mthomsen111

Just now, RichardColeman said:

If I was Trump I'd milk it for all it was worth and get the election delayed. I imagine Biden trying to push through an election against a man on a respirator would work against him big time

Well, it's a man on a respirator who ignored the advice of his own team of experts.

1 minute ago, bendejo said:

Well, he managed to dodge further debates.  If this whole thing has any truth to it at all....

Courting a sympathy vote, perhaps?

 

What if he dies before the election?  If they bump up Pence as the candidate (which I doubt, there would be a stampede of contenders) it could be a GOP victory, as Pence is just an empty suit conservative rubber stamp.

 

 

I don't see how this plays well for him. He didn't follow the guidelines set his how own advisory group. He mocked others who did.

Just now, LomSak27 said:

I'm hearing you and yes it is shocking, but Karma is what it is.

 

The question is: is it anything at all?

Just now, ChouDoufu said:

the campaigns don't have any control over the debates which are run by an independent organization and can change the rules as the situation requires.

 

the trump campaign has two options:  accept or boycott.

I believe that the rules were negotiated with both campaigns. I don't know if they can change them unilaterally.

27 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Karma is a myth for fools of the religious persuasion

You have a point. A lot of the people citing this mantra generally have no using religion to explain events.

7 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

With the direction of democracy in the US, he might better seek audience in Mecca...

Well, the Vatican's form of government is not exactly a democracy.

On 9/27/2020 at 6:39 AM, Berkshire said:

You've completely missed the point.  The reason Sizzler doesn't have much competition in Thailand is because there isn't a huge market for "American food."  Perhaps you need someone to explain to you that in Thailand, the Thais prefer Thai food.  Sizzler Thailand does just fine in the little niche market that they occupy.

Tell that to KFC

2 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Yeah, that's sort of like domestic politics. I don't know what people would expect the Pope to realistically do vs. China, in a manner that won't makes things terrible for Catholics there.

It was a difficult choice. Just not so clear that coming to an agreement with the Chinese govt, made any difference as to how Chinese Catholics are treated.

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Given that neither IMO said anything that meant anything, Biden would have "won" just for looking more presidential.

I doubt anything said changed anyone's mind about who to vote for. Trump looked like a playground bully, IMO, and Biden looked weak, IMO.

I think you're right as far as voting goes. Polls taken after the vote show that most viewers thought Biden won. But it didn't seem to shift the votes.

9 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Construed by whom? Even the usage of the term 'acquiescence' implies a not too objective point of view. The Vatican got a different agenda than the USA's - using such terms applies if one sees the latter as being more important than the former.

Well, by Catholic prelates, among others.

The announcement of the Vatican’s breakthrough deal with China led critics, including prelates within the church, to accuse Francis of selling out the members of his flock who had suffered for the church. Francis argued that Catholics outside of China now had “an important duty: to accompany our brothers and sisters in China” and recalled the example of Abraham, who was called by God to set out for an unknown land to receive his inheritance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/world/europe/china-pope-francis-catholics.html

And then there's this

China Is Already Breaking Its Vatican Deal

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/17/china-francis-vatican/

6 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

No such 'line of reasoning' offered. I made a specific comment, rather than a general one.

 

Your post makes a claim regarding 'acquiescence to China'. This applies if adopting and embracing Trump's administration's stance. It's not necessarily how things are. Countries and governments can have different policies, different views, and different ways to go about things. 

It may not be how things are but it can be reasonably construed to be that way. And yes, countries and governments can differ with each other. And countries and governments can criticize each other if one government sees things one way and another another.

1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

Delivers as in -

 

- Build the Wall.

- Reveal financial information.

- Have the most transparent administration.

- Winning trade wars.

- Covid gone by Easter.

- Antifa not declared a terrorist organization.

 

Plenty of others.

 

But do tell, in what meaningful way does Trump consider the American people as his boss?

Also better health insurance

Trillion dollar infrastructure

51 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

mythomsen111

Now "very popular"  Obamacare succeeded in making healthcare so expensive because of its mandates that many employers dumped their employer paid for health care opting to throw their employees on the public Obamacare plans. 

Perhaps your view of "very popular" but when only 42% of Americans supposedly favor Obamacare I hardly call that overwhelming popularity.  Note that the survey which of course is suspect because it is NBC says that it is as popular as it has ever been.  That pretty well demonstrates that it was even less popular before. 

 

 

Well for one thing, expanding the Medicaid option for Obamcare was put up for a vote via referendums in 5 red states. It won in all 5.

1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

What is your view based on? Is the Vatican obligated to follow USA foreign policy? Are the interests of the USA and the Vatican similar in this regard? The Vatican does not command armies, and usually goes about things in a more diplomatic way.

By your line of reasoning, no country should ever criticize the policies of any other nation or organization. Criticizing the Vatican or China or Russia doesn't mean that any of these entities are necessarily obliged, legally or morally, to follow USA foreign policy.

1 minute ago, Emdog said:

If normalcy means ignoring majority views, okay

Majority want abortion laws to stay on the books as it is

Majority support ACA

Majority want separation of church and state

Majority want new justice named after election by next president

I think you're right. But so, most likely, is somtamnification.

I think that the Trump administration has a fair point about the Church's acquiescence to China. The problem is that Pompeo has abandoned the traditional neutrality in elections of a Secretary of State and has been campaigning hard for President Trump. 

Maybe weather related? All the rain makes it difficult to harvest? Just a guess.

On 8/28/2020 at 4:29 AM, torturedsole said:

I too love the little eggplant green thingys.  Can't help you with this particular 'brown' curry beef dish as my wife churns out so many different variations that I don't even bother asking.  Good beef is a must and chillis in ample supply and I do like coconut milk based curries but not essential.   

My wife is from Isaan and makes various soups with the local beef. And it's delicious. When we went to the US she could get all the ingredients but it didn't taste nearly as good because the quality of the beef was too high. It just didn't work.

2 hours ago, Morch said:

 

No, that's not ok for others to sink that low. Nothing about that in my post. That's something you inject to the discussion. My point (repeated in one form or another) is that there is no real reason to give Trump a free pass. Focusing complaints on the general public, or Trump's opponents is not going to cut it. Maybe a way back, it was a legitimate point of view. I should know, as I expressed it often enough (hi, JT...). Things changed, it's simply irrelevant now to engage in such complaints without addressing the main culprit.

 

Because make no mistakes, the sort of low, toxic, childish and nasty rhetoric that sadly became the new normal - that's on Trump.

Well, no. No excuse to sink to Trump's level. It just vitiates any arguments one might be advancing. And, of course, if the abuse is all that there is to the argument, why bother? All the statistically well-designed polls that were taken in the wake of the debate - not those free-for-all surveys where anyone can vote - did show that Biden won. Had Biden checked his temper better, he would have had even more of a victory over Trump than he did.

2 hours ago, candide said:

 

As expected, no significant change in public opinion. Numbers are similar to previous days, across several polls. Only Rassmussen poll, which used to show better numbers for Trump than the other polls, is now similar to the others.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/

Those polls were taken before the debate.

2 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

Fits the psychological profiles of the reasons for inner-city males joining gangs.

Not really. Inner city gangs are mostly about the drug trade. Capitalists.

5 minutes ago, riclag said:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/mar/28/facebook-posts/heres-whats-known-about-fred-trumps-arrest-after-k/

 

You still have time to pull it

Correct. The evidence against Fred Trump on this score is very thin.