Joe Money, Joe Problems: the November 2021 U.S. Politics Thread

Unlike most of y'all I am like an actual parent with school-age kids in Virginia. And I am not even a little bit troubled by the various bits of culture-war bullshit being trumpeted by school board moms. But to "school board moms" these bits of culture-war bullshit are paramount in their decisionmaking.

Do you show up to school board meetings? I got into a short discussion with a dude on Twitter where I argued that this kind of thing is where the "a liberal is someone who won't take their own side in an argument" thing comes from - because only the right-wing maniacs show up to the school board meetings, and they shout until they get their way. What seems to be called for is for sane people to show up and shout down the maniacs. (Or run for the school board, if that's what's needed.) I don't have kids, so I don't give a fuck what happens in schools in NJ. But it seems to me that if you do have kids in school, then it behooves you to show up and be a loudmouth asshole advocating for your position, otherwise you're gonna get steamrolled in absentia.

unperson - showing up to a school board meeting and saying basically "you are doing a good job! keep it up!" might be an interesting experiment but it is not headline fodder and it is not as interesting/motivating as shrieking at them that their poisoning the minds of the youth.

*they're

one of the interesting effects of covid on nimby-dominated planning meetings is that they're less ... nimby-dominated because they've been online. that's partly because people with weaker views show up more because it's logistically easier, and partly because people with weaker views show up more because being screamed at in person by reactionary boomers is unpleasant.

the upshot is that the #1 likehack to deradicalize these things it turn them into zoom meetings.

(unrelated, sorry, but that rep. Gosar video is fucking WEIRD)

it is fucking wild that the one profession where you could tweet out a video of yourself murdering a coworker and not get fired is Republican Congressman

honestly i barely even noticed any murder scenes in there. the whole thing is just fucking bonkers from the very start

i knew AOC was in there, for example, and I'm not sure I even saw her. did they map her face onto one of the characters for a few seconds in the middle?

what's also weird is that absolutely everyone in it looks like a villain, including Gosar! he looks like the arch villain, actually! he looks like such a fucking dick

Rep. Jayapal in re: Congress, as quoted in that NYer article Kevin linked:

“Things around here are weird,” she said. “Nobody does anything. They sit on their bums for nine months and do nothing. And then, in three days, you achieve more than you ever thought was possible.”

Life comes at you fast

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/580752-pelosi-calls-for-ethics-criminal-investigations-into-gosar

yeah can't say I wanna watch the video, just repeating what I heard on Twitter. that said those who actually know the anime pointed out that Gosar put himself on the bad guy who happened to be a genocidal maniac so as usual they either missed the point or understood it a little too well

The twitter handle gives me pause, not sure how legit this source is, but I've been waiting to learn more about this particular aspect of 1/6:

BREAKING: EXCLUSIVE: THREAD: Pence, his aides, and staff were locked out of their offices in the capitol complex during the insurrection because their access badges had been DEACTIVATED the morning of the attack, according to sources familiar with the incident 1/

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) November 9, 2021

The video features characters from a Japanese-style anime series

But to "school board moms" these bits of culture-war bullshit are paramount in their decisionmaking.

Simple solution - parents don’t get to vote. We’ll let kids over 12 vote and childless people but that’s it. Maybe once you turn 80 you’re given the franchise again, unless you have a child under 18, because people who have kids at age 63 also shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

Pennsylvania Republicans may see another candidate jump into the race: Dr. Oz, via @FreeBeacon - https://t.co/yzt88lhh2r

— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) November 9, 2021

Doctor Phil should primary Ted Cruz

yea I don't trust that source either but it seems abundantly clear that there's more to the 1/6 story that the GOP is desperately trying to keep secret

why was Pence picking Quayle's brain?

To get to the other sisde

ahh nevermind, this old article explains it: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pence-sought-counsel-from-quayle-on-capacity-to-withhold-certification-of-bidens-election-on-jan-6-book-recounts-01631652911

Cheney would have yelled at him about being amateurs at stealing an election.

"there's no E in potato, Danny boy!"

"We're doing fine communicating to one another. We are NOT doing a good job changing minds or persuading the unpersuaded."

someone with more patience than me needs to come up with that messaging because I don't speak Moron fluently.

also I live in Berkeley so the very fact of my existence is enough to make rural people get out the pitchforks

I had no idea rural people had the WiFi to read a music site.

infrastructure bill has an allocation to provide broadband and Neutral Milk Hotel mp3s to all of Alabama

and a recording of Donald Trump's 1/6 address on rare yellow Japanese vinyl pressing.

no we're a Belle and Sebastian fan site.

I'm just here for the cardigans.

Good news for railfans:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/11/08/amtrak-infrastructure-bill-funding/

sick

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-build-back-better-americans-dont-know-opinion-poll/

Lowering Medicare prescription drug prices:
Support 88%
Oppose 12%
.
Medicare coverage for dental, eye and hearing:
Support 84%
Oppose 16%
.
Paid family and medical leave:
Support 73%
Oppose 27%
.
Universal pre-K for children:
Support 67%
Oppose 33%

— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) November 8, 2021

lol
https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2021/10/10/c45a1a92-aecd-4a4b-9e01-6745792a1066/49-pay-fors.png

did the poll upthread ask the respondents if Biden's fart on Camilla would have impacted who they voted for if it happened in 2020

He should have waited for the Spencer movie to come out to piggyback on the Lady Di revival.

they're doing what to promote the movie?!

If the English didn't have skilled necromancers, Charles would have been king 15 years ago.

Can we have unhinged left-wing media? Why is unhinged conservative media the status quo, when any left-wing media we get is milquetoast, rational and “hinged”? Conservatives are so much better at amplifying their messaging. They scream and they lie and they generate outrage, and that kind of approach gets pooh-poohed by the left, but it’s effective and it drives the conversation. People listen to conservative talk radio in their cars- and more people are working from cars these days!- because it is engaging and not boring. But NPR- milquetoast and boring! Who the fuck wants to listen to that? I want to scream and rant and create outrage about how fucking awful conservative policy and politics are, and I would be glad to listen to someone doing just that. If you can get your message out there and hit hard and not be afraid of repeating yourself ad nauseum, that makes an impact, because it gets the media as a whole talking about what you want them talking about, and it also serves two distinct functions: 1) riling up your base and cementing/feeding them their talking points, and 2) making people who disagree with you feel more alone and question their own beliefs. We are fucking losing this whole game/war/whatever you want to call it because we can’t come to terms with the fact that people just want to be told what to think! And why are there no left-wing comment bots- it’s all conservative talking point amplification and targeting people who are not strong in their convictions, trying to bring more people into the fold by making them question their beliefs, when they see the whole comments section saying things like “there is no way in hell I’m vaccinating my children, I love them too much to harm them and destroy their lives like that”. Let’s have some fucking left-wing and progressive bots amplifying our fucking messaging! WTF we need to get our act together.

but you're describing a hell world. that's the problem. you're probably right, in what you're saying. i was joking upthread about this, just the idea of a left-wing version of conservative media, and how stupid and hilarious and horrible it would be. how awful, really, unimaginable to me, unsupportable to me. that's the problem with the left. the mirror-world versions of what conservatives do don't work on the left, because there are too many people who just won't put up with it. it's too cynical, too terrible, too stupid. functional, sure, but winning by adopting the worst elements of the worst people. a pyrrhic victory, at best.

like, if what the epistantophus post actually came to pass, i think i'd start a secret underground cell of apostates to overthrow the whole fucking new order, just as a matter of principle, like fuck this

everyone else can blow themselves up to hell, but i will be sticking with the people that tether themselves to reality and to trying to do the best we can and not just fucking lie all the time

"The Limbaugh of the liberals" has already been a joke topic on e.g. Prairie Home Companion.

I guess it depends on execution but. If this were a thing that could truly move the needle, it would be out there and doing so.

Daily Show and Sam Bee and many others have tried to occupy a space like this and. Well. Whole lotta choir-directed preaching. Which is fine and pretty harmless. But we are not convincing the unconvinced at this time, and that is concerning.

no $$ there

MSNBC is pretty unhinged, just in an incredibly shitty way. Remember Maddow's tax return bombshell?

Selling people on grievances is easy, that's why political talk radio can cross over so easily with sports talk in style and substance - being mad about the head coach of the Ravens vs. being mad about the head coach of the country.

Which you can totally do from a left perspective, as Air America failed at and Sam Seder/Chapo have succeeded at in their way - but you don't get money thrown at you or Clear Channel stations dedicated to you when you're airing grievances aimed at the corporations buying advertising. So you get safe old MSNBC or the Daily Show getting more toothless over time until it reached the Rally To Restore Sanity.

can’t fathom a cable network with a labor bent. simply can’t happen in this country

MSNBC is pretty unhinged, just in an incredibly shitty way. Remember Maddow's tax return bombshell?

https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2021/10/10/c45a1a92-aecd-4a4b-9e01-6745792a1066/49-pay-fors.png

Yeah I mean I wasn’t being entirely serious, it’s just so frustrating how you can be right and still lose on messaging and culture war bullshit. How does this stuff get more traction than reality? Amplification, understanding of human nature, and skillful use of media, I guess.

People are dumb.

People are acritical. Almost as if the people in power planned it that way. But that's the root of the problem and where a helluva lot of reform needs to happen. Teach the children how to identify propaganda and logical fallacies, etc.

https://hillreporter.com/report-pence-aides-and-staff-forced-into-hiding-on-jan-6th-because-they-were-locked-out-of-their-offices-117343?fbclid=IwAR2oMDptSTGcAErPYG8lfKYUr44Fg5LbGil7YeEODsuUO7eGt02BV7gyMt8

People overthink the intelligence of the average voter. I asked my uncle why he voted for Trump and he couldn't give me a reason besides recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

He's a black man who's never stepped in a church and can't state 1 thing about Jews or Palestine.

— Darrell Owens (@IDoTheThinking) November 10, 2021