Quote:

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Originally posted by second:
Tom Nichols wrote:

I approached Trump’s speech with genuine curiosity. I was for most of my life a working political scientist, and I have written speeches for politicians; I think I know a good one when I see one. So I watched last night to see if Trump, tamed by a brush with death, would strike a new tone or, at the very least, try to make peace with one of his most hated enemies: the teleprompter.

No chance. To be fair, some people who watched the speech thought that the first 10 minutes or so, in which Trump recounted being injured, were good, even thoughtful. I thought they were terrible; although Trump and his people have emphasized Trump’s defiance in the moment after he was hurt, his blow-by-blow account of the incident came across to me as creepy and solipsistic rather than brave.

Contrast that with Ronald Reagan, the previous president injured in an attempt on his life. Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post reminded us today that Reagan appeared before Congress a month after he was nearly killed. (His injuries were severe and life-threatening.) Reagan was on the Hill to talk about the economy, but he started by thanking the country for its prayers and good wishes, noting a cute letter he got from a child while he was in the hospital, and paying tribute to the people injured alongside him. This digression took all of four paragraphs, a matter of a few minutes. “Now, let’s talk about getting spending and inflation under control and cutting your tax rates,” he then said.

Trump, however, droned on about how much the human ear can bleed, while the screens behind him showed huge pictures of blood on his face. He then went over to the equipment owned by Corey Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter killed in the attack, and kissed the helmet. Some in the crowd may have loved it, but I prefer a bit more stoicism in national leaders; I’ve always thought that Trump’s penchant for hugging and kissing flags was weird, and planting a kiss on the headgear of a dead man was even weirder.

And then things really went off the rails. If you didn’t sit through it, I can’t blame you; it was the longest presidential-nomination-acceptance speech on record.

Donald Trump Full Acceptance Speech at 2024 Republican National Convention

Basking in the friendliest audience he will ever find on this planet, Trump couldn’t help himself. He was supposed to be like a band at a concert doing a tight set, playing some favorites for the loyal fans, introducing a little new material, and gaining a wider audience. Instead, he blew the chance and ran overtime as he noodled, improvised, and even mangled some of his classics.

The speech wasn’t written that way, of course, but Trump can’t stick to a script. You can always tell when Trump is trying to read the teleprompter: His shoulders tense up, he cocks his head and squints, and he rushes through words he has clearly never seen before. It doesn’t help that Trump’s writers stuff his speeches with baroque constructions that are supposed to be soaring and majestic but that always end up sounding more like dollar-store Churchill imitations. Trump struggles with these complex sentences, and then he abandons them—and that is when the real Trump comes out, in all his whiny and aggrieved glory.

I do not have the space (or the endurance) to relive those moments with you, but they were the ramblings of a man who has serious psychological problems. All of it was on display last night: rage, paranoia, pettiness, desolating selfishness.

I’m always sorry to leave readers with these sorts of observations just before a weekend, but much of the media response to Biden’s troubles and Trump’s madness has been mired in equivalences that obscure what’s happening to both men, and what’s at stake for the nation. (As I was writing this, for example, a Washington Post newsletter arrived in my inbox and told me that the GOP had just wrapped up “an energized, focused convention.” That’s an interesting description of a Republican gathering that featured a sex worker, Hulk Hogan, and a spaced-out Trump.)

Yes, Biden is old, and he’s having trouble communicating. The people expressing serious concerns about him have good reason to worry about both his health and his ability to defeat Trump. He might be out of the race by next week. But Trump is mentally and emotionally unwell. He and his valet, J. D. Vance, are not going anywhere. The real tragedy is that, in a serious country, Biden might step down without incident, and a normal race would continue, because decent people would have banished Trump from the public square long ago.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/07/a-searing-remi
nder-that-trump-is-unwell/679170/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Quote:

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Originally posted by second:
JD Vance, now former President Donald Trump's running mate, once speculated in a 2016 message to a former college roommate that Trump could end up being "America's Hitler."

Vance had also written that year that Trump was "unfit" to be president, called him an "idiot," and described him as "cultural heroin."

At the time, Trump was running for the presidency for the first time.

Josh McLaurin, Vance's former roommate at Yale and now a Democratic state senator in Georgia, sat on the "America's Hitler" message for years before deciding to publish it in 2022, shortly after Trump endorsed Vance's Senate run.

In an interview with Business Insider, McLaurin said he released screenshots of the message to expose Vance's "hypocrisy" and the "gross inconsistencies" in his political career.

Now, the message, which also speculated that Trump could be a "cynical asshole like Nixon," is being used to highlight Vance's dramatic journey from "Never Trump" to loyal ally and running mate.

https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-roommate-says-published-donal
d-trump-america-hitler-message-2024-7

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:
Exclusive-Harris leads Trump 44% to 42% in US presidential race, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/exclusive-harris-leads-trump-4
4-to-42-in-us-presidential-race-reutersipsos-poll-finds/ar-BB1quKSh?ocid=BingNewsSerp

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That was fast...

T

Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:
Terrible policy and politics': Rattner breaks down Project 2025

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Quote:

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Originally posted by second:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Lyin' Kamala Harris, the Biden appointed "Border Czar" who never visited the Border, and whose incompetence gave us the WORST and MOST DANGEROUS Border anywhere in the World, has absolutely terrible pole numbers against a fine and brilliant young man named DONALD J. TRUMP! Be careful what you wish for, Democrats??? MAGA2024

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-pole-numbers_n_669f5c65e4b
030a2640ad14e

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
Tom Nichols wrote:

I approached Trump’s speech with genuine curiosity. I was for most of my life a working political scientist, and I have written speeches for politicians; I think I know a good one when I see one. So I watched last night to see if Trump, tamed by a brush with death, would strike a new tone or, at the very least, try to make peace with one of his most hated enemies: the teleprompter.

No chance. To be fair, some people who watched the speech thought that the first 10 minutes or so, in which Trump recounted being injured, were good, even thoughtful. I thought they were terrible; although Trump and his people have emphasized Trump’s defiance in the moment after he was hurt, his blow-by-blow account of the incident came across to me as creepy and solipsistic rather than brave.

Contrast that with Ronald Reagan, the previous president injured in an attempt on his life. Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post reminded us today that Reagan appeared before Congress a month after he was nearly killed. (His injuries were severe and life-threatening.) Reagan was on the Hill to talk about the economy, but he started by thanking the country for its prayers and good wishes, noting a cute letter he got from a child while he was in the hospital, and paying tribute to the people injured alongside him. This digression took all of four paragraphs, a matter of a few minutes. “Now, let’s talk about getting spending and inflation under control and cutting your tax rates,” he then said.

Trump, however, droned on about how much the human ear can bleed, while the screens behind him showed huge pictures of blood on his face. He then went over to the equipment owned by Corey Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter killed in the attack, and kissed the helmet. Some in the crowd may have loved it, but I prefer a bit more stoicism in national leaders; I’ve always thought that Trump’s penchant for hugging and kissing flags was weird, and planting a kiss on the headgear of a dead man was even weirder.

And then things really went off the rails. If you didn’t sit through it, I can’t blame you; it was the longest presidential-nomination-acceptance speech on record.

Donald Trump Full Acceptance Speech at 2024 Republican National Convention


Basking in the friendliest audience he will ever find on this planet, Trump couldn’t help himself. He was supposed to be like a band at a concert doing a tight set, playing some favorites for the loyal fans, introducing a little new material, and gaining a wider audience. Instead, he blew the chance and ran overtime as he noodled, improvised, and even mangled some of his classics.

The speech wasn’t written that way, of course, but Trump can’t stick to a script. You can always tell when Trump is trying to read the teleprompter: His shoulders tense up, he cocks his head and squints, and he rushes through words he has clearly never seen before. It doesn’t help that Trump’s writers stuff his speeches with baroque constructions that are supposed to be soaring and majestic but that always end up sounding more like dollar-store Churchill imitations. Trump struggles with these complex sentences, and then he abandons them—and that is when the real Trump comes out, in all his whiny and aggrieved glory.

I do not have the space (or the endurance) to relive those moments with you, but they were the ramblings of a man who has serious psychological problems. All of it was on display last night: rage, paranoia, pettiness, desolating selfishness.

I’m always sorry to leave readers with these sorts of observations just before a weekend, but much of the media response to Biden’s troubles and Trump’s madness has been mired in equivalences that obscure what’s happening to both men, and what’s at stake for the nation. (As I was writing this, for example, a Washington Post newsletter arrived in my inbox and told me that the GOP had just wrapped up “an energized, focused convention.” That’s an interesting description of a Republican gathering that featured a sex worker, Hulk Hogan, and a spaced-out Trump.)

Yes, Biden is old, and he’s having trouble communicating. The people expressing serious concerns about him have good reason to worry about both his health and his ability to defeat Trump. He might be out of the race by next week. But Trump is mentally and emotionally unwell. He and his valet, J. D. Vance, are not going anywhere. The real tragedy is that, in a serious country, Biden might step down without incident, and a normal race would continue, because decent people would have banished Trump from the public square long ago.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/07/a-searing-remi
nder-that-trump-is-unwell/679170/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Quote:

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California Sen. Kamala Harris is dropping out of the presidential race, citing a lack of funds. She informed her campaign staff of the decision on a conference call and later sent an email to supporters, in which she wrote "my campaign for president simply doesn't have the financial resources we need to continue."

Harris' departure, two months before voting and caucusing begin in the presidential contest, marks an abrupt end to a campaign that, for much of the winter and spring, looked like that of a top-tier presidential contender.

...

Harris kicked off her campaign in front of 20,000 supporters in Oakland, Calif., and consistently drew large crowds in Iowa, South Carolina, and other early primary states. She was among the top tier of candidates in both polling and fundraising and briefly surged toward the very top of the field shortly after the first presidential debate, when she confronted former Vice President Joe Biden about his early opposition to federal busing policies.

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Harris' departure, two months before voting and caucusing begin in the presidential contest, marks an abrupt end to a campaign that, for much of the winter and spring, looked like that of a top-tier presidential contender.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:
Terrible policy and politics': Rattner breaks down Project 2025

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Project 2025 is something that MSNBC made up. Nobody else ever even makes any mention of Project 2025.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by second:

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:
Terrible policy and politics': Rattner breaks down Project 2025

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Project 2025 is something that MSNBC made up. Nobody else ever even makes any mention of Project 2025.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

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All facts are lies says the littlest Nazi, 6ixStringJack, who also says Trump is not responsible for what JD Vance, Trump's personal pick, would really do once given a little power:

JD Vance's chief intellectual influence literally wants to put poor people into a real life version of "The Matrix."

By Gil Duran | July 22, 2024

https://newrepublic.com/article/183971/jd-vance-weird-terrifying-techn
o-authoritarian-ideas

He then concluded that the “best humane alternative to genocide” is to “virtualize” these people: Imprison them in “permanent solitary confinement” where, to avoid making them insane, they would be connected to an “immersive virtual-reality interface” so they could “experience a rich, fulfilling life in a completely imaginary world.”

Way back in 2012, in a speech on “How to Reboot the US Government,” he said, “If Americans want to change their government, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia.”

Since entering politics, Vance has publicly praised—and parroted—Yarvin’s ideas. That was worrying enough when Vance was only a senator. Now that he could soon be a heartbeat away from the presidency, his close ties to Yarvin are more alarming than ever. Superficial analyses of why certain tech billionaires are aligning with Trump tend to fixate on issues like taxes and regulations, but that’s only part of the story. Tech plutocrats like Thiel and Elon Musk already have money. Now they want power—as much as money can buy.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Quote:

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California Sen. Kamala Harris is dropping out of the presidential race, citing a lack of funds. She informed her campaign staff of the decision on a conference call and later sent an email to supporters, in which she wrote "my campaign for president simply doesn't have the financial resources we need to continue."

Harris' departure, two months before voting and caucusing begin in the presidential contest, marks an abrupt end to a campaign that, for much of the winter and spring, looked like that of a top-tier presidential contender.

...

Harris kicked off her campaign in front of 20,000 supporters in Oakland, Calif., and consistently drew large crowds in Iowa, South Carolina, and other early primary states. She was among the top tier of candidates in both polling and fundraising and briefly surged toward the very top of the field shortly after the first presidential debate, when she confronted former Vice President Joe Biden about his early opposition to federal busing policies.

---

Quote:

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Harris' departure, two months before voting and caucusing begin in the presidential contest, marks an abrupt end to a campaign that, for much of the winter and spring, looked like that of a top-tier presidential contender.

---

Quote:

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California Sen. Kamala Harris is dropping out of the presidential race, citing a lack of funds. She informed her campaign staff of the decision on a conference call and later sent an email to supporters, in which she wrote "my campaign for president simply doesn't have the financial resources we need to continue."

Harris' departure, two months before voting and caucusing begin in the presidential contest, marks an abrupt end to a campaign that, for much of the winter and spring, looked like that of a top-tier presidential contender.

...

Harris kicked off her campaign in front of 20,000 supporters in Oakland, Calif., and consistently drew large crowds in Iowa, South Carolina, and other early primary states. She was among the top tier of candidates in both polling and fundraising and briefly surged toward the very top of the field shortly after the first presidential debate, when she confronted former Vice President Joe Biden about his early opposition to federal busing policies.

---

Quote:

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Harris' departure, two months before voting and caucusing begin in the presidential contest, marks an abrupt end to a campaign that, for much of the winter and spring, looked like that of a top-tier presidential contender.

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Quote:

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Democrats have seized on opportunities amid crisis before to advance such an agenda. In 1960, John Kennedy won an exceedingly narrow victory on the strength of his charisma and then proposed the most far-reaching reforms since the New Deal, including a civil rights bill. These programs and a slew of others were enacted by Lyndon Johnson, with big majorities in Congress, only after the young president was gunned down on the streets of Dallas. Democrats now have another chance to continue the progressive agenda that Biden, a lifelong centrist, embraced in the White House because he understood the direction in which his party was evolving.

But Democrats will first have to address the reasons why so many people with working-class backgrounds voted twice for Donald Trump and seem ready to do so again. That’s not just members of the white working class who have departed the party in droves in recent decades; polls have shown Trump poised to scoop up working-class Black and Latino voters in potentially historic proportions. Trump and his vice presidential pick JD Vance have eagerly embraced the populist mantle and sought to co-opt some progressive critiques of the free market, even if they’d surely govern in service of plutocrats.

Too often, Democrats have failed to articulate a coherent vision of where to take the nation, apart from tolerating cultural differences and moving toward a greener economy, and neither goal speaks to those who have struggled to make ends meet. With Kamala Harris as their candidate, they have an opportunity to begin to change that image. The danger is that they may believe that the crisis they have gone through can be resolved by shifting candidates without addressing the discontents that roil the nation.

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Quote:

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@Blklivesmatter

Timeline of Events

Sunday
•Joe Biden drops out.
•Kamala Harris announces campaign with Biden endorsement.
•Kamala Harris says she is going to work hard to earn the nomination.
•Kamala Harris makes calls to party delegates.

Monday
•Kamala Harris continues making calls to party delegates.
•Kamala Harris makes two public speeches.
•AP announces Kamala Harris has secured enough delegates to be the Democratic Nominee
(Monday night).
•Kamala Harris releases this statement, noting she has worked hard to “go out and
earn
this nomination” as promised (Monday night).

A 24-hour process of talking to party bosses is not democratic, nor is it a process
Democrats should be proud of. We do not live in a dictatorship. Delegates are not
oligarchs.

Installing Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee and an unknown vice president
without any public voting process would make the modern Democratic Party a party of
hypocrites.

We call on the @DNC to create a process that allows for public participation in the
nomination process, not just a nomination by party delegates.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by second:
It’s Time for Democrats to Break With Biden’s Addled Gaza Policy

Biden’s approach to Gaza is incoherent. A new candidate could break with his confused course for good.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Both leaders are in talks with Trump as we speak, because the rest of the world doesn't recognize US Democrat Party leadership anymore.

No worries. Trump will fix it.

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Quote:

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U.S. Capitol Police expected large-scale demonstrations during Netanyahu's visit and the agency beefed up security around the Capitol. About 200 protesters were arrested Tuesday for demonstrating inside a congressional building, according to Capitol Police. The agency said it used pepper spray against protesters on Wednesday when part of the crowd "started to become violent."

Netanyahu criticized the pro-Palestinian protests in the U.S., calling them "useful idiots."

"Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming, 'Gays for Gaza,'" Netanyahu said. "They might as well hold up signs saying, 'Chickens for KFC.' These protesters chant, 'From the river to the sea,' but many don't have a clue what river and what sea they're talking about."

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

All of that ugly backstabbing going on in the DNC right now!

"They" got rid of Joe, not bc he wasn't competent to be President, or even competent as a meat puppet, but bc "they" couldn't engineer an election hard enough to push Joe across the line. If they thought they could have done that, they would have been happy to have the equivalent of a blue screen of death sitting in the Oval Office

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Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:
It's over folks...

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Yes. It is over, Ted.

The Democrat party is finished.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:

It's over folks...

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Yes. It is over, Ted.

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Agreed...

T

Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:
It's over folks...

---

Yes. It is over, Ted.

The Democrat party is finished.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:

It's over folks...

---

Yes. It is over, Ted.

The Democrat party is finished.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

---

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Nope, he's fucked...

T

Quote:

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Originally posted by THG:
It's over folks...

---

Yes. It is over, Ted.

The Democrat party is finished.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.