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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I'm not sure what it is. AMI and Bezos have been in various disputes, one presumes, although I don't know that the details are public.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Inside Ralph Northam's plot for survival – Buffeted by his blackface scandal, the Virginia governor has a better chance of hanging on than anyone imagined a few days ago.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/08/ralph-northam-photo-blackface-response-1157830
The first portion:
Left for dead a week ago after his disastrous handling of his history with blackface, the Democratic Virginia governor is quietly plotting a survival strategy. He’s conferring with sympathetic Republican lawmakers and has hired a crisis manager who’s decamped to Richmond from Washington.
And as the state capitol descended into pandemonium this week after two other statewide Democrats faced their own scandals — episodes that could, ironically, help Northam’s chances of remaining in office — the governor sought counsel from pastors and worked to persuade his top staff not to bail.
Northam’s work to salvage his political career represents a remarkable — and quite possibly uncharted — attempt at survival for an embattled politician. It reflects how President Donald Trump’s election after the "Access Hollywood" tape has changed the calculus for other lawmakers staring down the political abyss in 2019.
While national and state Democrats swiftly called for Northam's resignation, half a dozen people in the state told POLITICO that the governor has no plans to leave with three years left in his term.
And there’s not much they can do to make him.
Edited by sgamer82 on Feb 8th 2019 at 9:18:09 AM
I'm trying to think of a charitable explanation and having trouble. "Hey, you guys, remember how I used to be in your party and bailed? Well, I'm sort of rethinking that. You see, you don't care about racist pasts; in fact, you think of it as an actual selling point, and it's going to be hard for me to remain credible with the Democrats. All that 'progressive' stuff I talk about... you know I don't really care about it as long as I get to stay in office, right? So, we pals?"
Edited by Fighteer on Feb 8th 2019 at 11:34:29 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I think he's just trying to save his hindquarters and banking on the fact that nobody has raised the possibility of impeachment and that he's term limited so isn't accountable to anyone else. Great example of how term limits reduce accountability.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanNo one has raised the possibility of impeachment because it's not possible legally, governors may be impeached over high crimes and misdemeanors (IIRC). Wearing blackface while awful from any non-racist standpoint is neither of those.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangAbout John Dingell. I'm not so sure this is a guy we should be singing the praises of. He was one of the biggest defenders of the auto industry and resisted any attempt to regulate it. Fuel efficiency standards, emission standards, side airbags, he was against them all. I realize that he represented Detroit, but look at it now. He would have better served his constituents by getting them to adapt and trying to maybe bring green tech jobs to Detroit, rather than desperately clinging to a dying business model.
And with every major elected Democrat in Virginia caught up in some scandal... what happens if they all resigned?
I dunno, blackmail attempts with lewd pictures still sound better than anything NOTW did. Let's not forget that included falsely accusing people of being paedophiles because they got the identity wrong, setting up a kidnap plot on Victoria Beckham for the sake of having a story, indulging in hacking the voicemail of a dead schoolgirl, bribing police officers for info...
Republican takes control.
Personally, while I definitely think Northam should resign I don't know about the Attorney General, he fessed up on his own volition and gave a much better apology. I think there might be a way forward for him, depending of course on how the public and his fellow legislators (especially the Black Caucus) react.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangIs there any more detail on the lieutenant governor's sexual assault allegation?
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"So everything coming up now is a coup attempt rather than the right actually caring. What a shock.
Not really.
Northam's thing was brought up by the Right, Fairfax's accusation was brought up by his accuser, and the Attorney general volunteered the information himself.
Only one of the three was directly connected to the Right.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Feb 8th 2019 at 12:15:02 PM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangIt's not like there are many experts in defending people accused of sexual assault, it may be bad optics but it doesn't mean much beyond it.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangAnyone posted this yet?
Donald Trump Says the ‘Abolition of Civil Rights’ Is One of Our Country’s ‘Greatest Strides’
Can it really be said that this truly looks bad for Trump, considering that is exactly the kind of thing his supporters put him in the White House for?
Anyway, as for the Virginia case, just take out the other two and keep the Attorney General. He might not be morally better than the other (we can't know what truly goes on inside his head, after all) but he is smarter than either at the very least.

WaPo: National Enquirer says it will ‘thoroughly investigate’ extortion allegations made by Jeff Bezos
You can feel the sarcasm in those quotation marks.
[...]
“American Media believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos. Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him," the statement said.
"Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary.”