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

[green_garnish]

Ironically, Democrats lost the election in 2000 because the Muslim vote in Florida went to Bush.

[Gray Lensman]

Ironically, Democrats lost the election in 2000 because the Muslim vote in Florida went to Bush.

Not as ironic as one would think looking at the right wing of today. Dubya appointed minorities to high level positions and appeared alongside Imams after September 11th to push the narrative that the US was not at war with Islam, but only with those who had a radical interpretation of it. The "Religion of Peace" line Fox News so loved to hammer Obama with actually came from the mouth of Bush, but Fox has never let facts get in the way of a good old tar and feathering.

[CSTowle]

I agree that people should be free to live wherever they want, and not forced to live in one location. People come to live in small towns, suburban or rural, for the reasons that define them as small towns. Turing a small town into a mini-version of a 'big city', which is rampant in parts of NJ, kind if defeats that purpose.

I just think there are better ways to allow for people to live where they want without automatically resorting to creating high-density places like apartments.

It's kind of like saying, if we can't force poor people to live in the city, then we will transform anyplace they want to live into a city.

One the one hand, it might be true that apartment living is the only option for low income people, on the other hand, are they leaving a low income apartment in the city just to move into a low income apartment in the suburbs? Is that the assumption? That low income people are incapable of owning their own home?

First bolded: Great in theory, would love to see it happen. In reality, many people (especially those without the resources to even rent an apartment, let alone buy and maintain a home) don't have a choice or very much of one when it comes to where they live. Assuming that they do shows a lack of understanding (perhaps caring?) of the situation. "People come to live in small towns for the reasons that define them as small towns". Historically that was the result of white flight from the cities, because they were afraid of minorities and the poor. White and not poor, those are the qualities that defined (and define) the kind of small towns you're talking about. It's the same argument the right makes against immigration and taking in refugees (and to some extent allowing gay marriage or religions other than Christianity to thrive, it "changes the character of our historic communities").

If we had the room and resources to build enough suburban small homes to accommodate the large population of folk who need housing that would be ideal. That is not even remotely on the table. As I said before, we can't even get affordable large-scale housing off of the ground because of those on the right (and apparently some on the left) who see these people as "undesirables" who are better off shunted into the corners or anywhere else, as long as it's not near their children and doesn't impact their property values or ability to pop in and out of a Starbucks in 15 minutes.

Second bolded: Yes. Generally speaking that is the assumption. Even outside of today's crazy housing market, driven again by those high income folk looking to flee large groups of people because of the pandemic, it's tough to own a home. Impossible for many. That you seem not to understand this is baffling to me. It's like a mix between the bootstraps argument ("Hey poor person, instead of living in a cheap and vermin-infested apartment in a building of hundreds of them why don't you just get a mortgage on a home with a two-door garage in a nice neighborhood with a decent lawn and room for your dog to run around out back? My family has done that for generations, are you not capable of that?") and Marie Antoinette's quote about cake. "The people have no affordable apartment buildings to rent in", "Well let them live in a suburban duplex."

They may call themselves "Democrats" but they don't really believe in democracy or equality or anything to do with the working classes. They only believe in helping themselves & their corporate sponsors.

Like the old Churchill quote about democracy itself, the Democrats are the worst party there is. Except for all of the other ones.

So, how does a nation “hit a big reset button”?
I really hate it when people frame an immensely complicated action in extremely simple terms. It implies they haven’t thought the issue through.

Are you advocating for a new Constitutional convention? That's not a violent means of revolution, but would certainly mean that we would be starting from the ground up on a new system rather than simply rewriting, making edits, etc. for the current vehicle.

Well the US does have the world's oldest constitution, and that isn't because it's somehow perfect and timeless as there are plenty of instances where its clauses are simply outdated or insufficient for governing in the 21st century. Of course, with the number of right wing nutjobs that treat the Constitution as a sacred scripture, even though many of them have probably never even read it, so trying to rewrite the Constitution at this point would probably start a violent revolution.

There is a strong support for a Constitutional Convention on the right, and given the demographic shift if they can't accomplish holding onto power through voter suppression and trickery this is the likely course they will take to rewrite the laws to keep the white/christian/straight folk in control. It's a lot closer to reality than we'd like to think. I'd imagine if you're messaging on this board you're familiar with the concept, but really look into it. Not a joke at all, sadly.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Northeast got hit harder than I expected. Not as bad as in Louisiana, but the news is showing flooding in PA, NJ, and NY.

The video footage I’ve seen today of the storm’s aftermath here in the Philadelphia region was nothing short of breathtaking. And the really terrifying part of the equation is that we were hit by the REMNANTS of Ida. A full strength hit like what New Orleans got and most of the Northeast would’ve been completely inundated. A jarring reminder that Mother Nature don’t play when she’s pissed.

[AnakinFlair]

The video footage I’ve seen today of the storm’s aftermath here in the Philadelphia region was nothing short of breathtaking. And the really terrifying part of the equation is that we were hit by the REMNANTS of Ida. A full strength hit like what New Orleans got and most of the Northeast would’ve been completely inundated. A jarring reminder that Mother Nature don’t play when she’s pissed.

The videos I've seen of flooding in the New York subway system were terrifying.

[Tendrin]

I'm sure the kids will be fine with no masks.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-dis...210955999.html

A Central Texas school district is temporarily closing after two teachers died of covid-19 in the same week, while parents and legislators in the state continue to clash over mask mandates in classrooms.

Officials with the Connally Independent School District, north of Waco, said its five suburban schools will be closed until after the Labor Day holiday following the covid-19 death Saturday of Natalia Chansler, 41, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High School. Her death came just days after 59-year-old David "Andy" McCormick, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High, died of covid-19 on Aug. 24, the district said.

[numberthirty]

I'm sure the kids will be fine with no masks.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-dis...210955999.html

A Central Texas school district is temporarily closing after two teachers died of covid-19 in the same week, while parents and legislators in the state continue to clash over mask mandates in classrooms.

Officials with the Connally Independent School District, north of Waco, said its five suburban schools will be closed until after the Labor Day holiday following the covid-19 death Saturday of Natalia Chansler, 41, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High School. Her death came just days after 59-year-old David "Andy" McCormick, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High, died of covid-19 on Aug. 24, the district said.

Also in that article and worth taking note of...

It is unclear whether either teacher was vaccinated.

While I would hope that it shakes out that they were, if they were not?

I'm not even sure that I would be comfortable with masked kids being in those classes.

[numberthirty]

Also in that article and even more concerning...

As school districts have been hit by the latest surge, parents have grown angry at Abbott and educators. Michelle Woodward told CNN she felt "rage" after learning her daughter was infected while attending school in Humble, Tex., a Houston suburb. Terri Gurganious, whose daughter, Brennah, was placed on a ventilator last week at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, wrote on Facebook that she believes her child contracted the virus at school in Buna, in East Texas.

"If we kept our kids home and not sending exposed kids or faculty to school this wouldn't have happened," she wrote.

While there is no way of knowing that for certain, I just can't see people wanting to hold on to the previous assumption that we don't have to plan for the worst when it comes to children contracting this thing.

[CaptainEurope]

Will Newsom release Bobby Kennedy’s killer?

The question of releasing Sirhan on parole is becoming political. One of Bobby's sons is in favor of Sirhan's parole.

I don't think the governor will release him. No, not while the recall is still going on. But if Gavin survives the recall, would he release Sirhan?

Did you read the full article before you linked to it? The decision will not come to his desk until long after the recall is over.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The videos I've seen of flooding in the New York subway system were terrifying.

I've seen those videos too. Astonishing! Speaking of which, below is a picture of the Vine Street Expressway in downtown Philly, taken yesterday. This is a major thoroughfare that takes motorists to the northeast section of the city and to one of the bridges for travel over into New Jersey. As of this morning, the road is still flooded.

[Tami]

Hoaxsters can't help themselves, even during a storm

Animals didn’t escape zoo in NJ storm

CLAIM: Images show that a variety of wild animals are loose in South Orange, New Jersey after they escaped overnight from the Turtle Back Zoo when the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused flooding at the facility.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. These images are old. Turtle Back Zoo tweeted on Thursday that its animals “weathered the storm well and remain safe and secure within the facility.”

THE FACTS: Lions, crocodiles, penguins and gorillas are not roaming the streets of South Orange, New Jersey, despite a hoax that was circulating widely the morning after severe flash flooding in the area.

“Breaking: Reports of escaped animals circulate throughout South Orange, New Jersey after the TurtleBack Zoo (@TurtleBackZoo) is severely flooded,” a Twitter account impersonating CNN wrote early Thursday morning. “Local authorities advise all South Orange residents to stay home until the animals are returned back to their homes.”

The post, which was accompanied by images of animals seemingly wandering loose on city streets, spread to Instagram and Facebook later Thursday.

But reverse-image searches prove that the images are old. A photo of a pack of lions wading into a street appeared in reports about India’s Gujarat region in 2019. A photo of penguins gathering on a dark, slick sidewalk hails from South Africa and has circulated online since 2013. A photo of a crocodile stalking toward cars is from coastal Australia in 2019. And an image of an ape-like creature standing in a street has appeared online since 2014, when it sparked both skepticism and bigfoot theories after it was shared in a Facebook group for residents of Anaheim Hills, California.

The Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, New Jersey, confirmed the reports were fake Thursday morning, writing on Twitter that zoo staff secured the animals indoors before the downpour.

“We appreciate everyone’s concern about our animals and staff during the storm,” the tweet read. “Staff stayed through the night to monitor. There was no loss of power and all of our animals and animal areas weathered the storm well and remain safe and secure within the facility.”

---

We appreciate everyone's concern about our animals and staff during the storm.
Staff stayed through the night to monitor. There was no loss of power and all of our animals and animal areas weathered the storm well and remain safe and secure within the facility.

Twitter Link

[Mister Mets]

Okay you can say it is not a regulation because it is a law suit on an existing regulation. Go ahead and split hairs. it is still vert anti LTGB. They can give speeches about how the law was not intended for that and it is purely a legal matter not an Anti LTGB matter. But that is horseshit! And I am pretty sure if the Dems did want to pass a separate law to have these protections rather then have them added to the Civil Rights Act. the GOP would fight against these tooth and nail.

All in the name of being against regulations of course.

The point on regulations was more about process, as a method of determining what the best policy solution to a problem is, and what the tradeoffs are.

Source please on these being liberal positions? Because I'm pretty sure neither is true. In particular, the only time we had prohibition in this country was because of conservatives. Extreme conservatives.

Eugenics was championed on the left as a way to improve the human race, and make various social programs easier.

https://newrepublic.com/article/1281...liberal-reform

The prohibition movement reached its peak in the progressive era, seen as a solution to social problems like poverty and child neglect.

https://www.alcoholproblemsandsoluti...-progressives/

People who talk about violent revolution have no real idea what it entails. They have all these great ideas for sweeping away the old guard and being heroes and making a utopia. In America that would just not work.

First off we have the strongest military in the world. Some militia nut jobs or collage kids who love to tweet clever things but have never fired a gun are not going to stop them. We really think the Generals and top brass are just going to sit back or side with a civilian mob to over throw their government?

And lets say there was a civil war that lasted like more then the 10 minutes it would take for the army to just knock the shit out of these people. Fine. But there will be chaos. People will not be working, if they did no IRS and other government mainstays, im sure the banks wont be up and running. So no pay checks.

Stores being looted so where is food, water and medicine going to come from?

You get sick or hurt, no one answering 911, the hospitals I am pretty sure will not be operating, at least not for the common man.

And we are creatures of comfort. No streaming, no Twitter, no Amazon? I think half of the country will die if they cant see Instagram cat playing a piano, or finding out Kim K's thoughts on a rainy day. This country is too soft for a long scale revolution.

And of course Russia and China, and North Korea will just sit back and chill while we descend into chaos and rebuild our perfect world. They will just sit back let it happen and let us rebuild with out a word or action. Maybe even invade.

But yea its fun to dream about that civil war to throw out all the bad people in Washington and crook law makers.

never going to happen.

Good point on what people would lose in a revolution.

The military is very good at killing people, but its track record is not so great when it comes to winning hearts and minds. If millions of people take to the streets like they did last summer, what are they going to do, gun them all down?

There's political science to back this up, with the trend that a government collapses when enough people take to the streets.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...ange-the-world

The rule is that it has to be enough people (about 3.5% percent of the population.) The types of protests also matter. The military would have an easier time using force against violent rioters.

[Tami]

Trump Is Making Presidential Politics Weird Again

There’s some reporting that former President Donald Trump may announce soon that he’s running for the White House again. What — if anything — should we make of that?

Early candidacy announcements are usually a sign of weakness. Longshots announce early, and begin campaigning early, because they need a lot of time to build enough attention and support to persuade party actors and news organizations to take them seriously. Take, for example, former U.S. Representative John Delaney of Maryland, who announced his unlikely 2020 candidacy on July 28, 2017.

But Trump’s situation is different. It’s at least possible that by jumping in definitively at this early stage, he could convince everyone else to stay out. The longer uncertainty persists, the more other politicians will be doing candidate-like things, which in turn could make one or more of them more likely to stay in and run a serious campaign. Even if Trump would be the likely winner, he’d rather have the nomination given to him than to have to fight for it, and an early announcement might do the trick.

Bottom line, I think Trump might very well announce a run, spend the next few years raking on money and support from other Republicans, then back out at the last minute out fo fear of losing or be unable to run due to legal issues. Which, then leads to there being no Republicans entering the race, or if they do they will be scrambling to do it last minute. Trump might just be handing the Democrats an easy win in 2024.

[Tami]

Oklahoma's ERs are so backed up with people overdosing on ivermectin, gunshot victims are having to wait to be treated

A doctor in rural Oklahoma says the number of people overdosing on horse deworming medication ivermectin is so high that emergency rooms are filled to the brim.

The situation is so dire that even people with gunshot wounds have to wait their turn to get treatment, said Dr. Jason McElyea, an ER physician affiliated with multiple hospitals in Sallisaw, Oklahoma.

McElyea spoke to local news channel KFOR-TV on the dangers of overdosing on ivermectin, a medicine meant for use on livestock. He told the channel that the rural Oklahoma hospitals he worked at were overwhelmed after people started consuming ivermectin doses meant for fully-grown horses, believing unverified claims that the horse de-wormer is an effective COVID cure.

"The ERs are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated," McElyea told KFOR-TV. "All of their ambulances are stuck at the hospital waiting for a bed to open so they can take the patient in, and they don't have any, that's it. If there's no ambulance to take the call, there's no ambulance to come to the call."

[babyblob]

On the ivermectin front. Tami posted a link to a story about a woman here in Ohio that sued to have her husband put on ivermectin. A judge agreed. The hospital is suing to appeal this but the man has been given regular doses of ivermectin.

This is happening in my area so it is on the news like crazy here. A good thing is the man's breathing rates while still bad are showing slight improvement. The down side is last night and this morning there have been floods of people going on about how "See ivermectin does work." And this morning a local well known doctor has said maybe the drug deserves a second look after all.

So now the ivermectin nuts are going to get a shot in the arm on this dumbass conspiracy because a man who was given it in a hospital has shown very slight imporment.