Now that we have a new thread, 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 complete and thorough read before posting!
NOTE: When providing a source, please provide a very brief summary on what it's about and what purpose it adds to the discussion. The supporting statement should clearly explain why the subject is relevant and needs to be discussed. Please follow this rule especially for tweets.
Your supporting statement should always come BEFORE you provide the source.
On November 05 2019 02:40 Mohdoo wrote: Trump's taxes seem poised for the supreme court. Should be interesting. I wonder if they'll even consider it.
I’d guess they refuse to hear the appeal, which affirms the lower court’s decisions.
So you don't think this is the sort of thing Kav could be the deciding saving vote for Trump? You'd expect most conservatives on the court to reject this?
The state tax document request is a state police powers and self governance issue, which is a legal framework in which Trump’s, shall we say, exotic theories of absolute federal executive immunity hold very little water. Those theories, while still wholly unsupported by basically every piece of common law that has touched on the powers of the executive, are more tenable when matched up with other federal investigations, like those conducted by Congress.
I would guess the likes of Kavanaugh would rather take up the federal v federal case. But that all said, it’s hard to say one way or the other, this is major uncharted waters stuff.
On November 05 2019 02:40 Mohdoo wrote: Trump's taxes seem poised for the supreme court. Should be interesting. I wonder if they'll even consider it.
I’d guess they refuse to hear the appeal, which affirms the lower court’s decisions.
So you don't think this is the sort of thing Kav could be the deciding saving vote for Trump? You'd expect most conservatives on the court to reject this?
The state tax document request is a state police powers and self governance issue, which is a legal framework in which Trump’s, shall we say, exotic theories of absolute federal executive immunity hold very little water. Those theories, while still wholly unsupported by basically every piece of common law that has touched on the powers of the executive, are more tenable when matched up with other federal investigations, like those conducted by Congress.
I would guess the likes of Kavanaugh would rather take up the federal v federal case. But that all said, it’s hard to say one way or the other, this is major uncharted waters stuff.
Sounds like I still have plenty of reason to keep my eyes squinted. I guess we'll see....how long until we hear what the supreme court thinks about taking the topic up for discussion or not?
I get the feeling the SC is going to just defer to voters like Congress will when it comes to any vague sense of accountability for Trump or his administration.
They all may go through some of the motions, but the calculation seems to be that Trump refusing to acknowledge an official action removing him is more dangerous (to the mythos of the US political system anyway) than leaving it up to voters to remove him.
As to the taxes thing I'd expect Trump to just refuse and fight in court until or unless they start arresting people for failing to comply.
Well now that the Epstien thing is coming back to life, ABC news is talking about how they were pressured by Alan Dersiowtz and Prince Andrew to suppress the story for years.
On November 06 2019 02:21 redlightdistrict wrote: Well now that the Epstien thing is coming back to life, ABC news is talking about how they were pressured by Alan Dersiowtz to suppress the story for years.
Anything posted by Project Veritas is automatically useless and most likely fake. Their stuff has been proven set up, fake and cut out of context so often that if they report the sky is blue I would question it and look out the window to be sure its not purple right now.
On November 06 2019 02:21 redlightdistrict wrote: Well now that the Epstien thing is coming back to life, ABC news is talking about how they were pressured by Alan Dersiowtz, Prince Andrew, and Epstien to suppress the story for years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lfwkTsJGYA&feature=youtu.be
No one is going to discuss anything made by project veritas. They are verifiably dog shit and we've been through this before. It is as fake news as fake news can be. It is actually fake.
On November 06 2019 02:21 redlightdistrict wrote: Well now that the Epstien thing is coming back to life, ABC news is talking about how they were pressured by Alan Dersiowtz, Prince Andrew, and Epstien to suppress the story for years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lfwkTsJGYA&feature=youtu.be
No one is going to discuss anything made by project veritas. They are verifiably dog shit and we've been through this before. It is as fake news as fake news can be. It is actually fake.
I recall when a guy went to Planned Parenthood pretending to be a pimp and the employee there told him that PP could absolutely provide services to his hoes and that he should bring them in immediately. She then called the police the moment he left and reported the incident so they could arrest the pimp and help his hoes. Project Veritas went with the PP sex trafficking angle.
Sondland walked back essentially everything, and is now saying there is a proquidpro with Ukraine. Theres also some stuff implicating both pence and Rick Perry in this as well.
Sondland walked back essentially everything, and is now saying there is a proquidpro with Ukraine. Theres also some stuff implicating both pence and Rick Perry in this as well.
The solution for GOP is now to just not read it. I guess it makes it easier on the conscience when defending Trump ad infinitum. I think some of them did the same with the Mueller report.
I guess that quote kinda begs the question of what the hell has been going on with Lindsey Graham the last year or two? His behaviour with this impeachment stuff in particular has been outright bizarre. Important context for that tweet above is that Graham was previously demanding that the transcripts for Sondland and Volker be released since he believed not doing so was a sign that the hearing was rigged and wasn't transparent. Now that this testimony has been released he and several other high profile Republicans have essentially claimed that the hearing is rigged anyway and said that reading the testimony was pointless. It's abundantly clear that the Republicans are acting in extreme bad faith at this point. Nothing the Democrats running the inquiry will do will ever placate these people, and in acting as they are, these Republicans are giving an out to Fox News and other conservative outlets to report on what these people are doing rather than being forced to report on the increasingly damning content of these testimonies.
The reason Graham in particular sticks out is because his behaviour has done a complete 180 degree spin from 2 years ago. He used to be one of the few vocal Republican critics of Trump and would commonly voice his disagreements. Suddenly within a short period of time he became one of Trump's biggest supporters, and will lie as needed to keep consistent with Trump's narrative. It's become a meme at this point for Graham to say one thing, then people to immediately find a clip of him in the past saying the precise opposite. It's clear that he has abandoned any principles he previously had.
Something else to point out with regard to these testimonies being released is that behind closed doors it's quite obvious the Republicans act quite differently. Yes, it is typically each member's staff asking questions, but outside of a few specific circumstances, the Republicans tend to simply be following along with the hearing and asking their questions. The ridiculous Gowdy-like theatrics we see in the public hearings don't tend to be happening nearly as much. This definitely lends credence to the idea that they are acting as they are in public purely to distract from acts done by Trump that are looking increasingly indefensible.
I think the most likely thing is that McCain was something of a moral compass for Graham. That and the fact that Graham has always backed down from actually doing anything, ever, despite his talk; the talk is just less common since he doesn't have anyone he feels like he needs to be honest to.
Lindsay Graham saying he won't even read testimony is a really weird turn. This is him saying he doesn't care. Man, what a sad state. This is way beyond partisanship
Other stuff has made me frustrated, but this is sad more than anything. Refusing to read something is a huge escalation. Oy.
On November 06 2019 02:21 redlightdistrict wrote: Well now that the Epstien thing is coming back to life, ABC news is talking about how they were pressured by Alan Dersiowtz and Prince Andrew to suppress the story for years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lfwkTsJGYA&feature=youtu.be
I don't remember the host saying they were pressured by Prince Andrew and Dershowitz, but rather that network seniors thought airing negative material about Prince Andrew would compromise their coverage of the royal family, particularly of Kate and Will.
Edit: she did say the "Palace" threatened them in "a million different ways."
On November 06 2019 09:14 Ben... wrote: I guess that quote kinda begs the question of what the hell has been going on with Lindsey Graham the last year or two? His behaviour with this impeachment stuff in particular has been outright bizarre. Important context for that tweet above is that Graham was previously demanding that the transcripts for Sondland and Volker be released since he believed not doing so was a sign that the hearing was rigged and wasn't transparent. Now that this testimony has been released he and several other high profile Republicans have essentially claimed that the hearing is rigged anyway and said that reading the testimony was pointless. It's abundantly clear that the Republicans are acting in extreme bad faith at this point. Nothing the Democrats running the inquiry will do will ever placate these people, and in acting as they are, these Republicans are giving an out to Fox News and other conservative outlets to report on what these people are doing rather than being forced to report on the increasingly damning content of these testimonies.
The reason Graham in particular sticks out is because his behaviour has done a complete 180 degree spin from 2 years ago. He used to be one of the few vocal Republican critics of Trump and would commonly voice his disagreements. Suddenly within a short period of time he became one of Trump's biggest supporters, and will lie as needed to keep consistent with Trump's narrative. It's become a meme at this point for Graham to say one thing, then people to immediately find a clip of him in the past saying the precise opposite. It's clear that he has abandoned any principles he previously had.
Something else to point out with regard to these testimonies being released is that behind closed doors it's quite obvious the Republicans act quite differently. Yes, it is typically each member's staff asking questions, but outside of a few specific circumstances, the Republicans tend to simply be following along with the hearing and asking their questions. The ridiculous Gowdy-like theatrics we see in the public hearings don't tend to be happening nearly as much. This definitely lends credence to the idea that they are acting as they are in public purely to distract from acts done by Trump that are looking increasingly indefensible.
Both parties do this, closed-door hearings are always more well-behaved by everyone.
On November 06 2019 02:21 redlightdistrict wrote: Well now that the Epstien thing is coming back to life, ABC news is talking about how they were pressured by Alan Dersiowtz, Prince Andrew, and Epstien to suppress the story for years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lfwkTsJGYA&feature=youtu.be
No one is going to discuss anything made by project veritas. They are verifiably dog shit and we've been through this before. It is as fake news as fake news can be. It is actually fake.
The video itself is quite damning, despite the edits and authors politcal bias. ABC even responded to the claim in a dodgy way. Their abortion crap, was indeed crap, but this ... to my knowledge has some alarm bells.