US Politics, March 2023: "We want our own safe space, and we deserve it"

Oh Marge...

"We want our own safe space, and we deserve it" -- Marjorie Taylor Greene pic.twitter.com/WGpTLrjNxe

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 1, 2023

I know there’s a thread for it, but jfc the anti-trans stuff that’s moving through OK and AR right now is so fucked and enraging.

Agreed.

Generally I want to focus more on stuff with a chance of passing than stuff that just happens to be introduced (and which will never make it out of committee).

I am skeptical that even the reddest state is about to delegitimize the very existence of the Democratic party, but I agree that there is some scary shit (like the anti-trans stuff and comparatively trivial anti-drag stuff) that needs to be met and fought.

There's some other, equally bonkers shit coming up in Montana:

House Bill 645 would ban individuals who received the COVID-19 vaccine from donating blood, making it a misdemeanor with a $500 fine to donate or accept blood from vaccinated donors. The bill would also ban people who have had a diagnosis of “Long COVID,” medically defined as “postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 due to chronic 27 SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.”

In addition to creating a severe shortage of blood in the state, opponents said there’s no way to test blood for both Long COVID or the vaccines.

now we've got bad blood

Just a note that the anti-drag measures are anti-trans measures, because these Christofascist
numbskulls intentionally conflate the two via the wording of the measures themselves— presenting outside of the gender on one’s birth certificate in public is essentially banned. The purpose of the bills is de facto criminalization of trans people.

That is definitely the purpose of the bills, and more broadly they are part of an all-out assault on queer people and culture, they want it all back in the closet.

Trae Crowder rounds it up pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw9d9eFZ9jk

Crowder otmfm. I wish this kind of content made more of a difference. I hope it reaches some kids while they're still making up their minds about the world.

Trump supporters show up outside Leesburg Mall today to troll Desantis’s book signing. Officer comes out and said he was told that anyone with a Trump sign had to leave. Desantis’s fascist tactics, meet Trump supporters! pic.twitter.com/tgArqEpuY8

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) February 28, 2023

We will be shutting down low-performing, ideologically-captured academic departments and hiring new faculty. The student body will be recomposed over time: some current students will self-select out, others will graduate; we'll recruit new students who are mission-aligned.

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) February 28, 2023

500K fascist followers (minus the two dozen people who report on him for a living and a couple thousand who prefer to know the enemy)

creepy as fuck

desantis book signing ✔
leesburg, fl ✔
books-a-million ✔
trump flags ✔
laura loomer living her best life ✔

looks like a civil war is brewing between the trumpists and the desantists

hope it gets real, real ugly

about to be some bloody Tupperware parties

hopefully some violent golf cart skirmishes in The Villages

🐦[We will be shutting down low-performing, ideologically-captured academic departments and hiring new faculty. The student body will be recomposed over time: some current students will self-select out, others will graduate; we’ll recruit new students who are mission-aligned.
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) February 28, 2023🕸]🐦

This headline (Daily Mail) is just too good:

REVEALED: Roald Dahl books were neutered by woke consultants aged eight to 30 - led by 'non-binary, asexual, polyamorous relationship anarchist who is on the autism spectrum'

xpost Not the least reason being (as noted in the responses) that graduates of Far Right U are going to be viewed as generally unemployable by anyone who isn't a fellow shitbag. It's all just deeply, deeply stupid.

Maybe the school will just hire them all after graduation.

Who is this non-binary, asexual, polyamorous relationship anarchist who is on the autism spectrum they sound dope

^^Sounds like what Colin Firth introduced himself as in the first Kingsman movie.

the organization FIRE seems to be hinting that it's ready to start suing once HB 999 passes, and is trying to get in touch with educators in advance. also suggesting they disobey the laws.

I have my problems with FIRE, but in 2023 I feel like FDR lusting to get Stalin on my side.

xpost (I hope the 8 year old is the polyamorous anarchist)

I went to high school with Greg Luki4noff, ama

Would be wary of assuming they’re too incompetent to effectively purge higher education on ideological grounds. It seems they’re following the model established in Hungary and it was effective enough there.

500K fascist followers (minus the two dozen people who report on him for a living and a couple thousand who prefer to know the enemy)

We’re still assuming any of the statistics on Twitter represent actual individual human beings?

Not sure if the coverage was posted here of the Israeli firm that creates botnets where one actual person can control something on the order of tens of thousands of distinctive genuine seeming fake accounts on social media? It was all over the Grauniad for a few days but I can dig up a link on request.

but elon promised to get rid of the bots

he actually meant butts

and yet the butts remain. we've been lied to

CPAC 2023 begins with Matt Schlapp describing Jim Jordan as possibly "the most powerful man in Washington DC" lol pic.twitter.com/h4EmLf7HtL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2023

man, Jim Jordan has a type, doesn't he

Truer words were never spoken (typed).

when a rightwing reactionary is trying to “trigger” people with a post it’s because they are deeply insecure. the only way to counter them isn’t with logic, but to dig into their insecurities and bully them relentlessly over it

— pudding person (@JUNlPER) March 1, 2023

BREAKING: Gov. Bill Lee has signed a bill banning transgender care for those under 18 and a bill to potentially criminalize drag shows.@WKRN #TNLeg23 pic.twitter.com/8BS7jvQRzx

— Chris O’Brien (@THEChrisOB) March 2, 2023

Good times here, good times.

UPDATE — INBOX: NASHVILLE folks tell us they took down the NAZI SIGN hung on the Chestnut St. bridge, which thanked @GovBillLee for “tirelessly working to fight trannies and fags” adding “we must secure a future for white children”.

How proud you must be, Guv. pic.twitter.com/s8tXmLuQWG

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) March 2, 2023

I used to feel generally warm toward Tennessee despite its abundant problems — every place has problems — but that is not the case any more. There are people, places and things I love here, but this hard right Christian police state shit is so pernicious and exhausting. And also just dumb, so many stupid and mean people in positions of power.

I’m sorry man. It’s pretty grim. I feel like this if officially A Thing now, that the worst, stupidest most cynical people are in power. In some places it’s worse than others though and Tennessee is right up there.

i'm long overdue to resume donating to ACLU, but now have to decide which chapter given how many states are fucked up.

really sorry tipsy - this country is Hell right now.

BREAKING: Taking away the freedom of families of trans youth to seek critical healthcare, Gov. Lee has signed into law a ban on all forms of gender-affirming care for trans people under 18.

We will not allow this dangerous law to stand.

Our statement: https://t.co/HHbv5oLNje

— ACLU of Tennessee (@aclutn) March 2, 2023

one of the 2024 GOP front-runners who isn't trump or desantis

Nikki Haley: "Wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic, hands down" pic.twitter.com/YPRrxQ4P6a

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 3, 2023

even the "moderates" are completely off the deep end. what a fucking horrible thing for her to say

lol "America isn't perfect, but our ideals are perfect."

"Ideally, we would be perfect"

I wish just once one of these bozos would define exactly what they mean by "wokeness." I know the Florida AG's office had to do it court a while back and funny how it didn't actually sound that scary when said out loud.

It's like pornography; they all get aroused when they see it.

.@timkaine is as decent, honorable, selfless soul as you will ever meet. A man with the heart of a servant, who is "woke". @HillaryClinton

— Jennifer Granholm (@JenGranholm) July 23, 2016

nikki haley can't think of anything that is different between her and trump. tim scott is also unable, when asked, to think of what he would do differently than trump. desantis is having great success in exporting his policies for punishing everyone who isn't a straight christian to the rest of the red states, but he's an insufferable prick and doesn't do well on television so is probably doomed. trump is an unsufferable prick but he kind of owns that space, and this morning released a song called "justice for all" which combines himself reading the pledge of allegiance with jan 6 insurrectionists singing the national anthem. he's still the frontrunner.

trump wanted to get pence murdered, and pence can't even talk about it. he is the most pathetic person in this race, which is saying a lot. pompeo is just a giant piece of shit

"Socialism" has taken a back seat to "wokeness" as the bogeyman of the hour. They can't define it, because they don't want to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMypXV1YJfw

Half empty hall for Nikki Haley's CPAC speech pic.twitter.com/LMVp9WQWDf

— Alan Fisher (@AlanFisher) March 3, 2023

^^As Rupar pointed out, Big Trump Energy in those empty seats.

Such pessimism. Half full!

most of her stans are out fighting wokeness, they can't be sitting watching speeches while there are wokesters out woking things up

what's the opposite of woke anyway? Asleeped?

woke up, sheeple.

Only a dozen people were there for Haley's CPAC speech but all of them went on to introduce their own anti-trans bill

I looove that Grace Jones track!

Not that this matters, but it's entertaining:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/11h9x4k/jon_stewart_just_completely_destroyed_republican/

Pull Up To The Trumper

Woking in the Rain?

Nobody Wokes in LA

her woke anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDhSlFhX-98

President Biden had one cancerous skin lesion removed from his chest on Feb. 16, his longtime doctor Kevin C. O’Connor said in a letter Friday. All cancerous tissue was successfully removed, and no further treatment is needed.

A biopsy confirmed that the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma, O’Connor said. The biopsy was performed on the same day as Biden’s annual physical.

Basal cell carcinoma, O’Connor explained, does not tend to spread or metastasize, as other more serious skin cancers like melanoma do.

Per O’Connor, the area of the biopsy has healed nicely and Biden, 80, will continue under dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing health care.

O’Connor noted at the time of Biden’s physical that he had several non-melanoma skin cancers removed before assuming the presidency.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/03/biden-skin-cancer/

So Bolsonaro spoke at CPAC today:

well well look who gets a rock star entrance at CPAC pic.twitter.com/3RMax3sosV

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 4, 2023

Wait, what?

(And I realize there’s no shortage of “wait, what?” these days)

CPAC loves any leader who can instigate an insurrection after losing an election.

Why do they love bolsonaro, again? Because he opposes socialism and wanted to be a dictator? And he hates everyone who isn’t a straight Christian?

The WSJ cheered his victory when he won in 2018

i believe you answered your own question

He also wanted to rape the earth so

bolsonaro is strong! bolsonaro is brave and powerful! the people need a king!!

Trump/Bolsonaro '24

I know there’s a thread for it, but jfc the anti-trans stuff that’s moving through OK and AR right now is so fucked and enraging.

This also happened at CPAC:

“Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”

These words were in a speech by a major right wing figure at a national conservative conference.

It’s a straight up call for genocide. That’s what this fight is about. They want us gone. pic.twitter.com/HHFyjbCejg

— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) March 4, 2023

The speaker is a Daily Wire Chud named Michael Knowles.

nazi shit getting applause and laughter from a bunch of fucking assholes

I wish just once one of these bozos would define exactly what they mean by "wokeness." I know the Florida AG's office had to do it court a while back and funny how it didn't actually sound that scary when said out loud.

They never will and they can’t, really. It has to keep this mystified separation because you can’t project all kindsa shit onto it

The Twitter responses to Wiener’s tweet are fucking sickening.

I should say that I also hate Scott Wiener, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

from December:

Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’ Communications Director said “woke” was a “slang term for activism…progressive activism” and a general belief in systemic injustices in the country.

Asked what “woke” means more generally, [Desantis’ General Counsel Ryan] Newman said “it would be the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”

can we please reclaim woke and just be done with this

I was vaguely annoyed by a Chicago Tribune op-ed this week about a new line of Legos that has apparently triggered the right because it includes people with different skin tones and physical abilities.

An excerpt: "It’s a blind spot that lives at the heart of all the panic over woke-ism: the assumption that there’s one default way to be a human. That everything else is a deviation. An exception. An aberration. A statement. Virtue signaling. When of course there are endless ways to be, to live, to look, to love during our time on this Earth. Acknowledging and celebrating that isn’t woke. It’s awake."

And yes, sure, I agree with the general sentiment, but it implicitly accepts the right's coopted definition of "woke" as something to be avoided.

Woke is a dog whistle now, there’s no way it is coming back

It's not as if the word "woke" was ever indispensable. It was never much more than a bit of shorthand jargon among insiders. In a similar way critical race theory was only an insider term among academics before the right wing noise machine grabbed hold of it and made it a convenient whipping post.

i'm so fucking sick of hearing the word, it def feels like it's past the point of 'coming back'

i mean just not apologising like damn straight i’m woke af what are you

Post-woke

woke vs volk

can it be more ridiculous that the anti-wokers are among the most intentionally ignorant motherfuckers in our political world? if the culture abandons the word, well. otoh if aimless is right and the culture never really made and claimed the word, i guess nhnf.

conservatives get really hung up on words as magic spells that have immutable meanings that transcend time, culture, and language (like how they think of gender!) Basically they’re on the same spectrum as the sovereign citizens who think by uttering gibberish in court that sounds all-legal-like it will get them out of paying child support.

“Woke" feels like a rerun of "politically correct" , but with more bile and nastiness behind it; I remember conservatives (and some liberals) decrying “pc” but didn’t sense the same amount of rage behind it. It was more like handwringing or eye-rolling.

PC was code for "These hippie professors are trying to radicalize our kids"
Woke is code for the n word

tbf i think "woke" has broadened way beyond that, to become just a new shorthand for "liberals we fight in the culture war." its total vagueness in these right-wing statements and overwhelmed county-council meetings is a reflection of how it's come to cover every grievance the old guard have with every social or political change. it's therefore the perfect foil for conservatism, since the whole ethos is finding all forms of progressive change to be not merely discomforting signs of times changing, but evidence of a sinister plot by insufficiently American Americans to destroy the American Way Of Life. "society is in the gutter and these liberals are actively trying to take it there, with their abortions, their gay people, their pronouns, their political correctness, their hippie professors with stink lines. they want to take away your guns and cigarettes and Big Gulps and SUVs and lawn chemicals and racist monuments, they think America has racism in it, they welcome foreigners, they recycle, they disrespect our beautiful police and our beautiful Christmas".... etc. etc. etc.

PC was code for the n word too. No need to overthink it, woke absolutely is PC mark II, updated for the 2010s and '20s. PC lost whatever meaning and bite it ever had just thru relentless overuse — a fate I think woke is well on its way to as well. But they both always mean the same thing — Why Can't I Just Be a Hateful Bigot Any More?

Yeah, but PC wars was never really about taking rights away from people, or preventing them from being provided. It was mostly a fight over free speech and the like, at least as I remember it. So yeah, essentially the right (in theory) to say the n word. The woke war seems to be much more and much broader, about countering literally *anything* deemed liberal. Like, no one ever thought something like climate change legislation was a fight over political correctness, but it is considered by these coconut skulls as "woke."

nah, anti-PC went hand in hand with anti-environmentalism, they just didn't call it climate change yet

But were all liberal policies dismissed as political correctness? Not as I remember it.

PC just never made it that far, but that was always the end game

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/wggAAOSwu0Zf~sy~/s-l500.jpg

pc anxiety was absolutely about taking rights away from people. it was the banner waved by anti-affirmative action efforts, for a start.

I mean, PC never actually meant anything, it was a way to complain about not being able to use racial/homophobic/misogynistic slurs. It arose from pretty much the same "everyone's so sensitive these days geez" vibe as "woke." I think the biggest difference isn't between the phrases and what they signal as it is between the eras — in the '90s/'00s, the peak "anti-PC" era, we were in a bit of a narrower consensus about how far anyone would push things in either direction. Now there's less patience on the cultural left about waiting for grandma to be "comfortable" with social changes, and more openness on the cultural right about wanting to pretty much roll back an entire century of civil rights gains. But it's all the same thing, it's all the same fight.

One big difference is that "woke" was a term being used by African-Americans, whereas "politically correct" came from the New Left, (adapted from Mao) and was used there ironically to diss other leftists who were too rigid in their ideology. Very often the conservatives who were using PC as a weapon had come from the New Left and knew the origin.

Yeah, although in both cases you have the right repurposing, redefining and vilifying a word from the rhetoric of the left. I just don't think there's any real difference between how the phrases have been/are being used, they are ways to say you're against some nefarious leftist agenda without having to specify which things you're really talking about (bigotry, mostly).

well, whatever. when I hear a conservative personality spit out "Woke" with disdain, it feels the same as when white people mock hip hop lingo.

I think the way "woke" is weaponized far exceeds the scope of how PC was used.

PC was used to complain that everyone was "too sensitive and easily offended", but largely focused on minorities and women, which does put it in the same class as "woke", sure. It was definitely an attempt to get maligned groups to "know their place".

But this came up in water cooler conversations, terrible opinion columns, and stand-up bits more than anywhere else. It also wasn't used quite the same by everyone, as some people used it to refer to offensive media that conservative church-going blue hairs didn't like (not really the RIGHT definition, no, but one used by a decent amount of people)

I remember posting something like "whining about PCism is basically asking for the right to be a dick with impunity" and getting a lot of pushback from all sides - even self-professed liberal minded people.

And there was also the curious (wrong) undercurrent that minorities themselves didn't care about the offensive things people said, that it was white people being unnecessarily performative.

When people use "Woke" pejoratively, it does capture much of what these same assholes referred to when they said PC, but it has a much nastier, more destructive tint to it. Like they're using it to mean like, an actual cultural civil war, that these "Woke" people seek to destroy our privileged way of life.

It's more than just "everybody's too sensitive", it's been weaponized as "Woke people think the flag, the country, white people are "evil" and are seeking to replace us. This is a fight for our country ".

As such, the term has had much more destructive tendencies. Not that "PC" was harmless. People who whined about PC culture became politicians who created legislation that hurt marginalized groups (or became voters that would vote for them). There was also less pushback against it as well - so harmful ideas spread without resistance.

But "Woke" has literally become legislation. DeSantis administration quite literally passed the "Stop WOKE Act", in an attempt to fight back against progressive politics, and his state legislature is chasing it with other measures to curtail the freedoms of so-called "Woke people", and has attempted to essentially create state-run education.

The scope of the destruction has much more terrifying potential because "Woke" is meant to essentially identify enemies of the state to a heavily armed, angry populace

Sorry for saying literally so much.

on a tangent here, something that does bother me is when some comedy video that's racially insensitive (but still pretty funny) makes the rounds and the top 200 comments are all shit like "lets see the snowflakes get offended about this" or "I'm black and I find this hilarious" or "screw the wokes, funny is funny" despite there being basically ZERO people actually finding the content offensive. us snowflakes are never as triggered as they want us to be.

us snowflakes are never as triggered as they want us to be.

TBF, this is exactly how I feel when people talk about how "shocking" a death metal album is. Shocking to whom? Your grandma's never gonna hear it; it's music by knuckle-walkers, for knuckle-walkers. (Me included.)

antifa metal is the only subversive metal atm imo

I agree, the right "repurposing, redefining and vilifying a word from the rhetoric of the left" (a thing they are really good at btw) when "politically correct" was the term in question seemed more eye-rolly and "get over yourselves" like, say, tree-hugger, compared to the weaponization of "woke." They are definitely amping up the "enemy of the state" rhetoric now.

Pantifa: Vulger Display of Woke

Yeah, but again, the difference isn't between the terms "PC" and "woke," it's between the overall tone and aims of the right-wing culture war. It doesn't matter what word they use to delegitimize and marginalize minority groups and the liberal worldview, what's different in 2023 vs. 1993 is 30 years of right-wing media saturation that has radicalized a big portion of white America. Combined with an emboldened progressive movement or movements, for sure, the actual gains in gay rights (and, of course, electing a Black president) have stoked a more strident backlash.

But none of that is inherent to the terms PC or woke, they're both right-wing code for "broadly liberal shit we don't like, especially as it pertains to race and gender."

A lot of stuff people call woke now is the exact same stuff they were calling PC 20-30 years ago, the field has just broadened.

i agree but i also agree w President Keyes that there is a nastier edge to weaponizing a word from popular black culture than from academia

Sure, in keeping with a much nastier, edgier right-wing mainstream.

Anti-PC rhetoric was viciously ableist ime. I feel like that might have shifted a little / become too taboo / hits too close to home ... or something? Idk maybe I'm just not seeing the right (wrong) content, or maybe the eugenics impulse that drives that stuff has been mostly directed in racist and transphobic directions

You have to remember that the ADA had just been passed in 1990, so ableism and bias against disabled people was very high among people who didn’t want to retrofit their business or stop using the “r” slur

(Shout out to the late, great Judy Heumann, for anyone that missed her passing.)

xp
ah right, that's a good point

rob & tabes otm - I remember being on an NFL message board, basically 'ground zero' if you want to familiarize yourself with what the scummiest people in America think, and there was an entire thread lambasting the existence of handicapped parking spaces and disability payments, and how that was leeching off of the government, and using the r-word to define these folks. this was early 2000s.

same thing w/ constantly seeing people parking in handicapped spots illegally and whining "y'all get more spots than us" (false - even nowadays)

just yesterday I heard someone use the line "and yet if you don't have a job, and don't want to work, the government will give you everything you need" and I wanted to be like "hold up a second" but then "nahh you really don't wanna hear where this is going"

tipsy and Neanderthal otm about how the right is using "woke," and the ways it's frightening as married to a fascist governance/activist agenda with a huge base that's been propagandized to for almost two generations at this point.

Also ironic lol at Desantis' office defining woke as "“slang term for activism… progressive activism” as if the right has no activism going on.

they use the word "woke" because it makes the ideology of the american left seem scary, alien, and not just a continuation of the broader liberal tradition (i.e., the expansion of rights and opportunities to more people).

kinda think the way to fight this stuff is to make them define 'woke' every time they use it

And to do it in a way that puts all the onus on them. "I'm not sure I understand. What do you mean?"

the humorous thing is you want to talk 'performative', go to any church

and talk to the people who go there at the church, then hang out with them later in the week outside of church, and compare the conversations you have

Also ironic lol at Desantis' office defining woke as "“slang term for activism… progressive activism” as if the right has no activism going on.

i don't know, i think this makes sense. they know that their own activists are based on hatred and the desire to promote their own preferred group (white straight christians) at the expense of everyone else. they assume that the left has a mirror version that is also based on the same kind of hatred. so much of the whole movement, maga-era but long before, is a battle against their own projected counterparts

I think the news and social media cycle resulted in a quick explosion of "anti-woke" sentiment but "politically correct" was absolutely weaponized and mocked. The attention concentrated on academics and anyone reactionaries deemed as too strident in their wording? Same deal.

And the institutionalization by organizations that codified some word choices while making minimal strides in actual behavior that followed so-called "politically correct" efforts are now mirrored in some diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

The conflation of all of the things that draw ire -- those institutional changes that seem like little more than window dressing and jargon, and concentrating on the individuals that draw the most ire instead of analyzing the actual underlying goals and stances -- makes "woke" or "politically correct" or whatever the next thing is into a dumping ground for cultural conservatives.
You also end up with a handful of disaffected people who aren't necessarily that conservative just tiring of the dialogue and using the phrase as a punchline.

I think the thing I've learned with age is that the people who get called angry, strident, shrill, etc. probably have very specific reasons why they appear that way to others, and it often has a lot more to do with the listener not understanding than it does the speaker being "angry"

organizations that codified some word choices while making minimal strides in actual behavior

I've a sad, sinking feeling that the movement pushing for reparations for slavery and segregation will only lead to some formalized breast-beating language similar to the land acknowledgment rituals being propagated by white liberal institutions and nothing more substantial. Even the tattered remnants of affirmative action amount to more than that.

the smartest thing to do is keep fanning the flames of Trump v DeSantis until both stab each other during the first caucus

I'd prefer something likelier to be fatal.

xxp have you actually attended a meeting or event where there was a land acknowledgment ritual or is this a thing you've heard happens that you're viewing as performative and social fluff?

I think the latter happens, but there are some intersectional groups where it has a meaning, especially when it comes to water/land rights and specifically protests about oil or carbon pipelines that run right through indigenous land

The restoration of water/land rights as legally established in dozens of treaties the government has unilaterally abrogated would be a substantial outcome. The land acknowledgement rituals are not different from liberal support for reparations and while this support is meaningful it doesn't constitute a meaningful stopping place for BIPOC people, as when 'organizations codify some word choices while making minimal strides in actual behavior'.

I don't hear anyone right wing or rightist-adjacent relatives using "politically correct" on, say, Facebook anymore. I don't see them use "woke" either tbh. Maybe they're aware of who might be reading and thus show a modicum of decency.

I was at a comedy show that started off with with a verbal land acknowledgement, I found that a little weird.

Side note: It occurred to me this morning, while watching John Oliver's piece on DeSantis, which spent a possibly excessive amount of time on "what Trump nickname will do the most damage", that the best way to harm him with Republican primary voters would be if Trump were to start referring to him as "Harvard Ron DeSantis." Being educated is about the worst thing possible in MAGA world. They're like the Khmer Rouge about that shit.

I’m feeling that, except that Trump went to Penn.

Most of his followers have no idea what Penn is.

I was going to mention that, but I think 90% of the country has no idea what wharton business school is, but harvard is a pretty big name nationwide

I went to the Edith Wharton school.

I still have my Edith Wharton tie.

Hmm yeah maybe. And anyway, if Trump went there it must be OK.

the blood of the Trump washes away all sins

that was a good episode by the way, put all together like that it really does seem like DeSantis is going for this calculated asshole shtick which I think may not play too well in a general election. gonna really be something to watch him try to go after Trump.

So many Florida friends don't want a repeat of their Hilary's-got-this 2016 moment that they want to believe the GOP will coronate DeSantis. To believe a man's invincible after winning reelection by his margins last November is a natural thing, but Florida ain't Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, or....Georgia.

North Florida is, essentially, south Georgia.

put all together like that it really does seem like DeSantis is going for this calculated asshole shtick which I think may not play too well in a general election

It plays horribly outside Florida and with anyone who's not a right-wing maniac. Add to that the fact that he just has a really unpleasant personality, an annoying voice, and carries himself like a short person (I have no idea of his actual height) and he is a terminally flawed general election candidate. He seems incapable of registering or displaying pleasure, ever. Meanwhile Biden, whatever else you think of him, always seems to be enjoying his day.

i don't know, he has some additional hatred in his back pocket, don't count ron out yet

If you read only one article about the roots of Ron DeSantis's career in the legal laundering of the torturing of innocents, let this be it. (Seriously, political journalists, read this, because his work at Gitmo has been waaaaaaaaay underplayed.) https://t.co/8sEfA2yvDg

— Rick Perlstein (@rickperlstein) March 6, 2023

Yeah, it's great

Ope, looks like Meatball Ron went to far for Newt:

A Florida bill that would require bloggers who write about the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, to register with the state proved a step too far even for the godfather of far-right Republicanism, the former US House speaker Newt Gingrich.

“The idea that bloggers criticising a politician should register with the government is insane,” Gingrich wrote on Twitter.

“It is an embarrassment that it is a Republican state legislator in Florida who introduced a bill to that effect. He should withdraw it immediately.”

I realized the other day, regarding my Pat Buchanan reference a while back: A lot of the conservative political agendas strike me as "dog chasing car" scenarios where, once they actually catch up with the car, they have absolutely no idea what to do. Or maybe they're angry some other dog got to the car first.

Of course the internet, but I sometimes wonder if the radicalisation of conservative politics comes from Boomers facing mortality and wanting to stamp society in their image before they lose control of politics. Of course us Gen Xs will gesture feebly toward the reins while Gen Y ascends to fill the power vacuum in a few years, but ...

The idea that bloggers criticising a politician should register with the government is insane

Newt is behind the times. Republican legislators in safe seats everywhere have grasped that floating insane ideas in bills costs them nothing politically and drives the boundaries of politics further toward normalizing white supremacist fascism, which brings them closer to realizing their ideal state.

drives the boundaries of politics further toward normalizing white supremacist fascism, which brings them closer to realizing their ideal state.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, March 6, 2023 1:44 PM

sneaking suspicion says this might be the goal and our friend newt is concern trolling / dog whistling.

(stating the obvious: newt sucks. i just assume the opposite of everything he says. fuck`im.)

WATCH: Democrats need to "put more focus" on crime, says Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.).

Jackson: "It's a violent culture that we have to turn around." @kwelkernbc: "Do Democrats run the risk of running too far left on this issue?"

Jackson: "Yes, absolutely." pic.twitter.com/terJ0EoMxt

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 6, 2023

FUND THE POLICE FUND FUND FUND THE POLICE

The White House’s proposal would raise the net investment income tax, created by the Affordable Care Act, from 3.8 percent to 5 percent for all Americans earning more than $400,000 per year, in line with Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes for anyone under that threshold. The tax applies to capital gains and investment income. The plan also would expand this tax by applying it to more kinds of income from pass-through firms — businesses in which the owners pay taxes on their personal income taxes. Currently, these kinds of business owners do not pay this tax.

Additionally, the plan calls for expanding new rules reducing Medicare prescription drug payments beyond the measures approved last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The plan would give the administration authority to negotiate what price the federal government pays for more drugs than the limited number approved as part of Democrats’ legislative package last year, while also speeding up the process for negotiations. The prescription drug changes would bring in an additional $200 billion for the Medicare trust fund, the plan states. The proposal would also cap co-pays for some generic drugs, such as those used to treat hypertension and high cholesterol, to $2 per prescription per month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2023/03/07/biden-medicare-taxes-gop/

holy shit the DeSantis Gitmo stuff is awful, can't believe I'm saying this but I think I'd rather have Trump

“And anyone who calls DeSantis a "fascist" should be run out of the room.” Ok well what if you’re tied to a chair and can’t run? pic.twitter.com/caeylxwwQC

— Screamer Jim (@HeheWaitWhut) March 7, 2023

Hamid should be tied to a chair.

feel like the difference between these two is that Trump would say something like "any journalist who reports fake news about me should lose their citizenship" for applause, while DeSantis would actually try to pass the legislation

See? DeSantis should be president. He gets things done.

The Biden administration is considering reviving the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally — the same policy the president shut down over the past two years because he wanted a more humane immigration system, officials familiar with the discussions said Monday.

Although no final decision has been made, the move would be a stark reversal for President Biden, who came into office promising to adopt a more compassionate approach to the border after the harsh policies of his predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump.

The Biden administration has largely ended the practice of family detention, instead releasing families into the United States temporarily and using ankle bracelets, traceable cellphones or other methods to keep track of them

From New York Times

Since Biden changed chief of staff and sorta started re-election campaign he’s done a handful of things in an attempt to appease right wingers and rightish centrists

luv 2 put ankle bracelets on desperate families, on the other hand, luv 2 imprison them. how do i choose between????

"Vote Blue No Matter Who"

and here we are:

Now solidly pro-choice Florida will pass a 6-week abortion ban because Ron Desantis can’t win the Republican nomination with it at 15 weeks.

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) March 7, 2023

And DeSantis wants to personally supervise each abortion

i did not know de santis was a torturer at guantanamo but it makes sense. too bad republicans like this stuff so trump can't use it against him in the primary.

No, Trump can point out that DeSantis offshored all the torture to our enemies in Cuba, while he plans to bring the torture back here to THE USA

i was thinking he could call him like "jigsaw rob" or something

Apparently, no joke, the nickname being considered is “small D”

It's funny that the late night talk show hosts, or at least Colbert & Oliver that I saw, loved "Meatball Ron" and even praised Trump for nailing it, so then Trump had to distance himself from it and call it fake news. He must be hated by them in every way for his schtick to work.

https://jewishinsider.com/2023/03/rep-katie-porter-j-street-house-members-delegation-democratic-netanyahu-israel/

“ Not only was the prime minister “extremely generous both with his time and with his thoughts,” but the group was “really able to have an interactive dialogue with him,” she said. “I was extremely impressed with his willingness to kind of grapple with us at some of the toughest issues that Israel’s facing, everything from judicial reform — an issue that we’re having questions and discussions about right now within the Democratic Party here in the United States — to issues about the West Bank and about settlements.””

“Tiny D”, weren’t it?

hoping that the first debate just descends into cruel recriminations over penis sizes

x-post -- Porter trying too hard not to offend

The pre-visit preparations paid off, she recalled, when the delegation, which was sponsored by J Street, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. “It was actually funny in that there was a moment in that conversation with the prime minister where he was talking about Likud and LGBTQ members of Likud and he was saying, ‘I bet nobody knew that,’” Porter explained, referring to Netanyahu’s political party. “I raised my hand and I was like, ‘I knew! I knew!’ because I had gotten that additional briefing before I went.”

vomit

“Tiny D”, weren’t it?

oops, you're right. i think i was remembering this URL, but it's Tiny D that is under very careful consideration

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/donald-trump-ron-desantis-little-d

Sanctimonious D

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/07/actor-ben-savage-congress-schiff/

Former “Boy Meets World” actor Ben Savage is running for a U.S. House seat in a Los Angeles district represented by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D), who is seeking California’s open Senate seat.

Savage, who had filed as a Democrat in January, formally announced his bid Monday in an Instagram post, declaring himself a union member, longtime resident of the district, and “unhindered by political divisions and special interests.” He emphasized his newness to politics in the post. Savage previously ran for a West Hollywood city council seat in 2022 and lost with more than 6 percent of the vote, according to election records.

“I’m running for Congress because it’s time to restore faith in government by offering reasonable, innovative and compassionate solutions to our country’s most pressing issues,” he said.

EVery generation gets the Gopher it deserves.

Biden bucks liberals and tells Democrats to get tough on crime.

“Crime is only gaining salience as an issue. It seems that Biden, as he apparently runs for re-election, is informing his party to wake up," said @mattsgorman.https://t.co/YHWzOYOor1

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) March 6, 2023

C'mon man! FUND the police!

Biden knows that '90s nostalgia is hot right now, so looking to remaster the 1994 crime bill for a deluxe anniversary reissue. Savvy!

Biden's got no fecks to give.

FINALLY somebody who promises to "get tough on crime"

Can't believe nobody's ever tried this before

They've got the big brains on this one

Wake up Democrats!!!

I cannot believe people are falling for this fucking bullshit again

Maybe it'll work the 50000000000000000th time we shovel money into police departments and do absolutely fucking nothing about the utterly broken systems of early years education, medicine, after-school programs etc

I mean it's okay, it's only people's entire lives we're playing with for the sake of election positioning

Go ahead fuck it why not!

xpost - They are, believe me. It's been really disappointing to hear how many people I interact with on a daily basis, many of them who are otherwise very liberal and in some cases outspokenly anti-police, who have suddenly gone all in on "crime" being the number one issue that needs to be addressed.

"Last fall, Gallup found that a record 56% of Americans reported crime had gone up in their area — the highest uptick since the pollster first started asking the question in 1972. A follow-up survey in January found that 72% of Americans expected crime to continue to rise this year.

Residents of urban areas reported a 15 percentage point drop in their perceived quality of life over past year in deep-blue New Jersey, according to a new Monmouth University poll, while suburbanites said their quality of life remained stable."

Beyond the issue that throwing money at the carceral complex won’t actually change anything, there’s also the fact that crime, including violent crime, is very low at present.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/10/31/violent-crime-is-a-key-midterm-voting-issue-but-what-does-the-data-say/

The conservative hellion who lives upstairs babbled for minutes a few weeks about how "these savages" (in Cuban Spanish) broke into her son's Jeep, stealing minor crap from the glove compartment. They called the cops.

Last week I went to my car early in the morning and noticed a thief had stolen a supply of quarters I keep by the gear shift. I left the door open or they opened it. Either way, I don't give a shit, nor is my incident an indicator that Crime Is Up. But most people blow up the anecdotal into a Kantian imperative.

https://townsquare.media/site/385/files/2020/10/violent-crime-NJ.jpg?w=1200&h=0&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89

People are fed lies by a very well organized set of lobbyists and a credulous press that swallows every word of it and churns out stories about shortages of cops etc it's just maniacal when you look at the data, it's bullshit but EVEN IF IT WEREN'T it has been shown again and again that cops do not reduce crime

Sorry but I've just about had it. I am completely fed up

What seems to be happening, at least in parts of Chicago, is that crime isn't necessarily up at all, but it seems to be moving into neighborhoods that have traditionally seen less crime.

Like we're probably experiencing the same, or fewer, number of carjackings, but when two of them happen in Lincoln Park, folks act like the end times are upon us.

Here's a comment, jon, from one of the sites I visit:

Despite Fox News focus on it NYC specifically has seen little increase. But it's very bad in places like Baltimore and Chicago. Generally it also seems more widespread, compared to the nineties there has been some convergence between rural and urban areas leading to people who lived through the nineties to think if it's thus bad here what must it be like in NYC.

I think at this point we do have to acknowledge that crime is worse, but we also need to get the message across that it doesn't seem correlated with how hard or soft an area is on crime. Big problem is the increase is too new to really be able to take a data driven approach to the current increase.

Residents of urban areas reported a 15 percentage point drop in their perceived quality of life over past year in deep-blue New Jersey, according to a new Monmouth University poll, while suburbanites said their quality of life remained stable.

A couple of restaurants I really liked in my city have closed over the last year, but I don't know if I'd call it a 15% drop in quality of life. Maybe 9-12%.

Here in Oakland at least, rates of crime are hard to evaluate... so many people are like, "well, they stole my catalytic converter for the 3rd time, I'm not even gonna bother calling the police anymore" because all they do is show up like a day later and take a report that gets filed away somewhere

I tried to file a report online when all my buildings' mailboxes were broken into one night. My police report was REJECTED because I wasn't the victim, I guess they wanted each of the 20 residents to file separately. I didn't even know that police reports could be rejected, but I guess it helps their numbers

tbf a part of the problem in Chicago is the cops are still fucking whining about the protests and refusing to do jack shit. also the embarrassing shit like this:

WATCH LIVE: SkyCam9 over Mt. Sinai Hospital after a Chicago police officer is shot on the city’s South Side | Details: https://t.co/VSU0qFStDP pic.twitter.com/uEGW9P3zRq

— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) March 2, 2023

at one point I saw a report that over 400 units converged on the hospital. yes, that's what needs to happen when one (1) police officer is shot.

at one point I saw a report that over 400 units converged on the hospital. yes, that's what needs to happen when one (1) police officer is shot.

This is a plot point in the movie Triple 9. A group of criminals plan a robbery that involves shooting a cop, calling it in, and then committing a heist across town while all the other cops speed to the scene to stand around consoling each other.

"He was just two days away from retirement.."

oh, so when the police all gather in solidarity, in their cars no less, it's cool for them to block access to the hospital

there's been a slight uptick of violent crime here, but it seems focused around drugs and kids that fell out of the system during the pandemic

both of which are social problems exacerbated by human misery and a breakdown of community

when most people say their quality of life has gone down, it means "I see more homeless people"

oh, so when the police all gather in solidarity, in their cars no less, it's cool for them to block access to the hospital

yep! totally cool that ambulances had to be diverted to other, more distant hospitals because cops are babies.

look out, someone squeezed out a giant turd on the house floor

“I hereby appoint the honorable Marjorie Taylor Greene to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, Kevin McCarthy” pic.twitter.com/Em5JsIH5uW

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 8, 2023

Caligula's horse

there's always a "yes, we can go even lower" with the USA, isn't there

all part of the wheelin' & dealin' she did with Gaetz

they also get to park in McCarthy's spot on Fridays

"so, about those Jewish space lasers..."

Here we go, this is what I want to see more of. Not just as one-offs but as sustained effort. Concerts aren't enough, obviously, but it still feels good to see. https://www.stereogum.com/2216210/love-rising-tennessee-lgbtqia-benefit-concert/news/

Love Rising is a benefit concert that will take place later this month at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to raise money for LGBTQIA+ organizations in response to the state’s anti-LGBT legislation, including the recently passed laws restricting drag shows and transgender treatment and surgery for minors.

Artists tapped to perform at the event include Hayley Williams, Jason Isbell, Julien Baker, Allison Russell, Amanda Shires, Brittany Howard, Brothers Osborne, Hozier, Jake Wesley Rogers, Joy Oladokun, Maren Morris, Mya Byrne, Sheryl Crow, the Rainbow Coalition Band, Yola, and more that are yet to be announced.

that's great - hopefully Dolly jumps on the bill

Need a drag runway show between sets imo

more marj:

Majorities of Americans in both parties said they disagree with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) recent call for a “national divorce” between Republican- and Democratic-led states, according to a new poll released on Wednesday.

Greene called for a “national divorce” in a tweet last month in order to “separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government.”

“From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done,” she said in the tweet.

America Last! Dems have some work to do, we're still well above some other nations

Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill into law this week that rolls back a number of child labor protections across the state, including a measure that had required employers to obtain work certificates for children under the age of 16.

...Previously, minors under the age of 16 needed to verify their age and get the written consent of a parent or guardian before a work certificate could be issued by the state’s Division of Labor. But H.B. 1410, known as the Youth Hiring Act of 2023, which passed the Arkansas state legislature earlier this month, no longer requires youth under the age of 16 to have that work certificate as a condition of their employment.

...opponents of the legislation have argued that the work certificate served as a form of protection for vulnerable youth, especially immigrant youth, who may not always have a parent or guardian to sign off for them to work and who could be exploited without that certificate.

...Sanders’ signing of the bill comes after a major US food sanitation company that operated facilities in eight states, including Arkansas, recently paid a $1.5 million civil penalty for employing minors in hazardous conditions.

Packers Sanitation Services illegally employed at least 102 children between the ages of 13 and 17 in jobs that required them to use toxic chemicals and clean razor-sharp saws.

And it's a trend:

Passage of the Youth Hiring Act of 2023 represents the latest attempt in mostly Republican-led states to loosen child labor laws, despite federal officials seeking to crack down on offenses.

In Ohio, lawmakers are considering a bill that would let 14- and 15-year-old children work year-round until 9pm each day. The bill has bipartisan support and includes a resolution that would ask the federal government to change its child labor laws.

In Iowa, legislative proposals would allow children at least 15 years old to sell alcohol and children at least 14 years old to work specific jobs in meatpacking plants. The Iowa bill would also protect companies from liability if a child got sick or injured or died while at work.

Lawmakers in Minnesota, which is led by a Democratic governor, Tim Walz, have filed a bill that would permit children aged 16 and 17 to work construction jobs.

Reports by the New York Times have exposed the hiring of migrant children to work dangerous jobs at factories and elsewhere, flouting federal law.

Describing a “widespread exploitation of migrant children”, the Times noted that a recent surge in unaccompanied minors across the southern border has driven many into brutal work across the US, forcing some to balance school and work, whether processing milk for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or making socks for clothing stores.

The Iowa bill would also protect companies from liability if a child got sick or injured or died while at work.

But have any of these kids been exposed to a drag show, that's the main thing we need to focus on here.

we have to keep them working in the meatpacking plants, so that they won't end up at the drag shows, dontcha see

otoh

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S08E15/851500.jpg?b64lines=V2Ugd29yayBoYXJkLCB3ZSBwbGF5IGhhcmQu

note that, in addition to the multi-state slate of anti-lgbtq legislation, Iowa is also introducing legislation to consolidate a lot of state agencies and powers under direct control of the governor

I’d assume it’s pilot legislation drafted by the usual people pushed in a state that managed to recently draft more republican legislators, meaning they’re of the current post-Trump era

it’s absolute garbage

also worth noting the industries employing people of young age that aren’t one-off places are so-called “agriprocessors” aka slaughterhouses. it’s been a running struggle in rural america to keep up with immigrant communities. we had a decent immigrant laborer->education->next generation pipeline at one point, but the idea of english learning programs and solid education are under attack

so the new pipeline is immigrant labor -> their kids work at the same job after education ends at a young age

I’d hope we could make the jobs better but they can’t even figure out how to rotate stations at the factory so you don’t get repetitive strain injuries

How in the hell did I miss that Sarah Fuckabee Sanders was elected governor of Arkansas?!?! Truly just the most cursed timeline imaginable.

'elected'

dicbo=v2-ubswizzb&hrt

my favorite Autchecre track

Every time I think it couldn’t get more depraved …

Oh noes

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/09/politics/mitch-mcconnell-hospitalized/index.html

mama always said if i ain't got nothing nice to say, don't say it at all.

McConnell fell. Nice.

McConnell fell. Nice.

Tell Albert Camus the news.

he's leaving today

By a vote of 57-39, the Iowa House has passed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors in the state. Having already been passed by the senate, the bill now just needs to be signed by Governor Kim Reynolds

— Nora J.S. Reichardt 🏳️‍⚧️ (@Nora_JSR) March 8, 2023

“socialized” medicine bad, sociopathic denial of medical care totally cool

More fun from Tennessee:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tennessee-governor-signs-bill-to-cut-nashville-council-in-half/

"Conventional wisdom for the past four decades has been that smaller group sizes tend to make better decisions and this is the largest council that we see," said Republican Sen. Adam Lowe of Calhoun. "...There's a reason why we're judged by 12 of our peers in a jury and there's a reason, I think, why Christ walked with 12 of his disciples."

I will say ... a 40-person city council sounds like a nightmare

i identify more with the one who betrayed him

"Give us Democratic policies but with GOP fascists implementing them"

U. of North Florida poll, FL reg voters

Trump 50
Biden 43

DeSantis 51
Biden 42

6 wk abortion ban, no exceptions
Support 22
Oppose 75

Concealed carry
Support 21
Oppose 77

Ban CRT/DEI on campus
Support 35
Oppose 61https://t.co/ehnq4nZmWB

— Bill Scher (@billscher) March 9, 2023

Give us the money that allows us to skate across the very real pitfalls everyday Americans don't get the opportunities to

those poll results make zero fucking sense. if people oppose those policies why are they supporting the politicians who have made those policies their primary issues

People are fucking idiots

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are just really likeable dudes

People don’t really associate “politician” with “policy.”

Vibes-based political system maaaaaaaan.

Like, I used to get shit for this pre-2016, but less and less and especially so since the pandemic, but people are fucking stupid, myopic, and selfish, and they’ve been made this way by a crumbling education system in a crumbling country that does not give a shit about them— it is frankly surprising that people aren’t even MORE stupid

Give 'em time

After all, I live in Florida.

I will say ... a 40-person city council sounds like a nightmare

Yeah, part of Nashville's problem with fighting that was that basically everybody thinks their Metro Council is too big. But the real issue obviously is state pre-emption of local government, which red states just fucking love doing to blue cities. And it's for such a petty political reason, because the Council didn't want Nashville to host the Republican convention.

Meanwhile, good Pro Publica piece about yet another well-funded super-creepy right-wing influence group: https://www.propublica.org/article/leonard-leo-teneo-videos-documents

I do think that Leo and the Thiel-ites are being pretty naive thinking they can apply the Federalist Society model to more amorphous areas of politics and culture. The reason the Federalist Society has been so effective is that it's operating in a very rarified, elite realm of judicial appointments. That's a small pool to start with, with very narrow and influenceable pathways to power. Taking the same approach to Hollywood or Silicon Valley or whatever seems a lot harder. Still, whatever they do won't be good.

“The billionaire says: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if middle school kids had free access to sex-change therapy paid for by the federal government?’” Baehr continued. “Well, the filmmaker says, ‘I’d love to do a documentary on that; it will be a major motion film.’ The Harvard professor says, ‘We can do studies on that to say that’s absolutely biologically sound and safe.’ And the New York Times person says, ‘I’ll profile people who feel trapped in the wrong gender.’ ”

Yup, that's the Big Lib Conspiracy in a nutshell

Yeah, kind of hilarious projection there.

if people oppose those policies why are they supporting the politicians who have made those policies their primary issues

Because only in left spaces are those the "primary issues" for someone like DeSantis. His campaign is "I won't impose Hugo-Chavezism on Florida, I won't abolish the police, and I won't require your 7-year-old to go to gender re-education camp" and is backed by a fervent campaign to convince voters of the hilarious false claim that elected Democrats are in fact going to bring about those things.

“Major motion film”

I noted that as well lol

Re the NY Times Child labor investigation mentioned in that xpost Guardian link, reporter Hannah Driver says on latest The Daily that after recent coverage and resulting Fed pressure, suppliers are firing kids, who then tend to go on to other sketchy work situations---she's stayed in contact with several---these are the kids who don't have the xpost work certificates, signed by parent or guardian, that would allow them to take better jobs. Driver says that certification can be a fairly complicated process, involving lawyers in at least some instances, which is Sarah Huckabee Sanders' point exactly!

Here's link, sorry: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/podcasts/the-daily/migrant-child-labor-america.html

She also says that guardians weren't vetted very consistently in recent years, if ever, because of Fed pressure to get kids out of custody.

I’ve spent the last week in the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is Daytona Beach Florida during Bike Week (long story) feeling pretty dystopian about all this bullshit legislation but during that time my home state of Michigan has passed bills:
- reinstating prevailing wages for state contracts
- repealing right to work
- adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the state civil rights laws
- repealing the still on the books law against abortion - requiring universal background checks for guns.

Apparently this is what happens when Democrats control the both the house and senate for the first time in 40 years and I’m totally into it.

Bravo!

My condolences re: Daytona

oh my goodness -- this local TV report about Tennessee Republican Lt. Gov. Randy McNally liking gay posts on Instagram is brutally awkward. You can see the full thing here: https://t.co/QOSVEfrLDC pic.twitter.com/e3PeKskm97

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 10, 2023

"mistakes were made"

Mr Creosote

OK so first of all on that Randy McNally story, he's MY ACTUAL STATE SENATOR. Most of his district is the next county over, but part extends into my county and our neighborhood got drawn into it this past time around. He's been Senate speaker/Lt. Gov. for the last four years, so he has a lot of power but he's a super low-key guy. Obviously his voting record is normal Tennessee Republican, i.e. totally horrible, but one of these guys who basically everyone thinks is a "good guy," personable, never heard any bad behavior about him. Not that there's anything bad about these reports! But he's a 79-year-old great-grandfather/retired pharmacist, longest-serving member of the Legislature, like just not at all somebody who you think would be posting fire emojis to twinks on Instragram.

The story has completely blown up here, of course, people are agog. Although I will say I heard from a gay friend that this isn't news to a lot of people he knows, McNally's been hearting 'gram posts for years and there are vague rumors of more direct kinds of activities. All of which would just be kind of titillating if not for him overseeing a relentless slate of anti-LGBTQ legislation. Anyway, there's a lot of speculation that he's going to have to resign or at least step down from the speakership because while to liberals the problem is the hypocrisy, to conservatives the problem is hearting the twinks. The governor in drag at a powderpuff football game was one thing, but this gets into Actual Queer territory.

Anyway, Tennessee, what a place.

I will say this for him, he didn't try to pull any "I must have been hacked" bullshit.

issuing correction on a previous post of mine, regarding the terror group ISIL. you do not, under any circumstances, "gotta hand it to them"

— wint (@dril) February 15, 2017

lol I admit to having a low bar of expectations for my local Republican legislators to get over.

tipsy - was he actually replying with the official Lt Gov's insta account, or some kind of secret alias? If the former, that's just bonkers and showing poor judgement

or maybe he just doesn't know how public these posts become

Iirc, it was the official account!

Amazingly, Rod Dreher's insane American Conservative column has been entirely funded for the last 12 years by one rich maniac, but said maniac has finally decided ol' Rod is just too weird for him, and is pulling his funding.

Dude giving off Matt Berninger vibes in that pic.

Live by the right-wing rich dude, die by the right-wing rich dude. Sounds like a Succession subplot.

And yes, it was indeed our Lt. Gov.'s official check-marked account. This was the best of his comments right here.

"You can turn a rainy day into rainbows and sunshine."

As Tennessee passes anti-LGBTQ legislation, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R) has been commenting often on a gay man's racy Instagram pics.

Lt. Gov's McNally's office said "he enjoys interacting with constituents." pic.twitter.com/Tq5xghy7VI

— The Recount (@therecount) March 9, 2023

Here's our own coverage of it from today, fwiw:

Whatever headlines you might have expected out of the Tennessee Legislature this year, we're guessing this wasn't among them: "Republican Lt. Gov. Vows to Keep Thirsting After Queer Instagram Nudes." That was from Rolling Stone. Somewhat more restrained, from national NBC News: "Tennessee lieutenant governor, 79, comments on young gay man's racy Instagram photos."

Both, of course, refer to our own Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, who represents Anderson and part of Knox counties. In less than 24 hours after his Instagram liking, commenting and emoji-posting habits were first brought to light by the progressive news site Tennessee Holler, the retired pharmacist and longest-serving member of the Legislature became something of a national figure, though not necessarily in a way he might have preferred.

Others picking up on the story included the Daily Beast, People and the U.K.'s Independent newspaper. All of the stories noted McNally's enthusiastic comments on posts by a young, gay Knoxville native who goes by Franklyn Superstar on social media and often appears nearly nude and/or wearing lipstick and makeup.

Unlike many public figures caught in awkward social media activity, McNally has not claimed his account was hacked or that the screenshots were faked. Instead, he sat down with reporter Phil Williams of Nashville's WTVF Channel 5 yesterday and said he just likes being supportive of people on social media.

"I'm really, really sorry if I've embarrassed my family, embarrassed my friends, embarrassed any of the members of the legislature with the posts," he told Williams.

Williams noted that in one of the posts McNally had liked, Franklyn Superstar had written that he was "not a WHORE" but "a HOE," adding, "I'm the one that gets free weed for giving head!"

"I don't recall reading the part about the weed, I know that," McNally told Williams. What about the part about the man being a "prostitute," Williams asked. "I might have read that," McNally responded.

Of course, a big part of the reason the story went viral is the backdrop of the Legislature passing two bills last week widely perceived as targeting LGBTQ people for discrimination: a restriction on all-ages drag shows, and a prohibition on gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 18. Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group, says Tennessee has passed more anti-LGBTQ legislation since 2015 than any other state.

McNally's Instagram kerfuffle also comes just a week after a high school photo of Gov. Bill Lee in drag also made national and international news. So far, House Speaker Cameron Sexton — the third member of state government's Republican power trio — has avoided drawing such unlooked-for attention.

(Anecdotally, we can report that McNally has inadvertently sparked young people's interest in civics — teenage boys were talking animatedly about the story in an overheard conversation at a local pizzeria yesterday.)

can we crowdfund Rod Dreher?

sheesh "Randy McNally" even sounds like a drag name

Biden seems likely to allow a private corporation to despoil the largest stretch of pristine wilderness in Alaska for…. 20 days worth of oil, given our current burn rate.

quality burn tbh

It’s been a long time since the days I was at recess, John. But I remember two things. 1) I was on my way to playing college ball on a scholarship. And 2) that was the last time you had a hit.

Cheers to the past! https://t.co/fIVh2SpU1h

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) March 11, 2023

That's awesome.

These kids look pretty stoked about it https://t.co/0XHsMKawFr

— eve6 (@Eve6) March 11, 2023

What kind of labor are these kids going to be doing exactly? Day trading?

White kids wont be the ones working, it’s migrant children.

White kids can be bosses, don’t trample on their dreams.

Paul Gosar says he expects there to be criminal referrals coming from the House seeking the prosecution of Liz Cheney, other Members of the J6 Committee, and for some military officers. pic.twitter.com/6s0u41B9Yl

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) March 12, 2023

this guy was one of the congressmen trying to make january 6 work

Gosar's affect is so weird. He 100 percent gives off "crazy guy at public forum" vibes, like he's about to whip out a handwritten manifesto and read you VERY SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS.

he seems a bit drunk

"are you prepared to suggest something incredibly dumb while pretending that you're a hero?"

Gosar: "i will do you one more, i will do something incredibly dumb ten times, and i am a hero"

*head involuntarily swings like a pendulum to one side*

i forgot, gosar was the guy whose family spoke out against him because he sucked so badly at everything except being a dentist

In September 2018, six of Gosar's nine siblings spoke out against their brother and endorsed his Democratic opponent, David Brill, in a series of television campaign ads that drew national and international coverage.[44][45] In the first ad, sisters Grace and Jennifer, both identified as health care providers, told viewers that their brother did not care about people in rural Arizona. In another ad, called "A family defends its honor," brother David Gosar, a lawyer, declared, "We've got to stand up for our good name. This is not who we are." Paul Gosar responded to the ads on Twitter, describing his siblings as "disgruntled Hillary supporters" who "put political ideology before family".[46]

Gosar defeated Brill in the November 2018 general election with 68.2% of the vote.

cool, good luck with those criminal referrals that will result in no charges.

Pretty sure Gosar has some degenerative disease (which he has not publicly acknowledged). Parkinson's or something.

No he's a degenerate with a disease

the whole point of gosar saying that was just to remind the faithful that anyone who questions the trumpist party line on January 6 is a traitor and an enemy for whom hanging is too good. no referrals will be forthcoming because what could evidence of crimes they refer to?

er, make that: evidence of crimes could

I was watching some hearing recently and Gosar was trying to be all confrontational and damning, but his gotcha questions kept falling flat because he had his head down reading them stumblingly off a script instead of speaking into his mic, and his victim kept blandly asking "sorry, I couldn't hear you, could you repeat the question?"

I used to joke that the incoming Supreme Court would eventually do away with those pesky child labor laws.

fuck fuck fuck. me too. it’s terrifying

A few things about the upcoming Texas judge ruling on abortion pill

https://msmagazine.com/2023/03/03/texas-judge-abortion-pill-ban-mifepristone/

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk not only tried to conceal his plans for a preliminary injunction hearing over the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, but also hid last Friday’s proceedings — a 30-minute phone conference — from his docket until yesterday. Behold the backdated docket: pic.twitter.com/AaDEpK2M9G

— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) March 14, 2023

Good morning!

the article I shared above, and a similar one the same three legal experts authored in Slate, are literally the only voices suggesting that tomorrow's ruling doesn't mean the drug will be pulled off the shelves everywhere. having no legal background, I can't tell if these three don't represent the mainstream opinion, or if the media just got the whole story wrong and kept running with it.

even if they're right, they admit it's still bad and will lead to bad things, but I am really hoping Biden's FDA doesn't act like a bunch of cowardly fools, and immediate issues a response that says they will not be enforcing or taking any action against the distributors of the drug. failing to do that will mean the manufacturers stop shipping it and making it even if technically the judge can't unilaterally ban it.

but note that the manufacturer of the generic is not named in the suit as well. so there's also that angle.

garcetti nomination hearing today. just here for the ongoing humiliation of one of america's least capable democrats.

Sen GRAHAM says “I might” support Garcetti’s nomination, saying “we need an ambassador to India, I understand the accusations. a lot of friends of mine vouch for him.”

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) March 15, 2023

Not Good...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-announces-takeover-houston-schools-160929987.html

the pudding incident

The pudding incident, which former DeSantis staffers describe as a common instance of him not reading the room (in this case, a very intimate flight cabin): https://t.co/KEwA7F9Pgr pic.twitter.com/s29MjZB4Ml

— Jake Lahut (@JakeLahut) March 16, 2023

From behind the paywall:

The chatter over DeSantis’ public engagement has also surfaced past unflattering stories about his social skills—particularly, his propensity to devour food during meetings.

“He would sit in meetings and eat in front of people,” a former DeSantis staffer told The Daily Beast, “always like a starving animal who has never eaten before… getting shit everywhere.”

Enshrined in DeSantis lore is an episode from four years ago: During a private plane trip from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C., in March of 2019, DeSantis enjoyed a chocolate pudding dessert—by eating it with three of his fingers, according to two sources familiar with the incident.

A representative for DeSantis’ political team did not return a request for comment on it.

No wonder he is thinks vaccines are pointless, he's probably immune to everything communicable by now.

That's just Meatball Ron

thanks, new name

Ron DeSlobis

Slob DeSantis?

Three Fingers Ron

I feel like this is a superpower he could use against Trump. Just start eating during a debate and spraying food particles everywhere.

There's no way Trump loses that battle.

Pudding Ron

Puddin' Taint

I'm glad some fucking reporter finally echoed what I've been saying:

“In a way, the Republican dominance of the Florida Legislature may end up hurting DeSantis because his proposals can become reality,” said Barrett Marson, a Republican strategist in Arizona. “That may help him in a primary in Iowa or Texas or South Dakota, but in a general election in Arizona, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, it could be ruinous for him.”

That fear isn’t lost on Republican primary voters, either. In hypothetical matchups with Biden in a Morning Consult poll this week, DeSantis fared no better than Trump, with each trailing the incumbent Democrat by 1 percentage point. Moreover, when asked in a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll who had the best chance of winning in 2024, DeSantis didn’t stand out against Trump, either, with about as many Republicans and Republican-leaning independents naming Trump as DeSantis. That is a major shift from December, when far more Republicans viewed DeSantis as the more electable Republican.

yea I think I read that on ilxor.com a year ago, "DeSantis is gonna look like the future of the Republican party up until people outside of Florida hear him talk"

And just below the masthead this surprising column by Starbusts Lowry.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/16/republicans-biden-trump-2024-election-00087242

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_965/e5062c5f5581f924b14c796ae5702fcd.jpg

"So... I'll bet you guys had some fun in 'Nam, right? That's what you call it, am I right?"

"You guys were in the shit?"

"We were in the shit."

"I have a new handbag that was made in Vietnam, I love it to death!"

new Huckabee grift just dropped pic.twitter.com/BCyqparqVl

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2023

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrbbSU7XgAMAS3V?format=jpg&name=small

those tubes lead to a giant, steaming vat of woke

Are we not men?

Not to eat with three fingers
That is the law

The only way to stave off illusory indoctrination is to willingly allow some maniac rando to indoctrinate you for real, I thought everyone knew this

but the kids, the kids!

the Defund & Socialist kids look like they're finally seeing things clearly for the first time

Wokepilled

Not to eat with three fingers
That is the law

giant lol

those tubes lead to a giant, steaming vat of woke

I thought they were the tentacles of the woketopus

genuinely made me LOL pic.twitter.com/d6cyqCUkUr

— mindy🌷 (@mindyisser) March 19, 2023

“Culturally I identify with Pepin County, Wisconsin.”

Huge lol at this tweet: I’m from, like, all the swing states.

So he's saying he was born Floridian but ... identifies as Rust Belt? Sounds pretty woke, DeSantis.

"My pronouns are 'youse' and 'yinz'."

lol

I would also love a good explainer on how, why and when someone decided blue-collar white guys in Pennsylvania are the ur-Americans. It's Biden's whole shtick too obviously.

pittsburgs got the soot covered iron workers and phillys got the yelling across the street guys, the two types of working class whites

I think all of your questions might be answered by listening to Billy Joel's "Allentown".

Will we ever have a Mummer President?

I bet Gritty could get elected nationally.

Tipsy, it's an old trope but I think this is where it became employed tactically:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_the_Plumber

Yeah and even older than that, it was part of Nixon's whole "silent majority" pitch. I just think it's funny that specifically white working-class Pennsylvania gets elevated to this mythical status. As a Penn State grad with an ex-father-in-law who was central casting for the type it feels like such a weird reductive idea of "America."

They're all Archie Bunker, just transposed to a state with winnable electoral votes

if only trump can stop world war 3 and he's going to be in prison after Tuesday then what?

this would be hilarious, please let it happen

One of the risks of putting Trump in jail pending trial is that Proud Boys and others may make a serious attempt to break him out of jail.

If you think I'm being sensationalistic, remember that a lot of folks said something like January 6 was impossible.

— Max Burns (@themaxburns) March 19, 2023

Just out here posing with an underage kid wearing a shirt celebrating oral sex between firearms.

Can you believe Hunter Kimbell was disciplined for wearing this shirt in Utah? pic.twitter.com/DKXrfMEkRc

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 18, 2023

I’m just surprised De Santis didn’t t try to cover all the swing states. “I carry on the legacy of my Arizonan/Georgian/Michigan/North Carolinan/Pennsylvanian/Ohioan” ancestors.”

my presidential run biopic will say this

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ED_1Hz3XoAE3Jlp.jpg

If you think I'm being sensationalistic

Peddling the idea that Trump will be held in jail pending trial is completely sensationalistic. Won't happen. Crazy to suggest it will.

he won’t be held in jail if he’s convicted of anything is my expectation

no president of the country, former or current, will ever be in jail a day

The dreams people had of Nixon.

good morning!

I’m going full resistance lib this week

why not treat yrself

full resistance libs will spend all week complaining about Merrick Garland and being upset that Trump isn't in handcuffs

I hear the Marshal of the Supreme Court is making his move.

Thurgood?

I heard trump is going to be executed at Guantanamo by a military commission headed by JFK Jr

But if you buy a $80 commemorative gold coin which will only increase in value in the future, it helps him to take back America

Also snowflake libs literally melt if you show them his golden visage

Would like to see the texts Ginny Thomas is sending right now

Didn't realize McConnell has been mia since he took a fall a bit back ...

Waiting for someone to flip him over probably

lol

ha ha, zackly!

but they always do. :(

Trump really ramping up on DeSantis today, because of that Monmouth Poll showing DeSantis losing ground. Another poll or two like that and I wonder if DeSantis decides now is not actually his moment.

https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_us_032123_2/

good, could he quit ruining the lives of trans and gay people, and minorities?

Alas, he probably has more power to ruin lives as governor of Florida than he would as a national political figure.

Florida's rightward lurch and compliant legislature means that he can actually make his hateful policies real - as a presidential candidate (or even president) his power would likely be seriously diluted. Even Trump (an odious creature whose soul is full of eels) could only encode so much hate nationwide, due to individual states' sovereignty and the retarding power of the congress

and the retards in his party

sorry

The flipside for DeSantis obv is, waiting-your-turn is not at all a reliable path. (Joe Biden notwithstanding, I guess.) His visibility is probably higher right now than it's ever been or maybe ever will be. Serving out his second term leaves him open to any vulnerabilities that come up during it, and also voters might feel like he's already old news if he doesn't run.

To be clear, I think DeSantis shouldn't ever run for anything again, so even though I'd enjoy parts of him and Trump beating each other up, I'm all in favor of him not running.

I'm feeling a little smug about my November 2022 prediction, i.e. he peaked, it's downhill from there

Yeah who the fuck knows what 2028 will bring, it’s kinda now or never for him I think

lol maybe he leverages a veep slot out of it, can you imagine?

I was just hoping that...DeSantis has always been horrible, but as many governors are, he was a much more mundane governor when he first started out. At first, a few naive dummy libs thought he 'wouldn't be all that bad' as a few of his Executive Orders were actually decent! but after the pandemic started and as he got closer to a possible election run, it seems obvious he's playing for the Presidential vote by shifting even further right and targeting specifically the anti-identity politic movement.

was thinking if maybe he said "y'know maybe I'll get my ass kicked, nevermind", he'd ease off on that, but I feel like it's Pandora's box at this point.

thank god governors have 2 term limits in FL (though he can also run again after he's out of office for 4 years, hence why Crist tried to run against him)

I heard some GOP analyst (privately) saying that the compliant FL legislature might actually be hurting DeSantis... he's actually able to pass the hate stuff, easily - rather than being able to bemoan the gridlock preventing him from signing these bills. And the very bills he's currently signing might well come back to haunt him

I mean, there is definitely a reason why bills to abolish the ACA kept being passed in both Republican chambers like clockwork when Obama was in office with a veto, and why they couldn't abolish it and replace it when they themselves were in office. they wanted credit for doing it without having to deal with the actual results.

I mean look, his Gestapo here found no wrongdoing, even after his other officials lied and said performers were exposing genitalia and simulating masturbation: https://jezebel.com/florida-is-reportedly-sending-undercover-agents-to-surv-1850243877

Plaza is still open and serving liquor. idk where the process of revocation stands but I feel like the backlash will heat up once whatever hearings/ceremonies etc commence. People love that venue. beyond the LGBTQ+ community, it's also very popular with AARP aged rock music fans. who are most definitely not boycotting the place now, judging by the attendance and demographics at the Queensryche show.

plus Jesus is half naked in half his paintings gtfo

well, if his poll standing is sinking, he's gonna have to get punchier with Trump... which I look forward to, as well as the response

Jesus shows a lot of nipple, but that diaper always keeps him PG-rated.

baby jesus sometimes shows his junk

Adult Jesus seems to into some pretty heavy S&M, based on the paintings.

today was a colossally bad day in Florida. DeSantis trying to expand his "Don't Say Gay" bill to K-12 (rather than merely elementary). a local (optional) drag and doughnuts meeting after school hours at a local high school got shut down hours before it was supposed to happen. including by a Proud Boys sponsored school board member.

but there was this in Wyoming at least

https://buckrail.com/breaking-judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-for-new-abortion-law/

nickn otm

the 'passion' - he knew he was taking one for the team

Nailed it! (I'll get my coat)

baby jesus sometimes shows his junk

O little junk of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie

Silent junk, holy junk

Holy gonads so tender and mild

Um. Anyway. Where were we?

he peaked, it's downhill from there

Um, has everyone forgotten you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore?

never thought I'd see "Holy gonads so tender and mild" itt but i'm happy nonetheless that I did

Andy the Grasshopper set it up. I just tipped it into the basket.

Moving to the right has been a rousing success

“The president notched an approval rating of 38% in the new poll, after 45% said they approved in February and 41% in January. His ratings hit their lowest point of his presidency last July, at 36%” https://t.co/g5AVfoFnfI

— Lisa Mascaro (@LisaMascaro) March 23, 2023

how i wish they'd poll "wet sock" next to biden, just to see how we're doing

bank failures freak people out.

I noticed gas prices are up again, too, take at least 10% more off that number, worst president ever.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/03/24/florida-principal-michelangelo-david-parents/

sigh

Tax dollars going to these schools teaching a right wing fascist curriculum. what a fucking idiotic country

tryign to fund as many legal funds as I can rn because the number of anti-trans/gay bills is going to keep coming. that's not even discussing the 6-week abortion ban in the pipeline.

state is a swamp in a literal and figurative sense.

IT gets better: https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/03/florida-principal-fired-michelangelo-david-statue.html

"Parental rights are supreme, and that means protecting the interests of all parents, whether it’s one, 10, 20 or 50,” the chair of the school’s board, Barney Bishop III, told the paper.

God that is rich

IT gets better: https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/03/florida-principal-fired-michelangelo-david-statue.html🕸

parents - empowered to hide penii, but not to provide gender-affirming care for their children or object to the Governor's curriculum changes

not getting hopes up but: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/23/florida-gender-affirming-care-ban-lawsuit-00088644#

be real nice if we could get a federal ruling nullifying all state bans but if it went to SCOTUS, they'd certainly say "the 14th amendment doesn't apply)

A federal appeals court blocked the Stop WOKE Act, so hope remains. We still fight.

yep saw that, and we will fight it the fuck all.

Michelangelo woke af, did not realise this

Looks like we got a few snowflake parents in Florida!

Who turn off the lights when they pee

I notice conservatives aren't flinging 'snowflake' around quite as much these days. I guess it's a difficult pejorative to employ with a straight face when you're getting the vapors from 500-year-old marble dongs.

lol xpost

"Close your eyes for Jesus!"

loooool

NEW: A trio of @HouseGOP committee chairs say the House could soon take up legislation to strip state and local prosecutors of the authority to prosecute former presidents in response to the potential indictment of former president Donald Trump. https://t.co/lkwqad6JGS

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) March 25, 2023

nothing the GOP loves more than symbolic bills

what else they gonna do?

idk, be decent human beings

ok i couldn't even type that with a straight face

So Obama could shoot, uh, someone and be immune from prosecution?

they didn't think it through because it will never pass

it's just the usual "we're saying we're doing this thing so that we can blame the Dems for it not passing AND some of our stupid voters don't know how government works and will falsely remember that we passed this thing"

What if Joe tells them to go ahead and pass the bill, then he signs it and sends Obama out to assassinate all of his enemies and pardons him.

Bill Clinton says pass that bill!

That statue thing reminds me when Ashcroft got curtains to cover lady liberties boobs.

strip state and local prosecutors of the authority to prosecute former presidents

this is so cool! every ex-president could have a second career as an superhero avenger, traveling the land, killing bad people for a grateful nation, or in the case of Donald Trump, beating up children for their lunch money.

you're really only get to do white collar crimes because the secret service follows you around all the time

could go hunting and "accidentally" shoot your hunting partner in the face, though

Or invade a country

Honey, I Accidentally Invaded the Marshall Islands!

yeah two death squads of the ex prezs of each party, out hunting political enemies, that is the dystopia flick i'm not waiting for.

hey look not everything can be John Wick

Ballistic: Ex vs. Ex

Well we can surely say that the trio of noble republicans certainly love the Dear Leader, what an example they set!

https://reductress.com/post/quiz-is-he-criticizing-biden-in-a-republican-way-or-in-a-cool-way/

so right now, there is a separate federal case in Washington also involving mifepristone, and being discussed is there's a very real, sizable chance that the judge in Washington and Kacsmaryk in Texas issue federal rulings that directly contradict each other regarding the approval of mifepristone. Which would have to be ironed out in higher court.

but unlike the Kacsmaryk hearing, a hearing happened yesterday, and there's been little to no news about it.

FBI sources inside the Proud Boys -- including one who testified yesterday that he went in the Capitol on Jan. 6 and has never been charged -- say FBI agents never actually asked them for information on the Proud Boys https://t.co/DCz0k7L7F0

— Rachel Weiner (@rachelweinerwp) March 30, 2023

Thee Oh Sees "The Dream"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mZqGxkYOFY

Just like Mötley Crüe's "Kickstart My Heart".

WRONG THREAD. HI DERE.

IS IT?

what thread did you mean to post that in? that ocs album is my making chili music for some reason

I'm not sure how many of you have been paying attention to the Chicago mayoral race, but there's a non-zero chance that the city elects a MAGA Republican from Naperville masquerading as a Chicago Democrat.

He's been pretty shifty and pro-cop from the start, but the mask has fully fallen off in the past weeks - turns out Betsy DeVos is among his biggest donors, lots of language about chasing "these thugs" off the streets and rumblings at a recent event about election fraud and not accepting the results.

Anyway, if you know folks in Chicago who are saying they might not vote, please encourage them to show up and vote for Brandon Johnson.

I've been following it. I have to earnestly say, good luck Chicago

It's just been depressing to watch play out and gives lie to the whole "I don't get involved because I live in a comfortably blue X" idea. Also discouraged by how many people I know irl that are buying his crime bullshit.

He's not exactly a Maga republican, afaict, but he has no problem taking their money/endorsements, so fuck him all the same.

My daughter saw a relatively chill Let's Go Brandon bumper sticker and asked if it was anti Biden or cheekily pro Johnson. No idea!

Biden tweeted about Transgender Day of Visibility and the replies are basically a huge group of Twitter-blue-subscribers-to-block all lined up for you

He probably would never self-identify as a MAGA Republican, but if his talking points are all pulled from the MAGA playbook, he's comfortable taking MAGA money and getting them to stump for him, there's really no meaningful difference imo. He's awful either way.

It’s a bummer how much of the Chicago media/candidates go on about crime, and yet I don’t hear that much about fixing the CTA—despite how hellish it’s become, and how many people it affects daily. I guess that’s a boring discussion in comparison to the "urban chaos" drumbeat.

a MAGA Republican from Naperville masquerading as a Chicago Democrat.

Palos Hills iirc, hence the popular nickname "Palos Paul"

Fucking Florida.

Police just handcuffed & arrested protesters including ⁦@NikkiFried⁩ & ⁦@LeaderBookFL⁩ pic.twitter.com/NCdqHJxmcx

— Gary Fineout (@fineout) April 4, 2023

We need a new monthly thread, who's got a title?

Let’s go with Alfred’s suggestion

US Politics, April 2023: Fucking Florida