Political Randomness

[Pyperkub]

I'm surprised they waited this long, if they were going to do anything at all.

US watchdog to probe FBI Clinton email actions

A US government watchdog has launched an investigation into actions taken by the FBI during the election campaign.

FBI director James Comey's decision to reopen an investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server 11 days before the election shook up the race.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he would look into "certain actions" by the FBI and DoJ.

Mrs Clinton was cleared of any wrongdoing days before the US voted.

Her campaign team has blamed the FBI announcement as a key factor why she lost the election to Donald Trump.

The announcement on Thursday does not mention Hillary Clinton by name but refers to public disclosures by Mr Comey.

Mr Horowitz said his review would look at a news conference in July 2016 when Mr Comey said he would not recommend charges for Mrs Clinton.

A letter to Congress on 28 October, in which Mr Comey said there were more emails to look at, will also be subject to this new inquiry.

It will also address concerns expressed by Republicans that some lower-level FBI officials may have improperly shared information with the Clinton campaign.

Seeing as how the FBI allegedly had the Trump dossier in August, I hope that will also be a part of the inquiry, because from the outside, it certainly seems like they didn't do any significant investigation there, while placing an inordinate amount of time being public about the asinine email investigation. If they did ANY investigation, they should be able to verify or dismiss at least some claims made in the dossier by now, and should have been able to before November.

[Smoove_B]

Everything is going to be fine:

On January 11, while everyone’s attention was focused on confirmation hearings and attempts to repeal Obamacare, the House passed The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 (H.R. 5) which would amend the Administrative Procedures Act to overturn the deference courts have given to administrative agency decisions by a vote of 238-183. I was told the Republican leadership was confident, since there are 114 judicial vacancies that they expect will be filled by “conservatives,” this change will significantly help to end “big government,” as will the new Administration’s appointees to the various regulatory bodies.

So what does that mean?

The Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that the courts could only overturn rulings that were “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion.” In other words, the courts would have to defer to the regulatory agencies in finding whether a ruling was justified. But the Republicans in the House passed a law that would allow the courts to rule without giving deference to the regulatory agencies. A Republican court could, for instance, overrule decisions of the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency on concocted Constitutional grounds – say, by arguing that it violated the “takings” clause of the Constitution. That could cripple the regulatory agencies.

Everything is fine. I'm still astounded by the amount of work that's been done in the last 12 days. Absolutely astounded.

[malchior]

This is looking a lot like Hungary when Orban got into power to be honest. This is a silent revolution. Most people have no idea it is happening even. It is safe to say the media in general is in a complete failure state at this point.

[Paingod]

It is safe to say the media in general is in a complete failure state at this point.

In the swirling shitstorm that is American politics right now, there's only so many corn kernels you can point at in any given moment. It's not failure, in my mind, as much as it is seizure. It's a DDoS attack.

[malchior]

It is safe to say the media in general is in a complete failure state at this point.

In the swirling shitstorm that is American politics right now, there's only so many corn kernels you can point at in any given moment. It's not failure, in my mind, as much as it is seizure. It's a DDoS attack.

I agree but the DDoS defense isn't to operate as usual. You respond. They are still bringing professional liars on the air like Conway. How about bringing policy experts on the tv and saying - this is an analysis of what this procedural change could mean? They have no interest in that because all they care about is the drama. That is the failure. They aren't informing - they enternewsing. It is a disgrace.

[Skinypupy]

How about bringing policy experts on the tv and saying - this is an analysis of what this procedural change could mean? They have no interest in that because all they care about is the drama. That is the failure. They aren't informing - they enternewsing. It is a disgrace.

What good does it do to provide expert analysis when people think whatever they say is automatically invalid because of where it's being broadcast? Jesus Christ himself could be interviewed by Anderson Cooper, and Trump voters would still dismiss it and call it "fake news", simply because it didn't appear on Fox or Breitbart.

I have no idea if/how that cycle gets broken.

[malchior]

How about bringing policy experts on the tv and saying - this is an analysis of what this procedural change could mean? They have no interest in that because all they care about is the drama. That is the failure. They aren't informing - they enternewsing. It is a disgrace.

What good does it do to provide expert analysis when people think whatever they say is automatically invalid because of where it's being broadcast? Jesus Christ himself could be interviewed by Anderson Cooper, and Trump voters would still dismiss it and call it "fake news", simply because it didn't appear on Fox or Breitbart.

I have no idea if/how that cycle gets broken.

To be honest - you have to write some of them off. What is more important is to somehow get the message out there over and over that things are *not normal*. At least go down fighting. Something more than normalized Crossfire. John Stewart had it right years ago. The networks are not only standing by while Trump fiddles; they are providing the backing track.

[stessier]

I'd also say these are extremely complicated issues and you can't begin to understand them in a 5 minute segment. Additionally, both sides have points - there are no absolutes to grab on to. Makes for difficult television and TLDR articles.

[malchior]

I'd also say these are extremely complicated issues and you can't begin to understand them in a 5 minute segment. Additionally, both sides have points - there are no absolutes to grab on to.

That isn't totally what I'm talking about (but yes complex is hard to boil down into five minutes - which is why they probably shouldn't attempt it). They are going on tv and flat out lying - and the media actually had a debate whether they should call it lying. Unreal.

[Paingod]

One of the doctors here just threw down a joke.

"What's the difference between a chickpea and a garbanzo bean?"

Spoiler:

Trump's never had a garbanzo bean on his face.

[The Meal]

[Max Peck]

Back on the Mekong Delta, John Kerry finds a man who once tried to kill him and exoneration

CA MAU, Vietnam — It could have been 1969 again as Secretary of State John F. Kerry stood on the bow of the small boat chugging up the Bay Hap River on Saturday, the wind billowing his sleeves and his eyes darting left and right toward banks shrouded in dark foliage.

As a young Navy lieutenant, Kerry commanded a Swift boat along this stretch of churning brown waters in the middle of a free-fire zone. Here, he earned a Silver Star for his heroics when he leapt ashore after an ambush to pursue a fleeing Viet Cong with a grenade launcher and shot him dead.

Now, some 48 years later and with the rapid approach of sunset on a political career spanning almost four decades, Kerry was about to be yanked back to that time, and come face to face with a Viet Cong soldier who had taken part in the ambush.

Aides escorted Vo Ban Tam to greet Kerry on the dock, beside a row of blue tourist boats. Tam at 70 is three years younger than Kerry. He was Viet Cong in the communist stronghold of Ca Mau, one of the enemy lying in the tall grasses waiting to entrap unprotected, thin-skinned river patrol boats like Kerry’s.

Tam apparently had been tracked down by U.S. consulate officials and invited to meet the U.S. secretary of state he once tried to kill.

Speaking through a translator, Tam said that he had known the man whom Kerry had chased and killed in the firefight of Feb. 28, 1969.

His name was Ba Thanh, and he was 24 years old.

“He was a good soldier,” Tam told Kerry, explaining the training and skill required to handle an R-40 grenade launcher.

Up until that moment, all Kerry knew was that he had shot a Viet Cong soldier. Suddenly, the soldier took shape as a man, with a name and a set of skills that he had used against Kerry and his crew. And Kerry suddenly knew his age.

Tam, a successful shrimp and crab producer in Vietnam’s southernmost province, had in effect exonerated Kerry from one of the more stinging attacks his opponents raised when Kerry ran for president in 2004. His war record was repeatedly denigrated by political enemies who questioned whether he deserved the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts he was awarded. They charged that he did nothing particularly heroic in Ca Mau and that the Viet Cong he shot was just a teenage boy.

[Smoove_B]

Quick reminder - it's the year 2017 and we still have three states that celebrate a Robert E. Lee holiday:

Alabama is currently one of only three states that observe a combined Martin Luther King Jr./Robert E. Lee holiday.
...
Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi are the only states that still combine the two days as part of their official celebrations. The holidays are held on the third Monday of January and result in the closure of state and local offices, courts and schools.

[Moliere]

Quick reminder - it's the year 2017 and we still have three states that celebrate a Robert E. Lee holiday:

Alabama is currently one of only three states that observe a combined Martin Luther King Jr./Robert E. Lee holiday.
...
Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi are the only states that still combine the two days as part of their official celebrations. The holidays are held on the third Monday of January and result in the closure of state and local offices, courts and schools.

Robert E. Lee was a brilliant military commander who grudgingly fought for the South. He cared more about defending his home state of Virginia than fighting for The Cause. It's better than a Jefferson Davis holiday. Right?

[ImLawBoy]

I don't think we actually have to have a holiday for either Lee or Davis, although I'd have to research that more.

Regardless, attaching it to MLK day shows that it has nothing to do with Lee's love of Virginia.

[Holman]

Regardless, attaching it to MLK day shows that it has nothing to do with Lee's love of Virginia.

Nor does the fact that it is mainly observed by Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

[Skinypupy]

Following the Trump clash with John Lewis, Georgia County Commissioner calls John Lewis "a racist pig", and said he only won because of gerrymandered districts:





Man, that is a seriously master-level class in lack of self-awareness

[Rip]

Is that his wife he is posing with?

She is one ugly fish.

[Moliere]

Redistricting Likely to Result in More Republican Office Holders

Currently, the state’s Congressional delegation splits 8-5 in favor of the Republicans; however, the new map will likely result in a 10-4 division after the 2012 elections. The most significant change is modification to Democratic U.S. Representative John Barrow’s district. The new plan moves his home in Chatham County, near Savannah, out of the district and adds parts of Republican-leaning Augusta, leaving the district much more conservative and Barrow’s prospects for reelection dramatically reduced. Also under the new map, the City of Atlanta will be split into two districts, with U.S. Representative John Lewis (D) ceding much of the Buckhead area to Republican U.S. Representative Phil Gingrey.

[Skinypupy]

OK, my last (hopefully) post on this subject. Rob Schneider (yes, that Rob Schneider) felt he needed to explain MLK and the civil rights struggle to John Lewis.

[Holman]

Turns out there's actually a picture of John Lewis not giving in to anger and hurt:

[Max Peck]

If American neo-Nazis are aligned with Hamas, does that make them terrorists?

An armed march by neo-Nazis intended to harass the Jewish community of Whitefish, Montana has been postponed after the white supremacist organizer failed to obtain a city permit.

Andrew Anglin, who runs the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website, announced Wednesday evening that he would not hold his march scheduled for Monday, Martin Luther King Day, because he has not yet obtained a special event permit from the city of Whitefish.

“We’re going to do it,” Anglin told ABC-Fox Montana in an interview held on Skype. “We’re not canceling the march. We’re postponing it due to the fact that if they’re going to deny the permit in the first place, then what are they going to do when we show up to the march? I don’t want to see a bunch of people get arrested. I don’t want to see any kind of problems.

“We’re trying to have a peaceful march and they’re trying to block us. And look, if the city is violating my constitutional rights and they get sued over this, then that’s a big victory.”

Anglin said in a post on the Daily Stormer that the march would be postponed to February and be held without a permit if he could not secure one by then. He added it “will be bigger and have more guns and special guests than we originally planned.”

Last week, Anglin said that nationalist groups from the United Kingdom, Sweden, France and Greece would attend the march. He also confirmed that “a representative of Hamas will be in attendance, and will give a speech about the international threat of the Jews.”

He also said his attorney believes he has a federal lawsuit against the city because it required him to get permission for the march from every business on the route, something the lawyer says violates the marchers’ Constitutional rights.

“Winning a federal lawsuit against the city would be an even bigger victory than the march itself,” Anglin wrote.

[Alefroth]

I miss the days of one-stop mattress and awning shopping.

[Zarathud]

While in the Magic Kingdom, I saw a White Lives Matter t-shirt. The ugliness has infiltrated the Happiest Place on Earth. Sad.

[Smoove_B]

I just don't even know what to say to this:

Paul LePage, the Republican governor of Maine, said Tuesday that civil rights icon and Georgia Rep. John Lewis should "look at history" and say "thank you" to 19th century Republican presidents for fighting for the rights of African-Americans.

...

"How about John Lewis last week?" LePage said on WVOM Maine radio's George Hale and Ric Tyler Show. "Criticizing the president. You know, I will just say this. John Lewis ought to look at history. It was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves. It was Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant that fought against Jim Crow laws. A simple 'thank you' would suffice."

Is everyone losing their goddamn minds as we move closer to 1/20?

[Isgrimnur]

OK, my last (hopefully) post on this subject. Rob Schneider (yes, that Rob Schneider) felt he needed to explain MLK and the civil rights struggle to John Lewis.

And now we can add whitesplaining to the lexicon.

[hepcat]

Deuce Bigalow apparently seems to think the Civil Rights movement was amicably ended after a luncheon one afternoon.

[El Guapo]

I also enjoy the phrase "accomplished & won civil rights." He won Civil Rights! All done.

[gilraen]

I just don't even know what to say to this:

Paul LePage, the Republican governor of Maine, said Tuesday that civil rights icon and Georgia Rep. John Lewis should "look at history" and say "thank you" to 19th century Republican presidents for fighting for the rights of African-Americans.

...

"How about John Lewis last week?" LePage said on WVOM Maine radio's George Hale and Ric Tyler Show. "Criticizing the president. You know, I will just say this. John Lewis ought to look at history. It was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves. It was Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant that fought against Jim Crow laws. A simple 'thank you' would suffice."

Is everyone losing their goddamn minds as we move closer to 1/20?

Well, in all honesty, you can't blame this one on 1/20, LePage has been batshit crazy for years now, he was Trump before we had Trump.

[Max Peck]

Jewish centres across US evacuated after hoax bomb threats

The FBI is investigating a second wave of threats to Jewish facilities across the US in the last month.

On Wednesday, 27 Jewish community centres in 17 US states reported receiving hoax bomb threats.

The telephone calls prompted evacuations, but no explosives were found or injuries reported.

No one has claimed responsibility for any of the calls, which first targeted 16 Jewish community centres in nine US states on 9 January.

Fake news! (Because the threats were a hoax, get it?)

[Defiant]

According to a German court, firebombing a German Synagogue isn't anti-Semitic, it's a "justified expression of criticism of Israel’s policies."

[LordMortis]

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bil ... t-79282dd2

1
SECTION 1. IC 36-8-24 IS ADDED TO THE INDIANA CODE AS
2
A
NEW
CHAPTER TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY
3
1, 2017]:
4
Chapter 24. Duty to Clear Roads
5
Sec. 1. The following definitions apply throughout this chapter:
6
(1) "Mass traffic obstruction" means an incident in which, as
7
part of (or as the result of) a protest, riot, or other assembly,
8
at least ten (10) persons obstruct vehicular traffic in violation
9
of IC 35-44.1-2-13 (obstruction of traffic).
10
(2) "Responsible public official" means the:
11
(A) mayor of a city, with respect to an incident that occurs
12
in a city;
13
(B) town board, with respect to an incident that occurs in
14
a town; or
15
(C) sheriff, with respect to an incident that occurs in the
16
unincorporated area of a county.
17
Sec. 2. A responsible public official shall, not later than fifteen
2017IN 285—LS 6662/DI 106
2
1
(15) minutes after first learning that a mass traffic obstruction
2
exists in the official's jurisdiction, dispatch all available law
3
enforcement officers to the mass traffic obstruction with directions
4
to use any means necessary to clear the roads of the persons
5
unlawfully obstructing vehicular traffic.

Have I watched too many movies or does "any means necessary" mean lethal force?

[Jeff V]

Have I watched too many movies or does "any means necessary" mean lethal force?

"A whiff of grapeshot" certainly helped Napoleon along in his career.

[AWS260]

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bil ... t-79282dd2

Major John Cloud spoke to the marchers through a bullhorn. “It would be detrimental to your safety to continue this march,” he said. “And I’m saying that this is an unlawful assembly. You are to disperse. You are ordered to disperse. Go home or go to your church. This march will not continue. Is that clear to you?"

He gave them two minutes to comply. Just over one minute later, he ordered troopers to advance.

They moved toward the marchers, truncheons held waist high, parallel to the ground. But something seemed to overtake them as they pushed into the demonstrators. The troopers began to stampede, sweeping over unarmed women, children and men as a wave does a shore.

[hepcat]

So I was discussing my choice of a new dentist with my coworker who supports Trump (I've mentioned her before...I refuse to engage in political discussions with her). This is how the conversation went:

Me: It's a grandfather, his son and his grandson. And they're close by.
Her: Well, we do work in an area with a lot of jews.
Me: Uh...what?
Her: They demand the best.
Me: I think that can be said for a lot of folks who work around here.
Her: Yeah, but Jews demand the best more than most. It's true. They know money and jewels.
(the jewel addendum struck me as funny and I kind of chuckled...which I think she took as affirmation).
Me: I've...I've not heard that.
Her: Really? I mean, they come out of the womb and they're told they're wonderful.
Me: I...uh...I'd better get going. My appointment is coming up.
Her: (realizing I was uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation) You've never heard any of this? Really?

She seemed genuinely shocked that I didn't agree with her wholeheartedly, and then she got defensive when she realized I wasn't going to either.

I would call that antisemitic. I realize she doesn't represent all Trump supporters, but everyone that voted for Trump that I know has the same mindset. It's just chilling.

[Jeff V]

I would call that antisemitic. I realize she doesn't represent all Trump supporters, but everyone that voted for Trump that I know has the same mindset. It's just chilling.

All of Trump's supporters are deplorables in their own unique way.

[Holman]

Did she get to the part where Jews polish their dentures with the blood of Christian babies?

[hepcat]

It boggles my mind that she quite literally feels these are simply facts and thus not racist comments. She gets very angry if you even hint that her views are such.

[Moliere]

Her: Really? I mean, they come out of the womb and they're told they're wonderful.

Parents telling their kids they're wonderful? How unusual of the Jews.

[$iljanus]

You didn't know that the members of the vast Jewish conspiracy get the best dental coverage?