All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Gray Lensman]

I don't think anyone has said a single word about Tulsi Gabbard in months except mocking laughter about her still being in this.
...
Wait, did Tulsi finally drop out?

I thought the prevailing view about her dropping out was "it's about damn time" once we stopped laughing about how she hadn't left weeks ago.

[Tendrin]

I thought the prevailing view about her dropping out was "it's about damn time" once we stopped laughing about how she hadn't left weeks ago.

I think Trevor Noah said it best with 'It's assad day for Tulsi Gabbard"

I was surprised to see her endorse Biden and still think she's a terrible apologist for murderous oppressive regimes, just as long as those oppressive tendencies are directed at Muslims.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Joe Biden says he is “desperately” looking to be in regular contact with the American public, perhaps with regular press conferences in Wilmington, Del., or using technology. "They tell me there’s ways we can do teleconferencing via us all being in different locations,” he says.

You can't get contra virus through a computer.

It's telling how you're continuing this infighting rather than helping us defeat Trump. The election's over.

[TheDarman]

I thought the prevailing view about her dropping out was "it's about damn time" once we stopped laughing about how she hadn't left weeks ago.

Yeah, I don’t know of anyone who took her or her endorsement seriously. I recall people making fun of her whole two delegates and how she had kept going for far too long.

[Tendrin]

Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic front-runner, slammed President Donald Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic Friday, accusing him of being “behind the curve through his whole response.”
Biden, speaking on a conference call with reporters, offered a series of blunt missives for Trump, and criticized him for repeatedly providing the American people with misinformation about the virus.
“Step up and do your job, Mr. President,” Biden said.
“In times of crisis, the American people deserve a president who tells them the truth,” Biden said. “Unfortunately, President Trump has not been that president.”
“People are scared. They’re worried. They don’t know quite what to do," he added. “He has been behind the curve throughout this whole response."

Listing off what he felt were the administration’s shortcomings on its broad response to the pandemic, Biden took aim at Trump for the way he authorized the Defense Production Act — a 1950 law that allows the president to force American businesses to produce materials in the national defense, such as ventilators and medical supplies for health care workers.
Trump said Wednesday he was invoking the Defense Production Act, but later in the day tweeted that, even though he’d signed the law, he’d only use it in a "worst case scenario." On Friday morning, he formally acknowledged that he’d put the law “into gear.”
Biden said that Trump’s actions regarding the law were not “straightforward and reliable.”
The former vice president also criticized Trump for having directed governors to acquire critical medical supplies on their own, before relying on the federal government.

Biden is one hundred percent correct.

[Darkspellmaster]

Biden is one hundred percent correct.

I give him this, Biden at least us trying to keep with the rules laid out, but also using it as a means to actively push the right buttons to get people to look at how Trump is responding and pointing out that any normal president would have invoked this months ago.

Also, just heard something on the news that Trump may have been warned by a lot of people at CIA meetings about this but chose to ask and focus on other non important things.

[Robotman]

Pence answers the same question from the same reporter in a thankfully sane manner

https://mobile.twitter.com/briantyle...432047104?s=19

It was such an easy question and a chance for Trump to act like a leader and reassure the American people. But he’s a petulant narcissistic sociopath. Compared to him, Pence actually sounded presidential. Gawd help us.

[jetengine]

Right now alot of news is local. Are you banned in your county, where are testing sites etc. I honestly think Trump himself should shut the hell up now and let the doctors and scientists talk in these briefings. You can't believe shit he says anyway.

I think hearing Biden be inspiring, comforting, urging everyone to follow local directives rather than pull a Gamestop and keep open anyway would be effective and helpful though. At this point we don't need regular old "campaigning" Being shown as a capable adult who would make a better leader in these times is what he should do.

Weirdly thats what Bojo is doing. He's helming daily announcements on TV and whilst he opens them, he only really answers questions on government policy or government initiatives letting the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Medical officer or the Chief scientific officer do the talking when it comes to money/health/science.

[jetengine]

I'm pretty sure that's not how this works. The "Muh Guy Lost" thing is tiresome from you guys.
As I said in the quote you quoted, people have shitted on Progressives for years, then expect some of us to turn around and vote because Trump bad.

You really don't see the hypocrisy of using Fear tactics in your "Democratic Process" which is looking more and more, unlike a Democratic process?

Both sides are using shitty means to get their preferred guy to "win" and suppressing the vote. but Democrats are actually trying to suppress turnout this fall by smacking their left flank in the face because "Muh Guy Lozt!"

You can't seriously expect everyone to vote for the "Winner dude" after getting stomped on for years by the establishment?

Normally I'd agree with you. But Trump isnt Normal. To ignore that is to admit your not a progressive interested in helping anyone but selfish, utterly focused on your guy.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Pence answers the same question from the same reporter in a thankfully sane manner

https://mobile.twitter.com/briantyle...432047104?s=19

It was such an easy question and a chance for Trump to act like a leader and reassure the American people. But he’s a petulant narcissistic sociopath. Compared to him, Pence actually sounded presidential. Gawd help us.

Ahhh, but that thankfully sane manner doesn't play at all well with the deplorable base that keeps Trump propped up and demands he own the libs every chance he gets.

====================

Trump Shrugged Off Repeated Intelligence Warnings About Coronavirus Pandemic: Report

“The system was blinking red,” an intelligence official told The Washington Post, but no one could get Trump to “do anything about it.” From this point on, any deaths that happen as a result of COVID-19 can be put directly in Trump's lap. Short and sweet, the blood is on HIS hands!

**********

This Is Life For Emergency Professionals On The Frontline Of The Coronavirus Outbreak

Emergency doctors, nurses and EMTs are working to contain the virus with shrinking resources as federal guidelines on COVID-19 change every day.

**********

Washington Post Editorial Board Issues Sharp Rebuke Of Donald Trump’s Coronavirus Response

“If this is a wartime scale of a problem, where is the wartime response?” asked the newspaper’s board.

**********

I’m A Doctor. The U.S. Response To Coronavirus Has Been Nothing Short Of Criminal.

“With every crucial delay, with every blunder and misstep, the toll is going to be measured in lives lost.”

**********

What Are Essential Services And Jobs During The Coronavirus Crisis?

Here's a list of the jobs and businesses that typically remain open during shutdowns.

[worstblogever]

In 2015, in 2016, and in 2017, “Crazy Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of former Washington State Senator Pam Roach, who we noted for a quarter century was a terror in the Washington State Legislature, with reports of her mistreating or threatening staffers (including once reportedly brandishing a firearm to do so), and giving the middle finger to a colleague over the terrible offense of moving her beloved bouquet of roses that she insists on having delivered every day (not caring that her colleague moved them because they’re allergic). She was forced into anger management classes by her own caucus, and when they allowed her back from them too soon, they were sued for allowing her to return and create a hostile work environment. Roach, of course, believes she is being unfairly treated in all of these incidents, and played the victim card, saying that she has fewer rights than “somebody who burgles the house, who rapes a child that causes a fire and causes a building to go down”. The Washington GOP set up a primary challenger for her in 2014, who lost to her because he was a convicted sex offender. Her temper tantrums make the fact that she’s pro-death penalty, anti-LGBTQ rights, pro-transphobic bathroom bans, and anti-abortion including in cases of rape or incest seem almost forgettable, in comparison to the drama she brings. Pam Roach barely won re-election in the 2014 elections after the state GOP attempt to give her a primary challenger, so she took a hint and decided to not run for her seat in the Washington State Senate in 2016.


On this date in 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Mark Cole, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing District 88 since 2001, and man voted most likely to be a chin donor in his high school yearbook. And, suffice to say, there’s not much interesting to say about the first half of his career. Since 2010 though…

In February of 2010, Mark Cole made a name for himself for sponsoring legislation to outlaw medical insurance companies or employers from implanting microchips in people. Which… wasn’t actually a thing that anyone was doing, but Mark Cole wanted to fear-monger and convince he would put a stop to. Specifically, he started to rant about how he was on a mission to prevent the Anti-Christ.

"My understanding -- I'm not a theologian -- but there's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times. Some people think these computer chips might be that mark."

Now, that’s pretty nutty, even for a lot of the fear Republicans wanted to propagate around the time the Affordable Care Act passed. Well, that’s not the only piece of legislation that Mark Cole sponsored that’s cringeworthy. In January of 2016, he sponsored a piece of transphobic bathroom legislation aimed at school children that actually asked that the genitals of the children be inspected to determine their “anatomical sex” and then assign which restroom they should be allowed to use in school. Because THAT isn’t inherently creepy. Let’s hire people to inspect the kiddos’ bits and pieces.

While Cole did survive the bloodbath the Virginia GOP endured in the 2017 election, he has gone on to sponsor anti-immigrant legislation to prohibit the creation of sanctuary cities. The rest of his voting record, of course, shows him as being wildly anti-choice, pro-gun, and pro-death penalty. Not at all hypocritical, any of that.

Regrettably, Mark Cole won re-election in the 2019 elections with 55% of the vote. That may be because, and we are not making this up… this douchebag showed up at the polling station in his district handing out fliers that were on blue paper to mislead voters to think he was the Democratic candidate on the ticket.

What. An. ***hole.

[Tami]

Corona1.jpg

Here is a double feature I'd go to .

Now back to our regularly scheduled news

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Andrew Yang: ex-presidential hopeful giving $1m in response to coronavirus

[InformationGeek]

Yeah, I don’t know of anyone who took her or her endorsement seriously. I recall people making fun of her whole two delegates and how she had kept going for far too long.

I was one of those people.

Personally, I don't think I ever went so far as calling her a Russian Assest or what not, but I did notice her overreaction and explosion when someone associated with Clinton implied that Russia may favor one of the Democrats and she took it as a personal attack.

[jetengine]

I was one of those people.

Personally, I don't think I ever went so far as calling her a Russian Assest or what not, but I did notice her overreaction and explosion when someone associated with Clinton implied that Russia may favor one of the Democrats and she took it as a personal attack.

It doesnt help that shes Pro Assad just like Putin.

[Tendrin]

I was one of those people.

Personally, I don't think I ever went so far as calling her a Russian Assest or what not, but I did notice her overreaction and explosion when someone associated with Clinton implied that Russia may favor one of the Democrats and she took it as a personal attack.

I mean, I said she was a useful idiot for Russia. An asset doesn't have to be actively treasonous to be useful.