Death

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/donald-trump-has-threatened-to-shut-down-broadcasters-but-can-he/ This is dangerous as hell. He wants to shut down what doesn't please him. That's right out of the dictator playbook. His supporters take Trump at his every word and rarely, if ever, question it. He has them believing that all ABC, CBS and NBC do is broadcast fake information. Meanwhile, the fact-check machine redlines every time he gives a speech. Oh, and all the fearmongering. I'm telling you this guy is acting like Hitler did in the 1930s. My hope is that reasonable-minded Republicans keep him in check. He admires Russia and Hungary, the latter no longer considered a democracy as it acts more like an autocracy. If he goes after his "enemies" like he says he will, all hell will break loose in this country. He is a petty, thin-skinned vindictive man who soon will have more power than anyone else on the planet.

Abortion should be illegal after the first trimester unless with the exception of rape, incest and the mother's health. To force a pregnant woman to deliver a terribly deformed child that can't live outside the womb and might kill the mom if delivered is barbaric. To force an 11-year-old girl to deliver a baby that was the result of her dad raping her is barbaric. Sure, Trump has said he would veto a national abortion ban, but will he? A lot of pressure is coming from the evangelical far right, the folks that are at the heart of his base. I believe abortion for convenience during the first trimester is morally reprehensible, but here's where a woman should have a right to do what she wants to her body. I wish there was some kind of incentive to carry a healthy baby to term and adopt it out, but then you'd have a bunch of people taking advantage of that and becoming baby mills. One of the more disgusting lies coming out of the far right during this past election was the claim that Democrats support late-term abortions of healthy babies and post-birth baby killings, but that's just flat-our wrong. No one wants that. Perhaps the biggest winner of the election is misinformation. Herman Goring was quoted as saying something about if a lie is repeated over and over, people will believe it and the one spreading the lie will eventually believe it himself. I see that playing out with Trump, MAGA and the far right here on this board every day. Instead of Jews, MAGA's targets are immigrants, Democrats and the LGBTQ community. It's 1930s Germany all over again. If so, people won't believe what's happening until it's too late. I'm watching to see whether Trump makes good on his threat to pull the licenses for the major broadcasting companies. Crushing the critics and controlling the media message will be among the first steps en route to the autocracy that Trump and his people want to create.

https://www.nbc-2.com/article/alfie-oaks-seed-table-police-florida/62842106

So much for "serious discussion only," throwing out that tired TDS label. You can't even adhere to your own request for being reasonable.

See, even Pickles here acknowledges abortion as a national issue.

Here's an actual poll that shows abortion as a national issue. https://news.gallup.com/poll/651719/economy-important-issue-2024-presidential-vote.aspx Death always wins in the end.

I'm looking forward to it.

One focking FEMA employee out of 22,000, and she got fired. Errrrrrrr therm dermocrurts.

To say abortion isn't a national issue is even more idiotic. Immigration is a national issue. The economy is a national issue. Inflation is a national issue. Abortion is a national issue whether you like it or not.

We shall see just how much of this Project 25 actually takes place, but you can bet that the next four years under Trump will be an epic clown show, moreso than his first term.

I haven't said one issue was more important than another. I was responding to the assertion that abortion wasn't a national issue. Immigration being a national issue doesn't mean abortion isn't one. There's that baffling MAGA pretzel logic again. Abortion is a national issue whether you like it or not, and Trump's position is that it's up to states to decide that. If he's all about those states' rights, if California doesn't want to kick in a door and drag off Aunt Lupe to a prison camp before air dropping her back into Chalupalajara, Trump should support that state's choice.

Abortion is a national issue. The Constitution addresses that just as much as it does immigration. See? Here we go with choosing states' rights based on what pleases his base.

I've seen the numbers. It's almost $1 trillion. And how realistic is it to expect that the deportees won't just slither their way back in? He said he'd end the war in Ukraine in a day. So should we expect it to be over Jan. 21? I want a stronger military. I want lower taxes. I want smaller federal government. I'd like to see his second presidency be less noisy than his first, but I fear it's going to be even more chaotic. The world is watching.

Right. He wants to cut taxes, but does he let the states do what they want to do in regard to income and property taxes? If a state doesn't want to follow his deportation plan, is he going to send in the military to do it?

I know a couple that celebrated their 9-year-old daughter's announcement that she thinks she's a boy. They were being all trendy despite the daughter likely having no grass on the field. Disgusting. And focking taxpayer dollars shouldn't cover gender-affirming care.

How will Trump supporters respond when the tariffs result in massive inflation and business closings. They were more than happy to blame Biden for recent inflation and business closings whose fault predominantly lies in simple supply-and-demand economics. Are those Trump supporters ready for the inflation and business closings that the president's actions actually caused?

I'm curious to see if Trump puts his money where his mouth is in regard to states' rights. OK, so he's all for those states' rights when it comes to abortion, but what about deportation, gay marriage, social programs, taxes, etc.

The estimated cost is almost $1 trillion, not to mention the chaos, pain and potential violence that will ensue when Trump's storm troopers kick in doors and haul off elderly Aunt Lupe to a concentration camp before deporting her back to some crapola country.

All aboard the pity-bump bus. Toot toot! I got your back, bro!

In the name of Jeebus pity bump.

Another chirping-crickets thread. Pity bump!

I just need Old Maid and TNG to stop blowing up my messenger. Geebus, give it a rest, ladies. I'm not into either one of you.

Another issue is how gullible people are to misinformation and flat-out lies that pour out of Trump's mouth. Bernie Sanders made a great point today that Democrats have failed to support the working class. It's hard to convince people that supply-and-demand economics had the biggest impact on gas and food prices, but the working class doesn't give a chit about that when family budgets are strained and they look toward the president to assign blame. Another huge reason Harris lost was because of men not wanting to see a woman president. Never mind that other places in the world have had female leaders for centuries.

This was my thinking before all the negative media that came rolling out today. Biden never should have run for a second term considering how senile he had become, and he's even moreso these days. Biden focked the Democrats with his arrogance and will be remembered for this more than anything he accomplished for decades to come. If the House remains in Republican control, we're in for quite a chit show for the next four years. It's not healthy for our democracy for everything to be in one party's control. Our system of checks and balances has gone to crap.

I dunno. I just saw them reporting on polls that saw battleground states with mostly Trump slightly ahead.