[Skuj]

Not only is it surreal that POTUS actually takes time/energy to make tweets like that, but he is also touching on a conspiracy theory regarding someone who died in Scarborough's office when he was in politics.

The POTUS!!

No matter how far we go into the Trump era, I still find myself shocked by it all. You cannot dream this shit.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Skuj

No matter how far we go into the Trump era, I still find myself shocked by it all. You cannot dream this shit.

Yeah, but look at the Michiganderthals pointing rifles at the state's Capitol, inside of which people are trying to save the lamebrained's own pathetic lives. They've always been there. It's just that the line from Jim Crow to Newt to Bannon to Fox to Palin culminated in their birther Moron Messiah Drumpf, and the unseemliness of it all became "acceptable". I still keep a post-it on the fridge's door with "This Is Not Normal" written on it, but unfortunately it's hard to remain truly shocked anymore - worse still, the election of a Democrat as president could certainly improve things but won't be nearly enough to reboot the country.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Skuj

Not only is it surreal that POTUS actually takes time/energy to make tweets like that, but he is also touching on a conspiracy theory regarding someone who died in Scarborough's office when he was in politics.

The POTUS!!

No matter how far we go into the Trump era, I still find myself shocked by it all. You cannot dream this shit.

stephen king did

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Yeah, but look at the Michiganderthals pointing rifles at the state's Capitol, inside of which people are trying to save the lamebrained's own pathetic lives. They've always been there. It's just that the line from Jim Crow to Newt to Bannon to Fox to Palin culminated in their birther Moron Messiah Drumpf, and the unseemliness of it all became "acceptable". I still keep a post-it on the fridge's door with "This Is Not Normal" written on it, but unfortunately it's hard to remain truly shocked anymore - worse still, the election of a Democrat as president could certainly improve things but won't be nearly enough to reboot the country.

I've often thought that Palin was a big turning point that is often overlooked. Holy fuck...if she was a VP pick, then anything is possible!! I will never understand this glaring lapse of reasoning by McCain, and his book does very little to help me in this regard.

Trump and his minions have done enormous damage to America. 10 Dem POTUSes in a row will not be able to fix this.

America: The Farewell Tour!!

[The Soup Nazi]

Yow, that Mourning In America video is something!

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Skuj

I've often thought that Palin was a big turning point that is often overlooked. Holy fuck...if she was a VP pick, then anything is possible!! I will never understand this glaring lapse of reasoning by McCain, and his book does very little to help me in this regard.

Did you watch Game Change? Republicans have (of course) dismissed it as a liberal fantasy, but it's actually based on a very thorough journalistic investigation. SPOILER ALERT - from Wikipedia:

The film opens in 2010 with a frame story: Republican strategist Steve Schmidt is being interviewed by Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes. Cooper poses a difficult question regarding former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin: was she selected because she would make the best vice president or because she would win the election?

The story flashes back to Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, which is struggling to compete with other Republican candidates during the primary season. In a desperate phone call McCain places to Schmidt, he learns about the decision to sit out the 2008 race, but McCain convinces Schmidt to reconsider.

Months later, Schmidt is serving as McCain's Senior Campaign Strategist, and with his help, McCain has clinched the Republican nomination. McCain's preferred running mate, Senator Joe Lieberman, is rejected by the majority of his senior advisers – including Schmidt – because he will not help compete with the celebrity of their opponent, Democratic Senator Barack Obama. The strategists quickly look for a "game change" candidate. The replacement must do four things: excite the conservative base, win the vote of independents, distance the campaign from the Bush administration, and close the "gender gap" – the GOP's 20-point deficit with women. Investigating prominent female Republican politicians, the campaign finds Palin, the governor of Alaska, to have the charismatic qualities they want. After an exceptionally brief vetting process, she is selected. Palin's eventual public reveal creates the buzz that Schmidt and McCain were looking for, bringing them to even or better with Obama in the polls.

While Palin's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention is well received, the campaign becomes concerned that she is ignorant about many political issues and grossly unprepared. Schmidt handles controversies from her past, such as Troopergate and "Bridge to Nowhere", while other staff attempt to fill broad gaps in her understanding of domestic and foreign politics. While prepping for the interviews, she is preoccupied with her approval ratings in Alaska and the absence of her family while campaigning, eventually becoming unresponsive to advisers who begin to question her mental state. Several prominent blunders in major interviews, such as those with Katie Couric, are a source of mockery in the media and frustration in the campaign. Overwhelmed and poorly prepared, Palin lashes back at attempts by Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace to give her a crash course on the major issues, then blames them for setting up public interviews that ultimately reveal her lack of knowledge.

The staff also comes to accept that Palin is better at memorizing and delivering lines than she is at actually understanding issues. Thus they grudgingly prepare her for the Vice-Presidential debate by simply having Palin memorize about forty minutes' worth of talking points, which manages to get her through the debate without major incident. However, Palin's growing popularity with the Republican base, even as she alienates mainstream voters, soon overshadows the campaign; Palin becomes uncooperative, rejecting – and conflicting with – Schmidt and the rest of the campaign staff as she gains her own following. Palin, in fact, rebuffs McCain by publicly disagreeing with his decision to end campaigning in Michigan. By late 2008, with prospects appearing poor, the campaign staff boosts a negative campaign against Obama's past associations with the liberal elite, which Palin supports but McCain resists. McCain, meanwhile, becomes discouraged by the negative campaigning, watching growing hostility and vitriol emerge toward Obama among McCain's supporters. With Election Day approaching, senior campaigners express regret that Palin turned out to be style without substance, with Schmidt lamenting that they neglected to vet her competency. McCain consoles Schmidt by reaffirming that taking a risk with Palin was better than fading away.

When Obama wins on Election Night, Schmidt tries to stop a rebellious Palin from giving a concession speech along with McCain's. She appeals to McCain, who agrees with Schmidt. He tells Palin that she is now one of the party leaders and warns her not to let herself be hijacked by extremism. Rick Davis (McCain's campaign manager) comments that Palin will soon be forgotten. During McCain's concession speech, he thanks Palin, who receives enormous and sustained applause, chants, and enthusiasm from the crowd, which is noted in the faces of McCain's advisors. The film returns to the 2010 interview; regarding Cooper's question about whether he would pick Palin again if he had the chance to go back, Schmidt replies that life does not give do-overs.

[Bytor Peltor]

Originally Posted by Skuj

I bet I know how this proceeds now: The judge (Obama appointee, surely!) will (rightly) deem that Flynn is still guilty, and that these notes have no effect whatsoever. Cue the outrage in Trumpyworld. Flynn gets pardoned very quickly (fuck you Obama!) and plays a major role in Today's GOP. While the dust still settles, Stone gets pardoned.

Amirite?

$10, anyone?

I'll take that bet!!!


Flynn bombshells cast doubt on Mueller prosecutor Brandon Van Grack's compliance with court order


What Van Grack didn’t inform the court about – and didn’t provide to Flynn – was the newly unsealed January 4, 2017 "Closing Communication" from the FBI Washington Field Office, which recommended the FBI close its investigation of Flynn, as its exhaustive search through government databases ”did not yield any information on which to predicate further investigative efforts."

Van Grack also failed to provide evidence to Flynn’s attorneys that anti-Trump former FBI agent Peter Strzok then immediately intervened and instructed the FBI case manager handling the Flynn investigation to keep the probe open, followed by indicators that the bureau would seek to investigate Flynn for possible violations of an obscure 18th century law known as the Logan Act -- which has never been utilized in a modern prosecution.

Another Strzok text mentions that the FBI’s "7th floor" – meaning FBI leadership – may have been involved in the decision to keep the Flynn case alive.


Brady Material = failure to disclose exculpatory material is a serious offense and warrants voiding the verdict against the defendant. It also suggest serious charges should be brought against the offending parties for their failure to comply with the Brady Rule.

The Supreme Court in Brady vs. Maryland and in Giglio vs. the United States made it the duty of ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES INCLUDING PROSECUTORS to provide any and all exculpatory material that would have a reasonable probability of altering the results in a trial or affecting the sentencing of the defendant. More importantly the prosecution MUST disclose this information to the defendant in a timely manner (this is my favorite part) and this obligation is enforceable whether the defense request the information or not!!!

In the Flynn case, this obligation has a greater weight because Brandon Van Grack, a Justice Department prosecutor, A former special prosecutor of Robert Mueller’s team was under a COURT ORDER to produce such evidence and COMPLETELY FAILD TO DO SO!!!



WOW - easiest $10 I’ve ever WON - Amirite???

[Skuj]

Oh fuck!! My heart jumps into my throat when I see this:

https://thehill.com/regulation/court...with-infection

We all fucking know what Trump/McConnell will do if the worst happens.

I love Obama, but I can never forgive him for caving to McConnell, when the latter had absolutely no legal, historical or constitutional right to block a SCOTUS hearing. And we are all paying for that massive mistake today. And it could get a lot worse if Ruth doesn't make it to the finish line.

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Did you watch Game Change? Republicans have (of course) dismissed it as a liberal fantasy, but it's actually based on a very thorough journalistic investigation. SPOILER ALERT - from Wikipedia:

Fascinating. Thanks. No I never saw this.

[_tunic_]

Originally Posted by Robert Schunk

The Ku Klux Klan was the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Party in the Deep South during postwar reconstruction, and the Democratic Party/White Citizens' League/Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission/Ku Klux Klan alliance in Mississippi during the late 1950's-early 1960's arguably constituted a fully totalitarian movement.

Please provide source information for that claim.

Proof that you're wrong:
No, the Democratic Party didn’t create the Ku Klux Klan
and
Ku Klux Klan not founded by the Democratic Party

I might update this post if I find other/better sources

[h8kurdt]

You actually trying to use an excuse of "well democrats used to be a racist party, so it's not that bad now that the republicans are"?

Like those people who use the line that because Lincoln was a republican that absolves them of any wrong doing since then.

[Bytor Peltor]

Originally Posted by Bytor Peltor

On TV in front of the American people, Shifty Schiff moaned and groaned that it was the Republicans who were trying to hide evidence......but now that the evidence has been declassified, Shifty Schiff doesn’t want anyone to see it??

Any of you free minded freethinkers care to guess what Mr. Shifty Schiff doesn’t want you to see?

Geez......none of you free minded freethinkers have anything to say?

Perhaps you already know??


Acting DNI Director Informs Schiff ‘Russiagate’ Transcripts Ready for Release, Urges Him to ‘Honor’ Transparency Vow

“I urge you to honor your previous public statements, and your committee’s unanimous vote on this matter, to release all 53 cleared transcripts to Members of Congress and the American public as soon as possible.”

All 53 interviews (6000 pages) have been cleared

......how long will it take?
(this is the best part)

Richard Grenell wrote, while adding that he was “willing” to release the transcripts directly from ODNI “as to ensure we comply with the unanimous and bipartisan vote to release the transcripts.”


......the big names are coming!!!

[!@#$%!]

George Conway: Trump went ballistic at me on Twitter. Here’s why he reacts with such rage.

May 6, 2020 at 4:16 p.m. MDT

Americans died from covid-19 at the rate of about one every 42 seconds during the past month. That ought to keep any president awake at night.

Not Donald Trump.

Just days ago, the president flipped out at a detailed New York Times article that described how he watches television at all hours, obsessed about how he’s covered in the news. As though to prove the story’s thesis, Trump rage-tweeted that it was a “phony story” and that the media would say “Anything to demean!”
And then, as though to prove the point again, at 12:46 a.m. on Tuesday, Trump went ballistic on Twitter — at me.

In a four-tweet screed, he attacked me and my colleagues at the Lincoln Project as “LOSERS,” “loser types,” “crazed” and “a disgrace to Honest Abe.” About me, he said, “I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, Moonface, but it must have been really bad.” Ten hours later, on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, Trump was still enraged, ranting about us for nearly two minutes in front of the media.

What triggered his ire was a 60-second online ad we released Monday. Entitled “Mourning in America,” it’s an inversion of President Ronald Reagan’s famous 1984 reelection campaign ad, “Morning in America.” Reagan’s ad took credit for the resurgence of the American economy. Our ad puts the blame for the government’s failures in responding to covid-19 right where it belongs — on Trump. He dithered for 10 weeks, from January to mid-March, misleading the public about the severity of the crisis, pretending that the virus would never take hold here. History will record that each day of delay cost American lives.

It may strike you as deranged that a sitting president facing a pandemic has busied himself attacking journalists, political opponents, television news hosts and late-night comedians — even deriding a former president who merely called for empathy and unity in response to the virus. It may strike you as nuts that Trump bragged about his supposed Facebook ranking in the middle of a virus task-force briefing, asserted that millions would have died were it not for him, boasted that “the ‘Ratings’ of my News Conferences etc.” were driving “the Lamestream Media . . . CRAZY,” and floated bogus miracle cures, including suggesting that scientists consider injecting humans with household disinfectants such as Clorox.

If so, you’re not alone. Tens of thousands of mental-health professionals, testing the bounds of professional ethics, have warned for years about Trump’s unfitness for office. Some people listened; many, including myself, did not, until it was too late.

Now, it’s more obvious than ever. Trump’s narcissism deadens any ability he might otherwise have had to carry out the duties of a president in the manner the Constitution requires. He’s so self-obsessed, he can only act for himself, not for the nation. It’s why he was impeached, and why he should have been removed from office.

And it’s why he reacts with such rage. He fears the truth. He fears being revealed for what he truly is. Extreme narcissists exaggerate their achievements and talents, and so Trump has spent his life building up a false image of himself — not just for others, but for himself, to protect his deeply fragile ego. He lies endlessly, not just in the way sociopaths do, which is to con others, but also to delude himself. He claims to be a “genius,” even though he apparently can’t spell, can’t punctuate, can’t do math and lacks geographic literacy, and even though his own appointees have privately called him a “moron,” an “idiot,” a “dope,” and “dumb.” Now, God help us, he fancies himself an expert in virology and infectious diseases.

But the jig is up. When Trump lied and claimed credit for “the greatest economy in the history of our country,” even though it wasn’t, and even though he inherited a strong economy, and goosed it up with trillions of dollars in debt, it didn’t matter to most people. The economy was good — so what? The debt? That won’t come due for decades.

When he tried to obstruct the Mueller investigation, that didn’t move them either. The rule of law and the violation of a presidential oath are abstractions; the Dow Jones industrial average and the unemployment rate aren’t. And when he used his presidential power to try to extort a foreign ally into smearing a political opponent, not enough cared then, either.

Now it all matters, painfully and concretely. Trump’s lying, his self-regard, his self-soothing, his lack of empathy, his narcissistic rage, his contempt for norms, rules, laws, facts and simple truths — have all come home to roost. Now he sees his poll numbers fall accordingly, and lashes out with ever-increasing anger. For deep in his psyche he knows the truth. Because he fears being revealed as a fake or deranged, he’ll call others fake or deranged. Because he fears losing, he’ll call them losers instead.

And while Trump’s mind roils in rage, too many Americans are losing their lives. That’s the losing that matters, to everyone but him.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...e-knows-truth/

[Skuj]

I like George Conway. I like him a lot.

But the Bytemes and Skunks of the world will just laugh at all of that.

And Kellyanne will call it "alternative facts".

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Skuj

Fascinating. Thanks. No I never saw this.

How can you not watch everything with Julianne Moore in it. 59 and still hotter than a urinary infection.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Skuj

I love Obama, but I can never forgive him for caving to McConnell, when the latter had absolutely no legal, historical or constitutional right to block a SCOTUS hearing. And we are all paying for that massive mistake today.

Was there anything Obama could do about it? "Sue him"? Or was it up to Congress to impeach its most powerful member (fuck Paul Ryan), something completely unthinkable with both houses controlled by the GOP then?

I know McConnell failed to comply with his oath, but still, the Senate majority leader holds an incredible amount of power. I assume that's in the Constitution (correct me if I'm wrong), in which case that alone makes the revered document a joke - and I didn't even have to bring up the Second Amendment.

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

How can you not watch everything with Julianne Moore in it. 59 and still hotter than a urinary infection.

I have to confess that I didn't even bother googling it until this. I figured that milestone was too recent for a good/thoughtful film about it. But Julainne Moore? I looked it up. Fuck, I must see this. Thanks. It may help me better understand Trumpism. But first, I must tend to Modern General Relativity.

[Skuj]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Was there anything Obama could do about it? "Sue him"? Or was it up to Congress to impeach its most powerful member (fuck Paul Ryan), something completely unthinkable with both houses controlled by the GOP then?

I know McConnell failed to comply with his oath, but still, the Senate majority leader holds an incredible amount of power. I assume that's in the Constitution (correct me if I'm wrong), in which case that alone makes the revered document a joke - and I didn't even have to bring up the Second Amendment.

Obama's choices were indeed ugly, and Garland probably wouldn't play along, but what McConnell did was downright fucking illegal. I think Obama had the law on his side if he simply installed Garland, seeing as McConnell outright refused a hearing. He should have done that, consequences be damned.

We are all paying for McConnell's "victory" today. That McConnell keeps bragging about this as his greatest achievement speaks volumes about the man. It is my opinion that he is one of the worst human beings ever. He is immensely smarter than Trump, yet he honours Trump. Truly pathetic. America has lost.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Skuj

I think Obama had the law on his side if he simply installed Garland

I didn't know that was indeed an option (a "nuclear" one, as tabloids like to call them). Towards the end of his second term, as it was clear Congress wasn't gonna give him jack shit, no matter how legitimate, rational, urgent, fair, ET CETERA, Obama did take executive action on a number of issues. Remember this?

I am determined to make the most of every moment I have left. After the midterm elections, my advisors asked me, "Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?" And I said, "Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list."

Take executive action on immigration? BUCKET.

New climate regulations? BUCKET. It’s the right thing to do.

If you can't figure out what rhymes with bucket, I can't help you.

[Skuj]

FUCKET?

Anyway, if Ruth dies, we all know what McConnell and Trump will do, and the hypocrisy is astounding.