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

[worstblogever]

German media reporting that Putin now started making false accusations of Naziism in the Baltic states. It's the kind of accusation he used to prepare the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin has failed in Ukraine... the idea that he would start invading somewhere else with less tanks and less men because he's throwing them away in meat assaults the past two years...

[useridgoeshere]

There is a phrase I've heard to describe this called a vibecession, the sense that the economy is doing poorly even if it's not true.

I read that phrase in the Economist. Some even want to change the metrics for a recession, because the current ones are so out of whack with individual sentiment. I remember a research company during the Bush recession (the 2008 one, not the one in 1991) identifying a large group of people behaving like they were in economic peril, even though they weren't. So, maybe it's just a thing that happens.

[Kirby101]

We have had 40 years of Reaganomics with income disparity growing exponentially and wage growth at a crawl, a lot of it due to the GOP stopping a raise in minimum wage and the Republican assault on Unions.

But people are hurting because of Biden. Sure.

[Tami]

Man who destroyed Satanic Temple altar in Iowa charged under hate crime law

A man who attacked and beheaded a permitted statue put up by the Satanic Temple at Iowa’s Capitol in December has been charged with a felony under the state’s hate crime statutes, the prosecutor’s office said this week.

Michael Cassidy, who was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Mississippi’s state House of Representatives, is charged with third-degree criminal mischief in violation of individual rights, the Polk County Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

“Evidence shows the defendant made statements to law enforcement and the public indicating he destroyed the property because of the victim’s religion,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Cassidy, 36, had been charged with a misdemeanor. The enhanced charge is a class D felony under Iowa’s hate crime statutes.

I'm not sure what is weirder, that there is a permitted satanic statue in the Iowa State Capital, or that someone destroyed the statue and is now charged with a hate crime. I mean ,religion comes in many forms, so I guess it makes sense that he'd be charged.....

[Mister Mets]

Put simply...

The issue is not that some folks are going through seriously tough times while some others are not.

It's that a "Record..." DJI gets pointed to as something good while thousands of folks clearly lost their jobs so that a dividend could be upped because that is the very nature of the way that the markets work.

That said ugly truth gets swept under the rug to attempt cheer any administration is bunk.

I'm still trying to figure out how some people think you, an outspoken Bernie supporter who has been active on these discussions for years, never criticized Trump.

[CaptainEurope]

Put simply...

The issue is not that some folks are going through seriously tough times while some others are not.

It's that a "Record..." DJI gets pointed to as something good while thousands of folks clearly lost their jobs so that a dividend could be upped because that is the very nature of the way that the markets work.

That said ugly truth gets swept under the rug to attempt cheer any administration is bunk.

Your post would only make sense if I posted the DJI index as the only measure of the American economy. I also post about consumer confidence, jobs reports, inflation, student loan forgiveness.
So, you either miss a whole bunch of my post, or your argument is fundamentally dishonest.

[CaptainEurope]

Biden issues executive order targeting Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians

President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order allowing the U.S. to impose new sanctions on Israeli settlers — and potentially Israeli politicians and government officials — involved in violent attacks against Palestinians.

Why it matters: The unprecedented executive order is the most significant step any U.S. administration has ever taken in response to violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.

It reflects the Biden administration's determination that extremist settler violence has reached levels that constitute a serious threat to security in the West Bank and entire region and undermines U.S. foreign policy objectives, mainly the viability of a two-state solution, two U.S. officials said.

[Tami]

Biden issues executive order targeting Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians

It's a baby step, but it is a step. Hopefully the Biden Administration will find a balanced way to address the issues on both sides and continue to push for a two state solution.

[CaptainEurope]

If you are wondering how damaging the leaked meeting between far right AfD politicians and German neo nazis might be for the party: French far right figure Marine LePen has threatened to kick them out of the EU Parliament nazi club.

And now another huge scandal: Espionage.

A pro-Russian aide to a far-right German legislator who attempted to scuttle Berlin’s shipment of main battle tanks to Ukraine is an agent of Russian intelligence, The Insider can now reveal. Also, his handler is a rapper.

Hat tip to Tendrin.

[Username taken]

https://www.politicususa.com/2024/02...eelection.html

The Moody’s Analytics presidential forecasting model projects that it will be a close 2024 election, but President Biden will beat Donald Trump to win reelection.

Given the results of recent party primaries, the most likely scenario is that this election will be a rematch between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. While the election will almost certainly be a nail biter, we feel confident in the model’s 2024 prediction for who will be the next president. That is, President Biden will win re-election.

Under any scenario, the upcoming presidential election will be close. If the economy continues to perform well as we anticipate and voter turnout and third-party vote share remain close to their recent historical norms, President Biden should win re-election.

[Jack Dracula]

I read that phrase in the Economist. Some even want to change the metrics for a recession, because the current ones are so out of whack with individual sentiment. I remember a research company during the Bush recession (the 2008 one, not the one in 1991) identifying a large group of people behaving like they were in economic peril, even though they weren't. So, maybe it's just a thing that happens.

I’m inclined to think people “behaving like they were economic peril, even though they aren’t” is simply people living within their means.

[CaptainEurope]

I’m inclined to think people “behaving like they were economic peril, even though they aren’t” is simply people living within their means.

I read that a lot of people tell pollsters that they, personally, are better off but that they believe the economy overall is doing badly.

Sadly, it seems to be behind a paywall now:
https://www.theatlantic.com/newslett...lation/661149/

[CaptainEurope]

Some good news: A largely united EU managed to strong-arm Viktor Orban into voting for the 50 billion Euro aid package for Ukraine.

[CaptainEurope]

Here is a little more about people feeling good about THEIR economy, but assuming that's not what others experience:

A recent poll by Bloomberg found that 49 percent of respondents said their local economy is on the right track. Now that’s not great, but pretty damn close to half.

By contrast, only 26 percent said that the national economy was on the right track. This means that 23 percent of the people answering the poll thought things were going well where they lived, but were bad in the rest of the country.

My question then is, how this 23 percent could, based on their lived experience, determine that things were worse where they didn’t live than where they did live?

My working hypothesis is that they are likely reflecting the media’s endless trash-talking of the economy. The problem is not just Fox, which sees its purpose as advancing the Republican agenda, but also CNN, the NYT, the WaPo, and other major news outlets. Stories about inflation and prices not falling (they never do) fill their pages.

[Mister Mets]

Man who destroyed Satanic Temple altar in Iowa charged under hate crime law



I'm not sure what is weirder, that there is a permitted satanic statue in the Iowa State Capital, or that someone destroyed the statue and is now charged with a hate crime. I mean ,religion comes in many forms, so I guess it makes sense that he'd be charged.....

The statue was permitted at the capital because to not permit it was considered religious favoritism if they also had a nativity scene.

https://www.kcci.com/article/des-moi...lding/46057210

A complicating factor is the question of religious sincerity, which is going to be relevant to any hate crime prosecution.