All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[aja_christopher]

As I've explained, I'm not eager to respond to an ad hominem or a loaded question.

You raised the issue with your comments on "distasteful" poltical choices then spent a dozen pages running from addressing said choices.

It's not a loaded question -- it's a direct question regarding your support for a party everyone here knows actively seeks to disenfranchise black and brown voters.

And you're doing exactly what was expected -- focusing solely on voter ID which addresses virtually non-existent "fraud" instead of addressing all the other ways your party attempts to disenfranchise said voters and the fact that Republicans are often the ones caught committing said fraud.

You know what's "bad faith"?

Pretending not to see the fact that your party hires illegal felons to change the ballots of black voters.

Pretending Republicans don't close polling stations in black neighborhoods to help Republicans win elections.

Ignoring McConnell's misleading comments regarding "voter fraud" and his lack of internal criticism when it's a member of his own party.

Attacking someone in a debate for a dozen pages based on a falsehood instead of just answering a simple question objectively.

Deflecting to "Democrats" instead of addressing the fact that your party has a problem with racism, homophobia and bigotry.

Of course you have nothing else to say about this argument -- it's already been proven that your party does what you claim it doesn't and there's no way for you to refute that.

Edit: So apparently you acknowledge it -- you just also apparently don't feel it's anything worth addressing, changing or preventing.

The specific standard was "Do you believe the Republican Party in general suppresses or attempts to suppress the votes of African-American citizens?"

I don't think it's as widespread or definitive as many of you, but I'm also not claiming it never happens.

It has nothing to do with what we "think" and everything to do with the evidence already provided.

I didn't ask how much you "think" Republicans attempt to suppress the votes of black and brown people.

What was provided was plenty of evidence that your party actively attempts to suppress the votes of black and brown voters, evidence which you never even addressed as you preferred to lecture others about "ad hominems" and "loaded questions" instead.

That said, I'll take Reagan's word over yours since he at least addressed the issue directly.

[Electricmastro]

Better training. Some of the companies hired to train police focus on teaching officers to shoot first and ask questions later.

Yeah, I think I recall some people accuse officers shooting first/doing beat downs first with no care to asking questions and such as being racist-based and thus asked for many white cops to be fired from their jobs, but it seems a main issue is the police being taught in a way that some may say is militarization and possibly go as far as to encourage trainees to be more readily hostile based on spotting certain aspects, such as race, amount of drugs, what gangs they’re apart of, if they have tattoos, how “scary they look” etc. Not sure how true that is though.

[aja_christopher]

"Racists should just come out with it and hold yourselves accountable. I would respect them more (ever so slightly) if racists were just plain up front and honest about it instead of this covert stuff."

"So damn true! The way conservatives try to insult our intelligence and pretend that these policies aren't deliberately designed to effect black voters is almost more infuriating than the disenfranchisement itself."

[sammy_hansen]

People get more upset about being called a racist than actual racism.

[aja_christopher]

People get more upset about being called a racist than actual racism.

We're never going to get anywhere so long as Republicans keep dodging the issue of racism within their ranks.

I've long since stopped expecting better but it's always best to at least make it clear where the problems lie.

At this point I just wonder if they'll serve up something even worse than Trump the next time around -- assuming he doesn't manage to get his wish of serving indefinitely since I could see Republicans letting him do so if it were within their power.

I'd like to think this is an exaggeration but it's always sobering to remember that the Republican party tends to live up to your worst expections.

[Tendrin]

"But people like voter ID! and its a good wedge issue!" isn't really the great argument that someone thinks it is.

[aja_christopher]

"But people like voter ID! and its a good wedge issue!" isn't really the great argument that someone thinks it is.

Nor is "Let's talk about voter ID laws and not about Republicans filling out ballots for African-American voters, selectively purging voter rolls, and closing polling stations in an effort to steal elections because that's not as big a problem as you think it is."

Keeping in mind that we only see the instances where they get caught.

It's obvious that the reason they keep doing it is because they keep getting away with it.

And because they know they would lose most fair elections.

[PaulBullion]

Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law named to Bank of China board 10 days after Trump election

Chao and McConnell’s father-in-law, James Chao, also sit on the board of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation which is the largest defense contractor in China.

“So when [Donald Trump] gets elected in 2016, China is in a panic. So one of the things that happens is, they appoint, really, the first American, or only the second foreigner to the Bank of China,” Schweizer said on the April 23 edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight.

“Now, the Bank of China is government-run, government-controlled, is sort of the backbone of the Chinese government’s economic diplomacy around the world. Ten days after Donald Trump is elected, they put Elaine Chao’s sister – Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law – on the board of directors of the fourth largest bank in the world, which is run by the Chinese communist government. It’s a shocking development, and, again, unprecedented in American history that you would have senior political leaders have immediate family members that are sitting on the board of foreign government-owned businesses.”

Schweizer noted: “So Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, his wife Elaine Chao, who’s the transportation secretary in the Trump administration, her family has deep economic and financial ties to the Chinese government itself. They are in the shipping business, and they own something called the Foremost Group, and really, in 1993, Mitch McConnell, as a senator, travels to China with his father-in-law, James Chao, as guests of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.”

Wow. More at link.

[Tendrin]

OH WBE-Eeeeeeeeeeeee....

https://twitter.com/LCRWnews/status/1254570860049907712

QAnon believer and Washington State Representative candidate Amber Krabach is trying to get a Portland mutual aid group in trouble for distributing flour. It’s quite a saga.

I mean, I know she's probably already in the queue but oh my god come on.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

FEMA Reportedly Took The 5 Million Masks Ordered For Veterans To Send To Stockpile

“I couldn’t tell you when my next delivery was coming in,” Veterans Health Administration manager complained to The Washington Post. Good to know this administration cares for veterans just as much as it does active duty personnel, which is, to say, not at all!

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White House Wants Trump To Pivot From Coronavirus To The Economy

The plan to shift the president’s focus comes after months of Trump using his briefings to clash with health experts and campaign on the pandemic. Newsflash: Until the pandemic is brought under control, there won't BE an economy to focus on.

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Governors Report Influx Of Calls About Disinfectant After Trump Treatment Suggestion

The governors of Michigan and Maryland said the president needs to ensure the information he’s sharing is based on science. Considering Drano Don has little use or love for science, he'll just continue spewing bullshit.

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White House Coronavirus Official: Social Distancing ‘Will Be With Us’ Through Summer

Dr. Deborah Birx said, however, that she has “great hope” looking at projections for some U.S. cities. I'll believe that when it happens and not before.

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America Is Not Set Up For This

Experts have been predicting a global flu pandemic for years. So why was the U.S. so unprepared for coronavirus?

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Defiant Louisiana Pastor Holds In-Person Church Service Despite House Arrest

Tony Spell, who was arrested last week for allegedly threatening to run over a church protester, showed off his ankle monitor Sunday. That motherfucker should be thrown in jail as he turned his church into a petri dish and his parishoners into potential carriers of the virus.

[InformationGeek]

Been awhile since we heard from Tom Cotton. Don't worry. He's still an asshole.

"If Chinese students want to come here and study Shakespeare & the Federalist Papers, that's what they need to learn from America. They don't need to learn quantum computing" -- Sen. Tom Cotton proposes restricting Chinese students from studying science & tech at US universities

[jetengine]

Been awhile since we heard from Tom Cotton. Don't worry. He's still an asshole.

Thats....actually pretty smart.

Hear me out. America doesnt want China on the same level as it. The USA wants to be the preeminent superpower. Anyway to hamper China getting better is a good thing. This dude has effectively used his racism to hide his Realpolitik.

Its still shitty of course but theres some intelligence at play

[Tendrin]

Thats....actually pretty smart.

Hear me out. America doesnt want China on the same level as it. The USA wants to be the preeminent superpower. Anyway to hamper China getting better is a good thing. This dude has effectively used his racism to hide his Realpolitik.

Its still shitty of course but theres some intelligence at play

It's actually not smart for a *lot* of reasons and is terrible realpolitik. If your goal is to maintain American power, a walled garden view of science is the worst way to go about it.

[Electricmastro]

"Racists should just come out with it and hold yourselves accountable. I would respect them more (ever so slightly) if racists were just plain up front and honest about it instead of this covert stuff."

"So damn true! The way conservatives try to insult our intelligence and pretend that these policies aren't deliberately designed to effect black voters is almost more infuriating than the disenfranchisement itself."

People get more upset about being called a racist than actual racism.

"But people like voter ID! and its a good wedge issue!" isn't really the great argument that someone thinks it is.

The thing I’ve learned is that when a person is repeatedly taught racist-based propaganda into adulthood (i.e. black people are vicious gang members, Muslims are terrorists, Indians are trying to steal our jobs, etc.), it can be scary to realize that they genuinely view themselves as correct in viewing others as immoral based on misunderstandings/pseudoscience/etc. Of course, they should hold themselves accountable for anyone they hurt and should be responsible in changing their views for the better, but realizing how stubborn adults can get and how deeply poisonous views like racism can get ingrained in one’s mind, it becomes rare to see an adult genuinely change their views. At that point, unless certain drastic measures are used, then I think the best that can be done is use the fools as examples to teach the next generation of children on how not to live their lives and that they should strive to bring communities together as equals towards a greater good.

[aja_christopher]

The thing I’ve learned is that when a person is repeatedly taught racist-based propaganda into adulthood (i.e. black people are vicious gang members, Muslims are terrorists, Indians are trying to steal our jobs, etc.), it can be scary to realize that they genuinely view themselves as correct in viewing others as immoral based on misunderstandings/pseudoscience/etc. Of course, they should hold themselves accountable for anyone they hurt and should be responsible in changing their views for the better, but realizing how stubborn adults can get and how deeply poisonous views like racism can get ingrained in one’s mind, it becomes rare to see an adult genuinely change their views. At that point, unless drastic measures are used, then I think the best that can be done is use the fools as examples to teach the next generation of children on how not to live their lives and that they should strive to bring communities together as equals towards a greater good.

It tends to get better with each passing generation -- the election of Obama wouldn't have been feasible prior to the Civil Rights movement and would have been virtually impossible any time before that -- so there is progress in that respect.

We just hit quite a few setbacks once Republicans (like Trump) take office -- and that doesn't just apply to African-Americans but to all Americans.

That's why they are trying to consolidate (judicial) power to combat the coming demographic shift -- voter suppression is only the tip of the iceberg in that respect. They know they have to cheat -- or change the laws -- because they can't win in a fair and just democracy.

Imagine a world where the Republican party supported the rights of all voters and exhibited fiscal responsibility and personal integrity instead of showing their blatant hypocrisy every time they get into office and ditching any alleged concern for those values the moment they seize power.

They had the opportunity after Bush to change direction and straighten up their act -- instead they chose Trump and still protect him to this day.

I'll add that therein lies the division between what Republicans say -- on message boards for instance -- and what their party actually does.