Part of a thrad, putting it here so it's more searchable for myself later. Still useful here.
The question before us about 6 years ago was "where is the line at which Republicans will finally stop supporting horror? What will be a horror too far?"
For most, the answer we learned is: absolutely nothing.
It's hard not to conclude that horror is what they actually want.
This article is trying to tread the lines between making this a horror story and a heartwarming yarn about how it seems to be working out OK for these plucky kids:
If it wasn’t for the Texas law, Brooke knew she might not be standing here. She’d probably be studying for her next exam, while Billy mastered some new trick on the quarter-pipe. She liked to think they’d still be together – spending their money on movie tickets and Whataburger, instead of diapers and baby wipes.
She told herself that alternate life didn’t matter anymore. She had two babies she loved more than anything else in the world.
I vote horror story.
So a teenager gets pregnant with her also teenaged boyfriend - learns it 48 hours before the abortion ban starts. She decides to get an abortion, but gets tricked into going to one of those fake abortion clinics where they lie to you to trick you into keeping the pregnancy - I counted at least two outright lies unchecked in this article. Out of time, overwhelmed by the anti-abortion propaganda, and encouraged by her mother excited by twins, she changes her mind.
Soon, the mother makes living at home impossible, so she moves in with BF's parent's house. BF is working a food service job and they can barely afford the cost of the twins. BF is planning to join the Air Force, but doesn't entirely want to, and they get married so she can get military benefits.
At the end of the article, she has two children she loves, but also a disrupted career, a husband that may or may not be resentful, a father-in-law she is indebted to, and must rely on for the years her husband is serving. It's so easy to imagine how much better this teen's life would be if she had the opportunity to choose when she had children.
So, it looks like the abortion ban is doing exactly what Texas Republicans wanted.
Can't have a proper plutocracy without an underclass.
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
The Catholic National Right to Life council has drafted boiler plate legislation to limit free speech meant for republican’s to push as soon as the unqualified court connected to trying to overthrow the government overturns Roe V Wade.
In the past I would say that such a blatant attack on free speech was meant as a sacrificial clause to toss out in negotiations as it would never hold up in court, but these days I presume some rule about how free speech doesn’t apply to words that begin with two consecutive letters of the alphabet will be tossed around as majority opinion, so who knows!
I saw something on Twitter yesterday to the effect of “all 5 candidates in Michigan gubenatorial race say SCOTUS should go after same-sex marriage next” so I decided, against my better judgement, to watch the whole debate. It’s only an hour long but easily the longest exposure I have ever had to the latest breed of Republican lunatics. I had never heard of a single one of these people before I watched this debate and I miss the person I was back in those heady days of ignorance. My impressions:
Tudor Dixon: Has the vast majority of the endorsements including GOP and Trump himself. 100% grifter “conservative” media personality who knows the culture-war script and sticks to it aggresively. Relatively young and attractive, and the only woman running as a Republican.
Garrett Soldano: MAGA fanatic. Notable quote: “Trump is still my President”. Had a fair amount of fans in the room.
Ryan Kelley: Had the most support in the room. 100% grifter but unlike Tudor, his grift seems to be based in a more anti-poltics “working man” approach. Bragged about having been raided by the FBI. Had the air of an old mob-affiliated union boss.
Kevin Rinke: Old school conservative, free-market “business man”. Nowhere near crazy enough to get broad support from the party at this point in time.
Ralph Rebandt: Christian nationalist and true believer. The most scary of the bunch.
All the of them maintained that there was a lot of fraud in the 2020 election but only Saldano (and maybe Rebandt?) was willing to go as far as to say it was widespread enough to have nullified the results. All of them railed against our incumbent Governor Whitmer (who I understand to be a progressive Democrat slightly to the left of Biden but far to the right of Bernie) as a ‘tyrant’ who destroyed the Michigan economy with vaccine mandates and lockdowns.
Anyway that’s all I can remember off the top of my head and I’ll be damned if I’m re-watching any of it.
The Catholic National Right to Life council has drafted boiler plate legislation to limit free speech meant for republican’s to push as soon as the unqualified court connected to trying to overthrow the government overturns Roe V Wade.
In the past I would say that such a blatant attack on free speech was meant as a sacrificial clause to toss out in negotiations as it would never hold up in court, but these days I presume some rule about how free speech doesn’t apply to words that begin with two consecutive letters of the alphabet will be tossed around as majority opinion, so who knows!
Would the next step be to make it a crime to donate to Planned Parenthood?
__________________
The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.
-- Official Bunny Hero
One ignorant racist remark from Biden’s wife erases every blatantly racist comment Trump made over the course of 4 years and continues to make after getting his ass voted out. Because of course it does.
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Oh, for sure it’s manufactured outrage. I do think it was racist via ignorance, just not intentionally so. Ignorantly racist is still racist, but latching onto it to deflect from the very intentional racism being sprayed firehose-style by Republicans is some expert-grade hypocritical pearl-clutching.
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Okay, being neither Latino nor any other flavour of North American, I am likely more ignorant than Jill Biden here, but with that proviso, I have to say I can't see ignorance here. What was it that you think shows ignorance?
My phone just ate my loquacious reply. It’s reductive and at least thoughtless to compare a core attribute of an ethnic group, especially such group’s diversity, to the most stereotypical example of that group’s cuisine. It’s a tone-deafness that IMO betrays ignorance of how such a comment would be received. JB is probably capable of taking the lesson and making an effort to do better, rather than doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down and digging a trench, a la various recent racist statements by an ever-expanding cast of Republican nutfucks.
IMO it was a casually racist comment. I doubt it was intended to be racist. But it was. I think to minimize it too much would be skating around the Blue Lies territory you’re always on about, although it’s a natural reaction to the silos full of hay the Republicans are making of it. Miss Shelby’s low-rent trolling is just a somewhat accurate parody of the latter.
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
__________________
The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.
-- Official Bunny Hero
It’s reductive and at least thoughtless to compare a core attribute of an ethnic group, especially such group’s diversity, to the most stereotypical example of that group’s cuisine.
Given that tacos are filled with a near infinite variety of combined fillings, and provided that there was no implication that tacos are the whole story, I don't see why Biden's simile should be seen as either specially reductive or thoughtless. (I don't think it makes sense to take diversity as a "core" attribute of any group. How could a key distinguishing feature of a group be the lack of similarity between its members? )
And even if you are right about "reductive", I don't see that amounts to and justifies a charge of racism.
It’s a tone-deafness that IMO betrays ignorance of how such a comment would be received. This looks like being wise after the event. Why would it be racist not to know that a non-racist comment would provide a pretext for calls of "that's racist!" without further explanation, and without pushback from serious journalists?
__________________
... it's just an idea
Last edited by mickthinks; 07-17-2022 at 08:26 PM.
Why would it be racist not to know that a non-racist comment would provide a pretext for calls of "that's racist!" without further explanation, and without pushback from serious journalists?
Have you stopped beating your wife?
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Why would it be racist not to know that a non-racist comment would provide a pretext for calls of "that's racist!" without further explanation, and without pushback from serious journalists?
Have you stopped beating your wife?
I'm not sure you realise how much that applies to your position as so far given.
I haven't said that Biden's taco remark was a non-racist comment. I've created a hypothetical to examine the degree to which your "tone-deafness that betrays ignorance of how such a comment would be received" begs the question. I'm asking for some further explanation why the comment was received the way it was, as racist, because, though to me it appears not to be, I am surprised by the lack of pushback against the NAHJ attack.
It's innocent but it is tone deaf. Never compare Asians to noodles, black people to fried chicken, Germans to sour kraut, etc.. Just seems like a basic principle any speech writer would know.
Leaving aside the question of whether it was crass or otherwise inept; you're saying it wasn't racist (that's what I take "It's innocent..." to mean here). That would explain why I can't see it, but it leaves a big exclamation mark hanging over the NAHJ's response. If they didn't mean to suggest that Biden's remark was racist toward Latinos, what moved them to attack her for it at all? Are they trying to bolster the Republican Party vote?
Oh man, just had a flashback to one of 's all-time great train wrecks.
__________________
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
I said the COMMENT was racist. Unintentional racism is possible. If you disagree with that premise, then that is the source of your (Mick’s) confusion. This is a mighty fine hair you’re splitting, considering that I have stated all along that I find it relatively innocent, and not worth a fraction of the attention it’s getting. As for the reaction from the NAHJ, I don’t pretend to guess what their motivation is. I would rather Jill Biden had not made the comment, but mistakes happen. My original post that set off this latest mickbicker was a sarcastic response to the conservatives’ hypocritically, gleefully latching onto the comment.
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
I feel like there’s a missing adverbial particle in that last sentence, but I can’t make one sound right.
__________________
"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine