The Politics Thread

[marceline]

 

I blame a big piece of this on the internet. The web has made everyone an expert. Look at anti-vaxxers. They put their kids and society at risk because of the garbage they pick up on blogs and Facebook groups. Look at citizen "journalists" like James O'Keefe. The internet was supposed to be the great equalizer and perhaps it's time to admit that's not a good thing.

[Khan]

 

Absolutely.

[Vee]

 

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

^^ Two words--Flight risk.

 

The corruption of Trump and his Trump-adjacent GOP cronies appears to be endless.  Like a bottomless swamp pit.

 

 

My friends had tried to get me to join Facebook half a dozen times over a decade ago.  I'm glad I resisted.  It always seemed like it would be a drain on my privacy and I never knew why but I had a feeling. 

[Gray Bunny]

 

That always irked me. It's like, would you like me to schedule your next colorectal screening exam with a plumber?  POTUS is the ultimate political position so OF COURSE you want someone with, you know, political expertise. Idiot family members... 

[marceline]

Good Lord. It just keeps getting worse. 

 

[Vee]

 

 

 

[Khan]

Yeah, Trump might have thrown the Festrunk brothers under the proverbial bus.  (By the way, when's the expiration date on the phrase "throw under the bus"?)

 

OTOH, Trump is so clearly in the grips of dementia, it's truly possible he does not remember them.  At all.

 

 

For you, maybe.  For me, however, watching Lindsay Graham get punk'd has me singing:

 

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Yup.  If I were the judge, I'd deny bail and hold those two until trial.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Khan

[Vee]

Hoo lord:

 

 

[Khan]

Vienna will not wait for you, Rudy.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

Apparently William Barr had a secret (not-so-secret now) meeting with Rupert Murdoch last night, under cover of darkness.

 

Didn't Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen travel to Vienna during Trump's campaign a couple years ago?

[Vee]

 

 

 

[Vee]

 

[DRW50]

I blame W, and his backers (especially in the media), for much of the anti-intellectualism now rife in both parties. The appeal of W was supposed to be that he was a dumbass. That meant he was just like us. You could have a beer with him.  Al Gore thought he was so smart, he thought he invented the Internet, he thought he discovered the Love Canal incident, he believed global warming was a threat (so silly!!!). Ever since then it's been a slow ride to hell in where we are now, where anybody with no brain who just shouts the right words is seen as "real."

 

This is one of the reasons I'll never go along with the people who say W wasn't so bad because he was able to not be as openly disgusting as Trump is. The recent controversy over Ellen Degeneres hanging around with him, and various celebrities like Reese WItherspoon or Kristen Bell rushing to her defense to tell everyone how special it is that she has a big enough heart to be pals with a war criminal, has pushed all my buttons. 

 

(the response to this is usually "but what about the Obamas being seen with him" - that's a very different situation than anything with a Hollywood celebrity, but sure, any time I see any opportunity given to make him look like a teddy bear, it turns my stomach) 

 

Edited October 11, 2019 by DRW50

[Cat]

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/10/power-silicon-valley-climate-crisis-big-tech-profitable

 

This opinion piece I have linked to makes the point that Silicon Valley have become so big, rich and powerful that their only priority is consolidating their position, squeezing more $$$ out of us and protecting their massive wealth.

 

Speaking of Big Tech, I saw that Google removed an app in Hong Kong which helped protesters track and share the movements of police forces coming at them. This was at the 'request' of the Chinese government. Given that China is using hardcore face-recognition and other technology to control people and strip them of their rights, it makes no sense to deprive unarmed protesters in HK of the one app that was helping them assemble while the authorities are allowed to use all the tech weaponry against them. Google totally folded in the face of China, because money.

 

And I don't know if this has already been discussed upthread, but the way DT has thrown our allies the Kurds to their almost certain annihilation is so completely, mendaciously, selfishly, stupidly evil. He is so enamoured of these tyrants like Erdogan; everybody else -- our friends -- are totally expendable. This move is so dangerous. It risks resuscitating ISIS from the grave and opening up another ISIS front in the Middle East and into Europe. It also shows that nobody can ever trust the US's word ever again. I know this is happening in a country far away and all that, but I am shaking with anger about it. I cannot imagine what the Kurds (who fought on the frontline against ISIS, with a military made up 40% of women to boot) are going through at this moment. And for that [!@#$%^&*] to justify it by saying well, the Kurds weren't with us on the beaches of Normandy in WW2..... my disgust has reached new depths.

 

/rant