All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Mister Mets]

I wonder if the anti-nepotism laws apply?

Probably not. There are some restrictions after JFK picked his brother as Attorney General, but that doesn't apply to a situation in which a presidential nominee picks a sibling for an elected position, where the voters make the final decision.

There were always ways around anti-nepotism laws. Jared Kushner became the Director of the Office of American Innovation. Hillary Clinton chaired the Task Force on National Health Care Reform.

https://www.npr.org/2016/11/18/50263...om-the-white-h

One potential issue with a running mate from your family (beyond voters thinking it's dumb) is that electors aren't allowed to vote for two candidates from their state for President and Vice President. The electors from Florida would not be able to vote for a Floridian for President and Vice President (this is why Texas resident Dick Cheney changed his voting registration to Wyoming to serve as George W Bush's running mate) so that could be a complication.

https://******.com/article/bf748a5fb...403182fd3cf591

My guess is that after Trump improved his numbers with voters of color in 2020, he'd pick an African-American or Hispanic running mate in 2024.

[PwrdOn]

Hitler still admitted the genocide did happen. And so what if Jim Crow also went into the plans. So did the Armenian genocide. A fucked-up think tank, to be sure. Anyways, Turkey's still denying.

Well this is kind of what happens when you have all of these well meaning but fundamentally clueless activists going around trying to stick the genocide label on every unfortunate event in history, because as much as we would like to pretend otherwise, ethnically motivated mass killings are quite common throughout history, and people only have a limited capacity to process this kind of stuff. If the Armenian genocide was a uniquely deadly tragedy, then it's possible that you could leverage that outrage to build a coalition that can force Turkey to issue an apology or pay reparations to the victims, but if it's just one of several dozen genocides that have occurred in the last century or so, then it's hardly going to be able to hold people's attention for long enough to do anything before they move onto the next atrocity. Remember that Germany was effectively forced to apologize for the Holocaust at gunpoint and that countries are far more likely to sweep aside or even celebrate their past atrocities than to atone for them. So what this means is that there is a target rich environment for unscrupulous governments who want to use the language of human rights as a cudgel to beat the heads of their rivals, while conveniently ignoring far greater evils that they or their allies have committed.

[worstblogever]

Man, "nepotism laws"? The Trump Cabinet/Administration staff spent 4 years openly breaking the law. They treated the Hatch Act like it was a contest to see who could chalk up the most violations.

That'll happen when the president's campaign spokeswoman is openly pitching things in the first few months on the job and the main guy is hawking beans.

Don't forget, prior to heading to the White House, all of those motherf***ers skipped mandatory ethics training. They never pretended they had any. And dozens of them were denied security clearances by the intelligence community only to have Trump install them in temporary roles to subvert it.

It was a crime syndicate masquerading as an administration. F*** them all, whether they were related to Donald or not.

[CaptainEurope]

I think the main problem would be that Trump/Trump would sound like a sad trombone.

[Kirby101]

[PaulBullion]

Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw is in need of emergency surgery of his "half good eye" because of a detaching retina. He will be away from Congress for at least a month, and there seems to be a real risk of him going completely blind.

I hope he will be ok, but I am also wondering if his stunt parachute jump for a campaign video was a smart choice with his pre-existing injury.

[Kirby101]

Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw is in need of emergency surgery of his "half good eye" because of a detaching retina. He will be away from Congress for at least a month, and there seems to be a real risk of him going completely blind.

I hope he will be ok, but I am also wondering if his stunt parachute jump for a campaign video was a smart choice with his pre-existing injury.

He's a major GQP ******* who should go away, but we wouldn't wish this on him.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

He's a major GQP ******* who should go away, but we wouldn't wish this on him.

There have been blind congressmen before. Like Thomas Pryor Gore (grandfather of Gore Vidal) so he can still serve office. That's what I would say to him as a human being.

[Spike-X]

Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw is in need of emergency surgery of his "half good eye" because of a detaching retina. He will be away from Congress for at least a month, and there seems to be a real risk of him going completely blind.

Hell of a lot more risk if he was an under-employed person without health insurance, so...

[Tami]

Maryland enacts landmark police overhaul, first state to repeal police bill of rights

Maryland enacted historic police accountability measures Saturday, becoming the first state to repeal its powerful Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights and setting new rules for when police may use force and how they are investigated and disciplined.

The Democratic-dominated legislature dealt Republican Gov. Larry Hogan a sharp rebuke, overriding his vetoes of measures that raise the bar for officers to use force; give civilians a role in police discipline for the first time; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate body cameras; and open some allegations of police wrongdoing for public review.

Each bill had been hailed by criminal justice advocates as having the potential to make policing in the state fairer and more transparent. Democrats, who hold large majorities in the legislature, made enacting them a top priority after months of protests over the police-involved deaths of unarmed Black men and women.

“Maryland is leading the nation in transforming our broken policing system,” said House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), who sponsored the repeal of the officers’ bill of rights and is the first Black person to hold her leadership role. “I am proud to lead the House in overriding the governor’s veto and showing the nation exactly where we stand as a state.”

The changes are not as sweeping as criminal justice advocates had hoped: civilians will have input on disciplinary decisions, for example, but will not control the process.

Still, the legislation impose one of the strictest police use-of-force standards in the nation, according to experts; requires officers to prioritize de-escalation tactics; and imposes a criminal penalty for those found to have used excessive force.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Republican Representative Dan Crenshaw is in need of emergency surgery of his "half good eye" because of a detaching retina. He will be away from Congress for at least a month, and there seems to be a real risk of him going completely blind.

I hope he will be ok, but I am also wondering if his stunt parachute jump for a campaign video was a smart choice with his pre-existing injury.

Are we talking about the dude who looks like Emilio Largo from Thunderball?

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Are we talking about the dude who looks like Emilio Largo from Thunderball?

Dude we've been over this. Stop besmirching James Bond by comparing all these Republicans to his greatest villains.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Dude we've been over this. Stop besmirching James Bond by comparing all these Republicans to his greatest villains.

My most sincere apology. I won't do that again!

[Hellion]

http://www.politico.com/news/2021/04...tch-rnc-480748

Trump calls McConnell a "dumb son of a bitch" at GQP donor gathering.

I mean, McConnell is a dumb son of a bitch for not doing more to excise this tumor from his party.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

http://www.politico.com/news/2021/04...tch-rnc-480748

Trump calls McConnell a "dumb son of a bitch" at GQP donor gathering.

I mean, McConnell is a dumb son of a bitch for not doing more to excise this tumor from his party.

McConnell is more cunning than intelligent certainly. And he basically handed the control of the Party to Trump and never exercised any direct control or handling over Trump in his entire term.