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

the left-wing spectrum Mueller, of course, an olde-school, by the book, Casio-wearing Republican, with such cred, was said. He would brook no fules, pull no punches.

school boards, city councils, public safety

It strikes me that lots of reasonably competent and sane people won't run for these positions because doing those jobs conscientiously would cut sharply into their other duties and responsibilities, like doing their jobs and parenting their children. But the crazies are so focused on their political obsessions that a careful weighing of consequences and a desire to be conscientious and responsible never enters into their decision to run. I'm not sure this can be fixed.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless),

I’m pretty Mueller found nothing actionable in regards to collusion with Russia, but did find criminal obstruction of justice with his investigation, which he pawned off on Congress to deal with.

Did come across evidence that the Russians did stuff on their own, or somebody established that---just saying Russian effect in itself more than political urban legend.

And leave us not forget:

On May 16, 2018, Christopher Wylie, who is considered the “whistleblower” on Cambridge Analytica and also served as Cambridge Analytica's Director of Research in 2013 and 2014,[95] also testified to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.[96] He was considered a witness to both British and American authorities...Christopher Wylie also testified about Russian contact with Cambridge Analytica and the campaign, voter disengagement, and his thoughts on Facebook's response.[98]

In 2019, Trump directed us to go and take immigrants from the border and, quote, bus and dump them into democratic cities but he was more specific. He wanted us to identify the murderers, the rapists, and the criminals, and in particular, make sure we did not incarcerate them. pic.twitter.com/e6WEPtBip7

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 21, 2022

i'm not sure i've ever seen this kind of fascism before, but maybe it has. the exploitation/scapegoating of immigrants for fascist aims, sure. "they're coming to take your jobs" kind of shit, they're evil, they want to hurt the real patriots, "they", "us", etc, that's an old one. but has anyone ever tried to identify people who really are violent and then insert them into the cities of their political opponents so as to "prove" the racist point?

the guy speaking was the Chief of Staff of DHS at the time, by the way. being loyal civil servants, they went ahead and did their due diligence about whether it was legal for them to pick up people at the border and drop them off in cities in different states, and it turned out it was illegal.

oh wait, that's the "anonymous" guy too, which means anyone reading this is going to dismiss it all as an opportunistic attempt for him to sell his book, which it absolutely is, in addition to being an incredibly creepy account of a president that really is trying to murder you

xp

That “both sides” bullshit equivocating well-established theories of Russian election meddling and Trump’s big lie is ridiculous. And just to keep beating this dead horse, aside from being intentionally duplicitous, Russian disinformation is specifically tasked with this exact goal:

It also uncovered a large persuadable middle who don’t know what to think about this information and are simply uncertain about its accuracy and whether to believe it.

A highly targeted campaign of manipulating public opinion, from the experts in the field, with plausible deniability cooked in. To push the idiot fringe to action and encourage everyone else to sit on their hands. The main goal being encouraging social division, and creating a crisis of doubt in the vestiges of our democratic institutions. Yep pointing this out is literally the leftish version of “Let’s go Brandon”, I tells you.

New from @prioritiesUSA Ad Hawk: Republicans pivoting away from economic messaging in core battlegrounds. After Democrats economic successes, they no longer want the fight and are trying to fear-monger about crime instead. pic.twitter.com/A0aBxUy3il

— Nick Ahamed (@nickahamed) September 20, 2022

Gotta play the hits

Was talking to my quite liberal aunt who live in Connecticut, I wanted to come up with a respectful way to ask if most of the black folks in her state live in the SW corner of CT so I started by asking her if most of the diversity was in that region…which she took as her cue to launch into a tirade about “out-of-control” crime. Some divisive issues don’t need to be targeted too well, apparently any middle-/upper-class wypipo make good soft targets for this crap.

Don't forget the old shibboleth "border security," which is a variant of the "crime" trope.

This guy has a great future in the party:

Ohio GOP House Candidate Has Misrepresented Military Service

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-09-21/ohio-gop-house-candidate-has-misrepresented-military-service

Majewski... dabbled in politics as a pro-Trump hip-hop performer and promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Sound intriguing, but this might be what Mitch McConnell was talking about: a dearth of 'quality candidates'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpKQkIWofog

huh

all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that congressional candidates spit half-assed bars

Groom the Jewels

lol

Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat who defeated the Republican Sarah Palin in a special House election to become the first Alaska Native in Congress, is on track to do it again in November. A new poll by the Anchorage-based pollster Dittman Research puts Peltola at 50 percent, Palin at 27 percent and the Republican Nick Begich III at 20 percent in the first round of rank-choice voting.

Is Palin an independent now?

still GOP. i wish her all the best

no one gives a fuck (or more charitably, no one can do anything about it) but desantis tried to do the exact same thing to another group of migrants in TX, earlier this week. the same exact people ("Perla" is the operative) were involved. they were going to fly the migrants to Delaware, this time. they called it off, at the last minute. Desantis' team is just lying about it. there are no consequences

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/perla-behind-another-flight-and-stranded-migrants
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2022/09/20/georgetown-delaware-airport-airplane-migrants-texas-florida-new-jersey/69505612007/

one of the key people involved is a tall blonde person who gives out business cards that don't include her last name. Just "Perla"

doesn't seem like it would be that hard to track down a person that is trafficking hundreds of migrants at the behest of an evil fuck governor from florida, but what do i know

If you can break the paywall, the Miami Herald's original story has the lurid details:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article266089771.html

thank you! (i was able to use the "open link in new incognito tab" trick)

i'm rereading inferno. trying to figure out which circle of hell belongs to people who traffic migrants for political gain

i'm thinking 8th circle, pouch #5 for Desantis, minimum

Which one has the damned souls upside down in shit?

Dante and Virgil are on the rim of the third pit, ditch, or trench of Circle VIII for those guilty of Simony. These sinners used their positions in the church for personal monetary gain. The Simonists are upside-down in round holes the size of baptismal fonts.

From each of these holes protrude the feet and legs of a spirit, with the rest of the body upside down in the hole. The soles of their feet are on fire, and Dante sees one shade who is apparently suffering more torment than others, moving and shaking violently; his feet are burning more fiercely than the others.

Ah, here it is: the Eighth Circle (Fraud)--Second Pouch--Flatterers are immersed in human excrement (Canto 18).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAvXnBgJMdM

xp alfred

Senator Cruz voted against this. https://t.co/mht1OgtvwL

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 21, 2022

Fact-checkin' Cruz

I like the dude on the left's hair but the eyebrows need waxing

The Zodiac killer has a cyst

Also "the exact same playbook" used by law enforcement the world over to go after outlaws and crooks, but sure.

These radical Dems have zero qualms about weaponizing their public office to go after their political enemies. The same exact playbook used by Communists and Fascists throughout world history!!! https://t.co/G3selPMUkr

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 22, 2022

well there is the kernal of a valid criticism there -- we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions (send him to jail).

civil lawsuits don't usually end up with someone in jail, unless the defendant punches the judge or something

xp

there's also the law breaking, but yeah...

presumably all of this is about the NY AG's lawsuit, which also mentions a number of state criminal laws they think were violated

so, maybe not just civil lawsuits!

The AG has made referrals to the IRS, the SDNY and the Manhattan DA.

we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions

afaics rather less than a quarter of the country loves Trump, but they are enthusiastic to the point of mania and they vote. another large cohort of Trump voters are far from loving him but they believe their self-interest means making common cause with him. they would love to go back to 'the old days' of Bush-Cheney but can't see a path back, so they're stuck.

otoh, the Democrats would dearly love to pick up a big chunk of the tens of millions of infrequent voters and non-voters, but they're mired in the politics of timidity and are afraid to leave the comfort of their current coalition. so, they bet all our futures on making tiny gains at the electoral margins to keep their boat afloat.

well there is the kernal of a valid criticism there -- we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions (send him to jail).

― Thus Sang Freud, Thursday, September 22, 2022 12:52 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think its exactly the opposite, the fact that half the country loves him is the only reason he's not in prison right now

Dude should have been in prison for decades now. It’s just that we don’t treat white (people) collar crime as “crime”.

...But Walker does not necessarily need to be a policy wonk, said Theodore Johnson, a senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank. Walker’s role as a solid Republican vote in the Senate may be enough for many conservatives, he added.

“This is just going to be a guy who puts his head down, maybe says some dumb stuff,” said Johnson, an expert in race and politics. “But if he is a reliable vote, you know, is it better to have than Warnock, who’s a reliable vote [for Democrats] 90-plus percent of the time? People may be willing to make that trade-off that he may not be the most gifted or qualified, but he’s going to do as he’s told by McConnell.”

the shining city upon a hill

Fossil fuel giant Koch Industries has poured over $1m into backing – directly and indirectly – dozens of House and Senate candidates who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s win on 6 January 2021.

Koch, which is controlled by multibillionaire Charles Koch, boasts a corporate Pac that has donated $607,000 to the campaigns or leadership Pacs of 52 election deniers since January 2021, making Koch’s Pac the top corporate funder of members who opposed the election results, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign spending.
...Although the Koch-funded Super Pac AFP Action had suggested it would not back election deniers after 6 January, analysts aren’t shocked given Koch’s lobbying and legislative priorities, which include fighting various tax and regulatory measures related to fossil fuel issues including climate change that affect the company’s bottom line.
“Like other corporations pledging change following January 6, Koch Industries has returned to business as usual,” said Sheila Krumholz, who leads OpenSecrets.
...“Like many big business spenders, Koch seems more interested in their favored party controlling Congress than the characteristics of specific members,” Vandewalker added.

To be sure, the Koch Pac’s support for 52 election deniers included a number of members whose votes are often helpful to fossil fuel interests.

may not be the most gifted or qualified

MAY not...

xp

well there is the kernal of a valid criticism there -- we try to address political problems (half the country loves trump) with legal solutions (send him to jail).

Do you think this is what prosecutors are trying to do? Are they so ready to take on the biggest white collar beasts? To really get Both Sides Now, maybe we should always have a Republican and a Democratic prosecutor on each case, or each involving a member of the Trump family and retainers.

The R and the D prosecutors could decide what to do, if anything, of course.