1. #17836
    Old school comic book fan WestPhillyPunisher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steel Inquisitor View Post
    We did, Trump's just in denial.
    Denial? Nope. Trump knows he lost the election, he's desperately trying to change the outcome because he's aware that the day he leaves office, he loses the immunity the presidency affords him and will face trial in New York for his litany of crimes that could (though probably won't) send him to prison.
    Last edited by WestPhillyPunisher; 11-23-2020 at 02:14 AM.
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  2. #17837
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    Quote Originally Posted by The no face guy View Post
    I understand that's it's not the majority of Americans, and that you have right wing media conglomerates that push narratives not always grounded in fact, but I do think there is a significant portion of right wing republican voters who are prone to believe in conspiracy theories due to either religiosity, or lack of training when it comes to verifying sources of information.
    That's by design. The media is just one part of this, they have various organs which feed into each other - like the military, courts, education, churches, police so conservatism is inescapable and creates echo chambers. I don't think you're understanding the scope the GOP operate under.


    There are Canadian Conservatives that would be at home in the Republican Party, the premier of Alberta Jason Kenney would be one, he is an idiot, so is the far right populist leader of Quebec, they've both let COVID run rampant in their respected Provinces far worse than it needed to be.

    Doug Ford is actually doing a pretty good job though. He condemned the anti covid maskers as yahoos, he's condemned Trump on numerous occasions, and has the city of Toronto on a pretty good lockdown, in short he's behaving like how I would want a Canadian conservative to behave.
    Ford endorsed the GOP and Present Trump when he was elected - he only changed his mind later due to Trump instituting tariff's on Canada. He liked Trump's policies in 2018.



    Was under fire by the integrity commission for corruption. Thought his community shouldn't have a home for disabled kids because "(they) ruined the community" as a councillor.

    https://www.toronto.com/news-story/4...lor-doug-ford/

    https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/int...llor-1.3195216

    https://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha...city-hall.html

    Is very pro-business.

    https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/just...g-ford-really/

    Is known for using nepotism to employ under trained friends over professionals.

    In July 2018, Ford hired Rueben Devlin, former PC Party president and a Ford family friend, as a health-care advisor at a salary of $350,000 plus expenses, more than Ford's own salary of $208,974.[87][121]

    In December 2018 Bob Paulson, who served as RCMP for 32-years before retiring in 2017, called for an independent third-party inquiry into Ford's appointment in December 2018 of Toronto Police Superintendent Ron Taverner, who is a long-time friend of Ford, as the new commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.[120] By March 2019, Taverner had stepped down following "months of controversy" that "triggered an integrity commissioner investigation".[122]

    A June 20, 2019 article in The Star said that Ford had awarded "plum patronage posts to two political allies". He hired Jag Badwal as Ontario's agent-general to Britain and the United States with an annual salary of $185,000.[123] Ford named Earl Provost as Ontario's agent-general to Chicago.[123]

    On June 28, 2019 Ford's chief of staff, Dean French, resigned "amid a patronage scandal".[124] According to a The Globe and Mail article, French resigned "after it was revealed that two people with personal ties to [French], 26 year-old Tyler Albrecht and Taylor Shields were appointed to lucrative positions in New York and London.[125][126] The Toronto Sun reported in a June 27, 2019 article that 26 year-old Tyler Albrecht, who had a "thin resume" was proposed for a "job that paid $165,000 a year, plus housing and other expenses" as Ontario's "new trade rep in New York City". His qualification was "that he played lacrosse with French's son".[127] TVO's Steve Paikin cited the example of Taylor Shields, who is French's wife cousin who was appointed as the trade representative in London, England,[125] with a salary of $185,000 plus expenses.[126] Just hours before French resigned, Ford had cancelled Albrecht's and Shields' appointments.[126]

    Thomas Staples, who played on St. Michael's College Varsity Lacrosse team with French as coach,[124] worked in the office of Bill Walker, who was Chief Government Whip. When Walker became Minister of Government and Consumer Services in November 2018, Staples worked as his executive assistant and legislative affairs advisor.[128] According to iPolitics, Staples had not completed his undergraduate studies, and had neither the qualifications nor work experience in politics.[128]

    French's niece, Katherine Pal, who had been appointed as Ontario's Public Accounts Council resigned after her family ties to French were revealed.[128] According to Paikin, Pal was well qualified to be Public Accounts Council but she resigned because of the bad optics.[125]

    On July 4, Peter Fenwick, who served as Ontario's first "strategic transformation adviser" since November 2018, was fired when it was revealed in an interview in an interview with The Star that "Fenwick has been a life insurance customer of French's for at least 20 years".[129]

    On July 10, Andrew Suboch, a "a personal injury and insurance lawyer" who had served as chair of the Justices of the Peace Appointments Advisory Committee (JPAAC), informed the JPAAC that he was resigning immediately after an article in the Globe revealed that Suboch was another of French's "long-time" friends whose sons played lacrosse together for many years.[124][126]

    According to a July 4, 2019 article in The Toronto Star, John Fraser, who is the Ontario Interim Liberal Leader, called for a "formal probe" into French's "involvement in appointments" to be undertaken by J. David Wake—Ontario's integrity commissioner—in order "to clear the air and restore public confidence". He asked that Ford "make any findings public" because of the "tremendous influence" French had in Ford's government.[130]
    And there's more, so much more. Canadians who thought he reminded them of Trump weren't off the mark.

    I saw the grassroots revolt in the Republican Party over issues like immigration coming, but I always thought a more moderate voice would incorporate some of the bases demands to nullify the far right. Instead they allowed an unstable fringe xenophobe to march on in and take over the party...that I did not see coming.
    They're not fighting over immigration, they're fighting for political survival. They didn't "allow" that, the Far Right took that power for themselves as any faction in the GOP do. Democrats saw this coming a mile away, George W Bush was a blueprint for this.

  3. #17838
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
    Sun, November 22, 2020, 5:56 PM PST
    The attorney leading President Donald Trump’s recount effort in Wisconsin voted illegally according to his own legal argument that in-person absentee ballots should be thrown out. So did his wife.

    Jim Troupis, a former Dane County judge and Cross Plains attorney who is representing the Trump campaign, would not answer questions about why he and his wife voted that way.

    Troupis and his wife voted early using the state's in-person absentee option — one of a group of voters whose ballots the Trump campaign has asked election officials to deem illegal.

    Their names appeared on exhibits Troupis submitted to the Dane County Board of Canvassers on Sunday, during the county's third day of retallying ballots. The exhibits include lists of voters who voted in a manner the campaign alleges is illegal, an argument the Board of Canvassers has rejected. The information was provided by Dane County to both campaigns.
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/attorney-...015616647.html

    This is pretty LOL-worthy.

  4. #17839

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    On this date in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Leslie Gibson, a 2018 candidate for the Maine House of Representatives, specifically District 57. Gibson, who had spent years on social media ranting about immigration and wetting his pants about how his 2nd Amendment rights were “under attack by liberals” was on the ballot unopposed through March of 2018, when he went and made himself notorious by reacting to the mass shooting at Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida, by attacking the victims on Twitter for having the nerve to speak out about the need for gun control only days after the shooting, taking particular focus on Emma Gonzalez (who Gibson tried claiming shouldn’t be counted as a victim because of the distance to the shooter when the attack started) and David Hogg, calling the former a “skinhead lesbian” and the latter a “bald-faced liar”. The Parkland kids, though, ain’t nothin’ to be f***ed with. David Hogg responded with a call for anyone willing to run against Leslie Gibson on Twitter, and immediately a candidate appeared in the form of Eryn Gilchist, inspired to run for office because you just shouldn’t let ***holes run unopposed. The Maine GOP started making noise about rushing out another candidate against Gibson, and he took a hint and dropped out of the race less than a week after his grotesque words hit the internet. He has not resurfaced in politics since.



    On this day in both 2014, in 2015, 2016, 2017, and in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted profiles of Steve Scheffler, a member of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition and the 2016 Republican National Committee who is one of the key driving forces behind the GOP’s endless campaign against LGBTQ rights and same sex marriage. In effect, when Republican presidential campaigns go through Iowa every four years, their road to the nomination goes through him, no detours. Any perceived “moderate” stance on gay rights is a death sentence in a candidate, and Scheffler is the judge and executioner who carries it out. Scheffler, who once worked on the 1988 presidential campaign of Pat Robertson, publicly admonished John McCain for having the nerve to have an appearance on the Ellen Degeneres Show, warned the legalization of gay marriage in Iowa would make Des Moines “the homosexual capital of the Mid-West”. Scheffler also made it a point to block gay Republican candidate Fred Karger from participating in GOP debates, and with the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, claims there are scientific studies that gay men only live to an average age of 47, that gay conversion therapy works, and that if social conservatives win the culture wars, it will result in an endgame where Jesus returns to Earth. Steve Scheffler served again on the GOP’s Platform Committee in 2016. You may have heard something about that platform, the one that was the most extreme party platform on social issues the GOP has ever put forth, including opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and incest, requiring the Bible to be taught in public high schools.

    Steve Scheffler, has outright said that he conflates his religion and his politics completely, saying that progressive Christians “Don’t preach the gospel. They preach a social doctrine of whatever fits their personal agenda.” Just... wait for the irony, it's coming right around the bend.

    He has spent most of the past several years also trying to cement Donald Trump as the GOP’s 2020 nominee for president, showing the utter hypocrisy of a man who prides himself on “faith” and “values” rallying around one of the worst examples of morality on the planet while marveling at the supposed enthusiasm his party had for the worst president in modern history.

    With Trump defeated in 2020, we’re curious if Steve Scheffler continues trying to rally the troops around him in 2024, or if he abandons him to find someone who better fits the ideals of Republican-branded Christian hypocrisy instead.
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  5. #17840
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    France’s Dragnet for Extremists Sweeps Up Some Schoolchildren, Too

    ALBERTVILLE, France — Armed with assault rifles and wearing balaclavas, dozens of police officers raided four apartments recently in a sprawling complex in Albertville, a city in the French Alps. They confiscated computers and cellphones, searched under mattresses and inside drawers, and took photos of books and wall ornaments with Quranic verses.

    Before the stunned families, the officers escorted away four suspects for “defending terrorism.”

    “That’s impossible,” Aysegul Polat recalled telling an officer who left with her son. “This child is 10 years old.”

    Her son — along with two other boys and one girl, all 10 years old — was accused of defending terrorism in a classroom discussion on the freedom of expression at a local public school. Officers held the children in custody for about 10 hours at police stations while interrogating their parents about the families’ religious practices and the recent republication of the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the magazine Charlie Hebdo.
    The fifth-grade classmates are among at least 14 children and teenagers investigated by the police in recent weeks on accusations of making inappropriate comments during a commemoration for a teacher who was beheaded last month after showing the cartoons in a class on freedom of expression.
    As France grapples with a wave of Islamist attacks following the republication of the Charlie Hebdo caricatures, the case in Albertville and similar ones elsewhere have again raised questions about the nature of the government’s response. It has already been criticized, inside and outside France, for actions and statements that have risked conflating ordinary French Muslims with people accused of extremism.
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  6. #17841
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Going around twitter:

    Macron said “liberté, égalité, police brutalité”

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    Ah...the French, they had a certain moral stature in the Bush years when they had capable statesmen like Dominique de Villepin (rightly) calling out the US for its involvement in the War on Terror.

    Now look at them, they make the Patriot Act look like Black Lives Matter, and W. a reasonable moderate.
    Last edited by Revolutionary_Jack; 11-23-2020 at 07:19 AM.

  8. #17843
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    Going around twitter:
    You know the guy who first used the phrase "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was Maximilien Robespierre, the guy who ran the Reign of Terror and the guillotine enterprise.

    So this has kind of irony and hypocrisy has always been in the French intellectual DNA. That said, for all his flaws, Robespierre wasn't someone who persecuted people for religious beliefs. So this kind of thing is due to French colonialism and their failure to update social and cultural norms to properly reflect the new image of the French public.

  9. #17844
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revolutionary_Jack View Post
    You know the guy who first used the phrase "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was Maximilien Robespierre, the guy who ran the Reign of Terror and the guillotine enterprise.

    So this has kind of irony and hypocrisy has always been in the French intellectual DNA. That said, for all his flaws, Robespierre wasn't someone who persecuted people for religious beliefs. So this kind of thing is due to French colonialism and their failure to update social and cultural norms to properly reflect the new image of the French public.
    Robispierre was such a douchebag.

    If the spring of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the springs of popular government in revolution are at once virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is powerless.

  10. #17845
    Scarlet Witch~4~LIFE!!^_^ CJStriker's Avatar
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    Pro-Trump Attorney Calls on Republicans to Withhold Votes in Georgia Runoffs That Will Decide Senate!

    https://www.mediaite.com/politics/pr...decide-senate/


    Lin Wood — the attorney currently filing lawsuits on behalf of President Donald Trump over the results of the 2020 presidential election — called on Georgians to withhold their votes to Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs if they don’t help overturn the election results in the state.

    On Saturday, Wood tweeted, “Let’s speak truth about @SenLoeffler & @sendavidperdue. Why are they doing little or nothing to support efforts by GA citizens to address unlawful election & need for @BrianKempGA to order special session of legislature?”

    “If not fixed, I will NOT vote in GA runoff,” he warned. “Will you?
    Last edited by CJStriker; 11-23-2020 at 07:33 AM.
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  11. #17846
    Old school comic book fan WestPhillyPunisher's Avatar
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    Joe Friday would NOT have been pleased with those thuggish, heavy handed police tactics.
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  12. #17847
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revolutionary_Jack View Post
    You know the guy who first used the phrase "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was Maximilien Robespierre, the guy who ran the Reign of Terror and the guillotine enterprise.

    So this has kind of irony and hypocrisy has always been in the French intellectual DNA. That said, for all his flaws, Robespierre wasn't someone who persecuted people for religious beliefs. So this kind of thing is due to French colonialism and their failure to update social and cultural norms to properly reflect the new image of the French public.
    Robespierre was so terrible about human rights that he got ground down by his own revolution, he's a cautionary tale of not getting too obsessed with abusing governmental powers. He's the manifestation of the phrase "You either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain."

  13. #17848
    Astonishing Member Godzilla2099's Avatar
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    LOL! Even Trump's Team is trying to distance themselves from Sidney Powell despite Trump tweeting she was part of his 'wonderful legal team'

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rud...mps-legal-team

    "When we checked with others around the Trump campaign, people in positions of authority, they also told us Powell had never given them any evidence to prove anything she claimed at the press conference."

    Tucker Carlson would not have publicized this without the express consent of sources inside the Trump campaign. Thus, it appears that this was a concerted effort by the Trump Campaign to cut ties with Sydney Powell and minimize the potential fallout

  14. #17849
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    Republicans Rewrite an Old Playbook on Disenfranchising Black Americans

    In Pennsylvania, President Trump and Republicans loyal to him have sought to overturn his defeat by making false claims about widespread voting fraud in Philadelphia.

    In Georgia, they have sought to reverse his loss by leveling similar accusations against Atlanta.

    In Michigan, Republicans have zeroed in on Detroit, whose elections system the president has falsely portrayed as so flawed that its entire vote should be thrown out.

    Lost on no one in those cities is what they have in common: large populations of Black voters.

    And there is little ambiguity in the way Mr. Trump and his allies are falsely depicting them as bastions of corruption.
    One of the main reasons black people came out in record numbers was we and other people of color were disproportionately effected by the failures of the trump administration. The GOP policies to Gerrmander in order to dilute the votes of minorities had to be overcome by massive turnout. They set it up that way.

    Now when that didn't work and trump lost, they have resorted to the suggestion that all these heavily minority voters should just be tossed aside. That they don't deserve the right to have their voices heard. Their votes counted. The republican party standing by in large part.

    All these MAGA people talking about stop the steal. Are really talking about stop Americans from having their right to vote count. It's not being given enough focus imo. The in your face nefarious attempts to so casually tell these voters who stood in long lines. Who lost businesses, family members to an unchecked pandemic that was poorly managed by this inept government. They decided to vote and render their verdict on the failed administration.

    Now we have trump and the complicit gop saying no, you don't count. Anyone supporting this is supporting yet another racist attack on minorities having a say in America.

  15. #17850
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    Robispierre was such a douchebag.
    He was. But he also said smart stuff like this:
    "The most extravagant idea that can be born in the head of a political thinker is to believe that it suffices for people to enter, weapons in hand, among a foreign people and expect to have its laws and constitution embraced. It is in the nature of things that the progress of Reason is slow and no one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies. One can encourage freedom, never create it by an invading force. The Declaration of the Rights of Man... is not a lightning bolt which strikes every throne at the same time... I am far from claiming that our Revolution will not eventually influence the fate of the world... But I say that it will not be today."

    He said that back in 1792 when he opposed the French government going to war. A war that went so badly that he started the Terror to help win it. That speech actually showed up in a few books and places during the Iraq War and its aftermath and considering that the French goverment got involved in Syria and Lebanon and are still involved there and now doing ridiculously idiotic things back home all in the name of their homegrown idea of secularism (laicite), it's not bad advice.

    Anyway the point is French history is full of people with good ideas also doing terrible things. France went from having a certain moral stature in opposing America going to war in Iraq and in the Middle East to now basically becoming even worse than W. was.

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