US Politics: I Don't Like Mondays

[DMC]

8 minutes ago, KalVsWade said:

And beyond Trump attempting to frame his opponents and getting impeached with no consequences, sure.

Those two precedents seem like a big deal. 

Neither of those were through the use of unilateral policymaking tools - it was just him being flagrantly corrupt.  Moreover, neither of them had anything to do with "getting things done," and frankly were ham-fisted attempts to "secure" his power.  In the context of your argument, this doesn't really make sense.  So you're saying Democratic presidents should be equally corrupt?  K, I disagree.

13 minutes ago, KalVsWade said:

Biden campaigned on getting rid of it. He hasn't. That seems relevant. 

It's also relevant that courts have blocked him from trying to get rid of it.

14 minutes ago, KalVsWade said:

He could have done that day 1. It's been over 500 days and he's still not entirely gotten around to it.

He could have done what on day 1?  Appointed and confirmed 5 members to the board?  Well, no, two of the vacancies didn't even open up until a few months ago.  If you mean fired DeJoy, again, to be clear, the president cannot fire the postmaster general.  You're complaining about something he can't do.

19 minutes ago, KalVsWade said:

If Biden wants to actually do things, cool - but he hasn't been doing things I disagree with either. He's just largely not been doing anything as far as what I mentioned. If he wants to fund police, or go with a bill Manchin supports, or broadly remove tariffs or increase tariffs, or put more people on the border or do less, or remove mandates for masks or vaccines or add them - cool. But what he's done is basically just let things continue on and muddle through it .

This is much more of an argument about Biden specifically than Dems somehow being more incompetent at getting things done and securing power than the GOP.  Not really interested in this argument.

20 minutes ago, KalVsWade said:

I will say Biden has signed a lot of EOs - but a third were in the first days of the office, and almost all of them are of the form 'make a task force to look into something'. 

Almost all EOs of any president are of that form.

[Mindwalker]

I'm sick, so I'll postpone any discussion for a few days.

Dem voter turnout in primaries seems to be very low.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I'm also very sick, my mind is basically clam chowder at this point, but the segment on TV had me pointing at the screen like I'm Leo in OUaTiH. A professor from Vandy and a PhD candidate were able to map the breakdown in political unity in the US and the nailed the mid 90's as the tipping point where it flipped and began to decline, ever rapidily.

It's almost as if Newt Gingrich, even though they never used his name, is the most responsible for the political breakdown in this country, which I've said for more than a decade.

[Week]

 

 

[Zorral]

Copycatting Uvalde called for by "extremists" -- please call them domestic terrorists.

https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-june-7-2022

https://abcnews.go.com/US/dhs-warns-domestic-violent-extremists-praise-uvalde-shooting/story?

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/houston-texas/article/Uvalde-Texas-school-shooting-Salvador-Ramos-forum-17226232.php

 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

A professor from Vandy and a PhD candidate were able to map the breakdown in political unity in the US and the nailed the mid 90's as the tipping point where it flipped and began to decline, ever rapidily.

Is this the same study written about in the WaPo here --

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/07/public-opinion-polarization-partisan-republicans-democrats/

You aren't the only person to see Newt Gingrich has having been a principal conscious player to do this, by any means.  Unfortunately right at the start a lot of figures in the SF/F - tech world were right there with him, thinking he was The Guy, because he was all that!  Already, in 1983 -- at Balt Con, natch! (that con never stops giving in terms of creating socio-political messes -- see the shenanigans from just this year!)

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/04/magazine/on-washington-newt-s-potboiler.html  (notice who wrote this puff piece, the hideous Maureen Dowd)

Where Baen met him and gave him a contract to publish his vile stuff, from where he went on doing so in collaboration with the Usual Suspects such as Pournelle, etc.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/newt-gingrichs-fantasy-campaign-and-the-fictions-that-gave-rise-to-it/253172/

https://newrepublic.com/article/100527/freaks-and-geeks-gingrich

 

 

 

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

A professor from Vandy and a PhD candidate were able to map the breakdown in political unity in the US and the nailed the mid 90's as the tipping point where it flipped and began to decline, ever rapidily.

It's almost as if Newt Gingrich, 

Figures Meacham's Tennessee ass would blame a Georgian.

[Maithanet]

If we were looking for what changed in the mid-90s to start America's runaway partisanship and dysfunction, I would point to the advent of Fox News in 1996.

[horangi]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

Copycatting Uvalde called for by "extremists" -- please call them domestic terrorists.

https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-june-7-2022

https://abcnews.go.com/US/dhs-warns-domestic-violent-extremists-praise-uvalde-shooting/story?

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/houston-texas/article/Uvalde-Texas-school-shooting-Salvador-Ramos-forum-17226232.php

 

Just an anecdote, but I did note that our local, not particularly partisan, news broadcast yesterday referred to the Proud Boys and 3%rs as domestic terrorist groups without batting an eyelash.  It caught me by surprise, even if I agree with the term used, since they normally seem shy about taking a position that could be seen as political.

[Kalbear]

15 hours ago, DMC said:

Neither of those were through the use of unilateral policymaking tools - it was just him being flagrantly corrupt.  Moreover, neither of them had anything to do with "getting things done," and frankly were ham-fisted attempts to "secure" his power.  In the context of your argument, this doesn't really make sense.  So you're saying Democratic presidents should be equally corrupt?  K, I disagree.

At this point that's where we're going to have to go, because if they're not bending the rules like that they're behind the times. Given that there are no real punishments for being that corrupt, that's the new norm in the country. And it's either that they're going to have to bend those rules or they're going to not have power. 

15 hours ago, DMC said:

It's also relevant that courts have blocked him from trying to get rid of it.

He could have done what on day 1?  Appointed and confirmed 5 members to the board?  Well, no, two of the vacancies didn't even open up until a few months ago.  If you mean fired DeJoy, again, to be clear, the president cannot fire the postmaster general.  You're complaining about something he can't do.

He could have assigned the other three though, and that was something he could do. 

15 hours ago, DMC said:

This is much more of an argument about Biden specifically than Dems somehow being more incompetent at getting things done and securing power than the GOP.  Not really interested in this argument.

And yet you keep interjecting yourself in it

 

[Centrist Simon Steele]

On 6/7/2022 at 12:47 PM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Looks like Matthew McConnaughey is coming out swinging.  He grew up in Uvalde Texas:

 

Sadly, he then posed for photos with Cuellar (D) who has an A rating from the NRA (and is really just right wing, and anti-abortion too). It's a small thing, but it really feels like it undercuts the powerful speech he gave. Cuellar is already using very generalized messaging about this meeting with McConaughey and how they can keep people "safe." Which, for Cuellar, is not about gun control.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Just now, Centrist Simon Steele said:

Sadly, he then posed for photos with Cuellar (D) who has an A rating from the NRA (and is really just right wing, and anti-abortion too). It's a small thing, but it really feels like it undercuts the powerful speech he gave.

McConnaughey doesn’t seem to oppose firearm ownership.  He was explicit about that yesterday but he does support Red Flag laws, training requirements, and increasing the age threshold for firearms purchases.  There is no reason, beyond unreasoning panic, for firearms owners to oppose these laws.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Just now, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

McConnaughey doesn’t seem to oppose firearm ownership.  He was explicit about that yesterday but he does support Red Flag laws, training requirements, and increasing the age threshold for firearms purchases.  There is no reason, beyond unreasoning panic, for firearms owners to oppose these laws.

I know he doesn't oppose it outright, and he seems fairly conservative to be honest (not in the neo-conservative Trumpy way), but to get an A rating from the NRA would suggest to me that Cuellar would be against Red Flag laws and increasing the age threshold (and training requirements, though I initially read that as "training for police" but I'm guessing this is actually stricter training before you can purchase a gun). 

[DireWolfSpirit]

More Dems are getting sick of Garlands stalling and lethargic effort at anything involved with bringing the traiterous, treasonous former regime to justice for the crimes against America.

Top Democrats losing patience with AG Garland's methodical approach on Jan. 6 investigation

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/08/politics/democrats-frustrated-garland-january-6-investigation-trump/index.html

"I'm just not seeing the urgency from the attorney general," said Gallego. "He's thinking more about protecting the institution of the Department of Justice. And I appreciate that, but he has to be thinking about protecting the institution of democracy."  

I've been saying for awhile Garland is a disappointment.

 

Eta: We needed a Ramsay Clark as our next AG........

But we got a Merrik Garland!

[Zorral]

UVALDE AND THE BORDER SECURITY SCAM
In South Texas, an international military apparatus lords over Latino residents. It took one man mere minutes to make a mockery of it.

https://www.texasobserver.org/uvalde-and-the-border-security-scam/

Quote

 

For so long, the people of South Texas have been expected to sacrifice their communities to a border security apparatus. Drones, helicopters, and agents have saturated cities and towns where residents have gone without health insurance and send their children to underfunded schools. It was this apparatus that responded in late May when a gunman rampaged through an elementary school classroom in Uvalde, killing children—19 in all—and two teachers.

Hundreds of state troopers, federal immigration agents, sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Marshals, and local police quickly descended on a town of 15,000, set among ranchlands 80 miles southwest of San Antonio and 60 miles from the border with Mexico. That rapid influx reflected the deep penetration of the border security apparatus in the region. And it was members of that apparatus, a tactical team that included Border Patrol agents, that Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw credited with charging into a classroom and killing the gunman.

But amid the public speculation about the causes that may have motivated a young man to kill third and fourth graders, that apparatus went almost unmentioned. Abbott and McCraw, whose agency is leading the investigation into the massacre, grasped at familiar themes—mental illness, video games, bullying. Speculation quickly morphed into purpose, with Abbott soon calling a special legislative session tasked with ginning up “recommendations on school safety, mental health, social media, police training, firearm safety, and more,” implicitly validating certain factors and rejecting issues that Republicans shun, specifically: gun control.

Outraged elected officials and a horrified public across the ideological spectrum argued that lax gun laws had made it easier to acquire an AR-15 than to register to vote. Hours after the massacre, an anguished President Joe Biden asked in a national address: “Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas … And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happened see their friends die as if they’re on a battlefield, for God’s sake.” 

But the Uvalde massacre occurred in an existing, de facto war zone. The border security apparatus created by elected officials—Republicans and Democrats—has converted South Texas communities into a real and symbolic theater, complete with armed agents and heavy weapons, to project an image of toughness and power.

Ignored in the speculative narrative was the possibility that a border security apparatus created by state and federal officials, powered by white supremacy and political vitriol, that peddles violence and subjects people migrating through the region to inhumane and brutal conditions, may have created a climate primed for a monstrous expression of toughness and power. 

The violent worldview and the brutality imposed on the region are obvious to anyone who reads the local newspaper, watches television news, or looks out the window. Representative Tony Gonzales, (R-TX), who represents Uvalde, told Fox News back in 2021, “Life on the border is hell for us.” And three days before the massacre, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, an occasional guest on the network, returned to Fox News, repeating Republican talking points about migration. “The border is wide open,” he said before making an unsubstantiated claim that migrating people caused the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.  ....

 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 hours ago, DMC said:

Figures Meacham's Tennessee ass would blame a Georgian.

Different professor. Can't say who though, sorry.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I’m ashamed that this man… in all likelihood… could (with a few edits) run in most of the former confederacy and win a Republican primary then yell “Psych”!

 

[DMC]

4 hours ago, KalVsWade said:

At this point that's where we're going to have to go, because if they're not bending the rules like that they're behind the times.

Trump's corruption on his first impeachment was laughably amateur hour.  Trying to emulate such an effort would be an exercise in becoming more incompetent, not less.  As for his second impeachment, no, I hope no Democratic president tries to do that either.  Acting like not engaging in cartoonish corruption and trying to enact a self-coup is "behind the times" is..well, I'm not sure what that is.

4 hours ago, KalVsWade said:

He could have assigned the other three though, and that was something he could do. 

Huh?  What do you mean "assigned?"  You mean appointed nominees to the three vacancies and gotten them confirmed?  Because that's exactly what he did.  If your complaint is they didn't get confirmed until May because Biden/Schumer had much more pressing matters to address, that's just silly.

18 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Different professor. Can't say who though, sorry.

I just figured it was Meacham because he's the chair of their "Project on Unity and American Democracy."  And he likes going on TV a lot.

[Kalbear]

15 minutes ago, DMC said:

Trump's corruption on his first impeachment was laughably amateur hour.  Trying to emulate such an effort would be an exercise in becoming more incompetent, not less.  As for his second impeachment, no, I hope no Democratic president tries to do that either.  Acting like not engaging in cartoonish corruption and trying to enact a self-coup is "behind the times" is..well, I'm not sure what that is. 

I would hope that the Dems could engage in something a bit less incompetently executed, but that's the sort of thing Dems are going to have to do more of in order to keep any kind of power. Because the alternate is seeing this done on the other side, it winning, and them not being in power in any meaningful way for the next 10 years. 

But don't worry, the next attempts will not be amateur hour. 

15 minutes ago, DMC said:

Huh?  What do you mean "assigned?"  You mean appointed nominees to the three vacancies and gotten them confirmed?  Because that's exactly what he did.  If your complaint is they didn't get confirmed until May because Biden/Schumer had much more pressing matters to address, that's just silly.

They left the ambassador of Ukraine open for over a fucking year. They left the position of head of the FDA - the position responsible for managing the vaccine approval - open for over a year. They had more pressing matters to discuss like negotiating with Manchin and Sinema for a year in a failed effort to get anything but ignored the FDA during a pandemic that killed a million Americans? Great job!

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

22 minutes ago, DMC said:

I just figured it was Meacham because he's the chair of their "Project on Unity and American Democracy."  And he likes going on TV a lot.

That he certainly does, especially on Morning Joe.