All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tami]

After getting scorched by Pelosi, Sinclair reporter James Rosen suggests she’s lying about her religion

James Rosen of Sinclair Broadcasting suggested on Thursday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was lying when she said she does not hate people because her Catholic faith teaches her not to.

Rosen caught the Speaker’s wrath at her weekly press conference, when he shouted a question about her “hating” President Donald Trump.

Pelosi responded by coming back to the podium and dressing down Rosen. She noted that Catholics are taught not to hate.

Later, the Sinclair reporter showed up at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) weekly press conference.

“I gather you were watching just now when the Speaker, in rather effusive terms, denied that there is any personal animus on her part that is motivating the impeachment drive,” Rosen told McCarthy. “You probably also heard her invoke her Catholicism.”

[Farealmer]

North Korea threatens to resume calling Trump ‘dotard’

I know this has been going on for awhile now but this level of blatancy still astonishes me.

[TheManInBlack]

Then for whatever reason, you're ignoring the American intelligence community's conclusion, and accepting the Kremlin's version of events. Two dozen corruption investigators in Ukraine found no evidence.

Should we start addressing you as comrade, or...?

I was reading and specifically noting every point made about it in the article that you, yourself, linked. If you don't stand by the article you linked, then why did you post the article? I clicked it hoping to learn something. Instead all I got was confirmation of what my earlier research had already showed me.

This new article you link actually has some useful information if one can manage to suffer through the unfocused writing of the first 6 or 7 pages. The most interesting part was that Biden wasn't the only politician brought onto Burisma's board. To quote your article: "Ukraine is full of (people) who acquire wealth illegally through their connections to politics. Then they try to whitewash this wealth and their reputations with the help of an army of Western lawyers and public relations types."

The article goes on to say : "no one who spoke with USA TODAY said those allegations have any merit, and no credible evidence has emerged to support them – though several experts in the region said it seems clear Hunter Biden got the job because of his last name." Except that they name nobody in relation to these assertions. Neither the 'people who spoke' with them, nor the 'experts.' They just move on to a completely different topic (the email server) after dropping that bit of unsubstantiated, un-sourced assertion.

It goes on to say "No one disputes that Joe Biden wanted Shokin, the prosecutor, fired." It continues to give the supposedly 'debunking,' narrative that since Hunter Biden wasn't specifically named in the investigation, that it has nothing to do with him, which is a ludicrous assertion when it follows up the article's earlier paragraph that I quoted above detailing how Burisma has specifically been hiring politicians and western lawyers to whitewash wealth acquired illegally through their connections to politics. That's not me saying that, it's this very same article. If that's what was being investigated, then of course the Bidens would be sweating. Especially at a time when Hunter Biden was the son of the vice president of the United States. As your first article mentioned, this appointment of Hunter Biden seemed so corrupt that it even raised eyebrows in the Obama administration at the time.

I simply cannot fathom how any rational human being can look at these facts and not, at the very least, think something corrupt was going on.

And no need to call me 'comrade.' I'm an American expat living and working in Canada. These low-effort attacks against anyone who disagrees with you by calling them Russians really should be beneath you. It's childish and does almost as much to hurt your argument as the first article you posted.

[Tami]

Biden calls Iowa voter a ‘liar’ after he brings up his son and Ukraine

During an event in New Hampton, Iowa, the man rose to say he had two issues with Biden’s candidacy.

“You’re damn near as old as I am,” the man started. “You’re too old for the job. I’m 83, and I know damn well I don’t have the mental faculties I did 30 years ago.”

Then he turned toward what he said was a more pressing concern.

“We all know Trump has been messing around in the Ukraine over there, holding their foreign aid . . . saying they’re going to investigate you,” he said. “He’s got no backbone, we know that.”

“But you, on the other hand, sent your son over there to get a job and work for a gas company that he had no experience with gas or nothing, to get access to the president,” he continued. “You’re selling access to the president just like he was.”

Biden stopped him.

“You’re a damn liar, man,” Biden said. “That’s not true. And no one has ever said that.”

“The hell it ain’t,” the man replied. “I see it on the TV.”

“You see it on the TV?” Biden said.

“All I do is watch TV,” the man continued.

“No, I know you do,” Biden responded, as he moved closer to the man and looked him in the eye as he instructed one of his staffers not to take the microphone away from the man.

“And by the way, I’m not sedentary,” Biden, 77, continued. “Look, the reason I’m running is I’ve been around a long time, and I know more than most people know. And I can get things done, that’s why I’m running. And you want to check my shape man, let’s do pushups together here, man. Let’s run. Let’s do whatever you want to do. Let’s take an IQ test. Okay?”

“Number two,” Biden said. “No one has said my son has done anything wrong. And I did not on any occasion — and no one has ever said it.”

The Iowan interjected, saying, “I didn’t say you were doing anything wrong.”

“You said I set up my son to work on an oil company!” Biden said, growing more agitated and raising his voice. “Isn’t that what you said? Get your words straight, Jack!”

“That’s what I hear on MSNBC all day,” the man said.

“You don’t hear that on MSNBC,” Biden said.

“The hell I didn’t,” came the response.

“You did not hear that at all. What you heard — look, okay,” Biden said, trying to calm the exchange. “I’m not going to get in an argument with you man.”

“I don’t want to either,” the man said.

“Well, yeah you do,” Biden responded.

“It looks like you don’t have any more backbone than Trump does,” the man said, as the crowd groaned.

[worstblogever]

I was reading and specifically noting every point made about it in the article that you, yourself, linked. If you don't stand by the article you linked, then why did you post the article? I clicked it hoping to learn something. Instead all I got was confirmation of what my earlier research had already showed me.

I simply cannot fathom how any rational human being can look at these facts and not, at the very least, think something corrupt was going on.

And no need to call me 'comrade.' I'm an American expat living and working in Canada. These low-effort attacks against anyone who disagrees with you by calling them Russians really should be beneath you. It's childish and does almost as much to hurt your argument as the first article you posted.

Amazing that you're repeatedly posting the same debunked conspiracy theory in virtually every post you make, as if the more it's said, the more it becomes true. It doesn't.

See, people think that folks are still susceptible to gaslighting, or when folks start JAQ-ing off in a political discussion.

*checks post history*

Well, seems to confirm what I suspected. Seeing you bickering with a user for defending a Nazi, complaining about Antifa, and griping about your dad being supposedly turned against you by MSNBC and Dailykos. Certainly no reason why you would be looking to spread right-wing propaganda created by the Russians about the Bidens.

It's about to be 2020. Nobody's buying what you're selling, comrade.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Biden calls Iowa voter a ‘liar’ after he brings up his son and Ukraine

The conspiracy nut in me would suspect that geezer was a diehard Trump supporter who was planted in the audience for the express purpose of stirring up trouble. Considering he brought up the sort of talking points one would hear on Faux News, it makes you wonder.

[Tami]

Calling James Bond or Jack Ryan

Russian agents planned hit from assassins' lairs in French Alps, say intel officials

WASHINGTON — A group of elite Russian military intelligence officers, including some of those who planned the poisoning of a defector in Britain, have been operating out of picturesque villages in the French Alps, Western intelligence officials tell NBC News.

Confirming a report in France's Le Monde daily that could have been ripped from the pages of a John le Carré spy novel, the officials said European and American intelligence agencies had been tracking up to 15 members of the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU who had lived for a time in France. Le Monde published what it said were the names of the officers, some of which had already been published by Bellingcat, an open source investigative group.

Le Monde reported that among the Russians who stayed in France's Haute-Savoie department in the Alps were Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov — the alleged cover names of the two GRU agents accused of carrying out the attack on Skripal. French officials told the newspaper they considered the area to have been the unit's rear base for covert operations in Europe.

[jetengine]

The conspiracy nut in me would suspect that geezer was a diehard Trump supporter who was planted in the audience for the express purpose of stirring up trouble. Considering he brought up the sort of talking points one would hear on Faux News, it makes you wonder.

"I watch tv all day"

Yes, thats why your views are so badly informed.

[numberthirty]

On Booker talking about "Millionaires"/"Minorities" on the stage at the next Democratic Party debate...

It is your own political party that created the rules that are going to create that reality.

[Iron Maiden]

After getting scorched by Pelosi, Sinclair reporter James Rosen suggests she’s lying about her religion

Sinclair is a sinister company quietly buying stations all over the country. I was glad when their deal to buy WGN/Chicago fell through.

[Jack Dracula]

Originally Posted by TheManInBlack View Post
So, I read the section in that link about Burisma several times, and I can't see how that information in any way debunks the claim. If anything it lends significant credence to it... It makes it clear that:

- Hunter Biden was given a lucrative job with a corrupt company in a country he knew nothing about, doing a job he knew nothing about, but they were paying him $50,000 per month to do a job he's never been able to properly detail... This even raised eyebrows in the Obama administration, as the article correctly notes.

- The company was being investigated by Viktor Shokin (Ukraine’s former prosecutor general) who vowed to keep investigating Burisma.

- Joe Biden (then vice president) strong-armed Ukraine by withholding money from them until Viktor Shokin (the man in charge of investigating Burisma) was fired. (Biden then bragged about it on video with a surprisingly Trump-like level of arrogance, unequivocally stating he withheld money in a quid pro quo until Mr. Shokin was fired.)

- The prosecutor who replaced Shokin swiftly cleared Burisma of wrongdoing and dropped the investigation.

If that doesn't sound fishy as hell to you, I know a few Nigerian princes that need your bank account information...

You must have missed this line in the article.

"But the investigation went dormant under Shokin."

The guy may have been claiming he would investigate, but away from the cameras he was not only not doing anything, he was preventing anyone else from doing anything either. Bursima was under suspicion in other countries, and none of them could get any cooperation from Shokin.

"The investigation went dormant under Shokin."

Again, Joe Biden, by removing a prosecutor who was refusing to investigate the company Hunter worked at, actually exposed his son to risk that wasn't there before. Which sounds like the opposite of corruption.

I notice there hasn't been a response to this.

[Tendrin]

Oh WBE-Eeeeeeee….

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/n...an-omar-threat

The Florida GOP candidate whose fundraising email said that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) should be hanged isn’t apologizing for his attacks against the Muslim congresswoman.
On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Times reported that George Buck, who was in the running to unseat Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), pushed a baseless conspiracy theory in the email sent last month that accused Omar of secretly working on behalf of the Qatari government

[worstblogever]

Oh WBE-Eeeeeeee….

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/n...an-omar-threat

(Already have him in the queue.)

[Tami]

To make himself look good, Buttigieg bashes Democrats with GOP talking point on national deficit

The Washington deputy bureau chief of The Boston Globe reported that Democratic primary candidate Pete Buttigieg said that “My party’s not known for worrying about the deficit or the debt too much but it’s time for us to start getting into that,” during a New Hampshire town hall Thursday.

This is quite a thing to say. It is factually incorrect, for one. It is historically inaccurate, for two. It is a longstanding and well-understood lie told by “fiscal conservative” pundits and officials that has allowed the Republican Party to cut taxes on the rich, bankrupt our economy, and spend on wars while blaming the political party that has cleaned up their messes for decades now.

So regardless of your feelings about Mayor Pete of South Bend, Indiana, his statement has got to be alarming.

He's getting heat for this.

[worstblogever]

To make himself look good, Buttigieg bashes Democrats with GOP talking point on national deficit

He's getting heat for this.

He should. Because it's not only digging at his own party, it's a bulls*** claim, when you look at how Democratic presidents have cut the deficit for the past quarter century, while GOP Presidents have ballooned it to ridiculous levels.

Methinks Buttigieg may have just crushed any momentum that he had built.