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

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#168926: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:26:50 AM

Maybe the media is getting tired? Have they ever considered rotating staff?

Part of it is probably that they just don't know how to deal with this. They're not used to authoritarianism, or the barrage of blatant lies that come with it. They're used to a government that makes sense, not this.

And part of it is also probably them being scared to step out of line too much, for fear of losing their White House access. Cowards, I say. If you need access to do your job, you're not much of a journalist.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#168927: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:27:57 AM

[up] well what with the way trump is modeling himself off putin, who murders journalists, maybe they're afraid to be killed?

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
#168928: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:31:02 AM

Nah they just know that it's good for ratings, the cable news networks would happily see the US become an autocracy if it got them good ratings.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#168929: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:31:28 AM

[up][up] I doubt they've reached that headspace yet - I think a lot of people still don't quite understand just how bad that could get - but it's possible. Right now, I'd bet on them being afraid of semi-mundane punishments - loss of press access, maybe even lawsuits for "defamation of character" or whatever.

[up] Also that.

edited 24th Jan '17 11:31:43 AM by RBluefish

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#168930: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:36:29 AM

Maybe it's every time he feels the Media has wronged him in some way, Trump's going to make his little lackey lie to them to make them look like utter hypocrites for reporting verifiable lies, discrediting them in the process?

If I were in charge of any News Organization, even Fox News, I would immediately stop sending people to these Press Talks. If Trump's going to be a little lying ass for 4 years, there's no reason to listen.

fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#168931: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:37:55 AM

[up]yup. CNN did right the one time they didn't bother airing that press conference. Wish we could get more guts from them.

edited 24th Jan '17 11:38:10 AM by fruitpork

math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#168932: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:42:36 AM

Thread on how Trump's anti-science policies may render the US' lead in scientific research a thing of the past.

I know I keep beating this analogy like a dead horse, but this happened in Nazi Germany - they started rewriting the science journals to fit the Aryan ideals of racial supremacy and Jewish lies, to the point where they literally tried to erase the contributions of Jewish physicists from the field. It's part of the reason they never developed an atomic bomb.

It's also the reasoning behind Mengele's creepy eugenics experiments, which did nothing to advance the cause of human biological research because it started from a flawed premise. Even if one was to subscribe to the notion that science is more efficient without an ethical barrier (it's not), it was still pointless.

edited 24th Jan '17 11:43:31 AM by math792d

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#168933: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:44:16 AM

[up] I wouldn't even call it an analogy at this point, nor Godwin's Law. We can no longer afford to ignore the parallels, and they are no longer hyperbolic in the least. This is sounding a hell of a lot like history rhyming with itself.

Oh, also. Federal workers have been ordered by the Orange House to cease communicating with both members of the press and Congress.

What the fuck?

edited 24th Jan '17 11:44:27 AM by RBluefish

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#168934: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:46:56 AM

I never thought things would go down the toilet in less than a week. God. Are there any objections at all?!

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#168935: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:47:18 AM

It's official.

Either the Republican party dies, or the country dies.

New Survey coming this weekend!
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#168936: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:49:18 AM

[up] Yup.

They gotta go. If we ever manage to retake power, the GOP in its current form needs to go the way of the dodo. They've abandoned their principles and sold out both our nation and our planet, and damn near every single one of them is now patently unfit to hold public office.

That goes even for the ones who pretend to be authority-bucking mavericks like McCain and Rubio. Because they're no different from the rest of them - the just act like it.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#168937: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:49:34 AM

[up][up] I'm starting to worry that that is indeed the case...

Still, I can't believe Congressional Republicans would simply allow Trump to do this. It's one thing for Trump to keep the Agencies quiet to the Press, it's another to keep these Agencies quiet to them.

edited 24th Jan '17 11:49:43 AM by DingoWalley1

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#168938: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:51:26 AM

As far as I can tell, they don't have a say. This isn't some bill that was passed - this was just the bosses telling the underlings "shut up. Don't talk to anyone."

This sounds like Bannon's doing to me. At the very least, it's consistent with his agenda and his methods. Create a smokescreen, make it so no one knows what the hell you're doing. And in the meantime, tear the government to the ground.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
Falrinn Since: Dec, 2014
#168939: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:51:45 AM

On this subject, does anyone know any good European sources for global climate data? I've generally used American sources in the past, but I get the feeling they aren't going to be as reliable in the coming years (or days), at least not the ones that either are government programs or use government resources, which is almost all of them.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#168940: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:58:18 AM

It's official.

Either the Republican party dies, or the country dies.

Some of us have been sounding this particular alarm for quite some time now. From where I'm sitting, it's like watching an imminent car crash in slow motion, and I'm screaming at you guys to just wrestle the driving wheel from the batshit-crazy man who's currently in control of it, even if breaks his hands or God forbid kills him, and pull the car out of the collision course before it's too late, and it's already milliseconds to the last moment possible for you to start doing that. It's either both of you die a horrible death, or you risk maiming/killing the other guy to at least have a chance of saving yourself and the other people in the backseats.

[down] This, civility be damned. I do not want to end up having my entire life turned into a Crapsack World just because the sane people in America have too much hung-ups about Jumping Off the Slippery Slope should they resort to temporary authoritarianism for the greater good. I've done my best to limit my hatred to the government of the USA and certain subsets of its populations rather than the entirety of the nation; please do not give me reason to see that as a grave error in judgement and start hating all of the American nation (with varying reasons for different subsets).

edited 24th Jan '17 12:02:31 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Jasaiga Since: Jan, 2015
#168941: Jan 24th 2017 at 11:58:20 AM

I'm going to say something probably controversial, but when/if Democrats take back the White House or Congress, their priority shouldn't necessarily be undoing Trump's bullshit (It's important, no fucking doubt, but hear me out) but their priority should be gutting the GOP in its current form, all the way down to Mayor of Bumfuck, Kansas.

These people are straight up, demonstrably, objectively, bold-faced, and out-right evil by literally EVERY SINGLE definition of the word. It's all great if we reverse Trump's regression, but not killling off the GOP like a cancer would be an enormous mistake.

fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#168942: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:00:15 PM

How the hell does Bannon get a pass into the White House? Also I have a feeling that the GOP is just waiting to impeach trump and replace with their golden boy pence.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#168943: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:02:02 PM

So the question would be: How exactly would we go about ending the GOP?

I can't really think of any way to end the GOP that doesn't make America an Empire instead of a Republic, and if that happens anyway, what would be the difference between a Trump Empire and any random Democrat Empire?

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#168944: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:02:07 PM

[up][up] Their "golden" boy-quite literally.

[up] Empires and republics are not mutually exclusive.

edited 24th Jan '17 12:03:43 PM by Protagonist506

Leviticus 19:34
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#168945: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:03:10 PM

Exactly how do you think that they can gut the Republican party to that degree that wouldn't, somehow, backfire on them? You can't gut a voluntary organization like this; Republicans rely on voters, in the end, same as the Democratic party. Unless you plan to engage in some really unethical voter suppression, something I've been assured that we're against in this thread, that is kind of impossible. Also pretty fucking hypocritical.

If you focus too much on destroying the opponent you lose sight of what's supposed to make you better than them.

@Fruitpork: the position Bannon has been assigned to does not require Congressional approval.

edited 24th Jan '17 12:03:43 PM by AceofSpades

fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#168946: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:05:37 PM

I don't see a very good way to destroy the GOP, they're doing their best to entrench themselves through gerrymandering and gutting the voting rights act. Once they get the scotus it's smooth sailing for them. If they win midterms it'll be because they've stolen the people's voice so we have to prevent that above all else.

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#168947: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:06:35 PM

Well on the upside at least I'll finally be able to see a proper Black Panther movie before everything goes to shit.

I'll take all the silver linings I can get.

New Survey coming this weekend!
fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#168948: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:08:56 PM

Trump: "I don't like this movie, censor it!" I would lose my shit. @aceofsoades good lord. And he's practically running the White House right now.

edited 24th Jan '17 12:11:51 PM by fruitpork

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#168949: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:11:01 PM

So let's see, only a few days as president, and Trump has:

  • Made it harder for first time home buyers to get a house.
  • Went ahead with the Dakota pipeline, screwing over the tribe that lives there.
  • Sent his press secretary out there to repeatedly lie to reporters.
  • Keeps beating a dead horse by claiming that millions of illegals were the only reason he lost the popular vote.
  • Not allowed government agencies to talk to Congress or the press.
  • Empowered local and state governments to pass laws to suppress protestors.
  • Kept James Comey on as FBI director, who violated the Hatch Act.

And he wonders why people were protesting on Saturday.

edited 24th Jan '17 12:13:17 PM by speedyboris

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#168950: Jan 24th 2017 at 12:11:41 PM

Destroying the GOP is like destroying the concept of evil. Impossible.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

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