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

[Zauriel]

https://twitter.com/GreenPartyUS/sta...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Green Party of the USA has posted a tweet about President Biden's first year report card:

❌No legislation on climate, workers rights, minimum wage, healthcare expansion, criminal justice, voting rights
❌No student debt cancellation
��Abuse of immigrants
��Weak pandemic response
��Record military spending

Grade: F

[JB]

https://twitter.com/GreenPartyUS/sta...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Green Party of the USA has posted a tweet about President Biden's first year report card:

❌No legislation on climate, workers rights, minimum wage, healthcare expansion, criminal justice, voting rights
❌No student debt cancellation
��Abuse of immigrants
��Weak pandemic response
��Record military spending

Grade: F

I honestly wish there was more discussion here about the current administration, but it tends to be 99% Trump in this thread. Biden's approval rating continues to fall and it's not looking good as we march towards the midterms. Biden impressively won Virginia by a large margin, 54% to 44%, but then one year later Republicans take the state.

[Gray Lensman]

I honestly wish there was more discussion here about the current administration, but it tends to be 99% Trump in this thread. Biden's approval rating continues to fall and it's not looking good as we march towards the midterms. Biden impressively won Virginia by a large margin, 54% to 44%, but then one year later Republicans take the state.

With Virgina that matches thier established election history.

The biggest issues Biden has are the razor thin majority which prevents major legislation, and that Trump/McConnell left a very hostile court system that is hostile to regulatory changes as well.

[CSTowle]

Been watching a lot of US edition of Master Chef Junior.

Looking a the way the kids interact with each it’s hard to believe America is a fractured society…the kids from wondrously diverse backgrounds palpably like and respect each other, united perhaps by a shared love of cooking.

Maybe the future is bright?

Cynical take is, it's a TV show. If they were to stir up trouble they'd likely be kicked. Especially if it were for racial/cultural reasons. Also, I wouldn't say America is a "fractured society". There's a panic on the right-wing as the chickens of the Southern Strategy come home to roost as we enter into a non-white minority majority. It's the same reason they're trying to circumvent and suppress voting rights among those populations. It's a reaction to the crumbling of the long-time standard of white/christian/hetero dominance where others learned their place and assimilated or were completely (rather than only partially) marginalized. Non-cynical hopeful take is, we'll be better off in 50 years. Like we are compared to 50 years ago. But there's always going to be prejudice and tribalism.

A racist statement is a racist statement and anyone uttering one should be held to account imo. It goes beyond politics for me, it's older white men getting a pass, same as it's always been.

Then it's good to equate the President with people actively looking to disenfranchise non-white voters, ban the teaching of the history of their exploitation and genocides by whites, and seeking to prevent them from receiving any benefits or assistance that might help them either survive or better themselves through education. Both sides.

[Zauriel]

I honestly wish there was more discussion here about the current administration, but it tends to be 99% Trump in this thread. Biden's approval rating continues to fall and it's not looking good as we march towards the midterms. Biden impressively won Virginia by a large margin, 54% to 44%, but then one year later Republicans take the state.

Yes sir. Political landscape is changing rather quickly in Virginia. Virginia has voted blue in the presidential elections since 2008. Until 2008, The state had voted for the Republican candidate in all presidential elections since 1952 except for 1964's Democratic landslide. Both VA senators are democratic. Now the Virginia has turned red again. Virginia's US senate seat is due for election in 2024. Democrats would better hold to that seat.

[Kirby101]

The turnout was much lower for the Governor's race. I imagine less people who voted for Biden came out and voted.
We mainly talk about how two corrupt Democratic Senators and a hostile Supreme Court has stymied Biden. We do remember how the 3 Trump Justices were placed there, don't we?
I am sure if a few Green Party members were elected, everything would be fine.

[Jack Dracula]

https://twitter.com/GreenPartyUS/sta...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Green Party of the USA has posted a tweet about President Biden's first year report card:

❌No legislation on climate, workers rights, minimum wage, healthcare expansion, criminal justice, voting rights
❌No student debt cancellation
��Abuse of immigrants
��Weak pandemic response
��Record military spending

Grade: F

Maybe instead of trying to convince Democrats they should slit their own throats by voting Green Party, it would be smarter to convince sane Republicans to organize and divorce themselves from their own far-right extremist elements.

[JB]

Then it's good to equate the President with people actively looking to disenfranchise non-white voters, ban the teaching of the history of their exploitation and genocides by whites, and seeking to prevent them from receiving any benefits or assistance that might help them either survive or better themselves through education. Both sides.

If you want to hand wave Biden's racist past, that's your choice. I take it very seriously, especially as a person of color. I won't hand wave racism.

[Malvolio]

Republicans keep Republicans in line using Fear Tactics, and it works. That, and supporting the election nof some of the least intelligent people out there.

Democrats hold themselves and other Democrats to a high standard, but they refuse to use fear or other similar tactics to keep them in line.

Can you imagine Schumer telling Manchin and Sinema that, if they don't vote the same way as every other Democrat they will be dropped from Committee assignments, primaried out of office, shamed in public, and targeted (along with their family) by vigilante militias?

Except for that last part about vigilante militias, I don't see what the problem is. Strip Manchin and Sinema of their committee assignments, shame them in public and if that doesn't work, by all means, primary them out, at least for Sinema. I do understand though, that with Manchin, primarying him out could result in a Republican victory, but for Sinema, get rid of her!

[Tendrin]

If you want to hand wave Biden's racist past, that's your choice. I take it very seriously, especially as a person of color. I won't hand wave racism.

Yes, by all means, don't handwave. Just don't expect the rest of us to pretend both sides are just as bad, either.

ALso the idea that he's 'broken up with Bernie' is hilarious when Bernie continues to be biggest advocate in the senate, the two are personal friends. Biden correctly described himself as a mainstream democrat in response to a tilted question from fox News, and all the rest of the press can do is breathlessly report it as if its news that Biden described himself as a Not A Socialist yet *again*, and some people on the left want to have a cry or get sad because he said 'I'm not a socialist and not Bernie' while mentioning he likes Bernie. GOSH THE INSULT.

[numberthirty]

Caught Katie Porter breaking down the "Why?..." on cable news tonight.

Why is she doing a better job of making the case for this thing than the administration, and why have they not drafted her for a spot in the administration?

[Gray Lensman]

Caught Katie Porter breaking down the "Why?..." on cable news tonight.

Why is she doing a better job of making the case for this thing than the administration, and why have they not drafted her for a spot in the administration?

I can't answer the second one, but for the first is that she is very, very good at that sort of thing and finding someone better who is still honest is a very hard task.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted profiles of Brandon Smith, a Kentucky State Senator who has distinguished himself by being such a fan of the coal lobby (having worked for them once himself) that he has introduced legislation that attempted to nullify federal environmental laws like the Clean Water Act. Perhaps we shouldn't trust Smith with his opinions on the environment, because he is also a climate change denier who once argued against the phenomenon in the Kentucky legislature because, as he put it, "We all agree the temperature on Mars is the same as it is here. Nobody will dispute that. Yet there are no coal mines on Mars." As it turned out, anyone with a lick of sense would dispute that, because it's ridiculous. How could Smith have said something so completely stupid? Well, not for nothing, but he does apparently have a drinking problem, as he was arrested for DUI in January of 2015 (conveniently right after his last election to a four year term). And after initially trying to get his DUI charge thrown out because of an 1891 Kentucky statute that said members of the General Assembly are "privileged from arrest" during a legislative session (because you'll always seem sympathetic when you try and convince the public you're above the law), Smith was eventually found not guilty on the technicality that he refused to submit to a breathalyzer. He’s still voting like he’s drunk, though, with votes for bills to try and require women get a medically unnecessary ultrasound prior to getting an abortion, a TRAP law to close all the abortion clinics in his state (unconstitutionally), as well as one of those transphobic bathroom bills.

Brandon Smith has continued to implausibly remain in office, in spite of his arrest record, and the sheer audacity he has to pretend he’s above the law. Also, in 2018, he voted to cut the cost of living increases for teachers by 33%. He then immediately tried to usurp the title of Majority Floor Leader of the Kentucky State Senate from colleague Damon Thayer. At least he failed, but still, take note that this wanker his some high ambitions.

In the past several years, Brandon Smith has been on a hypocritical anti-choice tirade. He voted for both a fetal heartbeat bill that would effectively ban abortion in Kentucky at 6 weeks (before many women even realize they’re pregnant), a bill to require doctors to attempt “life-saving measures” and to attempt to resuscitate an aborted fetus (even though by definition, any fetus that is aborted cannot survive outside the womb) and a bill to create regulations for “abortions that result in premature birth” (which don’t exist). The hypocrisy about his “pro-life” agenda comes when you realize that Smith no-showed a vote to guarantee employment protections for pregnant women, so they can’t get fired for having a baby in the first place. The same pregnancies he’s refusing to allow women to be able to terminate if they choose.

These sorts of logical failings, like still trying to pass anti-democratic restrictions on what it takes to register to vote and to limit the Governor of his state’s time limit on maintaining a public health emergency (like say, oh, a pandemic), that tend to convince us that Brandon Smith might still be drinking.

He is up for re-election in 2022, and we’re hoping for an upset, because obviously.

[worstblogever]

Caught Katie Porter breaking down the "Why?..." on cable news tonight.

Why is she doing a better job of making the case for this thing than the administration, and why have they not drafted her for a spot in the administration?

Probably because she's a huge asset to have in the House, and is likely getting set to run for Feinstein's seat when she retires/passes away. Some Cabinet spot or nebulous White House staff position isn't where Porter will be needed, long term.

Elizabeth Warren might not have another presidential run in her future, but Porter, her student, might, if she keeps elevating her profile so well.

[Zauriel]

Maybe instead of trying to convince Democrats they should slit their own throats by voting Green Party, it would be smarter to convince sane Republicans to organize and divorce themselves from their own far-right extremist elements.

There was a political party that splintered from the Republicans, but it didn't last long.
The short-lived Progressive Party was a splinter group of Republicans that broke away in 1912.

The GOP is already corrupted by the far-right extremist elements. The corruption in the establishment was more corrosive than acid and could corrode steel.

The orange buffoon promised to drain the swamp but he ended up creating a new swamp that could make a sewer smell like a bed of roses.