319 Comments

Ta, Dok, for keeping the kitteh illustrations going, as well as the article.

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It's a cult. They're not going to be swayed by their lying eyes.

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founding

once again, jebus h pete

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As of the first second of the first presidential debate, this whole riff that Biden is a doddering old fool (and also a criminal mastermind), while Trump is a great businessman/negotiator/lord of the deal sent by God to protect our precious bodily fluids from pernicious comm’nism, will go up in flames like drum full of gasoline after dropping a lighted cigar in the top.

Note: do not attempt to diagram that sentence; allergies are fucking with my syntax enzymes.

The true believers, shortly after shitting their pants, will claim Trump triumphed like Napoleon marching into Peoria, but those even partially sane will be asking themselves: “Hey, what the fuck?”

Which is why the June debate will not happen because of “Democrat gag order.”

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I don't think your second and third commas are necessary.

Other than that, a work of art. Actual fucking art.

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founding

It's a perfectly cromulent sentence...

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The fact that Biden came prepared with a copy of a two-year-old speech of Putin’s, with which he’d clearly familiarized himself, to support his points about NATO and its importance to the United States, should drive a stake through the heart of the idea that he’s too old and too senile to serve another term.

Also, try to imagine Trump bringing supporting texts to a meeting. I dare you.

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He'd be flinging those emotional support papers at the interviewer like they were someone else's dollars and a stripper's g-string.

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Yes, but did you know that Biden is old? He even had the audacity to get older while I was typing this sentence, the bastard!

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founding

Unlike all the rest of us, most notably the anti-Biden task forces at the FNYT, WaPo, and other disgraces to the fourth estate.

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Biden has never been a great speaker, but he knows whatat he is talkign about.

Trump just bables whatever the last thing he was told, be it from an aid, some far right nut he met at Mar a Largo, or the little marmoset that nests in his toupe.

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Little Marmoset libelz!1!!!!11!!!!! (That was Herod's nickname for Claudius when he lived in Rome.)

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founding

Are there other sources than "I, Claudius" for that? Whatever, good story, and well-spotted.

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None that I'm aware of; just Robert Graves. Both I, Claudius and Claudius the God are lovely novels.

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founding

Two of my favorites, I have read them each 3 or 4 times each.

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founding

Reptilians just HATE it when you slander them with their own words, its just so UNFAIR!

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He looks more like a slime mold than a reptile.

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Yes, Trump sounds like a mob boss and not like a statesman. But that's a feature, not a bug.

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Just what the Republican Party needs in their time of demographic irrelevance!

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Glad you pointed out that people aren't going to be hearing about this great interview. Because it blunts the narrative, the forced meme that "Joe Biden is old and unfit and doesn't know what's going on! Ah, Sleepy Joe!" Anything to distract from convicted felon President Klan Robe because these owners in the MSM (the adjuncts to the rightwing media human centipede) really, really want their Republican tax cuts thank you very much.

Even if millions more of us die from a second President Klan Robe maladministration.

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founding

Who cares how many proles have to die? They'd only be demanding higher wages and less pollution anyway.

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Yes, several European members of NATO need to bump up their investments in their military forces. Mainly because any war with Russia will start on their land and initially at least, they have the most to lose even if they ultimately win. How many decades and trillions of dollars will it take for Ukraine to fully recover from the Russian invasion even if Russia completely pulled out of every inch of Ukrainian territory they took since 2014. Especially without massive aid from the West.

But there is no centralized billing office where you send your dues in and you can use the gym for another year. Every country has their own military forces and NATO simply tries to coordinate a combined defense from those individual nation. For one thing few countries can afford a combined army, navy, marines, and air force like we do. So you may see Britain as investing more in air defense and high tech weapons systems while Poland invests more in tanks and infantry support vehicles.

Another big factor that became obvious in WW II as the British Empire crumbled is that no other country, even Russia, which stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, are confronted with the need for a global defense. Covering the Atlantic and Europe and the entire Pacific Ocean. And as we also know, having a presence in the Middle East and Africa while trying to maintain cooperative agreements in South America. So it is going to be expensive to maintain freedom of movement and protect our democratic allies like Japan and Australia who are not part of NATO. Something Trump made more difficult when he pulled out of a multi nation pact in those countries and others like Vietnam and Malaysia with his same "pay up" bullshit. Sort of a military and economic pact to confront China in that area. But without the US it lost a lot of the impact in that region and the ability to contain military and economic projection in the Pacific and China Sea by China.

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Don’t let Trump hear you, he’ll announce plans to choose a NATO treasurer.

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founding

Vanky? or Jared?

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Yes, we can argue about a lot of things. We can disagree with President Biden and the actions his administration takes, like many of us do with the recent EO concerning economic and political refugees.

We can “hold his feet to the fire” when enough of us disagree with things like what kind and how much funding to give Netanyahu. And he responds, maybe not as quickly and aggressively as some may want him to, but he has moved to a more nuanced, considered, position (pushed also, no doubt, by his own humanity).

Trump is criminal; a liar, a conman, a rapist, a fraud, and a demented fool, he is without reason nor shame, ‘nuf said.

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The choice between two evils when one of them is so much more evil should not be a tough choice. Don't like the lack of better options? Then fix your electoral system so it doesn't gravitate towards a two party system.

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founding

Or get out and fucking WORK for your third party of choice between elections, instead of just showing up from time to time to perform some lazy political consumerism.

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Yep. That said, no matter what happens I think it would be good for the USA to get rid of the elements in their political system that promotes only having two parties.

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founding

indeed- there are a myriad of facts to show why the present binary system is inadequate to our needs, but the fact that so many are so dissatisfied with it should be sufficient to warrant some drastic change.

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The fucked up part is millions still think he’s the better candidate and will vote for him. I don’t get it.

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founding

the Troll King gives them license by his example to be their worst selves, to revert to childish nastiness, to cease walking upright and speaking clearly so they can hunch and hoot and screech like their pre-human ancestors did. Freedumb! Think of an angry troop of baboons and you envisage the MAGAt ideal society.

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like

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The two differing worldviews are rather stark, and can be illustrated very simply. This isn't a case of Obama vs. Romney, or Bush vs. Gore, where we were looking at two candidates who overall agreed with the concept of U.S. involvement and alliances and ideals, and the only real difference was when you got down into the details and the methods (and of course there could be significant differences there, but you couldn't say that their big picture visions for America's place in the world weren't very similar).

Biden, like every president since FDR, sees American power as the potential to maintain world stability. Within that framework, America would pursue the ideals of free markets and free peoples, and self determination and human rights, though often those ideals could clash with one another (what if a nation self determines to discard democracy?) and we often fell short. But this worldview made our place predictable, put some rein on our rivals, and allowed our allies and neutrals to plan. It wasn't a perfect world, but it was remarkably stable, considering for most of it we were getting through a cold war rivalry, the end of colonialism, and all sorts of other economic, social and political upheavals. It was not only good for the world but was good for America.

Trump is a fucking moron. To say he wants a pre-FDR world is to give him too much credit--he is simply open to flattery and bribes from whoever kisses his ass most recently, he has an unexplained hard on for dictators but Putin especially, he loves to watch chaos and death because he's a psychopath who is dead inside. He doesn't give a single shit about America or any ideals at all, and in practice this means allies had better fend for themselves, neutrals better pick a side, and enemies are emboldened. Economies will suffer, people will suffer and die, and forget about solving any world emergencies that come up, because no one will lead.

There's your choice, America.

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founding

Liked, liked and liked. Your points are both important and well stated, pleasure to read.

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Like

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Jun 6·edited Jun 6Liked by Doktor Zoom

Ha! That TIME fact-check of Trump is a "21-minute read", or just over a quarter of the entire interview in terms of read time.

(The Biden fact check is "5 minutes")

*eta: Need to mention that I'd missed Dok mentioning Last mentioning this discrepancy.

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“As Last says, lastly…”

Recovering from a vicious migraine, still in pain, I thank you, Dok, for making me smile with a good ole bit of dad-like humor. ❤️

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putin seems to have forgotten, or thinks we have, that when the UN was set up, Ukraine got its own seat at russia's demand. it was convenient then for russians to insist that it was somehow separate. and now, it's convenient to pretend that it isn't.

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founding

Just how both the Soviets and their Americans imitators (the Republicans since the Southern Strategy) have always done it, truth is plastic, there to be reshaped to a more pleasing appearance.

Gammarrae, you make me wish for multiple likes to bestow in recognition to you. I think I might be in love.

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RemovedJun 6
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