Prelude to the Apocalypse

[BulletMagnet]

Okay, so I've kept my trap shut up 'til now about the various impeachment highlights from the Law and Order Party; up 'til now I think my favorites, aside from their completely moot obsession with Hunter Biden (whether he was inappropriately appointed is a completely separate question from whether Trump actually withheld the Ukraine aide because, by gum, Donald J. Trump wasn't gonna let nepotism happen on his watch ) were their plaintive mewling about how they were against the process because they didn't want to put America through something so divisive (heaven forbid!), or, even better, didn't want to make half the country feel like their vote was invalidated. All top-tier yeaaaahhh fuck yooouuu yeeaahhhh moments, to be sure, but I let them, and countless others, pass.

The latest, though, absolutely takes the cake: do all of the reasonable moderates really expect anyone to believe that, after basing their entire case on the notion that the entire process is a huge, conspiratorial sham and that anyone in favor, not just of removing the President, but just presenting any evidence is taking part in an out-and-out coup d'etat, that when Schiff cited a news report that Trump's team had been threatening retribution against anyone who voted against his interests - something he and others have already, repeatedly, openly done - that was just a bridge too far? That they were totally on board with Schiff's arguments right up 'til then, but NOW, well, just don't think they could, in the interests of sacred decorum, vote in good conscience for this trial to continue in earnest?

And the "liberal" press, right on cue, falls in line and uniformly labels it a "crucial misstep" on Schiff's part?

Those of you who wring your hands about the USA falling into the hands of Communists are way behind; we've completely skipped that step and gone straight to the post-Soviet tin-pot "-stan" phase, and the "my flag pin is bigger than your flag pin" crowd, ever true to form, couldn't be more elated.

[BryanM]

Imagine a world where Trump was impeached for violating the emoluments clause or vetoing the cessation of aid to the Yemen genocide or assassinating a foreign leader or basically anything understandable to a lay person who works for a living. Or even obstruction of justice.

Those are timelines where Trump was never elected in the first place.

[Bananamatic]

Imagine a world where Trump was impeached for violating the emoluments clause or vetoing the cessation of aid to the Yemen genocide or assassinating a foreign leader or basically anything understandable to a lay person who works for a living. Or even obstruction of justice.

Those are timelines where Trump was never elected in the first place.

imagine a world where instead of crying on twitter for 4 years while stalking the president's twitter with blue checkmarks you actually got a decent democratic candidate so you don't get 8 years of trump

[BryanM]

imagine a world where instead of crying on twitter for 4 years while stalking the president's twitter with blue checkmarks you actually got a decent democratic candidate so you don't get 8 years of trump

+1

I'd have thought all of my peers would have burned out on GOP watching during the 2000 to 2008 era.

Obama giving the GOP a supreme court justice should have been a red flag that maybe there's a fundamental lack of actual "opposition" at the organizational level.

[Specineff]

Meanwhile, the big, beautiful wall that has totally started construction with funds from the Military Budget, and that Mexico was TOTALLY GOING TO PAY FOR, succumbs to some strong winds.

[XtraSmiley]

Imagine a world where Trump was impeached for violating the emoluments clause or vetoing the cessation of aid to the Yemen genocide or assassinating a foreign leader or basically anything understandable to a lay person who works for a living. Or even obstruction of justice.

Those are timelines where Trump was never elected in the first place.

imagine a world where instead of crying on twitter for 4 years while stalking the president's twitter with blue checkmarks you actually got a decent democratic candidate so you don't get 8 years of trump

Hmm, I'm not sure most American's care or even vote, and they definitely don't vote informed on the issues. Also I think the right has weaponized "news" pretty well to keep the flock in check.

I agree with the crying comment though. Try to enact action for change and stop complaining I say.

[Bananamatic]

Also I think the right has weaponized "news" pretty well to keep the flock in check.

Key word being pretty well
Turning "wall falls over during construction due to strong winds at a bad time" into "trump's stupid wall falls over because it's stupid" or pretending like Trump dumping fish food into a koi pond after Abe did it first (and you conveniently cut it out) is bad just makes you look dumb

at least pizzagate was funny

[BulletMagnet]

What's not even remotely funny is that Trump's legal term is literally invoking the Costanza defense - which, taken to its logical conclusion, means that every repressive autocrat and bloodthirsty war criminal who's gotten rich off the flesh of his own people, but protested that everything I did, I did for my country (hey, you can't prove he didn't mean it!) should be totally shielded from the consequences of his actions - and more than half of the legislature is not only willing but giddy to pretend they buy it, because, until they prove otherwise, the people who put them there will sacrifice literally anything for the next fix of yeeaaahhhh fuck yooouuu yeeeahhhh.

[BryanM]

What's not even remotely funny is that Trump's legal term is literally invoking the Costanza defense - which, taken to its logical conclusion, means that every repressive autocrat and bloodthirsty war criminal who's gotten rich off the flesh of his own people, but protested that everything I did, I did for my country (hey, you can't prove he didn't mean it!) should be totally shielded from the consequences of his actions - and more than half of the legislature is not only willing but giddy to pretend they buy it, because, until they prove otherwise, the people who put them there will sacrifice literally anything for the next fix of yeeaaahhhh fuck yooouuu yeeeahhhh.

That's because they're on the same team. 99% of senators, something like 80% of representatives. Try not to get distracted as the existing power bloc pretends to have factions with varying material interests.

Thank you for voting Bernie in the primary to get us to a start of a better world.

Hmm, I'm not sure most American's care or even vote

We've been conditioned that way. "Young people don't vote enough!" Why would they vote when the options on the menu lead to the exact same material outcomes?

Platitudes, clichés, and whining about decorum are repulsive. (The Democrats literally have more power to pass a $10000000000000 trillion dollar basic income to everything on the planet, than they do to make Donald Trump choose to stop being mean to people.)

(Which is Joe Biden's entire platform of course. "Get Trump off of TV." Sigh.)

[Mischief Maker]

Smells like Socialism!

[BryanM]

Klobuchar is killing it at the satellite sites that the wealthy Iowans too wealthy to live in Iowa go to. Guess Margaret Thatcher is super popular with those currently in control of the party. Hiding the final Des Moines poll to protect Biden doesn't seem to be working out so far idk.

It's some grade A bullshit with how they're changing the rules to give Bloomberg a personal exemption to participate in the debates. As you'll all remember, Mike Gravel met the donor requirement easily. But his name wasn't included in polls so he was unable to reach the 1% polling requirement.

It is also kind of funny how Sodaman is acting so upset by Trump making fun of his height that he's claiming he'd even donate to Sanders now if he's the nominee. A man that violently shakes the heads of dogs won't actually do that, but our president got him to say it. Wacky circus.

[XtraSmiley]

Okay, so I've kept my trap shut up 'til now about the various impeachment highlights from the Law and Order Party; up 'til now I think my favorites, aside from their completely moot obsession with Hunter Biden (whether he was inappropriately appointed is a completely separate question from whether Trump actually withheld the Ukraine aide because, by gum, Donald J. Trump wasn't gonna let nepotism happen on his watch ) were their plaintive mewling about how they were against the process because they didn't want to put America through something so divisive (heaven forbid!), or, even better, didn't want to make half the country feel like their vote was invalidated. All top-tier yeaaaahhh fuck yooouuu yeeaahhhh moments, to be sure, but I let them, and countless others, pass.

The latest, though, absolutely takes the cake: do all of the reasonable moderates really expect anyone to believe that, after basing their entire case on the notion that the entire process is a huge, conspiratorial sham and that anyone in favor, not just of removing the President, but just presenting any evidence is taking part in an out-and-out coup d'etat, that when Schiff cited a news report that Trump's team had been threatening retribution against anyone who voted against his interests - something he and others have already, repeatedly, openly done - that was just a bridge too far? That they were totally on board with Schiff's arguments right up 'til then, but NOW, well, just don't think they could, in the interests of sacred decorum, vote in good conscience for this trial to continue in earnest?

And the "liberal" press, right on cue, falls in line and uniformly labels it a "crucial misstep" on Schiff's part?

Those of you who wring your hands about the USA falling into the hands of Communists are way behind; we've completely skipped that step and gone straight to the post-Soviet tin-pot "-stan" phase, and the "my flag pin is bigger than your flag pin" crowd, ever true to form, couldn't be more elated.

By the way, I forgot to post this, but yes, well written.

[Mischief Maker]

(Rhetorical Question) How the fuck did Robby Mook get hired to make that app?

[Koa Zo]

(Rhetorical Question) How the fuck did Robby Mook get hired to make that app?

Fake news. Understandably, the Dems left that huge void there due to their secrecy and lack of information regarding their app, so of course it was ripe for rumors and misinformation.

I haven't fact checked this, but supposedly here are some Hillary Clinton campaign names at the head of company which was given the app contract:
from a comment on this NYT article:

Here's a list of officers for the mysterious company, aptly named Shadow, that was behind the app responsible for the Iowa caucus debacle.

Gerard Niemira is CEO of Shadow Inc. In 2015, he was senior product manager for Hillary Clinton's campaign, developing tools for field teams to contact voters. And in 2016, he was in charge of the tools used by volunteers.

Ahna Rao was special assistant to CTO for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. She worked for Merlon Intelligence, which uses tools to identify money laundering. She also was an intern at USAID for 3 months and an intern for House Foreign Affairs Committee for 4 months in 2010.

James Hickey is COO of Shadow Inc. He was engineering manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and worked for Sprinklr, a "customer experience management" platform. Also previously worked as IT consultant for Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2012-2013.

Krista Davis is CTO/Chief Architect. She was a staff backend software engineer for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

Sarah Chabolla is the director of organizing and client success at Shadow Inc. She was a regional organizing director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

Thanks to @kgosztola for the info.

[BryanM]

First time in my life I've ever seen the Iowa results not get released late Monday night. Totally normal.

[Durandal]

Mildly amusing to consider how in the pursuit of owning the libs as much as possible, that those looking for their next dose of yeaaaahhhhh fuck you yeahhhhhh would prop up Bernie Sanders to own the Dem Establishment regardless of how they would feel of the prospect of Sanders v. Trump.

[BryanM]

Dear god, how hard is it to fix an election. It's almost fuckin' noon. They seriously gonna make us wait until July until they give us the state delegate numbers?

"Partial results" before close of business today. Yeah. Sure. Ok.

[orange808]

Dear god, how hard is it to fix an election. It's almost fuckin' noon. They seriously gonna make us wait until July until they give us the state delegate numbers?

"Partial results" before close of business today. Yeah. Sure. Ok.

The timing and circumstance of this are highly suspicious, no?

[BryanM]

They definitely at least want to bury the results as much as possible before New Hampshire next week. A partial result released five seconds before the state of the union, and leaving the news cycle on that for a week.

Biden camp is furious at the outcome. For those of you that haven't seen the photographs of him smooching his grand daughter, don't look for it. You'll sleep better tonight (and every night) if you don't.

[Bananamatic]

Mildly amusing to consider how in the pursuit of owning the libs as much as possible, that those looking for their next dose of yeaaaahhhhh fuck you yeahhhhhh would prop up Bernie Sanders to own the Dem Establishment regardless of how they would feel of the prospect of Sanders v. Trump.

Even /pol/ thinks Trump is starting to get boring
Bernie is the chaotic neutral vote if you don't really care about who wins and just want to see shit fly, plus the student loans being forgiven sounds slightly more likely than a white ethnostate

[Mischief Maker]

Well we've got 62% of the vote which gives The Rat a sliiiiight edge over Bernie. No reason to think the remaining half of the vote would overtake that edge, so we can have a couple days of the media telling Biden donors that The Rat is their great white hope to stop Sanders.

It also helps that Sanders was stuck in DC for the impeachment trial while the rat had nothing but time on his hands despite a massive race scandal happening in the town he's apparently mayor of. I guess there WAS a reason Nancy Pelosi was in such a hurry to get impeachment to the senate.

[BulletMagnet]

Mildly amusing to consider how in the pursuit of owning the libs as much as possible, that those looking for their next dose of yeaaaahhhhh fuck you yeahhhhhh would

...go onto the morning shows and repeatedly, with a straight face, justify their votes to acquit on their totally heartfelt conviction that this time The Pivot will finally happen. There's no bigger laugh line in politics, and yet the "moderates" are openly using it as their excuse to grant a President openly hostile to any and all limits on his actions the whim-driven powers of a despot.

They really couldn't do much more apart from waving their bare asses around in front of the cameras (as the interviewers, of course, politely decline to interject; that wouldn't be balanced), and more to the point, if they did the ever self-aware base - unless there's some serious movement happening behind the scenes, which I see no sign of whatsoever from here - would immediately cease Watering the Tree of Liberty to hoot and holler even louder.

[BryanM]

Maybe we'll know who won after Super Tuesday....

I guess there WAS a reason Nancy Pelosi was in such a hurry to get impeachment to the senate.

For those of you wondering what an opposition party would be doing with impeachment right now, it's this:

* There is a 0% chance the senate convicts.

* The acquittal will be bad press. 10x so, when no normal person even understands what the bumblyfuck this impeachment is about beyond protecting Joe Biden.

* Therefore, you'd want to block the thing from ever reaching the senate while blaming the other party for not holding the trial on themselves.

In other words, the kind of stuff Republicans do.

[orange808]

This one helped decide an election.

https://youtu.be/am2A30IsVVI

If you had 100 quid, euro, or dollars on that coin flip and lost, would you accept the result?

[BulletMagnet]

...go onto the morning shows and repeatedly, with a straight face, justify their votes to acquit on their totally heartfelt conviction that this time The Pivot will finally happen.

Seems I'm behind the 8-ball yet again: Hold my Diet Coke, says Daddy, as I use the State of the Union address to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush Fucking Limbaugh.

The stooges in the Chamber, "moderates" at the helm, grant this abject middle finger a standing ovation, and their constituents will - again, unless I'm missing something major here - scream at the top of their lungs for more.

And the next time anyone tells me that I'd better support a "pragmatic" candidate willing to reach across the aisle I'm going to throttle them.

[BryanM]

Correction on the released data on Black Hawk county. +~50 more state delegates magically emerge for Sanders.

"They're doing great", indeed.....

If you had 100 quid, euro, or dollars on that coin flip and lost, would you accept the result?

It's hard to get too mad at the Butt-men because it's so very likely they might actually not know how to flip a coin.

Sanders representatives were great at flipping coins back in 2016. The best. That's why they managed to score ~3 more state delegates off of it than the other guy.

And the next time anyone tells me that I'd better support a "pragmatic" candidate willing to reach across the aisle I'm going to throttle them.

Thank you for voting in the primary for the pragmatic candidate that would purge the party of these harmful accomplices.

[Mischief Maker]

Bwahahaha!

Just when the results from the satellites is coming in and just at the moment it looks like it's going to be a Bernie win, even by the "state delegate equivalents" number the NYT focused on (it was already clear he had the majority of votes), Tom Perez steps in and orders a "recanvass."

Keep that win buried!

[quash]

Ya'lls candidate will lose by 0.1% to an intelligence asset in an obviously rigged caucus, yet you'll still deny the existence or influence of the deep state.

[Mischief Maker]

Ya'lls candidate will lose by 0.1% to an intelligence asset in an obviously rigged caucus, yet you'll still deny the existence or influence of the deep state.

I've never denied the existence of institutional biases, but generally when we have these arguments occam's razor gives a much simpler explanation for these things than a CIA op.

I mean I would HOPE the CIA is slick enough that when the Des Moines Register spiked their poll, or when Perez called for a recanvass, both events wouldn't be publicly preceded by a phone call direct from the Pete campaign. I HOPE the CIA would say, "hey maybe the CEO of this app company shouldn't have her husband working directly for the Pete campaign when our masterstroke is executed."

[quash]

You, and most others here, place far too much faith in the system. Until that changes, there's not much left for me to say that I haven't already said before.