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.
An aide abruptly shut down a local TV reporter's Thursday interview with Donald Trump Jr. when the real estate scion was asked about a six-foot-tall portrait of his father reportedly bought with money from the family's charitable foundation.
"You're a director of the Trump Foundation charity," a reporter from Pittsburgh TV station WTAE asked in video flagged by BuzzFeed News. "Did you sign off on charity money for a portrait?"
"No, I don't know anything about that," Trump Jr. replied.
"So how come you didn't know about it?" the reporter pressed.
"All right, that's it," a person off-camera interrupted, speaking over Trump Jr. "We have to move on. We have to move on to the next one."
"I'm not worried—I'm not involved in it," Trump Jr. added.
A series of reports on the inner workings of the Trump Foundation from the Washington Post's David Farenthold have revealed that Donald Trump has not donated any of his own money to the foundation since 2008. He also reportedly spent the charity's money on gifts for himself, including a six-foot-tall painting of himself. That purchase may have violated IRS rules depending on its current whereabouts.
Farenthold reported Wednesday that if Trump did not find a "charitable use" for the $20,000 painting, then its purchase may have been an instance of "self-dealing," which could result in the imposition of penalties on both Trump and the foundation.
In a Wednesday phone interview with Cosmopolitan, Ivanka Trump also abruptly stopped taking questions when the reporter pressed her for specifics on Donald Trump's newly announced paid maternity leave policy.
On September 16 2016 07:05 Plansix wrote: Did they not learn from Clinton that not answering the question isn't helpful? Not that the Trump camp really answers questions.
"So, Mr. Trump, what about those tax returns?" "I am amazing." "Very good! Moving on.."
There's not really a good answer to "why is your charity making gifts to you?". I mean I guess he could say that he had himself confused with a Wichita based non-profit and really intended for the portrait to go there. It worked last time.
Another shovelfull of fecal matter tossed into the sewage pit. I wonder if there's any amount that will make it overflow or if it's just going to keep compacting.
On September 16 2016 07:18 TheTenthDoc wrote: Another shovelfull of fecal matter tossed into the sewage pit. I wonder if there's any amount that will make it overflow or if it's just going to keep compacting.
On September 16 2016 08:43 Danglars wrote: But take heart: the electorate is particularly well informed of both of their flaws compared to elections past!
The problem isn't people knowing what makes each candidate shitty. The problem is knowing why shitty qualities matter and how they matter.
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker broke his silence on Thursday over leaked documents obtained by Guardian US, which revealed his links to a complex network of conservative donors and the influence of corporate cash in the election process.
In an interview with Milwaukee’s WTMJ 620, the Republican governor described as “baseless” the legal investigation into alleged campaign finance violations that produced the 1,500 pages of documents.
“It’s what we often see in media outlets where you get bits and pieces shaped to push their agenda,” Walker said. “The bottom line is we’ve had several courts in this state that have shut this down, this baseless investigation down, because it clearly didn’t show that what was done that was not lawful there.”
Known as the “John Doe investigation”, several Wisconsin prosecutors launched a probe into what they suspected were criminal campaign finance violations by the campaign committee of Walker, a former Republican presidential candidate who dropped out early in the primary race. The prosecutors claimed Walker’s committee operated a coordinated network that involved outside lobby groups, thereby allowing unlimited amounts of corporate money to funnel into a third-party group closely aligned with his campaign. In July 2015, the Wisconsin supreme court halted the investigation.
In saying prosecutors misunderstood campaign finance law to pick on people and groups “wholly innocent of any wrongdoing”, the state’s high court took the extraordinary step to order all documents produced as part of the investigation to be destroyed and later held under seal – however at least one set survived that was leaked to Guardian US.
Walker told the radio station that unspecified people related to the investigation who “lose in the court of law, repeatedly” now “want to play this out in the court of public opinion – and do so with only bits and pieces, without the full story”.
“The bottom line is that people, not only at the supreme court level, but even initially at the circuit court level, where a distinguished reserve judge – who, as far as we can tell, has no aligned political allegiance with anyone – initially shut this down,” Walker said. “And that assertion’s been held many times over.”
Charlie Sykes of WTMJ then proceeded to ask Walker about headlines on Wednesday following the John Doe leak, particularly that Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2013 passed new laws making it difficult for victims of lead paint poisoning to file lawsuits against lead producers, following a $750,000 donation to a group aligned with the governor.
Walker said the donation was irrelevant to his support for the lead law.
On September 16 2016 08:43 Danglars wrote: But take heart: the electorate is particularly well informed of both of their flaws compared to elections past!
The problem isn't people knowing what makes each candidate shitty. The problem is knowing why shitty qualities matter and how they matter.
I was going for the universal. Anything in the hows and whys is subjective and involves your worldview. So I'm just finding some light in the shadows; the rest is disagreements as old as history.
On September 16 2016 08:43 Danglars wrote: But take heart: the electorate is particularly well informed of both of their flaws compared to elections past!
The problem isn't people knowing what makes each candidate shitty. The problem is knowing why shitty qualities matter and how they matter.
I was going for the universal. Anything in the hows and whys is subjective and involves your worldview. So I'm just finding some light in the shadows; the rest is disagreements as old as history.
No I would say Trump is unique. He is the first ever TV candidate. Both his prior fame and political lifeblood rest in the superficiality of his TV ratings savvy. He's a governance unknown; a dice roll.
After a few days off following a pneumonia diagnosis, Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail Thursday and spun her recovery period into a pitch for sick leave and affordable health insurance.
Clinton referenced her brief illness at the top of her speech in Greensboro, North Carolina, acknowledging that it was difficult to take time off and that she initially tried to ignore her symptoms. She said she felt the time off from campaigning was actually good for her, though.
"I am not great at taking it easy even under ordinary circumstances, but with just two months to go until Election Day—sitting at home was pretty much the last place I wanted to be," Clinton said. "But it turns out having a few days to myself was actually a gift...You know, the campaign trail doesn't really encourage reflection, and it's important to sit with your thoughts every now and then and that did help me reconnect with what this whole campaign is about."
Clinton said she was thankful that she was financially able to take time off from work, something she emphasized many voters don't have the luxury of doing.
"I want you to think with me for a minute about how I certainly feel lucky, when I'm under the weather, I can afford to take a few days off," she said. "Millions of Americans can't. They either go to work sick or they lose a paycheck, don't they? Lots of Americans still don't even have insurance, or they do, but it's too expensive for them to actually use. So they toss back some Tylenol, they chug orange juice and hope that the cough or the virus goes away on its own."
"That's why I got into this race. I am running for everyone working hard to support their families," she added later. "Everyone who's been knocked down but gets back up."
Did you miss the part where he literally says "obviously, it (racism) isn't over?" Or is him saying he's been blessed by never having to deal with racism conflate to him thinking racism is basically over?
Did you miss the part where he literally says "obviously, it (racism) isn't over?" Or is him saying he's been blessed by never having to deal with racism conflate to him thinking racism is basically over?
that was a surprisingly honest conversation, never heard wayne speak before but I respect him for not having an us vs them mentality.