Generic 2016 US Election Cycle Recycling Bin

Grazie.

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I find it interesting, because assassination attempts are not as rare as we would think, and assassination threats are downright boring. Not that I think anyone should try to assassinate Obama, Trump, or any other president, but this fact puts things in perspective.

There were three attempts on Obama, none of them very spectacular. In April 2009, a Syrian man tried to stab Obama in Turkey but was apprehended. In November 2011, a man named Oscar Ramiro Ortega Hernandez fired a semiautomatic rifle at the White House. In April 2013, a letter laced with ricin was sent to Obama.

Someone will probably try to assassinate Trump when he travels overseas. If you count that kid who grabbed the copā€™s gun, thereā€™s already been one attempt on Trumpā€™s life.

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I have so much hope and so little optimism.

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I agree with the Cow on this and several other issues. I just donā€™t think his approach is productive, and I thought he was trying to make his point too soon.

Perhaps the sameā€™s true for me, too.

I was certainly too harsh and bombastic in my reply to @piratejenny, sorry about that.

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ā€œChrist, what an assholeā€ would be far too kind.

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I agree with all this as it describes our current government, but I donā€™t agree that itā€™s a necessary or inevitable outcome of representative democracy. Plato would describe our current government as an oligarchy, which is not what the founders intended, they wanted something that was not accurately described by any of Platoā€™s categories. Something new (well, not a new idea any more, obviously) that was neither the Mobbe Rule of pure democracy nor the tyranny of a privileged elite Aristocracy or Royalty.

You know how copyleft relies on copyright law? The support structure for Free, Open Source Software uses corrupt, counterproductive laws subversively, to achieve certain goals antithetical to copyright maximalists. Similarly, I use private property laws that you rightly regard as corrupt and anti-human to achieve goals antithetical to the 1%. This means that while I support your radical communitarian ideas, I am not able to directly participate at this time; I have to pay my property taxes and support various publicly funded evils in order to do what I want to do.

Very good points - especially concerning the deep hypocrisy of Trump & cronies, who advocated protesting any vote that didnā€™t go their way, and now condemn the same behavior. This is how they operate; they are not playing by any rules set by their opposition, they are framing the debate strategically and amorally.

But Iā€™d rather not have Civil War. If the alternative is having Trump behave in a way that disappoints someone, that, to me, is the better option, you know?

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I canā€™t get the article to load, because cookies, but doesnā€™t he needs a cooperative congress for that? Or is the article about how he can get around that?

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Unconstitutional.

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Absolutely. Let us pray the SCOTUS finds it so.

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Recess appointment after Congress has left for Christmas.

Hereā€™s how it would work. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states, ā€œThe President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate.ā€ This has been used for Supreme Court vacancies beforeā€”William Brennan began his Court tenure with a recess appointment in 1956. Any appointments made in this fashion expire at the end of the next Senate session. So a Garland appointment on January 3 would last until December 2017, the end of the first session of the 115th Congress.

Heā€™d get booted in 2018 but at least weā€™d have one year before Cruz or someone equally bad got the job. Obama wonā€™t do it, though.

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Contradictory as that would sound ordinarily sound, right now it makes perfect sense to me.

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I really donā€™t know how they can find it so. It tramples all over the first amendment.

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I did see a suggestion that if he does set one up, everyone should register themselves on it.

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Even non-Muslims, you mean? What was the reasoning behind it? Just to jam the attempt?

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I dont think thatā€™s the smartest idea either, though it sounds noble in theory.

I think a better plan is contesting it as unconstitutional, and trying to make sure it never gets put in place.

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These days, I just donā€™t know what to expect. I mean, any kind of state-run religious register seems obviously unconstitutional, but Bush v. Gore was anything but obvious. Since then the partisan hackery of the conservative justices has only accelerated, and much hinges on the character of the justice Trump appoints as the tie-breaker for hearing the various cases arising from the constitutional crises Trump creates.

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Yeah.

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The problem is ā€œeveryoneā€ wouldnā€™t be everyone, and anyone on the list would still be someone Trump would be pleased to send to the Super-Classy Trump University Reeducation Camps.

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