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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#175001: Feb 19th 2017 at 5:22:30 AM

So apparently SCROTUS invented a terrorist attack in Sweden.

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#175002: Feb 19th 2017 at 5:31:13 AM

[up] SOURCE?

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
Falrinn Since: Dec, 2014
#175004: Feb 19th 2017 at 6:00:50 AM

So what are we up to now?

- Sweden terrorist attack on February 17thnote .

- Bowling Green Massacre

- Atlanta terrorist attack

Am I missing any? That's 3 fictitious terrorist incidents since Trump took office a month ago.

edited 19th Feb '17 6:01:38 AM by Falrinn

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#175005: Feb 19th 2017 at 6:01:02 AM

[up] If he keeps up with insane claims, next he'll say that New York is under attack by radioactive ninja turtles. tongue

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#175006: Feb 19th 2017 at 6:04:04 AM

... When I read "SCROTUS", I thought it was a new nickname for the SCOTUS that means "Supreme Court (Republican) of the United States".

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#175007: Feb 19th 2017 at 6:04:23 AM

Alternative facts everyone! Calling other news fake news while releasing false statements all the time is something straight out of 1984. Accuse the others of what you're doing, exactly what every autocrat despot does.

[up]I assumed it was the Secretary of the United States.

edited 19th Feb '17 6:07:11 AM by AngelusNox

Inter arma enim silent leges
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#175008: Feb 19th 2017 at 6:17:32 AM

I can't help feel that one of the most alarming things about Trump is that it's so easy to put his words into the mouth of a fictional psychopath or idiot without the fictional person being out of character.

Exclusive: DHS chief proposes prosecuting parents of children smuggled into U.S.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/nation-world/national/article133597984.html

"New U.S. travel ban to spare green card holders: Trump official" - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-idUSKBN15X0O6

Also, going along with borrowing Tea Party tactics
New Trump-resistance group Indivisible borrows tips from the tea party

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article133253624.html

edited 19th Feb '17 7:02:09 AM by sgamer82

math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#175009: Feb 19th 2017 at 7:03:46 AM

SCROTUS = So-Called Ruler Of The United States.

Plus, it's almost 'scrotum', so it speaks to his character.

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#175010: Feb 19th 2017 at 7:05:22 AM

I assumed it was the Secretary of the United States.
According to Google search, it's actually Trump's newest nickname: "So-Called Ruler of the United States".

[nja]

edited 19th Feb '17 7:09:36 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#175011: Feb 19th 2017 at 7:19:50 AM

@second link in sgamer82's post at the bottom of last page: oh, those fucking nazis.

Copying his links cause we switched page:

Exclusive: DHS chief proposes prosecuting parents of children smuggled into U.S.

"New U.S. travel ban to spare green card holders: Trump official"

Also, going along with borrowing Tea Party tactics New Trump-resistance group Indivisible borrows tips from the tea party.

EDIT: A thing I just found:

Here are 21 facts that explain who Trump mouthpiece Stephen Miller really is. Creepy.

edited 19th Feb '17 7:43:04 AM by IFwanderer

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#175012: Feb 19th 2017 at 7:54:52 AM

Wow, Miller really is a creep.

It does make you wonder what happens to people to make them so consumed by irrational hate and fear. Especially since it looks like with Miller it happened basically overnight.

But honestly, most of these people are just pathetic. They see a problem and their only solution is to get rid of whoever they see as responsible, regardless of whether or not that's the case. Hey, newsflash, every single society that actually succeeded in getting rid of the "problem"? Had massive problems and failures down the road. Cambodia still hasn't recovered properly from the Khmer Rouge and the only reason Franco's Spain didn't have a longer legacy was because a lot (not enough) of the intelligensia was able to flee.

edited 19th Feb '17 7:59:37 AM by Zendervai

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#175013: Feb 19th 2017 at 7:56:45 AM

Student body president Justin Brownstone says Miller “enjoyed saying things that were perceived as racist. The more he offended, the happier he was.”
No wonder he and Trump are so close.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#175014: Feb 19th 2017 at 8:13:46 AM

John Bolton must not be chosen as Flynn's replacement. Which probably means he will be. *sigh*

None of the other picks (all generals) are likely to be okay with Trump's conditions, which makes sense.

TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#175015: Feb 19th 2017 at 8:20:34 AM

[up]x3

No person, no problem. The only reason why they take that road is due to laziness.

edited 19th Feb '17 8:21:14 AM by TerminusEst

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#175016: Feb 19th 2017 at 8:22:18 AM

[up][up][up][up] Hardcore nihilists perhaps?

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#175017: Feb 19th 2017 at 11:45:15 AM

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/opinion/sunday/are-liberals-helping-trump.html?_r=2&referer=

An article about how the vitriolic reaction from the Left to Trump and Trump supporters could be costing the very middle-ground voters they should be courting. Frankly, while I predict that many reactions to this are only going to serve the article's point, I think it makes a good reason for avoiding the knee-jerk Conservative=Bad mindset I've ranted against in the past if it's only going to push people we might otherwise convince further into the Conservative bubble.

Some anecdotes/statements from the article, in no particular order, starting with Jeffrey Medford, a small-business owner in South Carolina who voted for Trump.

Mr. Medford compares Mr. Trump to a jalopy.

“It’s like I need to get from Charleston to Atlanta, and suddenly the most beat-up car on earth shows up and says, ‘Do you need a ride?’ I think, wow, if I had any other way to get there, I’d choose it. But there’s only this terrible car. And it might not even make it.”

But he doesn’t want to get out, at least not yet, and the resignation of Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, hasn’t changed that. Late last year, he hit it off with a woman in New York he met online. They spent hours on the phone. They made plans for him to visit. But when he mentioned he had voted for Mr. Trump, she said she was embarrassed and didn’t know if she wanted him to come. (He eventually did, but she lied to her friends about his visiting.)

“It invalidated anything that’s good about me, just because of how I voted. Poof, it’s gone.”

Ann O’Connell, 72, a retired administrative assistant in Syracuse who voted for Trump, regarding her view of the masses of protesting

“I don’t have a problem with protesting as long as it’s peaceful, but this is destroying the country,” said Ann O’Connell, 72, a retired administrative assistant in Syracuse who voted for Mr. Trump. “I feel like we are in some kind of civil war right now. I know people don’t like to use those terms. But I think it’s scary.”

Mrs. O’Connell is a registered Democrat. She voted for Bill Clinton twice. But she has drifted away from the party over what she said was a move from its middle-class economic roots toward identity politics. She remembers Mr. Clinton giving a speech about the dangers of illegal immigration. Mr. Trump was lambasted for offering some of the same ideas, she said.

“The Democratic Party has changed so much that I don’t even recognize it anymore,” she said. “These people are destroying our democracy. They are scarier to me than these Islamic terrorists. I feel absolutely disgusted with them and their antics. It strengthens people’s resolve in wanting to support President Trump. It really does.”

“The name calling from the left is crazy,” said Bryce Youngquist, 34, who works in sales for a tech start-up in Mountain View, Calif., a liberal enclave where admitting you voted for Mr. Trump is a little like saying in the 1950s that you were gay. “They are complaining that Trump calls people names, but they turned into some mean people.”

Mr. Youngquist stayed in the closet for months about his support for Mr. Trump. He did not put a bumper sticker on his car, for fear it would be keyed. The only place he felt comfortable wearing his Make America Great Again hat was on a vacation in China. Even dating became difficult. Many people on Tinder have a warning on their profile: “Trump supporters swipe left” — meaning, get lost.

He came out a few days before the election. On election night, a friend posted on Facebook, “You are a disgusting human being.”

“They were making me want to support him more with how irrational they were being,” Mr. Youngquist said.

edited 19th Feb '17 11:49:32 AM by sgamer82

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#175018: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:23:26 PM

[up]I read that article in the morning (and here's an internet archive link to be able to avoid the paywall), I wasn't sure whether to post it here or not because I'm not completely sure about how much I agree or disagree with it.

I will point out the two "big" things for me with that article using this quote from the first interviewee:

  • “There are at least some things about Trump I find to be defensible. But they are saying: ‘Agree with us 100 percent or you are morally bankrupt. You’re an idiot if you support any part of Trump.’”

1. The first thing is that the article (and the people interviewed) are not seeing that Democratic-voters have seen themselves in similar (or the same) positions with regards to Republican treatment of Obama ("yeah, I do think he should focus more on jobs instead of race stuff, but jesus christ, stop calling him the n*****-in-chief, for fucks sake you're starting to sound like a nutjob!"*), where they find themselves unable to find agreement with more conservative people because they act like extremists. 2. On the other hand the article does rise a legitimate point that we should try to maintain civil conversations with the Republicans who clearly recognize how shitty Trump is but voted R anyway because of strong party identity or desperation (the ones who're personally racists and "proud of it", so to speak, can go die in a fire, the people who're just ignorant about institutional racism and if educated could stop being racist probably deserve that someone attempts to teach them).

*This is supposed to be a shallow imitation of a low-information voter who leans Democrat.

That aside, this twitter chain on McCain raises a fair point.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#175019: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:29:01 PM

Sounds like a lot of mental gymnastics to justify their votes in the face of what Trump is and has been doing. It's a standard reaction to cognitive dissonance but it's not something we should just ignore. These people must recognize the consequences of their actions.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#175020: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:29:57 PM

[up] The problem, as I see it, is that they're being confronted in such a way they feel more like running deeper in than taking a look out. Whatever we may feel, that's objectively counter protective if we assume there's any hope at all of converting them

edited 19th Feb '17 12:31:12 PM by sgamer82

Proglottid Since: Mar, 2010
#175021: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:35:16 PM

And the thing is, for the most part it is well deserved because these people, maybe not all are as ignorant and hateful as Trump, but they still saw and heard all the things he said, all the communities he threatened, and STILL went with him because at the end they didn't CARE, just "better them than us"

And now Trump's there and he's rapidly gutting America and making it a laughingstock for the rest of the world. They need to see the consequences their actions have brought, even if they themselves refuse to accept it

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#175022: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:43:58 PM

[up] Maybe they have earned to see the end result of their choices, and I won't fault anyone on our end for a bit of schadenfreude, but is it worth turning them into pariahs when we might need them to turn things around later, even if it's only their cooperation while we undo Trump's damage?

SaintDeltora The Mistress from The Land Of Corruption and Debauchery Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
The Mistress
#175023: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:45:17 PM

[up][up]The thing is, a lot of what was said about Trump was said by so many people that it became not something said by individual news outlets (Which people still trust) but something said by the media (Which people don't trust, since it's an amorphous blob without any person to itself) Which led to a lot of people not believing it, and eventually clinging to evidence that did not fit that narrative.

I know that's what happened with my psychologist, once I told her my concerns when Trump won she looked up some stuff (Partly because it was a media thing and partly to calm me down) and found a video of him bringing in a latino man and talking to him as a way of showing he respected them.

I don't think she was right, and she changed her mind after he actually took command. But point is, assuming we had argued about it, I don't think yelling and shaming her would have helped, if anything it's liable to either get her to avoid the topic with me or continue to disagree with me out of spite.

I don't think that would be being fair to her.

edited 19th Feb '17 12:45:29 PM by SaintDeltora

"Please crush me with your heels Esdeath-sama!
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#175024: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:55:12 PM

if we assume there's any hope at all of converting them
Why should we assume that? The GOP's true colors have been on display for years. For these people, identity politics is stronger than anything else. It's not so much that they'll vote Republican even against their own self-interest, it's that they've convinced themselves that voting Republican is in their self-interest by definition because they're Republicans. They don't compare the policy positions of the candidates and analyze how those policy positions affect themselves and the country as a whole and vote for the one that best represents their views, they vote Republican because they're Republicans. (There are Democratic voters that do this too, of course, but that's not what we're discussing.)

Chasing after these voters is a waste of resources. They will literally never vote Democratic. At best, they'll stay home, or write in "Ronald Reagan" instead of whichever GOP candidate is actually running — and that only if they're disgusted with the GOP candidate, not because they think the Democrat is better. The Democrats can't manufacture that kind of disillusionment, and attempting to is likely to push those voters into voting for the GOP candidate just to spite the Democrats.

What the Democrats can do is try to recapture the voters that stayed home or voted for write-in candidates instead of voting Democratic. Keep in mind that Trump only won the Electoral College because he had razor thin margins in a handful of key states, even after the Russians and the FBI did their best to tip things in Trump's favor, and the media did the nation a disservice by covering it like celebrity gossip rather than like a presidential election (focusing on the personalities and the scandals, not policy positions or qualifications). If you can get those disillusioned voters back to the polls, then the Democrats can absolutely retake control of Congress and the White House.

Also keep in mind that many state-level governments are solid red despite the state itself being middle of the road because of gerrymandering and other shenanigans at the local level. The DNC needs to put some serious effort into undoing that, and making sure it can't be done in the future (by either side) by insisting on independent third-party groups drawing districts instead of partisan committees or state legislatures themselves. This is more of a long-term thing since redistricting won't kick in until the 2022 election cycle, but it still absolutely has to be done.

edited 19th Feb '17 12:56:56 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#175025: Feb 19th 2017 at 12:57:09 PM

The problem with making people face the consequences of their actions is that it usually is not that linear. Unless you want to pull a jerk move such a creating a Synthetic Plague and see how badly a GOP-gutted healthcare system will respond to it.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

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