U.S. Politics: Covfefe Boys

[Martell Spy]

Please carry on.

[Martell Spy]

AP sources: Prosecutors preparing charges against Cohen

https://apnews.com/50b339072d774bcb9643841706a6afc4/AP-sources:-Prosecutors-preparing-charges-against-Cohen

Quote

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, could be charged before the end of the month with bank fraud in his dealings with the taxi industry and with committing other financial crimes, two people familiar with the federal probe said Monday.

The people confirmed reports that federal prosecutors in Manhattan were considering charging Cohen after months of speculation over a case that has been a distraction for the White House with the midterm elections approaching.

The New York Times reported Sunday, based on anonymous sources, that prosecutors have been focusing on more than $20 million in loans obtained by taxi businesses that Cohen and his family own.

As part of the investigation, prosecutors have subpoenaed records from Sterling National Bank, one of the institutions that loaned Cohen money with his ownership in taxi cabs as collateral, one of the people said. The material was sought because it’s suspected Cohen falsified some of the paperwork, the person said.

 

 

[Martell Spy]

Quote

“In today’s global society, social media is an inevitable part of our children’s daily lives,” she added. “It can be used in many positive ways, but can also be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly. This is why Be Best chooses to focus on the importance of teaching our next generation how to conduct themselves safely and in a positive manner in an online setting.”

Checking in on the Be Best Initiative, a Week After Trump Called Omarosa a ‘Dog’ on Twitter

https://www.thecut.com/2018/08/checking-in-on-melania-trumps-anti-cyberbullying-effort.html

[Zorral]

Why and how we're so deep in the shyte and why we ain't gettin' out (if not subscribed to the NY Times, use your private or incognito browser) -- there is no institution or agency that is supposed to work in the public interest to the voter, from the highest in the land such as the POTUS, to the smallest local administrator, who isn't in a cozy bed of corruption and plunder.  Nobody is clean.  It's been going on for decades with no oversight, no punishment -- Gads, what Wells Fargo was doing.  Utter impunity and immunity.  The difference is only a matter of degree, with the greatest corrupt plunderer currently squatting like an oozing demon in the Oval Office.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/books/review/winners-take-all-anand-giridharadas.html?

Quote

 

Quote

 

Meet the ‘Change Agents’ Who Are Enabling Inequality

WINNERS TAKE ALL 
The Elite Charade of Changing the World 
By Anand Giridharadas 
288 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $26.95.

. . . . For those at the helm, the philanthropic plutocrats and aspiring “change agents” who believe they are helping but are actually making things worse, it’s time for a reckoning with their role in this spiraling dilemma. I suggest they might want to read a copy of this book while in the Hamptons this summer.

In a series of chapters centered on different individuals who are part of this rarefied class, Giridharadas exposes the rationalizations of the 0.001 percent who actually believe they are making the world a better place. The Sacklers helped create the opioid crisis but give money to important causes. The chief executive of Cinnabon thinks that being transparent about the fat and sugar she peddles offsets the harm her company creates. It’s a land of PowerPoint presentations and cuddly good intentions.

Giridharadas calls this prevailing ethos “MarketWorld,” made up of people who want “to do well and do good.” He beautifully catches the language of Aspen, Davos and the recently extant Clinton Global Initiative, which will doubtless reappear in the newly born Bloomberg initiative. It’s a world of feel-good clichés like “win-win” and “make a difference.” The rote conversations of this crowd were on recent display at the Public Theater, in the beginning of the second act of the Bruce Norris play “The Low Road.” As Giridharadas describes the ethos of MarketWorld, it’s made up of people like former President Bill Clinton who saw the anger bubbling up but proved unable to “call out elites for their sins: or call for power’s redistribution and fundamental systemic change; or suggest that plutocrats might have to surrender precious things for others to have a mere shot of transcending indecency.”

Like the dieter who would rather do anything to lose weight than actually eat less, this business elite would save the world through social impact investing, entrepreneurship, sustainable capitalism, philanthro-capitalism, artificial intelligence, market-driven solutions. They would fund a million of these buzzwordy programs rather than fundamentally question the rules of the game — or even alter their own behavior to reduce the harm of the existing distorted, inefficient and unfair rules. Doing the right thing — and moving away from their win-win mentality — would involve real sacrifice; instead, it’s easier to focus on their pet projects and initiatives. As Giridharadas puts it, people wanted to do “virtuous side projects instead of doing their day jobs more honorably.” . . .

 

.

 

This goes very well with the cozy corruption in our state capital between politicians and biz and lobbyists that Gov Cuomo (D) spent hundreds of thousands to cover up, but finally FOIA came through, and here it all is -- despite accusations that the NY Times only prints fake news and the media is all about censoring nazis and orange nazi's supporters:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/nyregion/emails-cuomo-lobbyist-todd-howe.html?

Oddly though, the NY Times, despite Sunday's big piece on McGahn which got the nazi's pull-ups in such a bunch, didn't include this collusion of McGahn and Sinclair as attempted to influence the FCC to give the go-head for the deal, on behalf of both the nazi in the Oval Office golf course Sinclair -- and that broke 5 days ago, i.e. on the 16th:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-16/white-house-called-the-fcc-to-talk-about-sinclair-s-tribune-deal

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/402152-fcc-chair-says-white-house-called-him-about-sinclair-tribune-merger

and in the WaPo -- if w/o a subscription, plug url into private or incognito browser version:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/fcc-chair-white-house-called-about-sinclair-tribune-deal/2018/08/16/022c35f8-a181-11e8-a3dd-2a1991f075d5_story.html?

Not to mention instructing / requesting zippered lips about cyberattacks:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/16/fcc-chief-ajit-pai-testifies-capitol-hill-after-agency-was-found-have-misled-public-about-cyberattack/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.020620ec9b55

[Zorral]

4 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Checking in on the Be Best Initiative, a Week After Trump Called Omarosa a ‘Dog’ on Twitter

https://www.thecut.com/2018/08/checking-in-on-melania-trumps-anti-cyberbullying-effort.html

An excerpt from her address was just played on a news station. This is why we don't hear her very often, because there is no denying she doesn't speak like a real AmurrriKKKan, but just like a foreign immigrant, you know, like all those filthy dawgs that git into the Real AmurrriKKKA via chain immigration, just like her family did.

 

[ThinkerX]

A thought of sorts regarding Trump, Manafort,  and others looking at ugly trials and long stints in prison:

Trump pardoning these people creates issues because its an admission of guilt, and said pardons would be rendered invalid should Trump undergo impeachment proceedings.

But, suppose Trump were to take a page from the Bush II playbook (the whole Scooter Libby fiasco) - not hand out pardons, but instead reduce the sentences handed out to time served or some such.  Would that be enough for Trump's legally imperiled flunky's to remain loyal - and escape the bulk of the pardon issues should impeachment proceedings come about?

[Mexal]

4 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

A thought of sorts regarding Trump, Manafort,  and others looking at ugly trials and long stints in prison:

Trump pardoning these people creates issues because its an admission of guilt, and said pardons would be rendered invalid should Trump undergo impeachment proceedings.

But, suppose Trump were to take a page from the Bush II playbook (the whole Scooter Libby fiasco) - not hand out pardons, but instead reduce the sentences handed out to time served or some such.  Would that be enough for Trump's legally imperiled flunky's to remain loyal - and escape the bulk of the pardon issues should impeachment proceedings come about?

Probably.

In other news, jury in Manafort trial has requested to the judge to stay an extra 45 minutes to deliberate. I wonder if they're close on something,

[Ormond]

10 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

A thought of sorts regarding Trump, Manafort,  and others looking at ugly trials and long stints in prison:

Trump pardoning these people creates issues because its an admission of guilt, and said pardons would be rendered invalid should Trump undergo impeachment proceedings.

But, suppose Trump were to take a page from the Bush II playbook (the whole Scooter Libby fiasco) - not hand out pardons, but instead reduce the sentences handed out to time served or some such.  Would that be enough for Trump's legally imperiled flunky's to remain loyal - and escape the bulk of the pardon issues should impeachment proceedings come about?

Why do you think that Trump's pardons would be rendered invalid if he would undergo impeachment proceedings? Even if he were found guilty of obstruction and the pardons were themselves found to be evidence of this obstruction by the Senate, it doesn't seem to me that the pardons themselves would be revoked. That would be akin to double jeopardy, I would think.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

1 hour ago, Martell Spy said:

Checking in on the Be Best Initiative, a Week After Trump Called Omarosa a ‘Dog’ on Twitter

https://www.thecut.com/2018/08/checking-in-on-melania-trumps-anti-cyberbullying-effort.html

I'm sure at this point Melania spends 15 out of 16 waking hours per day screaming into a pillow. She's got to be the lowest-profile first lady in my lifetime.  Either that or she's just being drowned out by everything else.

1 hour ago, ThinkerX said:

A thought of sorts regarding Trump, Manafort,  and others looking at ugly trials and long stints in prison:

Trump pardoning these people creates issues because its an admission of guilt, and said pardons would be rendered invalid should Trump undergo impeachment proceedings.

But, suppose Trump were to take a page from the Bush II playbook (the whole Scooter Libby fiasco) - not hand out pardons, but instead reduce the sentences handed out to time served or some such.  Would that be enough for Trump's legally imperiled flunky's to remain loyal - and escape the bulk of the pardon issues should impeachment proceedings come about?

Merely commuting sentences has legal implications: being able to practice law, obtaining a passport, voting, buying a firearm, etc.  Libby probably got a cushy fellowship at some think tank that didn't give a shit about his conviction, so no biggie.  For these guys, I have a feeling Heritage and Cato will steer well clear of most Trump administration people when it's all said and done.  Maybe Fox News will hire them.

Whether it's commuting sentences or full pardons, what's the legal precedent for dealing with these in the event of a president's impeachment?  I don't know.  It's more likely Trump will step down and let Pence do it.

I heard something today that might give me hope, might not.  Apparently, 2019 will be the first year Millennials will outnumber Baby Boomers. I thought, "Great.  Maybe the sooner we clear them out the sooner we can get back to rational politics".  Then I remembered being in the drug store the other day and seeing Tide Pods in little plastic cabinets with locks on them...  

[ThinkerX]

Quote

Why do you think that Trump's pardons would be rendered invalid if he would undergo impeachment proceedings? Even if he were found guilty of obstruction and the pardons were themselves found to be evidence of this obstruction by the Senate, it doesn't seem to me that the pardons themselves would be revoked. That would be akin to double jeopardy, I would think.

Because, impeachment is the principle exception to the presidential ability to pardon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon

Quote

In the United States, the pardon power for federal crimes is granted to the President of the United States under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution which states that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment". The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted this language to include the power to grant pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines and forfeitures, respites, and amnesties.^[27]

Almost all federal pardon petitions are addressed to the President, who grants or denies the request. In rare cases, the President will, of his own accord, issue a pardon.^[28] Typically, applications for pardons are referred for review and non-binding recommendation by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, an official of the United States Department of Justice.^[29] The percentage of pardons and reprieves granted varies from administration to administration; however, fewer pardons have been granted since World War II.^[30]

Mostly I wonder if Trump is fool enough to start commuting sentences or issuing pardons to former staff members after their convictions but before Muller recommends impeachment.

[Liver and Onions]

52 minutes ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

I'm sure at this point Melania spends 15 out of 16 waking hours per day screaming into a pillow. She's got to be the lowest-profile first lady in my lifetime.  Either that or she's just being drowned out by everything else.

Merely commuting sentences has legal implications: being able to practice law, obtaining a passport, voting, buying a firearm, etc.  Libby probably got a cushy fellowship at some think tank that didn't give a shit about his conviction, so no biggie.  For these guys, I have a feeling Heritage and Cato will steer well clear of most Trump administration people when it's all said and done.  Maybe Fox News will hire them.

Whether it's commuting sentences or full pardons, what's the legal precedent for dealing with these in the event of a president's impeachment?  I don't know.  It's more likely Trump will step down and let Pence do it.

I heard something today that might give me hope, might not.  Apparently, 2019 will be the first year Millennials will outnumber Baby Boomers. I thought, "Great.  Maybe the sooner we clear them out the sooner we can get back to rational politics".  Then I remembered being in the drug store the other day and seeing Tide Pods in little plastic cabinets with locks on them...  

Heck, half the time I don't know if I'm a Millennial or not. Either way, getting the youth vote out will see some changes, especially with newer, younger people to vote for. (personally, I think people should vote when they're able, even if they're not thrilled with the choices.)

It's my first post in the politics threads! (waves tiny flag)

[Kalbear]

6 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

Because, impeachment is the principle exception to the presidential ability to pardon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon

You're misreading it; this is talking about a POTUS not being able to pardon someone who is being impeached. For example, a POTUS cannot pardon the impeachment of a senator. This is because (among other reasons) it would mean a POTUS could pardon themselves if they were impeached. 

It does not mean that any pardons that the POTUS has granted are annulled because they were impeached. This is easy to verify, as Clinton's pardon power before and after he was impeached did not change. Nixon's pardons did not revert when he resigned. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

8 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

You're misreading it; this is talking about a POTUS not being able to pardon someone who is being impeached. For example, a POTUS cannot pardon the impeachment of a senator. This is because (among other reasons) it would mean a POTUS could pardon themselves if they were impeached. 

It does not mean that any pardons that the POTUS has granted are annulled because they were impeached. This is easy to verify, as Clinton's pardon power before and after he was impeached did not change. Nixon's pardons did not revert when he resigned. 

Yup.  

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

1 hour ago, Liver and Onions said:

Heck, half the time I don't know if I'm a Millennial or not. Either way, getting the youth vote out will see some changes, especially with newer, younger people to vote for. (personally, I think people should vote when they're able, even if they're not thrilled with the choices.)

It's my first post in the politics threads! (waves tiny flag)

Yeah, you've entered the mouth of madness.

There's no firm definition, but its generally anyone born from the 1980's to the late 90's according to Wikipedia.  I thought it was later than that but hey. 

They are also the ones who get framed in the media as wrecking shit.  "Millennials are destroying the housing market" and other such nonsense.  Like they are shirking their duty to the species by renting instead of buying.  

[Jace, Extat]

3 minutes ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Yeah, you've entered the mouth of madness.

There's no firm definition, but its generally anyone born from the 1980's to the late 90's according to Wikipedia.  I thought it was later than that but hey. 

They are also the ones who get framed in the media as wrecking shit.  "Millennials are destroying the housing market" and other such nonsense.  Like they are shirking their duty to the species by renting instead of buying.  

Don't forget being lampooned for lack of 'brand loyalty'.

[S John]

It could be my bias in not being a boomer, and hearing them complain about how easy young people have it when their semester’s tuition was $350 and their first house cost a 5 digit number, but as a group the boomers seem to have particularly sucked at their turn at the helm of this country.  Individual boomers excepted, of course, but they suck as a cohort.  One long slow selfish spiral that has culminated in President Dipshit.  While I pretty much have low expectations for millennials as well in the gradual changing of the guard - can’t be much worse, right?

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

30 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Don't forget being lampooned for lack of 'brand loyalty'.

Not enough lead in their diet.  This country went down hill the day they took tertraethyl lead out of gasoline.

There's a Facebook friend I have (friend of my brother's actually) who's close to 50 years old. Thanks to him, I have "Chevy vs Ford" shit popping up in my FB feed.  I haven't had an argument like that since high school.  I bet his truck has nuts.

5 minutes ago, S John said:

It could be my bias in not being a boomer, and hearing them complain about how easy young people have it when their semester’s tuition was $350 and their first house cost a 5 digit number, but as a group the boomers seem to have particularly sucked at their turn at the helm of this country.  Individual boomers excepted, of course, but they suck as a cohort.  One long slow selfish spiral that has culminated in President Dipshit.  While I pretty much have low expectations for millennials as well in the gradual changing of the guard - can’t be much worse, right?

It makes me laugh when I hear people say "back in the day I bussed tables and worked my way through such and such school".

Yeah, a state school is going to run $10-20K for in-state students.  Non-state schools could be upwards of $50K a year.  I do reasonably well for myself and live well within my means.  I could "work my way through school" by literally working full time at my current job and I still wouldn't be able to pay my way through most of those places.  Part time on a servers of construction wage?  Forget it.  Porn?  maybe.

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Yeah, you've entered the mouth of madness.

There's no firm definition, but its generally anyone born from the 1980's to the late 90's according to Wikipedia.  I thought it was later than that but hey. 

They are also the ones who get framed in the media as wrecking shit.  "Millennials are destroying the housing market" and other such nonsense.  Like they are shirking their duty to the species by renting instead of buying.  

Best one I saw recently was how Hooters are closing all over the country cause "Millennials don't like boobs".

[Altherion]

47 minutes ago, S John said:

It could be my bias in not being a boomer, and hearing them complain about how easy young people have it when their semester’s tuition was $350 and their first house cost a 5 digit number, but as a group the boomers seem to have particularly sucked at their turn at the helm of this country.  Individual boomers excepted, of course, but they suck as a cohort.  One long slow selfish spiral that has culminated in President Dipshit.  While I pretty much have low expectations for millennials as well in the gradual changing of the guard - can’t be much worse, right?

Oh, it can always be much worse. Millennials are no less selfish, but in addition to that, they have expectations which are out of line with reality in the wrong direction (here's a long article about it).

[Bonnot OG]

Silent Sam got torn down! More confederate monuments / statues need to be torn down and destroyed.