General US Politics

[Excellen Browning]

Obama got roasted about Guantanamo, healthcare.gov, and drone strikes and took it all in stride. 

Trump got roasted about his hair, his bank account, the scandals, the Mexican wall and grab em by the pussy.

I suppose it is a good thing that the only policy he's actually managed to get through is that stupid wall.

[Res]

Michelle Wolf did not criticize Sanders' appearance, really. Cosmopolitan, of all places, had one of the most measured and reasonable responses to Wolf's comments. The defense of Sanders by much of the media was bizarre and disappointing. 

[Johann]

11 minutes ago, Res said:

Michelle Wolf did not criticize Sanders' appearance, really. Cosmopolitan, of all places, had one of the most measured and reasonable responses to Wolf's comments. The defense of Sanders by much of the media was bizarre and disappointing. 

Her critics are basically deflecting the substance of her points (media promoting Trump for their own profit, etc) by faking outrage over her style of comedy, even though Trump himself is way worse and they let it slide. Regarding Sanders, there was also this from Wolf's NPR interview:

Quote

Wolf: Yeah, it is different. But you know, there's plenty where you could look back and the camera was on Obama when people were making pretty aggressive jokes about Obama and he was laughing. And I think having the ability to laugh at yourself is important. I also think that if you – another part of the dinner that wasn't televised is they were giving out awards and everyone was standing to congratulate the people who were getting awards and Sarah was sitting.

Gross: So you think she was kind of like sitting in protest? Because these are media awards and she didn't want to stand in praise of the media?

Wolf: Correct.

Gross: Was there something specifically said about CNN that she didn't stand?

Wolf: Yeah, CNN reporters got awards, I cannot remember the exact award they got, but they came up to accept them and she sat the whole time, while we all stood and shook their hands. I would say if this is about celebrating the media she wasn't there to celebrate the media.

 

[Tryhard]

If there was any joke to get outraged over at a dinner like this, it would be this.

John Bolton calling the event "reprehensible" is about the most ridiculous thing I can think of, considering the guy still supports Iraq and other wars that have caused a huge amount of harm and loss of life for nothing to the world, supports torture, is one of the biggest neo-cons if not the worst, and pretty much wants war with Iran and anyone else.

To a lot of the elites holding power or the media itself, decorum and civility is far more important than the lives of people in other countries and the destruction that pandering to big corporate interests brings. This is completely ass-backwards.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Tryhard

[Shoblongoo]

The thing I find hardest to digest about the right’s newfound love affair with Trump (and what I guess for lack-of-a-better term we can call "Trumpism") is that a large number of his supports know he’s lying to their face about everything from his contacts with unregistered foreign agents to his mistress hush money—everyday—and they do not care. At all. It all just about moving the agenda forward. The lying doesn't matter. The tweeting don’t matter. The on-the-nose racism and misogyny doesn’t matter. The lawsuits and resignations and criminal indictments don’t matter.  

Just going back as recently as 2014 the Statement “Donald Trump lies. All the time. At any given time he is only trying to sell something or promote his brand; Donald Trump does not give a single solitary fuck about the truth or falsity of the words that come out of his mouth. In fact, the more outlandish and unbelievable a claim, the more personal enjoyment he seems to take in proving that he can sell it”  would not have been a partisan or controversial one, and would not have carried any political connotations.

It just would have been something that people who knew the name “Donald Trump”---right, left, everything in between—just knew from his lifelong reputation as a tabloid kingpin and all-around sleazy figure. It was out there, it was common knowledge, and no one felt any particular need to deny it or spin out narratives where Trump was the tell-it-like-is guy and everyone who had ever claimed he was a lying sack-of-shit lacked credibility.

Its only in the context of a political climate where Trump has branded himself as a prominent rightwing nationalist where persons who align with those politics now have this incessant need to act like Trump is this uniquely credible figure and everyone else just has an axe to grind. Don’t believe the associated press. Don’t believe the FBI. Don’t believe Comey or Mueller or the 19 women accusing him of doing that thing he said he does on an open mic. Now in 2018 everyone with a bad thing to say about Trump just-so-happens to be the most crooked, dishonest kind of person—funny how that all works out.  

...there just doesn’t seem to be any bottom to the level of bad behavior ~40% of the country is willing to justify or overlook, if it means tax cuts and deregulation and nativist immigration/trade policies. There's no standards. Everything is excusable. If its not excusable, then its "fake news."

That’s Alarming.

For what should be obvious reasons.

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[Moblin Major General]

Not to intentionally invoke Godwin's Law, but Hitler literally committed treason and got the Chancellorship. Anything Trump has done and might do still pales in comparison to what Hitler did, not to mention that Law Enforcement would be on him like white on rice if he ever went a step further then mass firing and going full on Night of Long Knives on the non-hackers. Trump won't be the next Hitler so long as he has oppostion literally anywhere, which he has in spades.

[Shoblongoo]

1 hour ago, Hylian Air Force said:

Not to intentionally invoke Godwin's Law, but Hitler literally committed treason and got the Chancellorship. 

Still an open question on whether or not Trump literally committed treason to get the presidency.

...I mean he is currently under ongoing criminal investigation for money laundering, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy against The United States... 

Edited May 3, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[Moblin Major General]

1 hour ago, Shoblongoo said:

Still an open question on whether or not Trump literally committed treason to get the presidency.

...I mean he is currently under ongoing criminal investigation for money laundering, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy against The United States... 

He hasn't declared war on it, and Russia isn't formally an enemy of the United States, so he cannot be a traitor Constitutionally, even if there are many more than 2 people willing to rake him over the coals. He can be charged with those things, but only those things. Our Constitution was worded so that as much as it protects him from such accusations, so to does it protect us from him doing the same.

Edited May 3, 2018 by Hylian Air Force

[Excellen Browning]

Lets not lose ourselves in the hitler argument. Instead, lets laugh about Rudy Giuliani's interview, and how fucked Cohen is.

[Lord Raven]

1 hour ago, Excellen Browning said:

Lets not lose ourselves in the hitler argument. Instead, lets laugh about Rudy Giuliani's interview, and how fucked Cohen is.

omg i just saw this, rudy giuliani is a fucking moron. he went on tv and got his immigration ban struck down due to intent

i love watching him

[Shoblongoo]

lol oh Giuliani  "Before  Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attacks inside the United States ." -Guy who literally mayor of NYC during 9/11-

  This guy's--what--3 resignations away from a cabinet post???

[Shoblongoo]

Weeeeee have some significant new developments tonight.

And damn; some of those comically off-message statements from Giuliani last week are looking a lot less comical and a whole lot more incriminating now.

Getting a clearer line-of-sight on why Mueller is so interested in Michael Cohen + the Stormy Daniels pay offs now. And how this seemingly unrelated tangent-investigation that Trump keeps telling us proves the investigation has moved on from accusations of "Russian collusion" fits into the bigger picture of conspiracy against the United States that's been indicted by Mueller so far:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/08/polit...hen/index.html

• Michael Cohen recieved $500,000.00 from a Russian oligarch immediately after the 2016 election
• The assets were wired to the bank account of fictitious company that Cohen created during the 2016 presidential campaign
• The fictitious company bank account that received the off-the-books Russian assets was the same account used to pay off-the-books hush money to Stormy Daniels
• The Russian oligarch that paid the $500,000 to Cohen is currently one of the individuals under sanction for 2016 election interference
• The transaction occurred at the same time Trump--in defiance of every US intelligence organization--was publicly denying that there was any evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election
• This was also within the timeframe of Trump firing Comey, then meeting with Russian officials in the White House the next day and telling them: "the pressure is off,"
• Cohen went to extraordinary lengths to hide the transaction
• The $500,000 was not transferred in one lump sum; but in multiple smaller sums over a period of eight (8) months. This appears to have been purposefully done to avoid reporting requirement that kick in when foreign money in sums in excess of $100,000 enter an American account in a single transaction.  
• The transaction was not part of any public disclosure of previously denied relationships between Trump associates and the Russians, and was uncovered only pursuant to searches and siezures in the ongoing criminal investigation

...Okay...that raises a few obvious questions...

1) Was Cohen being used as an intermediary for money laundering between Trump and the Russians?

2) Was there entanglement between the funds used to make secret payments to Trump's mistresses and the concealed funds coming in from Russia?

3) What was the intent on Russia's side in wiring these funds?

4) Did they expect some quid-pro-quo favors from Trump in return? (i.e. publicly denying Russian interference in the 2016 election and shutting down any ongoing investigation into the interference)

5) Was this a blackmail effort? Were the Russians funding payoffs to Trump's mistresses so that they could use the transactions as leverage over the American President?

6) Why in high hell does a lawyer representing a man supposedly worth $10 billion in legitimate business assets need dirty money from the Russians to fund a 6 figure pay-off?

7) Was this an isolated incident, or part of a larger pattern of Trump's alleged personal fortune coming from money laundering through the Russians? Are there other Trump--affiliated shell companies receiving Russian money?

8) Where's the $500,000 now? If its not still in the account, where was it forwarded? Did any of it go directly to Donald Trump or the Trump organization?

9) What did the President know, and when did he know it?

-------


No response as-of-yet from The White House to these new allegations.


 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[Moblin Major General]

I have this feeling that John McCain may be another Jean Lamarque, in that his death may come soon, and that when it does, something is going to go down, and that it won't be pretty.

[Johann]

14 hours ago, Hylian Air Force said:

I have this feeling that John McCain may be another Jean Lamarque, in that his death may come soon, and that when it does, something is going to go down, and that it won't be pretty.

I don't see why, McCain isn't especially influential, and our political climate isn't quite like France's was in the early 1800s

[Shoblongoo]

Its more symbolic than anything else. Like the death of Barbara Bush.

McCain represents a bygone era of  bipartisanship and civility in government. A time before news was a 24/7 entertainment business. A time when politicians had great debates and passed sweeping reforms, and issues weren't boiled down to 20 second soundbites on a CNN round-table "discussion" or 150 character shitposts on twitter. A time before Republicans were the party of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump.

A time when liberals could represent liberal ideas and conservatives could represent conservative ideas and still have a cordial working relationship with the other side of the aisle, without the guys on the right screaming that the guys on the left are babykillers and the guys in the left screaming that the guys on the right hate brown people.  

There really aren't a whole lot of Republicans like John McCain left in Washington. Men who work across the aisle the way he works and count their staunchest political opponents among their closest friends--men who value the integrity of Congress as an institution and its reputation as a deliberative body over their own prospects of injecting their name into the news cycle.

The man's a class act in an age of scumbags. 

His death is going to a moment that really drives home that the times are getting scummier, because the class acts are a dying breed.  

Edited May 9, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[Life]

19 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

Its more symbolic than anything else. Like the death of Barbara Bush.

McCain represents a bygone era of  bipartisanship and civility in government. A time before news was a 24/7 entertainment business. A time when politicians had great debates and passed sweeping reforms, and issues weren't boiled down to 20 second soundbites on a CNN round-table "discussion" or 150 character shitposts on twitter. A time before Republicans were the party of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump.

A time when liberals could represent liberal ideas and conservatives could represent conservative ideas and still have a cordial working relationship with the other side of the aisle, without the guys on the right screaming that the guys on the left are babykillers and the guys in the left screaming that the guys on the right hate brown people.  

There really aren't a whole lot of Republicans like John McCain left in Washington. Men who work across the aisle the way he works and count their staunchest political opponents among their closest friends--men who value the integrity of Congress as an institution and its reputation as a deliberative body over their own prospects of injecting their name into the news cycle.

The man's a class act in an age of scumbags. 

His death is going to a moment that really drives home that the times are getting scummier, because the class acts are a dying breed.  

Oh yeah, the man who enjoyed bombing brown people as a hobby was a "class act".

 

Let's not bare any bones about it, John McCain was about as close as you can get to describing a "war criminal" without using those two words. If you want to eulogize him, sure. But don't expect me to follow along.

[Moblin Major General]

21 minutes ago, Life said:

Oh yeah, the man who enjoyed bombing brown people as a hobby was a "class act".

 

Let's not bare any bones about it, John McCain was about as close as you can get to describing a "war criminal" without using those two words. If you want to eulogize him, sure. But don't expect me to follow along.

But he fought. He fought for what was perceived as right and technically paid the price for the crimes of his youth in a brutal prison that could've easily killed him. But he survived it, and helped to shape this nation with his war experience that the current president doesn't have. The two previous Republican presidents understood what war meant, and so did John McCain. He's a class act because he never does anything lightly, and his death is also probably the death of bipartisanship in Congress.

[Shoblongoo]

3 hours ago, Life said:

Let's not bare any bones about it, John McCain was about as close as you can get to describing a "war criminal" without using those two words. 

Why? Because he's generally supportive of US military intervention in Mideast conflict zones? If that's enough to make you a war criminal, arrest me. I'm a war criminal.

[Phoenix Wright]

6 hours ago, Life said:

Oh yeah, the man who enjoyed bombing brown people as a hobby was a "class act".

 

Let's not bare any bones about it, John McCain was about as close as you can get to describing a "war criminal" without using those two words. If you want to eulogize him, sure. But don't expect me to follow along.

at one time you called for the eradication of arabs so...  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also...interesting developments, @Shoblongoo. very interesting developments...

edit: and this is not to mean i'm a fan of mccain (i'm not) or even agree with shoblongoo (not completely). but i do think your opinion about it is hypocritical.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Phoenix Wright

[Lord Raven]

My issue with McCain is that he postures then votes along party lines, opted to go for a Palin VP to encourage the brain drain, and he has flipped on things when it was politically expedient (see: requiring you to carry your papers in Arizona to prove you're here legally, pretty much extrajudicial police examinations to deport immigrants -- and yes he did flip flop over it).

I question why he stuck to the Republican party after the bush campaign did him dirty in 2000. I know he's willing to speak out but he was actively against the ACA and in favor of a tax bill that will let the ACA kill itself... Despite the ACA being his preferred healthcare program.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Lord Raven

[Excellen Browning]

holy moly

edit: he is dying and they're talking shit

Edited May 11, 2018 by Excellen Browning

[Slumber]

26 minutes ago, Excellen Browning said:

holy moly

edit: he is dying and they're talking shit

Jesus Christ. I don't even like John McCain, but that's disgusting.

He's not even dead yet and the rest of the republican party is already pissing on his grave. 

Edited May 11, 2018 by Slumber

[NPR]

10 hours ago, Slumber said:

Jesus Christ. I don't even like John McCain, but that's disgusting.

He's not even dead yet and the rest of the republican party is already pissing on his grave. 

Well, I suppose that the good news is that it isn't playing well with anybody and the host has been forced to apologize for not calling his guest out.

Also, while this is anecdotal, I come from a family with Republican parents that tend towards the Globalist views of McCain and these comments seem to have stirred them up a lot more than most of the other ridiculous things going on right now. I have a feeling that, probably despite McCain's wishes, this sort of clip is gonna see a lot of play in the midterms to show just how slimy the Republican party is getting and swing old moderates blue.

[Etrurian emperor]

11 hours ago, Slumber said:

Jesus Christ. I don't even like John McCain, but that's disgusting.

He's not even dead yet and the rest of the republican party is already pissing on his grave. 

Just another indicator of how much the party's been corrupted. The president mocked Mcain so why should anyone else have to feel bad about it?

[eclipse]

On 5/10/2018 at 2:02 PM, Lord Raven said:

I question why he stuck to the Republican party after the bush campaign did him dirty in 2000. I know he's willing to speak out but he was actively against the ACA and in favor of a tax bill that will let the ACA kill itself... Despite the ACA being his preferred healthcare program.

Let's say that he broke ties with the Republicans after 2000.  Would he be able to join the Democratic party and have any sort of political career afterwards?  I can't see him being successful, given the state of politics at the time.