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.
@Z&T
Do you have scripts turned off?
After dealing with shoplifters I can tell you; you’d be surprised at the dumb stuff people steal (and do) at grocery stores. Some people are simply kleptos. There’s no logic to it.
I wouldn’t accuse security of being the creeper unless you are 100% sure you know that it was a security guard, because most places deal with a lot of dumb customer complaints, and the impulse will probably be to circle the wagons at first. Also, remember that it’s literally the security guard’s job to watch you. (Yes, discreetly. Obviously he sucks, or he doesn’t care).
If you’re going to complain about security, you have to be REALLY sure that he’s actually security, and you have to be really specific and not focus on “your security was watching and following me”. It’s important not to come off as if you were offended that he dared to consider you a potential shoplifter, because the store is probably not going to care about your hurt pride. But something like, “this guy was following me around, I didn’t know who he was or what he wanted, and I’m now too frightened to shop at any of your stores”, maybe then they’ll listen.
/opinion
@Surplus to Requirements,
That Indiana Jones conversation has been public for quite some time. And yeah, it’s pretty gross that Marion and Indy’s respective ages were first conceived like that. Thankfully smarter minds prevailed, and the age thing in that relationship was bumped up to ‘everyone’s legal’ by the time filming began.
But yeah, Lucas did have some…odd ideas about what goes into a healthy relationship at times. >.<
Going back a page to my post about Putin, Trump and Kushner possibly being behind the coup in Saudi Arabia:
Yep, they did it.
WWTH, re Jesus goes America TV show:
I imagine there’d be a broad response from mainstream right, not only about actor choice (and mostly pretending it’s not about actor choice) but because the show would be obviously “denigrating” and “straw manning” conservative political values. Like this:
How dare the liberals appropriate Jesus for their agenda? Never ever has Christianity been politicized like this. How dare the left criticize other people’s adherence to the Bible when they themselves don’t even praise God in their everyday lives? Donald Trump may not be the perfect Christian either, but since when has that been an entrance requirement to Heaven? Millions of American Christians sincerely feel he’s at least supportive of Biblical values. We’re all just humble sinners and we should accept our different interpretations of the scripture…
@Croquembouche,
Every time you post, another wee spark of kinship is revealed <3
(was going to say "you live kinda near me, don't you?" but it could be creepy. oops.)
@mrex,
Sorry for very late response to this – just wanted to note that here (in Aust.) there’s a long history of seeing Greek and Italian people in particular as very much not white. There’s not much overt bigotry directed their way now, but I don’t think they’ve ever been seen as white here. Not sure about the US, obviously 🙂
@ Mish, saw you on Facebook on WAD a little while ago, thought “hey! That’s Mish for sure, I should send a friend request – or would that be creepy?”; didn’t.
Just sent you one now.
Whiteness:
if you listen to nazis,Greek, Turkish, balkans, Slavs and Spanish and Italian all not white.
but it is not only nazis who believes this it is common.
but really unless you tell someone what is your family name, what is your place of birth or if you speak with accent from that place – it not important. only important you look white or not.
example: I was in UK before and I met with two Greek people who not my friends but I know them because of my job. one tall, pale, blond hair and blue eyes. other little bit shorter, Brown skin, Brown eyes, black hair and little bit beard. we sitting outside in pab garden smoke and drink and talk. on table next to us, some British men sit and eat lunch, pork sausage. they already looking on us, at my friend with brown skin mostly. then one turn around to him and throw down pork sausage infront of him and tell him to eat it. because he believe he is Muslim only from colour of his skin and hair. not from accent, because other guy also talking with Greek accent and sometimes they talk in Greek already. the British man didn’t care about this, about that my friend has Brown skin and he want to make him uncomfortable.
so what I mean, when we argue or talk about which white people not truly white – it is bullshit. people only judge you by what they seen – colour of your skin.
Oh, and certainly in my neck of the woods, up until quite some time after WW2, the UK descended folk did not consider anybody except other UK descended folk to be fully white – except maybe Germanic and Scandinavian folk, who were still filthy foreigners with filthy foreign ways.
@Mish
Lol, no worries, you didn’t give a very late response. It’s still early in the morning here, so I would have been asleep or in the shower if a response came in any earlier anyway. 😉
“here (in Aust.) there’s a long history of seeing Greek and Italian people in particular as very much not white.”
Yeah, the US has a long history of seeing anyone who isn’t a pale blond Protestent Anglo-Saxon god/goddess as not being fully white as well. But South Europeans also generally don’t face widespread or overt discrimination like blacks or Hispanics face either, so IMO it feels pretty uncomfortable when people call them POC, especially if the Southern Europeans don’t call themselves POC first.
Dunno.
Do you watch Supergirl? There was a huge controversy on tumblr when the show cast an Southern Italian to play a Hispanic, and my take-away from watching Europeans and Australians argue with USians is that each country seems to have it’s own uniquely fucked up relationship to race and whiteness.
It’s just all a big mess. Why is humanity so dumb? Question of the ages.
Does anyone know how David is doing? I’m only following the thread sparingly, but I’ve not seen hide nor hair of him since the thread appeared….
> mrex
If in term of “generic” color, i think i (south french) am considered to be white, in everyday life, i was said to be “tan”, or people can be sait to have the “mediterranean” type/profile (well, not me, as i am a bastard). Not orange, however. It is just sunnier. Depending on your origins, this tan color may disappear, or not, after some years in a less sunny place. I lost mine in 4-5 years of work in Paris, but it comes back quickly when i am going home in summer.
So, depending where and who you ask, you are “white but…” (not white ass).
@Valentin
It’s not like blond and blue eyed hispanics don’t face racial discrimination in the US though.
But in general yeah passing for being white is a very good thing.
@Croquembouche
“the UK descended folk did not consider anybody except other UK descended folk to be fully white”
That’s interesting because I’ve always thought that the US’s hang-up with the Irish not being considered white was inherited from the British.
Unrelatedly, this is simultaneously the dumbest and best thing I’ve ever seen: SCENTED FUCKING CANDLES based on video games. I can hear what’s left of #GoobleGobble gnashing at the misandry already.
@reader : amusingly my father is considered white by everyone who look at him despite having the skin darker than msot arabs.
The fact everything else is 100% pure aryan is likely a factor. People assume he just pass a lot of time outdoor. (which he do). But that do highlight how arbitrary the concept of “white” is, since skin color isn’t even that big of a deal.
@Weird Eddie
I haven’t heard from him or anything, but if you look at his Twitter feed embedded on the page he’s been tweeting recently.
Welsh government minister commits suicide. He had been accused of “a number of incidents with women”, was suspended as a result, and killed himself a few days later.
@ moggie
And of course all his politician friends are rallying round to say what a great guy he was and how he’ll be missed. Not so much by his victims I’d guess.
You hear that a lot. Yeah, a great person… except for thet one thing he kept doing….
Chinggis Khan was a great person, too, except for the total war thing, and all the rapes….
Jeez, you fuck one goat…
@ weird eddie & moggie
Actually, scratch that. My gag above was in poor taste. Apologies.
From the Guardian article
Well, you know, except for the workers he sexually harassed. Who I’m sure are going to be blamed for this because it’s so mean to report someone and ruin his life.
I can see from where come the people who still want to honor the good thing he do.
I wish however they accompanied that with an unconditional condemnation of his sexual behavior. Why is it so hard to understand the concept that people can have done both good and bad things.
Z&T et al, re store security – I worked in a nationwide (US plus some stores in Canada) craft chain for 10 years. Never had store security but there were a couple of creeper complaints in that time. The manager on duty would locate the creeper and “help” them until they left, which was all they were allowed to do. So, definitely notify store management.
I remember when they installed cameras in the smaller store where I first worked; the manager admitted that they were all just dummies that were installed for the deterrence factor. Later, at the big store, they did the same, except there were real cameras, but only at the customer service points (registers, cut table, framing counter) and mainly to watch us employees. Oh, there was also one over the spray paint locker which was the only one that had memory and was operated by local law enforcement. Woe betide anyone not checking IDs there; we had one poor retail drone prosecuted in a secret shopper sting once! Local law enforcement *really* hates graffiti.
I’m still working on my Anoia costume for some future Halloween. I even have a vape pen that mimics a cigarette, although I’ll probably have to get a CBD oil cartridge to use in public.
Which is ironic because the lesson of Cain and Abel is made very clear: you are your brother’s keeper.
This is what gets me about the gun-fondler mentality: why is this current state of affairs acceptable to so many of them? To an extent, I can at least understand why a bought-off legislator fakes piety and does nothing, and given the polls, it’s clear that actual gun owners know they’re full of crap, but how is it that the 3% that have enormous private arsenals justify the rampant and irresponsible proliferation of guns? Some kind of sick Darwinian idea, like those people deserved to die because they weren’t armed themselves? Or is American citizenship so meaningless that it doesn’t even trigger a moment’s reflection or empathy? Every other developed nation actually figured it out that we are our brother’s keepers in regards to health care and firearms, but the quote-unquote “exceptional” United States hasn’t?
It turns my stomach to ask this question, but honestly, who is it that has to die in a hail of gunfire for any of these people to give a damn? How close does the Red Death actually have to get? Within the gates? Within the walls? Within the room? Does it have to be breathing down your neck, Paul Ryan? At what point does this bloody Masquerade end, Mitch McConnell? You tell us, because it’s only a matter of time before the world loses more people in a needless bloodbath that you could have prevented. And it’s only a matter of time before it’s somebody that matters to you.
Morbid stuff, I know… just had to get it off my chest. Edgar Allan Poe echoes in eternity.