By David Futrelle
Three, three indictments in one! Three former Trump campaign officials are in the hot seat today. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort is the big name on the list (along with his pal Rick Gates), for such fun things as conspiracy against the U.S. and money laundering. But even more intriguing is the GUILTY PLEA of relatively unknown Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, whom Mueller has presumably flipped, who seems to have been doing some active COLLUDING WITH THE RUSSIANS.
So here’s an open thread to discuss the news and any other indictment fun that transpires today.
NOTE: Sorry to have gone missing for so long. I’m still dealing with a combo of health issues that have made it very difficult to work. Thanks again for your patience and support.
Gussie Jives, the amount of abuse CB has endured over the years would make these “brave keyboard warriors” crumple. Won’t make those bozos log off, though.
Jenora, I know, right? But I REALLY resent the way it’s now pawned off on the public to be “situationally aware” (something women have had to do for fucking EVER) instead of addressing the root problem of the fucking gun culture. It’s BULLSHIT.
@Jenora
Thou shalt feed small turtles. (also eagles are stupid birds what should be smited for picking on small defenseless turtles)
– Jesalin (The true prophet of the great and mighty God Om)
@ Jesalin
An eagle once used a tortoise to kill a playwright (presumably the eagle didn’t care for the plays).
Aeschylus. Father of tragedy.
Scildfreja:
Yep, and a huge risk factor there is unwanted teen pregnancy. Increase access to abortion and birth control, improve sex education (no abstinence-only bullshit), and you’d reduce infanticide.
And the goddamned “thoughts and prayers” crap rings so hollow. Assholes. Somebody put together a list of all of the GOP tweets of “thoughts and prayers” along with how much the NRA donated to each of them. Fucking bought and paid for with the blood spilled by every innocent murdered by some disgruntled man.
The Truck Rental industry is reviewing their renting practices because of NYC. The NRA’s answer? MOAR GUNS.
Look, I’m not even arguing to take away the citizenry’s guns…that’s not what I want, either. But if you look at every mass shooting that’s happened within the last decade or so, they all have one thing in common: AR-15’s. FFS, the bump stock manufacurer has already started selling them again! These simply are not necessary for home protection, (like what the fabulous PoM rightly uses hers for) or an avid hunter who eats their kill. Something has to be done. Fucking thoughts and prayers aren’t cutting it.
Goddamn it, those who donated blood after the LV massacre can’t donate blood because it’s too soon to. My God. 35 days. 35 fucking days.
Okay, I’m done. /rant
“Thoughts and prayers” are particularly galling when the victims were killed in a church. Guys, I think that church has the prayer thing covered, they just need you to fucking do your jobs and legislate.
I hate that “thoughts and prayers” bullshit too.
Nothing wrong with someone praying if that makes them feel better, but it is not acceptable for the president or for congress members to send prayers in lieu of actually doing something.
Anyone having slow internet today? Apparently Comcast internet has issues all over the country. Mine is still marginally working, but pages are loading verrrrry slowly. Frustrating. And a little scary because when it’s spread across the country it makes me wonder if it’s an attack by hackers or something.
WWTH, Yes!! I am having massive problems with my ‘net today. I’ve got Comcast, too. I thought it was just Twitter, until I noticed my emails and this site, among others, were taking forever to load, and some vids weren’t playing.
Well, I’ve lost all hope of any gun control legislation of any kind being passed within my lifetime.
After 20 little suburban white kids got their brains blown out, I got my hopes up, but nope, nothing happened.
When a bunch of LGBT people got killed a nightclub, I doubted anything would happen, but the perpetrator was a Muslim, so maybe, but nope.
Then last month 58 people at a *country music concert* (so the were probably mostly conservatives) get gunned down, and I thought maybe at least they’d ban bump stocks, but nope.
And now a bunch of people at a Baptist church in one of the most conservative areas of the country got gunned down, and they are still saying they won’t do anything.
Republicans don’t care even if their own constituents get killed. I mean, I knew they wouldn’t care about black or LGBT people, but Baptists at church maybe? But nope, they should have brought their guns to church. That’s the solution?
(Oh, and I live about an hour north of where this happened, so I can tell you, Texas does actually exist.)
Anyway, I think I’m just going to have to give up on the gun thing, but I literally cannot think of anything that could possibly happen at this point for the anti-gun-control people to change their minds. Not after a bunch of little white Baptist kids got shot at a church in a small Texas town. Nope. It’s true they really only care about the lives of fetuses. That’s it.
@ Juniper
… touche’
E.T.A. remember, too, how the conspiracy fantasists played off the Newtown massacre as a government/illuminati plot….
wow, I just looked on google to see where Sutherland Springs is… it’s about one highway bond issue from being swallowed by San Antonio….
I heard one of the victims was a pregnant woman – no word on whether the fetus is counted in death toll…
Juniper:
I wonder whether the same advice applies to mosques?
Anti troll kitteh
Comfort kitties
http://www.catster.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/cat-teddy-bear-2.jpg
http://media.topito.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/chaton_doudou000.jpg
Many of these people are paranoid and scared to death that limiting access in any way is the exact same as – i.e. will definitely lead to – an all out ban on guns followed swiftly by the installation of a tyrannical ‘liberal’ or ‘communist/ Marxist/ (anti-white)’ dictatorship. There’s this weird like inferiority complex thing too, like “the liberal media paints us as dumb, but we actually know better and are better–you’ll see when it all goes to pot!”
They also don’t believe in calling the police until after they’ve killed the other guy. They’ve elevated guns to a sacred symbol second only to Jesus, a protection talisman against all harm or violation of boundaries, affirming their manhood, self sufficiency, and Freedom Itself.
They think they live on the frontier even if they’re just outside town and they’ll be Rambo and will save the day at the mall. They complain that the news never shows all the lives saved by guns and truly believe any gun control will only deprive be good citizens from being able to protect themselves while bad guys will be armed to the teeth.
Shoot first, ask questions later. If it’s a mass shooter, it’s because they were a hypocritical, irresponsible Democrat, not a responsible, sane Republican. (Not kidding; someone in real life claimed all mass shooters are Democrats, insinuating a connection.)
Obviously this isn’t everybody (and in fact most owners of guns have common sense), but it’s enough people with enough volume in conjunction with the weapons manufacturing lobby to halt any common sense laws from happening or being properly enforced.
Same dude who said all mass shooters were Democrats complained about being on a registration list (dude your car is on such a list). How dare he have to tell a cop he has a gun? Muh right! I about went off on him. I wanted to say, Oh boohoo, I was on a list and had my phones tapped(!) as a stinking child(!), and my sister is still regularly scanned extra at the airport, purely because of our ethnicity/father’s country of origin, not because I chose to buy multiple dangerous weapons (in a country where mass shootings and gun-enabled homicide, sadly like car-related fatalities, occur on the regular). Get over yourself!
Entitled, bigoted (oh he’s racist and sexist as all get out too) little self-admitted jerk. But hey, he “loves and takes care of his family” I guess. And I’m okay, not like those other ones. Oh, and this was also the family that, when they realized their young son’s friend was almost certainly being sexually abused, ultimately forbid them from playing together anymore instead of REPORTING THE ABUSE. And she’s a teacher! *screaming internally*
Sorry, just found I’m going to have to see him again at my own event. God help me; give me personal growth.
https://flic.kr/p/Z9Kpa1
Spooky did not want to roam. He stared down the stairs or went back to sleep behind the computer. I don’t blame him, he must tire easy. He was 5.4 pounds when we took him in.
Spooky’s going to need periodic fluids for a bit. He got more picky in the morning, but he’s weird. He ate the food when I put it directly on the bathroom floor, and drank some toilet water instead of the water with the electrolytes. Hopefully that hi nutrition diet took care of that.
It’s not just Comcast. Bell internet in Canada has also been sabotaged. Is there any news on this? I can’t find anything with Google. I suppose it’s even money whether it’s Russians or Islamic fundies…both Russia and Iran have large hacker subcultures, with Putin having a sizable chunk of the former at his beck and call, and the fundies probably having the ability to at least hire the latter (or both!) and having, thanks to the Saudi royal family, very deep pockets.
I’m leaning toward the latter for the moment, though, because I did see in the news some kind of soft coup happening inside the Saudi royal family. Unless the timing is a coincidence or Putin is meddling in Saudi Arabia …
You can tell that Jjj does not really care about shootings, infanticide or doing more than scoring political points by the way that they:
1) Don’t cite a single damn thing and show their reasoning and logic (so no work done for something they supposedly care about).
2) Distract from the shooting in general in order to score political points (because that’s the point to them, they don’t give a shit about the shooting).
3) Don’t post anything constructive that tries to solve either problem.
Jjj is ghoulish, callous, selfish and exactly the sort of person I would shun while regularly letting people around us know why if I knew them. Useless for more than hindering the political effort of others while trying to be the only one benefitting.
@Brony
Glad Spooky is eating and getting water. Thanks for the photo. :3
@kupo
You are welcome. I’m trying to do that more. My therapist thinks it might help with the social anxiety.
@Brony
So far so good on Spooky. Don’t worry about the eating off the floor thing, just put a bit of paper down to set the food on. Bowls/saucers/ whathaveyou block some of his line of sight – not good for a cat that’s nervous, and now he’s less hungry, he’ll be more nervous. At least he’s obviously feeling chipper enough now to be cautious again!
Brony,
I just assumed Spooky would be black. Cause cats named Spook or Spooky usually are. Either way, glad he’s doing better. 5.4 lbs is so skinny, poor thing. Especially since he looks like a fairly large cat. My Dracarys is quite petite and she was 7 lbs when I adopted her and very skinny at that weight. She’s definitely filled out since then.
Jules,
I honestly think that Jesus himself could come down to earth and tell Republicans to get rid of their guns and they’d just call him a hippy libtard and renounce Christianity.
Brony, he posted that before the shooting even happened. Prescient.
Spooky looks so thin, poor guy. You’re a good parent.
@Scild
Yep, that’s exactly what I was expecting. No wonder they buried it with their bullshit; “A lie told a thousand times” and all that.
I don’t know whether or not your ‘net issues are related, but he’s definitely meddling. By which I mean the coup seems to have been his idea.