Link: The purchase of an Alabama politician...

Chukker Veteran said:

I thought the thread title was appropriate to link this story. Senator Shelby is in Russia to celebrate the fourth of July. He attended a meeting full of Russians... the GOP Senators asked to not let the American press have access. So you can follow the link to Russian tv to see what Shelby didn't want you to see.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/ha...g-grandson-stalin-confidante/?comments=disqus

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Crimson1967 said:

Greenwood is violating the flag code by wearing it as clothing. He is just like the anthem kneelers.


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4Q Basket Case said:

OK, Greenwood's wearing the flag, and it's a violation of the flag code.

Whereas the kneelers are protesting -- near as I can tell....I haven't heard anybody concisely articulated the reason -- the fact that the country has flaws.

And those two positions are "just like" one another? How's that?

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In early 2016, I began paying attention to reports about the incredible number of unarmed black people being killed by the police. The posts on social media deeply disturbed me, but one in particular brought me to tears: the killing of Alton Sterling in my hometown Baton Rouge, La. This could have happened to any of my family members who still live in the area. I felt furious, hurt and hopeless. I wanted to do something, but didn’t know what or how to do it. All I knew for sure is that I wanted it to be as respectful as possible.

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4Q Basket Case said:

I have to say Eric Reid's reason is clear. The goal is unachievable, but his protest against police shooting black people has a unambiguous background.

But the protesters as a whole, including Colin Kaepernick (sp?) are far less clear.

A Google search on "what are the anthem kneelers protesting" turned up the following article:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/what-will-taking-the-knee-mean-now

According to the kneelers interviewed in the article, it variously means peace, power, unity, and a protest against Donald Trump.

At the end, even Kaepernick says it's against, "structural disenfranchisement." I'm hard-pressed to think of a more vague reason -- it can mean pretty much anything the protester doesn't like.

So, while Eric Reid may have a clearly articulated reason for his protest, the group as a whole (including its founder) really doesn't seem to.

But back to the original question -- how is Lee Greenwood wearing the flag just like being an anthem kneeler?

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4Q Basket Case said:

Well, there's something we can agree on.

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4Q Basket Case said:

Luther Strange may be the most disappointing politician in my experience.

He's wealthy -- a long-time partner in the Bradley Arant firm in Birmingham, he made a lot of money for an extended period of time. I don't know his personal family background, but I do know that he married into an old-line Mountain Brook family.

Now, all that doesn't make him a good person. But it does mean that he doesn't need money of dubious origin to live a pretty sporty lifestyle. You would logically think he'd be less prone to accepting what could be charitably called under-the-table money. If you're feeling less charitable, call it bribes.

But you would be wrong. In this case, logic fails. Apparently, his drug of choice is power, not money. And to get it, he's proven he'll totally sell out whatever shreds of principle he may once have had.

For those not familiar with Alabama's political cesspool: Strange was Alabama's Attorney General, and his office was conducting an investigation into myriad issues around Governor Robert Bentley's personal and professional conduct. Unrelated to that, but during the same time period, Jeff Sessions was chosen to be Donald Trump's US Attorney General. That left one of Alabama's US Senate seats open.

The Love Guv named Strange to fill the seat, and Strange's AG office miraculously and simultaneously dropped the investigation.

Shortly thereafter, Bentley resigned in disgrace, former Lt. Governor Kay Ivey took over, and she called a special election for the senate seat. Note: That's a bit unusual in that the normal process is for the new senator to serve out the term, which in this instance had roughly three years to go. I've always wondered whether Ivey did that because of the taint on the legitimacy of the appointment, but to my knowledge, she's never explained herself on the point.

Anyway, there was a large Republican field, and Strange and Roy Moore ended up in a runoff. Moore won the runoff, mainly on the strength of a hard core of supporters and the general disgust with the way Strange clearly sold his soul for the seat.

Fortunately for us all, multiple allegations of sexual misconduct / harassment of much younger girls surfaced, and Democrat Doug Jones narrowly defeated Moore.

Here's the irony as far as Strange is involved: There's a good chance that, if he had continued with the investigation of Bentley, he'd have won Sessions' old seat in the next election, whenever that might have been. That was the first instance I'm aware of him doing something just jaw-droppingly stupid. And he dang near hung us with Roy Moore in the process. Compared to that buffoon (Moore), Donald Trump has the presence, tact, and statesmanship of Henry Kissinger.

And now this -- payments from Balch of $50K (that we know of, anyway). $50K? Really? At the Bradley firm, his partner draw would have approached that on a monthly basis. Talk about selling what remains of your virtue cheap.

Before all this, I honestly thought Luther Strange had a chance to be the New South politician Alabama hasn't had yet. What an incredibly disillusioning disappointment.

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