US Politics, December 2021 — I have had it up to here waiting for the U.S. Congress to be remastered

Nothing from me for an opening post except to say I have a bad heartsick feeling about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Good morning!

Facemelting levels of irony right here

Red states are paying unemployment benefits to people who quit or are laid off after refusing vaccination.

The GOP had previously decried unemployment benefits and fought to eliminate them.

Now FL, IA, KS & TN are paying people to remain unvaccinated.https://t.co/E5uyR3rs0o

— Nick Mark MD (@nickmmark) November 30, 2021

Are those states also gonna raise unemployment benefits to a level where they're something you can live on? Because I believe the actual amount they give you in Florida in particular is a nickel a week, plus they spit in your face and toss it on the ground for you to pick up.

sigh I know it would mostly end up unfairly affecting the most vulnerable (and likely vaxxed) so I say this mostly joking, but I’m about ready to see COVID start doing some real numbers in ahem certain populations

Ah, that fresh new-thread smell

It's really quite astounding how Lucy the GOP is able to keep convincing Charlie Brown their constituency that they're totally not going to pull the football away this time. I mean, I guess these soon-to-be unemployable louts will just incoherently blame the Democrats anyway when their meager benefits run out.

Love that title

Something I was thinking earlier this morning:

It’s unlikely that the US will become two or several different countries in our lifetime. Laughable! Fanciful! Logistically goofy, BUT

Emotionally and psychically the process feels underway. There are already states I can’t imagine visiting willingly as it is, a realization that started setting in back in 2015/2016 and that’s calcifying now.

I fear we’re just going to court challenge over big and petty bullshit until being a country is so baldly untenable that this experiment ends finally

Don’t mean to sound so defeatist and usually I’m not. Maybe this is emo tired bleak mid-winter me talking

As you were!

The probable Roe overturn is going to accelerate things imo. Further sorting as people and companies flee from states with abortion bans, leaving behind a bitter and extreme majority and a trapped minority.

I don't think that's wrong at all, I had been thinking something along the lines of Raymond's post all weekend, but I was hesitant to toss more pessimism out into the world.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/22/politics/supreme-court-polling-roe-wade/index.html

(CNN)Fewer than one-third of Americans want to see the Roe v. Wade decision overturned, according to a set of three polls released over the past week, with key elements of Texas' restrictive new abortion law also garnering relatively little support in the polls.

In a Marquette Law School survey released Wednesday, just 20% of the public favors overturning Roe v. Wade, with 50% opposed to doing so, and another 29% say they haven't heard anything or haven't heard enough to have an opinion on the ruling. In a Monmouth University poll, 62% of Americans say the Supreme Court should leave the decision as is, compared with 31% who want to revisit it. And in a Quinnipiac University survey, Americans say, 67% to 27%, that they generally agree with the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to an abortion.

Those results track with polls earlier this year that also found majority opposition to the idea of overturning Roe v. Wade.

Ah well nevertheless

The will of the majority amounts to exactly 'fuck all' in this country.

You're going to have to show me the receipts where American companies like Apple are going to leave a cushy tax haven like TX because abortion.

I'm equally skeptical about this having some massive negative electoral effect for Republicans. It's just as likely that voters will assume "Joe Biden outlawed abortion".

or they'll think 'why didn't Biden stop the SCOTUS from doing that - he's the president'

SC overturns Roe v. Wade-- Good news for John McCain!

cant see any electoral consequences at all honestly. those who care already vote Dem. all the BS about how Trump/Mitch were stealing SC seats didn't really have much effect either. minority rule is kind of the entire goal here.

energized Dem base like in 2018 maybe?

I think it will make it harder for anti-choice pols to win in blue states now that there are real stakes

Only if the Democrats could sell people on a plan to do something about it. They can’t pass voting rights protections, much less tackle deeper structural issues.

the sanctitude of the filibuster must guide us all

the filibuster is dank

Only if the Democrats could sell people on a plan to do something about it. They can’t pass voting rights protections, much less tackle deeper structural issues.

― papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, December 1, 2021 1:00 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

yea this is kinda what it comes down to. I understand how hamstrung Biden is on the issues he ran on and how the real driver of policy is in fact moderates like Manchin but they gotta find a way to do something tangible. just delaying the apocalypse ain't gonna cut it anymore

it will make it harder for anti-choice pols to win in blue states now that there are real stakes

I don't see it. If the court kicks everything back down to the states to decide, then the issue will be fought out in (often gerrymandered) state legislatures. But voters already act like abortion has 'real stakes' in local and state offices.

hmm. You think people in PA wouldn't think harder about electing a Republican governor knowing he would sign an abortion ban?

this seems right to me tbqh

Can’t know for sure, but I think the CW that the end of Roe will be a boon to Dems is wrong, and (unless something changes) their inability to do anything about it despite concurrent majorities will be a huge blow to near-term morale. Sadly it looks like we’re gonna find out.

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) December 1, 2021

inability to do something about an issue has never stopped anyone from running on it iirc

Abortion is unlike a lot of other issues in that even a lot of people who favor it being legal are not super-comfortable with it and would prefer not to talk about it. Also, it's not a decision-making election-tipping issue for a lot of people in the squishy center on it.

I doubt most Republican voters are really voting on issues, apart from rich people who think of nothing but taxes. They're voting on fears and gut instinct and overlook all the specifics in favor of reactionary bullshit. So I doubt overturning Roe will do much of anything, at least not nationally. Locally, it might be different. Contrarian/reactionary/libertarian/"moderate" GOP voters don't always overlap with the loons and religious nuts, and there have been so many close elections lately it could move the needle a little. And if the needle moves, there's no reason to believe overturning Roe will *help* the GOP, because everyone anti-abortion votes firmly Republican already. But they could lose a person here or there.

A story I've no doubt told before, my 5th grade teacher had a neighbor who was a teetotaling nun. Supposedly when prohibition was enacted, her neighbor got totally smashed and wandered out into the street screaming "no one tells me what to do!!!!!" That's America in a nutshell.

Abrams reportedly running for GA gov.

Go Abrams, go Beto!

I have no idea if either of them has a chance but that, yes, that is the path. Obtain power and use it.

We don't seem to be getting anywhere by pointing at Republicans (who are getting power and using it) and saying "they are BAD, don't you SEE?"

That’s Kamala Harris pretending to drive an all-electric bus, then honking the horn.

“The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round,” Harris said, letting out a big laugh as Pete Buttigieg looks on. pic.twitter.com/gGNw7pQvNM

— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) December 2, 2021

Veep deleted scene

Just as losing one's virginity is a r of passage for young adults, losing one's dignity is a rite of passage for elected officials. I'm pretty sure this wasn't Harris' first inane staged event.

I’ve never watched VEEP, but this sounds like the sort of photo op that VEEP would take down.

the chemistry between harris and buttigieg is undeniable

That Buttigieg-as-Kendall-Roy video killed me.

Lacks the verve of the Trump photo
op in the truck where it looks like he is making “honk honk” noises.

Pete said, "If you knew how I felt now,
you wouldn't act so adult now."

That’s too bad imo because in addition to putting Biden’s life in jeopardy on purpose last year, the former president is trying to overthrow the constitution through both pseudolegal and violent means right now! https://t.co/jFZTdlUdxj

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) December 1, 2021

yeah seriously! i guess he knows that the house republicans are going to impeach him in february 2023 and he thinks that maybe if he shows that he is a nice guy they won't do it?

“He seemed like he was in pretty bad shape but I just figgered it was all those diet pills fucking him up.”

i assume "i don't think about the trump" is based on the idea (correct!) that running on trump will lose elections (e.g. VA). i don't think it's "i don't think he's a problem".

I'm not sure how he's supposed to respond. Maybe "Fuck him and his mother" would work.

I think it's equal parts "fixating on Trump is bad messaging for the midterms, so let's not do that" and "if I say on camera that I don't give the tiniest fuck about him, it's like I've driven a red-hot nail straight into his fat ass, and he'll say a whole bunch of crazy bullshit in response, so let's definitely do that." Come on, look at the way he smiled when he said it; Biden loves to poke at Trump because he's such an easy mark.

also people on twitter think the word "former" is a vicious dunk

Blaming Biden for not answering "better" is asinine. Beutler's complaints are about real problems, but he is ranting. If Biden had indulged himself in a rant of the same kind, it would not have helped. Having watched Trump and the media for the past five years, I'd say there's literally NOTHING Biden could have responded which would have made a scintilla of difference about ANY of those problems.

yeah but little digs are fun: "I'd like to thank the former president for his brief, guest-starring role.." etc.

whomst amongst us has not gone to Russia and accepted a fitness challenge only as a ruse to be introduced to a woman we would later marry and then almost immediately become divorced from

I mean, you libtards are so out of touch with how real American heroes live

I'll bet you don't even eat in diners, you elitist snobs

sheesh

Having a freshman Rep marry a Russian operative is the lowest stakes conspiracy I've ever heard of.

Replacing your car wash competitor's air fresheners with fart spray has a greater impact.

Always wondered what you do in your spare time…

I'm not saying that it's even unlikely, I'm just saying what the fuck why would you even bother. He's dumb as a board, you could honeypot him at any time if he manages to not die in a coal rolling accident before the end of his second term.

Bwahahahahahaha

Seems the only appropriate response but of course it isn’t

January thread title - “No Federal Solution”

I'm not saying that it's even unlikely, I'm just saying what the fuck why would you even bother. He's dumb as a board, you could honeypot him at any time if he manages to not die in a coal rolling accident before the end of his second term.

Federal Solution sounds like a good name for a hardcore band.

D-D-D-Don’t need a cure
Need a federal solution

Cawthorn’s weird Russia stuff to me seems less significant in the sense of Le Carre hijinks than in illustrating what a shameless cadre of dupes and would-be grifters surround all of this. (By “this” I mean the current GOP but also just our whole political economy.) They figure out how to get elected and then they’re just looking for the best deal they can get. They’re mostly going to end in ignominy and obscurity, but they can be instructive along the way.

Our political reality is Shirer's 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' adapted about the US by the Farrely Brothers.

and written by David Sirota, complete with a bonus package of tweets

C'mon...happy holidays from Congressmen Massie and family.

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fmllm-invest.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F12%2F211209-massie-christmas-card-mn-1500.jpg%3Fresize%3D780%252C470%26ssl%3D1&f=1&nofb=1

Just like with the big piece of chicken, daddy always gets the BIG GUN.

this year dad tried his very his best to make sure that poor people die earlier, while the rest of the fam took a giant holy shit all over the message of the Gospels! again! fuck everyone who isn't just like us! merry christmas!

we're just hoping that a stranger shows up on our property so we can try to shoot them in the face and protect our family so we can be national heroes in our hitler youth group!

very normal country

The gun cult shit is frankly terrifying despite its cartoonish stupidity, because I can't think of any historical precedent for people so enamored of firepower not eventually using it on someone. You have to go to, like, Hezbollah recruitment videos to find similar levels of gun worship. I don't actually think that all of the people stocked up on AR 15s and ammo are going to start shooting liberals, but I do think some of them will. It seems inevitable.

I think the Cawthorne thing is a weird story but seriously doubt that this wife was a spy, for one thing she is on Instagram. Also the fact that she appears to have left him after 8 months doesn't exactly fit the profile; what would the point of any of this have been?

The weird part of the story is "we were in norway and decided to just go to russia to a casino in st. petersburg" where there apparently isn't a casino (at least a legal one).

reminds me of the little girl in my Tae Kwon Do class that told us whenever her dad was real tired, he drove to Jacksonville to sleep

Doors: 8 pm
Omicron Variant: 9 pm
Federal Solution: 1030 pm
GWAR: Midnight

damn, robby krieger's getting kinda desperate for gigs it looks like

Haha good one

Meanwhile speaking of grifters I missed that Melania has launched a line of NFTs. (I was alerted to this by Parler, which I joined a while back to keep track of local politicians but mostly forget to ever look at. But they send me text messages about very important things, and this "Limited Timed Edition" is one of them.)

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/melania-trump-nft-platform-1234613890/

Harry Reid has died.

Wish he were still majority leader tbh

The Affordable Care Act outlived him. Hoping it outlives Pelosi and Obama too, but I'm not optimistic.

ACA and Fetal Personhood-- Adapting current policy for Christian Sharia 3 Credit Hours

Can’t wait for the midterms

States that submit to the authority of Almighty God // states that don’t

States that are pro-family // states that aren’t

States that invest in #bitcoin infrastructure // states that won’t

Ohio must be a pro-God, pro-family, pro-bitcoin state.

I promise we will be.

— Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) December 28, 2021

Ohio must be a pro-God, pro-family, pro-bitcoin state.

Where did the ever-popular guns go in this formula?

the guns are in the back of the pawnshop with the cryptofucks

these idiots just hop from one cult to the next

crypto was designed for libertarians, their natural home is the GOP

fuck you, i got mine (i think, in some wallet)

the only platform left

god's family buying guns with bitcoin

Millions investing their money in crypto currency and then losing it all will be America's answer to the Albanian pyramid scheme disaster.

imagine a pyramid scheme, but the pyramid is shitting dick nipples

sad lol

Driving back to Nashville, listening as a talk radio host posits that COVID-19 must have been designed in a lab because it gave him diarrhea so bad he could not attend the Jan. 6 riots. It’s been a hell of a year.

— Brett Kelman (@BrettKelman) December 29, 2021

that host is a complete fool. doesn't he know it was the ivermectin that caused the diarrhea? joe biden doesn't want ivermectin to work because he wants everyone to take the big pharma vaccines because's taking a % of the manufacturing profits, so he introduced fake ivermectin into the market which causes diarrhea.

I *know* this only means collateral damage for otherwise innocent ppl,,, but gd this pandemic really should have gotten more of these guys

imagine toiling away in a lab to create a new virus that gives right wing radio hosts diarrhea. we already have plenty of e. coli and listeria in our food supply, seems like a waste of effort.

This article is getting a lot of play. I don't have any particular opinion of Polis, but I think the COVID approach makes sense.

https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/716059/colorados-governor-provides-winning-model-for-the-democratic-partys-future

imagine toiling away in a lab to create a new virus that gives right wing radio hosts diarrhea.

doing god's work obv

:)

Late w/this, but 'a pro-God, pro-family, pro-bitcoin state' for January thread title.

Second

without objection

US Politics, January 2022 — a pro-God, pro-family, pro-bitcoin state