Some More News: Toll Roads Are Mostly a Private Profit Scam

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Hi. Here’s everything you didn’t know you needed to know about toll roads – where the money goes, how it’s an inefficient way to fund infrastructure, and how private companies take advantage of sweet government contracts to take your money.

Go to ground.news to stay fully informed. Subscribe through our link for as little as $1 a month or get 30% off unlimited access this month only.

Executive Producer - Katy Stoll
Hosted by Cody Johnston
Directed by Will Gordh
Written by Tom Reimann
Edited by Gregg Meller
Produced by Jonathan Harris
Associate Producer - Quincy Tucker
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Head Writer - David Christopher Bell

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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:21 - The History of Toll Roads
12:48 - How Toll Roads Work
22:36 - Texas and Florida
28:59 - Corruption and Excessive Rates
31:52 - Asset Recycling
35:55 - What Do We Do?

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130 comments
1
Dr Lizardo  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:42:18am

From downstairs:

re: #309 Captain Magic

The cover album artist for “Rio” also did many Intel ads during that period using the similar theme of having women drawn for the ad.

Patrick Nagel became super famous after he did the cover art for Rio - though he wasn’t around all that long to enjoy it. He died at the age of 38 in 1984, as the result of a congenital heart defect that went undetected his entire life. He’d already done numerous illustrations for Playboy magazine.

Apparently, his artwork is making something of a comeback these days.

2
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:45:53am

re: #1 Dr Lizardo

From downstairs:

Patrick Nagel became super famous after he did the cover art for Rio - though he wasn’t around all that long to enjoy it. He died at the age of 38 in 1984, as the result of a congenital heart defect that went undetected his entire life. He’d already done numerous illustrations for Playboy magazine.

Apparently, his artwork is making something of a comeback these days.

Never knew that. It would be good if he’s remembered now though, good art is rare enough as it is.

3
The Ghost of a Flea  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:49:10am

re: #242 Patricia Kayden

What the hell is going on in India? A government employee plotting to ASSASSINATE a political foe? This isn’t how democracies function.

The person targeted, as well as the person that was killed in Canada (Hardeep Singh Nijjar) are part of the Khalistan movement, which wants a separate state for Sikhs, constituted most from the Punjab but also bits of nearby states. There’s both political and militant manifestations of the same movement.

Militant Khalistanis have done some ugly crimes, leading to of Operation Blue Star—which is your classic “the state says it was a anti-terrorism operation, the locals say there were a bunch of civilian casualties and very few militants.” This of course worked, and Khalistanis have never been heard from again

No wait…then they assassinated Indira Gandhi…and then there was an anti-Sikh riot which killed like 3,000 random Sikhs. Thereafter there’s just been an ongoing tension in which Khalistanis do stuff and Indian Security Services do stuff back…coincidentally the later just always justifies disproportionately fucking with Sikhs in a way directly comparable to Driving While Black.

Pannun himself is a kind of shit—a guy who makes pronouncements that sometimes result in terrorist acts, currently suspect because he warned Sikhs off boarding a plane on Nov 19th in a way that suggested it would be targeted—and he’s been in hiding because a bunch of other people in the same vein have been killed under strange circumstances.

(If you turn into BJP Twitter, discourse around this subject is flooded in shit in a way that should seem very familiar to an American used to post-9/11 rhetoric: the core objection could be valid, were it not for the vast raft of “therefores” that amount to 1. the opponent is totally depraved with no central premise that needs to be investigated as part of a systemic problem, he probably fiddles kids; 2. actually all Sikhs might be Khalistanis so they can’t complain when they’re treated bad.)

Basically, this all looks and sounds like the War On Terror because…it’s the same justification structure transplanted to a different context. The target’s politics have ugly end-products, but that is used by a reactionary government to justify a far larger project of panopticism of targeted groups plus, apparently, extralegal killing.

4
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:50:06am

re: #2 William Lewis

Are you enjoying your new toys?

5
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:52:17am

The Duran Duran downstairs got me listening to a bunch of 80’s new wave which lead to this little ditty… 😉

Mr. Mister - Kyrie

6
Belafon  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:53:47am

re: #5 William Lewis

The Duran Duran downstairs got me listening to a bunch of 80’s new wave which lead to this little ditty… 😉

[Embedded content]

My first favorite band. Charles knows some history of members of the band and why it didn’t stay together.

7
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:53:56am

re: #4 Dangerman

Are you enjoying your new toys?

Needing lots of serious cleaning. We’ll see after that ;)

8
Dr Lizardo  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:54:22am

re: #5 William Lewis

Here’s one of my favorites from that era…

The Human League - Don’t You Want Me

9
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:54:45am

Mastodon

10
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:55:59am
And yes, the president is pretty unpopular. But Congress is more unpopular. And House Republicans have pretty much failed to do anything beyond the bare minimum of keeping the federal government open and not defaulting on the national debt. Impeaching Biden may play to base voters, but it’s not going to help the vulnerable Republicans that much, especially since there’s no way the Democratic-run Senate will support his removal from office.”

An R-run senate should not support his removal.
He hasnt done anything impeachable

Link

11
No Malarkey!  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:56:56am

I hope these indictments give Republicans planning to refuse to certify next year’s election results something to think about.

12
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 10:58:33am

re: #7 William Lewis

Needing lots of serious cleaning. We’ll see after that what develops;). Too easy.

Theyve been in that box for a long time and I was afraid to handle them too much

13
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:01:22am

re: #12 Dangerman

Theyve been in that box for a long time and I was afraid to handle them too much

Yeah, I’m a bit worried about some lens fungus. Getting that cleaned off is the big key to long term usability.

14
Dave In Austin  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:03:25am

re: #5 William Lewis

The Duran Duran downstairs got me listening to a bunch of 80’s new wave which lead to this little ditty… 😉

[Embedded content]

I went to High School with Rick Page. I knew his brother better than Rick. They came from one of those “Musical Families” where everyone in the family has the gift.

The Musical Page’s….

15
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:13:25am

re: #14 Dave In Austin

Reminds me that some of us realize our gift early and grab it.

Others don’t.

I should have gotten a 84B “Still Photographer” MOS from Uncle Sam back in the day and then gone to work for AP afterwards. I’d probably be at least as famous as our resident sports photog by now 😈 Nah, he’s actually damn good with what he does for the Texans 😎

16
Joe Bacon ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:14:05am

Memories of the very first song I heard on KROQ after I moved to Los Angeles in 1982…

Romeo Void - Never Say Never (Official Video)

Sure didn’t hear anything like this on the radio when I lived in Pittsburgh!

17
Belafon  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:16:49am

re: #14 Dave In Austin

I went to High School with Rick Page. I knew his brother better than Rick. They came from one of those “Musical Families” where everyone in the family has the gift.

The Musical Page’s….

And the family focuses on that.

18
Charles Johnson  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:20:40am

I shouldn’t say anything about Richard Page, because I can’t say anything good.

19
Teukka  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:20:51am

Kurzgesagt dropped a new one, and relevant one at that: The Internet is Worse Than Ever – Now What?

20
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:22:56am

re: #227 goddamnedfrank

This US Attorney’s Office statement is wild:

re: #3 The Ghost of a Flea

The guy who was the target of an alleged extrajudicial killing was - Gurupatwant Singh Pannun.

He is a political activist mostly active in Canada who supports a separatist movement (the Khalistan movemement which seeks an independent homeland for members of the Sikh religion) in India that has nearly entirely lost its support in India. That support pretty much got lost after a bloody insurrection/separatist war that led to 80,000 deaths (mostly in India’s Punjab state where they form slightly under 60% of the population) in the 1980’s and was pretty much put down by Sikhs who were against separatism themselves by the mid-90’s. The bulk of the violence happened after Operation Blue Star, the assasination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 Delhi Sikh riots.

Pannun is also a stochastic terrorist issuing threats against Indian and Hindu targets, in a long line of people sheltered by the Canadian government, and whom legitimate extradition requests were ignored, leading to several hundred deaths.

Just in the past year… he told Sikh’s not to fly on Air India on November 19th, claiming that their lives would be at risk, earlier he called for Hindus to get out of Canada or else. In 2020 he gave hate-filled screeds against members of certain castes at an Anti-caste conference and Hindus in general, and immediately afterwards the Hindu American Foundation got many credible threats that they had to shutdown their office in DC for a week.

But here’s the context of the overall India-Canada diplomatic rift, which this is really about, from the Brookings Institution:

lawfaremedia.org

Amongst other things, Pierre Trudeau had refused to extradite a person to India on the grounds that India was insufficiently deferential to the queen (according to a CBC journalist). That person went on to mastermind the Air India bombing on a flight from Canada that killed more than 300 people when it blew up over Ireland.

I don’t believe the Khalistan movement has much of a force in India, but the memories of it (especially since lots of the activity happened either in or a short distance from the capital), and Indian touchiness about secessionism are why Indian governments of all national level political parties are ready to pounce on anything that might remotely seem secessionist, and act in ways that others think are overreaching.

And India is legitimately touchy about anything remotely secessionist, because 1/2 million to 2 million people died during Partition, a similar number died during Bangladesh’s freedom struggle against Pakistan (after a Pakistan decided to imprison the Bengali leader who would have become Prime Minister of Pakistan) and India got about 10 million refugees, and just within the Republic of India’s borders since independence at least a couple of hundred thousand people have died in various insurgencies. And every separatist group attacks the local minority groups in its midst — usually violently.

21
Dave In Austin  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:23:57am

re: #18 Charles Johnson

I shouldn’t say anything about Richard Page, because I can’t say anything good.

This is a statement I understand completely.

His older brother who’s name I can’t recall was a polar opposite.

22
retired cynic  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:25:50am

In Russia, the shift in public opinion is unmistakable
by Mikhail Zygar, a Russian writer living in exile, is the author of “All the Kremlin’s Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin” and “War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.”

wapo.st (gift link)

23
Dave In Austin  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:26:47am

Gaa….. Someone stepped in the Sacred Pudding!

24
Eventual Carrion  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:27:24am

re: #17 Belafon

And the family focuses on that.

Encouragement to play/sing/drum whatever. This will be delivered Friday. It is a Christmas present for my middle son who has played piano since he was 6 years old. Made alright money at it for churches, weddings and such. He hasn’t had a piano since his divorce.

I told him I would get it with the stipulation that he gets at least one of the grandkids interested in playing it also. Hell he might get all of them interested (there are 4 of them). I said I would pay for piano lessons for whichever shows a real interest.

25
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:30:46am

re: #18 Charles Johnson

I shouldn’t say anything about Richard Page, because I can’t say anything good.

Huh, interesting. After reading his name leads me down the rabbit hole to Richard Marx whom I also only know from radio and records… I’ve known a few of the Minneapolis guys - from the ‘mat’s and Husker Du and others… Some guys were good some were asses. So, like everyone else in this life.

Right now those memories makes me lift a glass to Grant Hart… To absent friends!

26
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:31:11am

re: #3 The Ghost of a Flea

The person targeted, as well as the person that was killed in Canada (Hardeep Singh Nijjar) are part of the Khalistan movement, which wants a separate state for Sikhs, constituted most from the Punjab but also bits of nearby states. There’s both political and militant manifestations of the same movement.

Militant Khalistanis have done some ugly crimes, leading to of Operation Blue Star—which is your classic “the state says it was a anti-terrorism operation, the locals say there were a bunch of civilian casualties and very few militants.” This of course worked, and Khalistanis have never been heard from again

No wait…then they assassinated Indira Gandhi…and then there was an anti-Sikh riot which killed like 3,000 random Sikhs. Thereafter there’s just been an ongoing tension in which Khalistanis do stuff and Indian Security Services do stuff back…coincidentally the later just always justifies disproportionately fucking with Sikhs in a way directly comparable to Driving While Black.

Pannun himself is a kind of shit—a guy who makes pronouncements that sometimes result in terrorist acts, currently suspect because he warned Sikhs off boarding a plane on Nov 19th in a way that suggested it would be targeted—and he’s been in hiding because a bunch of other people in the same vein have been killed under strange circumstances.

(If you turn into BJP Twitter, discourse around this subject is flooded in shit in a way that should seem very familiar to an American used to post-9/11 rhetoric: the core objection could be valid, were it not for the vast raft of “therefores” that amount to 1. the opponent is totally depraved with no central premise that needs to be investigated as part of a systemic problem, he probably fiddles kids; 2. actually all Sikhs might be Khalistanis so they can’t complain when they’re treated bad.)

Basically, this all looks and sounds like the War On Terror because…it’s the same justification structure transplanted to a different context. The target’s politics have ugly end-products, but that is used by a reactionary government to justify a far larger project of panopticism of targeted groups plus, apparently, extralegal killing.

Yeah, I kind of hate that we opened that GWOT window so wide that others are now climbing through. We need to fix that in congress when we get the chance.

27
Eclectic Cyborg  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:31:21am

28
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:32:32am

Great news here

deadline.com

29
Dave In Austin  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:36:22am

re: #25 William Lewis

Huh, interesting. After reading his name leads me down the rabbit hole to Richard Marx whom I also only know from radio and records… I’ve known a few of the Minneapolis guys - from the ‘mat’s and Husker Du and others… Some guys were good some were asses. So, like everyone else in this life.

Right now those memories makes me lift a glass to Grant Hart… To absent friends!

Funny you should say that.

30
No Malarkey!  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:37:43am

re: #27 Eclectic Cyborg

[Embedded content]

Maybe GOP Caucus goers in Iowa will regain a shred of sanity and vote for Haley.* Trump will get convicted in D.C. causing his support to collapse, Haley will be the nominee, and if she loses in November will concede like a normal adult. Yeah, I’m not buying it either.

*I’m not saying Haley would be a good President, but I think she will be bad within the norms of establishment Republicans, rather than the fascist MAGA wing of the GOP.

31
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:37:51am

re: #18 Charles Johnson

I shouldn’t say anything about Richard Page, because I can’t say anything good.

Was he Merrilee Rush bad? (everyone I’ve ever talked to in the music industry who knows her hates her for some reason….)

32
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:38:37am

re: #29 Dave In Austin

Funny you should say that.

[Embedded content]

Oh, my. When?

34
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:40:32am

re: #26 Thanos

I don’t think any country wants to close the door at this point. There are plenty of “National Security” Democrats who want to leave it wide open, certainly many more than some of the actually anti-government Republicans who might vote with progressives to close them.

35
Dave In Austin  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:40:47am

re: #32 William Lewis

Oh, my. When?

facebook.com[0]=AZW8B6PTAp1fEPXnn-quis3zu_3bf5GcEY2u1jubW93oRsgPsZvnClD7oOdwC7pgtjLfpFh-5J_S2Zv8zj39kx6gz15vsKGeOJdiSw6B5CSag-xEqaNqpZ6L3Q7E5Gg1KHhxFFhwX55B40xosDXYYkL5d0WDpMcp4gN7JBzIL9LiSSTQWxl_t46BieahEfDz1HppCxYx4ejViaUn3ZoGyG7q&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

36
Charles Johnson  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:40:52am

re: #31 Thanos

Was he Merrilee Rush bad? (everyone I’ve ever talked to in the music industry who knows her hates her for some reason….)

I don’t know - was she a thief?

37
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:41:47am

re: #27 Eclectic Cyborg

The GOP candidates will be a giant clusterfuck. The elections will be fine.

38
Teukka  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:42:43am

Is it just me, or has Hamas compromised UNRWA and other aid organizations?

39
Dave In Austin  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:43:33am

re: #36 Charles Johnson

That sounds like a rabbit hole if I ever heard one.

40
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:44:26am

re: #34 aatharuv

I don’t think any country wants to close the door at this point. There are plenty of “National Security” Democrats who want to leave it wide open, certainly many more than some of the actually anti-government Republicans who might vote with progressives to close them.

It chaps my hide that Congress made it open invitation to new non state actor groups, it needs to be set so each new group added takes a full vote of congress.

41
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:45:26am

re: #36 Charles Johnson

I don’t know - was she a thief?

According to some who allegedly got stiffed on wages, yes.

42
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:46:23am

re: #31 Thanos

Was he Merrilee Rush bad? (everyone I’ve ever talked to in the music industry who knows her hates her for some reason….)

? I only know her for that (in)famous song. My mother was a country fan when I grew up in the 70’s so “Angel of the Morning” was inescapable and actually better than much of the Nashville shit.

43
No Malarkey!  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:46:36am

re: #37 darthstar

The GOP candidates will be a giant clusterfuck. The elections will be fine.

I worry that Trump will urge his cultists to attack election headquarters in cities like Detroit to prevent the counting of ballots, and despite the indictments in Arizona, GOP election officials will refuse to certify returns all over the country.

44
Backwoods Sleuth  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:47:05am

re: #38 Teukka

Is it just me, or has Hamas compromised UNRWA and other aid organizations?

[Embedded content]

the child was locked in the teacher’s attic without food and medicine for almost 50 days???

45
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:47:52am

re: #42 William Lewis

? I only know her for that (in)famous song. My mother was a country fan when I grew up in the 70’s so “Angel of the Morning” was inescapable and actually better than much of the Nashville shit.

According to 3 guitar players and two drummers she was beyond Prima Donna shitty to everyone who worked with her.

46
Teukka  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:48:42am

re: #44 Backwoods Sleuth

the child was locked in the teacher’s attic without food and medicine for almost 50 days???

Appears so.

47
Dr Lizardo  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:49:31am

re: #42 William Lewis

? I only know her for that (in)famous song. My mother was a country fan when I grew up in the 70’s so “Angel of the Morning” was inescapable and actually better than much of the Nashville shit.

The version I’m most familiar with is Juice Newton’s cover of the song. That was pretty ubiquitous back in the day.

And it got a bit of a revival thanks to Ryan Reynolds….

Opening Credits Scene | Deadpool (2016) Movie Clip HD 4K

48
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:49:49am

bsky.app

49
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:49:54am

re: #45 Thanos

According to 3 guitar players and two drummers she was beyond Prima Donna shitty to everyone who worked with her.

That’s good, if sad, to know.

50
Hecuba's daughter  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:51:38am

re: #44 Backwoods Sleuth

the child was locked in the teacher’s attic without food and medicine for almost 50 days???

Yep. That allegation is obviously totally untrue and makes no sense.

51
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:52:13am

re: #47 Dr Lizardo

The version I’m most familiar with is Juice Newton’s cover of the song. That was pretty ubiquitous back in the day.

And it got a bit of a revival thanks to Ryan Reynolds….

[Embedded content]

Video

I’ll be glad to admit Juice’s was a better version but as I said, Mom listened to Country radio. I was happy when the older stuff came on. The newer it was the worse it was…

52
Hecuba's daughter  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:52:53am

re: #50 Hecuba’s daughter

Yep. That allegation is obviously totally untrue and makes no sense.

Being locked in an attic is possible. But without food?

53
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:54:14am

re: #302 Hecuba’s daughter

Technically, doesn’t democracy just mean that governmental decisions reflect the will of the majority? Does it imply anything about the treatment of minorities in the population? Or about rights of the citizenry, other than voting on decisions for the nation?

There’s a difference between a democracy and a liberal democracy. Most of the democracies of the world have as their ideal a Liberal democracy where government power itself has limits.

54
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:54:35am

re: #52 Hecuba’s daughter

Being locked in an attic is possible. But without food?

Exactly. No food = dead. Not said but implied: no water = dead faster.

55
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:55:30am

re: #287 Dr Lizardo

Duran Duran just dropped a new video.

[Embedded content]

They’re awesome.

This reminds me about how maybe around 14 years ago I had Duran Duran tickets, but the concert got cancelled due to health issues of one of the members :-(

56
Belafon  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:56:32am

re: #29 Dave In Austin

Funny you should say that.

[Embedded content]

That relationship is described in his wikipedia page.

57
Belafon  Nov 29, 2023 • 11:58:51am

re: #38 Teukka

Is it just me, or has Hamas compromised UNRWA and other aid organizations?

[Embedded content]

I can’t read all of the tweets, but 50 days without food would lead to death.

58
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:04:14pm

re: #57 Belafon

I can’t read all of the tweets, but 50 days without food would lead to death.

They were given food and water, just not very much.

Mastodon

59
Patricia Kayden  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:08:48pm

re: #38 Teukka

Wow. That’s scary. So HAMAS’ enablers include teachers and doctors. Huge sigh.

60
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:09:48pm

Mastodon

61
goddamnedfrank  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:10:07pm

re: #300 Romantic Heretic

When a democracy gets to that point it will stop being a democracy. The majority will make sure all opposition to it is crushed.

Humans may talk about freedom and democracy, but they much prefer power and autocracy.

Coming back to this and have to say I disagree inasmuch as I think conflating democracy with freedom is the key error. It’s the American fetishization of freedom and myth making around our own history that tells us to think of the two terms as somehow intrinsically linked but in reality it’s a No True Scotsman situation. Nothing about democracy per se protects freedom except theoretically for the freedom to vote, after that democracy gets to wash its hands of the consequences and it’s only the finite inertia of norms and structural legal protections that stand in the way. Or, like Tom Lehrer sang, “Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down, that’s not my department says Wernher Von Braun”

62
Hecuba's daughter  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:13:11pm

re: #58 Vicious Babushka

They were given food and water, just not very much.

[Embedded content]

That makes more sense. Given the limited food supply during the period for all those in Gaza, it may not be surprising if hostages were also on reduced rations.

63
Belafon  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:14:25pm

re: #59 Patricia Kayden

Wow. That’s scary. So HAMAS’ enablers include teachers and doctors. Huge sigh.

I’m pretty sure the abductors scattered them as much as possible. Imagine the “Israel kills its own citizens” headline.

64
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:14:32pm

re: #40 Thanos

It chaps my hide that Congress made it open invitation to new non state actor groups, it needs to be set so each new group added takes a full vote of congress.

Groups can dissolve and reassemble them with ease, whether they’re terror groups or political parties. To take the case of Belgium, Vlaams Blok was banned because it ran afoul of an anti-racism law. So IIRC, its members just created a new party Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest).

Terror groups can do this as easily. Hell, even if one creates a legal definition of a terror groups to account for groups disbanding and reassembling, I can even foresee a future where terror groups hire lawyers or legal experts (or have their own in-house terror lawyers) to determine how much they have to change not to run afoul of various prohibitions on terror groups.

65
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:18:35pm

re: #43 No Malarkey!

I worry that Trump will urge his cultists to attack election headquarters in cities like Detroit to prevent the counting of ballots, and despite the indictments in Arizona, GOP election officials will refuse to certify returns all over the country.

Start tying his supporters to the GOP candidates in those states.
“Hawley supporters threaten KC polling stations”
“Cruz supporters threaten violence.”
“McCarthy supporters hint at violence.

Make it so moderate voters are repulsed by GOP candidates’ complacency.

66
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:28:45pm

re: #44 Backwoods Sleuth

the child was locked in the teacher’s attic without food and medicine for almost 50 days???

In the snow… If it’s outrageous enough people will spread it.

67
FFL (GOP Delenda Est)  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:29:06pm

re: #27 Eclectic Cyborg

One of the major parties wants it to be one and is fervently working to produce that. And the media is willfully following that path since they see the eyeballs and controversy as profitable to their corporate masters.

68
Backwoods Sleuth  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:30:57pm

re: #66 darthstar

In the snow… If it’s outrageous enough people will spread it.

Lots of hatred against UN agencies in the responses by blue checkmarks

69
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:31:12pm

re: #61 goddamnedfrank

Coming back to this and have to say I disagree inasmuch as I think conflating democracy with freedom is the key error. It’s the American fetishization of freedom and myth making around our own history that tells us to think of the two terms as somehow intrinsically linked but in reality it’s a No True Scotsman situation. Nothing about democracy per se protects freedom except theoretically for the freedom to vote, after that democracy gets to wash its hands of the consequences and it’s only the finite inertia of norms and structural legal protections that stand in the way. Or, like Tom Lehrer sang, “Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down, that’s not my department says Wernher Von Braun”

This is key.

It’s this American fetish that is the basis of neoconservativism and their entire delusional belief of “We invade them and impose democracy, and then they’ll shower us with flowers.” Which is why we’re in such a mess.

70
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:31:24pm

Mastodon

71
Hecuba's daughter  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:31:37pm

re: #61 goddamnedfrank

Coming back to this and have to say I disagree inasmuch as I think conflating democracy with freedom is the key error. It’s the American fetishization of freedom and myth making around our own history that tells us to think of the two terms as somehow intrinsically linked but in reality it’s a No True Scotsman situation. Nothing about democracy per se protects freedom except theoretically for the freedom to vote, after that democracy gets to wash its hands of the consequences and it’s only the finite inertia of norms and structural legal protections that stand in the way. Or, like Tom Lehrer sang, “Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down, that’s not my department says Wernher Von Braun”

Yes. The laws have to be better than the people and maybe the laws can change the people for the better. And the citizens have to be willing to support these laws. A monster like Hitler could have ruled democratically if a majority of citizens supported his evil — and maybe most Germans did, as long as they were doing well economically and Germany was conquering other lands. Most Americans opposed intermarriage when SCOTUS outlawed state laws that barred it. Equality of the sexes? Most Americans including women were against it. There are so many customs and practices that are unjust and harmful — the nation’s rulers and legislators have to be wiser than the average person to understand this and more compassionate and just to change them to make us a “more perfect Union”.

72
PhillyPretzel ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:32:48pm

re: #70 darthstar

That is so sweet. Thanks, I needed that.

73
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:33:06pm

re: #68 Backwoods Sleuth

Lots of hatred against UN agencies in the responses by blue checkmarks

And lots of people obsessed with the next example of horror. It’s been five days without an air raid for crying out loud.

74
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:33:53pm

re: #72 PhillyPretzel ✅

That is so sweet. Thanks, I needed that.

I see examples of love and I have to share them.

75
Eventual Carrion  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:35:02pm

re: #71 Hecuba’s daughter

Yes. The laws have to be better than the people and maybe the laws can change the people for the better. And the citizens have to be willing to support these laws. A monster like Hitler could have ruled democratically if a majority of citizens supported his evil — and maybe most Germans did, as long as they were doing well economically and Germany was conquering other lands. Most Americans opposed intermarriage when SCOTUS outlawed state laws that barred it. Equality of the sexes? Most Americans including women were against it. There are so many customs and practices that are unjust and harmful — the nation’s rulers and legislators have to be wiser than the average person to understand this and more compassionate and just to change them to make us a “more perfect Union”.

And we have MTG, Gym and Lurid Handbert

76
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:36:15pm

re: #69 aatharuv

This is key.

It’s this American fetish that is the basis of neoconservativism and their entire delusional belief of “We invade them and impose democracy, and then they’ll shower us with flowers.” Which is why we’re in such a mess.

i was told American democracy is ordained and god-given.
Isn’t it?

77
Joe Bacon ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:37:23pm

re: #68 Backwoods Sleuth

Lots of hatred against UN agencies in the responses by blue checkmarks

Memories of the Birchers when I was a kid who had those lawn signs that said, “Get US OUT…Of the United Nations!”

78
A Three Hour Tour  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:40:23pm

re: #66 darthstar

In the snow… If it’s outrageous enough people will spread it.

Especially if it involves crimes against children.

79
goddamnedfrank  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:40:25pm

re: #76 Dangerman

i was told American democracy is ordained and god-given.
Isn’t it?

80
William Lewis  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:40:30pm

re: #77 Joe Bacon ✅

Memories of the Birchers when I was a kid who had those lawn signs that said, “Get US OUT…Of the United Nations!”

I always liked to point at then and laugh.

When I was older, I wished I could have gotten little United Federation of Planets flags to plant on their lawns just to fuck with their microscopic minds 🤣😈🤣

81
FFL (GOP Delenda Est)  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:40:52pm

re: #76 Dangerman

i was told American democracy is ordained and god-given.
Isn’t it?

I think it runs more about the ideal that a democracy is less likely to convert itself into authoritarian behavior. (Which I believe is false since even democracies seem quite willing to go down that path is the behavior is aimed at a group that is not a clean partner of the nation’s power structure.)

The key seems to lie with a nation believing (and acting on) the creation of equality for all citizens and residents. And supplying due process and consistent treatment under the law to them. Combined with this must also come a large degree of toleration to accommodate the large variance in viewpoint, origin, etc. etc. that most nations actually have.

82
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:45:43pm

re: #64 aatharuv

Groups can dissolve and reassemble them with ease, whether they’re terror groups or political parties. To take the case of Belgium, Vlaams Blok was banned because it ran afoul of an anti-racism law. So IIRC, its members just created a new party Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest).

Terror groups can do this as easily. Hell, even if one creates a legal definition of a terror groups to account for groups disbanding and reassembling, I can even foresee a future where terror groups hire lawyers or legal experts (or have their own in-house terror lawyers) to determine how much they have to change not to run afoul of various prohibitions on terror groups.

I am versant in how terror groups rename themselves, and know about Vlaams Blok and Belang, having written many posts & blog posts about them and terror groups. If the group renames, we take that name to congress. It would not be that hard to get the vote through if they are serious terrorists and the rule of thumb I use is once you are in a terror group, you are a terrorist, and no matter what you call yourself after that we can come get you as an individual.
E.G. Lashkar in Pakistan renames all the time, but we will still take out any HVT’s under the Lashkar name deemed necessary without the need to add the new names to the list, but we won’t go out killing JuD clerks in the “charity” earthquake relief wing.

83
Joe Bacon ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 12:49:01pm

Tots for Trump founder is now in hiding after being charged with pistol-whipping his girlfriend.

84
Belafon  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:03:57pm

Wanna see the younger generation sway the election:

85
gwangung  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:11:20pm

re: #84 Belafon

Polls…whose methodology skews to older people…

86
No Malarkey!  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:13:27pm

re: #84 Belafon

Wanna see the younger generation sway the election:

[Embedded content]

Maybe the world isn’t ending after all!

87
No Malarkey!  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:14:31pm

re: #85 gwangung

Polls…whose methodology skews to older people…

However the median U.S. voter is over 50, so that makes sense.

88
Joe Bacon ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:17:32pm

Kitty says She’s THE Star on this tree!

89
PhillyPretzel ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:20:12pm

re: #88 Joe Bacon ✅

She is the star.

90
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:21:49pm

Mastodon

91
Eclectic Cyborg  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:23:02pm

re: #86 No Malarkey!

Maybe the world isn’t ending after all!

[Embedded content]

Plenty of time left for things to change. For now, we focus, keep our foot on the gas and try to move the needle as best we can in the right direction.

We can party when it’s over.

92
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:28:59pm

re: #84 Belafon

Wanna see the younger generation sway the election:

[Embedded content]

Young people like Grandpa Joe.

93
The Ghost of a Flea  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:30:28pm

re: #20 aatharuv

The guy who was the target of an alleged extrajudicial killing was - Gurupatwant Singh Pannun.

He is a political activist mostly active in Canada who supports a separatist movement (the Khalistan movemement which seeks an independent homeland for members of the Sikh religion) in India that has nearly entirely lost its support in India. That support pretty much got lost after a bloody insurrection/separatist war that led to 80,000 deaths (mostly in India’s Punjab state where they form slightly under 60% of the population) in the 1980’s and was pretty much put down by Sikhs who were against separatism themselves by the mid-90’s. The bulk of the violence happened after Operation Blue Star, the assasination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 Delhi Sikh riots.

Pannun is also a stochastic terrorist issuing threats against Indian and Hindu targets, in a long line of people sheltered by the Canadian government, and whom legitimate extradition requests were ignored, leading to several hundred deaths.

Just in the past year… he told Sikh’s not to fly on Air India on November 19th, claiming that their lives would be at risk, earlier he called for Hindus to get out of Canada or else. In 2020 he gave hate-filled screeds against members of certain castes at an Anti-caste conference and Hindus in general, and immediately afterwards the Hindu American Foundation got many credible threats that they had to shutdown their office in DC for a week.

But here’s the context of the overall India-Canada diplomatic rift, which this is really about, from the Brookings Institution:

lawfaremedia.org

Amongst other things, Pierre Trudeau had refused to extradite a person to India on the grounds that India was insufficiently deferential to the queen (according to a CBC journalist). That person went on to mastermind the Air India bombing on a flight from Canada that killed more than 300 people when it blew up over Ireland.

I don’t believe the Khalistan movement has much of a force in India, but the memories of it (especially since lots of the activity happened either in or a short distance from the capital), and Indian touchiness about secessionism are why Indian governments of all national level political parties are ready to pounce on anything that might remotely seem secessionist, and act in ways that others think are overreaching.

And India is legitimately touchy about anything remotely secessionist, because 1/2 million to 2 million people died during Partition, a similar number died during Bangladesh’s freedom struggle against Pakistan (after a Pakistan decided to imprison the Bengali leader who would have become Prime Minister of Pakistan) and India got about 10 million refugees, and just within the Republic of India’s borders since independence at least a couple of hundred thousand people have died in various insurgencies. And every separatist group attacks the local minority groups in its midst — usually violently.

All true.

I’m at this point, though, where I’m asking how exactly is an extrajudicial killing going to make that go away? And it’s not an intellectual question, it’s an emotional one that sounds intellectual because I’m numb and don’t know how to communicate feelings.

Indian separatist movements will never cease to exist because the grand context is that India is just an artificial a construct as any other state—borders are not real, cultures are not discreet entities with clear distinct lines between them—and ambitious ideologues can always invent pretexts for subdivision that conveniently grant them power…specifically power to control a smaller population through uniformity.

The actuality of India—vastly unequal; myriad peripheries only technically part of the state; beset with graft and oligarchy and class warfare stack atop caste warfare—is unappealing and built on a substrate of worse things. To be separate is mostly just the dream of not being acted-upon by a metropole that’s indifferent to everything but use-value; to self-determine and thus feel somewhat in control. It’s a fantasy, but a compelling one.

But existing states are also pointing to a fiction of collectivity they must enforce, and they have full-on an entire state with which to do coercion. In this particular case, the idea of a BJP government motivated by peace-keeping is, well, horseshit, not at all in keeping with what BJP people do with power, or what they allow nationalists like the RSS to do without facing consequences. This is a party that wants to do more Partition-like violence, talks about it, has built an entire online discourse about how non-Hindus are suspect, and that absolutely should be factored in when they make strategic choices and claim them as defensive measures.

Admittedly, as a genocide studies guy with a lot of PTSD I’m pretty cold when I discuss horrifying things…one mess of bodies does not numb you to the next one, there’s always dead people that are innocent, you cannot endure what is happening without disassociation. I now just feel constant grief rather than specific grief because after twenty years you begin to realize that everyone doing the violence uses the same positioning to explain collateral harm such that corpses are rhetoric evacuated of humanity explicitly as an explanation for the next pile of corpses.

I’m tired of the tit-for-tat accountancy of wounds, but I’m especially tired of another giant organized body that claims a moral mandate to exist telling itself that, once again, they must make an exception and do the violent thing because this time it will be definitive. Exception has become the rule, whether or not you War Crimed/Bad-Nono-Killed people is a function of power not any kind of justice.

I think about the negative space of suffering. The dead people that aren’t photogenic enough to be presented as exemplary of the cause; the thought that any time a military is giving you live-time updates about a conflict that’s propaganda, sales; that everybody understands priming and affective bypass so elegantly that it will be decades before we understand even basic aspects of current conflicts…even just body counts. I’m tired of the purportedly-utilitarian policing and spying and coercing that amounts to a daily drip, drip, drip of violence that never actually delivers prophylaxis against the next big red event.

There is no moral order; what little moral order there was has been deliberately abrogated into non-existence such that there’s only the power calculation…can a state afford, through power projection or just cash…to do violence in ways ignore borders and human rights and all the things that supposedly make states A Good Thing. It’s absurd in a way that’s slowly killing me, and the only response I know is to try and break the paradigm of A-or-B, but mostly that just lands on the page as cynicism.

I’m sad, I’m tired, and see no break coming. There will always be no alternative.

94
KGxvi  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:33:07pm

re: #84 Belafon

re: #86 No Malarkey!

was listening to Fast Politics on the drive this morning and MJF had James Carville on, and the way he was talking you’d think Biden was down 10 points nationally and even in California. It also made me realize how much I can do without having to listen to Carville.

95
Randall Gross  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:35:35pm

A couple of friends goofin’ with an 8 track tascam

Crackhouse In The Sky - I Love You! You Love Coke. I bought a pound, and now i’m broke.

96
BeachDem  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:39:00pm

re: #74 darthstar

I see examples of love and I have to share them.

Here’s a human one. (And Vira is still at Connie’s)
Opinion: I opened my home to a Ukrainian mother and daughter, and I filled it along with my heart

sandiegouniontribune.com

Vira’s site (featuring her 1,000 sunflowers project)
viraustianska.com

97
Eclectic Cyborg  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:40:04pm

Also, you can’t convince me Trump isn’t insane enough to try running in 2028 if he loses again next year.

It would be nice if he didn’t even make it to 2028, but the universe can be cruel sometimes.

98
Joe Bacon ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:47:07pm

re: #97 Eclectic Cyborg

Also, you can’t convince me Trump isn’t insane enough to try running in 2028 if he loses again next year.

It would be nice if he didn’t even make it to 2028, but the universe can be cruel sometimes.

The depressing thing is knowing if that old fart loses in 2024 and he is still around he will run again in 2028.

99
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:48:38pm

re: #76 Dangerman

i was told American democracy is ordained and god-given.
Isn’t it?

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard — H. L. Mencken

I lived for 5 years in the most democratic of the Gulf Arab countries. I came (back) to the US 25 years ago, but still pay attention to events there.). They’ve had 30 years of continuous democracy at this point, and are still relatively deferential to the monarch.

(However, they also voted to depose a monarch a few days after his accession to the throne though apparently said monarch resigned nearly simultaneously, who was in extremely poor health and unable to govern.) Okay, that would make it pretty much one of the most democratic Arab countries.

And when the monarch decided to give women the right to vote by decree, they voted to override his decree. (Women eventually did get the right to vote.).

Even though the monarch actually appoints the cabinet and the government, the government does have to pay attention to the citizens (who are a minority of the people resident there). And the people want to impose indignities on foreigners. All of the below actually happened in real life in said country.

There’s a global pandemic.
Solution: Citizens get priorities for vaccines, and treatment. Others get them on a second basis.

There’s too much traffic.
Solution: “Revoke the driving licenses of foreigners who aren’t graduates.”

The government run supermarkets are too busy during Ramadan.
Solution: “Check ID cards to prevent foreigners from entering them”.

100
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:53:36pm

re: #62 Hecuba’s daughter

That makes more sense. Given the limited food supply during the period for all those in Gaza, it may not be surprising if hostages also were also on reduced rations.

The other hostages described being given a pita bread, some cheese & cucumber once a day. She said that their captors ate the same rations.

The story of the kid locked in an attic, so far comes from one source, Israel National News which is the Israeli version of Fox. I am sure that the hostage received food and water, just very little. I would hold off on believing or rejecting this story until more information comes out.

101
A Cranky One  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:58:25pm

102
darthstar  Nov 29, 2023 • 1:58:29pm

Take a picture of the pretty waves.

Mastodon

103
🐈 Crush White Nationalism 🐈  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:05:45pm
Shannen Doherty doesn’t mince words.

“I don’t want to die,” she asserts as a sliver of Los Angeles sunshine falls across her face on the set of her PEOPLE cover shoot four days before Thanksgiving.

The actress — who is best known for her roles on the hit ’90s TV show Beverly Hills, 90210 and later, Charmed — is characteristically candid, upbeat and dry-witted as she opens up about her Stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to her bones.

As she continues to receive treatment, the 52-year-old is more determined than ever to keep moving forward. “I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better,” she says, cracking a smile. “I’m just not — I’m not done.”

Shannen Doherty Wants to ‘Embrace Life’ as Cancer Has Spread to Her Bones: ‘My Greatest Memory Is Yet to Come’ (People)

104
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:14:39pm

The Natural is a fun movie

Pure fantasy baseball

105
Eclectic Cyborg  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:15:15pm

re: #103 🐈 Crush White Nationalism 🐈

She’s got the right fucking attitude, that’s for sure.

106
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:15:27pm

Mastodon

107
The Ghost of a Flea  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:17:28pm

More than anything else, I’m sick of the idea that people that died because a bomb went off near them are somehow less-killed and not-wronged.

There are a few phrases that I imagine as being curses on the world, but “it’s my job to make the rockets go up, not care about where they go down” hangs over us.

Post World War 2 the world didn’t become more humane, it simply developed an entire new language in which inhumanity could be quibbled away through exceptions.

It wasn’t us, it was the people we armed and trained.
Bombs just…do that…and the target had to be hit.
It’s not a genocide, it’s anti-communism.
If we don’t back the dictator, then the Soviets will win.
The intel was good.

The Cold War wasn’t cold, the major players simply put a ludic magic circle around their fiddling in the lives and deaths of far-away, unimportant people. Inhumanity was acceptable as long it lacked the particular form of Nazi atrocities: you could have your camps but they could only kill people through neglect; you could bomb anything to rubble as long as you cited one strategic target (including the entire state of Cambodia); dictators can steal and murder and torture as long as they aren’t embarrassing and they pay their dues into the banks of the civilized world.

The War on Terror wasn’t a war on terror—terror is fucking great when it’s on-side in the form of juntas and contras and black sites and Papa Doc—it’s trying to clean up the mess created by experimenting with reaction as tool of foreign policy while pantomiming surprise.

In both, the high explosive has been granted unique grace: how dare you question the intention of a bomb? We’ve shown you on CNN how precisely they fall, we’ve hauled out military and intel wonks to explain how important the target was, we’ve shown you how angry and afraid you should be of not just the target but the target’s context: kill the whole manifold, flatten the world to be safe. The flesh-destroying shrapnel, the compression wave that creates a white butterfly of pulverized superating lung tissue, napalm…these have been transubstantiated by the ritual of dropping them from planes with flags on them. It’s all business, trust the plan, pay no attention to the inherent inequity, who can bomb, who can afford to bomb, who can only be subject to bombing.

Only Guernica was Guernica.

108
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:25:12pm

Mastodon

109
aatharuv  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:32:29pm

re: #107 The Ghost of a Flea

WGdQS2Y4VW5tQ0tyanM4c0pUTkRXLzF6dkwrYnlEVWZjbWc1V1RjL2JJb1dxVjlTNG1xUm1VQ3AwT0dxT05BRGRRSDJ2RXlhdnphVXpQTHRnYUtBbkE9PTo6GS8ZYbsscce1DhIc6nmgKA==

110
BigPapa  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:38:50pm

re: #103 🐈 Crush White Nationalism 🐈

Fuck cancer. If it had a throat I’d punch it. A dude who I’ve worked with/employee/worked with and who I’ve known 16 years has esophageal cancer. My owner is paying for a plane/hotel/dinner over to Oahu for the CT scan and working out how we can support him. Gah, it’s really put us in a dour mood. I’m hoping it’s caught early because he kept pushing Kaiser to look at his heartburn issues and the endoscopy found it. And he’s late 40’s and still feels pretty good/healthy.

111
DodgerFan1988  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:39:24pm


Go fuck yourself, Elon Musk.

112
BigPapa  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:42:01pm

re: #111 DodgerFan1988

He’s like a Supervillain Edgelord Muppet.

113
A Cranky One  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:42:09pm

114
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:45:57pm

re: #112 BigPapa

He’s like [an actual idiot playing like] a Supervillain Edgelord Muppet.

115
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:47:10pm

re: #111 DodgerFan1988

[Embedded content]

Go fuck yourself, Elon Musk.

rando: This is how he treats a business he bought for 44 billion? Imagine how he treats people.

116
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:49:17pm
“A court-ordered financial auditor has caught Donald Trump quietly moving $40 million from the Trump Organization into a personal bank account—seemingly so the former president could pay his whopping $29 million tax bill,” the Daily Beast reports.

“Trump isn’t supposed to be moving any money around without alerting Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge in New York tasked with babysitting the Trump Organization for its relentlessly shady business practices. But on Wednesday, she notified a New York state court about some major bank transfers that were never brought to her attention by the Trumps.”

is anyone quelle surprised? No.

is anything gonna be done about it? also, No.

117
Joe Bacon ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:49:25pm

re: #111 DodgerFan1988

Musk—Exhibit A for imposing a Maximum Net Income.

118
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:50:15pm

Mastodon

119
BigPapa  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:51:41pm

re: #114 Dangerman

He’s like [an actual idiot playing like] a Supervillain Edgelord Muppet.

I stand corrected sir!

120
Dangerman  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:52:54pm

re: #117 Joe Bacon ✅

Musk—Exhibit A for imposing a Maximum Net Income.

indexed and surtaxed for dickish behavior

121
silverdolphin  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:53:53pm

re: #87 No Malarkey!

However the median U.S. voter is over 50, so that makes sense.

I think that could start decreasing some. Some estimates have the under 45 being almost half the eligible voters in 2024. Over 8 million more youngsters are of voting age now than in 2022 for a total of 41 million. And about as many older died. We need to engage those 8 million, almost 50% of which are POC. They could make a huge difference in some of the South. And polling suggests that climate change, abortion and the economy (ie student loans, home purchase) are their major concerns. The GOP flunks all of those.

So work to engage youngsters who are riled up already. This is needed for us to win.

122
goddamnedfrank  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:55:46pm

re: #111 DodgerFan1988

[Embedded content]

Go fuck yourself, Elon Musk.

The weird iguana lick at the end was a lot. I mean it’s all terribly embarrassing but in particular nobody asked for this.

123
Vicious Babushka  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:55:59pm

Last night I watched “Doctor Who” on Disney+ & I have to tell you I wasn’t too impressed. I understand there is a who culture of DW over 60 years which I never followed, so this one episode was not expository.

124
Nerdy Fish  Nov 29, 2023 • 2:56:43pm

re: #123 Vicious Babushka

Last night I watched “Doctor Who” on Disney+ & I have to tell you I wasn’t too impressed. I understand there is a who culture of DW over 60 years which I never followed, so this one episode was not expository.

That’s fair. It’s not for everybody. I am not the kind of person who tells people they are wrong for not liking a thing I like.

125
goddamnedfrank  Nov 29, 2023 • 3:00:55pm

126
silverdolphin  Nov 29, 2023 • 3:02:28pm

America’s Electoral Future

A little over 3 years old, this report has some interesting material that has informed me, especially regarding the demographic changes coming from the youngsters. They run 4 simulations of the coming elections. I believe the 2nd one is the most likely (it assumes that voting patterns do not change as people get older. This matches some polling I have seen where even as some people get more conservative as they get older, they stick with the party they voted for in their 20s.)

Essentially all 4 simulations show the same thing - the GOP has no hope of getting the EC votes unless they change and go after the youth vote, which they cannot do. Hope the reality matches the simulations.

127
Joe Bacon ✅  Nov 29, 2023 • 3:02:49pm

Speaker Jesusbot in action.

House Speaker Mike Johnson to keynote hardcore Christian nationalist group’s gala

The new House Speaker who has become known as “MAGA Mike” Johnson will speak to a Christian nationalist gala alongside an anti-LGBTQ activist who advocates for the death penalty for gay sex, according to reports.

Jason Rapert, The founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, posted on Facebook that Johnson is scheduled to be its keynote speaker at a gala on Dec. 5.

The group’s website states its agenda of “abolishing abortion,” supporting “marriage between one man and one woman,” and “exposing the ungodly effort to undermine our culture by Leftists,” Rolling Stone reported.

In widely shared videos, including those posted by activist group Right Wing Watch, Rapert advocates for is the overthrow of the American government because Christians “must take authority” at every level.

The Christian nationalist group believes in a far-right ideology that would impose biblical rules on society.

“When the National Association of Christian Lawmakers held a meeting earlier this year, participants used it as an opportunity to discuss plans to strip public libraries of their funding, convince states to designate June as ‘Christian History Month,’ and defend the practice of imposing ‘the death penalty for sodomy,’” said Right Wing Watch.

rawstory.com

128
Romantic Heretic  Nov 29, 2023 • 3:06:47pm

re: #47 Dr Lizardo

Snicker. Never can see that shot without thinking, “I’ve never said this before but don’t swallow.”

129
Romantic Heretic  Nov 29, 2023 • 3:11:34pm

re: #61 goddamnedfrank

Well, democracy is a system of allocating power; who gets it, what they can do with it, and the punishments for misusing it.

Which is why so many people hate democracy. It gets in the way of power.

It’s alway about power.

130
A Three Hour Tour  Nov 29, 2023 • 3:54:36pm

re: #123 Vicious Babushka

Last night I watched “Doctor Who” on Disney+ & I have to tell you I wasn’t too impressed. I understand there is a who culture of DW over 60 years which I never followed, so this one episode was not expository.

I’ve been a fan for 40 of those 60 years. If I were coming into this cold as an adult of some years, I wouldn’t have been impressed either. It’s an acquired taste. Going in, you need to have a high tolerance for cheesiness and pulp sci-fi tropes.


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Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ...
Cheechako
4 weeks ago
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