US Politics: It’s Not A Crime If Your Feelings Got Hurt

[sologdin]

so my bad there

PG-

not really your fault.  twitter encourages glib responses, dearth of analysis, decontextualized quotations, and other monological irrationalities, such as you've demonstrated. it's the reason that trump prefers it over other avenues. stalin would, too, were he perhaps to come out of retirement.  that would be a fun parody twitter account, incidentally. hmm

[PyroclasticFlow]

 Before I joined this board, one of my favorite things to do was read the off the wall theories in the Gen ASOIAF chats and this man’s posts. Welcome back sir.

[Fragile Bird]

18 hours ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Ah yes, Biden's belligerence is his greatest trait.

Great being a neutral adjective, of course.

Joe's expansionist impulses leave their impressions upon both the women in his sphere of influence and the combative rhetoric employed.

 

17 hours ago, Zorral said:

Hooray!  Look at him being tough on the wart -- like he was tough on Anita Hill!  He's such a tough guy, o yay. 

I saw it as cleverness, not belligerence! I was channeling Pelosi, another old hand who knows how to flummox Trump.

One of the arguments about this race is do you choose your ideal candidate or someone who will beat Trump? The saying about using a thief to catch a thief comes to mind, not along the idea of picking a scumbag to beat a scumbag but using an old white guy to beat the old white guy. Will those 70,000 voters who elected Trump switch to Harris? Or Beto? Sanders and Biden are the front runners right now. It will be interesting to see if that changes in a year.

[Zorral]

5 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Or Beto?

Beto's revealed himself an empty suit.

Mayor Pete is showing himself a flag carrier for white supremacy and -- he's really against free college, because poor people shouldn't be taxed to get an education that will allow them to find jobs so that they aren't poor.  Not making that up.

At this point the only one worth supporting is Elizabeth Warren, who has the smarts, the experience and who has been thinking long and hard about ALL our crises.  But the media isn't going to give her any oxygen at all.  So it will be old white guys who want status quo, and want it only for their own egos.

 

[Fragile Bird]

34 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Beto's revealed himself an empty suit.

Mayor Pete is showing himself a flag carrier for white supremacy and -- he's really against free college, because poor people shouldn't be taxed to get an education that will allow them to find jobs so that they aren't poor.  Not making that up.

At this point the only one worth supporting is Elizabeth Warren, who has the smarts, the experience and who has been thinking long and hard about ALL our crises.  But the media isn't going to give her any oxygen at all.  So it will be old white guys who want status quo, and want it only for their own egos.

 

Whaaaaaat? A gay white supremacy supporter?

As for free college, that's an issue in Canada too. I don't see that coming any time soon, and as Americans love to say, we're commies up here.

[DMC]

12 hours ago, Triskele said:

So is it deaths of despair or a chronic relapsing brain disease?   

 

I don't wanna derail either, but these are two entirely different things and it can certainly be both.  "Deaths of despair" is looking at aggregate trends while "addiction is a disease" is an individual physiological response.  It's blatant - if not almost impressively bold - ecological fallacy to directly compare the two.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Whaaaaaat? A gay white supremacy supporter?

As for free college, that's an issue in Canada too. I don't see that coming any time soon, and as Americans love to say, we're commies up here.

Hey -- don't make that error that being gay automatically makes someone in favor of diversity, etc. Look at all those cray cray gay white supremacists out there making $$$$hay $$$$ out of the cray cray white supremacist / fascist movements.

Look where he's located.  He didn't need black voters at all to get elected mayor.  Indeed if  he had supported Black Lives Matter, if African Americans had supported him, he probably wouldn't have been mayor.

Now he's trying to back peddle on this nationally, but the people at home haven't forgotten. More and more sour stuff about him is coming out.

As for me equating white supremacy with not wanting free college -- where in the world did I say any such thing?  Though it is true white supremacists do not want free public education because people who aren't, you know, white, get some.

 

[Fragile Bird]

Sadly, there has been another attack on a synagogue, in California. One person is dead and three are injured, and a 19 year-old white male is in custody. My heart goes out to that community.

Nineteen years old, for crying out loud.

That brought to mind the other story from the past week, the fact that the Coast Guard guy who was arrested because he was planning an attack is going to be released because he hasn't actually been charged with a crime serious enough to allow the judge to refuse release. One wonders why not. Well, there's no domestic terrorism law in the US, but one wonders if some charging creativity could have been used.

What shocked me was his public defender used what a person might start calling the Fox News defense. Or the Donald Trump defense. The attorney his list of names and some of the things he wrote might be written by Donald Trump after watching Fox news. She also said the racial slurs he used were part of "the national vocabulary".

Quote

Oyer referenced President Donald Trump multiple times, comparing her client's racial slurs and targeting of Democrats and the media to similar views that the President has taken. 

Oyer said the list of names Hasson had allegedly assembled didn't amount to a hit list but "looks like the sort of list that our commander in chief might have compiled while watching Fox News in the morning."

She added that while the racial slurs Hasson allegedly used in private writings were condemnable, they are now part of the "national vocabulary."

"Donald Trump uses similar epithets in his everyday language and tweets," Oyer said. 

 

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Triskele said:

This quote came across that way:

 

If there was some other reason besides the college funding issue why he's a flag carrier for white supremacy surely you can understand why the average reader couldn't see it from this.  But you definitely seem to be saying he's a flag carrier for white supremacy.  If not that reason, why?  

It's called comma splices except I used hyphens, which is also called bad writing / or conversational writing.  Something someone as intelligent as you are capable of seeing unless you wanted to make an issue.

 

[karaddin]

On 4/27/2019 at 9:56 AM, Kalbear said:

Yeah, it's hard. You know what's really hard? Being the fucking POTUS. If Biden can't handle apologizing well, he's not going to handle a whole lot of other things particularly well. How he handles his mistakes is important. He hasn't done a good job of it so far.

It blows my mind that people (generally) accept companies requiring all sorts of detailed and invasive information about an applicant for entry level positions way beyond what's relevant to the basic job, but then balk at applying minimal standards for someone applying for the most exclusive jobs in the world - we saw the same thing with the Kavanagh hearing. It's like if you check the right boxes then once your hat has been thrown into the ring you are entitled to be there and questioning that is outrageous.

6 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

Whaaaaaat? A gay white supremacy supporter?

Wait until you hear about this guy called Milo Yiannopolous, it's going to blow your mind.

I hadn't seen things explicitly linking Pete that directly, but his policies seem much more on the neoliberal side of things than much of the Democratic base is looking for this election.

[James Arryn]

5 hours ago, Zorral said:

Hey -- don't make that error that being gay automatically makes someone in favor of diversity, etc. Look at all those cray cray gay white supremacists out there making $$$$hay $$$$ out of the cray cray white supremacist / fascist movements.

Look where he's located.  He didn't need black voters at all to get elected mayor.  Indeed if  he had supported Black Lives Matter, if African Americans had supported him, he probably wouldn't have been mayor.

Now he's trying to back peddle on this nationally, but the people at home haven't forgotten. More and more sour stuff about him is coming out.

As for me equating white supremacy with not wanting free college -- where in the world did I say any such thing?  Though it is true white supremacists do not want free public education because people who aren't, you know, white, get some.

 

Sorry, can you connect the dots in white supremacy for me? Because I’ve heard him talk extensively about racism, the fact that we’re still under-reacting to extensive systemic racism. For example how the war on drugs was an extension of systemic racism and he’s worried that even the proposed fixes of decriminalizing it will fall very short of rebuilding the lives it’s ruined in the same way that post-civil war freed slaves (such a Canadian autocorrect, slaves to skates) were then abandoned as if ‘job done’ and that very brief moment of potential progress for the African American community was instead replaced with essentially a slightly prettied up version of what had come before. 

And that’s just one example of him sounding very un-white supremacist to me. So can you tell me where this comes from, this seeming certainty you have that he’s a white suoremacist?

[Guest]

I'm not sure how not being judged to be at the correct level of wokeness = being cool with white supremacy, but whatever.

It's that kind of thinking that is going to re-elect Trump for 4 more years. 4 more years of Trump will try be an existential crisis for democracy in the U.S.

[S John]

2 hours ago, The Great Unwashed said:

I'm not sure how not being judged to be at the correct level of wokeness = being cool with white supremacy, but whatever.

It's that kind of thinking that is going to re-elect Trump for 4 more years. 4 more years of Trump will try be an existential crisis for democracy in the U.S.

There are times when I feel that some on the American left need to re-examine the obvious truth that in order to become President of the United States the candidate is going to need a significant number of white people to vote for them.  We are changing demographically, but you still can’t alienate vast swathes of the largest demographic in the country and expect to win.  We have to operate within the framework of the country we have.  

I think one of the reasons Obama was so successful is that his message was one of unity.  I don’t think this country is fundamentally unwilling to elect women, people of color, lgbt folks.  All of those things will eventually happen.  What I think unites the umbrella of voters on the American left are messages of hope and unity and pride in a shared vision for a better future for all of us.  If the left actually has significant factions of people accusing Buttigieg, of all people, of being a white supremecist, and that is the tone we are going to strike in this primary - then let me be the first to congratulate to Trump on his 2020 victory.  Fortunately I do not think there is a large faction doing that, I think this is the internet where we tend to find stronger opinions than those found IRL.

[ThinkerX]

3 hours ago, The Great Unwashed said:

I'm not sure how not being judged to be at the correct level of wokeness = being cool with white supremacy, but whatever.

It's that kind of thinking that is going to re-elect Trump for 4 more years. 4 more years of Trump will try be an existential crisis for democracy in the U.S.

I have issued this warning before (culled from reading many, many comments to political articles).  'Minority Voter' does not automatically mean 'Liberal' or even 'Democratic' Voter.  This is especially true of Hispanics, where, in places, conservatives attain near plurality.  Republican strategists have long drooled at the thought of adding Hispanics to the party; thus far the chief reason this has not happened is the white bases extreme racism.  But even so, a significant number of Hispanics are big time Trump fans.  

[Serious Callers Only]

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/27/seal-a27.html

 

Quote

The central allegation against Gallagher, who also goes by the nickname “Blade,” is that he murdered a captive Iraqi teenager while deployed to Mosul. SEALs told investigators that on May 4, 2017, Gallagher heard that an Islamic State fighter had been wounded and was in custody. According to the Times, “Chief Gallagher responded over the radio with words to the effect of ‘he’s mine.’”

“A medic was treating the youth on the ground when Chief Gallagher walked up without a word and stabbed the wounded teenager several times in the neck and once in the chest with his hunting knife, killing him, two SEAL witnesses said.”

Gallagher then gathered SEALs for a gruesome reenlistment ceremony over the teenager’s body, complete with an American flag and photos.

That night or the next day, SEALs reported the incident to Gallagher’s immediate superior, a troop chief, as well as Lieutenant Jacob Portier, the platoon commander. Portier has been charged separately for allegedly covering up the stabbing because he lied to his own superior, Lieutenant Commander Robert Breisch, who asked if there was “anything criminal” associated with the reenlistment ceremony.

SEALs also describe Gallagher shooting his sniper rifle “about ten times as often as other snipers,” including shooting a young girl and an unarmed old man (both incidents have two witnesses). A message in a Mosul sniper nest read, “Eddie G puts the laughter in Manslaughter.”

The Times describes how “one senior SEAL” alleged that Gallagher “routinely parked an armored truck on a Tigris River bridge and emptied the truck’s heavy machine gun into neighborhoods on the other side with no discernible targets.”

One SEAL told investigators that other snipers “began shooting warning shots at any civilians they saw on the battlefield so that the civilians would run away and [Gallagher] could not kill them.”

A separate investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is looking into Gallagher allegedly killing a goat herder in Afghanistan in 2010.

Special forces bad apples and special forces officers being fascist for about 10 years. These  guys are doubt into the shortlist of pardons for shitbirds if things go south for the coup.

Quote

However, there is much more involved here than one war criminal. When SEALs attempted to report Gallagher’s actions, they were warned against it. Breisch and Master Chief Petty Officer Brian Alazzawi met with seven SEALs in March 2018, during which Breisch told SEALs “that while the SEALs were free to report the killings, the Navy might not look kindly on rank-and-file team members making allegations against a chief. Their careers could be sidetracked, he said,” according to the Times.

Alazzawi, perhaps saying more than he intended, warned SEALs that their allegations would have a wide “frag [fragmentation] radius” and could implicate many other SEALs.

Credit to the SEAL grunts though, I guess someone can be so disgusting that even killers can be so disgusted that they'll break the culture of silence.

Quote

A few days after this meeting, Gallagher was awarded a medal for his conduct in Iraq.

It took another month for the SEALs to force their commanding officers to report Gallagher’s war crimes, including the stabbing of the teenager and the shooting of two unarmed civilians, to NCIS. The SEALs had threatened to go up the chain of command or directly to the press.

Either through being told by Breisch or Alazzawi or through some other means, Gallagher himself found out about the March 2018 meeting and set about turning other SEALs against those who had told officers about his crimes. He texted another SEAL chief, “I just got word these guys went crying to the wrong person.”

To a different SEAL, he texted: “The only thing we can do as good team guys is pass the word on those traitors. They are not brothers at all.”

After the internal cover-up failed, various reactionaries have lined up to defend Gallagher. Fox News has given extensive air time to Gallagher’s wife and brother. A letter calling for Gallagher to be freed pending trial was signed by 40 Republican members of Congress.

President Donald Trump, clearly seeking to mobilize fascistic elements in his base, tweeted, “In honor of his past service to our Country, Navy Seal #EddieGallagher will soon be moved to less restrictive confinement while he awaits his day in court. Process should move quickly!”

But ofc, the habitual nazis have their say.

[Serious Callers Only]

Trump’s Treasury Secretary was just hit with major lawsuit over multibillion dollar fraud

[Serious Callers Only]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/04/obstruction-case-william-barr-doj-donald-trump.html

 

William Barr, fascist tool, is now trying to use the DoJ to prosecute judges that aren't GOP tools.

[Serious Callers Only]

Speaking of fascism

Trump falsely claims babies are being legally executed, mimics Saudi king's accent and calls former FBI officials 'scum'

 

[Zorral]

Interesting read on Elizabeth Warren's transition from reagan era republican to democrat -- it was bankruptcy in the wake of the Bork free market bs that it protect consumers -- hey -- guess what? it doesn't!  It does just the opposite, particularly as it promotes lack of competition.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/12/elizabeth-warren-profile-young-republican-2020-president-226613

White supremacists don't stop at anything -- I've been to this bookstore too:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/white-nationalists-interrupt-author-at-politics-and-prose/2019/04/27/d48012c6-692d-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html?

 

15 hours ago, James Arryn said:

Sorry, can you connect the dots in white supremacy for me? Because I’ve heard him talk extensively about racism, the fact that we’re still under-reacting to extensive systemic racism. For example how the war on drugs was an extension of systemic racism and he’s worried that even the proposed fixes of decriminalizing it will fall very short of rebuilding the lives it’s ruined in the same way that post-civil war freed slaves (such a Canadian autocorrect, slaves to skates) were then abandoned as if ‘job done’ and that very brief moment of potential progress for the African American community was instead replaced with essentially a slightly prettied up version of what had come before. 

And that’s just one example of him sounding very un-white supremacist to me. So can you tell me where this comes from, this seeming certainty you have that he’s a white suoremacist?

Come on -- if you never heard any such thing, don't believe anyone has reason to consider the possibility, it's on you, right? to go find out, right?

But if you took a second to google you'd find this most recent troubling racial thang come up pretty much on top.

As for the complacent bleating that a Dem must have white votes to win -- please explain how a Dem will win with only white voters turning out?  You know, considering demographics, voter registration and the rest.  Why do you think the criminal traitors white supremacist etc. work so damned hard at voter suppression?"

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/17/politics/pete-buttigieg-south-bend-tapes/index.html

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Michelle Kwan and Alyssa Milano a 2020 ticket I could get behind. 

But then again neither of them deserve the torture that the office becomes so id never wish it on them. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-olympic-figure-skater-michelle-154036600.html