It is an ongoing survey of Americans conducted since 1972, which The New York Times describes as a “widely used resource” and “the scholarly gold standard for understanding social phenomena.”
It’s hilarious and pretty much sums up this board and country the last several years in a well regarded poll.
The most unhappy people? White liberal men next most unhappy? Liberal women happy? Conservative men most happy? Conservative women, with double the happiness of liberal men
"conservative women are particularly blissful: 40% say they are very happy. That makes them slightly happier than conservative men and significantly happier than liberal women. The unhappiest are liberal men; only a fifth consider themselves very happy"
Provide a link to the tableau conclusions so we can analyze the data ourselves, please.
Not needed. This thread is all the proof needed. Liberal lives sound absolutely miserable. Room full of Karen's. And their memory is shit. The hypocrisy is so blatant. The liberal brain is a disease.
But, ha. Bot. Now get in your box and stay there
are you seriously that out of touch that you called this place a room full of Karens? the term Karen LITERALLY means entitled conservative white woman.
You know for a minute there I was confused and thought I totally messed up the definition of a “Karen”.
My wife's name is Karin and she hates this. She is the least confrontational, least complainy person you will ever meet. So it drives her nuts that her name has been connected to these type of people. On the other hand, my 12 year old daughter and I have a blast with it.
Is it pronounced "Car-in" or "Care-in?"
The whole use of that name is kind of lame and unfair. (But for some reason it just works; ha ha).
Pronounced the American way, but spelled German. Maiden name is Schmidt.. So Care-in.
I thought the male version was "Ken".. Chad seems like an even-Bro, not a complainer.
I actually didn't know there was a male complainer version of Karen, I thought there was just Chad like a douchebag husband of a Karen.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It is an ongoing survey of Americans conducted since 1972, which The New York Times describes as a “widely used resource” and “the scholarly gold standard for understanding social phenomena.”
It’s hilarious and pretty much sums up this board and country the last several years in a well regarded poll.
The most unhappy people? White liberal men next most unhappy? Liberal women happy? Conservative men most happy? Conservative women, with double the happiness of liberal men
"conservative women are particularly blissful: 40% say they are very happy. That makes them slightly happier than conservative men and significantly happier than liberal women. The unhappiest are liberal men; only a fifth consider themselves very happy"
Provide a link to the tableau conclusions so we can analyze the data ourselves, please.
Not needed. This thread is all the proof needed. Liberal lives sound absolutely miserable. Room full of Karen's. And their memory is shit. The hypocrisy is so blatant. The liberal brain is a disease.
But, ha. Bot. Now get in your box and stay there
are you seriously that out of touch that you called this place a room full of Karens? the term Karen LITERALLY means entitled conservative white woman.
You know for a minute there I was confused and thought I totally messed up the definition of a “Karen”.
My wife's name is Karin and she hates this. She is the least confrontational, least complainy person you will ever meet. So it drives her nuts that her name has been connected to these type of people. On the other hand, my 12 year old daughter and I have a blast with it.
A few thoughts to maybe pass along...
Every person I've ever know named Karen has been someone well worth meeting and knowing.
Karen is a sweet name.
Stupid fads like using a persons name as a slam do not last as long as the goodness in this world. This name thing too shall pass.
My Mother in law is named Karen and has been a pain in my butt for many years before the moniker caught on. When I first started hearing it used for obnoxious women, it seemed surreally ironic. My wife thinks it is hilarious, Mother in law not so much.
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump.
Funny, you're the clown that thinks your truck is some sort of metaphor for your manhood. Get a real life. That will help you.
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
I get it, unless it's a rental, lose the mask. or vax up already.
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump.
I get it, unless it's a rental, lose the mask. or vax up already.
Meh... if other people feel comfortable wearing masks, I couldn't care less.
I saw a great sign about mask wearing walking into a store last weekend... while masks weren't required, the sign did ask people to respect the choices of others, followed up by:
"Don't assume other people's comfort level matches your own"
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
Funny, you're the clown that thinks your truck is some sort of metaphor for your manhood. Get a real life. That will help you.
No doubt they are the clowns and can’t even recognize it!
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
lol you and the Trumplicans still believe the idiot will get reinstated lol talk about clowns can you give us an update as to when he will be sworn in by the pillow idiot?
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
I get it, unless it's a rental, lose the mask. or vax up already.
Or if he's a ride share driver and has to wear the mask.
for all those who mock those wearing masks alone in cars/outside/alone in general, consider the science: constantly moving your mask under your chin can actually be worse germ-wise than wearing no mask at all.
and seriously, if it doesn't affect you, why does it seem to affect you so much? odd, in the land of individual freeDUMBS
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
Which one of the trucks on the left is you?
Why are terrorists allowed to buy Toyota Hilux but we can't here in North America? It's unfair :(
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
Which one of the trucks on the left is you?
Why are terrorists allowed to buy Toyota Hilux but we can't here in North America? It's unfair :(
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
I don't understand why magas get off on this....I've found myself leaving mine on once I've left a store that requires wearing one. Big fucking deal.
I bet you were wearing your seatbelt the whole time...snowflake.
Remember the Thomas Nine !! (10/02/2018) The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago 2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy 2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE) 2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston 2020: Oakland, Oakland:2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana 2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville 2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
I don't understand why magas get off on this....I've found myself leaving mine on once I've left a store that requires wearing one. Big fucking deal.
I bet you were wearing your seatbelt the whole time...snowflake.
I hope he never leaves his seatbelt buckled when in park. If so....CLOWN
LMAO. Was driving back from surfing and rolled up on this slow Prius. Inside was this obese guy with a man bun wearing a mask when he was the only one in his tiny car. His car had a Biden and Hillary sticker on the back. Was laughing so hard, almost drove that tiny car over with my truck. Like a speed bump. What a clown
I don't understand why magas get off on this....I've found myself leaving mine on once I've left a store that requires wearing one. Big fucking deal.
I bet you were wearing your seatbelt the whole time...snowflake.
I hope he never leaves his seatbelt buckled when in park. If so....CLOWN
Justice Dept., Congress probing Trump seizures of Dems' data
By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MICHAEL BALSAMO
45 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department's internal watchdog launched an investigation Friday after revelations that former President Donald Trump's administration secretly seized phone data from at least two House Democrats as part of an aggressive leaks probe. Democrats called the seizures “harrowing” and an abuse of power.
The announcement by Inspector General Michael Horowitz came shortly after Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco made the request for an internal investigation. Horowitz said he would examine whether the data subpoenaed by the Justice Department and turned over by Apple followed department policy and “whether any such uses, or the investigations, were based upon improper considerations.”
Horowitz said he would also investigate similar Trump-era seizures of journalists' phone records.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and another Democratic member of the panel, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, said Apple notified them last month that their metadata had been subpoenaed and turned over to the Justice Department in 2018, as their committee was investigating the former president's ties to Russia. Schiff was then the top Democrat on the panel, which was led by Republicans.
While the Justice Department routinely investigates leaked information, including classified intelligence, subpoenaing the private information of members of Congress is extraordinarily rare. The disclosures, first reported by The New York Times, raise questions about what the Justice Department's justification was for spying on another branch of government and whether it was done for political reasons.
In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said the Trump administration's conduct is “shocking” and “clearly fits within an appalling trend that represents the opposite of how authority should be used.”
Bates said one of President Joe Biden's top reasons for seeking the presidency was “his predecessor’s unjustifiable abuses of power, including the repugnant ways he tried to force his political interests upon the Department of Justice.”
The Trump administration’s secretive move to gain access to the data came as the president was fuming publicly and privately over investigations — in Congress and by then-special counsel Robert Mueller — into his campaign’s ties to Russia. Trump called the probes a “witch hunt,” regularly criticized Democrats and Mueller on Twitter and dismissed as “fake news” leaks he found harmful to his agenda. As the investigations swirled around him, he demanded loyalty from a Justice Department he often regarded as his personal law firm.
Swalwell and Schiff were two of the most visible Democrats on the committee during the Russia probe, making frequent appearances on cable news. Trump watched those channels closely, if not obsessively, and seethed over the coverage.
Schiff said the seizures suggest “the weaponization of law enforcement by a corrupt president" and urged the Justice Department to do “a full damage assessment of the conduct of the department over the last four years.”
Senate Democratic leaders immediately demanded that former Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, who both oversaw Trump's leak probes, testify about the secret subpoenas. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement that “this appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants” must be investigated. They said Barr and Sessions are subject to a subpoena if they refuse.
Prosecutors from Trump’s Justice Department had subpoenaed Apple for the data, according to a committee official and two other people familiar with the matter. The records of at least 12 people connected to the intelligence panel were eventually shared by the company, including aides, former aides and family members. One was a minor.
Apple informed the committee last month that the records had been shared and that the investigation had been closed, but did not give extensive detail. The committee official and the two others with knowledge of the data seizures were granted anonymity to discuss them.
The Justice Department obtained the metadata — often records of calls, texts and locations — but not other content from the devices, like photos, messages or emails, according to one of the people. Another said that Apple complied with the subpoena, providing the information to the Justice Department, but did not immediately notify the members of Congress or the committee about the disclosure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that the data seizures "appear to be yet another egregious assault on our democracy” by the former president.
“The news about the politicization of the Trump Administration Justice Department is harrowing," she said.
The committee official said the House intelligence panel will ask Apple to look into whether additional lawmakers were targeted. The Justice Department has not been forthcoming on questions such as whether the investigation was properly predicated and whether it only focused on Democrats, the official said.
It is unclear why Trump's Justice Department would have targeted a minor as part of the probe. Swalwell, confirming that he was told his records were seized, told CNN on Thursday night that he was aware a minor was involved and believed that person was "targeted punitively and not for any reason in law.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee was not similarly targeted, according to a fourth person who was aware of the probe and granted anonymity to discuss it.
There's no indication that the Justice Department used the records to prosecute anyone. After some information related to the Russia investigation was declassified and made public during the later years of the Trump administration, some of the prosecutors were concerned that even if they could bring a leak case, conviction would be unlikely, one of the people said.
Federal agents questioned at least one former committee staff member in 2020, the person said, and ultimately, prosecutors weren’t able to substantiate a case.
The news follows revelations that the Justice Department had secretly seized phone records belonging to reporters at The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN as part of criminal leak investigations. Following an outcry from press freedom organizations, the Justice Department announced last week that it would cease the practice of going after journalists’ sourcing information.
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Seized House records show just how far Trump admin would go
By COLLEEN LONG
12 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has made no secret of his long list of political enemies. It just wasn't clear until now how far he would go to try to punish them.
Two House Democrats disclosed this week that their smartphone data was secretly obtained by the Trump Justice Department as part of an effort to uncover the source of leaks related to the investigation of Russian-related election interference.
It was a stunning revelation that one branch of government was using its power to gather private information on another, a move that carried echoes of President Richard Nixon during Watergate.
On Friday, the Justice Department's internal watchdog announced that it was investigating the records seizure. And Democratic leaders in Congress are demanding that former top Justice officials testify before a Senate committee to explain why the iPhone records of Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both Democrats, and their family members were secretly subpoenaed in 2018. The records of at least 12 people were eventually shared by Apple.
The dispute showed that the rancorous partisan fights that coursed through the Trump presidency continue to play out in new and potentially damaging ways even as the Biden administration has worked to put those turbulent four years in the past.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the conduct of Trump’s Justice Department was a shocking misuse of authority.
“Attorneys general’s only loyalty should be to the rule of law — never to politics,” he said.
The disclosure that the records had been seized raised a number of troubling questions. Who else may have been targeted? What was the legal justification to target members of Congress? Why did Apple, a company that prides itself on user privacy, hand over the records? And what end was the Trump Justice Department pursuing?
The revelations also are forcing the Biden Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland to wade back into a fight with their predecessors.
“The question here is just how did Trump use his political power to go after his enemies — how did he use the government for his political benefit,” said Kathleen Clark, legal ethics scholar at Washington University in St. Louis.
The effort to obtain the data came as Trump was publicly and privately fuming over investigations by Congress and then-special counsel Robert Mueller into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia.
Trump inveighed against leaks throughout his time in office, accusing a “deep state" of working to undermine him by sharing unflattering information. He repeatedly called on his Justice Department and attorneys general to “go after the leakers,” including singling out former FBI Director James Comey and Schiff, now chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Schiff and Swalwell were two of the most visible Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, then led by Republicans, during the Russia inquiry. Both California lawmakers made frequent appearances on cable news shows. Trump watched those channels closely and seethed over the coverage.
There’s no indication that the Justice Department used the records to prosecute anyone. After some of the leaked information was declassified and made public during the later years of the Trump administration, there was concern among some of the prosecutors that even if they could bring a leak case, trying it would be difficult and a conviction would be unlikely, one person told AP. The person, a committee official and another person with with knowledge of the data seizures were granted anonymity to discuss them.
Federal agents questioned at least one former committee staff member in 2020, the person said, and ultimately, prosecutors weren’t able to substantiate a case.
For decades, the Justice Department had worked to maintain strict barriers with the White House to avoid being used as a political tool to address a president's personal grievance.
For some, the Trump administration's effort is more disturbing than Nixon's actions during Watergate that forced his resignation, because those were done in secret out of the White House, while the actions to take the congressmen's records were approved by top Justice Department officials and worked on by prosecutors who obtained from a federal judge secret subpoenas and then gag orders to keep them quiet.
“The fate of Richard Nixon had a restraining effect on political corruption in America,” said Timothy Naftali, a Nixon scholar and and former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. “It didn't last forever, but the Republican Party wanted to cleanse itself of Nixon's bad apples and bad actors.”
The Republican Party is far too aligned with Trump to do that now, but it doesn't mean Biden should let it go, Naftali said.
“The reason to do this is not revenge,” Naftali said. “It's to send a signal to future American lawyers they will be held accountable.”
While the Justice Department routinely conducts investigations of leaked information, including classified intelligence, opening such an investigation into members of Congress is extraordinarily rare.
A less rare but still uncommon tool is to secretly seize reporters’ phone records, something the Trump Justice Department also did. Following an outcry from press freedom organizations, Garland announced last week that it would cease the practice of going after journalists’ sourcing information.
The subpoenas were issued in 2018, when Jeff Sessions was attorney general, though he had recused himself in the Russia investigation, putting his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, in charge of Russia-related matters. The investigation later picked up momentum again under Attorney General William Barr.
Apple informed the committee last month that the records had been shared and that the investigation had been closed, but did not give extensive detail. Also seized were the records of aides, former aides and family members, one of them a minor, according to the committee official.
The Justice Department obtained metadata — probably records of calls, texts and locations — but not other content from the devices, like photos, messages or emails, according to one of the people. Another said that Apple complied with the subpoena, providing the information to the Justice Department, and did not immediately notify the members of Congress or the committee about the disclosure.
And the people whose records were seized were unable to challenge the Justice Department because the subpoenas went to Apple directly.
Patrick Toomey, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the seizure of congressional records was part of a series of Trump-era investigations that “raise profound civil liberties concerns and involve spying powers that have no place in our democracy.”
____
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Mary Clare Jalonick, Nomaan Merchant and Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Aaron Blake June 11 at 5:24 PM ET When President Donald Trump faced his first impeachment in 2019, Republicans focused on a firsthand witness who they claimed helped exonerate Trump: Kurt Volker. But new evidence calls into question a key portion of Volker’s testimony, in which he repeatedly downplayed personal knowledge that the investigations the Trump team sought in Ukraine involved now-President Biden. Volker, who was Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, was one of the “three amigos” tasked by Trump to work with Ukraine. Despite turning over text messages that detailed the pressure campaign on Ukraine to launch investigations related to the Bidens, Volker’s testimony was frequently highlighted by Trump allies. That’s because he said hadn’t been aware of a quid pro quo in which Ukraine would be given something for launching politically convenient investigations for Trump. And so the GOP called him as its witness. “Ambassador Volker … confirmed what the President has repeatedly said: there was no quid pro quo,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tweeted at one point. “You know pretty much, Ambassador Volker, you just like took apart their entire case,” Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) said while questioning Volker. CNN this week published a recording of a call between Volker, Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and a top Ukrainian official, Andriy Yermak, from July 2019. In the call, Giuliani discusses the matters involving the Bidens with Yermak. Details of the call had previously been reported, but this gave us a fuller accounting. The call doesn’t necessarily add a ton to the known facts about what Giuliani et. al. requested of Ukraine. We knew they wanted dirt on the Bidens, as Giuliani himself acknowledged very early on. As Mother Jones noted, though, Volker in his later testimony downplayed his knowledge of Biden’s proximity to that push. “At no time was I aware of or took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former vice president Biden,” Volker said in his Oct. 3, 2019, deposition. “You will see from the extensive text messages I am providing, which convey a sense of real-time dialogue with several different actors, Vice President Biden was never a topic of discussion.” He echoed this in his later testimony: “At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former vice president Biden. As you know from the extensive real-time documentation I have provided, Vice President Biden was not a topic of our discussions.” The idea that the Trump team’s push might somehow not actually have been about the Bidens was a very fine line walked by another member of the “three amigos” whose testimony Republicans initially played up, then-European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry also tried to make a similar argument. The problem with all of that: Giuliani himself had explicitly connected the requested investigations to Biden in his public comments months before. The motivation here would seem to have been no secret, especially for someone who actually pays regular attention to U.S.-Ukraine relations. And the recording obtained by CNN shows Giuliani indeed making those connections in a call featuring Volker himself. “All we need from the [Ukraine] President [Volodymyr Zelensky],” Giuliani says on the call, “is to say, I’m going to put an honest prosecutor in charge, he’s gonna investigate and dig up the evidence that presently exists, and is there any other evidence about involvement of the 2016 election, and then the Biden thing has to be run out.” Giuliani adds: “Somebody in Ukraine’s got to take that seriously.” At another point, Giuliani refers to his conversations with former Ukraine prosecutor general Viktor Shokin. Giuliani had worked with Shokin to push the theory that there was something wrong with then-Vice President Biden’s role in applying pressure on Ukraine to fire Shokin. Again, Giuliani invokes Biden. “My interest in it was about the collusion, let’s call it — I hate that word — I guess ‘conspiracy,’ to affect the 2016 election,” Giuliani said. “But here I was stuck with this allegation about Biden. And I don’t know what — I mean, now it’s out of my hands, it’s being investigated. But at the time, I didn’t know who would investigate it.” Again, we’re dealing with some fine lines here. That latter quote doesn’t technically involve asking Ukraine to investigate, but it sure indicates a healthy interest in such investigations. And Giuliani’s first quote suggests a clear desire for a Ukrainian investigation involving Biden, even if you could argue it’s not a direct request.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
seems like putin wont take his calls......
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
I saw a great sign about mask wearing walking into a store last weekend... while masks weren't required, the sign did ask people to respect the choices of others, followed up by:
"Don't assume other people's comfort level matches your own"
and seriously, if it doesn't affect you, why does it seem to affect you so much? odd, in the land of individual freeDUMBS
www.headstonesband.com
Why are terrorists allowed to buy Toyota Hilux but we can't here in North America? It's unfair :(
F@$king socialists
I bet you were wearing your seatbelt the whole time...snowflake.
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
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2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department's internal watchdog launched an investigation Friday after revelations that former President Donald Trump's administration secretly seized phone data from at least two House Democrats as part of an aggressive leaks probe. Democrats called the seizures “harrowing” and an abuse of power.
The announcement by Inspector General Michael Horowitz came shortly after Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco made the request for an internal investigation. Horowitz said he would examine whether the data subpoenaed by the Justice Department and turned over by Apple followed department policy and “whether any such uses, or the investigations, were based upon improper considerations.”
Horowitz said he would also investigate similar Trump-era seizures of journalists' phone records.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and another Democratic member of the panel, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, said Apple notified them last month that their metadata had been subpoenaed and turned over to the Justice Department in 2018, as their committee was investigating the former president's ties to Russia. Schiff was then the top Democrat on the panel, which was led by Republicans.
While the Justice Department routinely investigates leaked information, including classified intelligence, subpoenaing the private information of members of Congress is extraordinarily rare. The disclosures, first reported by The New York Times, raise questions about what the Justice Department's justification was for spying on another branch of government and whether it was done for political reasons.
In a statement, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said the Trump administration's conduct is “shocking” and “clearly fits within an appalling trend that represents the opposite of how authority should be used.”
Bates said one of President Joe Biden's top reasons for seeking the presidency was “his predecessor’s unjustifiable abuses of power, including the repugnant ways he tried to force his political interests upon the Department of Justice.”
The Trump administration’s secretive move to gain access to the data came as the president was fuming publicly and privately over investigations — in Congress and by then-special counsel Robert Mueller — into his campaign’s ties to Russia. Trump called the probes a “witch hunt,” regularly criticized Democrats and Mueller on Twitter and dismissed as “fake news” leaks he found harmful to his agenda. As the investigations swirled around him, he demanded loyalty from a Justice Department he often regarded as his personal law firm.
Swalwell and Schiff were two of the most visible Democrats on the committee during the Russia probe, making frequent appearances on cable news. Trump watched those channels closely, if not obsessively, and seethed over the coverage.
Schiff said the seizures suggest “the weaponization of law enforcement by a corrupt president" and urged the Justice Department to do “a full damage assessment of the conduct of the department over the last four years.”
Senate Democratic leaders immediately demanded that former Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, who both oversaw Trump's leak probes, testify about the secret subpoenas. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement that “this appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants” must be investigated. They said Barr and Sessions are subject to a subpoena if they refuse.
Prosecutors from Trump’s Justice Department had subpoenaed Apple for the data, according to a committee official and two other people familiar with the matter. The records of at least 12 people connected to the intelligence panel were eventually shared by the company, including aides, former aides and family members. One was a minor.
Apple informed the committee last month that the records had been shared and that the investigation had been closed, but did not give extensive detail. The committee official and the two others with knowledge of the data seizures were granted anonymity to discuss them.
The Justice Department obtained the metadata — often records of calls, texts and locations — but not other content from the devices, like photos, messages or emails, according to one of the people. Another said that Apple complied with the subpoena, providing the information to the Justice Department, but did not immediately notify the members of Congress or the committee about the disclosure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that the data seizures "appear to be yet another egregious assault on our democracy” by the former president.
“The news about the politicization of the Trump Administration Justice Department is harrowing," she said.
The committee official said the House intelligence panel will ask Apple to look into whether additional lawmakers were targeted. The Justice Department has not been forthcoming on questions such as whether the investigation was properly predicated and whether it only focused on Democrats, the official said.
It is unclear why Trump's Justice Department would have targeted a minor as part of the probe. Swalwell, confirming that he was told his records were seized, told CNN on Thursday night that he was aware a minor was involved and believed that person was "targeted punitively and not for any reason in law.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee was not similarly targeted, according to a fourth person who was aware of the probe and granted anonymity to discuss it.
There's no indication that the Justice Department used the records to prosecute anyone. After some information related to the Russia investigation was declassified and made public during the later years of the Trump administration, some of the prosecutors were concerned that even if they could bring a leak case, conviction would be unlikely, one of the people said.
Federal agents questioned at least one former committee staff member in 2020, the person said, and ultimately, prosecutors weren’t able to substantiate a case.
The news follows revelations that the Justice Department had secretly seized phone records belonging to reporters at The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN as part of criminal leak investigations. Following an outcry from press freedom organizations, the Justice Department announced last week that it would cease the practice of going after journalists’ sourcing information.
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has made no secret of his long list of political enemies. It just wasn't clear until now how far he would go to try to punish them.
Two House Democrats disclosed this week that their smartphone data was secretly obtained by the Trump Justice Department as part of an effort to uncover the source of leaks related to the investigation of Russian-related election interference.
It was a stunning revelation that one branch of government was using its power to gather private information on another, a move that carried echoes of President Richard Nixon during Watergate.
On Friday, the Justice Department's internal watchdog announced that it was investigating the records seizure. And Democratic leaders in Congress are demanding that former top Justice officials testify before a Senate committee to explain why the iPhone records of Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both Democrats, and their family members were secretly subpoenaed in 2018. The records of at least 12 people were eventually shared by Apple.
The dispute showed that the rancorous partisan fights that coursed through the Trump presidency continue to play out in new and potentially damaging ways even as the Biden administration has worked to put those turbulent four years in the past.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the conduct of Trump’s Justice Department was a shocking misuse of authority.
“Attorneys general’s only loyalty should be to the rule of law — never to politics,” he said.
The disclosure that the records had been seized raised a number of troubling questions. Who else may have been targeted? What was the legal justification to target members of Congress? Why did Apple, a company that prides itself on user privacy, hand over the records? And what end was the Trump Justice Department pursuing?
The revelations also are forcing the Biden Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland to wade back into a fight with their predecessors.
“The question here is just how did Trump use his political power to go after his enemies — how did he use the government for his political benefit,” said Kathleen Clark, legal ethics scholar at Washington University in St. Louis.
The effort to obtain the data came as Trump was publicly and privately fuming over investigations by Congress and then-special counsel Robert Mueller into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia.
Trump inveighed against leaks throughout his time in office, accusing a “deep state" of working to undermine him by sharing unflattering information. He repeatedly called on his Justice Department and attorneys general to “go after the leakers,” including singling out former FBI Director James Comey and Schiff, now chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
In May of 2018, he tweeted that reports of leaks in his White House were exaggerated, but said that nonetheless, “leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!”
Schiff and Swalwell were two of the most visible Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, then led by Republicans, during the Russia inquiry. Both California lawmakers made frequent appearances on cable news shows. Trump watched those channels closely and seethed over the coverage.
There’s no indication that the Justice Department used the records to prosecute anyone. After some of the leaked information was declassified and made public during the later years of the Trump administration, there was concern among some of the prosecutors that even if they could bring a leak case, trying it would be difficult and a conviction would be unlikely, one person told AP. The person, a committee official and another person with with knowledge of the data seizures were granted anonymity to discuss them.
Federal agents questioned at least one former committee staff member in 2020, the person said, and ultimately, prosecutors weren’t able to substantiate a case.
For decades, the Justice Department had worked to maintain strict barriers with the White House to avoid being used as a political tool to address a president's personal grievance.
For some, the Trump administration's effort is more disturbing than Nixon's actions during Watergate that forced his resignation, because those were done in secret out of the White House, while the actions to take the congressmen's records were approved by top Justice Department officials and worked on by prosecutors who obtained from a federal judge secret subpoenas and then gag orders to keep them quiet.
“The fate of Richard Nixon had a restraining effect on political corruption in America,” said Timothy Naftali, a Nixon scholar and and former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. “It didn't last forever, but the Republican Party wanted to cleanse itself of Nixon's bad apples and bad actors.”
The Republican Party is far too aligned with Trump to do that now, but it doesn't mean Biden should let it go, Naftali said.
“The reason to do this is not revenge,” Naftali said. “It's to send a signal to future American lawyers they will be held accountable.”
While the Justice Department routinely conducts investigations of leaked information, including classified intelligence, opening such an investigation into members of Congress is extraordinarily rare.
A less rare but still uncommon tool is to secretly seize reporters’ phone records, something the Trump Justice Department also did. Following an outcry from press freedom organizations, Garland announced last week that it would cease the practice of going after journalists’ sourcing information.
The subpoenas were issued in 2018, when Jeff Sessions was attorney general, though he had recused himself in the Russia investigation, putting his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, in charge of Russia-related matters. The investigation later picked up momentum again under Attorney General William Barr.
Apple informed the committee last month that the records had been shared and that the investigation had been closed, but did not give extensive detail. Also seized were the records of aides, former aides and family members, one of them a minor, according to the committee official.
The Justice Department obtained metadata — probably records of calls, texts and locations — but not other content from the devices, like photos, messages or emails, according to one of the people. Another said that Apple complied with the subpoena, providing the information to the Justice Department, and did not immediately notify the members of Congress or the committee about the disclosure.
And the people whose records were seized were unable to challenge the Justice Department because the subpoenas went to Apple directly.
Patrick Toomey, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the seizure of congressional records was part of a series of Trump-era investigations that “raise profound civil liberties concerns and involve spying powers that have no place in our democracy.”
____
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Mary Clare Jalonick, Nomaan Merchant and Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
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June 11 at 5:24 PM ET
When President Donald Trump faced his first impeachment in 2019, Republicans focused on a firsthand witness who they claimed helped exonerate Trump: Kurt Volker.
But new evidence calls into question a key portion of Volker’s testimony, in which he repeatedly downplayed personal knowledge that the investigations the Trump team sought in Ukraine involved now-President Biden.
Volker, who was Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, was one of the “three amigos” tasked by Trump to work with Ukraine. Despite turning over text messages that detailed the pressure campaign on Ukraine to launch investigations related to the Bidens, Volker’s testimony was frequently highlighted by Trump allies. That’s because he said hadn’t been aware of a quid pro quo in which Ukraine would be given something for launching politically convenient investigations for Trump. And so the GOP called him as its witness.
“Ambassador Volker … confirmed what the President has repeatedly said: there was no quid pro quo,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tweeted at one point.
“You know pretty much, Ambassador Volker, you just like took apart their entire case,” Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) said while questioning Volker.
CNN this week published a recording of a call between Volker, Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and a top Ukrainian official, Andriy Yermak, from July 2019. In the call, Giuliani discusses the matters involving the Bidens with Yermak. Details of the call had previously been reported, but this gave us a fuller accounting.
The call doesn’t necessarily add a ton to the known facts about what Giuliani et. al. requested of Ukraine. We knew they wanted dirt on the Bidens, as Giuliani himself acknowledged very early on.
As Mother Jones noted, though, Volker in his later testimony downplayed his knowledge of Biden’s proximity to that push.
“At no time was I aware of or took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former vice president Biden,” Volker said in his Oct. 3, 2019, deposition. “You will see from the extensive text messages I am providing, which convey a sense of real-time dialogue with several different actors, Vice President Biden was never a topic of discussion.”
He echoed this in his later testimony: “At no time was I aware of or knowingly took part in an effort to urge Ukraine to investigate former vice president Biden. As you know from the extensive real-time documentation I have provided, Vice President Biden was not a topic of our discussions.”
The idea that the Trump team’s push might somehow not actually have been about the Bidens was a very fine line walked by another member of the “three amigos” whose testimony Republicans initially played up, then-European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry also tried to make a similar argument. The problem with all of that: Giuliani himself had explicitly connected the requested investigations to Biden in his public comments months before. The motivation here would seem to have been no secret, especially for someone who actually pays regular attention to U.S.-Ukraine relations.
And the recording obtained by CNN shows Giuliani indeed making those connections in a call featuring Volker himself.
“All we need from the [Ukraine] President [Volodymyr Zelensky],” Giuliani says on the call, “is to say, I’m going to put an honest prosecutor in charge, he’s gonna investigate and dig up the evidence that presently exists, and is there any other evidence about involvement of the 2016 election, and then the Biden thing has to be run out.”
Giuliani adds: “Somebody in Ukraine’s got to take that seriously.”
At another point, Giuliani refers to his conversations with former Ukraine prosecutor general Viktor Shokin. Giuliani had worked with Shokin to push the theory that there was something wrong with then-Vice President Biden’s role in applying pressure on Ukraine to fire Shokin.
Again, Giuliani invokes Biden.
“My interest in it was about the collusion, let’s call it — I hate that word — I guess ‘conspiracy,’ to affect the 2016 election,” Giuliani said. “But here I was stuck with this allegation about Biden. And I don’t know what — I mean, now it’s out of my hands, it’s being investigated. But at the time, I didn’t know who would investigate it.”
Again, we’re dealing with some fine lines here. That latter quote doesn’t technically involve asking Ukraine to investigate, but it sure indicates a healthy interest in such investigations. And Giuliani’s first quote suggests a clear desire for a Ukrainian investigation involving Biden, even if you could argue it’s not a direct request.
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