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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Fox News Host Calls for President Biden to Pardon Trump and It Might Not Be the Worst Idea

According to Fox News host Geraldo Rivera, Joe Biden should offer Donald Trump a pardon in exchange for a guarantee that he will end his bid to regain the presidency in 2024.

“Biden pardoning Trump—the way Ford pardoned Nixon—IS a good idea,” Rivera tweeted. “This clemency to include inciting the violence of January 6th, the Mar-a-Lago documents case & any other federal allegation.”

“Clemency would require a pledge by Trump that he will no longer seek the presidency,” he added.

Trump isn’t going to jail. The best possible thing for this country is Trump not running for office. Let him bask in his “wins” if he sees it that way. The rallies will be over. MAGA will be over. All the money being spent will be over. And we will never have to worry about another “President Trump” again. Because if Trump wins, this country as we know it is over.

Well, I happen to think it's a horrible idea, just like Ford pardoning Nixon set the precedent for a terrible miscarriage of justice when it was evident Tricky Dick committed all manner of crimes associated with Watergate. Beyond the fact that NO ONE should EVER be above the law, not even a former president, the major worry for me is that Trump will simply go back on his word once he has a pardon in hand and run anyway. The power that came from being President was intoxicating to Trump, the ultimate high for a raging egomaniac like him, he desperately craves that drug a second time, and he'll do anything to get it.

My own twist on the pardon idea would be that in return for a Stay Out Of Jail card for Trump, he'd have to leave the country within thirty days (no postponements) and NEVER return, or the pardon is immediately revoked and all the charges against him reinstated. Beyond a middle of the night heart attack, kicking Trump out of the U.S. is, in my mind, the only way to end the threat of MAGA once and for all.

[worstblogever]

Jesus Christ. Hey, uh... WBE?

Bad enough, but it gets WAY worse from there.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ohio-tran...183608674.html

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Chris Simcox, a primary challenger to Sen. John McCain in the 2010 elections who ran to McCain’s right, particularly on the issue of immigration. Simcox did so because he just so happened to be a co-founder of an anti-immigrant militia group known as the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps (the other half being mass murderer, Neo-Nazi, and aspiring Arizona state legislator J.T. Ready). Simcox, prior to running for office, was interviewed in a documentary called “USA Under Attack” where he openly talked of revolution, and lynching politicians in Washington, D.C. He also accused John McCain, of all people, of having ties to ACORN, and was a frequent guest of Alex Jones on InfoWars and J.D. Hayworth on Newsmax to rant about McCain’s supposed soft stance on immigration. His campaign came to an abrupt end, however, after Simcox went on the lam from law enforcement, after he was accused of molesting three little girls, one of them his ten-year-old daughter. He was arrested in 2013, and was found guilty, being sentenced to prison for quite a long stretch.


It was in both 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Tennessee State Senator John Stevens, who shortly after South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from their state capitol, was dismayed to hear a small minority of Democrats in the Tennessee state legislature then begin debating whether or not the state should change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park, named after the Confederate general who went on to be the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. Stevens went ballistic, and said it would lead to a slippery slope that would lead to people acting like ISIS, saying, “I’m certainly not going to defend Gen. Forrest. I just think it’s a slippery slope when you start changing names and taking down statues. What separates us from ISIS? Because that’s what they do, they go around and tear down history in those nations that they’ve conquered. If that’s what America is about now, then it concerns me.”

Alright, let’s unpack that a little, just for giggles. Comparing any dissenting opinion to the worst of humanity, be it ISIS, Nazis, or terrorists of whatever kind… is just terrible discourse in that whole Godwinn’s law vein. But that’s not even quite correct, in any aspect. ISIS destroys historical landmarks of religious significance, as part of their radically perverted views of Islam. So for anyone to be attacking Nathan Bedford Forrest, he would have to be held as some sort of figure of revered spiritual significance. Unless Stevens was saying he felt Bedford was that sort of icon…

Anyway, John Stevens has been involved in some of the most ridiculous legislation to come out of Tennessee the past several years, including voting to bring back the electric chair as a method of execution, voting for TRAP laws to try and shut down every abortion clinic in the state, voting for a highly unconstitutional measure to make the Bible the state book, trying to block Syrian refugees from being resettled in the state, and voting to allow for firearms to be carried in parks around the state.

Wouldn’t you know it, Stevens was re-elected to a second term in 2016 on the benefit of getting to run for re-election unopposed. He continued wasting time and money on quests that are… well, of a bigoted nature. In March of 2017, he became one of a few Tennessee State legislators to file a lawsuit against the federal government, trying to use the Tenth Amendment and claim “State’s Rights” like Republicans do… because they’re upset that the state will have to resettle Syrian refugees.

In August of 2017, he tried to re-write language in state marriage law to better gain footing to attack the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, and not recognize same sex marriages. Just in January of 2020 he tried supporting “religious freedom” legislation that would allow adoption agencies to deny adoptive rights to same sex couples based on their ”religious beliefs”.

John Stevens was regrettably re-elected in the 2020 elections, and has used his new lease on legislative life to vote for a bill to prohibit the use of Covid-19 vaccination passports, and vote for all of the Tennessee GOP’s homophobic and transphobic bills, wanting to ban drag performances in his state, ban transgender athletes from playing against their biological sex, sponsor legislation to try to re-define the definition of “sex” as relates to gender, co-sponsor legislation to ban transgender athletes from college sports, and should there be events where it’s irrelevant, banning transgender student athletes from locker rooms. When he hasn’t been busy with that, he’s been voting to ban “Critical Race Theory” because of course he’s scared of the Republican Party’s new boogeyman.

He’s up for re-election again in 2024, and we hope he implodes prior to that.

[Mister Mets]

This is the argument I replied to:





This kind of blatant misdirection is why many say you aren't "debating" in good faith.

Democrats tried "nice" and Republicans got a Supreme Court pick -- you ignore that and instead argue about "being nice" rather than addressing the primary issue.

Namely that you still have yet to provide evidence that you aren't supporting white nationalist homophobic candidates.

Your concern about "dehumanization" apparently doesn't apply to how your chosen candidates treat the LGBT community.

And how "nice" they are has nothing to do with it so just stop with the hypocrisy and own up to what you are voting for.

This will be my last post on the issue as I'm done encouraging what I consider to be trolling at this point -- you can't say you weren't given fair chance to reply.

Here's the post. You were responding exclusively to the section about dehumanization. You didn't quote the section on empathy.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...08#post6484408

Perhaps this was a mistake on your end, but it's not misdirection on mine.

[Panfoot]

Like we told you.

https://floridaban.com/

Just gonna quote repost my previous post

"So as a trans person in Florida let me tell you about how "moderate" DeSantis is, and by extension the Republicans...

-Access to hormones is now precarious, the recent laws banned the way most(roughly 80%) of us got our prescriptions, sending everyone scrambling to try and get set up with a doctor that can treat them. This is compounded further by the other recent laws that allow doctors to discriminate and refuse to treat us, not just not for HRT, just as a patient AT ALL. Oh and to continue getting care you know need to sign a form from DeSantis handpicked health board which contains a bunch of medical misinformation. They also have the power to pull a Missouri and decide "no care for anyone" ANY DAY.

-We've got the infamous "bathroom bill" now too, so now not only is it dangerous for us to use public restrooms as before, now if your in the wrong place you risk jail time. For using a bathroom

-Thanks to the "Don't Say Gay" bill and the book banning, you can't acknowledge *our existence*, along with any other LGBT members, in schools. LGBT teachers can't even have pictures of their spouses.

-I've seen firsthand the recent "boycott" at my local target. Last week they had the Pride display out at the front, but this week? Not only is it not hidden deeper in the store like some articles have been saying, it's gone, completely. No rainbow merchandise at all, because of terrorist threats.

-The whole "groomer" and "pedophile" thing has been a success in dehumanizing us, rampant transphobia (and to a lesser extent homophobia) is just accepted just about everywhere.

I could go on and on and that's only for myself, as an adult, that's not even begging to get into how much worse it its for anyone under 18, where the recent bills WILL cause even more suicides. All because the Republicans have no policy, nothing to make the country better, all they have is hate to retain their power, and were the easiest target. We have essentially zero political representation and support from the Democrats is tepid at best, the % of the US population of adults that identify as trans is 0.5, and yet...there has been 555 anti trans bills in the US this year alone, so far.

So yeah, I'm gonna keep calling out that Nazi shit every single time, because i'm so god damned tired of having to justify my existence."

As to where I stand at the moment? Not a fucking clue, I get my prescriptions from an MD and she is going to try and help me, but obviously the law is set up to be vague and confusing on her side too.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

CATFIGHT!!

Casey DeSantis Appears to Be Taking a Shot at Melania Trump With Her Plans to Be a Better ‘First Lady’

Casey DeStepford is aiming too high. First Lady of Florida is about as high as she's EVER going to go. Razor Cheeks has nothing to worry about.

[Tami]

None of them are, of course. But a good many make statements that would see several regulars here swooning.

Really I thought that I was making a statement that every one could agree with…that a persons surface verbal behaviour doesn’t always reflect their deeper spirit.

Actions do speak louder than words, however, don't completely discount the words since words can predict the actions or even incite them.

[aja_christopher]

Here's the post. You were responding exclusively to the section about dehumanization. You didn't quote the section on empathy.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...08#post6484408

Perhaps this was a mistake on your end, but it's not misdirection on mine.

I was not responding "exclusively" to anything -- my first post makes it clear exactly what I was responding to and exactly what I was saying.

People do not have to "be nice" to those who seek to oppress them -- you are the one who isn't addressing what was stated.

Again -- if you wanted to address the issues instead of repeatedly trying to argue over semantics and decorum you would have already done so.

Instead you project and distract but never address the white nationalism and homophobia in your party.

Perhaps that's a mistake on your end but to do so repeatedly for months shows intentional oversight.

It's understandable -- most people wouldn't want to admit openly to supporting the things you are trying to avoid discussing.

[Dalak]

That is political correctness. Woke is understanding that all people, no matter their race, sex or orientation should be treated fairly and equally. That the abuses of the past should be addressed and not forgotten and pushed aside.

I belive Woke came out of a phrase Black people used in the 60s, "wake up white people!". That became "are you woke?" In other words, do you see how your fellow man is treated?

I'm confused at what exactly you are criticizing? Is it "woke" leftists literally criticizing other people for not being "woke"?

I mean, if you're criticizing people calling other people's words/actions "racist", then just be clear on that, and leave "woke" out of it ... because I don't think anybody on the left is much using "woke" as a some kind of standard someone may fail at or lack. Empathy sure ... conservatives are often rightly called out for lacking that. But the "woke" thing is a Jedi mind-trick the right has pulled: "Woke" is another perfect target for an endless made up conflict, like "War on Drugs" or "War on Terror" ... when it's really just the packaging for whatever fascist scheme they've gotten up to lately.

What was it, from Spaceballs?



Not saying I necessarily agree with all the sentiments about how well the "high road" has been working for Democrats ... but it does feel that way, sometimes.

I agree wholeheartedly, but see below. It is very pedantic for anyone to get stuck on an unimportant issue that they know doesn't matter to the overall conversation/point.

If you have no other reason to assume they are a bigot, you warn them about how the phrase is seen nowadays and you recommend they stop using it, it's not that hard. Their reaction to a mild criticism will help to reveal whether they are/aren't a bigot in reality.

People who leap to assuming you are a racist instantly aren't people I associate with if I can avoid it.

I don't think there was ever any avalanche of accusations of people not being politically correct, either.

More just people complaining about "political correctness", when what they meant is that they couldn't be as openly bigoted with absolute guarantee of no repercussion, as they would like. I mean, we know it's not like racism, sexism, any of our various deeply ingrained societal ills -- we know they're not gone, they just can't be expressed the same way.

My heart doesn't really break, that you might get some reactions you don't like, if you say things that are offensive. Maybe try not to do that, would be my suggestion. It's generally worked pretty well for me.*


(Edit: To be clear, my criticism of the term "political correctness" is not at all aimed at you, Kirby101! Just want to clarify, since I'm responding to your post!)

Exactly this.

I don't know why this is so difficult. The problem is that a lot of white people have defined themselves by their bigotry so the inability to express said bigotry is taken as a personal attack.

As an individual, I don't use offensive language or slurs of any kind because it's not stuff I keep in my vocabulary or thoughts.

Life just seems much easier when respecting people and not offending anyone.

None of them are, of course. But a good many make statements that would see several regulars here swooning.

Really I thought that I was making a statement that every one could agree with…that a persons surface verbal behaviour doesn’t always reflect their deeper spirit.

I don't see anyone but the poster who wouldn't answer such a loaded question even implying your relatives are Nazis (Replying to a post which was obviously a jab at moderates who 'disagree' with some policies but still support facists posted long after your posts), and I'm surprised you didn't reply to any of the other replies quoted above. At worst some don't care if someone gets a bad reaction if they say something that's offensive, and most go after conflating "political correctness" with "woke".

Instead you just replied to the one that let you make this aggrieved post. Why?

[Gray Lensman]

In some good news, and some actual bipartisanship - Nevada's Republican Governor signs law protecting out of state abortion seekers from prosecution

[Adam Allen]

None of them are, of course. But a good many make statements that would see several regulars here swooning.

Really I thought that I was making a statement that every one could agree with…that a persons surface verbal behaviour doesn’t always reflect their deeper spirit.

Yeah, yeah: Joel seems like a cold-hearted bastard, but that's the trauma of his loss, he is in fact exactly the loving and supportive father figure Ellie needs. Dude, I don't think anybody is arguing that a person saying -- well, practically anything -- means they're just unforgivably evil. Nobody is saying is saying your relatives or anyone else who says "politically incorrect" things is a bad person that needs to be judged and shamed by society forever.

I just do not honestly feel like I've seen either "political correctness" or "wokeness" somehow ruining the lives of innocent, unassuming folks who just made some innocent little mistake. I mean, that's the narrative I personally disagree with, so if that wasn't what you were saying, I was not disagreeing with you at all.

I said at the start, I just wasn't clear exactly what you were criticizing. Hard to agree with something you're not sure you understand.

[4saken1]

In some good news, and some actual bipartisanship - Nevada's Republican Governor signs law protecting out of state abortion seekers from prosecution

Kudos to him! That took guts.

[JackDaw]

I don't see anyone but the poster who wouldn't answer such a loaded question even implying your relatives are Nazis (Replying to a post which was obviously a jab at moderates who 'disagree' with some policies but still support facists posted long after your posts), and I'm surprised you didn't reply to any of the other replies quoted above. At worst some don't care if someone gets a bad reaction if they say something that's offensive, and most go after conflating "political correctness" with "woke".

Instead you just replied to the one that let you make this aggrieved post. Why?

Because I’ve been busy last couple of days and haven’t carefully read any of the longer posts, no other particular reason.

[JackDaw]

Yeah, yeah: Joel seems like a cold-hearted bastard, but that's the trauma of his loss, he is in fact exactly the loving and supportive father figure Ellie needs. Dude, I don't think anybody is arguing that a person saying -- well, practically anything -- means they're just unforgivably evil. Nobody is saying is saying your relatives or anyone else who says "politically incorrect" things is a bad person that needs to be judged and shamed by society forever.

I just do not honestly feel like I've seen either "political correctness" or "wokeness" somehow ruining the lives of innocent, unassuming folks who just made some innocent little mistake. I mean, that's the narrative I personally disagree with, so if that wasn't what you were saying, I was not disagreeing with you at all.

I said at the start, I just wasn't clear exactly what you were criticizing. Hard to agree with something you're not sure you understand.

Who is this Joel who is a cold hearted bastard??

I actually started from the premise that a generous and kind hearted person might make some non woke and or non politically correct remarks, but still be obviously a good person.

Do you really not know somebody of that type??

[scourge]

Who is this Joel who is a cold hearted bastard??

I actually started from the premise that a generous and kind hearted person might make some non woke and or non politically correct remarks, but still be obviously a good person.

Do you really not know somebody of that type??

Here's a way to settle this finally...

When this hypothetical person makes their 'mistake'...you point it out to them and ask them to do better in the future. If they apologize and make effort to change...its all good. If they start crying about 'wokeness', 'political correctness', 'you can't make jokes anymore', etc...then we're all perfectly justified in calling them out for being an asshat.