All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[aja_christopher]

But honestly I think you guys might have already dug that grave a little too deep.

Sanders supporters dug their own grave with their constant attacks on other candidates -- don't blame others, including Warren and Sanders himself, for holding them accountable for their behavior.

The irony here is that said supporters seem to think they can flex by arguing that Trump will win if they don't vote when in reality progressives have the most to lose if that happens.

Progressives aren't doing others a favor by voting for Biden -- they are protecting their own interests by ensuring Trump and McConnell don't stack the (Supreme) courts with judges who would roll back progressive causes for decades, if not generations to come.

Don't expect people to come begging you to protect your own interests -- that's not how it works.

If four years of Trump didn't teach them anything, then neither will arguing with them on a message board forum.

[Steel Inquisitor]

See the difference between you and me is that I’m more analytical in how I view politics. That’s why it’s inconceivable for you to see me move more to Sanders as the election went on.

You're not as analytical as you think. You never left sanders, there's nothing wrong with that but pretending how you didn't have a tantrum when all the paths for Sanders closed up won't make that true. Gaslighting fails in these circumstances.

You've been defending your second choice more than defending Warren in this thread, given that I'm another Warren supporter and we've never seen eye to eye. There was no "second choice" other than Sanders.

You left after all roads to Sanders dried up and you were revealed to be a Sanders supporter the whole time. I've been pushing the narrative for unity, which you refused to take and refuse to do this now. I've yet to see you agree with Warren over Sanders conflicts with her, or how it was bad for him to get along well with Biden over Clinton.

This falls flat given your history in this thread. If I didn't know you I'd be buying this but I been around a few months to get the gist of the regulars. Many of which have dropped off since Sanders lost. I will, however, grant you credit for being a more consistent poster in this thread and trying to be civil.

Not buying it. You've been more emotional than I have when debating things so while you can be analytical, like now, its great but its when you're not that I have bigger problems with.

Except you didn't choose Warren, this was a ruse. Which many people saw through.

You're going the goal posts. This is not about what happened on the large scale in the primaries, it's about who you sided with and it wasn't Warren. It's ok to not choose Warren, I just don't like being gaslit about it.

Moving the goal posts. Sanders is a vote they'll be getting easier than someone like Manchin, and Sanders is easier to replace than Manchin is when elections come around. The Justice Democrats aren't that uncontrollable, by now most of them know how the game works and AOC has become an ally of Pelosi. When they know the stakes they eventually get in line since they have less leverage than the politicians in purple or red states, and they've got less experience and connections than the older politicians. Which is why they didn't gamble against Pelosi when it came to voting for Speaker.

We spotlight those subjects since they're important to us, given that we're progressives. My candidate was Elisabeth Warren. We complain about Sanders and his associates since it'd be irresponsible to normalise bad behaviour and we have no obligation to protect him since he's not our candidate.

Which is why we want everyone backing Biden right now. It is a crisis, and we won't be getting out of it without a Democratic president. We can focus on more than one thing at a time, and the two situations are intrinsically linked since it's about national politics. Why wouldn't we be upset when Sanders does something stupid or his supporters abuse people online?

We spotlight those subjects since they're important to us, given that we're progressives. My candidate was Elisabeth Warren.

Given the circumstances with Trump and the world endangered with Corona virus "probably" isn't good enough. Biden's been reaching out to Sanders supporters, modifying his platforms and forming a task force with Sanders which is why ignoring that isn't conversing in good faith. Again with putting all the burden on Biden while ignoring Sanders and his supporters role in this when they do have agency and responsibility with forming alliances. The loser doesn't get to choose the terms of surrender, and it's not like Biden hasn't made large overtures to get leftists on board. Sanders supporters are on the same planet as we are and will live under Trump's second term, there is no third option here. We're not moderates, we're Warren supporters. I don't think we even have moderate Democrats here. Sanders base has bigger problems than us if their last straw was people acknowledging when their fanatical supporters show sexist behaviour. We're progressives, we're supposed to be an improvement on the right not join in on their worst traits. Do you think Warren's interview when she called out the Bernie supporters was a "Deplorables" moment?

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

You're not as analytical as you think. You never left sanders, there's nothing wrong with that but pretending how you didn't have a tantrum when all the paths for Sanders closed up won't make that true. Gaslighting fails in these circumstances.

You've been defending your second choice more than defending Warren in this thread, given that I'm another Warren supporter and we've never seen eye to eye. There was no "second choice" other than Sanders.

You left after all roads to Sanders dried up and you were revealed to be a Sanders supporter the whole time. I've been pushing the narrative for unity, which you refused to take and refuse to do this now. I've yet to see you agree with Warren over Sanders conflicts with her, or how it was bad for him to get along well with Biden over Clinton.

This falls flat given your history in this thread. If I didn't know you I'd be buying this but I been around a few months to get the gist of the regulars. Many of which have dropped off since Sanders lost. I will, however, grant you credit for being a more consistent poster in this thread and trying to be civil.

Not buying it. You've been more emotional than I have when debating things so while you can be analytical, like now, its great but its when you're not that I have bigger problems with.

Except you didn't choose Warren, this was a ruse. Which many people saw through.

You're going the goal posts. This is not about what happened on the large scale in the primaries, it's about who you sided with and it wasn't Warren. It's ok to not choose Warren, I just don't like being gaslit about it.

Moving the goal posts. Sanders is a vote they'll be getting easier than someone like Manchin, and Sanders is easier to replace than Manchin is when elections come around. The Justice Democrats aren't that uncontrollable, by now most of them know how the game works and AOC has become an ally of Pelosi. When they know the stakes they eventually get in line since they have less leverage than the politicians in purple or red states, and they've got less experience and connections than the older politicians. Which is why they didn't gamble against Pelosi when it came to voting for Speaker.

We spotlight those subjects since they're important to us, given that we're progressives. My candidate was Elisabeth Warren. We complain about Sanders and his associates since it'd be irresponsible to normalise bad behaviour and we have no obligation to protect him since he's not our candidate.

Which is why we want everyone backing Biden right now. It is a crisis, and we won't be getting out of it without a Democratic president. We can focus on more than one thing at a time, and the two situations are intrinsically linked since it's about national politics. Why wouldn't we be upset when Sanders does something stupid or his supporters abuse people online?

We spotlight those subjects since they're important to us, given that we're progressives. My candidate was Elisabeth Warren.

Given the circumstances with Trump and the world endangered with Corona virus "probably" isn't good enough. Biden's been reaching out to Sanders supporters, modifying his platforms and forming a task force with Sanders which is why ignoring that isn't conversing in good faith. Again with putting all the burden on Biden while ignoring Sanders and his supporters role in this when they do have agency and responsibility with forming alliances. The loser doesn't get to choose the terms of surrender, and it's not like Biden hasn't made large overtures to get leftists on board. Sanders supporters are on the same planet as we are and will live under Trump's second term, there is no third option here. We're not moderates, we're Warren supporters. I don't think we even have moderate Democrats here. Sanders base has bigger problems than us if their last straw was people acknowledging when their fanatical supporters show sexist behaviour. We're progressives, we're supposed to be an improvement on the right not join in on their worst traits. Do you think Warren's interview when she called out the Bernie supporters was a "Deplorables" moment?

See your logic doesn’t hold up.

Why would I defend Sanders more than Warren? Because she doesn’t get attacked as much with bad faith arguments. There’s like 5 posters on here that do nothing but pop in from time with some low tier reach attack on Sanders that is objectively a terrible take and worth defending and usually has data that’s easily accessible to back it up.

That’s not a hard concept, and it’s kind of a disengenous talking point. “OMG there’s more people defending the person who is getting attacked then the one who isn’t” Duh

I said up until the polls changed that Biden was the likely nominee. I supported Warren up until the point where she had no path. To this day I still spent more effort on her campaign than Sanders. I’m also not alone amongst Warren supporters who saw the forest for the trees and pivoted signs we weren’t throwing a vote away. She generally had the more pragmatic voters and it probably hurt her when she fell.

I can tell from other posts that you aren’t a total troll or unintelligent. So it’s a red flag when I see you do things like twist yourself into pretzels over how he’s going to be irrelevant in Senate that will absolutely need his support and then say things that are totally at odds with how you discussed things in the past. Like how in the primary you went off on tirades about Sanders not reaching out and building coalitions but now that someone else has the nom you are talking like warlord about “the terms of surrender” and deflecting about Biden’s need to build a general election coalition.

Hint: there’s a reason Biden and his closest people aren’t talking half as crazy as that and guys like Perez are saying they will make the outreach to them.

I think you got emotionally invested in this, you’re the one who can’t move on, you want to keep having this fight and you want to think other people were as emotionally invested in this so you can feel idk some sense like you won something more meaningful. If you noticed about a week after ST I began to stop talking about him for quite awhile because it’s not really important in so far as next moves to my goals.

It would have been awesome for Sanders to go further, but advanced my interests further than they have been. The floodgates are open on those policies. People like AOC are just the next part of that path.

I honestly don’t know why we are discussing this beyond some people are obsessed with this subject, and it’s clear it wasn’t the people who were accused of it. All the people that claimed they were sick of talking about it keep bringing it up

[kidfresh512]

Virginia’s New Laws on L.G.B.T. Protections, Guns and Marijuana Reflect a Shift in Power

The leftward transformation of Virginia since President Trump was elected crescendoed over the weekend, with the governor signing into law protections for L.G.B.T. residents, gun background checks, no jail time for simple marijuana possession and early voting.

The flurry of new measures enacted by Gov. Ralph S. Northam, a Democrat, came five months after members of his party took control of the Legislature back from Republicans for the first time in more than 20 years. Mr. Northam had been facing a deadline of midnight Saturday for signing bills into law.

In Virginia, Democrats have developed a political advantage in the heavily populated northern suburbs of Washington, where Hispanic and Asian voters make up a growing part of the electorate, as well as in places with a significant African-American population like Norfolk.

Democrats have used that upper hand to remake a state that was once the seat of the Confederacy and known as a conservative bastion, one that the political scientist V.O. Key Jr. described as “political museum piece.” He wrote that, by comparison to Virginia, Mississippi was “a hotbed of democracy.”

For everyone that's been sleeping on the progress Virginia has made since dropkicking the GOP out after decades. THIS is why its hilarious when people say both parties are the same. This should be the example to look to when we say voting GOP out across the country at every level should be priority number one. You get them out of their entrenched hoarded power. THEN you start arguing over how far and how fast we need to move left.

But, progress will never be made if we just sit around licking our wounds saying insane crap like there's no difference. Tell that to the people of Virginia who have seen clear evidence of the difference of the parties now in substantive, legislation.

[MiddleMan]

Virginia’s New Laws on L.G.B.T. Protections, Guns and Marijuana Reflect a Shift in Power



For everyone that's been sleeping on the progress Virginia has made since dropkicking the GOP out after decades. THIS is why its hilarious when people say both parties are the same. This should be the example to look to when we say voting GOP out across the country at every level should be priority number one. You get them out of their entrenched hoarded power. THEN you start arguing over how far and how fast we need to move left.

But, progress will never be made if we just sit around licking our wounds saying insane crap like there's no difference. Tell that to the people of Virginia who have seen clear evidence of the difference of the parties now in substantive, legislation.

indeed

from electing one of the first transgender state legislators (who won over a 4+ term Republican) to pretty substantial turnout at the voting booth

[Tami]

Bloomberg News Killed Investigation, Fired Reporter, Then Sought To Silence His Wife

Michael Bloomberg's short******d presidential bid reignited a long-simmering dispute over the widespread use of nondisclosure agreements at American corporations — especially at his own.

His namesake company, Bloomberg LP, has used nondisclosure agreements broadly to conceal allegations and silence complaints from employees of sexual harassment or a hostile work environment, as published reports have documented.

The story of one Bloomberg reporter and his wife showcases the widespread use of such legal restraints at the company — and how far their reach can extend.

Six years ago, Bloomberg News killed an investigation into the wealth of Communist Party elites in China, fearful of repercussions by the Chinese government. The company successfully silenced the reporters involved. And it sought to keep the spouse of one of the reporters quiet, too.

"They assumed that because I was the wife of their employee, I was the wife," the author and journalist Leta Hong Fincher tells NPR. "I was just an appendage of their employee. I was not a human being."

Fincher is married to the journalist Mike Forsythe, a former Beijing correspondent for Bloomberg News who now works at The New York Times. In 2012, Forsythe was part of a Bloomberg team behind an award-winning investigation into the accumulation of wealth by China's ruling classes.

The Chinese ambassador warned Bloomberg executives against publishing the investigation. But Bloomberg News published the story anyway. Afterward, Forsythe received what he and Fincher considered death threats relayed through other journalists. He and Fincher moved their family to Hong Kong, believing it to be safer.

Even so, the reporting team pursued the next chapter, focusing on Chinese leaders' ties to the country's richest man, Wang Jianlin. Among those in the reporters' sights: the family of new Chinese President Xi Jinping. The story gained steam throughout 2013.

In emails sent back to Bloomberg's journalists in China seen by Fincher, senior news editors in New York City expressed excitement.

And then: radio silence from headquarters. That story never ran.

[InformationGeek]

Other good news coming out of Wisconsin, two more judges appointed by Scott Walker lost their reelection bids. These were for lower courts, but still good to see!

In addition to turning out Daniel Kelly, Wisconsin voters also sent Judges Paul Dedinsky and Dan Gabler packing. Both had been appointed by Scott Walker prior to Walker’s defeat in the 2018 midterm elections. Dedinsky was seeking to be retained in the Court’s fifth branch and Gabler its twenty-seventh branch.

Dedinsky lost by an almost twenty point margin. His challenger Brett Blomme garnered 58.29% of the vote, leaving no doubt as to the outcome.

Meanwhile, in the other fiercely contested Milwaukee County Circuit Court race, the right wing lost by an even bigger margin.

Challenger Rebecca Kiefer secured more than seventy percent of the vote, easily dispatching Gabler, who was unable to crack thirty percent.

Interesting to note, Dan Gabler has some corruption issues in the past, so his loss is really good.

[Iron Maiden]

Virginia’s New Laws on L.G.B.T. Protections, Guns and Marijuana Reflect a Shift in Power



For everyone that's been sleeping on the progress Virginia has made since dropkicking the GOP out after decades. THIS is why its hilarious when people say both parties are the same. This should be the example to look to when we say voting GOP out across the country at every level should be priority number one. You get them out of their entrenched hoarded power. THEN you start arguing over how far and how fast we need to move left.

But, progress will never be made if we just sit around licking our wounds saying insane crap like there's no difference. Tell that to the people of Virginia who have seen clear evidence of the difference of the parties now in substantive, legislation.

News like this gives me hope. I can't stand to watch any of this "Trump's Nightly News" crap. Last night was the worst and I only saw the "lowlights" on another show. One has to always go back to how this behavior by Trump has frighteningly become the new normal. This should never, ever be the normal for the office President of the United States. That the GOP party is largely silent will haunt them one day.

[Kirby101]

Showing how far gone his supporters are. We are seeing an epic meltdown of a President before our eyes. And yet he has not budged from that 40+% approval.

[TheManInBlack]

Now Reade claims that Biden assaulted her in a basement—her original report on a podcast cited a tucked away, semi-private nook in a Senate hallway.

Isn't that the third version in a few weeks? Even if everything she says is true, that is not a good look.

What happened to believing women? I mean, at this point the story's no more inconsistent than Christine Blasey Ford's.

[worstblogever]

What happened to believing women? I mean, at this point the story's no more inconsistent than Christine Blasey Ford's.

It's a LOT more inconsistent than her story. As in, hers wasn't. If you'd like to present us with a timeline of three times where Ford changed her story to prove your point be our guest.

[Malvolio]

• January 15th, 2013: Robert Aderholt votes against Disaster Relief Funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
• February 28th, 2013: Aderholt votes against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
• June 19th, 2013: Robert Aderholt votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
• September 30th, 2013: Rep. Aderholt votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown.
  When the vote came up seventeen days later to re-open the government, Aderholt voted to keep it closed.
• Feb 26th, 2014: Robert Aderholt goes "all in" on the faux-scandal surrounding the IRS researching SuperPACs by voting for the "Stop the Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act".
• July 10th, 2014: Aderholt votes for House Amendment 1040, to prevent the implementation of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 Treaty, that in spite of just being recommended climate change guidelines, have many conspiracy theorists within the extreme right convinced it’s a plot for global domination.
• January 22nd, 2015: Robert Aderholt votes for HR 7, an anti-abortion bill that makes even some Republicans pause before voting for it because of its language that tries to define the conditions for what “rape” is, in it.
• February 3rd, 2015: Rep. Aderholt votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.
• March 3rd, 2015: Aderholt votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
• September 11th, 2015: Aderholt votes against the United States' nuclear treaty with Iran.
• September 18th, 2015: Rep. Aderholt co-sponsors and votes for a bill with most House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.
• November 19th, 2015: Aderholt votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks.
• February 2nd, 2016: Robert Aderholt votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).
• February 16th, 2017: Aderholt votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
• March 16th, 2017: Robert Aderholt votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge's written order. We feel safer already.
• May 4th, 2017: Aderholt votes for the GOP's healthcare plan, that would allow 24,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions, and would treat pregnancy, post-partum depression, and sexual assault as "pre-existing conditions". Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Aderholt would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
• June 8th, 2017: Robert Aderholt votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
• October 3rd, 2017: Aderholt votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
• December 19th, 2017: Robert Aderholt votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
• February 18th, 2018: Rep. Aderholt and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Aderholt voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• January 27th, 2019: Robert Aderholt votes against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attack Aderholt our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 28th, 2019: Aderholt votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Aderholt votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Robert Aderholt is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 17th, 2019: Aderholt votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Aderholt votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Robert Aderholt votes against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
• December 18th, 2019: Rep. Aderholt ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump.

Robert Aderholt has advanced out of the GOP Primary, and is currently seeking his thirteenth term in office. His challenger is Rich Neighbors, a Democrat who has already lost twice in attempts to get elected to office in Alabama’s 4th, and considering Aderholt usually pulls down between 75-80% of the vote in that highly conservative district, it seems like he’s going to remain in office until he decides to retire.

Excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall for the next 23 hours.

I don't hold out much hope for left-leaning voters in Alabama voting for Rich Neighbors, especially if the voting booth is the first place they see that name.

[jetengine]

What happened to believing women? I mean, at this point the story's no more inconsistent than Christine Blasey Ford's.

I mean the most simple comparison of how different they are is the details in the origin.

Kavanaugh has a history of drinking and partying, at an off hours party he got wasted and assaulted Ford. Completely probable (this shit happens all the time with college students) and Kavanaugh is still a drinker.

Meanwhile Reade cant even determine WHERE the assault took place, Bidens history shows him devoted to his wife and never straying and Reade claims she wasnt wearing standard office wear for EVERY women in washington.

[worstblogever]

I mean the most simple comparison of how different they are is the details in the origin.

Kavanaugh has a history of drinking and partying, at an off hours party he got wasted and assaulted Ford. Completely probable (this shit happens all the time with college students) and Kavanaugh is still a drinker.

Meanwhile Reade cant even determine WHERE the assault took place, Bidens history shows him devoted to his wife and never straying and Reade claims she wasnt wearing standard office wear for EVERY women in washington.

Also, we're to believe the one time that Biden did something completely predatory was right AFTER the Senate had just made and example of Sen. Bob Packwood for improper conduct.

[PaulBullion]

Any Berniite or "Both Samer" who sees that interview and still goes "I'm not voting" may as well just leave America at that point.

... if they aren't tweeting or facebooking from Vladivostok already, anyway. I'd like to point out that many an anti-Democrats trend on social media starts when America is sleeping.