ChiGoose

You seem to be conflating your view on the impacts of their actions with the actual violations of law. The Clinton Campaign violated federal election law and was fined for it by the FEC. Trump violated NY criminal law and was indicted for it. Ironically, his actions almost certainly also violated federal election law but for some reason, the FEC has done nothing about it. Also, on what grounds do you believe any conviction of Trump in the Manhattan case will be overturned on appeal?

Because Hillary paid it from the campaign, not through a NY business. Different laws, different jurisdictions. Had Trump done the same thing through the Trump campaign, he'd have been in the same boat as Hillary.

Each of those individuals was charged with falsification of records in connection to the election crimes. If Trump wanted to keep the stories out of the news, he could have just paid it out of the campaign fund. That would require disclosure to the FEC. He could have been honest about what the payments were for, but that information is available to the public so it could be discovered before the election, undermining the whole point of the payments. He could have paid out of the campaign and lied about what it was for. Think about the Clinton campaign and the Steele Dossier. They tried to cover it up by paying through an attorney. The FEC fined them for it, but that's just a slap on the wrist because the FEC is a toothless joke of an organization. Trump could have gone that route and probably gotten away with it the same way. But by having the funds come through a NY business, falsifying business records to keep it from going public as a way to benefit a political campaign, he opened himself up to criminal liability in NY.

Biden isn't going to pick off Florida. It is almost assuredly going to Trump. But Biden has about a 2:1 cash advantage and is outspending the Trump campaign 8:1. Florida is a very expensive media market, so my guess is that Biden is trying to put Trump in a position to spend some of his limited resources there, which will create bigger advantages for Biden in the actual swing states.

I don't think there's a single reason why firearm deaths are increasing. It's probably a confluence of multiple factors. However, we do know ways to reduce them: Child-access prevention laws reduce total firearm self-injuries (including suicides) among young people Child-access prevention laws reduce firearm homicides or firearm assault injuries among young people Child-access prevention laws reduce unintentional firearm injuries and deaths among children Stand Your Ground laws *increase* total homicide rates, including firearm homicide rates Shall-issue concealed carry laws increase firearm homicides Dealer background checks and universal background checks reduce homicides Minimum age of purchase laws reduce firearm suicides Waiting periods reduce rates of firearm suicide and total homicide Gun possession prohibitions associated with domestic violence may reduce intimate partner homicides If you want to go micro, you might learn that rural countries have a 37% higher rate of firearm deaths than most urban counties.

Keeping in mind that the reason the Australian stabbing made international news is because of how rare mass killings are there, here's just some examples of how it goes when someone tries a mass killing in Texas: 2017: 26 year old Air Force vet opened fire at a church, killing 26 people 2017: 32 year old man opens fire at a football watch party, killing 8 2018: 17 year old killed 10 people at a high school near Huston 2019: 36 year old started randomly shooting people between Midland and Odessa, killing 7 2019: 21 year old opened fire at a Walmart, killing 22 2022: 18 year old kills 21 at Uvalde Elementary School 2023: Gunman kills 8 in mall shooting Also, keep in mind that even in a country with so many guns: self-defense gun use occurs in only 1% of shootings. More guns equals more gun homicides: for every 1% increase in gun ownership, the firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9% States with higher rates of gun ownership have disproportionately large numbers of firearm related homicides So yeah, if someone wanted to kill a bunch of people in Texas, they'd just get a gun and mow people down.

Specific to the Manhattan case (the SOX issue is a different case) multiple people have been charged with felony falsification of business records in connection with an election campaign (what Trump is facing): Clarence Norman was convicted of felony falsification of business records in connection with campaign finance violations. Richard Brega was charged with, and plead guilty to, felony falsification of business records to conceal election law violations Richard Luthmann was charged with, and plead guilty to, felony falsification of business records in furtherance of election law violations. John Dote was charged with, and plead guilty to, felony falsification of business records in connection to election law violations.

This is just incorrect based on the law and previous cases. Multiple politicians have been found guilty for similar acts under this law. Those convictions were not overturned on appeal. Once again, if the goal was a grand conspiracy by everyone to stop Trump, he’d already be behind bars for violating terms of his bail.

Agreed. It’d be a hell of a lot more.

It’s almost as if Obama wasn’t a big LGBTQ ally at first. Ironically, Biden was the one who pushed him towards the right idea on this.

By breaking the law in an attempt to influence the outcome. He should have just paid out of the campaign fund and gotten a slap on the wrist by the FEC (if even that).

Trump violates his gag orders so frequently and routinely that if it were literally anyone else, they’d almost certainly have been locked up for contempt. If this really was some vast organized conspiracy to stop Trump, he’d already be behind bars.

You literally said I was trying to whip up war. You don’t believe that whipping up war is pro-war?

Russia invades Chechnya: surely they won’t do anything like this again Russia invades Chechnya again: surely they won’t do anything like this again Russia invades Georgia: surely they won’t do anything like this again Russia invades Ukraine: surely they won’t do anything like this again Russia invades Ukraine again: surely they won’t do anything like this again Russian leaders say that Latvia is like Ukraine because it doesn’t exist and that other former USSR countries in Europe were actually part of Russia while Russian separatists control land in Moldova: surely they don’t mean it

I guess not wanting broader war is being pro-war now. Advocating to allow a revanchist country to run roughshod over any country they want is anti-war now. Weird world you all live in.

How do you think this ends if we don’t aid Ukraine? What do you think happens if Russia takes over Ukraine?

Josh Allen will never win a Super Bowl. I know this because he hasn’t. Same logic.

That’s it? That’s all you’ve got? Putin wouldn’t have invaded because he didn’t invade before?

Why do you think Putin wouldn’t have invaded under Trump?

Majority of Americans support sending aid to Ukraine, poll says “A majority of Americans (53%) support sending weapons and military aid to Ukraine, according to a new CBS News poll conducted with the market research firm, YouGov.” More Americans Say U.S. Is Not Helping Ukraine Enough “This is the first time that less than 30% of Americans say the U.S. is doing the right amount to support Ukraine, which was the most common view as recently as June, when 43% held this opinion.”

What do you think happens when Russia takes over Ukraine? They just pack up their bags and head back to Moscow and we all live happily ever after? You think you’re making a point but you’re really not. I never supported or voted for Obama. His misplaying of Russia was probably his biggest failure as president.

You’ve really bought into the propaganda, haven’t you? Full on Neville Chamberlain thinking. Russia has already said that they wouldn’t stop the war since Ukraine was running out of ammo. They were winning, why not keep pressing to Kiev, kill the leadership and take over the whole country? They also said that Latvia is a fake country. They said Ukraine isn’t real, and then they invaded it. Now they are saying another country isn’t real. What do you think their plans are? They’ve also claimed that the Baltic states belong to Russia. I don’t want war. I wish Russia hadn’t invaded. But I’m not dumb enough to believe that letting them win in Ukraine ends things. In their minds, Ukraine is just the beginning.

(citation needed)

If you really want to help the military industrial complex, you’d oppose funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. That way, Russia can roll into Europe, Iran can spark a full out war in the Middle East, and China can start seizing their neighbors. WWIII would be a much bigger cash grab than a single war in one European country.

Yeah, turns out that Russia is a revanchist anti-democratic country with a desire to destroy the west. Remember when Mitt Romney correctly called Obama out for his Russia reset? Or when McCain and Congress had to push back against the Obama administration to pass the Magnitsky Act?