The August 2019 US Politics Thread is dumb (stupid}

nothing about this is august

bump

good morning!

It would be some good work by ilx if there ever is a band called Good Mourning & The Tax Returns

with Bimble as lead guitarist

what's great about the "Trump as isolationist, dems sound like Trump" takes is they ignore Trump has increased troop levels in Afghanistan and troop levels remain static in Syria despite his tantrums every few months about withdrawals. Withdrawals that mysteriously never come. pic.twitter.com/co0VsUgAfc

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) August 1, 2019

Trump's all for bringing them back...in body bags.

.@SpeakerPelosi doesn’t respond to repeated questions about a majority of her caucus supporting impeachment, telling reporters she’ll have a statement later today.

— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) August 1, 2019

Pelosi did get a nice burn in today calling Jared a slumlord.

disgraceful antisemitism from pelosi, smdh at the tropes

gotta admire the rigor of the survey design from Team Trump:

Would you say you have an unfavorable or favorable view of socialism?
Unfavorable
Favorable

Which type of country would you prefer the United States be?
A thriving Capitalist country
A radical Socialist country

Who do you think has a better vision for America’s future?
President Donald Trump
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Who do you plan to vote for in 2020?
President Donald Trump
A socialist Democrat

Do you think that the federal government should be LESS involved in our healthcare system?
Yes
No

Do you have a problem with American taxpayer dollars being used to give illegal aliens FREE healthcare?
Yes
No

Do you agree with President Trump that Democrats have become the party of OPEN BORDERS?
Yes
No

Would you be upset if YOUR taxes were raised in order to pay for more welfare programs for illegal immigrants?
Yes
No

Would you be upset if YOUR taxes being raised in order to pay for socialist programs like the $92 TRILLION Green New Deal?
Yes
No

pretty easy to answer those

there is no FREE healthcare for immigrants ! unless they mean getting treatment at an emergency room ? that is not fucking healthcare

Which would you prefer to find on the sidewalk?

[ ] $100 bill beautifully signed by President Donald J. Trump
[ ] a dead rat signed by the failed and very racist Elijah Cummings

I hope Kamala Harris moves off her line about her campaign being about "3:00 a.m. issues" (i.e., the things that keep you up at night). Unhelpful reminder of Hillary Clinton's silly 3:00-a.m.-call ad from 2008.

GOP benefits from recasting a complex world into a dumbfuck binary simplistic enough for an enfeebled mule to comprehend, news at 11

as it happens, our president is already up at 3am and tweeting like a drunk college pledge

At his rally, Trump says "we will be ending the AIDS epidemic shortly in America, and curing childhood cancer very shortly"

— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) August 2, 2019

🙃

Too bad Trump is a germaphobe, he could really make a killing laying hands on his base and pronouncing them cured of all bodily ills

trump personally curing childhood cancer is the sole way he could get on my good side tbh

I have made the decision to not seek reelection for the 23rd Congressional District of Texas in order to pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security. https://t.co/GeZ4Hh264f

— Rep. Will Hurd (@HurdOnTheHill) August 2, 2019

Third Texas Republican Congressman to retire. Also the only serving Black Republican Congressman. Also only partially into Trump.

He’s in one of the most contested swing districts in the country. He held on by a slim margin to Gina Ortiz jones who I think is running again. It’s hers to lose now.

Gina Ortiz Jones is running again. I know because I gave her $200 last time and she called me and told me she was running again about a month ago and can she have another $200. It is insane to me that talking to idiots like me is the main time-sink of even elected reps.

Huge deal and consistent with rumblings that while Texas EVs are probably still not in play the state legislature might be (big deal for eg abortion rights). And tx23 is one of the few remaining plausibly flippable congressional seats in the country.

Also look at these fucken idiots. They’ll probably end up working as internal lobbyists for the same tech company

https://youtu.be/UtBZSn-Be1w

this seems cool and good and will definitely only be used for entirely legal and legitimate purposes

The US military is conducting wide area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveal.

Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois.

Travelling in the stratosphere at altitudes of up to 65,000ft, the balloons are intended to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”, according to a filing made on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, an aerospace and defence company.

The balloons are carrying high tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather. The tests, which have not previously been reported, received an FCC license to operate from mid-July until September, following similar flights licensed last year.

Arthur Holland Michel, the co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in New York, said, “What this new technology proposes is to watch everything at once. Sometimes it’s referred to as ‘combat TiVo’ because when an event happens somewhere in the surveilled area, you can potentially rewind the tape to see exactly what occurred, and rewind even further to see who was involved and where they came from.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/02/pentagon-balloons-surveillance-midwest

morning!

Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019

lol

yeah i didn't laugh when i saw that

what the fuck

Again, how do you engage with the world in this fashion for 70+ years without someone eventually putting you in the hospital.

Hire only the best security

how dare you be so callous towards the man singlehandedly curing childhood cancer

he's probably not even gonna do it now, because you're all so unfair to him

If Trump found a cure for cancer today he'd just tease us with it until after the election

cure for cancer is KFC and libtears, you're welcome

I'm going to have a surveillance balloon probably drifting over and maybe crashing into my house, awesome

Pink Floyd in town?

So Ratcliffe got Harriet Miers-ized

Too bad!

DonaldJTrumpJr appears to no longer follow @QueefTornado. (This bot cannot tell if this was an unfollow, suspension or block.)

— Trump Alert (@TrumpsAlert) August 2, 2019

It seems that the follower has become the master.

Huckabee writing jokes for the pres now?

A$AP Rocky released from prison and on his way home to the United States from Sweden. It was a Rocky Week, get home ASAP A$AP!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2019

It's either Huckabee or Gene Shalit

this is honestly a great tactic

Sending our condolences to the President! 🤣 https://t.co/ZMHGbkqJwa

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) August 2, 2019

Question, inspired by the current tariff wars with China: I remember a few years ago hearing a lot about how China owned billions of dollars worth of our debt, and all they had to do if they wanted to basically fist-fuck us to death was call in those chips. Is that no longer the case? What ever happened with that?

Post QE, its clear the Fed would prop up the bond market.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/connecticut-man-who-calls-himself-hitler-reincarnated-charged-with-threats-to-murder-entire-daycare-center/

*clicks link*
*feels bad about thinking "well that's kinda what i expected him to look like"*

if Rocky (or at least someone in the asap crew... ferg probably?) doesn't write a verse telling trump to fuck off and mind his own business i dunno
anyways rip nipsey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkZ5e94QnWk

If I'm understanding correctly, Sweden doesn't have a cash bail system and they release most people that aren't deemed dangerous until their court date

At least Joseph Goebbels spared us his children. https://t.co/a9jHVXHtIu

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) August 3, 2019

how droll

this piece of shit fell down

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/04/politics/mitch-mcconnell-shoulder-fracture-kentucky-home/index.html

who knew he had a skeleton

thoughts and prayers

the nation mourns

He should try again and keep trying until he manages to cave in that gelatinous noggin.

mitch’s outside patio is antifa

(hats off too to mcconnell’s comms director for the moronic ‘outdoor patio’ like he’s trying to distinguish it from those famous indoor patios we all own, use and enjoy)

your covered verandahs and whatnot

Aaron Sorkin is a disease. https://t.co/s2Vgh4fKeh

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) August 4, 2019

totally agree. always good to find common ground.

Every remotely swing-district GOP House member in Texas is resigning, indicating they think they face an brutally unfavorable state electorate in 2020, and O'Rourke still won't chuck his Presidential campaign and declare against Cornyn.

I'm not sold on the idea that Beto is the sole Democrat who could possibly fare well in that race. Why not support one of the candidates who are running?

The people who have declared so far are all fairly lame. Chris Bell is a charisma-vacuum, the vet is trying too hard to suck up the Republicans, and the Houston city councilwoman is...a Houston city councilwoman.

Cornyn was tweeting in June about Hispanics invading Texas.

"suck up to"

Beto's already done an unreal amount of ground work for a Texas Senate race, my opinion of him plummeted when he declared for president. Get the fuck over yourself, Beto. Just run against Cornyn already. I assume he like every other Dem presidential hopeful has access to internal polling that shows whoever the Dem candidate for president is has a total lock on winning the race, which is why all these sub-Beeblebrox egomaniac jags insist on crowding the field.

I'm not sold on the idea that Beto is the sole Democrat who could possibly fare well in that race. Why not support one of the candidates who are running?

He’s not the sole candidate, but he has goodwill & name recognition rn that will play better if he drops out IN ORDER TO REPRESENT HIS STATE, than if he takes another swing as a twice-failed candidate later

Wrapping up an out-of-sight weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., President Donald Trump said Sunday that “perhaps” more needs to be done with respect to gun control. “Hate has no place in our country and we’re going to take care of it,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One to return to Washington, D.C.

Trump said he will make a statement Monday on the two mass shootings over the weekend and what can be done in response.

Trump said he has also spoken with Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray about the mass violence. He said his statement will be at around 10 a.m. on Monday.

Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying....

Tweet was going down an interesting path until the follow up

....this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!

"Let us be more racist and we might (won't) tighten gun laws a bit"

But we all knew whose fault it would really be

News coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased, or these terrible problems will only get worse!

Meant as a threat obv

I couldn't decide whether his 'solution' was gonna entail increased persecution of non-whites or like declaring Antifa a terrorist organization. Whichever way it went, I knew it would be incoherent and unhelpful, so bravo.

The only way to stop this needless gun violence is more tariffs on China.

i was about the post the same thing; I had one brief moment of hope this morning seeing "trump pushing for background checks" and then i saw this shit.

my assumption now is "I'll sign background checks if you give me a wall"

hey fucker why not sign the background check bill Mitch won't allow through Senate, and why don't you accept the immigration plans congress has broght you multiple times?

not sure if Trump's "maybe the mass murderer had a point" strategy is gonna play well here

there are good people on both sides of this AK-47

perfect

Trump says those lost in Toledo will not have died in vain but it was actually Dayton

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 5, 2019

Holy Toledo!

Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying....

who doesn't love a wedding?

Former FBI agent: “There’s some reluctance among agents to bring forth an investigation that targets what the president perceives as his base. It’s a no-win situation for the FBI agent or supervisor.” https://t.co/p5oX0LJbKF

— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 5, 2019

um excuse me but I think you'll find the FBI is stuffed with angry Trump-hating Democrats

not least the sinisiter LOVERS

beginning to look like James Comey might actually be stupider than Trump

Mr. Hamburglar, please take a stand against stealing hamburgers. pic.twitter.com/C5hhZKNl4K

— Scott Conroy (@ScottFConroy) August 5, 2019

China confirms it is suspending agricultural product purchases in response to Trump's new tariffs

https://fm-static.cnbc.com/awsmedia/chart/2019/7/5/image%20(5).1565046032353.png

markets are taking this totally normal little trade war well

indeed

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EBT-y3aUwAAJ_eo.jpg:small

osama_thumbsup.jpg

How is this all playing with the alt-right gaming chuds?

If Trump or another republican politician says something they don't like, they just doublethink the blame onto "the media" that reported it.

I posted this in the AOC thread as well, but this is a pretty amazing clip. She burns through more in two minutes than MSNBC can in a whole evening of panel discussions.

‘I don’t want to hear the question ‘is this president racist?’ anymore. He is.’ — @AOC held nothing back while condemning Trump for using the language of white supremacy pic.twitter.com/3rWCkdYq6n

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 6, 2019

These are rich people who maxed out donations to our racist, asshole president, I know your schtick is to rush to defend power but scumbag multimillionaires are the backbone of the GOP (not just “famous billionaires”) naming & shaming those who need good PR is the least we can do https://t.co/PVr8cA7Tp4

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) August 6, 2019

It's public information, the pushback on Castro is ridiculous.

good morning!

you know it's serious when Joy Fucking Reid is shaming Maggie Haberman:

What am I missing? This is public information via the FEC. Also, the NYT has done these stories disclosing donors to presidential candidates, like this one: https://t.co/bCbA3kfaCr

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) August 7, 2019

that aoc clip is powerful, holy shit

I feel like the pushback against NYT and the rest of the media has been more intense this time around. From O'Rourke just going 'Members of the press: What the fuck?' to the backlash to the NYT Unity headline to this. Might be people think the rules of political discourse are changing when shooters are literally using Trumps rhetoric in manifestoes before mass murder, but a lot of the media wants business to go on as usual.

NYT definitely seemed to get a lot of heat from that headline

The tweets from politicians in the story from The Guardian were pretty good: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/aug/06/new-york-times-front-page-headline-changed It's a mix of the headline just being wrong, and being indefensible, and being cowardly.

AOC: Love Bigger 2020

NYT cowardly “centrist” nonsense shockah

I know we've discussed this already but it's especially irritating how the primary knock on AOC from the right is that she's an airhead or has no idea what she's talking about; practically every old dumb blonde joke has been re-appropriated to be about AOC on Facebook boomer pages. Then again literally all these people do is project so I guess it makes sense

bravo to Castro. It's about time Dems play dirty, and I use the term loosely because this is legal.

This is... fun? Is fun the word?

https://splinternews.com/heres-how-to-find-out-who-donated-thousands-to-trump-in-1837027340

Re: centrist media, I've been very pleasantly surprised at how Esquire has been calling out Trump. For a magazine that highlights $3K sweaters and $10K watches, they could have avoided alienating their rich right-wing readers.

lots of rich ppl think trump is an embarrassment iirc

This is... fun? Is fun the word?

kinda nice, now I know of a few local businesses I'll never shop at again

yeah but just cuz bad manners xp

Only nine people in my town of over 130,000 have ever donated to Trump.

404 error. either lots of people are looking this stuff up or it's TEH DEEP STAET

it should work if you search by committee rather than candidate.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/aug/07/tucker-carlson-white-supremacy-fox-news-hoax

“If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns, problems this country has, where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia probably. It’s actually not a real problem in America,” Carlson told his audience on Tuesday night.

Claiming that white supremacy issue was being used by Democrats as a political tool, Carlson continued: “This is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.”

Carlson also claimed all the white supremacists in America could fit inside a football stadium before repeating his belief that white supremacy in the US is a non-existent problem. He went on to insist that he’s “never met anybody – not one person – who ascribes to white supremacy”.

makes you think!

I often have trouble estimating the 'disingenuous/dumbfuck' ratio with people like this. Certainly hefty portions of both.

Carlson also claimed all the white supremacists in America could fit inside a football stadium

typically college and pro football stadiums hold like 50K+ people, up to 80 or 100K right?

uh

I think it's safe to assume the former in Carlson's case but it's a mixture of both when it comes to his audience.

xp

'White supremacy is a hoax,' says prominent steward of white supremacy.

I don't know if it's still possible (or if it ever was, really) to persuasively disentangle Fox News from Infowars.

'White supremacy is a hoax,' says prominent steward of white supremacy.

cf: "there's no such thing as the mafia"

carlson doesn't believe that white supremacy is a problem in america cause he believes it's the solution

I propose putting all the white supremacists in a football stadium, playing the national anthem on a loop, locking the doors, and forcing them to stand until they fall down

where would white supremacy be on the list?

way way wayyyyyyy below Antifa amirite Tucky

If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns, problems this country has....a manifesto if you will...

shorter fucker carlson: the problem is definitely not white supremacy. the problem is all of these non-white people that we don't want in our country because we don't think they're as good as true americans, you know, the "all-american" kind of people, most often white

What a graphic. Wowsers. (And the grey box that is Wyoming is extraordinary.) https://t.co/Su0TllURBx

— Andrew Wilson (@AJWTheology) August 7, 2019

WV - where even the non-gun-owning people are cool with the NRA

all 10 of them

Just like the way they categorize what a racist is, they're only willing to see the caricatures of the group as the problem. Not to throw around fallacy names, but it's kind of a no true scotsman thing. If he insists that liberals are saying we have a white supremacist problem, but to him a white supremacist is defined narrowly as literally a skinhead with a swastika tattoo on their forehead, then yeah that's one way to misrepresent the argument. Same way racism is narrowly defined as separate water fountains and the KKK.

It's easier to justify pernicious behavior when you pretend that its strictest definition is saddled with a bunch of bogus modifiers that let you off the hook.

well, yeah...look at how much they bristled at the concentration camp label

If you were to lock all the white supremacists in a stadium would they bond or turn on each other?
Would hope for a permanent elimination competition.

very fine supremacists on both sides

“I am concerned about the rise of any group of hate,” President Trump tells reporters, adding that is “whether it’s white supremacy, or any other kind of supremacy.”

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 7, 2019

demonstrably concerned about the taco supreme

I don’t care if you’re white, Black, purple, taco, Bourne,

We should all be concerned with the possibility that another group might usurp the millennia-long stranglehold people of west European descent have had on this hemisphere whose every system has been gamed to perpetuate said stranglehold indefinitely. We must remain vigilant etc.

If you were to lock all the white supremacists in a stadium would they bond or turn on each other?

They've been bonding at Trump rallies for years, so...

OTOH people whose existence is so heavily defined by an other they can demonize are almost certain to turn on each other once they realize what's suddenly missing from their football field-bound lives.

Who do you blame for your fundamental uselessness when there are no minorities to scapegoat?

(A koan for our times.)

remember how 2 years ago Trump both sides'd the Charlottesville Nazi rally and it was a big deal

2017 was wild!

Carlson also claimed all the white supremacists in America could fit inside a football stadium

they could call it the Republican National Convention

Trying to think of another organization besides the '64-and-beyond GOP that pushes its tacit white supremacist mandate as close to the brink of explicitness without formally codifying it as such. Coming up short.

maybe the National Party in South Africa, up to 1994? although I'm not sure if apartheid was formally codified by the party or if it was more like Jim Crow (which was formally codified in some areas, of course)

no stats on how many stadiums they'd fill but

Tucker Carlson said last night that white supremacy isn't a "real problem" in the United States. This is almost too ridiculous to fact check, but here are a few numbers from me on the extent of the problem: pic.twitter.com/XFPY3BguD9

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 7, 2019

Seal of the GOP should be an old white dude looking aghast and butthurt with 'WHO, ME?' underneath.

can i get a fact check on how effective it has been to fact check obvious racists

it is 100% effective %0 of the time

I think he thinks it impresses people. I just find it a bit anally retentive and a good reason to ignore the guy

Tucker Carlson said last night that white supremacy isn't a "real problem" in the United States.

It doesn't trouble him, therefore it is not a problem.

'How could I fault an ideology which allows me, who in a just universe would be consigned to ashtray cleaning detail at a car wash, to vomit every worthless opinion I have to millions of people on national tv?'

Watching Sleepy Joe Biden making a speech. Sooo Boring! The LameStream Media will die in the ratings and clicks with this guy. It will be over for them, not to mention the fact that our Country will do poorly with him. It will be one big crash, but at least China will be happy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2019

he tweets between visiting with the victims two separate mass shootings

that said he's actually right here, the media knows Trump is good for business and that's why they run so much cover for him

his tweets are basically the presidential Warhol Diaries

(sorry Andy)

Everything is fine
https://abc7ny.com/man-slams-13-year-old-to-ground-during-national-anthem-police/5449398/

This is not Brockway’s first run in with police. MTN News obtained court documents from a 2010 incident where he plead guilty to an assault with a weapon charge.
In that 2010 incident, Brockway pulled up to a parked vehicle, got out and pulled a gun on a family and stated he was going to kill them.
Brockway's friend persuaded him to put away his weapon and leave.
He was sentenced to 10 years with the Montana Department of Corrections, all of which were suspended.

Basically American Taliban.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EBZG8veW4AY7gN2?format=jpg&name=small

reminder that Trump literally does not care about dead people and sees every single visit as an opportunity for people to show him how much they like him

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EBZQI1BVAAEt1PC.jpg

why is no one screaming at him to go away

Dumb post, I guess I wouldn’t cause a scene if he for some reason visited my place of work

I think he thinks it impresses people. I just find it a bit anally retentive and a good reason to ignore the guy

― Stevolende, Thursday, August 8, 2019 5:01 AM (one hour ago)

Beat reporters who are assigned to cover city council meetings just file reports to impress people. I find it anally retentive to report on conspiracies to overturn votes on levies, and if reports cover the mayor's actions after receipt of bribes, that is a good reason to ignore the reporter.

would you stand for the picture and smile? those fucking people around him... xpost

rich doctors are usually chuds

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/08/06/politics/trump-campaign-el-paso-debt/

According to invoice documents obtained by CNN, the city of El Paso initially billed the Trump campaign $470,417.05 in reimbursement costs for the event. But in a letter dated March 27, 2019, the Office of the Comptroller of the City of El Paso wrote to the campaign that, if it did not pay its debt within 30 days, a one-time 21% collection fee -- nearly $100,000 -- would be added. The total invoice with the late fees now stands at $569,204.63.

Dumb post, I guess I wouldn’t cause a scene if he for some reason visited my place of work

one time I bumped into John Howard outside a lift at work, and elected to take the stairs rather than scream at him for going into a fake war as a lickspittle, and for opening concentration camps to imprison refugees about whom he had lied that they murdered their own children, in order to win an election he was tanking

however, this was a public service job at an institution he was already trying to eradicate, and there were no cameras.

I think he reached the bar

Let's hope that Trump is so boorish and uncouth today in Dayton and El Paso that he puts an end once-and-for all to this sick tradition of Presidents visiting the scenes of selected atrocities--they never go to the sites of slaughter that they actually have culpability for.

— Jeffrey St. Clair (@JSCCounterPunch) August 7, 2019

Tucker Carlson Insists Every White Supremacist In America Could Fit In Stadium But That Tickets To TuckerCon Won’t Last https://t.co/mGwgJpOeRU pic.twitter.com/uepMRRyIab

— The Onion (@TheOnion) August 7, 2019

I hope the people can stay angry for a long time about this

Children of those arrested in Wednesday’s #ICE raids near Forest, MS. are being put up in a local gym tonight by neighbors/strangers. Many are left scared & crying after coming home from school & being locked out without their parents. Donated food & drinks are being provided. pic.twitter.com/d2juMdK1Vj

— Alex Love (@AlexLoveWJTV) August 8, 2019

I’ve written and erased several posts re: that story that the mods would have probably had to delete.

sounds awful

xpost I do a lot of that these days. I'm inching ever nearer to making explicit calls for [REDACTED] but I've retained my better judgment this far.

prob best to save it for a signal text

This country has no need for an ethnic cleansing agency, you could just say that. We all agree.

We all agree.

If, by 'we' you indicate ilxors, then yes. If you meant to indicate all Americans, then there seems to be a substantial body within the public who would enthusiastically embrace a bit of the old ethnic cleansing, if it is hidden behind some sort of fig leaf of rationalization.

here's a fun fb comment from someone I've known since we were just little kids. conservatism does a fucking number on people's brains

Let's say libs are right and gun laws protect us from each other for the most part. let's say they "work" (still isnt going to stop people from illegally obtaining a gun), but ultimately if we need to use our guns to rise up against a corrupt govt... say they decided white people all had to die (not too far-fetched these days, eeeh?), but they slowly took our guns... first only the so called assault weapons... then on down to less threatening guns... then our speech gets censored...
I mean, it didn't happen fast in ww2. It was a slow build. So slow nobody realized they were in danger. They took away jews rights, first things like enforcing a curfew, then they made it illegal to purchase from their businesses, separated them by forcing them to wear the mogen David, took away their radios, relocated them with whatever they could carry into ghettos where they were fenced off from the world and cramped and living in horrible conditions, starved them, slowly lowering the amount of food they would get, eventually they were shipped off to death camps. People heard rumors... but how can you believe something so horrible. Also what can you do when you are nearly starved to death, swollen with hunger and have no weapons?
I'm not for giving more control away, because I don't want to see a slow erosion of our rights. I do not trust government.

I saw a quote that read: "how many people have to die before you will give up your guns"

"the answer is all of us"

say they decided white people all had to die (not too far-fetched these days, eeeh?), but they slowly took our guns... first only the so called assault weapons... then on down to less threatening guns... then our speech gets censored...

what if "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist."

only in the complete opposite direction

cool creepy ending too!

very fine supremacists on both sides

“I am concerned about the rise of any group of hate,” President Trump tells reporters, adding that is “whether it’s white supremacy, or any other kind of supremacy.”
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 7, 2019

She left out the best bit, he then goes on to say "whether it’s antifa, whether it’s any group " and kind of trails off.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, RUGFACE.

so basically the only time people like frogbs' fb friend would be willing to take up arms against the government is if the government tried to take their arms

v cool ethical ouroboros mindset

I do not trust government

I trust gun-owners much less.

Amnesty International today issued a travel warning calling for travelers and visitors to the United States to exercise extreme caution due to rampant gun violence, which has become so prevalent in the US that it amounts to a human rights crisis. https://t.co/bsVsiBOO5K pic.twitter.com/CVWEyVzR3c

— Amnesty International (@amnestyusa) August 7, 2019

amnesty international otm tbh

tfw when 'laws' are more important than child welfare

ICE rounds up hundreds of undocumented workers in immigration sweeps in Mississippi

U.S. immigration authorities on Wednesday rounded up hundreds of undocumented workers in food processing plants during a sprawling operation in Mississippi that officials touted as the largest immigration enforcement sweep in a single state in U.S. history.

By targeting workplaces across six different cities in southern Mississippi, Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents, with the help of the local district attorney's office, apprehended approximately 680 undocumented immigrants.

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Mike Hurst said the large-scale raids collectively represented "the largest single state immigration enforcement operation in our nation's history."

"While we are a nation of immigrants, more than that, we are first and foremost a nation of laws," he told reporters at the press conference, where he was flanked by Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence.

Asked about what would happen to workers who have children in the U.S., Albence reiterated the administration's standard guidance that arrests in the criminal justice system lead to family separations. He said affected children would be placed with other family members and in some instances, some parents could be released with ankle bracelets.

In Forest, Mississippi, gym owner Jordan Barnes and other community leaders were taking donations to put some of the children up for the night in his Clear Creek Boot Camp and get them to school Thursday morning, reports CBS Jackson, Mississippi affiliate WJTV.

The station says many children of those arrested across the state were left with nowhere to go. Children, some as young as toddlers, were relying on neighbors and even strangers to pick them up and drive them to the gym, where people tried to keep them calm. But many of them couldn't stop crying for their parents, WJTV said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-raids-in-mississippi-officials-tout-largest-single-state-immigration-sweeps-in-us-history-today-2019-08-07/

good morning!

what is frogbs' FB friend waiting for? Trump and ICE would seem to be exactly what he's talking about!

it's only government tyranny when it's imposed on white people iirc

They'll put the guns away when there's no-one left to shoot.

so 680 people were rounded up and separated from their families—not at the Mexican border—and we are evidently inured enough to this that it doesn't merit a single mention on NYT home page

this is trending in a completely fucked direction

seems like they have cleared the first hurdle of outrage

well, yeah

what is frogbs' FB friend waiting for? Trump and ICE would seem to be exactly what he's talking about!

hah I brought that up and she got all mad about THE LAAAWWWWWSSSS

maybe remind your friend that illegally crossing the us border is a misdemeanour

TBF the common punishment for most misdemeanors in the US is being forcibly separated from your young children.

[RE-MOTHERFUCKING-DACTED]

All the assholes who need their guns just in case the government gets out of hand and taking away liberties etc YOUR TIME IS NOW, MOTHERFUCKERS

Worth a read.

TBF the common punishment for most misdemeanors in the US is being forcibly separated from your young children.

yeah so this is usually when she goes off about A) We have no way to tell if they're actually families!! 70% of them are actually human traffickers! (source: http://patriotnews.info) and B) If I do crimes and go to jail they take my kids away too!

it's almost like she's not arguing in good faith or something

I know it's as common as a cold, but I will never understand how people's basic humanity can slip away to such an extent that they can't at least empathize with the trauma of parents and children being separated from one another.

as for actual citizens being "accidentally" detained it really does seem this admin is now a stone's throw from giving up the pretense of error and just owning it as policy

yeah you might have proof to the contrary, you might have the law on your side (lol) but sorry you're brown a suspect until a single overwhelmed public defender can navigate you and a hundred others out of here

srsly what is going to prevent this from happening

easy to do when you don't think of people who don't share your skin tone as human and your attitude is reinforced by media which regularly refers to those people in deliberately dehumanising terms xp

And yet how many of these people would still shed a tear or two while watching a sad video about neglected puppies.

well, there aren't caravans of puppies swarming over the border, bringing disease, rape gangs and terrorists with them

I know it's as common as a cold, but I will never understand how people's basic humanity can slip away to such an extent that they can't at least empathize with the trauma of parents and children being separated from one another.

It's an extension of that self-shielding mechanism whereby you look away when walking by a slowly expiring hobo downtown. Focus on that sensation and intensify it infinity-fold – voilà, you're a neocon now.

she's on one today already

Hate whitey. Love diversity.
White man bad. White man evil.
Everyone else can do no wrong.
Fear white man. White = racist.
THERE ARE BAD AND GOOD PEOPLE OF EACH AND EVERY SKIN TONE. I'M NOT SORRY FOR MY SKIN COLOR. IM PROUD OF IT. IF YOU THINK THAT MAKES ME EVIL, YOU NEED SOME MENTAL HELP. STOP EATING WHAT THE MEDIA FEEDS YOU.

Sounds a little paranoid

STOP EATING WHAT THE MEDIA FEEDS YOU, THAT IS MY JOB.

why the fuck are you friends with this person

Habit's a helluva drug. Also the fear of dying alone.

It's like reading a screed on independent thought comprised entirely of pullquotes. So many brains out there that just don't work.

White man bad. White man evil.

to be fair, this IS the face tattoo that House democrats have pledged to require every American to get starting in 2020

if only the house dems were committed to anything approaching that kind of radical action

in other crushingly awful immigration policy news

OMG. I don’t care which side of political debate you’re on, this is just horrible.

Video of Jimmy Al Daoud , lived in US since was 6 months old, then got deported by ICE to Iraq in June.

Diabetic, homeless, didn’t know language. He died... pic.twitter.com/djKTXFbp48

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) August 8, 2019

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/07/iraqi-man-dies-deportation-trump-administration-1643512

I should straight up ask her if she would've supported this guy getting a gun and shooting ICE agents but I really don't wanna engage right now

I'M NOT SORRY FOR MY SKIN COLOR. IM PROUD OF IT.

This is like being proud you have a gall bladder.

I'M NOT SORRY FOR MY SKIN COLOR. IM PROUD OF IT.

This is so funny to me. "I'm proud of my blue eyes! I worked hard on that shit!"

xp

I think a big reason why some of them cling to "but what about the laws??? I have empathy but these ppl broke the law!!!" to such a degree that it seems robotic is because they're trying like hell to not allow their empathy/humanity to enter into the equation and chip away at their racism/xenophobia

so there's a pic of Trump "consoling" a young girl in Dayton hospital. she couldn't have been one of the shooting victims. ???

"i just want everyone to follow the law!" is my mom's defense as well (my dad has none; he's just silent). it's not allowing empathy in, but also the fact that if they're wrong on this now, it also means they've been wrong about it for the entirety of their lives. vocally wrong. i think that possibility is just too much for some people to deal with, they won't even consider it. (i think about this in re: climate deniers, too)

xp

she could have been closely related to one of them?

she's a patient herself tho

not only would they have to admit to being wrong for year, but, even worse, libtards were right

"who is writing the law" is the obvious rejoinder but i understand that banging one's head against a wall delivers diminishing returns

they're stuck at Kohlberg stage 4

White man bad. White man evil.

I love it when Ludacris gets political

omg

So I get why the right is obsessed with antifa, but can anyone tell me if they’ve done anything actually newsworthy in the last year or so or is this just Fox News keeping the irons hot for viewership?

probably got up to some shit in Portland

also antifa isn't really a 'they'

why, do ey prefer spivak pronouns

i'm just confused by a text i got about how they should be labelled a terrorist organization. but knowing the sender, it's probably a dumb (stupid) question

antifa isn't an organization

There was the thing where total dipshit “journalist” Andy Ngo got punched by some Antifa types. He is now diligently working to associate every leftist journalist he can with Connor Betts.

Hi. @MrAndyNgo, who is not vile scum, reached out to me for comment. I wanted to post my reply to him here, as well. pic.twitter.com/TJgBOScxKa

— Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) August 8, 2019

not to mention the MSM's complicity in all this by allowing him to go on a "I got kicked in the head" media tour

not one but two Onion articles about that insane media stunt Trump pulled yesterday

https://politics.theonion.com/trump-campaign-denies-doctoring-photos-showing-him-spea-1837077421

https://politics.theonion.com/sorry-about-the-tornado-or-whatever-says-trump-wolfi-1837074904

how candidates answer questions from journalists are approaching the answers given by athletes in relevance to my life

position papers or die

sorry, meant for other thread

Was it now

for those who gaf

ok I think I'm just gonna block this lady she's been going nonstop on "85% PERCENT OF CRIME IS BLACK ON WHITE WHY DOESN'T DON LEMON CARE!?!?!?!?!?" and so on

You think?

Like that's a block invitation yo.

Scoop: The deputy director of national intelligence, Sue Gordon, will leave her position following a meeting in Oval with Trump today, sources tell me. https://t.co/0hptsRz0dE

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 8, 2019

I wanna puke

Here’s the video of CNN reporting that Trump forced that now-orphaned baby, whose parents died shielding him during the mass shooting, to come back to the hospital for a Trump publicity event after the other victims refused to meet him. pic.twitter.com/CKDlxa8xMz

— John Aravosis 🇺🇸 (@aravosis) August 8, 2019

my god this is fucking grotesque

From the First Lady’s twitter account, this appears to be the baby both of whose parents died shielding him from the El Paso shooter. The baby in question was discharged the day before and brought back for Trumps visit. Child is not id’d on @flotus account. But appears to... pic.twitter.com/17L6XQROMS

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 9, 2019

don't wanna get all emotional about our dumbass president but this photo has broken my soul

i think we just wrapped up 2019 folks

No such luck.

frogbs otm, that is horrifying

why the fuck is that motherfucker smiling and giving the thumbs up

seriously i wake every morning with the fervent hope he died in the night

I always used to think it was so facile to refer to someone as 'evil'.

Extremely not looking forward to the 'where are they now' story in 15 years about this kid

Wait, are we sure that this is real? Not that I'm putting it past him, I'm just taken aback, even now.

Atrocious.

Thumbs down.

What a piece of shit. And that “smile” which shows he has never had the insight to find anything funny ever.

It falls a little short of Congressman Stillson's employment of a child but here's to hoping it has a similar effect.

I'm a bit appalled by the Latinos who must be consciously taking part in the misleading nature of that photo surely.
I know there are words for similar relationships to the prevailing power in other situations but that seems to exemplify it.
Is it part of the duty of whatever role that is to do things like that?
I'm just thinking this is a couple of officials working for child care or something since the child's parents are dead. Would think that any immediate relative would be appalled by the idea of instrumentalising a child like that.

the grandfather was asked...?

Yes, the child's relatives, uncle and grandfather anyway, seem to have approved of the photo and Trump's visit.

xpost The fact that this poor child has relatives as awful as the president doesn't obviate Trump's disgusting behavior. I mean, you do realize that unless he'd gone and physically abducted the kid for the sake of a photo op that there were other parties involved in making that happen.

The uncle brought the baby back to the hospital because Trump demanded it for his photo op. He has been stealing from children’s charities for decades; his presidency was always going to reach this place.

I hear the baby told Trump that he was a better President than Obama and that Socialism makes him cry

The baby called him sir, too.

I'm pretty disappointed in everyone who got into these photos and smiled (there are pictures of the Daytona hospital staff all grinning as well). Fuck those people.

chuds gonna chud

if it helps it seems like most victims didn't want to meet him. all these photos seem to be set up for the sake of the photo op itself. the media wasn't let in.

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/hospitalized-victims-of-el-paso-mass-shooting-refused-to-meet-with-president-trump

Somebody enabled Trump to use a potentially already traumatised child in what appears to be a publicity photograph to help dispel the idea that he was a major cause of the situation. I would have thought the natural response to the suggestion would be a polite (or not so polite) refusal, would have thought that was well within the family's rights.
& i would think the only reason the baby wouldn't be traumatised was that it was too young to know what was going on around it.

Returning the baby to hospital involves some kind of agency on the relatives' part surely.
So can't understand the idea of going along with that, other than acquiescence to power which seems an awful idea.

Americans are trained to eat shit at their jobs every day, but this is arguably the most extreme example.

You guys say Mr. President ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE OFFICE

the Office is among the most consistently disgusting in the history of democracy

More like demoCRUDcy

It's a bunch of crud

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that his House panel is conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Nadler added that the committee will decide by the year's end whether to refer articles of impeachment to the House floor.

“This is formal impeachment proceedings,” Nadler said in an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett. “We are investigating all the evidence, we're gathering the evidence. And we will at the conclusion of this — hopefully by the end of the year — vote to vote articles of impeachment to the House floor. Or we won’t. That’s a decision that we’ll have to make. But that’s exactly the process we’re in right now.”

mmmm, decisive

I wonder if the result is going to be a stern warning, a resolution of censure, or -gasp- something going on his PERMANENT RECORD

I mean there may be a result but let's not be too hasty because there could also not be a result. Which isn't to say that there definitely WON'T be a result.

Deep state at it again, amirite?

honestly let's focus less on the fact that they were able to find one Republican to wave an orphan under Trump's grinning mug and more on the fact that the hospitalized shooting victims banded together and with one clarion voice told Trump he could fuck off back to the golf course

I'm going to say this once and then let it go because some of the assumptions here are tiresome/stupid, but I would think it's obvious that from a practical and political power perspective, it's best for the Democrats if impeachment charges/votes are brought up *during the 2020* campaign, ie in the summer/fall. That way they build as deliberate and airtight case as possible (hopefully with court rulings on their side), they build consensus in the party, and hopefully they build support in the court of public opinion, which is not currently on the side of impeachment. If articles of impeachment were introduced and voted on now, even if they passed the House the articles would die in the Senate, and then Trump would appear invulnerable moving into the 2020 election - it would be a huge boost to his re-election campaign, "see, they tried to get me with their nonsense, and I BEAT THEM". BUT, if hearings are held and articles are introduced in the summer/fall, Pelosi can slow walk it so that it becomes a central campaign issue, with Dems wielding it as a weapon to gin up turnout.

That's how it currently looks to me, anyway.

lol so what's the vision, holding the election, trump losing, then the senate having enough sack to actually impeach when trump is lame-ducking it

I'm not sure it would really be much of a boost - I would imagine everyone in the country who's even the least bit politically informed knows that right now the Republican party exists solely to run cover for Trump

but I do agree that impeachment is destined to fail no matter what so they might as well deploy it strategically

(xp) The vision is Trump losing. It's a good vision.

Rush Lumbago began his radio show warning that "there are people in the West Wing" pushing Orange Grifter to "compromise" with the Dems on gun control... always a mistake, says Rushie, bcz "they want to wipe us out."

he also sez "We know not to pay attention to what Trump tells the media... so don't panic."

checks out

I would imagine everyone in the country who's even the least bit politically informed knows that right now the Republican party exists solely to run cover for Trump

not so sure about that. very few people are informed, first of all. i think to the casual observer, the thought is "if he was actually doing crimes, he would have been impeached by now", and if their brain stem has managed to pick up signs of the name "mueller", maybe add "and mueller would have recommended impeachment"

take the most idiotic thought possible and multiply it by 3, and that is what the casual observer thinks

"Who cares? They're all a bunch of crooks."

those are the people who tend to make up the 50% or so that don't vote

everyone in the country who's even the least bit politically informed knows

too much depends on the source of that 'information'. people riveted to FOX News all day are 'politically informed' up to the hilt, but the quality of that information would not tend to lead people to the same conclusions you are assuming.

I mean, either consciously or unconsciously, since these are the people who have also transformed their political mindset to give Trump a pass on everything

Trump supporters already think there's a gigantic conspiracy to take him out of office so I'm not sure if actually trying to do it is gonna move the needle much

there is a gigantic conspiracy to take him out of office, i've been pushing everyone to be a part of it since election day

haven't all the studies shown that people who don't vote, if compelled to, would vote in similar patterns as those that do?

...the senate having enough sack to actually impeach when trump is lame-ducking it

assuming Trump loses in 2020 the entire focus of the GOP is going to be building a “case” for impeaching the next Dem president—whether the current House moves to impeach or not. They will campaign in 2022 on impeaching the D president for merely being alive and deigning to cross the threshold of the Oval Office. believe it.

Where's the articles of impeachment?

a-A-AND THOSE TAX RETURNS WHERE'S THOSE

will otm

yep

can't wait to get a hold of those damning tax documents a month or two after he's voted out of office and already in a new country corrupting new shit

You impeacheded us first, a-holes! Just wait, we're gonna impeach you so hard your pants'll split!

Toddlers gonna toddle, etc.

the situation in texas state politics is insane

https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/texas-house-speaker-dennis-bonnen-michael-quinn-sullivan/

Xp but still, From now on, every inauguration will be the beginning of impeachment season. Bet on it.

conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan who, like most assassins, goes by all three of his names.

lol

and already in a new country corrupting new shit

this is one faint ray of hope: the gigantic baby is too terrified of going to places that aren't owned by him to flee the country, and no other country is going to let him in to corrupt shit to his own ends anyway

of course if impeached he'll escape jail time bcz his doctors will all of a sudden discover that he has advanced dementia & it would be cruel to remove him from care, but

bcz his doctors will all of a sudden discover that he has advanced dementia acute bone spurs & it would be cruel to remove him from care

ftfy

Brain Spurs

Butt spurts

It has been kinda cool to learn that you can skirt the consequences of all debased behavior by just striving to be the absolute worst in every conceivable way to the extent that it short circuits everyone's capacity to deal with you effectively.

I don’t think “you” can, HE can. One of the few silver linings of Trump is that I feel like his MO is hard to replicate since it’s so grounded in his bizarre self-absorption.

I wouldn't count on that

[Trump then went on a seemingly unprompted tangent about Hollywood being “racist.”

“Hollywood is racist,” Trump said. “What they’re doing with the kind of movies they’re putting out, it’s actually very dangerous for our country. What Hollywood is doing is a tremendous disservice to our country.”

Trump offered no examples.

you know you're a genius media manipulator when you can conjure an argument that has only terrible examples out of thin air

I don’t think “you” can, HE can. One of the few silver linings of Trump is that I feel like his MO is hard to replicate

I mean Cosby's in prison but I'd probably wait on the Weinstein/Epstein cases before drawing any definitive conclusions.

good morning!

Twitter is reporting that Epstein committed 'suicide'. Rather convenient for a lot of parties.

Breaking: Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide overnight at MCC Manhattan, the federal lockup where he had been held pending trial on federal sex trafficking charges, three law enforcement officials told @ABC News. Via @AaronKatersky

— Julia Macfarlane (@juliamacfarlane) August 10, 2019

Well that’s disappointing. Hopefully the truth will still come out somehow.

How in the ever living fuck does this happen when he’s on constant watch???

He's pushed.

And we learned yesterday that former senator George Mitchell was one of the men accused of having sex with one of his girls

thank god they drained the swamp or this would reek

bill richardson too, which is disappointing as I liked him. both democrats. I'm sure Qanon people are having a field day now. I wonder what will happen with the rest of this investigation and the other people implicated

Jeffrey Epstein's suicide ends the criminal case against him because no one else was charged in the indictment.

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 10, 2019

BREAKING: Alleged "camera malfunction" last night at MCC where Jeffrey Epstein was locked up.#EpsteinFiles

— Michael Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) August 10, 2019

Disregard second tweet (from a crank w/ no corroboration)

It's been some time since I practiced law but effectively this means Epstein's search warrants cannot be challenged and the evidence may in theory be used in other cases -- if someone can independently verify it.

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) August 10, 2019

At the very least, I'd like a prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, the long-term close associate of Epstein that reportedly procured the girls and young women.

I think a many of the names of Epstein associates are no more guilty than Stephen Hawking, who was once flown to Pedo Island for an Epstein sponsored conference. But blackmail could account for some of Epstein's wealth, and there's too much circumstantial evidence that Epstein and Maxwell, like her father Robert Maxwell, are tied up in foreign intelligence, to go uninvestigated. If I were an innocent-in-fact man on those lists, I'd would like to be cleared by an investigation as well.

I imagine Maxwell will be investigated, and some of the others named as accomplices.

In one of the police filings they documented that they recovered CDs named (girl name) + (adult name) in a safe.

Here is what law-enforcement officials found in Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion on Saturday night when they executed a search warrant, according to SDNY’s detention memo: pic.twitter.com/CSKWMmCVY8

— erica orden (@eorden) July 8, 2019

so, I wonder what will happen with all of this evidence.

Deee-lighted that #ClintonBodyCount is trending!

How in the ever living fuck does this happen when he’s on constant watch???

🤔🤔🤔

so, I wonder what will happen with all of this evidence.

they're going to put it all in a pile in a really dry, extremely flammable room, throw a bunch of matchbooks in there to keep it company, then assign officer Jenkins to Accidental Fire watch duty all weekend. hope nothing happens to it!!!

XP Sometimes people just spontaneously combust...

I think the past 20 years or so have made me constitutionally resistant to conspiracy theories. So all the Clinton body count stuff is making me puke today.

Literally every lefty on Twitter looks like a fucking idiot right now

Every conspiracy usually boils down to people being shitty/lazy at their jobs, or systems based on indifference and routine

#TontyBlerBodyCount

As someone on twitter pointed out the best counter to ClintonBodyCount is the continued existence of Anthony Weiner - you wouldn’t even need to be sneaky about that one, I think everyone would understand.

I don’t think the idea that Epstein was killed is at all ridiculous though.

Every conspiracy usually boils down to people being shitty/lazy at their jobs, or systems based on indifference and routine

In this case, I think indifference was probably a big factor. I think the point of view of a lot of prison guards would be: who cares whether this notorious scumbag lives or dies and why do I have to be extra vigilant to protect him from himself? If he dies, it's just that much simpler and the world is better off without him. Larger considerations would not enter their heads.

I don’t think the idea that Epstein was killed is at all ridiculous though.

me neither

May just find that whoever killed Epatein was one of the parents. Or working form
Undermines conspiracy theories somewhat possibly.

Every conspiracy usually boils down to people being shitty/lazy at their jobs, or systems based on indifference and routine

the one counter argument against this being a murder or 'pushed' suicide is that there isn't much to keep the evidence they've collected from coming out now. so I don't know what doing this accomplishes, except keeping epstein from talking. I guess maybe he knew much more than they have evidence on.

trump's comment on Hollywood appears to be about The Hunt which admittedly doesn't look like a very helpful movie though it looks fairly entertaining.

well this story just landed yesterday..

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/09/prince-andrew-court-documents-ghislaine-maxwell-jeffrey-epstein

May just find that whoever killed Epatein was one of the parents. Or working form
Undermines conspiracy theories somewhat possibly.

― Stevolende, Saturday, August 10, 2019 9:36 AM (twelve minutes ago)

Seems a little doubtful that the parents would have the resources to get to him inside, or would want to stop the case from going to trial.

xp yeah I don't get trump's beef w/ The Hunt, the trailer and little I've read make it sound like straight MAGA fearmongering

I assume Epstein was the victim of an ordinary jailhouse murder of a child abuser

nah

Was thinking that if he wasn't got now he wouldn't exactly have teh nicest time of it inside. Not sure to what extent a rich paedo can protect himself safely inside, would think at least somebody would remain wanting to get him.

allergic reaction to prison food

he was in an isolated cell

Seems likely to me that Epstein committed suicide, but as he swum in a cesspool of mutual blackmail, its very possible the suicide was prompted to by blackmail/threats against someone he cared for. Maybe Ghislaine, maybe others. Certainly within the capabilities of some the powerful he endangered, or Robert Maxwell's old pals Mossad and/or KGB/FSB.

The NY NBC affiliate is reporting that Epstein wasn't on suicide watch, just two weeks after his prior attempt. That deserves some prying.

How in the ever living fuck does this happen when he’s on constant watch???

Don't know about the US but, in the UK, if notorious murderers/criminals feel like killing themselves in prison they tend to succeed... guards seem to often be doing something else at the propitious time.

... see Fred West, Harold Shipman, for example.

Learning all about safety smocks and bedding this morning...

At least these models have an appropriate expression:
http://media.cleveland.com/metro/photo/suicide-smock-ferguson-sergejpg-bdbcba42e0556433.jpg

^^ best scene in MIDSOMMAR

ha was abt to post that

would have cushioned those falls for sure

Literally every lefty on Twitter looks like a fucking idiot

oh pleeeeeease girlfriend

confirmation bias

Variety reports:

Universal Pictures has canceled the release of its upcoming thriller “The Hunt.” The film was previously set to hit theaters Sept. 27. “While Universal Pictures had already paused the marketing campaign for The Hunt, after thoughtful consideration, the studio has decided to cancel our plans to release the film, ” a spokesperson for Universal said.
“We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film.”

So we have the prez and his hordes effectively censoring the film biz now.

frankly sounds like The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and its frequent remakes.

the synopsis made it sound like a right-wing fantasy movie frankly

likely!

Epstein's death was undoubtedly a bipartisan project.

I’ll just say this re: Epstein

If the sudden death under custody of an insanely wealthy sex trafficker with verifiable connections to many of the most powerful and influential people in the world, including a former and current president, isn’t enough to at least give you pause then wtf is wrong with you

yep

Xps not even just notorious criminals. Acquaintance of ours killed themselves in prison, also on suicide watch. They were in for relatively minor crimes. In the UK, at any rate, suicide watch does not mean they are being watched all the time, might only be checked once every couple of hours at night iirc.

otm

He was taken off of suicide watch, is the thing

it's very hard for me to believe that someone who spent his life cultivating powerful connections and getting away with crimes would think, even at this point, that his situation was hopeless and there was no way to wriggle out of serious consequences.

I’ll just say this re: Epstein

If the sudden death under custody of an insanely wealthy sex trafficker with verifiable connections to many of the most powerful and influential people in the world, including a former and current president, isn’t enough to at least give you pause then wtf is wrong with you

― Conceptualize Wyverns (latebloomer), Saturday, August 10, 2019 3:48 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don’t find it implausible that a man in his position would be suicidal. He’s being left out to dry by the people who made him in the first place.

You don’t need an elite hit squad to off a dude in that state, you just got to give him the opportunity to do it to himself.

*uncomfortable lol*

[irrefutable evidence that the american ruling class ran a sex trafficking ring and held secret gatherings on a private island]
it is simply not credible that a man was murdered in a prison

— Shuja Haider (@shujaxhaider) August 10, 2019

The Hunt looks OK (surprisingly decent cast), but it doesn't exactly scream "wide theatrical release".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8IifEu67yU

I hope it at least pops up on Amazon Prime.

tons of these movies play multiplexes, isn't this a Blumhouse prod?

"right wing fantasy" kinda unlikely given the Lindelof co-write imo

weirdly even more insulting to me than the video game argument

lol i have literally read about two sentences about the plot, don't mind me :)

"Did anyone see what our ratfucker-in-chief just did?" one character asks early in the screenplay for The Hunt, a Universal Pictures thriller set to open Sept. 27. Another responds: "At least The Hunt's coming up. Nothing better than going out to the Manor and slaughtering a dozen deplorables."

it's very hard for me to believe that someone who spent his life cultivating powerful connections and getting away with crimes would think, even at this point, that his situation was hopeless and there was no way to wriggle out of serious consequences.

narcissists don't, as a general rule, kill themselves

lol trump retweeted this, let's gooo https://t.co/idYqVN4VKG

— ordinary guy (@icedteacommie) August 10, 2019

Trump's desire to see the clintons hang is so strong he keeps shining a light on a case in which he is a fixture. kind of amazing

Speaking as a person who has been on the receiving end of MANY eyerolls at social functions when mentioning conspiracy theories of any kind, it’s a pretty wild goddamn time to be alive.

— Kate Hagen (@thathagengrrl) August 10, 2019

yeah, this might be the most immediately widely disbelieved official story of my adult life.

i believe the murderer of epstein, in a strange twist, was david icke

https://media.giphy.com/media/zCT9KnlY1JNhS/giphy.gif

yeah, this might be the most immediately widely disbelieved official story of my adult life.

weapons of mass destruction?

hence "immediately" and "might be". iirc it took a little while for everyone to come around to calling bullshit on that one

F u morbs

2015

In a Public Mind poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University released Wednesday, more than half of Republicans — 51 percent — and half of those who watch Fox News — 52 percent — say that they believe it to be “definitely true” or “probably true” that American forces found an active weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq.

Trump's desire to see the clintons hang is so strong he keeps shining a light on a case in which he is a fixture. kind of amazing

My thoughts exactly when I saw that tweet. I do not--not even close--have a conspiracy mindset. But it is very difficult not to at least lean in that direction in the immediate aftermath of this. Or at least, not that there's necessarily a conspiracy, but that it wasn't suicide. It's just too puzzling and too perfect on three different fronts: that he managed to do it, that it happened just before trial, and that it's the day after all those other names surfaced. Trump's tweet would seem to be exactly the kind of clumsy and clueless and panicked preemptive distraction I would expect of him.

Retweet, not tweet.

(Me waving the wait flag--I've officially sunk to such clarifications.)

white flag...

WMDs is a good example but necessarily took longer to be "widely disbelieved" bc of the lack of social media. and to Sanpaku's point, many still believe WMDs were found. if anything, Epstein's death has united people across partisan lines more than anything else in the modern era.

Have fun with yr tin foil dudes

when Rod Dreher and AOC both think the official line stinks...

Let’s go shoot some pumpkins together

Oh and I guess a white supremacist bomb plot was foiled today

Like literally fuck everybody

Epstein's death has united people across partisan lines more than anything else in the modern era.

When does the modern era begin?

Have fun with yr tin foil dudes

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes)

we know the FBI tried to get MLK to kill himself, we know about Iran-Contra, we know about WMDs, we know about COINTELPRO, the MOVE bombing - why is it necessarily "tin foil" to question official stories?

lol Tom I meant to say the Trump era xp

anyone who's been following the case with any level of attention has said aloud at least once "they won't let him testify / this trial get very far"

i was “i cant imagine how this plays out,” but tbh i did and i truly wish this was not how.

Republican and Democrat lawmakers reach bipartisan consensus that Jeffrey Epstein was “a troubled man” and “that’s why he shot himself seventeen times in the back”

— pixelatedboat aka “mr tweets” (@pixelatedboat) July 7, 2019

^ July 6

Lol wow billionaire can’t imagine himself spending rest of life in prison wtf mkultra

might be time for a separate poll thread / safe space for the tin foil crowd (incl me)

anyone who's been following the case with any level of attention has said aloud at least once "they won't let him testify / this trial get very far"

― Simon H.

Exactly

Time for some wars against info

CSM

Lol wow billionaire can’t imagine himself spending rest of life in prison wtf mkultra

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Saturday, August 10, 2019 6:57 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

*goes to the Dallas book depository* I could've made that shot

Alex Jones did not invent questioning of official government stories

let's keep it in here:

the jefferey epstein memorial poll and conspiracy-mongering thread

Xpost lol

Basically anyone peddling this Epstein stuff is getting written off by me whatever

We need answers. Lots of them.https://t.co/4DMckiZnVB

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 10, 2019

Do we?

Epghazi

Yes, when an inmate tries to commit suicide, is put on suicide watch, is then taken off suicide watch, then commits suicide, something has gone scandalously wrong.

Do we?

so you would prefer no investigation? ooook

Lol one girl was leaving and came to me to say we have to get on the kill robot fight train

Whoops wrong thread

matt groening makes an... unsettling appearance in the epstein docs pic.twitter.com/7uSXF2Mu1t

— Don Biggles (@DonBeeggles) August 9, 2019

Lol wow billionaire can’t imagine himself spending rest of life in prison wtf mkultra

worst Tarantino movie ever. xpost

xpost Don't scare us with that Groening tease, it was actually kind of charming.

Another one

A 26-year-old white supremacist in Florida has been arrested for posting a threatening message on Facebook: "3 more days of probation left then I get my AR-15 back. Don't go to Walmart next week." https://t.co/28gYWVVCjk

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 11, 2019

xp - there's nothing charming about disgusting feet

Yeah, but gross feet <<<<<<<<<<<being swept up in a child sex ring.

you sure those relational operators are facing the right way there chief

NY post has pictures of the body so, like, we can probably put this "he's still alive in a secret underground sex bunker with bill clinton fucking 12 year olds" theory to rest.

POST EXCLUSIVE: Photos show Jeffrey Epstein as he’s wheeled into Downtown Hospitalhttps://t.co/uAAoHJTSKf pic.twitter.com/vJqz7p25VR

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) August 10, 2019

He was swapped out with the Triviago guy

Please don’t post pictures of corpses on this thread

please don't post anything on this thread

Please don’t post

Please

fped us all for posting

xpost I meant that gross feat were the significantly lesser infraction.

Trump’s Twitter Saturday:
- Retweets conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein
- Attacks the media
- Praises Kim Jong Un
- Attacks US-South Korea military exercises
- Attacks Bill Maher
- Accuses China of wanting a Dem in 2020
- Attacks Biden
- Attacks Scaramucci

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 11, 2019

aaaayyyyyy the mooch is still out there moochin it up

or maybe not, maybe trump was complaining about something from 2 years ago actually yeah nevermind

xpost Don't scare us with that Groening tease, it was actually kind of charming.

Mooch said El Paso trip was a catastrophe

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1756ab575e67b38224dfef9f2ab08a1c36c0a067/0_0_4500_2699/master/4500.jpg?width=2250&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=2085017967f68c9b387f95676798c9ce

why

Maybe he'll tweet something negative about somebody for saying he didn't do well, but the facts are he did not do well on the trip because if the trip is being made about him and not the demonstration of compassion and love and caring and empathy for those people, then it becomes a catastrophe for him, the administration, and it's also a bad reflection on the country."
Is what he went onto say as quoted

I can’t drop many people on a bike these days but I just blew the fuckin’ doors off Mike Pence on a Nantucket bike path. Day. Made.

— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) August 10, 2019

#resist lol

"Please don’t post pictures of corpses on this thread"

disagree thread needs more corpses. I just learned about 'extreme embalming' where corpses are dressed up in clothes and displayed in action poses. don't tempt me.

no pictures of corpses otm

XP Trump's funeral. They're gonna recreate that Trump Train t-shirt.

corpse paint yes, corpse photos no

technically not a corpse

https://i.imgur.com/U82ZF2a.jpg

i can actually hear it

No Corinthian itt

- Attacks Bill Maher
- Attacks Biden

There's your two stopped-clock moments right there

https://images.app.goo.gl/qF51wmxHkB38WLkdA

1 Corinthian
2 Corinthian
Red Corinthian
Blue Corinthian

Reuters - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration unveiled a new rule on Monday that could deny visas and permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of people for being too poor.
The long-anticipated rule, pushed by Trump's leading aide on immigration, Stephen Miller, takes effect Oct. 15 and would reject applicants for temporary or permanent visas for failing to meet income standards or for receiving public assistance such as welfare, food stamps, public housing or Medicaid.

I retired that one last November, hon. I didn't give you the keys to that old trunk.

I’m ok with pictures of Trumps corpse ITT

in this teetering economy, you take what's available and run with it

xp and not xp

The new immigration rule is freaking me out pretty hard. My wife is a green card holder who lost her job last December. Since we got our healthcare through her job we ended up qualifying for Medicaid. Being on Medicaid previously was fine for someone with her immigration status and now it’s possible for her renewal to be rejected. Pretty dang shitty tbh.

Is there no spousal sponsorship program in the US?

Prospective graduate students from outside the USA should no longer enter USA graduate programs. It is not worth the visa risks.

Yeah, this new immigration rule is incredibly fucked.

I retired that one last November, hon. I didn't give you the keys to that old trunk.

alfred, i am running on fumes. i need this. please.

also, you have used it at least 3 times since last November, albeit on non-political threads. according to the ilx charter screed, appendix 2, verse 19, that unlocks the old trunk and removes all copyright claims

goddammit ian, hoping this turns out OK

xps

i'm really sorry, ian. i have no ideas about the specifics (maybe no one does right now?). really hoping that it doesn't directly hit you and your spouse.

also, you have used it at least 3 times since last November, albeit on non-political threads. according to the ilx charter screed, appendix 2, verse 19, that unlocks the old trunk and removes all copyright claims

― Karl Malone, Monday, August 12, 2019

the clause allows non-political thread posting

Thx u Bill

ian hang in there, i'm so sorry about this totally stupid necessity to be anxious :(

Thx KM

I don’t think her green card is up for renewal for another three or four years, and who knows what the world will be like then. Still find it hard not to get anxious.

that's awful, ian

Maybe we will move to Ireland.

Hearts to you and H, ian.

my wife is also openly talking about moving us abroad

she's not on assistance and hopefully won't be anytime soon, but between this & shooters targeting Mexicans & brown kids in camps she's starting to get very nervous about staying here. like things aren't "that bad" at this moment but if he gets re-elected in 2020 it's not hard to imagine how awful things could get for non-citizens. luckily my son will probably 'pass' as white but my daughter won't and she's afraid that they're constantly being judged

ian, sent you an ilx message.

Meanwhile, the administration has turned Nixon into a tree-hugging hippie.

"Republicans have long sought to narrow the scope of the law, saying that it burdens landowners, hampers industry and hinders economic growth. They also make the case that the law is not reasonable because species are rarely removed from the list. Since the law was passed, more than 1,650 have been listed as threatened or endangered, while just 47 have been delisted because their populations rebounded."

gee, it almost sounds like there might be some sort of major, systemic "thing" happening to our entire world. definitely not anything caused by humans, i'm not saying that, but definitely some big nature thing that affects all these species. someone should definitely look into that. it's most likely just normal nature cycles and nothing to worry about, though

i just want everyone to follow the law

did you all hear about some sort of mass extinction event that we're all living through? word on the street is that it's the 6th one in earth's history. thing is, just thinking about it kind of hampers industry and hinders economic growth. i can't be bothered to consider earth's natural resources when i'm busy making sure that economic growth continues to grow exponentially for the rest of recorded human history.

i think the plan is to stop recording human history in about 3 weeks

still seeing the FB "let's settle for Biden, deal with climate change in '24" threads; very sensible

one thing that annoys me about the climate change conversation is that global warming is only a small fraction of the damage our species has been doing to this planet over the past couple of centuries