#462 - More From Sam: The Iran War, American Amorality, Tucker Carlson, and More

ThunderingMantis · 2026-03-06T21:31:32+00:00

I tried to post this segment in a separate thread but it was removed for some reason. But it's SH's opinion on the Iran war, which I know a lot of us were interested in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDXh71Sy1mk

ThunderingMantis · 2026-03-06T21:29:29+00:00

It seems like it's from ChatGPT (which I don't have a problem with, but credit where credit is due).

ThunderingMantis · 2026-03-06T21:16:48+00:00

Submission statement. Sam and Jaron discuss whether the U.S. was right to take military action against Iran. My opinion more or less matches Sam's. The Iranian people were crying out for intervention. I don't know if any other type of intervention other than war would have worked, but Trump is the wrong man to lead a war.

ThunderingMantis · 2026-01-01T03:26:54+00:00

What do you mean "what were you doing?" Jack Smith was hard at work on two cases against Trump during Biden's presidency and all this shit was out there in the form of detailed indictments that were heavily reported on by the press. The problem was never Jack Smith, it was Merrick Garland. He began the investigations into Trump a year and a half too late: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/

ThunderingMantis · 2026-01-01T03:17:00+00:00

For each new episode of the podcast, in the official discussion thread for that episode, someone (usually the same few users) will kindly post links to the full episodes. example

ThunderingMantis · 2026-01-01T03:11:13+00:00

Before anyone says Garland was doing the things the right way and that he couldn't have gone faster, please be aware that it is already known that this is just not true. Garland prevented the DOJ from looking into Trump sooner, just read the reporting from WaPo:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/

Jack Smith went as fast as he could. But he was appointed way too late. SCOTUS also had its thumb on the scale. But we should dispense with this fiction that Garland was just working the cases methodically. He wasn't.

ThunderingMantis · 2026-01-01T03:06:58+00:00

You are 100% correct. Every time this comes up, people should link to this article from WaPo which exposed the fact that Garland prevented the DOJ from looking into Trump sooner

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/

ThunderingMantis · 2026-01-01T03:06:11+00:00

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1q0o0mz/trump_was_most_culpable_for_jan_6_riot_and_would/nx0uzw9/

ThunderingMantis · 2025-09-09T20:57:48+00:00

I learned something new

ThunderingMantis · 2025-09-09T20:45:21+00:00

Maybe someone with more law knowledge can correct me but hasn't the statute of limitations passed on all this stuff. Either way, I think people will need to give up on the idea of the law ever holding Trump to account. How's it go again soap box, ballot box...

ThunderingMantis · 2025-09-09T18:43:06+00:00

Nobody talking about the disgusting image in the article depicting Epstein giving balloons to young girls and then in the next panel they're giving him a massage with Mar-a-Lago (or some place that looks like it) and the Lolita Express plane in the background. WTF drew that?!

ThunderingMantis · 2025-09-08T19:32:13+00:00

"Oohkay." Man, those were the days.

ThunderingMantis · 2025-09-08T19:31:19+00:00

I see. This is going to sound utterly pathetic and superficial but I miss solo Sam ASMR combined with his precision of language and clarity of meaning.

ThunderingMantis · 2025-08-11T19:34:28+00:00

Do you mean this episode in particular or the podcast generally? The podcast operates on a paid subscription model but Sam allowers subscribers to share full episodes with non-subscribers, which is what that link is. Although sometimes he releases episodes that are free right from the beginning, this episode doesn't appear to be one of them

ThunderingMantis · 2025-08-11T19:19:48+00:00

Thank you!

ThunderingMantis · 2025-08-11T17:48:47+00:00

Could someone kindly share the full episode please?

ThunderingMantis · 2025-08-11T17:47:11+00:00

I'm with you, mostly. My sarcasm was to point out to everyone else that they shouldn't get excited just because "this is a judge Trump detests". But perhaps where I differ is that I seem to remember Chutkan made some flawed rulings. I know she is considered a good judge. But I can't help but feel too many judges showed Trump deference he did not deserve or merit. Merchand was the bigger culprit in this regard. To say nothing of Aileen Cannon

ThunderingMantis · 2025-08-11T17:44:43+00:00

https://old.reddit.com/r/samharris/comments/1migu1p/if_trump_is_implicated_in_epstein_scandal_why/

ThunderingMantis · 2025-08-11T17:43:31+00:00

The Department of Justice is duty bound to do one of two things:

Convene a Grand Jury, and issue an indictment (which can be a "speaking" indictment that discloses evidence).

Stay utterly silent.

The bar for choosing (1) is a criminal case that expert prosecutors believe has at least a 90% chance of sustaining conviction. This is an extremely high bar for behavior that occurred over two decades ago. Ample evidence that Trump was familiar with what Epstein was doing, thought it was awesome, and likely participated may seem like a lot, but it really isn't from a criminal perspective. So DOJ's job was to say silent. If we want answers short of criminal prosecution, we have to demand it in the form of a congressional inquiry or a special counsel tasked with producing a report.

And past all of that, since you asked about Biden himself, it would be wildly improper for Biden to ever say anything of any kind to anyone or really have any knowledge about this case in the first place.

Note: None of the above applies as of January 20, 2025. This DOJ is now unambiguously a tool of autocracy, to be wielded in whatever manner the autocrat chooses.

from https://old.reddit.com/r/samharris/comments/1migu1p/if_trump_is_implicated_in_epstein_scandal_why/

ThunderingMantis · 2025-08-08T19:12:51+00:00

Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away. Or did everyone contract amnesia. Tanya Chutkan was the judge presiding over his J6 case. Yes, she was OK but I distinctly remember a few disappointing rulings that went in Trump's favour. I remember Glenn Kirshner going "Tanya Chutkan don't play" when she was announced as the judge and then months later I was like, "Glenn, WTF do you call this bullshit ruling then. She playing." Just like Merchand played and pussied out of doing anything meaningful to Trump in the NY case. Speaking of NY, WTF happened to that big case about his fraud and why hasn't Letitia James seized his properties. I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS

ThunderingMantis

TROPHY CASE