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

[Adam Allen]

For some examples, Justin Fairfax remains in elected office despite multiple allegations of sexual assault.

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/10/81416...n-for-governor

There was calls for Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia to resign over the blackface scandal.

https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/sta...rc=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ilyseh/status/10...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

That stopped when it became clear that it might lead to a Republican taking over, because Fairfax was the Lieutenant Governor, and the Attorney General (the next in line) admit to wearing blackface in the past. The next in line was a Republican.

It was convenient for Democrats to call for Northam's resignation with a Democratic Lieutenant Governor, just as it was convenient for Democrats to call for Franken's resignation in a state where the Democratic Governor was able to pick a replacement. In these cases, there isn't much cost for the party for upholding principles in a way that allows them to posture in the future.

The moment there was a potential political cost, they no longer cared about upholding principles.

Okay, now I vaguely remember when all of that was in the news. It seems like you are arguing that Democrats should, without hesitation, be willing to harm their own cause in the name of principle, regardless of any practical consideration. Because, while people legitimately are offended by blackface, and while you do in fact have many Democrats calling for Fairfax to just leave public office forever ... well, at the end of the day, having a Republican replace them would almost certainly be worse.

Not even in just a "tribal", reflexively-for-one-team kind of way ... you know, Republicans like to argue that black people vote for Democrats like reflexively and are then taken for granted, and on some level both are true, but the problem is that Republicans in office are just pretty consistently the worse option.

[BeastieRunner]

I've been waiting for a turkey pardon story all day but forgot we got a Turkey pardon with Flynn yesterday.

[Adam Allen]

Right wing media is really weird.

Like really weird.

I've seen it's love of conspiracy theories before but this latest one really tickled me, the "Great Reset" conspiracy is just pure crazy town and even the saner of the Rightwing talking heads are playing into it and Ingram's quote about it just makes me laugh as she describes it like this in an apocalyptic tone, " His handlers, who are basically all old Obama staffers, believe in something called the Great Reset of capitalism.It’s a plan to force a more equitable distribution of global resources.”

A more equitable distribution of resources is scary?

I don't get it.

Well, collectively Americans do get more than a fair share, so a more equitable distribution of resources probably does mean many Americans losing some wealth. I suppose the more wealthy you are, the more you likely feel like you have to lose.

There's also a pretty prevalent opinion out there that even poverty in the US is not so bad, compared to poverty elsewhere. I think there is some truth to that, but I also think that if you are literally starving on the street in the US ... the difference between you and someone starving on the street in a less wealthy country may not seem so very great, to you.

[PwrdOn]

Well, collectively Americans do get more than a fair share, so a more equitable distribution of resources probably does mean many Americans losing some wealth. I suppose the more wealthy you are, the more you likely feel like you have to lose.

There's also a pretty prevalent opinion out there that even poverty in the US is not so bad, compared to poverty elsewhere. I think there is some truth to that, but I also think that if you are literally starving on the street in the US ... the difference between you and someone starving on the street in a less wealthy country may not seem so very great, to you.

It may not seem that different but it really is, there is just another level of grinding, hopeless poverty you find in a lot of global south countries that has no real equivalent in America. On the other hand though, a lot of these countries just face hard constraints in terms of available resources and extreme poverty is kind of an unavoidable fact of life, whereas America has more than enough wealth to take care of everybody and simply chooses not to, which in many ways is much worse.

[OopsIdiditagain]

Paris police officers suspended over brutal beating of Black man

never forget:
Paris police say rape of black man was an ‘accident’

[Adam Allen]

It may not seem that different but it really is, there is just another level of grinding, hopeless poverty you find in a lot of global south countries that has no real equivalent in America. On the other hand though, a lot of these countries just face hard constraints in terms of available resources and extreme poverty is kind of an unavoidable fact of life, whereas America has more than enough wealth to take care of everybody and simply chooses not to, which in many ways is much worse.

Well yeah, don't get me wrong, I think there is a substantial difference ... if for no other reason than that, in any given place where we have somebody starving and freezing as they sleep huddled by a door somewhere, it's almost guaranteed that not very far from them, there are considerable resources available that could provide for them. There likely is warm shelter available, that they just are not going to be given access to, and there is likely food even going to waste very near them, that again they just are not being given. That's substantially different than some places in the world where you're starving because there really just is that scarce of resources available in the area. The starving person in the US just needs that random kindness of strangers to have some of their hardship temporarily lightened ... while again, in other places, it's just a matter of their just not being enough available, not that anybody is holding out.

My point though is that when you are in fact starving, the fact that help is so potentially close does not itself feed you. We have abundance collectively in the US, but ... I don't know, I don't mean to take for granted something like our having clean water almost universally available. That is not a reality for all of the human race, so I do not dismiss that as unimportant or somehow a small thing.

I guess I just mean to say, I have personal experience with what it's like to wake up at the start of your day with absolutely no food, and no reliable idea of how you're going to get any. It sucks pretty hard when you have to just accept hunger as your default, and when I've reflected on that experience, it has never been lost on me that my thankfully short-lived periods of hardship are by far not the worst that people in our society endure.

[Tami]

Pope Francis: A Crisis Reveals What Is in Our Hearts

In this past year of change, my mind and heart have overflowed with people. People I think of and pray for, and sometimes cry with, people with names and faces, people who died without saying goodbye to those they loved, families in difficulty, even going hungry, because there’s no work.

Sometimes, when you think globally, you can be paralyzed: There are so many places of apparently ceaseless conflict; there’s so much suffering and need. I find it helps to focus on concrete situations: You see faces looking for life and love in the reality of each person, of each people. You see hope written in the story of every nation, glorious because it’s a story of daily struggle, of lives broken in self-sacrifice. So rather than overwhelm you, it invites you to ponder and to respond with hope.

These are moments in life that can be ripe for change and conversion. Each of us has had our own “stoppage,” or if we haven’t yet, we will someday: illness, the failure of a marriage or a business, some great disappointment or betrayal. As in the Covid-19 lockdown, those moments generate a tension, a crisis that reveals what is in our hearts.

[Tami]

‘Killing Spree’: DeSantis Extends Ban On Mask Enforcement Amid Florida COVID-19 Spike

Health experts and local leaders were stunned Wednesday when Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis extended his order barring towns, cities, and counties from enforcing local mask mandates even amid a disturbing spike in COVID-19 cases.

DeSantis extended an earlier order prohibiting localities from fining people who refuse to wear masks, effectively rendering mandates unenforceable.

He extended the order less than a week after a bipartisan group of mayors pleaded with him to issue a statewide mask mandate. Experts widely regard masks as a simple, effective way to stem the tide of COVID-19. DeSantis is reportedly no longer taking phone calls from mayors.

Chris King, the 2018 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, tweeted a news story of DeSantis’ latest move with a comment calling the decision a “killing spree.”

[PwrdOn]

Well yeah, don't get me wrong, I think there is a substantial difference ... if for no other reason than that, in any given place where we have somebody starving and freezing as they sleep huddled by a door somewhere, it's almost guaranteed that not very far from them, there are considerable resources available that could provide for them. There likely is warm shelter available, that they just are not going to be given access to, and there is likely food even going to waste very near them, that again they just are not being given. That's substantially different than some places in the world where you're starving because there really just is that scarce of resources available in the area. The starving person in the US just needs that random kindness of strangers to have some of their hardship temporarily lightened ... while again, in other places, it's just a matter of their just not being enough available, not that anybody is holding out.

My point though is that when you are in fact starving, the fact that help is so potentially close does not itself feed you. We have abundance collectively in the US, but ... I don't know, I don't mean to take for granted something like our having clean water almost universally available. That is not a reality for all of the human race, so I do not dismiss that as unimportant or somehow a small thing.

I guess I just mean to say, I have personal experience with what it's like to wake up at the start of your day with absolutely no food, and no reliable idea of how you're going to get any. It sucks pretty hard when you have to just accept hunger as your default, and when I've reflected on that experience, it has never been lost on me that my thankfully short-lived periods of hardship are by far not the worst that people in our society endure.

There definitely is a strain of thought in our society that maintaining some level of poverty, even if it is well within our means to eliminate it, is necessary in order to maintain a sufficiently motivated workforce, that without the threat of starving out in the cold, people would have no incentive to work hard or be productive. And sadly, it's not just corporate bigwigs that push this idea, it permeates throughout society, just think about how many people have cited their own struggles as character building episodes or as working class bona fides, almost as if living in poverty is a ritual of passage that everyone has to go through and that you will invariably emerge from it a better person. This, of course, is absolute nonsense, all that being poor ever taught me was that not having money sucked and that I should do whatever I can to never be poor again, which is hardly the profound lesson that people make it out to be, and of course far more people end up stuck in a cycle of poverty or psychologically broken from the experience than the small minority who emerge stronger from the experience.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

‘Killing Spree’: DeSantis Extends Ban On Mask Enforcement Amid Florida COVID-19 Spike

I don't get it. Trump lost the election, so DeSantis doesn't have to kiss his ass anymore, why continue putting Florida's citizens at risk?

[Gray Lensman]

I don't get it. Trump lost the election, so DeSantis doesn't have to kiss his ass anymore, why continue putting Florida's citizens at risk?

But his lemmings are still there, and they will vote in the next election.

[The Cool Thatguy]

But his lemmings are still there, and they will vote in the next election.

For now, they are

[shooshoomanjoe]

Right wing media is really weird.

Like really weird.

I've seen it's love of conspiracy theories before but this latest one really tickled me, the "Great Reset" conspiracy is just pure crazy town and even the saner of the Rightwing talking heads are playing into it and Ingram's quote about it just makes me laugh as she describes it like this in an apocalyptic tone, " His handlers, who are basically all old Obama staffers, believe in something called the Great Reset of capitalism.It’s a plan to force a more equitable distribution of global resources.”

A more equitable distribution of resources is scary?

I don't get it.

Looks like the great reset lunacy has spilled over into Canada too. I wonder if far right wing nuts in EU and Oz believe this crap too.

[Tendrin]

Looks like the great reset lunacy has spilled over into Canada too. I wonder if far right wing nuts in EU and Oz believe this crap too.

There are. There are euro Q believers after all.

[thwhtGuardian]

I don't think anyone is claiming that the only step colleges should take is to tell women not to drink to excess. The controversy is about whether it can be part of the process. It is absurd that there's pushback against useful advice.

Happy Thanksgiving as well.

There's push back because its addressed almost solely at women, including only single sentence saying over consuming is bad for men too, which makes it sound like those kinds of sexist advice pieces telling women to dress more moderately if they don't want to be raped.
Sometimes it's not what you say it's how you say it.