A GOP political operative Jessie Benton (Rand Paul’s niece’s husband) was just convicted in federal court in Washington DC for unlawfully funneling foreign campaign donations from a Russian “businessmen” to political groups that supported Trump in 2016. Benton now faces up to 20 years in prison.

Trump pardoned him for helping funnel $100000 through Paul’s campaign into state legislature campaigns.
Also caught in a sting where the Telegraph asked him for help hiding and funneling Chinese money ($1-2 million) into American campaigns and he did.
Also laundered money from Russians through personal accounts directly to Trump, Russians who met and hung out with Trump because of their contributions, so Trump knew.

One more MAGA criminal convicted of collusion with Russia for Trump in 2016. There’s one hell of a lot of convictions for something you people think never happened. There’s one hell of a lot of people in prison over what you call the “rusher hoax”.

Trump said George Washington had airplanes. Windmills cause cancer. Vaccines cause autism. And people should inject disinfectant to clean their insides.

Oops this turned into a semi rant. But I am legitimately open to discussion here, and am curious to get your thoughts on a few points Bob. That is, IF you're willing to actually think about them beyond the level of repeating talking points.

I find it interesting how divergent the two overall "sides" are in this country, in terms of where they focus. None of the issues brought up in this video are really on the radar of most progressives, beyond being aware some on the right are talking about them. And I'm guessing a lot of the concerns progressives discuss rarely come up in your chosen media landscape. A lot of the issues in the video are largely off of my radar, and I have to wonder how you feel they should be addressed - like, actual proposed solutions rather than just complaining about / worrying about them.

We only dedicate one day to remember our fallen soldiers

How many should there be? Arguably we have more than one already: there's Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and it seems that Sept 11th is often used for the purpose as well.

I'd argue we should spend more time acknowledging and understanding the principals behind WHY our soldiers died in the various conflicts which caused them to fall in the first place. Let's make sure our citizenry appreciates what we collectively rejected in the Revolutionary war. Why it was important that we kept the country together rather than allowing the south to split off in the mid-1800s. Why we chose to honor our diplomatic agreements and support our allies in WW1. Why we fought against the countries and governments we did in WW2. What our goals were in Korea and Vietnam, and what lessons we learned from those conflicts and from the Cold War in general. Commemorating and remembering those we've lost absolutely matters, but if we're ONLY doing that while forgetting why they fought OR ignoring what we learned then we're doing them an equal or greater disservice. Remember that America was built on the idea of forming "a more perfect union" - not a perfect one, a MORE perfect one - a work in progress. We're striving towards an ideal, not assuming we're already there. Learning from our past successes, failures, and our struggles around both outcomes is vital. If our self-analysis is no deeper than hero worship we'll never make real progress towards that theoretical perfect union.

The only mask that's gonna save us is duct tape on their mouths

Yeah, sound medical advice and evidence-based science is terrifying. Better to shut up those whose words we dislike, because we're reactionary authoritarian babymen. I truly do not understand being more afraid of reasonable safety measures than of a virus which has been shown to cause serious harm in the short and long terms. The only reason this "masks = liberal / maskless = conservative" crap came about is because politics has devolved to the level of team sports in the US, and one party has chosen "the opposite of whatever our political opponents say" as their entire governing philosophy. (And yes, ONE party - research and understand the GOP's 2020 platform if you want to argue the point.) This video even seems to reach a reasonable conclusion at the end, while coming up just short of that final logical leap to "maybe I should question what the public faces of MY side have been claiming in this Us vs Them madness." Seriously - keep going friend, you're almost there! George Washington was 100% right in wanting to avoid political parties being a force in the US, and it makes me immensely sad that his fears came true.

Big oil runs the world / the only wars to get fought are with the countries who have natural resources they want

Solid point here, no sarcasm. The US military has long been a tool of our profit-driven form of "free market" imperialism. A really great way to combat this, specifically with an eye to ending Big Oil's goddamn death grip on our foreign policy goals, would be an aggressive implementation of renewable energy projects. Remember the space race? America can be an absolute beast at clever engineering solutions when we dedicate ourselves to it. Fuck the petrostates, we have the available land and resources to absolutely kick ass in the realms of solar and wind power, and be leaders in the the post-hydrocarbon reality. We can certainly agree on that, right Bob? Left / Right nonsense fully aside, I think any reasonable American can agree on at least two points: let's stop sending heaps of cash to buy oil off of the Saudis (etc), and Fuck Cancer.

But if a white man acts too white he's white trash / he's a racist he's a bigot he's a monster

What the fuck is this horseshit? What does "acting too white" even fucking look like? Watching NASCAR on a sailboat while listening to polka? Typically when I see racism from white people it's in the form of denying that brown-hued people deal with any additional difficulties in life due to their skin tone, or denying that there have been structural obstacles for them through history, or lamenting that their white children are being burdened with a broader lens on culture or with (gasp! shock!) an accurate accounting of actual US history, including the ugly bits that we shouldn't be proud of (but MUST learn from). I'm progressive / lefty as fuck and there is no aspect of "white culture" or "acting white" which upsets me in the slightest. UNLESS one counts "denying racism exists / has ever existed" as a fundamental value of being white. Which... why would anyone want to claim that nonsense? If you want to listen to classic country music in a rusty pickup truck while driving to an evangelical church, then discuss hockey over Buds after 18 holes with the rest of your tractor pull team, then absolutely go nuts my fellow caucusoid! Just recognize and understand that your life experiences may not be the same as those of others. Further, if we care about trying to avoid unnecessary, avoidable unfairness in life (recognizing that life will never truly be fair, for anyone), then it might be reasonable for some governmental / legal / structural recognition in furtherance of that notion. There is absolutely room for legitimate policy disagreement here without being accused of racism. It's denial of others' reality which tends to garner the label of racist (sexist etc) - steer clear of denying the lived experiences of other people, allow for the possibility they may have encountered difficulties you haven't / won't, and we've room for further discussion.

Edit / final point: I voted the video back up to 0 from the -1 where I found it. Because while I disagree with a lot of the positions taken by the performer, they may have reached them through no fault of their own and with no true malice. Misinformation / disinformation is a devious shit of a motherfucker, and the rot it causes can run deep. It is painful to abandon deeply-held beliefs, on a fundamental level. If nothing else, the video gives us room to discuss some specific viewpoints held by people who think of themselves as good, but which can lead to harm.

Trump said on live tv that George Washington had airplanes.

Say unnamed anonymous sources…followed with…
“While the recommendation is not a final decision” — and the unnamed sources said “new evidence could emerge that changes the prosecutors’ view.”

Odd decision since they have his texts and payments, not just the word of co-conspirators. I expect a detailed explanation if true, or it looks like corruption.

DOJ is not commenting….wait and see.

Could easily be fake news….don’t you think everything the Washington Post writes is fake news? Funny how you don’t question anything from any source that seems to be in your favor, and just deny every fact that isn’t.

Trump said on live tv that George Washington had airplanes. And people should inject disinfectant,to clean their insides.

Trump said on live tv that George Washington had airplanes.

It’s what he is trying to stop the FBI from looking at (3 weeks after they seized it-HA). Sorry, do you think the public will get to see the unredacted list of exactly what secrets they found there? Good luck, that’s classified. What we do have is a list of how many, and what classification was found, and that includes the highest level of classification never allowed outside secure locations (nuclear secrets would be in that category).
Be clear, nuclear secrets covers a ton, not just the launch codes some suspect.
P.s. based on past behavior, he may still have nuclear secrets too.
Also be clear, Trump’s legal team has made no moves at all to ask for more openness or less secrecy, the media has. Trump’s team has made a half assed attempt to keep even the FBI and DOJ from reviewing them with clearance in secure locations, trying to hide what he stole from anyone. Lol.

Where is it? Either the FBI or DOJ.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/donald-trump-really-bring-nuclear-secrets-mar-lago-rcna42794
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/donald-trump-fbi-raid-mar-a-lago-nuclear-weapons-documents
https://www.newsweek.com/nuclear-secrets-already-fell-wrong-handstrumps-opinion-1733711
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-nuclear-weapons-issue-is-hoax-after-washington-post-report-2022-08-12/

If being curious enough to investigate the things I don’t know AND the things I do know to be sure I’m correct in my memory is elitist, fine.
If calling out made up nonsense and liars is elitist, I’ll accept that gladly.
If debating using facts from reliable cited sources and reason is elitist, mea culpa.

Can you define the mindset, or would any definition suit you more than me so it’s better to not define your insult?
Elite-the most powerful, rich, gifted, or educated members of a group, community, etc. I am none of those, I might be one of the better researchers with a decent, not great education. The internet makes us all equal in knowledge if you know how to research….hint, it’s not by reading one article that tells you only what you already believe. I’m not the most rich, powerful, or educated here…are you calling me gifted?
…and you say you’re rich, educated, and I bet you think gifted….aren’t you elitist? You definitely think you know it all despite being demonstrably wrong near 100% of the time on any subject.

No, sorry friendo, you are an immense asshole constantly to nearly everyone, both personally and politically. I’m an asshole to you, because I believe that’s what liars deserve, and you lie constantly and absolutely never admit you were mistaken (why I say you lie and weren’t just incorrect).

He beat Trump without even holding rallies. He’s a winner, and any insult you lob only shows how little it takes to outclass Trump. 😂
Also….
He’s never stolen top secret documents to sell.
He’s never even tried to overthrow the government.
He never seriously suggested people inject bleach.
He’s never proclaimed he thought George Washington took British airports.
He never stared directly into the sun on national tv like Jimmy Whichard.
He can say the word “yesterday”.

Going broke? My portfolio is exploding, good after it stagnated under Trump. What nonsense are you inventing now?

Hate to tell you, but I didn’t want Biden in the first place (I know I’ve told you repeatedly before, but also know retention isn’t your strong suit, but I don’t know what is)…I preferred Buttigieg, but a supremely smart, well spoken, highly accomplished Rhodes scholar and military intelligence agent who’s not ancient but is gay wasn’t a sure bet.

P.S. congratulations on using the correct “your” for once.

Trump said on live tv that George Washington had airplanes.

Trump said on live tv that George Washington had airplanes.

Absolutely…the little word flubs are funny, especially seeing how much the right makes of Biden’s diagnosed stutter that he’s all but overcome, but it’s the batshit crazy ideas that are the problem and clearly indicate breaks with reality severe enough for involuntary commitment.

Airplanes/airports….that’s semantics. A game I love, but inconsequential.

Thinking Washington fought with a modern mechanized army…seriously suggesting people should inject disinfectant and swallow uv lights, that’s a dangerous level of insanity or unbelievable stupidity and ignorance, as is ignoring such signs from leaders.

Stuck repeating “oranges”…that needs diagnosis…maybe sundowning? (I don’t know if that’s a medical term, but I mean when early onset dementia patients are almost normal until evening when they break down into full dementia.)


I think I’m going to need to watch that movie again, it’s been decades.

Trump said on live tv that George Washington had airplanes.

Trump said on live tv that George Washington had airplanes.