The All Things Political Topic - We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office

[Malcador]

They just have to practice selective annihilation of mayors and government officials.

[Gromnir]

18 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yes: in fact, that part of me is strong enough that I don't believe I could ever be either a judge or a lawyer, as I would be fundamentally incapable of doing my best to fairly view or defend someone I believe to be a murderer, rapist, or any number of other detestable qualities.

if it makes you feel better (unlikely) is a poor kept secret o' the defense bar that a significant % o' those anonymous tips which lead to capture o' criminals is calls from attorneys and they is either giving up their own client or using info from their client to point the cops in the direction o' some other bad guy o' whom the police were unaware.

we personal couldn't do family law; was where we drew the line. could not bring our self to be part of a legal action which would intentional/accidental burn down a family.

had done criminal brief and then we moved on to con law where our typical client were religious "extremists," followed close by white supremacists and gangs. perhaps curious, the only identifiable group o' clients we ever regretted representing were strip club owners, 'cause is one o' those unfortunate facts that a majority o' strippers were victims o' abuse as children and once they become strippers they is seeing abnormal levels o' domestic violence, drug use, mental illness, etc. 

point is, we had loathsome clients, and is not as if we could complete compartmentalize which is why we wouldn't do family... and why admitted after the fact we suffered some significant remorse 'bout representing strip club owners and strippers.  never had to defend a rapist, but am suspecting that woulda' been difficult for us.

am not unsympathetic to a point o' too much to bear.

'course we got the loons who somehow see all politicians as inherent broken and or want 'em all locked up yesterday, regardless o' due process or proof.  you are willing to question your beliefs, which puts you significant ahead o' the curve.  

HA! Good Fun!

[Malcador]

https://apnews.com/article/us-capitol-man-rams-car-into-barricade-kills-himself-5cb76c10dadf0f9c0cae70959e9a6f39

Well, at least the nutcase took care of himself in the end.

[Lexx]

"A man drove his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol early Sunday and then began firing gunshots in the air before fatally shooting himself"

Makes it sound as if he accidentally shot himself. Hope that was the case, would be hilarious.

[Gromnir]

is what happens when you got earnest people who want justice for wrongs and they is so angry they don't care 'bout due process.

speaking o' nogoodniks and due process...

Lindsey Graham must testify in Atlanta 2020 election probe, judge rules

baby steps

update: Stephen Vladeck on the FBI's Search of Trump's Home

is an excellent layman-friendly rundown o' the relevant issues and if you avoid the phone call answers, won't require much o' your time to indulge a listen. ten minutes.

HA! Good Fun!

Edited August 15, 2022 by Gromnir

[Gorth]

Ahh, Scott Morrison, the gift that keeps costing Australia...
 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62544961

Scott Morrison: Australia's ex-PM 'secretly held ministry portfolios'

...

Mr Morrison became joint minister for the health, finance and resources portfolios in the two years before he lost power in May, local media report.

 

Which means being able to divert government funds (to friends, which he used to win the election before the latest one), grant mining and drilling rights (to his friends, the kickback of which is part of what funds The Liberal Party) and make a mess of the health care system during Covid (not benefiting anyone other than himself, as failures in the health services would be reported to... himself)... without leaving an audit trail from the minister of each portfolio to the PM (also him)

No wonder Australia slipped so badly downhill on the corruption index the last 10 years.

 

Edit: Note for Americans, 'Liberal party' doesn't mean the same in Australia, being similar to other countries conservative parties social and economic values (i.e. leaning heavily on the church, religion, mining and fossil fuel industry for support, wanting to ban same sex marriage, outlaw abortion, economic growth through increased military spending and cutting cost on education, projects for indigenous and homeless people etc.)

 

Edit2: Ironically, it was another conservative, Malcolm Turnbull who, through legal loopholes, managed to twist the arm of the parliament and got same sex marriage passed into law (he tried multiple times through parliament and got shot down each time, then he skipped the parliament and did an "unofficial survey" sending out a questionnaire to all Australians, who voted for the change with 61.6% for. The stunt did cost him his political life though and Morrison was his replacement. Because the survey was not a government, but a private survey, parliament could not prevent it from happening and once the proverbial cat is out of the sack, even the most conservative parliament knows better than going against a 2/3 majority of the population when an election period is only 3 years... still, we got stuck with Morrison for way too long

[Gorth]

10 hours ago, Gorth said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62544961

Scott Morrison: Australia's ex-PM 'secretly held ministry portfolios'

You know you're in deep **** as a conservative politician when even Rupert Murdoch wants to skin you and hang your hide out to dry

(Sky News is what Fox News is called outside the US)

“But to secretly instruct the Governor General, to hand you the Resources portfolio to overrule a Minister who's done all his due diligence will be exactly what you can bet the current Prime Minister will pursue endlessly.”

 

“We had one prime minister, secretly shadowing the powers of five senior ministers, and not telling the cabinet, the parliament or the public about it. “There was no transparency and therefore no accountability. “For those of us who warned throughout the pandemic about government overreach and a lack of democratic oversight and accountability, these revelations are astounding, they prove it was much, much worse than we even knew at the time.”

 

The rest of the media and politicians across the spectrum calling for his resignation as a member of parliament... Rather late realizations... maybe somebody should tell the Liberal Party, that damage prevention is better than damage control?

"Former Liberal minister Karen Andrews has called on Scott Morrison to resign from parliament over the secret cabinet scandal. It's been revealed the former PM was secretly sworn in for five portfolios."

 

"There are now calls from within the Liberal party for Scott Morrison to resign from federal parliament and his seat of Cook."

[Pidesco]

 

[HoonDing]

Women should leave coathanger states while they still can.

[Lexx]

People seem to say this is about adoption / selling babes for money. Dunno how much truth is in there, but considering recent history, I wouldn't doubt that this is all about someones money.

Apparently that 16 year old girl is in an orphanage herself, so she'd never get to see the baby anyways - it gets pushed right into the system.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Lexx

[ShadySands]

and nothing of value was lost

Edited August 17, 2022 by ShadySands

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, HoonDing said:

Women should leave coathanger states while they still can.

They just have to practice selective annihilation of mayors and government officials.

[Chairchucker]

2 hours ago, Lexx said:

People seem to say this is about adoption / selling babes for money. Dunno how much truth is in there, but considering recent history, I wouldn't doubt that this is all about someones money.

Apparently that 16 year old girl is in an orphanage herself, so she'd never get to see the baby anyways - it gets pushed right into the system.

I'm pretty sure it's mostly about religious puritanism.

[Gromnir]

40 minutes ago, Chairchucker said:

I'm pretty sure it's mostly about religious puritanism.

the counter-arguments inevitably includes the costs the state must now absorb. 

again, as have stated a few times, this is not a win position for republicans, and like it or not overturn o' abortion protections is the result o' the earnest held religious beliefs o' evangelicals (primarily catholic women during the early years) who has been advocating in an organized manner for a repeal of roe since 1973. 

the one possible monetary benefit for states is with roe overturned, they ain't needing pay the legal fees for planned parenthood and other organizations when their just-for-show lawsuits inevitably failed. texas were averaging something near $2 million a year in legal fees for the other guys (planned parenthood and individual doctors) 'cause state and local politicians would challenge abortion constitutionality and inevitably fail. 

there has been a skeevy politician monetary argument which has been linked to abortion rights for decades, though is opposite o' what lexx imagines. has been suggested the reason why neither democrats or republicans genuine wanted overturn o' roe in spite o' all the soap box speechifying is 'cause both parties were doing lucrative fund raising 'cause o' pro-life and pro-choice. roe, a wonky plurality, were on life support since 1973 but there has never been Congressional legislation to address, and one cynical explanation for torpid response from Congress is that doing so would be killing a golden goose. 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited August 17, 2022 by Gromnir

[Gromnir]

'tween having to take the 5th +400 times in the ny civil case deposition, and weisselberg's plea + agreement to testify, the trump organization as a whole is in serious jeopardy. even w/o weisselberg's agreeing to testify, the plea woulda' been devastating for the trump org. why weisselberg is holding the line insofar as his refusal to cooperate against trump personal remains a mystery, but this news is most certain not gonna be greeted with cheers by donald and the trump klan, even if it does represent trump having avoided the worst-case-scenario.

HA! Good Fun!

ps biggest question we have is why the feds ain't investigating the tax fraud. the weisselberg plea is an obvious admission o' wrongdoing insofar as fed taxes as well as state, so where is the feds? 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Gromnir

[Gorth]

JuiceMedia normally deal with Australian politics with a rare guest appearance of US politics. This time... it's their take on UK politics. Just for you @BruceVC

 

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, Gorth said:

JuiceMedia normally deal with Australian politics with a rare guest appearance of US politics. This time... it's their take on UK politics. Just for you @BruceVC

 

Absolutely brilliant and hilarious, she has the best facial expressions. Her look when she said " we produce more varieties of  cheese than the French " 

 And " get back to work Amazon slaves " 

 

[Sarex]

https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/china-forgives-debt-for-17-african-nations/news-story/28ab7f45440142634ff8efd0360b2fec

[Gfted1]

"Youre on your own d**kheads", that slayed me

[BruceVC]

3 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

"Youre on your own d**kheads", that slayed me

Now you know why I love her and want to marry her  

[Gfted1]

Biden near decision on $10,000 student loan cancellation (usatoday.com)

The wheels are moving in the right direction! UBI next? I say YES! 

[Gromnir]

Trump Tells His Lawyers: Get ‘My’ Top Secret Documents Back

“The motion he already filed is so absolutely terrible, that it’s hard to contemplate him filing something even more aggressive and even more unlikely to succeed,” says Ken White, a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. 

“However,” White added, Trump is “basically trying to litigate the ultimate issue in the case, which is whether he had the right to possess and keep those things, even after he was asked to return them. It’s very unlikely that the court would accept that invitation to litigate that…He would have to prove that those things were illegally taken, and — based on what we know — that is going to be very difficult to prove…He’s going to have to make some very unusual legal arguments, which, if they’re anything like the motion that was just filed, is going to be a very uphill climb.”

mr. white's description o' the rule 41(g) motion is, if anything, understating the fumbduckery displayed by trump's lawyers.

and then we get the john solomon production o' parts o' a NARA letter. 

Biden signed off on FBI review of Trump records, National Archives letter reveals

...

the gaslighting is astounding. somehow the aforementioned damning letter which reveals just how uncooperative and aware were trump regarding sensitive documents being held at a hotel in florida, is proof that "brandon lied again," according to more than a few fox viewers/readers. 

what? somehow a letter from may 10 in which it states the President did defer to nara and doj as to whether the fbi should review, is proof Biden lied when the wh announced the President did not have personal knowledge o' or approve the recent search warrant o' mar-a-lago? wait, what? the washington post first reported in february how the national archives were attempting to retrieve documents from trump, so discovering the wh were made aware and consulted in april is news? what does such have to do with approving search warrants or initiating investigations? 

have witnessed more than once the capacity o' people to read selective and ignore inconvenient facts, but the maga crowd and republican leadership reflexive need to defend any trump stoopidity is nevertheless curiously baffling while also no surprise whatsoever. one one level this document kerfuffle is no different than a parade o' similar improbable dating back to at least 2015, so it should shock nobody.

right-leaning and government fearing independents will see the present stoopid as proof they is all bad. the increasing radicalized gop sees the mar-a-lago search as proof the libs are a threat to democracy. wtf?

on the positive side, @Gorth videos allow us to indulge a kinda schadenfreude as we recognize endemic and willful electorate obtuseness is hardly a uniquely american quality. 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

[Sarex]

 

[alanschu]

On 7/22/2022 at 4:52 PM, Darkpriest said:

Basically that Harvard and Exeter Uni scientists found that 'UBI' does more harm than good to social and economic behaviors, and in the end is making people worse off. And here is the kicker, they were shocked by the results as they all thought prior to experiment on the control group, that it would improve how people act and feel. 

Important to read the study IMO. A lot of the negatives they were describing were talking about the psychological well being and trying to contextualize that.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4154000 (free download)

Some of the metrics they assess was that there was no significant difference in people's bank account balances after being on the metric of some time. This reads as bad if you your measure of good is an improvement in bank account balances. It means people spent money. They noticed that people spent the money on food, housing, and things they needed.

They ruled that the objective measures were largely null over the time frame, while subjective measures had a slight decline, though could also be largely null.

Further, when assessing some of the subjective measures (emphasis mine):
"Instead, the data seem most consistent with the notion that the windfall was insufficient to address participants’ needs, which in turn generated feelings of distress. We find that relative to the Control group, cash groups experienced greater stress in deciding how to spend money, were more likely to think about money, and were more aware of both their own needs and those of their friends and family—all of which (partly) mediated the effects of the treatment on the primary survey outcomes."

If the needs weren't being met, it doesn't seem surprising to me that the savings accounts would not go up.

The authors themselves recognize that the results of their study is actually unusual compared to other studies in the field. This is in part why they were "shocked by the results." They did try to control for this, and some explanations they put forward for this is that the amount of money doesn't go as far in a place like US compared to some more absolute poorer countries, and also that they did their study during the COVID pandemic.

 

The study also is more about looking at Unconditional Cash Transfers rather than UBI. Part of the motivation for the study was analyzing whether the stimulus checks given during the peak of the COVID pandemic were actually effective. The researchers also found that participants that received a cash transfer felt additional stress and pressure to use some of that money to help out friends and family (indeed, one of the bigger objective measures of using the money was transfers). And as even the abstract points out, by having the money made the specific cash needs more salient to them compared to the control group. This doesn't mean the control group doesn't have those needs, and it would come across as callous to suggest that poorer people remain poor because on some way they may be resigned to their economic realities and feel less stress.

I'm not sure how the WSJ concluded that this made people work less. It wasn't something I could find in the study and looking for anything that could resemble employment trends they only asked about it at t1 to get a baseline for the economic situation at the start of the study. If you can find it let me know!

 

(Was on holidays and/or work trips, so for necro)

Edited August 25, 2022 by alanschu

[Hurlshort]

I've seen a bunch of people complaining online about the student debt forgiveness. The central theme seems to be concerns that taxpayers are footing the bill.

It sounds like a drop in the bucket to me. Netx will they cry about how the banks will lose out on the massive interest profits?