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

[Tami]

‘Lifelong conservatives’ at Iowa State Fair flip to Dems: Trump’s presidency is ‘absolutely disgusting’

A self-identified “lifelong conservative” told MSNBC on Sunday that she is considering voting for a Democratic presidential candidate because she is disgusted with President Donald Trump.

In an interview at the Iowa State Fair, Kate Miller told MSNBC that she had chosen Kamala Harris in an unofficial fairground poll.

“I’m a lifelong conservative,” Miller revealed. “I actually campaigned door to door for Chuck Grassley his first year as a Senate candidate. But I cannot vote for Donald Trump. He is not a conservative. I don’t think he’s a good man and when you watch a cabinet member after cabinet member fall away from him, I just can’t vote for him.”

[GindyPosts]

I mean, if I had to pick one?

Thank God the Cho Aniki franchise never came to the States during the 1990s. People would've missed the joke about the games were supposed to be stupid as hell (which is actually a genre in Japanese gaming culture) and gone onto a gay panic since the franchise was very homoerotic.

On a side note; the evisceration Howard Lincoln (who worked for Nintendo of America and was one of the people responsible for playtesting Famicom and Super Famicom games to determine what might and might not work for American gamers) gave Sega during the Senate hearings, in hindsight, looks bad considering that it was done to demonize Sega as this lawless console that was corrupting youth, though it was partially sour grapes given how ad campaigns and a more contemporary lineup of titles geared towards the American consumer helped the older Genesis beat out the technologically superior SNES around the time of the hearing, and 14 years after the hearing, the lynchpin of Lincoln's argument; that Night Trap, which was a campy FMV game about a group of teenagers accidentally spending the night in a house filled with feeble vampiric creatures and you play the role of a security guard having to stop these creatures that was part of the debate, would never be on a Nintendo console... wound up on a Nintendo console. The attempts Nintendo made from a quality and morality standpoint also handicapped them from a PR perspective as time went on, giving the company and their consoles a reputation as a "kiddie" company that only services to "babies", and only the past few years with the Switch has started to undo this reputation.

Seriously; this is why stuff like the V-chip failed and the ESRB is ineffective; you assume John Q. Public is going to follow through on this by doing their homework, but fail to realize that it involves additional education, to which they'll go "Skool iz 4 Losers" or bemoan that they already got work, family life, and other dealings, and don't want to have to research every little aspect of their kid's hobbies... and then go buy a Mature-rated game and complain why it's so violent.

[Tami]

When Elizabeth Warren Kindly Ignored That I Smelled Like Vomit

It’s not every day that you have a chance encounter with a presidential candidate, especially on America’s birthday. But I had walked off an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Dallas after spending the entire flight tending to my 3-year-old son as he experienced severe motion sickness. Despite several changes of clothing, I was still a picture of nonperfection and I looked tired, disheveled and didn’t smell very fresh. Moreover, I had one sock on and one sock off since my son had thrown up on my shoes as well.

And that’s when I walked past Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

For a freelance reporter, interviews with presidential candidates are difficult, if not impossible, to attain. But here was an epic opportunity and I was a mess — in old yoga pants and a stained T-shirt to boot.

However, instinctively, I turned around and walked back toward Sen. Warren. And then I hesitated. My confidence faltered. I did not look like a professional and I was worried I’d make a fool of myself.

So, I pushed myself and mustered up the courage to walk over and introduce the very dirty me to presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren. I quickly apologized for my lack of grooming and that I most likely smelled like my son’s breakfast. A finer point on it: like vomit.

She smiled and immediately put me at ease, saying something like, “It happens to the best of us.” I burst out laughing. Maybe a little too loud, a little too long. But it had been a long, hard trip regardless of how short it had actually been.

After she introduced me to her team she asked, “Is your son ill or was it motion sickness?”

“I believe motion sickness. It was really hot leaving Phoenix and it was a super bumpy ride,” I said.

A conversation began. Warren told me how she had also dealt with motion sickness and gave me a few ideas on how to overcome and solve the issue. Then she also recounted how one of her own young family members suffered so much from it that her school said she wouldn’t be allowed on future school trips. Sen. Warren then explained that it was against the law to discriminate against a person suffering from motion sickness.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

An Oral History of Trump’s Bigotry

The ugliness of Trump’s racism is blatant and defining. Four decades worth of bigotry that he can’t deny or ignore.

[worstblogever]

When Elizabeth Warren Kindly Ignored That I Smelled Like Vomit

The moral of the story that still holds: Do you have a problem? Elizabeth Warren will get you a plan to solve it. Even if it's just that you smell like vom.

Most famous example:



She wasn't bluffing, either...

[worstblogever]

And I know I've said this before, but here's what I think about libertarianism. The "Free market" can only work the way die-hard libertarians say it will if those selling goods and services are honest about those goods and services. But the history of advertising tells us that that rarely happens. I mean, if we got rid of the FDA, for example, how would we know if the meat we're buying is safe, or that the tomatoes and lettuce we buy won't give us e-coli? Are we supposed to bring a microscope with us to the supermarket? And how many of us would even know what to look for?

So yeah, let's get rid of all safety regulations and let word of mouth, via social media, fight the big boot of corporate advertising. That should work out well.

The last time I actually started to try and humor a libertarian in a debate, they argued that there should be no regulations on dynamite. Safety or otherwise. Their argument was, "My grandfather worked with it, and he never blew his thumbs off."

I wish there was more to that argument, but that was it. Immediately to the cause that they couldn't readily get explosives for recreational use. And that was the last time I even humored a libertarian.

[JCAll]

I don't understand why you're hostile to freedom? I simply believe personal liberty is sacrosanct which is why, for example, I supported same-sex marriage long before it became fashionable to do so. If you aren't hurting others the government has no right to tell you what you can and can't do or even what you should do.

But what about if you are hurting others? Do you think the government has the right, or even the obligation, to step in?
Because that seems like it would lead a lot of places a Libertarian might not like.

[Dalak]

The last time I actually started to try and humor a libertarian in a debate, they argued that there should be no regulations on dynamite. Safety or otherwise. Their argument was, "My grandfather worked with it, and he never blew his thumbs off."

I wish there was more to that argument, but that was it. Immediately to the cause that they couldn't readily get explosives for recreational use. And that was the last time I even humored a libertarian.

My paternal grandfather lost one digit of his finger to a misadventure with a pencil in grade school, and that was something that DIDN'T explode. My Maternal Grandfather was a very grim taciturn man who in my Mom's youth used half-sticks of dynamite he was blowing out tree stumps with to chase off Mormons going to preach to Grandma about the godless man she'd married.

The Moral - Anything can be misused by those not paying attention at the wrong moment, but if the potential for abuse is high then it needs to be regulated.

[Gray Lensman]

The last time I actually started to try and humor a libertarian in a debate, they argued that there should be no regulations on dynamite. Safety or otherwise. Their argument was, "My grandfather worked with it, and he never blew his thumbs off."

I wish there was more to that argument, but that was it. Immediately to the cause that they couldn't readily get explosives for recreational use. And that was the last time I even humored a libertarian.

I think anything taken to extremes can be too much. Regulating explosives is something I think the government SHOULD do, because it fits into one of the things I think regulations are supposed to exist for.

Protect the workers - things like OSHA exist for a reason, and while sometimes I think they are crazy (thick safety tape on the floor which creates a tripping hazard is something OSHA prefers to painted lines)

Protect the consumers - foods shouldn't be dangerous, products should do what they claim, and all sorts of stuff like this.

Protect the general public - yes, explosives should be regulated. This is also where things like the EPA fit in, since dumped chemicals don't stay where you put them. I like the fact that a coal mining company in Utah isn't allowed to just dump stuff into the Virgin River, since I get my drinking water from there. And people who get drinking water from elsewhere shouldn't have to worry about it becoming dangerous because not messing with it is too expensive for that nearby factory. As well as the basic stuff like laws against taking things that don't belong to you or shooting high-powered weapons in populated areas. Bullets travel.

Protect the free market itself - anti-trust laws fit here, since monopolies hurt customers AND stifle innovation.

Facilitate one of the above 4 goals.

And things which shouldn't be laws are stuff like rules saying that a rental property can't rent to multiple people who aren't related to each other. As long as the tenants pay on time and don't cause problems for the neighbors (and if merely being there causes a problem then the neighbors ARE the problem) then the law has no place.

[Tendrin]

I guess the term's not as common as I thought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning

*fistbump* We nailed it.

[Tendrin]

https://sf.curbed.com/2019/8/1/20750...-san-francisco

Judge Charles F. Haines ruled Monday that Kihagi has repeatedly violated previous court orders and injunctions over the past two years. The judge called in a receiver because, in short, nothing else seems to have worked.
The ruling cites a “persistent pattern of bad faith harassment, retaliation, and fraud against multiple tenants; repeated failure to comply with notices of violations, stop work orders, and abatement orders; repeated efforts to deny Plaintiff City the right to inspect the properties; repeatedly covering up work done without the required permit or exceeding the scope; constantly entering tenants’ units with unreasonable notice or no notice at all; history of flagrantly violating court orders; [...] and complete lack of understanding of the unlawfulness of their conduct.”
Haines also added another $470,000 in penalties to the running tab of what Kihagi owes, which, according to Mission Local, now sits somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 million.

OBVIOUSLY TEH FREE MARKET!!!!!111111 will solve these problems.

[Tendrin]

https://www.newsweek.com/nearly-all-...s-guns-1453694

American and Mexican law enforcement officials say nearly all of the gun violence in Mexico is fueled by the illicit import and sale of U.S. firearms.
The underground trade of weapons to Mexico is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually—with American guns used to kill tens of thousands of Mexicans each year.
In addition to weapons from the States working better, Mexico cartels view firearms as status symbols, retired DEA agent Jack Riley told The San Diego Union-Tribune: "It is really important to these criminal organizations, who stay in business by the threat of violence and through the use of violence; and the tools that they prefer to do that with are American-made guns."
Tijuana's Director of Public Safety, Marco Antonio Sotomayor, says most of the guns flowing into his city come from north of the border.


"There's no way for people to buy guns like these in Mexico. They're American-made guns," Sotomayor told the Union-Tribune. "We know they're being illegally trafficked through California into Tijuana."

The NRA and the rest of the gun lobby are counting their dollars in their blood soaked abattoirs.

[jetengine]

Liberterianism doesn't work because it (much like communism) requires humans to be at their 100% best at all times. Thats not going to happen thus it'll end in misery.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

There Are ‘Thousands And Thousands’ Of Other Documents On Jeffrey Epstein Case: Journalist

Troves of evidence and testimony spell trouble for Epstein co-conspirators, warns Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown. But Epstein took the coward's way out rather than face the music.

**********

Florida Man Arrested For Threatening To Shoot Up Walmart After El Paso Massacre

Police said they’ve arrested the 26-year-old man suspected of being a white supremacist on charges of making written threats to kill or do bodily harm. But please, tell me again how Antifa is the REAL threat to Americans.



**********

New UN Report Puts A Dagger Through Climate Deniers’ Favorite Argument

No, carbon dioxide emissions are not “good” for global food production. Well, D-UH! Anybody who's not a conservative/right wing slurper could've figured that out!

**********

Conservative Pundit S.E. Cupp Quits The NRA, Makes Powerful Plea For Gun Control

The former “NRA Mom” now says “we must do something about guns.” All too true, but, unfortunately, nothing will happen. As usual.

**********

Anthony Scaramucci Warns That Trump Will Turn On Nation As Men Go At It On Twitter

Trump “turns on everyone, and soon it will be you and then the entire country,” cautioned the president’s former pal. Scary Tony imparts a goodly amount of truth, and, of course, Trump can't handle it.

[worstblogever]

Anthony Scaramucci Warns That Trump Will Turn On Nation As Men Go At It On Twitter

Trump “turns on everyone, and soon it will be you and then the entire country,” cautioned the president’s former pal. Scary Tony imparts a goodly amount of truth, and, of course, Trump can't handle it.

Who would have thought it possible that a man who cheated on two wives, drove several businesses bankrupt after refusing to pay them upon what was agreed upon, and who vindictively yanked medical insurance off of his own nephew after his brother's family was too vocal about how he screwed them out of old Fred Trump's will... who would have thought such a man would be disloyal and turn on others?

Everyone who paid attention, that's who.