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

[Darkspellmaster]

But he's given narratives! And if stories are true in our heart, isn't that what matters?

Isn't that what Republicans accused Liberals of, feelings before facts bull, and then they get mad when the shoe is on yhe other foot?

[The Cool Thatguy]

Isn't that what Republicans accused Liberals of, feelings before facts bull, and then they get mad when the shoe is on yhe other foot?

Pretty much.

The whole 'people have questions, thus our line of inquiry is legitimate' doesn't work when they're the ones who are spreading the lies, but hey...

[Castle]

a lack of any proof - I have laid out a number of narratives and the facts surrounding them that point to how a sceptic can and should be skeptical of the election of 2020 as you know the courts have denied access to evidence and in certain cases just outright claim validity of something that unverifiable by design. That you are unshaken in your faith that Trump is bad and Democrats good and all truth should flow from this dichotomy tells us little about failure of objective proofs except in listening with an open mind. The virtual ballot did more than anything Trump said to undermine "faith" as it is just that a faith not a fact based assertion. Democrats have made a terrible bet that their faith is stronger than doubt and the Republic will suffer for it.

This puts me in mind of how Mets is right in the threat now not in the future of moral certitude in political action, liberals have felt that if the unleash the Witch hunt and its "feeling" of what is right and wrong that the wind would always be at its back but the polling numbers are not showing any such thing. There is no rally except in the media to have faith in the system when Democrats are planning right now to use the system to force through their agenda.

Out of honest curiosity, why would the election be stolen? I knew Trump would not get elected again when he got COVID and thought it would be fun to go on a joy ride people other people at risk.

Sigh....Donald Trump lost his job because of the unethical and gross way he behaved in the last 4 .......no wait 7 years

No to mention, when I see people saying the election was stolen, it is the best example of white privilege. To think Trump can behave the way he behaved and still keep his job when a job assessment is done. That is what white privilege is.

Honestly do you think Obama, a black man would have even tried any of the things that trump did? and before you call me a leftist of a liberal, which I am not. let's imagine Colin Powell became the first black president (a republican) do you think he too would have tried and behaved as grossly immoral as Trump did when he was in office?

Trump lost his job fair and square because he was never fit for it. he was not fit to be president. Saying the election was Stolen makes me feel sorry for a person like Al Gore, a person who could easily have pulled the crap trump has done in the last year with more right to do so but Al Gore had class, Trump is a classless person who needs to humble himself and go away and ask for forgiveness.

[Xheight]

Isn't that what Republicans accused Liberals of, feelings before facts bull, and then they get mad when the shoe is on yhe other foot?

That's what I am saying - there are facts but the decisive ones that might have greater objective value are blocked by the court or declared valid by law and are non-falsifiable. It is more than a feeling.
How do you feel? Would Biden have still won if there had been no provisions for vote by mail or drop box? You are okay with not knowing if they were real or fake even though millions were spent on lawyers in various states to make sure that such provisions would go through but also mix the ballots with in-person tabulations like they did in Georgia?

In answer to Castle yes he won in 2016 despite what you claim. It wasn't privilege's doing but people in the decisive states not sharing the assumptions you think matter. This is not a debate about his fitness.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Steve Southerland, whose career prior to joining Congress included working as a mortician and funeral home director, and felt he was qualified to serve in our government because he was “a grief expert”. Southerland was quoted as once saying his $174,000 Congressional salary was “not much money”, yet still managed to get drunk on the clock and go skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee with several Republicans on a trip to Israel back in 2012. He also was “shocked” and “insulted” by comments by President Obama at the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast after the president heralded the United States’ proud history of respecting the religious freedoms of others, for whatever reason. Southerland also drew criticism for hosting a “Men Only” fundraiser in March 2014, that on its flier advised to “tell the misses not to wait up”, and then tried defending it later by saying his primary opponent, Gwen Graham, probably had hosted lingerie parties and not invited men, so there was nothing wrong with it. Because that doesn’t sound misogynistic at all. Steve Southerland lost in the 2014 elections to Graham in the GOP Primary for his seat, and already announced he will not try to avenge that loss in the 2016 election cycle. His political career is seemingly over already.

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Steve Katz, a former veterinarian, who was accused of illegally disposing of the remains of a German shepherd, and another time, attacking a Chihuahua in his care (because Katz was not a dog person, go figure) yet somehow managed to get elected to the New York Assembly in the Tea Party Wave in 2010. Despite of Katz being on the York Assembly’s Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, and voting against a bill in 2012 that would have legalized medical marijuana… he was arrested while, you guessed it, in possession of marijuana. Katz decided against running for re-election in 2016.



On this date in both 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of the man who looks like the answer to the question, “What if Beavis and Butt-Head were the same person?”, the U.S. House Representative from Florida’s 1st Congressional District Matt Gaetz. Gaetz schlepped his way onto the political scene back in the Tea Party Wave in 2010 (in spite of the fact that he was arrested for DUI only two years prior),where he was elected to three terms in the Florida state legislature through the benefit of not facing a primary challenger or general election opponent, EVER. He was, of course, following in the footsteps of his daddy, in the sort of political nepotism that seems to be the norm in the GOP far too often. And with his daddy’s help and a lot of campaign financing, Gaetz won a crowded GOP primary in a conservative-leaning district in 2016 over six other challengers, and coasted to victory over Democrat Steven Specht in the general election.

Gaetz’s own campaign site touted his fanatical defense of the 2nd Amendment, including fighting to maintain Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” Laws (even after the death of Trayvon Martin), his deranged obsession with abortion that sees him try to force women to undergo medically unnecessary ultrasounds before getting one and his desire to defund Planned Parenthood, his pride in supporting legislation that makes life harder for all illegal immigrants. His voting record backs all that up, and more, as it includes opposition to same-sex marriage, support for stricter Voter ID laws to combat the statistically non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud at the cost of disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters, and drug testing welfare recipients, which has been a failed conservative policy every time it’s implemented until judges throw the law off the books for being unconstitutional. From the point he announced his campaign, Gaetz was hyping Donald Trump as president, and ranting about immigrants and Muslim terrorists, which is the sort of rhetoric that plays in a district in the Florida panhandle that borders Alabama, sadly.

Well, setting all of his xenophobia and conservative extremism aside, we actually took notice of Matt Gaetz because of what we can only summarize as a “total dick move” that he pulled on the morning of September 25th, 2016. The sports world was shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic death of young Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez at that time… and for whatever reason, Matt Gaetz decided to politicize it for all that it was worth like an opportunistic douchebag, and turn it into a criticism of those who were kneeling during the national anthem to protest police violence.

”To all who will kneel during the anthem today - just remember how Jose Fernandez risked his life just for the chance to stand for it.”

The criticism for exploiting a tragedy for political gain was fast, and sharp, but not enough to overcome the sheer amount of money Gaetz dumped into his Congressional run and the partisan lean of the district.

We were not wrong to train our eyes on this little weasel. On February 16th, 2017, he introduced modest legislation to… oh… y’know, just abolish the entire Environmental Protection Agency. Gaetz didn’t even flinch about what a disgrace this attempt was, planning to attend all his town halls, albeit his idea to curtail dissent at them? Have militia groups loyal to him show up to provide a sense of “security”.

If you were wondering how “in deep” with the hard right Matt Gaetz has become, look no further than House Resolution 477, a bill that Matt Gaetz sponsored that was written by one of his top aides, who went on Reddit to ask a sub-forum dedicated to Donald Trump and white nationalism, that often has open discussions of Neo-Nazi ideals, Islamophobia and white supremacy. THAT is where the Congressman’s ideas are coming from, and surprise, the bill itself was written to investigate former FBI Director James Comey and… yup, Hilary Clinton.

And, when it comes to legislation he doesn’t write, Gaetz frequently is opposed to any sort of governance, voting against Disaster Relief for Hurricane Harvey (even though his Florida district itself is almost certainly going to need hurricane relief at some point), and in December of 2017, Rep. Gaetz became the sole member of Congress to vote against an anti-human trafficking bill, because he’s apparently okay with the practice of slavery and sex slavery (More on this later!).


It’s curious to see that as his first year in office was coming to a close, Matt Gaetz was desperately flailing about trying to protect Donald Trump from Special Counsel Robert Mueller at every opportunity. Whether it’s going on Fox News to say, "If Bob Mueller were any more biased, we'd have to give him credentials for the mainstream media,"or meeting with Trump and then telling the media that the Mueller investigation is “infected with bias” (remember, Mueller is a life-long Republican), Gaetz seems determined to handcuff himself to Trump to his own peril. This included his January of 2018 attacks upon FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, and when there were texts between the two not being immediately made public, Gaetz claimed it was “the biggest coincidence since the immaculate conception”. When asked on CNN to explain what the hell that actually means, Gaetz was unable to explain how the situation applied to the origin story of Jesus Christ, because of course he couldn’t, he’s a moron.

Gaetz hasn’t dialed back his racist diatribes since our first profile as well, claiming that Haiti is “disgusting” with “everywhere you look in Haiti, it’s sheet metal and garbage” in an interview with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. He invited Chuck Johnson, an alt-right conspiracy theorist and Holocaust Denier to Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address, and Gaetz himself has gotten in the habit of spreading conspiracy theories, himself. In October of 2018, Gaetz was claiming that women and children in Honduras were being paid by George Soros to join a caravan of migrants leaving that country for the United States. Which, was exactly the sort of rhetoric which enraged MAGA-Bomber Cesar Sayoc and Neo-Nazi synagogue shooter Robert Bowers within days of him aiding the spread of that conspiracy theory. Only a few weeks later, only the day after the 2018 election, Gaetz was leading the 2018 equivalent of the Brooks Brothers riot outside of the Broward County Board of Elections, spreading conspiracy theories about Democrats attempting to steal the election from Republican candidates.

[worstblogever]

So it was of little surprise when Gaetz was one of the loudest voices spreading Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” after the 2020 election, and prior to Joe Biden’s inauguration. Correction: Gaetz never stopped telling that lie, even after January 6th.

We’re this far into the Matt Gaetz profile, and you’re probably wondering, “Are they ever going to mention he’s being investigated for child sex trafficking and sex trafficking?” Oh, we haven’t forgotten. The New York Times first broke the news in March of 2021, that the Dept. of Justice was investigating Gaetz’s illicit activities during the Trump administration, and that Gaetz’s long time friend and associate Joel Greenberg, who had already been indicted for sex trafficking had been cooperating with federal authorities. Perhaps not coincidentally, Gaetz was the only member of Congress to vote against the Combating Human Trafficking Vehicles Act in 2017, and was one of 25 members of the House to vote against the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers act in 2018. Of course he was dumb enough to implicate himself by using Venmo or say, Apple Pay or Cash App, to pay the escorts for sexual favors, and of course he doesn’t have the decency to resign in light of that, and has hung around like the troll he is to spread more conspiracy theories and make vague threats towards Democratic colleagues about what should be done if Republicans and Donald Trump return to power, because there weren’t enough threats on people’s lives in the building on January 6th.

Just a recent timeline.

• May 2nd, 2018: Matt Gaetz is one of 18 Republicans who sign on to a letter asking to nominate Donald Trump for a Nobel Prize for meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
• January 22nd, 2019: Gaetz votes against HR 676, which would prevent Donald Trump from doing the unthinkable and walking away from our allies in NATO to appease the Russians.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Gaetz voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• January 27th, 2019: Matt Gaetz can’t be arsed to vote against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attack Gaetz our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 22nd, 2019: Gaetz posts on Twitter at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a pattern that emerged since she won her primary race where he shamelessly pretends to, or flirts with her, to change the subject away from solid policy points she makes in an inherently creepy way.
• February 26th, 2019: Rep. Gaetz decides to get on Twitter and threaten Michael Cohen a day before he is set to testify before Congress regarding Donald Trump’s corruption including his scheme to commit campaign finance fraud by paying off women he had affairs with before their stories could be published in the tabloids. On Twitter, Gaetz wrote, “Hey @MichaelCohen212 — Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot.”
• February 28th, 2019: Gaetz votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Gaetz votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Matt Gaetz is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote 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 (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 17th, 2019: Gaetz votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. He justified his vote by saying it would only allow Donald Trump to declare himself “the first female president” and liberals wouldn’t like that. No, really.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Gaetz votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Matt Gaetz votes against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
• October 17th, 2019: Gaetz is one of 60 Republicans who vote against HJ Res 77, which opposed Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to abandon Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria to the mercies of a Turkish invasion.
• October 23rd, 2019: Rep. Gaetz leads 41 Republicans who, while staring down the possibility of Donald Trump being impeached, stage a ridiculous publicity stunt in response by crashing a classified impeachment inquiry hearing for a “protest”. After a few hours of them occupying an empty room and ordering and eating pizza, they abandon their delusions and wander out.
• December 3rd, 2019: Matt Gaetz is one of 71 Republicans who vote against House Resolution 546, which stated disapproval of any attempt to readmit the Russian federation back into the G7 and make it the G8.
• December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Gaetz is quoted as saying that the president that really deserves impeaching is Barack Obama, who has been out of office for almost three full years, because of supposed “wiretapping” he did that the intelligence community already had to confirm he never did (when Trump accused him of “wire tapps” without evidence).
• December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Gaetz makes a vague threat against Georgia Governor and fellow Republican Matt Kemp because he might not pick the Trump administration’s favored candidate for Senate to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson until a special election can be conducted.
• December 12th, 2019: After spending weeks trying to spread Russian propaganda about Joe and Hunter Biden, Gaetz begins attacking Hunter Biden about rumored substance abuse issues he might have, which led Democratic Congressman Hank Johnson to respond by reminding everyone that Matt Gaetz has been arrested for DUI, so maybe the pot is calling the kettle black.
• December 19th, 2019: Matt Gaetz votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump, in spite of glaring evidence of abuse of power.
• January 13th, 2020: Rep. Gaetz decides to take a shot at a former Republican colleague from the Florida state legislature for daring to meet with the Reverend Al Sharpton, and said colleague, Chris Latvala responds in kind that as a member of the Florida state legislature, Gaetz started an inappropriate game that awarded state legislators “points” for having sex with interns, lobbyists, and other married legislators.

[worstblogever]

• February 5th, 2020: Matt Gaetz calls for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to be marked with an ethics complaint and for her to be charged with a crime for tearing up a copy of Donald Trump’s State of the Union Speech (it wasn’t a crime, obviously).
• March 4th, 2020: Matt Gaetz mocks mask guidelines being advised by health experts by turning up to vote on a Coronavirus stimulus bill while wearing a gas mask. Five days later, on March 9th, he announced he was going into self-quarantine after being exposed to the virus by a fellow guest at CPAC.
• May 15th, 2020: Gaetz votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• June 14th, 2020: Rep. Gaetz decides to start a Twitter feud with actor Ron Perlman, and gets his ass handed to him in a battle of wits, because Gaetz doesn’t have any.
• June 18th, 2020: Only days removed from getting savaged on Twitter, Matt Gaetz decides to be a s***heel and respond to discussions of “Black Lives Matter” in the House and the death of George Floyd by going “All Lives Matter”. He was called out by Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond for mocking the pain of African Americans, and that’s when Gaetz revealed his ace in the hole… he claimed he had a “non-white son”, a 19 year old Cuban son named “Nestor” who… was living in his Florida home, but there was no paperwork to indicate Gaetz ever adopted him. The next night, Gaetz dragged Nestor onto Tucker Carlson where he whined about “discrimination against whites”. So… just weird. And racist. Which if you included the word “drunk” would summarize Gaetz.
• July 21st, 2020: Gaetz teams up with Jim Jordan to start a public feud with fellow Republican Liz Cheney because in their mind, she does not support Donald Trump enough.
• July 22nd, 2020: Rep. Gaetz is caught in an ethics scandal because he illegally used taxpayer funds to pay a known (fellow) white nationalist to write his speeches for him. When the story is reported by Politico, Gaetz attacks the media outlet for reporting what he calls “a simple clerical error”.
• December 4th, 2020: Rep. Gaetz ignores edicts under effect in New Jersey to not hold large indoor gatherings, and turns up as the “headliner” of a meeting of the New York GOP in Jersey City to hold a “gala fundraiser” with a few hundred people. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy reminds everyone Gaetz is the same ***hole who has mocked masks throughout the pandemic, including wearing a gas mask during a Congressional hearing.
• December 10th, 2020: Gaetz signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
• January 6th, 2021: Matt Gaetz not only cheerleads for fascist the Trump supporters who literally storm the U.S. Capitol Building, he not only votes against certifying the electoral college results showing he has no shame over what his rhetoric has wrought, but he gaslights the American people by taking to the floor of the House to give a speech where he asks everyone to disbelieve the entire day’s events and lies and claims the raid on the Capitol was actually carried out by Antifa.
• January 7th, 2021: Matt Gaetz 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 11th, 2021: Gaetz throws a tantrum on Twitter because Donald Trump’s Twitter account was banned after he continued to spread lies about election fraud that incited the Jan. 6th attacks.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Gaetz votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
• February 4th, 2021: Matt Gaetz votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
• February 25th, 2021: Gaetz votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Gaetz 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: Matt Gaetz votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Gaetz 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. Gaetz 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 (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• March 17th, 2021: Gaetz is one of twelve Republicans who pick a side to have rooted for in the failed coup attempt on 1/6/21 and votes against awarding Congressional gold medals to members of the Capitol Police who bravely defended members of Congress during the attack.
• April 1st, 2021: A CNN report comes out about how some Republican colleagues confirmed that Matt Gaetz would often show nude pictures of women from his phone he had sexual relations with on the Floor of the House with colleagues.
• April 6th, 2021: The New York Times report that in the waning days of the Trump administration, Gaetz was seeking a blanket pardon from Donald Trump, but failed to get one.
• April 8th, 2021: A letter is published from Matt Gaetz’s Congressional office, labeled, “Women of U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz’s office” to come out in defense of the accused Congressman… users on Twitter reading it note, no one actually signed their names to it.

[worstblogever]

• April 13th, 2021: It is confirmed that federal investigators already issued a warrant and seized Gaetz’s cell phone as part of their investigation into sex trafficking.
• May 14th, 2021: Matt Gaetz can’t be happy after reading the news that his former friend and associate Joel Greenberg has plead guilty and is cooperating with federal investigators.
• May 19th, 2021: Rep. Gaetz votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• May 20th, 2021: Matt Gaetz is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
• May 22nd, 2021: Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend begins cooperating with federal investigators seeking more evidence of his alleged sex trafficking.
• May 28th, 2021: Matt Gaetz, speaking on his “America First” tour with Marjorie Taylor-Greene, calls for citizens to “use their 2nd Amendment rights” against “Silicon Valley companies” for supposedly suppressing conservatives’ messages on social media. He is immediately called out for trying to incite violence against private companies.
• June 15th, 2021: Rep. Gaetz is one of twenty-one Republicans who pick a side to have rooted for in the failed coup attempt on 1/6/21 and votes against awarding Congressional gold medals to members of the Capitol Police who bravely defended members of Congress during the attack.
• June 23rd, 2021: Rep. Gaetz embarrasses himself in front of Gen. Mark Milley, after a line of questioning where he insinuated the armed forces were teaching the troops “Critical Race Theory”, and Milley flipped the questioning on him, saying “I do think it’s important for those of us in uniform to be open-minded and be widely read. And it is important that we train and we understand — I want to understand white rage, and I’m white — and I want to understand it. What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and tried to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America? What caused that? I want to find that out.”
• July 17th, 2021: For the third time in weeks, a venue cancelled Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s “America First” rally on them, this time only hours before it was scheduled to start. Gaetz whined about his First Amendment rights being violated on Twitter, and got ratio’ed for it.
• November 5th, 2021: Matt Gaetz votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
• November 18th, 2021: Gaetz, in an interview with Newsmax, talks about wanting to give a Congressional internship to killer Kyle Rittenhouse while he was still on trial for murder, because apparently he wasn’t satisfied with the results he got from the mob on January 6th, he wanted to bring proven killers for the next coup.
• January 6th, 2020: Matt Gaetz spends the anniversary of the failed coup attempt carried out by Trump supporters holding a press conference with Marjorie Taylor-Greene where they portrayed the events of the day as a conspiracy theory set up by the FBI with "boobytraps" and called the media's truthful reports of what happened "Blood Libel". Yes, he used the old anti-Semitic term to defend folks who stormed the Capiitol on Trump's behalf in Camp Auschwitz shirts.

We know that Florida’s 1st District had a +22 Republican lean, and is likely to still be very red going forward… but it should not be difficult for any Republican challenger to primary Gaetz, given, y’know… the sex trafficking. We’re hoping he’s out of Congress by 2022, and that he faces justice for his crimes, sooner, rather than later.

[Darkspellmaster]

That's what I am saying - there are facts but the decisive ones that might have greater objective value are blocked by the court or declared valid by law and are non-falsifiable. It is more than a feeling.
How do you feel? Would Biden have still won if there had been no provisions for vote by mail or drop box? You are okay with not knowing if they were real or fake even though millions were spent on lawyers in various states to make sure that such provisions would go through but also mix the ballots with in-person tabulations like they did in Georgia?

In answer to Castle yes he won in 2016 despite what you claim. It wasn't privilege's doing but people in the decisive states not sharing the assumptions you think matter. This is not a debate about his fitness.

Well let's see here, Vote by mail has always been a thing. So this all comes down to vote by mail not being legit? Please tell that to all Military, students and ex pats that are out of the country. Why the f*** would they be fake? This is stupid. You want to deal in that sort of stuff your going to have to go all the way back to the 1920s for that sort of ****..

[Kirby101]

Sigh.

[BeastieRunner]

That Gaetz entry is now 3 posts too long.

Sorry WBE.

[Mister Mets]

The fact that someone like Trump can misuse his status and employ lies to gain power and abuse the office in that way indicates the system is broken and need’s fixing. Fix the system and your fears of abuse aren’t as relevant.

I don't think there are sufficient fixes to prevent bad people from getting elected.

It'll happen every now and then.

None of which is dangerous as you suggested a law banning Holocaust denial would be...and your second "point" ? That's just a slippery slope with out any actual support...you can see that right?

You may be arguing with points I haven't made.

That said, there is a consistent tendency that power granted to one party is used by the other party when they take over.

You say some crazy stuff...but this takes the cake. One one hand you have the DSA which is just a political group and on the other you have a group that's committed acts of actual terrorism and murder on American soil.

But sure, both sides are the same.

He's not saying they're the same. The mechanism to keep one of office could be used for the others.

North Carolina voters dispute Cawthorn candidacy over Jan. 6

This is silly. Nothing's going to come of it, and it's not going to persuade anyone.

[Gray Lensman]

Looks like the crazy is happening again.

[Mister Mets]

Pretty much.

The whole 'people have questions, thus our line of inquiry is legitimate' doesn't work when they're the ones who are spreading the lies, but hey...

Yeah, it is really self-serving. And the endgame seems to be to get a pretext for officials to reject the decision of the voters.

In case anyone missed the ground swell that is going on around the filibuster issue Politico had this mind blowing item on the Save the Steal push back against election integrity.


For those following my conversations with Mets you will note that Georgia is indeed the center these days of Voter fraud questions and the use of registration data to create unfalsifiable legal status of ballots submitted by non traditional means. That people have been named and large money evidenced in swinging the vote in 2020 has indeed focused Democrats on constructing a counter narrative to hold on to what Covid allowed. Blanketing it all in some sort of Constitutional cover and its "heroes" is critical to swaying the base. Those with a more critical eye have to wonder what is the point of the willful blindness to objective standards, rights for all equally, and the assumption of subjective ones as protected classes.

Isn't Clyburn employing the same subjective knowledge that the shooters of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, in Georgia who claimed or cop throughout the country the subjective fear and danger of facing a potential criminal? Right law, wrong argument. Right law because the 15th did represent a consensus of the country ideologically if not politically, it was an amendment not a simple law as will subject to basic majority. Rather than break down partisanship as a front and speak to shared values he is speaking to something else that is dubious and invites skepticism. As a functionary of a political machine that bases its power on racial bias I suppose he not blind but sees what advantage is.

There is certainly an argument that Democrats are trying to make temporary provisions due to Covid permanent, and that much of the so-called voter suppression legislation by Republicans is going back to the old status quo. However, politicians lie and exaggerate. It's up to voters to interpret all of it.

It is worth noting at the time of the 15th amendment, the Democrats were much weaker. Republicans had 70 percent of House seats, and a bigger advantage in the Senate. That's a different political environment from the current one where Democrats have narrow congressional majorities.

That's what I am saying - there are facts but the decisive ones that might have greater objective value are blocked by the court or declared valid by law and are non-falsifiable. It is more than a feeling.
How do you feel? Would Biden have still won if there had been no provisions for vote by mail or drop box? You are okay with not knowing if they were real or fake even though millions were spent on lawyers in various states to make sure that such provisions would go through but also mix the ballots with in-person tabulations like they did in Georgia?

In answer to Castle yes he won in 2016 despite what you claim. It wasn't privilege's doing but people in the decisive states not sharing the assumptions you think matter. This is not a debate about his fitness.

There are mechanisms to determine whether ballots cast in Georgia are fake. The names of voters are publicly available, so we can determine if there's a trend of nonexistent people voting or votes on behalf of people who deny doing anything on Election Day.

There would be footprints from a conspiracy massive enough to swing the results of a presidential race.

[Kirby101]

The voter suppression laws the GOP are passing are not "so called". They are voter suppression laws pure and simple.