US Politics, December 2023: "I love this place. For me, it’s like a fever dream."

By 5:30 p.m., Santos had returned to his office. His chief of staff walked down the hallway, pulling a giant dolly carrying three jugs of water, giving the scene a real bunker vibe. His neighbor Beyer walked by.
“Tomorrow’s finally the big day, huh?” he said.
The letters thanking Santos for supporting Israel had started to peel and slip off the wall.
Without much else left to do, Santos granted a brief interview.
Would he miss it here?
“I love this place,” he said. “For me, it’s like a fever dream.”
He recounted a true fact about this upbringing: That he was a poor kid born in Jackson Heights, a neighborhood in Queens. “I never even thought it was possible until AOC did it.”

'he recounted a true fact'

lol

what's next for him? I'm thinking The Masked Singer

he's dancing

he just missed season 32 but he's already in talks for season 33

still reading through the karl/kristol interview thing posted in the last thread (https://conversationswithbillkristol.org/transcript/jonathan-karl-what-would-a-second-trump-term-look-like/)

I mean, he was in some ways comically inept in the White House, especially in those first few days. Remember the ill thought through travel ban that seemed like it was crafted on the back of a napkin that created chaos in airports all around the world but was quickly thrown out because it just couldn’t pass muster. To the very end where it was McEntee, I describe in the book, who had issued this executive order, McEntee, executive order calling for the immediate withdrawal actually by January 15th, 2021 of all US troops in Afghanistan, the withdrawal of all troops out of Iraq and Syria, the withdrawal of all American troops out of Germany, and then they added a fourth provision of US troops out of Somalia. This was all done.

somehow i think i completely that mcentee executive order??

sorry, ^completely missed^

jfc the following paragraph

And I go through in detail how McEntee literally got on Google to see how a executive order could be drafted. He had Colonel Douglas Macgregor, best known for various Fox appearances during the non-prime time hours for the most part, telling him to go to the cabinet and get out an old executive order and follow the template. And he got Trump to sign it, sent it to the Pentagon, but it didn’t go through the staff secretary, it didn’t go through legal review. And the whole thing ended up going nowhere, causing a little bit of chaos, but going nowhere. So they were incompetent.

Scamming the moms of your GOP colleagues is like unlocking the next level of Balls

Was so close to starting this thread with the title "Neither my Mother nor I approved these charges"

ohhh, would have been a good one

The chosen one is nice...big end of the year energy

these thread titles are so often old news by the second week of the month

let's have weekly politics threads! (jk)

was Newsom able to make a quip about the weird cowboy boots?

xps I don’t think enough writing concentrated on that first few months of the Trump presidency and how they had absolutely nobody appointed, knew nothing about how anything works, and were just making stuff up and then seeing what stuck

the only reason anyone vaguely normal got appointed was they actually knew who to call and what forms to fill out

Karl/Kristol interview was good. Worrying yes but its not like the breathless "Trump will win and end America as we know it" articles that have been making the rounds lately. I think when it comes down to it staffing the government with 4000 Trump loyalists and still actually trying to get stuff done will be a lot harder than he thinks. Even if he wins I it's gonna be difficult to find people willing to ignore Jan 6 and what happened to basically every other Trump loyalist and he's gonna wind up with a lot of George Santos types. It maybe doesn't get said enough how little the GOP has actually been able to get done since the Obama years. Trump's accomplishments during the first term basically boil down to a tax cut for corporations and the 3 SC justices he lucked into. It's not nothing but still virtually none of his signature issues have really come to pass. So I'm kinda doubtful all these ambitious plans for overthrowing the entire American state are gonna come to fruition, especially as he starts firing people and creating new, previously unconsidered crises. Maybe it'll look like Elon Musk's Twitter, he can kill the site but he can't kill the internet

If it scares libs into voting for Biden, I'm all for the tactic; but, yeah, I tend to think, "Um, y'all, we saw him the first time -- what makes you think he has the concentration to destroy the Deep State, even with this cadre of lickspittles, when he can't even concentrate on a tweet"

By Deep State he means his chronic indigestion, and he doesn't know how to handle that, either.

Yeah, let’s get complacent again- what’s the worst that could happen under a Trump presidency?

who the fuck advocated for complacency?

I’m just being a shit.

lol

<3

the Biden campaign has been jumping on mostly overlooked Trumples (a word I just coined) including another recent call to dismantle the ACA ("Obamacare sucks!") and broadcasting them loudly... a good idea imo

Yeah it’s not just that Trump’s terrible, the entire agenda is deranged and full of dumb and unpopular ideas. Which people should hear about!

ultimately that's why I'm not too worried yet. I think the reason why we're not taking the Trump 2024 threat seriously is because it hasn't even really begun yet. as that interview says, no primary votes have been cast yet. its conceivable that it won't quite be the cakewalk everyone says it's gonna be. once he actually becomes the nominee I think all the fascist shit is gonna be bigger news. if he's gonna run on Jan 6, the 2020 election, and "witch hunt", he's gonna get destroyed

Frogbs I hope you are right. Most of us have lots of shit to deal with. And where the boxes of ballots were, when the absentee ballots were counted, and precisely when in some rando Georgian building they "paused" and, ugh, źźzzzzz.

We can retain the fervent hope that more people will be more interested in the future, including the prospect of having a future.

It's somewhat encouraging that they kicked out Santos. I realize that tons of Republicans voted to keep him in, but it feels like this is the first time in forever when a big enough number of the GOP collectively put their foot down and decided they'd had enough of a fellow Republican's actions and behavior.

Sadly I have a feeling that him being gay made it easier for a bunch of them.

if you read the comments on X/Twitter, yes -- lots of references to "the queen."

xp I think a lot of them were mad about santos committing credit card/campaign finance fraud on Mike Pence’s wife

And the fraud came up too.

The fun is only just beginning: He's now filing ethics complaints about other Republicans, including Nicole Malliotakis, who's a real piece of shit.

I won't bother linking to the full piece, because who cares, but I'll share the opening line because it's funny:

"The rise of Nikki Haley has energized the kind of Republicans who at one time thrilled to the sight of Jeb Bush and had begun to despair that they would ever see his like again."

Unintentional humor is the best kind.

That Florida GOP/Moms for Liberty scandal is several shades of oof. Same vibes as the Falwell Jr. scandal, but uglier.

eh he's cute

sounds like the other woman was actually into his wife.

BREAKING: DOUG BURGUM SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Longshot Republican presidential candidate and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum suspended his campaign Monday, after failing to gain momentum with voters in a crowded primary field.

In a statement, Burgum announced: “While this primary process has shaken my trust in many media organizations and political party institutions, it has only strengthened my trust in America," and criticized the Republican National Committee’s debate requirements as “arbitrary criteria.”

https://hips.hearstapps.com/vidthumb/images/jon-hamm-fargo-season-5-trailer-653a180008ea5.jpg?crop=0.793xw:0.793xh;0.0926xw,0.207xh

RIP, Doug Burgum.

i have a question for doug, who i know nothing about. it's about the first part of the first sentence i've ever heard from him:

"While this primary process has shaken my trust in many media organizations and political party institutions, it has only strengthened my trust in America,"

how has his trust in america been strengthened by getting his ass kicked by a fascist

oh man and it felt like burgumentum was just starting to build

how has his trust in america been strengthened by getting his ass kicked by a fascist

"i trust the sound judgment of the american people, demonstrated by their refusal to support me, doug burgum, for president"

"Please Burg"

A real Bob Loblaw vibe from Doug Burgum.

we love the sound judgment of americans!

*audio fades in barely perceptible sounds of humans chewing cardboard on accident, then on purpose*

Please Doug don't Burg'um

Burgum? I don't even know'm.

Bergumeister Meisterbergum

Dammit I was workin on a "bacon cheeseburgum" quip and y'all beat me to it.

BREAKING NEWS

HOLD THE PRESSES

Breaking Burgum

To be honest I keep forgetting Doug Burgum exists unless the Pod Save America guys remember he’s there and make a dumb joke at his expense

One of the PSA guys is married to Howli Ledbetter. Now that's a cool name.

Best Pearl Jam b-side

Important to note that Governor Burgum has not withdrawn his candidacy, but only suspended his campaign. He is still fully prepared to accept the nomination should he be called upon.

Aimless I am given to understand that campaign suspension is a legal distinction- suspended campaigns can still collect funds and settle financial obligations.

Which does not change the fact that Doug's a complete tool. Just saying.

He's just laying low. Tired of the spotlight.

More time with his family maybe?

The Burgum Bunch

The Burgaloo Boys

If you can't Burgum, join 'em

Burgum all, let God sortum out

The urgum burgum song

Burgum- det som engang var

slow news day eh

Let us mourn

Post-Santos depression

Clearly you all missed the big news that reportedly, back in 2018, well after Joe Biden had left office, Hunter Biden funneled his dad around $4000 over the course of three installments as repayment for a Ford Raptor he was using. #LGB

Washington has fallen

i thought they didn't play until new year's day

Yeah man our constituents don’t really like you or the economy, we’re not going to package them together.

New: House Dems have rejected the White House's months-long campaign to sell the term "Bidenomics."

Dems are going into the 2024 election divided on how to communicate about the economy at a time when most voters are dissatisfied with it

W/ @AlexThomp

https://t.co/s2laPpVTK1

— Stef Kight (@StefWKight) December 3, 2023

Does anyone remember what happened during the Trump presidency? One of the largest economic contractions in history, via the pandemic

'Voters trust Trump on the economy', I wouldn't trust him with a small nail file

His uncle was a great nail-filer.

I'm astonished that so many people still think Trump was better for the economy than Biden. I see it in my own family.

I guess it's some kind of generally accepted autonomic reflex that Republicans are better than Democrats for boosting our economy, but the opposite is true

Republicans are generally better for the ultra-rich than Democrats, but the difference is one of degree, not of kind.

yeah, the disastrous tariffs... remember when Abbott insisted that every semi coming into TX from Mexico needed to be inspected? That didn't go well

That was a perfect demonstration of Trump's abysmal ignorance of how trade works.

Also everybody thinks Biden was president in 2020

'Dissatisfaction with the economy' does not necessarily mean people think Trump did better or would do better.

true, but I get that undercurrent in the media, especially with polling of Republicans... 'he's a businessman, he understands this stuff' which is utter bullshit but nonetheless that's what 'people are saying'

Of course polling of Republicans shows they trust the Republican more. 'How the economy is doing' questions always have an enormous partisan divide.

In terms of "Bidenomics" though, everything is more expensive, rents continue to spiral, interest rates are high, people are on edge about job security (I've known more people who got laid off in the last 12 months than ever before). Not Biden's fault but in terms of things for Representatives to run on "groceries, rent and interest rates are too damn high and why aren't Republicans letting us bring back the child tax credit that slayed child poverty for a little while" makes a lot more sense than trying to explain how actually the economy is doing great and here's 2000 words on it to explain why your everyday experience is wrong.

yeah, the shockingly good GDP for last quarter is not going to make for great messaging

It's interesting because Europe is on the verge of an actual recession but we're still doing pretty well over here

xp I don't think that perception of who is good for the economy just reflects republicans.

In a historical view though, interest rates are not that high and prices continue to come down. You say you've seen people laid off, but the unemployment rate is at an all-time low, and the GDP has gone up

Good luck paying rent though.

Dissatisfaction with the economy' does not necessarily mean people think Trump did better or would do better.

but that *is* what people are saying in polls. from that NYT poll of swing states last month:

Voters, by a 59 percent to 37 percent margin, said they better trusted Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden on the economy, the largest gap of any issue. The preference for Mr. Trump on economic matters spanned the electorate, among both men and women, those with college degrees and those without them, every age range and every income level.

ugh

The numbers are also skewed compared by the Republican cult - "62 percent of those voters think the economy is only “fair” or “poor” (compared with 97 percent for those who voted for Donald J. Trump)." Even at Trump's pre-COVID polling nadirs, like 15-20% of Democrats thought the economy was doing fine and would continue to chug along.

If most of your constituents, though, think the economy sucks and Biden is weaker on that point, running on "the economy is great" tied to his name seems like political malpractice (and the House Democrats seem to recognize that. Running on how you're going to make the economy better for them is a better plan than telling them they're wrong and that "in my day we walked uphill both ways to school in the snow with 12% interest rates strapped to our backs."

Kitchen-table economics stuff is boring af, but at least it might have been a change from tribal culture war stuff. Are we too woke, or not enough, etc. Are we doing too much or not enough about the situation over there (wherever "there" is right now)?

Even hyper-informed people just get tired. I don't have a solution, just venting, sorry.

“Even hyper-informed people just get tired. I don't have a solution, just venting, sorry.”

I really feel this.

If most of your constituents, though, think the economy sucks and Biden is weaker on that point, running on "the economy is great" tied to his name seems like political malpractice (and the House Democrats seem to recognize that. Running on how you're going to make the economy better for them is a better plan than telling them they're wrong and that "in my day we walked uphill both ways to school in the snow with 12% interest rates strapped to our backs."

Reminds me of a Nixon quote: "If the people believe there’s an imaginary river out there, you don’t tell them there’s no river there. You build an imaginary bridge over the imaginary river."

Senator Tommy Tuberville said on Tuesday he was ending his blockade of hundreds of military promotions, clearing the way for numerous generals and admirals to take new roles after a nearly 10-month protest over the military’s abortion policy.

The Alabama Republican said he was “not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer”.

thanks for your heartfelt protest that accomplished nothing, asshole

It accomplished his principal goal of attracting attention to himself.

I disagree with his reasons but frankly blocking such appointments is praxis— fuck the US military.

Comrade Tuberville

I wouldn’t go that far.

More like “sadly, worst and most awful person you’ve met makes good point”

This is like the neapolitan ice cream of irony, Mike Johnson to settle a dispute that got physical between 2 GA fascists over who gets to write the bill to censure a MI Dem: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/05/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene/index.html

Let's get physical

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWz9VN40nCA

I think the best solution is a cage match.

fuck that, a duel with heavy machine guns

What I'm watching tonight here in Alabama: how Trump's rivals respond to this statement: "No. No. Other than day one." Do they shrug it off? Or do they grapple with the consequences of the frontrunner pledging to use sweeping executive power and what it means for democracy? https://t.co/yGzsQssTdD

— Robert Costa (@costareports) December 6, 2023

this guy was very well sourced for a while, but now he just seems like a guy with severe brain damage.

So johnson wants to blur faces of people involved with the coup to protect them from justice department — doesnt justice department already have all this stuff?

and he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for these meddling kids and their dog!

Voters, by a 59 percent to 37 percent margin, said they better trusted Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden on the economy, the largest gap of any issue. The preference for Mr. Trump on economic matters spanned the electorate, among both men and women, those with college degrees and those without them, every age range and every income level.

these voters are insane. the biden administration came into a very difficult situation and they have done a good job navigating it. they backed off some of their heroic early poverty reduction policies due to fears of inflation. they shouldn't have. but even the more modest biden administration is much better than the lunatic culture warriors trump wants to bring in.

the fact that biden himself is old doesn't matter that much. certainly not ideal. but the importance of this is so vastly over-stated by voters.

In a blog post published ahead of the new Census numbers, the Council of Economic Advisers acknowledged that the shrinking Covid safety net would drive the benchmark supplemental poverty rate, a holistic measure that takes into account various types of government aid, “significantly higher than in 2021.” But it argued the administration had succeeded in laying the foundation for a stronger-than-expected economic recovery.

The CEA also noted that much of the initial drop in poverty was driven by the expansion of the child tax credit, which increased payments for eligible low-income families to as much as $3,600 per month. Biden officials pushed hard to make that program permanent but couldn’t overcome opposition from centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who argued the government’s spending was stoking inflation.

so the biden administration was unable to continue policies that were helping people. so voters "feel" that their economic circumstances are bad. and they will turn to trump, who does not seem to think reducing the child poverty rate should even be a goal.

voters are stupid asf! who knew?

inflation with food and gas prices is an issue motivating people. i don't think the biden administration can snap their fingers and end this though, or that it would be better under trump.

So johnson wants to blur faces of people involved with the coup to protect them from justice department — doesnt justice department already have all this stuff?

― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, December 6, 2023 7:39 AM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

kinda ties into what that interview above was talking about, the 2024 GOP is going to be an explicitly pro-Jan 6th, pro-insurrection crowd. I guess we'll see how that plays.

the footage is already out there and I doubt many more people would be recognized now, but a fair number of the identifications, and I believe some convictions, were based on people seeing their idiot uncle or neighbor in the pictures and video and ratting them out

for all the talk of the FBI's super facial recognition and surveillance, the real winner in the effort to identify randos breaking windows or w/e was just people seeing pictures recognizing people the old fashioned ay

The Johnson comment was massively stupid, his staff is already walking it back, but I don't get all the people in internet land freaking out that he's "obstructing justice". He will have zero impact on the steady march of prosecutions.

at this point it seems like it's just dumb and an effort to seem like he's signaling that he believes Jan 6 doofuses were patriots

good morning!

mike johnson doesn't seem like one of history's great intellects

that's the thing with history: it's only written later

I don't think we're going to be poring over his speeches in a generation, though

the negative polling for biden worries me. however, i cannot imagine a scenario where people would run back to trump, our collective abusive stepfather.

a fair number of the identifications, and I believe some convictions, were based on people seeing their idiot uncle or neighbor in the pictures and video and ratting them out

and idiot Mr. Show cast members

the only person i want to see get in trouble for january 6 is trump. his footsoldiers are just kind of pitiable for the most part.

no, I want them in trouble as well

more than enough trouble to go round

Meantime, a gift link of joy. These people, I swear.

https://wapo.st/3R4FKwK

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/JT2KZUQMWCYHIY6DJSEHQ7VX5I_size-normalized.JPG&w=916

Oh Marge, let's get this insurrection show on the road, don't ya know?

See that old smiling coot on the right? I hope she choked on lung fluid.

was gonna say, guessing the two unmasked people there are republicans

voters "feel" that their economic circumstances are bad

these fuckin dummies working two full-time jobs and paying nearly twice the price for food, don't they know how good they've got it

Good economy? Tell that to my cryptowallet

It's hard to tell how bad people have it by the number of American tourists crammed into NYC over the weekend spending absurd amounts of money.

Kevin McCarthy is leaving the House at the end of the year, meaning the Republicans' margin just went down to 3 votes.

He couldn’t wait to pull that cord another year, could he

k streets is calling

From the gavel to the big chairs, baby

xxxp Highly likely his seat will be filled by another Republican.

re: the Wisconsin fake electors—they ought to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but our state AG won't commit

from August: https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2023/07/21/ag-kaul-staying-silent-on-charging--fake-electors-

Republicans used to imagine themselves the party of law and order.

Still are, ime. Law and order when it comes to "them" (fill in with the first applicable group that comes to mind - leftists, Dems, minorities, gays, trans people, etc etc etc), but not themselves.

To jon’s point, “law and order” has always been code for persecution of the other. The Republican position hasn’t shifted at all.

True. They've never been interested in jailing vigilantes, war criminals, etc.

The famous quote: "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

The corollary to that is that all conservatives believe themselves to be part of the in-group, when in fact most of them are out here with the rest of us.

wait, you mean the leopards might eat MY face?!?

the 'country club' conservatism of people like Sandra Day O'Connor, Mitt Romney, George Schultz et al is so far removed what conservatism is now, it's hard to reconcile with the Mike Johnson, Boebert, all these assholes

Should've burned the country club with them in it

It's hard to call the current movement conservatism, unless we simply acknowledge that the term is meaningless.

xp

Now I got my own mustard gas in my pocket
Climb on a tree on a branch and drop it
On a country club full of Saturday golfers
So I can watch them die chokin' shakin' in convulsions
Go crazy, crazy
Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy
Chemical warfare, chemical warfare
Chemical warfare, warfare, warfare
Chemical warfare, chemical warfare
Chemical warfare, warfare, warfare
Panic in the air, see the headless chickens runnin'
Golf carts head-on crashin' crackin' heads wide open
Scratch the grass, mister, you can't breathe
And roll and writhe in a sandtrap, starting to heave
Claw those clubs, lemme see you seethe

The only conservatism I accept is mild resistance to the New Deal. The rest is class warfare mass slaughter.

eh i ain’t quite there, but that’s a good heuristic, rōshi. when a whole sect is named sōtō i pay attention.

lol sleeve

If it hasn’t been posted elsewhere, I’d submit this quite recent interview with Corey Robin as a very helpful resource for explaining why things are the way they are currently. This also addresses the popular misunderstanding of why American reactionaries act they do that American political media and social media populated by non-reactionaries don’t grasp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CNOS0v8v5c

Robin's Clarence Thomas book is essential

Kingfish is there a transcript? An hour of YouTube is not everyone's jam

He has an essay that grew into The Reactionary Mind (or maybe it’s a shorter restatement of the thesis) but I can’t remember where I saw it.

That book's a worthwhile read too.

It's hard to call the current movement conservatism, unless we simply acknowledge that the term is meaningless.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, December 6, 2023 4:58 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i agree. liberals are more "conservative" in the burkean sense than trump honestly.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2023/12/06/a-biden-donor-calls-it-quits-00130478

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S09E15/865263.jpg?b64lines=V0hZIE5PVCBGSVZFIFlFQVJTIEFHTz8=

what is happening here?

What’s happening with Taylor Swift is not organic.

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) December 6, 2023

Not sure I want to know.

eh, think Time voted her person of the year.. and she's respectful to LBGTQ, people of color, etc. The fix is in

But perhaps he's insinuating a vast cabal, a sinister plot to have Taylor Swift indoctrinate us all with kindness and tolerance

If she can provoke these assholes like this, my respect for her increases tremendously.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-swift-feud/

"Girlboss pysop" LOL

If we reach the point where Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Taylor Swift run for office together we will have truly reached full-on Idiocracy where Mike Judge imagined “President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.”

I mean, imagine having an actor as president.

Also... Taylor Swift is 1000% more popular than Trump, so it might just be old fashioned jealousy

If you don't pay attention to or care about pop culture, or music, or anything good in life — if you're Stephen Miller, say — then the way Mecha Taylor bestrides the earth might look like it was somehow concocted somewhere.

Miller's tweet reminds me of the "current thing" meme -- seeing conspiracies in normal news events

i don't think he actually thinks there's a masonic conspiracy re: taylor swift.

i think he thinks (perhaps rightly), that one way to win an information war in 2023 is to prime a large number of people with the idea that literally everything is fake. or (in the language of tech social media he's echoing) not "organic".

girlboss psyop is a fabulous phrase fyiud

I think I'm more annoyed by the people acting like Taylor Swift is going to be this popular forever than by the people who make a sport/business out of hating her. (I just don't like her music and leave it in the drawer labeled Not For Me.)

he doesn't care about taylor swift. the idea is to prime people with idea that tons of stuff that doesn't matter even a little bit to miller etc. is fake, so people are be ready to believe in when it does matter.

https://i.imgur.com/dwxDnZ1.jpg

"What's happening with Taylor Swift is not organic"

-man with spray-on hair

Yeah, it's not quite a straight line from "the election was stolen" to "Taylor Swift is a conspiracy," but they both have to do with pretending popular things aren't popular and vice versa.

“They can’t possibly be popular because I don’t like them.”

like what does the FOX News audience know about Taylor Swift anyway? that she is very popular and is dating a football player. you think any of these cretins regularly find themselves in situations where Taylor Swift music is played?

You mean like diners or supermarkets or someplace where a radio is playing? Look, I live in as much of a cultural cocoon as I can, and I’ve heard probably a half dozen Taylor Swift songs just by walking into stores.

i think he thinks (perhaps rightly), that one way to win an information war in 2023 is to prime a large number of people with the idea that literally everything is fake. or (in the language of tech social media he's echoing) not "organic".

yeah that's what I always took "the current thing" to be about. the idea that every trend or news event is manufactured by some cabal that wants us all to be focusing on it and thinking a certain way (about Ukraine, Taylor Swift, whatever).

you think any of these cretins regularly find themselves in situations where Taylor Swift music is played?

Applebee's, Red Robin, various chain restaurants with "Roadhouse" in the name

like what does the FOX News audience know about Taylor Swift anyway?

Swift has been photographed attending some of Kelce’s games in his suite with family and friends, and the NFL immediately jumped on the opportunity to use her appearances as marketing moments. [...] During her second game appearance, the cameras cut to her 17 times throughout the game.

I mean, Taylor Swift’s popularity isn’t organic— most pop music today isn’t “organically popular.” But who cares, it’s been that way for years.

Kingfish is there a transcript? An hour of YouTube is not everyone's jam

There’s a podcast version of the interview, but Adam Conover’s show doesn’t have transcriptions that I can find.

https://headgum.com/factually-with-adam-conover/what-liberals-get-wrong-about-the-right-with-corey-robin

Taylor Swiftboating

^ lol

Haters, as the poet says, gonna hate hate hate hate hate

I bet Stephen Miller liked Taylor when people thought she was an Aryan Goddess

Seasons’ Greetings to the lovers and the haters

fwiw I don’t hate Swift, tho I do wonder how and why such middling music gets people so worked up.

at least in my circles, many people have been posting stuff about “Beyoncé is not your friend!” and I think that it is this weird parasociality with celebrities that makes me truly queasy— people seem willing to give their lives for these incredibly rich propaganda artists who don’t give a shit about them after their pockets are empty.

but whenever we venture into this territory, i get told to “let people like what they like,” as if there aren’t social, political, and economic forces behind why people like what they like.

(i don’t consider myself outside or better than these forces, i am just convinced/bewitched by different ones— i could go on about how and why i consume rock climbing media, celebrity, and gear the way i do, but this isn’t the place for it)

Sounds kinda rock-ist

Lol, the heart of rock climbing still beatin'

In Cleveland

Detroit! honk honk

"let people like what they like" is the most oppressive, thought-killing phrase. underneath it is the idea that the relationship between a viewer, reader, or listener and a work of art is purely one of consumption. they go to the object to extract enjoyment, not to be engaged actively, as a thinking subject. as far as it goes -- if people want to feel that way -- whatever. but they don't just do that. they insist that ANY OTHER ATTITUDE toward culture is pretentious, an attack on people's right to simply "enjoy" without reflection, which for some reason is taken as the most sacred of all rights. the only form of criticism that is accepted in our culture is like sheer moralism. "this work promotes harm," "this artist is not a good person," etc. america is actively hostile to real thought and analysis -- the idea that someone might yearn for more in life.

I do wonder how and why such middling music gets people so worked up.

I have to think that, in the case of Taylor Swift and Beyonce (and others), sexism plays a major part.

Are you breakfasting with Adorno?

xpost

i think this is why we are all depressed. unconsciously, in a million ways, we are told not to look for meaning and beauty anywhere. our dreams must be dreams of wealth, being attractive, things like that. whatever is tragic in our lives can only be repressed under these conditions.

adorno was right about a lot of things. not everything.

in any case, i like taylor swift and respect what she has accomplished. this isn't about her. i was just responding to table's experience of being shut down after trying to analyze celebrity culture.

I think “let people like what they like” is a notion born (in part) with exhaustion with argument.

This is probably the wrong thread for it, and this isn’t an original thought, but polarization isn’t limited to politics, and a lot of that is internet/social media culture. You can’t just really enjoy anything - you have to write a thesis to elevate or defend it, or attack what someone else cares about.

hm, that is an interesting take. i guess i think these arguments are really shallow -- calling out stuff as "problematic" or whatever -- and not quite aimed at deeper understanding. but maybe the latter kind of conversation is mistaken for the former and it gets shut down.

I like some of what treeship is saying, but yeah I also think "let people like things" is or was as much a response to the tone & style of soc med criticism than its content. That said, I agree it's become its own form of smug kneejerk soc med discourse, the black hole we all live inside now

Treesh, maybe "like what you like" needs the addendum "...in the way that you want to like it."

For some folks that will include engaging critically with the arts, dissecting the phenomena, reflecting on celebrity, and trying to understand how we got where we are as a culture.

Or as a fractious group of cultures. Or as a shattered world full of lost individuals. Fuck if I know.

i think it is important to have a space for real conversation, even polemic. however, the internet i guess *is* that but one that produced a really unproductive discourse.

I thought the take-away is that Stephen Miller is an austin powers-style fembot truther

the conversation tends to veer wildly between "flaming random strangers for small difference in taste is bad" to "taste is purely subjective and therefore any critical discussion is bad"

Hot take: participating in discourse of any kind is inherently unproductive unless you respect the people you are talking to

The internet is a black hole of awful because very few of the people yelling into the void actually know each other and fewer still actually like or respect each other, so the entire exercise turns into everyone yelling at the stuffed toys and being affronted when the toys yell back

You also see this when Congresspeople talk at each other

thanks for that, treesh— i largely agree with much of what you’re saying.

we can see some of the mentioned dynamics playing out in this thread— where criticism of Swift and Beyoncé is automatically construed as “sexist,” thus morally indicting any who dare criticize the culture industry around the two as sexist. it’s infuriating and wrong-headed and quite frankly the danger of identity-based models of virtue. this is not to deny that sexism doesn’t exist in many critiques of the two, but to deny that sexism is the only (or even the larger) motivator.

like, what if I intimated that most of the critiques of Bey are coming from Black women? would that change things? or would they also be constructed as sexist?

Fwiw I think "All Too Well" is both a serious work of art (with some amazing turns of phrase) AND a product of dippy celebrity gossip. And a kind of trite reuse of one of the most overused chord progressions in history.

All those things can be true simultaneously.

In my personal and professional life I keep bumping up against this fact: seemingly contradictory things being true simultaneously. I am not sure it's why we're all depressed, but I do think it's the modern condition.

I like some of what treeship is saying, but yeah I also think "let people like things" is or was as much a response to the tone & style of soc med criticism than its content. That said, I agree it's become its own form of smug kneejerk soc med discourse, the black hole we all live inside now

― rob,

otm

to be fair she did say she was the problem

at least in my circles, many people have been posting stuff about “Beyoncé is not your friend!” and I think that it is this weird parasociality with celebrities that makes me truly queasy— people seem willing to give their lives for these incredibly rich propaganda artists who don’t give a shit about them after their pockets are empty

Side note: anyone who hasn't read this piece definitely should: https://www.vulture.com/article/renaissance-a-film-by-beyonce-review.html

there's a bit of a nervous defensiveness probably because of how many edgelords do hate Bey and Taylor out of sexism that probably causes people to hit people with more valid criticisms with friendly fire.

like the Ghostbusters remake, there was fairly obviously a misogynist campaign against the film, so quite a few times when someone said they hated it for completely valid reasons, they got either interrogated with suspicion as to why they didn't like it or given the "let people like stuff" response. one of my best friends remarked "I want to see the movie, but I didn't realize having an opinion on it made me political".

it's hard for me to draw a line in the sand because a lot of people are just exhausted and life, online or not, is a cesspool right now, but my general feeling is why not have the argument with the person you're arguing with and not the person you imagine you're arguing with.

Not to gainsay the worthwhile discourse, but sometimes when the world gives you Stephen Miller attacking Taylor Swift you just take the open-court layup.

yea kind of a shitty situation because the Ghostbusters remake very much did suck

the other bit is the complete "baby with the bathwater approach" Puritanism prevalent online - any less than rosy elements emerge about some celebrity/etc and now supporting or even hearing their music makes you "complicit" in bad behavior and a 'bad person' and it's often done with a smug "I know more than you and am superior to you for this knowledge" aire, despite the people doing it often just sharing memes about it that they read for three seconds and didn't bother to fact-check.

basically internet has turned into "Rules for how to live your life or you're going to Hell"-book

“Beyoncé has yet to make a statement about Palestine. But this silence is itself a statement.”

^^ a consequence of social media, right? I've felt that way too about myself: "If you have an opinion about X, then you have an opinion about everything."

I dunno, given that a song from her album has been co-opted as an Israeli nationalist anthem, it would be nice to have her say something about it— but she won’t do so. That Vulture piece is right on imho.

same

Y'all should take an hour and listen to the Corey Robin interview -- wonderful, and should persuade you to check out his Clarence Thomas book from the library or something. The conclusions:

(1) Despite progressive/liberal/Resistance claims to the contrary, it was precisely the Trump administration's adherence to the Constitution that enabled them to win in 2016 and come close in 2020. The Senate and the Electoral College are constitutional creatures. Add an extra-constitutional feature like gerrymandering and voila. You know you're losing, Robin argues, if you rely on the rules. Mass movements with majority support, he says, matter.

(2) What Thomas learned during his college years as a Black nationalist was a deep pessimism about Black/white relations. Hence his contempt for the Voting Rights Act and, more importantly, his full embrace of the theory that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to bear a firearm -- a theory, Robin reminds us, that Thomas embraced in footnote before Nino made it official in Heller.

maybe stephen miller is a beyonce stan

You know you're losing, Robin argues, if you rely on the rules.

Ain't that a b

maybe stephen miller is a beyonce stan

Maybe he's exactly who she meant when she sang about "everybody, everybody."

p sure Miller exclusively listens to the sounds of real people being tortured

i.e. me groaning while my neighbor blasts Dave Matthews

In my personal and professional life I keep bumping up against this fact: seemingly contradictory things being true simultaneously. I am not sure it's why we're all depressed, but I do think it's the modern condition.

― ; Powell (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 7 December 2023 14:48 (forty-seven minutes ago) link

Humans have spent centuries constructing a society whose complexity has become too great for any single human mind to fully comprehend, such that every cultural artifact, regardless of its seeming significance, inherently contains facets of varying levels of truthiness that are too multitudinous for any single human mind to fully comprehend. And then there are just like total shitbag people who exploit those facts and intentionally muddy the waters for sadistic shits and giggles. It's all very exhausting and, yes, occasionally depressing. And that is my hot hot take on US politics, December 2023.

Dialectics!

“let people like what they like” is just code for “shut the fuck up”

social media is a competitive sport for some people

i saw some American alpha male douche bantering with pro-Palestine accounts on Twitter and taunting them with language no different than rival sports fans smack talking each other, it was pretty gross. everything is a sporting event now

lol Alfred

Brimstead said it so much better than I did!

Most if not all language on social media is kinda code for "shut the fuck up"

in the meantime, Eric dear, while we're on the subject, will you check about the hors d'oeuvres? The caterer forgot them. The varnish wasn't dry or something.

I'll drink anything that isn't burned

I will drink the burned stuff

very nice discussion this morning, ya’ll, appreciate it

“I think people who like Donald Trump like Donald Trump regardless of what he says and he entertains them with bombast, which they find humorous and compelling,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the 2012 GOP nominee who voted twice to convict Trump following his Senate impeachment trials. “His base loves the authoritarian streak. I think they love the idea that he may use the military in domestic matters and that he will seek revenge and retribution. That’s why he’s saying it and has the lock, nearly, on the Republican nomination.”

he's just saying what's true, but it's interesting that romney must know that much of that same base are people who voted for him in 2012

yea kind of a shitty situation because the Ghostbusters remake very much did suck

yes but did it suck any more than Ghostbusters 2? Doubtful, because I don't remember a single thing about 2, but I do remember Hemsworth's joke about his dog named "Mike Hat. Michael Hat" which is actually funnier than anything in the original Ghostbusters.

sorry, don't mean to lean in on the trump dictator stuff but it's unsettling how much the fascism is open and proud now among senators.

Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who have both endorsed Trump for 2024, suggested that the former president was joking during the town hall when he said he wouldn’t be a dictator “other than Day 1.”

“He was being funny on the one hand, but also making the point that, ‘I’m going to undo executive orders that [Biden] did, which doesn’t make me any more dictator than he is,’” Cramer said. “The people who have concerns aren’t people who would ever vote for him. This is part of his appeal, is that authenticity, and the point he made in it is really good.”

honestly i forgot that kevin cramer existed. but he doesn't even pay lip service to the idea that a president represents the entire population, not just his political base

I agree with Alfred; I wish there was a transcript of the Corey Robin interview because it would be quicker than listening to it and the sound editing is a little distractingly weird on headphones, but what he has to say is extremely perceptive, especially about Clarence Thomas. Highly recommend anyone who has the time watch that — it's certainly more valuable than that four-hour video about YouTube plagiarists that was going around a few days ago.

There's an (autogenerated?) transcript on the YouTube page itself, fwiw

Personal moralism and policing the tastes and expressions of each other and ourselves is all we got nowadays, since so many other avenues of change have been either denied or delegitmized, I’d posit.

It doesn’t help that these talk comes thru social platforms that greatly increase one’s personal anxiety levels.

the thing about the swift piece that makes me lose my mind is when she correctly identifies that capitalism and patriarchy walk hand-in-hand but then offers that her massive success is proof that capitalism is redirecting itself toward women which is 1. good 2. suggests more art by women will be made and celebrated, which is the exact kind of politically empty horseshit that would marinate in the head of someone who has been rich and insanely popular since she was 16

this is way more interesting to think about imo than whether swift's success is "organic" or not because of course it isn't!!! that radical idea is also being offered but by someone with nothing but rocks and racism in his head

yes but did it suck any more than Ghostbusters 2? Doubtful, because I don't remember a single thing about 2, but I do remember Hemsworth's joke about his dog named "Mike Hat. Michael Hat" which is actually funnier than anything in the original Ghostbusters.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, December 7, 2023 11:07 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

you got me there, I forgot they even made a Ghostbusters 2

sorry, don't mean to lean in on the trump dictator stuff but it's unsettling how much the fascism is open and proud now among senators.

I mean, a huge number of senators and congresspeople support ethnic cleansing in other countries. That such fascist beliefs would come home to roost isn't really

*that surprising, at least to me.

it does seem significant that even Hannity is bringing this up, almost seems like most of the GOP knows the dictator shit isn't gonna play well nationally and are trying to soft-peddle it.

reminds me of 2020 when the big question was whether or not Trump would accept the results of the election. and he kept saying stuff like "only if I win". which caused a lot of GOP types to go, "ha ha, he's such a kidder, that's why we love him folks"

maybe the dictator shit will play well

GB 2 has some underrated weird energy, like the slime coming through the bathtub faucet. But the painting dude just makes me think of those Clay Matthew’s fathead commercials now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfekM6vsSzM

I think the dictator shit is playing well with a certain set of voters

He's able to deftly create this false narrative: they're really coming after YOU (your guns, your children, your second home) but they're gonna have to get through ME first, hence all the charges being brought against me. It's all horseshit but it's appealing to these folks - no, he's not really a Christian, but he's been sent here by God to save our 'way of life'

It's not even that complex. He's saying, simply, "I am going to punish the people you hate." That's all he needs to say.

It is also a certainty that the pool of people who are to be hated and punished will expand at the convenience of those in power. It hardly matters who is chosen for inclusion so long as the hatred and punishments continue.

The punishments will continue until morale improves.

I am not at all sanguine at the prospects. But I do think that functioning authoritarian states require a lot more effort and discipline and organizational chops then either Trump or anyone around him has ever demonstrated. Not that they wouldn’t be horrible and inflict a lot of damage, but they’re also mostly dumb cheap thugs.

Hard to run a federal govt with nothing but crooks and kooks.

There are a number of more educated, savvy types who will embrace whatever crank theories they think will work to their advantage. See, e.g., Cheseboro, Kenneth.

thread vanishes up own asshole

lol not at anyone at all jimbeaux just me doing asshole “metacommentary” and even i’m not sure sure i know what i mean

I'll tell you one thing, it's not organic

I don’t know, one theory is that in a 2nd Trump term he’d be more effective at destroying things than in his first term when his worst instincts were constrained by the “adults in the room” — because he won’t have or want any “adults” around this time. Otoh tho, look at the useless sleaze bags he surrounds himself with when left to his own devices. Not sure they can actually DO much, from a sheer competence standpoint.

One thing I haven’t seen anyone really mention is that if he does get elected again he’ll be a lame duck on day one. That’s not a great recipe for Constitution-destroying transformation.

Don’t get me wrong, a 2nd Trump term would be a disaster in any number of ways. But I don’t how realistic it is to think these bozos could create any kind of lasting autocracy.

let's not find out

There are layers. Yes, a Trump who is returned to power would do bad things and harm people.

Yes, he's also very lazy and distractable.

But finally, one of the reasons to dread a Trump victory is what it would say about us generally. As a nation or a people or an assemblage of fractious constituencies or whatever. That we failed to prevent it.

We said that in 2016 too.

He would go to war against the “deep state” firing so many people that the government would not be able to function. David Brooks would write a column saying it is ironic that man known for fake firing people ok tv ended up firing his way to the collapse of the republic. I am going to read it and be like yeah good point.

But I don’t how realistic it is to think these bozos could create any kind of lasting autocracy.

Yes, but, like Commander Lawrence, they have made the mistake of enlisting the help of religious fanatics.

what it would say about us generally. As a nation or a people

I cannot imagine a Trump victory that included his winning the popular vote. So, part of what it would say about us as a nation is that we willingly allow a minority of citizens not just protection for their rights, but we have arranged things to give them the power to actively set policy for their own benefit and to enforce it against the majority's directly expressed wishes.

Right, Aimless, I agree, but the inevitable counterpoint will remain that the electoral system was intentionally designed to _avoid_ having a president who only needed to win NY/CA.

The balance is very skewed now, but the fact remains you have to win by the rules you're working with, not the ones you wish were in place. Sorry if that sounds flippant.

Hunter Biden has been charged with tax crimes in California, his second indictment from special counsel David Weiss as he faces mounting scrutiny over his financial dealings.

Biden will face three felony tax charges in relation to tax evasion and filing a false return, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.

If convicted... will he get Secret Service protection in prison?

Cellmates Trump and Hunter and their wacky cohort of Secret Service agents in prison, the sitcom writes itself.

a failed escape attempt every week

Trump tries to get a new cellmate because he’s intimidated by Hunter’s dong and ends up rooming with Adebisi from Oz.

Hunter teaches him to love sharks and they start a riot when the warden won’t let them watch Shark Week.

I'm surprised Barbara Lee is polling so horribly in the Senate race. I don't ever see ads so I'm unaware if anyone running has started campaigning in any way yet?

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/bay-area-lawmaker-down-big-in-senate-race-poll-18540228.php

The impact of the religious fanatics is going to get worse before it gets better, after Dobbs they are definitely feeling their oats. But I still come back to how fundamentally unpopular just about all their ideas are. Almost nobody including them really wants to live in the country they fantasize about. Say what you want about America, but when it comes down to it we're not that godly a people.

Yeah, but the god stuff is mostly a front for the desire for power.

It is, but they specifically want to use that power to enact crazed punitive theocracy. Abortion bans are already hurting Republicans, and banning abortion is just the start of the massively unpopular stuff they would do if they could. I just don't think most Americans will put up with that. White evangelicals are a small part of the population — and even some younger evangelicals are turned off by all this stuff.

Yeah, I think the pushback is already clear and will get clearer.

Shame about nationwide gerrymandering massively diluting the votes of most Americans.

Yep. But at least I hear people talking about that more these days too. All the anti-majoritarian fuckery is not going unnoticed, and the more they overplay their hands the more people will make that connection.

I mean, this guy is the Speaker of the House.

At Christian nationalist gala keynoted by Speaker Mike Johnson, right-wing media figures push anti-LGBTQ bigotry and claim that trans people are “demonic”

https://www.mediamatters.org/congress/christian-nationalist-gala-keynoted-speaker-mike-johnson-right-wing-media-figures-push

Well right, worse before it gets better. But I just don't think that sells well at a national level. Or even at many local levels. I'm somewhat buoyed by my own Republican-dominated school board giving the stiff arm to our local Moms 4 Liberty chapter over their book challenge policy. The superintendent didn't want anything to do with it and 8 out of 9 board members agreed.

Hilariously, the one board member who sided with M4L is a.) a former Christian school principal, b.) whose kids have never been in public school, c.) who was forced to leave his principal role in disgrace after he misappropriated funds and had to pay it back. The church that owned the school didn't press charges, and even though all this came out in the election he still won pretty easily because it's a Republican district. (At the time he ran, he was managing a Chick-Fil-A.) But that he's up there puffing himself up as this moral arbiter when everybody in the room knows that he stole from his Christian school is endlessly entertaining to me.

forced to leave his principal role in disgrace after he misappropriated funds and had to pay it bac

The only surprise here is that it wasn't a sex scandal.

Wow, Chick-fil-A being involved in promoting toxic theocracy, shocker.

https://i.imgur.com/4KIfoPZ.png

i think we all know that if a u.s. election highlighted serious electoral college flaws, the people and their representatives would quickly address the underlying problems and make sure that it doesn't happen again

the electoral college presidents will be interrogated at a congressional hearing

Which are electoral colleges hostile to Conservative speakers?

Remember, the Republicans in 2000 were prepping for an electoral college loss and they had a whole legal and PR strategy ready for challenging the legitimacy of an EC loss.

Oh, I'm sure if it happens to them they won't hesitate to challenge

this guy is a fucking demon: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/us/texas-abortion-court-ken-paxton.html

Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas asked the Texas Supreme Court to reverse a lower court order allowing an abortion to proceed in spite of the state’s strict bans, in the case of a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal condition.

In overnight filings on Thursday, Mr. Paxton argued that the court must act quickly to overturn the order and stop the woman, Kate Cox, from obtaining an abortion.

“Each hour it remains in place is an hour that Plaintiffs believe themselves free to perform and procure an elective abortion,” filings by lawyers from Mr. Paxton’s office said. “Nothing can restore the unborn child’s life that will be lost as a result.”

The filings came hours after the judge, Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County district court, issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday barring Mr. Paxton and others from enforcing the state’s overlapping abortion bans against Ms. Cox’s doctor, Damla Karsan, or anyone who assisted her with providing an abortion to Ms. Cox.

In granting the order, the judge found that Ms. Cox, 31, a mother of two young children living in the Dallas area, met the criteria for an exception to the state’s abortion bans. Her fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 18, a fatal condition in all but a small number of rare cases; Ms. Cox had been to the emergency room several times for pain and discharge during her pregnancy.

A spokeswoman for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented Ms. Cox, said they would be filing a response to Mr. Paxton with the state’s highest civil court on Friday and that a decision could come as soon as later in the day.

if that woman dies Paxton should be held liable for first degree murder

if that woman dies Paxton should be held liable for first degree murder

It's Texas. At best, her husband could sue him for destruction of property.

someone should stick forceps into both of his eyes

Paxton a good candidate for post-birth abortion

Heya folks! I don't talk about politics a lot, but I got some political stuff on my mind this morning and I figured I'd pop in and talk about it a little bit. I probably won't read a lot of the responses because these threads seem kind of discourse-y, but I feel like at least giving my perspective on where I stand, politically.

I work for a large employer. The largest private employer in my state, I'm told, although I'm not sure if that's true anymore. If it is, I'm not sure it'll be true for long. They just outsourced our entire revenue cycle department. That's a lot of people. A major healthcare employer outsourcing a large number of its professional employees.

I'm not affected by this directly. It causes me some anxiety, though. One of the DBT skills I've learned is to "check the facts". My fear is that the company I work for is also going to outsource my department. If I check the facts, is this belief reasonable?

Yeah, actually, it is. It's a perfectly reasonable belief.

I was talking to my girlfriend last night. She had an appointment with her psych - had to push to get it, they wanted to schedule her for late January. I'm proud of her for advocating for herself. Anyway, the psych asked her "Do you feel overwhelmed? It's not good to feel overwhelmed for long periods." And my girlfriend said "Yeah, actually, I've been in a more or less constant state of overwhelm for the past 14 months." And then the psych dropped the subject.

I mean, what is her psych gonna do about that? It's good to keep that in mind. It helps those of us who are overwhelmed to be able to acknowledge that it's not our _fault_, we didn't do something _wrong_ just because we're struggling. Nobody's going to give us the help we need or deserve, but it's not our _fault_ at least.

-

One of the things I've grown to really dislike is the whole "leopards eating people's faces party" rhetoric. I understand feeling frustrated and hostile towards people who support fascism. The party generally characterized as the "leopards eating people's faces" party is pretty directly targeting trans people. A lot of people voting for right-wingers think I'm, well, an existential threat to them personally. They're wrong, and that false belief is hurting a lot of trans people, often in ways that lead to trans people's deaths. I strongly disapprove of this.

That last statement isn't just sarcastic understatement. It's me attempting to frame in healthy terms things which are outside my control. What the "leopards eating people's faces" rhetoric represents to me, personally, is kind of strawman politics. It poses some theoretical "other", someone I don't know personally, who hates me and wants me dead so much that they're willing to cut their own throat in order to do it.

There probably are people like that. People voting for politicians who are loudly campaigning on anti-trans platforms, implementing anti-trans policies. I'm not sure why I should hold those people responsible for the anti-trans policies instead of the politicians who are implementing those policies. It's a dodge. It's subterfuge. All of this work they put in to whip up outrage and bigotry and hatred, and why? So they can claim that _their_ bigotry is "the will of the people".

-

The "leopards eating people's faces" discourse buys into that rhetoric. It blames the people who vote for the politicians, rather than the politicians themselves. And - this is important to me - I believe that narrative fundamentally misrepresents the material conditions we're all living under. This narrative suggests to me a belief that things would get better if only these ignorant bigots would stop voting for all of these awful, terrible predators.

Predators. Abusers. That's what we're getting back to, aren't we? How do people deal with abuse? Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. That's the four I know about. Some people limit it to "fight, flight, and freeze", but I think in this context, "fawn" is an important response to acknowledge.

A lot of abuse victims cape for their abusers. A lot of abuse victims fight attempts to hold their abusers accountable. I don't see that response as being one exclusive to supporters of Republicans.

-

Honestly, being trans in America in 2023 is really stressful for me. It's emotionally really hard. Really hard. Having said that, right now I'm more concerned that my job is going to be outsourced. Looking at the trans people around me, it's really tempting for me to attribute that to bigotry, to transphobia.

I'm not sure that belief holds up when I check the facts. If my department gets outsourced, that's going to affect me personally, sure, but I'm the only trans person in my department. If I lose my job, it won't be because I'm trans. It won't be because some theoretical bigot in Kentucky voted for Republicans.

I feel like centering political rhetoric around something like whether or not trans people are valid is of mutual benefit to both Democrats and Republicans. It gives Democrats a way to portray themselves as compassionate, noble, as _good people_, in a way that doesn't require them to actually do much of anything.

If someone thinks that voting for Democrats serves the interests of trans people, I'd encourage them to, well, check the facts. If voting for Democrats supported the interests of trans people, trans people as a group would have a pretty strong allegiance to the Democrats, wouldn't we?

In general, the best way of checking facts about a demographic group is by using statistical data. However, statistical data about trans people is pretty unreliable. There's a lot of rapid change in both people going through transition and within the trans community itself. Most critically, current data collection techniques simply fail to adequately recognize or account for trans people. The best way of understanding what trans people believe and want, right now, is to just ask individual trans people. You're only going to get anecdotal evidence from this, but that's honestly probably the best evidence available right now.

Hi.

-

One of the big things that affects my views of politics is that we aren't just affected by direct transphobia. We're affected _disproportionately_ by forms of injustice that affect lots of different people. Canary Conns in the coalmine, if one wants to get all clever about it.

The people I know have difficulty with lots of things. Access to hormones is hard. Access to surgery is hard. These are problems. You know what I see as bigger problems, though? Getting and keeping a job. Getting and keeping stable housing. Navigating society as disabled person. Dealing with people treating you like shit because you're disabled. Getting disability benefits. Making ends meet when you're on disability.

That's the shit we need help with. Are the Democrats doing anything to help us with this? Nope. Not at all. And if anyone tries to point that out, they go and turn around and say "Yeah but look at THEM! They're predators! They're leopards! They want to eat your face!"

I'm not sure how their saying this is going to help me keep my job. I'm not sure how it's going to help my unemployed friends get jobs, or help us afford to live where we live, or get us access to medical treatment, not just _trans affirming care_, _any_ kind of medical care.

Things aren't getting better. Things are getting worse. Policies the Democrats have advocated for and implemented for the entirety of my adult life have made things worse. The Democrats' answer is to blame other people for their failures. Because they _mean well_. Because they're _compassionate_.

I don't care whether they mean well or not. For me it's a matter of actions and consequences. Democrats in power aren't acting to help people. They're acting in ways that benefit them personally and hurt other people, including a lot of people who are lifelong Democrat voters.

I have a hard time differentiating that sort of behavior from face-eating.

-

The thing I have the most trouble communicating to people invested in electoral politics is that I'm not a fucking doomer. There's this idea that people who are engaged in this kind of stuff are _so_ attached to - the idea that electoral politics is the only way to make things better. If there's one thing I want most from politically engaged people, it's for y'all to _let the fuck go_ of that idea. It's not true. All of these slogans we have, "our existence is resistance", I've found that to be _true_, personally. It doesn't matter who I _vote_ for. It doesn't matter, really, what I say on the Internet about politics. Well, it matters to me, I guess, which is why I'm saying it.

What matters is that there are a lot of people in America, in _Oregon_, in _Portland_, who think they don't know any trans people. Nobody who knows me believes that. What matters is that even though I'm not always great at supporting other people in my community, I can be there to some extent. What matters is that when my girlfriend gets frustrated and asks rhetorically "How am I supposed to _not_ be overwhelmed?", I can say "It's not your fault you have all these things happening right now," that I can help her _not blame herself_ for the shit other people are doing to us.

It matters, for that matter, that I can call out, repeatedly, calmly, and wise-mindedly, that we are _not_ getting what we need, and that it's not a matter at all of whose _fault_ it is. That's another one of the DBT skills I've learned, actually. DEAR. Describe, express, assert, reinforce.

It is good, then, for me to occasionally post and say these things. It's also good because... Well, let me frame this directly in terms of what I want, what I'm looking for from politics.

-

DESCRIBE:

Trans people's needs aren't just around pronouns and hormones and surgery. The major stressors for a lot of trans people in America today, including me, is lack of access to _material_ resources, in a way that disproportionately, though not exclusively, affects trans people. The most effective way to support trans people is to support economic policies that benefit members of marginalized groups, that give us the support and resources we need to succeed. Democrats have consistently failed to implement these policies on a meaningful level.

EXPRESS:

These are not "trans policies" or a matter of "trans rights". I am not seeing _anybody_, except the ultra-rich, benefit from Democrat economic policy. What I would like is for people to recognize that the national Democratic party does not only not support the interests of marginalized groups, but that in all likelihood it does not support their _own_ interests.

I believe that today, there are many healthy and productive ways of putting political ideals into practice. I believe that very often, engaging in electoral politics is _not_ a healthy and productive way to put political ideals into practice. I believe that a lot of people who are disengaged from electoral politics have very good reasons for being engaged.

ASSERT:

In direct terms, I think I want most of all is for people engaged in electoral politics to stop making voting a litmus test for whether or not someone is _worth_ engaging with politically. My value as a human being isn't based on whether or not I am able and willing to give you something that you want.

-

Anyway. Another long post! Thanks for listening.

thanks for that, kate.

yes, very well put.

Genocide Joe sure is earning his new nickname.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/09/biden-administration-emergency-authority-tank-shells-israel

NEWS — The Biden administration has indicated to Congress that it's open to a new Title 42-like border authority to expel migrants without asylum screenings, as well as an expansion of immigration detention and deportations, to get GOP to back Ukraine aid.

This seems like not a good idea either, Joe.

FFS

Jfc just declare war on russia it’s simpler*

*dont actually do this

switching from klain to zients might have tanked biden's re-election bid, good work all

In some respects, I think Biden should agree to do something about conditions on the border - it's really the only thing that the GOP has hanging over his head that's substantive, and he could take some wind out of their sails by agreeing to some commonsense, LEGAL enforcement measures

But that's a political point of view rather than a humanitarian one

Well it's not like we don't have any legal enforcement measures in place. We have tons! Just not, like, machine-gunning people in waves or whatever exactly the Republican fever dream is.

Yeah, I don't know what the answer is, I'm sure of plenty of republicans are already looking at leasing land in Rwanda or Nauru

I didn't know where to put this, so I'm putting it here. This is a really good essay about how a lot of "public intellectuals" (I put that phrase in quotes because a lot of them are only micro-famous and most of them aren't actually that smart) are moving steadily rightward.

Losing the Plot: The "Leftists" Who Turn Right

It's long but very much worth reading.

Again, Naomi Klein’s Doppleganger highly recommended reading on that.

I read that as Klaus Nomi’s Doppelgänger. I’m tired…

dan: I Never Get Those Two Mixed Up

they are literally doppelgängers

Doppelgangbanger

Not sure Biden capitulating on the southern border to secure money for Ukraine is going to win him any support from anyone. God hep me I agree with crook Bob Menendez on this

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4357086-menendez-biden-border-proposals-are-the-height-of-absurdity/amp/

great article, thanks for sharing unperson.

Yeah, that was both fascinating and uh a little scary.

once i was blind, but now i see can eat.

hmm that strikethrough didnt do it like i spected

unpersons article is def worth reading. this is the part that drives me bonkers:

RFK Jr., a former Riverkeeper, now calls himself a ​“radical free marketeer.” In his campaign, he told a podcast, ​“Climate has become a crisis like Covid that the Davos groups and other totalitarian elements in our society have used as a pretext for clamping down totalitarian controls.”

everyone thought the Covid stuff was annoying and disruptive but can you really argue this stuff didn't save lives? like, a lot of them? like are these people just trying to say "I'd rather put my own life at risk and watch a bunch of strangers die than not be able to eat at Denny's"?

I don't understand what they think the purpose of the totalitarian crackdown was. I mean, the restrictions ended pretty much as soon as they could be, so what? It was a training exercise for a future takeover? Or the carping of brave patriots stopped the elites from taking over completely?

He should talk to my friends in Dublin and Rome to know what "lockdowns" really were.

imagine trying to figure out what goes on in the minds of these psychopaths

like are these people just trying to say "I'd rather put my own life at risk and watch a bunch of strangers die than not be able to eat at Denny's"?

Yes, many of them actually are.

RFK Jr is almost certainly brain damaged so trying to understand the leaps of logic he has made is kind of pointless, but yeah, I think there are a lot of peopole who believe "I'd rather put my own life at risk and watch a bunch of strangers die than not be able to eat at Denny's" plus a lot of other people who still think covid was some kind of hoax

like are these people just trying to say "I'd rather put my own life at risk and watch a bunch of strangers die than not be able to eat at Denny's"?

individual rights over societal responsibilities every time, the fucking idiot assholes

Not to excuse their reprehensible behavior, but this is one of the centers of USAmerican populist ideology, and has been for a long time. "Fuck you, I got mine," bootstraps shit.

like are these people just trying to say "I'd rather put my own life at risk and watch a bunch of strangers die than not be able to eat at Denny's"?

there was one infamous interview with one of these assholes on TV around the time America was 'opening back up' and he said multiple times "It's not my responsibility to take care of you" in regards to staying home/masking.

individual rights over societal responsibilities every time, the fucking idiot assholes

― that's when I reach for my copy of Revolver (WmC),

And they'll look at you incredulously when you suggest that there are other people besides yourself and family to take care of/think about.

can you really argue this stuff didn't save lives?

Oh yes they can and they do, all over social media. They never mention the million-plus U.S. deaths, the long COVID, the clear elevated risks of heart attack, stroke, etc from COVID — they never mention the actual impact of the disease at all. All they ever talk about is how it was "all about control" and how they will "never let it happen again."

If you mean, can you reasonably or intelligently argue that it didn't save lives, well no.

there's no reasoning with them. they will say things like "if COVID killed so many people, why did the number of deaths in the US stay the same in 2020" even though you can see there is clearly about a 600,000 death jump from 2019 - 2020

those were all bots

one thing i'm watching for is how no one who is vaccinated can have children. the vaccine makes men impotent. it's going to be a problem that will surely be noticed soon

nonsense, my mattress is pregnant

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/business/bill-ackman-harvard-antisemitism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Fk0.3xJd.vdyewJ5TXnMP&smid=url-share

Posting this here instead of the other topical threads because it makes clear what a portion of the backlash against universities, specifically ivy leagues, is really about — moneyed people using specific issues as a wedge to exert influence over institutions. Really telling that Chris Rufo is quoted as being in this guy’s corner, given his past campaigns along those lines. (this is absolutely the only reason you should ever quote him)

you shouldn't be fucking the mattress though ;)

xp

too late for me!

see maybe this is just privilege speaking but that's how I always interpreted the "leopard eating people's faces" thing, not that they're running on actively hurting a specific group but rather on stuff that is obviously stupid and short-sighted, like letting people die from disease and nonviable pregnancies, ignoring all scientific advice, deregulating as much as possible, giving more money to rich people, making health care expensive as hell, trashing the environment, etc. etc....it's all so blatantly dumb (even if it does piss off the "correct" people) and likely to backfire on the exact sort of people who can be conned into voting Republican in the first place

I mean there was a tremendously active subreddit dedicated to this - the "Herman Cain Award". it was the same thing, over and over and over and over again. a dozen incredibly stupid social media posts trashing Fauci and medical science and arguing that vaccines = slavery, then one saying "ha ha, I have Covid and it sucks!", then "this is his wife, he's in the hospital right now and could really use your prayers", then a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs

to me that's what the leopard party is, just blatantly stupid and evil shit backfiring in the most obvious ways.

frogbs otm. "I signed up for a movement actively dedicated to doing harm. Now the movement is coming for me. WTF?"

much of the idiocy can be explained by 1) a literal belief that god causes plagues, disease, locusts, punishes pharoah, whoever is bad, destroys kingdoms, etc, + 2) some people believe this god must be on their side and that the people who get hurt are bad people. i was still a kid in the 80s so i can't say firsthand, but i believe that system of hateful belief was also appealing to a lot of evangelicals re: aids

i wish it was more complicated than that but i knew someone who deserved the herman cain award, and that's what it was

3) God causes plagues, locusts, punishes Pharaoh, therefore caring about who lives or dies thanks to an airborne virus is, like climate change, not our worry.

God is always keeping on the cutting edge of locust weaponry tech

we must increase our celestial funding in the plague weaponry to 50%, more than all other celestial kingdoms combined

Satan is working on some biotech that splices together vipers and muskrats. Real Spook shit.

We have a plague gap.

Why are you talking about fake plagues when there was a real Hunter Biden in Washington today, and a very real impeachment on the table?

"After that I will send for many Hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks."

not showing nuh uh.

wait how much u pay

very real impeachment what?

It is so real the Republicans haven't even been able to put into words what Biden did wrong.

that's because it's unspeakable

Feel like they're boxing themselves in on the impeachment thing because I don't see any way all Republicans are going to vote to actually impeach at the end of the so-called "inquiry." They got the doubters on board for the inquiry by saying "Hey, we're just asking questions." But a lot of them have already said there's no actual evidence, and the inquiry is not going to produce any either. So yeah, it lets them muddy the waters for however many months, but I just don't see how it ends up as a net political positive. But maybe Comer and Jordan are just a lot smarter than me.

All they really want is an Impeachment inquiry going on at the same time as Trump's trial

there's no actual evidence

That's because they haven't done the impeachment yet, once they figure out what they're impeaching him for, there will be plenty of evidence, because how can you impeach someone if there is no evidence? Logic.

The evidence is in code and only people with Impeachment decoder devices can read it

If you don't know the evidence, that proves you have not done your due diligence.

so what if Congress does impeach him anyway? how will that change one damn thing?

It doesn't matter.

So yeah, it lets them muddy the waters for however many months, but I just don't see how it ends up as a net political positive

i think it's more of an example of 'flood the zone with shit' (a phrase/strategy that regretfully seems to be the template for this era of politics) being used to normalize impeachment. the hunter biden stuff is like a frivolous countersuit that's empty on substance but useful for PR. getting people to think "oh, every president gets impeached, it's always bullshit" is the goal. if trump wins in 2024, surely democrats will try to impeach him at some point, just as ineffectively as they did the first 2 times, and by that time there will be 30-year-olds who have known nothing but impeachments for their entire adult life

getting people to think "oh, every president gets impeached, it's always bullshit just politics" is the goal.
might be a better way to put it

In the future all presidents will be impeached at least twice. (Even olrando bloomps.) We'll just incorporate it into the inauguration rituals.

You take the oath, you participate in the parade, your impeachment inquiry begins, someone starts live-streaming a lettuce or cabbage or whatever to see whether you outlast it.

It's like how in ancient Roman triumphal parades, a slave would whisper "you're only human" into the hero's ear.

https://music-videos-only.icu/images/billy-joel-youre-only-human-second-wind_hmyfvnwl/190.jpg

The evidence is in code and only people with Impeachment decoder devices can read it

― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Wednesday, December 13, 2023 11:26 AM (fifty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

They have unimpeachable evidence!

epic heel turn bro

NEW: John Fetterman breaks with the left — fiercely supporting Israel and endorsing talks for tougher immigration laws.

“I’m not a progressive,” Fetterman tells @NBCNews, brushing back critics.

He’s hitting Dems for a double standard on Santos/Menendez.https://t.co/bUNugi3s54

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 15, 2023

he’s running for president (probably)

see this is what happens if you wear nu metal shorts to work

Funny, he was a progressive when he was asking me for my fucking money https://t.co/wyNY6xmWH8 pic.twitter.com/3i6ASqOplO

— isi baehr-breen (isibb.bsky.social) (@isaiah_bb) December 15, 2023

what a loser

The new Sinema

The news enema

To me, this is Sinema

It's now proven-- unconventional wardrobe choices lead Senators into the No Labels camp.

genuinely disappointed about this, he was one of maybe like 3 politicians I actually liked

The new Sinema

― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, Decembe

Nah. He never ran as a leftist. This is disappointing but hardly a surprise or betrayal.

Disappointing, and a good warning for activist groups who want to get into the electoral field by running candidates without enough of a social base to protect or discipline office holders once they’re actually seated and want to pull some squirrely shit because they get incentivized to do that once there

like did anyone ever ask Fetterman about his stance on Israel/Palestine or did they just assume since he was a cool dude that he'd be in their corner? I just assume any US politician is gonna be pro-Israel until they explicitly say otherwise.

otm

Also: look at hisn donors

I think he was always pro-Israel, I think people maybe assumed he had the capacity to criticize Israel if they killed 20000 civilians but that's never a guarantee. The immigration thing is a little more surprising.

Fetterman was explicitly pro-Israel while running for senate: https://jewishinsider.com/2022/04/john-fetterman-says-hell-lean-in-on-u-s-israel-relationship-as-senator/

the same article mentions his immigration stance:

“He’s very much his own man,” Schatz said, expressing admiration for, among other things, Fetterman’s longstanding dedication to immigration reform, a cause the lieutenant governor takes personally as the husband of a former undocumented immigrant from Brazil.

lol @ "immigration reform," which means "lock up whomever I don't marry."

As Alfred well knows, nobody hates immigrants more than already-settled-in immigrants. And the key to a healthy marriage is to take your spouse's enemies as your own.

Nah. He never ran as a leftist. This is disappointing but hardly a surprise or betrayal.

Not leftist maybe, but he branded himself as a progressive and DSA friendly--supported Bernie, M4A etc. The Israel support was known, but the "I'm not a progressive" thing is pretty telling.

I compare him to Sinema in that--even though she ran as a centrist--her past as an anti-war activist led people to think she was really a progressive.

That's fair.

I assume (hope?) the big difference will be that he won't actively block Dem priorities

"I'm not a progressive" is a weird thing for him to say.

My dude, I’m a progressive democrat and @ratemyskyperoom gave me a 1/10 + claimed it looked like i was in a “hostage situation”. https://t.co/mep6YbHETo

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 22, 2020

Progressive values have been the heart of my campaign. Whatever happens on May 15, I'm proud to be here tonight with @BernieSanders. #BernieForFetterman

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) May 4, 2018

"As the one true progressive in this race, & the only candidate who has endorsed @BernieSanders, I am asking for your support." #PASenDebate

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) April 24, 2016

I suppose he probably means he's not a doctrinaire progressive, but it really makes him sound like he's an announcing it was all a charade and he's actually a hardcore centrist.

xitter post is like "he got beef with 'the left'" but says almost nothing more. fuck, the left has beef with 'the left.' being blank pro-israel is sus as fuck, true. and yeah he seems like a dumbass, i am not surprised. i'll prob be very disappointed. it's what i do.

Sinema didn’t run as a progressive, her freegan days were long past. She was a Blue Dog in the House!

I suppose he probably means he's not a doctrinaire progressive, but it really makes him sound like he's an announcing it was all a charade and he's actually a hardcore centrist.

The full quote from the piece is:

>>“I’m not a progressive,” Fetterman told NBC News. “I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.”

Wtf is a “doctrinaire progressive” it’s not exactly a vanguardist movement.

eugenics mostly

is there any senator that has a reasonable stance on palestine/israel?

Sinema didn’t run as a progressive, her freegan days were long past. She was a Blue Dog in the House!

― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, December 15, 2023 1:17 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, but she was speaking at Netroots Nation when running for that House seat. She's further along the path.

Jeff Merkely (D-OR) was the first US Senator to call for a cease fire. I don't know if his total stance on Israel/Palestine qualifies as reasonable, so much as it looks a bit better in comparison to other senators.

is there any senator that has a reasonable stance on palestine/israel?

I’ll defer to you Aimless

is even Sherrod Brown releasing an opinion?

Yeah, Durbin was first. But it almost seemed like an accident.

I did the search and Senator Durbin was reported as the first on November 2nd. Apparently Merkely was the first to call for an "unconditional" cease fire.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/jeff-merkley-becomes-first-us-senator-to-make-unconditional-call-for-ceasefire/

that's the beginning of (an admittedly subjective and personal definition of) a reasonable stance. but have any of them mentioned the ethnic cleansing and ongoing war crimes? they're waiting until "it's too late, it's over" to state things clearly in order to avoid taking any responsibility for their support of war crimes. some of the house reps have managed to state the obvious, but i don't think i've seen a single senator take the same leap

Wtf is a “doctrinaire progressive” it’s not exactly a vanguardist movement.

― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, December 15, 2023 8:19 AM bookmarkflaglink

eugenics mostly

― digital chirping and whirring (Hunt3r), Friday, December 15, 2023 8:20 AM bookmarkflaglink

+ empire

Local hero.

BREAKING: Miami GOP strategist Barbara "Barby" Balmaseda has been arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6.https://t.co/aUullibL20

— Alex DeLuca (@AlexLDeLuca) December 18, 2023

I guess they’re still rounding them up!

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S07E02/967382.jpg?b64lines=IFRIRSBGQUNFIEJMVVJSSU5HIERJRAogTk9USElORyE=

That is a lot of As and Bs in that GQP strategist name.

Barby Storms the Capitol coming soon from The Daily Wire entertainment division.

I misread her nickname as Barmy

I've been saying this forever — he's never been popular! https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/20/media-biden-poor-polling-00132656

Could it be that it’s not policy or circumstances that voters are rejecting, but that it’s Biden? The tough truth for Biden, one that the press seems to have avoided, is that he has always been unpopular. Although he has long been in the public eye — he served avuncularly as a U.S. senator for 36 years before becoming vice president — being the toast of Delaware, which is the second smallest state and the sixth least populous, doesn’t readily convert into national acclaim. His 1988 campaign for president ended abruptly, as he dropped out of the race after three months amid a plagiarism scandal. Then in the 2008 presidential campaign, he found such low favor among voters that he placed fifth in the Iowa caucuses and then exited.

I agree with every point except:

None of this is to suggest that Biden can’t possibly beat Trump in 2024; he’s done it before, after all. As the Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein wrote last spring, Biden’s unpopularity might not matter as long as voters hate the other guy enough. But if he’s looking for a guaranteed way to move his numbers up, he should do what President Lyndon Johnson did in 1968. Johnson dropped out of the presidential contest and by the time he exited the White House, he was close to regaining a 50 percent approval rating.

Want to be liked? Try doing something likable.

LOL, sure, Senior Political Writer.

Who knows if LBJ would have won, but his withdrawal handed the presidency to Richard Fucking Nixon.

also his tepid support of Humphrey

lbj's war policy handed the presidency to nixon, and humphrey's problem was not that he wasn't associated enough with the outgoing admin

LBJ would not allow Humphrey to criticize his Vietnam policy and also signaled that he thought Nixon would do a better job with the war.

LBJ wanted Nixon to win, period.

Yeah the fantasy of Biden stepping aside was a weak out for the column. But the central point I think is fair. It's why I really didn't think he'd win the nomination in 2020, we'd had multiple opportunities to make him president and turned them down flat.

2020 was ah exceptional in every respect, yeah.

I thought Humphrey's problem was that he got the Democratic nomination without winning (or even being a candidate in) a single primary.

Humphrey's problem was that he wasn't the Hubert Humphrey of 1948 or even 1963.

No way in hell LBJ would've allowed the vice president he'd treated like a sick dog to oppose him on the war; Humphrey simply had no daylight, not even when LBJ learned about the Chennault incident.

Why the fuck is the House looking into these plagiarism allegations against Gay @ Harvard? How does this even remotely fall into their purview? If they care so much about plagarism why don't they look into the data sets AI systems are being trained on and the massive amounts of violations against artists and writers there?

For them, it beats the work of actually governing all to hell.

The Upennghazi hearings are going to restore smarts to our colleges

President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation to pardon certain marijuana offenses Friday, building on broader action he took last year for thousands of people convicted of possession under federal law, the White House said.

The new pardons target “additional offenses of simple possession and use of marijuana under federal and D.C. law,” Biden said in a statement. Further details have not been announced; a White House official said in a statement that the proclamation includes offenses related to “use and possession on certain Federal lands,” provisions that weren’t covered by the 2022 proclamation.

“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,” Biden said in the statement. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs.”

cool now make it federally legal

Why the fuck is the House looking into these plagiarism allegations against Gay @ Harvard? How does this even remotely fall into their purview? If they care so much about plagarism why don't they look into the data sets AI systems are being trained on and the massive amounts of violations against artists and writers there?

it’s not a mystery when the people pushing the plagiarism line explicitly explain why

https://open.substack.com/pub/donmoynihan/p/the-campaign-to-remove-the-president

Yeah, I mean I know why they are doing it. I'm curious what their public justification is in doing it though.

Also what happened to these subsequent Title VI investigations about campus harassment that focus on islamaphobia they assured us were also going to happen?

Since the last midterms the Republican-controlled House has passed exactly zero legislation of national importance. Unless you count the two bills that allowed the government to pay its obligations, two meager accomplishments the GOP caucus found so repugnant that it resulted in McCarthy getting booted out. So, what else can they do but posture and waste time? They have nothing better to do.

this is a good piece that uses missouri as a case study on how an evil org called Cicero punishing homeless people and attacking the organizations who are trying to help them.

i hadn't heard much about Cicero before, but they are similar to ALEC (american legislative exchange council), which essentially just writes laws and hands them to republicans to pass verbatim. i have a 'gift link' here with the full article, and pulled a few excerpts below:

https://wapo.st/475Rp4h

The right’s war on ‘housing first’ lands in Middle America

...The model legislation outlawed “unauthorized sleeping, camping, or long-term shelters,” punishable with a fine up to $5,000 and up to a month in jail. The proposal also funnels funding away from the construction of permanent supportive housing and punishes cities that don’t enforce the bill. Glock said the law enforcement portion of the legislation was meant to be a “mechanism to encourage people to go to shelter alternatives.”

Those alternatives, according to Cicero, would include sanctioned campsites run by the state or a “designated operator,” the legislation said. Those sites will provide “access to basic utilities” including “water and electricity outlets” as well as bathrooms. Individuals at these camps must “complete mental health and substance use evaluations,” the legislation said.

...A tracker established by the National Homelessness Law Center notes that Cicero has been active in nine states in recent years: Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Texas, Kansas, Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri. In some cases, legislators introduced full versions of the Cicero bill; others borrowed language or ideas. The law center has identified 12 states where legislators have passed or proposed anti-homelessness legislation. In a New York Post opinion piece this month, Lonsdale wrote that Cicero had scored legislative victories in five states with “many more in the pipeline.

“To activists that make a living managing — but never solving — the homeless crisis, our reforms are a nightmare,” Lonsdale wrote. “We’ve tied their funding to metrics, putting dollars for ineffective, ideologically-driven groups on the chopping block.”

Outside of Texas, only Missouri has so far passed a full version of the Cicero legislation. Legislators introduced stand-alone versions of the measure in the state senate and house in early 2022. Both bills failed to clear committee hearings after stiff opposition from homeless advocates and nonprofits. The Missouri house bill received 12 public comments in opposition to the bill compared with two in favor.

In April, late in Missouri’s legislative session, state Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City), the bill’s main sponsor, offered it as an amendment to an unrelated measure about county government financial statements. Before many homeless advocates knew what was happening, the amendment passed and was signed into law. Rehder did not respond to an email for comment.

“They grafted onto a separate bill, which had nothing to do with homelessness, this bill that could not pass on its own,” said Joel Ferber, an attorney with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri who led a legal challenge against the Cicero law. The lawsuit alleged that the method used to pass the camping ban violates state law. While the state supreme court considered the lawsuit, Missouri’s homeless had to live inside its constraints.”

The strategy seems pretty obvious to me. It's not like the rich see the homeless as some kind of direct threat to them. It's that addressing the unmet social needs of the homeless costs money and that means either higher taxes or money spent on the homeless that could be spent on giveaways to business. By flooding legislatures with bills like that they can at the very least redirect the activist community from lobbying for positive change to desperately fighting against an artificially created disaster. That strategy has its own chapter in the corporate lobbyist playbook.

Plus, a lot of conservatives think the homeless and the poor are homeless and poor because of moral failing. So, fuck 'em.

Also CoreCivic gets a contract to run homeless camps.

the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s legislative maps Friday, creating a seismic change in the political landscape ahead of the 2024 election cycle.

The verdict will mean redrawn district lines for the state Assembly and state Senate seats. Depending on the eventual outcome of the maps, this could potentially give Democrats a path to clawing back power in the Legislature.

https://captimes.com/news/government/redistricting-bombshell-supreme-court-orders-new-legislative-maps/article_256b2eb2-a10c-11ee-bf3d-7f2583ca9c89.html

luv 2 see it

Thank fucking god

more of this, plz

wow, some actual democracy in action here

We'll see what the legislature's next move is.

No idea if this works:

https://www.threads.net/@jimswiftdc/post/C1PU2L-i_MB

"Casey" has waxed pubes for eyebrows.

Ron’s ‘almost’ crossed the uncanny valley.

It reminds me of this scene from A Mighty Wind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI0lsk0EjfE

lol

“What does he know about my life?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/opinion/editorials/georgia-election-biden-democrats.html

biden to georgia: “i feel your pain.”

Biden to Georgia: “Come on, man.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/boebert-switches-congressional-districts-avoiding-013621002.html

Not afraid of anything apart from the electorate

"What do you want me to say about slavery?" should be the end of Nikki Haley's political career. pic.twitter.com/m29l7GTGMt

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) December 28, 2023

It won't be. Losing to Trump might.

We need to have capitalism, so that we can own other human beings.

Her unflappable blandness has badly misfired here.

That questioner shamed every political journalist in America.

“It was definitely a Democrat plant,” said Haley. “That’s why I said, what does it mean to you? And if you notice, he didn’t answer anything. The same reason he didn’t tell the reporters what his name was.”

Good strategy here.

Democrats don't have plants, they have snowflakes.

“I’m not running for president.”

^^January Thread Title?

It was about slavery. https://t.co/q9bTDvtPne

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 28, 2023

If nothing else, Joe Biden’s social media team should be re-elected

Love this guy:

Does anyone truly believe that the child of Indian immigrants to the United States, who took down the Confederate flag flying over her state capital, is a pro-slavery racist? I say this fully knowing it was a dreadful answer and that dreadful answers sometimes tank campaigns.

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 28, 2023

it's almost as if he forgot Bobby Jindal

Lol it doesn’t matter what she believes. What matters is that she thought mentioning slavery would hurt her with the racist voters she’s trying to attract.

Look, there were good slaves on both sides.

i see that haley herself has accused the questioner of being a democratic plant. maybe he was, who cares. that's a pretty elaborate operation just to ask a political candidate a question that has a simple answer.

yeah acting like this is some 'gotcha' question is a peculiar move that isn't going to do her any favors.

"He asked me a difficult question"

"Ergo he must be a Democrat plant"

Podhoretz clearly needs to meet some children of indian immigrants in the US. or maybe he could just familiarize himself with Modi? It's not like the southeast asian/indian diaspora is some massive woke demographic.

jPod def not an improvement on the iPod

"You're calling Nikkki a racist sympathiser, I thought you liked immigrants?!"

why IS haley running for the GOP nomination? she served proudly under trump, and i don't think she's had the courage to criticize him in any meaningful way.

it's not exactly the kind of conspiracy where the actors need to talk about it with one another, but i imagine trump is very happy to have haley emerge as his ~competition~ for the nomination. she won't damage him or even try to damage him, and she'll probably gladly accept another cabinet position if trump wins.

i suppose she's there in case trump dies?

Podhoretz's idiotic opinion is the logical conclusion of "liberal" corporate identity politics— "why this person can't possibly be racist because they are not white!" just painfully stupid and reductive.

All the other Republicans are there either to be Plan B if Trump dies or goes to jail or are running to be gauleiters.