It's only about 90 seconds but it's quite the clip. I wish the video was little better than a sideways phone recording as I just can't make out facial expressions.

1) A fifth grader reads him a quote of his and asks him for clarification about a podcast quote. It was a tough quote of his but a softball, open-ended question.

2) The easy off ramp is to give it more context and/or say he misspoke. The whole "put a period after Jesus" thing was going down the right track. He could try to say something about how podcast have limited time and some editing constraints, wish I had more time to elaborate on there like I do here and spin his yarn with a sympathetic audience, etc.

3) Instead, he gets pissy with a 10yo. Like straight up attacks the girl. "Don't question my faith" gets uttered at least 3 times.

4) She reminds him those are his exact words. It softens him a little and it seems like he finally is getting on the right track as he does some of what I mentioned in #2.

5) Then she presses him again, something about how he says one thing on a podcast and another here. At this point, it enters my mind that she could be a bit of a political plant. I mean, I'm like "who would put their kid up to that sort of thing". And I don't mean put her up to it against her will - like most kids are similar to their parents at that age - so it's probably something she believes, as well. But I mean, who says "I'm going to wind up my kid with this OAN talking point and go to a Crenshaw rally just to have my kid try to play gotcha with someone from Congress and we'll cell phone tape it to feed the outrage machine". It's still unlikely to be that, but now it's on the table as being possible.

6) Of course, dumbass, doubles down and falls back into the hole he was just trying to climb out of, accusing her of "twisting it (his words)". After the crowd turned on you once already for going after her, I'd be treading very lightly. At most, you could probably get away with talking down to her in an unspoken "it's complex and you don't understand because you're just a little girl" sort of way that I suspect resonates with most of his audience. But, nope, he just grabs his shovel and digs deeper. Dig up, stupid.

7) That's when he loses the crowd for good and they start chanting Let's Go Brandon. I mean, I guess it's nice that they've found a new way to swear without swearing but it sounds stupid, considering they're not yelling it at, you know, Joe Biden. But what do I know.

SI

He is really dumb and he's talking to a really dumb audience.

I like about 30 seconds in when someone just randomly yells "moron!"

dola- it really is something to watch the right eat each other.

They aren't really eating each other. He'll backtrack and lick their boots while touting whatever fascist drivel they demand of him.

The Venn diagram of Alabama people on Twitter telling Saban to stick to sports/stay out of politics and the people who voted for/supported Tommy Tuberville must be a circle.

I must not pay attention, because I am shocked about Saban. I guess he is a good friend of Senator Coal?
Also, is there anyone more of a performance artist than Dan Crenshaw? It is interesting he would slam someone for being literally what he is.

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Yes but he has standards, you see.

This guy?

I have no words for that

That was exactly what I was thinking of. He is a clown insulting other clowns.

I had this in the COVID thread responding to Trump being peeved at DeSantis, but it really belongs here:

If I had to predict right now in January 2022, I would predict that Trump seeks and obtains the GOP nomination in 2024 and remains the head of the party.

But if Trump does go down, I expect it will be of the "slowly at first; then all at once" variety.

If the MAGA base has other viable alternatives (DeSantis, Hawley, etc.); and if some of those contenders are willing/able to attack him from the right; and if McConnell/McCarthy decide that he is now more trouble than he is worth; and if the bi-partisan Congressional Committee examining the terrorist attack of 1/6 finds some anti-Trump information that actually manages to shock us; and if some of the various criminal/civil investigations into him and his businesses and his family start to heat up; and if one of the folks who knows where the bodies are buried decides to flip on him; and if the Supreme Court decides he isn't worth protecting anymore, then I expect that a lot of that will all kind of snowball together and feed on itself.

There's a lot of "and if" in that statement, which is why I think he survives. But I can also see why he might be a little nervous right now. The fact that DeSantis is doing anything other than praising him shows a bit of vulnerability that he has not had since 2016.

Write an essay justifying genocide.

my friend's kid's school in Georgia sent homework with this question pic.twitter.com/pSFhJ0Ucvz

— Jennifer C. Martin (@notreallyjcm) January 20, 2022

McConnell has supposedly started backing DeSantis as the lesser of two evils. DeSantis was on a close friend of McConnell's radio show and took a subtle shot at Trump by questioning the lockdowns from the very start of the pandemic.

If that's the case it will be interesting. Trump is Trump, but McConnell is someone I don't think Trump wants deliberately working against him.

DeSantis wants to be president and the fact he is seemingly willing to take Trump on for the 2024 nomination instead of toeing the line and running in 2028, possibly as the incumbent VP, says a lot. He either thinks he can beat Trump for the nomination, or he thinks Trump loses again in 2024 and he doesn't want to be seen as backing the loser.

I just think they see Trump's position weakening and are also concerned for the party and themselves in a worst-case scenario. If you've got someone the Trumpers like without Trump's baggage, why stick with Trump?

There's the unknown of the timing of any possible indictments on multiple fronts which could derail his campaign (egg on the face of the GOP for nominating a possible felon), there's his supporters booing him about being vaccinated (suggesting they are beginning to turn on him - the "cause" is now bigger than Trump), there's his inability to move on from the 2020 election, etc. And then there's the unknown of what kind of full-fledged, four-year "revenge administration" he would run to take down McConnell and others who haven't always kissed his ass or pushed back on him (which, of course, he never forgets).

I can see the campaign slogans now. Instead of lock her up, it will vote for me, so the lefties can't lock me up. I really hope he's under inditement for one or more of his crimes way before then though. If the Georgia tape recordings (just find me 11,000+ votes) make it to court, it will be interesting to see if the mood on him shifts a little.

He is not getting indicted and it's just grandstanding from some DA's who want media attention.

Trump would also clobber DeSantis in a primary. DeSantis has been in one tough race his entire life and it was against Andrew Gillum, a pretty shitty candidate. He's banking on Trump not running in 2024 and lining himself up as the candidate who offers Trump policies without the baggage.

Everybody make sure you repost this when/if Trump gets indicted please :)

Not holding my breath here. I mean, at some point, the powers that be might let him get indicted. However, I he's managed to avoid it so far so this feels a lot more like one of those "don't bet against the team on a winning streak" things

SI

The NY AG made a stink about information that was reported years ago and the guy is on tape committing crimes in Georgia. If they haven't indicted him yet, they never will.

But it does get their name in the news and some re-tweets which is the goal.

firmly in the no chance of indictment camp.

In your opinion, what is the reasoning for not indicting him?

Speaking of DeSantis, his new "snowflake" law is a gem.

He is a rich, powerful, politically connected person and this country does not indict those types.

Plus the justice system in this country is designed to make it incredibly hard to convict rich, powerful people of crimes. It is designed to protect them and their interests at all costs.

Ask Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort and everyone else Trump pardoned if they agree with you?

I just don't buy that, not to that degree. We have plenty of examples of members of Congress, even chairmen of important committees, who have been indicted. Mayors, executives, etc. Unquestionably the rich and powerful have it much better when it comes to the law but there are many counter-examples. If Trump isn't indicted, there's more to it than that.

What was that last part of the sentence?

No, we don't really have that many. Especially considering how much more potential legal issues politicians face compared to the rest of us.

We know that most members of Congress openly participate in insider trading. We know they accept bribes. We know they commit campaign finance violations.

The Manafort example earlier is actually a great one. It shows that with just a modicum of investigating people like this, they'll unearth crime after crime. The fact that someone could reach that level of government while committing so many blatant crimes shows the complete lack of scrutiny people like that face.

To sum up our legal system. If you work at Walmart and steal $500 from the register, the police will come and you'll be arrested. If Walmart shorts your paycheck $500, the cops will tell you that's a civil matter and there is nothing they can do.

Huh? What do you mean by 'that level of government'? Manafort was not a Cabinet Secretary approved by the Senate. He was not an elected government official. He was a campaign advisor and lobbyist, then chaired Trump's campaign ... but a candidate can name Mickey Mouse or Harvey the Rabbit as their campaign chairperson if they feel like it.


I don't think we know this, actually. And there's a lot of questionable calls involved here as well. Any position a member of Congress takes could be accused to being the result of a bribe, since there will always be contributors who want a certain position. But that doesn't mean that every position a Congressperson takes is bought and paid for. Is it 'corruption/bribery' to do what your voters or some segment of them wants?

Some members of Congress definitely do what you describe. But as usual, I think you're painting with way too broad a brush here.

The report that fraudulent elector documents were sent to congress is treason in my opinion. I think the line has officially been crossed versus being conjecture and speculation about how far they went.


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Manafort ran the President's campaign for a while and was an adviser to him and 3 other Presidents. Spent time as a deputy director for the RNC too. He was a powerful lobbyist with access to just about every politician in the country.

Not everyone with political power in this country has to be elected. But if you have a couple past Presidents on speeddial, you probably have a bit more power than the average citizen.


This is my point though. We know crimes are being committed. We know that companies aren't donating millions to candidates out of the kindness of their heart. But the laws are just vague enough to give plausible deniability and that enforcement is near zero. And even those who do get busted, get soft sentences or just flat out pardoned. It's a wonderful benefit for wealthy and politically connected people.

We have evidence of Congress repeatedly breaking the law but the penalty is less than what they spend on dry cleaning each week. And we know statistically that they are committing insider trading violations regularly with no penalties.

Crimes are treated differently for different classes. Trump certainly committed financial crimes, but the laws are vague enough to give plausible deniability and are just never really enforced. This is a country that allows $8 billion a year in theft without any criminal charges. Now compare that to the resources we put into weed and shoplifting.

Yes yes another rich white powerful man let them get out. My point was the legal system did work to the point where rich powerful white men were convicted and sent to jail, What happened after was totally expected given who were are dealing with here. If they ever go back to jail, pretty certain Biden won't be pardoning them or any Trumps in jail at the end of his term.

Yep having video or them signing forged documents pretty much locks that in. However there is a question of how many of the states Secretary of States will pursue charges-Michigan has I know, Nevada tweeted about it, maybe Arizona too

I saw Michigan's AG raising jurisdictional issues related to the elector documents. Not sure exactly what she meant, but she said it was complicated. But then she said they might still pursue charges.

Pretty insane article about a war crime committed by the United States. Very close to killing tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/u...-isis-dam.html

So my understanding of this shit show is that Christina Bob from OAN and Rudy were the ringleaders. They had to create the 2nd set of electors so they could sell the idea to Pence that there were multiple electors from each state so he should kick the election back to the states (for a house vote) in order to give Trump the Presidency.

The idea that anyone can just try to send "certified" electors to try to overturn an election without punishment is insane.

The small handful of people slated to be GOP electors in those states who decided not to sign have got to be feeling really really relieved right now.

The 1876 election is a pretty interesting parallel to what we saw. It's not taught much in schools and I'm guessing will be part of the forbidden curriculum moving forward. But an example that this country isn't really all that into democracy.

Also a pretty stunning document. Still amazed at how lightly people treated this.

Read the never-issued Trump order that would have seized voting machines - POLITICO

I agree that going from "we all need more time to examine fraud allegations" to signing a fraudulent document that purports to be a slate of electors is a HUGE escalation.

They were not just worried about election integrity. They were trying to overthrow the duly elected government and install an illegitimate government using fraudulent documentation.

I'm sure that you can define "treason" in a way that does not cover that behavior, but it would be a pretty silly definition.

All that said, I doubt we end up executing everyone who signed the fraudulent certificates. As the Union's gracious treatment of the Confederacy shows, we talk a big game about treason, but we actually treat traitors pretty lightly.

Good thing we have Joe Biden's job performance to complain about now huh?


That speech was clearly not written by him because they almost sounded like things a normal president would say when conceding.

It's his DoJ doing absolutely jack shit about all this.

There's no question he had more power than the average citizen, but that's not the point. You were using Manafort as a stand-in/example for the government as a whole, were you not? Please explain if that's not what you were saying.


Should it be illegal to do anything that someone who contributes to your campaign wants? It has nothing do with whether companies donate 'out of the kindness of their hearts'. Presumably that isn't the case for the common citizen either. If a corporation donates ten million, or a million people each donate ten, they are both expecting something in exchange for their money. It also isn't necessarily the case that a politician changes their mind because that happened. The opposite is also possible and clearly often occurs; the donation comes to those who support what a donor wants, so they give the money to facilitate the politician being able to be elected/enact whatever policy is in view.


This is where it really goes off the rails IMO. As said I agree that you have a good point when you say the legal system isn't the same for the poor and powerless as it is for the rich and powerful. I agree with the goal of spending less money on shoplifting, more on employer wage theft, etc. But your links here do not support your stated position. They in fact refute it. For example the second one explicitly states that most members of Congress (430 out of 535, or over 80%) did not do a single stock trade. Obviously none of them are guilty of insider trading, yet you state that 'We know that most members of Congress openly participate in insider trading'

No, we know the opposite. You have to trade to openly participate in insider trading, meaning that *at most* 1 in 5 Congresspeople are culpable, and surely not every member who trades is guilty of that either. That doesn't mean there isn't too much corruption and people who get away with it; there is. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't strengthen penalties like those in the Stock Act - we should, but it's not an enforcement failure when the penalty is that small, it's a policy failure. Insider trading is a major focus point of the SEC and overall the agency obtains billions in judgements annually. If you want to increase their budget so they can do more of it I'm all for it, but everything I see says it's headed in the right direction. The level of 'rich people can do whatever they want' you describe simply doesn't match objective reality.

How do people take this shit seriously?

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

I can hardly tell the difference myself.

Is that the rights version of satire?

Sadly this is who a large part of the country gets their "news" from. He is a god damn hero to them.

Not sure what you're asking about Manafort. Simply saying that if you or I committed millions in bank fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering, we'd be rotting in prison until we die. I would add that investigation into him was unprecedented and if he had avoided Trump, he would have been allowed to commit crimes for as long as he wanted to.

On bribes....errr.. donations, we know what they are made for. We can trace donations back to unpopular legislative decisions they go with. You're right that it's hard to prove, but that's sort of the point. Laws are vague enough if you are in the upper class where you can do something we all know is illegal, but it's done with a wink and a nod.

And not sure what you're arguing on the insider trading. We know they're doing it. There is ample proof of it. Why has no one been arrested?

There are people who want to fuck the cartoon M&Ms. We are living in bizarre times.

The same people are worried about a toy potato's dick.

What, you've never masturbated to pictures of candy before?

Just the one time with Bazooka Joe.

I haven't, is it good?

The female M&M gives me a hard shell.

Will she Wonka my Willy?

There's no way Carlson would be attracted to a brown M&M.

You're kidding, right? All Klansmen are into dark-skinned women.

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Depends how much of the wrapper is off

Michael Cohen says Donald Trump told him if one of his kids had to go to prison to 'make sure' it was Donald Jr., not Ivanka

There should be some good dinner conversation at Mar-a-Lago tonight.

She's hotter, duh!

Yeah can you imagine wanting to fuck your own son, like he does his daughter? Of course he'll take sides. He's gotta keep all his options on the table.

This thread has taken a dark turn, first Candy porn, then incest. Only in Trump world :)

i suspect trump has secretly hacked some accounts and is posting on this page :P

Totally makes sense now...

Is it Possible to Fudge a bank Statement? - Front Office Football Central

Another light sentence. This guy wasn't violent but played a fairly big role in the event.

Trump Influencer Brandon Straka Walks Away From Jan. 6 Criminal Case With Home Detention | HuffPost Latest News

Jesse Waters starts hosting a show in the 7:00 PM hour on Fox tonight, because you know, news and all.

I'm really curious to see MAGAs position if Russia keeps escalating in Ukraine. As a child of the cold war, I find the fact that the GOP might find itself siding with the Russians in a war with the US unthinkable. But, I guess nothing is unthinkable any more.

My office is now getting calls from folks who say they watch Tucker Carlson and are upset that we're not siding with Russia in its threats to invade Ukraine, and who want me to support Russia's "reasonable" positions.

— Tom Malinowski (@Malinowski) January 24, 2022

The worst part of that article is that none of those calls are being investigated by local law enforcement.

Wonder how quick I would get gaffled if I made a similar call to Paul Gosar or Kelli Ward?

Vice putting in more effort than the FBI.

So true!

If I went on Fox News today and said "Driving on the correct side of the road is killing too many people. We need to stop doing that immediately." And then I pointed to all the traffic fatalities from correct side of the road driving, Rupert Murdoch would put me on The Five.

— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) January 26, 2022

This is interesting. I just hope this succeeds, because it seems that a lack of success would be just as damaging as it proving successful.

Exploiting a quirk in N Carolina election law, lawyers are working to disqualify @CawthornforNC from the ballot unless he can prove that he is not an "insurrectionist" disqualified for office under the 14th amendment. The case has broad implications. https://t.co/hUcEXmFgGI

— Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) January 26, 2022

Personally I think a person should be convicted of something first before this route is taken.

It's a weird issue


So we know that Congress can allow insurrectionist back by a 2/3 vote.

But who decides who is an insurrectionist in the first place? I can see how that was a pretty easy call to make when you had just had a treasonous pro-slavery army surrender to you.

Now, it is a bit harder.

It seems really off that a random state judge in NC could make that call. But if not that, then how do you decide?

There seems to be a solid chunk who would be willing to label Biden and pretty much any D an insurrectionist and a traitor already.

I think we're solidly in the danger zone right now. There's a tipping point where democracy will die, and we're careening headlong toward it on the wheels of a Republican minority.

The Mcminn County School board in Tennessee just voted to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust

The vote was 10-0https://t.co/kpgjoLZQq9 pic.twitter.com/liMpSKJHYS

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 26, 2022

And if you didn't read it in school growing up, its a fascinating comic/graphic novel. It's not just about his parents time under Nazi German rule, but his relationship with his father who he is interviewing. Part history and part psychology.

Highly recommend picking up a copy. From what I remember, the art holds up too.

Cawthorn's lawyer is invoking the 1872 Confederate Amnesty Act. You just can't make this stuff up.

I agree. This is just a bad precedent. There needs to be a legal conviction of something, or we are going to open a Pandora's box.

And this country is so selfish that the GOP is going to sweep to landside victories in the midterms based on ~ 50% of people voting on "the fact that the price of my fast casual burrito went up by .50 in the middle of a global pandemic is literally worse than denying the Holocaust."

For some people, it's not a weighing of which is worse, it's "I expect everything as cheap as possible no matter the circumstances, plus we were able to ban stuff while Dems were in charge - wait until we have the power!"

Also, GDP grew by ~6% this year (largest since 1984). So when the usual suspects come in and try to cover up the real reason for their votes with "mumble . . . mumble . . . Something about The Economy . . . mumble . . . mumble," not only will they be being disingenuous, they will be just flat out wrong.

Won't stop them, of course.

Eh, I rarely treat presidents like QBs when assigning economic blame/failure in normal times, and with a pandemic wreaking havoc, that throws things off even more. Just like I didn't slam Trump too hard for the 2020 economy (with adjustments for everything he did to make the pandemic worse, of course), it seems a bit much to give too much credit to anyone for the bounce back. A lot of that was going to happen anyway - or, if a much worse variant came out, would have plunged us into the dark ages. Biden can certainly take some credit as he should, but much of it was largely out of his hands, IMO.

There's two groups. There's the MAGA-inclined "We love this, and we want more of it" GOP voter.

Then there's the "Actually, I don't really subscribe to either party. I'm above all that, really. I guess you could call me more of a libertarian type if you had to put a label on it. I'm just into common sense" GOP voter.

I encounter a lot more of the second type in my online travels, so I find them more exhausting. Just vote GOP if you want to vote GOP. I can't stop you. No need to dress it all up with false justifications.

My parents are in the first group. My brother is in the second. Completely economically driven. He started his own medical practice last year and will not budge on anything that doesn't involve bettering his economic status. I've talked him down from defending or questioning some of what has occurred over the past 5-6 years to "both sides mumble mumble," but that's as far as he'll go. He basically refuses to see a threat to his livelihood and a threat to democracy as two different things. Instead, he's basically washing his hands of it all and says he probably won't vote anymore.

Very true. Neither party want to run on the “ Actually, presidents do not have much control over gas prices, inflation, & the economy” Platform. But it is kind of true.

People aren't going to look at it any deeper than "Gas prices are high with a Dem in office and low with Repub in office". See, Dems are bad.

I'm assuming the 6% is the nominal GDP growth. When you adjust for inflation the Real GDP growth is closer to flat which is not good. We aren't producing more, just paying more for each unit.

The clips i have seen from the confirmation hearing for Floridas Surgeon General (he of "isn't that the guy collaborating with Demon Sperm Lady ?" fame) are quite something. If you are that bad at dodging questions and guaranteed to be confirmed anyway, why in the world didn't you prepare some shot non-answers to questions that were obviously going to be asked ? He sounds exactly like a College Student who failed to do the assigned reading for the lecture and gets called to answer by the professor because he was playing on his phone. (and mind that this is obviously the 2nd merry go round of asking the same question)
Is there a law he has to provide 'answers' of a certain length or something ?

Another beauty of an answer today from Desantis’ Surgeon General nominee. Asked point blank whether he regretted refusing to wear a mask when requested while visiting a Senator with a high risk condition in her office, Ladapo covers himself in glory again. pic.twitter.com/UhYDhHiXc0

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 26, 2022

Also:

Brandy Zadrozny on Twitter: "I don't know who needs to hear this, but your browser's security warning is not a plot by big tech to censor you red-pilling yourself on polio vaccine conspiracy theories.… https://t.co/ppfeUJaAqi"

Good grief ...

This really needs pinned and stickied for future reference. I might even need to share that, because it's just far too spot on.

But I'm really, really mad that China is getting rich off the US (because I don't understand how the global economy works)!

And I'm mad that shelves are empty! It must be Biden's fault (because I don't understand how the global pandemic impacted impacted China and how those cheap products get to the United States)!

This administration must PAY!!!

And for being the only supporters of Free Market Economics and Capitalists and the defenders of Democracy, they really have no desire to put supply and demand, and the strength of the economy and it's relationship to gas prices, into their equations.

Because of the income involved many, many pilots I come across are like this. They complain about having to work 3 months to pay their income taxes for the year and all they care about is their 401k. Literally nothing else matters. Nothing.

Yeah, I think some people are embarrassed or ashamed they are Trump voters, so they try to hide the justification up in other things (which they'll conveniently ignore when it's the other way around).

Reminds me of how much we had to hear from evangelicals about family values and so on. Then stood firmly behind a thrice-divorced conman who bragged about sexually assaulting women.

You like the racists little fascist. No need to pretend.

I at least understand that. It's the poor person who will vote for the person that's going to take away their health insurance that I don't get. Like how racists do you have to be to throw your family under the bus like that? I guess we can ask the dumbshits being hooked up to ventilators because they needed to show their allegiance to Trump.

We have been in our current house almost 16 years now, always been blessed with good neighbors. The house behind sold a couple of months ago and our third neighbor there is moving in today. I am a really easy guy to get along with, I don't care about a person's politics, religion, none of that stuff. I only care that you are a good person.

But this guy is out sporting his Q shirt, I just can't even give this fucker a chance, can't do it. Hopefully we can co-exist.

The best way to make friends when you move into a new neighborhood is to proudly display your political and conspiracy beliefs for everyone to see.