USA Politics (redux)

[Karl Henning]

Was only a matter of time.

[Fëanor]

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-03-23/trump-s-election-lawyer-throws-him-under-the-bus-in-dominion-lawsuit

Sidney Powell is trying a brazen and bizarre argument in defending herself against a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.

Sidney Powell, one of Donald Trump's former lawyers, is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation. Her lawyers have entered a truly astonishing defense: that her statements alleging the Democratic Party stole the election using the company's vote counting software can't be defamation because no reasonable person would have believed them.

The defense is legally wrong. Her statements were clearly assertions of fact — and they were believed by many members of the public.

Nevertheless, it is a fascinating argument — an acknowledgement that any claim associated with Trump could be considered mere bluster, even when framed in factual terms. In short, Powell's defense is to throw Trump under the bus. The basic idea: He is such a known liar that any assertion made on his behalf in an election can't be taken as remotely plausible.
...
The brief points out that Powell's statements were made as part of Trump's post-election campaign to overturn the result. It insists they were her opinions and legal theories — and, by extension, Trump's.  They were, the brief says, merely "claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process" — as though promising to prove facts in court means those aren't facts at all. The brief also shows screenshots of Powell on Fox News — as if to suggest that nothing said on Fox could be susceptible of being considered fact.

The thrust of the argument is that anything coming from Trump's camp cannot be taken seriously as a factual statement. It was, Powell's lawyers are saying, all rhetoric and opinion all the time, and reasonable people knew it.

You would think that the evident fact that many Republicans do believe exactly what Powell asserted would stand in the way of her argument. Not at all. Her lawyers imply either that those people aren't reasonable, or else that they must be lying about what they think.
...

... And of course she is saying that millions who believed her, or Trump, are not reasonable people ... which, come to that, I agree with.

[drogulus]

     Massive cargo ship becomes wedged, blocks Egypt's Suez Canal

     Mitch?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

     Massive cargo ship becomes wedged, blocks Egypt's Suez Canal

     Mitch?

Pardon, but I'm not understanding your point?  I feel horrible for the blockage and danger to many ships, the crews, and the cargo....and for the people and countries that are trying to give and receive goods.  Perhaps it's partly due to climate changes re winds and/or maybe trying to build the ships too big (see article re size) of the ship involved; note:  this is the second time that this ship has been stuck.

PD

[BasilValentine]

Pardon, but I'm not understanding your point?  I feel horrible for the blockage and danger to many ships, the crews, and the cargo....and for the people and countries that are trying to give and receive goods.  Perhaps it's partly due to climate changes re winds and/or maybe trying to build the ships too big (see article re size) of the ship involved; note:  this is the second time that this ship has been stuck.

PD

It's a joke. Mitch McConnell, as Senate majority leader under Trump and since, has obstructed virtually all national legislation in the U.S. At least I think that's what he meant.

[DavidW]

It's a joke. Mitch McConnell, as Senate majority leader under Trump and since, has obstructed virtually all national legislation in the U.S. At least I think that's what he meant.

That is how I read it too.

[T. D.]

... And of course she is saying that millions who believed her, or Trump, and not reasonable people ... which, come to that, I agree with.

The column referenced was a Bloomberg op-ed piece, and I read it as somewhat of a troll.

Seems to me the incomprehensible Powell (what jurisdiction could possibly have admitted such a moron to the bar???  ) is really throwing Faux News and other right-wing "alternative media" under the bus. Faux News is being sued by Dominion, and I fully expected their defense to go along the lines of "...well, I don't know if it's true, but a lot of really smart people say so..." (a la Cheeto Mussolini in numerous press conferences re. QAnon, etc). May have to rethink that one...

OTOH, we're dealing with the GOP/alt-right/alternative media world here, where things like truth and logic have little currency, so I have no idea WTF will transpire. 

[Fëanor]

The column referenced was a Bloomberg op-ed piece, and I read it as somewhat of a troll.

Seems to me the incomprehensible Powell (what jurisdiction could possibly have admitted such a moron to the bar???  ) is really throwing Faux News and other right-wing "alternative media" under the bus. Faux News is being sued by Dominion, and I fully expected their defense to go along the lines of "...well, I don't know if it's true, but a lot of really smart people say so..." (a la Cheeto Mussolini in numerous press conferences re. QAnon, etc). May have to rethink that one...

OTOH, we're dealing with the GOP/alt-right/alternative media world here, where things like truth and logic have little currency, so I have no idea WTF will transpire. 

See "truthiness" ... https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/truthiness-meaning-word-origin.  Thank you, Stephen Colbert. 

[BasilValentine]

I find it interesting that Roger Stone was using members of the Oath Keepers as a personal security detail, including the wife of Kelly Meggs, the group's leader, at the time Meggs was plotting sedition with the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters. In other Stone news, it has come to light that Roger has a tattoo of Trump's face on his ass!

[André Le Nôtre]

That is how I read it too.

Perhaps another interpretation is that the ship symbolizes McConnell as a gigantic turd that is (still!) stuck very far up Trump's ass--with the canal itself symbolizing Trump's Big Mac-encrusted colon.

[drogulus]

     Tucker Carlson Accuses Biden of Faking Mental Sharpness for More Than an Hour

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it a "scandal bigger than Watergate," the Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused President Biden of "thoroughly faking mental sharpness" for more than an hour during his press conference on Thursday.

"Doing everything he could to give the appearance of mental acuity, he answered questions in detail, stayed on point, and uttered suspiciously complete sentences," Carlson alleged. "I've seen some shameless stunts in my time, but this one takes the cake."

Carlson said that Biden's "desperate charade" extended to "accomplishing concrete things to make himself seem competent."

"When he said that he would double the number of vaccinations in his first hundred days, my jaw dropped," he said. "President Trump would never have tried to pull something like that."

[DavidW]

Ernie, that reads like an Onion article!

[T. D.]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-25/georgia-governor-signs-sweeping-overhaul-of-state-elections

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed an overhaul of election laws Thursday shortly after it cleared the state legislature -- and less than three months after Georgia voters gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.

Justified as restoring "integrity" after unfounded allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the new law has been described as an act of voter suppression by opponents. The measure requires identification for mail-in absentee voting for the first time, shortens the time for runoffs from nine weeks to four, cuts the window for requesting mail ballots and restricts the use of ballot drop boxes that eased voting during the Covid-19 pandemic.


On Jan. 5, high turnout among Black voters drove the twin victories of Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, stripping the Senate from Republican hands.

The measure also strips the top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, of his role as chairman of the elections board. Raffensperger had eased voting rules in the pandemic and resisted former President Donald Trump's unfounded claims of a stolen election. The legislature will now choose the elections board chairman.

Introduced this week, the bill passed both chambers of the legislature within days. It doesn't include some of the most controversial proposals Republican lawmakers initially proposed: a requirement that many voters provide a photocopy of their driver's license when requesting a mail ballot, and a measure that would've ended no-excuse absentee voting.

The law also does not cut in half Sunday voting -- used heavily by Black voters who attend church -- as Republicans initially had proposed. In fact, it expands weekend early balloting, including by letting counties approve Sunday voting.

The measure is certain to be challenged in court

[drogulus]

Ernie, that reads like an Onion article!

     Andy Borowitz writes satire for The New Yorker.

     

[Fëanor]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-25/georgia-governor-signs-sweeping-overhaul-of-state-elections

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed an overhaul of election laws Thursday shortly after it cleared the state legislature -- and less than three months after Georgia voters gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.
...

In real federal democracies Federal districts, voter registration, and election operations are control by non-partisan Federal commissions -- more illustration of why the USA is not a full democracy and evidence that that was not the intent of the "founding fathers".

FWIW, Americans should consider that slavery would have been ended much sooner and without the Civil War had the USA been a proper federal democracy.

BTW, you guys should also recognized that the 60 vote Senate rule, (that originated as pro-segregation measure), is another travesty of democracy.  I.e. both in itself and because in happens in a Senate dominated by "fly over" states with small, predominantly rural populations.

[71 dB]

In real federal democracies Federal districts, voter registration, and election operations are control by non-partisan Federal commissions -- more illustration of why the USA is not a full democracy and evidence that that was not the intent of the "founding fathers".

FWIW, Americans should consider that slavery would have been ended much sooner and without the Civil War had the USA been a proper federal democracy.

BTW, you guys should also recognized that the 60 vote Senate rule, (that originated as pro-segregation measure), is another travesty of democracy.  I.e. both in itself and because in happens in a Senate dominated by "fly over" states with small, predominantly rural populations.

This is on point. The US "democracy" is a system tailored to uphold the privileges of rich white men.

Rich white men don't need/want Medicare for All
Rich white men don't need/want $15 living wage
Rich white men don't need/want tuition free education
Rich white men don't need/want well-functioning democracy

A pattern emerging perhaps? The politics in the US is very simple to follow when you know to whom the system is rigged for. 

[71 dB]

     Tucker Carlson Accuses Biden of Faking Mental Sharpness for More Than an Hour

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it a "scandal bigger than Watergate," the Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused President Biden of "thoroughly faking mental sharpness" for more than an hour during his press conference on Thursday.

"Doing everything he could to give the appearance of mental acuity, he answered questions in detail, stayed on point, and uttered suspiciously complete sentences," Carlson alleged. "I've seen some shameless stunts in my time, but this one takes the cake."

Carlson said that Biden's "desperate charade" extended to "accomplishing concrete things to make himself seem competent."

"When he said that he would double the number of vaccinations in his first hundred days, my jaw dropped," he said. "President Trump would never have tried to pull something like that."

I have to say Biden looks much sharper now than he looked during the presidential campaign. One explanation is that all this political activity really has improved his mental acuity. Doing mentally challenging stuff keeps the brain functioning. Maybe he just got mentally "rusty" after being Obama's VP and doing nothing for a while? That's all good, but the fundamental problem remains: He is not lefty enough for what the country desperately needs. There is a water crisis in Texas caused by the winter storm a month ago and black communities have been without water for weeks. Nobody cares about these people, not even the president.

[greg]

This is on point. The US "democracy" is a system tailored to uphold the privileges of rich white men.

Rich white men don't need/want Medicare for All
Rich white men don't need/want $15 living wage
Rich white men don't need/want tuition free education
Rich white men don't need/want well-functioning democracy

A pattern emerging perhaps? The politics in the US is very simple to follow when you know to whom the system is rigged for. 

But the only pattern here is Rich people, not Rich white men.

There is a water crisis in Texas caused by the winter storm a month ago and black communities have been without water for weeks. Nobody cares about these people, not even the president.

I think that problem is over... not seeing any news about that more recent than 3 weeks ago.

[drogulus]

I have to say Biden looks much sharper now than he looked during the presidential campaign. One explanation is that all this political activity really has improved his mental acuity. Doing mentally challenging stuff keeps the brain functioning. Maybe he just got mentally "rusty" after being Obama's VP and doing nothing for a while? That's all good, but the fundamental problem remains: He is not lefty enough for what the country desperately needs. There is a water crisis in Texas caused by the winter storm a month ago and black communities have been without water for weeks. Nobody cares about these people, not even the president.

     He is not lefty enough to satisfy the demands for performative leftism. The purpose of moderate left pols is to enact what the left wants and can realistically get. The point is to succeed in making aspirations "ex-radical".

[greg]

     He is not lefty enough to satisfy the demands for performative leftism. The purpose of moderate left pols is to enact what the left wants and can realistically get. The point is to succeed in making aspirations "ex-radical".

Whether this is accurate or not... This is about the most unflattering thing you could say about the moderate left, though. 



(to clarify, i'm not talking about health care)