On Sinema at the Sinema: October 2021 US Politics thread

can somebody please just bribe this guy???

I should've said: I'm not sure I'm buying that story. Manchin voted to impeach Trump. Twice. The party would never accept him, not even to stick it to Schumer and Biden.

otoh

MANCHIN to @burgessev and me on the report he is threatening to leave the Democratic Party if his demands are not met on infrastructure: “I can’t control rumors and it’s bullshit, bullshit spelled with a B, U, L, L, capital ‘B’”: pic.twitter.com/ex8iHMIiSs

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 20, 2021

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/6e69ce0b-7fb1-48b6-a8e0-fb438dd304fe

I mean, this weapon that America has used as yet another tool to marginalize women and POC for decades is funny now because it's happening to CIA spooks is not exactly the stance I want to take.

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, October 20, 2021 5:32 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think the point is mostly to reiterate how edgy and cool it is to dismiss CIA workers and I wouldn't take it personally.

b) shut it all down because clearly don’t deserve to be a globe-bestriding empire any longer

I mean, I think this could be said regardless, without any qualifiers tbh.

BULLBshit

but how come Canada, which a has very strong presence of Protestant ethics and culture, same for a whole bunch of other countries, have managed to be much more progressive than the US, then?

If you honestly believe that Canada is a bastion of progressivism, then I can't take anything you say seriously, fwiw.

are we also not allowed to laugh at cops who have panic attacks after touching fentanyl

That's not even comparable though, that's just born out of sheer stupidity and will always be hilarious.

Quakers had no problem killing and stealing from the Lenape.

― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Wednesday, October 20, 2021 3:44 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

INteresting reading about Quakers in Ibram X Kendi's Stamped too. Them being slavers too who were working against abolition initially.

& the Mayflower passengers were a bunch of self righteous drama queens who thought puritanism wasn't strict enough in England so went to Holland to be more extreme and then headed to the US to be even more sanctimonious innit

― Stevolende, Wednesday, October 20, 2021 4:00 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is one of the best things in Mason & Dixon, how the ideals/rhetoric of the enlightenment in this country didn't exactly match the reality, especially with regard to indigenous people and Africans.

jvc, while I understand your frustration in this conversation, I just don't really understand why you're so concerned about these people who are, by dint of their job alone, objectively *bad* people.

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/saving-calvin

I'll pass. Most overrated writer of the past hundred years, afaic.

I think the point is mostly to reiterate how edgy and cool it is to dismiss CIA workers and I wouldn't take it personally.

Big Cops Are Workers Too energy

And I know that's a controversial opinion.

I hate her prose, dislike her characters, and think her bullshit about returning to the Bible can get stuffed.

That's not even comparable though, that's just born out of sheer stupidity and will always be hilarious.

Why isn't it comparable though? Or, for that matter, the post-vaccine Stanky Leg as I referred to earlier?

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/saving-calvin

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, October 20, 2021 6:14 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks for the link Alfred!

ODing from being within six feet of fentanyl is as believable as a magic ray weapon that's only used against CIA apparatchiks.

If you honestly believe that Canada is a bastion of progressivism, then I can't take anything you say seriously, fwiw.

― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Wednesday, October 20, 2021 6:09 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Progressive enough for table isn't the same as not progressive, compare Canada to most nations in the world and you'll find it to be rather progressive despite its many flaws (of which I'm certain I am more aware of than you), and that there is a general consensus by actual experts on those metrics. Perhaps not coincidentally, the countries that rank above are usually also historically dominated by protestant culture.

...

CIA workers

How else is the CIA going to get the funding for their own invisible death ray?

i'm cia worker-class

ok, maybe middle-upper cia worker class

we will be putting out a gofundme, raising funds is tough but necessary!!

I think the point is mostly to reiterate how edgy and cool it is to dismiss CIA workers and I wouldn't take it personally.

fabulous stuff

i haven't given a dime to any cause in 33 years because a part of me died with the end of the reagan presidency, but i will dig deep and give $10 to the cia blue lives matter division, the ones that support our underfunded police officers and foreign intelligence efforts

i don't know what they do at the CIA, i just heard it was cool to make fun of them

Black Site Local 472

god bless, karl malone!

signed,
CIA workers

they analyze the evidence and come up with theories. there is a lot of drinking that goes on. everyone wears shades. it's definitely full of independent thinkers

Perhaps not coincidentally, the countries that rank above are usually also historically dominated by protestant culture.

Okay, if you're going to be such a Captain-Save-a-Protestant Western Chauvinist, then what distinguishes the US strains of Protestantism that makes it so uniquely FUCKED?

You know where some of the most repressive places on the planet are? Places that PROTESTANT COLONIZED after ENSLAVING THE POPULATION

what is the official ranking we're using btw

Pazz & Jop points

This argument definitely needs a top 10 best countries list so we can get some context

VHS started it, let him finish it.

or, rather, them. sorry to presume gender, apologies.

Okay, if you're going to be such a Captain-Save-a-Protestant Western Chauvinist, then what distinguishes the US strains of Protestantism that makes it so uniquely FUCKED?

― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Wednesday, October 20, 2021 6:47 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Parallel to any religious activity, I believe an uniquely american strain of racism has developed and has been the cause for most of the country's inequality and lack of welfare policies. The uniquely american strain, in my opinion and this is a discussion and I'll be glad to be corrected, has nothing to do with religion because other religious communities have fully participated in the racism and inequality and continue to do so. Not only that, but protestant figures have been at the forefront for civil rights of course. Also, abolitionism has a much stronger history within protestant circles than within the Catholic church.

I just don't see it for Protestantism. French catholics were coercive too when they arrived in Acadia and Haiti. Spanish catholics were maybe even worse.

personally i base any list of countries on what kind of tax benefits they will give me for investing my crypto in that beautiful land

Those are the true progressives

why does only the good protestantism count

Or the bad for that matter?

there is a separate northern ireland to help people who don't understand directions, something the protestants did because they are generous

VHS, my earlier posts were talking about "work" and the way Protestant and puritan ethics of "work" being tied to one's "worth" in a society have helped contribute greatly to problems in the US. This is not up for debate, afaic— it's a fact.

there are many lutherans in namibia because it became popular on its own

VHS, my earlier posts were talking about "work" and the way Protestant and puritan ethics of "work" being tied to one's "worth" in a society have helped contribute greatly to problems in the US. This is not up for debate, afaic— it's a fact.

― I'm a sovereign jizz citizen (the table is the table), Wednesday, October 20, 2021 7:05 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

The notion that work is tied to one's worth is disseminated throughout the world (because of colonialism as your rightly pointed) and yet the US seems to be only nation to be unable to bring about proper a welfare state on par with these other nations. I just don't think it's the variable.

I agree with jvc re Havana Syndrome.

It is unclear whether in this scenario Manchin would end up caucusing with the Democrats, which would allow them to continue to control the Senate, or side with the Republicans and place the Senate in GOP hands. In either event, he would hold great sway over this half of Congress...But he was encouraged by the conversations with Sanders and top Democrats that occurred at the start of the week and did not yet see a reason to take this step. Still, he has informed associates that because he is so out of sync with the Democratic Party, he believes it is likely he will leave the party by November 2022.

This part seems more and more plausible, although of course it would even w out the tale of leavin':

Manchin has repeatedly said he has a significant philosophical difference with most of his fellow Democrats. He has told reporters that he believes major programs in the Build Back Better bill would move the United States toward an “entitlement mentality” and that he cannot accept that. In a recent meeting with Biden, Manchin told the president that he sees government as a partner with the public not the ultimate provider, according to people who heard the senator’s account of the conversation. He explained to the president that in his view Biden didn’t win the presidency last year by championing progressive proposals, and he pressed the president to recall his campaign promise to bring people together. He also reminded Biden that he has vowed not to support any package unless it contains the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, except in cases of incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.
...Manchin told associates that he is hopeful a compromise that creates an overall framework for the bill can be reached by the end of this week—but at no more than the $1.75 trillion he supports. He has said that he believes if a deal is not attained on the social infrastructure package, he expects to be blamed and receive a ton of criticism.

Manchin’s press secretary did not respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE: After this article was published, reporters questioned Manchin about it. He replied, “I can’t control rumors, and it’s bullshit, bullshit spelled with a B, U, L, L, capital B.” Mother Jones stands by the story.

yes this was the response

MANCHIN to @burgessev and me on the report he is threatening to leave the Democratic Party if his demands are not met on infrastructure: “I can’t control rumors and it’s bullshit, bullshit spelled with a B, U, L, L, capital ‘B’”: pic.twitter.com/ex8iHMIiSs

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 20, 2021