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Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

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In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

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

RJ-19-CLOVIS-93 from New Zealand (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#263376: Dec 2nd 2018 at 9:59:35 PM

[up][up] He should probably get a more respectable running mate if he wants to win 2020, Mike Pence is kind of embarrassing. Though that might be more just veeps being easy to criticize than anything serious

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263377: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:01:26 PM

Pence is the embarrassing one?

Hypocrite Knight Templar? Yes.

But in what universe is he more embarrassing than Trump himself on his best day?

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:02:14 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#263378: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:01:56 PM

Pence is a nightmare but he lends a genteel air to Trump’s violent racist sexist homophobic transphobic xenophobic bullshit. Seriously doubt he’s going anywhere; his lips are firmly attached to Trump’s ass.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#263379: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:02:50 PM

Pence nicely sold his soul to Satan for power. Firmly serving an anti-Christ Caesar of wealth, adultery, lies, and corruption while he claims to be still a just man as well as tries to sell Trump to evangelicals.

I wonder if any part of him acknowledges that.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:03:45 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#263380: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:05:10 PM

That part of him probably died a nasty death in one of the back alleys of his twisted mind years ago. If it ever existed.

Disgusted, but not surprised
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#263381: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:20:44 PM

At least y’all didn’t have to hear a presentation about him on Friday. By a girl who counts him as an honorary uncle. And who excused his various deeply shitty beliefs as “mistakes” and “being human” and “having tunnel vision.”

It was 10 minutes from hell.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#263382: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:21:11 PM

Several personal accounts of Pence describe him as a Tautological Templar to the hilt, mixed with an unholy amount of ambition.

Shame isn't something his type experiences.

[up]Ouch.

Edited by Rationalinsanity on Dec 2nd 2018 at 2:21:38 PM

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#263383: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:26:29 PM

I go to law school in Indiana. I’m taking a leadership & the law class, and we each had to profile someone and do a 10-15 minute presentation. I did Professor Michelle Alexander (author of The New Jim Crow), a classmate did Michelle Obama; another classmate did Bobby Kennedy; another classmate did the guy who was the US rep in the Japanese version of the Nuremberg trials.

And this girl picked Pence. And she didn’t even really list any accomplishments?!?

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#263384: Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:52:32 PM

The only angel on Pence's shoulder is Lucifer.

It better news, Pelosi has pledged to pass the Dream Act when the Democrats take control.

Edited by Parable on Dec 2nd 2018 at 10:53:28 AM

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#263385: Dec 2nd 2018 at 11:08:56 PM

I'm going to a community college, and I'll be doing a presentation on Ruth Bader Ginsburg later this week (we're all doing one of the current Supreme Court Justices, and they were chosen for us based on our expressed political beliefs from earlier class assignments). I shudder to think of what the Kavanaugh presentation will be like. I already suffered enough last Thursday when one of the guys who presented for Clarence Thomas tried to get me into watching Ben Shapiro because I had mentioned that I was Jewish.

Actually, I'm also doing my final on how the law and bigotry interact.

Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#263386: Dec 2nd 2018 at 11:24:17 PM

tried to get me into watching Ben Shapiro because I had mentioned that I was Jewish.
I'm pretty sure that qualifies as a hate crime.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#263387: Dec 3rd 2018 at 12:09:55 AM

Urgh! "Watch the content from this guy who honestly claims that gun control caused the Holocaust, you are Jewish after all"...just...urgh!

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#263388: Dec 3rd 2018 at 12:21:38 AM

I didn't even have a counter, because I couldn't remember who Ben Shapiro was at the time, just that he might be someone I dislike. Obviously, he's a fucking assbag, but my mind was just drawing a blank while this guy was telling me all about how "he's Jewish, like you" and "he's conservative, but he makes a lot of good points".

DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#263389: Dec 3rd 2018 at 12:41:38 AM

Shapiro is living proof that "winning" a debate is not the same as being right.

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
SteamKnight Since: Jun, 2018
#263390: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:02:17 AM

Ben Shapiro makes a lot of good points!? Either that person don't live in reality or there is another person named Ben Shapiro that I don't know.

I'm not as witty as I think I am. It's a scientifically-proven fact.
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#263391: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:07:10 AM

From what I've seen of him Ben Shapiro tends to make good evidence-based arguments. You might not agree with his conclusions, but there is a logic there. If you want to go up against him, you do have to know your stuff. I know I don't agree with him on everything, but I think to just dismiss him as being racist or homophobic or transphobic is a mistake.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#263392: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:10:59 AM

Shapiro's an ass who blames Obama for everything. And I mean fucking everything.

Then there was a certain tweet of his:

"Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage. This is not a difficult issue. #settlementsrock"

Seriously, what in the everloving fuck.

Edited by M84 on Dec 3rd 2018 at 5:12:54 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
SteamKnight Since: Jun, 2018
#263393: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:11:35 AM

[up][up] If by evidence-based arguments, you mean pulling strawmen out of his ass. You have a point there.

I'm not as witty as I think I am. It's a scientifically-proven fact.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#263394: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:13:39 AM

You could build an entire Wicker Man with all the straw he tosses around.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#263395: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:22:44 AM

Ben Shapiro is the most dangerous of all, someone who is REALLY good in cherry picking facts until he distorts the truth completely, but unless you know what he did, it is easy to fall for him because he sounds reasonable. Here an example of someone taking apart the whole "Jews could have defended themselves with guns" argument:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfHXJRqq-qo&t=135s

Edited by Swanpride on Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:23:46 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#263396: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:30:46 AM

You just gotta take a look at what he's like when he thinks he's around people he doesn't need to convince to see what he's really like. Such as his election special show on FOX News. Lots of strawmanning and racist "jokes".

Disgusted, but not surprised
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#263397: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:33:32 AM

[up] 2018 or 2016? If that is an example, I'd like to take a look at it myself.

Edited by Soban on Dec 3rd 2018 at 4:34:26 AM

Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#263398: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:36:32 AM

Regarding "evidence-based arguments", here's another video (from a left-wing perspective) on Shapiro's absolutely braindead response to climate change, featuring this absolute gem of his (at 12:40):

"So let's say, for the sake of argument, that all of the water levels around the world rise by, let's say, 5 feet over the next hundred years. Say 10 feet, by the next hundred years. And its puts all the low-lying areas on the coast underwater. Right? Let's just say all of that happens.

You think that people aren't going to just sell their homes and move?

Edited by Eschaton on Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:43:22 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#263399: Dec 3rd 2018 at 1:38:27 AM

It's from September 2018.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines

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