F Belichick if he accepts the Medal of Freedom from Trump.

Eh, I get it given his affinity for history and it is the highest civilian award in the country. It also lends credence to my theory that Trump was coming back to the White House to get more pictures. :)

Can he go pick it up from Biden?

I gather Bill is going to secretly videotape the ceremony. https://t.co/o5CDR5kzVA

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) January 11, 2021

SI

Melania is doing her best to remind people how horrible she really is.

The "Free Melania" movement was always weird. At no point did she ever indicate she was anything other than 100% behind her husband. And it is pretty clear that she, herself, is personally a pretty horrible human being.

People just assumed that she was "trapped" in that marriage based on nothing.

That statement she made is mind boggling.

Can you imagine how crazy the right wing media would go if officers and protesters were killed at a BLM rally and eulogized in the same manner.

yup it's kind of like an eva peron deal

I still think she is a Russian-trained asset on a mission to seduce an American billion to manipulate America politically, and it worked spectacularly.


Not really, but it would make a great movie. I am surprised it is not a common conspiracy.

*sigh*

NEWS: In one of his final acts as secretary, Pompeo will designate Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism today. https://t.co/qNe9Q2JdjN

— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) January 11, 2021

Opinion: Democrats Have Been Shameless About Your Presidential Vote Too
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/o...ral-votes.html

Thought this was interesting as I didn't know the history of objecting to the electoral votes in the past prior to this week.

There has always been a fringe that would willingly fight for the impossible, but the grown-ups in the room never allowed it to go very far. The only time in my life that a possible challenge would have had any possibility to have legs, it was Florida in 2000. Gore was the one that stopped that idea. He recognized the damage that would be caused by continued fighting. He knew erosion in the faith of the electoral process would cause long term damage to the party and the process. The current President doesn't care.

Yes, there's a difference between publicity stunts and actually coordinating with folks to overturn an election.

This is a false equivalency and has already been disproved but doesn't stop Rs and Fox from bringing it up over and over. This guy is a opinion write and a law professor from Iowa so can guess his political leanings. Dems have had a house member or two object to the election ( never 162) but they never got a Senator to go along with it let alone 7!

The University of Iowa is as liberal as they come. Growing up there it was considered 10 square miles of liberalism in a sea of conservatism. Shoot, the town had a socialist, feminist, lesbian council member. Every vote on the city council was 6-1. The city used to harass that poor women. This was in the 80s, so you can imagine how she was treated.

I wasn’t equivocating - I was just posted an article I thought was interesting because I didn’t realize it had happened before (although it’s not like the ones in 2000 are surprising).

Thanks for the correct my bad

Sorry for jumping on you.

Bill Belichick says he won’t accept Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump
By Cindy Boren

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...al-of-freedom/

Well that may hurt Trump the most...

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New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick won't accept Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump

Does Belichick hate the President?

Is he a part of Antifa?

Is he a leftist?


WE NEED ANSWERS!

“We’re on to Biden.”

Yeah, being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom is now less prestigious than being a Subway spokesman.

Its like applebees being given a James Beard Award

Reports are saying that Trump did not like being told that if he pardons himself, he opens himself up for civil damages because a pardon is an admission of guilt. He reportedly said that if he can't pardon himself, he's not giving anymore pardons to anyone. I hope this is true.

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I dislike Trump as much as the next guy.

But I think that a pardon worded along the lines of "I pardon myself for whatever federal crimes I may have committed up until today" would be enough to prevent prosecutions as a practical matter. And would not open him up to liability b/c it isn't really an admission of anything.

No one really knows b/c the answer will be whatever the Supreme Court says when and if they ever get a question about it.

But I see little downside in phrasing it that way.

I don't know if a general pardon is going to stand up in court. It hasn't been challenged before. I also doubt a self pardon is going to stand. I think that statement will probably doubly fail.

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So there was a discussion yesterday on CNN about the WH counsel and Bill Barr recommending Trump not pardon himself. John Dean basically hypothesized that the reason was that if Trump doesn't pardon himself, there is a chance he doesn't get prosecuted. If Trump does pardon himself, the chances of prosecution actually goes up considerably because the pardon itself violates the DOJ internal memo in the Nixon case. I don't know if that is accurate but I can see the logic and would explain why there are Trump supporters who are recommending against the hail mary pardon.

I’m starting to wonder if encouraging an armed mob to kill the one person in a position to give him an iron-clad pardon was smart politics.

:nono:

What "Reports" are these?

I thought it was internet fiction that a pardon requires an admission of guilt.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a pardon is admission of guilt:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burd...n%20of%20it%22.


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Looks like the circus is continuing today with Trump flying down to Texas to visit the 450 miles of border wall that was constructed during his presidency. Should provide some good humor. Biden has vowed that not another penny will be spent on the border wall during his watch. Perhaps Joe feels that money could be better used helping Iran to accelerate their nuclear program.

I'm sure that's Joe's main platform; that and supporting the rise of the lizard people.

I thought it was more like 50 miles including the private land, grift wall that is falling down.

Yeah, IIRC that's at least twice now that VV has suggested that Biden is pro-Iran.

Probably more than twice, but I don't mean to infer that Biden is "pro Iran". More like "naive on Iran." They'd never admit it publicly, but I'll bet the Iranian leaders are giddy with excitement for the likely upcoming appeasement, so they can get back to the business of developing their nuclear weapons program without all of these obstacles.

They already have been enriching Uranium under the orange one.

That line of reasoning might sound sane if Biden hadn't been part of an administration that crafted an explicit, direct policy around Iran's nuclear weapons program & Trump's administration hadn't blow it up entirely, but I'm sure you've got some alternate version of history you're dying to tell everybody.

They've been enriching more uranium under the orange one than they did under the deal which allowed independent observers. You can't tell some people that, but pulling out of the Iran deal was a complete disaster.

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Huh. Usually Trump's policies have been so well thought out...

Never mind that Biden was part of an administration that (allegedly) did the best, most elegant thing I'd seen to screw with Iran and couldn't really be traced back to them: Stuxnet.

SI

Iran, I am sure, prefers the administration that talks tough but has no idea how to stop them over the administration that has a documented history of containing them.

Agree wholeheartedly. On paper, it was an explicit policy, that in theory would be fine if the Iranians had followed through with it on good faith. On second thought, maybe we need to give them more time. I'm sure they'll get around to doing the right thing eventually.

Maybe Trump’s love letter campaign with North Korea will work ‘em.

And again, you might sound sane if you were applying the same level of analysis & judgment (or any at all) towards the past four full years.

You have evidence of prohibited Iranian work on nuclear weapons during the timeframe that the treaty was active? You should publish that because it would be really huge news.

Heh Pompeo cancels trip to Luxembourg because the country and EU officials refused to meet with him

I certainly don't think Obama/Biden were pro-Iranian but they were definitely not near as anti-Iranian or as pro-Israeli as Trump is. And I think this is what VV is trying to communicate with his statement on "naive" in an earlier post.

Nevertheless, I agree with the Obama/Biden approach to Iran back then (but not sure it'll work now with the past 4 years).

Every administration is going to handle foreign countries differently. As you said, Trump was arguably tougher on Iran but he gave Russia a free pass for 4 years, did nothing when the country that orchestrated 9/11 killed Khashoggi and then turned around and sold them $300 billion in weapons. All while eroding the trust of our traditional allies and passing love letters back and forth with KJU.

Doom and glooming over Biden and Iran makes little sense to me when he was at least part of an administration that made concrete attempts to reel Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Not quite. The the judge in that case was remarking that accepting a pardon would lead to the perception of guilt by the public. Not that he's actually guilty of anything.

Just like if someone "pleads the fifth". You probably think that they have something to hide.

Well, for some LONG overdue news:

https://apnews.com/article/flint-lea...0e37a06a82f08d

Just for accurate record keeping in this thread.

Trump is now the first US President to ever be impeached twice.

Congrats on the accomplishment!

WINNING!!!

Those 10 GOPers will either run the party or be out of office soon.

I liked how Amash's replacement voted for it after Trump ran Amash out of the party for supporting the first impeachment. I saw Gym Jordan is calling for Liz Cheney to lose her leadership position. Isn't that cancel culture?

With the impeachment through the House, can they hold onto it for the 100 days before sending it to the Senate, or was the 100 day thing for the House to do it?

That's the opposite of what Burdick says:


https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/236/79

Legislative immunity = pleading the fifth

There is a reason you can refuse a pardon after all.

Congrats to trump on receiving his second impeachment in only 1 term. It's truly amazing what you can accomplish with some incompetence and fascism thrown in.

A huge reason as to why congress sucks...

US intelligence agencies have 180 days to share what they know about UFOs, thanks to the Covid-19 relief and spending bill

Tacking on something totally unrelated to a bill about covid help

Not to the covid bill


Remember the spending bill and covid relief bill were put together for ease of passage (so both could be approved quickly), but they were still created seperately.

Don't worry, guys. Six days is plenty long enough for Trump to find another way to get impeached.

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The Washington Post reported that if he gets to 5 impeachments he gets a free pizza!

uh....what kind of pizza.

but lucky for him if he spills any on himself it blends in with his face

oh...but still....UF-fucking-Os

Motion to change Rittenhouse's bond agreement after allegedly flashing white-power signs at bar

They really need to throw this kid away

Ivanka and Jared refusing to let the Secret Service use any of their 6 bathrooms is too perfect.

The Proud Boys theme song is from a Disney movie?

I don't know what to do with that information.

This kid is in for such a rude awakening.

It's almost like these people are jerks.

It's even worse than that isn't it?

From The Post:

But it came at a cost to U.S. taxpayers. Since September 2017, the federal government has been spending $3,000 a month — more than $100,000 to date —to rent a basement studio, with a bathroom, from a neighbor of the Kushner family.

I don't even know what to call that tbh.

This is really sad to see and I hope it's something that improves as we move away from the Trump administration. I can say that when I was in the Army I didn't see a single instance of white Nationalism, but I also didn't serve in a Combat MOS which I'm guessing is where the majority of this problem sits.


The military has a hate group problem. But it doesn't know how bad it's gotten. - POLITICO

Sadly I did see it when I was in in the early 80's and some were quite open about it around people that looked like them. Resulted in me cutting certain pricks out of my circle with a swiftness and even led to a fight with one of them that was all too comfortable calling me a "n****er loving sonofabitch"

This same dude, coincidentally once wore a shirt on the weekend that featured a Klansman in full regalia on a horse holding a confederate flag with the words "These colors never run" emblazoned above the image. nothing happened to him, outside of being "talked" into taking it off by one of the black dudes in our platoon, but not a word from the Cadre and I know it was reported.

Pineapple, but, it comes with a free frogurt.

They've had this problem since the 90's. Don't see it changing anytime soon.

See my post, long before that

Why do Republicans hate spotted owls so much? Are they socialist or something?

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Funny, I was debating where to put this one. I was going to put it in the Michael Brown thread.

As far as for how long, well the KKK paraded around a Vietnam base after MLK was shot.

This has been and is currently known. But as always, just discussing the issue has traditionally made people uncomfortable. So now, we have concrete proof that it is a threat to national security and can not be told that saying so is just hyperbole. I have a bit more hope than Rainmaker that it will change soon but soon for me is about ten years down the road.

Nice read on how Trump will rank as President. The article is assuming worst or at the bottom. I don't disagree but think there needs to be some time, proper reflection etc. before a final ranking is determined.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/polit...ked/index.html

I'm still in the Buchannan was worse camp.

"James, when we gave you the country, it was in one piece."

We have a volunteer military that needs as many people as are willing to serve. We either have to accept it doing far less than it currently does, reinstitute some form of compulsory service as a civic duty, or a certain amount of pyschopaths will be included in the ranks.

Oh crap.

SI

Psychopaths getting into the military isn't as much of a concern as allowing psychopathic behavior to run rampant because leadership doesn't want the stain of shinning a light on it to damage their careers. The military has a long history of burying their head in the sand when it comes to serious issues only acting when there's an incident that sparks enough public outrage.

Using Fort Hood as an example, everyone in the Army either knew or had an idea of what was going on there for years whether you had served there or not. I was never there but heard warnings and stories in the 90s about how bad it was. It took multiple soldiers dying and intense media and public pressure for the Army to finally act. This doesn't have to happen, but leaders need to be held account liable rather than just the last person left holding the ball.

Fort Hood is the perfect example. The culture and issues there have been a known "secret" for years

Trump is planning to leave D.C. the morning of the 20th (while he is still President) with a full military send-off.

The mad king gets to play dress up one more time before he gets home to a $400 million bill from Deutsche Bank.

(This will apparently involve logistical problems because the military will have to have two nuclear footballs instead of one that passes from the outgoing President to the incoming President at noon without physically moving at the inauguration. But it wouldn't be Trump if he didn't make things harder than they needed to be on our national security apparatus just to make himself feel important.).

For the seemingly millionth time: He's such a small, petty man

SI

We were just saying the exact same thing.

The should just not show up, leave him standing there with no ride so he has to call an Uber.

NRA filed for bankruptcy today but says they will reform in Texas to get away from the "toxic political environment" in NY (and no doubt the State Attorney General of NY who is looking into a criminal case to defund them)

“We need a state with an attorney general who will let us steal from our rubes, sorry we mean ‘members,’ with impunity.”

Not sure if right thread:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/nra-...-in-texas.html

I imagine liberals are ecstatic over this.

From Andy Borowitz: "Cash-strapped NRA Puts Two Hundred Republican Politicians on eBay"

:D

It's a quiet last Friday night of the Trump Presidency so far-seems like almost the only thing anyone is talking (and joking) about on Twitter is the My Pillow guy visiting the White House.

If only we had a like button

Guys, I'm worried. I'm starting to think Trump is not going to release his health care plan.

Schools being closed has hurt their business I guess.

And when is Mexico going to pay for the wall?

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww

:eek:

Oof.

Unfortunately the Dems didn't want to go along with the master plan to have Mexico pay for the wall.

I forget the amount but Trump had a brief opportunity to get much more funding for the Wall early in his 4 years if he was willing to negotiate. He obviously gambled and lost that one.

But then again, he did play hardball with Mexico and Mexico did use their troops to stop many illegals at their southern border and at the US border ...

Don't worry, their coffers will fill up again shortly with the Biden gun control policies.

What master plan to have Mexico pay for the wall? It was always a lie.