US Politics - It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for US

[Myshkin]

Um, so I guess Trump had a button in the Oval Office solely dedicated to summoning diet cokes. He should have been impeached for that alone.

[DMC]

58 minutes ago, Fez said:

I'm feeling extremely represented by the people now running the government.

Happened to be watching when she answered that question, pretty funny.

Texas AG sues Biden administration over deportation freeze:

Quote

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Biden administration in federal district court over its 100-day freeze on deporting unauthorized immigrants, and asking for a temporary restraining order.

Between the lines: The freeze went into effect Friday, temporarily halting most immigration enforcement in the U.S. In the lawsuit, Paxton claims the move "violates the U.S. Constitution, federal immigration and administrative law, and a contractual agreement between Texas" and the Department of Homeland Security.

Well, I guess it's slightly less ridiculous than his election lawsuit.

[briantw]

24 minutes ago, Myshkin said:

Um, so I guess Drumpf had a button in the Oval Office solely dedicated to summoning diet cokes. He should have been impeached for that alone.

I'd have the same button, only it would summon Scotch.

[Fragile Bird]

1 hour ago, Fez said:

I'm feeling extremely represented by the people now running the government.

 

My brain immediately went to "the DMZ" and I wondered if that was what they were calling DC these days.

[briantw]

13 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

My brain immediately went to "the DMZ" and I wondered if that was what they were calling DC these days.

It's kinda the opposite of demilitarized right now.  

[Fragile Bird]

2 minutes ago, briantw said:

It's kinda the opposite of demilitarized right now.  

I was thinking of the insurrectionists being thrown out of the Capitol and that area plus the WH free of of them, but, yes, lol. 

[Fragile Bird]

Not only has Trump broken up families and friends through his divisive politics, it seems he has created rifts among Catholics. I think I've posted this here before, I have found some US Catholics incredibly right wing, if not totally bonkers. I know the hostility towards Pope Francis has been discussed, and Steve Bannon being in the faction trying to stir up an insurrection against the Pope.

Here's a good opinion column from the National Catholic Reporter, not a publication I think I've ever quoted here before (maybe when Francis was elected?)

Quote

Yet, I was also reminded of how different Biden is from many liberals, Catholic and not, who do nothing but deride America and denounce her sins. Biden acknowledges those sins, to be sure, but he knows there is more to America than that. "Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear and demonization have long torn us apart," the new president said. "The battle is perennial. Victory is never assured. Through Civil War, the Great Depression, world war, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed." Then, in a line that sounded like something Pope Francis would say, Biden added, "In each of these moments, enough of us, enough of us, have come together to carry all of us forward."

Apparently, the leadership of the U.S. bishops conference, before it had even heard the speech, chose to range itself among those unwilling to "come together to carry all of us forward." Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, president of the conference, issued a churlish statement. He acknowledged there would be areas where the bishops could work with the new administration but also warned that Biden had "pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender." Gomez added, "Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences."

Inauguration days are not a time for "on the other hand" statements.

The statement contained two big fat lies at its heart. Gomez stated, "I look forward to working with President Biden and his administration, and the new Congress." Excuse me, but this statement was not designed to build a relationship with the new administration. It was designed to sabotage it. In that regard, as one bishop explained to me last night, the statement was an attack on Francis who has made clear he actually does wish to work with the new administration.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/bishops-throw-cold-water-most-catholic-inauguration-history

ps: this column was sent to me by my parish priest, an American who knows how much I despise Trump.

[Fez]

43 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

My brain immediately went to "the DMZ" and I wondered if that was what they were calling DC these days.

Exactly. Unless you live in the immediate area, you have absolutely no reason to know that we call it that.

But for me, just hearing that verbal affirmation that people who've been here for a while (and therefore, presumably, know how to actually do things here), long enough to pick up local phrases like that, are running things again gives me the warm, fuzzy feelings.

[A True Kaniggit]

52 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

My brain immediately went to "the DMZ" and I wondered if that was what they were calling DC these days.

I thought “Department of Motor Vehicles”

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

2 hours ago, Fez said:

I'm feeling extremely represented by the people now running the government.

 

DMV?  Department of Motor Vehicles?

[Fragile Bird]

8 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

I thought “Department of Motor Vehicles”

It was the "not leaving" part, right?

[Fragile Bird]

2 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

DMV?  Department of Motor Vehicles?

See, I thought of DMZ because of the weird way you guys say the letter "Z".

I wondered for years why anyone would name a band "Zed Zed Top".

[DanteGabriel]

29 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Not only has Trump broken up families and friends through his divisive politics, it seems he has created rifts among Catholics. I think I've posted this here before, I have found some US Catholics incredibly right wing, if not totally bonkers. I know the hostility towards Pope Francis has been discussed, and Steve Bannon being in the faction trying to stir up an insurrection against the Pope.

Here's a good opinion column from the National Catholic Reporter, not a publication I think I've ever quoted here before (maybe when Francis was elected?)

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/bishops-throw-cold-water-most-catholic-inauguration-history

ps: this column was sent to me by my parish priest, an American who knows how much I despise Trump.

I would say Trump has widened the rift between US Catholics, because certainly there have always been asshat Catholic leaders getting too involved in partisan politics, and it's been getting worse over the years. I remember the fuckwit bishops who opined in 2004 that John Kerry should be denied Communion for supporting abortion rights.

And the USCCB has been rebuked by a Cardinal seen as an ally to the Pope.

Quote

In a rare public rebuke of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from one of its members, Cardinal Blase Cupich joined with an unnamed senior Vatican official in taking issue with a stinging statement released earlier today from the president of the bishops’ conference aimed at President Joe Biden’s views on abortion.

“Today, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued an ill-considered statement on the day of President Biden’s inauguration,” Cardinal Cupich said in one of two statements he released today. “Aside from the fact that there is seemingly no precedent for doing so, the statement, critical of President Biden came as a surprise to many bishops, who received it just hours before it was released.”

...

Cardinal Cupich, a key U.S. ally of Pope Francis, said that the statement was drafted without input from the conference’s administrative committee, “a collegial consultation that is [the] normal course for statements that represent and enjoy the considered endorsement of the American bishops.” 

“The internal institutional failures involved must be addressed, and I look forward to contributing to all efforts to that end, so that, inspired by the Gospel, we can build up the unity of the Church, and together take up the work of healing our nation in this moment of crisis,” Cardinal Cupich concluded. 

(In a separate statement, Cardinal Cupich wished President Biden and Vice President Harris well, saying, “The new administration begins in a time of global pandemic, economic peril and deep division, when millions of our brothers and sisters have been brought low by illness, poverty and racism. We pray that the way forward will be inspired, as the Holy Father asked, by dreaming together.”)

 

[Hereward]

2 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

See, I thought of DMZ because of the weird way you guys say the letter "Z".

I wondered for years why anyone would name a band "Zed Zed Top".

I hear you, and that bloke Jay Zed. What’s that all about?

[Fez]

9 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

DMV?  Department of Motor Vehicles?

District, Maryland, Virginia

AKA, where the three meet; the capitol region. It's what people who actually live in the greater DC area call the greater DC area.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

11 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

See, I thought of DMZ because of the weird way you guys say the letter "Z".

I wondered for years why anyone would name a band "Zed Zed Top".

When I moved to Oklahoma, one of my co workers made a "Zed Zed Top" joke at me. By the time I moved back to Canada, one of my friends chastised me for uttering "Zee".

1 hour ago, Myshkin said:

Um, so I guess Trump had a button in the Oval Office solely dedicated to summoning diet cokes. He should have been impeached for that alone.

Brought in by servant on a silver tray no less. "Hero of the working class" ladies and gentlemen. 

And it's gone.

 

[Zorral]

There's also DelMarVa = a specific Delaware, Maryland and Virginia area, that share a lot of weather.  

[Week]

4 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

“She was not a criminal”- person shot while attempting to overthrow the government

”criminal like George Floyd” - guy who bought soda with what a cashier suspected MAY have been a fake $20 bill

Which I believe is only a crime with *intent* to defraud. IIRC, my mom worked as a banker teller (ages ago) where a fake bill would just be set aside -- probably more likely that the person doesn't even know that it is a fake.

Not even going to respond to @Fragile Bird's nonsense post about previous criminal record and calling him a convicted criminal. I guess I just did respond to it. Still, the language is gross and it is completely irrelevant. Love ya Bird but every now and then you frame/comment on things in a pretty regressive manner. Probably a generation thing -- my folks do it too and they are lovely people.

[Fragile Bird]

2 minutes ago, Week said:

Which I believe is only a crime with *intent* to defraud. IIRC, my mom worked as a banker teller (ages ago) where a fake bill would just be set aside -- probably more likely that the person doesn't even know that it is a fake.

Not even going to respond to @Fragile Bird's nonsense post about previous criminal record and calling him a convicted criminal. I guess I just did respond to it. Still, the language is gross and it is completely irrelevant. Love ya Bird but every now and then you frame/comment on things in a pretty regressive manner. Probably a generation thing -- my folks do it too and they are lovely people.

Look, the post by the right wing group was vile, and as I said, Babbitt was committing a crime when she was shot. It’s a harsh truth to face but George Floyd was indeed a criminal. The post doesn’t distinguish between what Floyd did when he died and what she was doing when she died, because, you know, that doesn’t fit their narrative. People in these threads have dragged up convictions against people they don’t like from years ago and it’s fair game, and the convictions aren’t usually for home invasions where lives were threatened. Floyd moved away to Minnesota to start a new life and seemed to be doing well, but he was in fact a convicted criminal. That doesn’t make Babbitt an innocent nor did it make Floyd’s death justified in any way, shape or form. If you think my stating facts was justifying his death, you need to start facing reality.

[Week]

Just now, Fragile Bird said:

If you think my stating facts was justifying his death, you need to start facing reality.

I don't -- it was still a shitty thing to say, particularly in the manner you said it. You can disagree -- that's your right. You could also try to view it from a different perspective and, maybe, it wasn't necessary.