Random Politics Thread

[The Cat]

Supreme Court OKs handover of Trump tax returns to Congress

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the imminent handover of former President Donald Trump's tax returns to a congressional committee after a three-year legal fight. The court, with no noted dissents, rejected Trump's plea for an order that would have prevented the Treasury...

www.yahoo.com

I guess my question is whether they dicked over the process long enough for control of the committee to pass to the GOP, making this pointless anyway.

But look how many of them fit in that tiny little car.

 

[Totenkindly]

But look how many of them fit in that tiny little car.

 

[The Cat]

what fuckery.​

 

[The Cat]

 

[The Cat]

 

[Totenkindly]

Trump Bragged ‘the Evangelicals’ Would ‘Never’ Leave Him. Then the Defections Began

Trump thought his work to overturn Roe v. Wade had won the religious right's support in perpetuity. But with his 2024 run underway, movement leaders are staying on the sidelines

www.yahoo.com

More evangelical defections. I'd be amused aside from all the destruction that unholy alliance caused. I hope he's fuming that once they got what they wanted, they're hanging him out to dry and will only support him if he somehow wins the primary.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Based on recent elections, trends, post-election polling, media narratives and educated guess here is how the map in 2024 should look like given the two scenarios. The average difference should be about 7-8 points.



Biden-Trump

Biden-DeSantis

 

[The Cat]

Impressionable children do like chanting things...​

 

[ceecee]

Which states have the least and most crime? - USAFacts

Northeastern states have the lowest crime rates, while states in the South and West have the most crime

usafacts.org

Violent crime decreased since 1991 in 39 states and Washington, DC. It declined by more than 60% in New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Connecticut. Meanwhile, the violent crime rate more than doubled in North Dakota, Montana, and South Dakota. These three states were all in the bottom six states by violent crime rate in 1991. The increase in Montana and South Dakota’s violent crime rate pushed them into the top 12 states by violent crime rate by 2020. North Dakota’s violent crime rate in 2020 was more than five times higher than in 1991, and its rank by violent crime moved from last in 1991 to 31st in 2020.

Oh.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Z Buck McFate]

I hope Beau's predictions about Pence are correct. I couldn't bring myself to watch his recent spate of interviews, but I did catch a comment from Liz Cheney about how he (apparently) said the J6 Hearings are partisan? It made me feel sick for days. (It actually is partisan, but it's almost exclusively Republican; seems pretty clear he's vomiting out whatever strategic lie feeds his delusional hope of ever holding office again). He's such an insipid, creepy little motherfucker.

We really, really should have let the J6 mob get him. And only him. It'd have taken him off the board as a threat and left less doubt about what the mob 'would' have done.

 

[Virtual ghost]

The key part starts at 6:20.
However if this is indeed true these are big news with very big consequences. Since this clearly signals the Trump fade-out.

 

[Totenkindly]

I hope Beau's predictions about Pence are correct. I couldn't bring myself to watch his recent spate of interviews, but I did catch a comment from Liz Cheney about how he (apparently) said the J6 Hearings are partisan? It made me feel sick for days. (It actually is partisan, but it's almost exclusively Republican; seems pretty clear he's vomiting out whatever strategic lie feeds his delusional hope of ever holding office again). He's such an insipid, creepy little motherfucker.

Giving him the benefit of a doubt, he's a guy who lives in total denial.

However, I can't believe he's so stupid as to not recognize that Trump is the antithesis of his own religious values, so I have to assume for whatever reason (political connivance or some absurd extremity of loyalty spawning from his religion devotion) he's aware of the truth but just spews lies and somehow manages to justify it in some bizarre manner.

he's vile; the irony is that it's coming from the other end, versus people who are just openly vile and deceitful. He manages to dress up nicely. I'm sure if he was running for President, my mother would be vote for him because he "looks and talks" the right way.

 

[ceecee]

Giving him the benefit of a doubt, he's a guy who lives in total denial.

However, I can't believe he's so stupid as to not recognize that Trump is the antithesis of his own religious values, so I have to assume for whatever reason (political connivance or some absurd extremity of loyalty spawning from his religion devotion) he's aware of the truth but just spews lies and somehow manages to justify it in some bizarre manner.

he's vile; the irony is that it's coming from the other end, versus people who are just openly vile and deceitful. He manages to dress up nicely. I'm sure if he was running for President, my mother would be vote for him because he "looks and talks" the right way.

The idea that this would be the clincher for so many people, regardless of the policies or party, is completely incoherent. But true. Mitt Romney is another example. He provides enough decency to pass with the idiot centrist libs but agrees with enough capitalist destruction to be ignored by the fash.

 

[The Cat]

As Someone who joined at 19, lost my 20's and 30's to the baggage and PTSD that came along with it...Fuck you, you broken brained wife beating goon in moron's clothing. He was a piece of shit back when he was just a crappy football player, now he's a real monster.​

 

[Virtual ghost]

If this is true the senate is almost surely going red in 2024. The Democrats can only defend seats with pretty bad odds in many places. In other words good luck with picking up Texas, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri, Utah .... etc.

 

[The Cat]

If this is true the senate is almost surely going red in 2024. The Democrats can only defend seats with pretty bad odds in many places. In other words good luck with picking up Texas, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri, Utah .... etc.

In another reality you and I get to talk about historic hiking trails. In still another one, we're sentient paintings but otherwise talk about the same kind of tragic madness that infects that reality, but with less non sequitors from me. Apparently I'm more stoic in oil.

 

[The Cat]

 

[ygolo]

I keep hearing about antifa. It seems to be a leaderless decentralized group of anti-fascist and anti-racist people who use a weird looking flag.

Considering that this flag never shows up but people point to antifa always showing up and that without the flag, it's just a group of anti-fascist and anti-raicist people.

So, if you are anti-antifa, what does removing the double negative make you?

 

[Red Herring]

I keep hearing about antifa. It seems to be a leaderless decentralized group of anti-fascist and anti-racist people who use a weird looking flag.

Considering that this flag never shows up but people point to antifa always showing up and that without the flag, it's just a group of anti-fascist and anti-raicist people.

So, if you are anti-antifa, what does removing the double negative make you?

Speaking only for Germany, where Antifa has a lomg history:

The roots of antifascism go back as far as fascism itself, i.e. to the late 1920s and early 1930s. When Hitler and his brownshirts showed up, there was a counter-movement. There also was a new antifascist wave that started in the late 60s/early 70s to counteract the neonazi movement (specifically the newly founded NPD).

In the 1990s, after German reunification, there was a great upsearch of neonazism in the East (not that nazism had ever completely disasppeared either in the East or the West at any point). In many parts of the country it became a common pasttime of both rural and urban youth (especially in poorer areas with high unemployment) to go out in groups armed with baseball bats and look for migrants, gays or leftists to beat up. Many people that grew up in the East during these socalled "baseball bat years" could tell you stories of how you could hardly leave the house in safety. Think the American South in the 1920s and 30s. There were also several cases of refugee homes being set on fire (with people still inside) and crowds cheering the arsenists on.

As a reaction to that and often as the only popcultural alternative for young people antifascist groups started to form. Both the neonazis and the antifa developed certain paraphernalia/symbols, etc to be recognizable.

To me, as a German, the American debate about Antifa sounds weird because what I associate with the name is basically people who try to stop skinheads from smashing in the skulls of migrants.

There is an ongoing debate within Antifa about the use of force but according to police statistics, leftwing extremist crime tends to be about violence against objects (i.e. smearing grafitti and maybe the occasional car set on fire or window smashed in during demonstrations turned riots) while rightwing extremist crime tends to be about violence against people (i.e. battery, homocide and death and rape threats against opponents).