US Politics - Count All The Posts

[JGP]

JESUS CHRIST NOW RAN IS RESPONDING TO ME IN THREADS THAT HAVE BEEN CLOSED, PLS RESPECT THE NORMS 

[butterbumps!]

18 minutes ago, DMC said:

As Maarsen and Kal have alluded to, actually you can issue a blanket pardon for crimes that haven't been charged yet.  The only thing the president cannot issue a pardon for are for crimes the person hasn't committed yet.

As for can a president pardon himself, that's a question that's never been addressed - just like can a president be charged with a crime.

I hadn't realized Nixon's pardon lacked so much specificity.  So Trump can issue a pardon to anyone he wants that essentially says "You are pardoned from any (federal) crime anyone might suggest you committed up to the time of this pardon" (and then have Pence do that for him if he's willing to resign and make it happen).  

I'm wondering about what happens if that $100 million he might owe the IRS actually does come due.  Would a pardon erase the debt to the IRS, or just prevent him from legal repercussions if he's also found guilty of tax fraud?

[Mindwalker]

Kirsten Welker is slowly losing her voice... Biden preparing to address the nation at primetime (provided anything gets called, I suppose).

[Zorral]

From previous: those who object to giving the credit to the progressive active sector of Dems -- particularly the women of color like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Stacy Abrams -- in preference to the white suburban voter -- and the Dems who lost their campaigns blaming it on the progressives -- how far do you think Biden would have gotten w/o the protests, w/o BLM, without these women?  Do you think without them Biden-Harris would have gotten anywhere?  Among other things these very dismissed groups, including, do not forget these constant, relentless protesters, putting their safety on the line every day for months and months and months -- even before the primaries -- pushed Biden-Harris further into progressive territory -- and yes, Bernie too, for whom AOC campaigned liked hell, until some bros really screwed the pooch on that.  Without the progressives the Dems could not have gotten anywhere.  Just look at the numbers and how they broke nearly half for shoggoth in spite of all the evile he's committed including downright killing people via covid-19.  If these people stayed home, as they did for Hillary, where would Biden-Harris be?

All I'm saying is give credit where it is due, and take note for the next elections.  No, no matter, what, nothing is ever going to go back to how it used to be.  Either we start creating a better nation -- a better state -- a better world with more equality and inclusivity, or else the world implodes due to authoritariansm + climate catastrophe.  The people out on the streets every single day for months and months and months know it in their bones, because their bones are young ones.  This is the world into which they were born and for the older white comfortable complacent Dems to think otherwise and continue biz as usual whew! -- doomed.  But that sort then will be dooming us all, just as much as shoggoth was / is  and will continue to try to do.

 

[Werthead]

27 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

I remember the detail getting shared around on social media that the loan officer or whatever at Deutsche Bank who approved big loans to Trump after American banks started freezing him out was Anthony Kennedy's kid. I wonder how direct the relationship was, and I wonder where that guy is now.

I'm not sure that's been confirmed; some reports saying that Justin Kennedy worked in real estate but had no say on the private banking decisions, and some of the loans were confirmed only after he left Deutsche Bank in 2009. It was certainly a line of communication, though.

[Jace, Extat]

Inspiring stuff, but perhaps you missed the fact that we didn't get the Senate. The fight is already lost. We will lose the house in 2022, and Paul Ryan will sweep into the Presidency in 2024 on the back of an austerity platform. 

[DMC]

13 minutes ago, Relic said:

I must have missed it, what is this theory? 

Well, there are already different variations, which is about par for the course with conspiracy theories.  The simplest is that Murdoch ordered the decision desk to make the call just to stick it to Trump.  That, I suppose, is still possible, but I still think doubtful as Rupert never has seemed that hands on.  The more outlandish one that I was referring to in requiring Murdoch to have advanced knowledge of how the election played out after the call is he did it to somehow prevent Trump from making more aggressive claims of already "winning" the election since Tuesday night.  That rationale seems decidedly convoluted and ridiculous to me. 

By far the most likely explanation is the decision desk determined Arizona was out of reach for Trump unless he won the remaining vote by margins they found statistically insignificant, and then - as has been reported - Trump called Murdoch to try to get him to retract the call and Murdoch told him to go fuck himself.

9 minutes ago, butterbumps! said:

So Trump can issue a pardon to anyone he wants that essentially says "You are pardoned from any crime anyone might suggest you committed during my presidency" (and then have Pence do that for him if he's willing to resign and make it happen).  

Yes.  And not only any crimes committed during that president's presidency - even crimes committed before.  For a famous example, Bush I pardoned a number of Reagan officials after he lost reelection for crimes related to the Iran-Contra affair - which obviously happened before Bush was president (albeit he was Vice President).  The other thing to keep in mind is the president can only pardon people for federal crimes.  Trump has obviously committed many state crimes in New York, Florida, and maybe others.

[Lykos]

25 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

I remember the detail getting shared around on social media that the loan officer or whatever at Deutsche Bank who approved big loans to Trump after American banks started freezing him out was Anthony Kennedy's kid. I wonder how direct the relationship was, and I wonder where that guy is now.

Justin Kennedy - the internet is suspiciously silent.

As is Thomas Bowers

Quote

On 19 November 2019, Thomas Bowers, a former Deutsche Bank executive and head of the American wealth management division, was reported to have committed suicide in his Malibu home. Bowers had been in charge of overseeing and personally signing over $360 million in high-risk loans for Trump's National Doral Miami resort.  The loans had been subject to a criminal investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of the president's 2016 campaign involvement in Russian election meddling. Documents on those loans have also been subpoenaed from Deutsche Bank by the House Democrats together with the financial documents of the president. A relationship between Bowers's responsibilities and apparent suicide has not been established; the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner – Coroner has closed the case, giving no indication to wrongdoing by third parties.

Wikipedia

And William S. Broeksmit, Risk Manager who hanged himself in 2014.

[Luzifer's right hand]

19 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

JESUS CHRIST NOW RAN IS RESPONDING TO ME IN THREADS THAT HAVE BEEN CLOSED, PLS RESPECT THE NORMS 

Autocrats do not respect NORMS. 

[Fez]

Starting to see more speculation about earmarks coming back. And I could see a world where just enormous amounts of cash flowing everywhere to keep the political system functioning for the next few years. Maybe some real deficit-busting stuff too, giving McConnell additional tax cuts in exchange for more stimulus and infrastructure spending. Marijuana legalization at the federal level is another thing I could see happening. It's popular as hell, and it would probably benefit McConnell politically (Kentucky has a huge hemp industry, which would likely expand into cannabis as well if it could).

But we'll see. I was certainly wrong in 2016 when I thought there was a chance Republicans would constrain Trump and keep him in line.

[HoodedCrow]

Good grief, I’m a pragmatic progressive. I’m a moderate who wants social progress. None of it will happen until Trump gets lost.

[Mexal]

16 minutes ago, Zorral said:

From previous: those who object to giving the credit to the progressive active sector of Dems -- particularly the women of color like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Stacy Abrams -- in preference to the white suburban voter -- and the Dems who lost their campaigns blaming it on the progressives -- how far do you think Biden would have gotten w/o the protests, w/o BLM, without these women?  Do you think without them Biden-Harris would have gotten anywhere?  Among other things these very dismissed groups, including, do not forget these constant, relentless protesters, putting their safety on the line every day for months and months and months -- even before the primaries -- pushed Biden-Harris further into progressive territory -- and yes, Bernie too, for whom AOC campaigned liked hell, until some bros really screwed the pooch on that.  Without the progressives the Dems could not have gotten anywhere.  Just look at the numbers and how they broke nearly half for shoggoth in spite of all the evile he's committed including downright killing people via covid-19.  If these people stayed home, as they did for Hillary, where would Biden-Harris be?

All I'm saying is give credit where it is due, and take note for the next elections.  No, no matter, what, nothing is ever going to go back to how it used to be.  Either we start creating a better nation -- a better state -- a better world with more equality and inclusivity, or else the world implodes due to authoritariansm + climate catastrophe.  The people out on the streets every single day for months and months and months know it in their bones, because their bones are young ones.  This is the world into which they were born and for the older white comfortable complacent Dems to think otherwise and continue biz as usual whew! -- doomed.  But that sort then will be dooming us all, just as much as shoggoth was / is  and will continue to try to do.

No shit if those people stayed home, Biden-Harris loses by 20 million votes. And if the 40 million other people stayed home, or ya know, a few hundred thousand, same situation. Elevate people who worked their asses off over the years like Abrams, the Dem Latino leaders in Arizona and Ben Winkler in Wisconsin as examples but I see absolutely no gain nor case for denigrating millions of centrists to elevate "progressives" as the sole reason Biden won while ignoring all of the red/purple counties in PA, Wisconsin and Michigan that voted more for Biden than Hillary. God forbid any of these people came out and voted Democrat because Biden wasn't super left or because Biden's campaign did a really good job in states that they believed they needed in order to win the election (i.e., MI/WI/PA).

But ya know, doubt this is something we will agree on so just going to see my way out now. 

[Kalbear]

This was shockingly satisfying 

 

 

[Xray the Enforcer]

27 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

JESUS CHRIST NOW RAN IS RESPONDING TO ME IN THREADS THAT HAVE BEEN CLOSED, PLS RESPECT THE NORMS 

hahahaha I've accidentally done this before. It's actually hard to tell if a thread is closed as a mod because nothing is greyed out. 

[Zorral]

1 minute ago, Mexal said:

 denigrating millions of centrists to elevate "progressives"

Nobody did any such thing.  It is losing Dems who are denigrating AND blaming the progressives.  What are you NOT getting about this? 

Quote

Centrist House Democrats lash out at liberal colleagues, blame far-left views for costing the party seats

AOC broke down exactly what she and the progressives did to pull out those votes, and the losing Dems did none of that, including spending money.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-democrats-pelosi-election/2020/11/05/1ddae5ca-1f6e-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html

 

[Raja]

Kinda enjoying the fact that Martha McSally has now lost two senate races.

[Mexal]

4 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Nobody did any such thing.  It is losing Dems who are denigrating AND blaming the progressives.  What are you NOT getting about this? 

AOC broke down exactly what she and the progressives did to pull out those votes, and the losing Dems did none of that, including spending money.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-democrats-pelosi-election/2020/11/05/1ddae5ca-1f6e-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html

Sure. AOC is also in one of the bluest districts in the US. The ones who lost? Not so much. I'm totally fine blaming them for running shitty campaigns but also recognize that the demographic make up and political leanings of their districts are not at all the same as AOC's.

[dbunting]

BTW, I want you all to know that I personally caused gas prices to go to $4.50! I have been told this several times today. I hope you're happy paying 4.50, Congrats on 4.50 gas coming back... Didn't know I had the power to do that!

[Lollygag]

So SCOTUS hearing the case on the ACA on 11/10 might be HUGE in the GA Senate races depending on how it goes. Might totally backfire even.

 

[Zorral]

6 minutes ago, Mexal said:

No shit if those people stayed home, Biden-Harris loses by 20 million votes. And if the 40 million other people stayed home, or ya know, a few hundred thousand, same situation. Elevate people who worked their asses off over the years like Abrams, the Dem Latino leaders in Arizona and Ben Winkler in Wisconsin as examples but I see absolutely no gain nor case for denigrating millions of centrists to elevate "progressives" as the sole reason Biden won while ignoring all of the red/purple counties in PA, Wisconsin and Michigan that voted more for Biden than Hillary. God forbid any of these people came out and voted Democrat because Biden wasn't super left or because Biden's campaign did a really good job in states that they believed they needed in order to win the election (i.e., MI/WI/PA).

But ya know, doubt this is something we will agree on so just going to see my way out now. 

It's NOT the progressives doing blaming, It is these Dems. Again what about this are you not getting?

Quote

Centrist House Democrats lash out at liberal colleagues, blame far-left views for costing the party seats

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-democrats-pelosi-election/2020/11/05/1ddae5ca-1f6e-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html

It's refusing to see what's right in front of one's eyes, and calling what's there something else.

So I quit because one can't deal with refusal to see what's there.