WideNine

This article title just made me chuckle, but has a lot to say about Q-Anon and conspiracies theories. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/coronavirus-conspiracy-qanon-algorithm-15740647.php

...and Tucker Carlson and the rest of the MAGA folks that were main-lining Trump tweets and news conferences about voter fraud and US election-rigging are still waiting for that bombshell proof...................and still waiting.

Good read...took a while, but worthwhile. Currently a political and judicial football as to enforcement. I think our democracy would be better served if the emulment clause particulars and enforcement details were worked out. Considering the potential of domestic and international corporate financial leverage particularly where foreign governments are tied closely to corporate entities as is common in Russia and China and elsewhere, financial leverage over our elected leaders has the potential to subvert the very foundation of "by the people for the people" it needs to be something we push our legislators to codify. This potential exposure of our elected leaders to financial leverage was key to the points made by Senator Wyden in the last release of the Bi-Partisan Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian election interference. Even taking Trump specifically out of the equation, I found his arguments compelling. I will repost his comments (have posted them before in another context) as I believe they dovetail nicely into the intended purpose of the Emulment Clauses with the first step - transparency. Folks can read or ignore if too many words - its all good. The report itself was 699 pages long and heavily redacted so did not link to it. (U) Follow the money (U) From day one, I said that the Committee must follow the money - that is, scrutinize Donald Trump's extensive financial entanglements with foreign adversaries. Following the money is, after all, Counterintelligence 101. The way to compromise people is through money. Donald Trump, had he been an applicant for a national' security position in the U.S. government, would never have obtained even the lowest level security clearance. What's more, no review of his suitability for a clearance would have ignored his finances. It is therefore derelict that the Committee, having set out to conduct an investigation of counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities, would have failed to scrutinize so much information that would be relevant to any application for a security clearance. This must be the last time that the Committee gives short shrift to this issue. (U) A thorough investigation into this threat would have required a review of Donald Trump's finances. In the House of Representatives, three committees issued subpoenas for financial records, including the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence which did so for the express purpose of conducting an investigation into foreign influence. In the Mazars case, the U.S. Supreme Court considered these subpoenas and upheld the principle that Congress may subpoena information, including the president's personal information, if it is related to and in furtherance of a legitimate task of the Congress. Given that the Committee has undertaken this counterintelligence investigation as a legitimate task of Congress and that counterintelligence investigations indisputably encompass financial entanglements, I regret that the Committee did not pursue the records sought by the House. (U) By remanding the cases, the Supreme Court effectively delayed the House's access to these documents until after the 2020 election, thereby preventing Congress and the voting public from fully considering the counterintelligence threat posed by the incumbent. On a matter of such urgency, one that implicates the national security of the United States and the defense of its democracy, this delay is unacceptable. Congress must therefore pursue additional means to obtain and release financial information, including S. 20, the Presidential Tax Return Bill, which codifies the long-standing practice of presidents and presidential candidates releasing their finances to the public. Congress should also pass legislation that would reveal foreign influence efforts behind financial transactions, such as S.1978, the Corporate Transparency Act, which prevents the use of anonymous shell companies for illicit activities.

Don't forget his other stalwart buddy, Lindsey Graham. If that dude has a spine I would need to see the x-rays. Talking about a guy who waffles and flips on positions. Yeah, now that's a guy you want in your trench saying, "I've got your back". His self-promotion exerp below from his Lindsey Graham dot com site makes you wonder if his own campaign staff got drunk later and had a good laugh. Just OMG....there are so many ways I would edit this. A fighter who will take a dive. A waffler who backs whomever he thinks may win or aid his reelection. A weasel who puts his own political career and self interests before country.... Keeping federal spending down - what......inherited a 17 trillion dollar national debt from Obama and has been a part of the GOP leadership that has it now at 27 trillion. Meet Lindsey Graham (Hard Pass) A fighter who doesn’t back down from a challenge. A conservative who gets things done. A leader who puts our country above all. In the United States Senate, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham has earned a reputation as a conservative, a problem-solver, and a leader who gets things done. He is a great friend to our men and women serving in uniform, a respected voice on national security matters, a leading advocate for cutting the out-of-control spending in Washington

That is a good question. I have to look up how violations of the emulment clause can be prosecuted and when and get back to you. I have to thank Trump for one thing, his shenanigans have forced me, and I think many other Americans, to dig deeper into constitional, and election law over the past few years. Ok, it is an impeachable offense and Congress does have the power to impeach a former president which prevents him or her from holding government office again. Apparently, those are the 2 powers of impeachment. Removal from current office and/or preventing future ability to hold office. May be a worthy endeavor to firewall our government from any Trump future office runs.

I am not dismissing out of hand that investigations may find some dirt on Hunter, he has had a somewhat checkered past. Pretty sure it won't link to pa Joe. Meanwhile the whole Trump clan will be up to their ears in legal alligators when Trump Org criminal charges are files and Don steered Federal dollars to his Trump Org holdings which is a violation of the emulment law. One has way more tangible links than the other and it was rather a short-sighted strategy by Trump to seek to undermine Biden via family illegal activities considering his own ilk and his more direct connections to Trump Org.

I think he is aiming at your points as well, but the gist of the legal efforts and the GOP directives to observers during recounts is to obstruct and delay.... That too is flawed logic as most states seperate recount request paid for out of some political war chest from initial result certifications. 3rd parties can request a recount in an attempt to change the certified results, but the certifications are date bound and move forward either way. There are state and constitutional deadlines that are firm. You may be right that much of the whole effort amounts to a multimillion dollar tantrum and scorched earth approach to concession.

You obviously don't know a single person who is on the front lines of a hospital dealing with this "flu" So whatever.

Such a narrow and incomplete view. So, your premise regarding the elderly and sick having higher mortality rates is true, but that means we should take every precaution to ensure we do not expose our seniors and those who have weakened immune systems to this virus. That means the population that can run around asymptomatic or with mild symptoms should avoid spreading it to those who cannot and do not take those risks. You state mortality rates like they are the only factor when currently the CDC is predicting that by Dec. 6th we will surpass 200,000 new Covid-19 hospitalizations. Do you have any idea the strain that puts on our healthcare workers, ICU space, and ventilator equipment? And, what do you do when patients suffering from other conditions need that equipment and space? You also have to take measures quarantining all those newly hospitalized from those vulnerable people you mentioned who may be in hospitals too. We act responsibly to try to flatten the curve so we can have a snowball's chance of having the medical resources to treat folks when they do get sick so they are not dying on hospital tables for lack of available treatment resources.

I kind of got over Leh-nerd. Waste of time...circular arguments grounded in rumor and conjecture that seek to obfuscate and deflect the clear obstruction, collusion, and dishonest malfeasance of Trump and his administration. I lend more credence to those who spent real time with Trump - unfiltered. John Kelly: Former White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, has said that President Trump "is the most flawed person" he's ever known. "The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life," Kelly has told friends. James Mattis: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.” John Bolton: ...in his new book, "The Room Where It Happened," Bolton paints Trump as "stunningly uninformed," making "erratic" and "irrational" decisions, unable to separate his personal and political interests from the country's, and marked and manipulated by foreign adversaries. Ukraine aid ploy and impeachment: "The defense of the president was, he cares about the general corruption in the Ukraine, and that was on his mind -- that's utter nonsense," Bolton told ABC News, adding the Ukrainian government "fully understood" the connection. "He was bargaining to get the investigation, using the resources of the federal government, which I found very disturbing," Bolton said. Trump has denied that, tweeting in January, "I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens." Bolton said Trump is lying, "and it's not the first time either." Obstruction of Justice: He cited specific examples of strongmen leaders who had "mastered the art of ringing (Trump's) bells," including Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. According to Bolton, Erdogan asked Trump to intervene on behalf of Halkbank, a Turkish state-run bank that faced possible criminal charges for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and was said to operate like a slush fund for Erdogan's family. "And the president said to Erdogan at one point, 'Look, those prosecutors in New York are Obama people. Wait till I get my people in and then we'll take care of this,'" Bolton said. "I've never heard any president say anything like that. Ever," Bolton added. "It did feel like obstruction of justice to me." Whatever was said to Erdogan, Halkbank was indicted last fall by the Southern District of New York for fraud, money laundering, and sanctions violations. I mean the trail of turds that follow Trump and his administration are simply unprecedented in our US history. Counting down the days till they give him an unceremonious boot out of the WH.

Trump poll watchers obstruct recount efforts in Wisconsin. https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-wisconsin-elections-dcb7da95578fc7289122c6d372575a9b In good news PA looks like a done deal for certifying results for Biden Monday. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/21/politics/federal-judge-dismisses-trump-pennsylvania-lawsuit/index.html

You're an idiot. This is a forum about politics, and I posted something I thought was interesting from US history. That is all. Have zero idea what agenda you read into that other than your own.

It's laughable to think the dem fraud scheme comes down to this theory. Folks driving or walking to a polling location like blank slates with no candidate in mind or firmly Trump. Then the election workers stand in front of them wiggling their fingers chanting, "you will vote for Biden, you will vote for Biden"...which changes 10's of thousands of voter's minds. Yet somehow the same magic did not work to save House seats that went GOP. When will folks face the music, more people dislike Trump than like him. Although there are a disturbing number of brain-washed sycophants out there. I am not even that high on Biden, and there were other primary candidates I liked better, but he beats that embarrassing autocratic clown any day.

A book that helps folks break free from a cult. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cult_of_Trump.html?id=py-BDwAAQBAJ

In keeping with this OP theme: Trump's autocratic propaganda outlets are grinding to a halt: Attempts to subvert iconic Voice of America and US-funded media outlets: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-rules-against-trump-global-media-chief-after-firings/ar-BB1bensd Twitter will have its very own social media inauguration it seems: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-potus-handle-joe-biden-inauguration-day/ Fox Tucker Carlson seems to have gotten new marching orders regarding propping up Trump: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/21/media/tucker-carlson-fox-news-traitor/index.html

The main thrust of the barrage of these tactics is to stall the state vote certification process in the hopes of having states default on their certification deadlines and allow GOP legislators in states where they control the chambers to overide the popular vote. There are a lot of checks against this actual stealing of elections and many states have laws to prevent "faithless" electors that try to vote in a way that does not reflect the popular vote of their state. More regarding safeguards: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/19/how-electoral-college-works-437749

"New" promising treatment for Covid-19 from St. Jude when one infected needs critical care. It involves tamping down Cytokine storms (overactive immune responses). https://www.kalb.com/2020/11/20/st-jude-scientists-make-breakthrough-and-discover-possible-covid-19-treatment/ The frustrating thing for me Is that I read about how Scripps researchers made this same "discovery" back in 2011 and I thought it looked really promising: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-treatable-mechanism-responsible-deadly.html ...and yet Scripps researchers were frustrated by the lack of interest from drug companies to pursue the research more - 2018 article. It was pretty hard to watch' Dr. Michael Oldstone, a professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps who was involved in the research, says he doesn't know of any plans to do such studies in humans, but he wishes there were. "In the animals, if we blocked the main component of cytokine storm, then they had a good outcome," he said. Full story: https://www.wcpo.com/marketplace/flu/oregon-mom-dies-from-flu-after-hospital-sends-her-home

Yes, I am devoted to truth. I will take my "unhinged" belief that Biden won this election fairly and you can stick with your "hinged" belief that there is evidence to the contrary.

I would be fine if they worked Sweeney into Lee Smith's role and leaned on him and Kroft. The kid blocks better than Knox, but is way more athletic than Smith although Smith is a more experienced blocker. Knox's mental errors and piss-poor blocking has worn on me...not saying we have seen this kid's ceiling, but he needs to demonstrate that his overall game is incrementally improving.

poppin tags?

Why would anyone care what Hunter Biden has or has not done. He's a grown ass man with his own business that no one has tied to his dad - and yes, they have tried. The GOP could have videos showing Hunter in a room full of hookers in leather sex bondage gear taking a break from playing strip poker with Putin to snort a line with Trump Jr. and all it would mean is that Joe Biden's son was a POS.

Let's just look at the first summary lines that wiki has on Mueller and your boy Trump Per Wiki: "Herr Mueller" as you call him Robert Swan Mueller III (/ˈmʌlər/; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served as a Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, receiving a Bronze Star for heroism and a Purple Heart. He subsequently attended the University of Virginia School of Law. Mueller is a registered Republican in Washington, D.C., and was appointed and reappointed to Senate-confirmed positions by presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.[4][5] Mueller has served both in government and private practice. He was an assistant United States attorney, a United States attorney, United States assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division, a homicide prosecutor in Washington, D.C., acting United States deputy attorney general, partner at D.C. law firm WilmerHale and director of the FBI. Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is the 45th and current president of the United States. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality. Born and raised in Queens, New York City, Trump attended Fordham University for two years and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became president of his father Fred Trump's real estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded its operations to building or renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. Trump later started various side ventures, mostly by licensing his name. Trump and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies. He owned the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015, and produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice from 2004 to 2015. Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. He entered the 2016 presidential race as a Republican and was elected in a surprise electoral college victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton while losing the popular vote.[a] He became the oldest first-term U.S. president and the first without prior military or government service. His election and policies have sparked numerous protests. Trump has made many false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. The statements have been documented by fact-checkers, and the media have widely described the phenomenon as unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist.

We are actually assuming he is human.