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

[Tendrin]

It's pretty rich watching Republican-leaning posters cry about the evacuation (which has been stunningly successful so far in numbers of people evacuated) when we all know Trump had no intention of evacuating any of the Afghans, even having slowed the process of approval for their papers and setting an earlier date than the Biden administration settled on.

[Tendrin]

Just another anecdote

Florida elementary school teacher Kelly Peterson died of COVID-19 complications on Monday.

She was advised not to get a COVID-19 vaccine by her doctor due to her leukemia treatment.

Her sister and union believes Peterson got infected in the classroom, where masks were not mandatory.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A 41-year-old Florida teacher whose doctor had advised her against getting vaccinated has died of COVID-19 complications after she was forced to return to in-person teaching where there was no mask mandate, local outlets say.

Kelly Peterson was not vaccinated against the coronavirus because she had leukemia and her doctor advised against getting the shot in her already weakened state, her sister, Christin, told KTVU.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-t...133051272.html

[Tendrin]

Gee, I wonder why the voter suppression gurus (you know, it's totally overblown and no big deal according to conservative posters) are trying to take over elections in Fulton County?

https://apnews.com/article/elections...195e5aeca75d10

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s State Election Board inched forward Wednesday in a process set in motion by Republican lawmakers using a controversial provision of the state’s sweeping new election law that could ultimately lead to a takeover of elections in the state’s most populous county.

Fulton County, a Democratic bastion that includes most of the city of Atlanta, has long been a target of Republicans who complain of sloppiness and say they want to ensure state laws are being followed. Former President Donald Trump fixated on Fulton after the November general election, claiming without evidence that fraud in the county contributed to his narrow loss in the state.

Democrats and voting rights activists have said the takeover provision in the new law invites political interference in local elections and could suppress turnout.

[PwrdOn]

So...

Saying that the actual window of time should have been in a different chronological position is not the same thing as just not setting any window.

Don't really mind if you disagree with the former. Just not going to entertain a discussion about the latter when it is not something that I ever said.

Has anyone making this argument ever tried to get anything done with no deadline in place? If we didn't set a firm date for the withdrawal, the military would have just kept on dragging its feet and delaying until they were confident that the situation had stabilized enough for the Afghan army to assume full responsibility, which as we know now was never going to happen no matter how much longer we kept this up. We have been planning to pull out of Afghanistan since the Obama administration, but time and time again we simply found excuses not to and just put it off until later, which in practice meant just completely forgetting about Afghanistan altogether while other issues took the forefront. Without setting a firm date we probably would've been stuck there for another 10 years, and ended up with the same outcome, if not a worse one.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Gee, I wonder why the voter suppression gurus (you know, it's totally overblown and no big deal according to conservative posters) are trying to take over elections in Fulton County?

https://apnews.com/article/elections...195e5aeca75d10

And if Qpublicans get away with that down in Georgia, look for my hometown of Philadelphia to be one of the GQP’s next targets since Trump bitched about voting here as citizens were overwhelmingly went with Biden. Hell, Trump even came out and said that “Bad things happen in Philly” (a phrase local entrepreneurs turned into t-shirts to sell). With Qpublicans in the majority in Harrisburg, look for them to give suppression bills the old college try.

[Kirby101]

The GOP’s Phony Complaints About Afghanistan

In July 2020, the committee took up the National Defense Authorization Act, which would fund the military for the next year. Democratic Rep. Jason Crow presented an amendment that would make the Afghan pullout contingent on several requirements. These included “consultation and coordination” with allies, protection of “United States personnel in Afghanistan,” severance of the Taliban from al-Qaida, prevention of “terrorist safe havens inside Afghanistan,” and adequate “capacity of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces” to fight off Taliban attacks. The amendment also required investigation of any prisoners, released as part of the deal, who might be connected to terrorism. In short, the amendment would do what Trump had failed to do: impose real conditions on the withdrawal. Crow told his colleagues that he, too, wanted to get out, but that Afghan security forces weren’t yet “ready to stand on their own.”

Gaetz dismissed these warnings. The Taliban was already taking over the country, he argued, and imposing conditions would just get in the way of the pullout. “I don’t think there’s ever a bad day to end the war in Afghanistan,” he said.

Eleven members of the committee, including Banks, Brooks, and Gaetz, voted against the amendment. It passed, but Trump refused to accept it. In December, he vetoed the whole defense bill, complaining that it would, among other things, “restrict the President’s ability to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.” Steve Scalise, the minority whip, voted to uphold Trump’s veto. McCarthy, who had to miss the vote for medical reasons, said he, too, stood with the president. Congress overrode the veto, but Trump essentially ignored the amendment.

[worstblogever]

The GOP’s Phony Complaints About Afghanistan

But how can we possibly have imagined how Trump would have done this differently?

Because HE TOLD US HOW.

Thank you, Kirby101.

[Xheight]

It's pretty rich watching Republican-leaning posters cry about the evacuation (which has been stunningly successful so far in numbers of people evacuated) when we all know Trump had no intention of evacuating any of the Afghans, even having slowed the process of approval for their papers and setting an earlier date than the Biden administration settled on.

I didn't know that you have the power of reading minds. How is it that you know what their intentions were or not. Slowing the process doesn't constitute anything more than being careful of who you are letting into the country as far as any reasonable person might assume.

That Slate Article is laughable as it ignores one huge point, not passing an amendment does not equal setting policy only what one imposes on presidential action. in other words the differece between prescriptive and proscriptive https://www.thefreedictionary.com/pr...-proscribe.htm

[Xheight]

Gee, I wonder why the voter suppression gurus (you know, it's totally overblown and no big deal according to conservative posters) are trying to take over elections in Fulton County?

https://apnews.com/article/elections...195e5aeca75d10

A takeover that polling suggests protects the legitimacy of the election process.

[Kirby101]

A takeover that polling suggests protects the legitimacy of the election process.

What a perfect example of GOP election suppression. First, loudly question elections that have no illegitimacy. Then propose actions that do not make elections freer and more secure, but in fact suppress the vote in minority and Democratic areas. Then keep shouting about voter fraud, which is practically none existent. Then make sure all your laws give a complete partisan control of the election. And claim that "polling" among your partisan group validates the voter suppression.

[Xheight]

And if Qpublicans get away with that down in Georgia, look for my hometown of Philadelphia to be one of the GQP’s next targets since Trump bitched about voting here as citizens were overwhelmingly went with Biden. Hell, Trump even came out and said that “Bad things happen in Philly” (a phrase local entrepreneurs turned into t-shirts to sell). With Qpublicans in the majority in Harrisburg, look for them to give suppression bills the old college try.

I would say that is true in so far as the PA results are still on of the most unsettled questions regarding the legitimacy question. PA never got he examination that the SCOTUS appeal called for.

[Kirby101]

I didn't know that you have the power of reading minds. How is it that you know what their intentions were or not. Slowing the process doesn't constitute anything more than being careful of who you are letting into the country as far as any reasonable person might assume.

That Slate Article is laughable as it ignores one huge point, not passing an amendment does not equal setting policy only what one imposes on presidential action. in other words the differece between prescriptive and proscriptive https://www.thefreedictionary.com/pr...-proscribe.htm

And you completely missed the point about how the GOP reacted when it was Trump in the White House. But I could expect no less to someone who thought Trump had good intentions.

[Kirby101]

I would say that is true in so far as the PA results are still on of the most unsettled questions regarding the legitimacy question. PA never got he examination that the SCOTUS appeal called for.

Yeah, Trump won, we all know it. Damn those Lizard People!

[Xheight]

What a perfect example of GOP election suppression. First, loudly question elections that have no illegitimacy. Then propose actions that do not make elections freer and more secure, but in fact suppress the vote in minority and Democratic areas. Then keep shouting about voter fraud, which is practically none existent. Then make sure all your laws give a complete partisan control of the election. And claim that "polling" among your partisan group validates the voter suppression.

Unless election processes can be examined and verified then shouting is in order as it amounts to nothing more than accepting things on face value. Assuming there is no fraud is not proof of no fraud and further to the point fraud is a legal standard not a lawful one which does not cover lax standards. By that measure illegal aliens voting in elections commit no fraud because they were never caught in a crime. If you don't audit systems then your circular logic applies of claiming no fraud exists because it hasn't been proven.

[Xheight]

And you completely missed the point about how the GOP reacted when it was Trump in the White House. But I could expect no less to someone who thought Trump had good intentions.

I don't see what this has to do with intentions to begin with as it was a political promise to align with his populist position of ending the endless wars of the elites. Im not saying that GOP elites aren't going to try to cash that just that he did put a stop point in the ground and it was up to whoever won the election to execute on it.