Prelude to the Apocalypse

[Air Master Burst]

Yeah, he's probably gonna get in some form of trouble for this, but prison time seems optimistic. If nothing else, I'm sure whatever remains of his legal team can drag out the proceedings and various appeals until his heart gives out from all the mcdonalds; which can't be too far off at this point, right?

[Sengoku Strider]

With these federal indictments, do they have a good chance of convicting?

They have an incredibly low chance of not convicting. The prosecutor, Smith, has a 97% conviction rate. When working together with Garland, they have a 100% conviction rate. They wouldn't have brought the charges like this if it wasn't a slam dunk for the DoJ.

Why it's a slam dunk:

1. The National Archive knew Trump had walked out with a bunch of stuff when he left (the White House has cameras in the loading bay, go figure). He first refused to admit he had it, then said he didn't have to return it because [insert unconvincing lies here].

2. One of Trump's former lawyers told the FBI that when asked for the docs, Trump initially deferred, saying he "didn't want anybody going through his stuff," and wanted his legal team to lie to the government and say they had nothing.

3. Meanwhile, Saffron Sun Tzu literally put a classified folder on display at his 45 bar at Trump Tower because of course he did:



4. Since his denials fooled nobody, Trump the Master returned some documents to try & cool things off, and had his lawyers sign a document asserting that was all of them. It may utterly shock and astound you to learn that it was not, in fact, all of them. So now his lawyers are witnesses, and attorney-client privilege is up in smoke because it doesn't hold up if the attorney is also involved in committing the crime.

5. After months of attempts to get Orange Couplius to do things the normal way, (which by reports involved him demanding millions from the government for their return after someone told him Nixon got $18 million for returning his documents, reports which are bolstered by Trump loudly complaining on Truth Social that they refused to "negotiate until everyone got what they wanted like they're supposed to") NARA punted to the FBI. They raided his home for harbouring info vital to national security under the Atomic Energy Act and found boxes and boxes of documents he wasn't allowed to have.

What did the FBI find? From the indictment:



Yeah. Piles of literally the most "you're not allowed to have this shit because it could genuinely fuck us up" shit that the government's got.

6. Upon this happening, the 4D Chess Master then threatened violence against federal law enforcement by "warning" that his followers would commit stochastic violence against the FBI in retaliation. One of his less mentally stable followers took the hint, attacked the FBI building in Cincinnati and got killed after fleeing. Non-guilty non-sociopathic human beings typically don't stir the pot like that. Like even rappers aren't that stupid, attacking the FBI before charges are even laid is a rookie organized crime move. Mercifully, after he didn't pardon anyone from the January 6 Stupid Coup, most of his followers weren't willing to stick their necks out past their keyboards for him. We saw this when he tried to get the same thing to happen with his NY arrest, nobody showed up.

7. After subpoenaing the phones of Tangerine Palpatine's toadies, the FBI found multiple post-presidency text messages to unnamed family members (it was obviously Ivanka from the cutesy-nicey responses) talking about moving the documents around between Florida & his summer home in New Jersey.

8. They also found where Captain Law n' Order was "storing" the nuclear plans and the Iran attack plans and the kompromat on the president of France and 297 other documents marked classified, photos of which were included in the indictment.

In a bathroom next to the toilet:



...and literally on the stage of the ballroom at Mar A Lago where they host events (do not forget, this place is a resort hotel, not some private mansion he lives in):




9. They also have the Very Stable Genius on a recording, waving the classified docs in front of his biographer and staffers saying:

The Guardian - Nuclear weapon secrets in the bathroom: five revelations from Trump’s unsealed indictment

“See as president I could have declassified it,” Trump said. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

“Now we have a problem,” said a staffer.

Trump: “Isn’t that interesting?

Apparently this was the infamous Iran invasion plan document. General Milley in his autobiography said he stopped Trump from attacking Iran in his last days in office; Trump was apparently showing the documents to try & prove to the writer the attack was Milley's idea, not his. Either way, his "I declassified them" or "I interpreted the presidential records act differently" defences are also up in smoke, they can very easily prove he knew he was lying.

10. They have him doing it again with someone else.

11. Two of his lawyers resigned from the defenseyesterday as soon as the indictment came out, because it turns out they're also compromised as witnesses in the case. One of Trump's aides was also indicted.

Basically, the indictment is a slam dunk because it's laid out in a way that shows he broke the law without question using visual, written and audio evidence not just of the crime, but of him admitting to the crime, and that he knew it was illegal. They can also show indisputably that he refused to cooperate with the government for months even when his counsel advised him to, and engaged in conspiracy with his employees, family and potentially even his attorneys to cover it up. It expressly dismantles every single defence he's floated in public over the past year. They even anticipated their "improper venue mistrial" defence, which is why it's in Florida, where most of the offences took place, rather than DC where they'd get judges who'd dealt with stuff like this before.



The guy bent over backwards, double-fist middle fingering the FBI all the while, to do all this to himself. I've never seen someone work harder to get themselves behind bars.

[BulletMagnet]

I know with him always seeming to slip away from consequences can be tiring, but I think he's actually fucked this time.

Depends on precisely who ends up in charge of his fate; we already had him on tape attempting to blackmail both Ukraine's President and Georgia's Secretary of State, but both times his personal ratfuckers sashayed right on up in front of the microphones and cameras to literally state, just to make sure nobody missed it, that no matter what evidence was presented they just plain weren't going to vote to convict, because fuck you. And just like him they suffered absolutely no consequences for this, because we decided to stop being a functional country ages ago.

If someone, anyone involved in determining what happens to Trump in regards to this latest travesty shares that same reptilian mindset - and you know he, his team, and the loathsome "well, we can't be divisive now, can we" crowd will do their damndest to complain how unfair it is if anyone swallowing his dick with less-then-maximum vigor gets to make that decision - it's gonna happen again. And even if he does by some miracle glimpse the inside of a jail cell, the fact that such an alarmingly enormous percentage of the electorate still refuses to rule out either him or his bootlicking party on Election Day gives me, and presumably Eugene Debs, nightmares.

I really hate to talk like this, but at this point I can truly only ever believe it when I see it.

[Sengoku Strider]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot this minor detail. His lawyers have told the FBI that the plans for the attack on Iran he was waving around have mysteriously disappeared:

New York Times: Lawyers Unable to Find Document Trump Discussed in Recorded Conversation

Prosecutors issued a subpoena for a description of military options for Iran mentioned by the former president during an interview. But Mr. Trump’s legal team said they could find no such document.

No biggie.

[BryanM]

I think prison would only help him win to be frank. If he hadn't already spent 4 years as a bog standard Ronald Reagan republican like Obama, it'd have been worth more than a couple extra points.

It'll be the apotheosis of his journey as "an asshole Bernie Sanders" (as he's viewed in the minds of his supporters: The only person on the planet who cares about poor white people.). A glorious capstone to the end of this era, and the birth of the next one.

Apparently this was the infamous Iran invasion plan document. General Milley in his autobiography said he stopped Trump from attacking Iran in his last days in office

And the poll here has a literal 53% vote for this "never" happening. And this Milley guy sure seems like a great guy eh >_>. (Hey, isn't it cool we have our own official state media. I was feeling a little left out. $250 million a year for 80 years~)

I don't know who can look back on our history and be certain of that, unless they think Collapse or Star Trek Communism is right around the corner or something. They want capital, they have a military, why won't they use the military to acquire capital?

I've always been fascinated with priests and their "obey authority" schtick, and so many people are happy to just shut their brains off and go along with it. It's like protecting your team's honor in sports: everyone else's team cheats and lies, but not mine.

His lawyers have told the FBI that the plans for the attack on Iran he was waving around have mysteriously disappeared:

No biggie.

omegalul. In fanfiction, Iran will use the leaked documents to protect themselves from the imperial scum, another heroic win by Trump.

In reality... well, it's a lot bigger place than Iraq. Destroying the government and destabilizing the country will be easy. Actually conquering it properly, impossible. Due to absolute incompetence.

[Sengoku Strider]

Depends on precisely who ends up in charge of his fate; we already had him on tape attempting to blackmail both Ukraine's President and Georgia's Secretary of State, but both times his personal ratfuckers sashayed right on up in front of the microphones and cameras to literally state, just to make sure nobody missed it, that no matter what evidence was presented they just plain weren't going to vote to convict, because fuck you.

Here's the thing about ratfuckers. You know what really gets them off? Fucking rats:

The Hill - Senate GOP leaders break with House on Trump indictment

Senate Republican leaders, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), are staying quiet about former President Trump’s indictment on 37 criminal charges, letting him twist in the wind and breaking with House Republican leaders who have rushed to Trump’s defense.

McConnell, who is careful not to comment on Trump or even repeat his name in public, has said to his GOP colleagues that he wants his party to turn the page on the former president, whom he sees as a flawed general election candidate and a drag on Senate Republican candidates.

The Senate GOP leader’s top deputies — Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — have also indicated they don’t want Trump to win the party’s 2024 presidential nomination.

They along with McConnell are letting Trump’s legal troubles play out without coming to the former president’s defense, in contrast to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who both issued statements Thursday criticizing the Justice Department before the indictment was unsealed to the public.

“They want him to go away so they wouldn’t be very upset if this is the thing that finally takes him out,” said a former Senate Republican aide about the Senate Republican leaders’ silence on Trump’s indictment.

Trump's entire aura of invincibility came from McConnell & Barr blocking all the consequences headed his way. McConnell is the actual thing that Trump isn't disciplined enough to be - a political backroom sultan who's always playing the long game, and knows how to stay quiet to keep his neck out of the noose. If Trump is messing up senate campaign money because big money donors don't think he can deliver in a general, the people with actual careers have no use for a gameshow host with maybe 5 good years left in him and zero impulse control or genuine qualifications for governance anymore.

[BryanM]

whom he sees as a flawed general election candidate and a drag on Senate Republican candidates.

Which is complete bullshit of course, a Romney will never come that close to winning again. Just basic old FUD tactics. They don't like him because he's not their favorite pet, is all. Not loyal and reliable enough. They dumped more money into Clinton and Biden, after all.

Other sock puppets loathe and seethe over the guy thanks to his jumping the line, instead of waiting his turn. A lot of house critters truly do idolize the guy though; they want to be him, once they're all grown up.

I suppose that's the core problem to the bosses, the party as a whole getting away from them somewhat.

The concept of dividing groups of people up into generations is always interesting. I think the officials in charge of it are way too aggressive about it, making the buckets smaller than they should be. You wouldn't feel obligated to create a special label for a subsistence farmer that lives exactly the same as his progeny 100 years later, would you?

At a functional level, gen-x'ers and boomers are the same. Very much into a Reagan Revolution model of the world. Millennials are different, and zoomies a little more different. I still submit technology as a primary determinant of people's inner worlds. The fuckery of the Bush years might not have been seen as such, without the internet.

This is gonna be a weird transitional era. The nerds are talking much more about the possible necessity of UBI, and a dead ideology has to resort to election fuckery to retain power.

[orange808]

The kids aren't any smarter.

[Air Master Burst]

The kids aren't any smarter.

I get this issue is like your one big thing, but they do seem to be a good bit more liberal about most other things.

[BryanM]

The kids aren't any smarter.

Did you read the article? Where it says it's only one poll? That returned a result of 60%?

Public sentiment on this issue always hovers around 60 to 70%. It's one of those things we all agree on, like raising the minimum wage or gay marriage. It's literally why the Clinton era was able to get the assault weapons ban through. Are you not satisfied blowing out the opposite opinion by 2 to 1? Or 10 to 1, if you only view the "make'em less strict" as your true full opposite?

The question of intelligence is not a matter of objectives, but in how good you are at accomplishing your objective. Here's a youtube video to introduce you to the topic.

So, intelligence. Just because someone thinks the minimum wage should be raised, doesn't mean that specific issue will determine how they will vote. Nor that they know which party is more likely to do it.

It doesn't even bear entertaining on what age the people are who trend in either direction. Older people are more likely to vote R to "protect their guns", younger people are more likely to feel empathy with the D's to feel safer. You can run a poll on that issue if you'd like, but frankly I think this thing called an election is sufficient.

And yeah the kids aren't "smarter". They're just less ignorant on average. That's a kind of smarts, I suppose. But it's more technical internet quibbling imo.

[BulletMagnet]

If Trump is messing up senate campaign money because big money donors don't think he can deliver in a general, the people with actual careers have no use for a gameshow host with maybe 5 good years left in him and zero impulse control or genuine qualifications for governance anymore.

Even if this is the case - and I'm frankly not sure it is, or ever will be - the point still stands that the amount and/or effectiveness of the evidence against Trump, or frankly any high-profile conservative these days, has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not they suffer any consequences for what they've done. If loyalists are in a position to influence his fate, it doesn't matter what he's accused of or how red-handed he was caught, too bad, they're going to let him off, because fuck you.

It's the same reason the people suggesting that expanding the Supreme Court will help stave off the right's hostile takeover are so unbelievably, sickeningly misguided; they've already shown they're willing to steal seats in broad daylight and know very well that the "centrists" are completely okay with this, so whether the court has 9 members or 90 they'll simply steal however many they have to in order to maintain control, because fuck you.

[Sengoku Strider]

Even if this is the case - and I'm frankly not sure it is, or ever will be - the point still stands that the amount and/or effectiveness of the evidence against Trump, or frankly any high-profile conservative these days, has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not they suffer any consequences for what they've done. If loyalists are in a position to influence his fate, it doesn't matter what he's accused of or how red-handed he was caught, too bad, they're going to let him off, because fuck you.

I understand why you'd lack faith in the same system that has gone out of its way to protect political establishment figures from obvious and serious crimes over the years. Especially at a time when much of the electorate is living in a paranoid reality-deflecting fantasy land.

But do I read a lot of right wing forums & sources not just for the crazy alien Hillary memes, but to see where these people are actually at. I think Trump's support is way softer right now than the media world does. These are the main elements that I think complicate things for him this time around:

1. In the past, Trump has been operating in a reality distortion field. These things seem impregnable right up until the moment they're not. When you're a winner delivering results, you can get people to go along with unorthodox methods because they seem like vision. When following you means just signing up to lose again, suddenly that willingness deflates in a hurry and people fall back to the standard playbook, because the people whose careers depend on this stuff know losing can snowball worse than winning does. Pundits are filling plenty of panicked page space about him being the front-runner, but polls say Trump only has 54% support in the republican primary right now. He had 95% republican support back in 2020. Remember, these people all had Jeb! signs on their lawns until Trump got a head of steam.

2. Trump only survived this long in politics because there was a republican senate majority blocking his removal after he was impeached, and a hand-appointed partisan toady as AG who was preventing any charges being brought. Neither of those backstops are in currently in place, and real charges he has no immunity from have been laid by what seems to be an extremely competent and very experienced FBI team (Merrick Garland was a DC circuit judge for 20 years). That only leaves outright judicial corruption to save his bacon, something he already tried and failed at mightily in front of 40 of his own appointed judges with the election lies, back when he had vastly more political resources, money and support. It also doesn't help him that the state governor is his political rival who would loooooooove to see him in jail, and maybe even become the guy holding Trump's pardon in his hands.

3. Much of the key pushback on Trump's election fraud attempts came from republican civil servants. I don't actually believe all those conservatives are lying when they worship law enforcement; if you read conservative forums where people can spell, they're full of law otaku arguing over statutes and constitutional interpretations with their free time. And I don't think everyone in law enforcement is for sale either. That field (and conservatism in general) is a magnet for black & white thinkers, despite appearances it's not so easy to get many of them to bend on a fundamental level. If they believe Trump is the white knight who'll restore Mayberry, they might take a "big picture" view. If he doesn't look like he can do it they won't, because as soon as the shine comes off they see he's exactly the type of carpetbagging rich New Jersey white collar crook they've despised since reconstruction. Yes, you have seemingly utterly amoral beings like Clarence Thomas involved, but guys like him don't get to be and stay where they are because they stick their necks out over loyalty to a guy who's not in any position to make promises.

4. It's not just about public messaging or sticking it to the libs. Politics is a magnet for high-functioning ambitious overachievers. If you leave your flank wide open with easily provable corruption, you run the risk of getting primaried by a fellow republican campaigning on draining your swamp. Or just getting busted by someone who doesn't like you and wants to make a name for themselves with a layup. The fact that Trump has very publicly hung a long list of his co-conspirators out to dry (seriously, he even got his valet got indicted this time around) makes people crossing legal lines to support him even more vulnerable.

5. With the classification defence long since gone up in smoke, their main response since the indictment hit has been this stirring line of argumentation:

"Donald Trump -- you may hate his guts, but he is not a spy," Graham, R-S.C., said.

Graham began his fiery "This Week" interview by saying the case against Trump had parallels with that of Hillary Clinton -- though a review of each investigation points to notable differences between them -- and he maintained that Trump had been "overcharged" via the Espionage Act, referring to the counts of willful retention.

"Did he do things wrong? Yes, he may have. He will be tried about that. But Hillary Clinton wasn't," Graham, who has endorsed Trump for president in 2024, said of the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate.

"There is an audio tape of Donald Trump saying he knows this is secret information he knows he's sharing with other people. How is that OK?" Stephanopoulos followed up.

"I'm not saying it's OK," Graham said before again comparing Trump's behavior to Clinton's.

"Sure, maybe Trump is as bad or worse than Crooked Killary, the Devil's Burning Trident of Sulphur-Bearing Left Hand. But why isn't she being charged under the Presidential Records Act? That's the real crime here."

None of this will effectively get enough moderates to circle the wagons around the guy for higher ups to take legal risks for him...unless their legal fate or publicly presumed heterosexuality (you gave this interview the ol' college try, Lindsey) lays in Trump's hands. They can only play to the 25-32% that'll follow him off the cliff not matter what.

I mean, you know things aren't going well when Trump's already practicing tough-guy statements for a plea deal:

[Trump] also stressed that he would not accept a plea deal unless he was presented one "where they pay me some damages."

================

All this being said I could be totally wrong, and this is all an Art of War setup by Trump The Master 60 years in the making to trap the Deep State:



Remember, Q said there are no coincidences.

[BryanM]

My prediction he's going to be elected president from prison is totally going to happen, but it doesn't feel like I've won any internet points unless someone responds with a mario-hopping-on-all-the-shit +100 +200 +400 +800 etc point sequence..

Anyway, my favorite quote from the debates so far is "Build back better doesn't mean we're building a country out of butter, you dense motherfuckers." I have many other quotes saved on file, but those are mine. I won't share them for free.

If you have any quotes from it you liked, share'em man don't be stingy. What the hell else are we gonna do, while we navel gaze for the show to heat up in the next quarter.

2024 is going to be a little insane, as the shoggoth beings to awaken. Politics hasn't felt smaller or more meaningless than ever before..

[Sima Tuna]

My choice between candidates hasn't felt any less meaningful in ages. I either vote for a person I hate (Biden) or a different career politician lizard person like DeSantis.

Spoiler

For those wondering what I could possibly have against lovable old Biden, the eight years of Forever War under Obama would like a word. And when it did finally become tenable to pull out of the middle east, he did it in the worst way possible, completely screwing over our allies in that region. All for a fucking photo op.

https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/ ... -rcna18119

Imagine being our ally in a foreign war. I may not approve of the war, but once committed, you do have an obligation to handle the pullout in a way that doesn't empower the enemy and doesn't cause all your allies to be hunted down and shot.

[Sengoku Strider]

Things appear to be going swimmingly for the untouchable Teflon Don on court day:

The Guardian: Trump finds no new lawyers for court appearance in Mar-a-Lago case

Money quote: "Trump has also seemingly been unable to find a specialist national security lawyer, eligible to possess a security clearance, to help him navigate the Espionage Act charges."

Meanwhile on Truth Social, in absence of a lawyer clean enough to work his case, Trump has sagely decided to go with this Simpsons-tier defence: "The prosecutor's friends and family probably planted all that classified evidence I was waving around on recordings in front of journalists."



9000 of his followers sorta believe him! Speaking of followers...

Associated Press - Outside of Miami court where Trump will appear, media so far outnumber protesters



After a week of breathless articles about raging MAGA mobs, all the bored journos standing around with their Starbucks is pretty lol.

[Sengoku Strider]

I think his hard drive is crashing.

[BIL]

I can translate the first one, he was clearly endorsing the latest and greatest masterpiece from Kill All Pedos!

[BryanM]

The best part of any Trump tweetshot is it always brings to mind "ha, he had to do the REAL Ghostbusters thing with his name." Such an old person kind of thing to do. "Yo yo yo, it's the realBryanM in the hizzzzzouse!"

The Pence SuperPAC ad calling Trump weak Pence stronk, is oddly surreal. Isn't it a bit self defeating to boast about "standing up to a mob" when half of your electorate was in that mob?

Anyway, back to news that matters. Yud has become an accelerationist!

this is more real to me than moments of my own life lmfao

It all just goes back to our subjective experience making us think we’re more than we are. Every standard we apply to debase AI applies to us also. I barely know wtf I’m saying unless I’m parroting some cliche I’ve heard before which is all many people ever do.

Many People literally get mad and make angry faces when they hear anything original. Most of life is echo chambers and confirming what we already think. That’s why it feels like understanding, it’s just a heuristic for familiarity.

The discrepancy between objective value and public appeal achieved by the rationalist community is breathtaking.

It's like a birthday cake shaped like a swastika.

[Sima Tuna]

Pleading innocent, eh? That's a bold strategy cotton, let's see what happens.

I'm curious what his defense will be at trial. He can't say he didn't do it. He can only argue that he did it but a) it was actually legal to do or b) he's being unfairly targeted for what should be a minor infraction? (I've heard some claim this.) I dunno.

But if he wants to go either of those routes, he's essentially admitting he did do it. I mean, what else can he do? If he says he didn't take the stuff, then the prosecution has piles and piles of evidence showing he did take it. So why enter a "not guilty" plea if you did it? Why not try to talk the prosecution around to a plea bargain where you face minimal consequences, they get all their stuff back and everyone wins? Well... I guess Trump HAD plenty of time since leaving office, where he could have quietly and politely arranged to return all the classified documents... If he had wanted to.

I suppose he could be issuing a "not guilty" plea as part of a bluff. Hoping to convince the prosecution to put a very sweet deal on the table so he can take it.

Regarding this whole situation, I just want to say one thing. I have found that most people, in real life, are remarkably willing to compromise and work with you if you have a problem or concern. If you approach them in good faith, they will respond in a similar way. This would have been especially true with Trump. Although there are many people who despise Trump, this thing with the confidential papers could have been defused if Trump acted like an adult and returned the papers. He knew he wasn't supposed to show them to people. It's implied based on the findings that he knew he wasn't supposed to still have those documents. Why not just fucking turn them over? The National Archives asks for them, you say "sure man, here they are." Are they gonna pursue you for prison time because you took stuff with you and then gave it back right when they asked? I'm sure there are people out there petty enough to try, but Trump's case would be a hell of a lot stronger in that situation. He could easily have made up some bullshit about accidentally packing them in with his luggage as he was moving out of the White House.

My point is that if you are seen acting reasonably, this protects you in the event someone really does want to harm you, or in the event you did do something wrong. When you act unreasonably, people respond negatively and you make your situation worse.

[BIL]

My point is that if you are seen acting reasonably, this protects you in the event someone really does want to harm you, or in the event you did do something wrong. When you act unreasonably, people respond negatively and you make your situation worse.

Yep!

I hope Joe Biden's next fall is straight onto a box of unsorted Lego. I would say "into a running woodchipper," but that conjures the even more despairing prospect of President Brown Vagina (have you seen her qualifications? She's black, and has a cunt! wow!).

I never particularly distinguished him from the million other careerist leeches, until he/his handlers started this white saviour shtick. It's insulting. He's been proximal to comically deleterious outcomes for non-white people for going on fifty years, before most of us here were even thought of. Battling the racial jungle oops I mean desegregation. Crime bill creating a generation of hardened ex-cons out of random weedbros. Iraq, million-plus dead civilians. Libya, buy a black slave today. Afghanistan, somehow turning a 20yr-aged shit sundae into a shit cherry parfait. The current, ongoing, nightmarish inversion of the crime bill that nobody white gives a rat fuck about, because it's not their toddlers getting slaughtered in their beds by stray fire courtesy of the neighbourhood triple felon bailed out for lunch money.

And various other craven lampings-on. "Equal pay" for women's soccer? Where's the fucking revenue coming fr... no. You know what? Yeah, sure. Equal pay for the rando shitheel who drunkenly busks down the pub to three men and a dog on Sundays, too. "hE dOeS tHe SaMe WoRk aS AdEle!!!"

And always with the appeals to forgiveness. People make mistakes, absolutely. Pardon me if I'm skeptical that the same grace would be shown to Random Political Rival X for giving Bobby "Burned Tha Cross 2 B Tha Boss" Byrd's eulogy. IDPOL hucksters, either licking at your feet or snapping at your throat.

But for all of this, the other guy (that's the paradigm here, sadly) is even worse. He's boorish. An overgrown highschooler. Not someone to be entrusted with a small business (as his track record shows...), let alone the POTUS. So I don't say much when friends and family go on about Orange Hitler's plans to triple-execute gay Mexican babies in the womb, other than to caution them against tunnel vision. I could see Biden's ilk continuing to preside over a MURICA even more fucked than it is currently. I could see Trump's like starting a nuclear exchange. Some would invoke Teddy's "big stick" maxim here, forgetting the other vital part of that saying. He's not a statesman, as this affair has proven beyond all doubt, whatever the judicial outcome.

[BryanM]

It still never ceases to amaze me that "make people's lives less miserable, materially" is never on the table. You're immediately derided by the bozos who love the current overton window.

The "gun control is issue #1" people are definitely in that bucket of the symbol-minded. All this energy put towards the means, none of it put toward the motives. Getting the injury counts of a rampage cut roughly in half in the most optimistic scenarios (like, I guess in that theater shooting), is obviously lower impact than making a world where fewer people want to kill themselves.

I guess it's all thanks to our simple monkey brains. Trump waving stacks of files around in a hotel bathroom makes for a better visual than Hillary waving a few documents around for the entire world to see on her servers in her mansion's basement. Much more visceral.

Basically the trump bucks and biden dollars are the only reason I still have any hope for the future. Yeah, jobs will cease to exist as a thing humans have to do and in our current social model that means we just kill everyone. But the mega zillionaires might want to go outside once in a while, and not have to worry about being drone'd, at least in the early days, so they might allow people to live?

My biggest fear is that alignment is done perfectly, and the natural extrapolation of our values is that we actually want to live in the Black Mirror episode, Fifteen Million Merits. I guess that's a lot like how the average zoomie views our world, already.. no white picket fences here.

[Sengoku Strider]

It still never ceases to amaze me that "make people's lives less miserable, materially" is never on the table. You're immediately derided by the bozos who love the current overton window.

OK whatevs mr indoctrinated globalist

[BIL]

"Sesame Street is where all of America get's a large part of it's morality"

Big Bird (died of monkeypox) is rolling in his fuckin grave hard enough to provide free sustainable lighting to Sesame Street for decades.

This shit can't be real. Just kidding I know it's real. 3;

[Air Master Burst]

Sesame Street is where all of America get's a large part of it's morality

If this were actually true the country would probably be a much better place.

[BryanM]

His premises are correct, but his conclusions are very faulty. Of course pretty much any equation you lay down that concludes with "... and that's how they've been killing all the white people" is gonna, ya know..

The children's programming is and was indeed about trying to improve the psychological wellbeing of kids. And having less fear and hate in the world is pretty bad for conservatives. The culture warriors are 100% right that the culture is the grounds on which popularity contests are won.

.... man, hey older bracket gen x-er's, was Sesame Street as big as it was in the 80's? I wonder sometimes if missing out on it in combo with the Reagan revolution really helped wire some brains a certain way. Maybe PBS didn't have the same coverage back then...

Plutocratic Broadcasting Station and the National Plutocratic Radio... how nostalgic. I remember how the News Hour used to start with either a bank ad, or an ad for some energy corporation that made thirteen different kinds of dolphins extinct.

If this were actually true the country would probably be a much better place.

Conversely, take a second to ponder how much shittier things would be if we didn't have it.

A world where Mr.Rogers makes his pitch to the senate, and they went "lol, fuck off loser."

.. man, politics was crazy back then, before the Fox News experiment helped reshape the world.... 1996? It was in 1996?!

Fuck me. That was barely yesterday.

I'm not sure entirely what kept someone from launching this kind of initiative on network tv before then.


Anyway, that AI debate I keep linking to and talking about is 100% what politics will be soon. Just two assholes roasting everyone nonstop, saying zero things about policy substance. It's the optimized formula of our political system. The current thing that's a joke right now, and will become reality soon enough.

[BIL]

.... man, hey older bracket gen x-er's, was Sesame Street as big as it was in the 80's? I wonder sometimes if missing out on it in combo with the Reagan revolution really helped wire some brains a certain way. Maybe PBS didn't have the same coverage back then...

As an early millennial (so I'm told!), growing up in the pre-broadcast/cable TV Caribbean (ostensibly steeped in British mores, but owing to sheer geographical proximity, de facto Burgercentric), even we had towering stacks of bootleg Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers recorded off satellite and sold on the cheap at The Tape Club. Everybody loves Mr. Rogers! I swear to god if he ever gets posthumously nonce-outed, I'll cry like shit 3; (see also Lemmy, who wrote and recorded "Jailbait," but was by all accounts a good dude, even while nailing barely-legal groupies left and right!) That speech to senate is some IRL Kenshiro shit.

Good stuff too. "Don't be an asshole" basically. Hobbes knew it! So did Moses and Jebus! You have to teach that shit, it doesn't come naturally. What comes naturally is often pretty horrifying!

...which is probably why our urban murder rates are perennially through the fuckin roof, people in the cities endure crushing poverty and hideously poor infrastructure, and the police are a de facto private death squad. \(O_O)/ Just like Burgertown's world-infamous hoods, come to think of it. Well, except for the death squad cops. Hot Zone Burgerpigs appear to be dangerous but nowhere as well-organised.

[Air Master Burst]

Just like Burgertown's world-infamous hoods, come to think of it. Well, except for the death squad cops. Hot Zone Burgerpigs appear to be dangerous but nowhere as well-organised.

You just don't hear about the well-organized ones as much because they're better at keeping their shit hidden. It also helps that even the most incompetent, least-organized hick-ass podunk police force is better armed and equipped than most countries' militaries. Draws a lot of attention!

[Sengoku Strider]

I read people who worked with him saying he snorts phentermine. I'm not saying I believe this to be true, just that he acts exactly like an egomaniac who snorts phentermine would. But it could all be demorat lamestream media BS, maybe he snorts a different pharmaceutical.

Spoiler

That whole thing is almost one giant all-caps sentence, ended with three exclamation points. How much does it take to get a 300 lb. 77 year-old man that railed?

[Sima Tuna]

I return to my previous sentiment:

I have found that most people, in real life, are remarkably willing to compromise and work with you if you have a problem or concern. If you approach them in good faith, they will respond in a similar way. The National Archives asks for them, you say "sure man, here they are."

My point is that if you are seen acting reasonably, this protects you in the event someone really does want to harm you, or in the event you did do something wrong. When you act unreasonably, people respond negatively and you make your situation worse.

Screaming in all caps that everything is a conspiracy against you and the whole world is treating you unfairly... While that line of defense might play with hardcore supporters, it's unlikely to serve you in good stead with the court.

We now know that Trump's various lawyers have, at numerous and sundry occasions, advised him repeatedly to play ball with the National Archives and return the boxes. The DOJ/National Archives asked for the boxes repeatedly and tried to avoid a scandal. If Trump had turned over the boxes, it's entirely likely the Archives would have been happy to receive them and left the matter alone. What did Trump do instead? Deceived his own lawyers by telling them he would turn over all the documents, then moving a large number of boxes out of the area where he said they would be. Thus making it look like his own lawyers were lying to the DOJ.

Trump may believe that he has a right to those boxes. Okay, so what do you do if you believe that? Pretty simple.

The first step is to comply with the order. After the documents are with the National Archives, then you can pursue the matter legally in the courts. If the courts rule that you do have a right to some or all of the documents, then the Archives will be compelled to turn them over. But Trump didn't do that. The most likely reason Trump didn't do that is because he knows he doesn't have a right to the documents. He knew the documents were classified. He knew he wasn't supposed to show them to people. So it's reasonable to assume he also knows he has no right to keep them. What Trump knows and what Trump tells others seem to be wholly different entities.

[Sengoku Strider]

Enter the TRUTH ZONE





These startling findings brought forward by Deep State whistleblowers allow us to finally start asking the truly apocalyptic questions: Did President Andrew Jackson really hang himself in a cell at age 252, or was he murdered??