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

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.

I keep forgetting that there wasn’t a boat parade for joe biden! Fucked up

So many precious memories.

How do his super-tuff followers continually fail to recognize what a pathetic, puling pisspants he is? How?

Most of them are the same? It's very "executive VP of his father's car dealership"

Exactly. These are people who genuinely think they have the deep state on its knees because they share three memes a day.

these are the same people that think Ted Nugent is a libslayer when we don't think about the guy at all unless he's in the news, and even then it's a shrug and a minimize.

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

Occasionally I'll remember events from the past few years and it seems like it happened in another dimension. Like the time Trump blamed Megyn Kelly's debate performance on her menstrual cycle ("bleeding out of her wherever"), or when he "honored" WWII Navajo code talkers beneath a portrait of Andrew Jackson and then referred to Warren as "Pocahontas," or that time Melania wore a pith helmet. Somehow we just move on from these things...

or went to a disaster zone in Texas with that message on the back of her coat. subtle and oh so tactful.

& prioritising by handing out the paper towels first like all great presidents don't.

or was texas teh stiletto heels in a disaster zone thing

I watched this with subtitles because I can't stand his voice, but ... this is something.

This should frighten you.

One of most effective questioning of Trump you’ve ever seen (by @jonathanvswan on #AxiosOnHBO)

Trump has NO GOOD response for NEVER raising Russian bounties/arming Taliban with Putin.

Plus: Russia may still be doing it.pic.twitter.com/8oAbLTzVRv

— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) July 29, 2020

Has anyone's boasts ever been so transparently hollow?

Also he suggests 22 soldiers from India were murdered by China in a long-dispute over the border between the two countries??

Many people don't know this, but Russia used to be this thing called the Soviet Union.

Tbf many people probably *don't* know that, but they're probably mostly under the age of 20, and they can't find the US on the map, either.

Xpost

I guess he’s referring to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_China–India_skirmishes#Galwan_Valley_skirmish which seems fairly gruesome based on the description. Obviously he fails to mention that China lost 35 soldiers in the same skirmishes according to US intelligence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_China–India_skirmishes

Don’t know why the url messes up, you know where to go to though.

https://www.ibtimes.com/maine-democrat-leads-longtime-senator-susan-collins-5-points-new-poll-3018312

Maybe the thing that will turn it around for Collins is a really sharp ad that zeros in on all the horrible positions her opponent is taking. Yeah, that's the ticket. Oh wait, shit, fuck...

What is Sara Gideon's "Top Priority?"

Hard to pin down, but one thing's for sure -- after 133 days of vacation during a crisis, it sure isn't Maine.#mepolitics pic.twitter.com/hKT2PR1tzY

— Team Collins (@TeamCollins207) July 28, 2020

Wow, that's a terrible ad: It only emphasizes all of the things that Gideon wants to focus on. The "gotcha" that they can't all be "top priorities" is weak.

"Look at all these things she's concerned about! How could she possibly be concerned about all these things! She MUST BE LYING!!!!"

Next level stupid.

Conservative think tank leader says schools should reopen since most Texans dying from COVID-19 are elderly or Hispanic

susan collins is going to loose spectacularly

Good morning to @SenSusanCollins and @SenSusanCollins only. pic.twitter.com/6i4GlGtgkF

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 29, 2020

Wow, I mean we've debated TLP again and again but that's a good ad.

These once and future Republicans have honestly shown much more conviction than most Dem leaders. And that's why they'll never get a cent from me, even if I appreciate their efforts now. Once they get their way they'll continue to fight to get their way, without the once in a lifetime twist of their goals loosely and broadly aligning with immediate Dem goals.

The Lincoln Project has also bought ads for the Democratic Senate candidates in Montana and Alaska:
https://www.axios.com/lincoln-project-senate-alaska-maine-montana-f1127dfe-5123-471a-9512-6e77ed3ce5fd.html

Politico: Louie Gohmert, who refused to wear a mask, tests positive for coronavirus https://t.co/Pc4kGXZF6k

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 29, 2020

well thats a shame

probably could have condensed this to 14 words

@realDonaldTrump

I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood...

re: gohmert, it's really a shame they caught it today and not tomorrow. he was scheduled to ride on air force one with trump today

DJT with the Little Creatures deep cuts

Has any GOP politician died of Covid?

Nah, they've just been harvesting the lungs of the young to keep on tickin'.