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

[Malvolio]

Sounds like it. Gunman dressed as FedEx.

Yeah, this almost looks like a scene from a mob movie.

[Tami]

This almost reminds me of what it was like when I traveled to and from Paris, France.

Coming to NJ from a hot spot state? You'll be asked to fill out survey starting Monday

Travelers flying into New Jersey from so-called hot spot states where coronavirus is spiking will be asked to fill out a survey starting Monday.

The announcement came from state health Commissioner Judith Persichilli on Friday, more than three weeks after Gov. Phil Murphy joined his counterparts in New York and Connecticut to announce a mandatory 14-day quarantine for visitors arriving from states with high numbers of positive cases.

"The airlines will make an announcement about the travel advisory on impacted states and the survey at the point of departure and in-flight while en route to New Jersey," Persichilli said. "Travelers will be connected to an electronic survey that will collect information about where they are traveling from, their residence and their destination."

Here's how it will work:

Travelers will be able to fill out the survey a number of ways, including by texting "NJTRAVEL" to the number 898211; visiting the website covid19.nj.gov/njtravel; or scanning a QR code on a smartphone that will appear on posters that will be on display at airports.
"The information will be submitted to the county health departments once the health department receives the traveler’s info. We are asking them to call the traveler to remind them of the request to self-quarantine," Persichilli said.
Among the things county health department officials will talk to travelers about is "to make sure that they know where to go for testing if needed and ascertain if they have any other needs related to self-quarantine," she added.

[PwrdOn]

Wow! I had to google the Smithsonian article to inform myself on the matter and look at the poster. Yikes! I'm a liberal, but I recognize that Whiteness theory is out there on the far left fringe, despite veiling itself in a cloak of anti racism, it itself has racist overtones, but my real problem with it, is that it is completely subjective...I will leave it at that, and just say that one of my best friends lives in Korea, and they are the masters of delayed gratification. They put our work rate to shame, and the far east has been outstripping us in many scientific ventures for quite sometime.

Yes checks and balances is the safeguard of our democracies, without an independent judiciary and due process, almost everyone in this forum could be yanked from their homes and thrown in a work camp for typing the wrong thing, particularly if the US was an autocracy under Trump, a government that I personally think he would prefer, cheers.

I'm a liberal but I gladly repeat silly nonsense about anti-racism being anti-white, and have Asian friends to prove it!

[Mister Mets]

I mentioned a while back that my mom really hates Trump. She had grown up in Estonia when it was part of the Soviet Union, so she's pretty wary of any chumminess with Putin. She also sees a lot of the praise of Trump from right-wingers as suspiciously close to praise of the communist party in the USSR.

This has led to some conflicts between her and dad. He doesn't like Trump either, but is not a fan of the leftward shift in the Democratic party (he didn't think they were that great before that, either.) He keeps complaining about Hunter Biden, and positions Joe Biden had taken throughout his political career, and is consistently saying that Nancy Pelosi wants to do with America what her brother and father did with Baltimore (where both were mayors.)

Dad has recently come to appreciate Trump's ineffectiveness as President. Part of it is that he bought John Bolton's book In The Room Where It Happened. By all accounts, the book isn't that well-written but it does make arguments against Trump that are persuasive to an elderly white guy.

[Tami]

I mentioned a while back that my mom really hates Trump. She had grown up in Estonia when it was part of the Soviet Union, so she's pretty wary of any chumminess with Putin. She also sees a lot of the praise of Trump from right-wingers as suspiciously close to praise of the communist party in the USSR.

This has led to some conflicts between her and dad. He doesn't like Trump either, but is not a fan of the leftward shift in the Democratic party (he didn't think they were that great before that, either.) He keeps complaining about Hunter Biden, and positions Joe Biden had taken throughout his political career, and is consistently saying that Nancy Pelosi wants to do with America what her brother and father did with Baltimore (where both were mayors.)

Dad has recently come to appreciate Trump's ineffectiveness as President. Part of it is that he bought John Bolton's book In The Room Where It Happened. By all accounts, the book isn't that well-written but it does make arguments against Trump that are persuasive to an elderly white guy.

I take it that, at least for some people, books like Bolton's, well wrtten or poorly written, might actually influence their opinion of Trump?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I take it that, at least for some people, books like Bolton's, well wrtten or poorly written, might actually influence their opinion of Trump?

I wasn't about to give Bolton so much as one red cent after he passed on giving testimony in the impeachment hearings in favor of book sales. But, the Mary L. Trump book which I thought was well written, described to perfection all the factors that went into making Donald Trump the lunatic he is today. Would that book influence people about Trump?

[Tendrin]

Oh.... oh no.

WBE, I'm... I'm so sorry.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/all...-gop-chairman/

Allen West, the firebrand former Florida congressman, has defeated Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey to lead the country’s largest state Republican Party.

West claimed victory shortly before 3:30 a.m. Monday, while Dickey conceded about an hour later. The developments came during an early-morning round of voting among state Senate district caucuses at the party’s virtual convention.

My reaction was, of course, ARE YOU ]^}%{%} KIDDING ME WITH THIS?!

[PwrdOn]

I mentioned a while back that my mom really hates Trump. She had grown up in Estonia when it was part of the Soviet Union, so she's pretty wary of any chumminess with Putin. She also sees a lot of the praise of Trump from right-wingers as suspiciously close to praise of the communist party in the USSR.

This has led to some conflicts between her and dad. He doesn't like Trump either, but is not a fan of the leftward shift in the Democratic party (he didn't think they were that great before that, either.) He keeps complaining about Hunter Biden, and positions Joe Biden had taken throughout his political career, and is consistently saying that Nancy Pelosi wants to do with America what her brother and father did with Baltimore (where both were mayors.)

Dad has recently come to appreciate Trump's ineffectiveness as President. Part of it is that he bought John Bolton's book In The Room Where It Happened. By all accounts, the book isn't that well-written but it does make arguments against Trump that are persuasive to an elderly white guy.

Frankly, this is why liberals should stop attempting to engage with people like your family in any way. No matter how far they try to run to the right and sell out minorities and vulnerable communities for the sake of appealing to supposed swing voters, the same set of deluded Republicans will continue on believing that we are right on the precipice of embracing Marxism with no evidence whatsoever. These types of people are simply a lost cause and the Democrats would get much better results simply pretending as if they don't exist, rather than trying and failing to appeal to them time and time again.

[Mister Mets]

I take it that, at least for some people, books like Bolton's, well wrtten or poorly written, might actually influence their opinion of Trump?

Different books can persuade different people.

Bolton, as a lifelong conservative Republican, might be more able to convince people who share his views (skepticism of the effectiveness of the United Nations, concern of the lack of checks & balances over the international criminal court, support for Israel, etc.)

Mary Trump's book might work with people who care about character, or can recognize President Trump in their crazy relatives.

Frankly, this is why liberals should stop attempting to engage with people like your family in any way. No matter how far they try to run to the right and sell out minorities and vulnerable communities for the sake of appealing to supposed swing voters, the same set of deluded Republicans will continue on believing that we are right on the precipice of embracing Marxism with no evidence whatsoever. These types of people are simply a lost cause and the Democrats would get much better results simply pretending as if they don't exist, rather than trying and failing to appeal to them time and time again.

You might have misread my point about the communist party. My mom sees Trump's sycophants as similar to CPSU sycophants in how they act, rather than their stated political positions.

[worstblogever]

Oh.... oh no.

WBE, I'm... I'm so sorry.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/all...-gop-chairman/



My reaction was, of course, ARE YOU ]^}%{%} KIDDING ME WITH THIS?!

So we can rule out any "seeing the light" moments from Texas Reublicans to return to sanity.

[PwrdOn]

You might have misread my point about the communist party. My mom sees Trump's sycophants as similar to CPSU sycophants in how they act, rather than their stated political positions.

It doesn't really matter though, the Trump administration has practically nothing in common with the USSR and the only people who would think that they do are the kind of insane McCarthyist types that think that EVERYTHING reeks of Marxism in some way.

[Tami]

A Navy vet asked federal officers in Portland to remember their oaths. Then they broke his hand.

PORTLAND, Ore. — He came to the protest with a question. He left with two broken bones in a confrontation with federal officers that went viral.

Christopher David had watched in horror as videos surfaced of federal officers in camouflage throwing protesters into unmarked vans in Portland. The 53-year-old Portland resident had heard the stories: protesters injured, gassed, sprayed with chemicals that tugged at their nostrils and burned their eyes.

David, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and former member of the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps, said he wanted to know what the officers involved thought of the oath they had sworn to protect and defend the Constitution.

So, he said, on Saturday evening, he headed to downtown Portland to ask them.

Just as he was about to leave, David said, the federal officers emerged. They rushed a line of protesters nearby, knocking them to the ground. David walked toward a gap in the line, calling out to the officers.

“Why are you not honoring your oath?” he bellowed. “Why are you not honoring your oath to the Constitution?”

An officer trained his weapon on David’s chest as several agents pushed him, sending David stumbling backward. But he regained his center and tried again. Another agent raised his baton and began to beat David, who stood unwavering with his arms at his sides. Then another officer unloaded a canister of chemical irritant spray into David’s face.

That was all he could handle, David said, he turned and walked away, flipping off the federal forces as he went.

Unable to see from the chemicals burning his eyes and blurring his vision, David said, he stumbled into a cloud of gas that made him cough and retch. He found his way to a bench in the park, where a street medic aided him and eventually pulled him away from the advancing officers.

At the hospital, he said, he learned his right hand had been broken in two places.

[Mister Mets]

It doesn't really matter though, the Trump administration has practically nothing in common with the USSR and the only people who would think that they do are the kind of insane McCarthyist types that think that EVERYTHING reeks of Marxism in some way.

Putin was KGB, so if you think that Trump is overly friendly with Putin, there is some connection with the USSR.

Putin has also led an effort to rehabilitate Stalin's image.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...in-soviet-past

[PaulBullion]

The situation is horrific. This is going to be subject to a massive investigation, as it should.

But, how would Trump be associated with the murder of a judge's son?

That's for the congressional hearings to determine.

[Tami]

North Brunswick NJ shooting: Suspected gunman allegedly found dead

NORTH BRUNSWICK - The suspect in the shooting that killed a federal judge's son and injured her husband at their township home on Sunday has been found dead, Eyewitness News reported in the noon broadcast.

The suspect allegedly died by suicide, Eyewitness News reported.

NBC New York reported the man, an attorney, was found dead in a town in the New York Catskills and investigators are trying to determine if a gun found at that scene is linked to the North Brunswick shooting.

An FBI spokewoman said she is unable to confirm that information.

Its unclear what connection or motive the alleged suspect had in the shooting at the home of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas or her husband, prominent defense attorney Mark Anderl.