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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Doctored image of Parkland shooting survivor gone viral among the far right.
I'm sure this kind of thing doesn't surprise many of us anymore, but if you hear about something like this, here it is.
I think collectively they lost the capacity to do that a while back. And really they're in a bad situation now anyways because even if they course-correct, their voterbase who's been conditioned by garbage like Fox News will throw a hissy fit and not vote for them.
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And they're going to drive the cost of healthcare up so that the price of taking care of their asses in their dying years leaves the younger generation saddled with debt for the rest of their lives, just for that added bit of "fuck you"
edited 26th Mar '18 5:07:30 AM by Reflextion
Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.Trump may end up with a court appointed lawyer yet.
At a Crucial Juncture, Trump’s Legal Defense Is Largely a One-Man Operation. note
Working for a president is usually seen as a dream job. But leading white-collar lawyers in Washington and New York have repeatedly spurned overtures to take over the defense of Mr. Trump, a mercurial client who often ignores his advisers’ guidance. In some cases, lawyers’ firms have blocked any talks, fearing a backlash that would hurt business.
The president lost two lawyers in just the past four days, including one who had been on board for less than a week.
Joseph diGenova, a longtime Washington lawyer who has pushed theories on Fox News that the F.B.I. made up evidence against Mr. Trump, left the team on Sunday. He had been hired last Monday, three days before the head of the president’s personal legal team, John Dowd, quit after determining that the president was not listening to his advice. Mr. Trump had also considered hiring Mr. diGenova’s wife, Victoria Toensing, but she will also not join the team.
That leaves the president with just one personal lawyer who is working full time on the special counsel’s investigation as Mr. Trump is facing one of the most significant decisions related to it: whether to sit for an interview.
That lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is a conservative commentator who made his name on religious freedom cases. Mr. Sekulow is in talks with other lawyers about joining the team, although it is not clear how far those discussions have progressed.
Hours before the announcement of Mr. diGenova’s departure, which Mr. Sekulow said was related to a conflict of interest, the president took to Twitter to reject any suggestion that lawyers do not want to work for him.
“Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case … don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on,” he wrote. “Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted.”
Adding new lawyers, he said, would be costly because they would take months “to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more).”
“I am very happy with my existing team,” he added.
This month, the president met with the veteran lawyer Emmet Flood about the possibility of joining the legal team. But Mr. Trump was put off by the fact that Mr. Flood, a Republican, had represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process, and Mr. Flood has made clear that he will not represent the president if Marc E. Kasowitz, his brash longtime personal lawyer, has any role in the effort.
Mr. Trump also tried to recruit Theodore B. Olson, a well-known Republican lawyer, but Mr. Olson has said he would not be representing the president.
The first phase of legal work for Mr. Trump in the inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, was led by a White House lawyer, Ty Cobb. That work, which in part involved the production of documents and the arrangement of interviews with White House officials, has been largely completed.
The second phase, which is now focused on the question of a presidential interview with Mr. Mueller, had been led by Mr. Dowd. One reason Mr. Dowd quit was that, against his advice, Mr. Trump was insistent that he wanted to answer questions under oath from Mr. Mueller, believing that it would help clear him.
Mr. Dowd had concluded that there was no upside and that the president, who often does not tell the truth, could increase his legal exposure if his answers were not accurate.
Roger Cossack, a seasoned legal analyst, said the key to successfully defending a high-profile client under immense scrutiny was to have a cohesive legal team with a consistent strategy.
Or to put it another way:
edited 26th Mar '18 5:34:32 AM by megaeliz
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Denying basic rights (healthcare) to a group of people because of selfishness is not how a society should work. You help those who can't help themselves if you are in a position to and then get the same benefits if you find ever yourself in a similar situation.
edited 26th Mar '18 6:07:38 AM by Grafite
Life is unfair...He's been suprisingly restrained after last night.
So much Fake News. Never been more voluminous or more inaccurate. But through it all, our country is doing great!
I've been noticing a lot less obviously automated bots in the comments lately. I guess the purge Twitter did is actually having an effect. (Don't get me wrong, there are still a lot of bots though.).
edited 26th Mar '18 7:08:50 AM by megaeliz
I caught most of the 60 Minutes interview. Interestingly, the best stuff came not from Stormy herself but from her attorney. I especially liked the point about how this isn't about the affair, it's about the cover-up and the threats afterwards. The most sickening remark made by one of Trump's attorneys (forget which) is that, after he won the court case, he would take a nice vacation on Stormy's dime. What a dick remark.
x7 Speaking of "good hard-working Americans", a criticism I hear all the time from Trump supporters/Russian trolls/useful idiots is that the Democrats care more about illegals than about "average Americans". It's not true, of course, but it's something that absolutely needs to be addressed/rebutted repeatedly before the midterms. Because I feel like while there is a blue wave possible, if we don't counter the xenophobia crowd's accusations, the GOP can hammer home their usual scare tactics and those on the fence might reluctantly vote GOP again despite their reservations.
edited 26th Mar '18 7:14:16 AM by speedyboris
I don't think that's a realistic problem, there's already strong evidence of a massive enthusiasm gap between Democratic and Republican voters and I don't see how bog-standard GOP rhetoric is going to change that.
(also when they say "average Americans" they mean white people).
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang

This is big.
Former Cambridge Analytica workers say firm sent foreigners to advise U.S. campaigns
(commentary on a story from From Wa Po, because I don't have a subscription.)
Thread
See why we have a problem to begin with here?
CA assigned dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to GOP candidates in 2014, according to three former workers for the data firm, even as an attorney warned executives to abide by U.S. laws limiting foreign involvement in elections."
The above is the lead for Wa Po scoop here. It goes on: "The effort was designed to present the newly created company, whose parent, SCL Group, was based in London, as “an American brand” that would appeal to U.S. political clients,".
Wa Po GOT DOCUMENTS describing the program from former CA Research Director Christopher Wylie, who has become a whistleblower. Docs contain previously undisclosed details about the program, called "Project Ripon".
Cambridge Analytica heads, including (hear it) company President Rebekah Mercer, Vice President Stephen K. Bannon and Chief Executive Alexander Nix, were warned about restriction in a 10-page memo prepared by NY attorney Laurence Levy. Naturally, they went on and broke the law anyway bc hey, what's breaking electoral law on foreigners not being allowed to get involved in high level analysis or strategy, when we're merrily treasoning away?
Mueller must be sitting and counting how many more charges he can include in those sealed indictments right now. *Mueller grabs diary* *writes* "Dammit, no more pages." [1]
Document touting CA's 2014 work shows that MANY of those foreigners were involved in helping to decide what voters to target with political messages, and what messages to deliver. These foreigners' tasks included media relations, planning events, communications strategy, providing "talking points, speeches, debate prep" (really?), as well as FUNDRAISING and planning events. SERIOUSLY???
CA's "dirty little secret was that there was no one American involved in it, that it was a de facto foreign agent, working on an American election,” Wylie said.
Yes, you read that correctly.
You thought this was the worst? Well maybe not. Former workers at CA who were interviewed in London like Wylie are fearing they may have violated US law for all the above reasons and say concerns about the legality of CA work in the US were often discussed by employees.
CA employees were concerned the company "was giving its foreign employees potentially inaccurate immigration documents to provide upon entering the United States, showing that they were not there to work when they had arrived for the purpose of advising campaigns. [2]
Translation of previous point: they gave them TOURIST visas when instead they were there to work to advise US campaigns (which in and of itself IS A CRIME as foreigners can't do that). 4 replies 82 retweets 200 likes
"We knew that everything was not above board but we weren't too concerned about it. It was the Wild West.That's certainly how they carried on in 2014." This, from one of the previous CA workers. It's ASTONISHING to read this and yet WE KNEW they cheated.
"Company officials did not respond to multiple queries from The Post, nor did Bannon, Mercer or Nix." What a shock. NOT!
"The prospect of new legal scrutiny for Bannon comes at a turbulent time for the conservative strategist. " Noo, why? LOL. So to get this straight. Bannon went and talked to Mueller, told him everything for 20 hours. YET there may still be crimes out there to charge him with.
I don't know for sure what type of deal Bannon has, but it sure looked like a good one, that had Bannon defy Congress and make a very public scene to justify talking to Mueller (so he couldn't be accused of being disloyal). Now though? Looks different. It's possible Bannon was offered the same type of deal as Nunberg: immunity for himself in exchange for the intel he turned in. And he may have not said it all. We'll see. The lawyer situation makes me think he DID flip but one never knows.
"Project Ripon was described by Wylie and other workers as an ambitious effort in which Cambridge Analytica would advise American campaigns on how to use data to find “hidden Republicans.” WTF is "a hidden Republican"? This reeks of "let's make them up". Ripon also was the name of an online campaign management tool designed for the effort and described in a company brochure produced in London that was subtitled, “WINNING BACK AMERICA.” Yeah, now you win a trip back to UK jail, CA peeps!
"Company documents obtained by The Post show the U.S. program involved a staff of 41 employees and contractors, and spent $7.5 million between April and July 2014." You know, just coffee money for coffee boys.
So CA did work for VARIOUS GOP candidates in 2014, including Thom Tillis and the NC GOP. Both are all "it would be disturbing and not tolerated if a VENDOR (CA) misled us! We knew nothing". Exactly WHO do you think you're fooling? You are responsible for who you choose. NC GOP Director is all "No foreign workers worked for us". DUDE, you hired CA. That means YOU HIRED FOREIGNERS, you liar. Or is the concept too complicated to understand? [3]
Here comes the notorious John Bolton part, what with his super PAC paying CA to advise candidates in Arkansasa, New Hampshire and North Carolina. But you know, just merrily criming away. The talking point from Bolton's spox "OH HE made all the strategic decisions re: super PAC, not CA! Sure, Jan. He hired them NOT TO DO ANYTHING. Just how stupid do these people think we are?
The other talking point from Bolton's spox "Our contract said that CA's use of data was in compliance with applicable laws". OH! That makes the crimes disappear then! SERIOUSLY??
"We haven't worked with them since 2016! (oh really?) We were not aware of any impropriety until recent news reports! We dont' use their data anymore!" Well no s..t Sherlock, seen as you made use of it TO STEAL THE 2016 election! No need anymore.
Wylie (the CA whistleblower) told Wa Po "he was part of multiple conference calls in 2014 with Bannon and Nix, a Briton, in which strategic campaign matters were discussed." Nix's involvement is COMPLETELY illegal, just so we're clear, per the PREMISE at beginning of thread. Wylie said these conversations also often featured discussions about the legal issues raised in the July 2014 Levy memo." This point is key bc it shows "consciousness of guilt". THEY KNEW they were violating the law bc they were TOLD what not to do.
NONE of them could be reached for comment. Shocker, NOT! CA had previously told the NYT that " personnel in strategic roles were U.S. nationals or green card holders” and that Nix “never had any strategic or operational role”. Yeah, BUSTED, with docs, liars!
Wylie wisely declined to comment on whether he believes he violated the law when he was working for CA. Attorney must have advised him.
Campaign finance lawyer tells Wa Po that if Wylie is telling the truth, Do J can prosecute CA and its managers (THAT MEANS MERCER AND BANNON TOO) for "knowing and willful violations of the prohibition on foreign national contributions".
CA is bragging in docs about leading the campaign in Oregon for Art Robinson. They are saying they effectively managed the entire campaign. Robinson dolt Wa Po he met with Nix once and that his campaign team and CA "melded and worked side-by-side." Well, jolly good. Unreal.
CA former employees explained how there were very few Americans among them, yet they worked on US campaigns all the time. Wylie adds "There’s no such thing as managing targeting in a non-influential way". Well, no kidding. So yeah: violating the law.
fter 2014 successes, CA decided they could let employees know about you know, violating the freaking law? So Levy held a video conference explaining employees what US law entailed. At THAT point they got worried. But crimes had been committed already. A former CA employee said "“It only percolated down to the ranks once it was too late." The Cruz campaign is all "but we had a US manager supervise, so they didn't make the final decision". LOL, the law is not about "making the final decision".
"A Trump campaign official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak to the press, said the Cambridge team was managed by a U.S. citizen to ensure compliance." Trump lives to break the law, so BUH-BYE, anonymous!
"Nix, the chief executive, has portrayed his role as central to Trump’s winning effort, though others involved in the campaign have expressed doubts about this. " AND Nix bragged about it in the Channel 4 vid AND he told Tech Crunch in 2016. Obviously his role WAS central.
And thus endeth the great Wa Po scoop... reminder this is NOT simply from Wylie but from THREE former CA employees AND Wa Po has documents. So yeah, keep at it with snacks and beverages. Bc #Mueller Is Coming. /End
Almost nobody at Cambridge Analytica is an American Citizen, and worked on several GOP campaigns, this is beautiful. Mueller and the rest of the FBI, along with the DOJ are coming for them, and maybe even the British Government. This is just fantastic!
edited 25th Mar '18 10:19:14 PM by megaeliz