il_serpente Posted May 22, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted May 22, 2021 1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said: FUN FACT: Brent Bozell is a semi-famous conservative opinion columist. His son has been arrested for his role in the Jan 6th self-guided tour. FTFY 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Quote Since leaving office, Trump has charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 to use space at Mar-a-Lago Former president Donald Trump charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 this spring for rooms that Trump’s own protective detail used while guarding him at his Mar-a-Lago Club, according to federal spending records. The records show that Trump’s club charged the Secret Service $396.15 every night starting Jan. 20, the day he left the White House and moved full-time into his Palm Beach, Fla., club. Those charges, ultimately paid by taxpayers, continued until at least April 30, the spending records show, for a total of $40,011.15. The charges were for a single room used as a workspace by Secret Service agents, according to one person familiar with the payments. Former presidents get Secret Service protection for life. But last year The Washington Post spoke to historians and representatives for recent presidents and could not find another example of a president charging the Secret Service rent on this scale. The closest parallel to Trump was the man who succeeded him: Joe Biden. While he was protected as vice president, Biden charged the Secret Service $2,200 per month to use a cottage on his property in Delaware. In total, Biden received $171,600 between 2011 and 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-secret-service-charges/2021/05/20/d328eb5c-9d36-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 #kremlincruz hashtag on Twitter is funny. Like this from Brian Williams 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Lots of the usual moral grandstanding over here this morn regarding the Ryanair flight that was grounded in Belarus... neatly placing the Obama admins effort in collab with Portugal/Spain/France/Italy and Austria deep down the memory hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 Blinken "demanding" Belarus release the journalist. Laughable. Edit: He may have said that to possibly save the guy's life by using that hard rhetoric. Apparently he said on the plane that he was a dead man. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart_75 Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Texas about to pass an open carry handgun law, no need for a permit. Why oh why? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, stuart_75 said: Texas about to pass an open carry handgun law, no need for a permit. Why oh why? They passed a stringent abortion law too (~6weeks), with a really interesting enforcement angle. It's clear they are looking for a legal fight given the favorable legal conditions. https://www.npr.org/2021/05/19/998237349/the-governor-of-texas-has-signed-a-law-that-bans-abortion-as-early-as-6-weeks "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed into law a bill that bans abortion the moment a fetal heartbeat has been detected, a move that makes Texas the largest state in the nation to outlaw abortion so early in a pregnancy. The Texas law effectively prohibits any abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy — before many women are even aware they are pregnant. The bill, which takes effect in September, makes no exception for pregnancies that are the result of rape or incest but does include a rare provision that allows individual citizens to sue anyone they believe may have been involved in helping a pregnant individual violate the ban. The provision cannot be used against pregnant people, but reproductive rights advocates warn it can be used to target abortion providers and abortion-rights activists." Edited May 25, 2021 by villakram 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 2 hours ago, stuart_75 said: Texas about to pass an open carry handgun law, no need for a permit. Why oh why? They want to return to the Alamo glory days of the distant past. Frontier justice and all the macho trappings of cowboy culture that they jerk off to at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted May 25, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted May 25, 2021 22 minutes ago, maqroll said: They want to return to the Alamo glory days of the distant past. Frontier justice and all the macho trappings of cowboy culture that they jerk off to at night. It's such a shame. I have friends from Texas, and they are educated liberals to a man (and woman). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart_75 Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 As Villakram posts above I've also read about tighter and tighter abortion laws are sweeping across many states. It does make you think did the Democrats actually win the election and control of both houses. How to these pro-lifers push these bills through? Same goes for the voting restrictions in the small majority Dem states. I'm baffled how they get away with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 It shows how catastrophic the last 4 years have been to domestic politics for the Left. 3 new Supreme Court justices and a slew of federal judges all installed by Trump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 42 minutes ago, stuart_75 said: As Villakram posts above I've also read about tighter and tighter abortion laws are sweeping across many states. It does make you think did the Democrats actually win the election and control of both houses. How to these pro-lifers push these bills through? Same goes for the voting restrictions in the small majority Dem states. I'm baffled how they get away with it. It's a big country, with very different politics in different places Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 In more positive news, and one that really confuses many 1st amendment types, Abby Martin has won her anti-BDS lawsuit against the state of Georgia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 3 hours ago, stuart_75 said: As Villakram posts above I've also read about tighter and tighter abortion laws are sweeping across many states. It does make you think did the Democrats actually win the election and control of both houses. How to these pro-lifers push these bills through? Same goes for the voting restrictions in the small majority Dem states. I'm baffled how they get away with it. They are state laws being made by the state governments, nothing to do with the Federal government that was just elected a few months back. There is a school of thought that says they are making deliberately provocative laws in order for the law to be challenged in the courts, whereby they can appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court and have national laws overturned by the conservative judges Trump appointed. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 The joys of gerrymandering, this time Democrats proposing State House lines in Illinois: 'Help, my district appears to be one road wide' (from: https://twitter.com/RRHElections/status/1396819136282603522) 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 On 22/05/2021 at 17:45, sne said: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-secret-service-charges/2021/05/20/d328eb5c-9d36-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html Perhaps it's easy to say when I'm never going to be in that position, but I reckon if I had a 24/7 government escort for my own protection, I'd be grateful for it and not invoice them. At the very most, I'd charge them at cost to recoup expenses for bills, I'm surprised it's not illegal to use this arrangement for your own profit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 6 hours ago, Davkaus said: Perhaps it's easy to say when I'm never going to be in that position, but I reckon if I had a 24/7 government escort for my own protection, I'd be grateful for it and not invoice them. At the very most, I'd charge them at cost to recoup expenses for bills, I'm surprised it's not illegal to use this arrangement for your own profit. I agree in principle but to be fair to him, he donated his entire salary as President ($1.6m in total) back to Government agencies to fund programmes to combat opioid addiction, alcohol abuse, help veterans, restore monuments and send under privileged kids to space camp! Sounds very un-Trump like! He's still in credit on the money front... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Interesting rumblings going on regarding future policy in the Biden admin. After the repubs countered his initial $2T plan with their own $1T plan, it appears Biden has come back to table after a week of chatting with a new $1T proposal. Little of the details regarding the proposal are being actually discussed, more the our plan is better than your plan stuff right now. I'll be surprised if the repubs allow him to pass anything but this may be an effort to construct a budget focussed proposal they can ram through via the reconciliation process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 41 minutes ago, villakram said: Interesting rumblings going on regarding future policy in the Biden admin. After the repubs countered his initial $2T plan with their own $1T plan, it appears Biden has come back to table after a week of chatting with a new $1T proposal. Little of the details regarding the proposal are being actually discussed, more the our plan is better than your plan stuff right now. I'll be surprised if the repubs allow him to pass anything but this may be an effort to construct a budget focussed proposal they can ram through via the reconciliation process. Same main sticking point, Biden wants it funded by new money i.e. increased taxes and Republicans dont. Doesnt matter whats in it or even the value, the financing is the problem. In the current climate Republicans are going to use "no new taxes/increases to taxes" to do what they really want which is to stop any successful agenda by Biden or at least anything positive happening under Biden's watch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 Trying not to cave an axe into my head over what these Republicans are doing to the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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