US US Politics General - Discussion of President Biden and other politicians

 

[0713]

Vance once said that he'd like to be buried in his family plot when he dies and for his wife to be buried there too. The media ran with it being proof of what a massive evil racist he is. They'll genuinely do anything at this point. And a significant amount of people will fall for it.

Wait, I don't understand. What's the racist angle? How is that racist, in their view?

 

[StarkRavingMad]

It's so funny, I could die!

Only if you've been jabbed and boosted.

 

[draggs]

As we again heap deserved praise on Trump for getting up after nearly being killed and reminding us to fight; let us not forget the husband and father who died for the crime of attending a political rally. Corey Comperatore did not deserve the fate he was handed, and it was handed to him by the media and brainwashed leftists. Don't forget who was lost and WHY he was lost.

And don't forget the other two people who were seriously injured and are still dealing with the consequences of their injuries as well, and likely will be for the rest of their lives

 

[mandatorylurk]

Wait, I don't understand. What's the racist angle? How is that racist, in their view?

The white man demanding he be buried on "his land" which *jerkoff motion* belonged to the indians, and then making his foreign wife be buried there too, denying her agency and submitting to the wills of a hillbilly.

This is what also started lil' Ben Shapiro doing his pretend stupid "what do you mean America is a people and not just ideals we share?"

 

[invisibult plus+]

-snip-

-double snip-

Does the truth need to get its pants on? Also bring on the Sugma and Ligma variants.

 

[Necrosan]

BARF.
View attachment 6667807

To be fair, Tiger Woods and Nancy Pelosi also have it. Maybe it's an inside joke we're not aware of.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

To be fair, Tiger Woods and Nancy Pelosi also have it. Maybe it's an inside joke we're not aware of.

So does Joe Biden. And Ellen Degenerate.

I want Kamala to have one now, if only for the "Medal of Fweedom" memes.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

Here are some interesting articles from my favorite rag of repute, The Hill. I apologize if these stories were already posted, as I was busy today.

"House Ethics Committee keeps Gaetz report under wraps" (archive)

The House Ethics Committee met Wednesday but did not release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, resisting significant pressure to release its findings after President-elect Trump selected the controversial Florida Republican to be his attorney general.

“There is not an agreement by the committee to release the report,” Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told reporters following a roughly two-hour meeting.

The panel, which met behind closed doors, took multiple votes, a source familiar with the situation told The Hill, including one to release the report as-is, which failed, another to publish just the exhibits associated with the report, which also failed, and a third to formally “complete” the report, which passed in a bipartisan fashion.

The development caps off a week of speculation regarding the committee’s work, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pushing for its publication, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) vigorously advocating for it to remain a secret and Trump’s team charging ahead with the selection of Gaetz, despite the drama.

The committee is scheduled to meet again Dec. 5 “to further consider this matter,” according to Rep. Susan Wild (Pa.), the top Democrat on the panel.

The Hill’s source said members left with the understanding that the report would be “ready” by that gathering, suggesting another vote to release the body of work could take place then.

Shortly after Guest’s statement, Wild offered remarks on behalf of the Democrats, saying it would be “inaccurate” to take Guest’s statement to mean there was consensus on the committee, confirming that a vote was taken and suggesting it broke along partisan lines.

“I will say that a vote was taken,” Wild said. “As many of you know, this committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Five Dems, five Republicans, which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side — which happens a lot, by the way, and we often vote unanimously.”

Wild said she made a separate public statement because Guest “betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee.”

Details from the report could make their way to the public — or to senators considering Gaetz’s nomination — even if the Ethics panel never moves to release it.

Some of the evidence and testimony reportedly on file with the committee has been leaked to ABC News, and a lawyer for two women who he says spoke to the Ethics Committee has been publicly saying they told the panel they saw Gaetz “having sex with a minor” at a party.

Gaetz has vigorously denied the allegations, accused a former associate and convicted fraudster of plotting with others to lie about him to reduce his prison sentence, and has noted that the Department of Justice declined to charge him with a crime.

One Democrat is already seeking to extract the Ethics panel’s findings in another way.

Rep. Sean Casten (Ill.) moved to force the committee to release its findings through a privileged resolution — triggering a vote of the whole House within two legislative days — if the Ethics Committee does not do so.

Such a move was also made in 1996, when Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to force the Ethics Committee to release its preliminary findings on then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

“The allegations against Matt Gaetz are serious. They are credible. The House Ethics Committee has spent years conducting a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it,” Casten said in a statement. “This information must be made available for the Senate to provide its constitutionally required advice and consent.”

The committee could also vote to release the report at a later date.

“We have regularly scheduled meetings between now and the end of the year,” Guest said.

Guest, in comments to reporters before the meeting, expressed reservations about releasing the committee’s findings because the report was not yet completed.

Pressed on how it could be released before it was entirely finished, Guest responded: “That is something that we will be talking about today.”

“And that is another reason I have some reservations about releasing any unfinished work,” he added.

The panel’s Wednesday meeting came as Gaetz was on the other side of the Capitol meeting with senators to advocate for his own confirmation. Several Republican senators have said they want to see the Ethics panel’s findings, and waves of Democrats have called for its release.

Gaetz was the subject of a years-long investigation by the committee starting in 2021 that examined allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Gaetz was accused of accepting improper gifts, dispensing special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship and seeking to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.

He was also previously the subject of an investigation by the Department of Justice — the very agency he has been tapped to lead — which investigated Gaetz over allegations he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. The department, however, declined to charge him with a crime.

Gaetz told the Ethics Committee in a September letter that he would “no longer voluntarily participate” in the panel’s probe into him, accusing it of leading a “political payback exercise” and calling it “uncomfortably nosy.” He accused the panel of asking for a list of adult women with whom he’d had sex over the last seven years.

In that letter, Gaetz said the answer to the question of whether he has engaged in sexual activity with any individual under the age of 18 “is unequivocally NO.” And Gaetz accused his former associate, Joel Greenberg, who was convicted of fraud and had cooperated with the Justice Department investigation into Gaetz, of coordinating “false smears” in order to reduce his prison sentence.

Gaetz abruptly resigned from the House the same day Trump announced he would nominate the Florida lawmaker to be attorney general, a move described as a way to kick-start the special election process and lessen the impacts of being one member down in a slim majority.

But many Republicans saw Gaetz’s effort as an attempt to squash the Ethics Committee report. The panel had been scheduled to meet to consider the Gaetz matter just two days after his resignation, a source told The Hill.

Typically, the committee ends its investigations and does not release its findings on members who have departed the House.

Johnson has argued releasing the report would “open a Pandora’s box” and break a long-standing “rule” of the panel to not publish information on former members of Congress.

But there are some previous examples of Ethics investigators releasing information on former members.

In 1987, the panel released its report into former Rep. William Boner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the House. And in 2011, the Senate Ethics Committee released its preliminary report into former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) after he departed the upper chamber.

It seems that the allegations against Matt Gaetz are so credible, so damaging, so serious... that no one gets to hear about it. Unless someone leaks it, of course, which I am surprised has not happened already. My guess is that the report is a lot of what I call "Dog Eats Robot": if that's a fact, then show me the proof. Plenty of robots that always say yes and never question the people who think they know best. I could be wrong, but I'm getting whiffs of bullshit from this.

Another interesting story that I have not heard too much about: "Senate rejects Sanders-backed proposal to block arms sales to Israel" (archive). I'm not quoting this one in full because the headline is self-explanatory and there's nothing of interest in the body. What I find interesting is that this story went unnoticed in the headlines vis-à-vis Ukraine. The Democrats seem to be giving Israel a good leaving alone after getting smashed in the presidential election.

The current top story at The Hill: "Musk, Ramaswamy lay out plans for ‘mass’ federal layoffs, rule rollbacks under Trump" (archive).

Tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy said Wednesday that their brand-new government efficiency panel will identify “thousands” of regulations for President-elect Trump to eliminate, which they argue will justify “mass head-count reductions” across government.

The pair, who were named co-chairs of the panel last week, laid out their plans for the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

“The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings,” they wrote. “We will focus particularly on driving change through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws.”

Musk and Ramaswamy pointed to several recent Supreme Court decisions that have taken aim at the power of the administrative state, arguing that a “plethora of current federal regulations” exceed agency authority and could be on the chopping block.

Slashing regulations should allow for “at least” proportional cuts to the government workforce, they argue.

“A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” the pair wrote in the op-ed.

“Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited,” they added.

Musk and Ramaswamy preemptively addressed arguments about civil service protections that could potentially block Trump from firing federal workers.

“The purpose of these protections is to protect employees from political retaliation,” they wrote. “But the statute allows for ‘reductions in force’ that don’t target specific employees. The statute further empowers the president to ‘prescribe rules governing the competitive service.’ That power is broad.”

“With this authority, Mr. Trump can implement any number of ‘rules governing the competitive service’ that would curtail administrative overgrowth, from large-scale firings to relocation of federal agencies out of the Washington area,” they added.

Government workers are already mobilizing in the face of potential mass cuts, reportedly hiring lawyers and preparing public campaigns while also hoping Congress will step in, according to Reuters.

DOGE also hopes to take aim at “unauthorized” federal funding, which could impact everything from veterans’ health care and opioid addiction treatment to NASA, The Washington Post reported.

The op-ed seemingly seeks to address widespread skepticism about the ability of Musk and Ramaswamy’s panel to enact change.

As an outside-of-government commission, it would be limited to an advisory capacity, meaning it could face numerous obstacles from within the executive branch, as well as Congress, experts previously told The Hill.

However, Musk’s close relationship with the president-elect could be influential. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO played a key role in Trump’s campaign, contributing millions of dollars to his own pro-Trump super PAC and getting out on the campaign trial.

Since Trump’s decisive victory over Vice President Harris earlier this month, Musk has remained close at hand; the billionaire tech mogul joined the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago on election night to watch the results roll in and later received a shoutout in Trump’s victory speech.

Musk has spent much of his time at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort over the past two weeks, reportedly weighing in on Trump’s Cabinet picks and attending meetings, including those with world leaders.

He also hosted Trump in Texas to observe the launch of a SpaceX rocket Tuesday afternoon.

What I find most interesting about this article is that both Musk and Ramaswamy reference the recent overturning of Chevron deference as the legal tool they will use to wrest tyrannical bureaucratic power from alphabet-soup agencies. I also think it's odd that they call Ramaswamy a "tech entrepreneur" even though he's a biotech guy, but I am a little autistic anyway so whatever.

It also looks like the GOP establishment is sending its lackeys out against RFK and Tulsi Gabbard: "Haley raises concerns about Gabbard, RFK Jr." (archive). Nikki Haley is mad that Gabbard has expressed interest in pardoning Edward Snowden (which Gabbard has done) and is repeating the same stuff about Gabbard being pro-Putin. We go back to my "Dog Eats Robot" feelings: if that's a fact, then show me the proof. I've never heard Gabbard defend China, as Haley remarks in the article. As for RFK, all Haley has to say is he's an unknown element.

Finally, my favorite article of the day: "McBride says she will ‘follow the rules’ of House bathroom ban" (archive). Tranny McBride has no option but to stop creeping on Congresswomen.

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), set to be the nation’s first openly transgender member of Congress when she takes office in January, said she will comply with a policy instituted Wednesday by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) barring transgender people from single-sex facilities that match their gender identity in the Capitol and House office buildings.

“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down the costs facing families. Like all members, I will follow the rules outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them,” McBride said Wednesday in a statement posted to the social platform X.

“This effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn’t distracted me over the last several days, as I’ve remained hard at work preparing to represent the greatest state in the union come January,” she said. “Serving in the 119th Congress will be the honor of a lifetime — and I continue to look forward to getting to know my future colleagues on both sides of the aisle.”

“Each of us were sent here because voters saw something in us that they value,” McBride continued. “I have loved getting to see those qualities in the future colleagues that I’ve met and I look forward to seeing those qualities in every member come January. I hope all my colleagues will seek to do the same with me.”

Johnson announced the policy earlier Wednesday in a statement, a draft of which was first reported by The Hill. The restrictions apply to bathrooms in House office buildings, changing rooms and locker rooms.

Under House rules, the Speaker has “general control” of facilities in the chamber, giving him the authority to issue the policy surrounding bathrooms.

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said Wednesday. “It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.”

Johnson’s statement — which he made on Transgender Day of Remembrance, recognized annually to memorialize trans people who lost their lives to anti-trans violence — comes just days after Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) introduced a resolution to bar transgender women from facilities on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity, which she said was a response to McBride’s election earlier this month.

Mace on Wednesday filed a separate measure to ban transgender women and men from single-sex facilities on federal property, satisfying a promise she made Tuesday to expand her initial resolution.

In a statement, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, which promotes LGBTQ equality in the House, called Johnson’s new bathroom policy “a cruel and unnecessary rule that puts countless staff, interns, and visitors to the United States Capitol at risk.”

Why is it that FtM trannies never make a huge fucking stink about bathroom usage, but the MtF ones always do?

 

[just Reading a post]

Wait, I don't understand. What's the racist angle? How is that racist, in their view?

Because people need to be buried with their "own" people. Racist segregation. It is just rhetoric bullshit. They will dress it up in progressive clothes with arguments such as "its their culture to do it this way".
It is like expecting people from Europe to have Viking funerals all the time. It is a meme to say they are more racist than any KKK member could be. But just because it is a meme, does not mean it is not true in cases such as this.

 

[The Ugly One]

A civilian is someone who is NOT involved in military affairs in any capacity, that's not "eurocucking", that is literally the concrete definition of the term.

Owning "proper military equipment" doesn't make you a soldier. You can buy lots of it yourself.

 

[DocAwe]

Very funny Clown World joke. It's so funny, I could die!

Don't say that in Canada.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

Because people need to be buried with their "own" people. Racist segregation. It is just rhetoric bullshit. They will dress it up in progressive clothes with arguments such as "its their culture to do it this way".
It is like expecting people from Europe to have Viking funerals all the time. It is a meme to say they are more racist than any KKK member could be. But just because it is a meme, does not mean it is not true in cases such as this.

Given enough time they would demand his wife be allowed to practice sati and that Vance is a racist for not arranging for her to do so should he pass on first.

 

[InteracialBowelSyndrome]

So does Joe Biden. And Ellen Degenerate.

I want Kamala to have one now, if only for the "Medal of Fweedom" memes.

We need one. A "Medal of SNEEDom", if you will.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

She bought a place in the Cotswolds to retire to, and closed last month, it has nothing to do with Trump.
View attachment 6667402
Source/Archive

I hope Clarkson annoys her with his increasingly populist attitudes.

 

[King Metalia]

BARF.

View attachment 6667807

For costing me 2 years of my life, Fauci will never not be an asshole in my eyes.

 

[Hey Johnny Bravo]

I hope Clarkson annoys her with his increasingly populist attitudes.

I hope she says something on Twitter without a loicense and gets pestered by the local constabulary until she pays tribute a pesky fine.

 

[whoishomermynameis]

 

[The Nothingness]

BARF.

View attachment 6667807

He will still have to answer to God for what he did to those Beagles.

 

[Sekirodiealot]

Reddit is on a mass deletion spree trying to erase any posts about the illegal who killed the nursing student Laken Riley. A post in the main news sub with over 1k votes just got nuked.

Leftists are still trying to censor wrongthink. They haven't learned a fucking thing from the election.

If they loose the 2028 election, they better not be surprised

 

[HTTP Error 404]

Damn, Bluesky really is just Gab for shitlibs. At least Will Stancil went down fighting.
I wonder if the penny will ever drop for leftists that ceding everything good to the right was a bad idea. Free speech, free association, health and fitness, skepticism of authority, non-conformist art, space exploration. A prosperous civilization can't be organized around castration surgeries and infinity 60 IQ favela trash.

They still think they're the party of all that stuff. It's just they carve out exceptions for anyone not part of the tribe. It's the downside to whatever mental process they've created for themselves to deal with the cognitive dissonance they've been working under for the past 15-50 years; it's gone out of control and they can no longer square the circle at all. They're completely disconnected from reality. Worse, they've cut off anyone who might possibly lead them out of this epistemic closure they've built around themselves.

No idea of his chances or the merits, but looks like those turntables do be turning.
View attachment 6667338

Remember, he still can appeal this, and once he can, the 1.5 billion dollar judgement either gets overturned (likely, given the bullshit they pulled to find him "guilty") or gets cut down to almost nothing since they didn't prove any damages at all. The state he's in allows them to punish him BEFORE he can appeal, which is why this has gone as far as it has. A fair judge would decree that the punishment should take place after the very obvious appeals are done, but the judge is in on it.

I still wonder if a Trump DOJ can intervene in any way.