US Politics: all the progressive's fault

[Ormond]

4 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The fact that left-wing anti-vaxx crazies are allied with right-wing anti-vaxx crazies is incredibly disturbing.

It certainly isn't a good thing, but it's 100% predictable. If one is really an "anti-vaxx crazy", especially before the Covid-19 pandemic, it's almost by definition your most important issue and so you would welcome anyone else who agrees with you. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

30 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

 

Sooooo...a seemingly rather insignificant statistical number?  Are there names?  Jenny McCarthy?  She's said to lean liberal, unless it's about vaccines, and then she'll partner with whomever she needs to further her viewpoint.  

Left leaning folks with a, "very understandable historical reasons" who don't trust the government?  Are you referring to African Americans?  Conspiracy theorists?  Or some other group?

I'm willing to look at things, but the the idea of a liberal, left leaning anti-vaxxer feels more mythical at this point.

Just my opinion at the moment.

All of the above.  Also some indigenous people on Twitter have shared similar sentiments.  The trust in government also goes hand in hand with communities that have had less access to vaccines.

I spent a lot of time at music festivals and playing music on the jam band scene when I was younger and a bunch of aquaintances from that time are pretty anti-vax.  I have no idea if it's statically significant.  I'm sure most of the people not getting vaccinated are right wing but the anti-vax left isn't anything new and it's definitely there. 

IIRC some of the measles outbreaks were traced liberal anti-vax groups pre covid

[Mlle. Zabzie]

40 minutes ago, Kalibuster said:

Sweet, another opportunity for Sinema and Manchin to block something

Nah - given the current court, this is all relatively symbolic to preserve the status quo.  This will go down on a party line vote and mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Now, if Kavanaugh and Gorsuch are struck by lighting on the court steps, then we'd have issues.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

2 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Is RFK Jr. left wing other than his idiocy with vaccinations?

Are there even true left wing anti-vaxxers? 

Well, he was a candidate to head the enviroment agency under Obama. Apart from Anti-vaxx he is mainly pro enviroment.  And the Kennedy's haven't really cast him out, they just distance themselves from his Anti-vaxxer idiocy. So he at least isn't a genuine right wing anti-vaxxer. 

In Germany one of the biggest anti-vaxxer groups among parents are those, who send their kiddies to Waldorf schools. That's basically me reiteraten what Maltaran and Larry said. Those hippy, alternative types, who also believe in alternative medicine (homeopathy). I could go on a somewhat off topic rant on those alternative medicine quaks, but I'll just leave it to your imagination, what me going off on a real flamey post looks like.

[Maithanet]

53 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Justice Breyer is retiring:

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/scotus-stephen-breyer-retirement/index.html

This is all the progressive's fault. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

11 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Nah - given the current court, this is all relatively symbolic to preserve the status quo.  This will go down on a party line vote and mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Now, if Kavanaugh and Gorsuch are struck by lighting on the court steps, then we'd have issues.

I know client confidentiality, but isn't God one of your clients with tax optimization issues. Not saying, you should ask for a favour there, but you really could.

[Mindwalker]

Well, finally some good news. Even if it hardly means much unless one or two of the right-wing judges... retire.

Can't wait to see which centrist-to-conservative judge Biden chooses, how Republicans will refuse, arguing straight-faced it's too close to an election, and the suspense: Will Sinemanchin spoil it last minute? 

Manchin: "I undertand a filibuster carve-out was necessary when my Republican friends did it, but in these dire, polarized times, bipartisanship is more important than ever! I wouldn't know how to explain to Virginians..."

 

[Mindwalker]

Btw., this is the most fitting title these threads have ever had in my time! Kudos to Kalbear.

[Maltaran]

8 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Btw., this is the most fitting title these threads have ever had in my time! Kudos to Kalbear.

The position of the apostrophe implies there is only one progressive whose fault it all is. Bernie? AOC? Kal himself?

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Biden.  

[Mlle. Zabzie]

20 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

I know client confidentiality, but isn't God one of your clients with tax optimization issues. Not saying, you should ask for a favour there, but you really could.

Sorry, wrong direction.  I checked my contract. I work for the Prince of Darkness, the light-bearer that fell, can you guess their name?  Unfortunately they have a conflict of interest in this one.

18 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Well, finally some good news. Even if it hardly means much unless one or two of the right-wing judges... retire.

Can't wait to see which centrist-to-conservative judge Biden chooses, how Republicans will refuse, arguing straight-faced it's too close to an election, and the suspense: Will Sinemanchin spoil it last minute? 

Manchin: "I undertand a filibuster carve-out was necessary when my Republican friends did it, but in these dire, polarized times, bipartisanship is more important than ever! I wouldn't know how to explain to Virginians..."

 

Ok, as someone who lived the first 18 years of her life in Virginia, I would like to specify for the record that West Virginia has been different from Virginia for 150 years.  Make sure you are describing the right crazy (my state of origin now has a tip line for ratting out teachers who are apparently saying the wrong things, yay Viriginia, still not blue, barely purple!)

[A Horse Named Stranger]

13 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Sorry, wrong direction.  I checked my contract. I work for the Prince of Darkness, the light-bearer that fell, can you guess their name?  Unfortunately they have a conflict of interest in this one.

Same guy? I always believed the one thing was basically his stage persona. David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust sorta situation. 

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Kalibuster said:

Sweet, another opportunity for Sinema and Manchin to block something

Yeah!  Just like all those other Biden judicial nominations Sinema and Manchin have been holding up and blocking!

48 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

This will go down on a party line vote and mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Well, it means Biden will get to replace Breyer instead of a Republican president, which is relieving.  It also means someone like Ketanji Brown Jackson will be appointed to the court, which is pretty cool.

48 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Well, he was a candidate to head the enviroment agency under Obama. Apart from Anti-vaxx he is mainly pro enviroment.  And the Kennedy's haven't really cast him out, they just distance themselves from his Anti-vaxxer idiocy. So he at least isn't a genuine right wing anti-vaxxer. 

Yeah RFK Jr. has always been reliably left-wing down the line until he bought into the anti-vaxxer stuff about 20 years ago.  To my knowledge he still is - other than the anti-vaxxer stuff.

[Mindwalker]

22 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Biden.  

Took the word right out of my mouth. That raving communist president!

[Mindwalker]

21 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Ok, as someone who lived the first 18 years of her life in Virginia, I would like to specify for the record that West Virginia has been different from Virginia for 150 years.  Make sure you are describing the right crazy (my state of origin now has a tip line for ratting out teachers who are apparently saying the wrong things, yay Viriginia, still not blue, barely purple!)

Oh sorry, you're right, I do often confuse these 2.

As for the hotline, there are wonderful and helpful people calling in, e.g. about teaching ARABIC numbers and such...

[Mlle. Zabzie]

5 minutes ago, DMC said:

 

Well, it means Biden will get to replace Breyer instead of a Republican president, which is relieving.  It also means someone like Ketanji Brown Jackson will be appointed to the court, which is pretty cool.

 

Yeah, I guess it means that.  In the grand scheme of things, relatively meaningless?  Age-wise, Thomas is next.  He's like 73/74 which is positively spry by recent SC standards, so I don't see him retiring until the next R president.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

12 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Yeah, I guess it means that.  In the grand scheme of things, relatively meaningless?  Age-wise, Thomas is next.  He's like 73/74 which is positively spry by recent SC standards, so I don't see him retiring until the next R president.

Wasn’t Breyer appointed after Thomas?  I hope whoever Biden nominates is fairly young.

[DMC]

15 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Yeah, I guess it means that.  In the grand scheme of things, relatively meaningless?  Age-wise, Thomas is next.  He's like 73/74 which is positively spry by recent SC standards, so I don't see him retiring until the next R president

I mean, of course when you're down 6-3 replacing one of the three isn't gonna mean too much, no.  But it's still obviously important to replace an aging member to at least maintain that three.  At this point the ideological composition is only changing if a justice dies -- and they die when the opposition party holds both the presidency AND the Senate. 

However, that doesn't mean the personal justices can't make a difference beyond binary partisan alignment.  Roberts and even Kavanaugh are emerging from the conservative majority as considerably more "moderate" (for lack of a better word) than the other four.  If the Dems just pickup one seat, eventually, that could make a meaningful difference.  (And, in turn, fortifying your block with younger members gives you a better chance to pick up a seat.)  Hell, with Roberts, if the Dems just had one more seat, Roe v. Wade almost certainly wouldn't be overturned/gutted.

Anyway, it's possible someone like Ketanji Brown Jackson would get votes from Collins and Murkowski.  Because she already did in June.  Graham too, but I don't see that happening for the SC.  Also, just a reminder, the reason I'm honing in on Jackson is Biden pledged to appoint a black woman. 

[Kalbear]

1 hour ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Nah - given the current court, this is all relatively symbolic to preserve the status quo.  This will go down on a party line vote and mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  Now, if Kavanaugh and Gorsuch are struck by lighting on the court steps, then we'd have issues.

I would actually say if McConnell is feeling extra sparky he encourages his caucus to vote mostly in favor to gain some of that "we support batshit crazy noms" so that the next time they nominate someone really really vile it goes through reasonably. 

 

50 minutes ago, Maltaran said:

The position of the apostrophe implies there is only one progressive whose fault it all is. Bernie? AOC? Kal himself?

The best part is that you get to choose! When I wrote it I was blaming @Padraig

23 minutes ago, DMC said:

Yeah!  Just like all those other Biden judicial nominations Sinema and Manchin have been holding up and blocking!

 

I'm aware, mind you, though honestly Sinema has acted so oddly against normal self preservation that I could see her killing it and going full nWo Hogan for the lulz

[DMC]

27 minutes ago, Kalibuster said:

I'm aware, mind you, though honestly Sinema has acted so oddly against normal self preservation that I could see her killing it and going full nWo Hogan for the lulz

Fair, although the original NWO made a lot of sense.  Sinema's nonsensical behavior is more akin to NWO 2000.

On judicial nominations, though, I'd rate Sinema as a more reliable Democrat than Manchin.  Manchin voted for Kavanaugh while Sinema voted against.