***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[aepps20]

Anyone see me and several Coalition members in that room? I spoke from the heart. Blacks for Trump 2020.

 

[sonoftony]

Ivanka outchea playing Good Trump, Bad Trump and these people eat it all up

 

[rolaholic]

I yelled

 

[RustyShackleford]

Senator on senator crime



All sorts of yikes in that statement...

This is nonsense.

The GOP was left of Reagan when he took power. They now firmly right of him.

 

[rolaholic]

This is nonsense.

The GOP was left of Reagan when he took power. They now firmly right of him.

That and the not so subtle shot at Graham had me like

The Overton window in the states has been pushed so far right at this point that anyone to the left of Nixon is considered a GOP moderate

 

[AEA18]

"The most pro Black president we've had in our lifetime"

Hope that fool chokes on his butter biscuits

 

[blastercombo]

"The most pro Black president we've had in our lifetime"

Hope that fool chokes on his butter biscuits

I mean if you’re going to lie at least make it believable. They went all out for no reason

 

[RustyShackleford]

That and the not so subtle shot at Graham had me like

The Overton window in the states has been pushed so far right at this point that anyone to the left of Nixon is considered a GOP moderate

Nixon had massive flaws, we know, the corruption, racism, and you know him being a criminal. But I truly think in today's world Nixon would be viewed as a lib by the GOP.

I mean Nixon at one time had a plan for universal healthcare that was to the left of the ACA. It was just that Ted Kennedy wanted full national single payer. That was the healthcare debate decades ago.

 

[Belgium]

Remember how the 4th of July trip to Moscow by a delegation of Republican congressmen went?
It resulted in lawmakers arguing with eachother, strongly disputing senator Ron Johnson's (R-Wisconsin) accounts of the meeting as well as trying to minimize that senator's statements upon their return where he questioned the value of sanctions against Russia and dismissed election interference as not a big deal.
On top of that, Russian state tv happily mocked the delegation after the meeting. They played clips of the aforementioned senator talking tough on Russia before the meeting and then proceeded to play clips of Johnson's remarks after the meeting, resulting in a lot of laughter.

I imagine a delegation led by Rand Paul isn't going to fare much better.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ers-in-moscow-on-aug-6-agencies-idUSKBN1KN1A1
U.S. senator Paul to meet Russian lawmakers in Moscow on Aug. 6: agencies
U.S. Republican senator Rand Paul is due to lead a U.S. delegation to Moscow and will meet Russian members of parliament on Aug. 6, Russian agencies cited senior lawmaker Konstantin Kosachov as saying on Thursday.



Relevant article from July 10th:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-senators-tell-contradictory-stories-about-moscow-trip
GOP Senators Tell Contradictory Stories About Moscow Trip
A key Republican came back from the Kremlin seemingly shrugging off Russian aggression. His colleagues are confused as hell by his talk. Inside a controversial mission to Moscow.
A top Republican senator shocked his colleagues when he suggested, after returning from a trip to Moscow with fellow GOP lawmakers, that U.S. sanctions targeting Russia were not working and the Kremlin’s election interference was really no big deal.

Now, the senators who joined him for the series of meetings with senior Russian officials are sharply disputing not only Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) conclusions—but also his account of what went on behind closed doors in Moscow.

“I think the sanctions are hurting them badly both in terms of their pocketbooks and in terms of their status in the world,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who joined the congressional delegation last week, said in an interview. “I don’t want to over-state this, but these were very tense meetings.”

In public, the American lawmakers directly appealed to Russia for a better relationship. But in private, according to the senators who attended the meetings, they confronted their Russian counterparts over a host of issues, most notably Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

That’s why Johnson raised eyebrows when, after returning from the nine-day trip with five of his fellow GOP senators, he suggested that the U.S. should evaluate whether the sanctions currently in place are successfully harming Russian interests because “you'd be hard-pressed to say that sanctions against Russia are really working all that well.” He also appeared to downplay the significance of election interference, saying it was “not the greatest threat to our democracy” and “we’ve blown it way out of proportion.”


His colleagues, who attended the same meetings with Russian lawmakers and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, had a different impression. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), who led the congressional delegation, said in an interview that he and his colleagues told their Russian counterparts that “the worst thing you can do is try to meddle in our elections.” The senators also disputed Johnson’s argument about the effectiveness of sanctions.

“The Russian leadership that we met with talked about the sanctions and how they were making no difference, but then they kept talking about the sanctions,” Kennedy said when asked about Johnson’s comments.

“And we were pretty direct. I was pretty direct that if they meddle with our election this fall, they’re going to get a double dose of those sanctions,” Kennedy added. “Does that mean they’re going to stop? No. I don’t know what they’re going to do. But I thought it was important for us to deliver the message that we know what they’re doing, and we don’t appreciate it.”

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), who accompanied the group in Moscow, suggested that Johnson could have drawn his conclusion from a meeting that the senators had with American business leaders in Russia. According to Moran, those Americans expressed a desire that the sanctions be “uniform and that Europe and the United States need to be on the same page when it comes to sanctions.”

“That, to me, was the message that the business community delivered—that we’ve got to all do this together, that unilateral sanctions don’t work as well, and that they damage U.S. business interests,” Moran said. “My view is exactly what I conveyed to Russian officials, which is that if you want the sanctions to disappear or diminish, it requires a change in your behavior. A significant portion of changing the relationship is whether or not there should be sanctions.”

Last year, the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved a tough new sanctions regime that targeted Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors. It also directed the Treasury Department to release a public list of Russian oligarchs closely connected with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Trump administration has been reticent to fully implement those sanctions, spurring outrage from both Democrats and Republicans.

Johnson, for his part, appeared to walk back some of his earlier remarks. He told The Daily Beast that he was not suggesting that sanctions be weakened, but rather, “we need to take a look at what works. We need to get something that works to actually change their behavior. I’m not talking about lessening them at all.”

Kennedy said he and his colleagues received briefings from officials at the U.S. embassy in Moscow ahead of the meetings. During those briefings, senators were informed that the Russian officials were under the impression that only Democrats were critical of Russia for its election-meddling and its incursions into eastern Europe and the Middle East.

“I wanted to disabuse them of that notion,” Kennedy said. “I think there’s a consensus in Congress that if Russia meddles again, then we’ll double down on the sanctions.”

The meetings lasted from 8:30 in the morning until 7:00 at night. The Russians served the Americans water and coffee but no food, according to Kennedy, who said the meeting rooms were intricately decorated.

The senators said the most tense meetings were with Lavrov—the foreign minister—and with the leader of the Duma and some of his deputies. The conversations with Russian senators (members of the Council of the Federation) were more cordial.

“He’s a bully, and he tried to bully us,” Kennedy said of Lavrov. “But we made our point. And they understand where we stand.”

During the meeting with members of the Duma, senators spoke for two or three minutes and the Duma chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin, would respond for at least 10 minutes each time. Volodin would not permit his deputies to speak for more than a few seconds.

The senators confronted the Russian officials about election interference, the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea, its incursions into Ukraine and eastern Europe, and its support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Every time, the response was the same.

“The answer was, ‘it never happened,’” said Moran.

“To some extent, the meetings on their end were orchestrated. It was clear that they had what appeared to me to be a strategy. They had an answer for everything, which was: deny, deny, deny,” Kennedy added.

Shelby, for his part, wasn’t surprised that the Russian lawmakers, following Putin’s lead, continued to deny behavior that has drawn international condemnation.

“Listen, I’ve been around since I was a kid and Stalin was running things. Have you ever known them to admit anything? I mean, it’s the Russian view of the world. But the question of can we improve it—they will have to earn their way. We’ve got a lot of grievances,” Shelby said.

Shelby would not go as far as to say that U.S. sanctions were “working,” citing Russia’s refusal to change its behavior. But he said the punishments are “pinching” the Russian economy.

On the heels of the Russia trip, the senior senator, who formerly chaired the intelligence committee, delivered a warning to President Donald Trump ahead of his meeting with Putin next week in Helsinki: “President Trump needs to be careful with Putin. Don’t give away much. And don’t rely on a lot of his promises. … They’ve got to earn [a better relationship]. I hope the president knows this when he meets with him in Helsinki, and knowing who he’s dealing with when he sits across the table.”

Shelby himself was the center of attention ahead of the Moscow trip after he appeared to justify Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, saying: “We’ve done a lot of things, too.” He later clarified that he was not excusing Russia’s meddling, and upon his return to Washington, he took a much harder line against Moscow.

 

[IATT]

 

[aepps20]

"The most pro Black president we've had in our lifetime"

Hope that fool chokes on his butter biscuits

YIKES, I was just speaking from the heart famb.

 

[elpablo21]

 

[MalcolmNewton]

Ivanka outchea playing Good Trump, Bad Trump and these people eat it all up

People caught on to her game a loooonnng time ago. Her and Melania play damage control for Trumps humanitarian b.s. The media calls them "tone def" when they tweet out some nonsense but they are some calculating 53%ers.

 

[daruma]

what's QAnon?

 

[Belgium]

Only the best people: Volume ...
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/02/zinke-interior-making-beer-montana-719358
(Very lengthy article, I copied the introductory paragraphs)
Interior IG to scrutinize Zinke’s beer-making plans
A development backed by Halliburton’s chairman includes a microbrewery similar to one the Interior secretary has long sought.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made no secret of his dream of opening a microbrewery in his hometown of Whitefish.

Now, the department’s inspector general will be asking whether he colluded to have the chairman of Halliburton, one of the leading companies with business before the department, build him one.

In Whitefish, brewers and city officials told POLITICO that Zinke has long sought to build a microbrewery of his own, a project that over six years led him to submit plans to the City Council, discuss the move with other business leaders and personally join in a review process to change local zoning laws to make them more hospitable to such a business.

Meanwhile, a planned development in Whitefish backed by David Lesar, the chairman of Halliburton — the nation’s largest oil services company, which would be one of the biggest winners in the Interior Department’s drive to roll back regulations — includes plans for just such a microbrewery.

The Interior Department IG's office announced in late July that it is investigating Zinke’s dealings with Lesar, a purview that ethics specialists say will include questions about the brewery. Ethics rules bar officials from using their official contacts to set up “nests” for their post-government lives, and the microbrewery was a focus of both the ethics watchdogs and the House Democrats who requested the investigation after POLITICO first reported on Zinke’s links to Lesar.

Moreover, there is evidence that the microbrewery in the plans for the Lesar-backed development is the same as the one Zinke has planned since at least 2012.

The Whitefish city planner told POLITICO earlier this year that the developers of the Lesar-backed project told him the microbrewery was intended for Zinke. A plan for the development submitted to the city by Zinke’s wife, Lola — who agreed to use land controlled by a Zinke-created foundation to build a parking lot for the development — included a hand-drawn separation of land for the proposed brewery project.

(See link for rest of very long article)

 

[MalcolmNewton]

what's QAnon?

Far right, alt-right conspiracy theory meme originating from 4chan

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_Storm

 

[Belgium]

what's QAnon?

The manifestation of insanity in the form of a ridiculous ever-changing conspiracy theory.
Some individual referring to himself as ‘Q’ started posting cryptic messages on 4Chan/8Chan, claiming to be someone with top level access to what is going on in politics and government behind the scenes.

It’s nuttier than Pizzagate. ‘Q’ is probably just as crazy as the followers but it could also just be someone preying on the mentally ill. In the ‘look what I can make all these people do’ sense.

 

[Belgium]

 

[elpablo21]

 

[Based Jesus]

I yelled

 

[youngogjosh]

Last page reminds why I had to go on break from this thread. The biscuit boys and girls, and the immigrant ranting about immigration without a clue of irony is just too much man.

 

[blastercombo]

At the end of all this I bet we find out trump is having sex with dudes

 

[nomnom]

 

[Nike Jordan]

I yelled

Does she live a in rent-stabilized apartment in Washington Heights?

 

[kdawg]

I can’t believe she used the word irony. They just don’t get it.