The Race For The White House 2024

[stlucifer]

6 hours ago, Callum Gilhooley said:

You need to read my post again and look at the BBC link I posted .  The link IS to the Netanyahu meeting , indeed if you listen to candyfloss hair he clearly says it was the greatest dinner he’s ever had so whilst my clip was obviously video , the Picture you posted was a still from that dinner & both show the same remarkably “healed” ear. 
 

Was he injured ? I don’t  know, but given his past history for exaggeration, lies , deceit , fabrication, cover ups and overall bullshit ……….. hmm 🤔 

just very strange that two very well respected sources have fact checked and said pic is false but these pictures / video seem to show otherwise .

Where does the truth lie ? Who knows ? 🤷‍♂️

I realise that but part of the reaction was due to some idiot questioning the veracity of the picture's source. I didn't make that clear and for that I apologise.

[faraway saint]

1 hour ago, stlucifer said:

I realise that but part of the reaction was due to some idiot questioning the veracity of the picture's source. I didn't make that clear and for that I apologise.

It's ok, people make allowances for you being an idiot, no need to apologise. 

Yes, the picture clearly stated as being fake, except in your tiny mind. 

Oh, nice sidestep on the rest of the post making it clear things are far from your idea Trump wasn't injured. 

[shull]

 

[faraway saint]

An interesting read from the USA.................

October 27, 2024 (Sunday)

I stand corrected. I thought this year’s October surprise was the reality that Trump’s mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way.

It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign’s fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight.

There was never any question that this rally was going to be anything but an attempt to inflame Trump’s base. The plan for a rally at Madison Square Garden itself deliberately evoked its predecessor: a Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. About 18,000 people showed up for that “true Americanism” event, held on a stage that featured a huge portrait of George Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas.

Like that earlier event, Trump’s rally was supposed to demonstrate power and inspire his base to violence.

Apparently in anticipation of the Sunday rally, Trump on the previous Friday night replaced his signature blue suit and red tie with the black and gold of the neofascist Proud Boys. That extremist group was central to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and has been rebuilding to support Trump again in 2024.

On Saturday the Trump campaign then released a list of 29 people set to be on the stage at the rally. Notably, the list was all MAGA Republicans, including vice presidential nominee Ohio senator J.D. Vance, House speaker Mike Johnson (LA), Representative Elise Stefanik (NY), Representative Byron Donalds (FL), Trump backer Elon Musk, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right-wing host Tucker Carlson, Trump sons Don Jr. and Eric, and Eric’s wife, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump.

Libbey Dean of NewsNation noted that none of the seven Republicans running in New York’s competitive House races were on the list. When asked why not, according to Dean, Trump senior advisor Jason Miller said: “The demand, the request for people to speak, is quite extensive.” Asked if the campaign had turned down anyone who asked to speak, Miller said no.

Meanwhile, the decision of the owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post not to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have sparked a backlash. As Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, “in a strange way the papers did perform a public service: showing American voters what life under a dictator would feel like.”

Early on October 26, the Washington Post itself went after Trump backer billionaire Elon Musk with a major story highlighting the information that Musk, an immigrant from South Africa, had worked illegally when he started his career in the U.S. Musk “did not have the legal right to work” in the U.S. when he started his first successful company. As part of the Trump campaign, Musk has emphasized his opposition to undocumented immigrants.

The New York Times has tended to downplay Trump’s outrageous statements, but on Saturday it ran a round-up of Trump’s threats in the center of the front page, above the fold. It noted that Trump has vowed to expand presidential power, prosecute his political opponents, and crack down on immigration with mass deportations and detention camps. It went on to list his determination to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), use the U.S. military against Mexican drug cartels “in potential violation of international law,” and use federal troops against U.S. citizens. It added that he plans to “upend trade” with sweeping new tariffs that will raise consumer prices, and to rein in regulatory agencies.

“To help achieve these and other goals,” the paper concluded, “his advisers are vetting lawyers seen as more likely to embrace aggressive legal theories about the scope of his power.”

On Sunday the front page of the New York Times opinion section read, in giant capital letters: “DONALD TRUMP/ SAYS HE WILL PROSECUTE HIS ENEMIES/ ORDER MASS DEPORTATIONS/ USE SOLDIERS AGAINST CITIZENS/ ABANDON ALLIES/ PLAY POLITICS WITH DISASTERS/ BELIEVE HIM.” And then, inside the section, the paper provided the receipts: Trump’s own words outlining his fascist plans. “BELIEVE HIM,” the paper said.

On CNN’s State of the Union this morning, host Jake Tapper refused to permit Trump’s running mate, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, to gaslight viewers. Vance angrily denied that Trump has repeatedly called for using the U.S. military against Americans, but Tapper came with receipts that proved the very things Vance denied.

Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden began in the early afternoon. The hateful performances of the early participants set the tone for the rally. Early on, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, delivered a steamingly racist set. He said, for example: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” He went on: “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.” Hinchcliffe also talked about Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins.

The speakers who followed Hinchcliffe called Vice President Kamala Harris “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” They called former secretary of state Hillary Clinton “a sick son of a b*tch,” and they railed against “f*cking illegals.” They insulted Latinos generally, Black Americans, Palestinians and Jews. Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.”

Trump took the stage about two hours late, prompting people to stream toward the exits before he finished speaking. He hit his usual highlights, notably undermining Vance’s argument from earlier in the day by saying that, indeed, he believes fellow Americans are “the enemy within.”

But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said.

It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote.

Since he has made virtually no effort to win votes in 2024, this seems his likely plan.

But to do that, he needs at least a plausibly close election, or at least to convince his supporters that the election has been stolen from him. Tonight’s rally badly hurt that plan.

As Hinchcliffe was talking about Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris was at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia talking about her plan to spread her opportunity economy to Puerto Rico. She has called for strengthening Puerto Rico’s energy grid and making it easier to get permits to build there.

After the “floating island of garbage” comment, Puerto Rican superstar musician Bad Bunny, who has more than 45 million followers on Instagram, posted Harris’s plan for Puerto Rico, and his spokesperson said he is endorsing Harris.

Puerto Rican singer and actor Ricky Martin shared a clip from Hinchcliffe’s set with his 16 million followers. His caption read: “This is what they think of us.” Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who has 250 million Instagram followers, posted Harris’s plan. Later, singer-songwriter and actress Ariana Grande posted that she had voted for Harris. Grande has 376 million followers on Instagram. Singer Luis Fonsi, who has 16 million followers, also called out the “constant hate.”

The headlines were brutal. “MAGA speakers unleash ugly rhetoric at Trump's MSG rally,” read Axios. Politico wrote: “Trump’s New York homecoming sparks backlash over racist and vulgar remarks.” “Racist Remarks and Insults Mark Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally,” the New York Times announced. “Speakers at Trump rally make racist comments, hurl insults,” read CNN.

But the biggest sign of the damage the rally did was the frantic backpedaling from Republicans in tight elections, who distanced themselves as fast as they could from the insults against Puerto Ricans, especially. The Trump campaign itself tried to distance itself from the “floating island of garbage” quotation, only to be met with comments pointing out that Hinchcliffe’s set had been vetted and uploaded to the teleprompters.

As the clips spread like wildfire, political writer Charlotte Clymer pointed out that almost 6 million Puerto Ricans live in the states—about a million in Florida, half a million in Pennsylvania, 100,000 in Georgia, 100,000 in Michigan, 100,000 in North Carolina, 45,000 in Arizona, and 40,000 in Nevada—and that over half of them voted in 2020.

In 1939, as about 18,000 American Nazis rallied inside Madison Square Garden, newspapers reported that a crowd of about 100,000 anti-Nazis gathered outside to protest. It took 1,700 police officers, the largest number of officers ever before detailed for a single event, to hold them back from storming the venue.

[faraway saint]

FFS, Trump on the edge of victory. 

Hold onto your hats, this is going to reach unmatched levels of madness. 

[faraway saint]

The madman is just giving one of his rambling speeches. 

I thought he was borderline mad but I was wrong, he's on the wrong side of mad. 🙄

[beyond our ken]

American cultural expert on C4 today "America has shown us who it is". 

But what does it matter?  In any event, Trump's second candidacy was and is always destined to end in chaos, either in civil unrest right now to a very serious degree had he lost or, now that he has won, in possibly more consequential civil unrest a year or two down the line.  When Americans see their so-called plight doesn't improve at home and abroad and that they are now a poodle to Putin, Xi Jinpiing and even Mohdi & Kim they will be in a real bind.  Women will now be mere chattels now Project 2025 now has it's hand on the tiller and their dupe is standing by for when Trump is removed due to health issues

The big reset is now on it's way.  God did bless America and now they have thrown it in his or her face.

Or it might all just work out fine?

Edited November 6, 2024 by beyond our ken

[shull]

Inauguration day for Trump.

[Callum Gilhooley]

I wonder if Idiot features will follow up on his promise from his last term to build a wall between U.S. & Mexico ?
 

if so, I hope he allows the Mexican firefighters who volunteered to help fight the LA Fires enough time to get back home first . 

[faraway saint]

21 minutes ago, Callum Gilhooley said:

I wonder if Idiot features will follow up on his promise from his last term to build a wall between U.S. & Mexico ?
 

if so, I hope he allows the Mexican firefighters who volunteered to help fight the LA Fires enough time to get back home first . 

Aye, on the surface, that was quite ironic but he's actually trying to stop illegal immigrants. 

There's 13 million in the USA. 

If that ratio was similar here I'd be very much for against stopping illegal immigration. 

We are, overall, very lucky in Scotland illegal immigrants are almost a non event. 

I've got a mate in Texas and despite agreeing Trump is a nut job the illegals in that area are a real worry. 

I should add Trump is a worry, the next 4 years could be painful for many. 

Edited January 20 by faraway saint

[WeeBud]

1 hour ago, faraway saint said:

Aye, on the surface, that was quite ironic but he's actually trying to stop illegal immigrants. 

There's 13 million in the USA. 

If that ratio was similar here I'd be very much for against stopping illegal immigration. 

We are, overall, very lucky in Scotland illegal immigrants are almost a non event. 

I've got a mate in Texas and despite agreeing Trump is a nut job the illegals in that area are a real worry. 

I should add Trump is a worry, the next 4 years could be painful for many. 

I spend a fair amount of time in Texas, Dallas mostly, and our friends out there reckon without the "illegals" and the "gig economy" it would be much more difficult to get the more menial tasks done and the more basic jobs filled.....a wee bit like the UK after Brexit.

[faraway saint]

7 minutes ago, WeeBud said:

I spend a fair amount of time in Texas, Dallas mostly, and our friends out there reckon without the "illegals" and the "gig economy" it would be much more difficult to get the more menial tasks done and the more basic jobs filled.....a wee bit like the UK after Brexit.

That's a fact but we're looking at almost a slave economy as they get paid, not always, below the going rate. 

Is that a good thing, add in the crime that goes with it, IMO, it's not the solution. 

A double edged sword I suppose. 

[WeeBud]

15 minutes ago, faraway saint said:

That's a fact but we're looking at almost a slave economy as they get paid, not always, below the going rate. 

Is that a good thing, add in the crime that goes with it, IMO, it's not the solution. 

A double edged sword I suppose. 

When you factor in the minimum wage in US is around $7 and if you're a waiter or waitress (or any job where you can get paid tips (20% going rate in US) it could be as little as $2.20 ph) and the first part doesn't really factor in...bigger issue is no federal taxes being paid to support the few "state benefits" they receive.

Crime is a different issue but much of that isn't "immigrant" driven although Mexican drug flow is definitely an issue down south. Go to Boston, Chicago, NYC or Phillidelphia and see how many Irish folk have overstayed their Visas and disappeared off the system.......I've got a Buddy in Boston who is a musician and reckons that more than 50% of bar-staff in that City are paid "off-books/cash-in-hand" (his wife owns a bar in Brookline and that's how she pays her staff. She was in the US for over twenty years, and illegal, before she first married the first time to get her Green card. There are lawyers who specialise in such things bizarrely). Trump is majoring on the Mexicans as they're an easy enough target and makes it "look" like he's tough on immigration, it's just rhetoric and vote gaining in the worst populist fashion.

 

 

[faraway saint]

6 minutes ago, WeeBud said:

When you factor in the minimum wage in US is around $7 and if you're a waiter or waitress (or any job where you can get paid tips (20% going rate in US) it could be as little as $2.20 ph) and the first part doesn't really factor in...bigger issue is no federal taxes being paid to support the few "state benefits" they receive.

Crime is a different issue but much of that isn't "immigrant" driven although Mexican drug flow is definitely an issue down south. Go to Boston, Chicago, NYC or Phillidelphia and see how many Irish folk have overstayed their Visas and disappeared off the system.......I've got a Buddy in Boston who is a musician and reckons that more than 50% of bar-staff in that City are paid "off-books/cash-in-hand" (his wife owns a bar in Brookline and that's how she pays her staff. She was in the US for over twenty years, and illegal, before she first married the first time to get her Green card. There are lawyers who specialise in such things bizarrely). Trump is majoring on the Mexicans as they're an easy enough target and makes it "look" like he's tough on immigration, it's just rhetoric and vote gaining in the worst populist fashion.

 

 

The cost in unpaid taxes must be considerable and a drain on available funds for the day to day running of these States that have high numbers.

Re the crime, my mates wife feels very uneasy going certain places at certain times, although Mrs Faraway has the same uncomfortable feelings up here with a reasonable number of eastern Europeans. They are "taking over" certain businesses, including brothels, something that wasn't "available" in the town until fairly recently. I'd imagine there will be similar issues in the States as many of the people won't be satisfied with a few bob under the counter every week. 

The numbers from Mexico are hardly an easy target as they are by FAR the largest of all illegal immigrants. 

Yeah, not the only but if I was looking to reduce the illegals that's where I'd start. 

Mexico 23%, of all illegals, with India 6% and 5% are next.

[WeeBud]

6 minutes ago, faraway saint said:

The cost in unpaid taxes must be considerable and a drain on available funds for the day to day running of these States that have high numbers.

Re the crime, my mates wife feels very uneasy going certain places at certain times, although Mrs Faraway has the same uncomfortable feelings up here with a reasonable number of eastern Europeans. They are "taking over" certain businesses, including brothels, something that wasn't "available" in the town until fairly recently. I'd imagine there will be similar issues in the States as many of the people won't be satisfied with a few bob under the counter every week. 

The numbers from Mexico are hardly an easy target as they are by FAR the largest of all illegal immigrants. 

Yeah, not the only but if I was looking to reduce the illegals that's where I'd start. 

Mexico 23%, of all illegals, with India 6% and 5% are next.

This is from Texas recorded crimes compiled in 2020 covering 2012 - 2018......I'm not for any reason suggesting that immigration isn't an issue incidentally but as I mentioned earlier easy targets and populist:-

 

We find that undocumented immigrants have substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses. Relative to undocumented immigrants, US-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes. In addition, the proportion of arrests involving undocumented immigrants in Texas was relatively stable or decreasing over this period. The differences between US-born citizens and undocumented immigrants are robust to using alternative estimates of the broader undocumented population, alternate classifications of those counted as “undocumented” at arrest and substituting misdemeanors or convictions as measures of crime.

[faraway saint]

8 minutes ago, WeeBud said:

This is from Texas recorded crimes compiled in 2020 covering 2012 - 2018......I'm not for any reason suggesting that immigration isn't an issue incidentally but as I mentioned earlier easy targets and populist:-

 

We find that undocumented immigrants have substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses. Relative to undocumented immigrants, US-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes. In addition, the proportion of arrests involving undocumented immigrants in Texas was relatively stable or decreasing over this period. The differences between US-born citizens and undocumented immigrants are robust to using alternative estimates of the broader undocumented population, alternate classifications of those counted as “undocumented” at arrest and substituting misdemeanors or convictions as measures of crime.

I'm just watching Trump publicly assassinate the previous regime and decry everything and anything, even blaming them for the weather/recent fires. 

Plenty of big promises, it's going to be an interesting 4 years. 

🍿🍿🍿

[WeeBud]

9 minutes ago, faraway saint said:

I'm just watching Trump publicly assassinate the previous regime and decry everything and anything, even blaming them for the weather/recent fires. 

Plenty of big promises, it's going to be an interesting 4 years. 

🍿🍿🍿

Buckle up and hold on tight 🤠🤠

[faraway saint]

2 minutes ago, WeeBud said:

Buckle up and hold on tight 🤠🤠

Oil companies will be rubbing their hands..... Drill baby drill. 

Fcuk global warming. 🤣🤣🤣

[beyond our ken]

I used to work in Houston a fair bit and several of my colleagues were based in an arc from Panama city, through Louisiana and East/Southern Texas.  They relied on Mexican labour for everything from house-painting, groundworks and roof-tarring to gathering the harvest on family farms.  Despite their reliance on the cheap labour, they still treated them really badly saying they couldn't trust them.  The real criminals are still safely holed up outside the USA.

 

 

[faraway saint]

I'm all for Trumps "there are only two genders, men and women". 

People can choose to call themselves whatever they like but less pandering to the demands on toilets etc. 

PS I've been reminded "gender" isn't the correct term here. I suggested they take it up with Trump, the sentiment still stands. 🤣

Edited January 20 by faraway saint

[Callum Gilhooley]

Bet Elon Musk loved this part of Tangos speech . 😂

'With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate“

[faraway saint]

I'm astounded that the president of the USA has the power to pardon convicted criminals. 

WTF, so the position is above the law. 

Good old America. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[StanleySaint]

1 hour ago, faraway saint said:

I'm astounded that the president of the USA has the power to pardon convicted criminals. 

WTF, so the position is above the law. 

Good old America. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

The president has always had this executive power, it has only been in recent years that it has become politicised, the founding fathers also couldn't conceive that a convicted felon could become president so it wasn't included in the constitution hence we have Trump again, another example of the problem with a written constitution.

[faraway saint]

15 hours ago, StanleySaint said:

The president has always had this executive power, it has only been in recent years that it has become politicised, the founding fathers also couldn't conceive that a convicted felon could become president so it wasn't included in the constitution hence we have Trump again, another example of the problem with a written constitution.

Watching the crazys who stormed the Capital Building, attacking anyone who got in their way and threatening to kill, gleefully remove their electronic tags and justifying their actions really must stick in the throat of many Americans including the police who were at the wrong end of this shameful day. 

A worrying time. 

[WeeBud]

1 hour ago, faraway saint said:

Watching the crazys who stormed the Capital Building, attacking anyone who got in their way and threatening to kill, gleefully remove their electronic tags and justifying their actions really must stick in the throat of many Americans including the police who were at the wrong end of this shameful day. 

A worrying time. 

Add in the "Silk Road" guy and Trump's description of the Prosecutors as "scumbags", be in no doubt about where this is headed. I referred earlier to my Texan pals who would be absolutely classic Republicans who will benefit massively financially in his time in office but they see through this despot for what he is. They voted for him first time round as they couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hilary Clinton, they voted for Harris this time despite the fact that they disagree with her politically on many things.....their only wish is that the USA somehow gets through the next four years intact and without divisions that will never heal. 

They would also vote for Texas secession in the current circumstances.