It's not a transcript.

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Big RR
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Big RR »

It (RICO) conveys, to people who don't understand it, "the things these people did are really bad and really criminal.
That's one of the reasons it is overused; I can recall a good number of years ago when almost every patent infringement case included a RICO counterclaim based on the alleged attempt to illegally threaten the potential infringer with an invalid patent (hence, racketeering). It delayed things quite a bit, and it could make the plaintiffs look bad if it ever got before jury . Eventually the courts put a stop to it by sanctioning such frivolous counterclaims, but I recall being in suits where this was used.

This is civil, nto criminal RICO, but it's pretty much the same.

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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Lord Jim »

Now Trump has publicly added another hostile power, China, to the list of countries that he is encouraging to meddle in the 2020 election to his political advantage:
Not just Ukraine, Trump now calls for China to probe Bidens

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday publicly encouraged China to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden, snubbing his nose at an impeachment inquiry into whether a similar, private appeal to another foreign government violated his oath of office.

Trump declared at the White House, “China should start an investigation into the Bidens.” He said he hadn’t previously asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to investigate the former vice president and his son Hunter, but it’s “certainly something we could start thinking about.”

By publicly egging on China, Trump was amplifying the message he’d delivered in private to the president of Ukraine. That message, revealed by a government whistleblower, has spawned the impeachment investigation by the House. Trump, who has defended his contact with Ukraine as “perfect,” went further in expanding his request to China, a communist world power that has much at stake in its relationship with the United States in an ongoing trade war.

The boldness of Trump’s call Thursday also suggests he will continue to act as though requests for other countries to investigate potential opponents in the 2020 election are normal, even in the face of broad condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans. It’s a tactic Trump has used successfully before, pushing questionable secret conversations into the open, helping to inoculate him against charges that he is engaged in nefarious action, cover-ups or obstruction of justice.

Vice President Mike Pence stepped in to defend Trump on Thursday, saying Americans have a right to know about the wrongdoing the president alleges, despite no evidence to support wrongdoing by Biden, a top contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Biden’s campaign chairman said Trump’s assertions merely show he’s afraid of facing Biden in next year’s election. House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, who has a leading role in Congress’ impeachment inquiry, said Trump’s comments suggest “he feels he can do anything with impunity.”

Trump’s appeal to China evoked his public call in 2016 for Russia to track down his then-rival Hillary Clinton’s emails — a move that was seen as an unprecedented appeal for foreign election interference. It is a violation of federal campaign finance law to solicit anything of value from a foreign government to help a campaign.

In the case of both Ukraine and China, Trump has made his allegations against Biden without evidence of any wrongdoing.

The president and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have for days been raising suspicions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in China, leaning heavily on the writings of conservative author Peter Schweizer. On Monday, Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the allegation that Chinese government business gave Biden’s son $1.5 billion “totally groundless.”

Trump’s unprompted reference to China Thursday came moments after he was asked about trade negotiations with the country.[Gee, I'm sure that's just sheer coincidence]
https://www.apnews.com/c4fc388b22f549e0a67925cab8cd7e93

This just gets more and more surreal...

It's as though after the Watergate Break-in, Nixon had gone on television and said:

"Hell yes my people bugged the DNC headquarters and broke in to collect the information. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that; we needed the intel. I'll do it again, and bug McGovern's headquarters too.

The really crooked ones are Larry O'Brien and George McGovern; they're the ones you should be investigating. "

:loon :loon :loon :loon :loon
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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Lord Jim »

And even before this latest blatant public betrayal of his country to advance his personal political interests, yet another poll shows a huge turn-around in public Impeachment sentiment:
Poll: 45 percent of Americans support impeaching Trump

Public support for impeaching President Trump and removing him from the White House has experienced significant gains, according to a new USA TODAY-Ipsos Poll.

The survey, which was released Thursday morning, found that 45 percent of Americans support a vote by the House to impeach the president while 38 percent said they don't think the House should vote on impeachment.

The figures represent a significant shift in public opinion when compared to a previous USA TODAY-Ipsos poll on impeachment from June. In that survey, 61 percent of respondents said they did not believe the House should consider impeaching Trump, while just 32 percent said the lower chamber should consider the move.


“Our latest USA Today/Ipsos poll shows that public support for impeachment continues to build with a plurality – 45% – saying the U.S. House should vote to impeach,” Cliff Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs, said. “Most importantly, an overwhelming majority of Americans say that a president is subject to laws like any citizen. Public opinion might be tolerant but there are limits."

In addition to impeachment, 44 percent of respondents said the Senate, which would be charged with holding a formal impeachment trial if the House approved articles of impeachment, should convict and remove Trump from office. Thirty-five percent said that the Senate should not convict Trump.

The survey comes as Trump faces escalating scrutiny over a whistleblower complaint that accuses him of a broad effort to pressure Ukraine into investigating 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son. Revelations about his conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky led Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to announce a formal impeachment inquiry of Trump last week.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... hing-trump

The most important thing about this poll (and most of the others that have been done recently) is that as the percentage favoring impeachment moves closer to a majority there still remains a substantial chunk of undecided persuadables (in the case of this poll 17%) that could potentially move it well over that threshold...
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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

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This idea bizarre idea of "Donald J. Trump: Anti-Corruption Crusader" has to be one of the most beyond absolutely hilarious lines they've tried to sell yet...

Do Trump and his henchmen (and the Congressional cowards, like Joni Ernst, currently trying to sell it as well) really expect anyone beyond the biggest Kool-Aid guzzlers on the Trumpanzee train to buy this ridiculousness?

Laying aside his own massive record of pocket-lining corruption, (and that of his family) so long as they sucked Trump butt, he's had zero interest in getting rid of the numerous corrupt swamp dwellers in his own administration. Instead he's made excuses for them and only reluctantly let them go when the publicity they were getting for their shameless misuse of public funds started to crowd him out of the spotlight...

Regarding corruption and foreign countries, he has never had a peep to say about Putin's Russia, the most corrupt kleptocracy on the planet, or Saudia Arabia, or Turkey, or The Philippines, or any of the countries run by any of his thug buddies, (including some in Eastern Europe that have been back-sliding towards authoritarianism) all of which run regimes that are rife with corruption at every level....

In fact whenever the topic has been broached with him he's been dismissive; basically saying that how other countries order their internal affairs is none of our business...

Just as he has with every other aspect of moral leadership, as President his record is one of completely punting when it comes to "corruption"...

In his entire adult life, the only thing that has ever concerned Donald Trump about corruption was whether or not he was getting his cut...

Except of course for Ukraine, that admittedly does have a history of public corruption issues, but is also a key player on the front line of resistance to Russian expansion, and an ally struggling to get its democratic bearings...

And just by the sheerest of coincidences, he picks a country that he believes can provide him some kind of dirt on a domestic political opponent to suddenly get all anti-corruptiony about...

And now all of a sudden he's also interested in rooting out corruption in China...(well, not corruption in general, but at least to the extent that he thinks that the greatest strategic and economic rival to the US might be able to provide him with some domestic political help...)

The level of stupidity and/or ignorance required to buy this "Trump is motivated by fighting corruption" explanation is truly breathtaking...

In an environment where the polling indicates that more and more people are getting woke about Il Boobce, it really has the stench of pure desperation as a strategy...
Last edited by Lord Jim on Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:42 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Bicycle Bill
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Bicycle Bill »

Congratulations, Jim!  Taking a page from our Fearless Leader's nearly incomprehensible playbook, you've started coining new words yourself.
Regarding corruption and foreign countries, he has never had a peep to say about Putin's Russia, the most corrupt kelptocracy on the planet...
I assume that this is defined as rule by seaweed?
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Yes, I suppose I could agree with you ... but then we'd both be wrong, wouldn't we?

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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Lord Jim »

Well, silly me, I thought I'd made one or two points that might be worthy of comment or discussion, but thanks for zeroing in on the truly most important thing in my post Bill...

I fixed the typo!

:nana :fu
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eddieq
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by eddieq »

Maybe in a kelptocracy, his crimes we know about are just a drop in the ocean

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Bicycle Bill
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Bicycle Bill »

Sorry, Jim, but I had to do it.

After all, fair is fair, and if I'm going to jump on liberty or wesw or Jarlaxle (or even BSG) for their bullshit or occasional faux pas, then I have to show that I am an equal-opportunity smartass  ;)  and can't afford to give anyone a pass. :mrgreen:
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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Lord Jim »

And while we're on the topic of corruption, in addition to all those others I mentioned, has Fearful Leader had one word to say about his pal Bibi Netanyahu, who is up to his neck in corruption charges?

That was a rhetorical question...
Last edited by Lord Jim on Sat Oct 05, 2019 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ex-khobar Andy
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

Not to mention Jared Kushner (I told you not to mention Jared!!) who inveigled Chinese investors into buying into his apartment developments because they could get an EB-5 visa. Sorry: it was his sister. Jared gets no personal benefit from his companies.

Big RR
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Big RR »

And remember when Trump and Melania went to China and suddenly she had something like a dozen Chinese trademarks issue. I'm sure she received no benefit from that. :roll:

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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Lord Jim »

I would dearly love to see some Trump supporter explain why it's perfectly believable to think Trump was motivated in this by a deeply held opposition to corruption...

Feel free to take a whack at that one wes...
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rubato
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by rubato »

I'm calling it bullkelp and you can play a tune on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54rT5qp-As

yrs,
rubato

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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Lord Jim »

Speaking of the stench of desperation...

I noticed today that Trump has actually taken to running ads on CNN and MSNBC...

Here's the ad he's been running:



That really gave me a case of the ho ho hos... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Well, if "it takes a tough guy" then we need to get rid of the little pussy boy, physical coward, who is so afraid of personal confrontations that he can only fire people by tweet, and replace him with a Tough Guy...

The television character "Donald Trump" who appeared in The Apprentice may have seemed like a "tough guy" to a lot of folks, but like other TV character Tough Guys (Lee Roy Jethro Gibbs, Walt Longmire, Raylan Givens) that Donald Trump is a fictional character who doesn't really exist...

He was just a creation of the show's writers...
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MajGenl.Meade
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"I goes to fight mit Romney!"

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

Romney blasts Trump over 'wrong and appalling' call for China to probe Bidens
Romney and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse are the first sitting Republican senators to publicly condemn Trump's remarks.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump- ... s-n1062536

*anyone take a guess at the misquote?
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Lord Jim
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by Lord Jim »

Sorry, I'm more interested in discussing substance than playing "find the bad grammar/typos/mispellings" games, but from what I've seen there are plenty here who find those pursuits intellectually absorbing... :P :nana
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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

If you refer to my post LJ, I was asking if anyone knows the real quote that I misquoted in the subject line. No biggie - just clarifying
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Joe Guy
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Re: It's not a transcript.

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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: It's not a transcript.

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

You googled it, wesw!
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Lord Jim
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Re: "I goes to fight mit Romney!"

Post by Lord Jim »

MajGenl.Meade wrote:
Romney blasts Trump over 'wrong and appalling' call for China to probe Bidens
Romney and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse are the first sitting Republican senators to publicly condemn Trump's remarks.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump- ... s-n1062536

*anyone take a guess at the misquote?
Ahh...

I only see individual post subject lines when I use the quote feature, so I didn't see what you're talking about till just now...

I thought you were inviting people to go to that link and find a quote with some poor wording or grammatical error that would make it look like a "mis-quote"...

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