Bomb the Drugs

Plus: Telegram founder arrested in France, "blue zones" may be a myth, and more...

What might a second Trump White House be like? In his new book, At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as national security adviser to Donald Trump (for one year), characterizes Oval Office meetings as "exercises in competitive sycophancy" where advisers would greet him with lines like "your instincts are always right" or "no one has ever been treated so badly by the press."

Trump, meanwhile, would come up with crazy concepts, and float them: "Why don't we just bomb the drugs?" (Also: "Why don't we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?")

This is one man's account, of course. McMaster's word should not be taken as gospel, and some of his frustration might stem from his dismissal, or his foreign-policy prescriptions being at times ignored by his boss. But it's a somewhat revealing look behind the curtain at policy-setting in a White House helmed by an especially mercurial commander in chief, who "enjoyed and contributed to interpersonal drama in the White House and across the administration."

It also shows how quickly Trump fantasies have percolated through the Republican Party, namely the "let's just bomb Mexico to get rid of the cartels" line, which Trump has been toying with since roughly 2019 (or possibly more like 2017, after he chatted with Rodrigo Duterte, former president of the Philippines, who had promised to kill 100,000 drug traffickers during his first six months as president). A few years prior, in 2015, he had suggested that Mexico was sending rapist and drug-traffickers across the southern border, and that we'd need to build a wall between the two countries, but it wasn't until nine American citizens were killed in Mexico that Trump trotted out the idea of declaring cartels foreign terrorist organizations and using military might to eradicate them.

Trump's line from 2019 has now become standard fare, notes The Economist: The Republican primary debates included lots of tough talk on Mexico, specifically on the bombing front, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claiming he'd send special forces down there on Day One. Right-wing think tanks have embraced the messaging, with articles headlined "It's Time to Wage War on Transnational Drug Cartels." Taking cues from other members of her party, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene asked why "we're fighting a war in Ukraine, and we're not bombing the Mexican cartels." Whether it's economic protectionism (10 percent across-the-board tariffs, with 60 percent tariffs imposed on Chinese imports) or Mexico-bombing, Trump has near-magical abilities to get other members of his party to accept something previously regarded as absurd.

Telegram founder taken into custody: French authorities arrested Russian entrepreneur and Telegram messaging app founder Pavel Durov on Saturday. The charges are currently somewhat unclear; there's a wide probe into the types of activities enabled by the app, including purported failures of content moderation and "complicity" in drug trafficking and distribution of child pornography.

But it sure looks like the authorities might be going after Durov for the fact that the app he created, which now has 900 million users, is a freedom tool for much of the world, especially those living under authoritarianism. "The messaging app allows users to message each other through both unencrypted and encrypted chats, and to create 'channels' that other users can subscribe to," writes Reason's Matthew Petti. "There's no feed with an algorithm to manipulate, and founder Pavel Durov has committed to never sharing user information with authorities." This delightful anti-government mulishness has made Durov—who is a dual citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates—more than a few enemies: the governments of China, Iran, Myanmar, and Durov's native Russia, for example (where it is used to counter the force of mainstream propaganda about Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine). Now, apparently, France.

"POV: It's 2030 in Europe and you're being executed for liking a meme," tweeted X doyen Elon Musk in response to the news about Durov. Venture capitalist David Sacks tweeted a list of four companies with targets on their backs (TikTok, Telegram, X, and Rumble), and asked "Are you getting sick of me saying 'I told you so'?" (Sacks was a prominent opponent of the U.S. government's ban/forced sale of TikTok to American owners.)

---

Scenes from New York: Wild statistic of the day.

Children under the age of 17 are 10% of the population of Manhattan south of 59th St. (The national average is 21%.)

— Ryan Radia (@RyanRadia) August 25, 2024

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QUICK HITS

• In Japan, per 2010 data, an estimated 884 people were older than 150. Only one issue: That wasn't true, their names were merely being used by others to collect pension checks in a massive, messy, wide-reaching fraud. (Relatedly, are "blue zones" fake? "Sardinia is not really a blue zone, it's a fraud hotspot," writes a Substacker named Cremieux.)
• "As South Korea scrambles to halt the sharp decline in its birth rate, policymakers are having a hard time convincing many in their 20s and 30s that parenthood is a better investment than stylish clothes or fancy restaurants," reports Reuters. ("Not even South Korea's aggressive interest rate hikes over the past three years have been able to rein in youthful spending," is possibly the most Reuters-y line in this whole piece.)
• NASA has grown increasingly reliant on help from SpaceX; now, it's been called on by the government to bring two stranded astronauts home. Thanks, Elon!
• "A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked on Monday a Biden administration program that could offer a path to citizenship for up to half a million undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens, ruling in favor of 16 Republican-led states that sued the administration," reports The New York Times. Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas wrote that the complaint before him raised warranted questions about the executive bypassing Congress to set immigration policy.
• Grow a spine, Zuckerberg:

In which Mark Zuckerberg says the feds "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire … I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it." https://t.co/nDFdwDUXL0

— Nico Perrino (@NicoPerrino) August 27, 2024

(Speaking of which.)

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...or "no one has ever been treated so badly by the press."

Harris herself has been asked a question or two from time to time.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Cite?

[Fist of Etiquette]

She was asked once what kind of ice cream she-

Oh, wait, that was someone else.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Ice cream color is the most important thing.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

O know for a fact she was once asked what designer she was wearing at a gala event for democrat elites.

The reporter was promptly fired for asking such a vicious gotcha question.

[Jerry B.]

But she's fighting back.

https://babylonbee.com/news/reporter-who-asked-kamala-a-question-charged-with-hate-crime

[Mother's Lament]

"Madam Vice President, can you tell us about your foreign policy?" the reporter asked with clearly vicious and evil intent."

Lol.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Only a racist/sexist/colonizer/traitor would do that.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

[Quo Usque Tandem]

It's starting: I expect it will be rather entertaining once the media stops playing happy happy joy joy with her

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/briefing/21-questions-for-harris.html

[Quo Usque Tandem]

For those running into the paywall:

1. Madam Vice President, your agenda revolves around helping the middle class — such as offering a credit of up to $25,000 for first-time home buyers and increasing the child tax credit. You haven’t said much about some big related issues, though, including paid leave and universal preschool. Will you try to revive President Biden’s plans?

2. You support raising taxes on households that make more than $400,000. But these tax increases may not be large enough both to pay for your agenda and to reduce the federal debt, as you’ve promised. How would you reduce the debt?

3. Biden has been more populist than other recent Democratic presidents. He’s skeptical of free trade and has subsidized manufacturing. Are you as populist as he is? Or are there any policy areas in which you would return to a more market-friendly, neoliberal approach?

4. Biden has cracked down on monopoly power, and a central player in this fight is Lina Khan of the Federal Trade Commission, who has focused on Big Tech. Some of your campaign donors in Silicon Valley want you to fire her. Would you?

5. The Biden administration made an important change on climate policy, emphasizing subsidies for clean energy rather than taxes on dirty energy. This approach is more politically popular. Is it delivering fast enough climate progress?

6. You support the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to join unions. Recent Democratic presidents have supported similar bills — but failed to pass them. How would you give wary labor leaders confidence that the PRO Act will be a priority?

7. You’ve blamed corporate price gouging for high grocery prices. Many economists disagree, arguing that the industry has too much competition for widespread gouging to be a problem. Can you explain how your anti-gouging policy would lower prices?

8. The U.S. government has done little to regulate social media, and social media has contributed to some big problems, like polarization and loneliness. Now we have a new technological force: A.I. How would you regulate it?

[Quo Usque Tandem]

9. Would you support eliminating the filibuster to pass a bill that restores nationwide abortion rights?

10. You have changed your position on immigration. You once called for decriminalizing illegal border crossings. Now you are an immigration hawk who promises to secure the border better than Donald Trump would. Can you explain your evolution?

11. Four years ago, you said, “It is actually wrong and backward to think that more police officers will create more safety.” Do you still believe that?

12. Many Ukraine supporters think the Biden administration has been too cautious with its aid. Would you be more aggressive with the kind of weapons you sent?

13. Military analysts are skeptical that Ukraine can ever regain all of its prewar territory. How does this war end?

14. It can be hard to see a path to peace for Israelis and Palestinians. How would you both alleviate Palestinian suffering and protect Israel from the enemies that seek its destruction?

15. The Biden administration initially distanced itself from Saudi Arabia but has since signaled that the U.S. needs the Saudis — much as the Trump administration believed — both to help moderate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to counter Iran’s aggression. What would your Saudi policy be?

16. Iran has made progress toward being able to build a nuclear weapon. If intelligence agencies told you that Iran was building a weapon, would you order a military attack? Or can the world live with a nuclear-armed Iran?

17. Taiwan is a thriving democracy that China evidently wants to conquer. Biden has said that the U.S. would fight to defend Taiwan if China attacked. Still, some experts doubt the U.S. would. If China did invade, what would you do?

18. Trump frequently criticizes U.S. allies for not pulling their weight. Do you think Western Europe, Japan and Canada spend enough on their militaries? If not, how would you pressure them?

19. Donald Trump can sound unhinged, telling frequent lies and rejecting basic democratic traditions. Yet millions of Americans — including more voters of color than in the past — support him. Why do you think so many people are frustrated enough that they find Trump appealing?

20. Your campaign spends less time describing Trump as an existential threat than Biden or Hillary Clinton did and more time ridiculing Trump. What do you think are the most effective ways to persuade swing voters that he shouldn’t be president?

21. Are there any U.S. presidents you particularly admire — besides Biden, Barack Obama and the typical answers of F.D.R., Lincoln and Washington — and why?

Again, these "21 Questions" have been posed by the NYT, and are copied here verbatim.

[Commenter_XY]

The moment Kamala opens her mouth in an adversarial setting, she will start to lose votes. Why do you think the MSM is strangely incurious, and isn't demanding access. They know. She is thoroughly unlikeable, and now she is saddled with a lying, valor stealing, avuncular gaffe machine.

She is an empty vessel, but a weak and vain one. Dangerous for the country.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""She is an empty vessel, "'

Exactly what the IC needs.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Kammy is ready to be filled, in more ways than one.

[Ajsloss]

One man's lying, valor stealing, avuncular gaffe machine is another's folksy, victim-of-circumstance, totally normal dad-like figure.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Those aren't even adversarial questions. They're completely loaded in a way that will allow her to provide the boilerplate left-liberal response. In some cases, they're Teen Vogue level fluff.

[ravenshrike]

Yet for someone of her mental capacity, they are effectively adversarial.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Most NYT readers, too.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

I don't disagree; but for the NYT, at least it's more than the usual propaganda they've been spewing since she was awarded the nomination. I believe if this vapid woman ever has to answer even these relatively softball questions, she will lose it.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The prep on her eventual 60 Minutes interview is going to be insane. How much out-of-place cackling are they going to have to edit out?

[CE]

They left out one important question for Harris:

22. You apparently lied to everyone for months, if not years, about President Biden's mental decline. What else are you lying about?

[Quo Usque Tandem]

You're right; that should be the first question.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Past paywall.

https://archive.is/zgN9O

[DesigNate]

TBF, not even W got shit on as much by the press.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

As long as they apologize after shitting on the victim, it isn't rape - Jeff.

[DesigNate]

That almost made me spit out my coffee, damnit.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Careful with your phrasing. You’re making SQRLSY hungry.

[Square = Circle]

TBF, not even W got shit on as much by the press.

Yeah - even Jimmy Carter remarked that he's never seen a president treated so unfairly by the media, and the media weren't exactly enamored of Carter back in the '70s.

[diver64]

When and "how do you feel today" doesn't count

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

You cleanly missed the point. Which was that everyone in the room was constantly trying to rub up against Trumps leg.

That doesn't bother you at all!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...exercises in competitive sycophancy...

Trump's advisors should have put out memos so the sycophancy could have been synchronized. You don't see corporate press putting out competing Democratic cocksucking.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why don’t we just bomb the drugs?

I’m beginning to suspect DC swamp critters require their humor sopping wet to recognize it.

[Ajsloss]

bomb the drugs

James Bond did it in Live and Let Die.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think they did it in both the Dalton ones.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

And to some extent in License to Kill. The whole cocaine processing plant went up there.

[Ajsloss]

I think you mean Licence to Kill, old chap.

[Moderation4ever]

Also part of the pretitle sequence to Goldfinger.

[Mother's Lament]

"DC swamp critters require their humor sopping wet to recognize it"

They know, but if it gives a frustrated neocon general an opportunity to be bitter and get revenge for being fired, he's going to take it.

[damikesc]

I also really do not get why asking questions is verboten.

"He ASKED questions! AIIEEEE!"

I also thoroughly love "Well, his aides were sycophants" --- ignoring how many of them have come out and gone after him.

[diver64]

Obviously none of them have been in a brain storming session where silly ideas are routinely thrown out and shot down. Trump famously says strange stuff in meetings and then lets everyone argue it, dismisses it and moves on to something else. That's how you do it instead of the "yes, sir. brilliant idea, sir" the sycophant's in The Cathedral usually reply to in everything. Total, immediate disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that murdered 13 Service Members comes to mind.

[zooneedles]

Yeah but nice to be out of that shithole. Time to move on. We have other shitholes to exacerbate.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Trump has near-magical abilities to get other members of his party to accept something previously regarded as absurd.

Neither of these were previously regarded as absurd. We wage a war in Columbia over drugs and we've had high tariffs seeking politicians from pretty much the inception of the nation.

[Mother's Lament]

Also, though Reason likes to conflate, fighting cartels isn't the same thing as fighting drug runners.
One is a smuggler the other is an army.

[CE]

Wasn't it Obama who thought it was a good idea to give the cartels and the drug-runners even more guns, so we could track them?

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

^Get a load of the racist up there.

[Bruce D]

"One is a smuggler the other is an army."

That means it could get real ugly real fast. Ya think the cartels don't follow U.S. politics and aren't aware of Trump's and Republicans' possible intentions? Ya think they won't be prepared for a possible U.S. invasion or raid? Ya think the cartels won't unite in the face of a common U.S. enemy? Ya think the cartels won't lay ambushes for U.S. special operations and military forces and won't capture the ones who are not blown up and killed? Ya think the cartels won't infiltrate the U.S. and assassinate or drone strike U.S. law enforcement and opposition U.S. politicians and opinion leaders like do to Mexican opposition politicians, opinion leaders and police? Ya think the cartels won't pay millions to Mexican engineers to develop drones and various munitions to strike their U.S. enemies as well as smuggle fentanyl and meth? Ya think the cartels won't buy and smuggle munitions, surface-to-air missiles and radar systems from Red China or other nations hostile to the U.S., so as to be able to detect U.S. special ops and military and shoot them down?

Would the Mexican people and military rally behind the U.S. drug warriors, or out of national pride, unite behind the cartels?

Ya think there won't be anti-war resistance in the U.S., including libertarians, sympathetic to Mexico? Ya think that when U.S. operations in Mexico go south or the cartels strike back in the U.S, that the U.S. won't enact draconian legislation barring dissent and violating individual rights?

Mexicans have their own patriotism and national pride. Ya think there's no danger the whole thing could escalate into a full-blown shooting war with Mexico? The only thing worse than a war with Mexico would be a war with a nuclear power like China or Russia.

Trump's lies are a feature, not a bug. If Trump was serious about the stuff he says, he'd be truly dangerous. He may be serious about doing operations in Mexico because so many Republicans and conservatives are drug warriors and would strongly support such operations. So, there's a real danger in voting for Trump.

Vote Libertarian for true-righteousnes and peace, rather than Republican drug warrior evil and false-righteousness.

[Bruce D]

To be more clear, if Trump was serious about most, or a large part, of what he says, he’d be truly dangerous to liberty. His saving grace is that he’s not usually serious. But, in this case, the probability that he is actually serious and would actually do or attempt it is higher. Why? Because invasion of Mexico is strongly supported by many conservatives and Republicans, generally, and many in his prospective cabinet, especially Vance his vice-president. So there is a heightened probability, that if Trump is elected, he’ll start a war with Mexico, the blowback from which Republicans and conservatives dismiss (or favor, if it means increased government power).

So, while a libertarian may be tempted to vote for Trump and Republicans out of fear of Democrats’ gun-control, voting for Trump and Republicans carries its own risks of war and the consequent diminishment of civil liberties that would likely result. (Think [UN]PATRIOT[IC] Act on steroids. Or FSA.)

[mad.casual]

Trump has near-magical abilities to get other members of his party to accept something previously regarded as absurd.

You know, absurd things like:
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Staying indoors, 6ft. apart, and wearing a mask while the economy is shut down doesn’t work.
Supreme Court Nominees should be able to answer the question “What is a woman?”
The military is not a social experiment.
We should have relatively unregulated trade and immigration, but *only* if we dramatically reform welfare and defense spending *and* other nations reciprocate.

[CE]

One way to stop illegal immigrants from sneaking across the border might be to build a large wall along it.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Is that like when Emily Ratajkowski was angry about old white straight men in one of the southern states passing some abortion restrictions, so she put nude photos of herself on the internet to get back at them?

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

That was meant as a reply to a different comment.

[Social Justice is neither]

I thought you were playing up the wall aspect there.

[damikesc]

I'd also ask how many Democrats circa 2008 would think men can be women if they really, really want it.

[CE]

Trump doesn't just think outside the box, he lights the box on fire and roasts marshmallows over it.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And that makes the sensitive kids cry.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Who says this isn’t a joyful election season?

[diver64]

Trump has near-magical abilities to get other members of his party to accept something previously regarded as absurd.

In other words, Trump forces the deep state uniparty to do something other than cater to their own self interests

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Yes. Catering to Trump's self interests...

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Tim Waltz China love is weird.

https://www.westernjournal.com/tim-walzs-china-obsession-worse-think/

It amuses me how Democrats including the Kennedy family are saying what a disgrace RFK is as they prop up Harris Waltz and the DNCs love affair with China knowing JFK did a lot to stop the spread of communism.

[Commenter_XY]

Walz's time in China needs a long look. Was he bought and paid for by CCP?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Yes. And they have the proof in an article he gave on return regarding double pay, lavish parties, too many gifts to Eben bring back.

[Commenter_XY]

Is that an actual existential threat = a VP bought and paid for by the CCP

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

You're basically describing the entire American political class going back to Nixon. These people sold us out to China decades ago; Tiananmen Tim is simply the ideological side of that coin.

[HorseConch]

How did 30 trips to China not interfere with his military service? Would that not raise giant flags that an officer is going to an adversary 30 fucking times?

[rbike]

My son is not allowed to fly through hong Kong and he is in the reserves.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

To be fair, things have escalated quite a bit in the last ten years or so.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Tim Walz eliminates any doubt that Joe McCarthy was exactly right.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Blame Nixon for opening China up in the first place. College students going to Beijing for a year to teach English has been pretty common for decades now, and it wouldn't be all that unusual for service members to treat it as a vacation trip as long as you stuck to the tourist areas.

When I was in Korea, a bunch of guys in my unit used their mid-tour leave to go to China as well as other Pacific Rim nations, and this was in the early 2000s.

[Longtobefree]

Where do you think the phrase 'Biden's second term' came from?

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Maybe China would like to get those Biden tariffs removed.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Perhaps Hunter can negotiate.

[CE]

To be fair, it's hard to tell the difference between the Minnesota Democrat Party and the CCP.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Republican primary debates included lots of tough talk on Mexico...

It would be hilarious to think Trump joking around would be sending GOP idiots in crazy policy directions.

Or maybe they're all right and Trump has no sense of humor and it's all just a stream of policy consciousness.

[Mother's Lament]

But it is pretty much all they have left.

In B4 chemjeff: "but how do U know it was joke"

[Don't look at me!]

Going to need notarized documents attesting to the joke content.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I've been in many brainstorming sessions where the wackier the idea, the better. They aren't solutions themselves, no one thinks they are, but they knock you out of the old thinking that got you into the state you're trying to fix.

The last thing any burrocrat wants is out-of-the-box thinking, or to solve problems. They want problems to continue and to be made worse so that ever more burrocracy is needed to manage problems.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

How else can they justify continuing funding and job security?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

It's all they have. Productive jobs all have ways to measure actual productivity. Bureaucrats have only (1) employee count, (2) budget, (3) regulations issued.

I believe most people want to do the right thing, but their bosses and peers mislead them as to what is right. Imagine coming out of school and looking for your first job, and a friend at the Weights and Measures bureaucracy puts in a word for you. You go around to gas stations verifying pump accuracy. Not exciting, but it pays the bills and you're out of the office traveling around.

But at some point, the only way to get more pay is with a promotion to supervisor, and beyond. You've become a bureaucrat. You have every incentive in the world to NOT make your employees more productive. Your old job is fine, and in fact, you may find other things they can do while inspecting pumps, like measuring curb heights, looking for decals which are too worn to read, how far is the emergency shut off from the store and pumps ...

In short, bureaucrats' only incentive is to increase their fiefdoms.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It’s not just the bureaucrats, there are a ton of NGOs who rely on these revenue streams continuing in order to justify their existence. In a lot of cases, these orgs are just graft and money-laundering operations for politically connected people. Been going on ever since Van Buren took over Tammany Hall.

Actually solving or even just mitigating the problem means the money would dry up.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

NGOs are almost entirely bureaucrats.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

In training for government jobs.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

I always thought those were just DEI-required sessions, designed to make sure even idiots could "contribute".

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Or he just abbreviated "drug cartels" to "drugs" and expected his audience to understand. So points awarded to Trump for linguistic efficiency but points subtracted for not understanding the minds of top level bureaucrats have been severely stunted by years of exposure to the DC Swamp.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Trump counter sniper says how strange it was evidence was cleaned up and the site of the assassin destroyed so quickly. Was not a normal process.

https://nypost.com/2024/08/26/us-news/trump-rally-counter-sniper-backs-bombshell-evidence-tampering-claims-by-house-gopers/

[Commenter_XY]

It was 'accidentally, on purpose' = assassination attempt, and our alphabet agencies

They tried to kill him, just like JFK.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

They have to try to cover their tracks somehow.

[Ajsloss]

The counter sniper is going to get killed in a mugging if he doesn’t get suicided first.

[Ron]

Or the helicopter he was riding in for a training exercise crashes with the whole team that was at the Rally. What a shame full coincidence.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

*Arkancide.

[Quicktown Brix]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if there is an attempted cover up of incompetency or worse, but what evidence of value could be found on the roof or in the assassin's corpse? We know what happened on the roof and how the kid died. He shot at Trump and was killed by a sniper. We don't need a forensic investigation of the crime scene.

The valuable evidence will be in his home, phone, computer, and with family and acquaintances, etc. That's where we need to worry about a cover-up/conspiracy.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

So don’t follow usual norms because there is a possibility nothing is found?

One of the initial claims by the SS was only 3 shots were fired. But looking at the scene later showed 8.

How did they find only 3 shell casings initially?

[Quicktown Brix]

I assume they at least photographed the scene and counted shells at least. If not, I stand corrected.

[DesigNate]

I have my doubts they did even that.

[Jefferson Paul]

I would have assumed the Secret Service would have had someone on the roof, have used a drone for aerial surveillance, had a security perimeter that didn't exclude the most obvious shooting location, have kept Trump from going on stage after multiple reports of a suspicious character with a range finder (including photos from over an hour before, as well as photos showing Crooks walking around with a long rifle) and people in the crowd pointing out Crooks on the roof, would have been the first to fire at Crooks after he opened fire, would have not downgraded the SS agents to replacements for someone who was considered a top-priority, etc.

But I'd be wrong on each account. At some point the more obvious answer is that malfeasance was at play, and not just rank incompetence. One or two of these things could be chocked (chalked?) up to incompetence, but all of them together is very difficult to believe without someone trying to let it happen or even make it happen.

[Quicktown Brix]

Yes, you make hard points to argue with.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Well, then, do what our media does and ignore them.

[Quicktown Brix]

Ahhhh, I feel a nice confirmation bias dopamine rush suppressing those points.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[CE]

Weird they would only claim 3 shots, when you can hear 9 (or 10) on the video of the shooting. The last shot is from the SS sniper who neutralized the shooter, and the first 3 are presumably from the shooter. But how many of the shots between those shots were from the shooter, and how many from other police officers or snipers? Apparently one of the local police snipers also shot at him (at least once) and missed.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Jesse's the one claiming "only 3 shots". I haven't seen where the SS claimed that--or whether it was actually phrased as "at least 3 shots".

Sounds more like a desperate attempt to "grassy knoll" this thing...

[R Mac]

Well supposedly his home was scrubbed too.

[Quicktown Brix]

That is more concerning to me.

[R Mac]

It’s all concerning to me. If they went outside SOP for the crime scene they did it for a reason.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Those tracks don’t cover themselves.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

How many people are involved in this conspiracy so far? Could you please round it up to the nearest 100? Thanks.

[Ron]

whose name did he scribble in blood on the roof, whose contact info was in his pocket, yea nothing to see there

[Quicktown Brix]

Poe's law. I can't tell if you're joking, but since it's kinda hard to write something after a sniper round goes through your brain, I'm going to err on the side of joking.

[Dillinger]

how do you know if anything went through anyone's brain what with all the investigating gone on lol

[Uilleam]

Tox screen?

[Quicktown Brix]

Tox screen is done with the body, not on the roof.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

After everything we’ve seen, I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that the SS sent the shooter’s body straight to a crematorium.

[Uilleam]

They did.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Yes, if “straight” means, “first, to a coroner’s office for an autopsy”.

“Butler County Coroner William F. Young III was unable to attend the campaign rally for former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13, because of other engagements, but he found himself at the Butler Farm Show grounds after midnight Sunday to examine the victim who was shot at the rally.

Young and a deputy coroner confirmed the death of Buffalo Township’s Corey Comperatore early Sunday morning and sent his body to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner to complete the autopsy.

The coroner and another deputy later returned after 6 a.m. to the American Glass Research (AGR) International building, where he climbed onto its roof to confirm the death of Thomas Matthew Crooks, whose gunfire killed Comperatore and struck three others, including Trump. The presidential candidate’s right ear was struck by a bullet before he was whisked off stage.”

Here's a later report:

"Butler County Coroner William F. Young III said Wednesday that the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office completed the reports for both men who died at the July 13 rally for former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Connoquenessing Township.

According to Young, the head wounds were the cause of death and the only gunshot wounds found on both of the deceased.

It is unclear how many total shots were fired, including by law enforcement.

Comperatore of Buffalo Township died after being struck by a bullet fired by Crooks from a nearby roof. He was shielding his family from the shots, which also struck Trump’s ear and seriously wounded two other spectators, David Dutch of Plum and James Copenhaver of Moon.

Officials said a U.S. Secret Service sniper killed the gunman after Crooks fired about eight shots from the roof of a Butler Township building that overlooks the farm show grounds.

Young sent both of their bodies to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office the day after the shooting. He said July 17 his initial assessment was that both Comperatore and Crooks died from gunshot wounds to the head.

Young classified both deaths as homicide."

[Uilleam]

No shit Sherlock. 'They' cremated the body before an investigation could even start. That was my point; its a coverup.

[Quicktown Brix]

Well my dear Watson, many news reports say that an autopsy was done by the Allegany County coroner. The complaints are that the body was released 10 days after the shooting which was before a congressman could see it (as if that would help the investigation).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2024/08/01/thomas-matthew-crookes-trump-shooter-autopsy/74634862007/

What evidence do you want to find on his body and how long would you would need to find it before you would released his body to his family?

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

"Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins has blasted the FBI for releasing attempted Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body to his family for cremation days after the shooting — calling it “disturbing” that the agency would impede further investigation.

The Republican congressman said he discovered that Crooks’ body was handed over to his family when he requested to examine it during his visit to the Butler, Pennsylvania rally site to investigate the shooting.

“My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, August 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact… the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after (July 13),” Higgins wrote in the report to the July 13 Task Force, a bipartisan committee organized to investigate the security failures around the shooting."

Editor's note: Rep Clay Higgins is not actually a retired coroner; he is a retired cop.

[CE]

What evidence on the roof? The shooter's position when he fired the shots. How many shots he actually fired. What angle the kill shot on the shooter came from. How many bullets were actually fired at the shooter, and from where.

Lots of evidence, if there was in fact anything to hide.

[Quicktown Brix]

You don't think all this is known?

[Uilleam]

You are being disingenuous i.e. lying.

[Quicktown Brix]

Very weak. D-

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Bizarre. You really think "normal procedure" was to leave the body there (in the 100-degree heat...) for two weeks?

[CE]

No need to worry about his phones or computer, they've already been scrubbed.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Who needs an investigation? You already know the answers!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Looks like the Dad's being set up as a fall guy now, too.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Yeah. They lawyered up.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Smart move on their part.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What assassination attempt? Targeting who?

[VinniUSMC (Banana Republic Day 5/30/24)]

They're talking about that day that Trump fell down?

[CE]

The day that popping sounds were heard at one of his rallies, and some type of debris may have struck his ear.

[Jefferson Paul]

No, you mean the blood pack that was inside Trump's MAGA hat that he burst when he touched his ear in order to fake being shot?

It's sad there are so many on X that repeat this absurd claim.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Don't leave out the exploding teleprompter.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Or the crisis actors that were pretending to be collateral damage.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Not "normal"? How does the government usually act in response to failed assassination attempts? The FBI explicitly stated that they followed the "normal" procedures for both the release of the body and for crime scene cleanup.

Normally, if you disagreed with their claims, you would explain how the procedures they actually took differed from the "normal procedures", but all we get fed is, "der, that's not normal!"

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Dem Mayor in Arizona, friends with Democrat governor Hobbs, arrests mom at town hall meeting for questioning city attorney. Arrests mom in front of daughter, charges her with multiple misdemeanors.

https://notthebee.com/article/arizona-woman-arrested-at-city-council-meeting-for-making-complaints-against-a-city-employee

[Don't look at me!]

You don’t question THE POLICY

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Wait--I thought we are not allowed to question THE SCIENCE.

[Minadin]

You don't question the Poli-Science.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

She should have spent her three minutes lavishing praise on his high salary. The mayor's quote of the policy specifically banned only "charges and complaints".

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

People went back years posting this video to the mayor’s X account in the commets. Pretty funny.

[Mickey Rat]

That was this morning’s Brickbat, though Charles Oliver neglected to indicate the party affiliation of the mayor for some reason.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I tried finding it. He has no official designation. Got the spot through a city council vote. But based on his X account and his associations with Hobbes, I have a pretty good idea.

[Mother's Lament]

We need to arrest the whole ruling class and sort them out later.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Sort? As in which ones get dumped into landfills, and which ones are dissolved in lye?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Taking cues from other members of her party, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene asked why "we're fighting a war in Ukraine, and we're not bombing the Mexican cartels."

I don't think a literal war on drugs would be anywhere near as lucrative as prohibition, but I guess it all depends on who's in whose pocket.

[Don't look at me!]

Depends on the profit margins on bombs

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

How did it work in the 1980s, when Joe Biden was a drug warrior? Or the 2010s when Kamala Harris was California's Top Cop?

[Ron]

the Mexican police would probably like to see the cartels bombed have you seen what military weaponry the Cartels are using on the police there. they have Truck mounted heavy Machine guns like you see in the middle east.

[CE]

The point of the War on Drugs isn't actually to win.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Dr Jill Biden and crackhead son have SS remove people from their unplanned shopping trip. Can't be seen with commoners.

https://x.com/jj_talking/status/1828089961842909220

Creepiest part is the media shows this behavior and doesn't mention it once in broadcast praising the Bidens.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Reminds me of Obama flying to Hawaii to play golf and roust out a wedding party at the last minute.

[R Mac]

The current president is spending the week at the beach while we send a bunch of warships to the ME.

[Commenter_XY]

China is duking it out with the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard. Not looking good.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Does Kamala have time to be the South China Sea Czar?

[Jefferson Paul]

Sure, since the job description doesn't, apparently, require traveling to the South China Sea or doing anything really--just like her job as the border czar.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

She was border czar?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Do those ships Eben have enough troops on board? Had to bring 17 back in due to lack of recruiting.

[R Mac]

EBIT YOUR TYPOS!

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I refuse.

This is why I hate auto correct. It would always correct to even. But started reading a book with a character named Eben and now it changes it to that.

[Chupacabra]

I thought you were trying to speak Ebonics.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

What U be talkin bout?

[Don't look at me!]

What are the odds?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I’ve noticed it happened with a few books read on Kindle.

Just like when you search for something on Amazon you get those ads everywhere.

But to answer your question. Even.

[Dillinger]

Eben Now is mme. dillinger's favorite Manilow song

[mad.casual]

Oh, great. Now I can’t get Pearl Jam’s “Eben Flow” out of my head.

[Dillinger]

lol now on Arista Records, Mushmouth's Greatest Hits ...

[Jefferson Paul]

And now I'm expecting Chris Jericho to walk into the ring.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Spelling is racist!

[Social Justice is neither]

Do you honestly think he even knows that?

[Anomalous]

It would be odd if he didn't.

[R Mac]

Depends how close to his most recent ice cream cone they told him.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Is that the morning cone with uppers? Or the afternoon cone with ambien?

[CE]

You mean another week at the beach.
It's like they're intentionally mocking us with Weekend at Bernie's scenes.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Sounds like you'd prefer he resigned now and made Kamala the incumbent President.

I'll run it up the flagpole. Thanks.

[Fist of Etiquette]

French authorities arrested Russian entrepreneur and Telegram messaging app founder Pavel Durov on Saturday. The charges are currently somewhat unclear...

It's Europe. It's probably 20 felonies a day.

[Fist of Etiquette]

(Or whatever the eurotrash's version of a felony is.)

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Probably in metric, too.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Most recent market conversion rates:
1 US felony = 6.5 Euro felonies
1 US misdemeanor = 1.5 Euro felonies

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Schumer promises one party dominance, looking at you Maduro, if dems retake Congress and the executive.

https://nypost.com/2024/08/21/opinion/chuck-schumer-potentially-eliminating-the-filibuster-is-the-key-to-a-radical-agenda/

[DesigNate]

I’m not saying Chuck Schumer should (redacted), but I wouldn’t be sad if (redacted) (redacted) in his (redacted).

(Note to NSA: this is obviously satirical.)

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

Turning the federal government into Illinois.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Children under the age of 17 are 10% of the population of Manhattan south of 59th St. (The national average is 21%.)

Is that wild or is it that people just tend to move from a high cost city to raise kids?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Didn't mean as reply.

[Ska]

Not even slightly wild. Manhattan is not the place to raise kids. Not for normal people, or most Manhattan residents either.

I'd expect Staten Island to be the highest, then Queens, then Brooklyn, then the Bronx... and Manhattan the least. It's almost like the closer to being a suburb the more likely there are going to be children in the households. And that would make Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, and neighboring NJ suburbs to be where former Manhattanites go to raise kids.

[Mickey Rat]

It is a scene from a strange, hostile, alien world.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

As DoJ went after Mar A Lago for mishandling classified documents, IG finds the DoJ and FBI mishandled thousands of documents, thumb drives, and hard drives. Not even restricting access to the material. Camera was even broken in the warehouse that had uncleared people walking in and out all the time.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/doj-ig-finds-fbi-systematically-mishandled-classified-info

[Commenter_XY]

They don't even bother hiding it, anymore. They feel they don't have to.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Trump wouldn't have gotten in trouble over documents if he had cooperated.

-sarcjeff

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Trump wouldn't have gotten in trouble over anything if he had cooperated with Democrats from the beginning, especially losing the 2016 election as scripted.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Indeed. Biden immediately cooperated two months after the results of the election.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...their names were merely being used by others to collect pension checks in a massive, messy, wide-reaching fraud.

Is it pride in Japanese longevity or are the salarymen just too exhausted to do a fucking audit.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I blame it on used panty vending machine inflation.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

More and more Hubter DICK PICS keep appearing now that Joe dropped put. Turns out the main business of Hunter was talking with the US State Department on behalf of foreign entities.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/hunter-biden-had-pattern-connecting-state-department-officials-over

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

Beat that dead horse.

Hunter Biden 2028 is not a thing, you know.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

All dick pics still right buddy?

We should ignore all the corruption emenating from your hero Obamas office now that Joe stepped down?

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

Why is it so important to you to defend Hunter Biden, Shrike? How much are you paid to do so? What’s the blackmail?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

He stands up for all pedophiles.

[Mother's Lament]

He got fired, but he's auditioning for his job back.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Mostly still confused about the regime change, and who his next sponsor might be.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Hunter is his hero. Shrike found out that Hunter was abusing his then 13 year old niece Natalie. So Hunter is his kind of guy.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Why did you retire your well adjusted biden guy sock? Another lost password?

[Jefferson Paul]

I'm anticipating him coming out with a new one to replace Well-Adjusted Biden Guy. Perhaps, Kommon-Sense Kamala Guy or something stupid like that. It'll still parrot the same Dem, Act Blue talking points and call people "peanuts."

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

Shrike probably came all over it.

[DesigNate]

#TotallyNotADemshill #HonestYouGuys

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Nobody cares about Hunter Biden except MAGAworld.

Sure, make the election about Hunter Biden. See how that works out for you.

[Fist of Etiquette]

As South Korea scrambles to halt the sharp decline in its birth rate...

There's always that population north of the 38th Parallel.

...policymakers are having a hard time convincing many in their 20s and 30s that parenthood is a better investment than stylish clothes or fancy restaurants...

UNLEASH THE INFLUENCERS!

[Moonrocks]

There’s always that population north of the 38th Parallel.

The demographic problems up there are even worse.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Interesting ... I wonder what the birth rate is in North Korea.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

The perfect one comrade, our dear leader has seen to it.

But my guess the North has higher birth rate but higher child mortality rates and lower overall life expectancy. Probably a better outlook on overall demographics.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But will they defect to the south for some blue jeans and an iPod?

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Maybe certainly would for a good hot meal and less beatings.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I looked it up in Wikipedia.

The demographics of North Korea are determined through national censuses and international estimates. The Central Bureau of Statistics of North Korea conducted the most recent census in 2008, where the population reached 24 million inhabitants.[1] The population density is 199.54 inhabitants per square kilometre, and the 2014 estimated life expectancy is 69.81 years. In 1980, the population rose at a near consistent, but low, rate (0.84% from the two censuses). Since 2000, North Korea's birth rate has exceeded its death rate; the natural growth is positive. In terms of age structure, the population is dominated by the 15–64-year-old segment (68.09%). The median age of the population is 32.9 years, and the gender ratio is 0.95 males to 1.00 female. Since the early 1990s, the birth rate has been fairly stable, with an average of 2 children per woman, down from an average of 3 in the early 1980s.

The South Korea article doesn't have such a simple all-in-one paragraph.

[Fist of Etiquette]

NASA has grown increasingly reliant on help from SpaceX...

NATIONALIZE IT.

...now, it's been called on by the government to bring two stranded astronauts home.

Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to head the mission.

[Moderation4ever]

I think that manned space flight should be turned over to private companies like SpaceX. NASA should be focused on basic research that does not have value in the market place. Robotic missions for research should be NASA's focus. Missions that have commercial value should move to the private sector.

[Don't look at me!]

BUT MUSK MIGHT MAKE A PROFIT!

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And then use his wealth to contradict Democrats!

[Moderation4ever]

Musk is making a profit now. I also don't think there is a lot of profit in manned spaceflight. Right now, there are only a few people who can afford the cost. I am guessing to make it profitable you have to get the cost down to something like the cost for a trip to Mt Everest. Costly but within the limits of a significant number of people.

I think the moon and Mars are outside the reach of profitable. But with an efficient system to get people to and from the ISS and converting the ISS to a hotel, I am guessing you could make a nice profit.

[CE]

There's not a lot of profit in manned spaceflight, until you haul in an asteroid full of gold and rare Earth minerals.

[Moderation4ever]

Again, robotic miners are a better choice. Right now, manned spaceflight seems better suited to tourism.

[Small w woodchippertarian]

A fellow Salvage One fan!

(OK, it was a satellite...)

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What did you tell the Wright brothers in 1910?

[Moderation4ever]

Not the analogy? The Wright Brothers had the first successful aircraft but they were not the real force behind todays use of aircraft. Robert Goddard and the German V2 scientist are more like the Wright Brother. SpaceX is more like the first commercial airline companies.

[DesigNate]

Huh, something we actually agree on.

[R Mac]

Programming glitch.

[Fist of Etiquette]

NASA should focus on Muslim outreach.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Hamas does know a thing or two about rockets.

[Don't look at me!]

Bruce Willis had no comment.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Sadly.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Steve Buscemi was the true hero!

[Dillinger]

see people think Jethro Tull was a guy in the band ...

[Ron]

You Joke about nationalizing Space X but plenty of lefties think it should be nationalized but only because Musk took over twitter and they think he is a national threat now for allowing free speech

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

David Frum proposed it in one of his op-eds at the time. Someone in the comments here made the salient observation that Frum is a mouthpiece for what the elites are discussing, and he wouldn't have even brought it up if it wasn't being talked about at Beltway cocktail parties.

They can't make the move right now because it would be way too obvious as a literal fascist takeover, but they apparently haven't found sufficient justification yet to do something like arrest him and begin the process.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that these left-wing technocrats are actively at war with their domestic political enemies right now, which is probably why some of the Silicon Valley elites are sweating bullets and threatening to leverage their own power in response if these people don't back off.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Might be coincidence, and certainly anecdotal, but I noticed that two of my neighbors traded their Teslas (that they couldn't stop raving about) for other brand EVs after Musk got uppity.

[Jefferson Paul]

Virtue signaling is the best part of owning an EV. You can't virtue signal if it's a Tesla because MuskManBad.

[CE]

I'm surprised Twitter wasn't nationalized.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the complaint before him raised warranted questions about the executive bypassing Congress to set immigration policy.

Congress don't want that noise polluting their reelection campaigns.

[Fist of Etiquette]

n which Mark Zuckerberg says the feds "repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire … I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it."

What Reagan movie?

[Don't look at me!]

They were just “ jawboning” , no pressure.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

This is why I pointed out that fake whistleblower Frances Haugen was nothing more than a mouthpiece for the glowies, same as Pavel Turov being arrested in France. The western left and their commissars in the governments are desperate to try and snuff out anything that might enable resistance against them.

It's why fighting the left requires shoving their own repressive tolerance down their throat until they choke to death on it. They don't respect free speech as a principle, so there's no need to privilege them with it while fruitlessly expecting the same in return.

[Overt]

Let's really unpack this a moment. Because for MONTHS, the usual suspects in the comments were saying there was nothing to see here because companies like Facebook were just private companies happily choosing to censor based on friendly suggestions from the Federal Government.

This is why "Freely cooperating with the government to censor" should still be considered unconstitutional.

What we see here was that Zuckerberg was being "pressured" behind the scenes. Anyone applying even a modicum of skepticism knew this, of course. The Federal Government was opening anti-trust investigations. Their agents were being granted high-ranking positions inside Facebook's management. And all this time, the president and other high officials were using the bully pulpit to tell us that Big Tech needed to "combat misinformation."

But because the actual arm-twisting was behind the scenes, certain people had the plausible deniability to say "Hey, if private companies want to censor, it should be allowed."

This is much like the questions of sexual harassment in the work place. If someone is sexing their subordinates, it is almost impossible to accurately determine whether it is consensual, quid pro quo or even coerced. Likewise, if the government is "asking" a company to censor, it is impossible to accurately tell how much the government's power over private companies (and their industry/competition) is essentially coercing the company to "freely choose to do the right thing."

The Government is constitutionally prohibited from censoring speech. It is prohibited from paying government agents to censor speech. It naturally follows that it should be prohibited from paying a contractor to censor. And I submit that since "paying" comes in so many forms when the government has the power it does, the government should be prohibited from even REQUESTING that a third party censor on their behalf.

And yet, we know now that the Biden administration had entire departments in the Whitehouse and in the DHS whose sole job was to review online content and issue "requests" to remove that content. They had worked with private companies to build automated infrastructure that made it easier to make these requests.

I dream of the day when those usual suspects who waived their hands and shouted "Nothing to see here," spend a few minutes reflecting on how wrong they were. I don't expect any contrition from them (as we got none as we learned how wrong they were on COVID science), but I would hope they take this opportunity to change their stances for the future.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

It is why I keep mentioning there is a non insignificant percentage of current LPe members who would support fascist style government. They only need the facade of independence between a corporation and government and they will accept it. Covid really exposed this.

[markm23]

"Private" corporations controlled by the government or ruling party were a characteristic of Mussolini's Fascism and especially Hitler's Nazism.

[DesigNate]

Narrator: They did not reflect and in fact would double down on being the only morally consistent people in the comments.

[Rick James]

I dream of the day when those usual suspects who waived their hands and shouted “Nothing to see here,” spend a few minutes reflecting on how wrong they were. I don’t expect any contrition from them (as we got none as we learned how wrong they were on COVID science), but I would hope they take this opportunity to change their stances for the future.

*standing in front of a podium in 2044:

"Mistakes were made... moving on..."

[Sandra (formerly OBL)]

Nooooooooooooooooooo even Canada has gone "white nationalist"!

Trudeau: We’re reducing the number of low-wage, temporary foreign workers in Canada. The labour market has changed. Now is the time for our businesses to invest in Canadian workers and youth.

Glad I live in the US where our left-wing party is 100% on board with the billionaire-funded loose borders agenda. 🙂

#CheapLaborAboveAll

[Commenter_XY]

Trudeau went full racist.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Be honest, when was he not?

[Mother's Lament]

Trudeau is polling in single digits and even Liberal voters are beginning to hate him. The carbon tax and the largest immigrant influx in Canadian history being the primary reason.

Now, unlike the States, most of our immigrants are the legal kind, with nowhere near the same numbers of criminals, but the influx has been so huge and so sudden, it is destroyed the housing market and health care systems across the country.

Unlike in the US, wages have remained stagnant while the Carbon tax has caused food prices and energy prices to quadruple in just four years. Even well-off professionals are feeling the pinch, with the average worker having to visit food banks. It’s insane.

Remember most people make around $60k up here.

The migrants have caused cheap bungalows in the cities to rise to $2million territory so barely anyone can afford to buy a house, and those who can face skyrocketing interest rates.

The country’s collapsing and it’s solely because of Liberal party policies.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Time to tap into the treasury’s maple syrup reserve. (Is that still a thing?)

(And does government maple syrup taste like the real thing?)

[Mother's Lament]

Maybe?

I'm in Western Canada where Sugar Maples don't exist. They're a New England/Maritimes tree.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Looks like a Quebec thing:

Maple syrup production is highly dependant on the weather. In years when Mother Nature is generous, it can result in production surpassing demand, and the industry struggles to deal with a surplus. And when weather conditions are unfavourable, producers can’t supply all the maple syrup that consumers want. This unpredictability is why Québec Maple Syrup Producers established its Strategic Reserve. When production exceeds demand, surplus maple syrup is pasteurized, preserved in food-grade containers, and stored. Then, when it’s a poor harvest year, syrup in the reserve is made available to buyers. In this way, we are virtually never out of stock and the markets remain supplied.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

You find them around the Great Lakes as well. The better ones for syrup come from places like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where it can get cold enough for long enough during the winter.

/Fuck Vermont

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I found this old pie chart showing the major sources of Canada’s GDP. I’m curious what the updated version looks like.

https://www.reddit.com/r/southpark/comments/hcdxft/graph_of_canadas_economy/#lightbox

[Mother's Lament]

No, that's pretty much still it.

[mad.casual]

And does government maple syrup taste like the real thing?

By "real thing" you mean corn syrup and caramel coloring?

[markm23]

When I bought maple syrup, it was directly from small producers in rural Michigan, and it was the real thing. Even without any distributor and store markups, it was very expensive. Boiled-down sugar maple sap has a distinctive and very strong flavor. No one that has had real maple syrup will be fooled by corn syrup and coloring.

But I find that flavor is overwhelmingly strong. Many store-bought syrups are thickened corn syrup flavored with a little maple syrup, and I prefer that to the full-flavored real thing.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The migrants have caused cheap bungalows in the cities to rise to $2million territory so barely anyone can afford to buy a house, and those who can face skyrocketing interest rates.

Gosh, good thing mass immigration isn't causing such market distortions here in the US! They just show up and slum housing magically appears so that it doesn't negatively affect the cost of good housing for American citizens in any way whatsoever!

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Cmon man. Illegals only cause profit. Importing demand has no effect from letting anyone who wants cross the border. Do you even jeffsarc?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Just put bedrooms in food trucks.

Geez, do I have to think of everything.

[rbike]

60k Canadian is like $20 us right?

[Mother's Lament]

It wasn't, but now...

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

$60k doesn’t go far, given Canada’s ridiculous taxes.

Is there a good chance Pierre Poilievre can oust Trudeau?

[Mother's Lament]

Poilievre is more popular than all the other party leaders put together and polls say if an election was held right now he'd win an absolute majority.

The Trudeauites will pull the same shenanigans that Macron is pulling right now to stay in power though.

[Jefferson Paul]

The country’s collapsing and it’s solely because of Liberal party policies.

No, it's because they didn't do Liberal party policies even harder. Whenever government causes a problem and it's pointed out, the response is to redouble the government policy.

[Rick James]

When Trudeau understands that increasing the labor supply lowers wages...

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

This is one man's account, of course. McMaster's word should not be taken as gospel, and some of his frustration might stem from his dismissal, or his foreign-policy prescriptions being at times ignored by his boss.

Dropped right before an election. Was pay commiserate with a memoir of someone nobody cares about? Has he had interesting speaking fees lately?

[Longtobefree]

Nothing is more reliable than the word of a fired employee.

[Jefferson Paul]

Unless it's the word of a disgruntled former employee of Kamala. Then, somehow, it's a non-story and unreliable.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Only the best people!

[swillfredo pareto]

But it's a somewhat revealing look behind the curtain at policy-setting in a White House helmed by an especially mercurial commander in chief

If only there was a better way to predict policy setting at a future Trump While House than listening to the ravings of a spurned national security advisor.

Oh wait, there is. We have four years of a Trump presidency to evaluate. People like Trump say a lot of things, it's their nature. And what is obvious, other than how much better his first presidency was than Biden's, is Trump has decent instincts. Who gives a shit what he says, look at what he does.

[Deb Bishop]

1. Yes. We do have history. And no, Trump was not perfect; he was even misguided at times and certainly not Libertarian. BUT all the blathering by this spurned former advisor is just that: blathering. I believe not one thing the author says came to pass. So....?
2. Zuckerberg has finally mustered the courage to declare the truth about the government censoring unapproved narratives, and commit to not doing again, and NOW Liz says, ‘grow a spine’!?! He just did, Liz! And many others are beginning to change parties and challenge/protest the amoral, despicable behavior of the party in power.
3. The comment: ‘they [Dems] don’t bother to hide it anymore’ is also right on; why should they? They’re unaccountable and untouchable. The worst of it is, the neocons have finally identified/created the perfect set up. When Ds were the party of the people, neocons had to rely on the R party to push their regime-change wars. Now they use the Ds bc they’ve got the perfect triad: a shameless, fawning media, Ds unwilling (scared?) to relinquish power for countless reasons, and brazen globalists determined to rule everyone though pandemics, the green agenda, and hubris!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Zuckerberg has finally mustered the courage to declare the truth about the government censoring unapproved narratives, and commit to not doing again, and NOW Liz says, ‘grow a spine’!?!

Unlike Durov, Zuck is a made man the same way Elon is. I suspect Durov’s arrest pissed him off and this information is a warning shot to his glowie sponsors that he’s already been cooperative enough, and they need to back off or he’s going to embarrass them further. He’s not stupid and realizes that if he gets Epstein’d, the right is going to automatically know the glowies knocked him off.

[Anomalous]

Hard to imagine how a second Trump administration could be worse than what Harris would do. In her 3.5 years in office, the vice presidential staff has had 92% turnover.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

True, but being a drone for Kacklin’ Kammy is different from being a cabinet official for President Harris.

What’s going to be interesting is to see if power-thirsty guys like Gavin Newsom and Pete Buttigieg are willing to be patient for potentially another 8 years before having their own shot. Newsom is going to be in his mid-60s by then, but Pete’s only 42, so he will probably have to get a governor seat in Michigan or Illinois to kill the time until he can run his own crypto-commie campaign.

[CE]

The 92% couldn't handle the joy:

https://babylonbee.com/news/kamala-explains-93-of-vp-staff-quit-because-they-couldnt-handle-the-joy

[Overt]

I'm reminded of how a staffer once tried to impugn Reagan by saying they'd be deep in a policy discussion and he'd just lose interest and start counting jelly-belly's. This was supposed to add evidence to the notion that he was losing his mind at the time.

In fact the event did happen, but the staffers present understood the meaning of the gesture: the cabinet was becoming lost in the weeds, and getting hung up on minutiae.

I don't know what was really happening. Even if Trump did say these things, it is equally possible that he was just saying these things to be hyperbolic. He is well known for the salesman's tactic of setting a price very high and getting other people to walk him back to a compromise.

He could also be a man without a filter, who thinks his every thought is genius. Who knows for sure?

[DesigNate]

It’s probably a little of column an and a little of column b.

It’s like most people never watched an episode of the Apprentice and have no idea what his managing and sales style is.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And how much is a deliberate schtick.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I once worked for a corporate VP who had various feedback displays during presentations. That included when he took out hit wallet, and emptied the contents into a row on the table, sorted them, and put them back. In another he took out his pocket comb and deliberately worked his hair for a few minutes. We called that one getting combed. In either case, he was sending a message.

But we did rebel in our own non-verbal way. The VP was rather short, and the room most often used for presentations had chairs that adjusted height by spinning the seat many, many times. We would spin a chair up to the maximum height, and place it where he was likely to sit.

[DesigNate]

See, those are the kinds of things I missed not being in a corporate setting.

[Social Justice is neither]

It could be he's pitched 5 plans, says 3 of them are fantastic and finally chooses 1. If you're a proponent of the other 2 fantastic ideas he's mercurial instead of evaluating ideas as they come and filtering kater.

Or he could just be chaos incarnate and somehow it all generally seemed to work out.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Neurotypicals fascinate me with their endless nonsense.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Trump’s line from 2019 has now become standard fare, notes The Economist: The Republican primary debates included lots of tough talk on Mexico, specifically on the bombing front, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claiming he’d send special forces down there on Day One.

So something to say about Mexico. Mexico has always had issues. Cartels have always been there. But in the past the cartels largely fought amongst themselves or the military. They largely left tourists and such alone.

I used to go to Mexico a couple of times a year. Puerto Peñasco is a beach resort town, good concerts and festivals. 3 hours away. The town was always poor, but the tourists were largely safe. In the last 10 years that has changed. Now tourists are held up at gun point,kidnapped, and killed. The cartels no longer remain fighting themselves. Many smaller cartels are often fighting in resort areas over territories.

I was coming back from a fishing trip a few years back. Ulwe came back early. Next day policies came to our resort to question my group because not even a half hour after we left, when we were scheduled, a cartel had opened up fire on a number of boats. Haven’t been back since.

This is common for many people who would go down a lot. Providing a good injection of cash for the locals.

Cartels have basically taken over the country. They own parts of the military and police. Own politicians. It is pretty mad.

Why the long post, I find it weird that Reason doesn’t even consider the people there as having freedoms to not sunjugate themselves to violence and cartels. There is more attacks against El Salvador for going after known gangs than any support for citizens tired of thr constant violence.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Cartels have basically taken over the country. They own parts of the military and police. Own politicians. It is pretty mad.

They killed so many presidential candidates this past election cycle that the commie mayor of Mexico City essentially won it by default.

[Overt]

The only reason these cartels are able to fund this nonsense is drug prohibition. Remove our prohibition on drugs, and these cartels fall back to protection rackets and human smuggling- businesses that will barely pay the rent on their palaces.

[VinniUSMC (Banana Republic Day 5/30/24)]

I think it would certainly diminish their profits vis a vis Mexico, but that it would end up causing them to push harder to occupy US territory and/or merge/war with current US gangs. It would lead to more outright violence on US soil. And I say that as someone who supports ending drug prohibition. Though, I'm also sure our government would fuck it up as badly as they did withdrawing from Afghanistan. In the long run, it would still be good, but hardly a panacea.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Right, because sociopathic apex predators that managed to get to the top never adapt and alter their business model.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Have you looked at avocado sourcing lately...

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

That could never happen here. Oh, wait...

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I've mentioned this before but in 1989 the US under HW Bush prosecuted a full scale invasion of Panama to arrest Noriega for drug trafficking. He wasn't the leader of a cartel. He was a fucking head of state. He was also an asset of Bush when he was in charge of the CIA. A lot of people got killed many of whom had nothing to do with drug smuggling. It was a bad idea then and it's a bad idea now but the claim that crossing the border to take out the cartels is some unprecedented, crazy proposal by right wing lunatics is just silly. The US has a long history of foreign adventures and bombing cartels in Mexico isn't even close to the worst.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yeah, it's not exactly the first time we've carried out extralegal military actions in foreign nations that are being a pain in the ass. That's a tradition going back to the "shores of Tripoli."

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

This is one man’s account, of course.

Actually it was the consensus among his cabinet and generals that Fatass Donnie is a “fucking moron” (Rex Tillerson). Even genteel bootlick VP Mike Pence won’t even endorse him now.

But we were in our Caligula stage as a republic but certainly too great of a country to fall into ruin like Rome did.

The Mooch should be the GOP candidate. He gets it.

#TheMoochforPresident

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Butplug's posts = 50 million times worse than 9/11

^This makes as much sense as your handle.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

The Mooch would be a great president. Proof is that he only lasted 11 days in the Con Man's administration.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

Anyone ever tell you that you’re massively retarded? If not, then we’re telling you now. You’re a massive retard.

[Mother's Lament]

He's gotten to the point where Buttplug's just flinging shit to get a rise and is putting zero thought into his trolling.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What would you do if your sponsors cut you loose?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Do you really want to remind people you were pushing Avenetti? Lol.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Why is this not surprising.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

Liar. We told you to stop lying, Jesse.

[Mother's Lament]

Did you? You lie so much Pluggo we can't be sure.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Lol. I’m sure sandra still has the links.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the TDS-addled shit stain of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[R Mac]

What a stupid thing to say.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

We all have our dream scenarios for people. For example, I think you would make a terrific rotting corpse.

[Sandra (formerly OBL)]

I've explained to him several times that Wikipedia - which he considers reliable in every other context - totally demolishes his embarrassingly stupid assertion.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

Um, dumbass, Caligula was during the Julio-Claudian dynasty in the Empire, not the Republic (which de jure ended with the rise of Augustus).

[Sandra (formerly OBL)]

You've spent the past few years aggressively shilling for a President who debated a "f***ing moron" and lost so badly, his own party twisted his arm until he quit the race.

[Dillinger]

that wasn't his arm that was the knife in his chest.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd, the TDS-addled ass-clown of the commentariat, lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.

[R Mac]

You were banned for posting a link to child pornography.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

When Koch has done with his bust out of Reason and the cash dries up, I’m going to look at purchasing this rag. Likely for next to nothing by then. If no other reason then to dox Shrike, and tip the authorities off to his child rapist activities.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

But we were in our Caligula stage as a republic but certainly too great of a country to fall into ruin like Rome did.

Uh, Rome didn't break apart for nearly 400 years after Caligua, you moron. Do you realize how much upheaval and civil war took place between him and Odoacer?

And yeah, the US will not only break apart, it's going to happen in our lifetimes. Probably in as little as four years with your commie buddies Kamala and Timmy running the show.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Why are you shilling for him? Is he promising a chloroformed little boy for every child rapist?

[sarcasmic]

Trump has near-magical abilities to get other members of his party to accept something previously regarded as absurd.

Aye.

[InsaneTrollLogic (Factio Democratica delenda est 5/30/24)]

Pour Sarc.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Yep. About a quart of bottom shelf liquor per day.

[TJJ2000]

I'm not sure what would be funnier.
- Pointing out how hypocritical of LIE it is; why just yesterday he was splitting the party.
... or ...
- Asking you if you wrote that BS.

[sarcasmic]

He’s gotten his minions to believe that tariffs are not taxes paid by consumers, that tariffs “on China” are paid by China, and that this nation was founded on tariffs that were both protectionist and for the purpose of generating revenue.

Then these same people turn around and say “Ignore what he says and look at what he does.”

And then they can't understand why they’re called cultists.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

No he hasn’t. That is the retarded justification you use to pretend you weren’t retarded on tariffs and use it as one of your only arguments against Trump. Ironically tariffs aren’t unique to Trump but through your posts they act as if they were.

Examples. You didnt know Reagan issued tariffs. You thought all tariffs were protectionary tariffs. You didnt realize it was initially the way to fund the federal government. And even yesterday you seemed to believe tariffs directed at Chinese imports affected all imports.

You keep repeating this retarded strawman over and over in hopes you won’t look retarded.

Provide a single citation of your strawman claims. You can't. Because you make shit up all the time.

[sarcasmic]

As I've said before, if you limited yourself to only one or two lies and false premises at a time, I'd be more inclined to respond to your posts. But breaking down every lie in every sentence is just tiresome, and you're so not worth the effort.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Why don't you just mute him?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Provide your evidence retard.

[Mother's Lament]

Tell him you'll mute him again, you retarded drunken liar. That'll teach him.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Jesse doesn’t lie, so pick one ‘lie’ and prove it, you drunk bitch.

Or slink away and hide. The way you cower and hide from me.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""why they’re called cultists.""

That term is stupidly overplayed.

We just watched a political party gaslight the entire world about the condition of their leader. Debating the effects of tariffs is not cultish. Whether you are right or wrong. Accepting that Biden was in great conative condition for the last 3 years is a whole other level of cultist commitment.

Also, why do you think Biden put so many and so much tariffs on China if democrats didn't believe they work either?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

It is especially ironic as Jeff and sarc were gladly willing to push the Trump is Hitler narratives.

They always project.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

It’s worth posting again…….

https://imgflip.com/tag/fat+nazi

Jeffy as Hitler

[sarcasmic]

We just watched a political party gaslight the entire world about the condition of their leader.

And people in that party got rightly pissed about being lied to. Know what you don’t see? Republicans getting pissed about Trump’s lies. Cultish.

Debating the effects of tariffs is not cultish.

Blindly defending lies from Trump about tariffs is cultish. You don’t see people on his side saying that he’s wrong. No, they change their beliefs and suspend their knowledge of economics to conform to and defend their Dear Leader’s beliefs. That is indeed cultish.

Also, why do you think Biden put so many and so much tariffs on China if democrats didn’t believe they work either?

Why do you think Trump’s minions never give Biden credit for these tariffs? Because they didn’t come from their Dear Leader. Again, cultish.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

"And people in that party got rightly pissed about being lied to."

Did they not have eyes? Why do you and jeff persist with the "no one could have known that joe was senile" lie?

[Mike Parsons]

"And people in that party got rightly pissed about being lied to."

The only reason they were able to fall for the lie is precisely because they are in a cult. If they weren't, they would have believed their lying eyes, contrary to what their programming told them.

Most people like Trump as a middle finger to the corrupt establishment. The mass majority dont actually think he is the master of the art of the deal or the great messiah (like Obamas cult), he's a shit talker that has pissed off the right people

[sarcasmic]

The only reason they were able to fall for the lie is precisely because they are in a cult. If they weren’t, they would have believed their lying eyes, contrary to what their programming told them.

Dude, the fact that they got pissed after finding that they were misled is proof that they were not a cult. Do Trump's followers give a shit about being misled and lied to? Absolutely not. They don't care, because it's all about him. That's what makes them cultists.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

They ignored the myriad evidence that joe was mentally lost up until the debate. Then, they expressed their anger at being “misled” by immediately getting behind the vice president from the exact same administration that was “misleading them”. This is a vice president by the way, that had near zero popularity before the switch-out.

Makes perfect sense, sarc. Totally not a cult.

Occam's razor check - were they being misled, or were they willing victims?

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Yes. This is why it still shows Kamala tied in polls despite her being 20 points lower just 2 months ago.

Everything you say is based on ignorance.

[Mike Parsons]

"Do Trump’s followers give a shit about being misled and lied to? Absolutely not. They don’t care, because it’s all about him. "

Ya, you just have an immature strawman version of what a Trump voter is, and thats on you.

Most people realize he is a shit talking carnival barker and dont believe lots of what he says. He just happens to *not* be an America hating commie, so even if half or more of what he says is him spitballing or mean tweeting, and the fact that he pisses off an establishment of corrupt shitlibs is icing on the cake.

You do see the difference right? Because 5 minutes ago the Biden cult really thought he was tip top shape running circles around his 20 year old interns because that was the programming they absorbed, despite watching him fall apart in front of their face. Do you really think people believe similar things about Trump? And do you really think thats anywhere near a majority if so?

[sarcasmic]

I didn't say Trump voter. I said Trump follower. Big difference. Trump voters I see are a mix of Republicans, people who just hate Democrats, and Trump followers. It's those last ones who are cultists who are on par with the Obama cultists. Remember them? The ones who defended everything he said and did with accusations of racism? How are the Trump followers who defend everything he says and does with accusations of derangement any different?

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Life in sarcasmic's "totally not a cult":

1. Joe Biden wanders aimlessly, trips and falls multiple times, can't tell where he is, reads stage directions from the teleprompter, etc, etc, etc.

Totally-not-cultists: "Joe has never been sharper!"

2. Joe blows a debate against Trump, exhibiting behaviors identical to #1 above. Dem leadership and media acolytes insist for weeks that "he had a cold" and other lame excuses.

Totally-not-cultists: "Well, maaaybe he's not all there... oh well, big deal. Didn't Reagan have Alzheimer's or something?"

3. Joe's polling results are in the toilet.

Totally-not-cultists: "Who could have known Joe wasn't all there? We were misled!"

4. Dem leadership announces Joe's out and Kami is in.

Totally-not-cultists: "I'm with Her!!"

[Overt]

Did they really get pissed, though? Where is your evidence? Did anyone other than Biden get fired? Did anyone actually get publicly rebuked? Was Pelosi on stage saying "How dare you, Jill!"?

No. They were pissed because they got found out.

I think this "cult" shit is BS anyways. Neither side is a cult. They are machiavelian pragmatists. On the Dem side, the evidence has been clear that Biden was incapable of the actual job, but they kept him in place because they thought he was their best shot of defeating Trump (a decent assumption since he beat the guy in 2020). And when it was clear that Biden couldn't hack it, they didn't get pissed...they replaced him. And the reception of Harris shows that all the Dem voters are thinking the same thing: It's our best shot. A month before the Switch in Time, Harris was considered horrible BY HER OWN PARTY. And over night those same voters lined up to say she was awesome.

Now either they are a slavish cult, or they are just pragmatists. I am betting the latter.

The same is true with Trump. People don't like the guy, but the Trumpishness is all priced in. That's why the "Pussy Grab" story didn't have any impact. People knew who they were dealing with, and this was not new information. Trumpists know the guy is a gasbag, and they believe that despite that, he is the best choice to get what they want.

For what it is worth, if the machiavellians in both parties spent less time kingmaking, and trying to derail legitimate opposition, people like Harris and Trump wouldn't be at the top of the ticket. Romney in 2012 was quite obviously engineering his selection in the primary. And in the process, the GOP machine removed from competition any of the other heavyweights, until the only people willing to run against him were outsiders like Fred Thompson and Herman Cain. Likewise, the "selection" of Biden and now Harris has been done by selectively ruining and compromising more credible candidates.

This is what happens when you corrupt the process. I think we can lay it at the feet of McCain Feingold, because it basically locked the parties onto giant coffers of campaign cash that bootstraps a campaign. It encourages people to make a bee-line to the nomination without a costly political battle.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

For all the sperging by the center-right that Trump voters don't care about policy, the main reason they support the guy is because they know he's actually going to promote policies they like. That's why they were lukewarm to McCain and Romney, but love Trump. It isn't just the social media slapfights; they know without a shadow of a doubt that he's on "their team." And it's the same way with Harris and the Democrats. They don't give a shit that she's an absolute disaster as a public speaker or politician, they know she's going to push a left-wing agenda and that's all that matters.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

If these people are supposedly so pissed at being misled about joe, why aren’t they pissed that he’s still president?

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

They haven’t been allowed to think that. They’re drones. The democrat party base is not just conditioned, but has completely embraced groupthink without the slightest reservation. This is what makes them such a threat to Americans, and why the democrat party cannot be allowed to exist.

[NealAppeal]

They got pissed and then continue on like Biden is still fit to run the country through the end of his term rather than recognize the unelected bureaucracy is running the show, and has been, and they don't care.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

What lies sarc? Notice you never give specifics due to you being ignorant. His most talked about one which I continue to give you links to was done in response to theft from China and the tariffs got the government to clamp down on it. You continue to ignore these facts.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I suspect the a lot of the same delusions that play I to his severe, lifelong alcohol abuse play into his severe, years long TDS. Sarc is a loathsome, lying scumbag, and likely always has been. I’ve often said you’re the closest thing to a friend he has in his pathetic existence, and I’m very serious about that. He obsesses about you, and no matter what he says, he will never ever mute you.

It’s very likely that even his bartender hates him. The guy at the liquor store too.

[DesigNate]

"And people in that party got rightly pissed about being lied to."

lol, wut?

"Blindly defending lies from Trump about tariffs is cultish. You don’t see people on his side saying that he’s wrong."

I'll just leave this here: https://reason.com/2024/08/26/j-d-vances-revisionist-history/?comments=true#comment-10700310

"Why do you think Trump’s minions never give Biden credit for these tariffs?"

Probably because not as much hay was made about them in posts or comments? (Note I'm not saying posts don't exist, just that they didn't garner as many views/comments.)

[Mike Parsons]

"We just watched a political party gaslight the entire world about the condition of their leader."

Followed by them having a mass psy op, chanting in unison about how Kamala is 'joy' embodied and a popular competent likable candidate despite all of those thing having been fully displayed to be untrue, daily. And a "Kamala was never border czar" campaign reminiscent of "we were always at was with Eastasia".

Add to that the magical thinking involving the tranny cult folk.

And finally, in contrast, many of the people on here (myself included) that get called "trump cultists" have plenty of issues with and critiques of Trump.

[Mother's Lament]

“He’s gotten his minions to believe that tariffs are not taxes paid by consumers, that tariffs “on China” are paid by China”

No, it’s your bumchum Lying Jeffy who is running around claiming there’s no such thing as import brokers, and that foreign businesses never market their own products in the US.

[sarcasmic]

It’s very telling, and cultish, how Trump defenders who know that all taxes are ultimately passed onto consumers through higher prices suspend their belief in that axiom of economics when the taxes are pushed by their Dear Leader.

[Mother's Lament]

It’s very telling how dishonest drunken retards will try to shift the narrative from direct taxation to ‘affecting consumer prices down the line’.

You’re not smart enough to white knight for Lying Jeffy, troll.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Name one person who does this sarc. Cite one fucking example.

You’re a pathological liar. It is all you have. Day after day after day. All to cover up your own fucking ignorance.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Now do double-speak and blind faith among Democrats.

[DesigNate]

That’s a lot of straw for one post. Leave some for the rest of us.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Poor Jeff.

Has he got anyone to blindly call democrats Hitler?

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Jeffy should be Fat Hitler for Halloween. Oh, wait…. I found some pictures of Fatfuck from last Halloween.

https://imgflip.com/tag/fat+nazi

[VinniUSMC (Banana Republic Day 5/30/24)]

You couldn't pay me enough money to click that link. The mere mention of jeffsarc is revolting enough, don't need to see it.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Gosh, a whole day has gone by, and the lying drunken shitweasel hasn’t responded.

How unsurprising.ill be repost that a LOT. So it will be Alejandro if you change your mind. And just to allay any concerns, it isn’t anything NSFW. I won’t post anything like that. As I’m not a pedophillic piece of shit like Shrike.

[TJJ2000]

And even after all that. Trump is still the only president in the last century to have a De-Regulation Committee, Cut the EPA, Carry out Tax-Cuts Domestically, Didn't start any new endless wars.

But, but, but .... He said "bomb drugs"......
The pathetic-ness of the Trump attacks have been the BIGGEST-JOKE.
How about another round of "He said; She said"... /s

No. The real resistance to Trump was the very fact he "Hollowed out [our] ?public? ([Na]tional So[zi]alist) Regime." fully admitted, finally, in the DNC platform.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Given all the leftist bullshit that Reason has supported over the last three and a half years, they can STFU about Trump being a statist.

[Commenter_XY]

Kudos to the IDF for rescuing another hostage, alive. A Bedouin, father of eleven.

Oh, and a bunch of dead judeocidal hamas terrorists as a part of the operation.

Sort of a macabre two-fer.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...Oh, and a bunch of dead judeocidal hamas terrorists as a part of the operation..."

A "bunch" for one; a good start.

[Commenter_XY]

One other note. Our 'woke' US Navy has been defeated by the Houthis. Somewhere, Davey Jones is rolling over and over and over in a locker. The Houthis have now shut down the Suez Canal, and managed to create an environmental disaster with their latest ship targeting.

The USN is a paper tiger. A pussy cat. Or maybe just pussies now. We have no deterrence value at all. No one respects us, or fears us. Even Hamas humiliates us on the world stage, repeatedly.

VP Harris offers more of the same.

[Longtobefree]

Not just 'more of the same'.
Seventeen ships less of the same.

https://notthebee.com/article/manpower-shortage-blamed-for-navys-decision-to-sideline-17-vessels--redistribute-crew

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

I was told during the DNC that "our enemies will fear" President Harris.

[Eeyore]

You missed the part where they let it slip that the enemy is the American people.

[Social Justice is neither]

God Liz is both evil and stupid. To call all the women liars for their accounts of being raped by coyotes in their illegal trip north or calling women in the US prosecuting migrants for rape the same is despicable. And is she truly stupid enough to think the cartels don't exist and send massive amounts of drugs to the US? THAT MS-13 is some sort of stop?

[Quicktown Brix]

Where did you see any of that?

[sarcasmic]

Did she post links and argue against all those things? No, she did not. That’s exactly the same as supporting those things. You should know this by now.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Still thinks selection bias is a made up concept. Amazing.

[sarcasmic]

Selection bias isn't made up, but the elaborate strawmen created to explain it are.

[Mother's Lament]

Well if anyone knows how to craft a strawman it's you. To bad you still can't recognize one though.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Your use of the term strawmen is interesting. Have you googled that one yet? You should also look at self-exclusion fallacy if you have time.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Wut? Lol.

More projection from the king of strawman. Cite? Just above where you wash yourself with straw.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

But he's got a new buddy now.

[Social Justice is neither]

4th paragraph where she's talking about Trump's fantasies about rapists and drug runners crossing the border. In order to call those fantasies you have to believe the victims and data to all be lying to you.

[Quicktown Brix]

Thanks. I appreciate the response.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Cartels are the biggest money makers of one of the biggest human trafficking industries ever.

[mad.casual]

I like how liberating conflict survivors and war prisoners out of Africa to do menial labor for free food, free housing, and no pay in the 17th and 18th Century is know as "The Transatlantic Slave Trade"; the embarrassing history that this nation is built upon, but liberating conflict survivors and war prisoners out of S. Am. for free food, free housing, and illegally-low pay to build work farm labor and construction jobs is just how economies have always operated.

[Rick James]

Who'll clean Nick Gillespie's toilet?

[mad.casual]

The African Warlord Head of a S. Am. Cartel or one of his footsoldiers VPs of staffing and distribution, who were formerly in charge of a billion-dollar supply chain, after we legalize weed and maybe heroin and the market mostly peacefully collapses, duh!

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Read (or try to read) McMaster's "Battlegrounds". According to him, the world is in a constant war and gaining advantage in that conflict is the *ONLY* goal. The concepts of "peace" and "cooperation" are (like "honesty" to turd) simply beyond his understanding.
He shouldn't have been fired, he should be held in a lunatic ward.
But, hey, he gave Liz a chance to prove once again that she is, also, a steaming pile of TDS-addled shit by citing the idiot.

[Dillinger]

he certainly should never be cited.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Constant struggle between the righteous and the wicked is either Marxism or Abrahamic religion.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

He's a hard core neocon and it's puzzling that a libertarian publication would lend him any credibility. But David French is popular with the Koch/Reason libertarians too so not surprising.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Only the best people!

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

I can’t say much for McMaster’s later career, but he deserves credit at least for two things – his admirable performance as a Commander at whichever easting it was in Gulf War ’91, and his book on Vietnam, which was excellent.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'This delightful anti-government mulishness has made Durov—who is a dual citizen of France and the United Arab Emirates—more than a few enemies: the governments of China, Iran, Myanmar, and Durov's native Russia, for example (where it is used to counter the force of mainstream propaganda about Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine). Now, apparently, France.'

Durov must be doing something right.

And attention cosplay libertarians, aka Reason staff writers, unless you pretend to hold at least some ideals contrary to establishment government policy, we can see you.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'In Japan, per 2010 data, an estimated 884 people were older than 150. Only one issue: That wasn't true, their names were merely being used by others to collect pension checks in a massive, messy, wide-reaching fraud.'

But do they vote?

[Eeyore]

Didn't they also have a 150% covid vaccination rate?

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Also 150 percent voter turnout in Wayne County Michigan in 2020. Some were probably over 150 years old.

[Dillinger]

only in San Francisco.

[JFree]

"Why don't we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?

Because they know how to Stayin Alive

[Mother's Lament]

'I Want to Break Free' (Queen) Performed by North Korea

[Dillinger]

>>Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster,

were you even out of college the last time anyone said this guy's name?

[Dillinger]

>>policymakers are having a hard time convincing many in their 20s and 30s that parenthood is a better investment than stylish clothes or fancy restaurants

release a mysterious flu virus & shut down the restaurants & malls. baby. boom.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Also free beer.

[Dillinger]

lol I wanted to make a Korean beer joke but I can't think of one

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

It tastes so bad not even sarc would pound it?

[Ajsloss]

release a mysterious flu virus & shut down the restaurants & malls. baby. boom.

I was expecting a boom in teenage pregnancy when the schools were closed, but parents had to go back to work. That didn't seem to happen.

[Dillinger]

idk what Korean chicks think about their guys but here the lockdowns were hardest in the areas full of beta males and the chicks who dom them ... so no baby boom like there should have been

[Dillinger]

>>Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene asked why "we're fighting a war in Ukraine, and we're not bombing the Mexican cartels."

she's a hoot. and what would it take, one, two bombs max on some cacti in the northern Mexican desert & everything halts lol

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

It's not like she would care about the "collateral damage" anyway.

[Dillinger]

>>Telegram founder taken into custody

closer to the top today ... in bold ... lacking 48pt. allcaps and exclamation points however ... but thank you overall

[Dillinger]

haven't seen any pieces here on it yet so I'm assuming the entire staff's assistants missed RFK, Jr. pouring out fakebook censorship to Tucker ... several hours before chirons everywhere mentioned Zuck admitting the B-H Administration pressured fakebook to censor users

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Reason has yet to notice that H. Biden, by documents released by his dad's 'handlers', proved that he was, while being paid by Burisma, pressuring US gov't officials for favors to help them.
Too local.

[Dillinger]

those fara applications are difficult.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Made up law. Next you'll say they used it to after a former general. Totally (D)ifferent

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

And a former POTUS.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Never happened. The impeachment were legitimate. -jeffsarcsullum

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Sullum says that the troubled Hunter is the victim of Joe's lawfare. Seems logical to me.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

How stupid must you be to work for a government?

"In Japan, per 2010 data, an estimated 884 people were older than 150. Only one issue: That wasn't true, their names were merely being used by others to collect pension checks in a massive, messy, wide-reaching fraud."

Stupid enough not to question anyone claiming to be 150 years old; that stupid!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It speaks to the level of ennui in a bureaucracy that no one even thought to question sending checks to hundreds of 150-year-old people.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Even *ONE* should have been a red flag!

[Dillinger]

>>Children under the age of 17 are 10% of the population of Manhattan south of 59th St.

how sad any children live there a much preferable Manhattan for children to live in is in Kansas.

[rbike]

Send them illegals.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

It's reported that a lot of illegals who claim to be children are actually over thirty. Not sure how many live in Manhattan. But somehow the lawns are getting mowed.

[Dillinger]

>>A federal judge in Texas

fucking love these guys.

[Dillinger]

>>NASA has grown increasingly reliant on help from SpaceX

does O know about this? I think he wanted NASA to become a Mathnasium franchise or something iirc

[mad.casual]

Relatedly, are “blue zones” fake?

Once again, yes. Dan Buettner is living proof that utter morons can survive and thrive purely on hype. In the first episode of his Netflix special, he gushes over the culture in Okinawa talking about how the people who live to be 100+ there have lived there practicing their life and culture for centuries, ignoring the fact that, within living memory (barely), the place was the site of the bloodiest battle of the Pacific where some 150k civilians, nearly a quarter of the population, lost their lives and that many/most of the people there now weren’t there then.

I couldn’t/didn’t watch any further from there. Don't quit riding your bike, Dan.

[Moderation4ever]

H.R. McMaster's book is just another tell all, but what gives it creditability is that it matches so well what we know of Trump. We know that he is a sucker for people who flatter him. His staff learned this as did world leaders, good and bad. We also know that he has the intellectual capacity of a child. He is like the guy telling you that we could get rid of gas if we just put a windmill generator on the top of an electric care. He doesn't seem to understand the difference between the possible and the impossible.

[Dillinger]

creditability is all any of us can ask for in this crazy mixed up world.

[Rick James]

He is like the guy telling you that we could get rid of gas if we just put a windmill generator on the top of an electric care.

You know who else thinks we can get rid of gas if we just throw a wind generator on everything?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Leakin' Joe!

[ducksalad]

People who respect the man and like his writing but aren't sure if the Trump quote is correct, think the book has creditability.

People who have mixed feelings about his career and don't care for the book, but believe the Trump quote, think the book has credibility.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

He doesn’t seem to understand the difference between the possible and the impossible.

Fuckin' LOL at you arguing with the caricature in your head.

[Moderation4ever]

Really? Trump the guy that suggesting injecting bleach and shooting protestors in the legs. Thought he could redraw hurricane maps with a Sharpee. Thought windmills caused cancer. Suggested 70% of Americans are in poverty and that the immigrants are all from prison and mental asylums. I don't think his grip on reality is as tight as you might think.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Trump the guy that suggesting injecting bleach and shooting protestors in the legs.

LOL, stop.

Thought he could redraw hurricane maps with a Sharpee.

LOL, stop.

Suggested 70% of Americans are in poverty and that the immigrants are all from prison and mental asylums.

LOL, stop.

I don’t think his grip on reality is as tight as you might think.

What some Madison Wisconsin shitlib thinks isn't really relevant.

[VinniUSMC (Banana Republic Day 5/30/24)]

M4e isn't concerned with primary sources or facts. Just what the BlueAnon DNC tells him to think.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

You forgot the magnets. How could you forget the magnets!

[Rick James]

Trump has near-magical abilities to get other members of his party to accept something previously regarded as absurd.

Like a definition of what a woman is?

[Rick James]

“A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked on Monday a Biden administration program that could offer a path to citizenship for up to half a million undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens

Do all these undocumented-but-married-to-US-Citizens live in a blue zone?

[Gaear Grimsrud]

So Kamala now supports a wall on the Mexican border. No really. How will the Koch/Reason editors react after screeching about the Trump wall for eight years? Where does McMasters stand on the wall? Or Chase or WAPO or the NYT? Who will take the Koch Industries jobs that Americans don't want to do? Is Orangeman as bad as Tangirl? Or still worse? So many questions. So little time.

[Longtobefree]

I have forgotten; are we at war with Eastasia or Eurasia?

[Jefferson Paul]

Elect Kamala and we'll be at war with both.

[Moonrocks]

I expect a couple of The Libertarian Case For Border Walls articles in the coming weeks.

[Super Scary]

Oh lord, I can feel it. The facts! They're changing!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

So Kamala now supports a wall on the Mexican border.

LOL, does anyone who isn’t a complete dumbass or a willfully obtuse Dispatch cuck really believe this?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...Trump has near-magical abilities to get other members of his party to accept something previously regarded as absurd..."

Not nearly as magical as the TDS-addled bullshit you spout, Liz.
FOAD, asshole.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Wasn't Liz one of this comments section's "heroes" just a few months ago?

[Ghatanathoah]

I'm a parent. I eat out a lot and spend more on clothes than a lot of people my age. These South Koreans just aren't trying hard enough.

[MJBinAL]

McMaster was a Deep-Stater who was placed on Trump to keep him from upsetting the Deep State apple cart. He is still a Deep-Stater and just keeping up his job by trashing Trump now.

The deep state OWNS Kamala and they fear a second term of Trump. Trump will probably use Tusli Gabbard and RFK to help root the Deep-Staters out. THIS is what they fear.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

RFK Jr. "strikes fear" into a very select group of people.

[Uomo Del Ghiaccio]

Just because a person says something it does not mean that they advocate it. For some reason jokes and sarcasm become goals when the Trump-deranged morons comment. Personally I don't even like Trump, but the Trump-deranged morons are so far removed from reality it is ridiculous. Never in my lifetime have I seen such a distortion of what a politician has said and much of it is extremely obvious that his words are being twisted. The more it occurs, the more it makes me wonder just why Trump is such a threat to the ruling elitists. It is becoming obvious that it's not Trump himself, but rather their lack of control over Trump.

[Commenter_XY]

That is a really good way to phrase it = It is becoming obvious that it’s not Trump himself, but rather their lack of control over Trump.

[charliehall]

"Just because a person says something it does not mean that they advocate it"
Thank you for acknowledging that Trump lies about absolutely everything and that you have absolutely no clue what he is going to do if he wins in November.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Seems like you missed the point. The comment was about jokes and sarcasm. Anyway I've had enough of your shit and I've reserved a gray box with your name on it! Off you go little fella.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Yes, everything embarrassing he says becomes "jokes and sarcasm" eventually.

[charliehall]

"Trump is such a threat to the ruling elitists"

Trump IS a ruling elitist. Always has been. And his greatest accomplishment is that he has conned people into thinking otherwise.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Trump IS a ruling elitist. Always has been.

Yeah, and their kind doesn't like apostates, as we've seen in full flower the last decade. Thanks for confirming that, you useless sack of rocks.

[Vernon Depner]

"Trump IS a ruling elitist. Always has been."

The why are the ruling elitists trying to kill him?

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Thomas Crooks was a (secret) member of Seal Team 6…

[charliehall]

Nothing quite so stupid as starting a war with a country that has forty million of it's citizens in your own country.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Dunno. Whatever you're doing is bound to be more stupid than that; you can't help it.
FOAD, asshole.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

There’s 40 million cartel members in this country?

Thanks for acknowledging the seriousness of the problem, chuck. Mass deportations are clearly appropriate.

Haha. What a dumbass.

[Wally]

He's a piece of shit. His only comment on the Afghanistan withdrawal was to blame Trump.