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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Asgore Adopts Noelle
x3 It sounds to me that we're going to need a Constitutional Amendment to make the Police Force of this country Accountable; I could see this being more reasonable if the Police were actually supposed to do their job, but the Supreme Court has already ruled that they don't have to. Hopefully, the Era of Good Feelings 2.0 will be an actual thing, and that within 10-ish years, we can change this horrible ruling.
Here's
a bit more on the Facebook thing I mentioned.
Facebook and Twitter are opening up a bit to academic researchers, so platforms “can make better decisions"
“If you’ve followed me for a while, you know one of my top priorities for 2018 [is] making sure Facebook prevents interference and misinformation in elections,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post to promote the new research push (side note: “a while” means mostly this past year). “Today we’re taking another step — establishing an independent election research commission that will solicit research on the effects of social media on elections and democracy.”
The research, which Facebook says will be released publicly and will not be subject to approval by Facebook, is funded through the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, and Omidyar Network. Facebook “will make no financial contribution to this initiative or its research.” Hewlett hinted at an emphasis on platform-focused research when it announced $10 million in funding over the next two years devoted to research on disinformation on social media. (Disclosure: Nieman Lab is supported by the Knight Foundation.) “The focus will be entirely forward looking. And our goals are to understand Facebook’s impact on upcoming elections — like Brazil, India, Mexico and the US midterms — and to inform our future product and policy decisions,” wrote Facebook’s VP of communications and public policy Elliot Schrage and its director of research David Ginsberg. “For example, will our current product roadmap effectively fight the spread of misinformation and foreign interference? Specific topics may include misinformation; polarizing content; promoting freedom of expression and association; protecting domestic elections from foreign interference; and civic engagement.”
This is a legitimately good thing.
edited 10th Apr '18 9:38:00 AM by megaeliz
So after the barbed words traded at the UN yesterday it seems will for a confrontation is growing in the House and Senate. All the usual suspects are in support, and it seems like those sitting on the fence are coming down in favor of confrontation. For its part Russia seems almost unhealthily interested in a big fight in Syria and is moving naval forces towards the area, a move we’re surely mirroring.
They should have sent a poet.Oh, boy. Is this the flash point everyone is fearing, where a regional conflict will touch off direct war between two major powers? I"m getting seriously concerned about it, especially with the Orange Moron at the helm.
edited 10th Apr '18 9:53:32 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"It’s certainly possible, though I wouldn’t say it’s probable quite yet. We’ll see how the next 48 hours play out.
My money is on Russia being eager to expose the divisions in NATO. They could easily fight in Syria with little repercussion at home, but the will for war in NATO countries is low and invoking Article 5 would almost certainly splinter the group at this moment in time.
This whole thing is a massive Cold War flashback.
They should have sent a poet.This is pretty much an inevitable consequence of Putin's foreign policy over the past decade. At some point, the West is going to call him - it's not if, but when, unless we simply want to roll over for anything Russia does.
Hopefully, Putin will be able to retreat with a bloody nose. (I say this guardedly - America doesn't really need any accidental foreign policy successes in an election year that might give Republicans back their Defense credentials.)
edited 10th Apr '18 10:03:25 AM by Ramidel
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"Massive Cold War flashback" is what Putin says to himself to induce an erection.
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Russia is practically mocking the West by saying their investigators found no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma. I guess photographic one doesn't count.
There needs to be retaliation against the monstrosities of Assad, also dealing a blow to the russians' arrogance, damn the "what about the electoral consequences" mindset.
edited 10th Apr '18 10:26:06 AM by Grafite
Life is unfair...So, in order to legally drive a cab, you need a "medallion." They're artificially limited to the point that a taxi medallion costs around one million dollars nowadays.
It's a really weird system and there's assuredly corruption involved.
EDIT: Just looked into it and apparently the price has dropped "drastically" due to Uber and whatnot. But still. A million dollars for a license to do anything is insane.
edited 10th Apr '18 10:24:35 AM by Larkmarn
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.Preet Baharara retweeted
this thread,
First, this warrant did not issue just on probable cause. There is no way—no sliver of a chance of a way—that the SDNY went to a magistrate for a search warrant *against the lawyer for the President of the United States* without much more than probable cause. /2/
You can thus assume there was A LOT of evidence in that warrant application. You can also assume the magistrate in question reviewed it carefully. In other words, you can assume that the evidence more than amply supports the action taken yesterday. /3/
Second, all of that evidence is the evidence prosecutors had before they collected anything yesterday. In other words, you can assume that Michael Cohen has a very serious legal problem on his hands. /4/
Third, it is not good for a client when his lawyer is the subject of a search warrant involving matters concerning the services that lawyer provided to him. /5/
Fourth, really not good. /6/
Fifth, the President's angry comments to the press yesterday and tweets today suggest that he perceives the ring as closing around him. I don't do predictions but I do think it's interesting that he perceives it that way. /7/
edited 10th Apr '18 10:32:24 AM by megaeliz
So my theory is this: the republicans are trying to keep trump from firing mueller because they don’t want to embarrass themselves by doing jack shit when he is fired. They clearly won’t actually protest it in any meaningful way, but they know it’s terrible politics to ignore something like this. Best case scenario they do actually re appoint him independently, worst case he gets fired and they make a little “oh, stop it” protest and do jack shit.
Today on: https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/04/10/day-446/
Day 446: "Why don't I just fire Mueller?"
1/ Michael Cohen is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud, and violations of campaign finance law. The bank and wire fraud charges suggest prosecutors believe Cohen may have misled bankers about his use of certain funds or improperly used banks to transfer funds. Among the documents taken were those related to a 2016 payment Cohen made to Stormy Daniels. (Washington Post)
Lou Dobbs urged Trump to fire Robert Mueller in response to the raid of Michael Cohen's offices. "This is now a man that has to be brought under control, it would seem to me," Dobbs said. "Frankly, I can't imagine ― because each of us has to come to terms with our own heart and conscience ― I would fire the SOB in three seconds if it were me." (Huff Post)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lou-dobbs-fire-robert-mueller_us_5acc2f69e4b07a3485e7af64
"Why don't I just fire Mueller? Well, I think it's a disgrace what's going on. We'll see what happens," Trump said. "But I think it's really a sad situation, when you look at what happened. And many people have said, you should fire him." (CNN / Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/09/trump-mueller-russia-probe-511118
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said "it would be suicide for the President to fire" Mueller. I think the less the President says about this whole thing, the better off he will be. And I think Mueller is a person of stature and respected and I respect him. Just let the thing go forward." (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/politics/chuck-grassley-firing-mueller-suicide/index.html
Trump is "less inclined" to sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller after the raid on Michael Cohen. One source said Trump is "understandably less trusting" of Mueller and his team. (ABC News)
2/ Rod Rosenstein signed off on the FBI's decision to raid Cohen's office. Agents were looking, in part, for records about payments Cohen made to Stormy Daniels and Karen Mc Dougal, as well as information related to the publisher of The National Enquirer's role in silencing one of the women. Rosenstein, a Republican prosecutor, was picked by Trump to serve as deputy attorney general. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/trump-russia-mueller-rosenstein.html
3/ In a pair of morning tweets, Trump declared that the raids are "A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!" and that "attorney–client privilege is dead!" Attorney-client privilege is intended to encourage open communications between lawyers and their clients, so that lawyers can provide legal advice. The privilege is not absolute and there are exceptions for communications made to further a crime. The FBI would have to demonstrate probably cause to a magistrate judge that evidence of a crime would be found in Cohen's offices, or in a hotel where he was living. "No question, a search warrant for a lawyer is an extraordinary act," Frank Montoya, a former senior FBI official, said. "Everyone involved in this process, including the judge who signed the warrant, understood the scrutiny that would follow its execution. As such, everyone in the process would have done their damnedest to make the warrant as bulletproof as possible." (Reuters / NBC News)
4/ The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. Geoffrey Berman is a Trump appointee with ties to Rudy Giuliani, who donated money to the 2016 Trump campaign. The recusal was approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. (ABC News)
Former US Attorney Preet Bharara: The FBI raids were done by officials who were all "handpicked" by Trump. "If the reporting is true, particularly the part about this being approved by the Southern District of New York Attorney's Office which I used to lead, are all people who are Republican, and all people who have basically been handpicked by Donald Trump." (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/09/politics/preet-bharara-fbi-raid/index.html
5/ Robert Mueller is investigating a $150,000 donation to the Trump Organization in 2015 from Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk. The donation by the Ukrainian steel magnate was made in return for a 20-minute appearance by Trump during the campaign, and is being investigated as part of Mueller's efforts to examine foreign money Trump and his associates received prior to the election. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/us/politics/trump-mueller-ukraine-victor-pinchuk.html
poll/ 25% of 18- to 29-year-olds approve of Trump's job performance. 37% of Americans under 30 who are eligible to vote said they will "definitely be voting" in the midterms, compared to 23% who said the same thing in 2014. And, 69% said they want to see Democrats in control, compared with 28 percent who favor Republican control. (Harvard University's Institute of Politics)
http://iop.harvard.edu/spring-2018-poll
Notables.
Trump's homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, resigned at the request of new National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bossert is the second national security official to leave the White House since Bolton began the job on Monday. Michael Anton, a spokesman for the National Security Council, announced his resignation on Sunday. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/trumps-top-homeland-security-advisor-tom-bossert-to-resign.html
Trump won't attend the Summit of Americas this week as planned. He will, instead, stay in the U.S. and "oversee the American response to Syria." Pence will take Trump's place at the meetings. (Politico / New York Times)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/10/trump-skipping-summit-of-the-americas-512221
Mike Pompeo asked Hillary Clinton for guidance on how to prepare for the secretary of state confirmation process. Pompeo once called Clinton's response to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, "morally reprehensible." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/10/pompeo-hearing-state-clinton-512155
The chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group met with Trump at the White House to pitch a new broadcasting standard the company is heavily invested in, which would allow authorities to broadcast directly to any American's phone. During the 2016 campaign, David Smith told Trump: "We are here to deliver your message." (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/apr/10/donald-trump-sinclair-david-smith-white-house-meeting
The Russian military has been jamming the GPS systems of U.S. military drones operating in Syria. The Defense Department did not say whether the jamming is causing drones to crash. (NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/russia-has-figured-out-how-jam-u-s-drones-syria-n863931
The EPA's chief of staff claimed responsibility for the pay raises given to two of Scott Pruitt's top aides. Ryan Jackson also said that the pay raises had been reversed. "Administrator Pruitt had zero knowledge of the amount of the raises, nor the process by which they transpired," Jackson wrote in an email statement. (Bloomberg)
They're really making a reboot of The Cold War? I bet it will never be as good as the original.
edited 10th Apr '18 11:07:58 AM by megaeliz
I still think the original was better.
edited 10th Apr '18 11:22:23 AM by megaeliz
