Trump - 4 more years of this at least...

[pritch]

The thought of Trump going to jail would make my little heart beat glad. The people at the top though, tend to look after each other. iI Trump went to jail the implication would be that they too could go to jail. That idea will not appeal to them.

Y'all may not remember Joh Bjelke Petersen, the former premier of Queensland. When he was appearing in court on perjury chages after the scandal that finished his career he couldn't remember a damned thing. A short time before that he was top dog in Queensland, but suddenly his memory vaished, just like magic.

Trump would be different, his memory is barely functioning now, but even at it's best wasn't all that great. He's a fucking moron.

On an unrelated note: There is news today that one of Mueller's key men has a new job, he has joined the New York Attorney General who is currently investigating Trump for fraud. This investigation may be the most immediate threat to Trump.

[husaberg]

The thought of Trump going to jail would make my little heart beat glad. The people at the top though, tend to look after each other. iI Trump went to jail the implication would be that they too could go to jail. That idea will not appeal to them.

Y'all may not remember Joh Bjelke Petersen, the former premier of Queensland. When he was appearing in court on perjury chages after the scandal that finished his career he couldn't remember a damned thing. A short time before that he was top dog in Queensland, but suddenly his memory vaished, just like magic.

Trump would be different, his memory is barely functioning now, but even at it's best wasn't all that great. He's a fucking moron.

On an unrelated note: There is news today that one of Mueller's key men has a new job, he has joined the New York Attorney General who is currently investigating Trump for fraud. This investigation may be the most immediate threat to Trump.

Any conviction of trump would just result in a pardon from the next Republican President.
You can imagine the list of pardons trump has lined up already for his cronies if he gets booted.

Pardons
May 31, 2018 Campaign finance violations In 2014, conservative commentator D'Souza pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions to the 2012 Senate campaign of his Republican friend, Wendy Long

May 15, 2019 Conrad Black Mail fraud and attempted obstruction of justice Former media mogul, current friend, supporter and biographer of President TrumpConviction reviewed by the Supreme Court in Black v. United States; convictions later upheld. Released from prison in 2014 and deported to Canada where he was born

May 15, 2019 Pat Nolan Racketeering Former Republican lawmaker who pled guilty to soliciting for illegal campaign donations after being caught by the Shrimpscam sting operation by the FBI. Ultimately served 26 months; released in 1996 and became an activist for criminal-justice reform.

February 18, 2020 Michael Milken Conspiracy; securities fraud; mail fraud; tax fraud; filing false reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); assisting a brokerage firm in violating its net capital requirements In pardoning financier Milken, Trump cited his charitable work after his release from prison. Milken's separate, SEC-imposed lifetime ban on securities trading continues.

February 18, 2020 Angela Stanton Conspiracy to transport in interstate commerce a stolen motor vehicle and tampering with a vehicle identification number (VIN) (17 counts) Angela Stanton ran in the 2020 election as a Republican against Representative John Lewis and then to fill his seat after Lewis's death.

February 18, 2020 David Hossein Safavian Obstruction of justice and perjury (three counts) Safavian is a Republican former lawyer and long-time associate of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Through much of his career, he alternated between government roles and Washington lobbyist roles, in what is known as the "revolving door". He was serving as Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget, when he was arrested in connection with the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal.
February 18, 2020 Paul Pogue Pogue, the founder and executive of McKinney, Texas-based construction company Pogue Construction, pleaded guilty in 2010 for under-reporting his taxable income in 2004, 2005 and 2006, failing to pay more than $400,000 taxes owed. In 2019, Pogue's son Ben Pogue and daughter-in-law Ashleigh Pogue gave a total of $238,541 to Trump Victory, a vehicle for Trump's reelection campaign. Former Republican Senator Rick Santorum was a leading advocate for Pogue's pardon; Paul Pogue had been a contributor to Santorum's presidential election bid.

February 18, 2020 Bernard Kerik Obstructing the administration of the Internal Revenue Laws; aiding in the preparation of a false income tax return; making false statements on a loan application; making false statements (five counts) Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, has been a contributor to Fox News.

Commutations
February 18, 2020 wire fraud (10 counts); conspiracy/attempted extortion (four counts); corrupt solicitation of funds; conspiracy to corruptly solicit funds (two counts); making false statements Former governor of Illinois and contestant on Trump's reality TV show, The Celebrity Apprentice. Convicted of attempting to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama, plus extortion by withholding state funds being directed towards a children's hospital and a race track.The Illinois House impeached him for abuse of power and corruption. In two separate and unanimous votes of the Illinois Senate, he was removed from office and prohibited from ever holding public office in the state of Illinois again. See also: Rod Blagojevich corruption charges

July 10, 2020 Roger Stone Making false statements to Congress (five counts)
Witness tampering
Obstructing an official proceeding Stone is a friend and adviser of Trump, who was a member of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. In November 2019, Stone was convicted by a jury on all seven charges that he faced, in relation to his actions during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The sentencing judge stated that Stone had been "prosecuted for covering up for the president"—Trump himself. In June 2020, around a month before the commutation, Trump had declared that Stone "can sleep well at night!" At the time of the commutation, Stone had been scheduled to report to federal prison around a week later

[pritch]

Any conviction of trump would just result in a pardon from the next Republican President.
You can imagine the list of pardons trump has lined up already for his cronies if he gets booted.

There might well be a raft of them. D'Souza I know about, he is an out spoken Trump supporter on social media who is usually immediately informed that he's a convicted felon.

Under US law, as established by the Supreme Court, accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt. The following clip shows Sheriff Arpaio learning that he cannot appeal his conviction because accepting a pardon ends the case. The interviewer, Ari Melber, is himself a lawyer, but the information he's using is from a SCOTUS decision.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WBW17l6XfQ

[onearmedbandit]

Posts removed and 7 infractions handed out. You all can't say you weren't warned.

[TheDemonLord]

When Trump tweets he opens a virtual "public space" comparable to a park or village square where anybody may speak.

Close, but not quite, what the ruling was specifically that Trump blocking people on his Twitter violated their first Amendment rights to petition the president where public political discussions where happening.

A party Facebook page is no different.

But linking back to US politics, what they've done is undermined their status as a platform, by making an editorial decision.

By doing so, that removes the legal protection they have from being sued for the content their users post.

[pete376403]

if trump tweets fake news does that make it true? A satirical website, the Babylon Bee ('Fake news you can trust') posted an article that twitter was shut down to avoid bad reports about Joe Biden. Trump tweeted the article (but wasn't Twitter shut down?) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...iden-news.html

[husaberg]

Trump seems to have posts removed, as they are untrue.
its not censorship to stop someone from posting material that is clearly made up.
Besides The platforms are also privately owned they can ban or delete anything they wish.
Its not like they are a News outlet and have to provide factual information unless they are FOX.

[TheDemonLord]

its not censorship to stop someone from posting material that is clearly made up.

That is exactly the Censorship....

[pritch]

Close, but not quite, what the ruling was specifically that Trump blocking people on his Twitter violated their first Amendment rights to petition the president where public political discussions where happening.

I got my information from lawyers in the US. I trust it won't offend you if I believe them.

[pritch]

if trump tweets fake news does that make it true? A satirical website, the Babylon Bee ('Fake news you can trust') posted an article that twitter was shut down to avoid bad reports about Joe Biden. Trump tweeted the article (but wasn't Twitter shut down?) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...iden-news.html

This should be simple but it isn't. Problem is that traditionally, if the president said something it was considered important, and was reported. This president talks insane nonsense but the press don't report that lest it would be perceived as biased. Still though, his less insane utterances have import and get coverage because he is the president.

Overall the impression given is that he is a bit odd but more or less normal. That is completely misleading. The lights are on but clearly there's nobody home.

[TheDemonLord]

I got my information from lawyers in the US. I trust it won't offend you if I believe them.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knig...itute_v._Trump

Either you misread it or didn't understand.

But feel free to re-read it, I won't be offended if you correct your misunderstanding...

[pritch]

Either you misread it or didn't understand.

There is zero chance I misread anything. It's possible I may have misunderstood, but then I didn't get it from Wikipedia either.

It's all stll under review apparently. Last night our time a judge challenged the White House counsel as to who he should be paying attention to. Trump, who was saying one thing on Twitter, or the White House counsel who was saying the opposite in court?

[TheDemonLord]

There is zero chance I misread anything. It's possible I may have misunderstood, but then I didn't get it from Wikipedia either.

I didn't get it from Wikipedia either...

But seeing as when you tried to understand the Lawyers, you got it wrong, I thought a more easily understood format was applicable.

[pritch]

I didn't get it from Wikipedia either...

But seeing as when you tried to understand the Lawyers, you got it wrong, I thought a more easily understood format was applicable.

Update. Having read it yet again, what you are saying is "as well as" rather than "instead of." Nothing I said was wrong, and I don't disagree with what you're saying.

[Viking01]

Andrew Cockburn posted a report in the November issue of Harper’s Magazine on secret Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs) that “implement extraordinary presidential authority in response to extraordinary situations.” They were not on the public’s radar “until Donald Trump started to brag about them.”

https://harpers.org/archive/2020/11/...he-presidency/