[News] Post a Political News Story

Ongoing discussion of the political news of the day. This thread is for 'smaller' stories that don't call for their own thread. If a story blows up, please start a new thread for it.

Biden roasting the GOP on sunsetting social security almost brought a tear to my eye.

Gotta hand it to Brandon, despite even worse than usual mushmouth, he’s on fire for the State of the Union tonight.
Earlier in the speech he subtly called out Marjorie Trailer Green without actually naming her and it triggered the hell out of her, she’s been inarticulately yelling at him from back of the chambers the rest of the night. You can’t make out what she’s saying most of the time but you can hear her frequently shouting responses.

Trump’s been live-Truthing it and it’s about what you’d expect:
IMAGE(https://i.postimg.cc/m26xWGbJ/83-C9680-F-F3-DD-4871-8758-BC365-E287-FA5.jpg)

"The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders says

I mean....

Prederick wrote:
"The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders says

I mean....

Every accusation is a confession

Is he just being insulting by calling her Jill instead of Dr Biden?

TheGameguru wrote:
Prederick wrote:
"The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy," Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders says

I mean....

Every accusation is a confession

They've literally spent the last twenty years of my life basically saying, "I know you are, but what am I?" as a response to any criticism.

Romney told Santos 'You don't belong here' in tense exchange in House chamber before SOTU

In response,

Santos posted on Twitter after the speech: "Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!"

So sh*t, I guess Romney stands a good chance of being 47?

I mean, I am still surprised that Santos settled for being in the House after he was a three-term PotUS.

As insane as MTG's antics seem to us, they play well with the Republican base. And as weak and ineffectual as McCarthy is, we should all be keenly aware that an MTG speakership is a very real possibility.

On a separate issue from general Republican malfeasance: I learned about the podcast Opening Arguments on this thread, I think. I've listened to it for several years now.

As detailed extensively on this Reddit thread and initially reported by Religion News Service, there have been several claims by women that co-host Andrew Torrez sexually harassed or even assaulted them over the last several years. The pattern of bad behavior by Torrez was often associated with his drinking heavily.

Torrez has released an apology via the OA podcast feed. However, it seems like the whole relationship between he and co-host Thomas Smith is in shambles, with dueling accusations of harm. Having listened to Smith's commentary on his Serious Inquiries Only webpage, I suspect he's also playing the CYA game. It seems like he had been asked about Torrez's bad behavior and done/said nothing.

So, I suppose to whomever recommended this...thanks? for the drama?

F*ck! I loved his shows. I hate this f*cking rock some days.

DETROW: I mean, we live in a world where every single personal choice you make gets grafted onto the political spectrum, and people use it to make inferences about where you are politically. It's interesting that the basic boiled-down aspects of the New Testament - loving your neighbor, helping out people who need help, you know, lending a hand to a stranger - can be something that's turned controversial and also viewed on that spectrum.

The only time those things are controversial are when people advocate against them, and that is entirely limited to extreme libertarians and Republican Christians. Everybody else, including most other religious folks and atheists and people who are not narcissists or *-paths are completely on board with these principles.

Pretending that liberals, who are attacked constantly for their desire to "make everything safe" are against helping people is the height of obliviousness. You want to find these people, look for anyone using the term "Rugged Individualist" unironically.

But, Robear, what about the inalienable right to be an asshole? Who will stand up for the desperate plight of the asshole? Think of the assholes!

Aw no. I've been an avid listener to that show for a while now. So disappointing.

Mixolyde wrote:

But, Robear, what about the inalienable right to be an asshole? Who will stand up for the desperate plight of the asshole? Think of the assholes!

First they came for the assholes and I said “it’s about f*cking time”

‘Only in Mississippi’: White representatives vote to create white-appointed court system for Blackest city in America

Mississippi Today wrote:

A white supermajority of the Mississippi House voted after an intense, four-plus hour debate to create a separate court system and an expanded police force within the city of Jackson — the Blackest city in America — that would be appointed completely by white state officials.

If House Bill 1020 becomes law later this session, the white chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court would appoint two judges to oversee a new district within the city — one that includes all of the city’s majority-white neighborhoods, among other areas. The white state attorney general would appoint four prosecutors, a court clerk, and four public defenders for the new district. The white state public safety commissioner would oversee an expanded Capitol Police force, run currently by a white chief.

The appointments by state officials would occur in lieu of judges and prosecutors being elected by the local residents of Jackson and Hinds County — as is the case in every other municipality and county in the state.

Mississippi’s capital city is 80% Black and home to a higher percentage of Black residents than any major American city. Mississippi’s Legislature is thoroughly controlled by white Republicans, who have redrawn districts over the past 30 years to ensure they can pass any bill without a single Democratic vote. Every legislative Republican is white, and most Democrats are Black.

After thorough and passionate dissent from Black members of the House, the bill passed 76-38 Tuesday primarily along party lines. Two Black member of the House — Rep. Cedric Burnett, a Democrat from Tunica, and Angela Cockerham, an independent from Magnolia — voted for the measure. All but one lawmaker representing the city of Jackson — Rep. Shanda Yates, a white independent — opposed the bill.

“Only in Mississippi would we have a bill like this … where we say solving the problem requires removing the vote from Black people,” Rep. Ed Blackmon, a Democrat from Canton, said while pleading with his colleagues to oppose the measure.

For most of the debate, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba — who has been publicly chided by the white Republicans who lead the Legislature — looked down on the House chamber from the gallery. Lumumba accused the Legislature earlier this year of practicing “plantation politics” in terms of its treatment of Jackson, and of the bill that passed Tuesday, he said: “It reminds me of apartheid.”

...

Rep. Blackmon, a civil rights leader who has a decades-long history of championing voting issues, equated the current legislation to the Jim Crow-era 1890 Constitution that was written to strip voting rights from Black Mississippians.

“This is just like the 1890 Constitution all over again,” Blackmon said from the floor. “We are doing exactly what they said they were doing back then: ‘Helping those people because they can’t govern themselves.'”

The bill was authored by Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican whose hometown of Senatobia is 172 miles north of Jackson. It was sent to Lamar’s committee by Speaker Philip Gunn instead of a House Judiciary Committee, where similar legislation normally would be heard.

OG_slinger wrote:

‘Only in Mississippi’: White representatives vote to create white-appointed court system for Blackest city in America

Mississippi Today wrote:

A white supermajority of the Mississippi House voted after an intense, four-plus hour debate to create a separate court system and an expanded police force within the city of Jackson — the Blackest city in America — that would be appointed completely by white state officials.

If House Bill 1020 becomes law later this session, the white chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court would appoint two judges to oversee a new district within the city — one that includes all of the city’s majority-white neighborhoods, among other areas. The white state attorney general would appoint four prosecutors, a court clerk, and four public defenders for the new district. The white state public safety commissioner would oversee an expanded Capitol Police force, run currently by a white chief.

The appointments by state officials would occur in lieu of judges and prosecutors being elected by the local residents of Jackson and Hinds County — as is the case in every other municipality and county in the state.

Mississippi’s capital city is 80% Black and home to a higher percentage of Black residents than any major American city. Mississippi’s Legislature is thoroughly controlled by white Republicans, who have redrawn districts over the past 30 years to ensure they can pass any bill without a single Democratic vote. Every legislative Republican is white, and most Democrats are Black.

After thorough and passionate dissent from Black members of the House, the bill passed 76-38 Tuesday primarily along party lines. Two Black member of the House — Rep. Cedric Burnett, a Democrat from Tunica, and Angela Cockerham, an independent from Magnolia — voted for the measure. All but one lawmaker representing the city of Jackson — Rep. Shanda Yates, a white independent — opposed the bill.

“Only in Mississippi would we have a bill like this … where we say solving the problem requires removing the vote from Black people,” Rep. Ed Blackmon, a Democrat from Canton, said while pleading with his colleagues to oppose the measure.

For most of the debate, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba — who has been publicly chided by the white Republicans who lead the Legislature — looked down on the House chamber from the gallery. Lumumba accused the Legislature earlier this year of practicing “plantation politics” in terms of its treatment of Jackson, and of the bill that passed Tuesday, he said: “It reminds me of apartheid.”

...

Rep. Blackmon, a civil rights leader who has a decades-long history of championing voting issues, equated the current legislation to the Jim Crow-era 1890 Constitution that was written to strip voting rights from Black Mississippians.

“This is just like the 1890 Constitution all over again,” Blackmon said from the floor. “We are doing exactly what they said they were doing back then: ‘Helping those people because they can’t govern themselves.'”

The bill was authored by Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican whose hometown of Senatobia is 172 miles north of Jackson. It was sent to Lamar’s committee by Speaker Philip Gunn instead of a House Judiciary Committee, where similar legislation normally would be heard.

Precisely what the Voting Rights Act was supposed to address and exactly why the Republicans killed it.

This whole thing has been going downhill ever since that very attractive man almost killed the Malaysian prime minister in that documentary I saw.

Maybe they should fix the f*cking water in Jackson first.

We are getting around that whole pesky problem in Iowa

Iowa GOP’s child labor bill would let kids work “dangerous” jobs

However, the Des Moines Register reports the proposed law contains "an entirely new section" that "would allow the Iowa Workforce Development and state Department of Education heads to make exceptions to any of the prohibited jobs for teens 14-17 'participating in work-based learning or a school or employer-administered, work-related program.'"

Yah, anytime Mississippi is in the news, you know its about Jackson. That seems like the epitome of the corrupt white minority unabashedly screwing everyone else.

The only thing I could manufacture that would be more overt would be if they let POC have all the rights due them, but then destroy all the roads leading in to Jackson. Maybe even blare thrash metal music on top 24/7 like we did in Panama.

What about all that talk about free markets and private business needing to be left alone and how government shouldn't interfere...

Florida lawmakers voted Thursday to give Gov. Ron DeSantis new power over the state’s most iconic theme parks amid his ongoing feud with Disney.

Under a fast-tracked bill that could be headed to the Republican governor’s desk by the end of the week, the state would take over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the 55-year-old government body that has effectively given Disney control over the land around its Orlando-area theme parks. The district’s existing board, made up of individuals with close ties to Disney, would be replaced by a five-member board hand-picked by DeSantis.

The state House, where Republicans hold a supermajority, passed the measure on an 82-31 vote. The GOP-led state Senate is expected to take up the bill within the next 36 hours. If the measure passes the chamber, it will go to DeSantis for final approval. He is expected to sign it.

The bill introduced this week in a special session of the Florida legislature would keep Reedy Creek alive, albeit under a new name, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and with a DeSantis-aligned board in charge. The legislation makes clear that the changes to Reedy Creek should not affect the district’s existing debt or contracts and would extend the life of the district beyond June.

“There’s a new sheriff in town, and that’s just the way it’s going to be,” DeSantis said at Wednesday news conference.

As if I needed more reasons to see r's as hypocrites.

Really? Florida wants to take on the House of the Mouse?

My family tried to get to Orlando every five years when my boys were growing up. We were due to go during the pandemic. Now they're grown and the itch to visit the theme parks has thankfully ebbed. DeSantis has ensured my tourist dollars will go elsewhere.

Disney needs to start with the lawsuits.

They need to move to another state, but I don't see that happening.

The nuclear option is almost unthinkable; shut down their single most profitable park. DeSantis is betting that they won't do that and take the inevitable PR bloodbath as an entire section of the state is plunged into instant depression. But who knows? In 2021, Disney had almost $16B cash on hand, that's about twice the total that their parks made in 2022. Their money today comes overwhelmingly from streaming and other media engagement.

I wonder if they have the will to "shut down for a total refresh of Disney World's physical assets", for an undefined time...

Or buy Busch Gardens and make it good.