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

[babyblob]

One thing I dont understand is why Trumps cult talks about how great he is at reading people and how well he knows people.

Pretty much all of his inner circle has been arrested or convicted of crimes.

So that would mean he is so bad at reading people criminals fool him enough to get close to him or he knowingly hires criminals. Yet people still talk about how great he is at reading people.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

One thing I dont understand is why Trumps cult talks about how great he is at reading people and how well he knows people.

Pretty much all of his inner circle has been arrested or convicted of crimes.

So that would mean he is so bad at reading people criminals fool him enough to get close to him or he knowingly hires criminals. Yet people still talk about how great he is at reading people.

My belief is that Trump looks for people just like him: crooked, amoral, malicious, cruel, the list goes on. THOSE are the types Trump successfully reads like a grade school primer.

[Vakanai]

One thing I dont understand is why Trumps cult talks about how great he is at reading people and how well he knows people.

Pretty much all of his inner circle has been arrested or convicted of crimes.

So that would mean he is so bad at reading people criminals fool him enough to get close to him or he knowingly hires criminals. Yet people still talk about how great he is at reading people.

Ding ding ding we have a winner - at the people talking about how great he reads people? Yeah, they realize he's reading and hiring criminals because that's what they want!!!! They want criminals, because people who aren't criminals aren't going to try and overthrow elections and erode our democracy and undo our constitution and bill of rights and create a fascist dictatorship. You need criminals in place to get the things done that they want done. That's why they're glad he's so good at reading like minded criminals and giving them power. Because the conservatives don't mind resorting to criminality if it means doing away with democracy. The ends justifies the means to them, and as long as they get that White Nationalist Fascist State then it's worth all the criming.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

So it’s clear, in that press conference about RICO charges against Stop Cop City organizers, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr explicitly named that Cop City is needed because of the uprisings in 2020. This will be replicated in cities across the country. Under the theory of the StopCopCity RICO indictments, the entire Civil Rights Movement was a criminal conspiracy. Keep in mind that these are all Democrats doing this which makes this more fuckin egregious. This is the case people should be paying attention to IMO.

[Dalak]

So it’s clear, in that press conference about RICO charges against Stop Cop City organizers, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr explicitly named that Cop City is needed because of the uprisings in 2020. This will be replicated in cities across the country. Under the theory of the StopCopCity RICO indictments, the entire Civil Rights Movement was a criminal conspiracy. Keep in mind that these are all Democrats doing this which makes this more fuckin egregious. This is the case people should be paying attention to IMO.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/06/us/co...ico/index.html

“All 61 defendants have been charged with Violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act,” Republican Attorney General Chris Carr’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “Several of the defendants are also facing separate charges of Domestic Terrorism, Attempted Arson in the First Degree, and Money Laundering.”

Are you reading something I'm not?

E: This is me being stone-cold serious, as I agree this is a dangerous precedent to be trying to set. Carr's overreaching here on every front he can and it's certainly egregious, but if there's a connection to Democrats here I can't see it.

[Iron Maiden]

It doesn’t matter. If Biden was ten years younger than he is, the media would STILL work to tilt public opinion against him with these half-assed polls. It’s like I’ve already said, the media is dying to get Trump back in the Oval Office, and they don’t care what the damage would result if that happened.



Biden has shown FAR more in the way of competency than Trump who behaved like a stumbling moron more times than I can count.

The MAGA morons always try and paint Biden as getting senile but I think Trump is getting worse. He makes less and less sense at times when he is giving interviews or rallies with the mob. But he was never that bright to begin with. Mr. Big Business Man filed for bankruptcy numerous times

[Vakanai]

He makes less and less sense at times when he is giving interviews or rallies with the mob.

How can he make less sense when all he's ever said is nonsense?

[Dalak]

There's too many faulty polls flying around these days.

I saw a poll that had Nikki Haley way ahead of Biden but upon further investigation it was revealed that majority of the folks that were polled identified as Republican (???). In essence, that poll was completely skewed because of an overrepresentation of Republicans in it. I believe there was even a recent poll that was sponsored by the Trump team that's been shared everywhere.

The media has done a piss-poor job of dissecting through all this and presenting the facts as is. As others have mentioned there's been this disproportionate focus on Trump even after he was voted out so much so that his "accomplishments" are still being talked about. As it stands, the Biden team is going to have to work extra hard to get out their message because news, opinions and sensationalism have all been mixed up.

And they are doing way to much polling on Biden's age, THEY are making it the biggest issue, not the voters. Sometimes the questions that are asked and who they ask are as important as what the answers are.

While age can be a valid concern, when it's a difference of a handful of years either way there's no way to complain about it without being hypocritical (Something the GoP & their voters excel at). It's been pointed out since 2016 that the Dems are shit when it comes to media messaging and they've done almost nothing to really improve since. The Shadowrun Fan in me thinks that this is a concerted push by devious conservative megadonors who control billions in advertising bucks . . . but then I remember how the local NY Dems didn't shout how much of a fraud George Santos was from the rooftops when they had the basics to shoot down almost every accomplishment he falsely claimed he had.

Grand jury in Georgia Trump case recommended indicting Lindsey Graham, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler

I wonder why charges weren't pursued, though I know we'll never know unless they wind up on a witness list somewhere.

Again, I mentioned he might be under orders from someone higher up (like Buffering Mitch) to act as a roadblock.

Tuberville does seem like the type to be a useful patsy for someone with more of a brain.

The thing that gets me is even Trump fans know he doesnt even read. He is barely competent. Even his own people have said they practically had to draw stick figures and make briefings as low brow as possible to keep his attention. He doesnt actually have policies.

He's a grifter he just hops on board what the latest right wing kiss ass tells him. Hell, the number of advisors and ex lawyers under indictment should show everyone even the people he picks who ARE supposed to be experts or give advice are frauds and incompetents.

Age is one thing but someone who has run business after business into bankruptcy, who can't be bothered to read anything more complicated than a picture book. Who is easily influenced by who kisses up to him the most and tells him his orange tan makes his eyes pop. That is your front runner? And they are still pushing him even mainstream media as if he isn't a massive failure who got hundreds of thousands killed and ineptness even today has people skeptical of science.

The MAGA morons always try and paint Biden as getting senile but I think Trump is getting worse. He makes less and less sense at times when he is giving interviews or rallies with the mob. But he was never that bright to begin with. Mr. Big Business Man filed for bankruptcy numerous times

He's a useful enough patsy if approached in the right way, and there are people who forget how much financial chaos he caused as president with his random Tweets and just remember how much money they made with him in charge. That's without getting into the ones who are actually in on the Bigotry instead of just being fine with it happening as long as things benefit them in the end.

He's never been actually smart, more of a sort of criminal cunning in knowing how to con others with his endless stream of bullshit. When one literally doesn't give a shit about the country they are running there isn't as much of that "Turns your hair white" stress that we've seen affect man after man in the role. But now it's all failing and the stress seems to be getting to him in a way it hadn't before. It's getting harder for his lemmings to rationalize what he's saying into not holding him responsible for his numerous crimes.

How can he make less sense when all he's ever said is nonsense?

When the bullshit starts getting caught up in the pipes that are used to spewing it unobstructed it comes out in unpredictable spurts.

And with that wonderful mental image behind me, I head off with a bow.

[Mister Mets]

You called people accepting punishment for their protests for a worthy cause "dumb". Which is both ableist and personal.

I said that protestors blocking traffic is dumb. In general, worse things are said on this forum about groups of political activists, so that's hardly a breach of decorum.

My comment wasn't about what side the protestors were on, but their specific actions.

Multiple posts have been made pointing out Republican bigotry and fascism -- all of which could simply be addressed directly.

He slanders the messenger with personal attacks because he knows addressing the message will further expose Republican behavior and their lack of ethics.



Of course the lies and deflections also expose Republican behavior -- Trump knows his party well.

Slander? I'm responding to what's said in posts in about me. You respond to posts with whataboutism.
I don't think I've said anything untrue. You do seem to want people to act if they're spokesmen for the Democratic party. You're criticizing me a lot for not accepting your framing regarding the Republican party. You go after people to your left for not focusing enough on the harms of Republicans.

I respond to what you say, and I strongly disagree with it.

I do strongly disagree with your contentions that the Republican party is a white nationalist organization.

I have never supported Trump. I've been pretty open about that, but your comment seems to me to be more of a response to a strawman version of a Republican than the individual you're responding it.

It does seem obvious that any complaints are mainly due to what side I'm on rather than anything else. Since I've never voted for Trump and don't intend to, but plenty of voters seem willing to support him, there are a lot of Americans to my right (as well as people from other countries who have a similar political agenda) and they should be welcome here.

Heck, his constant downplaying of the threats that his party poses against LGBTQ is VERY personal to all the queer people on this thread.

If a post is outrageous, quote it. Otherwise, there may be a situation where you're going after me for being on the wrong side, but are unwilling to defend the specifics.

[Mister Mets]

My perspective changes by state. In very blue or red states like Maryland or Mississippi, it bothers me less than what's happened in a 50/50 state like Wisconsin. The former is about the scale of power - any fair system would still have the same party in control and representative of the majority's preference - whereas the latter changes the balance in an unnatural way. Like in Wisconsin where Republicans can get 48% of the vote but still get a massive 2:1 majority in the state house.

One complication is that the system wasn't designed to reflect statewide voting patterns.

The people vote for individual candidates in individual races. A discrepancy in voting results could just be the result of one party nominating candidates in hopeless districts (the candidates will have no shot, but they'll add to the party's statewide totals) and one party not dealing with that.

It also ignores differences in candidate quality which mean that a vote for a Democrat in one district might not correspond to a vote for a Democrat in another (obviously the majority of voters are partisans but the ones willing to vote for different parties make a big difference in the margins.)

Mike Huchabee, one of those "reasonable Republicans" says all Trump's legal woes are part of a fascist Democratic scheme to keep him from the Presidency. What's more, if Trump loses, in any way. It is the end of Democracy. This is mainstream Republican thinking. Not something from some far right fringe. The man who tried to take the Presicency by force is Democracy's only chance.
You can't make this up.

https://news.yahoo.com/huckabee-2024...201910814.html

Who said Huckabee is reasonable? And since his daughter is probably the favorite to be Trump's running mate, he's hardly disinterested.

George Santos: Internal campaign research raised red flags before his election

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66741976

It's kinda surprising rival campaigns weren't as effective.

I think it's a long shot but I hope Trump can be knocked off the ballot by states who want to remove him because of the 14th Amendment. I don't think the MAGA morons are smart enough to do write in balloting...in the states that allow it. I'm not sure of how things work for all 50 states. We have already seen a watchdog group in Colorado filing a suit to remove him. Who knows? Maybe other states that are considered "purple" may try it too.

It seems really unlikely that we'd have a scenario where elections officials in one state are allowed to kick Trump off the ballot because of their understanding of the US constitution, but other states will have a different policy.

It's probably going to be all or nothing.

It’s no secret the media is jonesing big time for Trump to win the election, so it stands to reason they’re not going to give Biden props for all he’s done. The near daily chaos that followed in Trump’s wake during his four years in office was crazy good for business, and at the end of the day, the bottom line is all the media cares about.

The media is not secretly on Trump's side. Most of the mainstream media hates him, but doesn't know how to persuade swing voters.

And there is only a few years gap between Trump's age (77) and Biden's (80).

Plus there are greater health risks for Trump given his weight.

So it’s clear, in that press conference about RICO charges against Stop Cop City organizers, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr explicitly named that Cop City is needed because of the uprisings in 2020. This will be replicated in cities across the country. Under the theory of the StopCopCity RICO indictments, the entire Civil Rights Movement was a criminal conspiracy. Keep in mind that these are all Democrats doing this which makes this more fuckin egregious. This is the case people should be paying attention to IMO.

It is much easier in Georgia to charge RICO than in other jurisdictions.

[numberthirty]

Grand jury in Georgia Trump case recommended indicting Lindsey Graham, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler

A Georgia-based special grand jury that initially investigated efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election recommended the indictments of more than three dozen people, including 21 who weren't charged last month.

A report summarizing that special purpose grand jury's investigation was released Friday after Judge Robert McBurney, who presided over the panel, last week ordered that it be made public.

Sitting Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Ga., and former Sens. David Perdue, R-Ga., and Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and former national security adviser Michael Flynn were among those whom the panel recommended for indictment but were not ultimately charged. Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn was also on the list recommended for indictment.

NBC News reached out for comment to Graham, Loeffler, Perdue and Cleta Mitchell, a conservative activist who the panel recommended for indictment. Epshteyn declined to comment.

The special grand jury was convened last year as part of Willis's investigation because it had the power to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify. The panel was dissolved earlier this year and portions of its report were made public in February, which said it had "received evidence from or involving 75 witnesses during the course of this investigation, the overwhelming majority of which information was delivered in person under oath."

Those unsealed parts of the report revealed that grand jurors said they believed some witnesses might have lied under oath. The jury foreperson said in an interview in February that the panel had recommended indicting more than a dozen people.

Trump, for his part, has tried to quash the special grand jury report, arguing that all of the evidence should be deemed unconstitutional.

Politician decides against holding a fellow politician accountable.

News at 11.

[aja_christopher]

I don't think I've said anything untrue. You do seem to want people to act if they're spokesmen for the Democratic party.

I respond to what you say, and I strongly disagree with it.

I do strongly disagree with your contentions that the Republican party is a white nationalist organization.

It does seem obvious that any complaints are mainly due to what side I'm on rather than anything else.

Again -- you're lying as one doesn't have to be a Democrat to address Republican bigotry.

You can disagree all you want yet you never show any proof or evidence to counter all of the white nationalist evidence presented.

Including all of the white nationalist actions taken by the Republican party and their white nationalist leader and candidates such as DeSantis.

For all your talk of "facts over feelings" you've spent the vast majority of these discussions complaining about your feelings while avoiding facts -- pure hypocrisy.

You keep complaining about how you feel attacked -- yet you've repeatedly ignored all of the attacks the Republican party has made on African-Americans and LGBT citizens as well as the attacks that white nationalists and white supremacists have made on others due to the white nationalist rhetoric being spouted by Republicans.

When you choose to defend the political party of Nazis, neo-Nazis, white nationalists and politicians who engage in overt bigotry then you should expect to be treated accordingly -- especially by those who are most affected by the racist, sexist, homophobic, fascist policies of said party.

Instead of just stating that Republicans aren't promoting white nationalism counter the numerous examples of evidence provided.

Otherwise you're just doing exactly as stated -- repeatedly deflecting because you can't defend the homophobic, fascist, racist policies of the Republican party.

[Dalak]

Again -- you're lying as one doesn't have to be a Democrat to address Republican bigotry.

You can disagree all you want yet you never show any proof or evidence to counter all of the white nationalist evidence presented.

Including all of the white nationalist actions taken by the Republican party and their white nationalist leader and candidates such as DeSantis.

For all your talk of "facts over feelings" you've spent the vast majority of these discussions complaining about your feelings while avoiding facts -- pure hypocrisy.

You keep complaining about how you feel attacked -- yet you've repeatedly ignored all of the attacks the Republican party has made on African-Americans and LGBT citizens as well as the attacks that white nationalists and white supremacists have made on others due to the white nationalist rhetoric being spouted by Republicans.

When you choose to defend the political party of Nazis, neo-Nazis, white nationalists and politicians who engage in overt bigotry then you should expect to be treated accordingly -- especially by those who are most affected by the racist, sexist, homophobic, fascist policies of the Republican party.

So instead of stating that Republicans aren't promoting white nationalism counter the evidence provided.

Otherwise you're just doing exactly as stated -- repeatedly deflecting because you can't defend the homophobic, fascist, racist policies of the Republican party.

Viewing and evaluating evidence is necessary to logically disagree with it unless it's totally ludicrous on it's face (Which none of what was provided on DeSantis alone was), and when one refuses to do that and gets called out for it it's not an attack but noting a bias problem when arguing with a specific poster. When they respond "I don't think I lied" to evidence that they did (more than once in the past), it becomes a waste of time to respond to Sealioning for more. When someone responds "I disagree" or "It's exaggerated" without viewing/responding to presented evidence (Whether they ask for it or not), it's clear they aren't arguing in good faith regardless of the subject being discussed.

The evidence that the GoP is enacting policies intended to oppress minorities, LGBT, political opponents, and protect their own from consequences is undeniable if one is being intellectually honest. Supporting them in spite of this fact makes one complicit in the actions they are undertaking, no matter any personal disapproval.

Expressing disapproval of what's going on doesn't make one a Dem spokesman, but saying it's required to be one in order to do so or being required by anyone here is a clear lie.

[aja_christopher]

"How Lindsey Graham Escaped Charges in Georgia"

"A long-awaited Georgia grand jury report released Friday provides a look at how Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) avoided being charged in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) election interference case against former President Trump and 18 other defendants.

The report shows that the jury recommended taking the enormous step of bringing charges against the sitting U.S. senator, as well as two former Georgia senators, both of whom were defeated in runoff elections held the day before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

In fact, a majority of the grand jury — 13 members — backed bringing charges against Graham “with respect to the national effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”

But seven other members voted against doing so, exhibiting for the first time the split in the Fulton County grand jury. In contrast, the report showed 20 of 21 jurors recommended charges against Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani."

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...arges-georgia/

"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed... and we will deserve it." -- Lindsey Graham

[aja_christopher]

-----

"What is white nationalism? Take a look at Trump's agenda"

"President Donald Trump has a symbiotic relationship with white nationalists.

It’s been a constant in nearly every element of his presidency: The white nationalist violence in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was followed by a pronouncement that there were “some very fine people on both sides.”

The election of Congress’s most diverse class in 2018 ever was met with tweets demonizing women progressives of color, telling them to “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came.” Even Covid-19, a disease spun out of the animal kingdom, has been cast as a foreign foe that was at best the fault of — and, at worst, created by — nonwhite people, with the president insisting on using racist language around it. And Trump arguably launched his political career by appearing on shows like Fox News’s The O’Reilly Factor in 2011 to speculate that “maybe” President Barack Obama’s birth certificate “says he is a Muslim.”

As president, Trump energizes white nationalists on two levels: with his rhetoric and through his staffing and policy choices. In turn, many have given him their support. In doing so, Trump has given an overt platform to white nationalists in a way that is unprecedented in the modern political era.

The issue isn’t just Trump’s rhetoric. His administration’s immigration policy has led to the separation of families, to children facing risk of exposure to disease like Covid-19 in detention facilities, and to the deaths of immigrants seeking asylum in the US. His criminal justice policy has led to a more punitive criminal justice system and to the weakening of police oversight, all of which disproportionately affect communities of color.

His economic policies have rewarded those already holding wealth (a mostly white group), and his much-vaunted “greatest economy” was not as great for people of color — particularly Black Americans, whose unemployment rate has been at least 2 percentage points higher than the general unemployment rate for the entirety of Trump’s tenure. In fact, a kinship with white nationalist ideas can be found in just about any part of the Trump administration’s policy, from health care to foreign affairs....

It’s not only Trump who gives a voice to white nationalists. Key people in his administration champion their beliefs. Chief among them is White House senior adviser Stephen Miller.

A trove of more than 900 emails Miller sent to the alt-right publication Breitbart in 2015 and 2016 — both while an aide to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and a member of the Trump campaign — suggests Miller has deep ties to the white nationalist movement..."

https://www.vox.com/21313021/trump-w...on-immigration