It Begins

Written By: - Date published: 6:02 am, January 20th, 2017 - 63 comments
Categories: us politics - Tags: , ,

63 comments on “It Begins ”

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    • Andre 1.1
      20 January 2017 at 7:28 am

      Yeah, part of my motivation for going on and on ad nauseum about what’s happening in the US is that hopefully people will see the dangers in local parallels.

    • reason 1.2
      20 January 2017 at 10:13 am

      Today as Trump becomes the new war president……… Obama leaves him the keys to a blood drenched extrajudicial execution machine … to ‘fight terror’ … the likes of which the world has never seen before.

      Trump and his white house will get to feed it their kill lists ….. Obama apparently made his list on Tuesday mornings

      Utilizing everything from Death Squads, Mercenearies, 5 eyes, Drones, Missiles and bombs … It is Unparalleled in its capacity to kill all over the world….

      This expensive killing machine comes with special white house immunity … protecting the executive from war crimes prosecutions… or compensation claims

      This immunity, first exercised in the genocide on their native Americans ….and kept in place until the present War on Terror …. has the strength of Captain Americas shield ….. as Nobel Peace murderer Henry Kissinger will attest…..

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Fact is stranger than Fake ……… A firearms owner by having to clearly identify his target before shooting at it with even a tiny .22 bullett …. Is held to higher standards and accountability,….. than a u.s president firing hugely explosive missiles.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpzk7OdbjBw ‘Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars is a feature-length documentary film’

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N6q9JfrWLg ‘Drone War Exposed: Jeremy Scahill on U.S. Kill Program’s Secrets’ ..a 15 minute vid

      Obama and the Clintons should go live in Libya ……….. They made it in their image.

  2. Andre 2
    20 January 2017 at 7:26 am

    Is Trump legitimate?

    Sure, by the laws of the US, he won the Electoral College vote and that vote was certified in Congress, so he is legally legitimate as the president-elect.

    However, is he politically legitimate? He lost the popular vote by a truly impressive margin. The Electoral College failed to do the duty they were set up to do – prevent the ascension of someone unfit for the presidency. He has apparently been the beneficiary of electoral meddling by a hostile foreign power. He has been the beneficiary of the head of a major government department breaking protocol and possible some laws by effectively smearing his opponent. He has been the beneficiary of laws designed to suppress voting by groups of people generally favourable to his opponent.

    Will he be a legally legitimate president? When he takes his oath to “…and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” he will already be in violation of one the first parts of the Constitution, the emoluments clause.

    • Pat 2.1
      20 January 2017 at 7:35 am

      apologies…i deleted before I saw you had replied

    • Bill 2.2
      20 January 2017 at 9:26 am

      The system’s rigged and no-one told Clinton ‘the rules’, meaning that she pursued the wrong tactics.
      The Intelligence Agencies took sides.
      Russia made Clinton supporters vote for Trump.
      Obama was in behind too by doing nothing about voter suppression during his terms.

      Or.

      Too many people in too many states neither liked nor trusted Clinton.

      • swordfish 2.2.1
        20 January 2017 at 10:20 am

        “Too many people in too many states neither liked nor trusted Clinton”

        Under the current wave of McCarthyite hysteria carefully fostered by the decidedly Right-of-Centre DNC Clintonistas, the broader Washington Consensus US Establishment and their highly compromised MSM associates, this is fast becoming The Truth that Dare Not Speak it’s Name.

        And you know, Bill, you’re risking yet another orgy of aggressive grandstanding from The Standard’s very own answer to Don Quixote (PM) and his colourful off-sider Sancho Panza (Andre). This heroic pair of Cold War Warriors, fearlessly started enforcing McCarthyite conformity here (in between tilting at windmills) the moment they were sure the bulk of the US establishment had their backs.

        • Morrissey 2.2.1.1
          20 January 2017 at 10:23 am

          Actually, Psycho Milt seems to be a bit more compos mentis than his offsider, who just has, well, nothing. It looks like a Whaleoil-Jordan Williams kind of relationship.

        • Psycho Milt 2.2.1.2
          20 January 2017 at 11:21 am

          Charming. I have the same ability to enforce “McCarthyite conformity” here as you do, ie none. And I don’t recall posting any disagreement with the claim that Clinton lost because too many people neither liked nor trusted her. I think many of those people were foolish, in that their decision not to vote (or worse, to vote for the Tangerine Nazi Rapeclown instead) will come back to bite them over the next four years, but that’s a different thing entirely. I also think the US government obviously can’t just accept the Russian government attempting to influence US elections via cyber warfare, but that’s not the same thing as claiming the cyberwarfare did influence the elections and Clinton was robbed.

          Also: if you think a billionaire property developer who lives in a Manhattan skyscraper, flies round the world in a private jet with his trophy wife, is famous for stiffing his workers and creditors, and just won the presidency as the Republican candidate isn’t the “US establishment,” you need to go away and think about this a bit more.

      • Jerko 2.2.2
        20 January 2017 at 2:03 pm

        It’s a fucking nightmare over here let me tell you. We are not watching any inauguration. Apparently the Trump regime requested a military parade akin to Russia, China and North Korea. The reason for not having it was reported as,
        ” I can absolutely see that structural support being a reason [not to use tanks],” a Department of Defense official said. “D.C. is built on a swamp to begin with.”

        And since “DC is built on a swamp.” His selection of staff should fit right in.

    • Kevin 2.3
      20 January 2017 at 3:13 pm

      “Sure, by the laws of the US, he won the Electoral College vote and that vote was certified in Congress, so he is legally legitimate as the president-elect.

      However, is he politically legitimate? He lost the popular vote by a truly impressive margin. ”

      —

      Pointless and irrelevant.

      He was elected under the current rules so making up non-existent rules to counter that election result is, to me, bizarre.

      • lprent 2.3.1
        20 January 2017 at 3:20 pm

        It appears to have been the rules that Trump himself was making up. He has been claiming before and after the election that he won the “popular vote”.

        To me, losing the popular vote by a large margin whilst ‘winning’ the election is usually simply a sign of a gerrymander of electorates and a greatly flawed democratic system. It means in this case that Trump is unlikely to win a lot of respect, and that is before you consider that he is gormless idiotic fuckwit.

        • Bill 2.3.1.1
          20 January 2017 at 3:34 pm

          So this was Trump’s analogy. But it was accurate.

          In golf there are two games – stroke play and match play. In match play, you can have played far more strokes than your opponent, but win the match because it’s all down to how many individual holes are won – not the accumulated number of strokes. And obviously both games come with different strategies/possibilities.

          And the United States of America choose their President in line with match play, not stroke play. Everyone knows that. And everyone strategises accordingly. There is absolutely no need to get the best score (popular vote), the idea is to win the greatest number of holes (states).

          So Clinton wasn’t trusted or liked, lost too many states, and the Tumshie Trump Train’s on its way…

          edit – I do like that poem 🙂

    • HDCAFriendlyTroll 2.4
      20 January 2017 at 5:39 pm

      Mmmm mmmm. Tears of impotent liberal rage. Delicious.

  3. Pat 3
    20 January 2017 at 7:32 am

    …the end?

  4. AsleepWhileWalking 4
    20 January 2017 at 7:43 am

    I thought the title in todays Herald “Affluent man who talks Effluent” was more appropriate for Robert Jones than Trump, but I think it encapsulates the MSM line on his presidency, so no surprises there.

    The fact is that Trump will have difficulty delivering his election promises. If he should manage to get congress on board (and quickly…that debt bomb isn’t going away) it will be nothing short of miraculous and imho he would be the political equivalent of Jesus.

    Prediction: Nasty first 100 days in office. That being said I really hope it all works out.

    • Macro 4.1
      20 January 2017 at 8:03 am

      So you are looking forward to a large tax cut, pressure to reduce wages below the now minimum, and the trashing of affordable health care. Are you also anticipating grow antagonism from China and a possible war between China and Taiwan?

  5. r0b 5
    20 January 2017 at 8:02 am

    If you have the time, check out the view from the other side of the political fence:

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/19/filter-bubble-conservative-articles-trump-inauguration

  6. Sanctuary 6
    20 January 2017 at 8:04 am

    Trump is an idiot – a thin skinned blowhard married to a bubblehead. I read he he only listens to his daughter Ivanka and her hubby for advice, so they’ll be the real power brokers behind the throne. But Trump will either end up a puppet of his extremist right wing congress or he’ll be deposed by that same congress, with the active connivance of the liberal ruling class. If he stacks the supreme court or dismantles democracy with Jim Crow or presides over a new golden age of corruption all he’ll be doing is accelerating the already existing GOP Confederate agenda, not creating it.

  7. Nick 7
    20 January 2017 at 8:38 am

    Trump is ditching TPP so …..1 tick for Trump….I am sure he will earn many crosses

    • Paul 7.1
      20 January 2017 at 10:25 am

      Yes, this is good news.

      US President-elect Donald Trump set to kill TPP in hours

      Donald Trump is set to kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership between the US, New Zealand and Australia and nine other Pacific countries within hours of being sworn in as the 45th president of the US.

      Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer said on Thursday the president-elect would stick to his planned list of executive orders aimed at striking down some of the cornerstones of President Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House, including the proposed TPP.

      In November Trump released a video of his policy plans for the first 100 days and the “potential disaster for our country” TPP was top of his list.

      “Part of what he announced in the executive order list around the Thanksgiving time included the actions on both TPP and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement),” Spicer told reporters.

      “They will be done by executive order so I think you will see those happen very shortly.”

      In Trump’s video message in November he vowed to “issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership”.

      Spicer’s TPP executive order confirmation is a blow to the New Zealand government and other nations hoping to keep the TPP alive.

  8. Psycho Milt 8
    20 January 2017 at 8:46 am

    I see only two positive aspects to this:

    1. The American right, in a closely-fought contest, chose to represent it an obnoxious, narcissistic blowhard, who appears to have no empathy, no capacity for reflection and no motivation beyond personal profit or self-aggrandisement. It’s the very apotheosis of representative democracy, and hopefully the left will remind them of it for decades to come.

    2. Within a fairly short time, a great many current non-voters in the USA will have been given cause to realise that actually yes it does matter who’s running the government, so yes there is some point in voting. Assuming they’re still able to vote once Tangerine Nazi Rapeclown and his pals have finished doctoring voter registration law to their advantage, they might trouble themselves to select a least-worst candidate to vote for next time.

  9. James 9
    20 January 2017 at 8:59 am

    Or. The guy could actually do a good job. Only time will tell.

    Amazes me that some people think that trump is a fool but Corbyn would make a good leader for the Uk.

    • Morrissey 9.1
      20 January 2017 at 9:22 am

      Why would Corbyn not be a good leader?

      • james 9.1.1
        20 January 2017 at 1:44 pm

        ha ha hah ahahaha hahaha hha hahahaha haha ahaha hahahaha hahaha Jesus – that is the funniest thing I have read in ages.

        • Morrissey 9.1.1.1
          20 January 2017 at 1:48 pm

          You have no coherent answer to make. You’ve had nearly four hours.

          Wouldn’t you be better off doing something more in line with your talent, like phoning up Kerre ohoWmad McIvor and sharing your views with her?

          Would you like her phone number?

          • james 9.1.1.1.1
            20 January 2017 at 3:29 pm

            I was indeed doing something more in line with my talents – earning a living.

            I still think your comment hilarious – even by your standards.

    • Draco T Bastard 9.2
      20 January 2017 at 11:40 am

      His history tells us that he’s going to do a poor job.

      It amazes me that you RWNJs always go on about skills and meritocracy and then always come out in defence of rich people who have neither skills nor merit.

      • McFlock 9.2.1
        20 January 2017 at 1:10 pm

        Perfectly logical, if you hold the religious belief that being rich requires skill and only happens to those who merit it more than others.

        Of course, if luck is a significant factor in being rich, and if people sometimes get rich doing bad things and their “skill” merely revolves around not getting caught, the yanks have elected a moronic fucktard with poor impulse control to be in charge of their nuclear arsenal…

      • james 9.2.2
        20 January 2017 at 1:45 pm

        History is but an indicator.

        He could actually do a good job. Here is hoping for all of us !!!

        • Draco T Bastard 9.2.2.1
          20 January 2017 at 1:55 pm

          True, he could but it’s highly unlikely. At his age I’m not expecting him to change his spots.

          The simple fact is that his entire life is a great example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. He thinks he’s great but he’s really to stupid to even realise that he’s an ignorant schmuck.

  10. Morrissey 10
    20 January 2017 at 9:15 am

    Trump is a walking, talking outrage, and his cabinet of grotesques is the most terrifying assemblage of reprobates in U.S. political history. However, none of the four ex-presidents on the face of Mt Rushmore has any right to assume a stance of moral superiority.

    Exhibit 1: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
    He’s the one on the right, holding his hands over his eyes to express his pain at the thought of Trump….

    Ordered that of the Indians and Half-breeds sentenced to be hanged by the military commission, composed of Colonel Crooks, Lt. Colonel Marshall, Captain Grant, Captain Bailey, and Lieutenant Olin, and lately sitting in Minnesota, you cause to be executed on Friday the nineteenth day of December, instant, the following names, to wit [39 names listed by case number of record: cases 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 22, 24, 35, 67, 68, 69, 70, 96, 115, 121, 138, 155, 170, 175, 178, 210, 225, 254, 264, 279, 318, 327, 333, 342, 359, 373, 377, 382, 383].

    The other condemned prisoners you will hold subject to further orders, taking care that they neither escape, nor are subjected to any unlawful violence.

    Abraham Lincoln,
    President of the United States

    On December 6 (1862) President Lincoln notified Sibley that he should “cause to be executed” thirty-nine of the 303 convicted Santees. Execution date was the 26th of December. At the last minute, one Indian was given a reprieve. About ten o’clock the thirty-eight condemned men were marched from the prison to the scaffold. They sang the Sioux death song until soldiers pulled white caps over their heads and placed nooses around their necks. At a signal from an army officer, the control rope was cut and thirty-eight Santee Sioux dangled lifeless in the air.

    A spectator boasted that this was “America’s greatest public execution.”

    Read more…..
    http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/hanging.html

    • Morrissey 10.1
      20 January 2017 at 9:51 am

      Exhibit 2: THEODORE ROOSEVELT
      He’s also covering his face in apparent horror, second from right….

      Roosevelt was a shocking racist. I don’t use the analogy lightly, but it’s a fact that you have to go to the Nazi archive to find anything similar. So, here’s a couple of his examples about our little region here. “The expansion of the peoples of white, or European, blood during the past four centuries . . . has been fraught with lasting benefit to most of the peoples already dwelling in the lands over which the expansion took place.” That’s despite what the remnants of Native Americans or Blacks or Filipinos or others might mistakenly believe. Actually, genocide denial has been a leading and highly valued feature of the intellectual and moral culture in the United States and remains so right until the present, with striking examples right today. With regard to the conquest of half of Mexico, Roosevelt explained that it was “inevitable and in the highest degree desirable for the good of humanity at large, that the American people should ultimately crowd out the Mexicans.” It was “out of the question to expect Texans to submit to the mastery of the weaker race.” And, of course, stealing Panama from Colombia was also “in the highest degree desirable for the good of humanity.” I won’t go on with Teddy Roosevelt, whose statue graces Mount Rushmore.

    • Stunned Mullet 10.2
      20 January 2017 at 9:54 am

      I didn’t know it was hay baling season Moz.

  11. Nick 11
    20 January 2017 at 9:19 am

    Corruption is already the dominant force in the Whitehouse US political system. Trump is a different personality, but same problem exists. Obama slick, cool, dude corrupt…… Trump obnoxious, narcissistic blowhard corrupt

  12. The decrypter 12
    20 January 2017 at 9:25 am

    Wonder if msm/political parties, are, or will become very fearful of being accused as being ‘Trump Like’–or will it be a badge of honour?

  13. adam 13
    20 January 2017 at 12:59 pm

    What begins, a drone war? nope we got that.
    Voter suppression? nope we got that too.
    Mass incarceration? Defiantly covered.
    Mass surveillance? Even this will be kept.
    End of women rights over their own bodies? Look at the state level, and be afraid.
    Attacks on peaceful protest? Scary, but happening.
    Subversion of the intellectual class to speak out,? Almost a hundred years on that one, we should have a celebration or somthing…
    Union busting? nope, that already happening.
    Systematic police violence against people of colour? Again what is changing.
    Active state involvement to disrupt community groups? What, it must be the 40 year celebration of this program coming up soon.
    Self censorship? Alive and well.

    So what begins, seriously what is beginning which has not already been happening now? One thing is the open ratcheting up of all this, but again not new, not even an original idea by trump and his team.

    • McFlock 13.1
      20 January 2017 at 1:37 pm

      Begins? Maybe none.
      Gets worse, however?

      a drone war? yup, if his promise to target innocent relatives of suspects comes to fruition.
      Voter suppression? with a supreme court loaded with 7 or 9 ultra-conservatives? Yup.
      Mass incarceration? Oh, definitely.
      Mass surveillance? probably
      End of women rights over their own bodies? oh much fucking worse.
      Attacks on peaceful protest? probably worse
      Subversion of the intellectual class to speak out,? most definitely, especially if he manages to follow through on his threats about defamation in the media
      Union busting? probably resurrect the pinkerton rifles
      Systematic police violence against people of colour? databases based on religion
      Active state involvement to disrupt community groups? definitely
      Self censorship? even worse

      • Sabine 13.1.1
        20 January 2017 at 1:43 pm

        it’s all good McFlock. Imagine all the good the religious autocratic ‘united’ states of america are going to do.

        they will end up liberating all of us cause ‘the second coming’ is coming, and only the dirt faithless heathens will be left behind.

        And just in case, this is how it happened in Germany. A whole lot of smart edcuated people that should know better normalising the shit that looks like shit, stinks like shit, attracts flies like shit as a piece of peace bringing art.

        • McFlock 13.1.1.1
          20 January 2017 at 2:03 pm

          yup, but as soon as this is pointed out, people call “Godwin” as if that means it’s not true.

          • adam 13.1.1.1.1
            20 January 2017 at 2:57 pm

            Godwin, I just wish people would read this Godwin

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Godwin

            I agree, it feels like we can’t call fascism, fascism anymore because of some stupid law. Or some peoples over use of the term. But, this is a political site, and I think people should have a basic understanding of political economy.

            I don’t think trump is a neo-nazi, but I do think his views are very much in line with the fascism of Mussolini or Franco – he has not done much to prove other wise, and the USA has laid pretty solid foundations for a fascist state. My hope is they won’t go down that path.

            But, historically corporations have always tended towards fascist economics, because it suits them. As far as they are concerned, monopoly is good. With a whole lot of money in public relations, and war machine which can’t stop – I think we are in trouble.

            Could be real ugly sooner than we think.

            • McFlock 13.1.1.1.1.1
              20 January 2017 at 3:20 pm

              Semantically, I don’t really care about whether he’s a sexist, racist, nazi, anti-intellectual, or a fascist (although I think he is a sexist and a racist). It’s about as important as the difference between “democratic socialist” and “fabian socialist”. It can come up in narrow arguments, but the general gist for conversation is more than precise enough. And it’s debatable whether the main difference between Trump anti-Islam rhetoric and Nazi anti-semitism is the degree of organisation behind related violence and simply how honestly the leader believes his own hate speech.

              What really pisses me off is that he actively courts the votes of sexist racist nazi fascist flat-earther fundie klan members. And that other people make excuses for it, pretend that he doesn’t mean it, that whatever he does that’s bad is just pandering to his “red meat” followers.

              Fuck that shit. He’s still pandering to that crowd, so anyone who supports him is by definition supporting someone who panders to that crowd.

          • Sabine 13.1.1.1.2
            20 January 2017 at 3:18 pm

            i don’t care about Godwin.
            I just got an answer to the question that i have asked myself ever since in 8th grade (german education) a catholic nun brought out a box of ‘memorabilia’ from the years 1933 – 1945 – coloring in books/collection books, post cards, newspapers, etc etc to show us how a people can be propagand’ized – you should have seen the nice things that were said about the Hitler Youth, and the godly pure german girls and shit, and then to round our education off we got marched through the camps, virtual and in real.
            By the time she was finished there was not one 14 year old girl in the class that a. was not completely devastate, ashamed and horrified, but we were also distraught to say the least to learn that our Grandparents did little to prevent it.

            I then spend years reading books and the likes in the hopes to find the one or the other ‘good’ German who stood up. We all know how many there were, we all know how it ended for them. You can not understand how ‘relieved’ i was to read the story about the uprising of the Warschauer Ghetto, the uprising of Sobibor, the Siblings Scholl and all the other little stories that told small tales of courage. But there were never enough.

            So Goodwin – sorry but you are obsolete, and i just received a history lessons.
            And my biggest beef is not with people who don’t know better, but with people who are educated, learned and should know better but who rationalise the ‘evil’ that is a coming.

            Sorry world, she’ll be not right at all. She’ll be fucked over again and again and again until her carcass is picked cleaned.

  14. Andre 14
    20 January 2017 at 1:42 pm

    Trump channeling lil’ Kim. Or Pootee. Tanks and missile launchers ‘n stuff at his inauguration.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-military-equipment-inauguration_us_58811f4ae4b096b4a23091f7

  15. Andre 15
    20 January 2017 at 6:02 pm

    There’s bullshit, where the speaker simply doesn’t care what the truth is. There’s lies, where the speaker knows the truth but wishes to deceive. With Trump, we need a new word for lies intended to rub it in to the listener that the speaker can say whatever the fuck he wants to and get away with it. HuffPo proposes “fuckery”.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fuckery-donald-trump-lies_us_588126a8e4b096b4a230a23f?fx74o5hg6bf6tuik9

  16. Morrissey 16
    20 January 2017 at 6:10 pm

    So what do you call THIS? “Fuckery” seems inadequate…..

    • Sabine 16.1
      20 January 2017 at 6:30 pm

      consider that there is not one president who has not said the same in various incarnations i feel compelled to ask.

      IS this going to be Trumps “Labour did it too” 🙂

      • Morrissey 16.1.1
        20 January 2017 at 6:35 pm

        Fair comment. While Trump adds previously unimaginable levels of insanity and uncouthness, they’re all ruthless, or they wouldn’t get to those positions of power. As Noam Chomsky has pointed out, not one American president since World War II would survive a trial at the International Criminal Court….

        • Bill 16.1.1.1
          20 January 2017 at 6:51 pm

          Is this maybe the problem many liberals have?

          That they believe in their heart of hearts that liberalism is essentially benign…even progressive… that sure, ‘mistakes’ occur, but being essentially benign, liberalism could never ever lead to anything malign and/or reactionary (eg – Trump). Therefor there must be some factor external to liberalism responsible for serving up Trump?

  17. North 17
    20 January 2017 at 8:55 pm

    Only a few years younger than Trump my problem is this: starting over 60 years ago I was taught by good working class people, my parents, to be wary of:

    the blowhard
    the bully
    the racist
    the megalomaniac
    the women hater
    the perv’
    the guy who ‘stiffs’ the small guy
    the guy who mocks disabled
    the guy who thinks all of the above is clever,

    And Archie (CV) Bunker.

  18. Skeptic 18
    21 January 2017 at 11:38 am

    I think among all the outrage, something that outgoing President Obama said has yet to manifest itself. He called on the Democratic left in the US to mobilize and organize the same way the ultra-right has done over that last 12 years. This is already starting to happen (see various reports from US papers), but when this movement fully takes off, and as the Chump puts his foot in his mouth on a daily basis, look for the sudden and all too predictable implosion of the conservative ranks of the Republican party – especially the ultra-right simple minded folk (bless them all – each and everyone). Given the demographics of uneven population increases in the US, I think the era of WASP domination of the GOP is almost at an end – not before time too.

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  • Speech to the Sixth Annual New Zealand Government Data Summit
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