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

[Tami]

Alright, for anyone interested...

The CSGOPOTD Trump 2021 update is complete (NOW WITH SEDITION!)

I'm just going to link to the Dailykos post, because... well, frankly, Trump was enough of a deranged, corpulent pile of corruption, conspiracies and lies moving to incite an insurrection that it would take up like 6-10 posts, minimum, to list it all. And the past six months have been mostly quiet since he got banned from Twitter.

I was humbly wrong, you did mange to put most of Trump's insanity in your article. Good work.

[worstblogever]

I was humbly wrong, you did mange to put most of Trump's insanity in your article. Good work.

Luckily, I'm off of the day job for a few days, so I can properly get sauced to cope with having to go through it all again, and see how stupid the GQP are that they're still rallying around him, not unlike how they have other treasonous embodiments of failure like the Confederate flag the past few years.

[BeastieRunner]

The Senate Passes A $3.5 Trillion Budget Proposal. It's The Latest Win For Biden.

I know you guys talked about this some yesterday.

A lot of things stood out to me when I read about it finally:

• Bernie called out the Rs for complaining about the Dems' use of budget reconciliation, noting that the Rs recently used the same process to force through massive tax cuts for the rich.
• Missing from the resolution is an increase to the spending limit ... which is set to be broken sometime in early fall. Without it, none of this can actually be funded by Congress. This sets up a duel between the Dems & Rs in September, which at the same time Congress needs to also pass a funding bill (or more likely a continuing resolution) to avoid a shutdown.

Which got me thinking ... the only reason you leave off the spending limit means you want something else, assuming it was even allowed to be included by the Senate Parliamentarian. Which would render most of my next thoughts moot.

If, if ... IF ... the spending limit was not left off because of "rules" then I have some theories as to why:

1. This could be the Dems roundabout way of getting ten Rs to back the spending by voting to increase the spending limit. The Rs did damage our nations credit report during a similar standoff in 2011 and it cost them some seats. Probably don't want to repeat that;
2. McConnell has vowed to prevent this from ever happening and I would bet he has the votes secured. Which means the Dems would have leverage to convince Manchin and Sinema to vote to eliminate the filibuster, and allow the spending caps to be increased with only 50 Dems to support the change. This then opens the door to vote on HR1 ... which would be a big "win" for Biden;
3. A much more likely scenario than #2 is that those two could be convinced to allow for a "nuclear option" like what has been done to fill judges during the Trump administration;
4. They cut this bill to shreds in the spending limit negotiations in order to use it as a backdoor to essentially not pass the bill at all. So ... they just keep the bipartisan bill, which is the one they wanted all along. AOC vowed to block the bipartisan bill until this larger budget bill is passed. Doing it like this they can get it passed in the house before taking it down in September; OR a simpler idea ...
5. This is being done to depoliticize debt ceiling increases and it just becomes standard operating procedure going forward.

Food for thought I guess.

[Mister Mets]

I thought a judge had squashed those warrants? I remember hearing last week that some of those Texas Democrats were going back, now that they didn't have to worry about being arrested.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled yesterday that they can be arrested, voiding a lower court ruling.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08...ecial-session/

The Senate Passes A $3.5 Trillion Budget Proposal. It's The Latest Win For Biden.

I know you guys talked about this some yesterday.

A lot of things stood out to me when I read about it finally:

• Bernie called out the Rs for complaining about the Dems' use of budget reconciliation, noting that the Rs recently used the same process to force through massive tax cuts for the rich.
• Missing from the resolution is an increase to the spending limit ... which is set to be broken sometime in early fall. Without it, none of this can actually be funded by Congress. This sets up a duel between the Dems & Rs in September, which at the same time Congress needs to also pass a funding bill (or more likely a continuing resolution) to avoid a shutdown.

Which got me thinking ... the only reason you leave off the spending limit means you want something else, assuming it was even allowed to be included by the Senate Parliamentarian. Which would render most of my next thoughts moot.

If, if ... IF ... the spending limit was not left off because of "rules" then I have some theories as to why:

1. This could be the Dems roundabout way of getting ten Rs to back the spending by voting to increase the spending limit. The Rs did damage our nations credit report during a similar standoff in 2011 and it cost them some seats. Probably don't want to repeat that;
2. McConnell has vowed to prevent this from ever happening and I would bet he has the votes secured. Which means the Dems would have leverage to convince Manchin and Sinema to vote to eliminate the filibuster, and allow the spending caps to be increased with only 50 Dems to support the change. This then opens the door to vote on HR1 ... which would be a big "win" for Biden;
3. A much more likely scenario than #2 is that those two could be convinced to allow for a "nuclear option" like what has been done to fill judges during the Trump administration;
4. They cut this bill to shreds in the spending limit negotiations in order to use it as a backdoor to essentially not pass the bill at all. So ... they just keep the bipartisan bill, which is the one they wanted all along. AOC vowed to block the bipartisan bill until this larger budget bill is passed. Doing it like this they can get it passed in the house before taking it down in September; OR a simpler idea ...
5. This is being done to depoliticize debt ceiling increases and it just becomes standard operating procedure going forward.

Food for thought I guess.

Interesting points.

If enough Republicans opt to increase the debt limit, it's not an endorsement of the legislation. Democrats control the Congress, so they get to choose which bills are brought to a vote. The debt limit increase will almost certainly pass the House, where they don't need any Republican votes. I suspect there'll be ten senators for it to avoid any questions of a filibuster, as Senators tend to be more moderate.

For example in the 2013 debt ceiling fight, a majority of House Republicans voted against the increase, while a majority of Senate Republicans voted for it.
https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll550.xml
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/L...n=1&vote=00219

[Mister Mets]

There. Is. Video. Cops enter with guns drawn. She literally chastises them for pointing the gun at her kids on the video as it happens. Jones discussed what happened with multiple media outlets.

Try and not gaslight everyone today, please.

Or post the National Review gaslighting everyone and pretending you're not helping them do it, which is quickly becoming a habit of yours when you share sources even you admit are dubious.|


And not for nothing, it seems like you missed the part of what I posted earlier about people clueless enough to start defending Republicans embracing fascism and emboldening them to go further, because you're digging in and doing it right now. You defended DeSantis for threatening school funding and educator pay if they take steps to protect children from Covid-19, and now you're defending him for siccing the cops on the scientist who was reporting the true numbers as a whistleblower.

Fashion tip: Jackboots aren't fashionable, Mets. I mean, between this and your passionate insistence that Stephen Miller isn't a white nationalist, seeing a real pattern.

This is a factual question, so we should be able to evaluate it as such.

If I'm wrong, I'll accept the information here. I posted an article I found in good faith, but journalists can be in error. There is a perniciousness in your comment that I "share sources even you admit are dubious." I personally don't think the source is dubious. I am aware that some people here may be suspicious of the National Review or any writer for it, so I do think it's prudent to address that concern. But it seems to encourage bad behavior to criticize people for being considerate in this way, as if it would be more honest for me to pretend that you guys have no opinion whatsoever of a publication, or that bluster and overconfidence make someone more likely to be accurate.

If someone here believes all partisan information should be dismissed, that's an understandable standard, but one I would disagree with. There are times a writer for The Nation has a point, and there are times when a writer for the National Review has a point. Someone may also believe that this particular writer has made significant enough errors in judgment that what they say on this matter should be dismissed. That argument can be evaluated when it is made.

You're pretty personal here. I hope everyone is in agreement that it is a bad thing to be both wrong and insulting. If a reasonable person can conclude that Ron DeSantis either didn't send cops after a scientist, or that there isn't any evidence of this, you're insulting me for disputing a conspiracy theory.

If you disagree with another post of mine, please tell me what you specifically you disagree with. I do think the idea that DeSantis threatened school funding is an inaccurate summary of the article posted earlier, but perhaps you have different information. But it is kinda cheap to go after me being on the wrong side, rather than responding to the specifics of what I've said. You have set a high standard here in your criticism of the Governor of Florida. If Ron DeSantis is a mediocre Governor making poor decisions, he can still fall short of being a fascist, so you would be wrong on the merits.

Finally on the video, we can look at your link and Cooke's description. Rebekka Jones did yell that they pointed a gun at her kids, but we don't actually see that in her video.

The authorities did release body cam footage. This was covered in local news. There's no footage of cops holding a gun to her kids. She claims it exists, but that hadn't been released as of December 12. I'm unaware of that ever coming out.

https://www.wfla.com/news/breaking-n...rebekah-jones/

In a news release, the Department of Law Enforcement refuted Jones’ claim. But Jones stands by it and told us she has video of police pointing their gun at her children that she has not yet released.

The police did ask her to release all of the video from the encounter, but she declined to do that.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/pol...247749395.html

[Tami]

NJ Is becoming a Rain Forest, we need to change out State Nickname.

[The Cool Thatguy]

The police did ask her to release all of the video from the encounter, but she declined to do that.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/pol...247749395.html

The irony here is so damn thick...

[Tendrin]

If only there was some kind of theory we could use to investigate how white supremacy and whiteness demand actions like this.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/south-dak...234015347.html

Before the South Dakota Department of Education released a draft of new social studies standards last week, department officials took out more than a dozen references to education on the Oceti Sakowin.

“Oceti Sakowin” refers collectively to the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people who are indigenous to South Dakota and surrounding states.

This is according to a draft of the standards dated July 26 obtained by the Argus Leader. The draft was created by a work group of more than 50 educators tasked with retooling the standards.

[kidfresh512]

Texas Sen. Carol Alvarado's filibuster against GOP elections bill passes twelve hours

The Houston Democrat has been on her feet speaking, not allowed to sit or lean against her desk, and unable to take bathroom breaks or drink water, since Wednesday evening. Her effort is more of a symbolic gesture than an attempt to block passage of the bill.

She's actually on hour 13 as of now. Bill is still going to pass eventually but I applaud the Texas Democrats trying everything that they possibly can to shine a light on the continued GOP efforts to suppress minority votes.

Let the Gerrymandering (and the Legal Battles) Begin

The Census Bureau will release long-awaited district-level results on Thursday, setting off what is expected to be the most bruising, litigious and consequential redistricting battle in a generation, with control of Congress hanging in the balance and gerrymandering threatening to lock in quasi-permanent majorities in state legislatures across the country.

With Democrats clinging to a slim margin in the House of Representatives, control of the chamber in 2022 could be decided through congressional redistricting alone: Republican-leaning states like Texas and Florida are adding new seats through reapportionment, and G.O.P.-dominated state legislatures will steer much more of the redistricting process, allowing them to draw more maps than Democrats.

In a matter of days — if history is any guide — as soon as state officials can crunch census data files into their more modern formats, an intense process of mapmaking, political contention, legal wrangling, well-financed opinion-shaping and ornery public feedback will unfold in statehouses, courthouses, on the air and even on the streets in regions of special contention.

Speaking of GOP suppressing minority votes. Thanks to the supreme Court rulings it will be difficult to stop these GOP controlled states from carving out minorities and limiting representation.

[Tami]

Illinois Is The 1st State To Tell Police They Can't Lie To Minors In Interrogations

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a new bill into law Thursday barring police from lying to underage kids during interrogations.

Commonly used interrogation tactics, such as promising leniency or insinuating that incriminating evidence exists, are banned when questioning suspects younger than 18 under the new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1.

According to the Innocence Project, an organization focused on exonerating wrongly convicted people, those types of interrogation methods have been shown to lead to false confessions. They've also played a role in about 30% of all wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA.

Illinois once was called the "False Confession Capital of the United States," the organization said, because of a number of high-profile exonerations of people who falsely confessed to crimes they didn't commit.

"In Illinois alone, there have been 100 wrongful convictions predicated on false confessions, including 31 involving people under 18 years of age," said Lauren Kaeseberg, legal director at the Illinois Innocence Project.

[worstblogever]

Rand Paul has been on an anti-vaccination tear the past few months.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Rand Paul's wife invests in the pharmaceutical company that made the best Covid-19 treatment, remdesivir. 16 months later than he should have disclosed this, he has revealed this fact.

To connect the dots:
-Rand Paul has been pushing misinformation that causes people to get sick with, and potentially die from Covid-19 rather than get vaccinated.
-Rand Paul and his wife benefit financially/profit from people who don't get vaccinated and catch Covid-19, and need doses of remesdivir to treat it.

He's profiting off getting people sick, and in some instances, the drug doesn't save them. When the vaccines would have. Rand Paul is profiting off behavior that kills people.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Rand Paul has been on an anti-vaccination tear the past few months.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Rand Paul's wife invests in the pharmaceutical company that made the best Covid-19 treatment, remdesivir. 16 months later than he should have disclosed this, he has revealed this fact.

To connect the dots:
-Rand Paul has been pushing misinformation that causes people to get sick with, and potentially die from Covid-19 rather than get vaccinated.
-Rand Paul and his wife benefit financially/profit from people who don't get vaccinated and catch Covid-19, and need doses of remesdivir to treat it.

He's profiting off getting people sick, and in some instances, the drug doesn't save them. When the vaccines would have. Rand Paul is profiting off behavior that kills people.

NOW we know. So, at the end of the day, just like with everything else in life, it's all about the Benjamins. Even though Rotten Rand is just an ophthalmologist, he's still a doctor, and that means he should follow the tenet of physicans the world over----"Primum non nocere", Latin for "First, do no harm". Clearly Paul ignored that in favor of lining his pockets.

[worstblogever]

NOW we know. So, at the end of the day, just like with everything else in life, it's all about the Benjamins. Even though Rotten Rand is just an ophthalmologist, he's still a doctor, and that means he should follow the tenet of physicans the world over----"Primum non nocere", Latin for "First, do no harm". Clearly Paul ignored that in favor of lining his pockets.

He's only a doctor because he created an ophthalmology board to certify himself as a doctor and then dissolved it. Which, kind of feels strongly like "not a doctor" and "ethically challenged", y'know?

If he ever took a Hippocratic Oath, you can bet he ignores it, considering he also regularly takes an oath to the Constitution, but has ignored it in two impeachment trials.

[babyblob]

Mets yes DeSantis did not threaten to cut school funds. But what he did do was threaten to with hold pay checks for School officials who try and enforce a mask mandate, Abbot in Texas is threatening fines on city and school officials who try and enforce mask or vaccine mandates, he is threatening business owners who also try and enforce these things. I guess personal choice does not apply to a small business owner who wants to keep themselves or their customers safe. These are people threatening other people and officials who are doing what they can to make people and children safe. but they are having none of that. They would rather risk lives then let someone try and keep people safe and stem the tide because it makes them look bad and the worse things are the more people who get sick and die the worse Biden looks. They are playing politics with peoples lives and it is so far beyond sick I cant even put it into words and there is no NO defense for it.

[Tami]

California dad killed his kids over QAnon and 'serpent DNA' conspiracy theories, feds claim:Authorities say Matthew Taylor Coleman confessed to murdering his two young children in Mexico and told investigators he thought they would "grow into monsters."

A California surfing school owner who was charged with killing his two children in Mexico is a follower of QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories who thought the children "were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them," federal officials alleged.

Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, was charged Wednesday with foreign murder of U.S. nationals in connection with the death of his 2-year-old son and his 10-month-old daughter, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Authorities said Coleman confessed to the killings and told the FBI that he used a spear fishing gun to stab them.

A criminal complaint alleges that he told the FBI that he killed his children because he believed they "were going to grow into monsters" and that conspiracy theories led him to believe that his wife had passed down her "serpent DNA" to the children.

"Serpent DNA" is a likely to be a reference to the "lizard people" conspiracy theory, which falsely purports that reptilian aliens secretly run the world and have taken over important positions in government, banking and Hollywood.

This is what is going to happen more and more as people get caught up in these dangerous ideas.