Jack Rogozhin You show zero interest in discussing philosophy, all your posts are on Ukraine and US politics and bear no relation to anything cited on your profile page. — Quixodian

No, I have great interest in discussing philosophy. Political discussion is eminently philosophical as it entails issues of ethics, ontology, epistemology, Marxism, and existentialism. Are you saying Marx, Fanon, Gramsci, Derrida, and Levinas--political philosophers all. Are you saying they weren't being philosophical when discussing politics? I wouldn't think so. The fact you're on this political thread, and fired up and raging at me, proves otherwise

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history, offering funding, programs, and incentives to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and will likely drive significant deployment of new clean electricity resources.

The GOP is determined to roll back all of this. Trump showed no interest in the environment. calling global warming a hoax. — Quixodian

That quote is an anonymous, hyperbolic, and erroneous opinion. And Biden, as I have shown, Biden has been a terrible environmental president, granting more drilling licenses than Trump, backing the greatest eco-terrorist disaster by blowing up the Nordstream, and signing off on the terrible Willow project

Anyway, if you cool down, come join me on the Kant or Kierkegaard thread...I'll be checking those out next. Cheers

Only touchy one here is you. I asked a serious question. You seem to like the Azov Nazis a lot — Jack Rogozhin

I prefer Ukraine win it's war against Russia, but I'm under no illusions what life in Ukraine would be like compared to my comfy existence in America, so I'm good where I'm at. You, on the other hand, seem to hate America and love Russia, so what's stopping you from relocating? Money?

That quote is an anonymous, hyperbolic, and erroneous opinion. — Jack Rogozhin

"Trump’s tweet said, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.""
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/

, the Mossad, the Israelis, they really blundered, eh? :D

^{• Russia’s Eliminationist Rhetoric Against Ukraine: A Collection
• Nov 21, 2022}

Can I just say I almost never read your posts because the point you're trying to make is almost never clear and just consists of possibly random links. It would be great if you'd flesh your posts out a bit more. Now it's like an RSS-feed I don't know the settings for.

I was talking about the quote erroneously celebrating IRA

Kushner’s investment firm got that 2 billion from the Saudis in 2021, after stepping away from politics and after Trump left office. I guess you got the dates wrong. Such a minor but illuminating detail. — NOS4A2

Kushner created his investment firm the day after Trump left the White House in January 2021 and the Saudi government gave it the $2 billion six months later. The nepotism I was referring to happened in the 2016-2020 time frame when President Trump hired Jared and Ivanka in defiance of the anti-nepotism statute 5 U.S. Code § 3110.

The nepotism I was referring to happened in the 2016-2020 time frame when President Trump hired Jared and Ivanka in defiance of the anti-nepotism statute 5 U.S. Code § 3110. — GRWelsh

That statute only says that they can't be paid for the work, and I believe they weren't.

That statute only says that they can't be paid for the work, and I believe they weren't — Michael

Section b says they can't be appointed or employed. Section c says they can't be paid.

The wording suggests that they can be employed as volunteers just not as paid employees. If section b meant they can't be employed under any circumstances then there would be no need for section c.

When the entire intelligence community, the 5 eyes, the crooked press, and the corrupt and incompetent state bureaucracy are running election interference and disrupting your administration, you have to hire the people you trust.

What he shouldn’t do is fly his crackhead son around in Air Force 2 and make lucrative deals with communists and oligarchs. But that’s me.

The wording suggests that they can be employed as volunteers just not as paid employees. If section b meant they can't be employed under any circumstances then there would be no need for section c. — Michael

No, it means there are different ways of violating the statute: (1) by employing a relative, and (2) by paying a relative you employed. Nowhere in the statute does it say that you may employ a relative as long as you don't pay them. It would go against the point of having such a statute if it deliberately included a loophole that favored families wealthy enough to be employed without drawing a salary. You may not be paying them a salary directly, but you are giving them power, and that can be exchanged for or leveraged into money.

Actually, the statute is very specific about this -- bold added by me for emphasis: "(c) An individual appointed, employed, promoted, or advanced in violation of this section is not entitled to pay, and money may not be paid from the Treasury as pay to an individual so appointed, employed, promoted, or advanced."

, apologies, will try being more "fleshy". :) (After a while this stuff got so repetitive.) By the way, it was a response to this comment, but would be more appropriate in this thread. Maybe I'll move/take it up over there (again).

It's not clear.

Ass'n of Am. Physicians Surgeons v. Clinton, 997 F.2d 898 (D.C. Cir. 1993)

The anti-nepotism statute, moreover, may well bar appointment only to paid positions in government. See 5 U.S.C. § 3110(c). Thus, even if it would prevent the President from putting his spouse on the federal payroll, it does not preclude his spouse from aiding the President in the performance of his duties.

Although the Court didn't outright say that it is allowed, they seemed open to it.

Also there's 3 U.S. Code § 105 which says:

Subject to the provisons  of paragraph (2) of this subsection, the President is authorized to appoint and fix the pay of employees in the White House Office without regard to any other provision of law regulating the employment or compensation of persons in the Government service.

So it seems that the White House is an exception to the "Executive agencies" mentioned in 5 U.S. Code § 3110.

What this amounts to is an exception being made for the White House using a very specific interpretation of of the statute to freely engage in nepotism while no other part of the federal government may do so. That doesn't stop it from being nepotism, however. Do you think Jared Kushner would have gotten that $2 billion from the Saudis for his brand new investment firm if he hadn't been employed by the White House?

Speaker McCarthy has announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.



https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/speaker-mccarthy-expected-endorse-impeachment-inquiry-president-biden/story?id=103114626

If he succeeds it would be a Pyrrhic victory.

I feel like I'm watching a lackluster Kevin McCarthy with his arm twisted behind his back by the Freedom Caucus unenthusiastically going through the motions of something he doesn't think will go anywhere.

Does anyone have to respond to subpoenas issued by Jim Jordan?

If not responding to a subpoena issued by Congress is a crime punishable with imprisonment (which seems to be the case for Peter Navarro), does that mean Jim Jordan will be going to prison any time soon?

Newly-found documents suggest that Biden fired Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin despite the glowing reviews of the European Commission and his own State Department months earlier. Biden bragged about his quid pro quo in 2018, dangling the promise of US aid over Poroshenko’s head should Shokin not be fired.

Shokin claims that he was fired for investigating Burisma while Biden’s crack-addled son was employed there. According to him they have provided zero evidence for his corruption.

Trump was impeached for asking Zelensky about it.

https://nypost.com/2023/09/08/despite-bidens-claim-europeans-werent-trying-to-oust-ukraine-prosecutor-targeting-hunters-firm

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/CPRT-116-IG00-D009.pdf

THE CHAIRMAN: So let me ask you a little bit more again about this false narrative since recanted. Just to be absolutely clear about this, when the Vice President was asked to make the case, or help make the case for Shokin's firing, this was the policy of the State Department, and the State Department was asking the Vice President to assist with the execution of that Policy?

MR. KENT: That would be a correct assessment, yes.

THE CHAIRMAN: And it was the policy of other international organizations as well that recognized that Shokin was corrupt?

MR. KENT: Correct. He was not allowing for reform of the prosecutor general Service, and in contrast, he actually was actively undermining reform of the prosecutor general service and our assistance.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-ukraine-buris-idUSKBN1WC1LV

A Ukrainian investigation of gas company Burisma is focused solely on activity that took place before Hunter Biden, son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, was hired to sit on its board, Ukraine’s anti-corruption investigation agency said.

...

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said an investigation was ongoing into permits granted by officials at the Ministry of Ecology for the use of natural resources to a string of companies managed by Burisma.

But it said the period under investigation was 2010-2012, and noted that this was before the company hired Hunter Biden.

...

The NABU’s investigation related to the 2010-2012 period is not particularly active, Kholodnytsky added.

“At the moment, this case is up in the air, so to speak. Up in the air means that there is no active investigative work ongoing. At the moment, detectives and prosecutors do not understand what they are supposed to be investigating,” Kholodnytsky said.

Trump was impeached for asking Zelensky about it. — NOS4A2

For trying to coerce Zelensky to do something about it, actually...

“At the moment, this case is up in the air, so to speak. Up in the air means that there is no active investigative work ongoing. At the moment, detectives and prosecutors do not understand what they are supposed to be investigating,” Kholodnytsky said.

Fearing to bite the hand that feeds them, I guess.

But it's tragicomical how Ukraine has been this center stage of US domestic politics with now two US Presidents getting impeachments (that won't go anywhere).

Well, if Ukraine gets to be an EU member sometime in the future, I hope they get their corruption into control. Perhaps starting with not feeding the corrupt Americans, eh?

Trump told Ukraine to look into corruption; Biden told him to look away from corruption.

Hunter Biden has been indicted for gun charges, and only because a federal judge called out the sweetheart deals. I wager he is the sacrificial lamb of the Biden crime family. Free Hunter Biden!

Hunter Biden had previously reached a deal with Weiss to resolve the matter without charges, but that deal collapsed over the summer amid scrutiny from a federal judge and after a related tax deal unraveled.

His gun-related legal troubles relate to a firearm he purchased in October 2018. While buying a revolver at Delaware gun shop, he lied on a federal form when he swore that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs – even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase.

It’s a federal crime to lie on the ATF form or to possess a firearm as a drug user. (Hunter Biden possessed the gun for about 11 days in 2018.) Prosecutors have previously said the statute of limitations for some of these offenses is set to expire in October.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/14/politics/hunter-biden/index.html

as a full blown nasty no good useless lying liberal, let me just say:

If Hunter committed a crime in this (which he almost certainly did), charge him! I don't want special treatment for dem politicians or their family.

(It would be wonderful if magats had the same attitude about their politicians)

I don’t think he should be indicted on this. I want to know about the tax evasion and unregistered foreign lobbying and human trafficking, some of which may implicate bigger fish.

Go ahead and investigate the Bidens. Let the truth come out, I say! If anything is being hidden or lied about, reveal it to the world. Just make sure you have actual evidence... As a liberal and a Democrat, I don't have any 'loyalty' to Joe Biden in the weird sense of wanting to dismiss all accusations as politically motivated and without justification.

Joe Biden's Impeachment Falls Apart

Republican efforts to impeach President Joe Biden suffered a blow after fresh evidence emerged showing his bid to remove Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in 2015 represented U.S. government policy.

Then-Vice President Biden met Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president at the time, in December 2015, after which he claimed he'd threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid to Kyiv, unless Shokin was removed from his post, which he subsequently was.

Some conservatives have suggested Biden was attempting to protect Ukrainian energy company Burisma, the board of which his son, Hunter Biden, had joined in 2014, by moving against Shokin. However a pre-meeting memo prepared for Biden by the State Department, dated November 25, 2015, made it clear that removing Shokin was the Obama administration's policy.

https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2023-08/VPBidenTPUkraineMeetingShokin.pdf

You should recommend that he give a state of the nation speech to the Rada in which he reenergizes that effort and rolls out new proposed reforms. There is wide agreement that anti-corruption must be at the top of this list, and that reforms must include an overhaul of the Prosecutor General’s Office including removal of Prosecutor General Shokin, who is widely regarded as an obstacle to fighting corruption, if not a source of the problem.

Another odd find in the Biden saga. Still, no evidence Joe was involved. Just his address, his son, his family, Air Force 2, and so on.

House Oversight Republicans say new bank subpoena shows Hunter Biden listed father’s Wilmington house in wires with China

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed a bank for Hunter Biden’s records and obtained two wire transfers from Chinese nationals to Hunter Biden in 2019 that listed President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home as the beneficiary address, the panel announced Tuesday.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/26/politics/house-oversight-republicans-hunter-biden-bank-subpoena/index.html

The impeachment inquiry into Biden has begun.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66954626.amp

Now we have to deal with the inevitable politicization of the impeachment process, thanks to the two previous charades. I wish the politicians would take the higher road and leave the choice to their voters, but then again, we’re well beyond high road at this point and it would be a mistake to think that the GOP is not just as politically craven as the Dems.

The Dems seemed to think there was not enough evidence for an impeachment, and kept saying so, except it’s an impeachment inquiry. There is plenty of evidence of for an inquiry. It looks like the inquiry will be the impetus for subpoenaing bank records and all that, so any hard evidence ought to be forthcoming. Biden ought to be supportive of this because there is so much of a cloud around his name that this should clear up the air.