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Pol Lounge General News Thread of "This doesn't deserve it's own thread" (Page 47)
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subego
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Aug 8, 2018, 09:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
1. Democrats sometimes screw up too. I'm not afraid to call them out. Republicans should not be afraid to criticize their well-placed people when they screw up.
I don’t think fear is the right word.

To many Republicans, openly criticizing their own team is not only poor strategy, it is quite literally immoral.

If there’s fear involved, it’s the same fear which stops anyone from immoral behavior.
     
reader50
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Aug 8, 2018, 11:43 PM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
How did she screw up?
By getting a story published. Telling the world she employed a foreign spy for years without realizing it. You know, the kind of stuff Trump does weekly - embarrassing PR screwup. I didn't think that one needed an explanation.

Originally Posted by subego View Post
I don’t think fear is the right word.
Fear of losing "their guy" if he/she is criticized too much. Gotta keep your guy, right up until there are criminal convictions.

Originally Posted by subego View Post
To many Republicans, openly criticizing their own team is not only poor strategy, it is quite literally immoral.
Now that is scary.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 8, 2018, 11:55 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
By getting a story published. Telling the world she employed a foreign spy for years without realizing it. You know, the kind of stuff Trump does weekly - embarrassing PR screwup. I didn't think that one needed an explanation.
Her mistake is not hiding the story from the public? You've got me really confused now. If she was honest isn't that laudable?
     
reader50
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Aug 9, 2018, 01:12 AM
 
Sigh. Maybe I should have worded it "She stepped into one also". Experiencing a PR disaster does not require extra assumptions. And btw, I didn't claim she was an honest politician.
     
subego
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Aug 9, 2018, 04:30 AM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
Now that is scary.
I actually find it less scary than the alternative.

I can work with someone who has different morals than mine, I can’t work with someone who is immoral.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 9, 2018, 09:13 PM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
Kris Kobach is in the GOP Primary for gov and its close enough to need a recount. As SoS he oversees such things. He's said he won't step aside even though it would be the ethical move.

Two days in and we're already seeing problems with the vote totals.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 14, 2018, 01:15 PM
 
No, but really, why does Labour have an anti-Semite as its leader? Is it ok-ish in UK?
     
Waragainstsleep
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Aug 14, 2018, 05:40 PM
 
I think he's more a Palestinian sympathiser than an anti-semite. Some people don't see a difference.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
OAW
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Aug 14, 2018, 06:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
I think he's more a Palestinian sympathiser than an anti-semite. Some people don't see a difference.
There's been a deliberate effort to equate the two since the very beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict. With the ultimate irony being that Palestinians are unquestionably a "Semitic" people whereas the Ashkenazi Jews who settled in modern day Israel and control its government are not.

OAW
     
Waragainstsleep
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Aug 15, 2018, 08:26 AM
 
I have massive issues with anti-semitism in general having encountered the hard right Jewish community. They are basically like Jewish Fox News viewers. They have their own little biased media bubble, anyone who doesn't agree with them is against them, no middle ground at all.
I get why it was a thing what with the holocaust and all but I'm not sure anyone deserves their own special branded and defined version of racism at this point. Sadly rather than going back to a generic term it seems to be fragmenting further with the coining of Islamophobia.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 15, 2018, 02:38 PM
 
Trump politically retaliates against Brennan by revoking his security clearance.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 15, 2018, 02:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
I think he's more a Palestinian sympathiser than an anti-semite. Some people don't see a difference.
It's not that because I probably fall into that category.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Aug 16, 2018, 09:08 AM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
It's not that because I probably fall into that category.
Which category? Palestinian sympathiser or someone who considers them antisemitic?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 16, 2018, 05:57 PM
 
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 16, 2018, 11:25 PM
 


Meanwhile the GOP has been largely supportive of Trump's move. Another reminder that they are spineless cowards and/or opportunist slime.
     
BadKosh
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Aug 20, 2018, 11:41 AM
 
Not going to visit here anytime soon....

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/08...violent-crime/
     
BadKosh
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Aug 20, 2018, 11:43 AM
 
Brennan has been out running his mouth. someone WITH a security clearance MUST HAVE any material approved before going public. He lost his clearance for violating the security agreement.
     
andi*pandi
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Aug 20, 2018, 11:50 AM
 
He lost his clearance for criticizing Emperor Whinypants. Nothing he said was a breach of security, or a secret.
     
Laminar
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Aug 20, 2018, 12:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by BadKosh View Post
someone WITH a security clearance MUST HAVE any material approved before going public.
Can you think of any other current prominent political figures that have been a bit loose with sharing classified material?
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 21, 2018, 11:31 PM
 
Originally Posted by BadKosh View Post
Brennan has been out running his mouth. someone WITH a security clearance MUST HAVE any material approved before going public. He lost his clearance for violating the security agreement.
What material? Receipts, please
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 22, 2018, 03:53 PM
 
So Chris Collins, the first congressman to endorse Trump got indicted on insider trading and now Duncan Hunter, the second congressman to endorse Trump has also been indicted, for misuse of campaign funds.

What a strange coincidence that he attracts such criminal people
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 22, 2018, 07:20 PM
 
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-ra...paul-manafort/
“I think we have gone crazy on criminalizing everything under the sun,” Paul said. “What happens is…he will never have physically hurt somebody, and yet, if you add up all of these things in which you are guilty, it would get six life terms.
Yes, conspiracy and not paying your taxes are victimless crimes. **** this guy forever.
     
reader50
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Aug 22, 2018, 08:23 PM
 
Dakar, hadn't you heard? Criminal laws are only supposed to apply to unimportant people.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 23, 2018, 12:59 AM
 
I suspect this is more of a he hates taxes thing.

Edit: Or partisan hackery
     
reader50
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Aug 23, 2018, 09:47 PM
 
Russian trolls found to be stoking the anti-vaccination argument.
Russian trolls played both sides, the researchers said, tweeting pro- and anti-vaccine content in a politically charged context.
...
Russian trolls appeared to link vaccination to controversial issues in the US. Their vaccine-related content made appeals to God, or argued about race, class and animal welfare, researchers said. Often, the tweets targeted the legitimacy of the US government.
Edit: - the report concluded that discord was the intent. They showed no other clear objective than stirring things up.
( Last edited by reader50; Aug 24, 2018 at 01:59 AM. )
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 27, 2018, 11:42 AM
 
Down goes NAFTA
     
reader50
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Aug 27, 2018, 06:57 PM
 
This is about Michael Cohen. But it has nothing to do with Trump, so I'm posting it here.

Cohen made some of his millions by driving the poor out of rent-controlled housing. He bought 3 buildings in NYC, filed for construction permits, and began rebuilding them as expensive rentals. He lied on the permits, saying there were no rent-controlled tenants present. When there were at least dozens. Then did construction at odd hours, presently finding ways to drive out the poor people. After which he flipped the buildings for a fat profit.
In Cohen’s case, he made a $17m profit selling the three buildings after purchasing them through a shell corporation based out of his condo and owning them for just a few years. During the time he owned the buildings, more than two dozen rent-stabilized tenants moved out, and their apartments were converted to much more lucrative market rate units, the group found.
$17M to make a few more people homeless. A good investment.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 27, 2018, 07:01 PM
 
This is the kind of advice I think he was giving Hannity.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 28, 2018, 08:04 PM
 
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...spended-sexual
Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the New York Attorney General’s Office to suspend its investigation into whether Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. mishandled 2015 allegations of sexual misconduct against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The halt is supposed to be temporary, but a letter obtained by BuzzFeed News said the attorney general’s investigation could interfere with the current criminal case against Weinstein. That case could drag through the courts for months or even years, suggesting the suspension could be extended indefinitely.
I have yet to hear anything redeeming about this guy.
     
reader50
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Aug 28, 2018, 10:34 PM
 
Trump met privately with Christian ministers, and warned of violence if the GOP loses control of Congress in the midterms.
At a state dinner for evangelical Christian ministers on Monday night at the White House, Trump urged religious leaders to use the power of their pulpits to make sure that “all of your people vote” in November, the New York Times reported.
...
He went on: “They will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently. And violently. There’s violence. When you look at antifa, and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people.”
The newspapers assume Trump is claiming victorious Democrats will commit violent protests, after winning the House. Which doesn't make sense. They'd be celebrating that they can finally put a check on the crazy.

An alternative interpretation is that Trump is promising violence from far-right supporters of the GOP if they lose control of Congress. And he's discussing this while talking to religious leaders.

Praise the Lord, and pass the ammo. Is anyone else thinking this, while reading the story?
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 28, 2018, 11:35 PM
 
Fearmongering has gotten him great results so far, why stop now?
     
OreoCookie
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Aug 29, 2018, 12:14 AM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
Fearmongering has gotten him great results so far, why stop now?
This fear mongering has been going on for way longer than Trump was around in the political scene. “Obama/[Democratic candidate] will take your guns away and shoot you if you decline!” has been around for such a long time, and literally caused spikes in gun sales. (I thought it was very ironic that gun manufacturers suffered after Trump's election, because Trump is the 2nd Amendment's BFF.)

Democrats should be careful not to get infected with this FUD bug. Way too much emphasis is put on the Russia investigation and nobody seems to care about whether Trump is in violation of the emoluments clause, for example.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
OAW
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Aug 29, 2018, 01:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
Trump met privately with Christian ministers, and warned of violence if the GOP loses control of Congress in the midterms.

The newspapers assume Trump is claiming victorious Democrats will commit violent protests, after winning the House. Which doesn't make sense. They'd be celebrating that they can finally put a check on the crazy.

An alternative interpretation is that Trump is promising violence from far-right supporters of the GOP if they lose control of Congress. And he's discussing this while talking to religious leaders.

Praise the Lord, and pass the ammo. Is anyone else thinking this, while reading the story?
Let's not even get into the fact that Trump urging ministers to support political candidates from the pulpit is patently illegal.

OAW
     
reader50
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Aug 29, 2018, 06:27 PM
 
This burns me up. Security applications are given in trust to the government. Apparently one political party is not worthy of that trust.
The forms ask for detailed personal information about work and health and also include vital data like a Social Security number.
By leaking it to a political action committee (someone forwarded a copy to the press), they also provided it to our foreign enemies.
Ms. Spanberger, a first-time candidate, served in the CIA as a covert officer overseas for eight years, much of it investigating international terrorism cases {...}
So our enemies now have a profile on who signs up with the CIA for covert operations. Which may endanger current operatives. All to gain an election advantage.

I don't know a thing about her beyond this story. Never heard her name before, don't know her positions on issues. She's running in Virginia's 7th congressional district, and I hope she wins. Whoever did this needs an object lesson in trust issues.
She {Abigail Spanberger} has made the race, which is rated a tossup by the Cook Political Report, surprisingly competitive.
Looks good so far.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 29, 2018, 09:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
This fear mongering has been going on for way longer than Trump was around in the political scene. “Obama/[Democratic candidate] will take your guns away and shoot you if you decline!” has been around for such a long time, and literally caused spikes in gun sales. (I thought it was very ironic that gun manufacturers suffered after Trump's election, because Trump is the 2nd Amendment's BFF.)

Democrats should be careful not to get infected with this FUD bug. Way too much emphasis is put on the Russia investigation and nobody seems to care about whether Trump is in violation of the emoluments clause, for example.
I'm referring to 'you gonna die' fear mongering. Mexican rapists, muslim terrorists, MS-13. Now, ANTIFA.



The story behind this is pretty perplexing. The release came from the post office and I just read that she did a FOIA on herself months ago that still hasn't been answered.

Couple of things seem clear to me: Whoever released the form is gonna get axed (deservedly). Ryan's PAC had to know they shouldn't have received what they did but used it anyway (party before national security).

I'm curious if the government can ask them to destroy what they received and pull anything containing info from it. And whether this was a huge dumb-dumb mistake or they somehow had someone on the inside (seems unlikely unless they didn't care about keeping their job).
     
reader50
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Aug 30, 2018, 12:09 AM
 
A CIA application is pretty secret. From the story, the Post Office wouldn't have a copy, and couldn't get one. Even Congressional leaders are not supposed to have copies. Only the CIA and the White House would have access. Though the two Intelligence Committees can ask for any document.

Someone broke security, passing it (or placing it within reach) of Congress and/or the USPS. My bet would be someone in the White House. Someone there is already playing games with clearances of former security officials after all.
     
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Aug 30, 2018, 01:16 AM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
I'm referring to 'you gonna die' fear mongering. Mexican rapists, muslim terrorists, MS-13. Now, ANTIFA.
I don't think that's just one or two steps removed from “Obama wants to kill grandma!” or “Hillary is going to come to your door and take your guns away!” The tactic is the same, and the path leads to further escalation.
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
Ryan's PAC had to know they shouldn't have received what they did but used it anyway (party before national security).
It's is similar to the Valerie Plame story, although if memory serves Plame was still on active duty when her cover was blown. The GOP missed another chance to put country before party.
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
I'm curious if the government can ask them to destroy what they received and pull anything containing info from it. And whether this was a huge dumb-dumb mistake or they somehow had someone on the inside (seems unlikely unless they didn't care about keeping their job).
I think this is barking up the wrong tree: the more valuable pieces will be very happy to sacrifice a few pawns. Responsibility and good governance starts at the top. Ryan and whoever is the head of Ryan's PAC should react here and make sure that this doesn't happen again.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 30, 2018, 10:58 AM
 
Ryan's PAC gleefully used the hacked DNC documents. At that level there are no ethics.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 30, 2018, 10:56 PM
 
     
Laminar
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Aug 31, 2018, 10:33 AM
 
Also racists? Or do we need to break out the term "Turbo-Racists"?
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 31, 2018, 11:38 AM
 
Uber-racists?
RacistPlus?
RacistPro?
AltRacists?
Grand Old Racists?
     
Laminar
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Aug 31, 2018, 02:29 PM
 
On second thought, I missed the obvious burn:

If Trump and Tucker are "racists," then what do you call those other people?
"Very fine people."
     
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Aug 31, 2018, 06:15 PM
 
Re: the leaked CIA security application...
200+ national security vets have demanded an investigation. Not that anything will happen, of course.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Aug 31, 2018, 07:58 PM
 
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/demo...recognize.html
The Republican firm says it got the form by mistake from the Postal Service, where Spanberger once worked as a postal inspector. The Postal Service on Thursday apologized for its "human error."

That doesn't explain how a mistake of that magnitude occurred so rapidly. Spanberger requested her own personnel records months ago and hasn't received them.

The second step was equally remarkable. Instead of returning the document, the research firm gave it to the Ryan-linked super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund.

Seeking political advantage, the fund gave it to an Associated Press reporter
in hopes of drawing attention to one tidbit: at age 23, while awaiting her security clearance, Spanberger taught English at an Islamic school in suburban Washington. A graduate from before Spanberger worked there later was convicted of assisting al-Qaeda.

Wary of how Republicans obtained the form, the AP didn't publish a story. Suggestions of impropriety were self-negating anyway, since the teaching stint occurred during an active federal background check that approved Spanberger for top-secret work.

That made the third step so audacious. Once a New York Times story publicized the form's improper release, the Ryan-linked PAC embraced the innuendo rather than renouncing it.

"It should surprise no one that Ms. Spanberger would want to hide from voters that she worked at a school that produced some of the world's most dangerous terrorists," the fund declared.

The PAC offers no evidence Spanberger did anything wrong. Unless it can, the attack is a stone-cold smear.
Longtime Republican strategist Dan Schnur called it a multistage "atrocity" – beginning with improper release of the SF-86 and ending with the fund's exploitation of it.

"I'm not sure which aspect of the story is the most horrific," he said. But as a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee, he's wearily familiar with the impulses of his embattled Trump-era successors in the national GOP.

"It's very easy in the heat of a campaign to decide that the ends justify the means," Schnur explained. "My favorite quote over the years has become Twain's, 'History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.'"
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Sep 6, 2018, 07:26 PM
 
Rand Paul says Trump should do lie-detector tests on WH staff to find the op-ed author.

Man, Rand Paul really unleashed the crazy since 2016, eh?
     
andi*pandi
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Sep 6, 2018, 09:01 PM
 
Dude, there's literally another thread for that.

You started it.

What is going on here.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Sep 6, 2018, 09:24 PM
 
I figured Rand Paul was generic news. No bueno?
     
andi*pandi
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Sep 6, 2018, 10:10 PM
 
Well, if Rand Paul and Alex Jones get in a brawl, here would be a place for that. I just got confused since the other thread is about the op-ed. No big.
     
The Final Dakar  (op)
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Sep 6, 2018, 10:44 PM
 
I see your point. No, I was focused on the Rand Paul giving crazy advice part, not that the advice pertained to the op-ed part.
     
 
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