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

[PwrdOn]

Fair enough, I recognize our "leading by example" in the repression/land theft tradition I just get frustrated that of all the bad actors in the world (including us) the only one it's considered taboo to even criticize is Israel. It's not like it's debatable they're bad actors, the only debate is whether you can justify their actions. And if criticism were tolerated and we had an open discussion about how much we want to support them then as I said perhaps they wouldn't be allowed to push as far and steal as much land/exploit the Palestinians as a working underclass. No other "ally" gets away with as much for as long with as little pushback as they do, and a good deal of that is on us for allowing it to happen and guarding them from even criticism (let alone consequences).

Ask the UN and the international community, who are pretty much united in condemning their actions. Most don't even want to talk about it for fear of being labeled antisemetic. That they're trying to prosecute people for starting a boycott of Israeli goods, not something beyond the pale or unusual for political activists looking for a non-violent way to protest a country/company's actions, is disgusting.

Well I think Joe Biden explained it best - Israel is useful to the US as a strategic outpost that we can use to insert ourselves into Middle Eastern affairs. It's easy to forget now but throughout much of the Cold War, the Arab world was more or less united behind a strongly nationalist and anti-colonial, but notably secular, pan-Arab ideology backed up by significant Soviet military aid, but their repeated defeats at the hands of the Israeli military broke the back of this movement and left the region the chaotic mess of failed states and hedonistic monarchies that it is today. Imagine if instead the Arab nations had continued down the path of secular nationalism and had been able to wield their economic and geopolitical leverage as a unified bloc, which would have created far more problems for Western foreign policymakers than scattered bands of ragtag jihadists ever could. And yeah, Israel was heavily dependent on US mliitary aid in the early years, but that's certainly not the case anymore and they have a pretty potent military industrial complex of their own that could create endless headaches for everyone if we ever decided to cut them loose.

Ultimately, we ignore the realities of hard power in international relations at our own peril. Israel may have been a mere client state that relied on US aid for its survival early on, but it hasn't been that for quite some time. Sure, the rest of the world can condemn them in UN resolutions, but nobody is going to lift a finger to stop them, not because they are afraid of being labeled antisemitic, but because Israel has built up such a degree of military and economic power that any outside intervention in Palestine would make Afghanistan look like an absolute cakewalk. And frankly, this is all a product of some very shrewd diplomacy on their part. The fact that Israel can "get away with" openly defying the US so brazenly isn't some grand conspiracy but just a reflection of the fact that they understand how to play international power politics much better than most countries. If it were possible for America to simply bring them in line with economic sanctions, political manipulation, or threats of military force, we would have done so a long time ago, we certainly aren't shy about using any of those when it comes to weaker nations.

[Tami]

Another case of Karma

Texas Republican leader dies of COVID-19 five days after anti-vaccination post

A Texas Republican leader who was hospitalized with COVID-19 died Wednesday, just days after he shared a post on social media questioning the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine.

The Galveston County Republican Party said in a Facebook post Wednesday morning that Scott Apley, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee and Dickinson City Council, had died.

While the party did not specify the cause of death, a GoFundMe page that had been set up for Apley and his family said he was admitted to a hospital Sunday with “pneumonia-like symptoms and tested positive for COVID.”

[numberthirty]

In the past 36 hours, the new GOP talking points about Covid-19 are being used by people like Ron DeSantis & Ted Cruz...

Short version: "Blame it spreading on immigrants!"


Apparently it wasn't a racist enough of a talking point to blame it on China, so now they're going to pin it on migrants... even though Mexico currently has a better vaccination rate than most American states, and border counties throughout the Southwest have lower Covid-19 rates than ones throughout the rest of Texas and especially Florida.

This one would only work if every single migrant winding up on the US side of the border was a Mexican, and one could make an "Apples..."/"Apples..." comparison.

Which probably is not the case.

What they are saying is stupid, but it won't make comparisons that don't work into comparisons that do.

[numberthirty]

That's it? Just $500? Pfft! It should be five GRAND. Now that would send a message to non-mask wearing asshats like Norman and Trashy Greene.

...

These are seriously overpaid public servants.

Even five grand a pop probably won't make a dent in skulls as thick as some of theirs tend to be.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Another case of Karma

Texas Republican leader dies of COVID-19 five days after anti-vaccination post

These clowns just don't get the hint, do they?

[numberthirty]

Pretty small potatoes, but still probably worth taking note of...

https://news.wttw.com/2021/08/03/***...fense-attorney

Chicago Police Officer Charged in US Capitol Riot May Lose Job: Defense Attorney

The Chicago police officer charged for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection may lose his job, his attorneys claim, because he’s been forced to turn over his firearm owner identification card as part of the conditions for his release from jail.

In a new filing published Monday, attorneys for Karol Chwiesiuk have asked a federal judge to modify their client’s bail conditions so that he may possess a valid FOID card while on pretrial release.

“Pursuant to the Court’s orders, Mr. Chwiesiuk surrendered his FOID to the Pretrial Services Division of the Northern District of Illinois. He subsequently received notice from the Illinois State Police that his FOID had been revoked,” federal criminal defense attorney Nishay Sanan wrote in a three-page motion. “Because he is unable to carry his FOID, Mr. Chwiesiuk has been informed that he will lose his employment with the Chicago Police Department.”

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Texas is hellbent on killing students AND teachers:

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/st...20672336932865



THIS, boys and girls, is what can be called criminal negligence. I mean, what the actual ****?

[Mister Mets]

I fear with DeSantis fealty to the Orange One and with schools starting to open up again(with no mask mandates!) the inevitable upcoming question "how many dead kids will it take for DeSantis to do ANYTHING?" will end up being at trick question with no answer...

How many should it?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been seven deaths statewide of children under the age of 16.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/pedia...-day-of-school

Economist Tyler Cowen had an op-ed on the questions of what we have to be willing to tolerate for society to function.

https://marginalrevolution.com/margi...ls-anyway.html

Adding up all these admittedly indirect chains of causation, it’s possible that school attendance leads to at least 2,000 deaths every year in the U.S. And those have nothing to do with Covid.

Fortunately, it is not customary in normal times to debate whether it is worth opening schools knowing that it could result in the death of perhaps 2,000 students. The true toll of opening schools is unknown, much less debated, and if there is a discussion it is over school shootings, which ought to be preventable (or at least limited) by measures other than closing schools.

This “head in the sand” approach is highly imperfect. Still, it is preferable to panicking and closing the schools every year.

It is difficult to calculate how many children have died of Covid, but perhaps the best estimate comes from England, where it caused 25 deaths of people younger than 18 in the year ended in March. The final tally is certainly higher in the more populous U.S., but as of July seven states still were reporting zero Covid deaths among children. This recent estimate suggests 358 deaths, though it is based on only 43 states.

Yes, it is worth considering whether school reopenings will lead to unacceptably high levels of Covid in the non-school population. It is also worth pointing out that Covid is spreading very rapidly in states with low vaccination rates — without the schools playing a role. In any case, it does not justify focusing solely on the safety of children in discussions of school reopening.

Economists have long studied the tendency of people to assign more value to a “known life” than to a “statistical life.” When a baby is trapped down a well, for example, many millions of dollars will be spent trying to save her. Her photo will appear on the evening news and on social media. Yet when it comes to saving lives in the aggregate, such as by installing more and better smoke detectors, there is only modest interest.

Right now too many Americans are trapped: Because the pandemic has been so dramatic for so many, every life looks like a known life rather than a statistical life. We all need to start working our way back to a bit more emotional distance.

[InformationGeek]

Ooooh, extra racism from Pauly boy today.

Shameless Human Misinformation Vector Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) claims Democrats are "plucking" kids with COVID from the border "and putting them all over the United States as if they're wishing to seed the country with a new variant." https://t.co/MvFp44ge8C

[Panfoot]

Texas is hellbent on killing students AND teachers:

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/st...20672336932865

THIS, boys and girls, is what can be called criminal negligence. I mean, what the actual ****?

Now THAT is a "Hold my beer" challenge to DeSantis.

[Tami]

West Lafayette mayor reiterates derogatory reference about unvaccinated residents

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The mayor of West Lafayette is making headlines after comments he made about unvaccinated residents during a COVID-19 briefing Wednesday.

Mayor John Dennis spoke during a coronavirus briefing by the Tippecanoe County Health Department. During the meeting, which was streamed live by the department, Dennis reiterated comments he made about those who have yet to receive the vaccine, particularly those who "still think that this is something that we made up" to control the population.

"I lost my temper at a council meeting recently and called these people unvaccinated a**holes and, unfortunately, sometimes that's accurate. That's true," Dennis said about 35 minutes into the video.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health's vaccination dashboard, 62% of eligible residents in West Lafayette are fully vaccinated. That means about 26,500 residents in the 47906 ZIP code remain unvaccinated.

Just this week, 13News learned hospitals in the county are struggling with capacity as COVID-19 cases climb.

"We have staff that are just resigning, saying, 'Look, I can't take this anymore. I can't do this anymore,'" said Dr. Daniel Wickert, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health Western Indiana.

[PwrdOn]

How many should it?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been seven deaths statewide of children under the age of 16.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/pedia...-day-of-school

Economist Tyler Cowen had an op-ed on the questions of what we have to be willing to tolerate for society to function.

https://marginalrevolution.com/margi...ls-anyway.html

Anyone who has even a modicum of experience with economic analysis knows that the debate over how much to weigh the human cost of a particularly policy against the economic impact is FAR from settled. Unlike natural sciences, economics does not have a universally accepted canon of formulas and equations built up from first principles, but rather a scattered collection of bespoke models that are purpose designed for a particular study, often with an eye toward showing a predetermined result. While it seems like the only economists who get a public platform these days are psychopaths advocating for us to sacrifice as many people as necessary to keep the money flowing, that doesn't mean that this viewpoint is universally shared within the profession, or that it's any less insane of an idea because some guys with fancy degrees are saying it.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ooooh, extra racism from Pauly boy today.

Lord have mercy, talk about crazytown! Yeah, the racism just flowed from Wretched Randy.

[Kirby101]

Anyone who has even a modicum of experience with economic analysis knows that the debate over how much to weigh the human cost of a particularly policy against the economic impact is FAR from settled. Unlike natural sciences, economics does not have a universally accepted canon of formulas and equations built up from first principles, but rather a scattered collection of bespoke models that are purpose designed for a particular study, often with an eye toward showing a predetermined result. While it seems like the only economists who get a public platform these days are psychopaths advocating for us to sacrifice as many people as necessary to keep the money flowing, that doesn't mean that this viewpoint is universally shared within the profession, or that it's any less insane of an idea because some guys with fancy degrees are saying it.

So true. Considering we still have economist advocating for the GOPs failed "Tax Cuts for the Rich" policy and others decrying Keynesian economics, no matter how well it works, shows you how there is never an accepted economic model by everyone. Then we have faux economic institutes like Cato and Heritage, whose rolls are to provide "studies" with foregone conclusions.

[CaptainEurope]

More disastrous news for the failed Biden presidency's agenda:

U.S. employers added back more jobs than expected last month, with payroll gains moving in tandem with improving economic activity and consumer mobility during the recovery. The jobless rate also fell to the lowest level since March 2020, improving more than expected.