Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Cygnia]

https://armoxon.substack.com/p/youve-persuaded-us-already

[Lord Liaden]

2 hours ago, unclevlad said:

POTENTIALLY slanderous?  He called Milley a deviant and a traitor.  There's nothing "potential" about that.

 

 

I completely sympathize with your position, but "slander" is a legal term, and I'm no lawyer, so I didn't want to assert that this meets the legal definition.

[unclevlad]

That's why I put slander/defamation in the second part.    

 

But, since neither of us is?
https://dictionary.law.com/default.aspx?selected=1969#:~:text=slander,the basis for a lawsuit.

 

 

[csyphrett]

Milley is not going to sue Gosar over being insulted. Milley won't even lose sleep over it. Instead he is getting ready to be called for Trump's federal trials under Smith.

 

I don't know if Trump is going to jail over his crimes, but he lost both of the Carrol trials (Garland reversed the DOJ standing that Barr had started in the first trial and down he went), it looks like he might be out of business in New York and owe the state millions of dollars (Rumor is Leticia James is going to ask for Billions in damages). The three criminal trials may or may not be choppy for him, but his co-defendent Ken Chesbro keeps filing motions revealing the nature of the crimes for Fani Willis in front of his speedy trial that he asked for and most everybody else said Whoa there! The exception was Sydney Powell who is going to be sitting at the table with him when he goes to court in Atlanta.

CES    

[Lord Liaden]

I'm rather surprised this hasn't gotten more international coverage, considering how much diplomatic flack it's drawing, and that it has to rank very high among unforced political errors.

 

During Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's speech to the Canadian Parliament on Friday, Anthony Rota, Speaker of the House of Commons, introduced 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian-Canadian living in Rota's own riding whom Rota had invited to sit in the House, as a veteran and "hero" who had "fought for Ukrainian independence and for Canada." The House gave Hunka a standing ovation.

 

Shortly afterward, Jewish advocacy groups publicly identified Hunka as having served with the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, a volunteer unit of the Nazi SS, during WW II. Anthony Rota has apologized for his remarks, but has not yet responded to demands for his resignation from opposition political parties and Jewish groups. The Polish education minister has called for Hunka to be extradited to Poland for war crimes trial.

 

It should be noted that Zelenskyy is a Jew who lost several family members to Nazi atrocities during WW II.

 

Link to coverage of the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/world/europe/canada-ukraine-nazi-apology.html

Edited September 26, 2023 by Lord Liaden

[unclevlad]

If it was an honest mistake, I don't see that it calls for a resignation, but hey, that's politics these days.  Extradition?  I don't think I wanna touch that.  

[Lord Liaden]

Given that it was apparently so easy to identify Hunka's background, and that he was only attending Zelenskyy's speech because Speaker Rota himself invited him (presumably as a PR stunt), at minimum it calls Rota's judgement and competence into question. Rota may have been going for a symbolic gesture, but the resulting spectacle of Canada's government giving a Nazi collaborator a standing ovation in front of Volodymyr Zelenskyy made for symbolism very much opposite to his intention.

 

UPDATE: Anthony Rota has resigned as Speaker of the House of Commons, after meeting with the leaders of all the political parties in the House.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Lord Liaden

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

If it was an honest mistake, I don't see that it calls for a resignation, but hey, that's politics these days.  Extradition?  I don't think I wanna touch that.  

 

Frankly, if the Canadian Parliament had followed "politics these days," Rota would still be Speaker, and the whole incident would have been downplayed and defended by his political party, the Liberals, who currently form the government of Canada.

[unclevlad]

Good point.  If it was so trivial to find this out...then why didn't Rota?  I was presuming at least some degree of due diligence, but what you're saying is, clearly, this was not the case.

 

 

[unclevlad]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/politics/trump-organization-business-fraud/index.html

[Hugh Neilson]

2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Frankly, if the Canadian Parliament had followed "politics these days," Rota would still be Speaker, and the whole incident would have been downplayed and defended by his political party, the Liberals, who currently form the government of Canada.

 

Sad but true.  And far from the most extreme example of "When you folks do it, you should get a condemnation.  When our folks do it, they should get a commendation." politics.

[csyphrett]

Rumor mill is saying Trump's business in New York is shut down and he is no longer allowed to operate there. No word on damages.

CES 

[Lord Liaden]

The judge in the New York civil case ruled Trump is liable for fraud in inflating the value of his properties, for decades; and has pulled some of the certificates allowing Trump's businesses to operate in New York.

 

What I find interesting is that the judge characterized the arguments used by Trump's lawyers in his defense as "fantasy." That doesn't sound promising as far as a basis for appeal.

[csyphrett]

Popok and Friedman Dinifialo are saying that all of Trump's companies and trust are to be dissolved in ten days. They think there will be an emergency stay as Trump's lawyers try to appeal the decision but the decision is not going to be appealable. The only thing left is the writing of the check for the NYAG's office.

 

The judge is like you can't value your property two hundred times more than an evaluator's base number.

CES

[Tom Cowan]

or less when the tax man comes.

[DShomshak]

NPR, quite rightly, no longer reports every deranged thing Trump says, but this got mentioned in passing: Trump recently claimed he could design a better fighter jet than the Pentagon.

 

Okay, given that the Pentagon is an extremely large office building and, as such, would not function well as a fighter jet, for once Trump is probably correct.

 

But I'm also amused by the thought of a Trum-designed fighter jet. Literally gold-plated, for sure. Instrument panel of Carrera marble. Real leather or crushed velvet bucket seat for the pilot! Wet bar stocked with the most expensive single malt whiskeys! And most important of all, a big "TRUMP" sign on it! A great fighter jet! The best fighter jet ever! Ability to fly optional.

 

Sorry, but the cheap shots are just so easy I couldn't resist.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Cygnia]

[BoloOfEarth]

1 hour ago, DShomshak said:

NPR, quite rightly, no longer reports every deranged thing Trump says, but this got mentioned in passing: Trump recently claimed he could design a better fighter jet than the Pentagon.

 

Okay, given that the Pentagon is an extremely large office building and, as such, would not function well as a fighter jet, for once Trump is probably correct.

 

But I'm also amused by the thought of a Trum-designed fighter jet. Literally gold-plated, for sure. Instrument panel of Carrera marble. Real leather or crushed velvet bucket seat for the pilot! Wet bar stocked with the most expensive single malt whiskeys! And most important of all, a big "TRUMP" sign on it! A great fighter jet! The best fighter jet ever! Ability to fly optional.

 

Sorry, but the cheap shots are just so easy I couldn't resist.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

Frankly, I'd be surprised if he could *spell* "jet".

[unclevlad]

18 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

What I find interesting is that the judge characterized the arguments used by Trump's lawyers in his defense as "fantasy." That doesn't sound promising as far as a basis for appeal.

 

When's the last time a Trump lawyer's legal theory was anything but fantasy?

[Lord Liaden]

A judge saying it out loud in court in relation to his verdict brings that to a new level, though.

[unclevlad]

But even then, I don't think it's the first time.  The 'theories' in the election challenge cases drew similar scorn, and in one of em, the judge just took Rudy G to task, IIRC, for how bad the case was.

 

But...as part of this verdict, yeah, the comments I saw pretty much said, the judge's statement that the legal theories were hogwash, made appeals much more difficult.  

 

EDIT:  did anyone watch any of the Republican debate?  Not I.  Sounds like Rameses got reamed pretty good on several points....  BBC bashes the moderators for not doing their jobs, but who could?  Everyone there is, to a greater or lesser extent, following the Trump game plan...be loud, rude, and obnoxious, and deride everyone in your way.

[Lord Liaden]

The moderators could be doing their jobs, if they weren't Fox hirelings for a Republican debate. BBC commentators should go in recognizing that this won't be a political debate, it's a circus.

[BoloOfEarth]

[Cygnia]

 

[DShomshak]

So my front page newsfeed had a Newsweek article claiming "The Republican War on Taylor Swift Could Backfire." Not reading it because life is short but... Republicans hate Taylor Swift? Okay, that makes as much sense as deSantis' war on Disney. I guess? Because she hasn't pledged fealty to Trump or said anything wackadoodle enough to make the front page?

 

If anyone cqan explain this in 100 words or less, I think that's about what the topic is worth.

 

Dean Shomshak