THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY

[Duchess]

There are VIP cells in the country jail. WTF does that even mean? Solitary?

I'm thinking about Paul Manafort in his VIP cell. *snorts*

[Duchess]

Reuters is reporting that the prez plans to announce that the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council.

[BigMark]

That probably means we are the biggest funder.

[Duchess]

Bitch, please. Do you have any idea what it costs to fly his fat ass up & down the East Coast to play golf? The last thing that POS is concerned about is how taxpayer dollars are spent.

[BigMark]

[Duchess]

[HairOfTheDog]

Reuters is reporting that the prez plans to announce that the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council.

Our UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, made it official today at a State Department meeting. I wish our country wasn't disassociating from yet another global affiliation because some members of the U.S. government aren't getting their way and can't intimidate other member countries from holding their ground.

I think the UN Human Rights Council's recent condemnation of the Trump administration's child separation policy at the border probably contributed significantly to the timing of the withdrawal.

But, the writing has been on the wall for a while; Netanyahu has been pissed about being called out by the UN HRC for years. The U.S. withdrawal is another gift to Bibi.

Haley has commented several times over the last year that the U.S. feels the UN Human Rights Council is biased against Israel; that the UN is too harsh in its condemnation of Netanyahu's expansion into territory reserved for Palestinian settlement under a two-state solution, and too harsh in its condemnation of Israel's disproportionate use of force towards Palestinians. Haley isn't speaking for me with those sentiments, but she's definitely speaking for Trump and company.

Netanyahu has already publicly expressed his agreement and support of the U.S.'s withdrawal.

[BigMark]

No fucking surprise.

https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/AboutUs/...ns2017.pdf

[HairOfTheDog]

No fucking surprise.

https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/AboutUs/...ns2017.pdf

Neither Trump nor Haley has cited finances as a reason for withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, to the best of my knowledge.

In my opinion, it's good that the U.S. historically contributed the most the world's human rights council. However, the U.S. should not expect voluntary financial contributions to buy us the right to dictate the agenda or the stances of the council or the individual member countries.

In any case, as of 2018, the U.S. no longer leads in total donations. We're tied at #15 with Qatar. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/AboutUs/...ns2018.pdf

On a per capita basis, the U.S. hasn't been among the Top 20 donor countries in recent years either.

Anyway, I don't always agree with the council's stances and definitely not the positions of every individual member country, but that's true with any collective. I'd rather the U.S. have donated less than withdrawn altogether.

I think withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council is reflective of our current government's priorities, which do not reflect the priorities of the majority of U.S. citizens.

[BigMark]

I'm tired of working my ass off to pay for lazy workers who backstab us, fuck em.

[HairOfTheDog]

Trump’s former personal attorney/fixer Michael Cohen resigned as deputy finance chair of the RNC yesterday. Kinda hard to believe he was still officially on the committee.

Cohen cited his legal problems as the reason for his resignation.

He also took a shot at Trump, who is no longer contributing to Cohen’s legal defense bills. Cohen’s resignation letter included a condemnation of Trumps Zero-Tolerance border policy which ‘tears families apart and uses children as bargaining chips.’

[Duchess]

He got himself a new attorney too, a former prosecutor who I've heard referred to as a brilliant negotiator which has led some to believe he will begin cooperating with the Feds.

[Duchess]

Holy fuck. Justice Kennedy is retiring. Fuck. Just fuck.

I didn't know where else to put this. Miscellaneous political bullshit?

[HairOfTheDog]

Holy fuck. Justice Kennedy is retiring. Fuck. Just fuck.

I didn't know where else to put this. Miscellaneous political bullshit?

:(

That truly sucks for most American citizens, in my opinion. But, it's not really surprising.

Kennedy is the most moderate (and rational, to me) of the judges. He sometimes votes with the conservative judges and sometimes votes with liberal ones, depending on the case facts and implications.

His retirement definitely lines the U.S. up to become more conservative in laws and policies, many of them based on religious beliefs, for years to come.

[Duchess]

I feel strongly they will overturn Roe v Wade and gay marriage.

[Duchess]

Unless! Jeff Flake & Senator McCain step up. I'm trying to have hope here.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think they'll try to overturn Roe v. Wade. That would help Trump maintain the evangelical base no matter what he does and make Pence do cartwheels.

If they do attempt to outlaw abortion, I hope they fail.

I think it's less likely they'll attempt to overturn gay marriage, but it's certainly possible.

We've got several Supreme Court Justices who are way up in age. Let's hope one of the conservative ones retires or dies before RBG and a Democrat or Independent candidate is in the White House to nominate the next couple of Justices.

[BigMark]

Lets hope someone dies, do you hear yourself?

[HairOfTheDog]

Unless! Jeff Flake & Senator McCain step up. I'm trying to have hope here.

It will take some time to replace Kennedy and to get abortion and gay marriage cases on the docket.

Unfortunately, I don't think McCain will be around by then.

The real goal should be to get a Democrat or Independent elected President in 2020.

[Duchess]

The real goal should be to get a Democrat or Independent elected President in 2020.

That's a real goal for sure. One of the better things to come out of this shitshow is that more people are going to be showing up to vote. They are seeing first hand that elections have consequences and there is an entire generation of young people who will be of voting age soon.

I try to find something positive in every crappy situation, it's how I deal with and get through challenging times in my life.