Political Roundtable Part XXX

[Zonkerbl]

One way to do this is to expand the authority of the local fire department (ideally by reducing funding to the police, rather than cannibalizing education or public works funding). In DC, the police are not allowed to administer NARCAN so any call that looks like a drug overdose gets sent by 911 to the fire department. No reason this same approach couldn't be applied to mental health crises, for example. Might not work for domestic violence because the US is awash with guns so you need at least one cop on that team.

[dobrojim]

I got another letter to the editor published in this morning’s edition.
(I think I’ve had maybe 7-8 letters published over the years)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/31/we-have-seen-this-story-before/

One of the most memorable lines in a short movie version of “The Lottery” I saw about 50 years ago in high school was when one of the townspeople said: “There’s always been a lottery.” The implication from this line was that the townspeople feared change more than they feared being killed if they were selected.
Mr. Broome’s conclusion was spot on. We are ruled by the fearful and trapped, stuck to traditions that no longer serve us. One tradition is the belief that widespread gun ownership makes us all safer. Another tradition is that moneyed interests should be allowed to have outsize influence in public policy. We should embrace rather than fear changes that would diminish or eliminate those traditions.

[Wizardspride]

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[Pointgod]

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Keep in mind this plan is to contest ballots and intimidate voters in black districts. But keep telling me again how Democrats are the racist party.

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[Zonkerbl]

"vote for us because even though we won't do anything to actively help you, at least we aren't actively trying to harm you, although arguably the policies that we have in place now like the War on Drugs and our pervasive cop worship are actually just as harmful as cross burnings and lynchings, economically speaking" may not be as persuasive as you think it is

[Zonkerbl]

since the Dems are going to lose the house and possibly the senate *anyway,* maybe a good outcome in November would be for the Dems to get another 2010 drubbing. At the very least there will be some impetus to get the old incompetents out of leadership positions. And maybe, just maybe, the party will stop flippantly dismissing the demands of their base.

[dckingsfan]

since the Dems are going to lose the house and possibly the senate *anyway,* maybe a good outcome in November would be for the Dems to get another 2010 drubbing. At the very least there will be some impetus to get the old incompetents out of leadership positions. And maybe, just maybe, the party will stop flippantly dismissing the demands of their base.

Trump is also going to win in 2024.

I don't seem to be able to twist my mind to find a good outcome here...

[Wizardspride]

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[dobrojim]

No comment....wow. To me, that hints that in his heart of hearts, he knows actually saying
he's in favor of slavery is going to make him look downright awful. But since that's (likely) his
position, he can't bring himself to lie about it by saying the opposite, cause, you know, lying
would make him a bad person.

HRC, however impolitic, was so right to describe people like this as deplorable.
(she arguably should have not said it publicly)

But she appears to have probably understated how popular being deplorable
actually is.

[Wizardspride]

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[pancakes3]

well, turning this into reality TV is kinda gross, so maybe don't do that.

[Pointgod]

"vote for us because even though we won't do anything to actively help you, at least we aren't actively trying to harm you, although arguably the policies that we have in place now like the War on Drugs and our pervasive cop worship are actually just as harmful as cross burnings and lynchings, economically speaking" may not be as persuasive as you think it is

I think you’re not giving Republicans enough credit for the policies that you complain about. And even more importantly you refuse to recognize that any efforts Democrats try to make to address bad policies that they’ve supported in the past are blocked by Republicans. A perfect example is when Joe Biden and the racist Democrats tried help black farmers.

Long story short the Democrats tried to provide additional support to black farmers as part of the American Rescue plan to address the systemic racism and mistreatment by the USDA that had spanned decades. That aide is blocked because white farmers, led by a Republican Agriculture commissioner in Texas, scum bags like Lindsey Graham called it “reparations” (like that’s a bad thing) and Republicans get zero negative criticism about it. Instead we’ll hear the same tired tropes that Democrats don’t do anything for black people and if you ask black farmers I’m sure they’ll blame Democrats when it’s Republicans literally threatening their livelihood. This why people really need to do research and understand the real problem instead of repeating memes and talking points. This is just one example of something specifically done to help black people, that racist Republicans sued in court to block and somehow the Democrats will still be called the racist party.

https://daily.jstor.org/the-usda-versus-black-farmers/

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/24/texas-black-farmers-sid-miller-lawsuit/

[Wizardspride]

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[Pointgod]

since the Dems are going to lose the house and possibly the senate *anyway,* maybe a good outcome in November would be for the Dems to get another 2010 drubbing. At the very least there will be some impetus to get the old incompetents out of leadership positions. And maybe, just maybe, the party will stop flippantly dismissing the demands of their base.

Trump is also going to win in 2024.

I don't seem to be able to twist my mind to find a good outcome here...

There’s literally no silver lining to Republicans winning in the midterms. It could be the last opportunity for Democracy. At best case, if Republicans win Congress, nothing happens for the next two years but they’ll continue to use state legislatures to suppress votes, Gerrymander and cement minority rule in states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. And once they have the House, Senate and Presidency, then good bye Democracy. They’ll turn the US into Hungary and there’s no getting it back when they have the power and means to throw out Democratic votes. I don’t know how Progressives think that Republicans won’t try to steal an election from candidate Fetterman or AOC. And once Republicans are in power they’ll ensure that they’ll never lose by implementing national election reform which will give license to voter suppression, gerrymandering, voter IDs and every single thing to keep a fair election from ever happening. And this doesn’t matter whether it’s President Trump, Desantis or any Republican. The whole party has become radicalized

[Pointgod]

And this is why I can’t get behind the idea of purposely wanting Democrats to lose badly in the midterms. It means handing power to absolute clown shows like this moron below and Hershel Walker.

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Do you really want this guy having power in the Senate for 6 years? Not to mention the candidates that are just as bad but less open about it. Giving Republicans any kind of power in the Senate is a disaster.

[Pointgod]

Objectively good news. What the hell are the Democrats doing not taking credit for this? They should be blasting social media with this news and every single member of Congress should be talking about this and explaining that Republicans have voted against helping fight inflation.

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[Wizardspride]

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[Zonkerbl]

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This is why I'm a little sensitive about the idea of training police to de-escalate. It's not in their nature. Make room in your city's budget, perhaps by letting go of a redundant cop, for someone specifically trained to de-escalate and nothing else.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

And this is why I can’t get behind the idea of purposely wanting Democrats to lose badly in the midterms. It means handing power to absolute clown shows like this moron below and Hershel Walker.

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Do you really want this guy having power in the Senate for 6 years? Not to mention the candidates that are just as bad but less open about it. Giving Republicans any kind of power in the Senate is a disaster.

In 2013, at my son’s football camp in Hawaii, I had the pleasure of speaking with Herschel Walker. Torrential rain and we were at US Naval NCTAMS in Wahiawa. Super nice man. We’re the same age within a year; but he looked 35 not over 50.

I have nothing to say about politics other than I am not a Republican.

[Zonkerbl]

See, if this were a Republican board we'd be in a peeing contest to see who could say the most reprehensibly racist thing. Because the GOP embraces their radical wing and that is why they are successful. All I get for trying to inject some truth into this thread is "foaming at the mouth" here and wagging fingers about black farmers there. Republicans didn't make Joe Biden say "I don't support defunding the police"