18 votes

Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 19

Automatically posted
Tags: politics.usa, usa, recurring.weekly

This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.

This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.

13 comments

  1. [5]
    hobbes64
    Link
    Letter from Trump to Norway's Prime Minister THE WHITE HOUSE Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars...

    Letter from Trump to Norway's Prime Minister

    THE WHITE HOUSE
    Washington, D.C. 20500

    Dear Jonas:

    Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.

    Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a "right of ownership" anyway? There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.

    I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States.

    The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you!

    President DJT

    https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fvu3d57wd1beg1.jpeg

    15 votes
    1. [4]
      Omnicrola
      Link Parent
      That whole letter reads like a parody of Trump, but it's actually from the goddamn White House, it's surreal. NPR : Trump says he's pursuing Greenland after perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub

      That whole letter reads like a parody of Trump, but it's actually from the goddamn White House, it's surreal.

      NPR : Trump says he's pursuing Greenland after perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub

      13 votes
      1. hobbes64
        Link Parent
        Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw ...

        Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw

        One could observe many things about this document. One is the childish grammar, including the strange capitalizations (“Complete and Total Control”). Another is the loose grasp of history. Donald Trump did not end eight wars. Greenland has been Danish territory for centuries. Its residents are Danish citizens who vote in Danish elections. There are many “written documents” establishing Danish sovereignty in Greenland, including some signed by the United States. In his second term, Trump has done nothing for NATO—an organization that the U.S. created and theoretically leads, and that has only ever been used in defense of American interests. If the European members of NATO have begun spending more on their own defense (budgets to which the U.S. never contributed), that’s because of the threat they feel from Russia.

        Yet what matters isn’t the specific phrases, but the overall message: Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland.

        ...

        The people around Trump could find ways to stop him, as some did in his first term, but they seem too corrupt or too power-hungry to try. That leaves Republicans in Congress as the last barrier. They owe it to the American people, and to the world, to stop Trump from acting out his fantasy in Greenland and doing permanent damage to American interests.

        15 votes
      2. [2]
        AnthonyB
        Link Parent
        I don't usually participate in online trends, but since everyone seems to be into the 2016 retrospective, I figure it might be fun to leave this here as it is bizarrely relevant.

        I don't usually participate in online trends, but since everyone seems to be into the 2016 retrospective, I figure it might be fun to leave this here as it is bizarrely relevant.

        4 votes
  2. chocobean
    Link
    Global News link Danish politician Anders Vistisen did not hold back when he issued a public message to U.S. President Donald Trump this week over his pitch to make Greenland part of the United...

    Global News link

    Danish politician Anders Vistisen did not hold back when he issued a public message to U.S. President Donald Trump this week over his pitch to make Greenland part of the United States.

    “Dear President Trump, listen very carefully,” Vistisen said on Tuesday in European Parliament. “Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for 800 years. It’s an integrated part of our country. It is not for sale.”

    Vistisen went on to use some profanity that got him in trouble with the rest of the European Parliament.

    “Let me put it in words you might understand,” he said. “Mr. Trump, f–k off!”

    13 votes
  3. [3]
    DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    ICE detains 5-year old Minnesota boy; school leader says agents used him as ‘bait’ Absolutely disgusting.

    ICE detains 5-year old Minnesota boy; school leader says agents used him as ‘bait’

    Absolutely disgusting.

    11 votes
    1. [2]
      Raspcoffee
      Link Parent
      The descriptions of what ICE does gets worse and worse by the day and reminds me more and more of what happened in my own country during Nazi occupation. Like, by this point it feels inappropriate...

      The descriptions of what ICE does gets worse and worse by the day and reminds me more and more of what happened in my own country during Nazi occupation. Like, by this point it feels inappropriate to NOT use that analogy.

      We have a lot of small monuments engraved in streets here. Sometimes you won't even notice them - stones before the houses, with the names of the family inside that were abducted, put in a concentration camp, and later on, murdered. It's difficult to not think about them right now... :\ Stay as safe as you can, please. God fucking damnit.

      14 votes
      1. DefinitelyNotAFae
        Link Parent
        I'm not at risk at the moment, the work I am trying to do is less protest on the street. But as they shift further into "do whatever the fuck they want" territory it's just not a guarantee.

        I'm not at risk at the moment, the work I am trying to do is less protest on the street. But as they shift further into "do whatever the fuck they want" territory it's just not a guarantee.

        7 votes
  5. [2]
    nic
    Link
    Yes, It’s Fascism Archive.is I love this article, even though I completely disagree with the premise and utterly hate conclusion. I don't think it's fascism yet, but it's quickly heading towards...

    Yes, It’s Fascism

    Archive.is

    I love this article, even though I completely disagree with the premise and utterly hate conclusion.

    I don't think it's fascism yet, but it's quickly heading towards fascism, and simply saying "no, America will be fine" is no longer enough.

    8 votes
    1. FrankGrimes
      Link Parent
      I don't think the conclusion is fully wrong, yet. I can go out and protest right now, as thousands currently are. The news is actively reporting facts that go against the administration. We still...

      I don't think the conclusion is fully wrong, yet. I can go out and protest right now, as thousands currently are. The news is actively reporting facts that go against the administration. We still have fair elections lined up for later this year. It's still a democracy - it is slipping though.

      So, I guess I'd say I agree with the articles conclusion that the country has clearly not fallen to fascism, but I disagree with their confidence that it won't. I sure hope they're right though.

      4 votes
  6. cutmetal
    Link
    https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-weapon-maduro-drug-strikes-c052fd24a350a04a458f501b4b536e62 Sounds like the Maduro kidnapping was a disaster in yet another way - now the US has revealed...

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-weapon-maduro-drug-strikes-c052fd24a350a04a458f501b4b536e62

    Sounds like the Maduro kidnapping was a disaster in yet another way - now the US has revealed the existence of these secret weapons systems and shown their use in combat. Hopefully the legit adversaries don't get the full picture of what these can do and how to counter them due to their use in Caracas.

    Also if anyone comes across good links going into detail or speculation about these weapons systems please post them :)

    4 votes