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

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.

another guilty party skates

Rep. Matt Gaetz likely to avoid charges in sex-trafficking probe as federal prosecutors recommend against them, people familiar say https://t.co/kfshVa01RL

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 23, 2022

Do you think this is what prosecutors are trying to do?

sorry, my point probably got lost or buried, which is that we should be focused like a laser beam on winning votes, not locking people up. the latter is often antithetical to the former. you can't win political battles by legal means, but often it seams like it's the only solution that occurs to us.

Charles Koch should get all his money taken away.

Given how much attention has been focused on Gaetz, that decision is very surprising.

He asked for a pardon for it too

Given the fact that this DoJ has been leak proof, and they have stayed true to their policy of not making overt investigative announcements within 60 days of an election, I have serious skepticism about the sources in this reporting. https://t.co/GHesa5cP21

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) September 23, 2022

All worrying about today's WaPo claim that "prosecutors recommended against charging" Matt Gaetz - it's actually good news; it's by @DevlinBarrett who wrote that FBI found "no grand [Jan 6] conspiracy" the week before the 1st seditious conspiracy charge 1/https://t.co/sTZbl5NaPC

— capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) September 23, 2022

lol the reporter who wrote the story retweeted that Mueller She Wrote tweet. Any attention good attention.

Stolen valor dude gets his budget snipped:

The House GOP campaign arm is slashing a near-$1 million ad buy meant to target Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) — essentially walking away from what could have been an easy pickup for the party.

The move comes a day after an Associated Press report that Kaptur’s opponent, JR Majewski, lied about his resume, including claiming that he deployed to Afghanistan. Majewski beat out two state legislators in a May primary contest for the northwest Ohio district.