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Rank: Advanced Member  Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Joe Manchin's coal ties are worse than we thought — yet legal.The lone Democratic holdout on Build Back Better has an astonishing conflict of interest.It’s been known for some time that Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, hails from coal country and benefits from a family business in the coal industry. But a new report from The Washington Post has revealed that Manchin’s ties to the industry are greater and more direct than previously known — they show that he knows he received about half a million dollars in 2020 in returns from his investments in the business, despite his claims that he has a “blind trust” that keeps him in the dark regarding his assets.
That huge sum of money, and Manchin’s awareness of it, would seem to be of interest to the public as Manchin remains the lone Democrat in the Senate still holding out on President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, a sweeping legislative package that includes a number of climate change-related policies that have narrowed in scope significantly due to Manchin’s strident pushback.
What’s worse, however, than Manchin’s dodge is that what he’s doing is perfectly legal. Due to Congress’ lax code of ethics regarding lawmaker’s investments, Manchin’s conflict of interest is permissible, and, in many instances, completely routine. In other words, what may be even more scandalous than Manchin’s conflict of interest is the fact that it's allowed.
Manchin has a lucrative family business that sells waste coal to a power plant in West Virginia that “emits air pollution at a higher rate than any other plant in the state,” according to the Post.
Under the former clean electricity provision in the Build Back Better bill, that business could’ve been hurt. Manchin played a decisive role in killing it, despite explanations from policymakers and experts that it would have lowered energy costs and created thousands of jobs in his state.
When asked about whether he’s compromised by his investment in his family business, Manchin has claimed he has no idea what’s going on with it because it’s under a “blind trust.”The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Lindsey Graham Suggests Trump Pardon Idea for 1/6 Rioters Will Make 'Violence More Likely'.Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, voiced staunch opposition to former President Donald Trump's suggestion that he would pardon the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021—arguing that it could make similar acts of violence "more likely."
Trump complained during a Saturday rally in Texas that his supporters, who violently stormed the federal legislative building just over a year ago, are being treated "very unfairly."
Many legal scholars and some Republicans quickly condemned the idea. Graham—who is typically seen as a close Trump ally—joined the chorus of critics when he was asked about the former president's remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News' Face the Nation.
"Pardons? Do you agree?" anchor Margaret Brennan asked the GOP senator.
"No, I don't want to send any signal that it was OK to defile the Capitol. There are other groups with causes that may want to go down to the violent path that these people get pardoned," Graham asserted.
He went on to call Trump's suggestion "inappropriate." Graham compared the pardon idea to Vice President Kamala Harris raising money to pay the bail of protestors who were arrested during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, while she was still a senator.
"When Kamala Harris and her associates and the people that work for her, her staffers, raised money to bail out the rioters who hit cops in the head and burned down stores, I didn't like that either. So I don't want to do anything from raising bail to pardoning people who take the law into their own hands because it will make more violence more likely," the South Carolina Republican said.
Graham said he wants to "deter" the kind of behavior that occurred on January 6, 2021. "And those who did it, I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it," the senator added.
At the rally in Conroe, near Houston, Trump suggested that he wanted more mob action like what was seen on January 6 if prosecutors investigating him and his business do anything he views as illegal. He also put forward the pardon idea for the hundreds of rioters charged in the wake of the Capitol attack.
"And another thing we'll do, and so many people have been asking me about it, if I run [in 2024], and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly," Trump told thousands of supporters at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. "We will treat them fairly, and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons."The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Russia Once Again Using Tucker Carlson in Its Propaganda.Russian state media outlets and government agencies have recently been using videos and statements made by Tucker Carlson on his Fox News program in their propaganda regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Carlson's comments from segments where he discusses the U.S. allegedly funding bioweapons labs in Ukraine were carried by the Russian state-owned network RT on Wednesday, while the official Twitter account for the Russian Embassy in Turkey posted a clip on Thursday of the broadcaster making the claims about labs.
Portions of former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's recent appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight have also been shown on Russian media outlets this week, including on Channel One. In the clips, Gabbard criticizes President Joe Biden's comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power."
Russian state media had been using Carlson in its pro-Kremlin messaging in regards to Ukraine even before the military attacks were launched. The day before the February 24 invasion, RT wrote an article that said, "Carlson has the most popular cable TV show in the U.S. and his opinions influence how Americans vote." The article included a video of a Carlson monologue in which he questioned why Americans should dislike Putin.The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Former Republican Says Ex-Colleagues Are 'Spineless Politicians, Rotten to the Core'.Ex-Florida Rep. David Jolly told the MSNBC show Deadline White House that congressional Republicans were "without virtue" and lacking in "human integrity" during an attack on the party he left last year.
The analyst also suggested that the House and Senate GOP had "failed the country and themselves" in the aftermath of the Trump-Ukraine phone call and the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
Speaking to Deadline White House yesterday, former Rep. Jolly said: "You just got to be honest, these are, in today's Republican Party, spineless politicians, rotten to the core. Without virtue, without any level of human integrity.
"Devoid of self respect, self reflection. Without courage and without the moral compass to recognise their own malevolence. One day maybe they will have the recognition of how they failed the country and themselves in this moment.
"But that would be giving them credit that somewhere down deep they have the goodness to recognise how to reconcile their own failings with what is right and just in American politics and frankly what is right and wrong in the eyes of adults and children alike."
"There is no greater example of selling your soul to a charlatan than what (Trump)Republicans are doing right now in the House and the Senate,"Jolly later added.The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Oxygen Toxicity.Oxygen is vital to sustaining life. However, breathing oxygen at higher than normal partial pressure leads to hyperoxia and can cause oxygen toxicity or oxygen poisoning. The clinical settings in which oxygen toxicity occurs is predominantly divided into two groups; one in which the patient is exposed to very high concentrations of oxygen for a short duration, and the second where the patient is exposed to lower concentrations of oxygen but for a longer duration. These two cases can result in acute and chronic oxygen toxicity, respectively. The acute toxicity manifests generally with central nervous system (CNS) effects, while chronic toxicity has mainly pulmonary effects. Severe cases of oxygen toxicity can lead to cell damage and death. Those at particular risk for oxygen toxicity include hyperbaric oxygen therapy patients, patients exposed to prolonged high levels of oxygen, premature infants, and underwater divers. This activity reviews the etiology, presentation, evaluation, and management of oxygen toxicity and reviews the role of the interprofessional team in evaluating, diagnosing, and managing the condition.
The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.MAGA ‘Lions Not Sheep’ bro busted for putting bogus ‘Made in USA’ tags on Chinese-made apparel.The far-right "Lions Not Sheep" apparel company was ordered to pay a hefty fine after being caught replacing "Made in China" tags on its appear with "Made in USA."
Lions Not Sheep Products, LLC, and its owner Sean Whalen, were ordered to pay a $211,335 fine by the Federal Trade Commission. Additionally, the company was ordered to 'stop making bogus Made in USA claims' and "come clean about foreign production."
The Deseret News described the "Lions Not Sheep" as a "Utah-based apparel company known for its inflammatory T-shirts that often espouse pro-Second Amendment and pro-Trump messages."
The FTC complaint says Whalen posted a video online saying he could “conceal the fact that his shirts are made in China by ripping out the origin tags and replacing them with tags stating that the merchandise was made in the United States.”The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Kinzinger: Republicans ‘hypocritical’ for defending Trump over taking classified material.Congressman Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican who has been one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump, called out his party for criticizing Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while continuing to defend the former president’s decision to take sensitive government information to his home at Mar-a-Lago.
Kinzinger’s comments came days after the FBI released a redacted version of the affidavit the agency submitted to a federal judge to justify a search of Trump’s home. The document details how Trump retained classified material at Mar-a-Lago and that the government had been working for more than a year to retrieve those materials. A batch of documents returned earlier this year contained 184 documents marked as classified, including 25 marked as top secret.
“The hypocrisy of folks in my party that spent years chanting, ‘Lock her up,’ about Hillary Clinton because of some deleted emails or – quote/unquote – ‘wiping a server,’ are now out there defending a man who very clearly did not take the national security of the United States to heart,” Kinzinger, who is retiring from Congress after this term, said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “And it’ll be up to [the US justice department] whether or not that reaches the level of an indictment.
“But this is disgusting in my mind. And, like, no president should act this way, obviously.”
“Lock her up,” became a rallying cry at Trump rallies on the campaign trail. A US state department investigation ultimately found there was “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information”.
“For the department to pursue a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago tells me that the quantum and quality of the evidence they were reciting – in a search warrant and affidavit that an FBI agent swore to – was likely so pulverizing in its force as to eviscerate any notion that the search warrant and this investigation is politically motivated,” Laufman said.The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Florida GOP lawmakers request hurricane relief after state GOP votes to strike down FEMA funding.Florida Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott recently called on Senate leaders to approve more disaster funding in the wake of Florida's devastation due to Hurricane Ian.
According to Axios, the lawmakers' request is important because of their previous stance on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding.
"Several members of Congress from Florida previously voted against a short-term spending bill that includes aid for disaster relief," the news outlet reported.
“Hurricane Ian will be remembered and studied as one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States,” the Florida senators wrote. “Communities across Florida have been completely destroyed, and lives have been forever changed.
“A robust and timely federal response, including through supplemental programs and funding, will be required to ensure that sufficient resources are provided to rebuild critical infrastructure and public services capacity, and to assist our fellow Floridians in rebuilding their lives.”
However, the problem is that Florida lawmakers already expressed opposition to additional major disaster relief. The news outlet notes: "The Senate passed a stopgap bill Thursday to fund the government through December that included an $18.8 billion fund for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help states with natural disasters."
Manny Diaz, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, also criticized Republican lawmakers for their decision to strike down the measure.
“The same week that Hurricane Ian brought so much chaos and destruction to Florida, not a single Florida Republican cared enough to vote in favor of Hurricane relief for the people in their own state hit hardest by the storm," he said, per the Democrat. "That is a level of callous indifference and political opportunism that boggles the mind."The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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.Judge fined a group of Trump lawyers $50k each for filing meritless and mistake-strewn lawsuit against Hillary Clinton.A group of former President Donald Trump's lawyers were pilloried by a judge and slapped with fines over a failed lawsuit that accused Hillary Clinton and dozens of others of a vast anti-Trump conspiracy.
In a searing sanctions order, lawyers Alina Habba, Michael Madaio, Peter Ticktin and Jamie Alan Sasson, and their respective law firms, were fined $50,000 each, plus some legal fees, on Friday.
Their lawsuit, which was tossed out in September, had accused the defendants of concocting an "unthinkable plot" to connect Trump's 2016 election campaign to Russian influence, all on behalf of Clinton.
On Friday, Judge Donald Middlebrooks slammed the failed case, describing it as "a deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda."
The case was riddled with basic falsehoods, showing a "cavalier attitude" towards the facts, Middlebrooks said.
"Plaintiff's use of the indictment is nothing short of a deliberate disregard of the truth or falsity of their claims," he wrote, calling it a "textbook" example of actions deserving of sanctions.
Despite warnings from the judge, Habba continued to push her claims on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Middlebrook said.
He wrote: "Every claim was frivolous, most barred by settled, well-established existing law. These were political grievances masquerading as legal claims.
"This cannot be attributed to incompetent lawyering. It was a deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda," he added.
The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 1/4/2010 Posts: 11,125 Location: on a hill in the hollow
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Oath Keepers and Proud Boys went to Capitol ‘in response to the numerous calls to action by Trump'~ Gustaf Kilander ~George Washington University extremism researcher Jon Lewis told The New York Times that the conviction of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and other Capitol rioters confirmed that Mr Trump and his allies learned how to use the rage, racism, and undemocratic views of such groups.
“The convictions of Rhodes and his co-conspirators provide evidence of what has long been recognized — that the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and the thousands who travelled to the Capitol did so in response to the numerous calls to action by Trump and others in the lead-up to January 6,” he said.
“These were the foot soldiers of the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement, who were determined to use force to prevent the certification of the electoral vote,” he added.The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war.
Sydney J. Harris
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