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

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#184051: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:28:20 PM

It was only a state for a few years I think

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#184052: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:31:58 PM

Hawaii became a state in 1959. Obama was born in 1961.

Disgusted, but not surprised
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#184053: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:40:49 PM

[up] it was a joke based on Sessons comments, since he thinks that it's just "some island in the Pacific". grin

I got called fake news for linking to the Tom Lehrer song Pollution on twitter. I'm rather proud of myself.

edited 20th Apr '17 7:43:34 PM by megaeliz

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#184054: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:44:34 PM

[up] I was responding to Kostya's question about whether Obama was born before or after Hawaii became a state. I know sgamer82 mentioned it already but I thought it wouldn't hurt to clarify.

edited 20th Apr '17 7:45:16 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#184055: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:46:33 PM

Not sure if this has been brought up but the irony is too delicious. Apparently protesting infringes on free speech.

In the case of Trump inciting violence at his rallies, his lawyers argues that the protestors don't have the right to do so at his rallies because it infringes on his free speech.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#184056: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:48:18 PM

[up] Yeesh, maybe they should have just stuck with Trump's "the President can't be charged with a civil suit" excuse.

Disgusted, but not surprised
TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#184057: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:53:16 PM

I wonder at times what it must be like to be a lawyer for guys like this. Do they think to themselves "Wow, this excuse is total BS, but he's paying us to come up with something."? I can't imagine any of them thinking this would fly in court.

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#184058: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:54:29 PM

In a cagey interview on CNN on Thursday, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin declined to give a direct answer when anchor Jake Tapper asked whether she witnessed or experienced sexual harassment when she was a Fox News contributor.

TAPPER: Did you ever witness or experience, God forbid, anything like that at Fox?

PALIN: I wouldn't put up with anything that would be perceived as intimidating or harassing.

TAPPER: But you said you're “former,” so was that part of the reason you left?

PALIN: Um, you can ask them why I'm no longer at Fox. You know, I'm not going to speak for them. My contract wasn't renewed — that is, um, that's the line.

TAPPER: I don't want to be a jerk, but it sounds like you experienced something.

PALIN: Um, I just, you know, it was just time to part ways and get out there in, you know, I guess a more diverse arena to express views and speak for the public, and that's what I've been able to do now.

TAPPER: All right, well, I'm not going to push any farther on that.

Fox News- #1 with sexual predators

edited 20th Apr '17 7:54:53 PM by MadSkillz

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#184059: Apr 20th 2017 at 7:55:11 PM

[up][up] I'm pretty sure that's the case.

[up] Ugh, if something actually did happen...this might be the first time I have ever felt anything akin to sympathy for Sarah Palin.

edited 20th Apr '17 7:56:28 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#184061: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:00:45 PM

[up]x 4 Yes
[up]x 3 Wow.

edited 20th Apr '17 8:02:27 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#184062: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:16:54 PM

If Palin is afraid to speak up about how she was treated at Fox News, that's a pretty damning indication of how women are treated there.

Do not obey in advance.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#184063: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:22:54 PM

I'm completely and thoroughly unsurprised. When you're full of people pushing for women to have less rights, that's not exactly conducive to an environment where they're treated well by the management.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#184064: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:37:24 PM

In response to Session's "some island in the Pacific" put down, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom of California responded:

"Jeff Sessions shocked to learn that states exist outside the Confederacy apparently."

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#184065: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:50:37 PM

Alex Jones has been formally diagnosed with NPD by a doctor.

Elsewhere in her testimony, Sherry confirmed that Jones would regularly take off his shirt during therapy sessions — and she said it was the only time she could recall a patient stripping off clothes in the middle of therapy.

This was from someone else's meeting with him:

It’s afternoon, and Jones is walking through the studio, his adrenaline level high and his blood sugar low. He needs to get something to eat. Platters of BBQ - chicken, beef and sausages - are set out on a table in the conference room. “Good barbecue,” says Jones. “You tasted it already?”

He piles up food onto a plastic plate, and then he suddenly takes off his shirt without explanation. With his bare torso, he sits there and shovels meat into his mouth, a caricature of manliness, but also a show of power to the reporter sitting in front of him. He can do as he pleases.

Then Jones gets up and holds out a sausage. “Wanna suck?” he asks.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#184066: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:53:24 PM

I believe that Palin would be contractually obligated (via NDA) to avoid saying anything that could be seen as derogatory towards her former employer.

Also, in the "No Shit, Sherlock" category's winner of the day... [up]

Edit: Frankly, I don't feel that much sympathy for Palin. Empathy, sure — nobody "deserves" to be put in that kind of position. And maybe she has some tragic backstory of intellectual neglect by her parents. But she chose to go to Fox, a business that is almost comically misogynistic in its political stance. This isn't "walking down an alley at night in attractive clothing"; this is "wearing a tank top and short-shorts to the local sexual predators convention". It's "rubbing meat juice on yourself before hopping the fence at the lion exhibit".

edited 20th Apr '17 9:00:57 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#184067: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:54:49 PM

[up][up][up][up][up] Wow, I'm feeling sympathy for Sarah Palin. This year is insane.

[up][up] The gay frog and pizzagate guy has issues? Not really surprised.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#184068: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:57:11 PM

Re: Julian Assange: Oh, gee, it's almost like allying with far-right political figures tends to lead to getting burned. I mean, as much as it sucks to be on the USA's shitlist and all, I find it really hard to sympathize with a fascist-enabling sex criminal who's getting hoist his own demagoguing borderline-fascist orange petard.

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#184069: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:57:50 PM

That dig at Sessions was good. [lol]

Those... encounters with Jones sound really gross.

Do not obey in advance.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#184070: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:59:15 PM

[up][up][up][up][up] The man clearly has problems... with shirts. If he doesn't like Shirts, he should just not wear them. Sure, it wouldn't be pleasant for everyone else to see an overweight man without a shirt, but still... /j

In all seriousness, that doesn't sound like the sanest man in the world. Then again, Jones peddles Conspiracy theories for a living, so he mustn't be the sanest man to begin with.

edited 20th Apr '17 9:00:03 PM by DingoWalley1

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#184071: Apr 20th 2017 at 8:59:38 PM

I'd celebrate authorities finally going after Assange if it weren't so comically self-serving and hypocritical. The same people calling for his arrest now were gleefully cheering him on when he was releasing damaging material about Clinton. But how dare he expose the dirty secrets of the Trump administration?

edited 20th Apr '17 9:00:04 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#184072: Apr 20th 2017 at 9:14:21 PM

Not to mention impotent/just for show, since last I heard Ecuador still seems disinclined to dislodge him even after the guy who promised he would won.

TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#184073: Apr 20th 2017 at 9:53:48 PM

Get ready for a new round of tensions with Iran.

    Upcoming issues with Iran 
Long story short time, Iran is complying with the nuclear deal, even the Trump administration admits that. Because Iran is complying, the US in turn is required to take action and loosen sanctions no later than May 18th. Trump is indicating they may not loosen sanctions. Not loosening the sanctions will break the US side of the agreement, leaving Iran free to withdraw without suffering any consequences. It will also be a serious blow to President Rouhani, who has bet his career on the nuclear deal, and who is up for reelection on May 19th. (Talk about shitty timing.) If he goes down, he's likely to be replaced by a hardline cleric who's close with both the Supreme Leader and Ahmedinejad. (Remember him? Remember what a fun guy he was?)

So, get ready to go back to the bad old days of our strained relations, saber rattling, and a strong possibility of a bogus Middle East war all over again. Because the US just had to elect a rapist, white supremacist man child. (Here's a really good NPR story/interview about events and looking ahead.)

In other news, last year during the NY democratic primary there was a mystery about over 100,000 voters wrongly purged from the voting rolls, mostly in Brooklyn. Wild accusations flew at the time that it was connected to Clinton, and a plan concocted by the DNC, but a year later here's what we know so far:

    NY Voter Purge story 
The voter purges were much larger than we knew at the time, with nearly a quarter of a million people total removed from the voting rolls only to be later added back to the rolls. In addition to more people being purged, they were also more spread out than we knew, at the time, the purge was believed to be limited to Brooklyn, but there was also a pretty decent amount of it in Queens and the Bronx as well.

However, the vast majority of it took place in a single Brooklyn congressional district, represented by Nydia Velasquez, and the vast majority of those purged were hispanic raising theories that Velasquez, who was facing two primary challengers at the time, had perhaps been targeted by enemies within the party who were trying to artificially weaken her support. (If so, they failed, as Velasquez prevailed and continues to represent the district.) Considering that getting elected in NYC can very much be a game of who has the best connections and who can kiss the most rings, this is, sadly, not far-fetched. (My earlier not about the names being added back to the rolls? Happened after the primary in question.)

The results so far, a year later? The state Attorney General is working on a lawsuit against the Board of Elections, the mayor's calls for reforms went largely unheeded and Governor Cuomo is letting reform wither on the vine, notably declining to push for either ethics or election reforms during budget negotiations with the legislature.

At the Board of Elections, one person was fired for their role in the purges, another suspended without pay, but is still not officially let go after a year.

I know there are a fair contingent of NY area posters who participate in this thread, I urge you all to try to push state reps and senators for change and to get your friends to do so too.

edited 20th Apr '17 9:57:53 PM by TheWanderer

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#184074: Apr 20th 2017 at 10:12:25 PM

[up] Trump being an asshat towards Iran...this is either Trump being a petty dick about Obama's legacy, empty bluster to look tough, or Mattis insisting that Iran be punished for having the audacity to keep existing while he's alive.

Disgusted, but not surprised
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#184075: Apr 20th 2017 at 10:18:23 PM

Yep. But the most important thing, to me, is that keeping the deal in line is not something that is going to happen automatically, it requires deliberate effort and action on the part of Trump and the Republican congress to keep up our end of the deal. And at this point I'm entirely willing to believe they will not do so, even with Iran in compliance.

And that is going to set off a whole bunch of dominoes, the same way Bush doing his best to break Iraq caused a ton of unintended consequences.

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |

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