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

[worstblogever]

GOP legislators have some truly f***ed up priorities during a pandemic. Like for example, the Republican super-majority in the Oklahoma state legislature, who on Wednesday in the wee hours of the night, voted to pass what amounts to a "stand your ground" defense for people who want to run over protesters, and then claim they were justified if they believe they're fleeing from a riot.

Y'know, when conservative media declares all protests against their side of the aisle riots.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Collins says she's the most bi-partisan member of the Senate? After voting to confirm all three of Trump's Supreme Court picks (among other votes)? Just STFU, Esmerelda!

It's kinda like bragging about being the smartest kid in summer school.

[Tendrin]

It's kinda like bragging about being the smartest kid in summer school.

She sometimes agrees to be concerned, though!

[Marvell2100]

Well, Sen. Collins can take all of her repeated concerns about Sen. Schumer, and write them down with the list of concerns she kept saying she had about Donald Trump, and then crumple that paper up and shove all of them ALL THE WAY up her ***.

She's very concerned about people being concerned about her bi-partisanship. It's all too concerning.

[mathew101281]

The GOP won’t change until their base changes. Right now they really don’t have much incentive to change.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In other news, Stacey Dash apologizes for past comments and denounces Don Trump.



https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/fo...?ocid=msedgntp

Lemme guess, Faux News kicked Dash off the plantation. Sorry, sweet cheeks, way to little, WAY too late.

She's very concerned about people being concerned about her bi-partisanship. It's all too concerning.

I'm sure Madam Pearl Clutcher is all kinds of concerned about being concerned. No doubt Collins is writing a letter to express her concern even as I type these words of wit.

The GOP won’t change until their base changes. Right now they really don’t have much incentive to change.

DING DING DING! You are correct!

[worstblogever]

The GOP won’t change until their base changes. Right now they really don’t have much incentive to change.

Other than wising up to the fact that the GOP is indifferent to them suffering and dying in the name of corporations profiting.

Which, the signs are 50 ft. high and in glowing neon, but hey, they appeal to their darker, bigoted instincts so they'll overlook it.

[Powerboy]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Thursday to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams.

Mississippi is the first state this year to enact such a ban, after a federal court blocked an Idaho law last year. Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2536 is set to become law July 1, although a legal challenge is possible.

More than 20 states are proposing restrictions on athletics or gender-confirming health care for transgender minors this year. Conservative lawmakers are responding to an executive order by Democratic President Joe Biden that bans discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere. Biden signed it Jan. 20, the day he took office.

So it's a bigoted pushback against an executive order to force all of it to be fought in court.

Plus it's using what they have to know is a fraudulent claim that Biden's order means boys will be able to play on Girl's sports teams. As I've learned in the last year, this transgender women competing against cis women thing is so rare and so completely lacking in facts that it's just an excuse to springboard into anti-trans law-making.

[Kevinroc]

Other than wising up to the fact that the GOP is indifferent to them suffering and dying in the name of corporations profiting.

Which, the signs are 50 ft. high and in glowing neon, but hey, they appeal to their darker, bigoted instincts so they'll overlook it.

I see that with some of my older relatives. They screech about whatever the rightwing conspiracy of the day is and talk about how Democrats are communists or whatever.

[Tami]

The GOP won’t change until their base changes. Right now they really don’t have much incentive to change.

The base won't change until the feedback loop is severed. The base takes its cues from Conservative Media and Far-right Social Media >>> Conservative Media, and the Far Right are fed and bolstered by the GOP >>> the GOP depends on the base to vote them back into office >>>and around it goes.

Break the loop and the whole thing falls apart.

[Bruce Wayne]

The base won't change until the feedback loop is severed. The base takes its cues from Conservative Media and Far-right Social Media >>> Conservative Media, and the Far Right are fed and bolstered by the GOP >>> the GOP depends on the base to vote them back into office >>>and around it goes.

Break the loop and the whole thing falls apart.

I think you are missing one piece: the fact that the donors are also funding the far-right media such as the Mercers and their backing of Breitbart and ultimately the party/politicians are their tools to get their economic agenda enacted.

[Tami]

I think you are missing one piece: the fact that the donors are also funding the far-right media such as the Mercers and their backing of Breitbart and ultimately the party/politicians are their tools to get their economic agenda enacted.

You are right. I'm not sure where they fit into this. It could be that this is like a wheel and that these Mega Donors are the hub/axis of the wheel, making sure that it keeps turning.

[Mister Mets]

Most people, well, my age, wouldn't know what the BBB reference even was. I didn't. Even when I looked it up, most sites say it's a song.

Also, the Transgender rights movement is relatively new as far as really gaining ground and Conservatives, generally speaking, are not exactly on the same page in terms of social progress. I think some Conservatives may have reached 1970 by now or even 1980. I think of Jerry Seinfeld (no idea of his political leanings and this may just be age) talking like it's the death of comedy that gay jokes don't go over anymore. But I personally don't get where concern for other people's feelings should be a political issue.

I don't think there's more than anything else to the BBB reference than it just being silly. The words don't really mean anything, which is why it's an odd reason to call for someone to be fired.

As for the question of whether concerns for other people's feelings should be a political issue, that can get a little messy. Politicians and celebrities have often been mocked for efforts to appeal to other groups, especially if it comes across as tone-deaf or awkward. That's usually not seen as the same thing as mocking the group.

For example, a person can think that racism is wrong, but that the term Latinx is unwise (especially since a majority of people who would be considered Latinx aren't familiar with the term and those that are prefer something else.)

Moderate Republicans like Collins and Murkowski are nothing but unprincipled opportunists who don't really stand for anything, so trying to use them as some barometer for sensible politics in this day and age is a bit silly. The point is that the moneyed interests in this country are overwhelmingly conservative, and that it is their opposition that blocks most meaningful social change, regardless of which party is in power.

And as for Carano, why else would she put that in her profile if not to offend people, is there some kind of funny joke in there that everyone missed? If we were all just to let that kind of thing slide, then she would just keep on pushing the envelope until she did something that undeniably crossed the line, and then I'm sure all the legions of terminally online keyboard warriors would find some reason to defend her anyway. Better to just nip the whole thing in the bud before it gets out of hand, it's not like she was really contributing much anyway, so it's no loss to let her go.

While I am more likely to agree politically with moderate Republicans, I would argue that terms like conservative (or progressive or liberal) should be relative. The term "moderate" shouldn't be seen as code for someone being correct. It just means there are a large number of elected officials to their left and right.

There are all sorts of reasons to tell a joke. She said it was a response to the sense that people were bullied into a particular type of conformity. Pretty much every joke you can think of can offend someone, if you go with the least generous interpretation.

One drawback with making this a cause for firing someone is that it can convince a lot of people that if they worked for Disney, their views would also seen as so disgusting as to merit termination, which may make them less interested in buying Disney products.

[Mister Mets]

Well, Sen. Collins can take all of her repeated concerns about Sen. Schumer, and write them down with the list of concerns she kept saying she had about Donald Trump, and then crumple that paper up and shove all of them ALL THE WAY up her ***.

That's a fantastic way to get the vote of someone who will be in the Senate for the next six years, at a time when Democrats have a very slim lead.

Collins says she's the most bi-partisan member of the Senate? After voting to confirm all three of Trump's Supreme Court picks (among other votes)? Just STFU, Esmerelda!

She voted against Amy Coney Barrett.

She remains willing to vote for Biden nominees who are opposed by the majority of most Republicans.

There is a separate argument that partisans who agree with you are better than people who are bipartisan, but that should be advocated explicitly.

[Marvell2100]

Lemme guess, Faux News kicked Dash off the plantation. Sorry, sweet cheeks, way to little, WAY too late.

Yup, she done lost her FOX gig and is trying to make her way back to the other side. Sorry Darth Dash, there will be no conversion for you. You will remain a Sith.

I'm sure Madam Pearl Clutcher is all kinds of concerned about being concerned. No doubt Collins is writing a letter to express her concern even as I type these words of wit.

Collins is so concerned that she wants to do a TV special and have Oprah interview her.