Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 5 hours ago, SirBalon said: He’s currently banging on about California now. Doesn’t like them much as they’re not racist enough. It's funny, because the red parts of California are very very fucking republican. And there are a lot of republicans in the state - just in much less populated areas than the rest of the state. And those wildfires (that he pulled federal aid money for) mainly affected... Trump voters in California. I don't think his war on California is very smart from his perspective, the more Californians he pisses off, the more House of Representative members from California (and I'm pretty sure it's got the most members of the house) are going to be pressured to vote "yes" on impeachment from their constituents. California is also the economic powerhouse of the US and puts the most money into the US treasury each year with it's tax revenue. And that includes the agriculture sector, California feeds a lot of the US (and the world, tbh) that Trump keeps bailing out. So in his attacks in California, he's also attacking a lot of people who likely voted for him. But because he can't win the state's electoral votes (because most people don't like him) he's including them in his attacks. They shouldn't really be surprised though, as things like the trade war with China have really hurt the agricultural sector... and he made it abundantly clear before he was elected that he would start a trade war with China. So they knew what they signed up for. Honestly, I've been finding his teenage girl tantrums on twitter absolutely hilarious. He doesn't have a clue on how to act innocent, and given that the "transcript" he released of the call with the Ukrainian president was pretty incriminating... I'm not surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 Here’s the biggest problem. I’d say in America, but it’s happening all over the west. 40% of Republicans believe Trump spoke with the Ukrainian President about Biden. The problem with this stat is, Trump’s admitted he did in fact do this - https://www.newsweek.com/40-percent-republicans-believe-trump-mentioned-biden-ukraine-call-1462721 How can corrupt politicians be held accountable when so many people just want to be willfully ignorant? If you can’t criticise people who share your ideology just because “they’re on your team” then you’re basically complicit - because you’re tacitly condoning the behavior you refuse to criticise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 I would consider myself a centrist, and frankly lean more right than left these days on most issues except climate change. But I honestly struggle to understand how any reasonable person anywhere remotely in the ideological ballpark of myself could be anywhere near behind the current US president nor the Congress who are unanimously backing him. Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise, the ranking house Republicans... Some of the shit they are saying on twitter in defence of trump and his actions wrt Ukraine and China is just so blatantly false. It beggars belief that they could actually say what they are saying. They are basically just pointing at the sky and claiming it's red not blue... Meanwhile some text message accounts from key envoy working the Ukraine angle as good as confirm everything that trump has denied. Ukraine were aware the US government had put a hold on their funding, and it WAS because they were trying to wedge them into picking up the investigation that trump wanted on Biden. See below pages 1 to 9. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6451371-Volker-docs.html#document/p1 I'm at the point I need to stop following this issue because it's just too annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6666 1,310 Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 This man is president of the United States. This is something you'd expect from an out of control dictator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,619 Posted October 8, 2019 Moderator Share Posted October 8, 2019 "In my great and unmatched wisdom", holy shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 It might be time to invoke the 25th amendment... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 it's such a shocking state of affairs that the entire world watches on wondering whether this guy, the most powerful person in the world is trolling humanity for lols or has actually just gone insane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 He’s done it because the republicans are his only shield from impeachment - and once he’s out of office Mueller said he can be prosecuted for the crimes detailed in his report. Republicans are pretty dismayed that Trump has sold out US military allies to Turkey, who have long wanted to just have free reign to slaughter Kurds. My guess is Trump’s made this concession to Turkey in exchange for the Khashoggi murder tapes being destroyed. Because I think the writing is coming up on the wall and world leaders are seeing it’s time to cash in on the chips they’ve won at Trump’s casino. If you can extort this corrupt turd of a president, now is the tide. But he also needs his republicans to shield him - which is why he’s taken this really wonky approach to letting Turkey kill the US’s Kurdish allies while simultaneously threatening Turkey. He’s lost support in staunch defenders over this issue and that’s got to be terrifying for him because if he loses enough senate support, he has a good chance of getting impeached and going to prison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teso dos Bichos 1,019 Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 Trump is setting yall up and guaranteeing re-election!!(trump supporter friend of mine) Clinton passed a law years ago and if you listen to trump's transcript, HE IS PLAYING YALL!!!! No experience and all of the sudden he is rich(hunter biden)...... Me: What about trump's kids and the corruption ? Donald Trump signed away all power to the trump business and nothing is wrong with it. Me: What about all the Republicans that are against trump like romney, Ryan, Mullins (libertarian) and Collins? Fake Republicans I looked at his son and told him that next time he came over to our shop, to bring me a little of whatever his dad is smoking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 12 hours ago, Teso dos Bichos said: Trump is setting yall up and guaranteeing re-election!!(trump supporter friend of mine) Clinton passed a law years ago and if you listen to trump's transcript, HE IS PLAYING YALL!!!! No experience and all of the sudden he is rich(hunter biden)...... Me: What about trump's kids and the corruption ? Donald Trump signed away all power to the trump business and nothing is wrong with it. Me: What about all the Republicans that are against trump like romney, Ryan, Mullins (libertarian) and Collins? Fake Republicans I looked at his son and told him that next time he came over to our shop, to bring me a little of whatever his dad is smoking. You know how they say Hunter Biden has no work experience and has never done anything? He was a corporate lawyer in the 90s and a hedge fund manager after that. So not only did he have over 20 years of experience before being on the board of Burisma. But he was also probably rich before he was on that board. But I guess facts don’t matter if it makes for good sound clips for republicans. But I don’t know why a journalist wouldn’t challenge Trump or any republican when they come forward with this stuff. Because it literally takes one google search to find Hunter Biden’s background Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teso dos Bichos 1,019 Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 @Dr. Gonzo Becomes the first president in recent years to not show his dodgy tax returns and his inauguration committee spending more than twice on luxuries that even SWW found to be too much and instead of explaining the inflated prices, SWW was thrown under the bus even though she never made a penny of the inauguration. Hires a secretary of education who is completely against PUBLIC education and wants to remove any government funded service to the poor schools and at the most give them charter schools (trailers instead of new or additions) while the rich schools get a new golf course and LAX field.. as long as common core is removed and God put back, the poor dont give a fuck about the unfair resources to social classes.... oh yeah, the secretary betsy was a known donor to trump.. I dont recalled if he hired or just endorsed the Republican who let him get away with the fraud cases in Florida and allowed Sessions to join so they could both undo Obama's prison reform and the ability of a judge to make a decision on a drug related case given all the circumstances instead of ruining the lives of many first time offenders or small quantity offenses offenders by putting prison profit and cheap labor over ruining the lives of many. Notice how trump is more about profiting via prisons and overpowering laws instead of the way Bolton wanted it, via war ? The opium epidemic is supposedly under control but in reality it affected the poor who really needed the painkillers and suboxone is just another drug (except it makes you nauseous every time) but more controlled than pills so the profit doesnt get split too much??? Meanwhile all the rich wifes are still hooked on adderall or anti depressants I can go on and on but I knew his supporters would be blind the day that Montana republican Gov/senator body slammed a reporter on election day (trump endorsed) and they didnt find it repulsive. If Billy Graham's son doesnt mind trump's use of goddamn, pro-gay marriage, vulgar language, lies and zero respect for the written law.... they are all workers of eniquity in the name of making America great again even those who remain quiet and instead focus on AOC or Sanders instead of the guy spitting on the bible and God they live by are hypocrites. All this rant was a result of what I saw written on a public restroom door "IF yOU want daRn sociliasm, get out the way of the 2020 trump train as u head towards Cuba" the 2020 trump train riding Bubba doesnt mind the social security check, the Medicare, bubba jr free school lunch, the food stamps, and all the government-aid trump wants to get rid of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 @Teso dos Bichos - it’s gotta be particularly tough for you as you’re deep in Trump country, aren’t you? The state where a pedo almost won a senate seat because enough people in Alabama think democrats are worse than pedos (thank god he lost though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teso dos Bichos 1,019 Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 My generation and being in the metro Birmingham area helps a lot, although I have visited the rural parts of alabama were squirrel is a delicacy. I say out of 10 maybe 3 will mention politics and 1 will argue profoundly. Most arguments come from college football Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Where the fuck were the Kurds in Normandy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 11 hours ago, Harry said: Where the fuck were the Kurds in Normandy? Every time he speaks he convinces me he’s even more stupid than I thought he was. I have 0 respect for anyone that’s heard him speak and still voted for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6666 1,310 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 I genuinely can't imagine the level of stupid you'd need to be to still support Trump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said: Every time he speaks he convinces me he’s even more stupid than I thought he was. I have 0 respect for anyone that’s heard him speak and still voted for him. Agree. The right wing of American politics is in such bad shape. Most Australians I know who are Conservatives would vote for the democrats in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 3 minutes ago, Harry said: Agree. The right wing of American politics is in such bad shape. Most Australians I know who are Conservatives would vote for the democrats in the US. The republicans I know here are all horrified by him as president (and their party generally) and are saying they'll be voting democrat in the next election. Not that it means anything in California though - even in San Diego county, which is traditionally pretty conservative for coastal California - 56% of the vote went to Clinton, while less than 32% went to Trump. So he'll just be losing San Diego county by even more votes next time around. American conservatives ought to start a new party. The republican party has just gone to shit. They don't even stand for their traditional values of fiscal conservatism anymore, as they've blown the US deficit right up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 44 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said: The republicans I know here are all horrified by him as president (and their party generally) and are saying they'll be voting democrat in the next election. Not that it means anything in California though - even in San Diego county, which is traditionally pretty conservative for coastal California - 56% of the vote went to Clinton, while less than 32% went to Trump. So he'll just be losing San Diego county by even more votes next time around. American conservatives ought to start a new party. The republican party has just gone to shit. They don't even stand for their traditional values of fiscal conservatism anymore, as they've blown the US deficit right up. Agreed. They are purely a party run by its financial backers. The two party system and electoral college system both really disincentivise new parties though, but I don't see another way you could pull people back towards the centre from the current state of polarisation where both parties names are a dirty word to most and switching sides is almost not an option. But I'm sure that party would be painted as left wing by the vocal far right in the Republican party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 4 minutes ago, Harry said: Agreed. They are purely a party run by its financial backers. The two party system and electoral college system both really disincentivise new parties though, but I don't see another way you could pull people back towards the centre from the current state of polarisation where both parties names are a dirty word to most and switching sides is almost not an option. But I'm sure that party would be painted as left wing by the vocal far right in the Republican party. Any party that's not as far right as the republican party currently is will be branded "socialist" it's true. And I fucking hate the electoral college. It's a very anti-democratic political mechanism in a country that really likes to pat itself on the back about it's democracy and freedom. I've heard the argument for it is: "we don't want the bigger states to bully the little ones" - but in effect this has just created a situation where unpopulated states have much more of a say on who is president. So really you've got a situation like GWB and Trump... presidents who didn't have most voters on their side. But the smaller states were what carried them to victory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry 1,437 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said: Any party that's not as far right as the republican party currently is will be branded "socialist" it's true. And I fucking hate the electoral college. It's a very anti-democratic political mechanism in a country that really likes to pat itself on the back about it's democracy and freedom. I've heard the argument for it is: "we don't want the bigger states to bully the little ones" - but in effect this has just created a situation where unpopulated states have much more of a say on who is president. So really you've got a situation like GWB and Trump... presidents who didn't have most voters on their side. But the smaller states were what carried them to victory. Our elections being a parliamentary election have seats/districts, which are sized roughly equal by population and ultimately the winner of the election must win the most seats in the house.... it's possible to lose the popular vote as well in that system. However what I think it's dumb is awarding the full points for an entire state to the winner of that state. In terms of overrepresentation of small states the senate seems the worst to me. California and Idaho both getting two senators apiece and their votes carrying the same weight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Gonzo 8,190 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Just now, Harry said: Our elections being a parliamentary election have seats/districts, which are sized roughly equal by population and ultimately the winner of the election must win the most seats in the house.... it's possible to lose the popular vote as well in that system. However what I think it's dumb is awarding the full points for an entire state to the winner of that state. In terms of overrepresentation of small states the senate seems the worst to me. California and Idaho both getting two senators apiece and their votes carrying the same weight... Honestly, I think the best fix for American politics is to... MAKE AMERICA GREAT BRITAIN AGAIN At least then I could fucking vote Also a parliament allows for much more political accountability than this "separate powers in coequal branches" bullshit America has tried to pull off. Although I'm now married to a US citizen, so if I stick around here I probably will be voting. Would also help out the UK loads with the Brexit bollocks. So yeah, I'd also fuck the Senate off - I don't see the purpose of them in a representative democracy. Wyoming's got 5 fucking people there and one of them is just in a helicopter flying over the state, why do they get the same amount of senators as California or New York? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teso dos Bichos 1,019 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Two Key Players In The Ukraine Controversy Spent Lavishly As They Dug For Dirt on Biden Bank records reveal a whirlwind of spending at high-end restaurants, an infamous strip club, and five-star hotels by the two little-known operatives who waged a back-channel campaign with Rudy Giuliani. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/mikesallah/ukraine-spending-trump-parnas-fruman For Lev Parnas, the Ukrainian American businessman who joined Rudy Giuliani in a back-channel campaign to unearth damaging information about Joe Biden, the money kept flowing. There was a $1,410 charge to a Palm Beach limousine service and nearly $20,000 in expenses at Trump hotels in Washington, DC, and New York. There were bills running to hundreds of dollars at exclusive restaurants such as Novikov in London and BLT Prime in Washington. During one of his many trips to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, there was a $657 charge at Tootsie, the popular strip club in the heart of the city. At the same time that he was facing court judgments for hundreds of thousands in personal debts, the 47-year-old political operative was traveling like a freewheeling CEO as he met with Ukrainian prosecutors and other officials. BuzzFeed News obtained unprecedented access to scores of bank records from private business accounts controlled by Parnas and his partner, Igor Fruman, as they carried out a campaign now at the center of the first presidential impeachment inquiry in a generation. Three congressional committees have already sent the men letters demanding records about their efforts to help President Donald Trump. Coming just a week after those inquiries, these financial documents — a potential road map of the duo’s travel and the sources of any funding they received — are likely to attract the interest of investigators. In July, a joint investigation by BuzzFeed News and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project — which was cited in the whistleblower complaintthat sparked the impeachment inquiry — revealed that Parnas and Fruman pushed Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate Trump’s top political rival and his son, Hunter Biden, under Giuliani’s direction. The two men also urged prosecutors to probe accusations that Ukrainian agents tried to rig the 2016 election in Hillary Clinton’s favor by divulging evidence about Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, in what became a pillar of the Mueller investigation. Meanwhile, Parnas dined with President Donald Trump in Washington and met with Donald Trump Jr. and Tommy Hicks Jr., now co-chair of the Republican National Committee, in Beverly Hills, all the while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on Republican causes. The House committees conducting the presidential impeachment inquiry have sent a subpoena to Giuliani, who has been working as a lawyer for the president, demanding that he turn over any records of his efforts with Ukraine authorities since Trump took office. So far, Parnas and Fruman have failed to cooperate with congressional investigators, according to one person working on the impeachment inquiry. “If they continue to fail to comply, they will be served with subpoenas in short order,” the official said. Experts in congressional investigations said the financial records obtained by BuzzFeed News provide potentially critical evidence — and could help House members determine not just what actions were undertaken on the president’s behalf, but also whether the men complied with campaign finance or foreign lobbying laws. John Dowd, a lawyer for Parnas and Fruman, declined to comment on his clients’ transactions. But in an earlier series of interviews with BuzzFeed News, Parnas said he was not paid any money for setting up meetings between Giuliani and Ukrainian prosecutors, and that he did so “because it was my duty.” “I just want to make sure the right information comes out,” he said. Parnas said he met “many times” with the president over the past year but refused to talk about what they discussed. “I am not going to talk about my conversations with the president,” he said. The records provide new details about the origins of some of the money that Parnas and Fruman used to finance their back-channel campaign, which included trips to Kyiv, Paris, Warsaw, and New York to meet with Ukrainian officials. The records do not identify all the sources of their funding, but much of it — $1.26 million — came from a mortgage that Fruman took out last year against an oceanfront condo he owned in one of the most exclusive enclaves of south Florida. It’s unclear what financial arrangement the two partners had, but records show that Parnas tapped into the mortgage money almost immediately, setting off a flurry of transfers in May 2018 that helped pay for their travel over the next several months and fund dozens of campaign contributions. Parnas characterized the burst of donations to GOP candidates as an attempt to help Global Energy Producers, the company that he and Fruman founded weeks earlier to sell natural gas to Ukraine. But those contributions — including $325,000 to a Trump-aligned super PAC — also provided them access to the top echelons of the Republican establishment. That money is now under scrutiny in the impeachment inquiry and is the target of a legal challenge by a campaign watchdog group that alleges the two men concealed the true source of the funds. Within less than a week of getting the mortgage money, Parnas would also make four transfers, totaling $845,000, to various companies controlled by both partners. Of that, nearly half a million dollars went to an export business founded by Fruman. Meanwhile, Parnas embarked on a whirlwind of travel and spending. In just three weeks in July, he racked up charges in Warsaw, Los Angeles, Washington, and New York, spending thousands at each stop. There was a $3,182 charge at a glitzy nightclub in West Hollywood and more than $1,000 at two Japanese restaurants — all on the same day. At the plush Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills, the expenses totaled nearly $13,000, and about a week later, there were more than $6,300 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. As Parnas appeared to travel the globe, so did Fruman, whose spending was not at the same pitch, but who was also a frequent visitor to Kyiv, records and interviews show. In July, he made a $4,250 payment to the Hilton International Hotel in Kyiv. After that, it was on to the Loews Hotel in New York City. There were also dozens of cash withdrawals on Parnas’s card — nearly $42,000 last year alone — at banks and ATMs in cities like Kyiv, New York, and Miami. The records do not reveal which payments were related to Parnas and Fruman’s energy business and which were related to the pair’s efforts to turn up information to help Trump, but they spent at least $203,000 between July 2018 and April of this year. By late 2018, Parnas was fully engaged in helping Guiliani make contact with Ukrainian officials. He helped arrange a Skype session between Giuliani and Viktor Shokin, the embattled prosecutor who was fired at the urging of Biden in 2016, drawing the president’s attorney deeper into the campaign. In November, there was a $524 charge at Shelly’s Back Room, a cigar lounge just a stone’s throw from the White House, and $1,200 at a Las Vegas nightclub called Drai’s that regularly features acts like DJ Pauly D and Trey Songz. By December, Parnas and Fruman appear to have returned to their base in Kyiv, the Hilton International Hotel, where they would spend more than $2,500 that month. It was during that trip that hundreds of dollars in charges were incurred at Tootsie, the local strip club. By then, the push for an investigation of the Bidens had reached a critical stage. Parnas and Fruman were close to connecting Giuliani with Yuriy Lutsenko, then the top prosecutor in Ukraine — a key moment in the sequence of events that congressional investigators are now examining. In January, Giuliani met with Lutsenko over two days, placing the president’s lawyer at the center of the shadow campaign to discredit the Democratic frontrunner. In addition to the Bidens, Lutsenko talked about an alleged effort by employees in the US embassy to help Clinton by leaking information about payments to Manafort. “He brought documentation, verification,” Parnas recalled. “It opened his eyes,” he said, referring to Giuliani. “It went from hearsay to reality.” While the partners continued to set up meetings for Guiliani in the ensuing months, Parnas was being chased by creditors in the United States in a series of civil cases that would begin to expose the secret political maneuvering. One lawsuit accused Parnas and Fruman of boasting about their connections to Giuliani and other Republicans in order to snare a $100,000 loan that was not repaid for months. In a second case, the lawyer for a family trust sought records about Parnas after Giuliani told the New York Times that Parnas had helped set up meetings for the former New York mayor. Parnas has incurred at least nine court judgments in the past 15 years — including two court orders to remove him from homes where he failed to pay the rent. And despite his lavish spending and newfound prominence in Washington, he continued to lag behind on financial obligations as recently as this year, the banking records show. In January, one of his business accounts dipped more than $8,000 into overdraft and stayed that way for several months. It wasn’t until September, when House Democrats began to demand information from key players, that his efforts in Ukraine became a national controversy. Now those meetings with Shokin, Lutsenko, and other Ukrainian officials are among the key events that lawmakers are trying to learn more about — requesting that Parnas and Furman turn over information that may help lawmakers in the inquiry. ● Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teso dos Bichos 1,019 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Fuck the apprentice, this is by far Trumps biggest work. Although ima enjoy the upcoming downfall, my selfish side kinda wants to see trump stays... who wants to hear fox and pro Republicans people criticize michelle Obama for a sleeveless blouse or Obama's lack of class and showing America has a weak leader all because of a tan suit he wore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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