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

[CaptainEurope]

Why the Explosive Jobs Report Will Hit Trump Harder Than You Think

Trump depends on liberals believing that nothing matters. But good news like this should give hope that some facts will matter after all.

It's hard to stay cynical when the economy is doing so well.

[Jack Dracula]

Obviously, what side someone's on makes a difference in reception.

But procedural questions aren't about that, unless you've got a way to make sure that an advantage is limited to one side.

What matters about which side someone’s on is whether that side is morally just.

Systems of government exist to further the public good. Rules of conduct exist to facilitate the operation of those systems.
If the rules of conduct are used to prevent a nonviolent morally just argument intended to further the public good from being heard those rules aren’t being applied according to their original intent.

[CaptainEurope]

This follows Murdoch's Wallstreet Journal published an op ed calling the town the "Jihad capital of the US" because it has a lot of Muslims.

[Gray Lensman]

This follows Murdoch's Wallstreet Journal published an op ed calling the town the "Jihad capital of the US" because it has a lot of Muslims.

And here I thought the Jihad capital of the US was in either northern Michigan or in Idaho - militia country.

[thwhtGuardian]

It shouldn't be shocking for someone challenging the President to go after an unpopular Vice President.

Obviously, what side someone's on makes a difference in reception.

But procedural questions aren't about that, unless you've got a way to make sure that an advantage is limited to one side.

Legislatures have the authority to expel members. In this case, they wouldn't have predicted the situation in advance.

The truth of the vote shows that it wasn't racially motivated and that some people are lying about a sensitive topic.

The efforts to remove Jones (who is black) from office passed by 72-25, the effort to remove Pearson (who is also black) passed by 69-26 and the effort to remove Johnson (the white lady) failed 65-30 (it needed a supermajority) so the overwhelming majority of Republicans (68 of 75; including a handful who didn't vote to remove anyone from office) voted the same for all three legislators.

Jones and Pearson spoke at the protest inside the capital using bullhorns, and Johnson did not, so that could make a difference for some of her colleagues.

They have that ability yes, but the prescribed penalty wasn't expulsion. They chose to do that pure and simple and they didn't need to.

[Reverse Happy]

CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’

According to accounts from six CNN staffers in multiple newsrooms, and more than a dozen internal memos and emails obtained by the Guardian, daily news decisions are shaped by a flow of directives from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta that have set strict guidelines on coverage. They include tight restrictions on quoting Hamas and reporting other Palestinian perspectives while Israel government statements are taken at face value. In addition, every story on the conflict must be cleared by the Jerusalem bureau before broadcast or publication.
[...]
One journalist described a “schism” within the network over coverage they said was at times reminiscent of the cheerleading that followed 9/11. “There’s a lot of internal strife and dissent. Some people are looking to get out,” they said.

Another journalist in a different bureau said that they too saw pushback. “Senior staffers who disagree with the status quo are butting heads with the executives giving orders, questioning how we can effectively tell the story with such restrictive directives in place,” they said. “Many have been pushing for more content from Gaza to be alerted and aired. By the time these reports go through Jerusalem and make it to TV or the homepage, critical changes – from the introduction of imprecise language to an ignorance of crucial stories – ensure that nearly every report, no matter how damning, relieves Israel of wrongdoing.”

CNN staff say that some journalists with experience of reporting the conflict and region have avoided assignments in Israel because they do not believe they will be free to tell the whole story. Others speculate that they are being kept away by senior editors. “It is clear that some who don’t belong are covering the war and some who do belong aren’t,” said one insider.
[...]

It's a long article.

[CaptainEurope]

CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’


It's a long article.

Weird, I have had to turn off some CNN shows because it felt like Hamas propaganda.

[Tami]

I think MSNBC has been fairly balanced in it's coverage of the Middle East.

[kidfresh512]

On a funny note. This "God's Army" border convoy mess is providing the kind of crazy cult hilarity one would expect. Arriving to the border shocked they don't see an actual invasion they expected. Baptisms in horse troughs behind the pickup truck line. KLASSY.

[The Cool Thatguy]

On a funny note. This "God's Army" border convoy mess is providing the kind of crazy cult hilarity one would expect. Arriving to the border shocked they don't see an actual invasion they expected. Baptisms in horse troughs behind the pickup truck line. KLASSY.

"Wait, these refugees are actual human beings?!"

[Tami]

Oklahoma superintendent faces blowback for putting Libs of TikTok creator on library panel

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma's new Republican superintendent of public schools is facing bipartisan criticism for appointing a right-wing social media influencer from New York to a state library advisory committee.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters announced Chaya Raichik's appointment to the committee on Tuesday, saying she is “on the front lines showing the world exactly what the radical left is all about — lowering standards, porn in schools, and pushing woke indoctrination on our kids.”

Raichik's Libs of TikTok account on X frequently features anti-trans posts and clips of public school teachers aimed at generating right-wing outrage. One of her posts last year showing an edited video critical of a public school librarian in Tulsa led to several consecutive days of bomb threats to schools in the district.

State Rep. Mark McBride, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and a frequent Walters critic, questioned the wisdom of appointing someone known for incendiary social media posts.

“I don't see any need to have a 28-year-old realtor from New York that has no children appointed to this position when there are extremely qualified parents, teachers and librarians in Oklahoma,” McBride, a Republican from Moore, said in a text message to The Associated Press.

Rep. Mickey Dollens, an Oklahoma City Democrat and former public school teacher, said Raichik's appointment also seems to violate the department's own rules for advisory committees, which require members to be “representative of the people to be served.”

“Is she a librarian? No. Does she have kids in Oklahoma schools? No. Does she even live in Oklahoma? No,” Dollens said. “How is this ‘representative of the people to be served?’”

Walters' appointment of Raichik comes just a week after a report in the news outlet The Frontier that Walters expensed travel for speaking engagements, media appearances and a horror movie premiere, despite an executive order from the governor banning public spending for most out-of-state travel.

[CaptainEurope]

Oklahoma superintendent faces blowback for putting Libs of TikTok creator on library panel

I mean, god already sent them an earthquake in protest.

[kidfresh512]

Well, that Convoy thingy is going about how I expected. What the hell is she saying?

I just cannot even with these people.

[Mister Mets]

There are a lot of ways she could have gone after Harris, voting record in Congress, Position on certain issues, and so on. Instead she choose to make it personal and attack her as a person, and feeding to the fears of the MAGA Crowd by using words like "should send chills up everyone’s spine". Thing is also that this kind of retoric is liekly to backfire on her if Trump decides to push hard on the fact that she is 'Not-white' herself'. If the MAGA crowd fear Harris as a Non-white Woman, then they are also likely to fear Haley also as a Non-white Woman.

MAGA wasn't going to like a white guy with Kamala Harris's record (unless that person backed Trump; under those circumstances, they didn't give a **** about the record.)

This is just generic trash-talking of someone on the other side politically. It's pretty common for complaints to be vague, especially since that can appeal to people who think Harris is too progressive (She's from San Francisco) and the people who think she's too authoritarian (She's a cop!) without the messiness of squaring the circle.

What matters about which side someone’s on is whether that side is morally just.

Systems of government exist to further the public good. Rules of conduct exist to facilitate the operation of those systems.
If the rules of conduct are used to prevent a nonviolent morally just argument intended to further the public good from being heard those rules aren’t being applied according to their original intent.

We can't have different policies for the side that we think is morally just. Among other things, this provides the establishment more leeway to shut down its critics. In red states, the establishment is going to be full of Republican state legislators.

This is why it's best for policies to be content-neutral, rather than having some gatekeeper with the ability to determine who is making a morally just argument.

[Jack Dracula]

We can't have different policies for the side that we think is morally just. Among other things, this provides the establishment more leeway to shut down its critics. In red states, the establishment is going to be full of Republican state legislators.

This is why it's best for policies to be content-neutral, rather than having some gatekeeper with the ability to determine who is making a morally just argument.

No one is arguing for different policies for the side we “think” is morally just. It’s not about sides. The morally just argument is always correct. Period.
No one is arguing for a “gatekeeper”. Moral or ethical correctness is the metric to judge whether a policy or argument is valid.
Moral or ethical ambiguity leads to partisan misinterpretation. The second amendment would be an example of that.