#conservatives in chaos

[malspinningyarns]

THERE WAS ALMOST A FIGHT ON THE CONGRESS FLOOR!

Rep. Mike Rogers had to be restrained from attacking (who else?) Matt Gaetz during the 14th Vote after Gaetz and McCarthy got into an argument.

Matt Gaetz ended up voting “Present” for the round, which made McCarthy lose by ONE VOTE.

The circus continues!

[plaguedocboi]

Watching reruns of old reality tv shows when I’m bored really proves how ridiculous and manufactured the whole drag queen bans/trans panic is. There was an episode of project runway in 2008 where they styled for drag queens. Rupaul’s drag race has been on since 2009. There was a dance moms episode in 2018 where drag queens taught the class and did the girl’s makeup. They have literally always been around and always been on tv and no one except the most conservative religious fundies cared at all until 3 months ago.

[conservative-asshole]

Sammy and Yaz should not be together, it's All just a ploy by DreamWorks to FUCK with hetero people in the United States, you know what I say? FUCK YOU DreamWorks

[dreamyeyedrose]

listen if we brat summer our way out of fascism I'll fuckin take it

[bunnihearted]

🤧🐀🌧️🌊

[the-punforgiven]

Mutuals I am standing in front of you and swinging my greatsword methodically around you with finely honed technique that deters attackers from approaching either of us

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted against legislation that would protect interracial marriages on Wednesday, despite the fact that he's married to an Asian American woman.

McConnell, who is white, is the husband of former U.S. Secretary for Transportation Elaine Chao, the first woman of Asian heritage to be appointed to a presidential cabinet.

The Kentucky Republican was one of 37 GOP senators who opposed a motion to advance on the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), but the procedural vote succeeded with a bipartisan majority of 62, with one senator not voting.

The Senate is divided, with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, but the vote means that formal debate could take place on the legislation, while the Senate could pass the bill as early as Thursday.

The RFMA passed the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote in July.

Many social-media users criticized McConnell following the vote and pointed to his relationship with Chao, whom he married in 1993.

"Mitch McConnell, a man in an interracial marriage, votes against protecting interracial marriage," tweeted former Democratic congressional candidate Nina Turner.

"My guess is McConnell's opposition has to do with same-sex marriage, not interracial marriage," wrote Brendan Kirby, investigative reporter with Fox10 News.

Newsweek has asked Mitch McConnell's office for comment.

The RFMA would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and would require each state to recognize marriages that are valid in the state where they were performed.

The legislation is intended to protect same-sex and interracial marriages amid concerns that the Supreme Court could potentially overturn landmark rulings such as 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges, which effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Previously, marriage laws differed by state, and ceremonies performed in one state were not necessarily considered valid in other states, particularly in the case of same-sex unions. The Supreme Court found that bans on interracial marriage were unconstitutional in the 1967 case Loving v. Virginia.

Concern about potential future Supreme Court cases comes after the Court overturned landmark abortion precedent in 1973's Roe v. Wade in June 2022, leading many states to impose new restrictions on abortion.

Twelve Republican senators voted in favor of advancing the RFMA, and some spoke in support of the bill, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who addressed the possibility of the Supreme Court overturning Obergefell v. Hodges.

"Regardless of one's views on that possibility, there is still value in ensuring that our federal laws reflect that same-sex and interracial couples have the right to have their marriages recognized, regardless of where they live in this country," Collins said.

McConnell was re-elected as leader of the Senate GOP on Wednesday in a vote behind closed doors, following disappointing midterm results for the party and amid a challenge from Senator Rick Scott of Florida.

"I'm honored that my Republican colleagues have reelected me to lead our outstanding Conference," McConnell tweeted. "Our united team is full of energy and ideas. We're going to fight Democrats' recklessness & promote our commonsense conservative vision to improve families' lives & strengthen America."

[dreamy-conceit]

Chaos is an educational tool.

— Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (social media team), 3 March, 2023

[tomorrowusa]

The UK Conservative Party is on its fourth prime minister since 2019. That's a metric of the volatility and nuttiness which has afflicted it since Brexit and the Brexit aftermath stormed to the forefront of British politics. 

Whatever Conservatism’s objections to the big state, when past Tory politicians encountered something they deemed beyond the pale, their first instinct was often to try to simply legislate it out of the way, however absurd their actions. In the 1980s, the infamous section 28 forbade councils from “promoting” homosexuality, as if the size of the gay community rose and fell according to the level of municipal marketing spend. At around the same time, broadcasting restrictions meant the voices of spokespeople from 11 organisations in Northern Ireland – most notably, Sinn Féin – were banned from TV and radio channels, meaning actors were employed to stand in for them. Note also the Criminal Justice Act of 1994 – which, in its ridiculous pursuit of rave culture, contained specific police powers relating to music “wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”. 

The stupid Tory culture wars of the Thatcher-Major era usually didn’t constantly overflow into other areas of governance. Right now it’s difficult not to get drenched by endlessly unedifying behavior and bizarre proposals from senior officials. But those are simply a reflection of the party’s grassroots who get news from the UK equivalent of Fox News (GB News) and accept conspiracy theories as reality.

There are increasing indications that younger voters are becoming permanently turned off by Tory antics.

They may be on to their fourth prime minister in less than four years, but the grassroots Tories who are habitual watchers of GB News and less-than-secret admirers of Nigel Farage are still awaiting a leader who is one of them. If – when – the government loses the next election, they may well get their chance.

Conservatives have one enduring behavioural tic: they tend to mistake deep and complex social change for leftwing and liberal conspiracy. The truth the Tories now face is that even England’s shires and suburbs are increasingly liberal, and broadly “woke”. Among millennials, the old Tory certainty that people shift rightwards as they get older has no foundation at all: voting figures suggest that today’s 35-year-olds are the least conservative in history, and may well be like that for the rest of their lives. Before Brexit, such Tories as Cameron and George Osborne sensed those changes and talked of modernisation and “liberal Conservatism”; now, some of the loudest voices on the right seem to have decided that this was a dangerous heresy.

A similar sort of bonkers mindset which has afflicted Republicans in the US has settled upon the Conservative Party. Instead of Trumpism, it’s Brexitism.

Where are the ideas for reviving a party that has run out of inspiration, and is shedding voters of all ages? The force that once considered itself the natural party of government is becoming a cult of bitterness, denial and trivia; the most pitiful aspect of the Tories’ predicament is that so few of them show any signs of doing anything about it.

[zevlors-tail]

How to ruin the Thanksgiving tradition of 'going around the table and saying what you're thankful for' 101:

Talk about genshin impact :)

[vanilla-voyeur]

I don't agree with defund the police or ACAB

Or at least I don't agree with the terms. The underlying message is good. The problem with these terms is that they obscure what we really mean in a way that makes us look more unreasonable than we really are.

Take "defund the police". What we really mean is "fund social services". @theabigailthorn made a video on policing in the UK that shows that regardless of whether the police budgets are cut under Austerity or whether police budgets balloon out of proportion like in the US, the outcome is a shitty system so long as funding for social services is low. Without funding to social services, the police wear too many hats. There is no possible way that one single group can handle all the different problems we place on the heads of the police. And that's completely ignoring that they're a white supremacist agent of state violence. Tbh when I first heard about "defund the police" I mistakenly thought that it was supposed to be some sort of punishment for the police being racist. On its surface, that sounds like the wrong approach. I'm pretty confident that that reading is what many conservatives take away when they hear "defund the police".

And then there's "ACAB". What we really mean is that "all cops are complicit" or "good cops don't last". I can't stand when people smugly say that of course ACAB is obviously not literal. If you expect the group that thinks we're all batshit insane and wholly divorced from reality for the most common sense takes to parse the nuance behind the blanket statement then you're batshit insane and wholly divorced from reality.

This is not even a bad optics argument. This is why in the heck are we spreading misinformation about our own dang beliefs that make us sound completely unreasonable.

[nikkisticki]

Since it appears to have made that dipnut angry I just wanna say that Jordan Peterson is in fact a Nazi, or at the very least thinks they are really cool and great (and he's a real expert of them!)

It's pretty easy to prove he's full of shit because he loves to tout the idea that trans identity is some new thing (and also the fault of "Cultural Marxists", I'll give you five seconds to guess what that's a dog whistle for) when the Nazis burned the first trans research clinic in Germany to the ground.

Either Mr. Lobster is aware of this and knows he's lying, or he simply isn't aware and lied about being an expert on Nazis simply to praise them under the guise of a wise centrist.

It's an entertaining game to take anything Peterson claims and then see how long until you find proof he's either wrong or lying (shout out to when he claimed to not defend the patriarchy only to use the words "that's partially why I defend the patriarchy" within a minute of saying it)

[conservative-asshole]

jurassic world chaos theory season 2

Unfortunately IT looks like Yaz and Sammy are ok this time, UGH.

Can the California writers room just KTS

[bumblebeeappletree]

‘It's almost like you're putting a stake in the ground’ — Here’s what The Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist, Katharine Hayhoe had to say when asked about having children and fighting for climate action

This video was created in collaboration with Nature's Newsroom.

#Earth #Environment #ClimateCrisis #NowThis

[banannabethchase]

Somebody explain to me why I pounded a medium cold brew in 20 minutes on an empty stomach right before boarding a 4 hour flight.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“‘Capitalist Kings’ Doomed C.C.F. Speaker Tells House,” Toronto Star. February 4, 1933. Page 3. --- Man Jailed in Toronto Police Court Because They Can't Get Jobs, Is Charge --- LIVELY DEBATE ---- Ottawa, Feb. 3 - Capitalism, for the second successive day, was subject to a barrage of criticism in the House of Commons yesterday from the fiery little group in the "southeast corner” as debate on J. S. Woodsworth's motion, calling for the immediate setting up in Canada of a co-operative commonwealth was resumed. 

It was remarked upon in both lobbies that, while a motion of similar purport has been introduced at least twice before by Mr. Woods- worth, and had resulted in an academic discussion only, with both major parties holding apathetically off, an this occasion they had "taken their coats off" and stepped into the fray. 

Col. G. R. Geary, J. R. MacNicol and Earl Lawson, Toronto Conservatives, rose to the defence of the present system, which, they said, offered advantages far superior to those of the "communistic state." which, they charged, the C.C.F. favored. 

That the ultimate abolition of the present system was inevitable. was the keynote of an earnest address by E. J. Garland (C.C.F., Bow River), who quoted history to show no econemic system not founded on social justice could last.

And as an example of the social injustice existing under this system. he described a morning spent in a Toronto police court. 

Out of Works Jailed "A steady stream of men, fine men, between the ages of 18 and 40, filed before the magistrate, charged with vagrancy. They were asked if they had jobs. No, they replied. 'We plead guilty to vagrancy. We've tried to get work, and cannot. And to each of these the magistrate said, Very well. Three months." 

"Imagine," said Mr. Garland, "the social injustice of this. The magistrate was sympathetic. He was as much a victim of the system as the prisoners before him. Three months. What for?" and the speaker's words rang out through the chamber. "For the solitary crime of not being able to get a job under a system which makes it next to impossible for them to get one. Do you call this a Christian society? Do you call this a human society?" 

Earl Lawson (Cons., W. York) appeared unconvinced. He wanted to know the date of Mr. Garland's experience in police court. "I don't have to give you a date. Go into any police court in Canada, and you will find the same thing," replied Mr. Garland, while government benches laughed. 

The financial emperors, and capitalistic kings of to-day were doomed, just as surely as the despotic kings and emperors of history were doomed, predicted Mr. Garland. 

He threw a challenge at the government, to "get up and tell us what solution they can offer to these conditions, conditions in which man has. not even the right to work, and is. kicked out of his job whenever the profits show his services can no longer be utilized. No. This system is definitely done. It has definitely come to its miserable conclusion.”

Conservatives Laugh Gloomy as was the future of the present system as pictured by Mr. Garland, its defenders as represented in the government benches, found it amusing, and laughter greeted Mr. Garland's dramatically delivered conclusion.

John R. MacNicol brought Mr. Garland to his feet again by charging he had refused to give the date of his visit to a Toronto police court. Mr. Garland promised to furnish the date of his visit, and the name of the magistrate presiding. 

The claims of the C.C.F. were pure socialism, Mr. MacNicol went on. He attacked the attitude, which he said, the C.C.F. group took, that "if we do not take it in an orderly manner, we will have it jammed down throats, in a mighty upheaval."

Long after Earl Lawson. (Cons. York W.) had concluded his ringing defence of capitalism, the cheers of his confreres in the Conservative lobby were heard in the House. Mr. Lawson parried words with Mr. Woodsworth, whom he had accused of "extolling the conditions existing In Russia." 

"The hon. member is twisting my words. I have never extolled Russia in the wholesale manner with which he accuses me," cried Woodsworth, shouting his words to overcome the uproar which his interruption stirred from government benches. Despite cries of "sit down." Mr. Woodsworth stuck to his point. He was out of order, ruled Speaker Black, and could not "make a speech now

Bourassa Scores System  In a fiery address, delivered with all the gesture and vehemence which has made him famous as an orator, Henri Bourassa (Ind.. Labelle) slashed the injustices and malpractices of the present system. yet told the House he intended to vote against Mr. Woodsworth's resolution.

This was because, instead of urging all classes of people to co-operate righting the wrongs of to-day by a gradual process, it attempted by at revolutionary change in the very constitution of the country to effect these badly needed changes. 

"In the name of all that is true and legitimate in private initiative and private property, which is now being expropriated as fast as it can created in Russia: in the name of ali that is best in our past traditions, Canadian, British, or French, I seriously call upon the members of the various parties in this House to forget for a moment their party differences, and do all they can, not to counteract every new idea that is presented as being a form of bolshevism. but to listen attentively and sympathetically to every suggestion which is made, prepared to accept what we think right. 

“Do not let us endeavor to crush the growing feelings and aspirations of a suffering people by telling them that what was good enough for their fathers is good enough for them. Do not let us tell them this is a passing crisis, and that things will adjust themselves. We have deceived them. too long.”

Gordon Wilson (Cons., Wentworth), the oldest member in point of service in the House "by the grace of providence, and the use of sweet cider." thought Canadians should do as their ancestors had done in times of stress: “tighten up their belts and take to the woods." 

Chides Miss Macphail He waxed witty at the expense of Miss Agnes Macphail, whom he dubbed Oil Queen of the West" and whom he claimed "had left the ranks of anti-capitalists and invested in oil.”

Proof, he thought, of the capitalistic tendencies of the only woman in parliament was the fact that, after she had addressed the Rockton Women's Institute recently, that body had received that bill for covering Miss Macphail's expenses.

He read from a dispatch which. he said the Toronto Daily Star had sent to all their correspondents, instructing them to interview their local member on the Russian barter proposal.

‘I told The Star's correspondent that I did not wish to make a statement until the government had had time to examine the feasibility of the proposal. My statement appeared in The Star," he said.

Col. G. R. Geary said that like other members, he had watched with considerable interest the formation of the C.C.F. 

"I expected this would furnish us with details of the planned economy we are hearing so much about," said the member for Toronto South. "But so far I have been disappointed. We have heard little but a diatribe against capitalism." 

Col. Geary asserted the new movement looked toward the capitalization of unrest, whether conscious or not. He declared that the small vote received by Norman Thomas in the last presidential election showed how little support there was in the United States for this sort of thing.

Against Speculators "The member for Bow River made. an attack on capitalism. I think I could agree with him that we should clip the wings and destroy the power of those who manipulate the stock market and otherwise take unfair advantage of the producer and worker," he added. 

Something could be said both for and against a central bank, the speaker continued. It would be expensive and, so far as the members. of the C.C.F. were concerned, they would still be in the hands of the bankers. 

A blunt challenge to the two "old parties" to state one concrete proposal for bettering present conditions was thrown by William Irvine, (C.C.F., Wetaskiwin).. 

The C.C.F., on the other hand, offered something tangible, he claimed. 

The C.C.F., he said, "guarantee to every Canadian economic independence." 

"Too utterly vague," was the way A. W. Neil, quiet-spoken Independent from Alberni, B.C., summed up the aims of the C. C. F. While much of their program was very desirable, he felt called upon "reluctantly to vote against them." 

Brings in Libel Case Grave charges that political pressure had been brought to bear in connection with the case of James Harpell, recently convicted of libel in printing accusations against the Sun Life Insurance Co. of Montreal, were made by Henri Bourassa seeking to show that all large enterprises in Canada were "built upon fraudulent processes or watered stock." 

One example, he said, was the lumber industry, which had suffered. from the "brigandage of a handful of the most unscrupulous financiers. in Canada." 

"Another example." he continued, "is the operation of the Sun Life Insurance Co. There has been sensational trial of a man in Montreal who. I think, wrote foolish. articles. Not that what he wrote was untrue, but he wrote in a very foolish tone. But the manner in which that trial was conducted is a striking picture of the spirit that prevails. He had engaged 'good lawyers to defend him. Those lawyers made to understand if they took up his case they were done for as far as the favor of the Quebec government is concerned, the head of which is a director in the concern. 

"They quit the case.. The case was shifted from one court to another till it reached the judge who I do not wish to be disparaging. I think he is a very nice man-before he became a judge had all his life. been a corporation lawyer, connected. with the organization of some of the most shameful enterprises of this. country." 

He had studied a report of this company, he said, a report which I had been "thrown out" through the efforts of Hon. Mr. Robb and G. D.. Finlayson. This report, on its face. showed a diminution of $6.000.000 in their assets. Yet they increased the dividends to their shareholders from 5 to 75 per cent, in one year, with the result that the shares, originally $100, were quoted at some $3,000 to $4,000.”