Lets see if we can keep this thread a little more civil.

I found this interview very interesting.  A lot of soft balls thrown at Trump, he explained his back pedalling on his more extreme issues as a lot of his claims as opening bids for negotiation purposes.  Which .. whatever .. I still think that those are insincere claims he used to get elected.

He does now come across way more presidential then he did prior to the election.  A lot of his noise, yelling, and rhetoric has been scaled back.

Do respect this one though:

Quote

 

Lesley Stahl: Are you gonna take the salary, the president’s salary?

Donald Trump: Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no. I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year. But it’s a -- I don’t even know what it is.

Donald Trump: Do you know what the salary is?

Lesley Stahl: $400,000 you’re giving up.

Donald Trump: No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-donald-trump-family-melania-ivanka-lesley-stahl/

The Republican committee heads are incompetent boobs who talk before they think and are made to look like fools, the hitched their wagon to a loser and as Blanche said in a rare moment of clarity many years ago they are going to get destroyed.

4 minutes ago, bustamente said:

The Republican committee heads are incompetent boobs who talk before they think and are made to look like fools, the hitched their wagon to a loser and as Blanche said in a rare moment of clarity many years ago they are going to get destroyed.

On behalf of all boob fanciers, I protest the analogy.

Bombshell: 1000 US citizen children were separated from parents under Trump and Miller's policies

A “significant” number of children who were U.S. citizens were separated by the Trump administration from their parents, a result of the then-president’s broader “zero-tolerance” anti-immigrant polices created to send a message to migrants in Central America to not travel to the United States or risk their families being permanently destroyed.

“A government task force is tracking the fates of U.S. citizen children taken from migrant parents during the Trump administration. Some have spent years in foster care,” The New York Times revealed in a bombshell report Tuesday. “Hundreds, and possibly as many as 1,000, children born to immigrant parents in the United States were removed from them at the border, according to lawyers and immigrant advocates who are working with the government to find the families.”

Just as with the more than 5000 immigrant children the Trump administration separated from their families who the Biden administration has been actively working to re-unite, some of the 1000 children who are U.S. citizens have also yet to be reunited with their families.

“In many cases, the U.S.-born children were placed into foster care for lengthy periods, and some have yet to be reunited with their parents, lost in the system nearly five years after the separations took place.”

 

11 hours ago, Tracker said:

Bombshell: 1000 US citizen children were separated from parents under Trump and Miller's policies

A “significant” number of children who were U.S. citizens were separated by the Trump administration from their parents, a result of the then-president’s broader “zero-tolerance” anti-immigrant polices created to send a message to migrants in Central America to not travel to the United States or risk their families being permanently destroyed.

“A government task force is tracking the fates of U.S. citizen children taken from migrant parents during the Trump administration. Some have spent years in foster care,” The New York Times revealed in a bombshell report Tuesday. “Hundreds, and possibly as many as 1,000, children born to immigrant parents in the United States were removed from them at the border, according to lawyers and immigrant advocates who are working with the government to find the families.”

Just as with the more than 5000 immigrant children the Trump administration separated from their families who the Biden administration has been actively working to re-unite, some of the 1000 children who are U.S. citizens have also yet to be reunited with their families.

“In many cases, the U.S.-born children were placed into foster care for lengthy periods, and some have yet to be reunited with their parents, lost in the system nearly five years after the separations took place.”

 

IF they get another term, they'll be building whole new camps for immigrants and other undesirables and taking them there by train. We're not too far off. 

1 minute ago, JCon said:

IF they get another term, they'll be building whole new camps for immigrants and other undesirables and taking them there by train. We're not too far off. 

And this is what types of ‘policies’ a large portion of Americans support. I guess it’s just another ‘side’ to the issue.

51 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

And this is what types of ‘policies’ a large portion of Americans support. I guess it’s just another ‘side’ to the issue.

What diminishes one of us, diminishes all of us.

More disgusting and criminal behaviour from Fox. No wonder they appeal to the right!

28 minutes ago, JCon said:

More disgusting and criminal behaviour from Fox. No wonder they appeal to the right!

C’mon it’s just entertainment when they withhold key evidence, part of their MO as entertainers not to be taken seriously. They’re just playing around, just having fun. They don’t even know what evidence is or isn’t. 

I’m sure some judge will overrule sanctions given here accepting this defence. 

21 hours ago, JCon said:

More disgusting and criminal behaviour from Fox. No wonder they appeal to the right!

Birds of a feather....

The presiding judge has also said that if there is any further evidence that Fox is either withholding or delaying the producing of relevant evidence (emails etc) that he will appoint a Special Master at Fox's expense to investigate this. The Special Master would have full subpoena powers with the threat of contempt of court penalties for noncompliance.

Edited April 13, 20232 yr by Tracker

7 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Birds of a feather....

The presiding judge has also said that if there is any further evidence that Fox is either withholding or delaying the producing of relevant evidence (emails etc) that he will appoint a Special Master at Fox's expense to investigate this. The Special Master would have full subpoena powers with the threat of contempt of court penalties for noncompliance.

Help me understand why this wouldn't always be? It should be a mandatory consequence regardless of who you are and regardless of the case being investigated.

If a subpoena is legally issued and I don't comply, I (regardless of who I am and where I fit along the continuum of power and status) need to feel hurt quickly and swiftly. 

1 minute ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Help me understand why this wouldn't always be? It should be a mandatory consequence regardless of who you are and regardless of the case being investigated.

If a subpoena is legally issued and I don't comply, I (regardless of who I am and where I fit along the continuum of power and status) need to feel hurt quickly and swiftly. 

Civil suits in Canada, and probably in the US typically do not involve government/court sanctions as essentially these are disputes between individuals or other entities (corporations, associations etc.) where no law is broken and one party or the other believes they have a grievance against the other) and seeks redress.

Billionaire Harlan Crow bought property from Clarence Thomas and the Justice didn’t disclose the deal
 

In 2014, one of Texas billionaire Harlan Crow’s companies purchased a string of properties on a quiet residential street in Savannah, Georgia. It wasn’t a marquee acquisition for the real estate magnate, just an old single-story home and two vacant lots down the road. What made it noteworthy were the people on the other side of the deal: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his relatives.
The transaction marks the first known instance of money flowing from the Republican megadonor to the Supreme Court justice. The Crow company bought the properties for $133,363 from three co-owners — Thomas, his mother and the family of Thomas’ late brother, according to a state tax document and a deed dated Oct. 15, 2014, filed at the Chatham County courthouse.

The purchase put Crow in an unusual position: He now owned the house where the justice’s elderly mother was living. Soon after the sale was completed, contractors began work on tens of thousands of dollars of improvements on the two-bedroom, one-bathroom home, which looks out onto a patch of orange trees. The renovations included a carport, a repaired roof and a new fence and gates, according to city permit records and blueprints.

A federal disclosure law passed after Watergate requires justices and other officials to disclose the details of most real estate sales over $1,000. Thomas never disclosed his sale of the Savannah properties. That appears to be a violation of the law, four ethics law experts told ProPublica.

The disclosure form Thomas filed for that year also had a space to report the identity of the buyer in any private transaction, such as a real estate deal. That space is blank.

-Propublica

Being a white collar criminal is the American way, doing it and being praised for it is something new though.

9 minutes ago, bustamente said:

Being a white collar criminal is the American way, doing it and being praised for it is something new though.

Not all that new. The term "Robber Barons" was coined in the US in the late 1800's to describe this sort of person.

Not that anyone doesnt know all of this, but here  is a link to a very good editorial NYT article outlining the descent into authoritarianism in the US.

not encouraging, as wealthy right wingers in search of tax breaks align with the racists whites at the state level, with help from Supreme Court, and flaccid Democrats like Obama, with his "bipartisan" b.s.

 

link to NYT article.  "The Republican Strategists who have carefully planned all of this"

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/opinion/republican-party-intrusive-government.html?unlocked_article_code=UO07cOcbM583lmZojYi7RbcWDz9JbJ90oZX4AvKt3sAzeaUqVfwaKSWhkRLplqYxx5wpA-MMYVSkMy8288AsXqJm7jHDSaQwAvmpfZUGBv2I7Kk8J3xFtWBE-E4xBZkgLzwAWp4gQ1Gfwji_XYW1Bpbsn8Dje75eSVRNNzz2dec1iq4vUuxZ5LM6W3Snvcdq9i8EXqHgi0E6U2GOFX6286acrjBuwjA5me7glSdqmPV-h39C-gHRe7L0xk_KSU_IM8hgohg3AHaHWqZEewktCJWAZ0alyKA9pq30ZJrKxJOXYEAUZmmyl4hc-iba-hVaBHke7r0pp3AcSQ4BdZ0DtBDI1Uw5pUqAl6r_pw&smid=url-share

 

Edited April 14, 20232 yr by Mark F

2 minutes ago, Mark F said:

Not that anyone doesnt know all of this, but there is a link to an editorial NYT article outlining the descent into authoritarianism in the US.

not encouraging, as wealthy right wingers in search of tax breaks align with the racists whites at the state level, with help from Supreme Court.

 

link to NYT article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/opinion/republican-party-intrusive-government.html?unlocked_article_code=UO07cOcbM583lmZojYi7RbcWDz9JbJ90oZX4AvKt3sAzeaUqVfwaKSWhkRLplqYxx5wpA-MMYVSkMy8288AsXqJm7jHDSaQwAvmpfZUGBv2I7Kk8J3xFtWBE-E4xBZkgLzwAWp4gQ1Gfwji_XYW1Bpbsn8Dje75eSVRNNzz2dec1iq4vUuxZ5LM6W3Snvcdq9i8EXqHgi0E6U2GOFX6286acrjBuwjA5me7glSdqmPV-h39C-gHRe7L0xk_KSU_IM8hgohg3AHaHWqZEewktCJWAZ0alyKA9pq30ZJrKxJOXYEAUZmmyl4hc-iba-hVaBHke7r0pp3AcSQ4BdZ0DtBDI1Uw5pUqAl6r_pw&smid=url-share

 

The saying 'history tends to repeat itself' is ringing true once again.

Now, they're defending Nazis. You know where this is going and it's going there really fast. 

 

Freedom loving Right.

 

 

                                                     

54 minutes ago, JCon said:

Now, they're defending Nazis.

next step is ..... the Nazis were correct, next step round up Jews, gays, blacks, asians.

and yeah, it  seems to be accelerating.

just astounding. In Germany, this stuff is not permitted.

 

"The paradox of tolerance states that if a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant is eventually seized or destroyed by the intolerant. Karl Popper described it as the seemingly self-contradictory idea that in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must retain the right to be intolerant of intolerance."

 

Edited April 14, 20232 yr by Mark F

1 hour ago, Mark F said:

next step is ..... the Nazis were correct, next step round up Jews, gays, blacks, asians

75% woke there

                                              

Wonder what the reasoning for point number 3 is, surely they wouldn't want supporters of the loser to get ahold of that information.

 

On 2023-04-13 at 5:14 PM, Tracker said:

Billionaire Harlan Crow bought property from Clarence Thomas and the Justice didn’t disclose the deal
 

In 2014, one of Texas billionaire Harlan Crow’s companies purchased a string of properties on a quiet residential street in Savannah, Georgia. It wasn’t a marquee acquisition for the real estate magnate, just an old single-story home and two vacant lots down the road. What made it noteworthy were the people on the other side of the deal: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his relatives.
The transaction marks the first known instance of money flowing from the Republican megadonor to the Supreme Court justice. The Crow company bought the properties for $133,363 from three co-owners — Thomas, his mother and the family of Thomas’ late brother, according to a state tax document and a deed dated Oct. 15, 2014, filed at the Chatham County courthouse.

The purchase put Crow in an unusual position: He now owned the house where the justice’s elderly mother was living. Soon after the sale was completed, contractors began work on tens of thousands of dollars of improvements on the two-bedroom, one-bathroom home, which looks out onto a patch of orange trees. The renovations included a carport, a repaired roof and a new fence and gates, according to city permit records and blueprints.

A federal disclosure law passed after Watergate requires justices and other officials to disclose the details of most real estate sales over $1,000. Thomas never disclosed his sale of the Savannah properties. That appears to be a violation of the law, four ethics law experts told ProPublica.

The disclosure form Thomas filed for that year also had a space to report the identity of the buyer in any private transaction, such as a real estate deal. That space is blank.

-Propublica

Clarence Thomas Reported Income From a Firm That Doesn’t Exist

-Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made headlines last week after ProPublica exposed his unreported financial ties to billionaire donor Harlan Crow. Then on Sunday, the Washington Post revealed another disclosure discrepancy: for the last two decades, Thomas stated on disclosure forms that his family received hundreds of thousands of dollars in rental income from a firm called Ginger, Ltd., Partnership—a firm that hasn’t existed since 2006. Ginger, Ltd., Partnership was a Nebraska real estate company launched by Thomas’s wife and her relatives in the 1980s. It was shut down in 2006 and a new firm, Ginger Holdings, LLC, was created to take over the land leasing business—but Thomas’ disclosures still listed the old firm, reporting between $50,000 and $100,000 annually from Ginger, Ltd., Partnership in recent years. The error is just the latest omission by Thomas on his required annual disclosure forms. Thomas’ secret ties to Crow have prompted many to call for the justice’s resignation.

Pentagon leak pushed by pro-Russian network run by former Navy noncommissioned officer on US soil

The Wall Street Journal revealed that one of the people that helped promote and spread the leaked Pentagon documents was a former Navy noncommissioned officer on U.S. soil who developed a pro-Russia network on social media.

"A purported Russian blogger known as Donbass Devushka, which translates as Donbas Girl, is the face of a network of pro-Kremlin social-media, podcasting, merchandise and fundraising accounts. But the person who hosted podcasts as Donbass Devushka and oversees these accounts is a Washington-state-based former U.S. enlisted aviation electronics technician whose real name is Sarah Bils," the report revealed.

Bils, who is 37 years old, served at the naval air station on Whidbey Island until last year. All the while, she was promoting the Russian military and paramilitary Wagner Group, which WSJ described as "among the most widely followed English-language social-media outlets promoting Russia’s views."

She confessed to raising money for the podcast under the name when the paper reached out to her. She claimed, however, she's one of 15 people from around the world in the network.

It was early April when the Donbass Devushka Telegram account posted the leaked classified documents to 65,000 followers. Russian social media accounts then reposted the documents.

"I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials. We didn’t leak them," she said.