Pleasantly surprised he is mentioned in that way.
I stood near him on "conventions" a few times with some years in between and he is such a nasty person both while making phone calls and in the way he treats others/his staff.
Comes over as someone who can't find any joy in the small things in his life and p*sses on everyone else because of it.
Trump demanded the debate, Biden should have demanded thorough fact checks with graphs and balances.
I personally would not have stepped in any debate setting with a certified liar and scammer without any sort of fact checking, it's just foolishness.
You bring up a point there that I have not seen many people consider: Where is Kamala Harris in all this? And from the outside it is as simple as that.
A friend in Europe said: Biden is everywhere but we never see or hear from the VP. In this time of big elections I find that odd.
They'll unseal them but all envelopes contain only an "I Owe You" from Trump, and under his signature he wrote in small font "I declassified them after I took them home"
Cancelation fees (and steep ones at that) on digital goods/"services" ... shows how far things sunk towards the lower hells.
I watch YouTube content on my tv, and get ads, next to using it on my PC where I block them. Generally I did not mind the ads, since it is part of the business model.
But frankly the experience on the tv is degrading quickly in the last 12 months:
From 2 skippable ads at the start (and end) of a video, I now get 2 longer unskippable ones, but regularly it doubles to 4 and a 5th that is either short or skippable. And if it's still 2 at the start then usually 1-2 mins in I see 2 more long ads ... If I have the gall to rewind or forward the video I get 2 more long ads, usually followed by 2 short ones a minute or two later... Some of that is probably ad-space tagged by the creators, but clearly YT overrules that and places its own ad markers.
Slowly I feel it's leaning towards punishment to watch content on YT, at least on the tv.
On top of that there is the annoying interface that blocks a full 30% of the screen, often blocking the one thing I wanted to look at. Then the ads that always break subtitles of the video, or somehow enforcing subtitles in a language that I can not read.
And don't get me started on the topic-bubble the algorithm captures the user in.
YT should have left it as it was a few years ago, but it is forcing more and more ads, making things unfriendlier for both the viewer and creator, all to squeeze the viewers for more and more revenue.
It's a shame it's all so detrimental to the wealth of knowledge on there.
So if a good and proper alternative is able to stand on its feet I will gladly follow the creators and watch the new stuff on there.
There was a time once where people with such delusions would be taken to a mental institution, especially when they are a threat to public safety.
....
The thing is, Disney is every time the one that starts the flames, years in advance, probably as a vector for what they know will be a disastrous product...
Taking the Acolyte as an example: They had the Cast make derogatory remarks about the fans and Star Wars in general ("Star Wars does not have strong women" conveniently forgot about Leia?) full years before any part of the Acolyte was finished. ... why??
They even had cast members who clearly did not know anything about Star Wars ("Anakin blew up the Death Star") proclaim their "wisdom" as stated fact. ("Star Wars has no good and evil")
Why are fans not allowed to be angry?
Fans don't care about diverse lesbian witch covens, they shrug it off, SW is filled with all kinds of aliens, it's Disney that keeps pointing it out, look! Look! Look upon our glorious lesbian witches, they are what Star Wars is now!
What we do care about is atrocious writing, writing so bad it looks like an 11 year old's fanfic, writing stuff that does not fit in the SW universe... but we need to swallow the stinking mess and smile because it is written by a lgbtq person who claims to know better than George Lucas...
$180M worth of wasted potential that may not be criticized or you'll be declared a toxic fan.
"The force is female", strange, no one declared it to be male, it never had a gender, why suddenly this gendered labeling? Quite weird that protesting against such sexist remarks is considered toxic....
Another small example, one of the high republic books from a few years ago had, in all seriousness, a chunk of inanimate rock as a "jedi navigator/pilot". And fans are not allowed to be angry about that?
Concluding, it's not the fans who are toxic, the toxicity originated each time from within Disney's Lucasfilm.
It's not a question of being allowed, he's broken so many laws in the past alone and got away with it heck is still doing those same things. Already he is denying legality of any law or prosecution that is currently blocking him and steps past...
It's a matter of who will dare to stop him once he is at that point: He has judges in his pocket. Part of the armed forces apparently are pro maga. Who or which branch will actually physically stop him once he declares his reign to continue? Ofcourse it will be under a lame excuse that it's good for the country, it is in unrest or at war right now so elections are bad hmmkay? So generally it'll be swallowed and shrugged off.
Any PERSON trying, or even complaining, risks being shot by henchmen or at the very least gets their and their family's lives destroyed.
Here and there there might be committees making a declaration what he's doing is illegal, but if Trump's team ignores it all or makes them go away, there is no oversight to stop him because no one single individual dares to stand in front.
As long as he has part of the judiciary system and a good chunk of armed folks to his defense one can sue and complain and he might show up in court to make a circus out of it but meanwhile will sit it all out on his throne.
Years ago I happily used some Razer mice and keyboards, even a headset, so in the not too far past I told people around me that Razer was fairly good, quality wise, but alas, I think each and every one I recommended Razer products to had them break and or die well within warranty, and they always had to start a stupid discussion to get the warranty/RMA accepted, a few times even replacements denied outright by Razer.
For me this stands in sharp contrast with Logitech whom has never denied me a warranty, even for products a few weeks beyond the date, and they generally just send out a new item. That is, for me it is rare for a Logitech product to actually require replacement to begin with, I have a few mice, keyboards and headsets far older than 5 years and they work fine plus are still supported in the drivers.
Speaking of drivers, Razer at one point also made the decision to have their drivers require an account login to function properly (multi-button mice would only have 2 functional buttons if not logged in etc). But after some flak from its users it slightly changed that to the login being optional, but profiles would still be hampered without a continuous online presence.
Coming back to Asus, for a few years now I hear of people having quality issues and grumpy asus service desks, but for me their videocards ways ran fine (even without coil whine, unlike some MSI cards). I am quite hesitant to buy an Asus monitor or motherboard though.
Well before this hearing I had the impression this SC is looking for ways to stack delay on delay without taking too much flak themselves. It showed in the weird narrow beam wording of their restrictions when they took on this case. It showed in the extra weeks they took to plan this hearing. And it is now showing in the questions they ask ...
I will not be surprised if they proclaim "a president has no total immunity, and only immunity in presidential matters, but the lower courts need to figure out if Trump's actions were (for) personal (gain) or presidential."
And with that the ball is dropped and it rolled in a sewage drain where it's hard to reach before the elections are in the rear view mirror.
It even includes another time loop for when it eventually does resurface back on the SC's lap for them to decide if his actions were presidential.
But by that time there will be a "Year one Dictator", proclaiming himself to be America's first great dictator, while ordering his rivals to be imprisoned, indicted and or shot.
And the people will loudly wonder, "Who is there to stop him? Where are the checks and balances?" But loudly will turn into a whimper then a whisper until it is a small voice in an empty room.
Trump's internal dialogue still has a market mentality:
I do everything for my ma...friend Putin, so he'll do for me what I ask in return.
Why he thinks his possible re-election is needed in the equation is unclear to me, I mean he can ask for the fellow's release right now?
Or is there perhaps some enticing cookie he can offer friend Putin in secret once Trump is president? Hmm? Without access to the White House he can't deliver? Hmmm.
Yes, please, pretty please, with a cherry on top, lift my gag order so I can lay out "wishes" that should happen to the mean unfair people that got me convicted.
But then when something happens I get to loudly say "I don't believe my people did this!"
If this is true it will be devastating for Qualcomm ... they hyped the new chips big time, and some huge manufacturers happily announced products with the new chip. So if this falls flat, a few influential players will not be happy at all...
Not to mention the rest of the tech media... they will happily sell the pitchforks and torches.
I'll give you all a preview of bad because it needs to be said:
He will start shooting at protestors as soon as he feels heated threats to his position.
The army will be called in against the insurrectionists (ironic, no?) because he'll ignore any law against doing that.
He is already claiming total immunity to do and order as he pleases, it's deeply woven in "his" current plan. "Crack open the laws, we'll fix what needs fixing when the dust of our enemies falls to the ground".
He'll implement a committee of oversight consisting of family members and trustees, they'll be holding the strings of the various branches, military, security, intelligence etc. and only report back to Trump.
If the boss orders that it's good: all the yes-men will do it, no one will even dare pull on an emergency brake... Sueing the white house then for breaking the law, I don't think any such a case will even be heard in 6 years or longer, by that time he (and his family/friends) will the supreme leader and far beyond any lawbook to grasp on.
And when it all happened one can lament in the streets "oh mah constitution, it's all broken" but the newly installed government/overlords will laugh it off and wave with a "national security good for the country" blanket and be done with it.
People forgot the lesson of how Hitler actually came into power ... Killing his political rivals (or having them killed by henchmen installed in the country) This did not take years, it was a done deal in mere months. After which no one dared to oppose him.
All laws broken were ignored or dismissed under either "none of us did this" or "this was a limitation to the country"
So, don't laugh off his threat of "Day 1 dictator" ... Take it very very serious ... He's even vague enough with it to mean "ONLY 1 day" or "STARTING day 1"
One last thought, if you meet a crazed guy on the streets, and he tells you with a vicious smile "I am going to stab you, stab you so bad, and no one will blame me" how do you respond? Why is the response to Trump's threats any different?
The thing is, the common thought Trump will abide by bureaucratic processes is utterly wrong. He and his cronies even made abundantly clear they will replace any opposition starting day one, and declared they have 50.000 people chosen and lined up to fill the newly empty government positions. They have no intention wait out approvals or discussions about new laws or rules.
He'll sign an executive order making instant sacking of any bureaucrat possible, those that try to block or slow him down will be forcibly removed.
As I keep bringing up, Hitler did not come into full power over years, no it took mere months and a healthy week of literally murdering all of his then political opposition to do it. Then all that came from Hitler was a denial along "I do not believe my people did this" and the whole country's government and judicial system was too afraid to not crown him Supreme leader.
The Trump camp is following the exact same roadmap... including Trump declaring his current "Jan 6th hostages" to be innocent of all crimes.
So please do not underestimate his threats or think he'll need far more than 4 years to accomplish this, as soon as he able to claim the election in his favor (because hey, the republicans are going to refuse to certify any other outcomes, unlike previously in 2020) he will be beyond existing laws and judges. And apparently it will be all legal because it is the certification that matters, not the amount of votes.
And the very minute he gets an actual armed force to occupy the congress or white house, "as a defensive measure", well good luck getting him out and undoing whatever laws/decrees he started writing.
If you had a proper healthcare system you wouldn't get crazy bills at all...
But people exploiting it start screaming "socianism!" and everyone starts booing and suddenly forgets it's plain how a nationwide insurance works.
The thing is though it is not only now that the US was perceived as weak, it started during Trump's time in power. The way Trump plainly kissed Putins feet in deep adoration, and utterly discredited his own forces any way he could, set the tone for the 12 years to follow... Trump being the loser he is only knows to blame others and the way he puts Biden in the spotlight as inept is not doing the US' reputation any good.
Back then the international "politicians" could see that not only Trump's 4 years were weak, but Bidens term and the next 4 years after that will be of the same mess with either the republicans destroying Democracy or throwing tantrums and blocking all legislation, regardless who wins the US finds itself in a gridlock of indecisiveness and infighting. (And it's quite clear it's all orchestrated by Putin himself ... time and time again there's evidence of strong Russian influence in the US politics and the republicans brush it aside and block investigations with a sheepish smile)
That makes it 12(!!) full years of the US rapidly losing status and power on the world stage.
All in all, Putin knew the US was so predictably incompetent that he could calculate to have 6 years at minimum to wreack as much havoc in Ukraine as he wishes... and we're only in year 2 of his meat grinder.
Why am I only mildly surprised?
The thing people forget, half of NY's "real estate moguls" probably commit the same fraud, perhaps to a lesser extent and Broke Don was just caught with his pants down. But those business folk are of course whispering everywhere that this ruling could bankrupt NYs real estate market...
I do find it rather strange how it is worded "an appeals court has decided" ... so is this ANOTHER appeals court that is meddling with the court case of the original court and the upcoming appeals court? Or are/will these be the same folks who will decide on the coming appeal case? If the latter I will start assuming they'll throw the judgement out on a technicality ("the business in question is now located in Florida so there is no jurisdiction in NY" Or something lame like that)
Also it is unclear to me what their decision is based on, if the law states that on appeal a bond for the full amount needs to be met, how can they lower it just like that? Especially since Broke Don claims to swim in Billions of dollars... I can see the REASONING of wanting to lower it but I would think the law does not give leeway on it.
I could only think of just allowing a seizure of the assets but blocking them from sale while the appeal goes up, that seems a lot fairer than what they did here.
Frankly I am stunned how more and more explicit the justice system is openly breaking the US laws just to keep Broke Don in the saddle... is there anyone who can really stop them doing that?
Meanwhile I will not be surprised if the appeal for this case, and others will just get delay stacked on delay until well beyond the elections, probably stuffing it all in 2025. This under the feared and silent assumption the dictator from day 1 will have his Golden Throne from which he will excrete his decrees of revenge under his claimed full authority, impunity and immunity.
Hmm what am I missing here...
Spotify is raising prices because it wants to sell product "B" next to "A" that it already had. But now the management of Product A is claiming that the extra money from raised prices belongs to them because spotify was selling A first?
That is quite ballsy ... granted I expected nothing less from the greedy music industry, but this is quite on a new level.
But what if Trump's henchmen refuse to certify the election results where he lost, and refuse to swear in the new guy? Does the new guy get sworn in by a splinter group thereby locking the country with 2 non functional presidents? (Giving Trump even more opportunity to spout more lies that the election was a fraud and the opposing president is trying to take over the country, declaring martial law "for the sake of the country")
Ofcourse Trump is not going to leave, it will always be a severe downgrade for him if he leaves, he'll lose so much status, power and opportunity to do what he wants, and gains a chance he loses his freedom/money if he did not get to give himself a get out of jail free card somehow...
He'll die in the saddle, or make sure someone within his family will take the throne so Trump can stay shielded 'till he dies.
...Take his barely veiled threats seriously...
It was a fluke indeed, no one really expected him to win, he himself the least, he was mostly there for the attention.
But once he was sworn in and the dust settled, the country was stuck with him and would need to ride it out. Problem is, Trump liked playing with the big boys, feeling important and enjoyed being gawked at on his golf course... Not to forget he could use the cash flow, billing the government millions, putting his friends and family in places they had no right to be, it was all useful, and he made himself useful for those keeping him in his seat.
But near 2020 Trump realized he needed to stay there or his world would come crumbling down from debt and his illegitimate activities hidden by his white house shine. So he would go and try to keep the position. Alas that decision did not come with enough time beforehand to cement his position. So they had no preparations on hand when the time was there and his force of headbobbers plainly was too small to push him past the election results.
But that was a lesson learned, and he and those helping him come with the 2025 plan, try to get as many pro-trumpers in useful positions before the election, years in advance, so that they can help push him back in the white house, no matter what the actual vote says...
And here we are; The judiciary system is heavily tilted towards stalling all Trump court cases beyond the elections. The electorate is slithering its way through covert adjustments of voter rules and registration zones. And the legislative shows all signs on this time really refusing to certify losing results.
Meanwhile Trump has a more focused mob now that he can rile up and has more solid plans/experience on what kind of action or roadblock is needed where.
I really do hope cooler heads will prevail. But the months before and after the switch to 2025 will be quite the ride. And possibly bring enormous changes for the whole world.
Ah but he has no legal problems, once his voters did their part and got him "in" again, Trump will wave his dinosaur arms and magically make these legal ...annoyances... go away.
That's what they hope his voters will eventually believe.
"This is a very unusual situation. The stock's value is pretty much divorced from truth"
Had to fix the sentence to what he likely meant to say.
There is also Finland, which has around 34 guns per 100 inhabitants, amongst the highest of the western world. It has a cun culture of defense (against its untrustworthy Russian neighbor), hunting and sports. But there is strict registration and regulation. Though they can buy just about any type of gun, there is no open carry "for funsies". Carrying/transporting the guns requires an immediate purpose and must be held, unloaded, in a case or pouch. (I am not Finnish so correct me if I am wrong)
I have a bit of a feeling it's in the US a thing of "He has a gun, so I want a gun" that reinforces itself, and after a while gets people careless since it's a fairly common thing.
In the UK there was a study where forbidding handheld guns, mainly pistols, did see a sharp decline in gun related crime but they did not banish it completely.
I don't know the numbers but in the US it seems pistols make it easier to act upon one's mental state ... have a tiff with your neighbor? Go to his door with a gun on your belt. A car just cut you off? Explode in rage, pull up next to him/her on a traffic light and swing your pistol around, try doing that with a non automatic hunting rifle.
I'd say the thought is that if Hungary falls out of the EU it will eventually become a vassal state to Putin. This would create a horrid mess greater than keeping it in the EU and trying to coax the Hungarian government more towards European values.
Well one small step would be to stop selling or dealing with subcontractors, will not fix it but does add an extra hurdle to things.
Technical issues? Go on-site to where the machine is supposed to be ... have your own technicians look at the machines on site and report back.
But I guess those costs put pressure on the profits of the company.
These days public-/cargo transportation is far more available and more efficient than it was in 1940 ...
Besides that, Trump has a huge, well armed, following ("militia") that will start frothing at the mouth if they see a "designated deportee" walking in their area.... (For a fun comparison I say go watch the Alabama Top Gear episode from series 9 on YouTube)
And that same following feels it has a Carte Blanche to do whatever as long as they think it supports the orange overlord.
A giant, modernized nose sniffing a truck?
Trump is then Hitler's farce ... Stalin was of a whole different caliber, I am not sure who would be his farce, I'd almost say Putin but he's definitely not a farce as per the term.
But all in all, I keep saying Trump's every declaration should be taken very seriously. He will not shun frothing up his followers into a violent frenzy. He also is very set on destroying the constitution and law book...
It's so weird ...they want a gun "for self defense" but it firing once per second is not enough. So the goal shifts to something that fires 3x per second ... "now that is stopping power". But it does not stop firmly enough, need to find a way to fire that same small gun 9x or 27x per second, now that is self defense!
If someone invents a two handed minigun that goes 100rps and is not unweildy I bet some of the gun nuts will want it legalized to use as domestic weapon for self defense. Because hey, hitting someone with 100 bullets might stop them, right?
He's already King of Trump Tower, and ofcourse "the bestest American", so by rights he IS king of America and will lead "his" people accordingly. "King Trumps President in power" and all that, so he now just needs to cement his family line in the role.
I'd find it immensely funny if he now already declared one of his family members as a running mate for VP position 😅
Already can hear the lame excuse: "it is needed now because they are the only ones to be trusted to do their job, for the better of the country" (Ofcourse it's convenient in the case ol' Donald is incapacitated for some reason, the one next in line cements the legacy for the century to come...)
I'll add to that, they also got free "education" to learn skills needed for their "job" and how to adress their "superiors".
I read this as he can see the violence coming and feels it's wiser to step off the stage.
I will not be suprised if they rule him immune in that very specific case, under his excuse that he was "defending democracy with the information he had at that time".
It blocks full immunity for everything and gives Trump a free pass, the SC will retain power, and the US saves a little bit of face, on paper, in legitimizing the jan 6 troubles.
Yes this sounds like a very convoluted way to go about things, but I am not sure if it was the actual verdict that is so badly constructed that it demands this or that Google gives itself and everyone else a lot of unnecessary pain.
Samsung also does auto updates etc and co-exists with the play store on samsung phones (granted, it lives within their android skin), even updates some Google play store (installed) apps, so I am not sure what or where the issue is/lies.
But now Google wants app stores within app stores within app stores as a solution?
"To prevent future misuse of these client-lawyer documents I order them all destroyed forthwith"
Well I think the judge usually considers the defendant's job. And that is where he'll not get house arrest or community service... his lawyers will correctly argue that Trump is campaigning for his job as president, so is expected to be in different states almost daily and or travelling a lot for at least 6 more months. Thus it would be an unfair sentencing if it limited him to earn a buck.
Same will be argued for prison time but ofcourse that is a whole different ballgame and a judge could finalize that sentence but put it on a delay for like 2025.
Now consider that Trump is already speaking in interviews as if he has the guaranteed immunity in his pocket...
He already promised he'll take nasty revenge on his rivals, have people removed who are thwarting him now. Promises drilling drilling drilling (I assume for oil) from day one, regardless if there's a law or rules against that which would normally need to be overturned first...
Somehow he is riding on the done deal he can do whatever he wants the moment he is "elected" and there will be no one to stop him.
Trump could now argue he, as sitting president, was threatened in his functioning by the new president elect, and it was an official act to block the transfer of power as long as the sitting president has concerns about the validity of the votes. (Ofcourse he always has those concerns)
And now with the coming elections he will claim the same and as a bonus he officially and in the open has the republicans refuse to certify a losing vote because that also threatens his position and impedes his functioning.
If the lower courts now claim his acts were not official he will just appeal that back to the Supreme Court, thereby still delaying any closure of the case well after the elections.