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February 23, 2018 06:44 AM UTC

Friday Open Thread

  • 40 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience.”

–George Bernard Shaw

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40 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

  1. First post promotes first principles.

    Trump stinks.

    Discuss.

    Extra credit for predicting when Manafort will turn on the Firs t Colluder.

    Or will Trump pardon Manafort?

      1. On a related note, and also curious, is there any crime or action (generally accepted) that a President (assuming we had one) can not pardon??  

        (Not wanting to open a whole constitutional can-o-worms, although I realize too there are likely to be differing schools of thought . . .)

        1. Here's what I just learned regarding Presidential pardon powers:

          A president’s pardon power applies only to federal crimes. Anyone pardoned for federal offenses would, accordingly, remain liable for state crimes that cover the same underlying conduct. 

          The title of the article says it all:

          The Pardon Boomerang

          Accepting a pardon from Trump could add booster rockets to state prosecutions.

        2. The President can pardon anyone for any Federal criminal act, and at least the precedent has been set that he doesn't have to wait for convictions or even indictments, though I don't know that such pre-emptive pardons have ever been challenged.

          As Davie notes, his power does not extend to either civil suits or to State level criminal complaints, so even if Manafort were pardoned, he'd almost certainly face civil complaints to garnish his illegal earnings and State criminal complaints on the fraud charges. Mueller has apparently been working with NY State AG Eric Schneiderman, who seems to be holding fire while Mueller does his thing.

          1. Which now raises the question, if you are issued a presidential pardon for your federal crimes, but remain vulnerable to state and civil prosecution, where does the right to 5th amendment protections come in to play?

        3. The pardon power does not extend to civil penalties, including tax penalties. For example, Manafort was charged in yesterday's indictment with criminal violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to file required reports on his foreign bank accounts. The Bank Secrecy Act (enforced by the IRS) also allows the government to levy enormous civil penalties, although he can't be imprisoned for the civil violations.

          Question is whether, as head of the Executive Branch, the President could order the IRS to not levy the civil penalties.

          1. Why not? Just as the administration was able to refuse to collect the Obamacare penalties for those not carrying insurance.

            But, doing so might constitute evidence of obstruction of justice. Like buying a witness' silence.

      2. Although that is generally true, there is an exception. If Manafort still faced state prosecution, he might still invoke his rights under the 5th Amendment.

  2. DCCC Goes Nuclear, Slams Dem Candidate As Corrupt For Same Behavior It Engages In Regularly

    On Thursday evening, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took the extraordinary step of publicly attacking a prominent Democratic candidate in a contested Texas primary. The party committee’s move was made all the more jarring given the background of the candidate, Laura Moser, who in 2017 became a hero of the Trump resistance movement as the creator of Daily Action, a text-messaging tool that channelled progressive anger into a single piece of activism per day.

    “Voters in Houston have organized for over a year to hold Rep. [John] Culberson accountable and win this Clinton district,” DCCC Communications Director Meredith Kelly told the Texas Tribune. “Unfortunately, Laura Moser’s outright disgust for life in Texas disqualifies her as a general election candidate, and would rob voters of their opportunity to flip Texas’ 7th in November.”

    1. No better way to give activists a sense of the establishment having a thumb on the scale than actually putting the whole hand on the scale. If there is an authentic "disgust for life in Texas" from a candidate, it seems likely voters would notice.

      1. Act Blue takes a healthy slice of each contribution for itself, then asks for a "tip" besides.  When I can, I bypass ActBlue and give directly to the candidate.

        1. Also true; that's what you get for relying on third-party processing. Of course, giving to the candidate directly, those fees and paperwork come directly from what you pay instead; it's not as big a difference as you see on the surface.

  3. The yam is on CNN saying "well trained, "gun adept" teachers should be able to carry concealed.

    MFO-SFO = Mouth falls open – stupid flows out.

    Is there an emoji for total disgust?angry

     

     

        2. I should get combat pay already. Have you ever broken up a girl fight? (Hint: it's dangerous – girls hold on)

          We had this discussion at school today (about teachers carrying firearms). Consensus was: "Miss, we really don't want you carrying a gun around."

           

    1. Seems to me that under the current NRA/RMGO/gun-wacko definitional protocol, every “good guy with a gun” is a “good guy” right up until the very moment he commits a gun atrocity, at which time then he’s somehow spontaneously transmuted into a “bad guy with a gun”??? . . . 

      1. Are you saying that each and every human being has the capacity to do good and to do evil?

        You better run that one by Wayne LaPierre because it doesn't sound like it squares with his simple-minded, immutable binary world.

        1. No, I’m not saying that.

          I’m certain that Wayne LaPierre (damn the frenchies, anyhow) has no capacity whatsoever to do good . . .

          . . . but then, I’m not certain LaDouche is human?  So, perhaps?

      2. that is incorrect. Why you always trying to iversimplify that which shoul db enuanced?

        If he is muslim and a shooter – then he instantly becomes a terrorist.
        If he is black – he is a thug or gang member or both
        Brown – gang member illegal alien
        If he is white – he is a mental health victim

        If he is white, Christian – it depends on who he shoots

    2. How can you tell if it is a good guy with a gun? Or a bad guy with a gun? Or what if you THINK your a good guy, but you're really a bad guy? 

      Are you permitted to be a good guy with a gun if your skin isn’t white?

      So, let's say one good guy is rushing in, and another good guy rushes in also. Are they both still good guys? Who gets to kill whom? What if one is a good cop with a gun?

      If one good guy with a gun kills another good guy with a gun in Florida, is he (of course it's a "he"), protected under "make my day" laws?

       

  5. By all means…Put on your camo, grab your AR-15 and charge in there because as we all know "only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun."

    Please don't shoot at the police…they are good guys but they really don't like that.devil

    1. Maybe Trump can get some money from Sheldon Adelson, the mega big bucks donor to the far right wing. Adelson has money to burn. He apparently has offered to foot the bill for some of the money to build the new embassy in Jerusalem. 

      1. Coming this May!!!

        https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/23/politics/us-embassy-jerusalem-move-may/index.html

        . . . another TRUMPcoPres,Inc.™*/@realMAGAUSA45,LTD production.

        (*For your free** prospectus, please send $25,000.95 U.S.D. (cash or certified funds) shipping, to:   Jared, White House, Washington, D.C., Box 45. Please allow two weeks for delivery and handling.)

        *May not be considered free in the states of California, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Nevada.

        PS. If Sheldon’s now publicly pitching $50M above the table, imagine how much President Kleptopublican is catching underneath??!!??

         

  8. Speaking of Cory Gardner — this brilliant suggestion could apply to him as well:

    A survivor of the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, just threw some brutal shade at Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

    On Friday, Sarah Chadwick suggested that Rubio’s symbiotic relationship with the National Rifle Association deserved some sort of tribute.

    In a tweet referencing the AR-15 rifle, which the shooter allegedly used to kill 17 people at her school last week, Chadwick proposed nicknaming the weapon after the senator “because they’re so easy to buy.”

     

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