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

[worstblogever]

Not a fan of Trump, but probably should hold up on making fun of forgetful people who may not have control of all their bodily functions while also supporting Joe Biden.

Hypothetical: Joe Biden does the same thing and puts his pants on backwards.
The Right's response would be: "INVOKE THE 25th Amendment!"
My response: "Oh, obviously. President Harris. OK."
The Right: "WAIT, NO, WAIT..."

[Mister Mets]

Trump last night:

Pantsgate has been resolved. A still photo confirms that the fly is present on the pants.

https://twitter.com/DylanReeve/statu...02594825035776

All it took was people looking at the crotch of an overweight septugenarian.

[CaptainEurope]

Pantsgate has been resolved. A still photo confirms that the fly is present on the pants.

https://twitter.com/DylanReeve/statu...02594825035776

All it took was people looking at the crotch of an overweight septugenarian.

Nature is healing.

[Tendrin]

He is basically waiting for the Party that is passing voter suppression bills, and has publicly stated that that is the only way they can win, to join the Democrats on laws to fight Voter Suppression.
It's hard to know if he is just blind to what the Senate and the GOP has become because these are his "buddies". Or he knows what he is saying is bullshit and he just doesn't give a damn if we lose our Democracy.

Manchin thinks he can get enough votes to restore pre-clearance. He won't. But, really, Manchin and Sinema are the public faces of refusing to end the filibuster and opposing HR 1, but it's unlikely they're alone.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Manchin thinks he can get enough votes to restore pre-clearance. He won't. But, really, Manchin and Sinema are the public faces of refusing to end the filibuster and opposing HR 1, but it's unlikely they're alone.

I feel complaining about Manchin is as much of a waste of time as centrist crybabies whining about "defunding the police". No other Democrat is likely to take West Virginia and after Manchin, it seems WV will go red. Ultimately Schumer and Biden need to find some way to talk to Manchin.

Sinema on the other hand...she's a hack and should be primaried by the Dems. Where WV seems downward spiral to red, AZ is going towards "warm sunlit uplands".

As for voting rights, obviously Manchin's inaction will be costly and we should hold his feet to the fire on that. At the same time, even if Manchin comes along (and Sinema will follow Manchin it seems) it's likely the SCOTUS will try and gut it too.

[Tami]

There is a debate brewing on whether Donald Trump showed up to his speech at the NC GOP convention last night... if Trump was wearing a diaper under his business slacks, or if he had his pants on backwards.

Feel free to observe the video in the linked Twitter post, and weigh in.

Talk is he was wearing elastic waist pants, poorly. Assuming that the video is unaltered, and we've all been taken by fake videos, then he is definitely wearing them to cover his adult diapers.

It might even be related to this: Post-COVID Conditions

Having had COVID, Trump may, possibly, be experiencing symptoms that make other conditions that he already had even worse.

There is this: COVID-19 inflammation results in urine cytokine elevation and causes COVID-19 associated cystitis (CAC)

In layman's terms, COVID-19 can cause urinary frequency , so it is possible that Post-COVID may also cause long term urinary frequency.

edit: The question regarding his current health is a fair one to consider. If something did happen to him, there are hundreds of radical and violent far-right types who might go ballistic, or who might not.

[Tami]

Pantsgate has been resolved. A still photo confirms that the fly is present on the pants.

https://twitter.com/DylanReeve/statu...02594825035776

All it took was people looking at the crotch of an overweight septugenarian.

Fair enough, but it is understandable to want to consider the possible health issues of an ex-president who has never revealed his actual medical conditions and who is still a serious and problematic issue to deal with.

[CSTowle]

Part of Biden's speech patterns is that he is a stutterer. He will pause and find another word when he feels he might start to stutter.

There's that, but I've watched the guy run for President for decades and as VP for 8. He's definitely lost a step. He sometimes slurs his words, and seems to forget. As I've said before, 85% of Biden is far preferable to any % of Trump but I can't deny looking at him and listening to him that he's not at 100%. Father Time is undefeated.

Hypothetical: Joe Biden does the same thing and puts his pants on backwards.
The Right's response would be: "INVOKE THE 25th Amendment!"
My response: "Oh, obviously. President Harris. OK."
The Right: "WAIT, NO, WAIT..."

It's hard to take anything they say seriously. It's horrible to say, but I almost hope he elevates her and retires before '24. Unless he's able to maintain this level of awareness/articulation. If he deteriorates further and there's someone more charismatic on the R side (aside from Trump) I think we may be in trouble.

Pantsgate has been resolved. A still photo confirms that the fly is present on the pants.

https://twitter.com/DylanReeve/statu...02594825035776

All it took was people looking at the crotch of an overweight septugenarian.

I believe it's called a "FUPA".

[CaptainEurope]

For those of you who speak German (or trust google translate), here is a great interview with Germany's version of Dr. Fauci, Christian Drosten.

He was actually involved with discovering and describing the first SARS.

The main takeaways:

• He is not buying the lab theory. He says if the new virus was engineered (whether for innocent research or as a weapon), it would look differently. Then entire "backbone" of the virus has changed since the first SARS.
  
• His theory is that "racoon dog", a species widely used in hundreds of fur farms in china to produce fur brims for winter coats, caught the virus from bats (which they love to eat) than passed it on to the workers at the fur farms.
  
• As far as he is aware, China is either refusing to test that obvious theory by swabbing some dog snouts, or they are doing it secretly. Nothing has been published on this.
  
• He says there will be no herd immunity: Everybody who does not get vaccinated will catch the virus eventually - maybe not this year, but the year after or 2 years after.
  
• The good news: He expects the vaccines to have a lasting protective effect based on t-cell immunity. He does not see mutations outsmarting the vaccines.

[Tendrin]

I feel complaining about Manchin is as much of a waste of time as centrist crybabies whining about "defunding the police". No other Democrat is likely to take West Virginia and after Manchin, it seems WV will go red. Ultimately Schumer and Biden need to find some way to talk to Manchin.

Sinema on the other hand...she's a hack and should be primaried by the Dems. Where WV seems downward spiral to red, AZ is going towards "warm sunlit uplands".

As for voting rights, obviously Manchin's inaction will be costly and we should hold his feet to the fire on that. At the same time, even if Manchin comes along (and Sinema will follow Manchin it seems) it's likely the SCOTUS will try and gut it too.

I don't disagree with any of this take at all.

[Kirby101]

More from the horrible ruling yesterday. It was anything but measured and reasonable.

https://twitter.com/gabrielmalor/sta...79087520776192





For the record, hundreds have died in mass shootings in California.

About a dozen reported vaccine related deaths nationally.

The 2.2 shots is a FACT cited by the California AG that this judge willfully misused in his decision.

And I notice those defending this travesty still won't say that any firearm can be banned from personal use and react with the same NRA bull, that gun law advocates are saying all weapons can be banned, when they are not.
The NRA and their ilk do not believe in any law to regulate the ownership and use of firearms. And I see the same arguments here.

[MacrossPlus]

Manchin would rather live in **** than let the country see him work a shovel. Politically, WV is a lost cause and no other democrat will be able to win there for decades to come. Sinema, OTOH, has basically become a socialite, she's only cares about the status of being an elected offical and the attention it brings.

[Kirby101]

Manchin would rather live in **** than let the country see him work a shovel. Politically, WV is a lost cause and no other democrat will be able to win there for decades to come. Sinema, OTOH, has basically become a socialite, she's only cares about the status of being an elected offical and the attention it brings.

As for Sinema, you only have to watch her gleeful F U to working people as she voted down a minimum raise hike.
She gave a big thumbs down, but it was really a middle finger to the "little people".

[Amadeus Arkham]

Major Kyrsten Sinema Supporter Says Abolish Filibuster Or Get Out Of The Senate

[CSTowle]

On the elimination of the filibuster, I'll admit as much as I enjoy discussing politics I'm not as knowledgeable as many posters here on the fine details of things so please enlighten me but it seems to me if we eliminate the filibuster then when (not if, but when) Republicans regain power won't that mean there are no checks on them doing absolutely anything they want to do?

If that is the case, how is it in any way responsible to call for its elimination? Are the things we'd do in the short term that vital that we're willing to let another Trump come in with free rein and no way to stop him/her from enacting harmful policies? How would our country look today if we'd given Trump those four years with no check on his powers? Even with them he's done harm that may last decades, if not longer.

I'm honestly curious, what's the argument? Do you believe a Democratic Party with free rein would do such a good job that they'd retain a majority indefinitely? Do you believe if not, that by contrasting what they'd do if given free rein with what we did the public would choose to vote Democratic more often overall? Is it simply emotional venting of frustration at the slow pace of progress in our system, and those of you advocating for the end of the filibuster know very well it isn't going anywhere and that it shouldn't but want to scream into the void/internet in frustration? Again, please, enlighten me.