All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[jeanvaljean]

Bet he won't recuse himself, anyway:

Leaked Emails Show Justice Clarence Thomas’s Wife Pushing Travel Ban

[Iron Maiden]

Thanks for the reminder!
When does this air, and what channel, again? Do you know? Last I saw, I could not locate that info, but it's been a while since I saw the preview pics and articles.

It starts Sunday March 5 and runs for 8 episodes on FX. The first episode has already gotten good reviews. Ryan Murphy is a fellow Hoosier and he used to have a Nip Tuck fan forum where some of us fans used to pester him with questions when he had the time to answer. I wasn't as much into Glee though but it was interesting how he talked about some of these ideas in his head back then. I know we got into some horror movie convos with him at one point. Fun times.

[Tami]

Bet he won't recuse himself, anyway:

Leaked Emails Show Justice Clarence Thomas’s Wife Pushing Travel Ban

Bet the other Justices won't be too happy about this.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

After Election, Trump’s Professed Love for Leaks Quickly Faded

As a candidate for president, Donald J. Trump embraced the hackers who had leaked Hillary Clinton’s emails to the press, declaring at a rally in Pennsylvania, “I love WikiLeaks!”

To the cheering throngs that night, Mr. Trump marveled that “nothing is secret today when you talk about the internet.” The leakers, he said, had performed a public service by revealing what he called a scandal with no rival in United States history.

Now, after less than four weeks in the Oval Office, President Trump has changed his mind.

At a news conference on Wednesday and in a series of Twitter postings earlier in the day, Mr. Trump angrily accused intelligence agencies of illegally leaking information about Michael T. Flynn, his former national security adviser, who resigned after reports that he had lied about conversations with the Russian ambassador.

“It’s a criminal action, criminal act,” Mr. Trump fumed at the White House. In a Twitter message, he asserted that “the real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ‘intelligence’ like candy. Very un-American!”

But this is Washington, where leaks are common currency — and, depending what side you’re on, either sinister or patriotic. Democrats these days see the proliferation of leaks about the Trump administration as the acts of public servants revealing the misdeeds of a presidency. Republicans see them as the reckless actions of disgruntled bureaucrats eager to advance their own agendas and sabotage Mr. Trump.

Yeah, Cheeto Jesus sure loved the hell out of leaks when Hillary was the victim, and boy, did he delight in Clinton being dragged through the mud. Now that the bullseye is on his back, Trump's whining like a five year old denied cookies before dinner. Did no one tell Butternut Bozo that leaks could, and most likely would happen to him after he won the election? And, just like every office holder before him, Trump's going to keep on experiencing leaks, especially after he took aim at our intelligence community in one of his post Michael Flynn hissy fits, and they promptly threw down the gauntlet (see: "He will die in jail"). Considering the chaos that been part and parcel of his administration after just one month, that orange idiot has no idea just how bad it can potentially get for him.

[Tami]

Donald Trump Just Launched A War On Whistleblowers

President Donald Trump is launching a war on leakers, attempting to turn a story about the firing of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, into a campaign to purge and clean out intelligence agencies.

The latest salvo came Thursday in classic Trumpian fashion: early-morning tweets attacking a national newspaper and making vague threats.

Trump is hardly the first president to want to clamp down on leaks and whistleblowing. His predecessor was particularly aggressive in going after news outlets for publishing sensitive information. But whereas Barack Obama’s efforts centered around protecting policy secrecy, Trump’s main priority seems to be protecting himself. The leaks that preceded Flynn’s firing raised questions as to whether the now former adviser had communicated with Russia on behalf of Trump to promise an easing of sanctions once the administration took power.

Trump has insisted that Flynn did nothing wrong in making those calls, despite suggestions that they served to undermine the Obama administration’s efforts to punish Russia for meddling in the 2016 elections. His response, instead, has been to look elsewhere in the government for malfeasance. The president has reportedly asked Stephen Feinberg, a private equity executive and close ally of Trump’s, to run a comprehensive overview of intelligence agencies ― a request that has intel officials worried about a coming purge.

Trump is out-Nixoning Nixon.

[ImprobableQuestion]

Correction: getting caught up in any kind of "trend" or "following/movement" is uncool, and it's better to be as fiercely individualistic (in values and philosophy at least) as possible despite whatever scorn it invites.

How noble. I think you're confusing individuality for belligerent apathy. They've been doing this for years. You aren't stupid for what you care about, you're stupid for caring. ManBearPig was their jab at All Gore for having the audacity to give a crap about the environment. This whole last season was an excessive in trolling people who were passionate about the election. Now they're flaking out on targeting 45 in the next season because they don't want to be viewed as if they care about the outcome of the election.

[ImprobableQuestion]

Donald Trump Just Launched A War On Whistleblowers





Trump is out-Nixoning Nixon.

I saw a joke that he was speedrunning the Nixon Presidency. Awful Governments Done Quick.

Hopefully he tries the special boss for the JFK ending.

[ImprobableQuestion]

Bet the other Justices won't be too happy about this.

Could he get removed from the case due to conflict of interest? Would he be one of the ones to find in favor of the ban?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Donald Trump Just Launched A War On Whistleblowers





Trump is out-Nixoning Nixon.

Saying that is a gross insult....to Nixon. There's a reason Nixon was called "Tricky Dick" in that he was exceeding devious and malicious, Trump is a straight up moron who couldn't carry Nixon's jock when it comes to being sneaky. Whatever Darth Cheddar has planned with this scheme of his will more than likely blow up in his face.

[Iron Maiden]

I'm not a huge Nixon fan and yeah, he did get paranoid and sneaky, etc. But at least he was competent in the role as President. I read a very interesting piece on him and how his reputation got a bit better in retrospect for some of the policies and diplomacy. He signed off on the EPA, OSHA, and the Clean Air act.

They even made it an old Vulcan proverb in Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country

[Tuck]

How noble. I think you're confusing individuality for belligerent apathy. They've been doing this for years. You aren't stupid for what you care about, you're stupid for caring. ManBearPig was their jab at All Gore for having the audacity to give a crap about the environment. This whole last season was an excessive in trolling people who were passionate about the election. Now they're flaking out on targeting 45 in the next season because they don't want to be viewed as if they care about the outcome of the election.

Did you actually watch the most recent season?

The member berries were using nostalgia to make the pubic receptive to fascism. Trey and Matt were not hedging.

They said they won't be dealing with the Presidency because they said they don't know how to satirize the Trump administration, since it's already bonkers.

[Tuck]

Could he get removed from the case due to conflict of interest? Would he be one of the ones to find in favor of the ban?

There are no requirements that a Supreme Court justice remove themselves from a case. Recusal is entirely voluntary.

[jeanvaljean]

Could he get removed from the case due to conflict of interest? Would he be one of the ones to find in favor of the ban?

I think SCOTUS justices are expected to recuse themselves in those cases, but they cannot be forced. I mean, to which court would you go to enforce that?

[kmeyers]

I think SCOTUS justices are expected to recuse themselves in those cases, but they cannot be forced. I mean, to which court would you go to enforce that?

Hall of Justice Super Friends?
Attachment 45330?

[ImprobableQuestion]

I think SCOTUS justices are expected to recuse themselves in those cases, but they cannot be forced. I mean, to which court would you go to enforce that?

Okay, so he'll stay on anyway.

Also, so SCOTUS judges can retire if they get too old so they don't die on the bench right? I think one of the things we need to get on in 2018 is pestering Gorusch or whatever his name is to retire early. Whatever it takes, lots of name calling, flooding his office with emails, he's just to young not to take action against. We can't just wait until he dies to give his seat to someone who actually deserves it.