by ExaltedPunt | 2025-06-22 22:20:54+00:00
> No, I am not "tone policing". I am talking about deliberate nuance. You were careful to reject endorsing George Galloway - not just once, but again even stronger the second time. Because you're treading a balance between praising one qualified aspect, and condemning the overall person. The more you praise that one aspect, the more you want to make sure it's clear you're distancing yourself from that person over all.

Yes you are doing exactly that. "Nuance" is a cop-out. The logic is precisely the same.

> Trump does not distance himself from Putin in this way - rather he compliments often, and then only occasionally backpedals when pressed. The sensible interpretation is that overall he supports Putin, and the occasional critical remark is just part of his signature contradictory word salad.

No that isn't the sensible interpretation. You are doing mental gymnastics.

> It is the job of the local and state governments to strike the balance between the right to protest and keeping order. The elected officials were handling that just fine - there was no "riot", especially not some kind of ongoing one not being handled by LAPD. Deputizing the national guard against the direction of the state governor to perform domestic enforcement duties is an attack on that state authority. It had the exact opposite effect of restoring order, resulting in a predictable escalation for a TV stunt.

Dude the footage can be found on Youtube of the riots. I also remember watching in real time with American friends over live streams of the riots in the summer of 2020. I forget which city it was (Minneapolis) but I saw this huge building collapse live. So please don't gaslight me that the local government was handling these things just fine. They weren't.

> But if you're drinking this level of fascist Kool-Aid,

No, I've barely looked at the news at all over the last month. The weather in the UK has been exceptionally nice and I've been spending my time cycling.

I have watched live-streams of riots and seen stores being looted in real time, guys burning cars etc. There is one guy that literally rides around the city on his electric motorbike thing and documents it that a friend and I were watching the other night.

Apparently I imagined all of the things that were captured on candid camera?

> then there's really no point in continuing this discussion. I do have to wonder why you're so invested in American politics not even being American though.

I am interested in American politics because I have many American friends that I speak to regularly. I have also Canadian friends. Most of them are actually left wing.

The reason I don't pay attention to Politics in the UK is very stale, boring, depressing and I know my vote is literally meaningless. Even people in my family that were very much "You must go out and vote" have told me in private that they no longer bother because all they get is more of the same. My father told me he has never voted because he knows whoever you vote for, you end up get shafted anyway.

> I'm guessing you're emboldened by not actually having to suffer the inevitable poor results of Trump's destructive bluster-and-back-down approach. Contrast with say, if you lived in Los Angeles.

I actually know someone that lives in Los Angeles and I talk to them about this very subject maybe a few days ago. They told me that if you live in certain parts of the city, you may never even know there were horrific problems in the other parts.

BTW. I live near Manchester and recently visited Cardiff. Both cities while much smaller are having similar problems to Los Angeles. There are a large number of drug addicts that are literally passed out on the streets, there are homeless people everywhere (my friend regularly has to walk over homeless people camping in his doorstep) and both cities are in a state of decay.

I've seen plenty of real time footage of Los Angeles and other American cities that have similar problems. Unfortunately the same thing is now happening in our cities.