Interesting stuff

trump can't save us

the rest you describe is one and the same...

a tds induced frenzy

we need a decent opposition!!!

some alternative, any alternative, ....that isn't suicide of the soul...

desperately!

Or the clowns who thought up Obamagate.

A candidate, whose entire presidential campaign, and before that, career in real estate and reality TV is based on ego. Trailing in the polls. Reasonably well established links with a foreign power with clear interest in a favourable electoral outcome. Foreign power has well established capability and history in information operations, and demonstrated willingness to employ it.
Subsequent links between people associated with candidate and said foreign power. A number of potential witnesses who are recused or forbidden from testifying. A redacted report, heavily compromised by a premature release, by a deeply partisan AG. Mate, I don’t even know where to start with the Russia / Trump nexus. It’s not implausible, it was never disproven, and the Trump administration’s actions (or inaction) reflect a dramatic shift in policy vis a vis Russia since god knows when.

Blowin, for all your ‘street smarts’, you’re a trusting fella at times.

Etarip, Trump is compromised by the dirty money he's used to leverage his real estate empire. He burnt every lender in the USA and was left with washing money for HSBC and the Russian oligarchs. That's the kompromat. That's why he upended 80 years of US diplomatic orthodoxy from both sides and sided with Putin against his own agencies and people. That's why he hides his financials. That's why it was so easy to hook up with Junior at the Trump Towers. He was washing their dirty money.

In that case, why the secrecy around financial history, tax returns? Why the limitations or prohibitions on campaign and administration staff talking to investigators.
Your flat out wrong in saying that the entire political and media class hate him: They might hate HIM, but they like what he gives them. He’s got enough support from the GOP heavyweights and media fronts (how the actual fuck is Fox not part of the “MSM”...?) to blunt any action against him.

Ref your last edited post: most of those actions are continuations of policy or meeting prior commitments. Harder to change pre-planned military exercises or NATO commitments. Some require congressional approval.
At the same time, public statements on support of Russian regional aspirations in the Baltic etc are in no way consistent with policy and represent a real shift in posture / preparedness.

Blowin. he stood at a press conference and "sided" with Putin, and then childishly the next day said he meant to say the opposite but read the word wrong. He rejected his own intelligence agencies assessments in favour of the Russians. He encouraged them to interfere in the 2016 elections, his campaign met with them. He has re-invited them into the G7 without consulting the other leaders. He has expressed his admiration for Putin. Military spending and sanctions may suggest to you where his sympathies lie but I see a compromised President for the reasons I stated.

I'll say this about him though Blowin, he's a hell of an entertainer, You can't take your eyes off the guy. He certainly knows how to get a response, whether it's laughing or crying, reeling in horror or cheering the fucker on, he makes you feel something. It's the longest, worst season of The Apprentice yet, but I'm hooked on it.

this pretty much sums up what I was just talking about re. media weirdness and the riots...

taibbi - the lefty - bagging 'the left' again

(thank fuck! ...it's not just me...)

"...But police violence, and Trump’s daily assaults on the presidential competence standard, are only part of the disaster. On the other side of the political aisle, among self-described liberals, we’re watching an intellectual revolution. It feels liberating to say after years of tiptoeing around the fact, but the American left has lost its mind. It’s become a cowardly mob of upper-class social media addicts, Twitter Robespierres who move from discipline to discipline torching reputations and jobs with breathtaking casualness.

The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation. They are counting on the guilt-ridden, self-flagellating nature of traditional American progressives, who will not stand up for themselves, and will walk to the Razor voluntarily

They’ve conned organization after organization into empowering panels to search out thoughtcrime..."

"...The main thing accomplished by removing those types of editorials from newspapers — apart from scaring the hell out of editors — is to shield readers from knowledge of what a major segment of American society is thinking.

It also guarantees that opinion writers and editors alike will shape views to avoid upsetting colleagues, which means that instead of hearing what our differences are and how we might address those issues, newspaper readers will instead be presented with page after page of people professing to agree with one another. That’s not agitation, that’s misinformation.

The instinct to shield audiences from views or facts deemed politically uncomfortable has been in evidence since Trump became a national phenomenon. We saw it when reporters told audiences Hillary Clinton’s small crowds were a “wholly intentional” campaign decision. I listened to colleagues that summer of 2016 talk about ignoring poll results, or anecdotes about Hillary’s troubled campaign, on the grounds that doing otherwise might “help Trump” (or, worse, be perceived that way)."

"...All these episodes sent a signal to everyone in a business already shedding jobs at an extraordinary rate that failure to toe certain editorial lines can and will result in the loss of your job. Perhaps additionally, you could face a public shaming campaign in which you will be denounced as a racist and rendered unemployable.

These tensions led to amazing contradictions in coverage. For all the extraordinary/inexplicable scenes of police viciousness in recent weeks — and there was a ton of it, ranging from police slashing tires in Minneapolis, to Buffalo officers knocking over an elderly man, to Philadelphia police attacking protesters — there were also 12 deaths in the first nine days of protests, only one at the hands of a police officer (involving a man who may or may not have been aiming a gun at police).

Looting in some communities has been so bad that people have been left without banks to cash checks, or pharmacies to fill prescriptions; business owners have been wiped out (“My life is gone,” commented one Philly store owner); a car dealership in San Leandro, California saw 74 cars stolen in a single night. It isn’t the whole story, but it’s demonstrably true that violence, arson, and rioting are occurring.

However, because it is politically untenable to discuss this in ways that do not suggest support, reporters have been twisting themselves into knots. We are seeing headlines previously imaginable only in The Onion, e.g., “27 police officers injured during largely peaceful anti-racism protests in London.”

Even people who try to keep up with protest goals find themselves denounced the moment they fail to submit to some new tenet of ever-evolving doctrine, via a surprisingly consistent stream of retorts: fuck you, shut up, send money, do better, check yourself, I’m tired and racist."

"...Each passing day sees more scenes that recall something closer to cult religion than politics. White protesters in Floyd’s Houston hometown kneeling and praying to black residents for “forgiveness… for years and years of racism” are one thing, but what are we to make of white police in Cary, North Carolina, kneeling and washing the feet of Black pastors? What about Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer kneeling while dressed in “African kente cloth scarves”?

There is symbolism here that goes beyond frustration with police or even with racism: these are orgiastic, quasi-religious, and most of all, deeply weird scenes, and the press is too paralyzed to wonder at it. In a business where the first job requirement was once the willingness to ask tough questions, we’ve become afraid to ask obvious ones."

"...Today no one with a salary will stand up for colleagues like Lee Fang. Our brave truth-tellers make great shows of shaking fists at our parody president, but not one of them will talk honestly about the fear running through their own newsrooms. People depend on us to tell them what we see, not what we think. What good are we if we’re afraid to do it?"

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-news-media-is-destroying-itself

"I don’t really follow much of what goes on in America, Stu . I aren’t familiar with who anyone is in their political arena so it doesn’t interest me. I think I’ve heard Trump speak about three times."

"These crew are such fuckstiks that it’s instinct to reject anything they support irrespective of how well intentioned the issue was pre-fuckstick."

blow in, YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT.

& TL:DR Sepp.

I wonder if swellnet should organise a big round table discussion. A big sit in. Who would turn up?
Would everyone still talk to each other the same way face to face? (Great band by the way)
Who’s be keen?
I’d fly to Sydney for it

Me and Indo could share an Uber to the airport.

Viclocal could sit in the boot, whinging c&28,!t!

Dale and I could park up at the whisky bar at the Intercontinental prior.

We'd smash his corporate Amex before I ditch him somewhere around Castlereagh St.

Sounds good, I'll make sure the inevitable punch-up between Blowin and Facto stays within the boundaries of fair play and maybe at some stage I'll check that Vic Local has been let out of the boot.

Or not.

There wouldn't be punch ups between Blowin and Facto, Facto clearly isn't a fighter, he is a cheap shot man.

I think it would be Blowin and VicLocal going for it and then when they are on the ground, facto would be putting in cheap shots with his laced up Doc Martins.

Happy to share the Uber with you Goofyfoot, we would get on fine.

He'd probably be too worried about getting his Green Day t-shirt torn.

But if it did get torn, Syppo could present him with a freshly printed Edgelord t-shirt.

Nah DC and Vic local would be more like the snivelling guys who poke the bear until they get decked. Then they’d call the cops and claim assault.
I doubt they’d have any physical fight in them at all. Vic local is a soft pudgy office worker in my imagination. Who confuses guys who screw gyprock to walls with tradesmen.

no problem blowin, this is viclocal

https://memegenerator.net/instance/61818946/nerd-not-now-mom-im-being-an...

fair fight

"Nah DC and Vic local would be more like the snivelling guys who poke the bear until they get decked. Then they’d call the cops and claim assault."

yep

ACAB

?

Indo ,yeah you post the right wing view ( Mt Bolt and co.) attacking any notion that Indigenous Australians had a living culture and in a lot of ways superior to the White Colonialists........
I personally have been allowed to see some of "old" culture where fish traps were organized to catch different species of fish , that there were permanent buildings, agriculture etc....as I have witnessed the pain of the stolen generation first hand.
So as usual there are those who do not want to deal with the facts that there has been a vibrant culture alive and well in Australia for 60000 years or more..

try reading https://independentaustralia.net/australia/australia-display/how-dark-em...

this is just another view , but personally the view of Terra Nullius is insulting , and degrades our Real Australian culture , which should one of collaboration of forging a treaty and accepting that socially our Aboriginal culture can teach us a lot about custodian and stewardship as opposed to greed and false ownership!

Well said Brutus. Couldn't agree more.

Well said Brutus, but I'm not sure the gronks are too keen to give up on their "Captain Cook discovered Australia" view of history.
Imagine how badly these blokes would react if they found out Muslims regularly travelled from, what is now Indonesia, to what is now Western Australia to trade with indigenous people. It must cut pretty deep that Muslims "discovered" Australia many thousands of years before Captain Cook was even a twinkle in his dad's eye.

From todays WaPo: "Scant Evidence of 'Antifa' shows how sweeping the protests for racial justice have become." "The group of protestors the Trump administration has labelled a menace has mostly been nonexistent, experts and law enforcement officials say, amid largely peaceful protests."
I will be accepting apologies from the keyboard crusaders of SN for the rest of today, not holding my breath though.

largely peaceful protests hey Adam.? ....have you seen the widespread looting that went down in Manhattan ? all shops smashed and looted...dosnt look like peace to me mate,,,,Anarchy.....its actions like that that strengthens support for leaders like Trump

Prothero, first up , you may be a bit late to the debate here mate. There was a discussion about Antifa on these pages, that's what I was referring to. Secondly, I generally see looters as opportunists more than Anarchists. Anarchists tend to want more than a new pair of sneakers.

I reckon the round table idea has merit. Afterwards, we could all get on the piss starting with shots. Every time Vic says- "racism, right-wing, badge of honour, hate crime, call-out and you nutjobs" he has to skoll. Someone don't forget the magic marker so we can draw eyes on the back of his bald head when he inevitably passes out.

Then we can all go down to Golden Century for peking duck and cleansing ales. On the way, Indo can bump into a few muslim chicks while Blowy peels off looking for a dance floor.

I'm in.

Adam12. good point re looters.
Did you see the footage of the blokes looting the Channel Island shop in Santa Monica? Those opportunists with new quivers and wetsuits didn't look like anarchists to me.

Zen, I'd be up for it if it was on Zoom. Don't want to meet these guys in person, and I can't drink alcohol. I have a demon that thinks it has mad kung-fu skills, none of you cunts would be safe.

That's the point Adam- we discuss our differences in a civilised manner, then get raucously drunk, say things we might come to regret, then reconcile over mouthfuls of San choy bow and ice-cold Crownies.

VL, yeah I saw that, CI sponsorship up for grabs.

Zen, I'm up for the feed and raucous behavior, put me down for designated driver.

done.

That will make it easier to get Vic to hospital to get his stomach pumped.

(and that suspicious rash checked out at the same time)

zenagain. You'll have to put me down for a no thanks. Can't drink beers for shit. PS. Rash is all good for now too.

Awwww... C'mon Vic, it'll be fun.

zenagain. I'm sure I will see some of the SN gronks at the next rally. I will be one of the guys holding up a chopping board with "Avi Yemini is a wife basher" on it.

You reckon they're that motivated to attend a rally? Maybe if the surf is shitty,

Dammit! Shoulda used "gronk" as one of your skoll words.

I find it amazing that you post wa-po with such confidence as an authority on anything, never mind anything trumpy. especially considering how much video evidence there is otherwise...

yeh the hard nuts are in a minority, but that's still a big lump of minority when you've got hundreds of thousands of protestors across the country

"Adam12. good point re looters.
Did you see the footage of the blokes looting the Channel Island shop in Santa Monica? Those opportunists with new quivers and wetsuits didn't look like anarchists to me."

yes there were so many opportunists, many middle class (open) window shoppers exploiting a situation. but that's only because the hard nuts opened so many windows

I find this denial of chaos rather strange, the place was super loose for about 72 hours, the video evidence is endless

no one is blaming the antifa types for everything, but they sure stirred shit up

as evidenced by black dudes calling them out

Havent really been following all this issue, but googled CHAZ yesterday after seeing your post sypkan

Fuck that shit's crazy, and their demands just ridiculous true anarchist, problem is if Trump brought in the army or whatever he would just be giving them what they want.

People bang on about the far right and how dangerous they are, but this far left Antifa types are just as bad they pretty much met at the other end of the right/left horseshoe.

Actually they are probably worse as they always seem super motivated i guess because most don't have jobs to go too, far right groups generally seem less motivated as i guess most have to get up for work in the morning, blockading themselves in for weeks would certainty be out of question.

EDIT: Turn on TV to see right wings groups protecting statues in UK, but heystill bet they have work to go too on Monday.

I'll have a crack at Vics share of the drinks.

Don't worry about the beer, I'll bring some kombucha for you Vic.

I'm sure you'll be well looked after ;)

Skypan,Wapo may be left leaning editorially and owned by Bezos but I regard it as a legit. news source, and for every Dana Milbank or Jennifer Ruben or Alexandra Petri they also publish op-ed from the likes of Marc Thiessen and other pro-Trumpers. Some may subscribe to the view that only FoxNews gives the facts and the truth, but I read them all and make up my own mind. Quoting a news story from WaPo is referencing the facts, the FBI and law enforcement can't find any evidence of organised Antifa. They want to, Barr has sent them out to find it, but it is not fucking there. I'd be happy to say 'Yep, Antifa', but you can't. It isn't a radical left uprising or coup attempt, what has happened in the USA is democracy. The people are pissed off and they are taking to the streets demanding change. It seems pretty simple to me, but there is always a lot of horseshit conspiracy and blame shifting from people with entrenched political agendas that goes on here and I find myself in these dumb debates. I should probably just shut the fuck up and let it go, maybe I will after I tell Indo that I saw the footage of those right wing statue guards in the UK and I saw a group I would say looked like skinheads or UK soccer hooligans rushing a police line with nazi salutes. Now when the Nazis show up I can guarantee you this time you will see what you call Antifa in their faces. That is when Antifa appears, when the Neo -Nazis start marching.

My understanding is Antifa is really just an umbrella term for true far left groups that are so far left they believe violence is even acceptable to fight for what they believe in, where you draw the line on who they are i guess is debatable, but if you are barricading off streets and taking over blocks, i think it's fair to say we can class them as Antifia its not exactly moderate behaviour for any group left or right.

BTW. Ironically i just watched this video of some grommets that got kicked out of a "Kicked Out of Socialism Conference Sydney 2019"
bit of an eye opener if what they are saying is true, some guy in the conference even saying it's justifiable to kill far right people.

from about 4:00 but talks about violence at about 6:40

Anyone who thinks Fox News is credible have a look at this.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-14/fox-news-removes-altered-images-o...
Fox News isn't news, they are right wing racist trolls with a very loud megaphone funded by a scumbag billionaire.

Media intentionally deceiving, no never, they all get caught out at times.