Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[unclevlad]

3 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

That would be ideal, but I'll accept getting rid of her by any lawful means. Without her seat in the House, no one is going to pay attention to her any more, at least not enough people for her to ever win public office again. The only thing MAGA hate more than liberals, is losers.

 

Unless of course, that loser is His Orangeness, in which case, they just enter into complete denial.

[csyphrett]

Rumor is someone tried to kidnap/carjack Biden's granddaughter. He escaped the secret service trying to punch holes through him.

CES

[Simon]

5 hours ago, csyphrett said:

Rumor is someone tried to kidnap/carjack Biden's granddaughter. He escaped the secret service trying to punch holes through him.

CES

Not the place for rumors....and definitely not the place for known-false rumors.

She was not in the car and was not [edit]directly[/edit] targeted in any way. It was an unmarked Secret Service vehicle which three people were observed attempting to break into...in an area that has seen a 100% rise in car thefts over the past year.

[Cancer]

This is fascinating reading, and does some highlighting of the mechanics of the powerful destabilization of society and politics enabled by manipulation of social media.

[tkdguy]

 

[unclevlad]

Pleasant surprise.

 

Mike Johnson gets his 2-phase continuing resolution through the House...with all but 2 Democrats voting yes.  The 'pubs...127 in favor, 95 against.

 

The vote suggests the Senate will pass it, rather than risk

a)  Johnson getting voted out as Speaker, and

b)  at this point, a shutdown, for which THEY might get the blame

 

There's still an open question how long Johnson can go, before forced to survive a motion to vacate.  The rule for that is, as far as I know, still the Gaetz rule...any one member is all it takes.  There is move to change it, but I don't see anything beyond that it's been introduced.  I don't think anyone will try it...because I suspect the Dems will vote against removal this time.

[DShomshak]

2 hours ago, unclevlad said:

There's still an open question how long Johnson can go, before forced to survive a motion to vacate.  The rule for that is, as far as I know, still the Gaetz rule...any one member is all it takes.  There is move to change it, but I don't see anything beyond that it's been introduced.  I don't think anyone will try it...because I suspect the Dems will vote against removal this time.

I am reminded of Liz Truss and the head of lettuce.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Old Man]

There are already calls for the removal of Johnson by the loony (well, loonier) wing of the House GOP.  We'll see if they go anywhere.

[MrWolf]

I seem to remember something about funding the rest of the federal government being Congress' responsibility.  Or am I misremembering?  It's hard to tell these days... 

[tkdguy]

 

[unclevlad]

House Ethics Committee finds evidence that George Santos broke federal law.  NYT lead:

 

Quote

The committee referred its findings to prosecutors, saying the congressman’s conduct “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.”

 

 

They don't suggest specific punishment, but the story does say that members may reconsider expulsion, given the evidence uncovered of lawbreaking.  Santos also says he won't run for re-election, but hey, that was NEVER happening anyway.

[DShomshak]

People snarking on Twitter (pardon me, "X") over something a politician said isn't usually worth sharing here, but this is just too funny because it's so true.

 

Far-Right GOP Lawmaker's Question About Republicans Backfires Spectacularly (msn.com)

 

I'd suggest to Mr. Roy that he should switch parties and join the Dems. Even if his policy goals are anathema to most Democrats, he'd be in a party whose members actually want to legislate, and he would be in a position to attempt rational persuasion.

 

Dean Shomshak

Edited November 16, 2023 by DShomshak

[BoloOfEarth]

A mom is outraged that Moms for Liberty used her daughter in a harebrained scheme to ban a book (msn.com)

 

Quote

Earlier this month, Jennifer Tapley and Tom Gurski (two members of a Florida chapter of Moms for Liberty) showed up at a local sheriff’s office to report the librarian at an area high school was sharing “pornography” with minors. After a 17-year-old student checked out the book, they claimed its availability to minors was a felony under Florida law.

 

But it has now come to light that the entire incident was a plan orchestrated by Moms for Liberty. Gurski told WEAR News that a teacher asked the student to check out the book, Storm and Fury by Jennifer Armentrout. The teacher then handed the book over to Moms for Liberty to be reported. 

 

A source told Popular Information that the teacher was Vicki Baggett, who teaches English in nearby Escambia County. Baggett has become notorious for her crusade to ban over 100 books from Escambia school libraries. Baggett has submitted almost every single one of the 150 book challenges being reviewed by the Escambia School District this year. Many of the challenged books are by Black authors or deal with LGBTQ+ topics.

 

It seems to me that, if their position is that the book in question is pornographic, then the teacher who asked the student to check the book out of the library should be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.  Add her to the sexual offenders list.  Just sayin'.

[unclevlad]

25 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

A mom is outraged that Moms for Liberty used her daughter in a harebrained scheme to ban a book (msn.com)

 

 

It seems to me that, if their position is that the book in question is pornographic, then the teacher who asked the student to check the book out of the library should be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.  Add her to the sexual offenders list.  Just sayin'.

 

 

Seems to me that this is grounds for terminating the teacher's contract, for exposing the student to emotional duress for being used in that manner.

[tkdguy]

https://www.meidastouch.com/news/u-s-economy-outpaces-chinese-economy-for-the-first-time-in-40-years

[Lord Liaden]

China has some serious economic and demographic pitfalls ahead of them. I only hope that doesn't lead to instability that spills onto the rest of the world.

[DShomshak]

A recent article in The Economist pointed out that several developing South and East Asian countries are among the most rapidly 'aging,' demographically... without having first attained the degree of affluence enjoyed by, say, Japan. This will make supporting a large elder population even more difficult.

 

One solution might be to import labor. In a few decades, countries that are now freaking out about unplanned immigration from the Middle East and Africa may be actively courting such immigrants as a supplemental labor force, because those regions are the demographically 'youngest.' As a lover of irony, I find some piquance in this.

 

Dean Shomshak

[unclevlad]

George Santos is likely not going to last the month now...NYT lead, emphasis mine.

 

Quote

The Republican chairman of the bipartisan House Ethics Committee introduced a resolution on Friday to expel Representative George Santos of New York from Congress, citing the committee’s damning new report documenting violations of House rules and evidence of pervasive campaign fraud.

 

Expulsion requires a 2/3 majority, which would be 290.  Figure every Democrat will vote to expel, so about 80 Republicans...but it seems rather likely this will let many Republicans vote to expel without any backlash. 

[unclevlad]

Elon does it again.

 

From Variety:

Quote

IBM was among five major brands that progressive watchdog group Media Matters said it had found ads for adjacent to posts that “tout Hitler and his Nazi Party” on X. The others were Apple, NBCUniversal’s Bravo, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity.

 

I don't think Bravo's necessarily that big, but the other 4 darn sure are.

[Cygnia]

Quote

And Musk was not alone. Tucker Carlson expressed a similar sentiment on Wednesday’s episode of his X show. The former Fox News host made his point by referring to Jewish donors to universities who are now withholding their financial support, as they aim to show their opposition to schools’ responses to antisemitism and pro-Palestinian activism.

During an interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens, Carlson accused Jewish donors of funding calls for “white genocide” and “calling my children immoral for their skin color.” As with the comment that Musk boosted, that sentiment recalled the so-called great replacement theory, or the notion that powerful establishment interests — Democrats, the “deep state” or, sometimes, Jews explicitly — are working to replace white people in the United States with people of color. The conspiracy theory has been cited by multiple mass shooters. White nationalists who marched at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, declared, “Jews will not replace us!”

“If the biggest donors at, say, Harvard have decided, ‘We’re going to shut it down now,’ where were you the last 10 years when they called for white genocide?” Carlson said. “You were allowing this, and then I found myself really hating those people, actually. You’re OK with that? On what grounds were you OK with that?”

“People are asking the question, ‘Where were you as we have endured all of this?’” Owens said.

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/musk-carlson-kirk-antisemitism-israel-palestine-gaza-great-replacement_n_6557be0fe4b05723e4bd2e5a

Edited November 18, 2023 by Cygnia

[Lord Liaden]

We were sitting with the sane people.

 

This is the same ignorant paranoid crap that's been spread for thousands of years. Only the names of the accused change over time, but the gist of the accusations stays embarrassingly the same.

[Lord Liaden]

This is a chilling, terrifying echo to the American present from the American past.

 

 

[MrWolf]

I wish people wouldn't use that kind of rhetoric.  Re: Tucker Carlson's quote above.

 

At least I can wish.

[Cygnia]

Elon Musk Says He’s Suing Media Matters Over Reports That Found X/Twitter Ads Ran Next to Pro-Nazi, White-Pride Posts

[unclevlad]

Did Musk inherit his legal team from Trump?