Laken Riley’s mother blasts Biden as ‘pathetic’ for getting daughter’s name wrong during SOTU

[DaleCooper]

I've replayed this over ten times and I only hear "green needle" or "brain needle." How is it that so many video commenters hear "storm" instead of "needle"? Are they joking? The words "green" and "brain" sound similar enough and both can be heard clearly in the video, but "storm" doesn't appear anywhere in the clip, does it?

I can't hear needle at all. Sounds like storm to me.

[Ferguson97]

Biden didn't kill her daughter, but the chances that Laken Riley would be alive today if we were doing what Trump did at the border would be lesser.  Significantly lesser.  Whatever you think about Trump, I think that's as plain as day.  And I will say that the lack of empathy for Laken Riley's mother simply because her situation is politically inconvenient for the majority here is actually rather sad. 

If you want to go down that route, then you'll have to accept that every single Republican who votes against gun control legislation is just as responsible for every gun death that happens thereafter.

[DaleCooper]

And as for the name, I've said elsewhere that Laken and Lincoln sound very similar to the point of being almost indistinguishable depending on who is saying it. I said it aloud assuming it was pronounced "Lay-ken" and it sounds like Lincoln from my voice.

[Mr. Ukucasha]

I've replayed this over ten times and I only hear "green needle" or "brain needle." How is it that so many video commenters hear "storm" instead of "needle"? Are they joking? The words "green" and "brain" sound similar enough and both can be heard clearly in the video, but "storm" doesn't appear anywhere in the clip, does it?

I can't hear needle at all. Sounds like storm to me.

Lol are you all just pranking me right now? I've been replaying this continuously for the past 10 minutes now and still do not hear anything even remotely close to the word "storm". Wtf?

[Ferguson97]

Lol are you all just pranking me right now? I've been replaying this continuously for the past 10 minutes now and still do not hear anything even remotely close to the word "storm". Wtf?

The toy's line was recorded as "Brainstorm", it's a Ben 10 toy, and the alien's name is Brainstorm.

[DaleCooper]

I've replayed this over ten times and I only hear "green needle" or "brain needle." How is it that so many video commenters hear "storm" instead of "needle"? Are they joking? The words "green" and "brain" sound similar enough and both can be heard clearly in the video, but "storm" doesn't appear anywhere in the clip, does it?

I can't hear needle at all. Sounds like storm to me.

Lol are you all just pranking me right now? I've been replaying this continuously for the past 10 minutes now and still do not hear anything even remotely close to the word "storm". Wtf?

I'm in the opposite situation. I can't even hear how someone might interpret the word as needle.

[emailking]

I've replayed this over ten times and I only hear "green needle" or "brain needle."

I can hear brain storm, brain needle, green needle. Just have to focus on it and I can hear that. It's the same as Laurel vs. Yanny. Both sounds are there are at different pitches and some people can't hear low/high pitch as easily so one dominates.

[DrScholl]

If anyone is to blame it is Trump

https://www.newsweek.com/ex-trump-aide-casts-blame-donald-trump-laken-riley-death-1873437

Delgado continued by sharing in a series of posts on X that the DED program, which Trump signed in January 2021 and offers temporary legal status to Venezuelans fleeing the humanitarian crisis brought on by Nicolás Maduro's regime, made it "enticing" for Venezuelans to make their way to the U.S.

"You see, on his way out the door in January 2021, one of the last things Trump did was carve out a special category for Venezuelans, same as Cubans...The point is, it was TRUMP who signed an order basically making it HUGELY enticing for Venezuelans to make their way to America [often via the southern border]. A year later, this guy came in," Delgado added.

[Ferguson97]

I'm in the opposite situation. I can't even hear how someone might interpret the word as needle.

The trick is that you're supposed to think of one of the options right before the audio plays. If you're thinking of "green needle", you'll hear green needle. If you're thinking of "brain storm", you'll hear brain storm.

[Mr. Ukucasha]

I've replayed this over ten times and I only hear "green needle" or "brain needle." How is it that so many video commenters hear "storm" instead of "needle"? Are they joking? The words "green" and "brain" sound similar enough and both can be heard clearly in the video, but "storm" doesn't appear anywhere in the clip, does it?

I can't hear needle at all. Sounds like storm to me.

Lol are you all just pranking me right now? I've been replaying this continuously for the past 10 minutes now and still do not hear anything even remotely close to the word "storm". Wtf?

I'm in the opposite situation. I can't even hear how someone might interpret the word as needle.

The trick is that you're supposed to think of one of the options right before the audio plays. If you're thinking of "green needle", you'll hear green needle. If you're thinking of "brain storm", you'll hear brain storm.

Trust me, I've been trying this. I've been aggressively thinking of the word "brainstorm" for the past 5 minutes now and still have not come anywhere even close to hearing the word "storm" yet. And apparently the toy actually says "storm"!? Am I going insane?

[Fuzzy Bear]

It sounded like Laken to me. /shrug/ But "Laken" and "Lincoln" are close enough that someone could hear whatever they want to hear.

Take for example, this kid's toy. Does it say "brain storm" or "green needle"?

And look, I'm not going to hold the angry words of a grieving mother against her, but I will express my contempt for the Republicans who are weaponizing her grief for political ends. It's revolting.

He botched the name, in part, because he went off script, and because "Lincoln Riley" is a prominent FBS Football Coach, so I cut him a little bit of slack there.

I've seen a lot of conservatives mention this, which is really interesting to me. College football (and college sports in general) is more of a Republican interest than a Democratic interest. I would be really surprised if Biden knew who Lincoln Riley was. I didn't even know who he was until I saw them talking about it.

Laken Riley's chances of being murdered went up exponentially because of Joe Biden's border policies and administration.  That's relevant.  Had he simply enforced existing laws, continued the "Remain in Mexico" policy of Trump, Laken Riley would likely be alive.  Mrs. Riley certainly knows this, and while she's probably a Republican anyway, and Biden, if he were a man with some humility, would have called the family up, promised justice, and actually heard Mrs. Riley out and at least actively listened to her.

I don't think it's a big deal that he mispronounced her name; it's not a common name, and "Laken does sound a bit like "Lincoln" which everyone knows.  But Biden doesn't care about Laken Riley's family; if he did, he would have been proactive.  If he wanted to reach out, but was dissuaded by his "staff", that's even worse.  Her family deserved no less attention from the President than George Floyd's family, but Laken Riley's death is an inconvenience to Biden and his allies, so . . .

[DaleCooper]

This feels a bit rude to say given the circumstances, but Laken is a very odd and uncomfortable name to pronounce in my opinion. Saying it aloud feels like I'm mispronouncing a real word. I'm not saying it's a bad name, I'm just saying it's very strange and unique, and it doesn't seem to roll off the tongue when put into a sentence. This is the trade-off for having a weird name, not everybody says it right.

[DaleCooper]

I'm in the opposite situation. I can't even hear how someone might interpret the word as needle.

The trick is that you're supposed to think of one of the options right before the audio plays. If you're thinking of "green needle", you'll hear green needle. If you're thinking of "brain storm", you'll hear brain storm.

Can't do it. My hearing is probably too shot to hear whatever pitch makes it sound like needle.

[emailking]

Trust me, I've been trying this. I've been aggressively thinking of the word "brainstorm" for the past 5 minutes now and still have not come anywhere even close to hearing the word "storm" yet. And apparently the toy actually says "storm"!? Am I going insane?

Play around with the volume. Also set it to play like a minute from now if you can while you do something else and forget about it, and then when it plays you might  hear it the other way.

[Fuzzy Bear]

This feels a bit rude to say given the circumstances, but Laken is a very odd and uncomfortable name to pronounce in my opinion. Saying it aloud feels like I'm mispronouncing a real word. I'm not saying it's a bad name, I'm just saying it's very strange and unique, and it doesn't seem to roll off the tongue when put into a sentence. This is the trade-off for having a weird name, not everybody says it right.

I understand that, and I also understand that lots of people (including prominent people) don't always know what to say when someone dies.  

Mrs. Riley is likely upset because the SOTU revealed that Laken Riley's death wasn't even on Biden's mind.  She's entitled to be.  

[DaleCooper]

This feels a bit rude to say given the circumstances, but Laken is a very odd and uncomfortable name to pronounce in my opinion. Saying it aloud feels like I'm mispronouncing a real word. I'm not saying it's a bad name, I'm just saying it's very strange and unique, and it doesn't seem to roll off the tongue when put into a sentence. This is the trade-off for having a weird name, not everybody says it right.

I understand that, and I also understand that lots of people (including prominent people) don't always know what to say when someone dies.  

Mrs. Riley is likely upset because the SOTU revealed that Laken Riley's death wasn't even on Biden's mind.  She's entitled to be.  

He knew her name and said it at the state of the union, so clearly it was on his mind to some extent. I don't buy that he thought her name was Lincoln Riley, that's just how it comes out from that flat American accent. The fact that this is what we're pretending to care about today is proof to me that the right has no response to Biden's speech.

[Fuzzy Bear]

This feels a bit rude to say given the circumstances, but Laken is a very odd and uncomfortable name to pronounce in my opinion. Saying it aloud feels like I'm mispronouncing a real word. I'm not saying it's a bad name, I'm just saying it's very strange and unique, and it doesn't seem to roll off the tongue when put into a sentence. This is the trade-off for having a weird name, not everybody says it right.

She wasn't in the script; he was ad libbing responding to MTG, causing his staff to bite their fingernails down to the nub.
I understand that, and I also understand that lots of people (including prominent people) don't always know what to say when someone dies.  

Mrs. Riley is likely upset because the SOTU revealed that Laken Riley's death wasn't even on Biden's mind.  She's entitled to be.  

He knew her name and said it at the state of the union, so clearly it was on his mind to some extent. I don't buy that he thought her name was Lincoln Riley, that's just how it comes out from that flat American accent. The fact that this is what we're pretending to care about today is proof to me that the right has no response to Biden's speech.

[South Dakota Democrat]

Where is her anger with MTG for interrupting him when he was trying to say her name?

She's probably fine with that.  Biden's actual policies at the border are the reason her daughter is dead.  She knows that and was probably glad that MTG called him out.

He botched the name, in part, because he went off script, and because "Lincoln Riley" is a prominent FBS Football Coach, so I cut him a little bit of slack there.  But then he went off script, and then he called her killer an "illegal" and began to hint that there were lots of "illegals".  That, for me, was the high point of the night; to see MTG absolutely OWN Biden.  If he were in control of his emotions, Biden could have stuck it back to MTG and owned her in the exchange, but he let his anger get to him and he couldn't differentiate MTG from Cornpop and he began to say stupid things.  Not that I minded him calling these illegal aliens "illegals".  No person is illegal; I'll agree with that, but these people are illegally here.  And a lot of these people have criminal lifestyles.  (Venezuela is emptying its prisons and mental institutions and we don't have an agreement that they will take back the people we deport from there.)  But it was comic relief to see the worst people in America all offended and prepared to lecture Biden and the rest of us on decorum.  

As for Laken Riley's mother:  Just who is anyone here to criticize who she gets angry with.  She's not a political figure, and she didn't ask for her daughter to be a subject of the SOTU at the way it came out.  But her daughter JUST DIED and she was murdered by a sadistic killer who wouldn't be in the US if Biden had been enforcing the laws.  If she decides to speak at Trump rallies or the Republican National Convention, then she's opened herself up to fair critical feedback, but we're not there yet.

You're aware that illegal immigrants commit crimes at much lower rates than American citizens, right?

[Landslide Lyndon]

If anyone is to blame it is Trump

https://www.newsweek.com/ex-trump-aide-casts-blame-donald-trump-laken-riley-death-1873437

Delgado continued by sharing in a series of posts on X that the DED program, which Trump signed in January 2021 and offers temporary legal status to Venezuelans fleeing the humanitarian crisis brought on by Nicolás Maduro's regime, made it "enticing" for Venezuelans to make their way to the U.S.

"You see, on his way out the door in January 2021, one of the last things Trump did was carve out a special category for Venezuelans, same as Cubans...The point is, it was TRUMP who signed an order basically making it HUGELY enticing for Venezuelans to make their way to America [often via the southern border]. A year later, this guy came in," Delgado added.

And of course fuzzy totally ignores this post which debunks his inane theory and continues to parrot the latest Fox News talking points.

[7,052,770]

There have been lots of undocumented immigrants coming and staying here under every president. The idea that this particular killer could have only come under during Biden's presidency and his particular set of policies is unprovable speculation.

[Fuzzy Bear]

There have been lots of undocumented immigrants coming and staying here under every president. The idea that this particular killer could have only come under during Biden's presidency and his particular set of policies is unprovable speculation.

That is certainly true.  But the large number of Venezuelan gang members coming in is all Biden, and it is a function of Maduro taking advantage of lax border enforcement by Biden to empty his jails.

The sheer amount of increase in illegal entries compared to even the Obama years, let alone the Trump years, give the Riley family a valid grievance.  Their lack of enforcement of existing laws and the verbal defense of illegal aliens by Biden and by the Democratic Party in general increase the validity of the grievance; they verbally express more outrage over Biden using the term "illegal alien" than over the fact that a person illegally here committed a brutal and senseless murder, the act of which, under initial examination, appears to be the act of someone that Venezuelan authorities well knew of the danger he posed.

[SWE]

It would be very surprising to me if a 22 year old grad student wouldn't consider it an insult to her memory that she's become a rallying cry for Nazis

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I'm not ripping on a grieving mother whose daughter was recently murdered. 

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Where is her anger with MTG for interrupting him when he was trying to say her name?

She's probably fine with that.  Biden's actual policies at the border are the reason her daughter is dead.  She knows that and was probably glad that MTG called him out.

He botched the name, in part, because he went off script, and because "Lincoln Riley" is a prominent FBS Football Coach, so I cut him a little bit of slack there.  But then he went off script, and then he called her killer an "illegal" and began to hint that there were lots of "illegals".  That, for me, was the high point of the night; to see MTG absolutely OWN Biden.  If he were in control of his emotions, Biden could have stuck it back to MTG and owned her in the exchange, but he let his anger get to him and he couldn't differentiate MTG from Cornpop and he began to say stupid things.  Not that I minded him calling these illegal aliens "illegals".  No person is illegal; I'll agree with that, but these people are illegally here.  And a lot of these people have criminal lifestyles.  (Venezuela is emptying its prisons and mental institutions and we don't have an agreement that they will take back the people we deport from there.)  But it was comic relief to see the worst people in America all offended and prepared to lecture Biden and the rest of us on decorum.  

As for Laken Riley's mother:  Just who is anyone here to criticize who she gets angry with.  She's not a political figure, and she didn't ask for her daughter to be a subject of the SOTU at the way it came out.  But her daughter JUST DIED and she was murdered by a sadistic killer who wouldn't be in the US if Biden had been enforcing the laws.  If she decides to speak at Trump rallies or the Republican National Convention, then she's opened herself up to fair critical feedback, but we're not there yet.

Setting aside everything else wrong in this post, when you agree to come to the State of the Union, you become a political figure in the context of whatever happens there.  That’s part of the deal, for better or worse.  You want privacy or don’t want to be criticized for dumb things you say?  Don’t accept the invitation.  Otherwise, I have no sympathy on that front.  And the idea that Biden’s policies killed her kid is so wildly out of touch with reality that it doesn’t pass the laugh test.

So are you going to let the Forum know that I was fully justified in criticizing Khazir Khan's speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2016?  I took flak from the worst of the Forum over that, and that was a guy who DID deliberately make a speech at the Democratic National Convention.  He didn't get drawn into it; he made a public political speech and it was planned.  You could at least apply your principle to my criticism of the content of Mr. Khan's speech and point out that criticism of Khan's speech is fair game, and the reader can decide whether it's valid or not.

Biden didn't kill her daughter, but the chances that Laken Riley would be alive today if we were doing what Trump did at the border would be lesser.  Significantly lesser.  Whatever you think about Trump, I think that's as plain as day.  And I will say that the lack of empathy for Laken Riley's mother simply because her situation is politically inconvenient for the majority here is actually rather sad.  

First, typo jokes aside, the idea that Laken Reily would be more likely to still be alive under Trump’s immigration policies is little more than a self-evidently absurd partisan Republican fantasy.  There’s simply no other way to describe it.  Wake me when Trump isn’t aggressively working to kill serious immigration legislation that includes tougher border security measures than anything Trump did.  Trump’s immigration policy was far more deliberately cruel and proactively sadistic than Biden’s, but being aggressively inhumane at every opportunity is very different than being tough or strong.  That you seem to be conflating calculated barbarism with strength is troubling, to say the least.  With all due respect, it might be worth you praying for guidance and insight into what Jesus would have to say about that. 

I think criticizing Khazir Khan’s DNC speech was absolutely fair game for criticism; that isn’t the gotcha you think it is.  My issue with that isn’t that Republicans criticized his speech or that he somehow wasn’t a public figure.  It’s that the criticism I heard from Republicans was generally some combination of Islamophobic, misogynistic (some of the stuff they said about Khan’s wife was absolutely vile), or simply wildly at odds with objective reality.  I also found Trump’s claims that he’s sacrificed as much or more for America by being a [failed] businessman than Gold Star parents pretty despicable, especially given Trump’s infamous and well-documented contempt for members of the armed forces in general and those who died in combat in particular.  I don’t remember what your criticisms were, so I can’t comment on them, but I will say I can’t remember a single Republican attack on Khazir Khan that wasn’t vile in terms of its content.  They were fair game for criticism, but so is the criticism itself.

Of course, this is all kinda beside the point since Biden did not mispronounce the name and you - whether consciously or unconsciously - are pretty clearly choosing to hear what you desperately want to hear.

[Beet]

Biden's SOTU and this outburst has for the first time convinced me that he might actually win this thing. The public will see this as a pitiful but emotional woman lashing out at a well meaning old man who couldn't handle the fact that she gave her daughter a name that is weird. A simple statement to the effect that she's "glad Biden finally cares about this issue but it's too late for my daughter, who name he didn't pronounce correctly. She would be alive today if Trump was president" Yada Yada would have been far more effective.