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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Romney is a yes on the January 6 commission. Not a big surprise.

Nope, no surprise at all. As a Qpublican with little to lose for defying the party, Romney's decision was as predictable as the sunrise.

Susan Collins is a 'Maybe'

Well, lets' see if anyone else steps up.

I wonder if Collins was clutching her pearls when she issued that 'maybe'? Susie Q is such a fence sitter, she's got splinters in her bloomers.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Since nobody else remarked on this, I'll have a go. Thanks for bringing it up, I was following the news on this story yesterday. It's crazy and scary.

It's a borderline act of war. State-sponsored hijacking a passenger flight, sending a fighter jet to attempt a reroute, and making up BS terrorist plot all so they could kidnap one dissident to torture and potentially execute is insane.

It violates so many norms and airline companies and corporations should be panicked because this will scare people from travelling, like if someone were flying to South Korea, you are going to come close to North Korean airspace right, what's to stop Kim Jong-Un from rerouting the plane to Pyongang, or Bolsonaro's Brazil from doing this with its dissidents.

Pulling a bullshit lie about Hamas having a bomb on the plane...is the EU really going to step up, though? I mean Putin was letting Navalny starve to death in a dungeon recently and nobody else did much that didn't just amount to "thoughts and prayers."

To be honest, I can't imagine Putin being involved with this. This is too stupid and insane even for him. I feel this was some bright idea someone hatched to Lukashenko who was worried that Putin was neglecting him.

But seriously this action needs to be answered someway. The EU needs to put its head together, not just sanctions, I am saying bullying the Swiss bankers to close its accounts with Belarus, close the noose on oligarchs who have mansions in the EU zone and so on. This kind of stuff is worth a lot more than money.

[Tami]

It's a borderline act of war. State-sponsored hijacking a passenger flight, sending a fighter jet to attempt a reroute, and making up BS terrorist plot all so they could kidnap one dissident to torture and potentially execute is insane.

It violates so many norms and airline companies and corporations should be panicked because this will scare people from travelling, like if someone were flying to South Korea, you are going to come close to North Korean airspace right, what's to stop Kim Jong-Un from rerouting the plane to Pyongang, or Bolsonaro's Brazil from doing this with its dissidents.



To be honest, I can't imagine Putin being involved with this. This is too stupid and insane even for him. I feel this was some bright idea someone hatched to Lukashenko who was worried that Putin was neglecting him.

But seriously this action needs to be answered someway. The EU needs to put its head together, not just sanctions, I am saying bullying the Swiss bankers to close its accounts with Belarus, close the noose on oligarchs who have mansions in the EU zone and so on. This kind of stuff is worth a lot more than money.

I did hear on the news that the Russian State news was cheering this, saying how great it was that Lukashenko had the balls to pull something like this off and so on.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I did hear on the news that the Russian State news was cheering this, saying how great it was that Lukashenko had the balls to pull something like this off and so on.

That's state propaganda and a public face. Privately it might be a different story.

[Hellion]

It's a borderline act of war. State-sponsored hijacking a passenger flight, sending a fighter jet to attempt a reroute, and making up BS terrorist plot all so they could kidnap one dissident to torture and potentially execute is insane.

It violates so many norms and airline companies and corporations should be panicked because this will scare people from travelling, like if someone were flying to South Korea, you are going to come close to North Korean airspace right, what's to stop Kim Jong-Un from rerouting the plane to Pyongang, or Bolsonaro's Brazil from doing this with its dissidents.



To be honest, I can't imagine Putin being involved with this. This is too stupid and insane even for him. I feel this was some bright idea someone hatched to Lukashenko who was worried that Putin was neglecting him.

But seriously this action needs to be answered someway. The EU needs to put its head together, not just sanctions, I am saying bullying the Swiss bankers to close its accounts with Belarus, close the noose on oligarchs who have mansions in the EU zone and so on. This kind of stuff is worth a lot more than money.

I don't disagree. The world should be treating this much more seriously than it appears to be at the moment. But the EU's gonna have to deal with its tumor in the form of Viktor Orban, who seems to be a fan of Lukashenko.

And I didn't mean to imply that Putin was involved, just the Putin has also been committing human rights violations for a while now and nobody does anything more than shrug it off and send a batch of ambassadors packing.

[worstblogever]

Missing man found dead inside Spanish dinosaur statue



Warning, if you drop your mobile phone inside a papier-mache Dinosaur statue, get help. Don't try to retrieve it on your own.

The most morbid pinata I ever heard of.

[Malvolio]

Nope, no surprise at all. As a Qpublican with little to lose for defying the party, Romney's decision was as predictable as the sunrise.



I wonder if Collins was clutching her pearls when she issued that 'maybe'? Susie Q is such a fence sitter, she's got splinters in her bloomers.

No, she lent them to Kevin McCarthy for his "strongly worded" condemnation of Marjorie Taylor Greene's remarks comparing vaccine passports to Nazi Germany.

[Tami]

Nope, no surprise at all. As a Qpublican with little to lose for defying the party, Romney's decision was as predictable as the sunrise.



I wonder if Collins was clutching her pearls when she issued that 'maybe'? Susie Q is such a fence sitter, she's got splinters in her bloomers.

Politico Playbook: Sen. Lisa Murkowski backs the House-passed bill for a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission.

I can understand people being cynical, still, the responses I see here and in Social Media ... I mean, sure, they are Republicans, but isn't it possible that Murkowski and Romney (and maybe others) actually took what happened on Jan 6th seriously enough that they really do want a Commission informed to investigate it?

I am still hoping that there are more who realize that this is the best way for everyone.

[Tami]

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano — seen recently posing for a photo with a fellow Trump enthusiast on the FBI’s Capitol wanted list — claimed he and his wife never crossed the police line on Jan. 6.

He did, big time.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Politico Playbook: Sen. Lisa Murkowski backs the House-passed bill for a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission.

I can understand people being cynical, still, the responses I see here and in Social Media ... I mean, sure, they are Republicans, but isn't it possible that Murkowski and Romney (and maybe others) actually took what happened on Jan 6th seriously enough that they really do want a Commission informed to investigate it?

I am still hoping that there are more who realize that this is the best way for everyone.

That would be nice, but, I have my doubts. What mystifies me is that Qpublicans who were in the Capitol that day, and, more than likely, would've come to harm, perhaps serious harm if the rioters had gotten their hands on them (case in point: Mike Pence who had a date with a hastily constructed gallows outside) are STILL against the commission today. The cowardice and complicity of GQPers clearly knows no bounds.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano — seen recently posing for a photo with a fellow Trump enthusiast on the FBI’s Capitol wanted list — claimed he and his wife never crossed the police line on Jan. 6.

He did, big time.

In a word----BUSTED!!!

[Tami]

Trump responds to insurrection lawsuit by claiming immunity while he was President

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's attorney defended the ex-President's incendiary speech on January 6, saying he is protected under the First Amendment and had "absolute immunity" while he was President to contest the election, according to a court filing this week.

The argument is the first time Trump has formally defended his actions in court since the insurrection, and reflects his continued push to his supporters that he did nothing wrong and was robbed of a second term in office.

Trump argues in DC District Court that his bully pulpit message to his supporters at the political rally on January 6 -- encouraging them to oppose Congress certifying the vote -- was a constitutionally protected act of the presidency.

"While holding that office, former President Trump was free to advocate for the appointment and certification of electors, just as he was entitled to advocate for the passage or defeat of a constitutional amendment, or the reconsideration of a congressional act over his veto even though the President does not directly participate in those congressional acts," Trump's private attorney Jesse Binnall wrote in a response in court to a lawsuit from Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell seeking to hold him accountable for the insurrection. "The claims against former President Trump directly contravene the absolute immunity conveyed on the President by the Constitution as a key principle of separation of powers."

The filing from Trump's legal team also argues that Swalwell can't sue because the House has already impeached Trump and the Senate tried him. (At the time, several senators, including Republican leaders, said they believed Trump still could be held accountable through litigation.)

[Tami]

White House ousts four Trump-appointed members of prestigious arts commission

(CNN)The White House has ousted several members of a prestigious arts commission in the nation's capital, the latest move in the Biden administration's purge of Trump-era appointees from government agencies and boards.

The seven-member Commission of Fine Arts -- an independent federal agency tasked with advising the President, Congress and government agencies on "matters of design and aesthetics" in the nation's capital, according to the commission's website -- consisted entirely of commissioners appointed by Trump.

On Monday, four members -- including the chairman -- were instructed to resign from their positions by the end of the day.

Justin Shubow, who was appointed in 2018 and later elected chairman, received a letter from the White House on Monday requesting he resign from the commission -- or be terminated that evening.

"Should we not receive your resignation, your position with the Commission will be terminated effective 6:00 pm tonight," according to the letter reviewed by CNN.

Shubow says he refused to resign and is seeking an explanation for his termination. He described the ousting as "an attack on classical and traditional architecture," pointing to how the commissioners who were removed were strong proponents of classical architectural design.

Asked about the CFA removals during Tuesday's briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that "a number of them were nominated just recently, in January of 2021, so before President Trump left office, and certainly, any President coming in has the right to nominate their own people to serve on a commission or serve in any positions in their own administration."

President Joe Biden will soon be announcing his intent to appoint four new members -- Peter Cook, Hazel Ruth Edwards, Justin Garrett Moore and Billie Tsien -- to the commission, the White House said.

"President Biden is proud to nominate this extremely qualified and well-respected group of professionals. ... They will bring to the commission a diversity of background and experience, as well as a range of aesthetic viewpoints," a White House official told CNN.

[AnakinFlair]

Susan Collins is a 'Maybe'

Well, lets' see if anyone else steps up.

I'm sure when she votes no, she'll say those tourists surely learned their lesson about being so unruly.

[Tami]

Board fight at Exxon intensifies spotlight on climate change

NEW YORK — ExxonMobil is facing a major challenge from a group of investors in one of the biggest fights a corporate boardroom has endured over its stance on climate change, an issue of rising urgency for many shareholders.

The investor group is pushing to replace four of the oil giant’s board members with executives they say are better suited to both strengthen the company’s finances and lead it through the transition to cleaner energy. The fight represents a moment of reckoning for major publicly traded companies to address a global crisis.

Engine No. 1, the name of the hedge fund that has mounted the challenge, owns just a sliver of Exxon’s shares. But the dissident slate of board members it has put forward commands the backing of some of the country’s most powerful institutional investors, including the largest public pension funds.

Regardless of the outcome of the shareholder vote, to be announced after the annual shareholder meeting Wednesday, the challenge reflects momentum among consumers, investors and government leaders around the globe to pivot away from fossil fuels and invest in a future where energy needs are increasingly met using renewable sources. To that end, President Joe Biden has set the ambitious goal of slashing America’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade.

“We’re at a tipping point,” said Aeisha Mastagni, portfolio manager at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, known as CalSTRS, one of the nation’s largest pension funds and among the major institutional investors that backed the alternative group of directors. “You’re seeing investors from all around the world that are wanting to see better disclosure around climate change risk, you’re seeing shareholder proposals that are passing with increased shareholder support, and now we have this monumental vote at ExxonMobil.”

[Amadeus Arkham]

Prosecutor in Trump criminal probe convenes grand jury to hear evidence, weigh potential charges

I don’t want to get my hopes up....