Random Politics & Religion #29: Hypocrisy Edition

Language: JP EN DE FR
New Items
2023-11-19
users online
Forum » Everything Else » Politics and Religion » Random Politics & Religion #29: Hypocrisy edition
Random Politics & Religion #29: Hypocrisy edition
First Page 2 3 ... 14 15 16 ... 111 112 113
 Asura.Kingnobody
Bug Hunter
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 34187
By Asura.Kingnobody 2017-10-31 08:19:14
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Bahamut.Ravael said: »
Cerberus.Pleebo said: »
Viciouss said: »
Papadopoulos' confession has nothing to do with the Manafort charges, I thought that was pretty basic.
The purposeful ignorance is actually really funny. We all knew it was coming but it's something else to see play out in real time.

There would have to be something there for us to be ignorant of it. Enlighten us, Pleebstrodamus.
He talked to Russians, isn't that guilt enough?

Remember, he only talked to Russians because they claimed to have dirt on Clinton, but then again, if a Republican does it, it's collusion, but if a liberal/democrat does it, it's opposition research.
[+]
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 08:23:02
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Asura.Kingnobody said: »
Naw, I'm not Canadian.

I said "warhead." Not "Maple syrup shipment to make eternity perpetually sticky."

Asura.Kingnobody said: »
I want some survivors. Got to start again from scratch.

Maybe this time we will get it right.

It's just that, following your logic, the jailers and/or survivors would be the Clintons & the Donald repopulating the species.

Given the choice, I choose extinction.
 Shiva.Shruiken
Offline
Server: Shiva
Game: FFXI
By Shiva.Shruiken 2017-10-31 08:34:56
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Happy Halloween RP&R!

[+]
 Asura.Kingnobody
Bug Hunter
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 34187
By Asura.Kingnobody 2017-10-31 08:39:08
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Ramyrez said: »
Asura.Kingnobody said: »
Naw, I'm not Canadian.

I said "warhead." Not "Maple syrup shipment to make eternity perpetually sticky."

Asura.Kingnobody said: »
I want some survivors. Got to start again from scratch.

Maybe this time we will get it right.

It's just that, following your logic, the jailers and/or survivors would be the Clintons & the Donald repopulating the species.

Given the choice, I choose extinction.
Canadian as a certain Canadian wishing death and destruction upon all.

Survivors meaning an actual, random group of people who just happen to not die when everyone else does.
 Asura.Kingnobody
Bug Hunter
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 34187
By Asura.Kingnobody 2017-10-31 08:40:23
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Shiva.Shruiken said: »
Happy Halloween RP&R!

[+]
 Asura.Kingnobody
Bug Hunter
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 34187
By Asura.Kingnobody 2017-10-31 09:06:22
Link | Quote | Reply
 
To understand more about the indictments, here is a good article that states why this whole thing amounts to nothing more than a large nothingburger (the only kind the liberal/democrats seem to like, it seems).

Most importantly:

Quote:
The so-called conspiracy against the United States mainly involves Manafort’s and Gates’s alleged failure to file Treasury Department forms required by the Bank Secrecy Act. Specifically, Americans who hold a stake in foreign bank accounts must file what’s known as an “FBAR” (foreign bank account report) in any year in which, at any point, the balance in the account exceeds $10,000. Federal law also requires disclosure of foreign accounts on annual income-tax returns. Manafort and Gates are said to have controlled foreign accounts through which their Ukrainian political-consulting income sluiced, and to have failed to file accurate FBARs and tax returns. In addition, they allegedly failed to register as foreign agents from 2008 through 2014 and made false statements when they belatedly registered.

In the money-laundering conspiracy, they are alleged to have moved money in and out of the United States with the intent to promote “specified unlawful activity.” That activity is said to have been their acting as unregistered foreign agents.

On first glance, Mueller’s case, at least in part, seems shaky and overcharged.

Even though the Ukrainian money goes back to 2006, the counts involving failure to file FBARs (Counts Three through Nine) go back only to 2012. This is likely because the five-year statute of limitations bars prosecution for anything before then. Obviously, one purpose of the conspiracy count (Count One) is to enable prosecutors, under the guise of establishing the full scope of the scheme, to prove law violations that would otherwise be time-barred.

The offense of failing to register as a foreign agent (Count Ten) may be a slam-dunk, but it is a violation that the Justice Department rarely prosecutes criminally. There is often ambiguity about whether the person’s actions trigger the registration requirement, so the Justice Department’s practice is to encourage people to register, not indict them for failing to do so.

It may well be that Manafort and Gates made false statements when they belatedly registered as foreign agents, but it appears that Mueller’s office has turned one offense into two, an abusive prosecutorial tactic that flouts congressional intent.

Specifically, Congress considers false statements in the specific context of foreign-agent registration to be a misdemeanor calling for zero to six months’ imprisonment. (See Section 622(a)(2) of Title 22, U.S. Code.) That is the offense Mueller charges in Count Eleven. But then, for good measure, Mueller adds a second false-statement count (Count Twelve) for the same conduct — charged under the penal-code section (Section 1001 of Title 18, U.S. Code) that makes any falsity or material omission in a statement to government officials a felony punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.

Obviously, one cannot make a false statement on the foreign-agent registration form without also making a false statement to the government. Consequently, expect Manafort to argue that Mueller has violated double-jeopardy principles by charging the same exact offense in two separate counts, and that the special counsel is undermining Congress’s intent that the offense of providing false information on a foreign-agent registration form be considered merely a misdemeanor.

Finally, the money-laundering conspiracy allegation (Count Two) seems far from slam-dunk. For someone to be guilty of laundering, the money involved has to be the proceeds of criminal activity before the accused starts concealing it by (a) moving it through accounts or changing its form by buying assets, etc., or (b) dodging a reporting requirement under federal law.

Now, it is surely a terrible thing to take money, under the guise of “political consulting,” from an unsavory Ukranian political faction that is doing the Kremlin’s bidding. But it is not a violation of American law to do so. The violations occur when, as outlined above, there is a lack of compliance with various disclosure requirements. Mueller seems to acknowledge this: The money-laundering count does not allege that it was illegal for Manafort and Gates to be paid by the Ukrainian faction. It is alleged, rather, that they moved the money around to promote a scheme to function as unregistered foreign agents, and specifically to avoid the registration requirement.

That seems like a stretch. To be sure, the relevant money-laundering statute includes in its definition of “specified unlawful activity” “any violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938.” (See Section 1956(c)(2)(7)(D) of Title 18, U.S. Code.) But the prosecution still has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the money was the proceeds of unlawful activity in the first place. Moreover, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Manafort and Gates (a) knew the money was the proceeds of illegal activity and (b) transported the money the way they did with the specific intent of avoiding having to register as foreign agents. This count will thus fail if there is any doubt that the Ukrainian money was illegal under American law, that Manafort and Gates knew it was illegal, that they knew the work they were doing required them to register as foreign agents, or that it was their intention to promote a failure-to-register violation.

Even from Paul Manafort’s perspective, there may be less to this indictment than meets the eye — it’s not so much a serious allegation of “conspiracy against the United States” as a dubious case of disclosure violations and money movement that would never have been brought had he not drawn attention to himself by temporarily joining the Trump campaign.

From President Trump’s perspective, the indictment is a boon from which he can claim that the special counsel has no actionable collusion case. It appears to reaffirm former FBI director James Comey’s multiple assurances that Trump is not a suspect. And, to the extent it looks like an attempt to play prosecutorial hardball with Manafort, the president can continue to portray himself as the victim of a witch hunt.

I will guarantee everyone that this will be ignored by the usual suspects (Vic, Pleebo, CJ, and that indescribable object that pretends to be a human), and that they will either attack the source or attack the article itself. Instead of attacking the analysis or the laws it references, or even the basis of the analysis.
[+]
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 09:15:02
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Asura.Kingnobody said: »
Survivors meaning an actual, random group of people who just happen to not die when everyone else does.

Man...haven't you read The Stand? That doesn't go so well.
 Asura.Kingnobody
Bug Hunter
Offline
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 34187
By Asura.Kingnobody 2017-10-31 09:27:42
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Ramyrez said: »
Asura.Kingnobody said: »
Survivors meaning an actual, random group of people who just happen to not die when everyone else does.

Man...haven't you read The Stand? That doesn't go so well.
Not a big fan of Stephen King.
[+]
Administrator
Offline
Posts: 6495
By Rooks 2017-10-31 10:04:09
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Asura.Kingnobody said: »
that indescribable object that pretends to be a human

I've warned you about this repeatedly - you and 01 were to leave each other alone.

You've been section banned from P+R.
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:08:32
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Asura.Kingnobody said: »
Not a big fan of Stephen King.

I'm hit and miss. The Shining I really like, and I read the first Dark Tower book and liked it okay. I read The Stand which is good for 2/3 but when the really supernatural ***starts to happen it gets kinda lame.

Different Seasons remains my favorite King "book" even though it's really a collection of four novellas including the stories upon which Stand By Me,, Apt Pupil, and The Shawshank Redemption are based, and I enjoy his involvement with Creep Show, which is a marvelously underrated piece of 80s horror film.
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2017-10-31 10:09:00
 Undelete | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
Comment: No name-calling.
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2017-10-31 10:11:04
 Undelete | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:14:09
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Candlejack said: »
Fun facts: The prison the Shawshank Redemption is based off of, and the Stanley hotel in Colorado which served as King's inspiration for the Overlook in The Shining, are both haunted.

Fun fact: Ghosts aren't real, gtfo.
 Garuda.Chanti
Offline
Server: Garuda
Game: FFXI
user: Chanti
Posts: 11096
By Garuda.Chanti 2017-10-31 10:14:39
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Of course the big thing about the Papawhosis side of this story is not what he plead guilty to but that he has been cooperating with the investigation for months before the indictment dump.

Lots of speculation that he was wired for sound at many meetings.
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:15:25
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Sorry, my bad, my bad. This is Random Politics & Religion.

Feel free to believe in completely imaginary supernatural phenomena.

But stop saying it's a fact.
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2017-10-31 10:16:21
 Undelete | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
 Garuda.Chanti
Offline
Server: Garuda
Game: FFXI
user: Chanti
Posts: 11096
By Garuda.Chanti 2017-10-31 10:17:14
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Ramyrez said: »
Candlejack said: »
Fun facts: The prison the Shawshank Redemption is based off of, and the Stanley hotel in Colorado which served as King's inspiration for the Overlook in The Shining, are both haunted.
Fun fact: Ghosts aren't real, gtfo.
Fun fact: Reality =/= reputation.
Forum Moderator
Offline
Server: Excalibur
Game: FFXIV
user: AnnaMolly
Posts: 25981
By Anna Ruthven 2017-10-31 10:17:38
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Ramyrez said: »
Candlejack said: »
Fun facts: The prison the Shawshank Redemption is based off of, and the Stanley hotel in Colorado which served as King's inspiration for the Overlook in The Shining, are both haunted.

Fun fact: Ghosts aren't real, gtfo.
I have a hard time believing in anything supernatural but I would be pretty elated to find out something supernatural does exist.
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2017-10-31 10:20:16
 Undelete | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:24:18
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Garuda.Chanti said: »
Fun fact: Reality =/= reputation.

Not sure what you're actually trying to convey here. I can think of two or three ways to interpret that.

Anna Ruthven said: »
I have a hard time believing in anything supernatural but I would be pretty elated to find out something supernatural does exist.

The only "supernatural" things that can be proven to exist are synthetic elements, and even some of those (such as plutonium) have been later found to occur in nature, simply as-yet-undiscovered. To that point even to consider them truly supernatural is probably inappropriate, given the vast expanse of the universe, because they likely exist in a natural state somewhere out there.

I do not say that there may not be some higher level of understanding or existence that we do not know of/understand. But I can say that I am positive CJ can provide no definitive proof of such a thing. And "ghosts" absolutely do not exist in any fashion CJ -- or anyone with an EMF detector and a shitty video camera -- propose they exist.
Forum Moderator
Offline
Server: Excalibur
Game: FFXIV
user: AnnaMolly
Posts: 25981
By Anna Ruthven 2017-10-31 10:24:57
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Candlejack said: »
Girlboy mod, come to my house
No.
Candlejack said: »
any day of the week
No.
Candlejack said: »
preferably around 10 at night.
Absolutely not.
[+]
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:25:32
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Candlejack said: »
Girlboy mod, come to my house any day of the week, preferably around 10 at night. I swear to Christ, I will introduce you to my grandmother who's been dead for close to 8 years now. She keeps messing with just one single light. We know it's her.

You need an electrician. Not an exorcist.

Two of the potlights in my basement flicker occasionally. It's not the former resident upset I'm jerking off where he used to pray. It's that the guy who flipped my house cheaped out on the wiring.
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2017-10-31 10:28:51
 Undelete | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
Forum Moderator
Offline
Server: Excalibur
Game: FFXIV
user: AnnaMolly
Posts: 25981
By Anna Ruthven 2017-10-31 10:31:21
Link | Quote | Reply
 
You know how people who were beheaded and return as ghosts are often sighted as an apparition of a disembodied head?

What if someone bleeds to death after a fetishistic castration? Would their ghost appear as an apparition of disembodied balls?
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:32:20
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Candlejack said: »
If it happened any other time in the day, you'd be right. However, my grandmother died exactly at 10:09 am, and every night at 10:09 pm, she makes that *** light flicker four times. Never does it any other time of the day.



I will need these if I'm going to roll my eyes any harder.
 Shiva.Shruiken
Offline
Server: Shiva
Game: FFXI
By Shiva.Shruiken 2017-10-31 10:32:30
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Ramyrez said: »
I read The Stand which is good for 2/3 but when the really supernatural ***starts to happen it gets kinda lame.

I'm actually halfway through The Stand right now. Enjoying it but it's taking me forgoddamnever to read, he's way too overly wordy. Though I guess the fact I'm reading the complete & uncut edition doesn't help.
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:33:04
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Anna Ruthven said: »
You know how people who were beheaded and return as ghosts are often sighted as an apparition of a disembodied head?

What if someone bleeds to death after a fetishistic castration? Would their ghost appear as an apparition of disembodied balls?

If you make it up and say that's how it happens, than yeah.

Because that's how the first example works.
 
Offline
Posts:
By 2017-10-31 10:33:37
 Undelete | Link | Quote | Reply
 
Post deleted by User.
[+]
Offline
Posts: 24505
By Ramyrez 2017-10-31 10:34:22
Link | Quote | Reply
 
Shiva.Shruiken said: »
Ramyrez said: »
I read The Stand which is good for 2/3 but when the really supernatural ***starts to happen it gets kinda lame.

I'm actually halfway through The Stand right now. Enjoying it but it's taking me forgoddamnever to read, he's way too overly wordy. Though I guess the fact I'm reading the complete & uncut edition doesn't help.

I listened to that version as an audiobook.

It was...uh...wait. Let me check.

47 hours and 47 minutes.
[+]
First Page 2 3 ... 14 15 16 ... 111 112 113
Log in to post.