***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[nomnom]

He'd probably talk **** about Bin Laden for a few months and have a summit a year after

One of the big differences

Trump would go straight to dirty talk



Of course here, Bush’s actions spoke louder than his words

 

[Belgium]

How do y'all think our Dapper President would handle the 9/11 attacks under his watch?

Well almost immediately after the attacks he bragged about now having the tallest building in downtown Manhattan

 

[plansb]

Trump would probably have a celebration a few months after invading Iraq (or whatever country) with a big "Mission Accomplished" banner.

 

[elpablo21]

How do y'all think our Dapper President would handle the 9/11 attacks under his watch?

"Look, I respect the way Bin Laden looks out for his people ok. Where was Wild William and Crooked Hilary for the American people the past 8 years? ok, we're putting together a tremendous tremendous deal with Al-Qaeda to get rid of terrorism forever, no kidding. Nobody could make this deal except me, believe me. Could you imagine if Gore successfully rigged the election? There'd be mooslims and mosque on every corner in our country, we can't have that, can't do it "

 

[aepps20]

"Look, I respect the way Bin Laden looks out for his people ok. Where was Wild William and Crooked Hilary for the American people the past 8 years? ok, we're putting together a tremendous tremendous deal with Al-Qaeda to get rid of terrorism forever, no kidding. Nobody could make this deal except me, believe me. Could you imagine if Gore successfully rigged the election? There'd be mooslims and mosque on every corner in our country, we can't have that, can't do it "

This is why the red wave can't be stopped.

 

[rolaholic]

 

[elpablo21]

GOP's deficit hawks at work

 

[AEA18]

Complain about the deficit when you aren't in power and pretend it doesn't exist when you are.

 

[Nike Jordan]

I refuse to believe these are real. I just can’t......

 

[Belgium]

Speaking of deficits I saw this article earlier this afternoon
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/406040-federal-deficit-soars-32-percent-to-895b
Federal deficit soars 32 percent to $895B
The federal deficit hit $895 billion in the first 11 months of fiscal 2018, an increase of $222 billion, or 32 percent, over the same period the previous year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The nonpartisan CBO reported that the central drivers of the increasing deficit were the Republican tax law and the bipartisan agreement to increase spending. As a result, revenue only rose 1 percent, failing to keep up with a 7 percent surge in spending, it added.

Revenue from individual and payroll taxes was up some $105 billion, or 4 percent, while corporate taxes fell $71 billion, or 30 percent.

The August statistics were somewhat inflated, however, due to a timing shift for certain payments, putting the deficit measure through August slightly out of sync with the previous year, the CBO noted. Had it not been for the timing shift, the deficit would have increased $154 billion instead of $222 billion.

Earlier analysis from CBO projected that deficits would near $1 trillion in 2019 and surpass that amount the following year.

 

[dacomeup]

 

[Belgium]

CNN appears to confirm Bloomberg's reporting that I posted a couple days ago. Bloomberg alleged that the Trump Organization was under investigation, though they noted the information came from a single source.
Bloomberg alleged the Trump Org had been placed under federal investigation over campaign finance violations related to the hush money payments, however CNN is reporting the company is also being investigated for potential tax fraud by NY state authorities. Bloomberg's reporting is briefly referenced in the article.

That would mean there is both a federal and NY state probe of the Trump Organization.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/11/politics/new-york-tax-investigators-michael-cohen/index.html
New York tax investigators to meet with Cohen's attorney, at odds with federal prosecutors' request
New York state tax department investigators are scheduled to meet Tuesday with an attorney for President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, as part of a state probe regarding Cohen and the Trump Organization that comes as federal prosecutors have asked state and local prosecutors' offices to avoid taking steps that could interfere with their federal case, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The move puts state investigators at odds with the senior leadership of the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which in the weeks since it charged Cohen with eight criminal counts has requested that other offices with related inquiries hold off on proceeding with certain investigative actions that might derail their efforts.
"This is clear interference with an ongoing criminal investigation," a law-enforcement official involved in the matter said.

Further complicating the situation is that state tax officials, who are examining potential tax fraud by the Trump Organization, have sought to include local prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office in any meeting with Cohen and his attorney, the sources said. A spokesman for the New York tax department declined to comment.

Federal prosecutors generally seek to complete their inquiries without the interference of other overlapping probes that could cause hiccups in their case. While Cohen has already pleaded guilty in the federal case, he has yet to be sentenced and could still seek to cooperate with the US attorney's office. In addition, federal prosecutors are continuing to pursue a line of inquiry stemming from their Cohen investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter: whether Trump Organization executives violated campaign finance laws.

The federal probe regarding the Trump company was first reported by Bloomberg News. A spokeswoman for the company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the days following the federal charges, US attorney officials relayed their preferences to the Manhattan district attorney's office and to the state attorney general's office, which has its own related inquiries and has been coordinating closely with the US attorney's office, these people said. The attorney general's office then conveyed the federal prosecutors' message to the tax department and to the office of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to the law-enforcement official involved with the matter.

The governor's office said it was never contacted on the subject. "No one has told us that the southern district of New York advised the tax department not to proceed with their investigation," said Alphonso David, counsel to the governor.

Nevertheless, the tax department on Tuesday is set to meet with Cohen's attorney, Guy Petrillo, the sources said. It is unclear if Cohen himself is also scheduled to attend or if the prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office plan to join.

Tax department inquiries are designed to be independent of the governor's office, which isn't supposed to have any involvement in or knowledge of their proceedings.

Petrillo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to comment.

In August, hours after Cohen pleaded guilty to the federal charges, the tax department subpoenaed him as part of an inquiry into the Donald J. Trump Foundation and whether the charity violated tax laws, CNN has reported.

The tax department now also appears to be examining the Trump Organization based on information included in the federal charges against Cohen, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Court filings from federal prosecutors showed that Cohen submitted false invoices to the Trump Organization in an effort to get reimbursed for hush money he paid to women who had alleged affairs with Trump, which the White House has denied. According to the filings, the company then paid out those invoices as legitimate business expenses. That could be considered tax fraud, this person said.

The tax department is also examining whether the Trump Organization failed to keep accurate books and records, which is a crime under state law, this person said.

The tax department can't bring any criminal charges on its own, and if it finds any wrongdoing, the department would have to refer the matter to the state attorney general or another prosecutor's office.

Original Bloomberg reporting mentioned earlier and in the article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...re-said-to-face-campaign-finance-probe-by-u-s
Trump Executives Face U.S. Campaign-Finance Probe, Source Says

 

[IATT]

 

[elpablo21]

........

 

[RustyShackleford]

Speaking of deficits I saw this article earlier this afternoon
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/406040-federal-deficit-soars-32-percent-to-895b
Federal deficit soars 32 percent to $895B
The federal deficit hit $895 billion in the first 11 months of fiscal 2018, an increase of $222 billion, or 32 percent, over the same period the previous year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The nonpartisan CBO reported that the central drivers of the increasing deficit were the Republican tax law and the bipartisan agreement to increase spending. As a result, revenue only rose 1 percent, failing to keep up with a 7 percent surge in spending, it added.

Revenue from individual and payroll taxes was up some $105 billion, or 4 percent, while corporate taxes fell $71 billion, or 30 percent.

The August statistics were somewhat inflated, however, due to a timing shift for certain payments, putting the deficit measure through August slightly out of sync with the previous year, the CBO noted. Had it not been for the timing shift, the deficit would have increased $154 billion instead of $222 billion.

Earlier analysis from CBO projected that deficits would near $1 trillion in 2019 and surpass that amount the following year.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

This can't be right. I remember a gust of wind blowing in news that "da tax coffers"
we're going to be booming. And not only would that tax cut pay for itself, it would be revenue generating.

Dis deficit filled economic pudding is missing da proof.

 

[chao7]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

This can't be right. I remember a gust of wind blowing in news that "da tax coffers"
we're going to be booming. And not only would that tax cut pay for itself, it would be revenue generating.

Dis deficit filled economic pudding is missing da proof.

Da proof is in da pudding, b

 

[essential1]

........

 

[RustyShackleford]

........

Only valid excuse for this comment is he was watching BBW flicks on the White House WiFi again, and got confused.

 

[Belgium]

He also added "tremendous amounts of water" right after that

 

[Mark Antony]

Harsh, but I hope he gets raped. Wonder what his comments will be after that .

 

[Kinfolk]

 

[rexanglorum]

Jesus christ i get the whole “attack democracy” but seriously?

Tired: Using 9/11/01 to criticize Trump
Wired: Using 9/11/73 to criticize American Empire

 

[rexanglorum]

The thing is conservatives don't actually care about "the Flag" or the "troops" or "Rule of Law" or "family Values." or anything other than maintaining and strengthening economic, racial and gendered hierarchies. So while we should be appalled by Trump's selfishness and lawlessness, Trump's perceived violation of professed conservative values is not shocking. So liberals need to stop trying to score political points and attempting to be Sorkinesque by throwing Trump's contradictions at conservatives and by trying to out salute and out patriot the right wing.

Trump is not aberration, he's just like all the other conservatives, he's just bad at concealing the inhumanity and selfishness that makes up conservative ideology. If you think it was bad that Trump mused about his building being relatively taller on 9/11, you should remember that Bush, his cabinet and his cronies were thinking of how they could exploit the tragedy politically and financially. Guess what, they did, they killed thousands of Americans, they killed one million or more Iraqis, they eroded far more legal norms than Trump thus far has and they made a fortune. Afterward, the liberal class responded by giving them jobs as professors, pundits and lobbyists.

Trump is awful but let's not isolate him from the broader context of conservatism.

 

[AEA18]

Da proof is in da pudding, b

 

[Belgium]

I still find this one of the most interesting stories from the past year. Don't really care who did it, if it was even an attack at all, but the potential technology that could produce such effects sounds very intriguing. If anything though I assume it's probably a lot more likely that this was some sort of mass hysteria effect.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...s-diplomats-illness-in-cuba-nbc-idUSKCN1LR1GE
Russia the main suspect in U.S. diplomats' illness in Cuba: NBC
Russia is the main suspect in U.S. agencies’ investigation of mysterious illnesses in American personnel in Cuba and China, NBC News reported on Tuesday.
Evidence from communications intercepts has pointed to Moscow’s involvement during the investigation involving the FBI, CIA and other agencies, NBC reported, citing three unidentified U.S. officials and two other people briefed on the probe.

The evidence, however, is not conclusive enough for the United States to assign blame publicly to Moscow, according to the NBC report.

The FBI said it did not have a comment on the NBC report. A U.S. government source familiar with official assessments said intelligence agencies would not confirm the report.

U.S. officials said in July that they are still investigating health problems at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, and do not know who or what was behind the mysterious illnesses, which began in 2016 and have affected 26 Americans.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told Reuters on Tuesday, “We have made no determination on who or what is responsible for the health attacks.”

Symptoms have included hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, headaches and fatigue, a pattern consistent with “mild traumatic brain injury,” State Department officials have said.

The State Department said in June it brought a group of diplomats home from Guangzhou, China, over concern they were suffering from a mysterious malady resembling brain injury.


Cuban officials, who are conducting their own investigation, have denied involvement.

The United States believes sophisticated electromagnetic weapons may have been used on government workers, possibly in conjunction with other technologies, NBC reported.

The U.S. military has been trying to reverse-engineer the weapon or weapons used to harm the diplomats, including by testing various devices on animals, NBC said, citing Trump administration officials, congressional aides and others.

Part of the work is being done at the directed energy research program at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where the military has giant lasers and laboratories to test high-power electromagnetic weapons, including microwaves, NBC said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latin-...-mystery-attacks-diplomats-cuba-china-n908141
U.S. officials suspect Russia in mystery 'attacks' on diplomats in Cuba, China
The strong suspicion that Russia was behind the alleged attacks is backed by signals intelligence, meaning intercepted communications, say U.S. officials.