Political Randomness

RM2 · Post by **RM2** » Wed May 18, 2022 12:41 pm

The fact of the matter is that I am just not very good or creative at coming up with these nicknames. RM is my first and last name initial and my father was the same so I used RM2.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed May 18, 2022 5:38 pm

RM2 wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 12:41 pm The fact of the matter is that I am just not very good or creative at coming up with these nicknames. RM is my first and last name initial and my father was the same so I used RM2.

No worries, and welcome! We're just had a few RM_s around here.

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Wed May 18, 2022 6:28 pm

Feels like an imposter! Test him for Scientology sympathies.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed May 18, 2022 8:56 pm

Next we’re gonna get RM7 of RM9.

RM2 · Post by **RM2** » Wed May 18, 2022 10:42 pm

Well I am glad I am at least providing you guys some entertainment. I have been around longer than you think if I remember on gone gold I was tricky_ricky but never posted then a lot either, I think I am just shy. But enough of this not appropriate for the R&P subforum.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:32 pm

RM2 wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 10:42 pm Well I am glad I am at least providing you guys some entertainment. I have been around longer than you think if I remember on gone gold I was tricky_ricky but never posted then a lot either, I think I am just shy. But enough of this not appropriate for the R&P subforum.

Hey, we rarely get a new voice that isn't a bot. Please identify each square that has a bird in it, and then post away!

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:44 pm

We have a R&P-appropriate Captcha for that.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:57 pm

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526997132858822658

@elonmusk wrote:In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.

But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.

Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold …

I feel like the real issue here is that the GOP is the party of deregulation, with a side of powning the libs.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Thu May 19, 2022 1:48 am

https://twitter.com/stevesilberman/stat ... 5366043648

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu May 19, 2022 1:49 am

Yeah, I'll see your division and hate and raise you some division and hate, because the side with the most hate wins.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu May 19, 2022 8:54 am

Max Peck wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 11:57 pm https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526997132858822658
@elonmusk wrote:In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.

But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.

Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold …
I feel like the real issue here is that the GOP is the party of deregulation, with a side of powning the libs.

He's setting the table so that any criticism or legal action against him can be brushed off as a political attack.

RM2 wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 10:42 pm Well I am glad I am at least providing you guys some entertainment. I have been around longer than you think if I remember on gone gold I was tricky_ricky but never posted then a lot either, I think I am just shy. But enough of this not appropriate for the R&P subforum.

Welcome [back]!

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu May 19, 2022 9:00 am

RM2 wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 10:42 pm Well I am glad I am at least providing you guys some entertainment.

Max Peck wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 11:57 pm https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526997132858822658
@elonmusk wrote:In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.

But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.

Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold …
I feel like the real issue here is that the GOP is the party of deregulation, with a side of powning the libs.

Elon Trump, we can't get away from from you. This tweet was of course mentioned prominently on CNBC this morning. News needs to have a Donald Musk segment so I can know when it turn it off. Every day I have to get exposed to you as if I am following your Marie Antoinarrogance.

In the they previous breath, CNBC have a senator on who is trying to shut down the political influence of Vangaurd and Blackrock while they preen over billionaire GOP supporters and their visions of "free speech." I need to change news sources but I have no idea what's better.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu May 19, 2022 9:18 am

LordMortis wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:00 amI need to change news sources but I have no idea what's better.

It's all about clicks and eyeballs looking for a dopamine hit. There is no good source of news anymore. You have to read multiple sources, see what's in one story, and missing from others, and synthesize. And unfortunately most people don't have the time for it.

Edit: Thinking about Musk as well - he already moved his business to Texas. Probably to be safely in the lawless confines of the 5th circuit. I said it elsewhere and I'll say it again. He is a grifter. I always thought he was skirting the line mostly lawfully and this is aligned with that. He is just throwing in with the side that already won the cold civil war and is remaking the country in front of our eyes for exploitation by grifters like him.

Edit 2: And now that Tweet looks like he was laying the groundwork because he knew that a story about how big a dirtbag he is was about to come out.

Business Insider

SpaceX, the aerospace firm founded by Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest man, paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against Musk in 2018, Insider has learned.

The attendant worked as a member of the cabin crew on a contract basis for SpaceX's corporate jet fleet. She accused Musk of exposing his erect penis to her, rubbing her leg without consent, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage, according to interviews and documents obtained by Insider.

...

After Insider contacted Musk for comment, he emailed to ask for more time to respond and said there is "a lot more to this story."

"If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light," he wrote, calling the story a "politically motivated hit piece."

Insider extended the deadline and reiterated the offer to Musk to comment on the claims. He did not respond.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:26 pm

I just want to claim a victory lap on the fact that I have *always* seen Elon Musk as an asshole.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:41 pm

One of the big themes of the most recent season of Billions is that Paul Giamatti's prosecutor character is on a crusade centered on the proposition that the super-rich are essentially by definition assholes, even if they seem nice, by virtue of the sheer power that they wield. Giamatti's character comes across as a bit crazy at times during the season, but I'm really coming around to his point of view.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:56 pm

El Guapo wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 5:41 pm One of the big themes of the most recent season of Billions is that Paul Giamatti's prosecutor character is on a crusade centered on the proposition that the super-rich are essentially by definition assholes, even if they seem nice, by virtue of the sheer power that they wield. Giamatti's character comes across as a bit crazy at times during the season, but I'm really coming around to his point of view.

I mean asshole is a given. My problem with many of them is that they are over represented with people with serious personality disorders and that's not so great when they also have a lot of power. Trump is an example of the extreme damage that our inability to deal with that can do. But back to Musk. He is not a good person. I mean he has done good things and he's clearly a smart person. However, if you pay attention to what his ex's say or the litany of employees who say he stole their ideas and/or is incredibly abusive you can quickly ascertain he is a monster. But our society is a broken, cesspool of immorality so he has the ability to be a monster openly because enough people cheer that behavior on.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri May 20, 2022 6:09 pm

Whatever interesting or good results Musk has produced, the Cult of Elon is bad. If nothing else, it erases the fact that everything good he has done has depended on many other people.

Yes, he has made some good choices in funding and forwarding useful projects, but the idea that he is somehow personally and solely responsible for (e.g.) the successes of SpaceX is ridiculous. He had the opportunity (South African emerald mine and capitalist prejudice towards people with capital), yay, but he never designed or built a rocket. Many other educated people working together (dependent upon his largesse, sure) did that.

It's a John Galt story, with all of the pernicious ideology that comes with it. Now we're seeing it flower into 21st century right-wing TwitterThink.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Fri May 20, 2022 6:14 pm

Holman wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 5:26 pm I just want to claim a victory lap on the fact that I have *always* seen Elon Musk as an asshole.

We need a secret handshake.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri May 20, 2022 7:20 pm

malchior wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 5:56 pm I mean asshole is a given. My problem with many of them is that they are over represented with people with serious personality disorders and that's not so great when they also have a lot of power. Trump is an example of the extreme damage that our inability to deal with that can do. But back to Musk. He is not a good person. I mean he has done good things and he's clearly a smart person. However, if you pay attention to what his ex's say or the litany of employees who say he stole their ideas and/or is incredibly abusive you can quickly ascertain he is a monster. But our society is a broken, cesspool of immorality so he has the ability to be a monster openly because enough people cheer that behavior on.

That neither of Tesla's founders are at Tesla any more and still supporting Tesla while staying tight lipped about Musk seems like it should be telling.

I can't take victory lap along with the rest of you. I don't think it really started to hit me until the last 3 years or maybe less, how much damage he is doing and how that may overshadow how much good his investment sense has done.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri May 20, 2022 7:53 pm

LordMortis wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 7:20 pm That neither of Tesla's founders are at Tesla any more and still supporting Tesla while staying tight lipped about Musk seems like it should be telling.

LA Times, 2009

After months of legal wrangling, Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk and former Chief Executive Martin Eberhard have agreed that they, along with three others, are officially equals and co-founders of the company
...
A spokesman for the San Carlos, Calif., automaker confirmed Monday that a defamation suit filed by Eberhard in May against Musk had been settled out of court. The litigation had largely revolved around the right of Musk to call himself the founder of the firm.

Neither side disclosed details of the agreement. But a statement released by Tesla about the confidential settlement referred to the men as “two of the co-founders of Tesla.” (The others, according to reports, are Chief Technology Officer J.B. Straubel, as well as departed executives Marc Tarpenning and Ian Wright.)

It’s an unexpected happy ending for two men who had taken to blaming each other for the company’s numerous missteps and delays. Musk, who made hundreds of millions of dollars as the largest shareholder in PayPal when it was bought by EBay Inc., took the reins at Tesla in October. Eberhard left the company late in 2007, shortly after being relieved of his executive duties.

Eberhard, who has bashed Musk publicly on his blog and accused him of sundry errors in leadership at Tesla in the lawsuit, is singing a different tune.

I'm sure there's some language in that settlement.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri May 20, 2022 8:02 pm

Guess I wasn't following Tesla that closely in 2009,

So it's more telling than I thought.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri May 20, 2022 9:25 pm

Well, I guess you're not an asshole when your former partners' law firms spend years working out a statement accepting that you're not technically an asshole?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri May 20, 2022 10:23 pm

malchior wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 9:18 am
The attendant worked as a member of the cabin crew on a contract basis for SpaceX's corporate jet fleet. She accused Musk of exposing his erect penis to her, rubbing her leg without consent, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage, according to interviews and documents obtained by Insider.

...

After Insider contacted Musk for comment, he emailed to ask for more time to respond and said there is "a lot more to this story."

"If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light," he wrote, calling the story a "politically motivated hit piece."

Insider extended the deadline and reiterated the offer to Musk to comment on the claims. He did not respond.

Who offers someone a horse in exchange for sex? Are men driving to Tijuana with horse trailers regularly?

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sat May 21, 2022 8:51 pm

Wasn't that a plot point in Clerks 2?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat May 21, 2022 9:54 pm

Hey, Fucko, we like to call it inter-species erotica.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Sun May 22, 2022 7:09 pm

malchior wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 4:54 pm This is the type of cut through the bullshit messaging the Democrats desperately need to foster.

https://twitter.com/RadioGuyChris/statu ... 3983820800

Meanwhile, you have terrible takes like this one, which ignores much of what he said and has a bad faith interpretation of the rest of what he said.

https://twitter.com/marwilliamson/statu ... 3370919936

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon May 23, 2022 8:01 am

From a long Frum tweet this am - talking about esper’s book and how Esper claims he (mostly) effectively was able to thwart Trump’s worst instincts either by delaying or diverting.

"The sunny American confidence that everything will turn out all right is itself the greatest threat to everything turning out all right.” (Frum)

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon May 23, 2022 8:42 am

I saw that thread. I wasn't going to read Esper myself so value Frum taking the hit. What I still do not value is after the fact self-absolution of horrible conduct. For example, Esper says if it wasn't me it would have been someone worse? Maybe so but it doesn't look good when you step over tons of garbage and then cash in on a book deal at the end.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon May 23, 2022 9:40 am

malchior wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 8:42 am I saw that thread. I wasn't going to read Esper myself so value Frum taking the hit. What I still do not value is after the fact self-absolution of horrible conduct. For example, Esper says if it wasn't me it would have been someone worse? Maybe so but it doesn't look good when you step over tons of garbage and then cash in on a book deal at the end.

I am pretty tired of the endless "but what was I supposed to do? Resign?" arguments from Trumpist enablers. That said, I have more sympathy for Esper here, because the Secretary of Defense is a uniquely important position when you're dealing with a would-be authoritarian president. The things that Trump could have done with a Bill Barr equivalent at DoD are pretty scary in terms of destroying America's international alliances, deploying troops against protestors, etc. I am genuinely glad that Esper was there in place of possible alternatives for most of 2020. And some of the delay in the book can (I think) be fairly attributed to the classification review process.

The core point that Frum was making with his thread, which is important, is that it sounds like Esper is really making a "things weren't so bad because the system held" type argument with his book. Which I guess shouldn't be surprising as it fits naturally in with Esper's self-lionization of his role (because of important people like me the system held). But that kind of "the system will hold" optimism is dangerous because of the danger it's in and because it's probably unfounded. As Frum argues if Trump returns to power in 2025 the odds that the system will hold are very very low, because he'll come in with a set of new loyalists and with a much better understanding of the weaknesses in the system. So "the system will hold" is a really dangerous and foolish ultimate argument for Esper to make.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon May 23, 2022 9:43 am

Isgrimnur wrote: Sat May 21, 2022 9:54 pm Hey, Fucko, we like to call it inter-species erotica.

Neeeiiiigggghhhhh means Neeeiiiigggghhhhh

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon May 23, 2022 12:54 pm

Re:Malchior’s last sentence above, the scary quote was ‘the velociraptors have learned to open the door’ or something to that effect.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon May 23, 2022 2:01 pm

This guy just nuked his account from Twitter existence. Which is just doing everyone a favor.

https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/statu ... 7310198785

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Mon May 23, 2022 4:14 pm

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status ... 9132828673

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue May 24, 2022 6:02 pm

I finally took Al Jazeera off my favorites. I got tired of all the anti American op-eds and pro Arab news. Their western news wasn't any different than any of the other western news sources.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue May 24, 2022 11:13 pm

CNN Report on Shireen Abu Akleh shooting

Several shots ring out in quick succession, cutting through a clear, blue spring morning in Jenin, in the West Bank. Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack.

The cameraman filming the scene scrambles backwards to take cover behind a low concrete wall. Then a man cries out in Arabic: "Injured! Shireen, Shireen, oh man, Shireen! Ambulance!"

When the camera operator pans around the corner, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh can be seen lying motionless, face down on the ground as another Palestinian reporter, Shatha Hanaysha, crouches down beside her, using a tree trunk for cover. Hanaysha reaches out and tries to rouse her as gunshots continue. There's no response. Both women are wearing helmets and blue protective vests marked "Press."

In the moments that follow, a man in a white T-shirt makes several attempts to move Abu Akleh, but is forced back repeatedly by gunfire. Finally, after a few long minutes, he manages to drag her body from the street.

The shaky video, filmed by Al Jazeera cameraman Majdi Banura, captures the scene when Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian-American was killed by a bullet to the head at around 6:30 a.m. on May 11. She had been standing with a group of journalists near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp, where they had come to cover an Israeli raid. While the footage does not show Abu Akleh being shot, eyewitnesses told CNN that they believe Israeli forces on the same street fired deliberately on the reporters in a targeted attack. All of the journalists were wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the news media.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed May 25, 2022 11:02 pm

I've noticed a pattern...

Me on climate change and on COVID:

Spoiler:

Me on school shootings:

Spoiler:

As someone who spent most of their life as a starry-eyed optimist, I've really become a fatalistic, pessimistic asshole lately.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu May 26, 2022 12:36 am

Even I, probably the most fervent gun nut on the board thinks it time to do something. 40 years ago I had a Mini-14. I took it out and had a grand old time wasting ammo. I used 4-5 boxes of ammo each time I went out. I realized I couldn't afford to do this and couldn't control myself and sold it. The only reason (for practical reasons) to have this type of weapon is for warfare, either foreign invaders or the domestic type. Bored 18 years olds don't need it. Right wing militias don't need it. It's time to ban the damn things. We can't make the ones who owns these turn them in but we can start limiting their presence.
Nobody needs these things for self defense. Shotguns are the best for that. Ar-15s are an offensive weapon.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu May 26, 2022 7:54 am

Blackhawk wrote: Wed May 25, 2022 11:02 pmAs someone who spent most of their life as a starry-eyed optimist, I've really become a fatalistic, pessimistic asshole lately.

FWIW I think this is an artifact of our culture. Americans were by large fantasyland, head in sand optimists until we got kicked in the nuts often enough to change. Churchill said it nicer. Except now we won't change. Does that make you an asshole or someone who simply rejects an incredibly toxic culture?

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Thu May 26, 2022 8:49 am

That makes me feel a little better.

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Thu May 26, 2022 11:24 am