That makes a lot more sense than the conspiracy theories being thrown around about Trump supporters or being paid off. Especially since there was a MAGA hat wearer and she voted guilty.
American Politics thread: No Nazis Allowed
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I'm basing that on the questions asked of Ellis by the jury during deliberations.
@Time:
Near the end of the first day of deliberations on Thursday, the jury asked whether a report of foreign bank and financial accounts, known as an FBAR, needed to be filed by a person with less than a 50 percent ownership. Manafort is charged with four counts of failing to file FBARs for offshore companies. The jury also asked about the definition of a shelf company.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III replied that the jurors should rely on their collective memory.
The jury also requested that the judge redefine “reasonable doubt.” Ellis replied that the government wasn’t required to prove its case beyond “all doubt,” just to the extent that a person would consider reasonable.
Finally, the jury asked if the exhibit list could be amended to include the indictment.
The guilty verdicts were on:
Five counts of tax fraud.
Two counts of bank fraud.
One count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account.The counts that resulted in a mistrial were:
Three additional counts of failing to disclose a foreign bank account.
Two additional counts of bank fraud.
Five counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.Considering the questions asked by the jury, I think that one juror bought into the idea that Manafort and his wife sharing some of those foreign accounts meant that he didn't bear as much responsibility to report it.
The conspiracy charges are odd but that's where the "not really understanding how this works" came into play especially since, if I understand the fourth question correctly, Ellis didn't allow prosecutors to annotate for the jury which exhibits went with what charges.
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Wow. Yeah, that sounds like its almost entirely on the judge then.
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Just a couple more thoughts on that juror interview, one positive, one negative:
-pro: for all the stratification and division in politics today, it is good to see that even a MAGAHat crazy like that could be compelled to convict a genuine criminal directly tied to Trump through sheer weight of evidence. Seemingly easy convictions get derailed by rogue jurors all the time.
-con: if someone like this lady is making it through the jury selection process–she kept a MAGA hat in the backseat of her car to "remind her," for pete's sake--that in and of itself is a problem. Think, even with overwhelming evidence, she would vote to convict Donny Jr, whose time in the barrel rapidly approaches?
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Steven Tyler is telling Trump to stop using his music.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/22/politics/aerosmith-steven-tyler-donald-trump/index.html -
Hrm. Which is Trump and which is his staff…. I can't tell, they've learned to mimick his style perfectly.
Also rigged witch hunt when all your top guys have pled guilty yesterday, uhm…
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That South Africa tweet is a huge bone thrown at his white nationalist contingent.
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/08/23/day-581/
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/08/23/day-581/
1/ Trump "would consider" pardoning Paul Manafort, according to Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt, who interviewed Trump. "I think he feels bad for Manafort," Ainsley said. "They were friends." Manafort was convicted on eight counts bank and tax fraud. The White House maintains that Trump is not currently looking to pardon Manafort. (Reuters / Mediaite / Politico)
One holdout juror prevented Manafort from being convicted on all 18 counts, according to one of the jurors. Paula Duncan, who identifies as a Trump supporter, said the single holdout juror could not come to a guilty verdict on 10 of the charges, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on those 10 counts. (Fox News / The Hill / Newsweek)
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/403197-manafort-juror-one-holdout-prevented-ruling-on-all-18-counts
Top Republicans in the Senate are warning Trump that it would be a mistake to pardon Manafort. "It would be an enormous mistake and misuse of his power to pardon," said Sen. Susan Collins. The second-ranking Republican senator, GOP Whip John Cornyn also said that a pardon "would be a mistake." Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said that a pardon "would be very damaging to the presidency and to his position as president." (The Hill)
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/403062-republicans-warn-trump-against-manafort-pardon
2/ Trump claimed that "flipping" and cooperating with prosecutors is "not fair" and should "almost be outlawed." Trump complained during an interview with Fox News about former confidants who testified against him to mitigate their own legal troubles. "It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal." Trump continued: "It almost ought to be outlawed. It's not fair." Trump also attacked Jeff Sessions, questioning his character for recusing himself in the Russia investigation, and asking "What kind of man is this?" and that the "only reason I gave him the job" was because he felt "loyalty" to Sessions for signing on to the campaign. "I put in an attorney general who never took control of the Justice Department." (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/politics/trump-flipping-outlawed/index.html
Jeff Sessions pushed back against Trump's latest criticism, saying that the Department of Justice would not be "improperly influenced by political considerations." Sessions said in his statement: "I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President's agenda—one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances religious liberty." (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
3/ David Pecker was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Cohen and Trump in their criminal investigation into hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. In exchange for immunity, the CEO of American Media, Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, met with prosecutors and shared details about payments Cohen arranged to Daniels and McDougal, including Trump's knowledge of the deals. Late last night, Trump tweeted: "NO COLLUSION - RIGGED WITCH HUNT!" It's unclear what prompted the tweet. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
4/ Betsy DeVos is considering a plan to allow school districts to use federal funding to buy guns for teachers, according to multiple people with knowledge of the plan. The plan, if enacted, would be unprecedented and would reverse a longstanding position of the federal government that federal funding should not be used to outfit schools with weapons. Congress passed a $50 million-a-year school safety bill in March that specifically prohibited using the money to buy firearms, but DeVos is apparently looking to a program in federal education law that doesn't mention a specific prohibition on purchasing weapons with federal education funding. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22/us/politics/betsy-devos-guns.html
Notables.
Trump's latest round of tariffs kicked in today, which were followed immediately by retaliatory tariffs from China. The U.S. imposed 25 percent tariffs on another $16 billion in Chinese goods, affecting 279 Chinese products. China immediately responded with 25 percent tariffs of their own on an equal amount of American goods, such as chemical products and diesel fuel. Both countries have now imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of each other's goods — and more tariffs are reportedly on the way. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/23/politics/china-us-tariffs/index.html
After claiming on Wednesday that it experienced an attack on its voter database, the DNC now says the apparent phishing attempts were a "test." The DNC released a statement late Wednesday night claiming that it believes the phishing attempt was part of an unauthorized test of its VoteBuilder system by a third party. "We, along with the partners who reported the site," the DNC statement reads, "now believe it was built by a third party as part of a simulated phishing test on VoteBuilder." The statement continues: "The test, which mimicked several attributes of actual attacks on the Democratic party's voter file, was not authorized by the DNC, VoteBuilder nor any of our vendors." (ABC News)
Trump asked Sec. of State Mike Pompeo to study the "seizing land from white farmers" and the "large scale killing of farmers" in South Africa. The BBC found in November that there was "no reliable data to suggest farmers were at greater risk of being murdered than the average South African." South Africa responded and accused Trump of seeking to sow division in the country. The redistribution of land in South Africa was a fundamental principle of the African National Congress (ANC) after the fall of apartheid. Now, 24 years after apartheid ended, government figures show that white people (who make up 9 percent of the population) own 72 percent of the farmland held by individuals. (BBC / Reuters)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-asked-pompeo-look-south-african-land-032314925.html
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@Cyan:
That South Africa tweet is a huge bone thrown at his white nationalist contingent.
Kind of weird he has more concern about farmers in South Africa but less regarding farmers in his country being hurt by his own policies.
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Kind of weird he has more concern about farmers in South Africa but less regarding farmers in his country being hurt by his own policies.
Kind of weird that he used the word "expropriations" and spelled it correctly. In between posts ranting about witch hunts. Almost as if…. someone else was being diplomatic in his name and not actually him.
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It's black people taking things from white people, it has his full attention.
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Kind of weird that he used the word "expropriations" and spelled it correctly. In between posts ranting about witch hunts. Almost as if…. someone else was being diplomatic in his name and not actually him.
Yeah it's pretty obvious at times when his tweets are written by someone with the proper writing skills a 70 something year old person should have and when it's not.
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An interesting article about WHY Trumps supporters still actually support him:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/what-trumps-supporters-think-of-corruption/568147/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=the-atlantic-fb-test-312-4-&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social -
An interesting article about WHY Trumps supporters still actually support him:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/what-trumps-supporters-think-of-corruption/568147/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=the-atlantic-fb-test-312-4-&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=socialTLDR version. It's cause they're racist. And sexist.
Not making a joke, not dismissing the article, that really is what it boils down to.
He's a rich white man, and he promised to get rid of the invading brown people. And his opponent was a woman, how dare she.
And that's all there is to it.
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He's a rich white man, and he promised to get rid of the invading brown people. And his opponent was a woman, how dare she.
You forgot the part of making the U.S. look strong in areas it was never weak in or better in ways it never was.
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"Middle class white person who didn't vote for Hillary and hates minorities" is certainly a viewpoint that's been vastly underrepresented in the media over the past two and a half years.
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"Middle class white person who didn't vote for Hillary and hates minorities" is certainly a viewpoint that's been vastly underrepresented in the media over the past two and a half years.
"We went to a Long Island suburb to talk to Trump voters…"
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@Cyan:
"We went to a Long Island suburb to talk to Trump voters…"
Part 653 in our 1,532 part coverage.
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https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/08/24/day-582/
Day 582: You can do it.
1/ The chief financial officer at the Trump Organization was given immunity by federal prosecutors in New York in exchange for information about Michael Cohen as part of their criminal investigation into hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. Allen Weisselberg, who is identified in court filings as "Executive-1," helped authorize $420,000 in reimbursements to Cohen and was granted immunity in exchange for his grand jury testimony about his role in the payments last month. According to prosecutors, Cohen – then Trump's attorney – sent an invoice to Weisselberg in January 2017 for "Payment for services rendered for the month of January and February, 2017," which reflected Cohen's $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in October 2016, as well as an additional $50,000 for "tech services." Weisselberg directed another Trump Organization executive to "pay from the Trust" and to "post to legal expenses." Executives at the Trump Organization "'grossed up' for tax purposes" the reimbursement, doubling the invoice to $360,000, adding a $60,000 bonus. After he was elected, Trump handed over control of his financial assets and business interests to Eric and Trump Jr., and Weisselberg. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ The Manhattan district attorney's office is considering criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials in connection with Cohen's hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. The state's investigation would focus on whether the Trump Organization violated state tax law for listing Cohen's reimbursement as a legal expense. Federal prosecutors have said the payments were based on "sham" legal invoices in connection with a nonexistent retainer agreement, and that Cohen did no legal work in connection with the matter. The New York State attorney general's office is seeking a referral from the state Department of Taxation and Finance, which is needed to conduct the inquiry and to prosecute any violations of state tax law. (New York Times / Los Angeles Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/nyregion/trump-organization-criminal-charges-vance.html
3/ After Jeff Sessions said he would not be influence by politics, Trump tweeted that Sessions must "look into all of the corruption on the 'other side,'" adding: "Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!" On Thursday, Trump criticized Sessions in a Fox News interview for failing to control the Justice Department, after which Sessions said the Department of Justice "will not be improperly influenced by political considerations." Trump mocked Sessions' response, tweeting, "Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants." In particular, Trump wants Sessions to investigate "deleted Emails, Comey lies and leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA abuse, Christopher Steele and his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems - and so much more." Nearly all which Sessions has recused himself from. (Associated Press / New York Times)
https://apnews.com/ce61480b906b432e9b5f7004263f78c0/Trump-escalates-feud-with-Sessions
"Moves are being made" to remove Sessions after the midterm elections, according to Sen. Bob Corker. "It's apparent that after the midterms, [Trump] will make a change and choose someone to do what he wants done." (Politico)
poll/ 35% of Americans think Trump's tariffs will leave them worse off financially, while 19% expect improvement. 40% expect the tariffs to help the economy, while 44% expect them to hurt, and 16% expect them to make no difference. 38% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the presidency. (Associated Press)
Notables.
Trump told the Italian prime minister that he is ready to help fund the country's public debt next year by buying Italian government bonds. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told officials about Trump's offer after attending a meeting in Washington about three weeks ago. Conte didn't give any additional details about the plan or say whether he believes it would work. (Il Corriere della Sera / Reuters / NBC News / Bloomberg)
Blackwater founder Erik Prince is once again trying to convince Trump to let him privatize the war in Afghanistan. Prince hasn't spoken with Trump recently, but he has been making the rounds in the media and talking up his plan to replace U.S. and coalition forces with private contractors. Very few defense officials think Prince's plan will work, but some are concerned that Trump might entertain the idea. "We have to take this seriously because the commander-in-chief might take it seriously," said author and former mercenary Sean McFate, "and if the only logic is that everything else we have tried has failed so anything can work in the future, that’s an absurd logic." Prince is the brother of Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos. (The Hill)
The former Air Force linguist and intelligence contractor who in 2017 leaked a top-secret government report on Russian hacking efforts to The Intercept was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison. Reality Winner pleaded guilty in June, and is the first person to be sentenced under the Espionage Act since Trump became president. She received the longest sentence ever imposed by a federal court for the unauthorized released of classified information to the media. Trump tweeted about Winner's sentence, comparing her actions to Hillary Clinton's. "Ex-NSA contractor to spend 63 months in jail over ‘classified’ information," Trump tweeted. "Gee, this is ‘small potatoes’ compared to what Hillary Clinton did! So unfair Jeff, Double Standard." (New York Times / Gizmodo / Time)
http://time.com/5377202/donald-trump-reality-winner-sentence-unfair/
John McCain will end medical treatment for his brain cancer. McCain, 81, was first diagnosed with glioblastoma in the summer of 2017. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/24/mccain-to-discontinue-medical-treatment-795472
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Well, he is at that age, you know.
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This post is deleted!
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Trump already talking about pardoning Manafort it seems.
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Huh, took me a second to get that. He filled in the lines in such a way that it's impossible for him to color it in correctly. A mistake that can never be corrected. How about that…
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No guys. He's just being creative, that's all.
Actually, he's working on his own redesign for the flag when he recreates the US as Trumpsylvania.
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Seriously though, it might just be a sign of cognitive failure, in such a way that even a long distance professional can diagnose. Inability to remember simple patterns or colors, or some such.
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But he scored perfectly on his dementia test!!
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Trump only knows what the flag of Hawaii looks like.
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@Cyan:
Trump only knows what the flag of Hawaii looks like.
That would involve him knowing the british flag. Seems unlikely. Maybe the idiot proof Texas flag is more his speed. (And I say that as a Texan.)
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Maybe the idiot proof Texas flag is more his speed. (And I say that as a Texan.)
He'd fuck it up and make Chile's flag by accident.
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https://twitter.com/AP?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
John McCain has died.
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https://twitter.com/AP?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
John McCain has died.
Pretty sad. He's at least one of these sane Republicans who went against Trump's motive
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Maverick sure did a lot of "CONCERNED" and "BROWS FURROWED" and basically no "actually reign in orange despot" work.
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RIP John McCain.
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So what happens with McCain's seat?
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@TLC:
So what happens with McCain's seat?
Arizona's governor selects a replacement of the same party until a special election is held, I heard next year.
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@TLC:
So what happens with McCain's seat?
He held off on officially resigning from the seat until it was too late to set up a special election any time soon, (long after it was clear his health wouldn't allow him to continue) so it goes to a fill in republican by default for a while. Maybe there are no votes until the midterm though, I'm not sure. But its a pretty lousy final act in his career to steal a senate seat.
I don't want to speak ill of the man right after he's died, as he did a lot of good and was better than every republican currently playing coward under Trump, but he had the position, the publicity, and the will, to stop more of the last two years than he actually did. He helped block the corrupt health bill, but he could have also blocked the corrupt tax bill and didn't, for instance.
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MLK jr Day undefeated.
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Nobody knew how to play the beltway elites as well as John McCain.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Anyway, congratulations to John McCain for making his final political act stealing a Senate seat.
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This is good news for John McCain.
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R.I.P, McCain, as ye go to rest with Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan rolling in your graves.
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He held off on officially resigning from the seat until it was too late to set up a special election any time soon, (long after it was clear his health wouldn't allow him to continue) so it goes to a fill in republican by default for a while. Maybe there are no votes until the midterm though, I'm not sure. But its a pretty lousy final act in his career to steal a senate seat.
I don't want to speak ill of the man right after he's died, as he did a lot of good and was better than every republican currently playing coward under Trump, but he had the position, the publicity, and the will, to stop more of the last two years than he actually did. He helped block the corrupt health bill, but he could have also blocked the corrupt tax bill and didn't, for instance.
I know I won't be shedding tears for him or his batshit insane daughter.
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I know I won't be shedding tears for him or his batshit insane daughter.
His daughter is insane?
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His daughter is insane?
https://www.gq.com/story/meghan-mccain-rant-socialism-the-view
(this is just one example. I'm sure there's more of this type of stuff from back when she was a Fox News talking head)
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https://www.gq.com/story/meghan-mccain-rant-socialism-the-view
(this is just one example. I'm sure there's more of this type of stuff from back when she was a Fox News talking head)
As someone living in Norway I'm tired of being compared to Venezuela over and over again, particularly by people who, dunno, know how to read and have access to the internet. Suddenly someone somewhere will start saying something about how Americans have the freedom and opportunities to create business and whatnot, and I'm like … are you stupid? Do some research, travel ffs!
Offer your people free health care and suddenly people start seeing Stalin's shape in the shadows. One of my coworker's just recently came back from a fully-paid, about half-a-year parental leave. Awful, right?
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Mass shooting just happened at a Madden 19 tournament in Jacksonville, FL. Multiple fatalities are reported with people being brought to multiple hospitals. At least 12 shots were fired. The even was being streamed on Twitch during it. Currently the police have blocked off the area and are warning people to stay indoors and away from the area still.
I really can't stress to not watch the clip of the stream. Fox was the first major network reporting on it and they just played the clip. It's fucking chilling.
EDIT as per MSNBC, at least 4 are dead and 10 injured.
EDIT as per AP, Jacksonville Sheriff's office says one suspect is dead at the scene.