WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's push for bigger $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks stalled out Tuesday in the Senate as Republicans blocked a swift vote proposed by Democrats and split within their own ranks over whether to boost spending or defy the White House. Yahoo News.
The Republican lawmakers and Trump are thick in a game of deceit using the suffering of the poor Americans as their gambling chips. When the two parties of the House were negotiating for the amountof relief for the poor Americans, the Republicans bid down the sum proposed by the Democrats and eventually settled for a miserable $600. The Democrats could not push for more as this sum looked like the position of Trump as the most he would agree and the case was made by the Republican lawmakers.
And when this was presented to Trump for signature, he promptly refused and asked for a bigger sum of $2,000. When didn't Trump told his Republican lawmakers in the first place and this could save a lot of haggling and time and the cheque of $2,000, instead of $600 could be sent out to the American poor before Christmas?
Why the conflicting positions between Trump and his Republican lawmakers. Did they talked about this and agreed to it? The Republican lawmakers could not go to negotiate with the Democrats without knowing what Trump wanted. Did Trump instruct them to push it down so that he could turn it down to demand for more? The whole thing looked like a fix up by Trump and his Republican lawmakers to make Trump looked good at the expense of the poor Americans not getting their relief cheques before Christmas. They were at the mercy of Trump and his Republican lawmakers they trusted and voted into Congress as their representatives.
The Democrat lawmakers looked back for putting up a miserly $600 for Trump to approve. They saw through the scheme and quickly put up a case for $2,000 as demanded by Trump to call Trump's bluff. By rushing this $2,000 cheque through, the Democrats are saying they too agreed to the sum and it was the Republican lawmakers that were opposed to it. Trump could not claim credit for it.
The new bill was quickly tabled for the Senate to pass. And guess what, the Republican senators again pulled the rug and rejected this new amount. What game is Trump and his Republican lawmakers and senators playing? Who is suffering from this game of deceit?
Did the poor Americans know who is playing around with their sufferings? Did Trump and his Republican representatives and senators really care about the well being of the American poor? Who is lying to the American poor and treating them as pawns to this power play?
Happy New Year to everyone. Hope the poor Americans could celebrate their New Year and not starving because the relief cheques came late.
The fact that almost half of the voters still think Trump is doing a good job says a lot about the mentality of the USA voters. But isn't this the same in Red Dot?
ReplyDeleteThe Republican Party has lost it's direction with Trump's four years of rampage. It needs to claw back it's battered image. On the other hand, the Democratic Party is also deemed a useless entity for not being more hardheaded in helping to rein in Trump's dictatorial behavior. Most of all, Democracy in the USA context, has also lost it's guiding principles and put the image of the USA as the 'Champion of Democracy' into the rubbish chute.
That is why I always say, both the Republican and Democratic Parties have the same genes, have the same agenda in international relations and are basically the same evil doer whoever sits in the White House.
The US political system is like a child's play of musical chair.
ReplyDeleteThe US political campaigns are opportunities created by the political system to enrich the political con-men and con-women.
The whole US political and administrative system is nothing but a facet for the rich and powerful to reap benefits from the country at the expense of the masses.
There is no Democracy and no Human Rights. There are countless undemocretic incidents and countless violations of human rights.
Democrat lawmakers' USD$600 is considered miserly, what about Singapore's SG$600?
ReplyDelete(Interbank Exchange Rate 1 USD = 1.3215 SGD)
The True And Ugly Political System Of USA
ReplyDeleteThe political system of the Unlawful States of America (USA) is basically a two-party system (Democrats and Republicans) that take turns to hold power as each of their members ascend to the Presidency and sits in the White House in Washington DC. It is more like a child's play of the game called "Musical Chair" - whenever the music stops, the one who is caught not sitting down becomes the chosen one, i.e. the Puppet (President).
In every election (at national and state levels) in the USA, there will be political campaigns. These political campaigns are opportunities created by the political system to enrich the political hacks, masquerading as "do-good-for-the-people" pseudo politicians. They raise donations through these campaigns. Donations come from common men and women in the streets as well as big donors such as the Multi-National Corporations, the Media tycoons, the Wolves of Wall Street, Bankers, Oil traders, weapons and drugs manufacturers and middle-men. Through these donations they can raise hundreds of $million during each campaign. How these money are spent, no one knows vividly for sure.
The whole US political and administrative system is nothing but a facet put up for the rich and powerful to reap benefits from the country at the expense of the masses. Over the years, it has been polished to an art of telling lies, of cheating, of stealing, of false flags and of assassinations and killings.
There is actually no Democracy and no Human Rights, the two tenets that the US leaders have been pushing against other countries to conform and follow. Yet, they themselves do not follow. "Do what I say, not what I do" is their modus operandi.
There are, in fact, countless undemocratic happenings every year and countless violations of human rights everyday in the US.
Lobbying has become the norm for US businesses and other influential conglomerates to buy favours from the US politicians holding key and important positions in the US government. The most significant of whom is the US President.
Lobbying is a legalised direct form of corruption through giving of donations to political campaigns in exchange for favours, such as huge lucrative business contracts or an ambassador post in a cushy country where not much work is done throughout the year. Or, even to become the favoured news media, like Fox News for example.
All the US political parties and political leaders are beholden in one way or another to some big corporations and money-spinners, or filthy rich individuals, in one form or another.
The whole US political system is a legalised corruption system. Even President-Exit Donald Trump keep claiming that the US Elections System is corrupted and fraud with cheating in his numerous tweets, speeches and press interviews, and the numerous law suits his campaign has been putting forth to the various courts in the USA.
Year in and year out, throughout the 247 years of the short US history, the politics of the US has been the politics of coercion, corruption, intimidation, assassination and violence. This is in the nature of the characters in play. This has been in the blood of most of the American people. The numerous wars and invasions the US Armed Forces have conducted around the world over the last one hundred years are testimonies to this fact.
The US was created through invasions, massive destruction, pillage, violence, murders and massacres . As such, it continues these evil habitual behaviours and actions of invasion, destruction, pillage, violence, murder and massacre within its own territories as well as across the whole world.
A nation born of bloodshed, lives in bloodshed and ends in bloodshed. This was, is and will be the fate of the Unlawful States of America, the Evil Empire that terrorises the whole world with impunity.
Let's hope the end of USA is near!
Happy New Year!
SSO - 1st January, 2021
Singapore: Ushering In The New Year 2021
ReplyDeleteTo usher in the new year 2021, Singapore has gladly imported 27 new cases of COVID-19 infected people and MOM has reported at least a total of 30 confirmed cases in its first instalment of creative reporting of COVID-19 infections of the day. The second installment of the creative reporting is expected to be done by MOM in a press release tonight.
As such, Singapore has steadily reached a record total of 58,629 confirmed Covid19 infected cases, for the whole year of 2020, and happily counting for more cases to be added in the year 2021. Such enthusiasm is unparalleled in Asia!
There are also three cases detected in the community, an indication that no report of community infections in the past few weeks does not necessarily mean that there are no infected people walking around freely in the community. It only means that the detection system is weak or non-existent.
One of the three newly detected persons in the community is a family member of the PSA Marine harbour pilot whose infection was confirmed yesterday, 31 December.
Another two cases are the close contacts of the marine surveyor at Lloyd’s Register Singapore and a 14-year-old Raffles Girls’ School student, probably just came back from India.
The 27 imported cases have only been carelessly put on Stay-Home Notice but not quarantined. Amongst them, 5 are Singaporeans (possibly new citizens from India?), 8 are PRs (possibly from CECA Indians?) and 14 are foreign domestic workers (possibly from Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar?).
MOM does not want to report which nationalities and countries the imported COVID-19 infected persons are from. We no choice but have to keep guessing and speculating and assume that they are most probably from countries that have highest numbers of COVID-19 cases, such as USA, Brazil and India.
As for the imported infected domestic workers, we have to assume that they are from our main sources of supply, i.e. Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar. Can't go far wrong, is it not?
With creative reporting being the fashion of the day, our receiving-end brains must rise up to the occasion to be more creative in our thinking and deductions, so as to get a more realistic picture at the end of the day.
Wishing all a more thinking new year, 2021!
SSO - 1st January, 2021.
Trump will ‘not be safe on Earth’, Iran warns US at event to mark first anniversary of the General Qassem Soleimani’s assassination
ReplyDeleteIran’s judiciary chief warned on Friday that Qassem Soleimani’s killers, including US President Donald Trump, will “not be safe on Earth”, as the Islamic republic began marking the first anniversary of the top general’s assassination in a US strike.
Ebrahim Raisi, speaking at an event in Tehran to pay tribute to Soleimani, said not even Trump, who ordered the strike, was “immune from justice”.
Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad airport on January 3. “They will witness a severe revenge. What has come so far has only been glimpses” of it, Raisi told the gathering at Tehran University.
“Do not presume that someone, as the president of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, may be immune from justice being carried out. Never,” he said.
“Those who had a role in this in this assassination and crime will not be safe on Earth.”
The event was attended by Iranian officials, and speakers included representatives from allied regional countries and forces, namely Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
For giving the order to murder two Iranian top personalities, the Top General and the Top Scientist, Donald Trump has sealed his own fate and that of the US hit teams in the International areana.
ReplyDeleteThe US cannot be allowed to commit premeditated murders and get away with it. There is no legitimacy or excuses to murder other countries' leaders. If the US is allowed to get away with such heinous crimes, then every other country can do the same.
Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you. If you do unto others, then expect others to do unto you in return. There is no escape.
There is no running away from your responsibility of killing someone, even if he is your most hated enemy.
You kill other countries' leaders, other countries will kill your leaders in return. You murder others, others will murder you in return. That's for sure. It's only a matter of time.
Be warned, murderer Trump is planning a bigger out of this world disaster before 6 Jan, before Biden is sworn in.
ReplyDeleteMajor movements of American forces, B52s, aircraft carriers, marines, submarines, warships, fighter aircraft, etc are all on the way to the Persian Gulf. This military build up is very dangerous and ominous. If Trump is not restrained, this is going to be a big BOOM and Iran is going up in a big fire ball.
Trump had already stopped the Pentagon from handing over to Biden. He is in control of the military as Commander in Chief. Looks like Biden and his team are unable to rein in this mad man and his plan for an open war with Iran.
God bless the Iranians.
US holds sour grapes mentality toward Europe and China’s Year-End Breakthrough
ReplyDeleteWashington made an outcry riddled with a sour grapes mentality toward the completion of negotiations on the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. US Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger blasted the EU for reaching the deal with China despite the latter's so-called human rights record. The EU has "removed a fig leaf," Pottinger said. White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro also called it "a bad deal," which will pose a geopolitical challenge to the US. A conservative US scholar asked angrily: How can the Europeans take China's side, not the US?
Strategic selfishness and arrogance seem to have burned the brains of some American political elites. They think the geopolitical interests of the US are identical to those of Europe. So when they mess things up in terms of China-related issues, they believe it goes without saying that Europeans should follow suit. They believe the ideological bond between Europe and the US is strong enough to make the EU abandon huge interests of doing business with China, but act as the political admirer of the US government, wholeheartedly.
On December 30, the day China and the EU made public the completion of negotiations, the US government announced to impose additional tariffs on European products including aircraft-related parts and wines from France and Germany.
The US claims it wishes to join hands with Europe to deal with China. But it was reluctant to offer European countries any benefits. When it comes to morality, Washington pretends to be an American gentleman. When it comes to interests, it haggles over every ounce.
The new EU-China investment agreement, in general terms, signifies the intention of the EU and China to continue to deepen economic relations, by granting each party more assured access for investments in the other’s economy.
The agreement comes in the face of deeply misguided – indeed, dangerous – attempts by US President Donald Trump’s administration not only to cut economic ties with China in high-tech industries, but also to contain China’s growth by forging a US-led alliance that Trump hoped would be backed by the EU and Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea.
The ostensible aim of US policy is to constrain China’s belligerence and human-rights violations, or so the US says. But it is worth noting that the policy is favored by a bipartisan US foreign-policy establishment that maintains some 800 overseas military bases, and that has repeatedly launched illegal wars, imposed illegal unilateral sanctions, and otherwise refused to abide by the United Nations Charter, treaties, and Security Council decisions. It’s certainly hard to argue that China is the belligerent party here. Over the past 20 years, in particular, Muslim populations in the Middle East and South and Central Asia have repeatedly suffered from brutal wars waged by Western powers, domestic crackdowns, unilateral US sanctions, and other abuses.
America’s real intention in opposing China has nothing to do with human rights. Particularly under Trump’s lawless administration, US policies have been motivated by a hunger for dominance, plain and simple. The US is trying to stop China’s technological and economic rise in order to preserve its own predominance. The world economic system, however, cannot and should not operate for the benefit of US hegemony, especially considering that the US accounts for a mere 4% of the global population.
The USA thinks and made the EU and the rest of the world still thinks that the defeat of Nazi Germany was due to their participation in the Normandy landing. It was all a myth. The real defeat of Nazi Germany came at the hands of the USSR, a country that took a toll of nearly 27 million dead for the effort.
ReplyDeleteWhen the allies landed in Normandy, Nazi Germany was already torn to shreds by the USSR and all the USA and allies did was basically mopping up operations. Also, they had waited to see both sides destroy each other. But when the USSR took the upper hand, they wanted to take the defeat of Nazi Germany as their victory to show the world. And they did take all the credit, made all the heroic movies about their defeat of Nazi Germany, while erasing from history the real effort contributed by the USSR. That history, as written by them, only makes their glorified version more heroic without mentioning the USSR.
When Trump went to celebrate the anniversary of the Normandy landing, The USSR, now Russia was left out of the gathering. Why? For fear that the real story is going to see the light of day and put to shame the glorified exploits of the USA?