Tuco

I would assume that if Congress passed a law on it, the President would have to abide by it. I mean, who we share information is very much related to treaties and war, two items which are clearly under Congress's control per the Constitution. But as someone mentioned earlier, I would be concerned there is a lack of legislation on it simply because you generally assume the President is acting in the best interest of the nation. It's not something any Congressional faction would expend much effort/capital in trying to get passed.

I take that part of the story with a massive grain of salt. There were two parties who could talk about that meeting: the FBI and people from Trump's camp, and I highly doubt the FBI side was talking. So any description of the tour and how it concluded came from Trump's camp.

Good read. Thanks.

Top secret is the highest legal classification. There may be subclassifications that make up top secret. But there are no secret legal classifications. You can’t prosecute trump on some super- secret classification. Laws are public.

I'll play the speculation game, with the realization that it is almost always someone I've never heard of. I'll go with Rudy. He is about spent out on any legal defenses, has been thrown under the bus by Trump, and ignored by the MAGAt world for fundraising. Trump has been clear that Rudy is not his attorney, so there wouldn't any attorney privileges around where Trump is hiding classified shit. Rudy's grand jury appearance was scheduled for August 9th, but I haven't heard an update on it. And, heh, if I want to go really speculative, on the Rudy thread it was mentioned that he had bought tickets to Rome and Zurich for travel at the end of July. He didn't take the trip. That thread implied he was fleeing law enforcement. But, what if Rudy was reprising his role of Trump's shady negotiator to foreign powers? Back then, he was offering up military aid in exchange for an investigation into Burisma and interference in the 2016 election. In doing so, he traveled to Europe (Vienna, Warsaw, in addition to Kiev) to meet with potential allies who would rather not travel to the US. But now, he doesn't have any influence over military spending. He can't trade government largesse for his personal gain. If he knew Trump had documents that someone might be interested in, I could see him trying to shop that around, either for a pay day or for foreign support of Trump, believing he could extract some favor from Trump later. And he is just stupid enough to do it. I mean, the idea of that glob of shoe polish stumbling around Europe, trying to pawn off Trump's piles of office detritus to anyone with $50 is a perfect ending to his illustrious career. The Coen Brothers are jealous that Burn After Reading couldn't capture the absurdity.

My recollection from the Clinton story, is that is extremely difficult to get any hard copies of anything classified as Top Secret. Basically you go into a secure room to view any documents. Electronic docs are on a closed computer system, so no emailing, printing, flash drives, etc.. Hard copies are indexed and tracked. Maybe it's different for the President than for the Secretary of State, but I know a lot of people made the "top secret"claim with Clinton, and it just wasn't feasible. I doubt Trump was able to walk out with Top Secret documents.

Would the search warrant reference the suspected crime?

Of course a guy named “Leveridge” is going to use his position of authority to get sex. That’s just lazy foreshadowing.

Very cool. I like Tony Vargas quite a bit. He is a young, Latino state senator representing South Omaha - which has a large Latino and other immigrant population. He looks good in a suit, which shouldn't matter, but does. His father died of Covid and Tony led a passionate fight to get better protections for meat packing workers, netting him a little national press. He's a lawyer, but I'm not sure how aggressive he would be in a debate. Four years ago Kara Eastman came within 2 points of Bacon in the midterm. That got a lot of people excited for a general election matchup. In 2020, the district went to Biden, but Kara came more like 5 points short. My best guess is that the racial justice protests, subsequent police violence, and the fallout from the killing of James Scurlock hurt Kara. Or maybe her commercials weren't that good. Who knows. This time around, there isn't that same dynamic. Probably a bigger deal is that Bacon has broken with Trump...in the half ass pussy way he does everything, saying he wouldn't support Trump in a hypothetical 2024 primary. Also, there is a bit of civil unrest in the NEGOP. It was a nasty primary for the new governor candidate. The most pro-Trump shitstain candidate was accused of groping several women, including Julie Slama, a current Republican state senator. Slama was appointed by the current governor, Pete Ricketts [...fucking sucks], and is very tight with him, so it was seen as a political hit piece. Additionally several Republicans had their credentials pulled from the state convention because they publicly spoke ill of Ricketts [...fucking sucks]. So, yeah, in a midterm election without Trump on the ballot, it is certainly possible that pro-Trump Republicans won't show up to vote for Bacon, or for Ricketts' [...fucking sucks] hand picked governor candidate. The bad news is that in 2020 the district was gerrymandered. It basically took it back to the R/D percentages it was 2010. In 2010, when they gerrymandered it, they removed significant portions of South Omaha, and I think they may have sliced off a little more this time around. Oh, and Pete Ricketts Fucking Sucks. As far as NE-1 in the special, keep in mind it was a special election because the incumbent stepped down after facing federal charges. (Lying to FBI on foreign campaign contributions.) So, the dynamic on that one may have been a bit weird as well.

It may have more to do with how the families want to approach it than it does with anything else. My understanding is the usual game plan is to avoid media coverage. If you’re asking a foreign government to circumvent their normal legal system, it means their normal legal system is not just or that Americans should be above it. Neither proposition is one a foreign government wants to admit publicly. Imagine how that plays out with you their public. Making that argument publicly paints them in a corner. The alternative is to beg for clemency. Say they fucked up, they’re really sorry, they never meant any disrespect for the just government of Freedonia, and could you please do us this solid and let them come home to see their dying nana. But you are asking for a favor, not demanding justice. You do that quietly. The latter was never an option for Griner.

Buy more missiles from the West?

Speaking of coal strikes, Pride is a good one. 1984, true story, gay activists raise money and protest to support coal miners striking in Wales, many of whom are not terribly sympathetic to the plight of homosexuals. It touches on several issues, particularly taking the first step in trying to build a coalition with people who were previously hostile to you. (I think it probably has a healthy layer of candy coating to make it more digestible, but it's still interesting).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington It's my go-to when discussing patriotism. It's also not bad for an anthropological study on sexism in the 1930s. Bob Roberts.

...did a quick search. The Epoch Times runs a story on the Georgia Senate race the same day the candidate tweets a challenge to Pelosi on stronger support of Taiwan. It looks like it's their first story mentioning Walker since May. The article is behind a paywall, but from the title it appears to indicate that this will be a very tight race. These are the kind of stories that will drive massive donations over the next week. I've watched this dynamic play out on a tight Congressional race last cycle. These stories are fucking gold. Isn't it fun watching foreign religious cult influence our politics in real time. For those who aren't familiar, the Epoch Times is the media offshoot of the Falun Gong, a religious group that has been banned in China. The outlet runs some more of the right-wing nut job type stuff, but consistently bending it towards an anti-China, anti-Communist slant. For example, their coverage of BLM pushed the idiocy that it was a Communist movement. It is very much in their interest that the US/China/Taiwan conflict stays relevant with voters.

It would be more effective if the target audience could distinguish Taiwan from Tijuana. I mean, I guess the whole tough guy postering may convey strength, but as a policy issue I'm not sure it's something that would move the needle for anyone who hasn't decided their vote. Maybe its a bone for the EpochTimes cult.

Ranked voting for electoral college votes would be a step backwards. That’s more because the EC is fucked up, but it is still a concern. Hypothetical: California goes to ranked choice to decide EC votes. It’s a slate with Biden, Trump and Bernie. Biden gets 35% Bernie gets 34%, Trump gets 31%. Biden gets the plurality but not the majority. But most Trump voters pick Bernie in their second slot. Bernie comes in 2nd and wins the EC votes. Trump, finishing 3rd in the most populous state, kills Biden’s path to the White House. Trump would have been worse off if he had finished 2nd. It’s just a thought experiment, but certainly strategist would try to game for it.

Thanks for the correction on Teddy. As far as the Dems pushing Trumpy candidates, I was referring to this. I should probably fact check it, as I don't have much respect for CNN commentators.

I don't think making waves is the issue. In '92, a third party made waves. If Trump started his own party, it would definitely make waves. Hell, Yang and his Forward Party could make waves. What I am stating is in the current political system for electing President, the two party system is the only stable condition. They don't have to be called Republicans and Democrats. There have been instances where one party has been displaced by a new party. Last time that happened was around 160 years ago with the Republicans. There have been instances where a well known political figures have taken the third party mantle and won, like Teddy Roosevelt. That was like 110 years ago. But, every time, the disturbance to the natural order dampens out within a couple of cycles. Usually, the third party takes more votes from the party they are more closely aligned to, causing the "lesser of two evils" to lose, and the third party disintegrates. If Forward takes more votes from former Dems, and Trump is elected, the former Dems become new Dems. If Forward were to actually win the Presidency, then more Dems become Forwarders, and the Dems disintegrate. [Just a hypothetical; Forward isn't going for the top seat.] This is why the Democratic leadership is absolutely fucking wrong in trying to prop up Trump candidates. Maybe short term, you win a few more toss-up elections. But there will always be a viable opposition party who will win roughly 50% of elections. And the Democratic leadership is making that opposition party more Trumpy, which makes our country more Trumpy.

Uh huh. And now we have a two party system. History has shown us that a 3+-party system has not been survived for more than what, two cycles? What that screams to me is that given our current political system, a 3+ party system is not stable. It's not about right/wrong, proper representation, etc., it's about evolution. Evolution is driven by environment. And it is clear that with our political environment, a 2 party system is the one that survives. If you want to change that, you have to change the political environment. There are so many parliamentary systems where multiparty systems actually seem to work. But that's not the way the US is built. The whole "less than 40% of the popular vote" line clearly demonstrates the difference. In our system, the candidate with a plurality wins. In other systems, the PM needs to gather support from a coalition of parties which. And because of that difference, voting for a third party is frequently helping the candidate that you least like. And this is an excellent point. At the state and local levels, the parties have been successful in controlling the ballot. That shit should be addressed. And that is good. Those local races are frequently structured differently so you don't have the same political environment.

"handwash only" Even his coffee mug is a pussy.

Biden could retire in February 2023, making Harris the first woman President. That would potentially give her the incumbent’s advantage for two elections. (Can’t serve more than 10 years, thus the Feb 2023 timeframe.) That would be after Biden taking the hits on pulling out of Afghanistan and the inevitable post-pandemic inflation. While I think that’s the best case scenario for the Dems (barring some youth serum for Biden), who knows if Biden would be onboard. The elderly aren’t always willing to step aside and Biden wanted the Office for a long time. 2 and Q is a lot to ask for.

Remember when that sentence would have been read as an insult against Sicily? Despite all the rest of the shittiness, or maybe because of it, it is worth noting much of it is a reaction to progress. Not fast enough. Not full enough. But still progress.

It sounds a little high, but how much would you pay to not see Rudy’s feet? I’ll throw in an extra $20 for a version that covers the toe. $100 bucks or he shows up to your apartment shoeless.

I’d bet homeschooling with purchased curriculum.