The August 2019 US Politics Thread is dumb (stupid}

this guy

Trump's business model was predatory: get rich by deceiving customers, cheating suppliers. His model of the world economy is also predatory: trade is bad, there must be a loser for every winner. You might say Trump was our first Marxist president. And Marxism is now failing again

— David Frum (@davidfrum) August 14, 2019

Here's acting USCIS director Ken Cuccinelli saying on NPR this morning that the Statue of Liberty plaque should be changed to read...

this is not what he said

david frum is a thoughtful conservative that deserves to be taken very seriously

that is a take of absolutely phenomenal stupidity even by the usual frum standards

Is he talking about like Harpo Marxism or

Richard Marxism

that's true, Cuccinelli said it says the opposite of what it says

U.S. Rep. Steve King: If not for rape and incest, 'would there be any population left?' https://t.co/TVBZQjYsOb via @DMRegister

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 14, 2019

The Kiron Republican was discussing his defense of not allowing exceptions for rape and incest in the anti-abortion legislation he tried to pass in Congress. Republican leadership had prevented bills he sponsored on banning abortions from advancing through the House, despite GOP support for the measures, King said.

Just because a conception happened in bad circumstances doesn't mean the result isn't a person, King, who is Catholic, argued.

"It's not the baby's fault for the sin of the father, or of the mother," he said.

"especially the sins of the mother", King added

the King family gatherings must be a hoot

Ah yes, rape and incest, the great drivers of humanity.

the great drivers of pickup trucks

A question I find myself asking with increasing frequency: does this person know he's like an actual, legitimate monster?

ba·by
/ˈbābē/
noun
1.
a very young child, especially one newly or recently born. Or y'know, even if it hasn't yet been born.

It may not be politically correct, but I don’t believe that babies up to 2 years in age should be taken away and murdered because of the sins of their parents (especially those of the mother)

And I’m not going to let AOC and other people born in other countries force our white patriotic women of the homeland destroy our future

If western (white) civilization is so far superior then Steve King would've already learned how to fuck himself and carry his own fetuses.

"anti-choice but with these exceptions" people are worse than complete zealots IMO

So I know this will be u popular but part of what King says is compelling intellectually. What percentage of the population now does exist only because of rape and incest? Likely most it of you go back far enough. That said instill support abortion up to the age of 40.

king is way older than 40

another compelling intellectual thought while listening to king - gee i wonder if could multiply steve king's face so i could beat the shit out of more than one version of it, assuming his face could not attack me back or try to bite me or struggle much, and i could hurt his face with a single forceful blow, then how many steve king faces would be the optimum number, balancing the satisfaction of beating the shit out of each individual face vs the fatigue from the physical force it takes to deliver a meaningful blow to a face, let alone multiple faces in a short period of time.

so probably 5 steve king faces

i've beaten up a lot of people

I would imagine so.

My own fantastical imaginings lean more toward sealing US Rep. Steve King in an airtight Lucite box and sinking it to the ocean floor amid a ring of video cameras on tripods. We can collectively discuss whether this should be a Pay-Per-View event or a free webstream.

That sounds like an experience best suited for google Cardboard

ok lmao at this stock image

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/well-round-you-up-black-community-leaders-sent-threatening-letters-in-north-carolina/

even for Trump this is pretty bad

It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019

They hate Israel & all Jewish people

FUCK all the GOP for hand waving this shit away . what a fucking shit head

Leake said that she has forwarded her letter to the FBI for investigation, although the agency says it is not presently investigating the incidents.

well okay then

oh great good old Bibi siding with fuck face

I kind of hope they just embalm the Bronze Turd's corpse wherever he happens to fall when he finally expires. It would be so much more satisfying than just taking a squirt on his gravestone.

prone before dressing mirror, corset nearly tied, his asymmetrically long hair hanging past his shoulder

face down in the rough on his golf course, mid-cheat, frozen in the act of dropping a new ball

goggled and mouth agape in tanning bed

fairly certain that's a libellous statement from the prez

Yeah, if I was either of those women I'd have a libel lawyer on the phone already.

"what if being the presinetn is just like being on a reality show- because, folks, it IS a reality show. the best reality. what are they gonna do?"

the same ppl whose ONLY issue with immigrants is that "they need to follow the law!" now side with dude trying to run over protesters at ICE facility cause the protesters were in the road. That's illegal! What kind of society will we be if we allow ppl who violate border and traffic laws to not be subjected to vigilante death penalties???

I am pretty sure that this is an impeachable offense

if a Dem president did it at least

sneak peak of what 2020's gonna be like

Representatives Omar and Tlaib are the face of the Democrat Party, and they HATE Israel!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019

if the prez tweets it, that means it is not libel

(does libel even exist in the US anymore, srsly?)

btw frogbs it is "sneak peek" tho i see the other all the time now

any time I see “sneak peak” I pause to imagine the writer having a quiet orgasm in public about the topic, suppressing outward symptoms, and then immediately boasting about it

never noticed that mountaintop before, what a sneak peak

I suggest y'all read this thread.

The following thread builds on yesterday's.

1. I understand why it’s hard for normal people to believe that white evangelical Christians are sadists. Normal people have never been, as I was a long time ago, on the inside of that shadowy religious world.

— John Stoehr's Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) August 15, 2019

more great news about how great everything is in america
http://www.grubstreet.com/2019/08/trump-tariffs-european-cheese.html

(does libel even exist in the US anymore, srsly?)

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, August 15, 2019 6:51 PM (one hour ago)

Srsly, can someone answer this? Although tbf situation seems similar in the UK.

UK always made it easier to prove, i thought?

starting to think this Yang guy has what it takes to be President

https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-calls-trump-fat-and-a-slob-2019-8

Yang concluded that Trump could probably beat him at "something that involved, like, trying to keep something on the ground and having really large body mass — like, if there was a hot-air balloon that was rising and you needed to try and keep it on the ground, he would be better than me at that, because he is so fat."

I mean how is that not a Clickhole quote

Omar and Tlaib would fall in the category of public figures, so --

History of Defamation and the First Amendment
In the landmark 1964 case of New York Times v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court held that certain defamatory statements were protected by the First Amendment. The case involved a newspaper article that said unflattering things about a public figure, a politician. The Court pointed to "a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open." The Court acknowledged that in public discussions -- especially about public figures like politicians -- mistakes can be made. If those mistakes are "honestly made," the Court said, they should be protected from defamation actions. The court made a rule that public officials could sue for statements made about their public conduct only if the statements were made with "actual malice."

"Actual malice" means that the person who made the statement knew it wasn't true, or didn't care whether it was true or not and was reckless with the truth -- for example, when someone has doubts about the truth of a statement but does not bother to check further before publishing it.

Later cases have built upon the New York Times rule, so that now the law balances the rules of defamation law with the interests of the First Amendment. The result is that whether defamation is actionable depends on what was said, who it was about, and whether it was a subject of public interest and thus protected by the First Amendment.

Private people who are defamed have more protection than public figures -- freedom of speech isn't as important when the statements don't involve an issue of public interest. A private person who is defamed can prevail without having to prove that the defamer acted with actual malice.

Actual malice seems pretty easy to establish in this case, idk

Trump himself has advocated for "tightening up" libel/slander laws, sadlol

"Your honour, my client demonstrably hates everyone who has ever lived, bar Vladimir Putin and Ivanka Trump. Thus, he cannot hold nor direct any individual animus, and this case must be dismissed as frivolous prima facie."

"In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland...and, according to two of the people, has asked his White House counsel to look into the idea" https://t.co/mpXoqLRQWr

— Aman Batheja (@amanbatheja) August 15, 2019