All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Lord Falcon]

An interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing. But, yeah. WE all know Obama stepped up deportment and enforcement as part of an effort to get Republicans to vote for a bipartisan bill. It just shows you how he didn't understand what rapidly became apparent to the rest of us, though I suspect his efforts did help him stay in office.

Obama may have gone to the Senate, but he wasn't in there long enough to rid himself of his rose-tinted glasses. Chuck Hagel and John McCain were flawed, fossilized, sometimes weak, but ultimately honorable men of their time. Mitch McConnell is a cancer who has enough psychopathic insight into the weaknesses of America's democracy to bend it to his will. It's always a risk when electing a younger candidate. JFK got conned into the Bay of Pigs by the military.

If Biden selects Harris as his VP and wins, then later retires and it's Harris vs Lori Lightfoot for the next primary that matters, I suspect from what I've seen of the latter that I'll be a champion for Lightfoot. But in this moment, with Warren having burned bridges with bernie supporters and coming from a state with a Republican governor, I suspect Harris is the best pick.

[TheDarman]

I'm an immigration lawyer working on the front lines of this, and while Obama is by no means some perfect saint, I really don't see anything to really get worked up on immigration-wise. He's still the best President the U.S. has ever had on immigration since it became a political thing (the U.S. used to just let anyone in during the old days of wild west no labor laws rampant free market capitalism). Most deportations happened at the border, especially when Obama was trying to curry favor with Republicans. There's a world of difference between turning away before they can establish themselves in the U.S. and turning them away once they've sneaked in, settle down and started a family in the U.S. Obama gets a lot of unfair heat for enforcing the laws as they were written while sorting out priorities to do the least harm.

Yes, he could have tried harder for immigration reform. But he had a damn lot on his plate. Saving the economy from the great depression, investing in renewable energy, and destroying his power for healthcare reform was the correct order of priorities. Plus, DACA.

These are basically my general critiques as well, both of those who take the tact "Obama was awful", but also of Obama's policy. What I will say on top of this, though, is that Obama should've done better to ensure conditions in his facilities were better. There was no reason children, no matter how temporarily, should've been held in such bad environments.

Of course, criticisms have become more enlightened about immigration and the way we treat migrants since Obama and Trump have taken the political reigns. These are good things and generally good discussions to finally be having. But, yes, even left-leaning presidents were worse about migration than Obama. Indeed, Sanders' hero, FDR, famously did not take in Jewish refugees from Europe, who were sent back and, in many cases, were put in Nazi concentration camps. Obviously this isn't to say that Sanders would be that way, but it is to say that we have become a lot more critical (in a good way) of immigration policy. Still, this is probably one of the things that I disagree the most with Obama on.

I'm very happy to have clear-eyed liberals ready to take Obama's record seriously for good and bad. Personally, Off the top of my head, I'd say Libya was his greatest failure

Obama would agree with you. And I do too.

accidentally bombing a Doctors Without Borders building

Yeah...

and pursuing gun control legislation was a heart-wrenching and noble effort which ultimately amounted to nothing.

I don't necessarily blame him for that. He fought tooth and nail to get that bill passed. He cited actual evidence of support, even among gun owners, for the stuff that he was doing and he still couldn't get it through Congress. He was able to do some things through his power as the executive, but, obviously, Trump promptly undid them. I certainly don't list this as one of my disagreements with Obama or even one of my grievances. But, yet again, I think that he is the politician I agree with the most as it comes to policy.

But the drone program? Using drones to patrol the border is an effective and cost-efficient solution. Using them to bomb targets overseas is no worse than using manned air-strikes.

You and I are on the same wave-length here. I completely agree with all of this stuff.

If you want a withdrawal from the Middle-East, that's a fine position and a different kettle of fish. But if the U.S. is staying to fight terrorists or extremist groups or whatever, drone strikes are going to be part of any efficient strategy there.

I do agree here, even if just a bit less. I certainly preferred second term Obama's foreign policy strategy versus his first term strategy. I think part of that really did come down to Hillary Clinton being his Secretary of State. Once Obama got more comfortable and had Kerry there, I think Obama made a lot of much better decisions, particularly diplomatically. But his first time I felt he was a little too hawkish for my tastes (with the exception of getting Bin Laden).

[Celgress]

I don't think anyone says that Obama wasn't flawed. But we can talk about the good he did without the conversation immediately derailed into "He did bad stuff, too, you know!"

I see very few examples of Obama positivity to negativity derailment in this thread, quite the opposite in fact. Everyone (rightfully so, in many cases) usually gives Obama & co. the benefit of the doubt here. If, however, you aren't allowed to criticize someone without fear of being labeled a nitpicker that is the definition of "drinking the Koolaid", IMO. Remember not criticizing leaders in any way, shape, or form is a core tenant of Republican Party philosophy. I have no desire to be a mindless drone who nods their head in agreement with party doctrine 100% of the time and defends the honor of party leaders without question or complaint against any perceived slight (no matter how minor)

[JCAll]

I must admit I am no fan of the Saint Obama narrative. Although nowhere near Trump levels, Obama also did bad things (such as vastly expanding the drone program Trump inherited). Anyone who says Obama wasn't flawed at all is a bad-faith actor or woefully ignorant.

I don't feel any need to defend Obama. Obama was a disappointment, every Democratic president is a disappointment. I will always expect better and demand more.
Then I'll just move on the the next president, who'll be better than everyone that came before. And a disappointment. Then move on again.
I really think that's the cycle of being a Democrat. Never fall in love with a politician, they'll just break your heart.

EDIT: I should probably add that I don't think Obama was evil, like Trump or W. I think he tried and just failed.

[Robotman]

Satellite images show Iran has built mass graves amid coronavirus outbreak.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Top Disease Expert: Virus Testing Is A ‘Failing,’ Leaving Cases Uncounted

“The system is not really geared to what we need right now,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci.

**********

Leading Health Groups Urge Trump To Declare Coronavirus A National Emergency

“America’s health care system must be there to help,” wrote the heads of the AMA, the American Hospital Association and the American Nurses Association.

**********

Rep. Katie Porter Gets CDC Head To Commit To Making COVID-19 Testing Free

CDC Director Robert Redfield agreed to invoke his authority to authorize the government to pay for coronavirus testing after the congresswoman grilled him.

**********

Influential Evangelical Calls Out Trump’s ‘Sloppy & Dangerous’ Coronavirus Lies

David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network put the president on notice over his response to the growing crisis.

**********

Trump Runs To Travel Ban Comfort Zone But Ignores The Bigger Coronavirus Problems

Why are tests still not readily available? What happens if hospitals are overrun with COVID-19 patients? The Trump administration still does not have answers.

[babyblob]

Here in Ohio several news stations did a story on a shortage of poll workers for the primary on Tuesday. Officials are expecting long longs and confusion that will lead to problems with the voting process. They worry this will keep voters away coupled with fear of Corona keeping people inside. I am worried that if this is not fixed by the Election in November that things will go badly.

[worstblogever]

Roman emperors, no matter how mad, knew that the republic would not turn on them, as long as they had their bread and circuses.

The rich aren't thrilled that the stock market imploded. The poor aren't going to like being quarantined from a plague without public entertainment venues, especially if this were an Ancient Roman model, if it was discovered the Emperor fiddled rather than use any of his powers to stop it from spreading, if he had any.

This "bread and circuses" thing, though... major sports are suspended. Movie premieres are being delayed. Conventions and festivals are cancelling... we're one major internet outage from November being a done deal. Because Pornhub, Netflix, and Youtube are the only things that can save Trump's ass now.

[worstblogever]

Is there any member of the Squad you're not covering?

Maybe some conservative poster would decide it was a good time to not be lazy and do a write up for them, if they felt like actually defending their farce of an argument for the first time in 6 years.

[jetengine]

I see very few examples of Obama positivity to negativity derailment in this thread, quite the opposite in fact. Everyone (rightfully so, in many cases) usually gives Obama & co. the benefit of the doubt here. If, however, you aren't allowed to criticize someone without fear of being labeled a nitpicker that is the definition of "drinking the Koolaid", IMO. Remember not criticizing leaders in any way, shape, or form is a core tenant of Republican Party philosophy. I have no desire to be a mindless drone who nods their head in agreement with party doctrine 100% of the time and defends the honor of party leaders without question or complaint against any perceived slight (no matter how minor)

Exactly

Like for example I despise Boris Johnson. I think he's a racist, sexist, grifting piece of shit and the budget released a few days ago has effectively spat on the poor, disabled and suffering from the last ten years

However his Covid 19 announcement the other day was on point, reasonably concise, mostly clear (with advice on where to go for the exact details) and helmed by the chief scientific and medical officers whom did most of the talking

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Dwayne Stovall, who ran campaign ads that attacked, bizarrely, Senator Mitch McConnell (who wasn't his opponent) for looking like a turtle while still trying to win the nomination for his seat. The ad itself ended with Stovall's dog sitting in a pickup truck with him, and then the dog turned and started to talk to him, proving that his advisers had never heard of the Son of Sam killer. Stovall also had policy stances like that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional (in spite of the Supreme Court just having ruled that it was), that the 2nd Amendment should never be infringed, whatsoever, and that nullification of federal law was a wise course of action. Stovall finished third in that 2014 primary against John Cornyn, the senator he was actually trying to unseat.



In 2016, in 2017, 2018, as well as in 2019, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published its profiles of Matt Krause, from the Texas House of Representatives for District 93, and first won office in 2012. Prior to running for office, Krause, now still only 36 at the time of his writing, was a lawyer for the Liberty Counsel in 2011, which the Southern Poverty Law Center currently classifies as an anti-gay hate group. The first bit of extremism Krause was involved with came a few months into his first term in May 2013, when he filed the "Come and Take It" firearms bill, a Texas gun nut's wet dream where state money would be held from any law enforcement agency that worked with federal agents to enforce any gun laws enacted by Congress, insisting that this attempt at using financing to nullify federal law was not, in fact, a nullification law because it acknowledges the federal government has the authority to regulate firearms. By the summer of 2013, as Texas Republicans introduced the rigid anti-abortion law SB 5, Krause not only voted for it, but followed it up by co-sponsoring HB 2, a ban on abortion at 20 weeks that would also further restrict Texas abortion facilities. He also claims that the female protesters who rallied around Wendy Davis as he remembers them as devil-worshippers giving a "Satanic Salute".

Krause was interviewed by noted serial molester, adulterer, and Family Research Council personality Josh Duggar at a panel at the Voter Values Summit from November 2013, where they re-wrote history by boasting of their fight as a noble battle "for Civil liberties against the ACLU", by Christian politicians against hordes of Satanists. The fact that he expressed his interest in passing an abortion heartbeat bill in the interview isn't much more reassuring, nor is his sponsorship over a bill to keep brain dead women who are pregnant on life support, regardless of the family's wishes or if the unborn child was even viable. In August 2014, he was one of 63 Texas legislators who signed a legal brief opposing same sex marriage that linked it to incest and polygamy. You might look and that and say, "Big deal. It's bad, but 62 other people did it." True... but Matt Krause didn't stop there. A month later he spoke at TribFest, an event at the University of Texas at Austin where he discussed same sex marriage, and claimed it had a proven link to mental illness, suicide, and even causing malignant tumors. The crowd, being from Austin, the liberal bastion within Texas, mocked him with laughter, as such a statement deserves to be. When asked by a journalist after this meeting to be given a copy of the medical study he cited, Krause could not, of course (because it doesn't apparently exist).

Not surprisingly, he has also proposed an amendment to the Texas state constitution that amounted to a "religious freedom" law that would allow the legal discrimination of gays based on religious faith. As disastrous as the result was when Indiana and North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislatures attempting the same thing around the time, what with boycotts being announced, Krause suggested his idea anyway, and in his defense of his plan, argued in favor of the religious freedom law by asking, "Should a Jewish bakery have to bake a cake for a Neo-Nazi convention coming to town?" Considering how pro-choice activists are Satanists in Krause's mind, it should come as little surprise that he would compare people seeking a same sex marriage to Neo-Nazis. When his amendment idea went nowhere, he instead settled for co-sponsoring SB 2065, a bill that would authorize religious organizations to be able to deny marriage services. In 2017, upon returning to the Texas legislature for a new term, Krause sponsored legislation to attempt to outlaw no-fault divorce in Texas to preserve the institution of marriage. His quote was, “Some people say I’m trying to take relationships back to the 19th century. I’m not trying that at all.” We almost believe him. He'd probably like to return to the 16th centuries or earlier, if he had his way, when women were strictly property. He spent most of 2018 trying to prevent gay adoption, gay marriage, and transgender bathroom use, because he’s an anti-LGBTQ twit.

In 2019, Krause continued trying to legalize gay legislation, sponsoring what was referred to as the “Save Chik-Fil-A Bill”. He continues to insist his efforts are not a concentrated effort to discriminate against gay people, because of course he does.

Matt Krause, in spite of being a deranged fanatic, and still believes there’s no time like the present to waste taxpayers’ time in the legislature with “religious freedom” legislation to ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling on same sex marriage and try to keep transgender citizens out of public restrooms. While in 2016, Krause’s Democratic challenger, Nancy Bean, lost by 20 points, in 2018, she made it far closer, with Krause only getting 54% of the vote. While it’s disappointing to see him get re-elected… it seems that if Matt Krause doesn’t learn how to be an actual legislator with real ideas rather than just effectively executing maneuvers for the hard right to masturbate to… he might not be able to hang on forever.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Here in Ohio several news stations did a story on a shortage of poll workers for the primary on Tuesday. Officials are expecting long longs and confusion that will lead to problems with the voting process. They worry this will keep voters away coupled with fear of Corona keeping people inside. I am worried that if this is not fixed by the Election in November that things will go badly.

A co-worker who hates Trump just brought up one mother of a conspiracy theory to me a few minutes ago. She's of the belief Trump slow walked the government's response about coronavirus ON PURPOSE, allowing it to get out of control so he'd have an excuse to declare a national emergency and suspend the election if it isn't contained by November. Now, I have no doubt Trump is hellbent on being reelected, both because he's drunk on the power that comes with being president, and because that's the only thing keeping him from a court date to face charges from the Mueller Report, but I seriously doubt even he would be so diabolical as to intentionally put millions of American lives at risk just better his chances of reelection. Still, one has to wonder just how far Trump would go to stay in office.

[XPac]

A co-worker who hates Trump just brought up one mother of a conspiracy theory to me a few minutes ago. She's of the belief Trump slow walked the government's response about coronavirus ON PURPOSE, allowing it to get out of control so he'd have an excuse to declare a national emergency and suspend the election if it isn't contained by November. Now, I have no doubt Trump is hellbent on being reelected, both because he's drunk on the power that comes with being president, and because that's the only thing keeping him from a court date to face charges from the Mueller Report, but I seriously doubt even he would be so diabolical as to intentionally put millions of American lives at risk just better his chances of reelection. Still, one has to wonder just how far Trump would go to stay in office.

Honestly I'm doubtful he's that worried about losing the election given Biden and Bernie are his opponents. Again, one is a socialist while the other has difficulty remembering what he's running for and the day of the week.

If anything I think the only thing which might cost him the election is a backlash from the government's handling of the corono virus.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Honestly I'm doubtful he's that worried about losing the election given Biden and Bernie are his opponents. Again, one is a socialist while the other has difficulty remembering what he's running for and the day of the week.

If anything I think the only thing which might cost him the election is a backlash from the government's handling of the corono virus.

If Trump wasn't worried about Biden, why did he go through all that nonsense with Ukraine and risk being thrown out of office if he had been impeached?

Meanwhile, add golf to the list of sports sidelined by coronavirus as the PGA cancelled the rest of the Players Championship which started yesterday along with the next three events. No word on The Masters yet. And, from abroad, the English Premier League (soccer) has suspended play.

[XPac]

If Trump wasn't worried about Biden, why did he go through all that nonsense with Ukraine and risk being thrown out of office if he had been impeached?

Meanwhile, add golf to the list of sports sidelined by coronavirus as the PGA cancelled the rest of the Players Championship which started yesterday along with the next three events. No word on The Masters yet. And, from abroad, the English Premier League (soccer) has suspended play.

He's going through the Ukraine stuff because it's a means of attacking and discrediting a political opponent. That's something everyone running for office does. Demoncrats and Republicans do it to each other in the primaries all the time. That's something which HELPS him win. But delaying the election because of a national emergency doesn't necessarily do that. If anything I think the corona virus potentially HURTS his chances at getting re-elected.