
The spot hews to Mr. Trumpâs long-held preference for messages that promote fear and division, dating to the first ad of his 2016 presidential campaign, which depicted immigrants as criminals. The campaign has already spent nearly $550,000 on its new ad, which was released on Monday.
Describing his opponents as supporting violence while portraying police officers in glowing terms has been a mainstay of Mr. Trumpâs public discourse since the late 1980s.
Protests around the country have been largely peaceful, with spikes of conflict usually arising in clashes with law enforcement. While polls show that a majority of voters support the Black Lives Matter movement, Mr. Trump and some of his advisers are counting on a backlash, so far nonexistent, with white voters in the fall that will boost the presidentâs numbers.
...
Of the $24 million the Trump campaign has spent over all on television ads over the past 20 days, roughly $20 million has gone to ads that focus solely on the issue of the police. About 70 percent of that $20 million has been spent on a singular ad that shows a split screen: One side depicts an empty 911 call center, with an answering service asking callers to select their emergency, and the other displays violent scenes from the protests.
...
Tom Ridge, the former governor of
Pennsylvania who was the first person to serve as secretary of Homeland
Security, also condemned Mr. Trumpâs actions.
âThe
department was established to protect America from the ever-present
threat of global terrorism,â Mr. Ridge, a Republican, told the radio
host Michael Smerconish. âIt was not established to be the presidentâs
personal militia.â
...
Mr. Ridge said it would be a âcold day in hellâ before he would have consented as a governor to what is taking place. âI wish the president would take a more collaborative approach toward fighting this lawlessness than the unilateral approach heâs taken,â he said.
I didn't post it, but I commented on it. kcar even stated in his post that this was Trump's people doing campaign stunts. He and a lot of other people believe that.
I just brought up a relevant quote from Biden is all.
He represents the other side of this issue. The side that calls our federal agents like the ones defending the court house in Portland, "Storm Troopers". A direct quote from Pelosi.
I also call that divisive language that exacerbates the situation. Pelosi will call out her own federal agents yet refuses to say anything about the peaceful protesters who are tearing the place up. This is what it is all about. The coming election.
Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.
These are not the actions of a democratic republic.@DHSgovâs actions in Portland undermine its mission.
Yeah, I see what you're getting at: all the things that can follow with a dubious video like that being posted. The guy who posted it has a pretty weak explanation and has received a lot of criticism - even from "liberal" news sources. There are already plenty of things to be outraged about.
That video was (irresponsibly and misleadingly) posted by Andy Ostroy - not Joe Biden. To my knowledge, Biden has not commented on it. I'm not sure why his name even came up - you may as well have brought up Paul Lynde or Mac Davis.
I didn't post it, but I commented on it. kcar even stated in his post that this was Trump's people doing campaign stunts. He and a lot of other people believe that.
I just brought up a relevant quote from Biden is all.
He represents the other side of this issue. The side that calls our federal agents like the ones defending the court house in Portland, "Storm Troopers". A direct quote from Pelosi.
I also call that divisive language that exacerbates the situation. Pelosi will call out her own federal agents yet refuses to say anything about the peaceful protesters who are tearing the place up. This is what it is all about. The coming election.
Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.
These are not the actions of a democratic republic.@DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission.
That is a video from Serbia, not anywhere in the USA.
And a look at all of the commenters who believe it is from the USA is scary, because they believe it is from the USA ... Same as you do and would continue if I did not challenge this.
As usual, facts don't matter, it's the truth that matters ... Joe Biden (paraphrased) ...
And the truth is whatever you and Joe says it is ...
Joe, Joe, Joe !!!!
That video was (irresponsibly and misleadingly) posted by Andy Ostroy - not Joe Biden. To my knowledge, Biden has not commented on it. I'm not sure why his name even came up - you may as well have brought up Paul Lynde or Mac Davis.
The video to that tweet is scary as hell. Trump is using federal forces to commit acts of violence as campaign stunts.
That is a video from Serbia, not anywhere in the USA.
And a look at all of the commenters who believe it is from the USA is scary, because they believe it is from the USA ... Same as you do and would continue if I did not challenge this.
As usual, facts don't matter, it's the truth that matters ... Joe Biden (paraphrased) ...
And the truth is whatever you and Joe says it is ...
The video to that tweet is scary as hell. Trump is using federal forces to commit acts of violence as campaign stunts.
kcar wrote:
kurtster wrote:
your link does not work.
I think Steely_D meant this Tweet by Andy Ostroy:
Anyone who canât understand how Hitler got his citizens to commit atrocities...and think it canât happen here...just watch. This is some seriously terrifying police brutality that 6 months form now could be a whole lot worse... pic.twitter.com/sB5XbHjEUm
I think Steely_D meant this Tweet by Andy Ostroy:

Anyone who canât understand how Hitler got his citizens to commit atrocities...and think it canât happen here...just watch. This is some seriously terrifying police brutality that 6 months form now could be a whole lot worse... pic.twitter.com/sB5XbHjEUm