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

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#344801: Dec 27th 2020 at 6:28:34 AM

[up][up] Is this the same bill with all the crappy riders including the copyright stuff and money to Israel? Because that stuff not coming into effect would at least be a silver lining.

Edited by CookingCat on Dec 27th 2020 at 6:43:26 AM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#344802: Dec 27th 2020 at 7:00:35 AM

It’s also got funding for the entire federal government, also the bits Trump is objecting to aren’t the ones you’ve got issue with, so all that would happen is we’d have a government shutdown and a bunch of other bad things before the bill got altered enough to be passable, which wouldn’t include changing that stuff.

[up]X2 Yeah and the bill has only $600 of direct relief for people, as the Republicans would only pass it with that (they wanted no direct relief).

It’s looking like Trump is going to fail to pocket veto, he seems unwilling to do an actual veto and the ten day clock is close to running out, at which point the bill becomes law even without his signature.

Edited by Silasw on Dec 27th 2020 at 3:03:59 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#344803: Dec 27th 2020 at 7:32:38 AM

Sen. Toomey: Trump going too far with pardons – He noted the connection of some of those pardoned to the president.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/27/toomey-trump-pardons-450759

    An Excerpt 
Sen. Pat Toomey on Sunday said President Donald Trump had gone too far with some of his presidential pardons.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” the Pennsylvania Republican said that while the president had the right to pardon anyone, “I think it’s a misuse of the power” to pardon people whose greatest claim to this special form of justice is a connection to the president.

Toomey defended the pardon of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying he was wrongfully prosecuted, but criticized Trump for pardoning others for their various crimes. Without being specific, he compared those pardons to President Bill Clinton’s pardon of financier Marc Rich in 2001.

"I mean, my goodness, we have tax fraud and bank fraud, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, but because they were close to the president they got pardoned," he said.

Besides Flynn, Trump has recently pardoned dozens of people, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort; Charles Kushner, father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner; and former Republican congressmen Chris Collins, Duncan Hunter, Steve Stockman and Mark Sijander. Three figures who were part of the Mueller Russia investigation — Roger Stone, Alex Van Der Zwaan and George Papadopoulos — were also pardoned.

When asked whether presidential pardons should be restricted, Toomey was dubious. “It’s a good discussion to have but it’s a tough call,” he said. “I think it would be very challenging.”

There has been speculation that Trump is not done with pardons, and might consider preemptively pardoning himself and/or members of his family. Toomey said he didn’t know what to expect.

“The president is often unpredictable,” he said.

I don't remember ever senator by name, so the question in my head is if Toomey is a case of "is even this guy is saying it..."?
Also:

Jon Ossoff has raised more money than any Senate candidate in US history in heated Georgia runoff election – The Georgia runoff election has garnered national attention as the victors determine whether or not Republicans maintain control of the Senate.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ossoff-raised-more-money-than-any-senate-candidate-in-history-2020-12

Edited by sgamer82 on Dec 27th 2020 at 7:37:47 AM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#344804: Dec 27th 2020 at 9:09:52 AM

Toomy is one of the more ‘moderate’ Republicans and is retiring in 2022.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#344805: Dec 27th 2020 at 11:19:19 AM

"Rudderless" QAnon may reinvent itself after US election, warn experts: Trump’s defeat hurts movement, but influencers continue to hype conspiracy theory.

The 2020 US election marked a milestone for the movement, said Ms Labbe, despite Mr. Trump’s ultimate defeat. “[This year] Q has entered Congress in the US,” she said, referring to Marjorie Taylor Greene, a representative-elect from Georgia who has promoted Q Anon conspiracy theories on Twitter.

Ms North said that given the US president’s previous promotion of Q Anon, in which he stated that its adherents “love our country,” she could foresee the movement being invoked in future campaigns. “He [Mr. Trump] can position himself as a resistance fighter in a way [in a 2024 presidential bid] . . . I can see [Q Anon] being harnessed into this kind of effort.”

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#344806: Dec 27th 2020 at 11:24:37 AM

Qanon is dead. Q stopped posting and when he did, it was obviously a different person even to them.

In its place will be the same hateful bigots but Qanon the corrupted internet flash game is done.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#344807: Dec 27th 2020 at 11:34:53 AM

Now to plan how to stop this from gaining so much traction. Letting Q grow as it did was a mistake.

Wake me up at your own risk.
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#344808: Dec 27th 2020 at 11:40:33 AM

That would require social media companies stepping in, so don't count on this new movement being prevented from growing.

i'm tired, my friend
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#344809: Dec 27th 2020 at 12:00:29 PM

Didn't someone claiming to be Q re-emerge? Or was that short-lived?

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#344810: Dec 27th 2020 at 12:08:57 PM

It seems rather premature to declare Q dead, especially since it has grown beyond the US.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
PhilosopherStones Anyways Here's Darude Sandstorm from The North (lots of planets have them) (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: You can be my wingman any time
Anyways Here's Darude Sandstorm
#344811: Dec 27th 2020 at 12:10:16 PM

I heard the claim that Qanon was actually a distraction tactic employed by "the globalists" in order to further their own plans.

Qanon is going to live on in a new form because conspiracy theorists will always move the goalposts so that reality reflects their own biases.

GIVE ME YOUR FACE
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#344812: Dec 27th 2020 at 1:03:13 PM

Because everything has to be the Left's fault somehow.

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#344813: Dec 27th 2020 at 1:49:12 PM

You cannot reduce the percent of the population that wants to believe in conspiracy theories, nor the percent that is angry at the world. That stuff comes from the sub-conscious.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#344814: Dec 27th 2020 at 2:19:58 PM

That's not exactly true. Spreading accurate information and suppressing false information helps people resist the temptations of conspiracy cults. There's also general mental and social health to consider: the cult mentality of conspiracy theories appeals to people who feel dissociated from their broader culture. If we help these people assimilate and socialize, they can become resistant.

Edited by Fighteer on Dec 27th 2020 at 5:20:32 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#344815: Dec 27th 2020 at 2:22:53 PM

The problem being that for the most part, they dont (cant) want to be helped. The whole point is that they dont trust the rest of us.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#344817: Dec 27th 2020 at 2:36:56 PM

That's a complicated question. People are obviously not born with entire belief systems embedded in their head. Belief content obviously comes from the culture you grow up in. But people are born with an emotional temperament, which can act to attract oneself toward activities and groups that allow one to express that temperament. People are born with fear centers that are more or less sensitive than average. People with somewhat more active fearfulness are at an elevated "risk" (so to speak) of becoming conservative and identifying with the Republican Party. This also obviously interacts with the environment, such that an elevated risk might nevertheless never be triggered if the environment one lives within is such that it buffers one from that (for example, you receive above average social support and encouragement from others, then one's inherent fearfulness might never manifest itself). But on average, it will.

This obviously works in reverse. People with an above average need for stimulation and new experiences are at an elevated "risk" of becoming liberal and identifying with the Democrats. Again, the environment one grows up in might encourage or suppress this tendency.

People born with an even more extreme temperament (not just risk averse, but outright paranoid) are at an elevated risk of buying into a community based on conspiracy thinking, provided the environment triggers this tendency by presenting an opportunity to do so.

Now, an effective public education would undoubtedly reduce this tendencies in a number of people, but I think that there will be a significant floor effect, such that there are a number of people that are at such an elevated risk of manifesting a highly fearful temperament that it would be too expensive and difficult to moderate that (not to mention that about half the population has no incentive to support this—you're basically asking them to vote against their own personality).

So—not impossible to reduce the percent of the population that are attracted to conspiracy theories, but really expensive and hard.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#344818: Dec 27th 2020 at 2:36:58 PM

Investigors in the Nashville bombing has named Anthony Warner as the bomer, who they say died in the explosion.

There's no info on the guy yet as the story is still developing. Investigators are still searching the area for clues and are trying to contact the suspect's family.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#344819: Dec 27th 2020 at 2:48:40 PM

From what I've been hearing:

  • Warner was worried by 5G spying.
  • A tech guy.

It's very likely this guy was sucked in by Q.

Also, I saw a picture someone took using Microsoft Flight Simulator and the RV on Warner's property was the exact same one in the bombing.

And oh yeah, there seems to have been a copycat roaming around Rutherford County, Tennessee playing evacuation warnings. The person has been stopped.

Edited by tclittle on Dec 27th 2020 at 4:51:47 AM

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#344820: Dec 27th 2020 at 2:58:14 PM

So it’s looking to be an elaborate suicide designed to take some 5G out with him?

That’s just saddening, such a waste due to conspiracy theories and improper healthcare.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#344821: Dec 27th 2020 at 2:59:09 PM

Sadly, a number of us appear to have called it.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#344822: Dec 27th 2020 at 3:33:55 PM

What the hell is 5G anyway? I can't keep track of these things.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#344823: Dec 27th 2020 at 3:35:46 PM

There's a conspiracy theory that high speed internet causes covid.

No I'm not joking.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
thok That's Dr. Title, thank you! (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Non-Canon
That's Dr. Title, thank you!
#344824: Dec 27th 2020 at 3:38:44 PM

[up][up] 5G = Fifth Generation of cellular networks. There's a conspiracy theory which is roughly "upgrades to cellular technology leads to pandemic". It's complete BS.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#344825: Dec 27th 2020 at 3:41:17 PM

Gonna wait a bit until more evidence for the motive surfaces, though I am also inclined to go with this being a 5G conspiracy theory thing.

Disgusted, but not surprised

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