Stuff you just can't make up

Has been tried before in France - "L'Etat c'est a moi": Louis XIV In the 1600s. The State it is me.
Not sure if it will cut it in 2017-18 though.
That attitude didn't eventually end well for the kings of France, and I imagine it won't here either.

gcomeau wrote:And Trump's lawyer is now literally arguing that laws do not apply to the President of the United States and it is LEGAL for him to obstruct justice and interfere in criminal investigations EVEN INTO HIMSELF AND HIS OWN ADMINISTRATION.

Guess why they're trying to make that argument? Go ahead... guess.

But yeah, this administration is no threat to the nation..... nope... they're not trying to undermine the very concept of the rule of law *at all*.

https://www.axios.com/exclusive-trump-l ... 42663.html

John Dowd, President Trump's outside lawyer, outlined to me a new and highly controversial defense/theory in the Russia probe: A president cannot be guilty of obstruction of justice.

The "President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case," Dowd claims.

Anyone remember what Nixon was being impeached for? Hmmm? The Articles of Impeachment started like this:

"ARTICLE I

In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his consitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has prevented, obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice, in that:"

So apparently, just having a lawyer in the room is now enough to trigger attorney-client priviledge....

The E wrote:

Annachie wrote:Aparently, the tax bill that they voted on in the Senate, has hand written amendments in the margins, crossed out pages, and pages that may or may not be crossed out.
Seriously, 1 line drawn from top to bottom.

You can just tell how serious these people are when it comes to "draining the swamp", can't you.

Congressional Republican aren't interested in draining the swamp. The populists in both political parties want to but they are the only ones in DC who are interested (aka Trump on the right and Sanders on the left), the rest of DC is benefiting from the swamp and doesn't want to see the gravy train end.

You still seem to be under the impression that Trump is a good politician being held back by the system.

You are wrong about that.

The E wrote:You still seem to be under the impression that Trump is a good politician being held back by the system.

You are wrong about that.

Who said he was a good politician? He's not. However, he is good at identifying and exploiting gaps. There is a big disconnect between politicians and voters in this area. It's not a Republican vs Democrat issue, it's a voter vs career politician issue. It's a gap that none of the standard politicians are able to creditably exploit thus it leaves a big opening for non-standard politicians like Trump/Sanders. If the Democrats are smart they will nominate someone in 2020 who can take this issue away from Trump, which means not nominating one of the DC swamp denizens for president.

biochem wrote:

The E wrote:You can just tell how serious these people are when it comes to "draining the swamp", can't you.

Congressional Republican aren't interested in draining the swamp. The populists in both political parties want to but they are the only ones in DC who are interested (aka Trump on the right and Sanders on the left),

Is that supposed to be some kind of comedy bit?

Trump has displayed exactly ZERO interest in swamp draining. Look at his appointments FFS! It's a LINE for him, when are you finally going to wake up to that???

If anyone still wants to try arguing the GOP is obsessed with voter ID out of some virtuous concern for election integrity and not out of a desire to suppress the votes of legal voters, you have zero credibility left.

This is NOT some isolated incident...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/ ... s-voter-id

According to a tally by AL.com columnist John Archibald, eight of the 10 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of non-white registered voters saw their driver’s license offices closed.

“Every single county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters will see their driver license office closed. Every one,” Archibald wrote.

gcomeau wrote:If anyone still wants to try arguing the GOP is obsessed with voter ID out of some virtuous concern for election integrity and not out of a desire to suppress the votes of legal voters, you have zero credibility left.

This is NOT some isolated incident...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/ ... s-voter-id

According to a tally by AL.com columnist John Archibald, eight of the 10 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of non-white registered voters saw their driver’s license offices closed.

“Every single county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters will see their driver license office closed. Every one,” Archibald wrote.

Apparently these locations processed about 5% of the state drivers licenses, so it cost more to keep them open than they were worth.

Plus

http://sos.alabama.gov/alabama-votes/voter/voter-id

State of Alabama website - voter ID rules and mobile ID center schedule

They seem to be trying to switch to a mobile system which includes a request form to have the mobile unit show up at events or make home visits. So it seems easy enough for black communities to address. Just hold an event or two or three in these counties. Plus every country has a registrars office where a voter ID could be obtained.

The bigger impact is likely to be on black teenagers in rural counties who want a drivers license.

Also this was implemented in 2014. Looking at the 2016 presidential election.

National black turnout was roughly the same as in 2004 when Obama was not on the ballot (Obama caused a surge in black voting). I can't find hard numbers on % of eligible black voters who voted in Alabama in 2016 but multiple commentaries refer to a return to historic norms and that Alabama followed the national trends.

Given how easy it is to get registered even without the DMV (go to the local registrars office, hold an event, have them come to your house), the more serious negative impact is the difficulty in getting first time drivers licenses. In rural areas things are far apart and there is no public transport. Teens have to be able to drive to get jobs etc. And being employed helps people break the poverty cycle, which is a big problem in these parts of Alabama. I agree that it doesn't make sense for Alabama to spend money on a full time DMV to address this issue with only 5% of the drivers, but they should do a mobile DMV for these area as an anti- poverty program if for no other reason.

Maybe you guys should look into providing universal IDs automatically to people, without requiring people to specifically register to vote. Seems that would fix quite a lot of problems.

The E wrote:Maybe you guys should look into providing universal IDs automatically to people, without requiring people to specifically register to vote. Seems that would fix quite a lot of problems.

Combining drivers licenses and voter registration is a big headache. Not all people are eligible for both and in the worse cases, it has led to people inadvertently committing felonies (major crime). If you are a legal resident but not a citizen you can get a drivers license but can't legally vote in national elections. Bored DMV clerks occasionally hand residents voting applications with drivers license applications. The non-citizen residents then fill out the form and think they can legally vote but if they vote it is a felony. They can and have been sent to jail. To confuse the situation further some jurisdictions allow them to vote in local elections. So vote for school board chair fine, vote for President - go to jail for years. It is not common but it happens.