Rep. Devin Nunes Now Threatening To Sue Fellow Congressional Reps
from the frivolous-lawsuits-for-everyone dept
It really wasn't that long ago that Rep. Devin Nunes was a co-sponsor of the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act. Of course, since then, he's been filing a whole bunch of frivolous lawsuits against news organizations, journalists, political operatives, critics, and, most famously, a satirical internet cow.
At times he's admitted that these lawsuits are about fishing for journalist's sources, but it certainly seems pretty clear that this is all an intimidation campaign, by a silly little man who is an elected representative in Congress and simply can't handle criticism. Of course, as more evidence comes out that, at the very least, suggests that Nunes is somehow tied up with all of the mess around impeachment -- including reports revealing that the indicted Lev Parnas spoke by phone with Nunes -- he seems to be getting more and more upset with anyone calling him out.
The latest is that fellow California Representative Ted Lieu noted on Twitter that Nunes' lawyer sent him a letter threatening to sue Lieu for saying "that Nunes conspired with Parnas."
Amazing Lev Parnas interview on #Maddow. Also, I’m disclosing that the lawyer for @DevinNunes wrote a letter saying Rep Nunes will sue me if I didn’t apologize for saying last month that Nunes conspired with Parnas.
Devin, I’m adding to my statement: “Your pants are on fire.” https://t.co/2nptREunSk
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 16, 2020
Unfortunately, Lieu hasn't yet released that letter, but I'm hoping he does. I'd be curious to see if Nunes tries to sue Lieu in Virginia like most of his other lawsuits, rather than California. Also, I'd love to see how Nunes and his lawyer think they can get around the Speech or Debate Clause.
In the meantime, Ted Lieu, we really could use more people in Congress supporting a federal anti-SLAPP law. Seems like now might be a good time for you to support such a law, right?
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Filed Under: 1st amendment, anti-slapp, defamation, devin nunes, free speech, lev parnas, slapp, speech or debate clause, ted lieu, threats
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Take that back, or else.
Well, there's always dueling.
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Devin Nunes may not be a Russian asset, but he sure acts like one.
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Re:
Devin isn't paid to be a Russian asset. But he enjoys being one in his spare time.
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So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
Neat. This doesn't get old.
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Re: Re:
We all have our hobbies
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Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
Do you just roll dice and compare them to a chart to figure out what nonsensical thing you're going to inject into the conversation?
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Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
I saw a false dichotomy. I'm so sorry objective reality hates you.
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Which logical fallacy was used, and how?
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Fallacy?
Could you enlighten me as to which part of the article you find fallacious? I've looked, and alas, I find nothing which appears to violate the rules of debate. There are no strawmen, unless you consider Nunes to be in similar straits as the fellow from the Wizard of Oz; there is no false dichotomy presented anywhere; there is no false attribution or jumping to conclusions unless you think Lieu did not actually receive such a threat, in which case it would be he, not Mike, who has committed the wrong; there's no begging the question, no equivocation, no slippery slopes except the one Nune's reputation finds itself traversing.
Please, do tell which part I've missed, exactly.
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Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
Logical fallacy huh?
So Devin Nunes admitting he spoke with Parnas somehow implies that he also didn't speak with Parnas, and as a result should be able to sue Ted Lieu for saying he did?
That's some fucked up logic you've got there, Hairdo.
HTH:
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/ages-stages-helping-child ren-develop-logic-reasoning-skills/
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Wait!!!
Maybe he actually meant to type "logicall phallusy!" (as in Nunes is something of a dick that has problems with coming to reasonable conclusions...maybe that's it!)
Marked as funny Zof.
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For those of us who are not so sharp-eyed as you, where, exactly, in the article can we find a premise being presented as two opposing outcomes when there are, in fact, outcomes which do not fit within either of the two outcomes presented? In fact, I see no presentation of two outcomes at all, directly or indirectly.
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Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
Zof bingo
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Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
What logical fallacy are you possibly talking about? Are you saying that he did not threaten to sue Lieu?
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Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
Nunes "attacks" write themselves. All you have to do is state factually anything he does.
Wondering where that fallacious argument is, though.
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Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
Republican and in the wrong, as in Zof's world people are either totally good or totally bad, and being republican makes them good.
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Someone Should...
... tell Devin to not have a cow, about seemingly everything.
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Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
It's pretty obvious that by calling Nunes' lawsuits frivolous, you imply that all lawsuits are either frivolous or non-frivolous. This false dichotomy neglects the possibility that they could be vexatious.
QED Mike. Argument destroyed. Nunes is innocent.
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Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
This is just a guess, but:
So, it might be that Zof is saying that you're making a dichotomy between Nunes not talking to Parnas at all vs Nunes talked to Parnas about the mess around the impeachment, when there's the third possibility that Nunes talked to Parnas about things having nothing to do with the mess around the impeachment.
Or, hmmm, how about this: the dichotomy is between Nunes having a valid defamation lawsuit against Lieu vs Nunes intending to punish Lieu for public participation (or chill Lieu from public participation), when their might be other motives for Nunes threatening such a lawsuit.
Those are the only ways I can wrest a false dichotomy out of what you wrote.
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Funny but for the circumstance and power
Watching him throw tantrum after tantrum, lashing out like a child anytime someone says something he doesn't like would be downright hilarious if he wasn't a gorram US representative, abusing the court system with the likely goal of playing up his 'victimization' to the gullible and/or drawing attention away from things he'd much rather not talk about.
Still, his actions do provide a crystal-clear case for strong anti-SLAPP laws, both state and federal, so at least he's doing something productive, even if entirely by accident.
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Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
There is, potentially, one more place where, if you squint hard enough, you might interpret one:
It is possible that one could read this as implying that these are two opposed outcomes, that it is either fishing for journalist's sources or that it is an intimidation campain, when clearly, there is a much more probable third option. Namely, to wit, that it is an intimidation campaign which is fishing for journalist's sources.
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Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
One should be careful trying to analyze Zof's mind. It is more like a broken Pachinko machine than anything that might resemble reason of any kind.
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Re:
So using fallacious logics to attack Techdirt again.
This is shit old and busted bro.
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Re: Re: Re: So using logic to stump Zof again.
Try digging up!
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Devin Nunes doesn't seem to be terrible, I hope he gets his goals worked out.
I also don't think Trump was any more corrupt than any other President in recent history though some of his policies seem like bad ideas.
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Re:
You better answer your phone, reality has been trying to reach you for the last year...
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Re:
Now why did you have to waste two letters like that, calling him an "asset"?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logic to stump Zof again.
He tried that, and hit the grass ceiling.
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Silly us for thinking that the Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act was about actually stopping frivolous lawsuits. Clearly we read it wrong. The Co-Sponsor is all about filing all the discouraging frivolous lawsuits he can file. In fact, somebody may want to give the law a close read. It may be that there's as prize for the person who files the most discouraging frivolous lawsuits and right now, Nunes may be winning.
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How many of them conspired to influence an American election with the help of a foreign government?
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Re: Take that back, or else.
I'd pay money to see our Congresscrritters line up to throw cow patties at each other in a duel...especially given the BS they push on us.
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Re: Re:
Maybe it just auto-corrected from "asshat"
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Re:
Have you suffered severe head trauma in the last month or so?
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Re: Re: Re:
They're talking about Nunes and you think auto-correct would aim away from 'asshat'?
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Re: Re: Take that back, or else.
I was thinking C-Span, and free streaming, public domain from the get go. As a loss leader (aka for free) or a marketing tool of course.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
Good point...I guess that proves tech algorithms can't be trusted.
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Re:
Really? How can you tell?
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This can only be a good thing if Nunes is starting to take on targets with the money and political networking to fight back.
If blue were still shitposting he'd be pissing his pants right about now.
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Re:
Well, there was one that tried to influence an American election. But he didn't use foreign government aid to do so.
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Personally, I like Devin Nunes. He got the whole Muller Witch Hunt stuff right. He got the whole Spygate thing right. He got the whole FISA abuse thing right.
He's batting, like, 1000 or more. He's a winner, repeatedly, and in public Again and again. Over and over. Winner Winner Winner.
Unlike you losers who will gripe about anything and defend terrorists, rapists, criminals and people who shit in the street.
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Losing the battle but winning the fundraiser
That's the thing though, if the goal isn't so much to win as it is to chill speech and/or get attention from the gullible even a legal loss can be spun to help him.
If he gets (rightly) curbstomped in court he just needs to point at that and cry about how much of a 'victim' he is and how even the courts are against him, and the money will almost certainly flow in from those foolish enough to buy the sob story, and even a win for the defendants will be likely be costly to them due to a lack of a strong federal anti-SLAPP, which is likely to make less well-funded people hesitant to speak out for fear that they might be next.
Probably the biggest problem with SLAPP suits, what makes them so effective and why it's so important to have strong anti-SLAPP laws is that winning the lawsuit isn't the point, and in fact even a loss can still accomplish the goal of draining resources from the target such that the only win possible for the target is a pyrrhic one.
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Re: you sound like you got a new crush
Careful hamiltron. You’re about to take over biggest crybaby on techdirt away from your ex Jhon Smith.
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Re: Re: you sound like you got a new crush
Why "ex Jhon Smith"? Did you kill him? Divorce him? Shoot a hellfire missile into his car and then go kick the decapitated body and take pictures? I have all those pictures, you have them too? Probably not. But I know a guy that does shit like that. His name is DONALD J. TRUMP, the Magnificent!
Was that shit great or what. Blow the fuck out of our enemies, and then laugh about it. He ran like a coward, snivveling and crying, he was even afraid of a little DOG! You have got to LOVE POTUS! YES?! YES?! He's an example to us all.
Or do you have a better story about your wenie little brown friend Obama. What a pussy. He gave money to mullahs. We gave them an American Boot up their ASS! YAY!
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Re: Re:
How many of them got China to their knees? None. How many of them nearly doubled my 401k? None. How many of them used any dirty fucking trick in any dirty fucking book to get elected? MOST! But not Donald J. Trump, the Magnificent! He did it ALONE, ISOLATED, without BIG DONERS or CORRUPT CORPORATE SUPPORTERS or ANYTHING, just SHEER WILLPOWER! Just sheer VISION! WHO DO WE LOVE? TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!
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Re: Someone Should...
Yeah, this is pretty much the state of humor for you fucking lefties. You think you're funny, and only your friends get the joke. How pathetic your humor is.
Trump blows people up for fun. That's FUNNY! When I saw that bloody stump of a Muslim Iranian Killer Fuckwad I laughed! BOOM! FUNNY!
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Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
Personally I think he is both an obvious scholar and gentleman. Comes from good breeding. His name is better than yours, too. You're pathetic. So unoriginal.
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Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
No, in Zof's world, people think for themselves. Unlike you leftist lemmings.
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Re:
Me too. I really wish he can sue this cow that's mocking him! That'll teach it!
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Re: Re: Re: Take that back, or else.
Strange how you can take one of the most respect names in American politics and try to make humor out of cow shit. How weird are you?
Nunes has been proven RIGHT again and again, over and over. Not only RIGHT, but RIGHT in WRITING! READ HIS LETTERS! READ HIS MEMOS!
Can you read?
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Re:
Well, there's this premise: You're an idiot with nothing to say. And then there's ZOF - a highly educated young professional with wisdom literally dripping off his long pink tongue. Outcome one: He's right. Outcome two: You're wrong.
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Re: Re:
[Asserts facts not in evidence]
(just like Zof!)
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Re: Re: Re:
Repeats the same tired shit over and over, because he has nothing to say.
YOU!
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Re: Losing the battle but winning the fundraiser
What a stupid thing to say. "Chill speech". You guys are the world leaders in chilling speech. You censor, you hide, you remove, you block, and you otherwise avoid ALL the speech that GOES AGAINST your issue of the day.
One thing is for sure - why a lefty is accusing you of something, it's what THEY ARE DOING.
YOU ARE ALL SPEECH CHILLERS!
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
"They're talking about Nunes and you think auto-correct would aim away from 'asshat'?"
Autocorrect is the technology which should have told everyone from the get-go that you can't trust algorithms to recognize context.
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Re: Re:
"And then there's ZOF - a highly educated young professional with wisdom literally dripping off his long pink tongue."
Where's the sarcasm tag?
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Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
"QED Mike. Argument destroyed. Nunes is innocent."
...I'm still not seeing a sarcasm tag...
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes aga
“His name is better than yours, too. You're pathetic. So unoriginal.”
You really are the queen of basic bitch projection Becky.
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Re: Re: Someone Should...
Poor lol baby. It’s past someone’s nappy time.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
"No, in Zof's world, people think for themselves. Unlike you leftist lemmings."
...says the alt-righter who manifestly abstained from thinking for himself.
You don't need to be a leftist to question Zof's logic. And it's ironic that quite a few of us are about as leftist as eisenhower.
Although I do appreciate that eisenhower and thomas jeffersson do look quite leftist to the current right-wing trend of the GOP.
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Re: Re: Re: you sound like you got a new crush
Pretty sure he left you for someone younger and less crazy bro.
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Re: Re: Someone Should...
"...this is pretty much the state of humor for you fucking lefties."
Damn, Bobmail, back to wearing the Hamilton suit again so soon?
"...Trump blows people up for fun. That's FUNNY!"
...and right back from harping about evil pirates to applauding the fun of killing people. I swear, Bobmail, every time I think you couldn't drop the bar further on conversational quality you certainly go the extra mile...
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Re: Re: Re:
"How many of them got China to their knees? None."
The China which played Trump like a fucking harp and is now signing a trade deal with all of their wishlist included? THAT China?
"How many of them nearly doubled my 401k?"
Certainly not Trump. you can blame him for a lot of things but his involvement in the US economy is zip. Most of the market is just happy he's been too happy trying to build that wall and golfing in mar-a-lago to get much of anything actually done.
"WHO DO WE LOVE? TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!"
STILL not seeing a sarcasm tag...i think we have either a genuine trump supporter or some troll who thinks he's making a parody of such a supporter.
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Re: Re: you sound like you got a new crush
"Careful hamiltron. You’re about to take over biggest crybaby on techdirt away from your ex Jhon Smith."
Whether Jhon Smith/Blue/Bobmail is Hamilton or not depends on whether or not he's having a full meltdown episode or not.
the trend usually follows that after sufficiently many have heckled his demented ramblings about how pirates will burn in hell he turns into Hamilton and starts going full ultra-authoritarian white supremacist.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Take that back, or else.
[Asserts facts not in evidence]
You wouldn't have a citation for that, would you, AC?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logic to stump Zof again.
Then he smoked it.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yeah. Mind you, there's some crazy foam-flecked culty ranting going on there. If I could see this jerk he'd be a flabby middle-aged man with a thin, greasy mullet wearing a MAGA hat, a grubby t-shirt with a picture of Our Lord hugging Trump on, bursting out of too-tight beer-stained jeans.
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Re: Re: Losing the battle but winning the fundraiser
Yet here you are, crapping up the thread like a seagull with diarrhoea.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Take that back, or else.
"You wouldn't have a citation for that, would you, AC?"
Come on, wendy, you know better.
The day Blue/Jhon/Bobmail comes up with a citation not directly attributed to a copyright cult marketing agency will be because he's having one of his Hamilton episodes and is quoting Stormfront instead.
At all other times you know when he's in that Hamilton mood he only manages to trot out tired old alt-right one-liners in ALL CAPS.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logic to stump Zof again.
"Then he smoked it."
I've been saying since Bobmail's old torrentfreak days he must have found most of his inspiration in his crack pipe or - occasionally - at the bottom dregs of a particularly bad hit of acid.
What's ironic is the way he is so instantly recognizable no matter how many sock puppets he goes through. A deranged anti-pirate occasionally switching into a 100% hysterical bigot in his Hamilton moods.
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Nunes is playing chess
Devin Nunes is obviously filing all of the frivolous law suits just to make the point that his 'Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act' was needed. He sacrificed a pawn when he tried to sue a cow and now he's using his rook to attack other congress critters in an attempt to force them into check mate. I mean his strategy is simply genius. /s
Signed, Moo
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"Mind you, there's some crazy foam-flecked culty ranting going on there."
There is indeed. I'm starting to wonder if there's someone around who first read a few of bobmail's posts when that unworthy was wearing his Hamilton jacket, then heard of Poe's Law and went Challenge Accepted.
The poster comes off as a little less coherent in his language than what we usually see from old Jhon/Blue and there are a few more all caps than he normally uses.
The message is about the same however.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes again.
I'm not going to ruin a joke with a sarcasm tag. If you can't figure it out on your own, you're not the sort of person I'm pandering to.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Take that back, or else.
A copyright cult marketing agency?
Are you talking about Techdirt?
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Re: Nunes is playing chess
George Carlin would be turning over in his grave listening to what you lefties call humor.
Aren't you embarrassed?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Take that back, or else.
I do, I was just poking the bear.
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Re: Re: Re: you sound like you got a new crush
How strange you are - everyone superior to you is a white supremacist.
Well, maybe you're right.
Pretty much everyone IS better than you, both in your imagination, and in reality.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Any message that does not conform to the "group" sounds the same to you.
Have you any original thoughts? Anything that diverges from the hive mentality?
Or are you just another drone buzzing along with the crowd?
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Re: Re: Re: Someone Should...
Well, you're a singularly boring critic. At least my ideas are memorable. Yours are totally forgettable. In fact, I've forgotten them already.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes
"Basic bitch projection".
Did you invent that?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes aga
What kind of person ARE you pandering to?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logic to stump Zof again.
You have no idea who is who. That's GREAT!
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack Nunes
I'm pretty sure he is pandering to 8chan.
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Re: Re: Someone Should...
Trump blows people up for fun.
Right! I love that logic - make yourself look like a shit-flinging retard to own the libs.
Just like the tards in grade school who'd eat their own snot for money, amirite?
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Re: Re: Losing the battle but winning the fundraiser
YOU ARE ALL SPEECH CHILLERS!
Then round up some of the other rubes and make your own shit where you're free and clear to blather on all you want. Shouldn't we be able to refuse you service because you're different and we don't agree with your views?
Or does that discrimination only hold true for religious nutjobs who lose their shit over baking a cake?
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Re: Re: Nunes is playing chess
Aren't you embarrassed?
Not as much as your mother is, bro.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logical fallacy to attack N
Tagged as insightful.
...
/s
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Re: Re: Nunes is playing chess
Your father would be embarrassed of you if he stayed.
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Re: Re: Re: Someone Should...
Come on, bad enough they're acting like that, there's no need to sink to their level with that kind of comment and those kinds of insults.
If you want to slam them do so in a manner that doesn't allow them to point to you with a 'look, they're no better than me' defense, as a comment like that is just helping them.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Someone Should...
Point taken That One Guy, but what would you call it?
I'm trying to communicate in simple terms, in a language that they can easily understand. There's nothing factually wrong with my analysis. They're stupid people, doing stupid things, and in doing so giggling like morons that their stupid actions are somehow "triggering libs."
It's been a consistent manner of communication for them over the last 3 years. I've always been taught when communicating to know my audience. And in my comment to the post prior to yours, I feel like (unfortunately) I know them well.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Someone Should...
Calling someone stupid for acting that way can be valid, as can pointing out how idiotic it is to do something stupid just to annoy someone else, but doing so by using slurs like 'retard/tards' is another matter entirely and just allows your target to dismiss any criticisms as no better than what you're calling them out on, not to mention granting them a blank check to act like that in the future.
When you've got someone practically handing the arguments to be used against them to you on a silver platter(by say glorifying murder) there's no need to sink to using worse stuff that just leaves you at their level and the glaring opening they provided unaddressed.
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So were Hitler’s.
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Under the Rule of Goats, there isn’t a distinction.
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Please cite how Techdirt prevents you from posting on literally any other website.
That is moderation, not censorship.
Moderation.
Moderation.
Dismissing your bullshit, or refusing to listen to it in the first place, is not censorship. You’re not entitled to an audience; we’re not obligated to give you one.
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At least you admit you’re a White supremacist with delusions of grandeur, and that’s the first step towards repentance.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Someone Should...
There's a difference in terminology. Someone who is mentally challenged has a debilitating medical condition, not of their own choice. I find it difficult to believe that the poster I referred to is seriously mentally challenged, hence my use of the term retard - someone who would otherwise have reasonable mental faculties, but instead chooses voluntarily to act like a dipshit.
And that's what we're dealing with here. Deliberately doing something stupid to piss someone else off. I see no reason to lump an asshole like that with people who have actual mental disabilities - I certainly wouldn't call someone who is legitimately mentally challenged a retard - I reserve that word for dicktards like the poster I responded to.
It's not as if my word choice is going to make a difference or change their mind - I'm not going to kid myself there. I just don't choose to waste civility on those who don't deserve it, or who wouldn't think of reciprocating because our political beliefs are different.
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You can insult a dipshit without having to use an ableist slur. Replace “retard” with any given racial slur in the reply that kicked off this sub-chain and see how much of a dipshit it makes you sound like. If you wouldn’t use racial slurs as a broad, base-level insult, for what reason is your use of ableist slurs any less offensive or ignorant — especially since you all but admit that using the word in the context of referencing the intellectually disabled is offensive?
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Shove it
Did anyone see Ted Lieu's letter to Nunes lawyer? Something along the lines of looking forward to discovery, or he can take the letter and shove it. Priceless.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Take that back, or else.
"I do, I was just poking the bear."
Tempting to do when the "bear" in question is a toothless ten-pound wreck with alzheimers. All it's got in way of defense is the threat of shitting on your shoes. It's a good thing old Bobmail hasn't gotten much in the way of accuracy either.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So using logic to stump Zof agai
"You have no idea who is who. That's GREAT!"
A bunch of AC's who all for some inexplicable reason bear arguments and grievances so close they might as well be copy-pasted from one another?
Yeah, I believe the preponderance of the evidence falls on the side of that just being "poor" little bobmail/blue/nejtillpirater getting caught shitposting under multiple nicks again.
You still don't get to be a one-man army, Baghdad Bob, even if you've gone too lazy to even build multiple nicknames to make that impression again.
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Re:
"So were Hitler’s."
It's pretty much Hamilton/Bobmail to see that comparison as a compliment, though. Dovetails nicely with the rest of his agenda once he calms down and starts extolling the virtues of Copyright Law rather than White Supremacy and fascism. After all, The current copyright organization GEMA was originally Hitler's instrument of enforcing "culture".
Same way IFPI was Mussolinis.
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Re: Re: Losing the battle but winning the fundraiser
"What a stupid thing to say. "Chill speech". You guys are the world leaders in chilling speech. You censor, you hide, you remove, you block, and you otherwise avoid ALL the speech that GOES AGAINST your issue of the day. "
Well, no. We welcome debate, even borderline inflammatory such - such as what I and PaulIT often end up in, for instance.
We DO, however, like to pull a curtain over the scene of what I can only compare to public defecation. No one really wants to see what you do on the porcelain throne in detail and that little placard "This comment has been flagged by the community" merely means that people less fortunate than the rest of us saw fit to close the door as a public service.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: you sound like you got a new crush
"How strange you are - everyone superior to you is a white supremacist. "
Hmm. Not really, no. I doubt Hawking anhd einstein, to name two clear-cut examples, were white supremacists.
But someone who takes ghoulish delight in applauding Trump, cherishes the concept of "ausländer raus" and often sees fit to weight in on what law enforcement does to <insert racial, ethnic or anti-LGBTQ slur here>? I think I'm on safe grounds to call that a "White Supremacist".
But it certainly isn't because that person can be considered "superior" in much other than their ability to be a shameless bottomfeeder catering to racism and bigotry.
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Re: Shove it
Yes. I LOLed. I love Ted Lieu!
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Re:
Replace “retard” with any given racial slur in the reply that kicked off this sub-chain and see how much of a dipshit it makes you sound like.
We're not talking about race. That's a strawman you're standing up there.
You can insult a dipshit without having to use an ableist slur.
Really?
https://apersnicketylemon.tumblr.com/post/78877759531/hi-i-know-stpid-and-idit-are-ableist-but-i-wa s
Dipshit is generally used to attack intelligence so ableist
That's the problem when you concentrate too hard on the words, rather than the message.
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No, it isn’t. My point is that the word “retard”, in the context that makes it an ableist slur, is offensive. Replacing it with a slur against another group (e.g., a racial slur) proves as much. If you wouldn’t use a racial or homophobic slur after the phrase “make yourself look like a”, for what reason would “retard” still on your table?
This is the first time I’ve come across this particular interpretation of “dipshit”, but I’m not inclined to agree with it based only on that.
The message you send is important; the choice of words you use to send that message is important, too. Just ask the third president to be impeached in the history of the United States.
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Re:
This is the first time I’ve come across this particular interpretation of “dipshit”, but I’m not inclined to agree with it based only on that.
How many more do you need? What's the threshold?
The message you send is important; the choice of words you use to send that message is important, too. Just ask the third president to be impeached in the history of the United States.
And that's the world we live in. I have no problem with civility. I just don't feel that its worth wasting it on those who would clearly not reciprocate.
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A broader consensus — i.e., more than a handful of people saying “dipshit” is a slur — would change my mind on the matter. And I said nothing of civility; you can still insult people without having to use slurs of any kind.
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Re:
And I said nothing of civility; you can still insult people without having to use slurs of any kind.
Fair enough - I concede to your point. While you've convinced me, there's a lot of posters on the site who use words like:
blind
crazy
cretin
deformed
delusional
derp
differntly abled
dim
dumb
freak
handicapped
hysterical
imbecile
incapacitated
idiot
insane
invalid
lame
losing ones mind
lunatic
mad
maniac
moron
patient (!!!)
psychotic
stupid
Since you seem to know what's what as far as which ableist slurs are go/no-go, I'd appreciate you help moderate comments in addition to mine that use the words above.
We've got to get behind those with disabilities and stop this offensive language once and for all! Consider me converted.
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If you’ll notice, I’ve never once said “you must stop saying [x] or else”. And I’ll cop to using a handful of terms on that list — notably, “blind” when describing an unquestioning type of loyalty.
My whole point has been about personal consideration. (The fact that those two words can be initialized as “PC” is intentional.) Changing the language we use on a daily basis isn’t terribly hard in the long term, but getting started on that road is a bit of a pain in the ass. Catching yourself before you say something ignorant presents a lot of challenges in a day and age where lots of language that nobody questioned in the past may seem “off limits” today (e.g., practically your entire list of words). But the point of using personally considerate language is that you’re thinking of others. You’re trying to change the way you talk out of compassion for others rather than wholly self-serving interests. Political correctness, on the other hand, is all about changing how you talk entirely for self-serving interests (e.g., to keep your ass out of a PR inferno). And yes, there is a difference between the two.
I’m not claiming to be perfect; nobody walks on water, not even the goddamned Pope. Alls I am is a work in progress: I’m trying to be a little better today than I was the day before. A small part of that is consciously trying to choose better language for expressing ideas, even if it limits my overall vocabulary. Another part of that is trying to help others do the same without judging them for their past use of “offensive” language or ordering them to use personally considerate language. Again: Not claiming I’m perfect at either or both of those, but I’m trying to be a little better about it each day.
The whole reason for talking about ableist language is to help us examine our unconscious biases. In doing so, we can come to understand how such language shapes the way we view our society and how it works. (“Hysterical”, for example, has long been used by men to dismiss the concerns of women — up to and including accusations of sexual assault.) We improve as a society when we examine, and do our best to downplay or rid ourselves of, such biases and the ways we reinforce them. It ain’t easy, sure. But nothing worth doing ever is.
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Re:
The AC does have a point. Every time some gang of bigots start using a word that word gains a toxic implication and becomes a slur.
Picture the words "Niger" - latin for "black", as well as "Fagot" from old french - and what those two originally inoffensive words became with minor adjustments.
Similarly the word "hysteria" has taken a looping road between being a misogynist descriptor to being a universally applied synonym for "panic", and then back again.
"In doing so, we can come to understand how such language shapes the way we view our society and how it works."
And, depending on which subgroup of society we talk to, how "word X" is defined and utilized in that particular setting.
I once listened to a black comedian doing a standup with no visuals. I thought i was listening to some white trash dissing black people. When I actually watched the show, seeing who was doing the blackup, it was suddenly just funny. I took away several good lessons for that, as well as a tangential new-found appreciation for how Poe's Law works in reality.
In one of your earlier comments on this thread;
"No, it isn’t. My point is that the word “retard”, in the context that makes it an ableist slur, is offensive. Replacing it with a slur against another group (e.g., a racial slur) proves as much."
If the replacement makes contextual sense then that is true enough - like replacing an acceptable wording with the less acceptable synonym. Bigots usually try to get away with wrapping a toxic message that way.
In the example you posited, however, we can't really replace the word "retard" with "black", for instance, if we're talking about an assorted group of less intelligent school children doing dumb shit, some of whom will, statistically, be white or asian.
I think a shorter way for you to bring the message across is simple - if the word in question defines as a condition over which the afflicted has no power then that word probably shouldn't be used in derogatory fashion.
And that rule STILL leaves us with gems like idiot, dickbag, moron, fraud, scumsucker (and saprophyte), douche, shitweasel, coprophage, asshole, asshat, dickhead, a number of animal/insect comparisons and plain old fuck or fart to use when we need to talk about the general gist of any given shit-for-brains.
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Re:
"Under the Rule of Goats, there isn’t a distinction."
Which makes it all the sadder. We've basically got someone trolling who says "I can look EXACTLY like a total idiot and I think that's funn-nee! Tee Hee!!" As if being able to write enough dickbaggery to make people react is a joke on anyone other than himself.
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On this, we can agree. 👍
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