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

[worstblogever]

It was a given that because the GQP has become captive to the Trump cult of personality that any of the party who voted to certify the election results and accept that Joe Biden is president, or any member who voted to hold Trump accountable for 1/6 would be persona non grata within it, and would have a MAGA-fueled primary challenger. The initial "holy s***" example is in Wyoming's At-Large District, where Liz Cheney will face a challenge from Anthony Bouchard, who at 19 committed statutory rape, got his victim pregnant, and she was forced into a marriage with him.

We have another contender for a MAGA-obsessed wackaloon in Michigan's 3rd Congressional District, where the heir to the Meijer stores fortune, Peter Meijer, has proven "disloyal" by not rejecting reality and kowtowing to Trump, and thus he faces Audra Lemons-Johnson... who made the news for having a Kalamazoo wedding where she got married in a MAGA wedding dress:



The father of the groom refused to attend the wedding because Trump's racist, and he wasn't about to act like this s*** is normal.

Now, you might say, "That's one dress, it's not like she's into conspiracy theor-"

Here's her Instagram page, which features her sharing anti-mask messages against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the pandemic, and numerous photos of Lemons-Johnson wearing "Stop the Steal" merch. Oh, and she also shared posts about how AOC supposedly lied about being hunted down during the Capitol attack.

Pretty sure I'm rooting for Peter Meijer to win the primary.

[Tami]

Joe Manchin is opposing big parts of Biden’s agenda as the Koch network pressures him

The political advocacy group backed by billionaire Charles Koch has been pressuring Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to oppose key parts of the Democratic agenda, including filibuster reform and voting rights legislation.

That lobbying effort appears to be paying off. Manchin, in a recent op-ed, wrote that he opposed eliminating the filibuster and that he would not vote for the For the People Act, which, advocates say, would limit the influence of big donors on elections.

President Joe Biden has called some of the voting restrictions proposed by Republican leaders in several states “sick” and “un-American.” The president has praised the For the People Act and has said the filibuster must be changed.

Sixty votes are needed to break the filibuster in the Senate in order to allow legislation to get a final vote. Democrats, who have 50 seats, have narrow control of the chamber because of Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It was a given that because the GQP has become captive to the Trump cult of personality that any of the party who voted to certify the election results and accept that Joe Biden is president, or any member who voted to hold Trump accountable for 1/6 would be persona non grata within it, and would have a MAGA-fueled primary challenger. The initial "holy s***" example is in Wyoming's At-Large District, where Liz Cheney will face a challenge from Anthony Bouchard, who at 19 committed statutory rape, got his victim pregnant, and she was forced into a marriage with him.

We have another contender for a MAGA-obsessed wackaloon in Michigan's 3rd Congressional District, where the heir to the Meijer stores fortune, Peter Meijer, has proven "disloyal" by not rejecting reality and kowtowing to Trump, and thus he faces Audra Lemons-Johnson... who made the news for having a Kalamazoo wedding where she got married in a MAGA wedding dress:



The father of the groom refused to attend the wedding because Trump's racist, and he wasn't about to act like this s*** is normal.

Now, you might say, "That's one dress, it's not like she's into conspiracy theor-"

Here's her Instagram page, which features her sharing anti-mask messages against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the pandemic, and numerous photos of Lemons-Johnson wearing "Stop the Steal" merch. Oh, and she also shared posts about how AOC supposedly lied about being hunted down during the Capitol attack.

Pretty sure I'm rooting for Peter Meijer to win the primary.

It's abysmally sad that the GQP has zero platform to run on, other than hate, racism, bigotry, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, guns and greed. Even worse, Qpublicans take pride in all that ugliness.

[Robotman]

Joe Manchin is opposing big parts of Biden’s agenda as the Koch network pressures him

So the Koch network will be the ones to take down democracy. Hell, I would have taken that bet. Easy money.

It's abysmally sad that the GQP has zero platform to run on, other than hate, racism, bigotry, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, guns and greed. Even worse, Qpublicans take pride in all that ugliness.

I think it’s even more tragic and depressing that they win with this platform.

[BeastieRunner]

A religious-like devotion to politics in America.

Religious-like devotion to politics is showing signs of replacing traditional religious affiliation. Listen to Monitor Washington bureau chief Linda Feldmann discussing her cover story on Australia’s ABC radio network.

You know ... that explains a lot.

[numberthirty]

Man, again with this garbage. If anything, it is an even more inexcusable instance.

Again... Not so much a surprise as it is a disappointment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/n...l-lawsuit.html

Biden Justice Department Seeks to Defend Trump in Suit Over Rape Denial

During the presidential campaign, Joseph R. Biden Jr., then the Democratic candidate, slammed his opponent, Donald J. Trump, for a highly unusual legal move: bringing in the Justice Department to represent him in a defamation lawsuit stemming from a decades-old rape allegation.

At one of their debates, Mr. Biden accused Mr. Trump of treating the Justice Department like his “own law firm” in the suit, filed against him by the writer E. Jean Carroll. “What’s that all about?” he sarcastically asked.

But on Monday night, nearly eight months after Mr. Biden’s attack, his own Justice Department essentially adopted Mr. Trump’s position, arguing that he could not be sued for defamation because he had made the supposedly offending statements as part of his official duties as president.

In a brief filed with a federal appeals court in New York, the Justice Department acknowledged that Mr. Trump’s remarks about Ms. Carroll were “crude and disrespectful,” but the department also claimed that the Trump administration’s arguments were correct — a position that could lead to Ms. Carroll’s lawsuit being dismissed.

[numberthirty]

Watching Vice President Harris talk about "Root Causes..." while completely side-stepping the question "How Much Of The 'Root Causes...' Is Simply The United States Being The United States?..." is bit of a bummer.

It's like someone is trying to fix that their family is a mess while avoiding dealing with the fact that the father is an alcoholic.

[Tami]

Watching Vice President Harris talk about "Root Causes..." while completely side-stepping the question "How Much Of The 'Root Causes...' Is Simply The United States Being The United States?..." is bit of a bummer.

It's like someone is trying to fix that their family is a mess while avoiding dealing with the fact that the father is an alcoholic.

I think the answer is obvious, all of the root causes.

[numberthirty]

I think the answer is obvious, all of the root causes.

Which will never even be discussed at this rate.

If this will just be one more time where America really does nothing to deal with that America simply going about the business of being America creates most of this instability?

How are you going to deal with all of the root causes?

VP Harris brought up Fentanyl smuggling coming through ports in Mexico.

If you are going to talk about that without talking about what is driving where those drugs will eventually wind up?

You are not actually being even remotely serious about dealing with any of this.

Not the smuggling.

Not the human trafficking that goes hand in hand with smuggling.

Not the damage that the black market that both of the above existing does to Mexico and Central/South America.

[Mister Mets]

Watching Vice President Harris talk about "Root Causes..." while completely side-stepping the question "How Much Of The 'Root Causes...' Is Simply The United States Being The United States?..." is bit of a bummer.

It's like someone is trying to fix that their family is a mess while avoiding dealing with the fact that the father is an alcoholic.

She did not do a great job with the interview.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...sm/7600802002/

I think most people here would come up with a better answer about why she hasn't visited the border yet (IE- the criticism is about optics and not substance.)

But her explanation that she's trying to make conditions better in Central America so that there would be less refugees doesn't quite cut it. There should be a plan in place to keep people out, regardless of that. I do suspect it won't go well politically to blame the United States for everything. "The United States is the equivalent of an alcoholic father" is not a winning campaign strategy for an American politician.

[CSTowle]

Man, again with this garbage. If anything, it is an even more inexcusable instance.

Again... Not so much a surprise as it is a disappointment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/n...l-lawsuit.html

Possible defense: politics has devolved to the point where anything that can be used to hold up progress or attack the other side will be used, norms and spirit of laws be damned. If a party can sue the President for defamation then we'll likely end up with organized repetitive suits against Biden as part of a tactic to (ironically) slander him and distract him from the job at hand. And, given that he's not Trump and slander isn't coming out of his mouth any time he needs a break from outright lies, I feel confident he's not going to now go on a steady run of defamation-suit worthy commentary. Is it a great look? No. Is it surprising that a Clinton-style centrist is protecting his own @$$ and Presidential powers? Again, no. But it might be for the best.

A religious-like devotion to politics in America.




You know ... that explains a lot.

People tend to seek something. Whether that's religion, a tribe/community to belong to, something to believe in, we all have it. As someone who realized early on in life that religion wasn't for me I try (not always successfully) to examine my beliefs from time to time to determine whether those beliefs are valid because they're comforting or because they make some sort of sense. Problem being, one can talk themselves into believing or justifying almost anything if they'd like to so it's not 100% perfect. And we all have our ignorance/blind spots. I think certainty, and the lack of interest in self-examination is the problem with religious/devoted thinking. Solid, unwavering belief is more comforting than shaky/prone to change with new information beliefs. And when someone questions our beliefs it can lead to lashing out (even if only verbally/in writing) in defense of them. That's true whether it involves gods, political leanings, or any other tribal/community-based thinking. Again, think we're all guilty of that to some extent.

[numberthirty]

She did not do a great job with the interview.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...sm/7600802002/

I think most people here would come up with a better answer about why she hasn't visited the border yet (IE- the criticism is about optics and not substance.)

But her explanation that she's trying to make conditions better in Central America so that there would be less refugees doesn't quite cut it. There should be a plan in place to keep people out, regardless of that. I do suspect it won't go well politically to blame the United States for everything. "The United States is the equivalent of an alcoholic father" is not a winning campaign strategy for an American politician.

What's in blue...

Honestly don't care about that much.

What's in green...

Doing the right thing isn't always something you wind up getting a career out of. Doesn't change that doing the right thing is worth undertaking.

[numberthirty]

Possible defense: politics has devolved to the point where anything that can be used to hold up progress or attack the other side will be used, norms and spirit of laws be damned. If a party can sue the President for defamation then we'll likely end up with organized repetitive suits against Biden as part of a tactic to (ironically) slander him and distract him from the job at hand. And, given that he's not Trump and slander isn't coming out of his mouth any time he needs a break from outright lies, I feel confident he's not going to now go on a steady run of defamation-suit worthy commentary. Is it a great look? No. Is it surprising that a Clinton-style centrist is protecting his own @$$ and Presidential powers? Again, no. But it might be for the best.

...

Then you need to start saying right around "Zilch..." when it comes to how terrible your opposition is.

Just shut up, and make the "Business As Usual..." move as far as maintaining Executive Branch power.

[Tami]

Ciattarelli Defeats Trump Loyalists in G.O.P. Primary to Take on Murphy

Jack Ciattarelli, a businessman and former lawmaker, beat back challenges from candidates loyal to former President Donald J. Trump to win Tuesday’s Republican primary in New Jersey, setting the stage for one of only two governor’s races in the nation in November.

Mr. Ciattarelli, a moderate former assemblyman making his second bid for governor, will now face Gov. Philip D. Murphy, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination and is hoping to ride high approval ratings for his handling of the pandemic to a second term.

Mr. Ciattarelli’s showing among his Republican base is considered likely to dictate the tenor and policy focus of the campaign. The election will come nearly a year into the first term of President Biden, a Democrat, making it an early bellwether of the electorate’s mood as the midterm congressional elections approach. Virginia is the only other state with a race for governor.

“What happens really influences the direction of the Republican Party going forward,” Dr. Koning said, adding that the election will indicate whether, in New Jersey, Republicans will “continue to follow the moderation that the party has been known for” or “become more nationalized toward Trumpism.”

[TheDarman]

Infrastructure talks between President Biden and Senator Capito collapse, but bipartisanship hasn’t had its day yet. Manchin is building a package with Portman, Romney, and Sinema to get something closer to what Biden may want.

I can’t help but feel this is Lucy with the Football again. It will probably a smaller package than Biden’s $1.7 trillion final offer. But because Manchin believes in bipartisanship as a process is an end in and of itself, even if the results are far less good, we are probably going to go all the way through this entire process only for McConnell to say he doesn’t support it and whip his senators to vote against it, just like they did with the ACA.

I wish we could just have it go through reconciliation. Use the last offer and push it through.