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

[Mister Mets]

So, at no point did I say he was going to win. Just that it was horrifying and not at all unexpected that a KKK guy would get on the ballot as a Republican. The fact that it is a thing at ALL is the issue facing your party. It’s good some in the party are backing away, and it’s good he likely has no chance in hell of winning. But your party has enough voters who are STILL supporting him that he’s gotten THIS far. And that’s just another abhorrent act by your party that I used to lead into the ACTUAL abhorrent, blatant hatred your leaders displayed, recently. To illustrate that it’s not just your leaders who support hate. It’s the rank and file voters, too.

Not ‘exaggeration’. But you like to cast any reaction to GOP horrors as ‘exaggeration’, so I shouldn’t be surprised.

I do notice that - as expected - you ignore the more obviously malicious, homophobic nonsense behavior of your party LEADERS that I point out in the same post. And why? To focus on the lesser story illustrating the mindset present exclusively in the GOP (supporting candidates for high office who are in favor of domestic terrorism) in order to denigrate me and condescend about me.

Charming, as usual.

If you're saying the GOP is running a KKK connected man for governor, the implication is that he has some kind of support worth speaking of. That's not the case. It's pretty easy to get on the ballot. This guy was a candidate for Senate in 2022, where he got 0.2% of the vote (1,139 votes out of 655,675.) I don't know if it was his buddies on Stormfront, or people who meant to vote for someone else.

As I noted in the post you didn't quote, the United States has shifted to a system where parties have little control over who's on the ballot.

This has some advantages. In New Jersey, the candidate of the Democratic party machine was the Governor's rich wife and she dropped out of a primary against a more impressive candidate when it became clear the machine wasn't enough to help her win.

There are arguments for getting rid of primaries, and bringing back the smoke-filled room where a small group of people make the big decisions with the idea that ordinary people should only have to pay attention to politics in November.

But we wouldn't be able to have it both ways. Giving the political machine more power to remove someone from the ballot will be used for corrupt ends, although a counterpoint is that the party has incentives not to do that because it'll hurt in the general election.

As for what I respond to, there's a finite amount of time and I didn't think an argument about whether removing pride flags from military bases is a hateful goal was going to be productive.

[JackDaw]

Schools do not have to accept a child's request to socially transition

Trans youth will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers

Not to mention the constant attacks on the transgender community from members of the government.
Rishi Sunak
Suella Braverman
Kemi Badenoch


Do you think it has nothing to do with the toxic atmosphere in the society and attacks (and murders) on trans people?

Neither of the things you quote were new laws passed in Parliament, both were guidance documents. One indicated thar schools had a responsibility to consult parents when children wanted to change gender.

The other was a decision by medical professionals that puberty blocking drugs should not be ROUTiNELY prescribed by the Nattional Health Service. Thats driven by the lack of medical certainty that the drugs are completely safe. (Its still legal to get a private prescription, and NHS doctors can prescribe if they think it's medically necessary.)

I think characterising those guidelines as transphobic would be an enormous stretch.


I do agree that the public statements of sone politicians are hateful and misguided.

And, of course..there are some vile incidents in UK society, but those break existing laws and are punished.

On balance, the legal framework in UK, and just importantly the general liberal approach of most members of UK society is supportive of principle that individuals should be able to live the life they chose, more so (I think) than most societies. (I know 2 trans women well...one a close work colleague, one a close friend. Both live happy and productive lives. I think that would be difficult in many countries.)

In general, I don't "get" why UK is often singled out for adverse comment on this issue.

[CaptainEurope]

I have always know deep down he would never go to prison even if he were to be convicted. I guess I still had hope they would at least take his money away, but now I see they won't even allow that.

So I'm done.

The judgment is still in place.

[kidfresh512]

Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses in Baltimore after ship strike

BALTIMORE -- The Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a ship struck it, officials say. Rescue efforts are underway after several vehicles fell into the water below.

A vessel traveling out was believed to have struck a column of the bridge around 1:30 a.m., fire department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said.

There are at least seven people but up to 20 people in the water, Cartwright said in an interview with CNN, and a mass casualty response is under way.

Video footage obtained by WJZ shows a fiery explosion before the collapse, in which a ship appears to hit a strut of the bridge.

[CaptainEurope]

Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses in Baltimore after ship strike

Twitter is already blaming Biden, Ukraine, and the Jews.

[CaptainEurope]

So if I get this right, Putin is now saying that the Jewish Nazi in Ukraine sent Islamist terrorists to Moscow?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses in Baltimore after ship strike

I saw the footage. All that room UNDER that bridge, yet that ship struck it. Assuming the ship's bridge had been destroyed in the collapse, and the crew killed, we might never learn what happened.

[Mister Mets]

The entire reason for the bond in this case is that to appeal the case at all you have to put up the bond, and the appeals court specifically wasn't ruling on the merits of his appeal as I've shown. The appeal wasn't impossible for him, as he just had to make a sale or 2 to those foreign investors that he often brags about helping him with business deals instead of letting the DA do it after seizing the assets. Considering the amount of money he saved in taxes over the years of not paying them, even the original bond doesn't match the crime.

I disagree that this decision was reasonable, strongly.

And thanks for the clarification and the apology!

E: Regarding Mets, the opinions on him have been formed due to his own posts and behavior. Those posts and behavior have been on display for years, and when he's confronted with them he refuses to change far more often than he acknowledges a mistake or that he was wrong. It is a fact that multiple posters have shown this on several occasions (Not just me, or 1-2 others), so I want to make it clear that any reputation he has among posters here has been earned rather than any sort of anti-conservative bias.

If it's not a matter of anti-conservative bias, we could consider whether there are any regular posters who share my views or are to my right (or willing to vote for Trump for that matter) who are treated more warmly.

I also don't think that people here would mind if I used the same tone or sources or confidence, but was never critical of Democrats (except sometimes to suggest that they consider going more to the left.)

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So if I get this right, Putin is now saying that the Jewish Nazi in Ukraine sent Islamist terrorists to Moscow?

Hell, give Putin some time and he'll release an undercover video of Zelenskyy personally paying the killers before sending them off to Moscow.

[Mister Mets]

Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses in Baltimore after ship strike

The video is nuts.

So if I get this right, Putin is now saying that the Jewish Nazi in Ukraine sent Islamist terrorists to Moscow?

I'm sure he'll figure out a way to implicate other enemies soon enough.

[Panfoot]

Neither of the things you quote were new laws passed in Parliament, both were guidance documents. One indicated thar schools had a responsibility to consult parents when children wanted to change gender.

The other was a decision by medical professionals that puberty blocking drugs should not be ROUTiNELY prescribed by the Nattional Health Service. Thats driven by the lack of medical certainty that the drugs are completely safe. (Its still legal to get a private prescription, and NHS doctors can prescribe if they think it's medically necessary.)

I think characterising those guidelines as transphobic would be an enormous stretch.


I do agree that the public statements of sone politicians are hateful and misguided.

And, of course..there are some vile incidents in UK society, but those break existing laws and are punished.

On balance, the legal framework in UK, and just importantly the general liberal approach of most members of UK society is supportive of principle that individuals should be able to live the life they chose, more so (I think) than most societies. (I know 2 trans women well...one a close work colleague, one a close friend. Both live happy and productive lives. I think that would be difficult in many countries.)

In general, I don't "get" why UK is often singled out for adverse comment on this issue.

Huh? They very much are transphobic. UK politicians are pretty open about that, even more so then US ones at times.

[CaptainEurope]

The video is nuts.

I'm sure he'll figure out a way to implicate other enemies soon enough.

The gays must be in on it.

[Kirby101]

I saw the footage. All that room UNDER that bridge, yet that ship struck it. Assuming the ship's bridge had been destroyed in the collapse, and the crew killed, we might never learn what happened.

I am sure they will find out if it was mechanical failure or human failure.

[achilles]

I am sure they will find out if it was mechanical failure or human failure.

It was a power failure that the crew reported before striking the bridge. It was under the control of one of the port's pilots. At least two people were rescued from the water so far, one in critical condition, and the other seems fine. There seem to be six people known to be missing. Others were saved when drivers who had not yet gotten on the bridge stopped others from trying to get on the bridge. It happened around 1:30 AM.

[Dalak]

After today’s legal ruling, the inevitable question (at least to me) begs to be asked: If we were dealing with Donald Trump, crooked businessman, conman, grifter, thief and reality show carnival barker, and not Donald Trump, former president and de facto ruler of the Republican Party, would he have enjoyed this remarkable level of leniency from the courts? Or is it just another example of rules being bent, if not broken in favor of privileged billionaires?

Another factor is that there was no reasoning given for cutting down the amount he had to post a bond for, and the amount they gave appears completely arbitrary. If it was anyone else, this wouldn't have happened.

Jared and Ivanka reported having made approximately $640 million during Trumps administration.
Are we to believe the man himself made less over that period?

Personally, I’m just happy when something happens that may raise his stress levels. My hope is a serious health issue may arise that will permanently sideline him.

I think it's seen this way: If someone idolized for being rich by so many were to be taken down, it might give the public ideas about focusing on the hinky **** being undertaken by richer folks and that can't be allowed. That's the Conspiracy Brain talking, but it seems logical.

Over in the UK, Scott Benton, a Tory MP for Blackpool South, who was accused of selling influence for gambling interests, has resigned.
This will trigger the 13th by-election since Sunak became Prime Minister. Of the previous dozen, the Tories lost 11.

Just call a general election and get it over with.

They won't because from what I have seen it would be a bloodbath. They aren't going to give up power until the last possible moment. If they call an election now the Tories might become a minor party, rather than just the opposition, and I'm sure they'll do everything they can to avoid that.

As an American, I'm still amazed that you can just call elections rather than our own screwed up system.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Properties Raided by Homeland Security as Part of Sex Trafficking Investigation

I'll wait to see how this turns out.

Pervert Hoover is another one I've seen used

That’s pretty funny. I’m stealing it.

Damn, I missed this one and it's good too!

Ideally, the penalty should ALWAYS exceed the level of money illegally gained through the crime, or else the crime was still profitable. The amount that it exceeds the illegal gain should be enough so that the criminal would have to be stupid to even consider committing the same crime again.

I agree with you, but I doubt that the powers-that-be would allow that so only approaching the profit of the crime is what I think we can reasonably hope for in my lifetime.