***Official Political Discussion Thread***

The Onion got some catching up to do
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...-make-up-majority-of-donations-in-texas-state
Donations of deer semen make up majority of contributions in Texas candidate's race: report
A candidate in the race for a South Texas state House seat has reportedly received $87,500 in campaign donations — more than half of which is made up of deer semen.

The Dallas News reported Thursday that Ana Lisa Garza, a district court judge running a primary challenge against eight-term Democrat Ryan Guillen, has received $51,000 in in-kind donations to her campaign, listed as individual donations of frozen deer semen straws.

The containers are reportedly a common way for deer breeders in the state to donate to political campaigns. Garza's campaign has valued the straws at $1,000 each.

Fred Gonzalez, a Texas deer breeder who serves as treasurer of the Texas Deer Association, told the Dallas News that the group’s political action committee has received more than $975,000 in deer semen donations since 2006, and has given more than $885,000 in the same period of time.



“Semen is a very common way for us to donate,” Gonzalez told the paper. “One collection on a buck could lead to 60 straws sometimes. If you have a desirable animal, it’s a way to bring value without breaking the bank.”
Straws from bucks named Bandit, Sweet Dreams and Gladiator Sunset were among the donations listed.

The group does not give the semen directly to the campaign, but accepts the straw donations and sells them at auction. In the case of Garza’s campaign, Gonzalez said the straw donations were sold as one lot. Garza’s campaign finance forms list the donations from the individual breeders, according to the paper.

Buck Wood, a campaign finance and ethics attorney, told the Dallas News that the donations technically were not “in-kind” since the money, not the semen, was given to the campaign, but that it does not raise any ethical or legal concerns.

“If they’d given her the straws, that would have been an in-kind donation,” he said. In-kind donations usually cover things like campaign advertising or event space.

Guillen, the lawmaker Garza is running to unseat, ran unopposed in the last two elections and received 100 percent of both the primary and general election vote, making the March 6 primary a tough challenge for Garza.
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Nah, gry60 is right, I think Zimbabwe did something similar and it resulted in a famine, because the new farmers weren't experienced with farming on such a large scale. If they bought the land from the farmers and paid them to take somebody on as an apprentice it'd be much more logical. Hopefully, this doesn't pass their equivalent of Congress.
 
https://apnews.com/238f4e213a974290...tariffs-to-have-'huge-impact'-on-global-trade
China: Trump's tariffs to have 'huge impact' on global trade
China has warned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s vow to impose high tariffs on steel and aluminum would have a “huge impact” on the global trading order and said Beijing would work with other nations to protect its interests.

A Commerce Ministry official said late Friday that Trump’s plan to levy tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum would “seriously damage multilateral trade mechanisms represented by the World Trade Organization and will surely have huge impact on normal international trade order.”

“If the final measures of the United States hurt Chinese interests, China will work with other affected countries in taking measures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” Wang Hejun, head of the ministry’s trade remedy and investigation bureau, said in a statement on the ministry’s website.

Chinese leaders have threatened in the past to retaliate if Trump raises trade barriers, but now need to weigh whether to back up those threats with action and risk jeopardizing U.S. market access for smartphones and other exports that matter more to their economy than metals.

“China will definitely respond. It doesn’t want to be seen as weak. But it will be relatively restrained,” said economist Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics. “They don’t want to be seen as a party that is wrecking the international trading system.”

Global stock markets fell sharply Friday over worries of a possible trade war following Trump’s announcement.

Trump thumbed his nose Friday at the concerns over rising trade tensions and higher prices for U.S. consumers, tweeting that “trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!”

Beijing has accused Trump of undermining global trade regulation by taking action over steel, technology policy and other disputes under U.S. law instead of through the World Trade Organization.

Chinese officials have appealed to the White House since last March to avoid hurting both sides by disrupting aluminum trade. Their tone hardened after Trump launched a probe in August of whether Beijing improperly pressures companies to hand over technology and in January raised duties on Chinese solar modules and washing machines.

Canada, Japan and South Korea, all U.S. allies and major exporters of steel and aluminum, are asking for exemptions from the tariff hike, which Trump justified in part on national security grounds.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it “made no sense” to highlight national security issues noting the countries’ military cooperation and defense of North America.

“This is absolutely unacceptable and it’s a point we’ve made many times,” Trudeau said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada is prepared to take responsive measures to defend its trade interests.

Canada is the biggest steel exporter to the U.S., and Freeland noted that Canada buys more American steel than any other country in the world, accounting for 50 percent of U.S. exports. She also noted the steel and aluminum industry in North America is highly integrated and said the Canadian government will continue to make that point directly with the Trump administration.

Hiroshige Seko, Japan’s trade and industry minister, said at a news conference, “We don’t think imports from Japan, an ally, have any effect at all on U.S. national security.”

A South Korean trade envoy, Kim Hyun-chong, met with Trump’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to “strongly demand” they keep the impact on South Korean companies to a minimum, according to a trade ministry statement.

The president of the European Union’s governing body, Jean-Claude Juncker, said the 28-nation trade bloc will retaliate if Trump follows through.

“Risks of trade wars are rising, but should be contained for now,” said Cesar Rojas and Ebrahim Rahbari of Citigroup in a report. “We expect U.S. major trade partners’ reaction to be moderate, including by taking cases to the WTO.”

Adding to the political stakes in China, Trump’s announcement came ahead of next week’s meeting of its ceremonial legislature, the year’s most prominent political event. Action against American companies or goods would compete for attention with the National People’s Congress, which the ruling Communist Party uses to showcase its economic plans.

Beijing has an array of high-profile targets for retaliation including suppliers of soybeans, the biggest American export to China. A curb on purchases could hurt farm state voters who supported Trump.

“We’ve clearly heard from the Chinese” that soybeans “are definitely one of the largest things that could be targeted,” said Jake Parker, vice president for China operations for the U.S.-China Business Council.

However, Parker said, soybeans might be held for use later on a bigger issue such as the “301” investigation into Beijing’s technology policy, which could have a broader impact.

Trade makes up a smaller share of China’s economy than it did a decade ago. But export-driven industries support millions of jobs, raising the potential political cost of any disruption.

The United States, China’s No. 2 trade partner after the EU, buys about 20 percent of Chinese exports but allows Beijing to run multibillion-dollar surpluses that offset its deficits with other partners.

Last year, China exported goods worth $2.80 to the United States for every $1 of American goods it bought, according to Chinese data. Its trade surplus of $275.8 billion with the United States was equal to 65 percent of its global total.

“That makes China the more vulnerable partner in this,” said Kuijs.

Also Friday, the Commerce Ministry expressed “grave concern” about a trade policy report sent to the U.S. Congress by the White House this week that accuses China of moving away from market principles. It pledges to prevent Beijing from disrupting global trade.

The ministry said Beijing has satisfied its trade obligations and appealed to Washington to settle market access and subsidy disputes through negotiation.
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youngogjosh said:
Nah, gry60 is right, I think Zimbabwe did something similar and it resulted in a famine, because the new farmers weren't experienced with farming on such a large scale. If they bought the land from the farmers and paid them to take somebody on as an apprentice it'd be much more logical. Hopefully, this doesn't pass their equivalent of Congress.
Click to expand...
I would think SA would be skilled in agriculture. Pre Apartheid farming and fishing was key to the community and was passed on to their children and so on. Abalone diving wasn’t illegal until SA was recolonized by the Dutch. SA government catered to intrusive colonists and that’s why they are in the position they’re in now.
 
utep2step said:
I would think SA would be skilled in agriculture. Pre Apartheid farming and fishing was key to the community and was passed on to their children and so on. Abalone diving wasn’t illegal until SA was recolonized by the Dutch. SA government catered to intrusive colonists and that’s why they are in the position they’re in now.
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Gotta remember that the people the land will presumably go to (African natives) were parked in townships for decades, while the white minority took control of most of the land until twenty plus years ago, when apartheid ended, which means that not many still have the knowledge necessary to run a farm. If things in SA are similar to the rest of Africa, I'd venture to say that most of the working youth isn't interested in agriculture because most of them either live in urban centers or they try to move there (kinda like in the US). That also applies to many who inherit land, which is a lot of people: most would rather sell to big farms/individuals or build a house, and very few elect to become full time farmers.

Of course, you'd want the cooperation of those who know how to run an agricultural biz (and a smooth transition from one owner to the next) to make sure that your country doesn't rely on UN bags of rice, but I suspect that the SA government doesn't really care about the long term consequences of retaking that farmland by force.
 
I'm just not a fan of politics of resentment. It is the reason why we ended up with Donald Trump here, and it is the cause of many armed conflicts and a general lack of respect for political institutions (such as the constitution, the electoral process, and freedom of the press/speech/assembly) in Africa. It is never good when politicians use the law to settle scores, especially after they have been sworn in as Representatives of all of those who call themselves members of their society.
 
Bruh.

Wut.
giphy.gif
 
Lebron was right trump is a bum

Still won't forget when someone called him out for specifically picking fights with only black athletes and then he replied to him directly with maga on twitter
 


"A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain deeper access into American politics, NPR has learned.

Russian politician Alexander Torshin said his ties to the NRA provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.

Torshin is a prolific Twitter user, logging nearly 150,000 tweets, mostly in Russian, since his account was created in 2011. Previously obscured by language and sheer volume of tweets, Torshin has written numerous times about his connections with the NRA, of which he is a known paid lifetime member. NPR has translated a selection of those posts that document Torshin's relationship to the group.

These revelations come amid news that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin, the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, illegally funneled money to the NRA to assist the Trump campaign in 2016, McClatchy reportedin January.

In a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate intelligence committee, the NRA denied any wrongdoing and suggested the FBI is investigating Torshin, not the NRA. Neither the NRA nor Torshin responded to inquiries from NPR.

Investigations by Congress and the Department of Justice have revealed that the Russian government has sought to sharpen political divisions among American citizens by amplifying controversial social issues. Investigators have expressed concern about Russian links to the NRA, one of the most politically polarizing organizations in the U.S.

Torshin is a former Russian senator and served as the deputy speaker of Russia's parliament for more than a decade. Known as a Putin ally, he also spent time on Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee, a state body that includes the director of Russia's internal security service and the ministers of defense, interior and foreign affairs.

Torshin's use of NRA connections to open doors, and his 2015 claim to know Trump through the organization, raise new questions about the group's connections with Russian officials — at a time when the organization is being roundly criticized by its opponents, and at times the president himself, for opposition to gun control.

The president has also defended the group in recent days as the gun debate has re-emerged following a Florida school shooting, including a tweet calling the group's leaders "Great American Patriots."

The NRA has been a key part of Trump's conservative base. After a meeting with lawmakers in which Trump angered many conservatives for entertaining proposals for gun control, the president tweeted that he had another meeting with NRA leaders in the Oval Office on Thursday night.

On his verified Twitter account, Torshin talked about how he knew Trump through the NRA, citing a connection at the group's 2015 convention. Responding to a tweet about comedian Larry David accusing Trump of being a racist, Torshin said he knew the businessman through the NRA, and he defended him.

"I saw him in Nashville" in April 2015, Torshin added later, the date and site of the NRA's 2015 convention. Trump gave a speech at that convention, the outlines of which would become familiar as his stump speech throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment by NPR but in 2017 denied to Bloomberg News that Trump has ever met Torshin.

Among his tens of thousands of tweets, Torshin also documented his attendance at every NRA convention between 2012 and 2016, only some of which have been previously reported.

Torshin's attendance at the NRA convention in 2016 is where he reportedly met with Donald Trump Jr.

Torshin had made repeated attempts to meet with Donald Trump himself at that convention during the presidential election year, but there is no evidence of this occurring. A conservative activist with ties to Torshin aide Maria Butina reached out to the Trump campaign in 2016, saying that Russia was "quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S." and would try to use the NRA convention to make "first contact," the New York Timesreported.

"Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump," the activist, Paul Erickson, wrote. "He wants to extend an invitation to Mr. Trump to visit him in the Kremlin before the election." Erickson has business ties to Butina, having started an LLC with her in South Dakota.

Torshin has used his repeated trips to NRA conventions to cultivate relationships with top NRA officials. And his Twitter account documents that he has personally met with every person who has been president of the NRA since 2012.

On Twitter, Torshin portrayed these meetings as more than merely casual encounters. In 2017, he tweeted that he was bringing a gift to then-NRA President Allan Cors and suggested he was familiar with Cors' hobbies.

Cors is the founder of the Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles, according to its website.

In a public Dropbox album that Torshin linked to from his Twitter account, he is seen meeting with former NRA President Jim Porter as well as another former NRA president, David Keene.

His tweets suggest a longtime relationship with Keene, who repeatedly appears in photos as Torshin documents his visits, suggesting that their meeting was not merely coincidental. Keene did not respond to a request for comment.

Torshin has also met the current president of the NRA, Pete Brownell, who was part of an NRA delegation that visited Moscow in 2015.

These relationships that he cultivated appeared to open another door. Torshin came to the United States in 2012 as an international election observer and watched as ballots were cast during the Obama-Romney presidential contest in Tennessee. This was possible, he wrote, because of his NRA links.

"Tennessee resident Kline Preston requested Mr. Torshin to be an international observer in November 2012," Adam Ghassemi, a spokesman for the Tennessee secretary of state, told NPR. The Washington Post reported last year that Preston, a Tennessee lawyer, was the one who originally introduced Torshin to Keene back in 2011.

The heat is on the Russian politician, who was alleged by Spanish police to have directed financial transactions for the Russian mob. Not only is the FBI reportedly investigating him — the bureau declined to comment for this story — but lawmakers involved in congressional investigations have also expressed interest in Torshin.

Both the Senate and House intelligence committees are currently engaged in investigations into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and a member of the Senate intelligence committee, has demanded that the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network hand over documents related to Torshin and the NRA.

"The NRA and its related entities do not accept funds from foreign persons or entities in connection with United States elections," NRA General Counsel John Frazer wrote in response to a request from Wyden to turn over documents related to transactions between the NRA and Russian citizens. "NRA political decisions are made by NRA officers and executive staff, all of whom are United States citizens. No foreign nationals are consulted in any way on these decisions."

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, told NPR this week that the committee's members have asked relevant witnesses about the NRA through the course of their investigation.

"I can't go into what we've been able to learn thus far on that issue. I can tell you it's one of deep concern to me and to other members of the committee, that we get to the bottom of these allegations that the Russians may have sought to funnel money through the NRA," Schiff said. "It would be negligent of us not to investigate."

Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of research firm Fusion GPS, alluded to Torshin and the NRA during his closed-door testimony before the House intelligence committee in November.

"It appears the Russians, you know, infiltrated the NRA. And there is more than one explanation for why," Simpson told lawmakers. "But I would say broadly speaking, it appears that the Russian operation was designed to infiltrate conservative organizations. And they targeted various conservative organizations, religious and otherwise, and they seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the NRA."

Not only are congressional investigators interested in the NRA's relationship with Russia, but this inquiry comes as the NRA is receiving additional pressure from groups hoping to pass more gun restrictions into law and as dozens of American companies have cut ties with the organization in response to the Parkland, Fla., shooting last month.

"These revelations suggest that for years the NRA courted a top Putin ally who is now reportedly attracting scrutiny from the FBI," John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, told NPR. "NRA leaders still haven't explained their close relationship with Russian officials in Putin's orbit. Until they do, people will continue to wonder what the NRA is hiding."




Seriously f anyone who supports the NRA
 
appleheaddmv said:
didn't realize that the dude Kush building number is 666... talk about some wild ish... Lol... the dude look like a grown version of Damien from the Omen..
Click to expand...

He looks like if a vampire transformed into a human during the day time. I swear he sleeps in a chamber of vasoline at night
 
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