US Politics

[FrostyWinnipeg]

 

[TrueBlue4ever]

Watched The Late Show tonight and Colbert had President and Dr. Biden on for an interview. I was struck by the plain decency of the man. Lots of mud has been slung by all sides and certainly this thread is no exception. But amid so many calls to make the current administration accountable for its corruption and take down all of Trump’s enablers for their action or inaction, I heard an incoming President tonight look past all of it. Call it naive, call it blissfully out of touch, call it hopelessly optimistic, but here was a man and his wife rising above, shrugging off the partisan attacks and personal shots against his son as being a nuisance but one that will not drag them down. Colbert himself said “you are a better man than I could be”. Maybe Biden sees no need to score political points against those who would keep the MAGA spirit alive, maybe he truly sees that there are more pressing needs in America and the world than revenge or comeuppance, but he sounds like someone who wants to just move forward, not focus on the past, and still believes in the best of all Americans - that the last 4 years is not really who Americans are. It could be seen as hokey, but it was uplifting to hear such calm patience. 
 

And then I heard him talk about Christmas at his house, and he talked about decorating the tree. Jill joked about how obsessive he was about hanging the tinsel, and he said without apology and full sincerity how vital it is that he hangs each strand individually, how you just cannot throw clumps at the tree. And it hit me - some think of him as the grandpa of the nation, but in that moment I saw my father. My father was a paediatrician for 45 years and the kindest person I have ever known. And he had the same obsession with tinsel, one strand at a time, and I know it was more than just his compulsive nature (a trait I am proud to share). It was about this perfection making things happier for all of us, to see a beautiful tree that brought joy in its pristine state, his labour was a labour of love. Hearing Biden talk about it with such reverence brought many memories and tears flooding back for a man I lost 3 years ago. I can only hope Biden is as good as his word and that all Americans truly give him a chance to fulfill his vision of decency and a better tomorrow. We all really need it, but it is on us to make it happen - together. Because if he can turn that optimism into reality, he will bring much joy, like I saw my father bring to my life. I guess I am getting sappy in my advancing age. Anyway, it was a nice moment in a very tough year. 
 

And by the way, Colbert’s band leader Jon Batiste, who is another amazingly positive soul and by all accounts a genuinely good person, did a beautifully soulful performance of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to close the show, and you could not hear it and feel bad afterwards. A stirring rendition that just makes you feel better about the world. 
 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by TrueBlue4ever

[blue_gold_84]

9 hours ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

 

Flynn should probably just shut the **** up already. What a clueless ******* idiot.

Edited December 18, 2020 by blue_gold_84
tweet link fixed

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

Oof, lots to take in on a Friday morning:

 

This doesn't raise any red flags here:

Anybody want to take a guess at what is prompting this? I honestly have no clue- I suspect it is less than anything above board though...

 

Edit: Possibly might have something to do with this? 

 

 

End of Edit/

And it's a Friday news dump before Christmas so... an avalanche of pardons looks to be coming today, going to be very interesting to see what names come up and who is going to be painted with being guilty of criminality:

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by wanna-b-fanboy

[Tracker]

Trump campaign attorney shares dangerous claim about SCOTUS Justice in bizarre Twitterstorm

   
Lin Wood, a QAnon backing attorney for the Trump campaign, tweeted a firestorm of tall allegations attacking U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for allegedly conspiring to have President Donald Trump voted out of office.

On Thursday, Dec. 18, Wood took to Twitter with details about an alleged call that took place sometime in August. According to Wood, Roberts and Justice Stephen Breyer discussed ways to have Trump voted out, reports Law & Crime.

"In discussing @realDonaldTrump in phone conversation in 8/19, Justice John Roberts stated that he would make sure 'the mother f#*ker would never be re-elected," the tweet said. "Roberts engaged in phone conversations with Justice Stephen Breyer discussing how to work to get Trump voted out."

To make matters worse, Wood's allegations are no different than any of the Trump campaign's other post-election claims and conspiracy theories as he had no evidence or proof to back the tweet. However, he did attempt to do damage control by claiming that there is documentation "in the hands of several third parties" to support his claim even though he did not attempt to provide the information.

"The documentation of my claims about Justices Roberts & Breyer has been placed in hands of several third parties," Wood claimed. "When one cannot attack message, all too often messenger is attacked," Wood said. "But TRUTH cannot be denied. It cannot be destroyed. I have made sure of that TRUTH."

At one point during his rant, Wood even attempted to accuse Roberts of being involved in Jeffrey Epstein's entanglements although the chief justice has already addressed this allegation.

Trump campaign attorney shares dangerous claim about SCOTUS Justice in bizarre Twitterstorm - Alternet.org

[Tracker]

This California Representative Survived Jonestown and Says Trumpers Have Definitely Drunk the Kool Aid

A few years ago, Jackie Speier resisted comparisons between Jim Jones and Donald Trump. But now, she sees them clearly.
Jackie Speier was a legislative counsel working for a California congressman when she was left for dead on an airport runway in Guyana, South America, in 1978. She was investigating Jim Jones, a charismatic religious leader whose Peoples Temple had come under scrutiny from parents alarmed at his hold over their young adult children.

Speier was shot five times by Jones loyalists and played dead in order to survive. Her boss, Rep. Leo Ryan, was killed, together with two members of an NBC crew following the story and countless others attempting to leave, including several defectors. That was only part of the massacre. Back at the commune Jones had established, 909 of his ardent followers followed him in a murder-suicide pact, downing a cyanide-infused flavored drink, an act of true believership that has since become known as “drinking the Kool-Aid.”

Parents got some 300 children to consume the poison, behavior that four decades later can only be understood in the context of a cult. It took Speier multiple surgeries and years to recover. Today, at age 70, she is a seven-term member of Congress representing the Bay Area of California. She spoke with The Daily Beast about her reflections on the Jonestown cult and the parallels she sees in the blind loyalty that followers of President Trump exhibit on a daily basis.

Tom Williams/Getty

[bustamente]

I think this guy wants to be a candidate in 2024, I'm guessing he hasn't paid any attention to the Javanka show at the WH, in all probability doesn't care..............is it really grift if you do it in plain sight and people know you are doing it?

 

[JCon]

The investigation into Hunter Biden is fraudulent. It was started in order to cast doubt on Biden's presidency so that the GOP could point to it to save themselves. 

 

Of course, when no charges are laid and the investigation yields nothing, the GOP will cry snowflake tears that there is a double standard. And, of course, that will inevitably happen under the Biden presidency. 

 

It's all fraud. Just like the GOP. 

 

Remember Ken Starr and his fraudulent investigation into Clinton? Yielded nothing but lying about having sex. They had nothing, so they attacked him for getting a blowy in the Oval Office.

Trump paid for prostitutes, lied, covered it up, and is a co-conspirator on charges that saw his lawyer go to jail. 

Edited December 18, 2020 by JCon

[Tracker]

47 minutes ago, JCon said:

The investigation into Hunter Biden is fraudulent. It was started in order to cast doubt on Biden's presidency so that the GOP could point to it to save themselves. 

Of course, when no charges are laid and the investigation yields nothing, the GOP will cry snowflake tears that there is a double standard. And, of course, that will inevitably happen under the Biden presidency. 

It's all fraud. Just like the GOP. 

Remember Ken Starr and his fraudulent investigation into Clinton? Yielded nothing but lying about having sex. They had nothing, so they attacked him for getting a blowy in the Oval Office.

Trump paid for prostitutes, lied, covered it up, and is a co-conspirator on charges that saw his lawyer go to jail. 

All the GOP has is empty threats and innuendo. It has worked well enough for Reagan and Bush junior as well as Trump, so what incentive do they have to change? Only if the DOJ actively pursues investigations and charges where appropriate will things change. If Biden wusses out, the Democrats will get what they deserve- yet another corrupt GOP reign. Only it will be worse, because they have seen that they can do whatever they want and suffer no consequences.

[TrueBlue4ever]

1 hour ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Oof, lots to take in on a Friday morning:

 

This doesn't raise any red flags here:

Anybody want to take a guess at what is prompting this? I honestly have no clue- I suspect it is less than anything above board though...

 

Edit: Possibly might have something to do with this? 

 

 

End of Edit/

And it's a Friday news dump before Christmas so... an avalanche of pardons looks to be coming today, going to be very interesting to see what names come up and who is going to be painted with being guilty of criminality:

 

 

Anyone want to take odds on if Kyle Rittenhouse gets a pardon? 100-1, 25-1, 10-1, even money?

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

Trump campaign attorney shares dangerous claim about SCOTUS Justice in bizarre Twitterstorm

   
Lin Wood, a QAnon backing attorney for the Trump campaign, tweeted a firestorm of tall allegations attacking U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for allegedly conspiring to have President Donald Trump voted out of office.

On Thursday, Dec. 18, Wood took to Twitter with details about an alleged call that took place sometime in August. According to Wood, Roberts and Justice Stephen Breyer discussed ways to have Trump voted out, reports Law & Crime.

"In discussing @realDonaldTrump in phone conversation in 8/19, Justice John Roberts stated that he would make sure 'the mother f#*ker would never be re-elected," the tweet said. "Roberts engaged in phone conversations with Justice Stephen Breyer discussing how to work to get Trump voted out."

To make matters worse, Wood's allegations are no different than any of the Trump campaign's other post-election claims and conspiracy theories as he had no evidence or proof to back the tweet. However, he did attempt to do damage control by claiming that there is documentation "in the hands of several third parties" to support his claim even though he did not attempt to provide the information.

"The documentation of my claims about Justices Roberts & Breyer has been placed in hands of several third parties," Wood claimed. "When one cannot attack message, all too often messenger is attacked," Wood said. "But TRUTH cannot be denied. It cannot be destroyed. I have made sure of that TRUTH."

At one point during his rant, Wood even attempted to accuse Roberts of being involved in Jeffrey Epstein's entanglements although the chief justice has already addressed this allegation.

Trump campaign attorney shares dangerous claim about SCOTUS Justice in bizarre Twitterstorm - Alternet.org

If Roberts wanted to take Trump down, he totally had his chance at the impeachment hearing when he could have stepped in and demanded more evidence be presented before the Senate trial. Not sure why he would change his stance between January and August. Sounds like, what’s that phrase, “fake news”?

[TrueBlue4ever]

40 minutes ago, Tracker said:

All the GOP has is empty threats and innuendo. It has worked well enough for Reagan and Bush junior as well as Trump, so what incentive do they have to change? Only if the DOJ actively pursues investigations and charges where appropriate will things change. If Biden wusses out, the Democrats will get what they deserve- yet another corrupt GOP reign. Only it will be worse, because they have seen that they can do whatever they want and suffer no consequences.

Making the GOP accountable with hearings won’t stop their behaviour, and it won’t turn the Conservative public against them. It will make them martyrs. So as much as the anti-Trump brigade would love that comeuppance, and the news media on both sides would eat up the spectacle (left wing could crow about the corruption, right wing could scream witch hunt and hypocrisy, and neither side would really care about the principles at play so long as it meant ratings), nothing of substance would be gained. The failed Trump impeachment resolved nothing, and only hardened each side’s pre-existing mindset of the other side, without truly exposing what we already knew or obviously suspected. So as fun as the circus/drive-by car crash might be, it would not get the nation anywhere productive and just cost a lot of money to put on political theatre. I think Biden knows how tired the nation is and sees giving it a rest from the freak show as the way to go. Now, if he gains control of the Senate in January then it will be much easier to skip the retribution hearings and heal the nation his way, since the GOP will need to bend to his will and cooperate to get anything from him, since he will hold the cards. 

Edited December 18, 2020 by TrueBlue4ever

[Tracker]

8 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Making the GOP accountable with hearings won’t stop their behaviour, and it won’t turn the Conservative public against them. It will make them martyrs. So as much as the anti-Trump brigade would love that comeuppance, and the news media on both sides would eat up the spectacle (left wing could crow about the corruption, right wing could scream witch hunt and hypocrisy, and neither side would really care about the principles at play so long as it meant ratings), nothing of substance would be gained. The failed Trump impeachment resolved nothing, and only hardened each side’s pre-existing mindset of the other side, without truly exposing what we already knew or obviously suspected. So as fun as the circus/drive-by car crash might be, it would not get the nation anywhere productive and just cost a lot of money to put on political theatre. I think Biden knows how tired the nation is and sees giving it a rest from the freak show as the way to go. Now, if he gains control of the Senate in January then it will be much easier to skip the retribution hearings and heal the nation his way, since the GOP will need to bend to his will and cooperate to get anything from him, since he will hold the cards. 

 

A criminal prosecution will be different from congressional hearings and are a lot less partisan. Ignoring all the laws that have been broken is much more dangerous to the democracy in the US than allowing the legal proceedings go forward. 

[bustamente]

Republicans play for keeps by any means possible, Democrats are patsies, that needs to stop with the Biden administration with the help of winning the Senate in January, hearings that will happen in both the House and Senate need to have some bite, subpoena's need to be observed, none of this executive immunity and disregard bs, you don't show up throw them in jail.

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

Figured this more about the politicalization of covid vaccine, so I'm going to out this here:

 

 

I dont get it- what am I missing here? 

 

They spout **** they dont even believe? I mean its not an ideological issue anymore... what possible reasons would they have to taint public confidence in the vaccine if they themselves are ******* taking it? 

Its not even a belief system anymore. Someone want to clue me in here?

[JCon]

29 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Figured this more about the politicalization of covid vaccine, so I'm going to out this here:

 

 

I dont get it- what am I missing here? 

 

They spout **** they dont even believe? I mean its not an ideological issue anymore... what possible reasons would they have to taint public confidence in the vaccine if they themselves are ******* taking it? 

Its not even a belief system anymore. Someone want to clue me in here?

It's always about power and money. 

 

It's just too bad they wasted a vaccine dose on Murdoch.

[bustamente]

Pentagon has stopped working with the Biden camp, why? because they don't want to show how effed America especially with all the attacks and hacks on various agencies that was just discovered and has been supposedly been going on for months, Trump as he has stripped away all protections they had against Russia for reason that will come out eventually but by then all the key players will have pardon's in hand because Trump is going to try to give them all preemptive pardons

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Figured this more about the politicalization of covid vaccine, so I'm going to out this here:

 

 

I don't get it- what am I missing here? 

 

They spout **** they don't even believe? I mean its not an ideological issue anymore... what possible reasons would they have to taint public confidence in the vaccine if they themselves are ******* taking it? 

Its not even a belief system anymore. Someone want to clue me in here?

I believe that this is all about promoting Putin's agenda as voiced by Trump. The aim is to sow disbelief about the credibility of the American political system in general and the validity of elections specifically. If there is enough violence or threats of violence, it will give Trump and his budding fascists an excuse to declare martial law. Even when it comes to the distribution of COVID vaccine, if there is turmoil, regardless if it is created and inflamed by the GOP, that will further the GOP agenda to that end. From Putin's point of view, a dictatorship led by Trump will be much more compliant with the Kremlin's policies.

[Tracker]

Not sure if it has been posted already, but apparently there are hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine in a warehouse in Washington that have been awaiting distribution orders since Tuesday. The Trump regime is doing...nothing about the American pandemic. 

[Mr Dee]

Moscow Mitch is playing Georgians for fools. If they pass the new Covid-19 bill this week, Corrupt Kelly and Perdue will say they gave Georgians something and please vote for them. - Keith Grant

Mitch McConnell told Republicans in a private call that Loeffler and Perdue were “getting hammered” for Congress’s failure to deliver more pandemic aid to struggling Americans — and that enacting the measure could help them - Keith Grant
 

[Tracker]

7 minutes ago, Mr Dee said:

Moscow Mitch is playing Georgians for fools. If they pass the new Covid-19 bill this week, Corrupt Kelly and Perdue will say they gave Georgians something and please vote for them. - Keith Grant

Mitch McConnell told Republicans in a private call that Loeffler and Perdue were “getting hammered” for Congress’s failure to deliver more pandemic aid to struggling Americans — and that enacting the measure could help them - Keith Grant
 

As horrible as it sounds (and it is) the GOP, led by McConnell is adamant that the financial relief package will not pass unless it includes a clause that protects employers from civil and criminal suits if they mandate employees to return to a COVID-ridden or non-protected workplace.

[Mr Dee]

28 minutes ago, Tracker said:

adamant that the financial relief package will not pass unless it includes a clause that protects employers from civil and criminal suits if they mandate employees to return to a COVID-ridden or non-protected workplace.

No problem.

Just have the administration’s lawyers write it up in any way they see fit. 

With their record in litigation, whatever they come up with, would never stand up in court.

[bustamente]

53 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Not sure if it has been posted already, but apparently there are hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine in a warehouse in Washington that have been awaiting distribution orders since Tuesday. The Trump regime is doing...nothing about the American pandemic. 

Trump and administration are incompetent to the point of being criminal, when you have JAVANKA and mini Hitler as your advisers you really never had a chance

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

2 hours ago, bustamente said:

Pentagon has stopped working with the Biden camp, why? because they don't want to show how effed America especially with all the attacks and hacks on various agencies that was just discovered and has been supposedly been going on for months, Trump as he has stripped away all protections they had against Russia for reason that will come out eventually but by then all the key players will have pardon's in hand because Trump is going to try to give them all preemptive pardons

With trump, it's always simpler- its about him and his precious wall.

 

[Mr Dee]

Trump...by the numbers

-Trump has continued to tweet more with each additional year in office. He has tweeted more than 25,000 times — an average of 18 times per day — since taking office in January 2017, including retweets.

While in office, Trump has continued to use a personal cell phone with a microphone and camera to make calls — defying previous presidential security protocols and ignoring repeated warnings from his staff that the practice could leave him vulnerable to foreign surveillance.

He also uses social media to spread misinformation. As of December 17, Twitter had flagged 362 of his tweets over potentially misleading or disputed claims, according to Factba.se, a data analytics company.

Turnover

91% Turnover rate among senior White House officials

13 Cabinet members have resigned during Trump’s term

7 People have served as communications director
(the most turnover in this position since the Reagan administration)

11 Days served by Anthony Scaramucci, the communications director with the shortest tenure

-Trump has appointed more judges in one term than any president since Carter

-President Donald Trump has accelerated the pace of his executive actions in his final year in office, far surpassing the number of executive orders and presidential memoranda that his predecessors had issued at this point in their tenure.

-The United States accounts for only 4% of the world's population, but 23% of Covid-19 cases worldwide

-Since taking office, the President has made 418 visits to Trump-branded properties — which include 307 days spent at golf clubs. That means Trump has visited golf courses on about 21% of the days of his presidency, or roughly 1 in 5 days. He has visited Trump properties on about 29% of the days of his presidency — nearly one-third of his days in office.

-More executions under Trump than any president in more than 75 years.

https://cnn.it/2Kh8MLf

 

 

[tacklewasher]

But they can buy whatever cherry pies they want.