US Politics, May 2024: They Shoot Puppies, Don't They?

You require hundreds of millions of dollars in order to work less than 72 hours a week? You may be spending too much on candles!

….in your head, without looking anything up, what do you think of as a “middle-class” income

Dolores O'Riordan's worst lyrics

iiiin-come
iiin-come
Innnnn-come-come-come

With their stocks and their bonds

….in your head

during this exchange you've consistently reduced whatever I've actually said to a caricature that allows you to pretend you've scored points on me, so I've simply returned the favor

fwiw, any number I named would be wrong, because a 'middle class income' supplies a minimum level of financial security and the required income is whatever delivers that reality. we both know the ascendance of the 1% has taken a fuckton of people with middle class expections and aspirations, loaded them with debt, and destroyed those expectations. it doesn't matter how much you make if it all goes to line the pockets of the rentier class.

These cartoon versions of economic classes are actually making me wish we can return to arguing about the value of voting for Biden in November

i read this! i was bored. it was kinda interesting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/magazine/401k-retirement-crisis.html

it made me wish i had a pension.

In lieu of presidential debates, I move that Biden and Trump just release competing diss tracks all summer

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/us/politics/barron-trump-gop-national-convention.html

South Dakota local news's take on the governor's book tour. they're not into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcU0PF-6J8k

Santos Redux

You know what might be a good slogan for Democratic voters?

“I’m not voting to keep Joe Biden in the White House, I’m voting to send Donald Trump to jail.”

"WILL HE WIN OR GO TO JAIL?!" is one of the dramas that i am surprised hasn't been played up more, really. trial needs to end with some kind of game show finale in the spirit of _running man_. his rollcage would get ejected thru tubes to either rikers or the oval office, so exciting. who is the today's-richard-dawson to play the host

Steve Harvey, duh.

Steve Harvey for Jail 2024

Heather Cox Richardson:

"Three high-level Republicans this week told media they would not vote for Trump, helping to pave an off-ramp for other Republicans. Former House speaker Paul Ryan told Yahoo Finance that he would write in another Republican rather than vote for Trump. “Character is too important to me,” he said.

Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, also cited character when she said she would not vote for Trump. “I’ve never voted for a Democrat in my life, but I would absolutely consider voting for Joe Biden this upcoming November because he will not seek to destroy our nation [or] our Constitution, and he has the statesman character that we need in an elected official.”

Georgia’s former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan went further on Monday night, endorsing Biden, whom he had called in an op-ed a “decent person I disagree with on policy,” over Trump, whom he described as “a criminal defendant without a moral compass.” “Sometimes the best way to learn your lesson is to get beat, and Donald Trump needs to get beat. We need to move on as a party. We need to move on as a country,” he said."

Geoff Duncan OTM

Narrator: They did not learn their lesson.

Duncan's been a pretty outspoken Trump critic for awhile now, and he's also not in office

LOL! It can't get any worse for that piece of shit

Abigail Disney evokes Old Yeller in plea to reject Republicans after Kristi Noem kills dog

“My great-uncle Walt Disney knew the magic place animals have in the hearts of families everywhere,” Disney wrote in an email released by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and obtained exclusively by the Guardian.

“When he released Old Yeller, the heart wrenching story stayed with people because no one takes the killing of a family pet lightly.

“At least that’s what I thought until I read about potential Trump VP Kristi Noem shooting her family’s puppy – a story that has shocked so many of us.”

An interesting interview with Charlamagne Tha God (gift link).

But what I found interesting about all the comments is this thing that happens with you a lot, which is people wondering, as they have for a while, what is Charlamagne Tha God all about? Where does he stand politically? That’s so funny you say that. I promise you as I was walking in here, this white guy stops me on the street. He had on glasses, some khakis, a sweater, and he goes, “You’re Charlamagne, right?” And I go, “Yeah.” And he goes: “Man, I like when you talk politics. I think there’s going to be a civil war in this country. That’s what you need to talk about.” He said: “I don’t care who wins. I don’t care if it’s Trump. I don’t care if it’s Biden. I feel like it’s going to be a civil war in this country.” And he goes, “You know, which side are you on?” And I’m like, “I’m not on any side!” And I think that’s the problem with American politics, or just America, period. People think if, as a Black man, I criticize Democrats, then I’m supporting MAGA. But if I criticize Donald Trump and Republicans, then I’m a Democratic shill. Why can’t I just be a person who deals in nuance? What happened to just being objective and seeing things on both sides? ’Cause nothing is all right, and nothing is all wrong either.

Well, I think what people would probably answer is that the rise of Trump has really polarized people. And so to say, “Oh, I don’t take a side” — some people, especially on the left, would say, “Well, that’s not right either.” Why? I think we do ourselves a grave disservice by thinking I can’t criticize Democrats and I can’t criticize Republicans and still know who I want to vote for in November in order to preserve democracy. There’s not a show I’ve been on — when they ask me about Donald Trump, I say the same thing: He’s a threat to democracy. He literally said, Let’s suspend the Constitution to overthrow the results of an election. You saw his lawyers in the court saying, Well, he never agreed to support the Constitution. He led an insurrection of this country on Jan. 6, and people just act like, you know, it was a bunch of kids wilding out at spring break in Miami. I say these things over and over and over, but if [ABC News reporter] Jon Karl says to me: “Well, President Biden says these things too about Donald Trump. Why don’t you think it resonates?” And I say, “Because he’s an uninspiring candidate who doesn’t have any main-character energy.” The right will take that one clip and say, “Charlamagne says Joe Biden is an uninspiring candidate who has no main-character energy.” And once again, everybody on the left attacks that narrative instead of going to watch the interview and taking the narrative they should be using, which is Charlamagne says Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. We are insane right now. I blame the media so much for what’s happening.

political nuance doesn't play well on ilx either

"Cause nothing is all right, and nothing is all wrong either."

no, i'm pretty sure Trump is all wrong. sorry, Charlamagne.

actually, i would include Charlamagne tha God on the *things you don't really care about* thread. but i don't listen to digital radio. satellite radio? podcast? however people listen to him.

I don’t know who that is. Is he a Steely Dan character?

Nah, that's his kid...

He has a show that politicians go on to embarrass themselves

the few times I've listened to that guy I've had the same reaction I often have to youtube and podcast based hosts: 'who the fuck is this dummy and why does anyone think anyone should give a fuck what he says'

' no main-character energy ' wtf if you are talking about consequential things in the world in this manner I am not going to pay attention to you.

I think that’s a phrase that is suited to the annoying language thread… I think I understand what he’s getting at, and it’s basically saying not inspirational or lacking charisma… a trope in US politics that is older than we are

he also throws around "narrative" like everybody who's watched five minutes of a political talk show

he has given me that smartest/coolest guy in the room don vibe in the past. one of my least favorite vibes. but he did come up on radio where people tend to be larger than life or whatever. i'm just glad he didn't take over the daily show. i saw him guesting a bit. i actually enjoy their tag-team approach.

ha, not don vibe. as in trump. i meant to write don lemon. who i was happy to see leave the building. i'm not a big fan of smug.

i know you guys hate it in general but i have been liking all the women on cnn. lots of women. i like abby phillip. now if wolf would just retire...

Abby Phillip is great

pic.twitter.com/k27DmQX7Pd

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) May 12, 2024

Caught ya clickin!

I know this isn't quite the right thread for this, but I couldn't think of anywhere better: https://www.wunc.org/education/2024-05-13/dei-unc-chapel-hill-trustees-vote-redirect-funding-police

UNC-Chapel Hill BOT votes to divert DEI funding, redirecting it to campus public safety

I keep hearing that all these university DEI departments are getting stripped of funding. I guess everything got solved.

I keep hearing that all these university DEI departments are getting stripped of funding. I guess everything got solved.

That and/or the institutional motivations & incentives for dumping funds into these departments has ebbed away from mid-2020.

tbh I'm not sure university DEI depts are worth the money (very few campus projects that don't consist of either funding students or hiring full-time faculty are), but the blunt racism and vengeful symbolism of redirecting the funds to the campus cops is still bracing

and they also employ students who know they've entered a space where they're respected. That's a lot.

yeah I imagine there's a wide range of utility depending on the particular school. definitely campuses need student services for racialized students, and if they didn't have them before making a DEI unit, then eliminating that unit is indeed terrible

DEI spending at my school was about 200k. That's before the GOP held us all hostage to kill it. It's not at all about the money.

I know that. I mean, check this out from the link, it couldn't be more nakedly ideological:

Kotis and other board members said it was important to have additional funding for public safety to protect the campus from groups that “disrupt the university’s operations.”

Many members specifically mentioned recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. Last month, police detained more than 30 people at an encampment where protesters removed the U.S. flag and replaced it with a Palestinian one.

“When you destroy property or you take down the U.S flag and you have to put up gates around it — that costs money,” Kotis said. “It’s imperative that we have the proper resources for law enforcement to protect the campus.”

two Indian individuals and two Black individuals, all extremely wealthy, sit on that board, fwiw

I was in a meeting and someone who works in DEI asked if there could accommodations for students and staff of color when there are large numbers of cops on campus breaking up protests, and was a palpable feeling that the higher ups were thinking “Did you just time travel here from 2020?”

Well, while this isn’t surprising, one of the facts that some people are being awakened to for the first time— students in particular— is that institutions of higher learning are unethical administration-heavy labyrinths that no longer exist for the purpose of education, but for the purpose of building administrative infrastructures so evil rich fuckers can whitewash the nefarious deeds that got them their money. Most administrators don’t give a fuck about the students— they care about donations and checks and keeping the money moving into their pockets.