Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[Blur4stuff]

I'm not so sure house republicans can go full psycho. There's more than a few that still have their sanity. Getting them all to go along with crazy shit may not happen.

If they did it would just do even more damage to the party. They cannot spend the next two years getting absolutely nothing done while just investigating conspiracies and impeaching Biden. If they do that then dems will easily win back control.

They will certainly lose voters if they just collect paychecks and fuck around.

[Fugus]

I'm not so sure house republicans can go full psycho. There's more than a few that still have their sanity. Getting them all to go along with crazy shit may not happen.

If they did it would just do even more damage to the party. They cannot spend the next two years getting absolutely nothing done while just investigating conspiracies and impeaching Biden. If they do that then dems will easily win back control.

They will certainly lose voters if they just collect paychecks and fuck around.

Remember how much they marched in lock step in the Senate. So still wouldn't put it past them to try and force the nation into default to get what they want with a mentality that they would rather take the entire nation with them on their way down then let it succeed without them.

So can definitely see them turning the next 2 years into a political circus where they play chicken with the full intent of actually crashing before the next election because they know they are burning their chances afterward.

Just have to try and keep it all going till then and make sure to point it all out publicly when they try and pass budgets that defund every program they dislike but can't repeal or have some weird stuff packed into must have bills. But considering their margins are so small they would have to play with the Tea Party Terrorists, can see them going that route.

[Breccia]

I'm not so sure house republicans can go full psycho. There's more than a few that still have their sanity. Getting them all to go along with crazy shit may not happen.

That's the hope, yes...but the vile toxin of the gun nuts, religious right, and racists runs deep. Elise Stefanik, for example, used to be a moderate. Last I saw she was dancing on the stage with Trump.

That said, it is comforting to know their hold on the House will be slight. There's a difference between "we got this in the bag" and "we need everyone on board".

[Paranoid Android]

Dow surges 1,200 points as inflation slowdown fuels Wall Street rally

Dark Brandon taking the might sword and defeating the Inflation Dragon. Let's go!!

Anyways I hate the stock market as a value of shit, but here we are.

[Kaleredar]

Dow surges 1,200 points as inflation slowdown fuels Wall Street rally

Dark Brandon taking the might sword and defeating the Inflation Dragon. Let's go!!

Anyways I hate the stock market as a value of shit, but here we are.

"Clearly news of republican victories inspired confidence in the stock market blah blah blah"

Prepare for hearing that.

[Breccia]

Could post this anywhere...here's good.

Biden eagerly watches as Trump flails at DeSantis

No one is enjoying the public fight between former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis more than President Biden, who if he chooses to run for another term may be battling one of the two Republicans.

Biden, showing some confidence after a better-than-expected midterm performance by Democrats in the House and Senate, has gleefully dubbed one “the former defeated President” and the other “Donald Trump incarnate.”

“It will be fun watching them take on each other,” Biden said Wednesday at a news conference following Tuesday’s elections.

Biden’s pithy answer came after NBC’s Kristen Welker asked him which man would be a more formidable opponent in the 2024 election, following DeSantis’s landslide victory on Tuesday’s midterms and the more uneven approach of a number of candidates backed by Trump.

“Oh, this is a ‘Let’s get out the popcorn’ moment for him for sure,” said one ally to the president. “It is for all of us. But no one is loving this more than Biden.”

Robert Wolf, the major Democratic donor who served as the chairman and CEO of UBS Americas, added that Biden has earned this moment.

“It’s gonna be a bit of a food fight and he deserves to enjoy it, period,” Wolf said on Friday. “He’s got an extra hop in his step, and now he’s going to watch a Republican primary that’s going to be insane.”

I've commented that McConnell has experience and success. Let's not forget. Biden's been doing this for longer than many of our posters have been alive. He knows DeSantis is a threat, he likely knows DeSantis is running, and he's most assuredly ready to Multi-Shot into the upcoming fray while standing out of range. The single thing that forces Biden's victory in 2024 is Trump and DeSantis both running on separate tickets. If he can encourage that, he will.

[Edge-]

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/...ed-complaints/

Want to know how to earn votes? Enact popular policies that actually help people.

Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation (DOT) is requiring six airlines to pay $600 million in refunds to “hundreds of thousands of customers who had been denied them,” NPR reported.

Additionally, the DOT is assessing $7.5 million in fines against the six airlines. Interestingly, only one of the airlines is based in the U.S. — Frontier Airlines. The five others, which follow, are foreign: Air India, TAP Portugal, El Al Israel, Aeromexico, and Avianca (a Colombian airline).

Bureau of Transportation statistics show that customer complaints about airlines’ refusal to pay refunds increased from 1,500 in 2019 to 89,000 in 2020. In 2020, the COVID-19 travel restrictions caused customers to cancel flights, but airlines often would only cancel flights at the last minute.

In those cases, airlines weren’t required to issue refunds and instead offered vouchers or credit for future travel. Often, these vouchers and credits can expire or go unused, leaving customers without due compensation for their canceled flights.

“It’s really unprecedented,” Bill McGee, an aviation consumer advocate with the American Economic Liberties Project, said. “We’ve never seen anything like it.”

In 2022, cancellations increased as airlines scheduled more flights than they had staff to cover.

“A flight cancellation is frustrating enough and you shouldn’t also have to haggle or wait months to get your refund,” Buttigieg said. “DOT will be here to make sure that a refund is available and that it’s processed as promptly as possible.”

Most of the aforementioned airlines told Reuters that they had trouble quickly refunding customers because of staff shortages and overwhelming customer requests during the COVID-19 pandemic.

McGee said that Buttigieg’s actions are basically too little, too late.

“This latest round of enforcement from the [DOT] comes almost three years too late and leaves out the most egregious U.S. offenders,” McGee said, noting that major U.S. carriers weren’t targeted by the DOT.

Mixed bag, it's a slow reaction but it's at least something. This won't help people that were screwed by airlines years ago, but it's at least going to help them after the fact and hopefully deter other airlines from jerking customers around on flight refunds.

[Edge-]

https://www.foxnews.com/media/karine...-insanity-stop

Dishonest, bad faith conservatives at Judicial Watch seem to think that the federal government is involved in the counting of votes after elections. They aren't, short of an oversight role in ensuring that no federal voting laws are violated. They're handled by the states, as we all know.

Apparently this is news to Judicial Watch and Fox News.

This is really the best they've got, and it's about as sad as Jeb Bush asking his audience to clap for him. Because we all know if states had all the votes counted on election day that the narrative would be, "BUT HOW DO THEY COUNT MILLIONS OF VOTES SO QUICKLY?! THAT'S CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT THE VOTE IS RIGGED!"

[tehdang]

https://www.foxnews.com/media/karine...-insanity-stop

Dishonest, bad faith conservatives at Judicial Watch seem to think that the federal government is involved in the counting of votes after elections. They aren't, short of an oversight role in ensuring that no federal voting laws are violated. They're handled by the states, as we all know.

Apparently this is news to Judicial Watch and Fox News.

This is really the best they've got, and it's about as sad as Jeb Bush asking his audience to clap for him. Because we all know if states had all the votes counted on election day that the narrative would be, "BUT HOW DO THEY COUNT MILLIONS OF VOTES SO QUICKLY?! THAT'S CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT THE VOTE IS RIGGED!"

How can you read the article and his tweet and not conclude he's decrying the length of time it takes to count ballots and declare a winner? And, by derivation, Karine Jean-Pierre's clip on "It took two weeks ... It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner. That's how this is supposed to work" is actually a really strange thing to say.

Even this forum had trouble understanding why it took so long.

Or is this another case of intentionally failing to grasp someone's point in order to get a cheap dunk? I simply can't imagine someone reading your link and concluding anything other than that she intentionally or unintentionally spoke favorably about multi-week election counts, and people *noticed.*

[Cthulhu 2020]

It's pretty obvious that conservatives are butthurt the election went far worse than they anticipated, and are just looking for excuses to bitch. As Edge said, if the vote had gone almost instantly, they'd be complaining about how quickly it happened. If it takes more than a couple of days they whinge that it's taking too long.

This is what we call eternally sore losers.

[Paranoid Android]

Nancy Pelosi not seeking leadership, so leads the way to Hakeem Jeffries.

As much as I didn't like Nancy this is the worse. You almost can't call Jeffries center-left. Dude is pretty right and or at least is full corporate as they come. Jeffries will crush an progressive movement the Dems have. This is not hyperbole.

Jeffries to me then: “I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now. … There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...-house/619695/

RIP.

Just from this quote I don't get being progressive but hard-left socialism? So what is hard-left? Is he thinking whoever in Dem party is looking for a full Socialist party. I know, I know, but let's roll with it. Almost all ideas put on the table are soft Social-Democrat. Jeffries is feeding the bs narrative that the Dems have some extreme left side so we can both sides.

[Deus Mortis]

US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-moves-...030729651.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration declared Thursday that Saudi Arabia's crown prince should be considered immune from a lawsuit over his role in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, a turnaround from Joe Biden's passionate campaign trail denunciations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal slaying.

The administration said the senior position of the crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler and recently named prime minister as well, should shield him against a suit brought by the fiancée of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and by the rights group Khashoggi founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now.

The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity. But it is bound to anger human rights activists and many U.S. lawmakers, coming as Saudi Arabia has stepped up imprisonment and other retaliation against peaceful critics at home and abroad and has cut oil production, a move seen as undercutting efforts by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russia for its war against Ukraine.

The State Department on Thursday called the administration's call to shield the Saudi crown prince from U.S. courts in Khashoggi's killing “purely a legal determination."

The State Department cited what it said was longstanding precedent. Despite its recommendation to the court, the State Department said in its filing late Thursday, it “takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi."

Saudi officials killed Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. They are believed to have dismembered him, although his remains have never been found. The U.S. intelligence community concluded Saudi Arabia’s crown prince had approved the killing of the widely known and respected journalist, who had written critically of Prince Mohammed’s harsh ways of silencing of those he considered rivals or critics.

The Biden administration statement Thursday noted visa restrictions and other penalties that it had meted out to lower-ranking Saudi officials in the death.

“From the earliest days of this Administration, the United States Government has expressed its grave concerns regarding Saudi agents’ responsibility for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder,” the State Department said. Its statement did not mention the crown prince's own alleged role.

Biden as a candidate vowed to make a “pariah” out of Saudi rulers over the 2018 killing of Khashoggi.

“I think it was a flat-out murder,” Biden said in a 2019 CNN town hall, as a candidate. “And I think we should have nailed it as that. I publicly said at the time we should treat it that way and there should be consequences relating to how we deal with those — that power.”

But Biden as president has sought to ease tensions with the kingdom, including bumping fists with Prince Mohammed on a July trip to the kingdom, as the U.S. works to persuade Saudi Arabia to undo a series of cuts in oil production.

Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, and DAWN sued the crown prince, his top aides and others in Washington federal court over their alleged roles in Khashoggi's killing. Saudi Arabia says the prince had no direct role in the slaying.

“It’s beyond ironic that President Biden has singlehandedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable," the head of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement, using the prince's acronym.

Biden in February 2021 had ruled out the U.S. government imposing punishment on Prince Mohammed himself in the killing of Khashoggi, a resident of the Washington area. Biden, speaking after he authorized release of a declassified version of the intelligence community's findings on Prince Mohammed's role in the killing, argued at the time there was no precedent for the U.S. to move against the leader of a strategic partner.

The U.S. military long has safeguarded Saudi Arabia from external enemies, in exchange for Saudi Arabia keeping global oil markets afloat.

“It’s impossible to read the Biden administration’s move today as anything more than a capitulation to Saudi pressure tactics, including slashing oil output to twist our arms to recognize MBS’s fake immunity ploy,” Whitson said.

A federal judge in Washington had given the U.S. government until midnight Thursday to express an opinion on the claim by the crown prince's lawyers that Prince Mohammed's high official standing renders him legally immune in the case.

The Biden administration also had the option of not stating an opinion either way.

Sovereign immunity, a concept rooted in international law, holds that states and their officials are protected from some legal proceedings in other foreign states’ domestic courts.

Upholding the concept of “sovereign immunity” helps ensure that American leaders in turn don’t have to worry about being hauled into foreign courts to face lawsuits in other countries, the State Department said.

Human rights advocates had argued that the Biden administration would embolden Prince Mohammed and other authoritarian leaders around the world in more rights abuses if it supported the crown prince's claim that his high office shielded him from prosecution.

Prince Mohammed serves as Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler in the stead of his aged father, King Salman. The Saudi king in September also temporarily transferred his title of prime minister — a title normally held by the Saudi monarch — to Prince Mohammed. Critics called it a bid to strengthen Mohammed’s immunity claim.

I look forward to the day when hopefully our politicians stop kissing the ass of these people, just because they have oil and wealth.

[Kaleredar]

US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-moves-...030729651.html


I look forward to the day when hopefully our politicians stop kissing the ass of these people, just because they have oil and wealth.

The wealth comes from the oil.

Every part of the US’ reliance on oil… and not just foreign oil, ANY oil, should be considered a national security risk. From climate change to having to coddle duplicitous nations so they don’t capriciously tank oil productions as a way of affecting global politics.

The EU certainly learned their lesson with Russia about relying too heavily on scheming foreign powers for their fuel.

[Paranoid Android]

US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-moves-...030729651.html


I look forward to the day when hopefully our politicians stop kissing the ass of these people, just because they have oil and wealth.

Unbelievable!

I by no means some fake Trump person who thinks the US can just shit on people. For this we really look weak and pathetic. What we don't for oil. Gouged over past year on oil prices and increasing inflation, part our fault for it's dependency and this.

So did we literally give blood for oil? Will Saudi increase oil production for this statement?

[fwc577]

Clinton Affair -- Nothingburger

Clinton Benghazi -- Nothingburger

Clinton Emails -- Nothingburger

Hunter Biden Investigation -- Prepare to eat another Nothingburger

[Draco-Onis]

The wealth comes from the oil.

Every part of the US’ reliance on oil… and not just foreign oil, ANY oil, should be considered a national security risk. From climate change to having to coddle duplicitous nations so they don’t capriciously tank oil productions as a way of affecting global politics.

The EU certainly learned their lesson with Russia about relying too heavily on scheming foreign powers for their fuel.

Well the US is not in the same boat as the EU, we are energy independent it's just most of it is sent overseas and something something capitalism we aren't going to stop that from happening. We could cut off the Saudis but I doubt it would be over the death of one man however if MBS makes a deal with China in terms of currency prepare for that tune to change. For all our protecting of the Saudis if they screw the US standing in the world by challenging the petrodollar we would turn on them.

[Edge-]

Clinton Affair -- Nothingburger

Clinton Benghazi -- Nothingburger

Clinton Emails -- Nothingburger

Hunter Biden Investigation -- Prepare to eat another Nothingburger

Yeah, but with all that smoke Republicans are pumping out of the smoke machine there must be a fire somewhere...right?

Doesn't matter, likely Speaker Andrew McCarthy already gave the game up years ago and conservatives didn't give a shit -

[Poopymonster]

Clinton Affair -- Nothingburger

Clinton Benghazi -- Nothingburger

Clinton Emails -- Nothingburger

Hunter Biden Investigation -- Prepare to eat another Nothingburger

You mean
Clinton Affair -- Nothingburger

Clinton Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 2, Electric Boogaloo -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 3, Return of Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 4, Son of Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 5, Curse of Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 6, Return of Son of Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 7, Return of the Curse of Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 8, Curse of the Son of Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 9, Return of the Cursed Son of Benghazi -- Nothingburger
Clinton Benghazi 10, HILLARY LIVES!-- Nothingburger

Clinton Emails -- Nothingburger

Hunter Biden Investigation -- Prepare to eat another Nothingburger

[Paranoid Android]

Yeah just past few pages of Benghazi and what's likely coming is why I am always close to saying "screw it" with a functioning government. I talking about just a lil bit.

Of course we have Projection. The favorite thing Republicans love to do. They will say that Trump is unfairly being targeted and we all know that Trump's children never abused the government or flourished through nepotism.

I'm still curious if they can rally the crazies for impeachment. Again, about projection so they are aiming for at least 3 impeachments so Trump's talking point as Biden being the most impeached President ever. Have to feed that ego.

[Breccia]

Hunter Biden Investigation -- Prepare to eat another Nothingburger

A report about that just came out.

After two years of scrutiny, the laptop has produced mountains of material about Hunter Biden's personal struggles, and his foreign business ventures in Ukraine and with China. It has not produced direct evidence President Biden benefited from his son's business dealings.

"There is such a vast amount of data that was accumulated over time that is personal in nature. Everything from pictures, to personal documents to photographs, and text messages, and and emails. And just the sheer volume of what we're dealing with it would be difficult, if not impossible, to fabricate," said Sean Lanterman, the company's incident response director.

Lanterman said the data was accumulated over time in a manner "consistent with normal, everyday use of a computer."

"Surely there must be something there relating to President Biden!"

Well, there is this one--

"Ahah! I knew it!"

In addition to analyzing the records' underlying data for potential anomalies, the audit also identified multiple voicemails apparently from future President Biden.

"It's Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. Got to get some help, You gotta get some help," Mr. Biden says in one message, in an apparent reference to Hunter Biden's admitted struggle with drug addiction. "I don't know what to do. I know you don't either, but I am here no matter what you need, no matter what you need, I love you."

"...I meant--"

I know what you meant, but just because Hunter Biden left his laptop in some store by accident doesn't magically turn it into evidence against the Biden family. It is evidence, but not the kind you wish it was.

Incidentally, I found a transcript of Trump's 2024 announcement, which almost half his family attended. The word "love" is used fifteen times.

One count of Trump saying Herschel Walker loves his country. Incidentally, that was the first usage.
One count of him mocking Biden saying the wrong state (he lied when he said it)
One count of Trump saying he loved going to G20
One count of Trump saying PM Abe loved Japan
Two counts of loving the name "caravans" for groups of immigrants, a name he claims he invented
Two counts of Trump saying people loved him
Five counts of Trump saying he loved this country and/or its people
Two counts of Trump saying people love Melania Trump. Both one hour, nearly to the second, after he started talking.

Trump did not say, once, that he loved his family, including the family that was there on the stage he told to stand up and come forward.

Biden showed his own struggling son more love in one random-ass phone call, that Trump showed his own wife (or child who attended) in front of a worldwide audience.