US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2964

Recording Suggests Hillary Clinton Backers Testing Attack Lines Ahead of Nevada Caucus

The woman on the call first asks the listener to rate how well Clinton and Sanders would do in the general election, as well as with the various aspects of being president if elected.

The woman then reads negative statements the two candidates have said about each other and asks the listener, based on those statements, for whom he would vote.

She then pivots to gain the listener's reaction to pro-Clinton talking points.

"For each of these statements that I read, please tell me how much more likely it makes you to vote for Clinton as president,” the woman says. One of the statements she reads is, “Hillary Clinton says it is not enough to have plans that sound good on paper, but won’t ever actually happen. ... Does that statement make much more likely, somewhat more likely, a little more likely or no difference at all?”

She then tests lines about Clinton’s primary opponent. “Next, you’re going to hear some statements that someone could make about Bernie Sanders. After each one, please tell me how much they concern you,” she says. "Bernie Sanders is making big campaign promises that will cost up to 20 trillion dollars. The New York Times said his plans are not realistic. Other independent experts said his plans are unworkable and dead on arrival in Congress. That's the recipe for even more political gridlock ..."

The trials of all the Baltimore officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have been put on hold by Maryland’s highest court, in a delay that could set back the high-profile cases of alleged police brutality for months.

The six officers facing trials over the death of Gray after a spinal injury in the back of a police van were due in court this winter. But after a jury couldn’t reach a decision in the first case, that of officer William Porter, every other trial has been held up over whether Porter can be compelled to testify in each of these other cases without risking self-incrimination.

Prosecutors have appealed rulings on whether Porter must testify, and the Maryland court of appeals said late Thursday that it would hear all the appeals together on 3 March. After the hearing, the court could take months to issue a written decision.

After the jury in Porter’s case came back deadlocked on all counts and his trial was rescheduled for June, judge Barry Williams ruled that the prosecution could force Porter to testify in the trials of Caesar Goodson, the driver of the van in which Gray allegedly sustained his catastrophic injury, and Sgt Alicia White, Porter’s supervisor that day.

On February 19 2016 07:42 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
HUGE if true.



Source

On February 19 2016 11:19 ticklishmusic wrote:
town hall

these questions are pretty hard hitting damn

On February 19 2016 11:23 jcarlsoniv wrote:


Dude, these questions are almost existential

On February 19 2016 11:59 oneofthem wrote:
381 out of 3,786 of the country’s hospitals were Catholic

literally wat

The oil and gas industry may have thought it had killed the electric car, but sales -- boosted by generous government subsidies -- rose dramatically between 2010 and 2014, and energy giants are worried the thing may have come back to life.

Time to kill it again.

A new group that's being cobbled together with fossil fuel backing hopes to spend about $10 million dollars per year to boost petroleum-based transportation fuels and attack government subsidies for electric vehicles, according to refining industry sources familiar with the plan. A Koch Industries board member and a veteran Washington energy lobbyist are working quietly to fund and launch the new advocacy outfit.

Koch Industries, the nation's second-largest privately held corporation, is an energy and industrial conglomerate with $115 billion in annual revenues that is controlled by the multibillionaire brothers -- and prolific conservative donors -- Charles and David Koch. James Mahoney, a confidante of the brothers and member of their company's board, has teamed up with lobbyist Charlie Drevna, who until last year helmed the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, for preliminary talks with several energy giants about funding the new pro-petroleum fuels group.

Late last year, Mahoney and Drevna flew into San Antonio to explain the need for a new group to executives at two Texas refining giants, Valero Energy and Tesoro Corp. Then, in late January, Mahoney moderated a seminar on “Changing the Energy Narrative” at the brothers' twice-a-year retreat for mega-donors in California. The panel drew a mix of CEOs from big energy companies and other wealthy attendees who, in conjunction with the Koch brothers, bankroll numerous conservative advocacy groups. And last month, Mahoney and Drevna had further conversations with Koch executives about the new project, sources say.

Neither Mahoney nor Drevna returned multiple calls seeking comment about the new group. A Koch spokesman also didn't respond to a request for comment.

It’s not clear when the still-unnamed group will be launched, but energy industry sources predict it’s likely to be up and running by this spring or summer, and that Koch Industries -- or a Koch foundation or allied nonprofit -- will be the lead financier.

“The fact that Jim Mahoney is leading the effort appears to indicate that this is being driven by the business side of Koch,” rather than the political operation that helps oversee the brothers' conservative advocacy empire, said one refining industry source familiar with the early plans for the new group.

Once launched, the new group is expected to use paid and earned media to push its pro-petroleum transportation messages, and do research to bolster the cause.

On February 19 2016 20:36 trulojucreathrma.com wrote:
Did a judge really rule they have to place a backdoor in all iphones based on a law from 1789?

wtf



Lol, that oped by McAfee. The first real point he makes is about Hitler.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Thursday broke with GOP leaders on the issue of replacing Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last week.

Asked whether he would nominate someone to the court if he had 11 months remaining in his term as president -- a situation President Barack Obama finds himself in now -- Bush said he "probably would."

"I'm an Article II guy," the former Florida governor said during a CNN town hall in South Carolina, referring to a president's constitutional power to nominate Supreme Court justices.

But, Bush added, it would be "better" for Obama's successor to make the nomination because of the slim likelihood that a divided S]Sourenate would confirm any nominee.

“Why not allow it to be part of the election?" Bush asked, arguing that the American people ought to have a say on the matter.

Obama has said he plans to nominate a successor to Scalia within weeks.