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kingdragonfly
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  #2619967 11-Dec-2020 10:54
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Rikkitic: ...The whole transfer of power in the USA seems to depend on good actors doing the right thing. It is like nobody every expected a figure like Trump to come along, which seems pretty short-sighted to me...


I think it's in human nature to generally expect the best when forming something new.

Otherwise why would so many marriages end in ugly divorces?

The 1776 US population was half the size of New Zealand today, and the fastest news could travel was by horse or sailing ship.

For example Zuckerberg probably didn't think "wow, when I form Facebook, a lot of people will die that otherwise wouldn't"

Facebook did the minimum required to get up and running, never anticipating genocides and false health information that killed a good number of people.

Not to mention the harm that didn't kill someone, but made the world worse: pedo-rings, and hate-speech, and foreign influence by governments, ...

If you have a government full of bad actors, no amount "you can't do thats" will help. Just look at the US neighbor to the south, Mexico and corruption.

linw
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  #2620028 11-Dec-2020 11:19
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Thank you, @geekIT, for that wonderful George Packer article. On the one hand I raise my cap to him, but on the other, I remain in despair as I see no way out.

 

 


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  #2620040 11-Dec-2020 11:23
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And the US is driven by a system that was designed to ensure that power stayed with the 'right' type of people - white, land owning, slave owning, married old men.


neb

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  #2620066 11-Dec-2020 12:20
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jarledb:

Uhm. The people running the US is Trump + Republicans.

 

 

Trump + Retrumplicans. There are only a few actual Republicans left.

neb

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  #2620072 11-Dec-2020 12:36
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Fred99:

3243 Covid deaths in the USA today - a new record for Trump not to give a damn about.

 

 

Had dinner with a friend yesterday who had come back from the US (via quarantine, two negative tests, and he had it back in April). Some comments:

 

 

"You can't imagine how bad things are in the US. You really can't even imagine it unless you've been there".

 

 

"A co-worker died in a hospital parking lot, within sight of help. They'd had a heart attack but couldn't get treatment because everyone was tied up dealing with Covid".

 

 

"People are getting admitted to ICUs, put on ventilators, and they can't understand why because they've been told Covid is just a little flu, it's harmless. They can't understand why they're this sick when they've only got Covid".

 

 

"The last words of (someone's father, I think) before he died of Covid in hospital was 'God bless President Trump'".

 

 

In 1945, Germany looked at what had happened recently and decided to make sure they'd never go that way again, both by the way the country was set up and through a change in mindset. The US in contrast is still a long, long way from this moment of self-realisation.

Rikkitic
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  #2620088 11-Dec-2020 13:12
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neb:

 

"The last words of (someone's father, I think) before he died of Covid in hospital was 'God bless President Trump'". In 1945, Germany looked at what had happened recently and decided to make sure they'd never go that way again, both by the way the country was set up and through a change in mindset. The US in contrast is still a long, long way from this moment of self-realisation.

 

Farther than ever. People unable to breathe die insisting that Covid doesn't exist and it is all a plot of the democrats. People gather in howling mobs in the darkness around the homes of low-level election officials, brandishing arms and terrorising children. People insist the election was rigged because Trump can't possibly lose. This has all gone beyond rational discussion or differing viewpoints. It is self-serving hypocritical cynicism of the most treasonous sort at the top, and mass insanity everywhere underneath. Even with my own deep-seated distrust of anything that comes from authority, I never ever expected to see anything like this. It really is the end of whatever used to remain of American democracy. Even Americans are saying this. It is a monumental tearing down of something most people would have thought was pretty solid and secure, like the sacking of Rome. 

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


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  #2620089 11-Dec-2020 13:16
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Fred99:  3243 Covid deaths in the USA today - a new record for Trump not to give a damn about. ...

 



 





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kingdragonfly
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  #2620098 11-Dec-2020 13:40
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No fair! (boring part)


geekIT
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  #2620124 11-Dec-2020 14:05
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linw:

 

Thank you, @geekIT, for that wonderful George Packer article. On the one hand I raise my cap to him, but on the other, I remain in despair as I see no way out.

 

Thanks. I feel much the same way, not just about the American election debacle, but about the chaotic state of human culture.

 

Given the level of polarization and divisiveness that's recently emerged in America, it's not unreasonable to assume that around half of the entire human race is also as stupid, ignorant and greedy as Trump supporters, with about half of the remainder paying mostly lip service to fairness, decency and the rule of law, and a good portion of the rest inclined to look on and do nothing.

 

 





'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' Voltaire

 

'A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government President.' Edward Abbey

 

 

 

 

 

 


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  #2620125 11-Dec-2020 14:09
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freitasm: "If somebody cheated in the Election, which the Democrats did, why wouldn’t the Election be immediately overturned? How can a Country be run like this?"

 



 

 


(footnote: Frank Muir & Denis Norden wrote the phrase, "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", 
spoken by Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar in Carry on Cleo.)





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FineWine
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  #2620132 11-Dec-2020 14:16
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geekIT:

 

I recommend you read this George Packer Atlantic article about Donald John Trump’s attempt to become America’s first messianic dictator. It won’t explain why this pathetic excuse for a man tried to destroy his country, but it does shed light upon how he almost pulled it off.

 

.....edited for brevity......

 

A Political Obituary for Donald Trump. The effects of his reign will linger. But democracy survived.

 

George Packer, January/February 2021 Issue, The Atlantic.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/01/the-legacy-of-donald-trump/617255/

 

Brilliant - thank you for that 👏





Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.


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  #2620156 11-Dec-2020 15:07
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The New York Times - Best of Late Night

 

Late-night hosts had fun with the Supreme Court’s one-sentence refusal to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results: 

 




 

 

“One sentence. That page had less ink than Rudy Giuliani’s face.” - JIMMY FALLON

 

“That’s basically a tweet that went to law school.” - JIMMY FALLON

 

“This president hasn’t faced this much rejection since every time he has tried to hold Melania’s hand.” - STEPHEN COLBERT

 

“All of the justices were like, ‘We put on our robes for this?’” - JIMMY FALLON

 

“The court really tried to do Trump a favor, though. They figured if it was one sentence, he would actually read it.” - JIMMY FALLON

 





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neb

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  #2620162 11-Dec-2020 15:34
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Sideface:

The New York Times - Best of Late Night

 

 

You missed out the most telling ones:

 

 

And Trump must be especially butt-hurt that the justices he appointed didn’t do anything about this, because in his mind, he thinks that they owe him big time. He’s probably like, ‘What the hell, Brett? I stuck with you when everyone said you were a creepy drunk, but now you won’t let me be president just because I didn’t get enough votes? All of a sudden, now you know the meaning of the word “no,” Brett? Huh? I hate all of you

 

 

Trump installed those judges specifically to get the rulings he wanted, and yet they ruled against him (sorry, can't do it inline because you can't embed time codes in inline videos).

 

 

Translated: "That was an order! The ruling I wanted was an order! How dare they ignore my orders! Is this what is has come to? I appointed those judges to give me what I wanted and now they've betrayed me! The judges are no more than a bunch of disloyal cowards! Cowards, traitors and incompetents! No sense of honor!".

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  #2620308 11-Dec-2020 19:35
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BBC News - Biden and Harris named Time's Person of the Year

 

breaking

 


US President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have been chosen as Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2020.

 

"The Biden-Harris ticket represents something historic," Time tweeted.

 

The Democratic pair beat three other finalists: frontline healthcare workers and Dr Anthony Fauci, the racial justice movement, and President Donald Trump, who lost the White House race. ...

 



 

Donald will be seriously pissed off.   🙂





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Rikkitic
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  #2620313 11-Dec-2020 19:59
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Sideface:

 

Donald will be seriously pissed off.   🙂

 

 

Now for the Nobel prize.

 

 





Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

 


 


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