#yet the ones who truly are labelled even more so a label with ZERO rep yall conveniently have a very popular ship

[kavehater]

I hate ppl like this

[bountyofbeads]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-abc-interview-foreign-interference-849062/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Yep, gerrymandering and voter suppression is the GOP 101. And then the president basically soliciting countries for information...yeah it's gonna super fair.

In order for Dems to win the Presidency & take back the senate we will need an unprecedented turnout especially in red states. The Dem nominee can’t just be someone who wants to win the Electoral Map but someone who will tirelessly meet with all types of people and be inspiring.

We haven’t had fair elections in forever. This is no accident. Republicans have been hard at work on that. Then the Russians offered some help. Trump took it and just said, on national TV, that he’ll take more. This is bigger than one soundbite. Jamil Smith @jamilsmith latest. https://t.co/riloe9Eim5

Please Stop Thinking This Will Be a Fair Election

President Trump declared his willingness to betray the country, and Republicans are ready to help

JAMIL SMITH | Published June 17, 2019 | Rolling Stone | Posted June 18, 2019 |

“President Trump: 30 Hours,” the ABC News 20/20 special featuring a heavily promoted White House interview byThis Week anchor George Stephanopoulos, finally aired in full Sunday night. It was alternately an absurd and harmful exercise. There are lists of five to 10 takeaways from the exchange on various news sites, but there are only two that matter: The president declared to a national audience that he is ready to betray the country, and his fellow Republicans have already taken steps to help him do it.

As journalism, the ABC special failed, letting many of Trump’s lies air unchecked and every bit of his racist policy go virtually unexamined. But as pure television spectacle, it sabotaged itself with its own hype. Like a blockbuster movie that has all of its most shocking twists revealed in the trailer, the ABC special had already teased its only truly newsworthy clips last week. Wednesday’s clip showed Trump saying that he would accept information about a political opponent if a foreign nation approached him or his campaign with it — much as Russia did to his eldest son, Donald Jr., three years ago. Trump all but laughed off the notion of calling the FBI in such an instance. (That earned the scolding of none other than FEC chairwoman Ellen Weintraub, who shared a letter Wednesday evening stating unequivocally that accepting anything of value from a foreign nation in connection with a U.S. election is illegal. Her tweet read simply, “I would not have thought that I needed to say this.”)

The furor over the soundbite provoked Trump to attempt an incomplete walkback on Thursday, when he said that “of course” he would alert the FBI when he received that oppo dirt from a foreign country that he still planned to use. “Of course you have to look at it, because if you don’t look at it, you’re not going to know if it’s bad,” Trump said during a phone conversation on Fox & Friends. “How are you going to know if it’s bad?” Because it is coming from a foreign country and that fact alone makes it illegal, that’s how.

For some reason, though, top Congressional Democrats went softer on Trump than they should have. While several of her party’s presidential candidates labeled Trump things like a “national security threat” and “unfit for the office that you hold” and called for immediate impeachment proceedings, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Trump “does not know right from wrong.” That seemed to give him an out, of sorts. She instead trained her fire on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s obstructionist tactics, erecting a poster at her Thursday presser reading, “McConnell’s Graveyard” in reference to all the bills he’s killed. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, called the interview “disgraceful yet sadly par for the course for this president,” which seemed understated. Rep. Jerry Nadler, the head of the House Judiciary Committee, said it was “shocking.” Was it, really?

The GOP has long been engaged in a project of destabilizing democracy, from partisan gerrymandering to voter purging to various other methods of suppression. Add accepting foreign help to the list. No one can listen to Trump say the kinds of things he said in that interview, possessing the kinds of powers that he has, and think that we’re about to have a fair election. That may have been the height of naïveté to begin with, but everyone should disabuse themselves of that notion now. Election security was a paramount issue for a lot of black and brown voters already, and now it should be for everyone planning to go to the polls in 2020. It is now a topic we should be speaking about daily, and with the appropriate urgency. And we should be putting the blame for the problem where it lies.

Though Democratic leadership issued the rhetorical equivalent of “thoughts and prayers” as the sitting president openly spoke of colluding with foreign powers who might help him win the next election, there is only so much indignation we should be directing Democrats’ way. Yes, it did look a bit like accountability theater when Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) tried to pass a bill Thursday via unanimous consent that would require all campaigns to report any offers of foreign assistance to the FBI, considering that such a bill had no chance in hell of being signed into law by the president who made it necessary (if not, per Weintraub, somewhat redundant). But even as some press outlets were quick to credit Republicans for distancing themselves a toe’s length away from the president after he made those unpatriotic remarks, it was one of their senators from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn, who blocked the passage of the Warner bill by raising an objection.

It was as ludicrous a stance as McConnell’s steadfast refusal to allow any legislation enhancing U.S. election security to be even considered on the Senate floor during this term, including the Election Security Act, a House Democratic bill that would help bolster federal and state voting infrastructure. And now the Department of Justice is starting to “investigate the investigators” who initiated the Russia inquiry into the Trump campaign, so there is a greater likelihood that our nation��s defenses will be even weaker as intelligence officials either fear reprisals or outright prosecution from their own government for trying to protect our national elections.

Consider some of the rhetoric calling Trump “traitorous” too much? Too bad. I mean, we live in a time when the Pentagon deliberately keeps the president out of the loop with regard to U.S. countermeasures against Russian power grids, for fear that he will let sensitive details slip to top Russian officials as he already has in the past. But Trump’s willingness to undermine American democracy is not merely disloyal because of his literal encouragement of foreign interference in our elections.

The untold number of lives lost and the scars borne by people like Rep. John Lewis can’t allow us to say that voter suppression is “un-American.” Unfortunately, it is anything but. Americans still do not have the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, thanks to the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision. We should take Trump’s eagerness to accept foreign help and the Republican will to assist him within this context, because like the act of blocking the ballot, their acts vandalize the very purpose of democracy. For all their carrying on about migrants, they sure are in a hurry to give away a say in America’s future to foreign actors, some of whom may even be adversaries.

That is why it is difficult to get caught up in Trump’s gaudy redesign of Air Force One , or even his possibly imaginary Obamacare replacementthat he teased during the ABC special. It was going to be tough to make that newsworthy in an age when his administration is building concentration camps for immigrant children. But perhaps news is where you make it.

Stephanopoulos never mentioned the words “family separation,” “Iran,” or“Census citizenship question” — despite those being arguably three of the most urgent issues currently facing the Trump administration — and still dominated the headlines. Trump faced no questions about the climate crisis, or how his government might be improving its abysmal record managing natural disasters. Many of the president’s outright and checkable lies were broadcast without correction. Trump was even able to drop a “Pocahontas” without any rebuke, as if that racist barb was actually Elizabeth Warren’s nickname.

One of our holes in the boat, as it were, is that the sitting United States president can remain in office, signing bills and even riding on Air Force One, after he has said the kinds of things that he has. Trump told the nation, on television, that he plans to become a criminal. That he steadfastly denies being a crook in the past, whether financial or political, matters not. Every single claim of “no collusion!” was zeroed out by this interview. We now lay in wait for he and his campaign to collude, whether with Russia or the Saudis or the UAE, or whichever foreign power may seek to sway Trump toward their preferred policy outcome.

This president has no definable moral code to speak of beyond his own personal profit and glorification. In that respect, he is a natural Republican for this day and age. That we know them to be this way, however, does not mean that we should merely shrug our shoulders at their depravity. 

The president’s behavior is indeed “disgraceful,” if no longer “shocking.” He and his party do know “right from wrong,” of that I’m sure. They’re grown. So treat them as such.

[theedblog]

Hey-O! The only thing I love more than the football season is the couple weeks leading up to it. So much hope...so much promise...mmmmm yeah. I’m no Pro Football Focus but I do have doodles to go along with my much less researched opinions so it pretty much evens out. I’ll break my 2017 Preview down by Division, including The Ed’s All-Division teams and Divisional Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Breakout Player of the Year, and the most important new comer to each division. Just a heads up, I added a FLEX position on offense which is available for any RB, WR, or TE. On Defense I was pretty open ended about Edge, labeling them either LB or DL. This was just so I didn’t leave out any top tier players in a division that happened to be full of good D-Linemen and thin on Linebackers and vice versa.

We’ll start our tour with the NFC West. The division that was seen for a brief moment as the new tough guy division. The Niners/Seahawks rivalry was the new Steelers/Ravens (puh-leeeeez). This was the lunch pale division for the length of a tuna melt sandwich and a cup of joe barely enjoyed with greasy hands on a steel beam sixty stories up. But then Jim Harbaugh left and we all woke up and remembered what this was...a group of goddamn west coast elites (amirite? right?!). Even the Legion of Boom just kinda bitches about stuff now. Let’s take a look at how the ol’ NFC West is gonna shake out.

All NFC West Crew:

QB - Russell Wilson, Seahawks

RB - Dirt Johnson, Cardinals

TE - Jimmy Graham, Seahawks

WR - Doug Baldwin, Seahawks

WR - Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals

FLEX - John Brown, Cardinals

OL - Jared Veldheer, Cardinals

OL - Mike Iupati, Cardinals

OL - Andrew Whitworth, Rams

OL - Justin Britt, Seahawks

OL - Joe Staley, 49ers

DL - Mike Bennett, Seahawks

DL - Aaron Donald, Rams

DL - Chandler Jones, Cardinals

DL - Markus Golden, Cardinals

LB - Deone Bucannon, Cardinals

LB - K.J. Wright, Seahawks

LB - Bobby Wagner, Seahawks

DB - Richard Sherman, Seahawks

DB - Patrick Peterson, Cardinals

DB - Earl Thomas, Seahawks

DB - Kam Chancellor, Seahawks

Offensive Player of the Year - DangerRuss Wilson, QB - Seahawks

Defensive Player of the Year - Aaron Donald, DL - Rams

Rookie of the Year - Reuben Foster, LB - 49ers

Breakout Player of the Year - Robert Nkemdiche, DL - Cardinals

Comeback Player of the Year - Robert Quinn, DL - Rams

New Comer of the Year - Andrew Whitworth, OL - Rams

This division was actually pretty easy. There weren’t too many tough choices. The offensive Flex position could’ve gone to a couple different guys. I thought about calling a Todd Gurley return which is very likely but that team is going to be shit and they’ll be abandoning the power running attack before half most games. In that Arizona offense John Brown is going to get his deep looks one way or the other. Even if the second best looking and second best quarterback of the Hanson Brothers (not sure if any of them can play or not, I just have a hard time saying Blaine Gabbert is the best quarterback in any group of people) ends up playing, the rock is going deep in the desert. Carlos Hyde was also a thought but he’s starting to feel like the Sam Bradford of running backs. Every year is ‘the year it all comes together’. The only really tough choice was going with both the Arizona edge guys over the other two edge rushers in Seattle or Robert Quinn. But Cliff Avril and Frank Clark are going to be rotational players (very good ones to be fair) and Quinn is coming off a couple down seasons. I gotta give the edge (no pun intended) to the Arizona boys. I wanted to put Navarro Bowman at linebacker over Deone Bucannon but I just can’t believe at this point he will put together a full 16 game season while Bucannon is a dynamic talent with the potential to hit an elite level of play.

As far as rookies in this division go there are a few good ones. Solomon Thomas is my bet to be the best of the bunch but I get a feeling they are really going to stretch his abilities thin in a variety of roles as a rookie. Hasaan Reddick is another one that will be good but he is switching positions and is likely to play behind Karlos Dansby early on. Budda Baker is going to be a fun player to watch and a great compliment to the Honey Badger (the nickname combos should be great) but is a guy Arizona will have to move around to find his best position as a pro. He will also probably start out playing behind a veteran (Antoine Bethea). Gerald Everett will get touches for the Rams but he’ll have to transition from a small school to the NFL at a position that already sees a lot of guys struggle with that jump. Reuben Foster is not only pro-ready but actually going to a more simple defense where he will just be asked to chase and tackle. At the combine he really showed how well suited he was for playing linebacker in the NFL. We didn’t get to see him run a 40 or do reps of 225 because he got kicked out of the combine for going ape shit on some lunch lady asking ‘DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?!!’ showing supreme confidence and blind rage.

Former first round O-linemen like Josh Garnett and D.J. Humphries were options as breakout candidates but it’s tough to picture guys like that making as big an impact as stat getters (gatherers?) like pass rushers, running backs, etc.. Maurice Alexander was a thought. He should be really good as a full time starter for L.A. this year in place of departed T.J. McDonald. However, he may end up playing high safety too often to really rack up tackles in the box. Instead, I think Robert Nkemdiche has a Jadeveon Clowney kind of impact this year. He may not be a double digit sack guy yet but like Clowney he should start hitting his stride as a dominant run defender. Give him some time to get them dreads out and he’ll be a damn spitting image of former Cardinals bad ass, Darnell Dockett.

Comeback player in this division wasn’t close in my opinion. Robert Quinn is a former All-Pro pass rusher who is still young enough to bounce back from a couple down seasons. It helps he plays with maybe the best defensive player in the league, Aaron Donald and will fill the rock star position in Wade Phillip’s super aggressive defense. He will have the green light to get down field this season and I suspect he gets back to form.

San Fran has loaded up with new faces but they are mostly all just place holders on a bad team. The Seahawks will win this division regardless so I’m looking to the future when it comes to this division’s best new comer. Less-pretty-and-probably-less-good-at-Quarterback-Ryan Gosling (I find myself having the same problem with Jared Goff as I do Blaine Gabbert) has zero chance of being worth all of those draft picks if they don’t at least give him a chance to throw the ball. So bringing in one of this generation’s best offensive linemen was a smart move for the Rams (awful move for Whitworth however). We should get a better look at Goff as an honest to god QB and not just the face of the organization this year.

Dirt ‘David’ Johnson was the only real contender for the NFC West’s Offensive Player of the Year but as soon as Carson Palmer goes down in week 6 this team will start going to shit real quick. It’s hard to pass over the best QB in the division playing for the best team in the division (Russ Wilson).

There are some truly elite defenders in this division. Maybe more so than any other in football and yet it wasn’t even close. Aaron Donald was the best defensive player in football last year and as long as J.J. Watt is having constant back problems Khalil Mack is the only real contender for that title.

Seahawks win this division. Even with an absolute shit offensive line they should sweep the Rams and 49ers and I’d guess split the Cardinals series. Next up...The AFC West.