***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[Nike Jordan]

 

[elpablo21]

Poor Sarah brehs and brehettes

 

[MalcolmNewton]

So hows that "Celebration of America" going? Its past 3 EST.

 

[plansb]

So hows that "Celebration of America" going? Its past 3 EST.

Probably about as well as the fakies.

 

[harlemtothebronx]

Poor Sarah brehs and brehettes

FDB.

 

[frink85]

Just voted in person for the first time (been absentee), feels good bros. Sure as hell didn’t vote for John Cox

Get out there and vote brehs do the opposite of what president clown wants

 

[MalcolmNewton]

Get out there and vote brehs do the opposite of what president clown wants

He does want you to vote though (for pedo's, rapists, money launderers, racists, etc.). You know, the very fine people.

 

[MalcolmNewton]

Conservative Billionaire David Koch Steps Down From Political, Business Roles

David Koch, who with his brother Charles has built a powerful conservative political network, is stepping down from his family’s conglomerate and his leadership of Americans for Prosperity, the network’s signature political organization.

The 78-year-old is retiring due to declining health, his brother wrote to Koch Industries employees Tuesday. In October 2016, David Koch announced to employees that his health was declining and he had been hospitalized over the summer.

 

[frink85]

He does want you to vote though (for pedo's, rapists, money launderers, racists, etc.). You know, the very fine people.

I didn’t have anything to lose

 

[sonoftony]

he deadass said stand beside ME

 

[Belgium]

A potential storm is brewing, though this doesn't necessarily mean Trump will actually be deposed.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/05/trump-depose-summer-zervos-lawsuit-624186
Judge: Trump can be deposed in Summer Zervos lawsuit

A judge ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump can be deposed in a defamation lawsuit brought last year by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice” who says Trump kissed and groped her after she appeared on the show.

Zervos is one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of unwanted sexual contact. The president has vehemently denied all of the women’s claims, which he called “100 percent fabricated,” and he retweeted a tweet describing Zervos’s claim as a “hoax.” Zervos filed a defamation claim against Trump in January 2017 over those denials.


Lawyers for both sides must issue their demands for documents as part of discovery by July 13, and those responses must be provided by Sept. 27, Judge Jennifer Schechter ordered Tuesday. Both parties are ordered to submit third party subpoenas by March 23, 2019.

Schechter ordered both parties to submit to depositions too, with a deadline of Jan. 31, 2019. All depositions of people who are “non-parties” to the case must be conducted by Feb. 28. She ordered fact discovery to be completed by April 12.

Trump could still avoid a deposition, though. His lawyers have appealed to New York's highest court in hopes of avoiding it. His legal team has argued that Zervos' lawsuit is politically motivated.

Schechter ruled earlier this year that the defamation case could proceed, despite Trump’s attorneys’ argument that a sitting president cannot be sued in state court. “No one is above the law,” Schechter wrote in her March 20 ruling.

The president’s attorneys appealed that ruling and last month unsuccessfully sought to delay the proceedings.

Trump's lawyers have taken the second appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, where they are awaiting a response.

Trump's attorney Marc Kasowitz said the issue of whether or not a sitting president can be sued in state court should be taken up by the Supreme Court, calling the matter a "critical constitutional issue" that should be resolved before the case moves forward.

Zervos' attorney Mariann Wang said Trump's attorneys are trying to stall for time. Wang said her legal team had already issued a subpoena to the Trump campaign, which had been unwilling to hand over any information related to other women who've accused Trump.

"It became clear that the campaign's position is that any and all documents about other women who have alleged that the defendant subjected them to unwanted sexual touching or inappropriate conduct, that any discovery about them, they would draw a line there," Wang said.

Kasowitz said information about those women is "irrelevant" in the Zervos case. Schecter ordered both legal teams to give her a briefing on the issue.

Lawyers for both parties are likely to seek to shield any information obtained through discovery from the public, at least in part. Both legal teams intend to work together to draft a protective order to keep some of the information yielded in discovery confidential.

 

[kdawg]

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/05/617219548/mitch-mcconnell-cancels-senates-august-recess

Schumer also challenged President Trump to join the Senate and cancel his own summer vacation plans. "We assume he'll be here in Washington working right alongside us. Given the urgency of these weeks, we presume he won't be jetting off to Bedminster or Mar-a-Lago or spending countless hours on the golf course," Schumer said, in reference to two of Trump's favorite self-owned destinations.

Oooh, a rift in the relationship? Getting a bit snarky there.

And “historic obstruction by the democrats”. Lol.

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

 

[oh you mad]

Dennis Rodman will be in Singapore for Trump-Kim summit
By Tina Moore

June 5, 2018 | 4:29pm | Updated

Modal Trigger

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NBA star turned Kim Jong Un soulmate Dennis Rodman will be in Singapore during President Trump’s summit with the North Korean dictator next week, The Post has learned.

“The Worm” will arrive in the country a day before the June 12 sitdown — and sources said he could even play some sort of role in the negotiations.

“No matter what you might think about his presence. One thing’s for sure the ratings will be huge,” a source said. “A lot of times in situations that involve complex diplomacy countries like to identify ambassadors of goodwill and whether you agree with it or not Dennis Rodman fits the bill.”

The zany, 6-foot-7 ex-baller — who has struck up an unlikely bromance with the pint-sized, 5-foot-7 Kim, and has visited the rogue regime five times in the past — took some of the credit for getting the two leaders together.

In an April interview with TMZ, Rodman said that Kim didn’t understand the president until he gave the North Korean strongman a copy of Trump’s ghost-written book, “The Art of the Deal,” for his birthday in 2017.

“I think [Kim] didn’t realize who Donald Trump was at that time, I guess, until he started to read the book and started to get to understand him. Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are pretty much the same,” Rodman told the website.

“I don’t want to take all the credit. I don’t want to sit there and say, ‘I did this, I did that.’ That’s not my intention,” Rodman told the website.

“My intention was to go over and be a sports ambassador to North Korea so people understand how the people are in North Korea. I think that has resonated to this whole point now.”

Darren Prince, Rodman’s rep, said no trip to Singapore had been confirmed but that The Worm would be willing to go if his expertise were needed.

“He’s talked about it, but no final trip or plans have been made,” he said. Prince marveled at the treatment Rodman got years ago when he first decided to visit the North at Kim’s invitation.

“It seemed like everyone [in the US] turned on him and now things seem to be happening, so he’s just happy it’s happening. He’s just hoping for a great historic outcome,” Prince said.

Trump and Kim will meet at a luxury resort on Sentosa Island for nuclear talks next week in Singapore, the White House said Tuesday. The historic meeting will be held at the Capella Hotel, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted.

“We thank our great Singaporean hosts for their hospitality,” Sanders said. Trump and Kim’s highly anticipated meeting is scheduled for June 12 at 9 a.m. Singapore time — or 9 p.m. on June 11 New York Time — after a flurry of on-again-off-again action.

Trump hopes to secure a nuclear deal with the North Koreans, seeking for Kim to give up his nuclear program, though he stressed last week that the process would likely take longer than a single meeting.

Located a quarter mile off the coast of the city-state, Sentosa Island is known for its high-end beach hotels, golf courses and amusement parks. A US advance team was spotted at the Capella Hotel last week meeting with North Korean officials in preparation for the summit.

Officials had also considered the Shangri-La Hotel, which hosts an annual international security summit and was the venue for a 2015 meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.

 

[harlemtothebronx]

What a joke.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

"Peak Whiteness"

 

[MalcolmNewton]

 

[Belgium]

Amazing

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

 

[Belgium]

Oh well, just another day in the life of Pruitt
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bf86ab42c00b
Scott Pruitt enlisted an EPA aide to help his wife find a job — with Chick-fil-A
Three months after Scott Pruitt was sworn in as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, his executive scheduler emailed Dan Cathy, chairman and chief executive of the fast-food company Chick-fil-A, with an unusual request: Would Cathy meet with Pruitt to discuss “a potential business opportunity”?

A call was arranged, then canceled, and Pruitt eventually spoke with someone from the company’s legal department. Only then did he reveal the “opportunity” on his mind was a job for his wife, Marlyn.

“The subject of that phone call was an expression of interest in his wife becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee,” company representative Carrie Kurlander told The Washington Post via email.

Marlyn Pruitt never opened a restaurant. “Administrator Pruitt’s wife started, but did not complete, the Chick-fil-A franchisee application,” Kurlander said. But the revelation that Pruitt used his official position and EPA staff to try to line up work for his wife appears to open a new chapter in the ongoing saga of his questionable spending and management decisions, which so far have spawned a dozen federal probes.

Pruitt’s efforts on his wife’s behalf — revealed in emails recently released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Sierra Club — did not end with Chick-fil-A. He also approached the chief executive of Concordia, a New York nonprofit organization. The executive, Matthew A. Swift, said he ultimately paid Marlyn Pruitt $2,000 plus travel expenses to help organize the group’s annual conference last September.

Multiple current and former EPA aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said Scott Pruitt told them he was eager for his wife to start receiving a salary. Two said the administrator was frustrated in part by the high cost of maintaining homes in both Washington and Oklahoma.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox declined to comment on Pruitt’s overtures on his wife’s behalf to Concordia and Chick-fil-A.

Federal ethics laws bar public officials from using their position or staff for private gain. A Cabinet-level official using his perch to contact a company CEO about a job for his wife “raises the specter of misuse of public office,” said Don Fox, who was head of the federal Office of Government Ethics during the Obama administration. “It’s not much different [from] if he [had] asked the aide to facilitate getting a franchise for himself.”

Asking a government scheduler, Sydney Hupp, to plan the meeting also marks a violation of federal rules barring officials from asking subordinates to perform personal tasks, Fox said. “It is a misuse of the aide’s time to ask the aide to do something like this that is really for personal financial benefit.”

Hupp left the EPA last year; she did not respond to a request for comment.

Hupp was not the only EPA employee enlisted to perform nonofficial tasks. Last month, Pruitt acknowledged that Hupp’s sister, Millan, helped him search for housing in the District. She later told congressional staffers she made inquiries at the Trump International Hotel about buying him a used mattress while she was on the EPA payroll.

The Georgia-based Chick-fil-A receives about 40,000 “expressions of interest” each year from people hoping to operate one of its restaurants, Kurlander said.

“The process of becoming a franchisee is very thorough and results in approximately 100 people being selected each year,” she wrote. “We are very proud of the fact that those who are selected demonstrate the leadership ability and business acumen needed to own and operate Chick-fil-A restaurants.”

Pruitt’s expression of interest began May 16, 2017, according to the released emails, when Sydney Hupp emailed Cathy that her boss “asked me to reach out to you and see if you might be willing to get a time set up for the two of you to have a meeting.”

Cathy, who has championed socially conservative causes and had met Pruitt during his tenure as Oklahoma attorney general, replied within an hour, connecting Hupp with one of his own aides, Evan Karanovich.

Karanovich asked whether “an initial phone call would be sufficient” and inquired what the EPA chief wanted to talk about. “The Administrator did not mention a specific topic, but I will touch base with him to see if there is one,” Hupp replied.

The two sides arranged a conference call for June 23, with Cathy scheduled to be joined by a senior attorney in his legal department. That call did not happen, company officials said, adding “a call took place later between Administrator Pruitt and a Chick-fil-A staff member.”

The effort ultimately did not lead to a franchise for Marlyn Pruitt. Kurlander noted that “Mrs. Pruitt is not and has never been a Chick-fil-A franchisee.”

Around the same time, Pruitt contacted Swift, CEO of Concordia, a nonprofit organization that brings together leaders from the private and public sector. Pruitt asked Swift to call Marlyn Pruitt, Swift said in an email, which he did.

“We discussed her interest in event planning for nonprofits and events that take place in Washington,” Swift said. “Mrs. Pruitt was interested in meeting people in the nonprofit sector, and I offered to introduce her to some of Concordia’s attendees based in Washington and for her to become involved with Concordia’s events.”

Swift’s group had invited Scott Pruitt to speak at its 2017 conference in Manhattan, the same event where Marlyn Pruitt was paid $2,000 for three days’ work. At the event, Scott Pruitt was accompanied by at least three aides. EPA travel records show his first-class plane ticket cost $1,201.80, and his overnight stay came to $669.

Swift defended Pruitt’s handling of the matter. “Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Pruitt ever solicited a position for Mrs. Pruitt at Concordia, nor was it a condition of the agreement for the administrator to speak,” he said.

The Pruitts’ focus on augmenting their household income appears to have come after the administrator moved to Washington and began paying for two full-time residences. The EPA chief attracted widespread criticism for renting a $50-a-night condo from a Washington lobbyist in the early months of his tenure. Since then, his housing costs appear to have increased substantially.

According to public records, Pruitt and his wife hold an $850,000 mortgage on their home in an upscale Tulsa neighborhood, requiring monthly payments of approximately $5,500 — including $17,793 in property taxes the couple paid last year. The mortgage has an adjustable rate, records show, so those payments eventually could rise.

In addition, the Pruitts lease an apartment in a modern development on Capitol Hill where one-bedroom units start at around $3,000 per month.

As EPA head, Pruitt makes $189,600 a year, according to federal records. In a federal financial form filed after he was nominated to lead the agency, Pruitt listed his only income as his attorney general’s salary, about $133,000 per year.

Under the entry for spouse’s income and retirement accounts, he wrote, “None.”

Pruitt’s most recent financial disclosure was due in May, but like many Trump administration officials, he has requested a filing extension.

 

[EddieDoyers]

 

[MalcolmNewton]

 

[Sharpshoeter13]

Off topic:

Watching Bobby Kennedy for President on Netflix and just realized that tomorrow's his 50th death anniversary. Kinda eerie cuz I didn't know until I was watching one of the episodes.

The 60s were wild AF.