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

[Iron Maiden]

It's official: Al Franken is resigning in the coming weeks.

"I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party,"

The ball is in your court, Trump, McConnell, Ryan and the rest of the cowardly GOP.

I want to know more about what Tami posted concerning Tom Arnold's knowledge of Roger Stone being involved. I'm starting to wonder just what Tom Arnold knows. He also claimed to have knowledge of between takes footage of Trump using the n word and all sorts of inappropriate stuff on "The Apprentice"

[numberthirty]

Franken deserves to have a fair and unbiased investigation -- I don't think it's right to condemn a person without due process, whether in the court of opinion or in the court of law.

One guy's take...

The time to create a mechanism where this could happen with the public being able to believe in it has passed if you want it to be fair to Franken in the here and now.

We know for a fact that the current system is a mess, and that we have at least one case with a Republican and one case with a Democrat where they seemingly just paid off someone's misconduct claim.

If you knew that system was in place and didn't take any steps to scrap it and create one that victims of misconduct can potentially get a fair outcome from, I'm not going to lose much sleep when you finally wind up being dealt with outside of an ethics investigation process that folks don't have any reason to have much faith in.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

I said this in the controversy thread......so this opinion is kinda dicey, but i think it's perfectly fine for people to ask Al Franken to step down. My issue is that people seem to not understand this is not about "party loyalty" in regards to supporting people like Al, or Roy Moore, this is about policy. Policy that effects a lot of people, for better or for worse. THIS is why people are supporting problematic people like Roy Moore. Having said that i personally don't think Franken should resign. Hell even his critics like Ana Marie Cox said she might vote for him again. He definitely doesn't deserve to be put in the same convo as Roy Moore...ugh.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's official: Al Franken is resigning in the coming weeks.




The ball is in your court, Trump, McConnell, Ryan and the rest of the cowardly GOP.

Don't hold your breath. Trump will continue insisting that every last one of those women who claimed he abused them lied, and Turtle Boy, Eddie Munster and the rest of the GOP will dutifully nod, say Trump is always right and that it's time to move on and swear the Alabama Diddler (Roy Moore) into Congress after he wins his election.

I want to know more about what Tami posted concerning Tom Arnold's knowledge of Roger Stone being involved. I'm starting to wonder just what Tom Arnold knows. He also claimed to have knowledge of between takes footage of Trump using the n word and all sorts of inappropriate stuff on "The Apprentice"

If that's the case, then what is Arnold waiting for? An invitation? A 60 Minutes exclusive? A publisher to ink him to a million dollar book deal? If it's corroboration from someone on the inside about those claims, good luck with that pipe dream. Trump probably has EVERYONE who ever worked on The Apprentice, from the producers down to the janitors under non-disclosure agreements with lawyers waiting to sue whistleblowers for a king's ransom the nanosecond anyone opens the mouths about behind the scenes stuff on the show.

[Tami]

It's official: Al Franken is resigning in the coming weeks.




The ball is in your court, Trump, McConnell, Ryan and the rest of the cowardly GOP.

I want to know more about what Tami posted concerning Tom Arnold's knowledge of Roger Stone being involved. I'm starting to wonder just what Tom Arnold knows. He also claimed to have knowledge of between takes footage of Trump using the n word and all sorts of inappropriate stuff on "The Apprentice"

I would love for Tom Arnold to do more then just tweet about it. Honestly, the fact that no one in the news media is running with this and investigating it further has me frustrated.

[numberthirty]

I would love for Tom Arnold to do more then just tweet about it. Honestly, the fact that no one in the news media is running with this and investigating it further has me frustrated.

Honestly, I think the stuff would already be out there if there was a way to get it out there. I get the feeling that the above assessment(that each of the folks you could get to establish any of this probably has a NDA in place) is correct.

[Tami]

Rep Eric Swalwell is trying to impeach Hillary Clinton.....impeach her from what? She's a private citizen.

[Iron Maiden]

Don't hold your breath. Trump will continue insisting that every last one of those women who claimed he abused them lied, and Turtle Boy, Eddie Munster and the rest of the GOP will dutifully nod, say Trump is always right and that it's time to move on and swear the Alabama Diddler (Roy Moore) into Congress after he wins his election.



If that's the case, then what is Arnold waiting for? An invitation? A 60 Minutes exclusive? A publisher to ink him to a million dollar book deal? If it's corroboration from someone on the inside about those claims, good luck with that pipe dream. Trump probably has EVERYONE who ever worked on The Apprentice, from the producers down to the janitors under non-disclosure agreements with lawyers waiting to sue whistleblowers for a king's ransom the nanosecond anyone opens the mouths about behind the scenes stuff on the show.

I know there is one in force for the Apprentice. I think it's 5 million if you want to violate the nondisclosure. I think at one point someone started a Gofundme. I linked to a recent story about an NPR podcast where one of the producers said he was witness to his racist and sexist remarks. Some he claims were caught on camera and are in a warehouse somewhere. I think the executive producer, Mark Burnett (also known for "Survivor"), has always been reluctant to go against his "star" and co-producer and hasn't been agreeable in getting them released either, also citing nondisclosure agreements.

[zinderel]

With regards to NDAs, is there anything that can be done to protect someone who breaks an NDA if doing so aids a federal investigstion into criminal activity? Like...if Tom Arnold, say, came forward with audio or video tapes of Trump behaving like the racist criminal blowhard we all know him to be and Trump sicced lawyers on Tom, could Congress (or maybe Mueller?) offer Tom protection from the legal ramifications of breaching the NDA?

[Iron Maiden]

I would love for Tom Arnold to do more then just tweet about it. Honestly, the fact that no one in the news media is running with this and investigating it further has me frustrated.

Me too. I understand about the non-disclosure agreements (which some legal experts wish were gotten rid of) but I don't think he was part of those. He claimed that someone had given him a copy of film that showed some "highlights" of the various outtakes. He should produce those tapes.

[Tami]

Me too. I understand about the non-disclosure agreements (which some legal experts wish were gotten rid of) but I don't think he was part of those. He claimed that someone had given him a copy of film that showed some "highlights" of the various outtakes. He should produce those tapes.

What kind of NDA would he have relating to the Frankin situation? Trump, maybe, but this? I don't get it.

[Moon Ronin]

Rep Eric Swalwell is trying to impeach Hillary Clinton.....impeach her from what? She's a private citizen.

Any Link to this? All I can find is it being said jokingly on MSNBC back in October

[aja_christopher]

If you knew that system was in place and didn't take any steps to scrap it and create one that victims of misconduct can potentially get a fair outcome from, I'm not going to lose much sleep when you finally wind up being dealt with outside of an ethics investigation process that folks don't have any reason to have much faith in.

Except this isn't about you "losing sleep" -- this is about justice, for both the accusers and the accused.

Just because you may not care about that doesn't make it any less important or relevant to the issue at hand -- people deserve a fair hearing, whether you "sympathize" with their situation or not.

You've already made your (anti-Clinton) biases apparent many times in your previous comments -- if anything, your posts are just further proof that the court of "public opinion" is something that should not be trusted when determining guilt or innocence, especially with regards to political candidates.

[numberthirty]

Except this isn't about you "losing sleep" -- this is about justice, for both the accusers and the accused.

Just because you may not care about that doesn't make it any less important or relevant to the issue at hand.

If it was actually important to Congress, the current system would not be in place.

It's really that simple. The one in place is not even remotely geared towards creating "Just" results.

[BeastieRunner]

With regards to NDAs, is there anything that can be done to protect someone who breaks an NDA if doing so aids a federal investigstion into criminal activity? Like...if Tom Arnold, say, came forward with audio or video tapes of Trump behaving like the racist criminal blowhard we all know him to be and Trump sicced lawyers on Tom, could Congress (or maybe Mueller?) offer Tom protection from the legal ramifications of breaching the NDA?

If you're a whistler blower, you're protected. Trump even strengthened whistle blower laws with an EO.