It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
I am convinced that if anything good comes of this year, it will be the renewed interest it has prompted in the nuts and bolts of democracy and the things we do to preserve it. One of those is the free flow of information. Good information. News that informs, not just titillates.
He got a "D" in a class called "MEATS."
Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who own the oil and chemicals conglomerate Koch Industries, may have failed to get a Republican into the White House in 2012, but they're succeeding in a broad national push for deregulation. A quarter of senators and more than one-third of representatives have signed a little-known pledge — backed by the Kochs — not to spend any money to fight climate change without an equivalent amount of tax cuts.
Here's the thing, Perry was put in there to help get rid of it.
Same with Puzder for Labor Secretary.
No more existence tax. "I live, therefore I must pay" needs to be gone
No person living today can stand up to scrutiny such as has been applied to Trump and his choices. No one. All people are human and will make remarks occasionally that, when taken out of context, can be seen as evil, intolerant, insensitive, etc. All people have done things that, when viewed through a different lense than they viewed it through at the time, could seem quite different.
Perhaps this is some sort of reaction to the criminal charges against Clinton
I have observed and studied politics for four decades. Politics is a dirty game. We do not need to have anyone hack the RNC and release emails.
Do not mistake the opposition that must happen as a backlash or revenge. It is merely how government must now be played out. There is an extremist power now in charge of all three branches, the fringe of what was once a great political party and loyal opposition. There is no more loyal opposition.
Clinton is out of the picture. Clinton is in the past. The reality is that this is not a childish fight to gain back control of power in Washington but the last stand against an extremist fringe ideology hell bent on its final drive to remake America in its image of the oligarchy.
If Trump and his choices cannot "stand up to scrutiny", then that is their problem. Politicians nowadays are expected to stand up to a level of scrutiny never seen in the past. That is the world in which we now live. No, I take that back a bit. Politicians nowadays are expected to stand up to at least the same scrutiny as in the past (tax forms, for ex, and ethics and laws). Any extra scrutiny is the new normal.
I also believe you overstate the restrictions placed on Obama by the political makeup of Congress during his terms... else how could he have managed to get such a controversial and sweeping piece of legislation as Obamacare passed?
Did President Obama have "total control" of Congress? Yes, for 4 entire months. And it was during that very small time window that Obamacare was passed in the Senate with 60 all-Democratic votes.
If I see actions that conflict with what I expect of Trump, then I will join the fight against him,
Personally, I don't see Trump willing to go against Ryan and McConnell.
originally posted by: Spiramirabilis
So, about avoiding despair :-)