Examples of GOP Leadership

Fogdog said:

I could never be a lawyer. It can take me a week to get through one book. And I don't read legal documents.

Speaking of which, @hanimmal has done great service to this forum by actually READING the Mueller report. I go cross eyed after a few paragraphs.
That said, I opened it up recently because some oligarchs (aka second tier gangsters in Putin's criminal organization) because they keep cropping up in other reports regarding dirty money in the US.

Analysis: The role Russian businessmen played in the Mueller report

After the Mueller report was released, more than one Russian I spoke to last week started our conversation in the same way: “My name’s not in there, is it?”

www.pbs.org

These guys are not businessmen in any sense we use the word. They are murderous gangsters who operate in a world where they use laws as tools and are above the law themselves.

Anyway,

Oleg Deripaska
Kirill Dmitriev
Petr Aven

Are all implicated as money and information brokers to the Trump campaign in the Mueller report.

They keep showing up elsewhere in stories of murder, theft, the movements of dirty money into the US and elsewhere, and complicit in money laundering actions by major banks, including big ones in the US.

I searched and found the references to them in Mueller's report but could make no sense of it. But they are there. And they have other ties to Trump. The leader of the Republican Party.

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The gateway to Russia used to be Ukraine. Part of the reason Maniford did so many deals there. Money was cheap as it had to get laundered anyway so it was not a bad thing paying these grifters as long as there was some return on the Rouble. I read a whole bunch about Biden and son as well as the people on the Ukrainian side. And that only scratched the surface of Russia involvement. Russia is a mob state controlled by Putin.

Why Trump is obsessed with punishing these Republicans

Former President Donald Trump is working hard to unseat some Republican lawmakers in the 2022 elections. CNN’s Chris Cillizza explains why Trump is still holding a grudge against them.

You gotta love buying lights and supporting communism. SMH.

GOP senator opposes Biden court pick, likely blocking nominee
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Tuesday that he doesn't support President Biden's pick to fill a district court vacancy in his home state, likely dooming the nomination absent a shift by Democrats.

Johnson said that he would oppose William Pocan, who was nominated by Biden to be a district court judge in the eastern district of Wisconsin. It marks the first time during the Biden administration a senator has not returned a blue slip — a piece of paper that indicates if a home-state senator supports a nominee — for a district court nominee.

“Since Judge Pocan’s nomination, I have been hearing concerns from the Green Bay legal community that they needed a judge who is locally based and actively involved in their community. That is not the case with Judge Pocan," Johnson said in a statement.

"In addition, the tragedy in Waukesha never should have happened. That it did, is the direct result of soft on crime low bail policies and court orders. I cannot support someone for a lifetime appointment that has granted low bail for someone charged with violent felonies. That is not in the best interest of Wisconsinites nor Americans. I look forward to working with President Biden on selecting a suitable nominee," he added.

Johnson and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) previously recommended Pocan as a potential pick to fill the vacancy. Wisconsin uses a nominating commission which recommends four to six names to the senators, who then formally make recommendations to the president.
Typically, district court nominees who don't get blue slips from both home-state senators don't advance in the Judiciary Committee. A spokeswoman for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Judiciary Committee chairman, didn't immediately respond to questions about if he will advance the nominee.

Though Republicans advanced circuit court nominees during the Trump administration over the objections of both home-state senators, infuriating Democrats, they left the blue slip, which isn't a rule but a Senate precedent, intact for district court nominees. That gives a home-state senator an effective veto over district court nominees from their state.

Durbin, during an interview with The New York Times, said that he would stick with the precedent for honoring the blue slip on district court nominees. But he warned at the time that he wouldn't let it be abused to block a nominee because of their race or gender.

"If I think it’s reached a point where the blue slip on district court judges is really not a question of temperament or philosophy or academic background and experience, but really gets down to some base issues involving race and gender, I reserve the right to revisit that. I’m not going to be party to that. I am not going to let the blue slip perpetuate prejudice in America," Durbin said at the time.

Johnson's objection immediately sparked new call from some on the left for Democrats to ignore the blue slip for district court judges.

"This bad faith objection eight months after Johnson recommended Pocan is the perfect example of why Biden and Durbin should ignore blue slips even for district courts," Christopher Kang, the chief counsel for the progressive group Demand Justice, tweeted.

Just being a prick.

Biden's pick too soft on criminals?

Senate Republicans urge DOJ to reject request for 'no fly' list for unruly passengers
Eight Republican senators are urging the Justice Department to reject a request to create a “no fly” list for unruly passengers, saying it “would seemingly equate them to terrorists.”

In a letter dated Monday and addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the senators pointed to data from the Federal Aviation Administration that found most violations are related to a refusal to wear a face mask as required by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and said there was “significant uncertainty around the efficacy of this mandate.”

“Creating a federal ‘no-fly’ list for unruly passengers who are skeptical of this mandate would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland,” the senators wrote. “The TSA was created in the wake of 9/11 to protect Americans from future horrific attacks, not to regulate human behavior onboard flights.”

The Republican senators also expressed concerns that such a list could violate constitutional rights and that future “no fly” lists could be wielded for political purposes.

“If the airlines seek to have such a list created, they would be best served presenting that request before Congress rather than relying on a loose interpretation of a decades-old statute originally written to combat terrorism," the senators wrote.
The Republicans who signed the letter include Sens. Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Mike Lee (Utah), James Lankford (Okla.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Ted Cruz (Texas), John Hoeven (N.D.) and Rick Scott (Fla.).

printer said:

Biden's pick too soft on criminals?

Senate Republicans urge DOJ to reject request for 'no fly' list for unruly passengers
Eight Republican senators are urging the Justice Department to reject a request to create a “no fly” list for unruly passengers, saying it “would seemingly equate them to terrorists.”

In a letter dated Monday and addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the senators pointed to data from the Federal Aviation Administration that found most violations are related to a refusal to wear a face mask as required by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and said there was “significant uncertainty around the efficacy of this mandate.”

“Creating a federal ‘no-fly’ list for unruly passengers who are skeptical of this mandate would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland,” the senators wrote. “The TSA was created in the wake of 9/11 to protect Americans from future horrific attacks, not to regulate human behavior onboard flights.”

The Republican senators also expressed concerns that such a list could violate constitutional rights and that future “no fly” lists could be wielded for political purposes.

“If the airlines seek to have such a list created, they would be best served presenting that request before Congress rather than relying on a loose interpretation of a decades-old statute originally written to combat terrorism," the senators wrote.
The Republicans who signed the letter include Sens. Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Mike Lee (Utah), James Lankford (Okla.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Ted Cruz (Texas), John Hoeven (N.D.) and Rick Scott (Fla.).

Senate Republicans urge DOJ to reject request for ‘no fly’ list for unruly passengers

Eight Republican senators are urging the Justice Department to reject a request to create a “no fly” list for unruly passengers, saying it “would seemingly equate them to terrorists.” In a let…

thehill.com

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boohoo we feel left out because no one asked our opinions....
i actually don't feel they need to make it a law, they're a private industry, with the right to refuse service to anyone. they can make their own list and enforce it themselves....and those they exclude can't really do fuck all about it, and after losing a few law suits, they'll figure that out

Budzbuddha said:

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You gotta love buying lights and supporting communism. SMH.

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Thanks for the heads up.

Alibaba and Ant are being given away to people that "deserve it", according to the Chinese government. Half of Ma's billions in assets are gone, given away. In just 9 months. BTW, those people getting the plums? That's the kind of people who are called oligarchs in Russia.

Beijing’s protracted dismemberment of Jack Ma Inc. continues.

“Bridle on the horse” hardly describes this orgy of value destruction. This “horse” has suffered multiple amputations, performed without finesse by the Chinese government. The Ma empire is worth half what it was 9 months ago.

The process is not over. Beijing is now doling out some of the most lucrative slices of Ma’s business to new “partners” of its choosing, including one of the most corrupt and financially shaky companies in all of China.




The losses are due to state actions, not market forces. I don't know who is getting the plums. But look out, those kind of guys are the worst. China isn't communist, it is a kleptocratic dictatorship and not even close to the communist trope, much less what Marx had in mind.

I like this line at the end of the article:

It’s as though the U.S. government had said to Facebook, “Mr. Zuckerberg, say Hello to your new partner, Bernie Madoff.”

What Tuberville was doing in the deal, who knows?

Fogdog said:

Alibaba and Ant are being given away to people that "deserve it", according to the Chinese government. Half of Ma's billions in assets are gone, given away. In just 9 months. BTW, those people getting the plums? That's the kind of people who are called oligarchs in Russia.

Beijing’s protracted dismemberment of Jack Ma Inc. continues.

“Bridle on the horse” hardly describes this orgy of value destruction. This “horse” has suffered multiple amputations, performed without finesse by the Chinese government. The Ma empire is worth half what it was 9 months ago.

The process is not over. Beijing is now doling out some of the most lucrative slices of Ma’s business to new “partners” of its choosing, including one of the most corrupt and financially shaky companies in all of China.

The Sad End Of Jack Ma Inc.

The Chinese government is now doling out some of the best pieces of Ma’s business to new “partners” of its choosing, including one of the most corrupt and financially shaky companies in all of China – the notorious and scandal-ridden Huarong Asset Management Co.... It seems like a dark joke.

www.forbes.com

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The losses are due to state actions, not market forces. I don't know who is getting the plums. But look out, those kind of guys are the worst. China isn't communist, it is a kleptocratic dictatorship and not even close to the communist trope, much less what Marx had in mind.

I like this line at the end of the article:

It’s as though the U.S. government had said to Facebook, “Mr. Zuckerberg, say Hello to your new partner, Bernie Madoff.”

What Tuberville had in the deal, who knows?

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They are going to have a real estate meltdown so they are passing around money to pacify people. Most likely have go to the people, half to the top dogs in the government.

printer said:

They are going to have a real estate meltdown so they are passing around money to pacify people. Most likely have go to the people, half to the top dogs in the government.

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yep, that's the broad brush of the story. The part I don't know -- who is getting the power that comes with that money? The other is the message that the rule of law is not the last word in that land. Xi Jinping's word is. It's a kleptocratic dictatorship. I had thought it was a mercantile oligarchy but that would mean contracts are honored. Clearly they are not.

Fuck ‘em ….

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/02/gerrymandering-new-york-republicans-democrats/622086/

the republicans, grand masters of the gerrymander, don't like it worth a shit when they have to swallow some of their own shit.
i'd like it better if the democrats didn't do this, if they could be better than the republicans, but the republicans have made things real...so turnabout is fair play...if fair play exists anymore

You know …. Maybe we dropped Fatman and Littleboy on the wrong country.


Jus sayin

Budzbuddha said:

Fuck ‘em ….



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That image we have of communism was given to us by the forefathers of the people who are behind Trump.

I'm not defending communism, just saying, what Stalin did was totalitarian government, a dictatorship and vile. It was a directed economy, not a demand economy at that time to be sure but even that difference gets lost in the message given to the people of the US in the 1950's and '60's.

Chinese government as bad as it is, isn't as bad as what Mao did. So, yeah, fuckem but their symbol isn't the hammer and sickle.

What Chinese and Russian government today are -- kleptocratic dictatorship. They almost did our democracy in. The aren't done yet.

Fuck em.

Fogdog said:

That image we have of communism was given to us by the forefathers of the people who are behind Trump.

I'm not defending communism, just saying, what Stalin did was totalitarian government, a dictatorship and vile. It was a directed economy, not a demand economy at that time to be sure but even that difference gets lost in the message given to the people of the US in the 1950's and '60's.

Chinese government as bad as it is, isn't as bad as what Mao did. So, yeah, fuckem but their symbol isn't the hammer and sickle.

What Chinese and Russian government today are -- kleptocratic dictatorship. They almost did our democracy in. The aren't done yet.

Fuck em.

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‘Considering their Bedmates now … a unified flag with chinese stars wouldn’t be too much of a shock.

Here we have another Big Mouthed Windbag getting her facts all wrong. Forgets her Orange Sphincter was in charge then.

Budzbuddha said:

Here we have another Big Mouthed Windbag getting her facts all wrong. Forgets her Orange Sphincter was in charge then.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1493711706991779840

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this ignorant bitch is the best fox can come up with?....a speaker that they all respect, and believe, that can't keep up with who was president 2 years ago?...well i can see how she got confused...her head is full of trump shit, that has to wreak havoc on all that uninsulated wiring and exposed circuitry in her head

Roger A. Shrubber said:

this ignorant bitch is the best fox can come up with?....a speaker that they all respect, and believe, that can't keep up with who was president 2 years ago?...well i can see how she got confused...her head is full of trump shit, that has to wreak havoc on all that uninsulated wiring and exposed circuitry in her head

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When all else fails, go back to what worked.

"bbbbut Hillary!!!!"

Budzbuddha said:

Here we have another Big Mouthed Windbag getting her facts all wrong. Forgets her Orange Sphincter was in charge then.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1493711706991779840

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I just read that tweet.

How does one burn down a street?

Next she'll accuse us of burning down rocks.

captainmorgan said:

Michigan State Police raid home of Lee Chatfield associates | Bridge Michigan

Anne and Rob Minard were senior staffers for the former House speaker. She ran a nonprofit tied to Chatfield that spent nearly a half-million on travel, while a business connected to the pair was paid $1 million by Republicans.

www.bridgemi.com

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Overhead.