patrick.net

richwicks says

Do people actually believe this is what happened? The full transcript is released, and people just assume you never look at it. It's only 5 pages. Please quote Trump and the page number where he supposedly engaged in a quid pro quo.

This is the reverse version of read the Mueller Report, when you ask them what part and they just say "Read it" without specifying anything in it.

Worse of course, because we have a picture of Joe and Hunter Biden golfing with a Burisma board member, Joe bragging about getting Shonkin fired in front of a think tank audience, Shonkin's testimony that he was investigating the Burisma Board, etc.

NoCoupForYou says

This is the reverse version of read the Mueller Report, when you ask them what part and they just say "Read it" without specifying anything in it.

No, my point is that Trump was careful to avoid a quid-pro-quo. He didn't with-hold funding demanding an investigation - but Biden did to demand the firing of an investigator.

I'm just surprised how often you see BLATANT LIES about what happened or what is going on.

When it was 2003, I thought Republicans were the dumbest scumbags on the planet because they just couldn't believe George W. Bush lied us into a war, and he freaking did! There was a ton of evidence at the time. You'd be called a traitor, anti-American, a liberal, stupid - whatever, but what you wouldn't see is any evidence of a WMD program in Iraq.

At that time, it was entirely unimaginable to think I'd be looking upon "liberals" in exactly the same way.

There's like almost 50% of the society that just believe ANY bullshit of "their party", and another 50% that engages in some critical thought. It's not divided along conservative/liberal. Those are just false dichotomies, which have no real meaning. What does it mean to be a liberal today? In 1985, it meant you wanted to keep the nation out of war, freedom of speech was absolute, education in sciences was essential and good. That's called a Republican today. !

marcus says

What an asshole.

marcus says

Liberal Arts major: I read a bunch of books about Gender Fluidity, but I never learned about the Virginia and New Jersey Plans because of my narrow, illiberal education.

marcus says

Occasionally you find a humorous one.

marcus says

I hope you don't think I have any fucking idea what you're talking about.

Oh dear.

Let me help with some K-12 Civics:

We only have a United States, instead of a Colonial Confederacy, because big states like VA and smaller ones like NJ/Delaware/etc. made a deal to have both a population based House and a 2-fixed-per-state Senate. Otherwise it would be have been "No Deal" as smaller states did not want to have large states always call the shots. It's called the Great Compromise, or the Connecticut Compromise (it being formulated by CT delegates to the Constitutional Convention) and I learned about it in Junior HS.

marcus says

I learned about what we have the electoral college in junior high, or earlier too. Doesn't mean I think it works quite as planned today.

How so?

I'd argue it works much better today since we have huge concentrations of populations in 3 big cities.

Without the electoral college, Presidents would only have to campaign in California, New York and maybe Illinois and ignore the rest of the country.

marcus says

I learned about what we have the electoral college in junior high, or earlier too. Doesn't mean I think it works quite as planned today.

Yes, since it was in reference to this:

NoCoupForYou says

marcus says

Liberal Arts major: I read a bunch of books about Gender Fluidity, but I never learned about the Virginia and New Jersey Plans because of my narrow, illiberal education.

That you forgot to include it was in reference to. So the context was known: A Lib Arts major with no clue about the USA itself being a compromise.

marcus says

I learned about what we have the electoral college in junior high, or earlier too. Doesn't mean I think it works quite as planned today.

The electoral college works as planned. It stops the big states from IMPOSING their will on the smaller states.

Eric Ciaramella was retained at the National Security Council in the Trump Admin,
and even promoted as
'Acting Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs'

under the suggestion (insistence?) of General McMaster,
Trump National Security Adviser

https://twitter.com/GregRubini

That's on purpose, TPB. They are feeding him nonsense and laughing as he meets with WaPo and Schiff Staffers. I have little doubt he's the bogus Whistleblower, probably #1, maybe #2.

marcus says

I don't expect arrogant idiots to want to ever learn more than what they knew in junior high

Just becasue?

marcus says

Besides, even if we weren't going to go to full popular vote, there would be ways to update the electoral college.

Why do you hate diversity of states? Why do you hate diversity of political ideology?

This isn't about doing what's in the interest of the majority - it's about making an INCLUSIVE country where people from all states matter. A country where things work equally well for ALL STATES. A country where ALL STATES feel EQUALLY welcome and EQUALLY valued. A country with equity we can be proud of.

We've been down this road before, where people argue that the nation should be tailored primarily to the citizens in the majority, because it should be proportional, and they outnumber the minorities. But, if we did that, then it would hurt diversity, and diversity is our strength!

Bigot!!!

marcus says

But if you ever feel like updating your understanding there are people out there who have thought about this a lot, not just the history of the beginning of the electoral college system, but what has happened since, such as the winner takes all aspect of electors votes, and the fact that electors simply go along with their party. This isn't even close to what was relevant or intended when the system was formed.

We have a FEDERAL system. A balance between State representation, and the people as a whole. States are entirely free to determine how their electors are assigned.

Let's see California and New York and Illinois put their money where their mouth is first, show leadership and integrity, lead by example -

and assign electoral votes the way Maine does, proportional to the state popular vote

That means of course the 55 California Electoral votes won't all go to Hillary Clinton or whomever the Dems end up nominating. probably 20-25 would go to Trump.

The current system is vastly superior to a simple majority of the popular vote, since it forces politicians to consider broad groups of people, such as in large swing states, rather than just promising the world to one group and entirely ignoring another.

socal2 says

Without the electoral college, Presidents would only have to campaign in California, New York and maybe Illinois and ignore the rest of the country.

marcus says

How do you figure ? IF It was simply the popular vote, the sum of NY City, Los Angeles and Chicago's population is something like 15 million out of 320 million of the US. THat's not even one twentieth ?

You ignored that socal was talking about the states those cities reside in. I don't claim to know the others well, but know Chicago very well. The collar counties around Cook county almost are alway blue, so you can't just talk about the city itself.

I'm guessing this is likely true for other cities. The entire county is likely blue and the surrounding counties. LA County 10.16M. Since there are multiple counties, I looked up the NYC metropolitan area, almost certainly blue. 23.7M. Chicago metropolitan area has 9.5M. That's about 43M people and we haven't even touched SF and SD in CA. 4.7M for SF area and 3.3M for those two. So 51M people. And there's still millions of others in these 3 states.

No, you won't win the popular vote in a high turn out year, but constantly campaigning in those areas and pandering to their issues will likely get you 75% of the registered voters. Throw in 90% of college towns/cities across the country that have professors campaigning for you and there's probably another 20M people easy and you don't have to do anything.

Our country cannot be run based on a few poorly run cities is the point. Hence the electoral college. I know you know this, but it just didn't work out in 2016 and now it's become a problem. It will work out for the left at some point in the future and the right will go through the same pouting. It's honestly a brilliant system and should not change just because people can't be adults about their guy/gal/tranny losing.

marcus says

I'm renaming this thread "Pathetic TDS Examples"

marcus says

I find this rather suspicious in that the handwriting and spacing and font and such all looks almost exactly the same. Even shit done by the same person, decades apart is going to look more different than those two posters.

That and she has aged poorly.

marcus says

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

Can we stop pretending government actually gives a damned?

marcus says

How about the time you were one of the very few people who was allowed to view the Zapruder film and lied on national television about what you saw?

www.youtube.com/embed/kiSoxFHyjGY

Seriously, folks, this was the beginning of Dan Rather's career as a "news" man on the national stage.

People are loathe to understand just how corrupt the establishment is to the point that it's amusing to me. I thought society would always be in denial 5 years ago, but I don't think that anymore.

No Kavanaugh! MEN need to stop ABUSING their employees!

Hill is also accused of having a separate affair with her campaign finance director, Graham Kelly. According to text messages seen by DailyMail.com, Hill's relationship with Kelly was the final straw for Heslep, as he said he could accept his wife having a relationship with a woman, but not with another man. Pictured: Hill with Desjardins and Kelly in June of 2018
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7609835/Katie-Hill-seen-showing-Nazi-era-tattoo-smoking-BONG-NAKED.html




House Armed Service Committee
Subcommittee on Tactical Air & Land Forces
Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces

No risk of Blackmail there!

marcus says

Didn't the House already reject an impeachment vote a few months ago?

What House vote empowered this venue-shopping committee to meet in secret?

What specific law prohibits Congressmen from entering a session?

When you enter a room, and everybody scatters for the door, what was likely happening in there? Good things or bad things?

marcus says

It's not access. It's to be able to have the impeachment hearing public, have it regularized with a vote from Congress, have it under the control of the Judiciary Committee where it belongs based on long precedent, and make sure the exculpatory evidence is heard, not just strategic selective leaks to place the President in the worst light.

Tenpoundbass says

Eric Ciaramella was retained at the National Security Council in the Trump Admin,
and even promoted as
'Acting Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs'

under the suggestion (insistence?) of General McMaster,
Trump National Security Adviser

https://twitter.com/GregRubini

Tenpoundbass says

Eric Ciaramella was retained at the National Security Council in the Trump Admin,
and even promoted as
'Acting Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs'

under the suggestion (insistence?) of General McMaster,
Trump National Security Adviser

https://twitter.com/GregRubini

Tenpoundbass says

Orange Man Baaad!