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skaboomizzy posted:Fun story out of NJ tonight on Rachel Maddow. The state has been suing ExxonMobil for 11 years over contamination and pollution from a refinery. After all that time, the judge was set to rule any day. The state AG then asked for a few delays before the ruling was issued, then today announced a settlement with ExxonMobil. So wait was the AG a Christie appointee who took on the case after it was already in motion? Because governor or not I can't see an AG that spent 11 years on a case ask for an extension on the ruling knowing he'd be pissing it away
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Feb 28, 2015 04:15
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Joementum posted:Reporting coming out now that the agreement is that there will be a one week CR passed tonight, the Senate will reject the House motion to conference on Monday, and then Boehner will bring the clean funding bill (through September 30) to the floor next week. So barring something like the speaker during the civil war joining the confederacy, boehner is like top three worst speakers of all time right?
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Feb 28, 2015 04:16
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Defenestration posted:So wait was the AG a Christie appointee who took on the case after it was already in motion? Because governor or not I can't see an AG that spent 11 years on a case ask for an extension on the ruling knowing he'd be pissing it away AG is, in fact, an appointed position in NJ. Current holder is listed as "acting" Attorney General and was appointed in June 2013. The spot below him (Executive Assistant AG) is vacant. skaboomizzy fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 28, 2015 04:18
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Raskolnikov38 posted:So barring something like the speaker during the civil war joining the confederacy, boehner is like top three worst speakers of all time right? Actually, he's doing reasonably well with a difficult situation. After all, the department did get funded tonight after a bit of drama, as it always does in the end with Boehner. That wouldn't be the case if some other House Republican were Speaker right now. His problem is that the leadership of the various conservative sub-groups is totally ineffective and can't come up with any reasonable demands that he can use to bargain with. He had a deal with Obama in 2011 that should have been a conservative's wet dream: he got a Democratic President to cut Social Security! But his conference blew up the deal because they can't accept anything short of total capitulation, which Boehner can't give them.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:24
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There's like no logical explanation for that besides Christie being in Exxon's pocket, right? Like that just seems blatantly ARGH!m Whats even the defense they make when people start asking questions or are they just hoping everyone forgets by Monday? And there's nothing actually holding Boener to his end of that deal, right? On Monday Pelosi could say "Ok, let's vote on the big one" and Boener could just make kissy noises, say he never agreed to anything, and tell the Senate to go get hosed and we do this all again? How does Boener keep his job? Is this just a deal where everyone has agreed that managing the Republican Congress is a doomed venture so they might as well let Boener keep loving it up and take all the heat? I'm not that well versed on this stuff, obviously. I appreciate the help this thread provides in understanding these things.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:25
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STAC Goat posted:There's like no logical explanation for that besides Christie being in Exxon's pocket, right? Like that just seems blatantly ARGH!m Whats even the defense they make when people start asking questions or are they just hoping everyone forgets by Monday? Well, unless Exxon literally said "We want you to kill the lawsuit and that is why we are giving you money" when they gave him $300,000 then it isn't corruption. According to the Supreme Court.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:28
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GhostofJohnMuir posted:How did we end up with such a Nazi-y name for a department? It's been so long that it almost seems normal to me. Buck Fush. skaboomizzy posted:Fun story out of NJ tonight on Rachel Maddow. The state has been suing ExxonMobil for 11 years over contamination and pollution from a refinery. After all that time, the judge was set to rule any day. The state AG then asked for a few delays before the ruling was issued, then today announced a settlement with ExxonMobil. Oh my, time to get the whiskey already? STAC Goat posted:There's like no logical explanation for that besides Christie being in Exxon's pocket, right? Like that just seems blatantly ARGH!m Whats even the defense they make when people start asking questions or are they just hoping everyone forgets by Monday? I'm not terribly familiar with the situation, but seems like it. I mean, there's a ton of difference between $9.2 billion and $250 million (as in, NJ settled for ~1/37th of the original amount) and it happened so last-minute that it looks too sketchy.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:29
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skaboomizzy posted:AG is, in fact, an appointed position in NJ. Current holder is listed as "acting" Attorney General and was appointed in June 2013. The spot below him (Executive Assistant AG) is vacant. Can this kind of "oh we suddenly are good with less than 3% of our request after 11 years of fighting" be investigated? By someone who is not an arsonist car thief? STAC Goat posted:There's like no logical explanation for that besides Christie being in Exxon's pocket, right? Well Exxon's pockets are pretty much the only ones big enough.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:29
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STAC Goat posted:And there's nothing actually holding Boener to his end of that deal, right? On Monday Pelosi could say "Ok, let's vote on the big one" and Boener could just make kissy noises, say he never agreed to anything, and tell the Senate to go get hosed and we do this all again? Well, then we're back here next Friday except that this time Pelosi can tell Obama, Reid, and her conference that she was right and they can all go pound sand because there won't be another short term extension. Boehner would then need to bring a clean bill to the floor or accept blame for a shutdown, and no amount of kissy noises can deflect the blame at that point. quote:How does Boener keep his job? Is this just a deal where everyone has agreed that managing the Republican Congress is a doomed venture so they might as well let Boener keep loving it up and take all the heat? Partly: who the hell else would want to put up with the poo poo he has to? But mostly, it's that he spends all of his vacation time traveling the country in his RV and hosting fundraisers for Republican House members. He brings in a ton of cash for them and keeps them in their seats, so it's only the pure ideologues who hate him and (unsurprisingly) there are many more Republicans who like all the easy money than there are ideologues.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:30
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Joementum posted:Pelosi can tell Obama, Reid, and her conference that she was right and they can all go pound sand TBH she should be telling them this all the goddamn time.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:33
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Sorry guys, I have a correction on the ExxonMobil / NJ settlement. The lawsuit sought $8.9 billion, not $9.2 billion as I stated. I apologize to the Christie administration for any undue suggestion of corruption.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:40
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Can someone please link to the enormous post showing the success in pushing ISIS out through a bombing campaign? Have looked through the entire thread and couldn't find it E: found it http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3698256&perpage=40&pagenumber=115#post441949833 rasputin handshake fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Feb 28, 2015 |
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Feb 28, 2015 04:44
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Grouchio posted:How do we disown them then? Launch a coup against the news corporations!? TR's "curse of bigness" approach is appealing but the sun has set on that strategy. Traditional media is pretty thoroughly bought-out as a response to Vietnam or the worldwide Neoliberal revolution. I wasn't joking when I said that TMZ and Al Jazeera are the only outlets worth trusting. That's a sad loving state of affairs. Thankfully, it is a dying medium. The internet has been generally good for the sort of "Privileged Communism" and "Libertarianism" that SA either currently or formerly exemplifies. Obama capitalizing on new media was also a big part of his triumph in '08 and '12. It's also what keeps the Paul gravy train going. The problem is that new media has a terrible signal/noise ratio, so saying "focus on new media" is a terrible idea. One thing that I think everyone should do is be firm and unapologetic about your politics. Don't make a big deal out of it, don't bring it up. But if people ask you, say what you are and provide a brief description of what that means to you in positive terms. The only times I've ever had it get awkward when I say that I'm a Communist is when I'm speaking with someone who fled a Communist regime or is from S. Korea. In those cases, I've learned to slightly modify my answer, but those are relatively rare special cases.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:45
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I don't think the House GOP would be able to come to any consensus on a Boehner replacement anyway. There would be like 25 nominees with no majority.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:47
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FlamingLiberal posted:I don't think the House GOP would be able to come to any consensus on a Boehner replacement anyway. There would be like 25 nominees with no majority. You don't think that would be a good thing? These people are unfit to govern and they must be exposed.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:51
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It's not a bad thing, but at this point it hardly matters since Boehner can't govern anyway. I guess it would be worse if Gohmert or some nut was Speaker, but right now it would make little difference, since the GOP is stalling everything anyway.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:53
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I dunno, Gohmert as speaker could be the best thing that ever happened (at least as far as comedy goes).
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Feb 28, 2015 04:58
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I enjoyed Ted Cruz last night trying to spin how he is loathed in Congress with 'Washington Insiders hated Reagan, too!'
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Feb 28, 2015 05:02
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I was watching CPAC speeches yesterday with my mega conservative sister and even she screamed at the tv "YOU'RE A SENATOR!" when Cruz started railing against Washington Insiders. In general I'm impressed by how Ted Cruz can unify so many people in hating him.
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Feb 28, 2015 05:46
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STAC Goat posted:I was watching CPAC speeches yesterday with my mega conservative sister and even she screamed at the tv "YOU'RE A SENATOR!" when Cruz started railing against Washington Insiders. In general I'm impressed by how Ted Cruz can unify so many people in hating him. Apparently he was a mega-creeplord during his time at Princeton. quote:Four independently offered the word “creepy,” with some pointing to Cruz’s habit of donning a paisley bathrobe and walking to the opposite end of their dorm’s hallway where the female students lived.
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Feb 28, 2015 05:49
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Shbobdb posted:The problem is that new media has a terrible signal/noise ratio And, to make matters worse, whether or not "signals" get through the "noise" has no more to do with the quality of the signal than it did under the old model. Dumb luck, cronyism, and tabloid appeal continue to be significantly crucial (perhaps even more crucial) factors in finding and reaching an audience, and there isn't a practical way to enforce editorial standards across the medium as was at least theoretically available, before. What is it with guys named Ted, anyway??
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Feb 28, 2015 05:56
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skaboomizzy posted:Fun story out of NJ tonight on Rachel Maddow. The state has been suing ExxonMobil for 11 years over contamination and pollution from a refinery. After all that time, the judge was set to rule any day. The state AG then asked for a few delays before the ruling was issued, then today announced a settlement with ExxonMobil. Quarter billion's not too shabby. Not as good as Duke Energy settling with the feds for a measly $100 million to avoid criminal charges though.
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Feb 28, 2015 06:32
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All true, though I will say you've done a pretty good job making your presence felt. You don't have the benefit of having been an ultra-wealthy Republican party-girl who decided that Bush was taking the country in the wrong direction. But during 2007-2009 I saw plenty of your comics circulating on my facebook, complete with terrible artifacting, from aunts and other relatives. It's like 'zines. Absolutely outside the normal media paradigm, but if you went to the same coffee shops and music stores, you read the same ones as everybody else who went there. You probably knew a contributor or two, too. Maybe not personally, but you saw them at house parties and bars. You knew who they were and they knew who you were, as people, not celebrity. It's a cutthroat business and having powerful backers has always been the name of the game. You are as close to a boot-strapped success as this thread is likely to ever see. Boot-strapped success isn't ever going to be the same as established success. That's why the idea of "old" and "new" money was invented. Ditto with media. Stay frustrated and angry. You do good work when you are pissed. To my knowledge, you haven't really shaped dialogue but you've been a fantastic cheerleader and given people a shot in the arm when they needed it. Don't be content in that but, you know, be OK with it.
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Feb 28, 2015 07:00
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STAC Goat posted:There's like no logical explanation for that besides Christie being in Exxon's pocket, right? Like that just seems blatantly ARGH!m Whats even the defense they make when people start asking questions or are they just hoping everyone forgets by Monday? I'm amazed you think people are going to even bother asking in the first place. You're out of your loving mind if you think anyone of note in the media is going to try and push Christie on this.
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Feb 28, 2015 08:26
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Evil Fluffy posted:I'm amazed you think people are going to even bother asking in the first place. You're out of your loving mind if you think anyone of note in the media is going to try and push Christie on this. considering pushing Christie would be physically and rhetorically similar to pushing against the side of a greyhound bus...
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Feb 28, 2015 08:41
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And the House GOP is Clownshoes again: http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nat...f2e8ea4866b2992 Remember, this is the party of governing responsibly, everybody!
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Feb 28, 2015 08:52
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comes along bort posted:Quarter billion's not too shabby. Not as good as Duke Energy settling with the feds for a measly $100 million to avoid criminal charges though. 250 million is wipe your rear end money for these companies, it's absolutely nothing.
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Feb 28, 2015 09:19
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Shbobdb posted:The only times I've ever had it get awkward when I say that I'm a Communist is when I'm speaking with someone who fled a Communist regime or is from S. Korea. In those cases, I've learned to slightly modify my answer, but those are relatively rare special cases. Why would you have to do that?
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Feb 28, 2015 09:19
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GhostofJohnMuir posted:How did we end up with such a Nazi-y name for a department? It's been so long that it almost seems normal to me. That's nothing compared to Total Information Awareness.
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Feb 28, 2015 09:21
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Kellsterik posted:Why would you have to do that? The fusion of Totalitarian and Communism in the minds of many.
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Feb 28, 2015 09:25
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Kellsterik posted:Why would you have to do that? They get agitated, sometimes to the point of violence and almost certainly to the point of never speaking to you again. Usually because they have lost family members to Communism. I can be loud and proud about my political orientation without being a complete rear end in a top hat. The shock factor in "loud and proud" is an invitation for discussion, not to gloat over their class-enemy uncle who got what he deserved.
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Feb 28, 2015 09:38
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Do you think if they hadn't lost family members to communism they might be more willing to discuss its merits?
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Feb 28, 2015 09:53
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If this Congress wants to go week-to-week stomping its feet and then ultimately passing funds for another 7 days, I'd be just fine with it.
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Feb 28, 2015 10:09
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Ted Cruz is both obsesively self interested so he doesn't work well with the other party members and he reeks "I'm better than you!" Ivy League elitism. He might maintain his Senate seat out of GOP voters unwilling to unseat him but there's no way he's getting close to the Presidency. My Tea Party relatives don't trust him or think he's really as smart as all the pundits and lawyers like to claim. Regardless if he is that intelligent it certainly doesn't come off. I'm not even sure if he even wants it and his entire political career isn't just an elaborate side show in order to get him in with some lucrative job afterwards.
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Feb 28, 2015 14:17
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Kellsterik posted:Do you think if they hadn't lost family members to communism they might be more willing to discuss its merits? See, people like this poster.
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Feb 28, 2015 16:13
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Shbobdb posted:They get agitated, sometimes to the point of violence and almost certainly to the point of never speaking to you again. Usually because they have lost family members to Communism. I can be loud and proud about my political orientation without being a complete rear end in a top hat. The shock factor in "loud and proud" is an invitation for discussion, not to gloat over their class-enemy uncle who got what he deserved. Same here, there's this girl from Hong Kong who looked at me in complete shock when she found out I'm a Marxist (asking me about how powerful the PLA is ofc) and I'm like, "My three biographies on Mao on my book shelf didn't clue you in?". I couched it in terms of how democracy isn't automatically good and looking at how the Soviet Union collapsed in how slow and steady wins the race and presenting nuanced arguments which I think worked out as she asked me to be her roommate later on. "Loud and proud" to start discussion or beat down certain walls, not as a general rule if you want to actually stay friends with some people.
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Feb 28, 2015 16:15
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I have one relative who lived through Mao before coming here, and thus cites that as "I know how corrupt the left can be!" Dude would rather see the country move so far to the right it drowns with the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic than see it even budge to the left.
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Feb 28, 2015 16:19
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Jerry Manderbilt posted:I have one relative who lived through Mao before coming here, and thus cites that as "I know how corrupt the left can be!" "And now you're getting to see how wickedly evil and monstrous the right can be! Congratulations, you've been hosed at both ends of the street!"
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Feb 28, 2015 16:51
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(Republican controlled) AK state legislature just cut medicaid expansion from the budget, which was a plank of the new governor's campaign platform. They claimed it would be better off as it's own bill, but there is already a bill waiting to be introduced and has been refused by the speaker or the Senate majority leader. So much for that. 
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Feb 28, 2015 17:59
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site posted:(Republican controlled) AK state legislature just cut medicaid expansion from the budget, which was a plank of the new governor's campaign platform. They claimed it would be better off as it's own bill, but there is already a bill waiting to be introduced and has been refused by the speaker or the Senate majority leader. So much for that. Are they the first state to accept and then reject it?
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Feb 28, 2015 18:02
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