US Politics, October 2018: next week will be even longer

yes

she is not quite the worst thing in broadcast tv but close

Part of me doesn't want to be churlish toward Caitlyn Jenner because humans in general are already averse to changing their opinions out of fear of perception, but I don't know if this is that. I think it's typical "I'm conservative on most issues [read: in favor of inflicting suffering through policy] except on the pet cause of my or my family's suffering"
There has been no learning here.

I also think there isn't really sympathy to feel for her because she will be perfectly comfortable no matter what policy or precedent is set about, say, workplace discrimination.

fuck her, she seems really stupid

ignorance and naivete can look like stupidity and generally functions the same as stupidity in practical terms

functionally stupid

IMO the more people who say "I was wrong about this guy" the better

sure, but she kind of loses all credibility having stuck with him this far.

If they succeed to stardom, as Jenner did, they often do not need to learn anything at all for the remainder of their lives. So, not surprisingly, Jenner's an ignorant fool in many ways.

such disrespect for a star of Can't Stop the Music

how would you evaluate Travis Bickle politically? (beyond obv racist)

Well, he's psychotic, so I don't know how well he fits any established models. Obviously he has some sense of morality, of right and wrong, but it's completely distorted.

he fits some of the recent ones

somebody upthread said RdN was famous for playing righties, and i dont see that particularly applying to Vito Corleone, Jake LaMotta or Rupert Pupkin

that was me, I think. i don't think of his characters as left, more sort of libertarian/free market capitalist with fascist undertones. Vito, Fockers dad, Deer Hunter guy, etc.

So the bombs went through a South Florida mail facility! #FloridaPride

"the White House is considering whether to shut the border to Central Americans and deny them the opportunity to seek asylum in the United States, asserting similar emergency powers used during the administration’s controversial travel ban in early 2017, according to administration officials."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pentagon-plans-to-dispatch-800-more-troops-to-us-mexico-border-in-response-to-migrant-caravan/2018/10/25/6a121944-d868-11e8-83a2-d1c3da28d6b6_story.html?utm_term=.98deb517d63f

ok giuliani, now all you have to do is try NOT to say "we're closing the border because it's politics and they're not white" on national tv

reminds me, Giuliani seems to have disappeared!

oh, maybe not (:

giuliani is traveling this week, doing totally normal things in Armenia

Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, raised eyebrows when ThinkProgress first reported that he would be speaking alongside a sanctioned Russian official at a panel in Armenia on Tuesday.

The confusion was only amplified by the actual content of Giuliani’s speech — prompting observers to question why the former New York City mayor would be invited to speak about technology in the first place.

Giuliani appeared next to sanctioned Russian official Sergei Glazyev, a man with a history of working closely with some of the U.S.’s most notorious anti-Semites. The pair were on a panel at the Eurasian Week conference, an annual affair dedicated to the future of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus.

The topic of Giuliani’s panel was “Technological breakthrough and EAEU potential,” a subject on which Giuliani would appear to have little expertise. But that lack of knowledge didn’t stop Giuliani — whom Trump previously named as an adviser on cybersecurity affairs — from speaking for roughly 20 minutes on topics ranging from sharing intelligence to electric grids to the safety of driver-less cars.

good point from weigel in his column today

Think about Newt Gingrich, who stays in touch with Republican candidates and regularly appears on Fox News. Two months ago, he suggested that the story of an immigrant arrested for the killing of an Iowa woman could shake up the election: “If Mollie Tibbetts is a household name by October, Democrats will be in deep trouble.” One month later, Gingrich said the “rallying cry” of the election would be “Remember Kavanaugh.” And now, he's betting the election on the caravan.

Newt knows that it is almost impossible to keep such stories going after they've been thoroughly aired and that once they've dropped off the media radar the public instantly forgets about them in favor of whatever is the newest sensation going. Newt also knows that it is not the job of a conservative media pundit to be correct, but to have a strongly defined opinion that feeds the interests of his audience. Hence, he just babbles on about whatever news his audience is currently engaged with and makes empty predictions that will please them. This is just the standard operating stupidity of cable news commentary, but especially FOX News.

i should have posted the bit immediately before that too, which makes the point that the GOP is flailing to no obvious effect:

What the media are covering instead is an election that has settled into a groove, with Democrats focusing relentlessly on health care and Republicans trying out a number of themes — the caravan, the Brett M. Kavanaugh nomination, the “civility” debate, even an out-of-the-blue tax cut resolution — to undercut the Democrats. One party is consistent and holds the lead in most key House and gubernatorial races; the other party is frantic, edging ahead in some Senate races and trying to shift the dynamics in the rest. While the Republican position has improved in some races, the party and its PACs are now using late money from large donors to go on the air in districts that were not seen as competitive this summer.

It's as if Democrats have spent six months selling Coca-Cola Classic, while Republicans have launched marketing campaigns for Pepsi, then Crystal Pepsi, then Dr Pepper, then Health-Ade Kombucha, and finally, Slim Jims.

but yeah, it's true that gingrich is trying to be good tv rather than win elections necessarily.

uuuugh

Dear @TXCivilRights -

I was one of these people.

I have not previously discussed it with anyone because I didn’t want to sound an alarm until I knew whether or not this was a pattern.

I will detail what I experienced, along with a photo, in this short thread.

1/x#TXSen https://t.co/VzMs3wV4iI

— LeAhhhhhh! 😱 McElrath (@leahmcelrath) October 26, 2018

16 pages of ballot!

Mad Tweeter went off on CNN at 3:14 a.m.

I wonder how hard it would be to get Trump to label himself a fascist.

― jmm, Tuesday, 23 October 2018 14:31 (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

c'mon, he'd never ally himself with a leftwing political philosophy

― i’ll hufflepuff i’ll blow you away (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 14:33 (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No, he'll totally describe himself as a socialist at some point - all other considerations secondary to how much it triggers the libs.

hi, good mourning!

“I was social with your mom, anyway”

Eh, our ballot was probably 16 pages this year. Maybe 14. Mostly judges.

But yeah, don't vote straight ballot, even if you're voting straight ballot. Just go through vote by vote. Takes no time at all.

Can I just point out that as a Canadian who has only ever voted using paper ballots (and as far as I know, there are no plans to go with anything other than paper ballots in the future) that I find voting machines in the US to be ridiculous. They seem really insecure and seem likely to be affected by both software bugs and user error.

Sorry for the intrusion. I just don't get why this isn't something Americans complain about a lot more.

Everything in this country is ridiculous.

But the chads, man. The chads.

so like what is the deal with the texas ballot? intentional? ppl who voted straight republican ticket allegedly had their cruz vote erased, with that field left blank. i say allegedly because i haven't heard any firsthand accounts of that, only secondhand ones. also, that would still benefit cruz if this was how the glitch worked.

I don't know how anyone who uses modern electronic technology regularly could ever think that electronic voting was a good idea. My browser crashed like four times last night while I was trying to order takeout. We are not as technologically advanced as we like to think we are.

obviously paper ballots are the way to go but we're stupid

"vote by mail" for everyone or GTFO

I don't wanna vote by mail! I like going to a polling station, seeing people, and getting a sticker.

yes but there are so many problems with that, unless/until ED is a national holiday I just can't see the actual advantage in terms of GOTV numbers.

https://www.thenation.com/article/how-oregon-increased-voter-turnout-more-than-any-other-state/

I will admit that Automatic Voter Registration seems to be as much of the success story there as the mail-in ballots

see also:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/27/15701708/voting-by-mail

James Clapper, Cory Booker have joined the Florida mailer's list

what has cory booker done? all the other recipients had public feuds with trump.

false flag

― i’ll hufflepuff i’ll blow you away (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 October 2018 14:47

Remarkably ahead of the curve: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/26/pipe-bombs-false-flag-claims-ann-coulter-rush-limbaugh-conspiracy-theories

I don't think there is even a curve anymore, they just start right in with this crap

You're right, of course. I feel stupidly naive for not having expected this from the get-go.

I was remembering how I got into a fight about Ann Coulter with an older military dude at the training for my very first job out of college almost 2 decades ago. Things never change.

And then I told my dad about arguing with this guy who thought Ann Coulter was a valuable source of information and not a total joke. My dad didn't speak to me for 4 months. HA!

I'm surprised the actual President of the United States hasn't claimed it's a false flag operation yet - I imagine he's champing at the bit.