The Match Cut 2017 Political Thread (or: The Lord of the Leaks: The Trump Towers)

[Irish]

Yes to a degree, but look at the disparity between reaction to the current bout of sexual wrong doing. Left leaners are immediately ostracized by the left, while the right rally behind Ray Moore without question and sometimes increase support just...because.

Yeah, I gotta quibble about that. On one side, the GOP is running away as fast as they can (you can't do worse than being denounced by Mitch McConnell and Ivanka Trump.) On the other, it wasn't so long ago that the DNC---and the media---happily threw Anita Hill, Paula Jones, and Monica Lewinsky under the bus. Last week I saw a WaPo op-ed that argued Franken should stay in office because "ultimately, it'll be better for women."

I mean, I sympathize with your quandary---but I also think Thanksgiving-style arguments aren't representative of larger viewpoints. (And you'll never be able to argue lifelong-anythings (right or left) out of their position, so why bother trying? Let em stew in their own weird bullshit.)

[Skitch]

(And you'll never be able to argue lifelong-anythings (right or left) out of their position, so why bother trying? Let em stew in their own weird bullshit.)

Its not about trying. Its about it being slammed in your face and shoved down your throat until you can no longer keep it bottled up inside and you have to scream to the point of destroying relationships. Theres only so much passive aggressive political comments you can take until it crosses a line and you have to take a stand. Its not about talking them out of their positions. Its about declaring that you are not standing with theirs.

Everybody likes to act like they wouldve known better and wouldve punched Nazis in the face in Germany in WWII, but that is much harder said than done, especially when you are surrounded. Its a hard line between standing up and getting shunned and being silent resistance. (not that my family is true alt-right/nazi, theyre not that far gone)

[MadMan]

Al Franken needs to resign. So does Trump.

[Irish]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...rocess-n823991

Nancy Pelosi hedges on whether John Conyers is a scumbag. Oh what a shocker. I'm shocked. This is my shocked face. :/

[Dead & Messed Up]

They don't believe anything until they've read an op/ed in the NYT or WaPo that reflects their own values.

This is ironic in light of the outrage this weekend over the NYT's article about a Midwestern Nazi that many felt was normalizing instead of incisive.

[Irish]

Not sure what you mean, DaMU? The Nazi profile wasn't an op-ed.

The beauty of the piece is that allows the reader to be outraged and smug at the same time. Like WaPo, the NYT occasionally trolls its own readers.

There are two reads that I found interesting. One said that the profile was a warning to worry less about the BDS movement on the left and more about fringe libertarians on the right. Another interpreted it as a pass for the presumably white, upper-class readership: Here's the real racist, people. It's not you. It could ever be you when there's people like this in the world.

As a piece of reporting, I thought it was shit because there wasn't enough meat to it to allow the reader to draw any conclusions except obvious ones. What made it worse is that the writer posted a mea culpa to the Times website that admitted they didn't get the story, but they ran it anyway.

[number8]

Anybody who reads the New York Times real estate section knows that they troll their readers fairly frequently.

[MadMan]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...rocess-n823991

Nancy Pelosi hedges on whether John Conyers is a scumbag. Oh what a shocker. I'm shocked. This is my shocked face. :/

So many liberals want her to stay in charge. Ugh.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Not sure what you mean, DaMU? The Nazi profile wasn't an op-ed.

I thought your emphasis was on the publications themselves, not the "op-ed" detail.

But you know what they say about assuming.

It's useful.

[Irish]

I thought your emphasis was on the publications themselves, not the "op-ed" detail.

Eh, either/ or if it suits you. (I have a pet peeve about NYT op/eds, specifically.)

There's an aspect to the Nazi profile that reinforces a neolib worldview because its intent was to understand of people with dangerous, fringe beliefs. The editors fudged it and it became a puff-piece, which is what social media rejected.

[number8]

It was pointed out to me that the piece's biggest failure was not that it didn't condemn the dude, but that it buried the lede about how he's able to live everyday in this normalized existence the article painted, while being an ardent white supremacist. There's this entire town of people who provide quotes like, "Oh, Nazi Joe? Yeah, I've known him since junior high. He's a very polite fella," which should be the scariest part of the story, but the article didn't even talk about why they're fine with having a Town Nazi.

[Irish]

Some people disagree with Stevenson’s political views.

“He’s a nice enough guy,” said the local grocer, Butch Tarmac, a registered Democrat. “He buys apples and pancake mix. I also like those things. But I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on the bit about the one true race cleansing the soil and commanding what is rightfully theirs.”

“It’s totally fucked up,” said one person, whose name I didn’t catch.

Pretty good riff on that idea from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...-pasta/546737/

[number8]

That's great.

[number8]

Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool

Trump Suggests Joe Scarborough Murdered His Intern in Florida

[Wryan]

I like how someone on reddit mentioned that this basically means Trump probably murdered an intern at some point.

[MadMan]

I like how someone on reddit mentioned that this basically means Trump probably murdered an intern at some point.

Knowing Trump, its more than one.

[Dead & Messed Up]

IF YOU LIVE IN A RED STATE, CALL YOUR SENATORS AND URGE THEM TO VOTE NO ON THE TAX BILL.

On a lighter note, Flynn flipped for Mueller.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Headline on the Reuters feed:

FLYNN PREPARED TO TESTIFY TRUMP DIRECTED HIM TO CONTACT RUSSIANS: ABC

This is the first time we're seeing Big Poppa directly associated with the Russia criminal conspiracy.

[D_Davis]

As per ABC news: Michael Flynn promised "full cooperation to the Mueller team" and is prepared to testify that as a candidate, Donald Trump "directed him to make contact with the Russians."

[D_Davis]

Now Pence is getting roped in. Notice how hard he's been trying to lay low lately?

https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/im...e%20letter.pdf

[number8]

Poor Mike Pence. Guy just wants to install a theocracy and hang queer people from trees, but his bros keep committing treason and now he's being lumped in with the blame. Be careful who you make friends with.

[Ivan Drago]

I'll believe it when Cheeto Jesus officially gets indicted or resigns.

[Irish]

This is the first time we're seeing Big Poppa directly associated with the Russia criminal conspiracy.

Not exactly. Flynn admitted to lying to the FBI about the Russian sanctions thing. He hasn't said anything yet about the election. (Presumably, he will but I'm wary of counting my generals before they squeal.)

but his bros keep committing treason and now he's being lumped in with the blame

Flynn committed a felony but it's unclear to me that anyone has committed treason, at least based on the reporting today.

[number8]

Yeah well I committed to that joke.

[number8]

But why