Quo Vadis GOP?

[Valmy]

Yeah I would say a pretty recent thing that one side would say its okay for its supporters to attack the capitol.

It has been a steady escalation. But it wasn't like terrorist type attacks on things like women's health clinics weren't a thing in the past that got rationalize away by the other side.

[Valmy]

Sure. And what does that mean, practically?

I mean I kind of challenge the notion that leftist nuts and extremists aren't also showing up to meetings and also aren't harassing officials. So far as I know they haven't stormed the capital though.

I think playing hardball and recognizing that right wing politicians and officials are just not going to work with us, even if they wanted to, and acting accordingly is very important. Acting like a nut and being violent is not.

[Razgovory]

If we were better at propaganda we could motivate people.

[Valmy]

If we were better at propaganda we could motivate people.

According to them the left has brainwashed the world and controls all media. That's pretty good propaganda.

[Jacob]

If we were better at propaganda we could motivate people.

Work to spread better propaganda?

I find rather than criticizing the propaganda on your side that you think falls short (circular firing squad style), you're better off adding stuff into the mix that you think will help.

Rather than getting mad at the woke left for alienating blue collar workers (or whatever), articulate and propagate arguments for blue collar workers to join your side.

Don't count on the media to help you, the media is in it for the money and right now there's a lot of money going into right wing propaganda and not very much going into anti-fascist propaganda of any sort (including generic centrist propaganda).

[Jacob]

One thing I've taken to doing recently is reaching out to journalists, media organizations, and politicians offering them moral support when they're under pressure.

Yes, it's a miniscule effort - but it's also cheap and easy. And moral support can absolutely matter when you are under attack. And in the US, if you believe low level officials are under attack and under pressure, they could probably use that support also. Where is the GOP machine attacking? Let the people who are being targeted know you're on their side - if you can go there physically, great; if you can support them financially, great (where appropriate, obviously); and where you can let them know directly that you support the, also great.

[jimmy olsen]

Speaking of redistricting, in a 5-4 ruling Supreme's put a hold on a court order to redo the districts in Alabama. A gerrymander so egregious that a three judge panel with two Trump appointees struck it down.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/02/supreme-court-alabama-racial-gerrymander-roberts-kavanaugh.html

[DGuller]

A gerrymander so egregious that even Roberts voted against it.  I wonder whether he would've voted against it if it were 4-4, though?  He definitely strikes me as the type to have his cake and eat it too.

[The Larch]

Georgia lawmakers introduce legislation to prohibit ALL vaccine requirements for children including measles, mumps and chickenpox.

WTF. Do they want to go back to XIXth century rates of child mortality?

[Sheilbh]

A gerrymander so egregious that even Roberts voted against it.  I wonder whether he would've voted against it if it were 4-4, though?  He definitely strikes me as the type to have his cake and eat it too.

Yeah. I think he's enough of an institutionalist to know that it is bad for the Republican judges to be too nakedly political in institutions that aren't meant to be political. The rest do not care (which is why I find the "defend institutions" point a bit weird on Garbon's list because it seems to me that a big part of where we are is the GOP absolutely using every bit of leverage they can through institutions and relying on Democrats deferring/defending to them because they're not meant to be "politicised") - so there is an element of Roberts facing the consequences of his actions given that he voted against the VRA and is now shocked, shocked to see that without those restrictions more and more wild gerrymanders are being proposed.

[garbon]

I see McConnell has turned out against the RNC resolution on Jan 6.

[Valmy]

Georgia lawmakers introduce legislation to prohibit ALL vaccine requirements for children including measles, mumps and chickenpox.

WTF. Do they want to go back to XIXth century rates of child mortality?

The current anarchist propaganda is that all public health requirements are violations of human rights. FREEEEEEDOOOOOOM!

Get your shots before visiting the US.

[DGuller]

When I saw a "Mitt Romney says he 'exchanged texts' with his niece" in my news feed, I have to say that I made a wrong assumption about what the article would be about. 

[Eddie Teach]

Texts, eh?

[Syt]