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

[Tami]

Arguing against statehood for DC, congressman says it has no car dealerships (it does)

Washington (CNN)Rep. Jody Hice had an interesting Monday.

Hice, a Georgia Republican who has been in Congress since 2015, announced that he was running for Georgia secretary of state. He received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Then Hice argued that the District of Columbia should not be a state, in part because it does not have a car dealership. Next, he apologized after being told that DC does have car dealerships -- though he explained that he still did not know where to find one.

Hice made his argument during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on a bill that would make the District of Columbia the 51st state. The district has a population of about 700,000 but does not have voting members of Congress -- only a delegate in the House of Representatives.

Hice, warning that DC gets some special funding from the federal government, said the country's founders wanted to avoid the district becoming "first among states." He continued: "DC would be the only state, the only state, without an airport, without a car dealership, without a capital city, without a landfill. ..."

Except DC does have car dealerships, as a Google search or visit to the DC Department of Motor Vehicles website -- or perhaps a leisurely drive around town -- would have shown.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Ah yes, landfills. The true mark of civilization

[Kirby101]

This is the man Trump has picked to oust the current Georgia Sec of State, who refused to cheat for Trump.

[PwrdOn]

1) That's not true. The liberal faction in Iran wants the nuclear deal for their own reasons. And they currently control the public face of the government.
2) Not true. We know Pakistan helped supply them with nuclear technology so the idea they are disconnected from the global economy is false as is their need to access hard currency to mantain the regime. Isolating them prevents further proliferation of nuclear weapons and gives them much less to resources to invest in their nuclear program. The fact they haven't gotten very far with the ICBM program shows it's working. The other option would be to let them grow and become a threat to South Korea and Japan, which is again not an option.




1) Again that's totally not true and totally misunderstands what refugees are or even the commonly accepted definition of them (https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/what-is-a-refugee.html). Refugee problems are from internal and external conflicts (such as the proliferation of extremist Islamist groups in MENA/Africa or unchecked gangs in Central America) where the refugee have no choice but to leave because of the security situation due to fear of persecution. The fall of the Soviet Union or North Korea's Arduous March shows that your argument is bogus.
2) Because that's one of the countries under EU sanctions for the human rights violations being committed in Ethiopia. Trying to stop them from exporting their problems seems to be a pretty good reason for sanctions.

The liberals in Iran lost pretty much all of the credibility they had domestically when Trump withdrew from the deal, and now even they are demanding that all of the sanctions be lifted before they are willing to negotiate any further. And even if by some miracle we can come to another agreement, the next Republican administration will just unilaterally withdraw from it just like Trump did, and everyone knows this, so there is absolutely no incentive for the Iranians to play ball. And honestly, given what has happened to their neighbors over the last few decades, Iran would be insane not to keep pursuing nuclear development, it's the only real guarantee that they won't be invaded.

As for North Korea, their existing nuclear arsenal is already more than enough to threaten South Korea and Japan, so if that's the concern I'm not sure what all of these sanctions have really accomplished aside from starving millions of peasants. And again, North Korea only builds nukes to ensure the security of their regime, what reason would they have to launch some an offensive war that they would have no chance of winning? In fact I'm not even sure what the endgame of our North Korea policy is anymore, since it is generally agreed that the collapse of the regime would lead to a massive economic crisis as South Korea sees their people as a massive burden that they don't want to take on, and thus would prefer to just keep Kim in power for now and deal with the problem later.

If we really want to show we cared about human rights, we should maybe try leading by example and getting our own house in order. Cynically wielding human rights like a cudgel to advance our geopolitical agenda only harms innocent civilians, and makes people even more distrustful and hostile towards us.

[Bruce Wayne]

1) Iran is an imperial state with claws in Lebanon/Syria/Iraq. The idea they re afraid of invasion is laughable. The security of the state is not an issue. The reasons the IRGC/Supreme Leader wants nukes is a) prestige in its Cold War against the Sunni Arab States and b)more importantly a further tool in its state ideology and their war against "imperialism" and "zionism".
2) The food insecurity in North Korea has very little to do with sanctions and more to do with mismanagement of North Korean agriculture by Kim Il Sung and its heavy dependence on fertilizers and fuel from the Soviet Union, which they lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It's not SouthKorea/Japan/America's fault they starved their people and diverted food aid to feed the military. Again their current quest for nukes and ICBM are less to do with regime survival and more to do with prestige, making themselves into one of a handful of nuclear powers and more leverage in extracting concessions from powers like South Korea/China/Japan/America. It's absolutely not about regime security since none of the powers including South Korea and America are interested in the collapse of the North Korean state and being forced to clean up the Kim family's mess and on the hook for probably trillions in foreign aid.

If we really want to show we cared about human rights, we should maybe try leading by example and getting our own house in order.
Cynically wielding human rights like a cudgel to advance our geopolitical agenda only harms innocent civilians, and makes people even more distrustful and hostile towards us.[

That's absolutely nonsensical. Leading by example is not going to change the behavior of undemocratic/one-party regimes. Putin cementing power in Russia demonstrates that regardless of the EU's own human rights record, it's not going to change Putin's behavior in killing reporters/opposition figures. The only way you can change them is through real or imagined pressure whether it be economical or military. Trying to reduce the EU's interest in human rights down to a cynical grab for power absolutely misses the fact that promoting its ideology and creating liberal states like the EU member nations has its own benefit in that they create states that they can engage with and predict and not unpredictable/expansionist states like North Korea or Iran.

[CSTowle]

I think it's both things. The intent of sanctions in theory might be to try and leverage countries with goals/philosophies different from our own into behaving as we like and at times might work or at least help, but in practice it always hurts those at the bottom and the most vulnerable. The same with indiscriminate bombing/drone strikes, use of torture black sites (still using by the way, nobody imposing sanctions on us though), exploiting cheap labor or extraction of resources from poorer/weaker countries, forcing poverty-stricken countries to take on loans that we know they'll never pay back to keep them in a debt spiral and allow for easier extraction of wealth/labor, etc.

All things we do all of the time, all around the world, which makes it hard for a neutral third party to take a look at our actions and demands for change in countries/regimes that oppose our goals on the basis of "fighting for human rights" and take us seriously. Not to say that we shouldn't be working on making things better, or even protecting our interests, just that sanctions/starvation/enforced poverty (or torture/bombing/exploitation/theft) might not be the best or even most effective way to go about it. It's something that's pretty easy for us to do, and it does (as the kids say) "virtue signal" that we're not on board with the bad behavior of those who oppose our goals. But again it's likely just going to make things harder on those who have the least say in those societies, and continue the bad will we've earned in those places for generations to come.

[PwrdOn]

1) Iran is an imperial state with claws in Lebanon/Syria/Iraq. The idea they re afraid of invasion is laughable. The security of the state is not an issue. The reasons the IRGC/Supreme Leader wants nukes is a) prestige in its Cold War against the Sunni Arab States and b)more importantly a further tool in its state ideology and their war against "imperialism" and "zionism".
2) The food insecurity in North Korea has very little to do with sanctions and more to do with mismanagement of North Korean agriculture by Kim Il Sung and its heavy dependence on fertilizers and fuel from the Soviet Union, which they lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It's not SouthKorea/Japan/America's fault they starved their people and diverted food aid to feed the military. Again their current quest for nukes and ICBM are less to do with regime survival and more to do with prestige, making themselves into one of a handful of nuclear powers and more leverage in extracting concessions from powers like South Korea/China/Japan/America. It's absolutely not about regime security since none of the powers including South Korea and America are interested in the collapse of the North Korean state and being forced to clean up the Kim family's mess and on the hook for probably trillions in foreign aid.


That's absolutely nonsensical. Leading by example is not going to change the behavior of undemocratic/one-party regimes. Putin cementing power in Russia demonstrates that regardless of the EU's own human rights record, it's not going to change Putin's behavior in killing reporters/opposition figures. The only way you can change them is through real or imagined pressure whether it be economical or military. Trying to reduce the EU's interest in human rights down to a cynical grab for power absolutely misses the fact that promoting its ideology and creating liberal states like the EU member nations has its own benefit in that they create states that they can engage with and predict and not unpredictable/expansionist states like North Korea or Iran.

The EU's member states have waged genocidal wars of extermination across every continent and killed hundreds of millions of people in the process, I'm scratching my head to think of the last time Iran or North Korea did anything like that. Just because they happen to have elections, in which far right ultranationalist parties seem to always get a much greater share of the vote than seems possible in wealthy and modern societies, doesn't give them the moral authority to dictate to anyone else what's right and wrong. And if anything, the fallout of the Iran deal shows that the "imperalist" Iranians were the ones acting in good faith while the Western powers were the ones that broke their promises and reimposed sanctions for no other reason than posturing for a domestic audience, so I don't know why anyone would think that creating more "liberal states" would somehow restore trust in international relations. Besides, how exactly do sanctions promote liberalization if the goal is not regime change? Even if the goal was simply to punish nations that buck the Western-led international order to try and intimidate neighboring countries into cooperating, I don't see how that is going to work out either. After all these years, the entire Middle East remains pretty uniformly anti-Western, even as various groups jockey for power and influence among themselves, and all of these efforts to contain Russia have only managed to create a bunch of borderline fascist regimes in Eastern Europe that the EU should probably be more focused on if they actually cared about human rights, instead of tilting at far off windmills.

[Robotman]

Postmaster General announces 10-year plan including longer mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours

Dejoy still trying to weaponize the USPS for the Qpublicans. I was really hoping that with the Dems in control of two of the three branches they would be able to secure voting rights. Unfortunately Biden can’t get rid of Dejoy.

[Iron Maiden]

Postmaster General announces 10-year plan including longer mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours

Dejoy still trying to weaponize the USPS for the Qpublicans. I was really hoping that with the Dems in control of two of the three branches they would be able to secure voting rights. Unfortunately Biden can’t get rid of Dejoy.

One way to get rid of DeJoy has been making the rounds. If Biden decides to appoint new members to the USPS Board of Governors, then the new Board would have the power to get rid of DeJoy and fire him.

[Malvolio]

Postmaster General announces 10-year plan including longer mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours

Dejoy still trying to weaponize the USPS for the Qpublicans. I was really hoping that with the Dems in control of two of the three branches they would be able to secure voting rights. Unfortunately Biden can’t get rid of Dejoy.

http://https://www.theonion.com/usps...ter-1846538308

This is what I thought the original link was referring to.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Colorado Suspect Purchased Assault Weapon 6 Days Before Shooting

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa bought the weapon on March 16, just six days before the attack at a King Soopers store in Boulder. I've said this before, and I'll say it again...civilians have ZERO business owning weapons used by cops and the military. Meanwhile....

**********

Judge Blocked Boulder’s Assault Weapons Ban Just Days Before Deadly Shooting

“This [shooting] is directly on the heels of the trial court staying the assault weapons ban our city had enacted,” Boulder City Councilor Rachel Friend said. Coincidence? I think not!

**********

Republican Senator’s Call For ‘Idiot Control’ Instead Of Gun Control Backfires Badly

Twitter users lambaste John Kennedy over his weird comments less than 24 hours after a mass shooting. More proof that members of the so-called "Party of Life" don't give a shit about American lives lost to gun violence.

**********

Ken Jeong Speaks Out On Anti-Asian Violence: This ‘Kung Flu’ S**t Has To Stop

The “Masked Singer” judge did not hide his feelings about the snowball effect that Trump’s racist nicknames for the coronavirus have had on Asian Americans.

**********

WA Sheriff Under Fire For Calling 911 On Black Newspaper Delivery Driver

Activists called on Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer to resign after he told police the driver “threatened” him. He later recanted his account to police. Delivering Newspapers While Black. Shit like that has to stop!

[Gray Lensman]

Republican Senator’s Call For ‘Idiot Control’ Instead Of Gun Control Backfires Badly

Twitter users lambaste John Kennedy over his weird comments less than 24 hours after a mass shooting. More proof that members of the so-called "Party of Life" don't give a shit about American lives lost to gun violence.

**********

The NRA and its allies won't even let us do that much, sueing to overturn even laws that try to limit themselves to mere "idiot control.".

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published its profile of Marg Baker, a former candidate for the Florida House of Representatives in 2012 who would give her stump speech and use words like “earmarks” and “pork” without understanding what those terms actually mean. She also demonized ACORN, thinking that it was a sinister plot to commit massive voter fraud based on the bogus investigative report released by Breitbart journalist James O’Keefe that demonized the organization, and she never did wise up to the fact that it was all a hoax. Baker’s campaign website also only would release statements that were directly from her, without the benefit of having any proof-reading done, either by editing software or by a human being and thus, filled with a variety of glaring spelling errors. And one of those garbled screeds on immigration featured Baker’s idea to round up all the undocumented workers and put them in internment camps. When asked about this stance, Baker seemed to think it was a practice used against immigrants in the 1940s and 1950s, and there is still some uncertainty if she can’t tell a free immigrant from a captive one, or if she remembers Japanese internment camps as having been filled with Mexicans. Baker obviously flopped in the primary for her seat, and is no longer being propped up by Glenn Beck’s 9/12 movement as a Tea Party candidate, fading from view entirely.


In 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of Matt Schaefer, who has served in the Texas House of Representatives now since 2012, and seems to be brain-damaged in a way that makes him focus on certain issues more than Texas Republicans usually do. On firearms, he co-sponsored HB 910, to authorize the concealed carry of handguns, voted for SB 11, to authorize concealed handguns on college campuses, and co-sponsored HB 928, a bill to cut funding to any state law enforcement agency that attempts to enforce federal firearms laws. Schaefer also has voted to drug test welfare recipients (always a failed conservative policy), voted against equal pay for women, and voted for Texas' HB 2, one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws ever passed in the United States. That still didn't sate his appetite for anti-abortion fanaticism, as he proposed an amendment to Texas HB 2510 that would force pregnant women to carry even non-viable fetuses to term after 20 weeks of pregnancy, even if the fetus had a "severe or irreversible abnormality" or it meant the fact that carrying a stillborn child to term could risk them dying of sepsis or other unnecessary suffering. He defended the move by citing scripture, saying that suffering is "part of the human condition, since sin entered the world." Oh, and in August of 2014, Schaefer provided a unique solution to our nation's immigration dilemma... he called for "covert" and "overt" military operations to be carried out in Mexico against crime cartels. Yes, that's correct... he called for American forces to invade one of our allies. In the past session of the Texas state legislature, Schaefer was working to pass transphobic bathroom legislation to keep people at the state capitol from using the bathroom of their biological gender.

And, wouldn't you know it, Matt Schaefer was elected to a fourth term in 2018 on the benefit of running unopposed by a Democrat, and only having Rabbi Neal Katz run against him as an Independent candidate in the general election. Schaefer completely stepped in s*** after a series of mass shootings in Midland and Odessas, Texas in September of 2019, even before Odessa even had an official body count… Schaefer decided to go online on Facebook to provide his thoughts on gun control, and how the real solution was… PRAYING:

“I am NOT going to use the evil acts of a handful of people to diminish the God-given rights of my fellow Texans. Period.
None of these so-called gun-control solutions will work to stop a person with evil intent. I say NO to ‘red flag’ pre-crime laws. NO to universal background checks. NO to bans on AR-15s, or high capacity magazines. NO to mandatory gun buybacks.
What can we do? YES to praying for victims. YES to praying for protection. YES to praying that God would transform the hearts of people with evil intent. YES to fathers not leaving their wives and children. YES to discipline in the homes. YES to supporting our public schools.

Schaefer was re-elected again in 2020 with 68% of the vote, and got right back to work making sure that any Governor of Texas, now or in the future, wouldn’t even have the power during a public emergency to make orders to keep the populace safe… like say, a mask mandate during a pandemic. He's spent more time online ranting about that, and coming out hard against no-brainer ideas like Covid-19 relief, or raising the minimum wage, while barely making any mention of conservative ideology causing the Texas power grid to collapse during a February winter storm and people freezing to death in their homes.

Truly, he is only going to further the GOP’s descent into becoming a full-on death cult under the guise of “freedom”.

[JackDaw]

EU seem to be ratcheting up vendetta against Astra Zeneca, another raid on AZ premises (this time in Italy) looking for hidden COVID stores.

Really it’s getting bizarre....EU countries have suspended use of AZ vaccine a few times on (apparently) spurious safety grounds, have unused stocks running into millions, but is paranoid about allowing the vaccine to go elsewhere.

[OopsIdiditagain]

EU seem to be ratcheting up vendetta against Astra Zeneca, another raid on AZ premises (this time in Italy) looking for hidden COVID stores.

Really it’s getting bizarre....EU countries have suspended use of AZ vaccine a few times on (apparently) spurious safety grounds, have unused stocks running into millions, but is paranoid about allowing the vaccine to go elsewhere.

Post-Brexit European politics is something else.