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.
On February 17 2017 07:56 TheTenthDoc wrote: Note that the one of the reasons we didn't have a three-way heavyweight race for the Dems with Biden/Clinton/Sanders was Biden's son's illness. Though with Biden in the fray I'm not sure Sanders would have kept chugging as long as he did.
Most of the races narrow to 2-3 choices after the first chunk of primaries anyway. The Republican primary this time was way outside the norm.
Biden was taking votes mostly from Hillary, not Bernie. It's more likely Bernie would have done better with Biden in the race than he did without.
Pretty sure Session has to recuse himself from the Flynn case. He didn't have a 30 minuet discussion with Bill Clinton on a runway, but he should still do it.
It blows my mind that even the conservative machine that is Fox News is fed up with Trump's bullshit. That's when you know that Trump has fucked up hard: when even Fox News has to pause its normal hatemongering, fearmongering message of ignorance to say "Even *we* can't let this happen." This is one of the rare times where Fox is defending honest and nonpartisan journalism- and the country- over partisan hackery.
Nearly four months after a former aide testified that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie knew about a looming traffic nightmare that sparked a political scandal, a municipal judge says a criminal complaint against Christie can move forward.
In finding there is probable cause for a complaint of official misconduct to proceed against Christie, Bergen County Municipal Court Judge Roy McGeady is extending a probe into the governor's involvement in a case that has generated federal charges against several former aides to Christie.
Christie is scheduled to appear in court over the case on March 10.
The case stems from lane closures on the George Washington Bridge that were made in September of 2013 — closures that were seen as targeting the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., for not supporting Christie's re-election campaign.
"The criminal complaint was brought against Christie by William Brennan, a Bergen County activist who is now running for governor," WNYC reports. The member station adds, "The complaint accuses the governor of failing to stop subordinates from purposely creating traffic jams to punish a Democratic mayor who didn't endorse him."
It blows my mind that even the conservative machine that is Fox News is fed up with Trump's bullshit. That's when you know that Trump has fucked up hard: when even Fox News has to pause its normal hatemongering, fearmongering message of ignorance to say "Even *we* can't let this happen." This is one of the rare times where Fox is defending honest and nonpartisan journalism- and the country- over partisan hackery.
To be fair its not Fox News so much as Shep Smith. He's actually got a nutsack over there. He's called the right on its bullshit many times, one of the few that does.
Wait, did they not fucking ask him whether he wanted the job before publicly announcing he was in consideration for it? Holy shit they're incompetent. You don't just name guys you wish were your friends, you ask people who actually are your friends and then you say they're the ones you wanted all along.
WH dismisses six staffers for failing background checks: report
Six White House staffers were removed from the administration on Thursday for failing an FBI background check, according to Politico.
Sources told the publication that the staffers were escorted from the building on Wednesday after they didn’t pass Form SF86, the "Questionnaire for National Security Positions." A successful response to the form is required for a security clearance.
One of the dismissed staffers includes Caroline Wiles, director of scheduling, the daughter of President Trump’s Florida campaign manager. She will instead get a job at the Treasury Department, sources told Politico. The Hill asked the White House for comment.
It blows my mind that even the conservative machine that is Fox News is fed up with Trump's bullshit. That's when you know that Trump has fucked up hard: when even Fox News has to pause its normal hatemongering, fearmongering message of ignorance to say "Even *we* can't let this happen." This is one of the rare times where Fox is defending honest and nonpartisan journalism- and the country- over partisan hackery.
That's Shep Smith though. He's always been more willing to be less of a partisan hack than others on the network.
Flynn in FBI interview denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said.
The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy. Lying to the FBI is a felony offense. But several officials said it is unclear whether prosecutors would attempt to bring a case, in part because Flynn may parse the definition of the word “sanctions.” He also followed his denial to the FBI by saying he couldn’t recall all of the conversation, officials said.
Any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department.
A spokesman for Flynn said he had no response. The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment.
Flynn spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak following Trump’s election and denied for weeks that the December conversation involved sanctions the Obama administration imposed on Russia in response to its purported meddling in the U.S. election. Flynn’s denial to the FBI was similar to what he had told Trump’s advisers, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. In a recent interview with the Daily Caller, Flynn said he didn’t discuss “sanctions” but did discuss the Obama administration’s expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats it said were “intelligence operatives.” The move was part of the sanctions package it announced on Dec. 29.
Earlier, in an interview with The Post, he denied discussing sanctions but later issued a statement saying “that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn’t be certain that the topic never came up.”
Trump asked for Flynn’s resignation Monday night following reports in The Washington Post that revealed Flynn had misled Vice President Pence in denying the substance of the call and that Justice Department officials had warned the White House that Flynn was a possible target of Russian blackmail as a result.
Two days after the FBI interview, then-acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates and a career national security official informed Donald McGahn, Trump’s White House counsel, about the contents of the intercepted phone call in a meeting at the White House. Yates and other officials were concerned that Russia could not only exploit the mischaracterization of the call — which Pence had repeated on nationwide television — but also did not think it was fair to keep Pence in the dark about the discrepancies, according to officials familiar with their thinking.
At a news conference Thursday, Trump called Flynn a “fine person” and said he had done nothing wrong in engaging with the Russian envoy. Trump said he did not direct Flynn to talk to Kislyak. However, the president added, “I would have directed him because that’s his job.”
Trump said he had asked for Flynn’s resignation because of what the national security adviser had told the vice president about his communications with the Russian diplomat. “I was not happy with the way that information was given,” Trump said. The president said the real issue in the Flynn saga was the divulging of classified information. “It’s an illegal process, and the press should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “But more importantly, the people that gave out the information to the press should be ashamed of themselves, really ashamed.”
Senior officials who have reviewed the phone call thought Flynn’s statements to Kislyak were inappropriate, if not illegal, because he suggested that the Kremlin could expect a reprieve from the sanctions.
At the same time, officials knew that seeking to build a case against Flynn for violating an obscure 1799 statute known as the Logan Act — which bars private citizens from interfering in diplomatic disputes — would be legally and political daunting. Several officials said that while sanctions were discussed between Flynn and Kislyak in the December call, they did not see evidence in the intercept that Flynn had an “intent” to convey an explicit promise to take action after the inauguration.
“It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out,” Flynn told the Daily Caller in an interview just before he resigned and published Tuesday. “So that’s what it turned out to be. It was basically, ‘Look, I know this happened. We’ll review everything.’ I never said anything such as, ‘We’re going to review sanctions,’ or anything like that.”
It is not clear when the FBI began to probe Flynn’s communications with Kisylak. Senior members of the Obama administration learned in early January that the FBI was investigating the relationship, according to former officials.
On President Barack Obama’s final full day in office, Yates, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper and CIA Director John O. Brennan recommended informing the Trump team of the Flynn matter. But FBI Director James B. Comey pushed back, arguing that doing so could interfere with the bureau’s ongoing investigation. The FBI is examining contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials.
Comey dropped his objections after the FBI interviewed the national security adviser.
After Yates informed McGahn, the White House counsel informed Trump and then conducted an internal review of the matter, according to White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
While McGahn and Trump were briefed on the matter on Jan. 26, it does not appear that they informed Pence. A spokesman for the vice president said he first learned that he had been misled when The Washington Post on Feb. 9 disclosed that Flynn had, in fact, discussed sanctions with Kislyak, contrary to the vice president’s public statements.
Flynn said in his resignation letter that he had “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador.”
WH dismisses six staffers for failing background checks: report
Six White House staffers were removed from the administration on Thursday for failing an FBI background check, according to Politico.
Sources told the publication that the staffers were escorted from the building on Wednesday after they didn’t pass Form SF86, the "Questionnaire for National Security Positions." A successful response to the form is required for a security clearance.
One of the dismissed staffers includes Caroline Wiles, director of scheduling, the daughter of President Trump’s Florida campaign manager. She will instead get a job at the Treasury Department, sources told Politico. The Hill asked the White House for comment.
This reporter is a boss. Calls out Trump in his face on another one of his dumb lies about having the biggest electoral victory then says 'Why should Americans trust you?'
On February 17 2017 09:41 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote: This reporter is a boss. Calls out Trump in his face on another one of his dumb lies about having the biggest electoral victory then says 'Why should Americans trust you?'
This is how reporters should fight back, just fact check him live and ask the most important questions of the day. He makes a lot of false statements, this makes him look less credible and he gets tilted. Instead they ask him standard questions, he goes into stream of consciousness and everyone gets lost.
EPT
