The Wow I Can't Believe That News Story Thread

[DwnWthVwls]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

I have a house? Where the **** is it????

Have you looked near your teaching career?

[The Batlord]

In the ghetto?

[Lisnaholic]

Originally Posted by Anteater

There was no "deal" on the table Day One. Nobody could agree on anything.

^ That is factually incorrect. According to this article, dated Dec 12, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...al/2336303002/ :-

McConnell followed up with the offer of a short-term spending bill, and Pelosi said House Democrats would support it.

On or about the same day Mike Pence announced that Trump would sign off on the same package as well. That looks like a deal to me, until Trump abdicated to Ann Coulter and did a u-turn. Don't try re-writing history. There was bipartisan agreement to keep the government open which Trump alone scuppered.

The Democrats are supposed to be the better / smarter adults in the room here, right? I can plainly say that Trump isn't empathetic in most respects. But that just makes his opponents even look more reprehensible when they let things get to the point of a shutdown then do nothing about it for a month.

I could be like some of these people and whine about Trump all day on Twitter. But my response to Democrats is "Okay, great we can agree he's being a dick....so ****ing do something about it instead of flying off for a beach vacation while hundreds of thousands of your constituents can't pay their bills".

^ You seem to be grumbling that the Dems should show forebearance because Trump is so wayward. That's not the role of the opposition. Better to demand that the Republicans stop enabling the loose cannon that they have sacrificed their integrity to.

Don't get emotional on me when we are trying to have a discussion about bloodless political schemes.

^ I appreciate the fact that we can discuss politics without personal animosity so if you think I breached that arrangement, I apologize. On the other hand, politics is far from bloodless. It affects lives and sometimes costs lives. Federal workers are people, so please don't fall into Trump's way of thinking of them as pawns in a bloodless political scheme.

Having spent a decent part of my own life in the media world before I got into business, I can assure you that Mitch was probably doing more than twiddling his thumbs.

^ Dems living in idle bliss in Puerto Rico, Mitch toiling away unseen, do you have any proper evidence for either claim? From the start the Dems made their position clear, and for weeks at a time the Trump camp offered no real alternative. Were the Dems supposed to hover at his door like supplicants hoping for Trump's next utterance? Even I know that's not the art of the deal.

[Anteater]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

^ That is factually incorrect. According to this article, dated Dec 12, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...al/2336303002/ :-


On or about the same day Mike Pence announced that Trump would sign off on the same package as well. That looks like a deal to me, until Trump abdicated to Ann Coulter and did a u-turn. Don't try re-writing history. There was bipartisan agreement to keep the government open which Trump alone scuppered.

That article clearly mentions an "11th hour" spending bill that McConnell proposed that the Democrats rejected. McConnell's second proposal wasn't greeted warmly either. Senor Trump steps in and asks for the 5 billion. Pelosi and Schumer said no. Boom, shutdown. Whatever Pence said or didn't say is irrelevant.

^ You seem to be grumbling that the Dems should show forebearance because Trump is so wayward. That's not the role of the opposition. Better to demand that the Republicans stop enabling the loose cannon that they have sacrificed their integrity to.

They should, because if they had done so then people would have gotten their paychecks earlier. All they needed to do was take Trump's offer in regards to DACA and tweak it in their favor.

Like I said, somebody has to be the adult in the room. What were they going to do if Trump decided to go beyond a month of keeping the government closed? They had no plan at all.

^ I appreciate the fact that we can discuss politics without personal animosity so if you think I breached that arrangement, I apologize. On the other hand, politics is far from bloodless. It affects lives and sometimes costs lives. Federal workers are people, so please don't fall into Trump's way of thinking of them as pawns in a bloodless political scheme.

Unfortunately, there isn't a single politician that really cares about their constituents in any party. Not even people like Ocasio-Cortez. Otherwise they wouldn't take salaries month after month during periods where fed employees aren't being paid....all at the expense of the taxpayer who always gets screwed first and foremost. Or fly to Puerto Rico to go see Hamilton with hundreds of corporate lobbyists under the pretense of providing "guidance" to the local government.

^ Dems living in idle bliss in Puerto Rico, Mitch toiling away unseen, do you have any proper evidence for either claim? From the start the Dems made their position clear, and for weeks at a time the Trump camp offered no real alternative. Were the Dems supposed to hover at his door like supplicants hoping for Trump's next utterance? Even I know that's not the art of the deal.

This avant-garde slice of photography comes to us courtesy of National Geographic: "Democrats Hard At Work With Corporate Lobbyists On Day 22 of Trump's Shutdown"

[Lilja]

Everytime I think of Trump and his wall, I think of Shelley's "Ozymandias"

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The man just wants a monument. Just carve him a statue or something.

[The Batlord]

Dude, dude, dude. Who ****ing cares who was or was not the bigger *******? It's kind of academic tbh. The Democrats have a long history of being big L liberal ****s who are not on the side of workers so any brownie points you might want to give them for standing up to Trump about a fascist wall that he wanted cause he likes building things with a "T" on them is kind of beside the point. Whoever was the bigger man here they are still collectively eligible for the gulag.

The point is that the wall is a symbol of Trump's willingness to give the finger pistols to at least borderline racist right wingers and downright alt right fuckheads, so no matter how sweet a deal he might give to the Dems that deal should be denied outright. If you want to talk about border security then whatever, fine, but not until Trump is gone. He has no place in the discussion because his place is as a racist demagogue and that should have no place. Do not give him and his position legitimacy by even considering it simply because he is a politician with power. He should be treated like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum and ignored until his term is up.

[[MERIT]]

^ Archived from the original, which has since been flagged for removal. It sounds fake as fuck to me, but stranger things have happened.

Spoiler for FULL TEXT:

URGENT: Do you resemble Ruth Bader Ginsberg? Are you free January 29th?

Hello and thank you for your interest!

We have an immediate and URGENT need for someone who resembles the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (pictured above, in life, on right). No need for a robe, we will supply. Must have ability to stay awake for approximately 2 hours.

We are trying to delay an important meeting in which she is scheduled to appear but it seems as though we are utterly powerless to postpone this meeting due to an uncontrollable and unmoving orange force whose name we shall not speak of. This meeting is scheduled for January 29th. We will do everything possible to change the date but it is possible our best is just not good enough.

Name your price for the appearance. We have plenty of Soros cash for you. Please email us ASAP.

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[rostasi]

I see so many bizarre statements here and I try not to get involved correcting
them because, you know, it just doesn't work on people who are so tied to their
emotional involvements when it comes to finding "factual" info, but, just this once:

Snopes

[OccultHawk]

it's expensive to live in DC

They should get minimum wage then.

[Anteater]

Originally Posted by rostasi

I see so many bizarre statements here and I try not to get involved correcting
them because, you know, it just doesn't work on people who are so tied to their
emotional involvements when it comes to finding "factual" info, but, just this once:

Snopes

I've read the Vox article covering the subject, and the Fox article and that article and at least three others covering the trip. They all corroborate and support my core point, with the biggest sticking point being the 100+ unnecessary corporate lobbyists who showed up to schmooze. If I was working for Facebook or Verizon instead of doing my own thing, I bet they would have sent me there too.