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

[worstblogever]

In a perfect world, that incident should kill any shot this bastard has at running for governor, sadly, I suspect Qpublicans in my state will STILL support Gerow.

**********

Between Gerow and the South Dakota AG who ran a guy over... plus the "Black Lives Splatter" crowd...

Jesus, is there literally a GQP fetish for vehicular homicide developing?

[Tendrin]

Between Gerow and the South Dakota AG who ran a guy over... plus the "Black Lives Splatter" crowd...

Jesus, is there literally a GQP fetish for vehicular homicide developing?

Well they do keep trying to pass laws to make it easier for people to run down protestors and claim self defense.

[numberthirty]

While I get that there is a point where you are going to have to try to take the training wheels off, this still feels like a bad idea...

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/coro...cisms/2566177/

Chicago Doctor Fears Lollapalooza-Related COVID Spike, but Lightfoot Dismisses Criticisms

[Mister Mets]

But concerns about 'voter suppression' are totally overblown, right folks?


https://www.democracydocket.com/2021...nutes-or-less/

That's a specific city (Atlanta) during an unusual time (a primary during a pandemic.) In the article you mention, this is a greater than typical discrepancy.

And there are some complicating factors.

https://www.propublica.org/article/w...-have-dwindled

There will be differences in population density in areas that 90% white and areas that 90% black which affects how many people there are in a particular precinct, as well as the availability of locations to use for the day. This is especially true in a pandemic when social distancing is encouraged and places will be shut down more easily for health violations.

There are also differences in attitudes when it comes to things like mail-in voting.

The growth in registered voters has outstripped the number of available polling places in both predominantly white and Black neighborhoods. But the lines to vote have been longer in Black areas, because Black voters are more likely than whites to cast their ballots in person on Election Day and are more reluctant to vote by mail, according to U.S. census data and recent studies.

Democrats opposed efforts by Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to expand polling places.

Raffensperger’s office blames Democrats and county elections officials for opposing his efforts to improve access. “As Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger pushed legislation that would force counties to expand polling locations and directly address these issues,” Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said in an email.

“Unfortunately, every single Democratic Senator and Representative voted against this proposal saying that it would cause ‘confusion.’ Georgia voters deserve to know who is actually holding back progress and it isn’t the Secretary of State’s Office.”

Democrats and voting rights groups said they opposed the Raffensperger-backed bill because they believed it weakened state election supervision and made it harder for people to vote. The proposal shifted even more responsibility for elections from the state to counties, “without the necessary training, funding or support,” Lauren Groh-Wargo, chief executive of Fair Fight, a voting rights group founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, said at the time.

[Ragged Maw]

It’s a matter of looking for wisdom, even if it’s painful, and supporting that instead of looking for whatever endorphin rush comes from hearing someone voice dirty secrets that we don’t want to examine too closely.

...........Got a less destructive and readily available alternative source for said sweet, sweet endorphins? That old instinct we've had since our Paleolithic days isn't just something one can "deactivate" with a snap of the fingers.

[babyblob]

The testimonies from the Capital Police officers is very powerful. I am getting upset watching it. I feel so bad for these men who risked their lives to protect the Capital and are being betrayed by the very people they put their lives on the line for. How any American can not get sick at this?

[Tendrin]

That's a specific city (Atlanta) during an unusual time (a primary during a pandemic.) In the article you mention, this is a greater than typical discrepancy.

And yet, the discrepancy remains. The average black and latino voter has to wait far longer. This wait times add up, Mets, and they add up to votes denied. Stop trying to pretend otehrwise.

And there are some complicating factors.

Sure. And we could deal with them if we were interested in doing so. We aren't, since the Republicans don't want to.

https://www.propublica.org/article/w...-have-dwindled

There will be differences in population density in areas that 90% white and areas that 90% black which affects how many people there are in a particular precinct, as well as the availability of locations to use for the day. This is especially true in a pandemic when social distancing is encouraged and places will be shut down more easily for health violations.

Again, sure. But the discrepancy remains and existed pre-pandemic. The pandemic just made it starker.

There are also differences in attitudes when it comes to things like mail-in voting.

Yeah. The difference is that the GOP liked it when they thought it woud help them win and then changed their mind when it was used by voters who weren't Republicans.

Democrats opposed efforts by Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to expand polling places.

[/QUOTE]

I don't believe that Raffensperger is operating in good faith here. Here's what the next paragraph in the article says:

Democrats and voting rights groups said they opposed the Raffensperger-backed bill because they believed it weakened state election supervision and made it harder for people to vote. The proposal shifted even more responsibility for elections from the state to counties, "without the necessary training, funding or support," Lauren Groh-Wargo, chief executive of Fair Fight, a voting rights group founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, said at the time.

Gee. These sounds like pretty legitimate reasons not to accept the bill, Mets. More polling places is good, but not if they're used as way to implement other restrictive voting measures you don't really mind all that much.

[Kirby101]

It's like we don't remember the long voting lines in the past decades in minority areas in Ohio and Michigan and Texas and Wisconsin and...
Just Atlanta? What a joke.

[Tendrin]

It's like we don't remember the long voting lines in the past decades in minority areas in Ohio and Michigan and Texas and Wisconsin and...
Just Atlanta? What a joke.

Restrictive laws in Texas lead there to being just one drop box in all of Harris County. It's absurd. Republicans are trying to restrict voting across the board and instead we have to deal with gaslighters who just want to pretend that it's those darn libs with their hair needlessly on fire again to let them get away with it.

[Tami]

The testimonies from the Capital Police officers is very powerful. I am getting upset watching it. I feel so bad for these men who risked their lives to protect the Capital and are being betrayed by the very people they put their lives on the line for. How any American can not get sick at this?

Anyone who can watch it should watch it. I'm watching it now.

[babyblob]

Anyone who can watch it should watch it. I'm watching it now.

Im watching it now and I am bouncing between anger and sadness. there was a guy on Fox news last night. Going on and on about how these cops are using their 15 minutes of Fame to push the narrative that the crowd was violent, Trump supporters and Racist when there were not more then 3 or 4 that are proven Trump supporters and if someone can provide a real picture or video of Confederate Flags, or the anti Semite shirts people are talking about. The ones around are deep fakes. The Fox news guy thanked the person very much for providing another side to the story so the facts can get out and thanked him for not putting his race before the truth. (the guy talking was a black man so that proves Fox News and the GOP are not racist.)

[Mister Mets]

And yet, the discrepancy remains. The average black and latino voter has to wait far longer. This wait times add up, Mets, and they add up to votes denied. Stop trying to pretend otehrwise.



Sure. And we could deal with them if we were interested in doing so. We aren't, since the Republicans don't want to.

https://www.propublica.org/article/w...-have-dwindled



Again, sure. But the discrepancy remains and existed pre-pandemic. The pandemic just made it starker.



Yeah. The difference is that the GOP liked it when they thought it woud help them win and then changed their mind when it was used by voters who weren't Republicans.


I don't believe that Raffensperger is operating in good faith here. Here's what the next paragraph in the article says:



Gee. These sounds like pretty legitimate reasons not to accept the bill, Mets. More polling places is good, but not if they're used as way to implement other restrictive voting measures you don't really mind all that much.

You may be responding to some arguments I'm not making, when you tell me "stop trying to pretend otherwise." What specifically have I said?

In the article you mentioned the discrepancy between wait times in majority-minority polling places and wait times in 90% white polling places was much more severe than is typical. It was an abnormal discrepancy.

Partisan officials saying something will make it harder for people to vote doesn't make it true. But they complained about polling places being too crowded, and then they complained about the addition of new polling places.

They may be able to sell Republicans on the idea that the local boards in Atlanta are inept and cannot be trusted to administer elections, although that argument would likely have to be made explicitly.

In a perfect world, that incident should kill any shot this bastard has at running for governor, sadly, I suspect Qpublicans in my state will STILL support Gerow.

**********

Meanwhile, Karma came calling for yet another knucklehead anti-vaxxer:

https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/st...70198505553920

He does not appear to be a top candidate.

The frontrunner for the nomination seems to be former congressman Lou Barletta who won a statewide primary in 2018.

A former US Attorney is expected to run. A state senator has an exploratory committee. Two members of Congress and a former state speaker have also expressed interest.

It's a slightly harder lift but you can always do that yourself. Not saying you have to mirror Worstblog and do a daily entry on Crazy/Stupid Democrats, but never hurts to point out specifics. Some of us who are pretty far to the left regularly point out flaws in our Party (though often from the left, of course), and there are a few conservative posters but they've been pretty quiet (Mets aside) since Trump's loss. It is pretty heavily skewed left here, but that might be the nature of the demographic of the hobby. If you go to certain video game chatboards you'd probably find the opposite balance. Expect to see pushback and arguments from your posts, and a healthy dose of whataboutism, but never hurts to have a differing opinion. Healthy, in my opinion (though I'm an old school liberal who likes an exchange of ideas, even ones I vehemently disagree with).

The conservatives on the thread were pretty quiet before Trump's lost.

I'm not sure the demographics of the hobby explain the make-up of the political board.

And while I'm described as the loudest conservative, I'm willing to vote for Democrats, and did so in the last general election. In a general political discussion, Trump supporters should be welcome to participate.

[OopsIdiditagain]

I read this recently:
Biden’s Dangerous Doctrine

I find it interesting how Biden's approach to China really isn't that different from Trump's. Now there's more news about cyberwars, I don't want another cold war.

Sidenote. After the looting in SA people called for a permanent universal basic income grant to be passed. Not sure if Ramaphosa considered it but they decided to bring back a social relief grant. I hope it works out for them. I find SA interesting, it's less than 30 years old but it has a lot of potential.

[Mercury]

#January6thCommission

All day.

Wow.

I am glad it is happening.

[kidfresh512]

I fully expect all the officers testifying to get blowback and threatened just like the impeachment witnesses that testified. And where that doesn't work they will just inexplicably blame Pelosi for Jan 6th like they did this morning.