1. #71081
    The Lightbringer bladeXcrasher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hollycakes View Post
    But Americans don't watch world news as it doesn't pertain to them so they have zero reference of life outside their bubble.
    Pretty sure that's reserved mostly (I am hesitant to say exclusively) for conservatives.

  2. #71082
    Quote Originally Posted by Draco-Onis View Post
    Anyone who lived through the Trump presidency knows that there's enough to go after him just using public information, the stuff in the background I can only imagine being far worse. However, neither Biden or Garland have the balls to do something so bold as to hold Trump accountable for his actions .
    that's because Trump has a multi-regional neo-nazi powerbase backing him ready to incite terror on an unprecedented scale if Biden tries to take action against him.

    So it is a pretty scary situation to know this man is more intimidating than the current US president, to where he's pretty much above the law. If he weren't, he should be behind bars already. But he got away with everything.

  3. #71083
    Over 9000! PhaelixWW's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    So it is a pretty scary situation to know this man is more intimidating than the current US president, to where he's pretty much above the law.
    Uh, no, he's not more intimidating, he's just more reckless and bloviating. And he's certainly not above the law. There are all sorts of legal proceedings currently that are heading in his direction. Just because nothing has happened to him directly so far doesn't mean that he's somehow immune to charges.

    This just (for some unknown reason, right? ) sounds like you're trying to make him out to be somehow more inevitably powerful than he actually is.

    Trump is a hooligan; he's not untouchable.


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    and genius is that genius has its limits."

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  4. #71084
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    that's because Trump has a multi-regional neo-nazi powerbase backing him ready to incite terror on an unprecedented scale if Biden tries to take action against him.

    So it is a pretty scary situation to know this man is more intimidating than the current US president, to where he's pretty much above the law. If he weren't, he should be behind bars already. But he got away with everything.
    They aren't afraid of "repercussions," don't flatter yourself.
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  5. #71085
    Quote Originally Posted by PhaelixWW View Post
    Uh, no, he's not more intimidating, he's just more reckless and bloviating. And he's certainly not above the law. There are all sorts of legal proceedings currently that are heading in his direction. Just because nothing has happened to him directly so far doesn't mean that he's somehow immune to charges.

    This just (for some unknown reason, right? ) sounds like you're trying to make him out to be somehow more inevitably powerful than he actually is.

    Trump is a hooligan; he's not untouchable.
    it's been seven months since he tried a coup against America. Nothing's happened to him, and he's so assured nothing will happen that he's running for political power again.

    And if something does happen to him to get him incarcerated, what will happen if his supporters take to the streets killing or butchering everyone randomly in violent rioting? That's where the real fear and repercussions lie. Over 70 million Trump supporters are out there, it's not like a minority.

  6. #71086
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    it's been seven months since he tried a coup against America. Nothing's happened to him, and he's so assured nothing will happen that he's running for political power again.
    Building a case to take down a president isn't something that happens overnight. Moreover, other legal bodies are moving on him in other ways, like new york's investigation into his financial misdoings.

    And if something does happen to him to get him incarcerated, what will happen if his supporters take to the streets killing or butchering everyone randomly in violent rioting? That's where the real fear and repercussions lie.
    Then they'll be taken down by the law enforcement bodies created to deal with terrorists.

    Sorry, nobody is "afraid of Trump's wrath." He and his followers are impotent cretins.
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  7. #71087
    The Insane draynay's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    that's because Trump has a multi-regional neo-nazi powerbase backing him ready to incite terror on an unprecedented scale if Biden tries to take action against him.
    Easy there Koko, or Yuppie/tsuganai/whatever your name is. The coup/civil war fantasies are just that, fantasies.
    /s

  8. #71088
    The Undying
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    Quote Originally Posted by PhaelixWW View Post
    I think @cubby will give you a run for your money on that one.
    Lol, indeed. The good news is the Senate really can't do much to interfere with House investigations. Can't wait for all those documents to get leaked.

  9. #71089
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    Then they'll be taken down by the law enforcement bodies created to deal with terrorists.
    it's not as simple as you make it out to be though. The amount of death and damage that would be caused by the military intervening to take down thousands upon thousands of armed civilians amounts to anarchy and the dissolution of democracy afterward.

    This is assuming the rioters don't surrender immediately when faced with the marines.

    .

  10. #71090
    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    it's not as simple as you make it out to be though. The amount of death and damage that would be caused by the military intervening to take down thousands upon thousands of armed civilians amounts to anarchy and the dissolution of democracy afterward.
    Dissolution of Democracy? Really? Jan 6th was their best shot at that and they failed. They'll never be that organized, or numerous and they'll never be going against a police force so intentionally held back by an evil President again. If there is a next time, it will be far fewer numbers against a police force unwilling to hold back. Also keeping in mind now they're all aware the repercussions are going to jail or being shot in the neck.

  11. #71091
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by YUPPIE View Post
    it's not as simple as you make it out to be though. The amount of death and damage that would be caused by the military intervening to take down thousands upon thousands of armed civilians amounts to anarchy and the dissolution of democracy afterward.

    This is assuming the rioters don't surrender immediately when faced with the marines.
    Yeah That’s not going to happen.

    Despite trump’s efforts the US is not some tin pot dictatorship. Terrorists will be dealt with like terrorists. And frankly I don’t care how many violent ya’llqaeda fucks get killed if they decide to become violent, and I don’t care if prosecuting trump causes them to become so.
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  12. #71092
    We've seen this before, but once again a GOP legislator's own family is basically telling everyone what a piece of shit he is.

    GOP Rep. Paul Gosar's siblings denounced him in a scathing op-ed: 'Have you no sense of decency, Paul?'

    "It seems, in fact, that you are immune to shame. In addition to betraying your family and causing irreparable damage to the relationships within it, you decided to betray your country by helping incite the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol," the op-ed said.

    The siblings named actions Gosar took that they thought incited the riot, including sharing false claims about the results of the 2020 election.

    They also accused him of gaslighting everyone by painting Ashli Babbitt, the Trump supporter who was killed by police while participating in the riot, as an "innocent bystander."

    Gosar has frequently praised Babbitt. He said she was "executed" and accused the Capitol Police of "lying in wait" for her, comments that were condemned by his colleagues.

    "Maybe you don't know how you got to this very dark place, Paul. Unfortunately, we have some ideas," his siblings wrote. "Maybe it's because you're in way over your head in Congress and don't have the intellect, character or maturity to be in that leadership role. Maybe your lifelong, insecure need for the approval of others caused you to sacrifice your common decency and integrity to satisfy Trump and his followers in order to keep your seat."
    Yeowtch.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Also, no case/death numbers from Florida today because it's Sunday and we don't often find them out until well after the fact, but there's this:

    Florida breaks COVID-19 hospitalization record with more than 10,200 patients

    So I can't imagine things are going well.

  13. #71093
    The Undying Breccia's Avatar
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    That now-broken record was set in July 23, 2020, when there was no vaccine.

    I want everyone, including those people ready to deflect from Florida and blame Illinois and Massachusetts again, to think about that. They broke a hospitalization record, when half their citizens were vaccinated. This is saying something highly negative about the other half.

    As a reminder, Florida's technically current cases/day record was set in Jan 8th. Techncially it stands because there's no posted numbers because Fuck Florida. But that means they set their hospitalization record when things weren't even this bad -- they were bad, though, Florida's until recently second-highest peak was 11.865 cases/day on July 18th 2020. The hospitalization record came just five days later. Five days ago, Florida's cases/day was about the same as July 18th 2020.

    Unlike July 18th, 2020, cases/day are not going back down. I don't know if the cases/day 7-day average is fucked over by Florida falsely reporting 0 cases or if they patched that out with the latest Stygia hotfix and warlock nerfs. But if hospitalizations really do run 5 days behind cases, the record they set today will be broken shortly.

    Florida's highest deaths/day 7-day average was set Aug 3rd, 2020. They had many more cases/day in January but the deaths/day was actually a little lower. Six months was a long time to figure out how to keep people from dying to COVID, despite their best efforts. It's six months later still, and hopefully that trend has continued. Deaths per day right now are about 100, half that from this time last year, but of course we know the progression is cases -> hospitalizations -> deaths. July 23's record hospitalization led to August 3's record deaths in...thirty days has...carry the two...eleven days. So, I guess we'll have this conversation again August 12th. Yes, the case->death ratio is down, thank goodness, but Florida's cases are likely still on the rise. We'll see which one wins.

    Now let's take a look at the news and see what records Illinois broke today.

    (checks news)

    None. Let's check the news and see what records Massachusetts broke today.

    (checks news)

    Not too much here either. There is bad news, but not records broken of the type we've been following.

    Massachusetts breakthrough coronavirus cases have been rising rapidly in recent weeks amid the more highly contagious delta variant, but the percentage of fully vaccinated people getting infected remains low and the vaccine is “still doing an amazing job at preventing the most severe illness,” infectious disease experts tell the Herald.

    Those who are unvaccinated continue to account for a wide majority of new daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the Bay State, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. This trend continues as unvaccinated people are a minority of the state’s population.

    The latest breakthrough case count from the state shows that 6,373 fully vaccinated people have tested positive for the virus out of more than 4.3 million fully vaccinated individuals, or 0.15%.
    I'd like to discuss that bolded percent. It's really low. Now, a lot of the rabid fanbase have also been discussing a low number, 0.3%, the rough percent chance that, if you catch COVID, you die. "Why should I wear a mask if I have a 99.7% chance of surviving?" they say, "it doens't make sense!"

    Well, let's discuss two completely hypothetical games.

    Game A: I meet someone completely at random on the street. If they voluntarily play the game by not wearing a mask, I show them my driver's license and they show me theirs. If the birthdates match, I shoot them twice in the forehead and kill them. Otherwise they win "don't get shot in the face and killed" aka nothing.

    That's what a 99.7% chance looks like. 364 in 365 nothing happens, 1 in 365 you die. I don't see this game catching on.

    Game B: Anyone vaccinated that I meet, they tell me their father's birthday. If it matches, they flip a coin. If they call it right, then they have to play Game A. This means the chance of losing Game B is one in about 250,000 rather than 365.

    You are, roughly, seven hundred more times likely to die if you play Game A (don't get a vaccine) than if you play Game B (get the vaccine).

    So, yes, if anyone tries "you are only 0.3% likely to die if you catch it" remind them that you are only 0.15% likely to catch it at all if you're vaccinated.

    Florida is playing Game A left and right. They have 10,200 people in the hospital today. Know how many breakthrough hospitalizations Massachusetts has, on average? Four. As in "not enough to play basketball" four. (They have non-vaccinated too of course, but that's not Game B).

    To put it another way: if every man, woman, and child had somehow magically gotten the vaccine Jan 21, 2020, the number of deaths so far, about 610k according to the CDC, would be about 871. Of course that's impossible, I just wanted to put those numbers in context.



    The US has had daily deaths over 871 for...what's that, about 40% of all days since this started? Yeah, the vaccine that big of a game changer. So if anyone says the chance of death is low even if they catch it,
    (a) remind them that the vaccine makes it much lower, then
    (b) ask for their driver's license.

  14. #71094
    Over 9000! Santti's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Breccia View Post
    I'd like to discuss that bolded percent. It's really low. Now, a lot of the rabid fanbase have also been discussing a low number, 0.3%, the rough percent chance that, if you catch COVID, you die. "Why should I wear a mask if I have a 99.7% chance of surviving?" they say, "it doens't make sense!"
    It should also be pointed out, that it's not a matter of dying and being 100% fine. I'm sure you know that, but it should still be pointed out, as that's how it's usually presented, making it seem much less dangerous than really it is. You might survive it, but still have your heart, lungs and/or brain damaged. And I don't know which one scares me more, the somewhat small chance of dying should you catch it, or the side-effects of surviving it, that can fuck you up for the rest of your life.
    Quote Originally Posted by SpaghettiMonk View Post
    And again, let’s presume equity in schools is achievable. Then why should a parent read to a child?

  15. #71095
    I'm amazed more of these republicans aren't realizing that they are losing far more voters than democrats. I don't expect them to care about human life, but I'd expect them to care about votes.

  16. #71096
    Pandaren Monk masterhorus8's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blur4stuff View Post
    I'm amazed more of these republicans aren't realizing that they are losing far more voters than democrats. I don't expect them to care about human life, but I'd expect them to care about votes.
    Them being so short-sighted is not a new trait.

  17. #71097
    Merely a Setback Kaleredar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blur4stuff View Post
    I'm amazed more of these republicans aren't realizing that they are losing far more voters than democrats. I don't expect them to care about human life, but I'd expect them to care about votes.
    The GOP higher-ups like McConnell seem to have gotten that through their thick skulls, in that they're saying that more people need to get vaccinated.

    But the Trump-stan republicans like DeSantis are following Trump's playbook of "pretend nothing is going wrong, and actively fight against anyone trying to say or do anything about it otherwise."
    “Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Kaleredar is right...
    Words to live by.

  18. #71098
    Quote Originally Posted by Blur4stuff View Post
    I'm amazed more of these republicans aren't realizing that they are losing far more voters than democrats. I don't expect them to care about human life, but I'd expect them to care about votes.
    The big question to me is, "How many will they have to lose before it gets impossible for them to steal elections through Gerrymandering, voter ID laws, and the new stuff they are pushing in Georgia?" Because, until it hits that or close to it, too many in the Republican leadership and media really won't care past token gestures.
    Since we can't call out Trolls and Bad Faith posters and the Ignore function doesn't actually ignore it. Add
    "mmo-champion.com##li.postbitignored"
    to your ublock or adblock filter to actually ignore ignored posters. Now just need a way to ignore responses to them as well.

  19. #71099
    What a damn shame for Giuliani. One day the guy is on top of the world with Trump, then he does a bunch of illegal shit for Trump, and now he is almost flat broke with both criminal and civil proceedings staring him down. Where could Trump be in all of this, Giuliani's darkest hour? Oh right, he was right behind Giuliani throwing him under the bus driving by at 70MPH. Something like this could get a guy to think that loyalty is a one way street with Trump and Trump will always pay loyalty with a knife in the back.

    Mary Papenfuss
    Sun, August 1, 2021, 9:17 PM

    Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is almost broke and Trump doesn’t seem to care all that much, sources have told The New York Times.

    Giuliani is currently struggling under a mountain of legal fees as he attempts to fend off a major federal investigation and answer a $1.3 billion lawsuit. Trump, meanwhile, isn’t pitching in a dime of the millions he has raised in his ongoing battle against a legitimate election, according to New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.

    Giuliani’s supporters are “aghast” that Trump isn’t helping out, according to Haberman, given that many of his activities were carried out on Trump’s behalf to push the former president’s “Big Lie” of a rigged election.

    But helping Giuliani is “problematic” for the former president (and definitely for his bank account), and Giuliani should have known better than to undertake some of his activities, sources told Haberman.

    The Washington Post also reported early this year that Trump had shut out his attorney, even though Giuliani had traveled the country promoting Trump’s tale of a stolen election. Trump was unhappy with Giuliani’s demand for $20,000 a day in fees, and “privately expressed concern” about some of Giuliani’s moves, sources told the newspaper then.

    Not only was Trump refusing to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, but he told aides that all reimbursement requests for travel and other expenses needed to go through him, according to the Post.

    Giuliani, who has been suspended from practicing law in New York and Washington, D.C., for his questionable activities, is currently embroiled in a massive $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against him by Dominion Voting Systems.

    The suit accuses Giuliani of defamation through a “viral disinformation campaign about Dominion” made up of “demonstrably false” allegations, in part to enrich himself through legal fees and a podcast. Giuliani’s fact-free attack on Dominion was part of his and Trump’s baseless narrative about a rigged election.

    Giuliani is also being investigated by the FBI for his activities on behalf of certain officials — and Trump — in Ukraine. He was part of Trump’s strategy to hold up Congress-approved military aid to Ukraine to pressure officials to launch a baseless investigation into Joe Biden that led to the former president’s first impeachment.

    Audio of conversations released in June revealed Giuliani repeatedly suggesting to Ukrainian officials that the nation could have a “better relationship” with the U.S. if the country’s president would open a Biden probe in 2019.

    In an interview Friday on NBC New York, Giuliani called the investigation “lawless” — and said everything he did was on behalf of his client, Donald Trump.

    “I am more than willing to go to jail if they want to put me in jail. And if they do, they’re going to suffer the consequences in heaven,” he declared.

    A New York state appellate court in June said Giuliani would be temporarily barred from practicing law in the state for making “false and misleading statements” about the 2020 election, pending further investigation into his behavior.

    “The seriousness of respondent’s uncontroverted misconduct cannot be overstated,” the court said in its 33-page decision. “This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election.”
    https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/rudy-...041729650.html

  20. #71100
    Over 9000! PhaelixWW's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pathora44 View Post
    What a damn shame for Giuliani.
    I feel like the line in that article should have been:
    Ghouliani's supporters are "aghast"...






    I'll see myself out...


    "The difference between stupidity
    and genius is that genius has its limits."

    --Alexandre Dumas-fils

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