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

[Mister Mets]

The Democrats aren’t likely to dominate politics to the degree and length of time necessary to eradicate conservative thought and conservatives aren’t going to disappear. A way forward needs to be found or the US will be reduced to having a barely functional government beset with wild idealogical fluctuations every four years and elections marked by violence and turmoil.
In many ways we’re at war.

You've got some good points.

Right now the political system and ordinary Americans are reacting to major changes. The parties have become much more polarized, mainly due to the national media environment, which encourages voters and elected officials to be more in lockstep with the main parties, which makes compromise tougher. There is also major social and technological change. And with greater division there are resentments, with the left upset about inaction by elected officials and the right upset about the culture and the media. This may sort itself out, but it will take time. There are different strategies for parties to pursue, but both Republicans and Democrats seem to prefer occasional narrow wins to broadening their appeal.

Change will still occur. Officials have to figure out ways to navigate this system. One interesting concept that's been mentioned recently is the secret Congress, the way officials get things done by making sure it's not politically loaded.

https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-ris...ance-of-secret

In other cases, the relevance of issues will change as we get more facts, or if there's sufficient backlash to policies. Gay marriage has become more popular, so the main arguments are about a handful of dissenters rather than whether it should be legal. Covid fatalities are declining. Certain forms of renewable energy are becoming cheaper which changes the economics when it comes to alternatives to pollution. Abolish the police fizzled.

[GindyPosts]

Got an alert about a mass shooting in an Indiana mall with three people, including the shooter killed and more hurt.

Just another day in America. Unfortunately.

Yup, took place down in Greenwood.

What's going to be really frustrating is the fact that the narrative will be endlessly about the so-called "good Samaritan" who thwarted the shooter, which to the right, finally justifies all those years of saying "only way to stop...". No; Indiana doesn't require a permit to carry a firearm (though you can't carry guns into crowded places) since the beginning of July, so I'm concerned it's only going to embolden people who think they can suddenly be heroes on the news.

Then again, with police we have...

[Tendrin]

Yeah, there's no way the GOP would ever agitate to overturn a popular precedent of which 2/3rds of Americans support.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...f2f403bef46af4

en. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Saturday said he believes the U.S. Supreme Court “was overreaching” and “clearly wrong” when it legalized same-sex marriage across the country in the 2015 landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

Cruz was speaking on his podcast about the differences between that case and the Supreme Court’s recent decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, which had previously protected abortion rights nationwide. He criticized the court for preventing individual states from deciding for themselves whether same-sex marriage should be allowed.

“Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history. Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states,” he said. “In Obergefell, the court said no, we know better than you guys do, and now every state must sanction and permit gay marriage. I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided. It was the court overreaching.”

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published a profile on Jeremy Durham, a former House Majority Whip of the Tennessee House of Representatives, and, for lack of a better term, a colossal, skeevy f***-up. The first scandal that broke about Jeremy Durham back in December of 2015 seemed like something that a legislator might survive politically if they just kept a low profile… news leaded that back in 2013, Durham was accused of potential prescription drug fraud, having supposedly altered it in an attempt to get more Adderall. No charges were filed, no big deal, right? Well, a few days later, the media in Tennessee were digging more into Durham’s background, and saw that he had gone out of his way to ask a judge for leniency in the case of a youth pastor who had been caught in an improper relationship with a 16 year old, and while the cops were looking into that, the pastor was also found to be in possession of child pornography. Really interesting that this was the charity case Durham took up, huh? (More on this in a minute…)

Well, then a few days after that, the Tennessean ran a story about an ongoing sexual harassment claim against Jeremy Durham, and the next thing you knew, ladies in the state legislature started coming forward stories about uncomfortable encounters where they were similarly harassed by Durham, and one of the common threads seemed to be that he was trying to get them alone, or into an encounter where they’d partake in some alcohol. Over the course of several months, a ton of women were producing evidence in the form of sexually-suggestive text messages from Durham (often apparently while he was under the influence of alcohol), as well, and a state Attorney General’s investigation came to the conclusion that he was, quite frankly, a creepy bastard. The funny part of all this, though, is that Jeremy Durham had been one of the loudest voices calling for one of those transphobic bathroom bills a lot of state legislators around the country are calling for, based on the idea that there were men pretending to be women and rolling up on them in public restrooms to assault them (which actually isn’t happening).

But Durham was pervy enough that the Tennessee state legislature literally banned him to his own separate building, because he’s too much of a pervert to be trusted around the opposite sex. We wish we could share all of the details of Durham’s shenanigans to further embarrass him, but alas, Durham and his attorney are fighting to keep them legally sealed, even as the state Attorney General is trying to disclose them to the media, who sure want the dirt. A vote was held to officially expel him from the state legislature, and we’re going to guess that means his career in politics is mercifully over.


On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Nicholas Gladden, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, hoping to get a chance to unseat Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin in a deeply blue district. We have to profile Gladden not just because he decided to stir up anti-Asian resentment by referring to Covid-19 as “the China virus” on Twitter, but he’s the latest in a long line of Republicans who ran for Congress in 2020 who also promoted the Qanon conspiracy theory. Nicholas Gladden finished third out of a possible six candidates in the Republican Primary in the race for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the House, getting only 12.8% of the vote. This has given him time to sporadically post on social media to spread conspiracy theories about Antifa secretly disguising themselves as Trump supporters to attack the Capitol and frame the right for January 6th, lies to contribute to Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the election is stolen, perpetrate the myth that conservatives are being “unfairly censored” for being banned from social media for racist posts or calling for outright violence, retweet posts from White Nationalist Nick Fuentes that were bad enough for Twitter to remove them, and compare Black Lives Matter protesters to Nazis so commenters can call on them to be murdered for calling for justice in the face of police violence. (We made sure Facebook was notified of the threats of violence being posted in that last one, because holy s***.) We are going to underline our opinion that Nicholas Gladden is bigoted trash, and look forward to whatever platform he has to spread hate being taken from him.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, and after a one year hiatus from us covering him, again in 2017,2018, 2019, and then in 2020,“Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of Mississippi State Senator Chris McDaniel, the Tea Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi who you might remember as the guy who considers any compromise to be a "surrender", and attends meetings of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. When he gets caught speaking to people who think the Antebellum South was keen, or cash donations from lawyers for the KKK, he frequently, gets caught lying about it, too. But McDaniel was the challenger to Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, who sent operatives into the nursing home where Cochran's wife is convalescing to have pictures of her taken laid up in bed to try and portray Cochran as some heartless monster who doesn't care about her. One of his aides committed suicide after being caught in the disgusting scandal, which McDaniel, not entirely convincingly, claimed he had no knowledge of.

After many failed lawsuits stemming from his 2014 election loss to Thad Cochran (he was furious Cochran had Democrats vote in the open primary on the Republican ticket, and select Cochran, since he was less extreme of an option), McDaniel’s career as a Mississippi State Senator is beginning to stall, as well, as every piece of legislation he has written throughout his time in office thus far has died in committee. McDaniel remains an all-around heel, responding to the hugely attended Women’s March on Washington, D.C., the day after the Trump inauguration by trolling on Facebook, referring to the crowd as “"a group of unhappy liberal women" and asking how they "can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, when they want us to pay for their birth control?" Well, that was akin to kicking a hornet’s nest. He was far from apologetic the next day, ranting that "no amount of liberal hell raising" would ever make him change his opinion about "free abortions" (This is the guy who considers any kind of compromise to be “surrender” of course), and laughing off the disgust at his remarks, because he felt that "literally 99 percent of you are not from MS. Perfect. It's nice to know I'm in your heads."

See? You can be an ***hole to the majority of the country… just make sure none of them are from your state, and no one will notice!

We noticed, Chris. We also noticed that as Sen. Thad Cochran announced his impending retirement in 2018, that Chris McDaniel was not content to sit and watch Missouri Gov. Phil Bryant appoint Cindy Hyde-Smith to the U.S. Senate, and McDaniel entered the special election to fill out the remainder of Cochran’s term, that ends in 2020, to avenge his 2014 loss. During the primary for that race, polling showed Mike Espy and Cindy Hyde-Smith in a virtual tie at about 33%, and McDaniel trailing in a distant third, with about 12%. Although, McDaniel insisted that such numbers are from a “fake poll”, and just a “dirty trick” because of course he did.

As the election advanced further, McDaniel tried to stir up support online among the Neo-Confederate crowd by first calling Conderate General Robert E. Lee a “hero” and posting a survey on his Twitter whether or not people should consider Robert E. Lee agreed. Let us us describe the response McDaniel received as “ratio’ed”.

Chris McDaniel ended up losing in the primary in the race for U.S. Senate, finishing third with only 16% of the vote. He was up for re-election in 2019 for his seat in the Mississippi State Senate, and will be re-elected on the basis that no one bothered to run against him. He has continued to vote against such modest suggestions for improving society as guaranteeing equal pay for women, and voting against removing the Confederate iconography from the Mississippi state flag, even under threat of sports and tourism boycotts if the state did not. McDaniel was quoted as saying “WHAT’S THE RUSH?” about taking something off the flag celebrating a failed rebellion over keeping human slaves from 160 years ago. The day after the Confederate flag was removed from being part of the Mississippi state flag, he was trying to champion a referendum to put it back on there. Simply put, he remains a racist tool.

Anyway, there were rumors Chris McDaniel might try to challenge Congressman Steve Palazzo for his seat in the House, serving Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District, however, he opted to not throw his hat out of the ring, and we’re hoping that he fails to be re-elected when he’s facing re-election in the off-year elections in 2023.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

‘Systemic Failures’ In Uvalde School Massacre, Report Finds

Nearly 400 law enforcement officials rushed to a mass shooting at a Uvalde elementary school, but “egregiously poor decision-making” resulted in more than an hour of chaos before the gunman who took 21 lives was finally confronted and killed, according to a damning investigative report released Sunday.

The nearly 80-page report was the first to criticize both state and federal law enforcement, and not just local authorities in the South Texas town for the bewildering inaction by heavily armed officers as a gunman fired inside two fourth-grade classrooms at Robb Elementary School, killing 19 students and two teachers.

Altogether, the report amounted to the fullest account to date of the one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. But it did not satisfy all parents and relatives of the victims, some of whom blasted the police as cowards and called for them to resign.

“At Robb Elementary, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety,” the report said.

[JackDaw]

‘Systemic Failures’ In Uvalde School Massacre, Report Finds

Waiting the Republican take on that…

But guess it will go something like:-

Q: What stops a bad man with a gun?
A: A good man with a gun.
Q: What stops a good man with a gun?
A: Bureaucratic red tape, specifically those handicapping police

Conclusion: Let’s make it harder to sue police service, etc, etc

[Panfoot]

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/17/bet...t-of-education

"I personally think the Department of Education should not exist," DeVos told the crowd in Tampa, Florida, per the Phoenix.

It should also be noted that DeSantis has been endorsing extremists for school board in order to better enforce his fascistic discriminatory policies and to further erode education and push out anybody that actually cares about teaching these kids.

[Tendrin]

As usual with the GOP, the entire point is to undermine a public service to replace it with a private one that helps further christian dominionist theocracy.

[Kirby101]

When will the coming women's health crisis be reported as the big story it is?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/17/bet...t-of-education



It should also be noted that DeSantis has been endorsing extremists for school board in order to better enforce his fascistic discriminatory policies and to further erode education and push out anybody that actually cares about teaching these kids.

Predictable. The GQP needs their base to be rock stupid, anyone who’s educated and knowledgeable wouldn’t give the Qpublican Party the time of day.

[shooshoomanjoe]

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/17/bet...t-of-education



It should also be noted that DeSantis has been endorsing extremists for school board in order to better enforce his fascistic discriminatory policies and to further erode education and push out anybody that actually cares about teaching these kids.

Out of all the scummy things the GOP do, their constant attacks on education is the one that bothers me the most. They want to dumb down the nation.

[babyblob]

When will the coming women's health crisis be reported as the big story it is?

It is somewhat being reported.

I posted a link about Texas doctors not treating woman with Pregnancy Complications a few days ago because of the risk of running afoul of the Antiabortion law. CBS nightly news did a story on it also. My local news is going to do a story this Wednesday on their special reports section about Ohio Doctors doing the same. CNN also did a small story It is being reported. It just needs time to gain traction. Sadly too many are going to ignore it.

[Dalak]

Yeah, there's no way the GOP would ever agitate to overturn a popular precedent of which 2/3rds of Americans support.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...f2f403bef46af4

Evidence doesn't matter when it's relegated to a few outliers rather than taken seriously.

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/17/bet...t-of-education

It should also be noted that DeSantis has been endorsing extremists for school board in order to better enforce his fascistic discriminatory policies and to further erode education and push out anybody that actually cares about teaching these kids.

As usual with the GOP, the entire point is to undermine a public service to replace it with a private one that helps further christian dominionist theocracy.

Predictable. The GQP needs their base to be rock stupid, anyone who’s educated and knowledgeable wouldn’t give the Qpublican Party the time of day.

Out of all the scummy things the GOP do, their constant attacks on education is the one that bothers me the most. They want to dumb down the nation.

Destroying public education in order to funnel it's funding to Private schools who are allowed to discriminate and selectively educate is particularly vile, and it ties into them wanting a populace that accepts what they are told regardless of how much it goes against reality.

When will the coming women's health crisis be reported as the big story it is?

When it starts affecting more relatable people to conservatives: rich white christians.

[Dalak]

It does seem that to refer to malicious compliance in a completely different situation, the joke only works if malicious compliance is never a problem.

I think I explained my position at the time. I could be wrong, which is why I use caveats. This is all that should be necessary, unless something is very obviously not malicious compliance.

It seems in political discourse there's a focus on sides rather. Whatever is done by a person's side should not be called out. There are no distinctions about degrees. To say that something is likely malicious compliance is seen as the equivalent of saying that it is certainly malicious compliance.

Right now, there seems to be an effort to use edge cases to argue why Dobbs was poorly decided. The point doesn't appear to be to convince legislatures to improve the laws.

No, you never explained why you felt that way which was the question I'd asked, just said it seemed that way to you. Then you excused your defending of the Don't Say Gay people by saying you were more familiar with them. I know Florida is on the opposite side of the country from you but you're still a Teacher, wouldn't you be more familiar with them? I'd still like to know WHY you jumped to that decision specifically, as that would require you to analyze your own thoughts - thus I joked. We should all try to think about why we think and feel the way we do, especially if we're in any position of authority. It's not like there was any evidence of these teachers being malicious rather than being cautious, not even a Tshirt, so it would seem to me that it shouldn't be claimed to be so unless it is very obvious. Mitch McConnell has more than proved he does things maliciously afterall.

This isn't about not calling out anyone's side or about Dobbs, so it'd be polite not to skew off subject.