US Politics: them's indictin words

[Gaston de Foix]

11 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

Can we all just acknowledge meatball is a subtly racist dig?

Maybe, and that's despicable.  But I don't know why we aren't talking about the fact that DONALD TRUMP is fat-shaming people !!

[Wilbur]

26 minutes ago, Fez said:

Not the most important story, but I laughed anyway: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/04/20/mike-lindell-prove-wrong-contest/

A guy who voted for Trump twice is certainly no hero. But good for him for trying to get that money. As for the supposed data:

 

After the "Cyber Ninja election audit" here in Arizona, I am convinced that many of these new, Trump-supporting Republicans that have appeared in national prominence in the last decade believe that computers operate on magic rather than rational, logical terms that can produce reliable evidence of factual existence or occurrence.

Lindell appears to be one of those people who believes that Magical Thinking and Hopes and Dreams comprise key elements of the operating system and application layer of any system.

[Zorral]

It cannot be denied.  The ruling reich loves guns because it hates children and all living things.

They Saw the Horrific Aftermath of a Mass Shooting. Should We?
The crime-scene investigators are the ones who document, and remember, the unimaginable. This is what they saw at Sandy Hook.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/magazine/sandy-hook-mass-shooting-scenes.html

Read this if you can. This is the world we somehow have made.

[DanteGabriel]

10 hours ago, Wilbur said:

After the "Cyber Ninja election audit" here in Arizona, I am convinced that many of these new, Trump-supporting Republicans that have appeared in national prominence in the last decade believe that computers operate on magic rather than rational, logical terms that can produce reliable evidence of factual existence or occurrence.

Lindell appears to be one of those people who believes that Magical Thinking and Hopes and Dreams comprise key elements of the operating system and application layer of any system.

It's not just about computers though. Republicans have constructed an entire reality around magical thinking: with the economy, guns, reproductive rights, even elections themselves. Along with many other -ists, hey are the anti-empiricist party.

[Tywin et al.]

12 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

It's not just about computers though. Republicans have constructed an entire reality around magical thinking: with the economy, guns, reproductive rights, even elections themselves. Along with many other -ists, hey are the anti-empiricist party.

I still think the main problem leads back to Christian fundamentalism. Not Christianity in general, but this sick strand that's polluting everything while also allowing them to blame everyone else for their own ingroup's problems. 

[Guest]

On 4/19/2023 at 10:50 PM, DMC said:

I'm sorry, but all the links you provided seem to be written under the impression the Dominion case was an "existential threat" to FNC, and expressing disappointment therein based on this expectation.  Maybe I'm missing something, but who expected this?  We've talked about this case for months as it's gone on, and I don't recall anyone thinking it would "destroy" FNC.  Of course it wouldn't.  And part of that is because of the protections the first link you have here mentioned - since Sullivan it's VERY difficult to demonstrate libel and/or slander against a public figure/entity.  This is a good thing!  And, btw, something Ron DeSantis is trying to attack. 

Anyway, the Dominion settlement still - relatively speaking - in an encouraging sign that if you outright lie about an election, it will cost nearly a billion dollars.  Or for Rupert, nearly as much as another divorce.

I think a lot of liberal outlets/ influencers have peddled the idea that this trial and/ or settlement would either "destroy" or at least somewhat tame Fox News.

As for the latter... Will it prevent them from lying about elections, or will they just have to avoid implicating corporations?

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 hour ago, Mindwalker said:

I think a lot of liberal outlets/ influencers have peddled the idea that this trial and/ or settlement would either "destroy" or at least somewhat tame Fox News.

As for the latter... Will it prevent them from lying about elections, or will they just have to avoid implicating corporations?

This last part.  These defamation suits aren't cheap to prosecute, as long as they aren't actively defaming a party with a lot of resources they'll probably be fine.  

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

2 minutes ago, Larry of the Lake said:

This last part.  These defamation suits aren't cheap to prosecute, as long as they aren't actively defaming a party with a lot of resources they'll probably be fine.  

Did you see that Dan Bongino was let go by Fox and their are rumors of a few more mouth breathers being kicked to the curb…

[A Horse Named Stranger]

So what, their Prime Time Assholes (pun intended) are still there. 

Short term nothing will fundamentally change at Faux. Question is what happens, when we can polish our grave dance shoes for Rupert. Once it's settled which of his children will call the shots there, we might see a clean up.

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

So what, their Prime Time Assholes (pun intended) are still there. 

Short term nothing will fundamentally change at Faux. Question is what happens, when we can polish our grave dance shoes for Rupert. Once it's settled which of his children will call the shots there, we might see a clean up.

 

A fired Dan Bongino is better than a working Dan Bongino.  

[Larry of the Lawn]

4 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Did you see that Dan Bongino was let go by Fox and their are rumors of a few more mouth breathers being kicked to the curb…

That's good I suppose, although I'm not sure who that is and guessing the replacements will also be horrible.  IMO the banal idiots at Fox like the morning show tanned plastic dudes are as much of a threat as Tucker Carlson- sure one is more in your face and saying bombastic shit, but the others are sitting there quietly peddling hate, fear, and sensationalism with smiles and some aww-shucks-im-just-your-average-idiot-schtick over coffee. 

[Zorral]

14 hours ago, DanteGabriel said:

It's not just about computers though. Republicans have constructed an entire reality around magical thinking: with the economy, guns, reproductive rights, even elections themselves. Along with many other -ists, hey are the anti-empiricist party.

Indeed -- Another of these roaring Big Guy neoliberal-fascist monumental fantasy Triumph of the Will-- ten monumental freedom cities built from nothing in nowhere has been boggling me unduly all morning.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/04/21/trump-agenda-policies-2024/

Quote

 

.... ‘Freedom Cities’

The new cities proposal consists of a national contest to charter up to 10 D.C.-sized metropolises on undeveloped federal land. Administration officials discussed the concept toward the end of Trump’s term, but he did not campaign on it in 2020. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner pushed the idea in White House meetings after it was initially brought up by Haley and another speechwriter on Miller’s team, Ross Worthington, who is also now on the 2024 campaign, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

Trump has discussed the new “Freedom Cities” in utopian terms, with flying cars, manufacturing hubs and opportunities for homeownership, promising a “quantum leap in the American standard of living.” The campaign has provided few details on how the plan would work in practice.

Trump acknowledged that the idea needed more work over a Sunday dinner in mid-March, according to economic adviser Stephen Moore. “He said, ‘I’m still trying to figure out how it’s going to work,’ something like that,’” Moore recalled in an interview. “He said, ‘How do you think we should make that work?’ And I’m going to help him with the idea.”

Moore said the cities could be designed in part by offering tax incentives and creating a “super police force that keeps the place safe,” reflecting GOP allegations that Democratic-run cities are awash with crime. It’s not clear how that will prove more attractive than similar measures already enacted by GOP governors. Even some of Trump’s allies have been skeptical of the plan.

“I hate this thing,” one outside economic adviser to Trump said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations with campaign officials. “The economic problems facing the nations are so severe, and we’re going to talk make-believe about ‘building new cities’?”

Experts stress that cities have historically grown around natural centers of economic activity rather than state edict. “You can’t just wave a wand and have cities come into being,” said Rick McGahey, an economist at the New School who specializes in urban growth. “This is not where cities come from. The concept does not work.”

Some observers say the idea more closely resembles libertarian fantasies, such as that produced by a think tank funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, of new private communities run on cryptocurrency. Others found it reminiscent of projects to build centrally controlled cities from scratch in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Trump has routinely praised and defended authoritarian foreign leaders such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Some Trump allies give him credit for what they see as a bold new idea. One campaign adviser compared the proposal’s ambition to the “Opportunity Zones” economic incentives in Trump’s 2017 tax legislation, scaled up to emulate historic Republican achievements such as Abraham Lincoln’s Homestead Act and Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System.

“There is this broad recognition that we don’t build enough things in America and that, you know, obviously, we have great American cities, but we haven’t really built a new model city,” said Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who has endorsed Trump’s presidential bid. “There are a lot of other countries that are trying different approaches out, and I think it’s fine for us to think about doing that here, too.”

Trump has specified that he wants to define architectural standards in existing cities as well, insisting on classical-style buildings, monuments to “true American heroes,” and schools and streets named “not after communists but patriots.” He has also proposed forcibly removing homeless people to outlying tent cities, wading into an area usually left to local governments and relying on unclear federal authority.

“Violators of these bans will be arrested, but they will be given the option to accept treatment and services if they are willing to be rehabilitated,” Trump said in a recent campaign video.

 

 

[Wilbur]

3 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Indeed -- Another of these roaring Big Guy neoliberal-fascist monumental fantasy Triumph of the Will-- ten monumental freedom cities built from nothing in nowhere has been boggling me unduly all morning.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/04/21/trump-agenda-policies-2024/

 

For a guy who seems to be really down on the Chinese, he certainly seems to want to replicate their ghost cities.  I am sure that Wyoming will finally break the million-person population barrier shortly with this plan.

34 Pictures Inside The Startlingly Empty Ghost Cities Of China (allthatsinteresting.com)

[Zorral]

 

1 minute ago, Wilbur said:

Chinese, he certainly seems to want to replicate their ghost cities.

More like what Saudi and the Emirates have done, one might think, considering how closely tied the are with Jaret, etc. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, Larry of the Lake said:

That's good I suppose, although I'm not sure who that is and guessing the replacements will also be horrible.  IMO the banal idiots at Fox like the morning show tanned plastic dudes are as much of a threat as Tucker Carlson- sure one is more in your face and saying bombastic shit, but the others are sitting there quietly peddling hate, fear, and sensationalism with smiles and some aww-shucks-im-just-your-average-idiot-schtick over coffee. 

Agreed.  I’m still glad Bongino is gone.

[Tywin et al.]

On 4/19/2023 at 12:55 PM, A Horse Named Stranger said:

But according to Kari Lake he has BDE...

Personally, I am not sure I would say that about somebody who is losing in a dick waving contest with Mickey Mouse. But then again, I am not American, what do I know....

Do not fuck with the Mouse:

 

[Varysblackfyre321]

I remember a few years ago how Shapiro mocked the idea that anyone would have a problem with a 24 year old transitioning.

The transphobia will not stop until every trans person is dead or too miserable/scared to come out the closest.

[ThinkerX]

5 hours ago, Wilbur said:

For a guy who seems to be really down on the Chinese, he certainly seems to want to replicate their ghost cities.  I am sure that Wyoming will finally break the million-person population barrier shortly with this plan.

34 Pictures Inside The Startlingly Empty Ghost Cities Of China (allthatsinteresting.com)

Read between the lines. Federally created cities in areas where cities would not normally be constructed, built at the whim of an authoritarian with a long, long list of enemies. Instead of 'cities,' think 'internment camps' or 'gulag archipelago.' 

[Martell Spy]

Quote

 remember a few years ago how Shapiro mocked the idea that anyone would have a problem with a 24 year old transitioning.

This is really laughable in the overcompensation much like Don Trump Jr. I think the point is while the authorities are carefully measuring if a man's baggy pants count officially as a skirt and thus illegal the hope is no one will notice what a pathetic specimen of a male Shapiro is. Did that hair come off a Lego guy?

[Zorral]

SCOTUS stays abortion pill injunction.  Alito and Thomas dissent, of course They did.