Trump

[TheGlyphstone]

I did previously express my concerns via PM, but I erred in doing so with an Oracle-level staff member rather than a Deity-level. Hopefully those got passed on appropriately.

That said, count me as another voice who's glad to see Staff taking a second look at this situation and hoping for a positive resolution.

[Oreo]

Staff is listening to you. We wanted to make a more 'official' post here so everyone posting here knows that.

We know tempers are running high. We know people are afraid. We know people are upset. We know people are unhappy. All of those feelings are understandable. Staff doesn't condemn those feelings.

Things are being discussed backstage. Appeals regarding action the site owner takes are rather rare. Not unheard of, though. There's a process the rest of moderation has to go through about this sort of thing. But it takes a while.

If you have questions, concerns, or worries, please direct them to someone with a Goddess tag. Goddesses are the ones who handle appeals regarding Vekseid's actions (like regarding Luzette).We'd generally prefer the PM route rather than this thread because it both lets you speak your mind fully to us and avoids any undue escalation between folks among the general membership.

We generally do not update people on a member's disciplinary status, but we will issue an update in this case.

Vekseid is no longer handling matters pertaining to Luzette. As per our Chain of Command policy, Luzette requested another admin to speak to. It took a bit longer than it should have for us to get to that request, but a non-biased admin took over communicating privately with Luzette regarding matters.

We cannot promise any particular outcome, because we are waiting on communication from Luzette before we can proceed further.

Again, if you have concerns, worries, or commentary, please PM a Goddess. Thank you.

Quoting so this does not get overlooked.


Please, return to sourced dialogue of the topic if you wish to post in this thread.

[HannibalBarca]

Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court has announced he will be retiring.  This gives Trump yet another opportunity to turn the Court further conservative.  Kennedy was a Republican nominee, but he's been the swing vote on many, many important cases that have often gone in the other direction.

[Blythe]

Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court has announced he will be retiring.  This gives Trump yet another opportunity to turn the Court further conservative.  Kennedy was a Republican nominee, but he's been the swing vote on many, many important cases that have often gone in the other direction.

Has there been any speculation on who Trump might appoint as a replacement?

[Blythe]

Double post: Meant to say nominate for the Senate to confirm, but I think people probably get what I was asking. But wanted to clarify that I do get how justices are appointed. It's just late at night for me, so my wording is a bit off-kilter. Gah.

[Cassandra LeMay]

Double post: Meant to say nominate for the Senate to confirm, but I think people probably get what I was asking. But wanted to clarify that I do get how justices are appointed. It's just late at night for me, so my wording is a bit off-kilter. Gah.

There is a list of names the White House released last November. Most of them are sitting judges and I am not really familiar with their jurisprudence. But what I do know is that Trump's list is pretty much drawn up by the Federalist Society and possibly the Heritage Foundation (source).

If you have never heard of the Federalist Society, here's a fun fact to give you an idea: One of their founders, Steven Calabresi, last year suggested a massive increase in the number of sitting judges on federal courts (double or even triple the current number), to give Trump an opportunity to nominate so many more conservative judges that more liberal judges would be completely drowned out for a generation. (In its strongest proposed form you could end up with 80% Republican appointed judges in all major courts.) (source) Now that may be a pretty radical idea even for the Federalist Society, but it should give you an idea what these people are after.

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/27/politics/trump-supreme-court-names/index.html

There is a list that Trump floated

[CuriousEyes]

This is literally my greatest fear of a Trump presidency made manifest. Its going to take 40 years to untangle the mess he's going to cause via stacking the Supreme Court. God help us if something happens to Breyer or Ginsburg.

Maybe we should wait until after the current mid-term elections to let the people choose the Senators voting on Trump's appointee.

Mitch McConnell has already rejected that suggestion, by the way.

[MiraMirror]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/defendants-diapers-immigrant-toddlers-appear-court-alone-n887356

Three-year olds are apparently being made to plead their cases for why they should be allowed to stay in the U.S. alone?  I sincerely hope they're not rushing this along just to spite the order that they have to reunite parents and children.

[TheGlyphstone]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/defendants-diapers-immigrant-toddlers-appear-court-alone-n887356

Three-year olds are apparently being made to plead their cases for why they should be allowed to stay in the U.S. alone?  I sincerely hope they're not rushing this along just to spite the order that they have to reunite parents and children.

John Oliver did a report on this a few mnoths ago, so it's not a recent/directly punitive phenomenon at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fB0GBwJ2QA

Stick around to the end for Tot Bench, it's hilarious.

[Avis habilis]

No, they've been putting pre-teens in immigration hearings without legal counsel for years.

ETA: Ninja'd!

[MiraMirror]

Ah, my mistake then.   It only popped up for me today. I'll watch the video for sure,  though

[Sara Nilsson]

Ah, my mistake then.   It only popped up for me today. I'll watch the video for sure,  though

Yeah immigration courts are a shitshow. When I was there I was probably only one of max three people who had a lawyer from all the people waiting their turn. Was sad to see people try and defend themselves.

[MiraMirror]

Yeah immigration courts are a shitshow. When I was there I was probably only one of max three people who had a lawyer from all the people waiting their turn. Was sad to see people try and defend themselves.

That's pretty messed up, and whoever it was that decided children and toddlers needed to defend themselves needs to be decked. :/

[Amaris]

That's probably because of the money it costs! When I went through immigration for my husband, we got a lawyer. The price for the lawyer and immigration was absolutely crazy! I couldn't imagine it without the lawyer there though, but it did take me working a lot of extra time and still having to try and pay in installments to pay for everything and it still took years due to our money situation.

[Lustful Bride]

Welp….this was depressing to read. But I shouldn't be surprised.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/us/politics/trump-anthony-kennedy-retirement.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[Deamonbane]

In rebuke to Trump, key Senate panel endorses finding that Russia attacked 2016 election

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rebuke-trump-key-senate-panel-endorses-finding-russia-attacked-2016-election-210143332.html

[persephone325]

Heard my dad talking to my mom about how Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" was cancelled because it was pro-Trump and the network it was airing on was anti-Trump. My dad specifically said "Give the guy a chance to do his job" in reference to Trump. >.>

I'm still really tempted to go out there and be like "Dad... He's been in office for - what? - over a year? Wasn't he supposed to start doing his job before now?!"

[Missy]

Heard my dad talking to my mom about how Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" was cancelled because it was pro-Trump and the network it was airing on was anti-Trump. My dad specifically said "Give the guy a chance to do his job" in reference to Trump. >.>

I'm still really tempted to go out there and be like "Dad... He's been in office for - what? - over a year? Wasn't he supposed to start doing his job before now?!"

But isn't all the commie snowflake libs stopping the most powerful an in the world from doing his job?

Man's got be majorly impotent to be that pathetic, I don't think we've ever had a president that stumped to do his job because of the commie snowflake libs, ever.

[Orval Wintermute]

Get ready for this to be the lead story on Last Week Tonight https://news.sky.com/story/trump-angry-baby-blimp-gets-green-light-to-fly-over-london-during-presidents-visit-11426665

[persephone325]

Get ready for this to be the lead story on Last Week Tonight https://news.sky.com/story/trump-angry-baby-blimp-gets-green-light-to-fly-over-london-during-presidents-visit-11426665

That put a smile on my face today. lol

[Lustful Bride]

This just makes me cringe, as I know Trump will find some way to make the US look bad for the world, again.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mexico-president-elect-says-will-invite-trump-to-inauguration/ar-AAzDsoD?ocid=spartandhp

[Iniquitous]

[HairyHeretic]

Apparently, the itinerary of the visit is designed to keep him out of London as much as possible, or anywhere else there are likely to be mass protests.

[MasterMischief]

For someone who is the best at everything, he seems rather easily intimidated by opposing view points.