The Impeachment Of Donald Trump

Grandpapy said:

In 2019, US retailers announced 9,302 store closings, a 59% jump from 2018 and the highest number since Coresight Research began tracking the data in 2012. So far this year, Macy's (M), Papyrus and others have announced store closings.

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That's a global phenomena, malls and some stores are on the rocks because of online retailing. The kind of small specialty stores located in malls mostly are very vulnerable to online competition and even Walmart is feeling the heat. The world changes my friend, things change and many don't like it, change causes suffering for some. The US is feeling it most acutely because it had the biggest and most developed retail market with long term internet usage in the society. It's another one of those things like shipping containers, automation, robots and AI that are making work obsolete for many and jobs harder to find. When a humanoid robot delivers your Amazon order, there won't be many folks working for a living and there will be lots of smart idle hands around with not much meaningful to do.

Robot Income isn't real money unless they are taxed to maintain commerce at the local level.

I cant wait for my first opportunity to bid on a home remodel for a family of Drones.

Grandpapy said:

Robot Income isn't real money unless they are taxed to maintain commerce at the local level.

I cant wait for my first opportunity to bid on a home remodel for a family of Drones.

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It's gonna get worse before it gets better, it will be a rough road to the technological utopia, who is gonna pay a human 100k a year when a 200K robot will do the job 24/7. I'm waiting for a humanoid model that can run my garden! Been to a bank lately? I've been doing mine online for years and the only time I see the place is to pick up some cash in the lobby at the titless teller, they are cheaper than ones with tits too.

A technician can monitor a room that has robots doing the machining of parts that dozens of machinists on three shifts may have done for years. AI and robots are eliminating millions fo jobs many that were skilled positions.

hillbill said:

A technician can monitor a room that has robots doing the machining of parts that dozens of machinists on three shifts may have done for years. AI and robots are eliminating millions fo jobs many that were skilled positions.

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Ya can't turn back the clock and business is ruthlessly competitive, we are all on a technological ride through time going to an unknown destination. Technology and trade makes us all richer, the future will see a more equitable distribution of that technological wealth as less people are required to generate it. Every spring during clean up there is a mountain of perfectly good stuff being thrown away from many households, my father's generation would have been appalled at the waste. Ordinary people live like this now while the .1% reaps the lion's share of the wealth, imagine a richer future world where only a small fraction of the people work or can. America will need healthcare, social programs and a national minimum income to stave off social unrest, there will be too many smart educated poor people to do otherwise in a democratic country.

Like I said it will be a rough ride until we get there and a lot of grief and trouble too, but if human civilization continues on its present technological arc, a technological utopia will arrive sooner or later. Economy means ecosystem and the small fish and plankton have to do well for the big fish to survive.

Trump Hush Money Case Seen In New Light After New Reports On Barr | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Rachel Maddow looks at how the SDNY investigation surrounding hush money payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with Donald Trump suddenly dissipated, and compares that timeline to new reporting on pressure Bill Barr has been exerting on U.S. attorneys, including SDNY. Aired on 02/18/20.

DOJ Memo Shows Barr's Lid On Reported Giuliani Investigation | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Rachel Maddow looks at a newly released DOJ memo that shows all Ukraine-related investigations being consolidated in such a way that even investigations already in progress, like those the SDNY is reportedly conducting of Rudy Giuliani now have to be processed through Main Justice. Aired on 02/18/20.

Expected Case Against Deutsche Bank Disappeared In Trump Transition | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

David Enrich, New York Times finance editor and author of Dark Towers, talks with Rachel Maddow about an expected criminal case against Deutsche Bank in connection with a Russian money laundering scandal that mysteriously disappeared once Donald Trump came into office. Aired on 02/18/20.

Lawrence & Rachel Question Reports That Barr May Leave DOJ Over Trump Tweets | The Last Word | MSNBC

Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow react with skepticism to new reporting that suggests Barr is considering resigning over Trump’s tweets about DOJ investigations, believing that this is more of a public relations campaign for Barr than an actual decision he’s considering. Aired on 02/18/20.

His supporters will be mad.

Top Pentagon policy official resigns at Trump's request

The Pentagon's top policy official John Rood resigned at the request of President Donald Trump, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by CNN.

Another day, another scandal...
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Julian Assange: Trump 'offered pardon for Russia denial'

A witness in Julian Assange's extradition hearing will claim President Donald Trump offered the Wikileaks founder a pardon if he said Russia was not involved in leaking emails during the US election.

Assange's barrister revealed the claim at Westminster Magistrates' Court ahead of an extradition hearing next week.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled the witness's evidence admissible.

The White House said the claim is "a complete fabrication and a total lie".

Assange is facing extradition to the US on 18 charges over leaked diplomatic cables.

He faces up to 175 years in prison if found guilty.

His barrister, Edward Fitzgerald QC, told the court there was evidence alleging that former US Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher made the pardon offer.

Mr Rohrabacher visited the Ecuadorian embassy in August 2017, where Assange was staying, he said.

At the time, Russia was widely suspected of stealing embarrassing Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails, which were published during the 2016 election by Wikileaks - although Mr Assange has denied this.

• Profile: Julian Assange
• A timeline of the Julian Assange saga
• Sweden drops Assange rape investigation

Mr Fitzgerald said a statement from Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson shows "Mr Rohrabacher going to see Mr Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange... said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks."

Responding to the claims, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said: "The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he's an ex-congressman. He's never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject.

"It is is a complete fabrication and a total lie."

Mr Trump has previously praised Mr Rohrabacher as "a great congressman" who "works hard and is respected by all".

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017 that Mr Rohrabacher had contacted the White House in an attempt to secure a pardon for Mr Assange.

The paper said that, under Mr Rohrabacher's terms, Mr Assange was required to provide "proof" that Russia was not the source of hacked emails published by Wikileaks during the 2016 US election.

In 2018, the US Department of Justice charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking emails from the DNC and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, as part of a plot to influence the outcome of the election.

The department charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with the hack.

The 18 charges faced by Assange include conspiring to commit computer intrusion, and relate to the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents leaked by former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning a decade ago.

His extradition hearing is due to begin at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, starting with a week of legal argument.

It is then due to be adjourned before resuming on May 18 with three weeks of evidence.

Assange has been held on remand in Belmarsh prison since last September, after serving a 50-week jail sentence for breaching bail conditions.

He went into the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual offences, which he always denied and which were later dropped.

Trump Takes Up Call for Barr to ‘Clean House’ at Justice Dept.
With a series of retweets, President Trump kept up attacks on federal law enforcement agencies, despite pleas from the attorney general.

WASHINGTON — Ignoring appeals from his attorney general to stop tweeting about the Justice Department, President Trump renewed his attacks on the agency on Wednesday, demanding “JUSTICE” for himself and all future presidents.

There must be JUSTICE. This can never happen to a President, or our Country, again! https://t.co/5epW4JPYkF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2020

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With a series of retweets, Mr. Trump appeared to embrace the suggestion that Attorney General William P. Barr “clean shop” at the department. And the president promoted the idea of naming a special counsel to investigate what Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative nonprofit Judicial Watch, described as a “seditious conspiracy” at the department and the F.B.I.
A day earlier, Mr. Barr was, according to some of his associates, considering a different sort of shop cleaning: If his boss did not stop meddling with Justice Department investigations, he was said to be considering his own future.

For more than a week, the president has been publicly open about his view of the case against his longtime friend and adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. And the notion that Mr. Barr might leave his post over Mr. Trump’s commentary did not appear to quiet the president.

Mr. Stone was convicted in November of seven felonies for obstructing a congressional investigation into whether the Trump campaign had ties to Russia. At the time, Mr. Trump said his friend’s conviction was evidence of a double standard in the justice system.

Last week, a day after prosecutors filed a routine recommendation for Mr. Stone’s sentencing, Mr. Trump called it “horrible and very unfair.” Hours after that, Mr. Barr intervened to lower the sentencing recommendation, drawing public praise from the president while spurring fears that the Justice Department was bowing to White House influence.
This led four prosecutors to quit the Stone case, drawing a lashing from Mr. Trump who said they “cut and run” and were part of the special counsel team’s “investigation that was illegal.”
Amid outrage over the prosecutors’ departures, Mr. Barr took the extraordinary step of going on national television to send a message to the president: “It’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases.”

Mr. Trump has also questioned the decisions of the federal judge overseeing the Stone case. And on Tuesday, he spoke highly of Mr. Barr’s integrity while simultaneously undermining his authority. Mr. Trump said, “I’m actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country.”
Mr. Stone’s sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.
Mr. Barr’s ability to protect the Justice Department from Mr. Trump’s influence was a concern of critics when Mr. Trump announced his nomination.
Since then, critics say, Mr. Barr has all but proved their fears. Mr. Barr oversaw an administrative-review-turned-criminal inquiry into the origins of the 2016 Russia investigation, an investigation Mr. Trump had been demanding for months. Mr. Barr reviewed and decided not to pursue a criminal referral about the president’s campaign finance violations regarding Ukraine, dealings that ultimately led to Mr. Trump’s impeachment last year. And Mr. Barr summarized the findings of the special counsel inquiry, led by Robert S. Mueller III, in a manner that was favorable to Mr. Trump — leaving out details about the instances in which Mr. Trump may have obstructed justice.
Mr. Trump acknowledged on Tuesday that his running commentary on the Stone case was making Mr. Barr’s job harder, but he gave no indication that he would back off.
Asked about pardoning Mr. Stone after the president granted clemency to several white-collar criminals on Tuesday — decisions he said were made based on advice from friends and business associates — Mr. Trump said, “I haven’t given it any thought.”
He added: “In the meantime, he’s going through a process. But I think he’s been treated very unfairly.”

dandyrandy said:

His supporters will be mad.

Walmart Workers Reportedly Are Bracing for Job Cuts

Walmart workers are bracing for job cuts as the retailer rolls out its ‘Great Workplace’ program, a sweeping overhaul of how the company staffs its big-box stores.

www.thestreet.com

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There's a reason China requires those asshole to be Union.

Here's one for the Trumpers, you can join this guy's cult, at least he's honest about it...
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Indian man prays to life-size statue of Donald Trump, his ‘god’

An Indian man is so convinced President Trump is his “god,” he has a life-size statue as a shrine in his garden — and offers him daily prayers.

“Instead of praying to other gods, I started praying to him,” Bussa Krishna said, calling the president “my god, Donald Trump.”

“My love for him has transformed into reverence.”

Krishna, 37, started worshiping Trump four years ago when he says he came to him in a dream, hiring 15 laborers to work with him for a month to make the 6-foot statue in his village in the southern state of Telangana.

“He is like a god to me, that is the reason I had his statue built,” he told New Delhi TV (NDTV) of his shrine showing Trump in a red tie and blue suit with his right arm raised in a wave.

“Every Friday I fast for Trump’s long life. I also carry his picture and pray to him before commencing any work,” he told the station.

Krishna, who lives alone, is now known locally as Trump Krishna, and his statue-adorned house has been dubbed Trump House.

“The villagers never objected to it but appreciated his devotion,” his friend Ramesh Reddy told NDTV.

Joining millions of American evangelicals.

Lawmakers were briefed that Russia is looking to help Trump win in 2020

Washington (CNN)The intelligence community's top election security official delivered a briefing to lawmakers last week warning them that the intelligence community believes Russia is already taking steps to interfere in the 2020 election with the goal of helping President Donald Trump win, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.
House Republicans got very upset during the briefing delivered by election security official Shelby Pierson, the source said.
The New York Times, which first reported the February 13 briefing, said that afterwards, Trump chastised outgoing acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire for allowing the briefing to take place. Trump was concerned the Democrats present would use it against him, reported the Times, citing people familiar with the exchange.
On Wednesday, Trump announced he was naming Richard Grenell, a staunch loyalist and current US ambassador to Germany, as acting DNI despite him not having experience in intelligence. Two administration officials told the Times the timing of the Grenell announcement and Russia intelligence report is coincidental.


This story is breaking and will be updated.

It seems Trump fired his intelligence chief when he heard that he shared this information with congress, that's why he just appointed the new guy DNI with no experience and no brain! This is a very sensitive and crucial position being filled by an unqualified and incompetent asshole who is now the boss over all the national intelligence assets.

House Republicans got very upset during the briefing, another source said.

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After the briefing, Trump became upset with outgoing acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump was concerned the Democrats present would use the briefing against him, reported the Times, citing people familiar with the exchange.
On Wednesday, Trump announced he was naming Richard Grenell, a staunch loyalist and current US ambassador to Germany, as acting DNI despite him not having experience in intelligence.

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Russia Is Aiding Pres. Trump In 2020 Election, According To The New York Times | MTP Daily | MSNBC