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

[babyblob]

Well it takes a certain amount of mental gymnastics, but it begins with the rationalization that they are not 'banning' anything. In their minds, they are simply removing things from the curriculum that they don't like, only burning books that are deemed 'offensive', protecting the children, etc. If there is a 'good'reason to do so, how can a negative pejorative like 'banned' be assigned to the action?

This is exactly how Mike Gibbons here in Ohio puts in. he speaks all the time in his campaign about "Saving our children from Liberal indoctrination." by getting rid of books and stopping teachers from brainwashing our kids with CRT and convincing our boys that they are really woman.

That is the funny thing about the GOP when it comes to Trans. I never hear "The Liberals are convincing our woman they are men!" it is always "They are convincing our men they are woman!" "How can we defend ourselves against China and Russia when these teachers and doctors are telling our men to put on dresses!"

[Mister Mets]

I think we are being cautious and probably should be even more cautious. First, there is no good reason the United States or NATO should be getting involved directly in any military conflict in Eastern Europe. US military intervention has not made things much better anywhere in the world, and there is no certainty it will improve the situation here. If Russia had rolled in and overwhelmed Ukraine in two days, the political cost would be severe but the humanitarian cost would have been less. Our governments are supporting Ukraine's defense of their nation, but that has consequences in the amount of death, destruction and refugees that a prolonged war incurs. We can't just write that off as the price of liberty as the Ukrainians are the ones paying that price.

On top of that, I doubt that the United States and NATO are entirely altruistic in their support of Ukraine as well. They are pressing their advantages if that is only to weaken Russia. In that regard, the humanitarian cost of the sanctions almost certainly will have long term effects on millions of Russians who have nothing to do with the war and those may overwhelm any gains made from supporting Ukraine in the long term. Especially considering the global impact the sanctions could have if they are maintained as long as Putin remains in power.

Russia made the decision to invade a sovereign country.

They'll have to deal with the costs. It is also the responsibility of the rest of the civilized world to make sure that Russia ends up worse off than if they hadn't decided to launch an unprovoked attack against a neighboring country on laughably BS reasons (the country with a Jewish President must be protected from a Nazi conspiracy) while mandating lies about other countries in state-run media.

[babyblob]

To be honest the sanctions will hurt Russia and they are already but that is as far as anyone will go. As much as the invasion is terrible, as much as we hate what is going on No big nation not the USA, Not the UK, Not Germany, no one is going to put boots on the ground to help the Ukraine. They will all send weapons if they can do so in an easy fashion with out making things worse for themselves. Be that politicly or worse with Russia.

There is a lot of tough talk about if Russia uses Chemical weapons but even if they do the most that will happen will be more sanctions there will be no military intervention from The USA or Nato. As much as we want to see the rest of the world ride in the the Old Calvary in the old west movies that is just not going to happen.

Military wise Ukraine is sadly on their own. And they are doing well so far. But no one is going to risk WW3. And despite what the talking heads and President of the Ukraine says WW3 has not started yet. It is what they rest of the world is trying to avoid.

[Jack Dracula]

What is it with conservatives' obsession of banning books.

Just another opportunity to gin up fear and disgust in their base to motivate them to vote.

[kidfresh512]

Just another opportunity to gin up fear and disgust in their base to motivate them to vote.

Exactly. They have perfected not actually having to run on "policies". They at this point just flat out run on being anti "other". Brown, Liberal, LGBT, a woman with bodily autonomy. Yeah against all of that. What happened to the Obamacare alternatives? They never ever talk about that anymore after they failed to produce anything when they had the chance.

[babyblob]

With the GOp their whole Platform is "Here is what you are scared of and here is who is to blame for it."

[Johnathan]

Russia made the decision to invade a sovereign country.

They'll have to deal with the costs. It is also the responsibility of the rest of the civilized world to make sure that Russia ends up worse off than if they hadn't decided to launch an unprovoked attack against a neighboring country on laughably BS reasons (the country with a Jewish President must be protected from a Nazi conspiracy) while mandating lies about other countries in state-run media.

However, we'll have to deal with the costs as well. Russia is a nuclear power with massive resources, international naval and military capabilities and a land mass that stretches from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean. From the Arctic to China. This will potentially be a pariah nation worse than any the world has ever dealt with - Iran, North Korea, Saddam's Iraq and Gaddafi's Libya combined wouldn't match this.

That is a decision our governments are facing and will have to make, so whatever the principles involved are, we would have to be ready to face the consequences as the fallout will affect not only us but the next generation as well.

[shooshoomanjoe]

However, we'll have to deal with the costs as well. Russia is a nuclear power with massive resources, international naval and military capabilities and a land mass that stretches from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean. From the Arctic to China. This will potentially be a pariah nation worse than any the world has ever dealt with - Iran, North Korea, Saddam's Iraq and Gaddafi's Libya combined wouldn't match this.

That is a decision our governments are facing and will have to make, so whatever the principles involved are, we would have to be ready to face the consequences as the fallout will affect not only us but the next generation as well.

The west has experience with this back when Russia was the scary evil empire for decades when they had more land mass during the USSR period.

[Robotman]

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/wha...orks-collapse/

That’s a pretty diabolical plan to poison the minds of African Americans.

But having disinformation networks has become the number one weapon of the right, so not a huge surprise.

[Johnathan]

The west has experience with this back when Russia was the scary evil empire for decades when they had more land mass during the USSR period.

Not really though. Most of the serious Cold Warriors are all dead or in their 90's and few of us were alive or adults back when that was a reality. I was in high school when Reagan was President, and the tension was not healthy. It is not an "experience" to be desired.

Also, it was a divided world without interconnected and integrated economies, and the USSR had an interest in maintaining global stability. Is it really any consolation to go back to a new Cold War? Certainly, that won't help Ukraine or Poland or any of the former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations. We were able to maintain security against the Soviet Union because we never developed any ties with them and kept them at a distance, but Russia has been a part of the global community for most of our lives now.

[Malvolio]

Exactly. They have perfected not actually having to run on "policies". They at this point just flat out run on being anti "other". Brown, Liberal, LGBT, a woman with bodily autonomy. Yeah against all of that. What happened to the Obamacare alternatives? They never ever talk about that anymore after they failed to produce anything when they had the chance.

Funny how in the run-up to the 2020 election, many Republicans predicted that whoever the Democrats nominated, their whole platform would be "I'm not Trump." Now their whole platform is just saying what they're against. And the irony is totally lost on them.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Exactly. They have perfected not actually having to run on "policies". They at this point just flat out run on being anti "other". Brown, Liberal, LGBT, a woman with bodily autonomy. Yeah against all of that. What happened to the Obamacare alternatives? They never ever talk about that anymore after they failed to produce anything when they had the chance.

And yet, Qpublicans STILL want Obamacare killed, even though they have NO viable alternative, and never had one from jump. This is all about destroying the signature legislation of the first black president, it’s an itch the GQP can’t scratch, but are determined to do just that, no matter how long it takes.

[Mister Mets]

There's an interesting tiff in publishing. The Lambda Prize nominated Lauren Hough for best lesbian memoir. After she suggested that critics of Sandra Newman's book The Men, which has a Y The Last Man Style premise, read the book before determining that it is transphobic, she lost the nomination.

The book, described by its publisher as interrogating “our notions of ecstasy, queerness, and what it means to live freely,” drew heavily on Hough’s life experiences, including as a lesbian in the Air Force during the “don’t ask, don’t tell” era. A reviewer for NPR likened her skill at portraiture to that of “one of those cartoonists who can sketch out four lines and suddenly you see your face in them.”

But Hough said in an interview Monday that an editor had recently informed her that the nomination had been pulled, following a social media dust-up in which Hough had defended, at times heatedly, a forthcoming novel by the author Sandra Newman, a friend of hers, from criticism that it was transphobic.

The novel, “The Men,” which is set to be published in June, describes a scenario in which “all people with a Y chromosome mysteriously disappear from the face of the earth,” according to Newman’s publisher. Hough, who said she had read “The Men,” wrote on Substack that she had told the critics “to read the book before condemning it.”

Lambda Literary, which for more than 30 years has administered the Lammys, confirmed that Hough had been removed from contention for the award.

“In a series of now-deleted tweets, Lauren Hough exhibited what we believed to be a troubling hostility toward transgender critics and trans-allies and used her substantial platform — due in part to her excellent book — to harmfully engage with readers and critics,” Cleopatra Acquaye and Maxwell Scales, Lambda Literary’s interim co-executive directors, said in a joint statement Monday. “As an L.G.B.T.Q. organization, we cannot knowingly reward individuals who exhibit disdain and disrespect for the autonomy of an entire segment of the community we have committed ourselves to supporting.”

There have been a few projects exploring what happens in gender-eliminating scenarios, and The Men was unique in considering the implications for trans people.

In her Substack newsletter, Hough said that she had discussed “The Men” with Newman, including “how to make the book recognize the reality of transgender people.”

“Other books that started from this premise — all the men disappear — have erased the existence of trans people, and it was important to her not to do that, to be as sensitive as possible,” Hough wrote. “So when I saw people assuming that simple idea was the entirety of the plot, I told them to read the book before assuming the worst.”

For this, she wrote, she was labeled a trans-exclusionary radical feminist — something she denied.

(Previous books with similar, gender-eliminating or -separating scenarios “were written before there was much attention on anything beyond a gender binary,” said Brian Attebery, an English professor at Idaho State University who has written about gender in science fiction.)

Hough lamented that Twitter users had so harshly criticized a book they had not read.

“They call it ‘call-out culture,’” she wrote on Substack, “because bullying is wrong, unless your target is someone you don’t like, for social justice reasons, of course.”

[Catlady in training]

Ukraine is already saying they are willing to give up NATO membership and even the territories that Russia occupied before February. This is heartbreaking to watch.

What I'm afraid of is that Russia will just take the time to reorganize their troops, replenish their army and then continue to terrorize Ukraine from there. We need to understand that they don't want peace, they want to take back what they consider to be theirs: Ukraine and former Eastern Block countries. I know I probably sound Russian-phobic by now to some people, but trust me, they are not normal civilized people. Nothing good came out of Russia since 1910's, they only know how to terrorize others. Anyone who thinks they will stop if they are given any reprieve is deluding themselves. Even if some peace is agreed upon with Ukraine, the West cannot just return the sanctions back to normal. They must remain to let Russia fall economically, so they cannot finance another war, we all must stop buying their oil and gas, we must achieve that they pay reparations to Ukraine, so that we all don't end up financing Ukraine's recovery ourselves and weakening ourselves economically by that. And Putin and his gang must be put on trial, even if it is in absence, so that they are formally recognized as war criminals.
Anything less and this is eventually back, probably even worse because they will have learned from this war where their weaknesses are. If our leaders back down, we (their voters) must pressure them not to.

[thwhtGuardian]

There's an interesting tiff in publishing. The Lambda Prize nominated Lauren Hough for best lesbian memoir. After she suggested that critics of Sandra Newman's book The Men, which has a Y The Last Man Style premise, read the book before determining that it is transphobic, she lost the nomination.



There have been a few projects exploring what happens in gender-eliminating scenarios, and The Men was unique in considering the implications for trans people.

I've only read a few of her since deleted tweets...but they didn't paint a very good picture of her. On top of that it seems she lied about the award as well, it wasn't a cash prize she lost out on, she was selected to be included in a category with no cash prize, and it wasn't as if it was a slam dunk there either as it was just a nomination so no guarantee she would have won anyway.