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

[SquirrelMan]

No, it's the exact same thing, a person in power refusing to step down due to their own vanity, that ultimately results in the destruction of their life's work.

If you cannot see the difference between voters picking a spare and Trump picking a replacement, I cannot help you. Have a nice day.

[Koriand'r]

If you cannot see the difference between voters picking a spare and Trump picking a replacement, I cannot help you. Have a nice day.

Luckily I don't need nor did I ask for your help, so you have a nice day too.

[Kirby101]

No, it's the exact same thing, a person in power refusing to step down due to their own vanity, that ultimately results in the destruction of their life's work.

This is called coming to a conclusion and then finding the evidence to support it. You have decided, contrary to the actual job he is doing, that Biden is to feeble minded to be President. So there is nothing he can say or do to convince you otherwise. Not a question of should he run, but that he should not. Each appearance, though you see headlines like "Forceful rebuttal" or knowing that he was interviewed for 5 hours the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, does nothing to change your firm belief that Biden should not be President.
Many others will disagree, but that would be meaningless to you.
To quote Forest Gump; "That is all I have to say about that."
Good day

[Deathstroke]

Fugitive Women and Fugitive Trans acts incoming from Texas. <3

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-tes...143503254.html

It's ironic that the people trying to basically exterminate women and transgendered people are the ones most in need of a can of Raid.

And Ken Paxton is a liar, a criminal and a traitor to humanity itself.

[Deathstroke]

The lack of focus on the harm and bigotry caused by Republican “policy” is even more telling.

There is little reason to respect the opinions of those who do not respect the rights of others to even exist. Again — it’s not paranoia when Republicans have already made their goals known in both word and action.

They won’t discuss the “facts” or the “slippery slopes” behind “conservative” racism and bigotry because it’s a lot easier to try to defend (via projection, deflection, etc) openly biased conservative propaganda than it is to address their lack of both empathy and ethics or their overtly malicious and sometimes openly violent behavior aimed at “minorities” in America.

One could ask why they feel the need to lie, deceive and downplay said behavior but it’s clear that’s because even they know it’s morally and ethically impossible to defend many Republican policies.

————

“Conservatives Plan to Ban Abortion and Cut LGBT Rights Starting Next January”

Project 2025’s 180-Day Playbook is a remarkably detailed guide to turning the United States into a fascist’s paradise

“On January 20, 2025, conservatives plan to resurrect a 150-year-old defunct law to ban abortion across the nation. This is not a secret plan—far from it. It’s part of the 180-Day Playbook produced by Project 2025, detailing priorities for an incoming conservative president on day one. These 900 pages lay out a Christian nationalist vision of the United States, one in which married heterosexuality is the only valid form of sexual expression and identity; all pregnancies would be carried to term, even if that requires coercion or death; and transgender and gender-nonconforming people do not exist.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/1788...q-project-2025

So-called conservatives and/or religion are the primary sources of all the evil in the world today.

[Deathstroke]

The main evening news in Germany reported on the Tucker interview, and I loved how they kept referring to him as a "talks show host" and not journalist.

It would've been more accurate to refer to him as a feckless traitor.

[Kirby101]

Transgender people are not an issue, political or otherwise. Anymore than my sexual identity is a political issue. What is the political issue is the Republican treatment of transgender people and them turning people's private lives into political issues.

[Koriand'r]

This is called coming to a conclusion and then finding the evidence to support it. You have decided, contrary to the actual job he is doing, that Biden is to feeble minded to be President. So there is nothing he can say or do to convince you otherwise. Not a question of should he run, but that he should not. Each appearance, though you see headlines like "Forceful rebuttal" or knowing that he was interviewed for 5 hours the day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, does nothing to change your firm belief that Biden should not be President.
Many others will disagree, but that would be meaningless to you.
To quote Forest Gump; "That is all I have to say about that."
Good day

You're jumping to a whole lot of conclusions that are entirely erroneous. No one wants Joe Biden to be more successful than I do. The Biden/Harris ticket was predicted and lauded by me a year and a half before it became a reality. As someone with a parent in the last stages of Alzheimer's I'm no ageist or alarmist, what I am, like most of us here, is an armchair political strategist, and strategically it's clear Democrats are at a disadvantage. As a staunch supporter I give Biden the benefit of a doubt, grade on a curve and make excuses for him, but I'm aware those aren't the reactions of the general public. Unfortunately that's who we're relying on to save democracy and regrettably I believe they require a different candidate.

[CaptainEurope]

You're jumping to a whole lot of conclusions that are entirely erroneous. No one wants Joe Biden to be more successful than I do. The Biden/Harris ticket was predicted and lauded by me a year and a half before it became a reality. As someone with a parent in the last stages of Alzheimer's I'm no ageist or alarmist, what I am, like most of us here, is an armchair political strategist, and strategically it's clear Democrats are at a disadvantage. As a staunch supporter I give Biden the benefit of a doubt, grade on a curve and make excuses for him, but I'm aware those aren't the reactions of the general public. Unfortunately that's who we're relying on to save democracy and regrettably I believe they require a different candidate.

"I was a lifelong Democrat until a partisan Republican said he had a bad memory, again, as they said, in 2020."

[Mister Mets]

Sure. It's you, a non-expert, non-scientist, expressing your doubt about a report produced by scientists who are experts.

Perfectly reasonable and objective. We should all practice such critical thinking. Thank you, resident conservative!

I don't think I'm saying anything the experts or scientists would disagree with. They're familiar with questions of survivorship bias and how to weigh polls.

[Kirby101]

You're jumping to a whole lot of conclusions that are entirely erroneous. No one wants Joe Biden to be more successful than I do. The Biden/Harris ticket was predicted and lauded by me a year and a half before it became a reality. As someone with a parent in the last stages of Alzheimer's I'm no ageist or alarmist, what I am, like most of us here, is an armchair political strategist, and strategically it's clear Democrats are at a disadvantage. As a staunch supporter I give Biden the benefit of a doubt, grade on a curve and make excuses for him, but I'm aware those aren't the reactions of the general public. Unfortunately that's who we're relying on to save democracy and regrettably I believe they require a different candidate.

As one armchair political strategist to another. So rather than counter the false narrative the Media and hacks like Hur have tried to paint Biden with, you want to capitulate and at this stage, send the Party into a feeding frenzy to give Trump and the GOP the upper hand.

Biden:

Senior Democrats believe that the chaos enveloping House Republicans has the potential to further discredit the GOP as a party of incompetence and ideological extremism. But for all the apparent political upside for Democrats, the turmoil in the House also now presents perilous governing challenges.

The White House now has just 44 days to avert a November government shutdown and secure critical aid for Ukraine — and no earthly idea who will lead the House GOP. Last weekend, Biden and House Democratic leaders cited McCarthy’s support for Ukraine as a reason the funding would ultimately be approved quickly. With him gone, there were no immediate answers.

“For them to be engaged in this civil war, it’s nothing I’ve ever seen,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a close Biden ally. “This is uncharted waters.”
Watch: House votes to oust McCarthy

The waters were choppy with McCarthy in the speaker’s chair, too.

People close to the president considered McCarthy a fickle and unpredictable partner. When McCarthy met with Biden in person, he typically presented himself as a sober negotiator, clear-eyed about the give-and-take of bipartisan governance. Then he would go out in public and brag about his refusal to bend on conservative demands.

On a particularly sensitive matter, McCarthy mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public, while privately telling allies that he found the president sharp and substantive in their conversations — a contradiction that left a deep impression on the White House.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/1...nfall-00119933

There is Media portrayal, and there is reality.

[Tami]

How Justice Dept. special counsel policies let Hur critique Biden’s memory

The conclusion laid out in special counsel Robert K. Hur’s final report was straightforward: Joe Biden mishandled classified materials, though there was not enough proof that he intended to break the law to meet the Justice Department’s high prosecution threshold.

But the 345-page report also contained explosive information about President Biden’s allegedly faulty memory, overshadowing the issue of how he stored sensitive government materials after his vice presidency ended.

The appointment of a special counsel is intended to make high-profile, sensitive investigations as independent and apolitical as possible. But current and former Justice Department officials said the increasing reliance on special counsels to handle such investigations has upended a central principle of the agency: to avoid prejudicing the public against people who are not charged.

“Special Counsel Hur report on Biden classified documents issues contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions,” former Attorney General Eric Holder, a Democrat, wrote on social media Friday. “Had this report been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised.”

Hur’s blistering characterization of Biden has made the report intractable from politics during an election year in which Biden’s opponents already were focused on his age and questioning his mental fitness.

Some legal experts say aspects of the report have echoes of FBI Director James B. Comey’s decision in 2016 to call Hillary Clinton “extremely careless” as he publicly announced that he would be closing an investigation into her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

Under department regulations, a special counsel submits a confidential report to the attorney general, explaining his or her decisions whether to prosecute (Justice Department policy precludes charging sitting presidents). It is up to the attorney general to decide whether to make that report public.

When Garland received Hur’s report Monday, he could have made redactions before he sent it to Congress. President Biden could have also exerted executive privilege and made redactions. But neither did. Had they wanted to, legal experts said, they would have had to inform Congress, and likely would have received intense backlash from Republicans.

“Perhaps there was some justification for special counsel Hur to comment on the president’s age and mental fitness, but I severely doubt it, and the report is not reassuring in this regard,” Katyal said in an email. “It seems gratuitous and wrong.”

[Zelena]

Meanwhile…

Food shipment for 1.1 million Palestinians stuck at port due to restrictions from Israeli authorities, says UNRWA

https://apnews.com/article/israel-pa...55679a01a19371

[Jack Dracula]

Transgender people are not an issue, political or otherwise. Anymore than my sexual identity is a political issue. What is the political issue is the Republican treatment of transgender people and them turning people's private lives into political issues.

For the GOP it’s about creating an existential threat to motivate the Karen’s, church ladies, and soccer moms to vote.
Creating a boogie man with an agenda is a strategy taken directly from the dictators playbook. The obvious example is Hitler using the Jewish people.
Typically it’s a group that is already marginalized and has little influence or power. Any effort to defend themselves is twisted by the propaganda machine into proof of their hostility and intent to do harm.
We’ll see this strategy cranked up to 11 in the months leading up to the election and if Trump wins and Project 2025 is implemented they will have a readymade excuse to persecute the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters. The conservative base will love them for it and give them permission to extend their political power everywhere and do almost anything.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Pretty much, if trump wins it's on the Dems for pushing an unpopular president thats oftheb shown to have cognitive difficulties.