[General US Politics]

I mean sure, at the time there probably was little to no data but the notion that the orange clown and the rest of his Republican circus calling it the China virus wouldn't lead towards an increase is just silly. Stoking animosity towards specific groups of people is what the right does best in this country. Just watch, they'll exploit the fact that the recent Colorado shooter is Syrian American.

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1 hour ago, Glennstavos said:

By the way, shout outs to the people here expressing skepticism when I mentioned a year ago there was a rise in anti-asian sentiment egged on by republicans calling it the China Virus. 

 

There was skepticism of this? In this thread?

[General US Politics]

"Boring but Radical" - Ted Cruz on Biden administration.

It has been lovely to see the GOP squirm, from their random flailing to find a good scandal on Biden and the obsession with cancel culture to their fears of the Filibuster changes/removal accelerating their party's doom.

["Everyone did what they thought was right."]

49 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I hope I'm not the only one to whom this scene is brought to mind.

 

So I guess given that scene is the first thing I think about I have to say bad thing...? I think? Is a neutral shit happens answer a valid response? Like isn't that the way the world is by default? Very few people think they're not justified in the things they do.

Lol that sound effect of their steps when they're back at the base.

I'm gonna go with it being a "bad thing". Obviously the severity depends on the context but you usually see this phrasing in cases where it's evident that something took place that is regrettable despite good intentions or simply thinking that they were doing the right thing. What is interpreted as the "right thing to do" among the masses is corruptible and people who see themselves as righteous can and have amassed enough support to commit atrocities they know are horrible but are being done "for the greater good" or "the end justifies the means". There's also the element of selfishness and ignorance: Were your supposed good intentions selfish or selfless? What makes you think YOU know what is truly "right"?

There's a lot more that could be said about it but I'll keep it brief lol.

[General US Politics]

19 minutes ago, NinjaMonkey said:

It wouldn't have mattered. The Republicans that voted against a guilty verdict would have done exactly the same, even if witnesses were called.

It's not necessarily about the outcome, that's a given that acquittal was going to happen not matter what was done. Not calling witnesses establishes a bad precedent for this sort of thing and you don't want either party to get away with an acquittal without allowing witness a second time.

The Republicans would never allow someone to get away like Trump has with no witnesses being called and thus, the Democrats should've put the same amount of pressure. They're being too soft on the Republicans when they should be putting on the pressure to make them behave more properly. Their insistence on denying accountability on Trump needs to be with a drive to sink them instead of letting them "sink or swim". 

But of course I'm biased on the subject as I want both parties to cease, starting with the Republican party.

[General US Politics]

'Nuff said. Absolutely no reason why witnesses shouldn't have been called.

The Math thing is completely stupid and it's just enough for Conservatives to throw a fit about it. Which side was the snowflakes again?

[General US Politics]

54 minutes ago, Sooks said:

....Trump’s defense team is artificially lengthening their argument with this hour long compilation of Democratic politicians using the word fight. Without actually making a point. Don’t give me false hope for a conviction, guys...

Conviction? Don't even think of it happening, although it would be a delightful miracle if it did. What you should expect is the Trumpist Senators like Cruz and Graham to scheme with Trump's lawyers to make Trump seem like a Martyr being taken down by the Satanic worshipping Democrats. Republicans can grandstand and pretend that they will be "impartial" jurors but at the end of the day, you'll be hard pressed to find enough Republicans to vote to convict as it is political suicide with their base. I would only consider the possibility of a conviction happening in this case if a few Republican Senators had actually died as a result of January 6's events.

If any of them are starting to feel horrified at what folks in their base are doing, they SHOULD feel the horror and reap what they've sowed with the Southern Strategy. The substance of the arguments is irrelevant as far as the votes is concerned, what they're really trying to do is mitigate the speed of their party's decline, hold on to power and save their asses from the cultists they have no control over.

[General US Politics]

4 hours ago, indigoasis said:

That whole GameStop thing kinda confuses me. I heard it was more or less because of redditors that the stock went up as much as it did. 

Stocks are weird.

It is. Basically, your typical Wall Street investor was banking on Gamestop's stock to keep dropping so there's been a lot of short selling on it and then some people on Reddit caught wind of it and decided to coordinate the boom currently seen in order to fuck those investors as well as get a profit for themselves.

Now said investors are crying foul about the market being manipulated while everyone else is just sitting back in delight and laughing at them given Wall Street's history and the tax-payer funded bail-outs.

Spoiler

 

 

Short selling in simple terms would be something like this...

1. You borrow 10 shares of Gamestop

2. You sell the 10 borrowed shares for $1,000 and wait for the stock value to drop

3. You buy 10 shares for $800

4. You return the 10 shares you borrowed but since you bought them for $800 after having sold them for $1,000, you've made a $200 profit.

Any short seller in this case is going to be pretty pissed because the exact opposite of what they speculated has happened and they're legality obligated to return the stock they borrowed which effectively amounts to them having to pay a large sum of money cause of some Reddit trolls when they had hoped to make easy money off of Gamestop's decline.

[General US Politics]

Found this in the code of the White House's website

<!-- If you're reading this, we need your help building back better. https://usds.gov/apply -->

 

[General US Politics]

Either of you care to PM me the source?

[General US Politics]

 

11 minutes ago, Clear World said:

Also, how the frick does government punish news outlet like Fox News? This trump media needs to be wrecked and destroyed.

Fox News won a court case with the argument that the First Amendment protects their lying lol.

[General US Politics]

17 hours ago, Crysta said:

Are you blaming me for the false equivalency existing because I choose to ridicule it? Because that may hurt the people who genuinely believe it? 

The media created and exacerbated it. Behavior like what happened contributes to it in a way.

[General US Politics]

Just now, eclipse said:

Going the emotional route when presented with factual evidence tells me that the person is here to preach, not have an honest discussion.  I think at absolute best, it's a strong aversion to a good, hard look at their own beliefs.  I follow the path I do because it aligns with what I believe in.  If I felt that the path I walked on didn't, I wouldn't be walking on it.

Read up on the backfire effect. It is hard to accept but humans just don't respond well to facts as they should and it's unfortunately the norm lol.

1 minute ago, Crysta said:

Everyone else was pretty civil and I was the only one being abrasive and I think I wrote up a total of like four sentences telling them they weren't going to get away with the 100% predictable "but BLM lit a Target on fire!" talking point.

Cry me a river. I know people aren't rational human beings, but being too mean to them on an internet forum is not going to make me feel guilty.

I don't care whether you feel guilty or don't. You and others are visibly upset about the false equivalency going on to which I'm also aware of and agree with you but the fact remains that if you wish someone wouldn't do that or you want to convince them otherwise, your approach was wrong. If you don't care, do as you will but don't expect things to change in that regard.

8 minutes ago, Crysta said:

It wasn't kicking or screaming. If you're really interested in a reasonable conversation yourself, stop exaggerating.

I wasn't being literal and it's in reference to the instances where you reply with "I HATE IT HERE". I jokingly labeled that as a kicking and screaming because I get it and I understand how frustrating it is.

10 minutes ago, Crysta said:

I'm not interested in reeling every right winger to my side, nor am I interested if me criticizing them is perceived as me confirming I really am as mean as they think lefties are. A significant portion of them also believe I'm a crazed socialist bent on destroying America because I voted for radical liberal Joseph R. Biden and, going out on a limb here, I don't think any amount of handling them with kid gloves is gonna change that!

You and others can put in the work if you want to.

Then do you acknowledge and accept that you hurt your cause?

11 minutes ago, Crysta said:

No. The right-wingers don't get to determine how I argue, particularly if their viewpoints are toxic enough to manifest in actual harm and the most I'm going to give them is an uncomfortable internet argument.

Then it should cease being a surprise to you when the aforementioned false equivalency comes up.

[General US Politics]

Just now, eclipse said:

You're assuming that they're here to have an honest discussion.  Someone else said that they identify as Republican earlier in the thread, and my response was quite different (it's here. . .somewhere in that mess of posts regarding yesterday's clusterfuck).  But someone who tries to equate both sides has somehow equated the both parties being equal, when a factual comparison shows otherwise.  In other words, they're trying to be neutral on the basis of a lie - and I don't take well to dishonesty.

Or perhaps It's ignorance created by all the misinformation put out by Trump and his followers. You're going to have people come in just to troll and you're going to have people that are just ignorant and are duped by the right-wing media, folks need to learn how to deal with the latter better.

[General US Politics]

53 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

EDIT: @Dr. Tarrasque, I get what you're saying. I really do. And yet, Dragoncat seems to be coming from an area where she is not fully informed on the matters and is reacting on gut instinct, an emotional reaction more than logic. Coming into a discussion uninformed like that is not going to do her any favors. Better for her to know that now, or people will dog pile on her for not doing research and speaking only from emotion.

Yes and that's the problem. MOST people who end up defending Republicans on this thread aren't fully aware of what's going on and are often folks seeing the same rigged system that we do but they'll end up easily being turned into supporting Republicans because humans aren't exactly rational creatures, they're more likely to make decisions based on their feelings and in this particular case y'all come off as bullies dogpiling on one ignorant individual.

1 hour ago, Crysta said:

You really don't have to defend the person who voluntarily compared BLM to yesterday's insurrectionists.

You really, really don't.

I don't fucking care to defend anyone here. I knew the moment that person made their first post here that they would just wish they hadn't and leave. You can kick and scream all you want about how the Republican party gets off the hook so easily and how much the Democrats get sandbagged by the media and I agree with you on that but here's the sad reality: that is the world we live in and the right-wing has made a habit of picking up people who feel attacked by folks supportive of the left or Democrats. It sucks but you need to deal with it, adapt and change your approach if you ever wish to get people to see your side of things and that includes conceding when the left and the Democrats are doing something stupid otherwise you only make the shitty and false "both sides" narrative work that much easier to the apathetic and ignorant showing the slightest bit of interest in understanding US politics.

If you want to educate people on the reality of the 2 parties, you need to play around how easy it is for the right-wing to win them over to their side if the individual feels alienated/attacked by you. Yes, there are Republican voters who are straight up scumbags, white supremacists and indoctrinated by Confederate friendly teachings but there's also ones that are just plain ignorant to the matter and may on occasion be willing to listen. Case in point: apparently that person voted for Biden and you gave the impression that you assumed she voted for Trump and may be an ardent Trump supporter. You lost here.

1 hour ago, eclipse said:

I'm not going to support "both sides" after supporters of one party laid a potential opening act to a civil war.  I don't care which side the "both sides" are coming from - the sides are clearly not equal.  To state otherwise is dishonest.

I've shit on the media in this thread for their habit of playing the "both sides" card all the damn time, you'll never catch me saying Republicans of this time are better than Democrats and of the deaths that occurred yesterday, I would've preferred it for those deaths to have happened to the likes of Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Trump, Mitch McConnell.

However, y'all need to realize that it has become a trigger word for you guys because you are actually informed and your knee-jerk reaction is to respond with a sense of righteous entitlement because you actually follow what's going on and if you want your truth to be seen, you've got to adapt and learn to talk to those that are ignorant better otherwise the truth that they'll see will be the bullshit the right-wing spews.

[General US Politics]

You guys aren't exactly helping. I understand the frustration with seeing the "both sides" talk but when it looks like y'all are just ganging up on one person when they're trying to say remember the not every Republican is a piece of shit, you're doing more harm and giving evidence for the actually shitty Republicans to work with and get more people on their side.

I absolutely want to see the Republican party be destroyed thanks to the bullshit that has come from the Trump presidency but there's only 2 viable parties for people to choose and if what they can gather more from people who vote Democratic is memories of them being bullied, you're handing votes over to the side you want to destroy. 

[General US Politics]

29 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Perhaps when they think long term but its at least possible some might end up turning on Trump in a knee jerk reaction. Today Trump put the life of even his own cronies in danger, the same ones who protected him during his impeachment. Had they not gone out on time there's a real chance they would have been murdered. 

We'll see if they actually do anything about it. All I'm seeing is talk, no action and I wouldn't expect any until some of the politicians actually die. They have the option of just impeaching the fucker again which really won't achieve anything but it sends the message "we fucked up by not impeaching and removing him before so we're doing it now". A message that doesn't sit well with the Trumpists.

[General US Politics]

42 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

At this point, the only thing that's left to wonder is when will people start being held accountable for this.

The instigators are pundits, government officials and the President himself so probably never.

1 person also died in the Unite the Right rally. The outcome of this will probably be much like that event: the left will remember and try to capitalize on it because of the death and the right won't really care because it was just one death and it is their voters.

 

EDIT: No, don't expect them to use the 25th amendment. Republican politicians will still want Trumpists' votes.

 

[General US Politics]

1 hour ago, Crysta said:

For those paying attention to Georgia: expect this to be a re-run of election night. Expect a GOP advantage in the votes reported first because more Republicans vote on election day (and these votes are counted before early voting and absentee) and conservative counties are likely to report results faster. We're not likely getting a clear winner tonight, either.

Also expect the usual suspects to cry foul again if Dems manage to pull off a win after coming back from behind. Again.

EDIT: okay i might have to take that back, this is going much faster than it did on election night

Even so, we can still expect those clowns to continue instigating the crazies and propping up violence. "They stole the presidency and then they stole the senate with that phony runoff"

Btw, you gotta love how he suggests that they need Republicans with the Senate control to undo the system and yet they had total control during the first 2 years of Trump...

[General US Politics]

Full audio of Trump trying to get the Georgia Secretary of state to basically hand over the state to him in the election.

[General US Politics]

2 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

Thats the part  that surprises me. I thought they were better then that.

None of it surprised me. What does annoy me is how good the Democrats are at submitting to the Republicans. As you've said before, "Never underestimate the Democrats' ability to snag defeat from the jaws of victory".

It should be obvious that the Republican party needs to cease existence but it is so difficult to get some people to see that given the Democrats' own corruption as it is true, both parties are corrupt and most people will just stop there and fail to see the differences in the extent of their corruption.

[General US Politics]

41 minutes ago, XRay said:

I used to think maybe Trump would lose his base if he did something really horrible like shooting a baby on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight, but it seems more and more like he would not. If Trump decides mowed down his own supporters in the front row of his rallies, while I would be a bit surprised if no one sued him, I do not think it would be shocking either since his base seems like they are willing to take an extremely high amount of abuse from him.

"Democrats are still worse. They're Satan worshippers who want to kill babies and protect pedophiles. Just look at that California law".

[General US Politics]

3 hours ago, Excellen Browning said:

I have to say, I'm kind of surprised by the lack of outrage over the recent trump pardons. Because holy shit the list. Co-conspirators in the Russia and Ukraine schemes, fraudsters, traitors, child murderers, it's all fair game.

And apparently everyone's cool with convicted murderers walking.

Those who don't like Trump have come to expect it. Those who support Trump will either have been duped into thinking those pardons are noble or they'll just brush it off because Democrats are worse.

[General US Politics]

5 hours ago, Lord Raven said:

If there's anything I have confidence in, it's the american people brushing off abuse in favor of owning libs

True that, there's also "Both parties are the same". I see this a lot and it is sad to see as someone who wants both parties to be destroyed because there's literally one side straight up acting like Disney Villains lol

[General US Politics]

Democrats should just take this and run with it...

EDIT: The house passed it and it's going to the Senate. I expect it to die there as well but it does seem like a bad move to make on the Republicans' part.