All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I think it is more that she misread Trump and the Republican MAGA crowd. She assumed that they would support the ruling but was caught off guard when they supported IVF instead. .

It certainly won’t help Haley if she’s seen as a flip-flopper. More than likely, she’ll be on the business end of yet another rout tonight.

[zinderel]

What is said at CPAC typically becomes Republican goals for the party at large sooner or later.

As has been pointed out to him, repeatedly. And ignored in favor of semantics, or a discussion about how a t-shirt worn by a democrat is a MUCH more dangerous indicator or somethingsomethingleftismsomething…

[The Cool Thatguy]

It certainly won’t help Haley if she’s seen as a flip-flopper. More than likely, she’ll be on the business end of yet another rout tonight.

Yet, ironically, Trump can change positions in the same damn sentence...

[scourge]

Yet, ironically, Trump can change positions in the same damn sentence...

The orange boil can bounce back and forth on positions like a ping pong ball on the fly and it wouldn't matter to the lunatic cult that worships him.

[Gray Lensman]

The orange boil can bounce back and forth on positions like a ping pong ball on the fly and it wouldn't matter to the lunatic cult that worships him.

There are limits to Trump's influence over his cult. Sadly, those limits are when he tries to hold back thier hate (for his own benefit, of course) their hate wins out every time.

[aja_christopher]

What is said at CPAC typically becomes Republican goals for the party at large sooner or later.

They have already laid out the blueprint for anyone who chooses not to actively ignore it.

[Reverse Happy]

As US Congress stalls on aid, Ukrainian soldiers head to the frontlines knowing they don’t have enough ammunition

These days, his men are forced to make do with a fraction of the amount of ammunition they used to have. That means they can only strike top priority targets, a limitation which is allowing Russian troops to slip through. “In the past, if I saw their firing position, a dugout, machine guns… I would hit them. Now I don’t do that,” he said. “The priority is the tank, the gun - if it is firing, the multiple launch rocket systems. If I see infantry and no one gives me a command, then I don’t shoot, because we have to save the shells.”
[...]
Oleh Kalashnikov, the spokesperson for the 26th Artillery Brigade, said that the change in supplies in recent months has been significant. “An offensive does not work without artillery. If we want to launch an assault somewhere, the artillery must strike first. Only after that comes the infantry, otherwise there might be losses,” he told CNN in Kramatorsk. “When [the Russians] launch an assault and our infantry asks for artillery support, when it works well, the infantry immediately feels better and more secure because they know they are protected, because we simply cut off the enemy with the artillery fire,” he explained. “It has a psychological effect too.”
[...]
Mykytiuk said more soldiers are getting injured on the front lines because Russian infantry can get within firing distance of Ukrainian troops more often. Crucially, it is also taking a lot longer to bring the wounded to the medical point. When artillery cannot cover infantry, the troops must wait for a window of opportunity to evacuate casualties. The standard goal in military medicine is to evacuate any casualties within the “golden hour” after injury to maximize the chances of survival and recovery. In eastern Ukraine, Mykytiuk said, the evacuation can take up to a day, sometimes even longer. This means Mykytiuk and his colleagues are seeing many more secondary injuries caused by the long delays. Soldiers get to him suffering with hypothermia and completely exhausted.
[...]
Artem talks about the horrible feeling of not having enough ammunition. “One time, I was firing, and it turned out that at that time, I was covering my nephew’s (infantry) unit. We fired very few shells there, I think, and there were lot of wounded,” he said. “We held the place, but there could have been fewer losses or maybe the injuries wouldn’t have been so severe (if we had more),” he said. His nephew was injured in the battle and nearly lost an arm. “If he was thinner, he would have lost it,” he said. “But he is ok now, fighting again.”
[...]
“They say that we are stopping the Russian evil from spreading across the world at the expense of human lives, while Europe and America are only spending money. That’s a pretty good deal,” Kalashnikov said.

Next week the House returns from their 2-week break. The foreign defense bill is currently being denied a floor vote solely by Speaker Johnson. Dems are starting a discharge petition to override him that just needs a handful of R's with spine to succeed, assuming no bloody-minded defectors on the left. I think the numbers are there to not let a tiny core of hard-righters grip Congress by Johnson's balls, but there's still another week's wait minimum built into the process, let alone any potential amendment BS, final passage, and physically moving the ammo to where it's needed.

Meanwhile, even Ukraine's small, hard-fought summer gains are now being pushed back day by day for lack of ammo. This is what victory by attrition looks like. Except WE were supposed to attrit Russia with our obsolete surplus till they ran out of Soviet refurbs and prisoner meatwaves to waste, NOT cut off Ukraine's ammo for half a year till Russia could smell blood in the water.

Denmark said they'd donate all their artillery this week. I can't find a number amount for that, but I hope to God it ships fast enough to plug the dike a little longer while we find our asses.

I still think the Secretary of Defense could send ammo if he wanted to, since he did it twice for Israel while the bill was stuck in Senate negotiations. I realize letting Ukraine bleed puts more pressure on Republicans to let the bill through, but time is becoming critical here, and lost ground is 10x harder to retake, let alone lost lives. It's farcical that their country's survival is coming down to the wire on inane political bullshit when a large majority ostensibly... ostensibly supports them in principle.

[skyvolt2000]

I do think that on average, the average person who has paid off their debts is more responsible than the average person who has not. We should generally encourage people to pay off their debts as quickly as is prudent.

Really??

So the folks who went to work for companies like Eron run by crooks that cost them their jobs are not responsible people?

The school employees that lost their jobs because of MONEY MISMANGEMENT or STATE FUNDING being CUT or STATE TEST SCORES were too low are not responsible people?

The folks in Flint and Jacksonville with bad water because of YOUR PARTY causing them to spend more money to get clean water are not responsible people?

Folks who can't find jobs because of YOUR PARTY standing in the way as they are with fixing the border, funding Ukraine (75% of that aid actually goes to US businesses with military contracts) and WITCH HUNTS on Biden or misinformation about a stolen election.

. And the people who get bailed out might figure that this system will repeat itself.

Then when GOP stop bailing out banks who have mismanage money then we can stop dismissing student debt.

They have also lost the opportunity to make investments that could have helped later (setting up retirement funds, going for professional development, purchasing job-related tools, etc.)

Funny I paid back my student loans and have a retirement fund and those other tools. None of that is linked to paying student loans.

The majority of professional development is paid by the company. Same with most tools unless you are self business.

If society is broken, it doesn't stand to reason that the government should pay for expenses people felt pressured to make.

I am open to figuring out how to take money from the people who told younger generations their only choice was to get a degree or be stuck in dead end work for the rest of their lives.

The government doesn't have to say anything. You fix that issue by telling kids to pick schools that they can afford and not base it on what the football team does.

Along with telling certain companies like the trash owned by Elon Musk to stop taking issues with the existence to HBCUs. Too much of this only looking at what school you are from for a job. With so many NOT wanting black folks who don't play a sport at PWI-where do folks think those kids will go?

Funny guys like Musk don't have issues with community and D2-NAIA schools but only HBCUs.

[Dalak]

As US Congress stalls on aid, Ukrainian soldiers head to the frontlines knowing they don’t have enough ammunition


Next week the House returns from their 2-week break. The foreign defense bill is currently being denied a floor vote solely by Speaker Johnson. Dems are starting a discharge petition to override him that just needs a handful of R's with spine to succeed, assuming no bloody-minded defectors on the left. I think the numbers are there to not let a tiny core of hard-righters grip Congress by Johnson's balls, but there's still another week's wait minimum built into the process, let alone any potential amendment BS, final passage, and physically moving the ammo to where it's needed.

Meanwhile, even Ukraine's small, hard-fought summer gains are now being pushed back day by day for lack of ammo. This is what victory by attrition looks like. Except WE were supposed to attrit Russia with our obsolete surplus till they ran out of Soviet refurbs and prisoner meatwaves to waste, NOT cut off Ukraine's ammo for half a year till Russia could smell blood in the water.

Denmark said they'd donate all their artillery this week. I can't find a number amount for that, but I hope to God it ships fast enough to plug the dike a little longer while we find our asses.

I still think the Secretary of Defense could send ammo if he wanted to, since he did it twice for Israel while the bill was stuck in Senate negotiations. I realize letting Ukraine bleed puts more pressure on Republicans to let the bill through, but time is becoming critical here, and lost ground is 10x harder to retake, let alone lost lives. It's farcical that their country's survival is coming down to the wire on inane political bullshit when a large majority ostensibly... ostensibly supports them in principle.

Really??

So the folks who went to work for companies like Eron run by crooks that cost them their jobs are not responsible people?

The school employees that lost their jobs because of MONEY MISMANGEMENT or STATE FUNDING being CUT or STATE TEST SCORES were too low are not responsible people?

The folks in Flint and Jacksonville with bad water because of YOUR PARTY causing them to spend more money to get clean water are not responsible people?

Folks who can't find jobs because of YOUR PARTY standing in the way as they are with fixing the border, funding Ukraine (75% of that aid actually goes to US businesses with military contracts) and WITCH HUNTS on Biden or misinformation about a stolen election.




Then when GOP stop bailing out banks who have mismanage money then we can stop dismissing student debt.



Funny I paid back my student loans and have a retirement fund and those other tools. None of that is linked to paying student loans.

The majority of professional development is paid by the company. Same with most tools unless you are self business.




The government doesn't have to say anything. You fix that issue by telling kids to pick schools that they can afford and not base it on what the football team does.

Along with telling certain companies like the trash owned by Elon Musk to stop taking issues with the existence to HBCUs. Too much of this only looking at what school you are from for a job. With so many NOT wanting black folks who don't play a sport at PWI-where do folks think those kids will go?

Funny guys like Musk don't have issues with community and D2-NAIA schools but only HBCUs.

There are some people to whom politics & power are more important than human lives, and even then they may rate the lives of non-americans, LGBTQ+, non-christians, and in many cases those with darker skins as lesser than their constituency. I detest that sort of mindset and don't think I'll ever trust people who indulge in it or defend those who do. A lack of consequences for this sort of heartless behavior is what has led to these pricks being able to indulge in it to the point where enough of them are in power so they can protect individuals whenever it comes back to bite them. Shame is meaningless to them as well, and I've been looking for something that might convince these selfish & conceited people to act Human for many years now. Even appealing to their self-interest doesn't do the trick, and eventually these people will indulge in behavior that crosses the line of what society will roll-over & accept if they are not shown how unacceptable it truly is. At the time I thought 1/6 would be enough, but they are openly bragging about they intend to end Democracy and no one seems to care. If extremists think starting a Civil War will result in them getting what they want, it's beginning to seem like that is an acceptable solution to the GoP & their voters considering what they aren't responding to already. That thought is an incredibly worrying & depressing one.

[Panfoot]

https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/...bf20c3730.html

Cott pointed out that a 16-year-old had died earlier this month following a physical altercation at an Owasso High School. Cause of death has not yet been definitively established, though police said a preliminary report indicated a beating at the hands of other students didn’t kill Nex Benedict.

After Hardin and Stephens responded, Woods said that while his “heart goes out” regarding the teen’s death, he represents a constituency.

“We are a Republican state – supermajority – in the House and Senate. I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma,” Woods said.

Several audience members clapped at his statement, while others appeared shocked.

“We are a religious state and we are going to fight it to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state – we are a moral state,” Woods said. “We want to lower taxes and let people be able to live and work and go to the faith they choose. We are a Republican state and I’m going to vote my district, and I’m going to vote my values, and we don’t want that in the state of Oklahoma.”

[kidfresh512]

How you can support queer and trans kids in Oklahoma after Nex Benedict’s death

Freedom Oklahoma works to support the 2SLGBTQ+ community across Oklahoma and the land’s 39 sovereign tribal nations. They support Gender and Sexuality Alliances at schools and provide name and gender marker correction support services, among other things.

Oklahomans for Equality provides a variety of resources for people across the 2SLGBTQ+ spectrum, and their Equality Center in Tulsa is one of the largest in the region. Their website also provides resources for contacting state and local lawmakers.

Trans Advocacy Coalition of Oklahoma is a nonprofit committed to advancing the rights of transgender people in the state. They accept donations and also sell merchandise that benefits their work.

Stand With Trans is a national organization that empowers and supports trans youth. They accept donations and also volunteers to help with virtual and in-person programming.

The Rainbow Youth Project offers free mental health support for LGBTQIA+ youth, and their crisis calls have spiked since Nex’s death. You can donate, print out brochures with resources and sign up as a volunteer.

Write a letter to trans youth
Transgender and nonbinary kids are vulnerable and scared. The Human Rights Commission’s Parents for Transgender Equality Council is collecting letters in support of trans children, to remind them they’re loved and supported.

You can submit your letter on the HRC website.

[Reverse Happy]

The purgatory of waiting to see if Democracy can protect itself

[...] In 2022 as people called for tanks, planes, missiles, air defense, and all the other, the refrain was frequently we could only send what Ukraine could handle and Ukraine needed training before they could handle these things. Well we can now see there were no secret training programs going on behind the scenes in 2022 and 2023 to get Ukraine ready for advanced systems. There was never a plan to get them anything more than second hand cast-offs. Even should the $61 billion materialize from the US, it is still not everything Ukraine should have to fight the war.

The world bank puts the US GDP at $25 Trillion for 2022. The $61 Billion set aside for Ukraine amounts to .2% of the nations GDP and 7.3% of the 2020 Defense budget of $837 Billion. In comparison defense spending in WW2 went above 40% of GDP in 1943 and 1944. We spent $8 Trillion over 20 years on the war on terror (above what was considered normal defense spending) which averages out to $400 Billion per year. The US was willing to shell out more than 6 times as much per year for Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden than we are to fight Putin and Russia. Afghanistan alone was around $300 million per day (same source). $300 million per day against a group that killed @3,000 Americans in 2001. And we aren’t willing to spend that versus a country attacking our elections and trying to dismantle our democracy. And we aren’t willing to come to the full aid of a democracy being physically attacked by the same enemy.

Should the democrats finally get a vote on the Ukraine aid (and win the vote) I will only be partially celebrating. Because we still won’t be fighting our all for Democracy around the world. Russia is not half-asking it’s commitment. We may joke at times about their foul-ups, but they are spending like they are in it to win it. We don’t have to come close to spending the same amount as a percentage of our allied combined GDP, but we’re spending like it doesn’t really matter. We’re spending like we can afford to lose Ukraine. We are spending like upholding international rule of law is a luxury we just can’t afford. We are spending like Putin is not some genocidal maniac bent on destroying Democracy.
[...]
I’m going to scream if I see one more comment along the lines of Russia would get creamed by a direct confrontation with NATO. I’ve got news for you. Russia is winning right now versus NATO. No, it’s not a kinetic war, but they have kept NATO from using a percentage of its power which would put Ukraine over the top.

Russia has no business still being in this war. All those long training times for Ukrainians learning advanced complicated gear have now been surpassed by the length of the war. Instead of far surpassing Russia in might which was perfectly possible given sufficient NATO support, Ukraine is now waning in power. This is the time Ukraine should have been flexing ITS superior and overwhelming firepower. Instead NATO is getting its ass whooped in their own Democratic institutions by Russian supported stooges.

Ukraine is winning their part of the war. NATO is losing it for Ukraine, with the United States being the main problem.

Gawd, I feel this op-ed so hard.

[Tendrin]

What is said at CPAC typically becomes Republican goals for the party at large sooner or later.

Last year, Mets handwaved a whole bunch when we pointed out Michael Knowles saying 'transgenderism must be eradicated' at CPAC Now we have it being repeated by another Republican extremist he defends in Chaya Raichik, by state legislators, and over three hundred anti-LGBTQ bills filed by Republicans across the country.

It's a slippery slope, all right.

[aja_christopher]

Last year, Mets handwaved a whole bunch when we pointed out Michael Knowles saying 'transgenderism must be eradicated' at CPAC Now we have it being repeated by another Republican extremist he defends in Chaya Raichik, by state legislators, and over three hundred anti-LGBTQ bills filed by Republicans across the country.

It's a slippery slope, all right.

“Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allies”

“Nazis appeared to find a friendly reception at the Conservative Political Action Conference this year.

Throughout the conference, racist extremists, some of whom had secured official CPAC badges, openly mingled with conference attendees and espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The presence of these individuals has been a persistent issue at CPAC. In previous years, conference organizers have ejected well-known Nazis and white supremacists such as Nick Fuentes. But this year, racist conspiracy theorists didn’t meet any perceptible resistance at the conference where Donald Trump has been the keynote speaker since 2017.

At the Young Republican mixer Friday evening, a group of Nazis who openly identified as national socialists mingled with mainstream conservative personalities, including some from Turning Point USA, and discussed so-called “race science” and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

One member of the group, Greg Conte, who attended the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, said that his group showed up to talk to the media. He said that the group was prepared to be ejected if CPAC organizers were tipped off, but that never happened.

Another, Ryan Sanchez, who was previously part of the Nazi “Rise Above Movement,” took photos and videos of himself at the conference with an official badge and touted associations with Fuentes.

Other attendees in Sanchez’s company openly used the N-word.

For several years, CPAC and its supporters have attempted to temper the most extreme fringes of the conservative movement, and have welcomed the continued debate between Trump and more moderate conservatives. This year, however, some attendees and former attendees have expressed frustration with the conference’s stronger association with Trump and his wing of the party.

In one of the most viral moments from this year’s conference, conservative personality Jack Posobiec called for the end of democracy and a more explicitly Christian-focused government. While Posobiec later said his statements were partly satire, many CPAC attendees embraced his and others’ invocations of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

CPAC organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...fin-rcna140335

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The purgatory of waiting to see if Democracy can protect itself


Gawd, I feel this op-ed so hard.

Can’t argue any of that. The U.S. and NATO don’t have the will to help Ukraine.