The final countdown to Election Day 2020 is on (Trump thread #106)

[GetTheDoorFrank]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4037771-Presidential-Debate-season-lets-stand-strong-together-Trump-thread-105
Link to previous thread...
Here is to the next 10 pages of unexpected and more so unexplainable shenanigans of SCROTUS and co...

Aw bless. Eric Trump embarrassing himself rambling on about the vaccine that his father took (and apparently developed) that cured him. That's 3 untruths in a single sentence!
thehill.com/homenews/administration/520519-eric-trump-falsely-calls-presidents-therapeutic-coronavirus-treatment

Absolutely Sally Q. Yates.

She has the experience (remember that quaint notion?) and has proven herself to be steadfast.

Read something yesterday that was critical of Yates because of her overly cautious approach to the clemency part of criminal justice reform. Obama's admin seemed to have put it on the backburner and then belatedly and slowly processed applications towards the end of the term.

I think that part is to do with politics (it's hard to sell even if you are able to communicate the injustice of US patterns of incarceration) and resources (it's expensive to vet every case to be absolutely sure of your ground).

But she's obviously worked on other aspects of CJR from education and rehabilitation to the Obama decision to ban private prisons ...

I assume now that Trump considers himself immune, that ALL protective measures at White House and Rallies will be deemed unnecessary

How did I miss this?

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/08/republican-us-senator-mike-lee-democracy

He is openly saying that democracy is not what they want? Amazing that he is being so honest about it.

Woah! From AskingQuestions's link:

Republican senator says 'democracy isn't the objective' of US system
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/08/republican-us-senator-mike-lee-democracy

The Utah senator Mike Lee made the inflammatory declaration in an early morning tweet following Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate.

“Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that,” he wrote, misspelling prosperity.

It followed a series of tweets he made during the debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris in which Lee claimed “We’re not a democracy” and questioned its role in US government.

Lee, who is among a swath of Republicans who recently tested positive for coronavirus, wrote: ‘The word “democracy” appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy. It’s a constitutional republic. To me it matters. It should matter to anyone who worries about the excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few.’

Yeah, mate, the danger of "excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few" IS WHY we have democracies.

So that power does NOT end up in the hands of the few. The people's representatives in Congress, in the Senate, and as head of state have power temporarily, but they're reviewed every 4 years. If the people don't like what their representatives are doing, they sack them.

As Susan Collins who has power, as she makes her frantic appeals to the electorate to lend her their authority a little longer.

All rather different from barons (industrial, technological or merely aristocratic) who hold their power for a lifetime and pass it on to heirs of their choosing.

@PerkingFaintly

Woah! From AskingQuestions's link:

Republican senator says 'democracy isn't the objective' of US system
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/08/republican-us-senator-mike-lee-democracy

The Utah senator Mike Lee made the inflammatory declaration in an early morning tweet following Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate.

“Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that,” he wrote, misspelling prosperity.

It followed a series of tweets he made during the debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris in which Lee claimed “We’re not a democracy” and questioned its role in US government.

Lee, who is among a swath of Republicans who recently tested positive for coronavirus, wrote: ‘The word “democracy” appears nowhere in the Constitution, perhaps because our form of government is not a democracy. It’s a constitutional republic. To me it matters. It should matter to anyone who worries about the excessive accumulation of power in the hands of the few.’

OH

I'm going back to my school days here. We were taught that we are not a 'true' democracy. And that the difference between a 'true' democracy and the US system is that a true democracy is an absolute majority rule, with no protection for any minority population. The US 'representative democracy' enshrines in law the rights of ALL citizens. In a 'true' democracy if the majority decided that no person with red hair could own a grocery store, then the grocery stores would be taken from them as 'the will of the people'. But our system says that just because there are fewer redheads in the US, their rights cannot be taken away by the majority blondes & brunettes.

So technically Lee is not incorrect, although I'm sure he wasn't talking about investing power in the citizenry and protecting ALL citizen's legal rights when he said what he said. In fact, he was talking about is quite the opposite. People of his ilk have always bleated about our being a democracy and 'majority rule', until they realized that white, privileged males were no longer the majority of the voting public.

Coney Barrett hearings have started. I may not be able to handle watching them but I'm going to give it a try.

Good to see this.
Someone's got to take this seriously...

POLITICO
@politico
ICYMI: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) released a statement yesterday saying she planned to attend the Amy Coney Barrett hearing remotely because she believes measures to protect against the coronavirus are inadequate

Well Kamala's decision sounds good to me. Sen. Mike Lee is COVID positive. He is speaking mask-free at Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing.

@TheNorthWestPawsage - came on her to say just that - it's disgraceful, it's deliberately spreading the virus. Why can't he be stopped?

More cretinous behaviour.

Video of Capitol Hill reporters insisting WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows wear a mask while talking with them and Meadows deciding he won’t talk to reporters if he has to wear a mask.
twitter.com/yamiche/status/1315687359564976136?s=21

FFS. I can't do this anymore. It's the end of the world as I've known it for most of my 64 years. I can't take the disrespect, selfishness, and stupidity. People are vile.

[quote TheNorthWestPawsage]More cretinous behaviour.

Video of Capitol Hill reporters insisting WH Chief of Staff Mark Meadows wear a mask while talking with them and Meadows deciding he won’t talk to reporters if he has to wear a mask.
twitter.com/yamiche/status/1315687359564976136?s=21[/quote]
Good way of getting out of being asked questions that one doesn't want to answer, isn't it?

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom I'm 65. I agree. But we're not all vile and selfish. Handhold. You're not, I'm not, no-one on this thread is. Take heart.

@giletrouge
@Jaichangecentfoisdenom

I'm another member of the NOT-Over-the-Hill Gang. I take hope in Anne Frank's words:

"In spite of it all, I still believe that people are good at heart."

We're in a bad place now, but there is always hope.

I'm still hanging in watching the opening statements. I just remind myself that for every Republican spouting bullshit and partisanship, there is a Democrat who is speaking to compassion and justice.

That feels good.

@AcrossthePond55 born in 55? Same as me.
Thank you. Anne Frank's words are spot on. 💔

Jai hold firm and come and rant to us when you need to

I had this meme on my computer back in 2016 and I think it's very apt.

Trump has introduced a whole level of nastiness that it's hard to combat.
Not much better here in the UK with what's going on with Johnson and his cronies.

@HoldMyLobster

That feels good.

Beautiful to see!

We're doing ours this afternoon and will take them to the elections office tomorrow.

[quote giletrouge]**@AcrossthePond55 born in 55? Same as me.
Thank you. Anne Frank's words are spot on. 💔[/quote]
She was so young to be so wise.

Just as long as the minority are white male oligarchs.

So technically Lee is not incorrect, although I'm sure he wasn't talking about investing power in the citizenry and protecting ALL citizen's legal rights when he said what he said. In fact, he was talking about is quite the opposite. People of his ilk have always bleated about our being a democracy and 'majority rule', until they realized that white, privileged males were no longer the majority of the voting public.

Well indeed, Across. Your example is of majority rule and the majority deciding to seriously impact the basic rights of the minority. So was about protecting from a (viscious) majority.

It was clear that Lee was talking about rule by a minority – which he sees as being the end product of democracy. Erm, well, he's in the party which came to power on a minority of the vote, so in this case the US form of democracy has put a dangerous minority ie HIM in power.

... Not sure that's really where he meant to direct our attention...

Another vote for equality and sanity