FrozenVent posted:

Can’t you charge someone for both at once? Or one after the other?

BigDave posted:

Firearm Owners of America

Our contention is that gun owners are mostly immature history nerds who target shoot for fun.

We support universal background checks, a ban of the sale of bump stocks, reducing the NFA stamp tax to $25, and re-authorizing the importation of US firearms.

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

But I thought trade wars were good and easy to win?

EBB posted:

Our sitting president is an embarrassment.

Milo and POTUS posted:

I don't think I've ever even heard the Dave matthews band and that's not an exaggeration. Also most narcotics in low doses kept me awake, even depressants.

mods changed my name posted:

crash


into me

Eej posted:

psydude posted:

H Mart is good too. They're sprinkled all over the MD/VA area.

There's also this great Indian grocery store in Catonsville where you can get any obscure Indian spice you need.

Evil SpongeBob posted:

Tabasco? WTF you hot sauce plebe. That's the equivalent of going to NYC and eating Little Caesars.

quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The attorneys general of the District of Columbia and Maryland plan to file subpoenas Tuesday seeking records from the Trump Organization, the Treasury Department and dozens of other entities as part of a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of profiting off the presidency.

The flurry of subpoenas came a day after U.S. District Court Judge Peter J. Messitte approved a brisk schedule for discovery in the case alleging that foreign and domestic government spending at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel amounts to gifts to the president in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause.

The subpoenas target 37 entities, including 13 Trump-linked entities and the federal agency that oversees the lease for Trump’s Washington hotel. Subpoenas were also being sent to the Department of Defense, General Services Administration, Department of Commerce and Department of Agriculture, all of which have spent taxpayer dollars at the hotel or have information on Trump’s finances relevant to the case.

Other Trump entities that officials plan to subpoena include those related to his Washington hotel and its management. Eighteen private entities including restaurants, venues and hotels that compete with the Trump hotel are also being subpoenaed to “illuminate the unfair nature of that competition,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh.

“We’re seeking to confirm the information that everybody already knows: Trump’s violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution,” Frosh said. “He’s received numerous payments from foreign governments and state governments and they’ve been funneled, at least in part, through the Trump (hotel) in D.C.”

While news organizations have reported how groups representing Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the Philippines have hosted events at Trump’s D.C. hotel since he took office, the subpoenas offer the best chance to get a complete picture of which foreign and domestic governments are spending at the hotel, how much they are spending and where that money is going. They’re also trying to determine how Trump’s hotel is affecting the hospitality industry in D.C. and Maryland.

The subpoenas seek to prove that hotel revenues are going to the president through his affiliated entities, including The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Most of the records are being requested back to Jan. 1, 2015.

The Justice Department declined to comment. Neither Trump’s personal attorney on the case, William S. Consovoy, nor the White House responded to a request for comment Tuesday.

Trump’s Justice Department lawyers filed a notice to the court Friday indicating it plans to challenge the Maryland judge’s decision to allow the case to move forward. Justice lawyers have argued that earnings from business activity such as hotel stays don’t qualify as emoluments and that any discovery would “be a distraction to the President’s performance of his constitutional duties.”

The president’s notice that he may seek a writ of mandamus — to have the appeal heard by a higher court — is considered an “extraordinary remedy” that partly rests on showing Messitte’s decisions to be clearly wrong.

Because the president has not released his tax returns, any responsive records would likely provide the first clear picture of the finances of Trump’s business empire as well as his Washington hotel.

There is no indication yet that Frosh and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine, both Democrats, would push for the president’s tax returns, at least in this initial round of legal discovery, given the sensitive nature of such a request and likely additional delays it would cause. But tax returns for some of Trump’s business entities, including the state and federal tax returns for the Trump Organization, are also being requested.

Co-counsel on the case is Washington-based nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

The Treasury Department is being subpoenaed to determine not only whether its officials patronized Trump’s hotel but also to learn more about Trump’s promised donations of profit of foreign government spending at his hotel and similar businesses to the Treasury. In February, The Trump Organization donated $151,470 — what it said was the total amount of spending in Trump’s first year in office. The subpoena requests “all communications” regarding that payment.

State officials earlier told The Associated Press that the IRS would likely be subpoenaed, but it was unclear if that would happen on Tuesday or whether it would happen at all.

“We’re certainly not ruling that out, just like we’re not ruling out seeking the president’s tax returns,” Frosh said.

The Trump Organization said in an emailed statement to the AP that the company had “voluntarily donated” the profits and “intend to make a similar contribution in 2019.” The company did not comment on the case otherwise.

There is a separate federal lawsuit involving the General Services Administration, which oversees the lease for the hotel with the Trump Organization. Democratic lawmakers want to know how Trump was approved by the GSA to maintain the lease of the Trump International Hotel in Washington after he became president.

The hotel is housed in the historic Old Post Office, which is owned by the federal government, and its lease has a clause barring any “elected official of the government of the United States” from deriving “any benefit.”

Maine is also expected to receive a subpoena, likely because its governor, Republican Paul LePage, stayed at Trump’s D.C. hotel when he had official business to conduct, including discussions with the president. LePage’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

On one of those trips last year, Trump and LePage appeared together at a news conference at which Trump signed an executive order to review orders of the prior administration that established national monuments within the National Park Service. President Barack Obama had established a park and national monument in Maine over LePage’s objections in 2016.

If there are no delays, legal discovery would conclude in early August.

Lake of Methane posted:

Meadows was one of the 18 congressmen that wanted Trump nominated for the Nobel prize for ending the Korean War.

https://twitter.com/RepLukeMesser/status/991725868941824000

quote:

Two Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers arrived in Venezuela on Monday, a deployment that comes amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions.

Russia's Defense Ministry said a pair Tu-160 bombers landed at Maiquetia airport outside Caracas on Monday following a 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) flight. It didn't say if the bombers were carrying any weapons and didn't say how long they will stay in Venezuela.

The ministry said the bombers were shadowed by Norwegian F-18 fighter jets during part of their flight. It added that a heavy-lift An-124 Ruslan cargo plane and an Il-62 passenger plane accompanied the bombers to Maiquetia.

The Tu-160 is capable of carrying conventional or nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with a range of 5,500 kilometers (3,410 miles). Such bombers took part in Russia's campaign in Syria, where they launched conventionally-armed Kh-101 cruise missiles for the first time in combat.

Code-named Blackjack by NATO, the massive warplane is capable of flying at a speed twice exceeding the speed of sound. Russia has upgraded its Tu-160 fleet with new weapons and electronics and plans to produce a modernized version of the bomber.

The bombers' deployment follows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's visit to Moscow last week in a bid to shore up political and economic assistance even as his country has been struggling to pay billions of dollars owed to Russia.

Russia is a major political ally of Venezuela, which has become increasingly isolated in the world under growing sanctions led by the U.S. and the European Union, which accuse Maduro of undermining democratic institutions to hold onto power, while overseeing an economic and political crisis that is worse than the Great Depression.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at last week's meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Vladimir Padrino Lopez that Russia would continue to send its military aircraft and warships to visit Venezuela as part of bilateral military cooperation.

Russia sent its Tu-160 strategic bombers and a missile cruiser to visit Venezuela in 2008 amid tensions with the U.S. after Russia's brief war with Georgia. A pair of Tu-160s also visited Venezuela in 2013.

Russia-U.S. relations are currently at post-Cold War lows over Ukraine, the war in Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Russia has bristled at U.S. and other NATO allies deploying their troops and weapons near its borders.

Asked about the Russian bombers, Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said he had no specific information about the deployment.

LongDarkNight posted:

who?

DoktorLoken posted:

https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1073030706219995136?s=20

Vasudus posted:

chaos timeline challenge:

name five major events that occurred this year without using the internet to cheat

lightning round challenge:

name five major events that occurred last year without using the internet to cheat

final challenge:

name one mass shooting from this year and last year