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

[thwhtGuardian]

You as an individual may not believe that as human beings we should strive to treat people on the other side of most issues the same way we would want our side to be treated.

The typical politician doesn't meet that standard. I'm not claiming DeSantis does, but that's not really a partisan thing.

If you disagree with a post, quote it. I think you misinterpret older comments if you think I support white nationalists.

By exaggerating their power, it does give them comfort, because it contributes to a sense they're on the verge of victory.

But I don't know what persuaded you.

I disagree with some of his policies, but the criticism tends to be overblown.

This assumes agreement about what works to help our less fortunate citizens.

The main argument for the right is that programs not only cost money, but makes things worse.

This gets to a few issues.

There are calls for purity that make it impossible to win elections. If your view is that a majority position is so disgusting that it shouldn't even be entertained, it's going to be hard to persuade a majority to vote for you.

Messaging to centrists becomes difficult if officials have to worry about activists insisting that you use their language.

That's a conversation that should be had very carefully.

It is also frustrating for people who feel that their language is policed and that they suddenly have yo abide by the cultural norms of outsiders.

There's nothing to be persuaded about...he's very clearly endorsed and passed anit-lgbtq laws. It's not something open to interpretation.

[Tendrin]

*taps the sign*

“Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.


That word is "Nazi." Nobody cares about their motives anymore.”

[useridgoeshere]

You as an individual may not believe that as human beings we should strive to treat people on the other side of most issues the same way we would want our side to be treated.

Most people get along just fine with people who disagree with them on political issues. I have friends with whom I disagree on economic policies, health care, environment, etc. Friends are more right than me or more left.

But why should anyone treat someone with respect who wants to erase or eradicate them? Why should I treat people who want to deny basic human rights to me with respect when they're dead set on mistreating me? Republicans demand to be treated with respect while giving none. As a party, in their official platforms and in the legislation they pass, want to deny rights to LGBTQ+. They want to eradicate Trans people. They consistently pass laws against women, Black and Hispanic people, like taking power away from Black voters over police, education and judicial systems throughout the south.

Human rights are only a "political issue" for Republicans. There are no "two sides" or "common ground" possible with bigots who would deny me or others basic human rights.

[SquirrelMan]

North Carolina Rep Dan Bishop just became the first House Republican to threaten to oust McCarthy over the debt ceiling compromise.

[Jack Dracula]

At this point, I'm starting to think a requirement of a modern Republican is not to have any empathy, as well as a lack of a gag reflex, to not start vomiting upon all the things said by the MAGA faithful that are their voting base, and now, largely their party's core elected representatives. Everyone with either of those two things went for the exits.

Yes, the spineless cowards who rode the crazy train to the point they saw where it was really headed and jumped off instead of trying to hit the brakes. The anti-government rhetoric which led to the 2010 Teaparty wave and the shameless stoking of anti-Muslim sentiment during the Obama administration were clear indicators, but none of them spoke up for decency and ethical standards.

[Jack Dracula]

I never thought something as dumb as chemtrails would make such a huge comeback.

Edit: Never mind. Dalak beat me to it.

[thwhtGuardian]

*taps the sign*

I posted tha a while back, I love Moxon's writings. I enjoy his parable on gun control titled, "A good guy with a dinosaur"

[aja_christopher]

Most people get along just fine with people who disagree with them on political issues. I have friends with whom I disagree on economic policies, health care, environment, etc. Friends are more right than me or more left.

But why should anyone treat someone with respect who wants to erase or eradicate them? Why should I treat people who want to deny basic human rights to me with respect when they're dead set on mistreating me? Republicans demand to be treated with respect while giving none. As a party, in their official platforms and in the legislation they pass, want to deny rights to LGBTQ+. They want to eradicate Trans people. They consistently pass laws against women, Black and Hispanic people, like taking power away from Black voters over police, education and judicial systems throughout the south.

Human rights are only a "political issue" for Republicans. There are no "two sides" or "common ground" possible with bigots who would deny me or others basic human rights.

It was a another misrepresentation regardless — the argument was that you should “be nice”.

The counter argument was that Obama was “nice” and that many Republicans during his presidency revealed that “nice” does not matter to them — both elected officials and voters alike.

Better to be truthful and effective than to “be nice” to those who show you enmity — Obama treated Republicans with more kindness and respect than most political adversaries and got nothing for his efforts but complete obstruction and a blocked Supreme Court Justice appointment.

In reality there are those who would use your kindness against you and it is foolish to give them that opportunity repeatedly — especially when democracy itself is at risk.

[Jack Dracula]

That is political correctness. Woke is understanding that all people, no matter their race, sex or orientation should be treated fairly and equally. That the abuses of the past should be addressed and not forgotten and pushed aside.

I belive Woke came out of a phrase Black people used in the 60s, "wake up white people!". That became "are you woke?" In other words, do you see how your fellow man is treated?

Which fits the idea that nearly all of the negative changes in Conservative politics and policy which ultimately led to Trump’s MAGA movement are rooted in a long-term collective rejection of the Civil Rights Movement.

[Jack Dracula]

…and for those who don’t have massive amounts of cash (and a few of those who do, and who dislike pangs of conscience intruding on their self-image), there’s a self-narrative and identity reason to try finding a way to codify empathy and compassion as a weakness, or even, on some twisted level, a vice.

Greater awareness of you fellow man leads to being aware of inequity, and of the capacity for society to try addressing it as both the micro- and macro-level… and of how to recognize actions that go against that.

If you decided some time ago that “Number go up!” was the sign of virtue, strength, and righteousness, whether that be the number on the bank account or the stock market, you don’t then want it pointed out that the number going up is the result of other people work far harder than you have in excruciating, soul-crushing conditions, or that you’ve caused immense suffering for minimal improvement of the world… and on top of that, you donkt want to hear about success stories where someone valued different stuff and had both a measurable secular *and* spiritual improvement on the world.

If you want your hero to be the jet-setting tycoon who’s luxuries you want, you’re going to loathe hearing that he’s a spoiled brat from a murderous slave master who worked people to death for diamonds, isn’t actually all that smart, and has had less positive impact than, say, a community leader mobilizing a gun buy back or a soup kitchen for migrant workers.

Something strange and disturbing is the rise and spread of the Prosperity Gospel, which teaches that wealthy people are blessed by God. Something which should surprise no one is Trumps religious advisor was a prominent leader of one of these groups.

[Gray Lensman]

Something strange and disturbing is the rise and spread of the Prosperity Gospel, which teaches that wealthy people are blessed by God. Something which should surprise no one is Trumps religious advisor was a prominent leader of one of these groups.

The rise of this perplexes me, since it is in direct opposition to one of the most famous sayings from Jesus himself (at least according to the Bible). Prosperity Gospel Christians make as much sense to me as the Anti-Semetic Sect of Judaism from early South Park. At least the latter knew it was a farce.

[CaptainEurope]

Debunked Biden accuser Tara Reade appeared on Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik alongside former Russian spy and NRA mole Maria Butina to announce that she, Reade, has defected to Russia.

Not making this up.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

North Carolina Rep Dan Bishop just became the first House Republican to threaten to oust McCarthy over the debt ceiling compromise.

Well, that didn’t take long. And more disgruntled MAGA Maggots will soon follow.

Debunked Biden accuser Tara Reade appeared on Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik alongside former Russian spy and NRA mole Maria Butina to announce that she, Reade, has defected to Russia.

Not making this up.

And nothing of value was lost. Hope she enjoys those mondo frosty winters.

[Anthony Shaw]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Niger Innis, a former Congressional candidate for Nevada's 3rd District who is a frequent quest on FOX News and the national spokesman of the one-time civil rights group CORE, that Niger's dad Roy Innis turned into a black nationalist group that bizarrely would support the re-election of Richard Nixon, and has aligned itself with Republican conservatives and big business for the past 40 years to speak on their behalf and explain why they're totally not racist, against all evidence to the contrary (selling out big for paychecks). Say for example, during the 2012 presidential campaign, Niger Innis claimed that CNN and MSNBC were racist for reporting Herman Cain's long track record of sexual harassment and portraying him as a "oversexed Mandingo". On behalf of energy comapnies at speaking engagments, Innis has claimed the "War on the Poor" is actually being led by environmentalists, and not industry, and has simultaneously attacked food stamps being issued to the needy because it's akin to "the scraps from Massa's table". Innis also defended the racist remarks of Cliven Bundy in 2014, and has declared all gun control measures racist in their motivation. After the deaths of several young African American men in recent years by police officers in highly publicized incidents often caught on video, downplayed a system rife with police brutality and instead said the real problem was "black on black crime". After only receiving 33% of the vote in the 2014 GOP Primary for the U.S. House seat he was running for, he immediately began crying foul due to election fraud, and demanded a complete audit of the election. We're going to go ahead and guess Niger Innis won't be winning office any time soon, even if he runs again.

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Mike Pape, a candidate for the U.S. House seat for Kentucky's 1st Congressional District being vacated by the retiring Rep. Ed Whitfield in 2016. Pape's first campaign ad which showed three supposed Mexican illegal immigrants bumbling across the border, but stopping to talk, in English, about how they needed to do whatever they could to stop Mike Pape from winning office, because he'd help build a wall between Mexico and the United States, and make life too tough for them. Pape didnt' limit his xenophobia to Mexicans, though, as he not only embraced Trump's ideas for the border wall, but called for a halt to accepting Syrian refugees. Scratch that, he called to a halt completely from immigrants from "countries who sponsor terror", which we're pretty sure would only apply to Muslim countries and forget about Ireland's past. Pape's issue stances also include support for mandatory minimum sentencing for crimes and the death penalty while being staunchly "pro-life", his opposition to same-sex marriage, repealing the Affordable Care Act, and other conservative staples. The only thing that could ever be considered in any way moderate about him is that he acknowledges climate change is man-made, but he still didn't want any regulation to prevent it from getting worse). Pape ended up losing spectacularly in the primary for Kentucky's 1st District on May 17th, pulling down but 23% of the vote. He has not re-emerged since.

On this date in 2017, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Robert Bentley, who was forced to resign from office in disgrace when Bentley fired the top cop in Alabama, who dropped a dime to the media about Bentley cheating on his wife of 50 years on his way out the door, saying he was near Bentley once when he dropped his phone, and it had a sexually explicit text on it directed towards a Governor’s aide on it. Audio quickly surfaced of Gov. Bentley making sexual comments on the phone towards his mistress... and that recording was made by Mrs. Bentley, who confronted the governor about the affair in front of their adult children before filing for divorce. It's only a surprise that it took SO LONG for news of the affair to come out, after all, Bentley would answer the door to his hotel rooms while travelling in his boxers, expecting the aide to be on the other side, only to give random unfortunate souls and eyeful. It would not simply remain a family matter, because in an added twist, Bentley used government resources to carry out the affair and cover it up, which is grounds for impeachment, which opportunistic Republicans in Alabama were more than willing to do. The Alabama state Attorney General, Luther Strange, was in charge of the investigation into any wrongdoing during that time, but in a brazen bit of corruption, Bentley appointed him to be the next Senator from Alabama once Sen. Jeff Sessions was narrowly appointed to be the next U.S. Attorney General. Anyway, on April 9th, 2017, Bentley resigned in disgrace after taking a plea deal to accept punishment of only misdemeanors and refunding money to the state to avoid jail time. Bentley's actual time as governor was filled with several embarrassing moments, such as the time he gave a speech on MLK Day in 2011, always a great opportunity for Alabama Governors to distance themselves from the shameful past it had during the era of George Wallace. Well, for whatever reason, Bentley used the speech to downplay racial division, but chose to try to start religious divisions by saying, "So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother." On immigration? Well, in September of 2011, Bentley signed HB 56 one of the more draconian anti-immigration bills in the country into law, sparking a Justice Department review... and only after a Mercedes-Benz executive got arrested under that piece of legislation did Bentley and Alabama Republicans scramble back to the drawing board to amend it to prevent it from infringing upon immigrants who weren't... y'know... not white. Bentley was staunchly anti-abortion signing harsh anti-choice legislation that aimed at closing the majority of, if not all of the abortion clinics in Alabama. Gov. Bentley was also part of the GOP's efforts to disenfranchise voters with stricter Voter ID requirements, and even moved to close DMV offices where new IDs could be acquired... predominantly in parts of Alabama where the population leans... y'know, the not-white parts of the state. Bentley’s legacy is tainted, and his career is over.

Any time I read about an Innis, I always think of the nose of Geraldo Rivera.

[Jack Dracula]

The rise of this perplexes me, since it is in direct opposition to one of the most famous sayings from Jesus himself (at least according to the Bible). Prosperity Gospel Christians make as much sense to me as the Anti-Semetic Sect of Judaism from early South Park. At least the latter knew it was a farce.

It’s essentially a con game enabling Christian “Ministers” to fleece the poorest and desperate in their flock.
John Oliver did an entertaining bit on it. I can’t link it right now, but will try to later, after work.
Again, no surprise Trump had one of these people as his religious advisor. “Birds of a feather” and all that.

Found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsRUy982IbA