All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[numberthirty]

Man, Sturgis...

I get that there is a whole sorta "Outlaw..." component to the biker thing and that not everyone even buys into basic medical science, but come on.

A little bit of caution would be advisable.

[numberthirty]

Oh Trump will mock whoever is going to be VP and he will not care in the least, but mocking Duckworth would be an easy PR victory for Biden, who's already been able to sit back and let Trump make the political ads for him.

Duckworth also covers a lot of "Person Who Has Actually Got Things Done..." bases.

While I get the feeling that she isn't going to get the nomination, it would be really great if she did.

[4saken1]

Trump is fact checked about Veterans Choice and he abruptly ends press conference


Little Donny got caught lying so he turned tail and ran.

Now that he knows that it was Obama that signed the Veterans Choice program, he'll probably try to repeal it.

[Mister Mets]

Bass is a no-go because of her supporting Scientology and Castro.

Bass does appear to still have allies within the party pushing for her.

I don't think the scientology speech would matter to voters, most of whom don't care about Tom Cruise's weird friends.

The Castro comments are worse, although she does seem willing to disavow earlier statements, which is different from a Bernie Sanders.

Hardly a good optic for the Orange Menace. Why Trump isn't challenged more by reporters I have no idea. I particularly love it when he's challenged by women who won't stand for his bully tactics.



Do you think Trump gives a **** at this point? Don't forget Trump mocked a disabled reporter during his 2016 campaign and got away with it.

Trump doesn't give a ****, but the attacks would likely backfire.

[Tami]

Hollywood Is Running Out of Villains

What sets the United States apart from the rest of the world is and has always been its soft power. The Soviets may have equaled the Americans in nuclear capability, but they could never rival the appeal of the “American way of life.” And even as China tries to spread its culture across the globe, its rise tends to inspire more trepidation than admiration.

Many ingredients combine to give U.S. soft power its strength and reach, but entertainment and culture have always been central to the mix. Film and television have shaped how the world sees the United States—and how it perceives the country’s adversaries. Yet that unique advantage seems to be slipping away. When it comes to some of the great questions of global power politics today, Hollywood has become remarkably timid. On some issues, it has gone silent altogether.

The most glaring example is the growing wariness of U.S. studios to do anything that might imperil their standing with the Chinese government. China’s box office is as large as the American one, and entertainment is above all a business. So Hollywood sanitizes or censors topics that Beijing doesn’t like. But the phenomenon is not limited to China, nor is it all about revenue. Studios, writers, and producers increasingly fear they will be hacked or harmed if they portray any foreign autocrats in a negative light, be it Russian President Vladimir Putin or North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

It wasn’t always this way. In the 1930s, Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator took on Adolf Hitler. Later, Martin Scorsese’s Kundun shone a light on the fate of Tibet, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Hunt for Red October made the Cold War come alive. Today, the market power of China—and the cyberpower of some rogue states—is making studios and creatives think twice about producing such daring, overtly political films. And as the retreat from the kind of films that once bolstered American soft power accelerates, Hollywood is running out of real-life antagonists.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Man, Sturgis...

I get that there is a whole sorta "Outlaw..." component to the biker thing and that not everyone even buys into basic medical science, but come on.

A little bit of caution would be advisable.

Its a good damn bet many of them will pay the price later. I mean yeah whats gonna happen to many of them is sad for sure. But this is just the ultimate in not caring to be cool "**** science" deal.

[Tami]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that the majority of voters have already made up their minds as to whom they will vote for in November. I wonder if there really are any who are 'on the fence' and can be swayed one way or another?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Man, Sturgis...

I get that there is a whole sorta "Outlaw..." component to the biker thing and that not everyone even buys into basic medical science, but come on.

A little bit of caution would be advisable.

Upwards of a quarter million were said to be expected out there, and from video I’ve seen on the news, masks were about as plentiful as Klansmen at a Harlem barbecue. I can’t for the life of me understand why the event wasn’t cancelled, I mean, the Olympics were postponed for God’s sake, surely those bikers could live without their silly little get together for a year. Sturgis will end up being a superspreader event on steroids.

Bass does appear to still have allies within the party pushing for her.

I don't think the scientology speech would matter to voters, most of whom don't care about Tom Cruise's weird friends.

The Castro comments are worse, although she does seem willing to disavow earlier statements, which is different from a Bernie Sanders.

While Biden leads seemingly EVERY poll in creation, his campaign can’t afford to take any chances, and Bass’ comments about Castro won’t play well in Florida which figures to be a battleground state. Her having walked back what she said might not be enough, not with Trump and the GOP waiting to jump down her throat if she’s named the VP candidate.

[Tami]

Calling it a ‘peaceful protest,’ Trump flouts coronavirus guidelines with golf club gathering


Country club members await President Trump’s arrival ahead of a news conference in Bedminster, N.J., on Friday. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

[MiddleMan]

350K a person

if there was one group I wish would get sick and die wheezing, there it is

[PaulBullion]

Calling it a ‘peaceful protest,’ Trump flouts coronavirus guidelines with golf club gathering


Country club members await President Trump’s arrival ahead of a news conference in Bedminster, N.J., on Friday. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

Is the guy on the right already feeling his swollen lymph nodes?

[Kirby101]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that the majority of voters have already made up their minds as to whom they will vote for in November. I wonder if there really are any who are 'on the fence' and can be swayed one way or another?

Like the last one, this election will be won or lost in the margins. Comey might have influenced enough voters in WI and MI to swing the election. It might only take a few thousand here and there.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Calling it a ‘peaceful protest,’ Trump flouts coronavirus guidelines with golf club gathering


Country club members await President Trump’s arrival ahead of a news conference in Bedminster, N.J., on Friday. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

Just like their god emperor, there aren’t any hardbodies in that bunch. More like Pillsbury doughboys instead.

[Mister Mets]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that the majority of voters have already made up their minds as to whom they will vote for in November. I wonder if there really are any who are 'on the fence' and can be swayed one way or another?

The majority of voters have made up their mind, likely before the election started.

A good chunk of the country votes straight ticket Republican, and a good chunk votes straight ticket Democrat.

However there's a group of people up for grabs who can be relevant to the election (probably about 10-20 percent of the population, depending on whether you count people who might not vote at all.)

[Mister Mets]

Like the last one, this election will be won or lost in the margins. Comey might have influenced enough voters in WI and MI to swing the election. It might only take a few thousand here and there.

With the confusion of mail-in ballots, and potential uneven voting patterns there is also the potential for chaos. For example, if Republicans are more likely to vote in-person, and Democrats more likely to use mail ballots, early returns might look like a Trump win even if the eventual numbers favor Biden.

This is an election in which we might all ask the election administrator's prayer “Lord, let this election not be close. Please, please, please let the winners win big.”