Jump to content

Bat Guano

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    788
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Bat Guano

  1. Sasse and Flake seem like they're itching to primary Trump. Maybe Kasich, too. Perry would be stupid to jump in with them; so, maybe?
  2. Seems like security guards can't stop a determined shooter.
  3. Here is what we know about the suspect: • Mr. Long, of Newbury Park, Calif., had served in the United States Marine Corps. • Sheriff Geoff Dean said deputies had several interactions with Mr. Long over the last few years. One of the encounters involved a reported disturbance at his home in April that prompted mental health specialists to talk to him. • The specialists who spoke with Mr. Long discussed his military service with him and whether he had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. They determined that he was not an immediate danger to himself or others and that he could not be involuntarily taken to a mental hospital. • Sheriff Dean said that Mr. Long was the victim in a January 2015 fight at a different bar in Thousand Oaks. After the Wednesday night shooting, the authorities recovered a handgun inside the Borderline Bar & Grill, a Glock 21 .45-caliber handgun, which they believe Mr. Long used in the attack. The firearm had been outfitted with an extended magazine to hold more bullets than a typical handgun. It had been purchased legally, Sheriff Dean said. • Mr. Long first shot a security guard outside the bar, went inside and then shot more security personnel and employees before opening fire on patrons. Read here for the latest developments on the Thousand Oaks shooting. From the NYT.
  4. You talkin' to me? Did I call you any of those things? I don't remember calling you or anyone else anything like that. Are you OK with Trump suspending the Constitution as long as he makes you feel good?
  5. Yeah, that's it. That and the fact that she didn't start a thread to whine about how someone said something mean to her on the internet.
  6. The difference is that your online persona is that of a whiny cunt. And it's so consistent it's probably very close to your real persona. While Bama Chick's online persona is that of a witty, thoughtful commentator on current events, and the ease with which she posts smart, incisive comments indicates that it's her real persona. That is, she's not a whiny cunt. Like you are.
  7. This is the point.
  8. OK, let's go back to the original hypothetical: Starting a war. Jumping in on the side of an ally that's been attacked isn't starting a war. The point is people take principled stances when there's no pressure and then abandon them when things get real; if you really want to take a principled stand on something, decide what your principles are, and stick to them.
  9. Sorry, that's not very reassuring. On the one hand it's good to hear your disavowal of your rather horrifying bloodlust post 9/11, but on the other I don't think you recognize how easily, casually, Trump would Trump up some excuse for war - he's on that path right now with Iran. He'd do anything to survive politically, and would literally not give a second thought to starting a war of choice if he thought it would help him. Add to that the enormous megaphone the president has - any president - and the willingness the media has shown to go along with pretty much any use of force by any president (yes, it has; your tribe were whining about how mean the media were to Bush before the Iraq war, and then all of a sudden they were all in on the warmongering; the near-universal fawning when Trump shot cruise missiles into Syria was disgusting) and you have a situation where the public pressure for war becomes very strong in a hurry. Add to that the sycophantic behavior of the Trumpkins - and no, I don't think I'm overestimating that at all - and I guarantee a wag-the-dog war would be very easy for him to sell. And the fact that you're already waffling shows me you'd go along - maybe reluctantly, maybe enthusiastically. You'd find a way to convince yourself that what the president says is true; after all, when has he ever lied to the American people? So it doesn't look much like a line anymore.
  10. Fify. Abortion of a white baby would be a problem.
  11. And no, this is not a post-election sour grapes thing; I've been thinking about it for a long time, and just waited until after the election to post because nobody would have paid attention to it before the election.
  12. These are hypotheticals. Lots of people would have said the Sessions firing wouldn't happen, until yesterday. I'm asking for an answer IF THEY DO HAPPEN. And I happen to think that the first 4 items are absolutely 100 percent locks to happen. Are they a bridge too far for you? Translating your answer to 7 - it sounds like a war is OK with you; that's not the line. Same with 8; noted. Martial law? If he disbands Congress, what's to stop him from the next step? Suppose I change it to 'suspend parts of the Constitution,' e.g., the First Amendment protections for the press; maybe he has Jim Acosta or the editorial board of the NYT arrested and thrown in the slammer. You still with the Pres in that case? Hypothetical, treat it as if it is happening.
  13. So there is a line for you. Remember, no waffling later on, when the Pres starts beating the drums. I feel like that is part of the problem - lots of the kool-aid drinkers (not sure if you are one or not, since you say you have a line) have a willingness to believe Trump's lies over easily verifiable facts. Of course he encourages this with the 'fake news' nonsense, but even when he explains that he does it to discredit the press so that when bad things come out about him they won't be believed - see the Leslie Stahl interview from 60 minutes a couple of years ago - his followers choose to believe his alternate facts to the actual facts. That was a problem with the Iraq war - there were plenty of us who questioned whether there was a justification for the war, both because of the facts on the ground - no WMDs - and the principle - preemptive wars are generally not justified. It was not difficult to find information counter to the Bush admin's claims of WMDs, but anybody bringing that up was shouted down and called a traitor. The same thing will happen the next time around, on steroids; people don't learn the lessons of the past, and there are many of them in the Trump camp no matter what idiocy he proposes.
  14. Nope. Dead serious. Wag-the-dog war with Iran, Syria, North Korea - take your pick, on some pretext or other. Would you rationalize it, accept whatever rationale Trump fabricates to feed you, or push back? Piss tape, and Putin is blackmailing Trump. He wants sanctions lifted. Trump is going along to the best of his ability - this is not in dispute - and now we know the reason why. This is OK with you, or not?
  15. Seriously, none of those items do it for you? I thought a couple of them were ringers. You're OK with making America Putin's bitch?
  16. What's the overreaction?
  17. That's what I'm afraid of. I was hoping otherwise. Fuck.
  18. Only if Trump is the catcher, I assume.
  19. A couple more: - He uses the N-word or another racial slur in public - It comes out that he's paid for abortions for his mistresses
  20. Now that the midterms are over and the Ds have the House, things are going to get rough. You think the first 2 years of the Trump presidency were bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet. After all, you gotta have a compelling story line for the upcoming seasons of the reality show, keep the ratings up. So you can be sure Trump will do some things that most people will find appalling – much worse than what he’s done before. And yet many people will still support him, just like they have after all the appalling things he’s already done. Even so, there should be a line for most people; there should be some principle, deep in the heart of even the most loyal and/or depraved Trump fan, that if it were violated, they would reluctantly part ways with the Orange One. Now, if you are a Trump supporter, you should establish where that line is, before the roller coaster takes that first stomach-churning plunge. If you want to make data-driven decisions you establish what criteria will drive your decision beforehand and then stick to those criteria. Same goes for principles – decide what circumstances will violate your principles beforehand, and stick to it. Are you as all-in as he thinks you are – i.e., he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and you’d still support him? Or do you think he’s done some stuff that’s maybe not so good, but the good – Supreme Court justices you like, maybe tax cuts and cutting regulations - still outweighs the bad? If you’re in the second category, what kind of thing would it take for you to drop him? I was going to put firing Sessions on this list as a mild lead-in example, but he beat me to it. There will be worse to come. Here are some possible examples: 1. Fire Robert Mueller 2. Fire Rosenstein and meddle in/try to stop the Russia, etc. investigation 3. Refuse to comply with lawful subpoenas from the Democratic House – for, e.g., his tax returns 4. Refuse to comply with a Supreme Court ruling 5. Piss tape – what if there really is one? What if it becomes public? 6. Piss tape, part 2: What if Putin has been blackmailing him about the tape, or something else, and he really is a Russian puppet? 7. Start a war 8. Disband Congress 9. Institute martial law This is not an exhaustive list; I lack the imagination to predict some of what I am sure is coming. Feel free to add to it. Yes, I actually do think all of those things are possible, and much more. I think several of them are almost a certainty. So where is your particular line? What would cause you to pull your support? Remember, no hedging later; you draw the line, and you stick to it.
  21. He lost. To Ted fucking Cruz. Don't make me bring up aggy.
  22. Can't disagree; and the world has changed, so maybe experience isn't a prerequisite anymore. And his message this election was very much a national one, with a few Texas specifics - a few tweaks and he could take it on the road.
×
×
  • Create New...