Random News not worthy of own thread

[Vertigo 7]

Anyway, I don't see what any of this has to do with the Oompa Loompa king finally facing criminal charges.

Right. If this is the best they can come up with against Trump, it seems relatively minor. So he had his lawyer hand over a hush-money payout to the porn star and then reimbursed his attorney as a legal expense. Is that it? I'm surprised this is even illegal in the grand scheme of human transgressions. Granted, not entirely above board, but even if found 'guilty', I can't imagine the penalty would amount to more than a fine. Certainly not jail. But, what do I know?

All I can say is despite all the murder and extortions and what not, the thing that brought down Capone was tax fraud. It's often a tactic to nail defendants on smaller charges and later come after them with bigger, more serious charges.

[Observe]

Well, its one crime covering up another, which makes it a felony.

That's what I don't quite get. If I paid for a prostitute and asked a friend to give her some money in agreement to keep it quiet, would that be illegal? Sure, I understand prostitution is illegal in the U.S. (except Nevada and maybe elsewhere), but no one would arrest me if I admitted to having paid for sex five years ago or whatever. Anyway, so I reimburse my friend and mark it down as payment for legal services. Is that the illegal part? Well if I was in that position, I probably wouldn't mark it down as a hush money payment. Who would? Yes it's all very deplorable, but again, it seems to me hardly worth going to the expense of prosecution. After all, the attorney in question (Cohen) is already disbarred, so I don't see him being punished any further. To top it off, there is nothing more boring that someone else's sex dalliances.

[Alan Phipps]

@ Observe: I understand the concerns expressed, but application of fair and impartial criminal investigation and judicial systems should not depend upon whether the potential punishments received are likely to be considered significant by the recipients. I think that should be true with every reputable legal/justice system and type of accused.

[Observe]

@ Observe: I understand the concerns expressed, but application of fair and impartial criminal investigation and judicial systems should not depend upon whether the potential punishments received are likely to be considered significant by the recipients. I think that should be true with every reputable legal/justice system and type of accused.

I agree absolutely. To be honest, I am a bit disappointed that the justice system hasn't come up with something having more teeth against Trump. That's just my personal distaste speaking. But, as Vertigo 7 mentioned, perhaps this will be the stone that causes an avalanche. We shall see.

[Vertigo 7]

Georgia prosecutors are also gearing up for some far more serious charges, and there's the special council federal investigations as well. If I'm not mistaken, there's other NY investigations on going as well. This may just be the tip of the iceberg if it goes anywhere.

[clakclak]

German police officer shot during raids against the Reichsbürger-movement. The medical status is unclear but it seems as if the injuries were mostly mild.

EDIT: The police officer only suffered minor injuries.

https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/razzia ... r-115.html

[felter]

I don't know if you have been following it but Boris Johnson, ex British PM was defending himself today for what they call, misleading parliament or as we minions call it lying to the country. Anyway, the best joke of the day has to be:

Interviewer: 'Mr Johnson, out of all the lies you've ever told, which one is your favourite?'
Johnson: 'I've never told any lies.'
Interviewer: 'Yes, that's my favourite, too.'

[fiksal]

I don't know if you have been following it but Boris Johnson, ex British PM was defending himself today for what they call, misleading parliament or as we minions call it lying to the country. Anyway, the best joke of the day has to be:

Interviewer: 'Mr Johnson, out of all the lies you've ever told, which one is your favourite?'
Johnson: 'I've never told any lies.'
Interviewer: 'Yes, that's my favourite, too.'

that's a good one

[Gavrushka]

Sniffing the armpits of strangers can help with anxiety...

I'm not sure what it does for the anxiety of the recipient of the sniffety sniff!

Can you even imagine?

[Alan Phipps]

I can see how your anxiety might fade temporarily if you are unconscious (either from the smell or the slap around the head).

[CBJ]

What I want to know is, who came up with the idea of adding sweat-sniffing to the research programme? I'm less sure that I want to know why they came up with it.

[chew-ie]

True SCIENCE! knows no boundary it seems...

[mr.WHO]

Be glad it's the armpits - I think future studies might be worse

[mr.WHO]

- "We need to switch to electric cars to stop global warming".
- "We don't have enough power, not enough chargers, go plant some trees or something"
- "What if I turn plants into chargers?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2HdIFks30

<starts planting furiously>

[Alan Phipps]

I suspect that planting trees or bushes is not going to help at all with energy harvesting although it may have other green benefits. What you might see in the future is some experimental solar farms replacing pv panels with racked bio culture dishes, but they would still need the same cleared land to site them on and some energy spent on panel climate control to keep the bio organisms alive.

BTW, I would dispute that plants absorb 100% of the visible light falling on them or else they would appear to be black voids.

[felter]

So it has finally happened for Trump, the grand jury has decided to charge him over the hush payments what the actual charge will be have not so far been announced as I type this, but it is an ongoing story so that could change anytime soon. This gives trump another first that he will not want as he is now the first American president to be charged with a crime, interesting times ahead for him as I reckon now that one has been made, more will quickly follow.

BBC coverage.

[Observe]

This gives trump another first that he will not want as he is now the first American president to be charged with a crime, interesting times ahead for him as I reckon now that one has been made, more will quickly follow.

As expected, he has already dismissed this as a witch hunt by the liberals who are trying to cover up for the stolen election. I'm guessing this will strengthen his position among his supporters, rather than weaken it. As for more charges to come, we will see, but I have an uncomfortable feeling that this is the best they've got.

[matthewfarmery]

This gives trump another first that he will not want as he is now the first American president to be charged with a crime, interesting times ahead for him as I reckon now that one has been made, more will quickly follow.

As expected, he has already dismissed this as a witch hunt by the liberals who are trying to cover up for the stolen election. I'm guessing this will strengthen his position among his supporters, rather than weaken it. As for more charges to come, we will see, but I have an uncomfortable feeling that this is the best they've got.

I think there will be more to come, the miss handling of classified documents case is also hotting up. With one ex Trump attorney forced to testify again, once the attorney client privilege has been pierced by a judge (and that is very rare for that to happen) There then is Georgia still, and that perfect phone call. (in fact there are 3) I think once the hammer falls, we may see more indictments.

But yeah, its about time he gets indicted and I hope more bad news comes his way. I'm sure he will be shaking in his boots about now.

[matthewfarmery]

Sorry for double posting, but it seems that from some sources, Trump will be looking at at least 30 charges against him. That is a lot, while the court order remains sealed still, and the general public won't know what all those charges are for, I say, this is probably more then just trying to hush up a porn star.

So, Trump will be going to NY to get his mug shot and finger prints taken on Tuesday. He will be in a state of shock, and I doubt he will realise what this will mean. His current clown show for lawyers won't be helping matters. One of them, Joe Tacopina is a clown, and may have already hurt his client's case, by saying that Trump.org is a shell company, and that it's Trump's personal piggy bank.

I don't think this guy is going to be able to win. Then again, Trump hires all the best people right?

The other thing is, will Trump get bail? I think, if I was a judge overseeing Trump's case, I would automatically say "NO!!!!" The reasons are pretty obvious, Trump is a risk, now, whether he will try and leave the country? I doubt it, but I wouldn't past it past him. But if Trump is given bail, then the judge needs to put a very strict gag order on Trump. To prevent him from speaking, and travelling. (We all know that Trump will very likely break that in a second.) If Trump does break that order, then he will very likely see inside of a Jail cell. (unless he does try and flee first of course)

All in all, I don't think the shock of the indictment has sunk in yet, or what it entails, especailly because he has clowns for attorneys that are nothing but Yes Men.

What are people's thoughts on this? of course, we don't know when the trial will take place, it might be months, but if Trump does see the inside of a jail cell, I'm pretty sure this will break him in two.

[Observe]

The other thing is, will Trump get bail?

I"m guessing Trump will get bail. After all, he is constantly under the watch of Federal agents (Secret Service), so his ability to escape them and go on the run is unlikely.

Considering this circus is likely to persist for a long time, I suppose it might be a good idea to start a new thread, or revive the old Trump thread so that this one doesn't get taken over by Trump.