In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up!
NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action.
The Tulsa County Sheriff's office ordered supervisors to falsify the training record of the reserve deputy who fatally shot a suspect after mistaking his revolver for his Taser, sources told the Tulsa World.
Reserve deputy Robert C. Bates, 73, faces manslaughter charges after he allegedly mistook this revolver for a Taser and fatally shot a suspect in an undercover operation April 2.
From the Tulsa World:
Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy’s training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World. Multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the newspaper that at least three of Bates' supervisors had been transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-mandated training. The World notes that "the sources’ claims are corroborated by records, including a statement by Bates after the shooting, that he was certified as an advanced reserve deputy in 2007."
The Sheriff's Office denied that documents were falsified or that supervisors were reassigned because they wouldn't sign off on Bates' training. The office announced Thursday that it will conduct a review of its reserve deputy training program.
If true, I don't even know what to say. I don't think I would be ok with a properly trained 73-year old police officer, let alone one that bribed his way into the department and falsified his certifications so that he could wave a gun around like it's his dick, jesus christ.
Not even 'just' false certifications. 3 people transferred away because they didn't want to falsify it? Did none of them report that or was that covered up as well? Yet another sign of how deep the corruption go's inside the police.
On conditions of anonymity at least one of them reported it. Thank goodness. We need more people willing to do the right thing because clearly the police like to play fast and loose with the facts at multiple departments across the country. Not just lying to cover up negligence, but pressuring and threatening people to falsify records and help cover up. This stuff isn't new it's just getting caught on camera, so the BS police stories aren't holding up.
But nothing came of that report until he shot a man dead 8 years later?
I don't think anyone reported it back when the records were falsified. I think GH is referring to the anonymous sources coming forward NOW about his alleged training. At least that was my take.
probably a lot of information already shown in the other article but here's a decent cnn article that talks about it. doesn't mention falsified records just kind of a summary of the stuff before that.
On April 17 2015 04:18 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote: probably a lot of information already shown in the other article but here's a decent cnn article that talks about it. doesn't mention falsified records just kind of a summary of the stuff before that.
That's the problem. The cops come out and tell a lie, then the media reports it as fact. Then we discover it's a lie and the liars don't get arrested. If they aren't committing crimes it's not because what they are doing isn't wrong it would just be because there aren't appropriate laws to deal with it. If it is illegal and they just aren't getting charged that's more evidence of a corrupt system.
Also Cover asked about why I would be so confident or whatever. It wasn't that the democrats are so much better, just that they don't have to do stuff like this.
The Western Conservative Summit, a gathering of some of the most influential newsmakers on the right, created a firestorm this week when it uninvited a gay GOP group to set up a table at the Denver event.
Members of the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans and gay-rights activists in both major parties say the move sends a wrong message.
The summit is sponsored by Colorado Christian University in Lakewood and its think tank, the Centennial Institute. Summit chairman and institute director John Andrews said Wednesday that the Log Cabin Republicans "advocate contrary to our agenda and our core beliefs."
"The Log Cabin Republicans exists to redefine the family," he said. "Log Cabin Republicans think gay marriage should be the law of the land, and Colorado Christian University doesn't believe it should be."
Log Cabin Republican members have been told they can still purchase tickets and attend the summit, scheduled for June 26- 28 at the Colorado Convention Center.
"It is a pretty common issue we face. They'll take our money but want us in the closet," said Denver resident Michael Carr, a former state Senate candidate and secretary of the state chapter of Log Cabin Republicans.
On April 16 2015 22:12 cLutZ wrote: Well, really, there are just dueling, propaganda "factsheets", which is really the point of the story: that the White House fact sheet is also full of crap.
No, a spuriously sourced, inflammatory document that represents the fringe political desires of ultra-conservative Iranian politicians as the actual terms of the deal already reached is not a basis for questioning a legitimate White House press release.
Unless, that is, your name is Ann Coulter or Michael Savage.
Fringe political desires, dubious actual terms of the deal already reached
... ... wait, you aren't talking about the Obama fact sheet. Oops, must've had blurry vision for a second there.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said Friday that the national retirement age needs to be raised "in relatively short order."
"I think we need to raise the retirement age, not for the people that already nearing —receiving Social Security that are already on it [sic], but raise it gradually over a long period of time for people that are just entering the system," Bush said Friday during a speech in New Hampshire.
Bush's comments on Friday follow New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) laying out a detailed proposal for cutting Social Security spending and raising the retirement age from 67 to 69. Bush didn't specify what he would like to raise the retirement age to during his speech on Friday.
"And I think we need to do that in relatively short order. And social security can be sustained just as it was in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan, Tip O'Neill, Dan Rostenkowski I guess was probably in it, Bob Packwood —this group of people very conservative, very liberal, and in between— forged consensus on how to sustain Social Security over the long haul," Bush continued.
The former Florida governor's comments were more specific than a statement provided to TPM by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, another Republican governor who has taken steps toward running for president in 2016, which said that he also wants to see "significant reforms" to entitlement programs.
Bush, like Christie, also signaled that he would like to see changes to the Social Security Disability Trust Fund. In Christie's plan he suggested support for House Republicans' move to try and leverage changes to the program by blocking a routine funds transfer between the disability fund and retirement fund. Bush, in his speech, that changes needed to the disability trust fund and Medicare "which is, are going to cause big, big contingent liabilities."
That's an interesting strategy that will fail, that being the decision to home in on social security reform of all things. That they think that's safe ground to play ball on speaks volumes as to the stability of their platform in general.
On April 18 2015 02:31 farvacola wrote: That's an interesting strategy that will fail, that being the decision to home in on social security reform of all things. That they think that's safe ground to play ball on speaks volumes as to the stability of their platform in general.
In the natural one-upmanship that is the Primary, it means the tea party candidates are going to have to tack even harder right on social security, because the tea party solution can't be the same as the Jeb Bush solution.
Huckabee is supposed to announce tonight. Everyone's excited about that right? Perhaps he can help get the "Bible as the official state book of Tennessee" legislation back out of committee, maybe even help make the bible the official national book? His supporters would certainly back it.
President Obama tore into Senate Republicans on Friday for delaying the confirmation vote on Loretta Lynch's nomination to be the next attorney general during a joint press conference with the Italian prime minister.
"We’ve actually seen some outbreaks of bipartisanship and common sense in Congress over the last couple of weeks," Obama said. "And yet what we still have is this crazy situation where a woman who everybody agrees is qualified ... has been now sitting there longer than the previous seven attorney general nominees combined."
Obama blamed the delay of Lynch's confirmation vote on partisan politics. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said that the Senate will not vote to confirm Lynch until the Senate passes a human trafficking bill that includes provisions related to abortion.
"Nobody can describe a reason for it beyond political gamesmanship in the Senate on an issue that’s completely unrelated to her," Obama said about the vote delay.
"What are we doing here?" Obama asked. "I have to say that there are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes to far. This is an example of it. It’s gone too far. Enough! Enough. Call Loretta Lynch for a vote. Get her confirmed. Put her in place. Let her do her job. This is embarrassing, a process like this."
Staff attorneys at the Justice Department’s antitrust division are nearing a recommendation to block Comcast Corp.’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
Attorneys who are investigating Comcast’s $45.2 billion proposal to create a nationwide cable giant are leaning against the merger out of concerns that consumers would be harmed and could submit their review as soon as next week, said the people. The final decision about the deal will be made by the division’s senior officials.
Comcast shares fell 2.4 percent to $58.26 at 3 p.m. in New York, while Time Warner Cable fell 4.9 percent to $150.41. The spread between the current prices and the offer price widened to $17.23 from $13.35 yesterday, indicating investors are more pessimistic about the deal winning regulatory approval.
A rejection of the deal would be a blow to Comcast, which would gain valuable cable assets in major U.S. cities including New York and Los Angeles by acquiring Time Warner Cable. Expanding Comcast’s broadband Internet and video footprint would help it better compete with satellite, web and telecommunications competitors who have taken hundreds of thousands of TV subscribers from the Philadelphia-based company in recent years.
Minnesota officials have confirmed four more cases of a bird flu strain that has already cost the state's turkey producers over 1.6 million birds. The development comes as Dr. John Clifford, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief veterinary officer, said the nation's poultry industry may have to live with the H5N2 bird flu strain, which is deadly to poultry, for several years.
The affected farms include one in Minnesota's Roseau County, the northernmost detection of the H5N2 virus in the state so far. That farm had 26,000 turkeys. They also include the first detection in Otter Tail County of western Minnesota, a 21,000 turkey operation. New cases were also reported at farms in hard-hit Stearns and Kandiyohi counties, with 67,000 and 152,000 turkeys respectively.
Minnesota has been hit the hardest by the outbreak, which has cost Midwest producers over 2 million turkeys and chickens since early March. So far, 26 turkey farms in the state have been affected.
Since the beginning of the year the flu, which can kill nearly an entire flock within 48 hours, has been found in commercial poultry operations and backyard poultry flocks in 11 states stretching from Oregon to Arkansas.
Clifford, speaking during a visit to Minnesota, also said that while new cases of the bird flu strain should drop to close to zero once the weather warms up and kills off the virus, there's "very likely" to be a resurgence this fall when the waterfowl that are natural carriers of avian influenza fly south for the winter, calling such a scenario "devastating."
Clifford said the fact that the H5N2 virus has already appeared as far east as southern Ontario means there's an uncomfortable risk of it spreading to the East Coast in states such as Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and Maryland, where much of the U.S. broiler chicken industry which produces chickens for meat, is based.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will announce whether he will run for president on May 5 in his hometown of Hope, Ark., he said Friday night in a Fox News appearance.
“May 5 is the day I’ll make an announcement and I hope people will come to Hope, Ark., not just to tour the Bill Clinton birthplace, but there’s going to be an announcement that day and everybody will know then for sure whether Mike Huckabee is in the race or not,” he told Fox’s Bret Baier.
Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 before losing the Republican nomination to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and later spent a half-decade as a Fox News commentator and host, would face an uphill battle in the crowded 2016 GOP field. Earlier in the day, he told a group of reporters gathered in a Capitol Hill hotel that that he is weighing whether he would have sufficient money and political organization to wage a bid.
“Money is not the only thing that matters, but it matters a lot,” said Huckabee, who insisted he would be in a stronger fundraising position than he was in in 2008. “It matters when you’re trying to defend yourself against million-dollar attacks.”
Huckabee, like most of the other candidates, would have a super PAC boosting his campaign. But he said that in an ideal world, people could give unlimited sums to candidates — but those donations would all have to be disclosed.
Any thoughts on Donald Trump running? It could be ploy like last time but he has formed an presidential exploration committee, has been giving several speeches in Iowa,New Hampshire, and Carolina, set up offices in battleground states, and has the ability to fund his own campaign (has his own planes, helicopters, etc)
I think if their is ever was a time for to do it this would be the opportune moment b/c Republicans dont have a clear leader
On April 19 2015 03:19 whatisthisasheep wrote: Any thoughts on Donald Trump running? It could be ploy like last time but he has formed an presidential exploration committee, has been giving several speeches in Iowa,New Hampshire, and Carolina, set up offices in battleground states, and has the ability to fund his own campaign (has his own planes, helicopters, etc) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igFQwUj5zQM I think if their is ever was a time for to do it this would be the opportune moment b/c Republicans dont have a clear leader
On April 19 2015 03:19 whatisthisasheep wrote: Any thoughts on Donald Trump running? It could be ploy like last time but he has formed an presidential exploration committee, has been giving several speeches in Iowa,New Hampshire, and Carolina, set up offices in battleground states, and has the ability to fund his own campaign (has his own planes, helicopters, etc) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igFQwUj5zQM I think if their is ever was a time for to do it this would be the opportune moment b/c Republicans dont have a clear leader
He can run all he want. He will never win it.
This. I think it's funny, actually, that Democrats try to pretend it's serious. If Clooney or Harvey Weinstein tried to run on some crazy platform they would get the same ℅. They just get to make money doing propaganda and PR in Hollywood instead.
On April 19 2015 03:19 whatisthisasheep wrote: Any thoughts on Donald Trump running? It could be ploy like last time but he has formed an presidential exploration committee, has been giving several speeches in Iowa,New Hampshire, and Carolina, set up offices in battleground states, and has the ability to fund his own campaign (has his own planes, helicopters, etc) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igFQwUj5zQM I think if their is ever was a time for to do it this would be the opportune moment b/c Republicans dont have a clear leader
EPT
