Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[alexw]

Bezos gets the whole package, I don't see how they would still be protected. But yeah, I guess it's always possible.

Bezos would not care. So what if Trump sued after the fact? Lets say Trump won the case and got $20-50 million in compensation. That's just a drop in the bucket for Bezos. But my thinking is that Bezo will save the tapes for 2024 to see if Trump runs again. If he does they'll get "leaked" during the primaries/general to destroy his chances. That would be the ultimate revenge for Bezos.

[Edge-]

https://newschannel9.com/news/local/...rkers-with-suv

In a report obtained by WATE-TV in Knoxville, the Blount County Sheriff's Office says 36-year-old Virginia Christine Lewis Brown of Greenback sped her SUV through a closed cone course and a tent where at least 15 people were working, at the parking lot of Foothills Mall.

Among those working were Tennessee National Guard members and workers with the Blount County Health Department.

The report quoted witnesses saying they heard Brown shout "No vaccine!" as she came within "inches and feet" of hitting the workers.

A nearby Blount County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped Brown. The report says she told the deputy she was driving through to "protest the vaccine."

This is what Trumpism is still doing. Causing people to attempt to run over dozens of people getting rightly vaccinated/vaccinating others to "protest the vaccine". I guess she may have thought they were protesters and she had a legal right to run over them or something.

I'm tired of these murderous, insane fucks.

[Benggaul]

Tuesday's report:

22,738 new cases; about 5k fewer than last week.

Top 6:

Texas: 2,042 new cases; 42 deaths
Fuck Florida.
Colorado: 1,403 new cases; no deaths reported
California: 1,390 new cases; 39 deaths
Louisiana: 1,043 new cases; 13 deaths
Washington: 1,015 new cases; 12 deaths

While Colorado and Washington are among the dwindling list of states that remain listed as "high" risk and their numbers this Tuesday are higher than they were last Tuesday, I think it's likely that their place in the list today is more the product of corrective reporting and plummeting totals for other states that typically sit in the top 5. Michigan had under 1k cases today, for example. Texas managed to wrest the top spot away from Florida. Louisiana's spot on the list is definitely due to the stupid way in which they report. Their 7-day average has been flat under 500 for a couple months or so which, again due to their reporting method, includes weekly spikes of around 1k. South Dakota still has the nation's worst positivity rating at 6.4%.

669 deaths is a little under 100 fewer than last Tuesday and brings the total to 605,208. Florida's still topping this list, coming close to 100 deaths reported on the day. The 7-day average continues falling. Slowly, but surely.

Related news:

CDC: Half of US adults now vaccinated against COVID-19--Great news, but we can't take our foot off the gas yet.

Soldier Facing Charges After Urging Troops to Disobey, Not to Take 'Killer' COVID Vaccine at Rally--This was a Canadian soldier, to be clear. I don't normally include international news given that I'm trying to keep it a bit on topic (the aftermath of the Trump administration's "response" to the pandemic), but I'm willing to bet there are plenty of American soldiers spouting the same shit. I'm going to repeat my take: If they have no valid medical reason for refusing the vaccine (allergic reactions are a thing) then they should not be allowed to refuse it. OR they can go into their next battle without weapons, armor or other equipment to see what it's like not being armed against a foe.

Stay safe, folks.

[Edge-]

Texas: 2,042 new cases; 42 deaths

Remember that time that Texas held a ticker tape parade because they allegedly had a day without any deaths and that was TOTES PROOF that fully reopening works?

Those were fun days.

[Zan15]

While hilarious, this is just another nail in the antitrust case against big companies like Amazon. Anyways, that's off topic...

WaPo will be getting a bunch of tapes soon though, so that's nice.

wait buying their first movie studio that has single digit marketplace business is...umm antitrust problems?

[Edge-]

wait buying their first movie studio that has single digit marketplace business is...umm antitrust problems?

It's a different type of antitrust. Historically it's just been companies trying to monopolize a single industry, but with that being increasingly harder some of the mega-corporations like Amazon are instead getting into every industry possible so that they can functionally become a "one-stop shop" for everything and use their collective muscle to out-compete companies that aren't as massive and can't draw from other divisions the way an Amazon can.

Amazon is long overdue for some breaking up, as most of the big tech companies are, honestly.

[Belize]

wait buying their first movie studio that has single digit marketplace business is...umm antitrust problems?

It's more of a "Amazon is just simply too big, and has their hand in too many industries" type of deal. It's strangling every other players in every other industry by simply being the biggest and offering costumers a single place to go for literally everything. By the time people realize there is only Amazon, or there is only Google, it's much too late.

Scott Galloway at NYU Stern wrote a great book on the reasons to break up Amazon, Google & Facebook.

[Breccia]

"protest the vaccine."

From May 5th:

A Tennessee proposal to provide legal immunity to drivers who hit protesters and increase penalties for demonstrators who obstruct major roads has stalled for the year.

The bill was among the dozen proposals Republicans across the country had submitted in an attempt to curb protests that temporarily paralyze traffic — a tactic that was used often last summer during demonstrations against racial injustice.

Oklahoma lawmakers passed a similar version earlier this year, sparking a signature gathering effort to nullify the new law in 2022.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee, looming legal concerns about the bill caused the Senate Judicial panel on Tuesday to hit pause on the proposal. Instead, the committee agreed to possibly bring it back up next year after studying the issue over the summer.

Just want to remind everyone that we did talk about this.

[Zan15]

It's more of a "Amazon is just simply too big, and has their hand in too many industries" type of deal. It's strangling every other players in every other industry by simply being the biggest and offering costumers a single place to go for literally everything. By the time people realize there is only Amazon, or there is only Google, it's much too late.

Scott Galloway at NYU Stern wrote a great book on the reasons to break up Amazon, Google & Facebook.

so Walmart does not exist and is not 3x the sales of amazon retail? I can get just about everything on amazon on/at Walmart.


Amazon streaming has what, 20-25% of the market and now >5% of the movie studio industry? Only reason amazon has so many "streaming subscribers" is because its included in the Prime subscription. i would gander most of those don't even use it, like me.

how is that antitrust?

there is not a single industry amazon is in where they have a stranglehold on that market. Ok maybe books, maybe. Every other major industry they are in they hardly crack the top 5.



Just because they are a conglomerate and give an easy way to buy from multiple industries at once, they are far from being the single source for consumers.

- - - Updated - - -

It's a different type of antitrust. Historically it's just been companies trying to monopolize a single industry, but with that being increasingly harder some of the mega-corporations like Amazon are instead getting into every industry possible so that they can functionally become a "one-stop shop" for everything and use their collective muscle to out-compete companies that aren't as massive and can't draw from other divisions the way an Amazon can.

Amazon is long overdue for some breaking up, as most of the big tech companies are, honestly.

How do you break them up and stop them from still sourcing as a one stop shop?

Nothing stops any of these mega corporations from becoming like amazon one stop shopping. Walmart is already there. Alibaba is there for Asia.

They said all this about Walmart, and yet amazon was able to thrive.

[Benggaul]

Remember that time that Texas held a ticker tape parade because they allegedly had a day without any deaths and that was TOTES PROOF that fully reopening works?

Those were fun days.

Yeah, that was bullshit for a myriad of reasons, not least because they were crowing about reporting 0 deaths on a Sunday which, as I said at the time, is the day of the week that is notoriously underreported in every way. They're still averaging around 40 deaths a day.

[Breccia]

They're still averaging around 40 deaths a day.

I want to put this in perspective: Texas reported 3,610 automobile deaths in 2019. In a happy coincidence for me, that's about 10/day. One-quarter their current and possibly erroneously low value.

Do you stop at red lights? Yes? Then put your fucking mask on.

[Rasulis]

It's more of a "Amazon is just simply too big, and has their hand in too many industries" type of deal. It's strangling every other players in every other industry by simply being the biggest and offering costumers a single place to go for literally everything. By the time people realize there is only Amazon, or there is only Google, it's much too late.

Scott Galloway at NYU Stern wrote a great book on the reasons to break up Amazon, Google & Facebook.

By Scott Galloway standard, we would need to include Microsoft and Apple also. Breaking FB and Google will be even more challenging than breaking Amazon. FB is the true definition of a global monopoly. The US is not even its biggest market. US & Canada combined only account for 9% of active FB users.

[Breccia]

In a Quinnipiac poll double-header, almost exactly the same percent wants Trump to run again as thinks the election was stolen -- about 66 percent -- in the GOP.

The poll doesn't say this, but I suspect it's basically the same people. Two-thirds of the Republican Party is the Party of Trump.

Stil waiting for that proof of voter fraud. Seriously the Arizona thing? It's gonna be nuts.

[Benggaul]

In a Quinnipiac poll double-header, almost exactly the same percent wants Trump to run again as thinks the election was stolen -- about 66 percent -- in the GOP.

The poll doesn't say this, but I suspect it's basically the same people. Two-thirds of the Republican Party is the Party of Trump.

Stil waiting for that proof of voter fraud. Seriously the Arizona thing? It's gonna be nuts.

Only 66%? Color me surprised.

[Nellise]

I want to put this in perspective: Texas reported 3,610 automobile deaths in 2019. In a happy coincidence for me, that's about 10/day. One-quarter their current and possibly erroneously low value.

Do you stop at red lights? Yes? Then put your fucking mask on.

Not sure what the point is in picking on Texas when it's not really doing any worse than other states. Illinois is still averaging about 30 deaths a day with a population less than half that of Texas while also having a mask mandate. Another nearby state, Michigan, is doing even worse.

I stop at red lights. I don't wear a mask any more except in specific instances. I follow CDC guidance which says I don't need to most places I go.

[Belize]

so Walmart does not exist and is not 3x the sales of amazon retail? I can get just about everything on amazon on/at Walmart.

Walmart does not have the single biggest largest web-server hosting platform on the market. Thinking about tech-giants like Amazon or Google as "A storefront" or "the place to google shit" is having blinders on.

The interconnectivity of Amazon is what the problem is. AWS feeds data to their music service, which feeds data to their streaming service, which feeds data to their storefront, ad nauseum. That's the issue.

[Zan15]

Walmart does not have the single biggest largest web-server hosting platform on the market. Thinking about tech-giants like Amazon or Google as "A storefront" or "the place to google shit" is having blinders on.

The interconnectivity of Amazon is what the problem is. AWS feeds data to their music service, which feeds data to their streaming service, which feeds data to their storefront, ad nauseum. That's the issue.

No they have access to the second, Microsoft. Before that they had their own home grown system that rivaled some individual services. It was massive. there were all kinds of write ups to it in 2018 when they expanded with microsoft.

But that is a perfect example, Walmart had a huge option other than using AWS. They could have gone with 2-4 other companies to do the same thing Amazon is doing.

What you are talking about is something every company leverages.

They can spin off AWS and sign a contract with Microsoft tomorrow, and Microsoft is going to provide the same data to them across all their businesses. But its antitrust anticompetitive if they own the service that provides them with the information?

[cubby]

CNN saying WaPo is reporting that they're convening Grand Jury to see about pressing charges on Trump. Looks like they'll meet 3 times a week for 6 months, because of how broad it is. Mugshot of Trump gonna be a nice Christmas.

I'll see if I can find a non paywall link.
link to paywall https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ba4_story.html

Gotta to apologize and correct a previous comment - seems this is a Special Grand Jury, and it will be doing precisely what Beanman said - solely deliberating evidence regarding Trump and his Organization and Affiliates. I mistakenly thought this was merely a Grand Jury, in which many issues are addressed (i.e. many crimes from various people).

As an update, it seems witnesses are being asked to prepare to testify. In a Special Grand Jury (state) they cannot provide hearsay based testimony; so rather than a federal investigator providing information about what Person A said, Person A actually has to testify in person.

[Breccia]

they cannot provide hearsay based testimony

I mean, how can this not be worse for Trump? We've gone to "people might talk about the bad things Trump did" to "people might talk about the bad things Trump did for which they were present".

[cubby]

I mean, how can this not be worse for Trump? We've gone to "people might talk about the bad things Trump did" to "people might talk about the bad things Trump did for which they were present".

Exactly. And those upcoming witnesses are going to be painting a picture of what illegal activities went down, using paper evidence as landmarks to the overall story. Moreover, we're talking about the actions of a corporation that Trump lead, and therefore is criminally responsible for, all actions under his rein. "I didn't know about that" won't cut it when charges are drawn up. Which is double-plus-worse, for Trump and his family of sycophantic "officers".