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US Politics Mega-thread - Page 9718

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Read the rules in the OP before posting, please.

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.
Plansix
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States60190 Posts
January 18 2018 11:50 GMT
#194341
It is pretty naive to think that the “merit based” system will be used properly and not abused to deny immigration by race.
I have the Honor to be your Obedient Servant, P.6
TL+ Member
Leporello
Profile Joined January 2011
United States2845 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-01-18 13:17:31
January 18 2018 13:07 GMT
#194342
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html

What goes through the Republican mind when they read stories like these and see all these Russian oligarchs are funding their political industry, or see all the Russian social-media comments that look like they came from the mouth of a "good 'murican"? I don't know, because they seem to be incapable of even acknowledging their existence.

However, the NRA reported spending a record $55 million on the 2016 elections, including $30 million to support Trump – triple what the group devoted to backing Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race. Most of that was money was spent by an arm of the NRA that is not required to disclose its donors.

Two people with close connections to the powerful gun lobby said its total election spending actually approached or exceeded $70 million. The reporting gap could be explained by the fact that independent groups are not required to reveal how much they spend on Internet ads or field operations, including get-out-the-vote efforts.


Torshin, a leading figure in Putin’s party, has been implicated in money laundering by judicial authorities in Spain, as Bloomberg News first revealed in 2016. Spanish investigators alleged in an almost 500-page internal report that Torshin, who was then a senator, capitalized on his government role to assist mobsters laundering funds through Spanish properties and banks, Bloomberg reported

A summary obtained by McClatchy of the still-secret report links Torshin to Russian money laundering and describes him as a godfather in a major Russian criminal organization called Taganskaya.

Investigators for three congressional committees probing Russia’s 2016 operations also have shown interest in Torshin, a lifetime NRA member who has attended several of its annual conventions. At the group’s meeting in Kentucky in May 2016, Torshin spoke to Donald Trump Jr. during a gala event at the group’s national gathering in Kentucky in May 2016, when his father won an earlier-than-usual NRA presidential endorsement.

An FBI spokesman declined to comment on the investigation.


The company you keep. Hard to imagine why such a fine, moral, upstanding, 'Murican institution as the NRA would consort with international criminals. Maybe it's because they're just a bunch of fucking gun-dealers.
Big water
zlefin
Profile Blog Joined October 2012
United States7689 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-01-18 13:14:26
January 18 2018 13:13 GMT
#194343
good of NYT to show some alternate opinion points; but it's sad that those are the best cases their readers could come up with for pro-trump arguments, shows how little there is.
Great read: http://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-2016-general-election/ great book on democracy: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10671.html zlefin is grumpier due to long term illness. Ignoring some users.
{CC}StealthBlue
Profile Blog Joined January 2003
United States41117 Posts
January 18 2018 13:25 GMT
#194344
"Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules."
FueledUpAndReadyToGo
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
Netherlands30548 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-01-18 14:13:39
January 18 2018 14:13 GMT
#194345
On January 18 2018 12:31 Gahlo wrote:
What could possibly go wrong? What's the bullshit meter on The Intercept? I think I've seen stuff posted from it a few times here.

Show nested quote +
Trump White House Weighing Plans for Private Spies to Counter “Deep State” Enemies

The Trump administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency.

The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration’s political agenda.


- more on site -


The Intercept

A personal secret police? Jee what a great idea, executed already by many wonderful figures in history
Neosteel Enthusiast
Ryzel
Profile Joined December 2012
United States550 Posts
January 18 2018 14:34 GMT
#194346
On January 18 2018 23:13 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 18 2018 12:31 Gahlo wrote:
What could possibly go wrong? What's the bullshit meter on The Intercept? I think I've seen stuff posted from it a few times here.

Trump White House Weighing Plans for Private Spies to Counter “Deep State” Enemies

The Trump administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency.

The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration’s political agenda.


- more on site -


The Intercept

A personal secret police? Jee what a great idea, executed already by many wonderful figures in history


Jesus this is so many levels of fucked up. If this is true it really reinforces the premise that Trump wants to be to the United States what Putin is to Russia.
Hakuna Matata B*tches
ragz_gt
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
9172 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-01-18 14:42:54
January 18 2018 14:42 GMT
#194347
On January 18 2018 23:34 Ryzel wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 18 2018 23:13 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote:
On January 18 2018 12:31 Gahlo wrote:
What could possibly go wrong? What's the bullshit meter on The Intercept? I think I've seen stuff posted from it a few times here.

Trump White House Weighing Plans for Private Spies to Counter “Deep State” Enemies

The Trump administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency.

The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration’s political agenda.


- more on site -


The Intercept

A personal secret police? Jee what a great idea, executed already by many wonderful figures in history


Jesus this is so many levels of fucked up. If this is true it really reinforces the premise that Trump wants to be to the United States what Putin is to Russia.


With all his faults Putin has never been accused of incompetent, so that's strike 1.
I'm not an otaku, I'm a specialist.
Plansix
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States60190 Posts
January 18 2018 14:45 GMT
#194348
I am pretty sure any attempt to do that would be followed up by unlimited lawsuits. The executive branch hiring an outside group to investigate federal employees for any reason isn’t allowed.
I have the Honor to be your Obedient Servant, P.6
TL+ Member
Ryzel
Profile Joined December 2012
United States550 Posts
January 18 2018 14:59 GMT
#194349
On January 18 2018 23:45 Plansix wrote:
I am pretty sure any attempt to do that would be followed up by unlimited lawsuits. The executive branch hiring an outside group to investigate federal employees for any reason isn’t allowed.


IMO Trump has demonstrated he has no fear of the court system. His lawyers are the best at bogging it down, and the time it would take to force him to disband his outside group would be more than enough for them to "find" incriminating evidence against the Feds. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he then asks Russia for help to stop this "coup" that he discovers.
Hakuna Matata B*tches
Acrofales
Profile Joined August 2010
Spain18292 Posts
January 18 2018 14:59 GMT
#194350
Why are we believing stuff posted on The Intercept and nowhere else?
TheLordofAwesome
Profile Joined May 2014
Korea (South)2656 Posts
January 18 2018 15:00 GMT
#194351
Serious question: Why does Trump keep talking about how the wall needs to be "see through?"

I don't understand what he is talking about.
Acrofales
Profile Joined August 2010
Spain18292 Posts
January 18 2018 15:01 GMT
#194352
On January 19 2018 00:00 TheLordofAwesome wrote:
Serious question: Why does Trump keep talking about how the wall needs to be "see through?"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/953948941674078208
I don't understand what he is talking about.

A see-through wall. Either he wants to make it out of glass... or, more likely, hot air.
Doodsmack
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States7224 Posts
January 18 2018 15:01 GMT
#194353
You would hope that Congress would also stop such a move.
Doodsmack
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States7224 Posts
January 18 2018 15:02 GMT
#194354
On January 18 2018 23:59 Acrofales wrote:
Why are we believing stuff posted on The Intercept and nowhere else?


It's been reported elsewhere before today, but not with that level of detail I don't think.
Plansix
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States60190 Posts
January 18 2018 15:03 GMT
#194355
On January 18 2018 23:59 Acrofales wrote:
Why are we believing stuff posted on The Intercept and nowhere else?

I’ve seen that story for almost a year now, in different versions and publications. It has to be the brain child of some White House staffer that just won’t die.
I have the Honor to be your Obedient Servant, P.6
TL+ Member
Artisreal
Profile Joined June 2009
Germany9235 Posts
January 18 2018 15:04 GMT
#194356
On January 19 2018 00:00 TheLordofAwesome wrote:
Serious question: Why does Trump keep talking about how the wall needs to be "see through?"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/953948941674078208
I don't understand what he is talking about.

It's not gonna be a wall but rather a fence
passive quaranstream fan
LegalLord
Profile Blog Joined April 2013
United States13779 Posts
January 18 2018 15:04 GMT
#194357
Ideally the wall will have sand pits, watchtowers with posted guards, and barbed wire fences. That will definitely solve the see-through problem at least.
History will sooner or later sweep the European Union away without mercy.
KwarK
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States43990 Posts
January 18 2018 15:05 GMT
#194358
Putin has absolutely made a bunch of incompetent decisions. The Sochi Winter Olympics and the Crimean adventure have basically depleted Russia's capital reserves while the Ukrainian adventure and the murder of a two hundred Dutch civilians have limited his access to foreign capital. The ruble has halved against the dollar which is a serious issue for a country that depends heavily upon imports. Inflation is high, and the entire economy is reliant upon the price of oil remaining high.

Putin gets around his failings by rallying ignorant macho idiots around the idea of patriotism and unifying against the foreign enemy. That, and he murders his political opponents.
ModeratorThe angels have the phone box
TheLordofAwesome
Profile Joined May 2014
Korea (South)2656 Posts
January 18 2018 15:05 GMT
#194359
He's talked about it before. Pretty sure it was on AF1 with reporters, saying the wall needed to be physically transparent so that people on the US side of the wall can dodge the 60 lb bags of cocaine being thrown over the top by Mexican drug cartels.

This is not a joke.

“As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don’t see them–they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of the stuff? It's over,” the President said aboard Air Force One yesterday, according to the official White House transcript. “As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall.”

https://www.wired.com/story/trump-bags-of-heroin/
Plansix
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States60190 Posts
January 18 2018 15:06 GMT
#194360
On January 18 2018 23:59 Ryzel wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 18 2018 23:45 Plansix wrote:
I am pretty sure any attempt to do that would be followed up by unlimited lawsuits. The executive branch hiring an outside group to investigate federal employees for any reason isn’t allowed.


IMO Trump has demonstrated he has no fear of the court system. His lawyers are the best at bogging it down, and the time it would take to force him to disband his outside group would be more than enough for them to "find" incriminating evidence against the Feds. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he then asks Russia for help to stop this "coup" that he discovers.

The courts don’t fear him either, tbh. But Black water fears the courts.
I have the Honor to be your Obedient Servant, P.6
TL+ Member
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