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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

One of the main arguments for DeSantis is that he dealt with Covid while not minimizing the impact of the quality of life for Floridians.

Sweet baby Jesus! How on Earth did I miss THAT nonsense? Please tell me you weren't serious, Mets!

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” shared its first profile about the sitting U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 19th Congressional District, Jodey Arrington, the man who just took the place of CSGOPOTD alumni Randy Neugebauer for his seat in Congress. Nine Republicans were in the GOP primary to replace Neugebauer, and Arrington emerged based on the political capitol he build up working first for George W. Bush as an aide while he was still Governor of Texas and in the Bush White House, and helping him fill up executive appointed posts during his administration. That included the choice of hiring a man named Michael Brown as head of FEMA, whose only experience was breeding horses. Remarkably, this led to Arrington being thrown into the fire to clean up the Gulf Coast after Brown had to resign in disgrace, where Arrington served as deputy federal coordinator for the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding.

Now, in an election year where it benefitted more candidates to be the political outsider on the conservative side, it might seem odd that Arrington still managed to narrowly win his primary on a run-off. Well, in spite of maintaining his strong Bush Administration credentials, he also won a Breitbart endorsement by doing, what else? Taking a trip down to the U.S./Mexico border and talking tough about illegal immigrants.

As it turns out, the now Rep. Arrington’s disdain for Mexicans was not something he just did in campaign mode, as he has gone on record as a supporter of Donald Trump’s border wall. But his support of xenophobia is not limited only to Mexicans, though, because Arrington also came out in defense of Trump’s bigoted Muslim ban when it was announced. Hell, Arrington’s drinking Trump’s Kool-Aid so much it looks like he’s visiting Jonestown, as he gave Trump’s First 100 Days in office an “A”.

But what Jodey Arrington did that is completely new for him (but sadly not for Republicans), happened back in late March 2017. Arrington, in a hearing on SNAP benefits, quoted the Bible’s 2 Thesslalonians 3:10, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

Now, there are wiser and more well-versed Biblical experts will point out that Jesus was pretty much the guy who was ALL ABOUT FEEDING THE HUNGRY, Jodey Arrington is the latest Republican to use this verse out of context to take away food stamp benefits that, guess what? All too often go towards feeding CHILDREN. See also former CSGOPOTD profiles on Kevin Cramer and Stephen Fincher for others who tried twisting scripture out of context to turn it into something resembling a religion Ayn Rand would have possibly been into.

Even Arrington’s constituents are starting to question his level of extremism, including local firefighters in his district expressing disbelief that he would vote against the bill to provide medical care to the 9/11 First Responders. Jodey Arrington, ever the douche-canoe, started lying out of his arse and claiming that his vote was justified because of “questionable” claims that seemed to indicate there was “waste and fraud”.

For those in the back not listening, he all but just accused some the 9/11 First Responders of “faking it” for more money. There is not a big enough foreign object we can recommend he goes and f***s himself with for that.

Now in his third term in office, Jodey Arrington’s streak of partisanship continues:

• December 18th, 2019: Arrington ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
• May 15th, 2020: Arrington votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• October 2nd, 2020: Jodey Arrington votes against a resolution is presented in the House to condemn the Qanon conspiracy theory.
• December 10th, 2020: Arrington signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
• January 6th, 2021: Jodey Arrington votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Arrington votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump.
• February 4th, 2021: Jodey Arrington votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted reDons and conspiracy theories she’s spread online.
• February 25th, 2021: Arrington votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Arrington votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
• March 3rd, 2021: Jodey Arrington votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Arrington votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
• March 17th, 2021: Rep. Arrington votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm.
• May 19th, 2021: Jodey Arrington votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• May 20th, 2021: Arrington is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.

Jodey Arrington was one of the loudest members of the Texas delegation giving the worst advice in 2020, Covid-19 pandemic. Like how he boasted about how he fully expected “Texas to lead in the nation’s recovery”. (SPOILER ALERT: Texas became one of the top three Covid-19 hotspots after carelessly reopening businesses) Maybe that’s why we’re also concerned that Arrington wanted to send kids back to school in August to allow parents to “return to work”.

Now, what do you think Arrington is doing right now as Texas Republicans’ anti-mask/keep-everything-open/question vaccines strategy approach to Covid-19 is making them one of the hottest hot spots for the virus in the country? Well, this white nationalist motherf***er is trying to blame it on illegal immigrants coming into the United States, even though Mexico’s vaccination rate is higher than Texas’, and as are their Covid positivity rates right now. Because when all else fails, the GOP will blame people of color for problems they create.

[worstblogever]

Complete and utter bullshit and you know it.

Few greater lines of bullshit have ever been uttered.

Hell, DeSantis made Covid worse by keeping Florida open to tourists, helping the virus spread all over the country.

Sweet baby Jesus! How on Earth did I miss THAT nonsense? Please tell me you weren't serious, Mets!

Seems like it's not personal, and folks just know a lie when they see it.

[babyblob]

We've seen the evidence on how vaccines are effective. For the vaccinated, your chances of getting Covid are less. If you get Covid, your chances of getting sick are diminished. And if someone is vaccinated and gets sick with Covid, their chances of needing greater care are diminished..

I agree with this. my statement never put into question the vaccine or its effectiveness. My statement was how some GOP are against businesses that want people to be vaccinated before they will let them enter. Like some bars and restaurants in a town near me. Or how Abbot in Texas said he would fine companies and places that require people to have the vaccine to go there.

So the party who is all about personal choice refuses to let a company or business owners have the personal choice of requiring people to have a vaccine to eat/shop/stay/work there.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

No, it's the argument his supporters are making. It's likely the main reason he's the top alternative to Trump in polls for the 2024 Republican primary.

Newsflash, Mets: There is NO alternative to Trump, period, full stop, end of story. The Qpublican Party has belonged solely to him ever since his first day in the Oval Office, and everyone knows it. If Trump is breathing, ambulatory and relatively lucid come '24, the lemmings in the party will dutifully fall in line and pull out all the stops (and by that, I mean cheat) to put him back in the White House.

[worstblogever]

Newsflash, Mets: There is NO alternative to Trump, period, full stop, end of story. The Qpublican Party has belonged solely to him ever since his first day in the Oval Office, and everyone knows it. If Trump is breathing, ambulatory and relatively lucid come '24, the lemmings in the party will dutifully fall in line and pull out all the stops (and by that, I mean cheat) to put him back in the White House.

Trump just put out a press release to armchair quarterback Joe Biden about how a "real president" would handle getting out of there.

It involved listing four steps, but Trump seemed to put them in an order that left American troops inside a base, bomb it, and then remove them.

Maybe he wants a piece of the action in those bounties Putin put on our troops that he did nothing about? Or maybe he's brain dead and was always unfit for office.

[Tami]

Trump just put out a press release to armchair quarterback Joe Biden about how a "real president" would handle getting out of there.

It involved listing four steps, but Trump seemed to put them in an order that left American troops inside a base, bomb it, and then remove them.

Maybe he wants a piece of the action in those bounties Putin put on our troops that he did nothing about? Or maybe he's brain dead and was always unfit for office.

You mean remove the dead bodies of the US Troops who were blown up with the Base. Sheesh.......the only thing Trump is good for is fodder for late night comedy.

[babyblob]

What really upsets me is when I hear all these anti mask anti Vaxers bitching about being the victims of the next generation of Jim Crowe Laws and how they feel like the black people in the 50s and 60s because they know what they went through and how their rights are being violated just as bad.

Give me a fucking break. I am a white guy and I want to punch these people. I cant even picture how upset it makes a Black person.

[AnakinFlair]

What really upsets me is when I hear all these anti mask anti Vaxers bitching about being the victims of the next generation of Jim Crowe Laws and how they feel like the black people in the 50s and 60s because they know what they went through and how their rights are being violated just as bad.

Give me a fucking break. I am a white guy and I want to punch these people. I cant even picture how upset it makes a Black person.

As a Jew, I feel the same way when they compare mask mandates and taking the vaccine to the Holocaust.

[Mister Mets]

I agree with this. my statement never put into question the vaccine or its effectiveness. My statement was how some GOP are against businesses that want people to be vaccinated before they will let them enter. Like some bars and restaurants in a town near me. Or how Abbot in Texas said he would fine companies and places that require people to have the vaccine to go there.

So the party who is all about personal choice refuses to let a company or business owners have the personal choice of requiring people to have a vaccine to eat/shop/stay/work there.

This is a conflict of personal choices, as there is the choice of the business owner and the choice of the customers. There are also externalities, like the consequences of making businesses subject to outside pressure on a politically sensitive question and the friction caused by evaluating vaccines.

Yesterday, I went to see a movie and they asked for proof of vaccination. I didn't mind as I had a photo of my card on my smartphone, but that just seems easy to fake. So I have to question the effectiveness.

On actual safety, if people are vaccinated their chances of having to get an ICU bed are less than 1/50th of what they are for someone who isn't vaccinated, so the vaccinated are significantly safer, and there is the question of whether businesses should be subject to additional pressure by people who don't understand that.

Sweet baby Jesus! How on Earth did I miss THAT nonsense? Please tell me you weren't serious, Mets!

See the post above your response.

The argument exists.

I'm curious about getting more information on the effectiveness of the argument. Since you guys are confident it's bullshit, I'd be in the interested in evidence on that.

It seems to me the most relevant statistic would be deaths per 100,000. Florida seems to be in the middle of the pack, currently roughly on par with Texas and Delaware, as well as the national average.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...s-us-by-state/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...n-inhabitants/

This is despite Florida having an older population.

One question might would be what we would expect the statistics to be if Florida took more steps, and then evaluate the difference in quality of life.

Being freaked out about incorrect rumors isn't logical or rational. In the article the protestors had stated that 'it wasn't the masks, it was the fact that they were being told to were the masks'. And let's face it, it's even worse for them that they were being told to wear the masks by Gov Murphy.

I have no proof of this, but considering that it's an election year in NJ, anti-mask protests that aren't about masks, are usually about politics. In this case, about making Gov Murphy look bad for mandating masks.

So either we have irrational parents who spend too much time watching Hannity, Carlson, and Ingram on Fox News or hanging out on Facebook ..... or we have Republicans who are trying to undermine Murphy since this is one of the only tools they have against him. According to the Polls, Murphy has a very good chance at being reelected.

This is an absolutely fair point that being freaked out by incorrect rumors isn't logical. We should understand that parents who read some bullshit meme on Facebook are doing what they think is best for their kids, but I certainly agree with you that it's not rational, and shouldn't be the basis of laws.

There are questions that haven't been resolved. The effect of masks on communication aren't resolved, especially when we take into account that kids are already bad at reading facial cues. New York state schools are going to mandate masks for kids playing recess outdoors, which is less supported by evidence.

There is a slippery slope on what behavior can be compelled in schools, but this can be resolved with ironclad standards.

As for the political implications, this isn't driven by Hannity or Republican lawmakers in New Jersey. Opposition to masks is more bottom-up than top-down.

[babyblob]

This is a conflict of personal choices, as there is the choice of the business owner and the choice of the customers. There are also externalities, like the consequences of making businesses subject to outside pressure on a politically sensitive question.

On actual safety, if people are vaccinated their chances of having to get an ICU bed are less than 1/50th of what they are for someone who isn't vaccinated, so the vaccinated are significantly safer, and there is the question of whether businesses should be subject to additional pressure by people who don't understand that..

If outside forces are making the shop/restaurant/cruise line owners mandate the vaccine I guess I can see how your outside influence argument would work.

But the small business owners, bar owners,etc... that want to make the choice to do this on their own and not from pressure have that right. No one is violating a persons right if the person is not forced to shop or eat there to begin with. A person has a choice what restaurant/bar they go to. They have a choice if they want to see an NFL game in person they have a choice to go on a cruise. If they feel their rights are being violated by these places they very much have the choice not to go. And if an owner of these places want a person coming in to have the vaccine that is their right as it is their business. The the GOP who bitch all the time about government interference and government taking away some one's choice has no NO right to stop that.

There is a bar in Oxford it has been on the news. The owner said anyone who wants to drink or eat there has to be vaccinated. He is very pro mask, pro vaccine and has been very open about it since this mess started. There are tons of other bars in that town. it is a collage town. So People do not have to drink there if they dont like it. They can go some where else and their rights will not be violated if that is their worry. yet there are other people other business owners who think they will be hurt by this who are threatening a law suit. As are several local Republican leaders. So the leaders are trying to take away his choice on the matter when all they do is bitch about choice being taken away. They are talking out of their ass on the subject.

If I owned a comic shop or baseball card store or what ever you are damn right people will be vaccinated before they come in. If they want to bitch about it they can go some where else. if that hurts my bottom line that is still my choice to make. Not the governments, not the GOP local leaders who hate it not the people who come to my shop who can go elsewhere. But mine and mine alone.

The fact is any policy of the store is up to the store owner. Not the costumer.

[babyblob]

As far as masks go. I have heard some dumbass things.

A woman at my local school board meeting when talking about mask mandates.

"I was going to send my son to school in a mask. But the second you mandated it and said I have to? I threw his masks away. He will not go to school in a mask." It was dumb as Hell. acting like a five year old and putting her kids life at risk.

There is also one of those Hellfire and Brimstone country preachers near me. He only has like 20 people in his church. And is pretty ignored around here. I talked about him a time or two when RBG died because of his reaction to that and the email blast he sent to people about it. His thoughts on masks.

"If we mandate masks to people for public health why dont we mandate condoms to the gays to stop Aids."

It is so sick that there are people who not only talk like this but believe this.

[BeastieRunner]

William Pfaff back in 2001.

Sep 13, 2001:
"The calls for war that have come from Washington since Tuesday's catastrophes--for "war" against terrorism, against evil, against enemies of civilization, open-ended declarations of war-these calls answer the psychological demands of the hour, but they are wrong.

They risk actions that make things worse, blows that hit only people that had nothing to do with these attacks, thus adding to the total of those hating the United States and willing to die to do it harm."

Sep 20, 2001:
"Putin in Russia has Chechen nationalists.
Sharon in Israel has the Palestine Authority.
China has "terrorists and separatists" in Taiwan.
India has "terrorists" in Kashmir.
Turkey has Kurdish nationalists
Serbia has Bosnians and Kosovars.

'Your nationalists are my terrorists'

For the attacks were not, as Mr. Bush and his colleagues say, aimed 'at western civilization' or 'at those who cherish liberty.' They were aimed at the United States of America, for specific reasons.. They were retaliation for specific things done by the US.

Americans may think those policies and those acts were entirely right and justified, or they may not. But Americans have to take responsibility for them, and accept their consequences.

We Americans need to be lucid about what has happened.

The riposte of a civilized nation, that believes in good in human society and does oppose evil, has to be narrowly focused and above all, intelligent."

Sep 25, 2001:
"The Bush administration still gives disturbing signs of unclear objectives in the war it has proclaimed against terrorism, and would seem about to launch in wretched Afghanistan--one of the poorest countries on earth. [Let this sink in -- 20 years ago, before the US even put boots on the ground in Afghanistan -- it was obvious to one noted commentator that the US war in Afghanistan lacked clear objectives.]

Figures in the Defense Department, notably Paul Wolfowitz and other neo-conservatives, have argued that the US should settle all of its problems at a single blow by attacking the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Iraq, and probably Iran, Libya, and Syria. [This was Sep 2001 that Wolfowitz and others were saying this. Compare with what has happened in the 20 years since. What has happened in these countries since?]

Unknown is whether Washington contemplates trying to replace the Taliban government. On Tuesday the White House said 'no.' But it is hard to see how it can do what it wants to do without that happening.

The Taliban are in power today because after winning the war against Russia, the leaders of existing opposition factions, mostly ethnic, were unable to stop fighting over the spoils of war and cooperate in rebuilding the country.

Certainly the notion heard in some American circles that the US should or could, 'go in and make that country a democracy, is the sheerest fantasy. Afghanistan specialists warn that a US attack may actually lend to the Taliban a legitimacy, as defenders of national sovereignty.

This will end in catastrophe. Whether it be 5, 10, 20 years from now -- the Taliban will take back the Middle East the minute we exit. The blood of the innocent will have long since been forgotten.

As late as Monday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was unable to give to the press a specific statement of American goals, or a description of what would constitute 'victory' in the war against terrorism."

Those are just some excerpts from the first few articles he wrote. Pfaff was remarkably clear-sighted when it came to the 9/11 attacks, Bush's response, and the problems that ultimately undermined our efforts in all of the countries that Wolfowitz wanted to invade in Sep 2001. No one can say, "we all got it wrong." or "nobody knew." These columns were published in the International Herald Tribune and syndicated in hundreds of other newspapers across the great ol' US of A. They echo other critics of Bush at the time as well.

I'd encourage anyone trying to process the current tragedy in Afghanistan to read Pfaff's Fear, Anger And Failure that he published in way back in 2003, that collected all his writings of the time.

While everyone is blaming Biden and/or Trump, it is clear to me at least, who's fault this really was.

George W. Bush and his cronies.

[PwrdOn]

snip

Honestly you didn't need to have any particularly deep insights to arrive at the same conclusion. The simple fact is that the military brass has been chomping at the bit to redeem its honor since Vietnam ended, except that just like in Vietnam they don't have much of a strategy except to just destroy everything with overwhelming firepower, and no one bothered to think about how we would rebuild or govern the region afterwards. And the problem is, the military hasn't learned its lesson at all, if you read what they are saying nowadays their reasoning for why we weren't successful in Iraq or Afghanistan is that because the enemy refused to fight us head on, we were stuck fighting a counterinsurgency and having to worry about civilian casualties which neutralized our advantages. So naturally, the solution is not to rethink our strategy or reorient the military to better deal with asymmetric warfare, but rather to start a really big fight with a country like China or Russia where our forces could just completely cut loose with no regard for optics or civilian casualties and really show everyone how strong America really is.

[BeastieRunner]

Honestly you didn't need to have any particularly deep insights to arrive at the same conclusion.

Disagree.

You came to that conclusion due to the events already happening (or happened) and that you have experienced the fallout for nearly 20 years. PwrdOn or BeastieRunner, 2001 versions, weren't predicting the EXACT countries to be f'd over by this war, how bad the exit will be, and so on. You and I and most others that disagreed with the war came to those very conclusions months and years after boots were on the ground. Not days after 9/11 before a single solider was even sent there.

When the overwhelming narrative has been "we got it all wrong", "no one knew that this would happen", and playing the blame game ... that tells me by and large, the average person did not achieve clarity at all. And they have had nearly 2 decades to figure out what most of us figured out before W even left office. And sadly not enough before he was reelected.

The simple fact is that the military brass has been chomping at the bit to redeem its honor since Vietnam ended, except that just like in Vietnam they don't have much of a strategy except to just destroy everything with overwhelming firepower, and no one bothered to think about how we would rebuild or govern the region afterwards. And the problem is, the military hasn't learned its lesson at all, if you read what they are saying nowadays their reasoning for why we weren't successful in Iraq or Afghanistan is that because the enemy refused to fight us head on, we were stuck fighting a counterinsurgency and having to worry about civilian casualties which neutralized our advantages. So naturally, the solution is not to rethink our strategy or reorient the military to better deal with asymmetric warfare, but rather to start a really big fight with a country like China or Russia where our forces could just completely cut loose with no regard for optics or civilian casualties and really show everyone how strong America really is.

Agree.

And sadly, the bolded part is perhaps very true indeed.