All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[PaulBullion]

And you, Gretchen, can watch Free State of Jones and try to convince yourself it's good.

Don't call it a comeback.

[ouroboros]

While I respect your seeming need for due diligence, the reality is that this is probably about as relevant as the fact that Strom Thurmond was a Democrat at one time long in the past: realistically, I doubt most people who vote Democratic even know who Sanger is -- the only time I really hear about her is when conservatives bring her up with regards to abortion.

The real focus needs to be on abortion rights themselves -- no doubt that will be a key issue going forward, especially with the upcoming SC replacement.

At this point, my main concern is that the Republicans are going to appoint a judge who will essentially acquit Trump for his crimes, leading to a defacto dictatorship where the President is above the law, even when obstructing justice or working with our enemies (Putin) to sabotage both our domestic electoral process and our international reputation.

It's the obvious play at this point, especially given the timing -- and circumstances -- of Kennedy's retirement.

Although Sanger's alleged attitudes are a significant part of our history-- though there are defenders who dispute these allegations-- the Right generally brings them up as a false equivalence to the supposed motivations of modern abortion advocates.

[ed2962]

Is it wrong that I give Jehovah's Witnesses a hard time because they keep shoving Watchtowers in my face?

It's a cult if a bunch of people stand around corners every day insisting if you heard the Good News.

I literally encountered JWs on the way to the comic book store today. They were nice, not pushy. I took their pamphlet. The whole thing was maybe 5 seconds.

[Gray Lensman]

I literally encountered JWs on the way to the comic book store today. They were nice, not pushy. I took their pamphlet. The whole thing was maybe 5 seconds.

It always depends on which people you get. I've met some who seem like the type of people I'd love to be good friends with, and others who I would prefer not even live in the same zip code as I do. Much like almost any group of people, I suppose.

[ouroboros]

Don't call it a comeback.

Well, at least it's not random association.

[PaulBullion]

We're caught in a trap...

[Darkspellmaster]

The behind the scene campaign to get another nominee for the Supreme Court before midterms.

The Courting of Anthony Kennedy: DONALD TRUMP MADE JUSTICE KENNEDY AN OFFER HE COULDN’T REFUSE

Once again, the Democrats were planning on this for a while I think this shows that they are not that sure that Trump will get re-elected and that they may not hold the Senate in the fast approaching mid terms. But Kennedy's departure has been in the works for a while.

While the Democrats appeared to be shocked by this week's announcement, this was no surprise to McConnell and other WH insiders;



Some of the steps taken included:

• Trump nominated 3 former clerks of Justice Kennedy to judicial posts . Somehow I believe that Trump was merely the instrument of this part of the plan and the list has been provided to him. The only thing he knows about judges is from numerous law suits.
• Trump cultivated a relationship with Justice Kennedy’s son, Justin, who worked closely with the Trump Organization in his role at Deutsche Bank as the global head of real-estate capital markets, according to the Times.
• Even Ivanka got in on it by schmoozing her way inside: She invited Justice Kennedy out for lunch shortly after the inauguration. Soon after, Ivanka and her daughter were invited as special guests of Justice Kennedy to hear arguments in the Supreme Court .
• The nomination of Gorsuch to the Supreme Court was another play to gain Kennedy's trust since Gorsuch also used to be one of Kennedy's clerks. They made sure Kennedy was there for Gorsuch's swearing in ceremony.

So there was no surprise in the WH about Kennedy's retirement. They've been laying the track for over a year to ease him into retirement and have been openly asking for the retirement.

Interesting. So how to combat this?

[PaulBullion]

Here's two:

THE SUPERMAN CROSSOVER THAT PERFECTLY EXPLAINED WHITE PRIVILEGE

STAR WARS IS FOR WHITE WOMEN

Both essays are designed to appeal to the extremist view I've described. Their agenda is transparent; white people have no right to chose white characters as their heroes; they must have POC heroes or face the instant accusation of racism.

OK, I just read the Icon essay. Good piece. No lie in there. Not even a lot of opinion: It just describes what the late, great Dwayne McDuffie did in that crossover: Show that an alien growing up on Earth in black skin has it harder than one in white skin. And the author points out that today, one would label that as white privilege.

No lie in there. No extremism. Just solid comicbook journalism.

[PaulBullion]

Interesting. So how to combat this?

Well, the left knows that Second Amendment remedies would only make things worse. So we're basically fucked, and all we can do is join Zombiehavok's doomsday cult.

[Gray Lensman]

OK, I just read the Icon essay. Good piece. No lie in there. Not even a lot of opinion: It just describes what the late, great Dwayne McDuffie did in that crossover: Show that an alien growing up on Earth in black skin has it harder than one in white skin. And the author points out that today, one would label that as white privilege.

No lie in there. No extremism. Just solid comicbook journalism.

Now I'm thinking of McDuffie's letter to a producer about 'black kids on skateboards.' There were some epic levels of snark in it, and sadly, way too much truth.

[ed2962]

Here's two:

THE SUPERMAN CROSSOVER THAT PERFECTLY EXPLAINED WHITE PRIVILEGE

STAR WARS IS FOR WHITE WOMEN

Both essays are designed to appeal to the extremist view I've described. Their agenda is transparent; white people have no right to chose white characters as their heroes; they must have POC heroes or face the instant accusation of racism.

Nothing in either of those articles mock straight white man for being straight white men or says that straight white men are racist by nature.

[Iron Maiden]

Interesting. So how to combat this?

Doh! Edited my lead in to say "The GOP were planning this "

IMO... I think the leadership of the Democratic Party has to learn to work this system like this. There's really nothing illegal going on, although IIRC some one is checking into the relationship the article mentions between Trump and Kennedy's son at Deutsche Bank.
Maybe the leadership at the top are just not good at playing all the angles. They got outplayed by McConnell when they couldn't even get a hearing for Obama's choice for Supreme Court. But the voters have to learn to vote the rascals out in the midterms. This is when there is a tendency for people to skip going to vote.

[Kevinroc]

(1) Just because the Communists touted themselves as being beyond the boundaries of ethno-nationalism in theory does not mean that they were in practice. At base what Russians want is better stuff for Russians, Chinese want better stuff for Chinese, Americans for Americans, and so on. It has nothing to do with Marx and Engels' fantasy of upper-class maniplation.

(2) No.

(3) Not if they're good movies.

1: Conversely, just because you say something is ethno-nationalism doesn't make it so. Are you done trying to argue "Communists = Nazis" yet?

(Again, Stalin was a very bad man. Nobody is arguing any differently.)

2 and 3 go together. You really are terrified of Black Panther's success and Marvel stating they plan on having films with more diverse leads, huh. There will still be movies with straight white male leads.

[ed2962]

Yes, it's just coincidence that Killmonger's agenda is that of making war on non-POC culture, which led some smart guys to say that "he was the real hero."

In the actual movie Killmonger is the bad guy. The movie does not endorse his actions.

[ed2962]

We're caught in a trap...

I wanna play!!