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

[Tami]

Listening to a report that Texas Democrats are planning to flee the state to prevent the passage of the Republican's voter suppression bill.

I'm guessing that they are concerned that the Republicans and the Governor might send the State Police after them to drag them back to the Statehouse or arrest them.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'm guessing that they are concerned that the Republicans and the Governor might send the State Police after them to drag them back to the Statehouse or arrest them.

I have no doubt Abbott would send the State Police after those Democrats and drag them back. That voter suppression bill means everything to Qpublicans in Texas and nothing is more important to them than getting it passed, not the border crisis, not the power grid problem, not ANYTHING.

[AnakinFlair]

Meanwhile in Cuba, protests have erupted over the past few days fueled by lack of vaccine distribution, lack of food, and a tanking economy. The Cuban President has, of course, blamed it on America and is calling for Communists and Revolutionaries to counter the protestors.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Meanwhile in Cuba, protests have erupted over the past few days fueled by lack of vaccine distribution, lack of food, and a tanking economy. The Cuban President has, of course, blamed it on America and is calling for Communists and Revolutionaries to counter the protestors.

"Fight my political enemies!"

Hmm, where have we heard that?

[BeastieRunner]

"Fight my political enemies!"

Hmm, where have we heard that?

It is the rallying cry of all inept authoritarians.

[Amadeus Arkham]

Video shows Mel Gibson saluting Donald Trump at UFC fight

[The Cool Thatguy]

Video shows Mel Gibson saluting Donald Trump at UFC fight

Remember that Simpsons episode when Mel complained about being too beloved. He's sure put that thing to bed.

[AnakinFlair]

Video shows Mel Gibson saluting Donald Trump at UFC fight

I was expecting a 'Seig Heil' type of salute from Mel.

[Jack Dracula]

I'm guessing that they are concerned that the Republicans and the Governor might send the State Police after them to drag them back to the Statehouse or arrest them.

Let them send the police to arrest and drag them back. They can carry them into the State Capitol and the Democrats can refuse to vote. The optics will be horrible for Abbot.

[kidfresh512]

Let them send the police to arrest and drag them back. They can carry them into the State Capitol and the Democrats can refuse to vote. The optics will be horrible for Abbot.

Not really. If the Dems stay it will pass. Their votes aren't needed their presence is. Leaving the state means the bills cannot pass. Texas Tribune

If it passed it would take a SC decision to reverse here. or Congress doing passing a Federal bill, that would still get challenged and go to SC as well. I have been impressed with the Texas Dems going to every length they possibly legally can. And notice how they dont ask for insurrection like the GOP.
They lobby Congress they bring attention to the issue, and they follow every rule and technicality they can to stall the bs the GOP is trying to get away with.

[Jack Dracula]

Basically the Democrats and democracy itself are f$&@ed.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazi...d-rules-498854

Democrats hands are tied. Republicans are no longer constrained by the necessity of preserving the democratic process. The only option for us is to overwhelm them at the polls.

[Kirby101]

Democrats hands are tied. Republicans are no longer constrained by the necessity of preserving the democratic process. The only option for us is to overwhelm them at the polls.

That's like saying the refs are corrupt, the only way to win is score at least 2 more touchdowns then them.
Sure, but the refs will just call a penalty on every score and let the other team interfere all they want.

[Robotman]

Democrats hands are tied. Republicans are no longer constrained by the necessity of preserving the democratic process. The only option for us is to overwhelm them at the polls.

But their efforts to limit Americans from voting, especially people who traditionally vote blue, will prevent any efforts to overwhelm. State Republicans are also making it easier to overturn elections if they don’t like the results and making efforts to have only their people count votes.

I know Democrats hands have been tied which has stalled any efforts to increase voting rights and access, but at the same time Republicans formalized a super organized game plan to ensure authoritarian rule for years to come.

If it wasn’t so damn evil, I would be impressed with how well they are gaming the system.

The threats to a free and fair election that have emerged since last November are real—and require nothing more than the willingness of state legislators to use and abuse the existing tools of government. Arizona, whose two new voting rules were just validated by the Supreme Court, also took the power to litigate election laws away from the (Democratic) Secretary of State and gave the power to the (Republican) Attorney General. In at least 8 states, Republicans are advancing legislation that would take power away from local or county boards. Many more states are moving to make voting harder. It might be anti-democratic, but it falls well within the rules.

Also within the rules: How McConnell helped build a federal bench almost certain to ratify the power of those legislatures to pass laws far more restrictive than the Arizona rules upheld last week. He creatively eviscerated Senate norms to keep Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court and hand Donald Trump an astonishing three nominations in a single term. And he’s recently suggested that, should a Supreme Court vacancy open, he’d block even consideration of a Biden nominee if the Republicans take the Senate back in 2022. This is abnormal, anti-democratic and a cynical abuse of power—but it’s legal within the existing rules.

[skyvolt2000]

https://news.yahoo.com/growing-animo...083200531.html

When Rydell Harrison started a new job as a school superintendent in southwestern Connecticut last August, he was excited to join a community that seemed committed to diversity and equity.

The Easton, Redding and Region 9 district, which covers two small, mostly white towns, had recently established a task force and allocated money to address the racial climate in schools. That decision was a response to the hundreds of students and recent alumni who wrote to school board members following George Floyd’s murder to describe racist incidents they’d experienced or witnessed at school. To Harrison, the task force was a sign that the community sat up and listened when young people advocated for change.

Things shifted, however, after the riot at the U.S. Capitol in January.

Some local residents started to complain that the diversity efforts were Harrison’s “agenda,” rather than something students and alumni requested. They labeled Harrison, the district’s first Black superintendent, an “activist” pushing to indoctrinate students with critical race theory. School board meetings filled with opponents lasted late into the night.

A mailer sent to community members from Nonpartisan Action for a Better Redding, a conservative nonprofit group, featured a Facebook post Harrison had written condemning conspiracy theories that fueled the Capitol riot, and it urged people to complain to school board members about him. Others mailers came from a political group called Save Our Schools, run by two Easton residents who no longer have children in the district, and questioned whether the district had a problem with bias and discrimination at all.

Harrison began to doubt whether he could lead the community on its diversity efforts in the face of so much opposition. At the end of June, he announced that he would resign.

Harrison is one of a small but growing number of educators who have left their jobs after school districts became inundated in recent months by furious parents who’ve accused them of teaching critical race theory, an academic framework usually taught in graduate schools that posits racial discrimination is embedded within U.S. laws and policies. Administrators at virtually every district facing these conflicts — including Harrison’s — have insisted they don’t teach critical race theory, but conservative activists are using that label for a range of diversity and equity initiatives that they consider too progressive, prompting lawmakers in 22 states to propose limits on how schools can talk about racial issues.

[Malvolio]

Republicans are willing to allow a lot of stuff in public schools.

There are several distinctions about what schools can teach and what schools have to teach. But anything in a curriculum is a school is a red state is something Republicans allow people to teach (this is not to say that Republicans should be the sole arbiters on this.)

You haven't answered my question. Please, give an example of Republicans being okay with a public school curriculum proposal that goes in depth on the realities of slavery in America.