The US Hamster Wheel

[OFSO]

Last year I attended a briefing on the UN / Haiti matter. For those who don't know:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Hait ... a_outbreak

What is utterly reprehensible is the way in which the UN has denied relief to the 8,000 affected (I include heads of families of deceased and 'survivors' in this number) in that although they have legal procedures in place for dealing with complaints, the UN has persistantly refused access.

Attempts to bring a case against the UN in the national American courts have been frustrated by Washington since the USA, as largest contributor, does not want to get involved in a matter of compensation to the affected Haitan nationals. Hence with presidential encouragement (dare I mention Obama) the case was thrown out on the basis of the UN's immunity.

The last Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, did apologise for the matter just before he departed: he did not want to leave the whole mess as his legacy. And there is now talk of investment in clean water supplies on Haiti, which gets round the awkward subject of paying compensation.

I might add that immunity enjoyed by International Organisations is granted to enable them to go about their normal functions. It was not given to Organisations to enable them to avoid the consequences of their illegal actions. The UN, of course, would beg to differ, and I quote:.

The secretary general’s acknowledgment, by contrast, stopped short of saying that the United Nations specifically caused the epidemic. Nor does it indicate a change in the organization’s legal position that it is absolutely immune from legal actions, including a federal lawsuit brought in the United States on behalf of cholera victims seeking billions in damages stemming from the Haiti crisis.

[BenThere]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... m-nonciti/

For Chuks, to aid in his quest for confidence in the integrity of the vote. Of course, you can reject it out of hand due to the source, but the source only refers to an academic study, which you can attempt to refute on the merit of its facts. Give me $50 (the same that Trump won you) and I'll let you off the hook on your bet offer, from which you wish to extract yourself, and for your unwise assertion that there was only one fraudulent vote, and that was in favor of Trump.

As for the UN. While it has done and does some good in terms of feeding, sheltering, inoculating and such, it's obsession with eliminating Israel is proving to be its undoing. It hasn't been much remarked, but I found UK and French complicity with the recent slap down of Israel unsettling. The 14-0 vote was telling. They failed to counter the previous US administration's Islamist slant. The UN political and security apparatus seems dedicated to countering Israel's right to a peaceful existence while ignoring the truly egregious affronts to humanity we experience daily from the Islamic world, the Islamic states, and their seemingly endless supply of mujahideen suicidal fanatics. Like many Americans, I regard the UN as a good conceptual organization that has gone wrong for the most part, and I support Trump's contention that the US should no longer shoulder the lion's share of its funding.

[Chuks]

Ben, it's 50 euros, not dollars, that I won. There is a difference. You want to bet too, that we could not be stupid enough to vote in Trump? (Ben often goes to the betting parlor, loses on the horse race, but bets again on the replay.)

Ben, what sort of world do you live in? We never made a bet at all, despite what you think. I might as well expect you to pony up $15 million as for you to expect me to come up with $10 thousand. Your man is claiming 3 to 5 million fake votes. If you believe him then offer to bet $15 million on his claim. If you don't want to do that then that shows how little faith you really have in Trump when it comes to brass tacks, real facts instead of alternative ones.

It's a fact that a woman in Iowa was arrested for voting for Trump twice: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/20 ... twice.html There are numerous reports about this, and the woman explained that, yes, she did indeed vote for Trump twice, fearing that her vote would be changed to one for Clinton. So there is one documented case, the only one I am aware of so far, of a fake vote, but a fake vote for Donald Trump.

Trump, on the other hand, claims that not one fake vote was cast for himself. He's lying again! As Kellyanne Conway would have it instead, he's unaware of the fact that he did get one fake vote, so that he's not lying but stating an "alternative fact," something that is only true in the world of Trump and his believers.

[Lone Ranger]

As for the UN. While it has done and does some good in terms of feeding, sheltering, inoculating and such, it's obsession with eliminating Israel is proving to be its undoing.

Well done Ben, that is just the sort of post truth off the cuff opinion masquarading as fact that your president would throw out.
You are learning the Trump way.
How you doing on the groping and treating women as objects?

[BenThere]

Well done Ben

Thanks. Lone Ranger! I'm doing well.

I found some great posters I'm sure you'll enjoy.


http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2 ... dition.php

[BenThere]

Also adding this regarding the illegal vote. I know American Thinker is not a source approved by the Left, but the author of the article is a former USAF fighter pilot, therefore unimpeachable.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles ... a_lot.html

It seems clear to me that voter fraud/ineligible voting is, indeed, a major problem that has altered significant election results, always works in favor of Democrats, and needs to be eliminated. It can be largely eliminated by a simple voter ID requirement.

My personal experience was provided by my mother, who lived in an assisted living facility before she passed away. A lifelong Republican, she related to me how the lobby of her facility was host to a "voter assistance team" who manned a table purporting to assist residents to get their votes counted. My mother, who at the time found it difficult to travel to the voting booth, sat at their table. She was still lucid and perceptive however. She rejected their offer to take her absentee ballot, unfilled, along with her instructions as to how she wanted to vote, have her sign the ballot form, and give the ballot to them, without being filled. Then she told me about it. I imagine this scenario was played out in thousands of assisted living facilities by Democrat vote harvesters.

[Lone Ranger]

I imagine this scenario was played out in thousands of assisted living facilities by Democrat vote harvesters.

Your Imagination is boundless

[Chuks]

Ben, feel free to come up with any news items about fake votes for Clinton. The only one I have found so far is about one fake vote for Trump. Yes, the same Trump who is certain that none of the 3 to 5 million fake votes went to him. He's off by at least one there!

[OFSO]

Well, well. We now have two large-scale experiements running at the same time: Trump's "ban-'em-all, mostly" and Merkel's "let-'em-all-in without any controls or checks". Be interesting to look back in a few years time and see what the consequences were.

[om15]

This morning Iran has banned all US passport holders from entering the country. British MPs (of foreign origin) are up in arms as UK passport holders with dual nationality with listed Arab nations are denied entry into the US.
Much as I admire the coiffured and energetic Mr Trump, his policy may have benefited from a couple of days reflection on possible consequences.

[OFSO]

his policy may have benefited from a couple of days reflection

I agree with what he did, but not the implementation. Should have been announced as something to happen from a future date. March 1st would have been sufficient time for the hankyheads respected middle eastern and african gentlemen to get their acts together.

[BenThere]

Agreed. And Islamic terrorists should give fair warning to the targets they are going to blow up, so as to allow innocent people to alter their plans. War is war.

As for you, Chuks, I'm beginning to see a pattern. According to you:

1. There was one fraudulent vote and Trump benefitted from it.
2. You have a friendly Muslim immigrant neighbor and there is no perceptible problem with German immigration policy.
3. Merkel remains popular and will prevail in the coming German election.
4. Our biggest problem is our failure to know and adhere to grammar, syntax, and punctuation rules that define our erudition and thoughtfulness above all else.

[Lone Ranger]

The Muslim Immigrant Ban, whilst poorly considered (though I don't see why it cant be tweaked a bit ), is the one thing I agree with Trump on and applaud him for sticking his neck out on this one.
I see it being labelled devisive by the western media, well lets be honest, Islam itself is wholly devisive, no Muslim has any real intention of integrating they all want whatever country they choose to settle in to bend over backwards and change to suit them.
Islam is horrible religon and must be opposed by all who want the freedoms our ancestors fought and died for to still exist in the next century

[Chuks]

1. There was one fraudulent vote definitely reported so far, and Trump benefited from it. That's in the news as a fact, not as an alternative fact.
2. We have a friendly family moving in down the street who have a migrant background. I think they are Christians from Kurdistan, as a matter of fact, but Muslims would be okay with me.
3. Merkel remains popular and will probably prevail in the coming German election.
4. One problem for you, not for me, is your failure to know and adhere to grammar, syntax, and punctuation rules that does sometimes tend to point to your lack of erudition and thoughtfulness. If you want to work on that, why not? If you don't, who cares? Donald Trump loves the poorly educated!

[Lone Ranger]

4. One problem for you, not for me, is your failure to know and adhere to grammar, syntax, and punctuation rules that does sometimes tend to point to your lack of erudition and thoughtfulness. If you want to work on that, why not? If you don't, who cares? Donald Trump loves the poorly educated!

Ooops

[Capetonian]

Islam itself is wholly devisive, no Muslim has any real intention of integrating they all want whatever country they choose to settle in to bend over backwards and change to suit them.
Islam is horrible religon and must be opposed by all who want the freedoms our ancestors fought and died for to still exist in the next century

Religious extremism itself is wholly devisive, no religious zealot has any real intention of integrating they all want whatever country they choose to settle in to bend over backwards and change to suit them.
Any religion practised to extremes is horrible and must be opposed by all who want the freedoms our ancestors fought and died for to still exist in the next century

I think my statement is little bit fairer than yours.

[Lone Ranger]

It certainly is Cape and I do agree,
but practicly speaking as much as I despise extremists of any religon, it only seems to be the Muslims and to some extent Israeli Jews that are so violent about it, was different in the past but talking about now.
There are of course non religous extremists too, but they are usually loners and don't get far before some religous zealot kills them of locks them up.

[BenThere]

If you ever had the privilege to study USAF Colonel John Boyd and the OODA loop philosophy you might recognize President Trump's methods that won him the presidency and now has him controlling not only the narrative, but literally how things are going to be.

The media and Democrat party are on their back feet. Trump is attacking and changing the game so fast they haven't had time to react or prepare their response, other than the anger they feel, and the violence with which they lash out, mostly out of out of helplessness, and how they have been out-maneuvered. They can only react, but not in time to effect the outcome they would choose. Today it's immigration rules, yesterday it was the wall, tomorrow it will be something else, maybe the EU, or Russia.

He's had one week in office, and already he has changed all the equations. And his approval from the American people continues to grow and grow, despite those previously in power protesting his incompetence, idiocy, and whatever insults their injured psyches can conjure.

I am so happy with Trump! So far, every day is like Christmas.

[Cukup Sudah]

The thing is that so far Trump's been ruling like an Emperor. Issuing decrees left and right, consulting only with his inner circle of advisors. The latest news is that of a coup on the National Security Council. Steve Bannon has replaced the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Director of Intelligence. They'll only sit in on meetings "as required".

People are saying that both Bannon and Priebus demanded to be present during Trump's phone call with Putin and that Trump's behaviour during the call made them uncomfortable.

Of the 1242 positions in the Trump administration requiring Senate confirmation, 1210 remains without anyone nominated.

[obgraham]

So Cukup, you seem upset that Trump, now a politician, is doing more or less exactly what he said he would do during his campaign.

I agree that is a terrible precedent to set. We can't continue to have our politicians fulfill their campaign promises. The whole system will fall apart.