BURNPIT: U.S. Politics, August 2022

There are real cult-like behaviors, for sure, but I also think the cult shrinks a bit the farther it goes into total detachment from reality. There is a level where yoking yourself to fundamentally unpopular ideas starts to take a toll. We are maybe seeing that on abortion to some degree. In Tennessee we're seeing it on vouchers and charter schools, which have never been demonstrably popular but our Hillsdale-besotted governor has officially embraced as core GOP priorities — without doing any particular groundwork to sway public opinion. I think it was a factor in Republicans losing a key seat last week on our local (and newly partisan) school board. You can use structural advantages to force through unpopular things up to a point, but past a point you start to lose legitimacy.

I don't know that that's necessarily a cause for optimism, because obviously what it reinforces is the drive to minimize actual public power — democracy — in whatever way you can. But I also don't take as a given that the future is nothing but a relentless drive to the right that ends in white evangelical authoritarianism, because there just aren't enough of them. Most Americans don't really want to live in the country that that would be. That's a fundamental challenge for minority rule.

*wriggle

*ooze

I worry about Hispanic authoritarianism, evangelical or otherwise.

CNN reported this morning that Trump's lawyers (one of whom was present during latest boxtaking, btw) are now saying that all documents were declassified before leaving DC---although prev reports mention them still being marked Classified, with no strike-through, which apparently (see that link I posted upthread about laws involved here) a President could use to de-classify, but this one didn't bother.
(CNN also reported this morning that Iranian plot to whack Bolton foiled by FBI; Trump and Trumpers won't be thrilled by that either)

documents were declassified, also we don't have them, also they were planted

Trump Boys Thrilled FBI Seized Documents, Leaving Dozens Of Empty Boxes To Play In https://t.co/tsKtFGjcPP pic.twitter.com/QSnnqUtsjr

— The Onion (@TheOnion) August 9, 2022

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/27/doj-georgia-new-york-trump-00048313

So many legal actions

If I had a nickle for every 'the noose is tightening!' headline over the last five years

(I saw an interview with Bill Clinton years ago, where he said he was annoyed by the Slick Willie nickname, because everything seemed to stick)

"Tricky Dick" would have suited him better.

I lobbied heavily for "Mango Mussolini" but it failed to catch

'Round these parts in spring '08 I christened him The Screaming Lobster of Hope.

My friends and I regularly use "Mango Mussolini." Also "Cheetolini."

I always liked Patrick Monahan’s “President Deals”

xpost glad to hear it's gained some traction

Related note, but when did "TFG" become such a big thing when referring to him? I'm assuming it's short for "the former guy" without having to use his name, but I've been surprised by how frequently I'm seeing it on social media these days.

Pretty good op-ed about Fetterman's campaign tactics, and how other Dems should follow his lead:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/09/john-fetterman-tries-to-lure-rural-voters-00050352

xp lol at "former"

maybe it's 'Total Failure Geezer'

God bless our first openly gay President

“Big, huge, strapping bear came up to me at the Continental Baths wearing only a towel and he said—he had tears streaming down his face—he said, “Sir,

xp lol at "former"

lol at me just now grokking the other options for that initial

Jon, I think “the Former Guy” was Biden’s way of referring to The Worst Man In America upon taking office, around that time.

Big, huge, strapping bear came up to me at the Continental Baths wearing only a towel and he said—he had tears streaming down his face—he said, “Sir,

― Mar - a - Lago, or 120 Days of Sodom (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, August 10, 2022 3:56 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have no idea what this is about but am dying and kind of don’t want any context for it, it’s so fantastically weird on its own

(I’m imagining an ACTUAL bear, for whatever it’s worth, like a Grizzly)

what the hell do you think the continental baths is, a zoo?

a truly inclusive bathhouse would welcome actual grizzly bears

Bear say 'sir' to me

They just don't come no better than a bear.

Bear say 'sir' to me

okay, I can't stop giggling at this one

Bear say 'sir' to me

For once I’m happy I peeked at the politics thread instead of being depressed

what the hell do you think the continental baths is, a zoo?

if they don’t use “tfg” to refer to “that fucking guy” around the white house then color me surprised

https://www.eerdmans.com/Mobile/Products/5447/i-am-a-bear.aspx

feel like the surprisingly low inflation report today might give him the stones to do something (rather than nothing) here https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/10/white-house-solicits-ideas-on-student-debt-relief-as-bidens-decision-looms-00050836

Recommendation for September thread title: “we got your secret spy shit”

fuck me I'm starting to like him again

“It may be funny to you mother f*cker, but it’s not funny to me.”@BetoORourke did not hold back when a supporter of Greg Abbott laughed loudly as Beto discussed the mass shooting in Uvalde. pic.twitter.com/ETJssUFZxS

— Travis Akers (@travisakers) August 11, 2022

NEW: Two law enforcement officials have confirmed to NBC News that Ricky Walter Shiffer, the suspect in the attack on the FBI field office in Cincinnati, is dead.

Shiffer was present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Reporting with @jonathan4ny.

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) August 11, 2022

And this is why they should maybe lock some of them up.

Now for the final act that awaits every single person who falls for this shit enough to Do Something: being posthumously disavowed as a hologram/crisis actor/fed by all the clammy sociopaths they admired and trusted. https://t.co/OOxBdkLmu3

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) August 11, 2022

Imagine dying for Donald Fucking Trump.

This is without question the decade of “fuck around and find out.”

let's hope so

“ Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn’t.”

These people are so unbelievably stupid.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/11/merrick-garland-trump-bluff-00051297

Florida bans Medicaid from covering gender-affirming treatments

...A coalition of LGBTQ and health rights groups, including Lambda Legal, Southern Legal Counsel, Florida Health Justice Project, and National Health Law Program, said the rule will leave thousands of transgender Floridians without critical care when they need it most.

“Ignoring thousands of public comments and expert testimony, Florida’s AHCA has finalized a rule that will deny Medicaid coverage for all medically necessary gender-affirming care for both youth and adults,” the coalition statement said. “This discriminatory and medically unsound rule will take effect on August 21, 2022, putting transgender people in jeopardy of losing access to critical gender-affirming health care services.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/11/florida-finalizes-ban-medicaid-transgender-treatments-00051259

this is real life:

Brian Kilmeade, filling in for Tucker Carlson tonight, shared a clearly fake, photoshopped image of the judge involved in approving the Mar-a-Lago warrant pic.twitter.com/W3cxHdy6id

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 12, 2022

amazing

do you think kilmeade stutters at the end for natural reasons, or because he noticed the watermark of the meme factory of the photoshop his news network just broadcast to millions of dolts?

it even says "WHAT.I.MEME.TO.SAY" in the corner!

sorry, this is a very minor incident in the grand scheme. there are nuclear plans in safes as well. very Brazil-like