All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tendrin]

Hey, guys! Do you remember 'Joe Exotic', 2016 presidential independent candidate?!

Well....

CNN)He called himself Joe Exotic and once lorded over a popular exotic animal park in Oklahoma.
Then he shot and killed five tigers, sold baby lemurs and falsified paperwork to say they were donated, and tried to pay a hit man $3,000 to kill a rival.
Now, the man once known as the "Tiger King" is going to prison for 22 years.
Joseph Maldonado-Passage was sentenced Wednesday for the murder-for-hire plot and several wildlife violations.



A federal jury found Maldonado-Passage guilty in April of trying to hire someone to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin in November 2017, according to the US Attorney's Office Western District of Oklahoma.

[Tendrin]

On a much less light note:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...box=1579946514

T
he Base, a US-based white supremacist “social network” that has recently been targeted by the FBI in raids leading to the arrest of several members, was active, growing and continuing to prepare for large-scale violence.
The Guardian has obtained chat records, audio recordings and videos provided by an anti-fascist whistleblower who spent more than a year charting the inside workings of the Base.
The Guardian studied leaked materials relayed by the whistleblower and pursued other lines of inquiry to exclusively reveal the real identity of the Base’s secretive leader as Rinaldo Nazzaro, 46, from New Jersey.
Nazzaro is currently living in Russia with his Russian wife. Until the Guardian’s exposé little was known about his background and he was only known by the alias “Norman Spear”.

MOSKAU MOSKAU

[Tami]

Meet the Cannabis Lawyer Beating Trump at His Own Game

He’s defended narcos, mobsters, hit men and at least one fugitive hedge funder, squaring off against seasoned New York prosecutors for decades. He’s a reptile enthusiast and schedules calls with reporters at 4:20 p.m.—a nod to his work in cannabis law.

But Joseph A. Bondy’s newest client, Lev Parnas, the Ukrainian-born sidekick of Rudy Giuliani whose efforts to buy influence in Washington earned him a federal indictment, has pitted him against the president of the United States—and Bondy, a meditative, chess-playing pot lawyer fond of quoting ancient Chinese texts came well-equipped to the fight.

“You need to do whatever it takes to get the best deal possible for your client,” Bondy said in a recent interview.

All lawyers tend to voice similar dedication, but Bondy has taken the sentiment to a new level. Hours earlier, Bondy had posted a video on his Twitter account—overlaid with Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September”—showing Second Lady Karen Pence holding Parnas’ hand and patting him on the back with the vice president standing in the background.

It’s not exactly Perry Mason. But Bondy, who says he looks at all of his cases like a chess board, is focusing on the endgame—in this case, the sentencing judge, who he hopes will take into consideration Parnas’ willingness to cooperate with Congress.

“I usually think very early on about how to create or identify the brightest favorable light that I can find in a client,” Bondy says. “And with Lev, the brightest light, the most favorable light, is his truth.”

[Michael Watkins]

"Doing the same" would actually mean voting for Biden, as the vast majority of swing state polls show Biden as the safer choice to beat Trump.

The polls show Trump losing to several candidates. Why should I settle on a gaffe prone woman groping anti-integration corporatist who plans to court republicans instead of the people who get him into office?

[SquirrelMan]

Professor jelani cobb, staff writer for The New Yorker:

People who are the core of the Democratic Party, ie black people, reasonably do not to be in a coalition that includes Joe Rogan. And reasonably are suspicious of anyone who does.
...
People seem to have forgotten that just four years ago Black Lives Matter was disrupting Sanders events to force him to talk explicitly about race.
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I should point out that the Bernie stans whitesplaining to blacks people why we’re wrong to criticize their guy for embracing an overt racist, you’re kind of making my point.
...
The thing that’s interesting about this Sanders/Rogan thing is that nobody seems to have asked what happens if he gets the nom and then the GOP starts blasting ads that quote Rogan’s racism on black radio and bots echoing it on black Trotter. Self-own.
...

So weird. People defending Sanders by pointing out racist things other candidates did but simultaneously trying to argue that black voters should see him as different from the rest of the pack.
....
The black electorate — the cornerstone of the Democratic Party — is exceptionally motivated to remove a racist president.

Here’s a great idea! Let’s highlight the fact that we just got an endorsement from a white racist to highlight our electability!
...

https://twitter.com/jelani9

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

That's all well and good, but what does Sanders do if Republicans still control the Senate and has to face off against Mitch McConnell who's already on record saying he'll obstruct and bury any and all bills presented him by a Democratic president? Does Sanders have a plan to get past THAT?

What does any President do? Obama got stonewalled his entire time in office after a super majority and the only things he could get done were executive orders and be a key player in international aggreements. When you are President you usually get one big play you can expend most of your capital on because of the popularity wave you come in on. Bush and Trump were Tax cuts, Obama was the ACA. The ones who have been successful beyond that have usually been extremely popular and were willing to stick their neck out their and let the people put pressure on the government

[Michael Watkins]

She was only one the most qualified people in terms of political experience to run for the office as a Democrat for the past half-century.

Yet, a lousy Secretary of State. Worst decision Obama ever made. And look how she repaid him.

[aja_christopher]

What does any President do?

Here's a link to 134 pages of signed legislation under Obama and Biden.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov...ed-legislation

Now, instead of just constantly attacking "centrist corporate Democrats" and claiming "moderates" get nothing done and don't have a plan, post links to actual legislation passed by Sanders and a link to the numbers behind Sanders plans to pay for the programs he has promised to the American public.

The polls show Trump losing to several candidates. Why should I settle on a gaffe prone woman groping anti-integration corporatist who plans to court republicans instead of the people who get him into office?

You don't have to "settle" for anything -- what's being asked is that you show actual data backing up your chosen candidate.

Even with regards to beating Trump, Biden holds the edge over all the other candidates, especially in states critical to winning the election.

------
"#1: Former Vice President Joe Biden

"Biden has unparalleled name recognition among Democrats from his eight years as President Barack Obama's vice president and 36 years in the US Senate.

Despite taking hits from his rivals at both of the first Democratic primary debates, Biden maintains high levels of support, leading the field with 29% support in Morning Consult and being perceived as most likely to beat Trump in Insider polling and most other polls.

Biden has managed to recover from his setbacks along the way and bounced back in the polls. He ranks first also due to his high levels of support among older and African-American voters— two crucial constituencies in Democratic primaries.

After a couple months where Biden was second to Warren, we moved Biden back up to first place in November due to him regaining his lead in RealClearPolitics' polling average, coming in first place in a Quinnipiac poll of New Hampshire, and being within the margin of error of Warren and Sanders in a Monmouth poll of Iowa, two states where Sanders and Warren should be overperforming.

And with less than weeks until the Iowa caucuses, Biden is looking stronger than ever, dominating both state-level and national polls, leaning into his foreign policy credentials, and staying above the fray of Warren and Sanders' ongoing feud."

https://www.businessinsider.com/2020...t-joe-biden-12

With that in mind, why should people support a candidate who is less likely to remove Trump from office?

And on a personal level, why should I -- or other black voters -- support a candidate who promotes support from the likes of Joe Rogan?

[Michael Watkins]

Professor jelani cobb, staff writer for The New Yorker:



https://twitter.com/jelani9

She doesn’t speak for me. If she were an actual journalist she would have brought up the racial baggage of the other candidates.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Talking about FBI, Comey's last minute public interference did more harm than some facebook memes.

Bingo. There's actually alot of data both internally on the Clinton campaign and by most pollsters that the election swung from Hillary Clinton to Trump over the Comey. With Russia you have to guess the impact. With Comey we know most everyone who did an autopsy on the election had Clinton winning before the Comey memo and steadily losing after. If you want something that definitively decided the election, it was that.

The biggest irony of the whole thing is that for all the Russian interference it was actually the FBI and a man who spent the last 3 years criticizingTrump every chance he got that is the reason you don't have Hillary Clinton. If it was just the Russian interference.

Now you can always debate the impact of it and say it made it closer than it had any right to be, but nobody has ever really quantified it. Also just being blunt, external interference in elections has existed for ever. It's going to be a factor every election. It's not something you can just hit the off switch on.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Here's a link to 134 pages of signed legislation under Obama and Biden.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov...ed-legislation

Now, instead of just constantly attacking "centrist corporate Democrats" and claiming "moderates" get nothing done and don't have a plan, post links to actual legislation passed by Sanders and a link to the numbers behind Sanders plans to pay for the programs he has promised to the American public.

Did you even read those? Yeah he signed a raise to the Secret Service, a Commemorative Coin Act, Art Recovery Acts. Like yeah I'm sure Sanders or any Democratic President would have a real hard time with those.

Seirously you have a really bad problem posting links and thinking I'm not going to read it and see what's in it.

We're talking major legislation that most of the American Public will feel and will transform systems in the country and you bringing up a bunch of minor acts like one for the Battle Monuments commission to maintain a monument in France.

There's nothing in there except for the period they had a super majority and a majority in Congress that weren't just procederual. Honestly the Dodd Frank Act was the last major legislation he got through.

Like I don't know what point you are trying to prove. You really think Sanders can't sign a Bill to give raises to the Secret Service. Omg those poor guys.

[aja_christopher]

Did you even read those? Yeah he signed a raise to the Secret Service, a Commemorative Coin Act, Art Recovery Acts. Like yeah I'm sure Sanders or any Democratic President would have a real hard time with those.

Again -- what legislation has Sanders passed in comparison?

How will he pay for his plans and how will he convince moderates and conservatives to pay for his programs?

Let's see the data instead of just attacking candidates based on personal preferences.

Now you're claiming you won't even bother to read links posted from official government websites and Business Insider.

I guess that's easier than posting links to Sanders legislation.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Again -- what legislation has Sanders passed in comparison?

How will he pay for his plans and how will he convince moderates and conservatives to pay for his programs?

Let's see the data instead of just attacking candidates based on personal preferences.

Do you understand how legislation works lol? Like you know that Obama wasn't going to Congress and proposing and lobbying for everything on your list right?

You didn't supply data aja, you regurgitated a link that you probably didn't even read nor knew the the contents of. If you wanted to be a good faith actor you wouldn't deflect from discussing your own links. I gave you the courtesy yesterday of engaging in your links at face value. Unlike you I probably put more effort in reading the link you just pushed.

At this point you either don't know how legislation works or are conflating Obama signing something with his team writing it and passing it. Okay every single Democratic piece of the legislation that Sanders voted for and passed is my counter response to you, because it's effectively the same thing. Most of which was on your list that.

Like at least be intellectually honest and stand by the sources you post and try to defend them. Otherwise it's just posturing

[PaulBullion]

She doesn’t speak for me. If she were an actual journalist she would have brought up the racial baggage of the other candidates.

Please don't misgender black men, that has a nasty tradition.

[aja_christopher]

Do you understand how legislation works lol? Like you know that Obama wasn't going to Congress and proposing and lobbying for everything on your list right?

You didn't supply data aja, you regurgitated a link that you probably didn't even read nor knew the the contents of. If you wanted to be a good faith actor you wouldn't deflect from discussing your own links. I gave you the courtesy yesterday of engaging in your links at face value. Unlike you I probably put more effort in reading the link you just pushed.

At this point you either don't know how legislation works or are conflating Obama signing something with his team writing it and passing it. Okay every single Democratic piece of the legislation that Sanders voted for and passed is my counter response to you, because it's effectively the same thing. Most of which was on your list that.

Like at least be intellectually honest and stand by the sources you post and try to defend them. Otherwise it's just posturing

Stop with the personal insults and let's discuss actual policy as you claimed you wanted to do yesterday.

I've posted links that show legislation passed under Obama and Biden and that show Biden as the best candidate to beat Trump.

https://www.businessinsider.com/2020...t-joe-biden-12

Post links to data that backs up your chosen candidate in comparison.