Trump

[KlaxonCow]

Sean Spicer quit too...

I'm massively impressed that he lasted even this long...

[Rubisco]

Thanks, Supreme Court, for giving him a reason to be smugger:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40408011

It's not the supreme court's fault the ban wasn't unconstitutional.

Trump promises his idiot supporters that he's going to ban muslim immigration.
Trump realises banning muslim immigration is unconstitutional.
Trump bans travel from countries on Obama's list.
His idiot supporters can't see the difference so see Trump as keeping his promises.
But LIBERALS DIDN'T HAVE TO SWALLOW THE SAME SHIT!

It was always going to be a win for him, pick your fucking battles.

[Governmentyard]

This div still at it?

Bloody pillock. Can't be arsed with him.

[Darkflame]

Trumps currently looking at pardoning his staff and maybe himself.
Apparently, with the exception of impeachment, he actually can.

At this point it feels like Trumps a bug-test for the us political system and its failing horribly.

* can a president get elected without showing his tax records? yes!
* can a president fire people investing himself/team for crimes? Yes!
* can a president pardon himself/team for crimes? Yes!

Its escalating, I wonder what test is next.

[F-ZeroOne]

It could be argued that one of the definitions of a bully is someone who goes after the easy targets:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40729996

And hes followed up that with this:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 8050856961

- so lets remind him that under his own nations Constitution, America also worships Allah, Buddha, Satan, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Stringfellow Hawke [1].

[1] That may just be me.

[Cloudane]

I think it'd be fair to say "what an absolute shitlord"

[Darkflame]

Shit to distract from shit forever. This is horrible but by next week there will be something else.
I wonder what we dont hear about.

[KlaxonCow]

Indeed, it's a shame. Because, at America's birth, it was just so admirably progressive.

Many of the Forefathers were deists. That is, believers in some kind of nondescript "god", but not any particular named god, as - being just one step from agnosticism here - they'd often maintain that you just can't know who or what "the Creator" actually was. A kind of impure agnosticism.

To that end, the Declaration of Independence only says "the Creator" and is not at all specific about who or what the Creator was or is. The Creator created all men equal - put forth as just a self-evident inalienable fact of biology and reality, not any kind of religious doctrine - but there is purposefully no details of this beyond that.

Which was certainly deliberate, as Jefferson was staunchly deist and, in terms of criticism of organised religion, the Richard Dawkins equivalent of his day. He famously, of course, created "the Jefferson Bible" which edits the New Testament, removing all magic and miracles - all the supernaturalism - to present, as it were, the story of Jesus, the philosopher, who is worth listening to for his philosophical wisdoms.

And, of course, the Constitution of the United States of America famously has absolutely zero mention of any gods in it anywhere.

It's an interesting state of affairs in that America's history was rewritten in the 20th century and so many Americans erroneously believe that it was ever thus, when it's actually a "within living memory" modern construction.

For example, America only started putting "In God We Trust" on the dollar bill in 1957, after officially adopting "In God We Trust" as the nation's motto in 1956, replacing the unofficial de facto motto of "E pluribus unum" - Out of many, one - that had been around since 1776. It was also simply cleverer. "E pluribus unum" has, you'll notice, 13 letters and there were originally 13 states in the USA.

Meanwhile, the addition of "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance - "One nation under God" - only came into effect in 1954 under Eisenhower.

It's generally considered by historians that these were just reactions to "the Red Scare" of communism. As communism is atheist, then shouting "God" from the rooftops was simply a way to differentiate America and stick an anti-communist middle finger up at the Soviets.

So even this apparent religious "revival" wasn't really such. Not really. Just the irreligious allowing the religious to get their way - and probably in their minds, thinking it'd only be a temporary measure - as it served a perfectly secular goal in fighting against the rise of communism. Stick "God" on everything, they thought, as the communists can't stand that.

An inspiration to the American Revolution was Thomas Paine, whose work "the Rights of Man" argued in favour of the French Revolution and against notions of monarchy and aristocracy and "the tyranny of tradition" as logically invalid. Well, his next work after that was "An Age of Reason" where he gave a similar treatment to organised religion, which was basically "the God Delusion" of its day (except it was more "the Church Delusion").

This was what made America, in 1776, the admirable envy of the world. A nation that elected its King. A nation founded in secularism that had an anti-theocracy law right at the top of its Bill of Rights. Indeed, the Bill of Rights itself - a nation that acknowledged "the Rights of Man" on a fundamental and inalienable level. In 1776, this was deeply impressive and progressive stuff. Greatly so.

Back then, this was genuine American Exceptionalism. The only nation with no trace of God in its Constitution and even a law designed to prohibit theocracy. Fundamental inalienable rights for the people, that governments simply cannot legally violate. And only France before it had moved over to the "elected King" model. This was genuinely exceptional, because we had a list of "the only nation that..." to recite.

What too many Americans miss, though, is that this was 241 years ago. In the intervening time, it's now a fact that over 50% of the planet is democratic. Where monarchs still exist, they're almost all basically ceremonial. Europe is now easily vastly more secular; in Europe, mention of gods by politicians is basically electoral poison - toxic - and they don't dare do it.

And, in the intervening time, for light and transient causes, America's given up these essential liberties, for a little temporary and comforting safety from the Magical Man in the Clouds.

I'm with Jefferson and Franklin on this. They deserve - and will reap - neither with such a poor attitude to their own existence.

Such a deep shame. But, I guess, entropy always wins eventually and nothing can stand forever.

[Darkflame]

Interesting post, thanks for that as some I didn't know.

And, in the intervening time, for light and transient causes, America's given up these essential liberties, for a little temporary and comforting safety from the Magical Man in the Clouds.

Is it really the main driving force behind Americas choices though?
More recently I think the (overly convenient for the powerful) free-market-as-god I think is the mentality. The weird faith that everyone taking as much as they can from those they can results in the greatest good. If only it wasn't constrained the magic guiding hand will look after everyone!

Deity-based religion still dictates some stuff, and helps manipulate many, but I think those with power in the US arnt really basing their choices on religious doctrine.

[zip accident]

Interesting post, thanks for that as some I didn't know.

And, in the intervening time, for light and transient causes, America's given up these essential liberties, for a little temporary and comforting safety from the Magical Man in the Clouds.

Is it really the main driving force behind Americas choices though?
More recently I think the (overly convenient for the powerful) free-market-as-god I think is the mentality. The weird faith that everyone taking as much as they can from those they can results in the greatest good. If only it wasn't constrained the magic guiding hand will look after everyone!

Deity-based religion still dictates some stuff, and helps manipulate many, but I think those with power in the US arnt really basing their choices on religious doctrine.

I agree with most of this. I do think the market as god is what the powerful believe, it's probably Calvinist too, in that the poor are poor and the rich are rich in this theology because god hates the poor and loves the rich.

[F-ZeroOne]

Regards whats happened to the "skinny" Obamacare repeal bill - well now, Mr. President, you might finally learn that your words do indeed have consequences.

[merman]

Regards whats happened to the "skinny" Obamacare repeal bill - well now, Mr. President, you might finally learn that your words do indeed have consequences.

What's interesting is how they tried to do it, using a "budget reconciliation" bill. This officially changes the Federal budget BUT only one such bill on a topic is allowed per year. By letting the Bill get to the floor and then get voted down, it means the Republicans cannot re-introduce another healthcare reconciliation bill this year. Next year is the mid-terms, so even tougher to get it through without costing votes.

[PFVA]

And Scaramucci now fired...

[F-ZeroOne]

Its emerged that there was a 9 minute gap between the first part of Trumps tweet about the trans-gender ban and the second part, which has been reported as making some think he was about to declare war on someone. To ram the point home that Twitter is not an official communications channel, the US military has stated that its policy will not be changing until it receives notification through existing channels.

[guythp]

And Scaramucci now fired...