Someone posted what they claim is an original on X but it’s a poolside pic, not a hospital pic.

Xcancel link.

Yeah, I agree with you. In the age of moving pictures when almost everyone has a video camera and mic in their pocket, why are we being forced to rely on a single posed photograph that can’t talk?

This is the best one I’ve seen yet. It has the correct players.

No idea, and you’re right: more questions are raised than answered, IMO. The photo was released along with a written statement via McConnell’s Senate web page.

Or, you know, McConnell himself could readily put all the whispers to rest.

It’s not like reporters have never interviewed someone in a hospital before, and if he really did talk with all those Republicans that swear he did in the last few days, twenty minutes at a time apparently, then he should have enough stamina to issue a few words to the public personally. If he can sit in a chair, he can sit in a wheelchair.

This is not live. It is a still, posed photograph issued by McConnell’s office along with a written press release, which would have been fine in say 1876, but technology has moved forward. Why the leap backward?

When a sitting Senator who is facing the possibility of a special election because everyone, including his own state’s governor, thinks his seat is probably vacant, I don’t think it’s too much to ask that he say a few words to his constituents, LIVE, in a publicly verifiable manner.

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.

This still, posed photograph was released along with a written statement via McConnell’s Senate web page. Keep in mind that beyond the word of a handful of Republicans that say they talked “with” him, Mitch still has not verifiably actually spoken to or with anyone since his hospitalization.

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.

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?

Oh god I think I just snagged a toenail on that edge.

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Good comment. To support your theory of injury to the brain, look carefully at the photo. (If you’re on desktop you can click on it to get a better view.) In my own layman’s opinion, his pupils do not seem to be well aligned, and there may be some ptosis that the direction of his gaze is minimizing.

They could be aligned and I’m just looking at it wrong, but a direct facing look would have gone a lot further to prove sentience, IMO.

I definitely respect your need for proof, especially in this situation: I think we could all do with more than a simple photograph when it comes to a lying liar who lies facing a governor who is itching to call a special election to replace him if he doesn’t issue some kind of proof of life right now.

However, the WaPo page itself is probably legit. The article directly links to a fairly hi-res image of that page on the WaPo site. Paragraph 5:

The statement included a smiling picture of McConnell with his wife, Elaine Chao, a tacit response to speculation online that he had died or was incapacitated. McConnell held a copy of Sunday’s Washington Post sports section in his hand.

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.

I dunno. The timing is kinda sus, Lindsey leaving and Mitch coming back at the same time.

Hmmm.

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Your work is beautiful. I’d heard of Pixelfed of course but never actually seen it before, and it’s blowing me away. I’m looking at the explore page right now:

https://pixelfed.social/web/explore

I’m a fan of landscape and nature photography anyway, and I absolutely love this. I crave beauty in these times, and there is plenty of it there. Many thanks.

That comment describing the family’s action as fraud was attributed to prosecutors so there’s already government interest there. Also,

“The signing of this agreement does not rule out the possibility that the worker may pursue individual claims through the courts,” the statement added.

It sounds like the apartment/$10k is only the start of payback, and “Maria” has been with them since 1971. May that payback be a bitch.

This case of severe human-rights violations came to light thanks to an anonymous tip

I was wondering the same thing. It’s easy to miss as the article is a bit long, but it’s 3rd para from the end.

“First dibs on the peen!” – RFK, probably

You did mention roadkill . . .