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

[Adam Allen]

Trump has gone bye bye ...

Trump’s grievances feed menacing undertow after the election

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last throes of Donald Trump’s presidency have turned ugly — even dangerous.

Death threats are on the rise. Local and state election officials are being hounded into hiding. A Trump campaign lawyer is declaring publicly that a federal official who defended the integrity of the election should be “drawn and quartered” or simply shot.

Neutral public servants, Democrats and a growing number of Republicans who won’t do what Trump wants are being caught in a menacing postelection undertow stirred by Trump’s grievances about the election he lost.

“Death threats, physical threats, intimidation — it’s too much, it’s not right,” said Gabriel Sterling, a Republican elections official in Georgia who implored Trump to “stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.” Trump in response only pressed his groundless case that he lost unfairly, neither discouraging trouble nor explicitly calling for it.

[CSTowle]

A View from the absurd

Roger Stone Says North Korean Boats Delivered Ballots Through Maine Harbor As Trump Boosts Fraud Claims

That'd be pretty impressive, considering how far they'd have to sail. You'd think they'd want to smuggle them in through the West Coast, or at least through Canada (straight shot to Michigan/Wisconsin/Pennsylvania if you go through Lakes). Maybe he's just having fun and seeing how far out there a lie has to be to still be swallowed up by Trump's base. He seems to have a sense of humor.

[Emperor-of-Dragons]

it's been a few decades after the cold war and politicians still use socialism as the big bad boogeyman.

I can't believe it still works! But I think it's slowly losing it's impact.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump’s grievances feed menacing undertow after the election

And Republican leaders are in full blown “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil” mode, either out of apathy or because they’re afraid of poking the bear since they still need the support of Trump’s base.

[Adam Allen]

And Republican leaders are in full blown “See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil” mode, either out of apathy or because they’re afraid of poking the bear since they still need the support of Trump’s base.

I seriously hope that I am wrong, but I have become ever more convinced his ongoing lying about this is going to end up deadly for someone. Which I guess is part of the conversation some were having with Mets some days back, that unless those Republican "leaders" themselves really buy that the election was stolen, that there was this massive fraud he keeps talking about, but for which he produces no evidence and even his own AG has admitted didn't happen ... then they're complicit in getting someone killed, if it happens.

I mean, today he is standing there rambling on with this nonsense, swearing the election was stolen, hundreds across the country are all a part of the conspiracy, and he is the duly elected POTUS. If you look at the comments on that video, some people clearly believe him. I feel like any Republican or conservative with any integrity should feel absolutely compelled to refute this as loudly as possible. But, like you said -- they're either agreeing, or silent, for the most part.

I mean, it's crazy, I have story after story about violent crime in my city being the highest its ever been, but this is the stuff that really scares me...

[The no face guy]

That'd be pretty impressive, considering how far they'd have to sail. You'd think they'd want to smuggle them in through the West Coast, or at least through Canada (straight shot to Michigan/Wisconsin/Pennsylvania if you go through Lakes). Maybe he's just having fun and seeing how far out there a lie has to be to still be swallowed up by Trump's base. He seems to have a sense of humor.

Could be, he has earned the name "the dirty trickster" for good reason, for he is shrewd and smart, and witty, but he has also always been a maverick in the Republican Party. I find it hard to believe he would sign up to be a regular on the Alex Jones show without believing in a lot of off kilter conspiracy theories himself, I'm sure his arrest, for better or worst, has reconfirmed his views.

I personally think Trump and his associates are living in a different reality plane, and actually believe in the mail in ballot conspiracies.

Rudy Giuliani's transformation from a regular rational figure who helped bring down the NYC mob, to a raving irrationalist conspiracy theorist, literary melting on camera, shows the power of Trump's personality over him, and what Trump most likely believes.

[Steel Inquisitor]

I can't believe it still works! But I think it's slowly losing it's impact.

Kind of, but it works because it's not all propaganda. Socialism is a broad term and some of it is blatant tyranny with large body counts, as well as modern examples of catastrophic failures like in Venezuela. Leftist politicians doing silly things like praising Castro's Cuba while running for president isn't helping, either.

[Zauriel]

Kind of, but it works because it's not all propaganda. Socialism is a broad term and some of it is blatant tyranny with large body counts, as well as modern examples of catastrophic failures like in Venezuela. Leftist politicians doing silly things like praising Castro's Cuba while running for president isn't helping, either.

Venezuela's President is a bus driver.

You'd think a bus driver runs the country better than a real estate agent?

And when you are running for president, it is not exactly a good idea to praise someone who is an enemy of the USA. Of course Trump also praised some enemies of the USA including Putin and the fat North Korean guy named Kim.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Venezuela's President is a bus driver.

You'd think a bus driver runs the country better than a real estate agent?

And when you are running for president, it is not exactly a good idea to praise someone who is an enemy of the USA. Of course Trump also praised some enemies of the USA including Putin and the fat North Korean guy named Kim.

Maduro hasn't been a bus driver since 2000, having humble origins is by no means an excuse to ignore a politician being an autocrat. What politicians did before they were politicians isn't relevant to judge them on whether they're nice people. I'm curious why it was needed to address politicians being judged by their jobs before they did that came from, since it had nothing to do with what I said and didn't make Maduro any less of a bad guy. Pol Pot was raised on a farm, didn't make him any less of a horrible person when he came to power.

Exactly, which is why it's bad to do it. Which Trump's been derided for since they're controversial statements and have hindered him further among other world leaders with credibility. He was just able to get away with it, he knew he couldn't do that running as a Democrat that's why he switched to the GOP. They have lower standards.

[Zauriel]

Maduro hasn't been a bus driver since 2000, having humble origins is by no means an excuse to ignore a politician being an autocrat. What politicians did before they were politicians isn't relevant to judge them on whether they're nice people. I'm curious why it was needed to address politicians being judged by their jobs before they did that came from, since it had nothing to do with what I said and didn't make Maduro any less of a bad guy. Pol Pot was raised on a farm, didn't make him any less of a horrible person when he came to power.
.

There are presidents of the United States who had humble origins. Some of them are good, others are bad. Abe Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin. He had no formal education but he educated himself and worked hard to become a lawyer.

One of the worst presidents of the United States, Andrew Johnson was a tailor.

Some of the other presidents of the United States were born into wealthy families like John F. Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Dubya Bush and Donald Trump.
Bush and Trump proved that being born with a silver spoon in your mouth doesn't make you a good POTUS.

[Tami]

“If that means changing your address for the next two months,so be it.I’m doing that. I’m moving to Georgia.”Our 6 investigation reveals deleted video-a FL attorney telling GOP members how to move to GA,vote in runoffs. It’s illegal.There’s more,& an investigation

Twitter Link w/ video

[Tami]

Explore updated SBA data on businesses that received PPP loans

The Small Business Administration has released additional data about loans issued under the Paycheck Protection Program, complying with a federal court order as part of a lawsuit by The Washington Post and other media organizations.

The data includes the exact amounts for more than 600,000 small businesses and nonprofit organizations that received at least $150,000 in loans, providing the most detailed disclosure yet about one of the largest economic stimulus packages created by the federal government, part of the $2 trillion Cares Act. The data also includes the names of entities receiving less than $150,000, which represent about 87 percent of the total number of loans in the program.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Twitter Link w/ video

Republicans? Cheating? I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!

[Amadeus Arkham]

Trump has gone bye bye ...

“The most important speech I’ve ever given.” lol.

Oh and Trump really shouldn’t fire Barr after he basically did the right thing, and told the truth not out of principle(since we all know how little Trump cares about that word), seeing as Barr(like Trump) is a lame duck who’s going to lose the job either way, but Trump does want to disgrace people he’s fallen out of favor with. A public firing would do that regardless of whether it’s necessary or not. At this point, I don’t even think Barr really cares since he knows him and his boss are both goners. If Barr gets fired this month, Trump would merely just expedite the inevitable.

[Tami]

‘Nobody Sees Us’: Testing-Lab Workers Strain Under Demand

In March, April Abbott dragged a hospital bed into her office at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind. In the nine months since, she has slept in it a half-dozen times while working overnight in her clinical microbiology laboratory, where a team of some 40 scientists toils around the clock running coronavirus tests.

These all-night stints in the lab pull Dr. Abbott, the director of microbiology at Deaconess, away from her husband and three children, the oldest of whom is 8. A couple of times a week, she heads home for dinner, then drives back to work after the kids have gone to bed. She is at the lab when machines break. She is there to vet testing protocols for the lab. She is there when new testing sites open, flooding the lab with more samples to process.

“I do it because there is always more work to be done than the hours to do it in,” she said.