Politics Thread

[Berzerker]

wtf are you talking about, Willis?

[Dauphin]

It's easier to con someone that it is to convince them that they've been conned. People want to believe and don't want to feel stupid/have the illusion broken.

[PLATO]

Trump has lost to E. Jean Carroll in civil court.
He and his "organization" are facing a range of financial crimes, notably in NY.
He is under indictment for stealing presidential documents, with obstruction charges also clearly warranted.
Georgia is empanelling a grand jury for his election meddling there, guilty on the face of it with Raffensberger's tape.
And it turns out he did the same thing in Arizona.
Then there's that nagging little conspiracy to overthrow the the U.S. government, both the advance planning and the 1/6/21 event itself, with charges still to come.

That's off the top of my head. There's plenty more, but still, good to know this is "a helluva lot cleaner" than you expected.

It is an amazing statement on our society that Trump still stands a good chance of being the next President. I guess the people who vote for him get what they deserve.....

[-Jrabbit]

Hey, another Jimmy Dore video!

Gal Luft is on the run after jumping bail in Cyprus. He says the arrest was politically motivated because he exposed Biden clan corruption involving China and he gave the FBI the evidence months before they got Hunter's lap top to corroborate his evidence. Apparently his alleged criminal activity dates back to 2015 running weapons in/out of Libya. That was back when Obama regime changed Libya and shipped their weapons to Turkey to be fed across the border into Syria to arm ISIS to regime change Assad. Jailing whistleblowers and witnesses to Biden's crimes...meh, Orangemanbad

Sorry, but when your best witness is a criminal and a bail-jumper who works for the Chinese Communist Party, you have zero credibility.
If the Dems tried to use a witness like Luft, you'd be mocking them.

Here's a historian's perspective on yesterday's news:

Meanwhile, Gal Luft, a dual Israeli-U.S. citizen who is the key witness to what the Republican-dominated House Oversight Committee insists is President Biden’s corrupt ties to China, has been indicted by the Department of Justice for being a Chinese operative. Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Luft “subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.”

On July 7, House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-KY) called Luft “a very credible witness on Biden family corruption,” who “provided incriminating evidence to six officials from the FBI and the DOJ in a meeting in Brussels in March 2019.” Luft also allegedly worked with a former Chinese government official to plant into Trump’s 2016 campaign someone who would push pro-Chinese policies and who then, for pay, funneled information to the Chinese. That person, who is not named in the indictment, was later under consideration for Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, or Director of National Intelligence.

Luft was indicted in absentia because he is a fugitive after jumping bail in April (which explains why Comer said he was “missing” in May). While Luft claims the indictment is retaliation for his revelations about Biden, in fact the sealed indictment was handed down on November 1, 2022, before he became a Republican witness. So he was charged first, arrested in Cyprus in February on related charges, and then became Comer’s star witness.

A little more about Mr. Luft, this from The Independent in the UK:

And though Republicans have now embraced his claims to have been speaking out against the president and his family since 2019, there’s no evidence that he voiced his alleged concerns to anyone, even though allegations — thus far unproven — about the president and his son have been a fast-track to stardom in GOP media circles since former president Donald Trump’s first impeachment kicked off in July of that year.

Based on that pattern, it might be reasonable for one to conclude that Mr Luft is hoping to garner himself enough goodwill among the GOP that should he remain a fugitive through the next presidential inauguration, a future Republican president — perhaps Mr Trump — will pardon him.

So yeah, that's the best witness Comer and Jordan could scrape up. Clearly just trying to demonize Biden ("Squirrel!") to keep the focus off the grifter.

I remain mystified as to how anyone could continue to support Trump when he basically admits his sole reason for wanting to be POTUS again is to end his many legal troubles. That looks like Gal Luft's motivation as well.

Also, please stop referring to Gal Luft as a "whistle-blower." That's a technical term, and Luft - not a US government employee - does not come close to qualifying.
I will, however, allow you to call him a "finger-pointer."

[Ming]

Yeah... and The Repubs keep saying the Biden Crime Family, even though they are being led by the biggest con man of this century.

[-Jrabbit]

Trump has lost to E. Jean Carroll in civil court.
He and his "organization" are facing a range of financial crimes, notably in NY.
He is under indictment for stealing presidential documents, with obstruction charges also clearly warranted.
Georgia is empanelling a grand jury for his election meddling there, guilty on the face of it with Raffensberger's tape.
And it turns out he did the same thing in Arizona.
Then there's that nagging little conspiracy to overthrow the the U.S. government, both the advance planning and the 1/6/21 event itself, with charges still to come.

That's off the top of my head. There's plenty more, but still, good to know this is "a helluva lot cleaner" than you expected.

[self biased]

quality antisemitism there.

[Berzerker]

After all the investigations of Trump he has turned out one helluva lot cleaner than I was expecting back in 2016-18 when the media had me convinced he was blackmailed by Putin. I dont think the guy is a Republican, he's an Israeli involved in the Chinese business world who knows the Bidens got $$$.

[Ming]

Yep... Many Republicans claim "political motivation" now whenever they get caught doing something wrong. Never mind that they broke the law, as Trump does all the time. Just scream politically motivated and it makes all your crimes ok.

Sorry... it doesn't work that way.

[Berzerker]

https://youtu.be/7EBFrtjs2sM

Gal Luft is on the run after jumping bail in Cyprus. He says the arrest was politically motivated because he exposed Biden clan corruption involving China and he gave the FBI the evidence months before they got Hunter's lap top to corroborate his evidence. Apparently his alleged criminal activity dates back to 2015 running weapons in/out of Libya. That was back when Obama regime changed Libya and shipped their weapons to Turkey to be fed across the border into Syria to arm ISIS to regime change Assad. Jailing whistleblowers and witnesses to Biden's crimes...meh, Orangemanbad

[Jon Miller]

Maybe Biden's administration was out of line on some points, I haven't seen any evidence of this. If so, particularly abuses need to be addressed and prosecuted.

The US judge is clearly out of line in saying that the administration officials can not talk to social media companies in a broad and general basis.

JM

[Berzerker]

near the end of Greenwald's lengthy presentation he shows how the NYT won a pulitzer back under Bush for exposing govt surveillance but now criticizes Republicans for wanting to limit that power

[Berzerker]

US court in Louisiana has ruled the obvious - the Dems have violated the 1st Amendment by censoring the internet.

https://rumble.com/v2ybni6-system-update-show-110.html

About 18m in Greenwald discusses the court ruling

NYT laments restrictions on govt censorship

Former civil rights lolyerJamie Raskin condemns Putin for censoring internet criticism and proceeds to oppose a free speech bill while endorsing internet censorship.

Then Jamie is worried how Iran will interfere in our elections if he doesn't censor the internet... Not Ukraine or Israel or Britain. If they interfere to help Dems thats fine.

[Berzerker]

snip snip

[Berzerker]

"The one who was showing people state secrets for the bragging rights?"

that was 1 complaint, not the kitchen sink