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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Not strictly politics but since the original incident was brought up here:
"Waffle House shooting suspect arrested by Nashville police" - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tennessee-shooting/waffle-house-shooting-suspect-arrested-by-nashville-police-idUSKBN1HU0FY
edited 23rd Apr '18 12:13:51 PM by sgamer82
Ultimately that godforsaken chart is the height of bad politics and is only surpassed by the horseshoe.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yanghttps://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/04/23/day-459/
Day 459: Under open assault.
1/ Trump's new national security adviser chaired a nonprofit that promoted misleading and anti-Muslim news. Bolton was chairman of the Gatestone Institute from 2013 until last month. The advocacy group claims that a "jihadist takeover" of Europe is leading to a "Great White Death," which was amplified by a Russian troll factory that sought to portray Western society as at risk of "Islamization." (NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/john-bolton-chaired-anti-muslim-think-tank-n868171
2/ The Trump administration challenges that Native Americans are not exempt from new Medicaid work rules because it would be illegal preferential treatment. Meaning, Native Americans would need to get a job if they want to keep their health care. The administration has allowed three states – Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana – to begin instituting Medicaid work requirements, and at least 10 other states have submitted or are preparing applications. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/22/trump-native-americans-historical-standing-492794
3/ The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Mike Pompeo's nomination for secretary of state today. All 10 Democrats and Rand Paul have announced their opposition to Pompeo's nomination. Mitch Mc Connell is expected to bring up Pompeo's nomination for a floor vote later in the week, which is expected to be close. Pompeo can receive at most 49 Republican votes with Paul already a "no" and John Mc Cain absent due to illness. Trump tweeted that it's "hard to believe Obstructionists May vote against Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State," claiming Democrats "will not approve hundreds of good people" by "maxing out" the confirmation process. (NBC News / Reuters / Washington Post)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Democrats voting against Pompeo's nomination don't "love this country" and have to decide if "they hate this president" more. The press secretary's comments came while appearing on Fox & Friends. (Daily Beast)
Pompeo has the support of three Democratic senators, increasing his chances of being confirmed by the full chamber. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/politics/joe-manchin-mike-pompeo-secretary-of-state-vote/index.html
4/ Trump rejected speculation that Michael Cohen will flip, tweeting that he has "always liked and respected" his attorney. He added that "Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don't see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!" In a flurry of weekend tweets, Trump called New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman a "third rate reporter" and a Clinton "flunkie" following her report that Cohen could end up cooperating with federal officials as legal fees and possible criminal charges pile up. (Washington Post)
Hillary Clinton: The First Amendment is "under open assault" in the Trump era. "We are living through an all-out war on truth, facts and reason," Clinton said. "When leaders deny things we can see with our own eyes, like the size of a crowd at the inauguration, when they refuse to accept settled science when it comes to urgent challenges like climate change … it is the beginning of the end of freedom, and that is not hyperbole. It’s what authoritarian regimes through history have done." (Washington Post)
5/ The former lawyer for both Stormy Daniels and Karen Mc Dougal is cooperating with investigators in the Michael Cohen probe. Keith Davidson provided the Southern District of New York with "certain limited electronic information" about the confidentiality agreements he negotiated between Cohen and the two women about their alleged affairs with Trump. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/20/politics/keith-davidson-michael-cohen/index.html
Stormy Daniels is telling the truth that somebody threatened her to stay silent about her affair with Trump, according her friend and fellow porn star. Jessica Drake is named in the nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed as somebody with whom she told about her alleged affair with Trump. Drake claims she refused a $10,000 offer to have sex with Trump after meeting him during a Lake Tahoe golf event in 2006. (ABC News)
6/ Kellyanne Conway accused CNN of sexism for asking about her husband's critical Trump tweets. Conway said CNN's Dana Bash question "was meant to harass and embarrass," which was inappropriate and created a "double standard." Conway's husband, George Conway, has been by tweeting and retweeting critical comments about Trump, but recently deleted a handful of tweets last month. (The Hill / Politico / CNN)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/22/kellyanne-conway-dana-bash-cnn-545220
7/ During Barbara Bush's funeral, Trump tweeted about the DNC's lawsuit over hacked emails, accused James Comey of leaking classified memos, and called Jeff Sessions "Mr. Magoo" and Rod Rosenstein "Mr. Peppers." Melania Trump, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama, meanwhile, attended the service. On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Mika Brzezinski called Trump's tweets "especially insulting to the United States of America" on a day "the world said goodbye to Barbara Bush." (The Hill)
8/ Trump's legislative affairs director won't rule out Trump firing Robert Mueller or Rod Rosenstein, saying the special counsel has moved outside his original mandate. Marc Short said: "We believe the scope has gone well beyond what was intended to be Russian meddling in the election," adding that "We don't know how far off the investigation is going to veer." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/22/mueller-trump-marc-short-firing-545181
Notables.
Mitt Romney failed to win the Utah Republican Party's nomination and will now face 11 challengers in a June primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Orrin Hatch. (Reuters)
The Treasury Department eased sanctions on a Russian aluminum producer tied to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who is close with Putin. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/23/us-sanctions-russia-rusal-oleg-deripaska-545660
A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration cannot delay fines for "gas-guzzling" cars that violate fuel efficiency standards. In July 2017, the Department of Transportation indefinitely postponed a scheduled increased in penalties for automakers while it reviewed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy program. (The Hill)
The Supreme Court will consider Trump's third iteration of his travel ban on Wednesday, which bars a small group of mostly Muslim nations and is the first time the court has considered the merits of the policy. (Washington Post)
Sean Hannity is linked to a group of shell companies that spent $90 million buying more than 870 homes in seven states over the past decade through foreclosures and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. For some of the mortgages, Hannity obtained funding from HUD under the National Housing Act loan program, which the Fox News host didn't disclose when he interviewed HUD Secretary Ben Carson on his show last June. (The Guardian)
The RNC spent nearly $225,000 at Mar-a-Lago in March, according to Federal Election Commission reports. (The Hill / Daily Beast)
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/384437-rnc-spent-225k-at-mar-a-lago-resort-last-month
Ivana Trump: Donald "should just go and play golf" instead of running for reelection in 2020. "I'll tell you something, I don't think it’s necessary," she said. "I think he probably [misses] a little bit of freedom, I don't think he probably knew how much is involved of being the president. It's so [much] information — you have to know the whole world." (Page Six)
https://pagesix.com/2018/04/21/ivana-trump-says-donald-should-just-go-and-play-golf/
edited 23rd Apr '18 12:15:12 PM by sgamer82
Actually I think the horseshoe might have more of a point. While it's fundamentally wrong about many things, that wrongness is at least predicated on something that approaches being real (ie, the extreme right and extreme left do have a lot of things in common; where the horseshoe is wrong is that the similarities are the product of their shared extremism rather than their political philosophies being alike). Whereas that graph seems to be using one issue as a bar for everything.
- Important event.
- Mark your calendar.
- Loyalty to President Trump required.
- Loyalty to the Constitution optional.
- Russian-English translation available upon request.
2018 State GOP Convention - Minneapolis, MN
While I'm not sure if I completely agree I think you have a point.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangSo Trump had to go back to the White House After a week of Golf. I can't imagine he's happy about that.
Despite the Democrat inspired laws on Sanctuary Cities and the Border being so bad and one sided, I have instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country. It is a disgrace. We are the only Country in the World so naive! WALL
Mexico, whose laws on immigration are very tough, must stop people from going through Mexico and into the U.S. We may make this a condition of the new NAFTA Agreement. Our Country cannot accept what is happening! Also, we must get Wall funding fast.
Who am I kidding? He doesn't care one bit.
edited 23rd Apr '18 1:06:38 PM by megaeliz
Something I found today: The guy who does What The Fuck Just Happened Today created (or had a part in creating) am algorithm that helps sort out politics articles.
RE: Wafflehouse shooting
This is one where even the usual pro-gun folks are up in arms, as there were some rather flagrant warning signs that the shooter was suffering from untreated mental health issues
.
Reinking, who was taken into custody Monday afternoon, told a Secret Service officer at the northeast entrance that he was a "sovereign citizen" who had a "right to inspect the grounds," according to a Metropolitan Police Department incident report dated July 7, 2017.
[snip]
On June 16, 2017, an employee of his father's business, J&J Cranes, called the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office to report that Reinking came down from his apartment wearing a pink dress and holding a rifle, an incident report states.
The employee told police Reinking yelled "Is this what you f——-g want?" before he threw his rifle in his trunk and left, according to the report.
Around the same time, the Tremont Police Department responded to a call to a public pool, according to another incident report. The pool director told the responding officer that a man in his 20s barged into the pool wearing a pink women's housecoat, the report states. The man dove into the pool and took off the coat and swam around in his underwear. When he got out of the pool, he shouted at lifeguards that he was a man and exposed his genitals to them, the report states.
The rifle stayed in the vehicle and no one at the pool asked to press charges, the officer said in the report. "This is an informational report showing the state of mind of Travis Reinking," the report said.
TL;DR - he showed signs of paranoid-schizophrenia (he believed that Taylor Swift was stalking him, and that his family and authorities were complicit in it), and a host of other erratic behavior, but since he was never arrested for a violent act prior to today, police weren't sure they had the legal standing to confiscate his firearms. Jeffrey Reinking told the office[r] he had taken three guns from his son before and locked them up "when Travis was having problems," the report states.
edited 23rd Apr '18 1:31:52 PM by ironballs16
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"Well it looks like Macron is on babysitting duty this week, so that's good I guess.
The two got off to a rocky start after sharing a tense handshake at their first meeting at a NATO summit in Brussels last May. But since that shaky beginning, Trump and Macron have developed a surprisingly collegial bond.
"It's no secret that President Trump and President Macron enjoy a good working relationship — I may say, a close personal relationship," a senior administration official told reporters at a briefing ahead of Macron's visit.
[1]
edited 23rd Apr '18 2:22:24 PM by megaeliz
Senator Rand Paul has flipped to voting Yes to confirm Pompeo as Secretary of State, all but ensuring that he passes committee and the general confirmation vote.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/politics/pompeo-committee-vote-separate/index.html
Lets drop the hysteria, his position is one that has a great deal of influence and no direct power. Not to mention that Trump only supported him because he saw Pompeo on TV, thus the lack of real ideological connection means that while this is worrying it's not really worth panicking over yet.
edited 23rd Apr '18 3:58:46 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangGiuliani's history raises legal questions as he takes on Trump defense [1]
Now, Giuliani is taking on the high-profile job of helping lead Trump’s legal team combating that investigation — and other lawyers say his past activities could present conflicts, depending on how Mueller proceeds.
"The big problem here is how likely is he to become a witness in the case, whether it be in a grand jury or otherwise," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor. "You can't be a witness and a lawyer in the same case. That's the big sticking point."
Giuliani was announced as Trump's newest counsel this week amid an escalating federal investigation into longtime Trump Organization lawyer Michael Cohen, whose office and apartment were raided earlier this month. Giuliani, who's known Mueller for decades, has said his job is to speed along the Russia probe, which encompasses questions of whether Trump tried to obstruct justice, including negotiations about Trump's participation in an interview.
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow says Giuliani’s past activities present no known obstacle to the former New York mayor joining Trump's legal team.
"There are no conflicts at all regarding the representation of the president by Mayor Giuliani that would impact anything involving this case," Sekulow told POLITICO on Friday.
While Giuliani didn't hold a formal position in the Trump presidential campaign, he often opened for Trump at rallies in the final months of the race, a role which would have had him in contact with top campaign operatives. He's acknowledged he was in touch with FBI officials during the 2016 campaign and said the bureau’s rank-and-file were “boiling” over about the Clinton email investigation. Shortly before the FBI director at the time, James Comey, reopened that investigation that October, Giuliani said the Trump campaign had “a couple of things up our sleeves that should turn things around.”
Giuliani's former law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, advised Trump's data-mining contractor Cambridge Analytica on its obligations under U.S. campaign law.
After Trump's victory, Giuliani was formally named as a vice chairman of Trump's presidential transition team in late November 2016. However, his role in the transition is murky. Giuliani and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) were initially considered major players in the transition, but were shunted aside as it progressed. Giuliani has all but confirmed that he was hoping to be nominated as secretary of state, but Trump decided against it.
A lawyer for the Trump transition confirmed last December that Mueller's prosecutors obtained access to the emails of at least 13 people working on the transition. There is no indication that Giuliani was among them, but the requests focused on personnel handling national security and policy issues, raising the possiblity that Giuliani's communications with Trump advisers could already be in Mueller's possession.
Another issue of potential conflict: Giuliani's effort to broker a deal to resolve the case of Turkish-Iranian gold dealer Reza Zarrab, who was accused of violating U.S. law by helping Iran evade economic sanctions related to its nuclear program. Giuliani revealed in an affidavit filed last April that he met with Turkish President Recep Erdogan in an effort to resolve Zarrab's case as part of "some agreement between the United States and Turkey that will promote the national security interests of the United States."
NBC News reported last November that Mueller was investigating whether fired National Security Adviser Flynn was also involved in trying to end the U.S. prosecution of Zarrab. A few weeks after the NBC report, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to investigators and agreed to cooperate with Mueller. In the plea deal, Flynn admitted to making false statements about his work related to Turkey.
"Giuliani cannot talk about Zarrab, a former client, or disclose information learned in representing him. It's just off base," said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers.
It's unclear how actively Mueller is pursuing the Turkey-related issues at this point and what information Mueller's office may have about them as a result of their interviews of Flynn. Flynn's attorneys reportedly cut off communications with Trump's lawyers just prior to entering into the plea deal. Zarrab ultimately pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. At a trial of a co-conspirator, Zarrab said he made as much as $150 million laundering cash for Iran.
Trump's legal team has concluded that Giuliani is not a witness in the Russia case, but legal ethics experts say one complication for the Trump lawyers is they can't be sure of the exact bounds of what Mueller is investigating.
"Rudy Giuliani is sufficiently connected to past historical events that both he and Mueller should be on guard against potential conflicts of interest," said Paul Rosenzweig, a fellow at the R Street Institute and former senior counsel to Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. "None is apparent at all on the public factual record and I have a high degree of confidence either Giuliani or Mueller and his team will make them known should they actually come to fruition."
edited 23rd Apr '18 5:54:40 PM by megaeliz
@Fourthspartan56: I don't think that perspective is at all redeeming for Horseshoe theory; the fundamental flaw isn't why it posits similarities between far-right and left ideologies but its reliance on the one-dimensional left-right system of classifying ideologies. I'd argue for a minimum of three axes; economic left/right, social left/right, and authoritarian/libertarian, and even that's somewhat weak.
edited 23rd Apr '18 5:59:00 PM by CaptainCapsase
Social left-right and authoritarian-liberal tend to go hand in hand, I’d argue that a much more important third axis is that of internationalism-isolationism.
In the end we’re always going to be using a broad brush, because in reality there are as many axis as their are issues.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran![]()
Hmm, that's not a bad point. Honestly I dislike any political compass in that whatever values you base it off of it will always be constrained by the structure of a compass, that kind of simplicity greatly reduces usefulness IMO.
Something like 8values
is much better (if still flawed), though I feel this conversation has veered away from US politics to general politics...
Quite right. Though perhaps interventionism would be a better antithesis to isolationism? Because it's possible for a polity to be highly nationalistic and interventionist.
edited 23rd Apr '18 6:17:46 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangThe horseshoe therory is really only interesting for what it has to say about extremism, rather than being any kind of accurate political spectrum.
The implication is that extremists of any political philosophy have more in common with other extremists than they do with the moderates in their own party.
They should have sent a poet.Eh, I still think that's too reductionist and superficial.
For example both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were authoritarian if not totalitarian, thus the horseshoe theory would say that they're more similar then they are different. But that ignores that their systems were extremely different and complex.
Honestly the horseshoe theory is just an excuse for centrist or moderate people to smear all "extremists" (how do you identify that?) as the same.
In other words the horseshoe theory is just a older version of bothsidism.
edited 23rd Apr '18 6:33:30 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangFormer President H.W. Bush is in intensive care with an infection that has turned to sepsis. He just buried his wife as well, poor man.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/politics/george-hw-bush/index.html
Well, I wouldn't say it's entirely accurate. It certainly has its limitations, its overly broad nature being one of them. It's telling that it's called a "theory".
It's usually applied on more of a personal politics level than a state politics level. For example, at least here in the US some common features of those on the far ends of the political spectrum are extremely conspiratorial mindsets and an insistence on purity politics. White Nationalists and Black Nationalists both have similar agendas, and the joking references to the US religious right as "American Taliban" can be surprisingly accurate in some cases when you have religious right politicians in the US actively advocating for the Bible to be the supreme law of the land.
The idea is that extremist groups fall into the same patterns regardless of what political ideology they're extreme about. I think it's less useful as a political axis for delineating specific parties and more a way to think about extremist ideologies, since it basically runs off the simple left to right political scale.
edited 23rd Apr '18 6:46:57 PM by archonspeaks
They should have sent a poet.
I think that's fair, there are common psychological traits that can lead to one being more zealous or support niche ideologies.
Still I think the 'theory' is abusable enough that it's disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang

It was also put together by someone judging the candidates on their stated positions and not their party’s record. That’s why Trump is where he is, because the maker of the chart gave him points for the lies he said about how he was totally going to help working people/minorities.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran