All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[Gray Lensman]

Donald Trump worships himself and Mammon, in that order.

The second one certainly isn't true - any worship spent there is less time for himself.

[Malvolio]

Indeed. Trump could come out tomorrow and say the Pope is a bloodthirsty serial killer, Queen Elizabeth a lesbian nymphomaniac and that ALL minorities should be shipped to concentration camps and his followers would rabidly agree with him. Trump has no filter and is free to say anything he wants because he knows the legion of lemmings who hang on his every word will take it as gospel. That, is more than just interesting, it's frightening.

Trump admitted as much when he said that he could go out on Fifth Ave, and shoot someone, and his poll numbers would not go down. I really don't think he wants to be President. He just started this as performance art and didn't think it would go anywhere. It's just that now, his ego won't let him admit that he doesn't really want to do this any more.

[PwrdOn]

Trump admitted as much when he said that he could go out on Fifth Ave, and shoot someone, and his poll numbers would not go down. I really don't think he wants to be President. He just started this as performance art and didn't think it would go anywhere. It's just that now, his ego won't let him admit that he doesn't really want to do this any more.

It is an interesting phenomenon, but if you look at his supporters, most of them probably don't actually agree with most of what he says. It's just that once you get caught up in the fervor and become emotionally invested, it's pretty hard to just walk away and admit that you were actually wrong this whole time. The more common reaction is to get even more defensive and withdraw further into your little echo chamber where it's comfortable and everyone agrees with you, this is how every cult works.

[David Walton]

Trump admitted as much when he said that he could go out on Fifth Ave, and shoot someone, and his poll numbers would not go down. I really don't think he wants to be President. He just started this as performance art and didn't think it would go anywhere. It's just that now, his ego won't let him admit that he doesn't really want to do this any more.

There's got to be someone out there writing a comedy about a presidential candidate who doesn't want the job but can't make himself unelectable no matter how hard he tries.

[TakoM]

There's got to be someone out there writing a comedy about a presidential candidate who doesn't want the job but can't make himself unelectable no matter how hard he tries.

I saw once a comedy in which a person wakes up out of his booze between beer cans and someone who looks like a secret agent member sitting on a chair on the corner of his be.
Well he finds out he is the new U.S president while he was apparently drunk for multiple months he won the election with the slogan: "Free beer for everybody".

[Paradox]

That would be this from Mad TV, IIRC.

[TakoM]

That would be this from Mad TV, IIRC.

Yes this was it

[Tami]

Trump calls for Apple boycott amid FBI feud – then sends tweets from iPhone

[Michael P]

That would be this from Mad TV, IIRC.

Still one of my favorite sketches ever.

[Malvolio]

That would be this from Mad TV, IIRC.

It's even funnier now because GW Bush was essentially a dry drunk.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

That would be this from Mad TV, IIRC.

"You can be very convincing with a bottle of Jack Daniels in your hand."

[Gray Lensman]

Trump calls for Apple boycott amid FBI feud – then sends tweets from iPhone

I will let these two give my opinion of this.

Attachment 32875

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump calls for Apple boycott amid FBI feud – then sends tweets from iPhone

To quote the esteemed Bugs Bunny...."Wotta maroon!"

[InformationGeek]

Not sure if this goes in the news section or the music section, but whatever. This crap is f**ked up regardless.

“Tik Tok” star Kesha broke into tears Friday when a Manhattan Supreme Court judge refused to let her walk away from a six-album deal with Sony — and the man she claims raped her.

The singer had sought to nullify her recording contract because it brought her into contact with super-producer Dr. Luke, whose real name is Luke Gottwald.

The 28-year-old, whose real name is Kesha Rose Sebert, claims that Dr. Luke drugged her with a pill that made her black out and raped her shortly after her 18th birthday in California. He was never criminally charged.

Sony has offered to let her work with another producer, but Kesha said she fears the company won’t promote her music as heavily if she’s not working with Gottwald, their biggest hitmaker.

Dozens of fans rallied outside the courthouse in support of the shellshocked singer as she emerged from the courthouse.

“Free Kesha Now! Free Kesha Now!” they chanted as the singer walked down the long front steps with her entourage.

A few minutes earlier, she had hugged a weeping fan outside the courtroom.

“You don’t deserve this at all. It’s unfair,” the fan, Lindsay Scarpa, told her.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich said she thought Sony would suffer irreparable harm if Kesha was not compelled to abide by a contract that requires her to make six more albums with the company.

The judge said that granting the singer’s request to nullify her deal would undermine the state’s laws governing contracts and the court couldn’t do that.

Kesha was seeking to nullify her recording contract, which made her work with a man she accused of raping her.

Kesha’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, argued that Sony’s promise to connect her to another producer was “illusory” because even if the recordings were made, the record company wouldn’t promote them.

He contended that Sony had more invested in Dr. Luke than in Kesha and it would do everything to protect him because he makes them more money.

The judge said that Geragos had nothing concrete to back up his “speculative” argument.

Kesha, in a dramatic all-white outfit seated in court next to her mother in a back row, initially looked stunned as the judge refused to issue the injunction.

Then as a tear-soaked fan in front of her started sniffling loudly, her own eyes filled with tears.

Dr. Luke and Sony are also trying to dismiss the underlying case in which Kesha contends that Dr. Luke abused her emotionally and psychologically for a decade, forcing her to take a sabbatical and go into rehab in January 2014.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Not sure if this goes in the news section or the music section, but whatever. This crap is f**ked up regardless.

I'd say music since it has little to do with politics. But as it stands I don't know if Dr. Luke did abuse Kesha or not. Sony wants to make money like any business and would push the albums . The biggest problem Kesha has is , she hasn't recorded an album since 2012 and her last album only sold 250,000 copies. Her career seems to be slowly waning as fast as it launched. (2 albums....the 1st one sold 2.5+ million copies)



EDIT TO ADD - I was wrong about Kesha's last album sales. Updated for February 2016 , the album has sold 1.6 million copies worldwide.