Political Quarantine
64Hey all!
I’ve been out for a few weeks and just got caught up to the happenings here in the forums. I’m pretty bummed at what I came back to.
The political posts have escalated and are out of hand. We really try to not censor discussion here, but these posts/comments are all falling under the personal attack or trolling category. That isn’t a discussion.
We’re so close to the election and these posts are not going to change anyone’s mind or bring anyone to your side. It’s time to put it to rest.
I’m not going to go deleting everything that’s already been said. However, we are going to quarantine all politics to this thread. If you’d like to discuss politics, this is the only place to do so. We’ll be monitoring it more closely for issues, so play nice.
While we’re on a roll, I’d like to remind everyone that the following are gross:
homophobic comments/slurs
ablist phrases/slurs
racism
sexism
I have faith that we can turn away from the political screaming matches and get back to whatever normal is for us.
- Your friendly neighborhood Thumperchick
- 285 comments, 593 replies
- Comment
Thank you.
Thank you!
/giphy standing ovation
Is Joe Exotic still running for office? I’d like to support him.
@zinimusprime
He should play that. It might be his get-out-of-jail card…
@zinimusprime Joe Exotic 2020 “I will never financially recover from this”
Welcome back, missed you, sorry, and thank you!
Thanks for creating a thread with a non-inflammatory title for this. I probably will not be checking back in here again, but I appreciate what you’re doing.
well… someone has to get the nasty politics ball rolling, and i guess it will be me.
does anyone in their right mind think James Blaine would beat Grove Cleveland??? if you do, you must have your head up your sassafras.
@carl669 You are dancing dangerously close to an ablist slur of the rectocranial inverted, mister.
/image dewey defeats truman
(This is NOT a prediction about the current election.)
@f00l I thought that paper said Dewey and Trump
/giphy bluffing
BYEDON 2020!
@cranky1950
Where is Don going?
@chienfou Ta Hell hopefully
@chienfou @cranky1950
@chienfou @cranky1950
What has trump done
He got us out of the disastrous Iran deal, killed their head of terror, boxed them in and is currently collapsing their economy.
while also brokering a Mid East peace deal that everyone said could never happen.
He has gotten Europe to pay their share of NATO
He also has defended religious liberty unlike any other president at least in the last 100 years,
President Trump also took on an economy that had been beaten down, a people who had been told “you didn’t build that” and, in fact, Obama and Biden claimed that the economy was “as good as it would ever get,” that we would never create jobs in sectors ever again.
He’s defending our Constitution, againts those on the left who are now actively engaged in destroying it and any elected president who stands in their way.
If you want socialism then vote for Biden, it will get here quick if he is elected.
I prefer freedom, how about you.
@chienfou @cranky1950 @Soaring2911
@chienfou @onlyonetruth @Soaring2911 Trump accomplished this without socialism.
@chienfou @cranky1950 @Soaring2911
Cranky, you’re just saying random nonsense now. Is that because you’re cranky?
Cranky, blue state resident or otherwise, you have got to get your head out of CNN’s ass…
@Felton10
@Felton10 @onlyonetruth Yeah I guess liberala do cause Trump to act a pretty deranged for no reason
/giphy and it begins …
@f00l
We are about 1/3 of the way thru our local early voting.
More than 24% of registered voters in one large nearby hi-pop metro county have already voted. All but a tiny slicer of a percentage of these voted in person at an official early voting location.
Data is from the county voting office.
I voted on the second day. My polling location line took about 5 hours till I had a ballot in my hand.
There were faster locations - one friend spent about 20 min total at his polling location. But I was coming in from far out of town, wanted to get it done, and picked the jam-packed closest one to me, so that I would arrive before it closed.
For the final 6-7 days of local early voting in my area, all polling location hours will expand by several hours each day.
I think a typical historical presidential election year turnout locally is, I’ve been told, a bit above 50%. Have not verified this.
But it seems that everyone wants to go to the trouble this time round.
I think that the large participation is an excellent thing.
I have absolutely no idea what that might mean locally for election results, am content to wait till Nov for that info.
Have zero desire to make a partisan fuss over this here in these forums.
Thought the participation info was interesting.
@f00l I voted today
/giphy screaming
@lisaviolet
/giphy abandon thread
@Felton10
was just going to report that last one but see you already pulled it…
Not a Russian bot but still…
@Felton10
I decided to do mail ballot for the first time ever. I have my ballot in my hot little hand and I’m reviewing the instructions to ensure my vote isn’t invalidated and I see in the instructions that I have to sign to make it all legal. Specifically, I have to sign the outside of the mailing envelope? I look at the mailing envelope and see that not only do I have to sign it, but it is also imprinted with my name, address, voter ID number and I have to include my phone number below my signature. All on the outside of the mailing envelope.
Really? I’m not going to do that. Paranoid? Maybe. But I prefer to think of it as careful and protective of my identity, safety and security, and voting choices.
@ruouttaurmind if you don’t sign the outside, your vote gets tossed.
@ruouttaurmind I agree but does that mean you will vote in person? You don’t want to invalidate your mail in.
@RiotDemon Ya, sadly I’m aware. I will have to suck it up and vote in a booth like my parents and grandparents did I guess.
@tinamarie1974 In person is the plan.
@RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind Ours goes in another envelope so the signature is inside.
@sammydog01 This! Exactly! Just include a small signature card, slip them both into the return envelope. Easy peasy. But I guess that would defy county administration logic and actually satisfy the voters. The county administration can’t possibly start that trend.
@ruouttaurmind I bet it’s your state not your county. GO DEMAND A SECOND ENVELOPE! IT’S YOUR RIGHT AS AN AMERICAN! I’ll wait here- tell me how it goes.
@sammydog01
So, I’m having geek problems this week. Old epson R1900 photos have a definite bluish tinge. Using a CIS. Changed out all of the ink, got a new set of empty cartridges, still have the problem. Most likely the print head. Did the solution in the nozzles, hopefully this will get rid of any dried ink in them.
And my weather PC started sounding pretty bad yesterday. Probably got it last century. Win XP. I took it apart and blew it out, lots of dust and hair, but it still sounded pretty crappy. It’s not running right now. I have an old laptop that I’ll try running the weather station on. I’ve been removing all programs, checking the hard drive, all sorts of fun stuff.
I’ve been pretty occupied all day, haven’t done much online. I head over to my Twitter account and I’m blocked. I have a bad tweet that needs to be removed before I can access my Twitter account.
It was from June 2019.
It was in response to something don, the lying, fascist con said. It went like this:
I am the queen of England
I love to sing and dance
And if you don’t believe me
I will punch you in the pants
I needed that laugh today…
@Felton10 I’m not even sure what you’re attacking here. You don’t like bald people? People with a pale complexion bother you for some reason? You’re prejudiced against older looking folks in general?
What deranged point are you trying to make here?
@Felton10 @onlyonetruth
I think he looks better without the fake hair and tan.
@mtb002
@Felton10
I voted last week.
@therealjrn
Executive Summary:
The kind of hateful slime some here have blindly spewed at people with whom they disagree politically, as a representation of that kind of behavior nationwide, is why you got Trump.
Instead of learning something from your narrow-minded, bigoted, hypocritical stupidity, you collectively escalated it to a shrill unrelenting shriek of infinite asininity. That is why you’ll get Trump again.
By a landslide.
@onlyonetruth @therealjrn I guess living in red state tends to narrow your view quite a bit.
@cranky1950 @therealjrn I suppose living in a blue state just distorts it beyond recognition.
@cranky1950
When did diversity become thinking like everyone else?
@onlyonetruth because name calling brings everyone together!
Here Are Hunter Biden’s Alleged Text Messages Giuliani Just Turned Over to the Delaware State Police
Rudy Giuliani handed over “very, very sensitive” text messages to the Delaware State Police that are allegedly from Hunter Biden to his father, former Vice President Joe Biden.…
…“There’s a memo in here that says that 10 percent of the money that was being racked up, that was $10 million a year, and then 50 percent of the profits, three Chinese communists, one of whom was a Chinese intelligence operative, that 10 percent of that was going to H for the ‘Big Guy.’ So, we’ve identified the ‘Big Guy’ several ways,” Giuliani explained."
Joe Biden was confirmed as the “Big Guy” by an alleged email that followed where Hunter asked for a set of office keys.…
As one of the commenters to this article succinctly put it: “Who would have thought Giuliani would bring down a bigger crime org than the mafia.”
You know shit’s gettin’ real when OJ has the higher moral ground.
@therealjrn Okay everyone, this is apolitical and funny as hell
He took his own advice. He apparently blames us for his becoming the most corrupt politician in American history…
Joe Biden Cannot Be President – Time For The Democrats To Put “Country Before Party”
by Charles “Sam” Faddis October 18, 2020
No rational person can any longer have any question about the corruption of Hunter Biden and his father Joe. Even the most skeptical must admit in light of the recent revelations produced by the New York Post and Breitbart that President Trump’s use of the term “Biden Crime Family” is completely appropriate.
Hunter was the bag man for a family enterprise. He traveled the globe collecting the payoffs necessary to secure meetings with his father and his father’s intervention on behalf of the world’s thugs, dictators, and communist regimes.
And, yet, incredibly these are no longer our biggest concerns. We are not simply faced with the possibility of a crook being elected to the highest office in the land. We are facing the very real possibility of having a man, Joe Biden, who is owned by the Chinese Communist Party sit down in the Oval Office.
The amounts of money that are involved are staggering. In one meeting with Communist Chinese officials, Hunter Biden secured $1 Billion. That sum was later upped to $1.5 Billion. No one – at this stage – can even begin to assess the total amount of money provided by Beijing to the Bidens. No one at this stage can even begin to quantify the number of “deals” Hunter made with the Communist rulers of China.
We have known for some time that Chinese businesses implicated in espionage on American soil have been connected directly to Hunter Biden. They stole American nuclear secrets. They targeted sensitive technology used in the F-22 program. We have also known that at a minimum Joe Biden, watched all this happen and did nothing.
Now we see more clearly exactly how all this worked. Recent revelations by Breitbart concerning a visit by a Chinese delegation including Chinese Communist Party officials to Washington, D.C. spell out in stark detail the staggering amount of money the Chinese represented, and the role Hunter played in getting them the meetings they wanted with senior American officials. Those meetings included a visit to the White House itself, where, according to Breitbart, the Chinese met directly with then Vice-President Biden in a meeting deliberately kept off the official White House calendar.
The Bidens seem to have taken a lot of cash from a lot of people around the world. None of that seems to have come anywhere close to the amount of cash the Chinese forked over. In fact, viewed through the lens of what we now know perhaps the first question we need to ask is what has Joe already done at the behest of his Chinese masters.
When he convinced Barack Obama to back off on plans to push back on Chinese expansionism in the South China Seas was he simply demonstrating a lack of backbone or was he delivering for his Communist co-conspirators?
When Joe stands in front of audiences and tells them that the Chinese Communist Party is no threat to the United States is he simply demonstrating almost pathological naivete or is he following Chinese United Front talking points?
When Joe stood up and opposed Donald Trump’s shutdown of travel from China in February and Joe branded him a xenophobe was he simply incompetent and indecisive or was he saying what he had been paid to say?
We need to know the answers to those questions – not months or years from now – but before anyone even considers entrusting a man who may be completely compromised with control of our nuclear arsenal and the fate of the free world. We won’t get answers in the time remaining before the election. Even were the FBI not compromised by Christopher Wray it could not possibly hope to resolve these matters in two and a half weeks.
Wray should be fired. The FBI, under the direction of someone with integrity and competence, should run this matter to the ground, and any number of individuals including Joe Biden should go to prison. That won’t solve the immediate problem though.
To do that, we need the Democratic Party to stand up and do the right thing. The senior levels of that machine are filled largely with hard-nosed political functionaries for whom abstractions like country and patriotism are meaningful only as lines to use in manipulating the great unwashed to their benefit. We must hope, though, that there remain men and women within the party that recognize there are things that are more important than partisan advantage.
Biden cannot remain the candidate of the Democratic Party for the office of President of the United States. He is not simply corrupt. He is now potentially a threat to the national security of the United States of America. The Democrats spent years trying to convince us Donald Trump was a Russian asset based on a dossier with all the substance of a comic book. The information now presented against Joe Biden dwarfs that by comparison.
We cannot risk having a Chinese agent take control of the White House.
Joe Biden cannot be allowed to be President. It is time for the Democratic Party to do the right thing, put “country ahead of party,” and remove Biden as their nominee.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/us/politics/florida-alaska-trump-emails.html
@lisaviolet “But metadata from the email shows that it did not come from the displayed email address — “info@officialproudboys.com” — but instead originated from an Estonian email server.”
isn’t that where the Flintstones and Rubbles live? i always knew Barney and Betty had a dark side.
@carl669 Yep. Furriners sowing discord. That’s what happens when you can’t afford shoes.
Or petrol.
I don’t mind reiterating that I’m entirely uninterested in a “conversation” with the folks desperately seeking attention for their favorite wannabe dictator, and I hope it’s within bounds to state emphatically that I don’t give even an odorless hint of a shit about their opinions; nor do I respect them (the opinions or their sources).
But as this is the political thread (and I join in the rejoicing), I do want to encourage my fellow socialists, anarchists and antifascists and even you centrists (aka, Democrats and other “liberals” and neoliberals)–hell, if you’re a Republican with a shred of decency–to
**
get your goddamned asses to the bloody motherfucking polls in an effort to end the soulless orange embarrassment. Please. For the love of all that’s holy and, verily, for the love of all that’s unholy, but oh so delicious.
**
The polls opened in Texas October 13. I thought we might wait a day, but we couldn’t bear it. Had a morning Teams meeting, but immediately after, the wife and I threw on some appropriate-for-the-public apparel (note the designer) and did our duty.
Just so there’s no confusion where we stand (the cover is a local church some asshole reactionaries decided to lie to and troll with some blue and orange lives matter bullshit, since they can’t stand the thought of Black folks living; the trolls didn’t appreciate the sign, as you might guess).
Echo chamber? Don’t mind if I do.
@joelmw quality shirt you’re wearing there.
@carl669 Indeed. You might not notice that the wife has a classic meh on as well.
@joelmw even better!!
@joelmw
No one gives a fuck about you or your silly little thoughts either. But if it’s any consolation to you, your tears will be just as tasty on November 4th.
Joe Biden KNEW Hunter was sexually harassing a teenage girl, and DID NOTHING ABOUT IT
And you people are voting for him. Some of you, who have yet to vote, will overlook this and still vote for him. That says a lot. A whole hell of a lot. But yeah, OrangeManBad…
@onlyonetruth do you have a source for that that’s NOT from an extreme right wing commentary site?
like an actual news article?
and yes, orange man bad. but also the people he’s surrounded himself with are even worse.
@earlyre I’m having trouble understanding how anyone you might suggest in OrangeManBad’s circles would be worse than a deeply corrupt man with a decades long history of treasonous graft, accomplished through his family. The same man who looks the other way when his son discusses his sexual predations with a 14 year old girl. Since that’s someone you find to be of higher moral fiber than OrangeManBad or “the people he’s surrounded himself with”, please explain yourself.
the simple truth is, if Trump is claiming someone else is doing something, chances are that’s exactly what he’s doing.
it’s right out of the old KGB playbook, Deflect by accusing the other guy of doing what you actually are doing.
@earlyre You have the guilty and the falsely accused reversed. I understand why - you apparently get your news from sources that you believe to be “actual news” (your words). Feel free to suggest some examples of “actual news” venues. Prediction: every one you believe to be “actual news” is extreme left, hopelessly partisan, and shamelessly dishonest.
@earlyre
@earlyre @onlyonetruth Amen!
Democrats, if you actually care about truth, as you keep saying, then read this.
Thursday and despite the Democrat Industrial Propaganda Complex’s best effort to squash or otherwise discredit the revelations of massive graft, corruption and deviancy on Hunter Biden’s laptop, the word has gotten out to the general public. In fact Jack Dorsey’s and Mark Zuckerberg’s collusion to censor anyone and everyone including the New York Post itself as well as politicians and prominent pundits has turned into a titanic self-inflicted dick-punch that made perhaps a mostly unaware or uninterested LIV public suddenly crave “forbidden fruit” (pun definitely intended). The breaking story is an actual insider witness to Hunter and Goofy Joey openly discussing their massive corruption schemes in front of him. No one better than Michael Goodwin from The New York Post itself to give you the skinny from Fat:
As Goodwin states, this is only China. No doubt the graft and corruption includes Ukraine, Romania, Kazakhstan and probably every other country where Air Force Two touched down between 2009 and 2016, or where a US government aircraft unloaded that gibbering, corrupt pervert and his son in the former’s capacity as a Senator and official American envoy since 1973.
@onlyonetruth
@onlyonetruth
@onlyonetruth Seriously though, that story has issues. I did the “right thing”
and went directly to snopes: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/15/hunter-biden-laptop-giuliani/
Doesn’t seem like an intellectually honest person has a right to a strong belief about the authenticity of that laptop’s contents either way. It’s more or less suggestive mainly because of prior beliefs.
@InnocuousFarmer @onlyonetruth The same could be said about 99% of the garbage being thrown at President Trump. I did notice Snope.com did not rate the article as true, false, mostly true/false, or even partially true/false.
@Mehrocco_Mole @onlyonetruth Yeah, that absence of a rating is what you’d expect when they’re describing uncertainty. (Or is that what you meant?)
One of my greatest disappointments with politicians and media is that they went for garbage partisanship instead of carefully, honestly, distinguishing between complaints about Trump particular to him and partisan talking points. Not much journalism going around these days.
/giphy talking to myself
@lisaviolet I can lead a horse to water, but… you know, the thing…
@lisaviolet @onlyonetruth It’s simply because there can be no response without making oneself look the fool. One cannot dispute verifiable facts with #Orangemanbad.
Can. Not. Be. Done.
We also recognize this:
Giuliani’s compromising scene in the ‘Borat’ sequel is another hit to Trump’s personal attorney.
If you can watch the movie (just out yesterday) on Amazon Prime. Read the summary below.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2020/10/21/borat-sequel-rudy-giuliani-sacha-baron-cohen/
@Felton10 You’re posting a link to Jeff Bezos’ personal extreme left wing hack “news” site? This story was debunked before it even hit the ground. But anything to save your flailing, demented, mean-spirited, venal, corrupt, unmitigated asshole candidate…
@onlyonetruth This cannot be true! They don’t deal in chump change like this!
/giphy head banging
Democrats still live in a Trump-fueled dystopian nightmare
Whether it’s the MSM’s response to the Bobulinski claims or leftists still severing Facebook contacts, Democrats are immature narcissists.
…It doesn’t bode well for the country if 49% of the voters are the functional equivalent of a high-attitude, low-rationality teenager who reads only dystopian fiction and then thinks it’s real…
@onlyonetruth I love this line:
How true!
/giphy yadda yadda yadda
@lisaviolet So you’re saying you have no interest in verifiable facts?
@Mehrocco_Mole Who’s doing the verifying? That matters. A lot. Media? Feh…
Do you see me posting message after message about what this media outlet or that media outlet has to say about either of the candidates?
Nope. It will either be preaching to the choir or enraging those who don’t agree. Waste of my time.
Because what I believe and think only matters to me. I’m not going to change anyone’s mind here, I’d just be blathering on to hear myself talk (“see how much more enlightened I am than any of you?”) or to start a heated debate, you know…troll…
No one cares about my opinion and my opinion isn’t likely to change anyone else’s at this point. And I’m aware of that fact, so I just post fun gifs.
You guys go ahead and continue to argue amongst yourselves and I’ll post gifs.
On both my Twitter account and my Facebook account in my about, it states “I don’t argue with my husband. I’m not going to argue with you.”
And I’m pretty good at holding to that.
@lisaviolet
EXACTLY! Especially at this point in this election. This isn’t political debate, this is just Fight Club. 
@Kyeh Or fun memes club! (Staying on topic has never been one of my strong points.)
@lisaviolet Yeah, the meme part is good!
@onlyonetruth
Earlier @joelmw said,
And @carl669 's takeaway from this was the shirt he’s wearing?
Joelmw, the above quote explains why you would prefer Joe 中国拥有和经营 Biden. But exactly what President Trump policy do you really hate?
The normalization of relations between Israel and Bahrain, UAE, and now Sudan? Or the Kosovo and Serbia economic normalization agreements? Yeah, I can see how that is bad with his being anti-muslim and all.
Or how about 10-year funding for HBCUs. OMG how raciest is that!?!
And speaking of showing that Black lives actually do matter without burning down anyone’s business, the 3,100 inmates released from federal prisons across the country because of the First Step Act? Over 91 percent of the individuals whose sentences were shortened were African American and 98 percent were male. But hey, How dare #Orangemanbad override and change a law imposed on the Black community by 中国 Joe?
These are just a few of the accomplishments of President Trump during his first term. I could go on with items like a record pre-covid low unemployment rate across all demographics, a robust economy again pre-covid. Shutting down international travel which 中国 Joe called xenophobic and “Here, hold my brandy” Pelosi ridiculed at the time. And they both have the balls to criticize President Trump about his supposed early inaction. Talk about JB & NP leading from the rear!
So here’s a challenge to my left of center friends; make a list of 中国 Joe Biden’s accomplishments. You have almost 50 years to work with so surely you can come up with something worthwhile. Extra points are available if you can come up with something Nancy Pelosi successfully accomplished. Bet you can’t do it.
It will only get better during President Trump’s second four year term.
The Violence Against Women Act. There are more, but only one is needed.
You sir, are a liar. QED.
/image orange is sus. Vote him out.
@mike808
One thing.
From 1994.
Twenty six years ago.
That’s quite the success story.
One to be proud of, literally.
I think you need this definition of the word list:
LIST
[list]
NOUN
a number of connected items or names written or printed consecutively, typically one below the other.
While I will concede one is a number, you will please notice that both of the words items and names in the above definition are plural. This means they are indicative of more than one. So QED my ass pal 'cause you aren’t done.
I notice you didn’t go for the extra points.
Please point out what part of anything I said was a lie.
Your challenge was a claim there are no Biden accomplishments.
That claim is categorically false. You are entitled to your opinions, but not your own facts.
Just quit while you’re ahead.
@mike808 Apparently you are having difficulties with the English language.
Nowhere have I made that claim. I asked for a LIST of those accomplishments. And so far you cannot come up with anything else. Nothing for “Party down in Chinatown” Pelosi either so I guess I won that bet.
My challenge was to make a list which you are having a hard time doing. So my challenge still stands unanswered. Make a list or go home.
The only opinion made was the very last sentence.
It is obvious to even the most casual observer that any statement predicting the future no matter how probable it is, is an opinion. I stand behind my statement.
Everything else listed as President Trump accomplishments are based on government statistics or as in the case of JB & NP comments, video evidence.
You are also entitled to your own opinions as long as they are preapproved by your liberal/progressive/socialist masters, but not your own facts, and most certainly not their made-up facts.
Just quit while you’re behind. When you find yourself in a hole it’s best to stop digging.
“You’re absolutely correct. Enjoy.”
@Mehrocco_Mole how the fuck did I get pulled into this? only said I liked the shirt. end of story.
@carl669 It’s the topic. It just keeps sucking you in.
@mike808 You aren’t even a half way decent troll. You had a few more rounds to go before this was over but being the {Stop name calling.}
{~ TC}
@Kyeh @lisaviolet Hey guys, why settle for funny when you can have hilarious?
@Mehrocco_Mole I’m not ignoring you, I want to watch this, but I need to hear it, I’m on my laptop in the family room and the tv is on and hubby is stretched out and relaxed. So, tomorrow.
I love bad lip reading videos. Even the one during the “Law & Order” marathons. Lenny saying “he’s a weirdo” always makes me laugh.
I just have trouble understanding how people can voluntarily overlook important information. For example, if anything Trump was accused of and harassed for over the past 4 years had been true, he would have lost my support. I would not have been able to bring myself to vote for Biden, but I would not have voted for Trump either. I certainly wouldn’t waste my time standing up for him. But facts are stubborn things, and truth is truth.
This is something about you leftists that I cannot understand. It’s why I think your political beliefs are actually your cult. You will believe, and no facts will change that.
When the leftist Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber let his mask slip a bit and said, in so many words, that they were going to push through their wretched legislation because of the “stupidity of the American voter” (his words), I did not realize that he was defining the entire playbook of the left.
The Biden/Harris/Marx campaign has made that abundantly clear.
The thing about dementia… sometimes they just say the truth (that’s something new for Joe, but here it is…)
Mary Trump: Psychiatrists know what’s wrong with my uncle. Let them tell voters.
Muzzling its members is a dereliction of duty by the American Psychiatric Association.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/psychiatrists-mary-trump-goldwater/2020/10/22/ebf5e2b6-13c0-11eb-ba42-ec6a580836ed_story.html#comments-wrapper
@Felton10 Because letting ethics get in the way of making a quick buck is a dereliction of duty.
Be careful what you wish for because Joe 中国拥有和经营 Biden is next.
Okay, I just had to share this. If you’ve been following the bruising on his hands and mouth, you’ll understand…
Media bias - hard to get away from it.
https://www.adfontesmedia.com/
@lisaviolet so this is the best thing I have seen on these political posts!!
One question though. Does the Weather Channel report on politics? Lol
@tinamarie1974 I agree. It helps put things in perspective, for sure. Did you check out the interactive chart?
I had to laugh at the Weather Channel as well. Skews a little to the left!
@lisaviolet oh it is interactive? Looks like I have something to play with!!!
@tinamarie1974 Interactive chart
There are some on the far left that I followed for a while until I realized that they were all about the hit count (advertising dollars), not the truth.
I’m happy to see that most of the places I get my news are in the top center section.
@lisaviolet Unfortunately, certain people (you can probably guess who) will call this chart “fake news”. Willful ignorance is a helluva drug
@greenroomjah Or cognitive dissonance.
I know it’s a little thing, but you can explain how blue tooth works to me until the rivers run dry and I will still believe it’s some sort of sorcery.
@lisaviolet more reporting the facts from the liberal media than the conservative media unless I’m reading that wrong
@lisaviolet @medz
More accurate chart:
@medz @onlyonetruth That sounds more like an opinion than a fact.
@lisaviolet @medz Not surprisingly, oot’s chart above is total bullshit. Google image search it and see where that chart shows up. All you need to see is where Infowars shows up to know it’s crap. The one you posted @lisaviolet is often referred to as the fairest. Here, I’ll make it easy. Just look down the page at the fake conservative news nonsense. Google image search
@cinoclav @lisaviolet @medz
@cinoclav @lisaviolet @medz
BTW I included the link to the source for my chart in my post. But good google sleuthing anyway, Sherlock.
@cinoclav @lisaviolet @onlyonetruth
Unlike Trump who wants to remove the affordable care act before he even has a replacement, Biden wants to phase out fossil fuels. That means we’ll work towards sustainable, efficient energy sources while gradually relying less upon oil and such.
@lisaviolet @medz @onlyonetruth Ooh, Sharyl Attkisson. Someone who now writes for conservative sites and was blatantly anti-Obama. My point was clearly that the only sites paying any attention to that bias chart are far right.
Look {Stop name calling.} if even you can’t admit that Alex Jones is as far right as it gets, your opinion on anything else here is completely insignificant.
Now go ahead and post some more silly cartoons and memes. They’re not helping your cause. And be sure to get that last word in. I know you can’t help yourself.
{Seriously, stop. ~ TC}
@cinoclav
Confirmation bias is a powerful drug. Not only is Ms. Attkisson biased towards Trump, they bring their own fantastical boogieman three-letter agency conspiracy theories into their self-published work.
On the “accurate” media chart presented as “evidence”, the author clearly states it is their personal subjective opinions with no sources of any actual data at all, on an overly simplified left/right distinction with no scale or magnitude expressly noted. Unlike the scientific methodology using documented research practices and multiple reviews of objectively defined and assigned scorings by multiple reviewers we find in the AdFontesMedia.com chart.
My opinion, based on the volume of drivel posted, is that OOT is just a {Stop name calling} posting disinformation exactly as his Russian puppet-masters in the GRU intend.
{~ TC}
@cinoclav @mike808
@cinoclav
When the hell did I ever bring up, discuss, or have any conversation with you or anyone else about Alex Jones? I think the TDS is really getting to you. Sad!
@mike808
A democrat says
@Thumperchick - ‘Doofus’ is no worse than ‘Sherlock’ which is obviously meant to be insulting. So you can fix his too.
@cinoclav https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning
@lisaviolet it used to be that the one who won the war, wrote the history. Now it seems that the one who will win the war will have written (and convinced) the most about it.
@onlyonetruth And, so it would seem, do random people on the internet.
@lisaviolet Information comes at you from all kinds of sources. It’s a personal choice, and a part of personal responsibility, to be aware of as broad a swath of it as possible, and then to make rational judgements and decisions.
Going through life willfully ignorant and narrow minded seems like a terrible waste to me.
@onlyonetruth Oh, tell me more, oh, kind, informed sir…please do!
Tell me more about how I’m narrow minded and uninformed and share your bountiful opinions with me…tell me more about how to think like you…
Take advice from some rando on the internet? Who I have absolutely ZERO interaction with elsewhere, just this thread? Who thinks I should value his opinion? Because why exactly?
Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.
And done.
@lisaviolet Why so hostile? I’m not talking specifically about you (or at least I wasn’t…).
You chose to reply to me why? In order to yelp out some vitriol? Yay. You did it. Now go do whatever it is you need to do to calm down…
Vote Biden
@medz Already did. Both of us. Blue down ballot for the first time ever.
@medz
@onlyonetruth no place for conspiracy theorists like you in America.
@lisaviolet
A vote for “lisa” and a vote for “violet”. I guess you win a point for creativity as far as the usual democrat voter fraud techniques go.
@medz You Elitist!
@medz
@lisaviolet
@onlyonetruth Trump is awful. The majority of Americans agree. Common sense is not deranged. Only in your alternative facts world, maybe.
@lisaviolet @medz It is the only way to get rid of the red scum that has invaded this country.
@Felton10 @lisaviolet @medz
@onlyonetruth
Tell that to your boy, the #1 victim, Trump. Nobody is fair to poor, little Donnie.
@medz Yeah. You democrats and your media have been the shining example of equitability to Trump (or anyone/anything you disagree with or can’t understand).
@onlyonetruth well if he wasn’t so terrible we wouldn’t say so many terrible things about him
@medz Well now it all makes sense. How could I have missed it?
But where are all of the terrible things you should be saying about Biden? I mean, Biden’s level of terrible makes Trump look like JV - heck little league - in comparison. Even if every single thing you leftists screeched about Trump turned out to be true, it would still pale in comparison to Biden’s racism, womanizing, corruption, and (as now seems startlingly clear) outright treason.
Never fear though. I’m here to say the terrible things that need to be said about Biden. It’s a community service. And you’re welcome!
@onlyonetruth yours is not the popular opinion. Sucks to be in the minority, eh?
@medz I never cared about popularity. Just truth.
@onlyonetruth the truth is Biden is more well liked and thus gets better press
@medz I think that there are a minority of you who do for some reason seem to actually like Biden. That would be cute, if he were not so wretched. But I digress.
The main source of his support is not like for Biden, it’s animosity toward Trump. That’s even the basis of what little campaign Biden is running. His platform (well, his handlers’ platform for him on the rare occasions he leaves his basement) is: raise everyone’s taxes (but not yours of course, wink wink), end oil, lie and evade accountability for rampant decades-long corruption, provide vague flip-flops about packing the SC, make Obamacare even more expensive and less worthwhile, and mostly OrangeManBad (and Biden not Orangeman).
Of course the medial love him - unaccomplished useless manipulative liars that they are. Birds of a feather etc, etc…
Programming Alert!
Tomorrow Night, Tucker Carlson Will Play Tony Bobulinski’s Recordings of Biden Operatives Calling Him on the Phone – and Begging Him to be Silent About Biden Crime Family Corruption
If you were duped into voting for Biden, some states allow you to change your vote!
A conservative black Justice will be swearing in a conservative female Justice on Hillary Clinton’s birthday. Clinton was the person Justice Ginsburg wanted to name her replacement.
And…
@onlyonetruth Do you think having a big family makes her a better choice for a justice?
@medz Do you know what’s worse than a sore loser?
A sore winner.
@medz @lisaviolet Have you ever brought your entire family to a job interview? I haven’t. She was trying to impress everyone with her pro-life credentials rather than her legal qualifications.
@lisaviolet @medz
@Felton10 @lisaviolet @medz Joke about Biden rallies aside, if I were in her position I would definitely see if my family could attend part of the hearings. How many people get to witness something like that in person?
@Limewater I’d probably let them stay home so they don’t get bored or catch the covid.
@Felton10 @Limewater @medz Not in today’s environment.
Boom! — Emails Expose Biden Inc.
Peter Schweizer’s treasure trove of emails catch Biden cold: time for a special counsel.
Blue pill or red pill? Whether you click the link and read this (or many other informative pieces like it) or not, you’re still making a choice.
Here’s an excerpt (this part from POLITICO):
Interestingly, back in 2019 when Biden was involved in a primary fight against left-wingers Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the liberal magazine Politico went after Biden with their own investigation on just the problems now being examined by the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the revelations by Schweizer and the New York Post. Here’s the Politico headline:
Biden Inc.
Over his decades in office, ‘Middle-Class Joe’s’ family fortunes have closely tracked his political career.
The Politico report says this:
Biden’s image as a straight-shooting man of the people, however, is clouded by the careers of his son and brother, who have lengthy track records of making, or seeking, deals that cash in on his name.…
Their ventures, over nearly half a century, have regularly raised conflict-of-interest questions and brought the Biden family into potentially compromising associations. This investigation offers the most comprehensive account to date of the politically tinged business activities of Biden’s brother and son, and is the first time former associates of James and Hunter have alleged that the pair explicitly sought to make money off of Joe’s political connections.
That was from 2019. We know so much more now.
@onlyonetruth I’ll still vote Biden. Is he perfect? No. But I really don’t give a shit if Hunter Biden has an email account. So do I. I send emails all the time.
@onlyonetruth Yeah, Hunter Biden sounds really sleazy. I will be very careful not to vote for Hunter Biden. Or Joe Biden’s brother. This is the first I’ve heard of him, but I won’t vote for him, either.
@DoctorOW
I don’t care if Trump made a phone call to quid pro quo Ukraine. I have a phone. I make calls all the time.
I don’t care if Trump got peed on in bed by Russian hookers. I have a bed. I sleep in it all the time.
I don’t care if Trump colluded with the Russians. I have friends in foreign countries. We talk about stuff all the time.
@Limewater You do realize that Hunter is not the issue here, right? Joe peddled his influence to get Hunter and Jim (and possibly others) lucrative and powerful positions in China, Ukraine, Russia (and probably elsewhere), and in return for the access and influence that bought the various foreign players, Joe took a sizeable cut.
This is about Joe’s corruption, graft, and treason. That is, to quote the Big Guy, a B. F. D.
As for Hunter, I hope he gets the support he needs to defeat his demons. If the stuff about the child sexual abuse turns out to be true, I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison.
But let’s not let that depressing stuff distract from the national security crisis that is Joe Biden.
@onlyonetruth It looks more to me like Hunter and Jim have been using their connection to Joe to secure lucrative positions for themselves. I will fully confess to not knowing the intimate details, though.
You say that Hunter Biden is not the issue. I agree that he shouldn’t be, but 90% of what I read everywhere about this is expressly and solely about Hunter Biden and his actions. I am honestly surprised and a little disappointed that the direct implications against Joe Biden coming out of this have been so minimal.
Right now we have some sketchily-sourced messages that refer to someone and a third party saying that the unnamed someone is Joe Biden.
The whole laptop thing seems super sketchy to me. I would be very surprised if Hunter Biden dropped off a laptop and hard drive full of child pornography and incriminating messages to a random computer repair shop and just left it there. I think it is far more likely that Hunter Biden’s iCloud account or whatever was hacked and someone loaded it onto a laptop and “sweetened the deal” with possible misinformation and a trove of child pornography. But that’s just speculation based upon the assumption that Hunter Biden has an IQ over 75. I could be wrong.
I do believe that it is worth investigating, and I think the FBI is doing just that…
@Limewater I kinda liked this guy’s take on the Hunter laptop story.
@Limewater There is a receipt for the laptop repair, signed by Hunter. There is documentation that Hunter’s lawyer tried to get the laptop back from the repair store. Neither Hunter (nor Joe or his campaign) have stated for the record that the emails are illegitimate (or hit back with a slander suit if that really were the case). Even Biden’s spokesperson said, “I don’t think anyone is saying they are inauthentic…"
@Limewater @lisaviolet Is Hunter Biden running for President-I don’t think so. Trump, Fox Snews and the low information lemmings are really scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one. Hope it drives them crazy (more than they already are) that no one with an ounce of sense gives a rat’s ass about this.
@Limewater Remember all this crapola on Hunter is brought to you by a very authentic source-Rudy (I once was worth something) Guiliani who was last seen sticking his hand down his pants while lying on the bed being filmed and pranked by “Borat”. HA HA HA
@Limewater No one in Donald Trump’s orbit would ever trade on their name or position within the administration for their own benefit. If you want a list, I would still be compiling it on election day.
@Felton10 Aww. You’re scared.
Felton, you breathlessly believed Every. Single. Thing. your programmers fed you about Trump: Russian hookers. Collusion. Quid pro quo. Tax fraud. And on. And on. And on.
The verifiable, verified, and very real information about your corrupt hero has created a cognitive dissonance in you that would be funny to watch, if it were not so pitiful. Faced with this, all you can do is default to your “something went terribly wrong” programming, with non sequiturs about Hunter (we’re talking about Joe, Felton). There is no doubt you’ll be back with more NPC babble about Russian trolls again in a bit.
@onlyonetruth I haven’t looked into it, but so far all I can find about Hunter Biden’s lawyer trying to get the laptop back from the repair shop is that Steve Bannon says it happened.
I am not surprised that Biden has not denied anything about the laptop. It is in his best interest at the moment to not even acknowledge that it exists, whether it is real or not. That is not a surprising tactic. For a similar example, see President Obama refusing to product his birth certificate.
And I believe that the messages, or at least a large subset of the messages, most likely are authentic. As I said, I believe it is worth investigating and I believe the FBI is doing just that. I hope they do a good job.
@Limewater Isn’t it odd that the FBI subpoenaed the equipment from the shop owner, came and retrieved the laptop and an external hard drive, yet nine months later the shop owner suddenly produced a copy of the hard drive to give to Guiliani. I don’t know about you, but if the FBI came knocking and said they wanted what you have in regards to this situation, I wouldn’t be keeping an illegal copy of it.
Sketchy doesn’t begin to describe the entire situation. Chump’s own people warned that Rudy is hanging with Russians interested in pushing disinformation.
@cinoclav @Limewater That’s an indictment of how corrupt the leadership of the FBI is. Fortunately, Trump finally figured out that he has to fire all of those swamp losers. January 2021 is going to be a hoot!
General Flynn as head of the FBI… What fun that would be!
The name calling is still not allowed, folks.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_Donald_Trump
@medz As a fat, deplorable, dog faced pony soldier, stupid bastard, liar, chump, I’m confused by when it’s bad to call people names, and when it’s just politics.
It’s OK. Clearly lots of things are confusing to you.
@mike808 Wow - you got me! Sick burn. Now go ask your mommy for a cookie or something.
The Republican Party is dead to me.
@blaineg Amazing that it took Trump to ferret out the RINOs, grifters, posers, and other such riff raff. What’s left is now the constitutional conservative party, and we’re much better and stronger for it.
@blaineg By the way, I think you misread that cartoon. A swamp full of a bunch of smug, well fed elephants with fistfuls of cash, wiped out by the Trump-SMOD… That’s why we support Trump - this is very much a pro-trump cartoon.
Unless you’re one of the well fed, smug, grifter RINOs. Then it’s terrible. Just terrible.
@blaineg @onlyonetruth Is this the same Constitutional Conservative President who just said news coverage of Covid-19 should be an election law violation? Or that the guy who said that congress should follow the Constitution and have a quorum before passing the $2 trillion+ bail-out should be kicked out of the Republican party?
@blaineg @Limewater The way the “media” is using “coverage” of Covid-19 is an in-kind donation to the democrat party. That is an election law violation.
@onlyonetruth kinda hard not to report on the biggest thing affecting Americans right now. Just like Trump to assume it’s all about him. Poor perpetual victim, Trump.
@medz Reporting is one thing. Using what you report, how you report it, and the messaging you want to sell with your reporting isn’t reporting anymore. It’s political activism.
@onlyonetruth
Fact: hospitalizations are up
Fact: masks help slow infection rate
Fact: Trump is not a mask advocate
Fact: Trump’s position on the matter is counterproductive
News reports this as it is and they are somehow to blame? Pfft
@medz
Fact: The death rate is stable (and we know who is most at risk)
Fact: There is no convincing science on the utility of masks for the general population (if you’re sick, masks may protect others from you to an extent)
Fact: Trump’s position on masks is more scientifically valid, in that he’s suggesting using common sense and your best judgment. Again, your comment about masks is arguable at best.
Fact: Trump’s position on the matter has to try to balance medical, social, and economic factors
“News” reports take a one-sided perspective. One that you agree with, and that’s fine. However, your perspective is not the only one (and is not necessarily correct), and the “news” should not report it as such.
@medz @onlyonetruth
This is false, unless you are excluding “people infected with Covid-19” from “the general population.” But if that is the case, it’s a non-statement. The whole point of wearing a mask, as presented by the relevant experts, is because you won’t necessarily know when you have been infected and may be passing it on to others.
Here’s an easy-to-read journalism article that references actual scientific papers:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8
This is false. There is nothing scientifically valid about common sense. Common sense leads to incorrect conclusions all the time. The failures of common sense are a big part of the reason that we have the structured ways of thinking and investigating that the scientific method and Mathematics give us.
I don’t know anything about current death rates, but I infection rates are going up in a lot of places right now, an death rates are going to lag. As I understand it, treatments have improved over the last six months, but hospital capacity is still a concern.
And yes, President Trump does have to consider multiple dimensions of the problem. There is a reasonable argument to be made that his anti-mask statements have had a negative impact on social and economic factors as well.
@Limewater @medz
I may come back to this conversation later - I’m out of time at the moment. But in the meantime, please show me some examples of Trump’s anti-mask statements. I’m aware that he does not consider them as holy as the “Twitter-MDs” do, but I don’t recall him ever saying not to wear them, or that they’re bad, or something specifically “anti”.
@Limewater @medz
This just popped up, and it’s relevant to this discussion. The citation is linked in the title. The analysis and text is from a neurosurgeon in D.C.
DO MASKS WORK?
With regard to COVID, we are awash in unreliable or even intentionally misleading empirical claims. A neurosurgeon from D.C. who understands statistics analyzes a popular claim that is being made on behalf of mask mandates.
I encountered a Washington Post figure making its way through social media, suggesting that not wearing masks is conclusively the reason for COVID spread:
If you look at the figure closely, the y-axis is “% who know someone with COVID-19.” Why on earth would any reasonable scientist or public health official use this “survey” variable to honestly study a scientific/public health effect? The reason is, it is not true.
I pulled the % wearing masks variable from the graph (in and by itself a dubious measurement), and correlated it with the Rt value (that you can pull from Rt.live). The RT value is the exponential coefficient that suggests growth (>1) vs contraction (<1) of the virus. I then plotted the results:
There is no correlation whatsoever. The “trend line” I plotted has a 0.02 correlation (1.0 means full correlation). When you take the outliers out (WY, RI, MS, DC, SD), the correlation drops to 0.01. In fact, some of the states with the worst RTs right now (NJ, CT, MA, RI) have the highest “mask wearing” percentages!
Furthermore, the graph is titled “Fewer covid-19 symptoms reported in states with higher rates of mask use” — which is completely wrong! The data do not graph symptoms, only the loose perceptions of individuals who “know” someone, who were surveyed.
The fact that this passes off as “journalism” or “science” is incredibly pathetic — and it is being “liked” on social media by people who should know better. The reasons for this are the obvious political implications.
Hope you can make a comment or two regarding this. People need to understand what is going on here!
This kind of fake science is rampant, and as our correspondent says, the motivation is political. The Washington Post is like the New York Times; no one should take anything it says seriously.
@medz @onlyonetruth
This will probably be my last post on this. I wasn’t going to respond, but it’s distracting and I need to get it out of my brain. I am severely over-tasked at work for the next few weeks at least, and won’t have time for my family or things I actually enjoy, let alone this stuff.
I want to point out, what you have presented is pop journalism article being spread on social media and then being criticized in another pop journalism article. These are not scientific journals. The Nature article I linked above provides direct references to actual published scientific journal articles, as well as referencing a couple of pre-prints. I’ll take the science over pop journalism or social media any day.
The author is not wrong to be suspicious of conclusions drawn from that plot. I would be, too. It’s based on Facebook survey data, which is a big point of concern, and it does not really support the conclusion that the journalist drew from it.
So, to be clear, this isn’t “what passes for science,” as the PowerLine author states. It is “what passes for (…) journalism.”
This isn’t a takedown of scientific research on masks and Covid-19. It’s a takedown of an instance of a social media meme based on an unimpressive WaPo article based upon a mildly interesting but not conclusive plot that came out of a research group at CMU. Nobody should be reaching any conclusions based upon this, and the PowerLine article does everyone a disservice by presenting it as representative serious research on the efficacy of mask-wearing.
There are a couple of issues with the PowerLine analysis, though.
First, Neurosurgeons are are not, as a rule, scientists. I mention this only because the PowerLine article claims to be written by a neurosurgeon and this is presented as a claim to authority in this area, and it is not. Neurosurgeons don’t even have to be particularly good at Math or large-scale data analysis, which are the relevant skills here. I am not saying this to minimize the accomplishment of becoming a neurosurgeon. The vast majority of MDs are not scientists. A subset of MDs credibly are scientists. I have no idea about the author of this article.
And here is the technical criticism of the analysis he posts:
RT is inherently a very noisy measurement. The error bars are very wide. This is presented on rt.live, the data source, but not mentioned by the author. It also does no really tell the whole story. Again, this is mentioned on rt.live but not by the author. The author plotted RT at an instance in time against the self-reported Facebook mask wearing data. That is the real issue with his methods.
If you plot a single measurement on a noisy data source it is completely unsurprising to not observe a strong correlation. That is inherent to the definition of “noisy data.”
RT.Live does attempt to do data smoothing. I wish they were a little more transparent about their methods, but they honestly are pretty open. They also make their results available and easy to download in a huge .csv, which is pretty cool.
What would be much more interesting and informative would be to plot the average and median RT over time versus mask-wearing. You would probably want to cut out the first couple of months of data because every state had an artificially huge RT estimate during that time due to the measurement method. I actually downloaded the rt.live data last night and started to look at this, but it wasn’t obvious to me how to get the horizontal reported mask wearing data from CMU, so I gave up and went back to doing my paid work.
So, in short, yeah, the guy is picking at a rather weak argument being shared on Facebook. It is not representative of serious research. His counter-argument seems legit at first but doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny, either.
I will mention, too, that these are not symmetrical positions. For the most part, if someone wears a mask and he is wrong and they don’t actually work, he has wasted a few dollars and inconvenienced himself a little. I would argue that he has also proactively acted in love because he has chosen to value the health and well-being of others above his slightly-greater comfort. If someone chooses to not wear a mask and he is wrong, he has potentially spread a serious illness to his friends and neighbors.
…And once again I have gone way over the time I have budgeted for this.
@Limewater @medz @onlyonetruth Naw, masks don’t work.
@Limewater @medz Correct. Garbage in, garbage out. That’s the punchline, and that is where we are with respect to the “science” on this topic. The point of all of this is to say that the points above prefaced with “FACT” are not, in fact, FACTS. They are ideas, theories, or political attacks (or multiples thereof).
And so it goes: CDC Admits: No Conclusive Evidence Cloth Masks Work Against COVID
“There is increasing evidence that cloth masks not only may be ineffective against stopping coronavirus transmission, but that they may actually increase the spread of the virus, as well as worsening other health conditions.”
@blaineg That video is an excellent example of why non-scientists should not attempt science. There are so many things wrong with the conclusions, parallels, and assumptions made in this video that it is in fact dangerous and irresponsible to share it. I strongly urge you to ask the mods to remove it.
@onlyonetruth If I’ve offended you, I apologize.
@blaineg You should probably apologize the infected people who watch your video and then feel fine about sneezing on grandma from point blank range because hey, mask(!). Actually, you should probably apologize to grandma, rest her soul.
@blaineg @Limewater @medz
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-0948_article
“In fact, a recent CDC policy change with regard to community use of cloth masks (1) is also based on high risk for transmission from asymptomatic or presymptomatic persons (32). According to some studies, ≈25%–50% of persons with COVID-19 have mild cases or are asymptomatic and potentially can transmit infection to others. So in areas of high transmission, mask use as source control may prevent spread of infection from persons with asymptomatic, presymptomatic, or mild infections.”
@blaineg @Limewater @lisaviolet @medz
“…may…”
This was my only point. That the science is not proven. Saying otherwise is incorrect. Saying that this science is “proven” as a political bludgeon is despicable.
@blaineg @Limewater @medz
Trump lies, people die
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/16/dr-scott-gottlieb-on-inaccurate-take-on-cdc-mask-data-cited-by-trump.html
@blaineg @Limewater @lisaviolet @medz So a partisan anti-Trump doc spits out his opinions and interpretation, citing no actual data, science, or additional information to back his positions, and your heart is all aflutter…
Look, I’m not telling you or anyone not to wear a mask. I wear a mask in the appropriate social settings. I don’t know whether it’s doing anything, but at this point it is, if nothing else, a social nicety - like not farting loudly in a restaurant. There are behaviors that society expects of us, and currently mask wearing is one of them (though not in the insane way that California recommends).
Again, my only point is that the science either way is not proven. It is intellectually dishonest to preface any such comments with the word “Fact”. I hope that it turns out that there really is a meaningful protective benefit. If we have a rational, effective, and easily accessible method to slow transmission, that is great. As long as it really does work - otherwise it is misleading and dangerous to rely on a false sense of security.
What we don’t currently have is “FACT” regarding any of this. We have studies of varying quality studying a behavior that is not amenable to accurate measurement, and the “conclusions” are being used as much as anything as a political tool. That seems to be the only actual fact.
@blaineg @lisaviolet @medz @onlyonetruth
Science is never proven. You want proofs, do Math. The fact that you don’t know this is telling.
You are literally citing political blogs in trying to make an argument about science rather than any actual scientific research to make your point.
I am not going to check, but I don’t believe anyone on this thread has broached the subject of masks as a political issue except for you.
@onlyonetruth Do not @ me.
@lisaviolet I just hit the reply button. It @ed whoever was in the thread. Stay out of threads you don’t want to be in. Jeez you people…
@blaineg @Limewater @lisaviolet @medz Ok then. You’re either purposefully sidestepping my point or really don’t get what I’m saying. But go ahead and enjoy your “tell”, whatever that means.
This thread most certainly became political, and the mask issue was brought into it by medz:
Do not @ me. Remove my name. I remove yours, please remove mine. It really shouldn’t be too hard.
I do not want to see anything from you in my in box.
All I can say is we need more of this or this country is going to drive itself into civil war.
Highly recommend the Social Dilemma to anyone that is curious why we are so divided right now.
@kykazaa Well when you are so insecure that you start acting like a third grader and calling people who you don’t like childish names-the level of discourse deteriorates very quickly.
@Felton10 @kykazaa Holy shit, Felton. Coming from you, that comment is the single most un-self aware thing I have ever read. Ever.
@Felton10 not sure which of my posts you have read where I call anyone anything, but please point it out. Looking at your feed however, I’m pretty sure “low information lemmings” and “red scum” aren’t really someones name. So I’m not exactly sure who you were referring to when you mentioned 3rd graders, but please enlighten me.
From my perspective, we have two small groups of very vocal and disrespectful people on the wings that are selfish and want their own way. They aren’t interested in compromise because we as a society have raised them to just complain louder and they will get what they want. These groups are getting larger and even less willing to compromise than they were. This can logically lead only to one place which is civil war. If we aren’t careful and don’t stop the lack of willingness to even sit down and have a respectful conversation about our differences and come to some sort of compromise, we will get the only thing that this can come to.
@kykazaa Up until Trump brought the level of political discourse down into the toilet neither I nor a lot of other people would have considered this type of name calling and insults acceptable in political discussions or in real life.
But his base not only seems to like it, but they feed off it. So this is the only type of language they understand and to which they respond. That doesn’t make it right but in France you speak French. And to these type of low information crude people, name calling and insults are the only thing that makes them stand up and take notice-like our Russian troll who I expect will respond to this with his daily rant which no one pays any attention to.
@Felton10 so let me get this straight. You call people names because that is the only way the other side will listen. By your statement people that call others names are acting like 3rd graders. I’m curious now, how many of the worlds problems can a bunch of people acting like 3rd graders solve? I’m going to propose the 3rd graders go back to playing on the new PlayStation and let the adults take over.
@kykazaa I will agree with you if you can point out anyone acting like adults in the Trump Administration. The only people Trump wants in his administration are unqualified “yes” men who will praise him and tell him he is doing a great job. Not one adult in that group.
@Felton10
@Felton10 you are completely missing my point. The discussion isn’t about Trump or Biden. The discussion is about how we as citizens act and respond. You admitted yourself that you are feeding the opposition - apparently with their own medicine, which simply makes them want to fight you more. This leads to one logical end - civil war. I can only assume from this discussion that this is your intent. As such, I’m out.
/giphy mic drop
Oh yeah, and thank goodness I can’t be blamed for any of this mess.
It takes courage to admit you’re wrong. It takes integrity to learn from it. Maybe someone here will want to take a step toward learning some truth…
@onlyonetruth spot on about courage to admit you were wrong. Curious one truth…when was the last time you admitted you were wrong?
@kykazaa I’ve never been wrong.
@kykazaa Just now.
@onlyonetruth unlikely, but you’ve given me plenty of insight into your character
@kykazaa In that you completely missed the joke? You must be fun at parties…
@onlyonetruth admittedly, I’m not much of a partier, but I would also say that I don’t party in a chat room…I party in person. Much easier to tell when someone is joking IRL
@onlyonetruth oh, and I take complete blame for not realizing you were joking. It is my month after all
@kykazaa All is forgiven.
To answer your question seriously, I am as prone to error as any human being. Even if I wanted to believe otherwise, my wife would correct the record promptly. To your point about this being a chat room, we all have a web forum persona. It reflects who we are in real life, but it cannot (and should not) be comprehensive.
@kykazaa @onlyonetruth I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken.
BOMBSHELL BIDEN CRIME FAMILY REVELATIONS
-“When I saw Adam Schiff go on record, talking about Russian disinformation, after this email had been posted online by the New York Post… I was at the end of my rope.” Bobulinski: I Came Forward Because Schiff Accused Me of Being Part of Russian Disinformation
-“Bobulinski explains at length how integral Joe Biden was to Hunter Biden’s China deal.” Tucker Carlson’s Interview with Tony Bobulinski is Must-See TV
-“Bobulinski recalled how Joe Biden’s brother, Jim Biden, said ‘plausible deniability’ would shield the Biden family from scrutiny over their Chinese business dealings.” Hunter’s Ex-Business Partner Tony Bobulinski: “Joe Biden and the Biden Family Are Compromised”
-“I was focused on pushing these guys to do the right thing, to demonstrate an ounce of integrity in front of the American people. They all know the facts; I lived the facts. And luckily for the American people, all the facts are extremely well documented.” Biden Whistleblower Plays Tape of Biden Allies Responding to Him Going Public: You’re “Gonna Bury All of Us”
-Michael Goodwin: “For Tony Bobulinski, the meetings with Joe Biden are unforgettable, and not because they had anything to do with politics. It’s because that’s when Bobulinski fully understood that Joe was very much involved in the foreign business schemes that son Hunter Biden and Joe’s brother Jim had cooked up.” “Look Out for My Family”: Hunter’s Biz Partner Tells All on Meeting with Joe Biden
I saw a political cartoons that was basically saying
BE AFRAID OF TRUMP…
BE VERY, VERY, VERY AFRAID OF DEMOCRATS.
this my friends, says it all
@raiderluvr Please post the cartoon!
And let’s not forget about the knuckle head cops that are unjustly killing people. Societies response is doing a great job of further dividing our great country.
It would have been a landslide victory for trump if the naughty coppers and China plague didn’t get in the way
Shock! Tucker Carlson says that his treasure trove of secret Hunter Biden documents has ‘vanished’
Tucker Carlson has been attempting to do the dirty anti-journalistic, pro-fascist work, of carrying the hoax water of Hunter Biden-gate for Trump. He’s teased out an interview with Tony Bobulinski, Hunter Biden’s “ex-business partner.” Surprisingly, even though his Bobulinski interview was going to be explosive and a must-see for American citizens, Tucker decided to tease out the interview, so far, over a few days. I guess American national security needs to compete with Tucker’s pointless ratings. I mean, the MyPillow guy is buying ads no matter what, right buddy?
Now, on Wednesday, a shocking, deep-state revelation! The special secret documents that Tucker had, showing Hunter Biden’s wheeling and dealing with international companies has “vanished.” VANISHED!!! Tucker went on his show to say that this package, sent to California, where he was interviewing Bobulinski, was opened and its contents had disappeared. But the mystery deepens from there.
According to Tucker, this “major carrier” did its due diligence and tracked the package at every point. In fact, according to Tucker, this unnamed postal service even interviewed everyone who “touched the envelope we sent,” and they “combed the entire cavernous sorting facility.” They went “above and beyond” in their search for these super secret documents. But, once again, according to Tucker, they “vanished.” In fact, “this trove of materials,” disappearance has left executives at this secret postal service, seemingly “baffled and deeply bothered by this.”
I mean, they should be. It sounds like ghosts. Or gremlins. Or maybe President Obama, in Florida, used special telepathic powers only granted to secret-Muslim communists who were born in Kenya, to make these documents vanish into another dimension? I mean, hey, Occam’s razor, right?
Occam says: Either he didn’t have what he said he had in the first place, or he ditched it because it turned out to be toxic to him in some way.
Either way, he is lying.
And if he files a false report with the Post Office, particularly if he makes false statements to the Postal Inspectors (America’s oldest federal law enforcement agency: they are fierce and they do not lose cases), he is going to be in a pot of hot water.
So go ahead, Tucker: make our day. Keep making “yourself” the news, and some day you’re going to be the news alright, sitting at the Defense table in a federal criminal court.
@mike808 Maybe Borat stole it and told Rudy to stick it in his pants-that was he was looking for sticking his hands in his pants while lying on the bed. Please watch the movie on Amazon Prime. Rudy makes an ass of himself again-America’s mayor has turned into America’s laughingstock.
@mike808 (This is from a fella that is running for congress in Ca district 54…there’s no such district and it’s hilarious when people from other states go off on him, saying they’ll NEVER vote for him. He’s supposedly a Republican.)
@mike808 Update: the documents have been located. You can relax.
@mike808 Oh, and your post, as much as any other if not more, confirms the very well proven postulate that liberalism is a {ablist trash}. Probably several.
I alone think that trump’s victory was not directly obvious,I think he had less chances.
Here’s a fun post. I’m copy/pasting it verbatim, because it’s just so darn true!
I am sick and tired of our current crop of politicians who obfuscate and triangulate and manipulate and bullshit and behave in all respects like psychopathic liars, because that’s what they are.
And even worse, they exude the slime in which they have been immersed for their entire political careers…the evil, primordial ooze of inside-the-beltway and inside-the-state-houses. They have on them the stench of power brokers and lobbyists and corporate pay-offs and dirty backroom deals and all of the things we despise about government.
President Trump is different. And not just a little bit different. Constitutionally different. he does not have the sleaze gene that seems to be required for success in American government.
Is he a braggart? Sure! Just ask your fisherman friend how big his last catch was and you’ll get the same sort of behavior. But the President has tremendous domestic and foreign policy successes about which to brag. So I happily forgive him his hyperbole.
Does he sometimes paint a rosy picture of the future? Yup! It’s called optimism. Bubbling, gleeful, happy optimism, and I absolutely love it! I want my president to be an unabashed cheerleader for America, Americans, and American Exceptionalism, and Donald Trump is exactly that.
One thing he doesn’t do is lie. And unlike his predecessor, whose lies were carefully covered up by a compliant and fawning media, president Trump’s every utterance is fact-checked and pored over and deconstructed and parsed for the slightest flaws.
He has comported himself well in spite of this constant barrage from the barking leftists at MSNBC and the WaPo and the execrable NYT.
He has not lost his sense of humor and his love for America, and that says a lot about his psychological fortitude and outlook.
Trump Still Wins the Personality Contest
Put aside all his outstanding policy accomplishments, both foreign and domestic, we actually love his personality. We love his humor. This will shock the sophistos. I mean, it is the height of sophistication to say, “Trump may have done good things policy-wise but—tut-tut—you have to look past his personality. Have you seen those tweets?”
We thought it was hilarious when he invited the Russians to “find” Hillary’s 30,000 emails. We laughed out loud when he said, “Maybe I will run for a third term.” Or when he looked skyward and suggested he was the “chosen one” to deal with China.
When he talks to 20,000 people, he holds them in the palm of his hand largely through humor—humor that his opponents almost certainly get, but they use against him nonetheless by pretending he was serious. Lesley Stahl did this schtick on the 60 Minutes interview when she asked him about begging suburban women to love him. Lesley, he was doing a bit.
So who would you rather invite into your home and sit down at the dinner table with? President Trump, his lovely and stunningly elegant wife and his young son (who seems to be rather normal), or his predecessor, with his haughty arrogance and his cold and nasty wife?
Who would be more fun? Who would thank you for the meal? Who would bring a nice gift for his host?
I can’t think of another politician I would rather have in my home. I will even forgive the president for being a teetotaler!
**The greatest political ad ever!
**
@blaineg
@blaineg
@blaineg They are too stupid to realize Trump cares only about himself.
Jack Nicklaus is a patriot!
Someone has another bad case of Trumpster diarrhea. Take some Kaopectate and sleep it off.
@Felton10 Who are you talking about, dearest?
“OOT” I am happy that you have been quarantined to this single thread. And with my greatest hopes and wishes, Biden will replace our current National Embarrassment who is ripping the very fabric of this country apart. After which, I hope this gratingly, annoying embodiment you have chosen will wither, fade, and disappear - just like this thread.
I don’t care about your reply…I was never here. Go back to sleep.
@mfladd I returned in like kind (though with less fecal and masturbation content) the increasingly moronic stupidity that was polluting the front page of this once fun website. You like-minded leftists probably didn’t see how hostile this place started to feel to those of us who don’t agree politically with the mindless vocal shit hurlers.
I take a degree of pride in knowing that my participation probably had something to do with the management creating this quarantine thread. I’m sure Meh is a lot more fun for those who don’t participate in it - especially those who got sick of the partisan hostility. I have received plenty of whispered thanks from people who just didn’t want to expend the frustration and futile energy to engage in arguing with you people.
I have no such limitations. As I said earlier, I would otherwise have mostly posted political content at political sites’ forums, and come by Meh to wind down and relax (as I had done for years). The problem for me is that a lot of Meh members (a few in particular, led by one particular verbal poo-hurling “gentleman”) outed themselves as pretty narrow-minded, bigoted, and hateful people. I know that you and your like-minded buddies here will not see it this way. I don’t care. It is what it is.
The net result is that I see you people for who and what you are. You killed Meh for me. So instead of relaxing at Meh, the fun site, I’ll stick around and return in like kind whatever vitriol you decide to spout. If that means that there will forever be a political quarantine thread, then great. That’s better for everyone else who doesn’t have to put up with relentless leftist bullshit (and the rightist counterpoint). If after the election they open it up to post political threads in the main forum, then I’ll put up a counter-thread for every leftist hate thread someone vomits up.
Consider it a community service. No thanks necessary.
@mfladd
Hey there.
Sorry you were never here and all, but in the meantime,
/giphy hi!
@f00l @mfladd That puppy is adorable! I love the little smile.
Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit…
@lisaviolet Ok, you’re a biscuit.
@mike808
@lisaviolet Suggesting doing anything with your butt even in jest is very risky with Trump and his legions of genital grabbing lemmings roaming the streets.
@Felton10
No one who cares about this country (I’m talking about conservatives) is going after Hunter. Hopefully whatever healing or justice is needed there takes place - that’s the extent of it.
THIS IS ABOUT CORRUPT TREASONOUS JOE.
It is you leftists who keep trying to misdirect Joe’s scandals toward Hunter, because reasons and politics and stuff.
Shall I repeat all of this for those of you who have trouble comprehending?
I hope this is true. It would mean that there are actually democrats out there who are able to accept reality and make reasoned choices. Yeah, it’s probably fake.
I think South Park nailed it in 2004. It applies today, more than ever.
Yet another big government Democrat promising that he’ll finally deliver trunalimunumaprzure.
Guess my post gave him the runs again-he should have taken a double dose of Kao. But my guess is nothing is going to plug him up-its going to be a never ending trips to the bathroom for him until election day.
@Felton10 You just can’t stay away from the bathroom, fecal stuff. No one is surprised, but don’t you think a little creativity might be more interesting for the rest of us?
Fox News (the Bible for Trumpsters) reported: Our pervert President doing what he does best.
Trump boasted that perks of being owner of beauty pageants included going into the dressing rooms.
“I’ll go backstage before a show, and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything else. And you know, no men are anywhere,” I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant. And, therefore, I’m inspecting it. I’m inspecting it. I want to make sure everything is good.”
Trump went on, as if he was in the dressing room, “‘Is everyone okay?’ You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that.”
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/pageant-contestants-claim-trump-entered-dressing-rooms-while-they-were-half-naked
@Felton10 Careful, your jealousy is showing again. Look, I can {personal attacks are also not allowed}
I find it ironic that there is all this talk about Hunter Biden, while another Hunter started his prison sentence:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-16/duncan-hunter-sentence-west-texas-prison?fbclid=IwAR21QRCONXfJpQ6TlS5a-vVgg3UMYtZI1ZoEiusBDGpsh5A40CNZvsPdqbY
I wonder who’s taking care of the rabbit.
@JT954 After Trump is defeated, he will be following him to prison.
I just (for the first and probably only time) looked at Biden’s twitter feed, prompted by the single stupidest tweet I have ever seen. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a parody tweet, but no. He actually tweeted “I’m not going to shut down the country. I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus.”
I’m sure his simple and clear plan to flip that virus off switch will be forthcoming in a follow up tweet momentarily. I believe he’s collecting unicorn farts for the cure as I type this.
I also read through what some of the Biden-bots posted in response. The good news for you leftys here is that you’re not the only ones who are batshit crazy. The bad news is that you have some competition on that front. I’m sure you’ll work on it though.
Take home point: Trump’s covfefe handily beats Biden’s trunalimunumaprzure. It isn’t even close.
No words…just no words for this kind of behavior.
@lisaviolet But the Burning, Looting, Murder, the rioting, and the general terrorism of the left is A-ok with you, right?
@lisaviolet Given the staggering number of times the left has canceled, harassed, interfered with, and blocked conservative voices, it’s refreshing to see you people getting some of your own medicine. If it were up to me, we would all be able to exercise our rights to free association and free speech without intimidation or hassle. However, your team made these rules, and you will have to live with them. Good and hard.
onlyonetruth said:
You mean all that blue-state taxpayer-funded “oppression” spewed forth daily since Reagan by Rush Limbaugh and his RWNJ ditto-heads on Public University radio stations across the country 24x7?
Just vote and STFU about it. You can say what you want, but you are not entitled to an audience.
Go get your own website and your own audience to spam. Because that’s what your posts are: spam.
@mike808 https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5
https://www.wsls.com/news/virginia/2020/07/27/police-richmond-riots-instigated-by-white-supremacists-disguised-as-black-lives-matter/
https://www.fayobserver.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/09/12/dhs-ids-white-supremacists-not-blm-antifa-greatest-threat/3462713001/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53579099
I also can’t help but wonder if you realize how silly you are, posting bullshit from these extremist left wing sites. Every time you encounter something from a site to the right of your “news” cartel (also extreme left propaganda sites, BTW), you screech about the horribly partisan source (and never address the points being made).
Neither of you really want to play this game. The sheer volume of leftist hoaxes and other such shenanigans should be a source of humiliation and embarrassment to you. But if you insist. I’ll be game…
Mostly, and I mean this in the nicest, most supportive way, quit your damn whining!
You people got stuck at a 6-year old level of emotional maturity, and your endless screeching when your FEELZ get “hurt” is so damn annoying.
Oh, and because I feel compelled to offer you some content you can use (and thus hopefully embarrass yourself less in the future), Rush Limbaugh isn’t broadcast on any public radio stations, and his show and broadcast do not receive any public funding. But keep up the lies. There are plenty of leftist lemmings here who believe you.
https://time.com/5898763/michigan-kidnapping-far-right-extremism/
@lisaviolet
https://www.pacificpundit.com/2019/02/18/hoax-hate-crimes-list/
https://bongino.com/the-list-of-hate-crime-hoaxes-keeps-rising-under-trump/
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/08/22/democrat-candidate-fakes-own-kidnapping-on-video-to-get-sympathy-votes-gets-caught-963072
https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/18/hoax-hate-crimes-list/
https://en-volve.com/2019/02/17/10-disgusting-liberal-hate-crime-hoaxes-of-2018/
https://www.westernjournal.com/list-hoax-hate-crimes-trump-era/
http://www.fakehatecrimes.org/
You want more? There are a LOT more…
@mike808
@mike808 rip…
he was a great actor but did say it was ok to slap women sometimes… just saying.
@mick Hiyyahh.
And our President thinks it is OK to “grab them by the p*ssy” and pay women for sex and cheat on his spouses and take drugs made with stem cells that came from an aborted foetus. What’s your point, other than don’t choose actors or POTUS as role models?
People used to think it was OK to own other people. I’m not convinced there aren’t some of them still around, and they seem to be proud Republicans and Trump supporters these days. 51 of them in the Senate, to be precise. And the voters that keep them in office must be OK with that too.
@mick @mike808
They’re called democrats. You guys never got over having your slaves taken away. You’ve been doing everything you can since then to own whoever you can get on your dependency plantation. Power. At all costs. Even if it means destroying America.
That’s why Americans can’t stand democrats.
@mike808
Trump Crowd In Butler PA
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trump-rallies-covid-spikes.html
Amazing that your riots were entirely free of risk for transmission. The all mighty Fauci said so, after all.
Democrats’ silly gullibility would be funny, if it were not weaponized for the destruction of America.
We’ll see how it goes, but I think Americans are on to you people. Hopefully it will be a generation or more before you can scam enough people to vote democrats back into positions of power. Obviously efforts to recruit and enslave the moochers, the gullible, the naïve, and the corrupt are (and have been) heavily underway by the democrats.
Here’s hoping we can keep fending off your attack on America.
By the numbers (not Biden) Trump tax cuts were for the middle class not the rich. In 2018, all taxpayers saved $64 billion but top 1% owed $16 billion more, middle class $31 billion less (nearly half of total savings) & low earners $4 billion less.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/truth-trump-tax-cuts-biden-andy-puzder
I paid a little more. My staff paid a lot less. That’s fair. Repealing these tax cuts is flat out wrong. Conning lower and middle income people into voting to cut their own throats is flat out evil. Voting for Biden, the irreparably corrupt, demented con artist, to make this happen is flat out epic-dumbass.
Usually it is Malaria you see on a pole, but I found one of Trump also.
@Felton10
What. A. Disgusting. Fucking. CREEP.
@Felton10
{nope}
@Felton10
{nope}
@Felton10
{still nope}
No words…just no words for this kind of behavior.
Trump The Pervert
OCTOBER 13, 2016|9:41 AM
ROD DREHER
[youtube ]
Maybe you’ve seen the 1992 video clip in which Donald Trump chats with a group of little girls at Trump Tower. When they leave to ride the escalator up, he says, “I’m going to be dating her in ten years. Can you believe it?”
My daughter turns 10 today. If a grown man said anything like that about her in my presence, I would slug him. He would have revealed himself as a lecherous pervert. Trump saw that child only as a potential sexual conquest. That’s not the same as a pedophile, but it does reveal the depths of his narcissism and his inability to see women — even little girls — as anything but potential sex partners. He allowed Howard Stern to refer to his own (adult) daughter Ivanka as “a piece of ass.” Any normal father would have belted Stern. Not Trump. Because he’s a pervert.
Why is it okay for OOT to name call via meme?
@lisaviolet this is a great question @Thumperchick
@lisaviolet @Thumperchick @tinamarie1974 Why does @Felton get to post disgusting, provocative, slimy posts using Trump’s daughter (when she was a child) as a hit job?
Let’s keep our self-righteousness fair and balanced, shall we?
Don’t fucking @ me. What part of that are you having a hard time with? Do you you need step by step instructions on how to do it? Or what?
@lisaviolet
@lisaviolet I was afk…
@Thumperchick Figured. Some mehtizens have lives outside of meh. lol…
Thanks for getting rid of those.
@Thumperchick What would be the sick twisted logic in leaving the entirely wholesome Trump family photos up, used by a sick individual to baselessly suggest consensual incestuous pedophilia using a minor child as the prop? Is this who Meh is?
@onlyonetruth Maybe Meh isn’t for you.
@lisaviolet I’ll go away and never come back if you do (and take Felton with you).
We can ask the mods right now to delete all of our accounts.
Deal?
@onlyonetruth I’m not the one whining about how unfair things are. I just wondered why the name calling via meme was allowed. It wasn’t. You’re the one complaining, as far as I can tell. Why would I leave? I’m a Meh kickstarter. I’ve been here since 2014.
You’re new. You have no history here. You don’t like it? No one is holding a gun to your head and making you stay.
@lisaviolet But I want to stay. Why would that qualify me any less than you? Liberal elitism again?
And this is at least twice you’ve defended this. You actually are fine with using the children (when they are actually young children) of politicians as props in slimy attacks? That’s just not right. Sorry, it just is not right.
@onlyonetruth Where did I defend anything? I wondered why it was okay for you to name call, albeit via meme, when others were warned for calling you names. Nothing more, nothing less.
Elitist? You like that word, don’t you? Is it because you feel less than? There’s nothing elite about me. I was just curious why I would want to leave Meh because your fee fees are hurt. That makes no sense to me. It’s like you’re on a diet, so I can’t eat pasta anymore. Wut?
I’ve been here longer than you have. I’m more established than you. You’re nothing outside of this thread. Not here on Meh, anyway. You don’t help folks, you don’t ask questions, you don’t join in at all. You don’t participate, you don’t act as if you’re part of the meh community. And that’s your choice.
All you want to do is stand on your corner and shout at passersby. And sometimes, we’ll respond. Because sometimes, it can be amusing to do so.
But other than that? What else do you have to offer this community? Seriously?
This thread? That’s it?
@lisaviolet bravo-well said.
@lisaviolet To be fair, he’s been around. He just doesn’t have the balls to post under his regular name. For someone who is so self-assured about his opinions (which is all they are), you’d think he would be both brave and honest enough to use his actual account and stand up for himself like a man.
@cinoclav If this is the actual case…how sad is that? Seriously?
Just pitiful.
@cinoclav @lisaviolet @Felton10 This isn’t my only street corner these days, so to speak, so I’m not going to be able to bat you libbies around quite as much as I’d like. Sorry - probably just some poignant memes to pithily correct your errors and misconceptions today. I just wanted to respond to one thing here.
You don’t get to know who I am. I don’t trust you people. I would not be all that hard to dox, and I don’t need some hypervigilant leftist hitman posting negative reviews of my professional existence, or vandalizing my house. I’ve already explained this and made clear that I don’t want to have to deal with the hassle of defending my property or family. You can moan and point fingers all you like, but that’s the way it’s going to be. If you people didn’t collectively use hate, violence, and destruction as a political tactic, it would be different. But your political side sucks - deal with it.
@cinoclav @Felton10 @onlyonetruth
You’re scared, bro? Oh, my God. Seriously? That’s rich.
@cinoclav @lisaviolet He is scared and annoymous-therefore he has no credibility. Typical trumpster-no balls and no brains and if he doesn’t have the guts to stand up as himself for who he is and for what he believes-everything he says is worthless. But from his first post, we knew that already.
Donald Trump Accused Of ‘Cheating’ On All His Wives By Fox News Contributor
https://www.ibtimes.com/donald-trump-accused-cheating-all-his-wives-fox-news-contributor-2924242
Big surprise-anyone that would perv on his daughter would have no problem doing it to all his wives.
@Felton10
https://www.policygenius.com/taxes/who-benefited-most-from-the-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act/
@lisaviolet
Sean Connory’s last words: “Re-elect Donald Trump!”
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1306246210668441600/pu/vid/1280x720/VFavZjjBrUf_7VoC.mp4?tag=10
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2020/09/23/a-jesus-christians-apology-for-maga-christians/
@lisaviolet
@lisaviolet it bothers me more than it should (like it really IRKS me) when people inject Christ into politics. As an evangelical Christian and one who has studied the Bible for many years, I can confidently say that Christ wasn’t a democrat or a republican. I’m not even convinced that he would have voted in our modern day elections - if he did it would have only been out of civic duty. Can I just ask that we leave him out of the Political thread. I’m more than happy to engage in a religious thread to explain more, but not here.
@onlyonetruth I’m really not sure what gloating about Justice Barret’s confirmation adds to the thread.
@kykazaa It annoys the person who brought religion into this thread as a weapon.
@kykazaa As an aside, I don’t know you. You don’t know me. But you’re the one who decided you were competent to judge my character, based upon a post on a web forum that you misunderstood.
Perhaps take a look at the plank in your eye before wandering around pointing out the specks in others’.
@onlyonetruth I love it when people quote scripture to me. I’m working on my planks, but also happy to bring more scripture into the conversation. The verses following the ones you quoted are quite good and equally applicable to this political thread…“A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
That said, you are right, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. Not sure where you felt I was attacking your character, but the only comment I made about you (which you might interpret that way) is that you gloated. In case you weren’t aware, this is the definition of gloating - dwelling on one’s own success or another’s misfortune with smugness or malignant pleasure. You basically said that you gloated in your post - “it annoys the person who brought religion into this thread as a weapon”. If I misunderstand the definition and/or application of gloating, please feel free to correct me.
I am not engaging in this conversation to convince you to vote one way or another or say that your opinions don’t matter. Your opinion matters just as much as @Lisaviolet 's opinions. We as a society have lost the ability to be intellectually honest and fair. It has been happening for some time, but if we don’t stop heading this way, we will lose our ability to compromise. That is a recipe for disaster. As such, I think we should all get out and vote and have our voices heard - and then have respect for the candidate that succeeds.
My challenge to everyone reading this is that instead of responding with emotion, please intellectually consider your comments and position. Also please offer respect to those who don’t agree with your views (instead of attacking or trying to annoy them when they say something contrary to your own opinion).
@kykazaa I find Pastor Pavlovitz’ essays very comforting. He gives me hope for the future.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201609/the-psychology-behind-donald-trumps-unwavering-support
@lisaviolet Nah. We just hate this:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/17/how-is-arguing-with-trump-voters-working-out-for-you
@lisaviolet When arguing, try saying something other than the canned leftist NPC crap… (I kid, I kid. You got nothin’!).
https://therobertreport.net/2020/06/01/why-do-people-think-trump-supporters-are-stupid/
@lisaviolet Nah. this is why:
Biden: “Where the fuck am I?”
Donald Trump’s Sexually Suggestive Statements About Ivanka Revisited: POTUS Allegedly Confessed Attraction To Daughter.
https://www.ibtimes.com/donald-trumps-sexually-suggestive-statements-about-ivanka-revisited-potus-allegedly-2937691
Another revealing article about our pervert genital grabbing raw doging adulterer POTUS.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201712/analysis-trump-supporters-has-identified-5-key-traits?page=1
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article211963789.html
The 26 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.
https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-misconduct-list-2017-12
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/predicate-fear/616009/
https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2020-09-11/why-nothing-matters-essential-politics
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-handle-political-bullying-on-facebook-4117108
Dr. Scott Atlas, White House Coronavirus Task Force adviser, apologizes for interview with Russian propaganda network.
This jerk-off doesn’t know anything about Covid-19 nor to whom he is giving an interview-typical Trump appointee-a complete and total idiot just like his boss.
@Felton10 Well it always seemed as if all of don the lying, facist, racist con’s administrative picks had one serious qualification: that they were the least qualified for the position of any of the choices.
Keep 'em coming libbies! Your rage and fear is AWESOME!!
MEALS! DEALS! EELS! AWESOME!
Trump believes his followers are a bunch of racist morons.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/trump-believes-his-followers-are-a-bunch-of-racist-morons/
Their posts on this thread prove he is right.
@Felton10 Hey, you mad? Feeling the rage?
Me, neither. It’s fun to watch trolls squirm.
Actually, I’m converting a bunch of movies from MOV to MP4 and doing some coding changes to the html files. The conversion takes time, so I’m playing over here while that happens.
@lisaviolet It’s not a fair fight-two people with brains against one with {stop}.
@Felton10 @lisaviolet
“Don’t @ me” “Don’t Don’t DON’T!” “WAAAAAAA”
@Felton10 Aw, come on, don’t be so hard on the guy. After all, if this is what he has to do to feel like he matters, let him have it.
It’s no biggie in the long run. In a couple of weeks, we’ll be telling one another “hey, remember that guy who’s tighty whities were always in a bunch over his love for trump?”
Yeah, soon, he’ll just be a memory.
For the resident troll, it will be okay:
[1]:
@lisaviolet Its obvious he has {stop with the personal attacks.}
@lisaviolet @Felton10 I’m anticipating an electoral college Trump victory of 312 to 226 for Braindead Basement Biden. I would also not be surprised by a comfortable popular vote win for Trump , but you dems will be manufacturing fraudulent votes at a frantic pace (and illegal aliens, the deceased, and nonexistent people all vote dem). We’ll see. The main question is whether (or by how much) I’ve underestimated Trump’s EV win.
Tell me, friends. Will you be joining your local lefty riots, or just cheering them on from the sidelines?
But to share in your conciliatory gif, I’ll offer you support and guidance if you decide to start the process of deprogramming yourselves from the democrat brainwashing. It’ll be tough no doubt, but I’ll be patient with you. I’m here to help!
@Felton10 @onlyonetruth
You know that don’t @ me thing? I’m just screwing with you. Nothing you post to me comes to my in box. The magic of email filters. I just do it to see how butt hurt you’ll get. And you do. You rise to the bait every time.
So, @ me to your wee, tiny, yellow heart’s content if it makes you happy.
@Felton10 @lisaviolet Sweet! I did actually remove you from the reply a few times, but your tender FEELZ really didn’t strike me as worth the hassle.
I’ll even let you have the “save face” win. I won’t even point out the quite sincere rage in your initial unhinged caterwauls…
@Felton10 @onlyonetruth Okay, honey, if that’s what you need to tell yourself.
Sincere outrage? Yeah, okay. Escalation was part of the game, but that’s something you couldn’t understand.
Ta!
@Felton10 @lisaviolet I love when libbies start backpeddling… I meant it that way… Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha…
@Felton10 @onlyonetruth
@Felton10 @lisaviolet Did you post a gif for yourself? Holy shit - that’s the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in a loooong time!!
Pro-Trump Rally in Nigeria. Yes NIGERIA !!
The appeal of freedom is universal.
https://www.facebook.com/fc245ec6-4cfc-495b-9260-2873c2c625b5
@mike808 i think this is a good point.
antifa is so destructive… the screaming the chanting the burning the looting the breaking windows the ruining of buildings the destroying of innocent folks businesses and lively hoods and neighborhoods.
i don’t understand what they want from their actions.
so please tell me…
how DO we stop antifa?
@mick You do understand that “antifa” is anti-fascist, right?
@lisaviolet @mick
@lisaviolet
my ears hear what they are saying
and my eyes see by all their actions…
as a political philosophy or movement…
that they are in fact the exact same thing…
as what they accuse “others” of being.
“they can’t see the forest for the trees”
@mick Where? Where are you seeing this? Where are you hearing this? What are your sources?
@mike808 I don’t necessary agree with that. There is always one who is more stupid than the rest-to wit our favorite Russian troll here. I know saying that is going to get his diarrhea posts flowing today, but I need something to amuse me while I do real work.
@Felton10 @mike808
Coprophilia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprophilia
@onlyonetruth You’re confusing that fictional alleged “quote” with something Donald Trump actually said to his good friend Jeffrey Epstein while ogling young pre-teen girls.
/image donald trump and jeffrey epstein
@mike808 Nice try, but there is no there there. If Trump had been anywhere near Epstein’s plane or island, your “news” would have been all over it like coprophilia on Felton. Sorry - you dems own the Epstein shit. It’s just what you do.
And Epstein didn’t kill himself.
Behold again - the Very Finest the democrats have to offer:
“I’ve Beliddbe This Much In Jeopardy,” Biden said, adding, “Over On The Oval, Back In 29, May 9 - 2019.”
@cinoclav I love derivative rip-offs as much as anybody. For all of the artists, self-described visionaries, comedians, and talking head pundit types amongst your lefty ranks, it’s amazing to me that the left still can’t meme. But you can steal - it’s the lefty way!
@cinoclav @onlyonetruth
Wow. Neither of these is really very funny. This, however…
@onlyonetruth So if you want to be technically correct, this is the original (or at least the earliest dated version I found):
It’s been around since at least January, 2018. The one I shared was posted no later than July, 2019. (https://www.facebook.com/TheFortySeveners/posts/2472273019497021?comment_id=2472598906131099) Your version sprung up within the last few weeks at most.
You may want to reconsider exactly who stole what last.
@cinoclav Touché. That’s fair. But the left still can’t meme, and y’all sure do steal. Those things are perennially true.
@onlyonetruth You’re blind to it because you’re not following the multitude of sights posting memes targeting the right. The real issue is that just about none of them are truly funny from either side, unless you simply thrive on a juvenile sense of humor. Your endless meme posts here are simply wasting space. They’re not remotely funny to anyone except you because you seem to think they’re insulting and bothersome to everyone with the opposite mindset. On the contrary, they do absolutely nothing to reinforce your own opinions and they certainly don’t provide any factual information. In the end, they only serve to lower the opinions others have of you.
@cinoclav I’m content to amuse myself.
Time for Felton to make his patented and oh so witty retort: “amuse myself” heh heh heh.
@cinoclav BTW you don’t really think that anyone cares what you or your goon squad here thinks of them do you? Oh my - you do. Wow that’s sad. Sorry - your opinions of me or of anything are entirely irrelevant. But you’re funny for thinking that, in a pitiful kind of way.
“Lower the opinions others have of you…” From the Meh leftists circle-jerk club!!
@Felton10 I know you and your enablers here won’t get it, but what your collection and twisted use of these lovely family photos says about you is devastating. Nauseating, really.
I am sure it is the same size as his brain.
https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/russian-hooker-who-had-sex-with-donald-trump-mocks-his-tiny-penis/
@Felton10 Poop, jackoff jokes, penis size… You have all of the saddest little obsessions, Felty.
ಠ_ಠ
@Thumperchick Lets see-you allow someone to create a false identity to spew forth his right wing garbage about Biden being a pedophile, but you delete actual pics of Trump perving his daughter. Are you a fan of the genital grabbing pervert?
@Felton10 @Thumperchick My guess is that images like that aren’t SFW. NSFW images aren’t allowed here.
@Felton10 Biden is a pedophile. I’m just too classy to post (or even possess) the “real” photos of it. You wouldn’t understand.
@Felton10
Let’s ask Tara Reade about this, shall we?
This is when you clam up and slink away, Felty.
@Felton10 @onlyonetruth
But if you did post them (assuming they exist). Those would also be removed. It’s against the rules over all from my understanding.
@DoctorOW
But I wouldn’t.
@DoctorOW OOT has them he is too busy {stop with the personal attacks}
@Felton10 There ya go again… Felty, Felty, Felty…
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/15/tara-reade-left-trail-of-aggrieved-acquaintances-260771
@Felton10 Felty, how panicked must you be to keep histrionically going back to this same tired garbage of yours?
Trump Says He Groped Melania in Public, Ivanka Looks Down on Him, in Newly Released Recordings
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-melania-ivanka-terrorists-howard-stern-670309
@Felton10 Newsweek. Howard Stern.
Are you actively trying to tank any personal credibility??
You don’t have to anymore, Felty. You did that long ago!
@mike808 Only 1461 to go!
Trump Has Already Declared Victory!
There is No Need for Republicans to Vote
Anything at all to cheat, steal, etc. You libbies really are all predictable, and all the same. Sad!
Do you want to understand something about why Trump? This is 5 minutes long. It’s an honest, solid, and concise explanation of why you got Trump.
A Republican Trump Supporter spotted in the voting booth. I think he got a high score.
OnlyOneTruth, is that you?
Vote! Vote Hard!
@mike808 Nope - that’s all the (leftist) people Biden can get to show up to one of his “rallies”.
This is hilarious… Not even Joe Biden’s supporters want to listen to him!
Seriously, if you haven’t made up your mind yet, Jesus Fucking Christ. Can we turn this into a coverage thread?
I’ll start:
https://www.npr.org/2020/11/03/930419710/where-to-find-nprs-special-coverage-of-election-night-2020
@joelmw But… but ‘they’ think NPR is fake news too.
@cinoclav @joelmw Nah. It’s just bought and paid for news. Propaganda is like that.
@cinoclav @joelmw @onlyonetruth If my news source isn’t being funded through advertising for prostate and testosterone supplements, walk-in bathtubs, identity theft protection, downloads to automatically clean my PC and double the speed of my internet connection, I don’t trust it!
@joelmw It strikes me as hilarious that a self-professed anarchist would default to NPR as a news source. It’s National - i.e. state funded - “news”…
@cinoclav @joelmw @Limewater
Pillows, though. Don’t you need pillows?
@cinoclav @joelmw @Limewater If my news source does not have to earn its viewership, but rather gets paid by the people it’s supposedly reporting on, I don’t trust it.
@cinoclav @joelmw @Limewater @lisaviolet With that said, I don’t trust any “news” sources. I cast my information net wide. I don’t want to be deceived.
@cinoclav @joelmw @lisaviolet @onlyonetruth So do I! I read Breitbart AND RedState!
Also relevant:
https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances
@cinoclav @joelmw @Limewater @lisaviolet
No no! I’m diverse!
I read the Atlantic, Mother Jones, Vox, NYT, WaPo, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, HuffPo, and the new and improved Drudge Report! It’s not that the “information” at those sites is any different from each other - they all get their talking points and marching orders directly from the democrat leadership. However, they use so many different styles of formatting, and the different color schemes are really interesting! Yay Diversity™!
@cinoclav As I’ve said repeatedly, I no longer give any fucks about what they think.
@cinoclav @Limewater @lisaviolet @trumpbot
Meh, is this a new bot (like the standard mediocrebot and purple)? I’m seeing lots of murmurs of meaningless bullshit on this page. Obligatory, fact-free responses to every post. Nothing worth replying to, but a shit-ton of noise. I think y’all need to work on that one’s AI.
@cinoclav @joelmw @Limewater Trumpbot. I like that.
@cinoclav @Limewater @lisaviolet Honestly, I questioned legitimizing the trumpbot even that much. But maybe it works?
But goddamn, apparently someone/something has a lot of time on their hands. Not that there’s much thought or substance in their endless attacks, but even to post so much noisy nothing. A helluva lot to have to scroll past.
@cinoclav @joelmw @Limewater @lisaviolet It really isn’t that hard or time consuming to deal with you folks. You’re just not that smart, interesting, or perceptive.
@onlyonetruth It’s fascinating to see what the person with the lowest IQ on the whole site really thinks.
@ELUNO It’s not really that fascinating though, is it? Just like his messiah, the trumpbot says nothing of factual, intellectual or creative value. It truly is better for us all to tune it out. And so damned fragile.
@ELUNO @joelmw I keep thinking of parents visiting and the interrupting child is told “not now, the adults are talking”.
@ELUNO @lisaviolet I’m more sympathetic and tolerant of an interrupting child. I do get and agree with the sense of what you’re saying though.
The analogy I’m fond of at the moment: that asshole in a Zoom/Teams meeting who’s either too goddamned ignorant to understand and/or so self-absorbed that he’s indifferent to the fact that he’s creating a feedback loop and inflicting little more than high-pitched, brain-numbing, otherwise useless noise on the folks unfortunate enough to be on the call. That sums up both the value of what trumpbot says and its emotional impact. Sigh. And it just keeps going.
All you NPR “news” hounds will miss or tune this out, but (again) you’ve been lied to, used, and discarded like an old condom. Will you thank your puppet-masters and beg for more, or maybe get your collective heads out of their asses for a change? Don’t bother answering - that was another rhetorical question.
What the hell are these people afraid of? Us little snowflakes? Just damn…this is absolute nuts!
It must be hell living a life in fear.
@lisaviolet Pretty clearly, they’re frightened by democracy.
@joelmw @lisaviolet
@lisaviolet You really have not paid any attention to what “Antifa” and “BLM” have been up to in various blue cities, or that those and many other blue areas around the country are boarding up windows and shops anticipating violence?
No one is concerned that a conservative is going to torch their properties. This is all about the insane leftist tantrum, and the violence, rioting, and destruction that the “leadership” of blue cities has supported and in some cases fomented.
We don’t have a functional republic anymore. Here’s hoping that honest leadership and American values can restore that over the foreseeable future. However, at this moment in time, the left (Antifa, BLM, and others) are planning a terrorist revolt against America.
The wall around the white house is to protect them as much as anything else, braindead violent assholes that they may be, because the alternative would be to shoot them as they climbed the white house fence.
@lisaviolet Sorry to say, but this is a faked photo. There is a temporary wall that is far less substantial and was erected recently for the reasons @onlyonetruth states above.
But the faked photo is a photoshop of this:
Please check your facts before posting stuff from Facebook
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/11/03/fact-check-photo-does-not-show-massive-wall-white-house/6152589002/
@ybmuG okay, will do. Now, please fact check all of the other posts in this thread.
Thanks.
“Donald Trump will spend this day in a secure room, inside a large federal facility, surrounded by a fence, inside an “unscalable” wall, backed by another fence, and ringed by 1,000 prison guards. So … just think of this as a dry run for the next decade.”
I think this thread could be used as an example in a class on Poe’s Law.
@joelmw You’re a curious conundrum. You call yourself an anarchist - quite enthusiastically I might add. Yet you make common cause here with the far left contingent of Meh. These are people who see as the best expression of American idealism an all powerful government, with state control of every facet of life.
So joelmw, are you a very bad anarchist, or really just a gimme-my-gubmint-rulers-to-keep-me-safe leftist NPC drone like your pals here?
Good. Get all of these assholes. There’s no excuse for violence and property damage. None. (This was local.)
I hope they’re put away for a long, long time.
https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/sandiego/news/press-releases/two-arrested-for-arson-on-chase-bank-building-during-violent-may-protest-in-la-mesa
NY Times
Washington Post
The Guardian
Wall Street Journal
So…
How’s everybody holding up?
@norcalsocal
@norcalsocal It’s disheartening that so much of the country is still okay with that orange ass.
@norcalsocal
@norcalsocal
@narfcake @norcalsocal @Thumperchick
/giphy group hug
@norcalsocal Better today. Last night at one point I actually thought I was going to vomit.
That hasn’t happened for a few years when I got food poisoning from a cobb salad
@lisaviolet @norcalsocal Felt the same way yesterday and was very apprehensive about turning on the TV this morning, but when I did-things got better-much better.
@norcalsocal I had trouble sleeping and kept waking up to check the counts. I fear we won’t have any definite answers for several weeks. I am on the opposite side of most in this thread and have kept out of the train wreck that was this thread for the past week, lol. My opinion is that the states should have the ability to count votes promptly without delaying the election process and if a state is unable to perform its duties, that is on them. It is ridiculous that the guidelines for voting deadlines and processes were thrown out the window and we are forced into this current situation.
@norcalsocal @tnhillbillygal
From Forbes (an excerpt) re: Pennsylvania
"Pennsylvania counties weren’t able to start counting mail-in votes until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day, after negotiations to start counting ballots earlier broke down between Republican state lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. "
Linked in that paragraph (article October 19):
“GOP lawmakers in Pennsylvania released a statement Monday saying they have “no plans” to compromise with Democrats to pass legislation that could allow counties to start processing ballots before Election Day, all but ensuring that it will take days to know who won the presidential election in one of the most consequential battleground states.”
@norcalsocal @tnhillbillygal Checking on the slowness of Nevada, it looks like mail in ballots are still accepted until a week after the election as long as they’re postmarked by the election date.
From this article:
"This year’s election has seen some of the slowest vote counting on record due to the massive influx of mail ballots which pollsters have to account for. In Nevada, ballots being submitted by mail must be postmarked by Tuesday 3 November and received no later than Tuesday 10 November to be considered eligible. "
@lisaviolet @norcalsocal You see, I don’t agree with all of the mail in ballots that were issued this year. I think our military families should have access to absentee ballots but that the mail in system was abused. Our country has been having elections for a couple hundred years now. Folks know they need to go out and vote if they want to be counted. Some will say Covid caused the need for mail in but there have been other things worse than covid happening during past elections and people still knew the importance of getting out to vote. If they did want to count the mail ins as it were, they knew how many they issued and should have staffed appropriately to count in a timely manner.
I know at my job, we don’t get to leave until the job is done for the day. Our management staffs appropriately and most days we finish in plenty of time but when we are surprised with the volume of work, we stay until it is completed.
I am just frustrated that election day has come and gone and we are all still in a state of unknowing and cannot simply accept whatever the result is and move on. My belief is that ballots should have been mailed out and received by election day to be counted. If they were not able to mail until election day, they could have just gone to the polls.
@norcalsocal @tnhillbillygal I dunno what to say.
It is what it is. For sure, if I was queen of the world, things would be much different than they are today, but I’m not. So, I just have to live with the stuff that I don’t like and enjoy the stuff I do.
Shaking my fist at the heavens doesn’t work. (I know, I’ve tried it on more than one occasion with sick animals.)
@lisaviolet @norcalsocal @tnhillbillygal I am glad for mail in. I should have done it that way (I have a blood cancer of the part of the immune system that fights viruses). Instead I stood in line for 1 hour and 53 minutes. Most of the people in line (including a number directly behind me and in front of me) did not wear masks and did not socially distant. I have my fingers none of them had covid.
@Kidsandliz @lisaviolet @norcalsocal We did the early vote option. We knew hubbie wouldn’t be in town on election day so we went to the local election office after work one day and cast our vote. There was quick line so not much of a wait. You might want to check if your county offers an early voting option. It is super convenient and uses the regular voting machines.
@lisaviolet @norcalsocal @tnhillbillygal Ours doesn’t do early voting unfortunately.
@lisaviolet @norcalsocal @tnhillbillygal
Thing is, election results have often (yea, routinely) taken days and sometimes weeks–that’s without factoring in recounts, legally contested results and runoffs, which can make the process extend for months. So it’s not like the current situation is altogether an anomaly. Sure, most contests are clear by the next morning, but it’s common some are not. I’m not even going into how the Electoral College adds to the mess.
And frankly, it’s ignorant and insulting to suggest that election workers are somehow slacking or otherwise making the process last too long. I know some of them; they work long days, weeks leading up to, during and after the elections. They take their responsibility seriously, and they’re sure to catch all kinds of shit from the public whatever goes wrong, whether it’s their fault or not. So, nah, I’m not for that “when we have a job to do, we stay until it’s done” judgmental fuckery. Frankly, they already work all-nighters when I’d rather they were fresh to tackle the enormity of the task in front of them. Methinks you simply don’t understand what’s involved and that government workers are always an easy fucking target.
Nor do I find it appropriate or responsible–least of all sympathetic–to suggest that everyone should just pack in to the polls on election day; there’s nothing necessary or noble in that. And that kind of ignorant nonsense is exactly why this nation has never really gotten COVID under control and is now seeing surges. And again, folks want to come in and curtail and restrict mail-in and drop-off processes and rights that have existed and functioned very well in many states for years at the very time that we should be expanding them and making accommodations for the sake of public safety. Hell, even in Texas, a government that has routinely worked to suppress the vote allowed a longer period for early voting. Of course at the same time, they needlessly eliminated drop-off locations.
This seems to be counterintuitive to a lot of folks in this nation, but we should be working to enable voting and, yes, making it easier for folks who often have to juggle multiple jobs and other responsibilities in order to make it to the polls. Yes, folks need to make it a priority to get to the polls. But we shouldn’t be making it more difficult. We want people to participate in the process, don’t we? And I recognize that I’m variously privileged so that it’s easy for me to vote either early or on election day; others aren’t so fortunate. And on that point, we got out the first day of early elections as a matter of civic duty; we didn’t need to wait and we knew the polls would be relatively uncrowded then, as compared to election day. So, again, not sure what’s sacred or noble about everyone crowding to the polls on election day–not seeing that at all.
Meanwhile the same candidate who claims anything not delivered within 24 hours is somehow illegitimate is reflexively asking for a recounts even as his prospects for obtaining the necessary electors continues to slip out of reach.
To sum up, folks wanting to avoid crowds and concerned for public health (not just their own, but that of fellow citizens) and hardworking poll workers absolutely should not be demonized and scapegoated for problems largely created by cynically partisan political operators.
ABCNews has a cool tool, especially for those simply unwilling to accept the results: you can toggle each state according to your own analysis/delusion.
Politico
Wait, wut? Yeah, I don’t think that’s exactly how it works.
@lisaviolet
The trump re-election strategy:
But, yaknow, I hear that “lots of people are saying” he can just do that. Such a fucking idiot. Sigh, and people actually look up to him.
@lisaviolet I wonder if this is how he declared bankruptcy (perhaps at least the first of his many times; yes, MAGAts, I realize that it was his businesses that he bankrupted, because that’s “better”
):
@lisaviolet woowwww…
eh, I trust the Republicans to not go along with President Fucknuts’s obvious attempt at a coup. They’re self-interested and morally bankrupt, but they shut him down last time he was talking this kind of shit. (Remember, when he was trying to float the idea of postponing the election? … What a jackass.)
@joelmw @lisaviolet
I have claimed, for bank account purposes, Mega Millions, Powerball, and the state lotto. thank you for your cooperation.
@carl669 @lisaviolet I claim the United States Bullion Depository for, um, personal finance purposes.
I claim all of the toilet paper, all of the paper towels and all of the Almond Joys for myself.
@lisaviolet I’ll claim the clorox wipes and Mounds.
The problem with Trump screwing with the legitimacy of the election, besides being direct interference in the election, which is a crime, it also tosses out the results of every downballot election. You can’t credibly claim fraud in voting that somehow only affected just the one question for POTUS, but all those other Republican Senate, Governor, State AG, state legislators, judges, and more are 100% accurate.
Ballots and voting just doesn’t work that way. There is no way Mitch McConnell and the Republican bootlickers will put their own razor thin hold over the Senate into question.
They got their right-wing activist judges annointed to SCOTUS by starving the judiciary (Merrick Garland?) and then packing the court vacancies while gaslighting America to destroy Democracy and corrupt our Republic.
They will certainly push Trump under the bus before he pushes them under it to save his neck from the $400 million he owes Putin and the Russian mob for laundering their billions through his failed real estate “deals”. The real question is will Mitch dump him before Putin reveals his kompromat?
Prediction: Biden will be POTUS 46.
And Kamela Harris will be POTUS 47.
He will resign before his term to ensure his legacy and creating hers, and relegating Trump forever to the dustbin of history as a 1-term impeached loser.
@mike808 I’m more relieved than I was last night or even earlier today. It’s not over, but at least I know America’s democracy can be salvaged.
@mike808 And the best news if Trump loses is that we don’t have to listen to that illegal alien FLOTUS mangle the English language anymore. After she dumps tRump as fast as she can, she can go back to the pole dancing circuit.
I think I have decided Fivey Fox from 538 is the best mascot even better then Irk.
@mike808 TikTok Motherfucker
@Grailquest @mike808 Great movie. We watch it at least once a month.
Georgia delivers 270
Biden’s shortfall in Georgia drops below 40,000 votes as ballot counting continues with more than 122,000 uncounted ballots left, mainly in heavily Biden-favoring suburban counties like Cobb and DeKalb in Atlanta.
Newt Gingrich would be proud of his home district (GA-06).
/youtube kinks have another drink
@j37hr0
Something about the death of Alan Rickman the same year as David Bowie (2016, fittingly and fuckedly enough)–both of whom are gods, imo, singular, irreplaceable, transcendent–fucked me over good. Ever since, this has become a go-to gif. It works here as well as many other places.
@joelmw Thank you, I’ll use this frequently.
I’m not particularly happy with what this Politico piece says, but I don’t disagree with it:
Democrats Look at Trump Voters and Wonder, ‘What the Hell Is Your Problem?’
Frankly, I saw no point in actively listening to the man’s words during the bulk of his term. Many reasons, but briefly:
Now that there’s hope of removing him, I keep looking for signs of some minimal acquiescence to reality–or at least nominal reconciliation to norms of human decency. Sigh. Nope.
@joelmw He’s doubled down on psychopathy.
If he’s the President and he can do whatever he wants, doesn’t “stop the count” mean he’s conceding? I would think he would want counts to continue to see if he wins while he filed his lawsuits and recounts.
Also, "Sesame Street Is Trending After Donald Trump Tweets “Stop The Count”:
https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/sesame-street-trending-donald-trump-stop-the-count-tweets/?fbclid=IwAR3tU3A2bsY8U1Q4Nr0GZ-UNCwrouj0l3ib0XodxHYvuzkwUKyU3IPIGZLY
@JT954
That’s awesome. And, word to the wise, the Count is unstoppable.
DIPLOMAT! RAT-A-TAT! FAT CAT! AWESOME!
It’s been really strange… The last few weeks, I’ve seen tons of lifted trucks with gigantic Trump flags. Not a single one today or yesterday. I’ve only seen one person the last few days with a Trump facemask. No maga hats.
Eerie.
@RiotDemon maybe they all went back to the mothership?
Seriously, that is strange!
@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 They realized it didn’t have the same effect once they lowered them to half staff.
@RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 Not to mention onlyonetruth has vanished which is consistent with what you have noticed.
@RiotDemon The pillow guy will be giving them away free with 2 pillows on TV along with his magic liquid to cure Covid.
@Kidsandliz @RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 We think Putin called him back to Russia and he will ultimately be sent to Siberia for not having done his job.
@RiotDemon They’re gathering in their underground hangars and planning their escape. The flags are being rerigged as sails.
@RiotDemon Trump’s clearly losing and trying to subvert the democracy on his way out. That’s got to be disappointing. It’s probably hard to be boisterous for them currently.
If you figure 90% of voters are maroons / “politically naive”, and around half of those are red… that’s a lot of room for a lot of idiocy with a personality cult, still being normal people. That’d be my read.
Seriously, at what point do we finally accept the fact that this “man” is just another con artist who happens to have scammed his way into the most powerful office in the world–and take necessary steps to prevent him from committing additional crimes?
@mike808 For once I hope he isn’t lying. It was great to see try to see him read (he couldn’t even do that smoothly as he was so upset) one lie after another tonight. A totally beaten and embarrassed man.
And Malaria has started packing her bags tonight for a quick get-a-way on January 20th
@mike808
If and when he were to willfully act to remove himself, his insipid whining, his unintelligent babbling and his grotesque narcissism from the country, from the media, from our consciousness, I would happily give him credit for doing a decent thing. “Say what you will about Donald Trump, he finally shut the fuck up and got the fuck out of the way. Kudos for that.” Real talk, I fantasize about that moment. I’m a softy down deep, and I believe in moments of personal redemption.
I mean, fuck him; he deserves a torturous, miserable death. But I can see myself for a nanosecond appreciating that he’s human–were he ever to show credible signs thereof.
I had a feeling Steve Bannon would do something ridiculous during this election, and he didn’t disappoint:
“Steve Bannon Suspended by Twitter After Calling for Execution of Dr Fauci and FBI Director Wray”
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/steve-bannon-twitter-account-suspended-013048763.html
@narfcake i was watching this live last night when he said it. literally gagged on my drink when he said it and had to rewind to make sure i heard him correctly. biggest lol of my day yesterday.
Uh, not to be negative, but I’m starting to think that Kanye might not win this thing.
@RiotDemon I’m wondering if Georgia hoping that another state breaks the news first so they don’t get to be the bearer of good/bad news.
@narfcake @RiotDemon
That would be the intention of the Republican Secretary of State, after the shenanigans his predecessor Kemp pulled to elect himself governor against Stacey Abrams.
That’s why he’s ordering the state officers to go home early and won’t update the website or give updates as the votes come in. He doesn’t want to be the guy that Trump will blame.
It is also not lost on anyone in Georgia that the district to put Biden in the white house would also likely be the late Rep. John Lewis’ district.
Georgia Update 1:30am EST
12,643 votes left to count.
Votes left by county:
Floyd 444 (very red)
Taylor 446 (very red)
Forsyth 229 (very red)
Laurens 1,797 (red)
Gwinnett 4,800 (blue)
Clayton 3,697 (very blue)
Cobb 700 (very blue)
Biden trails by 1,267.
@mike808 CNN now has it down to 463!
@mike808 And now 2:35 MST Biden leads by 917!
But how can Trump lose when he’s got divine support like this?
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-trump-s-spiritual-adviser-paula-white-lead-prayer-service-for-outcome-of-election-95408709868
@Kyeh
.
.
.
lol
@Kyeh @RiotDemon
Prayer
Because God already knows what you want.
He just wants to hear you beg for it.
@Kyeh @RiotDemon I think the bottle of Mountain Dew explains a lot.
Biden went ahead in the official PA count by a few thou about 9am EST today.
This advantage is not expected to reverse in that state, as the ballots still being counted are all mail or absentee ballots at this time.
The mail/absentee vote has run 70-90% for Biden in PA thus far this year, even when the absentee ballot count was from very Republican areas.
It’s still way too early for PA and the other “tight race” States to be called by the statistical gurus yet. Those persons like to see a voting advantahe that cannot be overcome by yet uncounted votes, with no assumptions about how those uncounted votes may run; these uncalled States aren’t “there” yet.
Pity the poor sleepless news anchors, newscasting crews, and decision desk crews,
Many of the on-air people are getting kinda hoarse.
@f00l Among my heroes, the journalists.
@joelmw
https://apple.news/A1-QFHZ8MRPmJeIYOKDlbUQ
(From Mashable)
(To learn more about his dress sense and his ability to go without sleep and still have tc sex appeal, and to see the vid and Twitter evidence, see the original article)
Here is an alt link:
https://mashable.com/article/steve-kornacki-twitter-thirst/
@joelmw
Apologies, the first link is supposed to be a Twitter comment including vid embedded in the Apple News version of the Mashable article.
I couldn’t get it pasted in correctly.
And more election news
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/french-bulldog-named-wilbur-elected-mayor-rabbit-hash-kentucky-n1246569
I haven’t felt this good about the future in a long time knowing the Orange Skidmark and his crew of butt kissers are on their way out.
@Felton10 Tbh, both Biden and Harris were among my least preferred, but when you put it all in context and consider the increasing likelihood that we end the orange nightmare, I can admit that I’m a little giddy. I’m even listening to a Biden-Harris playlist on Spotify.
Jesus Fucking Christ, I’m a mess.
We’ll rearm the resistance in January. I think we’re all due a little celebration. Of course, depending on Orangey’s lawyers and enabling party, we may have court battles and other wasteful, self-serving shit to endure for a couple of months anyway. But in this moment, I’m choosing to be hopeful and happy and even to appreciate Uncle Joe’s decency, dullness and normalcy. The racism and centrism would have been an issue whoever the Democrats put up; hell, not even Bernie’s perfect
and, speaking of racism, Obama himself continued to perpetuate the broken system (not that I think he had many viable options).
@joelmw On election night, I went to bed dreading waking up the next morning to find out that we had Trump for another gut wrenching 4 years. Even my wife woke up and asked me did Trump win. I said not so fast and from then on it has been very stressful but ultimately rewarding knowing that it was worse for Trump watching his kingdom slip away.
@Felton10 @joelmw I won’t be surprised if at some point, the 25th gets invoked so Pence could pull off a Gerald Ford stunt.
(And deeper down, I hope Pence grows a spine and doesn’t. More and more republicans are trying to distance themselves now; there’s nothing to gain to follow along, but they have everything to lose for themselves if they do.)
@joelmw @narfcake All this point I think all bets are off as to what Trump will do. You can be sure it is something no one has ever done before and no one will never do again.
@Felton10 @joelmw I certainly hope so.
This was McCain’s concession speech in 2008. I don’t expect to hear any at all this time.
@Felton10 @joelmw @narfcake
Appears to be an unlikely event
@f00l @joelmw @narfcake Pence will do whatever he thinks in politically expedient. Although with Trump out of the picture, he chances of being President have decreased to almost zero.
@f00l @Felton10 @joelmw That’s just it; with the 25th invoked, Pence will become the president, albeit only for a limited time.
Here’s some insight into how Tuesday went in the WH:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/11/donald-trump-presidency-election-week.html
@Felton10 @joelmw @narfcake
You’re assuming that Trump, after leaving office, doesn’t maintain control over his base. He will try to hold on to that base as long as he can, so some Republicans will desire to stay by his side, since they think he will have more power than the establishment.
This obsession over his base may very well cause a fissure in the Republican party, with establishment Republicans discounting Trump and pushing their candidates, while Trump endorses extremist candidates (a la Roy Moore, in 2018).
I don’t think Pence necessarily is one of these Republicans. I think he’s a puny little ant who will follow wherever he thinks the power is. That was made evident by the VP debate.
@grum @joelmw @narfcake Trump loves power and if he feels his base gives him that power he will do everything he can to maintain his relationship with them. But without the power of the Presidency where everything you say and do is reported his ability to maintain the type of contact he had with his base will be limited.
As for Pence, Trump probably never liked or had much respect for him. He was just a tool to get evangelical voters. He will be yesterday’s news very quickly as most VPs are after they leave office.
I’m not sure if I would have been more eased seeing this before, but the counting trends are certainly interesting:
https://alex.github.io/nyt-2020-election-scraper/battleground-state-changes.html
@narfcake That’s cool. Thanks for sharing.
The All Lives Matter crowd is extremely upset to learn that All Votes Matter.
Bad news: Steve Bannon is no longer temporarily suspended from Twitter.
Good news: Steve Bannon is permanently suspended from Twitter.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/05/tech/steve-bannon-twitter-permanent-suspension/index.html
@mike808 Hopefully he will no longer be “among us”.
@mfladd @mike808 He will resurface under his usual meh ID. Remember he thought he had such a good reputation on here that he didn’t want to wreck it so created the fake ID. Tells me he knew in advance he was going to behave as he did, that this kind of behavior is not acceptable, and so didn’t want us to know about that part of his character.
Do Republicans drink liberal tears of joy?
@mike808 Some republicans are probably are going to be liberally shedding tears.
@mike808 I would think they taste better now, because tears of joy are much sweeter than bitter tears.
@mike808 @lisaviolet @Kidsandliz
Here is what that {my bestest friend} also said:
“I’m anticipating an electoral college Trump victory of 312 to 226 for Braindead Basement Biden. I would also not be surprised by a comfortable popular vote win for Trump”
NOT
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @lisaviolet @mike808 lmao
WOOHOO! Time to start fumigating the White House, there’s a new sheriff in town!
Taste my liberal tears of joy.
@lisaviolet Taste my conservative tears of joy.
Trump has consistently betrayed this country and its people, and I’m proud to say I voted against him twice.
@blaineg My BFF told me today that she and her husband both voted for Biden. Now they’re going to change their political affiliation to Democrat.
They wanted to vote as Republicans for Biden.
@blaineg @lisaviolet
Truly:
/giphy thank you for your service.
I’ve been on the far left for a very long time. I remember when folks in Washington would actually reach across the aisle and spoke with a modicum of mutual respect. McConnell and Trump have seriously fucked this country over. And they clearly don’t give shit.
Biden Wins Presidency, Ending Four Tumultuous Years Under Trump https://nyti.ms/38lxlQX
@cinoclav up to 290!!
@cinoclav @tinamarie1974 And when Georgia is finished, 306. Yes, they’re going to recount. No, I don’t see it changing.
@cinoclav FUCK YES! WE DID IT!
@cinoclav @narfcake I am getting giddy watching that number rise!!
I won’t miss many of his supporters. I most certainly will not. Horrible, horrible people.
@lisaviolet You’re right. You won’t miss his supporters. There are still tens of millions of them.
@lisaviolet Reagan was known as The Great Communicator, Trump is the Great Divider.
Fucking A.
It will be especially fitting if Biden wins both MA and GA.
Florida still sucked, though but at least my county was blue
Guess I can take a breath. Until 3:30.
Go DAWGS!!
What worries me is what kinds of things Trump will do in revenge and/or to enrich himself between now and January. There still is plenty of potential to really destroy this country and make it that harder to dig out.
@Kidsandliz Oh yeh-like a bull in a China shop. Anybody on his shit list better disappear until after he leaves office. He will be out for blood and revenge.
@Felton10 Well his niece just stated that he will try to destroy as much as possible between now and when he leaves office. That was my best guess about what he would be up to as revenge is of his best skills. He practices it a lot.
@Kidsandliz I don’t have any doubt that it is going to be a shit show for the next two months in every way possible.
@cinoclav “New phone, who dis?”
The far-right prime minister of Slovenia fired off a tweet this past week declaring Trump’s victory.
Janez Janša
@JJansaSDS
·
Nov 4
It’s pretty clear that American people have elected
@realDonaldTrump @Mike_Pence
for #4moreyears. More delays and facts denying from #MSM, bigger the final triumph for #POTUS. Congratulations @GOP for strong results across the #US
@idualliance
He just didn’t want Malaria back home. But she has made it clear she is going to go back to Shitovia and back to the pole dancing and lap dancing circuit.
https://apple.news/A7ULGQgzvT7agToWKX1t4Iw
This video is 3 years old. Starting at 4:09, it becomes too accurate.
@RiotDemon “I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go!!!”
@mfladd
To all the Trump supporters who are experiencing the feelz, I share these same words of comfort you gave to us who voted for Hillary back in 2016:
You lost. Get over it.
Especially @OnlyOneTruth.
@mike808 He is back is back in Russia or under the rock from which he slithered originally.
Three words for former prosecutor VP-elect Kamela Harris:
Lock
Him
Up
@mike808
better define your pronoun… lots of “Red State” folks might think you are showing her the road to the Oval office…
@mike808 I’m a strong supporter of the two-term system. One term in office, one term in jail.
@chienfou Well, Trump showed Biden how to purge agencies of “legacy” appointees and install “acting” whatevers everywhere to not have to get Senate fingers dirty in Trump’s maladministration with pesky confirmation votes (too busy shoving Federalist Society activist judges through).
Now Moscow Mitch can sit and spin. If the runoffs in Georgia don’t flip the Senate too.
Now comes the next big contest
(ignoring for a moment the Georgia Senate races)
all of Trump’s allies and all the people in The West wing will now scramble for their big fat book contracts with the biggest publishers and the biggest agents and the biggest ghostwriters
and they will scramble for talking head positions on one network or another
One book approach would be where the memoirist defends Trump and his policies to the death, so to speak
This will be a rare response for people who are not part of the family and are not trump’s lifelong allies
or the more common political memoir approach:
will be to make oneself look like the one is the only sane independent one, who tried their best to save the republic from the president’s worst impulses
and to make everybody else out to be just a personally ambitious cowardly suckup enablers
and to throw all or most of the memoirist’s former co-workers and former political allies under the bus in order to attempt to exonerate oneself and save one’s own reputation
Persons who served the administration out of a sense of national duty, and who then got fired or forced out, or who left the administration due to their own principled opposition to Trump’s “governing style” have a somewhat wider choice of approaches to their own memoir, if they haven’t already published it
If Jeff Sessions publishes a book, that book will likely be in its own special class of pathetic
@f00l It’s going to be a rush to throw Trump under the bus.
@blaineg @f00l Brad Parscale is already up to bat…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-06/former-trump-campaign-manager-parscale-plans-to-write-book
@blaineg @f00l @mfladd And Pascale has already grifted millions!
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5eb1dae5c5b62b850f93abb3
I really hope Trump refuses to leave the White House. I’d love to see him hauled out in handcuffs.
Like the military, the Secret Service is sworn to the constitution, not the president.
@blaineg Hasn’t stopped Mitch McConnell for years, going all the way back to the day Obama was sworn in.
Didn’t stop a single one of the 51 enabler Republican Senators who said nothing and quashed the Impeachment without a single witness questioned or document examined. Other than Mitt Romney.
I love this.
@blaineg Sweet car.
The Rest of the World Is Also Glad to Get Rid of Trump
https://slate.com/culture/2020/11/european-celebrations-trump-defeat-biden-victory-social-media-hip-hip-hooray.html
Four Seasons LANDSCAPING???
I guess the Four Seasons said no?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/6209235002
@tinamarie1974 Very apropos as Trump is a dick and Malaria has been using one for years.
@tinamarie1974
Not THIS Four Seasons!
I came here to say that too!
@tinamarie1974 Per Twitter:
To clarify, President Trump’s press conference will NOT be held at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia.
It will be held at Four Seasons Total Landscaping— no relation with the hotel.
— Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center (@FSPhiladelphia) November 7, 2020
Too FunnY!
One person also tweeted they thought “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” was actually a codeword for a Brazilian Wax
@tinamarie1974 Wait, that’s for real?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/i-saw-donald-trump-s-presidency-come-crashing-down-at-four-seasons-total-landscaping-b1699962.html
@blaineg yup! I double checked before posting, just because it was so bizzare.
Also, I may have picked the specific tweet that mentioned dildo’s to get a rise out of our @Mfladd, but he did not seem to notice!
“Steve Bannon dropped by attorney in criminal case day after suggesting Fauci and FBI director beheadings”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/06/politics/steve-bannon-dropped-by-attorney/index.html
#sloppysteve
Various amusing articles.
https://slate.com/tag/goodbye-trump-admin
@cjester66 so Biden actually has a life long struggle with stuttering, which he has publically discussed. It is a medical condition. I don’t generally run around making fun of folks with conditions.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/politics/joe-biden-stutter/index.html
And his speech last night, as President Elect, was poignant and showed a clear path forward for the American people - not just his supporters. Let’s hope we all move forward together regardless of whom we voted for in this election.
@tinamarie1974 That’s so sweet, but he wasn’t stuttering. He loses his train of thought constantly and has trouble speaking in complete sentences if they are not written down ahead of time. The only thing clear about him is that he is a career politician that won’t make it full term before Harris takes his place. It’s kind of late to wish we could all move forward together.
@cjester66 so you think Biden looses his train of thought? Have you listened to Trump speak, he slurs his words, cannot spell and I recall him being proud of passing a dimentia test. Some people like keeping the bar LOW.
@cjester66 @tinamarie1974
Whats your point? Trump had four years to do this and didn’t even try. Not one fucking day. Mitch Mcconnel had ten. Not one fucking day.
That we aren’t moving forward together is only by your choice.
I won’t feel sorry for you. I won’t apologize for you. I won’t excuse you or your Republican representatives. I won’t turn back and meet you halfway. Your position is intolerance, racism, denial,
selfishness, and willful ignorance. Your tools are cruelty, hatred, lies, and division. You seek freedom only for yourself and oppression for everyone else.
It is you that must move forward, with all Americans. Your choice. You are invited to be a part of the United States of America. That, truly would Make America Great Again, wouldn’t it?
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 Because you chose to vote for a racist/segregationist, does not give you the right to tell me how to move, forward or otherwise. Do I need to show you the videos and countless racists statements Biden has made? I’m sure CNN never showed you but there are plenty of them out there. Take off your blinders and take a real look at his record and statements. I can show you just as many videos of Trump denouncing racism but it won’t fit your narrative and you won’t look. It’s depressing, really. Biden is a corrupt career politician that can barely speak on his own and won’t even tell his constituents if he intends to pack the Supreme court. Save your preaching and speeches for your sheep friends. America was on a path to greatness, now we are being told to prepare for a “Dark Winter.”
@cjester66 @mike808 @tinamarie1974
“…we are being told to prepare for a “Dark Winter”.”
Who, exactly, is telling you this?
And “racist/segregationist”? Did you ever hear of Stephen Miller?
And have you noticed who Biden chose as a running mate?
And who is it who’s packing the courts again?
Sheesh…
@cjester66 @mike808 @tinamarie1974 The one reason were are being told to prepare for a “dark winter” is because of Trump’s handling of Covid-19 was based primarily on what it would take to get him elected and not was good for the country. Guess the 120k+ new cases the last 3 days didn’t make it to Faux Snews as they were too busy spreading lies about the election results.
@cjester66 @tinamarie1974 Trump can’t even read the words of the script that were written for him. Did you watch his performance re the “stolen election”. He couldn’t even read an entire sentence without stumbling. He looked like he was a hostage reading a script his captors wrote for him. Good riddance to the self proclaimed “stable genius”-more like a fucking idiot.
@lisaviolet His running mate called him out for his racism and for defending segregation. She did this on National Television. He offered her a job and she sold out her beliefs. Packing the court is about expanding the court, not replacing a justice that passed away. Trump did his constitutional duty. You really need to do some research before you say things like that. Or as you put it. Sheesh…
@cjester66
Biden won. Get over it.
(Damn, that’s been a long time coming, after four years of this.)
@cjester66 listen sweetheart…
as someone with a stutter myself, that’s EXACTLY what you are seeing in that video. it’s not all stumbling over the beginning of words.
I have sentences like that all the time.
@cjester66
@earlyre I’m a sweetheart but not your sweetheart. If you try to sniff my hair next, we’re going to have a serious issue. Nothing wrong with having a disability as long as he can perform his job. He obviously is struggling. You might think it’s cool to have a president that can’t be clear or make himself understood. I don’t.
@lisaviolet I’ll be as courteous to people about Biden as they were to me about Trump. How about that?
@cjester66 You do you.
@cjester66 @lisaviolet Does Merrick Garland ring a bell. And don’t give me that BS about since it the Senate was Republican they didn’t have to consider his nomination. Their responsibility is to advise and consent. They didn’t even give him the courtesy to meet with him.
@cjester66 @Felton10 @lisaviolet If you’re going to be fair, and I know none of you will be, President Trump did his constitutional duty regarding the Supreme Court.
Mitch McConnell is the one who failed to do his constitutional duty regarding Merrick Garland.
America pooped today
@markkorn Sure did. They shit out Trump, back into the sewer from whence he came.
Now if only Trump would go away as quickly and quietly as @OnlyOneTruth has.
@DennisG2014 Once Trump lost being a Trump supporter online isn’t such a high paying job
@DennisG2014 Thumperchick removed my post about OOT being flushed down the toilet. Just because he was a friend of yours and/or you voted for the pu$$y grabber, he was a {lot of things.}
Per SNL:
“If they spook the president, he could unleash an army of Proud Boys and flag-waving trucks,” he joked. “He’s like Aquaman but instead of fish he could summon the entire parking lot of a Cracker Barrel.”
@mfladd Yeh-these are normal looking people who I wouldn’t mind having as my neighbors. NOT.
Where’s Rodney King when you need him?
Watch “Rodney King Can We All Get Along.mp4” on YouTube
@B1GR3D Rodney King passed away some time ago.
I want to try out an idea.
There’s a general perception that political divisions are deep and insurmountable. But where does that perception come from? Speaking for myself, I don’t see it anywhere in any of my personal relationships.
It’s the only thing I read in the news.
… those motherfuckers.
So here’s the idea: America isn’t inherently, actually, really that “divided”. What we’ve got is a cycle of resentment that’s analogous to cycles of violence. McCoys and Hatfields having an imaginary proxy war in the realm of YouTwitFace. We’d have long forgot what we were fighting about if media wasn’t constantly egging us on.
America has a wide variety of perspectives on offer. We’re not at all a monoculture. That’s a strength and a weakness. Human nature being what it is, we don’t come with a natural inclination to see each other as being on the same side, especially without some lodestar menace to hate together.
Even given that, most people would rather get along, keep things low key, and use democratic processes to make best-available compromises. Keep a sense of humor. Appreciate each other.
But there are parties who benefit directly from exaggerating polarization, from driving wedges deeper, from lying, from causing Americans to hate Americans. They also happen to be, not by accident, disproportionately what people pay attention to. Where do your time and thoughts go, and was that your original plan for your life?
Politicians use lies and propaganda to maintain power, the simpler the message, the more effective.
(Anti-)social media use bad emotions to control attention, so they can sell ads. The longer they can keep your eyes locked on them, the better their revenue. They don’t even have to do that intentionally. It’s a natural consequence of taking editorial judgement out of the picture and replacing it with an algorithm that tries to keep you “engaged”.
Like big tech media, traditional and political media needs attention for revenue – sensationalism rules the day.
Foreign powers feed America caricatures of itself, aimed at anything between civil war and broad dysfunction, diminishing American influence.
On top of that we’ve got a winner-take-all voting style that doesn’t allow you to ever vote for an alternative to the big two without “throwing away your vote”. There are two teams and you’d better pick one. Now you’ve got your tribe, and all the latent tribalism in you can be brought to bear to distort your perceptions. I’ve seen this in myself enough to hate it viscerally. You encounter propaganda, and just start lapping it up. But then you stop, thinking twice: it’d be better to use a spoon – no wait, a ladle would be more efficient. Footballer foots ball: fans riot.
Reconciliation would be utterly doable if there weren’t forces working actively to monopolize people’s thoughts, all negative thoughts of dysfunction. There ought to be a pithy catchphrase available to fight this, something you could whip out like a rolled up newspaper to hit politicians, partisan hacks, technologists, and journalists on their noses. There ought to be a good place to direct attention, where the dominant point of view is that we’re not our own enemies.
Too long? It’s too long. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@InnocuousFarmer
I’m going to have to jump off and have a tendency to respond at 500-20000% volume of the inciting post/comment’s volume (that’s just a joke estimate, but might actually be an understatement), so I’ll just address this bit:
I’ve got a shit ton of amiable–verily, a substantial number of genuinely loving–relationships with a shit ton of people whose politics I don’t respect, in particular family (including siblings and parents, not to mention aunts, uncles and cousins).
But . . . . Okay, first of all you see–in my case at least–that saying I have amiable and loving relationships people personally is different from saying that I actually accept their views politically or that we’re even in the same universe on that very important item.
Basically since I was a teenager, I’ve on the one hand had a strong desire to talk politics (part of the problem is actually that the subject is, not just broadly considered impolite, but despised, which really just means that we actively ignore it–all of which reflects profound underlying philosophical issues) and on the other hand recognized that there’s simply no point in discussing politics with most Americans (I’m not saying that because I’m worldly and have a globalist perspective, but “with Americans” is where the bulk of my experience is and, yes, I have noticed that friends from other nations and cultures are much more capable and less frustrating re politics). In hindsight, even when I thought we should be talking politics and I would try to introduce the topic in a variety of settings, really I was still avoiding the topic with certain (and many) people. Things have gotten so much worse in the last 12 years. And without dissecting each piece of your analysis (some of which I agree with to varying degrees), I think it boils down to stupid people feeling increasingly empowered to say the stupid shit they’ve always been thinking. Because, you know, “we’re each entitled to our opinions” (and, by implication, “all opinions are equally valid”, regardless of how factless, irrational, racist and otherwise dickish and unworthy they are).
And I say it’s gotten worse, but this has long been a horrible country (okay for a white man like me, less so for Black People, Immigrants of Color, Indigenous People, etc.) and humans have long been horrible generally.
My experience suggests that there are people who tend to consider their values and are open-minded about the world. There are others content to rely on “tradition” and self-serving bigotry. Of course there’s a spectrum, but usually it comes out–and, if we’re really honest, the former group is tiny, but I can allow that there’s a reasonable contingent that’s closeish and sort of trying (they’re trying alright).
That’s a big fucking divide.
The trouble is that those bigotries are variously reinforced (you mention some amplifiers, but I think it’s deeper and more intrinsic) and have to be actively addressed and dismantled. This is why we talk about systemic and culturally embedded racism. This is why we have to use language like “patriarchy”, “white supremacy”, “hegemony”.
I’m an optimist. I think we can bridge the divide. But it’s not going to be done passively and we’ve got to stop making so many accommodations to fragility and entitlement.
At the same time, I’m not going to waste my time on the large bloc of people who simply refuse to actually examine their values. No one would accuse me of hiding my opinions. But I’m done legitimizing certain opinions of certain other folks by pretending that I respect what they say (and, hey, that’s a personal thing; I know that there are those more capable doing the remedial education). I’ll work on the folks that are close and I’ll work with coconspirators and the closeish to get shit done. The bigots are welcome to fuck off; I won’t be party to normalizing their bigotry or, really, perpetuating the longstanding status quo.
@joelmw Don’t take this as an attack, but I think that tune you’re singing is part of the problem. The-others-are-the-bigots-are-the-enemy here, combined with identity politics there, that boils people down to a simplistic caricature that doesn’t resemble reality. It’s ideology that reminds me of the church I left.
@InnocuousFarmer I’m not surprised that you do. But dismissing the problem of the various bigotries ingrained in our society is a bigger problem. And decrying “identity politics” is a classic dismissal. Sadly, I hear it as often from liberals (including some on the far left) as I do from conservatives.
For the record, I readily acknowledge that I’m a bigot too, and it’s a problem I’m actively working on. To be clear, I don’t mean bigotry against white people and other privileged classes. I understand that confronting one’s bigotry is challenging, but coddling bigots and telling them that they have a right to feel aggrieved (for having their bigotry called out) doesn’t help.
This isn’t about me saying that those racists need to deal with their shit. It’s about acknowledging that we’re racist–I’m racist–and we need to deal with our shit. I will stand by the fact that folks who refuse to deal with their shit are the problem. And I’m tired of making accommodations for hurt feelings when the folks with their feelings hurt won’t even accommodate the facts, including the reality of their own sense of unearned entitlement and aggrievement.
@joelmw If you’d back off the maximally vague, emotionally loaded attack language we’d probably agree on a solid 7/10 issues. Calling everything “racist” isn’t good for influencing people. It’s good for arm-twisting your in-group. It’s just evil shit.
@InnocuousFarmer As I said, I certainly do agree with much of what you’re saying. But I disagree on a few critical points, and I haven’t really heard you make a case on those points.
Honestly, it’s exhausting to listen to my statements being repeatedly mischaracterized and vaguely simplified even as you accuse me of being “maximally vague”. I could certainly go into more detail, but you’ve refused to do anything other than vaguely dismiss and roundly demonize the specifics I have provided. If you want things less “vague”, be less vague and stop generalizing, mischaracterizing and dismissing the specifics.
What I mostly hear is that it’s too much work, and that folks who enjoy privilege need to be catered to even as others suffer–and let’s be clear, to the point of losing their lives–because of those privileged folks’ indifference.
I certainly didn’t say that everything is racist. Seriously, what’s that bullshit? I said that racism is a problem. And, yes, it is a primary, essential and enormous problem that fundamentally harms some folks in a way that those it doesn’t directly harm are more than happy to ignore. And, no, I’m not going to back off on that issue. I’m also happy to confess that systemic racism–as it manifests in criminal justice, the economy, healthcare, immigration, foreign policy, etc.–is the primary issue I vote on and the primary concern I organize around. I do that because the majority (let me emphasize, the majority, including so-called “liberals” and “progressives”) of wypipo are content to ignore it, and I see how their ignorance, indifference and denial affect the lives of people I love. But racism is also at the heart of many of this country’s other dysfunctions.
Folks in this country, as a whole, have never wanted to address racism, have never been happy with any accurate framing of it, have never considered any form of protest or resistance to it “appropriate”. Wypipo who regularly quote MLK sanctimoniously are happy to ignore how he was broadly condemned and vilified and how he was routinely critiqued in petty and unhelpful ways by white folks who considered themselves his allies. It’s the same old goddamned story: be patient, be more civil, don’t be so disruptive, you’re alienating people, you’re hurting their feelings, etc. ad nauseam.
And, please, don’t fucking tone police me. It is an emotional issue. I have serious concerns about those who aren’t angry. Usually that means they aren’t feeling the pain, so they don’t care. Sadly, I do hear Black folks and other People of Color who’ve internalized and regurgitate the pacifying pablum; I can’t fault them, because they’re just trying to survive. But that makes it all the more incumbent on me to exercise my privilege to do something about it.
On a general note, I’m often content to be calm, sometimes willing to appease, but not when someone’s throwing out bullshit dismissals of the very real and very urgent issue of racism, and especially when we’re discussing politics and the sort of resurgence of that racism in all of its ugly forms that we’ve witnessed over the last four years–whose practitioners, of course, mostly won’t admit that they’re racist, let alone how completely fucking racist they are. Nah. I’m not trying to fucking calm down about that.
Moreover one of the things I have always loved about this place is the freedom of expression here. It’s worth noting that that freedom has been recently curtailed specifically because of folks who refuse to acknowledge the layers and layers of racist bullshit they’ve either actively participated in or gleefully enabled. Before you try, no, I won’t be blamed for their fragile, ignorant bullshit. That, a perceptive soul might discern, provides much of the impetus to my original response to your proposal.
Bottom line, it’s never the right time and the language is never soft enough. Fuck that. I actively filter that stultifying nonsense out of my life, because the more I hear it, the more I wonder whether maybe John Brown didn’t have the right idea. To be clear, I don’t advocate violence, but I do believe that the cause of racial justice is far more righteous than most of the causes we call righteous and have gone to war for, including the causes on which this country was founded (which, notably, were completely consistent with not just tolerating slavery and racism, but going all in on them).
As I alluded to, thank gods there are people who can put up with the bullshit. I’m not one of them, but I definitely appreciate them. We need them. But we also need a helluva lot more white folks who are sick enough and angry enough about racism that they make it a priority, and that they verbalize and act accordingly. I’m happy to do my part. And I’m quite accustomed to the fact that much of society doesn’t want to hear it. I’ve had far more powerful individuals than you tell me to calm down. Yaknow what? We get shit done by not letting you get in our way. It also seems to be the case that more of us–including younger generations–are finally catching on.
You almost caught on to something re “in-group”: I am focused on those who at least sort of get it (and they’re not well served by those who cater to their reluctance and residual racism). I don’t think our numbers are as small as you seem to believe. Though, again, I readily acknowledge that many on both right and left, and in the middle don’t get it.
I fundamentally disagree with your concluding remark about “evil”. What’s evil is continuing to participate in, normalize and downplay the white supremacy that this country was built on and that continues to saturate it.
@joelmw I don’t know how to reach you. I want to talk about human interactions being distorted by media of various kinds. You seem to embody media-driven distortion.
For example – at no point have I so far said anything about racism, other than complaining about your approach to, maybe framing of the issue, after you brought it up.
I respectfully submit that your feeling of exasperation with bigotry does not originate from direct experience first (maybe secondarily), but, first, from drumbeats from the news and/or media on the web.
In general, anti-racist “white” people are sick of something they don’t have direct knowledge of and haven’t experienced. Racism can be an especially American problem and it can be coopted for broad manipulation of a population, at the same time. I would contradict you outright: Americans have always wanted to address racism, and have made gradual progress as a result, progress that should continue.
Solving the problem (or more practically, improving the status quo) isn’t what the (separately) media and progressives are aiming for. What they want is to create the outrage that you’re demonstrating, not to improve the state of affairs, but to improve their grasp of power and revenue, without regard to its ultimate consequences. The problem with that is, that creates fights where fights don’t exist. It leads to unnecessary gridlock, and unnecessary violence. It gives Trump and his ilk cover, and blinds his supporters to knowledge of the existence of an alternative political frame. The die-hards would believe anything he says anyways, contradictions intact, but there’s also a large middle. There’s a whole lot of people who are simultaneously pro-gun, anti-abortion, and generally pro-humanity, who aren’t captured by bigotry or even ideology on most issues, but are captured by tribalism, and those are the people who won’t be able to see past the screaming, who would otherwise be the source of the “bipartisan” efforts we used to hear about before the Internet got popular.
That propagandistic approach even prevents people like me from being able to associate themselves with a movement, because I’m not dishonest enough. I may think that prejudice against people who don’t look white is real, is something I’m personally capable of in small degree if I’m not paying attention, and an ongoing, even severe problem in many places, but you won’t catch me swinging around phrases like “systemic racism”, or even “Black Lives Matter” with the capital letters intact.
Without the artificially created divide, Trump’s grasp of the Republican party isn’t absolute, and Democrats can talk to them, if they’d bother. That’s the path toward change. Even Trump himself relies on talking points about how he’s helped black people more than any other President. That good will is fully present in the “bigots” you’re angry at, and that’s what needs tapped into – our better natures. Maintaining the divide, on the other hand, is his game. I’d try not to play into it.
As an aside, I’d also recommend watching the Social Dilemma, if you haven’t. It gets not into the political angle, but the tech / attention angle. I’d imagine it’s eye-opening if it’s not already a personal hobby.
@InnocuousFarmer @joelmw
Fwiw
That seems pretty condescending (as an assumption about the sources of another’s personal experience).
I’m white. I have no direct experience, within my memory, of racism that was directed personally at me.
I’ve have plenty of personal direct experience of seeing racist behavior, both of the out-on-the-open variety and the behind-the-scenes variety. I’ve intervened, (politely I hope), with some frequency.
I’ve had plenty of the hearing of racist comments. Once I got old enough to grasp that “i didn’t mean any harm” didn’t cut it as an excuse, I started intervening on those instances also.
I try to be nice and non assholish, but also direct about the harm done.
I’ve gotten a few people to listen. Maybe.
Some people are prob careful now about what they say or do within my hearing.
So, even as a white person, I have direct experience of racism. I’ve also been with non-whites while they were subjected to it. And I’ve talked about their experiences with them.
No media involved there.
Assuming that a given person, esp a thoughtful one, got their opinions from various media seems to me to be a fraught, and likely weak or erroneous approach to any discussion.
What media do you think provided me with my opinions?
What media should I conclude provided you with yours?
Perhaps I’ll just assume that you, @joelmw, and I all consume some media, that we view that info and those “media POVs” in various ways, and that each of us thinks all this through individually.
Also not everyone takes the same emotional-laden approach as everyone else to current events and to political and social philosophy.
Some personal variations re this are likely healthy.
Other emotional or attitudinal variants - those concurrent with investing in false info and limited, endlessly repeating sources of POVs, and those which spring from a lack of a broad variety of info sources - are, to my thinking, potentially quite toxic.
Also: in this forum, likely none of us will convince anyone else of anything.
One prob is that, even if we are all dealing with Real Facts (or what once passed for that), the reality is so rich, and the theories are often so poor at being comprehensive, that we can all think of caveats and probs with any given conclusion, esp those offered up by another.
@f00l @joelmw I hope that didn’t come off as condescending. It still doesn’t read that way to me.
I was seeing a lot of references to big amorphous systemic handwaving, but nothing specific in that vein. I really think the way to tackle the issue is bottom-up, where things are well-defined and graspable and where interventions can be trusted, to some degree, to have positive effects, where there isn’t a too-complex system in the way.
And that’s still basically orthogonal to the original point I was trying to make. I was hoping this corner of this thread would be a chance to talk with somebody about that.
I don’t have any hope for the species if we’re all living on the Internet now and can’t manage it.
@f00l @joelmw At the risk of wasting everyone’s time, I figure I’d better dig my hole a little deeper.
It’s not that bad to know a few racist people, or quasi-bigots / “edgy” jokers… as long as they’re safely irrelevant. The intolerable scenario is when those people are dominant, or when they’re sincere, emphatic, and uncontested.
Context is everything. If there’s one 80 year old harmless racist relic on the corner who’s near death, it can border on charming. If there’s one 80 year old racist man who represents a hundred thousand people like him, that’s terrible. The same interaction with the same person can come off as meaningless or meaningful depending entirely on what you bring to the experience. It can even oscillate back and forth after the fact. Getting abused by a bad or poorly trained cop who then gets prosecuted is bad, but getting abused by a racist cop who gets away with it is intolerable. Being persuaded that that racial prejudice is (in danger of) increasingly dominating the culture has to come from either or both of induction/inference from experience, or acceptance of propaganda. It’s impossible to believe that the constant deluge of manipulative media, social and otherwise, has no effect on how people interpret their experiences. Unless you’re in a state of blind rest, the interpretation comes first, and then the information and experience is viewed through that.
That’s what I was trying to get at with the “secondarily”.
@InnocuousFarmer @joelmw
I watched The Social Dilemma about a month ago, and recommend it to anyone with a Facebook account. Having deleted my Facebook after the flooding here in Sanford, MI, (it was just too overwhelming), I feel soo much healthier, and just better in general.
That being said, I found both of your opinions well spoken, and thought provoking.
@f00l I just can’t even yet in terms of responding, but your response reminds me of many of the reasons I so appreciate you. And, among many other laudable things about your comment, you are 100% correct and said several of the things I wanted to say but am still wrestling with, for various reasons. Thank you, my friend. I am grateful, and this community is far better for your presence in it.
@joelmw
/giphy aw shucks
@f00l @joelmw Hear, hear. @joelmw sorry for stepping on your toes so much. I don’t usually worry about that kind of thing, but, obviously I should. I wasn’t really replying to you (even to the extent that you can in a text forum), and that didn’t help anybody.
@f00l @InnocuousFarmer
I genuinely appreciate your apology, and it counts for a lot. I don’t mind acknowledging that I am–and was, and expressed myself as–an asshole. I’m sorry for the points at which my being an asshole (a thing I’m not altogether unwilling to be) crossed over to being a complete ass.
For what it’s worth, other folks here have pissed me off more. And I find many others to be more problematic. One of the reasons I engaged is because it seemed you’re someone capable of reasoning and discussion. To be clear, that is still my impression, despite our conflict. There are some people I’ve quite given up on in these forums; you’re not among them.
I’m less worried about my toes than some of the issues, about which, I hope it’s clear, I’m passionate. One of the groups we’re sort of active with (SURJ–and, yeah, since it’s only white folks and in many ways remedial, it’s a lot less fun
, but there are some very good folks there and they do some excellent work; but we try to stay more in the trenches) encourages us to call folks in instead of calling folks out. I’m not good at that. That’s not an excuse, but a confession. Though I also confess that I may have some principled objections to it, even though I admire that others are willing and able. But that’s kind of a tangent. The point is that I wasn’t as friendly as one might be. I own that. And I can do better. And, again, I’m sorry.
For the record, one of the things I love about this place is that we do step on each other’s toes. I could go on about that. But I’ve traded insults with and talked shit about (and been shit-talked by) some very fine people here, several of whom I hope consider me a friend (at least an online one).
Racial injustice–however we see it (and part of the lesson here is that we definitely all see it differently)–is a difficult subject. While you and I disagree, I appreciate a lot of what you’ve been saying, and the truth is that we’re probably closer than I am with a lot of folks, especially most white people I know (one of the reasons I prefer hanging with our Black and Brown friends).
@InnocuousFarmer @joelmw
Some motivation for *calling folks in" rather than “calling folks out” is simply that one if those activitues us, if done well, far more likely to make things better, in the short or long run, than the other is.
But for most of us, it’s also more intellectual and emotional work.
And it’s particularly discouraging to try:
when so many psychopathic rhetorical techniques are part of everyday life, drowning out honesty, and tormenting, demonizing, lying the biggest lies about the most honorable among us;
esp when these evil comments and devices are most commonly used currently by persons whose positions of power should obligate them so that when speaking out, they should be more intellectually and politically honorable than most.
It’s hard.
Want a ray of hope?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/style/loretta-ross-smith-college-cancel-culture.html
What if Instead of Calling People Out, We Called Them In?
I’ve not yet looked at her stuff, just heard one interview. But I’m impressed.
@f00l @InnocuousFarmer @joelmw
The problem with sociopaths in positions power is that they don’t give a fuck about being called in or out. They just want to burn the place to the ground and take everyone down with them.
@InnocuousFarmer @joelmw @mike808
Before these past 5 years, I never thought of Enlightenment achievements and values as being so very fragile before the madness of mobs (or before the madness of digital and media mobs [generated in part by media megacorps for profit])
At least, I didn’t see that the highest values of the American experiment were so vulnerable to easy destruction.
It’s not been a fun bit of learning for me.
@joelmw @f00l @mike808 Just got back to this thread, and, thanks for the kind words.
That NYT article is encouraging. It’s good to see people grappling in public with the complexities of trying to balance new social conditions with what’s an appropriate and honest, uplifting, or even useful way of trying to relate to each other…
I was listening to a podcast recently that was talking about conversations being best when a frame is shared. Without that, the idea was, conversations of any substance would be continually derailed with arguments about definition and context. That meta-conversation is kind of where I live, right now. Racial justice isn’t really my thing (in that I’m not close enough to it to believe that I have more than minor standing, so to speak), and if I show up with nothing but well wishes and criticism about how things are framed less accurately than they need to be, I’m not sure that’s worth anybody’s time, especially with it being mixed with a catalytic passion (talking about myself there too). I’m still game, but we should pull on that thread very carefully.
It’d also be a mistake, and one I’m constantly struggling to avoid making, to regard that framing fight as a fight about things more fundamental.
The racial justice movement is not only good intentions, or a desired end, it’s also a kind of (if you’ll permit me the analogy) church. You’ve got a belief system, a shared vocabulary, a shared culture, shared context – it goes far beyond principles. Still working the analogy, I can be a great fan of Christian values, principles, community, food banks, and commitment to a moral worldview, while also harboring a severe disagreement on a few points that have emerged from that culture and belief system. And – this may be the key thing – I can be in a strictly utilitarian sense in entire agreement with, say, my brother on some point, for approximately the same reasons, but I can’t talk with him about it, because his conscious middle-layerish expression of the idea is all God, whereas mine is all “human well being”, or “fairness as opposed some optimization problem” or some such.
I’m pretty sure trying to achieve agreement is too ambitious. I’ve been toying with the idea that the best thing to do may be to not even aspire to achieve mutual understanding in every case, but to carefully tiptoe around those issues. I mean it’s how I get along with my family, for lack of any discernible alternative whatsoever.
I find that incredibly unsatisfying, but I wonder if faith in mutual good intentions and mutual sufficient (if barely) competence isn’t the shortcut we need. If I accept that ideologies are very sticky, and accept that my personal hobby is to try to destroy every one of them that I find in myself, do I have any other recourse?
(I guess the alternative would be to arduously resolve relevant differences in framing / context prior to trying to have a nuanced conversation.)
@InnocuousFarmer @joelmw @mike808
Yes they are usually pretty sticky
Whats the point if the hobby? If to continually enlarge ones own POV and to enlarge ones capacity to empathize w the (non sociopathic variety) frameworks of others, then great!
However, I tend to think our species will never finally get rid of all our intellectual/cultural-shortcut non-rigorous cultural-assumotion-based) habits to evaluating stuff.
It’s built into our growing brains even in the womb I suspect; that we will start with our own reactions to the norms of our culture, and then thru education and inquiry, expand out from there. But the process has infinite potential, and we lack “world enough and time”.
I hope most of us will just do our best, and will understand that the process must include empathy at all times. Lacking empathy, the “expand ones perspectives” task risks incorporating its own arrogance or sociopathy.
@f00l @joelmw @mike808 Yeah, that’s the point of the hobby, though shaded more toward a search for what’s real than a pro-social people-oriented thing (that’s in there too, though).
When I was younger, I believed in Young Earth Creationism, and had an uneasy acceptance of the idea that “scientists” were motivated by some…thing… a preference for atheism, probably, and all their reasoning was thereby motivated. There seemed to be a fair amount of FUD around evolution anyways, didn’t sound that plausible.
I was surprised to find that, subjectively, the universal scientific consensus of evolution became plausible to me only after a personal atheism and social separation from church. You’d think maybe that it’d be the other way around, but not at all.
What I took from that was, if you care about developing a capability to pursue broader and truer beliefs, you have to be willing to go through the emotional, transitional, self-destructive-feeling process of unmaking your sense of identity to some degree, and then you also have to be wary of culturally maintained beliefs.
I have always wanted to be capable of viewing the world from an even remove. And I’ve always hated being wrong, and never been willing (able?) to shut off the devil’s advocate telling me I’m wrong.
Lately I’m creeping up on the problem of how that works with any amount of social integration. Not even the problem of too-little empathy – I think that can be worked on in parallel, and probably has more to do with my personality and/or limited social exposure – but the isolating effect of making oneself conversationally incompatible with most other people’s default frames. There’s an arrogance-adjacent problem if you commonly find yourself talking to someone within a frame that you’ve consciously left… I think I’m gradually navigating around the mistake of conflating breadth or ideological flexibility with… say, worthiness, or even accuracy or utility, but you don’t get people leaping into a broader frame without a lot of work (and that’s usually not their hobby), and meanwhile it’s hard to find a path toward conversational engagement about anything non-concrete without being dishonest or condescending. God bless the inventor of small talk, as it were, but conversations about the weather dry up pretty fast and I just can’t pay attention to sports.
Any one ever heard of "Problem Reaction Solution "?
Or read Sun Tzu’s "The Art of War "
US election result: What Biden’s victory means for rest of world
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54801409
It appears the TikTok community isn’t done with Trump yet.
TikTokers post videos of themselves appearing to troll Trump voter fraud hotline.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tiktokers-post-videos-themselves-appearing-troll-trump-voter-fraud-hotline-n1247052
@mediocrebot Lara Trump tweeted out a new number this morning. Said people keep doing what they’re doing, they’ll keep changing the number.
Maga supporters cheering for an actual Hitler speech given by a Neo Nazi:
https://tuckbot.tv/#/watch/jqdddl
@RiotDemon o.m.g.
That’s how scary political movements begin in their infancy.
“St. Louis couple sue photographer, wire service over iconic image confronting protesters with guns”
https://madison.com/news/article_d8f55fa4-9b89-568d-a0c4-0a1de067eb7f.html
Because how dare someone gets caught doing something stupid.
@JT954 It’s how they do.
@JT954 @mike808 surprised they are suing. Last I read they were in public with copies of one of these pics so they could autograph them when requests are received OR as tips at restaurants.
They are interesting, and not in a good way.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/lawandcrime.com/high-profile/indicted-st-louis-lawyers-left-pancake-house-employee-a-signed-photo-of-themselves-pointing-guns-at-protesters/amp/
@JT954 @tinamarie1974
Recently elected Republican Missouri Governer Mike Parsons previously assumed the position when his predecessor resigned amid an extramarital affair scandal involving S&M/bondage and blackmail by the governor to keep his mistress from ever going public about it.
Re-elected Repiblican Attorney General Eric Schmidt is challenging Roe v Wade with a pretend objection to the state law passed with a timetable of lengthening weeks after conception to ban abortions with no exceptions to get it to the Supreme cout (forcing the justices to rule consecutively on each time period 8 weeks, 9, 10, 11, etc. in separate narrow lawsuits on each date in the law, to abuse the severability clause and clog the court.
Here’s what these same Republicans had to say earlier when the serially offensive McCloskeys were charged by the St Louis prosecutor in June.
This was in June, shortly before Trump and the Republicans chose them to speak at the Republican National Convention, in their orgy of white racist pride.
Parsons and Schmidt just won their jobs back by 70/30 margins. Missouri is just packed with Repiblican racists. They’re still flying the Trump flags high in Ann Wagner’s MO-2 district (white flight suburbs of Saint Louis), and the local news covering “Trumper/MAGA protest caravans” heading to the state capital to demand Missouri … investigate other states election fraud because Trump didn’t win like he did in Missouri?
Josh Hawley, of course, being nothing more than a cheap media whore, used his position as Senator to misrepresent all Missourians by immediately and proudly displaying his sycophancy to Trump in questioning the legitimacy of the election results.
On the day the electoral college makes the election results official, will that be the time when this thread will changeover to a dialogue from its current state as a shoutfest?
Tongue in cheek humor but maybe not
.
@njfan I mean, it has calmed down a lot since one of the main instigators stopped posting.
@RiotDemon that is fair but I think we can do better.
@njfan @RiotDemon
No doubt we can. And on that note, I don’t find the observation especially helpful. Perhaps you could clarify?
From where I’m sitting, there is a particular problem in this country. It’s not a problem “with both sides”, though conflict often escalates to a point where none of the sides (there are of course more than two) looks especially attractive. Wrestling with a pig and all that.
Ignoring or attempting to “be civil” about the nasty shit perpetrated and condoned by some folks isn’t doing better. It’s part of the problem.
I do in fact feel a moral obligation to call those vile fuckers out, to mock them, to make it clear that their behavior and world view are in no way acceptable or tolerable. I don’t at all feel obliged to cave to their whimpering sense of entitlement or their distorted self-perception as aggrieved martyrs.
But, again, perhaps you could clarify what you mean by doing better.
@joelmw @RiotDemon I’m probably naive but I think it’s better to take the high road and respect your audience (regardless of topic) even if they don’t reciprocate or ‘deserve’ it. Instead of talking down, talk up to them. Maybe consensus isn’t reached in this instance but maybe it’s a step a potential working relationship. Just my (probably naive) two cents.
“Trump’s refusal to concede has prompted senior officials across the government to spread word that any cooperation with Biden’s team is forbidden, officials at agencies and the White House said. The White House, while offering little formal or explicit guidance, has nonetheless made known throughout the federal government that no steps should be taken that would imply Trump lost the election, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Trump is a fucking piece of shit. (no offense to shit).
@Felton10 he never acted in the best interests of the nation. Why start now?
@medz It is worse now. He is going to throw the “baby out with the bath water”. In order to be able to claim he lost by fraud, he is willing to take down the entire political system. The fact that 71 million+ voted for this toilet turd shows we still have a lot of very stupid and racist people in this country.
@Cerridwyn Sometimes the Internet is awesome.
LEGOS! EGGOS! STRATEGO! AWESOME!
PSA: Make sure your vaccine isn’t the one from Pfizer Garden Supply.
@mike808 Are they any relation to Four Seasons Landscaping?
@mike808 this one is funny
@mike808 You missed the ‘clarification’
“On Monday, a spokeswoman for Pfizer clarified that the company is part of Operation Warp Speed as a supplier of a potential coronavirus vaccine.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/health/covid-vaccine-pfizer.html
Just thought you would want to know.
@kykazaa I would, but apparently the NYT has a paywall to find out.
Weird, because the Pfizer spokesperson on a news piece said that Pfizer didn’t take any taxpayer money to develop the vaccine, presumably to gouge the taxpayer later because by refusing covid money now, they wouldn’t be forced to give the US a discount for older high-risk medicare patients for the orange toddler at 1600 to order preventing sending vaccine to “blue states” or “shithole countries” unless it was last on the list of his sycophants.
@kykazaa @mike808 Not sure it contradicts the point made that Pfizer did not take any money to during the research and development process. Here is the clarification linked in the article:
The advanced purchase agreement is described in the article as “$1.95 billion for 100 million doses to the federal government, which will be given to Americans free of charge.”
@kykazaa @mandm @mike808 Lets also not forget that Pfizer/BioNTech has contracts with multiple countries for the vaccine. Because they did not take R&D money we will wait in line like everyone else. We are at the front of the line, but only for the contract we already have in place.
Pfizer, BioNTech’s vaccine supply deals:
“European Union, 200 million doses (option: 100 million)
Japan 120 million doses
US, 100 million doses (option: 500 million)
UK 30 million doses”
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/which-countries-will-get-pfizer-covid-vaccine-first-11604929484450.html
The little fly in the ointment besides having to get two shots a month apart is the fact that the vaccine has to be kept at -94 degrees F-and at this point only hospitals have the capability to keep the vaccine that cold.
@Felton10 Don’t believe everything you read. Dry ice is −109.3 °F, and readily available.
Old time ice cream trucks used it to keep everything frozen solid long before they came out with fancy deep freezers…
@ELJAY @Felton10 yup! That vaccine can be shipped on dry ice or in envirotainers. Easy peasy!!
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974 And it’s not as if there will be a need to store it long at any given location. I’d imagine it will be immediately thawed as soon as received, for administering the injections.
Because of the worldwide demand, there likely isn’t even going to be an opportunity for long term storage or “stockpiling”, at least not for the first 6 months to a year…
Just my $0.02
@ELJAY @tinamarie1974 Still the logistics of getting 50 million doses to multiple places to give shots is not going to be an easy process.
@ELJAY @Felton10 it will be very interesting, a lot of the logistics is already mapped out at a high level. It is being estimated that we will need ~900 - 950 747 freighters to transport the product globally. Upon arrival into the destination countries it would be a mix of final mile delivery, with FedEx’s Phara division playing an integral role globally along with other small parcel companies (ie UPS, DHL, TNT, etc)
These carriers all have the ability to handle cold chain products whether it be the envirotainers or re-icing in transit. The sheer volume will be so interesting to see.
My bigger concern is how does this massive surge affect the supply chain as a whole. We are already somewhat at a disadvantage with the lower volume of passenger flights (similar to the number of passenger flights available in the 1950’s) making shippers heavily dependant upon the cargo plane space that is currently available. This reduction in available space is already causing delays unless shippers have block agreements with their underlying carriers. Add this surge in volume and who knows; It is enough to give Supply Chain professionals nightmares.
@ELJAY @tinamarie1974 tRumps comments about having the military distribute it shows his lack of understand of the logistics of this. Big surprise.
@Felton10 What I’d worry about is them getting too warm by accident, then getting cooled off again and then getting a shot that was no good because the guilty party decided not to fess up.
@ELJAY @Felton10 @tinamarie1974 Not to mention if they decide to do trucks there already is a huge shortage of 18 wheeler drivers.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz I would not worry about that. The envirotainers have built in temperature monitoring. You set the temperature and off you go. If there is an excursion, you are notified.
For smaller shipments that can be sent on dry ice, think last mile distribution to Pharmacies, Clinics, etc active temp tails can be inserted into the shipment. So instead if being built into the packaging, it us a seperate module that monitors the temperature and records the temp at regular intervals. Reports can be ran, etc to ensure no divergence.
Or even simpler is that shippers know based upon packaging how long the dry ice will hold temps before dissipation (usually you see somewhere between 3-5 days depending on packaging) and can have the carrier open and replenish the dry/wet ice in transit.
This is all really normal every day stuff.
@tinamarie1974 Sounds like you work/or have worked in supply chain management…?
@Kidsandliz qui moi? C’est possible!
@tinamarie1974 Oui toi. Très possible. (grin)
@ELJAY @Felton10 @tinamarie1974 The DoD and DLA have an enormous supply system. Parts of it work well. DLA DOD
@ELJAY @Felton10 @OldCatLady true! I actually dated someone in Air Force Logistics some time ago. Discussions were fascinating. They just look at Supply Chain from a different angle.
@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
General Bone Spurs Draft Dodger came out of his bunker to honor vets today-the same ones he called “losers”. As the pandemic rages, this asshole does nothing but claim (with no proof) he won the election because of all the fraud. Yet most Republican remain silent which only emboldens him and reinforces the lies with his low information base. Oh God-when will it ever end.
Jan 20. Whether he bothers to even show up or not.
@mike808
The R’s are still mostly afraid of Trump and his Twitter account and his mobilizing the Trump base against them.
Once upon a time “R” was not so close to being a marker for possible or likely political cowardice.
So many of the hardline “freedom caucus” members are now dedicated Trumpers.
Even tho Trump is against most of the principles they claimed to be completely dedicated to: committed to those principles to the degree of no possibility of compromise ever (way back when in 2010.)
Why? Because Trump won the fire up the R base power game.
And most of the freedom caucus people wanna stay in washington and in power.
So they publicly “believe” whatever Trump believes.
Even if Trump changed his mind since yesterday.
@f00l @mike808 Justin Amash is one of the very, very few congressmen I believe actually has some integrity.
He was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus a decade ago. He is very conservative and a strong constitutionalist.
Last year he left the Freedom Caucus and the Republican Party. His values and political philosophy didn’t change.
He did not seek re-election this year.
@mike808 Unfortunately it is going to take a long time to weed out of government all of the unqualified people Trump put in government. With the civil service system, easy to get them in-almost impossible to get rid of them.
@Felton10 @mike808 Well Biden could leave in place trump’s executive order stripping protections from federal employees until he has weeded the most important ones out and then reinstate the old rules.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz And send Moscow Mitch McConnell a big FU by appoint “acting” heads for all of the agencies until Ossoff and Warnock are sworn in after the Jan 5 runoff. The hard part will be removing (impeachment?) the right-wing activist judges that only give a shit about the parts of the constitution and law that they like and pretend they’re all sanctimonious about “originalism” or “textualism”. Like the gun-loving 2nd Amendment folks just love to shout about their right “to bear arms” but conveniently forget the part right afterwards about restricting that right only “by a well-regulated militia”. And every state has laws that require every “militia” to be 1) registered with the state, and 2) be regulated, as in under the control of the Governor. So most of those claiming to be members of “militias” are really just armed gangs brandishing and terrorizing the public.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @mike808
That’s… the exact opposite of the order in which those things are mentioned in the text of the Second Amendment.
And it’s also not what it says.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Limewater
Most militia organizations envisage themselves as legally legitimate organizations, despite the fact that all 50 states prohibit private paramilitary activity.
The States have the second amendment right to regulate militias, and the federal government cannot abridge that right. But the right-wing activist judges don’t like interpreting the literal text that way because it doesn’t suit their activist agendas. In short, Scalia’s “originalism” is just legal bullshit to justify whatever position the judge wants to take.Z
When groups black and brown people walk around with guns, they’re targets of law enforcement and charged with being gang members. When groups of white people do the same thing, they’re called “militias” or granted the white privilege of “expressing their second amendment right”. Systemic and institutionalized racism, literally.
My point isn’t to argue repeal of the second amendment. It is to argue that the peace, safety, and well-being of the citizenry supersedes the arbitrary, absolute, and unrestrained “right” of the individual to endanger that same peace, safety, and well-being. The Bill of Rights is about defining the rights being reserved to the States and not being ceded to the federal government. Hence the name, the United States of America, not the United Society of People or any other name.
If you want to be an absolutist about it, then that is your choice, and it is you that chooses not to seek common ground.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @mike808 I don’t have time to write much, and I’m not going to say anything to defend militias because I don’t think there’s much defensible about them.
I was mostly just giving you crap for calling out originalists saying that they’re ignoring half of the text, then getting details about the one sentence you reference wrong. It was mildly amusing.
@Limewater I still think the originalists are full of crap. It’s ludicrous to say they are interpreting the text as written, while saying they are not interpreting anything (as in not adding anything of their own perspective to the text). Which is pure bullshit to justify their activism by pretending it isn’t. i.e. precedent is only valid when it suits their views, and invalid when it doesn’t. e.g. slavery is wrong because later laws “validly” ruled it wrong, while abortion is wrong because Roe v Wade “invalidly” ruled it acceptable. It’s just a fancy word for t"thehe ends justify the means"
@mike808 Everybody thinks that the judges they disagree with are activists.
@Limewater Exactly why I think the conservative/right’s use of the term is not uniquely an attribute of their accused liberal/left judiciary.
@mike808 I agree with you on this.
I do prefer originalism, but I think any intellectually-honest person will admit that their attempts at originalism will be flawed.
I can respect other judicial philosophies if they make an honest effort at consistency.
@Limewater @mike808 I do like the concept of originalism better, too… but mostly I pine for an era when Congress could be trusted to legislate. As far as I’m concerned the judiciary can do no wrong (by comparison).
Everybody wants to bring back the monarchy…
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @mike808
I think we all could use some protection from federal employees…
Richard Grenell, the former acting Director of National Intelligence, was “duped” by a political correspondent.
Ken Klippenstein, a correspondent for The Nation, asked Grenell for a shout-out for his grandfather on Twitter and misleadingly attached a photo of Bill Calley.
Calley is a convicted war criminal.
Richard Grenell, the former acting Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration, was “duped” after a correspondent from a left-leaning magazine fooled him into thanking a convicted war criminal for his service in the US Army.
Ken Klippenstein, a correspondent for The Nation, in a tweet attached a photo of Bill Calley and misleadingly suggested it was his grandfather.
Calley was convicted of killing at least 22 unarmed people in the My Lai Massacre in 1968, during the Vietnam War. The Army officer was sentenced to life in prison, but after a new trial served just three years in house arrest.
Klippenstein, who is most known for his time spent online and his proficiency in submitting Freedom of Information Act requests to federal agencies, said in his tweet that his grandfather was a “huge fan” and that it would “make his day” if Grenell would give him a shout-out.
According to a screenshot of Klippenstein’s direct-messages, Grenell asked him what his grandfather’s name was, to which the correspondent replied by providing Calley’s name.
Four minutes later, Grenell said in a tweet: “Thank you for your service, Bill Calley!”
Klippenstein also appeared to have sent the same message to former CIA director Michael Hayden, an official during George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s tenure. Hayden tweeted that he received the same message and that he knew “exactly what was happening.”
“Grenell surely didn’t,” Hayden said. “He’s an arsehole. Again and again.”
Hayden, who is an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, asked Klippenstein what he did to deserve the online trolling.
Klippenstein replied by saying he “had to uphold the spirit of bipartisanship.”
Grenell admitted he was “duped,” but that in light of Veteran Day on Wednesday Klippenstein’s joke was done in poor taste.
“Duped. Trying to be helpful to people who reach out on Veteran’s Day,” Grenell tweeted. “It’s a shame people would do this on a day like today. DC is a sick city.”
Grenell served in the Trump administration as the US ambassador to Germany before being tapped as acting DNI, replacing his predecessor, acting director Joseph Maguire. Grenell was replaced with Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe, another staunch loyalist.
@Felton10 That’s really not that impressive, surprising, or telling a dupe.
Grenell didn’t immediately recognize a shortened version of the name of a guy who committed a war crime over fifty years ago when Grenell was two years old?
That’s just not that meaningful.
Much more telling, interesting, and amusing is what Senator-Elect Tommy Tuberville said during his campaign when asked about the Voting Rights Act, or what he said when asked about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201112/15314645697/trump-campaign-gets-laughed-out-court-claiming-bunch-unvetted-webform-submissions-is-evidence-voter-fraud.shtml
I installed CAPTCHA to save my fellow robots from wasting money on this crap.
There should be a Civics test for all elected Congressmen. Senator Tommy Tuberville said the three branches of government were the Senate, the House and the President. Where do the Republicans find these idiots? They assume because they have success in one area of their life, they know everything about everything else-Trump’s low bar qualifications exactly.
@Felton10 This is one of the reasons I despise knee-jerk advocacy of term limits and the widespread demonization of politicians and lawyers. These folks who boast about not being politicians or about somehow not having the “Beltway” mindset (the orange one among them) have done far more damage by their ignorance and incompetence–and they’ve repeatedly proven themselves no less corrupt.
That being said, there are certainly some ignorant-ass career politicians and “lawyers” too. I just hate that ignorance is so widely held up as a desirable commodity in this country.
@Felton10 Cf. climate change, healthcare, etc.
@Felton10 @joelmw
What I think everyone casually ignores is that you are a politician once you start running for office, whether you’ve ever actually won anything or not.
Tuberville became a politician when the morning he woke up and said to himself, I’m sure in these exact words, “I’m going to run for politics!”
Tuberville is uniquely unqualified to to be a Senator. It’s pretty amazing. And, to be clear, I live in Alabama. The man has no platform except loyalty to President Trump. His handlers clearly know enough to not let him participate in any debates or talk to the press much at all. The “loyalty to Trump” platform was enough for him to win the Republican primary and defeat the incumbent Democrat Doug Jones.
@Felton10 @joelmw @Limewater And it’s not like defrauding investors was worse than Roy Moore this time around. Put that guy in government! What could possibly go wrong with electing grifters to be in charge of the taxpayer’s treasury?
I just wish Nick Saban had endorsed Doug Jones.
@mfladd Hey, you’re back! I’m lifting the “uninstall”, thanks.
https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a1WgVQb_460svvp9.webm
@mike808 how sad is it that I had to google the topic to confirm if this was actually true. Nothing would surprise me at this point
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 I think he’s just trying to stick around long enough for the new Bronco to be released.
@mike808
um, I think someone missed some word(s) there…
“…across the Delaware Valley Cremation Center” ??
@chienfou Hey, what do you want from lowest-bidder contracts from the Department of the Interior (which manages the National Park Service, which in turn, manages the National Register of Historic Places), is headed up by Secretary David Bernhardt, a former oil and gas industry lobbyist.
The day he was confirmed by the Senate Republican enablers of the recently impeached President Trump, the Senate opened multiple investigations into ethics violations of using his position to help former clients of his lobbying firm. The grifting doesn’t fall far from the tree in this sicophantile maladministration.
Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said in a statement, “We now have an Interior Secretary who has been on the job for one full business day and is already under investigation.”
Bernhardt’s predecessor, Ryan Zinke, left his post in January amid several federal investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest.
Same corrupt Trump cronies, different day. Draining the swamp my ass - hell, Trump is the bigliest yuuugest swamp ever.
@mike808
What I want is for people who make memes to proofread their shit BEFORE they post it. Is that too much to ask?
@chienfou Yeah, we are entitled to quality humor! 'Murica!
@mike808
the word you are seeking is “deserve”…
@chienfou So the word for expecting the quality work product of someone else is called “deserve”?
As in plantation owners who “deserve” the slaves who worked the fields?
As in the anti-maskers and anti-ACA folks who “deserve” the finest from our socialist healthcare system that is subsidized by taxpayers and insurance premiums when they get COVID?
/giphy Princess Bride I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
@mike808
Ok, obviously we have different understandings of the word deserve. I still believe that entitlement is a different (less noble) concept than deserving.
I guess I am just old enough that “gay” can still mean “happy” to me and I don’t take offense…
BTW…,. looking for this?
@chienfou Yes, that’s the image I thought it would select, but I guess I deserve that.
You were complaining that you felt slighted by whoever put forth the effort to create the memes for us to enjoy and for no compensation did not take the effort to proofread it to your satisfaction. So, yeah, I think that is in the “entitled” category more than the “deserving” category. I’m on your side. You must have missed the 'Murica snark tag, symbolic of the entitlements rampantly demanded by “the fine folks on both sides” that proclaim allegiance to that mythical land that must be made great again, apparently by promoting fascism, racism, ignorance, and unsafe public brandishing of weapons of mass murder.
@mike808
Nope. I saw the 'Murica tag. I just chose to ignore it since you have no idea what my political bent is.
My comment was meant to reflect more on the general idea that having pride in your work is getting sacrificed in order to churn out ‘content’ to share. BTW this applies to political content from both sides, as well as other, general communications.
Feel free to have the last word…
@chienfou In a capitalist society driven by lowest cost wins, there is no ROI for anyone to invest in quality, pride, or any other value that cannot be or isn’t monetized (for whatever reason). The best vendor doesn’t close the sale, the cheapest one does. That’s what we get in a free market - a race to the bottom on cost. That’s why cheapening and cheap labor (free if you can get it, right?) undermine the standard of living for everyone in the global economy. Don’t blame the messenger. I understand why people don’t give a crap about those values much anymore. I wish it wasn’t that way, but I don’t see much traction in changing that.
Hoisting a cold one for @OnlyOneTruth and all the other snowflakes drinking big gulps of salty MAGA tears.
@mike808 Yes-they disappeared quickly when the orange toilet turd lost. Good Riddance.
You can’t make this stuff up!
https://www.thecut.com/2020/11/rudy-giulianis-hair-dye-melts-down-face-during-conference.html
Just in time for the holidays!
Unblame for the scapegoat.
@mike808 I would buy it!!
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 OMG…
Angry denial
Can’t defeat reality
Prison is waiting
Meanwhile that {redacted} head of the GSA continues to say there is not enough evidence to sign the transition papers to begin the transition process. She is reported to be waiting for direction from the White House as she is afraid of being fired.
Biden should demote her as soon as he takes office and send her to the {redacted body shaming} where it appears she had been spending most of her life anyway.
@Felton10 Stop with the misogynist body shaming.
Her behavior is disgusting, not what she looks like to you.
Word is she’s looking for a new job on the DL, and doesn’t want to be the last Republican rat-fucker jumping from the flaming turd ship of the Trump maladministration. On the other hand, she wants to milk those sweet, sweet taxpayer dollars and retirement benefits for every last penny before she gets canned with cause on Jan 21.
@mike808 She could have done the honorable thing and started the transition and then either resigned (like Krebs did) or waited to be fired.
I would have made the same comment if she were a man. After 4 years of name calling and insults by Trump based on people’s looks, it feels so good to give it back to them regardless whether it is politically correct or not.
@Felton10 @mike808 In the context of this forum, I’m pretty sure you’ve “given” more than anyone by a fairly wide margin, and I am including a conspicuously absent poster in that accounting.
I’m glad you feel good about yourself.
@Limewater @mike808 I would have been happy to let this thread die a well deserved death, but Trump and his head in the sand butt kissers have made that all but impossible.
The fact that his main goals are to go as far as possible with his stonewalling so he can claim the election wasn’t fair and he really didn’t lose and to make this as difficult as possible when Biden assumes office.
This even make him and those Republicans who remain silent more disgusting than we even thought possible and worthy of all the scorn, insults and abuse we can heap upon them.
@Felton10 @Limewater @mike808 I think his second main goal is to leave as much wreckage and destruction as he can behind him - the good of the country be damned. He want to scorch, irradiate and salt the earth. Revenge is another one of his best skills - he practices it a lot even when he cuts off his own nose to spite his face - which is also likely why much of the GOP is scared of him. Of course that doesn’t excuse their collective cowardly behavior… If they’d band together and stand up against the bully they’d make it so much harder for trump to continue with the carnage - not to mention there can be safety in numbers. Hopefully our country as a democracy won’t be so broken after all this that it takes decades to recover, if at all. Sigh.
@Kidsandliz @Limewater @mike808 It still is amazing to me that so many people voted for him given that it is obvious to anyone with even a smattering of brain cells that everything he does is all about him and never about the country he was elected to serve.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Limewater
I think it is because voters think elections are a contest when the reality is that they are job hiring decisions.
That the Republicans put power over country and failed their oaths of office at every step of the way to push Christian/Fascist autocrats and undermine the foundations of our democracy to maintain white male authority over POC, women, and non-believers alike, has been utterly disgusting to watch.
It is no coincidence that the major instigators in this tragedy of horrors go all the way back to Nixon (Watergate) and Reagan (Iran-Contra), Bush 1 & 2 (aka Dick Cheney, The Carlyle Group, Blackwater), Roger Stone, Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell, the NRA (Russian money-laundering), and the list goes on.
Every one of them faithless to their sworn oaths to the Constitution and its duty to the Common Good, along with the founding principles of this country - with Liberty and Justice for ALL.
I’m not tired of winning!
Keep on recounting.
#RecountedVotesStillMatter
@mike808 I try to stay out of the politics talk too much but 30 Rock and Tina Fey can always get a like.
And I’m still watch the Michigan canvassers meeting live…
Woohoo! GSA tells Biden that transition can formally begin
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/politics/transition-biden-gsa-begin/index.html
@mfladd She didn’t do herself any favors. She could have just had a presser to tell people a week ago that the administration is waiting for the states to certify 270 electors for one candidate or another.
Managing expectations is certainly something she should work on in her job search.
Thoughts and prayers. Because God already knows what you want. God just wants to hear you beg for it.
@mfladd @mike808 As the old saying goes “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings”.
@Felton10 @mfladd
I hear that the final performance on January 20, 2021 of “The Swan Song” on The National Mall is sold out and it will be packed. The crowds will be yuuuge. Bigger than Obama’s inauguration yuuuge.
So much winning!
Comments from a Fox news article I was reading (the comments are so entertaining). Any thing look familiar here?
Alex6100
32 minutes ago
PA: 20 Electoral Votes, officially certified for Biden.
MI: 16 Electoral Votes, officially certified for Biden.
NV: 6 Electoral Votes, officially certified for Biden.
GA: 16 Electoral Votes, officially certified for Biden, going through 2nd recount.
WI: 10 Electoral Votes, Biden leading by over 20K votes, going through partial recount.
AZ: 11 Electoral Votes, Biden leading by over 10K votes, largest county certified.
Out of these 6 states, Trump needs 38 electoral votes. So I have a question for Trump supporters, where do the 38 electoral votes come from?
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11
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only1truth
Alex6100
29 minutes ago
The TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!!!
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2
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@mfladd lol! They live!
Two hardcore Trump supporters die, and go to heaven. God meets them at the pearly gates and asks if they have any questions. “Yes. What were the real results of the 2020 election, and who was behind the fraud?”, one asks.
God says, “My son, there was no fraud. Biden won the electoral college fair and square, 306 to 232.”
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the one guy turns to the other and whispers, “This goes higher up than we thought!”
@mike808 They shouldn’t let him watch Bill Mahr either.
Biden46 quote of the day:
Don’t know why you keep removing my pic of FLOTUS and her sugar daddy.
She is every bit as disgusting as her husband.
All in all she was a bad example of what a first lady was supposed to be, but look who she was married to.
@Felton10 Nobody voted for her to be FLOTUS. She didn’t have any say in the matter. Your singular and persistent disparagement of her is strongly suggestive of misogyny, and you present little reason to think otherwise. Sorry, I’m gonna have to side with the mods on this one.
Your beef is with President-elect Biden’s predecessor, not their spouse. Surely you can find something else about which to make a political statement? Really? Nothing?
@mike808 As one of the only ones around him who he couldn’t fire (well maybe he could), she had the opportunity to exert some positive influence on him. In addition as someone who gained citizenship under questionable circumstances, she should have been more sensitive to his attacks and insults on immigrants. But what did she do-at best nothing-at worst she enabled him.
So she deserves as much scorn and abuse as we can heap upon Trump because unlike Trump she knew better.
@Felton10 @mike808 but we already know he is a misogynist and an abuser. Do you think she has a good life with him? Do you think she is concerned about anyone other than herself and her son? If she is being abused (mentally or physically) and I would not be shocked if she was, her main focus is going to be survival not the betterment of others.
Don’t get me wrong. She married him and every day she makes the decision to stay. That said, I blame him for the last four years, he was our elected president. Not her or his circus of a family. Just my take
@Felton10 So you give Trump a pass but not Melania. “because she knew better”. What about 53 senators or pick-a-cabinet member. Or Rudy. Or Flynn. Or Roger Stone. Or any of the 70 million enablers who voted for the Orange Menace.
But no, you insist that only FLOTUS is “deserving” of your scorn. Sorry, that’s just bullshit you tell yourself excuse your misogyny and it’s just not gonna fly. Flexing white male entitlement is what got these morons elected in the first place and riled up their fellow tribesmen of morons. You’re supposed to be better than that, are you not?
Trump got his ass fired. 56 days. Keep our eyes on the ball. That’s what matters.
@mike808 I certainly don’t give anyone a pass that put their own political survival ahead of their constitutional duty with their heads in the sand approach to everything Trump did or said.
My point is that she had day to day contact with him and as such had the most opportunity to influence him in even subtle ways. And she did nothing-probably to protect her substantial payout which she finally rids herself of him.
In the meanwhile she will go down as the worst FLOTUS right along with Trump as the worst POTUS.
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 I am sure she made a pact with the devil soon after she married him. What type of self respecting women stays with a man after he admits on tape he likes to grab female genitals and paid to have sex with a porn star right after you had a child.
Someone who married for money, status and what he could give her.
She is out for only one person-herself (and maybe Barron although I don’t doubt if it came down to Barron or cash, she would take the cash).
@Felton10 Why are you so fixated on FLOTUS? She has zero input officially in anything, and less than any of his adult offspring unofficially. Nobody cares and what Trump does with his willy is irrelevant to everyone. If Melania had a problem with Trump, she can fire/divorce him. And that’s between them to work out, and none of any of our business, including yours. If you’re jealous or defending her in some weird sick way, then just stop projecting. It’s not a good look.
Your efforts are best directed towards helping those to heal from their cognitive dissonance and white guilt from being misled by this orange carnival huckster playing a TV reality show character role of POTUS who moonlights as a racist WWE wrestler for a side gig.
@Felton10 @mike808 sadly lots of abused women stay. Lack of self confidence. See Maslows Heierachey
@Felton10 @mike808 @tinamarie1974
Your dislike of FLOTIS has been expressed in terms that were unnecessarily, unjustifiably, viciously misogynistic.
While you ignored a whole bunch of people who were far worse.
If you had wanted to, you could have criticized her on substance and stuck to that.
Somehow, over time, I got into my head the notion that perhaps you like taking denigrate-the-female potshots at her for reasons that have prob have little to do with her presence in the WH - other than that her being married to DT and not walking out - that this gives you the opening to make her a “very special target” who gets “very special treatment”, the justification for which seems to be entirely personal to you.
I still have that notion.
If you don’t wanna be perceived that way, don’t act that way.
Whatever.
Best Groundhog Day Ever!
In February, 2021, a man goes to the White House and asks to see Donald Trump. He is told by the Marine on duty that Trump is no longer president and that he no longer resides there. Three days in a row the man returns to see Trump and each time the same Marine tells him Trump is no longer president.
On the fourth day, the Marine finally asks the man why he keeps coming back asking for Trump when he already knows the answer. The man replies, “I just love hearing you tell me Trump is no longer the president.” The Marine snaps to attention, salutes and says, “See you tomorrow, sir!”
I got the worst news ever. They think my Grandmother voted for Biden.
@sohmageek She sounds like a very smart women.
@Felton10 @sohmageek You fell for it.
Next post: “My grandmother died in 1984.”
@Limewater @sohmageek Well she is even smarter than I thought. She got out of her grave to vote against that piece of shit.
@Felton10 we cremated her last October.
@Felton10 @Limewater you are talking about Biden when you’re referring to a pos…
@Limewater @sohmageek Not quite, but you already knew that, but just didn’t want to admit it like you don’t want to admit tRump lost the election.
@Felton10 @Limewater hasn’t lost yet. As long as he lost for fair sure. However tomfoolery is afoot and reckon that no one wins when democracy fails.
@Limewater @sohmageek He has had over 30 cases dismissed prior to even going to trial and why-he has not provided one shred of evidence that not only was there fraud, but that it is enough to change the ultimate outcome of the election.
The only reason he is doing this is because losing to him is worse than death and if he can spin these lies to low information people and the misinformed, then he can leave saying he didn’t really lose.
@Felton10 @sohmageek The National Review
@Felton10 @Limewater do you think that the people in China know that they are being censored? Like sure some may but the mass majority of them? I’m guessing don’t know it. Or are being told that they are crazy and that there is no proof of it…
@Limewater @sohmageek Not sure what that has to do with anything, but I am sure you heard it on Faux Snews.
@Felton10 @Limewater @sohmageek
The chinese 14 year old I had in my home for 6 mo sure knew they were (she came to the USA as an adoptee at 13, disrupted out of her adoption and I had her in my house to keep her out of the foster care system while a new family was found). Just about any student I have taught who is Chinese knew that too. Just about to a person they took it as a fact of life, something they couldn’t change…
@Limewater @sohmageek
Ah, the once interesting National Review.
Ok, sometimes they are still half a worthy read, even if they can’t touch the days of WFB, Jr and Florence King.
Once in a while I check them out. For several recent years when I wandered over, the best writer they seemed to have on staff was the very interesting film review guy. His columns have always been a good read, even if he sometimes/often has been confused as hell, and even if the reader sometimes disagrees w every word and thought he provides that month.
The recent political columnists I’ve read just seemed lame. People might agree or disagree, but the writers scarcely ever made it past “predictable, not at all original, and not that well-written” all the way to “interesting”.
But admittedly my recent exposure to that mag has been pretty light.
I’m glad to know that the mag editorial staff aren’t gaslighting the recent election.
I hoped they would hold out against the current (since Gingrich at least) far right trend to forgo all intellectual honesty, put facts into a pulverizer, demonize your alleged opponents without reference to political or philosophical honor, and, during the most recent years, “follow ‘dear leader’”.
Nice to know that the NR, and some other publication bastions left over from among the original “R old cold warrior crowd” have resisted the popular pressure to adopt loyalty to an extreme-dishonesty-and-gaslighting presidential personality cult, that feeds on endless fawning and lies, as the highest of political and philosophical principles.
@f00l @sohmageek I don’t think he’s at the National Review any more, but I have appreciated the commentaries of David French.
@Limewater
Since you check out the National Review once in a while, or read it regularly, I presume you like at least a few things about WFB, Jr.
Maybe you like his politics
(these are normally not for me, straight out of the box, as I don’t find him to have ever been a serious critical thinker re politics or anything else [rather more of a brilliant journalist]; but he always had point or few points worth some time and consideration, and various perspectives that deserved some effort now and then, and a truly notable gift for phraseology and charm),
or maybe you like parts of the rest of him.
But whether one likes his politics or not, he was as least just always so incredibly much fun to watch and to read.
(Skip the early writings, of course, except as examples of graceful from-Old-New-England-stock, preppy-overeducated, “look, aren’t-i-smart”, youthful hubris. He’s more about showing off his fabo education and contrarian-zeal-thinking at that age, tho he prob didn’t think that way of himself at the time.
I suspect he himself did see his own youthful work w some of that perspective later, after some decades had gone under the bridges and downstream to the sea.)
If you can peruse old copies of Vanity Fair, from the 80’s, he got a lot of social and thought ink, and it’s good stuff as far as it goes. Whether or not one ever agrees w him.
Also, if I recall, he gets some mentions or a mention in the interesting and graceful memoirs of actor David Niven. They were friends.
And there is his influence of the US body politic. That was considerable, and a good source are the three volumes of the history of American conservatism from Goldwater to Reagan, by Rick Perlstein.
There are the rather silly-showoff, often charming, James-Bondish-parody Blackford Oakes light thriller series books Those are a bit of reasonable qual relax-beach reads. They’re quite arch with manifest destiny and conservatism and all the preppy values and graces; but they’re light on their feet. He has fun and doesn’t take himself too seriously as a fictionist. Hopefully that relaxed attitude by the author sets an example for the reader of these. : )
There are the political essays. What I’ve seen of those in recent decades has aged far better in style and grace than as thought. But that’s me.
And there are the books that some, who, altho taking him seriously as a stylist, and as a political influencer/flag-carrier for his cause, and while taking him a bit less seriously as a political philosopher for the ages, find to be among his best works:
his sailing notes and memoirs, esp the cross-oceanic ones.
.
These are more light than otherwise. No echos of Moby Dick; these won’t weigh down anyone’s soul.
But they’re wonderful.
He must have been one of the century’s great dinner companions. And, unlike some other social/thinking legends of that time, he didn’t need to be an asshole in order to be lovely and very interesting company.
![][1] [1]:
Rudi Giuliani continues to outdo himself as a source of comedy gold. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/03/melissa-carone-michigan-trump-giuliani-election/
Rudy Tooty
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/rudy-giuliani-fart
@Kyeh You simply cannot make this stuff up.
Actual testimony from Rudy’s orifice.
@mike808 It’s like he’s still in the Borat movie!
@Kyeh @mike808
Is that a Twitter link? I can’t see it.
@mike808
“I have here in my hand…”
@f00l @mike808 Mine are not links, I couldn’t figure out how to do that, so I also put links to the articles that have the videos in them.
@f00l @Kyeh
@f00l @Kyeh Yeah, the twitter links are jacked up it seems. Here’s a YT link.
@f00l @mike808 Your Twitter links worked for me.
![here][1]
Rudy’s got something in his hand too.
[1]:
“have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Does this consideration even matter anymore?
Imagine what might happen if a highly skilled psychopath and demagogue - someone with a lot of self-control and analytical skill - gained the presidency in the era of silo media and insanely credulous belief?
If someone as skilled and as intelligent as Putin, for instance, had not been just an ally or friend of the office holder but instead had been the actual office holder?
If other members of the president’s party in power around Capitol Hill have no honor and no courage, and they are in power in Congress, then the presidency can quite possibly become a full dictatorship with very little stress to the system or to the consciences of the party in power.
Trump has shown the path to take.
Once upon a time the Republicans, had they dealt with somebody like Trump, would have stood up to him or blocked him.
@f00l I think you’re referring to the seditious Mitch McConnell, who intentionally supports Trump’s sabotage and destruction of our Constitutional Democracy for the preservation of racist white male privilege at any cost.
Including the 3,054 Americans that died yesterday, December 9th, 2020.
It is not cowardice in standing up to Trump. It is Republican leadership engaged in active support of sedition and genocide.
@f00l
We already have that running some companies. Some study I saw years ago found that something like 1/3 of the people (from memory here so might be off a bit) who were CEO’s and members of top management teams were high functioning sociopaths. I’d guess we’d get similar results if we studied politicians.
@mike808 That’s not a real Bible verse.
I mean, Revelation 13:16 is kind of, sort of, maybe like that, but it would only really work if MAGA hats had become mandatory.
I know it’s just supposed to be a joke, but faking source material to try to look clever is just obnoxious, not funny. It’s also kind of embarrassing.
/image Donald Trump Jr
@mike808
To slightly amend a previous statement I made here,
I mean, I don’t really blame you. You just reposted. But the content creator should have been better.
Woosh.
@mike808 I guess so.