Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Robert Roaldi]

I read a piece online this week (sorry I don't have the link but the topic is easy to search for) about how one of the reasons that Trump would love to win the next election is so he can escape prosecution. There seems to be more than one way that can happen, that is, he may escape sanction by virtue of being president or that as president he may have the power to replace prosecutors with more friendly ones who would be open to dropping the cases by virtue of prosecutorial judgement.

This was reported as a matter of fact. My point is why doesn't there appear to be more outrage with this?  Such banana republic tactics should not be okay, should they? Why aren't people livid with fury.

Also, Trump is threatening people in the judiciary with retaliation in public statements. And he's not behind bars for saying those things. Is this for f**king real? Is this what people think is "free speech" now? It's sickening to watch.

[digitaldog]

I read a piece online this week (sorry I don't have the link but the topic is easy to search for) about how one of the reasons that Trump would love to win the next election is so he can escape prosecution.

He could perhaps pardon himself from the federal cases (that's debatable and the supreme court would have to weigh in). But he can't pardon himself from the state prosecution. 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-a-president-pardon-himself/
The irony is, if another Republican wins the white house, they could pardon him and some have said they would do so. But the state cases are still a huge threat to him and it seems likely next week, Trump could be indicted in Georgia.

[PeterAit]

I do not think it should be possible to pardon someone before their trial (Nixon). Pardon them from what? They have not been found guilty yet, and holding the trial might well bring to light information that the public should know.

[Robert Roaldi]

Funniest headline to emerge in US election so far, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4159679-ramaswamy-suggests-he-would-run-government-like-elon-musk/.

[marvpelkey]

I read the linked story as well as the link within that which describes the "Twitter Files". Actually read them over a couple times to try and understand what they really meant. Still confused as to not only Musk's intentions but Ramaswamy's as well. Like what the heck does "similarly release state action files" even mean.

I think the social and political environments have gone over the edge and it has become a schizophrenic free for all, where politicians are just looking for something to grab the spotlight, without giving much thought to the consequences. The crazier the better. Ramaswamy is an example of a guy who initially seemed reasonably balanced with some credible comments. Now he's just playing up to Musk because he believes Musk/X will help his ambitions. I suppose it might be funny, if it was not so sad.

[Robert Roaldi]

This might have been better placed in a humour thread. It's about Pillow Man Mike Lindell's plan to avoid election fraud in the upcoming US elections. It involves lots of drones https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/wi-fi-sniffers-strapped-to-drones-mike-lindells-odd-plan-to-stop-election-fraud/.

[marvpelkey]

Has there always been this many strange people floating around and the current speed and availability of social media just allows them a bigger more far reaching platform....or is there something new in the water that is twisting people?

And on another note, a recent poll shows the number of Trump voters who trust the word of Trump more than family members and friends, conservative media personalities and religious leaders. If I recall - 71% Trump, 65-ish family, 55-ish conservative media and religious leaders at 42%. Not really surprised at religious and media leaders but family/friends was a bit interesting. Can you spell cult?

[Robert Roaldi]

Just came across this survey of people's beliefs about health, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4162874-a-third-of-adults-believe-covid-19-vaccines-caused-thousands-of-sudden-deaths-poll/.

There may be other such surveys and studies out there, I don't really know. Wouldn't it be funny if at some point after many of these have been published, that someone comes along to do a meta-analysis of all the studies and conclusively proves that a sucker is, in fact, born every minute.

[marvpelkey]

That survey is just another indicator that people are losing (or maybe never had) their ability/desire for critical thinking.

They live in a comfortable rut where they obtain information from the same old sources, associate with like thinkers and are just not interested in contrary sources that challenge their view of life.

And those in positions of influence take advantage of this.

Shame on the shepherd and double shame on the sheep.

[Robert Roaldi]

I didn't watch any of the Vice-Presidential hopeful debate last night (hah hah), those TV shit shows are usually too stupid to stomach. But I did see that Trump opted to be interviewed by that Tucker Carlson guy rather than appear on the GOP leader debate. I don't get that. Tucker is on record as hating Trump, but he might want the Donald on his show for ratings reasons. My understanding is that Carlson is hurting in that area. What I don't get is why Trump would want to be on that show, so is any publicity good publicity from his point of view? I read an article that at one point Tucker asked Trump if he thought his enemies might want to kill him. I read it twice to be certain. What?!?

[digitaldog]

But I did see that Trump opted to be interviewed by that Tucker Carlson guy rather than appear on the GOP leader debate. I don't get that.

It's a FU to Fox for one.
Why should he go to a debate and potentially make more of a fool of himself when he is so far ahead of anyone else? The risk to benefit wasn't there.
Lots of people are on record as hating Trump but Trump seems to make lemonade out of those lemons, all to his benefit. The guy is a crook, a bigot, a massive liar, and a con man but when it comes to his branding, he's not stupid. 

[Robert Roaldi]

It's a FU to Fox for one.
Why should he go to a debate and potentially make more of a fool of himself when he is so far ahead of anyone else? The risk to benefit wasn't there.
Lots of people are on record as hating Trump but Trump seems to make lemonade out of those lemons, all to his benefit. The guy is a crook, a bigot, a massive liar, and a con man but when it comes to his branding, he's not stupid.

Makes a lot of sense, nothing to gain by appearing. It's a nutty situation. The best leader that the GOP can come up is a multiply indicted loud-mouth who pleaded the 5th on a tax thing and who did not really do much in his first term in office except rabble-rouse and lower taxes for rich people. He set a pretty low bar for leadership and they still can't find better. And it doesn't say much for the other side that the GOP are still in the running at all.

These all seem to be self-inflicted wounds too.

[Robert Roaldi]

Here's a podcast interview discussing the influence that Elon Musk has on foreign affairs, especially wrt Ukraine and Russia. At one point, the interviewee called the Pentagon to ask some questions and the person on the other end said that the answers had to be cleared through Musk. The interviewee briefly talks about Musk's drug taking as well. Should private citizens be so involved in matters of state?

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/21/1195022503/ronan-farrow-on-elon-musks-influence-in-ukraine

[marvpelkey]

I think the problem many (self included) who post to this thread are having, with comments which question the current state in America (and in other parts of the world) and the seeming lunacy that's permeating every facet, politics in particular, is we are used to looking at things with relative logic and reasonableness.

The new state of affairs, however, is flipping the way we traditionally viewed things on its head, much because the "fringers" are now taking over and it's hard to rationally understand up when the whole lot are calling it down.

Like as has happened repeatedly through the generations, I would call it just getting old, but many of the nut-bars are the same age or older than I am.

[Robert Roaldi]

A physicist explains capitalism using simple words https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRPHp2EjNR8.

[Robert Roaldi]

A physicist explains how to properly "do your own research" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD6hS8WV3ic&t=75s.

[Robert Roaldi]

Airline monopoly is good because of economies of scale ?!?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTzaMXXelew.

That's why it's so much fun to fly these days.

[Robert Roaldi]

Well what do you know, it's not just woke tribes who are trying to influence children. This is an occasionally goofy video about Big Oil "influencing" children in schools, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pNRuafoyZ4 in the usual subtle ways.

I didn't post this because I'm outraged that they do this, which is not at all surprising or even new. I remember my Catholic grammar school catechism preaching against unions in the early 1960s. I post this only to show that we are so deep in bullshit we don't even smell it anymore. Also, I love watching snippets of apoplectic parents losing it at public meetings.

[Robert Roaldi]

Private partisan schooling, the future of education, https://time.com/6301287/florida-prageru-education-schools/. But hey, it's not "woke"!

[Robert Roaldi]

A short article about a paediatrician's problems with anti-science, https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/peter-hotez-vaccinations-anti-science-1.6963049. The article contains concepts that are not new in any way, just another take on it. But what circle of hell are we living in where this guy needs police protection?

Somewhat related is this BBC podcast about people who deny the existence of germs, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5d94.