2020 US Presidential Election

[Luman]

They're pro-murder on 4% of the ones that are innocent.

US death row study: 4% of defendants sentenced to die are innocent

1 getting wrongly accused and executed for it is bad enough, but 4% of people sentenced to death turning out to be innocent afterwards is just corrupt.

Very pro-life and peaceful! So civilized if you ask me.

I read that article in the Guardian. This 4% figure does not mean that they were or will be execute - in the overwhelming number of cases, they were simply moved from death row to a life sentence. I would like there to be more executions of violent criminals, and historically speaking, very few convictions that resulted in the death penalty being carried out, were later found to have been unjust.

 

[TeeOh]

I didn't even think of that, the abortion pill would probably become one of the most commonly traded illegal drugs of all time.

And you would have a lot of teen girls lives ruined with prison time.

It doesn't end there. They will probably get rejected from future opportunities if it goes on their record, then they'll be in poverty and afterwards that could lead to more crime, because I think most people here would at least shoplift for a chicken dinner if they can't afford food (malnutrition can be stressful).

If I recall correctly, but people in poverty tend to have higher fertility rates, mainly due to a combination of lack of education, opportunities and the overall bad economic situation where they sometimes rely on their children growing up to look after them one day soon there's a lack of opportunities and support for them.

Then she'll start having more hatred for the government that failed to take care of her and her children, where she will probably teach her children on how shitty the government is and how they're worth no respect. After that, her kids will grow up and take part in the future riots if they stay in poverty, as long as social mobility continues to get worse.

Society just becomes worse and some folks will still wonder why civil unrest is becoming more common.

Is this the right wing paradise I keep hearing about?

I'll pass.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

In sports, I felt Tom Brady was not being humble in the last quarter and after the game yesterday. This was one of the NFL divisional-round playoff games over the weekend. I didn't think that another great quarterback Drew Brees who was playing his last game did not deserve this from Brady.

 

[just1morething]

In sports, I felt Tom Brady was over doing humbleness in the last quarter and after the game yesterday. This was one of the NFL divisional-round playoff games over the weekend. I didn't think that another great quarterback Drew Brees who was playing his last game deserved this.

Brady is super competitive and with their defense I hope it's a good game next weekend. I would prefer the 2 top seeds winning. When Brady loses he gets quite ugly. I wonder how he would have treated Brees had they lost? I know they are good friends.

 

[GlennS]

shows Trump supporters going off chambers in parliament, shouting menacingly, 'Knock, knock, we're here!', Search the Senate for evidence of electoral fraud, and leave a threatening letter for Vice President Mike Pence.

This suddenly makes me think of this. If only the Capitol didn't have a self-destruct, not that I would have liked to have seen the building collapse, but maybe it would have been worth it to cleanse the world of this scum.

 

[TeeOh]

This suddenly makes me think of this. If only the Capitol didn't have a self-destruct, not that I would have liked to have seen the building collapse, but maybe it would have been worth it to cleanse the world of this scum.

Looks like you might follow some principles of utilitarianism.

Sorry for the corny looking design. Pretend the joker is Nazi Germany:

 

[FGG]

Dear god you are not wrong, it'd make the black market for drugs look like a joke.

I think what almost every pro-life person fails to realize is Roe v Wade was decided in 1973. The abortion pill (RU-486/Misoprostol combo) was developed in 1980. The pill can be used to cause an abortion in the first or second trimester (third trimester abortions are already illegal in every state *except* when the fetus would be non viable or there are serious health risk to the mother).

This means all anyone has to do to get an abortion if Roe v Wade was overturned is get a hold of this pill and take it at home. That's it. If anyone here thinks there wouldn't be an immediate massive black market for it, they are severely deluding themselves.

Originally, before Roe v Wade, the law mostly jailed the providers. In the new black market system, the "providers" would be dealers and I don't think I need to tell anyone how effective the "war on drugs" is in preventing drug use.

The reason I think "pro-life" politicians are virtue signaling for the most part is not a single one has a plan in terms of how this would be enforced and, importantly, as I mentioned what the penalty would be for an illegal abortion. Since the "providers" are no longer doctors, you can't just fall back on jailing doctors as before Roe v Wade.

And the "pro-life" politicians are clearly using their "pro-life" stance for public validation and so that their corruption is overlooked since their supporters see them as on the same team in the most emotionally important issue to them. Just to put a fine point on this, there was even a Tennessee pro-life Republican who was caught paying for his mistress' abortion.

I get that politicians are corrupt but what I don't get is that the "pro-life" party (the constituents) are largely: pro death penalty, against universal child health care, against measures to fight childhood poverty, and even against the policies that have been shown to reduce abortion.

I have heard abortion described as "the silent holocaust." If that's true, wouldn't you do anything to actually reduce it in the real world? Like immediately provide easy, cheap contraception access, teaching comprehensive sex education, and provide financial assistance so more poor women could afford to keep their child? If not, it seems like it's a bit of lip service and a way to feel good about yourself for opposing this (and maybe getting points with your friends, church and it is assumed God, I guess).

 

[Juan]

Yes, there is a big chance that he will win the next elections, given the recent polls. Most people on the right and centre don't think that anyone of these right wing/moderate parties are to blame for what happened in this situation. They will frame this as a cock-up on an individual level in one of the governmental institutions.

This is contrary to the belief that some people with left wing sympathies have that this so called ''social benefits affair'' is the very outcome of fairly recent neoliberal politics of the current and previous governments under guidance of right wing liberal-conservative & Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who has introduced a very strict benefits system (in Dutch: Participatie Samenleving) that often disadvantages the poor and people with a different ethnic background. This is often based on the assumption that there is widespread fraud in the social group of social benefits recipients, while there is almost no statistical significance that this is truly the case.

There is, however, a significant statistical rate in white-collar crime (e.g. tax avoidance by big corporations), but unfortunately my government doesn't do a lot to curtail this type of crime.

I think this is happening everywhere. Politicians try to confront people, to make citizens fight against each other and be suspicious, specially of those who are different due to ethnicity, race, sexual orientation etc etc.

A friend of mine was fired last week and he was telling me about the unemployment payments he will have for a few months. It was a pittance, specially compared to the salary he was making.

But politicians try to make people think that the unemployed are just lazy bums who abuse the system. However, it is rich politicians and global corporations who mostly abuse the system, and because of them we have to pay hefty taxes.

 

[TeeOh]

I get that politicians are corrupt but what I don't get is that the "pro-life" party (the constituents) are largely: pro death penalty, against universal child health care, against measures to fight childhood poverty, and even against the policies that have been shown to reduce abortion.

I have heard abortion described as "the silent holocaust." If that's true, wouldn't you do anything to actually reduce it in the real world? Like immediately provide easy, cheap contraception access, teaching comprehensive sex education, and provide financial assistance so more poor women could afford to keep their child? If not, it seems like it's a bit of lip service and a way to feel good about yourself for opposing this (and maybe getting points with your friends, church and it is assumed God, I guess).

The US has a rather high infant mortality rate as well. I don't mean high for first world country standards, because Cuba which is an actual communist country under a brutal embargo still driving cars from the 1950's, literally has a lower infant mortality rate than the US itself! I'm not joking, take a look at the wiki page I linked.

What you mentioned would actually help lower the amount of alive babies dying, but nope that's socialism.

I want to know, what are the right wingers plans on lowering the infant mortality rate that isn't "socialism"?

How can you be pro-life, yet neglect babies after "saving" them from abortion by letting them die from preventable causes like malnutrition because apparently food stamps is communism?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_and_under-five_mortality_rates

 

[Luman]

I'd leave Row vs. Wade up to the individual states to decide whether to make abortion illegal or not. I am in favor of it being legal, but it goes against the conscience of many people, usually in the Southern states.

 

[Contrast]

One of my neighbors still has a Trump 2020 sticker in her yard. Next to it is a sign that says "make liberals cry again" and "stop the steal" propaganda. The disinformation campaign isn't going away anytime soon. Trump could have resigned with dignity if not making a major ass out of himself post election day.

 

[serendipity1996]

I think what almost every pro-life person fails to realize is Roe v Wade was decided in 1973. The abortion pill (RU-486/Misoprostol combo) was developed in 1980. The pill can be used to cause an abortion in the first or second trimester (third trimester abortions are already illegal in every state *except* when the fetus would be non viable or there are serious health risk to the mother).

This means all anyone has to do to get an abortion if Roe v Wade was overturned is get a hold of this pill and take it at home. That's it. If anyone here thinks there wouldn't be an immediate massive black market for it, they are severely deluding themselves.

Originally, before Roe v Wade, the law mostly jailed the providers. In the new black market system, the "providers" would be dealers and I don't think I need to tell anyone how effective the "war on drugs" is in preventing drug use.

The reason I think "pro-life" politicians are virtue signaling for the most part is not a single one has a plan in terms of how this would be enforced and, importantly, as I mentioned what the penalty would be for an illegal abortion. Since the "providers" are no longer doctors, you can't just fall back on jailing doctors as before Roe v Wade.

And the "pro-life" politicians are clearly using their "pro-life" stance for public validation and so that their corruption is overlooked since their supporters see them as on the same team in the most emotionally important issue to them. Just to put a fine point on this, there was even a Tennessee pro-life Republican who was caught paying for his mistress' abortion.

I get that politicians are corrupt but what I don't get is that the "pro-life" party (the constituents) are largely: pro death penalty, against universal child health care, against measures to fight childhood poverty, and even against the policies that have been shown to reduce abortion.

I have heard abortion described as "the silent holocaust." If that's true, wouldn't you do anything to actually reduce it in the real world? Like immediately provide easy, cheap contraception access, teaching comprehensive sex education, and provide financial assistance so more poor women could afford to keep their child? If not, it seems like it's a bit of lip service and a way to feel good about yourself for opposing this (and maybe getting points with your friends, church and it is assumed God, I guess).

I agree completely - all these pro-lifers tend to not actually care about the quality of life afforded to people and also tend to oppose social safety nets etc. I don't understand how these people don't get that outlawing abortion won't get rid of it - it just makes it harder and more dangerous for women to access one safely. I actually used to be friends with this guy who was a pro-lifer (we're obviously not friends anymore lmao) who told me that abortion is "a fine-tuned killing machine" and that by being pro-choice, I "resonate with murder." I cannot take these people seriously!

 

[GlennS]

Looks like you might follow some principles of utilitarianism.

How it was expressed in Star Trek.

I guess I'm quoting Star Trek a lot because I was raised atheist and these times seem to be pushing people into having to take a stand for what they really believe in, and I got my education about right and wrong from pop culture, which was, let's face it, a lot more wholesome then than it is now.

 

[FGG]

I agree completely - all these pro-lifers tend to not actually care about the quality of life afforded to people and also tend to oppose social safety nets etc. I don't understand how these people don't get that outlawing abortion won't get rid of it - it just makes it harder and more dangerous for women to access one safely. I actually used to be friends with this guy who was a pro-lifer (we're obviously not friends anymore lmao) who told me that abortion is "a fine-tuned killing machine" and that by being pro-choice, I "resonate with murder." I cannot take these people seriously!

Paradoxically, abortion would be easier to get in the US if outlawed after a year or two once the black market got set up but a lot less safe (some states only have less than a handful of clinics in the whole state). Who knows what the drugs would be cut with.

 

[TeeOh]

"pov: you are a high school bully circa 1998 and you just lockered that weird conservative kid" - someone from the comments

 

[Born To Slay]

Paradoxically, abortion would be easier to get in the US if outlawed after a year or two once the black market got set up but a lot less safe (some states only have less than a handful of clinics in the whole state). Who knows what the drugs would be cut with.

There's already a black market:

The Nuance Behind Those Low Abortion Numbers: Women Are Self-Managing Care With Black Market Pills

 

[Daniel Lion]

I read that Giuliani will be representing President Trump in the impeachment case.

This is good news, I was worried Alan Dershowitz was going to take that job, and he is really good at his job.

Hoping Giuliani goes on some mental tangents and calks the whole thing up

 

[Daniel Lion]

Brady is super competitive and with their defense I hope it's a good game next weekend. I would prefer the 2 top seeds winning. When Brady loses he gets quite ugly. I wonder how he would have treated Brees had they lost? I know they are good friends.

Go Pats, Go Celtics, Go Red Sox, Go Bruins. Go FX-322.

Massachusetts rules...

We're going to get you Vikings, Twins and Timberwolves.

More fart noise.

 

[FGG]

One of my neighbors still has a Trump 2020 sticker in her yard. Next to it is a sign that says "make liberals cry again" and "stop the steal" propaganda. The disinformation campaign isn't going away anytime soon. Trump could have resigned with dignity if not making a major ass out of himself post election day.

There will be people years from now with those signs.

For some reason, I have been thinking of Harold Camping today and how people still passionately believed in him for years, no matter how much he got wrong:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping

 

[just1morething]

Go Pats, Go Celtics, Go Red Sox, Go Bruins. Go FX-322.

Massachusetts rules...

We're going to get you Vikings, Twins and Timberwolves.

More fart noise.

Yeah but do you still like Brady? He gave you a lot of good times. The Packers fans didn't like when Favre came to the Vikings but it was the same division. It wasn't fair how the Saints beat up Favre in the NFC Championship game. Hardly any calls against the Saints. Your home state sure won a lot of championships.

I would much sooner have fart noise than head noise. I have my typical static again, tough to bear.

I hope you get some relief from your noise and any other ailments. Keep using your fart sound maskers until then.

Most ENTs have never heard of FX-322. They show you the door when you mention tinnitus.

 

[Contrast]

They show you the door when you mention

That's universal for doctors to rush people in and rush them out. Happens in both US and Europe.

 

[just1morething]

Peaceful protester signs, Workers for Trump signs, Women for Trump signs. What happened?



Oh yeah, I forgot.

 

[Lane]

Trump's Dereliction of Duty on Jan. 6 is Part of His Incitement to Insurrection
Bill Kristol and Jeffrey Tulis have today's first must-read:

The House chose not to mention this explicitly in its article of impeachment. But the dereliction of duty on the afternoon of January 6 is further evidence of Trump's guilt. It should be an important part of the case presented to the Senate.

After all, what does it say that the president watched the Capitol being stormed on television, was implored by members of Congress to intervene—and did nothing? Donald Trump chose not to do what any president would have done in the circumstances—to mobilize the federal government to secure the Capitol. And he chose not to speak to the mob—which consisted of his supporters—to tell them to leave until hours after the Capitol was breached.

This stunning dereliction of duty shows that the president understood the attack on the Capitol as the desired result of his prior actions. His dereliction of duty on the day of January 6 is a key part of the case for impeachment, for it refutes the predictable defense of the president—that he did not mean to incite. But the truth is that if he had not meant to incite, he would have reacted with horror, mobilized the federal government, and done his best to call off the mob immediately. He did none of these things.​

 

[Lane]

Short video -- I thought it was funny.

Pack Your Sh*t and Go | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

 

[Zugzug]

Trump's Dereliction of Duty on Jan. 6 is Part of His Incitement to Insurrection
Bill Kristol and Jeffrey Tulis have today's first must-read:

The House chose not to mention this explicitly in its article of impeachment. But the dereliction of duty on the afternoon of January 6 is further evidence of Trump's guilt. It should be an important part of the case presented to the Senate.

After all, what does it say that the president watched the Capitol being stormed on television, was implored by members of Congress to intervene—and did nothing? Donald Trump chose not to do what any president would have done in the circumstances—to mobilize the federal government to secure the Capitol. And he chose not to speak to the mob—which consisted of his supporters—to tell them to leave until hours after the Capitol was breached.

This stunning dereliction of duty shows that the president understood the attack on the Capitol as the desired result of his prior actions. His dereliction of duty on the day of January 6 is a key part of the case for impeachment, for it refutes the predictable defense of the president—that he did not mean to incite. But the truth is that if he had not meant to incite, he would have reacted with horror, mobilized the federal government, and done his best to call off the mob immediately. He did none of these things.​

As always, the sane people fully understand this and the deplorables move the goal posts.

They have the nerve to play whataboutism. If it was Obama, he would be impeached, convicted, and assassinated.

 

[Christiaan]

I think this is happening everywhere. Politicians try to confront people, to make citizens fight against each other and be suspicious, specially of those who are different due to ethnicity, race, sexual orientation etc etc.

A friend of mine was fired last week and he was telling me about the unemployment payments he will have for a few months. It was a pittance, specially compared to the salary he was making.

But politicians try to make people think that the unemployed are just lazy bums who abuse the system. However, it is rich politicians and global corporations who mostly abuse the system, and because of them we have to pay hefty taxes.

Isn't the PSOE-Podemos coalition trying to emulate the Nordic model in Spain? I thought I read it somewhere. It should certainly entail a more generous unemployment payment for keeping people out of poverty (80/90% retainment of former salary).

I fully agree with you that some politicians are playing people out by throwing in a ''culture wars'' bone, which creates a smokescreen to propagate policies that are only of interest to the few, not the many. It's not unsurprising for this particular reason that there is a revolving door between right-wing and moderate politicians and big business in my country, for instance.

Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of people in our countries are very sensitive to nationalist rhetoric from politicians like Santiago Abascal & Geert Wilders, e.g. that the EU is taking away their freedom or that Muslims are going to force them their religion.

These people often forget that these politicians have a very weak platform that barely addresses their own interests, like sound and well-reasoned economic policy. We once had a supply-and-confidence government with radical right wing PVV party in a coalition 10 years ago, and it was barely functioning because of the party's inability to make compromises with other parties & its pure focus on playing the media instead of really doing its job in parliament.

 

[ajc]

Trump is out tomorrow.

A dark cloud is upon us.

 

[GlennS]

Trump is out tomorrow.
A dark cloud is upon us.

I won't celebrate until I see Trump land in at Mar-a-Lago and Biden settles in and passes his initial executive orders. Until then, it seems like anything can still happen.

Oh, I forgot, you're the MAGA dittohead? Is that why you're saying "a dark cloud is upon us" like something out of Game of Thrones?

Well, buck up, we had to deal with this 4 years ago--now go cry in your cheerios.

 

[Lane]

It looks to me like Mitch McConnell is leaning toward conviction in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.

McConnell: Mob was 'fed lies,' 'provoked by the president and other powerful people'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell opened the Senate on Tuesday saying the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol was "fed lies" by the president and others in the deadly riot to overturn Democrat Joe Biden election.

McConnell's remarks are his most severe and public rebuke of outgoing President Donald Trump. The Republican leader vowed a "safe and successful" inauguration of Biden on Wednesday at the Capitol, which is under extremely tight security.

"The mob was fed lies," McConnell said. "They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of branch of the federal government."..​

 

[FGG]

It looks to me like Mitch McConnell is leaning toward conviction in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.

McConnell: Mob was 'fed lies,' 'provoked by the president and other powerful people'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell opened the Senate on Tuesday saying the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol was "fed lies" by the president and others in the deadly riot to overturn Democrat Joe Biden election.

McConnell's remarks are his most severe and public rebuke of outgoing President Donald Trump. The Republican leader vowed a "safe and successful" inauguration of Biden on Wednesday at the Capitol, which is under extremely tight security.

"The mob was fed lies," McConnell said. "They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of branch of the federal government."..​

Barr too. But fact is, the way cults work, only the leader can call it off.