some guy said he doesn’t trust Americans to form a competent government

Not what he said.

and I said you’re an American?

Not what you said.

You don’t seem to have an interest in understanding the impact of your own words, either before posting them or afterwards. No point in talking, then.

Well, considering I never voted for Trump, am against bigotry in all its forms, don’t want to deport people for having the wrong skin color, believe that free healthcare is a human right, hate capitalism, etc… I don’t think it’s unfair to say that I very much am not like the fascists currently in power or the people who voted for them at all.

How is it fair to criticize me as though I’m the same as them when I’m fighting against them? Does my being born here somehow make me deserving of scorn?

And more! The current discontent at the Democrat Party and the pushes for reforming it have all the more chance of success if the Republicans start fracturing at the same time.

I honestly have no idea how to respond to this. Did you read my comment and its context? Because I can’t figure out what point you’re even trying to make, so it really feels like you didn’t.

If you want to shit on America the country, I’m with you. I could hardly disagree with the top comment in this chain; America is, after all, racist, bigoted and fascist right now. The nation, and especially the government, deserve all the vitriol.

But please don’t shit on Americans writ large. Too many of us hate this just as much as you do, and we really don’t appreciate being lumped in with those who enabled it.

Thank you! Absolutely insane that this article mentioned that 128 Democrats were so spineless but almost entirely refused to tell us who. (Not unexpected, mind you, but still insane.)

there’s a full third who had a choice and refused to do anything

We’ve got at least two options for blame when it comes to the last election:

• Politicians who wield actual power and use it to do nothing (at best)
• Voters, largely struggling to survive, wielding little power, even in aggregate, due to a rigged system

I live for the day people blame the former instead of the latter, though I know I’ll never see it.

I misremembered it as being about Iran back then too, but yeah. It’s the War on Terror excuse all over again.

Iran

having nukes

Experts disagree

Man, where have I heard this one before?

Edited headline stating accusation as if it were fact, linking to a tabloid instead of actual journalism, and copying over ambiguous language (“shells”) instead of using more accurate terms (“seashells” <- a rather important distinction!!) to boot.

Think what you will of what Comey posted, this post & article are incredibly sensationalized.

Ah, drat! Usually I’m the one reminding people of Hanlon. Hoist by my own petard!

Yes, and? The money Gates makes from capital he owns comes from somewhere, and I firmly believe that it comes disproportionately from the poor, as that is how America tends to work. So for all he may or may not donate, that money is circulating right back to him. It’s like if a slumlord “donated” $200 to you right before rent was due. You might find it preferential to not getting a de facto $200 discount on rent that month, but he’s still a slumlord and nothing about the “donation” makes him ethical.

As for being better than Musk, I really don’t care. “Better than a Nazi” is not a defense.

“You’re all cowards! How dare you not immediately jump up and recklessly risk the lives of yourself and everyone around you while I sit back and watch?”

Trump isn’t really leading this autocratic coup. He’s a tool of the people who backed and made up the Heritage Foundation and the like.

I never liked this kind of thinking. I heard the same crap from my parents when Biden was in office, and it sounds just as conspiratorial now as it did then.

Occam’s Razor: Trump and his cronies are just stupid fascist douchebags and this is a useful way to get power that is straight out of a typical fascist playbook. The idea that there’s some secret group “handling” him is a movie plot, not reality.

Yeah, I’ve seen this trick before. And I have a feeling he’ll be “earning” many billions in the same time period; how much I don’t know, but I’m cynical enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer was “more than he donates.”

She was not an option for vice president.

So that’s the set of options you were talking about, okay then. That was not clear.

In all honesty though, my response was somewhat motivated by the articles’ defense of Shapiro, which felt less than honest considering how poor he is on the grand scale of things regarding the ongoing genocide. Given your response to ranandtoldthat below though I suspect we don’t really disagree much on the Atlantic’s not-so-great reporting on the topic, though.

attacking the least genocide friendly of the options

What options? Who does that set include? Because if we’re talking all Democrats, then I think people like Rashida Tlaib are significantly better than Shapiro. His two wins are “supports a two-state solution” and “strong disdain for Netanyahu.” but beyond that, it’s pretty bad. Personally, I don’t find much faith in his good statements either, since his actual actions are counterproductive to either of those two views.

I made this post three minutes ago???

Update: He’s alive after all.

There’s also something of a middle answer: Trump & co. don’t know where Garcia is because they haven’t tried to find him. Why would they? They don’t care, and neither does El Salvador.