US politics: Just another Mueller Monday

[Altherion]

3 hours ago, Mexal said:

Finally, you fail to recognize that she paid off the DNC's debts that allowed it to function at all. That isn't her job as a primary candidate yet it was done with some concessions (Communications Director). If she didn't, DNC would have collapsed under it's own debt and would have been worse for everyone involved.

Would it? If the DNC had not sold itself, there would undoubtedly have been some short-term turmoil, but the incompetents who had brought it to this pass would have been driven out and there would have been time to rebuild. Instead, control was shared between said incompetents and Clinton appointees and the result only became evident on November 8, 2016.

[Cas Stark]

51 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

True, I meant taking her side of the story without a grain of salt, I suppose. 

 

She seems to want to have her cake and eat it too.  

[Morpheus]

Wilbur Ross also has Russia connections

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41876939

[denstorebog]

Senator Lankford is against the bill.

Gotta wonder how motivated the House will be to fight tooth and nail to pass the bill when it's already failing in the senate. As I remember it, OCare repeal wasn't dead dead in the Senate when they celebrated in the Rose Garden, was it?

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

2 minutes ago, Triskele said:

Damn, if the Lankfords of the world are against that does bode ill for its chances of passing.  The cynic in me almost hopes that the House passes as monstrous a bill as possible that dies in the Senate so that as many House Republicans as possible open up themselves to attacks in 2018 based on that vote.

The Cut, Cut, Cut the Cancer out of the House Bill.

[Mexal]

1 hour ago, Morpheus said:

Wilbur Ross also has Russia connections

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41876939

Yup. Failed to disclose them. And then his press secretary lied about it.

 

[Mexal]

5 minutes ago, Triskele said:

And again, why all the lying and obfuscation if there's nothing to hide?

This is the guy who sat on the board of the Bank of Cyprus, the only investment he has in a bank anywhere. He has plenty to hide.

[Rippounet]

@Altherion

Quote

It's not necessarily true that the rich realize they are better off sharing -- at least not in time to make a difference. Sometimes they do (e.g. FDR during the Great Depression) and sometimes they don't (e.g. nobility before the French or Russian Revolutions).

Well, we'll see. This was posted in another thread:

Quote

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/26/worlds-witnessing-a-new-gilded-age-as-billionaires-wealth-swells-to-6tn

Josef Stadler, the lead author of the report and UBS’s head of global ultra high net worth, said his billionaire clients were concerned that growing inequality between rich and poor could lead to a “strike back”.

“We’re at an inflection point,” Stadler said. “Wealth concentration is as high as in 1905, this is something billionaires are concerned about. The problem is the power of interest on interest – that makes big money bigger and, the question is to what extent is that sustainable and at what point will society intervene and strike back?”

 

 

Quote

I'm curious what you mean regarding Portugal -- aren't they stuck with whatever the EU decides?

It seems they ignored European directives.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/24/austerity-lie-deep-cuts-economy-portugal-socialist
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/21/portugal-shows-there-is-an-alternative-to-austerity

 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

1 hour ago, Triskele said:

Damn, if the Lankfords of the world are against that does bode ill for its chances of passing.  The cynic in me almost hopes that the House passes as monstrous a bill as possible that dies in the Senate so that as many House Republicans as possible open up themselves to attacks in 2018 based on that vote.

There is a significant mark coming out on Monday, so we are told.  I'm guessing they are working feverishly this weekend and what comes out Monday will look substantially different.  I am on record as betting that the property tax deduction cap is removed, for instance.

[Bonnot OG]

Another mass shooting in the US. 27 dead so far. Shot in a church in Sutherland Springs, near San Antonio. 

So of course Paul Ryan thinks they need prayers, completely ignoring how they were shot in a fucking church.

 

[LongRider]

The Paradise Papers,  hmmmm...............

Quote

A trove of 13.4 million records exposes ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, the secret dealings of the chief fundraiser for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the offshore interests of the queen of England and more than 120 politicians around the world.

The leaked documents, dubbed the Paradise Papers, show how deeply the offshore financial system is entangled with the overlapping worlds of political players, private wealth and corporate giants, including Apple, Nike, Uber and other global companies that avoid taxes through increasingly imaginative bookkeeping maneuvers....................The new files come from two offshore services firms as well as from 19 corporate registries maintained by governments in jurisdictions that serve as waystations in the global shadow economy. The leaks were obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a network of more than 380 journalists in 67 countries.

The Guardian is reporting this too.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/what-are-the-paradise-papers-and-what-do-they-tell-us

[OldGimletEye]

On 11/5/2017 at 3:16 PM, Rippounet said:

@Altherion

Well, we'll see. This was posted in another thread:

 

It seems they ignored European directives.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/24/austerity-lie-deep-cuts-economy-portugal-socialist
 

Don't worry.
Next year they'll run around Davos, like assholes, saying, "Golly what can we do? What can we do?" And then say, "Oh, will just cut taxes for ourselves and that will spread more opportunity for everyone else." (in their minds of course).
They'll then wont do anything about international tax arbitrage or intellectual property laws or deal with the distributional effects of free trade and then sit there wonder why people soured on it and what people vote for autarky.

On 11/5/2017 at 3:16 PM, Rippounet said:

@Altherion

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/21/portugal-shows-there-is-an-alternative-to-austerity

Auerbach has recently published a paper showing that during deep liquidity traps, fiscal expansion has little effect on long term debt/GDP ratio. I read it as a complement to the hysteresis literature.

[OldGimletEye]

On 11/5/2017 at 3:42 PM, Sword of Doom said:

. 
So of course Paul Ryan thinks they need prayers, completely ignoring how they were shot in a fucking church.
 

Ryan is just a blithering idiot.

[ThinkerX]

Inside the minds of a group of Trump supporters.  None regret their vote, most view the Mueller investigation as a 'dog and pony show,' but they do have concerns about Trump's tweeting.   They also have difficulty naming Trumps greatest (and worst0 accomplishments.)

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-voters-blame-tweets-for-trouble-1-year-later/ar-AAusrmK?ocid=ob-fb-enus-580

Out of the 25 member group:

In the first months of Trump’s presidency this year, as many as 13 of these voters predicted history would judge Trump to be a “great” president. That number now has dropped to seven.

[Ormond]

5 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

Inside the minds of a group of Trump supporters.  None regret their vote, most view the Mueller investigation as a 'dog and pony show,' but they do have concerns about Trump's tweeting.   They also have difficulty naming Trumps greatest (and worst0 accomplishments.)

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-voters-blame-tweets-for-trouble-1-year-later/ar-AAusrmK?ocid=ob-fb-enus-580

Out of the 25 member group:

 

 

The problem with using an ongoing "focus group" with the same members for an analysis like this is that these people will be even more likely than other Trump voters to want to stick by their original choice because they are on public record about it. There are several studies in social psychology that show that people who are asked to make their opinions or decisions known in public are more reluctant to change them than those who do so in private. If you were surveying a group of Trump voters who had a guarantee of anonymity, you might get more of them expressing regret.

[OldGimletEye]

On 11/5/2017 at 4:04 PM, ThinkerX said:

Inside the minds of a group of Trump supporters.  None regret their vote, most view the Mueller investigation as a 'dog and pony show,' but they do have concerns about Trump's tweeting.   They also have difficulty naming Trumps greatest (and worst0 accomplishments.)

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-voters-blame-tweets-for-trouble-1-year-later/ar-AAusrmK?ocid=ob-fb-enus-580

Out of the 25 member group:

 

 

Well, that's one delusional group of people,.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

26 minutes ago, Nasty LongRider said:

The Paradise Papers,  hmmmm...............

The Guardian is reporting this too.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/what-are-the-paradise-papers-and-what-do-they-tell-us

Some of the stuff being breathlessly reported isn't exactly that shocking.  (Yeah, people invest through Cayman and Bermuda vehicles.  It's often for tax reasons. Color me surprised).  The scope of the data breach here is really scary though.  Appleby is a real law firm - pretty reputable.  This would be on par with Cravath or S&C (or *gulp* my firm) getting hacked.  I mean, there is a whole bunch of privileged information that is now available for everyone.  Data privacy is a huge concern for law firms and this is exactly why.  And frankly, to the extent that any of this has to do with any privileged advice given in context of a white collar defense/investigation, it should be disturbing to everyone.   

[Bonnot OG]

14 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

Ryan is just a blithering idiot.

It's just autopilot mode for the right when it comes to mass shootings. 

 

Just parrot the same bullshit and get used to it since it's just a never ending problem here in the US. Mass shooting? Thoughts and prayers. Rinse and repeat.

Can't talk about Vegas or other past shootings since this happened, can't talk about this because in a few days another one could happen and can't talk about that one in the future because another one will be just right around the corner etc etc etc.

[LongRider]

12 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Some of the stuff being breathlessly reported isn't exactly that shocking.  (Yeah, people invest through Cayman and Bermuda vehicles.  It's often for tax reasons. Color me surprised).  The scope of the data breach here is really scary though.  Appleby is a real law firm - pretty reputable.  This would be on par with Cravath or S&C (or *gulp* my firm) getting hacked.  I mean, there is a whole bunch of privileged information that is now available for everyone.  Data privacy is a huge concern for law firms and this is exactly why.  And frankly, to the extent that any of this has to do with any privileged advice given in context of a white collar defense/investigation, it should be disturbing to everyone.   

Thanks.

[GAROVORKIN]

28 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Some of the stuff being breathlessly reported isn't exactly that shocking.  (Yeah, people invest through Cayman and Bermuda vehicles.  It's often for tax reasons. Color me surprised).  The scope of the data breach here is really scary though.  Appleby is a real law firm - pretty reputable.  This would be on par with Cravath or S&C (or *gulp* my firm) getting hacked.  I mean, there is a whole bunch of privileged information that is now available for everyone.  Data privacy is a huge concern for law firms and this is exactly why.  And frankly, to the extent that any of this has to do with any privileged advice given in context of a white collar defense/investigation, it should be disturbing to everyone.   

 

Wow.