US Politics Mega-thread - Page 4630

On August 03 2016 09:37 Nevuk wrote:

Yeah, it was Katrina Pierson, who isn't the sharpest lightbulb in the tool box

Donald Trump gave Republican Party leadership the cold shoulder on Tuesday, using House Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-WI) words against him to say he isn't backing Ryan or Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) re-election campaigns in an unprecedented move for a Republican Party nominee.

Trump also pointed to Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), who faces a difficult re-election race, as a weak and disloyal lawmaker in an interview with the Washington Post.

“I like Paul, but these are horrible times for our country,” Trump said. “We need very strong leadership. We need very, very strong leadership. And I’m just not quite there yet. I’m not quite there yet.”

Ryan previously withheld his endorsement of Trump, saying in a May interview, “I’m not there right now” when asked if he would throw his support behind the then-presumptive nominee.

After Ryan released a statement this week distancing himself from Trump's ongoing attacks on the family of a deceased Muslim-American soldier, Ryan's primary challenger, Paul Nehlen, defended the New York businessman. Trump rewarded Nehlen, who is facing off against Ryan's massive war chest, with a shout-out on Twitter.

He told the Washington Post that Nehlen is a "big fan of what I'm saying" and is running a "very good campaign."

On August 03 2016 09:37 Plansix wrote:

People just need to cut through the bullshit and ask him "Vibranium prices are at an all-time high. How do you plan to negotiate with Wakanda?" and wait for his totally legit answer like that is all real.

With just three months until Election Day and the Democrats’ official party apparatus struggling to right itself from months of dysfunction and the scandal caused by the WikiLeaks email hack, interim Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile cleaned house Tuesday with the ouster of three top officials.

CEO Amy Dacey, communications director Luis Miranda and chief financial officer Brad Marshall are all leaving the organization, the DNC announced Tuesday afternoon, shortly after staffers were informed of the changes in a meeting. The announcement praised all three outgoing officials, but people familiar say the departures were heavily encouraged.

For days, there has been a chill around the DNC’s Capitol Hill offices as staffers wait to find out about their futures within the organization. Former chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down on the eve of the Democratic National Convention after a mass email hack spawned a host of unflattering revelations — including what’s been interpreted as bias by the committee toward Hillary Clinton during her primary contest with Bernie Sanders.

Brazile has been in place in the DNC offices since Monday, working quickly to begin the rebuilding process and boosting the morale of many staffers. She also announced a transition team to help manage the time before the election and prepare for a new chair, who’ll be elected in January.

“This election is the most important of my lifetime, and the DNC will continue to recruit top talent to help lead the fight to elect Hillary Clinton and Democrats across the country,” Brazile said in a statement. “I am committed to adding to our team of skilled professionals who will make sure that Donald Trump is held accountable for his reckless rhetoric and harmful policies.”

Traditionally, the DNC fills a number of functions on behalf of both the presidential nominee and other candidates, but it had been struggling to do so — unlike the Republican National Committee, which has proved an important operational and fundraising backbone for Trump. And neither before nor since Wasserman Schultz’s departure has Clinton’s campaign staff shown deep interest in shifting much of its operation out of Brooklyn.

However, the significantly higher donation levels for a party committee compared with those for a specific candidate could make improving the DNC in the final months an important priority.

However, the significantly higher donation levels for a party committee compared with those for a specific candidate could make improving the DNC in the final months an important priority.

On August 03 2016 10:20 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


How has this not happened yet!?

The Defense Department over the years has been notorious for its lax accounting practices. The Pentagon has never completed an audit of how they actually spend the trillions of dollars on wars, equipment, personnel, housing, healthcare and procurements.

An increasingly impatient Congress has demanded that the Army achieve “audit readiness” for the first time by Sept. 30, 2017, so that lawmakers can get a better handle on military spending. But Pentagon watchdogs think that may be mission impossible, and for good reason.

A Department of Defense inspector general’s report released last week offered a jaw-dropping insight into just how bad the military’s auditing system is.

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the behemoth Indianapolis-based agency that provides finance and accounting services for the Pentagon’s civilian and military members, could not provide adequate documentation for $6.5 trillion worth of year-end adjustments to Army general fund transactions and data.

The DFAS has the sole responsibility for paying all DOD military and personnel, retirees and annuitants, along with Pentagon contractors and vendors. The agency is also in charge of electronic government initiatives, including within the Executive Office of the President, the Department of Energy and the Departing of Veterans Affairs.

There’s nothing in the new IG’s report to suggest that anyone has misplaced or absconded with large sums of money. Rather, the agency has done an incompetent job of providing written authorization for every one of their transactions – so-called “journal vouchers” that provide serial numbers, transaction dates and the amount of the expenditure.

In short, the DFAS has lagged far behind in providing the tracking information essential to performing an accurate audit of Pentagon spending and obligations, according to the IG’s report.

“Army and Defense Finance and Accounting Service Indianapolis personnel did not adequately support $2.8 trillion in third quarter adjustments and $6.5 trillion in year-end adjustments made to Army General Fund data during FY 2015 financial statement compilation,” wrote Lorin T. Venable, the assistant inspector general for financial management and reporting. “We conducted this audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.”

A further mystery is what happened to thousands of documents that should be on file but aren’t. The IG study found that DFAS “did not document or support why the Defense Departmental Reporting System . . . removed at least 16,513 of 1.3 million records during Q3 FY 2015. As a result, the data used to prepare the FY 2015 AGF third quarter and year-end financial statements were unreliable and lacked an adequate audit trail,” the IG’s report stated.

On August 03 2016 10:49 Introvert wrote:
And Tim Huelskamp losses his primary in Kansas. Yes, this is the year of the outsider. LOL. Replace him with the Chamber of Commerce backed candidate.

"We have to unite!" as the establishment and donors decide to spend lots of $$$ against one of their own GOP congressmen. What a despicable party. Should fumigate the place. Then burn it down.

On August 03 2016 11:01 Plansix wrote:

I brief look at his record shows me that Kansas voted out a do nothing tea party conservative that did nothing. It appears Kansas expected more.

On August 03 2016 11:07 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Wouldn't it be ironic if Trump is the one that breaks the back of the ultraconservative Tea Party.

On August 03 2016 11:06 Introvert wrote:


Actually, he did too much. That was their issue. From trying to oust the orange speaker to voting against the farm bill, they just couldn't have it.

They tried to paint him as a Washington insider and someone who was with Obama. Absurd, they called him Washing-tim.

But I like to point out that for the party only loyalty and doing as your superiors tell you is acceptable. They just couldn't let him be.hundreds of thousands, maybe even over a million spent in Nowhere, Kansas by outside groups.




Trump had nothing to do with this.