All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[skyvolt2000]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/co...ch/ar-BB17ue7H

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WFAA-TV Dallas-Ft. Worth logoControversy erupts after 'Back the Blue Cruise' makes uninvited stop at Friendship-West Baptist Church

A controversy developed Sunday afternoon at Friendship-West Baptist Church as a "Back the Blue" group made a rest stop at the church's parking lot.

Five auto clubs and ten bike clubs were participating in the cruise Sunday, which appeared to make a stop at the church as the group took a 127-mile route across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. More than 1,000 vehicles participated in the drive, police said.

A Facebook Live from the church's page appears to show participants of the drive filling up the parking lot. In the video, a person can be heard saying the church did not approve of such a use of its parking lot.

"Friendship-West Family & Friends some of you may have been made aware of a Blue Lives Matter rally happening on our church grounds," the church also posted to its Facebook page. "Please note that this is not the church and our pastor is working to handle the matter immediately! Please be in prayer!"

Haynes said that some of the people in the Back the Blue rally were displaying Confederate flags and Trump flags.

"That ain't welcome on the campus of Friendship-West. We have a big 'Black Lives Matter' sign and our ministry and mission reflects that. You are not going to come to Oak Cliff and intimidate us," he said in a recorded video posted to the church's Twitter account.

They are MESSING with the WRONG church.

[Mister Mets]

A New York Times piece by Ben Smith about how the media could make mistakes on Election Day highlights how people will look to the media in weird situations, like Biden refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of an electoral college loss that corresponded with a popular vote win.

But conveniently, a group of former top government officials called the Transition Integrity Project actually gamed four possible scenarios, including one that doesn’t look that different from 2016: a big popular win for Joe Biden, and a narrow electoral defeat, presumably reached after weeks of counting the votes in Pennsylvania. For their war game, they cast John Podesta, who was Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, in the role of Mr. Biden. They expected him, when the votes came in, to concede, just as Mrs. Clinton had.

But Mr. Podesta, playing Mr. Biden, shocked the organizers by saying he felt his party wouldn’t let him concede. Alleging voter suppression, he persuaded the governors of Wisconsin and Michigan to send pro-Biden electors to the Electoral College.

In that scenario, California, Oregon, and Washington then threatened to secede from the United States if Mr. Trump took office as planned. The House named Mr. Biden president; the Senate and White House stuck with Mr. Trump. At that point in the scenario, the nation stopped looking to the media for cues, and waited to see what the military would do.

The Boston Globe went in to it in more detail.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/...-wasnt-pretty/

The scenario that produced the most contentious dynamics, however, was the one in which Trump won the Electoral College — and thus, the election — but Biden won the popular vote by 5 percentage points. Biden’s team retracted his Election Night concession, fueled by Democrats angry at losing yet another election despite capturing the popular vote, as happened in 2000 and 2016. In the mock election, Trump sought to divide Democrats — at one point giving an interview to The Intercept, a left-leaning news outlet, saying Senator Bernie Sanders would have won if Democrats had nominated him. Meanwhile, Biden’s team sought to encourage large Western states to secede unless pro-Democracy reforms were made.

That scenario seemed highly far-fetched, but it envisioned a situation in which both sides may have incentives to contest the election.

“There is a narrative among activists in both parties that the loss must be illegitimate,” he said.

These are hypotheticals, but these are also scenarios that the campaigns are preparing for.

There's a lot of talk about what would happen if Trump loses and doesn't concede, but are there scenarios in which it would be okay for Biden to contest an election he lost?

[Tami]

A New York Times piece by Ben Smith about how the media could make mistakes on Election Day highlights how people will look to the media in weird situations, like Biden refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of an electoral college loss that corresponded with a popular vote win.



The Boston Globe went in to it in more detail.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/...-wasnt-pretty/



These are hypotheticals, but these are also scenarios that the campaigns are preparing for.

There's a lot of talk about what would happen if Trump loses and doesn't concede, but are there scenarios in which it would be okay for Biden to contest an election he lost?

No reason not to consider all scenarios, no matter how unlikely or bizarre. It's the only way to prepare.

[Kirby101]

Considering how much the GOP cheats, Biden better think about scenarios where Trump steals the election.

[PwrdOn]

Their health care isn't a good trade off for their repressive government.

Well there's only one torture camp on Cuban soil that I know of, and it wasn't run by the communists.

[Robotman]

Even as a moderate Never-Trumper politically, and thus theoretically exactly the type of person a Biden candidacy is supposed to appeal to over the progressive one, I’d say another part of it how Biden himself doesn’t inspire enthusiasm as much as some of his more successful predecessors for the Democratic candidacy have. As pathetic as it may seem, sometimes the most effective weapon against a cult of personality is another magnetic personality.

Obama had that, even as reserved and chill as he was. Sanders has something of that, and if there were a true moderate counterpart to him in the Dems, that person would most likely be the nominee. One of FDR’s greatest tools was his old school, very “Rooseveltian” charisma, which was why his New Deal program was somewhat more inevitable of a product of his administration than whatever reforms Biden might shoot for.

Biden has been running/winning on the fact that he’s not Trump. He doesn’t have the charisma of Obama (or even 1990s Bill Clinton), but thus far he hasn’t had to. His campaign has been playing things quite well by limiting Biden’s interviews and public appearances while Trump continues to say one horrible thing after another and the COVID death toll keeps climbing. Biden has been making simplistic Presidential sounding statements in response. It hasn’t been creating huge excitement but it’s been a good strategy thus far.

It would be great if he chooses a VP who brings some energy and excitement to the ticket, but as he’s currently in a good position he really shouldn’t pick anyone who could give Trump ammo. Elizabeth Warren would bring some excitement from the left leaning side of the Democratic voters but you can imagine Trump’s team running “socialists Pocahontas” attack ads nonstop. Bass is out after her past statements surfaced. Really can’t have someone praise Castro when you’re trying to win Florida. I like Stacey Abrams but she is very low key. Even describing herself as an “introvert”.

Harris is probably the safest bet but she seems to be criticized by people in Biden’s camp for being too ambitious. I think a lot of his team just hasn’t gotten over the debate.

Considering how much the GOP cheats, Biden better think about scenarios where Trump steals the election.

Trump is going to use every underhanded trick in the book and probably invent some new ones. They really need to prepare for as many crazy scenarios as possible.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Considering how much the GOP cheats, Biden better think about scenarios where Trump steals the election.

Exactly. Trump is in cornered animal mode, desperate to stave off a court date that could end with a prison term, he’ll do anything to win, no matter how dirty or underhanded because his freedom is literally riding on the result. Meanwhile, the GOP has equally as large a stake in this race, if they lose the Senate and the presidency, they could be out of power as a political party for at least the next four years, perhaps longer.

[Tami]

'Higher culture' Japan acted like it had the virus under wraps, but now it’s everywhere

After initial success, Japan is facing a reality check on the coronavirus.

The government garnered global attention after containing the first wave of COVID-19 with what it referred to as the “Japan Model” — limited testing and no lockdown, nor any legal means to force businesses to close. The finance and deputy prime minister even suggested a higher “cultural standard” helped contain the disease.

But now it is facing a formidable resurgence, with coronavirus cases hitting records nationwide day after day. Infections first concentrated in the capital have spread to other urban areas, while regions without cases for months have become new hotspots. And the patient demographic — originally younger people less likely to become seriously ill — is expanding to the elderly, a matter of concern for the country with the world’s oldest population.

Experts say Japan’s focus on the economy may have been its undoing. As other countries in Asia, which experienced the virus earlier than those in the West, wrestle with new flare-ups of COVID-19, Japan now risks becoming a warning for what happens when a country moves too fast to normalize — and doesn’t adjust its strategy when the outbreak changes.

While Japan declared a state of emergency to contain the first wave of the virus, it didn’t compel people to stay home or businesses to shut. That was ended in late May and officials quickly pivoted to a full reopening in an attempt to get the recessionary economy back on track. By June, restaurants and bars were fully open while events like baseball and sumo were back on — a stark contrast to other places in the region like Singapore which were re-opening only in cautious phases.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

'Higher culture' Japan acted like it had the virus under wraps, but now it’s everywhere

Having spent time in Japan while serving in the Navy in the late 1970’s, I came to admire the country, it’s people and it’s culture, I still do to this day, but their strategy for combatting the virus seems, at first glance to have been even more boneheaded and shortsighted than ours. And yeah, since Japan has the world's oldest population, the virus could run rampant there, and, sadly, most likely will.

[Gray Lensman]

Biden has been running/winning on the fact that he’s not Trump. He doesn’t have the charisma of Obama (or even 1990s Bill Clinton), but thus far he hasn’t had to. His campaign has been playing things quite well by limiting Biden’s interviews and public appearances while Trump continues to say one horrible thing after another and the COVID death toll keeps climbing. Biden has been making simplistic Presidential sounding statements in response. It hasn’t been creating huge excitement but it’s been a good strategy thus far.

It would be great if he chooses a VP who brings some energy and excitement to the ticket, but as he’s currently in a good position he really shouldn’t pick anyone who could give Trump ammo. Elizabeth Warren would bring some excitement from the left leaning side of the Democratic voters but you can imagine Trump’s team running “socialists Pocahontas” attack ads nonstop. Bass is out after her past statements surfaced. Really can’t have someone praise Castro when you’re trying to win Florida. I like Stacey Abrams but she is very low key. Even describing herself as an “introvert”.

Harris is probably the safest bet but she seems to be criticized by people in Biden’s camp for being too ambitious. I think a lot of his team just hasn’t gotten over the debate.



Trump is going to use every underhanded trick in the book and probably invent some new ones. They really need to prepare for as many crazy scenarios as possible.

It looks like either Harris or Duckworth are the best bets for Biden. Each brings their own strong points and weaknesses - the issue is going to be what set wins out. Personally I like Duckworth with Harris as AG to root out Trumpism from the government - that's a monumental task in and of itself.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Well there's only one torture camp on Cuban soil that I know of, and it wasn't run by the communists.

'That I know of' being the key words there

[Kirby101]

So now Castro is a icon of human rights? Sorry, that is ridiculous.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...of-two-worlds/

The US backed Baptista government was horrible, and there are good things in healthcare and education the Castro government did.
But he was still a ruthless dictator.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Well there's only one torture camp on Cuban soil that I know of, and it wasn't run by the communists.

Gitmo was opened by Bush and trump has vowed to keep it open. Obama kept trying to close Gitmo. It just highlights how one party is more inhumane than the other.

[AnakinFlair]

137a5da63d156bb208aa6edcb879d35e.jpg
10char.....

[Mecegirl]

Enthusiasm is nice. Didn't help Bernie win the primary tho. So I'm not sure why everyone talks about not having it like enthusiasm automatically wins votes.