Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[unclevlad]

It's gonna be a long 3 months...

 

The Republican PACs in New Mexico are blasting the airwaves with attack ads right now, hoping to take another governor's seat away.  As is far too common with PAC ads, they're echo-chamber attacks...for example, citing a "troubling" story in...the Washington Examiner.  

 

I was disgusted with Ronchetti's ads earlier, when he ran for the Senate.  They're no better now.  And it's gonna be 3 months of near-unremitting torture....

[Lawnmower Boy]

19 hours ago, Pattern Ghost said:

 

I'm a little conflicted. On the one hand, it would be horrible if he sold that kind of information to anyone. On the other, if convicted, he could potentially go visit the Rosenbergs. 

Point of order: It was 1953, they were Jewish Communists, and the prosecutor swears up and down that they were just trying to get Ethel to roll over. I mean, the  83rd Congress and the CNO were trying to start a war with freaking England in 1953. (While simultaneously going halfers on Indo-China.) These were, uhm, vigorous people. Now, I'm not saying that, in comparison, the Preznit should get a medal, as such, but he totally should.

[assault]

According to Michael Meeropol, one of the Rosenbeg children, (they were subsequently adopted by Abe Meeropol), Ethel was in fact innocent and was executed because she wouldn't roll over on her husband, who probably was guilty.

[MrWolf]

Sorry, I wasn't quite clear.

 

TS/SCI itself is just a classification of TS, correct.

 

However, what I was trying to say was more along the lines of "A former President or his employees taking TS/SCI documents and storing them at his house in a locked room instead of in a SCIF" is a really really big deal.  Yeah, I know, in hindsight I could have been clearer on that.  I've been on some other sites with much shorter post limits for a while and it's a harder habit to break than I realized when I'm on a board WITHOUT character count limits again. 

 

Thankfully I mostly skipped Twitter but TikTok has been an education in how weird and viral social media is.  Trying to cut down on it now... (stupid 150 / 280 character post limits drive me bananas).

[Old Man]

I’ve often wondered if a social media site with a minimum character count would work. Would it increase the signal to noise ratio? And here, the posts I regret making tend to be the ones I bang out without necessary elaboration or consideration. 
 

TS/SCI is a big deal in that it is not supposed to leave secure facilities, like, ever. Possession of it at some Florida resort is a crystal clear violation of the statute that Trump signed into law by his own tiny hand. 

[unclevlad]

On 8/12/2022 at 9:49 AM, Cygnia said:

Holy [bleep]...

 

Author Salman Rushdie attacked on lecture stage in New York

 

1.  The attacker has been caught.

2.  Mr. Rushdie has taken very serious injuries.  From NYT:

 

Quote

Mr. Wylie said on Friday that the author’s condition was “not good.” Mr. Rushdie might lose an eye, his liver had been damaged and the nerves in his arm were severed, he said.

 

That individual is his agent.

 

Police are looking for a motive.

[Old Man]

Oh, I had been led to believe his injuries were not that severe. That’s tragic. What the _ is wrong with people?

[Ragitsu]

Wake me up when the former Prez is doing the perp walk; I don't care about the kabuki theater.

[unclevlad]

2 hours ago, Old Man said:

Oh, I had been led to believe his injuries were not that severe. That’s tragic. What the _ is wrong with people?

 

According to WaPo, as of 15 minutes ago, Rushdie has been taken off the ventilator and is able to talk.  No further info on the extent of damages.

 

The DA showed rather strong evidence the attack was pre-planned;  the judge must have agreed, as she ordered the suspect held without bond.

[Pariah]

12 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Police are looking for a motive.

 

I can think of about three million of them, just off the top of my head. 

[wcw43921]

Stay safe, dear lady.

[Ragitsu]

Maybe we'd be better off if artists remained anonymous to the public?

[Sociotard]

I still say Biden should just pardon the guy. Any prosecution will appear political. Reality does not matter; rather perception creates reality.

 

No matter how merited, any prosecution will lead to actual politicization of the Justice Department by Conservatives, because perception will say Liberals did it first

 

Round and round the widening gyre.

 

Stop the dang widening.

[dmjalund]

28 minutes ago, Sociotard said:

I still say Biden should just pardon the guy.

which guy?

[unclevlad]

The extent of the attack on Salman Rushdie was laid out in court.  It is not short or pretty, so I am going to put it into a spoiler tag...note, it's perfectly clean, but it may turn your stomach a bit...

 

Spoiler

The author’s injuries include three stab wounds to the right side of the front of his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on his right thigh, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Saturday during Matar’s arraignment. Wylie previously told the New York Times the attack left Rushdie with liver and nerve damage.

  

The threat to Rowling is horrific, awful...and most terrifying of all...not that surprising.  

[Sociotard]

40 minutes ago, dmjalund said:

which guy?

Trump. Sorry, I was reading the classified document comments when I wrote that, before I got to the stabbing

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, Sociotard said:

I still say Biden should just pardon the guy. Any prosecution will appear political. Reality does not matter; rather perception creates reality.

 

No matter how merited, any prosecution will lead to actual politicization of the Justice Department by Conservatives, because perception will say Liberals did it first

 

Round and round the widening gyre.

 

Stop the dang widening.

 

Not sure which guy you're referring to -- there's quite an array these days -- but it won't make any difference. If Conservatives gain control of the legislature and Presidency, they WILL politicize the Justice Department. They politicized the Attorney General. They politicized the SCOTUS. Conservatives tried and continue to try to create the perception that Liberals are the source of everything bad in America, regardless of reality. Their goal is total control, they've made that clear. That won't change whatever Biden does or doesn't do. The only practical response is to take down the ones responsible for fomenting and directing that perception, by every legal means. As many prominent ones as we can, to put the fear of consequences in the rest.

 

EDIT: That includes the most prominent guy, because if he gets away with all he's done, that emboldens others to follow his example.

[csyphrett]

Trump should be given the harshest sentence we can give him and be made an example for everyone like him. It doesn't matter about conservatives are evil, or anything like that. If we do that to the poor, we should do it to the rich too

CES 

[Pariah]

This surprises me not even a little bit.

 

Rand Paul Calls for Espionage Act Repeal as Trump Fumes Over FBI Search

 

I swear, Kentucky has the worst Senators. 

[unclevlad]

11 minutes ago, Pariah said:

This surprises me not even a little bit.

 

Rand Paul Calls for Espionage Act Repeal as Trump Fumes Over FBI Search

 

I swear, Kentucky has the worst Senators. 

 

Worse than Texas?  Cuz...that's saying something.......

[Old Man]

6 hours ago, Sociotard said:

I still say Biden should just pardon the guy. Any prosecution will appear political. Reality does not matter; rather perception creates reality.

 

No matter how merited, any prosecution will lead to actual politicization of the Justice Department by Conservatives, because perception will say Liberals did it first

 

Round and round the widening gyre.

 

Stop the dang widening.

 

I'm afraid I have to disagree.  I would describe this position as appeasement if not outright surrender.  If there are no consequences for breaking the law then conservatives will continue to break the law, and if they don't have a convenient excuse they'll invent one.

[Tom]

11 hours ago, Sociotard said:

I still say Biden should just pardon the guy. Any prosecution will appear political. Reality does not matter; rather perception creates reality.

 

No matter how merited, any prosecution will lead to actual politicization of the Justice Department by Conservatives, because perception will say Liberals did it first

 

Round and round the widening gyre.

 

Stop the dang widening.

That bridge is burned. It’s long past time to put up or shut up. 
 

The true believers on either side won’t believe any verdict that doesn’t vindicate their position, but there are still people who believe that laws and government are supposed to work  and haven’t finalized the verdict in their own minds (hard as that may be to believe) that want to see less innuendo and more action. 
 

If Trump is guilty, then prove it and convict him. 

[MrWolf]

It's not as though Trump himself is what I would call a "principled conservative".  We're not talking old-school William F Buckley or George Will style rational/principled conservative here (recently learned he's a "Never Trumper" - I kind of avoided news and politics for a few years, hard to believe, I know given those who know me of old). 

 

Even if Trump had never been elected to anything, I'd still be thinking he's at least skirted the law quite a lot as a "businessman".  Just significantly less dangerous as a TV star than as President.  But put me in the "no, don't just blanket pardon him" camp.  

 

That would send a very bad message to the NEXT wannabe dictator.  Who may not be as ... mercurial/chaotic/unpredictable and may be far more dangerous to democracy because the next one will be both competent and stealthy about it until he's in power.  I think there's a real danger of authoritarianism on the rise right now.

 

In any case, the court of public opinion <> courts of law and he's not legally found guilty of anything until proven so in court regardless of what I personally believe may have happened.  I do suspect charges are coming, however.  

 

I can only hope he gets his days in court.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

We cannot just blanket pardon Trump. If the highest officials in the land aren't held accountable to the law, why should ANYONE obey the law?

[Old Man]

Speaking of whom, he recently took to "Truth" Social to complain that the FBI confiscated stole his passports... thereby inadvertently admitting that the FBI considers him a flight risk.  Which he is.