US Politics February 2022: no one in this country knew the name of the last leader of ISIS

and we won't know the name of the next one either, unless it's catchy and the women/children death count for their assassination crosses into the triple-digits. we are no longer taken aback by civilian death counts that do no exceed 20

one take:

Biden will address the nation later this morning from the White House about the U.S. raid in Syria that killed the leader of the Islamic State group.
In a statement Thursday morning, Biden announced the counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria “to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place.”

“Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS. All Americans have returned safely from the operation,” Biden added.

that's number one, here's two:

Residents in the area of the raid described a thunderous, early morning assault involving multiple helicopters and heavy machine gun fire.
The White Helmets, a Syrian civil defense group that works in areas of Syria not under government control, said they recovered 13 bodies, including those of six children and four women, from a house that appeared to be the target of the operation.

They also said they treated a nearby resident and a young girl who lived in the house, whose entire family they said was killed. UNICEF, in a statement, confirmed that six children were killed.

Two U.S. officials with knowledge of the situation said the civilian casualties were caused by a “terrorist” in the targeted compound who detonated explosives. One of the officials said the explosion killed the man “and members of his own family, including women and children.”

An American helicopter experienced a mechanical malfunction, prompting U.S. troops to blow it up in place before they flew away on other aircraft, one of the officials said. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

good morning!

Every day reveals new frontiers of endless possibilities!

it’s been made abundantly clear that a peace dividend is absolutely out of the question, but I do wonder if maybe we’d get a little karmic reprieve if we weren’t out there just stepping out full weight on rake after rake

This is pretty funny; Flynn inching toward the exit...

Humble patriot Gen. Mike Flynn has changed his QAnon grift company “Digital Soldiers Media” to “Manasota Shores Real Estate LLC” pic.twitter.com/T1pd9ZfmYt

— Roger Sollenberger found true love, suckers (@SollenbergerRC) February 3, 2022

Ah'm just an 'umble grifter, sir.

"taken off the battlefield" is one of those dystopian turns of phrase

good to see the senate democratic caucus firing on all cylinders as the midterms approach

For too long, Americans affected by directed energy attacks have struggled and fought to access the care they need and deserve to get well. Their experiences drove my effort to establish this coordinator and reform our government response to provide equitable access to care. https://t.co/hRX06G1Xnb

— Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (@SenatorShaheen) February 1, 2022

relatable

that tweet was already posted in the Havana Syndrome thread, where all things Havanasyndromish find a welcome home.

Flynn doing the ol’ Jeff Galooly to Jeff Stone

I’m imagining a Glengarry Glen Ross type boiler room operation for Flynn.

President Biden thanks Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “for being my friend” during National Prayer Breakfast.

“You’ve always done exactly what you’ve said. You’re a man of your word. And you’re a man of honor.” pic.twitter.com/10wWgXzBl5

— The Recount (@therecount) February 3, 2022

"you've always done exactly what you've said. You're a man of your word"

“I was shocked that former President Obama left so many vacancies and didn’t try to fill those positions,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said to McConnell.

“I’ll tell you why,” he said. “I was in charge of what we did the last two years of the Obama administration.”

Bipartisanship is Joe Biden's cocaine

The man walks the walk on bipartisanship.

JUST IN — Citing Omicron, the Biden administration has decided, after a new review, to maintain the Trump-era Title 42 border policy that authorizes the rapid expulsion of migrants and asylum-seekers, a CDC spokesperson tells @cbsnews tonight.https://t.co/UGmLUMiOfm

— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) February 4, 2022

look let’s be realistic, what if they brought the omicron variant here

when i see this prayer breakfast shit I reflexively want to say Biden is just the fattest juiciest Christmas goose ever served but tbh that designation belongs to non-wealthy Democratic voters

lol boris johnson's "partygate", in which the scandal is that top leadership has been having parties and not following covid guidelines.

meanwhile, remember the amy coney barrett supreme court announcement in the rose garden? the one that turned out to be a superspreader event? i watched it, as it happened, on c-span. they were all packed together, senators, aides, fascists like steve bannon and miller, everyone. after the conclusion of the speech the c-span cameras stayed on and i watched them all, without masks, breathing hot air in each other's faces for 10 minutes before shuffling off.

what a fucking joke this world is

also, since it is a rare fucking day when i see anyone mention the obvious thing, i will repost most of a post on excess covid deaths, from lawyers guns and money and highlight the part that i like

This gives us a total of 1,138,000 excess deaths in the USA from February 3, 2020 through February 3, 2022. Now this number might be off by one or two percent in either direction for various reasons, but it’s really close.

In other words, there are more than 1.1 million Americans who have died in the past two years, who would be alive today if not for the pandemic. (An interesting side question is what this total would be without the vaccines. I would imagine it would be at least doubled at this point).

Now what I find really interesting in a grim way is that the Republican party, at the national, state, and local level, has become almost completely indifferent to this situation. For them, any serious ongoing attempts to ameliorate the pandemic are unwarranted, because it’s just another seasonal infectious disease, like the flu. (If not for the COVID pandemic it’s likely that the flu would have caused something along the lines of 65,000 total excess deaths in the USA over the past two years. 65,000 is a smaller number than 1,138,000).

What will happen going forward? It’s practically certain that other variants of the virus will continue to arise, although they will have a constantly shrinking immunologically naive base to infect, as ever larger percentages of the population are either vaccinated or previously infected or both.

But will Republicans be OK with 560,000 excess deaths in the USA in 2022, assuming that the forthcoming waves end up having the same average effect as those over the previous two years? The answer is obviously yes, they will be OK with that, and they will continue to be OK with that even when it’s no longer to their political advantage to prolong the pandemic.

That’s because the pandemic has been so politicized at this point that it’s an article of faith in the Republican cult that it’s No Big Deal, and that vaccinations are either No Big Deal or a (((Plot))) of some sort, and that masks and any other mitigation measures are unnecessary, because this is just like the flu, basically. (A lot of this is tied up with the kind of deep fatalism found in the cruder versions of evangelical Christianity; i.e., people die because it’s God’s will/it’s “their time” etc. In addition, these versions of Christianity are fundamental hurdles to any understanding of or belief in statistics, which is why a big item on the agenda of revenant Christo-fascism is to just get rid of government collation of statistics altogether).

In fact we’ll be lucky if all that happens is that all vaccine mandates, not just for COVID, are rolled back in various states, as opposed to the national level. The worst-case scenario is that the COVID vaccine will be made illegal by President Greene’s executive order, which will be carried out by CDC chairman Berenson (kidding/not kidding).

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2022/02/the-covid-future-in-america

the deck is so stacked in favor of Republicans that I suspect this won't matter but in a more uh "hopeful" time I might argue that the GOP getting their voters killed in disproportionate numbers might actually have some consequences given how razor-thin the margins are for this whole minority rule thing

Maybe 'The Rapture' is finally here, to call home the blessed unvaccinated and leave the rest of us poor sad-sacks down here

lol boris johnson's "partygate", in which the scandal is that top leadership has been having parties and not following covid guidelines.

TS: having no shame (US) vs. pretending to have shame (UK)

i really do appreciate even the gesture of pretending to have shame

I mean the rolling back of vaccine mandates in states is already happening in Virginia under Governor Youngkin. Any hope that he would be only as shitty as Hogan is now gone. He’s worse.

Maryland Governor Hogan that is, a Republican in a blue state. He’s awful of course, but isn’t interfering with local mask and vaccination requirements.

speaking of not having shame, the GOP is censuring Cheney and Kinzinger for siding against the outburst of "legitimate political discourse" known as Jan. 6

Would that be the House GOP caucus doing the censuring, or some other party organ? Is that official and signed off by party leadership, or just a proposal?

I don't even really know what "censure" means, as far as punishment goes. Like, does it make it harder to get a table at a steak house? Why would anyone gaf?

My understanding was always that it has the exact same consequences as when your third grade teacher wrote your name on the blackboard and told you it would go on your "permanent record" or, in other words, fuck all.

Except that in this case it also means that the party will be supporting whatever primary challenger to Cheney emerges. This is full "fuck you, you don't love Daddy enough - you're out of the family!"

They become ronin.

no real consequences, but it's almost like a test vote. it's a signal -- nearly every republican controlled state legislature has passed some sort of official rebuke or censure of anyone that did anything remotely resembling "the right thing to do" in the lead-up and wake of january 6. the consequences aren't for cheney, it's more about making all the other GOP members sign on the dotted line that they support the insurrection and the stolen election myth

Wait til Dick Cheney appears on the Masked Singer

Maybe 'The Rapture' is finally here, to call home the blessed unvaccinated and leave the rest of us poor sad-sacks down here

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, February 4, 2022 11:34 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This may be my favorite post of the day

One of our shop's Trump maroons is wearing a John Carpenter "Obey" t-shirt today. I both want that shirt and want to laugh at the irony. At least it's better than his other usual hats and shirts for "44", "Trump in 2044", "Let's Go Brandon", etc.

2024, that is. Unless he becomes a disembodied head.

Has They Live been folded into the red pill Matix Mythos? i.e. "you people are blind, blind, can't you see what's going on??"

Because that's a serious bummer if it has

xp A decapitated body would be better tbh

Pence Says Trump Is ‘Wrong' in Claiming 2020 Election Could Be Overturned

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/pence-says-trump-is-wrong-in-claiming-2020-election-could-be-overturned/3535633/

I guess Mother let him use his balls for the day.

Meek Mike just lost his VP spot... Nikki, time for your close-ip

i think mother handed him his old pair of useless, shriveled up balls

Pence dismissed Trump’s statement during a keynote speech Friday at a conference hosted by the Federalist Society, an organization for conservative and libertarian lawyers, in Florida this weekend.

“There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress, I possessed unilateral authority to reject electoral college votes,” Pence said. “Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election.”

“And Kamala Harris,” he added, “will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.”

“And Kamala Harris,” he added, “will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.”

maybe i'm so traumatized by the trump years that i automatically read that as a "it's the democrats who are trying to steal the election!", when actually he's trying to just explain it, i don't know

Kamala haunts his dreams.

fwiw this could have been worse

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/politics/arizona-bill-reject-election-results-effectively-blocked/index.html

Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, quietly doomed House Bill 2596 on Tuesday with an unusual parliamentary maneuver.
The speaker assigns all new bills to a committee for consideration before they can have full House votes, a choice that often has a great effect on a measure's chance of success. But on Tuesday, Bowers took the unprecedented step of ordering all 12 House committees to consider the elections bill, virtually ensuring it will never reach the floor.

So is this good news?

The White House released a detailed blueprint Monday for how the federal government can work to increase union participation and strengthen workers’ right to organize in the absence of legislative actions, another sign of the Biden administration’s historic support for organized labor.

The 43-page report, produced by the White House’s Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, is a strikingly pro-union document, seeking to connect the history of union organizing in the United States to its importance for the country’s economic well-being.

“The Biden-Harris Administration believes that increasing worker organizing and empowerment is critical to growing the middle class, building an economy that puts workers first, and strengthening our democracy,” it begins.

The report comes at a time when union organizing in the United States is near a historic low, with just 10.3 percent of wage and salary workers belonging to a union in 2021, down threefold from a high in the 1950s. Just 6.1 percent of private-sector workers were members of unions.

But the public favorability of labor unions is its highest in more than 50 years, and at least 48 percent of nonunion workers have said on surveys that they would join a union if given the option.

“This gap between the percentage of workers who want a union and the percentage of workers who have a union is part of the reason for this Task Force and this report,” the report notes.

The labor movement faces some key tests. Workers plan to vote soon on whether to unionize at an Amazon facility in Alabama. And employees at a handful of Starbucks shops have also recently voted to unionize, sparking interest in whether this could lead to a national push.

The White House report lays out dozens of recommendations for the federal government to undertake to encourage worker organizing, rights protected by 1935′s National Labor Relations Act, without going through Congress.

These recommendations include facilitating union growth in the federal government, where union membership rates are already higher than other industries. They also include having federal employers give more information about unions to new hires, informing employees about their collective bargaining rights and representation, and increasing the ability of unions to communicate with employees, such as by providing unions with work email addresses and access to physical and electronic bulletin boards.

I haven't read the "dozens" of recommendations but the ones listed there don't...seem very helpful? And would only apply to federal workers, "where union membership rates are already higher than other industries." What does it do to help the 48% of people who aren't in a union but would like to be?

Sorry, Alfred, my question isn't really directed at you, it just makes me tired.

I'm on the skeptical side too. I'm not sure what this does to spur enrollment or to change a generation's thinking about unions.

It is outrageous, if unsurprising, that Trump would praise Putin’s murderous invasion of Ukraine as an act of “genius.” It should concern us all that Putin is exactly the kind of leader Trump would like to be, and that so few Republicans have the courage to say this out loud.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 24, 2022

In regard to the sentiment that the USA should be 'doing something' about Putin's invasion, while the press scorns sanctions as a weak-ass response to the invasion and appears to be eager to start beating the drum for military escalation, my attitude is that you don't go into a war unless you are willing to pursue that war as if your nation's survival is at stake. There are no "splendid little wars".

Sanctions are far from a perfect tool, but high explosives are a notoriously crude solution to any international crisis. Making Ukraine into a major killing field between Russia and NATO would not exactly be doing Ukrainians a favor.

yeah, exactly. and, far from weakening NATO and the whole NATO alignment, i think i actually agree with biden that it strengthens it, for better or worse. all of this seems to be a signal that you're either aligned with Russia or you're aligned with NATO. if you're caught inbetween, you get run over.

I can’t imagine watching cable news - any cable news - for a few months. The manipulation is excruciating, even when watching the side I mostly agree with.

(Last time I watched was maybe 2-3 weeks ago.)

^^^ this. I don't watch cable news much at all, but just considered flipping it on to "get the latest" on Ukraine. Then my immediate second thought was "what the fuck are you thinking?"

Unless Chris Matthews is crying there’s never a reason to watch cable news.

Chris Hayes is the only one with perspective but he's white.

This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) February 24, 2022

Galaxy brain right here

Most 2022 headline:
The Weeknd Didn't Know Russia Was Invading Ukraine When He Tweeted: 'Let's GOOOOOOO'

"I would like to apologize for my cover of Outkast's "Bombs Over Baghdad," "Bombs Over Kyiv," parallels with international events were entirely unintentional."

he can't feel his face?

Good news.

WASHINGTON — A North Carolina court rejected a Republican-drawn map of the state’s 14 congressional districts on Wednesday and substituted its own version, the second time in less than two weeks that a court in the state has invalidated a Republican House map as unconstitutionally partisan.

The new map, drawn by a nonpartisan panel of four redistricting experts, appeared to split North Carolina’s congressional districts roughly equally between Republicans and Democrats, in a state where voters are divided evenly along partisan lines. It gives each party six relatively safe House seats and makes the remaining two winnable by either side.

The Republican-drawn map that was rejected would have awarded the G.O.P. six safe seats and Democrats four, leaving the remaining four as tossups.

Voting-rights advocacy groups and Democrats had argued to block the latest Republican map, saying it unlawfully favored Republicans. A three-judge panel of the state Superior Court in Raleigh agreed. It ruled Wednesday that the latest map failed to meet the standards for fairness set out by the State Supreme Court on Feb. 4, when that court invalidated the original map drawn by the Republican-controlled State Legislature.

I hope those NC judges are braced for the death threats that have become so knit into the fabric of our politics.

just... amazing. pic.twitter.com/wl2Dg0pQ5h

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 26, 2022

I know the masks have been off for a while but uh what the fuck

Shortly before bringing up MTG, the camera showed a sizeable and raucous crowd. Fuentes praised "our secret sauce...young white men." Fuentes then solicited a round of applause for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, and the groyper crowd chanted "Putin, Putin." pic.twitter.com/I8BGH1TYGm

— Ben Lorber (@BenLorber8) February 26, 2022

i didn't realize it when i was growing up, but the most political people in that shit town were the ones with confederate flags hanging over the gate of their fence

Fuentes praised "our secret sauce...young white men."

Arby’s marketing has gone too far this time.

"I do not know Nick Fuentes. I never heard him speak."

GTFO with this nonsense! You're going to speak at his event and embrace him on stage, but now you're gonna pretend you have no idea who he is and what he espouses?! https://t.co/3mDwZcG9vE

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) February 26, 2022

our secret sauce...young white supremacists

fixed

Meanwhile, even (especially?) the biggest blowhards and cowards of the GOP seem to have recognized that praising Putin might have been a bad call.

i'd have to think that a significant chunk of the GOP will still, regardless, support Russia in this

Yeah seems like one of the many horrible positions the GOP will just slowly ease themselves into

"Do I still support Putin? Sure, because think of the alternative? I'd rather Putin than an authoritarian monster like Joe Biden."

You millennial leftists who never lived one day under nuclear threat can now reflect upon your woke sky.
You made quite a non-binary fuss to save the world from intercontinental ballistic tweets.

— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) February 27, 2022

Tubberville/Higgins ‘28

Those are all real words, but that Tweet makes no sense.

Feel like those are all emo/punk bands:

Millenial Leftists
Nuclear Threat
Your Woke Sky
Non-Binary Fuss
Save the World
Intercontinental Ballistic Tweets

“Russia attacked Ukraine because there are ‘woke’ people in the US. If only we had been more racist, Russia wouldn’t have dared.”

blowhards and cowards of the GOP seem to have recognized that praising Putin might have been a bad call

doesn't matter. unless they double down it all will be forgotten two days from now. if they do double down, it might take a couple of weeks for their followers to completely forget it. their ability to move on quickly is among the wonders of the world.

I’ve sat on a committee with this guy for years. He talks like this every day. 🙃 https://t.co/YlPEdLR1rl

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 27, 2022

We’re not entirely sure what this tweet is supposed to mean, and we’re literally the dictionary.

— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) February 27, 2022

Millenial Leftists - sprechgesang post-punk
Nuclear Threat - hardcore
Your Woke Sky - post-rock
Non-Binary Fuss - riot grrl
Save the World - midwest emo
Intercontinental Ballistic Tweets - EDM

Never Lived One Day - prog-rock concept album about the mayfly

Woke Sky was a vaguely racy Tom Cruise sci-fi film I think?

Millenial Leftists - sprechgesang post-punk

I think you're confusing them with You Millennial Leftists, who I saw on a bill with One Day Under and Nuclear Threat Can.

scuse me while I woke the sky

Lol

I’ve sat on a committee with this guy for years. He talks like this every day.

The sad thing about this observation is that Clay Higgins must make some kind of sense to the people who voted for him. Dictionary.com may know this is literal non-sense, but his voters don't.

well it's basically constructed out of the last 5 years of facebook memes so it's instantly recognizable as their language.

watching conservatives react to the Ukraine stuff has been fun, their response to literally everything is whining about pronouns and "Lets Go Brandon"

I have gotten some questions about the painting in Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s campaign office so here it is, including close ups (seated portrait is by NYT photog Annie Mulligan) https://t.co/TaUq2rPy0Y pic.twitter.com/rsTDVHKBpv

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) February 28, 2022

Really perverse retelling of the Texas Revolution, what with all them Yankees from NEW YORK CITY.

Get a rope.

According to the article, it's one of many pieces of "Unsolicited Fan Art" that adorn his campaign office.

Expecting Trump to pivot from "Brilliant Putin got to take over the Ukraine for $2 in sanctions" to "Biden's outrageous sanctions are tanking the world economy and are a transparent attack on me personally" any minute now.

I nominate "Now reflect upon your woke sky" as the tagline for the March thread.

is that warren harding between crenshaw and junior? or jeffrey epstein?

with all these years to desensitize myself to the cult of personality surrounding the orange one, it still blows my mind that anyone would choose to go to work every day under a painting that valorizes his pathetic kids. even a piece of shit as big as crenshaw

yeah, it is extremely dear leader as well

pic.twitter.com/zN9VYXv8Em

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 27, 2022

US Politics March 2022: "Now reflect upon your woke sky..."