All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Mister Mets]

I also heard Schumer say he hadn’t been informed, so yeah, Congress was left in the dark on the strikes. Will Trump catch hell for that? I’m afraid he won’t, not while Moscow Mitch and the Republican controlled Senate continues protecting him, Constitution be damned.

Is this something congress could have reasonably been informed about? There's a limited window to strike, and the element of surprise is important.

[The Overlord]

The GOP has a problem with racism. The main thing we might be arguing about is one of degree. I'm not denying that racism had an impact on changing voting patterns. But I don't see any indication that it had most of the impact and that this is the end of the story. It would be absurd to suggest that race was anywhere close to as important a factor for the changing Republican fortunes in the South as slavery was to the civil war.

To go with some specific points you mention, "Moral values" would cover a lot of categories beyond racism. Moral values is also more of an umbrella term than a justification.

Trende's article noted that Eisenhower won Southern votes well before LBJ's Civil Rights legislation or Barry Goldwater's support for states rights, and that conservatives were making gains in the preceding generations.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ar...nt_107084.html

Jay Cost covered similar territory, noting that while there are things that Republicans did at the time that would be considered sketchy today, that was common practice by both parties at the time. A lot of the southern strategy discussions compare the worst things Republicans did to the best things the Democrats did, or to a Democratic party somewhat similar to today's, which is just isn't close to the case.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/w...rn-republicans

There were other factors for Republican success in the South including northern Republicans moving into the South, after air conditioning made it more comfortable to live there. That changed the mix of local political conversations.

Regarding Willie Horton, it was a bad policy for Dukakis to allow weekend furloughs to someone serving a life sentence for murder. The failures of the state's furlough program (which contributed to dozens of escapes) were mentioned in debates by Al Gore.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ar...sy_138879.html

As for Reagan's comments, that's a different discussion from political strategy. A politician made a disgusting joke in the early 70s.

I'm not going to be able to respond to every claim in every link, partly due to lack of time. I get the counterpoint that this evasion could be used to defend really bad causes (IE- a defender of Nazis claiming that he doesn't have time to respond to 25 factually accurate atrocities) although in the case of something like that, they probably won't be able to defend three atrocities.

The problem is racism is baked into the cake for the GOP and it infects everything. You can't put sewage on a gourmet meal and say the meal is fine just because it has sewage on it.

It always seems like the GOP's spending cuts hurt some people more than others and Lee Atwater said that was the point and it still seems like the point. The GOP's voter ID laws always seemed to aimed at people who will not vote for the GOP, rather than anything impartial. What about the GOP closing polling stations in black neighborhoods, what is the non racist, non power lust reason for that?

https://www.governing.com/topics/pol...ck-voters.html

For a lot of people, racism is part of the ''moral values'' of the religious right. Look at the origins of the movement.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...origins-107133

You cannot deemphasize the racism problem the GOP has, it's too baked into the bones of the modern GOP to playdown and its kinda demeaning to the people this racism hurts to play it down.

[jetengine]

Is this something congress could have reasonably been informed about? There's a limited window to strike, and the element of surprise is important.

When it can literally start a war ? Yeah. You need to talk. Dudes not a random terrorist, he's a high ranking offical in a nation. If Iraq drone struck Pence people would be rightly pissed

[Darkspellmaster]

This is just insane. Not even a week into the new year he does this. Any word yet from the UN or the EU on this? It very much stinks of the whole WoMDs during the Bush years. So what's the next move for the Democrats? And are the troops just standing by?

[jetengine]

This is just insane. Not even a week into the new year he does this. Any word yet from the UN or the EU on this? It very much stinks of the whole WoMDs during the Bush years. So what's the next move for the Democrats? And are the troops just standing by?

Various EU nations are condemning it iirc.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Regarding the Soleimani bombing, has the US military said anything about it yet? All I've seen are what the trump administration is saying, which they are known to be highly unreliable.

[Tami]

Is this something congress could have reasonably been informed about? There's a limited window to strike, and the element of surprise is important.

If Tump had enough time to tell Lindsey and his Mar-a-Lago crowd, he had enough time to put in a call to Congress or send Pompeo, Pence, or someone else to brief the Gang of 8.

[Tami]

I know celebrity opinions aren't always worth much, but this one had me shaking my head.

Meat Loaf says Greta Thunberg has been brainwashed into thinking climate change is real

Rock musician Meat Loaf thinks Greta Thunberg has been brainwashed into thinking climate change is real.

The singer, 72, said he “feels” for the 17-year-old, whom he thinks has “been forced” into her beliefs.

“I feel for that Greta,” he told Mail Online. “She has been brainwashed into thinking that there is climate change and there isn’t.”

He continued: “She hasn’t done anything wrong, but she’s been forced into thinking that what she is saying is true.”

Meat Loaf’s comments come after global leaders and activists warned the bushfires currently ravaging Australia are an environmental emergency that must be tackled urgently.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Regarding the Soleimani bombing, has the US military said anything about it yet? All I've seen are what the trump administration is saying, which they are known to be highly unreliable.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the White House imposed a gag order on the Joint Chiefs.

By the way, I don’t know if this had already been brought up, but all the talk was about how the White House relied on intelligence about Soleimani plotting attacks on Americans as the reason for the hit, intel from the same agencies Trump belittled, insulted and relentlessly trashed from almost day one. The irony is inescapable.

[Jack Dracula]

Is this something congress could have reasonably been informed about? There's a limited window to strike, and the element of surprise is important.

Let's not pretend this has anything to do with timing. Events in Iraq have been leading up to this for over a week.
If Congress had known the length Trump was willing to go to save face they never would have approved and would've tried to stop the attack. He didn't tell anyone for that reason.

I know celebrity opinions aren't always worth much, but this one had me shaking my head.

Meat Loaf says Greta Thunberg has been brainwashed into thinking climate change is real

The day I start caring what Meatloaf thinks about anything is the day I hope to be run over by a bus.

[AnakinFlair]

I know celebrity opinions aren't always worth much, but this one had me shaking my head.

Meat Loaf says Greta Thunberg has been brainwashed into thinking climate change is real

Speaking of washed-up has-beens with idiotic opinions, Terry Gilliam opened his mouth again.....

[Tami]

Where do the 2020 Democratic candidates stand on the key issues?

Almost two dozen Democratic candidates are vying for the party's nomination to be the one to take on Donald Trump in the 2020 race for the White House, setting the stage for the most crowded and fiercely competitive Democratic primaries in decades.

Insurgent progressives, established moderates and everyone in between will be presenting their visions for America's post-Trump future. Here's where they stand on some of the most pressing issues of the era

[InformationGeek]

Hey WBE! Get a load of this charmer!

1. NEW: White nationalist Augustus Sol Invictus, a lawyer who has described himself at different times as an emperor, a prophet and a god, was arrested Monday in Florida on suspicion of kidnapping, domestic violence and weapons violations.

5. Invictus, who legally changed his name from Austin Gillespie, announced in August he is running for president. His campaign propaganda is full of fascist imagery. His platform, unsurprisingly, is deeply misogynistic and racist.

[Malvolio]

I know celebrity opinions aren't always worth much, but this one had me shaking my head.

Meat Loaf says Greta Thunberg has been brainwashed into thinking climate change is real

So did Meat Loaf come up with those comments himself or did Jim Steinman write them for him?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So did Meat Loaf come up with those comments himself or did Jim Steinman write them for him?

Heh! I see what you did there!