All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[SquirrelMan]

The whistleblower is being represented by Andrew P. Bakaj, a former CIA officer.
Others familiar with the whistleblower’s complaint have confirmed to Politico that it involves the president’s communications.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...blower-1502945

[Malvolio]

Two of Trump's personal buddies. This is troubling as hell, and then some. Of course, Moscow Mitch and the Grand Old Pissants in the Senate won't say a damn thing.

====================

Mike Pompeo: Saudi Oil Attack Is An ‘Act Of War’ By Iran

The U.S. secretary of state said Iran was behind the missile strikes. Saudi officials said they had proof. Then let the Saudis go to war on Iran, leave the U.S. out!

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Ilhan Omar Says Trump Spreading False 9/11 Tweet About Her Puts Her Life At Risk

“What is Twitter doing to combat this misinformation?” the congresswoman responded. Short answer? Not a goddamn thing. Trump is Twitter's golden calf and they're not going to derail that gravy train.

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NY Times Reporters Say Kavanaugh Asked Them To Lie In Exchange For An Interview

Reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly said that Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed to speak to them as long as they publicly said he declined the interview. And this shitstain sits on SCOTUS? Incredible!

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The Military Has Spent $184,000 At Trump’s Scottish Golf Resort In 2 Years

It remains unclear whether the military exceeded its own limits on lodging expenses to put service members up in the president’s hotel. Let's hear it for presidential grifting!

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Sean Hannity Offers Up Some Sketchy Legal Advice To Donald Trump’s Aides

The Fox News host issued some tips for how Trump’s allies can avoid perjuring themselves. Oh, this is hilarious!

Didn't Trump once say that only guilty people plead the 5th Amendment?

[Jack Dracula]

There was a complete policy that Democrats will stick to if they have control of both houses of Congress and the White House?

Yes, there was, and it was summarily thrown out by Trump in favor of the current horror show.
I don't think the Democrats are the party you'd need to worry about honoring a bipartisan agreement. The other guys are the ones with the reputation for coloring ouside the lines.

[Iron Maiden]

They are certainly mentally taxing and I think it's fair to say that a bunch of people pushing 80 are going to face questions about their mental fitness and flexibility and, most importantly, whether or not they actually get the challenges of the day. Would I prefer a younger person for the job? Certainly, but it is not THE biggest question.

Buit Warren, Sanders, and Biden have pretty strong constituencies in the democratic party, that's undeniable.

Yes, this is true. If the final 3 turn out to be them, I think I would still lean towards Biden, despite his teeth almost falling out, having a better chance over Trump. He will get the older crown that always vote. The younger voters may get ticked off again and stay home if it isn't Bernie or Warren.

I still think Warren is going to have the same issue Hillary had....some people will look at her as some upstart woman and not vote for her. She still looks like a college professor and needs to shake that image. The Pochantas thing will come back even though IMO that reflects worse on Trump being so juvenile with his name calling. But he has a way of twisting the narrative on his opponent so that it it makes them look weak esp when they don't stand up to his shenanigans. HIllary was really one of the few to rattle him when she called him Putin's puppet.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Didn't Trump once say that only guilty people plead the 5th Amendment?

He probably did, but, if he were pressed about that, he'd deny he said it, even if shown proof that he had.

Yes, this is true. If the final 3 turn out to be them, I think I would still lean towards Biden, despite his teeth almost falling out, having a better chance over Trump. He will get the older crown that always vote. The younger voters may get ticked off again and stay home if it isn't Bernie or Warren.

I still think Warren is going to have the same issue Hillary had....some people will look at her as some upstart woman and not vote for her.

I fear some of those people might be women. It was the same with Hillary, I remember reading how women refused to support Clinton, saying in so many words that they wouldn't vote with their, ahem....anatomy. Was Hillary's baggage the reason why? In part, thankfully, Warren isn't so encumbered, except for the Pocohantas stuff of course.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

US drone strike intended for Isis hideout kills 30 pine nut workers in Afghanistan

A US drone strike intended to hit an Islamic State hideout in Afghanistan has killed at least 30 civilians who were resting after harvesting pine nuts.

Forty people were also injured in the attack on Wednesday night which struck farmers and labourers who had just finished their day’s work at the mountainous Wazir Tangi in eastern Nangarhar province, three Afghan officials told Reuters.

“The workers had lit a bonfire and were sitting together when a drone targeted them,” tribal elder Malik Rahat Gul told Reuters by telephone from Wazir Tangi.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ne-nut-workers

**** the US.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of U.S. Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, who while first appointed to the Senate as a replacement for John Ensign after he resigned due to being embroiled in a sex scandal, Sen. Heller won election to a full term in 2012 winning with only 46% of the vote over Democrat Shelley Berkley, who pulled down 45% (the other 9% was independents and write-in candidates). Heller’s time in the spotlight has been marred by several extreme positions on issues like pay equality, women’s reproductive rights, gun control, and immigration reform. The man is spitefully partisan enough that he held a photo-op breakfast at an IHOP where a mass shooting had taken place on its one year anniversary to prove to the gun lobby that he didn’t care about people dying to keep him from voting the way he does on gun control. He was one of 18 senators who voted not just to have the 2013 Government Shutdown… but to keep the government closed in the vote to end it 16 days later. Most glaring, though, is how Sen. Heller decided to rally under the banner of racist rancher and tax scofflaw Cliven Bundy in 2013, calling him a “patriot” while criticizing the Bureau of Land Management for “overreach” and praising the “law-abiding Nevadans” on Bundy’s ranch who were pointing assault rifles at government employees doing their jobs and rounding up Bundy’s cattle off of government land. Up until the time that Cliven Bundy decided to teach America “something about the negro”, Dean Heller was proposing Congressional hearings to investigate the BLM and why they were at the Bundy Ranch. Because he clearly thought THEY were in the wrong. And that was just in our FIRST look at Sen. Heller. Our further follow-up looks at Sen. Heller have seen him voting to defund Planned Parenthood based on the fraudulent "sting" video produced by the Center for Medical Progress, but yet, failing to vote for funding to prevent the Zika Virus, which certainly couldn’t be a hypocritical stance, no sir. Heller also participated in a filibuster of an attempt to create a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United, and signed onto a letter to make himself one of the #47Traitors who tried to sabotage ongoing negotiations between the State Department and Iran to forge a nuclear treaty and end decades of standoffs between our two nations.

And with Dean Heller up for re-election in a swing state that’s trending blue in 2018… he’s had one of the worst new sessions of any member of the U.S. Senate, that have left his fortunes coming next fall looking pretty grim. Obviously Democrats aren’t going to be thrilled with a guy who voted to confirm every single member of Donald Trump’s “Cabinet of Horrors”, put Neil Gorsuch and alleged sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, hoping to live the Fundamentalist dream of outlawing abortion.

That might have been why Heller thought to do some political calculus to see he might need to look a little more moderate, intimating that he would not vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act… which led to an embarrassing scene from the White House where Donald Trump made a not-so-veiled threat in front of him, and with the media present for not supporting the GOP’s efforts:

"This was the one we were worried about. You weren't there. But you're gonna be. You're gonna be. Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn't he? And I think the people of your state, which I know very well, I think they're gonna appreciate what you hopefully will do. Any senator who votes against starting debate is really telling America that you're fine with Obamacare. But being fine with Obamacare isn't enough for another reason. Because it's gone. It's failed. It's not gonna be around."

You can see in the video the exact moment where Heller knows he’s found himself under the bus.

As such, Sen. Heller caved to pressure from the president and people in his own party and voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and it looked like the law was as good as dead, with all the Democrats voting with Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins, and Vice-President Mike Pence would be the tiebreaker... but then late John McCain came in and got all dramatic with a "thumbs down"... so Dean Heller was forced to heel by Donald Trump for exactly nothing but bad press. And his constituents sure noticed, as his approval ratings dipped into the low 20s in the wake of the vote. And then, for whatever reason, he decided to be a co-sponsor of the GOP’s last ditch effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act with Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Bill Cassidy, that throws an estimated 32 million (that’s THIRTY-TWO MILLION) people off their health insurance, by far the worst “healthcare reform” bill thought up Republicans yet this term.

Could it get worse? Well, how about that in the days after the terror attack carried out by white nationalists on the march in Charlottesville, as people began to identify hate-fueled nitwits from that rally, that people noted one of the more iconic faces there, Peter Cvjetanovic, was traced back just not to being a University of Nevado-Reno student... but that he had met and been photographed with Dean Heller. That's decidedly not a good look for Heller.

And almost a year after the 2016 election, Dean Heller finally admitted he voted for Donald Trump, as Trump's approval ratings also hit their lowest, falling into the 30s, after Charlottesville. He was flagging badly enough that even the Koch Brothers bailed on him, and decided not to contribute towards his campaign. Also factor in the ethical scandal of how Sen. Heller decided to pay $50,000 to his own son, who purports himself to be a “Social Media Influencer” for “quality content”. That has drawn the attention of the FEC, because it seems a lot more like Heller is just trying to funnel money to his progeny.

And that was all enough to ensure that Jacky Rosen became Senator Jacky Rosen, sending Dean Heller packing with only 45% of the vote. He was hoping he might land a nomination to serve in the Department of the Interior after that loss, but Donald Trump’s ego can’t stand the idea that anyone would be in any way critical of him, and as blamed Heller’s loss on “not supporting him enough”, and he’s currently in political limbo. For the moment, it would seem his career is over.

[Tami]

Whistle-Blower’s Complaint Is Said to Involve Multiple Acts by Trump

WASHINGTON — A potentially explosive complaint by a whistle-blower in the intelligence community said to involve President Trump was related to a series of actions that goes beyond any single discussion with a foreign leader, according to interviews on Thursday.

The complaint was related to multiple acts, Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for American spy agencies, told lawmakers during a private briefing, two officials familiar with it said. But he declined to discuss specifics, including whether the complaint involved the president, according to committee members.

Separately, a person familiar with the whistle-blower’s complaint said it involves in part a commitment that Mr. Trump made in a communication with another world leader. The Washington Post first reported the nature of that discussion. But no single communication was at the root of the complaint, another person familiar with it said.

The complaint cleared an initial hurdle when Mr. Atkinson deemed it credible and began to pursue an investigation. But it has prompted a standoff between lawmakers and the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, who has refused to turn it over to Congress, as is generally required by law. It has become the latest in a series of fights over information between the Democratic-led House and the White House.

[Kirby101]

So, the President is a traitor. Isn't it better in the movies when s&i+ like this is revealed and the President is forced to resign. Instead we have an entire political Party that want to help in obstruction and cover up.

[Tami]

So, the President is a traitor. Isn't it better in the movies when s&i+ like this is revealed and the President is forced to resign. Instead we have an entire political Party that want to help in obstruction and cover up.

I find Trump's response on Twitter to be amusing, in a twisted sort of way:

"Virtually anytime I speak on the phone to a foreign leader, I understand that there may be many people listening from various U.S. agencies, not to mention those from the other country itself. No problem!" Trump tweeted.

"Knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially 'heavily populated' call," he continued. "I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!"

We all believe that Trump is Dumb Enough to give away national secrets and say dumb things over the phone. he's already done it many times before.

[Kirby101]

Hey look! A fully formed plan on Drug pricing that the GOP won't even consider.

McConnell Says Pelosi’s Drug Plan Is Dead

What is the plan the GOP is offering? Because our resident Republican tells us not to criticize something unless you have a complete alternative.

[BeastieRunner]

I find Trump's response on Twitter to be amusing, in a twisted sort of way:



We all believe that Trump is Dumb Enough to give away national secrets and say dumb things over the phone. he's already done it many times before.

Says the man who tweeted, TWEETED, out top secret spy satellite photos, listing the GPS grid and placement of the satellite.

Says the guy who outed a whole SEAL team and they are now in CIA detox for 5-8 years till they can rejoin.

Says the dude that shared the names of spies in Russia on LIVE TV ...

I can go on and on ...

He's either really fucking dumb or one of the smartest spies ever.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Says the man who tweeted, TWEETED, out top secret spy satellite photos, listing the GPS grid and placement of the satellite.

Says the guy who outed a whole SEAL team and they are now in CIA detox for 5-8 years till they can rejoin.

Says the dude that shared the names of spies in Russia on LIVE TV ...

I can go on and on ...

He's either really fucking dumb or one of the smartest spies ever.

Newsflash: He’s really fucking dumb. And, of course, the party certain people here slavishly defends refuses to censure Trump or even complain about the insanely stupid **** he does.

[InformationGeek]

What the f**k Guiliani?

Everyone should tune into Giuliani on CNN right now. This is nuts. “You want to cover some ridiculous charge that I urged the Ukrainian government to investigate corruption. Well I did. And I’m proud of it.”

[WestPhillyPunisher]

What the f**k Guiliani?

Sweet. Baby. Jesus. Somebody bring out a straitjacket for Rantin’ Rudy. He done lost it.