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

[PaulBullion]

****, I self-censor myself all day long.

[Joker]

Everybody needs an editor!

[The Cool Thatguy]

****, I self-censor myself all day long.

Everyone who speaks to their boss does that to one degree or another

[Mister Mets]

Good thing she's in the House. Had she been in the Senate her defection/extremity would have been more costly than Joe Manchin's (say what you want about him, dude voted to impeach Trump which Gabbard didn't).

Gabard's also from a safer seat than the Senator from West Virginia.

That said, it's an interesting stance she's taking, in that it is generally quite popular to be opposed to abortion after twenty weeks. I wonder what her endgame is.

[Joker]

We need to, as a country, take a long look at how our government is run. The fact that they cannot or will not pass a fucking relief package as people are dying and going broke, unable to buy food, during the holidays no less, because the politicians can't get what they want out of the package shows how deeply broken and flawed the entire system is.

And now they're looking at a partial, temporary shut down because of it.

We won't take that look. Nothing will change. But this is where we are. As a country. As a "society". And people are fine with it. The richest country in the world, and we can't just help our people eat and pay rent. It's an embarrassment.

[BeastieRunner]

Beastie's Cartoons of the Week

[Powerboy]

This has nothing to do with what he said in the video.

I can completely appreciate an argument that because you don't want his advice for Democrats because of other (slightly related) views he holds. Do you think his advice is politically unhelpful (if Democrats took it, they would likelier to lose elections or less likely to achieve important policy goals) or that it's not worth compromising on values in this way?

There are pieces about how Trump had opportunities to work with Democrats, and his failure to do so is a big part of why he was a mediocre President.

Republicans have some advantages Democrats don't (geographic sorting and high representation within rural communities provide an edge in the number of members of Congress) and many of their policies are often easier to implement politically. Democrats tend to want ambitious spending, which requires all sorts of approval from agencies and elected officials. It's easier to redirect existing spending, or to do nothing.

I think the "ban books with witchcraft" crowd is a different one from the ones who like Joe Rogan.

For progressives to argue that some conservatives censor, the argument would have to be that conservatives are right to push for censorship, but they're fighting for the wrong type of censorship.

Self-censorship remains a form of censorship.

It could sometimes be done for the right reasons, but that's not always the case.

It's also important to consider why a company chooses a particular course. Outside pressure can lead to organizations to make the wrong decisions.

Yes, just because I post a Maher video doesn't mean I agree with everything he says or how he says it. But he was simply making a point, in this case, that if the Democratic party just continues on this path, they are, in the words of that congresswoman, going to find themselves royally f'd in 2022.

Yes, we got the presidency back but that was votes against Trump more than for Biden. We lost seats in the House. We didn't overturn anything else to speak of. We may get the Senate, which would be fantastic, but we can likely thank Trump for that if we do.

I think his point was that Jane and Joe Average see the Democrats and the Republicans as both being crazy but, Trump aside, they trust the Democrats even less.

Does that make any sense? Not to me. But it's hard to deny that more than half the country has that perception. Again, aside from the Trump factor.

All of this may be moot if the Democrats take the Senate and if Joe Biden throws off the Centrist attitude and takes advantage of having all three branches to make real and lasting changes that will benefit the vast majority and drag them kicking and screaming into a better system.

Back to Maher. He's a jerk and an opportunist. But he is correct that the Democrats, overall, don't do a great job of selling themselves.

[BeastieRunner]

LOL

My boyfriend got his covid vaccine yesterday and I can tell you the most prominent side effect is the inability to shut up about getting the covid vaccine

He's probably a front line/health care worker. I think it's great he got it, I just love the response to it.

I have 2 friends that are MDs and a fair amount that are nurses/eldercare. Based on 11/12 of those that got the shot so far, this is most definitely the most common side effect. My 2 MD friends have been having fun with it, though.

One said the only side effect he had was that he could only feel the microchip for about an hour or so.

The other said the nurse put a "999" stamp on their arm before giving them the shot but she doesn't remember washing the mark off afterwards ...

[WestPhillyPunisher]

COVID-19 stimulus talks hit an unexpected setback when a GOP senator insisted on extra rules to throttle lending by the Federal Reserve

****! Toomey is from my state! I suppose it was likely that a Republican, ANY Republican would gum up the works at the last minute, if but for no other reason than that’s what the GOP does, and I guess that Toomey (I call him the Third Most Popular Groundhog in Pennsylvania) drew the short straw in the game of “ Who’s gonna be the GOP bad guy?” Dammit, I hope this doesn’t totally derail the stimulus talks.

[Powerboy]

We need to, as a country, take a long look at how our government is run. The fact that they cannot or will not pass a fucking relief package as people are dying and going broke, unable to buy food, during the holidays no less, because the politicians can't get what they want out of the package shows how deeply broken and flawed the entire system is.

And now they're looking at a partial, temporary shut down because of it.

We won't take that look. Nothing will change. But this is where we are. As a country. As a "society". And people are fine with it. The richest country in the world, and we can't just help our people eat and pay rent. It's an embarrassment.

I think this all illustrates how poorly our system is set up to deal with things like this compared to many European systems.

In spite of some things I may say, at heart, I'm a Leftist, not just a Liberal. Even if they would pass a $2000 relief bill with no add-ons or strings, that would still be insignificant compared to the amount of time people have been and likely will be out of work. Yet, in our "superior" [insert "Greatest Country in the World" propaganda BS here] system, we can't just wave rent and utilities and grant a regular check for food as other countries have done- because they genuinely have a system that is for the vast majority of people.

[williamtheday]

Supreme Court gives Trump administration more time to exclude undocumented immigrants from census

Giving Trump a spoonful of sugar to help the losing go down, eh?

[Malvolio]

Yes, just because I post a Maher video doesn't mean I agree with everything he says or how he says it. But he was simply making a point, in this case, that if the Democratic party just continues on this path, they are, in the words of that congresswoman, going to find themselves royally f'd in 2022.

Yes, we got the presidency back but that was votes against Trump more than for Biden. We lost seats in the House. We didn't overturn anything else to speak of. We may get the Senate, which would be fantastic, but we can likely thank Trump for that if we do.

I think his point was that Jane and Joe Average see the Democrats and the Republicans as both being crazy but, Trump aside, they trust the Democrats even less.

Does that make any sense? Not to me. But it's hard to deny that more than half the country has that perception. Again, aside from the Trump factor.

All of this may be moot if the Democrats take the Senate and if Joe Biden throws off the Centrist attitude and takes advantage of having all three branches to make real and lasting changes that will benefit the vast majority and drag them kicking and screaming into a better system.

Back to Maher. He's a jerk and an opportunist. But he is correct that the Democrats, overall, don't do a great job of selling themselves.

That's it exactly. Maher may be an *******, but that doesn't mean he's always wrong. His New Rules segment often includes insights that make sense.

[Malvolio]

Razor thin. Right now, the House is under Dem control by just 4 seats. At least one has been tagged for an appointment to the Biden Administration. If the Dems lose any more seats, it could be mean losing control of the House.

Though I think there are still two seats in contention, but they may go to Republicans.

That's not quite correct. Republicans have 196 seats in the House. Democrats have 233. The rest are independents, a few of whom caucus with the Democratic Caucus. So it's a lot more than just four seats.

[Jack Dracula]

COVID-19 stimulus talks hit an unexpected setback when a GOP senator insisted on extra rules to throttle lending by the Federal Reserve

The GOP never lets a crisis go to waste.

[worstblogever]

I'm sure there are a few* anti-vaxxers among the Republican Caucus.

*anywhere from 1 to all.

From some previous profiles I've written, anti-vax sentiments from folks like:

• Donald Trump (various examples of idiocy throughout the years)
• Ben Carson (Cabinet HUD Secretary, and somehow a brain surgeon who has spent years fighting against scientific facts)
• Louie Gohmert (TX-1)
• Mark Green (TN-7)
• Barry Loudermilk (GA-11)
• Rand Paul (KY- Senate)
• Bill Posey (FL-8)
• Joe Wilson (SC-2)

I have far more examples from GOP state legislators. Another 30, at least. Another group of former legislators who were anti-vax, like Michelle Bachmann and Steven Knight.