Enough With The Cutesy Titles, People Are Dead: US Politics January 2021 pt 2

does this mean what I think it does

https://www.facebook.com/loubegaofficial/posts/248747929950046

eh, i'm back at work today for the first time since last thursday, and my "part-time" job now involves doing all of the work that i previously did in 45 hours a week, just compressed into 20 hours. this way, i have a couple days off each week and don't get benefits! anyway, what i'm trying to say is i have no time to try to put forth an idea of a computer drawing district lines that makes clear that i did mean that in the most exaggerated, sci-fi dystopia way, and that i know that human beings are actually involved when computers do things. so this will have to do

Mambo Number 6-6-6

btw, though, i have this other idea, for our ILX village. you know how everyone in this village is apportioned land based on what Gary does in the secret room on his abacus? i was thinking, what if Gary revealed what he does on his abacus to divvy out the ILX land, and he did it outside, by the campfire, and also upgraded his abacus workflow to Microsoft Excel? he could even use formulas to save some time. i know this is crazy because someone is going to have to put the formulas in, and it's probably going to be a human being. but i'm thinking MAYBE a computer would address that situation where cankles got 72% of the land after getting sb'd for the millionth time, because that wouldn't make sense to a computer

but forgive me - again, i forget that whenever i mention a "computer" doing things, it means that no humans are involved because you just the AI the goal of creating perfect democracy, and things get out of hand, the paperclips go flying, etc

ok, back to my job, which is of course "continuing to be the most gigantic dumbass in the entire universe"

Best case scenario is the nonpartisan commission creates the districts that at least have to pass muster with some sort of computer program. I believe the litigation regarding gerrymandering frequently uses such programs to show how much a particular district varied from a basically randomly created district.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gerrymandering-elections-next-gen-computer-generated-maps

What not to do

NEW: An 18-year veteran police officer, currently with the Houston Police Department, initially lied about entering the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection, the feds say.

They found photos and videos from inside the rotunda in his deleted images folder.https://t.co/DYJzqjqCzG

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 19, 2021

McConnell's done:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly blamed President Donald Trump for instigating the violent Capitol riots that took place on January 6.

"The mob was fed lies," the GOP leader said on the Senate floor. "They were provoked by the president and other powerful people."

McConnell's rebuke of Trump comes as the outgoing president faces an upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate over the deadly siege at the Capitol. The top Republican has said he's currently undecided on impeachment, but he has reportedly been leaning toward convicting Trump. McConnell's move will be key to how the trial plays out, as a "yes" vote from him may encourage other Republican senators to follow suit. At least 17 GOP members, along with every Democrat, would need to sign on in order to convict Trump.

Trump was impeached last week for incitement of insurrection after his supporters breached the Capitol building while Congress was meeting to certify President-elect Joe Biden's 2020 victory.

"They tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government, which they did not like," McConnell said on Tuesday. "But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation, not even for one night. We certified the people's choice for their 46th president."

Re: redistricting, this from FiveThirtyEight a couple years back was good:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/redistricting-maps/

2xpost That's what I mean by self-ownage. Left, right, wherever you fall, if you're going to do something questionable, you probably shouldn't post selfies of yourself in the act.

Speaking of self-ownage, I was in a parking lot today, and there was a giant black pick-up with a red, white and blue Punisher skull on the grill, and "Black Ops" posted above the front windshield. Is the safe to assume the owner is exactly the sort of person I would imagine the owner to be?

yes, the owner is in fact Kevin Sorbo

this one?
https://www.topspeed.com/cars/ford/2019-ford-f-150-black-ops-edition-ar187225.html

The 2019 Ford F-150 Black Ops is priced at $88,525.

get the fuck out of here

Burn:

VP Pence is not expected to attend President Trump's sendoff at Joint Air Force Base Andrews tomorrow morning, per White House officials. He is attending the inauguration later in the day, and aides say it would be logistically challenging for the vice president to do both.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 19, 2021

Is the safe to assume the owner is exactly the sort of person I would imagine the owner to be?

on the plus side, the list of people who decide to voluntarily go to a 7am asskissing session makes for a fine, ready-made shitlist

xps: You can build at a brand new Mercedes 2021 AMG GLC 63 SUV with all the options for less money than that.

No, this was a DIY black ops pickup.

XP Trumpalos waiting for the fully loaded 100K+ Mercedes Blitzkrieg Wagon.

But you can't haul your fellow klansmen oops I mean carpentry gear in the back of an AMG

shocking, breaking news about marjorie greene:

In 2018, after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), then a right-wing online commentator, spread the conspiracy theory that the massacre was a “false flag” event intended to take away people’s guns.

The comments, unearthed by Media Matters, are the latest in a long history of Greene repeating untrue claims by far-right extremists on social media.

After the Parkland shooting, which killed 17 people, Greene shared a story on Facebook about former Broward County sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson — who was fired over his response to the shooting — receiving a retirement pension. In the comments, someone wrote, “It’s called a pay off to keep his mouth shut since it was a false flag planned shooting.” Greene replied: “Exactly.”

Media Matters also uncovered separate comments from 2018 in which Greene lied that Democrats, specifically House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), rooted for school shootings to justify stricter gun laws.

“This war on our second amendment is going to continue and must be fought. I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that ‘we need another school shooting’ in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control,” Greene said.

i am always amazed that the "i am told..." style of spreading bullshit actually works on other people

note also that this was in 2018, so i don't know why pelosi was always calling up clinton to talk about gun control

Hillary still runs the pedophile anti-gun cabal, I believe. From a cave somewhere, maybe at Obama's Bermuda kiteboarding camp.

i wonder if the thing that is going to tip mcconnell to convict is this lmao

And it begins. This from the vice chair of the @FloridaGOP. https://t.co/vT6YGXPieZ

— Mary Ellen Klas (@MaryEllenKlas) January 19, 2021

I'd bet a few dollars that even fucking McConnell would prefer dealing with Pelosi.

Wouldn't Trump actually have to do some work in that position?

and so this is impeachment
and what have we done
another year older
a new term just begun

https://cdn05.zipify.com/9jEp3L-dANuJ74Y9Jb1jK9i4GEw=/fit-in/1080x0/b73f632d036647468b721b2257486b60/donald-trump-2020-keep-america-great-black-ruthenium-24k-gold-tribute-coin-130962.jpeg

yeah Trump would hate that job, all the pesky "votes" and the inability to issue Executive Orders, and not getting to ride in Air Force One, and nobody generally giving a shit about the job

Nothing in the Constitution prevents a non-elected person from serving as speaker.

(I don't think this will happen, I hasten to point out)

like wtf, his kid already said the White House was beneath him, why would he go even further "beneath his station"

it is technically legal, just unusual and probably not going to happen

Can you be speaker of the house if you've been president twice?

Why that's as crazy as a president becoming a Supreme Court justice oh wait

Stinker of the House

Yeah, but unlike the SC he'd be in the line of succession. So I assume ... no, you can't be president twice and then speaker.

Meanwhile:

Once again, McConnell is a part of the Gang of 8. He gets intelligence briefings, and knows way more than what we know on the investigation into 1/6. What he says publicly is meaningful in terms of seriousness re Trump.

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) January 19, 2021

Yeah, but unlike the SC he'd be in the line of succession. So I assume ... no, you can't be president twice and then speaker.

people who aren't eligible to be president (e.g. people born outside the US) can be speaker of the house.

please vote for me when i run for speaker of the house.

xpost Would the line of succession just skip them, then?

I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that ‘we need another school shooting’

I asked Nancy, she told Hillary
Hillary made a false flag for me
Then Q gave a message to me

Where did all the Q boys go?

it doesn't seem like there is an appetite to sweep the insurrection under the rug. mcconnell is talking this way and there are fbi billboards all over seeking information on people involved with the riot.

nice to know everything up until Violent Coup Attempt is not a dealbreaker

Hope I’m wrong but my general feeling is that I’ll eat my hat if McConnell or any R senator other than Romney and maaaaybe Collins and Murkowski votes to convict.

i think you're right. mitch will vote to not convict, but his reasoning will be about national unity, against divisiveness etc. he won't defend trump on this

ben sasse will also vote to convict i think, along with collins, murkowski and romney

We were just talking about what a difference having Trump off twitter makes. Just wait until he's no longer president and literally gone from DC. Like, even Pence isn't seeing him off.