What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[garbon]

I must be out of touch here in the UK. While some of my loony left friends have announced strong positions on pipelines, most of my leftists friends don't seem to have a strong position.

[Valmy]

I must be out of touch here in the UK. While some of my loony left friends have announced strong positions on pipelines, most of my leftists friends don't seem to have a strong position.

The Native American thing hits a nerve. I think many people, who normally would not care at all about the pipeline and are not particularly well informed about the situation in general, are sympathetic just because they figure if the Native Americans care so much about it we should probably give it to them since they seem to always get fucked.

[LaCroix]

trump's latest list for SCOTUS

William H. Pryor Jr., 11th U.S. Circuit Court, Alabama

Neil Gorsuch, 10th U.S. Circuit Court, Colorado

Thomas Hardiman, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court, Pennsylvania

all fairly generic conservatives

[Tamas]

I must be out of touch here in the UK. While some of my loony left friends have announced strong positions on pipelines, most of my leftists friends don't seem to have a strong position.

The Native American thing hits a nerve. I think many people, who normally would not care at all about the pipeline and are not particularly well informed about the situation in general, are sympathetic just because they figure if the Native Americans care so much about it we should probably give it to them since they seem to always get fucked.

Which reminds me, the sacred ground argument is annoying. What, religion is all of a sudden a valid argument?

[LaCroix]

Which reminds me, the sacred ground argument is annoying. What, religion is all of a sudden a valid argument?

it's not really religion. it's more of a cultural thing. native american culture being stomped on = attack on native americans, etc.

[Valmy]

Which reminds me, the sacred ground argument is annoying. What, religion is all of a sudden a valid argument?

Sacred Ground and the Lakota is still a sensitive topic after that Black Hills thing.

[Valmy]

it's not really religion. it's more of a cultural thing. native american culture being stomped on = attack on native americans, etc.

Yeah.

And let's face it: trying to figure out WTF is really going on with the DAPL is hard. More work than most people want to put in.

Though one would think if somebody is so moved they are actually going to travel out there and join the protest they would bother.

[grumbler]

Your post just repeats your assertion that ending carnage in America doesn't imply ending it in Chicago.

"American carnage" isn't "carnage in America"

  Just keep telling yourself that. So long as 2+2 equals 5, you can believe in trump.

[Syt]

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/25/politics/trump-calls-for-major-investigation-into-voter-fraud/index.html

Trump calls for 'major investigation' into voter fraud

(CNN)President Donald Trump called on Wednesday for "a major investigation" into voter fraud, following through with baseless claims he has made since November's election alleging millions of illegal votes during the general election without citing any evidence.

"I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and ... even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!" Trump wrote in two consecutive tweets.

Trump's comments on voter fraud came Monday during a meeting with congressional leaders, where he reiterated an unsubstantiated claim that 3-5 million illegal votes cost him the popular vote, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

On Tuesday, Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer vigorously defended Trump's statement about illegal voters, though neither Trump nor his surrogates could provide evidence that any substantial illegal voting had occurred or influence the popular vote.

Trump faced widespread criticism for his remarks, including from some congressional leaders in his own party, and Democrats have alleged that Republican efforts in the name of fighting voter fraud has the effect of preventing or delaying legal voters who traditionally back Democratic candidates
Ohio's secretary of state responded to Trump's Tweet on Wednesday, saying his office already investigated claims of voter fraud.

"We conducted a review 4 years ago in Ohio & already have a statewide review of 2016 election underway. Easy to vote, hard to cheat #Ohio," Jon Husted, a Republican, tweeted.

Former Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie-Wasserman Schultz issued a harsh condemnation of Trump's call for an investigation, telling CNN's "New Day" that the tweet's message was "deeply disturbing."

"He seems to be questioning the legitimacy of his own election, all while, for the last couple of months, touting how legitimate and huge his election was and historic it is. It can't be both," she said.

"What is the most deeply disturbing about his penchant for lying is -- if he is willing to lie about the trivial, like crowd size, or the significant, like voter fraud, then what happens if -- God forbid -- we go to war and we have our troops lives on the line and there are causalities? Is he going to send Sean Spicer out to lie about the causalities that have taken place? Are our allies going to be able to trust us?"

And former senior adviser to former President Barack Obama David Axelrod respond on CNN Wednesday by saying, "It becomes an impetus for those who want to further erode voter protection for people who legitimately want to vote and are facing a series of barriers."

When pushed by the media about whether Trump will call for an investigation into the matter, Spicer said, "maybe we will," adding later that Trump believes in voter fraud based on "studies and information he has."

"The President does believe that, I think he's stated that before, and stated his concern of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign and continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have brought to him," Spicer said at Wednesday's press briefing.

Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes in November, but won the Electoral College and thus the presidency. Trump, however, has seemingly been fixated on the popular vote, mentioning voter fraud in regards to his popular vote loss a number of times since November.

Spicer did not say specifically which studies the President was using to support his claim of 3 to 5 million illegally cast votes, but a 2014 study by Jesse Richman and David Earnest found more than 14% of non-citizens in 2008 and 2010 "indicated that they were registered to vote." Only US citizens can vote in federal elections.

However, Brian Schaffner, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts, told CNN on Tuesday that his study that is apparently being cited by the White House was misinterpreted and did not support the administration's claims.

A number of studies have also found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

The Truth About Voter Fraud, a report written by experts at The Brennan Center for Justice, found voter fraud rates were between 0.00004% and 0.0009%.

Trump himself -- through his lawyers -- have also argued that there was no evidence of voter fraud in the 2016 election. In a court filing objecting to Green Party candidate Jill Stein's Michigan recount petition, lawyers for the president wrote, "All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake."

Judges have identified examples of systemic efforts to distort the voter rolls in recent years.

But those efforts hurt traditionally Democratic voters and help Republicans.

In North Carolina, a federal appeals court wrote in 2016 that -- after receiving data on the use of voting practices by race -- the Republican-controlled state legislature enacted a series of laws designed to suppress African-American turnout with "almost surgical precision."

The state required voters to present forms of identification disproportionately used by white people. It cut back on early voting, eliminated same-day voter registration and preregistration for voters under 18, and it eliminated Sunday voting -- with the state even arguing in court that "counties with Sunday voting in 2014 were disproportionately black" and "disproportionately Democratic."

US Circuit Judge Diana Motz wrote in July 2016, in a ruling striking down North Carolina's, that the laws were "enacted with racially discriminatory intent."

"The General Assembly enacted them in the immediate aftermath of unprecedented African American voter participation in a state with a troubled racial history and racially polarized voting," Motz wrote.

Still, many North Carolina counties worked around Motz's ruling. Guilford, the state's third-largest county, opened just one polling place for the first week of early voting. Charlotte's Mecklenburg County chopped its early voting locations from 22 when early voting began in 2012 to 10 in 2016, with voters reporting waiting in line for three hours.

Democrats also believe that new voter ID laws played a role in lowering turnout in other states -- particularly Wisconsin, where Hillary Clinton narrowly lost to Trump. Turnout there dropped nearly four points from 2012, despite record early voting numbers.

[garbon]

I love that now a president 'calling for something' via a tweet generates an article...

[grumbler]

Which reminds me, the sacred ground argument is annoying. What, religion is all of a sudden a valid argument?

Sacred Ground and the Lakota is still a sensitive topic after that Black Hills thing.

Of course, the Black hills weren't really "sacred ancestral lands" to the Lakota and Cheyenne in the 1870s, because up until the 18th they were farmers along the upper Mississippi.

That excuses none of the effects of the US violation of its treaties with the tribes, of course, but it shows that a lot of outsider opinion on these tribes is based on mythology, not history.

[Syt]

I love that now a president 'calling for something' via a tweet generates an article...

There'll be more communication from him though Tweets than through any other means of communication.

[Valmy]

I would consider this possibly a good thing, even if possibly a waste of federal money, just to shed some light on this contentious issue. But I have a weird feeling that this is mostly something to mollify Trump's ego.

Oh well. If it is going to happen maybe something good will come of it.

My position has always been if a state cares so very much about it, just made voter registration cards also be photo IDs. Boom. Done. Free for everybody who has a voter ID. Existing cards can be grandfathered in (because everybody loves Grandfather clauses in voting type situations) just the next time they vote they get their FREE picture on their registration card.

[LaCroix]

  Just keep telling yourself that. So long as 2+2 equals 5, you can believe in trump.

it can mean carnage in america, but it doesn't have to mean that. because it doesn't have to mean that, "'American carnage' isn't 'carnage in America'" is true

[garbon]

My position has always been if a state cares so very much about it, just made voter registration cards also be photo IDs. Boom. Done. Free for everybody who has a voter ID. Existing cards can be grandfathered in (because everybody loves Grandfather clauses in voting type situations) just the next time they vote they get their FREE picture on their registration card.

When is that photo being taken?