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From the linked articlequote:“All phases of the White House Medical Unit’s pharmacy operations had severe and systemic problems,” the inspectors found. It stocked four opioid pain medications: fentanyl, hydrocodone, morphine and oxycodone. But the pharmacy protocols were so poor that they “increased the risk for the diversion of controlled substances” to illicit use. quote:Aliases were used “to provide free specialty care and surgery to ineligible White House staff members at military medical treatment facilities,” according to the report. Former staffers told the inspectors that an ineligible White House employee received free elective surgery and that “the unit altered practices to cater to high‑ranking officials.” Getting elective surgery at Walter Reed as a flex
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Jan 26, 2024 20:38
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Main Paineframe posted:I'm not talking about chances, I'm talking about results. If Cuellar was killing voter enthusiasm, then we wouldn't expect him to keep winning elections in the face of major primary challenges. Why would you think that someone who's held a district for 20 years is "exactly the kind of person who is going to suffer from lack of voter enthusiasm"? Winning reelection every two years since before Obama was elected, despite the fact that Texas transitioned from a purple state to a blood-red state around the time he was elected, and despite the fact that he's faced several strong primary challenges in his time there, strongly suggests that he's not massively unpopular or driving off voters. Cuellar's margin of victory has gotten slimmer over the years. He used to win with 65+% of the vote, the last two elections that hasn't been the case. The last 3 elections he ran vs a republican he won with 66.2, 58.3, and 56.6% of the vote. The 2022 election had a 22k vote difference. The 28th district has a population of roughly 770k. The last 3 elections there the total # of votes was 139k, 235k, 165k. What in the gently caress else explains less than half of the population voting, other than lack of enthusiasm (and some voter suppression I'm sure)? Thats why I think he has, and will again suffer from lack of voter enthusiasm, in an election year where having an ANTI-ABORTION candidate is shooting yourself in the loving foot. What is your response to your claim of Cuellar being in a purple district? Or do drop that claim? What value does Cuellar bring to the Democratic party, that Cisneros could not have also provided? Do you have evidence that Cisneros would have lost in a district that has been blue since 2004? Main Paineframe posted:Incidentally, if I had to name one thing that I am incredibly tired of in political discussions, it's people smugly proclaiming that the people and policies who've been consistently winning elections for decades straight are actually super unpopular with voters and should voluntarily resign in favor of the people and policies that have been consistently losing elections. It's nonsensical wishful thinking that does nothing but suck oxygen out of the room away from the people who are actually trying to grapple with the rather serious and important problem of "why are voters supporting the people I think they shouldn't support". When real-life results don't follow people's hypotheses, it doesn't make a ton of sense to respond by ignoring observable reality and continuing to stick to the theories. Main Paineframe posted:We're talking about blackmail here, so I'm not sure why it's super relevant that Sinema spends more on travel than her neighbors do. I don't think "she likes to fly first-class and get nice hotels" is a likely blackmail angle. You're suddenly talking about politicians being "captured by industry", and it doesn't really make any sense in the context of this conversation unless you're suggesting that Democrats should try to flip Mitch's vote by promising to donate to his campaigns. I'm not suddenly talking about being 'captured by industry'. They use bribes. All of lobbying is bribery, getting those six-figure jobs after you're out of office is bribery. Bribes are one of the several things I listed out at the beginning of this discussion that I believe could twist the arms of politicians to vote one way over another. Because it literally is taking place in our government to this day. To deny that is to deny reality. Main Paineframe posted:You suggest that the GOP has already secretly compromised a bunch of Democrats and we just don't know it because it's so easy to hide...and at the same time, you complain that we don't see Dems compromising conservatives? The contradiction here should be pretty obvious - if it's so easy to hide "playing hardball", then how can you tell who is and isn't playing hardball? This is, incidentally, a good example of why I'm such a big advocate of relying on facts and evidence whenever possible. Sure, sometimes we won't have complete facts about something, and sometimes evidence of stuff won't come out...but if we use that as an excuse to speculate about stuff in the absence of evidence, it rapidly becomes a world of fantasy where everyone's just making up narratives that fit their prior assumptions. It's important to have evidence to ground the discussion so it doesn't completely abandon the confines of the real world and go spiraling off into the realm of fiction. Wow, you've now started putting words in my mouth, and using hyperbolic phrases. Please quote me where I suggested "the GOP has already secretly compromised a bunch of Democrats and we just don't know it because it's so easy to hide" I think someone else talked about hiding blackmailing attempts being the obvious thing to do, but that wasn't me. I mentioned Bob Menendez because you said you didn't believe dems were as vulnerable to blackmail. Well he certainly was! He had literal god bars found in his home! That's SO blatantly corrupt! He's been compromised, and if the GOP had found out they would have used it, without a doubt in my mind. To your final point that its important to rely on facts and evidence.... I would very much like to agree with you, but reality doesn't really jive with that either. For facts and evidence to matter, everyone involved in the political process has to be acting on good faith. Our political system has less and less of a healthy relationship with truth and good faith participation. Our media environment heavily exacerbates this. We invaded Iraq on 'facts and evidence' that didn't exist, and was made up. Al Franken was forced to resign by a ginned up GOP hackjob. Literally all of Trumps fiction-filled presidency. The three SCJ appointed by Trump who all lied that 'roe was settled law'. The covid-19 mask debates! I could go on and on with examples where facts and evidence were NOT the deciding factor in how our political decisions are made, and there were no real consequences for those who made the decisions, nor consequences enough for bad faith actors to stay out of politics. And if it turns out that facts and evidence aren't the determining factor, that something else is... what is it? Is it money? Power? Perhaps the will to do what is deemed necessary when others won't? I would like to live in a world where fact and evidence ARE what matters. Where there are consequences for people in power that is more than a drop in the bucket for their bank accounts. I'm afraid we can't get to that world without using additional tools alongside facts and evidence.
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Jan 26, 2024 20:39
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zoux posted:From the linked article tbf elective surgery seems to cover a wide range of important things, not just chad jaw surgery (which is only one of many important things)
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Jan 26, 2024 20:42
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zoux posted:Getting elective surgery at Walter Reed as a flex And we know Trump didn’t fix his nussy cause it’s still there. Then again, I’m pretty sure Austin was at WR and didn’t have to use a pseudonym so whatever happened was probably shady.
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Jan 26, 2024 20:44
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Right, but the source literally says they were doing it as a flex. One staffer said “we bent the rules to meet this very weird, strange culture that was there, and I think it was really to just impress people.”
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Jan 26, 2024 20:49
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zoux posted:Right, but the source literally says they were doing it as a flex. There is absolutely a weird culture among patients of a certain level of wealth and of a certain generation that really think it's impressive to have a concierge doctor who will write them ketamine infusions or will always throw them a 2 week course of ativan. They're the same people that always brag about having the "best" shoulder guy or whatever.
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Jan 26, 2024 20:54
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1OqQCOuFFI Quick question: If you're comparing Biden to Eisenhower, and Texas to Gov. Faubus's Arkansas, and saying Eisenhower was wrong and this would be bad... what are you on the affirmative side of?
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Jan 26, 2024 21:06
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zoux posted:Right, but the source literally says they were doing it as a flex. Not sure I understand the flex at getting an elective procedure at the rat and mold medical center
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Jan 26, 2024 21:10
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https://twitter.com/yasmineelsabawi/status/1750948752972464181 https://twitter.com/ahammoudmi/status/1750961951184662792 https://www.detroitnews.com/story/n...as/72365494007/ quote:The organizer of a planned meeting between President Joe Biden's campaign manager and a group of Arab and Muslim American leaders in Dearborn said it was canceled after some in the wider community objected to the gathering amid fury over Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Yeah I don’t think organizing a meet between Biden’s campaign manager and those who are affected by the war would go over well with people.
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Jan 26, 2024 21:27
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If only that same outrage was directed at the Arab states who have left the people of Gaza to their fate for decades. Unless they do that too, it’s manufactured outrage just like always. To that point, I also don’t think you can so broadly state these are the same people affected by the war.
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Jan 26, 2024 21:30
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Arab states that have left the people of Gaza to their fate for decades are, notably, not trying to get Arab-Americans to vote for them
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Jan 26, 2024 21:38
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They are also not actively assisting the IDF in a military operation against their relatives
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Jan 26, 2024 21:40
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Interesting theory of politics, to refuse face-to-face meetings with high ranking officials and telling them in January that you've already lost their vote.
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Jan 26, 2024 21:41
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zoux posted:Interesting theory of politics, to refuse face-to-face meetings with high ranking officials and telling them in January that you've already lost their vote. Oh yeah, I'm sure talking to Biden's campaign manager would surely get things done. Fact is, if the meeting had occurred, no one would have known or cared and nothing would have changed. Instead it's now a story in a few news sites and we're talking about it here. Also, they were pretty clear on their requirements before they'll consider meeting with the Biden lackeys: "Until there's a cease-fire, the overall consensus in the community is they're not welcome here, essentially."
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Jan 26, 2024 21:46
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zoux posted:Interesting theory of politics, to refuse face-to-face meetings with high ranking officials and telling them in January that you've already lost their vote.
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Jan 26, 2024 21:46
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Michigan's primary should be interesting to review. It's in February right?
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Jan 26, 2024 21:47
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FlamingLiberal posted:If a politician was either directly or indirectly responsible for the death of your family member, would you still vote for them or have any interest in talking to their campaign? Because this is a reality for many Arab-American families in Michigan. Just saying there’s no upside. Either Trump wins and starts deporting you and your family or Biden wins knowing he doesn’t need your constituency.
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Jan 26, 2024 21:50
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RBA Starblade posted:Michigan's primary should be interesting to review. It's in February right?
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Jan 26, 2024 21:53
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koolkal posted:Oh yeah, I'm sure talking to Biden's campaign manager would surely get things done. To be fair, Biden's campaign manager does have access to the President. This isn't some low level kid, it is someone who has the ear of the President. That being said, refuse the first meeting in hopes of getting a higher level meeting isn't a bad strategy either.
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Jan 26, 2024 21:54
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zoux posted:Interesting theory of politics, to refuse face-to-face meetings with high ranking officials and telling them in January that you've already lost their vote. "win us back by doing this, or we will not meet with you" seems like a valid strategy tbh. Why would you meet them in the first place when you can just go "You move first and we can let you know we aren't moving first". Plus, I do have to laugh at "why are white men getting more conservative and why is this happening everywhere?" It's because various wealthy groups inside the USA and other powers want to work to make areas more conservative. Most of teh UK stuff is coming from think tanks backed by either Russian Oligarch money or American Billionaire money. Plus the home grown dicks we also have had in effective power since the mid 90's. Josef bugman fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jan 26, 2024 |
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Jan 26, 2024 21:55
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Josef bugman posted:"win us back by doing this, or we will not meet with you" seems like a valid strategy tbh. Why would you meet them in the first place when you can just go "You move first and we can let you know we aren't moving first". That's not what was said. "We walked into the offices of the Arab-American News in Dearborn, Michigan just moments after Biden’s campaign manager walked out. She was told the president is not just unwelcome here ahead of the election— but that he can basically forget about votes from the Arab-American bloc" If he can forget about those votes why would he risk losing pro-Israeli votes that he now needs even more?
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Jan 26, 2024 21:58
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zoux posted:Just saying there’s no upside. Either Trump wins and starts deporting you and your family or Biden wins knowing he doesn’t need your constituency. FYI, the mayor of Dearborn addressed this very argument when Genocide Joe himself last made it: https://twitter.com/AHammoudMI/status/1748769890696089948
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Jan 26, 2024 22:02
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zoux posted:That's not what was said. He won't forget about those votes because your quote was a paraphrase from a reporter at most, and can be revised with little loss of face if the material situation changes.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:02
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zoux posted:That's not what was said. The quotes from actual members of the community seem to be "ceasefire first, then we can talk" which is sound strategy if you are going from a maximalist PoV.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:12
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zoux posted:That's not what was said. Sounds like you should read the article instead of reading a tweet.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:18
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Dull Fork posted:No, you claimed my argument was "It looks like you're saying that the best thing the Dems can do to win voters' favor is to start purging candidates who consistently win elections in tough purple seats." Then took my Cuellar example and ran with it. When the point of the Cuellar example was to point out that the Democratic establishment is loving up, supporting an anti-abortion candidate (in an election year where that is going to be issue #1 for a massive amount of voters), in a longtime blue district (not purple), who had weakening margins of victory (Also only won his most recent primary by 290ish votes). And you didn't respond to me about if the tough purple seats comment was only about manchin and sinema, so I can only assume you are including Cuellar in it. I'm talking about tough purple seats because the absolute number one limiting factor on how much pressure anyone can put on Manchin is the fact that no other Democrat can win the seat. What explains less than half of the district's total population voting? Lots of things! The turnout for presidential elections is usually 50-55% of the voting-age population; of course, 2022 was a midterm election, and midterms are known to typically have significantly lower turnout than general elections. But let's not stop there. Let's get more specific. So TX-28 in 2022 saw about 165k votes cast in the general. Is that particularly low for a Texas district won by a Democrat in 2022? Let's check it against the number of votes cast in the general elections in the other Dem-won or Dem-held districts that year in that state:
What value does Cuellar bring to the Democratic party that Cisneros could not have provided? Well, apparently he's better at getting votes than she is. Do I have evidence that she would have lost? She did lose. If she can't beat Cuellar then there's no point in speculating about her hypothetical performance against Republicans. If she's so much better at mobilizing voter enthusiasm than Cuellar is, then she should be able to get up there and prove it herself by handily beating Cuellar. If you're saying that Manchin should be offered big campaign donations and cushy corporate jobs to "bribe" him into swaying his vote, then we've gotten pretty far off track. Why? Because it doesn't make any sense at all to get mad at Joe Biden or Chuck Schumer for not offering board seats or big donation promises to Manchin. Those aren't things that Democratic leadership can offer, they're things that outside rich people can offer. All those Democratic billionaires out there don't need Biden's permission to offer things to Manchin, and he certainly doesn't have the power to order them to do it. If we're on the subject of what Democratic leadership should do, then this is just a side derail. You said "Why would the GOP reveal that a significant portion of democrats are just as captured by industry as they are?". I guess "a bunch" isn't exactly the same as "a significant portion of", but it's close enough that you can't really accuse me of putting words in your mouth. Voters don't always rely on facts and evidence, yes. But we have to rely on facts and evidence when talking about what voters do. We can't just keep insisting that leftism is a guaranteed political winner that'll drive massive voter enthusiasm, because leftists have gotten chances to prove that several times and the results have not come anywhere close to living up to the hype. We no longer have the time to sit here in denial and make excuses. If we want progressive policies, we have to start figuring out how to win people over to progressivism. If we can't do that, then we're just going to have to tolerate some centrism, because the centrists appear to be the only ones capable of holding off the fascists.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:18
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Al Franken was accused by eight separate women of a pattern of unwelcome touching and kissing. That’s not a right wing hack job, that’s a dude with a loving problem respecting boundaries.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:31
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Also there was literal video of him pretending to grope a woman while she was asleep
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Jan 26, 2024 22:40
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https://x.com/eorden/status/1750997240376668374?s=46&t=A_iY-gupVf13dcIJPetZhQ Huge amount of money awarded by the jury in the Trump defamation case.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:43
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Misunderstood posted:Yeah, if you look at it in that context it can kind of turn the question on its head. After all, >40% of women vote for Republicans and >40% of men vote for Democrats. And even in Gen Z it still looks like you have no less than 30% on one side or the other. 
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Jan 26, 2024 22:50
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FlamingLiberal posted:That’s going to be a pretty poor judge of anything. We won’t really know the impact until November. I think the primary will be better evidence for this than the general election. Gaza is likely to be more salient in February than November, the Democratic primary electorate is more pro Palestine than the general election, and Trump isn't running so there's no danger to protest voting or sitting it out.
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Jan 26, 2024 22:53
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B B posted:FYI, the mayor of Dearborn addressed this very argument when Genocide Joe himself last made it: I feel like point number two is missing the point of Trump's Muslim ban. Trump's ban didn't give a poo poo about what religion you practiced. He cared about where you came from. So it didn't matter if you, as an Arab-American, practiced Christianity or Islam. As far as he was concerned, if you came from an Arab country, you were not welcome here. Why does it seem like people are sugar-coating the horrible poo poo Trump did while he was president?
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Jan 26, 2024 22:54
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volts5000 posted:I feel like point number two is missing the point of Trump's Muslim ban. Trump's ban didn't give a poo poo about what religion you practiced. He cared about where you came from. So it didn't matter if you, as an Arab-American, practiced Christianity or Islam. As far as he was concerned, if you came from an Arab country, you were not welcome here. Why does it seem like people are sugar-coating the horrible poo poo Trump did while he was president? Because Biden reduced it to them being Muslims and dismissing their concerns about their family being murdered. People tend to get angry at the person doing that
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Jan 26, 2024 23:05
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If you're using the threat of withholding your votes to try to get something you want, you need that threat to be believable, so of course they're not going to go "oh yeah trump is so bad that we obviously have to vote for you anyway, president biden."
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Jan 26, 2024 23:09
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volts5000 posted:I feel like point number two is missing the point of Trump's Muslim ban. Trump's ban didn't give a poo poo about what religion you practiced. He cared about where you came from. So it didn't matter if you, as an Arab-American, practiced Christianity or Islam. As far as he was concerned, if you came from an Arab country, you were not welcome here. Why does it seem like people are sugar-coating the horrible poo poo Trump did while he was president? I feel that's caused by a couple factors coming together; Biden being spectacularly bad at dealing with Gaza, people memory-holing what happened during Trump's term, and the effect of billions of dollars fueling the right-wing disinfo sphere and then that leaking out everywhere. I've had to remind multiple left-leaning people that Trump would be objectively worse for dealing with the Gaza crisis. He's the one that decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which shows his hand fully on how he feels about Palestinian statehood. And his itchy trigger finger towards Iran should say everything we need to know about how he "negotiates" with anyone else opposed to US interests in the region. Both parties are to blame for this situation, and the Dems being the one "in power" right now it makes sense people would focus more ire towards them. But yes, Trump-the-dove syndrome is definitely real outside chud-space and it should be shot down wherever it appears.
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Jan 26, 2024 23:17
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Trump is bad but as long as Biden continues supporting what Israel is doing to Palestine so heavily, the gap between the 2 is smaller than it is for most Democrats. The calculus is essentially that non-Arab Democrats have a lot more to lose with a Trump win. It's a threat. A lot of people ITT seem to miss that this is a threat while they post nonsense like "ohoho Trump shall be much worse for you  "
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Jan 26, 2024 23:20
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g0del posted:Dilbert guy has the answer - women just want to be around more sperm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OubHHtNM94s
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Jan 26, 2024 23:41
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g0del posted:Dilbert guy has the answer - women just want to be around more sperm. If women want to be around more sperm then why is Adams against trans women using their correct bathrooms?
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Jan 26, 2024 23:46
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FlamingLiberal posted:They are also not actively assisting the IDF in a military operation against their relatives No just leaving their ‘relatives’ to die on the street. I fully understand the anger at the US. I just haven’t seen this anger directed at neighbouring states, even before October 7.
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Jan 26, 2024 23:49
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rkd_ posted:No just leaving their ‘relatives’ to die on the street. I'm very confused about what kind of pressure you think that some local reporters, a mayor, or some residents in Dearborn, Michigan can put on neighboring states in the middle east. Why did you put "relatives" in scare quotes?
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Jan 26, 2024 23:57
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