US Politics Thread

[JIAHN]

11 minutes ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

 

I haven't looked in years but at one point when state legislatures were ranked as far as corruption, New York State would regularly come in as the most corrupt.  It wasn't that long ago that the FBI raided then arrested several of the NYS legislative leaders.  If memory serves, they have all been convicted of crimes.

 

I've lived 4/5ths of my life in this state.  It's not an honest one.

 

If I thought anybody would read it, I'd go on to explain the history of the state leaders screwing over and causing the initial downfall of Buffalo with the St. Lawrence Seaway last century.

 

As for some red states, you're pretty much dead on with.  They're corrupt especially in the deep red states because they usually have large majorities which gives them a fiefdom where they can lie, cheat, and steal in.

 

I forget which red state it was about 7-10 years ago, the legislators were so corrupt that they actually proposed the changing of the wording of a state law so they couldn't be prosecuted if caught breaking that law in the future.  I don't know where that eventually landed since I was so disgusted that I never followed up on the final outcome.

 

The worst part is it is now leaking into Canada..........so much patronage going on..........god knows, I can't keep track of it all...........at all levels  

[Sabrefan1]

Just now, Elias Pettersson said:

What would happen if Trump wins the election?  Is he allowed to be POTUS if he is found guilty in this case and has to do time?

 

He technically could be sworn in under house arrest if he's sentenced to do any time.

 

Quote

Is he allowed to be POTUS if he is found guilty in this case and has to do time?

 

Yes.  There's nothing in the constitution specifically prohibiting him.

 

Quote

If he can become POTUS wouldn't he be the one to go after the other former POTUS's?

 

That's up to the DoJ to decide who they go after.  If a president has a bunch of yes men in place at the DoJ then he can indirectly go after anybody.

 

There's no way they're going to pin anything on Biden if that's what you're getting at.  That ship has sailed.  The next DoJ will not want to go against the investigation of this DoJ.  Then the US may as well start calling itself an official banana republic if that happens.

 

Quote

Isn't that what they called his "revenge tour"?

 

It's Trump.  He's a bully.  He'd go after easy prey.  A former POTUS is anything but an easy target.  Trump is living proof of that.  Besides the already decided document case, Biden is fairly clean as far as any possible criminality.  It's Hunter who's the black sheep who has all of the trouble.

 

Quote

This is interesting in terms of how it is going to play out.  If I were the Democrats I'd much rather have Michelle Obama run against Trump than Biden.  There is too much risk to run Biden.  He may lose...

 

I'm very interested on how this all plays out. 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Michelle Obama already say that she'll never run for president?

 

Biden is doing better in polling.  Don't count him out yet.  I still think there's a possibility that "Trump fatigue" will set in with voters.  People may get tired of constantly hearing his name.

[Spur1]

3 hours ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

That was my first thought too.  I was like, "I get how bored he must be but damn dude, you lost your best put-down at best and you just gave your opponents some serious ammunition against you at worst."

 

Slap a friggin' bed in that plane of yours if it already doesn't have one. 

It does but for a different purpose. 

[Sabrefan1]

2 minutes ago, JIAHN said:

The worst part is it is now leaking into Canada..........so much patronage going on..........god knows, I can't keep track of it all...........at all levels  

 

I knew Canadian politics were unfortunately beginning to mirror the US, but I didn't know that it was getting bad.

 

I should hop in and read the Canadian politics thread once in a while.

[Sabrefan1]

1 minute ago, Spur1 said:

It does but for a different purpose. 

 

Just in case Ivanka really will do anything to get back in his good graces again? 

[JIAHN]

41 minutes ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

I knew Canadian politics were unfortunately beginning to mirror the US, but I didn't know that it was getting bad.

 

I should hop in and read the Canadian politics thread once in a while.

 

I am not saying that anyone is worse than the next, but I am hearing far more "TEA" party opinions.....the ultra Conservatives are in there too!

 

The even worse part is that there seems to be a growing number of ultra lefts too...........

 

Like, FK Me! 

[RupertKBD]

11 hours ago, Sabrefan1 said:

What claim are you talking about?!  I said, "Giant Pandora's box of Dung".  It has nothing to do with Biden.  It has everything to do with Letitia James and the NY state Democrats.  She ran on the premise of going after Trump.  It was a major part of her platform.  She was not shy about saying that when she was running for office. 

 

Like I have said before here.  New York State and City Democrats covered up his wrongdoings when he was one of them, but after he became a Republican and ran for president, he suddenly found them attacking him for some of the same things he did in the past.

 

There is zero doubt in my mind that he is technically guilty of what they are charging him with.  He even admitted it while he was president.

 

My issue is that they purposely timed all of this for political reasons.  This isn't a tough case and should have been brought to court shortly after Trump left office. 

 

New York is a fairly corrupt political state.  The FBI barely makes the news anymore when they raid someones office.

 

So, you were talking about NY Democrats then? I apologize for the misunderstanding.

 

It's just that when you say "Congress" needs to do something about it, one tends to think you're commenting on the Federal Democratic party and it closely resembles the rhetoric that Trump and his cronies are constantly spewing.

 

[Bob Long]

9 hours ago, JIAHN said:

 

The worst part is it is now leaking into Canada..........so much patronage going on..........god knows, I can't keep track of it all...........at all levels  

 

what are you talking about specifically J? 

[Sabrefan1]

45 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

So, you were talking about NY Democrats then? I apologize for the misunderstanding.

 

It's just that when you say "Congress" needs to do something about it, one tends to think you're commenting on the Federal Democratic party and it closely resembles the rhetoric that Trump and his cronies are constantly spewing.

 

 

No worries.  I should have been concentrating on making my point less quixotic than I ended up doing.  That's totally on me, and not your fault.  Instead, as I was talking on the board, I was going back and forth while watching the WNBA draft and then back and forth in a YouTube video tornado session. 

 

That said, I don't doubt that there is some national boot-licking coming from NY politicians that have their greedy little eyes on a future national office, but after what happened to Adams in NYC when he went full bore after the Biden Admin., there's probably more tiptoeing around the national scene for the politicians here than there is any colluding.

 

It's no secret that I don't like Trump, but I also can smell a fart in a room and NY state politicians are stinking up the place.  Letitia James wants to be governor, and she's playing political games with our national reputation on the line.  What's going on now should have been taken care of 2-3 years ago.  Trump flat out admitted his guilt in his tweeting.  Mix that fact in with him being tried in a very liberal location, and I doubt Trump is going to escape that court room unscathed.

 

This entire drama is making the US look awful on the national stage.  We weren't exactly a shining beacon of Democratic purity even before all of these ridiculous political games began.

 

Edited April 16 by Sabrefan1
added clarity to my first paragraph

[RupertKBD]

1 hour ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

No worries.  I should have been concentrating on making my point less quixotic than I ended up doing.  That's totally on me, and not your fault.  Instead, as I was talking on the board, I was going back and forth while watching the WNBA draft and then back and forth in a YouTube video tornado session. 

 

That said, I don't doubt that there is some national boot-licking coming from NY politicians that have their greedy little eyes on a future national office, but after what happened to Adams in NYC when he went full bore after the Biden Admin., there's probably more tiptoeing around the national scene for the politicians here than there is any colluding.

 

It's no secret that I don't like Trump, but I also can smell a fart in a room and NY state politicians are stinking up the place.  Letitia James wants to be governor, and she's playing political games with our national reputation on the line.  What's going on now should have been taken care of 2-3 years ago.  Trump flat out admitted his guilt in his tweeting.  Mix that fact in with him being tried in a very liberal location, and I doubt Trump is going to escape that court room unscathed.

 

This entire drama is making the US look awful on the national stage.  We weren't exactly a shining beacon of Democratic purity even before all of these ridiculous political games began.

 

All fair points, but I think it's a bit unfair to lay all of that blame at the feet of James.

 

This is all on Trump IMO, and I'd argue that the US would look awful regardless, even if the NY case(s) didn't even exist. The world knows that Trump tried to extort Ukraine....they know he tried to steal classified information and they know he schemed to overthrow an election he lost.

 

Whether or not a hush money trial and a fraud lawsuit in one state are political in nature or not, it doesn't mitigate the fact that your country is seriously considering electing a man that every other rational person on the planet knows is a criminal.

[RupertKBD]

I have to chuckle a bit at the amount of prospective jurors that have been disqualified already....

 

Almost nobody wants to be on jury duty, so if I were in that position, I'd just tell the judge what I actually think about Trump and I'd be out of there in a New York minute....

[Sabrefan1]

6 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

All fair points, but I think it's a bit unfair to lay all of that blame at the feet of James.

 

This is all on Trump IMO, and I'd argue that the US would look awful regardless, even if the NY case(s) didn't even exist. The world knows that Trump tried to extort Ukraine....they know he tried to steal classified information and they know he schemed to overthrow an election he lost.

 

Don't get me wrong.  Trump is the root of all of this.  James is just an opportunist taking advantage.  She tried to run against Hochul for governor but had to drop out because nobody, state or federal, would donate to her campaign.  She's more or less being used as a tool at this point. 

 

The world looked down on Trump more than they did the US back then.  The outside world was still riding high on it's love for Obama.  He ended up being more popular outside the US at the end of his 2nd term than inside the US.

 

Quote

Whether or not a hush money trial and a fraud lawsuit in one state are political in nature or not, it doesn't mitigate the fact that your country is seriously considering electing a man that every other rational person on the planet knows is a criminal.

 

The US is at a crossroads right now and there aren't any visible paths at this point in time that look good to go down.  People are too blind wrapped up in their political ideology to see the forest for the trees. 

 

Neither side is a beacon of hope.  One side is just worse than the other.  That's one of the reasons that I badly want to see more 3rd party and independent choices for offices.

[RupertKBD]

2 minutes ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

Don't get me wrong.  Trump is the root of all of this.  James is just an opportunist taking advantage.  She tried to run against Hochul for governor but had to drop out because nobody, state or federal, would donate to her campaign.  She's more or less being used as a tool at this point. 

 

The world looked down on Trump more than they did the US back then.  The outside world was still riding high on it's love for Obama.  He ended up being more popular outside the US at the end of his 2nd term than inside the US.

 

 

The US is at a crossroads right now and there aren't any visible paths at this point in time that look good to go down.  People are too blind wrapped up in their political ideology to see the forest for the trees. 

 

Neither side is a beacon of hope.  One side is just worse than the other.  That's one of the reasons that I badly want to see more 3rd party and independent choices for offices.

 

Hey, there's always RFK Jr....

 

According to him, some people in his family don't believe he's unfit for public office. I don't know how you can ask for a better endorsement than that....

[CBH1926]

12 hours ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

 

I haven't looked in years but at one point when state legislatures were ranked as far as corruption, New York State would regularly come in as the most corrupt.  It wasn't that long ago that the FBI raided then arrested several of the NYS legislative leaders.  If memory serves, they have all been convicted of crimes.

 

I've lived 4/5ths of my life in this state.  It's not an honest one.

 

If I thought anybody would read it, I'd go on to explain the history of the state leaders screwing over and causing the initial downfall of Buffalo with the St. Lawrence Seaway last century.

 

As for some red states, you're pretty much dead on with.  They're corrupt especially in the deep red states because they usually have large majorities which gives them a fiefdom where they can lie, cheat, and steal in.

 

I forget which red state it was about 7-10 years ago, the legislators were so corrupt that they actually proposed the changing of the wording of a state law so they couldn't be prosecuted if caught breaking that law in the future.  I don't know where that eventually landed since I was so disgusted that I never followed up on the final outcome.

You are correct, I am little disappointed that Illinois came in 3rd spot.

But our bright beacon in corruption Chicago has been number 1 most corrupt city in the U.S 4 years in a row. They don’t call our politics the Chicago way for no reason.

 

https://news.wttw.com/2023/11/03/four-peat-chicago-ranks-no-1-corruption-report-finds#:~:text=For the fourth year in,University of Illinois at Chicago.

Edited April 16 by CBH1926

[RupertKBD]

Looks like MTG has company, as a second Repug has threatened to oust Speaker Mike Johnson:

 

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/16/thomas-massie-mike-johnson-motion-to-vacate

 

Some might remember Thomas Massie. He's the asshole who posted a Christmas card a few years back showing every member of his family holding an assault rifle.

 

Quote

 

Conservative Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in her efforts to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after the Louisiana Republican announced plans to bring multiple foreign aid bills to the floor.

Why it matters: Johnson's speakership is in the most precarious place its been since taking over the gavel, coming under fire from conservatives over his handling of an array of policy issues.

• Massie told the room he feels Johnson should resign and asserted he would co-sponser the motion to vacate.
• Greene for weeks has threatened to force a vote on his ouster over Ukraine aid, doubling down despite former President Trump asserting he stands with Johnson.

Massie's comments were met with boos from the majority of the conference, two members confirmed.

• "It's a clusterf**k," one member said, adding "Johnson got a round of applause."
• "We are screwed," another member told Axios.

 

Edited April 16 by RupertKBD

[Sabrefan1]

13 minutes ago, CBH1926 said:

You are correct, I am little disappointed that Illinois came in 3rd spot.

But our bright beacon in corruption Chicago has been number 1 most corrupt city in the U.S 4 years in a row. They don’t call our politics the Chicago way for no reason.

 

https://news.wttw.com/2023/11/03/four-peat-chicago-ranks-no-1-corruption-report-finds#:~:text=For the fourth year in,University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

Thanks for looking it up for me.  It's not even surprising that NYS is still among the most corrupt.  I stopped checking the stats and rankings years ago.  It was depressing every time the rankings would come out.

 

As a city, Chicago has corruption boiled down to a fine art.  NYC could even learn a thing or three from Chicago. 

 

Except for Trump's buddy, Blagojevich.  He "sold" Obama's Senate seat in the most stupid easily traced ham-handed way possible when he was governor of Illinois.

[RupertKBD]

I found this interesting....according to this report, Trump is paying Weisselberg to keep quiet about anything illegal his former boss might have done. Enough money ($2 million, according to the report) to convince Weisselberg to lie for Trump and serve two stints in prison.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/trump-is-paying-ex-accountant-hush-money-to-avoid-aiding-prosecutors-report/ar-BB1lIKnC?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=de1117b6a76e49bd809841363a9e1209&ei=80
 

Quote

 

Former President Donald Trump has had another hush money arrangement to try to avoid getting held civilly or criminally responsible for anything related to the Trump Organization, reported The Daily Beast — this time, with his family's longtime former CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Weisselberg, according to the report from Michael Daly, "signed a $2 million separation agreement with the Trump Organization as he began a five-month jail term for tax evasion in January 2023. The agreement called for eight payments between March 31, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024. Five have been made, so Trump is still on the hook for three more. In return, Weisselberg agreed not to 'induce, encourage, instigate, aid, abet or otherwise cause any other person entity to bring or file a complaint, charge, lawsuit or other proceeding' against Trump or anyone associated with his company."

 

 

The payoff wasn't the thing that surprised me however. (I'm betting that Walt Nauta has a similar deal) it's the fact that it's apparently legal:

 

Quote

 

This arrangement, which according to the report is completely legal, effectively means Trump is buying one of his former employees' silence in his financial proceedings — which includes a case about him unlawfully trying to conceal payments to buy an adult film star's silence.

While the arrangement itself wasn't illegal, Weisselberg himself has admitted to breaking the law in order to honor it in the civil fraud trial brought by Attorney General Letitia James. In that trial, where Trump was accused of systematically manipulating the value of his properties to reduce his tax liabilities and interest payments to banks, Weisselberg admitted to perjuring himself when he said he was unaware of Trump's assessment of Trump Tower square footage.

 

 

[nuckin_futz]

 

For the life of me I cannot recall a stock with this much market cap (at the top) taking such a sustained beating. I have seen some of them get cut in half in a day on poor corporate news etc but never seen one take such a consistent pounding.

[PistolPete13]

2 hours ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

Don't get me wrong.  Trump is the root of all of this.  James is just an opportunist taking advantage.  She tried to run against Hochul for governor but had to drop out because nobody, state or federal, would donate to her campaign.  She's more or less being used as a tool at this point. 

 

The world looked down on Trump more than they did the US back then.  The outside world was still riding high on it's love for Obama.  He ended up being more popular outside the US at the end of his 2nd term than inside the US.

 

 

The US is at a crossroads right now and there aren't any visible paths at this point in time that look good to go down.  People are too blind wrapped up in their political ideology to see the forest for the trees. 

 

Neither side is a beacon of hope.  One side is just worse than the other.  That's one of the reasons that I badly want to see more 3rd party and independent choices for offices.

I take it that you’re not buying what Cornel West is selling.?

jk

[The Arrogant Worms]

 

Judge Scolds Trump’s Lawyers After Trump Muttered and Gestured at Potential Juror: ‘I Will Not Have Any Jurors Intimidated’

https://www.mediaite.com/news/judge-scolds-trumps-lawyers-after-trump-muttered-and-gestured-at-potential-juror-i-will-not-have-any-jurors-intimidated/

[Gurn]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/pro-trump-news-network-settles-election-fraud-defamation-claim-with-smartmatic/ar-BB1lJsJ6?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=f95871f5b82a4d3b8390b577fcbecd0d&ei=38

"

According to an announcement from an attorney for One American News Network (OANN), the right-wing news outlet has settled a defamation suit brought by the voting tech giant Smartmatic over false claims about rigged voting machines in the 2020 election.

OANN attorney Chip Babcock told CNN that the suit, "Has been resolved pursuant to a confidential agreement."

-------------------------

mal

---------------------------------------

More and more, I find these 'confidential' settlements to be annoying as hell.

[The Arrogant Worms]

Trump Fell Asleep Again at Day Two of Hush Money Trial

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-fell-asleep-again-at-day-two-of-hush-money-trial/

[The Arrogant Worms]

DeSantis signs law limiting Florida book challenges

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/16/desantis-book-challenge-law-00152515

[Sabrefan1]

7 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

I take it that you’re not buying what Cornel West is selling.?

jk

 

I saw that he was doing interviews on YouTube.  I couldn't choose the "not interested in this content" drop-down quickly enough.  I blame Bill Maher for that schmuck getting into the public consciousness.

[Sabrefan1]

6 minutes ago, Gurn said:

More and more, I find these 'confidential' settlements to be annoying as hell.

 

The Fox settlement was supposed to be confidential.  That didn't even last 24 hours.

 

The smaller network's settlements probably don't leak out because there's a lot less interest in leaking anything and the leakers would be much easier to catch.  OANN is barely hanging on as a viable business as it is and only had so much it could give to Smartmatic.  I'd be surprised if Smartmatic got much more than OANN's max insurance amount.  Had they played hardball and forced OANN into bankruptcy, they wouldn't have seen much of anything past a portion of the liquidated assets.