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

[InformationGeek]

Meanwhile, in jaw dropping comments from Fox News, they hit a new low! I know. You think they would've dug through to the otherside of the Earth by now, but nope.

Actual Fox News quote about someone who jumped from the World Trade Center on 9/11: "Her last gesture of human decency was to hold her skirt down before she killed herself."

[Tendrin]

The North Carolina gop is at it again.

https://twitter.com/kevinmkruse/stat...281427972?s=21

[Tami]

The North Carolina gop is at it again.

https://twitter.com/kevinmkruse/stat...281427972?s=21

Another view of what happened in the NC House this morning. Members stood around Rep. Butler to keep her from being arrested.

[Tendrin]

Essentially showing that, once again, the completely indefensible NC GOP can not be trusted with a single lever of power. There is no norm of decorum they will not violate, no agreement they will uphold and no tool they will not use, no matter how destructive to the body's functionality in the pursuit of their agenda.

They're just not as subtle about it as the national GOP.

[wjowski]

Florida Man Smashes 20 Cars, Says 'I Did It Because Donald Trump Owes Me One Trillion Dollars'



Aren't there days when you feel like Trump owes you, owes everyone, one trillion dollars?

All things considered there's like a 50-50 chance Trump legitimately owes the guy money.

[Iron Maiden]

How John Bolton Broke the National Security Council

Mr. Bolton broke government and then it broke him. As the national security adviser, he pushed for a hard line on North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Afghanistan. But without a structure behind him, Mr. Bolton was increasingly alone trying sell positions that were a hard sell to Mr. Trump, who is much less an ideologue and much harder to pin down. Eventually, Mr. Trump split with Mr. Bolton and began consulting with outsiders like the Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. When Mr. Bolton fell out with the president, the ad hoc system collapsed right along with him, as reports over the messy decision-making on the proposed Afghanistan peace deal and talks demonstrate.

This is a new low....Tucker Carlson providing advice concerning national security for the U.S.

[Jack Dracula]

This is a new low....Tucker Carlson providing advice concerning national security for the U.S.

Oh, we can go lower. Wait until Trump appoints Bill Orielly as our new National Security Adviser.
I always assume the worst with this administration so I'm never surprised

[Tendrin]

Well, Tuckler Carlson already called Bolton a 'man of the left'.

The Fox News host went on to contend that Bolton "fundamentally was a man of the left," even though he is a registered Republican who has served in every GOP presidential administration since Ronald Reagan's and campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964 at the age of 15, BBC News reports.

https://theweek.com/speedreads/86417...n-since-Reagan

/Bolton/.

[Tendrin]

Matthew Yglesias on 'mobilizing the base' versus 'appealing to middle voters'

The professional liberal class is tired of courting swing voters. The path back to the White House, they argue, isn’t through racing to the center but racing left to mobilize and expand the Democratic base.
Tory Gavito and Sean McElwee warned in a spring GQ article that “in chasing a narrow swath of white swing voters, [Democratic Party] leadership has ignored a broader coalition of voters who have delivered blue victories time and time again.”
John Long in the New Republic, similarly, describes swing voters as “a persona from a political landscape that simply no longer exists.” Instead of chasing these mythical beasts, he says, Democrats should see that “mobilizing more Democratic voters is the key to the 2020 election.”

.

https://www.vox.com/2019/9/11/208568...-2020-election

Last but by no means least: While activists often paint a portrait of bold ideological positions firing up the party base, the available evidence suggests the opposite happens — bold ideological positions fire up the opposition party base.
The way political scientists Andrew Hall and Daniel Thompson studied this was to look at the outcomes of very close primary elections.
Moderates who won narrow primaries did better in the general election than candidates who narrowly defeated moderates. Hall and Thompson also found that mobilization played a big role in driving the difference “largely because [it decreases a] party’s share of turnout in the general election, skewing the electorate towards their opponent’s party.” That’s because extreme nominees tend to do an unusually good job of motivating their opponents to come to the polls to vote.

While there are some flaws I think it is worth a read.

[Theleviathan]

If Bolton is a "man of the left"....I'd hate to see what kind of war mongering **** would qualify as right-wing.

[Tendrin]

https://twitter.com/drmistercody/sta...91411287154688

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-hyper-r...rizona-1458721

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is looking to build a "state-of-the-art" "urban warfare" training facility that will include "hyper-realistic" simulations of homes, hotels and commercial buildings in Chicago and Arizona.
In an acquisition form for the procurement of "hyper-realistic training devices" for a new training facility for its expanding Special Response Team (SRT) program, ICE outlined the details of plans for its new training center in a document published on the U.S. Federal Business Opportunities website.
While ICE sought to redact the location of the new training facility in the document, it was not successful in doing so.

Can we abolish ICE yet?

With the initiative expected to cost an estimated total of $961,347.75, ICE states that it is specifically interested in creating a "Chicago" style replica and an "Arizona" style replica, in addition to a "fishbowl" set-up, where instructors can view classes from above.

Guys, can we acknowledge ICE for what is? Finally? Or do we still have people willing to defend them and trust that they're just 'following the rule'.

[Malvolio]

Well, Tuckler Carlson already called Bolton a 'man of the left'.



https://theweek.com/speedreads/86417...n-since-Reagan

/Bolton/.

I think Fucker Carlson has finally lost his mind.

[Iron Maiden]

Matthew Yglesias on 'mobilizing the base' versus 'appealing to middle voters'.

https://www.vox.com/2019/9/11/208568...-2020-election



While there are some flaws I think it is worth a read.

This is why I don't think we want to see Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders get the nomination. You can see the battle lines being drawn already with the GOP painting them as socialists.

[Iron Maiden]

I think Fucker Carlson has finally lost his mind.

that's assuming that he has one!

[jetengine]

https://twitter.com/drmistercody/sta...91411287154688

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-hyper-r...rizona-1458721



Can we abolish ICE yet?



Guys, can we acknowledge ICE for what is? Finally? Or do we still have people willing to defend them and trust that they're just 'following the rule'.

Why does an immigration agency need a million dollar military simulator?