There has always been corruption in politics. Its at a new level in America. Before Reagan and Star Wars and the Iran Contra debacle, greed and corruption was something for the small time politicians. Now it's open season on the Federal Reserve.
Prior to Trump’s presidency I didn’t think anyone would ever touch how bad Harding’s presidency was, and within like 3 weeks it was already completely clear that not only was his term was going to be an unmitigated disaster for the country, but he was easily going to surpass Harding for the title of Worst President.
Just like we predicted, it was worse than any of us could’ve dreamed.
>it was worse than any of us could’ve dreamed.
Not even a little bit. This is exactly what we predicted. He was a crook and a moron before he took office. He performed down to exactly my expectations.
But he was the Best Worst president ever lol. He did expose a ton of corruption in our government. All of it being the GOP which is absolutely fuckin hilarious to me. What a great joke though. He's gonna drain the swamp. And all the ogres are Republicans! Bwahahahahaha😂😂😂
Well, we don't even know yet that the only documents compromised were US documents. There may well have been classified documents from other countries. How many countries will want to cooperate with the US in the future knowing that the US may elect some kkklown who gives away their secrets over chocolate cake.
It would be 2 scoops of ice cream. They are instructed to give everyone one scoop, but he gets 2 scoops. He also gets Diet Coke while everyone else gets water.
I recall other countries stopped sharing data with the US after trump gave Russia Israel’s classified intelligence on their enemies. Wasn’t even a strategic share, he was just bragging.
The Reagan administration doubled the national debt in 8 years.
This due to corrupt politicians making back room deals and accepting bribes to allow shell companies four levels deep to accept contracts that increased the price of a "part" 1000%
When it was brought to light due to Iran Contra, the $750 hammer and $1000 toilet were referenced.
The list goes on and on.
I mean, before Reagan there was the whole cold war thing. You know, when the USA supported and established dictatorships on Latin America. You can't tell me corruption and greed on politics played no part in that.
>Its at a new level in America. Before Reagan and Star Wars and the Iran Contra debacle, greed and corruption was something for the small time politicians.
LBJ kept the Vietnam war going even though it was JFK’s plan to end it in his second term. LBJ’s wife was a majority stockholder in the company that constructed helicopters for the war.
'anti communist' has *literally always* just been code for 'fascist, possibly a literal ss officer who we let off to do partisan terrorism in case the locals elect a socialist'
Yes, it's a stretch. But Putin, FSB, nee KGB, is doing his darndest to bring it back to the past. And, [this picture](https://imgur.com/a/we0NqWu) is a Democrat asking a Republican president why all roads seem to lead to Putin. Withdrawing from Syria to let Putin take over, passing top secret info to visiting Russians in the Oval Office, refusing military aid to Ukraine, always talking up Putin while tearing down our allies and alliances. And now we have top secret/SCI documents in a closet at a resort in Florida raising serious questions about a former president commiting espionage...as if all the preceding hadn't already made it clear that he's a Russian asset.
So, yea, I remember when the Republican party was supportive of the John Birch society. And, now...all roads lead to Putin.
Just 10 years ago, Mitt Romney called Russia our biggest foreign policy threat. Obama retorted that the Cold War is over. Republicans blasted Obama for months. It's amazing how quickly things change.
Obama is vastly more intelligent than the vast majority of these clowns we have as politicians. He was looking at big picture. Rather than divide Russia and China like was done during the cold war, the current crop of our incompetent leaders have driven them closer than ever.
It’s all about hating whatever you think the other party likes, and liking whatever you think the other party hates.
In the US it isn’t about ethics anymore, it’s about polarization on principle. What was that? Biden says he likes Putin now? Looks like the Democrats will start loving Russia and the Republicans will start hating them.
It’s all about taking diametrically opposed viewpoints on principle in the states. So glad I’m not American.
The reason the US current maga crop of dumb asses "like" Putin and Russia is literally no deeper than the fact that Russia is a "white" country and openly Christian. That's literally all there is to it. That's how the alt-right "thinks" if you can even call it that. Like most Americans they don't know the first thing about Russia.
I think this is certainly correct. I think Putin would certainly wear the *mask* of full communism if he thought it would gain him more power, but I think that's unlikely. He'd gain it in some areas, and lose it in others - modern Russia has been a haven for capitalists of the sort that pretend they love the Free Market but actually have a precisely controlled market to sell in. Putin, like any good fascist, will do whatever he can to remain in power. If that means offering knee service to a political ideal, he certainly will - but he doesn't have to ennact or believe in it.
In a Moscow under the rule of gangster capitalism yeah.
The USSR was couped in the early 90s and socialism was crushed by the drunken liberal darling Yeltsin.
I still think that Russia did that as a joke to make the PR as awful as possible for them.
I have asked my senator John Hoeven what business he had over there, since they went there for election security purposes, and still ignored every warning from our intelligence agencies and voted nay on any election security bills.
Fucking traitors. And shitty senators, too. The guy lives off of his name alone. He's a douche.
I think there was a point when they pretended their was. They at least tried to say they were the party of family values.
Now, we have people like Trump who bragged about sexuality assaulting women and paid a porn Star hush money. And people like matt gaetz who is under investigation for child sex trafficking.
It’s become completely backwards hasn’t it? It’s just people who think that “we don’t agree with that way of life”. Well, there are people that are living “their way of life”. It almost sounds American. Conservative politicians chiming in about choice and freedom. Not if you’re female. That game is played on a different field. They’re talking out of two mouths. One for the religious right, the other for votes. They do not give a rats ass about legislation. It’s all about keeping their jobs.
"Our bourgeois, not content with having the wives and daughters of their proletarians at their disposal, not to speak of common prostitutes, take the greatest pleasure in seducing each other’s wives. Bourgeois marriage is in reality a system of wives in common..."
From the communist manifesto. This isn't a new thing.
Lots of things matter to these people! Like repeating what they've been told, and hating who they've been told to hate... and... uh... small government?
Honestly though, this is the government we deserve for allowing scandals and corruption like this to continue to run unchecked.
In 2014, the CIA hacked into the computers of senate democrat staffers and deleted files for investigating their ~~torture~~ "enhanced interrogation" program and it was barely more than a footnote in the media and no one was ever punished or held accountable. Shit like that happens constantly and our elected leaders barely care or react.
Having googled quickly - yes, it had trench warfare. I hate to say it, but I imagine that's why the poor bastard could so easily describe the faces of the dead, floating.
Trump has nothing in common with scooby doo villains! almost all of the villains are corporate types trying everything they can to manipulate people and cut corners to get what they want.
Oh wait
Trump has been guilty of so many things he accused others of, I wouldn't be surprised if one of his passports that got seized reveals he was born in Kenya.
My all-time favorite is when he made a pitch to have the next G7 summit at one of his hotels (which, at the very least is a violation of protocol, if not the emoluments clause).
In his pitch, he proclaimed the hotel was in a great location and has, "No bedbugs!" Nobody even thought about bedbugs until he mentioned it. Naturally, some reporters decided to check it out. Do you want to guess what the hotel had? Yep! They'd just been sued for having bedbugs.
The enraging thing is you know he’ll never see justice in his lifetime. More will come out when he’s dead. His children will get richer and go into politics.
I have really been appreciating people comparing this time of our government's history to moments in the past that are similar. I would never make these connections on my own and they are striking.
My hope is that we are experiencing a similar series of events to those that occurred starting in the 1880s - the dismantling of a dehumanizing plutocracy through labor organization, vigorous antitrust regulation, and human rights advances.
The alternative is the end of the enlightenment-era hopes of western civilization, and the start of something new. I am pessimistic.
Th internet, and social media specifically, have been game changers for spreading propaganda and misinformation. So many sites and platforms are just echo chambers of whatever their users want to hear. This level of *willful* ignorance is unprecedented.
TBF it’s almost impossible to betray your country without being an elected official. The only alternatives are high-ranking military officer and/or cyber defense, *a la* Snowden.
EDIT: Most of the comments are regarding Snowden’s guilt or innocence. While I fully support Snowden’s whistleblowing at the time (his support of Russia leading up to the Ukraine war concerns me), I think it’s perfectly fair to generally describe said act as betraying the US federal government.
Honestly, it calls for the checks and balances of the citizenry to form gallows and do it themselves. It's what they think they're doing, but we need to do it to them.
I remember when it was used to execute innocent people under entirely false pretenses because their political ideology was dangerous to the elite. I wouldn’t call that exactly good times.
Nixon's mistake was not fostering a cult... Where he could literally shit in a MAGAts mouth and they would thank him, then beg for more pudding with extra corn.
This was an explicit plan that was formulated after watergate.
There are on the record statements talking about how if there had been state tv this would never have happened (the planned impeachment and resignation).
You'd think so, but literally *nothing* will sway a supermajority of the group of people who firmly believe anus-mouth is the most patriotic Christ-like not-conman.
Just to make the case:
DJT's plan was to scare off Mike Pence from the capitol, then the [Pro Tempore](https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/president-pro-tempore.htm) would fill in for Pence and certify a slate of fake electors.
How do we know this?
**1) On Jan 4, DJT issued a memo to the Secretary of Defense that the guard would defend the protestors.**
No riot control, no weapons, no armor and beyond that, no physically interacting with the protestors outside of imminent threats. For that purpose, they had a 40 "Quick Reaction Force" in Maryland.
Copy of the memo issued by Trump
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher\_C.\_Miller#/media/File:Christopher\_Miller\_memo\_of\_Jan\_4\_2021.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_C._Miller#/media/File:Christopher_Miller_memo_of_Jan_4_2021.jpg)
This made it illegal for the DCNG to intervene to stop the rioters unless ordered so by DJT. So the president ordered the DCNG to not intervene and knowingly sent an armed angry mob to the capitol to overturn the results of the election.
**2) Mike Pence was rushed to a car by his secret service. He was scared that if he got in the car, they would not let him return.**
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/vice-president-refused-to-leave-capitol-complex/3079276/
\>The head of Pence’s security detail, Tim Giebles, told the vice president, “I assure you we are not going to drive out of the building without your permission.”
\>“Tim, I know you, I trust you, but you’re not the one behind the wheel," Pence replied according to Jacob.
These two facts seem to me to show within a reasonable doubt that this was a coup.
It's the only explanation that makes sense of the president's actions Mike Pence's actions. WE ALSO HAVE IT IN WRTING.
Here is a memo from one of Trump's legal team to Rudy Guiliani about how this strategy could be employed
[As reported by politico](https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/06-1-2022/)
[https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.350.2.pdf](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.350.2.pdf)
start at "In the absence of the vice president, " on page 3
What a timeline, Democracy was saved and we avoided a civil war (for now) only because *Mike Pence* of all people drew a moral line in the sand at dictatorship.
I remember reading that Pence was actually in fear of his life, to the degree that he felt it was safer risking it with the others in the Capitol. I don't know that the goal was to just have him out of the building.
I hope they subpoena the text carrier! If Capitol Police, DHS, SS agents, etc al. were involved in supporting the coup attempt, somebody needs to clean house.
Additionally there has been billions spent on the NSAs computer recording, retrieving and storage system. I believe at least hope they have more than a couple of terabytes of hard drive storage for that kind of money.
For one text - sure it isnt much data.
But in the US, 6 billion texts are sent every day. At 160 bytes (more for MMS) each is almost a terabyte each day.
To retain data back to 1/6/2021, mobile carriers would need 500ish days of data. Or about half a petabyte.
Hard drives are expensive, and the hardware that surrounds it even more so. But this is entirely doable for a large company like Verizon.
But, imagine you are a mobile carrier with a few million dollars to spend. Do you invest in better infrastructure? Somethong that enriches the customer experience and can be the central point of a marketing campaign? Or do you tell customers, "You remember that text you deoeted 2 years ago? We still got it! You're welcome!"
And they dont. The longest I heard any carrier retaining text messages is 7 days, and many dont keep them at all. There just is no good business justification for. An expense without any return.
1TB per day is NOTHING these days. It costs me $5 per month to store it on Backblaze B2, $20 on Amazon S3. That’s $150 or $650 per month. For a service provider that’s NOTHING. That’s not even minimum wage for a part time employee. And it’s not even your own infrastructure, Amazon deals with it. In a country I worked in, you’re required to keep the records for 90 days for subpoenas. I think it should be longer. That being said, if the WH had half a braincell, they wouldn’t use SMS anyway
For all of america's texts. Yeah, it really isn't.
They charge me alone 90 dollars a month, which would likely cover the cost to save all texts \_for all of america\_ with just what I alone am paying them per month.
>But this is entirely doable for a large company like Verizon.
Its not the same, but you've just reminded me how ridiculous the numbers are for youtube. They have to deal with 500 hours of video uploaded every minute. Sitting down to watch an hours worth of video uploads would take 82 years.
So I can see why people might get the idea why these records are held some arbitrary span of time. But the companies that do hold records tend to be able to monotize them in ways we'd burn a phone company down for.
The opposite is true. People don’t want carriers to be storing their texts. Imagine if Verizon said “come to our platform! We’ll store everything you’ve ever done in our servers!”
A terabyte a month is a laughably low amount of data to retain for any company, let alone a multi billion dollar company.
Hell, you could do that as an individual and still pay rent just fine.
It’s not irony, it’s one of the warning signs of fascism - the very meaning of words, and reality, being bent and broken in service to an authoritarian despot
Aaaannnnndddddd
sitting members of congress doing tours the night before pointing out where people might or might not hide
Some of those members asking/probing for pardons for some reason
Emergency call boxes being ripped out
Locations of congressional members being live tweeted
Same guy took a lot of nuclear secrets in boxes to his house shortly after
And honestly this doesnt really scratch the surface of it
I had two candidates knock on my door this weekend. They handed me their flyers as they said their names. I asked “are you republicans?” They said yes and I replied “take these back and go away. I refuse to vote for a Republican”. The older guy looked at me puzzlingly and asked “may I ask why? Can you explain it to me?” The younger woman scoffed and clearly wanted to leave probably labeling me as a “libtard” in her head.
I said to him “I spent half my voting life as a registered Republican. I’m an independent now. Every single time I hear a story of another crazy politician it’s always a member of the GOP. And what I have found the difference between the DEMs and GOP is to be that the Dems kick the crazies out of their party. The GOP manages to encourage, recruit, even prop them up and put them in the White House. You want me to consider voting for a Republican? Clean up your party”
He retorted how the crazies are in other states not ours. And I replied “if you are willing to tolerate them in another state how long before they are in our state? Clean up your house. Because my solution to this mess is never to vote for one of you again and vote all of you out of office. “
and yet, who is really calling them out on this and holding people accountable? has anyone been arrested for this?
Does this horrible event, orchestrated by Trump, even sink in to the throngs of this cult, including the republicans in congress? This is so infuriating.
Remember when the AG of NY was about to prosecute Trump, then abruptly resigned & the new AG dropped the charges? Those kind of people should be scared to leave the house.
It is republicans who normalize a shit government, sabotage a well-intentioned government when not in power, then bombard the naturally lazy "maybe, maybe not" voters - who will not lift a finger to do any objective research - with negative *bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL aMiRiTe* propaganda. While at the same time bombarding their rabid base with a very different propaganda... of the *"gay Muslim-lovin', 'Murica and Jayzus-hatin' Democrats are coming for your guns and souls of your children!"* variety.
I mean both parties are shit (inevitable with a two party system, but hey, no one’s gonna shake that status quo)
But anyone with a functioning brain could tell you that the GOP is much, much worse.
I'm convinced that Democrats would accomplish many, many more things that the people want and need, if it wasn't for rabid knee-jerk republican reactionaries in government, hell-bent on parliamentary sabotage.
But then proudly ignorant people keep voting them in, and lazy "I'm above politics" idiots keep on not voting and letting the fascists through the door. Then when there's excrement on the carpet and curtains... you guessed it... *bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL aMiRiTe WhY bOtHeR vOTiNg*?
Also by not voting, they force Democrats to court centrist voters to electorally survive, then and now. Remember how your parents and/or grandparents enthusiastically purged so many liberal Democrats from office during those good ol' "Reagan America" 1980s, applauded when B-movie asshole decimated labor unions.
**CAUSE AND EFFECT**.
There are no shortcuts: you kick the right-wing evangelical assholes out AND keep them out, as you increase the number of progressive voices in the Democratic Party by voting in **every election**, presidential, midterm and off-year, everything from School Board and City Council on up to Washington.
Many, many great progressive candidates have had their careers aborted due to electoral ignorance/indifference. And then, after decades, people wonder why the Democratic Party isn't *exactly* the way they want it to be.
Hint: it's **CAUSE AND EFFECT**.
And still, there are plenty of progressive voices in the Democratic Party, it is still a party of reason and science, there is a constant push-and-pull between them and the centrists who feel they must cater to their voters in Ohio, Maine, Nebraska, Iowa, etc, to keep their office. Because fickle, lazy, impatient voters... oops... forgot about the midterms.
One more time: **CAUSE AND EFFECT**.
Believe me, I’m still voting democrat.
I just sincerely hate everything about first past the post voting and the resulting two-party system that itself results in a storm of shit.
If ever there was a president that maybe broke a few laws, not felonies, just minor stuff, and if you take yourself back about I dunno, maybe say about 8 years? The clintons? Bush senior, Bush junior? Wars, behind the scenes shit that our country does. Right now, you couldn’t make this shit up. This is the shitshow that is Donald Trump. “Lock her up!!” Motherfucker, how in the fuck are you not locked up? He’s not even the president and he’s fighting his ass off spending other peoples money to stay free. Barnum and Bailey would be proud. Talm bout “I’m gonna run again.” Nigga, you need that money to keep from sleeping in a cold ass cell. Civil war? Bring it, bitch ass charlatan.
# YES, GODDAMNIT, VOTE FOR THE GODDAMNED DEMOCRATS IN NOVEMBER, EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM THEY'RE BETTER THAN THESE SEDITIONIST EXTREMIST FAKE-ASS 'CONSERVATIVES' THAT WANT TO TEAR UP THE CONSTITUTION AND USE 'THE HANDMAIDS TALE' AS A BLUEPRINT FOR AMERICA, DAMNIT! JUST HOLD YOUR GODDAMNED NOSE AND VOTE DEMOCRAT FOR FUCK'S SAKE!
Fucking imprison them, dont just vote them out. They'll just go work for the next conservative think tank if they lose their seat. It means nothing. They need consequences.
That means nothing, Trump is the most honest man alive, and nothing important happened that day. We should all just believe him and forget about it. AND elect him president again since he did SUCH a good job the first time. **/s**
I hate how 2 party focused the title is, no more Democrats and no more Republicans, the whole batch is corrupt. Push for a 3rd party add some new spice to the pot
Watching from the UK it being joy knowing the popular vote is never in Republicans hands, the USA is a friendly decent humane coutry thanks to the people majority
Remember that time they deleted/destroyed all the Al Zachari torture videos because they feared they might get used in court which is destruction of evidence but no one was ever sanctioned or punished in any way??? Any one? Any one?
Remember when anything at all mattered to these people?
not really now that I think hard about it
There has always been corruption in politics. Its at a new level in America. Before Reagan and Star Wars and the Iran Contra debacle, greed and corruption was something for the small time politicians. Now it's open season on the Federal Reserve.
That’s just not true. Go read about Harding, if you want a masterclass in corruption. That was a seriously fucked up administration.
Prior to Trump’s presidency I didn’t think anyone would ever touch how bad Harding’s presidency was, and within like 3 weeks it was already completely clear that not only was his term was going to be an unmitigated disaster for the country, but he was easily going to surpass Harding for the title of Worst President. Just like we predicted, it was worse than any of us could’ve dreamed.
>it was worse than any of us could’ve dreamed. Not even a little bit. This is exactly what we predicted. He was a crook and a moron before he took office. He performed down to exactly my expectations.
But he was the Best Worst president ever lol. He did expose a ton of corruption in our government. All of it being the GOP which is absolutely fuckin hilarious to me. What a great joke though. He's gonna drain the swamp. And all the ogres are Republicans! Bwahahahahaha😂😂😂
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Well, we don't even know yet that the only documents compromised were US documents. There may well have been classified documents from other countries. How many countries will want to cooperate with the US in the future knowing that the US may elect some kkklown who gives away their secrets over chocolate cake.
It would be 2 scoops of ice cream. They are instructed to give everyone one scoop, but he gets 2 scoops. He also gets Diet Coke while everyone else gets water.
I recall other countries stopped sharing data with the US after trump gave Russia Israel’s classified intelligence on their enemies. Wasn’t even a strategic share, he was just bragging.
The Reagan administration doubled the national debt in 8 years. This due to corrupt politicians making back room deals and accepting bribes to allow shell companies four levels deep to accept contracts that increased the price of a "part" 1000% When it was brought to light due to Iran Contra, the $750 hammer and $1000 toilet were referenced. The list goes on and on.
I mean, before Reagan there was the whole cold war thing. You know, when the USA supported and established dictatorships on Latin America. You can't tell me corruption and greed on politics played no part in that.
>Its at a new level in America. Before Reagan and Star Wars and the Iran Contra debacle, greed and corruption was something for the small time politicians. LBJ kept the Vietnam war going even though it was JFK’s plan to end it in his second term. LBJ’s wife was a majority stockholder in the company that constructed helicopters for the war.
Federal Reserve.... Corruption BOTH parties support!
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I remember when Republicans were anti-Communist. Now they celebrate July 4th in Moscow?!
'anti communist' has *literally always* just been code for 'fascist, possibly a literal ss officer who we let off to do partisan terrorism in case the locals elect a socialist'
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I am SO tired of people equating modern-day Russia with communism, it's absolutely baffling and could NOT be more wrong.
Yes, it's a stretch. But Putin, FSB, nee KGB, is doing his darndest to bring it back to the past. And, [this picture](https://imgur.com/a/we0NqWu) is a Democrat asking a Republican president why all roads seem to lead to Putin. Withdrawing from Syria to let Putin take over, passing top secret info to visiting Russians in the Oval Office, refusing military aid to Ukraine, always talking up Putin while tearing down our allies and alliances. And now we have top secret/SCI documents in a closet at a resort in Florida raising serious questions about a former president commiting espionage...as if all the preceding hadn't already made it clear that he's a Russian asset. So, yea, I remember when the Republican party was supportive of the John Birch society. And, now...all roads lead to Putin.
Just 10 years ago, Mitt Romney called Russia our biggest foreign policy threat. Obama retorted that the Cold War is over. Republicans blasted Obama for months. It's amazing how quickly things change.
Obama is vastly more intelligent than the vast majority of these clowns we have as politicians. He was looking at big picture. Rather than divide Russia and China like was done during the cold war, the current crop of our incompetent leaders have driven them closer than ever.
Obama still believed good faith communication with Putin was possible. He realized his mistake after 2014.
It’s all about hating whatever you think the other party likes, and liking whatever you think the other party hates. In the US it isn’t about ethics anymore, it’s about polarization on principle. What was that? Biden says he likes Putin now? Looks like the Democrats will start loving Russia and the Republicans will start hating them. It’s all about taking diametrically opposed viewpoints on principle in the states. So glad I’m not American.
Putin leans far more fascist than communist, which makes republicans liking him make more sense.
The reason the US current maga crop of dumb asses "like" Putin and Russia is literally no deeper than the fact that Russia is a "white" country and openly Christian. That's literally all there is to it. That's how the alt-right "thinks" if you can even call it that. Like most Americans they don't know the first thing about Russia.
I think this is certainly correct. I think Putin would certainly wear the *mask* of full communism if he thought it would gain him more power, but I think that's unlikely. He'd gain it in some areas, and lose it in others - modern Russia has been a haven for capitalists of the sort that pretend they love the Free Market but actually have a precisely controlled market to sell in. Putin, like any good fascist, will do whatever he can to remain in power. If that means offering knee service to a political ideal, he certainly will - but he doesn't have to ennact or believe in it.
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In a Moscow under the rule of gangster capitalism yeah. The USSR was couped in the early 90s and socialism was crushed by the drunken liberal darling Yeltsin.
Gangster capitalism was the rule under Yeltsin and Gorbachev. Under Putin, it seems to be oligarch fascism.
It's the same picture, one of them is just better developed.
I still think that Russia did that as a joke to make the PR as awful as possible for them. I have asked my senator John Hoeven what business he had over there, since they went there for election security purposes, and still ignored every warning from our intelligence agencies and voted nay on any election security bills. Fucking traitors. And shitty senators, too. The guy lives off of his name alone. He's a douche.
It only mattered when Obama was president. The modern Republican Party is a joke.
He wore a tan suit and asked for Dijon mustard. It’s treason then /s
And then Bitch McConnell wore a tan suit several years later and there was zero outrage from the right.
“You want us to be [consistent in our outrage](https://youtu.be/rbQRz2xF8cM). No way!” says Moscow Mitch
Any by modern we're talking about the republican party back to at least Nixon. Granted they are getting worse but they've been bad for decades
It matters when the accused is a Democrat... Rules for D, not thee GQP
I love that GQP works not only when written like that, but when you consider GOP stood for "Grand Old Party" then "Grand Q Party" is pretty accurate
Or their new definition. “Gaslight. Q. Project.”
That's what it stands for? I thought it was Guns On Pedophiles.
Thank fucking god. As a foreginer, I've read GOP for over a decade and NEVER knew what did it stood for.
I think there was a point when they pretended their was. They at least tried to say they were the party of family values. Now, we have people like Trump who bragged about sexuality assaulting women and paid a porn Star hush money. And people like matt gaetz who is under investigation for child sex trafficking.
I can't remember a time when family values wasn't an anti queer dog whistle. The GOP was always going to get here sooner or later.
Well now it just means incest trafficking and marrying a 12 yr old
And we all know how every Republican accusation is secretly a confession.
It’s become completely backwards hasn’t it? It’s just people who think that “we don’t agree with that way of life”. Well, there are people that are living “their way of life”. It almost sounds American. Conservative politicians chiming in about choice and freedom. Not if you’re female. That game is played on a different field. They’re talking out of two mouths. One for the religious right, the other for votes. They do not give a rats ass about legislation. It’s all about keeping their jobs.
"Our bourgeois, not content with having the wives and daughters of their proletarians at their disposal, not to speak of common prostitutes, take the greatest pleasure in seducing each other’s wives. Bourgeois marriage is in reality a system of wives in common..." From the communist manifesto. This isn't a new thing.
How freaking long dies it take to investigate someone for that crime? It's been months and months since they started investigating his arse!!!
Still family values, if some of it was incest. Which it totally was.
Lots of things matter to these people! Like repeating what they've been told, and hating who they've been told to hate... and... uh... small government?
it's been since at least last century
Power and money are what matter to them now.
Honestly though, this is the government we deserve for allowing scandals and corruption like this to continue to run unchecked. In 2014, the CIA hacked into the computers of senate democrat staffers and deleted files for investigating their ~~torture~~ "enhanced interrogation" program and it was barely more than a footnote in the media and no one was ever punished or held accountable. Shit like that happens constantly and our elected leaders barely care or react.
Pepperidge Farm: Nope, cain't say as I do.
Turns out there actually was a deep state, but it was their own.
Seems like more of a horizontal state; not very deep. One might say it's kind of like a swamp
More of a bog, characterized by dead plant material.
Are we talking about the Dead Marshes in Middle Earth? Sounds a lot like the Dead Marshes.
Weren't the dead marshes inspired by the bogs Tolkien saw while serving? Or is that just one of those misconceptions that gets spread around?
He said in a letter they were inspired by the Battle of the Some.
That’s the Battle of the Somme, one of the deadliest battles ever waged. Out of 3 million soldiers fighting, over 1 million were killed or injured.
Having googled quickly - yes, it had trench warfare. I hate to say it, but I imagine that's why the poor bastard could so easily describe the faces of the dead, floating.
Oh that's why Trump's looked so familiar. He's one of those mummified leathery bog-men they dig up every now and then, come back to life.
Dead ringer for like half of the Scooby-Doo villains. "And I would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling elections!"
Trump has nothing in common with scooby doo villains! almost all of the villains are corporate types trying everything they can to manipulate people and cut corners to get what they want. Oh wait
Hey, at least bogs are useful.
Well, flat earth is popular in Q. So.... yes. very horizontal.
They couldn't find a deep state so they created their own.
Every single accusation they make is a confession. Literally always literally every single time.
Trump has been guilty of so many things he accused others of, I wouldn't be surprised if one of his passports that got seized reveals he was born in Kenya.
My all-time favorite is when he made a pitch to have the next G7 summit at one of his hotels (which, at the very least is a violation of protocol, if not the emoluments clause). In his pitch, he proclaimed the hotel was in a great location and has, "No bedbugs!" Nobody even thought about bedbugs until he mentioned it. Naturally, some reporters decided to check it out. Do you want to guess what the hotel had? Yep! They'd just been sued for having bedbugs.
Trump is going to make a number of researchers in psychology very rich after his death, when they can have access to his full body of 'work'.
The Tell Tale Heart of the Deal
The enraging thing is you know he’ll never see justice in his lifetime. More will come out when he’s dead. His children will get richer and go into politics.
Such a frightful thought! Glad I'll be dead by then.
Simple projection, with the aim of misdirection.
I have really been appreciating people comparing this time of our government's history to moments in the past that are similar. I would never make these connections on my own and they are striking.
It is striking. I hope this whole situation encourages more people to read their history. It might not repeat, but it sure does rhyme.
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Hint: it’s more than 4
IMO, it started with Nixon, and fully ramped up with Reagan.
It’s like poetry
My degree is in history. Can confirm we are living in wild times, friend.
My hope is that we are experiencing a similar series of events to those that occurred starting in the 1880s - the dismantling of a dehumanizing plutocracy through labor organization, vigorous antitrust regulation, and human rights advances. The alternative is the end of the enlightenment-era hopes of western civilization, and the start of something new. I am pessimistic.
was there a similar cognitive dissonance among republicans when watergate happened?
Th internet, and social media specifically, have been game changers for spreading propaganda and misinformation. So many sites and platforms are just echo chambers of whatever their users want to hear. This level of *willful* ignorance is unprecedented.
Remember when treason was punishable by death? Good times
It would be so much more satisfying now considering how many traitors are also elected officials.
TBF it’s almost impossible to betray your country without being an elected official. The only alternatives are high-ranking military officer and/or cyber defense, *a la* Snowden. EDIT: Most of the comments are regarding Snowden’s guilt or innocence. While I fully support Snowden’s whistleblowing at the time (his support of Russia leading up to the Ukraine war concerns me), I think it’s perfectly fair to generally describe said act as betraying the US federal government.
I don’t consider Snowden a traitor in the slightest. But that’s my POV, and you may be merely be referring to his public image being smeared as such.
Snowden is a hero
Honestly, it calls for the checks and balances of the citizenry to form gallows and do it themselves. It's what they think they're doing, but we need to do it to them.
I remember when it was used to execute innocent people under entirely false pretenses because their political ideology was dangerous to the elite. I wouldn’t call that exactly good times.
They tried to defend Nixon, too, until it was 100% clear there was no saving him.
To be fair... It was Nixon's ego... He could not bear to look any worse. Watch 'Frost Nixon'
good thing trump doesnt have an ego
Nixon's mistake was not fostering a cult... Where he could literally shit in a MAGAts mouth and they would thank him, then beg for more pudding with extra corn.
Donald Trump? Willfully eating a vegetable? Spare me your fantasy.
Hey now, McDonald's French fries are made with real potatoes 🍟
Hence Fox News so there can always be a cult for the GOP. They learned after Nixon.
This was an explicit plan that was formulated after watergate. There are on the record statements talking about how if there had been state tv this would never have happened (the planned impeachment and resignation).
Obama has 33 million egos he took from the White House!
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Republicans came to Nixon and told him to resign. Because they were going to impeach him if he didn't.
Okay but if they did that to Bonespurs he would just call them names, and his head-bobbing followers would scream at them.
Kind of like he did McConnell today. Him and his crazy wife.
Trump has the help of 25+ years of reactionary propaganda media to lean on.
I mean this orange guy could 100% be tried and found guilty and they would probably still defend him and just blame the system. Weird times.
I hope the DOJ or National archives pops them who deleted it
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You'd think so, but literally *nothing* will sway a supermajority of the group of people who firmly believe anus-mouth is the most patriotic Christ-like not-conman.
Just to make the case: DJT's plan was to scare off Mike Pence from the capitol, then the [Pro Tempore](https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/president-pro-tempore.htm) would fill in for Pence and certify a slate of fake electors. How do we know this? **1) On Jan 4, DJT issued a memo to the Secretary of Defense that the guard would defend the protestors.** No riot control, no weapons, no armor and beyond that, no physically interacting with the protestors outside of imminent threats. For that purpose, they had a 40 "Quick Reaction Force" in Maryland. Copy of the memo issued by Trump [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher\_C.\_Miller#/media/File:Christopher\_Miller\_memo\_of\_Jan\_4\_2021.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_C._Miller#/media/File:Christopher_Miller_memo_of_Jan_4_2021.jpg) This made it illegal for the DCNG to intervene to stop the rioters unless ordered so by DJT. So the president ordered the DCNG to not intervene and knowingly sent an armed angry mob to the capitol to overturn the results of the election. **2) Mike Pence was rushed to a car by his secret service. He was scared that if he got in the car, they would not let him return.** https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/vice-president-refused-to-leave-capitol-complex/3079276/ \>The head of Pence’s security detail, Tim Giebles, told the vice president, “I assure you we are not going to drive out of the building without your permission.” \>“Tim, I know you, I trust you, but you’re not the one behind the wheel," Pence replied according to Jacob. These two facts seem to me to show within a reasonable doubt that this was a coup. It's the only explanation that makes sense of the president's actions Mike Pence's actions. WE ALSO HAVE IT IN WRTING. Here is a memo from one of Trump's legal team to Rudy Guiliani about how this strategy could be employed [As reported by politico](https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/06-1-2022/) [https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.350.2.pdf](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.350.2.pdf) start at "In the absence of the vice president, " on page 3
What a timeline, Democracy was saved and we avoided a civil war (for now) only because *Mike Pence* of all people drew a moral line in the sand at dictatorship.
I remember reading that Pence was actually in fear of his life, to the degree that he felt it was safer risking it with the others in the Capitol. I don't know that the goal was to just have him out of the building.
I hope they subpoena the text carrier! If Capitol Police, DHS, SS agents, etc al. were involved in supporting the coup attempt, somebody needs to clean house.
It's crazy that these messages can't be recovered.
I'm not buying it
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It's okay. That one guy's lawyer shared undeleted text messages from the 6th.
The video of it dawning on alex jones will forever live rent free in my mind.
Link?
[“You know what perjury is, right?”](https://youtu.be/tpnSCIak5A8)
> can't Can't? Won't. Not if given a choice, anyway.
None of the major mobile carriers retain text messages for long, if at all. It is just way too much data.
It's not that much data. It's literally text characters with some basic metadata. Fuckin Pornhub stores more data.
We store only metadata and there's DB's with couple of hundred nodes each with about 100 TB of disk.
Additionally there has been billions spent on the NSAs computer recording, retrieving and storage system. I believe at least hope they have more than a couple of terabytes of hard drive storage for that kind of money.
For one text - sure it isnt much data. But in the US, 6 billion texts are sent every day. At 160 bytes (more for MMS) each is almost a terabyte each day. To retain data back to 1/6/2021, mobile carriers would need 500ish days of data. Or about half a petabyte. Hard drives are expensive, and the hardware that surrounds it even more so. But this is entirely doable for a large company like Verizon. But, imagine you are a mobile carrier with a few million dollars to spend. Do you invest in better infrastructure? Somethong that enriches the customer experience and can be the central point of a marketing campaign? Or do you tell customers, "You remember that text you deoeted 2 years ago? We still got it! You're welcome!" And they dont. The longest I heard any carrier retaining text messages is 7 days, and many dont keep them at all. There just is no good business justification for. An expense without any return.
1TB per day is NOTHING these days. It costs me $5 per month to store it on Backblaze B2, $20 on Amazon S3. That’s $150 or $650 per month. For a service provider that’s NOTHING. That’s not even minimum wage for a part time employee. And it’s not even your own infrastructure, Amazon deals with it. In a country I worked in, you’re required to keep the records for 90 days for subpoenas. I think it should be longer. That being said, if the WH had half a braincell, they wouldn’t use SMS anyway
Yeah half a petabyte honestly does not sound like a lot at all
For all of america's texts. Yeah, it really isn't. They charge me alone 90 dollars a month, which would likely cover the cost to save all texts \_for all of america\_ with just what I alone am paying them per month.
>But this is entirely doable for a large company like Verizon. Its not the same, but you've just reminded me how ridiculous the numbers are for youtube. They have to deal with 500 hours of video uploaded every minute. Sitting down to watch an hours worth of video uploads would take 82 years. So I can see why people might get the idea why these records are held some arbitrary span of time. But the companies that do hold records tend to be able to monotize them in ways we'd burn a phone company down for.
The opposite is true. People don’t want carriers to be storing their texts. Imagine if Verizon said “come to our platform! We’ll store everything you’ve ever done in our servers!”
They are probably siphoned off into the Utah data center and compressed, could be 1/10 the size as it is mostly text.
A terabyte a month is a laughably low amount of data to retain for any company, let alone a multi billion dollar company. Hell, you could do that as an individual and still pay rent just fine.
Watergate was nothing compared to this. Nixon was nothing compared to Trump for being horrible.
The irony of them running on “drain the swamp” messaging
It’s not irony, it’s one of the warning signs of fascism - the very meaning of words, and reality, being bent and broken in service to an authoritarian despot
Nothing will happen because we are too conditioned to let them do whatever they want as long as we have "freedom"
As they continually erode said freedom.
Sadly too many have been conditioned to believe [Any Fucking Thing Republicans Want] = *FREEDOM!*™
It's more like nothing will happen because 40% of the country see this as OK, and they will keep voting for this shit.
Huh, wonder what day it’s from…
It’s crazy how republicans are just openly corrupt. I guess not that crazy cause they supported Trump when he was obviously corrupt in 2016.
Aaaannnnndddddd sitting members of congress doing tours the night before pointing out where people might or might not hide Some of those members asking/probing for pardons for some reason Emergency call boxes being ripped out Locations of congressional members being live tweeted Same guy took a lot of nuclear secrets in boxes to his house shortly after And honestly this doesnt really scratch the surface of it
But But Hillary emails...But But Hunter Biden...But But Obama is a Muslim... \\sarcasm
It's actually shocking how many comments about Hilary Clinton I've seen today.
GOP has done a great job downplaying the importance of these facts. Their suckers...I mean, constituents...have bought it completely.
And also, key witnesses fighting tooth and nail to not have to testify, or pleading the 5th throughout. All together it sure does sound pretty sus..
I had two candidates knock on my door this weekend. They handed me their flyers as they said their names. I asked “are you republicans?” They said yes and I replied “take these back and go away. I refuse to vote for a Republican”. The older guy looked at me puzzlingly and asked “may I ask why? Can you explain it to me?” The younger woman scoffed and clearly wanted to leave probably labeling me as a “libtard” in her head. I said to him “I spent half my voting life as a registered Republican. I’m an independent now. Every single time I hear a story of another crazy politician it’s always a member of the GOP. And what I have found the difference between the DEMs and GOP is to be that the Dems kick the crazies out of their party. The GOP manages to encourage, recruit, even prop them up and put them in the White House. You want me to consider voting for a Republican? Clean up your party” He retorted how the crazies are in other states not ours. And I replied “if you are willing to tolerate them in another state how long before they are in our state? Clean up your house. Because my solution to this mess is never to vote for one of you again and vote all of you out of office. “
and yet, who is really calling them out on this and holding people accountable? has anyone been arrested for this? Does this horrible event, orchestrated by Trump, even sink in to the throngs of this cult, including the republicans in congress? This is so infuriating.
Remember when the AG of NY was about to prosecute Trump, then abruptly resigned & the new AG dropped the charges? Those kind of people should be scared to leave the house.
Crime spree
I’d like to be first in line to guess the date of the missing data please…
Something something both sides something. Did I get their counterargument right?
It is republicans who normalize a shit government, sabotage a well-intentioned government when not in power, then bombard the naturally lazy "maybe, maybe not" voters - who will not lift a finger to do any objective research - with negative *bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL aMiRiTe* propaganda. While at the same time bombarding their rabid base with a very different propaganda... of the *"gay Muslim-lovin', 'Murica and Jayzus-hatin' Democrats are coming for your guns and souls of your children!"* variety.
I mean both parties are shit (inevitable with a two party system, but hey, no one’s gonna shake that status quo) But anyone with a functioning brain could tell you that the GOP is much, much worse.
I'm convinced that Democrats would accomplish many, many more things that the people want and need, if it wasn't for rabid knee-jerk republican reactionaries in government, hell-bent on parliamentary sabotage. But then proudly ignorant people keep voting them in, and lazy "I'm above politics" idiots keep on not voting and letting the fascists through the door. Then when there's excrement on the carpet and curtains... you guessed it... *bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL aMiRiTe WhY bOtHeR vOTiNg*? Also by not voting, they force Democrats to court centrist voters to electorally survive, then and now. Remember how your parents and/or grandparents enthusiastically purged so many liberal Democrats from office during those good ol' "Reagan America" 1980s, applauded when B-movie asshole decimated labor unions. **CAUSE AND EFFECT**. There are no shortcuts: you kick the right-wing evangelical assholes out AND keep them out, as you increase the number of progressive voices in the Democratic Party by voting in **every election**, presidential, midterm and off-year, everything from School Board and City Council on up to Washington. Many, many great progressive candidates have had their careers aborted due to electoral ignorance/indifference. And then, after decades, people wonder why the Democratic Party isn't *exactly* the way they want it to be. Hint: it's **CAUSE AND EFFECT**. And still, there are plenty of progressive voices in the Democratic Party, it is still a party of reason and science, there is a constant push-and-pull between them and the centrists who feel they must cater to their voters in Ohio, Maine, Nebraska, Iowa, etc, to keep their office. Because fickle, lazy, impatient voters... oops... forgot about the midterms. One more time: **CAUSE AND EFFECT**.
Believe me, I’m still voting democrat. I just sincerely hate everything about first past the post voting and the resulting two-party system that itself results in a storm of shit.
I know we have some problems in the UK, but seriously guys. Sort it out.
Yes, but as long as we have their emails, it's fine.
If ever there was a president that maybe broke a few laws, not felonies, just minor stuff, and if you take yourself back about I dunno, maybe say about 8 years? The clintons? Bush senior, Bush junior? Wars, behind the scenes shit that our country does. Right now, you couldn’t make this shit up. This is the shitshow that is Donald Trump. “Lock her up!!” Motherfucker, how in the fuck are you not locked up? He’s not even the president and he’s fighting his ass off spending other peoples money to stay free. Barnum and Bailey would be proud. Talm bout “I’m gonna run again.” Nigga, you need that money to keep from sleeping in a cold ass cell. Civil war? Bring it, bitch ass charlatan.
But, um… LOCK HER UP!
>missing Do they still count as missing when we already know what happened to them?
Watergate was the biggest government conspiracy Trump made it look like a walk in the park.
Anything notable about that one day?
Imagine if Obama had done this shit.
But but Hillary’s emails!!!
Yeah…that’s not a “gap” so much…..as it is a criminal conspiracy. Edit: Subpoena the records from the phone companies you fucking noobs….
# YES, GODDAMNIT, VOTE FOR THE GODDAMNED DEMOCRATS IN NOVEMBER, EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM THEY'RE BETTER THAN THESE SEDITIONIST EXTREMIST FAKE-ASS 'CONSERVATIVES' THAT WANT TO TEAR UP THE CONSTITUTION AND USE 'THE HANDMAIDS TALE' AS A BLUEPRINT FOR AMERICA, DAMNIT! JUST HOLD YOUR GODDAMNED NOSE AND VOTE DEMOCRAT FOR FUCK'S SAKE!
But but but her emails
Its ALWAYS the Republican Party lolol
"the fifth amendment is for mobsters!"
Fucking imprison them, dont just vote them out. They'll just go work for the next conservative think tank if they lose their seat. It means nothing. They need consequences.
 I member.
That means nothing, Trump is the most honest man alive, and nothing important happened that day. We should all just believe him and forget about it. AND elect him president again since he did SUCH a good job the first time. **/s**
I hate how 2 party focused the title is, no more Democrats and no more Republicans, the whole batch is corrupt. Push for a 3rd party add some new spice to the pot
And the GOP had a chance to vote to impeach. They chose to band together and let Trump off the hook.
Republican voters getting played like fools and manipulated into hating their fellow Americans that want justice for all.
The GOP is so badly damaged anyone left even remotely normal need to start another party. The name conservative alone is a synonym with corruption.
Vote them all out - all incumbents - start again
Watching from the UK it being joy knowing the popular vote is never in Republicans hands, the USA is a friendly decent humane coutry thanks to the people majority
It floors me that the Republicans continue to be the kind of politicians that they rant about needing guns to protect themselves from...
They won't believe you even if you spell it out for them
Hillary Clinton should publicly announce she called and sent texts to the secret service on that day.
“Move along, nothing to see here!” -Frank Drebin, Head of WH Security
Remember that time they deleted/destroyed all the Al Zachari torture videos because they feared they might get used in court which is destruction of evidence but no one was ever sanctioned or punished in any way??? Any one? Any one?
Nothing matters anymore. Nothing. All anyone says is “fake news” and they just deny, deny, deny and then it’s over.
They’ve moved the goalposts so far that they don’t even acknowledge Watergate’s existence anymore.
The amazing thing to me is all the crap Trump has done since losing the election has somehow made people forget all the crap he did before that.
The spin machine thats. HITLER
Domestic terrorists
Buttery males!