Switchgear
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Posts posted by Switchgear
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16 minutes ago, tshile said:
if you don’t see the threat to democracy, the threat to civil peace, if trump is sentenced to live the rest of his life in prison, I don’t know what to tell you.
simply not winning re-election sparked an insurrection that led to where we are now. How anyone has any confidence there is not a potential for severe fall out of he is sentenced to life in prison, is just utterly naive to me.
Agree completely.
and doing the right thing the right way means recognizing the bar is raised. Delays, timeline, and other things should be expected.
not ranted and raved about as if there is some miscarriage of justice occurring, or that it shows how the laws don’t apply to everyone or nonsense about above the law
So the heart of the issue is, if he goes to prison, his supporters will cause civil unrest, and potentially civil war. I don't disagree with that. But where I think we diverge is in the effectiveness of the DOJ approach to this point. Do you know any Trump supporters that are ok with the DOJ bringing charges against him? I don't. They uniformly think it's "political" and "a weaponized DOJ". My point is, no matter how airtight the case is, no matter how slowly DOJ moves and how professional they are, in the end Trump people are going to be convinced a conviction was rigged, unfair, and invalid. Whatever is going to happen will happen, all that the slow movement has done has created an aura of invincibility around the guy.
I don't want civil war, or civil unrest even, but I don't see Trump people being reasonable about the outcome, if he's convicted, no matter how well the case is made.-
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48 minutes ago, tshile said:
And despite what everyone here thinks about trump - there is a real issue with putting a former president in prison. An issue I think many here are ignoring or grossly overlooking. But just my opinion
I'm curious, what is the issue?
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3 hours ago, Jabbyrwock said:
The clown car is still poling in the high 40's...the wheels aren't even flat, much less coming off. The guy is gonna get convicted and still be a threat to get elected. I mean its nice to see the justice system "working", but lets not overestimate the idea that a conviction will be anything other than a minor speed bump.
I don't know why these charges didn't happen in 2021. It's ridiculous how slowly this has moved. Unbelievable.
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12 hours ago, Renegade7 said:
Regardless of how this turns out, doin behind closed doors is worst thing we could do, in context to the near endless perks Trump has already gotten in his indeictment process everyone has seen that before so this almost has to end with jail time and full visibility for the process that lead to it.
Few things can change people's minds that don't want to change their minds, but this moment is bigger then that.
As PleaseBlitz pointed out on the last page, Trump's lawyers know it isn't possible to televise the trial. They're asking for it so they can yell "Rigged" "Double standard", which their base fully believes already. I doubt there's some way to suspend that rule, but if there is, it would be funny to see the "dog catching the car" moment.
Honestly, his base could see a televised trial, in which evidence is presented and an airtight case is made, and still say he's being treated unfairly. Exhibit A, the impeachment trials.
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20 minutes ago, Larry said:
Pretty sure we watched J6 live. Or nearly so. But a large chunk have been convinced that "it was all fake".
I can confirm this. Conservative family members, on what happened on J6: "It was just people walking through the Capitol". And still convinced that the 2020 election was stolen. They can't be made to see reality. It's frightening, frustrating, and all around sad.
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https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-nuclear-977195f0ef72c1601ce17e83ff9da818
QuoteCiting the latest intelligence reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alleged Tuesday night that Russian troops had placed “objects resembling explosives” on top of several of the plant’s power units to “simulate” an attack from outside.
“Their detonation should not damage power units but may create a picture of shelling from Ukraine,” according to a statement from the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.
The Associated Press reviewed high-resolution satellite imagery of the plant taken Monday and Wednesday. The photos showed no visible changes to the roofs of the six concrete containment domes covering the reactors at the plant, or nearby buildings.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has officials stationed at the Russian-held plant, which is still run by a Ukrainian staff that oversees crucial cooling systems and other safety features.
The facility’s location in an area of intense fighting has put it at the mercy of stray shells or rockets, and the Russia-ordered evacuation of hundreds of local people in May deepened the anxiety. The IAEA has tried in vain to forge a deal on a security zone around the plant.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency’s most recent inspection of the plant found no activity related to explosives, “but we remain extremely alert.”
“As you know, there is a lot of combat. I have been there a few weeks ago, and there is contact there very close to the plant, so we cannot relax,” Grossi said during a visit to Japan.
Agency experts have requested additional access to the rooftops of two reactor units, as well as turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant to confirm the absence of explosives.
“Our experts must be able to verify the facts on the ground. Their independent and objective reporting would help clarify the current situation at the site, which is crucial at a time like this, with unconfirmed allegations and counter allegations,” Grossi said in a statement.
Seems like it may have been a bit overhyped...
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That sequence was crazy, starting with the Adebayo flop. I couldn't help wondering if the refs are just really, really bad at their jobs, or if the NBA really wants this to go at least 6.
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8 minutes ago, 88Comrade2000 said:
When we default next Thursday, will the payment on the salaries of Senators and Congressmen also stop?
I don't know, but too many of them don't need the money. It isn't the deterrent that it should be.
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It sounds like good things are happening in Bahkmut:
https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1656286307922919425?s=20
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Ukraine downs Russian hypersonic missile with US Patriot
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles.
Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems.
“Yes, we shot down the ‘unique’ Kinzhal,” Oleshchuk wrote. “It happened during the night-time attack on May 4 in the skies of the Kyiv region.”
Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile.
The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept.
More at the link. This is huge, showing that hypersonics can be defeated.
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2 minutes ago, China said:
For Real: Moscow Police Hunt ‘Ukrainian Saboteur Pigeon’
Police in Moscow were sent on a frantic chase this week for a Ukrainian pigeon supposedly hellbent on dropping explosives on the city.
Russian media reported that an entire squad of police officers responded on Monday after an “alarmed” man phoned to report a “Ukrainian saboteur pigeon.” The man, who said he’d seen the enemy bird “with his own eyes,” claimed it was “painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag” and clutching a mine in its claws.
Police searched the entire area but found no evidence of any mines, and only “ordinary” pigeons milling about.
That's exactly how a well trained saboteur pigeon operates! Blend back in after the mission is completed
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Have they adopted the Somalian model? We may have to start treating the Iranians like pirates.
The protests are still going on, but nothing is changing, sadly.
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The sheer audacity, to claim it's all a sham. I know, this is what we've come to expect from the GOP, but it shouldn't pass without comment. Every one of those lunatics claiming it's "weaponizing" the DA, or that the charges are bogus, without having the faintest idea what the evidence is, or caring what is true... We're in a seriously bad situation, where one party has lost all semblance of responsibility. It's deeply disturbing.
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Yeah, Lindsey Graham was annoying. No recognition of the work that went into responding to what happened, getting ahead of the story, rallying the international community. Just negativity.
3 hours ago, tshile said:in all the day to day culture war bull****, it’s like we forget there’s incredibly smart people working incredibly hard on very important things.
I shudder to think what would have happened if Russia had invaded during the Trump years.
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A very good (and very long) article about the lead up to the invasion, the response during the invasion, and what has happened since.
‘Something Was Badly Wrong’: When Washington Realized Russia Was Actually Invading Ukraine
A first-ever oral history of how top U.S. and Western officials saw the warning signs of a European land war, their frantic attempts to stop it — and the moment Putin actually crossed the border.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/02/24/russia-ukraine-war-oral-history-00083757
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8 hours ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:
Damn. Yikes.
“Is it OK to be white” is a dumb question. It’s not like it’s a choice. Whether it’s ok or not some people are white. I don’t know what the people who voted no were feeling or trying to convey.
but the stuff that dilbert guy said was way out of line. And no one even asked him so he decided through himself head first onto a pile of ****. He deserves what he gets and even if the media was racist, his cartoons deserved to get pulled.
Dilbert Guy:
“If nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with White people – according to this poll, not according to me, according to th is poll – that’s a hate group“
Now, honestly, if he had of stopped there I think the backlash would have been much less severe. But he went on:
”“I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” Adams added. “And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to White people is to get the hell away from Black people, just get the f**k away … because there is no fixing this.”
WTF? I don’t see how anyone can defend that as “the media is racist”….
On the question of why someone would disagree with the "It's OK to be white" statement:
From this article: https://apnews.com/article/kansas-city-business-d1d88fe02461930d9c2ad70e1f55b136?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_04
The backlash against Adams arose following comments on “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” Among other topics, Adams used the YouTube show to reference a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.”
Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren’t sure.
The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan but then began being used by some white supremacists.
It's like asking if someone is ok with the number 1488. If you don't know anything about it, you'd wonder how anyone could be against a number, but if you know it means, then you know it can be used as a racist signal. People who are aware that "It's ok to be white" carries more meaning that it seems on the surface aren't ok with the statement.
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It's crazy to me that Hurts was injured, and they keep running him with impunity.
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https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-politics-donetsk-e95c0f599a117e2f1b21d077ccd075cf
QuoteSimilar to other front lines along the east, the Russians are losing scores of infantrymen in an attempt to tire and weaken Ukrainian defensive lines. Serhii, the commander of a Ukrainian intelligence unit, said he saw Russian soldiers sent straight through fields mined by the Ukrainians following Russia’s capture of the village of Pavlivka, south of Vuhledar, in November.
“They de-mine our fields by using their own people,” he said.
That's one way to do it, I guess
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23 hours ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:
No, I'd say that too is a bad outcome. Why?
Edit: I think you're trying too hard to fight on this.
"All but at most one romantic relationship in any given person's lifetime will have a bad outcome" was the statement. That's true in any number of ways. Either you have a series of breakups, end up widowed from your soulmate, grow old in a loveless marriage, etc. They all add up to those people have one or fewer relationships ending well. Again, I didn't mean that every breakup or split had to mean that you hate the person after...just that the romantic aspect didn't work.
Rarely, we find our person and grow old happily and peacefully together.
Unless people die at pretty much exactly the same time, they won't meet your "good outcome" metric either.
Outcomes that are bad (by this standard):
Breakup
Spend entire lives together unhappy
Spend entire lives together happy, but someone dies first
Outcomes that are good (by this standard):
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Trump on Trial (Trump indicted for a fourth time in Georgia. Expands his record of most indictments by a former president)
in The Tailgate
Posted
I suppose I'm just intellectually limited, but how I see things playing out is delay after delay in every trial, to the point that the election passes. If he wins, he gets away with everything, and with the power of the office, gets to the business of attacking democratic institutions. The "sensitivity and gravity", as previously noted, is the trouble that will arise from his base if he's convicted. Catering to that, moving slowly for fear of angering people who are already angry and won't see any result they don't like as valid, had a hand in creating this mess.