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

[godisawesome]

Tom Cotton taking time out of his day to be extra racist.



I love how the article talks about it's 'inaccuracies' while ignoring how wildly inaccurate the actual history we teach our students is.\

The colonies did not revolt to preserve slavery...

...but it does need to be emphasized that there was a period where no doubt at least a few fence sitters, especially in the South, are likely to have become Patriots instead of Loyalists when the British offered freedom to any slave who escaped and would fight for them. And Johnson’s famous quote about the cries for slavery being loudest among the slave owners needs to be understood for its accuracy as much as its context.

The main cause was still a bad execution of a Tory government in London trying to tighten the economic reigns and establish its de jure supremacy over what had been a more de facto egalitarian economic relationship and autonomous local rule under Whig governments. The 13 colonies were more concerned with avoiding a political and economic fate similar to Ireland than anything else, and had already established an infrastructure and bureaucratic tradition that could not be replaced with Parliament-controlled rival without refusing the freedoms under which the colonies had grown in Whig rule.

The Tories honestly could have resolved a lot of their personal problems if they’d recognized the de facto landed aristocracy of the colonies as their peers; instead, they managed to antagonize the upper, middle, and lower class leaderships enough that it became a question of whether rule would come from home or abroad in the colonies, instead of a typical colony-mother country relationship (want the North Government wanted), or a peer-of-the-realm relationship (what Ben Franklin and others proposed in the colonies, and what would have required representation.)

The place of slavery in the situation is effectively the same as it was in the UK itself - slavers and nascent abolitionists were peers and business partners slowly turning towards the question. The difference was that the US had a larger slave population... and within a few decades would have the Cotton Gin make the cruel apathy of economics reinforce the dedication to it in the South. There’s a reason why Wilberforce and others ended slavery in the UK long before the US, but still took decades to do so.

[GindyPosts]

Yeah, that is not a thing that happened in the real world. At this point, you are just making up outrageous lies to excuse being associated with Republicans, I guess.

Besides... and may I quote you and not You Know Whom...

WHY THE HELL WOULD WE WANT DEATH PANELS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!

We should not be in a situation ever where people have to decide who lives and who dies based on age, income, or value to society! Everyone should have the right to health care and the opportunity to live, dammit! The only reason we are winding up in a scenario where so-called "death panels" are becoming tempting isn't because of some leftist conspiracy, but due to sheer incompetence. While it is true that states like New York and California have led the way in COVID cases and you can say "They're Blue States, so they don't know what they are doing", you're dealing with places that have extremely high population densities in cities like New York City and Los Angeles not to mention rural areas that also exist that are often at odds with the state government (California especially, what with people always talking about secession every couple of years) and, as a result, naturally go against state orders out of mistrust or spite. Places like Texas and Florida, that also have high populations but tend to be historically conservative have disproved the "It's a Blue State problem" myth and Florida especially has shown what happens when a governor does not care at all about health guidelines in favor of economic stability or prosperity.

It's just a fact that conservatives are less likely to perform basic things like wearing a mask, socially distance, or stay at home due to their natural wariness of government intervention, and a few are even motivated to do things like wear things that offer no protection out of spite, thinking these mask mandates are part of some conformist conspiracy rather than health reasons when in reality you're bound to be going into a grocery store or a business where the employees are underpaid and tired and not willing to put up with your whining and complaining about conspiracy theories.

And when this happens, more people get sick, more people wind up in the ICU, beds aren't available for people who may need them for COVID, and as a side effect, other patients can't use those beds for other issues, causing other fatalities as a side effect of all this. Intensive care can't just be restricted to COVID patients; they must be allowed for trauma victims, people in cardiac arrest, or any other life-threatening situation. And if those beds aren't available, that's the difference between life and death.

[Tendrin]

The colonies did not revolt to preserve slavery...

...but it does need to be emphasized that there was a period where no doubt at least a few fence sitters, especially in the South, are likely to have become Patriots instead of Loyalists when the British offered freedom to any slave who escaped and would fight for them. And Johnson’s famous quote about the cries for slavery being loudest among the slave owners needs to be understood for its accuracy as much as its context.

The main cause was still a bad execution of a Tory government in London trying to tighten the economic reigns and establish its de jure supremacy over what had been a more de facto egalitarian economic relationship and autonomous local rule under Whig governments. The 13 colonies were more concerned with avoiding a political and economic fate similar to Ireland than anything else, and had already established an infrastructure and bureaucratic tradition that could not be replaced with Parliament-controlled rival without refusing the freedoms under which the colonies had grown in Whig rule.

The Tories honestly could have resolved a lot of their personal problems if they’d recognized the de facto landed aristocracy of the colonies as their peers; instead, they managed to antagonize the upper, middle, and lower class leaderships enough that it became a question of whether rule would come from home or abroad in the colonies, instead of a typical colony-mother country relationship (want the North Government wanted), or a peer-of-the-realm relationship (what Ben Franklin and others proposed in the colonies, and what would have required representation.)

The place of slavery in the situation is effectively the same as it was in the UK itself - slavers and nascent abolitionists were peers and business partners slowly turning towards the question. The difference was that the US had a larger slave population... and within a few decades would have the Cotton Gin make the cruel apathy of economics reinforce the dedication to it in the South. There’s a reason why Wilberforce and others ended slavery in the UK long before the US, but still took decades to do so.

I mean, the argument has been presented seriously that they did, by Gerald Horne and others. Given how deeply slavery was intertwined with American colonial institutions and economy (see the American Slave Coast by Constance and Ned Sublette), it is not hard to imagine that the role of preserving slavery played a much larger role in the shaping of the need for revolution in a world where England was growing increasingly hostile to the practice. Canada abolished Slavery in 1833 as part of the general abolishment of it by the British Empire, but even before that, individuals like Lieutenant Governor Simcoe were already instituting laws against slaving as early as 1793. It can not be said that the Founders lacked the foresight to see slavery being ended by means outside their own control as an outcome. I don't know that I'd agree with this view in its entirety, but the argument can, and has, been made, and to call it out as 'inaccurate' by 'historians' is to ignore that it was advocated for by historians in the first place. Framing it as a lopsided 'historians say' is simply a way to reinforce Cotton's narrative about why the 1619 project shouldn't be taught in schools.

I don't necessarily agree with the argument, myself, but here's an article where Horne talks about it.

https://www.democracynow.org/2014/6/...of_1776_was_us

As the United States prepares to celebrate Independence Day, we look at why July 4 is not a cause for celebration for all. For Native Americans, it may be a bitter reminder of colonialism, which brought fatal diseases, cultural hegemony and genocide. Neither did the new republic’s promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” extend to African Americans. The colonists who declared their freedom from England did not share their newly founded liberation with the millions of Africans they had captured and forced into slavery. We speak with historian Gerald Horne, who argues the so-called Revolutionary War was actually a conservative effort by American colonists to protect their system of slavery. He is the author of two new books: “The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America” and “Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba During Slavery and Jim Crow.” Horne is professor of history and African American studies at the University of Houston.

I also strongly advocate reading the American Slave Coast.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Slav.../dp/1613738935

[JackDaw]

Besides... and may I quote you and not You Know Whom...

WHY THE HELL WOULD WE WANT DEATH PANELS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!

“Death Panel” is a deliberately emotive way of putting it...but don’t life and death decisions have to be made by every health service in the world?

In the UK where we (rightly) pour billions in to ensure public have a right to a wide range of free (“at point of issue”) health care we, for example, have a body called NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, I think ) that makes decisions on things like which drugs will be bought, what types of treatment will be authorised.

Some expensive drugs...which would benefit individual patients aren’t bought. However much money is poured into the system...some treatments can’t be afforded.

But it’s the same (effectively) all over the world in every health system..people die or are grievously sick who could be helped if resources were greater, or if we were willing to sacrifice other things to put a higher percentage of available resources into health care.

[numberthirty]

So much for that middle class tax cut?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politic...-allies-object

White House drops payroll tax cut after GOP allies object

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Spiking COVID Cases, Security Woes, Spurred Trump’s Move to Cancel Florida Convention

The Jacksonville sheriff said he couldn’t provide the needed security as his state became a coronavirus hot spot. Don't forget that Florida is in play for November, and Trump doesn't want to risk angering voters put at risk from the virus at the convention.

**********

‘F**king Bitch’ And The Everyday Terror Men Feel About Powerful Women

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) eviscerated Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) on the House floor after he lobbed the insult at her. Here’s a closer, uncensored look why that matters.

**********

Judge Bans Federal Officers From Targeting Media In Portland Amid Ongoing Protests

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, saying: “When wrongdoing is underway, officials have great incentive to blindfold the eyes” of the press.

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

In coronavirus news:

Trump: U.S. In ‘Very Good Shape’ On Coronavirus Unless ‘You Look South And West’

“Yeah, sure, just don’t look at 2 of the 4 available directions,” one critic tweeted.

**********

Bill Gates Hits Trump’s Coronavirus Boast With A Blunt Reality Check

The Microsoft cofounder also made a prediction about a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

**********

Approval For Government Handling Of Coronavirus Hits A New Low

In a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, only about one-third of the public approves.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Fauci says that he and his family have experienced 'serious threats' during pandemic

Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert, said Thursday that he has received "serious threats" to himself and his family since he became one of the public faces of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The doctor said that the anger has appeared on a different level than when he began his work during the HIV/AIDS crisis.

"I've seen a side of society that I guess is understandable but it's a little bit disturbing. Back in the days of HIV when I was being criticized with some hate mail, it was, you know, people calling me a gay-lover and 'what the hell are you wasting a lot of time on that' ... things that you would just push aside as stupid people saying stupid things," Fauci told CNN's David Axelrod on his "The Axe Files" podcast.

In 2020, Fauci said, "It's really a magnitude different," because "as much as people inappropriately, I think, make me somewhat of a hero ... there are people who get really angry at thinking I'm interfering with their life because I'm pushing a public health agenda."

What Fauci didn't say, and is something that can't be ignored was the fact he (politely) hasn't toed the White House company line and, instead, told the American people just how serious the virus was. In other words, he wouldn't kiss Donald Trump's ass, or be a silent sycophant like Deborah Birx clearly has become, and in the eyes of Trump's rabid supporters, that's an unforgivable sin. The country needs good men like Fauci sounding the alarms in order to help keep us safe.

[Kirby101]

So much for that middle class tax cut?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politic...-allies-object

It's not a middle class tax cut, it's an assault on Social Security. And the working middle class does not need help now. People out of work do. So any tax cut is unnecessary and counter productive for the economy. One only has to look at how the Democratic Socialist countries of Europe handled this to see that. Tax cuts are just a way for Rich people to keep more money. That is what the GOP always wants. It has never been a good policy and has lead to rampant income inequity in this country.

[GindyPosts]

“Death Panel” is a deliberately emotive way of putting it...but don’t life and death decisions have to be made by every health service in the world?

In the UK where we (rightly) pour billions in to ensure public have a right to a wide range of free (“at point of issue”) health care we, for example, have a body called NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, I think ) that makes decisions on things like which drugs will be bought, what types of treatment will be authorised.

Some expensive drugs...which would benefit individual patients aren’t bought. However much money is poured into the system...some treatments can’t be afforded.

But it’s the same (effectively) all over the world in every health system..people die or are grievously sick who could be helped if resources were greater, or if we were willing to sacrifice other things to put a higher percentage of available resources into health care.

I know it exists at various levels thanks to factors of bureaucracy if you're examining it in terms of cost effectiveness and how valuable it will be to buy mass quantities of medicine that can help lots of patients versus a specific type of medicine that can only help a few patients to which you have to juggle ethics with economics, but I'm looking at it from the perspective where we wind up in a situation where shit hits the fan and we're forced to make decisions on who has access to any form of treatment, period. Which is what we are staring at currently with the COVID pandemic in America.

[PaulBullion]

Before Trump fucked up the pandemic, I bet there were more people unethically kept alive in the US than unethically put to death in hospitals.

[BeastieRunner]

Beastie's Cartoon's of the Week

[Kirby101]

Before Trump fucked up the pandemic, I bet there were more people unethically kept alive in the US than unethically put to death in hospitals.

How do you unethically keep someone alive?

[InformationGeek]

How do you unethically keep someone alive?

I'm reminded of Terri Schiavo and Jeb Bush.

[JackDaw]

I know it exists at various levels thanks to factors of bureaucracy if you're examining it in terms of cost effectiveness and how valuable it will be to buy mass quantities of medicine that can help lots of patients versus a specific type of medicine that can only help a few patients to which you have to juggle ethics with economics, but I'm looking at it from the perspective where we wind up in a situation where shit hits the fan and we're forced to make decisions on who has access to any form of treatment, period. Which is what we are staring at currently with the COVID pandemic in America.

And..alas..it’s quite likely we might see examples of that in various countries in next couple of years.

When corvid epidemic peaked in Italy they struggled to admit people into hospital that patently needed to be there..and they have one of Europe’s best health care systems. That’s why UK government created some extra hospitals (“Nightingale Hospitals”) earlier this year..one of the few things UK got right.

And certainly here in UK we’re seeing treatments that would normally be regarded as urgent being significantly delayed because of the number of corvid cases.

[worstblogever]

In 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas and a member of the Republican Party's Platform Committee in both 2012 and 2016. In our first profile, we pointed out how Kobach wrote Arizona’s legal racial profiling law, SB 1070, and who not coincidentally has ties to the anti-immigrant hate group FAIR, is a Birther, and also has the nasty habit of trying to convince people that the LGBT community are working to promote pedophilia. In our second report on Kobach, he had further spread the myth of free "Obamaphones" being handed out (there's a government program to get phones to poor households, but it was instituted by President Reagan to help people offer a phone number to potential employers and get hired and off of welfare). Kobach also has warned against Latino voters forming a "socialist voting block" and didn't think it beyond the realm of possibility that President Obama would stop having African-Americans prosecuted for committing crimes. Kobach has claimed his critics are akin to the "class enemies" of China during its cultural revolution, so we guess we're in that boat now, too. Kobach was appalingly racist enough to become an immigration advisor to the Donald Trump campaign, and continued his xenophobic crusade with him, every step of the way.

In October of 2015, Kobach spoke at a "writer's workshop" event for the Social Contract Press, a publication that often prints articles for white nationalists, and a month later, was echoing conspiracy theories started on Alex Jones’ InfoWars to claim that massive voter fraud takes place using same day voter registration and schemes with "voting buses" and used his own conservative talk radio to ask guests if President Obama was "putting his finger on the scale in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood or the radical Islamists." Speaking of Kobach’s relationship with Obama, we already knew Kobach was a Birther, but he decided to call back to it in April of 2016, saying that perhaps the reason President Obama opposes proof of citizenship laws is because "he's not a citizen". By June of 2016: Kobach raved about anti-Trump protests in New Mexico, suggesting that immigration protesters and people testifying in front of state legislators should be "rounded up" (because that doesn’t sound scary, at all). When the 2016 Republican National Convention rolled around, Kobach was dragging the GOP into its most bigoted era in modern history, making sure that Trump's proposed Border Wall in it. Kobach rode the election of Donald Trump to the White House, continuing to lay seeds of anti-immigrant fears into the ear of a guy who’s already pretty receptive to them. From day one, Kobach wanted to change the way voting rights in our country, because of course he wanted to in order to make sure Democrats could never, ever win. He spent most of the transition trying to get Trump to agree to creating a Muslim registry, a horrifying prospect with all sorts of bad historic parallels as well as “extreme vetting” of all immigrants because we know was an idea because Kobach carelessly allowed his agenda to be revealed by walking in with it out in plain view because he’s a wanker too dumb to invest in a manila folder (they’re too dark a shade of brown for him to hold, of course).

For months, Kobach has continued lying his ass off at a frantic and disgusting pace, insisting we need new Voter ID laws even though his own studies disprove that. And yet, he’ll try and convince the public that Donald Trump isn’t lying when he claims Hillary Clinton received 3-5 million illegal votes, or that “a significant number of refugees will become terrorists” (HINT: They won’t, and there’s no evidence to think such a thing would come to pass.) Kris Kobach is now on the legal record, known to be a liar, as he was fined for misleading a Kansas court and refusing to disclose a previous Trump memo. Maybe his reputation as a disingenuous extremist is the reason why when Trump let him created a new “voter fraud commission”, that 44 states (and counting) told him they would not be cooperating with requests to reveal voter information at the risk of revealing the personal details of voters. Hell, even the Secretary of State of Mississippi… hardly the most liberal of individuals… even the Secretary of State of Mississippi told Kobach he could go jump in the Gulf of Mexico with a stupid request like that. But Kobach’s end goals are still working just by requesting that voter information, as some people have begun calling about deregistering for fear that their personal information could fall into the hands of hackers. Kobach and his office responded to online criticism from individuals who said not to do it and give over their personal info in the form of responding by doxxing those critics.

Kris Kobach shows that his attempts at purging this country of any immigrant of color like the bigot he is have begun to make him a complete laughing stock. His “voter fraud commission” was disbanded as an abject failure in January of 2018. And, he didn’t just lose his case in court in his last attempt at voter suppression in Kansas in June of 2018, but his attempts to defend his fascist ideas were so poorly logically argued that the judge ordered him to take remedial law school courses. Ignoring that the general public now was well aware that he was a bigoted, incompetent huckster, in June 2017 Kobach announced that he’s running for Governor of Kansas. Kobach managed to win the primary, but as he lost with only 43% of the vote to Laura Kelly in Kansas, a long-time GOP bastion.

We thought we were done trying to warn the general populace about this fascist, undemocratic, racist hatemonger… but alas, this is not the year we can stop letting the name Kris Kobach exit our lips in American politics. Kris Kobach is running for U.S. Senate in 2020, hoping to fill the seat of the retiring Pat Roberts. Kansas Republicans are already criticizing him and warning that he could allow for the first Democratic Senator to come out of Kansas in over eighty years, and he jumped off to a great start, misspelling his own name on his paperwork to file to run for office. The Republican Party know what a liability a piece of garbage Kris Kobach is for them, as they’ve spent millions of dollars in ad campaigns supporting his primary opponents and running attack ads against him and labeling one of their own as a white nationalist. It's not hard to see how someone with his track record could be given that designation, especially given his response to the Covid-19 pandemic was to start fearmongering that infected Chinese people would come across the U.S./Mexico border to spread the disease.

Whether or not Kansas Republican voters respond to that by rallying around Kobach and making him their nominee when he’s so incompetent he can’t even responsibly keep track of his own firearms… Well, we’ll see. But if he ends up being the nominee on the ballot in November, he could end up costing the GOP a Senate seat in Kansas for the first time in about half a century.