US Politics Mega-thread - Page 5891

On November 04 2016 00:24 biology]major wrote:
What is the purpose of arguing about this shit? I could easily argue that there is no coercion at all, even if there is a gun to your head. Or you could argue in the other extreme, by saying everything is coercion. Use your common sense folks.

On November 04 2016 00:29 KwarK wrote:

We're arguing because everyone but Igne is on team "use your common sense folks" and Igne is insisting that either all consequences are coercive or none are.

Two days before FBI director James Comey rocked the world last week, Rudy Giuliani was on Fox, where he volunteered, un-prodded by any question: “I think he’s [Donald Trump] got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises.”

Pressed for specifics, he said: “We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.”
The man who now leads “lock-her-up” chants at Trump rallies spent decades of his life as a federal prosecutor and then mayor working closely with the FBI, and especially its New York office. One of Giuliani’s security firms employed a former head of the New York FBI office, and other alumni of it. It was agents of that office, probing Anthony Weiner’s alleged sexting of a minor, who pressed Comey to authorize the review of possible Hillary Clinton-related emails on a Weiner device that led to the explosive letter the director wrote Congress.

Hours after Comey’s letter about the renewed probe was leaked on Friday, Giuliani went on a radio show and attributed the director’s surprise action to “the pressure of a group of FBI agents who don’t look at it politically.”
“The other rumor that I get is that there’s a kind of revolution going on inside the FBI about the original conclusion [not to charge Clinton] being completely unjustified and almost a slap in the face to the FBI’s integrity,” said Giuliani. “I know that from former agents. I know that even from a few active agents.”
Along with Giuliani’s other connections to New York FBI agents, his former law firm, then called Bracewell Giuliani, has long been general counsel to the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA), which represents 13,000 former and current agents. The group, born in the New York office in the early ’80s, was headed until Monday by Rey Tariche, an agent still working in that office. Tariche’s resignation letter from the bureau mentioned the Clinton probe, noting that “we find our work—our integrity questioned” because of it, adding “we will not be used for political gains.”

When the FBIAA threw its first G-Man Honors Gala in 2014 in Washington, Giuliani was the keynote speaker and was given a distinguished service award named after him. Giuliani left Bracewell this January and joined Greenberg Traurig, the only other law firm listed as a sponsor of the FBIAA gala. He spoke again at the 2015 gala. The Bracewell firm also acts as the association’s Washington lobbyist and the FBIAA endorsed Republican Congressman Mike Rodgers, rather than Comey, for the FBI post in 2013. Giuliani did not return a Daily Beast message left with his assistant.

Back in August, during a contentious CNN interview about Comey’s July announcement clearing Hillary Clinton of criminal charges, Giuliani advertised his illicit FBI sources, who circumvented bureau guidelines to discuss a case with a public partisan. “The decision perplexes me. It perplexes Jim Kallstrom, who worked for him. It perplexes numerous FBI agents who talk to me all the time. And it embarrasses some FBI agents.”

On November 04 2016 00:44 Acrofales wrote:
Can we agree to not post daily beast articles anymore? They seem universally terrible. Like... breitbart levels of terrible.

On November 04 2016 00:44 Acrofales wrote:
Can we agree to not post daily beast articles anymore? They seem universally terrible. Like... breitbart levels of terrible.

On November 04 2016 00:52 Doodsmack wrote:


That was a pretty clear cut article premised on Giuliani's own words.

Alabama's top election official opposes registering voters automatically when they turn 18 because, as he put it, allowing "lazy people" to register without any effort would "cheapen" the work civil rights leaders put in fighting for everyone's right to vote in the United States.

"I don’t think that just because your birthday comes around, that you ought to be registered to vote," Secretary of State John Merrill (R) said in an interview published online Wednesday for an upcoming documentary by Brian Jenkins "Answering the Call."

Merrill then listed civil rights leaders like Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks, arguing that their legacy would be diminished by automatic voter registration.

"These people fought—some of them were beaten, some of them were killed—because of their desire to ensure that everybody that wanted to had the right to register to vote and participate in the process. I’m not going to cheapen the work that they did. I’m not going to embarrass them by allowing somebody that’s too sorry to get up off of their rear end to go register to vote," he said.

However, as Slate noted, Lewis has pushed legislation that would put in place automatic voter registration.

While discussing his opposition to automatic voter registration Merrill expressed a lot of concern about "lazy people."

"I’m not attracted to lazy people or sorry people or people that don’t want to get involved," he said in the interview. "I’m sure there’s probably some good people that are sorry and lazy, that don’t want to do anything, but those people and I would have a difficult time working together."

"And those people are not the people who we need leading this country, and they’re not the people who will be trying to find a way to change the future of our country to ensure that all of our citizens are treated fairly and equally and have an opportunity to achieve at the level that they desire," he continued. "And so if you’re too sorry or lazy to get up off of your rear and to go register to vote, or to register electronically, and then to go vote, then you don’t deserve that privilege."

He said that while he is in office as Alabama's secretary of state, residents will "have to show some initiative to become a registered voter in this state."

"There will be no impediment to participating, but if you want to participate in this process, you’re going to have to participate," he said.

Merrill and the state of Alabama were criticized last year after the state closed several driver's license offices, many of which were located in majority black counties. He insisted that the DMV closures would not prevent people form obtaining the photo identification now needed to vote in the state.

On November 04 2016 01:06 Doodsmack wrote:
What are you saying needs to be corroborated? Giuliani says himself he's in contact with the agents who pressured Comey to take action.