US Politics February 2019: This is one of the great losers of all time.

Have their been polls of black virginia voters on this? That’s whose perspective matters, not mine

again, NOBODY saw that page and was like "uh dude have you looked at your yearbook page????????"?? gimme a break

Med school yearbook page??? Idk

I am unaware if my grad school had anything like a yearbook. I’m assuming not but I don’t know.

I’m not defending the dude, but i do think it’s plausible he forgot about the existence of this photo and maybe he never even saw it

It caught him off guard, obviously

so you're not confident that there isn't a super racist photo on your college yrbook page, got it

They interviewed the yearbook guy who did yearbooks that year and Eastern VA Med actually stopped with the yearbooks in 2014 because of students posing in confederate uniforms.

lol @ my friend Shalewa being linked in this thread by someone who's not me or crüt.

I’m 99.9999999999999999999% sure but i also have never seen that yearbook xp

xpost in summary when Northam was going to school there, students submitted the pictures they wanted included on their pages.

I take this as a sign that there isn't going to be billions for a wall in whatever's taking shape:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she would be willing to support any compromise border security legislation that emerges from a bipartisan committee and that she has urged the White House to adopt the same “hands-off” posture.

Her comments come as congressional negotiators are seeking a deal that has to be approved by Feb. 15 — and satisfy President Trump’s demand for border-wall funding — to avert another partial government shutdown.

Pelosi told reporters that she thinks the House and Senate negotiators could reach a deal by the end of this week if “left to their own devices.”

Pelosi said she relayed to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), one of the lead negotiators, that “whatever you all come to an agreement on, bipartisan agreement, I will support it.”

My friends and I wrote some extremely suspect stuff in my HS yearbook, which at the time we thought was highly ironic and deeply hilarious. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. I'm pretty sure at some point, I tore up and threw away my yearbook. I'll never run for elected office but I'm sure glad it doesn't exist any longer.

xp

A friend wrote, "I like you even though you're gay" in my senior yearbook, which horrified but then he right and I almost emailed to thank him years later until I learned he worked as an orderly in a hospital.

it’s plausible he forgot about the existence of this photo and maybe he never even saw it

But his inability to state whether he is a person in the photo only depends upon his uncertainty whether he ever wore blackface or a klan robe and hood. If he knew he'd never done such a thing in his life, he would be certain he could not be in the photo. I'm sure as heck certain I never did anything like that, and I am older than he is.

Morbius is still getting mileage out of "Robert Byrd was in the Klan!!!"

idgi man, i was just telling young-uns who may not know. I myself thought Byrd had died closer to 2000. No "mileage" involved, I think Northam should've hit the ejector seat on Saturday.

Trivial, but funny: a right-wing Arkansas state senator is calling for a boycott of a Little Rock club because the band Eyehategod (who are great btw) put a picture of him eating a baby on the poster for their show.

yeeesh, it keeps getting worse for this guy

Ralph Northam Admits He Once Engaged In Pedophilia As Part Of Michael Jackson Costume https://t.co/FVTF1avy9M pic.twitter.com/GTT5JwxZS5

— The Onion (@TheOnion) February 6, 2019

He looks like a Halloween Nixon mask and a Reagan mask got melted together.

omigod

The very existence of the GOP at this particular point in time seems to be overwhelmingly predicated upon their exploitation of any and every possible loophole. Like they only ever win because they're always using a fucking Game Genie.

― But people get sick on earth in their human form (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 20:56 (one hour ago) Permalink

I think Northam needs to go, Fairfax probably needs to go, and the AG may/not need to go (after nominating a new Dem Lt. Gov. and AG).

Having said that, Dems need to be crowdsourcing some serious research into every Republican officeholder in the country, pronto. There has to be a lot out there.

Even if Republicans that are caught do not step down, it rips off the mask of "non-racist" civility and helps tie their cryptoracist policies to explicitly racist actions.

how these things work these days:

On Friday, amid the news that Fairfax could be elevated to governor, Tyson said she vented her frustration on Facebook in a private post, which did not identify Fairfax by name.

"It was not my intention in that moment to inject myself into what has become a much larger political battle," Tyson said.

On Sunday night, while she was still undecided about publicly sharing her story, her private Facebook post was published by Big League Politics, the same conservative website that published a racist photo from Northam's medical school yearbook page.

Dems need to be crowdsourcing some serious research into every Republican officeholder in the country, pronto.

their voting base doesn't care/loves this shit. they will vote for the racist rapist EVERY FUCKING TIME

see: Florida

(after nominating a new Dem Lt. Gov. and AG).

as noted, they can't do this - legislature currently controlled by GOP

For instance, if you find the state senator introducing voting restrictions once used blackface, that may be evidence that could be used in a lawsuit arguing that the ostensibly neutral voting restrictions actually have a racist intent.

xp

that seems like p shaky legal reasoning these days see Trump and his Muslim ban

genuinely curious: is the implication in pointing out that these allegations were (supposedly) unearthed by conservative media supposed to be that their accuracy is in question, or that the stories, even if true, matter less? because I think what you're doing is pretty gross partisan BS

here is dr. tyson's full statement, and she does not hedge: https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000168-c430-d6c0-a7ea-d43ce1560002

I'm not disputing their accuracy or veracity - which are fairly obvious - just pointing out that all of this is a clearly orchestrated effort to support Democratic constituencies penchant for (appropriately) punishing transgressions within their own elected officials. Which the GOP most definitely does not do. The other side sees this as a weakness to be exploited.

I am not sure how best to counter this exploitation.

support

sorry that should be "take advantage of"

Let northum stay in i guess

it reminds me of the right's appropriation of civil rights language to fit their own ends - they see a tactic that works for the other side and then adopt it and turn it back on them, and the left doesn't know how to handle it

shaky legal reasoning
― legislative fanboy halfwit (Οὖτις), Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:24 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lol, you're the expert!

xp

my personal opinion is that Herring has come out the best of this so far, appoint that guy governor. But I doubt Northam (who already was refusing to step down) and Fairfax (who predictably denies everything) will step aside if there is any indication at all that they can weather this storm.

The Fairfax thing is the worst of these allegations by far. So northam stepping down for him to step up would be kind of grotesque.

I don't see why it matters whether Repub base cares about "this stuff". You force GOP to defend their people against the same allegations/"misbehavior" that resulted in Dems resigning/getting ousted.

lol how many times does it have to be pointed out that that's not how it works because GOP voters have no principles

Trump is a serial sex assaulter that bangs porn stars, robs poor people, is deeply and demonstrably racist, and has never cracked a Bible and his strongest base of support is "evangelical Christians"

oh I didn't realize these things involve a referendum

There is no downside to doing it. Even if you peel off 2% from non-racist independents in a particular race, it could help.

referendum? idgi

the downside is the GOP running Virginia, in this particular case.

Again, it also puts the lie to the GOP talking point that racism was solved in the 1960s.

do you seriously believe that if there was a pic of, say, Steve King in blackface he'd face no consequences because "the base loves that shit"?

Yeah, I would think Herring can still be governor. Who gets to appoint new Lt Governor and AG?

I feel like you guys want to think that I am saying these types behaviors by elected Democratic officials should not be brought to light and punished/reckoned with, which is not what I'm saying at all. I thought this was clear but idk. Blackface is wrong and worth losing office over. Same with sexual assault allegations.

The bigger picture is that the GOP over the last few years is weaponizing these things against Democrats far more successfully than Democrats have against the GOP, because their voting bases are different, and the latter just generally dgaf about how racist or rapey or corrupt their candidates are (and in some cases that makes them even *more* inclined to vote for them!) This is a problem for the party and I don't know what the solution is, as I've said repeatedly.

xp

I'm offended by orangeface.

Steve King in blackface he'd face no consequences because "the base loves that shit"?

Steve King was just re-elected btw, and then he went on to say even more white supremacist shit. for which he was punished by his caucus, but there's no one screaming for him to resign. so no, I don't think he would lose office.

he wasn't caught in blackface.
but I'll stop this cause you are prob the most hardheaded ilxor. love ya tho.

But is that really true? Roy Moore lost, the Kavanaugh hearing definitely damaged Kavanaugh, Rob Porter resigned. Steve King did eventually lose his committee posts. A lot of GOP politicians have been hurt by this. There's definitely a thing where the media goes crazy over anything bad that a Dem does, in order to be fair and balanced - I saw it pointed out on twitter that with these yearbook pages there were no media outlets who felt the need to say 'racially charged' or something like that - and that needs pushback. But I don't actually think the GOP is immune to this?

do you seriously believe that if there was a pic of, say, Steve King in blackface he'd face no consequences because "the base loves that shit"?

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, February 6, 2019 4:51 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I seriously believe this. I mean like a hypothetical Steve King blackface pic is arguably less offensive than some of the things he's already said.