The amount of honest-to-goodness Nazis out there is one of the saddest revelations of the last 5-10 years for me. Not "people who disagree with me, so I'll call them Nazis" folks. But the "Jews will not replace us" crowd.

There's been a number of these the past 10 years where a bunch of us naive folks didn't realize just how much hate was out there. It's staggering how many people think that, say, black people, women, gays, and Jews just aren't human beings. In those minds, they're sub-humans or birthing vessels or brain damaged or mongrels (that somehow still control the world). I just don't get it - where does all that hate come from? I mean, I get that Fox News and that whole ecosystem* is basically pumping out "two minutes hate" on repeat but at least some of that has to be there already, I think - Maybe, maybe not? Maybe it only takes a tiny bit of hate that we all have when you spend 24 hours exposed to just hate over and over. Like some of these people don't have two spare brain cells to rub together so they wouldn't be making some connections about shadowy cabals and replacement theory without it being spoon fed to them but others are genuinely smart people in other walks of life that looked at a number of competing theories for how society functions and somehow landed on "Jewish Space Laser" or "Planned Parenthood is selling dismembered baby parts on the black market" as maybe a little out there but not disqualifying but "Green New Deal" or "affirmative action" or "a right to abortion" as a bridge too far.

*CNN and its ilk are more fear based than hate based - it's similar but there's an important distinction. It's unhealthy in a different way.

SI

Working in healthcare and in that way having access to people's viewing habits on TV has left me shocked at the percentage of people out there that turn on Fox News in the morning and don't it turn it off until bedtime.

I think there are lots of folks that treat it as a fake companion, and leave it on all day long for the familiar voices.

My parents used to do that with the Weather Channel and/or local news. Now they do it with Fox.

I think that there's a generation for whom having on the TV is comforting. For me, it is distracting if I am not actually watching it. But I think that if you are used to it in the background, it is weird to not have something on.

Visits to the in-laws were like that. During the day it was either CNBC or Fox Business, then later on it was Fox News, if there wasn't an old movie on that my FIL was interested in.

At home we usually have something on if my wife is home. One time when we didn't -- or we just didn't unmute after a commercial -- younger child's GF commented to them that my wife and I were just sitting there in silence, which seemed a little eerie.

When my wife is at work I have more often than not turned the TV off, as I use that time to read. If I happen to be on the computer though and not reading I might have something on in the background.

So, to sum up: if it's just me, don't necessarily need TV. If it's not just me, TV is good to avoid the impression of awkward silence.

This is my wife's family. My wife sends me screenshots of the Facebook arguments her step-dad gets into and I tell her I can always tell who he's been listening to based on his talking points.

we usually watch Guy Fieri all day and most of the time I'm not about doom and gloom

but I do have some strong opinions on how Flavortown should be governed.

This is my mother in law

I almost never have the TV on unless there is a ballgame or something. I do have on music 90% of the time through Alexa

I feel like I understand the motivation, and my short attention span needs constant input too, I am just more active about it, rather than putting something on and leaving it on for 12 hours at a time.

I am okay that Pelosi has proposed going to Taiwan but am given some pause because Biden is negative towards it. Military confrontation is very unlikely, but can see it messing up any Chinese cooperation on Ukraine (probably no hope anyway) or cooperation on tariff relief (heard that was an option Biden was considering).

Wonder if it's better served visiting other APAC friendly countries (or the Quad countries) vs specifically Taiwan? Lower key visit and another step in building wider alliances vs just specifically antagonizing China. I'm not sure what Pelosi has to gain here especially since Biden is not supportive?

Biden administration working behind the scenes to convince Pelosi of the risks of traveling to Taiwan | CNN Politics

She belongs in jail.

Nancy Pelosi's husband buys millions in Nvidia stock before semiconductor vote - MarketWatch

She's not visiting Taiwan without WH approval. Anything negative coming from the WH is all for show.

meh, white collar stuff isn't criminal any more. We live in 'Merica where you don't get in trouble unless, well, you know...

Congressfolk and their immediate family should be forbidden from owning individual stocks period.

Index funds and/or blind trusts only.

Do the thing where, when elected, they can transfer their assets out of individual securities and into index funds/blind trusts without realizing the gains.

:+1:

There has been some clammoring on Twitter about this this year, Whitehouse especially from Rhode Island. Would love to see this done to remove one temptation of corruption from Congress. And while they are at it term limits and age limits too

This all sounds good to me

SI

Senate passes massive package to boost U.S. computer chip production

I still don't know if I support this. What's to keep companies from taking the money and just building new factories in Asia?

But hey, we're already 30 trillion in the hole, what's another 80 billion?

Just more corporate welfare. Imagine if someone proposed giving away $80 billion to help with student loans or medical needs? Fat chance.

If you want to know how desperate these companies are for capital, NVIDIA is dumping $15 billion into stock buybacks. :lol:

The key to that chip package, is holding American companies to the base tenants of it, which is increasing security and viability.

Of course, the downside is these companies will undoubtedly exploit the money as much as they can to make more money in typical corporate greed fashion, but the ability to use this to limit how much China and other foreign actors can manipulate our technology is still vital. Make no mistake, the most danger to America from foreign actors right now, is on the cyber battlefield.

This is an opportunity to mitigate some of that, and the government better take full advantage, though I have little to no trust in our government not finding a way to screw it up completely and have it just turn into another pocket liner for the 1%.

Prime Minister Manchin has finally agreed to a reconciliation bill. Medicare drug negotiation and ACA extension included. Those two were the big two for me.

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Some in my twitter feed are trying to claim that this was the plan all along, to put off a deal with climate factors/Medicare/ACA this long so the Republicans would pass CHIPS+ (rather then passing this and then the Republicans not wanting to give Biden another win)

I find that.. highly unlikely

:lol: :lol:

Yeah. Manchin isn't playing 4D chess with Biden. He "walked away" to get some attention for another news cycle. And I'm sure he squeezed another sweetener or two out of the deal.

My guess is that the WH negotiators at this point are having to restrain themselves from punching him in the face. I don't see them working chummy backroom deals with him.

Now we wait to see if Vice Chancellor Sinema will sign off.

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Was it the plan along? Certainly not. Is it possible that Manchin and Democrats came to a deal a couple of weeks ago and waited till the CHIPS deal passed before announcing it? Almost certainly. It is absolutely not coincidence this was announced today. It was a big middle finger to Turtle-man.

Also, McConnell may have pissed off Manchin by threatening to torpedo CHIPS in the first place.

Serving McConnell an extra large bag of dicks is quite delightful.

To you or McConnell?

Hershel Walker went on FOX today and the sound bites are, something else...

Congrats to Biden and Dems in getting 1 win and another likely 2nd win all in a week.

Now if we can only see concrete results from the Infrastructure bill. Mayor Pete needs to get a better press secretary.

It literally sounded like a post game interview, talking about the "fans" Dude is a complete fucking idiot who thankfully, for his sake, could carry a football or his lot in life would not be stellar right now.

Recent poll has him down 9. Starting to think the Dems might hold on to the Senate after all.

Oz looks like a complete mess in Pennsylvania too. Blake Masters just told a group of Seniors we need to abolish Social Security.

Haven't heard anything about Wisconsin of late, but Johnson has to be vulnerable. It's a state that should lean D but has a heavy R government due to it being the most gerrymandered in the country.

Reading through some snippets of the agreement ...

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/polit...ter/index.html

I like this but need a need a normal looking Camry/Accord EV, with 300+ mile range, priced around $25-$35K please

Definitely like this. Anything to keep healthcare costs down.

Bolded section seems inaccurate (?), this has already existed for the past couple years at least. But good this bill will extend that particular item for 3 more years. Important for my pre-Medicare eligible retirement plans

Reducing deficit is great if true. I'll wait for the CBO projections.

Andrew Yang is announcing his new party today and reports are that it currently has no policy preferences.

Yang should get an achievement badge for number of different ways to collect an insignificant amount of votes.

Third parties cannot survive for long in our system. But the ones who do manage to make a splash either have a charismatic leader (TR) or focus on a policy platform that is being neglected by the two main parties (slavery).

So putting up a 3rd party with no policy platform led by Andrew Yang and Christine Whitman is certainly something.

Didn't he create the "Forward" party just last year?

I'm assuming Yang will lead with Universal Basic Income.

Vance is screwing up Ohio as well. Dems may come away with more than 50 at this rate.

Vances comments the other day were beyond horrific. How any woman could vote for him is a mystery.

There are many women, especially white women, who are a-ok with not having rights.

So long as their "not having rights" means there are people that have fewer and their husband their hitched to has a lot compared to others.

SI

I think they view it as it's OK for other women to not have rights, but this stuff won't apply to them.

There was a fascinating article written years ago by a doctor (or nurse, not sure) for a women's health center. She talked about how many pro-life people would come in for abortions. The one thing they all had in common is they believed their situation was unique and should be treated differently from the others who were getting abortions.

So I think that's kind of what it comes down to. And I think that's a staple of right-wing politics in general. I remember reading lungs talk about how farmers didn't view subsidies they received as welfare, but definitely viewed others receiving benefits as being welfare.

I saw someone right after Dobbs noting that there won't be one Senator's mistress or SEC quarterback's girlfriend that will have any trouble getting an abortion.

Can't find the piece anywhere but did find this. Kind of covers the same topic. Didn't know there was a term for it, the "Me Exception".

The Women Who Leave Anti-Abortion Picket Lines to Get Abortions

Reminds me of this too. Shit gets real when it happens to you.

Anti-Abortion Rep. Tim Murphy Will Resign After Report On Abortion Request : The Two-Way : NPR

It's like a corollary to NIMBY behavior.

Related to the "Shirley Exception."

https://twitter.com/AlexandraErin/st...00861865488384

I'm not sure people really get how laws work.

One is even on the supreme court.

"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion" seemingly always gets posted on Reddit when this comes up: “The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion” – Joyce Arthur's page

SI

Some more details on how the deal was reached.

Essentially, Manchin approached Schumer again to see if something could be done. Manchin needed to be convinced it would not add to inflation. They purposely kept Biden out of the loop. And there was a little pork for Manchin.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/polit...eal/index.html

More analysis will come out shortly and do want to understand why the deal is considered deflationary.

The Biden-Xi call lasted 2 hours and 20 mins.

I've been in meetings that long to get into details but doubt that's what those 2 did. Must have been pretty intense especially around Taiwan.

But good to see people are calling it somewhat net positive and supposedly an in-person meeting in the future is possible.

This veteran bill seems like an odd unforced error by McConnell. He should know you can't play games with a veteran bill so close to the election, especially when you initially voted for it.

Politics is personal, and I think that the Manchin deal really did surprise the GOP leadership and it got them off their game a bit.

McConnell held up the healthcare for 9/11 first responders bill a while back (another thing Stewart championed), so it feels like he's got something specific against this kind of thing.

The "support the troops" bit has always been for show. They've never cared and their voters don't care either.

Good stuff Biden.

Sure hope we have the support structure in place to help them now that they are in the US.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-admi...-biden-pledge/

I had thought Pelosi's trip was specifically for Taiwan but there are other countries on the list too.

Biden has hinted but hasn't said he's opposed to the trip. Second quote has face saving requirement for Xi so Biden will have to weigh that. I'm thinking scrap the trip to Taiwan but continue to build up Taiwan's defensive capabilities. But deep down, I'm kinda hoping that Biden calls the bluff.

Nancy Pelosi to Travel to Asia With Possible Taiwan Stop, Despite China Warnings - WSJ

Biden tests positive again. I'm sure no one is going to flip out over that.

Nice article on needing more highly educated immigrants to fill gaps in chip industry & STEM. Article says there are discussions/desire specifically about PhDs which is a no brainer to me assuming security concerns are mitigated. Easy win and there seems to be some support from both sides, but not quite there yet.

Biden wants an industrial renaissance. He can’t do it without immigration reform. - POLITICO

It doesn't happen often because Dems don't push things but this veteran healthcare bill has really wrong-footed the GOP. All of their arguments sound terrible and take the focus off of the areas where they are strong.

It was effectively a political temper tantrum and the Ted Cruz fist bump is an awful look that's going to get played to death.

John Stewart forcing Fox News' hand to put him on the air didn't help them. Fox was trying to help them bury it.

There are areas where the Dems are weak. But one problem with the GOP having gone all-in on own-the-libs nihilism is that there aren’t really any areas where they are strong.

I can listen to them and get 1,000 reasons to vote against the Dems. But nothing about why I should vote for them.

They should just say inflation a million times, but they can't help themselves from having these culture war fights that please the base but alienate the suburban voters.

They kind of have to go all-in on that stuff. Their policy ideas are wildly unpopular. They can't win popular votes anymore. So they've had to shift to culture war stuff as some kind of justification for ending or curtailing democracy.

Saw someone point out how big a loss it was for the party in 2012. The race had a lot of policy talk and their ideas were roundly defeated at the polls. Kind of a realization to many on that side that they can't win on policy.

Looks like she's going and calling the bluff.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/polit...sit/index.html

Maybe she shorted the market.

Congrats Biden.

I think there was some friction between Taliban and AQ, and wouldn't surprise me if the Taliban provided some intel.

He was in a Taliban safe house. Intelligence had been following his family when they moved there and he moved in later on. Sounds like a lof of planning went into this.

Kinda amazing that a Hellfire strike only killed the target and other family-members in the house were uninjured.

I was wondering that myself ... and there were 2 Hellfire missiles.

Apparently we made an effort not to kill other family members but wouldn't that be difficult once the missiles were in the air? Maybe we waited until family was out of the house or something.

Like to see the model of the house and where he was when the missile struck.

I tell me friends that smoking the hookah on the patio is dangerous for them

Too soon to bring this up as evidence as such?


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I've been wondering how this bill will fight inflation.

I'm good with the bill since it reduces the deficit and it shores up healthcare some with the 3-year subsidy extension and negotiating drug prices. But I didn't really understand how this lowers inflation.

I think the answer (from below) is it lowers inflation in the long run but not anything significant in the next 6-12 months, so smells BS'y to me. I get Dems needed to message this to get Manchin onboard (and give him some cover)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/polit...ill/index.html

Make fun of DM all you want, but they tend to have good pics. The "ninja" hellfire seems weird to me

How CIA tracked Ayman al-Zawahiri for more than 20 years | Daily Mail Online

Sounds like it was drone fied, probably had someone on site laser pointing it and monitoring the house for locations. The article I saw stressed that Biden asked several times to remove collateral damage (as much as possible)

Solar flare to hit today. Nancy visiting Taiwan tonight.

Reminds me of

https://youtu.be/Z0GFRcFm-aY

Okay, cool, but you've waited 20 years for this shot. Hopefully missile #2 was there in case more dramatic means were needed.

You go Nancy.

I'm not sure I agree with this visit (e.g. we can show increased support to Taiwan in other ways) but now that you're there ... have a great time, meet a lot of people, take a lot of pictures, and eat some stinky tofu.

Did you see the crowds cheering the plane coming in? The only place Pelosi can get cheered like that.

(btw, Ed. Thanks for the video link. I needed some REM today)

So China sent over a dozen fighters into the straight and apparently deployed tanks on their coast, all for one little old lady.

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/sports/c...160308318.html

And the guy that threatened her got 7 years. She has a lot of Mojo, do not frak with her.

So China has apparently learned nothing from the war in Ukraine? Weapons systems have advanced to the point that tanks are basically sitting ducks in a war between modern nations.

PACT act passes after a week of the GOP getting flogged. I really need Jon Stewart to run for President, but he is too smart to do it.

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It's been 100 years (plus) since Teddy Roosevelt pointed out one of the biggest strengths of the Presidency was in its use as a "bully pulpit", a concept that no Democratic President since FDR* seems to have understood, but it is, I suspect, something a President Jon Stewart (or, back in the day, Al Franken) would definitely have understood.

*LBJ's use of the Presidency to persuade tended to be more one-on-one.

Kansas had a referendum vote today to change their constitution to allow banning of abortions. It looks like it failed miserably.

Edit: I mean 63% against fail.

I would be highly skeptical of anything reported. These stories tend to change a lot as time goes on.

Feels like an issue Democrats should be running hard on in the midterms.

Or at least hard enough to pretend to do something but then do nothing about it

But, hey, a Dem issue got 63% of the vote in really red Kansas. Maybe that's something they should look at.

SI

FUCK YOU CAVANAUGH, MCCONNELL, and Mary Hartman, Kansas wants abortions. FUCK YOU

They were funding an anti-abortion rep in a primary race and Biden was happy to nominate an anti-abortion judge before Rand Paul of all people blew that up.

All bluster right now. I was curious and it seems Taiwan has at least 400 Javelins.

Taiwan to receive all 400 Javelin missiles in 2022 | Taiwan News | 2021-04-10 14:03:00

Sometimes you see a vote and wonder "What is the possible political motivation for this vote?" Both Senators from Utah, Alabama and Idaho voted against the veterans medical welfare bill. How can this be good for them?

Do we know the voter turnout?

Reports I heard were much heavier than anticipated.

I read in the Times that turnout was 50%, well over the projected 36%.

It really seems like they though they could shoot it down, just claim Dems snuck bad things into the bill that they were heroes in catching, and that everyone would believe them/nobody would call them on it. (Of course if the Dems themselves call them on it, Rs can just say "well, they are lying.")