Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Sat May 03, 2025 11:02 pm
Wait till you see what's coming.
Uhm, people disappearing in the middle of the night? Because that is what has happened in S. America under dictators.
Talk About Tennis 2.0
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Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Page 84 of 88
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Sun May 04, 2025 3:29 pm
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Mon May 05, 2025 6:01 pm
The NY Times is reporting the Administration is offering $1000 and a free plane ride home to any immigrants who self-deport.
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Mon May 05, 2025 6:22 pm
That doesn't sound like much.
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Mon May 05, 2025 11:21 pm
It sounds like use this app and we'll have our jack booted thugs, uh, representatives come and escort you to El Salvador...uh, your home country to me.
You have to be out of your mind to do this. For $1,000?
You have to be out of your mind to do this. For $1,000?
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 2:52 pm
Yep. That is just a lure for idiots. They will be snatched and will get their $1000 in monopoly money.
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Tue May 06, 2025 11:41 pm
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Wed May 07, 2025 12:01 am
Aaron Rupar
@atrupar.com
· 42m
Bessent says that little girls who are sad about having fewer dolls should just have it explained to them that they will have a better life for it
Video at the link
https://bsky.app/profile/kevinmkruse.bs ... k3f52uw223
@atrupar.com
· 42m
Bessent says that little girls who are sad about having fewer dolls should just have it explained to them that they will have a better life for it
Video at the link
https://bsky.app/profile/kevinmkruse.bs ... k3f52uw223
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Wed May 07, 2025 3:02 am
Trump Administration Plans to Send Migrants to Libya on a Military Flight
Human rights groups have called conditions in the country’s network of migrant detention centers “horrific” and “deplorable.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/us/p ... f11dfcd63a
Human rights groups have called conditions in the country’s network of migrant detention centers “horrific” and “deplorable.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/us/p ... f11dfcd63a
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Thu May 08, 2025 9:39 pm
‘You Have No Timeline?!’ Senator Gobsmacked by FBI Director Kash Patel Showing Up at Budget Hearing Without a Budget
Colby HallMay 8th, 2025, 10:51 am
During a Senate hearing to review the FBI’s FY2026 budget request, Director Kash Patel was forced to admit that, despite the law requiring it, he had no such request ready to review.
This surprising development came during an awkward back-and-forth with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking Democrat and Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees and approves budget requests.
Senator Murray reminded the FBI Director that the budget request was legally required “last week,” and after the director responded, she surprisedly added, “And your answer is you just understand you’re not going to follow the law?”
“I am following the law, and I’m working with my interagency partners to do this and get you the budget that you are required to have,” Patel explained. Then the discussion went from bad to worse, culminating in Senator Murray calling Patel’s preparation for the budget hearing, without a budget, “insufficient and deeply disturbing.”
MURRAY: And you have no timeline. Well, we also need a full budget request, not a single paragraph full of wild talking points that we saw with the skinny budget proposal. We’re now having a budget hearing without a budget request. So, Director Patel, where is the FY 2026 budget request for the FBI?
PATEL: It’s being worked on, ma’am.
MURRAY: Have you reviewed it? Have you approved it?
PATEL: But not yet.
MURRAY: When will we get it?
PATEL: As soon as I can get it from my interagency partners and get it approved.
MURRAY: Six months from now? I don’t know, ma’am, I’m not going to take that time. Well, how do we, as Congress, do our budget and our work without that request and without the spent one?
PATEL: Well, ma’am, I’m here. I’m doing the best I can. I can’t make up answers. I’m going to commit to you to work on getting you the information you need.
MURRAY: That is insufficient and deeply disturbing. No response.
PATEL: I’ve given my response.
During a House hearing on the FBI budget, Patel distanced himself from the Trump administration’s plan to significantly cut it, which is likely a reason for the delay in submitting a budget.
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Patel to lead the FBI caused a raft of controversy. Patel had publicly pledged to take the agency down and turn its building into something of a “deep state” museum. His apparent lack of preparation for this fundamental hearing will give no solace to critics convinced he was not prepared for the task at hand.
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/you-h ... -a-budget/
Colby HallMay 8th, 2025, 10:51 am
During a Senate hearing to review the FBI’s FY2026 budget request, Director Kash Patel was forced to admit that, despite the law requiring it, he had no such request ready to review.
This surprising development came during an awkward back-and-forth with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking Democrat and Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees and approves budget requests.
Senator Murray reminded the FBI Director that the budget request was legally required “last week,” and after the director responded, she surprisedly added, “And your answer is you just understand you’re not going to follow the law?”
“I am following the law, and I’m working with my interagency partners to do this and get you the budget that you are required to have,” Patel explained. Then the discussion went from bad to worse, culminating in Senator Murray calling Patel’s preparation for the budget hearing, without a budget, “insufficient and deeply disturbing.”
MURRAY: And you have no timeline. Well, we also need a full budget request, not a single paragraph full of wild talking points that we saw with the skinny budget proposal. We’re now having a budget hearing without a budget request. So, Director Patel, where is the FY 2026 budget request for the FBI?
PATEL: It’s being worked on, ma’am.
MURRAY: Have you reviewed it? Have you approved it?
PATEL: But not yet.
MURRAY: When will we get it?
PATEL: As soon as I can get it from my interagency partners and get it approved.
MURRAY: Six months from now? I don’t know, ma’am, I’m not going to take that time. Well, how do we, as Congress, do our budget and our work without that request and without the spent one?
PATEL: Well, ma’am, I’m here. I’m doing the best I can. I can’t make up answers. I’m going to commit to you to work on getting you the information you need.
MURRAY: That is insufficient and deeply disturbing. No response.
PATEL: I’ve given my response.
During a House hearing on the FBI budget, Patel distanced himself from the Trump administration’s plan to significantly cut it, which is likely a reason for the delay in submitting a budget.
President Donald Trump’s nomination of Patel to lead the FBI caused a raft of controversy. Patel had publicly pledged to take the agency down and turn its building into something of a “deep state” museum. His apparent lack of preparation for this fundamental hearing will give no solace to critics convinced he was not prepared for the task at hand.
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/you-h ... -a-budget/
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Thu May 08, 2025 9:41 pm
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2025 9:06 pm
Hiptrigger
@hiptrigger.bsky.social
Follow
Quid pro quo, it would appear
Trump administration in talks with Qatar over plane gift
A deal has not been reached, but ethics experts say such a gift would violate the Constitution.
Updated
May 11, 2025 at 3:16 p.m. EDT today at 3:16 p.m. EDT
By Karen DeYoung, Natalie Allison and Mariana Alfaro
Qatar is discussing donating an aircraft to the U.S. government for President Donald Trump to use, but no final agreement has been reached, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive issue. The subject remains in talks between lawyers at the U.S. Defense Department and Qatar’s Defense Ministry, the two people said.
While the deal is not final, ethics experts are raising concerns about the possible donation from a foreign government, which they say would be unconstitutional, violating the emoluments clause, which forbids U.S. officials from accepting gifts or other things of value from foreign officials without congressional approval.
On Sunday, ABC News reported that the Trump administration is preparing to accept the plane from the royal family of Qatar. Per ABC News, Trump would be able to use the jet as his new Air Force One plane until shortly before the end of his second term, at which point it would be transferred to the foundation handling the Trump Presidential Library.
The president is scheduled to visit Qatar this week during a trip to the Middle East, when he will also go to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
On Sunday, Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the United States, said in a statement to The Washington Post that reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the U.S. government are “inaccurate.”
“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” Al-Ansari said.
Spokespeople for the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump has long complained about the status of the current Air Force One and has also criticized Boeing over a contract to build two new Air Force One planes that he said is now running late. In February, Trump told reporters that he is “not happy with Boeing.”
“We gave that contract out a long time ago as a fixed-price contract, and I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taking so long, and we may do something else,” he said at the time. “We may go and buy a plane or get a plane or something.”
In February, Trump toured a Boeing 747-8KB at Palm Beach International Airport, looking around the plane for more than an hour on a Saturday morning while spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home. Records showed that the plane, which featured the tail number P4-HBJ, was initially operated by Qatari Amiri but was most recently operated by Global Jet.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, said in a statement at the time that Trump was touring the Boeing plane “to checkout the new hardware/technology.”
“This highlights the project’s failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised, as they are already five years late,” Cheung said.
Former U.S. ambassador Norm Eisen, executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund, who was the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2009 to 2011 and who administered the foreign emoluments clause, said he would never have allowed a transfer like the one being discussed, given the ethics questions it raises over Trump’s connection to the Qatari royal family.
“It’s so plain what’s going on here — they want to put a $400 million aircraft in the hands of Trump to scratch his itch,” he said.
Eisen emphasized that this would probably be the largest gift given to a U.S. president by a foreign government in modern history.
“This rule that presidents cannot take the equivalent of 400 million bucks in cash from a foreign government was so important, that it’s the only ethics and conflicts rule that was put directly in the Constitution by the founders and the framers,” Eisen said, referencing the emoluments clause.
Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog, said the emoluments clause makes it “pretty clear that you can’t accept a present from a king, prince or foreign state.” Traditionally, Libowitz explained, when the government receives a gift from a foreign entity that is worth more than a few hundred dollars, the gift is given to the National Archives. This does not appear to be the case with the plane, Libowitz said.
“It sure seems that this is a present,” he said. “By any definition, it’s for Trump to use in office and then reportedly for him to use after he leaves office. So it’s hard to believe that this is something being handed off to the government.”
Libowitz added that the gift raises ethics concerns because Trump and his family do business with Qatar.
“He’s going over to the Gulf States, going to meet the head of the Qatari government,” Libowitz said. “So it just raises this larger question of, is he taking action in the best interest of the American people, or his company?”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... one-qatar/
@hiptrigger.bsky.social
Follow
Quid pro quo, it would appear
Trump administration in talks with Qatar over plane gift
A deal has not been reached, but ethics experts say such a gift would violate the Constitution.
Updated
May 11, 2025 at 3:16 p.m. EDT today at 3:16 p.m. EDT
By Karen DeYoung, Natalie Allison and Mariana Alfaro
Qatar is discussing donating an aircraft to the U.S. government for President Donald Trump to use, but no final agreement has been reached, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive issue. The subject remains in talks between lawyers at the U.S. Defense Department and Qatar’s Defense Ministry, the two people said.
While the deal is not final, ethics experts are raising concerns about the possible donation from a foreign government, which they say would be unconstitutional, violating the emoluments clause, which forbids U.S. officials from accepting gifts or other things of value from foreign officials without congressional approval.
On Sunday, ABC News reported that the Trump administration is preparing to accept the plane from the royal family of Qatar. Per ABC News, Trump would be able to use the jet as his new Air Force One plane until shortly before the end of his second term, at which point it would be transferred to the foundation handling the Trump Presidential Library.
The president is scheduled to visit Qatar this week during a trip to the Middle East, when he will also go to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
On Sunday, Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché to the United States, said in a statement to The Washington Post that reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the U.S. government are “inaccurate.”
“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” Al-Ansari said.
Spokespeople for the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump has long complained about the status of the current Air Force One and has also criticized Boeing over a contract to build two new Air Force One planes that he said is now running late. In February, Trump told reporters that he is “not happy with Boeing.”
“We gave that contract out a long time ago as a fixed-price contract, and I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taking so long, and we may do something else,” he said at the time. “We may go and buy a plane or get a plane or something.”
In February, Trump toured a Boeing 747-8KB at Palm Beach International Airport, looking around the plane for more than an hour on a Saturday morning while spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home. Records showed that the plane, which featured the tail number P4-HBJ, was initially operated by Qatari Amiri but was most recently operated by Global Jet.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, said in a statement at the time that Trump was touring the Boeing plane “to checkout the new hardware/technology.”
“This highlights the project’s failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised, as they are already five years late,” Cheung said.
Former U.S. ambassador Norm Eisen, executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund, who was the chief White House ethics lawyer from 2009 to 2011 and who administered the foreign emoluments clause, said he would never have allowed a transfer like the one being discussed, given the ethics questions it raises over Trump’s connection to the Qatari royal family.
“It’s so plain what’s going on here — they want to put a $400 million aircraft in the hands of Trump to scratch his itch,” he said.
Eisen emphasized that this would probably be the largest gift given to a U.S. president by a foreign government in modern history.
“This rule that presidents cannot take the equivalent of 400 million bucks in cash from a foreign government was so important, that it’s the only ethics and conflicts rule that was put directly in the Constitution by the founders and the framers,” Eisen said, referencing the emoluments clause.
Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog, said the emoluments clause makes it “pretty clear that you can’t accept a present from a king, prince or foreign state.” Traditionally, Libowitz explained, when the government receives a gift from a foreign entity that is worth more than a few hundred dollars, the gift is given to the National Archives. This does not appear to be the case with the plane, Libowitz said.
“It sure seems that this is a present,” he said. “By any definition, it’s for Trump to use in office and then reportedly for him to use after he leaves office. So it’s hard to believe that this is something being handed off to the government.”
Libowitz added that the gift raises ethics concerns because Trump and his family do business with Qatar.
“He’s going over to the Gulf States, going to meet the head of the Qatari government,” Libowitz said. “So it just raises this larger question of, is he taking action in the best interest of the American people, or his company?”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... one-qatar/
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2025 10:33 pm
Ron Filipkowski
@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
· 8m
This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 128. Everything you need to know about what happened this weekend in politics. open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastou ... medium=ios
@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
· 8m
This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 128. Everything you need to know about what happened this weekend in politics. open.substack.com/pub/meidasto...
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastou ... medium=ios
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Mon May 12, 2025 6:15 pm
The NY Times is reporting Trump today issued an executive order asking drug companies to voluntary lower prices.
Good luck with that.
Good luck with that.
Re: Hello Dante? What Level Is This?
Posted: Tue May 13, 2025 12:12 am