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

[Revolutionary_Jack]

In the words of the Cheshire Cat, "curiouser and curiouser"

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...-for-graham-to

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jaime Harrison, his Democratic opponent, will not debate Friday night as scheduled over a disagreement over taking coronavirus tests before they face off against each other.

The event was scrapped after Harrison said he would not participate in the debate unless Graham was tested for COVID-19 before they met, a request Graham denied. The two will instead participate in separate 30-minute forums on local station WSPA in Spartanburg.

The decision on the separate interviews marks the end of a whirlwind 24 hours in which Harrison maintained the COVID-19 test was a safety issue, while Graham fired back that the Democrat was trying to make a last-minute change to rules to which the two campaign had already agreed.

“Appears @harrisonjaime is skipping tonights debate. Mr. Harrision is ducking the debate because the more we know about his radical policies, the less likely he is to win. It's not about medicine, its politics. His liberal views are a loser in South Carolina - and he knows it!” Graham said in a series of tweets. “Mr. Harrison is demanding special treatment. Other than Mr. Harrison, is any other South Carolinian demanding every person they come in contact with be tested before they meet?”


“We’re disappointed that Lindsey has failed to take a simple coronavirus test, but we appreciate our hosts were able to change the event format to make it safer for everyone,” Harrison campaign spokesman Guy King fired back in a statement. “Jaime will be there in Spartanburg to talk to voters.”

The debate change-up was the latest development in a Senate race that has become increasingly competitive, with a number of polls showing Graham and Harrison deadlocked in the final sprint to Election Day.

Lindsay Graham is dodging a second debate, after cratering on the first, because Mr. Harrison got too "uppity" asking for a basic safety measure like a COVID test, which Graham is refusing.

Republicans are afraid of testing themselves even if they are asymptomatic carriers it seems.

[worstblogever]

In the words of the Cheshire Cat, "curiouser and curiouser"

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...-for-graham-to



Lindsay Graham is dodging a second debate, after cratering on the first, because Mr. Harrison got too "uppity" asking for a basic safety measure like a COVID test, which Graham is refusing.

Republicans are afraid of testing themselves even if they are asymptomatic carriers it seems.

There are way too many GOP Senators who know they're positive right now, and aren't getting tested or reporting it because they don't want to have to cancel the Coney Barrett confirmation hearings. If too many of them are positive, it would have to be scrapped for safety reasons.

It's Trump's "You can't have Covid-19 if you don't get tested" logic. Which gets people killed.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

There are way too many GOP Senators who know they're positive right now, and aren't getting tested or reporting it because they don't want to have to cancel the Coney Barrett confirmation hearings. If too many of them are positive, it would have to be scrapped for safety reasons.

It's Trump's "You can't have Covid-19 if you don't get tested" logic. Which gets people killed.

DING DING! And Graham is, I do believe, the chairman of the judicial committee, so he, of all people, can’t afford to drop out of the hearings. Republicans know they’re going to lose the presidency and, most likely, the Senate to boot, so their only play is the long game of stacking SCOTUS in their favor.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

There are way too many GOP Senators who know they're positive right now, and aren't getting tested or reporting it because they don't want to have to cancel the Coney Barrett confirmation hearings. If too many of them are positive, it would have to be scrapped for safety reasons.

It's Trump's "You can't have Covid-19 if you don't get tested" logic. Which gets people killed.

These a--holes. Quite obviously, the Democrats are going to be forced, are being forced, to take the risk of attending these hearings and having some say and so risking their persons by infection.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

DING DING! And Graham is, I do believe, the chairman of the judicial committee, so he, of all people, can’t afford to drop out of the hearings. Republicans know they’re going to lose the presidency and, most likely, the Senate to boot, so their only play is the long game of stacking SCOTUS in their favor.

Quite obviously if they go ahead with Barrett, the Dems will pack the court come January. That's pretty much a guarantee. The Dems will have a debate about how many judges (2 judges take them to 6-5 going back to status-quo of a thin single vote majority, 3 judges gridlock it 6-6 meaning lower court decisions stand more often than not, 4 judges give them majority of 7-6) but no way are they going to accept a 6-3 supermajority on the SCOTUS. [I think they will pack in 2 judges, and hope that Thomas kicks or quits, and also give a signal for Breyer, current oldest on bench to step down when Potus Biden takes office].



If the Republicans nominate Barrett before the election and they lose big, the Dems will have a mandate to do it.

[The no face guy]

Getting radicalized off the internet cuts across class lines and social backgrounds, and ideologies.


Not to be rude...but they can afford guns, right? And the really dangerous guns like assault rifles and machine guns.

This smacks of the Columbine shooter sympathy narrative which can be hard. The columbine shooters were fetishized as these bullied kids going nuts when it turns out they were white supremacist jackasses who were pretty extroverted and social, and were bullies themselves. That started the "bullied kid=shooter" narrative which if anything increased bullying.

That is a bizarre statement??? I have no idea how stating the lack of job opportunities for a youth today relates to having sympathy to a shooting that happened in the 90's.

I am talking about the rise of organized right wing militia's in the mid west, not a middle class kid who became influenced by Hitler because he was an outsider getting pummelled everyday by jocks and preppies.

Yes they were relentlessly bullied, it's why the nation started to take bullying seriously. Middle and upper class kids who are socially excluded are more likely to be drawn to left or right political extremism, it's why we have to stamp bullying out!

It's a problem across class lines.

Yes, but studies have consistently showed that youths who come from comfy middle class families with love and stability, are less likely to be sucked into political extremism, whether it be the left or the right.

Remember that the vast majority of Trump's support actually came from middle class white people. The narrative about working class Trump voters was significantly exaggerated and unrepresentative.

Wrong. Take a look at the stats, white blue collar workers accounted for the vast majority of Trump supporters. Education was the biggest factor in the election. While the majority of professional white collar whites did vote for Trump in 2016, it was by a much smaller margin, and they began to turn on him in 2018, resulting in historic losses in safe Republican suburbs.

The entire right wing populist movement in the west, from Marine Le Pen in France, to UKIP in the UK, Italy and elsewhere are getting the majority of their support from white working class communities

Steve Bannon worked closely with Nigel Farage in the UK to make Brexit a reality by targeting former labour supporters in the United Kingdom's deindustrialized heartland. They took that model the United States applied it to the mid west rust belt and Trump won.

The KKK existed in the 19th Century and was revived in the 20th Century, you had many white supremacist gangs and terrorist incidents with them in American history.

This narrative doesn't work.



America's economy was at its height in the 1960s, and yet that was the era of political mobilization across the spectrum and a lot of movements on the fringe, both right and left...so again this idea that good economics creates peace doesn't work.

It does work, because your country has a history of white supremacy, and African Americans had to fight for their civil rights against a racist south, and the bigotry of general population in general. Their dues were a long time coming, and their battle is far from over.

There is a clear link between the growth of right wing extremist groups and growing inequality and the decline of union membership. Militia groups have been on the rise since the crash of 08, because political extremists prey on the vulnerable.

[Tami]

I heard this on MSNBC

'The Evita Peron Memorial Balcony'

The WH location where Trump took off his mask and struck a pose like Madonna.

[worstblogever]

I heard this on MSNBC

'The Evita Peron Memorial Balcony'

The WH location where Trump took off his mask and struck a pose like Madonna.

Oh, that's not new. Patti LuPone herself, who played Evita on Broadway hit him on it. For awhile, there was a "Covita" hashtag.

It's been a long, crazy week, so I totally understand how you missed it.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Republicans only admit to plotting redistricting of Kansas to muscle out a Dem.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdKg..._channel=MSNBC)

I have no idea how stating the lack of job opportunities for a youth today relates to having sympathy to a shooting that happened in the 90's.

Having the conversation after a bunch of white terrorists got busted normalizes a double standard where white criminals are sentimentalized. That perpetrate white supremacy.

Yes they were relentlessly bullied,

No they weren't!!! That's the thing. The Columbine killers weren't bullied kids. After the shootings happened, people started this false narrative around that and that became "common knowledge" partly down to the sympathy that white criminals engender.

Yes, but studies have consistently showed that youths who come from comfy middle class families with love and stability, are less likely to be sucked into political extremism, whether it be the left or the right.

This is blatantly ridiculous. I know first hand that many middle class people have extreme views and furthermore the majority of white voters for Trump were middle class, including college educated white men and college educated white women (granted that empirically there's reports suggesting that many of these white women voters were forced to vote for Trump at the threat and coercion of abuse from their partners).

Take a look at the stats, white blue collar workers accounted for the vast majority of Trump supporters.

That's a myth. It's been debunked academically:
https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion...155509549.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...n-they-appear/
https://theintercept.com/2018/09/18/...e-class-trump/

Steve Bannon worked closely with Nigel Farage in the UK to make Brexit a reality by targeting former labour supporters in the United Kingdom's deindustrialized heartland. They took that model the United States applied it to the mid west rust belt and Trump won.

Steve Bannon is a self-aggrandizing hack and a proven crook, who likes to take credit for stuff on which he had a small part in and otherwise make himself appear smarter and more capable than he is. This guy was so incompetent that he put a pedophile on ballot in the red state of Alabama and sent a Dem to rep Albama in the Senate.

I strongly suggest you do real research and not buy into celebrity accounts of politics, and certainly not US politics.

[Tendrin]

No they weren't!!! That's the thing. The Columbine killers weren't bullied kids. After the shootings happened, people started this false narrative around that and that became "common knowledge" partly down to the sympathy that white criminals engender.

They were, in fact, white supremacists. I mean, for god's sake, Columbine took place on Hitler's birthday. And the idea that 'safe middle class kids don't become extremists' is so patently untrue as to be hilarious.

Many popular ideas about terrorists are fueled by falsehoods, misinformation, and fearmongering. Many believe that poverty and lack of education breed terrorism, despite a wealth of evidence showing that most terrorists come from middle-class and often college-educated backgrounds. Krueger closely examines the factors that motivate individuals to participate in terrorism, drawing inferences from terrorists’ own backgrounds and the economic, social, religious, and political environments in the societies from which they come. He describes which countries are the most likely breeding grounds for terrorists, and which ones are most likely to be their targets. Krueger addresses the economic and psychological consequences of terrorism and puts the threat squarely into perspective, revealing how our nation’s sizable economy is diverse and resilient enough to withstand the comparatively limited effects of most terrorist strikes. He also calls on the media to be more responsible in reporting on terrorism.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/ha...es-a-terrorist

As for Brexit and Bannon, Cambridge Analytica, micro-targetting, and English nationalism (not UK nationalism, just good old fashioned White, English Nationalism) drove Brexit. There's a reason the UK is at a real risk of cracking.

Yeesh.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

They were, in fact, white supremacists. I mean, for god's sake, Columbine took place on Hitler's birthday. And the idea that 'safe middle class kids don't become extremists' is so patently untrue as to be hilarious.

American media has a long history of downplaying white supremacy, even liberals do this. Charles Manson for instance was a white supremacist but that fact isn't mentioned or addressed in any media dealing with it, not even Tarantino's recent film. The Columbine kids aren't portrayed as white supremacists either.

And middle-class and rich people get radicalized all the time, I mean quite often:
--In Japan, those Sarin Gas Attacks led by that cult were mostly middle class types.
--And the 9/11 attackers weren't part of the proletariat of Saudi Arabia by any means, they were all religious dudes who had to somehow emigrate to America, participate in flight school and blend in, before carrying out the attacks. Bin Laden himself was a wealthy member of the Saudi elite who got radicalized.

Donald Trump is arguably another example of an elite figure getting radicalized.

[The Chou Lives]

Seeing the second debate is cancelled.

Makes sense since you could not be online/safe.

That and maybe they see to much meme possibilities if trying to do it like the first would be too far fetched ( Also Trump well cannot go to long without coughing. Makes himself look bad.)

[The Chou Lives]

American media has a long history of downplaying white supremacy, even liberals do this. Charles Manson for instance was a white supremacist but that fact isn't mentioned or addressed in any media dealing with it, not even Tarantino's recent film. The Columbine kids aren't portrayed as white supremacists either.

And middle-class and rich people get radicalized all the time, I mean quite often:
--In Japan, those Sarin Gas Attacks led by that cult were mostly middle class types.
--And the 9/11 attackers weren't part of the proletariat of Saudi Arabia by any means, they were all religious dudes who had to somehow emigrate to America, participate in flight school and blend in, before carrying out the attacks. Bin Laden himself was a wealthy member of the Saudi elite who got radicalized.

Donald Trump is arguably another example of an elite figure getting radicalized.

Hell yeah. People do not get that terrorists, especially the big name ring leaders are typically well off people. Who do what they do due to choice.

And the Columbine kids were white radicals. I remember when it happened a student survivor mentioned they targeted non white students more so than whites ( given their school met the only ones there were most surely killed and the details were that those bastards were getting especially high off doing it. Sure they harmed whites. But were especially hard on that one black student. Going as far to talking down to him like a dog as they mowed him down. As opposed to a quick shot and once over like others.)

[worstblogever]

Trump skipping the second debate is reaaaal convenient. He doesn't have the care or patience to listen to real people's problems and coherently offer solutions and/or empathy towards them for 45 minutes at a clip. He's rather just shout at a rally crowd about how he's the real victim.

Biden should just have another town hall that night, and do what Trump is incapable of doing.

[JackDaw]

They were, in fact, white supremacists. I mean, for god's sake, Columbine took place on Hitler's birthday. And the idea that 'safe middle class kids don't become extremists' is so patently untrue as to be hilarious.



https://press.princeton.edu/books/ha...es-a-terrorist

As for Brexit and Bannon, Cambridge Analytica, micro-targetting, and English nationalism (not UK nationalism, just good old fashioned White, English Nationalism) drove Brexit. There's a reason the UK is at a real risk of cracking.

Yeesh.

In UK Scottish Nationalism is a far more potent and organised force than English Nationalism.