U.S. Politics: Contempt and the Courts

[Centrist Simon Steele]

20 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Voting by mail is amazing. 
 

I did it in front of my computer, so I could do research on any candidate / proposition I was ignorant of.

Yep, same here. We get our ballots in the mail, and I set aside a chunk of weekend time to sit down and carefully read through everything, research everything, and I'm always shocked at how many things on the ballot are hiding much more than the ballot language notes.

Sometimes, the ballot language can be so "neutral" that you wouldn't know it's true purpose, who's pushing it, etc.

[DMC]

44 minutes ago, Ormond said:

The TV commercials Herbster and his main rival Pillen are running are just awful.

I found it interesting while checking the wiki that the current governor (Ricketts) endorsed Pillen while the current lieutenant governor (Foley) endorsed Herbster - and is running for auditor, his previous job, instead of the governor's seat.

[Kalbear]

10 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

You should get 30 days in the clink for asking what a potential victim was wearing. I cannot believe people are still doing this dumb shit.

Another 5 days for using clink, ironically or not

[DireWolfSpirit]

45 minutes ago, Kalibuster said:

Another 5 days for using clink, ironically or not

Is clink an objectional term?

In the past I've heard it as synonym to jail or incarceration.

[Kalbear]

10 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Is clink an objectional term?

In the past I've heard it as synonym to jail or incarceration.

No, it's fine

If you're a gangster in 1930 chicago

[DireWolfSpirit]

17 hours ago, A wilding said:

Never fails to shock me. The "worlds greatest democracy" and people have to wait in line for hours to vote.

That was a U.S. election he was referencing (waiting 7 hrs for Kerry), not Indian.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 minutes ago, Kalibuster said:

No, it's fine

If you're a gangster in 1930 chicago

Hell of a time to be alive, copper! 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

14 minutes ago, Kalibuster said:

No, it's fine

If you're a gangster in 1930 chicago

Oh shit, it's Kalcapone.

[VigoTheCarpathian]

25 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Oh shit, it's Kalcapone.

Ya gotta say “Cheese it, it’s Kalcapone - he’ spent a sawbuck in the clink, see? That’s right, the slammer, the hoosgow, the cooler - where they sent that mook senator what asked about the outfit on a dame senator and if it showed off her gams for 30 long days.  The selfsame palooka who drinks hair tonic, who should have his nuts a-salted, see?”

[Martell Spy]

The One Way History Shows Trump’s Personality Cult Will End
An expert on autocracy assesses how far America has slipped away from democracy, and what it will take to get it back.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/04/16/history-shows-trump-personality-cult-end-00024941

Quote

 

Kruse: So the answer I heard to the question — “Is America still a full democracy?” — was … maybe not?

Ben-Ghiat: No. David Pepper, who wrote this book Laboratories of Autocracy, has always said that many states are no longer functioning democracies. I would say that nationally, we are a functioning democracy. That’s how we got rid of Trump. But the system has been eroded and many states are shifting, are evolving over time to a condition where votes are going to mean less. And then you get into a situation which is like what happened in Hungary where over time Viktor Orbán has developed a system where it’s almost impossible for the opposition to win.

Kruse: Is it fair then to see the U.S. as an “anocracy,” neither completely democratic nor completely autocratic?

Ben-Ghiat: It’s in transition. However, I do believe it’s extremely important to never fall into fatalism. I believe it’s my job to warn people what could happen, but it’s very important — that’s why I keep bringing up the 2020 election and also the 2018 midterms — that these are recent events, and there is this energy of protest and love for democracy and freedom, real freedom, not the Republicans’ idea of freedom, that we can’t lose, because once you decide that it’s all rigged and there’s nothing you can do, then you do lose democracy.

 

 

[Jaxom 1974]

6 hours ago, VigoTheCarpathian said:

Ya gotta say “Cheese it, it’s Kalcapone - he’ spent a sawbuck in the clink, see? That’s right, the slammer, the hoosgow, the cooler - where they sent that mook senator what asked about the outfit on a dame senator and if it showed off her gams for 30 long days.  The selfsame palooka who drinks hair tonic, who should have his nuts a-salted, see?”

Truly it was a simpler, magical time...

[Zorral]

13 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

That was a U.S. election he was referencing (waiting 7 hrs for Kerry), not Indian.

It also rained a lot, this being New Orleans and all, so lots of umbrella sharing.  People went back-and-forth bringing food and water to share.  People would go off somewhere for a while while others held their place in the line.  I.e. cooperation! 

As we were living that year in NO, we'd registered to vote there, thinking another two Kerry votes in LA would matter more than another two Kerry votes in NYC.  And yet, alas, none of ours and others' efforts elected him after all.  

[Ormond]

Here is another outrageous fundraising email from Trump. (Of course, I don't really believe Trump himself even necessarily sees any of these things; I'm sure they are written by people in the WinRed organization he's hired to do his fundraising.)

This isn't the first time I've gotten this one. It really is amazing that they are lying by claiming to someone who they just want to send in $45 that they are one of only 100 people in the entire USA who will become part of an exclusive "club" by doing so. 

Quote

 

Ck,

I’m reaching out to present you with this invitation to join the Official Trump 100 Club.

I’ve only selected 100 Patriots in the entire Nation to join this prestigious club, and YOU are one of them.

I need my loyal supporters like YOU to be my eyes and ears around the Country, and I need to know that I can rely on you as we get closer to November. 
 

JOIN NOW >>

This November 8th, the American people will send a massive RED WAVE to Washington. We are going to FIGHT for America, we are going to WIN for America, and then, we will begin the important work of SAVING America.

Joining the Official Trump 100 Club is absolutely paramount to our success, and that’s why I’m calling on YOU to step up and accept my offer. We are only inviting 100 Patriots, so don’t miss your chance to be a part of this exclusive group.

Please contribute $45 or more TODAY to join the Trump 100 Club. >>

I really need you on my team as a member of the Trump 100 Club, Ck. You have the opportunity to be remembered for years to come as one of the few who answered the call to fight alongside their President to Save AMERICA from Joe Biden and the radical Left.

My team can only hold your spot in the Trump 100 Club until 11:59 PM TONIGHT. After that, it will be released to the next Patriot on the list. Don’t miss your chance - I can’t do this without you.

Please contribute $45 by 11:59 PM TONIGHT to join the Official Trump 100 Club.

 

 

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

The funny thing is that many of these Republican donors (especially the Trump donors) are unknowingly agreeing to a monthly donation that they will have extracted from their accounts in perpetuity until they cancel further payments.

They think they are giving Trump or Ivanka $20 but the donations turn out to be $20 each and every month thereafter till they catch onto the deceipt. 

And yet they will continue to think these people are just swell, usually because in their eyes, they seem to demonize the same "others" the donors probably harbor prejudices towards.

They all make such delightful bedfellows.

[Martell Spy]

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The funny thing is that many of these Republican donors (especially the Trump donors) are unknowingly agreeing to a monthly donation that they will have extracted from their accounts in perpetuity until they cancel further payments.

They think they are giving Trump or Ivanka $20 but the donations turn out to be $20 each and every month thereafter till they catch onto the deceipt. 

And yet they will continue to think these people are just swell, usually because in their eyes, they seem to demonize the same "others" the donors probably harbor prejudices towards.

They all make such delightful bedfellows.

They've been primed by decades of getting fleeced by televangelists so that they can buy jets. I wonder if Trump is eating into their revenue streams?

[IheartIheartTesla]

21 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

That was a U.S. election he was referencing (waiting 7 hrs for Kerry), not Indian.

I've voted in both; being very picky I only participate in democracies that are either the largest or the greatest.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

This takes bizarre to a whole new level:

Quote

The Florida Department of Education announced Friday that the state has rejected more than 50 math textbooks from next school year's curriculum, citing references to critical race theory among reasons for the rejections.

In a news release, the department stated that 54 out of 132 of the textbook submissions would not be added to the state's adopted list because they did not adhere to Florida's new standards or contained prohibited topics.

 

The release said the list of rejected books makes up approximately 41% of submissions, which is the most in Florida's history.

Reasons for rejecting textbooks included references to critical race theory, "inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics," the release states.

 https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/17/us/florida-math-textbooks-critical-race-theory/index.html

[Zorral]

But they won't give the names or publishers of these math texts.

Public libraries are now the same kind of target as are local public school boards, btw.  Talk about censorship and end of free speech.

[DireWolfSpirit]

DeSantis is so creepy and cheesy. Pretty sure this is exactly who the R's will nominate to run in 24.

He reminds me of one of those televangelist that likes to rip off seniors.

[Zorral]

Censorship battles’ new frontier: Your public library
Conservatives are teaming with politicians to remove books and gut library boards

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/04/17/public-libraries-books-censorship/

Quote

 

LLANO, Tex. — In early November, an email dropped into the inbox of Judge Ron Cunningham, the silver-haired head chair of the governing body of Llano County in Texas’s picturesque Hill Country. The subject line read “Pornographic Filth at the Llano Public Libraries.”

“It came to my attention a few weeks ago that pornographic filth has been discovered at the Llano library,” wrote Bonnie Wallace, a 54-year-old local church volunteer. “I’m not advocating for any book to be censored but to be RELOCATED to the ADULT section. … It is the only way I can think of to prohibit censorship of books I do agree with, mainly the Bible, if more radicals come to town and want to use the fact that we censored these books against us.”

Wallace had attached an Excel spreadsheet of about 60 books she found objectionable, including those about transgender teens, sex education and race, including such notable works as “Between the World and Me,” by author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, an exploration of the country’s history written as a letter to his adolescent son. Not long after, the county’s chief librarian sent the list to Suzette Baker, head of one of the library’s three branches.

“She told me to look at pulling the books off the shelf and possibly putting them behind the counter. I told them that was censorship,” Baker said.

Wallace’s list was the opening salvo in a censorship battle that is unlikely to end well for proponents of free speech in this county of 21,000 nestled in rolling hills of mesquite trees and cactus northwest of Austin.

Bonnie Wallace speaks during a meeting of county commissioners in March. (Sergio Flores for The Washington Post)
Leaders have taken works as seemingly innocuous as the popular children’s picture book “In the Night Kitchen” by Maurice Sendak off the shelves, closed library board meetings to the public and named Wallace the vice chair of a new library board stacked with conservative appointees — some of whom did not even have library cards.

With these actions, Llano joins a growing number of communities across America where conservatives have mounted challenges to books and other content related to race, sex, gender and other subjects they deem inappropriate. A movement that started in schools has rapidly expanded to public libraries, accounting for 37 percent of book challenges last year, according to the American Library Association. Conservative activists in several states, including Texas, Montana and Louisiana have joined forces with like-minded officials to dissolve libraries’ governing bodies, rewrite or delete censorship protections, and remove books outside of official challenge procedures. ....