Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. - Orwell
No amount of belief makes something a fact. - James Randi
The President cannot veto an amendment. In order to stop this, he has to veto the NDAA. Which is... wow.
For those who don't know, the National Defense Authorization Act is an annual bill that sets the spending and authorization limits for the US military. It is the loophole that allows the US to maintain a Federal Military (Something that is specifically disallowed in the Constitution, but it is phrased as the not being funded for more then two years, so we just pass a new one ever year). If the NDAA isn't passed, troops do not get paid. Not getting paid is not going to be a popular policy position with the troops.
The NDAA also tends to get used for a bunch of big ticket stuff because it is basically unvetoable. It is why the AUMF got crammed into an NDAA, which had gems like indefinite military detention of US Citizens. But Vetoing this means deliberately refusing to pay our military for potentially months. If he tries this, the military is likely to just go ahead and change the names on their own authority, thus avoiding the controversy of being forced too by Congress. Trump will be lucky if Fort Bragg doesn't get renamed "Fort Black Lives Matter" just to spite him.
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Basically Trump here is threatening to invade a US City AND not pay Troops at the same time.
Bold move Cotton. Let's see how that works out for ya.
Actually it is about the future a bit. Let's look at the options.
1) Trump signs the NDAA and does not send troops to Seattle
This, of course, is what every President would do. For Trump, it would be yet another emasculating defeat: to both threaten to invade a city and not do it, and to threaten to veto a bill that would prevent him from invading a city, and not do it.
As I keep saying because it's still true, saying you will do something evil, then not doing it, does not make you a good person. It makes you a less evil person than you said you were going to be.
2) Trump quickly invades Seattle before signing the NDAA preventing him from invading other cities
Based 100% on the massive turnout of his own military against him, I find this unlikely.
3) Trump vetoes the NDAA but doesn't invade Seattle
I think this is the most likely option, because he has two reasons to veto it: so that he can invade cities, and also so he can support the racist slave-owning traitors to our country known as the Confederacy. (At least the slave owners in the Union weren't traitors...which is a pretty low bar to clear)
4) Trump vetoes the NDAA and also invades Seattle
Like you said, troops don't get a pay raise and are ordered to fire on peaceful protestors and looters alike. If Trump's polls took a hit for a photo op, I can only imagine what would happen following a domestic use of lethal force on unarmed civilians. Because if this happens, things will escalate and troops will fire actual metal bullets this time.
It would no longer be possible to claim "Trump's not a dictator" and the world, already backing away slowly, would turn its back and run. I honestly think we'd see sanctions placed against us -- legally.
And I worry about the violence when federal troops uninvited assault a US city. A US city that has its own police, its own National Guard...and most importantly, sympathetic neighbors.
There would be no way to spin this to Trump's credit. The best possible resolution would be the troops Trump sends to defy orders and either leave or surrender. And the protests would escalate basically everywhere else.
Option 4 is a nonstarter. Not even Trump would be stupid enough to do this -- there aren't even Fantasy Land projections where this works out in his favor.
So Trump's set to begin a round table in Dallas with law enforcement about race relations.... Except he didn't invite the Dallas County DA, the country Sharif, or the Police chief.
I'm sure them all being black is just a coincidence.
I am sure you meant heroic victory, the dear leader does not suffer defeats. I think this is actually the most likely option. McConnell is going to be very clear to Trump about what it means to veto the NDAA in an election year. It isn't about morals, it is about absolutely massive amounts of money that goes into GOP coffers from all the defense contractors. That money stops. Instantly. Some of it would probably wind up going to Biden instead, because a Biden Administration isn't going to stop the gravy train, and it isn't going to be crazy enough to veto an NDAA.
Vetoing the NDAA is a deathblow to the GOP. Money is what they have going for them, they have a lot of money to spend this election cycle, and that is the only thing that gives them a chance to not get humiliated come Nov. 4. This ends that advantage.
Zero percent chance he can do this. His political capital is gone. Esper and Milley will rename Fort Benning into "Fort Trump can eat a dick" before allowing that.2) Trump quickly invades Seattle before signing the NDAA preventing him from invading other cities
Based 100% on the massive turnout of his own military against him, I find this unlikely.
You completely misunderstand. Vetoing the NDAA doesn't stop Soldiers from getting a pay raise, it stops Soldiers from getting a paycheck, period. Remember when the government shut down, but the military kept getting paid? It is because military salaries come from the NDAA, and aren't effected by normal budget process. If the NDAA is not passed, there is no money for paychecks. The only exception is the Coast Guard, because they are part of Homeland Security, so had their turn of Trump stealing their paychecks already.3) Trump vetoes the NDAA but doesn't invade Seattle
I think this is the most likely option, because he has two reasons to veto it: so that he can invade cities, and also so he can support the racist slave-owning traitors to our country known as the Confederacy. (At least the slave owners in the Union weren't traitors...which is a pretty low bar to clear)
4) Trump vetoes the NDAA and also invades Seattle
Like you said, troops don't get a pay raise and are ordered to fire on peaceful protestors and looters alike. If Trump's polls took a hit for a photo op, I can only imagine what would happen following a domestic use of lethal force on unarmed civilians. Because if this happens, things will escalate and troops will fire actual metal bullets this time.
It would no longer be possible to claim "Trump's not a dictator" and the world, already backing away slowly, would turn its back and run. I honestly think we'd see sanctions placed against us -- legally.
And I worry about the violence when federal troops uninvited assault a US city. A US city that has its own police, its own National Guard...and most importantly, sympathetic neighbors.
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Honestly race relations is just so much easier when it is just white people. You can solve all the problems really quickly and go play golf all afternoon.
Warning : Above post may contain snark and/or sarcasm. Try reparsing with the /s argument before replying.
What the world has learned is that America is never more than one election away from losing its goddamned mindMe on Elite : Dangerous | My WoW charactersOriginally Posted by Howard Tayler
Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. - Orwell
No amount of belief makes something a fact. - James Randi
I am not sure "plans" is an accurate word to describe Trump's decision making. He really has no tools left to do anything about it except tweet. He cannot use the military, that is very clear. The Washington Governor can just politely tell him to go fuck himself, and there isn't a damn thing he can do about it. He can't use the National Guard, because those belong to governors, and they can't enter a state without permission from that state. He can tell the active military to do something, but considering what happened last week, they are probably going to come down with collective bone spurs and be unable to go.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...bikes-n1230101
Shocking news that nobody could have expected: CBP took funding that they were legally obligated to spend on food and medicine for detainees, and used it to buy ATV's, dirt bikes, and other toys to have fun with.
"Congress provided this additional funding for the primary purpose of improving conditions for migrants at the border and ensuring migrants were receiving adequate healthcare after the deaths of multiple children in custody," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. "Instead of helping migrants and improving conditions on the ground, CBP then broke the law by spending this taxpayer money on things that were not authorized—such as ATVs, dirt bikes, and computer systems."
From what I'm reading, I'm not actually seeing anything about slaves as "test subjects." He operated on a few, because he was a doctor and there were slaves at the time, but it seems to be cases of him earnestly trying to help them with early surgical techniques rather than being experimental in nature. Comparing it to Unit 732 or the Nazis' work under Josef Mengele feels pretty disingenuous.
I mean he didn't pay for IP protection on this poll (go figure) so you could just go and take it again on a new tab as, say, Number One Tricky?
It kinda boggles the mind to think how this all started with a dossier about piss tapes."The only verifiable thing about this report is how much joy it gave me," she explained. "The true victim here is that memory foam mattress, it can't ever forget."
"There's a high probability this story is bulls--t, but the fact that it's plausible bulls--t is a terrifying statement about what our nation has come to," she continued.
She then referenced Donald calling Isis "number one tricky" during his press conference. "Interestingly enough, Number One Tricky is also the name of the Russian escort service Trump uses," she joked.
Originally Posted by Marjane Satrapi
Effectively counts as 2) Seattle doesn't want Trump, Seattle doesn't want Trump's troops, and if they go in there it is going to get ugly. If he signs the NDAA with its amendments, at least it won't escalate into other cities.
And @Thekri pointed out the troops won't be paid at all with a veto -- which I would imagine rather raises the chances they refuse an unlawful order. Even mercenaries get paid.
Originally Posted by Marjane Satrapi