I fail to see how these "debates" could possibly benefit American voters. No different than two long-gone winos fighting over the dregs of a bottle of Thunderbird rescued from a trash bin in Chicago's Grant Park: one won't shut up and the other barely able to string a noun and verb together. 8 to 5 and half your money back the first debate will be such a shambolic affair that the second will be cancelled. Remember, you read it here first.
Debates actually require that the people involved discuss policies, so we need a new name for spectacles that avoid all mention of policy positions. Maybe nobates? dumbates? fakebates?
One thing is for sure, they aren't debates seeing as policy discussions are forbidden. When it is over, maybe we can ask for a rebate?
Bill, I loved your “all heat but no light” appraisal; you’re always at your best.
You’re up against all hate and no like, all heap and no laugh.
You win the debate, earn a rebate, let the losers masturbate publicly in that safe-guarded empty room. The curtain rises and — whoops! Where did they go? Hey, Joe, hey Donny, where’re you goin’ with that [expletive deleted] in your hand?
As for Israel, I can't help but wonder if that topic has been ruled out ahead of time.
This debate is another further removal of leadership from the public. And the Democrats are going to go online for their convention as another example. It puts me in mind of the old Apple commercial where the dictator is ranting and raving on a huge screen before a captive audience until the heroic individual arrives to throw a hammer into the screen.
To think that Harry Truman would walk on the sidewalks of DC and converse with passersby, not preselected and approved people, simply pedestrians who happened to be out on the sidewalk at the same time when Harry came along in person with a couple of bodyguards and not in a motorcade with armored black vehicles with tinted windows, in a rush to get from point A to point B without interruption.
I recall in 2016, before his fall from grace, Tavis Smiley hosted a debate with Jill Stein and Gary Johnson (as they, of course, were not permitted on the hallowed stages with Hillary and Donald). As a moderator he and the candidates conducted a thoughtful and respectful debate, it was a reminder of what could be ... but never is. I contend the presidential debates should be mandatory for anyone on the ballot in all 50 states and sponsored by the League of Women Voters (if they still exist in some non-partisan reality).
The perfect occasion to show American and overseas audiences the sham that American democracy is. “Sometimes I wonder whether the world (America ?) is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean.” Attributed to Mark Twain. I put my bet on Twain’s second choice.
Bidens policies benefit Corporate America, the Mil. Ind. Con. Complex, those dependant on public assistance, but do nothing but cripple the middle class...!
Who did Trump's policies benefit or cripple when he sat on the throne, Fireman1110?
Anybody any significantly different from those who are benefitting from Biden's reign?
How'd the Sovereign National Debt do under Trump?
How about National "Defense and Security" and Fatherland ~ correction, that's Homeland ~ Security budgets?
And how effectively did Team Trump handle The COVID Event? Or keep their lackeys in Kyiv from killing 14,000 Eastern Ukrainians, thus setting the stage for Putin's SMO?
I made Fire disappear that was my only superpower Jeff . I have no answers for You. I believe only for myself -- my credo to stay connected, strive to endure, try to recapture the magic when anything goes right in this life, and to lead by example. Politics is cringeworthy that's why I am Apolitical. The Kids need to take over. Youth needs to be served. I'll stop there... Just grateful to be caught in the middle of all this nuttiness for a little while. Go Bruins!
Meanwhile in the Real World: Yesterday, Biden announces a Tariff War against China. Today there is this... :
PUTIN AND XI PLEDGE A NEW ERA AND CONDEMN THE UNITED STATES by Bernard Orr, Guy Faulconbridge, and Andrew Osborn / Reuters 16 May 24
Summary:
Putin and Xi cast U.S. as Cold War hegemon
Pledge to deepen partnership in defence, trade
Say new era in Russian-Chinese ties is dawning
Xi puts out the red carpet for Putin
Russia advances in Ukraine
BEIJING/MOSCOW, May 16 (Reuters) - China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin on Thursday pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon that was sowing chaos across the world.
Xi greeted Putin on a red carpet outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where they were hailed by marching People's Liberation Army soldiers, a 21-gun salute on Tiananmen Square and children waving the flags of China and Russia.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Xi, 70, and Putin, 71, signed A JOINT STATEMENT ON THURSDAY ABOUT THE "NEW ERA" THAT PROCLAIMED OPPOSITION TO THE UNITED STATES ON A HOST OF SECURITY ISSUES AND A SHARED VIEW ON EVERYTHING FROM TAIWAN AND UKRAINE TO NORTH KOREA AND COOPERATION ON NEW PEACEFUL NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES AND FINANCE.
"The China-Russia relationship today is hard-earned, and the two sides need to cherish and nurture it," Xi told Putin.
"China is willing to ... jointly achieve the development and rejuvenation of our respective countries, and work together to uphold fairness and justice in the world."
PUTIN AND XI SHARE A BROAD WORLD VIEW WHICH SEES THE WEST AS DECADENT AND IN DECLINE JUST AS CHINA CHALLENGES U.S. SUPREMACY IN EVERYTHING FROM QUANTUM COMPUTING AND SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY TO ESPIONAGE AND HARD MILITARY POWER.
Xi and Putin believe the post-Cold War era of extraordinary U.S. dominance is crumbling after the perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China.
The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat, while U.S. President Joe Biden argues that this century will be defined by an existential contest between democracies and autocracies.
The U.S. views both as authoritarian rulers who have quashed free speech and exerted tight control at home over the media and the courts. Biden has referred to Xi as a "dictator" and has said Putin is a "killer" and even a "crazy SOB". Beijing and Moscow have scolded Biden for the comments.
WEST VERSUS XI AND PUTIN?
Putin's visit comes weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew into China to raise concerns about what he said was China's support for Russia's military.
Blinken's China trip appears to have been an unsuccessful attempt to undermine Xi's deepening relationship with Putin.
By picking China for his first foreign trip since being sworn-in this month for another six-year term, Putin is sending a message to the world about his priorities and the strength of his personal ties with Xi.
The joint statement was described as deepening the strategic relationship and spoke specifically of how cooperation in the defence sectors between the two nations improved regional and global security and of plans to step up military ties. IT SINGLED OUT THE UNITED STATES FOR PARTICULAR CRITICISM.
"THE UNITED STATES STILL THINKS IN TERMS OF THE COLD WAR AND IS GUIDED BY THE LOGIC OF BLOC CONFRONTATION, PUTTING THE SECURITY OF 'NARROW GROUPS' ABOVE REGIONAL SECURITY AND STABILITY, WHICH CREATES A SECURITY THREAT FOR ALL COUNTRIES IN THE REGION," THE JOINT STATEMENT SAID. "THE U.S. MUST ABANDON THIS BEHAVIOUR."
It also condemned initiatives to seize assets and property of foreign states, a clear reference to Western moves to redirect the profits from frozen Russian assets or the assets themselves to help Ukraine.... .
Retaliatory tariffs and further moves away from the USD have been and are the inevitable result - until such time as the USD is no longer a reserve currency. Somehow that's not going to work out well.
Can't we get a "good" candidate? As my 90-year-old barber said to me today, our candidates today and these elections are a charade. A Korean War veteran, he's seen some crazy stuff, but this election cycle is testing the limits of crazy.
Then why bother with an election, eh? Tee-Hee, Giggle-Far [or THGF].
And once there's a conviction, Trump can get busy on the campaign trail so he can win the election and pardon himself [and every and any body else he damn well feels and pleases].
Starting with all those SuperPatriots with selfie sticks at January 6..
I fail to see how these "debates" could possibly benefit American voters. No different than two long-gone winos fighting over the dregs of a bottle of Thunderbird rescued from a trash bin in Chicago's Grant Park: one won't shut up and the other barely able to string a noun and verb together. 8 to 5 and half your money back the first debate will be such a shambolic affair that the second will be cancelled. Remember, you read it here first.
Well, if it's going to be the only one - maybe they could have Blinken come and play "Rockin in the Free World" as background music.
LOL. Too true.
Requiem For Methuselah....!
Debates actually require that the people involved discuss policies, so we need a new name for spectacles that avoid all mention of policy positions. Maybe nobates? dumbates? fakebates?
One thing is for sure, they aren't debates seeing as policy discussions are forbidden. When it is over, maybe we can ask for a rebate?
Masterbates?
Bill, I loved your “all heat but no light” appraisal; you’re always at your best.
You’re up against all hate and no like, all heap and no laugh.
You win the debate, earn a rebate, let the losers masturbate publicly in that safe-guarded empty room. The curtain rises and — whoops! Where did they go? Hey, Joe, hey Donny, where’re you goin’ with that [expletive deleted] in your hand?
As for Israel, I can't help but wonder if that topic has been ruled out ahead of time.
This debate is another further removal of leadership from the public. And the Democrats are going to go online for their convention as another example. It puts me in mind of the old Apple commercial where the dictator is ranting and raving on a huge screen before a captive audience until the heroic individual arrives to throw a hammer into the screen.
To think that Harry Truman would walk on the sidewalks of DC and converse with passersby, not preselected and approved people, simply pedestrians who happened to be out on the sidewalk at the same time when Harry came along in person with a couple of bodyguards and not in a motorcade with armored black vehicles with tinted windows, in a rush to get from point A to point B without interruption.
https://townhall.com/political-cartoons/stevekelley/2024/05/16/205207
I'm all for it.
It would definitely increase audience share.
I recall in 2016, before his fall from grace, Tavis Smiley hosted a debate with Jill Stein and Gary Johnson (as they, of course, were not permitted on the hallowed stages with Hillary and Donald). As a moderator he and the candidates conducted a thoughtful and respectful debate, it was a reminder of what could be ... but never is. I contend the presidential debates should be mandatory for anyone on the ballot in all 50 states and sponsored by the League of Women Voters (if they still exist in some non-partisan reality).
The perfect occasion to show American and overseas audiences the sham that American democracy is. “Sometimes I wonder whether the world (America ?) is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean.” Attributed to Mark Twain. I put my bet on Twain’s second choice.
Mark Twain: "I'll go to Heaven for the Climate, but I'll take Hell for the Company" lol
https://babylonbee.com/news/here-are-ten-more-demands-biden-has-made-in-order-to-debate-trump
Apparently Biden's handlers are afraid he might panic in front of a group of citizens who are not fawning reporters.
Bidens policies benefit Corporate America, the Mil. Ind. Con. Complex, those dependant on public assistance, but do nothing but cripple the middle class...!
Who did Trump's policies benefit or cripple when he sat on the throne, Fireman1110?
Anybody any significantly different from those who are benefitting from Biden's reign?
How'd the Sovereign National Debt do under Trump?
How about National "Defense and Security" and Fatherland ~ correction, that's Homeland ~ Security budgets?
And how effectively did Team Trump handle The COVID Event? Or keep their lackeys in Kyiv from killing 14,000 Eastern Ukrainians, thus setting the stage for Putin's SMO?
All just part of a process and a plan.
I made Fire disappear that was my only superpower Jeff . I have no answers for You. I believe only for myself -- my credo to stay connected, strive to endure, try to recapture the magic when anything goes right in this life, and to lead by example. Politics is cringeworthy that's why I am Apolitical. The Kids need to take over. Youth needs to be served. I'll stop there... Just grateful to be caught in the middle of all this nuttiness for a little while. Go Bruins!
Meanwhile in the Real World: Yesterday, Biden announces a Tariff War against China. Today there is this... :
PUTIN AND XI PLEDGE A NEW ERA AND CONDEMN THE UNITED STATES by Bernard Orr, Guy Faulconbridge, and Andrew Osborn / Reuters 16 May 24
Summary:
Putin and Xi cast U.S. as Cold War hegemon
Pledge to deepen partnership in defence, trade
Say new era in Russian-Chinese ties is dawning
Xi puts out the red carpet for Putin
Russia advances in Ukraine
BEIJING/MOSCOW, May 16 (Reuters) - China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin on Thursday pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon that was sowing chaos across the world.
Xi greeted Putin on a red carpet outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where they were hailed by marching People's Liberation Army soldiers, a 21-gun salute on Tiananmen Square and children waving the flags of China and Russia.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Xi, 70, and Putin, 71, signed A JOINT STATEMENT ON THURSDAY ABOUT THE "NEW ERA" THAT PROCLAIMED OPPOSITION TO THE UNITED STATES ON A HOST OF SECURITY ISSUES AND A SHARED VIEW ON EVERYTHING FROM TAIWAN AND UKRAINE TO NORTH KOREA AND COOPERATION ON NEW PEACEFUL NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES AND FINANCE.
"The China-Russia relationship today is hard-earned, and the two sides need to cherish and nurture it," Xi told Putin.
"China is willing to ... jointly achieve the development and rejuvenation of our respective countries, and work together to uphold fairness and justice in the world."
PUTIN AND XI SHARE A BROAD WORLD VIEW WHICH SEES THE WEST AS DECADENT AND IN DECLINE JUST AS CHINA CHALLENGES U.S. SUPREMACY IN EVERYTHING FROM QUANTUM COMPUTING AND SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY TO ESPIONAGE AND HARD MILITARY POWER.
Xi and Putin believe the post-Cold War era of extraordinary U.S. dominance is crumbling after the perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China.
The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat, while U.S. President Joe Biden argues that this century will be defined by an existential contest between democracies and autocracies.
The U.S. views both as authoritarian rulers who have quashed free speech and exerted tight control at home over the media and the courts. Biden has referred to Xi as a "dictator" and has said Putin is a "killer" and even a "crazy SOB". Beijing and Moscow have scolded Biden for the comments.
WEST VERSUS XI AND PUTIN?
Putin's visit comes weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew into China to raise concerns about what he said was China's support for Russia's military.
Blinken's China trip appears to have been an unsuccessful attempt to undermine Xi's deepening relationship with Putin.
By picking China for his first foreign trip since being sworn-in this month for another six-year term, Putin is sending a message to the world about his priorities and the strength of his personal ties with Xi.
The joint statement was described as deepening the strategic relationship and spoke specifically of how cooperation in the defence sectors between the two nations improved regional and global security and of plans to step up military ties. IT SINGLED OUT THE UNITED STATES FOR PARTICULAR CRITICISM.
"THE UNITED STATES STILL THINKS IN TERMS OF THE COLD WAR AND IS GUIDED BY THE LOGIC OF BLOC CONFRONTATION, PUTTING THE SECURITY OF 'NARROW GROUPS' ABOVE REGIONAL SECURITY AND STABILITY, WHICH CREATES A SECURITY THREAT FOR ALL COUNTRIES IN THE REGION," THE JOINT STATEMENT SAID. "THE U.S. MUST ABANDON THIS BEHAVIOUR."
It also condemned initiatives to seize assets and property of foreign states, a clear reference to Western moves to redirect the profits from frozen Russian assets or the assets themselves to help Ukraine.... .
Continued at https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-visit-chinas-xi-deepen-strategic-partnership-2024-05-15/ ; EMPHASES added.
Retaliatory tariffs and further moves away from the USD have been and are the inevitable result - until such time as the USD is no longer a reserve currency. Somehow that's not going to work out well.
Especially when foreign governments and investors no longer accept the U$ Dollar as payment of Interest on America's sovereign, national Debt.
That they were dumb enough to purchase. They won't be making that mistake in the future.
Reality-TV Soap Opera at its Very best.
"Are you not entertained?" Gladiator
The games between Biden and Trump: I suppose one of them will win and one will lose, but the American people will most definitely lose.
The American Peoples have already all but lost.
And a few of them are beginning to realize that, and are beginning to ask themselves and each other: "So what? Now what?"
And then: "What ~ if anything ~ can be done? And what can WE do to make that happen?"
Call Max Headroom... :/ :o)
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
Can't we get a "good" candidate? As my 90-year-old barber said to me today, our candidates today and these elections are a charade. A Korean War veteran, he's seen some crazy stuff, but this election cycle is testing the limits of crazy.
Before we can get a "good candidate," Bill, we need a Damn Good Platform that she or he can run on.
So the question then becomes: What would a Damn Good Platform for somebody running for the White House, the Senate, or the House in 2024 look like?
The Democrats sometimes run on a damn good platform, which they then ignore when they win. See Obama.
According to the Federal Election Commission, in 2008, 47.1% of American Voters voted against Obama and his Platform.
In 2012, 48.9% voted against Obama and what was left of his original Platofrm.
Apparently, a very significant number of Americans did Not think that the Democrats and Obama had a “damn good platform" back then.
"The Lesser of two Weevils" You Tube the Movie-- Master and Commander!
"A Landslide!," eh?
Heh.
Then why bother with an election, eh? Tee-Hee, Giggle-Far [or THGF].
And once there's a conviction, Trump can get busy on the campaign trail so he can win the election and pardon himself [and every and any body else he damn well feels and pleases].
Starting with all those SuperPatriots with selfie sticks at January 6..
The lesser of two evils is also the evil of two lessers as the only choices,