All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[jetengine]

It does get to be difficult to prove a negative about something that happened nearly thirty years ago.

Biden presumably wasn't recording every conversation he had with a Senate staffer.

Fair enough. I don't know how much these distinctions have trickled down to ordinary news consumers.

If there had been significant evidence of wrongdoing, Kavanaugh would have been unfit for the court. We wouldn't even need the discussion about whether someone should be defined by their behavior as a minor 35 years ago, because he denied it, which would disqualify him if the allegations are true (either he lacks the self-awareness to understand what he did or he's lying.)

But the evidence was still limited. Ford didn't tell anyone about it for decades. The strongest other accuser wasn't actually sure he did anything. One claim of bad behavior by a witness was refuted by the woman. Some people did admit to lying about him. And then there were the allegations that he and others habitually gang-raped others in high school. Any discussions about his behavior in response to the allegations should take into context the mistakes made by the other side (Senators referring to Swetnick's allegations as a reason to penalize Kavanaugh, someone leaking Ford's allegations at the eleventh hour against her wishes to pressure her into going forward, etc.)

I'm sorry for going into so much depth on a controversy from years ago. I think it's one of the most interesting political arguments in the last twenty years, just do all the potential questions.

And an overwhelming majority of Democrats (45 out of 54, or 83 1/3%) in a legislative body were in favor of gerrymandering the moment they could benefit.

Ignoring the validity of the claims though his incredible lack of professionalism and partisanship alone should have disqualified him. You dont get a job where your supposed to be neutral whilst spouting Clinton conspiracy theories.

[Mister Mets]

Would you agree that the non-partisan commission is the way all State's should go.
On another note, too bad the Roberts SCOTUS doesn't believe in Voting Rights.

I agree non-partisan commissions are the way to go (technically, this one is bipartisan). But there are two serious concerns that should be addressed.

The first is that there's the potential to replace a terrible system (legislative bodies choosing their voters) with a worse system (unelected unaccountable boards making partisan decisions with a veneer of respectability.) I'm guessing it is not a problem that is unique only to the overwhelming majority of the Democratic members of one legislative body Virginia that there are many politicians for whom the problem with gerrymandering was that the other party had control. The standard in Virginia seems pretty solid, with the requirement of supermajorities from a group evenly split by party.

The second is that there should be a clear standard for what is the ideal. We should know what constitutes gerrymandering and how it should be fixed. In discussions about gerrymandering, I keep noticing a lack of a clear standard about what the alternative should be. One person might want to keep communities of interest together, while another might want to increase the number of swing seats, and another might want to have the composition in the legislature reflect the outcome of the vote (IE- that if 58% of voters go for one party, that party gets 6 out of 10 congressional seats). There needs to be some kind of point of reference to evaluate the effectiveness of whoever is in charge of redistricting. Otherwise, we're giving the incentives for a potentially partisan institution (IE- a state Supreme Court where one party dominates) to come up with whatever standard is convenient at a particular time. This isn't really addressed by the Virginia compromise, although the hope would be that a situation that requires a supermajority of both parties on board is going to avoid abuses.

[Tazirai]

Not surprsing one bit. For a lot of people, Biden at least is the lesser of two evils.

Still, lack of enthusiams isn't necessariy a problem as long as people bother to vote. An unenthusiastic vote is just as good as an enthusiastic one.

Biden will be my last lesser of two evils after this election. The Democratic party can kiss my black ass after this one. I'm done with the corruption and the platitudes, and the corporatism.
I will not be placated anymore by the "Other Side Bad" and then when they get in power do the absolute minimum to please the Woke Crowd, and us Minorities with pleasantries while still
voting for wars and corporations.

I'm sick of lesser evils. Next time the Democratic party should get a person that not only enthuses the base, fights for the base, which the party BARELY does now. Republicans for all their faults,
and there's a **** ton, they give red meat to their base.

Do Democrats even have the equivalent of red/blue meat? Either way, I'm done.

[Tazirai]

Normally I'm no fan of the Dankest of meme'ing but this is too spot-on to ignore.

90958534_10101476783281980_3849095131705638912_n.jpg

[shooshoomanjoe]

$1200 doesn't even cover the rent/mortgage in metro cities.

[Gray Lensman]

I agree non-partisan commissions are the way to go (technically, this one is bipartisan). But there are two serious concerns that should be addressed.

The first is that there's the potential to replace a terrible system (legislative bodies choosing their voters) with a worse system (unelected unaccountable boards making partisan decisions with a veneer of respectability.) I'm guessing it is not a problem that is unique only to the overwhelming majority of the Democratic members of one legislative body Virginia that there are many politicians for whom the problem with gerrymandering was that the other party had control. The standard in Virginia seems pretty solid, with the requirement of supermajorities from a group evenly split by party.

The second is that there should be a clear standard for what is the ideal. We should know what constitutes gerrymandering and how it should be fixed. In discussions about gerrymandering, I keep noticing a lack of a clear standard about what the alternative should be. One person might want to keep communities of interest together, while another might want to increase the number of swing seats, and another might want to have the composition in the legislature reflect the outcome of the vote (IE- that if 58% of voters go for one party, that party gets 6 out of 10 congressional seats). There needs to be some kind of point of reference to evaluate the effectiveness of whoever is in charge of redistricting. Otherwise, we're giving the incentives for a potentially partisan institution (IE- a state Supreme Court where one party dominates) to come up with whatever standard is convenient at a particular time. This isn't really addressed by the Virginia compromise, although the hope would be that a situation that requires a supermajority of both parties on board is going to avoid abuses.

I think the rule change in Pennsylvania was good - the goal is to create competitive districts without much partisan lean, and as many as possible across the state while trying to keep the districts relatively compact. That forces either party to appeal to the people.

Aaaaaand on a different note, here's something that I can hit my parents with when they start talking about how a Democratic president would hurt the economy. The last recession to start under a Democratic president was under Jimmy Carter, meanwhile the last Republican president to NOT have a recession was spoilers:

Abraham Lincoln.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Although the 1926-1927 recession that started and ended under Calvin Coolidge was rather mild, and driven almost entirely by Ford shuttering business completely for 6 full months in order to retool from the Model T to the Model A. But then, if you subscribe to the theory that it takes 6-12 months for new economic policy to truly have an impact, then you might consider what happened within that timeframe after Silent Cal left office in 1929.

end of spoilers

[InformationGeek]

What the ****. What the absolute **** is this nonsense.

"How do you go from 10 to 20 to 30,000, to 300,000 -- even though this is different. Something is going on. And you ought to look into it as reporters. Where are the masks going?" -- Trump suggests that there is some sort of New York nurse conspiracy to steal masks

"Many of the states are stocked up. Some don't admit it. But we have sent so much." -- Trump paints governors who are asking for more federal help as complainers

Without evidence, Trump accuses hospitals of "hoarding" ventilators

[Kirby101]

Aaaaaand on a different note, here's something that I can hit my parents with when they start talking about how a Democratic president would hurt the economy. The last recession to start under a Democratic president was under Jimmy Carter, meanwhile the last Republican president to NOT have a recession was spoilers:

Abraham Lincoln.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Although the 1926-1927 recession that started and ended under Calvin Coolidge was rather mild, and driven almost entirely by Ford shuttering business completely for 6 full months in order to retool from the Model T to the Model A. But then, if you subscribe to the theory that it takes 6-12 months for new economic policy to truly have an impact, then you might consider what happened within that timeframe after Silent Cal left office in 1929.

end of spoilers

There is no question that the policies of Coolidge, Reagan's favorite President BTW, Lead the the Great Depression.

[trooper_thorn]

To continue the theme of most of my recent posts about why nobody, anywhere, ever should have any praise for how China handled anything involving this virus and why we should not trust any of their data:

-"Just two weeks ago the head of Emergency at Wuhan Central hospital went public, saying authorities had stopped her and her colleagues from warning the world. She has now disappeared, her whereabouts unknown" https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1244211674439016449

-China decided to close all of their theaters again, which is odd for a country that claims only 54 new infections on Friday and is back to business: https://comicbook.com/movies/2020/03...s-coronavirus/

-Netherlands recalls 600k masks they received from China: https://www.businessinsider.com/coro...m-china-2020-3

-China sold 340k test kits to Spain, it turned out they only had a 30% accuracy rate: https://www.politico.eu/article/span...g-kits-fiasco/

-Riots occurred after police in a neighboring city refused to allow people from the Hubei province to cross into their city: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...ween-hubei-and




The reason I keep harping on this, and the reason I will continue to do so is that I am seeing people whitewash China's role in starting this worldwide crisis because they're either paid off or because it happens to suit their politics. We are seeing this insanity in real time.

The world is only in the situation it is because this genocidal police state decided to hide the disease for 1.5-2 months and they continue to lie and put the rest of the world at risk.

[shooshoomanjoe]

The reason I keep harping on this, and the reason I will continue to do so is that I am seeing people whitewash China's role in starting this worldwide crisis because they're either paid off

I always enjoy the conspiracy theories trump supporters make up. I'll have to look this one up.

[Gray Lensman]

To continue the theme of most of my recent posts about why nobody, anywhere, ever should have any praise for how China handled anything involving this virus and why we should not trust any of their data:

-"Just two weeks ago the head of Emergency at Wuhan Central hospital went public, saying authorities had stopped her and her colleagues from warning the world. She has now disappeared, her whereabouts unknown" https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1244211674439016449

-China decided to close all of their theaters again, which is odd for a country that claims only 54 new infections on Friday and is back to business: https://comicbook.com/movies/2020/03...s-coronavirus/

-Netherlands recalls 600k masks they received from China: https://www.businessinsider.com/coro...m-china-2020-3

-China sold 340k test kits to Spain, it turned out they only had a 30% accuracy rate: https://www.politico.eu/article/span...g-kits-fiasco/

-Riots occurred after police in a neighboring city refused to allow people from the Hubei province to cross into their city: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...ween-hubei-and




The reason I keep harping on this, and the reason I will continue to do so is that I am seeing people whitewash China's role in starting this worldwide crisis because they're either paid off or because it happens to suit their politics. We are seeing this insanity in real time.

The world is only in the situation it is because this genocidal police state decided to hide the disease for 1.5-2 months and they continue to lie and put the rest of the world at risk.

I was talking to a friend of mine earlier today and I mentioned I blame 3 things for how bad it has gotten. China, for hiding things for as long as they did, Trump, for refusing to act when he was warned very early into this, and all the morons who keep making things worse by congregating in large groups despite all the warnings - although I should have also mentioned the few governors and mayors who refused to act quickly, or, even worse, overrode what the more intelligent mayors in their states were actually doing.


Also, if this last thing here is true, we can add to the list of crimes the Fanta Menace has commited. https://twitter.com/reptomcoleman/st...49568830730243

[skyvolt2000]

I was talking to a friend of mine earlier today and I mentioned I blame 3 things for how bad it has gotten. China, for hiding things for as long as they did, Trump, for refusing to act when he was warned very early into this, and all the morons who keep making things worse by congregating in large groups despite all the warnings - although I should have also mentioned the few governors and mayors who refused to act quickly, or, even worse, overrode what the more intelligent mayors in their states were actually doing.
]

We had three major parks PACKED this weekend.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavi...order/2341197/

On the first Saturday since Dallas County’s “Stay Home Stay Safe” order went into effect, many of its trails were buzzing as though an pandemic was the last thing on everyone’s mind.

“White Rock Trail was way too crowded today. Katy Trail was way too crowded today. Folks, it is not safe when you’re jogging by a hundred people with 3-foot separation, and their droplets are being breathed by you. That is not social distancing,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said.

Through Twitter, Jenkins told constituents he’d been in touch with the city of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department to look at ways to change trail access points to help limit the number of people on them.

The issue is you can't close our parks because there is no gate to close. All of them are wide open.

$1200 doesn't even cover the rent/mortgage in metro cities.

If my Mom could get it that would wipe out 90% of her new medical bills. Right now it looks like I might have to.

[Jackalope89]

On the China thing;
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/chi...020182846.html

Estimates are over 40,000 deaths right now in Wuhan. FAR higher than what China has reported.

[Malvolio]

Someone on Twitter asked what Trump could do to earn your respect. I answered: He could announce that he was taking a break from tweeting, for the next 7 days, and stick to it. That would make me respect him a little bit, as I currently have zero respect for him.

[Starter Set]

I always enjoy the conspiracy theories trump supporters make up. I'll have to look this one up.

It's always great fun.

Well, until you realize that some people actually believe them lol.