Polarizing stories spotted in the news

[Black Aeronaut]

*Sighs*

You know, people always thought the film Idiocracy was so fucking funny because it can't possibly happen. Right? RIIIIGHT!?

heh.

For sure, the Alt-Right continues to double-down on the cray-cray... but at this rate they're gonna kill themselves all off, so maybe things will get back to normal sometime.

[Bob Schroeck]

Some on the right have noticed that their all-out war against the Democrats is resulting in their constituency being especially vulnerable to COVID and are trying to throttle it back, but they're discovering they're too late to do any good -- the base isn't going to listen to anyone who tries to tell them anything but what they want to hear now.

[LynnInDenver]

Some on the right have noticed that their all-out war against the Democrats is resulting in their constituency being especially vulnerable to COVID and are trying to throttle it back, but they're discovering they're too late to do any good -- the base isn't going to listen to anyone who tries to tell them anything but what they want to hear now.

Yeah, this is known as a self fulfilling prophecy.

If it weren't for the simple fact that it's also helping to majorly stretch the pandemic out (and causing many other problems because their personal choices tend to spill over to cause consequences to people other than themselves), I'd have the popcorn out right now.

[Jinx999]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/were-b...-our-lives

[Mamorien]

Some on the right have noticed that their all-out war against the Democrats is resulting in their constituency being especially vulnerable to COVID and are trying to throttle it back, but they're discovering they're too late to do any good -- the base isn't going to listen to anyone who tries to tell them anything but what they want to hear now.

"We never thought leopards would eat our faces," sob men who spent decades breeding leopards and training them to eat people's faces for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

[Labster]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/were-b...-our-lives

We’re begging for our lives from behind a registration wall, so we can monetize your outrage.

University of California required vaccinations for everyone even before final approval of the vaccine, on the advice of their medical schools. Professors should consider working for an institution that cares if they’re alive or dead.

Meanwhile, in Ohio: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021...unethical/

[robkelk]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/were-b...-our-lives

We’re begging for our lives from behind a registration wall, so we can monetize your outrage.

The site is screen-reader-compliant, so in Firefox, just tap the F9 key and all the nag boxes (and ads, and everything else that isn't the actual article) go away. (Just like at fanfiction.net) When you're done, tap F9 again to see the full page again.

[Black Aeronaut]

uBlock Origin and NoScript work, too. I didn't even have to do anything.

[Jinx999]

uBlock Origin and NoScript work, too. I didn't even have to do anything.

I run those - and didn't even notice that it was behind a paywall. Sorry for that.

[robkelk]

U.S. Supreme Court declines to block Texas abortion ban

So, at least for the moment, it's legal to sue anybody who helps pretty much any Texan who gets an abortion.

So... sue the boys that got the girls pregnant in the first place, because they wouldn't have needed abortions if not for the boys' actions?

[hazard]

I wonder.

Does this also apply to politicians who pressure their Texan girlfriends to get an abortion?

(The answer, of course, is no)

[Black Aeronaut]

.....

You know, I hope that a plague of infectious rats winds up infesting Austin. That place has slid waaayyyy too far down the rabbit hole.

I knew the city was fucked when this happened:
https://www.austinmonthly.com/rip-leslie-cochran/

[Jinx999]

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/202109...tion.shtml

Texas's new laws contradict each other. Anyone surprised by this, please raise your central arm.

(edit)

https://www.vice.com/en/article/akgpdg/r...k-shooting

Seriously. What the f*** is wrong with that country?

[robkelk]

AP: U.S. Justice Department vows to protect Texas abortion seekers

"The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health centre is under attack," [US Attorney General Merrick] Garland said. "We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE Act."

[Jinx999]

Written by a California Republican.

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/09/20/th...t-its-way/

What’s the problem? As much as Californians don’t like Democrats, they really hate Republicans.

To put it another way, fewer people believe in vampires (18 percent) than believe in Republicans, which is encouraging. But Republicans poll way behind the belief of the existence of alien UFOs (41 percent).

I’ve been personally told by populist activists that the Republican Party would be better off if they could get rid of all the moderate Republicans. The populist delusion is that they’ll win with fewer voters.

If anyone wants to break the Democratic one-party rule that is objectively failing to solve many problems in the state, then the solution isn’t doubling down on unelectable candidates or another recall tantrum. The solution would be to become more electable.

[robkelk]

I’ve been personally told by populist activists that the Republican Party would be better off if they could get rid of all the moderate Republicans. The populist delusion is that they’ll win with fewer voters.

Well, that's being put to the test today, in Canada. The Conservative Party is essentially like the moderate wing of the GOP, while the People's Party of Canada is essentially like the populist wing. Let's see which party or parties sends people to Parliament.

(The Liberal Party is roughly equivalent to your Democratic Party. The New Democratic Party definitely has common ground with Bernie Saunders' stated policies. Then we get into the left-wing...)

[robkelk]

I’ve been personally told by populist activists that the Republican Party would be better off if they could get rid of all the moderate Republicans. The populist delusion is that they’ll win with fewer voters.

Well, that's being put to the test today, in Canada. The Conservative Party is essentially like the moderate wing of the GOP, while the People's Party of Canada is essentially like the populist wing. Let's see which party or parties sends people to Parliament.

(The Liberal Party is roughly equivalent to your Democratic Party. The New Democratic Party definitely has common ground with Bernie Saunders' stated policies. Then we get into the left-wing...)

Apparently, there's no effective difference. Both parties increased their popular vote, but the populist wing didn't send anyone to Parliament.

You might want to point this out to the populists south of our border.

[Labster]

Honestly, if you want to break one-party rule in California, we could have large districts where we elect multiple candidates per district, with ranked-choice voting. It also might help to convert us to a parliamentary system as well. This isn't so pie-in-the-sky as such ideas would be for the U.S. as a whole -- here citizens can put their own constitutional amendments on the ballot with enough signatures.

The people I've talked to in the grassroots of the Democratic party would actually consider such a plan. We have our own internal divisions, which have broadly settled into a moderate pro-business wing, and a social and environmental justice wing. It would be nice for us if instead of infighting, we just had our own groups. Of course that might make it harder for people like me who kind of like both camps. Of course at the higher levels, people in power generally want to preserve the power structure, even if it limits their own progress.

[Jinx999]

Two stories from Arizona that are funnier / more eyerolling when taken together

https://www.rawstory.com/arizona-governor-2022/

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/24/polit...index.html

[Black Aeronaut]

Meanwhile, people on tumblr - home of LGBTQA discourse and Official Noise Generator of the Far Left - have been grumbling about Biden's administration doing things like taking down the "We The People" petition site at Whitehouse.gov and not acting quickly enough to get the migrant children out of detention centers. (For the record, they're doing everything they can, but the thing about undocumented migrants is that THEY'RE UNDOCUMENTED, so their families are gonna be hard as fuck to find, and there's just not enough Spanish-speaking foster families to go around.)

Seriously, what kind of stupid are you?  Do you really want another "Trump" president?  Because bitching about dumb shit like this is how you get another "Trump" in the White House.

I mean, I get that taking down We The People is kinda sketchy, but not when you consider the BS that went on in social media that led up to shit like Pizza-gate and the January 6th Insurrection.  The ground rules for "We The People" is that if you get enough digital signatures (10,000 I believe, and yes, digital signatures, not actual pen-on-paper signatures), then the sitting Administration is obligated (!?) to make a formal response.

So when you look at it like that, it's no fucking wonder they took it down.  They're just closing down an avenue for the Alt-Right to attack them from.  And it's not like anyone's First Amendment Rights are being suspended or anything - there's plenty of other, highly visible ways to get petitions going.  The Biden Administration is just freeing themselves from having to deal with something of no real consequence when they have so many, much bigger fish to fry.

[hazard]

There's still the option to write an actual letter to your Congress critter, state government etc. as a method to petition for a redress of grievances.

Now, ideally, Biden would've managed to snap his fingers and solved all the problems. Turns out, this world is not ideal.

Do I believe Biden was the best of the candidates that ran for the US presidency this time around? No, no I do not. But he is sure as hell a better option than a good chunk of his own party's candidates, all of the opposing party's candidates, and an infinite improvement on the previous occupant of the office.

[Jinx999]

https://www.newsweek.com/arizona-gop-cha...in-1632669

[Jinx999]

https://davidlat.substack.com/p/trump-de...-4-leading

Also:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/idaho-covi...op-can-get

And I'll add:

https://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture...oll-farms/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09...-election/

[robkelk]

Tobacco giants don't get to decide who does research on smoking. Why does Facebook get to dictate studies?

[Jinx999]

https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalbal...mp-voters/

Shows just how polarised America has become.

The actual practical policies of the two parties are reasonably similar, but there is no trust between the parties.