Triple Espresso of Coffee Talk

[sabresfaninthesouth]

There's ample evidence supporting Trump's unfitness, which is all that's necessary for impeachment to result in removal from office, first of all. But secondly, what about the alternative, sitting on their hands for fear of it backfiring? At best, they look like cowards, or too lazy to carry out their constitutionally-prescribed duties. At worst, they look like they're in on it. They stand to lose a heck of a lot more from inaction, making themselves out to be lazy, incompetent, or corrupt.

Impeachment involves further investigation and testimony beyond what's public in the Mueller Report, and can cover a much broader range of potential infractions than the Special Counsel was appointed to investigate. The number of ongoing investigations, and the number of indictments--and convictions--to come out of the Special Counsel investigation and related probes in other jurisdictions, is enough to at least argue Trump is compromised, if not actively criminal. And that argument needs to be made at length, and publicly. Now.

Besides all of which, Congress doesn't have any responsibility to "politics." They have only responsibility to their constituents and their country. If they are unwilling to fulfill that obligation, I hope every last damn one of them loses their seat.

I don't disagree with anything you said, in theory. But again, idealistic, not realistic. 99% of them are more concerned with, in this order, 1) their own re-election, 2) re-election of others in their party (provided it doesn't interfere with #1), and 3) doing what's right.

But where it REALLY loses touch with reality is that a lot of people keep electing those people because the voters actually think what they're doing is right! There's is no way to convince a large chunk of the electorate who firmly believe that the number one thing they should be voting for is whether or not "their guy" wants to outlaw any (or all) of abortion, gay marriage, or dark-skinned people.

Without focusing on Trump, the best example is from Alabama where you needed one of the candidates to be a literal ********* in order to convince just 50% - 50 fucking percent! - of the voters to vote for the other guy. And it required him to be a ********* on top of the fact that he was already removed from the State Supreme Court once for violating court order and had to resign a second time 13 years later because he was suspended (effectively indefinitely) for violating court order. And yet this guy would have won in landslide had people not found out he was a *********.

EDIT: Apparently p3dophile is a restricted word. That's what the *s are above.

 

[Comeds]

I gotta get the fuck out of this place.

 

[dash]

I gotta get the fuck out of this place.

 

[forty_three]

Judges declare Ohio's congressional map unconstitutional

Stock up on the popcorn.

By the way, it's not just the drawing district lines to guarantee results. They also put 91% of prisons in the GOP districts. So they can count the "residents" even though those residents can't vote. Therefore, they don't have to include more Democratic leaning households in their "districts".

Prisons are important pieces in Ohio gerrymandering: Out of Line - Impact 2017 and Beyond

 

[Darkstone42]

Judges declare Ohio's congressional map unconstitutional

Stock up on the popcorn.

By the way, it's not just the drawing district lines to guarantee results. They also put 91% of prisons in the GOP districts. So they can count the "residents" even though those residents can't vote. Therefore, they don't have to include more Democratic leaning households in their "districts".

Prisons are important pieces in Ohio gerrymandering: Out of Line - Impact 2017 and Beyond

That prisoners can't vote is a Constitutional failure, in my opinion (though I could see arguments made for stripping specifically people arrested for terrorism losing that right, or other sufficiently violent and/or destructive crimes), but some guy who got 2 years for selling weed or whatever isn't a risk to election integrity, and should be allowed to cast a ballot.

But there's an extra level of dishonesty and manipulative political grossness to using them to amplify the political power of your districts (in addition to the obvious conflict of interest where increasing political power can be gained via increasing incarceration) to counting those non-voting prisoners to district tallies.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Oh thats good lol

 

[thedddd]

That prisoners can't vote is a Constitutional failure, in my opinion (though I could see arguments made for stripping specifically people arrested for terrorism losing that right, or other sufficiently violent and/or destructive crimes), but some guy who got 2 years for selling weed or whatever isn't a risk to election integrity, and should be allowed to cast a ballot.

But there's an extra level of dishonesty and manipulative political grossness to using them to amplify the political power of your districts (in addition to the obvious conflict of interest where increasing political power can be gained via increasing incarceration) to counting those non-voting prisoners to district tallies.

And just remember these people are allowed to vote:

Georgia mayor under fire for alleged remarks about black job candidate

 

[jstewismybastardson]

 

[elocomotive]

Without focusing on Trump, the best example is from Alabama where you needed one of the candidates to be a literal ********* in order to convince just 50% - 50 fucking percent! - of the voters to vote for the other guy. And it required him to be a ********* on top of the fact that he was already removed from the State Supreme Court once for violating court order and had to resign a second time 13 years later because he was suspended (effectively indefinitely) for violating court order. And yet this guy would have won in landslide had people not found out he was a *********.

Many people in Alabama are stupid. More so than most states.

And just remember these people are allowed to vote:

Georgia mayor under fire for alleged remarks about black job candidate

Many people in Georgia are stupid. More so than most states.

 

[thedddd]

Many people in Alabama are stupid. More so than most states.



Many people in Georgia are stupid. More so than most states.

As you drive through the state of GA this about sums up where the smarter people are:

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Uber drivers on strike: WE WANT PAY/BENEFITS/TREATED LIKE FULL TIME EMPLOYEES! DON'T STARVE US!

Uber drivers on strike, pictured:

Yes, I also want Denali money.

 

[forty_three]

Trump says his businesses lost so much because he was avoiding tax

So much winning.

 

[puckhead]

Trump says his businesses lost so much because he was avoiding tax

So much winning.

 

[dash]

Trump says his businesses lost so much because he was avoiding tax

So much winning.

He (Trump) calls it sport, I'm thinking of a different five letter word: fraud

 

[Groo]

Uber drivers on strike: WE WANT PAY/BENEFITS/TREATED LIKE FULL TIME EMPLOYEES! DON'T STARVE US!

Uber drivers on strike, pictured:

Yes, I also want Denali money.

Just wait a couple of more years

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

He (Trump) calls it sport, I'm thinking of a different five letter word: fraud

It's a bit misguided of him (shocking!) to refer to it as sport, but if he was playing by the rules of the time, it's hard to take issue with the accounting of it.

He's not wrong (ugh, I need a shower) in that people and corporations will often try to take credit for losses to minimize taxes. There's a lot of nuance to accounting rules, so it's definitely possible to spin things in a way to benefit you the most, but it's usually just on paper, just like most wealth.

From What America's Biggest Companies Pay In Taxes

Among the 30 megacorps, there were three companies that didn’t record any new income tax expense in 2016. General Electric earned $10 billion last year, but recorded a tax benefit of $400 million for a 12-month tax rate of -4.5%. Now before you get outraged, keep in mind that the income statement tax expense is just an accounting creation. Forbes contributor Peter Reilly explains that our convoluted tax laws enable industrial companies like G.E. to depreciate equipment for tax-deduction purposes more quickly than they can for book purposes. So cash paid for taxes can regularly be less or more than amounts recorded on the income statement as a tax expense. Defending G.E. tax status against attacks from Bernie Sanders last year, CEO Jeff Immelt, wrote, "We pay billions in taxes, including federal, state and local taxes."

 

[thedddd]

It's a bit misguided of him (shocking!) to refer to it as sport, but if he was playing by the rules of the time, it's hard to take issue with the accounting of it.

He's not wrong (ugh, I need a shower) in that people and corporations will often try to take credit for losses to minimize taxes. There's a lot of nuance to accounting rules, so it's definitely possible to spin things in a way to benefit you the most, but it's usually just on paper, just like most wealth.

From What America's Biggest Companies Pay In Taxes

 

[jstewismybastardson]

 

[elocomotive]

Come clean about prices... where is the sport in that?!?

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

Come clean about prices... where is the sport in that?!?

If only we would actually take the step of banning direct-to-consumer advertising and join the overwhelming majority of the developed world.