Trump is sueing his partners/cofounders at truth social attempting to steal their stock. Is anyone surprised? Trump screws over everyone who gets in bed with him, badly, usually by not paying them or bankrupting the venture.
(Edit: the judge who presided over the merger is “gobsmacked” that he lied about having any claims so he could judge shop his lawsuit and has said he’s considering sanctions.)

It’s exactly what he’s doing to the Republican Party. Fundraising is flat across the board since he installed his family into leadership rolls so they could rob it blind.

Major donors don’t want to fund don’s legal bills (isn’t he a billionaire? Why can’t he pay for his own lawyers?) but they can’t donate to the RNC without at least half going directly to Habba, and the rest going to pay don’s family exorbitant salaries for tanking the party…it’s still paying millions a year for Melania who hasn’t been seen this year! Not a single election rally scheduled. The RNC isn’t paying for down ballot campaigns. They have no ground game (armies of volunteers who canvas) in swing states and no money to organize any. The ONLY thing the RNC has is election workers willing to break the law and falsify the vote for Don, again, and maggots willing to vote multiple times, again.

Don’s support with millennials has dropped below 35% and is still shrinking fast. They really don’t like losing abortion rights, or birth control, and have heard the leadership saying the goal is to end “recreational sex” in America.
He’s still polling below 15% with the black community and never received over 12%. Biden lost a few percent, but they did not switch to Trump.
Women are outraged at the attempts to reverse the sexual revolution and get them barefoot and pregnant back in the kitchen with no rights and no voice and are voting against Republicans in droves even in deep red states.
There is no group he’s gaining with and many he’s losing, expect even evangelical support to evaporate as his porn star payoff/business fraud case is in the news all next month, sordid details and all.

It’s just hilarious that you still think someone with all that baggage, who is a well known rapist, business failure, convicted fraud, charity thief, repeatedly bankrupt trust fund baby, narcissist, constant liar, racist, misogynist, gullible idiot, and who clearly has full blown dementia is the best the right has to offer. 😂

Turns out China has been setting up thousands of MAGA social media accounts and are 100% in the Trump camp, posting ridiculous conspiracy theories about Biden (that get picked up by righty media) and pro trump propaganda (also repeated by righty media). Normal people see our enemies like Russia and China backing the same candidate (who utterly failed to stand up to either when he was in power) and understand that candidate is on our enemies side, not America’s.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/business/media/china-online-disinformation-us-election.html#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20Chinese%20accounts,Satanist%2
0pedophile%20while%20promoting%20Mr.

Oh yeah, libel per se is a -bitch- if you're nailed with it. In libel per quod ("lost-cause libel"), you have to prove damages. Generally, this is what prevents people from filing lawsuits every time someone calls them a dick on 4chan.

Libel per se is different. Oh, it is SO different. Libel per se means y'all fucked up. Y'all fucked up BAD. In LPS, what you printed was such bullshit and so obviously damaging, the plaintiff don't have to prove SHIT; they sort-of name a figure and the judge works from that.

In the case of Dominion, I'm 99% certain it'll be LPS. Also, the Gold Standard defense against libel -- what you printed is actually true -- will not apply here, and it'd be comedy gold if the defendants actually tried this defense. At that point, the three fastest winds ever recorded on the planet would be Typhoon Li, Hurricane Katrina and the explosive laughter and legal pimp slap from the bench. It'd make Rudy's immense clusterfucks in court seem like goddamn Perry Mason cross-examining a 6-year-old.

It gets better.

So, on the billion-to-one chance you win a libel per quod suit, you get "damages", which can be surprisingly little as you have to prove every single dollar in very narrow legal ways. Libel per se, on the other hand, is the BIG PRIZES. Your ass is at least catching dollar damages that would make Jerome Powell say "Y'all niggas need to tone them digits down, yo!". Those damages are ANYTHING THE COURT DECIDES. Again, LPS means the plaintiff doesn't have to prove a single dime of loss to claim damages of damned near any amount. Given that Dominion is asking for a cool bil-point-something, I wouldn't be hugely surprised if another zero wasn't slapped on the end of that figure.

That's just the "actual" damages. If you egregiously fucked up, like claiming a company overthrew a US election and was in league with a dead dictator, you get to spin the wheel of punitive damages. Punitive damages are how the court hands out spankings, only they're not spankings, they're that scene from 12 Years A Slave, only with less tickles and kittens. Given the shitstorm that followed the lies about Dominion, those damages could make the initial billion-dollar claim look quaint.

(By the way, you can't discharge the settlement in bankruptcy, given that libel per se is considered 'malicious', meaning the laughter from the judge presiding over your initial case will be roughly 1/10,000th the laughter coming from the bankruptcy judge.)

If I was Newsmax, OAN, Fox News, Rush or Alex, I'd be lawyering up but good, because the Wrath of Fucking God is coming and there ain't no rock big enough to hide behind.

Couldn't happen to a nicer group of traitorous, America-hating, back-stabbing cocksuckers (and good luck to them on their per quod claim should they decide to sue me over the previous statement).

After the debate Perdue cancelled the upcoming last debate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/us/elections/jon-ossoff-david-perdue-georgia.html

The report is also in plain English, it's worth a read. It shows the Russians did things we should prevent any foreign government from doing. It also shows there is no collusion or obstruction. It would be nice if everyone could read the unredacted version but 6 dems have read it (or had access to it) and aren't claiming anything new.

If you think the Russians are the only foreign govt guilty of meddling in US elections you're a fool.

The revolution will come when the US elects the sort of government they used to have before Murdoch, Fox and the Bush era GOP. Simply going back to 50's-60's (Republican!) tax policy will feel revolutionary and solve most problems. But many of the powerful will fight tooth and nail.

Exactly. Meeting Kim is the one thing that Trump has done that on the surface looks good. There is no conclusive evidence about any real results, AFAIK Kim did not promise anything new while Trump made concessions, but Trump fans are happy because their star appears to have scored.

I say good for you, I for one hope that pronounced achievements really get accomplished, that peace will be made and US gets to invest in NK, private ownership and human rights get established, people there get to eat, and everyone will live happily ever after.

However I am not sure that China, NK, SK, Japan and Russia consider this meeting anything more than a fleeting episode in a long struggle over bits and pieces of the far east. Trumps come and go and say things.

So now he is friends with two dictators, one has personally pledged not to interfere with US elections and another has promised not to nuke the US. That would be better if those same dictators had a history of keeping their promises.

Grab some coffee. More coffee. Maybe some soilent green, too. Now, may I direct your attention at this piece by the great Edward S. Herman, who basically wrote the book on propaganda together with Chomsky.

In this piece, he takes aim at the NYT's coverage of Russia. This, of course, includes the election. It's about 2/3 into the piece, beginning with:

"The Putin connection was given great impetus by the January 6, 2017 release of a report of the Office of Director of National Intelligence (DNI), on Background of Assessing Russian Activities and Intention in Recent US Elections."

Agree on the "SLAMS" title, it still irks me every time I see one.

At this point though, the general consensus is that Russia did have direct involvement in a campaign to influence the US election. The NSA, FBI, and CIA all have confirmed as such. The investigation is is to determine the extent of the influence.

@newtboy
gonna have to disagree with ya there mate.

not so much on the speculation in regards to trump involvement,or some kind of capitulation with russia.there quite possibly be some co-ordination between the kremlin and the trump administration.trumps alleged ties with putin may all be true,but until i see some actual evidence,that is all it will ever be;speculation.

and i think chomsky's criticism is a valid one.
the "russia russia russia" drum beating is reminiscent of the republicans and their meth-induced media barrage of "benghazi benghazi benghazi",and even after their precious political whipping tool had been debunked,they STILL beat that drum.

and of course it is hypocritical of the US government to cry about political election interference! america has been interfering with other,sovereign countries democratic elections for decades!

because here in murica' we like our allies to be either be run by despotic leaders,or rigid theocracies,because democracies are hard to manipulate and control.can't be bribing an entire citizenry now can we? we like our foreign allies like we like our meat,juicy and tender and easy pickings.

now i am not here to defend putin.the man is a brutal authoritarian,who may appear to some as a russian patriot,but i just see a ruthless and saavy political player who appeases the only constituency that matters to him.the russian oligarchs,and they OWN that fucking joint.

but it was NATO who began to encroach on russian borders,not the other way around.in fact,as early as the 80's we began that encroachment.we lied to gorbachev,who was removed as president in shame,to be replaced by yeltsin.who was america's pick for their own little tool of the kremlin.

russia's military build-up has been a direct response to our ever-increasing wars of aggression in the middle east.putin has stated so publicly.

russia's biggest export is oil and natural gas,and russia pretty much is the sole provider for all of europe.with our wars in the middle east,and now qatar aggressively seeking to push through their own oil and gas pipeline to sell to europe.(what?you thought yemen and syria were about civil wars and terrorists?).

what did you THINK russia was going to do?
sit back and let their only major export be challenged?

and now that trump,like the buffoon he is,publicly stated that if the baltic states are not willing to pay their fair share towards NATO,then they will be removed.opening the door for putin.

poor latvia...

but lets waste all this time on "russia russia russia",while ignoring the larger implications of a fucking world war.

did russia manipulate US elections?
possibly..probably..
was the trump administration complicit?
possibly..probably..

is their any evidence beside speculation,and coincidence?
nope.

chomsky makes a valid point.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-shifrinson-russia-us-nato-deal--20160530-snap-story.html

re: Internet/totalitarianism/control of information, every single government tries to control information, the media, public opinion, and uses the internet as a tool for that goal (just like tv, radio, print, etc). The internet/access to information in and of itself does not guarantee greater accuracy/truth of that information, and unless the population is educated, respectful, and capable of critical thinking it can easily become little bubbles of echo chambers and a playground for griefers. What good did widespread internet availability do for the last US election? has the internet made americans more free, or more easily monitored and controlled? what good is it for cuba for cubans to have access to world of warcraft, so they can neglect their children who starve to death while they grind up to the next level? has the internet prevented mainstream media from fabricating news / pushing their agendas, or has it given more people a platform for fabricating news, anonymously? yeah, im not saying the internet is all bad, of course there are other very useful applications for it, but its not a magic "improve society" wand.

final thing i want to say, I have several friends who studied in cuba as exchange students in the late 90s, early 00s and yes, they had to make treks to specific places for access but they were able to send emails and such, so this piece is not factually accurate. If the cuban govt was so dead set on stopping people from communicating, im pretty sure they would identify network cables hanging in the middle of the street and easily follow them back to your apartment, not to mention detect wifi networks setup all over their tiny island.

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What happened in the US election? Well, the front fell off!

I think it's not so much not being able to tell them apart but not being willing to investigate them beyond their labels. I spend some time in other online communities with people from the US and the sense I get is Clinton is generally seen as corrupt and criminal and Trump as perhaps sexist / racist but a good businessman. I would argue both labels are to some extent misleading and false.

I don't see much discussion that goes beyond those labels. In both cases from the snippets I've seen of US TV and of some online tabloids, that's about as deep as the discussion goes. To really understand the problem with both candidates you need to read good editorial work from more reputable / long form media (weekly publications, newspapers that aren't tabloids) and frankly I think very few have been willing to do that.

Much of it comes down to politics being treated as entertainment and reading long written articles simply isn't entertaining. Unfortunately it's going the same way here in Australia. Everyone is obsessed about opinion polls. We might have short periods of formal election campaigning (unlike the epic US election process), but because of only 3 years between elections for our Prime Minister (and the fact that he or she can and does get replaced within those 3 years by Parliament, unlike the US President), we have constant personal political battles and recrimination rather than deliberation over policy.

I mean right now, we have a prime minister (Turnbull, re-elected earlier this year), who unseated a previously elected prime minister (Abbott, in the previous term) by a vote of no confidence. Abbott himself (several parliamentary terms before) had successfully unseated Turnbull as minority leader (when another party held the prime minister-ship). Now there are rumors that Abbott wants to challenge Turnbull. And that's just one of our political parties.

Meteor 2016!!!