All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Tami]

That reminds me of this issue ....

How employers are blaming unemployment insurance for their inability to hire workers, while some 8n the News Media are pointing out how quickly they would fill positions if the employer would just raise the salary enough so that workers could earn more from working.

Of course some state politicals are siding with the employers and shutting down unemployment in order to force workers to work at low paying jobs.

[JackDaw]

The BBC is good but it has its limits. Anything with the name British Broadcasting Company isn't gonna be happy with one of its states going its way.

Admittedly there are neutral and non-partisan reasons to be skeptical that a Scottish referendum will lead to independence. It will at the very least be far more competitive than the previous referendum on Independence at any rate.

I was gonna post about the UK. They apparently had their version of the "Midterms" and my understanding is that the Labour had a mixed night, with Keir Starmer suffering a major setback. Labour MPs on his left (in Wales and in Manchester) who formerly aligned themselves with Corbyn did far better than Starmer's own handpicked candidates it seems.

I kinda feel mixed. On one hand it's bad for UK to realize that the Labour party under Starmer likely won't be a viable opposition to Boris Johnson who is, to quote a British novelist, a horrorshow - Alex DeLarge in Charge. On the other hand, a part of me can't resist the schadenfreude at seeing a centrist hit himself with the rake-handle Sideshow Bob-style.

I think it does prove that being a centrist, like everything else, takes talent. Biden is an example of that, someone who talks and affects centrism but is capable of being flexible and open-minded once in office and in power (which he has shown several times in his career as Senator and VP). Whereas Starmer actually believes and earnest practises his centrism like a real idiot.

I think most people in UK would regard Labours overall showing was downright poor rather than mixed. Losing the by-election in Hartlepool...a safe Labour seat (allegedly)...when fairly unpopular Tory governments have been in power for 11 years (and a Tory led coalition before that) is near astonishing.

Labour seems to have lost contact with the people it seeks to represent...its choice of candidate for the Hartlepool by-election is an illustration of that. (They picked an ardent remainer for a constituency that voted “out” by a very large majority.)

Deep down I think you’re right about Sir Keir being part of the problem... he always comes across as affable and reasonable...but for whatever reason doesn’t seem to be able to energise support. I think he has to be given his chance...to be blunt mainly because there are no obvious alternatives...but he definitely needs to bring new talent into the Shadow Cabinet.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

That reminds me of this issue ....

How employers are blaming unemployment insurance for their inability to hire workers, while some 8n the News Media are pointing out how quickly they would fill positions if the employer would just raise the salary enough so that workers could earn more from working.

Of course some state politicals are siding with the employers and shutting down unemployment in order to force workers to work at low paying jobs.

Those same employers ignore that workers went into other fields where work remained steady during the lockdown or that people decided to go to (or return) to school instead of taking jobs. It's not just about unemployment insurance alone, though I'm sure Qpublicans will beat that horse to death and beyond. Speaking of which....

Republicans Declare War On Federal Unemployment Insurance Benefits

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Cyberattack Forces Major US Pipeline Company To Halt Operations

Colonial Pipeline operates a system that spans from Texas to New Jersey, moving some 100 million gallons of fuel every day. I can't help wondering how this didn't happen sooner, and if it could happen again.

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Sen. Ron Johnson Cites Commonly Misused Data To Suggest Vaccines Linked To Deaths

The CDC’s VAERS system tracks deaths that happen after vaccination regardless of whether the vaccine had any role to play. It is often cited by anti-vaxxers. Of course he and other Qpublicans will continue spreading that bullshit.

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GOP Reportedly Hid Trump’s Weak Numbers At MAGA-Supporting Lawmaker Retreats

Internal data reveal Trump could be a risky bet for GOP leadership. But, Qpublicans will continue supporting Trump. They literally have no choice. Meanwhile....

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GOP Rep. Reveals How Many Colleagues Actually Believe Trump’s Election Conspiracies

Not many House Republicans at all, according to Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger. However, Qpublicans have to continue toeing the party line, lest they risk being ostracized like Liz Cheney soon will be for daring to speak out against Trump.

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There’s Never Been A Good Argument Against D.C. Statehood

Republicans (and some Democrats) say D.C. shouldn’t become the 51st state. Here’s why each reason they cite is bad. But, Qpublicans have more to lose if D.C. becomes a state.

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Fox News Torpedoed COVID-19 Science Hundreds Of Times Since January, Watchdog Says

“Fox’s misinformation campaign against coronavirus science is not just a disservice to its viewership,” said media watchdog group Media Matters for America. It's putting lives at risk, plain and simple.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of North Carolina State Senator Wyatt “Tommy” Tucker, who was first elected to office back in 2010, in the Tea Party Wave. Tucker, as seen in his profile picture, gained notoriety in April of 2013, when he suggested print reporters should be banned from the legislature, and that its business should only be reported on the internet. After much arguing from the actual reporters in the chamber, Tucker advanced the legislation out of committee by a verbal vote, that Democrats argued was not the actual 6-5 win Tucker claimed it was. He refused to conduct a simple hand count vote, and tried to leave the chamber, telling a reporter, "I am the Senator. You are a citizen. You need to be quiet." As shocking of an attempt to restrict the freedom of the press as this was, Tucker also tried arguing against paying victims of North Carolina's eugenics program that was conducted from 1933 to 1974, trying to pass of the settlements onto individual counties, and not the state. He has voted for North Carolina's attempt to amend their constitution to ban same sex marriage, to ban climatologists from studying rising sea levels along the state coasts, for stricter Voter ID measures to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of citizens from their right to vote, supported North Carolina Republicans efforts to block the Medicaid Expansion in the state, voted for the "motorcycle safety law" in the state that through amendments by Republicans, became one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws around the country, and of course, he voted for the disastrous anti-gay law HB 2, that saw North Carolina face a boycott from several industries, musicians performing concerts, and sports league events that amounted to almost a billion dollars of lost revenue. Tucker drew some heat in North Carolina in the summer of 2016, as well, for sponsoring a bill in the North Carolina State Senate that would lead to 7 acres of land from the city of Marvin to be placed under the jurisdiction of the county… specifically so a developer could buy it up for his own purposes, and much to the chagrin of the people of Marvin, as well as commentators who feared the practice could become commonplace. Rather than face the Blue Wave in 2018, Tommy Tucker has decided to call it quits and leave office after four terms doing his part to make the Tar Heel State a national embarrassment.



On this date one in both 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Karl Oliver, a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from District 46 who was elected to his first term in office back in 2015. Oliver made national news in March of 2017 when he got his knickers in a twist as the city of New Orleands tore down several of its Confederate monuments, and compared people who wanted iconography that honors a rebellion against the federal government fought over slavery to Nazis, before calling for those who remove the Confederate monuments to be, “LYNCHED”:

“The destruction of these monuments, erected in the loving memory of our family and fellow Southern Americans, is both heinous and horrific. If the, and I use this term extremely loosely, “leadership” of Louisiana wishes to, in a Nazi-ish fashion, burn books or destroy historical monuments of OUR HISTORY, they should be LYNCHED! Let it be known, I will do all in my power to prevent this from happening in our State.”

Make no mistake, this is beyond f***ed up if it was said anywhere, but particularly in Money, Mississippi, which Karl Oliver represents, because it’s the same place where Emmett Till was lynched for whistling at a white woman (who admitted on her deathbed he actually didn’t) in 1955. Calls for Oliver to resign came from within the legislature, and without, and even sparked an FBI investigation.

We’ll add as well that Karl Oliver is quite the extremist, supporting some of the most hardline conservative bills in the Mississippi state legislature, including one to bring back the electric chair and firing squads as a means of execution (go figure he guy who called for people to be lynched likes all sorts of barbaric execution methods), anti-choice fetal heartbeat legislation that would ban abortion as early as six weeks, effectively (before many women realize they are even pregnant), is so “pro-life” that he’s also trying to widen the amount of exceptions available for vaccinations (exactly the attitude needed during a viral pendemic), voted for legislation to ignore federal firearms laws, as well as to legalize the carrying of firearms in churches.

Alas, Karl Oliver ignored all calls to resign, and we are sad to report that nobody filed to run against him by the deadline of March 1st, 2019. Oliver will remain in office until 2023 with an outlook on race relations that we should have left back in 1865, if not earlier. And don’t think the rest of the Mississippi GOP are holding him accountable… they actually elevated him to be the chairman of the Mississippi state House’s Appropriations Committee.

[Mister Mets]

I know here in America we hear a lot about "unfair bias in the mainstream media." I'd struggle to find an example of such a thing here. But holy hell at the BBC (which I generally prefer to most American news outlets) reporting the election results in Scotland over the past two days. Every time it was announced that the Tories won a seat, it was a "resounding success" and every time they mentioned the SNP, which won significantly more seats, the coverage was along the lines of "SNP chances balanced on a knife's edge" or "independence has been rejected."

To figure out if it's bias, there are some other potential relevant questions: What were the expectations? What were previous results in the same districts? What are normal results under similar circumstances?

I've been watching the UK (or should I just start calling it Wee England now?) results too. The population is either addicted to the Tory sleaze they've been force-fed for years or else a silent majority are unrepentant Tory voters. I say silent majority it seems for years now the Conservatives win each election but the people can't seem to find anybody that actually voted for them.

Yeah, not a fan of Starmer. He seems like too much of a fence sitter for my liking.

An activist has the same number of votes as someone who just shows up on Election Day.

For every person who demanded we 'not blackmail them with the Supreme Court'.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...l-lee-dna.html

I suspect that individual would believe more lives would be saved if Democrats backed more progressive candidates.

[worstblogever]

more lives would be saved if Democrats backed more progressive candidates.

They'd be right, too.

[Tendrin]

They'd be right, too.

I mean, backing more progressive candidates where they can win is always a really good idea. None of that changes that the Supreme Court was more important. We all know that, though.

[Kirby101]

To figure out if it's bias, there are some other potential relevant questions: What were the expectations? What were previous results in the same districts? What are normal results under similar circumstances?

The Tories kept the seats they had won previously, almost entirely in the border districts with England. You might want to say that is a resounding success, but sounds like editorializing to me. And far from accurate. The SNP picked up an extra seat, to strengthen their dominance.Its 64 to 31, resounding!

[Tami]

The Big Lie Is A Big Deal

So who thrives in such an environment? Craven opportunists like Elise Stefanik. You would think this Harvard-educated congresswoman from upstate New York would know better about the Constitution and the ridiculousness of the Big Lie, but she long ago pegged her future to prostrating at the altar of The Donald. And now she is poised to replace Cheney in Republican leadership. Some conservative groups are grumbling that Stefanik’s voting record is far more “liberal” than they would like, but Trump broke whatever tenuous links the Republican Party had to a consistent ideology. It’s now a cult of personality, not a political party. And fealty is prized over all else. Of course as many associates of Trump have learned over the years, loyalty for him is like most streets in Manhattan — it only goes one way.

It brings me no joy in saying that one of the factors that is exacerbating this dangerous era in our national history is a Washington press corps that is struggling to make sense of a disorienting landscape. The bedrock of American democracy, for better and worse, has been a stable two party system — with some notable moments of exception. The press is used to two opposing forces waging battle over policy. At least nominally. Now the no man’s land between Republicans and Democrats is over a belief in democracy itself and not things like taxes or foreign policy.

Once again, this is not a theoretical musing. Is it too much to say that giving oxygen to the Big Lie, let alone actively espousing it, is a form of sedition? Full stop. Think about it. Is lying about the truth of last November making a mockery of any pledge of patriotism? No matter how many flag lapel pins you wear or how often you quote the “Founding Fathers,” to deny a fair and honest election and the orderly transfer of power risks placing you squarely in the camp of dictators and autocrats, and helping with the demise of democracy.

The press needs to start taking this even more seriously than it does now. Every elected Republican who has played footsie with the Big Lie should have to defend that record before they can speak on any other topic. They can’t be allowed to dodge. The questions aren’t difficult. Did Joe Biden win the election? Where is your evidence to the contrary? And because there is no such evidence, if they try to quote something, they should be pressed on the truth. Live interviews are particularly problematic because politicians can stretch out a string of lies so long that they can spin their way to a commercial break. Those with a history of such actions should not be given prominent platforms for their performance art.

The Big Lie must be the context for everything that is taking place in Washington, and political stories across the country. It is not old news. January 6 is not old news. This denial of reality is the animating principle driving the Republican Party. We can’t talk about legislation in Washington, immigration, climate change, fiscal policy, foreign policy, civil rights, education, or any other issue politicians are “debating” without talking about the Big Lie. Because if we have roughly half of elected officials espousing rhetoric and taking actions that undermine our elections and the legitimacy of our chosen leaders then our ability to do anything productive, to respond to the needs of the American people, will be undermined.

Republicans desperately want the mainstream press to cover the daily news cycle through the lens of traditional party politics. At the same time, they go on their propaganda channels and stir up their base against the mechanics of fair and open elections. They spread the poison of illegitimacy to attack the Biden Administration. On Fox News you get a concerted and coordinated attack. Outside of that echo chamber you get what was once the normal news diet of a spectrum of different stories. But this is not a normal news environment. This is an attack on American values, and our ability to continue to function as a government that represents the will of the majority of Americans. The Big Lie is everything right now and the press and the American people must not provide safe harbor for it to continue to metastasize.

[JackDaw]

The Tories kept the seats they had won previously, almost entirely in the border districts with England. You might want to say that is a resounding success, but sounds like editorializing to me. And far from accurate. The SNP picked up an extra seat, to strengthen their dominance.Its 64 to 31, resounding!

The BBC is a wide service...there’s 5 radio channels, and an internet site as well as the television channel. I’ve skimmed the website and listened to Radio 5 on and off through the day...and haven’t heard or seen anything on those parts of the BBC that describe the Tory performance in Scotland as a resounding success. (Different story on performance in England...but that strikes me as factual reporting rather than bias.)

There might be other parts of BBC that are reporting Scottish performance differently (from Radio 5 and BBC website)...but it would seem such a bizarre thing for them to do, that I’d like to see direct links before being remotely confident that that is the case.

[Kirby101]

The BBC is a wide service...there’s 5 radio channels, and an internet site as well as the television channel. I’ve skimmed the website and listened to Radio 5 on and off through the day...and haven’t heard or seen anything on those parts of the BBC that describe the Tory performance in Scotland as a resounding success. (Different story on performance in England...but that strikes me as factual reporting rather than bias.)

There might be other parts of BBC that are reporting Scottish performance differently (from Radio 5 and BBC website)...but it would seem such a bizarre thing for them to do, that I’d like to see direct links before being remotely confident that that is the case.

Okay. Maybe RevolutionaryJack can illuminate this.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Okay. Maybe RevolutionaryJack can illuminate this.

I am not exactly an expert on the BBC. Someone posted a difference in emphasis on how BBC covered Scotland and I said mostly that seemed legit.

[Malvolio]

The thing we should remember about our leaders, whether Democrat or Republican, is that once in office, they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. And that applies no matter how radical they sounded while running for office. So while they might make some changes based on whatever they campaigned on, the basic structure of the government demands that they maintain that structure. And that's the real reason why we get incrementalism more often than drastic reforms.

[Kirby101]

I am not exactly an expert on the BBC. Someone posted a difference in emphasis on how BBC covered Scotland and I said mostly that seemed legit.

My mistake Jack. It was Hellion who posted about the BBC sounding biased. He can tell us where he heard it.

[Mister Mets]

The thing we should remember about our leaders, whether Democrat or Republican, is that once in office, they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. And that applies no matter how radical they sounded while running for office. So while they might make some changes based on whatever they campaigned on, the basic structure of the government demands that they maintain that structure. And that's the real reason why we get incrementalism more often than drastic reforms.

In addition, there are multiple branches of government that have to work together. Courts will determine if elected figures have constitutional and/ or statutory authority for what they want to do. Congress makes the laws, so you need to be able to get majorities of two legislatures on your side, even before you consider the nuances of filibusters and assorted alternatives (reconciliation is allowed once per fiscal year.) State and local governments also have some say, which will often conflict with policy preferences of the US government.

President AOC might be a true believer in four years, but she'll need Congress and the courts on board, and will likely face opposition from Republican (or moderate Democratic) state and local governments.

President Ted Cruz may want to make some radical changes in four years, but he'll also need Congress and the courts, and will likely face opposition from Democratic (or moderate Republicans) Governors, mayors, city councils, etc.