The Slow Decapitation of America and it could happen in Canada as well

20 posts / 0 new

Wed, 2017-11-15 11:33

NorthReport

The Slow Decapitation of America

The powerful are winning the war against the institutions that protected society.

‘If anyone did want to do a Trump-style hostile takeover of Canada, they’d find plenty of eager helpers.’ Photo by DonkeyHotey, Creative Commons licensed.

It can’t happen here?

Canada has often enjoyed feeling superior to its rich, noisy, exciting neighbours. But we are almost like conjoined twins: we have families in the U.S. as well as trade ties. Many of us define success as making it in the States. If anyone did want to do a Trump-style hostile takeover of Canada, they’d find plenty of eager helpers.

We may certainly hope that Robert Mueller will save his country, and that an American Restoration will follow. In the process he could also stall the subversion of Canada. But even a post-Trump America will have close to a hundred million unrepentant Trumpists to deal with before it can rebuild its ties with the rest of the world.

In the meantime, we’re going to have to strengthen our own institutions — our Parliament, our government agencies, our courts, our media and our schools. If the world’s greatest superpower can be decapitated by its own people in less than two years, our own beheading could be accomplished in months. [Tyee]

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/11/15/America-Slow-Decapitation/

Wed, 2017-11-15 11:49

NorthReport

More Trudeau trickery

Canada Infrastructure Bank poised to allow private-sector domination of public infrastructure projects

http://rabble.ca/news/2017/11/canada-infrastructure-bank-poised-allow-pr...

Wed, 2017-11-15 11:51

NorthReport

Politicians who've claimed we can’t afford quality public services found linked to tax havens

https://www.nupge.ca/content/politicians-whove-claimed-we-can%E2%80%99t-...

Wed, 2017-11-15 11:56

NorthReport

Liberal fundraiser uses tax havens, but how much power over the party does he have?

http://rabble.ca/news/2017/11/liberal-fundraiser-uses-tax-havens-how-muc...

Wed, 2017-11-15 12:07

Sean in Ottawa

Of course this can happen here. The formula includes many of the same elements.

First you bleed the middle and bottom along with the public institutions and services that the middle and bottom depend on. Then you convince the people who you just disadvantaged that these insitutions and services do not work and let them down. Then you offer the alternative -- more radical bleeding of the middle and bottom. You use rhetoric of the middle to do this.

Of course you might have to cycle this a couple times.

The fact that this is not sustainable long term does not matter. You promote policies of planetary suicide so this will not be a factor.

Wed, 2017-11-15 12:09

NorthReport

The GOP’s Plan to Rule the Courts Until 2050

Trump’s judicial nominees—91% of them white and 81% of them male—are strictly conservative, often underqualified and young, meaning they have decades on the bench ahead of them.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gops-plan-to-rule-the-courts-until-2050

Wed, 2017-11-15 12:13

NorthReport

Trump’s Judicial Picks Are Literally Right-Wing Bloggers

The president is remaking the federal judiciary in his own image: angry white men who are mad online.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-judicial-picks-are-literally-right-...

Wed, 2017-11-15 12:38

(Reply to #7) #8

Sean in Ottawa

NorthReport wrote:

Trump’s Judicial Picks Are Literally Right-Wing Bloggers

The president is remaking the federal judiciary in his own image: angry white men who are mad online.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-judicial-picks-are-literally-right-...

And given the power they hold, and the limited grounds for impeachment, they cannot be removed based on their bench decisions. Short of corruption, or criminal activity, it is hard to imagine a successful impeachment.

The alternative isof course term limits but such a policy would suffer a very rough ride. The intention is that they last longer than politicians in order to be a moderating force on government. Term limits allow governments to more easily remake the court in their image.

In fact the lack of term limits is in part precisely to avoid the type of excess Trump is showing. If you introduce term limits the next Trump like President woudl find it even easier to stack the court.

The purpose of these was to preserve the independence of the court. As you can see that purpose has been frustrated.

One solution would be a requirement of a greatercross party consensus of appointments. I think nobody would expect any party to be willing to give up that ability so we cannot expect to see that ever happen.

The only other solution is a moderation in the culture of enough US citizens such that these extreme views cannot get to the court. Ther eis no indication that this can happen, especially as the culture suggests that we are moving further away from moderation. It may take several decades of decline for the people of the US to recognize that they are on the wrong path. This is terrifying since the world does not have the capacity to wait them out.

Wed, 2017-11-15 13:40

NorthReport

Trump goes after basic democratic norms and Sessions tiptoes

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/15/politics/trump-justice-system-sessions/ind...

Wed, 2017-11-15 13:46

#10

NorthReport

Joe Biden: Trump Administration 'Dangerous to the Fabric of Society'

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/joe-biden-trump-administration...

Wed, 2017-11-15 13:51

#11

NorthReport

What's Behind Trump's Vitriol for the Intelligence Community?

This weekend the president declared the leaders of America's spy agencies liars, leakers and political hacks

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/whats-behind-trumps-vitrio...

Wed, 2017-11-15 13:59

#12

NorthReport

House Democrats start impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump

The calls for Mr Trump's impeachment have created some discord throughout the Democratic party

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trum...

Wed, 2017-11-15 14:25

(Reply to #12) #13

Sean in Ottawa

NorthReport wrote:

What's Behind Trump's Vitriol for the Intelligence Community?

This weekend the president declared the leaders of America's spy agencies liars, leakers and political hacks

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/whats-behind-trumps-vitrio...

Is your question rhetorical?

The answer seems clear. Trump is redefining what his followers understand as truth:

What he says and his supporters say = truth

Every other source of information = fake news

He applies this definition to all information without exception.

this is bigger than Trump. He is serving himself with the US ability to believe in fantasy but his promotion of this will not end when he goes. It may sustain him because the more who believe in this the more protected he is from any infomration that does not serve him.

And why not?

He does not want to accept any truth anywhere including the biggest lie which is that we do not have evidence for climate change. The US has allowed itself to follow a leader into a post factual universe. They cannot undo this easily. They elected a man who was widely reported as caring nothing for the truth -- without any interest in fact checking other than to determine if the facts were convenient. This is the standard that was set.

Wed, 2017-11-15 15:13

#14

NorthReport

Trump is making a speech in about 15 minutes so it won't be long before we will soon see what kind of additional nonsense the "king of fake news" is going to subject his citizens to today.