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Thread: OT: Politics

  1. #1821
    Insider PBSteve's Avatar
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    "Conservative."

    The only thing the GoP is conserving is keeping out of touch white men and oligarchs in power. Nothing else is sacred.

    https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2...e-left-1331577
    Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts

    I work for the company building the Paragon

  2. #1822
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    Atmospheric carbon dioxide sets a new record every year. This year*s cracked the ominous milestone of 415 parts per million (ppm) thanks to ever rising emissions from human activities. The sharp rise might seem like something nobody could*ve predicted but there*s at least one group of scientists that were on the money 37 years ago: Exxon*s ace team of scientists.

    Internal memos unearthed in InsideClimate*s Pulitzer-winning 2015 investigation into the company revealed all sorts of solid science being done even as the oil giant sowed doubt in public. Bloomberg reporter Tom Randall revisited the memos in light of the world*s new carbon dioxide milestone and tweeted a graph from one showing just how much Exxon knew what our future would look like.

    It*s eerie seeing how well the company understood both climate science and the world*s patterns of economic growth built on the back of fossil fuels. Here*s that chart, annotated for ease of reading:


    The prediction is a pretty damn good one. The world is now about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was and carbon dioxide levels are at 415 ppm. The estimate was part of Exxon*s *high case* scenario, which assumed fossil fuel use would quicken and that the world would be able to tap new reserves in the late 2000s from at the time unreachable shale gas. The memo also warned that the extra carbon dioxide would enhance the greenhouse effect and that an *increase in absorbed energy via this route would warm the earth*s surface causing changes in climate affecting atmospheric and ocean temperatures, rainfall patterns, soil moisture, and over centuries potentially melting the polar ice caps.*
    https://earther.gizmodo.com/exxon-pr...982-1834748763
    Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts

    I work for the company building the Paragon

  3. #1823
    Insider PBSteve's Avatar
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    In case there was any confusion about Fox being the propaganda arm of the GoP, Sarah Huckabee Sanders hasn't held a press briefing in 72 days, but since then she's appeared on Fox 12 times. Have to get the right messaging out to the faithful.
    Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts

    I work for the company building the Paragon

  4. #1824
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    Yup, definitely going to war with Iran. I'll even give you the Fox link.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tru...reat-from-iran

  5. #1825
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    I don't know, fly casual

  6. #1826
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    I disagree with him on many things but Justin Amash is a true unicorn, a Republican with what appears to be a half-functioning moral compass.

    Rep. Justin Amash, who earlier this month became the first Republican member of Congress to call for President Donald Trump*s impeachment, took aim at Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday * charging that the nation*s top law enforcement officer has *used his position to sell the president's false narrative to the American people.*

    In a 25-post Twitter spree, the Michigan lawmaker accused Barr of having *deliberately misrepresented* the findings of Robert Mueller*s investigation in a March 24 letter to Congress summarizing the special counsel*s findings.


    Amash wrote online Tuesday that Barr*s letter *selectively quotes and summarizes points in Mueller*s report in misleading ways,* and asserted that *the public and Congress were misled* as a result of the attorney general*s initial four-page summary.

    Amash admonished Barr for not complying with Mueller*s request * articulated in a March 27 letter from the special counsel to the attorney general * to release the introductions and executive summaries of Mueller*s report.

    The congressman also blasted the head of the Justice Department for subsequently testifying before lawmakers that he was not aware of dissatisfaction among members of Mueller*s team with his handling of the report*s rollout.


    *Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president*s false narrative to the American people,* Amash tweeted. *This will continue if those who have read the report do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.*

    Amash on May 18 joined with many national Democrats in calling for Trump*s removal from office, writing online in a series of tweets that the president *has engaged in impeachable conduct.*

    The conservative House Freedom Caucus, of which Amash is a founding member, formally condemned him last Monday for the stance.

    Amash took to Twitter again last week for another multi-message streak that invoked the president, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former White House counsel Don McGahn, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

    *Mueller*s report describes a consistent effort by the president to use his office to obstruct or otherwise corruptly impede the Russian election interference investigation because it put his interests at risk,* Amash wrote online Thursday.

    *Some of the president*s actions were inherently corrupt,* he added. *Other actions were corrupt * and therefore impeachable * because the president took them to serve his own interests.*

    Barr has launched his own investigation to explore the origins of the FBI*s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and Trump last week granted him sweeping new powers to make classified documents public.

    The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Amash*s tweets Tuesday.
    https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...rative-1345523
    Last edited by PBSteve; 05-28-2019 at 09:32 PM.

  7. #1827
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    Holy shit, he... he's directly calling out the mindless propagandized horseshit from GoP supporters, and Fox News published it.

    "You talk about the Constitution and how important that is, but yet nothing that Mueller came out with in this report, nothing that has been said about him and President Trump is constitutional and has been a smear tactic because that's how the Democrats work," the Trump supporter told Amash. "How can you become a Democrat when we voted for you as a Republican because you've just drank the same Kool-Aid as all the Democrats."

    Amash responded by first defending his record in Congress, telling the town hall attendees he has "one of the most constitutionally conservative and fiscally conservative" voting records of all sitting lawmakers and that he's at the top "of nearly all the scorecards" of conservative groups.

    "I haven't changed, I*m who I said I was. I*m a principled, constitutional conservative who has stayed consistent regardless of whether we have President Obama in office or President Trump,* Amash continued. "Now, I've heard your comments about the Mueller Report, but you haven't stated any facts. What are the facts that you're disputing?"
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ama...ring-town-hall

    Notice no mention of the standing ovation in the Fox article, though. Get back in line, soldier.
    *I read the Mueller report. I*m sure he didn*t read it,* Amash said of McCarthy. *He resorted to ad hominem attacks; that*s the kind of *leadership* we now have in Congress.*

    McCarthy has accused Amash of seeking attention with his remarks and told reporters Amash was *out of step with this conference* and *out of step with America.*
    https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4...ing-for-trumps
    Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts

    I work for the company building the Paragon

  8. #1828
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    Here's the tweets:

    Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented key aspects of Mueller*s report and decisions in the investigation, which has helped further the president*s false narrative about the investigation.

    After receiving Mueller*s report, Barr wrote and released a letter on March 24 describing Barr*s own decision not to indict the president for obstruction of justice. That letter selectively quotes and summarizes points in Mueller*s report in misleading ways.

    Mueller*s report says he chose not to decide whether Trump broke the law because there*s an official DoJ opinion that indicting a sitting president is unconstitutional, and because of concerns about impacting the president*s ability to govern and pre-empting possible impeachment.

    Barr*s letter doesn*t mention those issues when explaining why Mueller chose not to make a prosecutorial decision. He instead selectively quotes Mueller in a way that makes it sound*falsely*as if Mueller*s decision stemmed from legal/factual issues specific to Trump*s actions.

    But, in fact, Mueller finds considerable evidence that several of Trump*s actions detailed in the report meet the elements of obstruction, and Mueller*s constitutional and prudential issues with indicting a sitting president would preclude indictment regardless of what he found.

    In noting why Barr thought the president*s intent in impeding the investigation was insufficient to establish obstruction, Barr selectively quotes Mueller to make it sound as if his analysis was much closer to Barr*s analysis than it actually was:

    Barr quotes Mueller saying the evidence didn*t establish that Trump was personally involved in crimes related to Russian election interference, and Barr then claims that Mueller found that fact relevant to whether the president had the intent to obstruct justice.

    But Mueller*s quote is taken from a section in which he describes other improper motives Trump could have had and notes: *The injury to the integrity of the justice system is the same regardless of whether a person committed an underlying wrong.* None of that is in Barr*s letter.

    As a result of Barr*s March 24 letter, the public and Congress were misled. Mueller himself notes this in a March 27 letter to Barr, saying that Barr*s letter *did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office*s work and conclusions.*

    Mueller: *There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.*

    To *alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen,* Mueller urged the release of the report*s introductions and executive summaries, which he had told Barr *accurately summarize [Mueller*s] Office*s work and conclusions.*

    Barr declined; he allowed the confusion to fester and only released the materials three weeks later with the full redacted report. In the interim, Barr testified before a House committee and was misleading about his knowledge of Mueller*s concerns:

    Barr was asked about reports *that members of [Mueller*s] team are frustrated*with the limited information included in your March 24th letter, that it does not adequately or accurately necessarily portray the report*s findings. Do you know what they*re referencing with that?*

    Barr absurdly replied: *No, I don*t*I suspect that they probably wanted more put out.* Yet Mueller had directly raised those concerns to Barr, and Barr says he *suspect[s]* they *probably* wanted more materials put out, as if Mueller hadn*t directly told him that.

    In subsequent statements and testimony, Barr used further misrepresentations to help build the president*s false narrative that the investigation was unjustified.

    Barr notes that Mueller did not *find any conspiracy to violate U.S. law involving Russia-linked persons and any persons associated with the Trump campaign.* He then declares that Mueller found *no collusion* and implies falsely that the investigation was baseless.

    But whether there*s enough evidence for a conviction of a specific crime which Mueller thought was appropriate to charge is a different and much higher standard than whether the people whom Mueller investigated had done anything worthy of investigation.

    In truth, Mueller*s report describes concerning contacts between members of Trump*s campaign and people in or connected to the Russian government.

    For instance, Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner took a meeting with a Russian lawyer whom Trump Jr. had been told worked for the Russian government and would provide documents to *incriminate Hillary,* as part of the Russian government*s *support for Mr. Trump.*

    It*s wrong to suggest that the fact that Mueller did not choose to indict anyone for this means there wasn*t a basis to investigate whether it amounted to a crime or *collusion,* or whether it was in fact part of Russia*s efforts to help Trump*s candidacy.

    Barr says the White House *fully cooperated* with the investigation and that Mueller *never sought* or *pushed* to get more from the president, but the report says Mueller unsuccessfully sought an interview with the president for over a year.

    The report says the president*s counsel was told that interviewing him was *vital* to Mueller*s investigation and that it would be in the interest of the public and the presidency. Still Trump refused.

    The president instead gave written answers to questions submitted by the special counsel. Those answers are often incomplete or unresponsive. Mueller found them *inadequate* and again sought to interview the president.

    Ultimately, the special counsel *recogniz[ed] that the President would not be interviewed voluntarily* and chose not to subpoena him because of concerns that the resulting *potentially lengthy constitutional litigation* would delay completion of the investigation.

    Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president*s false narrative to the American people. This will continue if those who have read the report do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.
    Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts

    I work for the company building the Paragon

  9. #1829
    doest matter until they start voting against him en mass.

    which wont happen.
    social conservatism: the mortal fear that someone, somewhere, might be having fun.

  10. #1830
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    Today's a doozie in the news, so I'd like to list this for posterity. Summary:

    Quote Originally Posted by David Frum
    "If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy"
    Trump openly admits "Russia helped me get elected", while having done nothing to prevent foreign interference in elections.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...rce=reddit.com

    McConnell blocks bill to combat foreign election interference:
    https://preview.msn.com/en-us/news/p...nce/vi-AAC6DX6

    Mitch McConnell, after blocking Merrick Garland in the last year of Obama's term because of supposed "legislative norms", hypocritically says he would confirm a supreme court nominee in 2020.
    https://www.npr.org/2019/05/29/72784...sal-of-2016-st

    A deceased G.O.P strategist's hard drive reveals the real reasoning behind the citizenship question on the census:
    Files on those drives showed that "he wrote a study in 2015 concluding that adding a citizenship question to the census would allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerrymandered maps to stymie Democrats. And months after urging President Trump*s transition team to tack the question onto the census, he wrote the key portion of a draft Justice Department letter claiming the question was needed to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act * the rationale the administration later used to justify its decision.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/u...-hofeller.html

    ...

    And on a slightly hilarious but equally depressing note, we're idiotically calling LNG "molecules of freedom" now.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48454674
    Last edited by PBSteve; 05-30-2019 at 11:34 AM.
    Ever so many citizens of this republic think they ought to believe that the Universe is a monarchy, and therefore they are always at odds with the republic. -Alan Watts

    I work for the company building the Paragon

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