This could be a case of Stupid MFers in the news, literally.
Not being knowledgeable about the Pittsburgh news media scene, when I heard about the Post-Gazette shutting down later this year I wondered what other newspaper(s) might be surviving in town, and clicked on a link to the Tribune-Review to see if it was a legit paper. Instead of the main site I was expecting, I got this page with the following message:
Though I don’t doubt that non-subscribers are already blocked from seeing many stories, it seems counterproductive to discourage non-Pennsylvanites from visiting the site and increasing clicks and views.
So, here’s a FB exchange. I posted (cribbed from here):
Representative Rick Larsen, Senator Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray: Congress has ceased to exist. The body that calls itself ‘Congress’ is no more effective at restraining executive power than the Duma is in Russia. What are you going to do if Congress gets off of its collective bum and impeaches and convicts Trump and his entire cabinet, and Trump says, ‘No. I’m in charge. You can’t tell me what to do. And if you try to do anything about it, then I’ll have you all put against a wall.’?
My first friend when I moved back to the States said:
my friend…of what??? About 60 years…your sort of calling me a nazi…
I replied:
Sorry. But if you support Trump, you’re a Nazi. You need to learn from History, and not just believe what your cult leader tells you to believe.
We are the same age. We both grew up watching the same TV shows that universally depicted Nazis as the Bad Guys. And yet he supports Trump. He is a Nazi.
They don’t realize what they’ve lost and the only way they will wake up is when Democrats are in power and nobody has to follow rules anymore so they will find themselves oppressed and persecuted. And they’ll blame the Democrats even though millions of us went out and protested to protect their rights.
I think the “nobody has to follow rules anymore” is hyperbole, but the point is that when you establish that the administration can get away with skirting the rules without consequence, if the other side gets in power you will learn that the precedent you sent can be used against you.
For example, the POTUS can’t be prosecuted? Okay, the Democratic POTUS can establish all kinds of questionable stuff without worries.
Now, all that being said, the Democrats aren’t shameless and I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t take advantage even if they can. Because the left actually cares about decency. And the Republicans probably know this. It’s like a guy who cheats in sports, knowing that his opponent has too much integrity to cheat in return even though he could if he wanted to since the referee is taking a hands-off approach.
Keep in mind that the Supreme Court has its thumb on the scales of justice, and may well rule that what seems like firm precedent when Republicans did it is in fact very shaky when applied to the actions of a Democratic president.
And I guess depopulation and vaccinating everyone through chemtrails are OK too. What a relief!
A sub-award for credulous stoopidity goes to fire department officials and by extension, ABC News, for reporting a story about apparent fentanyl exposure sickening puppies.
Ix-nay on the inhalation claim.
Did the puppies eat someone’s dope stash? Maybe. Inhaled it and got sick? Extremely unlikely.
Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has figured out the perfect way to stop criminal ICE gangsters from terrorizing the American people - make them wear QR codes that link to their IDs!
Because it’s not like they’re assaulting people for filming them or anything, and they CERTAINLY wouldn’t wear a fake code that links to malware that bricks your phone. “Excuse me, sir? Yes, I know you just shot that woman in the face and all, but would you mind holding still so I can get a clear scan?”
As for the anti-chemtrail legislation, I see two problems.
One, legitimate cloud seeding would seem to be banned.
Two, since the CT (that’s chem trail, not conspiracy theory…or maybe it’s both) folk believe that jet contrails are actually chemtrails, are they going to start arresting airline employees the next time a commercial flight leaves a contrail? Especially if the plane neither takes off nor lands in their state?
Well yeah, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Their “ride or die” appears to be heeding stupid, uninformed yokels, unintended consequences be damned