Mega-Thread: 2020 United States General Election

[57States]

You could have disrupted this supposed echo chamber status by actually answering the question, since you appear to be a Trump supporter(?), and shed some light on the reasons why.

You're right. I could have. I could also go to a PETA convention wearing a full mink. Do you understand?

[kaelleria]

Ugh, the GOP have already turned this into a tabloid-level mud-fest. Must we go down the same road?

Besides, I'm more interested in why Giuliani would allegedly be holding onto a laptop full of child porn for a year before suddenly deciding to hand it over in a flimsy attempt to discredit Biden right before an election.

The difference is this tabloid level stuff is true and on camera...

[Edge-]

https://twitter.com/ohnohohnoh/statu...205571/photo/1

NSFL: RUDY GIULIANI REACHING DOWN HIS PANTS (no nudity)

Not gonna embed it, but like...is it just me or does his right hand look like it's a fucking skeleton hand?

[Felya]

Aye, I understand that. @Rozz, I was actually asking because other folk seem to be getting infracted for quoting it? Or is that unrelated?

If you mean me, I was off topic despite mod warning. It’s totally deserved... I prefer to use my infractions in better ways, but what’s fair is fair... the fact that I was responding to him, does not make me any better. I broke the same exact rule... totally my fault... no excuses...

[Edge-]

Ugh, the GOP have already turned this into a tabloid-level mud-fest. Must we go down the same road?

We're not. Sacha Baron Cohen isn't a Democratic operative, and has no direct ties to the Biden campaign that I know of.

This is just a prank on a public official, much like what he's done in the past with anti-Muslim conservatives, that happens to be conveniently timed to the election. I mean, it's not like anybody forced Giuliani to start reaching for his junk because he had a young blonde reporter in a hotel room with him. Or that this is manufactured.

It's an amusing sidebar, not any kind of push to impugn Trump.

[Benggaul]

The difference is this tabloid level stuff is true and on camera...

And will be hand-waved as "just going along with the joke". *shrug* We all know how this goes by now. It's not like he could hurt his reputation more at this point. Unless, you know, he's been in possession of child porn for a long time without letting the authorities know about it. That might stick more than a comedian pulling a joke on him. The right will just try to paint him as a victim for that.

[Felya]

You're right. I could have. I could also go to a PETA convention wearing a full mink. Do you understand?

No, because you are at a PETA convention wearing a full mink. You are just refusing to say why... no one is attacking you for your avatar or your signature... people are just asking... why?

[Adam Jensen]

I'm trying to imagine the mind of a Trump campaign strategist.

"Hey Bob, you know what might gain us votes?"
"What?"
"What if, and just hear me out, what if, we attack Biden . . . . for campaigning on a train!"
"That's BRILLIANT Phil, I'll get on that right away! If there's one thing independents care about, it's political candidates campaigning on moving surfaces! And there's clearly, CLEARLY no way this can reflect back on us!"

[Belize]

I'm trying to imagine the mind of a Trump campaign strategist.

I'd rather come face to face with a Shoggoth, I'd have an easier time understand that.

[Edge-]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/u...nd-harris.html

A man in Maryland has been arrested on charges that he threatened to kidnap and kill Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, law enforcement officials said on Wednesday.

A criminal complaint filed by the Secret Service on Wednesday did not describe any steps taken by the man, identified as James Dale Reed, to carry out the alleged threat. It said that on Oct. 4, Mr. Reed approached a house in his hometown, Frederick, Md., northwest of Washington, that had Biden-Harris campaign signs in the yard and left a handwritten note that contained graphic threats against the candidates and their supporters.

The resident’s video doorbell had captured an image of the man who left the note, the complaint said.

“We are the ones with these scary guns, we are the ones your children have nightmares about,” the note read in part. Mr. Reed, 42, was arrested last Friday and is being held without bond in Frederick County, Md., according to court records. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, which is representing Mr. Reed, declined to comment.

He provided a palm print and handwriting sample and acknowledged having written the letter, according to the complaint. He is charged with the federal offense of threatening a major candidate, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, and two violations of state law: threatening mass violence and voter intimidation.

The complaint said that Mr. Reed was known to law enforcement for making a complaint against a person under Secret Service protection in 2014.

Another right wing nutjob threatening to kidnap politicians he doesn't like.

Bonus points for him threatening his neighbors and being caught on their doorbell cameras leaving the threatening notes, and just straight up admitting to it all.

Here's one where we have actual evidence of who done it.

[Fincayra]

We're not. Sacha Baron Cohen isn't a Democratic operative, and has no direct ties to the Biden campaign that I know of.

This is just a prank on a public official, much like what he's done in the past with anti-Muslim conservatives, that happens to be conveniently timed to the election. I mean, it's not like anybody forced Giuliani to start reaching for his junk because he had a young blonde reporter in a hotel room with him. Or that this is manufactured.

It's an amusing sidebar, not any kind of push to impugn Trump.

I found it kind of funny, as well. And, Giuiliani agreed to be in the film, otherwise his face would have been blurred. And, there's the question of whether the whole thing was scripted to begin with.

[Edge-]

I found it kind of funny, as well. And, Giuiliani agreed to be in the film, otherwise his face would have been blurred. And, there's the question of whether the whole thing was scripted to begin with.

I'm not buying the scripted bit. That's not Sacha Baron Cohen's deal. His deal is to get people to act absurdly in his pranks without them realizing they're being pranked.

[cubby]

Easy:

1. Have the President nominate an FEC Director, like an FBI Director, to a 10 year term. This has the same benefit as it does for the FBI, albeit with the same risk that the President could fire the FEC Director for a political motive (if unchecked by Congress). This is what happened with Comey.

2. Have the President nominate an FEC Director for a 4-year term during the last year of their first term, and have the FEC Director's term run start on February 1, after the general election has finished and the new President has been sworn in.

In any case, the objective should be to have an FEC that can act in an apolitical way, without any appearance their decisions could be impacted by the political motivations of the sitting President. Further, as it is a Senate-confirmable position, the Senate can serve as a check against overtly political choices designed to provide an entrenched benefit to the party in power.

This requires a Senate willing to serve as a check on the President, which is ultimately the key problem with many aspects of our federal government right now. If the Senate can't be bothered to actually do their jobs than all of this is moot.

That would be an interesting way to set it up - I like it. Especially the 10-year term. I still want it somehow answering directly to a Circuit Court of Appeals, preferably the D.C. Circuit. For any warrants or necessary judicial hearings. Post-arrest they can be tried through normal means. I just want a quick action force that can move immediately on any allegations - to either prosecute or quash.

I agree regarding the Senate fuckery vis a via McTrump - I don't see how to get around it.

[Rasulis]

Lawyers working for a firm providing counsel to President Trump's re-election campaign donated ninety thousands of dollars to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign and fifty dollars to the president.

I hope they get paid upfront. lol.

[Felya]

I found it kind of funny, as well. And, Giuiliani agreed to be in the film, otherwise his face would have been blurred. And, there's the question of whether the whole thing was scripted to begin with.

They sign a release first and the release does not hinge on the contents of the video. See the college kids trying to sew from the first movie...

[Edge-]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/even-m...n-hunter-biden

Damn, even Mike "Graveyard Desecrator" Huckabee thinks that paying any attention to the Hunter Biden nonsense is a waste of time.

Speaking of, reminder that Mike Huckabee desecrates graveyards - https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/...95682867585024

[Thepersona]

New image of the Borat fiasco:

https://twitter.com/consequence/stat...198738944?s=20

[Edge-]

New image of the Borat fiasco:

https://twitter.com/consequence/stat...198738944?s=20

So...does this mean we should be worried that any "child porn" images found on "Hunter Biden's hard drive" may have actually come from Giuliani's personal stash? : P

[Thepersona]

So...does this mean we should be worried that any "child porn" images found on "Hunter Biden's hard drive" may have actually come from Giuliani's personal stash? : P

Was there any doubt of that?

[Hadriker]

New image of the Borat fiasco:

https://twitter.com/consequence/stat...198738944?s=20

If Giuliani was this easily misled into a compromising situation by a dude making a movie, how is this guy not a national security threat.