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

[babyblob]

I hope things work out with your situation.

Another thing is we're having Nascar here this weekend. I'm curious how the event might or might not affect things regarding the crowds and cars and the air quality...

Thank you. it is getting a little better. Was just a rough week and a half.

[InformationGeek]

Air quality is horrendous by me in Wisconsin. It's says currently 203 AQI

[Mister Mets]

I know several gun owners myself and yes, they are very outspoken with their beliefs and will without fail pivot to the usual arguments regarding the necessity for the ownership of assault weapons.
Gun owners are a strange demographic. Polling shows that a significant number of owners nationwide are in favor of common-sense gun legislation, but when it’s time to vote for it they typically vote on the side of caution and maintaining the status quo.
I do believe that if not for the NRA and gun manufacturers controlling the narrative in Washington the GOP representatives would slide left and pass gun legislation. To make meaningful progress, they may need to drag their constituents with them, but it wouldn’t be the first time the tail wagged the dog with the GOP.

Politicians who try to drag their constituents lose. If the NRA and gun manufacturers get what they want by controlling the narrative, it suggests they'll lose once someone else is able to make an argument that appeals to more voters.

[Reverse Happy]

Rolling Stone says it reviewed contemporary documentation of the conversation.

Besides, no one who has paid attention to Miller's politics would be shocked that a guy with ties to multiple anti-muslim groups and anti immigration hate groups and has voiced rhetoric that suggests immigration is an existential threat to the west would find the endorsement of violence particularly surprising.

The guy Miller had the conversation with denies the report.

Rolling Stone has reviewed written documentation from during the Trump administration that supports Taylor’s claim. Taylor’s account, however, is contested, both by Miller and by another person present.

“This is a complete fiction that exists only in the mind of Miles Taylor desperate to stay relevant by fabricating material for his new book,” says a spokesman for Miller.

Taylor’s book claims Miller made his argument to Paul Zukunft, a since-retired admiral who was then commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Reached for comment, Zukunft replied he had “no recollection” of the exchange as described in the book.

“I vividly recall having a lengthy conversation with Stephen Miller regarding Southwest border security in 2018,” says Zukunft. “My point was that the U.S. is not exerting enough influence in the form of foreign aid in the tri-border region of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador that have been key source nations for illegal migration. In effect, get at the root cause of illegal migration at the source rather than a goal-line defense at the border. And the preponderance of these migrants traverse on foot. But to use deadly force to thwart maritime migration would be preposterous and the antithesis of our nation’s vanguard for advancing human rights.”

Zukunft was appointed by former President Barack Obama and, after retiring from the Trump administration in the summer of 2018, backed Biden in the 2020 election.

Asked to respond to the retired admiral saying he had “no recollection” of the book’s explosive detail, Taylor said: “The conversation happened.”

The sad and awful thing is that the story is entirely plausible for Miller. He was the architect of Trump's family-separation border policy, and already deserves the extra-special hell on that basis alone. Something he actually got implemented against internal resistance, whereas this other war crime remains thankfully hypothetical.

[babyblob]

Air quality is horrendous by me in Wisconsin. It's says currently 203 AQI

We had 188 here today.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Just checked airnow.gov and the current reading in my zip code is 109.

[Tami]

My area it's only 72 AQI, then again we've been getting a lot of rain which might be washing some of the smoke out.

[Jack Dracula]

Politicians who try to drag their constituents lose. If the NRA and gun manufacturers get what they want by controlling the narrative, it suggests they'll lose once someone else is able to make an argument that appeals to more voters.

That might be the case if they hadn't had Fox News and conservative radio consistently misinforming their base for the last two decades. Increased partisanship and fearmongering has gifted the GOP with a voter base that will reliably vote against their own interests even when shown objective evidence contradicting what they've been told by Republican leadership.

[Tendrin]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...53b31e07&ei=26

right-wing influencer who left the Trump camp to instead support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the GOP presidential nomination has blamed the circle around the former president for supposedly leaking racist and antisemitic messages he sent in private chats.

Far-right site Breitbart reported on Tuesday that in 2019 and 2020, while Donald Trump was president, conservative writer Pedro Gonzalez sent messages in a group chat entitled “Right-Wing Death Squad” as well as to one member of the group individually.

The report was widely shared in right-wing circles and included several direct quotes of the messages, one of which said: “Tfw [that feeling when] when you realize whites are the only hope non-whites have of living civilized lives, but whites themselves are too cucked to preserve their own civilizations.”

[Tendrin]

The sad and awful thing is that the story is entirely plausible for Miller. He was the architect of Trump's family-separation border policy, and already deserves the extra-special hell on that basis alone. Something he actually got implemented against internal resistance, whereas this other war crime remains thankfully hypothetical.

And it's not like that denial is particularly useful. If you wanna believe that the 'anonymous' guy fabricated the story and documented years ago so he could stick it in a book years later, you do you, I guess. Do we know for SURE that it happened? No. But we do know that it's in character for Stephen Miller, that a contemporary documentation of it was made, and it is in keeping with the dude's rhetoric.

[CaptainEurope]

Anyone else having issues with the air quality from the Wildfire smoke? The air here around Cincinnati is in the unhealthy range. I have been mowing my lawn but taking many breaks because of the air and the heat. But I have to get it done because it has been almost two weeks since I have done it because of being busy with my dads medical issues.

I cant remember hearing so much about wildfires in Canada until the last couple of years. is this another sign of climate change? I am a bit confused on the link between climate change and wildfires.

The smoke has by now reached Europe, but at such a height that it just causes dramatic sunsets and more rain, possibly also the sudden drop in temperature because the particles block some of the sun's rays.

[CaptainEurope]

Some more background on the Russian Mutiny:

Russian general who may have known about Wagner mutiny goes missing

A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday, with US intelligence reportedly claiming he had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Gen Sergei Surovikin is the head of the Russian aerospace forces and formerly Moscow’s supreme commander in Ukraine. Prigozhin had welcomed his appointment to that post in 2022, calling him a “legendary figure” and “born to serve his motherland”.

The well-publicised links between Surovikin and Prigozhin have fuelled rumours that Surovikin may be purged or put under investigation for supporting the mutiny. When Prigozhin launched his uprising, Surovikin made an unambiguous statement against it and in support of the Russian government late on Friday.

However, the New York Times, citing western intelligence sources, reported on Wednesday that Surovikin had prior knowledge of Prigozhin’s armed mutiny, in which his Wagner mercenaries captured the city of Rostov and moved on Moscow before cutting an amnesty deal.

US officials briefed on the intelligence said they did not know if Surovikin was actively involved in the plot, which culminated in an aborted march on Moscow of several Wagner convoys with heavy weapons. The other failed goal of the mutiny might have been to abduct the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the head of Russia’s armed forces, Valery Gerasimov, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Other reports indicate a possible reason for the rushed mutiny: Wagner had planned to kidnap Minister of War Shoigu on a visit to the front. Those plans got leaked and the visit was canceled, angering Prigozhin.

[CaptainEurope]

Ron DeSantis used resources from Texas Public Safety, including this helicopter, for his campaign fear-mongering border trip.

#1 that violates campaign finance laws
#2 that violates Texas law.

How a Border Photo Stunt Could End Up Costing Ron DeSantis

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in 2015 that “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled of Charlotte O’Hara, a member of the Kansas House of Representatives who once filed pro-life legislation that would requite a woman seeking an abortion to sign a document that they were "terminating the life of a whole living being". She also tried starting a Tea Party mutiny against Gov. Sam Brownback, telling supporters "peasants with pitchforks are needed to get the attention of the Topkea elite". O'Hara also warned against the threat of the Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theory, and tried comparing a rival State Senator's support of state bonds as "communism", leading to her downfall in elections in both 2012 and 2014.


In both 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, as well as 2022, that “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” presented profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Georgia’s 12th Congressional District, Rick Allen, who after being elected for the first time in the 2014 elections, quickly made himself infamous in Washington for an outburst he made that pissed off even his fellow Republicans back in May of this year, when a week after Democrats cried foul after Republicans flipped their votes in support of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prevented government contractors from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, a second version passed with 43 Republicans actually supporting the idea. In the wake of that vote, Speaker Paul Ryan tried to gather many members of the GOP House, where Rick Allen pulled out his Bible, and read Scripture to those present, specifically passages from Romans 1:18-32, and Revelations 22:18-19, that in effect read that gays are sinners “worthy of death”. At that point, several of his colleagues stormed out, disgusted (and they should be).

Well, Rick Allen went viral because after the tragic shooting in Orlando just days later, as some were calling for some action, ANY action on gun control, the GOP offered their usual support to victims… their thoughts and prayers. In this instance, that came off as a lot of hollow in particular because Rick Allen was one such person who got on social media to let those mourning know he was thinking and praying about it. To which, some of the victims had to wonder, “So what, are you praying that more of us die, then?” Allen was asked if he regretted or wanted to apologize for his remarks about the gays being “worthy of death”, and surprise… he didn’t regret them at all and stood by his decision to read them at that Republican meeting.

So it should come as little surprise that Rep. Allen spent his first term in office voting for anti-choice legislation without exceptions for rape and incest, attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and the bill to attempt to halt the resettling of Syrian refugees in the United States. But when you come from a conservative district in Georgia, the voters won’t pay attention to any of that or sweat that or the fact that you quoted Bible verses about gays being worthy of death, and they’ll re-elect you every two years..

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ron DeSantis used resources from Texas Public Safety, including this helicopter, for his campaign fear-mongering border trip.

#1 that violates campaign finance laws
#2 that violates Texas law.

How a Border Photo Stunt Could End Up Costing Ron DeSantis

Since Texas is a red state run by Greg Abbott who's just as detestable as DeSantis, what are the chances he'll do anything more than lightly slap Wretched Ron's wrist, if even that much?