US Politics: July 2020 - "Denigrating this Luxury Avenue"

Whoops, start at this link instead

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/509237-kaepernick-fauci-to-receive-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-award

Sticking it to him, in the parlance of Seinfeld.

"You gave them an award for spite?!"

loooool

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-canceled-first-pitch-with-yankees-but-yankees-reportedly-hadnt-even-invited-him-2020-07-27

↑↑ More Seinfeld!

"I wasn't even really invited..."
"That's what makes this so difficult."

This is Michael Scott-esque https://t.co/5eCrv8Chkc pic.twitter.com/vUATYHBG0a

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) July 27, 2020

"a longtime standing offer"

Randy Levine GUILTY

A little surprised that people think that global climate catastrophe can be stopped. Like, I'd laugh at the naivete if it wasn't so dire.

If you have young kids, tell them to settle in a place that has access to fresh water.

Technically it’s easy, unfortunately we share the planet with a bunch of selfish idiots called humanity; so we’re all fucked.

pic.twitter.com/VmZnpIBq59

— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) July 28, 2020

for every pol a Gravel kid!

BREAKING: @Twitter & @jack have suspended @DonaldJTrumpJr for posting a viral video of medical doctors talking about Hydroxychloroquine.

Big Tech is the biggest threat to free expression in America today & they're continuing to engage in open election interference - full stop. pic.twitter.com/7dJbauq43O

— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 28, 2020

(I have no idea who this jackass is, just posting the news.)

i guess the gop really wanted to declare war on the virus, huh

The GOP COVID-19 bill includes

$2 billion for F-35s
$1.75 billion for an FBI building
$1 billion for surveillance planes
$375 million for armored vehicles
$360 million for missile defense
$283 million for Apache helicopters
$0 for millions facing eviction

It's Dead on Arrival

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 28, 2020

has anyone tried shooting covid with a gun?

wd like to see Zephyr take Schumer's Senate seat next time (if AOC doesn't)

Publication day!

Buy early and often. Buy audio and hardcover. Send 10 copies to your Congressmember.

Thank you in advance. This is my best effort to distill my creed, a theory about power, activism, and democracy.

Break 'em Up. https://t.co/WjZ0iSIt1K

— Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) July 28, 2020

So, this doctor whose video Trump retweeted is a character.

Daily Beast: The president is pushing the coronavirus theories of a Houston doctor who also says sexual visitations by demons and alien DNA are at the root of Americans’ common health concerns.

Recovering our freedom from Big Tech. buy via amazon...

So, this doctor whose video Trump retweeted is a character.

WAT? Trump involved with a wacky doctor? Say it ain't so.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/img/charles/2016/08/26/7eb7495d.jpg

Like...I can't even muster up any feelings of surprise or shock anymore. His profound stupidity is truly bottomless.

If he got into an on-camera argument with a drawing of a person, I'd just think 'yeah, that seems about right'. If the country watched as he slowly snacked on a fistful of rusty siding screws, I'd just say 'that's some classic Donald'.

shit is gonna get ugly

https://forward.com/news/national/451581/jon-ossoff-jewish-nose-david-perdue-antisemitic/

Jim Jordan is so bad at this

Jim Jordan is so bad at this

xpost

Trump claims the doctors told him "That's amazing!" because he could repeat a string of four or five simple words. He was never that bright but it seems likely he's suffering from cognitive decline at this point.

A little surprised that people think that global climate catastrophe can be stopped. Like, I'd laugh at the naivete if it wasn't so dire.

I don't think anyone who's been paying close attention thinks the climate crisis can be stopped, the goal is simply to mitigate the worst effects. Do we want 2 billion dead or 6.5 billion dead? Sorry to put it in such stark terms.

Those are the right terms imo - if averting doom is impossible, why bother to try?

Was trying to watch the Bill Barr hearing but had to tap out, don't have the patience.

I suppose, in that sense Jom Jordan is wildly effective because he made me hate myself and life in general after watching for a few minutes.

I don't understand how Gohmert and Jordan are elected officials but then look at the president

Gohmert having devoted constituents is about as bizarre to me as people who like Elton John's Aida

there's a venn diagram for you

The balls of these GOP assholes to restore the millions of military spending Asshole reallocated to the border wall ... via the covid stimulus bill. What a bunch of dicks.

We are the country that perennially has a clear path to the end zone, then falls down at the ten yard line and shits itself

I highly recommend this (2008) book to people:

https://www.amazon.com/images/I/51E1LK6-OVL._SX342_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

In The Confidence Trap, David Runciman shows that democracies are good at recovering from emergencies but bad at avoiding them. The lesson democracies tend to learn from their mistakes is that they can survive them―and that no crisis is as bad as it seems. Breeding complacency rather than wisdom, crises lead to the dangerous belief that democracies can muddle through anything―a confidence trap that may lead to a crisis that is just too big to escape, if it hasn't already. The most serious challenges confronting democracy today are debt, the war on terror, the rise of China, and climate change. If democracy is to survive them, it must figure out a way to break the confidence trap.

Re: the Ossoff nose thing it looks more like someone was sloppy and erased the edges of his face around the nose, rather than making the nose itself bigger

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI): Is it ever appropriate for a president to solicit or accept foreign assistance in an U.S. election?

Barr: “Depends on what kind of assistance.”

Cicilline: Is it ever appropriate for a president to solicit or accept foreign assistance in an U.S. election?

Barr: “No, it’s not appropriate.”

well i mean when you put it that way

Re: the Ossoff nose thing it looks more like someone was sloppy and erased the edges of his face around the nose, rather than making the nose itself bigger

I'd believe it if there weren't numerous examples of right-wingers editing up photos of Dem pols and journalists already

just like official government docs 'accidentally' being couched with Nazi-style language these fuckers absolutely do not deserve the benefit of the doubt on any of this

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/27/magazine/ben-jerry-interview.html

What would go in a Joe Biden flavor, and what would go in a Donald Trump flavor?
Cohen: A Trump flavor, it’s not palatable. You can’t make Trump into ice cream. You could make him into coal.

What about Biden?
Cohen: It’s an interesting question. [Sighs.] You know, it’d be better than nothing.

Biden 2020: You know, it’d be better than nothing.

Lo-Fat Frozen Yogurt with Soybean Crunch and Licorice Swirl

not that it matters or that it's surprising, but the way Barr is answering these questions is a disgrace. he is someone who is in charge of the law, and who is currently above the law, and will never face any retribution for what he's doing, and he knows it

re: Ossoff, they also put him with Schumer and said something about the Dem's "buying" the election, which is enough of an anti-semitic dogwhistle for me

So glad to see that my uncle, who spent eight years posting memes misgendering Michelle Obama and comparing her husband to literal animals, is suddenly posting all caps screeds on Facebook about how "criticizing the president is illegal" and how "disrespecting our leader should be grounds for arrest". I'm even more glad to feel confident that he will follow this advice and come to full-throated defense of Biden in a similar manner.

It's almost morbidly fascinating how quickly even his stupidest brain shittings on Twitter turn into gospel truth and rallying cries for so many morons.

yeah, didn't catch much of the Barr but revolting.
I hope there is a return to some recognition of law next year. But it's a long time to wait.

Could do with some nasty comeuppance like something out of a Spectre comic or something, him and Jim Jordan winding up as each other's anchor or something. But maybe that's too polite.

Gee hope there is a next year.

In The Confidence Trap, David Runciman shows that democracies are good at recovering from emergencies but bad at avoiding them... The most serious challenges confronting democracy today are debt, the war on terror, the rise of China, and climate change.

Trump: "They're very respected doctors. There was a woman who was spectacular in her statements about it and she's had tremendous success with it."

Reporter: "She's also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens."

Trump: "I know nothing about her."

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 28, 2020

at least 3 thread titles here

xpost Don't get caught up in the reductionist blurb, it's really quite good.

Long Thread cutting down the Covington Kid's settlement that your racist uncle won't stop gloating about...

THREAD: Did the Covington Kid just score millions of dollars?

People won't stop asking me about this headline, bullying me into writing this long explanation of why it's obvious the suit against the Washington Post was settled for peanuts. So here goes.https://t.co/3UEqW9mSfw

— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) July 27, 2020

'Nobody likes me' is the obvious thread title for August imho:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/509464-trump-questions-how-fauci-has-a-high-approval-rating-but-nobody-likes

I can’t believe “There has NEVER been a boat parade for Joe Biden!” was this month, it feels like six years ago.