The Politics Thread

[Khan]

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the legacy of the Trump administration (beyond the embarrassing behaviors and drop in standing in the free world) turns out to be the resurgence of the judicial branch of our government.

[DRW50]

 

I think this is something they'd be ramping up even if Hillary was in the White House. Unfortunately both parties have seemed to have no idea how to respond as they grow more and more dangerous. And of course Trump doesn't even have most of his positions filled at the State Department, which Tillerson was apparently berating aides about recently. 

 

It shouldn't surprise me just how little the GOP cares but somehow it still does. I guess they figure it's just Alaska. Or it's just California. 

[dragonflies]

Shake my damn head, this is sick

 

 

[Khan]

Ironically, that message is more lucid than most of Trump's tweets.

[I Am A Swede]

It's disgusting, but sadly not surprising. People have been writing vicious and despicable things on social media for ages. The big difference now is that this behaviour has found its way to the very top.

[Juliajms]

Isn't it possible there isn't a good solution? Sanctions haven't worked. I've seen experts say military intervention would be a disaster, although I certainly don't have the knowledge to say if that's true. Maybe China is the only one who can bring them to heel? I'm not looking forward to finding out.

[DramatistDreamer]

As president, Barack Obama along with First Lady Michelle used to host an annual 4th of July picnic for veterans and their families.

What is Trump doing? Playing golf in Bedminster, NJ. Hm.

 

 

China has no interest in even giving the appearance that they are acceding to any request put forth by the U.S. when they actively engage in trade and share a border with North Korea. 

China doesn't want to rock the boat for fear of unleashing instability that would lead to a refugee crisis sprawling over the border into their country.

 

There may not be a good solution to this but Trump's solution to rely on China to 'fix things' for the U.S. is certainly an unwise strategy and likely to fail.

Edited July 4, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[Juliajms]

Couldn't agree more. I wasn't trying to imply that I thought China would bring NK to heel, just that they are probably the only ones that have the power.  I can't see a lot of reasons they would help us.  Not unless they have their own reasons for wanting to forestall a confrontation. The really bad part of this, imo, is that we might have hoped for a judicious response if an attack happened under President Obama.  I shudder to think what will happen now. 

[Khan]

 

We'd just get a bunch of tweets from Trump saying it's all fake news and calling us a bunch of wussies and losers for heading to the bomb shelters we purchased on Amazon.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

If China has the power, they don't seem to be very interested in wielding it against NK. I think they view NK as that crazy cousin that you deal with with kid gloves.  (I'll never forget the Chinese government ordering Chinese people on Weibo to stop calling Kim Jong-Un "Fatty Kim" which had become a name that Chinese posters online had taken to calling the North Korean dictator).

China just seems more concerned with NK having enough economic prosperity and order that there is no refugee crisis spilling over their border.

 

I think China would rather wield whatever power they may have in the circle of the 'big countries'.  For instance, they are relishing the idea that the U.S. is now coming to them, practically hat in hand, asking them for help on something.

Edited July 4, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[hsfolk]

so now CNN is threatening people? 

 

CNN has come under fire for suggesting it will publish the identity of a private citizen if he behaves in a way that displeases the network.

Andrew Kaczynski, senior editor of CNN’s KFile, discovered the identity of the Reddit user who made a short video of President Trump tackling a man with CNN’s logo superimposed on his face to the ground.

CNN is withholding the man’s identity “because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again,” Mr. Kaczynski wrote in an article published Tuesday night.

“CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change,” he continued.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/5/cnn-threatens-reveal-reddit-user-real-identity-ove/

[Vee]

TPM on TMZ's transformation - like the Enquirer before it - into a Trump press organ.

[GregNYC]

North Korea appeared to use China truck in its first claimed ICBM test

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-china-truck-idUSKBN19P1J3

[DRW50]

And we still just keep hearing the same statements "urging" China to act, when they clearly won't, and also threatening China, when we have no power over them and threatening them just encourages them to continue to support North Korea. 

 

We clearly have no plans whatsoever to stop this. "Experts" have gone from saying it will be years to now saying it will only be a year or two, so they probably have that wrong and it could easily be less than a year. And we will still end up hearing the same comments that do and say absolutely nothing. 

 

If we don't get any real push forward in a situation like this then I don't know if we ever will. 

Edited July 5, 2017 by DRW50

[Juliajms]

Now that was a depressing story, especially the part about how TMZ is allowing Trump to reach a younger more diverse audience and patch together a broader coalition. I'm going to hope his awful approval ratings counter this story.