Trump 2017: Year Zero

[botley]

I provided links earlier to the US Code which provides that the President, Vice President and Congress are exempt from conflict of interest. Which is nuts but it is what it is.

https://www.google.com/amp/lawnewz.c...?client=safari

Except that this is in your Constitution: "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States] shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." We'll see if this actually amounts to anything other than words in fancy 18th century handwriting.

[allegro]

Except that this is in your Constitution: "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States] shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." We'll see if this actually amounts to anything other than words in fancy 18th century handwriting.

Right, I mentioned that in my prior post, and that his lawyers claim he is donating all foreign profits in order to skirt that (as this article also mentions). His lawyers are pretty heavy-hitters. He has teams of lawyers to get away with shit. It's why people here in Cook County are pissed at how he keeps getting huge property tax reductions at his Trump building in Chicago without including profit valuation in the property assessment (which is customary for everybody else) and has politicians in his pocket, even DEMS.

See this

@DigitalChaos , what alarms me are all the labor union members and states and areas in the Midwest inhabited by strong labor unions that have shifted to supporting REPUBLICANS. Never in my LIFE would I DREAM that any labor union or any of its members NOT be Democrat. The level that Dems have totally fucked up in supporting big business and their own pockets has led to their own demise. This is no longer only about "conservative vs. liberal," it's about people losing their jobs and their bargaining power and they're pissed off and they feel ignored. Some Republicans like Scott Walker in WI divided and conquered, screwing the teachers' union but supporting the police and fire unions. People are saying fuck the social issues, just lower my taxes and let me make more money without giving more to the Government. The unions aren't even socialist brotherhoods, anymore; it's all about money.

[Mantra]

what alarms me are all the labor union members and states and areas in the Midwest inhabited by strong labor unions that have shifted to supporting REPUBLICANS. Never in my LIFE would I DREAM that any labor union or any of its members NOT be Democrat. The level that Dems have totally fucked up in supporting big business and their own pockets has led to their own demise. This is no longer only about "conservative vs. liberal," it's about people losing their jobs and their bargaining power and they're pissed off and they feel ignored.

Yeah, exactly, although it's technically not the first time a Republican managed to win a bunch on union votes. If I recall correctly, Reagan managed to get somewhere around 45% of the union vote, which is pretty close to what Trump got. Reagan was even officially endorsed by the PATCO, and then he turned around and stabbed them in the back, completely destroying that union. That's why most unions will NEVER trust Republicans. When push comes to shove, they always show their true allegiances. It's stuff like that, plus an overall pro-management, pro-offshoring mentality that has driven the unions away from the Republicans and made them almost unanimously Democrat.

Then the Democrats turned into a bunch of fucking idiots and decided they wanted to play ball with banks and wall street and corporations. They've basically just been taking the union support for granted. Come election time they throw some nice slogans out there, and they're forever blessed with the "lesser evil" status, but beyond that they've been seriously neglecting their roots. All this NAFTA, TPP horseshit, they should have NEVER been fucking around with that shit. They had no business there. It was a stupid game to play, given how much their support comes from unions. It's biting the hand that feeds you. So now Trump has been able to come along and steal large chunks of their base because of their poor choices.

Ugh, every time I think about this shit I get so worked up and irritated. Dems better start SHAPING UP. Fucking idiots.

[allegro]

Reagan was even officially endorsed by the PATCO, and then he turned around and stabbed them in the back, completely destroying that union. That's why most unions will NEVER trust Republicans.

Except we know a SHITLOAD of NATCA members who vote Republican. So, not true. Bottom line is that the more money these people make, the more Republican they become. NATCA has a PAC that contributes over $80,000 annually to Republican members who are in favor of the National Right to Work Act; the NATCA top elected officials claim they are simply being bi-partisan, but that's just stupid. On the other hand, they can't be a closed shop, by law, and so NRWA doesn't really affect them. But the NATCA elected President and VP voted to be on board with REPUBLICAN Bill Shuster to PRIVATIZE National Air Traffic Control, in affect making ATC function as a non-Government job and handing over millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded equipment over to a board owned by private airlines. And they didn't hand it over to the rank and file for a vote, they just voted Yes. So, of course, this shows that NATCA brass only cares about NATCA brass, even shutting down a proposal to change the NATCA charter at the most recent convention, preventing any future possibility of privatization (the President and VP did that), so the members are pretty sure the President and VP were promised cushy jobs and some kickbacks. And Shuster is claiming that this all needs to be privatized because Government isn't moving fast enough to institute changes like NextGen; except the reason WHY it isn't happening is due to budget cuts PUT IN PLACE BY REPUBLICANS. Doesn't matter, again, the more people make, the more they drink the Republican Kool-Aid, because they want to hold onto every last nickel they earn.

The only candidate who had strong union MEMBER support was Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Clinton may have had Union BRASS support but, really, that doesn't mean shit. There is a huge difference between elected brass and the actual members in the last several years, as I have seen with my own eyes. Once they are elected into power, they lose all perspective of their union brethren or their purpose. Power corrupts everywhere.

Final caveat: My husband is laughing at the moron NATCA members who voted for Trump, as Trump signed -- on his first day in office -- a Federal pay freeze. Yeah, good luck with that, assholes. Like they didn't learn enough during the HORRORS of the GW Bush administration (who HATED NATCA).

But, yes, the Dems need to fucking shape up. They have been losing support consistently, and they just don't seem to get it. The City of Chicago Dems have had control for DECADES; OVER 5 DECADES; and the City is fucking BROKE, has a terrible crime problem in certain areas, due to the terribly ignored drug sale problem in certain areas, but no Democratic Mayor has really done anything substantial to change that other than to support further coverups and corruption, which just leads to more people questioning the validity of the Democratic party's true motives.


And you know what REALLY FUCKING PISSES ME OFF? WHAT PROBABLY GOT TRUMP ELECTED? THE LACK OF DEMOCRATIC BACKBONE AGAINST LOBBYISTS.

LIKE, LOOK AT THIS FUCKING SHIT: BERNIE SANDERS SLAMS DEMOCRATS FOR LACKING 'GUTS' TO FIGHT BIG PHARMA

Even alleged Progressive Cory Booker VOTED AGAINST THAT BILL. WHAT IN THE LIVING FUCK.

A DOZEN REPUBLICANS VOTED IN FAVOR OF BERNIE'S BILL! BUT THIRTEEN SENATE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST IT! They chose BIG PHARMA over HUMAN BEINGS, claiming faulty BULLSHIT logic like "safety concerns." LIARS.

[botley]

His lawyers are pretty heavy-hitters. He has teams of lawyers to get away with shit. It's why people here in Cook County are pissed at how he keeps getting huge property tax reductions at his Trump building in Chicago without including profit valuation in the property assessment (which is customary for everybody else) and has politicians in his pocket, even DEMS.

In other words

[allegro]

In other words

Pretty much, yeah.