Messages

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: Today at 12:34:11 AM »

A conservative RWNJ, who participated in the January 6th insurrection, has been shot dead after attempting to attack an FBI facility in Cincinnati armed with an AR15 and firing a nail gun. The NYT has identified him as Ricky Shiffer. A social media account of the same name called for FBI agents to be "shot on sight" on the day Trump's house was raided, and called for "war" against the government.

He'll probably now be seen as a martyr for the cause.

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 11, 2022, 08:24:38 PM »

30,573. The number of lies told by President Trump.

Conservatives be like: "Yeah, but what about that one time Bill Clinton told a lie? Both sides are just as bad."

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General discussion / Re: Voice calls

« on: August 11, 2022, 08:16:06 PM »

I can hold a conversation the very best, especially in smaller groups. In bigger groups I find it a bit hard to get a word in. With my siblings and parents, when we're all together, it's almost impossible for me to get a word in, and when I do speak I just get interrupted and talked over half the time. Probably because I'm the youngest and they're not used to having me around since I only see them once a year.

Public speaking is something I can do easily because I do Toastmasters almost very week. When you "have the floor" and can't be interrupted there's nothing to it.

Face-to-face conversation is fine with me most of the time. Video calls where I can see people, no bother. Conference calls where you can't see everyone, again, no bother to me since it's like a public speaking situation. But 1 on 1 conversations on the phone? I can do them, but I just feel a bit uncomfortable with it.

(Damned if I know what the 'middle aged men' comment was about or where that came from)

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 11, 2022, 08:05:43 PM »

Here you go, for the benefit of the "both parties are just as corrupt" crowd:

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General discussion / Re: You know what really grinds my gears?

« on: August 11, 2022, 07:03:35 PM »

I hear young ones talk about scran (I think) for food. Was that word always about?

They say it in Ballymena and Newcastle England. I think they might say it in Carlisle too.

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 11, 2022, 07:02:02 PM »

This is from 1969 to 2017, it's hard to get up-to-date figures because it was so hard to keep up with it under Trump's admin.

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 11, 2022, 12:43:41 AM »

Oh and Kansas voted to legalize abortion.

Kansas.

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 10, 2022, 11:12:56 PM »

Previous quotes from Trump on people who plead the Fifth:

• "The mob takes the fifth."
• "If you are innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment."
• "Taking the fifth. I think it's disgraceful."

Guess who's pleading the Fifth now?

9

General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 10, 2022, 08:15:43 PM »

Just saw a clip of the latter-day Lord Haw Haw known as Tucker Carlson ranting about the "Great Replacement." Says that the plan is to replace "legacy Americans" with "more obedient people from the third world." Apparently obedience is a bad thing, but if you're a black person interacting with cops then obedience is your duty on pain of summary execution.

The conservatives are barely hiding their fascism at this point. Extremist ideology that is confined to fringe parties in parts of Europe is full on mainstream in the Rethuglican party.

10

General discussion / Re: Voice calls

« on: August 10, 2022, 06:41:41 PM »

There is something wierd about not being able to face using a phone.
Do you prefer to receive texts from someone you cannot see and have never met?

Yes, I prefer texts. You can ignore them, reply to them immediately, or reply to them later when you're ready. You're in complete control with texts. With a voice call you're put on the spot and expected to speak now. When ringing someone else I have to psych myself up, prepare what I'm going to say, and take a breath beforehand because I'm afraid I'm going to be out of breath. And when it goes to voicemail, which is almost always does nowadays because nobody wants to answer anymore, I breathe a big sigh of relief and usually hang up and send a text.

I suppose I'm just out of practice. Sometimes when I've been in roles that involved a lot of voice calling I got used to it for a while, but now that I'm back out of it I just cannot stand voice calling.

11

General discussion / Voice calls

« on: August 10, 2022, 05:33:21 PM »

Who here still makes voice calls on the phone? I've always hated it, and I'm delighted to see it disappearing. If I need to ring someone I've been known to put it off for days. There's just something weird and unnatural about taking to someone you can't see, it never sat right with me.

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 10, 2022, 05:25:37 PM »

Looks like Trump's dwindling band of supporters can't even outnumber the media outside the scene of the crime!

Online supporters of Trump grow louder, but the scene outside Mar-a-Lago is a different story

The Trump supporters were outnumbered by media outlets outside the Florida property after the FBI's search.

By Rob Wile
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The online response to the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property has been swift and ominous, with predictions of a resurgence of extremism and even fears of a civil war.

But for the last 24 hours outside the 17-acre Palm Beach estate Tuesday, a convoy of local and national media have far outnumbered Trump supporters.

A couple of dozen Trump boosters converged on the site late Monday as news of the FBI's action broke, but by morning, even those meager ranks had begun to dwindle, and they had not picked up by 5 p.m.

"This is a great national story, a huge national story, and should be," said Eric Johnson, a South Florida-based Democratic political consultant. "But local people, voters, are going about their business. I don’t think it matters one iota in local elections. They're still talking about inflation or whether beaches have too much erosion."

A source familiar with the matter has said Monday's search was tied to classified information Trump is alleged to have taken with him from the White House in January 2021.

Full story

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: August 10, 2022, 03:35:59 AM »

Trump set the bar so low it’s subterranean.

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General discussion / Re: You know what really grinds my gears?

« on: August 10, 2022, 12:39:33 AM »

Chippy in North Armagh

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Armagh / Re: Club Hurling in Armagh

« on: August 09, 2022, 11:13:32 PM »

Bump

Just looking at the Armagh GAA website to catch up on the club championship. I see at U15 there's a "North Armagh Hurling Club" that played against Keady in the U15 hurling league. Is this an amalgamated Lurgan/Portadown team for U15? Are they really that short of numbers at that age? I've seen Sean Treacy's stuff on FB recently and they seem to be in good shape at underage.