Topic: Current Events

[6pairsofshoes]

The Democrats are planning to file articles of Impeachment on Monday.  Pence won't invoke the 25th amendment because he's a toady.  Trump has announced that he, being the ultimate sore loser, won't attend the Inauguration.  Maybe he's afraid that his nutjob followers might resort to violence and he might get hurt in the process?  The sooner he is gone from the public eye, the better for the world in general.

It's been profoundly embarrassing to have this man at the helm for the past four years.  He has surpassed the poor behavior of any president I've seen in my lifetime, and that includes Richard Nixon.  It still disturbs me that there's a whole industry devoted to explaining and excusing away his and his cohorts behaviors.  I guess that no Trump supporters were involved in the violence at the US Capitol.  It was Antifa left wing zealots in Trump clothing.  Kind of like they tore a page from the Big Bad Wolf playbook.  Right.

[smokester]

The Democrats are planning to file articles of Impeachment on Monday.  Pence won't invoke the 25th amendment because he's a toady.  Trump has announced that he, being the ultimate sore loser, won't attend the Inauguration.  Maybe he's afraid that his nutjob followers might resort to violence and he might get hurt in the process?  The sooner he is gone from the public eye, the better for the world in general.

It's been profoundly embarrassing to have this man at the helm for the past four years.  He has surpassed the poor behavior of any president I've seen in my lifetime, and that includes Richard Nixon.  It still disturbs me that there's a whole industry devoted to explaining and excusing away his and his cohorts behaviors.  I guess that no Trump supporters were involved in the violence at the US Capitol.  It was Antifa left wing zealots in Trump clothing.  Kind of like they tore a page from the Big Bad Wolf playbook.  Right.

I think he's being accused of betrayal by his mob. Which is true, of course. Mind you, now he's back on Twitter he'll probably retract his earlier statement and pardon everyone.

[dweez]

I haven't spoke up as I don't typically share my political views as such topics tend to cause emotions to get heated and I know most such discussions are exercises in futility.

In this case, I've kept silent (and will likely go back to radio-silent after this post) as I am just shocked at how much we in the United States have let Trump get away with. I think I've been in a state of shock since he won the Republican Primary back in 2016. Everything since, I've been the little kid coming back from the dentist high on novocaine..."Is this real life?". It just shocks and saddens me how anyone can still back this pompous, egotistical, narcissistic, misogynistic sociopath.

Ok, I've spoke my peace. I'm going back to my bunker now.

[smokester]

I haven't spoke up as I don't typically share my political views as such topics tend to cause emotions to get heated and I know most such discussions are exercises in futility.

In this case, I've kept silent (and will likely go back to radio-silent after this post) as I am just shocked at how much we in the United States have let Trump get away with. I think I've been in a state of shock since he won the Republican Primary back in 2016. Everything since, I've been the little kid coming back from the dentist high on novocaine..."Is this real life?". It just shocks and saddens me how anyone can still back this pompous, egotistical, narcissistic, misogynistic sociopath.

Ok, I've spoke my peace. I'm going back to my bunker now.

This is pretty much the world view of it but then we've had Syriza win in Greece, the arab spring, Brexit, the emergence of Greta and so on. Until now I just thought it was just the world doing the unexpected for a while and it would all settle down.

Now I'm convinced that it has gone a little mad.

[8ullfrog]

I've read the resignations have less to do with morals and more to prevent the 25th invocation.

Devos is out.

From what I understand, the impeachment proceedings are less to do with yanking him out at the end of the fourth quarter, and more to prevent him from running for a second term... ever.

Someone wrote a great breakdown on who COULD call for the 25th, and why there are about four maybes and the rest are "absolutely never". Unfortunately that thread scrolled so fast, I can't find it now.

I do know Carson was on the absolutely never list because he's bless'ed insane.

[6pairsofshoes]

Pence won't invoke the 25th amendment.  He's a loyal little soldier in the army of infamy.  The articles of impeachment will be filed on Monday, I believe.  People are sick to death of Trump's poo, excepting, of course, those who have their lips glued permanently to his ass.

[goldshirt*9]

On a lighter note,
Finally finished my steps.
Will look at buying a chop / mitre saw as my jigsaw struggles to cut the beams. (no idea what is the difference)
Plus my wife wants one around the house.

[goldshirt*9]

  should have known, knowing my luck the 1000 would be missing

[6pairsofshoes]

On a lighter note,
Finally finished my steps.
Will look at buying a chop / mitre saw as my jigsaw struggles to cut the beams. (no idea what is the difference)
Plus my wife wants one around the house.

Mitre saws are not necessarily powered, but are designed to cut at specific angles. (Often chop saw and mitre saw are used interchangeably, but my nerd husband insists that I explain the difference, since there are hand tools known as mitre saws.)
 Chop saws are power saws that are mounted on a hinge with blades that rotate away from you. But you can set them to cut angles (regular or compound) or regular cross cuts.  They have limited applications, but they have the benefit of not taking up tons of space.  It's important to use them safely.  He adds, "a 12 inch blade will give you 4 inches of cutting depth."  So if  you don't plan to saw anything thicker, it will be fine.

My husband's shop has a table saw that is a "hot dog saw" = it's one that was developed using airbag technology.  It has an electric sensor that can detect human flesh and will shoot a metal stop into the blade causing it to stop spinning instantly.  If your budget and space allows, I'd recommend one of those, especially if you think you might use it regularly.  The brand is SawStop.

[smokester]

On a lighter note,
Finally finished my steps.
Will look at buying a chop / mitre saw as my jigsaw struggles to cut the beams. (no idea what is the difference)
Plus my wife wants one around the house.

You're looking for a compound mitre saw (powered) and you'd be better spending a few bob more and getting one on sliding rails as you can cut bigger timber with those (like 8" planks or more which is good when doing shelving). As you're a probably more than a DIYer, the Erbauer from Screwfix are decent and cut pretty accurate. The cheaper ones than that are a nightmare as they can be 1 degree out on a mitre which is 2 degrees overall. If you don't mind filler then they'll still work.

Not showing off (well, a little) but I just bought a Makita LF1000.

[goldshirt*9]

You're looking for a compound mitre saw (powered) and you'd be better spending a few bob more and getting one on sliding rails as you can cut bigger timber with those (like 8" planks or more which is good when doing shelving). As you're a probably more than a DIYer, the Erbauer from Screwfix are decent and cut pretty accurate. The cheaper ones than that are a nightmare as they can be 1 degree out on a mitre which is 2 degrees overall. If you don't mind filler then they'll still work.

Not showing off (well, a little) but I just bought a Makita LF1000.

cheers was hoping you would advise, there are 3 that have sliding rails.
EMIS254S - £179.99
EMIS216S - £129.99
EMIS305S - £219.99
Wont be used all the time and atm I am cutting floor joists at 75mm for garden use.
I'm thinking the £179.99 EMIS254S would fit the bill, The wife may want the more expensive one as she is the DIY er in the house, I just do the out side.
The old thumb joints with arthritis feel the pain nowadays

Makita LF1000 a tad too expensive for me just to sit on a shelf until needed

[smokester]

cheers was hoping you would advise, there are 3 that have sliding rails.
EMIS254S - £179.99
EMIS216S - £129.99
EMIS305S - £219.99
Wont be used all the time and atm I am cutting floor joists at 75mm for garden use.
I'm thinking the £179.99 EMIS254S would fit the bill, The wife may want the more expensive one as she is the DIY er in the house, I just do the out side.
The old thumb joints with arthritis feel the pain nowadays

Makita LF1000 a tad too expensive for me just to sit on a shelf until needed

The EMIS254S is all you'd ever need with a 12" crosscut. One thing to note: always oil the rails and other parts when not using it as they tend to develop rust spots that can make the saw dangerous to use if it isn't bolted down (who does that anyway?). If they do develop and stop the saw to sliding down the rails, wire wool and WD40 (Lithium) will sort it - but I guess people where you work would probably have some fandangled product that would work even better.

[goldshirt*9]

The EMIS254S is all you'd ever need with a 12" crosscut. One thing to note: always oil the rails and other parts when not using it as they tend to develop rust spots that can make the saw dangerous to use if it isn't bolted down (who does that anyway?). If they do develop and stop the saw to sliding down the rails, wire wool and WD40 (Lithium) will sort it - but I guess people where you work would probably have some fandangled product that would work even better.

cheers.
You would be shocked what we use and I am not talking modern fandangled either

[smokester]

So I was listening to some of the violent threats made against Democrats that want to impeach and Republicans that either sympathise with, or support such an action. I can't get away from the fact that these threats would have the Flying Squad come and arrest you if it were here, and I would have always expected that the C.I.A would have done the same in America - but it appears not?

Something has fundamentally changed there where free speech now includes the preaching of hate. It's very confusing as now how does one deal with the likes of Abu Hamza?

[6pairsofshoes]

I think that people often misread the First Amendment.
Here: 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Twitter is a private company.  The First Amendment protections do not apply to its customers.  It directs the US Government to avoid restricting certain rights of its citizens (but even those rights have limits).  If you posted that you liked the color pink and Twitter took objection, they, assuming that they'd posted the fact that this was in their discretion, could delete your account.  Advocating murdering the Speaker of the House of Representatives is another matter entirely.  There's a line that can be crossed that constitutes illegal utterances:  inciting riot, advocating violence, suggesting that someone go murder a doctor and publishing their home address, those sorts of things are not protected under the First Amendment.  It's one thing to say you hate Nancy Pelosi, but quite another thing to encourage others to murder her.

Our biggest problem in the US is not freedom of speech being limited, it's domestic terrorism and a flowering of extreme right wing militias.  These are generally self-described disenfranchised whites (mostly male) who are devoted to stifling free speech and free exercise of your right to be a Jew, a Muslim, a member of a non-white race, a member of the LGBTQ community, or a political liberal.  They are misogynistic and opposed to equal rights among those who are not "free white men."  Normally, they'd just go online and grumble, get ugly tattoos and hang out in bars, drive motorcycles (usually Harley Davidsons as you wouldn't want to ride some kitty Euro bike like a BMW), and post ugly memes of powerful women like Hilary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi. 

But in recent years, they've gotten a bit more lawless, attempting to kidnap the Governor of Michigan (with murderous intent), illegally appropriating or occupying Federal lands, and in recent days, placing pipe bombs in the offices of the Republican and Democratic National Committees in Washington, DC.  The actions on Wednesday resulted in the deaths of two police officers and 4 civilians (the latter were involved in the insurrection).  They also refuse to wear masks (as COVID is a "Democratic hoax"), and do not recognize the government's right to establish sensible gun control laws.

Radical Islam is less of a threat than these jokers any day of the week.  It's terrifying to see the number of right wing zealots photographed in Wednesday's insurrection who are wearing pro Nazi teeshirts.  "6MWE" (six million wasn't enough--i.e. "kill more Jews"), "Camp Auschwitz", etc.)  It staggers the imagination.  These are people who have no idea how the government works, who know nothing about the Second World War, and know only what they hear on Fox News or what they read on the OANN.com (one America news network) network. 

Out of curiosity, I set up a Parler account this past week, to see what this right wing twitter clone was about.  I read tons of posts about planning for Wednesday's rally in D.C.  There were gleeful bits of advice filled with all the enthusiasm of children planning a Christmas party.  The party featured lots of tips about how to infiltrate illegal firearms into the District of Columbia (that has some of the country's tightest gun restrictions), and the like.  It's not hard to imagine that the chaos that ensued was planned and put together on a national basis with a clear intent to cause harm.

I can't wait for this to be thoroughly investigated.  In my humble opinion, Trump should be in jail.  He has blood on his hands.  Lying to millions of people has consequences. 

I used to think that Nazi Germany was something that happened to those quaint weird Germans and in Central Europe a long time ago.  As a visitor in the 1980's, I saw the traces of shrapnel across facades in cities in Hungary and the two Germanies.  The odd racial and nationalistic policies of the Third Reich seemed like the extremist symptoms of governments that, for one reason or the other, didn't have their act together.  Well, I was wrong.  America is just as, if not more, vulnerable.