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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump named Hillary... no "LOCK HER UP" chant.

Trump named Biden, paused for a boo... and got none. Like, how much is he failing if his entire thing is to demonize people, and he can't focus on the target that he's running against enough to get his most fanatical audience members to boo him? WITH PAID AUDIENCE PLANTS TO LEAD THEM INTO IT.

Oddly, there were boos when he mentioned Neil Gorsuch. But he never had the crowd. The only cheer he really got for himself was applause... for drinking a glass of water with one hand, as if that's something that deserves applause.

So, the Trump greatest hits collection is no longer charting, eh? I find that oddly reassuring for the immediate future, as in the election.

[AnakinFlair]

Ask and you shall receive.

It's already being combined with various musical tracks. Sometimes I love the internet.

https://twitter.com/John_ClarkeEOU/s...779650049?s=20

That is FANTASTIC.

This is the kind of stuff that happens when the handful of Never Trump Republicans willing to put their money where their mouth is get handed a perfect scenario to make an SNL sketch using real world clips:

https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/s...48265376907265

As a general rule, whenever Trump starts speaking I hit mute. Glad I listened to him this time, because he really does sound like a whiny little bitch.

[numberthirty]

Black incarceration rate 1994 - 1,471/100k
Black incarceration rate 2020 - 1,408/100k

After the 1994 crime bill, black incarceration increased at pretty much the same rate that it had every year since Reagan took office, before beginning a gradual descent around 1999. Never mind that Patron-fucking Saint Bernie also voted for the 1994 Crime Bill, so any argument that you might have that his policies would be better off for African Americans is pretty much moot, since the Crime Bill is the only metric which you use to measure whether or not blacks are better or worse off.

On what is in blue...

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/09/u...ate-drops.html

Prison Population Growing Although Crime Rate Drops

Using new methods to analyze the race of state and Federal prisoners, the report found that the incarceration rate for black men in 1996 was 3,096 per 100,000, eight times the rate for white men, 370 per 100,000, and more than double the rate for Hispanic men, 1,276 per 100,000. The figures provided one of the most powerful illustrations of racial disparity in the nation's prisons.

On what is in green...

One other thing on that topic. I get that there is the "In Dry Cement..." numbers when it comes to comparing it. That said, there's also pieces like this to consider.

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/...eneurs/516085/

The best states for black entrepreneurs are in the South

[numberthirty]

Don't know if this got a mention. Seems like it could wind up being another potential setback for Trump as he's trying to put a win together.

https://observer-reporter.com/busine...e8ab713d6.html

Unions sue Trump administration on mining safety

[PaulBullion]

Did you read my fucking post?!? I admitted that it was a very bad thing! It was a single. fucking. bad. thing! Blacks would not have been any better off at the time if there was a Republican President and Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress. Despite how bad the crime bill was, it likely would have been worse under those circumstances. For instance, many Democrats would not vote for it unless it contained an assault weapons ban. So yes, I'd say that the version passed under Clinton was VASTLY FUCKING BETTER! Not saying it was a good thing......just saying it would have been worse under Republican leadership. CAN YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND THAT?!? OK genius, now that it has already been established that A is already better than B, lets talk about the socioeconomic status of African Americans in blue States versus red ones......

I love this song.

[worstblogever]

"A door count placed the Trump rally officially placed crowd at 6,116. Of those, 2,837 were paid gig actors & 986 were Trump Campaign 2020, 532 were WH/Trump propaganda machine employees, 183 were plainclothes security meaning: 1,578 WERE TOTAL REAL ATTENDEES.""
I read it on Twitter, I don't know if it's true, but if it is, just wow! I'm sure we'll know that one way or another.

That actually sounds about accurate for a presidential entourage and campaign staff.

So, the Trump greatest hits collection is no longer charting, eh? I find that oddly reassuring for the immediate future, as in the election.

Trump's playing what he thinks are all the hits, but taking large chunks of time to go, "ME! ME! ME! I'M NOT A LOSER, I'M GREAT!" four years later as if nothing has changed... he's missing the mark. Call me crazy, but maybe the audience isn't in love with "make the other side suffer" as much as now they're actually like, "Are we going to live through this and have a normal life?" now.

And he has no answers on that last part. Or whatever he says is goddamned disturbing. Confessing to the crowd that he's saying, "Test less"... that is the opposite of what they want to hear.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of South Carolina State Senator Danny Verdin, a terribly conservative member of that body who did not come to our attention because he believes in banning abortion without exceptions for rape and incest, not for his support of allowing concealed firearms in establishments that serve alcohol, not because he voted for an attempt to nullify the Affordable Care Act in his state, and not because he loves Voter ID legislation that disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of voters. No, what gets our attention more about Danny Verdin is the hard-on he has for the Confederacy, as he is closely affiliated with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, having once served as president of their South Carolina chapter, and that he also helped organize protests to the removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina state grounds back in 2000 with the white supremacist group, the Council of Conservative Citizens. And don’t think for a moment that Verdin separates his hobbies from his political interests one bit, as he has spoken on the floor of the South Carolina legislature and invoked the attack on Fort Sumter with pride. Verdin would also like the 14th Amendment of our Constitution repealed, referring to immigrants being granted citizenship as a “malady” or “poison” upon the country. It should come as little surprise, then, that even after the assassination of Reverend Clementa Pinckney and several of his flock at the Emanuel AME Church by a shooter motivated by Confederate imagery to commit a hate crime, when the state legislature voted to remove the Confederate flag from state grounds… well, Danny Verdin wanted it kept around. Even the assassination of one of his colleagues was not enough to deter his ardor for a racist emblem from a rebellion against the United States based on people not wanting to give up their slaves. Verdin is also ethically challenged, as within the past several years he tried passing two separate pieces of legislation that would specifically aid his private business as a veterinarian into the South Carolina legislature, including mandatory testing upon hogs before transport, and to shut down mobile vet clinics (that compete with his own non-mobile clinic). Most lawmakers would recuse themselves on a vote on a bill like this if one came up, but to introduce it oneself is about as crooked as it gets.

Now, here's the depressing part... we had hoped that in the wake of the shooting in Charleston, a challenger to Danny Verdin would emerge in 2016, and hold his feet to the fire regarding his unstoppable urge to drape himself in the Ol' Stars &Bars That left him in the legislature so he can do things like sponsor legislation to bring back the firing squad as a method of execution in South Carolina, and vote for fetal heartbeat abortion legislation that would outlaw abortion at six weeks and doesn’t even considering whether or not the child was conceived through rape or incest.

Again, it’s now 2020, and no challenger has emerged to Danny Verdin for his State Senate seat, so this throwback to the gray side of the Civil War will remain a fixture in South Carolina politics and serve District 9 as a State Senator until at least 2024.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump's playing what he thinks are all the hits, but taking large chunks of time to go, "ME! ME! ME! I'M NOT A LOSER, I'M GREAT!" four years later as if nothing has changed... he's missing the mark. Call me crazy, but maybe the audience isn't in love with "make the other side suffer" as much as now they're actually like, "Are we going to live through this and have a normal life?" now.

And he has no answers on that last part. Or whatever he says is goddamned disturbing. Confessing to the crowd that he's saying, "Test less"... that is the opposite of what they want to hear.

Pfft! He NEVER had any answers, and doesn't care to find any. Meanwhile, I understand the Trump Magically Moronic Tour is headed to Arizona, just in time to take part in a recent spike in coronavirus cases. What's happening on that front?

====================

Noose Found In Garage Used By NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace

Wallace is the only Black driver in the sport’s top level and called for the Confederate flag to be banned from races earlier this month.

**********

How We Can Reform Police Unions To Address Systemic Racism

Labor law experts are exploring ways to curtail the power of police unions, but any meaningful changes require political will.

**********

House Judiciary Chairman: Calls For Barr’s Impeachment Are ‘Waste Of Time’

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler said Senate Republicans were corrupt and wouldn’t remove the attorney general no matter what the evidence shows.

====================

In coronavirus news:

Second Wave Of Coronavirus Cases? Experts Say We’re Still In The First.

“When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.

**********

Florida Governor Ripped For Trying To Pin COVID-19 Spike On Hispanic Workers

Farmworker advocates called Ron DeSantis’ comments “shameful” after he said “overwhelmingly Hispanic” laborers were spreading the disease.

**********

The Coronavirus Pandemic Doesn’t Care That We’re All Bored With It

From President Donald Trump on down, a lot of Americans are behaving as though the crisis is over. It isn’t.

[numberthirty]

...

====================

In coronavirus news:

Second Wave Of Coronavirus Cases? Experts Say We’re Still In The First.

“When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.

Here in Illinois, there are places that essentially amount to a handful of video poker machines with a "Sodas"/"Beers" bar. A friend of my brother works a part time shift at one. While they had been closed since Illinois started trying to take sensible steps to reduce disease spread, it sounds like she got a message that they will be opening back up next weekend.

Just feels completely backwards. That sort of a place is just a recipe to potentially spread a virus.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Here in Illinois, there are places that essentially amount to a handful of video poker machines with a "Sodas"/"Beers" bar. A friend of my brother works a part time shift at one. While they had been closed since Illinois started trying to take sensible steps to reduce disease spread, it sounds like she got a message that they will be opening back up next weekend.

Just feels completely backwards. That sort of a place is just a recipe to potentially spread a virus.

That doesn't sound good. Be careful out there!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Somehow I missed that Trump's next rally is in Phoenix in 2 days. Um ...

https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/stat...51580530089987

[worstblogever]

Somehow I missed that Trump's next rally is in Phoenix in 2 days. Um ...

https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/stat...51580530089987

Like I've been saying, it's probably not the best time to visit a place afflicted with a crisis your own incompetence has exacerbated.

Especially when, quite literally, packing 3,000 people into a megachurch is only going to create several hundred new victims of the virus.

But alas, Trump is a f***ing egomaniacal moron.

[numberthirty]

That doesn't sound good. Be careful out there!

Honestly, it feels kind of like the state is willing to roll the dice on it's share of the gambling income.

The "Self-Serve" Lotto machines have been up and running the entire time, and I would imagine some of them would be more of a potential threat than a place that someone will probably at least be attempting to sanitize.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Like I've been saying, it's probably not the best time to visit a place afflicted with a crisis your own incompetence has exacerbated.

Especially when, quite literally, packing 3,000 people into a megachurch is only going to create several hundred new victims of the virus.

But alas, Trump is a f***ing egomaniacal moron.

But therein lies the problem: Trump won't admit he made the problem with the virus worse than it is, not even to himself. He's blamed the media, the Democrats, the CDC, WHO, Dr. Fauci, everyone except himself. Even something as simple and benign as wearing a mask to mitigate the spread of the virus he turned into a political weapon because he refused to wear one out of foolish vanity, leading scores of brainless sheep to follow his misguided lead, making an already dicey situation nightmarish. Now that Trump is back on his "ME! ME! ME!" rally circuit, he's going to create more new cases everywhere he goes like an orange skinned patient zero.

[worstblogever]

But therein lies the problem: Trump won't admit he made the problem with the virus worse than it is, not even to himself. He's blamed the media, the Democrats, the CDC, WHO, Dr. Fauci, everyone except himself. Even something as simple and benign as wearing a mask to mitigate the spread of the virus he turned into a political weapon because he refused to wear one out of foolish vanity, leading scores of brainless sheep to follow his misguided lead, making an already dicey situation nightmarish. Now that Trump is back on his "ME! ME! ME!" rally circuit, he's going to create more new cases everywhere he goes like an orange skinned patient zero.

This Tuesday rally is supposed to be some kind of "Students for Trump" event... so if it's true to its purpose, it should have been an attempt to get younger Republicans behind him. One of the two founders of said group landed himself in jail for wire fraud. The other is an associate of one of the organizers of Charlottesville's "Unite the Right" rally. It has been bought by the Turning Point USA group, and their use of the group has already resulted in it being investigated for tax code violations.

Nobody knows how many people there are in the "Students for Trump" group, in reality. They have 29K followers on Twitter, and 59K on Instagram. How many students can afford to travel to Arizona, and get there during a pandemic... well, I guess we'll find out Tuesday. But for this venue to fill up, I'd have to think they'd have to open it up to the general public and not just their own. If you couldn't find but a few thousand Trump supporters in Tulsa on a Saturday when that was "all ages", a youth outreach thing to get the very rare "Trump supporter under 30" demographic in the 3,000 range could be another failure. They gotta bring in the fat old boomers.