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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Yeah, and frankly, its pretty off topic anyway. Gingrich was going Godwin's Law not trying for facts about history.
So to put it in the appropriate vernacular: Am Thema vorbei. note
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A deeply unfair comparison because the Stasi were actually good at their jobs.
acronyms man
Initialisms, actually, unless IOKIYAR is pronounceable without twisting your tongue into knots.
The GOP propaganda machine is going all-out to discredit Comey and the FBI. I've never seen anything like this. Sources including ABC News
are reporting that Trump has signed off on a pardon of Scooter Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby was convicted of lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice, and his sentence was commuted by George W. Bush. This could be an attempt to set a precedent for a mass pardon of Trump associates based on the narrative that the FBI is corrupt.
Scary times, man.
edited 13th Apr '18 6:04:38 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"It's not just that. I've been observing the antics of this government with varying levels of amusement and disgust, but we're coming rapidly to a point where the building crisis will be acute.
Will Trump go so far as to attempt to fire or pardon everyone involved in the investigations against him? If so, will Congress let him get away with it? These questions have never been so pertinent and may well define the future of our nation. I'm more worried than I've ever been.
Republicans may be getting ready to cede the House to Democrats in the November elections, but our executive branch may turn into a de facto autocracy before then. The only obstacle in the way is there being enough Republicans willing to say no.
edited 13th Apr '18 6:43:57 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
It's not likely to be that blatant, just a gradual elimination or neutering of all people and institutions willing to stand against him, with Congress looking the other way and whistling.
The Trump presidency could be seen through a historical lens as the final chapter in "The Dummies' Guide to Dismantling a Representative Democracy".
edited 13th Apr '18 7:25:16 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Yeah, no. 7-10 days is the typical Standard shipping, and people have saved a lot of money on the "If it fits, it ships!" flat rate packaging. As an example, I had a 70-pound package come through my office last week - and they fit it into a Medium Flat Rate box, meaning they paid roughly $15 in postage on an item that would have typically cost them about $80 for the weight alone. Aside from that, the big caveat with Standard shipping is that, if there are Priority or Express packages needing shipment, Standard Post packages are the first ones removed to make room for them for transit, in the shipping version of triage.
And yes, prices have risen, but that's at least partially because the USPS has been trying to make up in packages what we've lost in letters since the advent of the internet.
If you're referring to packages ordered online, that's a weird situation that I've experienced as well. Ordering from Amazon and going with "Super Saver shipping" (or whatever the Free Shipping option is) typically means that Amazon doesn't process the order for almost a week, but the package still got shipped Priority, so the travel time was still 2-3 days even though it'd been ordered a week prior.
And yeah, the USPS is in a weird spot, as we're technically a pseudo-autonomous agency - we can make certain decisions unilaterally, but others (including retirement programs, postage rates, etc.) have to go through Congress first, which is what put us in the red to start with. After Enron fucked over its employees pensions through their antics, Congress mandated that the USPS "pre-fund" its retirement benefits, rather than the "pay-as-you-go" model used before that
, which put the USPS budget massively in the red.
edited 13th Apr '18 8:18:52 AM by ironballs16
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"Probably not, The danger with Trump isn't a military coup, it's the continual, gradual chipping away at the political norms that underpin our government. He's already doing it, with the casual disregard for federal law enforcement.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."![]()
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Good question. It's a total unknown right now. Traditionally our military serves the executive branch. Civilian control is fundamental to the structure of our government — that means that, when the President says "go", they go regardless of their personal objections, as long as the order is not actually illegal.
If Trump begins giving orders to suppress dissent or anything like that, our military leaders would most likely resign. For the military to actively depose the President... that would be all but unthinkable.
edited 13th Apr '18 8:24:21 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

So we're back to IOKIYAR.
"Yup. That tasted purple."