Friday Open Thread

Posted on August 24, 2018 by rikyrah

Happy Friday, Everyone.

Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan to Perform at Aretha Franklin’s Funeral

Detroit ceremony will include tributes by soul and gospel luminaries such as Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill and Yolanda Adams

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69 Responses to Friday Open Thread

  2. eliihass says:
    August 24, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    For anyone who thinks the National Enquirer was not a super-effective ‘news’ medium for the low-info/racist voter..

    https://twitter.com/TerryMosholder/status/1032957122030563328?s=20

    https://twitter.com/DebbyHouse5/status/1032817821745594368?s=20

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    Adam L Silverman says:
    August 24, 2018 at 11:48 am
    @Marcopolo: There will be enough NY state and NY City charges that even if Pence pardoned him it won’t matter. And Pence will be the lamest of lame ducks whether he would pardon him or not. And, remember, there was a reason that Paul Manafort wanted Mike Pence to be on the ticket as the vice presidential nominee. We don’t know what that reason is. But Special Counsel Mueller does…

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 11:31 am

    Dear @realDonaldTrump: What makes America great is that law enforcement agents & prosecutors take an oath to the Constitution, not to you. They decide who to investigate based on a review of the evidence. That’s why you & your associates (and not Hillary) are under investigation. https://t.co/xAnnbhiiPI

    — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 24, 2018

    Reply
  16. SouthernGirl2 says:
    August 24, 2018 at 11:12 am

    My bro and I talked about New York dropping the ball on the fraud’s criminal activity. Authorities turned a blind eye to this thug for years. How is his crimes just coming to light? Was someone paid off to squeeze their eyes shut? How did he get away with this for so long? He didn’t become a criminal just before the election. ANYONE ELSE would have BEEN in prison.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      August 24, 2018 at 12:09 pm

      TELL.IT. While our black skin & kin folks are being murdered by cops and unlawfully stopped, frisked, handcuffed, and dinigrated by a white supremacist system

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      August 24, 2018 at 2:47 pm

      That’s a good question, SG2. Why has Donald Trump and his crime family been allowed to get away with so much? Well, the presidency was a classic case of overreach and it does appear that Donald’s day of reckoning is soon to be. But just look at the trouble he’s caused and the damage done.

      Reply
    • majiir says:
      August 24, 2018 at 6:53 pm

      I think the reasons he got away with it for so long has a lot to do with his mob connections and other connections, and the history of doing business in NYC, which has always seemed to me to be to do what you’re doing, even if it breaks the law, until the government stops you. Plus, most of us already know that the rich/well-off are rarely compelled to investigate their own. It’s a special club that the rest of us don’t have entree to, and they work to keep it that way. There’s also the overwhelming societal view, belief, and acceptance that the rich play by different rules than the rest of us and should be allowed to do so. What other way to explain the poor and the middle class voting for rich politicians at their own disadvantage?

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      August 24, 2018 at 7:05 pm

      “…A campaign spokesman for Manhattan prosecutor Cy Vance Jr. denied any wrongdoing Wednesday as the lawman returned a $31,000 contribution from President Trump’s attorney.

      The 2013 donation from Trump’s longtime personal lawyer was sent back amid new revelations about Vance’s decision to pass on prosecuting Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

      The First Family siblings came into the district attorney’s crosshairs during Vance’s first term in office for allegedly duping prospective buyers in a failed Manhattan project dubbed Trump Soho.

      A story by WNYC, ProPublica and The New Yorker raised the issue in recounting the criminal probe started in 2010 against the president’s children — Ivanka, 35, and Donald Jr., 39.

      The piece cited email evidence indicating the Trumps openly lied about the occupancy rate at the building to lure new customers.

      The report quoted a source as saying the emails left “no doubt” that the Trump children “approved, knew of, agreed to, and intentionally inflated the numbers to make more sales.”

      Attorney Marc Kasowitz met directly with the Manhattan district attorney in May 2012 about the fraud investigation. He had previously donated $25,000 to Vance, although the prosecutor returned the money before the sit-down to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

      Kasowitz made a subsequent $31,993 donation to Vance in January 2013. In between the meeting and the second contribution, the prosecutor dropped the Trump investigation in August 2012 against the advice of his own investigators, the report said.
      The juxtaposition of events raised the whiff of impropriety for critics.

      According to Sigmund, another $9,000 from employees at Kasowitz’s law firm and $9,000 more raised at a breakfast hosted by Kasowitz was not returned…”

      http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/manhattan-da-vance-back-31g-donation-trump-lawyer-article-1.3540956

      Reply
  17. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 10:17 am

    Sen. John McCain, battling brain cancer, is discontinuing medical treatment
    The Arizona Republican said in a statement that he has surpassed expectations for his survival since his diagnosis last July. “But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict,” and the senator has decided to end medical treatment.

    McCain has been absent from Washington since last December.

    Read more »
    https://s2.washingtonpost.com/95dd5e/5b801feffe1ff62f6b0b6da6/YXdhcmVvZjQxMUBnbWFpbC5jb20%3D/2/10/3a569220054ddfca9b49a25bb24a75b5

    Reply
  18. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 10:15 am
    Reply
  19. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 10:13 am
    Reply
  21. SouthernGirl2 says:
    August 24, 2018 at 10:09 am

    I hope this works. Posting with my phone. I have computer problems today. Ugh!

    Look, Chicas!

    https://www.facebook.com/1594205428/posts/10211189951056649/

    Reply
  22. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 10:06 am

    The HITS just keep on COMING!

    Reply
  23. SouthernGirl2 says:
    August 24, 2018 at 10:03 am

    Get your ass to prison…..

    Jacob Scott Goodwin sentenced to 8 years in prison for his violent attack on DeAndre Harris in Charlottesville.

    http://www.nbc29.com/story/38946913/scheduled-sentencing-goodwin-ramos-08-23-2018

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 9:59 am

    This article will leave a smile on your face :)

    A Lone Holdout Juror Actually Made It More Likely That Paul Manafort Will Go to Jail Even if Trump Pardons Him
    By JED SHUGERMAN

    AUG 23, 20188:09 PM

    On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump had recently discussed with his lawyers the prospect of issuing a pardon for Paul Manafort. The former Trump campaign chairman, who was convicted earlier this week on charges of bank fraud and tax fraud, remains under scrutiny by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for his work on the 2016 campaign and his connections to Russia. In considering a pardon, Trump could be seeking to pre-empt a cooperation deal with another former top lieutenant after Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign-related offenses this week and promised through an attorney to cooperate with the Mueller probe. A pardon would backfire, though, because Manafort would still face numerous state charges and his federal convictions this week would now be admissible in some of those states. Moreover, Trump would only be strengthening the criminal obstruction and the impeachment cases against him.

    Last November, I explained how Mueller’s team seemed to be strategizing a way to outmaneuver Trump’s pardons when they initially brought charges against Manafort. Prosecutors appeared to be holding back some charges for states to bring, just in case Trump pardoned Manafort. Presidential pardons only address federal crimes, which means Manafort could face state charges for the same acts.

    Federal double jeopardy law would not be an issue here. The doctrine of dual sovereignty allows the federal and state governments to prosecute the same crimes. The problem is that many states broaden double jeopardy protections to prevent the bringing of state charges after a federal prosecution. I’ve explained in Slate that New York and Pennsylvania have such a rule. It turns out that Virginia and California do, too. But because of some likely combination of prosecutorial skill and luck, Manafort still faces prosecutions in those states, plus perhaps Illinois and others.

    Let’s first focus on just the crimes for which Manafort has already been tried. This week, he was convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failing to report a foreign bank account. In New York and Virginia, where he held residences, double jeopardy laws prevent him from being charged for the exact same crimes. But state tax fraud is a distinct crime, one which he almost certainly also committed. When one fraudulently hides income from the federal government, one has to hide that same income fraudulently in state tax returns in order to avoid incriminating inconsistencies.

    Virginia’s double jeopardy statute bars secondary state prosecutions for committing “the same act” in “violation of both a state and a federal statute.” Filing a state tax return, though, is a separate act from filing a federal return. So filing an unlawful state tax return in Virginia would be separate, prosecutable act from Manafort’s federal filing, one that cannot be pardoned by Trump. The Virginia tax law further covers fraud, and a Virginia return that replicated his federal one would contain the same fraudulent material as his federal return.

    Further devastating for Manafort’s pardon hopes, according to Virginia rules of evidence, past convictions can be admissible: “Such evidence is admissible if it tends to prove any relevant fact pertaining to the offense charged, such as where it is relevant to show motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, accident, or if they are part of a common scheme or plan.” So in a Virginia trial against Manafort for tax fraud, these many federal convictions would be admissible and devastating.

    Reply
  25. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 9:59 am

    OOP!

    Allen Weisselberg, Longtime Trump Organization CFO, Is Granted Immunity in Cohen Probe
    Weisselberg earlier this year was subpoenaed to testify before grand jury

    y Rebecca Ballhaus and Nicole Hong
    Updated Aug. 24, 2018 10:48 a.m. ET
    Allen Weisselberg, President Trump’s longtime financial gatekeeper, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Michael Cohen in the criminal investigation into hush-money payments for two women during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Mr. Weisselberg was called to testify before a federal grand jury in the investigation earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal previously reported, citing people familiar with the investigation.

    The decision by prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office to grant immunity to Mr. Weisselberg escalates the pressure on Mr. Trump, whom Mr. Weisselberg has served for decades as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. After Mr. Trump was elected, he handed control of his financial assets and business interests to his two adult sons and Mr. Weisselberg.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/allen-weisselberg-longtime-trump-organization-cfo-is-granted-immunity-by-federal-prosecutors-in-michael-cohen-investigation-1535121992

    Reply
  26. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 9:56 am

    McTurtle is quietly trying to fill the courts with TRASHY JUDGES, and trying to push through Brett Kavanaugh as quickly as possible

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      August 24, 2018 at 7:28 pm

      Keep an eye on that slimy traitor and the rest of the greedy, corrupt Republicans..

      They are about to pull a fast one… They are as devious as they come.. and McConnell is the worst of the lot.. His wife is not a comfortably ensconced and rah-rah-ing cheerleader on team treasonous buffoon for no reason..

      Reply
  27. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 9:36 am

    Aretha Franklin funeral and tribute: Key details, locations and more

    https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/aretha-franklin/2018/08/22/aretha-franklin-funeral-details/1053568002/

    We’ll post a thread for live-blogging.

    Reply
  29. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 9:33 am

    PECKER’S PUTTING, PEENIE 45 IN A PICKLE

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 9:23 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 8:22 am

    Friday hasn’t happened yet, but I think that it was a good week for our side. Mueller dropping an indictment would be absolutely delicious 😄 way to top off this week.

    Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 8:20 am

    I hadn’t thought of this as strategy, but do you think it is?

    Democrats strategy of keeping mum on impeachment in the halls of Congress is beginning to take its toll on Republicans.

    Not only does it force THEM to discuss impeachment – for the first time – but even Trump is talking about his own impeachment.#TheResistance set the table.

    — Grant Stern (@grantstern) August 23, 2018

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 8:19 am

    Matt Horn
    ‏ @maxui
    Aug 22

    Dear #American friends.
    I am a White South African living in South Africa.
    I promise you the governement is not taking white owned land
    nor is there a white genocide being perpetuated here.
    Your president is a fucking loon,.
    Thanks
    Matt

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    August 24, 2018 at 8:18 am

    Kyle Griffin ✔ @kylegriffin1
    · 6h

    Eric Swalwell told @maddow tonight that the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a meeting tomorrow on Hillary Clinton’s emails. The day after Michael Cohen’s plea agreement, that’s what was scheduled.

    Reply
  37. Ametia says:
    August 24, 2018 at 8:04 am

    Word of the Day : August 24, 2018

    Marshal: noun MAR-shul

    Definition

    1 a : a high official in the household of a medieval king, prince, or noble originally having charge of the cavalry but later usually in command of the military forces
    b : a person who arranges and directs the ceremonial aspects of a gathering
    2 a : field marshal
    b : a general officer of the highest military rank
    3 a : an officer having charge of prisoners
    b : a ministerial officer appointed for a judicial district (as of the U.S.) to execute the process of the courts and perform various duties similar to those of a sheriff
    c : a city law officer entrusted with particular duties
    d : the administrative head of a city police department or fire department

    Reply

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