All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[InformationGeek]

Oh boy... this is gonna get crazier the longer this goes on.

[Tendrin]

https://bylinetimes.com/2019/10/03/i...for-president/

Gabbard is an anti-Muslim bigot. This bigotry guides her views on foreign policy with regard to things like dealing with the rising tide of Hindutva lead nationalism spearheaded by Modi and the BJP in India and her fondness for dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Gabbard has since renounced her previously held anti-gay views, at least in public, claiming that she experienced a “gradual metamorphosis” on the issue after experiencing more of the world during her overseas military deployments.
However, she must answer further questions about her ties to Butler now that a source close to Science of Identity has leaked to me previously unheard audio recordings of her guru describing Muslims in the most viciously racist ways imaginable, alongside what appears to be a 2018 video of Gabbard attending a ceremony in which she and other attendees are seen giving praise to an altar carrying a framed photo of Butler.
The tapes and the accompanying transcripts, which run to more than 8,000 pages, document lectures given by Butler to his flock in Hawaii from the late 1960s to 2006.

“The anti-Muslim animus comes not only from her Islamophobic guru but also from her constant misuse of ethnic slurs, such as ‘Wahhabi/Salafi’ etc. very ignorantly as if they are the same thing,” Gabbard’s former campaign assistant told me. “She has been asked repeatedly to stop using these terms she does not understand. Any Arabic speaker or person from the region could hear her butchering these terms and know she is doing it for purposes of fear-mongering.”
Gabbard has shared Butler’s anti-homosexual views in the past and long espoused attitudes that are equally as hostile towards Muslims and Islam as Butler. These include support for a bill described as “racist and xenophobic” because it placed a halt on refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries entering the country; blaming the civil wars in Iraq and Syria on Islamic “theology”; the minimisation of violence against Muslims in India; smearing the Syrian dictator’s political opposition as “Salafi Wahabists”; and the enormous amount of political donations she has received from Muslim-hating groups and individuals in India.
It is clearly time for Gabbard to be honest with the American public about her and her campaign’s ties to a peculiar and bigoted religious-based cult.
Byline Times has contacted Tulsi Gabbard for a response. Chris Butler remains unreachable but Byline Times has contacted members of his family for a response.

It's important to understand that she's still participating in events with Chris Butler, despite her so-called evolution, as of /2018/.

Here's an Intercept article, linked in the above, on her ties to Hindu Nationalism:

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/05/...ionalist-modi/

That anti-Muslim sentiment has been a major driving force of Modi’s political career in the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. In 2002, when Modi was chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he oversaw an outbreak of violence by Hindu nationalists against the minority Muslim population that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people. Local and international fact-finding groups accused Modi of complicity in the killings, charging that he did not do enough to contain the violence. Indian courts eventually exonerated him for a lack of evidence, but his image was pilloried. The United Kingdom and some European countries refused to deal with him and in 2005, the United States barred him from entering the country.
Modi’s ascent has normalized nationalist rhetoric, the silencing of dissent, and violence against religious minorities in India — and it’s also had global implications. Elected prime minister in 2014, he was one of the first of a class of populist autocrats who’ve risen to power in recent years. That group includes Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was elected in the same month as Modi; Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who’s been in office for more than a decade but has been increasingly consolidating power; Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, whose war on drugs has killed thousands of people; Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected in October despite his pro-military dictatorship stance; and, of course, America’s Donald Trump.

Anti-Muslim bigotry is at the root of what she chooses to do.

[PwrdOn]

I can't help but wonder what happens if trump wins again.
A Massive fracture in our country he mentioned if He was impeached....
But for all the people complaining online about this guy I have a feeling that If hes re elected it'll be a similar fracture.

If everyone screaming and yelling for his blood every day on Twitter realize that screaming and yelling does Nothing to sway the minds of half "Or" so of the people.
It seems to me that too many people really want to Thanos snap half the others away

The thing is, American society was only as united and peaceful as it was because we swept a lot of our problems under the rug and pushed them onto marginalized communities who had no voice to speak out, and so everything seemed much more stable than it really was. Trump's election just brought a lot of these issues to the surface and it won't do to just get rid of him and go back to pretending like everything is fine again.

https://bylinetimes.com/2019/10/03/i...for-president/

Gabbard is an anti-Muslim bigot. This bigotry guides her views on foreign policy with regard to things like dealing with the rising tide of Hindutva lead nationalism spearheaded by Modi and the BJP in India and her fondness for dictator Bashar al-Assad.

It's important to understand that she's still participating in events with Chris Butler, despite her so-called evolution, as of /2018/.

Here's an Intercept article, linked in the above, on her ties to Hindu Nationalism:

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/05/...ionalist-modi/

Anti-Muslim bigotry is at the root of what she chooses to do.

While Hindutva is far from an admirable ideology, it's a bit unfair to put it on the same level as the Islamophobic attitudes expressed by Westerners. Hindutva began as an anti-colonialist movement and was all about Making India Great Again by expelling the imperialists, something very much in line with mainstream activists like Gandhi. The difference was that, rather than treating Muslims as an integral part of Indian civilization, they were lumped in with the British as unwanted foreign colonizers. The reason that this movement is experiencing a resurgence now is that 70 years or so of espousing integration, tolerance, and peaceful development hasn't really brought India the kind of economic or geopolitical clout that they expected to have by now, and so people are looking for a scapegoat. But no matter how toxic that sentiment might be, it's a far cry from just beating down on brown people because we can, which is about as much of a justification as anti-Islamists in America need.

[Tami]

By the by, the RNC and the Trump 2020 campaign have begun dropping a ton of money on ads to pop up in Facebook feeds and on Youtube to tell "the real story about the Bidens and Ukraine". It's the 2016 social media bots and disinformation beginning now on an already debunked conspiracy theory that virtually no one believes, and the media is WAY ahead of calling bulls***.

This is the hill they're intent on dying on, though, and they're spending big cash to gaslight the public to see if they can find a rube or two.

Let them waste their money. In the end, there will still be a Democrat in the WH soon enough.

[Tendrin]

While Hindutva is far from an admirable ideology, it's a bit unfair to put it on the same level as the Islamophobic attitudes expressed by Westerners. Hindutva began as an anti-colonialist movement and was all about Making India Great Again by expelling the imperialists, something very much in line with mainstream activists like Gandhi. The difference was that, rather than treating Muslims as an integral part of Indian civilization, they were lumped in with the British as unwanted foreign colonizers. The reason that this movement is experiencing a resurgence now is that 70 years or so of espousing integration, tolerance, and peaceful development hasn't really brought India the kind of economic or geopolitical clout that they expected to have by now, and so people are looking for a scapegoat. But no matter how toxic that sentiment might be, it's a far cry from just beating down on brown people because we can, which is about as much of a justification as anti-Islamists in America need.

No, I don't think it's unfair at all. While it might be 'anti-Colonial' in character, it's pretty gosh dang fashy and between what's happening in Kashmir and the treatment of Muslim citizens of India, we should all be exceedingly concerned about India's direction -- none of which changes the larger point about Gabbard and the anti-Muslim bigotry that's at the root of much of her politics and her cozyness with the human rights violations being committed so long as it's against Muslims.

[jetengine]

Afaik isn't India ludicrously corrupt and still utilises the ridiculous caste system ?

[PwrdOn]

No, I don't think it's unfair at all. While it might be 'anti-Colonial' in character, it's pretty gosh dang fashy and between what's happening in Kashmir and the treatment of Muslim citizens of India, we should all be exceedingly concerned about India's direction -- none of which changes the larger point about Gabbard and the anti-Muslim bigotry that's at the root of much of her politics and her cozyness with the human rights violations being committed so long as it's against Muslims.

While India certainly deserves its share of criticism for its right wing policies, I do feel like most of that criticism comes not from a place of genuine concern for the Kashmiris, but rather out of a sense of guilt that Westerners feel over our actions toward Muslims, which we then overcorrect for by championing their cause wherever they are being oppressed. And more to the point, Gabbard is a fringe candidate who will never wield any real influence, so any worries of her being some agent of a rising fascist power are rather unfounded. In any event, our geopolitical orientation will necessarily be pro-India for the foreseeable future regardless of which party is in power, because we need them as a counterweight against Chinese influence in the region which is seen as a more immediate threat. Nevermind that China only became a threat because we helped to build them up to counter the Soviets. How many more times does this need to happen before we realize that the real problem is us trying to play these geopolitical games for the sake of our own economic interests?

[Tendrin]

While India certainly deserves its share of criticism for its right wing policies, I do feel like most of that criticism comes not from a place of genuine concern for the Kashmiris, but rather out of a sense of guilt that Westerners feel over our actions toward Muslims, which we then overcorrect for by championing their cause wherever they are being oppressed. And more to the point, Gabbard is a fringe candidate who will never wield any real influence, so any worries of her being some agent of a rising fascist power are rather unfounded. In any event, our geopolitical orientation will necessarily be pro-India for the foreseeable future regardless of which party is in power, because we need them as a counterweight against Chinese influence in the region which is seen as a more immediate threat. Nevermind that China only became a threat because we helped to build them up to counter the Soviets. How many more times does this need to happen before we realize that the real problem is us trying to play these geopolitical games for the sake of our own economic interests?

This post gets a big yikes from me.

[kidfresh512]

Supreme Court to Hear Abortion Case From Louisiana

These are the cases Mitch and the evangelicals have been working so hard for. Lets see if Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are ready to earn their keep yet

[shooshoomanjoe]

While India certainly deserves its share of criticism for its right wing policies, I do feel like most of that criticism comes not from a place of genuine concern for the Kashmiris, but rather out of a sense of guilt that Westerners feel over our actions toward Muslims, which we then overcorrect for by championing their cause wherever they are being oppressed. And more to the point, Gabbard is a fringe candidate who will never wield any real influence, so any worries of her being some agent of a rising fascist power are rather unfounded. In any event, our geopolitical orientation will necessarily be pro-India for the foreseeable future regardless of which party is in power, because we need them as a counterweight against Chinese influence in the region which is seen as a more immediate threat. Nevermind that China only became a threat because we helped to build them up to counter the Soviets. How many more times does this need to happen before we realize that the real problem is us trying to play these geopolitical games for the sake of our own economic interests?

No matter which country your'e in it seems that the right are always on the side of evil.

[JackDaw]

While India certainly deserves its share of criticism for its right wing policies, I do feel like most of that criticism comes not from a place of genuine concern for the Kashmiris, but rather out of a sense of guilt that Westerners feel over our actions toward Muslims, which we then overcorrect for by championing their cause wherever they are being oppressed. And more to the point, Gabbard is a fringe candidate who will never wield any real influence, so any worries of her being some agent of a rising fascist power are rather unfounded. In any event, our geopolitical orientation will necessarily be pro-India for the foreseeable future regardless of which party is in power, because we need them as a counterweight against Chinese influence in the region which is seen as a more immediate threat. Nevermind that China only became a threat because we helped to build them up to counter the Soviets. How many more times does this need to happen before we realize that the real problem is us trying to play these geopolitical games for the sake of our own economic interests?

I’m always slightly baffled by this idea that Western influence is responsible for ALL the evil in the world.

A lot of bad things happen in India, UK, USA, China, etc, etc. And crap happened all over the world before USA became main world power, before UK, etc..and will carry on when other powers become dominant.

Realistically today China does it own thing...the idea they were reliant on USA to build them up to become a threat is risible. They were always a major power, and destined to become more powerful.

[PwrdOn]

No matter which country your'e in it seems that the right are always on the side of evil.

Right wing politics are founded on a fairly simple principle - when resources are limited, you can either enrich a few people at the expense of everyone else, or attempt to share the wealth and end up depriving everyone. First world countries have the luxury of outsourcing our exploitation to other countries, so that we can tell ourselves that we live in a free and open society even though those freedoms depend on the suppression of people we don't care to think about much. Developing nations aren't able to do this, and left wing governments who promise land reform and social justice inevitably deliver only a brief sugar high before competition over scarce resources devolves society back into corruption and chaos. This in turn leads to right wing strongmen taking power under the guise of restoring law and order, until people get sick of that again and the cycle repeats itself.

I’m always slightly baffled by this idea that Western influence is responsible for ALL the evil in the world.

A lot of bad things happen in India, UK, USA, China, etc, etc. And crap happened all over the world before USA became main world power, before UK, etc..and will carry on when other powers become dominant.

Realistically today China does it own thing...the idea they were reliant on USA to build them up to become a threat is risible. They were always a major power, and destined to become more powerful.

There is a pretty clear counterfactual in this case though, China without American technology and investment would probably be where India is now. And of course the idea that European colonialism ruined a noble and ancient civilization that is just now recovering from that blow features very heavily in the national narrative of both countries, and the facts of that are really not in dispute. The best response you could really give is just that they should get over it and move on, but that argument goes over about as well with them as it would with blacks and natives over here.

And while it would be wrong to blame all the woes of the world on Western meddling, the fact is that India, China, and many other countries have suffered countless horrific calamities in the past yet managed to bounce back each time. However, for some reason or another, the damage inflicted by a relatively short period of European domination has proven to be an intractable obstacle that all of these countries still struggle to overcome to this day, and the least we could do is to recognize that.

[kidfresh512]

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1180123522712133632

My god what an idiot.

This is the defense when asked a legitimate question about Trade talks with China being influenced by Trump requesting dirt.

It isn't even worth having these people on anything but Fox News. He calls an interview he accepted an "interrogation". He is the White House trade adviser, and we have trade talks coming up with China who just yesterday were requested on live TV to bring dirt to the negotiations. But, he didn't think he would be asked about it?

[JackDaw]

There is a pretty clear counterfactual in this case though, China without American technology and investment would probably be where India is now. And of course the idea that European colonialism ruined a noble and ancient civilization that is just now recovering from that blow features very heavily in the national narrative of both countries, and the facts of that are really not in dispute. The best response you could really give is just that they should get over it and move on, but that argument goes over about as well with them as it would with blacks and natives over here.

And while it would be wrong to blame all the woes of the world on Western meddling, the fact is that India, China, and many other countries have suffered countless horrific calamities in the past yet managed to bounce back each time. However, for some reason or another, the damage inflicted by a relatively short period of European domination has proven to be an intractable obstacle that all of these countries still struggle to overcome to this day, and the least we could do is to recognize that.

That is not “counter factual”...it’s just your opinion. And it’s not one I share. China is massively different to India! For example, it’s periods when it was occupied were down to Japan, not a Western power.

China exercises an exceptional degree of control over what foreign investment and technology it allows into the country, and has done for decades now...certainly from the early days of Mao Tse Tung onwards.

What happens in China is what it’s own government believes is in China’s best interests...I’d characterise their mindset as similar to an intelligent Donald Trump (if such a thing exists!)

[Tami]

Celebrities form ‘Impeachment Task Force’ to fight Trump’s lies on Twitter

In an attempt to combat Trump’s Official Impeachment Defense Task Force, a group of celebrities, former lawmakers, and activists have formed the Impeachment Task Force. The group is comprised of members with large social followings that combined rival the reach of Trump himself.

They are using the fake presidential seal as their logo.

Members of the task force include known Trump agitators like actress Debra Messing. As well as long-time Trump foe, Rosie O’Donnell. The two have been Twitter feuding since the beginning of the decade:

Other members of the team include:

Scott Dworkin
Tom Arnold
Ron Perlman
George Takei
Alyssa Milano
Stefan Lessard
Grant Stern
Lea Black
Martina Navratilova
Frank Figliuzzi
Renato Mariotti
Andrew Gillum
David Jolly
Fred Guttenberg
Peter Morley
Ady Barkan

Trump 'Impeachment Task Force' Hellbent on Holding President 'Accountable For His Betrayal of America'

As President Donald Trump attacks House Democrats heading an impeachment inquiry of him, The Democratic Coalition is countering with a new "Impeachment Task Force" studded with liberal celebrities to protect lawmakers seeking to hold Trump "accountable for his betrayal of America."

The task force, designed to lead rapid response to Trump during the impeachment inquiry, has confirmed members including comedian Rosie O'Donnell; actors Tom Arnold, Ron Perlman and George Takei; and actresses Debra Messing and Alyssa Milano, The Democratic Coalition's co-founder Scott Dworkin told Newsweek. The task force launched a fundraising effort and basic plan on Thursday. The group has already started meeting and is set to go live with its website next week.

It aims to utilize The Democratic Coalition's massive social media following to protect House Democrats in the front lines of the impeachment inquiry on Trump.

Makes me wish there was more that I could do.