Politics And Current Events

[NailedPenguin]

It can't keep being the same f***** excuses, with every protest, every single time, in every city throughout the country. Never their fault. Always someone else agitating, and even if they do follow along and break something its again, not their fault. Every method of arrest is wrong. Every method of getting them to disperse is wrong. Every little thing is a trigger for escalation and incitement.

[MR25]

I think you're completely missing the point here, and considering you already have your own pretty clear opinions about protests in general, I don't think continuing this line of conversation will be fruitful.

[nocera]

My stance is it was time to get the crowd dispersed from outside of Peduto's house. That was 100% the right call. After following orders to move off the street and following orders to move into the park, I don't understand why they weren't allowed to continue demonstrating. They were not blocking any streets (thus not blocking any hospital access). They were not in the middle of a residential neighborhood. They were in a public park (because that's where they were forced to go) and it still wasn't okay.

[NailedPenguin]

I think you and I have very different definitions of "going south".

The protest was still peaceful, even if you think the words weren't.

And words do not justify the escalation of force via herding the protesters into a closed park so you can use it as a ln excuse to pepper spray them.

The words, "have broken down" and "not ended well" were used by the reporters I posted.

[shafnutz05]

Oof, that's gross. It does feel a bit to me like the cops and protesters are just on this continuing path of escalation and instigation. I don't really care if this is "both sidesing" it, but it's legitimately two sides contributing to this constant stream of dumb news cycles.

I actually agree, in large part. I agree with NP in that I think BLM (and its affiliates) have largely gotten a free pass in the media for the violent behavior that has been a direct result of the protests, riots, looting, etc. At the same time, the police need to be cognizant that every little thing they do is going to be examined under a microscope, and if there is *any* interpretation that will put them in a negative light, that's what will be put out there.

Basically, the cops need to be "bigger men" and not get sucked into the stupid cycle of escalation and instigation you mention above. That's their job.

[MR25]

I can't see this going well, if it ends up happening.

[nocera]

That won't make it past the NEA and AFT.

[Morkle]

lmao wat

[Morkle]

Shortly after USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy issued a public statement saying he wanted to "avoid even the appearance" that any of his policies would slow down election mail, USPS instructed all maintenance managers around the country not to reconnect or reinstall any mail sorting machines they had already disconnected, according to emails obtained by Motherboard.

"Please message out to your respective Maintenance Managers tonight. They are not to reconnect / reinstall machines that have previously been disconnected without approval from HQ Maintenance, no matter what direction they are getting from their plant manager," wrote Kevin Couch, Director of Maintenance Operations. "Please have them flow that request through you then on to me for a direction." A subsequent email sent to individual maintenance managers across various regions forwarded that request along with a single sentence: "We are not to reconnect any machines that have previously been disconnected."

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xg8k ... eral-dejoy

[CBear3]

Like was said, they'd already made 95% of the cuts they were trying to make by the time he said they'd stop making cuts. Then he went to Pelosi and said exactly what that article says, they're not planning on undoing any of the damage they've previously done. He tried to use the suspension of activities as a white knight and hope that the truth of the situation coming out later would be glossed over.

[tifosi77]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/20/judge-t ... cords.html

President Donald Trump’s effort to fight a prosecutor’s subpoena for his tax records was rejected Thursday by a federal judge, handing another loss to the president in a high-profile case that already made its way to the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the president failed to show that the subpoena would pose an unfair burden, siding in favor of Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance, who has said his office is pursuing an investigation of potential violations of state law. Trump is likely to appeal the decision to a higher court.

The president’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, said Trump will appeal the decision.

Has he prevailed at any level of this litigation?

[tifosi77]

The collected $25 million from rubes to build a **** wall.

This is a victimless crime. I could care less if he walks, just funny watching another grifter from Trump's orbit get indicted.

I'm not sure how you can call fraud a victimless crime, unless you're coming at it from a plant-grow perspective.

[tifosi77]

Shortly after USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy issued a public statement saying he wanted to "avoid even the appearance" that any of his policies would slow down election mail, USPS instructed all maintenance managers around the country not to reconnect or reinstall any mail sorting machines they had already disconnected, according to emails obtained by Motherboard.

"Please message out to your respective Maintenance Managers tonight. They are not to reconnect / reinstall machines that have previously been disconnected without approval from HQ Maintenance, no matter what direction they are getting from their plant manager," wrote Kevin Couch, Director of Maintenance Operations. "Please have them flow that request through you then on to me for a direction." A subsequent email sent to individual maintenance managers across various regions forwarded that request along with a single sentence: "We are not to reconnect any machines that have previously been disconnected."

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xg8k ... eral-dejoy

It's is not really cognitively possible to construe anything other than malicious intent in this conduct.

[Trip McNeely]

The collected $25 million from rubes to build a **** wall.

This is a victimless crime. I could care less if he walks, just funny watching another grifter from Trump's orbit get indicted.

I'm not sure how you can call fraud a victimless crime, unless you're coming at it from a plant-grow perspective.

He’s saying it’s victimless because if you were dumb enough to give money to this cause, you deserve to be defrauded

[Troy Loney]

The collected $25 million from rubes to build a **** wall.

This is a victimless crime. I could care less if he walks, just funny watching another grifter from Trump's orbit get indicted.

I'm not sure how you can call fraud a victimless crime, unless you're coming at it from a plant-grow perspective.

I don't even like the plant-grow euphemism here. How are you eligible to be defrauded if you gave money to this online gofundme? There has to be some level of expectation for deception, right? So basically, I have a lot of difficulty calling these people victims of fraud.

[tifosi77]

So Bannon shouldn't have been arrested?

[Troy Loney]

I said it was a crime.

[MR25]

Legally speaking, yeah they're victims of fraud.

But do you think any of those people see themselves as victims of a crime?

[CBear3]

Legally speaking, yeah they're victims of fraud.

But do you think any of those people see themselves as victims of a crime?

They do now that there isn't a wall.

If it's campaign donations, that's debatable.

[Troy Loney]

Legally speaking, yeah they're victims of fraud.

But do you think any of those people see themselves as victims of a crime?

They do now that there isn't a wall.

If it's campaign donations, that's debatable.

It's really just the most moronic scheme imaginable. They initially stated that the funds were going to go to the government to then do the actual construction, then they changed the language to say it was going to a non-profit. At which time, the host made them refund a bunch of the money for that misstatement. That prince Jr aligned with this scheme did attach some false validity to the endeavor, I guess.

But, really just highlights another consistent theme of this era for me. The country is being run by the conservative media rubes, Trump and his namesake probably like think they are in on the scheme, but deep down, they believe the nonsense. How else can you plausibly explain a willingness to attach yourself to a blatant fraud scheme? They definitely think that this is what the Clinton foundation is and that they are entitled to grift.

[faftorial]

Legally speaking, yeah they're victims of fraud.

But do you think any of those people see themselves as victims of a crime?

They do now that there isn't a wall.

If it's campaign donations, that's debatable.

It's really just the most moronic scheme imaginable. They initially stated that the funds were going to go to the government to then do the actual construction, then they changed the language to say it was going to a non-profit. At which time, the host made them refund a bunch of the money for that misstatement. That prince Jr aligned with this scheme did attach some false validity to the endeavor, I guess.

But, really just highlights another consistent theme of this era for me. The country is being run by the conservative media rubes, Trump and his namesake probably like think they are in on the scheme, but deep down, they believe the nonsense. How else can you plausibly explain a willingness to attach yourself to a blatant fraud scheme? They definitely think that this is what the Clinton foundation is and that they are entitled to grift.

First response on the Breitbart article:

Ok now do the clinton foundation...

and the bashing goes from there.

https://www.breitbart.com/news/ex-trump ... ll-scheme/

[faftorial]

It's from the "all politicians are bad" crowd.

[Morkle]

A spokesperson for Trump Jr., whose name is listed on the organization's website as having endorsed it, said he had minimal involvement with the We Build the Wall group.

“Don gave one speech at a single We Build the Wall event over a year ago with a group of angel moms and besides that, has no involvement with their organization,” spokesperson Amanda Miller said in a statement.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... ngle-event

That speech also ended with "if you make a donation, you get a signed copy of my book."

Trump, also trying to distance himself:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/2 ... est-399313

"It's a very sad thing by Mr. Bannon... I didn't like that project. I thought it was a project being done for showboating reasons," Trump said "I didn't want a wall that was going to be an inferior wall."

"It was something I very much felt was inappropriate to be doing," Trump said

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump has long felt that a wall on the southern border should be a government project. She pointed to a tweet last month where the president wrote, "It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps [sic] it now doesn’t even work."

BUT https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-c ... eme-2020-8

"I talked with the president, and the 'We Build the Wall Effort' came up," Kobach told The New York Times, referring to Bannon's fundraising campaign. "The president said 'the project has my blessing, and you can tell the media that.'"

Grifters gonna grift.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

yes we don't want any of that showboating around here

[Morkle]

lol what a random day. All kinds of ridiculous **** happening: