Senate The US Politics 2.0 Discussion Thread

Do I mean something else ... yes, I do. Local law enforcement wouldn't be issuing citations against individual offenders (though they could do that to, just not with any federal backing) but against the businesses themselves. It's the same premise used all over the country with respect to age requirements for alcohol purchases; create a financial incentive for businesses to self-enforce the law (in this case mask mandates for the unvaccinated). I'd be surprised if anywhere in the country law enforcement is deployed to every brick and mortar location that can sell alcohol to make sure they're playing by the rules. They have a financial incentive to ignore the law (more money from increased alcohol sales) but they have a more powerful financial incentive (the potential loss of their license to sell alcohol at all) to self-enforce. That would be the objective

You wouldn't have to park a sheriff or cop and every store. The prospect of getting busted on a spot check would be enough for many, if not a majority. It wouldn't be perfect but it would be an improvement on the current wink-and-a-nod situation that exists across most of the country.

As for exemptions we've been doing that for years now. Just like proof of vaccination (I've got my little white COVID card as proof that I've been poked) just issue proof of exemption. And yes, show it if ya gotta. It's not complicated.

 

Michael Flynn presented with an AR-15 in a California church says "maybe i'll find someone in Washington"

 

So much wrong with that sentence.

1) Flynn is a free man instead of in jail.
2) Flynn being given any kind of gun after he pled guilty just because he was pardoned by Trump.
3) A 'Church' invited someone like Flynn in and to give them an award.
4) That award being given to Flynn being is an AR-15.
5) A Church that gives out guns.
6) Flynn casually making a comment that he'll find federal officials to shoot with it.

 

Any church that gives out guns should lose tax exempt status.

 

[/spits out tea] .... what?!

 

The name of that 'church', is Church of Glad Tidings.

I don't think they know what that word means. Seriously, these people are loons. They think Trump was ordained-prophesied to win the election, and the fact that he wasn't, means Satanic Dems stole from it him. Like some "end of days" final battle stuff.

 

Yeah it's the kind of psychos that rightwingwatch.org exists for.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/26/democrats-gop-voting-laws-crisis-500726

Very real fears here. The GOP has put the thumb on the scales, and nothing short of 100% mobilization against this at all levels is likely to change it.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration has been rather sleepy here. If I were President, I'd be pushing back a lot harder.

For example, if SCOTUS further guts gun-control laws, I'd cancel Secret Service protection for every justice who voted against it. Play hardball. They like guns so much? Fine, taxpayers don't have to foot the bill for your defense, go out and buy an AR-15.

States that ban abortion? Fine. No more federal dollars for anything. Same goes for taking away LGBTQ rights.

SCOTUS says 'no'? Ignore them. They have no real enforcement mechanism under the Constitution anyway. Cut off the pensions of every justice who's been on the bench for longer than 20 years that refuses to retire. Play hardball.

Sadly, Democrats will continue to abide by the spirit of the rules while Republicans annihilate them all to remain in power.

Scary what we've come to, isn't it?

 

You've come to the point where you're no longer a functional democracy but a country divided between two factions engaged in a cold civil war. The Republicans, however, are entrenched enough that they can afford to last longer without casting away the appearances of legality. The Democrats got screwed and will have to resort to naked force first if they want to get anywhere.

 

Republicans cast away appearances of legality a long time ago. And does the Jan 6 Insurrection count as resorting to naked force first?

 

So the vaccine is a hoax that doesnt work, its just a means of control, and at the same time credit should be given to Trump because, in his own words, he came up with the vaccine. Got it.

 

I did say appearances, not legality itself. Gerrymandering and granting state parliaments the right to rule election results can be done through legal process.

As to the January 6th insurrection, it was, by and large, the insurrection of idiots, and achieved the results that could be expected of idiots. The McConnell's of the GOP are far, far more dangerous in how they use legal obstacles to keep pushing.

 

The breaking point will come when Democrats finally refuse to accept the outcome of a sham legislative and legal process. That may happen in 2022, but more likely in 2024.

Not sure how that will play out.

 

If I had to put money there, I'd put it on Democrats ending up accepting the result of the sham legislative and legal process in 2024 in case the GOP's perversion of the legal order bears fruit then.

 

As long as the rule of capital is maintained and those imaginary numbers keep going up as human beings are fed through the meat grinder and the planet dies, I don't expect the Democrats to put up meaningful resistance to Republican power grabs. They'll whine, sure, as they always do even when they hold power and can bypass the GOP, but going so far as to declare the process illegitimate is as much a threat to their interests and the interests of their backers as it is to any Republican politician.

The Democrats also seem fully capable of killing their chances at victory in 2022 and 2024 all on their own.

 

Fixed.

 

I, for one, look forward to churches dropping any pretense and just actively campaigning for and endorsing candidates

 

So long as they pay taxes, I am fine with that.

 

What, you mean like in 2000?

 

"is there a single person in the world who actually believes this about Biden's first 6 months in office?"

When he first ran for office he said the economy was the worst ever, a full blown failure. But of course it wasn't. It was in fact record breaking in a very positive way. And his voters went for it. So yes there are many people in this world who will believe it's been the worst 6 months just because Trump said it. Hopefully not as many.

 

Honestly, I'm not even worried about that guy any more. His brain is fully mush and any campaign would expose that for all to see. He won't ever run again. It's who comes next that scares me- especially when they can depend on these voter suppression laws and stolen court majorities to grease the wheels for them to hold onto power. And then, with someone far more competent and more dangerous in charge? We're ****ed.

 

Bold prediction! Democrats get fork all done during the Biden administration and then Trump returns to the White House and it’s a complete rerun of his first term but worse.

 

They already have.

Bolder prediction: if Trump does win a second term in 2024 (assuming he lives through the four years), he starts a war with China or Iran as a pretense to try and prevent the 2028 election. Since he contemplated a strike on Iran in the lame duck period prior to January 2020, this scenario is not that far-fetched.

It would be interesting to see how the military would respond under those circumstances.

 

Oh the military will absolutely go along with it. There will be stories about how some of the generals flipped out behind the scenes and called Trump but insane and then they’ll turn around and do what he told them to do.