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US Politics: I Don't Like Mondays


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As usual, there is other important news going on in the US.  A couple of items leaped out at me this morning...

First. we have a Republican candidate for governor of some minor state or other who got himself arrested by the FBI this morning on January 6th charges. Given that his acts seem on the small side compared to other elected participants in that event, I have to wonder if an R congress critter or five might not be facing something similar shortly.

FBI arrests GOP candidate for Michigan governor, Ryan Kelley, on charges tied to Jan. 6 riot (msn.com)

Second, kind of contrary to what was apparently expected, the SC decided to support mail in voting - at least for this one specific case. To me, this sets a precedent (or reinforces an existing one) that might come in handy during the literal election theft expected come November.

Supreme Court Shows New Election Rift, Backing Mail-In Ballot Count in Pennsylvania (msn.com)

 

There was also a trivial story about bipartisan support for an increase to SS benefits. Apparently, several R's are on board with this - along with a notorious D senator - to a point. I deemed this story so trivial and unimportant it didn't warrant a link, so all it gets is this quick mention.

 

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Rant about politicians:

Politicians today spend all their time and energy on marginal, corner-case issues associated with the Culture Wars instead of doing the basic things that are part of their job descriptions, and this is why they should all be tarred and feathered.

Arizona Gov. Ducey has spent his entire term of office faffing about, doing almost nothing and talking about silly nonsense (Trump, all of Trump's nonsense, freedom from masks, etc.)  At the same time, he has failed to regulate the export of groundwater from Arizona to Saudi Arabia.  In fact, his administration hasn't even bothered to meter the amount of Arizona groundwater being used in the form of alfalfa, to feed cattle in Saudi Arabia, a murderous, authoritarian regime.

Good thing there isn't a huge drought in the West, huh.

"...Fondomonte, a Saudi company, exports the alfalfa to feed its cows in the Middle East. The country has practically exhausted its own underground aquifers there.

In Arizona, Fondomonte can pump as much water as it wants at no cost...Fondomonte doesn't even own the nearly 3,500 acres it is using in Butler Valley. The land belongs to Arizona – Fondomonte rents it from the Arizona State Land Department.

The Republic sought an interview with State Land Commissioner Lisa Atkins for nearly a year. But her department would only answer questions in writing. Before doing so, it ran all its answers by the public relations staff in Ducey’s office.

The Land Department wouldn’t directly answer whether it would consider charging more for agricultural leases, why it is allowing a potential future urban water source to be depleted by a Saudi-owned farm, or whether it can force farms to disclose how much water they pump.

At a time when some Republicans in the Legislature are complaining about committing more money to public schools and are trying to reduce funding to the state’s general fund, the state has not been doing nearly enough to maximize money for schools that comes from renting state lands for agriculture – and by law, maximizing returns from renting the land is the state's obligation.

The Saudi company was supposed to report on water use at the Butler Valley site. But it wasn’t for the tens of thousands of acre feet of water being sprayed onto the fields of alfalfa and other crops. It was for the water used at a mobile home in the middle of the farm that housed Fondomonte employees. 

Water use there came to less than a quarter of an acre-foot in 2016– a miniscule amount – enough for occupants to shower, do their dishes and laundry for a year.

Though the state requires Fondomonte to regularly report water use of the mobile home, it does not require Fondomonte to report the amount of water on the rest of the 3,500 acres. This is despite the fact that the water use of the farm is 80,000 to 100,000 times the water use at the mobile home, according to state estimates. 

When asked why the state was focused on the mobile home and not the farm, the State Land Department did not reply."

So we have no idea how much water is leaving the state on a sweetheart deal to ensure that a bunch of medievalist in a desert half a world away can have juicy steaks.  And California has the exact same issue, just replace "Saudi Arabia" with "China" and make the volume of water even larger.

Meanwhile in a similar vein of state governmental unconcern, our state healthcare system is still in tatters from Covid, and schoolteachers have to buy their own office supplies, and all the old guys who used to teach firearm safety in schools are retiring, and something near 5% of all private residences in my city are now short-term rentals, and developers are given permission to build high-rises without proven water sources, and law enforcement officers watch citizens drown in the Rio Salado without lifting a finger to help them, and the State Senate hired Cyber Ninjas.

Fundamental requirements of the job of governing?  Undone, not interested.

Ridiculous carnival side-show issues?  Our politicians WILL BE THERE with bells on.

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5 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

First. we have a Republican candidate for governor of some minor state or other who got himself arrested by the FBI this morning on January 6th charges.

That primary looks like a shitshow, even by Trumpist standards.  Five GOP candidates, including two of the frontrunners, were disqualified for fraudulent signatures.  Great news for Whitmer.

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35 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Politicians today spend all their time and energy on marginal, corner-case issues associated with the Culture Wars instead of doing the basic things that are part of their job descriptions, and this is why they should all be tarred and feathered.

 /snip

Psst, you're not supposed to notice the bigger, far more important issues mentioned in the rest of your post until it's too late. The culture war stuff is supposed to distract you until then. 

Once truly free & fair elections have been eliminated by way of reducing the franchise to a segment of "reliable" voters, pointing out the sort of things you just did will get you hauled off to a gulag/for-profit prison in no time!

[Btw, while your rant was ostensibly non-partisan, and I think you are a (ex-?)Republican, I hope the specific example you have given means that you very much realize which of the two major parties is the true threat to America's future!]

 

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24 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

It's a wet fart that will change no one's mind. 

This is just being a cynic for cynicism's sake.  Nobody seriously thinks they will change anyone's mind.  Doesn't mean they're not still important.

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1 minute ago, KingintheNorth4 said:

Faux News is replaying the Benghazi Hearings.

Of course it is.

The hearing is now in a recess for about 10 minutes, after showing footage of the assault from many different cameras and angles.  I'm not sure why C-Span hasn't done that.

The demands for Pelosi to be given to them -- lordessa, just as at the time, it felt like the French Terror, in which the mob demands its choice to tear with its own hands from limb to limb. 

I have been spending lot of time with medieval sieges historically by the time this happened, and this was like that.  Right down to what the women knew would happen to them if the walls were breached, which mods told me was verboten to speak of here.  Yet right here, historically in our own time, we see this.

At least its in the historical record, what They did and wanted to do that day.

But talk of cognitive dissonance, respecting Cheney for her clarity of expression and her objective.  Wonder if she also received some very special threats on the 6th . . . .

 

 

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2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Jan 6 committee sounds like they're setting themselves up for an epic fail tonight. I cannot imagine that they have anything that's game changing as they claim.

Feels like this post hasn't aged well already. I missed a portion while I was driving home, bit what I saw showed information not given yet.  Ivanka might not be a favorite any longer...

Change things? Maybe not.  But it should.

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14 minutes ago, DMC said:

This is just being a cynic for cynicism's sake.  Nobody seriously thinks they will change anyone's mind.  Doesn't mean they're not still important.

Hard to see how important it is big picture wise if it turns out to largely be a rehash of old news with some random new tidbits that makes people feel ever more numb. 

2 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Feels like this post hasn't aged well already. I missed a portion while I was driving home, bit what I saw showed information not given yet.  Ivanka might not be a favorite any longer...

Change things? Maybe not.  But it should.

Of course it should. This should be horrifying to most Americans. But it's probably not. My guess is that very people watched much of the hearing at all and if they did their minds were already made up.

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Fun fact: Fox aired F*cker Carlsen's show... without commercial breaks. No switching channels tonight!

 

ETA: While it would be nice if these hearings changed people's minds, or at least refresh some meomies, I think the most important member of the audience is Merrick effing Garland. I mean, I'm sure they all have pocket pardons, but still.

I missed Ivanka's statement.

Jared's "whining" comment was something else...

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7 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Hard to see how important it is big picture wise if it turns out to largely be a rehash of old news with some random new tidbits that makes people feel ever more numb. 

Well, first of all, the committee and its investigation has already elicited tons of new information - a lot of it they've leaked over the last year.  Second, this is like saying the 9/11 commission was worthless because it didn't affect the 2004 election.  I guess you could say the public hearings are "just for show," but it'd be even more weird - and objectionable - if they didn't have public hearings.

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25 minutes ago, KingintheNorth4 said:

I can hear the NRA bought GOP now: "Arm the manufacturers!"

New conservative conspiracy theory going around that at least some of these mass shooters were 'programmed' by liberals and released whenever required to bolster the anti-gun laws needed to 'take our guns away.'

 

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