Why is everyone so mean?? US Politics: September 2022

is there anything more deep state than the federalist society

Republicans look to restrict ballot measures following a string of progressive wins

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/10/the-lefts-best-chance-for-restoring-abortion-rights-in-red-states-is-in-jeopardy-00055901

Also alarm is voiced re minimum wage and other ballot initiatives---

Leave it up to the states!

No, not like that shit

DOJ and Trump each propose 2 special masters for Mar-a-Lago probe
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/special-master-nominees-trump-doj-griffith-huck-jones-dearie/index.html

Team Trump propose judge on FISA Court that approved warrants later deemed bad, hoping he'll fuck up again/provide grounds for appeal, is what I suspect.

can they battle to the death or something

Is there an Australian who can explain this to me? I don't even know who Nick Adams is. Amazing video tho.

Joe Biden is pushing America to communism, it's time to get back in the game and turn America back to God and Trump! pic.twitter.com/p6jltGehiW

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) September 10, 2022

Re: the fight again ballot initiatives— I mean, we already knew these people hated democracy.

Xp another Twitter account I was blissfully unaware of until now, but there’s some comedy to be found

Kyle Rittenhouse would make a better Quarterback than Quinn Ewers.

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) September 10, 2022

Congratulations to our country’s Minor League Baseball players on a historic, swift, and overdue organizing victory, and to @MLB and @MLBPA for taking this critical step. Every worker is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect – on the job and on the field. https://t.co/hdAFpGmywK

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 10, 2022

I only know about Nick Adams cos of Reddit constantly laughing at him, but please, keep him, we don't want him. What is the matter with that person.

at the risk of stating the obvious, ballot measures are a terrible way of writing good laws and most democracies don't have them for that reason.

citation: the state of california is ungovernable.

I think ballot measures can be good or bad like any lawmaking. But I think with so much rampant gerrymandering, they're a necessary option to exert some kind of actual public will when it's routinely frustrated by anti-democratic unrepresentative government.

A lesser evil in our situation if you will

thinking they were a good idea 100-150 years ago when ballot measure states wrote their constitutions is probably a cultural thing that was in the water back then (populism, fear of corruption, etc.).

actually needing them in 2022 is a sign your democracy is broken. they won't fix it though.

Is there an Australian who can explain this to me? I don't even know who Nick Adams is. Amazing video tho.

He is a 100% US-based grifter, completely unknown in Australia.

(When he was a local councilor from 2004 on, aged 21, he was censured for constant absences working on his American motivational speaking career.)

Hemingway's protagonist iirc

To his credit, Nick Adams was a critical factor in defeating the Xiliens during the great kaiju war between Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/janus_stills/3989-/29344id_019_w1600.jpg

In the last ten years I got to vote to approve gay marriage, legalize marijuana (twice), to ensure early and absentee voting and automatic voter registration, to have an independent commission in charge of redistricting and this year will get to vote for more voting rights expansion and to change the state constitution to ensure abortion access. None of these things would have passed legislatively and most of them were opposed or fucked with by elected officials.

Agreed it feels really broken to have to do it this way but man does it feel good when they pass.

As mentioned in that linked article, the Kansas ballot initiative sought to remove abortion protections from the state constitution, it wasn't about mobs trying to add amendments (caek)

Republicans help Democratic minority block near-total abortion ban in South Carolina
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/09/south-carolina-republicans-democrats-abortion

Today is the fifth anniversary of Ted Cruz jacking it to incest porn on 9/11 #NeverForget https://t.co/YM5tGGQvi8

— gaming disorder pawg (@roun_sa_ville) September 11, 2022

I guess 9/11 has been called "Patriot Day" for a while now, but this year feels like the first time I'm seeing it actually used a lot. I hate it, thx.

No matter how long I live I will never call September 11 by that supremely stupid name.

“getting absolutely sonned day”

Moby's Birthday!

I don't even know who Nick Adams is. Amazing video tho.

He is a 100% US-based grifter, completely unknown in Australia.

Hemingway's protagonist iirc

To his credit, Nick Adams was a critical factor in defeating the Xiliens during the great kaiju war between Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah.

Undeniable abs tho...

https://i0.wp.com/www.metroweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Nick-Adams-Photo-by-Greg-Vaughan.jpg

he was just about to change from his denim jeans into his denim wraparound

Tomorrow, Lindsey Graham is going to introduce a bill that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks.

An issue that's already going against them, and they're going to make it even starker six weeks out from the midterms. Good plan, fellas.

maybe to give them all an opportunity to vote against it? 'wait wait, this goes too far I say!'

sort of like 'we need to FUND the police, not DEFUND the police' on the other side

Republicans don't put hateful, punitive laws up because they want to nobly vote against them. They put hateful, punitive laws up because that's who they are and that's what they want. They don't have the numbers to break the filibuster threshold, but every Republican will be in support of this shit or keep their mouths shut.

would it make sense for democrats not to filibuster just so they can get votes on the record?

No bc all d’s can go out there and say they wont let shit like this come to the floor. Also dont trust seinema to not do something totally stupid

A nationwide ban on abortion should not survive constitutional challenge, but the current Court likely would uphold it.

This gives "moderate" Republicans to go on record that they support a "compromise" unlike the murderous Dems who want to abort children up to age 12.

perhaps this will finally push democrats to do the right thing. when you hear about the GOP proposing a national abortion ban, it makes you wonder, where is the Democrat's corresponding proposed legislation codifying Roe? they need to say what they will pass if they have 52 votes, and they need to get everyone (except for president manchin and sinema, who don't have to care about human beings) on board with it ahead of time

No bc all d’s can go out there and say they wont let shit like this come to the floor. Also dont trust seinema to not do something totally stupid

― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, September 13, 2022 9:30 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it needs 60 votes. there's zero danger of it passing. the only argument not to hold a vote is there's more important stuff to vote on that might pass (no idea if this is true).

Doesn't it only need 60 votes if you "don't let it come to a vote" by filibustering it? If you "let it come to a vote" then it only needs 51.

i thought the suggestion was to "not bring it to a vote" by not scheduling a cloture debate at all, which schumer can do iiuc?

I meant bringing it to a final vote. Just to be clear, if there are not enough votes to defeat this, they absolutely should not bring it to a vote, my assumption is there are enough votes to stop it.

i don't think the dems need to bring it to any kind of vote fwiw. if rick scott thinking out loud about social security is sufficient for attack ads then a draft bill with republican sponsors is certainly sufficient.

This is why they're doing this btw:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/04/01/more-americans-support-15-week-abortion-ban-but-dont-want-stricter-restrictions-poll-finds/?sh=5d86f383bf5b

The poll found 48% of respondents at least somewhat support restricting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, while 43% oppose it.

The logic of a vote would be having a concrete anti-abortion record that you can hang around their necks in the upcoming election.

i think that overestimates how much attention persuadable pay to specific votes. "republicans have a national abortion ban bill" will do the job.

This gives "moderate" Republicans to go on record that they support a "compromise" unlike the murderous Dems who want to abort children up to age 12.

This is definitely the strategy, it's a counterattack because they know the issue is a problem for them. So they're trying to take charge of it again, since it's always been their issue to make Democrats squirm with. They don't like being on the defensive.

I don't think the politics are good tho as long as it allows states to restrict it more. If they were proposing a nationwide "legal until 15 weeks" bill, that would put them more in the mainstream. But right, this gets painted as a "ban" bill, not a rights bill.

yep. the republicans are doing this because they think it's good politics. but it's not a clever trap. they're just wrong.

new Democratic campaign ad just dropped https://t.co/vK89L54jAL

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 13, 2022

caek otm. the right-to-lifers are absolutely demanding this and they can't say no. the republican party would crumble if those voters sat on their hands.

Spice Girls looking good at 50