US Politics Thread 2021-24

[Otto Harkaman]

Deep state - Parts of the governmental apparatus bureaucracy have decided that they are better at governance than the constitutionally elected government.

[August]

Originally Posted by mapuc

It looks like I missed the point so please enlighten me-Teach me more about this Deep State.

Markus

Don't see it as a cult of personality Markus but rather and example of how entrenched bureaucracy can take on a life of it's own. The Deep State we're talking about doesn't care whether their current masters are left or right as long as whatever ideological crusade those interests represent means increased power for them.

Guy like Trump comes along talking about how he is going to Drain the Swamp is going to get a lot of push back from them.

[mapuc]

Thank you for your answer on my question.

Make me wonder how strong the Deep State is in USA and what different will it make to vote-when they are in charge and not the elected.

Markus

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Thank you for your answer on my question.

Make me wonder how strong the Deep State is in USA and what different will it make to vote-when they are in charge and not the elected.

Markus

A president should, within the confines of the law, always be able to hire and fire anyone he so desires in the executive branch since all those unelected ne’er-do-wells are supposed to work for him, not the other way around. Unfortunately back then the previous one tried and a flock idiots accused him of fascism and destroying democracy.

As an elected official of this government any president needs to get people in his branch who will work with him and promote the policies which got him elected in the first place.

The check to absolute power are both houses of Congress.

At least that’s how I think it should work.

[August]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

A president should, within the confines of the law, always be able to hire and fire anyone he so desires in the executive branch since all those unelected ne’er-do-wells are supposed to work for him, not the other way around. Unfortunately back then the previous one tried and a flock idiots accused him of fascism and destroying democracy.

As an elected official of this government any president needs to get people in his branch who will work with him and promote the policies which got him elected in the first place.

The check to absolute power are both houses of Congress.

At least that’s how I think it should work.

And that IMO was Trumps biggest failure. POTUS isn't a job that one can do by themselves. They need to bring in a whole army of bureaucrats and managers along with them that share the vision and will work to promote the agenda. Trump foolishly thought that winning the office meant that he won a such a team and the hold overs he left in place did nothing but trip him up at every turn.

[August]

Interesting article:

Report: State Contracts Boost Dem-Linked Lawyers, Not Consumers

By Susan Crabtree - RCP Staff January 24, 2022

Last year, McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm, agreed to pay nearly $600 million to settle complaints brought by 49 state attorneys general for its alleged role in exacerbating the opioid crisis. McKinsey was accused of helping to “turbo-charge” opioid sales by advising drug manufacturers to focus marketing efforts on doctors already writing the most prescriptions of the addictive painkillers.

But the first recipient of the windfall was a group of lawyers. The settlement deal allocated $15 million to the nonprofit National Association of Attorneys General with the remaining cash mainly slated for state government departments and state general fund accounts.

So much for the consumer protection the lawsuits promised. And it’s hardly an isolated case. Attorneys general – politicians who have to campaign for that role – and other state government entities often hire large private trial-lawyer firms to help prosecute their cases, entering into weak contracts that provide big fees for the firms but few guarantees that consumers will see any restitution from the legal action, according to a new report by the conservative Alliance for Consumers.

The report also notes that, though Democrats tend to boast about standing up to big business and protecting consumers, it’s Democratic politicians who appear to benefit most from weak public contracts, as well as their natural political ties to trial lawyers.

The AFC study found that the top eight plaintiff-side trial firms — all of which boast numerous state and local government public contracts involving prominent litigation — generated $15 million in combined political donations from 2017 to 2020. The donations were doled out by the firms either directly, or through their roughly 1,300 lawyers and other employees and staff, with 98% of those funds going to Democrats or groups supporting their reelection. Those eight firms are Morgan & Morgan, Lieff Cabraser, Motley Rice, Baron & Budd, Grant & Eisenhofer, Berger Montague, Cohen Milstein, and Simmons Hanly Conroy.

The $15 million from these eight firms dwarfs federal donations generated by some of the biggest U.S.-based corporations, including BlackRock (the world’s largest asset manager), Nike and Twitter.

Lieff Cabraser, for instance, generated more than $30,000 per lawyer in federal giving from 2017 through 2020, more than $2.5 million in total with only $30 of that political largesse going to a Republican candidate or committee, the AFC found.

“It’s a political money game where [these firms] are getting millions in state money through very problematic, under-protective contracts, then they’re turning around and being very aggressive with their political giving to Democrats,” said O.H. Skinner, the executive director of Alliance for Consumers, which works to ensure that consumer-protection efforts, class-action lawsuits and attorney general enforcement actions are consistent with the rule of law and benefit everyday consumers, not just class-action lawyers and politicians.

“Time and time again in these cases, it ends up with lawyers getting millions of dollars, part of which goes to help feed political donations to Democrats, and consumers get nothing. … Consumer protection is getting hijacked,” he said.

Skinner, who previously worked on top consumer-oriented cases under Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, argues the taxpayer-funded contracts between state governments and these firms often lack basic ethics protections that should be part of all outside-counsel contracts.

Too often, he said, the contracts are only a few pages long and glaringly weak, sometimes appearing to be written by the trial lawyers themselves rather than government officials. The contracts, which often have no expiration date, also almost never ensure that contingency fees for the lawyers will not be taken out of money set aside for restitution to victims, for instance. They also usually fail to require that the lawyers provide the best pricing terms that the same firms offer to other governmental clients on the same matters. And the contracts almost never include language providing appropriate conflicts protection, even though trial lawyers often represent multiple government entities that may have very different interests in the same case.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ar...rs_147083.html

[mapuc]

It's OK he belongs to the good guys and Fox News are with the bad guys.

Fox White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asked Biden, "Would you take a question on inflation ... ? Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?"

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/24/p...ter/index.html

Markus

[Buddahaid]

Georgia grants special grand jury to investigate Trump's election interference. No power to indict but power to subpoena.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/24/polit...ury/index.html

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Georgia grants special grand jury to investigate Trump's election interference. No power to indict but power to subpoena.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/24/polit...ury/index.html

Ah, it's the "Get Trump Fishing Expedition, Episode #279". Like the 278 others that have preceded it I expect that their boat will turn out to be named The Minnow and is heading out for yet another "three hour tour" at taxpayer expense!

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by August

Ah, it's the "Get Trump Fishing Expedition, Episode #279". Like the 278 others that have preceded it I expect that their boat will turn out to be named The Minnow and is heading out for yet another "three hour tour" at taxpayer expense!

It could be. Right up there next to the plethora of failed lawsuits trying to prove election fraud, but hey, there's Mike Lindell still out there saying he has enough dope to jail 300 million people for life and special super paper that has whatever. I mean with sensible people like that on your side what could go wrong? Rudy Giuliani seems to have been shut up at least which stops at least some of the embarrassment.

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

It could be. Right up there next to the plethora of failed lawsuits trying to prove election fraud, but hey, there's Mike Lindell still out there saying he has enough dope to jail 300 million people for life and special super paper that has whatever. I mean with sensible people like that on your side what could go wrong? Rudy Giuliani seems to have been shut up at least which stops at least some of the embarrassment.

I'm sorry but are you thinking that Mike Lindell some sort of government official? Last I heard he was a private citizen who right, wrong or debatable is still entitled to his opinion in this country in spite of the efforts of the fascist Democrats to silence everything but their party line. You seem to be confusing that with government officials and agencies misusing their power in vendettas against political opponents.

I can't wait to see the Repubs retake Congress and see the political investigation boot move to the other foot.

[Buddahaid]

Where's the proof of voter fraud? It's been well over a year?

[MaDef]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Where's the proof of voter fraud? It's been well over a year?

In a filing cabinet, next to the file marked "voter suppression evidence"

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by MaDef

In a filing cabinet, next to the file marked "voter suppression evidence"

You could check Schiff's personal safe under Russian collusion next to the pee tapes. Also I heard Michael Cohen and other low hanging fruit are ready to turn over new evidence any day now.

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

You could check Schiff's personal safe under Russian collusion next to the pee tapes. Also I heard Michael Cohen and other low hanging fruit are ready to turn over new evidence any day now.

It's easy to have low hanging fruit when the "tree" is a dwarf.