Telorand

@Telorand@reddthat.com

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Telorand ,

This is why Trump basically has multiple teams of freshman lawyers.

The few experienced lawyers brave enough to take him on quickly find out that he's a giant man-baby who's unable to be controlled or reasoned with (or their hubris makes them think they are one who can), and the greenhorns are too naive to know it's a trap and that they're just fodder for the Trump Grift Machine.

Either way, get fucked Joe. You should have left long ago and kept whatever shred of decency you used to have, instead of letting this rapist continue to abuse his victim.

Telorand ,

Trump is definitely guilty, and I agree that he deserves a defense, but unfortunately for him, it kind of goes out the window when he doesn't respect the laws and courts that give him that right.

He has the right to a defense, not a good one, and that's exactly what he's getting because of his behavior.

Telorand ,

I think it's because Joe thinks sanctions or worse are an imminent possibility, and he doesn't want to throw away his career (any more than he has) on Trump's bullshit.

Telorand ,

They have to disclose it to the judge, but I agree that this shouldn't be allowed to delay the trial if the defendant has a history of intentional delay.

Telorand ,

...a top aide to the former California senator’s 2020 campaign said: “This person should not be president of the United States.”

Cool story, bro. You don't get to tell me what to think.

I get that there's some value in listening to the opinions of people who were close to her, but this is still just one opinion from one person. I don't particularly care about her being President, but I think she'd be orders of magnitude better than the entire Republican lineup.

Now there's some people who should never be President of the US, and you don't have to be a "top aid" to grasp that.

Telorand ,

Iowans picking Cruz, and him winning, is in spite of their choice.

He won, again, because the political landscape was in his favor: it was an off-year, his opponent made a public gaffe about gun control, and lots of conservative Californians had been moving to Texas. Cruz is not a popular politician in Texas, but because there were lots of transplants who hadn't truly experienced his bullshit, they voted for him. Couple that with often-lower turnout in off-year elections and the gun comment, and you have a recipe for a winning strategy.

This time, Cruz is on the ticket for the Presidential Election, Californians are moving to Florida, and Millennials and Gen Z are actually turning up to vote. It doesn't matter what Iowans think, and he should be worried.

Telorand ,

More like House Fucking Crybabies

Telorand ,

Furthermore, this is in line with established legal precedent, e.g. the "gay wedding cake" case. If you provide services to the general public, you don't get to discriminate on religious grounds whether you want to serve one group and not another. That's how we got segregation.

If your religion prevents you from doing all parts of your job, find another fucking job.

Telorand ,

No, but I was almost shot in the back over a matter of $80. Thankfully, some guy in a pastel leather jacket named Clint Eastwood helped me out.

Telorand ,

“There may be a reason that James' staff didn't interrupt,” wrote NBC News legal analyst Lisa Rubin.

No, really? You think maybe they were giving him rope to hang himself? /s

This expert analysis brought to you by the best legal analysts at NBC. FFS, of course that's what they were doing, you ignoramus. The judge is interested in maintaining an orderly courtroom, but unhinged rants are gold mines for prosecutors.

Telorand ,

They didn't say it. They demanded it.

I agree that he should, but as I've seen over the past almost eight years, Congressional demands don't mean shit. Either force him or stop wasting our time with empty declarations.

Telorand ,

Pollsters can't seem to get a pulse on Millennials and Gen Z. For that reason, all these polls that show Biden ahead one month and Trump ahead another are really only useful to pollsters, political scientists, and campaign workers.

Besides, is anyone seriously going to change their vote because of these polls?

Telorand ,

Also, fuck those governors.

Telorand ,

I live in Texas, where our governor recently pined for shooting migrants at the border. I feel you.

U.S. Suspends Military Aid to Ukraine ( www.telesurenglish.net )

"We have issued the last package that we had withdrawn and for which we had funding," John Kirby said. White House National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby said at a briefing Thursday that "the assistance we were providing has come to a halt."...

Telorand ,

Because McCarthyism wasn't about being anti-Russia, it was about being anti-communist. And since Communism is generally (always?) politically left, it's still and always has been about being reactionary conservative.

Telorand ,

I would be fine to let Florida and Texas become their own countries (with anyone who wants to stay in the US being given a substantial subsidy to move elsewhere).

Telorand ,

I agree that they're doing it to themselves, but it's not that it's inadequate. It's that they aren't treating him like a mob boss. They are presuming he has a shred of human decency and isn't a psychopathic narcissist ready to burn it all down out of pettiness and spite.

They've prosecuted mob bosses before, so they simply need to change their paradigm.

Disqualifying Trump Is Not Antidemocratic | But ignoring the Constitution to please his supporters would be a complete breakdown of the rule of law. ( www.theatlantic.com )

What the people who now want us to ignore the Fourteenth Amendment are arguing is that certain aspects of the Constitution ought to be nullified merely by their unpopularity—not even necessarily among a majority of voters but among a subset of extra-special voters. This is not a standard applied to any other aspect of the...

Telorand ,

Saying the 14th Amendment doesn't apply to Trump is textbook Special Pleading.

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

Telorand ,

It's better than that. If he was allowed to ramble incoherently, the judge may have been forced to declare a mistrial, or any judgement could have been overturned on appeal, citing bias.

That his lawyers agreed that he wouldn't follow decorum is the surprising thing, to me, and we should all be glad he's not allowed to make any statements.

Telorand ,

Alternative headline: "CNN lobs softball questions to second and third place Republican hopefuls as 99% of Republicans watch Fox"

‘Biden Against Democracy,’ The Right’s Favorite Trump Rationale. Why the anti-anti-Trump right loves Trump’s message ( nymag.com )

One of Donald Trump’s most consistent election messages is that Joe Biden, not he, is the threat to democracy. The New York Times has an excellent story explaining how this message, which Trump summarizes as “BAD” (Biden Against Democracy), is designed to neutralize Trump’s most important political weakness....

Telorand ,

Why the anti-anti-Trump right loves Trump's message

Because not-not-Trump is just Trump, and the right loves Trump. This isn't hard.

Telorand ,

This is unrelated, because nobody is surprised by this development.

I'm sure it's partly the choice of photo, but just in the last two years, Trump is really starting to look old. Like fucking hell, I don't see how Republicans can complain about Joe Biden's age when that's their guy.

I can only hope his heart is about 20 years older than he looks.

Telorand ,

I am bleeding, making me the victor!

Trump often passively encourages violence — and actively rationalizes it ( www.washingtonpost.com )

There is no question that Donald Trump appears at least indifferent when his supporters engage in violence on his behalf. There are numerous examples and numerous compilations of those examples, to the extent that it barely warrants recapitulation....

Telorand ,

Trump. Is. A. Mob. Boss.

His cultists are his mob. When you understand this fact, everything he does makes sense. We need to collectively stop acting surprised when he does and says things in line with mob bosses.

Telorand ,

I dunno yet if it's "can't" or "haven't yet."

Telorand ,

Pesky Kid: I looked up the word "fascist" on my parent's phone, and it showed a picture of Ron DeSantis. Weirdly, it does the same when you lookup "dumbass..."

Telorand ,

They're a left-biased, instant news publication. They operate off of the 24h news cycle.

To be clear, I would much rather read a left-biased news publication than a right-biased one, because one side has invented reality wholecloth, while the other still (generally) believes facts in context speak for themselves.

But if you're trying to be a thoughtful and rational person, I wouldn't exclusively read their articles, and when I do, I'd look for the overarching points and try to avoid getting bogged down in the rhetoric.

Telorand ,

Thank you! Nice comments are always appreciated!

Telorand ,

You don't have to fuck everything you look at, even if what you're looking at is naked.

I mean, they're a bunch of ascetics, so they're wound up tighter than shibari ropes.

MAGA Republicans much more likely to endorse "delusional" and pro-violence statements, study finds ( www.psypost.org )

A new study has revealed that a specific group of Republicans, known as MAGA Republicans, are more likely than other groups to endorse political violence. The findings, published in PLOS One, indicate that this group, making up approximately 15% of the US adult population, showed distinct beliefs on race and democracy, differing...

Telorand ,

You are missing the point and misrepresenting science. The reason to do science isn't to point things out, and that's not what they're doing here. They're not starting with the conclusion (except that it's perhaps the impetus to form various hypotheses).

Science tries to determine why things happen, and scientists make conclusions (and maybe more hypotheses) based on where the evidence leads. Figuring out why there's something wrong with these people is not a fruitless endeavor, because if we know why, we can potentially rectify it.

Edit: clarification

Trump team argues assassination of rivals is covered by presidential immunity ( thehill.com )

Former President Trump’s legal team suggested Tuesday that even a president directing SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent would be an action barred from prosecution given a former executive’s broad immunity to criminal prosecution....

Telorand ,

They are also praying to their god that the Appellate Court has no knowledge of the "color of office" argument. Assassinations of US citizens is most definitely beyond the scope of presidential duties, and to accept otherwise is to accept that the president is a king.

Telorand ,

He killed four. Three were accidental, one was a literal terrorist helping to plan attacks on American targets. None were on American soil.

I'm undecided if the terrorist one deserves the rights awarded by the fifth amendment, but as for the other three, it's not like he went out of his way to target them.

Trump's lawyers, on the other hand, are essentially arguing that the president can do what he wants to whomever he wants, even on American soil. It's like it's straight from Putin's mouth.

Telorand ,

Florida will be an excellent case study for future historians about how authoritarianism and anti-intellectualism are a deadly combination.

Telorand ,

Voting isn't a valentine. It's a chess move. —Rebecca Solnit

Telorand ,

Finally. At least somebody in the government has pointed out the obvious (as expected of the Freethought Caucus co-chair). Trump is a mob boss, and the people in his orbit are his inner circle doing his dirty work.

Telorand ,

"Used string instead of zip ties"/10

Telorand ,

He could always...I dunno...look it up. Not like there's a shortage of COVID vaccine studies or middle-school-level explainers to grasp how mRNA works.

But based on his religious language, I doubt he's interested in going against DeSantis or his pastor.

Telorand ,

This was what I immediately thought of. I think his usual "look" is an attempt to try not to laugh maniacally at how much he loves being a partisan hack with impunity.

Telorand ,

The core problem is "wrong" is not a self-evident concept. Christians think masturbation is wrong (and a host of other intrinsically human things). Not so terribly long ago, a disturbingly large number of Americans didn't think it was wrong to own people.

"Minimizing harm," on the other hand, is much easier to pin down.

Telorand ,

I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up yet, but obligatory reminder that "Hollywood Elites" is a dogwhistle that means "Jews." It's antisemitic.

I don't know if Lauren knows that, but I'm sure she knows her supporters say that shit and doesn't care what baggage such a phrase comes with.

Telorand ,

His cultists have said over and over again that they would vote for him no matter what, no matter what crimes he commits or what piece of the government he dismantles.

Cultists defend their leaders' faults with religious zeal; they're brainwashed, and I don't say that lightly.

Telorand ,

Behold Fox News trying to win back some of their moderate viewers and cover their assess, so they don't get hit with another billion dollar lawsuit.

Telorand ,

Yeah, isn't it great? Their comeuppance is long overdue.

Telorand ,

But the Anti-Biden folks will be able to tell the next generation that they "stood up for their own ideals!" Sure, they won't have prevented any genocide, and they will have put the party into power that is currently trying to set up a fascist theocracy, but they can go to sleep knowing they have personal integrity!

/s

Telorand ,

It's a sucky system, for sure, but we have zero chance to fix it by sprinting towards Fascism.

And perhaps it's ultimately a lost cause, but given the demographic shift of Millennials and Gen Z, I think it's far from a foregone conclusion.

Telorand ,

Yeah, sorry. You're going to have to give me a source for that claim.

Telorand ,

When comparing today’s bitter politics and the runup in the 1850s to the Civil War, Freeman sees “more echoes than parallels” and cautions against taking the analogy too far.

Emphasis mine. The echoes are definitely concerning, and I'm not qualified to say we're not heading towards a civil war (and there are other signs besides), but I wish journalists wouldn't bury the lede and emphasize the doomerism.

Fuck, man. We need a little good news.

Telorand ,

They were banking on having slave labor, if they had won. The modern red states, likewise, do not have the wealth/resources required to sustain themselves apart from the blue states. It would be economic devastation.

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