US Politics, April 2023: Fucking Florida

Because Florida is the new fascist laboratory, that's why.

Thank you for your service, Alfred.

Doesn’t Ron know that arresting them only makes them stronger?

Things are great here in TN, too. My state rep is one of three Democrats slated for an expulsion vote later this week — literally, the GOP supermajority wants to throw them out of office — for staging a brief protest on the House floor last week when they weren't allowed to speak on gun restrictions (just days after the school shooting in Nashville). Red states are really going all-out, they don't want any dissenting voices at all.

https://t.co/8nhuB95z9q pic.twitter.com/KF26j5nWfP

— Aftyn Behn (@AftynBehn) April 4, 2023

On the plus side, the people chanting "fascists" there are mostly high school and college kids who staged a huge class walkout in Nashville today to go to the capitol and call for gun restrictions. A massive turnout, by all accounts.

From @brotherjones_ on the ground in Nashville— the Tennessee legislator is planning to expel lawmakers who stood with gun control advocates today.

They have been stripped from committee assignments and their member ID’s have been shut off.

THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY. pic.twitter.com/QiFzFrwj79

— Olivia Julianna 🗳 (@0liviajulianna) April 3, 2023

Yeah, it's not a coincidence that the GOP really hates at least two of the three — my rep, Gloria Johnson, because she has a tendency to call them racists and liars, and Justin Jones because he was a very vocal social justice activist who was forever getting in their faces (and was once arrested for allegedly throwing a coffee cup at a Republican representative). He was just elected to office last fall.

They hate my rep so much that even though they weren't able to completely gerrymander her out of a seat, they went to the trouble to carve a new district and left her house out of it just to fuck with her. She had to move to run for reelection (which she won easily). But now it looks like I and the other 70,000 people in my district might be without a state representative come Thursday.

I tried to use Google to translate the motto of GOP state legislators everywhere into latin, but it bowdlerized it. So instead I offer you the English original: "If we have the votes to do it, why the fuck not?"

I am fine with the thread name but...
if Florida is the nation's wang, is it being fucked or is ot doing the fucking?

Apologies to any peninsulasexuals out there who I may have inadvertently offended. May you find your inlet, or isthmus, or whatever.

Personally I'm a fjord explorer.

This is how they talk to children asking for help

Sorry y'all, but some of you are just going to have to die.

What a coward. https://t.co/VYCtjkdh8u

— whatajoke (@wattaj0ke) April 3, 2023

YMP is that a joke ridiculing people who identify in unusual ways? On a thread about, essentially, the creeping fascism of America? Just checking

Just absurdity, nothing more

Florida is not America's wang, it is America's lower intestine.

i love that the knuckle-dragging conservatives are calling that mild protest in Tennessee an "insurrection".

we're not even at peak galaxy-brain yet in this country

otoh, I now have no shortage of examples for why "states' rights" is a horrible thing and always was.

Good mornign!

Tennessee Republican legislators are some of the most crooked political thugs you can imagine.

I can only assume that when Kelsea Ballerini sang with four drag queens at the CMT Awards who’s weekend, approximately four dozen baby Morgan Wallens received their origin stories

who’s this weekend

Florida Senate meanwhile passed their 6-week abortion ban yesterday. House still has to vote on theirs and reconcile w/ Senate bill. bill may be on DeSantis's desk to sign next week.

I've been reading that the law doesn't go into effect until FL Supreme Court rules on the 15-week lawsuit (I have a hard time determining if that's accurate, as the media gets so much wrong). if that IS true, that means abortions will probably be available through 15 weeks at least another month or so, but assuming FL Supreme Court rules as expected, it means abortions in the South will be largely curtailed.

Abortion funds that provide resources for travel and lodging are going to need more donations than ever

i'm proactively researching them all but abortionfunds.org seems a good place to start as you can split a donation among 90 diff funds nationally or choose specific state funds

Yeah, that's why Nikki Fried and Lauren Book were arrested: they were protesting the abortion bill (this is for the benefit of unaware ILXers).

A rundown:

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/04/nikki-fried-lauren-book-arrested-in-florida-6-week-abortion-ban-protest/70078878007/

Tennessee Republican legislators are some of the most crooked political thugs you can imagine

the bar's high but it's honestly very remarkable & concerning

Personally I'm a fjord explorer.

Underrated punchline.

The hilarious (enraging) thing about expelling those TN legislators is no Congresshuman got expelled for January 6th, at which PEOPLE WERE KILLED

^^^

also the literal rapists who were serving in state Congress that didn't get expelled

And legislators under federal indictment, also not expelled.

Fortunately for us here in TN, Marianne Williamson is on the case. (Marianne Williamson otm, I have to say.)

The state of Tennessee is something to behold right now.

Authoritarian extremist legislators are exerting, or are trying to exert, all kinds of absurd power over people’s lives… from women to drag queens to students.

People are resisting, fiercely and powerfully.

To those…

— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) April 4, 2023

When Marianne Williamson is able to drop more truthbombs than most other prominent public figures there is definitely something afoot.

Also definitely cosign on giving generously to abortionfunds.org if you are able.

Crazy times here in Northern California.. Shasta County supes:

Last week the supervisors took steps to replace it with a hand-count system. The county ended its contract with Dominion before establishing a replacement and now, with a potential special election months away and the presidential primary a year out, it has no voting system in place as it embarks on a plan to create an entirely new system from scratch.

I guarantee this will metastasize

Shasta Co. contains some beautiful parts. It also contains Redding and among the most reactionary, conservative populations I encountered living in that part of the world. Even Siskiyou felt more liberal!

they can have a ballot-counting pancake breakfast and crowdsource the effort

I woke up today feeling sick as a dog, I've had nothing but water and Pedialyte and have spent most of the day in bed, but I still dragged my ass up to vote in the WI Supreme Court election, because fuck these assholes who want to impose a Republican stranglehold on a state that generally leans slightly Democrat. Turnout seemed really big for this type of election too, given the lines you'd think it was at least a midterm.

Everything feels kinda weird and unstable right now, huh? I mean, I know it has for a while obviously, but it feels like another uptick at the moment, or a move to a new level of widespread instability. The center cannot hold etc etc. Maybe it's partly just the full realization that there is no "normal" to return to, we're gonna have to fight our way through all this shit.

otm

My daughter got to vote in Wisconsin today. She and her cohort showed up as a big voting block.

I hear you, tipsy, but I haven't felt at ease since at least November 2000. Iraq War, torture, credit default swaps, Black Muslim, Guantanamo, 2016, the Trump presidency -- it hasn't stopped. I think of that Mekons lyric from 2002: "Everyday is a battle/How we still love the war."

Anti-trans/LGBTQ+ bills aren't exactly new, but they've skyrocketed since 2021, especially the last two years. Conservatives view progressive gains or even something that marginally helps people as "shots fired" and get revenge by doing nothing by nonstop hateful shit.

A "whitelash", as Van Jones put it. They always frame it as "see how we felt", but fuck, all we did is grant marginalized people more rights and tell you that you couldn't use your religion to discriminate. They're outright killing people.

I like this metaphor: right before a star dies, it makes a giant blinding flash

And that's what's happening with the Trumpy crowd - demographics are obviously not in their favor, we're leaning urban - or the urban libs are moving to montana and texas etc.
The country as they know it is changing, and they're not going down without a fight... but inevitably they will go down

(I hope I'm right)

For me, I definitely saw and felt the ugly undercurrent, but when institutions were holding against some of the more extreme shit (or slightly bending), so it was unsettling, but we knew we had pushback against States trying to pass extreme hate bills. Not to say that even then, all of that shit got stopped. But much more of it did.

Now that backstop is gone and States can enact their Christofascist nightmare and dare us to challenge them

I don't mean to imply that this is the end of angry conservatism in the U.S. I just mean that the peculiar cult of personality around Trump is ultimately doomed

A lot of people who voted for him in 2016 had never voted before, or had voted for Obama twice
I don't see anyone on the current roster who has that kind of pull

No I read what you mean!

I agree Alfred, the post-9/11 era was bad and lots of it has never gone away. I do think it was still rooted in this kind of Cold War model that still felt somewhat rooted in the postwar world. Like you could still assume some basic things (good or bad) about the world. The current moment feels more rootless to me. That's not all bad, there's opportunities for change, but uneasy it is.

Conservatives view progressive gains or even something that marginally helps people as "shots fired" and get revenge by doing nothing by nonstop hateful shit.

They're offended by the mere presence of other ideas, at a level of intensity that I think reflects three decades of poisonous right-wing media. It's bred a cadre of people who are literally unaccustomed to hearing any conflicting thoughts or opinions. It's pretty absolutist, it doesn't feel like there's an endpoint for them short of obliterating the First Amendment.

I think of that Mekons lyric from 2002: "Everyday is a battle/How we still love the war."

love this, and yes

Trump will eventually die; another Trump will replace him; the battle goes on.

I once thought Rumsfeld-Bush-Cheney-Rice the most evil people of my lifetime. Expect worse always.

I'm pretty ready to get a vasectomy tbh. Mostly because of abortion laws and not wanting to put someone in the position of having to travel to get one

My bro can give my folks grandkids

(tbh there's a fairly big reason why it wouldn't matter of I did or didn't rn but)

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

"Fairly big"

No reason to be modest here, Neanderthal. You are among friends.

we're leaning urban - or the urban libs are moving to montana and texas etc.

*waving from Glacier National Park*

Lol YMP

Fwiw I had a vasectomy 11 years ago and it's great. I plan to get my son snipped as well. He's severely intellectually disabled (44 IQ) and I just don't think he will ever be able to understand consent or parenting or adult life generally- it's sad but it is what it is. Better snipped than sorry, especially since any potential partner he may encounter will presumably also be a special-needs personage too.

(Sorry for the downer note there. It really is some profoundly heavy shit but it is our specific shit to deal with. Carry on.)

No need to apologize. Much love to you.

nice thread on totalizing rhetoric re: "fascism" and some overlooked things about it in germany that allowed it to work

nothing in this tweet is wrong per se but when I teach fascism, I always have students move past this stuff on the first week. And then to move into what fascism actually was in historical and political economic terms... https://t.co/2tNWfQQSq9

— Ajay Singh Chaudhary (@materialist_jew) April 4, 2023

shouldn't have put fascism in scare quotes

I like that thread -- I shared it -- but it waves Arendt aside. Maybe an argument for another thread.

My state rep on the NewsHour tonight: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/tennessee-republicans-move-to-expel-democratic-lawmakers-who-joined-gun-protest-in-capitol

She's good on all points, I especially like that she hammers on how redistricting has totally distorted our politics — the Legislature is literally unrepresentative.

Everything feels kinda weird and unstable right now, huh? I mean, I know it has for a while obviously, but it feels like another uptick at the moment, or a move to a new level of widespread instability.

I don’t especially feel this way. I’m generally with Alfred, it’s been clear since since the W years that our alleged democratic institutions including corporate media etc were deeply dysfunctional and largely motivated by the concerns of resource extraction industries and their financial backers. With the increasing importance of the climate crisis as central issue in global politics of course these interests are becoming increasingly desperate and irrationally defensive.

Now we’re told that any minor state electoral loss could potentially mean the end of American democracy? If our rule of law is so easily shaken at this point it’s clear it doesn’t have much of a solid foundation left to stand on, sorry.

I don't mean to imply that this is the end of angry conservatism in the U.S. I just mean that the peculiar cult of personality around Trump is ultimately doomed

A lot of people who voted for him in 2016 had never voted before, or had voted for Obama twice
I don't see anyone on the current roster who has that kind of pull

Can’t help but read this as a hopium smoker’s pipe dream. Trump is just a figurehead to them, as a cravenly bigoted narcissist of course he’s especially well suited to the role. But it’s not like there’s a shortage of bigoted narcissists in leadership positions and while DeSantis and Haley might not have Trump’s charisma, CBS’ recent attempt to provide MTG with her star turn show how facile the normalization of fascism has become.

Pass the hopium.

And there it is: w/ 484,829 votes counted in Chicago, Brandon Johnson takes the lead over Paul Vallas by 1,111 votes (50.11%-49.89%).

You wouldn't want to call it without seeing at least some mail, but it's virtually done.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) April 5, 2023

It may be close, but I'm starting to get optimistic about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election

xpost Huh. Good. I hope Johnson can keep it together against any headwinds.

Wisconsin: w/ about half the vote counted in Sauk Co. (Baraboo), a classic WI bellwether, Protasiewicz leads Kelly 58%-42%. Another great sign for her.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) April 5, 2023

Nervous phew.

Now we’re told that any minor state electoral loss could potentially mean the end of American democracy? If our rule of law is so easily shaken at this point it’s clear it doesn’t have much of a solid foundation left to stand on, sorry.

lol well exactly.

I'm not completely pessimistic about future possible scenarios, but I think "not much of a solid foundation" is what I mean by instability.

I've seen enough: Janet Protasiewicz defeats Daniel Kelly for Wisconsin Supreme Court. The result flips ideological control of the court from conservative to liberal, a huge victory for the pro-choice side.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) April 5, 2023

xpost

Ok sure seems we’re basically on the same page. I initially took “weird and unstable right now” as referring to this week and not the mostly predictable arc of the past twenty five years of politics.

I do hope for progressive wins in Chicago and Wisconsin but know it’s going to take a lot more to significantly improve the systemic dysfunction.

Look, man, let's celebrate what we've won tonight, m'kay? Tomorrow the fight begins anew.

In Miami Springs, we Dems won a council seat against sudden GOP encroachment. We phone banked, knocked on doors for him, and it worked. Keep it up.

I've seen enough: Brandon Johnson defeats Paul Vallas in the Chicago mayoral runoff.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) April 5, 2023

Thank fucking god, that Dan Kelly guy was a real dickhead

Yeah I'm gonna say, a bit of a satisfying one-two to end the day here.

Satisfying local WI news, the well-qualified boring normie candidate appears to have solidly beaten the Qanon nut for a seat on the Kenosha school board. That's meaningful here for sure and a bit of a relief.

Good to hear it!

Every win counts, for sure.

otm

great news all around KIU KIP

That Wisconsin win seems like a validation of the "run on abortion" strategy.

If it worked in friggin Kansas it can work anywhere.

such good news about the WI supreme court

nice that we had an immediate test of whether Trump's indictment was going to help Republicans

she won by 11 and a half points, that's a pretty high margin given that Wisconsin is a swing state. I was a bit worried because there were way more Kelly signs around here, but apparently the 3 Dems won school board here too so I guess that don't mean much.

my daughter was very proud to lead a posse to the polls.

there was a time, not even that long ago, that Republicans would see mounting election losses immediately following their toxic behavior and decide to at least minorly pivot, but nowadays they'll probably double down because they have SCOTUS and they figure they're going to challenge as many state/national elections as possible in 2024.

but...i'm glad to see the mobilization against their machine is still out there and winning victories, and that there's still quite the blowback to their horrible policies. going to be a rocky next year and a half but we will grind and we will win. it is decreed.

would also be nice if like, Clarence Thomas was to choke on a ham sandwich in the next week or so.

Going ham on Ginni.

they figure they're going to challenge as many state/national elections as possible in 2024

Well, they tried that in 2020 with the same current Supreme Court, to notably ill effect.

buncha rotten sons of beaches

Quiet part out loud pic.twitter.com/cAmxKUBCF3

— Tim Dickinson (@7im) April 5, 2023

Well, they tried that in 2020 with the same current Supreme Court, to notably ill effect.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, April 5, 2023 10:31 AM bookmarkflaglink

mind you I don't know if they'll *succeed*, but that is probably s till their plan nonetheless.

This guy, Justin Kanew, runs a progressive/activist media outfit called the Tennessee Holler, which among other things was responsible for publicizing our governor's high school yearbook drag photo and our lt. gov.'s Instagram proclivities. I've been expecting stuff like this to start happening.

Our family’s statement on something that happened to us this weekend. Love each other. pic.twitter.com/Ko1HMCas0C

— Justin Kanew (@Kanew) April 5, 2023

jfc

Breaking News: A longtime Democratic state representative in North Carolina switched parties, giving Republicans narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the legislature, allowing them to bypass Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. https://t.co/R4y3e8z0u0

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 5, 2023

might help things if the Democrats have start running actual Democrats for these seats

In an email on Tuesday night, Ms. Cotham’s mother, Pat Cotham, who is a Mecklenburg County commissioner, urged her daughter’s critics to reserve judgment and said that her daughter “came to this decision with prayer and great reflection.”

“She is not afraid to stand alone,” she said.

standing alone by joining the majority party

i guess it's not clear if she actually intends to vote party-line on bills now or just switched parties as a 'fuck you', but if she does, wow, imagine changing long-standing beliefs based on somebody being mean to you (aka America).

I always wonder what god tells these people

"Do it. Be a legend."

man her office phone line better be tied up all week. wonder if I can find the # for it.

if she's really that concerned about meanness and being publicly harassed, why don't we just lean into it.

An interesting Twitter thread about that party switch:

🍆 https://t.co/KZxzu7XCre

— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) April 5, 2023

This article explains why Montana hasn't gone as full-bore psycho as some other Republican-controlled states. Basically, they can't without amending the state constitution, and there are requirements in place that make that really hard.

Constitutional amendment proposals this session have far outnumbered those introduced in past Legislatures, a data point that has drawn ire from Democrats and moderate Republicans, who see the push to revise the state’s Constitution as an unwarranted attempt by the Republican party to consolidate power — a party that is now governing with a bicameral supermajority for the first time since 1972. Since Montana voters ratified the Constitution 50 years ago, a total of 34 amendments have been passed, at the pace of less than one per year, far fewer than the number being considered in this session alone.

Yet efforts by the GOP to change the Constitution have met roadblocks in recent weeks, as constitutional amendment bills have failed to garner critical Republican votes, dying in committee or on the House and Senate floor. Despite the fact that various amendments would bolster the power of the GOP, many Republican lawmakers have proved unwilling to support them, a reflection of a heterogeneous majority party and a state that remains hesitant to tamper with its foundational document. As lawmakers in Helena decide the fate of the remaining amendments, resistance even among Republicans raises questions over the goals of the party and the pulse of the state’s electorate.

...

Unlike the regular bill process, constitutional amendments must pass the Legislature with a two-thirds majority, or 100 legislators between the House and the Senate. If passed by 100 lawmakers, constitutional amendments are then placed on the ballot at the next general election, where they are either approved or denied by the voters. Legislators cannot pass constitutional amendments without the consent of the Montana electorate.

While Republicans possess supermajority control of the Legislature — there are 68 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 34 in the Senate — the passage of constitutional amendments requires united support from the party, a difficult standard to achieve. Given nearly unanimous opposition to constitutional amendments so far by Democrats, the GOP would need all but two Republican lawmakers to vote for the amendments that are currently on the table, assuming no Democrats defect and join them, a feat that has proven unattainable in recent floor votes.

A longtime Democratic state representative in North Carolina switched parties, giving Republicans narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers

This framing overlooks the reality that this representative could just as easily vote to override the governor's veto any time, even if they'd stayed a Democrat. This kind of party-switching has far more to do with worry over re-election and the advantages of caucusing with the majority.

*turn on the sound* The energy of young people standing up to Republicans fascist behaviour in TN.

Yes, "Vote them out." Solidarity with the youth. ✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/L3s1dt0ywe

— The Bern Identity (@bern_identity) April 4, 2023

might help things if the Democrats have start running actual Democrats for these seats

😗♪♬

Student protests against gun violence in Colorado are being monitored by the state's intelligence command center, CIAC, which today issued bulletin notifying police of "a planned nationwide school walkout...in protest of gun violence," per source.

Why's this necessary, @GovofCO? pic.twitter.com/8yBQ8lfvKv

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) April 5, 2023

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/politics/north-carolina-republican-supermajority-democrat-switch-parties/index.html

this lady switched to the GOP because someone didn't like a sticker on her car? Am I reading this right?

The Twitter thread I linked above suggests (not without evidence) that she switched parties because she's sleeping with the Republican Speaker of the NC House.

sorry I totally missed all those posts!

(Colorado has an 'intelligence command center'? )

"C'mon babe... come across the aisle, won't you do this little thing for me, hon?"

not a bad week

Today, we are repealing Michigan’s extreme 1931 law that bans abortion and criminalized nurses and doctors for doing their jobs. 

This is long overdue. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/PCOqJhTtb4

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) April 5, 2023

xpost Unless it's been scrubbed, her twitter feed prior to this is pretty vacuous, just inspirational quotes and rooting for ball teams, dsylexia and suicide awareness. Of course her web site is down but there are some screenshots of her campaign site from 6 months ago:

Tricia Cotham literally ran on a progressive platform and is now changing her party affiliation to Republican.

Disgusting. https://t.co/iy3IZsIr7k pic.twitter.com/fzPIxbWnKk

— Michael Paulauski (@mike10010100) April 4, 2023

OMG, he's physically transforming into Trump!

Lindsey’s newly blond hair and tangerine skin tint prove that you are, in fact, what you eat https://t.co/pF2EpL7F6c

— shauna (@goldengateblond) April 5, 2023

Lest we forget:

That is a dude who literally made a campaign ad showing him destroying a cell phone in myriad ways just to say how much of an asshole his opponent was (and is).

Then he went on the Daily Show and John Stewart set up a bit where Graham (a pretty good pool player who was raised in a pool hall or maybe quasi brothel, the details are fuzzy) was forced to say nice things about Donald Trump.

And while we're at it let's remember the times Marco Rubio was made to backtrack on his Trump criticisms so as not to be massacred by the red hat brigade.

Sheesh.

If these weren't ALSO horrible people in their own right, I might feel a little bit sorry for them.

so I'm getting messages from the Human Rights Campaign about this new law against gender-affirming care in Texas, which they're indicating as written could block access in all states. I'm confused at the mechanism being used, but Texas is I guess banning any entity that does business with them from facilitating gender-affirming care.

Ignoring the "lol courts don't matter anymore because xx District doesn't care", wouldn't that pretty obviously violate commerce laws and be a state trying to act as the Federal government?

I signed the petition, naturally, because I don't care what it does state level or national level, it's disgusting, but it seems something like that would probably get tossed in most non-insane courts if not rewritten, right?

The New Lindsay reminds me of when Eminem used to roll with a bunch of dopplegangers.. maybe he hopes to be part of Trump's posse

https://lyricallyrap.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/therealslimshady.jpg

Editorial: Mayor-elect Johnson found a place in his acceptance speech for God. But not Barack Obama.https://t.co/dwJU4MABqc

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) April 5, 2023

Sure Andy but as long as we're embracing pop-cultural ephemera to describe current national politics, let's not forget the cultural-appropriation firestorm that accompanied the "Shake it Off" video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM

Tl; dr: the Lindsays gonna Graham Graham Graham

you can always ignore the chicago tribune

yeah, politically they've been a joke since after (and before, tbh) endorsing Gary Johnson

absolutely bizarre angle to write an op-ed from unless it's purely to grind an axe about how you dislike progressive politicians in general, which.. whoops! that's what it is

good lord

While he has not yet announced his plans, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed the federal paperwork on Wednesday for a campaign to run for president as a Democrat. https://t.co/IGMGrgjb83

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 6, 2023

Camelot II: the Plague Years.

excellent buddy, now go out and celebration with a ride in an open-top convertible

Or a walk through a pantry in LA. (Or a private airplane flight.)

To the extent New Age granola bullshit nurtured the anti-vax movement, the Democrats probably need some truth and reconciliation on it. Let the people decide. I'm sure Marianne Williamson has thoughts about it.

don't disrespect granola, it's not to blame

Granolamerica, God shred his oats on thee

I apologize, I love granola. It's not to blame.

-Howard Jones

Lol

Not news to people itt but otm

Watch what's happening in Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Idaho & other red states that are rapidly becoming fascist dystopias--denying women, people of color, voters, retirees, families, and children their rights. This is America's nightmare now. It is much bigger than Trump.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) April 6, 2023

can't disagree w/ a single word in that tweet thread.

people keep saying 'vote' as a solution, and that's not entirely wrong in that voting mobilization needs to be greater than ever for resistance, but the GOP are also using mechanisms to game the results.

as map said in another thread, really think national work stoppage is literally the only thing that'd ever stop the GOP in their tracks but idk how much of a stomach we have for it. millions would be out on their ass if they lost their jobs and that fear is pretty immobilizing. but...it'd change things faster than any protest.

jesus christ the cops in Florida abducted a kid for posting this fucking meme https://t.co/9eSM8VYmbp

— posting forever (@postingwhilegay) April 6, 2023

DeSantis whistleblower's family targeted in a frightening and ridiculous way.

motherFUCK

can DOJ get involved here?

That is dark.

really wish Biden would just pardon every single person arrested in FL under any of DeSantis's draconian laws

that person hasn’t made the most reliable claims in the past iirc but I hope her family is well

several have reported this to DOJ via official reports, but doubting they will get involved - prediction is the negative news cycle has officers release the kid without charges so they can call Jones a liar. it's always their move.

hoping they do so that she can take her and her son out of the state to safety.

arrested confirmed by authorities: https://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2023/04/06/rebekah-jones-son-arrested-in-florida-what-we-know-about-digital-threat-allegations/70088634007/

something I haven't given much thought to is that what happened in Uvalde, specifically the cops waiting outside the building for over an hour because they were too scared of the shooter's gun, is something every student in America from 4th grade up must be very aware of, and something that will likely color their view of police for their entire lives

good point. when I was growing up, distrust of the police wasn't so mainstreamed, it appeared mostly in minority communities, but without video, white people generally didn't believe them, so there was this feeling like the police were saviors when I was a kid.

a bit glad that kids are at least getting a more accurate of picture of cops in their youth, though I'd prefer it NOT to be at their expense :(

I do give mad props to my 5th grade teacher, though, who made us watch the Rodney King video and spent ten minutes screaming at the TV "HOW is he resisting arrest? How?" and talking about how it was obvious police brutality and we needed to be upset about it.

that's a pretty good meme tbh

yup

yea if you're gonna go to jail over a meme its gotta be a good one

I feel like there has to be more to this story than a teen posting a meme, but we'll wait and see

Really? I totally believe florida cops fucking with kids for no reason

IDK, her qualifier is "which included this meme" - there's no evidence that the meme was the reason for the raid or whatever

anyway I hit the gym early today and someone had left FOX news on and one of the things they were talking about was how Republicans have a "Gen Z problem"...apparently only like 22% of 18-25s are voting for them. and so apparently the GOP is forming a youth outreach program or some shit, which no doubt will be staffed entirely by people like Matt Gaetz. just pisses me off now how much the GOP is whining about schools these days, how the teachers are all "leftists" teaching them "dangerous ideas" about "race" and "queer people" or whatever. I have 2 kids in elementary school, every single teacher I've met there has been a nice, caring person, someone who obviously wants to impart good values to kids, because if you didn't why the hell else would you want to do it? It's not like they get paid much!

it kind of strikes me that maybe the real reason the GOP is so gung ho on fucking up the education system is that it runs counter to everything they believe in - ideas like "the scientific process" and "be respectful to others" and "don't do stuff just because you can get away with it" and "bullying is wrong". Sorry I know this is probably obvious to everyone else here but this week my kids are learning about bullying, how to spot it and why you shouldn't do it, and it really irritates me because I drive by like 10 Trump signs on my way there. I can only imagine what older kids with some sense of what's actually going on feel about the Republican party right now.

they want to end public education, end paying for it, and force everyone into religious schools so that they can exert more control over them, it's not that complicated

the GOP is forming a youth outreach program or some shit

i think they already have one, it's turning point usa

This story from 2014 showed Louisiana parishes were already openly breaking the law in regards to that (and who knows maybe still are)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/26/the-louisiana-public-school-cramming-christianity-down-students-throats

they want to end public education, end paying for it, and force everyone into religious schools so that they can exert more control over them, it's not that complicated

I think this is basically right, but it's worth noting how much of a departure this is from even a few years ago. The voucher people have been out there, well funded and banging drums, for decades — but there was a base-level attachment to public education in the GOP that kept them fairly contained and limited. It was really the elevation of Betsy DeVos by Trump and then Chris Rufo's all-out war on woke public schools that started to break the logjam.

That's why I fucking hate Jeb!

xps - For the purposes of the GOP it isn't necessary to end public education. After all, business owners hate having to pay for training workers and want to shift that cost as much as possible to the public school system. It's sufficient to defund public education and severely constrain it, so that it delivers a somewhat skilled workforce, stuffed with bland ideas that ensure they are docile and compliant. This, as far as I can see, is their version of The American Dream.

I wouldn’t underestimate the pandemic’s role in all
of this— as soon as public schools started to close and people realized their kids weren’t being brainwashed according to their values, they went apeshit because they’re hateful fucks

Meantime, you love to see it:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/us/politics/mccarthy-republican-divisions-debt-ceiling.html

There are problems of scale in voucher models.

Like, you can't really do a per-student number that relates to stuff like having a roof. A school needs a roof no matter how many people go there!

Duke Ellington HS in DC did not have a functional roof for a decade, at least partly because of bullshit charter and private-school dickwads deciding that Asheliegh and Quentynne were too precious to go to school with the city's riffraff.

I am so sick of that nonsense. School is SUPPOSED to make you interact with people who aren't like you. That is its job, as much as (if not more than) making you do algebra.

xps

Yeah 2020 was a key year, both because of the turmoil COVID caused in public schools and because the George Floyd protests fueled a panic that opened up space for Rufo et al.

xps - For the purposes of the GOP it isn't necessary to end public education. After all, business owners hate having to pay for training workers and want to shift that cost as much as possible to the public school system. It's sufficient to defund public education and severely constrain it, so that it delivers a somewhat skilled workforce, stuffed with bland ideas that ensure they are docile and compliant. This, as far as I can see, is their version of The American Dream.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Thursday, April 6, 2023 12:36 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is essentially what has been happening in WI afaict since the Scott Walker years: bleeding dry the UW System (once a crown jewel of higher ed) and pumping $ and resources into trade/technical schools (that don't teach pesky critical thinking stuff but do teach students how to operate complicated machines)

I naively wish we could chart a different course that didn't reinforce a binary class structure, where college/liberal arts grads went on to do white-collar knowledge work, and technical school grads went on to do blue-collar trades.

That model has always always sucked and it has significantly contributed to poisoning the culture and creating the polarized political divide where you're either Elizabeth Warren or Joe the Plumber.

I love Virginia Woolf inordinately. I don't think everyone needs to read Virginia Woolf in order to become a responsible adult. At the same time, I love that there are people who can interact with the world and fix the things in it that are broken.

How do we stop acting like those are the two ways to be? I have no idea. I have tween/teen children and I wish they could inhabit a world that was significantly more humane.

They're not even reading Virginia Woolf.

Afraid of her iirc

But this isn’t actually the way the world is?

Apparently Rebekah Jones kid threatened to shoot up a school.

Obviously still shouldn't progress to cuffing a 13 year old with felony charges, but it doesn't look as clear cut

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2023/04/06/rebekah-jones-son-arrested-in-florida-what-we-know-about-digital-threat-allegations/70088634007/

As a previous poster pointed, she's of dubious character.

*pointed out

Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones, who is the first up for expulsion today, is an amazing speaker

I can't believe this shit in Tennessee.

Yeah I would love a venn diagram of people who cheered on January 6 and who are now suddenly concerned about those who “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor” to the Tennessee House.

Well this is gross

Biden administration says schools may bar trans athletes from competitive teams

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/04/06/trans-athletes-school-sports-title-ix/

well, they voted to expel him

Wow: Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, one of the Dems that the GOP is trying to expel from state legislature to protesting gun violence, calls out his colleagues on the floor

‘For years, one of your colleagues, an admitted child molester, sat in this chamber – no expulsion’ pic.twitter.com/KNDrhX3gl1

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 6, 2023

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/05/tennessee-rep-david-byrd-resolution-filed-again-expel-house/4672744002/

Jones is a very powerful speaker - hopefully he can stage some kind of comeback

This whole thing is REALLY fucked and makes TN look pretty bad in the year 2023

Jones is fantastic. What a speaker.

swarm of people at the Capitol too. i imagine they're not leaving any time soon

I've been saying that all day, they're just gonna make Justin Jones a national figure. He's only been in office for a few months, he couldn't have paid for this kind of attention. And he's just going to get either reappointed or reelected within a few months, it's all a total joke. Completely dumb self-own by the supermajority. (Also of course they wouldn't have the two-thirds majority they need to do this if it weren't for extreme gerrymandering.)

Next up is my own rep, Gloria, who I imagine will likewise get tossed out. She will definitely win reelection too.

"We had a member pee in another member's chair in this chamber, no expulsion. In fact, they're in leadership."

Get it together, Tennessee!

Hey what an interesting notion that constituents can vote for people and then somebody else decides that they get kicked out of the club for not being the right sort of person

Hey where is that energy about e.g. George Santos

Nashville Metro Council is calling a special meeting for Monday, where they will almost certainly reappoint Jones. His expulsion is basically going to last the weekend. Also, now that he's officially out of office he can raise money — which legislators can't do while they're in session — so he's going to make huge bank off of this.

Of course, they'll fuck with him in whatever other ways they can.

dude sounds like a preacher

he definitely has a great sense of oratory

CNN, Fox, and MSNBC have been wall-to-wall with the coverage

Whoa they DIDN'T expel Gloria. That's a legitimate shock.

did they not have the votes?

Missed by one vote, I haven't seen which Republicans voted no. She was the least vocal of the three of them during the protest, that may have tipped it. Or maybe it's just that she's a white lady.

geez somehow only expelling the 2 young black people makes this look even worse

otm

Less vocal my ass xp
They saw this as an opportunity to get rid of the only two young black men in thier house and fucking took it, they were forced to lump her in there full well knowing they would not vote her out.

the guy who peed on someone's chair after getting called out:

https://media.tenor.com/RHkfCTNEwrQAAAAC/itysl-what-the-hell.gif

Omigod seriously

we know Gino Bulso could not have been one of the Republicans who voted no. What a petty badgering asshole

geez somehow only expelling the 2 young black people makes this look even worse

Yeah, especially in the home state of the KKK from a Legislature that fought for years against removing a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Capitol. (And guess who led months of demonstrations against that bust being there? Justin Jones.)

i really feel like this is very much not going to go like they planned

so hoping all of these state congressmen get harassed every time they walk into a McDonald's

that stuff with Rebekah Jones' kid sounds significantly more troubling than how she painted it (she claimed he just posted a meme criticising the police). I too followed her initially during covid but she increasingly struck me as an untrustworthy source of information and a bit of a grifter and she's only gotten worse as time has gone on.

GOP has gotten really good at the dirty tricks stuff, not so great at legitimately winning votes in free & fair elections

States where Dems do great in statewide elections (WI), but the sleezeball GOP still hold super majorities? That shit can't last

Justin Pearson is also a very eloquent speaker

I'm behind on following this, but he is astonishing

Outside of the substance, the optics of this thing are just appalling; it's pretty much "if you boys had just kept quiet, kept to yourselves and stayed out of trouble.." etc.

Justin Pearson is quite an amazing preacher

so he is also epelled

*expelled

amidst chants of 'shame on you'

what an awful spectacle

My land

Outside of the substance, the optics of this thing are just appalling

Yeah by NOT expelling Gloria they somehow managed to make the worst possible choice, optics-wise. They're inventing whole new ways to shoot themselves (and the whole state) in the dick.

Like the man says -- no lie

Oh my God. Republicans just expelled the two Black Democratic lawmakers but not the white Democratic lawmaker.

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 7, 2023

Johnson, who is White, was asked why there was a difference in the outcome for her and Jones, who is Black-Filipino.

“I will answer your question. It might have to do with the color of our skin,” she said.

That's my rep! She's pretty great, for real.

If anyone wants to give Justin Jones any cash, here's his reactivated fundraising page: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tn-leg-csm-tw

Sad day.

I can't believe this is actually happening.

I love that he said "see you on Monday". I hope Jones gets national politics big, I already like him.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/06/nashville-council-vow-to-return-lawmaker-justin-jones-to-house/70090175007/

OK who peed on the chair

So the story (never confirmed, widely circulated) is that either a former Republican representative named Andy H0lt or one of his staffers peed on a chair in the office of another Republican representative, over an online spat between the two.

This was during the brief reign of our former Speaker of the House, who was pushed out as speaker after a year because of a whole bunch of stuff including text messages where he said a lot of crude things about women, allegations of campaign finance shenanigans, and also having a chief of staff who bragged in his own text messages about doing blow on his desk in the legislative offices. The former speaker and his chief of staff are currently facing federal charges for bribery and kickbacks.

This is the kind of "decorum" and "sanctity" the state GOP brings to the Capitol.

"son, when you grow up, you can be anything you want - you can be a politician! you don't have to change much of your behavior, actually"

Another little clip of Gloria Johnson. Let me just tell you a little about her. She's a retired special ed teacher who spent decades in the classroom before getting into politics. She was chair of our county Democratic Party in the Obama years and basically reinvented it, shedding all of its old yellow-dog tendencies and turning it into a modern urban party. She ran for office the first time partly because she couldn't find anyone else to run, and somewhat shockingly won. Then she lost her reelection, ran again two years later and lost again, ran again two years later and — as the district turned more blue — won convincingly. She got reelected again, and the state GOP hates her so much they redrew her district and drew her out of it. They forced her to move to run again, which she did. (She lives in a tiny rental house while renting out her other also-tiny place, I think she basically lives on her teacher pension and the $25k a year legislators get.) She has Marfan syndrome and has had advancing physical issues because of it, she mostly uses a scooter to get around. She is at every rally and event and is always, relentlessly upbeat and positive. One of the good ones.

Rep. Gloria Johnson on why she survived while two of her colleagues were expelled from the Tennessee House: "Well, I think it's pretty clear. I'm a 60-year-old white woman and they are two young Black men." pic.twitter.com/6dNbW9dOHz

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2023

(Also I first got to know and recognize her as part of the local music scene, she was always at shows in the '90s. Even dated one of our local rock stars for a while.)

South Knox Democrats baby! I have met her. My parents are big supporters and big fans.

Tipsy … just, wow. Wow. All of it.

Two federal rulings on mifepristone, two contradictory orders

AND now the Washington judge just ruled too: barring FDA from changing status quo re: mifepristone. FDA is now under two contradictory orders.

— David S. Cohen (@dsc250) April 7, 2023

Quick takeaways from the Texas decision on FDA approval of mifepristone. First, it doesn't go into effect for at least seven days. I fully expect more court decisions in the meantime. /1

— David S. Cohen (@dsc250) April 7, 2023

If you want to see me engaging in a little TV punditry about the Tennessee debacle, here you go: https://www.wbir.com/video/news/politics/compass-expert-discusses-expulsion-vote-in-tennessee-house-of-representatives/51-61218ede-b318-44a4-b358-a2cdc00d88b5

Sweet punditry Duke of Saxony, seriously insightful & impressive!

Thanks!

you hit all the main points with clarity and economy. the best kind of punditry!

great job tipsy!

Why weren’t you billed by your noble title?

A good question

That WBIR site is completely blocked for me (in the UK) - weird.

Huh that is weird. No idea. It's just our local NBC affliate.

Tipsy, you did great! I would probably just yell then sweep some papers off the table before leaving in a huff.

Nicely done, Tipsy!

(wbir doesn't let me visit from Belgium either, USA only probably)

eh what.. working from Canada fwiw. good job tm

it’ll be GDPR nonsense… WBIR haven’t bothered sorting out good data practices because international traffic is so low

an intrusive popup about which cookies you want to accept should do the trick

Asked if Sen. Feinstein’s absence has longer ramifications on the Democrats’ ability to confirm judges, Dick Durbin told me: “yes, of course it does.”
No update yet on when Feinstein will return.

More from ⁦@Tierney_Megan⁩ ⁦@FoxReports⁩ https://t.co/4ZJbkGnhyY

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 10, 2023

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/10/politics/biden-judges-senate-blue-slips-absences/index.html

No nominee yet for a 5th circuit vacancy and following blue check rules at district court level nominations that allow a Republican veto. Plus Dem senators who have illnesses and are away

feinstein should carry a little chalkboard everywhere she goes and drag her nails across it instead of talking

Hounded by baseless voter fraud allegations, an entire county's election staff quits in Virginia

very in character for local conservatives to deny doing the things they are caught on video doing

I'm sure those officials will be replaced by someone totally normal

FYI Metro Nashville Council just voted 36-0 to name Justin Jones as an interim appointment to the seat he was just kicked out of. He'll still need to win a special election to complete the term, but that's not likely to be much of a problem for him.

are there Republicans on that council?

It's nonpartisan and I don't know its contours — I'd guess there are some, but probably not many. (There are 40 members, so it's possible people who didn't want to vote for him just stayed away.)

I thought I read (on twitter, so grain of salt) House leader Cameron Sexton saying that the expelled representatives would not be reseated. Is that even possible?

...I think the threat was to withhold funding if he was reinstated...

Fuck the will of the people

I can't imagine why they'd want to do that. the whole thing was a racist "know your place" moment to shut down dissent and protest, and the protests/demonstrations if they refuse to reseat him are only going to get bigger and less polite, possibly property-destroying. I'd get the impression they'd rather this fade from the news cycle, but I've seen Republicans do stupider things.

they definitely can't be expelled for the same offense again, though, that much I do know.

tbh I hope the demonstrations do get bigger, less polite, and property destroying regardless of what happens

also this is their latest quote:

Cameron Sexton, a Republican and speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, has committed to seating whomever the two bodies appoint to fill the vacancies, including Jones and Pearson.

“The two governing bodies will make the decision as to who they want to appoint to these seats," a spokesperson for Sexton wrote in a statement. "Those two individuals will be seated as representatives as the constitution requires.”

LOL basically admitting it was theatre for the news cycle -- and they lost

Yeah, exactly. Sexton's having a bad day himself, a long-rumored story finally broke that he doesn't actually live in his district and has moved to Nashville. Also, the state's attempt to cut the Nashville Council in half just got blocked by a court. Good day for Nashville. (Except for having to house Sexton, I guess.)

ok I guess, but that statement from Sexton is ambiguous. "The two governing bodies will make the decision as to who they want to appoint to these seats"

By "two governing bodies" he means the Nashville Council and Shelby County Commission — not the Legislature.

Of course, Sexton can still refuse to give them committee assignments and various other forms of fuckery. But it's possible they'll be cautious about anything too brazen, at least until public attention has faded a little

oh ok, that makes sense

LOL basically admitting it was theatre for the news cycle

Yeah, I think this fiasco garnered waaayyyy more attention than they were expecting (even internationally), and now they're trying to pretend they're not a bunch of daft racists, just following some arcane, mandatory procedure that was set in stone a hundred years ago

I thought it was going to backfire on them, but it greatly exceeded my expectations. As a friend said, a self-own for the age.

Ages, even.

One day after a jury convicted U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry of murder for shooting and killing Garrett Foster at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he wants Perry to receive a pardon.

Perry, 35, hasn't been sentenced yet, but the state pardons and parole board is already starting to review his case, at Abbott's request.

"I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry," Abbott said over the weekend, via Twitter.

Here's a recap of the case and what is happening now:

If that pardon happens …

...it will no doubt spark off a lot of anger which will be played out in many ways.

Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury.

Wtf does this even mean? If you use stand your ground as your defense but a jury says “no” that’s how jury trials work.

it's an attempt to bogart an actual legal phrase ("jury nullification") to make it look like what he's doing has the imprimatur of the law

otm

here's a wee bit more about the mechanism for clemency recommendations, which must come from the Board before the Governor can grant a pardon:

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/daniel-perry-how-long-could-the-texas-board-of-pardon-and-paroles-take-to-review-case/

this part doesn't make me the most optimistic that they won't give Abbott what he wants, buuuuut admittedly I know very little about this Board and may be reading too much into it:

The majority of the board members have extensive experience in law enforcement or the criminal justice field.

in either case, Abbott likely doesn't care as he gets what he wants either way:

-dude is pardoned and he's a hero to law enforcement/Stand Your Ground fanatics
-Board does not recommend pardon and Abbott can blame them for it and say he tried

via Heather Cox Richardson:

Yesterday, representatives Jones and Johnson flew from Nashville to Newark, and it happened that Joan Baez, the folk music legend, was on the same airplane. In the Newark airport, Jones asked Baez to sing with him. As Johnson filmed them, together they sang two spiritual-based freedom songs that became anthems in the Civil Rights Era: “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” and “We Shall Overcome.”

"a self-own for the age" otm

So this sack of shit apologized:

During a debate over a bill that would prevent people from using bathrooms “designated for the opposite sex,” Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, lashed out against the several transgender Floridians who spoke out against the bill.

“The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of your imps who come parade before us,” Barnaby said. “That’s right, I called you demons and imps who come and parade before us and pretend that you are part of this world.”

He compared the speakers, which included transgender Floridians and parents with transgender children, to the X-Men, the Marvel comic book characters in which bigotry, hatred and fear of mutants are a central theme.

“I’m looking at society today and it’s like I’m watching an X-Men movie,” Barnaby said. “When you watch the X-Men movies or Marvel comics, it’s like we have mutants living among us on planet Earth.”

“This is the planet Earth,” Barnaby continued, his voice rising, “where God created men male and women female. I’m a proud Christian, conservative Republican.”

Barnaby added, “I’m sick and tired of this. I’m not going to put up with it. You can test me and try to take me on. I promise you, I’ll win every time.”

No one told him that the X-Men have superpowers.

i suppose it was inevitable there would be people who watch the X-Men movies and identify with the anti-mutant bigots and reactionaries.

Come on, you KNOW you want Patrick Stewart to roll into the Florida house next week in a wheelchair as Professor X

OK *I* do

God Loves, Man Kills

Not to blame the Brits for exporting anti-trans hysteria but ... Webster Barnaby is British. (Or was, American citizen now.)

Aw yeah, 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago ...

"Chicago: You Could Protest, But First You Have to Come Here."

Between that and NASCAR again, next summer is going to be awful to be anywhere near the city.

Off-topic for this thread, but seeing the news about the six weeks of road closures over 4th of July for NASCAR... what a disaster.

Fuck a NASCAR. Gotta love the idea of Lightfoot's legacy being fucking NASCAR and a Casino

Another poster child, charged with shooting an unarmed migrant in the back w AK-47, for crossing his land:

Mr. Cuen-Buitimea, 48, an undocumented Mexican man, was unarmed and was crossing the border into the United States in search of work, law enforcement officials said. But Mr. Kelly’s supporters and some fellow ranchers see the incident as evidence of an “invasion” of migrants and drugs along the 2,000-mile border that threatens their security.
...The Times feature explained how Kelly’s case has turned him into a sort of right-wing celebrity as some conservatives embrace vicious rhetoric and even physical violence against migrants. (Here, I'll note that the defendant posted a $1 million bond days after crowdfunding site GoFundMe removed all campaigns raising money on Kelly's behalf.)

In a self-published 2013 novel, “Far Beyond the Border Fence,” Mr. Kelly conjured the persona of a border rancher named George who patrols his “war zone” ranch. George gets into gunfights with traffickers and heads into Mexico to rescue abducted family members.

The disturbing details and allegations don’t end there, according to law enforcement officials. In his 911 phone call alerting authorities of Cuen-Buitimea's death on his property, Kelly referred to the migrant as an “animal," according to the Times.

Bragg suing Jim Jordan may or may not have legal legs, I don't know, but it's a good move anyway.

nice, I like it

Always where this current moral panic was headed.

Missouri Republicans have voted to defund all public libraries. It is an apparent extortion attempt to try to force libraries to remove books that include LGBTQ characters or racial justice themes. (per @HeartlandSignal) https://t.co/JZjCQdPJjx

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 12, 2023

i have a glimpse of hope that, as the Missouri Library Association states, the proposed budget would be unconstitutional. the MO constitution mentions, in a very vague way,

"—It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to promote the establishment and development of free public libraries and to accept the obligation of their support by the state and its subdivisions and municipalities in such manner as may be provided by law. When any such subdivision or municipality supports a free library, the general assembly shall grant aid to such public library in such manner and in such amounts as may be provided by law."

MO Const art IX § 10

it is maddening to be threatened with defeat by the dumbest and worst people of all time.

also, it's mentioned in the stories but it usually takes a bit of digging, but the reason the MO GOP is doing this is that the missouri library association was fighting against book banning here. in retaliation, the MO GOP decided to just punish all public libraries, all books, all learning, instead. in addition to the lawsuit i'm hoping that enough people are like "wow missouri fucking SUCKS" that the senate or the governor will think twice about fucking embarrassing they are. but much more hopeful about the lawsuit

There's a lot of competition for most embarrassing states right now. And they all copy each other, or try to, so anything bad thing that happens in one will show up in the others. But yeah, actually just shutting down libraries is a new level, bravo.

Anti-intellectualism in American Life, Richard Hofstadter, was first published in 1963, but every decade Americans keep delivering tons of material for new updated editions and Hofstadter isn't alive any more to keep it up to date. :-(

BAN ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN AMERICAN LIFE!!

apply 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 or more levels of irony to that, and it works for everyone

To think that there’s a big writing conference coming to KCMO next year!

"Keep 'em poor, keep 'em working, keep 'em stupid and silence the women."

xp i cannot in good conscience recommend visiting MO, even though MO would be much improved with you in it! unfortunately right now the recommendation for KC and STL is to position yourself just across the rivers, in KS or IL, and use a loudhorn to communicate

never farget

https://i.imgur.com/uFjZ22i.png

Could at least some counties, municipalities manage to fund libraries on their own? Also some libraries have out-of-city, county, even out-of-state membership cards, though there might be ways to screw with that too (like some groups are already going after national online library services, for providing access to rainbowizm etc.)

I don’t know what the situation is in Missouri, but I think libraries ARE mostly locally funded most places. So cutting state funding might not actually close them? Need to read more about it.

Yeah, per the Missouri Independent, doesn't sound like it will shut down libraries but will reduce their funding: https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/10/missouris-new-effort-to-punish-libraries-is-vindictive-and-harmful/

If that happens, it will disproportionately hurt economically disadvantaged and rural Missourians. Libraries typically provide other essential services, including free access to wi-fi and computers. Local libraries in rural areas are particularly dependent on state funding.

Always where this current moral panic was headed.

maybe what it was always about. republicans hate the public sector because they are assholes.

one letter away from pubic

i live in missouri this is how we have to look up information now

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

As with so many insane GOP ideas in modern times, the intention to inflict cruelty is the point.

If you want a book go to an auction and buy a signed copy of Mein Kampf like a regular person

One of the better things about Biden...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/joe-biden-anti-british-dup-b2318354.html

The same thing (book banning) is happening in Texas, iirc.

Guess who’s back

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/us/live-news/tennessee-vote-justin-pearson-04-12-23/index.html

the whole thing's a joke - they could have done a censure and it probably wouldn't be known outside of TN politics
Instead, it's known all over the world

The book banning is a kind of busy work to keep the troops in trim between election years.

xxxpost screwing the rural poor, incl poor whites, who they think will vote the right way anyway, even if pissed---but will they? Either way, it's not just, "Dang it, I can't check out pro-Trump books any more," it's not being able to afford online subs and PCs, and libraries being where you go to fill out job applications, tax forms, get assistance with those and many other things.
Also there are counties in my state, not nec. remote as the crow flies, but between (or on the ever-extending fringes of) metro areas, that don't have reliable or any broadband; the providers aren't interested because of low population density and cost of infrastructure (increasing number of tornadoes across the boonies also a pain re repairs etc), would take State Legislature, via mandates, subsidies, other, to make it happen but our Republican supermajority hasn't gotten around to it yet, despite some noises in that direction.
'

(cell phones, but no or shit wi-fi, so for inst those weather apps don't help re xpost increasing tornados)

which state?

Alabama! Seems to be the case across Deep South, some counties elsewhere.

Also a factor in pandemic: not much local health care, but also not much capacity for telemedicine, not in some counties, though most of mine is OK.

NEW: Democrats raise alarms as Feinstein's absence stalls Biden's judicial picks

Concerns growing on both ends of Pennsylvania Ave.

Feinstein last voted mid-Feb.

No update on return.

Her absence prevents Judiciary from moving judges sans GOP support.https://t.co/jzPqfC2aBJ

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 12, 2023

LATEST April 12, 2:45 p.m. California Rep. Ro Khanna became the first Democratic member of Congress to publicly call for the immediate resignation of Sen. Dianne Feinstein over her prolonged absence from Congress.

Feels like it's time

nice

Good

She masterfully assumed the leadership of city government in SF during an unprecedented crisis in 1978 with the murders of George Moscone and Harvey Milk by Dan White, and with the Jonestown massacre of 900 people which preceded it by less than 10 days, and she was a decent mayor

I remember she and Barbara Boxer holding hands in 1992 when they were both elected as the first two women Senators from California, it was a great moment and felt very optimistic and forward-looking

I don't know if there is some behind-the-scenes strategy about her retiring and allowing Newsom an interim appointment vs her serving out her term to ensure a fresh election

but it seems clear now that she should retire

Man, if SCOTUS lets this use of ye olde Comstock Act stand, somebody could try it against contraceptives too:

When U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled Friday the Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade old approval of the leading abortion drug mifepristone violates the law, he cited the 19th century Comstock Act, a so-called anti-vice law that prohibits the mailing of contraceptives and instruments or drugs that can be used in an abortion. It has been dormant for half a century. We speak to Lauren MacIvor Thompson, a historian of birth control, about the Comstock Act and its legacy.

Feinstein was also the architect of the assault rifle ban that unfortunately expired

I saw her speak a couple times, in her prime she was a pretty accomplished politician

God what a different world we're in today:

In November 1993, the proposed legislation passed the U.S. Senate. The bill's author, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and other advocates said that it was a weakened version of the original proposal. In May 1994, former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives in support of banning "semi-automatic assault guns."

Yeah but you have to remember that was because the guns at that time were most associated with Black and Latino gangs. Now they've been appropriated and sanctified by white people.

the FDA and White House are completely bungling this mifepristone thing. the FDA could issue (today!) a statement of enforcement discretion to manufacturers, indicating that they wouldn't be taking any action against anybody who distributed the drug, which they already do for other drugs (and in fact HAVE DONE FOR MIFEPRISTONE BEFORE), and the immediate problem is solved. you still have to fight the Texas court ruling because of the Pandora's Box it could open, but you've immediately kept access to mifepristone open and undisturbed.

continuing to pretend that they're dependent on the court here is purely an optics move, because the FDA/White House don't want to appear that they're 'defying a court order', but that's so fucking stupid because a) frankly, it's an illegal court order, and even if they were defying it, I'd support that 100%, b) it's NOT DEFYING A COURT ORDER, and is actually something the FDA is legally authorized to do, and c) there's nothing the court could do about it.

Republicans are flouting the law regularly, whether it's officers refusing to enforce laws they don't like, passing intentionally unconstitutional legislation, judge shopping when filing suits, etc, and they do so with impunity. FDA is refusing to do something it legally has the authorization to do because they want the courts to bail them out. pure fucking cowardice.

the same trio that has been urging the FDA to do this for months has been on Twitter non-stop screaming at them to do this today, but they also bring up some new news - that there are apparently two lawsuits that are trying to make mifepristone legal nationally, even in states where abortion is illegal.

David, Greer & Rachel’s oped discusses two more important lawsuits covering mifepristone & medication abortion access—one in West Virginia & one in North Carolina. If the Texas & Washington lawsuits are abortion rights defense, then West Virginia & North Carolina are the offense https://t.co/2DP3e4PUTt pic.twitter.com/4GjJa9m1gY

— Grace Haley (@gracephaley) April 12, 2023

more on that in the latest article : https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/12/to-protect-abortion-access-the-fda-should-decline-to-enforce-a-mifepristone-ban

Dianne Feinstein was also seen as an ironclad early ally of the gay community

She served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1970 to 1978, including President of the Board in 1978, before serving as Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988, and then as U.S. Senator from California since 1992.

“She was one of the first political candidates in San Francisco to actively court the gay vote, campaigning in gay bars. When Jo Daly had a commitment ceremony with her partner, Nancy Achilles, in 1977, Feinstein insisted that they hold it in Feinstein’s garden.”

But she was also seen as an uneven ally of the gay communutiy. As mayor she vetoed domestic partnership legislation in 1982 - which, ok, it was too early in the gay rights fight to expect that

And in 2004 she was sharply critical of Newsom’s efforts to promote same-sex marriages in San Francisco, which was very disappointing to me, but since then she has voted for federal legislation to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination and introduced legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

Her record is mixed but not terrible. But none of this is about her record, just her ability to do the job. One reason to push for her to go is to send a message the entire cohort of aging Boomers clinging to power behind her. RBG showed how dangerous that was.

NB: Feinstein was born in 1933, more than a dozen years before 1946, when the first 'boomer' could have been born. Since the boom extended until at least 1960, most boomers are at least 15 years younger than Feinstein. Many are 20 to 25 years younger than she is.

I guess boomer has just become a generic term for anyone seen as an old person in the eyes of non-boomers.

yes. the boomer generation was 1946-1964, so we are all old (but not as old as Dianne Feinstein). Gen X friends are getting old too, 1965-1980. There have been a few birthdays of friends recently where I've been welcoming my Gen X cohorts into old age

Right, I mean as a signal to people who should retire in say five or 10 years not to overstay their time.

jesus god, the Fifth Circuit Court.

they just issued a partial stay in the mifepristone case.

good news, right?

well....kind of, but....also very much not.

they've stayed Kacsmaryk removal of the approval status, so the approval will stay in place, but only the original approval as of 2000, and not any of the subsequent changes in 2016 and 2023, which includes the mailing of the drug, meaning in-person visits only (and three, instead of one). So basically they've reverted the rules back 23 years. Their interpretation of the Comstock Act has turned liberal legal analysts into raving mad dogs.

so it sounds like appeal to SCOTUS is coming because that's just fucked, but also means that access to mifepristone isn't going anywhere any time soon.

BREAKING: The Fifth Circuit stays Kacsmaryk's order ONLY as to the 2000 approval of mifepristone, not as to the 2016 REMS changes or subsequent changes, including the 2023 ending of the in-person dispensing requirement. https://t.co/d3rtxS3WAR pic.twitter.com/gQ2eg38wu4

— Chris “Subscribe to Law Dork!” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 13, 2023

also, journalists/reporters: please avoid framing the 5th circuit decision as “reasonable, compared to Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling.” It is still insane and bad!

— Leah Litman (@LeahLitman) April 13, 2023

this Feinstein thing is getting increasingly ridiculous:

In recent days, as it became clear she was not planning to return after a two-week recess, pressure began to increase for Ms. Feinstein to resign.

On Wednesday night, she said she would not do so, but offered a stopgap solution, saying she would request a temporary replacement on the panel.

oh, that's a relief! but wait,

Replacing Ms. Feinstein on the committee would require Democrats to pass a resolution, which would need some degree of bipartisan support — either the unanimous consent of the Senate or 60 votes. It is not clear whether Republicans, who want to hold up President Biden’s judicial nominations, would support such a measure.

I see.

I don't know why they didn't just "remind" her that she had retired a month ago.

It's a very healthy system where we pray for the (natural, peaceful) death of our leaders

or sometimes hope they can hold on for another month or so

I know I've banged on about this before in an obviously ageist way, but this is a structural problem for the Democratic Party in particular and our whole system overall. It's bad for so many reasons to have leadership and crucial positions held by people in their 70s and 80s. It first of all can make it hard to govern, as we're seeing. It also stifles subsequent generations of leadership. And it's totally unnecessary, we don't have a shortage of people under the age of 70 able to run or lead.

Yeah, but wisdom and experience and Queen Elizabeth and cheap movie tickets and wisdom.

That's fine, take your wisdom and experience to nonprofit orgs and political organizing efforts and any number of other places that can benefit from them. Go help produce the next generations of leaders.

Incredible scenes pic.twitter.com/uFskGp2dQ7

— Cuneyt Dil (@cuneytdil) April 12, 2023

Accidental Centrist

I have no idea who this Trump-supporting turd is, but I thought it should have a home here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/GBOWOLRFKW34SEOSJ6P2BFDLCA_size-normalized.JPG&w=1200

That is a face that can be made by a human being

that's Bacon's screaming pope iirc

How they talk in private. Most striking to me is the nonstop apocalyptic tone. These guys are part of a 75-24 supermajority that is so gerrymandered it can't possibly shift by more than a few seats for the next decade. But they're convinced "the left" is just about to "take" Tennessee. I'd honestly feel better if they were all just cracking up and saying, "Well, we put on a good show for the rubes."

⚡️NEW LEAKED AUDIO: TN House Republicans infighting over #TennesseeThree votes.

CEPICKY: “You gotta do what’s right even when you think it might be wrong.”🤔

Leadership says Barrett made them look racist, Cepicky says they're at "war", etc. must-listen. pic.twitter.com/mUkzwWXvav

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 13, 2023

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2023/04/how-republicans-speak-to-each-other

Diary of a Mediocre White Man

"we need to pass the pronouns bill"??

What the hell is that?

and right on cue

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/floridas-legislature-passes-6-week-abortion-ban-rcna78988

this part is key, but I'm not exactly of the opinion that Florida's Supreme Court is likely to rule in our favor here, so it could just be delaying the inevitable:

Once signed into law, the six-week ban will be on hold pending a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court on the constitutionality of a 15-week abortion ban DeSantis signed into law after the state’s 2022 legislative session. It was challenged in court by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and a group of abortion providers. They argued that privacy provisions in the state constitution protect the right to an abortion.

jesus fuck.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2023-04-13/emergency-rules-limiting-transgender-care-in-missouri-set-to-take-effect-this-month

going to really hope someone is already getting ready to challenge this in court. there's no way this can be legal.

they're on it

⚠️ BREAKING: Missouri’s Attorney General filed an emergency rule that would restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender people in Missouri.

But we’re not going down without a fight. pic.twitter.com/5FjKkycTr2

— Lambda Legal (@LambdaLegal) April 13, 2023

https://www.vox.com/politics/23682373/dianne-feinstein-retire-resign-senate-election-primary-democrat

Feinstein wants to stay in Senate so not to influence senatorial election in advance ( governor had promised to select a Black woman if a senator left) but it’s not clear when she will be healthy enough to come back

if shingles were Pringles
I'd eat the whole can

I've had shingles, my mother and two of my siblings have had it too, it's very painful. For all of you over 50 - get the Shingrix vaccine!!

I had it. It sucked.

they way those reps punctuate their evil rants with "bullcrap" and "by golly"

what a diverse room

Signed the Heartbeat Protection Act, which expands pro-life protections and devotes resources to help young mothers and families. pic.twitter.com/quZpSj1ZPk

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 14, 2023

that's how you know the decisions were made by the Right People and in accordance with values of Niceness

I have to go to Missouri next month and I am trying to figure out how to not spend money there. Ugh.

But meantime...

Pudding Fingers pic.twitter.com/PRCVAZlkw9

— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) April 14, 2023

Trigger warning.

that is not okay

oh god that is gross

I can’t stop laughing but it’s still not okay

haha yikes goddamn

that's great, though I really hope the Dems learned the lessons from the Fetterman/Oz campaign, don't be all respectful and shit just point and laugh at these phony damaged freaks.

Filing “pudding fingers” under “things that sound dirty that are totally fucking dirty, Jesus Christ”

if DJT was kind of the patriarchal figure that DeSantis is following does that make him pudding pop

MTG's framing of the Pentagon leaker's arrest seems like a cynical and dangerous precedent. It sounds like Teixeira was just a stupid kid looking for cred in his discord group but she is trying to make him out to be some kind of resistance hero against US support of Ukraine and saying that christian white males with guns are the natural enemy of the Biden administration. It's such a ridiculous claim that it can only be met with ridicule from the left but her base will eat it up with their hunger for holy war.

christian white males with guns are the natural enemy of the Biden administration

This is pretty accurate tbf

statistically accurate at least

Technically Joe Biden is a christian white male with guns tho.

some are saying Biden is his own worst enemy

sorry, I couldn't resist

but every now and then he kicks the living shit out of him

Forty years ago, liberals would’ve been proud to accidentally leak sensitive military information to help a far right wing dictator’s war efforts, which I do not support. Now only conservatives, who I do not support, have the courage to do it.

by Glenn Greenwald

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) April 13, 2023

lmao I thought was real for a hot second

lol me too

Is inflation slowing too quickly?

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) April 12, 2023

it is

Like I know the competition is stiff, but this might be the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard this guy say pic.twitter.com/0vio80REJV

— Mike Duncan (@mikeduncan) April 13, 2023

heh I meant the specific wording above, but I saw his shitty take earlier yesterday.

It's hard to believe, but Greenwald broke false equivalency

Because well-placed semicolons make me hard, this tweet offends me.

ah yes the dreaded dependent clause

it is

No, I mean the actual Pitchbot tweet

i know i was joking

"a stupid kid"

Other members of Teixeira’s server have showed The Post video of Teixeira shouting racist and antisemitic slurs before firing a rifle and said he referenced government raids at Ruby Ridge in Idaho and in Waco, Tex. — events with deep resonance among right-wing, anti-government extremists.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/13/jack-teixeira-discord-document-leak/

Biden needs to make this his official walkout music (excuse me, campaign theme song) for the rest of his life.

Joe Biden's 2024 campaign has a strong theme already pic.twitter.com/abL7MIpu5l

— Populism Updates (@PopulismUpdates) April 14, 2023

He seems to be popular in Ballina Co. for the nonce.

is that Flogging Molly?

So sad

Mike Pompeo not running for president in 2024, @BretBaier reports

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) April 14, 2023

it is dropkick murphys (sorry I had to shazam that)

Scorsese stan cards revoked!

If Biden danced to Flogging Molly's "Devil's Dance Floor" I could be convinced to vote for him again.

it is dropkick murphys (sorry I had to shazam that)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrc1prw96-Y

erasure of the millions of americans who listen exclusively to dropkick murphys and flogging molly for a full day every march 17

Cries in Pogue

It's a mad jam, but an odd choice, considering that it's about someone who has either left, or never been to, Ireland.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/15/matthew-kacsmaryk-law-review/

He pulled his name in 2017 from an anti-trans law review article he wrote and substituted names of colleagues, during his judicial nomination process

NEW: Texas Senate passes #SB1933 on a party line vote, a bill that would empower the governor-appointed secretary of state to take over election oversight from local county officials. The bill now goes to the Texas House. https://t.co/fyR89wWQbX

— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) April 14, 2023

Doomscrolling

i hope shipping up to boston is his campaign song for 2024 tbh

Tom Cotton tweeted that Republicans shouldn’t vote to allow Dems to replace Feinstein on Judiciary Committee because that will just allow Biden to appoint more “radical “ judges.

So what will Schumer and Feinstein do if the vote to get her a replacement on Judiciary committee doesn’t work? Biden just nominated 2 new 5th circuit judges .

CIA heart attack gun

Looks like the moneybags are starting to sweat

https://www.ft.com/content/9fa26170-5533-4e0b-a852-238b0ef15118

While we Floridians writhe.

Raimondo on Modi: “He is unbelievable, visionary and his level of commitment to the people of India is just indescribable and deep and passionate and real and authentic." This is shockingly gullible. https://t.co/AuegrlqD84

— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) April 16, 2023

OOOOOOF

Cozying up to strongmen, a bipartisan sport.

Meanwhile both TN senators have come out and endorsed Trump in the last 24 hours. He's starting to feel like the inevitable nominee at the same time he's in deeper and deeper legal trouble. Going to make for a fun campaign, with him popping in and out of court appearances.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s new debt limit negotiating proposal set to be unveiled Monday morning will include broad moves to restrict food assistance for millions of low-income Americans. His GOP colleagues in the Senate aren’t optimistic any of those measures will survive.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/16/gop-mccarthy-snap-food-stamps-00092243

good morning!

Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange, McCarthy (R-Calif.) affirmed his party’s plan to seize on a rapidly approaching deadline — an urgent need to raise the debt ceiling, which sets how much Washington can borrow to pay its bills — to extract spending cuts and other policy concessions from President Biden.

“Debt limit negotiations are an opportunity to examine our nation’s finances,” McCarthy said

let me just slightly rewrite this to make it more accurate

Speaking at a very expensive restaurant, McCarthy (R-CA) affirmed his dinner party’s plan to seize on a rapidly approaching deadline — an urgent need to pay the bill for the food they had just finished swallowing.

“being asked to pay our expensive dinner bill is, for this party of fuckers, an opportunity to take hostages by refusing to pay unless we can also fuck over poor people” McCarthy said

it's amazing that after 10+ years of the GOP using this as a hostage situation, the washington post and other outlets still frame it as a "negotiation"

This seems good:

A top Republican donor said he had paused plans to fund Ron DeSantis’s expected presidential run because of the Florida governor’s “stance on abortion and book banning”.

Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, a digital trading platform, told the Financial Times: “I have put myself on hold. Because of his stance on abortion and book banning … myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry.”

Peterffy also noted that DeSantis “seems to have lost some momentum”.

he is not a national candidate

Can you imagine the number of subhuman groyper freaks you need to surround yourself with to think this is remotely a policy voters like https://t.co/VynqgBPJED

— Jerry Iannelli (@jerryiannelli) April 17, 2023

The first tweet by the company after DeSantis' press conference ended https://t.co/2PIpTTIZpk

— Steven Lemongello (@SteveLemongello) April 17, 2023

Always Be White

On secretly recorded audio first reported by the McCurtain Gazette-News, GOP McCurtain County, Okla. officials — including the sheriff — talk about hiring hitmen to assassinate local journalists and complain that Black people now have the right to not be lynched. pic.twitter.com/N8XKNwpgqW

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) April 17, 2023

'they got more rights than we do!'

The very essence of trumpy grievance politics

Well the white Vice President was nearly lynched, so maybe he has a point

cannot believe this is real

pic.twitter.com/LJW5HT24kM

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 17, 2023

Nobody is shooting this can, that’s for sure!!

— Mankrik’s Wife (@Marty_Shannon) April 18, 2023

Who is that?

George Santos back in Nam.

Pat Tillman, NFL player who iirc was killed in action in iraq and made a martyr by war hawks till they found out both that it was friendly fire and that he had become an antiwar agitator while serving

Yeah, the latter part is what surprised me there. I wouldn't think Boebert would be touting Tillman after everything that came out about him — an atheist among other things. (Killed in Afghanistan, not Iraq, fwiw.)

(R)esponding to religious overtones at the funeral by Maria Shriver and John McCain, his youngest brother, Richard, said, "Just make no mistake, he'd want me to say this: He's not with God, he's fucking dead, he's not religious." Richard added, "Thanks for your thoughts, but he's fuckin' dead."

Lauren Boebert is very stupid.

I've made this point before but so many of the current crop of GOP idiots, people like Boebert and MTG and Santos and Madison Cawthorn all feel like the sort of people whose only ambition is getting on TV. they are the type of person who would previously have spent their lives trying to get on shows like The Bachelorette and Big Brother, totally willing to let some producer define their entire "personality", until Trump came along and showed them there's a way to do it that *also* comes with a fair bit of power. and their "personality" just has to be the dumbest reactionary right wing bullshit, because the dumber and more irresponsible you are the more coverage you get, and the more you embarrass yourself during a hearing the more coverage the late night shows give you. sure, it's bad politics, but thanks to gerrymandering it doesn't matter! whoever gets the most attention wins!

what makes lauren boebert an elite politician is that she knows the 2 votes she won by in her district are both huge fans of the pat tillman statue

George Santos back in Nam.

― nashwan, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 8:54 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Dead

surprise twist when we learn his life mirrors the plot to Jacob's Ladder

xpost God, I totally remember his brother at the memorial service when it happened... that was an awesomely harsh toke when he said that

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., linked to an article with a headline referencing “Jewish warmongers” from a website with a history of antisemitic content in his House newsletter published Sunday.

The link pushed readers to a story about the war in Ukraine from Veterans Today, an outlet that provides a platform for Holocaust denial and antisemitic content, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The headline was listed in Gosar's newsletter as "Congressman Gosar: Warmongers Nuland & Blinken 'Are Dangerous Fools Who Can Get Us All Killed,'" leaving out the Veterans Today headline's reference to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland being Jewish.

The Veterans Today website displays a different headline: "Congressman: Jewish warmongers Nuland & Blinken 'Are Dangerous Fools Who Can Get Us All Killed.'"

gosar's really going to pay for this one!

it’s really so fucked up that as a result of these antisemitic chuds doing their thing, otherwise sane people are cheering on US involvement in a war that we shouldn’t be in, because to be against it is to be with the chuds.

Gonna go out on a limb and say support for Ukraine is not reducible to providing a counter to antisemites.

frogbs otmfm

Gonna go out on a limb and say support for Ukraine is not reducible to providing a counter to antisemites.

I'm with Moodles on this one
This is the Domino Theory, but it's real this time

Estonia? Latvia? Maybe even Finland? Whatever he decides is part of the former Russian Empire is fair game if Ukraine falls

Hard to imagine a scenario where Russia invades Ukraine and the NATO countries are all just like "Welp that sucks but whatcha gonna do."

This is the Domino Theory, but it's real this time

otmfm

The moral rectitude of two countries like Russia and the U.S. is two divided by zero.

like, major news papers that aren’t even progressive have covered (and in some cases questioned ) the amount that arms manufacturers are making from this war. maybe you don’t care, but i’m not entirely happy that my tax dollars are going to manufacture munitions (and fatten MIC companies’ coffers so some Russian kid can have his brains blown out by the side of a bleak rural road in eastern Ukraine. to be honest, i think it’s downright insane that people are okay with this.

What's your position on the war? I'm curious. Why did you mention a Russian kid over a Ukrainian kid whose country Russia has invaded? That's a position I can respect regardless of what I think of the war.

Mine? I don't give a shit about following it given the long history of wars in which this country has started and participated in, am aware of how arms manufactures have profited, am sorta impressed the Biden administration has kept (that we know of!) ground troops out of it, and generally think it's a bad idea for Russia to invade sovereign countries regardless of their NATO status.

I mentioned a Russian kid because inevitably the bullets that enter their brains came from US/NATO forces.

I am against war.

What should happen, then? Does it matter who the aggressor is, and who is defending their country? This seems a bit “both sides” to me. If there is an answer to this situation that does not include Ukraine continuing to defend themselves, I am interested to learn what it might be.

So you're equally against the killing of Ukrainians, right? Because you could've mentioned them. xpost

It would be sick if we got to decide what our tax dollars went to. But we don’t. You’d prefer the Russian kid blow the brains out of the Ukrainian kid?

This seems a bit “both sides” to me. If there is an answer to this situation that does not include Ukraine continuing to defend themselves

I mean, table has a flimsy point: US/NATO are responsible for repugnant war crimes shit in the last 80 years. But Russia invaded Ukraine before America and NATO's involvement, and, I dunno, while American hegemony is grotesque I don't think armed support, indirectly in this case, is a bad thing. Your position sounds like Taibbi/Greenwald twaddle.

I'm anti-war too. Until someone wages war on me. I live in Florida.

I respect table’s strident anti-war position, and I’m with it, especially when it comes to war profiteering and the use of my tax dollars for killing people.

That said, we can’t pretend all wars start up spontaneously with equal intent on both sides, there’s a larger context here.

I’d prefer if my money didn’t go towards killing anyone at all, but I don’t get to say in that and, let’s face it, the military will get its chunk anyway so I’d rather it go to defend Ukraine than another bullshit “””war””” for us to get cheaper oil.

We're all Iraq War protesters here, and I know about Cuba and specifically what we fomented in Latin America, but it's not all the same.

Past atrocities by other actors obviously don't excuse current atrocities, and those moral equivalence/hypocrisy lines are also a main feature of Russian messaging in leftist channels (which is real, if not as potent as it is on the right).

But I share the concerns about the old military-industrial complex, which keeps finding ways to keep itself (and others) occupied post-Cold War. I don't know the moral response to it all, honestly. If you believe that the invasion is fundamentally unjust and imperial, which I do, then helping Ukraine defend itself seems like the most right answer. But how much, in what ways, to what extent, are difficult questions. Nothing feels good about it because it's a bad situation without obvious "good" answers.

Honestly I’ve been surprised (so far) that the GOP propaganda machine hasn’t successfully swayed US public opinion about this war. There have been so many red lines I thought we wouldn’t cross, that we did (demonizing Anthony Fauci was almost a given after it came out that he was a more trusted figure than Trump) but (so far) this line seems to be holding. Although I’ve been hearing my father- who is conservative but not one to listen to Fox News- once in a while talking about the expense of this war, and all the horrible death, and how Ukraine used to be part of the USSR, and how they speak Russian, and maybe they should just give up, if only to stop all the killing- and all I hear is the work of the propaganda machine.

I can’t stand death and war either- but I want to know- what is the answer here? What should happen?

I can’t stand death and war either- but I want to know- what is the answer here? What should happen?

Everyone should join hands and sing. And tomorrow we abolish money!

I'd like to buy the world a Coke

I can’t stand death and war either- but I want to know- what is the answer here? What should happen?

This is a question that should be asked just as stridently of the people sending weapons to Ukraine, right?

Are we furthering humanitarian goals by arming Ukraine or are we prolonging a conflict to bog down our enemy (and writing blank checks to the defense industry who took a hit post-Afghanistan withdrawal)? Both? Neither? What's the good outcome that we think is going to result here?

If it is a 'domino theory' situation and the Russian invasion poses an existential threat to western liberal democracy... shouldn't we be more committed?

The gotcha question always tries to be "well what should Ukraine do, surrender huh?" - but this is the US politics thread and we're not Ukrainians, we're not Russians, we're not Western Europeans. I'm a United States citizen - how we project our empire globally is the concern that I even theoretically have some say in.

ttitt has explained before that his pov on war was shaped by quakerism, which makes him not merely anti-war, but legitimately in the camp of espousing non-violent resistance as a response to the invasion.

Even though it rings oddly to us, I'm guessing his emphasis on the profits being made on supplying war materials, more even than his objection to the violence being employed by both sides agaionst one another, comes from a feeling that his objections there are especially legitimate because his taxes help pay for those materials.

Ok but it doesn’t seem like we are arming them against their will- it seems more like they are begging the international community for help, and we are sort of doing the least we can to help them without too overtly supporting escalation?

xp

I think we are continuing to do what there still seems to be unilateral support for- to do more would risk crossing a line and losing GOP support- and turning support for Ukraine fully into a US Politics issue. We are already teetering in that edge.

*on

Ok but it doesn’t seem like we are arming them against their will

I don't think anyone suggested we were? The people we've armed around the globe always want those weapons, whether they're Contras, mujahideen or Ukrainian military, right? So I don't see how that desire matters in the equation.

and we are sort of doing the least we can to help them without too overtly supporting escalation?

Sure, but to what end? Do you think that Ukraine will retake all of its territory if we send enough weapons? Will it topple the Putin regime in the end?

Will it topple the Putin regime in the end?

Is this Ukraine's goal?

(not a gotcha question)

Given that it would end the war, presumably - but still, none of us are Ukrainian. It's better asked as a question of what Americans (particularly Americans with power) are seeking as an outcome.

xp maybe I’m confused. What category does the Ukraine government/nation fall under- Contras or mujahideen?

Should we always assume that what we are doing now is an extension of past mistakes?

Of course Ukraine getting invaded is bad, and to suggest that I don’t care— which was fucking ghastly, Alfred, and something I won’t soon forget— is wrong.

All wars inevitably are about states fighting for dominion and resources, as we all know, and it is not the leaders of these countries but often young people who are maimed and killed in these wars, as we all know. The MIC and its proxies (in and outside of governments) benefit, and meanwhile, who wins?

To be against war isn’t to excuse the actions of an autocratic regime that wants to kill people like me (and has caused friends of mine to flee their home country!). To be against war isn’t to dismiss the concerns of a country that was unbelievable and beautiful when I was there nearly 20 years ago, right after the orange revolution. To be against war isn’t some sort of fence-sitting both-sidesism. It’s to be against the furtherance of human suffering , which is this case is playing out because some thugs want to relive an older war and powers that be on both sides are cheering it on because weapons sales and manufacturing gooses the economy and makes a few people a lot of money.

The idea that some Russian kid forcefully conscripted from his rural village is somehow worthy of having a bullet in him because his country’s ruler is an authoritarian dickhead is ludicrous. A Ukrainian kid who was just living his life and is now living in a fucking tent trying to shoot at kids who look like him has had his life ruined, too, and that’s also fucked and absurd. I used the Russian kid as my example because the USAmerican tendency to cast moral and political doubt on another country’s cannon fodder is forcefully making the argument that certain people do not matter, mostly because of something that has very little to do with anything except where they were born, a circumstance completely out of their control. A lot of people who don’t want to be there get killed in wars, on both sides, and just because one side is inarguably “in the wrong” doesn’t mean that the lives of people affected don’t matter.

I have no skin in the game. I am not personally seeking an outcome. But if Ukraine wants to fight instead of giving up their sovereignty, I 100% support that, and I have zero f*cking problem with some portion of my taxes going there.

What category does the Ukraine government/nation fall under- Contras or mujahideen?

"People who ask for American weapons"? You said that we weren't forcing the weapons down their throats so presumably that makes it okay whatever your general attitude toward the MIC... but I'm struggling to see how that matters or who suggested that they didn't want the guns. People who are fighting generally want free guns, I'm going to say that's borderline universal.

Should we always assume that what we are doing now is an extension of past mistakes?

Until such time as we show some change in behavior, yes? But that isn't really anything anyone said, either?

It is an absolute travesty and tragedy that Russian kids conscripted from their rural villages are dying. I still fail to see how that should dictate Ukraine’s actions in response to being invaded.

Table, you often post a comment requiring a follow-up; I'm glad I read this one. Thanks.

Are we furthering humanitarian goals by arming Ukraine or are we prolonging a conflict to bog down our enemy (and writing blank checks to the defense industry who took a hit post-Afghanistan withdrawal)? Both? Neither? What's the good outcome that we think is going to result here?

Point taken, but what humanitarian goals are furthered by not getting involved? What good outcome comes from not getting involved? When should we sit on our hands? Always? Or only until it is too late?

No one has said we should 'dictate Ukraine's actions.' We're not Ukrainians, we literally have no say in what they do or don't do.

Going back to table's first post, this is the exact problem. Any degree of skepticism resolves to 'oh you think they should just pledge allegiance to Russia.' That is a legitimate problem in ostensibly liberal discourse (under a Democratic President). If you say it's stupid to rattle sabers with China over Taiwan, you must be Xi-loving tankie, etc.. The usual comfort with American empire under a Democratic President has been heightened by reactionary CHUD defiance.

It's better asked as a question of what Americans (particularly Americans with power) are seeking as an outcome.

Which Americans with power? The military, the political party leadership, Wall Street, Silicon Valley? Disney? I don't think there's a single answer to that. A lot of Americans with power aren't necessarily that worked up about it, are they? But if you mean the foreign policy nexus, I think it's not that complicated, they'd love a weakened (or toppled if possible) Putin pulling back and licking his wounds, and a Ukraine with a longterm NATO orientation.

I still fail to see the relevance of these arguments, or the points you are making. You can’t just find fault in what is being done, or the (straw man) outcome that is supposedly being targeted, without offering a different (better) solution or outcome.

xp

milo, what should be or what should've have been an American response (if any) towards a Russian invasion of Ukraine? This is not a gotcha question.

We're not Ukrainians, we literally have no say in what they do or don't do.

It’s right there.

I don't know what the response should have been and I haven't suggested that I do have answers.

Sanctions are ineffective and generally harmful (and long term, probably harmful to the US as lesser powers seek to divorce themselves from the dollar).

Pumping money into defense contractors (and simultaneously pumping our internal defense spending) without a clear plan for a positive outcome is obviously, uh, problematic. If I saw a route to Ukraine retaking their territory and establishing a long term peace, perhaps I'd be more positive toward doing so... but it doesn't seem like anyone sees that as a likely possibility.

Fundamentally, I don't know that we (the US) need to have a response. That rests on the assumption that we are and should be the world's policeman. American interference across the globe has not been a boon to humanity over the past 70 years - maybe we could try taking a step back.

I like this column from Davis, tho it is a bit old.

https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/thanatos-triumphant

Both sides! Both sides are equally warmongering! And regardless of any specifics there, let’s leap to China! Who can doubt etc.

I read that column last summer, and I agree with a lot of it as a gleaming parquet floor of an explanation for how Moscow responds and "the West" counter-responds with superannuated militarism; but, you know, I'm almost 50, and yet another column referring to Eighteenth Brumaire and calling out our rulers for lacking "the penetrating eyesight of revolution, bourgeois or proletarian" is at this point recherche. There must be something else besides these binaries. There have to be other theories, strategies, etc.

I might be bored after another night of grading.

Both sides are equally warmongering!

Well that's just inaccurate - 'our' side has been far more warmongering in general.

That is a good column. This line describes the American right as much as Putin:

The present must be smashed in order to make an imaginary past the future.

But he was more descriptive of the state of affairs than offering any way to react as far as I can tell. Maybe natural given that he was dying at the time.

milo and table- you are each making me think- and consider my positions more carefully. I appreciate that. I’m not convinced- but I appreciate your arguments.

Having thought long and hard about non-violence resistance in regard to wars or other violence, my own conclusion is that it can only be properly applied to one's own choices and actions and accepting their direct consequences, come what may. The moment one tries to generalize this non-violent philosophy to anyone else's choices and actions it becomes little more than empty moralizing.

Asked Durbin today about keeping blue slips.

Me: You frustrated Rs keep using them to block Biden's court picks?

Durbin: “Of course I’m frustrated!”

Me: Frustrated enough to seriously consider nixing blue slips?

Durbin: “We’re not at that point yet." https://t.co/ayBpa9VtfH

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) April 18, 2023

Fundamentally, I don't know that we (the US) need to have a response. That rests on the assumption that we are and should be the world's policeman. American interference across the globe has not been a boon to humanity over the past 70 years - maybe we could try taking a step back.

― papal hotwife (milo z)

this has basically been my position since I was old enough to read the newspapers, so yeah otm

well, as Dionne Warwick sang, that's what NATO's for.

How many war refugees does the US take in? Because that is "something" the US could do/spend taxes on that doesn't enrich arms manufacturers or lead to more dead young people.

Over 271,000 Ukrainians in the first year after the Russian invasion.

Good morning!

bulb, do you have a link for that figure? I'm having trouble finding anything official, and State has this on their website:

President Biden affirmed the United States’ commitment to welcoming refugees by increasing the total admissions ceilings in the FY 2022 and FY 2023 Presidential Determinations on Refugee Admissions to 125,000, the highest target in several decades.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/us-admits-271000-ukrainian-refugees-russia-invasion-biden-rcna72177

Am I misunderstanding this program—additional refugees can come if individual US citizens apply to support them financially during a temporary two-year stay that is officially called "parole" ffs—did Biden really neoliberalize refugee admissions? (side question: if GoFundMe went down, how quickly would the US become The Road?) I'm sure there are historical precedents for this kind of thing, but sheesh.

Anyway, I don't know what number would be optimal, but 271k doesn't strike me as notably generous (Canada took in 200k), and I deliberately said war not Ukrainian refugees because the broader US stance on refugees/asylum is indefensible. If the argument was "what should an appropriate US humanitarian response look like?" it seems to me there are obvious answers/ absolute moral failures to address before focusing on military aid to Ukraine.

I know everyone itt is personally likely strongly in favor of increasing and easing refugee and asylum admissions; I'm not accusing anyone here of not caring about refugees. And I don't want to ignore the fact that this conflict highlights the difficulty of adopting a personal politics that is both anti-imperialism and anti-war. But part of why I mostly agree with milo and tabes is that the US clearly doesn't conduct foreign (or immigration) policy along moral lines, so those arguments are point-missing to me. Like even the idea that the US is perceived as the world cop seems off post Iraq. Well, fabricating crime is actually classic cop, but you know what I mean

side question: if GoFundMe went down, how quickly would the US become The Road?

GoFundMe is evidence we're already there; it just looks dystopian in a different way

BREAKING: The Texas House has approved a bill outlawing virtually all city and county worker protections.

Under the bill, any local measures that go beyond state law—i.e., sick benefits, wage protections, even water breaks for construction workers—will be overturned and barred.

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) April 19, 2023

speaking of dystopia

Jesus that's bleak.

More state-level dystopia in Iowa, allowing 14 year olds to work 6 hrs a night and 16 year olds to serve alcohol: https://apnews.com/article/iowa-child-labor-bill-d2546845dd6ad7ec0a2c74fb3fc0def3

Ouch ☹️

Lemonade stands soon to be serving Long Island Ice Teas

Oh Durbin...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-advance-seven-biden-judicial-nominees-gop-support-feinstein-rcna80527

Senate Democrats advanced seven of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees through committee on Thursday with Republican votes, shelving others that lack bipartisan backing with Sen. Dianne Feinstein absent.

The move by Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., marks a change in course after he had repeatedly delayed meetings since early March to advance a package of judges, lacking the decisive vote of Feinstein, D-Calif., who is out indefinitely on medical leave...

In this case, he shelved five nominees who lack GOP support, including Michael Delaney to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and Charnelle Bjelkengren to be a district court judge in Washington.

The panel is split between 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans. A tie vote in committee means a nominee fails. Without Feinstein, Democrats can't send judicial nominees to the full Senate for a vote unless they have some GOP help, and some of Biden's picks have no bipartisan support.

Earlier this week, Republicans blocked Democrats from temporarily replacing Feinstein, 89, on the Judiciary Committee. Some Democrats have called on her to resign, but she has said she will return when doctors allow.

Oh Feinstein, and where is Schumer re any of this

And yet when I post on FB that we need both term limits and age limits for top federal offices, people act like I'm going all Midsommar and throwing grandma off the cliff.

Fucking Florida:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ iron-clad grip on the Republican-controlled Legislature may be slipping amid growing frustration among GOP legislators.

Republican lawmakers are stalling a handful of his key remaining legislative priorities with just weeks left in the annual session. And what started out as whispers in private about unhappiness over the governor are starting to become louder even though Republican lawmakers remain unwilling to speak out publicly against DeSantis because of his power and clout. One House Republican recently told a former legislator he was ready to resign out of frustration over how the session was going.

Part of the angst has been sparked by a grinding session where legislators have pushed through bill after bill — and chewed up hours of contentious debate — that’s considered integral to DeSantis’ expected presidential campaign. DeSantis’ announcement this week that he wanted legislators to take aim again at Disney has irritated conservative Republicans loath to target private businesses.

One GOP legislator privately said: “We’re not the party of cancel culture. We can’t keep doing this tit for tat.” The lawmaker was granted anonymity to speak freely about the GOP governor.

“People are deeply frustrated,” said former state Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican who has been talking to his former GOP colleagues frequently this session. “They are not spending any time on the right problems ... Most legislators believe that the balance of power has shifted too far and the Legislature needs to re-establish itself as a coequal branch of government.”

yes you are the party of cancel culture, you sniveling bimbo

x-post- I will take old Bernie Sanders over say young Mayor Pete, that's why I don't want age limits. It depends on who the old person is.

I will take young Bernie Sanders over old Bernie Sanders on a six-year term.

x-post- I will take old Bernie Sanders over say young Mayor Pete, that's why I don't want age limits. It depends on who the old person is.

I hear Campbell resigned after being found guilty of sex crimes in TN?

And yet when I post on FB that we need both term limits and age limits for top federal offices, people act like I'm going all Midsommar and throwing grandma off the cliff.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, April 20, 2023 12:50 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah. I peeked into that thread and then quickly backed out of it. It’s a fraught subject.

BYE FUCKBRAIN

https://wpln.org/post/east-tennessee-rep-scotty-campbell-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-claims-made-public/

of course state legislature didn't remove HIM after he was accused, but they decided to expel 3 lawmakers for "not knowing their place"

"consensual adult conversations"

aka CAC

xp Two lawmakers, they let the white lady stay.

I will take old Bernie Sanders over say young Mayor Pete, that's why I don't want age limits. It depends on who the old person is

There are 145 million people in the U.S. between the ages of 35 and 70, that's a plenty big enough candidate pool.

I don't think the question is that can in any circumstances can someone of that age could do the job, but these people have gotten so addicted to the job itself they don't want to let it go. And thing is some of them don't have the skin in the game, as even their kids are freaking senior citizens at this point. It's too cherry a job, shit I can understand why they don't want to quit.

Scary thing is that with the advances of medical sciences, some of these billionaires are going to be around decades and decades. Imagine 7 more decades of scum like Musk, Theil and some of these other creeps. Good chance it is going to happen.

"Stevie Ray Vaughan is dead, and we can't get Jon Bon Jovi on a helicopter."

these people have gotten so addicted to the job itself they don't want to let it go.

Yeah, it's not only about concerns about competence or mental acuity, it's also good to keep the pipeline moving, let other generations move into leadership, etc. Granted, term limits by themselves would accomplish a lot of that, depending on how you set them. But I think a cutoff of 70 or 75 to either run for office or serve on SCOTUS would have a lot of benefits.

absolutely

This Feinstein business is pissing me the fuck off

In this case there isn't much the other Ds can do but Feinstein already isn't seeking re-election so she's already vacating the seat in less than two years, it's been thirty fucking years, if you aren't coming back, then LEAVE NOW

unless you want more milquetoast fed judges

Chuck Grassley graduated from college in 1955 (Northern Iowa). Same year Feinstein graduated from Stanford.

Grassley's dad probably paid 2 chickens and 2 milk cans a month for him to go to undergrad.

It's not as though there is a shortage of very qualified, much younger people able to serve as Senator from California.

Assume Feinstein dead

These old bastards suck.

1955-1956 = $53 per quarter

https://scua.library.uni.edu/university-archives/historical-information-and-essays/uni-fact-sheet

$50 in 1955 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $563.13 today...

2021 = $4,482 per semester

you might say it was a different era

But I think a cutoff of 70 or 75 to either run for office or serve on SCOTUS would have a lot of benefits.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra)

looking at the upcoming SCOTUS shadow docket ruling, I really think we need to make this cutoff more like 65 tbh

x-post- I will take old Bernie Sanders over say young Mayor Pete, that's why I don't want age limits. It depends on who the old person is.

― curmudgeon, Thursday, April 20, 2023

Bernie Sanders has no significant relationships in the Senate right now as far as I can see and hasn't sponsored legislation since 2020. He is over, and I think like Dianne Feinstein he should retire. Meanwhile Buttigieg has been an incredibly articulate voice, completely bulldozing over Fox News talking points in favor of our priorities

Simply put, Pete needs to carry a lot of water for progressive causes to establish a basis for trust.

"carry a lot of water for progressive causes to establish a basis for trust"

I'm really not sure what that means

The guy went from son of profs to Harvard to voluntary military service to McKinsey before the Mayor part happened.

I know we differ in politics a lot, Dan S, but really, except for being gay, the guy is a regular centrist Democrat reptilian with an awful record on race, class, and development as mayor.

And frankly, that he is a visible gay is embarrassing afaic

ok

This may come up again, I guess/hope:

Details about multimillion-dollar stock holding concealed in abortion pill judge's financial disclosures
Apr 21, 2023
The federal judge who issued a nationwide ruling blocking the approval of a common abortion medication redacted key information on his legally mandated financial disclosures, in what legal experts described as an unusual move that

Breached date: what to do with it first? (& what did they do? Stash it?)
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/21/politics/trump-georgia-senate-breached-voting-data/index.html

Breached data, dammit (sorry)

Dan S., Feinstein and Sanders are old, but what does Buttigieg offer besides being good on FOX News? Who cares?

The one encouraging thing I will say is that there do seem to be better gay lawmakers at this point in our country’s de-evolution than zaddy Pete, which is a heartening thing to contemplate as we all ignore the fact that it’s all going to get very very worse until we all die sooner than we think

tbh I think Gen Z might have something to say abt that, we'll see

Bernie Sanders has no significant relationships in the Senate right now as far as I can see

lol

just Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, nbd

Sanders has more influence now than ever, and Biden takes him seriously.

Pining about how things might’ve been if, you know, Sanders … very US Politics April 2023

I only pine for Jake.

Totally normal stuff going on

https://wapo.st/41PiFSr

Evangelicalism will kill us all.

On the plus side, we will walk on streets of gold.

It’s like his face is doing a Dennis Miller impression https://t.co/fJhFpm74Ab

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 24, 2023

I read most of my news, so I haven't actually heard Desantis speak very much. JFC, there's no way this guy will come near the nomination. He looks and sounds like such a wiener, it's kind of shocking. I assume that's his wife? I'm trying hard not to pity her because she's probably just as evil as him.

She's awful. She's a former newscaster and is a much better public speaker, though.

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0913/10/nib-dennis-miller-talking-doll-action_1_6a4b300398d3dbc876aa443dbf8c84a0.jpg

It’s stunning how untelegenic DeSantis is.

He has no irises.

he doesn't want the world to see him

This is a surprise...Tucker Carlson is no longer an employee of Fox News.

Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News, effective immediately. This is an earth-shaking moment in cable news.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 24, 2023

waht

RIP CUCKER

Lol at “Cucker”

genuinely shocking

*calculates* Why, by all means, let Smartmatic's suit destroy the rest of the company at this rate.

CNN will hire him soon enough.

Someone needs to check on Glenn Greenwald

Who do they now get to call up from the minors (Newsmax)?

Carlson has eaten two entire boxes of Swanson's fried chicken meal, CNN reports.

it's cool that I can picture the exact expression he made when this came down

lol otm

Carlson has eaten two entire boxes of Swanson's fried chicken meal, CNN reports.

When that alarm goes off, go to your battle stations

Lol Alfred

now Tulsi gets to be lead correspondent

what's it gonna taaaaaaaaaaaaaake

Why did they do this? Dude got big ratings, sure he may have been outed as a gigantic hypocrite but since when does FOX care about that? I mean I ain’t complaining but wow

I wonder if this was part of the deal with Dominion

the only speculation I'm seeing so far is that Fox is in the middle of negotiating carriage fees with cable services and Tucker's toxicity is a sticking point

trying to inhabit the thinking of a company, but if i were dominion i would want fox to keep lying about voting machines. it didn't affect dominion's future in any real way, i'm sure they'll be supplying a lot of voting machines for 2024 (smartmatic too),and they got around $800M for their trouble. so i doubt they pushed for carlson or others to leave

Dominion = Jack Palance in Shane

being the target of a million lunatics isn't worth it, imo