Why is everyone so mean?? US Politics: September 2022

What makes people grudgeful?

I mean, it goes without saying, but all this shit makes Watergate look like a parking ticket

From that vile trash rag, The Hill: Some Republicans drift from Trump as Democrats warm up to Biden

You can talk shit about Biden all day long, but politically, he's no so un-savvy

sorry for using the same curse word in back-to-back posts

Beating Palin, Mary Peltola is first Native Alaskan sent by the state to Congress and rare Democrat to win a special election there https://t.co/REvnJwvNXD

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 1, 2022

Mary Peltola will have to defend the seat in two months, but what a fucking relief that Sarah Palin has been dismissed.

What makes people grudgeful?

The Fall.

Trump - This Nation’s Saving Grace

I like the direction this thread is taking already. Fall references, Palin defeated, dare I hope for more?

What causes a man to start fires?

https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/553198

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E36fLYJt_Yo

This is pretty fucked up, but hopefully overcomes the GOP via the courts

yesterday the MI Board of State Canvassers deadlocked (along partisan lines) on whether an abortion rights amendment to the state constitution could be included on the Nov ballot.

this decision is a slap in the face to democracy & disenfranchises almost a million Michiganders 🧵

— Leah Litman (@LeahLitman) September 1, 2022

someday i'll be
living in a big ol city

What makes people grudgeful?

― frogbs, Thursday, September 1, 2022 12:21 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

"You, alright?! I learned it by watching you!"

check the guy's track record

Our Big new Prinz (of Orange)

Be great if this story didn't just disappear and something actually happened about it
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/09/01/ginni-thomas-wisconsin-bernier-tauchen/

Today, President Biden will warn of the threat to democracy from “MAGA Republicans” and election deniers in a prime-time address outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. Biden’s speech will frame the debate for the midterm elections as Democrats fight to hold on to their majorities in Congress.

Biden will focus on a movement that doesn’t recognize free and fair elections and increasingly talks about violence in response to actions they don’t like, a White House official said in a preview of the speech set to begin at 8 p.m. Former president Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was rigged.

i feel very conflicted about this, lol

and man, out of all the "difficult" speeches to make, and Joe Biden is the one who has to do it. sad lol for america

i am curious if the fascism meter is going to stay at "semi-" or increase to "practically-"

Read that Alito article, sailor.

I'm just glad to see that he's apparently dispensed with all the reaching across the aisle bipartisanship bullshit that 99.9999% of Republicans want no part of.

Most presidents in my lifetime have been mediocre public speakers. JFK and Reagan understood well how to engage an audience. Bill Clinton was a notch below them, with Obama as competent, though a bit stiff. But the deliveries of Eisenhower, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush the First, Bush the Second, Trump and Biden all rate as consistently mannered and awkward, or downright painful to listen to.

yeah it does seem kinda significant coming from a guy who keeps referring to McConnell as his bestie

I don't think McConnell is a real 'MAGA republican'.. He saw Trump as a useful idiot who would sign virtually any bill put in front of him, but he was pretty clear in calling out Biden's clear victory

Not to derail the thread, but Obama quite clearly belongs with Clinton and Reagan as best public speakers.

Definitely with, possibly above imo

not only a great speaker but he has such a good voice too

I don't think McConnell is a real 'MAGA republican'..

He is, however, every bit a fascist. Cocaine Mitch would gleefully punch everyone's ticket for the camps if presented with the opportunity. McConnell's beef with Trump is that he wasn't useful enough, undermining the reactionary agenda by making it so blatant.

Yeah. Franco wasn't Hitler but was every bit a fascist.

No disagreements there... the Merrick Garland snub was the pinnacle of cynicism

They say that he's not even particularly committed to conservative principles.. just clinging to power for power's sake

In this case, they are right.

McConnell's beef with Trump is that he wasn't useful enough

OTM. They got their tax cuts for the rich and their Supreme Court picks, but I'm sure Mitch spent every day grimacing at the idiocy he had to deal with, and upset at how much more chicanery he could have gotten up to if he weren't saddled with such a complete moron.

yeah McConnell despises Trump because Trump's too stupid and temperamental to work with

Clinging to power for power's sake is the ultimate conservative principle.

you gotta hand it to george washington

it was cool to leave

Republican state attorneys general and other leading conservatives are exploring a slew of potential lawsuits targeting President Biden’s plan to cancel some student debt — challenges that could limit or invalidate the policy before it takes full effect.

In recent days, a number of GOP attorneys general from states including Arizona, Missouri and Texas have met privately to discuss a strategy that could see multiple cases filed in different courts around the country, according to a person familiar with their thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the confidential talks.

Other influential conservatives — including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and allies of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — are mulling their own options as they ratchet up criticism of Biden’s debt-relief plan, two additional people familiar with the matter said. And a conservative advocacy group founded by a major Trump donor said it would file a lawsuit against the policy.

“The conservative public interest law firms in our network are exploring filing lawsuits against this. They are doing background legal research, trying to find out who might be the most suitable clients for them,” John Malcolm, director of the Meese Center at the Heritage Foundation, said in an interview. “They have to find a client with the standing and the gumption to take on a lawsuit. There are several groups in our network who are exploring that right now.”

How President Biden decided to go big on student loan forgiveness

All of the sources cautioned that no decisions have been made — and as of Thursday morning, no lawsuits appeared to have been filed. But a legal battle could carry stark financial consequences for millions of student borrowers, who rejoiced last week after Democrats delivered on a long-standing promise to erase some of their debt.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/09/01/republicans-sue-biden-student-debt/

note that last bit - nothing has happened yet. i have no idea how likely any of the various efforts are to succeed. it's not surprising that they're exploring every effort to hurt their own constituents

Judicial Watch exists to file bullshit lawsuits.

crazy how committed the GOP has become to bad politics, the only thing worse than being against something broadly popular that directly helps your voters is trying to take it away once it's been signed into law. and yet they don't have to care because they know which way the deck is stacked.

apparently the issue really is who has standing--as the article mentions--and from what i've read that's going to be the major issue

Ha, they went there

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch-Y_M1vTs2/

lol, the repeated references to alito's love of the guy lombardo band are just perfect. it is a long read for sure, so i'm doing a long listen (87 minutes) instead

You know who else loved Guy Lombardo?

Nixon..

To be fair, the standard he set on "Reign in Blood" is pretty hard to beat.

that was good, the Alito piece. I feel like i understand what a gigantic prick he is now just a little bit more

i recommend this article by michael gerson (which is a "gift" link so it should work regardless of anyone's washington post non-subscription status):

https://wapo.st/3TB9UYT

What brought me to consider these historical matters is a disturbing realization: In both public perception and evident reality, many White, conservative Christians find themselves on the wrong side of the most cutting indictments delivered by Jesus of Nazareth.

Christ’s revolt against the elites could hardly be more different from the one we see today. Conservative evangelicalism has, in many ways, become the kind of religious tradition against which followers of Jesus were initially called to rebel. And because of the pivotal role of conservative Christians in our politics, this irony is a matter of urgency.

Having known evangelicals who live lives of moral integrity and serve others across lines of race and class, I have no intention of pronouncing an indiscriminate indictment. But all conservative Christians must take seriously a sobering development in America’s common life. Many who identify with Jesus most loudly and publicly are doing the most to discredit his cause. The main danger to conservative churches does not come from bad laws — it comes from Christians who don’t understand the distinctives, the demands and the ultimate appeal of their own faith.

This development deserves some woes of its own:

Woe to evangelical hypocrisy. Given the evidence of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, the corruption and sexual scandal at Liberty University, the sex scandal in the Hillsong ministry, the sexual exploitation revealed in Ravi Zacharias’s ministry, and the years of sexual predation at the (Christian) Kanakuk summer camps, Americans increasingly identify the word “evangelical” with pretense, scandal and duplicity. In the case of the SBC, victims (mostly women) were ignored, intimidated, dismissed and demeaned. Many of the most powerful Southern Baptist leaders betrayed the powerless, added cruelty on top of suffering and justified their coverup as essential to Christian evangelism. How can hearts ostensibly transformed by Christ be so impervious to mercy?

Woe to evangelical exclusion. In their overwhelming, uncritical support of Trump and other nationalist Republicans — leaders who could never win elections without evangelical votes — White religious conservatives have joined a political movement defined by an attitude of “us” vs. “them,” and dedicated to the rejection and humiliation of social outsiders and outcasts. From the start, the Trump-led GOP dehumanized migrants as diseased and violent. It attacked Muslims as suspect and dangerous. Even when evangelical Christians refuse to mouth the words of racism, they have allied themselves with the promoters of prejudice and white grievance. How can it be that believers called to radical inclusion are the most hostile to refugees of any group in the United States? How can anyone who serves God’s boundless kingdom of love and generosity ever rally to the political banner “America First”?

And woe, therefore, to Christian nationalism. Evangelicals broadly confuse the Kingdom of God with a Christian America, preserved by thuggish politicians who promise to prefer their version of Christian rights and enforce Christian values. The political calculation of conservative Christians is simple, and simply wrong.

heard Mary Peltola on the PBS News Hour, she seems cool.. I hope she's able to hold the seat in November

Apparently she's heavily pro-salmon, and that's a big deal in Alaska:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/mary-peltola-alaska-sarah-palin-pro-fish-begich.html

Karl, in view of their actions, as opposed to their words, it is impossible not to conclude that large numbers of white evangelicals consider imposing their prejudices and and protecting their privileges to be of far greater importance than any injunctions Christ directly laid upon them in the gospels, either through his words or his example and you cannot shame them into recognizing this.

The poll: Biden approval up, Dems +4 on generic House ballot, 53-43 people approve of Biden student debt plan, 50-41 Trump should be criminally prosecuted over documents. https://t.co/9GiVQaCpSu https://t.co/VQ2fdSq0lT

— Jill Lawrence (@JillDLawrence) August 31, 2022

Further evidence that all people really ask is that you do... something. Anything.

Dems have to be like +20 kn the generic ballot to actually gain a seat though

and you cannot shame them into recognizing this.

i believe this, now, and didn't always, before. i used to think that shame was potentially a language they could understand and be persuaded by, because it's so pervasive throughout the bible

this may have been a mistake

please don't fuck this up biden

most evangelicals would be utterly repelled by Christ were He to return, Him being a jewish socialist, pacifist hippie hanging out with a crew of other wandering hippies

i honestly think you could just pick a rando person to make this argument, and there would be >50% chance of it being more effective than Biden. the u.s. is fully in the postmodern post-reality zone now -- it is more effective to have a normal person say something real, fuckups and all, than it is to have a designated voice of authority deliver a mediocre message. advertisers know this

I love how they try to explain away the collectivism of the early church depicted in the book of Acts.

xp the article is quite good because it makes that very obvious point in a very eloquent way -- the hypocrisy and ignorance of evangelicals, but it also takes the time to suggest that it is also possible that they could read the fucking book they persecute others with, and that it would change the country in a positive way

This is fine re speech. It's not intended for me -- it's for candidates and donors.

It's not after Labor Day, yet, so it's a low risk opportunity to nudge public awareness about bills that passed during the summer when not many voters are paying attention. It'll be OK unless he face plants so badly it gets memified and lasts for weeks.

The Bible's fine, often boring and fun in equal measures, until the letter to the Romans. Cut the rest out between it and Revelations imo.

xp by "for candidates", you mean that it opens up the topic (the whole 35% of the country is openly trying to end democracy thing) for them to campaign on as well? i didn't think of that, and yes, it would be nice to hear other people make this argument

https://songbook1.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/eden-ahbez_feeding-pigeons_life_1948.jpg

'what's up, my fellow christians? shall we breaketh bread with these poor doves?'

Yeah, the Epistles really take the whole narrative down the wrong road.

i like fightin joe. he needed to do this.

the article makes the unsurprising but still very disappointing observation that white evangelicals, more than any other group/category/split in the U.S., are opposed to accepting refugees, and how strange and hypocritical that is.

if even a small amount of them could figure their shit out, or at least stop trying to hurt people all of the time, it would make an enormous difference

This backdrop looks sinister lol pic.twitter.com/RRf5lJfECs

— rt if you think that sounds true! (@lib_crusher) September 2, 2022

Command & Conquer cutscene

KM, you don't remember that part from the Sermon on the Mount?

"And do not open your door to the undocumented, for they need too many handouts; rather, let them be cast into the outer darkness, where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth."

yeah, there are also lots of sirens and protesters in the background too. as usual, with these kinds of things, everyone will see this in the same way that they already did. i don't see this changing much. i don't know anything about donors and what they think or why they do what they do. they have a ton of money -- they probably fucking suck. i do think it's good to open up this topic to other people who can make this argument more persuasively and also not use a command and conquer background

xpost Christianity only works when you pull all the jesus/forgiveness/tolerance bullshit out.. it's all about leviticus and smiting the sinners

Biden’s doing pretty well up there!

I only caught the last few seconds, but that was lit like a scene from The Purge.

Biden: “i know it’s been hard…”
pres camacho interrupts: “and erverybody’s shit is _eeMOtional_.”

I was like hoping he’d do fireside-y vershes of this in march-april, but better late than “whatever?” i guess. Feel like we had a lot of whatever.

Yeah, it was fine. He had COVID cough. But we're not the target audience -- it's made for replay in independent markets. Obama or FDR himself couldn't convince Republicans in 2022 they're sick motherfuckers who should die.

🐦[This backdrop looks sinister lol pic.twitter.com/RRf5lJfECs🕸
— rt if you think that sounds true! (@lib_crusher) September 2, 2022🕸]🐦

Command & Conquer cutscene

democracy

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 2, 2022

Can't believe the Biden people hired the Gravel Teens

awww that's cute

Onion Biden woulda tweeted "Chinese Democracy"...

https://i.imgur.com/lHNOybP.jpg

Too long, too complicated, why is Biden taking my money, you have no response because he is a communist thief.

But we could have built a bomb with that interest

Dropkick Murphys guy making some solid points at a festival in Pennsylvania:

Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys goes on an epic rant against MAGA grifters with no lies detected and the Boston accent is the chefs kiss pic.twitter.com/jrFUFu3K67

— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) September 3, 2022

Didn't he go into the crowd a few years back to kick some MAGA dude's ass? Or am thinking of Mike Ness?

That was Ness. DMs wrote the letter to Scott Walker about how they ‘literally hate you’ when he tried to use one of their songs in 2012 or 2016.

I think it was DMs, too! 2013:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGubnoMqPxM

Near the end of its March 13 show at Terminal 5 in Midtown Manhattan, the veteran Celtic punk band invited fans onstage — as per tradition — to participate in an encore rendition of “Kiss Me I’m Shitfaced.” Fans continued to pour onto the stage as the group transitioned to another classic, the anti-white supremecist ditty “Skinhead on the MBTA,” then a cover of AC/DC’s “TNT.”

That’s when things got a little ugly.

According to several blogs — and caught on video from the scene — a large man with a shaved head began to flash the Nazi salute, with a bent arm shooting straight out from the chest. Founding bassist-singer Ken Casey moved toward the guy, shoved him aside and began a pile-on that ended half a minute later with a torn shirt and one less skinhead onstage.

He took back the microphone and screamed, “Nazis are not f—ing welcome at a Dropkick Murphys show!” and the crowd went wild.

OK, yeah, I was close. Back this past March some neo-Nazi group started using some DM song, and after the cease and desist the DM guy outright gave them a time and place to meet so he could kick their ass:

I’ll be down M Street park on Saturday at 12:30 walking my dogs if you’ll are looking to discuss

— Dropkick Murphys (@DropkickMurphys) March 24, 2022

What causes a man to start fires?

All I know is, don't blame this guy

https://www.antiwarsongs.org/img/upl/billy_joel.0.jpg

I can't take it anymore!

an old friend took me to see DMs and Rancid last summer— we had some fun, but the DMs fans looked about the same as Blue Lives Matter scumbags, judging from their shirts and the cars they drove. Shit, a Suburban full of already drunk assholes parked next to me during the tailgating time, and it was covered in Trump and cop-humping shit

Ken otmfm

"The water in Capital City isn't safe to drink, and there's been a mysterious menacing plane circling overhead for hours" is either a pretty good opening scene for a dystopian novel or just life in Mississippi right now

— Joshua Benton (@jbenton) September 3, 2022

xpost to table, if anything that's what makes it more notable. As someone asked on one of the DM twitter threads, what does it say when your music attracts these sorts of people? But of course the band can't help it if knuckleheads latch on, and there's not much they can do to stop it besides break up. What they can do is call them on their bullshit, or (sometimes literally) punch back. Most bands are preaching to the converted. Some generally leftier acts like Springsteen (who attracts his share of GOP assholes, from cops to name politicians) or Pearl Jam might say something broad or relatively diplomatic. But the Dropkick dude actually challenges these assholes to fights. Beyond that ... man, I'd hate to hate my fans.

I've seen the Murphys several times. The demographic is overwhelmingly young, white, male and drunk. At least in Atlanta (and Chattanooga), I've not seen many/any skinheads or other obvious right-wing types.

Mid-Atlantic big Irish Catholic energy has a lot of fashy energy I guess— Philly show felt like an Irish cop convention, and they all left before Rancid took the stage

A bunch of mooks at a show with two bands heavily indebted to Oi! does not surprise me. SHARPs and Nazis were fighting throughout the Rancid show I saw in 1997/8.

Maybe this is overblown, maybe not

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senator-discusses-hushed-efforts-change-us-constitution/story?id=89048487

I would not say "overblown". Realistically it's hard to pull off, but the two-thirds threshold for simple amendment of the constitution has been met many times and this provision sets the very same threshold for writing a wholly new constitution from scratch. Everything would be up for grabs.

The efforts of billionaires like the Kochs to solidify state legislatures into instruments for pursuing a hard-right extreme agenda have been very successful on the whole. With organizing in depth and in secret, the far right could pull this off and *poof* there goes any semblance of the last 250 years of agonizingly won expansion of rights.

Special Master granted, can't tell if this matters or not though

Well, the DOJ saw everything already. And it will be appealed, so drags out the clock. But I saw this bit of potential context:

Apparently, Trump is concerned that truth about his taxes and health gets out. Weighing in favor of the special master is that:

"the seized materials include medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information"

— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) September 5, 2022

this seems potentially shitty

A Trump-appointed judge gave Trump more than his lawyers asked for today, putting any of DOJ’s criminal investigation of the former president relating to the seized documents on hold temporarily.

Now, to see if — and, if so, what elements of this — DOJ appeals.

— Chris “Subscribe to Law Dork!” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) September 5, 2022

Ugh, that’s what a fool believes

Democrats who voted to confirm Judge Aileen Cannon after Trump had already lost the 2020 election: Carper, Coons, Cortez Masto, Feinstein, Hassan, Jones, Kaine, Leahy, Manchin, Murphy, Rosen, Warner.

— Gregory Hays (@aristofontes) September 5, 2022

Seems like a ruling that will get reversed, but if it gets to SCOTUS who knows? There's a nicely monarchial appeal about extending executive privilege in perpetuity.

I wonder what her rationale was for "temporarily" suspending the DOJ investigation? Does she even know the breadth of the investigation or what parts of it may have no close connection to the warranted Mar-a-Lago search?

/5 By the way you’re seeing a lot of “the judge shut down the criminal investigation.” Not so. The judge shut down, for now, review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. The criminal investigation existed before that and will continue on other channels as before.

— HatMaster (@Popehat) September 5, 2022

So, the Law Dork misinformed his Twitter followers? Shocking! And here I was all set to subscribe to his newsletter.

warning: don't read politico. but don't read daily beast either. don't read at all, just to be safe

normal email

The new German owner of Politico sent an email to his closest executives asking if they should meet up to pray for Donald Trump’s re-election, according to a report. Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner sent the message in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, according to The Washington Post, a year before his company’s acquisition of Politico in October 2021. “Do we all want to get together for an hour in the morning on November 3 and pray that Donald Trump will again become President of the United States of America?” Döpfner wrote, inspired by an article about the Trump administration taking legal action against Google for abuse of market dominance. Döpfner went on to argue that Trump had made the right call on five of the six biggest issues of the last century—including pursuing peace in the Middle East and “defending the free democracies” from Russia and China—only falling short on climate change. “No American administration in the last 50 years has done more,” he added. When asked about the message, Döpfner initially denied it existed, going so far as to say: “It has never been sent and has never been even imagined.” When confronted with a printout of the email, he explained that he may have sent it “as an ironic, provocative statement in the circle of people that hate Donald Trump.” “That is me,” he added. “That could be.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/politcos-new-owner-mathias-dopfner-invited-colleagues-to-pray-for-trumps-re-election

It is possible I was a troll

It has never been sent
~murmurs in the jury of his peers
It has never even been imagined
~some cheers of support, rising action
It was an ironic, provocative statement
~chants of “MVP” begin to fill courtroom
That is me. It could be
~plaintiff, judge and jury carry him out of the courtroom on their shoulders

Where is the best place to read news/analysis nowadays?

Always lots o' links on the Reddit politics thread.

Seriously, recommendations are welcome.

Politico is where I typically go simply because I don’t have a limited number of articles.

lol pic.twitter.com/vbNW3oTKYn

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 6, 2022

I'M A DEMOCRAT WHO THINKS BIDEN'S ANTI-DEMOCRATIC RHETORIC HAS GONE TOO FAR!!!!!!

...hi i'm zach

I'M A DEMOCRAT WHO THINKS BIDEN'S ANTI-DEMOCRATIC RHETORIC HAS GONE TOO FAR!!!!!! and I'm an alcoholic

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

“I’m a Democrat who writes for the Federalist because I’m actually Very Racist”

JD Vance, understander of Ohio https://t.co/L77Hc4XIMb pic.twitter.com/8QjYy8umqn

— Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) September 6, 2022

Thanks for introducing yourself, Scott, as I've never heard of you. Your opinions are, as the kids say, wack.

xp

hi they gave me back my phone in the residential treatment place i'm living. i read taegan goddard's political wire daily. it's kind of an aggregator, but he picks the articles and has been accused of being a commie spy. so what that actually means is that he's a centrist who knows what's up.

And they stand in stark contrast to comments from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who started the lockdown fetish in America and who still stubbornly claims that he did everything right.

(Disclaimer: as a lawyer, I am litigating a case that seeks to require that Newsom end the statewide Covid-19 emergency that has been in place since March 2020.)

Fucking Dr. Oz cannot stop setting himself on fire:

Dr. Oz On Incest: More Than First Cousin? 'Not A Big Problem.'

The problem with being a celebrity before you enter politics is that you’ve definitely already said too much. And considering that Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for the Pennsylvania Senate, has already been saying too much as a candidate, you know the things coming out of his mouth must have been pretty bad before.

In an interview with morning radio show The Breakfast Club in February 2014, host Angela Yee asked Oz to weigh in on a question sent in by a listener about someone struggling with an incestuous relationship.

“I’m going to ask you this and you tell me if this is safe for this person, okay?” Yee prompted Oz. “Well, he said, ‘Yee, I can’t stop smashing my cousin.’ That means sleeping with.” (Thank you, Yee.)

She continued to read out the question: “‘We hooked up at a young age and now in our 20s, she still wants it. No matter how much I want to stop, I always give it to her. Help me.’ What advice would you give that person?”

Hm. I might refer them to counseling about how to rebuild proper familial relationships and set boundaries. But Oz took it in a different direction:

Oz: If you’re more than a first cousin away, it’s not a big problem.

Yee: Okay, so second cousin is fine to smash.

Charlamagne: It’s so funny, cause I knew that.

DJ Envy: How did you know that?

Charlamagne: Cause I’m from the country! Third cousins?

Oz: Yeah. It’s fine.

Keep reading at the link. It actually gets creepier.

The smell thing

He’s off to see the wizard, as it were

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erg2vyJ2UOk

And yet, I would not be at all surprised if the election were close, or indeed if Oz won.

I'm a Democrat who's donated https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Street%2C+Scott&contributor_employer=JW+HOWARD&min_date=01%2F01%2F2010&max_date=12%2F31%2F2022,000 to Tim Scott.

(oops, that should've read "$1,000")

Funny thing is he donated all that money back in April, long before he says he became disenchanted with Biden's rhetoric about Trump and MAGA election deniers.

xxxp

As I understand it, Fetterman has a near insurmountable polling advantage.

Politico still seems okay to me---the reporting, and comments by reporters; I don't look at any full-time pundits or guest thoughts on there.
Still need to watch Biden's whole speech, but I hope that he found a way not to lump absolutely all MAGA Repubs together, since some of them, incl. Georgia's Governor and Secretary of State, stopped short of "finding votes" for Trump etc, refusing to be intimidated.

And yet, I would not be at all surprised if the election were close, or indeed if Oz won.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, September 6, 2022 6:51 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Republicans are running some of the worst candidates I've ever seen in my life and some of them may indeed win their races but I am pretty damn sure Dr. Oz will not be one of them

Since I don't have Post sub, I'll just add this quickie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut1MiTqbPnM

politico is relatively center rabble gabble, terminally DC brained stuff but stuff stills hinges on that

I have more confidence Herschel Walker will win than Oz.

Well, yeah...

As do I, despite the fact that Herschel Walker is a fucking idiot carrying a dozen red flags.

Here in Georgia, fewtbawl is more popular than Jesus.

I don't know, you can't discount some number of white Republican voters staying home because something about Walker just don't feel right, hard to put a finger on it ...

Can't rightly say

i don't like how he's always eating paint

it was a real bummer to look at the last few polls in GA, post-walker making an ass out of himself every time he tries to talk about anything, and realize that he's gained ground.

we might have thought he would need a "hail mary" in order to win this "game", but it's look more like it's "2nd and 7" on the "25-yard line" and he's about to "take the team into the red zone" as the "two-minute warning approaches"

*violentlybarfingatthebeach.png*

the GOP team is looking strong this year with Coach playing coach and Walker looking set to open the congress as a starting Running Back. Defense is a concern with Tom Cotton being such a massive, fucking asshole that everyone hates and who may die this year of just sucking so badly, but as they say, the best defense is a strong offense, and this batch of newcomers is the most offensive group of .....etc etc

the TV ads against Walker are pretty brutal, including clips of him lying to audiences about his various imaginary law enforcement jobs and of his ex-wife describing his putting a gun to her head ... it's hard to know how those ads will influence voters, but since the substance of these attacks is not disputed by Walker's campaign, they're going to get a lot of repetition

I'm hoping Walker wins because he may make a speech on the Senate floor about being a Viking when he sleeps.

One thing's for sure, there won't be TWO former Vikings elected in November...

PERFECT!
Turning it up to 11. https://t.co/FiL2Dwz8Ja

— Matt Birk (@BirkMatt) September 6, 2022

the TV ads

thing is, those are mostly older people watching, right? and those same people fondly remember those classic herschel walker touchdowns, which were also on tv

I just saw the recent polling on the GA Senate race and it's a dead heat

guy watching tv: god. remember when tv was good
other guy watching tv: yeeeeeep

There is almost nothing that could change the minds of people who are going to vote for Herschel Walker.

I just saw the recent polling on the GA Senate race and it's a dead heat

i saw that too and had a negative reaction, comparing it to Warnock's defeat of Loeffler in the run-off. i don't remember much about Loeffler's candidacy, and whether she had any obvious gaffes or scandals that were too much in a statewide election. compared to that, running neck-to-neck with Walker seems like a disappointment because he is so clearly not a good person to be in charge of anything at all.

But I forgot that it wasn't a normal election, it was a special election run-off:

https://i.imgur.com/UBm8yBY.png

another Republican, Doug Collins (lol) got nearly 20% of the votes. Loeffler received 26%. Warnock won with a plurality of 33%. i don't know, it's tempting to think "Combine Collins and Loeffler and you get 46% republicans to only 33% for warnock", and it would suggest that the inherent GOP-advantage is stronger that it might appear, so Warnock in a dead heat with football man herschel walker is a good sign.

but then...you can also add up all those other democratic/gop candidates who grabbed small percentages of the overall vote, and it becomes 48.39% democratic to 49.37% gop (i left out the libertarian/green/independents), which is pretty much a wash as well.

in summary, i don't know what the heck is going on here, but it's deep into the fourth quarter and "i'm not sure if i'm comfortable with this going into overtime"

To mix sports metaphors, it is, and always has been, a jump ball. Turnout is everything.

i know i've made this dumb joke before, but if herschel walker does win, i hope he tries to pull some tricky legislation maneuver and it's called the Statue of Liberty play because absolutely no one saw it coming

the margin between Perdue and Ossoff was also very close.

the only thing i remember about the XFL was that, instead of a kickoff, the ball was placed in the middle and players from each side would race to the middle of the field.

On Warnock's side, you have to take into account that he is now an incumbent Senator, and very well-regarded. Also, there will not be the host of Democratic niblings that there were in 2020-21.

national attention is on Warnock/Walker but the Abrams/Kemp rematch will be the main driver of turnout in Georgia

Whatever else, Ossoff is the only cute male member of the Senate.

another Republican, Doug Collins (lol) got nearly 20% of the votes. Loeffler received 26%. Warnock won with a plurality of 33%.

These were the special election results, not the run-off results though. Run-off was just Warnock v. Loeffler iirc.

aw man, i get an F in civics for today, but that's ok!

yep, the run-off 51-49% Warnock/Loeffler

Meanwhile ffs ... "Religious liberty" is now an all-purpose "freedom to discriminate" blanket

BREAKING: US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas rules that requiring employers to provide coverage for PrEP drugs (preventing the transmission of HIV) violates the religious rights of employers under federal law (RFRA). pic.twitter.com/d85C3izqSF

— Chris “Subscribe to Law Dork!” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) September 7, 2022

More on that ruling

There are so many bombs sewn into this ruling.

1. O'Connor says members of the Preventive Services Task Force—which requires insurers to provide preventive coverage, including vaccines and cancer screenings—are appointed illegally. Which may render their mandates unlawful. https://t.co/LZCZhZSgS1

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) September 7, 2022

'cause there's that one little part in the Old Testament, really the only part of the bible that matters

What religion is against treating disease?

If you're gay, you're the disease.

the only question left at this point is whether a Democratic congress and executive will ever be bold enough to simply ignore all of these utterly batshit rulings

Ah, yes, here it is:

O'Connor accepts that it "encourages homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity"—a contested claim backed by no empirical evidence.

But he says that if the plaintiffs believe it, the courts must accept it—they can't question its "correctness."

That is just wrong on so many levels. Morally, ethically, legally. Fuck these Federalist Society drones.

it's just weird that health insurance policies can be cherry-picked like this

It's the employees' insurance, not the bosses'

Almost like it's a bad idea for health insurance coverage to be totally at the whim of employers ...

"Religious liberty" is now an all-purpose "freedom to discriminate" blanket

Not trying to be that guy here, but was it ever not this? Has the concept ever *not* been tied to doing a legal end run around anti-discrimination laws? I don't think we needed a new concept to describe not discriminating against people b/c of their religion, that's simple 1A

Well, there was Employment Division v. Smith, in which Antonin Scalia (the inspiration for the current crop of fanatics on the Court) happily decided that Native religious beliefs did not protect one from being discriminated against and/or prosecuted for using peyote.

well, we mean Real religions

good point! it's not even "all-purpose," it's explicitly christian

I don't know enough about the history of the judicial application of the Establishment Clause to have a sense of its evolution, but certainly my perception is that high-profile cases have shifted from the public sphere — is X display or demonstration of faith permissible in school/a courthouse/etc — to the private sphere, with the question mostly being "Can government tell me I can't discriminate against these people if my religion tells me too?" Not that there haven't always been both questions, but the balance seems to have shifted.

Tells me to, I mean.

Is there a religion that tells you to discriminate?

As a Suppressive Person I can confirm there is at least one.

A ha ha

The "religion" that pays.

Goddamn these clowns:

The Hunter Biden industrial complex is in boom times with little sign of a recession. Conservative groups frequently fundraise off of him. Fox Nation has a four-part docu-series on him hosted by Jeanine Pirro. There is ample Hunter Biden merchandise too. T-shirts, mugs, laptop stickers, sweatshirts, hats, and even a doll in online shops on Etsy, Redbubble, Amazon, Zazzle and more. Many of them include lurid photos from the hard drive that have been published by outlets but not independently verified by POLITICO. Some counter Hunter Biden fan pages have cropped up on the left, but without the same reach.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/06/breitbart-hunter-biden-film-00055040

It's the relentlessness that gets to me. It's not just that their ideas are demonstrably bad and stupid, it's that they never let them go, they never stop. Ever. I think I saw today that a Michigan group filed *another* suit to overturn the 2020 election. Two years later! Or that rogue Texas judge who just again and again keeps fucking with health care on a huge scale. Or the judicial terrorists trying to take away state election powers. Or Hillary, or Hunter, or Obama. They just keep at it, over and over again.

"It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop... ever, until you are dead!"

Yeah, I wonder if the Hunter obsession is some kind of misguided payback for all the heaps of Kushner ridicule.. who was objectively corrupt in his nepotistic business dealings.

They were previously obsessed with Obama's half brother and Roger Clinton (and Chelsea) and Billy Carter, nothing new under the sun.

Everyone hates Kushner. The Hunter thing is just ... I don't know, some combination of projection and hubris and just being assholes and probably creepily envious, too.

I mean, the President's beloved son is a crackhead who enjoys taking dick pics - the most reasonable upright opposition would be feasting upon that.

Also they’ve gotten so used to being able to control the media narrative that they couldn’t stand to see THE LAPTOP not become some oversized scandal lording over everything the way ACID WASHED E-MAILS was

(granted, this is because Hunter isn’t the one running, nor was he ever gonna get some big government position the way Kushner did, so it’s not really much of a story. I don’t want to imply that the media actually learned anything from 2016)

Thank god the hollywood liberal elites didn't bother to make a horrible film about Kushner begging in Qatar

I don’t know. I’d like to see Nathan Fielder in a dramatic role.

Michael Cera could pull it off as well

But... why are those evil liberals treating the Trumps like crimes were somehow against the law? :-)

Touch this glowing orb for a chance for 2 billion dollars.

Fielder: oh. ...okay

Middle East peace. That’s kind of a hot button issue.

What the almighty fuck pic.twitter.com/E48tzttAMA

— Roy Edroso (@edroso) September 6, 2022

Generic Ballot (National)

Dem 48%
Rep 44%

8/29-9/1 by Marist College (A)
1151 RV

Arf arf! Have a nice day!

Poll #160378 #ElectionTwitter

Source: https://t.co/6QOFArNb4u

— Stella (@stella2020woof) September 8, 2022

arf arf!!

I wonder what that split would need to be for the Dems not to lose the House. A lot bigger than that I bet.

arf!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/89/GordonShumway.png/220px-GordonShumway.png

https://i.discogs.com/bL6q9fWZcYHOyKtFCOwjuDShYWHfExoj_nu7UiuHjC4/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE1Mzgy/NTktMTM5NTA1NDA4/MC02MzI0LmpwZWc.jpeg

https://i0.wp.com/brightestyoungthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/3PyxgkK.gif?resize=500%2C267&quality=100

The six-count indictment against Steve Bannon and We Build the Wall's corporate entity has been UNSEALED.

Spanning 22 pages, its charges include money laundering, conspiracy and scheme to defraud.

Story with full indictment soon, @LawCrimeNews pic.twitter.com/roVtzKFTeQ

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) September 8, 2022

These ridiculous grifters, from Trump on down, would get away with so much more imo if their egos simply allowed them to stfu.

“Arf arf” is funnier if you imagine it in the voice of DMX

These ridiculous grifters, from Trump on down, would get away with so much more imo if their egos simply allowed them to stfu.

Yeah, but part of the grift is riling up the gullible.

What Bowie called Shilling the Rubes.

the queen is nearly dead. not sure if anyone was able to read between the lines of the subtle news coverage

apparently, on the day after, this will trigger OPERATION LONDON BRIDGE, which has been in planning since the early 1960s.

It's starting

This is who is organizing the "For God and Country Patriot Roundup" QAnon convention here in Dallas in late November pic.twitter.com/qdSEMmnijl

— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) September 8, 2022

Look, if Q had the Queen whacked then maybe we need to have more of an open mind...

EXACTLY 1776 days

the patriot voice could have just said 1776 days

keep your eyes on Maricopa

You've been gone 1776 days
1776 long nights
The main drag is knowing that
You're holding someone else tight

Qanons still believe there's something in Al Capone's secret vault, just got to keep an open mind and wait for the signs

Al Capone was 48 when he died

Biden is the 46th President
When he dies Kamala will become the 47th
When she resigns Nancy Pelosi will be the 48th President

did Bashō write that

It's been 7 hours and 1776 days

Nothing Compares to Q

https://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/michigan-supreme-court-says-abortion-question-must-go-on-ballot/

Good.

And didn't that come right after the courts removed the old super-draconian 1931 Michigan law outlawing abortion? Or was it the same decision?

Have any of you actually attempted to read that proposed abortion amendment?

Among the alleged run-on words: “DECISIONSABOUTALLMATTERSRELATINGTOPREGNANCY,” “ORALLEGEDPREGNANCYOUTCOMES,” “FORAIDINGORASSISTINGAPREGNANT” and “THEPOINTINPREGNANCYWHEN.”

Total gibberish, I tell you! I can't decipher a word of it! Therefore it only stands to reason: no abortions for anyone, ever!

from Politifact:

J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for an open Senate seat in Ohio, said his Democratic opponent has disparaged the police.

"Tim Ryan called police the new Jim Crow, which I think is insulting to Black Americans, but it’s also insulting to the police officers who are keeping communities of all colors safe," Vance said in a Sep. 4 interview with NewsNation, a national cable network.

Vance’s comment appears to refer to remarks the Ohio congressman made in 2019, when running for president. But in that appearance at a town hall, Ryan did not single out or even mention the police in relation to Jim Crow — the system of laws that disempowered Black people in the South and kept the races segregated between the end of Reconstruction and the 1960s.

Ryan instead referred to the entire criminal justice system and specifically mentioned sentencing disparities for people of color.

The 2019 town hall was held at Paine College, a historically Black college in Augusta, Georgia. The Daily Caller, a conservative publication, recently wrote about an exchange from that event and resurfaced video footage of Ryan’s comments.

At the 2019 event, Ryan said:

"I believe that the current criminal justice system is racist. I believe in my heart that it’s the new Jim Crow, a new version of it. We see it all the time across the board, as I mentioned with crimes like marijuana where you’re gonna have a person of color … five to six times more likely to go to prison … than someone who’s white. And those prison sentences will be 20% longer than-than for a white person."

Not long after the Daily Caller article was published, Vance retweeted it, saying, "Hey @TimRyan care to comment?"

Ryan’s response was to tweet a 2017 video clip of Vance appearing on CNN, in which Vance said, "There are legitimate concerns that a lot of Black Americans have that they're not treated fairly by some members of the police."

Yeah, and that was back when Vance was comparing Trump to heroin (makes you feel good, isn't good for you).
Several links in here:
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/sep/08/jd-vance/jd-vance-distorts-tim-ryans-words-police-race/

I’m receiving word that JD Vance may be a hypocritical opportunist

It's the relentlessness that gets to me. It's not just that their ideas are demonstrably bad and stupid, it's that they never let them go, they never stop. Ever. I think I saw today that a Michigan group filed *another* suit to overturn the 2020 election. Two years later!

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, September 7, 2022 2:58 PM

it's all diversion techniques. one group dances around and juggles chainsaws. meanwhile, on the quiet side of the room trump sells national security secrets.

i firmly believe that the real higher up conservative thinktank assholes are much smarter than anyone gives them credit for. they have no loyalty to any side except the one that keeps them in luxury. trump is obviously a complete dumbass but he's a loose cannon who will do/say anything they want. perfect distraction.

you want a diversion, this is pretty funny:

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/08/1121648290/a-publisher-abruptly-recalled-the-2-000-mules-election-denial-book-npr-got-a-cop

I’m old enough to remember when mainstream media treated D’Souza like a serious intellectual.

reminded of that eric williams observation: “The British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it.” pic.twitter.com/ztHbZcXjjZ

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) September 9, 2022

(Americans told to stay in this thread by Brits btw)

tbf it was one american asking a question best asked and answered in the editorial pages of the daily mail. i think you're still allowed to criticize the monarchy in the uk politics thread even if you're not british.

I read that thread but avoid commenting because my knowledge of UK politics is mostly informed by that thread.

Glad to see some nuance there.

"Woke Kids" my new favorite saturday morning tv show

Biden does an impression of Republicans trying to take credit for legislation they didn’t vote for lol pic.twitter.com/bx8vyJSgfV

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 8, 2022

tbf it was one american asking a question best asked and answered in the editorial pages of the daily mail. i think you're still allowed to criticize the monarchy in the uk politics thread even if you're not british.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek)

Uh huh

And didn't that come right after the courts removed the old super-draconian 1931 Michigan law outlawing abortion? Or was it the same decision?

Separate courts - the overruling of the 1931 law was lower state court, the other one is the state supreme court overriding the two assholes on the board of canvassers who rejected the ballot initiative despite it having 750,000+ signatures. I so hope this ends up like kansas.
Also I get to vote against one of the dissenting justices this year which is going to rule.

Lol holy shit:

Larry Kudlow gives Ron Johnson a very awkward pep talk that ends with Johnson claiming "someone hacked into the broadcast." pic.twitter.com/L2g0abSJkB

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 9, 2022

(Americans told to stay in this thread by Brits btw)

― You can't spell Fearless without Earle (President Keyes), Friday, 9 September 2022 bookmarkflaglink

No one was told this btw. And it's not like anyone can tell anyone else where to post.

Can I just say regardless of our feelings on the passing of the monarch that American codology and blow-ins are, as ever, not welcome on this thread. Calz, you have nothing to apologise for.

― Osama bin Chinese (gyac), Friday, September 9, 2022 6:48 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Maybe blow ins is a British term I don’t know but it sounds like “Americans who don’t usually post on this thread”

It doesn't say Americans with a full stop.

And that was posted after things got out of hand.

Bully

Ok

Rather stay here in our little right wing thread though

Suit yourself.

americans aren't known to take mild rebukes lightly

Mh you are always welcome in ukpol

I'm a royalist

they're just jealous their political situation is slightly less hopeless than ours

Did someone say soccer in their thread?

Love how you turn up at these moments VHS, it's like you've got a grudge.

It’s one little joke. Hope you are having good time and celebrating these days.

is there anything more deep state than the federalist society

Republicans look to restrict ballot measures following a string of progressive wins

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/10/the-lefts-best-chance-for-restoring-abortion-rights-in-red-states-is-in-jeopardy-00055901

Also alarm is voiced re minimum wage and other ballot initiatives---

Leave it up to the states!

No, not like that shit

DOJ and Trump each propose 2 special masters for Mar-a-Lago probe
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/special-master-nominees-trump-doj-griffith-huck-jones-dearie/index.html

Team Trump propose judge on FISA Court that approved warrants later deemed bad, hoping he'll fuck up again/provide grounds for appeal, is what I suspect.

can they battle to the death or something

Is there an Australian who can explain this to me? I don't even know who Nick Adams is. Amazing video tho.

Joe Biden is pushing America to communism, it's time to get back in the game and turn America back to God and Trump! pic.twitter.com/p6jltGehiW

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) September 10, 2022

Re: the fight again ballot initiatives— I mean, we already knew these people hated democracy.

Xp another Twitter account I was blissfully unaware of until now, but there’s some comedy to be found

Kyle Rittenhouse would make a better Quarterback than Quinn Ewers.

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) September 10, 2022

Congratulations to our country’s Minor League Baseball players on a historic, swift, and overdue organizing victory, and to @MLB and @MLBPA for taking this critical step. Every worker is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect – on the job and on the field. https://t.co/hdAFpGmywK

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 10, 2022

I only know about Nick Adams cos of Reddit constantly laughing at him, but please, keep him, we don't want him. What is the matter with that person.

at the risk of stating the obvious, ballot measures are a terrible way of writing good laws and most democracies don't have them for that reason.

citation: the state of california is ungovernable.

I think ballot measures can be good or bad like any lawmaking. But I think with so much rampant gerrymandering, they're a necessary option to exert some kind of actual public will when it's routinely frustrated by anti-democratic unrepresentative government.

A lesser evil in our situation if you will

thinking they were a good idea 100-150 years ago when ballot measure states wrote their constitutions is probably a cultural thing that was in the water back then (populism, fear of corruption, etc.).

actually needing them in 2022 is a sign your democracy is broken. they won't fix it though.

Is there an Australian who can explain this to me? I don't even know who Nick Adams is. Amazing video tho.

He is a 100% US-based grifter, completely unknown in Australia.

(When he was a local councilor from 2004 on, aged 21, he was censured for constant absences working on his American motivational speaking career.)

Hemingway's protagonist iirc

To his credit, Nick Adams was a critical factor in defeating the Xiliens during the great kaiju war between Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/janus_stills/3989-/29344id_019_w1600.jpg

In the last ten years I got to vote to approve gay marriage, legalize marijuana (twice), to ensure early and absentee voting and automatic voter registration, to have an independent commission in charge of redistricting and this year will get to vote for more voting rights expansion and to change the state constitution to ensure abortion access. None of these things would have passed legislatively and most of them were opposed or fucked with by elected officials.

Agreed it feels really broken to have to do it this way but man does it feel good when they pass.

As mentioned in that linked article, the Kansas ballot initiative sought to remove abortion protections from the state constitution, it wasn't about mobs trying to add amendments (caek)

Republicans help Democratic minority block near-total abortion ban in South Carolina
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/09/south-carolina-republicans-democrats-abortion

Today is the fifth anniversary of Ted Cruz jacking it to incest porn on 9/11 #NeverForget https://t.co/YM5tGGQvi8

— gaming disorder pawg (@roun_sa_ville) September 11, 2022

I guess 9/11 has been called "Patriot Day" for a while now, but this year feels like the first time I'm seeing it actually used a lot. I hate it, thx.

No matter how long I live I will never call September 11 by that supremely stupid name.

“getting absolutely sonned day”

Moby's Birthday!

I don't even know who Nick Adams is. Amazing video tho.

He is a 100% US-based grifter, completely unknown in Australia.

Hemingway's protagonist iirc

To his credit, Nick Adams was a critical factor in defeating the Xiliens during the great kaiju war between Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah.

Undeniable abs tho...

https://i0.wp.com/www.metroweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Nick-Adams-Photo-by-Greg-Vaughan.jpg

he was just about to change from his denim jeans into his denim wraparound

Tomorrow, Lindsey Graham is going to introduce a bill that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks.

An issue that's already going against them, and they're going to make it even starker six weeks out from the midterms. Good plan, fellas.

maybe to give them all an opportunity to vote against it? 'wait wait, this goes too far I say!'

sort of like 'we need to FUND the police, not DEFUND the police' on the other side

Republicans don't put hateful, punitive laws up because they want to nobly vote against them. They put hateful, punitive laws up because that's who they are and that's what they want. They don't have the numbers to break the filibuster threshold, but every Republican will be in support of this shit or keep their mouths shut.

would it make sense for democrats not to filibuster just so they can get votes on the record?

No bc all d’s can go out there and say they wont let shit like this come to the floor. Also dont trust seinema to not do something totally stupid

A nationwide ban on abortion should not survive constitutional challenge, but the current Court likely would uphold it.

This gives "moderate" Republicans to go on record that they support a "compromise" unlike the murderous Dems who want to abort children up to age 12.

perhaps this will finally push democrats to do the right thing. when you hear about the GOP proposing a national abortion ban, it makes you wonder, where is the Democrat's corresponding proposed legislation codifying Roe? they need to say what they will pass if they have 52 votes, and they need to get everyone (except for president manchin and sinema, who don't have to care about human beings) on board with it ahead of time

No bc all d’s can go out there and say they wont let shit like this come to the floor. Also dont trust seinema to not do something totally stupid

― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, September 13, 2022 9:30 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it needs 60 votes. there's zero danger of it passing. the only argument not to hold a vote is there's more important stuff to vote on that might pass (no idea if this is true).

Doesn't it only need 60 votes if you "don't let it come to a vote" by filibustering it? If you "let it come to a vote" then it only needs 51.

i thought the suggestion was to "not bring it to a vote" by not scheduling a cloture debate at all, which schumer can do iiuc?

I meant bringing it to a final vote. Just to be clear, if there are not enough votes to defeat this, they absolutely should not bring it to a vote, my assumption is there are enough votes to stop it.

i don't think the dems need to bring it to any kind of vote fwiw. if rick scott thinking out loud about social security is sufficient for attack ads then a draft bill with republican sponsors is certainly sufficient.

This is why they're doing this btw:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/04/01/more-americans-support-15-week-abortion-ban-but-dont-want-stricter-restrictions-poll-finds/?sh=5d86f383bf5b

The poll found 48% of respondents at least somewhat support restricting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, while 43% oppose it.

The logic of a vote would be having a concrete anti-abortion record that you can hang around their necks in the upcoming election.

i think that overestimates how much attention persuadable pay to specific votes. "republicans have a national abortion ban bill" will do the job.

This gives "moderate" Republicans to go on record that they support a "compromise" unlike the murderous Dems who want to abort children up to age 12.

This is definitely the strategy, it's a counterattack because they know the issue is a problem for them. So they're trying to take charge of it again, since it's always been their issue to make Democrats squirm with. They don't like being on the defensive.

I don't think the politics are good tho as long as it allows states to restrict it more. If they were proposing a nationwide "legal until 15 weeks" bill, that would put them more in the mainstream. But right, this gets painted as a "ban" bill, not a rights bill.

yep. the republicans are doing this because they think it's good politics. but it's not a clever trap. they're just wrong.

new Democratic campaign ad just dropped https://t.co/vK89L54jAL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 13, 2022

caek otm. the right-to-lifers are absolutely demanding this and they can't say no. the republican party would crumble if those voters sat on their hands.

Spice Girls looking good at 50

From a forthcoming AP/Frontline doc on Gen. Flynn, now walking point and water for Xtian Nationalist grassroots prairie fire Salvation from sea to shining sea: no surprise, but devil in the details yes: https://apnews.com/article/michael-flynn-christian-nationalism-investigation-50fa5dcff7f99cf93409fcd6c1357bee

Holy Outsider Rider who wants back in---His way.

Sure is backing a lot of Secretary of State candidates (and for instance school board winners in his own town, Sarasota)

Yall always talkin Beltway---

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/13/grahams-abortion-ban-senate-gop-00056423

Lindsey Graham’s anti-abortion legislation once unified the Republican Party. The 15-week abortion ban he pitched Tuesday had the exact opposite effect.

The South Carolina senator chose a uniquely tense moment to unveil his party’s first bill limiting abortion access since this summer’s watershed reversal of Roe v. Wade. It was designed as a nod to anti-abortion activists who have never felt more emboldened. Yet Graham’s bill also attempted to skate past a Republican Party that’s divided over whether Congress should even be legislating on abortion after the Supreme Court struck down a nationwide right to terminate pregnancies.

And some fellow Republicans said they were highly perplexed at Graham’s decision to inject a new abortion ban — more conservative than his previous proposals — into the nation’s political bloodstream at a precarious moment for the party.

lmao

Graham's Ban goes Pop for GOP?

if Republicans actually wanted that bill to pass they would run it as 'guarantee abortions up to week 15, ban after that' but they will not, so it will not pass, and we can all be thankful for that.

dog catches car, figures its on the menu everyday

Lindsay looking pretty red and bloated. The bottle taking its toll.

this kinda shit just driving suburban women voter registration, let him have at it

Graham's been on the lam from the Fulton Co. Georgia grand jury for a month now, so he's not feeling well. His best hope is if he can take his case all the way up to the Alito cultists.

i know it's silly to mention, but it's absurd that he's still a sitting senator. are the basic facts of his meddling in GA on trump's behalf in question? lol at the fact that he's still a face of the party and he's the one introducing something horrible and on brand for the GOP

The basic facts of his telephone call to the Secretary of State are not in dispute. The interpretation of that call is . . . well, it's not really that debatable, but that's his second line of defense, that he was well within his rights as chairman of the Judiciary Committee to make that call. His first line of defense is that he doesn't have to appear at all because of the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution and/or sovereign immunity, etc. etc.

I'll be damned if I'm going to post this to an RIP thread. AP reports:

Ken Starr, whose probe led to Clinton impeachment, dies

He was tasked by Congress to investigate the "Whitewater scandal", found nothing criminal there, but kept his office and staff busy chasing down every other possible scandal that could be attached to the Clintons until he found one that stuck. No tears shed here.

Dude was a serious piece of sh!T. New face in hell.

Defense of Jeffrey Epstein

In 2007, Starr joined the legal team defending Palm Beach billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of the statutory rape of numerous underage high school students.[67] Epstein would later plea bargain to plead guilty to several charges of soliciting and trafficking of underage girls, serve 13 months on work release in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail, and register as a sex offender.[68] Starr said he was "in the room" when then-US attorney Alex Acosta made the deal that yielded the plea bargain for Epstein and later described Acosta as "a person of complete integrity," adding that "everyone was satisfied" with the agreement.[69]

In September 2015, Baylor's Board of Regents initiated an external review of the university's response to reports of sexual violence to be conducted by the Pepper Hamilton law firm. Baylor had been accused of failing to respond to reports of rape and sexual assault filed by at least six female students from 2009 to 2016. Former football player Tevin Elliot was convicted of rape. Elliot is currently serving a 20-year sentence after his conviction in January 2014.[79] Another student, Sam Ukwuachu, was convicted but has since had that conviction overturned and was retried, only to see it reinstated by the Texas Court of Appeals in 2018.[80] Pepper Hamilton reported their findings to the regents on May 13,[81] and on May 26, the regents announced Starr's removal as university president, effective May 31.[82]

if arizonans want to elect peter thiel's creepy to son to lead them in everlasting white christian glory, at least they know who he really is, going in

Democratic pollster Molly Murphy said Graham’s 15-week bill, released Tuesday, has only reinforced the argument that Republicans will try to enact significant new restrictions if they gain control of Congress. “I feel like I’ve had a roller coaster of a day between, ‘What kind of three-dimensional chess are they playing?’ to kind of settling into, ‘They’re not,’ ” said Murphy, who is working on the Arizona Senate race.

Asked whether they would back Graham’s legislation, most GOP nominees in the closest Senate races gave ambiguous answers or did not respond. And even as Masters said he would “of course” support Graham’s bill, his campaign spokesman retweeted a message that appeared to channel some GOP groans over Graham’s announcement: “Why why why why why.”

The aide, Zach Henry, removed the retweet Tuesday night and said he was not speaking on behalf of Masters.

seems like there's a bit of a split in the GOP as to whether the politicians are using the white evangelicals or if the white evangelicals are using the politicians. the national abortion ban idea horrible politics for the GOP, but it's exactly what the base wants. their base is not the broader milieu of investors and hawks and people who hate paying taxes. their base is literally white evangelicals, only

well before the SCOTUS ruling, it was all about 'states rights!' and now they seems quite content to remove those states rights

In other news: to the surprise of no one, the Durham investigation is winding down, with results of less consequence than a wet fart.

There's still the handful of Trumpers on my local paper's comments section sure that the Durham report is going to deliver some huge bombshell, any day now. They're worse than Mike Lindell.

hmmmm.

Rep. Ted Budd, NC's Republican Senate nominee, is cosponsoring Sen. Graham's abortion ban.

That's in contrast to GOP Senate candidates in some other tight races distancing themselves from the 15-week national ban.

— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) September 14, 2022

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/north-carolina/

The month is living up to the thread title in disgusting ways.

https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2022/09/14/planeload-venezuelan-refugees-arrive-marthas-vineyard-airport

DeSantis is apparently taking credit for this, even though the initial report says the plane is from Texas. Lots of confusion. Regardless, somebody sent a planeload of human beings to Martha's Vineyard as a political stunt.

Sorry to post a corporate Twitter account but this is pretty funny

If you still have a phone, get a free breakfast biscuit in our app for My Rewards members: https://t.co/rk896CKmpc https://t.co/loaIAFVViS

— Hardee’s (@Hardees) September 14, 2022

i just tried to heart that tweet here on ilx

ron desantis hasn't been in national news yet this week, so he decided to fly migrants from TX to martha's vineyard because he thinks that means owning the libs. what a horrible piece of shit he is

i hope one day the body of ron desantis can be used by someone he's never heard of to score political points for the cruelest team of anti-humans that isn't from a comic book

Good morning!

NEW on DeSantis' vile stunt of flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard:

Migrants say they started in San Antonio, official tells me, lured by promise of work papers.

No heads up given, official says.

Why is a Florida gov flying migrants from Tex to Mass?https://t.co/z0Qu0Ix8iD

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 15, 2022

On his birthday, by the way

According to The Martha’s Vineyard Times, local officials at one point said they believed planes were coming from Texas, Florida and Alabama. “Some of them were told lies … they were told they would receive housing and jobs immediately upon arrival,” Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, told the Times. Fernandez joined the relief effort in Martha’s Vineyard.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article265836906.html#storylink=cpy

Are there any details on the tentative rail agreement? All I saw was Biden saying they get some sick days now but not like... how many.

xp

https://i.imgur.com/B9MrajE.png

i'm seeing that the agreement was rejected? xp

Solidarity with railroad @MachinistsUnion workers who soundly rejected their TA. Contrary to rail carriers narrative, no rank and file vote has approved the garbage PEB contract recommendation. pic.twitter.com/iZe4jbhVSj

— Ross Grooters (@RossGrooters) September 14, 2022

There was another tentative agreement announced this morning (unless Biden's just repeating the rejected one for some reason?)

Tune in as I deliver remarks on the railway labor agreement. https://t.co/roFU8Ckpv5

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 15, 2022

There may be details here but I can't listen to Joe speak for more than 15 seconds without getting depressed.

how is the shit that DeSantis is pulling right now not incredibly illegal

it's right there in the governor's code of laws, section 4, line 14: a governor can traffic migrants located in another state to another state of the governor's choosing, so long as they lie to them as they do it and treat them like property

but remember, govenror's code of laws chapter 4: it's only allowed if they get to go on television and be rewarded by people who have abandoned shame

From the WaPo:

If the contract is ratified, the agreement by the two largest railroad unions and railway carriers guarantees voluntary assigned days off and a single additional paid day off. Workers also can take time off for routine doctor’s appointments without being penalized, and would not lose attendance points for hospitalizations and surgical procedures, according to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The deal also includes the biggest wage increases for railroad workers in more than four decades. They will receive a 24 percent pay increase by 2024, including an immediate 14 percent raise; $1,000 annual bonuses over five years; and no increases to healthcare copays and deductibles.

Despite the breakthrough, critical questions remained. None of the parties involved in the talks has confirmed the number of unpaid sick days for which workers will be eligible, and details about other provisions in the agreement remained unclear. The reaction of rank-and-file union membership to the deal is also unclear.

and of course:

Congressional Republicans on Wednesday advanced legislation to force workers to accept those terms, making clear they would direct blame at the president should the impasse lead to a strike. Some moderate Democrats had begun to consider whether they should back the GOP approach to end the standoff.

b-b-but ben shapiro called it a "sweetheart deal"

Friend who works for the railroads when asked if they'll be okay: "my savings will last longer than the rest of the economy if we strike"

— culture war denialist (@shwiffles) September 15, 2022

my 7 year old son loves trains. every time one passes by he gets really excited. why won't someone think of the real victims here

The hobos

From a former hobo who knows a lot of rails, I can honestly say that the depths of corruption and lack of regard for their workers or any human lives is par for the course with rail companies. The execs at these companies have succeeded in stripping so many safety measures from the infrastructure that it blows my mind that there aren’t more accidents all the time.

I mean, they legit want (and in some cases have made mandatory) 1-person crews. One person as engineer, brakeman, and lineman. Sometimes operating hundreds of thousands of tons of machinery going very fast through dense, crowded areas. Totally bonkers

The NYT:

Negotiations in which the Biden administration took an active role produced a tentative contract deal announced early Thursday. The agreement included a significant pay increase for the workers, whose base wages typically start at around $50,000 and top out around $100,000, excluding overtime and benefits. But scheduling was the sticking point.

Unions complained that to manage a shortfall of employees, the carriers effectively forced their members to remain on call for days and sometimes weeks at a time, partly through the use of strict attendance policies that could lead to disciplinary action or even firing. They said the policies pushed workers to the limits of their physical and mental health.

“Every facet of your life is dictated by this job,” said Gabe Christenson, who until this year worked as a conductor for a large freight rail carrier. “There’s no way to get away from it.”

To table's point.

The renewed spotlight on rail companies as villains feels very in keeping with our Robber Baron Redux era.

a good friend of mine works for the railroad and yeah that aspect of it fuckin sucks. we can't really go anywhere nor can he be out too late, any day of the week. for like the last decade

Why don't they just do speed like truckers?

it's not like anything has fundamentally changed since the original one. xxp

They do! Still not safe tho

Longer story: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/09/15/politics/biden-white-house-railroad-strike/index.html

how is the shit that DeSantis is pulling right now not incredibly illegal

I mean, we live in an era where there seem to be almost zero consequences for anything, but the fact that multiple governors can just straight up kidnap people by the bus and planeload and force them to migrate across the country with just a strong "tut tut" in response makes me even more hopeless about this dystopian hellhole.

why did the fact that these railroad workers get 30 days off year (i.e. no weekends) become an issue now? was it a recent change?

the circumstances described here seem untenable https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjkzbq/28-freight-rail-workers-tell-us-what-they-want-you-to-know-about-their-lives so... were they better in the past? or have they been like this for decades, in which case what lead them to feel like they could fight back now?

BNSF has the most draconian policies on attendance (30 points before suspensions and you could get docked 25 for missing one day potentially) and they were only instituted recently. The top level rails have also cut something like 40k jobs in the last 7 years (leading to the attendance policy).

The little city I live in (pop 7000) is very much a railroad town, created in 1887 by a railroad because it's halfway btw B'ham and Memphis. Line currently owned by BNSF. Part of me wants/wanted a brief strike so I could see this conservative area tie itself in knots over who to support.

oh man, you should threaten to blow up the railroad tracks. you're sitting on a strait of hormuz, it's time to capitalize

is what many people are saying, not me though

Senate delays same-sex marriage vote until after midterms

The Senate won’t vote on protecting same-sex marriage until after the midterm elections, said the bill’s chief sponsor, Tammy Baldwin.

“I’m still very confident that they bill will pass but we will be taking the bill up later, after the election. We will be putting out a joint statement,” the Wisconsin senator said after a Democratic caucus lunch.

Democrats had planned to hold a vote as soon as Monday, though it was unclear if there would be 10 Republican votes in support of the same-sex marriage bill. Several Republicans said this week that the measure had a much better chance to pass after the election.

“We should have a vote when you’ve got the votes. They’ll get more votes than November and December than they get on Monday,” said retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who spoke to Baldwin earlier in the day. “If I wanted [it] to pass and I was the majority leader and I wanted to get as many votes as I could possibly get, I’d wait until after the election.”

One of two things will happen in November:

1) Democrats gain seats, but not 60; Republicans filibuster same-sex marriage protection when it comes up
2) Republicans win the Senate majority; abortion and same-sex marriage are both outlawed by Christmas

Either way, this thing is fucking dead.

how is the shit that DeSantis is pulling right now not incredibly illegal

We had an few incidents in CA called 'Greyhound therapy'.. i.e. officials in Nevada were buying bus tickets to San Francisco for their homeless folks: 'Go ahead, they'll take better care of you.' SF flipped out and I think the Reno/Las Vegas folks were forced to apologize. So no, it's not legal.

Some hard truths here

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/trump-judge-aileen-cannon-court-reform.html

It's super frustrating because there are still at this very minute tons of legal professionals pushing out endless takes about "this is not how things work" and well I have news for you...

So we're just gonna let them change the subject from abortion to immigration?

(NB I form my view of the world via my Twitter feed)

It's the GOP's go-to topic when things aren't going well for them

Cue THE CARAVANS

I'm not sure I agree with this response to the same-sex marriage farrago, but it's something.

The original draft of this sentence read, "'They’ll get more votes in November and December than they’ll get on Monday,' GOP Senator Roy Blunt told reporters, managing not to laugh as they pretended to believe him."

I don't know how good Yougov polls are but doin' stuff seems to be a successful move.

This is wild @chrislhayes pic.twitter.com/MihOt9Ozyq

— Matt Hodges (@hodgesmr) September 16, 2022

i thought yougov was an unscientific poll (like a web-based opt-in poll) but maybe I'm wrong

Even as they struggle to persuade voters that they should be trusted on the economy, Democrats remain unexpectedly competitive in the battle for Congress as the sprint to November’s midterm election begins, a New York Times/Siena College poll has found.

The surprising Democratic strength has been bolstered by falling gas prices and President Biden’s success at breaking through legislative gridlock in Washington to pass his agenda. That shift in political momentum has helped boost, in just two months, the president’s approval rating by nine percentage points and doubled the share of Americans who believe the country is on the right track.

But Democrats are also benefiting from factors over which they had little control: the public outcry in response to the Supreme Court’s overturning of federal abortion rights and the return of former President Donald J. Trump to an attention-commanding presence on the national stage.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/us/politics/biden-democrats-abortion-trump-poll.html

Don't talk to Jeanine Spanjers -- no popcorn!

Jeanine Spanjers, 44, from Racine, Wis., said that rising inflation had caused her to change her lifestyle, including driving less, skipping vacations and even abstaining from popcorn when she goes to the movies. A state employee, she also said she believed that Democrats were handing out too many government subsidies, pointing to relief payments distributed during the pandemic.

“What’s getting on my nerves is all this free stuff,” she said, criticizing how all the children at her son’s school received food stamp cards, including families who could afford to pay for lunch. “Republicans would never do something like that. It disincentivizes people to go out and do something. I’m starting to feel like people are being rewarded for not doing anything.”

Right, of course they're not going to give the Dems credit for having a popular policy position as the GOP zooms further right. Of course.

(in re "factors over which they had little control")

People should be incentivized by the prospect of their children going hungry, damn it.

I wish there was an Equalizer for NY Times small-town diner commentators. Like, poof, I've just given you a disabling injury and gotten you fired from your job, I'll check back in a couple months to see how you feel about government subsidies.

Wouldn’t change much, they’d all be doing the Craig T Nelson rant about “I've been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No. No.”

also, they would have a fairly legitimate beef with whoever runs the Equalizer for NY Times. "everything was fine until the Equalizer hurt me"

and who is the Equalizer? you guessed it, Frank Stallone

I can't believe how shoddy are Vets are being treated if you want to cut something how about Welfare 90% of them don't deserve it they lie

— Frank Stallone (@Stallone) October 15, 2013

i can't believe there's a @stallone and it's frank stallone

Jeanine must be fancy if she can go to the movies, I just watch free youtube movies on my phone, and all I can afford to eat is popcorn

(munches away while watcing Escape from Witch Mountain)

like many up-and-coming small business entrepreneurs, i sneak a gallon ziplock bag of prepopped popcorn into the theater and then sell it to eager customers during key scenes in the movie to earn back the cost of the ticket

It shouldn't be the case at this point, bu it's still amazing to me that someone in Racine WI could make these types of statements when Racine is a shining example of what happens to a community when GOP legislators and corporations have their way of things. I'm in Racine all the time, there is shocking inequality, lack of public infrastructure, crumbling roads and empty buildings—not to mention the ridiculous Foxconn development on the edge of town that residents will be subsidizing with tax money for the rest of their lives. There are good things in Racine too, and I would be interested to see how many white entrepreneurs there got funding/loans/etc to spruce up the downtown.

i thought yougov was an unscientific poll (like a web-based opt-in poll) but maybe I'm wrong

― akm, Friday, September 16, 2022 12:47 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's not great, but the change in the same poll is likely real(ish).

dare I say passing the climate deal, which news outlets have called DOA about 75 separate times, was actually a pretty big deal

I signed up for yougov early this year to figure out what the deal was, and it’s very goofy. There are polls on politics and issues that seem decently-crafted, but the way they incentivize people to participate is rewarding users for completing polls that seem like a cross between marketing research and incomprehensible question grab bags

I have no idea who is regularly participating

I'm figuring the debt relief had something to do with the shift in that particular demographic.
It's like some 19th century thing--you deliver for a certain group and then they want to vote for you. How barbaric!

I'm figuring the debt relief had something to do with the shift in that particular demographic.
It's like some 19th century thing--you deliver for a certain group and then they want to vote for you. How barbaric!

― You can't spell Fearless without Earle (President Keyes), Friday, September 16, 2022 3:49 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's an irregular verb:
I am rewarding the deserving; you are making sure the boys are covered; he/she/they are rolling out the pork to those people.

Jeanine Spanjers, 44, from Racine, Wis., said that rising inflation had caused her to change her lifestyle

Yesss! She knows that her lifestyle must only ever change in one direction, ever upward no matter what else is happening in the world. Bigger tubs of popcorn w/ more butter, more driving pointlessly from place to place, and of course, more good stuff for Jeanine.

What are the odds she's white?

Racine Demographics
White: 63.91% Black or African American: 22.71% Two or more races: 7.53% Other race: 4.65%
Percent Women Named Jeanine Here Who Are Also White: High%

in today's history I never knew, from a friend:

"The story of the reverse freedom riders [1962]. African Americans from the south who were tricked by segregationists into getting on a bus to Hyannis Mass where they were told the President would greet them. Using human beings in such a dirty publicity stunt was wrong then and is wrong today."

https://www.wgbh.org/news/the-long-journey-north

In the latest installment of the Deranger Sisters...

At the Texas Youth Summit, Lauren Boebert decided she needed to open carry a pistol during her speech. It also featured Matt Gaetz. The same day Gaetz was featured at a youth event it became public that he sought a presidential pardon regarding his alleged sex trafficking crimes. pic.twitter.com/SqMu8cXWB4

— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) September 17, 2022

Propaganda tactic alert. The purpose of this declaration is to get the notion that Biden should/will impeached into the public mind. MTG is setting the stage for something larger. Recall also that the Texas GOP's new resolution calls Biden an "acting" and illegitimate president. https://t.co/5EHHheH53d

— Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat) September 17, 2022

But she also already did that right after she took office, so coming from her it's just, like, a normal Tuesday. Not that I don't think they'll try to impeach Biden once they have control of the House, I think they will. They might end up guillotining him, who knows. Exciting times ahead.

They’ll impeach him Trump+1 to prove a point, they’re not worried about setting the stage for it.

Every American president gets impeached every single term — it’s always been that way, both sides do it, democrats are lucky that Obama didn’t get impeached for his important role in Benghazi and also for those free phones he kept giving out to homeless people (is what I heard) and democrats tried to impeach bush all the time is what I heard but they weren’t allowed to do it because they didn’t have the evidence

And what Biden is doing is so much worse because he’s not even in control, he’s completely lost his mind, and both sides do that because Nancy Reagan used to be president

this is one of the most bizarre things I've seen at a Trump rally. All it is missing is passing around Kool-Aid right after. pic.twitter.com/BmPOztb7kA

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 18, 2022

Let me just say a couple of things about the Trump rally that a lot of folks are missing....

— ProfB (@AntheaButler) September 18, 2022

Good morning @brianschatz @CoryBooker! Hey my gut tells me the @CortezMasto Nevada Senate race determines the Senate majority (and thus if GOP passes a national abortion ban).

Last 3 polls:

CCM 40
Laxalt 41

CCM 48
Laxalt 47

CCM 44
Laxalt 47

Think we can help?

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 18, 2022

this is a quick thing about the polls being systematically off in 2016 and 2020, with Republicans benefitting from that, but not so much during the 2018 mid-term, and what does that mean for the 2022 mid-terms? well shoot, no one knows

https://messagebox.substack.com/p/are-the-polls-giving-democrats-false

when sharing anything i feel the need to warn away everyone who will hate it, so don't read it if you know a lot about polls already, if you recoil at the name Dan Pfeiffer.

also, like me, you may read the words "Polling is a flawed, imperfect measurement, but it’s the only way to get a sense of the political environment — how the voters feel about the candidates, what issues are popping, and what’s making people happy and mad", near the beginning, and get very stuck on it. what does that mean? is that true? of course polling is not the only way to get a sense of the political environment. i suppose he means that polling is the only way to get a measurement in a systematic way, not just for neighborhoods and counties and districts and states one is familiar with but also in places where the political establishment feels estranged (like diners in the ozarks). maybe it's a normal sentence. maybe there is nothing wrong with it.

TL;DR: Fascist thugs don't talk to pollsters, so assume there are a lot more of them than you think and act accordingly.

The Dems outperformed the polls in the most recent special eleictions, though.

Yep. It’s a good sign. Plus the post-roe voter registration. It’s not all doom

!!! a fake brochure promising eight months cash assistance, food, job training/placement, help with housing + more was given to migrants who were lured by @GovRonDeSantis into boarding a flight to martha’s vineyard. @JuddLegum obtained a copy: https://t.co/nSIwWOE6Zh pic.twitter.com/RLtqoeLPC8

— Marisa Kabas (@MarisaKabas) September 19, 2022

"WhEre iS THE OUtRAGE evEry Time BIDeN relocATeS imMIGrAnTS?"

At the end of his speech, eerie music began to play on the loudspeakers as Trump reached the part of his remarks where he ominously goes through a list of all the many ways America and the world are becoming an apocalyptic hellscape without him as president. The music was a song inspired by the QAnon conspiracy theory. And while this was happening, many in the crowd raised their arms and pointed a finger upward. It’s not clear what the gesture meant.

https://i.imgur.com/UOFwg2a.png

i've been reading this book from 1979 with interviews with 18 people who sought enlightenment via the Divine Light Mission. in 1973 they held an event at the astrodome that got very hyped up among the community beforehand, like, something was definitely going to happen at that event and the whole world would be tuning in to hear guru maharaj ji (who was 15 years old) speak and they would be transfixed and turn toward the Knowledge, etc. and then, of course, it didn't quite go that way at the astrodome. the movement didn't end there, but a lot of people drifted off and sought other gurus or joined other enlightenment groups.

anyway, nothing to do with q

Trump is actually 15 years old, which explains several things, and will be with us for at least another 60 years.

republicans have gone absolutely off the rails because what is this LMFAO pic.twitter.com/jX2SBjJ0bF

— matt (@mattxiv) September 18, 2022

Mastriano also getting in on the weird-salute game. Both this and the finger-in-the-air to me look very evangelical — arms reaching heavenward, you see a lot of that in megachurch videos. But they're merging it into these sort of rally salutes. Quite a thing.

Yes, this is a Nazi salute, at a Doug Mastriano campaign event in Pennsylvania. In 2022.

Democracy is literally on the ballot in November.

pic.twitter.com/unKyQKDN9A

— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) September 18, 2022

file under Things that just have to be Tim and Eric skits

i find it incredibly creepy. i don't have too many things that really get to me immediately, on contact, but white evangelicals and fascists and their obvious alliance is one of them. they want a king

anyway probably not a great idea to focus on the salutes & hand gestures as this is exactly the sort of thing that conservatives *want* the conversation to be about. of course it's all white power shit but they do it cuz they know the libs sound crazy when they complain about it.

josh marshall's comments on it from just now:

At his rally in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday Donald Trump appeared to take a decisive new step in embracing the Qanon conspiracy. He’s been dog whistling about for years. But at this rally there was an especially dark and fetid tone and the rally concluded with what was either the Q movement song or one that was so similar as to be indistinguishable from it. (Yes, there’s a movement song.) The crowd responded with an index finger salute – also a Q movement trademark – as they swayed to the music and Trump’s rhythmic incitement. This comes after various posts on Trump’s ‘Truth Social” Twitter clone site which now openly embrace Q.

What it means is the obvious thing: Trump gravitates toward what secures his deepest and surest hold over his supporters. He’s in a mutually reinforcing cycle of radicalization with his biggest followers. It also seems likely that his rapidly intensifying legal exposure and predicament are fueling this shift. The Q fantasy has always been based on belief in a corrupt and evil liberal “deep state” which will result to all manner of criminality and threats and crimes against Trump before finally being vanquished in a dramatic turning of the tables in which Trump gets his violent revenge against his enemies.

Trump and his supporters have created a dynamic in which the predictable and perhaps inevitable result of his own criminal behavior now validates their narrative about his persecution and inevitable violent triumph over his foes. It also makes Trump’s reliance on the hardcore of MAGA/Qanon supporters more of an all or nothing thing.

i don't know, it seems bad to me. it seems bad because there is a big overlap between white evangelicals and Q -- a shared belief in a violent revenge that will take place in their lifetimes, and of which they themselves see themselves as potential participants in, while awaiting signals from a higher divine authority.

Trump’s rhythmic incitement.

Three words that should never get used together.

xp

ignoring it may well be the best way to deal with people boebert, mtg, gaetz and other professional trolls. i'm not sure it's a good idea to ignore it when the guy who has people working for him in every single state trying to steal the 2024 election has a new theme song that causes his audience to point to the sky as he tells them how horrible their lives are. seems important?

again, maybe not. i'll undulate in a josh marshall style, i guess. honestly i look at this shit and i feel like i have completely lost my mind

Trump’s rhythmic incitement

His Deep House Mix, IIRC

I agree this is really scary but it also seems like this is the sort of thing that's gotten Republicans trounced in every virtually election since Trump's victory and doubling down on the crazy is probably not gonna help. though maybe that's somehow worse, if they have to cheat to win they absolutely will

Anyway nothing to do with Q

A key distinction from Q vs more grassroots new age cults is that this is largely a manufactured cult which is highly targeted to key up the most fervent chunk of the GOP base.

More context:

Gen. Michael Flynn is really commanding the show. With his “ReAwaken America Tour”, he’s creating a movement that is nothing short of QAnon 2.0, except with more Christian nationalism and a lot more money behind it. It’s an influence machine, and he knows how to drive it. 12/ pic.twitter.com/DMqcVmjVog

— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) September 19, 2022

i agree that the Q shit is a very bad look for most of the electorate, it hurts the GOP more than it helps, all that.

here's my gloom: i worry about what all of these people will do when it all builds up to a head in 2024 -- think astrodome Millennium '73 -- and then it doesn't happen. again. i don't think they'll drift off, and i think the grifters (who seem to be overwhelming in number?) very much have their eye on exploiting them.

i think it's very rare for people in a cult to fully "leave" and go back to some sort of mainstream belief. i think very often, maybe most often, they double-down, and/or they shift their beliefs and attention to a new group or guru or theory that will let them retain a sense of special purpose, often in a way that accepts and even validates their prior beliefs even as a step toward true enlightenment, rather than rejecting them entirely. they go adrift, which i think in the 1970s often meant seeking a new guru in india or staying at a new commune for a few months on the way to somewhere else -- adrift in terms of physical location and connection to loved ones. i'm not sure that happens so much nowadays. i can see disappointed Q people being adrift on the internet, pretty much, getting scooped up and targeted by people who can spot an easy mark

It is beyond bizarre that this cult has chosen as its avatar . . . Donald J. Trump.

I am never more baffled by Trump than when he's doing that kind of low-key mournful sing-song, like in the above clip. When he's yelling and sneering and all that, he seems a normal bully. But the soft-spoken stuff is creepier, like the almost apologetic tone that movie villains affect as they lower you into the acid vat.

i realize i should step away from my computer, myself, and go do something else for a bit. sorry to get a bit worked up. also, i am so unclear sometimes, i feel like i never get across the point i'm trying to make. even this, from earlier:

honestly i look at this shit and i feel like i have completely lost my mind

for some reason i want to clarify this by saying that when a bunch of creepy white people are pointing toward heaven as music plays and they're all looking on stage toward an older white man who seems to maintain a psychological, even subliminal hold on them, it very much snaps me back to my christian upbringing and how it was all of that, exactly. and how i believed in it, myself, for a while, and how horrible it was to realize what the fuck was happening and walk away from it with a deep sense of shame, fear, and resentment toward people who would do that to themselves, each other, and their own children

xp "Oh, I am afraid they are all quite dead."

And too true about Gen. Flynn---like it says in this AP investigation, part of the forthcoming PBS Frontline doc: https://apnews.com/article/michael-flynn-christian-nationalism-investigation-50fa5dcff7f99cf93409fcd6c1357bee

Man, he's a brand, with the bucks, and so much more (maybe)(also has fucked up plenty in prev careers)

Ostensibly, he had a "good" track record in Afghanistan taking people out.

has people working for him in every single state trying to steal the 2024 election

Thanks for the article Dow.

Yeah I don’t think the well-funded and well-organized cult beholden to the GOP and specifically intent on blocking opposing votes is going to just go quietly into the night, no matter how bad the optics may look from the coasts.

But the soft-spoken stuff is creepier, like the almost apologetic tone that movie villains affect as they lower you into the acid vat.

Roffle otm

its probably just wishful thinking but the whole MAGA thing feels so long term unsustainable, particularly the degree to which they churn through people. just think of how many folks from Trump's presidency are now either considered traitors or RINOs. virtually his entire Cabinet wound up on bad terms and will likely never do anything in politics again. half of his staffers wrote a book detailing what a dumbass he is. his fixer now works for CNN and appears every time they need to talk about his crimes. Trump's voters literally tried to murder the vice president. the entire movement is being boiled down to people like Rudy and the MyPillow guy. obviously you can win with people like that in Trump +40 districts but you're really asking a fucking lot of your less terminally online voters.

school boards, city councils, public safety

It strikes me that lots of reasonably competent and sane people won't run for these positions because doing those jobs conscientiously would cut sharply into their other duties and responsibilities, like doing their jobs and parenting their children. But the crazies are so focused on their political obsessions that a careful weighing of consequences and a desire to be conscientious and responsible never enters into their decision to run. I'm not sure this can be fixed.

xp

Not like this is front page material for the NYT right? Aren’t they still stuck on exploring both sides of pronouns or whatever?

Reagan started the fine tradition of nominating and appointing people to Cabinet positions and regulatory agencies because they were stupid and incompetent grifters who would undercut public confidence in government.

Things are different now. Republican voters have elected crackpots to school boards because they want positive action like banning books and deepening the hostility to trans children.

Conclusions from the polling firm that correctly predicted the Hispanic shift toward the GOP:

The Latino vote remains stuck in the 2020 moment.
Many Latino voters who in past elections have voted with Democrats are today
persuadable — but Republicans have so far failed to win them over.

● While Latinos shifted toward Republicans between 2016 and 2020, an 8-point
swing toward Trump, we do not see evidence of a further decrease in
Democratic support since Biden's win. In most states, things do not look worse
for Dems with Latinos than they did in the last election, nor do they look
better.

● Even if we are not yet seeing a decrease in our polling, the political
environment has the potential to lead to further erosion of Democratic
support among Latinos.

● Stated simply, conditions are unstable. There is great uncertainty in the vote
(and in the polling)! A meaningful share of Latino voters remain on the fence,
having not firmly chosen a side in the election. These late breakers could move
toward either party, or toward the couch, before the midterms are over. For both
Democrats and Republicans, it is a reminder yet again that a large segment of
the Latino vote is a swing vote that must be persuaded.

And:

The economy is top of mind for Latino
voters, as for all voters. Two other issues that are coloring the political environment —
gun safety and abortion rights — are potential weaknesses for Republicans among
Latino voters. Democrats have opportunities here, but run the risk of seeming
out-of-touch themselves if they hyper-fixate on these issues ahead of economic
concerns.

○ Don't Forget About Uvalde: Gun violence rose to be a top-three issue for
Latinos in many battleground states after the shooting in Uvalde. For Latino
voters, a key question of this election is: who will protect me and my family?
This is true on the economy, and it is also true on an issue like responsible gun
ownership. A strong majority of Latino voters — and an overwhelming majority
of Latina women — are aligned with the progressive stance on gun safety, and
reject the conservative position as a matter of values as much as of policy. Our
polling suggests that if there is a social issue for Democrats to campaign on
alongside the economy, it's this.

Dobbs in Contrast: While some Latino voters balk at strong progressive
messaging on expanding abortion access, knowing that Republicans actively
plan to take away their abortion rights tends to remind persuadable Latino
voters why they have previously shied away from supporting conservative
candidates: the sense that Republicans are more concerned with pushing an
extreme agenda than helping people like them. The GOP’s position, out of touch
with Latinos’ priorities, provides an opening for Democrats to bolster their
central economic argument by communicating how they will fight for what
matters most to Latino voters.

○ The trick for Democrats is not to engage with Latinos on issues such as
abortion or gun safety IN PLACE of economic concerns.

lindsey graham on the role of states in determining abortion access, May 2022:

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which I believe was one of the largest power grabs in the history of the Court, it means that every state will decide if abortion is legal and on what terms.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2022

lindsey graham on the role of states in determining abortion access, today:

“This is not a states’ rights issue, this is a human right issue,” Graham said. “I don’t care what California does on most things. I care here. I am not going to sit on the sidelines in Washington, D.C., and tell the pro-life community Washington is closed for business.”

it's more like when the "pro-life community" says 'jump', lindsey replies 'how high?'

lindsey graham is one of those guys who can only jump 3 inches

Elephants can't jump — and here's why

Haha, elephant/GOP and an ILX reference all in one! Well done

https://harpers.org/archive/2022/10/the-right-to-not-be-pregnant-asserting-an-essential-right/

In the face of the right’s unremitting fascistic efforts, the Democratic Party has faltered continually, moving between denial, evasion, and concession—weakened by their own trace natalist beliefs, cowardice, and the delusion that their opposition would somehow be appeased. Tragically, reproductive-rights advocacy groups, operating within the same political machine, have mirrored their supposed allies’ suppliant stance, and members of the general public who support abortion rights have been abandoned to the unforgivably self-defeating slogan of “safe, legal, and rare” and the polite-company taboo—accommodated by “my body, my choice”—against even uttering the word “abortion.” In the same spirit of concession, ostensibly pro-choice leaders have long maintained that abortion isn’t, or shouldn’t be, birth control, drawing a hard line between the two as agents of greater and lesser harm, attempting to shore up the definite morality of the latter. Implicitly playing along with the contention that abortion—sometimes, in some cases—is murder has helped pave the way for the conservative movement to force victims of rape and incest, including children, to carry pregnancies to term. There could be no other conclusion: very few would argue that a violated person is allowed to “take an innocent life.”

As Republicans make known their conviction that women, by definition, should be pregnant, and therefore can be forced to be, Democrats and the broader liberal apparatus respond that women want to be pregnant, insisting that people have abortions because they aren’t able to be pregnant right now: they intend to conceive in the future, after they’ve finished college, or escaped a violent relationship, or found a higher paying job; or their pregnancy isn’t viable but they’re determined to try again; or they’ve been pregnant before and are already raising children. Women who have abortions are no longer expected to be broken by grief, and there’s now more room to admit relief, but that’s often coupled with the reassurance that their childbearing duty will be, or has been, fulfilled. Those who have multiple abortions uninterrupted by giving birth, who are child-free regardless of resources, and who refuse to justify or explain their terminations, remain insufficiently sympathetic to warrant inclusion in the liberal narrative, which implies that the principle at stake—bodily autonomy for everyone, an inherent and internationally recognized human right—is negotiable and conditional. Likewise, stories of unwanted but necessary abortions—harrowing and heartbreaking as they are—are degraded as chips in the liberal bargain.

The right to not be pregnant is a concept of autonomy that goes beyond the reactive and reparative. It lays claim to a state of being, not an action, and in doing so obviates arguments about what abortion is or is not (health care, violence) and who or what is entitled to influence a pregnancy’s course (the fetus, the government, the doctor, the family, the provisioner of sperm). Critically, the right to not be pregnant rebukes the notion of non-pregnancy as a luxury or a sin, a widespread, inherently misogynistic idea tacitly conceded by the liberal mainstream.

There is no anti-abortion legislation, not even the third-trimester abortion restrictions masquerading as the reasonable person’s limit, that is compatible with the full personhood of pregnant people. Democrats concerned with public opinion nervously note that late-term abortions are rare and almost exclusively performed because of unexpected medical complications. This is true but beside the point. If any circumstance of a pregnancy forfeits a pregnant person’s autonomy, their pregnancy has reduced them to an object, an instrument, less than human, and they will be used this way by the state.

To designate good and bad, earned and undeserved, permitted and forbidden abortions is a foul and foolish tactic that ends in denying people their rights to themselves. The pro-choice narrative comes at an extraordinarily high price—confirming that people capable of pregnancy exist to create more people—for no reward. Liberal haggling has achieved only self-sabotage. And it has prevented abortion advocates from matching the intensity and focus of our foes. It is time to meet absolutism with absolutism: Every person has the right to not be pregnant.

well worth reading in full

A friend of mine, an environmental lobbyist in Washington DC, wrote on Facebook that a popular debate between “Republican environmentalists” is about major changes or even an appeal of the Antiquities Act.

After reading her post, I looked online and I guess it’s been an on-going issue since Trump ordered the Interior Department to do a review of the “size and scope of national monuments larger than 100,000 acres created since 1996.”

This is insane to me.

Admittedly, the number of issues that conservatives and I agree about are limited but in some Aaron Sorkin-like fantasy I believed that everyone agreed that monuments and parks were good.

I went down to the border to learn more about the migrant crisis.

It's clear the only way we can remain free is if we STOP MASS. IMMIGRATION*!

*full policy in video pic.twitter.com/QUIvYMpWUy

— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔 (@jeremykauffman) September 17, 2022

this is batshit

xpost Parks are nice but I mean they just sit there and do nothing like a stoner on the couch. It's time for them to earn their own way, we can't coddle them forever.

Lots of private companies want to get a whack at all those Truffula trees

this is batshit

War is Gaypic.twitter.com/Fgi2AGJHsz

— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔 (@jeremykauffman) August 20, 2022

Libertarian, huh?

From his website:

As he has created independence for data users, allowing them to create and share information without federal control, so will he give you and your family your independence to create and shape your lives as you choose – and not as busy-bodies, bullies, and bureaucrats would impose on you.

I haven't researched his background, but I'll bet he made his money in some hustle like crypto.

And you would be right:

Jeremy discovered the ideas of voluntarism gradually, but would credit Friedman and Huemer as making the strongest cases. Jeremy is the founder and CEO of LBRY.io, a New Hampshire-based blockchain company that produces and maintains a decentralized content sharing and publishing protocol. He moved to New Hampshire in 2015 with his partner Rachel Goldsmith, who is Executive Director of the FSP. They live with their son in East Manchester.

He's part of the Free State Project. Definitely destined for great things.

More on that study of Hispanic voters:

Equis recently released the results of a survey of 2,400 Latino adults, in which researchers looked at the prevalence of a set of false narratives that have taken root in both right-wing and left-leaning communities, and asked Latinos how and where they get their news and political knowledge.

It found plenty of Latinos have heard of the most common false narratives that spread in the last two years, and were likely to not believe them. It also uncovered a large persuadable middle who don’t know what to think about this information and are simply uncertain about its accuracy and whether to believe it.

The most widespread, well-known narratives (“President Trump won the 2020 election and Democrats stole it for Joe Biden,” “The Covid-19 vaccine is more dangerous than the Covid-19 virus itself,” and “Donald Trump worked with the Russians to steal the presidency in 2016”) were the most likely to be rejected by people when asked if they were true. Some of the claims that got the most mainstream attention, like the “Biden is a socialist” line that caused the most panic in Florida, had reached only about a quarter of Latinos and was only believed by about 7 percent of all those polled — about the same as those who believed the Earth was flat. That so many people rejected the most popular lines of misinformation suggests some solutions, including the effectiveness of aggressive fact-checking and public challenges.

But the people who were most likely to believe this kind of misinformation were also the most politically engaged respondents — not only were they the most educated, but they were also more likely to have a personal ideology, and be amenable to narratives that aligned with it. That explains why some liberal respondents in the survey were willing to believe false narratives from the left side of the political spectrum: More people were certain that Trump colluded with Russians to steal the 2016 election than the right-wing claim that Trump won the 2020 election, and more people believed that Trump faked his Covid infection than the Biden-socialism claim. Though some conservatives have pointed out some of these examples of “left-wing misinformation,” they tend to criticize media coverage as biased toward liberals, and attempts by social media companies to regulate speech as censorship, rather than associate it with the bigger phenomenon of modern misinformation.

Dunno about "colluded," but didn't Mueller conclude that Trump did benefit from Russian targeting of suppressible voters---and refer further studies to Congress, because DOJ precedent didn't allow for indictment of Trump? Not an example of xpost false narratives from the left-wing spectrum.
Anyway, it's time to lighten up!

Originally devised to expand Fox News coverage for die-hards, Fox Nation has in recent months expanded into lifestyle programming and has enlisted celebrities including Kevin Costner, Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan and Kelsey Grammer for various projects.

Fox Nation said the new special will “feature Ms. Barr’s signature comedic take on a variety of topics, with no subject off limits.”

the left-wing spectrum Mueller, of course, an olde-school, by the book, Casio-wearing Republican, with such cred, was said. He would brook no fules, pull no punches.

school boards, city councils, public safety

It strikes me that lots of reasonably competent and sane people won't run for these positions because doing those jobs conscientiously would cut sharply into their other duties and responsibilities, like doing their jobs and parenting their children. But the crazies are so focused on their political obsessions that a careful weighing of consequences and a desire to be conscientious and responsible never enters into their decision to run. I'm not sure this can be fixed.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless),

I’m pretty Mueller found nothing actionable in regards to collusion with Russia, but did find criminal obstruction of justice with his investigation, which he pawned off on Congress to deal with.

Did come across evidence that the Russians did stuff on their own, or somebody established that---just saying Russian effect in itself more than political urban legend.

And leave us not forget:

On May 16, 2018, Christopher Wylie, who is considered the “whistleblower” on Cambridge Analytica and also served as Cambridge Analytica's Director of Research in 2013 and 2014,[95] also testified to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.[96] He was considered a witness to both British and American authorities...Christopher Wylie also testified about Russian contact with Cambridge Analytica and the campaign, voter disengagement, and his thoughts on Facebook's response.[98]

In 2019, Trump directed us to go and take immigrants from the border and, quote, bus and dump them into democratic cities but he was more specific. He wanted us to identify the murderers, the rapists, and the criminals, and in particular, make sure we did not incarcerate them. pic.twitter.com/e6WEPtBip7

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 21, 2022

i'm not sure i've ever seen this kind of fascism before, but maybe it has. the exploitation/scapegoating of immigrants for fascist aims, sure. "they're coming to take your jobs" kind of shit, they're evil, they want to hurt the real patriots, "they", "us", etc, that's an old one. but has anyone ever tried to identify people who really are violent and then insert them into the cities of their political opponents so as to "prove" the racist point?

the guy speaking was the Chief of Staff of DHS at the time, by the way. being loyal civil servants, they went ahead and did their due diligence about whether it was legal for them to pick up people at the border and drop them off in cities in different states, and it turned out it was illegal.

oh wait, that's the "anonymous" guy too, which means anyone reading this is going to dismiss it all as an opportunistic attempt for him to sell his book, which it absolutely is, in addition to being an incredibly creepy account of a president that really is trying to murder you

xp

That “both sides” bullshit equivocating well-established theories of Russian election meddling and Trump’s big lie is ridiculous. And just to keep beating this dead horse, aside from being intentionally duplicitous, Russian disinformation is specifically tasked with this exact goal:

It also uncovered a large persuadable middle who don’t know what to think about this information and are simply uncertain about its accuracy and whether to believe it.

A highly targeted campaign of manipulating public opinion, from the experts in the field, with plausible deniability cooked in. To push the idiot fringe to action and encourage everyone else to sit on their hands. The main goal being encouraging social division, and creating a crisis of doubt in the vestiges of our democratic institutions. Yep pointing this out is literally the leftish version of “Let’s go Brandon”, I tells you.

New from @prioritiesUSA Ad Hawk: Republicans pivoting away from economic messaging in core battlegrounds. After Democrats economic successes, they no longer want the fight and are trying to fear-monger about crime instead. pic.twitter.com/A0aBxUy3il

— Nick Ahamed (@nickahamed) September 20, 2022

Gotta play the hits

Was talking to my quite liberal aunt who live in Connecticut, I wanted to come up with a respectful way to ask if most of the black folks in her state live in the SW corner of CT so I started by asking her if most of the diversity was in that region…which she took as her cue to launch into a tirade about “out-of-control” crime. Some divisive issues don’t need to be targeted too well, apparently any middle-/upper-class wypipo make good soft targets for this crap.

Don't forget the old shibboleth "border security," which is a variant of the "crime" trope.

This guy has a great future in the party:

Ohio GOP House Candidate Has Misrepresented Military Service

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-09-21/ohio-gop-house-candidate-has-misrepresented-military-service

Majewski... dabbled in politics as a pro-Trump hip-hop performer and promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Sound intriguing, but this might be what Mitch McConnell was talking about: a dearth of 'quality candidates'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpKQkIWofog

huh

all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that congressional candidates spit half-assed bars

Groom the Jewels

lol

Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat who defeated the Republican Sarah Palin in a special House election to become the first Alaska Native in Congress, is on track to do it again in November. A new poll by the Anchorage-based pollster Dittman Research puts Peltola at 50 percent, Palin at 27 percent and the Republican Nick Begich III at 20 percent in the first round of rank-choice voting.

Is Palin an independent now?

still GOP. i wish her all the best

no one gives a fuck (or more charitably, no one can do anything about it) but desantis tried to do the exact same thing to another group of migrants in TX, earlier this week. the same exact people ("Perla" is the operative) were involved. they were going to fly the migrants to Delaware, this time. they called it off, at the last minute. Desantis' team is just lying about it. there are no consequences

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/perla-behind-another-flight-and-stranded-migrants
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2022/09/20/georgetown-delaware-airport-airplane-migrants-texas-florida-new-jersey/69505612007/

one of the key people involved is a tall blonde person who gives out business cards that don't include her last name. Just "Perla"

doesn't seem like it would be that hard to track down a person that is trafficking hundreds of migrants at the behest of an evil fuck governor from florida, but what do i know

If you can break the paywall, the Miami Herald's original story has the lurid details:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article266089771.html

thank you! (i was able to use the "open link in new incognito tab" trick)

i'm rereading inferno. trying to figure out which circle of hell belongs to people who traffic migrants for political gain

i'm thinking 8th circle, pouch #5 for Desantis, minimum

Which one has the damned souls upside down in shit?

Dante and Virgil are on the rim of the third pit, ditch, or trench of Circle VIII for those guilty of Simony. These sinners used their positions in the church for personal monetary gain. The Simonists are upside-down in round holes the size of baptismal fonts.

From each of these holes protrude the feet and legs of a spirit, with the rest of the body upside down in the hole. The soles of their feet are on fire, and Dante sees one shade who is apparently suffering more torment than others, moving and shaking violently; his feet are burning more fiercely than the others.

Ah, here it is: the Eighth Circle (Fraud)--Second Pouch--Flatterers are immersed in human excrement (Canto 18).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAvXnBgJMdM

xp alfred

Senator Cruz voted against this. https://t.co/mht1OgtvwL

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 21, 2022

Fact-checkin' Cruz

I like the dude on the left's hair but the eyebrows need waxing

The Zodiac killer has a cyst

Also "the exact same playbook" used by law enforcement the world over to go after outlaws and crooks, but sure.

These radical Dems have zero qualms about weaponizing their public office to go after their political enemies. The same exact playbook used by Communists and Fascists throughout world history!!! https://t.co/G3selPMUkr

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 22, 2022

well there is the kernal of a valid criticism there -- we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions (send him to jail).

civil lawsuits don't usually end up with someone in jail, unless the defendant punches the judge or something

xp

there's also the law breaking, but yeah...

presumably all of this is about the NY AG's lawsuit, which also mentions a number of state criminal laws they think were violated

so, maybe not just civil lawsuits!

The AG has made referrals to the IRS, the SDNY and the Manhattan DA.

we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions

afaics rather less than a quarter of the country loves Trump, but they are enthusiastic to the point of mania and they vote. another large cohort of Trump voters are far from loving him but they believe their self-interest means making common cause with him. they would love to go back to 'the old days' of Bush-Cheney but can't see a path back, so they're stuck.

otoh, the Democrats would dearly love to pick up a big chunk of the tens of millions of infrequent voters and non-voters, but they're mired in the politics of timidity and are afraid to leave the comfort of their current coalition. so, they bet all our futures on making tiny gains at the electoral margins to keep their boat afloat.

well there is the kernal of a valid criticism there -- we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions (send him to jail).

― Thus Sang Freud, Thursday, September 22, 2022 12:52 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think its exactly the opposite, the fact that half the country loves him is the only reason he's not in prison right now

Dude should have been in prison for decades now. It’s just that we don’t treat white (people) collar crime as “crime”.

...But Walker does not necessarily need to be a policy wonk, said Theodore Johnson, a senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank. Walker’s role as a solid Republican vote in the Senate may be enough for many conservatives, he added.

“This is just going to be a guy who puts his head down, maybe says some dumb stuff,” said Johnson, an expert in race and politics. “But if he is a reliable vote, you know, is it better to have than Warnock, who’s a reliable vote [for Democrats] 90-plus percent of the time? People may be willing to make that trade-off that he may not be the most gifted or qualified, but he’s going to do as he’s told by McConnell.”

the shining city upon a hill

Fossil fuel giant Koch Industries has poured over $1m into backing – directly and indirectly – dozens of House and Senate candidates who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s win on 6 January 2021.

Koch, which is controlled by multibillionaire Charles Koch, boasts a corporate Pac that has donated $607,000 to the campaigns or leadership Pacs of 52 election deniers since January 2021, making Koch’s Pac the top corporate funder of members who opposed the election results, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending.
...Although the Koch-funded Super Pac AFP Action had suggested it would not back election deniers after 6 January, analysts aren’t shocked given Koch’s lobbying and legislative priorities, which include fighting various tax and regulatory measures related to fossil fuel issues including climate change that affect the company’s bottom line.
“Like other corporations pledging change following January 6, Koch Industries has returned to business as usual,” said Sheila Krumholz, who leads OpenSecrets.
...“Like many big business spenders, Koch seems more interested in their favored party controlling Congress than the characteristics of specific members,” Vandewalker added.

To be sure, the Koch Pac’s support for 52 election deniers included a number of members whose votes are often helpful to fossil fuel interests.

may not be the most gifted or qualified

MAY not...

xp

well there is the kernal of a valid criticism there -- we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions (send him to jail).

Do you think this is what prosecutors are trying to do? Are they so ready to take on the biggest white collar beasts? To really get Both Sides Now, maybe we should always have a Republican and a Democratic prosecutor on each case, or each involving a member of the Trump family and retainers.

The R and the D prosecutors could decide what to do, if anything, of course.

another guilty party skates

Rep. Matt Gaetz likely to avoid charges in sex-trafficking probe as federal prosecutors recommend against them, people familiar say https://t.co/kfshVa01RL

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 23, 2022

Do you think this is what prosecutors are trying to do?

sorry, my point probably got lost or buried, which is that we should be focused like a laser beam on winning votes, not locking people up. the latter is often antithetical to the former. you can't win political battles by legal means, but often it seams like it's the only solution that occurs to us.

Charles Koch should get all his money taken away.

Given how much attention has been focused on Gaetz, that decision is very surprising.

He asked for a pardon for it too

Given the fact that this DoJ has been leak proof, and they have stayed true to their policy of not making overt investigative announcements within 60 days of an election, I have serious skepticism about the sources in this reporting. https://t.co/GHesa5cP21

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) September 23, 2022

All worrying about today's WaPo claim that "prosecutors recommended against charging" Matt Gaetz - it's actually good news; it's by @DevlinBarrett who wrote that FBI found "no grand [Jan 6] conspiracy" the week before the 1st seditious conspiracy charge 1/https://t.co/sTZbl5NaPC

— capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) September 23, 2022

lol the reporter who wrote the story retweeted that Mueller She Wrote tweet. Any attention good attention.

Stolen valor dude gets his budget snipped:

The House GOP campaign arm is slashing a near-$1 million ad buy meant to target Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) — essentially walking away from what could have been an easy pickup for the party.

The move comes a day after an Associated Press report that Kaptur’s opponent, JR Majewski, lied about his resume, including claiming that he deployed to Afghanistan. Majewski beat out two state legislators in a May primary contest for the northwest Ohio district.

today in Republicans pic.twitter.com/hdupOA6Qin

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 23, 2022

Thing about this guy: he served.

It was nothing spectacular. But he served. He spent a couple months loading planes in Qatar. They don't make movies about Air Force logistics guys, but he served. That's more than a lot of people did.

He could have ran on that record.

1/ https://t.co/ya3orlZTJN

— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) September 23, 2022

but he served. That's more than a lot of people did.

jackoffmotion.gif

I only bring a carry on when I fly I am a hero

He could have ran on that record.

Yes, he served without any special distinction and later he was perfectly happy to lie his head off to convince people he was some kind of hero. Which says more about him?

That's guy's thread is pretty reasonable, lest anyone think it was some blanket defense. I mean:

Nothing wrong with loading planes.

Absolutely nothing wrong with being just a logistics guy.

But Macho Studs like him, they've spent so much time calling anyone who wasn't a SEAL Sniper Ninja Door Kicking Green Bean Beret a pussy, that he's embarrassed by his own service.

3/

— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) September 23, 2022

it's reasonable, but that stonekettle guy is tiresome to me

I didn't think it was a blanket defense but he's the guy at work who was totally a Delta SEAL operator bro, totally, fuck off with any genuflection toward "service."

that guy is indeed a veteran

I know people try, but it's probably impossible to truly thread the needle of "honoring" veterans while condemning US imperialism. a lot of people didn't "serve" because they didn't want to kill innocent people for no reason

majestic Majewski:

GOP congressional nominee @JRMajewski made a Fleetwood Mac/Cranberry Juice TikTok parody (since-deleted but saved by me from his Parler) in front of the Qanon "Qs" painted on his lawn in 2020. (Majewski has repeatedly denied being a Q follower.) https://t.co/mBa6Z4W8EO pic.twitter.com/dS2xwzqhgx

— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) May 9, 2022

Fleetwood MaQ

Fuck the Prussian fixation on “honoring” people in uniform.

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

now they're using it for fundraising

New email from the National Republican Senatorial Committee asks supporters where they want Republican governors to “ship” migrants next. pic.twitter.com/E0Ly5Rubl1

— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) September 23, 2022

The governor has brushed off the claims, saying all of the migrants got on the plane voluntarily.

“It is opportunistic that activists would use illegal immigrants for political theater,” his office said in a statement.

(that's a DeSantis quote, not Abbott)

Fuck the Prussian fixation on “honoring” people in uniform.

The growth of prayerful veneration of "the troops" is one of the most many disturbing trends of my political lifetime.

It is so gross! Contrast that with my childhood neighbour Gene, who came back from WW2 with a Purple Heart and nobody apart from his family, who never brought it up, knew about it until he died.

I know people try, but it's probably impossible to truly thread the needle of "honoring" veterans while condemning US imperialism. a lot of people didn't "serve" because they didn't want to kill innocent people for no reason

― rob, Saturday, September 24, 2022 9:35 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

qft

it doesn't work to criticize anyone for participating in us imperialism to whatever degree they need at a certain time in their lives imo but i pretty firmly believe that there is no honor in serving in the us armed forces, period.

That veneration of The Troops was a direct outgrowth of various dynamics during the post-Vietnam era, mainly the conversion to an all-volunteer military, and the need to throw a veil of glamor over military service in a decade when the generation targeted for recruitment mostly held the armed forces in contempt. But also the swift growth of conservative reaction within the generations too old to have been drafted into the Vietnam war.

that being said if i meet someone who looks back fondly on their military service and they are contradictorily empathetic, caring, and progressive in their way, i don't know how much good it does to push back on their experience, though i think that if they're being really truthful about it they would acknowledge how fucked up it really is. xp

I had an uncle who was an apolitical jock in college, drafted to Vietnam, and came back very radicalized left and outspoken politically to this day.

Have an uncle, he’s still alive.

Thanks, I’ll take one.

Again, any border issues are best understood as the Republican Party realizing that not changing any immigration laws helps them politically so they refuse to do so https://t.co/decG2xRJj0

— Aaron (the Give Smart guy) (@BobbyBigWheel) September 25, 2022

^solid truth. but this truth will never reach enough voters who might vote differently because of it.

Thanks, I’ll take one.

The whole migrant thing is a fraud. First, you defund the part of the government that handles the legal cases to the point there is now a 10+ year case back log. Secondly, these same racist f'cks are the ones who own the construction, agriculture, hospitality and other businesses that LOVE having a workforce that work for cash off the books and outside the OSHA and social security overview.

And anything else, blame the other side. Why change anything?

It's the most shameless hypocrisy, anybody who's walked past a construction crew in a lot of parts of the country knows who's doing a lot of our hard labor. (I overheard a funny conversation here on a street crew that was three Mexican guys and a white guy. The Mexicans were giving the white guy shit for being lazy, he was trying to convince them he could "work just as hard as a Mexican," and they were laughing at him.) I drive through the rich neighborhoods in our city and see nothing but small crews of mostly Latinos doing yardwork, landscaping, home repairs. But of course, that's the order some people want to keep (and/or aspire to).

There are for sure hard-core racists in the GOP coalition who are freaked out about becoming a majority-nonwhite country and buy into all that rancid replacement theory stuff. But there are also a lot of people who just think this immigration thing seems to be working fine right now, a deportable workforce is a compliant workforce.

"The election of the first woman prime minister in a country always represents a break with the past, and that is certainly a good thing"

Probably they had that statement left over from the French election, in case Marine won.

Meanwhile, here's a hot bad take for you.

New York libraries have waded into America’s culture wars by directly lending 25,000 books to non-residents since spring, including thousands of students living under the bans https://t.co/bcvVxZOOF6

— POLITICO New York (@politicony) September 26, 2022

I cited the article yesterday; didn't even see the tweet this morning.

my brother works for the Brooklyn library!

The program is great. It's just the framing in that tweet that's bad, mindlessly amping this up as a "culture war" fight rather than an effort to circumvent censorship. (Also they don't really have to "slip" through red state bans, the bans are on school materials. The books are still legal, we're not to that point yet.)

On Twitter, I pulled out the paragraph about how the Oklahoma town most het up about this used to be a sundown town. Nice folks. Salt of the earth and whatnot.

First of a couple of Jan. 6 revelations(?)---more details anyway:

As allies of then-President Donald Trump made a final push to overturn the election in late-December 2020, one of the key operatives behind the effort briefed then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about his attempts to gain access to voting systems in key battleground states, starting with Arizona and Georgia, according to text messages obtained by CNN.

Phil Waldron, an early proponent of various election-related conspiracy theories, texted Meadows on December 23 that an Arizona judge had dismissed a lawsuit filed by friendly GOP lawmakers there. The suit demanded state election officials hand over voting machines and other election equipment, as part of the hunt for evidence to support Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud.

In relaying the news to Meadows, Waldron said the decision would allow opponents to engage in “delay tactics” preventing Waldron and his associates from immediately accessing machines. Waldron also characterized Arizona as “our lead domino we were counting on to start the cascade,” referring to similar efforts in other states like Georgia.
Pathetic,” Meadows responded.

The messages, which have not been previously reported, shed new light on how Waldron’s reach extended into the highest levels of the White House and the extent to which Meadows was kept abreast of plans for accessing voting machines, a topic sources tell CNN, and court documents suggest, is of particular interest to state and federal prosecutors probing efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Significance of initial claim here has been argued about, but it's tip of the iceberg ov connections, more details, one of the v. few Trump-related books I want to read (niece Mary T.'s was fairly amazing or startling)

The White House switchboard dialled a phone associated with a January 6 rioter after it was clear the deadly Capitol attack had failed to prevent the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new book.

The book from former Republican congressman and House January 6 select committee adviser Denver Riggleman says the connection was an outgoing call routed through the switchboard at 4.34pm, and it was answered by an unnamed rioter who allegedly has since been charged by the justice department with a role in the storming of the Capitol.

Riggleman’s book, titled The Breach, was reviewed by the Guardian in advance of its scheduled publication on Tuesday, and it has already become controversial after the select committee decried the work as an incomplete account that lacked information to which he was not privy once he left the panel’s inquiry in April.
But in describing his work for the investigation and how he led a team analyzing call detail records, Riggleman offers previously unreported details about the White House calls around January 6 as well as the contacts around Trump’s political operatives, including Roger Stone and Alex Jones.
...Riggleman also details other instances of connections between the White House and people connected to the Capitol attack, writing that before January 6, the president of an organization known as Latinos for Trump – closely connected to the Proud Boys group – also received a call from the White House.

Denver Riggleman: another one for the "Government People with Pseudo-Pynchon Names" file.

it's weird how meadows didn't mention all that in his book

gonna be so infuriating when the DOJ decides not to press charges on anyone

But think of the pile of remaindered books in 2030!

Pres. Trump will discover recycling.

Aw shit

Mike Franken was giving GOP incumbent Chuck Grassley a tough challenge. Then a conservative website published a police report filed by his former campaign manager.

No more Frankens. Or old white troops.

Denver Riggleman: another one for the "Government People with Pseudo-Pynchon Names" file.

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, September 26, 2022 2:58 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

He's also the Bigfoot erotica guy

the dudes who run @OccupyDemocrats are under fire right now for allegedly pocketing PAC funds and i'm screaming at the owners (now deleted) response pic.twitter.com/dO7cah9whF

— shoe (@shoe0nhead) September 26, 2022

Aw, will no one think of the poor meme-makers?

Retweet if you think Occupy Democrats should be in JAIL!!

lol

I thought their entire shtick was that they rip off existing memes and slap their logo on
and, yup, a couple images on their twitter account were popular retweets elsewhere a week ago

You can’t tell me this isn’t straight from an episode of VEEP pic.twitter.com/c4QQWStqUJ

— Bob (@tweetsbybob_) September 26, 2022

we'll have to plan to plan on that one

Well, I hope he has plenty of gas. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/26/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-subpoena-abortion-lawsuit/

Can you be a state attorney general and not understand how process servers work? Apparently, yes

"feared for his family's safety" my ass

Can you be a state attorney general and not understand how process servers work?

you can be a Republican in a state where the entire court system is stacked with your cronies and ride your "I was never served! I wasn't there that day and you can't prove that!" all the way to victory though

I mean, the dude is guilty of several felonies and is still running around doing whatever the fuck he wants after seven years so

reminds me of being a kid and misunderstanding baseball rules, just running around first base and trying to dodge the first base player so they wouldn't touch you with the ball before you could sneak past them

LOL