Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Kapture1]

Bradley Smith resigned from the FEC nearly 15 years ago when they asked him to begin regulating 527's. He's an ideologue who believes there should be virtually no regulation of campaign finance, so it's not surprising that he would think this is absolutely not a crime. The lawyers for Pecker, Howard, and Weisselberg clearly don't agree.

You can cite Bradley Smith as if he's the only authority on this all you want, and you were probably introduced to him through Mark Levin or some other obese conservative radio host, but I see one man pleaded guilty to a crime Smith says doesn't exist and 3 others took deals rather than risk being charged with the same "non-existent crime". So while Bradley Smith might be nice theory, we see what's happening in reality.

I asked you to prove him wrong. Still waiting on you to do it.

last line is what proves my very next post. It's the dems' strategy to point to a plea deal and say that it establishes legal precedent and directly implicated the President. It doesn't. That is not congecture, that is not a guess, it is the way our legal system works. Objectively so.

But that is what you are claiming by that statement, and you are clearly not alone. CNN and MSNBC said the word impeachment 222 times in one day.

[Kapture1]

https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements/personal-use/

[Dr. Strangelove]

I asked you to prove him wrong. Still waiting on you to do it.

last line is what proves my very next post. It's the dems' strategy to point to a plea deal and say that it establishes legal precedent and directly implicated the President. It doesn't. That is not congecture, that is not a guess, it is the way our legal system works. Objectively so.

But that is what you are claiming by that statement, and you are clearly not alone. CNN and MSNBC said the word impeachment 222 times in one day.

One guy pleaded guilty. Three others took deals rather than face potential charges themselves. Seems to me the opinion of Bradley Smith means fuck-all, but you enjoy your lil Mark Levin echo chamber

[Dr. Strangelove]

Is it possible that attorneys for Pecker, Howard, and Weisselberger know more of the facts and details than is public knowledge? Is it possible they actually have a better grasp of the evidence than either Kapture or Geezer?

I say probably not but it's a remote possibility.

[Kapture1]

One guy pleaded guilty. Three others took deals rather than face potential charges themselves. Seems to me the opinion of Bradley Smith means fuck-all, but you enjoy your lil Mark Levin echo chamber

Based on a deal he cut with prosecutors for a lesser charge. Again, plea deals are not necessarily based on a defendant's honest and accurate testimony, or the charges even fully corroborated. If you want to say Trump is guilty of a campaign finance violation, you have to prove it. And a plea deal isnt legal precedent. Plea deal applies to Cohen and Cohen alone. That's indisputable.

[Kapture1]

ZV7sliT.jpg

[Da Geezer]

Bradley Smith resigned from the FEC nearly 15 years ago when they asked him to begin regulating 527's. He's an ideologue who believes there should be virtually no regulation of campaign finance, so it's not surprising that he would think this is absolutely not a crime. The lawyers for Pecker, Howard, and Weisselberg clearly don't agree.

You can cite Bradley Smith as if he's the only authority on this all you want, and you were probably introduced to him through Mark Levin or some other obese conservative radio host, but I see one man pleaded guilty to a crime Smith says doesn't exist and 3 others took deals rather than risk being charged with the same "non-existent crime". So while Bradley Smith might be nice theory, we see what's happening in reality.

What crime were the "other" three charged with? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I just have not heard.

And, I've not heard of Bradley Smith before tonight, but I've thought for most of my life that "campaign finance" is an all-purpose weapon to be used by those with power against those without power. But it is instructive that you immediately attack the messenger rather than debate Kapture about the matter which he brought up. Pure Alinsky. This is not about Bradley Smith. The point is: what might be a crime for Cohen is not a crime for Trump. That is because of Trump's unique position as the candidate.

[AlabamAlum]

Has there ever been a successful company more intent on committing suicide than Papa John's?

Their ad that rehashes the controversy:

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/08/24/...er-ousted.html

[AlabamAlum]

I wonder if I could buy a Papa John's franchise on the cheap now, though....hmmmmm.

[AlabamAlum]

The Marshall Tucker Band got their name after they rented an old Spartanburg, SC warehouse for practice and to store equipment. The key to the warehouse had the name 'Marshall Tucker' inscribed on it. So, they essentially said, "Fuck it, we'll call ourselves The Marshall Tucker Band." It turns out that the band had no idea that it was a real person. Marshall Tucker was a blind piano tuner who had rented the warehouse previously.

Lynyrd Skynyrd got their name from their old HS gym teacher (although he spelled his name differently).

Led Zepplin got their name after a convo between bandmates joking that they would probably go over like a lead balloon.

Pink Floyd's name was taken from two blues musicians: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.

Lovin' Spoonful leader John Sebastian says their name came from a lyric in a Mississippi John Hurt song. Sebastian says the line is about a heroin spoon. Others believe it referenced the average amount of male ejaculate.

Steely Dan got its name from a vibrator in William Burroughs' book "Naked Lunch".

The Moody Blues got their name because bandmates hoped to get a sponsorship from the M&B Brewery in Birmingham, England so they called themselves the M B's which evolved into the Moody Blues ('moody' was inspired by Duke Ellington's Mood Indogo).

AC/DC got their name from a sewing maching.

Bad Company got their name from a victorian book on morals. In the book was a cartoon with a shady looking character leaning against a lamppost with the caption, "Beware of Bad Company".

The Ramones got their name from the name Paul McCartney used early in his career: Paul Ramone.

[Kapture1]

What crime were the "other" three charged with? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I just have not heard.

And, I've not heard of Bradley Smith before tonight, but I've thought for most of my life that "campaign finance" is an all-purpose weapon to be used by those with power against those without power. But it is instructive that you immediately attack the messenger rather than debate Kapture about the matter which he brought up. Pure Alinsky. This is not about Bradley Smith. The point is: what might be a crime for Cohen is not a crime for Trump. That is because of Trump's unique position as the candidate.

It doesnt appear they were charged with anything. They were almost certainly threatened with charges based on the prosecutors reading of the FEC rules (a prosecutor's reading of the law doesnt make it so)

i expect it. He thought for sure this was finally finally it for dumpf. Not so fast lol

Also a valid defense. Say worst case scenario, the payment for the NDAs are considered a campaign expense (they weren't), and Trump said to Cohen "This is gonna blow up right before the election, i want you to take care of it" trusting his lawyer would do the transaction on the up and up. It's his job know the law and follow the law, i expected him to follow the law.

Where this would be an issue is if Trump knew that it was a violation and instructed Cohen to do it anyways. Or sometging along the lines of "take care of it, legal, illegal, i dont care just take care of it." That becomes intent to violate the law.

[AlabamAlum]

There are 4 college football games today:

(all times central)

Duquesne at UMass 4:30pm
Prairie View at Rice 6pm ESPN+
Hawaii at Colorado State 6:30pm CBS-SN
Wyoming at New Mexico State 9pm ESPN2

[Dr. Strangelove]

What crime were the "other" three charged with? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I just have not heard.

And, I've not heard of Bradley Smith before tonight, but I've thought for most of my life that "campaign finance" is an all-purpose weapon to be used by those with power against those without power. But it is instructive that you immediately attack the messenger rather than debate Kapture about the matter which he brought up. Pure Alinsky. This is not about Bradley Smith. The point is: what might be a crime for Cohen is not a crime for Trump. That is because of Trump's unique position as the candidate.

They took immunity/cooperation deals almost certainly in exchange for not being charged with the same campaign finance crimes to which Cohen pleaded guilty. Which is why I say what Bradley Smith thinks is pretty immaterial; four different individuals and their lawyers felt the crimes were real enough to cut deals.

As to the latter part of your post, it's been alleged on this board that what even Cohen did is no crime. Essentially he made an illegal contribution to the campaign (all intent was to influence the election as he admitted) with the full cooperation and assistance of the National Enquirer guys and was reimbursed by Trump Org execs who paid him $420,000 for 'services rendered'. I assume there is evidence suggesting they fully understood what they were reimbursing Cohen for.

[Dr. Strangelove]

There are 4 college football games today:

(all times central)

Duquesne at UMass 4:30pm
Prairie View at Rice 6pm ESPN+
Hawaii at Colorado State 6:30pm CBS-SN
Wyoming at New Mexico State 9pm ESPN2

I didn't realize those Mountain West games were on today

[AlabamAlum]

I didn't realize those Mountain West games were on today

Yes. It is glorious. We have football back (or a reasonable facsimile).


Also, everyone, if you have not gotten your picks in, please do so.