DL Open Thread Monday, August 14, 2023
Are conservatives just, well, stupid? Science says yes. Now watch the comments fill up with people determined to demonstrate it.
The death toll of the Maui wildfire continues to climb (it stood at 93 as I compiled this, but roughly 1,000 people are unaccounted for). It already is among the half-dozen deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, as well as the deadliest in just over a century.
Every accusation is indeed a confession with these people. They continually claim Democrats tampered with voting machines because they tried it themselves, and the DA in Georgia has the emails and text messages to prove it.
No matter how awful you think Donald Trump is, he’s worse. Remember when he buried his first wife in what looks like pauper’s grave at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., apparently so he could get a tax break? He’s not even bothering to mow the grass over the barely-there gravestone.
Add anything I missed. The floor is yours.
On the MAGA mindset: “…it’s a fantasy world, wrapped in horseshit, inside a mental illness, covering up a learning disability.”
As a politics that favors the rich, conservatism commands an inherent electoral minority. Reagan solved this problem by harnessing the power of racism to build a durable majority, at least in the upside-down math of the Electoral College and Senate.
After Reagan, the right-wing capture of media maintains that coalition, convincing the weak-minded that bullshit tastes good. And then Republican racial gerrymanders cemented control of former swing states.
Nixon. Reagan busted unions.
FOP Frank Cooke is outraged, outraged I say!
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2023/08/14/delaware-state-police-officers-video-middle-finger-lawsuit-johnathan-guessford/70522588007/
This story is an outrage. For those who can’t get past the paywall, here’s the gist of what their dashcam captured, released in conjunction with the victim’s lawsuit against the state police (emphasis mine):
Still think cops deserve unions eh?
I said that? I’m not sure how you can legally prevent it, but I’m no supporter.
In discussions of LEOBOR some have suggested that breaking the back of the FOP was critical to getting real reform. You disagreed and implied that everyone deserves a union. Not all unions are valid.
Breaking the back of the FOP doesn’t mean there would be no union.
When Camden NJ disbanded its force, the new one unionized soon thereafter.
The problem isn’t the existence of a union, it’s the culture of the existing one.
The very existence of a police union is a threat to public safety. Police should be at-will employees, full stop. Regardless of “culture” the union is obligated to advocate for the rights and interests of the police, which are more often than not counter to the rights and interests of civilians.
If the union didnt exist John carney could make a phone call and have these bad actors escorted out of the troop barracks in 10 minutes
We’ll have to agree to disagree on that.
Again, look at Camden County, the only place I know of that got rid of a police union. Things improved there despite the new force adopting a union.
You’re blaming unionization when the problem is with management. You really think John Carney would ever fire a police officer without due process?
Their rights are negotiated in their contract, or would be if we’d repeal the police officer bill of rights. Until you do that, they’re protected by law, even without a union. Until then you’re pissing up a rope.
It would be an absurd plot twist for Trump to have buried evidence of his crimes with Ivanka, but with Trump it is one absurd plot twist after another.
Not absurd, but too well thought out for it to come from 45.
Jared would know, and he’s been talking to Smith’s team so my guess is there’s nothing of value there. (Smith probably has all the docs you need and, to my knowledge, there’s no law against burying top-secret files.)
A mystery for our readers: We have a daily tracker that shows how many times an individual story has been clicked on. Every now and then, something inexplicable pops up. Today is ‘every now and then’.
Who can provide the most logical (even if completely false) explanation as to why a post from 2008 entitled “Allan Loudell Supports McCain?” has multiple views today? Either Loudell or McCain (more likely Loudell) has risen as the Messiah, or, or…