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I just want to step back and appreciate the absurdity that, regardless of the cause, voters have absolutely no way to even initiate a replacement process for a senator that has failed to even show up in public (let alone do his job) for a month.
Yes, and McConnell's not the only one. Thomas Kean, a Republican representative for NJ, just came back after four months of total silence about where he was or why he was gone, for example.
We're only hearing from McConnell now because if he had not done something to end the speculation about whether he was even alive, Gov. Beshear would have called a special election to fill his seat out from under him.
What REALLY grinds my gears, though, is that the ones doing it are Republicans, the ones repeatedly voting against those same protections for any one of us that might also have cause to be absent from work: they vote against universal healthcare, they vote against minimum paid leave, they vote against the entire social safety net at every chance they get.
The bastard smiling in that bed might as well be holding a piece of paper in his hand that says fuck you I got mine because that's exactly what it's a picture of.
Imagine not going into work for a month, no call no show for a month, and still having a job, and getting paid for that month while you were MIA.
In the days of AI I'm not sure a photo counts. How about a live interview?
I think that's a very fair question, not least because of all the Republicans swearing they had twenty minute conversations with him by phone in the last few days.
If he can talk on the phone that long, then how is it that we only have one posed still photograph?
He still slurring his words from a stroke?
That's my bet or trying to hide cognitive issues
Photos mean precisely fuck-all in today's world, unfortunately.
Agreed I honestly think it might be AI there's something weird about it to me but I don't wanna say it too loud. I'll wait until he's on video, alive. Until then I believe he'll be dead by August 5th
I wouldn't call this proof of life.
Inasmuch as this is only a single still, posed photo that was released along with a written statement via McConnell's Senate web page I wouldn't put too much stock in it.
Beyond the word of a handful of Republicans that say they have talked "with" him, McConnell still has not verifiably actually spoken to or with anyone since his hospitalization in mid-June.
I'm going to need to see him tumble down a flight of stairs for proof.
If there was ever a time to use AI to cover the truth, it would be now.
one of his colleagues, the Democratic senator Cory Booker, offered his “thoughts and prayers” to the former Republican majority leader, but added: “This is just unfortunately an issue of politics in general: people don’t know when to gracefully step aside.”
Fucking lol. It's been time for the vast majority of Congress to step aside and let actual representatives of the people take power. That goes double for most Democrats, who put up more of a fight against the "radical left extremists" then they do against literal fucking fascists and genocidal Nazis tearing this country apart. I'm frankly surprised Booker managed to get Netanyahu's cock out of his mouth long enough to give such a lengthy statement.
"alive"
I looked into the timeline and there are still some unanswered questions. McConnell was hospitalized after his fall on June 14, 2026. Elaine Chao reportedly left for China on June 17, 2026, and the “proof of life” photo with her was posted on July 12, 2026.
when was that photo actually taken? The original photo file and metadata haven’t been released, so nobody outside his team can verify the date or time it was taken.
It seems weird in this time when short videos and call-ins to news shows are common ways for legislators to communicate to release a hostage picture instead.
"Hi this is Mitch McConnell and I just want to thank everyone for their well wishes and express my sadness at the passing of Lindsay Graham [or some other recent event]."
Why do the least proof possible in the weirdest way possible unless you really don't want to be speaking on video?
If he had a stroke and can't talk I think that also might trigger a special election. Who knows though, I'm leaning towards ai. There's no way he looks like that right now
A fall huh? No cardiac arrest? No CPR? Fuck off already, we know he’s dead.
Look at the headline text. It's gibberish.
Compare the text to the level of detail on the player's face. Compare it to the level of clarity of the lines on his shirt.
The third line of text on the headline is the worst. Not even close to the correct words.
The corner of the player photo is curved too. Since when do news papers print that way? That's also suspicious, but not a definitive tell.
There are four lines of text in the headline: One word, two words, three words, one word. That's reflected perfectly accurately in the McConnell photo. You can even see the hypen-capital-C in "-Czech."
Digital cameras fib about their pixel counts, and they cannot, by nature, resolve anything accurately at the level of individual output pixels. The photo from the paper looks better because it's in color, and the output of digital imaging sensors gets up-scaled in color, under the assumption that the image they're resolving is in color.
We've entered an age where it's not remotely crazy to be skeptical about the provenance of images like this, I can't blame you for your suspicion. But I don't think it's fake.
I think you should learn how phone cameras work
The words in the headline have the right outline and position. The paper looks exactly as pixelated as his shirt. The corner of the photo looks diagonal because that's where the paper is folded. I don't see evidence of fakery in any of these things.
There could be AI face replacement going on but there's no evidence for that either. The photo is not a great way to prove life when the Internet's full of high quality fake images and videos, but it doesn't look especially suspicious either.
Upvoted. I'm not sure I agree with you yet because of the perfect plaid in his shirt and the lack of obvious fault in the pixelization throughout, but I absolutely respect the receipts you brought.
Also, his wife is smiling. I'm not absolutely sure it's because he's alive, but okay.
There's a lot of very small details that AI would have messed up. Like the background stuff in the picture seems to match okay. But AI is getting better, or they could have had a good photoshop expert. The lettering is due to the camera resolution, I don't see anything off in word placement or length anywhere.
If it's fake, then they'll flub up soon enough somewhere else in continuing it.
If he was dead, what they would do is get someone else in a photo like this and edit the head with AI to that of Mitch McConnell. The rest of the photo can be genuine and exhibit no signs of AI editing, and AI could probably simulate just his face realistically enough to be believable.
On that note, one of the most unbelievable things is that he's smiling, which he truly does not do.
So I would guess 1 of 2 things: either that is not Mitch McConnell we are seeing, or that is him and he is suffering some pretty severe brain damage.
As much as I want to jump on the "he's dead" bandwagon, I am more inclined to believe the latter just because it seems more believable and that's the impression I get from this photo. Just the expression on his face and how meekly he is holding the newspaper there lead me to think that he's really not all there anymore. But the Republicans wouldn't want that bit of information to come to light either, as he would still be considered "incapacitated" and unfit for office, so they probably still want to keep anyone from speaking with him. The longer they can keep up the charade, they can just have someone else essentially vote for him like the Dems did for Dianne Feinstein before she died.
Physical newspapers use shitty font/dpi, part of why it's huge.
It's weird he's grasping like that, but that's the important bit. It's an instinctual grasping response even infants have, and people only grab everything in reach when their higher facilities are compromised.
For the last year he's been freezing in public, long before this "fall", his brain is shutting down and accumulating damage
Then meet with the Kentucky governor
@BioDriver @ChunkMcHorkle Still no proof. It looks like an old picture and about 7 years ago I said all it takes is a photochopped picture for magas to believe anything and that's been ongoing.
In a word? Bullshit.
McConnell held a copy of Sunday’s Washington Post sports section in his hand
I can barely see anything at all...
It's AI/shopped. Who the fuck holds up a newspaper to prove they're alive?
I have NO evidence for my claim, but I won't believe anything without multiple angles; a photo isn't proof of anything any longer to me.
p.s. I think government AI manipulation is probably 10 years or so ahead of civilian capabilities.
Holding up a newspaper is standard “this photo is from today” sort of stuff.
What the fuck was his wife doing in China meeting with the top CCCP leaders?
World would be a better place if he died
So he uses the "I'm old" card to assuage fears that he is too old to do the job. Hope he learns how many people want him dead before he croaks
It's a good thing lindsey graham died, or else the collective disappointment over this fucker living would've sent the U.S. into open revolt
...shit
Yeah, I don't believe he is well. At his age, a fall and CPR aren't going to let him live that much longer if the news reports are correct.
Then again, in a fascist country, we can't trust the news, so who the hell knows.
Mitch is no different from most workers. Even he wants to stay quiet and keep those paycheques coming before he has to go on leave or disability. The only thing is, he voted against that shit for others.
