Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[froot loops]

Here is the Times reporting on the McCain Destroyer saga over the weekend. A key part of the article.

[crashcourse]

I think its funny Mueller is doing everything he can to avoid testifying

Flynn's issues are ludricous--Obama putting sanctions on Russia 2 weeks before trum took over and Flynn not being able to communicate with Russia until day trump takes over is ludricous

any discussion about firing comey not being the right of the president is ludicous

any discussion of shutting down the Mueller investigation is ludricous especially when you have the power to do so --and eventually you let it runs its course anyway

any discussion of trump coordination with Russia regariding hillarys emails is ludicrous--those wehnt to wikilleaks which trump had nothing to with. doing op research and exploiting the faults of the opposition candidate is fine its done all the time. but hillarys bought and paid for fake dossier set the tone for a counterintelligence probe through illegitimate warrnats to spy on American citizens is where this needs to go

and that's why Mueller will do everything he can to avoid tesitifying because it opens him up to questions on what he found out about the evidence that led to this--or complete lack thereof

[Kapture1]

Mueller didn't want to make a determination. Or said he wouldn't or couldn't or whatever

Bottom line is he chose not to, so Barr made the determination, no obstruction.

so when the Dems impeach, they will be impeaching a completely innocent president lol

that will go over well, be careful what you wish for

[Dr. Strangelove]

As Trump escalates the trade war with China, he's again threatening brand new tariffs on Mexico if they don't "do more" to slow the migrant flow.

Mexico hasn't approved USMCA yet as far as I know.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-prepares-to-threaten-mexico-with-new-tariffs-in-attempt-to-force-migrant-crackdown/2019/05/30/0f05f01e-8314-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html?utm_term=.9105686bb705

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yeah, this and one other story were on my mind this morning when talking about gerrymandering. This Hoffeller guy had a trove of documents on his devices that the ACLU is thrusting in front of the Supreme Court. For the past decade he was the GOP's go-to guy for redistricting because he had settled on a foolproof way to increase representation for white conservatives. In Hofeller's own words, he believed that adding a citizenship question to the census would create a strutural electoral advantage for the benefit of "Republicans and non-Hispanic whites".

Hofeller also helped design most of the state maps that are currently under review at the SC.


D710J0TX4AAmO5m.png:small.png

It's long but here's the ACLU's updated filing on the Citizenship question with new documents just uncovered from Hofeller.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-966/101439/20190530142417722_2019.05.30%20NYIC%20Respondents%20Notice%20of%20Filing%20--%20Final.pdf

[Dr. Strangelove]

The second story I saw this morning is this:

The State of Mississippi is being sued over how it elects Governors and other statewide offices. They have a weird requirement that to become Governor, winning the popular vote is not enough, you also must win in a majority of all 122 state legislature districts.

The law was created in 1890, smack dab in the Jim Crow era, and at a time when blacks outnumbered whites in Mississippi but were concentrated in only certain parts of the state (especially near the Mississippi River).

https://www.apnews.com/3ad297610e314e4a863ebb521b98efd0

I had never heard of this before but Georgia used to employ a similar technique. Primary Elections were not decided by popular vote but instead the state used to designate each county as "Urban", "Town" and "Rural". (There were only 8 "urban" counties out of a total of 159). The state then awarded 'points' for winning each county. Urban counties were worth 6 points, Town counties worth 4, Rural worth 2.

By 1960 "Rural" counties in Georgia had only 32% of the population but controlled 59% of the total vote in Georgia. The goal was obviously to diminish the political importance of Atlanta (which "coincidentally" was the heaviest concentration of black voters in the state).

In 1962 the Supreme Court ruled a similar scheme in Tennessee unconstitutional and the Georgia system got tossed out as well.

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/counties-cities-neighborhoods/county-unit-system

[Dr. Strangelove]

So Trump is escalating the trade war with China, he's threatening new tariffs on Mexico before they've even approved USMCA, and he's now also trying to bully Pelosi, with no pre-negotiation, into passing USMCA within 30 days.

Bush tried this in 2008 for a free trade deal with Colombia. Pelosi held a vote, scrapped the fast-rack rules, and worked on her own timetable. It ended up not being approved until Obama was in office.

D72EOn8XkAU4BDY.jpg:small.jpg

[Dr. Strangelove]

South Korean media reporting that North Korea's special enovoy to the US has in fact been executed, on an airport tarmac it sounds like, along with much of the staff Kim Jong-Un used at the Hanoi Summit. Others, including Mike Pompeo's direct counterpart, were sent to labor camps.

It's believed that this is the first time since Kim Jong-Un executed his uncle in 2013 that there's been this scale a purge in North Korea

****************************

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-purge-idUSKCN1T02PD

[Dr. Strangelove]

UPDATE!

President Deals says he's announcing a 5% tariff beginning June 10th on all Mexican goods until illegal immigration STOPS (his words, not mine). We will gradually increase the tariff over time until Mexico obeys (I have seen 25% being the claimed max).

On a conference call Mick Muvalney was asked what the metric for success will be for this strategy. He said "We did not set a specific percentage or specific number" and that the WH will reassess the situation daily. In other words, they'll keep the tariffs in place until it's apparent they're not working, the admin gets tired of the damage its doing to the economy, at which point they will simply declare it all a huge success. Then a week later Trump will complain that Mexico is doing nothing about the border crisis.

EDIT: It's also been pointed out that migration almost always slows down during the summer months due to the desert heat and the Admin could be cynically trying to score a victory by crediting tariffs for the 'success'.

[froot loops]

It's a border crisis of his own making and he has no idea how to find a solution.

[froot loops]

Look for Trump to congratulate Kim"s next secretary of state for the promotion unironically.

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's a border crisis of his own making and he has no idea how to find a solution.

[froot loops]

If Grassley doesn't like tariffs he shouldn't have supported Trump, he is Tariff man. Get used to it Chuck dumbass.

[Dr. Strangelove]

China about to raise the stakes

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-05-31/china-to-set-up-unreliable-entity-list-after-u-s-huawei-ban

[Jeff Buchanan]

The Mexico tariffs? Bat chit crazy.

If Congress would get off it's dead ass, it has the power to stop all of this presidential non-sense. I just Googled "can congress stop Trump's tariffs?" Shocking results from multiple sources saying, yes it can ..... and it damn well should.

I've supported the executive until now and I suspect I'm not alone in abandoning that support.

I think I'll write a letter to Ted Cruz and my State rep/sen: Ted Deutch and Rick Scott.