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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The problem with conspiracy theories is that there actually are plenty of real life conspiracies.
No, there's no Lizard Men.
The NSA is watching your e-mail and phone, though.
Things which used to be dismissed with the same level of eye-rolling contempt.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Well, no, the NSA isn't doing that, and actually doing that would require an organization tens of times stronger and more staffed than every government enforcement agency in the US combined.
But as stated, the Senate Majority Leader was presented with vital information and tried to stop it from reaching the public.
The joint statement was released anyways, and Obama holds almost as much blame as Mc Connell in the initial delay since we know his WH hesitated to release the info so they weren’t seen as trying to influence the election. Not to defend the Republicans here but it doesn’t quite rise to the level of “aiding a foreign government”.
They should have sent a poet.The NSA isn’t watching your emails and phone calls, it’s logging some data about your emails and phone calls that it can look at with a warrant even years after the fact.
That’s where conspiracy theory become different from real conspiracies, the theories are always so much neater and cleaner.
Mc Conell didn’t hatch an evil plan with in the Kremlin Putin to steal a Supreme Court seat, he malicious blocked the reveal of information pointing to Russian meddling designed to help Republicans while also destroying historical norms over supreme court appointments, likely hoping that the two events could enable him to put a Republican on the Supreme Court despite there being a Democrat president.
There is a real chance that Mc Conell deliberately colluded with Russia and I do hope he gets investigated and if appropriate jailed, but I doubt it. I suspect that he simply didn’t care about the Russian meddling because he knew it would benefit him. He’d ignore an ISIS gunman in the halls of Congress if he thought they’d shoot democrat legislators.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranThis is not a credible statement. Obama was trying to figure out some way of dealing with this without making it worse. Mitch McConnell knowingly stymied him to make it worse to help his party.
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The majority no, but several high ranking ones? Yeah that’s be fiction but nothing that would break my suspension fo disbelief. Comey, Mc Conall, Ryan and Nunes aren’t Russian sleeper agents, but a fictional story where they were wouldn’t be absurdly unrealistic, just a Captain Americ Winter Solider style bit of escapism from responsability for the American public.
Edited by Silasw on Jun 28th 2018 at 8:34:12 AM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranNo, they are corrupt politicians and taking foreign money to betray American interests. Which means they are, literally, traitors to the state. We used to shoot people for this. People are dying because of their actions.
I'm against the death penalty but they should be in prison for the rest of their lives.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jun 28th 2018 at 1:35:17 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.If we have a Democratic Congress and President again? The filibuster needs to die and this legislation needs to advance. We are dealing with the fact that Democrats have won the popular vote in every election save one since after 1988, yet have chosen only 2 of the 6 USSC seats up since then.
We will have 2 years to ram through everything we can. that's it.
I have to agree, filibusters are ultimately a tool for obstructing progress. Admittedly not all change is good but bad change should be more easily reversible if the filibuster is gone. And it's not like it's stopped the Republicans from trying to repeal the ACA or making their godawful tax plan.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Jun 28th 2018 at 1:43:35 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangOh absolutely, I'm not saying they're universally evil or didn't originally have a purpose. Just that the Republicans have abused them and I agree that removing them would be a net positive.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangEven FDR at the height of his popularity and a Democratic Congress was unable to go through with a court-packing plan. It's like impeaching a justice - we can do it with control of the Congress and the Presidency, but it would be difficult and runs the risk of empowering "both sides"-ers.
A Democratic President and Congress can undo a lot of Trump's bills and executive orders given time, but Trump's judges are lifetime appointments and we're stuck with them for a long time if we can't impeach them.
Just a none: as much as there is the chance of the US economy tank under Trump, the US Political system should prevent that from happening.
Specially if a Democrat enters the White House in 2020, specially to avoid the same issue Obama went through when unfucking the US economy from Bush's sup-prime crisis but being blamed for the lukewarm economic growth and recovery. Which again, can and will be used by the Republicans as a campaign toll for he sucks and we could do better.
Inter arma enim silent leges![]()
I think making sure the Supreme Court is not dominated by reactionaries is well worth pissing off bothsiders, the latter might spoil elections while the former can hold back or reverse progress for decades.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean, what would the US political system prevent from happening?
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Jun 28th 2018 at 1:53:53 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangI could see the current atmosphere making expanding the court easier for whoever gets in power. Really, that something else to ponder, the (unlikely, I assume) event of Republicans trying to expand the court themselves to get even more Trump appointees.
I think they're talking about making sure people know that it was Trump and the Republicans responsible for the shitty economy when it happens, instead of whatever Democrat is (hopefully) in the seat. Because once the face changes, people change who they blame.
Edited by LSBK on Jun 28th 2018 at 3:57:29 AM
The responses on social media (specifically 4chan, Twitter and Free Republic) to The Capital shooting are a big red flag that the shooter is part of the Alt-Right, as are two posts on this r/The_Donald thread that came out just before the shooting.
Edited by Wariolander on Jun 28th 2018 at 1:58:42 AM
Would it strategically be better to impeach and block Trump appointees with control of Congress, or to go ahead with court-packing if/when Democrats are back in charge? Unless there are other options, these are the only ways I know to remove or minimize the impact of Trump's judges.
And that is a thing about him - he's been packing courts with young, very conservative judges who won't get in his way and will be there long after he's gone.
Edited by Raptorslash on Jun 28th 2018 at 5:02:19 AM

Kennedy has managed to secure himself one hell of a legacy here, that's for sure. He handed down a lengthy list list of horrific decisions this week and then lets Trump appoint his successor. The only play for the Democrats now is to pack the courts. They've either got the balls to do it or they may as well stop pretending they are a political entity within the US.