USPOL Fall: Biden the hand that feeds you

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USPOL Fall: Biden the hand that feeds you

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

marshmonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1187089486452330497

Warren already ran an ad claiming that Zuck endorsed Trump. I guess now she runs bigger and bigger lies and dares Facebook to draw a line somewhere.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:48

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 18:54

Mr.Unique-Name: Jul 5, 2002

evilweasel posted:

https://twitter.com/baseballcrank/status/1187088995584544770

terrible man upset that his terrible party might not get rewarded by voters for removing treasonous criminal after three years of supporting him unconditionally

That doesn't read as him lamenting that. He's giving the reason that the GOP will never back impeachment and he's right and it's loving depressing. poo poo shouldn't be that way but politics is a team sport.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:48

MSDOS KAPITAL: Jun 25, 2018

Hobo Clown posted:

"Scandal erupts as James O'Keefe provides financial documents linking AOC to known white supremacist!"

Whatever the reason is, it's probably more banal and pathetic than this thread can imagine, like he wanted a date with AOC or something, except dumber even than that.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:48

Dr. Red Ranger: Nov 9, 2011; Nap Ghost

Cabbit posted:

I think you need to workshop this metaphor more.

Yeah probably, but at least the public will understand just as much.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:48

Scott Forstall: Aug 16, 2003; MMM THAT FAUX LEATHER

marshmonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1187089486452330497

OOF

goddamn she hit him like she was the protective barrier on the 11Foot8 bridge and he was an 12ft truck

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:48

refleks: Nov 21, 2006

Scott Forstall posted:

OOF

goddamn she hit him like she was the protective barrier on the 11Foot8 bridge and he was an 12ft truck

RIP 11Foot8: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/can-opener-bridge-durham-north-carolina_n_5dab7178e4b08cfcc31c6af0

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:51

Skex: Feb 22, 2012; The great thing about the thousands of slaughtered Palestinian children is that they can't pull away when you fondle them or sniff their hair.

That's a Biden success story.

beejay posted:

Like I don't know why this thread doesn't understand how much of our federal government is held together with weak decorum glue that has just been waiting for someone to go "gently caress this" and then find out that there are no consequences.

This is quite literally how all societies work, they function until a sufficient percentage of people say gently caress it and ignore the rules. Then one of two things happen. either the rules get changed or a sufficient percentage of the population smacks them down for being dicks.

We're in the GOP saying gently caress it stage, the question is whether we're going to allow them to change the rules going forward or if we're going to smack them down for being dicks. We'll probably have to see what happens on election day in 2020 either the electorate will punish them for being dicks, they listen and go back and lick their wounds or they win the election double down and we either surrender to their poo poo or literally fight it out. The hope is that the electorate smacks them down because the alternative is that a lot of people are going to be hurt most of whom won't be the ones who deserve it. That's why barely beating them isn't going to be enough, they need a smack down or historical proportions otherwise it's fight time.

People seem to forget that all of the :decorum:

crap they poo poo on constantly was created literally to stop fist and gun fights on the floor of congress.

Skex fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Oct 23, 2019

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:52

evilweasel: Aug 24, 2002

marshmonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1187089486452330497

i think i saw her in the Cohen hearings as well and man, she can cross-examine better than most attorneys I've seen

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:52

canepazzo: May 29, 2006

haveblue posted:

Warren already ran an ad claiming that Zuck endorsed Trump. I guess now she runs bigger and bigger lies and dares Facebook to draw a line somewhere.

Didn't FB ban that ad tho?

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:53

Scott Forstall: Aug 16, 2003; MMM THAT FAUX LEATHER

refleks posted:

RIP 11Foot8: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/can-opener-bridge-durham-north-carolina_n_5dab7178e4b08cfcc31c6af0

*extremely Adam Jensen-ly*

yeah RIP

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:54

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

canepazzo posted:

Didn't FB ban that ad tho?

Maybe they did eventually, but I saw it live on actual Facebook once so it took them a bit to decide.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:54

BigBallChunkyTime: Nov 25, 2011; Kyle Schwarber: World Series hero, Beefy Lad, better than you.; Illegal Hen

AOC about to be arrested for murder. She slaughtered that boy.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:55

Party Plane Jones: Jul 1, 2007; by Reene; Fun Shoe

evilweasel posted:

i think i saw her in the Cohen hearings as well and man, she can cross-examine better than most attorneys I've seen

she had her entire congressional staff working in concert with other congressional staffs to maximize the use of her time with hard hitting questions for that hearing

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:56

goethe.cx: Apr 23, 2014

AOC is apparently also the only member of congress who uses her time to ask actual questions instead
of grandstanding

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:57

Au Revoir Shosanna: Feb 17, 2011; i support this government and/or service

marshmonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1187089486452330497

lmao that final question and zuck's turn to camera

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:58

Skex: Feb 22, 2012; The great thing about the thousands of slaughtered Palestinian children is that they can't pull away when you fondle them or sniff their hair.

That's a Biden success story.

FizFashizzle posted:

Also worth noting: you can probably guess what happened that caused his approval to tank.

People wanted blood and the GOP refused to give it to them.

Conservatives learning the exact wrong lesson from history is very on brand.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:59

Chamale: Jul 11, 2010; I'm helping!

Slowpoke! posted:

This is what I was wondering. Like, can you extrapolate from the acoustics a general size and shape of the room? Or perhaps the presence of certain high or low frequency sounds inside the room getting picked up by the audio might reveal certain security measures?

One recording probably won't do any damage, you just don't want to risk that someone records some background conversation about classified info and leaks it.

The BBC used to live broadcast the sound of Big Ben striking the hour. They switched to a recording during the Blitz, because the Nazis were listening for rain on the live broadcast and sending bombers if the weather was clear.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 20:59

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

oxsnard posted:

https://twitter.com/JoshNBCNews/status/1187083007406084101

this will just be ignored, right?

if they do then the judge will start slapping the individuals involved with fines, this is very good

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:00

Rabble: Dec 3, 2005; Pillbug

goethe.cx posted:

AOC is apparently also the only member of congress who uses her time to ask actual questions instead
of grandstanding

I cannot wait to vote for her to be President someday.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:00

DarkHorse: Dec 13, 2006; Vroom vroom, BEEP BEEP!; Nap Ghost

Not that it surprises anyone, but the Trump admin can't even hurdle its absurdly low ethics bar

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-trump-administration-says-it-has-violated-its-own-ethics-pledge

quote:

We found multiple Trump ethics pledge violations hidden in a little-noticed government report. They show inappropriate actions by government employees, lobbyists and former business clients.

by Derek Kravitz for ProPublica Oct. 23, 1:52 p.m. EDT

A governmentwide review has acknowledged for the first time that at least several Trump political appointees violated the administration�s ethics pledge, which was put in place to try to �drain the swamp� by imposing lobbying restrictions and penalties.

The details are tucked away in the Office of Government Ethics� latest annual report, which attracted little notice when it was released this summer.

While President Donald Trump�s ethics pledge was weaker than previous rules, the government ethics office still found violations in 2018 at three federal agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the National Labor Relations Board.

No federal agency reported a violation of the Trump ethics pledge in 2017.

At the National Labor Relations Board, Republican board member William Emanuel was found to have improperly voted on a case involving franchisee or contractor violations of labor laws. Emanuel�s former employer, the law firm Littler Mendelson, represents a company that was a party to the original ruling, ProPublica reported. Before he joined the board in September 2017, Emanuel was a shareholder at Littler, which represents corporations in labor disputes.

In December 2017, the labor board overturned the original union-friendly ruling, undoing years of precedent and making it tougher for employees to pursue federal complaints against parent or related companies if they indirectly control employee work conditions. Because of Emanuel�s conflict of interest with Littler, the ruling on the case was ultimately overturned a second time and the labor board�s inspector general called Emanuel�s vote a �serious and flagrant problem and/or deficiency.�

The National Labor Relations Board declined to comment on Emanuel�s ethics violation. Emanuel did not respond to requests for comment.

The report cites an ethics violation by an unnamed presidential appointee at the EPA. Agency officials familiar with the matter said the case involves Bill Wehrum, a former lobbyist and attorney who resigned in June as the agency�s assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. Wehrum is the subject of several internal EPA investigations and faced questions from the House Energy and Commerce Committee over his communications with his former law firm Hunton & Williams, now known as Hunton Andrews Kurth. The firm represented several EPA-regulated power plant operators.

Wehrum, the chief architect of the Trump administration�s rollback of the Clean Air Act, the EPA and Hunton Andrews Kurth did not respond to requests for comment.

At the Interior Department, government attorneys disclosed in the annual report that �Ethics Pledge violations may have occurred in 2018.� The Interior Department�s inspector general is looking at potential violations of the ethics pledge by six current and former Trump staffers. (The agency also acknowledged problems with its ethics office after an earlier ProPublica story.)

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Interior Department in February, alleging that six current and former department staffers violated the ethics pledge, calling it �a disturbing pattern of misconduct� and including one former staffer who went directly from working on energy policy to working for an offshore oil drilling firm. Penalties for violating the pledge include fines and a five-year ban on lobbying.

The Interior Department has yet to make any announcement or ruling on the complaint. But in a statement, the agency said it �immediately consulted with department ethics officials after receiving the Center�s complaint in February. Ethics reviewed each matter and provided materials to the chief of staff, who has taken appropriate actions. All of these materials have been provided to the Inspector General.�

Influence peddling in federal politics is not new; in the Obama administration, appointees in both the Interior Department and the EPA were found to have violated his version of the ethics pledge by talking with former business clients.

The difference, ethics experts who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations say, is both the lack of enforcement and the dearth of information coming from certain federal agencies and the White House about its missteps.

�The White House Counsel�s office has taken the lead in making excuses for ethics violations,� said Kathleen Clark, a professor specializing in legal ethics at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. �There�s examples of the White House refusing to impose any sanction for officials found to have committed violations. They�re setting quite the example.�

In the first two years of the Trump administration, 3,887 political appointees � from Cabinet secretaries and acting chiefs to special and confidential assistants � signed the Trump ethics pledge. Of those thousands of political appointees, 116 were registered lobbyists in the two years immediately before starting government service, or roughly 3%.

Employees who signed Trump�s ethics pledge are not allowed to work on �any particular matters� they previously lobbied on. By contrast, the Obama administration banned lobbyists from working at agencies they previously lobbied.

Trump�s ethics pledge also bars those exiting the government from lobbying for five years � except we�ve found dozens of cases of staffers who�ve gone on to do exactly that.

The EPA and the Interior Department, along with other federal agencies, are no strangers to ethics issues over the past 2 1/2 years.

Former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general, resigned in July 2018 after a tumultuous tenure that saw more than a dozen different federal investigations into ethical and legal allegations, including his lease of a bedroom in a condo linked to a Canadian energy company�s Washington lobbying firm. (Pruitt�s attorney, Cleta Mitchell, told The Washington Post, that ethics rules had been unfairly �weaponized in order to destroy political opponents� like Pruitt and that he was �enemy No. 1� when he left the EPA. Pruitt is now working with coal baron Joseph W. Craft III and as an energy consultant and paid speaker while �in full compliance with both the letter and the spirit of the law,� Mitchell said.) Current EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, had at least three meetings with former clients as Pruitt�s deputy, according to calendars obtained by the trade publication E&E News.

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, now a lobbyist with Turnberry Solutions, is being investigated by the Justice Department�s public integrity section over allegations he lied to his agency�s inspector general�s office. That�s on top of two separate probes by the Interior Department�s inspector general about his ties to real estate deals in Montana and a proposed casino project in Connecticut. Zinke also exchanged emails about his family foundation�s Montana property in the summer of 2017, in violation of his own recusal memo he signed with ethics attorneys, according to documents obtained by The Post. (Zinke described the ethics allegations against him to Bloomberg News as �false� and �B.S.,� and calling D.C. �so angry and hateful.�)

Tracking White House staffers, Cabinet members and political appointees across the government

As part of a House inquiry into possible ethics violations, current Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former oil and gas lobbyist, was found to have met with officials from Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, a division of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, one of his former clients. The nonprofit legal center has also filed a complaint against Bernhardt, alleging he violated the ethics pledge by meeting with another former client, California�s Westlands Water District, the nation�s largest agricultural water district. The Interior Department has said Bernhardt is in �complete compliance with his ethics agreement and all applicable laws, rules and regulations.�

These reported cases of ethics pledge violations don�t represent the many ethics issues found across the Trump administration.

In April, the State and Energy departments released three long-delayed ethics waivers it has granted to Trump appointees, allowing them to talk to former employers and business clients. An additional 10 waivers specific to the Trump ethics pledge were disclosed by agencies in their annual ethics reports.

In 2017 and 2018, federal agencies referred 125 ethics cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution. Of those cases, 91 were declined and 12 were accepted, with the rest pending.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:00

evilweasel: Aug 24, 2002

Party Plane Jones posted:

she had her entire congressional staff working in concert with other congressional staffs to maximize the use of her time with hard hitting questions for that hearing

I mean, even making that effort to use her time well by having people put in some work is much more than 90% of congresspeople do. But she still does a very good job of asking precise questions and not letting the witness meander and waste her time.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:01

Fate Accomplice: Nov 30, 2006

marshmonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1187089486452330497

nothing will change as long as facebook employees aren't punished for the evil they build.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:01

MSDOS KAPITAL: Jun 25, 2018

Skex posted:

We'll probably have to see what happens on election day in 2020 either the electorate will punish them for being dicks, they listen and go back and lick their wounds or they win the election double down and we either surrender to their poo poo or literally fight it out.

They're going to double down regardless of what happens in the next election.

Skex posted:

People seem to forget that all of the crap they poo poo on constantly was created literally to stop fist and gun fights on the floor of congress.

If the

crap served that purpose before, it certainly doesn't any more.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:06

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

When Zuck turns to the camera you can almost hear him clicking his heels and whispering "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME".

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:07

marshmonkey: Dec 5, 2003; I was sick of looking
at your stupid avatar
so
have a cool cat instead.; Switchblade Switcharoo

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1187096892427112449

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:08

Party Plane Jones: Jul 1, 2007; by Reene; Fun Shoe

https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1187097886854660096

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:10

Grouchio: Aug 31, 2014

So what actually resulted from republicans storming today's hearings?

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:11

Mr. Fall Down Terror: Jan 24, 2018; by Fluffdaddy

Party Plane Jones posted:

https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1187097886854660096

some confused guys start chanting "more 16 years!" and have to get shushed

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:12

evilweasel: Aug 24, 2002

Grouchio posted:

So what actually resulted from republicans storming today's hearings?

The deposition was delayed about 5 hours, meaning the deponent is getting home laaaaaaate tonight.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:12

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Grouchio posted:

So what actually resulted from republicans storming today's hearings?

A delay of a few hours and an excuse to revisit House security procedures, and that's about it.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:13

Wayne Knight: May 11, 2006

Grouchio posted:

So what actually resulted from republicans storming today's hearings?

A bunch of "journalism" resulting in clicks that keep media addicted to the current levels of chaos (they will fight against any attempt of a return to normalcy. they will campaign for trump), and a delayed deposition.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:14

Goatse James Bond: Mar 28, 2010; If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead

ketchup vs catsup posted:

nothing will change as long as facebook employees aren't punished for the evil they build.

we need regulations to exist in the first place, and I'm not particularly sure what those would be in specific - for example, on the Fake News Ad question, what's the solution? note, I'm not saying those regulations can't exist, I just haven't put a terribly large amount of thought into it and think it's an interesting and productive discussion topic

or to nationalize Facebook, but then we still need an administration and policy structure that solves those issues and doesn't immediately get used by a competent fascist President to lock in Nazi victory

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:14

beejay: Apr 7, 2002

Skex posted:

This is quite literally how all societies work, they function until people a sufficient percentage of people say gently caress it and ignore the rules. Then one of two things happen. either the rules get changed or a sufficient percentage of the population smacks them down for being dicks.

We're in the GOP saying gently caress it stage, the question is whether we're going to allow them to change the rules going forward or if we're going to smack them down for being dicks. We'll probably have to see what happens on election day in 2020 either the electorate will punish them for being dicks, they listen and go back and lick their wounds or they win the election double down and we either surrender to their poo poo or literally fight it out. The hope is that the electorate smacks them down because the alternative is that a lot of people are going to be hurt most of whom won't be the ones who deserve it. That's why barely beating them isn't going to be enough, they need a smack down or historical proportions otherwise it's fight time.

People seem to forget that all of the crap they poo poo on constantly was created literally to stop fist and gun fights on the floor of congress.

Yes you are definitely correct. I just hope enough changes can be made to lay out real consequences and stop the insanity that is the Republican party.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:15

eke out: Feb 24, 2013

GreyjoyBastard posted:

we need regulations to exist in the first place, and I'm not particularly sure what those would be in specific - for example, on the Fake News Ad question, what's the solution? note, I'm not saying those regulations can't exist, I just haven't put a terribly large amount of thought into it and think it's an interesting and productive discussion topic

or to nationalize Facebook, but then we still need an administration and policy structure that solves those issues and doesn't immediately get used by a competent fascist President to lock in Nazi victory

simply forbid political advertising on nationalized facebook

it's good public policy and it discriminates against no one. additionally, it is easy to administer because it requires zero tough judgments about what kinds of political ads are okay.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:16

evilweasel: Aug 24, 2002

https://twitter.com/KBAndersen/status/1187081658324967425

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:16

DarkHorse: Dec 13, 2006; Vroom vroom, BEEP BEEP!; Nap Ghost

eke out posted:

simply forbid political advertising on facebook

it's good public policy and it discriminates against no one. additionally, it is easy to administer

excuse you I think you'll find it discriminates against rich people and lobbyists

the only real people, the ones that actually matter

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:17

evilweasel: Aug 24, 2002

eke out posted:

simply forbid ~~political~~ advertising on nationalized facebook

it's good public policy and it discriminates against no one. additionally, it is easy to administer because it requires zero tough judgments about what kinds of political ads are okay.

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:18

OAquinas: Jan 27, 2008; Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.

evilweasel posted:

The deposition was delayed about 5 hours, meaning the deponent is getting home laaaaaaate tonight.

Goodbye, Deponia

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:20

eke out: Feb 24, 2013

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1187101118553350150

this is still extremely funny to me.

trump is vindictive enough to remember Yovanovich and go out of his way to get her fired, but he's too lazy and addled to bother to follow through and put a toady in her place

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:21

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 18:54

evilweasel: Aug 24, 2002

https://twitter.com/BillBramhall/status/1187100909664378882

# ? Oct 23, 2019 21:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USPOL Fall: Biden the hand that feeds you

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