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

someday i'll be
living in a big ol city

What makes people grudgeful?

― frogbs, Thursday, September 1, 2022 12:21 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

"You, alright?! I learned it by watching you!"

check the guy's track record

Our Big new Prinz (of Orange)

Be great if this story didn't just disappear and something actually happened about it
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/09/01/ginni-thomas-wisconsin-bernier-tauchen/

Today, President Biden will warn of the threat to democracy from “MAGA Republicans” and election deniers in a prime-time address outside Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. Biden’s speech will frame the debate for the midterm elections as Democrats fight to hold on to their majorities in Congress.

Biden will focus on a movement that doesn’t recognize free and fair elections and increasingly talks about violence in response to actions they don’t like, a White House official said in a preview of the speech set to begin at 8 p.m. Former president Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was rigged.

i feel very conflicted about this, lol

and man, out of all the "difficult" speeches to make, and Joe Biden is the one who has to do it. sad lol for america

i am curious if the fascism meter is going to stay at "semi-" or increase to "practically-"

Read that Alito article, sailor.

I'm just glad to see that he's apparently dispensed with all the reaching across the aisle bipartisanship bullshit that 99.9999% of Republicans want no part of.

Most presidents in my lifetime have been mediocre public speakers. JFK and Reagan understood well how to engage an audience. Bill Clinton was a notch below them, with Obama as competent, though a bit stiff. But the deliveries of Eisenhower, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush the First, Bush the Second, Trump and Biden all rate as consistently mannered and awkward, or downright painful to listen to.

yeah it does seem kinda significant coming from a guy who keeps referring to McConnell as his bestie

I don't think McConnell is a real 'MAGA republican'.. He saw Trump as a useful idiot who would sign virtually any bill put in front of him, but he was pretty clear in calling out Biden's clear victory

Not to derail the thread, but Obama quite clearly belongs with Clinton and Reagan as best public speakers.

Definitely with, possibly above imo

not only a great speaker but he has such a good voice too

I don't think McConnell is a real 'MAGA republican'..

He is, however, every bit a fascist. Cocaine Mitch would gleefully punch everyone's ticket for the camps if presented with the opportunity. McConnell's beef with Trump is that he wasn't useful enough, undermining the reactionary agenda by making it so blatant.

Yeah. Franco wasn't Hitler but was every bit a fascist.

No disagreements there... the Merrick Garland snub was the pinnacle of cynicism

They say that he's not even particularly committed to conservative principles.. just clinging to power for power's sake

In this case, they are right.

McConnell's beef with Trump is that he wasn't useful enough

OTM. They got their tax cuts for the rich and their Supreme Court picks, but I'm sure Mitch spent every day grimacing at the idiocy he had to deal with, and upset at how much more chicanery he could have gotten up to if he weren't saddled with such a complete moron.

yeah McConnell despises Trump because Trump's too stupid and temperamental to work with

Clinging to power for power's sake is the ultimate conservative principle.

you gotta hand it to george washington

it was cool to leave

Republican state attorneys general and other leading conservatives are exploring a slew of potential lawsuits targeting President Biden’s plan to cancel some student debt — challenges that could limit or invalidate the policy before it takes full effect.

In recent days, a number of GOP attorneys general from states including Arizona, Missouri and Texas have met privately to discuss a strategy that could see multiple cases filed in different courts around the country, according to a person familiar with their thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the confidential talks.

Other influential conservatives — including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and allies of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank — are mulling their own options as they ratchet up criticism of Biden’s debt-relief plan, two additional people familiar with the matter said. And a conservative advocacy group founded by a major Trump donor said it would file a lawsuit against the policy.

“The conservative public interest law firms in our network are exploring filing lawsuits against this. They are doing background legal research, trying to find out who might be the most suitable clients for them,” John Malcolm, director of the Meese Center at the Heritage Foundation, said in an interview. “They have to find a client with the standing and the gumption to take on a lawsuit. There are several groups in our network who are exploring that right now.”

How President Biden decided to go big on student loan forgiveness

All of the sources cautioned that no decisions have been made — and as of Thursday morning, no lawsuits appeared to have been filed. But a legal battle could carry stark financial consequences for millions of student borrowers, who rejoiced last week after Democrats delivered on a long-standing promise to erase some of their debt.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/09/01/republicans-sue-biden-student-debt/

note that last bit - nothing has happened yet. i have no idea how likely any of the various efforts are to succeed. it's not surprising that they're exploring every effort to hurt their own constituents

Judicial Watch exists to file bullshit lawsuits.

crazy how committed the GOP has become to bad politics, the only thing worse than being against something broadly popular that directly helps your voters is trying to take it away once it's been signed into law. and yet they don't have to care because they know which way the deck is stacked.

apparently the issue really is who has standing--as the article mentions--and from what i've read that's going to be the major issue

Ha, they went there

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch-Y_M1vTs2/

lol, the repeated references to alito's love of the guy lombardo band are just perfect. it is a long read for sure, so i'm doing a long listen (87 minutes) instead

You know who else loved Guy Lombardo?

Nixon..

To be fair, the standard he set on "Reign in Blood" is pretty hard to beat.

that was good, the Alito piece. I feel like i understand what a gigantic prick he is now just a little bit more

i recommend this article by michael gerson (which is a "gift" link so it should work regardless of anyone's washington post non-subscription status):

https://wapo.st/3TB9UYT

What brought me to consider these historical matters is a disturbing realization: In both public perception and evident reality, many White, conservative Christians find themselves on the wrong side of the most cutting indictments delivered by Jesus of Nazareth.

Christ’s revolt against the elites could hardly be more different from the one we see today. Conservative evangelicalism has, in many ways, become the kind of religious tradition against which followers of Jesus were initially called to rebel. And because of the pivotal role of conservative Christians in our politics, this irony is a matter of urgency.

Having known evangelicals who live lives of moral integrity and serve others across lines of race and class, I have no intention of pronouncing an indiscriminate indictment. But all conservative Christians must take seriously a sobering development in America’s common life. Many who identify with Jesus most loudly and publicly are doing the most to discredit his cause. The main danger to conservative churches does not come from bad laws — it comes from Christians who don’t understand the distinctives, the demands and the ultimate appeal of their own faith.

This development deserves some woes of its own:

Woe to evangelical hypocrisy. Given the evidence of sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, the corruption and sexual scandal at Liberty University, the sex scandal in the Hillsong ministry, the sexual exploitation revealed in Ravi Zacharias’s ministry, and the years of sexual predation at the (Christian) Kanakuk summer camps, Americans increasingly identify the word “evangelical” with pretense, scandal and duplicity. In the case of the SBC, victims (mostly women) were ignored, intimidated, dismissed and demeaned. Many of the most powerful Southern Baptist leaders betrayed the powerless, added cruelty on top of suffering and justified their coverup as essential to Christian evangelism. How can hearts ostensibly transformed by Christ be so impervious to mercy?

Woe to evangelical exclusion. In their overwhelming, uncritical support of Trump and other nationalist Republicans — leaders who could never win elections without evangelical votes — White religious conservatives have joined a political movement defined by an attitude of “us” vs. “them,” and dedicated to the rejection and humiliation of social outsiders and outcasts. From the start, the Trump-led GOP dehumanized migrants as diseased and violent. It attacked Muslims as suspect and dangerous. Even when evangelical Christians refuse to mouth the words of racism, they have allied themselves with the promoters of prejudice and white grievance. How can it be that believers called to radical inclusion are the most hostile to refugees of any group in the United States? How can anyone who serves God’s boundless kingdom of love and generosity ever rally to the political banner “America First”?

And woe, therefore, to Christian nationalism. Evangelicals broadly confuse the Kingdom of God with a Christian America, preserved by thuggish politicians who promise to prefer their version of Christian rights and enforce Christian values. The political calculation of conservative Christians is simple, and simply wrong.

heard Mary Peltola on the PBS News Hour, she seems cool.. I hope she's able to hold the seat in November

Apparently she's heavily pro-salmon, and that's a big deal in Alaska:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/mary-peltola-alaska-sarah-palin-pro-fish-begich.html

Karl, in view of their actions, as opposed to their words, it is impossible not to conclude that large numbers of white evangelicals consider imposing their prejudices and and protecting their privileges to be of far greater importance than any injunctions Christ directly laid upon them in the gospels, either through his words or his example and you cannot shame them into recognizing this.

The poll: Biden approval up, Dems +4 on generic House ballot, 53-43 people approve of Biden student debt plan, 50-41 Trump should be criminally prosecuted over documents. https://t.co/9GiVQaCpSu https://t.co/VQ2fdSq0lT

— Jill Lawrence (@JillDLawrence) August 31, 2022

Further evidence that all people really ask is that you do... something. Anything.

Dems have to be like +20 kn the generic ballot to actually gain a seat though

and you cannot shame them into recognizing this.

i believe this, now, and didn't always, before. i used to think that shame was potentially a language they could understand and be persuaded by, because it's so pervasive throughout the bible

this may have been a mistake

please don't fuck this up biden

most evangelicals would be utterly repelled by Christ were He to return, Him being a jewish socialist, pacifist hippie hanging out with a crew of other wandering hippies

i honestly think you could just pick a rando person to make this argument, and there would be >50% chance of it being more effective than Biden. the u.s. is fully in the postmodern post-reality zone now -- it is more effective to have a normal person say something real, fuckups and all, than it is to have a designated voice of authority deliver a mediocre message. advertisers know this

I love how they try to explain away the collectivism of the early church depicted in the book of Acts.

xp the article is quite good because it makes that very obvious point in a very eloquent way -- the hypocrisy and ignorance of evangelicals, but it also takes the time to suggest that it is also possible that they could read the fucking book they persecute others with, and that it would change the country in a positive way

This is fine re speech. It's not intended for me -- it's for candidates and donors.

It's not after Labor Day, yet, so it's a low risk opportunity to nudge public awareness about bills that passed during the summer when not many voters are paying attention. It'll be OK unless he face plants so badly it gets memified and lasts for weeks.

The Bible's fine, often boring and fun in equal measures, until the letter to the Romans. Cut the rest out between it and Revelations imo.

xp by "for candidates", you mean that it opens up the topic (the whole 35% of the country is openly trying to end democracy thing) for them to campaign on as well? i didn't think of that, and yes, it would be nice to hear other people make this argument

https://songbook1.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/eden-ahbez_feeding-pigeons_life_1948.jpg

'what's up, my fellow christians? shall we breaketh bread with these poor doves?'

Yeah, the Epistles really take the whole narrative down the wrong road.

i like fightin joe. he needed to do this.

I beg to differ. Kansas has a brand. It is just a tired, old, unattractive brand, like Pepto-Bismol or Ovaltine.

Their charade is the event of the season, iirc.

But he's too immersed in the right-wing media ecosystem to realize that the reference doesn't land with people outside of it.

It lands exactly where he wants his - his fellow travelers nod and chuckle "got 'em haha" and liberals correctly call him an idiot and his fellow travelers look on in adoration as he once again owned the libs.

where he wants it

in the toilet

where he goes

because Kansas

It is just a tired, old, unattractive brand, like Pepto-Bismol or Ovaltine.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Wednesday, September 28, 2022 12:00 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ovaltine is good you take that back

Kansas has a brand.

All they are is dust in the wind

One thing about Kansas is that it has spawned many weirdos, some of whom leave and some of whom stay. Because of its overwhelmingly conservative body politic, it has also often been at the forefront of the culture wars, bringing attention to people and elements in society that would eventually become more widely accepted.

In other words, it is useful as a foil. the KC metro area and Lawrence are okay— otherwise, a pit.

table, are you perhaps saying that something is the matter with Kansas?

lol the "We go in the toilets" thing is likely a nod to the right wing conspiracy theory about cat-identifying students demanding litter boxes in schools.

"We believe murders are rare"?

OK, Kansas is 41st in the nation in murders per capita.

More murderers than victims, especially in the state legislators..

table, are you perhaps saying that something is the matter with Kansas?

More murderers than victims, especially in the state legislators.

More sociopaths than in gen pop, that's for sure.

toilets thing also re making sure no trans in wrong bathrooms?

At first I assumed he was talking about public urination

Ovaltine is good you take that back

I agree it's good, but unless someone drank it a few decades ago they probably don't know it's good and would never bother finding out.

Too dark brandon reel it in https://t.co/0l3okZ6r7F

— eve6 (@Eve6) September 28, 2022

not to put too fine a point on it, but Biden has a lot to occupy his attention just about every minute of every day and the accidental death of a House Representative might never have been brought to his attention and if it were it could be crowded out and forgotten pretty easily without any need for dementia to explain it.

Maybe a different Jackie? "Congresswoman Speier has been a longtime supporter of federal nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program..."

glad to get my Breitbart misinfo on Ilx.

Ok I gotta hand it to them on this one

BREAKING: MAGA senate candidate Herschel Walker defends holding a gun to his ex-wife's head and threatening to "blow" her "brains out" by quoting the Bible saying "he without sin cast the first stone." RT IF YOU'VE NEVER HELD A GUN TO SOMEONE'S HEAD!

— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) September 28, 2022

A post worth six figures, easily.

RT IF YOU GO IN THE TOILETS

SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON IF YOU'VE EVER HELD A FART IN!

Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, Perry, has filed for a divorce from the congresswoman. "The marriage between the Petitioner and the Respondent is irretrievably broken." pic.twitter.com/WmLg0Kbgf6

— Charles Bethea (@charlesbethea) September 29, 2022

guess he doesn't have the George Conway kink

Burn down Twitter if she has a teenage child who temporarily becomes a liberal celebrity.

Ah well nevertheless

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2022/09/29/biden-administration-scales-back-student-debt-relief-for-millions-amid-legal-concerns-00059522

Important. And clever way of finding a plaintiff with an injury concrete enough to confer standing.

This lawsuit has a serious chance of success. https://t.co/w9rFY8MsWi

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 27, 2022

minutes pass

Judge Richard L. Young formally dismisses @PacificLegal’s lawsuit challenging Biden’s student debt relief program. Finds the plaintiff lacks standing. https://t.co/iAPdiA1P5R pic.twitter.com/6vrRU2mYVk

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) September 29, 2022

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-29/gavin-newsom-vetoes-bill-to-limit-indefinite-solitary-confinement-in-california

Hope he eats shit at a JEB-like level in 2028.

Newsom is one of the most loathsome motherfuckers in the Democratic party, and that’s saying something

The entire corporate executive and political class of the United States (or really Planet Earth) are all some loathsome motherfuckers.

SD-22 is a safely Democratic seat in Phoenix but the Democratic nominee suddenly, without telling anyone on the ground, quit the race so he could become a lobbyist for a utility company

— Aaron (the Give Smart guy) (@BobbyBigWheel) September 30, 2022

I bet they offered him a really really nice salary, too.

US Politics: October 2022 "...they've already started the killings!"