Now that we have a new thread, in order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a complete and thorough read before posting!
NOTE: When providing a source, please provide a very brief summary on what it's about and what purpose it adds to the discussion. The supporting statement should clearly explain why the subject is relevant and needs to be discussed. Please follow this rule especially for tweets.
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On August 04 2025 03:56 Acrofales wrote: Granted, I'm neither in the US not chronically online, but it seems to me BJ brought this up, which is entirely on-brand for him, and then the thread discussed *that*. I'd say that's on-brand too, but GH would probably point out that the Epstein stuff is also a pointless distraction.
Whether or not the Trumpstein scandal matters was indeed mentioned by GH (who in turn was referencing Pelosi):
On July 21 2025 19:10 Sadist wrote: The name thing is just his latest attempt at a distraction to try to get the epstein stuff out of the news cycle.
The name change stuff is never going to happen for Cleveland or Washington.
Agreed. When Trump is trying to distract everyone from something he considers to be bad for him, I wonder why he doesn't change the subject to something more positive or better supported, like if there was a small economic victory somewhere for him to brag about, as opposed to him just whining about wanting something so stupid and bigoted.
I think you guys mean that the Epstein stuff is a distraction?
From all the fascism, regressive politics, removal of civil rights, and destruction of America's future? Fair point.
On July 21 2025 19:47 Simberto wrote:
On July 21 2025 19:25 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
On July 21 2025 19:10 Sadist wrote: The name thing is just his latest attempt at a distraction to try to get the epstein stuff out of the news cycle.
The name change stuff is never going to happen for Cleveland or Washington.
Agreed. When Trump is trying to distract everyone from something he considers to be bad for him, I wonder why he doesn't change the subject to something more positive or better supported, like if there was a small economic victory somewhere for him to brag about, as opposed to him just whining about wanting something so stupid and bigoted.
Anger and controversy get more attention then some small victory. Say something stupid on a theme that your base agrees with, watch the media react and state how stupid it is, watch your base defend you because the media called them stupid, and no one talks about how you fucked little girls anymore.
Being rabidly anti-PC is part of Trumps platform. Teams changed their names due to political correctness, and the people who are angry that they cannot even say the N-word anymore dislike this. And the people who don't like Trump love talking about how stupid the thing he just said is.
Meanwhile, who is going to talk abot some small positive for more than 3 minutes?
Yeah that's true. It's important to distract for as long as possible, and being blatantly racist is certainly a core part of the Trump/MAGA identity.
I suspect that there will be a bipartisan gaslighting effort to put the Epstein conspiracy behind us and look forward.
Of course, the Trumpstein scandal is still more politically relevant than BlackJack's projection of Obsessively-Bringing-Up-Sydney-Sweeney onto liberals, and GH also found it reasonable to make a comment or two about Trumpstein:
On July 24 2025 10:55 GreenHorizons wrote: Considering how Trump talked about Epstein, it's hard for me to believe much of anyone that went as far as going to his island didn't at least know what he was up to there. That's not as bad as doing it yourself, but it's not a lot better.
The people that have a random photo with him at a fancy party I could believe were more or less oblivious (but barely).
"Markets slump on tariffs and jobs data as Trump fires labor bureau statistics chief Markets rattled: US stocks were battered by a sell-off today as Wall Street reckoned with President Donald Trump’s tariff regime. Jobs official fired: Trump this afternoon fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whom he accused, without evidence, of manipulating the monthly jobs reports for “political purposes.” US job growth stalled in July, with just 73,000 jobs added, while May and June totals were revised down by a combined 258,000." https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/trade-deadline-tariffs-trump-deals
"US labor market cracks widen as job growth hits stall speed U.S. employment growth was weaker than expected in July while the nonfarm payrolls count for the prior two months was revised down by a massive 258,000 jobs, suggesting a sharp deterioration in labor market conditions that puts a September interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve back on the table. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday also showed the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% last month as household employment declined. Labor market resilience has shored up the economy amid headwinds from President Donald Trump's aggressive trade and immigration policies." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-labor-market-cracks-widen-job-growth-hits-stall-speed-2025-08-01/
Looks like Trump was hoping that the commissioner would simply fabricate great numbers to make the economy look better than it really is, and then he got pissed when she wouldn't capitulate to him, projecting his fake news / political bullshit onto her.
On August 04 2025 03:56 Acrofales wrote: Granted, I'm neither in the US not chronically online, but it seems to me BJ brought this up, which is entirely on-brand for him, and then the thread discussed *that*. I'd say that's on-brand too, but GH would probably point out that the Epstein stuff is also a pointless distraction.
Whether or not the Trumpstein scandal matters was indeed mentioned by GH (who in turn was referencing Pelosi):
On July 21 2025 19:10 Sadist wrote: The name thing is just his latest attempt at a distraction to try to get the epstein stuff out of the news cycle.
The name change stuff is never going to happen for Cleveland or Washington.
Agreed. When Trump is trying to distract everyone from something he considers to be bad for him, I wonder why he doesn't change the subject to something more positive or better supported, like if there was a small economic victory somewhere for him to brag about, as opposed to him just whining about wanting something so stupid and bigoted.
I think you guys mean that the Epstein stuff is a distraction?
From all the fascism, regressive politics, removal of civil rights, and destruction of America's future? Fair point.
On July 21 2025 19:47 Simberto wrote:
On July 21 2025 19:25 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
On July 21 2025 19:10 Sadist wrote: The name thing is just his latest attempt at a distraction to try to get the epstein stuff out of the news cycle.
The name change stuff is never going to happen for Cleveland or Washington.
Agreed. When Trump is trying to distract everyone from something he considers to be bad for him, I wonder why he doesn't change the subject to something more positive or better supported, like if there was a small economic victory somewhere for him to brag about, as opposed to him just whining about wanting something so stupid and bigoted.
Anger and controversy get more attention then some small victory. Say something stupid on a theme that your base agrees with, watch the media react and state how stupid it is, watch your base defend you because the media called them stupid, and no one talks about how you fucked little girls anymore.
Being rabidly anti-PC is part of Trumps platform. Teams changed their names due to political correctness, and the people who are angry that they cannot even say the N-word anymore dislike this. And the people who don't like Trump love talking about how stupid the thing he just said is.
Meanwhile, who is going to talk abot some small positive for more than 3 minutes?
Yeah that's true. It's important to distract for as long as possible, and being blatantly racist is certainly a core part of the Trump/MAGA identity.
I suspect that there will be a bipartisan gaslighting effort to put the Epstein conspiracy behind us and look forward.
Of course, the Trumpstein scandal is still more politically relevant than BlackJack's projection of Obsessively-Bringing-Up-Sydney-Sweeney onto liberals, and GH also found it reasonable to make a comment or two about Trumpstein:
On July 24 2025 10:55 GreenHorizons wrote: Considering how Trump talked about Epstein, it's hard for me to believe much of anyone that went as far as going to his island didn't at least know what he was up to there. That's not as bad as doing it yourself, but it's not a lot better.
The people that have a random photo with him at a fancy party I could believe were more or less oblivious (but barely).
To be fair, it isn't just Pelosi:
Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, went so far as to suggest Republicans deliberately drummed up the Epstein issue
"...Any discussion about Epstein diverts attention from what we ought to be talking about,” Scott said in a recent interview.
“Clearly it’s a distraction,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., told NBC
On August 03 2025 04:50 KwarK wrote: I’m out of the loop, what’s going on?
Sydney Sweeney is doing an ad campaign with with American Eagle to promote their jeans. In one of the commercials she's talking about genes, how they're passed down and affects things hair color, eye color, and personality as the camera. The camera movement gets to her face and she say "my jeans are blue" and then it goes to campaign's tag line of "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."
It just... at best feels like an unforced error to talk about how a conventionally attractive, white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes has "great jeans" after talking about genes the entire commercial. At worst there's "Is this leaning into eugenics?" ick which is amplified by, well, reality.
I think it is just competent marketing. People are talking about it. People have opinions and care about it. When was the last time you talked about any ad campaign without controversy?
In fact, i think everyone who gets into that discussion just got played by a bunch of advertisement assholes.
"We're going to put out an ad that makes us seem like eugenicists so people talk about us." isn't what I'd consider a W.
On August 03 2025 04:50 KwarK wrote: I’m out of the loop, what’s going on?
Sydney Sweeney is doing an ad campaign with with American Eagle to promote their jeans. In one of the commercials she's talking about genes, how they're passed down and affects things hair color, eye color, and personality as the camera. The camera movement gets to her face and she say "my jeans are blue" and then it goes to campaign's tag line of "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."
It just... at best feels like an unforced error to talk about how a conventionally attractive, white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes has "great jeans" after talking about genes the entire commercial. At worst there's "Is this leaning into eugenics?" ick which is amplified by, well, reality.
I think it is just competent marketing. People are talking about it. People have opinions and care about it. When was the last time you talked about any ad campaign without controversy?
In fact, i think everyone who gets into that discussion just got played by a bunch of advertisement assholes.
"We're going to put out an ad that makes us seem like eugenicists so people talk about us." isn't what I'd consider a W.
Unfortunately, a lot of us thought that being pro-rape or pro-racism or pro-sexism or pro-fascism or pro-Nazi weren't going to be wins either, and I imagine that MAGA alone could easily support American Eagle if they think that supporting American Eagle will pwn th3 libs (that brand - any brand, really - probably doesn't need bipartisan support to make some good money).
On August 03 2025 04:50 KwarK wrote: I’m out of the loop, what’s going on?
Sydney Sweeney is doing an ad campaign with with American Eagle to promote their jeans. In one of the commercials she's talking about genes, how they're passed down and affects things hair color, eye color, and personality as the camera. The camera movement gets to her face and she say "my jeans are blue" and then it goes to campaign's tag line of "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."
It just... at best feels like an unforced error to talk about how a conventionally attractive, white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes has "great jeans" after talking about genes the entire commercial. At worst there's "Is this leaning into eugenics?" ick which is amplified by, well, reality.
I think it is just competent marketing. People are talking about it. People have opinions and care about it. When was the last time you talked about any ad campaign without controversy?
In fact, i think everyone who gets into that discussion just got played by a bunch of advertisement assholes.
"We're going to put out an ad that makes us seem like eugenicists so people talk about us." isn't what I'd consider a W.
Unfortunately, a lot of us thought that being pro-rape or pro-racism or pro-sexism or pro-fascism or pro-Nazi weren't going to be wins either, and I imagine that MAGA alone could easily support American Eagle if they think that supporting American Eagle will pwn th3 libs (that brand - any brand, really - probably doesn't need bipartisan support to make some good money).
On August 03 2025 04:50 KwarK wrote: I’m out of the loop, what’s going on?
Sydney Sweeney is doing an ad campaign with with American Eagle to promote their jeans. In one of the commercials she's talking about genes, how they're passed down and affects things hair color, eye color, and personality as the camera. The camera movement gets to her face and she say "my jeans are blue" and then it goes to campaign's tag line of "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."
It just... at best feels like an unforced error to talk about how a conventionally attractive, white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes has "great jeans" after talking about genes the entire commercial. At worst there's "Is this leaning into eugenics?" ick which is amplified by, well, reality.
I think it is just competent marketing. People are talking about it. People have opinions and care about it. When was the last time you talked about any ad campaign without controversy?
In fact, i think everyone who gets into that discussion just got played by a bunch of advertisement assholes.
"We're going to put out an ad that makes us seem like eugenicists so people talk about us." isn't what I'd consider a W.
Unfortunately, a lot of us thought that being pro-rape or pro-racism or pro-sexism or pro-fascism or pro-Nazi weren't going to be wins either, and I imagine that MAGA alone could easily support American Eagle if they think that supporting American Eagle will pwn th3 libs (that brand - any brand, really - probably doesn't need bipartisan support to make some good money).
On August 03 2025 04:50 KwarK wrote: I’m out of the loop, what’s going on?
Sydney Sweeney is doing an ad campaign with with American Eagle to promote their jeans. In one of the commercials she's talking about genes, how they're passed down and affects things hair color, eye color, and personality as the camera. The camera movement gets to her face and she say "my jeans are blue" and then it goes to campaign's tag line of "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans."
It just... at best feels like an unforced error to talk about how a conventionally attractive, white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes has "great jeans" after talking about genes the entire commercial. At worst there's "Is this leaning into eugenics?" ick which is amplified by, well, reality.
I think it is just competent marketing. People are talking about it. People have opinions and care about it. When was the last time you talked about any ad campaign without controversy?
In fact, i think everyone who gets into that discussion just got played by a bunch of advertisement assholes.
The thing is that I’m terminally online and the most I’ve heard about it is that “of course it’s Sydney Sweeney doing this ad”. There’s way more people talking about people being outraged than people actually being outraged. Which I guess is obviously the intent but there’s way more people shooting single sentence strays at Sydney Sweeney than talking about the actual product being advertised.
In my circles there are way more people on every side of politics yelling at the Nelk Boys hanging out and asking Netanyahu about hamburgers.
"Markets slump on tariffs and jobs data as Trump fires labor bureau statistics chief Markets rattled: US stocks were battered by a sell-off today as Wall Street reckoned with President Donald Trump’s tariff regime. Jobs official fired: Trump this afternoon fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whom he accused, without evidence, of manipulating the monthly jobs reports for “political purposes.” US job growth stalled in July, with just 73,000 jobs added, while May and June totals were revised down by a combined 258,000." https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/trade-deadline-tariffs-trump-deals
"US labor market cracks widen as job growth hits stall speed U.S. employment growth was weaker than expected in July while the nonfarm payrolls count for the prior two months was revised down by a massive 258,000 jobs, suggesting a sharp deterioration in labor market conditions that puts a September interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve back on the table. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday also showed the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% last month as household employment declined. Labor market resilience has shored up the economy amid headwinds from President Donald Trump's aggressive trade and immigration policies." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-labor-market-cracks-widen-job-growth-hits-stall-speed-2025-08-01/
Looks like Trump was hoping that the commissioner would simply fabricate great numbers to make the economy look better than it really is, and then he got pissed when she wouldn't capitulate to him, projecting his fake news / political bullshit onto her.
well those bad signs are "good signs" in that they lay bare the absolute shit show that is Trump and his grifting sycophant posse.
can't they organize a ton of people to protest this? I mean it's Texas but come on... leaving is all you got? politicians choosing voters versus the other way around is not enough for you to garner sympathy and enough outrage? what a weak response.
it's the Fight vs the Flight party lol.
just look at the difference in how they respond to their respective counterparts:
“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” said Gene Wu, the Democratic leader in the lower house of the Republican-dominated legislature. “We’re not walking out on our responsibilities; we’re walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott cited the state’s attorney general view that a district court may decide if the departure amounted to an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected office, where he in turn would be empowered to “swiftly” replace them. He added that they may have committed felonies with the move.
“This truancy ends now,” Abbott said in the statement, urging the Democrat lawmakers to return to Texas as the house reconvenes at 3 p.m. local time on Monday.
Earlier, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the Republican nomination for US Senate, called for the arrest of Democratic lawmakers who leave the state to block redistricting. “We should use every tool at our disposal to hunt down those who think they are above the law,” he said on X.
it's "kumbaya let's make an anti-micro aggression seminar and talk about it" vs "no shits given I run through you what are you gonna do about it?"...
there's a time and place for everything and nothing against seminars on various topics but what gives? you don't back down from _alleged_criminals like Paxton.
There’s way more people talking about people being outraged than people actually being outraged.
That's how media works. If you have a good story, you can make it relevant by claiming that it is relevant to others.
The Trumpstein rapist ring did rape >200 kids, and they got away with it for 20 years now, because they are too rich to be in prison. They are this rich, because they are openly criminal "I don't pay people, and if they sue me I drag it out longer than they can afford" - Art of the Deal.
The GOP kills poor people with medicaid cuts and gladly be Guardians of the Pedophiles, if they can have Tax cuts for the ultrawealthy.
In an insane twist, the rare person who I've seen talking in the way that I think is appropriate as a response to the way the right is doing things now is motherfucking Hunter Biden:
The guy is, unlike most elected officials able to channel the anger at what the Trump regime is doing in a way that doesn't ring as fake, he doesn't need a baseball bat, just a few fucks and some genuine emotion.
Now, I think Biden pardoning him and his whole family was kind of fucked, it did send a wrong message and only served to further cement Biden as a selfish person who puts himself and his family above the country. I also think that this guy funded his lifestyle by, amongst other things getting basically fake advisory jobs only because he was Biden's son.
All of that, of course, pales in comparison to even 1 % of what Trump's children are doing, but I still feel it needed to be said.
Texan Democrats have fled the state to fight the Trump encouraged gerrymandering to steal some extra seats in the next midterm. They have the Texas Rangers to investigate them and have the authority to issue civil arrest warrants for them.
The problem is that those warrants can't be used to seek extradition from other states, and even if they somehow get charges they're residing in democrat led states. The only way they're going to be forcefully taken back is if the Texas Rangers invade Illinois or the FBI starts arresting local politicians en mass.
Also the first hurricane of the season is coming. The current model says that it'll slap into south Carolina but its still pretty hoodoo at this point where it will actually end up.
I haven't been following closely, but I assume the goal is to change congressional districts prior to the midterms next year so that the district lines can be drawn to strongly favor republicans.
EPT![[image loading]](https://preview.redd.it/soon-in-the-united-states-v0-1w3creleisgf1.jpeg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=df8a3b5d68e59c0c56d14873e411f0737c58fe65)
