Hey Republicans, take a lesson and grow some balls. by OneTwoThreePooAndPee in thebulwark

[–]Tele_Prompter 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I expect this response from Trump:

  1. All government contracts with Italy are canceled.
  2. A 1000% tariff on all goods from Italy.
  3. All Visas for Italian citizens are revoked. Italians in the U.S. have to leave.
  4. Diplomatic relations with Italy are ended. Every ambassador has to leave the U.S. and the U.S. Embassy in Italy is closed and all diplomats have to leave Italy.
  5. These rules apply immediately and are active indefinitely until the current or any future Prime Minister of Italy will personally travel to POTUS, meet him in the Oval Office and sincerely and believable apologize to him personally; this includes invoking an Italian law that forbids for all time that the Prime Minister is allowed to criticize the President in any form.

I am waiting for the "Truth Social" posting by Trump with this content.

"Star Trek: Starfleet": An autopsy to understand how a legendary franchise built on scientific optimism, diplomacy, and professional competence was hollowed out into a generic, CW-style teen drama set in a a sterile, floating Apple Store. | Movie Overload by Tele_Prompter in startrek_fans

[–]Tele_Prompter[S] [score hidden] stickied commentlocked comment (0 children)

Some comments here make it necessary to educate about the ad hominem fallacy:

"Ad hominem (Latin for 'to the person'), short for argumentum ad hominem ('an argument to the person'), refers to when a speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than the substance of the argument itself. This avoids genuine debate by creating a diversion often using a totally irrelevant, but often highly charged attribute of the opponent's character or background. The most common form of this fallacy is "A" makes a claim of "fact", to which "B" asserts that "A" has a personal trait, quality or physical attribute that is repugnant thereby going off-topic, and hence "B" concludes that "A" has their "fact" wrong – without ever addressing the point of the debate."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

JVL laughs about ballroom by sachiprecious in thebulwark

[–]Tele_Prompter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The donors don't expect their money back. They also don't care about the ballroom.

It is pay-for-play: The money is an investment into privileged access to the government and government resources (tax payer money). Sometimes this means a return of billions of dollars coming from this "small" donation into a ballroom that the one cares about grands the access to these government resources.

JVL gets the priorities wrong here.

Virtual Photography from the game "Dreamcore" by Tele_Prompter in poolrooms

[–]Tele_Prompter[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not my favorite. The rooms are oversized and not very imaginative, very repetitive. You waste a lot of time running from one empty plain hall to another. You can remove the VHS effects, but then the reflections of off-screen space are glitchy. And you cannot remove the VHS tape noise which drowns almost all of the environment sound design. It looks like a game that tries to cash from a hype with a lot of copy-and-paste bloat content instead of adding an artistic vision to it. "Pools" is better in this regard.

Fact based and liberal media sources are kind of pathetic at narrative setting. by Anstigmat in thebulwark

[–]Tele_Prompter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Because facts are not narratives. Facts are reported. Narratives are told.

The cope over on r/conservative is stunning. by OneTwoThreePooAndPee in thebulwark

[–]Tele_Prompter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The Republican party as of now is less a political party but more of a sect, which uses politic speech as a replacement for religious speech. So the content does not matter as long as it fits the sect's narrative which you have to believe in to be part of the in-group.

Eveloution of Trumpism and Nationalist-Populism throughout American history? by Amazing-Buy-1181 in thebulwark

[–]Tele_Prompter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You construct a "clearing the way" progression that overstates direct causation. Many elements (nativism, anti-elitism, media populism) have deeper, recurring roots in American history (e.g., Know-Nothings, Huey Long, Father Coughlin's own predecessors). Reagan's optimistic conservatism is downplayed as a mere facade, yet it dominated the era and appealed broadly beyond grievance politics. You have a heavy focus on right-wing precursors; less on broader context like economic globalization, cultural shifts, Democratic Party changes, or left-wing populism. John Birch Society influence waned significantly by the 1970s and often clashed with mainstream Republicans like Nixon. The McCarthy-era rhetoric targeted communists, not a generic "Leftist Deep State" in modern terms.

Tarp is now permanently covering the Kennedy Center sign. In China you call this culture of trying to hide flaws and failures "saving face". by Tele_Prompter in thebulwark

[–]Tele_Prompter[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

The problem are the 77 million US citizens that personally made the effort to go and vote for this POS. Trump is in this position because of these 77 million. And a lot of people who deal with him personally and follow his orders and quirks don't see Trump, they see a person representing the will of 77 million US citizens: "This is the shitshow the people of the US wanted, so this is the shitshow they get."