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Donald Trump indicted (again), the 1000% apolitical news thread (again)


Beau Vine

Is Donald Trump being indicted for espionage (among other things) a relevant Current Events topic?  

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  1. 1. Is Donald Trump being indicted for espionage (among other things) a relevant Current Events topic?

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  • Poll closed on 06/17/23 at 06:51 PM

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19 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

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This is actually an important thing to watch, as a potential barometer for the mindset of the MAGAts.

How many people actually show up?

What do they do when they show up?  Is it just rando nutbars yelling about lizard people and the deep state, or is it a real rally?

Do any of them attempt real violence (something more than losing their temper and throwing a punch at a counter-protestor)?

 

A low-attendance, low-energy event could be seen as a positive.  OR, it could be seen as a negative, in that his support has now morphed into more "normal" political support: "I won't go out and march for the dude, or swear my life to him, I'll just be a voter, and show up and vote for him every chance I get."

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22 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

SAD!

this but unironically

Yeah, I mean.....the El Paso Wal-Mart shooter, Tree of Life shooter, dude who murdered the shop owner over her pride flag last week, and every Jan 6th insurrectionist out front shoulda told you.  We are already in a low-intensity civil war.  The bad guys are already launching regular violent attacks.

We should shoot more of them.  That's what you do in a civil war: you shoot the bad guys when they attack.

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1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, I mean.....the El Paso Wal-Mart shooter, Tree of Life shooter, dude who murdered the shop owner over her pride flag last week, and every Jan 6th insurrectionist out front shoulda told you.  We are already in a low-intensity civil war.  The bad guys are already launching regular violent attacks.

We should shoot more of them.  That's what you do in a civil war: you shoot the bad guys when they attack.

Oh, my sweet summer child.  You can shoot all you want.  But it's supporters of Christie, DeSantis, Vivek, Pence, Haley, and Hutchison.  They're the ones all working in league to persecute Donald Trump.  They're behind the 2020 election fraud, the four indictments, the witch hunts.  When these supporters show up at primary events, debates, or candidate-specific fundraisers...patriots are to report there and open fire to take back the country.  These other candidates, and their staffs and donors and supporters and voters are working with Antifa, BLM, the Democrats, and the Deep State. 

A gun makes a person feel powerful.  Fooling people into murdering their own kind?  That's like an AR-15 made of uncut heroin, that's a tough high to kick.  

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1 hour ago, Gatorubet said:

So how does the defense cross examine the flipper without having the witness waive attorney-client confidentiality and say that the Trump-funded lawyer told me to lie?

Easily. The crime-fraud exception means such a communication would not be privileged. 

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The privilege is the Flipper's. It's his tondo with what he wants.

Same way you can have spousal but one spouse can blab.

Source: I learned about this shit as a 1L like 2 decades ago and for the bar like 15 years ago. Obvi I know it cold.

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On 8/15/2023 at 10:39 PM, Texas St. Armadillos said:

Roman history was not kind to 46s type.  

The best thing for this world would be for some MAGA type to take him out and then let the mob Mussolini that guy’s ass. 

He’s gonna be the GOP nominee and he’s going to make me vote for a senile Democrat. 

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2 hours ago, Porterhouse said:

The best thing for this world would be for some MAGA type to take him out and then let the mob Mussolini that guy’s ass. 

He’s gonna be the GOP nominee and he’s going to make me vote for a senile Democrat. 

I mean, whatever it takes. 

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2 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Too bad Chris Farley isn’t with us any more…. he would’ve been great as Trump in the movie.

Respectfully disagree, Farley couldn’t help but come across as lovable no matter the darkness of the role.  Like John Candy before him.  
 

but yes; there will be a dozen feature films and streaming series about what transpires in the next 15 mos. With this guy.  Casting directors will be battling for supremacy.  
 

also no politics, but the 6-3/215 thing was red meat thrown to his base so that as jokes are made about it, they can say ‘he claimed that so you’d focus on that instead of the real injustices here today in this country.’  Pretty decent chess move except for the pending trial that kinda negates it.  

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3 hours ago, Porterhouse said:

The best thing for this world would be for some MAGA type to take him out and then let the mob Mussolini that guy’s ass. 

He’s gonna be the GOP nominee and he’s going to make me vote for a senile Democrat. 

 

3 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Too bad Chris Farley isn’t with us any more…. he would’ve been great as Trump in the movie.

Funny since you both helped get us here in the first place.

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4 hours ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

this is definitely a new low for the country.  a goddammed mugshot.

Maybe if Ford hadn’t pardoned Nixon and instead allowed him to be prosecuted for his crimes, it would have served as a warning for future presidents and we wouldn’t be in this mess today. 

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1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

I mean, I'd say it's actually a high, at least for the past 8 years.  It's a good thing we are attempting to hold him accountable.

This.  If there are no consequences for trying to coerce the GA Secretary of State to find non-existent votes, no consequences for the attempt to put the election in the hands of bogus electors, no consequences for the January 6th attempt to overturn the election through violence, then those tactics all become the new political norm in this country.

A civilized society has to draw the line somewhere with those who would use any means necessary to rule over it.  If it doesn’t, it would collapse and be replaced by chaos and the rule of force by those without moral qualms.  I am glad that line is finally being drawn.

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3 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Maybe if Ford hadn’t pardoned Nixon and instead allowed him to be prosecuted for his crimes, it would have served as a warning for future presidents and we wouldn’t be in this mess today. 

I see your point.  But our prize mistake of lack of imagination once again got in the way.  I really don't think in a thousand years had Nixon been prosecuted, would that have dissuaded this man from what he is accused to doing.  A prosecution of Nixon would certainly have served as a legal model for what is happening now, but these accused crimes still would have occurred.  We can also further Monday Morning QB it by gaming out, what does a Nixon trial look like if he's still President when it occurs versus waiting until he is out of office.  And the other wild card is Nixon would have been unable to play the "Political Witch Hunt because I'm running for office!", since he would have been termed out anyway.  

There are a lot of tools embedded in our Republic that allow for future generations to sustain our Rule of Law, our Fair & Free Elections, our Consent of the People, etc.  But there was some shit they just couldn't see coming.  Whatever happens with Nixon, we could go back in time and ask them, "But what if a future President attempts to interfere in another election?"  They reply, "You mean like using intermediaries to encourage some state secretary to call for a recount or other proper channels?"  And then we have to say, "No.  More like this future President personally (and perfectly) calling said state secretary to demand he produce the exact same number of votes that President lost that state by, plus one."  Then the 1974 leaders would say, "Okay, now we know you're not time travelers...you're just fucking insane.  No way that would ever happen, we're gonna proceed as planned."  

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Respectfully disagree, Farley couldn’t help but come across as lovable no matter the darkness of the role.  Like John Candy before him.  
 
but yes; there will be a dozen feature films and streaming series about what transpires in the next 15 mos. With this guy.  Casting directors will be battling for supremacy.  
 
also no politics, but the 6-3/215 thing was red meat thrown to his base so that as jokes are made about it, they can say ‘he claimed that so you’d focus on that instead of the real injustices here today in this country.’  Pretty decent chess move except for the pending trial that kinda negates it.  

Lying is like breathing to that guy. His only chess move is playing checkers.

6’3 215?

He’s 6’0 260 lb, / 6’2 with lifts
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5 hours ago, Porterhouse said:

Oh no I didn’t. In either election. Fuck you very much. 

 

3 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Funny how those folks make stereotypical suppositions.
But that’s how the CR crowd works.

I mean, abstaining from voting AGAINST a fascist is absolutely helping that fascist's cause. Those fuckers THRIVE on the dynamic of making politics so icky that genteel-presenting folks have a good reason to turn a blind eye to how bad things are getting, and cheer on the status quo instead. A status quo that got us in this mess with the fascists in the first place.

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I think it feel like a new low to me because it represents the next stage in my grief.

denial, -- literally me the night of the 2016 election.  I remember thinking, wait, what?  The election produced a mistake, sort of like a 404 error.  Who do I need to call to get this bug fixed.

anger, - 2016-2020.

bargaining - maybe my time in the US is over?

depression - current.  I grew up thinking about Jefferson and Lincoln and Patton and Sam Houston.  It's not that country at all.  It's just a bunch of dudes in mugshots.

acceptance

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4 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Which is he?  Senile or master criminal mind?  Why can you all never decide?

I don’t know Biff, I’m not an astronaut. He’s definitely slowing down and not all there and I don’t like him at all. But that 315 pound fucktard is the worst thing to happen to America since 9/11 and the most embarrassing political figure ever. So why don’t you refrain from lumping me in with “you all”. 

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1 hour ago, Captainant said:

 

I mean, abstaining from voting AGAINST a fascist is absolutely helping that fascist's cause. Those fuckers THRIVE on the dynamic of making politics so icky that genteel-presenting folks have a good reason to turn a blind eye to how bad things are getting, and cheer on the status quo instead. A status quo that got us in this mess with the fascists in the first place.

I don’t recall anyone soliciting Captain Dipshit’s opinion. Why don’t you re-visit the two threads where I teabagged you?  

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what do you mean by "you all people"

 

as this is the non-political news thread, for folks who have a difficult time keeping up with the news has there been any indication of when one of the trials could get underway? Quick google indicates that one of the Trump codefendants in the Georgia one just got a date set for Oct 23 - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-trial-date-fulton-county-georgia-fani-willis-proposal-october-23/ - is it at all likely that Trump's trial will start on a similar timeline?

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Surly has become a modern-day Pauline Kael.  The NYC film critic who famously said, "I can't believe Nixon won.  I only know one person who voted for him" to an audience of coastal elites in the art space.  Even though Nixon clearly won that election, even without the Watergate intel acquisitions.  

I don't know how Trump won in 2016 and narrowly lost in 2020 when I only know one Surly person/real life friend or family member who voted for him.  Several people on Surly and hundreds of folks I know in real life have suddenly declared either "I voted for him in 2016, but not in 2020" or "I never voted for him either time."  How convenient.  Given the demography of this site-mainly in Texas, mainly male, mainly 35-75, mainly white/hispanic...stands to statistical reason that of those that voted, at least 45% broke for Trump if not more.  Yet somehow, there's not a single Trump 2020 voter on here and none that intends to vote for him in 2024.    

People in Texas do understand that your primary vote is public record?  And while I often vote for somebody different in the general, it's because my primary pick didn't get their nomination.  I'm having a hard time believing this many smart people in my orbit voted for Trump twice in primaries but didn't vote for him in either general.  Never mind the record of donations to him.  I guess we're the special statistical outlier we pride ourselves on being.  Nobody's asking for you to post your voting record on here, but pretending we all took some moral high ground in 2016, 2020, and will lie about again in 2024.  Even for our depraved site, that's beneath us.  Totally fine to stay silent on the matter and none of our business, but quit the half-assed "Oh heavens know, I wouldn't vote for him and only know one person who did" charade.  If you're gonna post on the topic, own your shit. 

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22 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

what do you mean by "you all people"

 

as this is the non-political news thread, for folks who have a difficult time keeping up with the news has there been any indication of when one of the trials could get underway? Quick google indicates that one of the Trump codefendants in the Georgia one just got a date set for Oct 23 - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-trial-date-fulton-county-georgia-fani-willis-proposal-october-23/ - is it at all likely that Trump's trial will start on a similar timeline?

yes and no . 1 of the conspirators pushed for a speedy trial hence oct.  a few are filing to move to a fed court  trump plans to delay and obfuscate and hope to win election . 

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23 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Surly has become a modern-day Pauline Kael.  The NYC film critic who famously said, "I can't believe Nixon won.  I only know one person who voted for him" to an audience of coastal elites in the art space.  Even though Nixon clearly won that election, even without the Watergate intel acquisitions.  

I don't know how Trump won in 2016 and narrowly lost in 2020 when I only know one Surly person/real life friend or family member who voted for him.  Several people on Surly and hundreds of folks I know in real life have suddenly declared either "I voted for him in 2016, but not in 2020" or "I never voted for him either time."  How convenient.  Given the demography of this site-mainly in Texas, mainly male, mainly 35-75, mainly white/hispanic...stands to statistical reason that of those that voted, at least 45% broke for Trump if not more.  Yet somehow, there's not a single Trump 2020 voter on here and none that intends to vote for him in 2024.    

People in Texas do understand that your primary vote is public record?  And while I often vote for somebody different in the general, it's because my primary pick didn't get their nomination.  I'm having a hard time believing this many smart people in my orbit voted for Trump twice in primaries but didn't vote for him in either general.  Never mind the record of donations to him.  I guess we're the special statistical outlier we pride ourselves on being.  Nobody's asking for you to post your voting record on here, but pretending we all took some moral high ground in 2016, 2020, and will lie about again in 2024.  Even for our depraved site, that's beneath us.  Totally fine to stay silent on the matter and none of our business, but quit the half-assed "Oh heavens know, I wouldn't vote for him and only know one person who did" charade.  If you're gonna post on the topic, own your shit. 

I think there are a lot of people who have internalized the values of the world's fattest 6'3" 215 pounder and are simply dishonest as part of who they are. Much bigger category of people can't deal with the cognitive dissonance between what they believe to be true about their moral selves and their own role in creating Trump and what that has done to America. If you can clutch your pearls and latch on to indignation that people might somehow connect Trump to stalwart members of the party that he leads, you can avoid thinking about that altogether. You can even describe yourself as independent to sever that connection in your head while making no other changes at all.

you could read the above and also latch on to something something "holier than thou" as one other subconscious tactic to avoid dealing with your own internal inconsistencies. the fact is that people of every kind do stupid things and act against what they know to be right and make unfortunate choices, etc etc etc. that is a part of being human that is consistent for everyone. part of being wise is remaining open to your own failures and revising your views and even values as you learn more

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Good points, all.  It's hard for one to admit they played a small role in all this.  It's hard for one to admit they've been duped.  It's human nature to not want to confront it, or even lie about it.  We all do it, at least weekly if not daily, but for infinitely more innocuous outcomes.  

It's the other group I'm fascinated with.  Power, relevance, validation, a "seat at the table" for so many disconcerted people.  That's a powerful high to acknowledge, let alone kick.  Coming down off a binge of heroin or meth or gin or opioids or sex or whatever...is tough.  And the first inclination is very often to to even more of it the next time around to take the edge off.  But that next crash is even harsher.  And if you were to game that cycle out long enough, the end result is that mugshot.  That is the visual embodiment of "the ride is over, make personal changes or perish."  Millions will still choose to chase the high as is their right.  And like a downtrodden heroin addict mugging people for cash to catch the next fix, there is no reasoning with them.  January 6th was our rock bottom, that mugshot is us sneaking out of rehab to rob a pharmacy not caring if we make it out alive.  

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4 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

It's hard for one to admit they played a small role in all this.  It's hard for one to admit they've been duped.  It's human nature to not want to confront it, or even lie about it. 

It sucks to do those things....but if you are to have any integrity at all, it's not hard to do them.

I've admitted it repeatedly on this site: I was a largely Republican voter for a long-ass time.  I even believed in foundational Republican ideas, like "trickle down economics."  But once I realized -- based on continuing to keep my eyes open, and objectively viewing actual facts (like the party shifting to one of "birtherism" and such bullshittery, and the fact that we tried trickle-down multiple times, and it never actually worked) -- that the party was shit, and it offered shit, I bailed.  But I can't run away from the fact that I was wrong and foolish for much longer than a grown-ass man should be. 

And the only thing dumber than Brisketexan believing the stupid shit he once believed would be for Brisketexan to CONTINUE to believe such stupid shit once the evidence to the contrary pounded him over the head.  I don't understand why people continue to insist on doubling down on their stupidity.  Maybe you thought it would be a cool idea to light the room on fire, it would look awesome.  But once the room is blazing, the only sane and rational path is to go "holy fuck!  This was a terrible idea!  Give me a fire extinguisher now!"  Instead, we are the Republic of

this-is.gif

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I voted for him twice and I know others on here did as well. It was fairly easy to rationalize in November, but it became almost impossible during the next few months. I’ll never vote for a democrat, so if he’s our nominee I suppose I’ll have to write myself in. 

 

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Biff-I use a proprietary search tool from Ragnar which pulls from a few sources.  I'd post the link but it belongs to a friend who probably would sue me.  They've also got a half-dozen ways to scrub candidate/PAC donations.  There's ways to obfuscate those records for really big donors but those folks are usually publicly proud of their donations.  And people giving $50 aren't gonna also pay a service $10 to hide the info.  It's the $5,000-$50,000 donors that pay to hide.  

You can back out the process with this service from the AG office (ironic), but less than 1% of Texans bother to use it:  https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/vote-texas/hiding-information-on-public-voting-records/269-c185e86d-0d87-4600-81a1-61051a76d54b

 To Poe's point (and kudos on owning it), I never imagined voting for a Democrat for President in 100 years.  I did it lotsa times for Congressional races, State House, local stuff, etc.  But, and we're getting really political now obviously, I had to come down off my "Libertarian" high horse in 2018/19, and get the fuck over it all.  Harry Browne, Michael Bednarik, and Gary Johnson.  Yeah, all fun and games and I get to pat myself on the back for sticking to my principles.  I even went from Capitol Steps/Shaggy CR pos rep receiving machine in the 2000s/early 2010's for bagging on Democratic politicians.  And after I cast my vote for Johnson in 2016, I just hung back and left it all alone.  Even stopped bundling and lobbying in real life for all of 2017 and 2018.  And didn't post jackshit about politics, thought this whole thing would burn itself out and I could get back to politics as usual.  And then I realized what he was actually offering people.  You don't always see an addict right away, it took me 2-2.5 years to notice the change in behavior in people I know.  Not the Mueller report, barely even the first Impeachment.  It was watching and hearing people we know and love, what you will exchange in order to get your fix of that high. Like most people who enable addicts, I didn't choose to accept what I saw.  So I had to bundle and vote for Joe Biden.  Not because I wanted to, but to help save my country from a serious relapse.  

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46 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Surly has become a modern-day Pauline Kael.  The NYC film critic who famously said, "I can't believe Nixon won.  I only know one person who voted for him" to an audience of coastal elites in the art space.  Even though Nixon clearly won that election, even without the Watergate intel acquisitions.  

I don't know how Trump won in 2016 and narrowly lost in 2020 when I only know one Surly person/real life friend or family member who voted for him.  Several people on Surly and hundreds of folks I know in real life have suddenly declared either "I voted for him in 2016, but not in 2020" or "I never voted for him either time."  How convenient.  Given the demography of this site-mainly in Texas, mainly male, mainly 35-75, mainly white/hispanic...stands to statistical reason that of those that voted, at least 45% broke for Trump if not more.  Yet somehow, there's not a single Trump 2020 voter on here and none that intends to vote for him in 2024.    

People in Texas do understand that your primary vote is public record?  And while I often vote for somebody different in the general, it's because my primary pick didn't get their nomination.  I'm having a hard time believing this many smart people in my orbit voted for Trump twice in primaries but didn't vote for him in either general.  Never mind the record of donations to him.  I guess we're the special statistical outlier we pride ourselves on being.  Nobody's asking for you to post your voting record on here, but pretending we all took some moral high ground in 2016, 2020, and will lie about again in 2024.  Even for our depraved site, that's beneath us.  Totally fine to stay silent on the matter and none of our business, but quit the half-assed "Oh heavens know, I wouldn't vote for him and only know one person who did" charade.  If you're gonna post on the topic, own your shit. 

This sounds an awful lot like a case of "He who smelt it, dealt it."

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