Trump's Card

[ursus arctos]

Yes, though worth noting that this is a procedural decision to lift the injunctions and not a decision on the merits (which will come next year at the earliest).

[ad hoc]

See that the Republican party has decided to support Moore again. Fucking scum

[Amor de Cosmos]

Does Mueller's subpoena of Deutsche Bank for Trump's banking information have any legal teeth, or is it just a public gesture?

[ursus arctos]

They are producing the records, so I would say that qualifies as "legal teeth"

[Amor de Cosmos]

It does. I wondered if it might just be similar to the Democrats request for the same back in the Summer.

[Ginger Yellow]

Mueller is an investigating prosecutor, not a political party.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Yeah, I did realize that. What I didn't know was whether, or rather how far, his powers extend when it comes to requesting information from overseas banks.

[Ginger Yellow]

Deutsche Bank has many US subsidiaries/branches, and those are probably the ones that did business with Trump.

[WOM]

I wonder who gets tapped to deliver news like this to Trump, or whether they just let him stumble over it on Fox.

[ursus arctos]

I need to be a bit careful on this front, but my understanding is that all of his loans are from the New York bank, which is the entity with which as a long and close relationship.

The barriers to producing data from overseas are more significant (largely due to domestic privacy and bank secrecy rules), but they are by no means impossible to surmount.

It is also worth noting that DB is currently subject to consent and monitoring agreements with a number of different US law enforcement authorities as a result of unrelated misconduct.

[ursus arctos]

Conyers resigning effective immediately, endorsing his son as his successor, notwithstanding the fact that his nephew will also contest the seat.

[Ginger Yellow]

Conyers resigning effective immediately, endorsing his son as his successor, notwithstanding the fact that his nephew will also contest the seat.

Good thing America doesn't have an aristocracy.

[Heliotrope]

Well, this sounds wonderful: https://twitter.com/MalcolmNance/sta...18116596256768.

[Satchmo Distel]

Jimmy Conyers? Who next, Borg?

[Sam]

I was going to come here and type, 'surely they're not going to let him move the embassy to Jerusalem, are they?' and then I realised, as I prepared to type it, that why the fuck wouldn't they, since they let him get elected and they let him say and do all sorts of outrageous things. But why on Earth does he want to anyway? I mean it's Donald fucking Trump we're talking about; how is he even aware that the embassy isn't already in Jerusalem? (Yes I know he was in Israel earlier this year.)

[Femme Folle]

Sam, he's aware of these things because people like Jared Kushner tell him. trump is a moron who is easily manipulated. Kushner knows this. Bannon knows this. Putin knows this.

[Satchmo Distel]

Jerusalem might be the worst decision of his entire shoddy Presidency. Totally reckless with Middle Eastern security and purely to satiate his anti-Muslim animus. I don't think it even works as distraction because this is a shitstorm that will play out alongside Mueller, not instead of.

[Sam]

Exactly, that's the thing. Utter appallingness has become a daily occurrence and it becomes numbing to a small extent (only to a small extent, and only because I have the luxury of not living in the States so can try to forget about him from time to time), but this feels like something on another level even than what has gone before.

[Satchmo Distel]

It also contradicts his supposed America first isolationism.

[ursus arctos]

One of the most depressing aspects of the entire debacle is that a primary reason for him doing this (even more than giving Adelson and Bibi what they've asked for) is that it is yet another gift to the evangelical right, who are in favour of the move precisely because they believe it will accelerate the Apocalypse.

Among those applauding the decision: Pam Geller, Katie Hopkins, Geert Wilders . . .

[Tubby Isaacs]

I hope I'm not being complacent, but Apocalypse is a step up from even the likely carnage here, isn't it?

They don't actually believe that rubbish, do they?

[ursus arctos]

A significant number of them very much do

[ad hoc]

If I had to find a silver lining in this disgraceful act of appeasement it would be that it will drive a wedge in this unholy Israel Saudi alliance

[ursus arctos]

I had the same thought.

Tubbs, it doesn't discuss the Jerusalem angle (which has its roots in a literal reading of Revelation), but this author interview is good on the degree to which the Apocalypse consumes US evangelicals.

The idea that Jesus is coming back soon was a fairly radical and unconventional idea in the 19th century, but by the 21st century it’s the air American Christians breathe. The most recent polls said something like 58 percent of white evangelicals believe Jesus is going to return by 2050. They simply take for granted that there is going to be a Rapture and Jesus is going to come back.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Cheers Ursus. 58% just about sums it all up. A fairly small minority in a minority driving it all.