A Political Thread pt. 2

[Ticklishchap]

Well I am a civil engineer and I think it looks like a ridiculous proposal. Johnson has a history of these huge "pet projects" and currently every one has either been ditched or been a failure. Connecting Scotland and N.Ireland with a bridge or tunnel could be beneficial and even from Wales to Ireland, the latter could potentially be used as part of a scheme to extent the rail network from London, past Liverpool and across N.Wales into Dublin. It would still be a huge undertaking but just looking at it, it seems you'd get all the same utility with less work.

One of several reasons why most Londoners didn't vote for Boris Johnson in 2019 is that we experienced him as Mayor: the rest of the country had yet to see what he was like.

We were spared the worst of the pet projects, the 'Garden Bridge', although massive amounts of money were spent on it that could have gone a long way towards helping to end homelessness (a massive issue in the capital). The Garden Bridge actually wasn't even Boris's idea, but silly old Joanna Lumley's. I suppose she wanted to march Gurkhas up and down it all day long.

The Johnson mayoralty was characterised by close personal and financial links between the Mayor and his entourage and developers of varying levels of honesty, from vaguely corrupt to outright criminal. The legacy of those times is the number of empty new 'luxury flats' owned by Russian and Arab kleptocrats who don't even need to bother to rent them out. A lot of Russian money flowed into London at that time. Fire stations, post offices and other public buildings were also sold off to make way for (guess what?) luxury flats.

I wish I could say that Labour councils in London were much better: many of them go in for social cleansing - sorry, gentrification - and have equally suspect links with developers.

The 'Boris Burrow' to Northern Ireland is another version of the Garden Bridge. This time the motive isn't just commercial greed and schmaltzy sentimentality but a jingoistic obsession with 'the Union' in which other nations and regions of the UK are seen in effect as colonies of Westminster. It is an absurd and delusional idea - but that hasn't stopped this man yet and a lot of time and money is likely to be wasted.

 

[Ticklishchap]

The answer is - pretty much all accusations from the modern right are projections of their own "sins".


The liars shout "fake news"
The security risks shout "what about her emails"
The criminals shout "lock her up"
The sexual predator shouts "he's too touchy"
The corrupt shout "look who's funding him"
The guy with wannabe mafia kids shouts "look at his kid"
The biggest alligator in the swamp shouts "drain the swamp"
...
And on, and on it goes.

The modern, populist right is for people who blame others for their personal failures and disappointments. These 'others' are usually immigrants, refugees, benefit 'scroungers', people of different religions and colours. It's classic divide-and-rule politics with the 'white working class' pitted against the rest of the population including the large section of the working class that doesn't identify as 'white'.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

The modern, populist right is for people who blame others for their personal failures and disappointments. These 'others' are usually immigrants, refugees, benefit 'scroungers', people of different religions and colours. It's classic divide-and-rule politics with the 'white working class' pitted against the rest of the population including the large section of the working class that doesn't identify as 'white'.

Or the most ridiculous bit, pitting the "working class" against the "elite" by voting for the most stereotypically "elite" bunch of public schoolboys there is. That's something I just really can't fathom, some working class families looking at the likes of Cameron, Johnson, Mogg etc and saying that lot understand them whilst looking a Starmer, someone brought up on a council estate who made something of himself, as somehow a detached elitists. It's absurd. Ultimately though you can quickly home in on the reason, who is banging the nationalism drum loudest and playing divide and rule?

It's like the old tactic of blaming foreigners either inside or outside the country for the fact jobs have gone or blaming taxes. The one group that are never blamed? The wealthy individuals who make the decision to move jobs away to earn themselves even more money. That's all A-ok because apparently they have every right to vastly increase their already excessive wealth but some poor person doesn't have the right to a job you feel belongs to you, for no reason other than you are a "true Brit".

 

[Ticklishchap]

Or the most ridiculous bit, pitting the "working class" against the "elite" by voting for the most stereotypically "elite" bunch of public schoolboys there is. That's something I just really can't fathom, some working class families looking at the likes of Cameron, Johnson, Mogg etc and saying that lot understand them whilst looking a Starmer, someone brought up on a council estate who made something of himself, as somehow a detached elitists. It's absurd. Ultimately though you can quickly home in on the reason, who is banging the nationalism drum loudest and playing divide and rule?

It's like the old tactic of blaming foreigners either inside or outside the country for the fact jobs have gone or blaming taxes. The one group that are never blamed? The wealthy individuals who make the decision to move jobs away to earn themselves even more money. That's all A-ok because apparently they have every right to vastly increase their already excessive wealth but some poor person doesn't have the right to a job you feel belongs to you, for no reason other than you are a "true Brit".

It's not really the aspirational working class the populists are appealing to but the lumpenproletariat. I am not in favour of Thatcherism but at least there was an aspirational element to it, albeit IMHO the wrong kinds of aspiration or the wrong priorities. This brand of populist conservatism is anti-aspirational: stay stupid, stay ignorant, stay angry so that we can sh*t on you from on high without you're even noticing. In short, Boris's aim is to be 'King of the Chavs' - and let's face it, his personal lifestyle is actually pretty chavvy (as is the case with many of the rentier class).

 

[Ticklishchap]

Two '80s anthems for Bozo the Clown's 'Global Britain':

Fun Boy Three: The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)

Soft Cell: Bedsitter - but tweak the ***le to Brexitter:

... And now I'm
All alone in Brexitland
My only home!

Apologies to Marc Almond, OBE.

... I hope I'm not showing my age.

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

The modern, populist right is for people who blame others for their personal failures and disappointments. These 'others' are usually immigrants, refugees, benefit 'scroungers', people of different religions and colours. It's classic divide-and-rule politics with the 'white working class' pitted against the rest of the population including the large section of the working class that doesn't identify as 'white'.

Yeah this kind of awful take is what's wrong with modern politics and speaks to the same type of hypocrisy as I was pointing out earlier.

This quote kind of sums up how I feel:

"The man who can hold forth on every matter under debate in two contradictory ways of pleading, or can argue for and against every proposition that can be laid down – such a man is the true, the complete, and the only orator."

When will people understand that dismissal of political views they don't like as racist/classist or otherwise prejudiced doesn't do anyone any good... it pushes the far right further right and the far left further left.

Those who do try to take advantage of populsim with more sinister/nefarious objectives (which is VERY VERY rare) on both sides of the isle find their job only made easier by shitty takes like this. It keeps happening and no one ever learns...

Stop assuming the other side are evil / stupid / hateful / all round baddies. These aren't sports teams. There are things to learn from all walks of politics, but presumption of motive is exactly the reason politics is in such a dire state.

The 'Boris Burrow' to Northern Ireland is another version of the Garden Bridge. This time the motive isn't just commercial greed and schmaltzy sentimentality but a jingoistic obsession with 'the Union' in which other nations and regions of the UK are seen in effect as colonies of Westminster. It is an absurd and delusional idea - but that hasn't stopped this man yet and a lot of time and money is likely to be wasted.

This is also wildly blinkered. There are plenty of oppertunities to critisize Boris and his many pet projects, but dismissing an attempt to demonstrate some sembelance of unity to a part of the UK in which 50% ish of the populus have felt completely abandoned by their government in Westminster as "jingoistic" isn't one of them.

Is there other ways to do it? Absolutelty! Is this a massive project that may be ill fated? Absolutely! Is this an example of a devolved government being treated as a "colony" of westminster? No.

Regardless, suggesting that the "Union" in it's totality an example of colonialism at which Westminster is at the centre is a misunderstanding of not only the treaty of the Union, but also waters down the idea of "colonialism" in the international arena... something that is very ill advised.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

At best the bridge idea shows a continuance of the deep rooted misunderstanding of the reasons and causes of discontent in the occupied six.

It's a fairly apathetic response to the incoming referendum bill in Scotland and the expected domino effect of Scottish independence.

"Here's a bridge to the important part of the union. It achieves nothing and a fraction of the investment into your economy and attracting big businesses to set up in your highly educated population would be better for everyone but what a show of British engineering this is." Yeah, missing the mark pretty badly there Boris.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Yeah this kind of awful take is what's wrong with modern politics and speaks to the same type of hypocrisy as I was pointing out earlier.

This quote kind of sums up how I feel:

"The man who can hold forth on every matter under debate in two contradictory ways of pleading, or can argue for and against every proposition that can be laid down – such a man is the true, the complete, and the only orator."

When will people understand that dismissal of political views they don't like as racist/classist or otherwise prejudiced doesn't do anyone any good... it pushes the far right further right and the far left further left.

Those who do try to take advantage of populsim with more sinister/nefarious objectives (which is VERY VERY rare) on both sides of the isle find their job only made easier by shitty takes like this. It keeps happening and no one ever learns...

Stop assuming the other side are evil / stupid / hateful / all round baddies. These aren't sports teams. There are things to learn from all walks of politics, but presumption of motive is exactly the reason politics is in such a dire state.

This is also wildly blinkered. There are plenty of oppertunities to critisize Boris and his many pet projects, but dismissing an attempt to demonstrate some sembelance of unity to a part of the UK in which 50% ish of the populus have felt completely abandoned by their government in Westminster as "jingoistic" isn't one of them.

Is there other ways to do it? Absolutelty! Is this a massive project that may be ill fated? Absolutely! Is this an example of a devolved government being treated as a "colony" of westminster? No.

Regardless, suggesting that the "Union" in it's totality an example of colonialism at which Westminster is at the centre is a misunderstanding of not only the treaty of the Union, but also waters down the idea of "colonialism" in the international arena... something that is very ill advised.

There's so much there to go into and think about that I'm just not going to have time to do it over the next few days! But I shall come back to it later in the week. For now I will reassure you that you have misunderstood a lot of things about where I am coming from - that's my fault not yours because I wasn't nuanced enough. Most of all however I would like to reassure you that I most certainly don't see the Union as a colonial project at all. However I believe that this government misinterprets it in that way - and that a more inclusive view of the Union is needed.
I'll come back to this later!

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Yeah this kind of awful take is what's wrong with modern politics and speaks to the same type of hypocrisy as I was pointing out earlier.

This quote kind of sums up how I feel:

"The man who can hold forth on every matter under debate in two contradictory ways of pleading, or can argue for and against every proposition that can be laid down – such a man is the true, the complete, and the only orator."

When will people understand that dismissal of political views they don't like as racist/classist or otherwise prejudiced doesn't do anyone any good... it pushes the far right further right and the far left further left.

Those who do try to take advantage of populsim with more sinister/nefarious objectives (which is VERY VERY rare) on both sides of the isle find their job only made easier by shitty takes like this. It keeps happening and no one ever learns...

Stop assuming the other side are evil / stupid / hateful / all round baddies. These aren't sports teams. There are things to learn from all walks of politics, but presumption of motive is exactly the reason politics is in such a dire state.

The flip side is you also need to stop assuming both sides are equivalent and that 2 people making the same criticism are both valid in their criticism. It's more stark in the USA than here but trying to pretend that somehow the likes of the Republicans are operating in exactly the same way as Democrats is just simply not true, there is no comparison to what has happened under the Trump administration in American history. If it was equivalent, we would have seen this stuff all the time, we haven't. That means what has happened is abnormal and in a very bad way but apparently that can't be pointed out?

2 drivers are driving in a 30 zone, one is doing 30 and 1 is doing 60. The 30 driver could rightly accuse the 60 driver of speeding and putting people in danger. The 60 driver turns around and just fires an identical accusation back at the 30 driver, that they are in fact the ones speeding and putting people at risk. They are told that is nonsense and respond "Ha so it's ok when you do it but not me? Hypocrite!" The difference being only one of the accusations is actually valid.

It's possible to point out how far off the edge the right wing are currently going without thinking those on the left are saints who can do no wrong. It's simply that as things currently are, the amount of things that are being done wrong fall much more heavily on the right wing side. This is not a statement about the inherent positions of left or right but a statement about where it sits right now.

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

At best the bridge idea shows a continuance of the deep rooted misunderstanding of the reasons and causes of discontent in the occupied six.

It's a fairly apathetic response to the incoming referendum bill in Scotland and the expected domino effect of Scottish independence.

"Here's a bridge to the important part of the union. It achieves nothing and a fraction of the investment into your economy and attracting big businesses to set up in your highly educated population would be better for everyone but what a show of British engineering this is." Yeah, missing the mark pretty badly there Boris.

Honestly as someone who (normally) travels between Scotland and NI very regularly, a bridge would save me soooo much money on ferries but that's purely a small bonus for me!

Also potentially I don't think this is to solve discontent in Northern Ireland as a whole, literally no policy is capable of appeasing more than 50% at this point - it is clearly a move to make those with influence within the Unionist half feel like they are more connected to the UK and act as a demonstration to them that they are still very much part of the UK.

The flip side is you also need to stop assuming both sides are equivalent and that 2 people making the same criticism are both valid in their criticism. It's more stark in the USA than here but trying to pretend that somehow the likes of the Republicans are operating in exactly the same way as Democrats is just simply not true, there is no comparison to what has happened under the Trump administration in American history. If it was equivalent, we would have seen this stuff all the time, we haven't. That means what has happened is abnormal and in a very bad way but apparently that can't be pointed out?

2 drivers are driving in a 30 zone, one is doing 30 and 1 is doing 60. The 30 driver could rightly accuse the 60 driver of speeding and putting people in danger. The 60 driver turns around and just fires an identical accusation back at the 30 driver, that they are in fact the ones speeding and putting people at risk. They are told that is nonsense and respond "Ha so it's ok when you do it but not me? Hypocrite!" The difference being only one of the accusations is actually valid.

It's possible to point out how far off the edge the right wing are currently going without thinking those on the left are saints who can do no wrong. It's simply that as things currently are, the amount of things that are being done wrong fall much more heavily on the right wing side. This is not a statement about the inherent positions of left or right but a statement about where it sits right now.

That analogy relies on two fundmental assumptions:

1 is that one is doing 30 and the other 60 and that only one of the accusations is valid (I could give you as long a list about the hypocricy of the american left as I could about the american right, this is not a one sided thing)
2 is the attributing of motive - in this scenario that the latter driver is accusing the former simple to excuse his own actions. Or more generally that the populist right/left are neferious or ill intentioned.

I don't think either of those two assumptions are reasonale with analysing the vast majority of modern political debate. I'm obviously not saying that all arguments are of equal merit - flat earthers are just wrong for example, there is no logical argument for that - however in regards to political discourse in modern liberal democracies, that is VERY rare. Biden calling Trump supporters the "dark" to his "light" is as unhelpful as Trump calling Biden supporters "unamerican". There is this "holier than thou" illusion that is conjured up by both sides of the political aisle that honestly, falls apart almost instantly when one starts to look at it objectively.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

That analogy relies on two fundmental assumptions:

1 is that one is doing 30 and the other 60 and that only one of the accusations is valid (I could give you as long a list about the hypocricy of the american left as I could about the american right, this is not a one sided thing)
2 is the attributing of motive - in this scenario that the latter driver is accusing the former simple to excuse his own actions. Or more generally that the populist right/left are neferious or ill intentioned.

I don't think either of those two assumptions are reasonale with analysing the vast majority of modern political debate. I'm obviously not saying that all arguments are of equal merit - flat earthers are just wrong for example, there is no logical argument for that - however in regards to political discourse in modern liberal democracies, that is VERY rare. Biden calling Trump supporters the "dark" to his "light" is as unhelpful as Trump calling Biden supporters "unamerican". There is this "holier than thou" illusion that is conjured up by both sides of the political aisle that honestly, falls apart almost instantly when one starts to look at it objectively.

Democrats have never done what Trump did in this election so in that sense it is very valid to say that only 1 of the accusations is valid. With the more recent example of going after the marriage and dogs, well we know Cruz left his dog alone in the house in Texas as his family left. That is fact. We know he lied about the holiday being spur of the moment rather than long planned, that is also fact. There are no facts to suggest Biden has been mistreating his dogs so there it goes back to my analogy, we have facts proving 1 accusation and nothing proving the other apart from simply repeating the same accusation back.

With regards to marriage, approach it in an object manner. If you made a list of things you would expect to see from a happily married couple and then made a list of things of what you'd expect to see from an unhappy couple, compare that with the Bidens to the Trumps. Does this prove anything? No, but what we have seen from each is that the Biden's one would fall more into the "happy" marriage category and the Trumps would fall into the "unhappy" one. Again, the claim against Trump is based on what people have been observing. What has anyone observed to suggest the Bidens marriage is all a façade (that they have kept running for decades)? So far nothing. Again, accusation fabricated out of thing air to simply repeat back at the Bidens.

How about Trump family members not being qualified for the positions they held? Same thing, no evidence to suggest they were. The right fire back that Jill Biden isn't qualified to call herself a Doctor, despite evidence showing she is.

This is what I mean, it isn't equal at all, it's not a case of both sides making the same accusations therefore they are as bad as each other because in one case those accusations are based on something that has been actually observed. We can extend this to the whole election fraud, again one side making accusations out of thin air and the other (claiming Trump was trying to influence the election) based on what we observed and factual evidence. This simply cannot be dismissed as they are as bad as each other or the fact Democrats themselves are not whiter than white meaning that the wrongs on both sides are equivalent. Cuomo in NY for example has a lot to answer for in his mishandling of the outbreak. That doesn't somehow excuse Trump for his nationwide mishandling or the fact his mishandling and lies were on a vastly greater scale.

 

[Al Bangor]

U.S. Supreme Court formally pulls the plug on election-related cases

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday brought a formal end to eight lingering disputes pursued by former President Donald Trump and his allies related to the Nov. 3 presidential election including a Republican challenge to the extension of Pennsylvania's deadline to receive mail-in...

www.reuters.com

 

[TRF_Olyy]

well we know Cruz left his dog alone in the house in Texas as his family left

To be fair that's not true - the journalist who took the photo even said that there were security guards there looking after the dog, as they shooed him away

TBF I didn't realise the dog thing was this big of a deal - I thought it was just a funny photo, didn't think people thought he'd locked them in a house for two weeks on their todd

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Honestly as someone who (normally) travels between Scotland and NI very regularly, a bridge would save me soooo much money on ferries but that's purely a small bonus for me!

Also potentially I don't think this is to solve discontent in Northern Ireland as a whole, literally no policy is capable of appeasing more than 50% at this point - it is clearly a move to make those with influence within the Unionist half feel like they are more connected to the UK and act as a demonstration to them that they are still very much part of the UK.

I suppose so, it still misses the mark in my opinion. If a border poll ever was to go in favor of unification the swing vote is going to be people who see opportunity in unification, it'll be moderate unionist/nationalists and a few with no opinion who look at the tech, pharma and engineering companies in places like Cork, Galway and Limerick and realise that Belfast, Derry and even places like Enniskillen could attract such companies with the tax benefits of being part of Ireland. Anyone who cares about being part of the UK and will be appeased by a bridge are too far gone anyway. Brexit has essentially got the nationalist side on board for a border poll which was no guarantee six years ago, if Scotland was to leave the union and in the likely case NI remains stagnant I don't think this would be effective at all.

Boris does seem intent on keeping the union together, which is obviously fair but I don't see anything to suggest its because he thinks its what's best for the people of Scotland and the North and its hard not see see at least part of the motive for the bridge to be ego ************ rather than unity. I'd also suggest that the breaking up of the union is the best thing for the UK, its not an argument I currently have time to revise enough to present an argument and Wales is always an oversight of mine when I have this argument but I truly believe it and wouldn't b surprised if more than an insignificant number of MPs do as well.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

To be fair that's not true - the journalist who took the photo even said that there were security guards there looking after the dog, as they shooed him away

TBF I didn't realise the dog thing was this big of a deal - I thought it was just a funny photo, didn't think people thought he'd locked them in a house for two weeks on their todd

Should have clarified, I didn't mean it was literally locked in the house with nobody to feed it or anything but that it was kept in the cold house and isolated, unless security were constantly there interacting with it? The dog thing isn't such an issue, more it's just a convenient comparison where Cruz was accused of doing something and then days later the exact same accusation is being fired at Biden with no reasoning whatsoever, hence the whole "NO, U!" point.

 

[Not Mike Brown's Sock]

I suppose so, it still misses the mark in my opinion. If a border poll ever was to go in favor of unification the swing vote is going to be people who see opportunity in unification, it'll be moderate unionist/nationalists and a few with no opinion who look at the tech, pharma and engineering companies in places like Cork, Galway and Limerick and realise that Belfast, Derry and even places like Enniskillen could attract such companies with the tax benefits of being part of Ireland. Anyone who cares about being part of the UK and will be appeased by a bridge are too far gone anyway. Brexit has essentially got the nationalist side on board for a border poll which was no guarantee six years ago, if Scotland was to leave the union and in the likely case NI remains stagnant I don't think this would be effective at all.

Boris does seem intent on keeping the union together, which is obviously fair but I don't see anything to suggest its because he thinks its what's best for the people of Scotland and the North and its hard not see see at least part of the motive for the bridge to be ego ************ rather than unity. I'd also suggest that the breaking up of the union is the best thing for the UK, its not an argument I currently have time to revise enough to present an argument and Wales is always an oversight of mine when I have this argument but I truly believe it and wouldn't b surprised if more than an insignificant number of MPs do as well.

I see your point in regards to NI, but the Scotland and Wales arguments for independence are sketchy at best. Honestly, breaking up the union would probably economically benefit england in the short term but that's about it. Yes, that's a bigger debate that I'm sure we can have again when the May elections roll around!

Democrats have never done what Trump did in this election so in that sense it is very valid to say that only 1 of the accusations is valid The Democrats argued for almost four years that the 2016 election was either invalid / the result was as a result of meddling. They've called on their supporters to "fight" fairly regularly over the past 4 years. With the more recent example of going after the marriage and dogs, well we know Cruz left his dog alone in the house in Texas as his family left. That is fact. Olyy adressed this. We know he lied about the holiday being spur of the moment rather than long planned, that is also fact As with Nancy Pelosi being "set up" to break Covid rules, and the Mayor of LA lying about breaking COVID rules until there was irrefutable picture evidence, this is not something unique to Republicans, and is equally reprehensible on both side. There are no facts to suggest Biden has been mistreating his dogs I think you care more about these dogs than anyone else ngl so there it goes back to my analogy, we have facts proving 1 accusation and nothing proving the other apart from simply repeating the same accusation back.

With regards to marriage, approach it in an object manner. If you made a list of things you would expect to see from a happily married couple and then made a list of things of what you'd expect to see from an unhappy couple, compare that with the Bidens to the Trumps. Does this prove anything? No, but what we have seen from each is that the Biden's one would fall more into the "happy" marriage category and the Trumps would fall into the "unhappy" one. Again, the claim against Trump is based on what people have been observing. What has anyone observed to suggest the Bidens marriage is all a façade (that they have kept running for decades)? So far nothing. Again, accusation fabricated out of thing air to simply repeat back at the Bidens. I mean, to play devil's advocate here (i honestly don't care one bit about the biden's relationship) it would be very easy for a life long politician to create a facade of a perfect marraige in a country which seems to value that fairly highly in regards to it's politicians. Means very very little.

How about Trump family members not being qualified for the positions they held? Same thing, no evidence to suggest they were Two seperate issues here, one is not a direct retort to the other. The revolving door of Washington means people are not qualified for office all the time, cronyism is not purely a Trump thing. The right fire back that Jill Biden isn't qualified to call herself a Doctor this seems to be in refrence to two op eds from December, one of which points out her lack of MD and the other of which says all Doctors should keep the ***le purely to professional circles, despite evidence showing she is.

This is what I mean, it isn't equal at all, it's not a case of both sides making the same accusations therefore they are as bad as each other because in one case those accusations are based on something that has been actually observed. We can extend this to the whole election fraud, again one side making accusations out of thin air and the other (claiming Trump was trying to influence the election) based on what we observed and factual evidence. This simply cannot be dismissed as they are as bad as each other or the fact Democrats themselves are not whiter than white meaning that the wrongs on both sides are equivalent. Cuomo in NY for example has a lot to answer for in his mishandling of the outbreak. That doesn't somehow excuse Trump for his nationwide mishandling or the fact his mishandling and lies were on a vastly greater scale need I point to the quite serious accusations from within the Democrat party that there was a coordinated effort country wide to not let the country recover to damage Trump's election chances? Again... not insignificant and just as bad as each other.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

The Democrats argued for almost four years that the 2016 election was either invalid / the result was as a result of meddling. They've called on their supporters to "fight" fairly regularly over the past 4 years.
Not true at all. The Democrats argued (and proved) that there was heavy Russian interference in the election with a mass disinformation drive being driven by the Russians and leaking sensitive documents that it was shown were obtained by Russian hackers. There was known correspondence between Russians and the Trump campaign but at no point did the Democrats drag it through the courts or say the election itself was invalid. Remember the Mueller report, contrary to what Trump and the Republicans claim, found multiple cases of illegal activity and explicitly stated that the actions of Trump and his family could constitute criminal activity but it was not within the powers of the investigation to look further into Trumps dealings to establish that with certainty. Trump was no exonerated, it simply stated the investigation did not have the required powers to follow up on the leads, something other independent investigations are doing now.

As with Nancy Pelosi being "set up" to break Covid rules, and the Mayor of LA lying about breaking COVID rules until there was irrefutable picture evidence, this is not something unique to Republicans, and is equally reprehensible on both side.
Never said it was unique to the Republicans, difference here is it's the Senator of a state leaving the state in the middle of an emergency so he can be comfortable while his constituent suffer and then lying about it. It just goes with the whole bag of things Cruz has done.

I think you care more about these dogs than anyone else ngl
The dogs are illustrating a point, that accusations fired at Republicans are automatically fired straight back, not new accusations but the same ones. Republicans accused of stormer the Capitol and Trump playing a major role in it? 1 week later it's that it is Antifa storming the capitol and Pelosi / Biden playing a major role in it (yes, Republicans have been claiming this). Literally just taking whatever they are accused of and firing exactly the same accusation back, automatic deflection. The dog story was merely the most recent example of this.

Two seperate issues here, one is not a direct retort to the other. The revolving door of Washington means people are not qualified for office all the time, cronyism is not purely a Trump thing.
Again it's not about something being purely connected to Trump but about the scale. The world isn't 1 and 0, you do or you don't and all do's are equal. He put his family members in positions overseeing their own private interests to enrich his own family. Nobody is claiming he is unique in his cronyism or nepotism, what they are saying is the scope of it and the brazenness of it under Trump vastly exceeds what had been seen before. Trump also isn't the first president to have a major attitude problem but he is the first form whom it has been deemed acceptable to have an attitude problem, acceptable to use nepotism, acceptable to deny the results of an election, acceptable to use excessive force for photo ops. It's not that he is the only one doing it, it's that he is doing it more, out in the open and it is being accepted. All politicians also lie but none come even close to the almost non-stop stream of lies Trump told. Not even subtle lies or lies that are deemed necessary to protect himself, he has told lies for the sheer sake of it or making up absolute bullshit on the spot to try to make himself seem more impressive. He does it when there is literally nothing to gain from it too.

this seems to be in refrence to two op eds from December, one of which points out her lack of MD and the other of which says all Doctors should keep the ***le purely to professional circles
And all the major right wing "news" outlets running it repeatedly as a story and Trump, his family and members of his cabinet spewing it. Doctors are not limited to MDs and frankly a doctor can use the ***le in whatever circle they wish. These same people had no qualms whatsoever calling someone else doctor at the same time to comment against her who actually wasn't qualified to call himself doctor.

need I point to the quite serious accusations from within the Democrat party that there was a coordinated effort country wide to not let the country recover to damage Trump's election chances? Again... not insignificant and just as bad as each other.
Would that be the unsubstantiated claim made by Trump himself or is there actually some other source for that?

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Brexit is a machine to generate perpetual grievance. It's doing its job perfectly | Rafael Behr

The story of plucky Britain standing up to bullying Brussels spares leavers the discomfort of admitting they voted for a con, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

www.theguardian.com

 

[RedruthRFC]

Brexit is a machine to generate perpetual grievance. It's doing its job perfectly | Rafael Behr

The story of plucky Britain standing up to bullying Brussels spares leavers the discomfort of admitting they voted for a con, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

www.theguardian.com

This is so true. I can't figure out if those spouting it actually believe it or whether it's just a way of rationalising their stupidity rather than accepting that they got it wrong.

 

[ncurd]

This is so true. I can't figure out if those spouting it actually believe it or whether it's just a way of rationalising their stupidity rather than accepting that they got it wrong.