Posts Made By: James Brown

Try your search with no dates in the "date range" fields. For some reason putting in dates causes my searches to fail, but no problem if you just leave the dates blank.

Jim

Jim Moscheck said:

here in this forum but what Trump did yesterday is appalling. What the hell did bringing up Elizabeth Warren and the racial slur nickname he calls her have to do with three heros of WWII who greatly helped us to win the war. Does the man not have the decency to try to be human for 15 minutes while honoring these men?

Hi Jim:

I agree 100% that Trump's comments were poorly timed, transparently and arrogantly self-serving, and supremely rude in that he deflected all attention away from the Navajo veterans. So I can't and won't defend Trump's comments. He is a tool and a national embarrassment.

In this context, I don't think that "Pocahontas" is a racial slur. Warren lied about her ancestry to promote her career. Talk about self-serving hypocrisy for a liberal. Warren earned mockery. Whether her lie affects her viability as a national candidate remains to be seen. Compared to the skeletons in most politicians closets, lying about your ancestry is pretty tame. Her Wall Street hypocrisy might be a bigger issue to Democratic voters.

I do wish that Trump had the intelligence to comprehend that the proper mockery of Warren is the relatively clever "Fauxcahontas." No doubt that would invoke screams of racism from the press as well, but it shouldn't. The person showing disrespect to native Americans is the white woman who pretended to be one so that Harvard would hire her.

Jim

Russ Carroll said:

Get used to the sound of that. I don't think Doug Jones could get elected even if he changed his name to Bear Bryant. OK, maybe then.

Make your predictions here.

Hi Russ:

Good thing you're not using that Carnac the Magnificent avatar any more! I will be upset if this vote makes a difference in the passage of the tax reform bill*, which ought to be approved before Jones is sworn in. Otherwise, this result is good for the long term health of the GOP.

Jim

* The reform might make my taxes go up, but that would be more than offset by economic growth and avoidance of the stock market collapse predicted to happen if the tax bill is not passed.

James Lacey said:

These praise lavishing spectacles the Trump administration orchestrates are beyond creepy. Between Carson's "prayer" that was completely devoid of any humility, and Pence's obsequious dear leader speech, I felt like I was watching some North Korea propaganda video. Trump's body language was strange too with his arms crossed and the scowl of a school boy who doesn't want to eat his cooked carrots. Rex and Mattis were palpably uncomfortable. It is a strange day in America that's for sure.

You watch a lot more of that stuff than I do James. It's probably not good for you!

What do you think of the tax reform bill? How about the economy's performance in 2017? I'm not going to credit Trump with magic of course, but it does appear that the economy was ready for a little hope and change!

Jim

Russ Carroll said:

...sounds like a Michael Moore film. Richard and the rest of you Trumptards, how does it feel that Steve Bannon and I are completely aligned with my long-standing belief about Trump and money laundering...let alone Russian BS????


""You realize where this is going ... This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose (senior prosecutor Andrew) Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy," Bannon reportedly said. "Their path to f***ing Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr., and Jared Kushner ... It's as plain as a hair on your face."

""The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor -- with no lawyers. They didn't have any lawyers," Bannon continued, according to the Guardian. "Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad s***, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.""

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/03/politics/bannon-wolff-fire-and-fury/index.html

Somewhere in Colorado Springs a poor computer keyboard is melting...

J

Russ Carroll said:

On Martin Luther King Day, we need to remember that the fight for racial and social justice is not a conflict between liberals and conservatives. In their purest forms, liberal and conservative ideology don't differ on wanting to bring about an end of discrimination, as well as find a way to lift the poor out of poverty. They only differ in the roles that the public and private sector should play in addressing these issues. Many times, they overlap considerably.

I would not be a conservative if I did not sincerely believe that it provided a better path for social justice and help for the poor by keeping the engine that fuels it all, the US economy, thriving. This provides everything from economic opportunity to humanitarian aid for all people. Both conservatives and liberals know that a government safety net, anti-discrimination laws, and a healthy private-sector economy are needed to one degree or another.

Donald Trump has been a lifelong Democrat, and has expressed deep cynicism about Republicans. I don't think these cynical thoughts left him when he decided the best path for him to run for office was as a Republican with a black president as a foil.

There are multiple credible reports that Trump vetted his "shithole"? comment before using them, and bragged about them afterward. He said this would play well with his base, just as many of his other racially charged comments have.

He's not pandering to conservatives, who strongly reject these types of comments. He's pandering to those that can be appealed to on this basis, many of them never having been republicans in the past, and are certainly not traditional conservatives.

MLK, Jr.'s fight for equality is not a battle between the right and the left. It is an eternal battle between right and wrong

Excellent post Russ, thank you.

Jim

Jim Moscheck said:

I'm sitting here at the Winter Star Party I want to say how really happy I am that the president signed an executive order last year making it easier for someone with mental problems to be able to buy guns and in this case another assault rifle.

Hi Jim:

I hate to wade into these issues, because I'm not a gun absolutist and I am personally in favor of certain weapons restrictions. I also think that well reasoned restrictions can be Constitutional under the 2nd Amendment.

That being said, the Obama regulation that Trump rolled back (the one you referred to above) was a very bad law. The original regulation required a certain class of people receiving social security benefits to be listed on the background check database, the same as if they were felons.

Trump's repeal was supported by the NRA of course. But Trump's action was supported by the ACLU too. Think about that - - - Trump was supported by the NRA and the ACLU on this one. Might be the one and only time...

[COLOR="Blue"]"We oppose this rule because it advances and reinforces the harmful stereotype that people with mental disabilities, a vast and diverse group of citizens, are violent and should not own a gun. There is no data to support a connection between the need for a representative payee to manage one’s Social Security disability benefits and a propensity toward gun violence."

The ACLU has also said:

"Here, the rule automatically conflates one disability-related characteristic, that is, difficulty managing money, with the inability to safely possess a firearm."[/COLOR]

In the aftermath of a shooting it is understandable to finger-point and blame. We all want to find solutions. The press is having a field day with the supposed contradiction between Trump's action on the bill and his mental illness rhetoric. In this case though, the criticism is unjustified. Trump did the right thing when he (Congress actually) eliminated a regulation that deprived citizens of a constitutional right, without any sort of due process, based merely upon a characteristic maintained by the Social Security Administration that is unrelated to gun violence. FWIW I doubt that this 19 year old was receiving Social Security Disability benefits, but many tens of thousands of veterans are.

Enjoy the WSP. I really need to go some time. I'm flying into Tampa this afternoon, but it is to see my parents. Some day I'll extend the trip to include the star party.

Jim

Source: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/aclu_letter_to_senate_re_s_j_res_14_28ssa_nics_rule29_and_s_j_res_12_28fair.pdf

Russ Carroll said:

that Trump got a hooker? That he cheats on his wife?? I can't imaging this is news to any Trump supporters.

I hate to break it to you, but if the bulk of self-identified evangelicals have ignored Trumps behavior thus far, then the Stormy Daniels "confirmation" of Trumps character is a big non-event to most all of these same folks. I had no idea that so many think it will be some kind of a watershed event when there is definitive proof of Trump getting a hooker.

Hi Russ:

Who thinks this will be a watershed event? Maybe the wistfully optimistic left who think that the next scandal will be the one that brings DJT down? It's crazy to think this will matter.

I do think that if the D's run a candidate palatable to some conservatives and moderates, Trump will get annihilated in '20

Jim

Jim Moscheck said:

I say there really is a pee video. What other explanation is there beside maybe finances?

Hi Jim:

I don't think the pee video would be that damaging. Heck, 99% of voters have no doubt that Trump was nailing porn stars while his wife sat at home with the baby. He is bullet-proof on personal morality grounds, with one exception I can think of. Trump could flame out on some sort of illegal financial deal having his clearly demonstrated direct involvement. But, I suspect that DJT has layers of people insulating him from any potentially illegal financial deals.

Jim

Rod Kaufman said:

Down another 500 and falling over Trump's stupid trade war with China over its theft of "intellectual property" as if that's going to deter them.
Joe 401k holder is the only one who's going to pay up here...
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/22/investing/dow-jones-trade-war-china/index.html

I'm not a fan of tariffs, not at all. But seriously Rod, you're going a bit Chicken Little on this one. Remember how wrong you were on November 9, 2016?

I do.

https://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=830553&poll_id=&news_id=&page=21

The Dow was at 18,332 at the close on election day.

A trade war with CN is a terrible idea by the way.

Jim