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Steve Bannon Indicted


Hugo Stiglitz

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2 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

My initial reaction:  There has to be another angle to this. 

One thing that ties a lot together is the money laundering - the banking.  To what extent there's banking conduit/scheme overlap between Bannon and MAGA universe money laundering, this potentially could be a flare that the trail is lit.   

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53 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Being an internet trained constitutional scholar, I also wonder about the constitutionality of a President pardoning people to solely protect himself. As that most actual constitutional experts believe that a president cannot pardon themselves, this would seem to be potentially extended to pardoning others to prevent them from turning on the president.

I wonder if you could charge the president with obstruction. A count for each potential witness he pardons.

The power of the pardon needs to go to a committee and removed from the executive. It's darkly amusing that the issue of self pardoning has only come up during GOP administrations. Nixon, Reagan, HW Bush, Trump.

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5 minutes ago, SizzleChest said:

SHOWBOATING reasons.

Trump's Inner Dialogue:  Don't say boat.  Don't say ANYTHING about boats.  No boats!"

Trump:  I think it was for showboating reasons.

Trump's Inner Dialogue:  Dangit!

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8 minutes ago, lemonlime said:

I'm kind of stunned at their stupidity.  Fundraising off repeated lies that you're not taking a salary is so goddamn stupid.

They think they're invincible.  They think they can do whatever they want, and so far, they've been right.

Nothing will change until one of these fuckers hangs.

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57 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Being an internet trained constitutional scholar, I also wonder about the constitutionality of a President pardoning people to solely protect himself. As that most actual constitutional experts believe that a president cannot pardon themselves, this would seem to be potentially extended to pardoning others to prevent them from turning on the president.

I think the founders intended, and most court cases will confirm, that the pardon power is mostly unfettered and corrupt usage of it is "punishable" by impeachment and at the ballot box.

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5 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

They think they're invincible.  They think they can do whatever they want, and so far, they've been right.

Nothing will change until one of these fuckers hangs.

They're all going to be Roger Stone as far as they're concerned.  Do all the bad shit, get out and laugh about it.

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27 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Im sorry, didn't that guy go out of his way publicly to suck the dick of that project multiple times after that guy bought an ad on Fox News and the president saw it?

By "that guy", do you mean Trump? A quick bit of sleuthing would reveal that, for perhaps the first time ever, he might not have actually talked about something publicly. When the wall started falling over, he talked shit about them. And here's a quote from the founder that pretty much confirms that Trump wouldn't praise them in public. The reasoning is too perfect to be fake.

Brian Kolfage, the founder of We Build the Wall, seems willing to engage. “The private wall that @WeBuildtheWall built and funded is @DHSgov @CBP ENDORSED and APPROVED. Never forget it,” he tweeted, along with a video of Border Patrol leadership supporting its initiatives.

Indeed, Kolfage appears to have expected loyalty, saying in December, “We’ve gotten the support of the president firsthand, we’ve had people to meet with the president who have informed him directly of what’s going on, and President Trump loves what we are doing.”

“But,” he added, “he doesn’t come out and support much because we believe that the leftists will try to use it against him by saying ‘this private industry is doing more than he’s doing’ and things like that, they’ll try to spin it, so we believe that’s why he’s quiet about it up on the forefront but supports us in the back.”

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5 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think the founders intended, and most court cases will confirm, that the pardon power is mostly unfettered and corrupt usage of it is "punishable" by impeachment and at the ballot box.

The potential exists for Trump to fuck up the wording.  Especially if he starts pardoning crimes that haven't been charged yet.  Thus far, all his pardons have been specific. 

If, for example, Trump pardons "the my pillow guy for all crimes he may or may not have committed up to this date" is that sufficient?  Also, Trump's conspiracies often seem pretty broad.  The potential to forget a co-conspirator would be pretty high.  Plus a pardon of a previously below radar conspirator would put that conspirator on the radar.  Can pardons be issued for the crime itself or are they only issued for the individuals who committed those crimes?  For example, would "I pardon all individuals associated with any crimes that may have occurred in acquiring the property at 123 Putin St in Moscow Russia" be a valid pardon?

Going back to the Nixon broad pardon, was that ever challenged?

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Just now, TexArcher said:

They think they're invincible.  They think they can do whatever they want, and so far, they've been right.

Nothing will change until one of these fuckers hangs.

There is definitely a whole shit ton of hubris involved.  But even more so, I think the forces controlling the GOP have viewed this as their moment to triumph or die.  To cement their hold on power for the foreseeable future and past whites becoming a voting minority.

If you eliminate checks and balances, make democracy a facade and neuter the rule of law, you actually are invincible.  You never have to relinquish power.  You never have to compromise.  You never have to worry about anyone but your base and your crimes never come to light.  When you get to that point, you can do anything you want.  Grab the nation by the pussy if your id thinks it's a good idea.  There is nothing to stop you.

I think that's been the plan all along, and why some people like John McCain and Jeff Flake took issue with it early on.  That context is the only thing that really explains the actions of everyone involved -- whether they are the engineers of what the GOP has become, opportunists that embraced it for personal gain or those of principle that have fled the GOP in horror.

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7 minutes ago, FondrenRoad said:

The potential exists for Trump to fuck up the wording.  Especially if he starts pardoning crimes that haven't been charged yet.  Thus far, all his pardons have been specific. 

If, for example, Trump pardons "the my pillow guy for all crimes he may or may not have committed up to this date" is that sufficient?  Also, Trump's conspiracies often seem pretty broad.  The potential to forget a co-conspirator would be pretty high.  Plus a pardon of a previously below radar conspirator would put that conspirator on the radar.  Can pardons be issued for the crime itself or are they only issued for the individuals who committed those crimes?  For example, would "I pardon all individuals associated with any crimes that may have occurred in acquiring the property at 123 Putin St in Moscow Russia" be a valid pardon?

Going back to the Nixon broad pardon, was that ever challenged?

Good questions, all.  Don't think there are really answers.

I think the pardon power has been relatively sparingly used because Presidents fear electoral blowback.  Note that its use expands substantially in the lame duck period.

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Just now, Aqua Buddha said:

I wonder what the overlap is between the people who gave to this and people who give to the NRA.  Some people are just begging to be scammed.

The same people also pay for private jets for televangelists.  A fool and his money are soon parted.

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Just now, SydneyCarton said:

I hope you’re teabagging him relentlessly over text or email. “Nice boat you bought that guy.”

I would but it'd end up in a victimization conversation about the deep state, what about ..., blah blah blah.  Accountability and the acknowledgement of reality isn't a thing with these people.  This is a man who never stops complaining about how hard it is to be a white male in America.

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1 minute ago, Goredho said:

There is definitely a whole shit ton of hubris involved.  But even more so, I think the forces controlling the GOP have viewed this as their moment to triumph or die.  To cement their hold on power for the foreseeable future and past whites becoming a voting minority.

If you eliminate checks and balances, make democracy a facade and neuter the rule of law, you actually are invincible.  You never have to relinquish power.  You never have to compromise.  You never have to worry about anyone but your base and your crimes never come to light.  When you get to that point, you can do anything you want.  Grab the nation by the pussy if your id thinks it's a good idea.  There is nothing to stop you.

I think that's been the plan all along, and why some people like John McCain and Jeff Flake took issue with it early on.  That context is the only thing that really explains the actions of everyone involved -- whether they are the engineers of what the GOP has become, opportunists that embraced it for personal gain or those of principle that have fled the GOP in horror.

The only beef I have with this perspective is I do not believe these fuckers are loyal to anything except whatever is most politically expedient in the moment. You‘d have to almost assume these guys signed a blood contract committing them to fascism.  I don’t believe that’s the case as much as fascism is the course with the most self preservation for them today. Tomorrow remains uncertain and they can opt out when it’s politically lucrative to do so. 

Moreover, the powers that control things in this country operate by keeping the population neatly divided politically. A fascist one party takeover is doomed to fail for this reason. They’re fine with swings back and forth but the biggest threat is a united political movement that advocates to disrupt the current economic organization of society.

We haven’t seen one of those in almost 100 years with FDR and even then Hoover got 40% of the vote. Then we invented the military industrial complex for WW2. We’ve been a society centered around the military ever since but that’s another discussion.

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The image of the dude getting a boat that he acquired after fleecing Trump supporters by saying he was going to build a wall that Trump earlier had claimed Mexico would pay for and then taking said boat ---- called "The Warfighter," no less ----- to a Trump boat rally is really just the perfect symbol for this administration. 

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25 minutes ago, Goredho said:

There is definitely a whole shit ton of hubris involved.  But even more so, I think the forces controlling the GOP have viewed this as their moment to triumph or die.  To cement their hold on power for the foreseeable future and past whites becoming a voting minority.

If you eliminate checks and balances, make democracy a facade and neuter the rule of law, you actually are invincible.  You never have to relinquish power.  You never have to compromise.  You never have to worry about anyone but your base and your crimes never come to light.  When you get to that point, you can do anything you want.  Grab the nation by the pussy if your id thinks it's a good idea.  There is nothing to stop you.

I think that's been the plan all along, and why some people like John McCain and Jeff Flake took issue with it early on.  That context is the only thing that really explains the actions of everyone involved -- whether they are the engineers of what the GOP has become, opportunists that embraced it for personal gain or those of principle that have fled the GOP in horror.

51507786.jpg

This has been the GOP end-game.  It has been their end-game since Obama was elected.  They are NEVER going to let THAT shit (a negro president!  Please!) happen again.  And the only way to be sure of that.....is to end the US as an actual democratic republic.  So, that's what they aim to do.

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Picture voting for Trump because he wanted to build the wall and make Mexico pay for it.

Only to have you donate to a fund to build the wall, then have his people steal those funds from you. 

But hey, as long as they keep their foot on the necks of gays, blacks, arabs, asians, hispanics, muslims then it's alllll good in MAGA land. 

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