All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[CaptainEurope]

Michael Cohen is on the witness stand right now. RIGHT NOW! GO!!!

[aja_christopher]

I'm not here for argument tricks or anything like that. I do wonder what you think your response here accomplishes.

Looking at polls, Democrats do need to persuade people who currently prefer Trump to Biden. I'm on your side. I'm voting for Biden over Trump. I did it before. But Biden is going to need some people who take Trump less seriously than I do.

People have already suggested numerous ways for you to do this yourself -- instead of spending time defending bigoted conservative behavior on message boards.

Democrats don't need to compromise their values in order to try to appeal to those who are comfortable with supporting white nationalist politics.

It is the Republican party that has work to do and you should focus on that instead of trying to argue with people who have been telling you that from the start.

If you look at that list there’s at least 2 groups that might be converted to becoming Republican IF that party cleaned the stables by ejecting extremist representatives.

On the other hand I assume that anyone still In Republican camp is unlikely to defect?

Overt bigotry is a red line for many voters -- expecially people of color -- and until Republicans address that directly they should not expect anyone to vote for those who seek to demean and oppress them.

Reasonably so -- it makes absolutely no sense to vote for a party that is openly attempting to restrict both your civil and voting rights.

Notably, many of the things Democrats wish to promote (universal health care, climate awareness, LGBT acceptance, abortion rights, etc) are exactly what many conservatives are fighting against.

[shooshoomanjoe]

trump is leading polls over Biden. I'll never understand why minorities would vote for the GOP.

We have a new set of polls for you in the battleground states, including New York Times/Siena College polls of Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and the inaugural Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena poll in Pennsylvania.

The results in the presidential race would have been surprising a year ago, but it’s hard to call them surprising anymore. Former President Donald Trump leads in five of the six states among likely voters, with President Joe Biden squeaking out a lead among likely voters in Michigan. Trump’s strength is largely thanks to gains among young, Black and Hispanic voters...

Overall, Trump led, 57-25, among Middle East, North African or Muslim voters in the poll. Those who say they voted in the 2020 election reported backing Biden by a similar but opposite margin, 56-35.

[JackDaw]

Michael Cohen is on the witness stand right now. RIGHT NOW! GO!!!

Jeez, looking at some of his evidence to date I wonder if he’s any more reliable than the Donald.

The example, that springs to mind: when asked “Is Trump a micro-manager” he’s answered an unqualified “Yes”.

Probably being uncharitable but I can’t see the Donald micro-managing anything. Too much like hard work.

[Kirby101]

Jeez, looking at some of his evidence to date I wonder if he’s any more reliable than the Donald.

The example, that springs to mind: when asked “Is Trump a micro-manager” he’s answered an unqualified “Yes”.

Probably being uncharitable but I can’t see the Donald micro-managing anything. Too much like hard work.

micro-managing isn't necessarily doing the work, it's not trusting anyone on their work.

[Username taken]

This isn't necessarily in response to anyone, just my thoughts for the night.

Democrats are not homogeneous, though they usually share two common beliefs. 1. That Democracy is a good idea. 2. That the future is coming, and that we'd best be prepared for it and welcome it.

Aside from that, there are some generalizations that can be made in terms of identifying different types of Democrats.

1. There are the Pragmatic Democrats, the ones who understand the complexities of the world. Who understand that, while change and progress can be a good thing, it must be balanced with dealing with current issues first. That any losses we incur now could undermine any attempts at taking control of the future.

2. There are the more idealistic Democrats who tend to be impatient in their forward-thinking. Who dream big, but sometimes allow their idealism to take precedent over more mundane and present issues. Still, someone has to dream big in order to push the rest forward.

3. There are the Conservative Democrats who view Capitalism as essential to Democracy. They tend to think in terms of economic growth, progress as defined by advances in industry and technology, and so on.

4. Then there are the Non-Democrat Democrats. Those who are not yet comfortable identifying with Democrats, but who are being pushed in that direction by the extremists and the MAGA and so on. These NDD's also believe in Democracy, but is that enough for them to slide to the left?

My thought for the evening, good night.

Further to this, not all progressives are liberal and not all liberals are progressives.

[JackDaw]

micro-managing isn't necessarily doing the work, it's not trusting anyone on their work.

Yes. But I think the prosecution are going to suggest at some point (and are already implying) that micro managing means you actually understand what’s going off and are on top of the detail. Really don’t think that’s a safe inference in the Donald’s case.

But, guess no point, sweating the detail, all good as long as The Donald in trouble. (Guess real dilemma for defence, they can hardly push the line “My client doesn’t have a clue what went off”. It might suggest incompetence.)

[Username taken]

People are getting killed by policemen in their own homes.

I can't understand how police are allowed to ambush people where they live.

The worst part of all this is the total lack of accountability.

[Malvolio]

Further to this, not all progressives are liberal and not all liberals are progressives.

Some liberals started calling themselves progressives when the right wing media made "liberal" a dirty word. We really need to stop doing that. If they make liberal a dirty word, own it! Say, "damn right I'm a liberal and proud of it!"

[kidfresh512]

Yes. But I think the prosecution are going to suggest at some point (and are already implying) that micro managing means you actually understand what’s going off and are on top of the detail. Really don’t think that’s a safe inference in the Donald’s case.

But, guess no point, sweating the detail, all good as long as The Donald in trouble. (Guess real dilemma for defence, they can hardly push the line “My client doesn’t have a clue what went off”. It might suggest incompetence.)

You don't have to understand the minutiae of the jobs to be a micromanager. If you are requiring updates and reports on daily tasks or specific tasks or interjecting on specifically which vendors to use, or how you want things reported to you or other entities. That is also micromanaging.

So if they say Trump is a micromanager in the sense that he approves the specific payments or checks, he directed how he wanted the payments processed. He told individuals that he wanted it paid from say campaign accounts etc. They can still link him to knowing exactly what was going on. But it comes down to witness credibility and other emails, documents, texts backing it up.

[zinderel]

People are getting killed by policemen in their own homes.

I can't understand how police are allowed to ambush people where they live.

The worst part of all this is the total lack of accountability.

I mean…Breonna Taylor.

Asleep in her own home when cops broke down the door in the middle of the night and shot her. Her boyfriend woke up to strangers breaking into the house, and fired a warning shot. In response, the police fired 32 times, killing her AND endangering neighbors. They did this because of suspected drug possession, but after murdering a woman in her sleep, the cops never bothered to search her place.

The boyfriend was arrested for ‘attempted murder of a police officer’, and though he had the charges dropped, there is no reason to believe that he wouldn’t have been imprisoned and charged and the crime covered up by the police, if the public wasn’t in such a state of uproar about police brutality.

But boy oh boy did Republicans and ‘christians’ flock to the defense of the officers involved. The victim blaming, the racism, the sexism, the excuses made for authoritarian violence…ALL coming from the right.

So, how do cops get away with this stuff? Thank the GOP, and the far right’s fetish for jackbooted thugs.

[Kirby101]

Yes. But I think the prosecution are going to suggest at some point (and are already implying) that micro managing means you actually understand what’s going off and are on top of the detail. Really don’t think that’s a safe inference in the Donald’s case.

But, guess no point, sweating the detail, all good as long as The Donald in trouble. (Guess real dilemma for defence, they can hardly push the line “My client doesn’t have a clue what went off”. It might suggest incompetence.)

I doubt the Defense will paint him as an out of touch businessman who did not know or understand what was going on in his own company. Also this is not just the Trump Company. but his campaign. Trump not knowing anything is a hard tack to swallow.

[JackDaw]

I doubt the Defense will paint him as an out of touch businessman who did not know or understand what was going on in his own company. Also this is not just the Trump Company. but his campaign. Trump not knowing anything is a hard tack to swallow.

I agree with you that it’s just about inconceivable that his defence would take that line.

And pretty unlikely that Trump himself will go into the witness box?

[zinderel]

Some liberals started calling themselves progressives when the right wing media made "liberal" a dirty word. We really need to stop doing that. If they make liberal a dirty word, own it! Say, "damn right I'm a liberal and proud of it!"

Agreed. I noticed this trend during the 2016 election, in particular, and shockingly, it wasn’t from the right that I heard it.

There IS an argument to be made about the hypocrisy of white ‘liberals’, typically well-off, suburban, white people who identify as ‘liberal’ and ‘voted for Obama’…but sent their kids to an all-white private school because they ‘worry about crime’, or who votes against low-income housing in HIS neighborhood, or who ‘supports gay rights’ but ‘just doesn’t want her kid having access to pornography at school’! A ‘liberal, makes a big show of tipping wherever possible…so that her Instagram followers will know what a good person she is. A ‘liberal’ makes a big show of ‘supporting blue collar workers’, but votes in ways that curtail protests because one time, a worker’s rights protest made him slightly late to his destination. A ‘liberal’ has one of those ‘in this house…’ signs in the yard, but votes against low income housing in their neighborhood because ‘those people deserve affordable housing, but not in my backyard!’ A ‘liberal’ proclaims their opposition to police brutality on Facebook, but opines to his friends that ‘those people’ should PROBABLY just show more respect to cops.

Basically, ‘liberal’ has come to be synonymous with ‘complacent and performative leftism without any legwork’. ‘Progressive’ has comes to be the more dynamic option, and implies action and movement.

That distinction was made to me when I asked my younger friends about why they differentiate the terms the way they were. I have always identified as ‘liberal’, myself, but after it was explained to me, I tend to identify as a ‘progressive’ when asked, due to connotations. To them, ‘liberal’ had come to be synonymous with ‘someone who proclaims (and probably believes) themselves to be progressive, but is complacent to - or complicit in - the pushback against progress when it directly affects them’, whereas ‘progressive’ had come to mean ‘someone who pushes for progress, even if it inconveniences themselves’. ‘Liberals’, in this system, tend to be affluent white people who want positive attention for good deeds done publicly, while ‘progressives’ don’t care about the quality of the attention they get, as long as attention is being paid to the goal (though it would be nice to not be called names and mocked for caring about homelessness, or not wanting to live through a genocide, or not wanting to have to choose between starvation or their diabetes medicine). It’s why protests are often messy, and ripe for police and other right wing agitators to infiltrate them and start violence to discredit the goal.

On the one hand, it’s just another example of how the left tends to shoot itself in the foot by splitting itself into smaller and smaller single issue wedges that make perfect the enemy of good. On the other hand, I completely understand the desire to distance oneself from the fakes and phonies clogging the internet and the airwaves with performative ‘progressivism’ and hokey crystal magic/essential oils/yoga that they’re only doing for the Likes and the attention, while seemingly supporting the MTG’s of the world, in private.

I’ve done what I can to push back gently and remind them that ‘liberal’ is literally what they are, and that maybe they could just call a phony a phony? But language changes and evolves, and since we’re handing the young a planet we set on fire with our complacency and greed, the least we can do is let them play with language in the rubble.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Can't help but notice how silent the NRA is when a black man is shot by cops despite being a legal gun owner