Steve Thomas
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Posts posted by Steve Thomas
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40 minutes ago, Kathy Beckett said:
Steve,
Maybe I'd go along with that if he would've come out and told folks to wear or not to masks but him not, and said something like he was going to be available to the people--shake hands, get close--be approachable if they wanted him to be. Nope. He called it a hoax. It had nothing to do with who would die for who.
Kathy,
I see his superspreader campaign rallies combined with his belief in herd "mentality" (grin), as nothing less than trying to spread the corona virus as much as possible. He and advisors always shrug it off as "individual choice", but he's asking them to put their lives on the line "for him".
To say nothing of what he is going to ask them to do between November and January if he loses.
Steve Thomas
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This is the thing I have been most afraid of.
In an interview with Chris Wallace on 10/04/20, Trump advisor, Steve Cortes said,
“The fact that he still got infected shows us that unfortunately this virus has that kind of power,” Cortes said. “The president, though, and he’s made this clear, he was unwilling to completely sequester himself, to take no risk, because leaders take risks. And he is the servant of the people as well as the commander-in-chief and so he said he must be around the people he serves. He took reasonable risks.”
A while back, I wrote an essay that compared Donald Trump’s inauguration speech to Eva Peron’s Speech to the Descamisados on October 17, 1951
https://www.marxists.org/history/argentina/peron/1951/speech.htm
“And I had to come to thank all of you, my beloved descamisados from all corners of the fatherland for being willing to risk your lives for Perón. I was certain that you knew – as did I – how to serve as Perón’s entrenchment. The enemies of the people, of Perón and the Fatherland, have also long known that Perón and Eva Perón are ready to die for this people. Now they also know that the people are ready to die for Perón.
Compañeros, I ask just one thing today: that all of us publicly vow to defend Perón and to fight for him until death. And our oath will be shouted for a minute so that our cry can reach the last corner of the earth: Our lives for Peron!”
I noted that they shared several similar themes:
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I am you and you are me
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Together we fight the oligarchy
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God is on our side
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I will die for you
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Ergo…
Steve Thomas
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On 10/4/2020 at 1:42 AM, Douglas Caddy said:
As virus spreads across GOP ranks, some Republicans say party will pay price for ‘stupid’ approach
Deleted
Steve Thomas
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Azerbaijan has released a one-minute military music video that is……. unusual.
https://twitter.com/simulacrax/status/1311772844364361728
Steve Thomas
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5 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:
I have a question about the line of succession.
Steve Thomas
The Real Nightmare Scenario: A Sick Mike Pence
“The U.S. government knows how to handle an incapacitated commander in chief, but has no idea how to deal with a very sick vice president.”
By GARRETT M. GRAFF
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/02/pence-trump-covid-coronavirus-sick-425329
The second problem is with the statute, the Presidential Succession Act, that guides the line of succession beyond the vice presidency. It may not really be constitutional—and the nation may find the law tested in a moment of great crisis. There’s a clear and well-understood debate that the law dodges a vexing question: Are the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tem considered “officers of the United States” for constitutional purposes and thus eligible to succeed to the presidency at all? No less an authority than the author of the Constitution himself, James Madison, argued that they were legislators, not constitutional officers, and thus ineligible to become president.
The process outlined in the law appears to be in conflict with other parts of the Constitution that hold that only executive branch officials are “officers” and that uncertainty could allow it to be disputed in court.
Republican Senator John Cornyn raised the question of what would happen if a speaker of the House or Senate president pro tem ascended to the presidency—and then was challenged by the secretary of State, who argued that the legislators didn’t count as constitutional officers. “Believe it or not, the secretary actually has a rather strong case, in my view,” Cornyn said. “Who is the president? Whose orders should be followed by our armed forces, by our intelligence agencies, and by domestic law enforcement bureaus? If lawsuits are filed, will courts accept jurisdiction? How long will they take to rule? How will they rule? And how will their rulings be respected?”
Later, a special bipartisan “continuity of government” commission led jointly by the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute, concluded, there “are serious policy and constitutional objections to having congressional leaders in the line of succession.”
Steve Thomas
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I've been wondering who's in charge at the White House. Trump's in the hospital struggling to breathe and Pence is in hiding. Literally, who's in charge there? Mark Meadows? Stephen Miller? Jared Kushner?
Steve Thomas
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35 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:
I have a question about the line of succession.
I had always understood that if the President and Vice-President both become incapacitated, that the line of succession passes to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I read the other day that this open to some doubt, and that the Republican Party is already preparing lawsuits to prevent that from happening.
Can anyone clarify that for me?
Thanks,
Steve Thomas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Succession_Act
Presidential Succession Act
The United States Presidential Succession Act is a federal statute establishing the presidential line of succession.[1] Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact such a statute:
Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acting_president_of_the_United_States
If the president dies, resigns or is removed from office, the vice president automatically becomes president. Likewise, were a president-elect to die during the transition period, or decline to serve, the vice president-elect would become president on Inauguration Day. A vice president can also become the acting president if the president becomes incapacitated. However, should the presidency and vice presidency both become vacant, the statutory successor called upon would not become president, but would only be acting as president.
Read the essays on Presidential Succession following Section 10 on this website:
https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/2/essays/83/presidential-succession
about 1/4 down the page.
"Debate surrounding that issue has been a constant since the first succession law, with many scholars contending that neither the Speaker of the House of Representatives nor president pro tempore of the Senate is an officer in the sense contemplated by the Constitution."
Steve Thomas
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I have a question about the line of succession.
I had always understood that if the President and Vice-President both become incapacitated, that the line of succession passes to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I read the other day that this open to some doubt, and that the Republican Party is already preparing lawsuits to prevent that from happening.
Can anyone clarify that for me?
Thanks,
Steve Thomas
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25 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:
Just reported Robert, Trump "is" showing mild symptoms.
Joe,
And that's going to be a problem, because the "reporting" is coming from the White House, which has not exactly been known for its forthrightness.
It was Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows who "reported" that he has mild symptoms. Why didn't that "report" come from a doctor?
Steve Thomas
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Deleted
Steve Thomas
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The next 12 - 24 hours are going to be very unsettling.
1) A lot of people, perhaps millions, are going to wake up this morning and realize that this is not a hoax. Their belief system will be shaken. This is not something that is going to magically going to go away and like a miracle is going to just disappear and that Donald Trump doesn’t know what he is talking about. They are going to start disbelieving what he’s telling them, perhaps about everything. They are also going to realize that if it could happen to Donald Trump, it could happen to them.
2) Donald Trump is going to come face to face with his own mortality, perhaps for the first time in his life. If he recovers, he will come out of this more humble and kind. Or, he can come out of this more arrogant then ever, convinced of his own immortality. Only time will tell how he deals with this.
Steve Thomas
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3 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:
Sorry, but this is the "conspiracy" forum.
Hope this isn't a false flag "October Surprise" operation.
Where he miraculously doesn't get very sick at all and comes back strong before the election to then say ...
"See! It really isn't that bad. You can all quit worrying now. No need to blame me for something not that serious."
Joe,
There are enough people out there who believe that Donald Trump is the Messiah, put on earth to save us.
If he gets better, I just hope they don't start passing it off as him resurrecting and rising from the dead.
Steve Thomas
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https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/nancy-pelosi-should-isolate-for-continuity-in-government-as-both-trump-and-pence-may-have-cnn-doctor/
"“You’re saying everyone who has been in contact with Hope Hicks, or in these situations, should be quarantining right now?” CNN’s Don Lemon asked.
“Yeah, everyone should be quarantining now,” Dr. Reiner replied.
“And I’ll go even further and say that the Speaker of the House should be protected in isolation now because it doesn’t violate the rules of physics now for both vice president and the president of the United States to get sick,” he continued.
“The continuity of government requires that we have a clear leader here and it’s very possible the president and the vice president can both become sick right now,” he explained. “So, I would limit activity for the Speaker of the House and make sure she’s really isolated and in a relatively sterile environment.”"
Steve Thomas
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Here's a legal question.
Can you indict a sitting President for mass murder?
Steve Thomas
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Donald Trump’s Proud Boys aren’t just standing by
Published on October 1, 2020
By Jordan Green
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/donald-trumps-proud-boys-arent-just-standing-by/
“Members of Oregon Women for Trump joined the Proud Boys for their rally in Portland last weekend.
“We love Oregon, and we want Oregon to stay American,” an Oregon Women member named Carol said during the rally. “And we support the Proud Boys…. We need more men like the Proud Boys.
“This is our time to stand up, stand out, stand against not only Marxism, but to anarchy and Black supremacy,” she continued. “This is a war, folks, that we have got to fight back. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough from all these punks, evildoers, including our [Democratic] governor and our mayor and all their ilk.”
Representatives of both groups pledged that their members will be at ballot-drop boxes during the election.
“We will be — the Proud Boys from the Portland chapter, for Oregonians — we will try to do the best we can to secure some of those most strategic ballot places that are going to be dropped off,” said Flip Todd, the chapter vice president.
While pledging to monitor ballot-drop sites, Oregon Women for Trump also solicited funds to support the Proud Boys.
“It will come back for your safety because we love to stand on the frontlines,” Todd said, as supporters handed cash up to the stage. “We love to be your wall. We love to see people geared up. We like this kind of thing. It’s great. We appreciate it. And, like I said, every single dime goes towards pepper spray, things that we need, whether it’s body armor, helmets, first-aid equipment, tourniquets, things like that.
“Even the paintballs,” he continued. “You know the little CS […]? They’re $2.75 apiece to xxxxing have pepper spray, okay? Anyway, that’s what stuff like that goes for — so you guys are safe, in a worst-case scenario.””
Steve Thomas
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Trump sought deals with Moscow mayor
By NATASHA BERTRAND 09/28/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/28/donald-trump-moscow-mayor-deals-422642
"In an interview with Russian state media last year before his death, Luzhkov, who served as Moscow’s mayor from 1992-2010, revealed that Trump had been in talks with the city government about building an underground mall there in the 1990s.
“Trump was in Moscow,” Luzhkov told Russia’s Interfax news agency, adding that Trump had made contact with former Moscow construction chief Vladimir Resin “on matters related to the construction of the Okhotny Ryad underground shopping complex on Manezhnaya Square.”
“He intended to take part in the construction of this complex,” Luzhkov said.
He noted, however, that the project ultimately fell through. "There were intentions, there were discussions — they related to this very underground complex, but this did not go further,” Luzhkov said.
The underground mall was not the only deal Trump pursued in Moscow during Luzhkov’s tenure, however. In 1997, Trump was negotiating a $175 million deal with the city of Moscow to renovate the Moskva Hotel, just across from the Kremlin, according to a press release included in a January 1997 SEC filing as well as press reports from the time.
“The venture expects to create the premier hotel in Russia, including 600 guest rooms, 200 private condominiums, a convention center, banquet halls, retail shops and extensive public space,” the filing reads, noting that the city of Moscow would receive a minority of the equity.
Trump also won initial approval to renovate the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow in a deal that would have been worth about $800 million, according to Fortune. But in 1998 the Rossiya’s general director Yevgeny Tsimbalistov was murdered in a mafia contract killing; Trump later put the hotel projects on the “back-burner,” his assistant Norma Foerderer said at the time."
Steve Thomas
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On 9/30/2020 at 3:33 AM, Steve Thomas said:
Andrew,
The Proud Boys are celebrating tonight.
Steve Thomas
Deleted
Steve Thomas
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5 hours ago, Andrew Prutsok said:
And you can go back to the Proud Boys.
Andrew,
The Proud Boys are celebrating tonight.
Steve Thomas
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A town in Romania reelects their dead mayor
Carla Sinclair 10:49 am Tue Sep 29, 2020
On Sunday, 57-year-old Ion Aliman was reelected as mayor of Deveselu, Romania. A member of the Social Democrat Party, he won by an overwhelming landslide. The only glitch is that he had died 10 days before the election from COVID-19.
From AP:
His death came too late to remove his name from Sunday's ballot, but the news of his passing spread fast through the village, home to just over 3,000 people…
To honor the man they admired, hundreds of Deveselu villagers went to the polling stations Sunday and voted for Aliman anyway.
After preliminary election results showed late Sunday that Aliman had won 1,057 out of the 1,600 votes cast in Deveselu, a large group of villagers visited his grave to light candles and pay their respects. A video shared widely on social media showed people with flashlights and candles gathered around Aliman's grave, some of them saying "This is your victory" and "We will make you proud, we know that from somewhere up there you are watching."
Steve Thomas
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Don't miss the Ivanka Trump bombshell buried in the Times tax story
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated September 28, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/28/politics/ivanka-trump-donald-trump-tacves/index.html
“But there's another massive revelation contained in the Times' reporting that isn't getting nearly enough attention: Trump wrote off $26 million in unexplained "consulting fees" between 2010 and 2018, with almost $750,000 apparently going to his daughter, Ivanka, in one disclosure.”
“But it appears as though the Times may only have found the tip of the iceberg here.
Why? Because of the $26 million that Trump wrote off as "consulting fees" between 2010 and 2018, none is allocated to any specific person or entity. (The Times figured out the $747,622 payment by matching an amount paid in Trump's tax returns to the same sum reported by Ivanka Trump on her financial disclosure forms filed when she went to work in the White House in 2017.)
So we don't know who received the other $25-ish million that Trump wrote off to "consulting fees" during that time. (Worth noting: The Times reports that Trump wrote off roughly 20% of all income he made on projects over that time to "consulting fees.")
Given the apparent payment to Ivanka Trump revealed by the Times, however, it's not terribly far-fetched to wonder whether all (or much) of those "consulting fees" went through a similar process: Paid to one of Trump's offspring who were serving as both managers of these operations for the Trump Organization and as consultants to the projects as well.”
Steve Thomas
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- Eric Trump -
https://twitter.com/LornestoToledo/status/1310916725312020483
"The LGBT community, they are incredible. And you should see how they come out in full force for my father every single day. I'm part of that community, and we love the man. Thank you for protecting our neighborhoods, thank you for protecting our cities”
I wonder if he thinks the LGBTQ people are part of Chad Wolf's force of Little Green Men?
I don't think Eric's upcoming deposition is going to go very well.
Steve Thomas
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Turkey Sends ISIS Warlord to Azerbaijan to Face-Off Against Putin’s Armenian Allies
WHOEVER WINS… WE LOSE
Former ISIS fighters have been dispatched to fight in a European showdown between Turkish and Russian proxies.
by Muhammad al-Binshi
Updated Sep. 29, 2020
“500 Hamza Brigade fighters were flown last Tuesday from southern Turkey to the Azeri airbase at Sumqayit [30 kilometers north of the Azeri capital of Baku]”, according to a source within the Syrian National Army (SNA) rebel outfit who requested anonymity. “Two days later, on Thursday, another 500 fighters from the Sultan Murad brigades rebel faction were similarly flown out to Azerbaijan.”
These claims were echoed by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Syrian opposition body that monitors human rights violations in the country. SOHR sources suggest more batches of Syrian rebel fighters are preparing to be deployed to Azerbaijan.
In Azerbaijan, Turkey is looking to demonstrate loyalty and prop up an oil-rich regime with which it has maintained close military ties since the 1994 ceasefire. Since 2005, they have launched numerous lucrative oil and gas initiatives including a pipeline that exports 1.2 million barrels of Azeri oil per day to the European Union (EU), earning Turkey upwards of $200 million in annual transit fees. In 2006, this cooperation expanded following the launch of the South Caucasus natural gas pipeline that annually exports 8.8 billion cubic meters of much needed Azeri gas to the Turkish market, a net importer of energy.
In 2011, Turkey began work on an expansive natural gas production network called the Trans Anatolian Pipeline, which is projected to export 31 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas to the EU by 2026. Turkish shareholders, who own a 30 percent stake in the project, stand to make huge profits.
Turkey’s push to transform Azerbaijan into a lucrative oil and gas export hub is also motivated by Ankara’s desire to come out from under Russia’s shadow. Turkey depends on Russia for 40 percent of its fossil fuels, a reliance that has forced Ankara to treat Russia as a friendly nation despite the fact that the two countries share almost no common interests.
The “Southern Gas Corridor,” a term referring to the various pipelines emerging out of Azerbaijan, has been heavily cheered on by the EU, which also wants to break its dependence on Russian gas. No surprise then that Russia is on the other side in the ongoing dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Steve Thomas
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Trump supporters who took hydroxychloroquine for COVID could be denied health insurance if GOP kills Obamacare
Published on September 28, 2020
By Bob Brigham
"One of the bizarre reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic was President Donald Trump continually pushing supporters to take Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate.
While there never evidence the drug could successfully treat coronavirus, Trump began pushing it regardless — even after his own agencies issued warnings the drug could harm patients.
The people who took the drug, including the president himself, could be denied health insurance.
Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, noted that patients who had taken Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate used to receive automatic “medication denials” before Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act during the Obama administration.
This means, if Trump’s Department of Justice is successful in overturning the Affordable Care Act, Republicans who listened to Trump may have a hard time buying insurance in the individual market.
“I was just looking through an insurance underwriting manual from before the ACA. You know what would have gotten you denied individual insurance? Using hydroxychloroquine in the previous 12 months. pic.twitter.com/y55Ya6ftfd
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) September 28, 2020”"
Steve Thomas
The inevitable end result of our last 56 years
in Political Discussions
Posted
- Omarosa Onee Manigault Newman -
“I will tell you there are members of the staff, career staffers, who are very upset about the fact that this outbreak has happened,” she added. “They’re calling it the Rose Garden Massacre.” “So I’m hearing things, and a lot of it is that they just don’t understand why even now the White House has not changed their mask policy. People are still being allowed to roam around the complex saying they’re optional.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/angry-trump-aides-are-calling-amy-coney-barretts-announcement-the-rose-garden-massacre-after-19-outbreak/
(The Party of Stupid)
Steve Thomas