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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#279976: May 8th 2019 at 7:46:41 AM

Good to hear that this doesn't stop the Contempt train.

And know we just wait to the courts to do their job, hopefully. At least now we know for certain that there is shit in the report that Trump and friends don't want out there.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279977: May 8th 2019 at 7:47:03 AM

[up][up][up]He's basically throwing Barr under the bus. Now that he's found another way to keep the full unredacted report out, he doesn't need Barr anymore.

Par for the course with Trump.

Edited by M84 on May 8th 2019 at 10:47:31 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
thok That's Dr. Title, thank you! (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Non-Canon
That's Dr. Title, thank you!
#279978: May 8th 2019 at 7:48:40 AM

[up] Given that United States vs Nixon is a fairly clear precedent, hopefully the Mueller Report will be seen soon.

KamonTheSkunk The Little Stinker Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Is that a kind of food?
The Little Stinker
#279979: May 8th 2019 at 7:49:26 AM

So now, just like his tax returns, congress isn't likely to see the entire Mueller report. I'm honestly not surprised considering the other things Trump has done. But it's not like Trump will never face any punishments for all of the illegal shit he's done. Now maybe if the country managed to elect another republican as bad as him when he's out of office (Reagan was pardoned by Ford after all), but it's unlikely.

KamonTheSkunk The Little Stinker Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Is that a kind of food?
The Little Stinker
#279980: May 8th 2019 at 7:58:41 AM

Now I'm finding out that it was Barr that requested Trump to use his executive privilege. I'm no expert on politics, but I'm pretty sure that's 100% illegal.

Edited by KamonTheSkunk on May 8th 2019 at 8:05:17 AM

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#279981: May 8th 2019 at 7:58:53 AM

Is it possible to arrest the President for Contempt of Congress (I'm assuming not, but might as well ask)?

KamonTheSkunk The Little Stinker Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Is that a kind of food?
The Little Stinker
#279982: May 8th 2019 at 8:10:10 AM

[up]

I find unlikely considering the stuff required to get the president impeached from office, but I'm also not an expert regarding how contempt of congress works. So I'm leaning towards no.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#279983: May 8th 2019 at 8:11:25 AM

[up]x2 That's uncharted waters, I'm pretty sure. And of all the people who can be held in contempt, I'd argue that the President is (sadly) not one of them. But if Congress wants to try it, I say more power to them to see if I'm wrong and they're right. Still won't get Trump out of Office, though.

[up]x3 It certainly sounds like it should be illegal.

Edited by DingoWalley1 on May 8th 2019 at 11:11:40 AM

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#279984: May 8th 2019 at 8:12:48 AM

No. Though contempt of Congress is an impeachable offense.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#279985: May 8th 2019 at 8:51:23 AM

Someone please remind me why "impeachment is required before taking the POTUS to court" is even a thing. I vaguely remember that it was explained here a long time ago, but I cannot remember at the moment when or what the explanation was.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#279986: May 8th 2019 at 9:26:28 AM

The idea is basically that being the President is a very difficult and very critical job for the United States, and that it would make it more difficult for the President to do his job effectively if he had to constantly drop what he's doing to answer potentially frivolous lawsuits or face a barrage of potentially-invented criminal allegations from the opposition party.

The same laws protecting Trump from prosecution for his real actual crimes also meant that Mitch McConnell couldn't, say, continuously accuse Obama of punching a member of the Republican Senate, inventing a new accusation every time the previous Obama-Punch Trial concludes.

Until the end of his term, the President is expected to spend 100% of his time being President. So he's given an informal stay of prosecution from any accusations against him.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 8th 2019 at 10:27:51 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#279987: May 8th 2019 at 9:28:15 AM

Gosh, that would have been funny to read about in the history books. The Great Obama-Punch Trials of 2008-2016.

Edited by GoldenKaos on May 8th 2019 at 5:28:26 PM

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#279988: May 8th 2019 at 10:11:32 AM

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has announced a bill which would ban loot boxes and pay-to-win microtransactions in games played by minors.

    Article 
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) today announced a bill that would ban loot boxes and pay-to-win microtransactions in “games played by minors,” a broad label that the senator says will include both games designed for kids under 18 and games “whose developers knowingly allow minor players to engage in microtransactions.”

Hawley will introduce the bill, “The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act,” to the U.S. Senate soon. In press materials announcing the bill, Hawley’s team brought up the Activision game Candy Crush as an egregious example of pay-to-win microtransactions thanks to its $150 “Luscious Bundle” that comes with a whole bunch of goodies. This bill will also likely apply to a host of online games that feature loot boxes and other ways in which players can spend money for real benefits.

“When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” Hawley said in a press release. “And when kids play games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children should face legal consequences.”

Last fall, the Federal Trade Commission promised to investigate loot boxes following a letter from Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) that she wrote in the wake of 2017's string of games featuring the heavy usage of predatory microtransactions, such as Middle-earth: Shadow of War and Star Wars Battlefront II. Although some companies have pulled back on the practice, popular games like Overwatch, FIFA, and Apex Legends continue to make big money off randomized microtransactions. Many of those games are played by both adults and children.

Hawley, 39, has become known in Washington for criticizing major tech companies Facebook and Google, often accusing them of anti-conservative bias.

UPDATE (12:18pm): The Entertainment Software Association, the video game industry lobbyist group, sent over a statement shortly after this bill was introduced: “Numerous countries, including Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, determined that loot boxes do not constitute gambling. We look forward to sharing with the senator the tools and information the industry already provides that keeps the control of in-game spending in parents’ hands. Parents already have the ability to limit or prohibit in-game purchases with easy to use parental controls.”

WalMart will raise the tobacco purchasing age to 21 for all its US stores on July 1st.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279989: May 8th 2019 at 10:13:35 AM

[up]A Republican actually proposing a bill I kind of think is a good idea. That doesn't happen very often.

Granted, I'm thinking this might also be a Right for the Wrong Reasons situation, but still.

Edited by M84 on May 9th 2019 at 1:14:27 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#279990: May 8th 2019 at 10:15:22 AM

That would effectively ban those entirely, as restricting them to minors is really hard to pull off without extensive verification (which is impractical and has privacy and data security implications).

Good.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#279991: May 8th 2019 at 10:19:35 AM

I'm torn, on the one hand this is a good idea.

On the other a Republican senator writing a bill on a subject they don't fully understand is never really a good thing.

I don't trust it not to either be ineffectual or far too overreaching and ruin a lot of games that are fine.

Oh really when?
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#279992: May 8th 2019 at 10:20:18 AM

heh i can already hear them crying over a loss of revenue

cri me a river

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279993: May 8th 2019 at 10:20:36 AM

[up][up]We'd probably need to read through that bill very carefully.

His criticism of Facebook and Google over an "anti-conservative" bias of all things is not an encouraging sign either.

Edited by M84 on May 9th 2019 at 1:21:30 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#279994: May 8th 2019 at 10:21:09 AM

If the games are sold hard copy only they could still exist, they’d just be age restricted products the same as lottery tickets.

Or you’d only be able to play them inside a gambling establishment like a casino.

Edited by Silasw on May 8th 2019 at 5:22:06 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#279995: May 8th 2019 at 10:21:22 AM

If you assume other life only has value in how it can be exploited by humans, I imagine that doesn't matter much. And that's often the tone of such things.

Eh, I value life purely based on its use to our civilization and I strongly oppose such nonsense.

Biodiversity is greatly beneficial to humanity and the only reason to ignore that is because of self-centered and myopic greed. So I think that's a more relevant reason for his (and other anti-environmentalists) positions.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on May 8th 2019 at 10:21:33 AM

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279996: May 8th 2019 at 10:22:14 AM

[up]The "other life" they are talking about also includes other human beings.

It's kind of a given that climate change is going to really fuck over the people who are both least equipped to handle it and are probably the least responsible for it.

Edited by M84 on May 9th 2019 at 1:24:13 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#279997: May 8th 2019 at 10:23:07 AM

I could stand to hear EA, Ubisoft and Activision-Blizzard cry a bit. Make that a lot.

Any move that treats any "game mechanic" that turns games into Konami-style, pachinko, extortion machines as exactly what they are would work for me.

Edited by Euodiachloris on May 8th 2019 at 6:26:23 PM

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#279998: May 8th 2019 at 10:25:33 AM

The "other life" they are talking about also includes other human beings.

It's kind of a given that climate change is going to fuck over the people who are both least equipped to handle it and are probably the least responsible for it.

No doubt, hence why I think Republicans are driven by selfishness alongside the myopic greed. Because they don't really care what happens to poor people, the fact those poor people are often minorities likely just makes it easier.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#279999: May 8th 2019 at 10:27:54 AM

The more I think about it, the more doubtful I am about this bill. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's something in the actual text of the bill that makes it ineffectual or horrible or both.

Disgusted, but not surprised
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#280000: May 8th 2019 at 10:32:22 AM

They should extend this bill to forbid any microtransactions from paid games, because if you pay 60$ for a game and the publisher still hold content from the player, that is just blatant extortion.

Put an age limit over F 2 P play games, they're digitally distributed anyway, and no one had any problems in those days.


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