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Nov 2023 Mod notice:


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

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#274601: Mar 17th 2019 at 9:46:19 PM

A few stories to add a bit of variety, break out of the off-topic discussion, and make for a handy page-topper:

Inside Rudy Giuliani's cable news vanishing act – Both Trump and White House lawyer Emmet Flood have privately griped about some of Giuliani's TV appearances.

https://www.axios.com/rudy-giuliani-cable-television-mueller-report-d961eecc-271b-488c-bdb3-3c1c459e9027.html

Rudy Giuliani has vanished from your television. The last time the president's once-ubiquitous attack dog did a major TV appearance was on Sunday, Jan. 20, when he went on NBC's "Meet the Press" and CNN's "State of the Union."

Trump tells Fox to 'bring back' Jeanine Pirro; source says she was suspended for Islamophobic remarks

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/16/media/jeanine-pirro-fox-news/index.html

Jeanine Pirro, whose show did not air on Saturday night, was suspended by Fox News after her widely criticized commentary doubting Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's patriotism, according a source familiar with the matter.

Fox did not announce the suspension publicly. The network declined to confirm or deny that Pirro has been suspended. There is no word on whether Pirro's show will return next week.

At the same time, there is no indication that she has been fired from Fox. The source said she has not been fired.

Pirro is one of the network's highest-rated weekend hosts, well known for her vehement defenses of President Donald Trump and attacks against his perceived enemies.


CNN anchor hits Trump: He didn't go to Vietnam 'until he was in his 70s' with 'Secret Service protection'

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/434473-cnn-anchor-hits-trump-after-mccain-attacks-he-didnt-go-to-vietnam-until-he-was

CNN anchor Ana Cabrera on Sunday called out President Trump for failing to go to Vietnam until he was equipped with "Secret Service protection" after the president renewed his attacks against late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Cabrera made the comments while noting that Trump has yet to forcefully denounce white supremacy in light of the mosque shootings that left dozens dead in New Zealand.

"The president did use his direct line to the American people to take more cheap shots at an American war hero who is not even alive to defend himself," Cabrera said on "CNN Newsroom." "Trump again slamming the late senator John McCain today, he says, for trying to derail his run for the presidency in 2016."

Cabrera noted that the attacks from Trump caused one of his allies, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), to defend McCain as "one of the most consequential senators" in U.S. history.

"Clearly not a position held by the president, who did, to his credit, did go to Vietnam, although not until he was in his 70s and with Secret Service protection," Cabrera added, apparently referencing Trump's military record as well as the recent summit in Vietnam between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Edited by sgamer82 on Mar 17th 2019 at 10:46:59 AM

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#274602: Mar 17th 2019 at 9:52:01 PM

Can you imagine the backlash if Obama had stepped in for a CNN or MSNBC anchor?

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#274603: Mar 17th 2019 at 9:55:06 PM

So not only is Trump still reliving the 2016 election by attacking Clinton every month, he's still trying to relive 2017 so he can fight with Mc Cain. Must be nice to punch at people who can't punch back.

And screw you, Graham, you're the one blocking the Senate from voting to make the Mueller report public because you're still on "But her Emails!".

Next time Graham utters the word emails in relation to an investigation, I hope a Democratic senator motions to open investigations into Mothman and Bigfoot to go alongside his wild goose chase.

NickTheSwing Since: Aug, 2009
#274604: Mar 18th 2019 at 2:07:05 AM

Trump, let the old vampire back out of his tomb!

Have you any idea of all the good Rudy's done for his ideological enemies?

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#274605: Mar 18th 2019 at 4:37:56 AM

It would be a shame if someone were to leak the entire Muller report as a 'screw you Graham' ,such a pity if someone were to upload on to a cloud somewhere and distribute copies to all the media across the world

Though I'm honestly wondering what would happen if the report really was leaked

Edited by Ultimatum on Mar 18th 2019 at 11:48:17 AM

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
RainingMetal (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#274606: Mar 18th 2019 at 4:49:13 AM

Pirro's the one who coined the phrase "Demon rats", right? Beats being a Re-pig-licker.

ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#274607: Mar 18th 2019 at 4:52:54 AM

the name calling is so childish you'd think the politicians were bickering children

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#274609: Mar 18th 2019 at 4:56:49 AM

I'd be questioning why they were representing adult populations in that case

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#274611: Mar 18th 2019 at 5:00:21 AM

Well was I was'nt,but now I am

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
singularityshot Since: Dec, 2012
#274612: Mar 18th 2019 at 5:04:06 AM

The alt-right governmental plan appears to go like this:
  1. Take control of the government (Trump et al)
  2. Kick out all the libtards (not working so far)
  3. Kill/exile all the minorities (trying their best
  4. ???
  5. Utopia!
If this looks stupid and nonsensical, well, I didn't say they had a good plan, just a plan.

Which is kind of my point? I'll admit that I am making a leap in trying to separate chan culture from white supremacy. Chan culture has no beliefs - not even a belief in themselves - which is what makes it so vulnerable to white supremacist beliefs. White supremacy has hijacked chan culture. So that's why I want to drill down and try and look past the white supremacist element and look at the politics of chan culture directly. So, addressing those points then:

  1. Feels more like a white supremacist aim, of which the chan isn't going to be opposed. Chan culture wants to be left alone, and white supremacists are going to do just that whilst also protecting it from the nasty outside world. Bannon was the closest to the alt-right (history with GG etc.), and he currently is on the outside looking in. Miller is the other obvious person, but he tends more white supremacist than alt-right.
  2. This, more than anything else would be a chan goal. Like I say, they just want to be left alone. Unfortunately for them, society doesn't let them, and in particular liberal society is going to (in their eyes) actively harass them.
  3. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is again more a symptom of white supremacist thinking as opposed to chan culture. The objective with mass killings from a chan perspective is just to "get a new high score". It's to give meaning to their lives. They idolize the Columbine shooters because of their infamy and status as outcasts. Where the white supremacist element comes in is that they have influenced chan culture such that targeting non-whites nets a greater level of infamy and thus a "higher score". My hypothesis therefore is that if white supremacy was removed from chan culture there would still be mass killings, only the targets wouldn't be as selective. I would imagine that community centers (malls, schools and places of worship) would still be the target purely on the basis of misanthropy. It's the white supremacy element that is protecting (white) evangelical super churches for example.
  4. ??? Well yes. Pure accelerationism is the only thing I can think of, which leads onto
  5. I've yet to see a chan utopia defined. When it all burns to the ground, they are not going to claim the rubble - the white supremacists will do that in an attempt to create their ethnostate. Chan culture doesn't care as long as the rubble still has internet - which is why it is so hard to engage in any debate with them, and identify a philosophy.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#274613: Mar 18th 2019 at 5:16:36 AM

Step four is surly to move on from minorities to other groups they despise just as much,their overall goal to eradicate all other groups until only they remain

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#274614: Mar 18th 2019 at 5:26:57 AM

So it looks like Trump's labour secretary is going to have some problems regarding his prior job as a prosecutor. Apparently the slap on the wrist treatment accorded to Jeffrey Epstein wasn't the first time that Acosta has white washed something.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
singularityshot Since: Dec, 2012
#274615: Mar 18th 2019 at 5:36:09 AM

But to what end? Look, I get the fact that chan culture is built on a huge storm of self-isolation and persecution complexes. They, like most movements of this type need an unconquerable enemy to justify their existence and loyalty to the group. If they did defeat their enemy, they'd need to invent another one.

But as I said, they are not going to be the ones to claim the rubble. If anything, the goal that comes to mind is that of Henry Bernis is Time Enough at Last from The Twilight Zone. They want society to leave them alone. So if they managed to do that, and remove society? Oh, they'd be in clover, as they finally get to read all those books, create all those memes, play all those video games that society never let them or judged them for. But then their (metaphorical) glasses would break and all of those things would be out of reach, forever.

Robrecht Your friendly neighbourhood Regent from The Netherlands Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Your friendly neighbourhood Regent
#274616: Mar 18th 2019 at 6:44:17 AM

They, like most movements of this type need an unconquerable enemy to justify their existence and loyalty to the group. If they did defeat their enemy, they'd need to invent another one.

Yeah, but like with all subforms of Fascism, the fact that they need to pretend that their unconquerable enemy is somehow conquerable to make their system work inevitably leads to them trying to conquer their unconquerable enemy due to the sheer momentum of their hate propelling them forward into a fight they cannot ultimately win (nor do they want to), but are utterly determined to take out as many of them as they can.

Angry gets shit done.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#274617: Mar 18th 2019 at 7:17:10 AM

An article from University of Pennslyvaia Vice Provost Ezekiel J. Emanuel in the The Atlantic details various implementations of "Medicare for All"

Whether they’re running for president or just hoping to hold onto their seats, Democratic lawmakers face growing pressure to endorse one of Bernie Sanders’s signature causes. “Doc, they keep coming—pressing me to sign onto Medicare for all,” a somewhat hesitant and confused congressman told me recently. “Should I?”


“It all depends what you mean by ‘Medicare for all,’” I said. He was hoping for a better answer than I had. About 70 percent of Americans say they support the idea—under which Medicare, the federal program that now provides health coverage for about 60 million seniors and disabled individuals, would expand to cover millions more people.


Yet Medicare for all is a messy concept. At least four different approaches to health reform could truthfully carry the Medicare for all label. Sanders’s plan is the best known, but it’s also the most politically impractical. It ignores the brutal history of repeated defeats for all Democratic health reform proposals that try to abolish private health insurers.

I tend to agree with Doctor Emanuel that Sanders' plan to essentially nationalize the private health insurance industry and leave them offering only supplementary coverage is politically daunting. The "Medicare for America" or "Medicare Advantage" (universal medicare part C) plans definitely seem more practical to me, and as an added benefit they don't insulate the state run health insurance system from private competition, which is generally beneficial for the consumer.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Mar 18th 2019 at 10:21:24 AM

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#274618: Mar 18th 2019 at 7:23:34 AM

Steve King Posts Meme Fantasizing About Violent Civil War Between Red and Blue States

Why the fuck is this guy still a Congressman? This is disgusting as all hell, especially coming so soon after the NZ attack.

Edited by speedyboris on Mar 18th 2019 at 9:36:13 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.
#274619: Mar 18th 2019 at 7:29:35 AM

I object to that meme, specifically the fact that my home state, Arizona, is the red side's head. We didn't vote a Democrat Senator into office in the most nail-biting race of 2018 for people to still consider us red, Arizona is now solidly purple, at least.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 18th 2019 at 7:29:58 AM

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#274620: Mar 18th 2019 at 8:12:51 AM

I object towards calling a state "purple" based on one tight Senate election during a midterm wave.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#274621: Mar 18th 2019 at 8:14:27 AM

Why the fuck is this guy still a Congressman?

As near as I can tell, the only way to get rid of a senator is for the senate to have a two thirds vote to expel them... and this hasn't happened since 1862

Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#274623: Mar 18th 2019 at 8:24:45 AM

[up][up] Do you eject a Senator in the same way you eject a Congressman?

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#274625: Mar 18th 2019 at 9:05:53 AM

2020 Dems warm to expanding Supreme Court – A series of White House hopefuls are expressing new interest in remaking the courts — payback for Republican aggression during the Obama presidency.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/2020-democrats-supreme-court-1223625

After watching Mitch Mc Connell transform the judiciary over the past four years, liberals are demanding a bold response. And Democrats are listening.

Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand told POLITICO they would not rule out expanding the Supreme Court if elected president, showcasing a new level of interest in the Democratic field on an issue that has until recently remained on the fringes of debate.

The surprising openness from White House hopefuls along with other prominent Senate Democrats to making sweeping changes — from adding seats to the high court to imposing term limits on judges and more — comes as the party is eager to chip away at the GOP’s growing advantage in the courts.

“We are on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court,” said Harris (D-Calif.). “We have to take this challenge head on, and everything is on the table to do that.”

Expanding the Supreme Court would amount to a historic power play by the next Democratic president and Congress, requiring an intense legislative fight and the abandonment of many judicial and congressional norms.

But Democrats say that after Republicans blocked Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and other lower court judges during President Barack Obama’s final term only to quickly fill those vacancies, the party needs an equally bruising response.


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