Happy Arbor Day, Merry Christmas, Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Saint Crispin’s Day, Happy New Year’s Day.

Actually, peace to everyone.

And, Dutch? Money will never be removed from American politics. Sad, I know. The political will is lacking.

Dutch Wrote:

Lonely, sorry but I don't agree on your statement that Europe has the same problem, may be except England.

In Europe they "adapt their "base laws" on an daily basis, but not here. Thus the laws are up to date there. Here they just mess with "case laws" (after the fact laws) which are manipulated all the way by all kind of "partisan" lawyers as well depending on the "quality" and mindset of the elected people in the government.

Lots of "games" are played with it and the "lawyers" make fortunes from it. Also it creates "ton's" of paperwork and research into the past, what was done or written and its interpretation of it in "modern times". At a certain time it will "collapse" because of that in modern times things don't work anymore like it did 200 years ago. Take the "gun" laws for instance ( The "Second Amendment") where we still had "militia"; we have no longer "front loading muskets" but other "killing tools" which are much worse; but the laws for it are still not caught up to the times we live in. Case laws don't work because they also become outdated as the Second Amendment, the way it was written in those times. The very few "Amendments" on the Constitution show that at a given moment "case laws" also get outdated and have to be updated; which in the end becomes an impossible administrative situation.

Therefore Europe has not the "turmoil" as here related to "up to date" laws as it should be. So make it the same; I advise do as they did in Canada, which does not have such turmoil as here related to "laws".

Constitutional laws get outdated; our "impeachment" process showed already that there were no laws for it written in 1776. neither did they have intercontinal missiles, nukes, computers, cars, trains, planes and a "zillion lawyers" as well "world wars" or Putin types. Let alone "billionaires" who act like "god's"and have their own laws.

An"parliamentary" system keeps things up to date; what we have is an "self inflicted wound" with lots of bandages to stop the bleeding. The "paperwork" here is asking for lots of "anomalies" and " interpretation" ; it is like fumbling in an garbage heap to find your lost "diamond" with the help of lots of "zombies". It is an total "joke" as proven when we have elections etc.

The Constitution was written more than 200 hundred years ago; our society has changed so much that it may as well be the dead sea scrolls. People's life and living conditions are totally different than in in 1700. At given moment you can't "update" an "base law" anymore because of all the changes in the world since 1700. Therefore there were very few "Amendments" made but those are also not up to date anymore.

No wonder that this country stays in "turmoil" over and over again. However this country is very "stubborn" and "arrogant" and "knows" it all; thus there is little hope that they will chose an better working uniform "law" system. But yeah "Rome" did the same thing and the result is known.

You can't run an country with "ego trippers" and "smart crooks" alone. Laws and "rules should be strictly adhered too; depending if the "laws" and "rules" are sound "without loopholes" or "outdated". Ask "Rittenhouse" how fantastic it works for him.

Dutch,

I get your concerns. I agree with the vast majority of them. But we have to look at what reality is.

The constitution is NOT a collection of laws. It is a foundational document laying out the methodology of a democratic republic. Imo, the founders particularly Jefferson believed that the people elected to federal office would be of their class, the “accidental aristoi” meaning wealth/position aristocracy. They did not believe in democracy, in the will of the people. This is shown in the document itself. Only one half of the three branches of government are elected directly by the people. The document did not layout extensive criteria to be eligible for federal office because, again, they thought the candidates would be from their class.

As to things like the taxes of the candidates unless it is established as law no candidate is required to reveal their taxes. I agree that they should be required but they are not. Now, you bring up case law and I get and agree with the frustration. That being said I would wager that every European democracy has the same problem. Here the problem is exacerbated by the position of the US on the world stage. Laws are put into place and then situations occur which do not fit exactly to existing law so legal decisions are handed down by courts via criminal/civil cases.

Finally, unless there is a situation of defeated belligerents in a war such as occurred with the Nuremberg trials leaders of countries in essence are immune from prosecution. The same applies in reverse with Bush2 re: Iraq and possibly Clinton re: the Balkans. We can of course argue that such should not be the case and the International Criminal Court is an attempt to holder people accountable. We will never see an American president or high official from an administration brought before that court.

Dutch Wrote:

Thanks for your reply. I always thought that an President has more "executive priveledges" than than anyone else. He can use this to "do" things like Trump at least dared to do. At least , how is it "possible" that an ex President can "rally" and " stoke the fire" everywhere and "interfere" all he likes. While in the meantime committed "crimes" by "stealing" secret documents from the W.H. as well never wanted to provide his "Tax returns" and still is fighting that. All previous Presidents did provide these "tax returns" before running for the job. So I consider him an "criminal" which should not be able to run. Thus Biden should take action to stop him from running because of it. So something is "drastically " wrong here. The coming 2 years will be an disaster if Biden does not stop this crook. Garland also should have stopped him from running because of it.

Sorry this country is not any better than any S.American country. Amen

Biden can’t take any action beyond proposing legislation that would prevent Trump from running. The founders believed, not in democracy, but in a system where what Jefferson called the “accidental aristoi” would be the pool supplying those who would enter politics to govern the country. In essence, an aristocracy of landed, educated, white men.

So, regarding Trump, Biden cannot in any manner create a law which would bar Trump. Garland can and should move against Trump on, imo, the classified documents issue. This is not Biden’s weakness but rather the result of a system which was a massive improvement over the Articles of Confederation but also required a relatively convoluted method to pass legislation. We certainly can have a discussion over whether a parliamentary system is better than the democratic republic that we have here but that doesn’t change that we have what we have.

Dutch Wrote:

However, looking at "history" of this country then I've not seen any ex-president serving "jail" time. All the "mafia" types are still running around freely as well. Actually the whole of the GOP belongs in jail the way they operate.

I bet he will "weasel" again out of all of this, as usual due to our "weak" Biden and our near dead DOJ head.

Neither on the news anything more about the "documents" he stole, let alone his "tax" returns; it will all end up in the toilet.

It is time that this country gets decent "solid" laws and "legal" people with "integrity" in government issues.

"Football players" have shaking up "brains" and know nothing of the world, let alone if they got any "decent" education at all.

Sorry this country is "laughable" related to running or "electing" an Government. The "chaos" during these times shows that the "system" here is "garbage". The "crooks" rise to the top; the people with normal "brains" are "invisible due to all the "noise" from the "money" hungry big mouth society. Just running an "election" where "billions of dollars" were "injected" and ended up in the wrong pockets, only proves on how totally "corrupt" this country is and "stays". Amen

Dutch, Biden has no authority to force Trump to appear before to Jan 6 committee. He cannot force the DOJ to do anything about Trump as the DOJ is not his personal law firm. That was what Trump believed the DOJ was. He can ask for Garland’s resignation if he wants but he won’t do it.

As for ex-presidents serving jail time the only one who could have ended up there was Nixon. The pardon issued by Ford eliminated that possibility.

Yes, there is corruption. Yes, I think that the current system allows for corruption to exist. A quick glance at Poland, Hungary and Italy show RW authoritarianism is on the rise and holding political power in Europe. Humans are susceptible to charlatans no matter where they are.

I actually think that these sites all have a sort of half-life. They eventually shrink until they are simply a site with little to no contribution. Is that arbitrarily bad? Not necessarily. Humans always have things going on that take up time. As humans cannot multi-task despite claims that they can it is unsurprising that events and circumstances occur that require prioritization. Frankly, I do believe that the political economy of the country is not simply broken but is beyond repair. To try and repair would require an almost complete tear down and rebuild. That isn’t going to happen unless and until conditions actually devolve into instability and unsustainability. We are not there yet but we are getting closer.

The election of a fill-in-the-blank Democrat to the presidency will not substantially change things. It does not matter what Biden has or has not done. The crucial “glue” holding a society together has fractured. Cohesiveness has vanished as the combination of idiot libertarians and religionists/misogynists/homophobes/racists has achieved their wet dream of deconstructing society. Bannon’s idiocy of deconstructing the state is meaningless. Society organizes using the nation-state on this level. That the nation-state becomes oppressive does not mean that it does not exist. The lack of state would be even more catastrophic.

My alternative is simple and extremely dangerous: break up the country. The so-called American experiment has run aground on the one critical thing that the founders neglected which is the concept of “states” within a nation being sovereign. That great failure has come to destroy the country.

Well, with all the psychosis in this country I thought you could use a laugh.

twitter.com/Elastic_minds/status/154556...

So, I will ask the question…

Is it time to break up the U.S.?

that guy in AZ Wrote:

Vindman's book is worth reading.

Although Alexander Vindman retired last summer, his twin brother was likely going to be promoted for full colonel in March of this year. Alexander is currently working on a doctorate

American Marxism by Mark Levin remained #1 in nonfiction last week, selling more than 57,000 copies. The Truth About Covid-19 by Joseph Mercola, released in April, had a big week, with sales rising to 21,500 from under 2,000 in the prior week, putting it in second place on the adult fiction list. Alexander Vindman’s Here Truth Matters was third on the category list, selling almost 16,000 copies in its first week on sale.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/87122-print-book-sales-fell-8-last-week.html

The fact that a garbage book by a conspiracy theorist outsold a novel by a Purple Heart veteran says a lot about our country.

Levin has been described as "right-wing" by The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and Politico.[6][7][8][9] He is known for his strident criticisms of Democrats and encouragement of primary challenges to congressional Republicans that he considers to be "Republican In Name Only" (RINO). He endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and declared himself "Never Trump", but reluctantly endorsed Donald Trump after Trump won the Republican nomination.[10] Since the start of the Trump presidency, Levin's commentary has become strongly pro-Trump.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/15/yevgeny-vindman-promotion-post-trump-476038

Mark Levin is a horse’s ass. Which is an insult to horses.

I grow weary of the insipid right and their use of socialism, communism and Marxism to rile up the base. They either don’t know the definition, which I doubt, or they know just attaching the words to anything will score them points.

How will it end? I am uncertain.

Why do we war? Because we can. We, as a species, are hardwired for fight or flight. That being said the evolution from tribal, nomadic units to nation-states has, on occasion, dampened the tendency to fight. There is, however, much more tied up in this. The only true lenses to view the past including near-past and the future especially near future are sociology, anthropology and psychology. Humans have advanced technologically at an astounding pace and achieved astounding things. They are still, unfortunately, emotionally primitive. I would also be willing to bet that many are less than stable.

Power holders seek to maintain their power and utilize agitprop to do so. Power seekers utilize agitprop as well. I doubt this will ever change. I am reminded of a quote from Heinlein in Methuselah’s Children: I am not in danger from my friends and you are not in danger from your friends but I am in danger from your friends and you are in danger from mine. Tribalism will NEVER go away. The type of social beings that humans are combined with emotional fragility makes tribalism inevitable.

Finally, the health of the state is not war, it is coercion based upon the susceptibility of the populace to emotional, simplistic agitprop.