Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Clonus]

Anne Coulter recently explained to Ramaswami that she wouldn't vote for him because his race.  

Quote

Coulter first went on a rant about nationalism, arguing that “Hitler had soup—that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have soup,” and claiming that the “only people who are not allowed to be proud of their ethnic group do tend to be Anglo Saxons.” She did not give an account of what role she believes soup played in the Third Reich as compared with nationalism.

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

Anne Coulter? Is that... person still being listened to?

 

I wish these polemical pundits would recognize their act is old and tired, and find a nice retirement home in Florida.

[Cygnia]

Missouri bill to ban all child marriages runs into resistance from House Republicans

Quote

The GOP-controlled state Senate approved the bill on a nearly unanimous vote of 31 to 1 last month. But the legislation has since stalled in a House committee with just more than a week left in this year’s legislative session which ends on May 17.

Supporters of the bill say the opposition illustrates some lawmakers’ extreme and archaic views on marriage. Missouri previously had one of the nation’s most lenient laws surrounding child marriage and the state’s current law has been criticized as a loophole that leaves thousands of teenagers open to abuse and exploitation.

“Any explanation used to justify opposition is nothing more than, you know, an excuse to protect predators,” Arthur said in an interview.

 

[Armitage]

On 5/9/2024 at 12:26 PM, DShomshak said:

Whatever I may think of Johnson's policies, I grant he at least has the political sense not to go out of his way to antagonize Democrats as McCarthy did.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

 

The latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer has a full copy of the Congressional Freethought Caucus' recent white paper on Johnson's ties to Christian Nationalism and his efforts to establish theocratic rule at the state and federal levels, and it's depressing that he's currently the lesser evil.

[Lord Liaden]

Johnson is by no means the lesser of two evils. He's as regressive and reactionary as any Republican, but he's proven to be a shrewder politician than most of the GOP in the House today. He doesn't rely on inflammatory rhetoric like Donald Trump and his imitators, but on maneuvering within the system. The Dems seem to be betting they can control and use Johnson, but the Republicans used to believe they could do that with Donald Trump. I'll be concerned if the GOP retains a majority in the House in 2024.

[Lord Liaden]

6 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Missouri bill to ban all child marriages runs into resistance from House Republicans

 

 

The actions of the Missouri Senate demonstrate that not all Republican legislators there are political morons. Perhaps some of them are just so used to having their way unquestioned for so long, that they arrogantly assume they can get whatever they want regardless of how it looks.

[unclevlad]

Well, something happened last night I would NOT have expected.

 

A small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators entered the New Mexico State University's main administration building late in the afternoon.  That building closes down completely...no classrooms, just admin offices...at 5 pm.  They refused to leave.  They demanded the NSMU president call for a permanent cease fire.  Yeah, right.  Anyway, they refused to leave.  Police ordered them to leave or be arrested...they chose to be arrested.

 

https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/2024/05/09/protesters-arrested-after-sit-in-on-new-mexico-state-university/73636223007/

 

This isn't what I'd consider an overly political area.  During the Vietnam protests, there was a *nasty* incident at UNM the day after Kent State...nothing nearly as bad but...the government called up the National Guard, and in the process of arresting 131 protesters, 11 people had to receive medical attention for bayonet injuries.  But that's the Vietnam era, which was seriously ugly, and UNM is Albuquerque...bigger, nearer to Santa Fe, thus likely more politically aware.  

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

Well, something happened last night I would NOT have expected.

 

A small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators entered the New Mexico State University's main administration building late in the afternoon.  That building closes down completely...no classrooms, just admin offices...at 5 pm.  They refused to leave.  They demanded the NSMU president call for a permanent cease fire.  Yeah, right.  Anyway, they refused to leave.  Police ordered them to leave or be arrested...they chose to be arrested.

 

https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/2024/05/09/protesters-arrested-after-sit-in-on-new-mexico-state-university/73636223007/

 

This isn't what I'd consider an overly political area.  During the Vietnam protests, there was a *nasty* incident at UNM the day after Kent State...nothing nearly as bad but...the government called up the National Guard, and in the process of arresting 131 protesters, 11 people had to receive medical attention for bayonet injuries.  But that's the Vietnam era, which was seriously ugly, and UNM is Albuquerque...bigger, nearer to Santa Fe, thus likely more politically aware.  

 

It's been amusing and tragic to watch that situation get so thoroughly mishandled by everyone involved.  From the students demanding permanent peace in the middle east (points for dreaming big I guess) to the college administrators who, presumably at the urging of their big donors, went straight to the jackboots.  All while Putin's troll farms fan the flames on both sides.

 

Meanwhile, children are dying.

[DShomshak]

5 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Johnson is by no means the lesser of two evils. He's as regressive and reactionary as any Republican, but he's proven to be a shrewder politician than most of the GOP in the House today. He doesn't rely on inflammatory rhetoric like Donald Trump and his imitators, but on maneuvering within the system. The Dems seem to be betting they can control and use Johnson, but the Republicans used to believe they could do that with Donald Trump. I'll be concerned if the GOP retains a majority in the House in 2024.

 I haven't heard any Democrat express such hopes. My guess (and it is only a guess) is that Jeffries and other Dem leaders are merely relieved that Johnson isn't actively trying to run the country over a cliff, and -- as I said -- isn't speaking his contempt for them to their faces.

 

I assume Johnson wants a theocratic takeover of the government but wants a government sufficiently intact to be taken over. Which at least gives sane people some time.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

57 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

 I haven't heard any Democrat express such hopes.

 

 

I don't think there are any Democrats currently in Congress who are stupid enough to publicly express such hopes. Another point of departure from the GOP.

[assault]

Because idiocy isn't restricted to the USA...

NSW government threatens some Western Sydney libraries' funding over same-sex parenting book ban

The ban got up because a socially conservative section of the Labor Party majority supported it.

[Lord Liaden]

I'm leaving this without comment. The lines pretty much write themselves.

 

 

[wcw43921]

Not as bad as the "Real Men Wear Diapers" t-shirts. 

[Old Man]

13 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I'm leaving this without comment. The lines pretty much write themselves.

 

 

At least the Terminator isn't shy about its intention to destroy the human race.

[Cygnia]

 

[Cygnia]

Donald Trump Rally Video Shows Mass 'Walking Out' During Speech

Quote

video filmed during Donald Trump's New Jersey rally on Saturday shows "thousands" of people leaving while the former president was still talking.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and his allies have claimed that more than 100,000 people attended the rally in Wildwood. But some on social media questioned that figure, and reporters shared videos of people departing while Trump was still addressing the crowd.

Walter Masterson wrote on X (formerly Twitter😞 "Here is 35 unedited minutes showing thousands of MAGA walking out on Trump while he's still talking."

…

"You can clearly see that people are leaving while [Trump is] rambling incoherently," Masterson wrote in another post. "This happens at a lot of rallies, cultists show up thinking he will say something new and profound. Then they get bored and walkout."

Trump made a series of bizarre comments and gaffes at the rally in Wildwood, mixing up the names of several people and places. He also referred to the "late, great Hannibal Lecter," calling the fictional serial killer character "a wonderful man."

 

[Lord Liaden]

People have been walking out of Trump rallies for a couple of years now. I remember one rally at IIRC an indoor gymnasium, where Trump's attendants locked the doors to keep attendees from leaving early and spoiling the photos.

[DShomshak]

Fact Check: Did Donald Trump Praise Hannibal Lecter During Rally? (newsweek.com)

 

I followed links in the above quoted article to this other article. Some of Trump's 'Hannibal Lecter' mentions may be praise for the movie Silence of the Lambs, while elsewhere he seems to confuse the character with the actor who played him. Still bizarrely incoherent.

 

(More amusing: The 'defense' offered by a pro-Trump/QAnon conspiracy blogger, that Trump is cunningly maneuvering prominent liberals into condemning cannibalism, so he can pull a Gotcha! when many liberal icons are finally revealed as being cannibals! Uff da.)

 

Dean Shomshak

[Starlord]

I have never walked out of a Hannibal Lecter rally.

[Ternaugh]

8 minutes ago, Starlord said:

I have never walked out of a Hannibal Lecter rally.

Few do.

[L. Marcus]

Depends on where the concession stands are.

[Old Man]

Depends on what the concession stands are serving.

[dmjalund]

What's the difference between Donald Trump and Hannibal Lecter?

 

Hannibal isn't afraid to eat the rich

[BoloOfEarth]

1 hour ago, dmjalund said:

What's the difference between Donald Trump and Hannibal Lecter?

 

Hannibal isn't afraid to eat the rich

 

One is a soul-less sociopath who should be locked away for the good of society.

The other is a fictional character.

Edited May 14 by BoloOfEarth

[Ranxerox]

5 hours ago, DShomshak said:

Fact Check: Did Donald Trump Praise Hannibal Lecter During Rally? (newsweek.com)

 

I followed links in the above quoted article to this other article. Some of Trump's 'Hannibal Lecter' mentions may be praise for the movie Silence of the Lambs, while elsewhere he seems to confuse the character with the actor who played him. Still bizarrely incoherent.

 

 

They showed a video of him doing this along with the article that Cygnia shared.  He segued from his Hannibal Lecter joke to talking illegal immigrants.  So, really just more of claims that murderous pychopaths illegally crossing the US southern border.  Basically,  "Hey, Biden letting everyone come over, so soon we are going be overrun by cannibals".