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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#163851: Dec 22nd 2016 at 5:35:55 PM

[up] It doesn't change things that much, but it changes things in a direction that is undesirable, for the reasons I mentioned.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#163852: Dec 22nd 2016 at 5:38:44 PM

Ugh, I wouldn't trust Trump with a nerf gun, let alone the USA's entire nuclear arsenal and military projects.

Disgusted, but not surprised
carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#163853: Dec 22nd 2016 at 5:43:02 PM

Eric Trump violated philanthropic standards and funneled money from his charity , ostensibly for benefiting children's cancer treatments, by utilizing it as a means to facilitate charging people for access to his father.

Additionally, instead of going to St Jude's Childrens Hospital as it was claimed, donations were routed into several of Donald Trump's other "charities" along with several of his golf courses. The charity also serves as a means to give lower ranking Trump loyalists a position with some means of access; AP reports that the charities are staffed almost entirely by people within Trump's circle.

Seems that he was also jerking around the IRS, falsifying earnings and donation amounts.

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#163854: Dec 22nd 2016 at 5:50:48 PM

"Stole money from cancer kids."

As Thomas Jefferson would say, "My God."

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#163855: Dec 22nd 2016 at 5:51:57 PM

And this doesn't ruin everyone ever associated with him because...

...oh yeah, Republican.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#163856: Dec 22nd 2016 at 5:54:57 PM

I think one of the most depressing things about all of this is that the bar for republicans has been set comically low.

No matter how bad any republican candidate is from this point on, they can always go back and point out "well at least he's not TRUMP" (as if this was some sort of notable accomplishment) provided his presidency fails as spectacularly as we're expecting.

edited 22nd Dec '16 5:59:21 PM by Draghinazzo

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#163857: Dec 22nd 2016 at 5:59:02 PM

[up][up][up][up] And it's the Clinton Foundation that's the true scam of the century. (/angry sarcasm)

edited 22nd Dec '16 5:59:35 PM by DingoWalley1

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#163858: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:02:45 PM

Yeesh, the GOP really is a magnet for awful and amoral people. Like a nightmarish political Katamari.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:03:13 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#163859: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:03:07 PM

It's hard to get much worse than stealing money from a kid's cancer charity.

You could make up horrible stories about these people and they would probably be an understatement of what they actually do.

Chip off the old block, eh?

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:05:12 PM by BearyScary

Do not obey in advance.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#163860: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:04:25 PM

Trump supporters of course would claim all of the real scandals are just baseless conspiracies while gleefully spreading baseless conspiracies about "the left".

Disgusted, but not surprised
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#163861: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:06:33 PM

[up][up]Well, at least they didn't have anyone outright assassinated... that we know of.

They also aren't involved in paedo rings or slavery rings or snuff films or anything of that sort. I think. The beauty pageants and the pro-wrestling are a Downplayed Trope version, I suppose.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:08:42 PM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#163862: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:11:16 PM

[up] They are heavily involved with foreign sweatshops, which is pretty close to slavery I guess.

Disgusted, but not surprised
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#163863: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:12:52 PM

[up] So are many democrats. Yourself and myself included, most likely.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#163864: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:13:44 PM

[up] Yes, but it's especially hypocritical since the Trump team campaigned on bringing jobs back to the USA.

If you're going to campaign on a populist/protectionist platform, don't also rely on foreign sweatshops to make your products or to provide your steel.

It's not quite the same as buying cheaper clothing and smartphones that are made in sweatshops.

It's staggering just how much projection is on display with all of the Trump team's attacks against their opponents and other people they don't like. So far, they are shaping up to be everything they claimed HRC was, if not worse.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:19:24 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#163865: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:22:36 PM

[up] Buy cheap goods made using what is essentially slave labor is our collective sin as a nation, and it's one many, many democratic backers are just as guilty of if not more so. Blame Trump for the ways in which he's pushed the envelope by violating norms in terms of conflicts of interest and otherwise.

@The whole nuclear issue: It seems like it was done in response to Putin making comments about expanding their own arsenal. Trump, correctly or otherwise seems to have taken the statement to be an attempt by Putin to gauge how Trump would respond to nuclear brinkmanship.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:29:18 PM by CaptainCapsase

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#163866: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:28:30 PM

[up] Trump is in many ways all of the things wrong with the USA, only magnified.

Disgusted, but not surprised
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#163867: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:29:53 PM

Participating in an economy with some questionable elements in it because there is literally no other way for the vast majority of us to get by in life is not the same thing as being directly involved in either running a sweatshop or making sure those sweatshops stay up and running and taking advantage of their workers. This whole "everyone is to blame" is not effective and is so diffuse as to be useless in indicating what the problem is.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#163868: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:31:21 PM

The governments of countries with sweatshops also bear a large responsibility for not having better labor laws.

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#163869: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:32:00 PM

[up][up] But it isn't wrong. We all contribute to the use of sweat shop labor by buying products made using such labor.

[up] We don't want them to have better labor laws, and would take our business elsewhere if they did. All parties involved are culpable.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:32:34 PM by CaptainCapsase

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#163870: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:32:54 PM

I'd say they bear most of the responsibility! They'd have to share it with the companies that use those sweatshops to make their goods.

[up]Again, too diffuse to be useful, and does not actually indicate a way for us to combat the issue. We can't really expect people to stop buying stuff at this point, since a lot of these things are necessities like clothes. Actions other than blaming consumers are more effective.

Also we seem to be veering off.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:34:31 PM by AceofSpades

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#163871: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:35:11 PM

[up][up]We buy them because they're cheaper and most of us don't have the money to spare. Not everyone has the luxury of only buying Fair Trade coffee or specialty clothing.

When have we intentionally used our political influence to make them not adopt better labor laws? That's a claim I've never heard before.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:36:36 PM by Kostya

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#163872: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:35:39 PM

[up] American businesses certainly have lobbied for that in cheap labor markets, threatened to relocate to even cheaper markets, and so on.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:37:03 PM by CaptainCapsase

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#163873: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:37:02 PM

I said political influence. American companies and the government are two separate entities.

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#163874: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:37:32 PM

[up] And I never said I was talking specifically about the American government. Which incidentally does not take action to discourage such lobbying except when it comes into conflict with our geopolitical interests.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:37:58 PM by CaptainCapsase

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#163875: Dec 22nd 2016 at 6:42:05 PM

This conversation started out by saying Democrats are to blame for this situation just as much as Trump. You can't say that and then go back and say you're not talking about the government.

It's also not our place to stop American companies from lobbying in other countries. That's the local government's job.

edited 22nd Dec '16 6:42:37 PM by Kostya


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