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

[ed2962]

Censorship: the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

The Right engages with this all the time (including their efforts to ban Rowling's books).

The Left engages with this too. Temporarily pulling Gone With The Wind from HBO Max, before reinstating it with a caveat that the film is racially insensitive and historically inaccurate. Pulling any episodes from television series that feature black-face in them (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Community are two examples I'm most familiar with). Disney/MARVEL's knee-jerk reactionary firing of James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 due to a 10-year-old, off-color joke Tweet. And so on, and so on.

You're kidding yourself if you think the Left is immune from practicing censorship. The prime difference between the two sides in how they employ censorship is that the Right usually wants to censor things that don't conform to their narrowly Christian worldview. The Left tries to censor things that hurt peoples' feelings.

Short of murder, I don't think it's actually possible to censor a human being, so I'm willing to concede that "censorship" perhaps isn't the best terminology to describe efforts at suppressing an individual's freedom of speech. Such as blacklisting or firing actors/directors or all the "I hate you and shut up forever" messages directed towards Rowling in light of her trans comments. You like to say "cancel culture" doesn't exist and that nobody practices it. But the Online Left has a storied history of ganging up on people they don't agree with and lambasting them with hateful comments. What is that if not a culture? An online culture of intolerance. Sounds like censorship to me. The key difference being that you can't actually silence the target, so the goal is to just drown their words out with your own screaming.

It's worth mentioning that "The Left" had nothing to do with any of those things. There wasn't even an online outcry, the corporations decided to do these things on their own. "Gone With The Wind" is still avail, just with a warning and warnings before certain TV shows and movies have been a thing literally for decades. This is not censorship. I've never seen "Sunny" and don't know about their blackface episode. But I do know that Gunn wasn't fired because of any "leftists" or "SJWs". His old jokes were outed by reactionary who didn't like that Gunn was making anti-Trump jokes. This same person tried to get left leaning political commentator Sam Seder fired from MSNBC.

Now, online mobs are definitely a thing and of course actual Lefties engage in it quite often, but we shouldn't be conflating bad online behavior or disagreeing with someone with censorship.

[ed2962]

Lol. Gonna need some Vita-Rays too tho

If you don't get the Vita-Rays, you go crazy! That's what happened to 50's Cap!


( At least I think that's what happened, it's been years since I read that comic. )

[WestPhillyPunisher]

If you don't get the Vita-Rays, you go crazy! That's what happened to 50's Cap!


( At least I think that's what happened, it's been years since I read that comic. )

I believe you’re right. I remember that storyline where Original Cap and Falcon tussled with bonkers 50’s Cap and Bucky. Classic!

[Gray Lensman]

As long as you don't turn invisible.

Or worse, only the skin turns invisible like in the Venture Brothers.

[WAKANDA FOREVER!]

Y'all got jokes. Lol....Wait. A finger nail just fell off. Uh oh...

[worstblogever]

Y'all got jokes. Lol....Wait. A finger nail just fell off. Uh oh...

I am not joking when I say I am so thirsty for this vaccine, when they administer it to me, I will have to fight to not yell out, "POKE ME DADDY" as the needle goes in.

[numberthirty]

Minor grumbling...

Lori Lightfoot's handling of the recent "Chicago Police Raid The Wrong Home Yet Again..." situation has been seriously disappointing.

More "We'll Apologize..." nonsense and attempts at covering up when they are in a real position to just start getting a single thing right when it comes to all of Chicago's issues when it comes to policing.

[Emperor-of-Dragons]

So ICUs are totally at capacity, but most of the country is still open? Lmao

[Emperor-of-Dragons]

Minor grumbling...

Lori Lightfoot's handling of the recent "Chicago Police Raid The Wrong Home Yet Again..." situation has been seriously disappointing.

More "We'll Apologize..." nonsense and attempts at covering up when they are in a real position to just start getting a single thing right when it comes to all of Chicago's issues when it comes to policing.

This should sink her imo, in a just world her job should be toast

[numberthirty]

This should sink her imo, in a just world her job should be toast

For the most part, this is my main problem with folks from the "Enforcement..." part of government holding other offices.

In this instance, I actually had my hopes up for a second. It's a real downer that it looks like it's just going to be exactly what I usually have an issue with.

[numberthirty]

Past that...

How hard is it to have someone "Check Your Math..." before you raid someone's house?

At this point, you would think that it would be it's own unit in the Chicago Police Department.

[Tendrin]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-w...b650b99ad9b68b

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) boasted on Facebook Wednesday that he was back in Washington and looking forward to voting in person on the House floor. He also mocked Democrats for being overly cautious during the pandemic.

A few hours later, Wilson, 73, announced he had tested positive for COVID-19. That Facebook post has since been deleted.

In a statement Wednesday night, Wilson promised to take “all necessary precautions, as directed by the House Physician” and said he would quarantine “through the Christmas holiday.”

“Thankfully I feel fine and do not have any symptoms. It is so important that we all do our part to help prevent the spread of this virus,” he added.

Speaking of Joe Wilson... :P

[BeastieRunner]

I only felt the microchip for the first hour or so.

[Iron Maiden]

Here's a fun bit of news: because of an agreement Trump signed in 1993, he may not be able to live full-time at Mar-a-Lago.

The short of it is, when he converted Mar-a-Lago from a residence into a club, the agreement he signed says he can only spend 21 days a year there. Obviously he flouted this agreement while President, but when he becomes a regular citizen again... well, there are loads of people just waiting to take him court over this.

In Florida courts? I don't like the odds. Still, it'll be fun to watch if somebody actually goes after him.

Just wanted to revisit this: There already had been an attempt to have Trump stop using Mar A Lago as a private residence by a group of residents. Trumps neighbors to Trump: Spend your post-presidency elsewhere.

In the demand letter, obtained by The Washington Post, a lawyer for the Mar-a-Lago neighbors says the town should notify Trump that he cannot use Mar-a-Lago as his residence. Making that notification would “avoid an embarrassing situation” if the outgoing president moves to the club and later has to be ordered to leave, according to the letter sent on behalf of the neighbors, the DeMoss family, which runs an international missionary foundation.

For years, various neighbors have raised concerns about disruptions, such as clogged traffic and blocked streets, caused by the president’s frequent trips to the club. Even before he was president, Trump created ill will in the town by refusing to comply with even basic local requirements, such as adhering to height limits for a massive flagpole he installed, and frequently attempting to get out of the promises he had made when he converted Mar-a-Lago into a private club.

“There’s absolutely no legal theory under which he can use that property as both a residence and a club,” said Glenn Zeitz, another nearby Palm Beach homeowner who has joined the fight against Trump and had previously tangled with him over Trump's attempt to seize a private home to expand his Atlantic City casino.

The current residency controversy tracks back to a deal Trump cut in 1993 when his finances were foundering and the cost of maintaining Mar-a-Lago was soaring into the multimillions each year. Under the agreement, club members are banned from spending more than 21 days a year in the club’s guest suites and cannot stay there for any longer than seven consecutive days. Before the arrangement was sealed, a Trump attorney assured the town council in a public meeting that his client would not live at Mar-a-Lago.

Palm Beach has been cutting Trump some slack during his presidency. He hasn't turned in an annual report that documents that no one uses the guest suite more than 21 days a year. They also allowed a helipad that Trump and the Secret Service could use for his arrivals and departures. This was forbidden in the original 1993 agreement with Palm Beach. He will not be allowed to use in as a private citizen. But there is also the issue of Trump's status as a former president. He will have a smaller retinue of Secret Service agents that will keep an office there and of course someplace for the agents to stay. It will be interesting to see if the Palm Beach citizens will really push their case against Trump.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Just wanted to revisit this: There already had been an attempt to have Trump stop using Mar A Lago as a private residence by a group of residents. Trumps neighbors to Trump: Spend your post-presidency elsewhere.



Palm Beach has been cutting Trump some slack during his presidency. He hasn't turned in an annual report that documents that no one uses the guest suite more than 21 days a year. They also allowed a helipad that Trump and the Secret Service could use for his arrivals and departures. This was forbidden in the original 1993 agreement with Palm Beach. He will not be allowed to use in as a private citizen. But there is also the issue of Trump's status as a former president. He will have a smaller retinue of Secret Service agents that will keep an office there and of course someplace for the agents to stay. It will be interesting to see if the Palm Beach citizens will really push their case against Trump.

I hope those citizens push like hell to keep Trump out. The only reason he moved to Florida in the first place was because New Yorkers hated his guts, and yeah, he was feeling the heat from SDNY and wanted out of that particular kitchen. Let Trump be forced to return to the Big Apple to sweat out that inevitable trial after his term ends on January 20th.