US Politics: Biden vs. Ron DeCardassian in the Delta quadrant

[HoodedCrow]

I don’t like that there are so many old people in Congress either.  Please run:)

[Xray the Enforcer]

Could y'all stop fucking arguing about who should or shouldn't retire and take a goddamned moment to acknowledge just how bad shit is in Texas now? Just a moment?

[Fez]

The obviousness of the difference between a 5-4 court and 6-3 court is in how much more SCOTUS has been making major decisions via the shadow docket over the past year. When Roberts was the swing judge he was loathe to do it too much because it hurt the court's legitimacy, and when Kennedy was the swing judge it basically never happened. Now it happens all the time regardless of what Roberts may want, and that's why RBG's death was such a sea change.

And so abortion is likely going to become effectively illegal in over half the country within a couple months. Unless SCOTUS issues a delayed injunction until the case can be heard, which seems pretty doubtful, I imagine most other Republican states will follow Texas' lead as quickly as they can.

[Week]

666 bills went into effect today in Texas. Absolute mayhem from an unhinged state legislature.

 

 

[Kalbear]

This thread and the reactions (or lackthereof) is a real good indicator of how Texas and Trump and the US in general happened. 

Yall been telling me for years how SCOTUS wasn't likely to do this better be figuring out why you were so wrong. 

[Fez]

4 minutes ago, Kaligator said:

This thread and the reactions (or lackthereof) is a real good indicator of how Texas and Trump and the US in general happened. 

Yall been telling me for years how SCOTUS wasn't likely to do this better be figuring out why you were so wrong. 

Who has said this?

The thing I've been screaming for years is that this was coming and it was SCOTUS was all-important and that anyone who wouldn't vote for Clinton or Biden out of some principle was an idiot.

[Maithanet]

It's OK Fez, every thread has to have at least one instance of Kal or Tywin patting themselves on the back for how prescient they are. 

[Kalbear]

2 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

It's OK Fez, every thread has to have at least one instance of Kal or Tywin patting themselves on the back for how prescient they are. 

Its not about that. Its about being pissed off at people saying this wasn't coming or how roberts would respect precedent or any of the other bullshit. Or hell, about how it was too extreme to expand the courts or nuke the filibuster. 

This ain't about me being right. This is about a whole lot of motherfuckers out there being really fucking wrong.

[Maithanet]

2 minutes ago, Kaligator said:

Its not about that. Its about being pissed off at people saying this wasn't coming or how roberts would respect precedent or any of the other bullshit. Or hell, about how it was too extreme to expand the courts or nuke the filibuster. 

This ain't about me being right. This is about a whole lot of motherfuckers out there being really fucking wrong.

I don't remember this debate of you vs everyone who said a 6-3 Republican court would be no big deal.  I do remember virtually everyone in the politics thread was despondent when RBG died because we all knew that the SC would become much worse. 

[Kalbear]

7 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I don't remember this debate of you vs everyone who said a 6-3 Republican court would be no big deal.  I do remember virtually everyone in the politics thread was despondent when RBG died because we all knew that the SC would become much worse. 

I don't know that it was everyone. I do know that a whole lot of people still think keeping the filibuster is a good thing and that court packing and expansion is bad. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

10 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I don't remember this debate of you vs everyone who said a 6-3 Republican court would be no big deal.  I do remember virtually everyone in the politics thread was despondent when RBG died because we all knew that the SC would become much worse. 

I’m not sure it’s that specific to this, but in general there’s been a downplaying of just how completely doomed our politics are, and sadly this is still mostly just the tip of the iceberg. People keep saying x or y can’t happen and they keep happening.

[Fez]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

I’m not sure it’s that specific to this, but in general there’s been a downplaying of just how completely doomed our politics are, and sadly this is still mostly just the tip of the iceberg. People keep saying x or y can’t happen and they keep happening.

Personally, and maybe you can call this downplaying it, I still see it all as more us reverting to the pre-1950s norms rather than a shocking new thing. And, just like before then, we as a society will keep muddling along with a huge amount of pain and suffering for the non-ruling demographic. But things eventually got better for a while, and I remain optimistic they can get better again. Unless climate change or we ourselves wipe us all out.

[Fez]

6 minutes ago, Kaligator said:

I don't know that it was everyone. I do know that a whole lot of people still think keeping the filibuster is a good thing and that court packing and expansion is bad. 

There's a big difference between acknowledging a problem and agreeing on what the solution to the problem is.

However, it's moot anyway, because even if every poster here agreed with your solution, there were never the votes in Congress to do it.

[Larry of the Lawn]

19 minutes ago, Kaligator said:

I don't know that it was everyone. I do know that a whole lot of people still think keeping the filibuster is a good thing and that court packing and expansion is bad. 

I just re-read the US politics thread from when RBG died, and pretty much everyone posting here was supporting the elimination of the fillibuster and court packing then (at least in the first one).

*not that it amounts to much

[Centrist Simon Steele]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

Well, no, not in this thread at least.  Her age was emphasized as the argument that she could die soon, which seems to be the only operative concern here.  I don't think anyone's worried that her cognition issues would prevent her from casting a yea vote for a Biden-appointed Breyer replacement as long as she's still alive.

I mean, if you're still strong cognitively, and you're able to do your job, then I get it. I do wonder if age might impact important legislation for our country with long-term implications (climate change for example), but the Salon article, if my memory serves, brought up that her issues with cognition could force her to step down, and if that happens if/when Newsome loses to a Republican, then she would be replaced by the Republican governor effectively handing the senate back to Republicans. 

The dying argument is not compelling to me, although give how Republicans took advantage of Ginsberg's death, I understand why some people are worried about this. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

21 minutes ago, Fez said:

Personally, and maybe you can call this downplaying it, I still see it all as more us reverting to the pre-1950s norms rather than a shocking new thing. And, just like before then, we as a society will keep muddling along with a huge amount of pain and suffering for the non-ruling demographic. But things eventually got better for a while, and I remain optimistic they can get better again. Unless climate change or we ourselves wipe us all out.

I just don’t know how you can be optimistic about things when in a few years we may face a moment that signals the literal end of democracy. And that’s just one of the many serious problems that loom on the horizon because of the tyranny of the minority.

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Centrist Simon Steele said:

brought up that her issues with cognition could force her to step down, and if that happens if/when Newsome loses to a Republican, then she would be replaced by the Republican governor effectively handing the senate back to Republicans. 

Ah.  I don't see any legitimate reason to believe that.  She clarified back in the spring that she has no intention to step down.  And plenty of other MCs have analogous "cognitive issues" and stick around for years, even decades.  It seems the only way she'd be "forced" to step down is if this lead to more serious health issues, which to me is just irresponsible rumor-mongering.   

[Week]

6 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I just don’t know how you can be optimistic about things when in a few years we may face a moment that signals the literal end of democracy. And that’s just one of the many serious problems that loom on the horizon because of the tyranny of the minority.

The only 'positive' is the tyrannical minority is actively working to reduce its size via anti-vaxxers, anti-mask, old age, etc.

[Fez]

4 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I just don’t know how you can be optimistic about things when in a few years we may face a moment that signals the literal end of democracy. And that’s just one of the many serious problems that loom on the horizon because of the tyranny of the minority.

Because for most of US history huge swathes of the population was completely disenfranchised. We call ourselves the world's oldest democracy (which isn't true anyway, thanks Iceland), but by most modern standards we didn't become one until 1965.  We eventually became one though, and, while I don't want to be cavalier about the future (or how bad things might get in the short-term), I don't see why we can't become one again. Just like there is no immutable rule that progress is permanent, there is no rule that backsliding is forever either. This is especially true when you look at the variation in beliefs and attitudes by age.

I'm 34 right now. I fully expect politics in my 40s and 50s to be pretty terrible, but I can easily see things getting a lot better again in my 60s. Assuming technology and profit motives can save us from climate change. And assuming there isn't another pogrom against Jews.

[Arakan]

Ok, Texas, you shocked me. As far as I understand the new law, it makes legal abortion de facto impossible. I mean, the time period for having a legal abortion is in an absolute best case a couple of days max. Impossible. 

Texas, Hungary, Poland. People let’s smell the coffee. We like to talk and to write and that’s how most of us here grew up. But, and it’s actually crazy to think about it, the time to fight for the things we take as granted might very well arise. 

I do not condone violence but throughout all of the last 100+ years the fascists and bigots took advantage of the left‘s / centrists’ desire to find a reasonable, „civilized“ solution whereas they LOVE violence, they LOVE the thought of inflicting pain. The rightwingers want to turn back time as many decades as they can, and they are ready and shameless enough to do whatever it takes. 

The 2020s and 2030s might very well turn out to be the new 1920s and 1930s. Prepare to fight with all your conviction!