We already knew this, but it is just baffling that Republicans, as a whole, are so fucking weak they put the ego of a single, broken man above the best interests of 331 million.

Republican Arizona official says GOP legislator admitted there was 'nothing to' election fraud allegations

Third police officer who responded to Jan. 6 attack dies by suicide | TheHill

If he'd only had a "true American and Freedom" level of mental health he'd have survived.

This is where Jon castigates the 'heroes' right?

The hoops people are going to jump through to claim the two aren't connected will be disgusting.

NEW Maricopa County Board chair to Senate GOP: ‘Little time to entertain adventure in never-never land.’ Board rejects most of Senate subpoena shortly before 1pm deadline. pic.twitter.com/JdsgUfj46V

— Brahm Resnik (@brahmresnik) August 2, 2021

The way the US is going with the mainstreaming of racist ideology by the right, martyrdom of criminals, dogmatic use of propaganda that encourages Christian nationalism to politically define good v. evil, they are the biggest threat to the American public. They may not be the widespread threat today, but it sure seems like they are hell bent on continuing to push that direction until something breaks.

That letter is so gangster

FYI: he was elected as a Republican: Jack Sellers - Ballotpedia

SI

Suffice to say that I don't see some of this the way you do. There's quite a bit of dogmatic good vs. evil, mainstreaming milder racist ideology, etc. that comes from the left, including on this board, that is very misplaced as well (no this isn't both sides-ism before someone says it, the left hasn't been involved in undermining elections to remotely the same degree).

Nearly as large a problem IMO is that strong majorities of Americans of virtually all political stripes have opinions they are afraid to state publicly. Until we get past that, there is no unification possible. We can't find common cause when we don't, collectively, feel free to say what we think. Instead, we'll just keep projecting false versions of ourselves that we think our socially acceptable.

And now the 4th officer. What a failure to support these officers on so many levels.

White man's burden Lloyd my man, white man's burden.

So there is no belief that should be socially unacceptable?

Pssh, call me when it's actually worse than Benghazi.

If they are afraid to state them publicly perhaps they should rethink their stances?

I have never been embarrassed to want healthcare for all, equal rights, access to quality education, welcoming to immigrants, etc...

I think with that statement, you painted the left as the good guys, and anybody that strays outside of that is evil.

Maybe you're concerned that increasing immigration without increasing the housing supply might cause housing prices to skyrocket. But you can't say anything because you're immediately branded as an anti-immigration racist.

So that's probably why they might not be anxious to speak out.

I know that there are some right wing people that are racist and selfish people. But I'm sure there are far more that are more concerned about their taxes increasing while salaries are stagnating, or worried about the government debt their kids will inherit, but don't say anything as they don't want to get bracketed as a nazi.

FYI, I'm Canadian, so it's not a 1:1 comparison, but we have similar things happening up here, but as a country we do skew far more to the left.

I'm certain millions & millions of people like that do exist, but even those hypothetical concerns are based around the indirect results of Republican policies, rather than the policies themselves. Republican officials have certainly shown a desire to lower taxes and immigration, but filling in the blanks beyond that with trickle-down community welfare (let alone concerns like fair wages and housing, that Republicans actively work against) is rationalization, wishful thinking and/or denial.

There are a lot of Republicans that want lower taxes and lower government spending, but very few that actually are willing to do anything to reduce the deficit. It's almost exclusively a club to beat on Democrats when they propose new spending.

It's interesting though that your first instinct is defend the right, blame the left even all the historical data says the threat is very unevenly weighted to the right

When was the last time the Democrats proposed raising taxes on most of the public? When was the last time the Republicans cared about the deficit while in power?

If those are issues you care about, why would you be a Republican?

Yeah. Maybe I'm wrong but I think the great majority of Republican voters are simply motivated by lower taxes. I don't really know why both sides demand it be more complicated than that. I mean, sure I would define that as 'selfish', but plenty of Dems vote for selfish reasons too, and it's certainly better than voting out of spite, which seems to be the deciding factor for many folks. Ironically, the rationalizations most people will invent to avoid that label are far more puzzling/offensive than saying they're voting for their own interests.

I don't think most republicans could give a rip about the deficit, and their silence about it when the right has control validates that.

I think a huge number of republicans are single issue voters such as abortion, guns, religion, etc...

I think it's two-fold. How they want to be perceived and how they perceive themselves.

There are a lot of people on the left who will pay lip service to progressive issues. But the minute affordable housing proposals pop up in their nice white suburb, they're against it. They can't say "hey we don't want poor people moving into our neighborhood", so they'll come up with some creative excuses as to why it can't happen (just open the Nextdoor app and see). This isn't just to protect themselves from criticism, but also because deep down they want to believe they are a good person.

The Republican Party has shifted about as close as you can get to fascism these days. But most don't want to say or believe they are a fascist. So they support fascism under the guise of protecting us from a cabal of pedophiles or election fraud.

I'd argue he's underselling how many people are afraid to admit what their real beliefs are. I'd argue most people have something in their belief system that they either don't want others to know or don't want to believe about themselves.

The ultimate, selfish, self serving, entitled group that wants everything for nothing.

If I was American I would be a Democrat, but I just wanted to try and understand who a typical Republican is, and what is important to them. I know my dad is pro-Trump and it drives me nuts, but I still try to listen to what he is saying.

It's when both sides stop listening to each other altogether that we end up in this position.

I don't think there is a typical republican right now. The party has the QANONs, the White Supremacists, the Evangelicals, the Trumpers, the Reagan Republicans, and countless smaller groups. A lot of these groups don't even like each other, hate the other's politics, but rationalize voting with the others because they hate the left as much or more than they hate each other while others cherry pick a single issue or two and are willing to align with people they can't stomach over those 1 or 2 issues that probably aren't changing much no matter who is in office.

I think a lot of Republicans are one or two-issue voters. They're never going to vote for Democrat because of their views on abortion and/or immigration. (Even though the actual differences in immigration views don't survive a lot of scrutiny). I think "build the wall" got Trump elected more than anything else.

The thing is, what we know about Trump now, and how the republican party has become the party of Trump, what is the point of listening to someone that supports that?

This isn't about policy differences. It is about supporting a party that literally wants to destroy democracy. If you witnessed the last almost 5 years now and still support that guy I have zero respect for anything you say, because you obviously are OK with all the shit that comes with Trump and his followers.

Listen to what? We have heard what is important to them for some time. It is not hard to find this or people willing to talk.

They want Trump as their King and for him to imprison and or execute political opponents. They want a white ethnostate. I would love to list policies, but they don't seem to stand for anything but doing whatever makes the other side mad.

The issue isn't "listening". We hear people say what they want all the time.

The right has zero self-reflection skill and zero critical thinking ability. Prove me wrong.

There is no fair debate to be had with a group that is not interested in debating topics on their merits. It's just all about shouting the loudest

This is the issue than Brian is trying to highlight: everything seems to have to be binary.

The post you quoted & replied to literally says that the right is a lot worse, but there is an inability for many on either side to acknowledge anything other than perfection from their own team.

This is why these sorts of discussions are ultimately pointless, they aren't debates or discussions, they're framed as 100% good v. 100% pure evil with nothing given either way.

I used to lean right on a lot of things, and was very annoyed by some of the perspectives of the left, including as expressed on this board.

Then one side elected Trump, tried to overthrow the country, and opposes vaccines for a crippling pandemic. I'm binary now. One side is evil and one side is at least diverse with only some annoying shit about them that suddenly doesn't really matter to me anymore.

I was the same molson. Based on my upbringing, I had a very ignorant view of the world. Now that I am older, more mature and wiser, I think I lean more to the left. What I try to do is not pick a side. I just believe what I believe.

I don't feel the need to be against one side or the other just because they are on the other side.

If anything, I can't stand most of what we see about Republicans in the news. They are the minority party and everything they do is just so they can hold on to power. I don't think any politician really cares about us, but I really don't think the Republicans do.

I was talking to someone the other day and they were frustrated that masks mandates are starting to come back. They try to say that it was all of the immigrants coming up from Mexico that were causing the outbreaks in FL, LA, and AL.

When I asked the question "So, you think it's immigrants and not the fact that people in those states aren't getting vaccinated?" They got pissed at me and said I always turn these conversations political.

Blaming immigrants is 100% right wing media passing the blame.

Some smart people are doing some stupid shit over this. I still can't believe something like a pandemic has become political.

Even more interestingly, I actually didn't do a word of that. I'm not saying that to be snarky, I'm being literal. Not a word of what I posted was in any way a defense of the right. I made two points:

** The left isn't IMO as much better as was claimed. Not because what was said about the right was wrong - it wasn't for the most part.

** People being afraid to say what they think is terrible for democracy, society, politics in general, etc. and we're at a high on that with a gradual, steady increase.

I don't agree with your assessment of the historical data either, but that's a longer conversation that would be useful in this thread I think.

@AlexB: As ever, I thank you for being a reasonable and fair-minded contributor :)


This is a very good and valid question, kudos to you for bringing it up. I wouldn't say *no* belief; I would say a vanishingly small amount of them should be. What happens on the extremes isn't my concern here though. I.e., leave the conservatives complete out of it, assume they are all full of crap (not a half-bad assumption these days :)).

The latest polling data indicates that *moderates*, by almost 2:1, are afraid to say what they think. This is not just an issue at the extremes. Even liberals are basically split. It's only the left wing that doesn't feel this way in modern America.


Serious question; is that really the kind of country you want to live in? Maybe it is, in which case we're so different on what a modern western nation should be like that we can leave it there.

By that standard, presumably Galileo should have kept his mouth shut, northern abolitionists in the first half of the 19th century certainly should have reconsidered what they think, etc. My stance is that is a free and pluralistic society depends on its ability to debate opinions that people don't like without ending up in a place where we want people fired, we aren't going to speak to family members who don't believe the 'right' thing, etc. because their opinions offend us - as Hitchens often said, being offended does not constitute an argument.


Nah, you don't have to be OK with Trump. As has been said before, you just have to think the current Democratic Party is worse. This is part of what's missing often on this board. I don't think most of the posters here have anything resembling a real sense of just how insane - that word is not excessive or an exaggeration - a significant portion of America thinks the current direction of Democrats is. That doesn't make Democrats wrong, but how many times have we talked about people like Amash here on the board and people will say 'I respect him a lot but would never vote for him because of the policies he stands for'. It can't be ok to say that but then not ok for others to say that about Democrats they think are nuts on policy.

Yes, as bad as we (accurately) think Trump was, from the insurrection on down, there are those who think Democrats stand for things that are *worse*. We need to process that.

We're way past the point of even not listening to each other. I'd take a return to that right now. We need to get back to 'I detest your beliefs and oppose them with every fiber of my being, but I'm not going to hold that against you personally'. It's like a story that the late Alan Colmes related vis a vis the idea that our personal interactions shouldn't be about politics. Too many of us are becoming like the people who want a lengthy discussion about Roe v. Wade in the cafeteria line; we see everyone through that lens of whether you're on the 'right' side. Colmes's response (close paraphrase): "No thanks, I'd rather just enjoy my salad". We need to interact with each other as people first. We should be able to enjoy family outings, neighborhood get-togethers, conversations at the grocery store, etc. with people that we know have political views we find odious and not concern ourselves with that as an interruption of just being their friends as fellow citizens and human beings. If we're watching a movie or a TV show or whatever, it shouldn't matter to us whether the actors/producers/etc. are republicans or democrats or said the wrong thing on Twitter last week. Our concern should be whether they make a product we find valuable.

.02.

We've gone from Patrick Henry saying he regrets having but one life to give for his country to the Arkansas governor saying regrets having given so many other lives for his country.

Arkansas governor says he regrets signing ban on mask mandates | TheHill

There is no imaginary hell deep and hot enough for these people.

Brian-

Your entire word salad fails to take in to account the left still stands for policy initiatives. Healthcare for all, fair immigration, infrastructure, equality. Stomping out a pandemic FFS has become a left initiative, christ, merely acknowledging the severity of it has become a left talking point.


and why do you think we are at this point? It is because of Fox News, Trump, Rush, Alex Jones, etc...turning politics in our country into a culture war, and still the Dems are trying to work with the right. Who do you think puts the fear of "the other side" into these people? FFS the rhetoric that comes from all directions of the right is laughable. You would think it was satire if you knew any better.

Literally the only thing the right cares about is owning the libs. When you start from that position then yes, your stances are shit and shouldn't be heard or validated, and you certainly can't debate that as policy. There is no reasoning with these people because facts are decried as fake news.

The right wants to talk about immigration, or deficit, or healthcare, great, but they don't, they want to talk about CRT and trannys playing boys sports. They are a fucking joke.

Who knew infecting your kids to own the libs wasn't a great strategy.

Problem is the legislature will never overturn this because they know its political suicide, because you know, their constituents are all "well the leopards won't eat my face"

I don't think that's relevant here. As I said in post, assume for the sake of argument all conservatives - *all*, not merely 90% or 95% or 99%. ALL are out to lunch.

We're still at a point where most moderates have a problem. These are people who aren't in it to own the libs, so we need to find a new brush to paint them with. Wacko conservatives doesn't fly.

If we were in a situation where it was just conservatives who felt ostracized there would be a reasonable conversation to have about whether you have a legitimate point. That's not the situation we have.


This simply isn't true also. There's a lot of people who think immigration is a serious issues, it's part of where Trump's support came from. CRT, 'trannys playing boys sports', etc., are also significant issues to some on the right. The assumption that they aren't demonstrates what's going on here. Again, significant elements on the right think the list of policies you've listed as left initiatives are just as ridiculous. That is a real thing. When they hear liberals talking about equality the way they define, they think these people are absolutely bat-@&( insane. A couple people on these forums even have said so in my memory. What you describe as 'fair immigration' is 'surrendering control of our borders' to them. The culture war is often a matter of self-defense in the face of what they see as liberals tearing down every vestige of it they can find as quickly as possible. It's always easier to look at what 'we' believe and say it's the other side that's full of it, but when it comes to national dialogue and unity that doesn't get us anywhere.

How do you not know what the other side believes right now? There is a stream of consciousness from every politician and supporter you could want to hear online. You can watch massive rallies and see which policies are being promoted by a candidate. Who in modern society is struggling to find out what the other side has to say?


How does this work when the person believes you're supporting a cabal of pedophiles and that you and everyone who believes what you do should be imprisoned for it? Or a person who is desperately trying to infect as many people as they can with a deadly virus? If you can't hold it against someone for being a fascist who wants you dead, when can you hold it against them?

These aren't debates about whether the tax rate should be 30% or 33%. It's about whether we maintain a semblance of democracy or move to an autocratice white ethnostate.

edit to add this was in response to Brian, not Rainmaker


So your solution is to give these people, who are batshit insane, a voice? You think we should validate and respect the opinions of the alex Jones of the world? Thats your solution to reunifying the country?

As for my statement about owning the libs not being true, what was the republican platform for the 2020 election? Thy literally didn't have a new one, they just repeated Trumps from 2016. But right, they really care about the core issues...

But according to Brian we can't have a democracy without giving those people a voice. Quite the conundrum

Brian lost me when he literally won’t even acknowledge statistics and twists himself into a pretzel to translate the anecdotal anomaly into the counter to overwhelming data.

It’s just not worth discussing anymore

Even now

Eradicating a pandemic globally is equalized against a comparably small amount of immigration concerns and the handful of trans sports things.

It’s literally like comparing a bike ramp to mount St Helen’s and saying they’re equivalents.

It’s just not worth it any more


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The main point has been made twice and continues to be ignored. I don't see a point in continuing on the other parts without making some progress on this part of the discussion. Quoting myself:


There's no hope of solving the fringes if we can't find common ground on the mainstream.

Side 1: I would like to have people vote for their representatives.

Side 2: I would like to crown a King who has support from a minority of the population and have him lock up opponents for crimes I read about them doing on a 4chan knockoff while killing off millions with a virus that is fully treatable.

Brainiacs: We should sit down like adults and find a middle ground.

I might believe in Brian's professed respect & concern for hypothetical people's opinions if I didn't see him in here directly questioning real people's opinions into dust, practically every single day.

Except that's a blatant lie and not at all what I did. I acknowledged those statistics repeatedly and showed data which proved what I was saying in that thread, while it was you who were twisting by misusing statistics that didn't actually back up your claims.

Apples and grapefruits. This is a debate forum. Questioning people's opinions is what we do. I find it interesting that you're fine with questioning mine, and don't mind when other people question mine. It's only when I question opinions of others that it's a problem. Why is that, exactly?

Nowhere here have I advocated personally attacking people who disagree with me. Nowhere have I suggested there should be consequences to them beyond this forum for doing so.

Self-described moderates, by the way, are not 'hypothetical' in any sense.

People who describe themselves as "moderates" are often not. Like when all the white supremacists started calling themselves "classical liberals".

What you are failing or refusing to recognize is these people you call moderates are complicit with the whackos. They can tell themselves they vote republican because of abortion or immigration or whatever traditional values used to exist within the party, however the reality is they are just as guilty as the fringe people. They are literally on the same side as nazis and domestic terrorists.

That just leaves us in a position where we accept what polls say when it suits us, and don't when it doesn't. I mean, if we're not willing to take self-identification at face value, is there any point in debating anything?

If all self-identifying moderates voted Republican Democrats would lose every election. How do you know they are even Republican voters? I mean, I don't know that. Where do you get this presumption from?

This is true, and it is outside of MAGA.

There are folks for whom being a "moderate" or "independent" is an important part of their political identity.

You might have someone who hasn't voted for a GOPer since Bush I, but they will still call themselves "independent" when anyone asks. Or the same thing for someone who's gone straight-ticket GOP since Reagan.

People who poll sometimes try to tease out true independents (who are a very small sliver of the population) from leaners and folks who are consistent "independent" straight-tickets voters.

I think mixing moderates and independents is just muddying the waters here. An independent just means you don't belong to either of the major parties. A moderate is someone who tends to shy away from extremist beliefs.

I am registered independent and very moderate, actually most closely aligning as Libertarian.

I voted probably 60/40 GOP before Trump, in 2016 it was close to 80/20 Dem and this past election 100 Dem, only because there was absolutely nobody on the GOP ticket here in AZ that fit the definition of what I consider a classic republican with a more moderate lean. Most are all wacky Trumpsters and until I see his influence leave the GOP, I don't see myself voting anything but Dem and 3rd party in the near future, at least where I live.

There are still republican's I would totally support, Kinzinger immediately comes to mind, hell even Romney, but they are few and far between.

I'm obviously talking about moderates that vote republican. Or independents. Or whatever term you like.

anyone who votes with the current republican party is complicit with everything that goes along with.

There is no more "well, I don't love how easy it is to get guns, but I will never vote dem because every fetus is a life"

You vote republican now you own all the other shit.

sometimes it really is that simple.

Ok, but how is that relevant to the current discussion, which is about polling data relating to the *entire* set of self-described moderates? I mean, nowhere did I mention moderates who vote Republican. It's also true, as I mentioned, that the concern applies to a lesser degree to self-described *liberals*.

Unless I'm missing something, this seems a response to nothing I said, ever :).

Sorry Brian but I'm done. You get these conversations to a point where it is impossible to even remember what the initial discussion was.

You wanna exist in some dream world where both sides need to find a way to validate the others opinions regardless of how insane one sides is, knock yourself out. I'll be over here in Narnia.

Ok. I find that totally mind-boggling since I'm just making the same point I made in my initial post that you responded to, which ... while repetitive, seemed necessary to try to get back on track from the rabbit trails. I don't think I'm the one sidetracking or confusing the discussion.

Why does self-identifying matter when we can look at actual votes to see what is popular and what is not?

Also what does the term moderate even mean? Socially moderate? Fiscally moderate? Someone in the middle of Republican and Democratic parties? That would be far-right to most of the advanced world.

That would be relevant if we were discussing global politics. In terms of American politics, where someone sits relative to American liberals and conservatives is the relevant measure.


Because the question isn't what candidates, parties, or policies are popular. the question is, to what degree are people afraid to voice their political opinions publicly in the nation's current political climate.

Shocking as it may seem, I'm a moderate, despite the brush that gets painted around here.

I just can't stand the bullshit that and the double dealing that comes from the right. There's no emphasis on the collective good, or any sort of sacrifice to make the group stronger. It's only about how can I get mine. The constant lying about what they actually said, the screaming and fearmongering about the end of times because the other side wants health care for women or other things. The Birthers.....blatant racism...yet gets a pass, and on top of that, denials that it was ever a big deal, and double down on holding someone responsible for supporting it. Remember the time Obama was going to declare martial law and take over Texas with a Wal-Mart? Yeah...so nobody ever comes out and goes, yeah...that was dumb...we were wrong. They never...ever...are held responsible for this stupid shit. Instead they simply spread 10, 20, 100 more lies and stories to muddy the field and the discussions. Until this exact mindset is challenged, changed, real discussion can not take place. All I want is honestly, integrity and responsibility.

I wanna exist in a dream world where opposing sides can talk civilly to each other.

I don't think it's any different than it has ever been. The old adage about religion and politics at the dinner table still applies. It's an emotional topic and people who have something to lose will avoid putting themselves out there if they don't have to.

Just some highlights of the day:

Tucker Carlson, at a far-right conference in Hungary, spoke glowingly of the repressive Hungarian regime and how it's a model for the USA.

Newt Gingrich fully embraced the great replacement theory on Fox with no pushback.

JD Vance said the "childless left" is out to destroy the country.

Ron Desantis said COVID in FL is being spread by immigrants let in by Dems.

How do you find areas of compromise when so many GOPers are lying white nationalists.

I live there with Aslan and Fenris Ulf!

https://www.axios.com/axios-ipsos-po...c94361d92.html



"Yes, that’s right. Unvaccinated people blame, in descending order, foreigners and the mainstream media for the current wave of COVID."

It fits. Hating non-whites and anybody with more than high school education is on brand.

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This just isn't what the data shows. It shows increases over time across all political groups, from strong conservative to strong liberal and everywhere in between.

For me it’s not being afraid to voice my political opinion, it’s more a case of can I be bothered with overcoming one of the two standard responses before any small chance of discussion can take place:
Yeah, but Trump…. or, Yeah, but the libtards…
Don’t both sides this…

Many on both sides ;) seem to me to be mirror images of each other, but in the ingrained total allegiance, complete inability to deviate from, or even question, the one party line, and in the fear/horror of the other side.

As such debate (or even discussion my case as I don’t know enough about the overall platforms of each party behind the headlines or fear inducing clickbait) isn’t worth the vitriol and or closed mindedness that usually comes with it.

Some positive news; Americans say it's bad if Trump runs in 2024 by a 2:1 margin. 'Only' 73% of Republicans think he should run, which is a lot but it's nowhere near the numbers he was getting while still in office. Some are figuring out that it's over.

It's still an overwhelming supermajority of one of the TWO political parties in the US. Set everything else aside, those are pretty fucked statistics for someone who was impeached twice and has more baggage than British Royal.

The leading media voice on the right and close advisor to the former President is pumping up a country that has shifted toward soft fascism.

But, hey, the left who can't even get agreement on an infrastructure bill (but maybe if there's enough pork for all), can't even break the filibuster for a voting rights bill, gun control bill, environmental reforms, election reforms, or immigration reforms and is about to lose any real access to abortion for at least half the country if not more to the courts while they're beginning to carve up the meager rights only recently granted the LBGT community. Who just kneecapped another one of their progressives to install a more centrist candidate in Ohio. Them, they're rolling this country towards Communism. They're definitely the same left and right, both sides and all.

SI

So Trump runs and wins 73% of the primary vote. That makes him the R candidate. In the general election, all R's vote R. The election is a tossup. I don't see it as positive at all.

It's better than staying over 90% isn't it? 20% of Republicans realizing that Trump shouldn't run again is better than them not realizing that. We're a long way from '24 still also. Maybe Trump rebounds, but maybe he also continues to erode in which case it's possible he doesn't even win the nomination. Even if he does, small steps are better than no steps at all.

Not wanting him to run does not equal won't vote for him if he's the nominee.

Imagine it was more clearly worded. I bet "immigrants" would have gotten a higher score than that. Oh, look, deSantis drawing that card now:

DeSantis blames COVID surge on immigrants as Florida pediatric cases soar, hospitals fill up.

All he needed to add was to call them Dirty Beaners and he'd have gotten the full house.

@brian cannot read that chart

Too many colors so he’ll ignore it and find a more simpler chart that doesn’t agree with that one and is in only one color.

It’s laughable


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McCarthy had a reporter drug out of a press conference for, what appears to be, asking a question about his opposition to the Jan 6 committee.

Guessing he asked it a couple times and was ignored until that moment, but I only saw the end of the clip.

Clearly this is a both sides issue.

Maybe because it is easier to find out what your political beliefs are? In the 60's, you didn't have to worry about your boss Googling you and finding out what you support on your Facebook page.

I might be in the minority, but I've never brought up politics in work or personal situations because there is zero benefit to be gained from it.

This, there are very few people I discuss politics with, which is why it is so nice to vent here about stuff. And I don't know why anyone would bring politics up at work. Never a good idea, especially the larger your company

I totally understand. I very much avoid this at work, unless I'm with someone who has a similar point of view, and when I'm not, I make it a point early on to point out that I don't necessarily share their pov and hope they just drop it and move on.

Mike Lindell Delays 'Cyber Symposium' After Saying He Was Hacked

Sorry folks, it looks like Trumps reinstatement is going to be delayed for a little bit longer. If only Mike had put his evidence under his MyPillow or something...

The Hackers must be the best in the world to be able to hack the pillow guy that's going to expose how voting machines that aren't connected to the internet were hacked by China.

Perhaps one of his lawyers pointed out that Dominion will soon own the entire company.

So soon Dominion will control all the evidence, what a f***ing great plan!

Man I have been doing it wrong my whole life, so over the next 4 years I need to.

1-Develop a crack habit
2-Find God and stop cold Turkey
3-Invent some ridiculously crappy product (Thinking about My Oven Mitts)
4-Become a millionaire
5-Fall in love with some equally whacked out politician
6-Claim massive fraud when they get trounced in their next election
7-Spend my entire 'My Oven Mitt' fortune on spreading batshit crazy conspiracies.
8-Appear on Jimmy Kimmel so anybody left that has not seen what a nut job I have become, can enjoy my pathetic insanity.
9-And finally, the pinnacle of my journey, become the most lampooned human on FOFC and appear on video chats in my underwear!

Did I miss anything?

You missed being attacked at your cyber security symposium

Mike Lindell 'attacked' last night, police report has been filed

I could believe that someone could attack Mike (and if true I hope they are arrested).
I could also believe Mike was lying.
I could also believe Mike was high on crack and really thought he was attacked by Antifa.

Clean energy causes birds to explode... but I'm sure both sides are the same.

Rep. Louie Gohmert warned OAN viewers about the "hundreds and thousands" of "Flamers," aka birds who survive windmills but wind up spontaneously combusting after flying over solar farms in the Southwest US. This is how the green new deal will bring the nation down. pic.twitter.com/FYaw8ivElT

— Bee (@mount_bees) August 12, 2021

Hundreds of thousands of OAN viewers are outraged by this while scarfing down buckets of kfc...

Hundreds of thousands of OAN viewers are outraged by this while scarfing down buckets of kfc...

Even more damning than we thought

The Gilead stock that Rand Paul’s wife bought in Feb ‘20 was the ONLY time in 10 years that the couple had purchased shares of a single stock

She bought the shares after the private Covid briefing for Senators

Well, this stinks to high heaven

— Lindy Li (@lindyli) August 13, 2021

may be more to this Rand Paul thing then it first appeared.

Senators legally being allowed to buy and sell stock based on their insider information is sometimes the example I use to explain how something can be legal but not ethical.

dola:

There's such an easy fix, too. Just make it so that elected members of Congress and their spouses can own passively managed index funds but not individual shares of public companies. You could even do the thing where they are allowed to sell their personal holdings and re-invest in an index fund without having to realize the capital gains.

This could probably be posted as an accurate reaction to just about any news story.

So after the stunning evidence from the My Pillow Guy's Cyber Composium, I'm ready to welcome back Donald Trump back to the Presidency, aren't you?

Hopefully soon, the helium is slowly leaking from my balloons, or maybe that is just Lindell huffing it out.

Wasn't today supposed to be the big day when Trump is ushered back into office? Or did I miss the goalpost move?

SI

No, he’s back now.

He's in, he just makes Biden do the paperwork.