Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[L. Marcus]

I'd just like to point out that it takes less delta-vee to make something leave the Solar system entirely, rather than actually make it hit the Sun.

[Pariah]

40 minutes ago, L. Marcus said:

I'd just like to point out that it takes less delta-vee to make something leave the Solar system entirely, rather than actually make it hit the Sun.

 

This is important to consider. Being outraged is no excuse for wasting propellant. 

[pinecone]

For todays class, we have been tasked by the council of elders to fire a demogoge into the sun! What kind of catapult can we make? Next we will try a Trebuche, and finally the new imported Rocket! All the way from far Cathay....

[unclevlad]

4 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

This is important to consider. Being outraged is no excuse for wasting propellant. 

 

But it won't matter.  Propellant's not a problem;  Carlson's supply of BS never runs out.

[Cygnia]

https://www.newsandguts.com/quote-of-the-day-rep-liz-cheney/

 

 

[unclevlad]

If the Trumpers force Cheney out of her leadership spot, I hope she chooses to leave the Republican caucus and create, say, a Conservative Caucus.  Or some other name, but you get the idea, I think.  AND that a whole bunch of her colleagues follow.

[Old Man]

38 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

If the Trumpers force Cheney out of her leadership spot, I hope she chooses to leave the Republican caucus and create, say, a Conservative Caucus.  Or some other name, but you get the idea, I think.  AND that a whole bunch of her colleagues follow.

 

We can dream, but it's not going to happen as long as elections are winner take all.

[archer]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

If the Trumpers force Cheney out of her leadership spot, I hope she chooses to leave the Republican caucus and create, say, a Conservative Caucus.  Or some other name, but you get the idea, I think.  AND that a whole bunch of her colleagues follow.

 

The word "conservative" has no meaning in American politics anymore since it has multiple factions with diametrically-opposed ideologies trying to claim the label.

 

In the past when participating in an attempt to form a viable nationwide 3rd party, I suggested the name White Hats.

 

In the old westerns, you could tell the good guys from the bad guys because the bad guys wore white hats. And the good guy would never lie or shade the truth while wearing his hat, he'd take it off and hold it in his hands while speaking.

 

Ronald Reagan was also famous for wearing a white hat when puttering around his ranch while president. 

 

So that name is a nice call back to both images.

 

If she does leave the party and form a separate caucus, I'd prefer for that caucus to not de facto caucus with the Republicans. It's OK to be on the same side of an issue when that seems appropriate or to reach across the aisle to work with a Republican on an individual basis. But there shouldn't be "we're going to promote Republicans, we're just protesting enough to give some political cover to ourselves".

[unclevlad]

So if you're not resident in or around Texas, you may not know that there's apparently a resolution in the Texas legislature, to put a ballot initiative on the November ballot to legalize casino gambling.  (Texas has casinos on Indian lands, and some operators are opening "private card rooms" where the establishment takes no rake, but the legality of these hasn't been firmly established.)  They're talking 4 "destination resorts" which, I presume, follows the patterns of the big Eastern casino/resorts like Mohegan Sun, and many of the big Vegas casinos...shopping, restaurants, and entertainment, not simply the casino and hotel.

 

Yeah, well, first time I really paid much attention.  "Sponsored by the Las Vegas Sands."  Oh.  So this isn't by Texas, for Texas;  it's a cash grab, figuring to establish a position in the big Texas metro areas.  The Indian casinos are, by and large, relatively remote.  The card rooms aren't, but they're limited in scope, they may not be legal, and...if this goes through, you can anticipate the rules will be written to make things more onerous for them.  (If nothing else, stiffer, formalized licensing requirements and tighter oversight.)

 

So, I'm skeptical, to say the least.

 

 

[archer]

Judge orders release of Trump obstruction memo, accuses Barr of being 'disingenuous'

 

https://thehill.com/regulation/551755-judge-orders-release-of-trump-obstruction-memo-accuses-barr-of-being-disingenuous

 

Jackson, who was appointed to the federal district court in Washington, D.C., by former President Obama, wrote in a scathing 41-page decision that "not only was the Attorney General being disingenuous then, but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court with respect to the existence of a decision-making process that should be shielded by the deliberative process privilege."

"The agency’s redactions and incomplete explanations obfuscate the true purpose of the memorandum, and the excised portions belie the notion that it fell to the Attorney General to make a prosecution decision or that any such decision was on the table at any time," she added.

 

(So basically the memo didn't say that Trump was cleared by the DoJ of accusations of obstruction following the Mueller investigation...as AG Barr said it did.)

[unclevlad]

Does anyone doubt that Barr was Trump's lapdog?

 

No, I refuse to apologize for the image.

[Lord Liaden]

Aside from Trump not having a lap, and Barr not fitting on it if he did... we've seen that unfortunately there's no shortage of Americans today who doubt anything obvious that they don't like.

[Pariah]

From Uni Watch, of all places: "Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert owns a restaurant called Shooters Grill. But she let the trademark on the restaurant’s logo lapse, so now a group opposing her re-election has acquired the rights to the logo and is auctioning off an NFT of it, with the proceeds going to anti-Boebert campaign efforts."

 

Boebert opponents auctioning off Shooters Grill logo in response to demand to shut down parody site

[TrickstaPriest]

 

This is how far this has gone.

 

Might have some NSFW words

[Pariah]

For those who keep track of such things:

 

These are the companies still giving money to the lawmakers who voted to overturn the election results

[Cygnia]

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger compared the Republican Party to the Titanic

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, Cygnia said:

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger compared the Republican Party to the Titanic

 

Best bit: 

Quote

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) likens GOP to “Titanic”: “We’re in the middle of this slow sink. We have a band playing on the deck, telling everybody it’s fine, and meanwhile Donald Trump’s running around, trying to find women’s clothing and get on the first lifeboat.”

 

[unclevlad]

Unfortunately, tho, it's Kinzinger.  Within the Party generally, there's no sign anyone listens to him.

 

The terrifying number is that about 70% of Republicans still believe the Big Lie.  Which tells me they'll never change their minds now;  it's embedded too solidly after 6 months.  That's a crushing super-majority in the party itself.  That makes fighting it extremely hard and dangerous;  non-Trumpist Republicans have no good options.

[Ternaugh]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

Unfortunately, tho, it's Kinzinger.  Within the Party generally, there's no sign anyone listens to him.

 

The terrifying number is that about 70% of Republicans still believe the Big Lie.  Which tells me they'll never change their minds now;  it's embedded too solidly after 6 months.  That's a crushing super-majority in the party itself.  That makes fighting it extremely hard and dangerous;  non-Trumpist Republicans have no good options.

 

That 70% is out of the Republicans who didn't leave after January 6:  https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-04-07/republicans-flee-the-gop-after-capitol-riots

[Pariah]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

The terrifying number is that about 70% of Republicans still believe the Big Lie.  Which tells me they'll never change their minds now;  it's embedded too solidly after 6 months.  That's a crushing super-majority in the party itself.  That makes fighting it extremely hard and dangerous;  non-Trumpist Republicans have no good options.

 

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

 

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

[unclevlad]

21 minutes ago, Ternaugh said:

 

That 70% is out of the Republicans who didn't leave after January 6:  https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-04-07/republicans-flee-the-gop-after-capitol-riots

 

Agreed but the people who left weren't that large a percentage of the Party...and the ones that are left will be the ones voting in most primaries.

[TrickstaPriest]

Just now, unclevlad said:

Agreed but the people who left weren't that large a percentage of the Party...and the ones that are left will be the ones voting in most primaries.

 

The people who left account for less than 1% IIRC, which means still 70% of the overall Republican Party strongly believe Trump won the election and a massive conspiracy in (what would have to be) nearly every state, recount, and procedure was used to steal the election.  Including their own judges being endlessly corrupt, Republican-run state-level officials (in what would have to be many states, again) conspiring to enact it, etc, etc

[Old Man]

[Hermit]

Sadly, they're doing the best to nip that in the bud. Some states are ending unemployment benefits early to stop the 'freeloading' and 'save the economy'... by which I think they mean they'd like to keep the serfs on the fast food fields 

[Tom]

5 minutes ago, Hermit said:

Sadly, they're doing the best to nip that in the bud. Some states are ending unemployment benefits early to stop the 'freeloading' and 'save the economy'... by which I think they mean they'd like to keep the serfs on the fast food fields 

Basically, people aren't desperate enough to take these jobs...