Politics Randoms June / July

[ellipses84]

Less than 5 months until the election. Share your random political thoughts.

We spent last week in a conservative suburb of Phoenix and I didn’t see a single sign for Orange Foolius. The worst I saw was a basic sign for a sheriff with the words law & order and border control. That’s different than 4 and 8 years ago which is a hopeful sign. I’ve seen some stats that the the felonies may impact 10% of conservatives and 20% of independents which doesn’t seem like a lot but will make a huge difference from 2020 if we can keep Dem turnout as high.

I just saw a repost from a college classmate about how Biden’s student loan forgiveness will be paid for by everyone else. Someone else in the comments already disputed it talking about predatory loans and all the interest that has been paid. I know she had college paid for by her parents and interest rates were super low when we graduated. We went to a very liberal university and our profession leans pretty liberal, but she is from / lives in a conservative area of SoCal and is married to a cop. I always feel angrier and disappointed when I see people my age who should know better repeating ignorant shit, compared to someone way older or younger. It’s like, how can you have a similar life to me and think this way?!!

[sent]

The anti-SL forgiveness crowd I professionally associate with all bootstrapped their way through paying their student loans. They were also all PPP recipients when the opportunity presented itself. The disconnect is real.

[wawa]

Jun 22, 2024 12:47:48 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Less than 5 months until the election. Share your random political thoughts.

We spent last week in a conservative suburb of Phoenix and I didn’t see a single sign for Orange Foolius. The worst I saw was a basic sign for a sheriff with the words law & order and border control. That’s different than 4 and 8 years ago which is a hopeful sign. I’ve seen some stats that the the felonies may impact 10% of conservatives and 20% of independents which doesn’t seem like a lot but will make a huge difference from 2020 if we can keep Dem turnout as high.

I just saw a repost from a college classmate about how Biden’s student loan forgiveness will be paid for by everyone else. Someone else in the comments already disputed it talking about predatory loans and all the interest that has been paid. I know she had college paid for by her parents and interest rates were super low when we graduated. We went to a very liberal university and our profession leans pretty liberal, but she is from / lives in a conservative area of SoCal and is married to a cop. I always feel angrier and disappointed when I see people my age who should know better repeating ignorant shit, compared to someone way older or younger. It’s like, how can you have a similar life to me and think this way?!!

Still plenty of trump flags out on the water in the bizarre pretend redneck pocket of maryland just outside of baltimore. rubytue

In other Maryland news, trump halfheartedly offered an endorsement of Larry Hogan, our former republican nevertrump gov running for senate, and Hogans campaign was like "oh god, no thank you.".

Which...i still dont like Hogan, but thats objectively funny.

[rubytue]

wawa, thanks for confirming we made the right choice leaving that pocket. The water is nice, and there is something to be said for being the moderating opinion and all that, but there is more to be said for my nice liberal bubble. 🤣

Hogans ads are… interesting. And a nice reminder that the R party use to be sane.

[mrsukyankee]

We have an election on the 4th. Current polling shows that Labor will gain 250+ seats in Parliament and the Tories will lose 280+. Lib Dems will gain around 60. The Reform party (racism +) will probably have a seat or two (which is unfortunate). Labour will get the PM in the first past the post way we run things.


link

[basilosaurus]

I cannot believe Farage is showing his face again, complete with Putin talking points. I mean, I can, but aren't there sewers they can dredge for another option?

[loira]

Jun 23, 2024 10:16:17 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

We have an election on the 4th. Current polling shows that Labor will gain 250+ seats in Parliament and the Tories will lose 280+. Lib Dems will gain around 60. The Reform party (racism +) will probably have a seat or two (which is unfortunate). Labour will get the PM in the first past the post way we run things.


link

I read this the other day and thought of you. Basically Canada used to have a political party very similar to Britain's Tories called (and I'm not even joking) the Progressive Conservatives. The party became deeply unpopular around the time another more right wing party was forming out west. It's a long story with many factors but basically, the right wing fringe became popular, and the PCs sent their leader, Canada's first woman PM, over the glass cliff before being dissolved and merging with the right wing Reform party to become (and I am again not even joking) the Conservative Reform Alliance Party or... CRAP. This party hung out in opposition for a few years while it smoothed out its ick factor and that's how we ended up with Stephen Harper who was pretty subtle about all the fringe stuff and palatable enough (I guess) to secure first a minority government and then a majority. www.cbc.ca/news/world/british-election-canadian-election-comparison-conservative-collapse-1.7240786

[nsl]

Primaries are Tuesday here in Utah, so naturally the governor (who is facing a batshit crazy challenger, but who is also up over 20 points in the polls and who ran initially as a moderate who didn't hate LGBTQ+ people) called the state legislature into special session ON JUNETEENTH to pass a resolution declaring that the state will not comply with new Title IX requirements to trans people with even a modicum of human decency.

I love the liberal pocket of my state where we live, and I love so many things about this place, but the absolute nutjobs who get elected due to our extreme gerrymandering and the caucus system just ruin everything.

[mrsukyankee]

Jun 23, 2024 10:23:19 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

I cannot believe Farage is showing his face again, complete with Putin talking points. I mean, I can, but aren't there sewers they can dredge for another option?

I KNOW!!!!! And it's likely that the area he's standing in will elect him. He's such a putrid person.

[basilosaurus]

Jun 24, 2024 7:15:12 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Jun 23, 2024 10:23:19 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

I cannot believe Farage is showing his face again, complete with Putin talking points. I mean, I can, but aren't there sewers they can dredge for another option?

I KNOW!!!!! And it's likely that the area he's standing in will elect him. He's such a putrid person.

Heads up that John Oliver's main piece was about the upcoming election. A helluva lot of roasting, deserved of course, of the Tories. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jun/24/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-uk-election

Worth the watch. 

[mrsukyankee]

Jun 25, 2024 5:34:03 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Jun 24, 2024 7:15:12 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I KNOW!!!!! And it's likely that the area he's standing in will elect him. He's such a putrid person.

Heads up that John Oliver's main piece was about the upcoming election. A helluva lot of roasting, deserved of course, of the Tories. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/jun/24/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-uk-election

Worth the watch. 

Cool. Will watch it.

[mrsslocombe]

mrsukyankee, how prominent/active is the "liberal" TERF movement in the UK? It's hard for me to get a sense of how widespread the movement is because the wizard cunt is so loud. But I can't tell if there is a huge push from otherwise "liberal" people against Trans and Non-binary rights. Or if it's just her and a small handful of people making a lot of noise.

She really has become deranged in the past few months.

[mrsukyankee]

Jun 25, 2024 11:22:02 GMT -5 mrsslocombe said:

mrsukyankee , how prominent/active is the "liberal" TERF movement in the UK? It's hard for me to get a sense of how widespread the movement is because the wizard cunt is so loud. But I can't tell if there is a huge push from otherwise "liberal" people against Trans and Non-binary rights. Or if it's just her and a small handful of people making a lot of noise.

She really has become deranged in the past few months.

Small number of people making a lot of noise. The reality is that there is a push in most places to support Trans/non-binary rights (such as the university I work at).

[mrsslocombe]

mrsukyankee, that's good to hear! I know there's been fallout from the Cass review and have been worried about how things are changing over there. With Labour expected to pick up a lot of seats, I was curious if they have been pressured to backslide on trans/NB rights.

[mrspez07]

Primaries here in CO tonight. In good/bad republican news:
Dave Williams, the horrible head of the CO GOP lost his race 70/30+/- (heard most of this on the NPR station before finding this article:
www.denverpost.com/2024/06/25/colorado-5th-congressional-district-primary-election-results-dave-williams-jeff-crank/
This guy was the one with the vile letter about LGBQT+ earlier this month, and he kicked a long-time credentialed reporter out of the state convention (too liberal). Seems like maybe this is a bit of a sign that libertarian leaning Rs in CO have had enough of his kind…

Until…

You go to CO4, where carpet-bagger Boebert won the primary against 5 other candidates, with around 43% of that vote, second was distant around 16% I think. Ken Buck left that district in shambles, because they were also holding a special election to fill the rest of his term, and a slimy guy (Lopez) slid into that spot, but it had people having to choose or not choose to run for which one.
www.denverpost.com/2024/06/25/colorado-lauren-boebert-4th-congressional-primary-election-results/

[pixy0stix]

Jun 25, 2024 22:13:27 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

You go to CO4, where carpet-bagger Boebert won the primary against 5 other candidates, with around 43% of that vote, second was distant around 16% I think. Ken Buck left that district in shambles, because they were also holding a special election to fill the rest of his term, and a slimy guy (Lopez) slid into that spot, but it had people having to choose or not choose to run for which one.
www.denverpost.com/2024/06/25/colorado-lauren-boebert-4th-congressional-primary-election-results/

FWIW, this district had no good choices. Anyone the Rs selected as their candidate was going to suck. 

[mrspez07]

Jun 26, 2024 9:37:11 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jun 25, 2024 22:13:27 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

You go to CO4, where carpet-bagger Boebert won the primary against 5 other candidates, with around 43% of that vote, second was distant around 16% I think. Ken Buck left that district in shambles, because they were also holding a special election to fill the rest of his term, and a slimy guy (Lopez) slid into that spot, but it had people having to choose or not choose to run for which one.
www.denverpost.com/2024/06/25/colorado-lauren-boebert-4th-congressional-primary-election-results/

FWIW, this district had no good choices. Anyone the Rs selected as their candidate was going to suck. 

I know. It did make me feel slightly better to frame it that the majority of voters DIDN’T vote for her ;-)

[Jalapeñomel]

Bowman lost here…so many people mad about the fire alarm.

This article says it’s the most expensive primary ever.

www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz99x0w65dyo.amp

[ellipses84]

Boebert’s Dem opponent John Padora filmed an ad sitting in her infamous theater seat.

www.huffpost.com/entry/lauren-boebert-opponent-campaign-ad-beetlejuice_n_6675a13ae4b01fb80d9132c2/amp

One thing I love about people our age and younger running for office is grade A+ level trolling for the Republicans who are awful and take no accountability for their actions.

[ellipses84]

Cost of living / inflation are mentioned a couple times in the debate thread. Most people don’t understand it’s price gouging / record corporate profits and not inflation that is the bigger issue.

I heard an interesting take on Trad wives, basically saying it’s a sign of late stage capitalism because households with 2 adults working 80 hours a week can no longer have the same lifestyle as 1 adult used to provide working 40 hours a week. This leads to people thinking the past was better, and our patriarchal society pushes the Trad wife trend too. In reality, wages not increasing with inflation, minimum wage not increasing in over a decade and less Unions contribute to our economic situation. The only people who can afford to live the Trad lifestyle depicted on social media have a single earner making a lot more money than the average American, have generational wealth, rely on social services (that they’d probably never admit to like medicaid) or savings from when the trad wife previously worked.

[basilosaurus]

Jun 27, 2024 12:28:53 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Cost of living / inflation are mentioned a couple times in the debate thread. Most people don’t understand it’s price gouging / record corporate profits and not inflation that is the bigger issue.

I heard an interesting take on Trad wives, basically saying it’s a sign of late stage capitalism because households with 2 adults working 80 hours a week can no longer have the same lifestyle as 1 adult used to provide working 40 hours a week. This leads to people thinking the past was better, and our patriarchal society pushes the Trad wife trend too. In reality, wages not increasing with inflation, minimum wage not increasing in over a decade and less Unions contribute to our economic situation. The only people who can afford to live the Trad lifestyle depicted on social media have a single earner making a lot more money than the average American, have generational wealth, rely on social services (that they’d probably never admit to like medicaid) or savings from when the trad wife previously worked.

I push that first point every chance I get. Inflation is actually incredibly low but corporate profits are record level high. I get so angry when I see people blaming mcd prices on living wage requirements.

Wrt trad wife I saw a piece recently that the popular influencers 1) work regular jobs 2) aren't even married. And they'll do this while nominally posting cooking videos but with no instructions not recipe

[mrsd2006]

What the fuck South Carolina?? This is some bullshit. 

Voters kick all the Republican women out of the South Carolina Senate

www.yahoo.com/news/voters-kick-republican-women-south-114230340.html


COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The only three Republican women in the South Carolina Senate took on their party and stopped a total abortion ban from passing in their state last year. In return, they lost their jobs.

Voters removed Sens. Sandy Senn, Penry Gustafson and Katrina Shealy from office during sparsely turned out primaries in June, and by doing so completely vacated the Republican wing of the five-member “Sister Senators," a female contingent that included two Democrats and was joined in their opposition to the abortion ban.

For Republicans, the departure of Senn, Gustafson and Shealy likely means there will be no women in the majority party of state Senate when the next session starts in 2025. It could also mean that women will not wield power for decades in the fiercely conservative state where they have long struggled to gain entry into the Legislature.

The sudden departure of the Republican women presents a potential power issue because the Senate doles out clout and responsibility to the majority party based on seniority. Half the members in the GOP dominated state were elected in 2012 or before, so it will likely be the 2040s before any Republican woman elected in the future can rise to leadership or a committee chairmanship.

[erbear]

Jun 27, 2024 12:28:53 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Cost of living / inflation are mentioned a couple times in the debate thread. Most people don’t understand it’s price gouging / record corporate profits and not inflation that is the bigger issue.

I wish I could get people to understand this simple truth. Inflation is not the issue here. The issue is unchecked corporate greed -- corporations are making bank, and they are not passing it down to consumers, even though they could. Trickle-down economics DOES.NOT.WORK in a greedy, capitalist society. Why can't anyone get this message out>

[erbear]

I just got back from 10 days in Sweden and Denmark and it was eye-opening to hear their news and talk with people about American politics. I said this in a different thread, but I heard not a single kind word about TFG -- everyone I talked to hates him and they cannot understand why Americans voted for him or are considering voting for him again. And they are terrified of Trump politics on the world stage -- they genuinely fear a Russian invasion of Finland, for example, should Trump be elected and pull the US out of NATO. They see the US as a beacon of democracy, defender and leader of the free world, and they think it's at end stage. It was a pretty sobering series of conversations, as I had just about convinced myself that I was overreacting.

[fernweh]

I just saw on her instagram that AOC introduced articles of impeachment on Justices Alito and Thomas today.

Does this follow the same process as a presidential impeachment? Is there any change anything comes of this is or will they be protected by the gop scum?

[pixy0stix]

Jul 10, 2024 14:22:31 GMT -5 fernweh said:

I just saw on her instagram that AOC introduced articles of impeachment on Justices Alito and Thomas today.

Does this follow the same process as a presidential impeachment? Is there any change anything comes of this is or will they be protected by the gop scum?

I didn't know you could impeach a SCOTUS judge, so there's that.

[fernweh]

Jul 10, 2024 14:26:08 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jul 10, 2024 14:22:31 GMT -5 fernweh said:

I just saw on her instagram that AOC introduced articles of impeachment on Justices Alito and Thomas today.

Does this follow the same process as a presidential impeachment? Is there any change anything comes of this is or will they be protected by the gop scum?

I didn't know you could impeach a SCOTUS judge, so there's that.

Me neither - probably because it hasn’t been done since 1805 according to this.

www.history.com/news/has-a-u-s-supreme-court-justice-ever-been-impeached

[ellipses84]

[mention]erbear [/mention] liking your post only because I relate and have heard the same from my European friends and family.

[wawa]

Is this politics?  It's bizarre and a little hilarious.  Also it's....@ adjacent.  No actual kids discussed.  But fair warning I guess. 

Maryland has spent the last several years in THE MOST ABSURD fight about their PTA.  Our state chapter was disbanded by the national for shady ass financial practices and general fuckery, and the people running it like, went rogue and refused to back down and were holding the assets of the state chapter hostage?  So then they have been fighting in court about the assets.  And finally they've recovered the assets I guess- BUT THE BILL FOR THE LEGAL FIGHT IS MORE THAN THE ASSETS WERE WORTH.  This is all so so stupid and painful to have witnessed.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/maryland-pta-court-fight-5XX6RASMB5BNDM3PJQZ33WH6LA/

Meanwhile on the school level everybody was just like, "ummm, so can we still have a fundraiser to cover the end of year picnic or not??  Do we still send SOMEBODY our dues? Are we still a legal org??"  (the answers on that were WILDLY UNCLEAR for the first year this was all going down.  We piggybacked on Delaware PTA's liability insurance IIRC.  The whole thing was, and apparently remains, messy AF.)

[basilosaurus]

wawa I can see fighting even if it's a net Los if it prevents future abused in MD or elsewhere in the country.

What gets me, in a similar ein, is when schools are blatantly discriminatory and/or unconstitutional, there will obviously be a lawsuit, the school system still obviously lose, and then they have pay their own and the other legal fees plus often a penalty. Thanks, assholes, for costing the already underfunded school system system tons all to make dinner usually anti LGBTQ+ or christianist (or both) statement.

Although I'm the current climate I guess nothing is obviously unconstitutional anymore.