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

[numberthirty]

I think the disconnect is in the distinction as to whether they 'promised' you the money or whether they said that they would fight to get you the money.

Politely disagree.

If the crux of it is that "Someone..." sandbagged getting you the money happened in either of those possible instances?

You've got to be a blockhead to focus on which one it was while the reality is that "Someone..." sandbagged getting you the money in either one of the instances that it could be.

[PwrdOn]

The issue does become that, should a country choose to disengage entirely from this scheme, we end up in a situation where 1) a country has fewer resources than the demand is there for them and 2) there are other bad actors looking at building trade alliances and military alliances looking at your stuff with a glimmer in their eyes. Ironically, becoming more entwined in trade, not less, will lead to a world that will be petrified of going to war with one another because such an enterprise is mutually assured destruction. As bad as it is, the use of force has been rationalized for eons now and soldiers are expected to be willing to die at a moments notice. But economies impact everyone's well-being, including the rich folks. That is the best way to not only sway policy diplomatically, but also to encourage peaceful resolutions.

(EDIT: I know people hated the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but let's be clear that there were prescriptions to enforce, legally, new climate change regulations. Additionally, there were changes made to bring regulations on labor and intellectual property rights more in line with what we might consider to be particularly appropriate. So, these things have legal force and they come with a carrot rather than a stick. And, if we want to actually make meaningful international changes on climate policy, we need to be able to use both--which non-binding agreements like the Paris Climate Accord, or other international agreements that Sanders hinted at during his runs, fail to do.)

It is, also, how you mostly get issues with domestic terrorists in the countries you trade with. There is an abundance of ignorance about the problems and it does help to give rise to populist rhetoric which, left unchecked, can lead to nationalist rhetoric that reeks of xenophobia and racism.

Climate policy is actually something that we could probably do more or less unilaterally, because pretty much every other country is still abiding by the Paris accord, we are the only ones who are still having debates on whether global warming is real and whether we want to have more coal or all the coal. Even before Trump, the argument has always been that these climate pacts place too onerous a burden on the US and that if we were to cut our emissions, other countries would take advantage of that opportunity to shirk their obligations and outcompete us, except of course that it was we that decided to take our ball and go home, not anyone else.

And sure, intertwined global trade networks do promote peace in the very limited definition of reducing the chance of active conflict, but they certainly don't do much to resolve the fundamental differences between countries with competing interests or encourage people to get along and understand each other in any meaningful way. In fact, if the last few years have taught us anything, it's that having a vital resources or critical piece of technology controlled by a rival power that could cut it off at a moment's notice is a nightmare scenario that most governments are rightfully terrified of, and this has accelerated a trend toward countries moving toward self-sufficiency, particularly when it comes to tech. And this has huge consequences for domestic policies as well, what happens when the likes of Facebook, Twitter, or Amazon argue that any attempt to regulate or break them up will effectively cede control of the internet to Chinese companies? Do we then just give the tech giants free rein to do whatever the hell they want in the name of digital sovereignty?

[Agent Z]

Bumble removed its political filter after people said they used it to lure conservatives who were at the Capitol riot into sending incriminating evidence

The dating app Bumble has temporarily removed its political-identification filter to prevent "misuse."

The move came after women tweeted about using the filter to find conservatives who took part in the Capitol breach and passing on evidence to law enforcement.

Users started to notice the political filter had been removed on Thursday, and people on Twitter criticized Bumble as appearing to protect the insurrectionists.

Bumble added that it removed the accounts of people who had been "confirmed as participants in the attack of the US Capitol."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bumble-re...111417244.html

[Gray Lensman]

Politely disagree.

If the crux of it is that "Someone..." sandbagged getting you the money happened in either of those possible instances?

You've got to be a blockhead to focus on which one it was while the reality is that "Someone..." sandbagged getting you the money in either one of the instances that it could be.

Remind me again which part of Congress passed a bill for $2000, and which one didn't? Because it seems to be the opposite of how you are laying blame, not that 5his is a surprise coming from you.

The Senate isn't changing hands until the 22nd at the earliest, because the Republicans in Georgia have until then to certify the election, and will certainly take the maximum amount of time they can before sending the Democrats who will flip the chamber. Most likely at the last minute of the day, too. I also expect McConnel to try to declare as long a recess as he possibly can just before they can be seated for extra spite.

[numberthirty]

Remind me again which part of Congress passed a bill for $2000, and which one didn't? Because it seems to be the opposite of how you are laying blame, not that 5his is a surprise coming from you.

The Senate isn't changing hands until the 22nd at the earliest, because the Republicans in Georgia have until then to certify the election, and will certainly take the maximum amount of time they can before sending the Democrats who will flip the chamber. Most likely at the last minute of the day, too. I also expect McConnel to try to declare as long a recess as he possibly can just before they can be seated for extra spite.

Put simply...

Assuming that I get where you are coming from, you want to give a neighbor that was starving his dogs in October credit because he eventually fed them.

The issue is that you weren't even trying to feed them in October. Just took it off of the table.

You don't get some pat on the back for that you actually did the bare minimum later on.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

So AXIOS is doing a series on Trump's long-gestating coup attempt.
https://www.axios.com/trump-election...5536ef537.html

This one here argues that Trump planned to declare victory for a long time and the entire thing was stage managed from the start.

[PaulBullion]

It's always cracked me up that the refusal of Clinton because she was a "Coastal Elite" was answered with voting for... a "rich" man from New York.

In those people's defense, many of them just kept trashing Clinton on social media and message boards, then stayed home or voted for Jill Stein on election day.

[worstblogever]

A conman finally being held accountable for his actions. It's delightful.

A First for an American President, and a First for Donald Trump

In the final moments of his presidency, Mr. Trump is confronting an unfamiliar fate: He is being held to account as never before for things he has said.

....

“He has had a habit of saying outrageous things and then saying he was being sarcastic, he was kidding, that people shouldn’t take him literally — and in fact, if you do, what an idiot you are,” said Gwenda Blair, a biographer of the Trump family. “It’s both deniability for himself, but it’s also deniability for his followers. He gives them something to hold onto so that they can then continue to believe in him.”

There has been the explanation John Oliver provided for some time that Trump "gets away with his bulls***, racism, and lies" because it all comes at you in such a volume that there's a new lie before the first one has been addressed. It's referred to as the "bed of nails" theory of political deceit. Because he is evenly balanced across so many lies, it's difficult for one to successfully pierce him and end his madness.

De-Platforming him has eliminated the saturation and the non-stop lies. He's doing an interview or putting out a video through more normal channels every few days since he got all the bans.

And that's why he's facing more heat, and his numbers are coming down. Well, that and 400K people are dead and he was busy trying to carry out a violent coup through proxies that included Neo-Nazis and white nationalists.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of Bo Watson, the President Pro Tempore of the Tennessee State Senate, and bowtie-clad extremist of the highest order. We noted that among the bills Watson supported were failed or often unconstitutional conservative staples like drug-testing welfare recipients, arresting transgendered citizens for using the "wrong" bathroom, allowing creationists to challenge evolution when its taught in school classrooms, blocking the Medicaid Expansion, bringing the electric chair back as a form of the death penalty, and to see to the creation a public list of "abortion statistics" that included the names and addresses of women who had sought out an abortion, presumably so they could be harassed or attacked by hard-right pro-life terrorists. He also is noteworthy for saying he would rather a local Volkswagen factory move to Mexico than have their employees join a union, which is one of the most jaw-droppingly stupid and petty anti-union statements you will ever hear a member of the GOP say. Watson also was calling for the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to be investigated because the Director of UT's Office of Diversity and Inclusiveness website offered up the idea of using the pronoun "ze" to professors with transgendered students to use, as an alternative to "he" or "she", and during the initial roll call in their first class, to find out which pronoun students preferred, and outrage that the school had a “Sex Week” to educate its students about safe sex and the prevention of STDs. By no means, is that the dumbest argument Bo Watson has ever unleashed, as we told the story of the time the Tennessee state legislature was talking about lifting a ban on mothers breastfeeding children in public over the age of one, and he started rambling on about people aged 14 or 35 with weird fetishes still being breast-fed in bars, because he's so terrified of a mother's nipple.

In September of 2018, Watson flipped out when finding out Nike had released a new ad campaign with Colin Kaepernick, and wanted to rescind the contract the University of Tennessee’s athletic department had with Nike in retaliation, because this ***hole just cannot go a year without finding a new battle in the culture wars.

Bo Watson was up for re-election in 2018, and since the 2014 elections, when he actually founded his own SuperPAC to extend his own electoral fortunes, Watson easily won re-election with 65% of the vote. His extremism continued during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Watson made it a point to sponsor legislation to try and allow adoption agencies to discriminate against gay people and assure they can’t adopt children into loving families, and a bill to try to ban abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected (in other words as early as 6 weeks, when most women don’t realize they’re pregnant). Again, he’ll keep trying to fight the culture wars, even while a pandemic rages.

Watson will not be up for re-election until 2022, and it bears watching if he will be running for another term.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Some In The GOP Parrot Far-Right Talk Of A Coming Civil War

War-like imagery is spreading in Republican circles post-Capitol riot. Democrats believe isn’t an accident.

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Biden Outlines ‘Day One’ Agenda Of Executive Actions

The incoming president will be on a 10-day blitz to quickly roll back some of Trump’s most controversial decisions. Dolt45 certainly won't like that, to which I say....GOOD!

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Online Election Misinformation Plunges After Trump Twitter Ban

“De-platforming” of misinformation “superspreaders” has huge impact. This too is good.

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D.C. Cop Who Fought MAGA Mob: ‘My Pleasure To Crush A White Nationalist Insurrection’

“I’m glad I was in a position to be able to help,” Officer Daniel Hodges said. “We’ll do it as many times as it takes.” RIGHT ON!

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Where Does The American Far Right Go From Here?

HuffPost spoke to David Neiwert, an author and expert on the far right. My answer: PRISON!

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Capitol Insurrectionists Said They Were Following Trump’s Orders

“We wait and take orders from our president,” one rioter said. And then Trump promptly threw all those losers under the nearest Greyhound.

[worstblogever]

There's supposedly a limit on pardon powers that a president can't pardon someone of a crime he himself participates in.

He might not be able to pardon these insurrectionists, even if he wants to.

Doesn't mean he isn't going to try it, though.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

There's supposedly a limit on pardon powers that a president can't pardon someone of a crime he himself participates in.

He might not be able to pardon these insurrectionists, even if he wants to.

Doesn't mean he isn't going to try it, though.

That much is a given, even though he called them terrorists after the failed putsch. Well, he'd better hurry, there's not much time left.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Yeah but what if you get to a situation where the Republicans get the house and senate and you have a Dem President, either in 2022 or 2024, then Republicans can Impeach the Dem and even get a senate majority but fall short of 2/3rds, just to get their optics.

I mean the problem is you have to hope that an unjust impeachment is viewed as so far beyond the pale that it won't happen. But yes, you could effectively dismantle impeachment as a valid tool if one party just does it over and over again because they don't like the opposition

[Amadeus Arkham]

[PaulBullion]

I'm wondering how many members of congress have asked for trauma therapy in the past 11 days.