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DethNinja

Why would Trump pardon him? Biden vs Trump is all you need to know about state of democracy in the USA.

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Low odds, but he has suggested that he might: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-snowden/trum...

He's frequently talking for and against any given issue. And he is not trustworthy, so his word doesn't matter.

Trump happens to be a victim of FISA abuse so I wouldn't be surprised.

Downvoters: Here is the Inspector General's report on the FBI's abuse of FISA against the Trump campaign: https://www.justice.gov/storage/120919-examination.pdf

The FBI "persistently deceived a secret court to authorize surveilling a 2016 Trump presidential campaign official".

> Biden vs Trump is all you need to know about state of democracy in the USA.

Why is that all you think you need to know? There are something like 30 other things to vote for on my local ballot that matter and this is true to varying extents in most every place.

It's odd but seems to be quite common for people to know the least about the level of government closest to them. Most Americans know who is the president but I'd bet quite a few have no idea who represents them on their city council or county commission.

Local news has been destroyed. The newspapers who used to send a reporter to every municipal meeting no longer exist. (Well, there may be papers with the same names, but their new owners only budget enough for wire service reprints.) Other media has not stepped up to fill the role. Municipal officials could themselves put everything online, but they don't actually desire public scrutiny so they don't.

I think you will find that the records of most municipal/county meetings are available online. Providing them is required by law in almost every jurisdiction and mostly this is done by making them available online.

I would draw a distinction between video recordings and whatever the meeting's acting secretary happened to note on a one-page form.

My locality broadcasts all public meetings live on local cable networks and streaming on the internet. The videos of these meetings are also available to be watched after the fact. I checked the websites for two of the counties adjacent to mine and they do the same. I'm certain it isn't universal but I'm guessing it is a pretty widespread practice.

Biden v Trump is not a lack of democracy, since voters are able to respond to it in the forthcoming free and fair election.

I'm gonna cut off your arm. left or right?

Now, don't say you had no choice in the matter.

Look. No one is perfect. We all have our faults. But Trump is deeply flawed in many ways. And he hardly has any redeeming characteristics. If you think both are the same then you haven payed any attention or you are just pretending that your are neutral but in reality you love him. And you are definitely not a leftist. Even Chomsky and Bernie have warned us.

It's going to blow your mind when you find out there's a longstanding movement of people further to the left of Chomsky and Bernie

You're right that there is a significant difference between candidates this time. But just because one of the teams has made their offering even worse does not validate the overall setup. Trump's exceptional terribleness is just another indicator of just how broken our democracy has become, complete with the sizable amount of people continuing to rally behind him out of spite.

Although pragmatically I do find myself in the novel position of needing to support the status quo corporate authoritarian, as societal collapse is not conducive to freedom.

My comment was not about the candidates. or the parties. it was about what some people are willing to accept as "no lack of democracy".

OK let's revise the options: I'm going to amputate either your left arm or your right thumb. It's quite obvious that you should rather lose your right thumb. And I gave you the opportunity to make a choice. If you disagree that this is democracy, then you secretly want to lose your left arm. Definitely not a leftist.

I am totally with you that our democracy may be lacking a lot. I really understand that. But democracies are frágil and ours is as fragile as ever. Saying that both choices are the same only benefits the worse choice, and that makes our democracy weaker, not stronger. But our democracy is not dead yet. Our collective votes matter a lot this November.

free and fair? There's nothing free or fair about the upcoming election.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/heres-h...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/magazine/trump-voter-frau...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/gerrymanderin...

Nothing free and fair? So it’s exactly like an election in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and the outcome is preordained?

Punching a dog or killing a dog is still hurting the dog.

For more background, read Greg Palast. He's been on the vote theft beat forever:

https://www.gregpalast.com/

Same reason Trump does anything. To own the libs and get some press.

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