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

[PwrdOn]

I don't think most moderates blame the majority of Sanders supporters for anything. Any demeaning comments you might hear are likely aimed specifically at that 10-20% that continue to campaign against Biden and seemingly would rather Trump win so that they could 'teach the Dems a lesson'. Extreme is the purity test.

If it was about ideological purity though, nobody would have supported Bernie in the first place, since by global standards he would be considered a moderate and his particular set of policies would probably not do much to fix the fundamental rot in American society. And frankly there's no point in trying to teach the Democrats a lesson, because they will never learn from their mistakes anyway. They keep dreaming of this West Wing type administration where a couple of grand speeches and a commitment to unity and bipartisanship can magically make all the problems disappear, never mind that they nominate the one candidate who clearly isn't capable of doing even that.

[Gray Lensman]

Meanwhile the criticism from a certain former PotUS has finally sent the yellow snowflake into another meltdown.

[aja_christopher]

If it was about ideological purity though, nobody would have supported Bernie in the first place, since by global standards he would be considered a moderate and his particular set of policies would probably not do much to fix the fundamental rot in American society. And frankly there's no point in trying to teach the Democrats a lesson, because they will never learn from their mistakes anyway. They keep dreaming of this West Wing type administration where a couple of grand speeches and a commitment to unity and bipartisanship can magically make all the problems disappear, never mind that they nominate the one candidate who clearly isn't capable of doing even that.

Or it could be that they just prefer a candidate who can explain how he will pass legislation through Congress.

Rather than believing that Sanders will somehow "magically" enact said legislation without voter or Congressional support behind him.

As most people on the "left" have made clear, if Sanders could actually win the primary they would vote for him in the general election.

The problem with Sanders is that he doesn't win -- AOC might be able to pull it off eventually but Sanders simply doesn't have it in him.

You're being dishonest in trying to argue that Democrats somehow think bipartisanship will "magically" make problems go away -- if anyone knows that isn't true by now it's both Biden and Pelosi.

The reality however is that a "progressive" who got smoked by Biden vote-wise isn't the better election option no matter what your personal bias.

[worstblogever]

Meanwhile the criticism from a certain former PotUS has finally sent the yellow snowflake into another meltdown.

He's so thin-skinned, the least amount of criticism from Obama sent him into a frenzy of activity and ordering all his loyalists onto the Sunday shows to flip their s***...

And they're all ignoring the fact that the criticism was about his pandemic response, which now they're further distracted by the criticism and not focusing on it.

Obama really does live rent-free inside Trump's brain. Which is what makes him so crazy, as a racist slumlord having to give a black man free rent.

[Steel Inquisitor]

If it was about ideological purity though, nobody would have supported Bernie in the first place, since by global standards he would be considered a moderate and his particular set of policies would probably not do much to fix the fundamental rot in American society. And frankly there's no point in trying to teach the Democrats a lesson, because they will never learn from their mistakes anyway. They keep dreaming of this West Wing type administration where a couple of grand speeches and a commitment to unity and bipartisanship can magically make all the problems disappear, never mind that they nominate the one candidate who clearly isn't capable of doing even that.

The fanatical Bernie supporters are an intriguing case study. They want to use him and discard him when he's no longer useful for their interests yet they defend him with devotion with has a passion that's hard to fake when he does lose. They know he's their only option, and they view everything through binary choices. There are countries Bernie would be getting just as much pushback then in America, like the UK. Of course what's missing is that it's not only his goals which are extreme, I wish they weren't because he has many good ideas, it's that he's a terrible politician who is polarising to his own allies. His policies won't fix anything like you're trying to convince us, he would be bond by bureaucratic red tape and anything he does too extreme will make the Democrats reign him in. Democrats aren't like Republicans, he'd get tonnes of grief when he became president from the Democratic voters and his fellow politicians and when the reality hits he can't pass what he wants he'll look weak and a sell-out the he does compromise and many of his fanatical followers will desert him in heart beat.

You can't teach us a lesson because that's not politics work in America, that's why the left are in the fringe politically they don't have the capability to gain power since trying to gain power the methods the Democrats do they ideologically oppose. Without unity parties get nothing and the left doesn't even have unity with itself, how do you expect them to overcome the Democrats? They couldn't even vote for Sanders to be the nominee.

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in 2015 that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had a profile of Randy Rives, a former candidate for the Texas House of Representatives who has gained infamy more as the board president of the Ector County School Board, doing his best to turn public school lessons into Fundamentalist indoctrination. Among his more heinous works in that role include making sex education abstinence-only, getting the school district sued for trying to make Bible study a part of the course curriculum, and throwing a tantrum because textbooks had recognized Christians’ role in committing some atrocities during the Crusades, but in his mind, giving Muslims a free pass for far greater ones. Being a Texas Republican, of course, means he’s also opposed to gay marriage and LGBT rights, as well as a big proponent of the death penalty. In any event, it seems like he’s never going to win any office higher than the school board (one would hope).

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of Arkansas State Senator Bart Hester, who represents District 1 in the state, was first elected in 2012 with a lot of help from funding from the Koch Brothers and their Americans for Prosperity SUPERPAC. But that, ironically, is not the alliance Hester maintains that draws our attention to him. You see, since he arrived on the political scene, Bart Hester has been a staunch ally of anti-LGBTQ groups in Arkansas, particularly the Duggar Family, and by extension, the Family Research Council. Back in November of 2014, the duo appeared together at an event in Little Rock scheduled to “protect marriage” from those pesky gays, and protest a judge’s decision to overturn Arkansas’ same sex marriage ban. If you’re curious what Hester said, exactly, feel free to take a look at his rant against “homosexual marriage” on Youtube.

Now, here’s where things get a bit hypocritical for Bart Hester… his boy, Josh Duggar, was protesting same sex marriage while cheating on his wife, which he in no way finds problematic. And in fact, when news broke that Josh Duggar had been investigated by Arkansas police back in 2006 for molesting five girls, the majority of whom were his own sisters… Bart Hester had an interesting reaction… he called for the police chief of Rock Springs to be fired for releasing the report. Never mind that the chief and his staff were simply complying with freedom of information laws and no laws were broken, Hester still thought that records release was a greater crime than the actual child molestation by his homophobic brother in arms. Which is pretty disgusting, really.

But that’s not where Bart Hester’s revolting ideas end, by a long shot. In February of 2015, he sponsored a bill to try and prevent any individual municipality in Arkansas from passing civil rights protections unless the federal government already had them. While he named it the “Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act”, critics were quick to appropriately nicknamed it the “Right to Discriminate Bill”, and the big one that Bart Hester talked about, of course, was LGBT protections. As he put it, to have protections for sexual identity or sexual orientation would grant gays “special rights” that he doesn’t have, and he tried explaining that HE is the actual true victim of discrimination, claiming that HE is “singled out for being married to one woman”. It was only a few weeks later that Hester sponsored Arkansas’ “Religious Freedom Restoration Act”, which yes, was one of those “religious freedom” laws that Republicans were pushing for at the state level around the country so that they could discriminate against LGBTQ citizens, and claim that preventing them from doing so was infringing upon their “deeply held faith” (which some will recall was also the argument used by some Southerners to argue why they should be able to discriminate against African Americans, once upon a time).

Well, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson refused to sign the bill, afraid Arkansas would face similar repercussions like Indiana did after signing one into place, and Bart Hester was invited to go on CNN to be interviewed by Jake Tapper about it. During a four-minute interview, Hester did not seem smart enough to understand that his bill even allowed discrimination to take place, and Tapper didn’t let up on him… for four whole minutes of glorious journalism.

Regrettably, Hester’s fanaticism is not limited to one issue. He’s also dedicated to stripping women of their right to choose, because it is his personal belief that life begins at conception. This would mean he not only believes all abortion is murder, but so are the majority of forms of birth control. And it’s not just talk, either, as Hester has sponsored fetal heartbeat bills that would effectively ban all abortion at 6 weeks.

Now, surely, such a pious Christian man such as Bart Hester would apply his Christian values to aiding the poor, right? HA! Of course not. Since he’s taken office, he’s gone out of his way to sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to reduce unemployment benefits, pushed for the failed conservative policy of drug-testing welfare recipients not just once but twice, and even tried to raise taxes on food. Hester has argued against them having the private option for health insurance by claiming families of four make an average of $96,000 a year, live comfortably, and don’t need the help (which is amazing considering the actual number is $36,000. Hester was talking casually about being “in a game of chicken” in a funding shutdown in Arkansas that would leave funding for over 100,000 elderly citizens in nursing homes, over a thousand blind citizens, hundreds of thousands of underprivileged children, and tens of thousands of the disabled without financial support to just survive. I mean, the least egregious things we have to say about Bart Hester include his support of strict Voter ID registration to combat the statistically non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud.

Our update on Bart Hester includes his fetish for firearms got really out of control in the past few months. Without realizing it, Hester voted for HB 1429 along with a lot of Arkansas Republicans, which would allow the concealed carry of firearms at bars, schools, and public universities. At some point, Hester and his fellow conservatives forgot that their wording of the bill would make it legal for people to bring guns into University of Arkansas football games with around 70,000 people present for potential mass shootings. Which, y'know, is a big security risk, and ironic because the stadium won't let people bring in umbrellas or blankets. Gov. Asa Hutchison had to send them back to the drawing board to write a second bill to exempt the stadium, after the fact.

Bart Hester managed to embarrass himself with a post on Twitter that led to a former Miss America from Arkansas turning up in his feed to serve him his own ass. It all started in February of 2018, when Hester was driving around town, and saw a billboard advertising for for University of Arkansas at Little Rock that featured a dancer on it, and promoting the university’s school of dance, in particular. Hester was suddenly possessed with the fury of the preacher played by John Lithgow in Footloose, and enraged by dancing, he got on Twitter and wrote:

“Why higher ed does NOT need increase funding. They lease a sign to encourage computer science degrees or math teachers? No they push for dance majors. Lots of hardworking Arkansans subsidizing this! Not ok @UALR"

Former Miss America Savvy Shields came along to talk some sense, responding, “I disagree with this on so many levels. As an artist and a dancer, I have seen the arts influence, inspire, challenge, and transform society. Art education is crucial in the advancement of Arkansas.” Then the University of Arkansas Little Rock responded that this was an entire ad campaign, and various billboards were up with each one depicting a different major the school offers. And then Microsoft executives came along to point out that as much focus should be placed on the arts as math and science in education, and that they not only hold that opinion, but their chief competitor at Apple, Steve Jobs, used to say the same prior to his passing.

So… yeah, that backfired.

In the past term, Bart Hester has been one of several Arkansas Republicans to co-sponsor extremist anti-choice legislation, including a bill to ban abortion at 18 weeks, and another bill that is literally a conservative contingency plan, that pledges to “ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned”.

We're sad to report that this extremist tool has been selected by the Arkansas GOP to be the next President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas State Senate. This, of course, is assuming he wins re-election in 2020, and for the first time in several years, he’ll face a challenger in the general election. Ronetta Harris, a lawyer and former Wal-Mart executive will be challenging him in November, and she’ll be the first Democrat to even attempt to flip this seat since 2000. A hell of a lot has changed in two decades, and we’ll see if it’s enough of a shift to see Hester bounced from office.

[Gray Lensman]

He's so thin-skinned, the least amount of criticism from Obama sent him into a frenzy of activity and ordering all his loyalists onto the Sunday shows to flip their s***...

And they're all ignoring the fact that the criticism was about his pandemic response, which now they're further distracted by the criticism and not focusing on it.

Obama really does live rent-free inside Trump's brain. Which is what makes him so crazy, as a racist slumlord having to give a black man free rent.

I'll have you know my wife laughed for a few solid minutes from that last sentence.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

HHS Chief Alex Azar: Defying Social Distancing Guidelines Part Of American ‘Freedom’

The secretary of health and human services wouldn’t say if he’s concerned by people gathering in large crowds without masks. This bullshit is coming from the man with the word HEALTH in his title. More proof this administration doesn't give a **** about the American people.

**********

‘Hang Fauci’ Sign Brandished Amid Lockdown Protesters Trump Hailed As ‘Great People’

The chilling message was part of a filmed report on the protest by TV journalist Kevin Vesey, who has become a target of Trump on Twitter. Great people indeed.

**********

Eric Trump Claims COVID-19 Will ‘Magically’ Vanish After Election Day

His theory runs counter to experts’ predictions that a second wave next winter might be even worse. Thank you for that prognosis, Dr. Dumbass.

**********

13 Sailors On The USS Theodore Roosevelt Again Test Positive For COVID-19 After Reportedly Recovering

The sailors had returned to duty on the aircraft carrier after previously testing negative. They have all been taken off the ship. This continues to be worrisome to me as a retired sailor.

**********

Top Trump Trade Adviser Bashes CDC: ‘Really Let The Country Down’ On Virus Testing

Peter Navarro blamed the federal public health agency for COVID-19 testing failures that “set us back.” No, more like TRUMP let the country down.

**********

‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Denied Prison Timeout To Work On COVID-19 Treatment

The probation report described Shkreli’s plan as the same kind of “delusional self-aggrandizing behavior” that landed him in prison.

[worstblogever]

I'll have you know my wife laughed for a few solid minutes from that last sentence.

[aja_christopher]

He's so thin-skinned, the least amount of criticism from Obama sent him into a frenzy of activity and ordering all his loyalists onto the Sunday shows to flip their s***...

And they're all ignoring the fact that the criticism was about his pandemic response, which now they're further distracted by the criticism and not focusing on it.

Obama really does live rent-free inside Trump's brain. Which is what makes him so crazy, as a racist slumlord having to give a black man free rent.

There's also the usual "method" behind Trump's madness -- distraction and deflection from his own incompetence.

It's similar to Mets' attacks to the "left" (i.e. repeated attempts at projection) when asked questions about corruption, racism, sexism, and homophobia on the "right" -- when asked to explain why said behavior is acceptable to many on the "right" the answer is to downplay it and to point the finger at others.

With Hillary it was "emails" but with Biden Trump knows that "Kenyan Muslim" Obama is the target that will most rile his "base".



I pointed out to Mets long ago the Republican party utilizes anger and fear to win votes and Trump is just a symptom of a much larger issue.

This is why Trump's lies are effective with many Republican voters -- he knows exactly how to tap into the racist, sexist, and homophobic sentiment on the "right" to win elections while those in the Republican party know how to play both sides of the equation, whether it's acting "troubled" like Romney or simply being elated by his bigotry like his white nationalist supporters.

Whether he learned it from Hitler's "Mein Kampf" or not is debateable but the technique being used ("lugenpresse") is not.

------
"The 'Obamagate' Diversion"

"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump has failed to demonstrate any capacity to competently deal with this unprecedented public health crisis. The polls show that most Americans disapprove of how Trump has handled it so far. Polls also show that Americans would trust former vice president Joe Biden more than Trump to address COVID-19.

But instead of stepping up and fixing his botched response with a national science-based plan that would enable the country to open up gradually and safely, Trump and his team have gone all-in on an absurd conspiracy theory.

Afraid that COVID-19 will be TrumpÂ’s downfall, and that Biden is getting a leg up on him in the presidential campaign, Trump and his supporters have invented a mythical conspiracy out of thin air to distract from his leadership failure, and try to taint Biden — enter “Obamagate.”

The reality is that Obamagate is meant to obfuscate. It is designed to take voters' minds off Trump’s coronavirus mess by making up something outlandish and scandalous about the former president and his vice president. That former vice president also happens to be the presumptive Democratic nominee who is now beating Trump in national polls.

Trump and right-wing conservative media supporters contend that the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign. They claim that high-ranking officials in the Obama White House plotted to launch the FBI investigation of TrumpÂ’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn to undermine Trump’s presidency.

There is no evidence to back up these outlandish claims, but that never stops this president from hurling untruths about his predecessor...

https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal...te-distraction

[WestPhillyPunisher]

There's also the usual "method" behind Trump's madness -- distraction and deflection from his own incompetence.

It's similar to Mets' attacks to the "left" (i.e. repeated attempts at projection) when asked questions about corruption, racism, sexism, and homophobia on the "right" -- when you asked to explain why said behavior is acceptable then point the finger at others.

With Hillary it was "emails" but with Biden Trump realizes he needs a different approach and "Kenyan Muslim" Obama is the target that will most rile his "base".

As I pointed out to Mets long ago the Republican party utilizes anger and fear to win votes rather than just engaging in competent -- and bipartisan -- leadership.

This is why Trump's lies are effective with many Republican voters -- he knows exactly how to tap into the racist, sexist, and homophobic sentiment on the "right" to win elections.

Whether he learned it from Hitler's "Mein Kampf" or not is debateable but the technique being used ("lugenpresse") is not.

------
"The 'Obamagate' Diversion"

"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump has failed to demonstrate any capacity to competently deal with this unprecedented public health crisis. The polls show that most Americans disapprove of how Trump has handled it so far. Polls also show that Americans would trust former vice president Joe Biden more than Trump to address COVID-19.

But instead of stepping up and fixing his botched response with a national science-based plan that would enable the country to open up gradually and safely, Trump and his team have gone all-in on an absurd conspiracy theory.

Afraid that COVID-19 will be Trump’s downfall, and that Biden is getting a leg up on him in the presidential campaign, Trump and his supporters have invented a mythical conspiracy out of thin air to distract from his leadership failure, and try to taint Biden — enter “Obamagate.”

The reality is that Obamagate is meant to obfuscate. It is designed to take votersÂ’ minds off TrumpÂ’s coronavirus mess by making up something outlandish and scandalous about the former president and his vice president. That former vice president also happens to be the presumptive Democratic nominee who is now beating Trump in national polls.

Trump and right-wing conservative media supporters contend that the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign. They claim that high-ranking officials in the Obama White House plotted to launch the FBI investigation of TrumpÂ’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn to undermine TrumpÂ’s presidency.

There is no evidence to back up these outlandish claims, but that never stops this president from hurling untruths about his predecessor...

https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal...te-distraction

I doubt Trump ever read a book from cover to cover in his misbegotten life, not even his own autobiography (ghost written by the way), so his having taken cues from Mein Kampf are highly doubtful to say the least. But yeah, Trump has gone back to his old one trick pony play of using distraction to take the minds of the rubes off his utterly disgraceful handling of the COVID-19 crisis. What Democrats need to do is hammer home in public like nobody's business Drano Don's glaring failures that led to so many cases and likely 100,000 deaths by the end of the week. Trump CAN NOT be allowed to continue using the bully pulpit of the Oval Office to spread his lies about the crisis without being challenged at each and every turn.

[aja_christopher]

I doubt Trump ever read a book from cover to cover in his misbegotten life, not even his own autobiography (ghost written by the way), so his having taken cues from Mein Kampf are highly doubtful to say the least.

I'd counter that one of the worst mistakes Americans can make is to underestimate Trump.

Again.

I also said a long time ago that many Republican voters will only find Trump's behavior problematic when they start suffering for it personally.

Between the pandemic and the economic crisis some might finally be seeing the error of their ways.

At least until the next election cycle -- Reagan, Bush, Bush Jr, Trump -- I woudn't be surprised if Voldemort were next.

Or more realistically -- someone who is a lot better and/or smarter about following Hitler's playbook on (white) nationalism.

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"Donald Trump appears to take aspects of his German background seriously. John Walter works for the Trump Organization, and when he visits Donald in his office, Ivana told a friend, he clicks his heels and says, “Heil Hitler,” possibly as a family joke.

Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed. Kennedy now guards a copy of My New Order in a closet at his office, as if it were a grenade. Hitler’s speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist.

“Did your cousin John give you the Hitler speeches?” I asked Trump.

Trump hesitated. “Who told you that?”

“I don’t remember,” I said.

“Actually, it was my friend Marty Davis from Paramount who gave me a copy of Mein Kampf, and he’s a Jew.”

(“I did give him a book about Hitler,” Marty Davis said. “But it was My New Order, Hitler’s speeches, not Mein Kampf. I thought he would find it interesting. I am his friend, but I’m not Jewish.”)

Later, Trump returned to this subject. “If I had these speeches, and I am not saying that I do, I would never read them.”

[Tami]

Where Chronic Health Conditions and Coronavirus Could Collide

As the new coronavirus continues to spread over the next months, and maybe even years, it could exact a heavy new toll in areas of the United States that have not yet seen major outbreaks but have high rates of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and other chronic health conditions.

Large parts of the South and Appalachia are especially vulnerable, according to a health-risk index created for The New York Times by PolicyMap, a company that analyzes local health data. The index for the first time identifies counties with high rates of the underlying conditions that increase residents’ risk of becoming severely ill if they are infected with the coronavirus.

Even in lower-risk counties, a significant proportion of the population is living with these conditions.

Public health experts warn that these areas may not be adequately prepared for new waves of infection, even as some have lifted restrictions meant to curb the spread of the virus.

“Places that have not seen a lot of infection yet should be thinking about what infection is going to mean once they have an outbreak there,” said Micaela E. Martinez, a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“This infection is highly contagious and we have no vaccine, so it will inevitably sweep through our populations unless we have very tight measures in place to prevent that from happening,” Dr. Martinez said. Once it does, the overall health of a community will matter, she added.

[Tami]

Progressives thought they'd overtaken the Democratic Party. Now they're in despair.

Since then, not only did the “establishment” stop Sanders — it stamped out the candidacies of a string of left-wing insurgents, leaving the progressive movement reeling and in a state of despair.

Three highly-touted liberal House candidates — Jessica Cisneros in Texas, Robert Emmons in Illinois, and Morgan Harper in Ohio — lost their primary races against more moderate members of Congress. They are now playing defense as Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the four members of the “squad,” faces a stiff primary challenge in Michigan. And Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass), who’s managed a late-career makeover into a left-wing darling, with endorsements from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other progressive groups, is consistently outpolled by primary challenger, Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The movement has also had limited influence on the proposals House Democrats have put forward to address the coronavirus, with leadership rejecting its most ambitious ideas.

Interviews with more than 15 left-wing leaders — including grass-roots organizers, down-ballot candidates and former aides to Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren — revealed strife over what went wrong and what to do next.

Some asserted that Sanders' and other challengers' losses were just the result of campaign missteps and that their ideas remain popular. They argued that progressives still are on track to take over the party in the coming years and are looking to other down-ballot races this year to make a mark.

But others were less sanguine about the left's future, after their losses this year and in the 2018 midterms. Several pointed to progressives' failure to make serious inroads with older black voters, the most loyal base of the Democratic primary. And some said they fear the Democratic Party is drifting away from the more class-based politics they are advocating for, as national Democrats increasingly target wealthier, more educated suburban voters to make up for losses in rural areas.