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

[Hellion]

This hits close to home, but is a rare example of police not screwing things up:

https://www.montanarightnow.com/news...7ecd0929d.html

The would-be school shooter lived two doors down from my brother, and my brother and I went to high school with the guy's older brother. One of my closest friends works at Helena High School. I am deeply relieved the witnesses came forward and the cops acted before this man could carry out his plan. Dude had 5 hand guns, 3 assault rifles, and had made some explosives. Idolized the Columbine shooters. But will Montana legislators move to enact stricter gun control laws? I think not.

[Malvolio]

This hits close to home, but is a rare example of police not screwing things up:

https://www.montanarightnow.com/news...7ecd0929d.html

The would-be school shooter lived two doors down from my brother, and my brother and I went to high school with the guy's older brother. One of my closest friends works at Helena High School. I am deeply relieved the witnesses came forward and the cops acted before this man could carry out his plan. Dude had 5 hand guns, 3 assault rifles, and had made some explosives. Idolized the Columbine shooters. But will Montana legislators move to enact stricter gun control laws? I think not.

No, they'll use this as an example of good guys with guns stopping a bad guy with guns.

[Jack Dracula]

Just out of curiosity, can the Federal Government in the form of the Forrest Service be sued for the probably many billions of dollars is should be for burning down a good part of New Mexico? Or is there some sort of immunity?

There may be protections in place for the Forest Service, but I'm certain they'll have to pay out some damages in the end.
The irony is the wildfire was caused by prescribed "controlled" burns intended to prevent or curtail wildfires. Obviously, someone royally F-ed up.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

If it wouldn't be so costly relocating military bases & equipment, NASA stuff, and anything else that's property of the US and the taxpayer I'd say why not. But then you're likely to get armed insurrection as they try and have their cake and eat it too, and then we're in a mini-Civil War. No doubt like the war in Iraq you'd have people coming in from all over to fight the US military, and it would start us down the path to irrelevancy that the Putins of the world are looking for as they push the "state sovereignty" and decentralized government movement both here and in cases like Brexit and NATO's irrelevancy (had quite the partner in Trump on that one).



Like A&E used to be Arts & Entertainment, and the History Channel used to be about history (though mostly Civil War and Hitler). Dumbs##t reality stuff gets eyeballs, and that other stuff gets relegated to PBS.

Two of History Channel’s more popular shows are Ancient Aliens (featuring the hilarious “Aliens meme” guy) and The UnXplained, a documentary show about spooky/creepy stuff starring William Shatner who’s hard to watch because he’s so damn obese.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

https://theintercept.com/2022/06/10/...akari-sellers/

NEW PAC BACKED BY BAKARI SELLERS PLANS TO SPEND $1 MILLION TO UNSEAT REP. RASHIDA TLAIB. The slew in planned spending comes as top Democrats continue to fight against the party’s progressive wing with help from Republican donors and outside groups backing conservative candidates in both parties. Democratic leaders and outside groups aligned with them have spent millions so far to defeat progressives in several competitive primaries this cycle.

Is it “vote harder” or primary Dems with right winger money? Lol. Dems taking money from Republicans to oust Dems in the midst of an extremely consequential midterm. How is this a priority? Inexcusable. This man should never be allowed to work in democratic politics again.

[Tami]

Alaska's new voting system has Sarah Palin facing Santa Claus for Congress

Alaska’s new voting system and an unexpected special election have attracted a crowd of 48 candidates to run for the state’s lone House seat this year, including former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and a Democratic socialist from the city of North Pole, who legally changed his name to Santa Claus.

The contest on Saturday is the state’s first foray into nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting after a narrowly passed 2020 ballot measure upended the typical party primary system.

The new system had been expected to launch later in the state’s scheduled August primary, but longtime Rep. Don Young’s death in March forced a special election to fill his seat more quickly. Now, onlookers and candidates wonder how voters will engage with the new system: Will they stick with party-endorsed candidates, or will they give a more nontraditional candidate, like Claus, a chance at a seat in Congress?

"The question, of course, will be do Alaska citizens fully grasp the power right now that they have to look at these candidates as individuals and not as party folks. Or will we cleave more closely to parties?" said Amy Lauren Lovecraft, a professor of political science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "That is the open question."

[Tami]

A 1955 book on right-wing extremists predicted the Jan. 6 attack

The year was 1954, and the Cold War was in full swing. Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) was seeing Soviet spies in every corner of the government. And a young sociologist at Columbia University, Daniel Bell, convened a seminar to come to grips with the menace of McCarthyism.

Bell enlisted an academic dream team that included historian Richard Hofstadter and sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset. A year later, the group of seven intellectuals published their findings as an essay collection, edited by Bell. “The New American Right” argued that McCarthy’s conspiratorial anti-communism was here to stay.

By then, the Senate had censured McCarthy, and McCarthyism had collapsed. The book looked dead on arrival.

But nearly 70 years later, as a congressional committee investigates the far-right attack on the U.S. government on Jan. 6, 2021, the forgotten text has never looked more prescient.

The intellectuals held that the radical right not only loathed communism but also liberal democracy and the basic tenets of the U.S. Constitution. As Bell noted wryly, its partisans stood ready “to jettison constitutional processes and to suspend liberties, to condone Communist methods in the fighting of Communism.” They blasted free elections and the peaceful transfer of power, lamented the independence of the judiciary and opposed civil rights.

Hofstadter called these activists “pseudo-conservatives” (a term borrowed from philosopher Theodor W. Adorno). They posed as conservatives but in truth were authoritarians with a nihilistic urge to watch the world burn. “Followers of a movement like the John Birch Society,” Hofstadter wrote in one of the book’s essays, “are in our world but not exactly of it.” They lived amid what their successors would come to call “alternative facts.”

When the radical right first gained strength, it fell to a Democratic president to formulate a counterattack — just as President Biden and his allies in Congress are now attempting. In 1961, John F. Kennedy deplored those who “call for a ‘man on horseback’ because they do not trust the people.” His brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, deemed the John Birch Society “a tremendous danger” and excoriated “those, who, in the name of fighting communism, sow the seeds of suspicion … against the foundations of our government — Congress, the Supreme Court, and even the presidency itself.”

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Alaska's new voting system has Sarah Palin facing Santa Claus for Congress

If I lived in Alaska, knowing full well what a colossal train wreck Palin was, I’d damn sure vote for Saint Nick over her.

[numberthirty]

https://theintercept.com/2022/06/10/...akari-sellers/

NEW PAC BACKED BY BAKARI SELLERS PLANS TO SPEND $1 MILLION TO UNSEAT REP. RASHIDA TLAIB. The slew in planned spending comes as top Democrats continue to fight against the party’s progressive wing with help from Republican donors and outside groups backing conservative candidates in both parties. Democratic leaders and outside groups aligned with them have spent millions so far to defeat progressives in several competitive primaries this cycle.

Is it “vote harder” or primary Dems with right winger money? Lol. Dems taking money from Republicans to oust Dems in the midst of an extremely consequential midterm. How is this a priority? Inexcusable. This man should never be allowed to work in democratic politics again.

Just sounds like another day in "Business As Usual..." Democratic politics, to me.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Just sounds like another day in "Business As Usual..." Democratic politics, to me.

You should know. Qpublicans do that all the time.

[numberthirty]

You should know. Qpublicans do that all the time.

Meanwhile, out in actual reality...

https://www.politico.com/newsletters...talib-00035738

Scoop: PAC to spend $1M to oust ‘Squad’ member Tlaib

SELLERS: Correct. I'm assuming you’re going to Rashida right?

THE RECAST: Yes.

SELLERS: Congresswoman Tlaib, I'm sure, serves admirably.

One that, again, is aware, understands and is focused on the uplift of that minority district.

Congresswoman Tlaib voted against the infrastructure bill. Coming from South Carolina, I can tell you that I understand in our communities, that the return on that investment is so high. And we want someone, particularly in these Black communities, that does not get distracted by shiny things or media opportunities, but is focused on the uplift of our communities and does right by them.

THE RECAST: So what specifically is your concern with Tlaib? You mention a couple of things, including the media opportunities. As you know, being part of the “Squad” helps elevate kind of everything that she does. She also draws the ire of folks on the right and the left for her policy positions.

SELLERS: I don't have a beef with her directly. I just think that there are individuals who will have the interest of their district, first and foremost, and not their brand. And will do things in the interest of uplift of that community.

It’s not as much of a knock on her as it is that somebody else can do the job better because they’re focused on these particular issues.

THE RECAST: Looking at polling from just a couple of months ago, a survey was taken where it indicated Congresswoman Tlaib had strong support within the district — the new district she is running in, the new Michigan 12th.

Some 62 percent gave her favorable ratings. This is compared to Janice Winfrey, who was polling at 4 percent. So it seems like folks there don't see it the way that you're seeing it. Why throw money behind someone who’s lesser known and challenging a popular incumbent?

SELLERS: It’s not a popularity contest.

This is about going to Congress and serving your constituents and having that focus on these other development issues. I mean, I don't know her excuses for voting wrong on that piece of legislation. That’s just probably the brightest and best example.

I don't want to get into a battle about throwing mud at her by any stretch. I just think that we're gonna throw money behind somebody who we believe focuses on the issues that we care about.

We're not gonna leave [Janice Winfrey] hanging. This isn't unilateral disarmament. We're not gonna send her in there with nothing. We're gonna do the very best we can and see what happens.

We're gonna be players. We will have the resources to make an impact — on various districts — and we have a laser focus on improving the conditions for Black folks socially, educationally, economically, etc.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of Texas State Senator Charles Perry, who we noted that immediately after being sworn in as a state senator, talked of a "spiritual battle" being fought over abortion and same sex marriage that he likened to stopping the Holocaust. He has tried to pass same sex marriage bans based on "state's rights", voted for "trap laws" to close down the majority, if not all abortion clinics in Texas, pushed for unnecessary Voter ID bills to combat the statistically non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud, and voted to drug test welfare recipients (still always a failed conservative experiment). While this might make him sound like a Fundamentalist Baptist pillar, there's also word that Perry frequents gentleman's clubs and has had exotic dancers accuse him of stalking them. So, add some hypocrisy to the mix. In April of 2015, Perry co-sponsored SB 2065, a "religious freedom" bill that was written to allow people to use their faith to refuse marriage services to same sex couples. But believe it or not, that isn't the worst issue position Perry took, as in July of 2015, he appeared at a "Homeland Terrorism Conference" hosted by the dodgy Christian Reporter News. (At the event, ISIS was referred to as "true Islam", to give you an idea of how intolerant their ideas are.) Oddly, their discussion of Islamic terror also delved into theories that Muslims keep male sex slaves, or have sex with donkeys. So... that's some healthy rhetoric. And it wasn't a one-off, as Charles Perry freaked right the hell out after the Paris terror attacks, where he wrote to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to ask if there were any way that the state could refuse to admit Syrian refugees.He reiterated his paranoid fears on local conservative talk radio thereafter, insisting that Texas was a target for Islamic terror, especially if they took in Syrian refugees.

But it's not like Charles Perry had to face any consequences of hanging out with hatemongers, and demonizing a whole religion in 2016, as he was allowed to run for re-election completely unopposed. Because Texas, that's why.

So then it should come as little surprise that Charles Perry has not dialed back his Fundamentalist insanity. He was a sponsor of SB 892, a religious freedom bill of sorts aimed at deferring to the “deeply held faith” of Christian adoption agencies, hoping that they might turn away prospective same sex couples looking to adopt. Perry insisted that the legislation must exist, or Christian religious organizations would ignore the various things Jesus spoke of helping children if it didn’t get passed, saying:

“This bill is not a license to discriminate. Rather, it is a license to participate.”

Based off of a lot of his other quotes and actions, we’re calling bulls***.

Now, where Charles Perry has definitely stepped up his game is in his anti-immigrant fervor. One of the bigger state level battles going on right now is over Texas’ anti-immigrant law SB 4, which would ban sanctuary cities from existing within the state. Perry has not only voted for this xenophobic nightmare of a piece of legislation (using the word “legislation” loosely), but he has defended it by claiming it “upholds the rule of law”. Considering the constitutionality of the bill has been questioned because of how it empowers Texas law enforcement to racially profile people to enforce it, that’s a really interesting perspective. That does not mean, however, that he isn’t still an anti-abortion zealot, because he responded to the news of three Planned Parenthood centers opening in Texas by starting what amounted to a symbolic petition on his Facebook page, writing that “The abortion industry has officially targeted West Texas. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, has multi-million dollar plans to re-open clinics in our communities, and they must be stopped.” (For the sake of facts, Planned Parenthood does not profit in any way from providing abortions, which is only 3% of their budget anyway, none of which comes from government funding, and it definitely is not an “abortion industry”.)

Charles Perry spent his last term in office focusing on discriminating against the LGBTQ community, sponsoring a “religious freedom” bill, SB 17, that would allow homophobic bigots to use their faith as an excuse for hating gay people. Since… no one filed to run against him in 2020, Perry spent months sponsoring more transphobic bills, including one to ban transgender children from participating in women’s sports, another that would classify gender reassignment procedures being performed on minors as “child abuse”, and finally, Perry was a co-sponsor of Texas SB 8, a ban on abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected (aka at 6 weeks before many women even realize they’re pregnant).

Charles Perry has announced he’s running for re-election in 2022, and will be doing so while he sits on a special committee to assure that nothing is done to prevent further tragedies like the mass shooting at Uvalde.

[CaptainEurope]

Just sounds like another day in "Business As Usual..." Democratic politics, to me.

Tlaib's problem is that part of her grift was voting against infrastructure when her constituents needed it most. She voted against child care and green energy. She should have known she would be primaried at that point

[numberthirty]

Tlaib's problem is that part of her grift was voting against infrastructure when her constituents needed it most. She voted against child care and green energy. She should have known she would be primaried at that point

Someone would have to seriously lay the graft in what Tlaib has taken part in thus far, in pretty serious detail, not to get laughed right out of a room.

[CaptainEurope]

Someone would have to seriously lay the graft in what Tlaib has taken part in thus far, in pretty serious detail, not to get laughed right out of a room.

I am trying to speak to you in a language you understand. "grift" seems to be a portmanteau word in your vocabulary for everything politicians do.