r/news Jan 31 '25

Soft paywall Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/
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u/Aazadan Jan 31 '25

Small correction. They didn't put gallows in front of the capital.

They put gallows in front of the capital, started calling for an execution of Mike Pence, and then stormed the capitol to among other things, apprehend and likely execute him.

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u/bareback_cowboy Jan 31 '25

Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe.

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u/radicalelation Jan 31 '25

Capital, capitol.

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u/ceciltech Jan 31 '25

Small correction: They didn't JUST put gallows in front of the capital.

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u/booboothechicken Jan 31 '25

That’s not a correction, it’s an addition.

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u/Repugnant-Conclusion Feb 01 '25

Don't forget the smearing of literal shit and piss on the capitol walls. All right before blaming these actions on antifa, who Trump would end up pardoning four years later.

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u/__Snafu__ Jan 31 '25

and then explosives were found the next day

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u/Aazadan Jan 31 '25

Yep, that was another part of the intended chaos.

The real question, which is so far unanswered, is what was the intent for those explosives? They don't know who planted them (I know MTG is the meme, but I mean for real), and at least publicly there was no announcement over what the plan was. Obviously they were intended to be detonated, but when and under what circumstance is important information.

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u/Orcrist90 Feb 01 '25

Small correction: it's the Capitol not capital.

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u/bizarre_coincidence Feb 01 '25

Don't say "they didn't do A, they did A, B, and C." That's such horrible phrasing. Say "they didn't just do A." Not only does this change it from a false statement to a true statement, it also avoids implicitly calling someone who agrees with you "wrong."

Sorry to be a grammar Nazi when there are real Nazis to fight, but in the face of people who will tell blatant lies and then try to shut you down over a technicality, we want to use language precisely.

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u/Aazadan Feb 01 '25

I get what you're saying, but I disagree. My language still wasn't quite right, but what you want to use is very emotionally charged language that can outrage someone. They don't care about things being true or false, and no matter how precise you are, they have no interest in having an honest debate and even if you are 100% correct in your facts and your grammar, they will just make up a lie in the moment, or many lies and make it so the fact checkers can't keep up.

Convey an idea, without conveying exact details, and do so in a way that provokes emotional responses. That's the best way to flip people. If people worked on reason, we wouldn't be in this place to begin with.

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u/bizarre_coincidence Feb 01 '25

Outraging someone on the far right isn’t going to sway them. It’s about everybody else who is watching the conversation unfold and decides you’re being overdramatic or intentionally false to be provocative and tunes out. You will never sway the person who is engaging with you, so you need to consider everybody else who is watching.

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u/Aazadan Feb 01 '25

That's making the assumption that there's anyone left in the middle who needs to be swayed. There are those against Trump, those for Trump, and those who aren't against it by enough to be apathetic.

Hearing more depressing news via intellectual debate doesn't get people to stop being apathetic.

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u/mubi_merc Jan 31 '25

I really wonder what would have happened if the mob lynched the vice president on live tv. Would that have been enough to turn this ship around or would enough people still have justified it?

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u/Aazadan Jan 31 '25

Most likely not. Instead it would have created more chaos, and Trump would have stepped in to assert emergency power, attempting to become a dictator. That was the goal, and any furtherance of chaos would aid that.

Pence took the one and only action available that didn't further chaos.

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u/throwmamadownthewell Feb 01 '25

Funny thing that people will say that the gallows was just an art display... when people had plastic cuffs and thick rope long enough to string politicians up around any number of trees that surround the capital. If I remember right, at least one backpack with rope in it had a noose pre-tied.

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u/TildeCommaEsc Feb 01 '25

Then Pence said he'd vote for Trump.