Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Lord Liaden]

North Korea says no more talks with U.S. just so Trump can boast

 

It says a lot when North Korea calls someone out for pointless publicity stunts.

[Cygnia]

Accelerationism: the obscure idea inspiring white supremacist killers around the world

[Lord Liaden]

"Some men just want to watch the world burn."

[Pariah]

...and some men are just bastards.

[Starlord]

Some people call me the Space Cowboy.

[Lord Liaden]

For those outside Canada who are curious, here's a little insight into the non-Utopian state of socialized medicine: Closing arguments begin in legal case over private health care in British Columbia

[DShomshak]

20 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Accelerationism: the obscure idea inspiring white supremacist killers around the world

Steven Pinker was right: Every movement of mass atrocity gets ideas from some academic scribbler.

 

I've read bits of The Dark Enlightenment. Only bits, though: Life is short, and I won't waste much of it on Nick Land's bombastic nonsense. I am not surprised to find his halfwit ravings tied in to current violence.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

[TrickstaPriest]

I didn't really catch the testimony from Fiona Hill or the others today or yesterday.  Anything notable come up?  I heard something about the funds being vetted, which should be a big deal...

[csyphrett]

Word is Fiona Hill told Devin Nunes he should stick to suing imaginary cows because he was more useless than a obstructed bowel in the nicest politest way possible. Otherwise everyone called has confirmed every known fact that Trump did hold aid as hostage for personal favors and that Nunes and Jordan should not try to run conspiracy theories in the middle of a proceeding and leave that to their counterpart in the senate Lyndsey Graham

CES

[Old Man]

At this point seven career government officials have testified under oath that Trump and Giuliani bribed the president of Ukraine for foreign campaign assistance. All the testimony corroborates the White House’s own “transcript” of the call.  Neither man has the balls to testify in their own defense—they are effectively pleading the 5th. 

[Starlord]

1 hour ago, Old Man said:

 Neither man has the balls to testify in their own defense—they are effectively pleading the 5th. 

 

Burnt-orange testicles just flashed through my head.  Thanks for that.

[Pariah]

[Hermit]

Clearly, CNN has an AGENDA... and Fox news is just 'telling it like it is' (Far too many of my relations)

[Ternaugh]

Or, Jon Stewart was correct in calling Tucker Carlson a d*ck.

 

(Just taking the "Fair and Balanced" out for a Spin)

[Starlord]

The phrase 'quid pro quo' hasn't received this much attention since Silence of the Lambs....

[TrickstaPriest]

4 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

This.  This is entirely why I am interested in asking people what they heard directly.  I tried to catch most of the hearings, but I've been and out of meetings and missing the streams all week.  I ask only because I want to have something substantial when I deal with people who only listen to the sound bites.

 

What little I heard was damning, though I didn't catch all the material that's being used as 'counter arguments'.  Frankly just what was in the "transcript" was bad.

 

4 hours ago, Hermit said:

Clearly, CNN has an AGENDA... and Fox news is just 'telling it like it is' (Far too many of my relations)

 

I'm sorry you have to deal with that, Hermit.  What I recommend is looking at channels like Street Epistemology if you ever want to navigate 'that kind of conversation'.

 

[megaplayboy]

10 hours ago, Old Man said:

At this point seven career government officials have testified under oath that Trump and Giuliani bribed the president of Ukraine for foreign campaign assistance. All the testimony corroborates the White House’s own “transcript” of the call.  Neither man has the balls to testify in their own defense—they are effectively pleading the 5th. 

Not only was Trump seeking the assistance of a foreign country to cheat in the 2020 election, he was seeking "investigation" into the Russian-perpetrated "hoax" that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 elections, in order to get Russia off the hook and lift the sanctions on them.

A newsweek article says that Trump wants to pull out of NATO ASAP.  I wouldn't put it past him to not only do that, but then turn around and propose/announce an "Alliance" with Putin's Russia.  

 

We can't get rid of this corrupt maniac soon enough.  

[Old Man]

On 11/22/2019 at 1:59 PM, megaplayboy said:

Not only was Trump seeking the assistance of a foreign country to cheat in the 2020 election, he was seeking "investigation" into the Russian-perpetrated "hoax" that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 elections, in order to get Russia off the hook and lift the sanctions on them.

 

 

To be completely accurate, he didn't want an investigation.  He wanted an announcement of an investigation, by a head of state, probably on the White House lawn.  He couldn't care less whether an actual investigation occurred, nor did he ask his own Justice Department to conduct an investigation, nor did he support existing anti-corruption efforts already underway in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.  All he wanted was more foreign assistance with his campaign.

 

edit: In fact, he would probably have actively discouraged a real investigation.  That might have exonerated the Bidens completely, and we can't have that.

[TrickstaPriest]

Always nice to see the reality through the filter of fox news versus literally anyone else.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/eddie-gallagher-navy-secretary-trident
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/24/politics/pentagon-mark-esper-richard-spencer/index.html

 

I have a friend, and a brother, who are clearly eating up this stuff but won't admit it.  I really would love to know what in the world my brother is thinking in going 'oh but he's very effective'.

[DShomshak]

Well, my brother has a friend who at least is completely clear in why he backs Trump: "His tax cut put another $80 a month in my pocket. For that, he can tell all the lies he wants." Or do anything else, really. Said friend is at least honest in being a small person with small concerns. He also has no children to live through the consequences of Trump's actions.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

So this person's integrity is for sale for less than $1000.00 a year. That's actually quite sad.

[Guest Usagi]

I'm not a very political person.  I tend to think both parties are basically the same, though the last three years have really challenged that notion.  I don't like Trump, not because he's a Republican (I'd have no real issue with Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio as POTUS), but because he's a gibbering moron.  In my youth I worked in a convenience store in a bad neighborhood with a lot of homeless junkies and alcoholics, and Trump reminds me of them the way he talks -- all disjointed and incoherent, with no clear point and absurd, nonsensical gibberish.  The man is a dolt.  But whatever, we've had stupid presidents before.  Hell, Reagan had old timer's disease and he was still a good president.

 

But man, this stuff with the Navy...this really upsets me.  My dad was a Green Beret, served from 1962 to 1970.  After spending a few years in the National Park Service as a Ranger, he went back to work for the CIA as an on-ground observer in the Sudan.  My grandfather was a tanker captain in WW2, ended up as a base commander after the war, then went into the defense industry after the war, working closely with the military.  Basically what I'm saying is that growing up, the honor of American military service was a taken seriously in my house.  And more than anything, that's how I judge politicians.  I don't like politicians, especially civilians who have have never served, pushing their agenda on the military or misusing the military.

 

What Trump has done now, firing the top officer in the US Navy, interfering with the military courts, protecting this scumbag who has dishonored his unit, dishonored the Navy, dishonored the entire US Military establishment, is just intolerable.  It's absolutely inexcusable.  No civilian commander should be interfering in these matters, let alone interfering to protect a war criminal.  It's disgusting and terribly corrosive to military discipline and morale.

 

I know a lot of the military is Republican, but god, I really hope they don't support Trump after this.  The man is a slimeball, corrupting everything he touches.  He needs to be removed from office post haste.

[wcw43921]

The military doesn't appear to support Trump this time around--if they ever did.

[Hermit]

12 minutes ago, wcw43921 said:

The military doesn't appear to support Trump this time around--if they ever did.

 

I suspect the Military, often being better traveled, knows that not all countries that mix socialism and Democracy are doomed to failure

[Doc Democracy]

21 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

So this person's integrity is for sale for less than $1000.00 a year. That's actually quite sad.

 

Well, they did polling in the UK (will try to see if I can find the reports) in both the Scottish independence and Brexit referendums.  In both there was a significant number of people who would be convinced to switch their vote if one result provided them with a £500 personal benefit...

 

Doc