Grailknight Posted February 24 Report Share Posted February 24 48 minutes ago, Cygnia said: The Americans Who Need Chaos Very interesting and it seems to mesh well with what I'm seeing in the people around me. I'd love to see what some of the commonsense pundits on each side make of this study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/02/supreme-court-order-facebook-x-election-lies.html?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=traffic&utm_source=article&utm_content=facebook_share Old Man 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 'Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia': Expert points to new evidence Quote Trump, he noted, appears to be spiraling into "phonemic paraphasias" during his rally speeches, which he described as, "the substitution of non-words for words that sound similar—are not normally seen until a patient enters the moderate to severe stages of Alzheimer’s." According to Gartner, "Some examples of Trump’s non-words: Beneficiaries becomes 'benefishes.' Renovations become 'renoversh.' Pivotal became 'pivobal.' Obama became 'obamna.' Missiles became 'mishiz.' Christmas became 'Crissus.' Bipartisan became 'bipars.' This is a fundamental breakdown in the ability to use language. If you were talking to your father on the phone and he did this you would think he is having a stroke. There is no healthy older person who speaks that way." He also noted Trump's tendency to go off in odd directions while talking to audiences. Referring to the former president's "tangential speech," he elaborated, "He just becomes incomprehensible when he engages in free association word salad speech that is all over the place. Again, that's a sign of real brain damage, not being old, not being slow, not losing a step not being, but of severe cognitive deterioration." He continued, "What I don’t understand is why those clips aren’t replayed over and over in the mainstream media. Isn’t Trump babbling incoherently the most newsworthy part of his rally? You can be sure it would be if it were Biden." Matt the Bruins and Old Man 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 3 minutes ago, Cygnia said: 'Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia': Expert points to new evidence Could be...but I'm gonna be a tad cynical here. The doctor's got a self-interest here. That said, it does seem that it's something for more media to note. If there's any media that could truly be considered impartial any more...as the typical outlets, by and large, will observe anything through their own particular color of glasses WRT the Donald.... TrickstaPriest 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iuz the Evil Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 I think it’s reasonable to be concerned about the cognitive facilities of any individual running for President who is of an age to be required to show up in person to renew a license and is subject to family requests for license review. The Donald exceeds that by a healthy margin in California (70), as does his opponent. It would be nice to have candidates with a little less tread worn off their tires, but it is what it is. I could see either of them not having their full cognitive facilities, and likely both. TrickstaPriest and Starlord 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 All I've seen of Joe Biden is that he's a little slower than he used to be, he occasionally forgets something but never anything important, and he occasionally misspeaks, which frankly he's done his entire life. Nothing that raises any concerns for me. He's convinced me that he can do the job, and he's accomplished much more than anyone expected. As for his age, my landlord is 95 and still drives, mows his lawn and does home repairs. This is 2024, eighty is the new sixty. Donald Trump is obese, physically feeble, and doing his best impression of the local crazy old man ranting at the neighbors from his front porch. He proved he was unfit for the job even before all that. Matt the Bruins, Old Man, Ternaugh and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 13 hours ago, Grailknight said: Very interesting and it seems to mesh well with what I'm seeing in the people around me. I'd love to see what some of the commonsense pundits on each side make of this study. 9 hours ago, Cygnia said: 'Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia': Expert points to new evidence Something weird is going on in American politics: i) That's not chaos-seeking. That's suicidal ideation. It's an issue with aging in general, and also substance abuse. ii) Given that Trump's decline has been obvious and well-documented, with plenty of live demonstrations, you think it wouldn't be news, much less provoke contrarian responses. We all age out and it's hard to find anyone who seriously thinks Trump was ever a competent administrator, as opposed to redirecting their suicidal ideation. Really the only question is the specific parameters of his ineffectuality as head of the Administration if re-elected this year, and this has an upside as well as a downside for everyone. In other words, his lack of grip may enable the worst elements in his following, or render them ineffectual. Either way, it's going to be a Presidency only a person with suicidal tendencies could love. iii) Trump is a historically weak candidate. The strong tendency for the last century has been for the incumbent party to lose re-election to a third term, with 7 elections going that way to 4 going the other way, a count even more lopsided when you exclude the New Deal years as anomalous. Trump's election in 2016 is in line with the trend; losing the popular vote was not in line with expectations. There is an even stronger tendency for incumbent presidents to win re-election, so Trump's defeat in 2020 is even more anomalous, though in line with his demonstrated level of voter appeal. iv) The rest of the Republican Party has been electorally underwhelming going back to 2018. Without going into the nitty gritty, he doesn't show many signs of having coat-tails; and as a separate but not unrelated issue, while you can't call electoral polling wrong overall in the last seven years, it has been consistently skewed to the right end of margins of error, with the effect of overstating GOP chances in many local elections and provoking numerous panics about predicted Democratic underperformance. (And much cathartic relief; either way, it has been pretty good for media clickthroughs.) v) Trump has entered the primary races in the odd position of being the effective incumbent. No-one has a clue what this means, but, overall, the scrutiny has been on what the size of his margins say about his popularity in the party. (And, also, while anyone cared, about that of Ron DeSantis.) Thus, as strong as 51% in Iowa or 54.3% was in New Hampshire by historic standards in multi-candidate primaries and caucuses, there was a hot take that it wasn't enough. vi) Given said hot take, one was obviously wondering what the margin would be in South Carolina. So when I flicked on the CBC news to listen while I did my knee bends this morning, my curiosity was piqued. Unfortunately, CBC did not have the numbers. Neither, when I turned on my devices, did the CBC website or AOL News. (Don't judge me!) I finally found the numbers with an online search at the AP (admittedly an update an hour after I tuned in to the news (I'm an early riser. Don't judge me even more!): 59.8% Trump; 39.5% Haley. Ten hours ago, the headline on Reuters was "Lopsided Trump win," and the body of the article talked about Trump's "expected victory," before an update noted that Haley "outperformed expectations based on opinion polls." In the most obvious and telegraphed conclusion imaginable, I believe that the media finds Trump very good for view counts from assorted doomscrollers, and so pumps up his candidacy. It correctly believes that evidence that Trump is a historically bad candidate is irrelevant to his supporters and obviously doesn't move the needle with people who wouldn't vote for him, anyway. I'm not going to say that he won't be the candidate in 2024, because I thought he was too lazy and defensive to push through in 2020, and look how wrong I was then. But he was being promised an autogolpe, which is a much bigger lift this time around. It sure seems like Trump will bow out before November. Lord Liaden 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 ‘My ultimate and absolute revenge’: Trump gives chilling CPAC speech on presidential agenda Quote In classic carnival barker form, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination accused Joe Biden of weaponising the government against him with “Stalinist show trials”. He pledged to crack down on border security and deliver the biggest deportation in US history if he wins the 5 November election. “For hard-working Americans, November 5th will be our new liberation day,” Trump told a packed ballroom at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor in Maryland. “But for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and imposters who have commandeered our government, it will be their judgment day!” He added: “Your victory will be our ultimate vindication, your liberty will be our ultimate reward and the unprecedented success of the United States of America will be my ultimate and absolute revenge.” The overwhelmingly white crowd, many wearing Make America Great Again regalia, rose to their feet and roared their approval. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 The projection in that speech is so strong it could have blown out my windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 21 hours ago, Cygnia said: 'Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia': Expert points to new evidence The last charismatic Republican president with dementia is still the darling of conservatives, and that was Reagan. Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 4 hours ago, Cancer said: The last charismatic Republican president with dementia is still the darling of conservatives, and that was Reagan. Reagan is probably spinning in his grave the way the Trump-lead Republican party has been in bed with Russia. Hermit and Pariah 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 (edited) I don't think Reagan started showing signs of actual dementia until after his presidency. He was always rather clueless, though. But as much as Republicans today invoke his name, if Ronnie was alive and active in politics now, they'd pillory him as a liberal. All the greatest Republican presidents -- Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower -- would despise what the party has become. And Teddy would probably personally thrash Donald Trump, he had no tolerance for scoundrels. Edited February 26 by Lord Liaden Pariah, Rails and Old Man 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 (edited) https://www.meidastouch.com/news/utah-gov-spencer-cox-praises-biden-we-pray-for-you-to-be-successful Edited February 26 by tkdguy Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperion Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 9 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: I don't think Reagan started showing signs of actual dementia until after his presidency. He was always rather clueless, though. But as much as Republicans today invoke his name, if Ronnie was alive and active in politics now, they'd pillory him as a liberal. All the greatest Republican presidents -- Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower -- would despise what the party has become. And Teddy would probably personally thrash Donald Trump, he had no tolerance for scoundrels. The issue of Reagan's mental state did come up during his Presidency. However, any time there was a challenge, he was open about it. Then after leaving the Presidency, he came clean and let everyone know his true mental condition and became a leader for mental treatment around the U.S. This lasted until he was no longer able to perform any action just before he passed away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 Colorado launches firearm data dashboard Considering the obfuscation efforts by the firearms industry and its political lackeys, this first is a huge step in the right direction, but it seems not to include firearm deaths due to police (a few years ago, one year police accounted for a quarter of the homicides in the city of Seattle, so this is a serious exclusion). Law enforcement agencies nationwide have fought such reporting requirements (let alone data publication) forever. unclevlad, wcw43921, Old Man and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 4 hours ago, Asperion said: The issue of Reagan's mental state did come up during his Presidency. However, any time there was a challenge, he was open about it. Then after leaving the Presidency, he came clean and let everyone know his true mental condition and became a leader for mental treatment around the U.S. This lasted until he was no longer able to perform any action just before he passed away. Given his record we'd have been better off if he'd been vegetative for the duration of his administration. Cygnia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. MID-Nite Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 Reagan wasn't just one of the most overrated presidents....his term in office was objectively bad for the country. Sigh.... Cygnia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 A description of the especially extreme Evangelical doctrine that shaped the Alabama Chief Justice's concurrent opinion. This has been going on a long time without mainstream media paying much attention, but it's a movement that makes no secret its explicitly antidemocratic plan is to seize the commanding heights of power and force their version of Christian dogma down everyone else's throat. To fight the demons, doncha know. How the Alabama IVF Ruling Was Influenced by Christian Nationalism | On the Media | WNYC Studios Incidentally, this is the doctrine of my character Rev Gil Purdue (from Creatures of the Night: Horror Enemies). Except I thought I was pushing the real doctrine of "Dominion Theology" beyond reality to comic-book extremes. Turns out... I wasn't. Or at least not as far as I thought. Dean Shomshak Lord Liaden 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 The most disturbing aspect of the Alabama ruling for me, was the clear refutation of church/state separation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 My favorite part of that entire s___show is that the original suit was brought by IVF customers whose embryos were destroyed by some trespasser. They wanted to throw the book at the parties responsible so they used all the personhood language to try and equate the crime to murder. Now they have effectively murdered IVF in the state of Alabama; people can't even get their embryos shipped to another state because no one will take the risk of transporting such a fragile "person". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 Meanwhile, people are finally starting to report on possible methods of overthrowing this fall's elections. One method goes like this: Speaker Johnson refuses to swear in some number of Democratic winners of House elections on 3 Jan 2025, citing 'election irregularities' Republicans therefore maintain control of the House On 6 Jan 2025, the skewed House refuses to certify some number of electoral votes, citing 'election irregularities' As a result neither candidate reaches 270 electoral votes and the Presidency defaults to a vote in... the House of Representatives Trump wins. Logically, therefore, we can expect some 'election irregularities' on Nov 6. This could be anything--complicit state SoSes making stuff up, Fox News making stuff up, actual attempts to sabotage or corrupt an election, or plain old terrorism with guns and bombs. Other coup methods are also outlined, such as the House Speaker taking over as "acting president" in the event of a contested election outcome, or any number of Constitutional legal challenges that would go straight to the SCOTUS. The article does mention a handful of potential solutions, but ultimately Americans are going to have to be ready. At minimum people need to get the word out so we all know what to watch for. Should the worst occur, it might take a general strike to get the usurpers to step down. Winning is the only way Trump stays out of jail. He will cheat. Again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 I don't think Johnson would go that far, but...that's January. I worry more about the various 'irregularities' that will be asserted, starting even before election day...with early voting...and continuing through the entire process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 So far, every time we thought, "They'd never do X," they do X, or at least try. At this point I put nothing past anyone in the GOP if they think they can get away with it. Old Man and Pariah 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 At this point, if someone in the GOP House says Biden is a lizard man, I'm pretty sure the one making the accusation has scales under a lot of make up and prosthetics. It seems to be what inspires them, whatever they do and try to hide, they accuse the other side of. Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 Whenever I see Mitch McConnell or Matt Gaetz, I can't help thinking that they look like they should be monitored by the MIB. Pariah and Hermit 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.