US Politics, November 2019: These people are truly sick.

Oh fucking lord

POC and queerfolk don't acknowledge "better" or "worse." Life is struggle. Sometimes you win small stakes; often we lose. When were things fucking good?

here we go

maybe just maybe 2scoops pushes this ukraine bullshit in part to cover for russia cheating for him again in 2020. his weirdo fanbase needs him to give them "plausible" deniability to keep up the MAGA kayfabe routine

― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, November 22, 2019 9:36 AM

agree

More importantly, the poll shows more independents now oppose impeachment than support it, a significant change from Emerson's polling in October. The new poll found 49 percent oppose impeachment compared to 34 percent who support it. In October, 48 percent of independents polled supported impeachment, against 39 percent who opposed.

Since October, Emerson has found Trump’s job approval rating jump by 5 points, from 43 percent to 48 percent.

This country is fucked, blow it up and start over

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, November 22, 2019 12:25 PM bookmarkflaglink

Emerson is weird, they're a reliable pollster, but this same poll had something like 22% of Republicans supporting impeachment and other polls barely have them in double digits or less.

Also doesn't include this week's revelations so I am watching the polls that come out the next few

When did Happy Days take place? That seemed like a good time. Bobby sox, Al's Diner, anachronistic sideburns.

https://i.imgur.com/KbkOoa6.jpg

https://www.teepublic.com/kids-t-shirt/3894934-life-okay-very-good-carrer-makes-better
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/carrer

Shitmerica

My understanding: The reason Crowdstrike blamed it on Russia was because all the hacking attempt, without fail, took place during certain hours of the day, which they pointed out were office hours in Moscow. That's been public knowledge since summer 2016, so anyone who doubted Russian involvement has always implicitly have to explain away that. That Ukrainians did it, but on Moscow time, makes more sense than the Taibbi / Greenwald strategy of just ignoring it and talking about wmd's instead.

Good point KarlMalone. I actually do think America has been a shit show since the beginning and the whole 'we're the best' thing was really just bravado and military. We have always been horrible, since the very beginning. My heritage is Seminole Indian, so my ancestors suffered at the hands of the grand old USA from the very beginning. So therefore, America has always been broken. I guess the thing I feel is new is the inability for facts to actually make a difference.

So therefore, America has always been broken. I guess the thing I feel is new is the inability for facts to actually make a difference.

yeah, i feel that too. it is hard to reconcile with...just about everything i believed in at one time.

TBF, the landmass now occupied by the USA experienced several pre-USA centuries of absolute bullshit, as well. It's pretty much just an utterly cursed patch of earth.

thanks for the reminder about Sounds Like Titanic, I heard about that earlier this year and it was fascinating. Need to pick that up.

My understanding: The reason Crowdstrike blamed it on Russia was because all the hacking attempt, without fail, took place during certain hours of the day, which they pointed out were office hours in Moscow.

There was definitely way more evidence than that. They tied it to a specific firm!

I mean the warnings were there

https://i.ibb.co/ykVw1dr/3127714-bin.png
image uploader

If someone believes there is a secret high level pedophile ring operating out of a pizza place's basement, how do you ever convince someone to come down from that particular high?

i doubt many of them believe the conspiracy theories they spout. they're disingenuous fuckheads in so many other respects that ascribing good faith to their BS is undeserved. i think they believe that they're saving the US from socialism (and abortion and gay marriage and browning) and they find it imperative to fight that anyway they can . . . which they can't through good faith arguments. who knows how to resolve this except to point out that they're super-effective at what they do (look at the current state of our politics) and that dismissing them as 'stupid' and 'crazy' might be playing into their game of appealing to "conservative" voters insecure about their own intelligence and sanity (and sexuality and white privilege)

i don't think trump or his enablers believe the conspiracy theories they spout.

i think there are some poor and paranoid souls who get taken in by them though. especially pizzagate.

Trump has a pulsing plug of gristle in place of the part of the brain that regulates critical reasoning. He'd believe any conspiracy theory that paints him as its victim.

My understanding: The reason Crowdstrike blamed it on Russia was because all the hacking attempt, without fail, took place during certain hours of the day, which they pointed out were office hours in Moscow.

There was definitely way more evidence than that. They tied it to a specific firm!

― treeship., 22. november 2019 18:59 (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't think there was a firm? Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear, but those were just guesses. These kind of groups aren't exactly public and advertising what they do.

And there was more 'evidence', but most of it could be explained away if you wanted to. It's always been the office hour argument that clinched it for me.

that one doesn't seem convincing at all to me. don't hackers stereotypically have terrible sleep patterns?

sadlol

And there was more 'evidence', but most of it could be explained away if you wanted to. It's always been the office hour argument that clinched it for me.

― Frederik B, Friday, November 22, 2019 10:12 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is hilarious

Trump absolutely believes this theory while also being completely unable to explain it if pressed.

you can trace bot attacks to regions via ASNs

Hmm. Thoughts on the idea of the Democrats just keeping the investigations open, and then not sending letters of impeachment forward for several months?

I don't think this will happen unless they are planning to open some very significant new lines of inquiry in the very near future. Haven't seen anything that indicates this is happening.

the timing of the guilty verdict in the roger stone trial (which potentially implicates trump in perjury -- removing the favorite "conservative" rebuttal to the very reasonable question: why is lying about a blowjob grounds for impeachment, but lying about conspiring with our historic adversary to affect a president election is okay?) coming at the end of Impeachment Week 1 gives me a tiny bit of hope that there's some strategy behind all of this

Stone timing was coincidence, no?

There is a strategy, and Schiff has been terrific. If y'all are disappointed, blame the eighty-plus percent of Republicans who support Dear Leader.

Trump absolutely believes this theory while also being completely unable to explain it if pressed.

Name a single thing Trump believes, of which this is not true.

Whoever mentioned 'kayfabe' upthread is OTM; it's the perfect way to describe the right-wing conspiracy ecosystem. Nobody really believes any of it, but they (meaning everyone, every member of the base, not just the talent and Mr. McMahon) have learned that if they all behave exactly as if they do believe it--and never, ever break character--real leverageable political power can be conjured from thin air

you know, like religion

If y'all are disappointed, blame the eighty-plus percent of Republicans who support Dear Leader.

Well, yeah. The question we are faced with is if 80%+ of the GOP support a lunatic, is there nothing that can be done? I guess we're going to find out.

Perhaps some time could be spent putting the ball in the White House's court, and trying to make a public case that it's Trump's fault that things aren't clearer:

"Mr. President, you and your surrogates complained that hearings were not public. We duly gave you public hearings. You complained that we had not taken a vote. We duly took a vote.

"You complained that the witnesses had no firsthand evidence. We deposed witnesses with firsthand evidence. Indeed, if you had not forbidden your staff from cooperating, we could have deposed witnesses with even better information.

"To date, we have subpoenaed X witnesses who have refused to appear, and issued XX subpoenas for documents that you have refused to provide. The American people want and deserve to know the truth. It is the Congress's right - nay, duty to seek it.

"If you have nothing to hide, Mr. President, then you should not be afraid to permit your staffers to testify. If you have nothing to hide, then you should not be afraid to provide the documents we have legally compelled you to provide.

"If you want this process to be completed swiftly 'for the good of the nation,' then you need to begin participating. If you do not, then you - you, sir - are the reason it is dragging on."

No, of course it won't budge MAGA chuds. But it could be a useful piece of theater.

(Find + Replace “Mr. President” with “you evil piece of shit”

if democrats had it in them not to be the washington generals to the republicans' harlem globetrotters then we'd have universal healthcare and free state university tuition imho

if Democrats had ponies that would trample the faces of Senate seats now held by Republicans, we'd have them too imo

Well let’s get these fuckers some ponies than.

Profiles in courage

WASHINGTON — President Trump refused to commit Friday to signing legislation overwhelmingly passed by Congress to support pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, saying that he supported the protesters but that President Xi Jinping of China was “a friend of mine.”

The bill comes as Mr. Trump is trying to strike a trade deal with China, one of the central goals of his presidency. It puts him the delicate position of trying to balance a tricky trade negotiation with China and congressional demands for action to support the pro-democracy protests.

“I stand with Hong Kong,” he said during a nearly hourlong interview on the morning program “Fox & Friends.” “I stand with freedom. I stand with all of the things we want to do. But we’re also in the process of making the largest trade deal in history.”

will china freak at him even saying that much? they certainly did when NBA people said that.

everyone who ever had the thought "govt should be run like a biz" is a fucking moron

I don’t know. But I do know that trade wars are good and easy to win.

xp

Can't let a little thing like "people being beaten and killed" interfere with a trade deal with his BFF, gotcha, thanks for the confirmation

C'mon, it's not like other people are real or anything.

I still have my marker poised over the 'good/bad people on both sides' square on this particular bingo card. Maybe sometime over the weekend?

when his dementia progresses to a point where he is not even semi-lucid, are his supporters going to claim the deep state somehow did something to him?

love how trump's negotiating style is based on projection ie the surest way to success is aggressively kissing the ass of the person across the table and never saying or doing anything that they would get mad about.

when his dementia progresses to a point where he is not even semi-lucid, are his supporters going to claim the deep state somehow did something to him?

he passed that point 2 years ago