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313 Wayz said:
This is crazy if its true and could disenfranchise a lot of voters for years to come once the Supreme Court makes their ruling

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/su...s-likely-approve-ohio-s-voter-purging-n836501

Supreme Court appears likely to approve Ohio’s voter purging

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court seemed inclined Wednesday to rule for Ohio in a legal fight over the state's method for removing people from the list of registered voters.

Civil rights groups say it discourages minority turnout. But a lawyer for the state told the court that the process helps keep voter registration lists accurate and up to date. And a bare majority of the justices seemed to agree with the state officials.

"They want to protect the voter roll from people that have moved, and they're voting in the wrong district," said Anthony Kennedy, often the deciding vote when the court is closely divided. "What we're talking about are the best tools to implement that purpose."

At issue is a method Ohio uses to identify people who have moved and are no longer eligible to vote. The state sends notices to those who fail to cast a ballot during a two-year period. People who do not respond and don't vote over the next four years, including in two more federal elections, are dropped from the list of registered voters.

That's what happened to Larry Harmon, a U.S. Navy veteran and software engineer who was turned away from his polling place in 2015 when he wasn't on the list.

"I looked and I looked. And I saw my son's name, but I didn't see my name," he says. So he joined a civil rights group in suing the state. Ohio said he was sent a notice, but he says he didn't get it.

A federal appeals court ruled for the state, concluding that roughly 7,500 Ohio voters — in a state that's perennially a presidential battleground — were wrongly purged from the list in the 2016 election.

Paul Smith, a Washington lawyer representing the challengers, said the state's method is flawed.

"The reality is that the failure to vote for two years tells you almost nothing about whether or not anybody has moved," he said. "Fifty or 60 percent of the voters in Ohio routinely don't vote over a two-year period."

And Smith said surveys show that most people who receive a notice after not voting simply throw it away.

He said Ohio is violating the National Voter Registration Act, which specifies that voters can be purged from the rolls only if they ask, move, are convicted of a felony, become mentally incapacitated, or die.

The court's liberal justices seemed to side with the challengers.

"You have a right not to vote," said Sonia Sotomayor.

But Chief Justice John Roberts said a failure to vote or respond to a notice tells the state something about whether a voter has moved.

The Justice Department supported the challengers in the early stages of the court fight, but the Trump administration switched sides and argued Wednesday for the state.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco said Ohio's system strikes a balance between "on the one hand dramatically increasing the number of voters on the voter rolls but, on the other, giving states the flexibility they need to manage the issues that arise when you have over-inflated voter rolls."

Professor Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Irvine, says if the court sides with Ohio, "you'll see more red states making it easier to drop people from the voter registration rolls, and it's going to continue what I call the voting wars between the parties."

At least a dozen other states have suggested they will follow Ohio's lead if the state wins.

The court will decide the case by late June
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Well if American democracy wasn't dead after that hanging chad/electronic voting booths that registered votes for the Bush Jr and McCain even if people voted for Obama, it sure as well is now. Your vote literally doesn't matter anymore if they don't want to count it.
 


74be2fd4676d9d5b40b249be841e02e5493dadb2.gif
 
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckr...its-affair-amidst-claims-of-sex-pic-blackmail

Missouri Gov Admits Affair Amidst Claims of Sex Pic Blackmail

Missouri politics was rocked late Wednesday night when Gov. Eric Greitens (R) admitted to an extramarital affair amidst allegations that he blackmailed a woman with a naked photo he took during one of their sexual encounters. The news broke just hours after the Governor delivered his second annual State of the State address. Greitens admitted to the affair in response to a report by KMOV News 4 in St. Louis. He also released a joint statement with his wife Sheena in which the two say they have moved on from the affair. The affair reportedly occurred in 2015, more than a year before he was elected Governor in November 2016.

Politicians are frequently able to weather scandals based on extra-marital affairs. But the allegation of blackmail makes the story considerably more serious and politically perilous.

According to the KMOV report, the story emerged from the now ex-husband of the woman Greitens was involved with. The husband confronted his wife with his suspicions of infidelity days after the encounter in question and then surreptitiously recorded her confession. Almost three years later he shared that recording a reporter from KMOV.

According to the wife, who remains unnamed in the story, she was originally Greitens hair stylist. A flirtation escalated until Greitens persuaded the woman to come to his house where they had a consensual sexual encounter involving light bondage. At least some of the encounter frightened her, according to what she later told her then-husband. “I knew he was being sexual and I still let him. And he used some sort of tape, I don’t what it was, and taped my hands to these rings and then put a blindfold on me … I didn’t even know. I feel like I don’t even know. I was just numb. I just stood there and didn’t (expletive) know.”

It was while she was blindfolded and bound to a piece of exercise equipment that Greitens allegedly he took a photograph of her and threatened that he would make it public if she ever revealed their encounter. “He stepped back, I saw a flash through the blindfold and he said: “You’re never going to mention my name, otherwise there will be pictures of [you] everywhere.”

According to the women, Greitens later apologized and said he had deleted the photograph. The woman and her husband tried to reconcile but their marriage collapsed. The husband apparently believed Greitens was still pursuing his wife.

As you an see, beyond the facts and allegations of the story itself, the details of how it came to light and who was recording who or who was photographing who are fairly complicated. The former husband was calling Greitens a “homewrecker” on social media on election day 2016. Reading between the lines, those outbursts apparently got reporters on the trail. But it took a year for the story to emerge publicly. The husband told KMOV that he had recently been contacted by the media and law enforcement and wanted to get ahead of the story. “This didn’t just destroy our marriage, it destroyed an environment, an ecosystem, this destroyed it all.”

It is not clear from published reports why law enforcement would be involved or seeking to speak to the ex-husband. But the threat of blackmail, if proven, could potentially constitute a crime.

The statement released by Greitens and his wife reads as follows …

“A few years ago, before Eric was elected Governor, there was a time when he was unfaithful in our marriage. This was a deeply personal mistake. Eric took responsibility, and we dealt with this together honestly and privately. While we never would have wished for this pain in our marriage, or the pain that this has caused others, with God’s mercy Sheena has forgiven and we have emerged stronger. We understand that there will be some people who cannot forgive – but for those who can find it in your heart, Eric asks for your forgiveness, and we are grateful for your love, your compassion, and your prayers.”

Sheena Greitens added the following …

“We have a loving marriage and an awesome family; anything beyond that is between us and God. I want the media and those who wish to peddle gossip to stay away from me and my children.”

The Greitens’ statement did not address the accusations of blackmail. But Greitens’ attorney released a separate statement denying that claim. “There was no blackmail and that claim is false. This personal matter has been addressed by the Governor and Mrs. Greitens privately years ago when it happened. The outrageous claims of improper conduct regarding these almost three-year-ago events are false.”

Other news organizations apparently had much of the information contained in the KMOV report, including the recording of the woman who was involved with Greitens, but did not publish because the woman in question declined to be interviewed.

From the St.Louis Post-Dispatch …

The Post-Dispatch also has possession of the audio and has interviewed the ex-husband. The newspaper had previously decided against writing a story based solely on the husband and the audio recording, because the woman in question has consistently declined to be interviewed. However, Greitens’ public acknowledgment of an affair made it necessary to revisit that decision.

Neither KMOV or any of the other publications have revealed the name of the woman who Greitens had the affair with or that of her ex-husband.
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So this is still the party of “family values” right…
 
StringerBell said:
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/fox-news-tricks-president-into-opposing-his-own-bill

Fox News Tricks President Into Opposing His Own Bill
By Josh Marshall

This morning the President got confused by a Fox news segment and lashed out at his own FISA reauthorization bill on Twitter.

Here’s a White House statement from last night, opposing an amendment that would restrict intelligence surveillance under FISA.

The Administration strongly opposes the “USA Rights” amendment to the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act, which the House will consider tomorrow. This amendment would re-establish the walls between intelligence and law enforcement that our country knocked down following the attacks of 9/11 in order to increase information sharing and improve our national security. The Administration urges the House to reject this amendment and preserve the useful role FISA’s Section 702 authority plays in protecting American lives.

After watching Fox and Friends this morning the President tweeted this at 7:33 AM …



Two hours later at 9:14 AM, apparently after someone explained to him that he was attacking his own bill, the President tweeted this.



There is of course a rather intense debate about whether these powers should exist at all. But President Trump is misstating what the law actually does. More importantly, he just made policy, or temporarily changed his policy without his staff knowing, based on something he watched on Fox and Friends.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/world-news/ecuador-grants-nationality-julian-assange

Ecuador Grants Citizenship To Julian Assange

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after more than five years of living in asylum at the nation’s embassy in London, officials announced Thursday.

Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said officials accepted Assange’s request for naturalization in December, and they continue to look for a long-term resolution to a situation that has vexed officials since 2012.

“What naturalization does is provide the asylum seeker another layer of protection,” Espinosa said.

Ecuador gave Assange asylum after he sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden for investigation of sex-related claims. Sweden dropped the case, but Assange has remained in the embassy because he is still subject to arrest in Britain for jumping bail. He also fears a possible U.S. extradition request based on his leaking of classified State Department documents.

The Australian-born Assange posted a photograph of himself wearing a yellow Ecuadorean national soccer team jersey on Instagram Wednesday and his name now appears in the Andean country’s national registry.

The new citizenship status, however, appears to change little for Assange in the immediate future. He would still need to alert British authorities of any movement outside the embassy.

Espinosa said Ecuador is trying to make Assange a member of its diplomatic team, which would grant him additional rights under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, including special legal immunity and safe passage.

Britain’s Foreign Office said earlier Thursday it has rejected Ecuador’s request to grant him diplomatic status in the U.K.

“Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice,” the office said.

Though protected by Ecuador, the relationship between Assange and nation’s leaders has at times been dicey. Ecuador has repeatedly urged Assange not to interfere in the affairs of other countries following his frequent online comments on international issues.

The biggest crisis came in October 2016, when the embassy cut his internet service after WikiLeaks published a trove of emails from then-U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

He was also a point of contention in Ecuador’s 2017 presidential election. Conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso pledged to evict the Australian within 30 days of taking office, while current President Lenin Moreno said he would allow him to stay. Assange later taunted after Lasso’s loss that he would “cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days.”

Moreno issued a warning reminding Assange not to meddle in politics. He has also called Assange a hacker.
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Smh...
 
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ryan-insists-trump-understands-fisa-act

Ryan Insists Trump Is Familiar With FISA, Despite Contradictory Tweets

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) came to President Trump’s defense on Thursday over the President’s comments about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Insisting that “everybody knows” that Trump has concerns with “other parts” of FISA than what the House voted to renew Thursday, Ryan defended Trump’s familiarity with FISA despite the President’s contradictory tweets.

“It is well-known that he has concerns about the domestic FISA law. That’s not what we’re doing today. Today was 702, a different part,” he said during a press conference Thursday. “Today has to do with foreign terrorists on foreign soil. He knows that and he put out something that I think clarified that. His administration’s position has been clear from day one, which is 702 is really important, it’s gotta be renewed.”

On Thursday, the House renewed Section 702 of FISA, which will extend for six years the government’s ability to collect the communications of foreign targets located abroad from U.S. companies. The measure also allowed for surveillance of Americans’ communications with foreign targets. A bipartisan group of lawmakers attempted to derail the vote on Thursday by proposing an amendment that would prioritize the privacy of U.S. citizens. On Wednesday evening, the White House put out a statement expressing the administration’s opposition to the bipartisan effort.

On Thursday morning, Trump appeared to break with his administration, posting a tweet calling FISA “controversial” and questioning whether it was used to justify previous administration’s “abuse” of his campaign. He was likely referencing unfounded claims he made this past spring, accusing former President Barack Obama of “wire tapping” Trump Tower.

After his first tweet, Trump reportedly spoke with Ryan, NBC and The Washington Post reported. Trump later posted a second tweet, clarifying his support for the reauthorization that passed Thursday.
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lol trump gone trump.

his supporters prolly happy he called em "shit hole countries" might as well jus add "niggers" next time. smh
 
StringerBell said:
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They must have some serious dirt or personal information on Huckabee Sanders to be going along with this bullshit so wilfully ignorant, as if she can't understand a question and that's somehow the journalist's fault for asking something she can't comprehend.

"I don't know what you're talking about, something must be wrong with you."

"I asked you if you know what the time and date is?"

"I don't see how that's relevant to any current events."

"You don't think time and sequences of events matter?"

"We're here to discussion the goverment and what the President's plans are, not debate the nature of time or it's applied concepts. It could be the 12th of Neveruary, wouldn't that make you happier? The President agrees with that statement I've just made completely. Next question."

Bitch is out of her fucking mind. Between this and the retard who couldn't answer the Dutch press about his claims parts of the Netherlands are no go areas where cars and politicians are burned regularly, this is literally an administration running on lies and imaginary situations making life worse for most Americans, yet still somehow people applaud and cheer these nutjobs as their parents lose the ability to pay for the medication.
 
Elzo69Renaissance said:


fam wtf is going on here.....
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That is a deer in headlights afraid of the truck heading towards him. The truth is if there wasn't anything to deny, he wouldn't be denying anything. It's that simple. The fact he's trying to hold Clinton to the same standard as him when she's not the fucking President and he is... it's like Bill Gates being mad at the guy developing an app in his basement.

Also as for no collusion, Manafort and Rick Gates apparently no longer exist and aren't being investigated... what the fuck is this guy thinking? Is he denying they worked for him and on his campaign?
 
StringerBell said:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ryan-insists-trump-understands-fisa-act
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He did his homework, he just forgot to pick it up before he came to class today! He'll bring it tomorrow and it will totally get an A+ once you actually read it and grade it!

The double standard people are creating is amazing. Obama eats grain mustard, he's an elitist. Trump talks shit about his own party's bill and agenda, then backtracks and everyone acts like he didn't say that dumb shit and totally knew what he was saying and doing, we just didn't understand it...

When an idiot is in charge being wrangled by selfish manipulators who change the intent rather than accept actual facts and statements as exactly those and literally a nuclear war may or may not pop off because this motherfucker's insecurities are threatening America's wellbeing and future while the very same people that opposed him now just value him for what a compliant puppet he is if you massage hid ego enough... it's like any shame they had after Watergate has completely disappeared and now they're willing to go all in and fuck the country rather than try preserve the party's image and defend their ethics.
 
StringerBell said:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckr...its-affair-amidst-claims-of-sex-pic-blackmail



So this is still the party of “family values” right…
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They value the image of being a "family man", that's about it. The President himself has groped women because he believes his fame means they'll do anything for him, has said he wants to fuck his own daughter a nd their shared interest is sex. With that guy at the top, you really think Republicans give a shit about a pedophile or someone having an affair? Arpaio is running for a seat because he actually believes he has a chance after being pardoned but not having his abuse stricken from the record. When you have abusive narcissists getting dumbasses to vote for them because white makes right and women aren't capable of doing a man's job in America, this is what you end up with as the head of the snake.
 
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