BC POLITICS
Saved by @jay_millerjay

The Republican Party is an authoritarian power structure.

For decades, it embraced greedy nihilists in order to win elections.

In the last 10+ years, a well-funded insurgency has infiltrated and captured it.

They are now threatening & purging any remaining opposition.

 We can’t address the threat they pose to democracy without addressing the methods by which they maintain popular support.

This requires action across multiple fronts.
In terms of public policy, we are working on the right things:

-Bills to eliminate the GOP’s counter-majorian control (voting security, eliminating vote suppression)

-Exposing dark money networks who are funding them (forcing transparency for anonymous shell companies)
-Addressing the immediate socio-economic pain that places people in anxiety-laden debt traps, makes them feel isolated, and makes them ripe targets for disinformation/authoritarian messaging appeals (fighting Covid with a plan, financial relief, genuinely empathetic leadership)
Biden and the Dem Congress are working on all of these things already.

This is moving us in the right direction, and shows that they get what needs to be done here. This is good.

There are three areas that still concern me, that I have been trying to call attention to...
1) Republican capture of the courts.

Many changes that we need to enact may be thwarted by a judicial branch that is controlled by private interests and authoritarian elements.

Example - what happens if they use the courts to enshrine *rights* for anonymous shell companies? https://t.co/qWVm061TQ6
Biden is working on this already as well, with a commission to review options to balance the court.

This may be the solution, and it may be enough.

But it still concerns me, as I am not sure if it is aggressive enough.

IMO, we also need to review impeachable activities.
The FBI background investigation into Kavanaugh was controlled and limited by the White House, and dozens of ethical issues were dropped when he was confirmed.

These need to be investigated, along with Ginni Thomas’ involvement in efforts against the US government.

Impeachable?
Which necessarily leads to the fact that impeachment can’t occur without a 2/3 Senate vote.

The GOP insurgents are emboldened by the power they have now.

If we can expel Senators who had roles in the insurrection (via 14th amendment), this may allow decent GOP to act & vote.
This is not, and cannot be, a witch hunt.

This is about finding the truth, determining whether specific people acted in support of an insurrection against the United States, and enforcing the law and the constitution without fear or favor. Period.

Unsure how likely this is.
As I said, Biden’s commission on rebalancing the courts may prove to be enough to address this.

Even so:

A) We should still hold officials accountable, and

B) We should be working on multiple fronts (plan Bs), and not placing all our eggs in one basket (our opponents don’t).
2) Right wing media

This is a harder issue to tackle, without trampling 1A protections, but we have seen that lawsuits work very well (e.g. Dominion).

We need more of that.

There is also no easy way for public officials to sue media outlets.

Can we do that? I don’t know. https://t.co/zTh8iPaI9B
3) This is the most difficult problem we face: Too many Americans hate and fear each other based on false narratives that have poisoned our politics - and it has crept into our every day lives.

Authoritarian support depends on having enemies.

What is acceptable in our politics? https://t.co/h05ZQgM7QI
Electing Joe Biden was a big part of the antidote to this.

His moderate & unifying approach to politics, while still enacting progressive policies that help working class Americans, completely short circuits right wing fear mongering about ‘evil socialist plots.’

Between that,
and lawsuits that hold media outlets accountable for spreading false/defamatory information (plus exposing their dark funding), we may well be on the way to turning back the tide.

But we have to be helpers here also.

We have to show our friends and neighbors who we are.
In order to do this we have to find a way to stop arguing about facts and details so much, and connect with each other on a human level first.

Some may be too far gone to ever turn back, but you may be surprised.

We need to connect with the elephant before addressing the rider. https://t.co/asioXZFKYT
These are what I see as our major challenges, along with some potential solutions to address them.

It isn’t comprehensive - we also have very real problems like climate change to address - but these seem like our primary log jams and limiting factors (plus campaign finance).
Apologies for the long thread, but I feel that we are at a real inflection point for western democracy, and these are the things that keep me up at night.

I am incredibly happy with the Biden admin’s approach; it shows that they get it.

I am not criticizing; I am pushing. 🇺🇸

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@37paday
1/ Imagine that as soon as the referendum result the EU announced that it was looking forward to the end of free movement of UK citizens in the EU


2/ Imagine if the EU said finally all those retired Brits in the EU27 could go home

3/ Imagine if the EU said finally all those Brits in the EU could stop driving down wages, taking jobs and stop sending benefits back to the UK

4/ Imagine if the EU said it was looking to use UK citizens as “bargaining chips” to get a better trade deal

5/ Imagine if the EU told UK citizens in the EU27 that they could no longer rely on established legal rights and they would have to apply for a new status which they have to pay for for less rights
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1) Looks like Trump KNEW what the coup plotters were plotting on the 6th, so he arrived an hour late to the stage, and talked longer than he intended, before he asked MAGA to walk peacefully down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol.

He also didn't walk WITH them as he promised.
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@BBCkatyaadler
Again, at such a key moment in UK and at such high political levels, evidence of deep misunderstanding of EU: The PM is under pressure in some quarters to delay #Brexit vote to allow her first to “improve” deal in Brussels BUT EU is determined not to budge at this stage

2) All EU leaders watching tomorrow’s vote. Of course they want to avoid a no deal #Brexit BUT they feel the deal - so painfully negotiated between EU and UK - is too fresh to re-open. Clarifications, yes but fundamental renegotiations, no.

3) The EU’s international reputation as a tough deal-maker is at stake here too. If Brussels now suddenly “gives in” to U.K. on EU red lines (eg backstop) then that would weaken the EU’s reputation in future trade negotiations with other non EU countries

4) Also on backstop the EU is unlikely to cave in to favour a relationship with a leaving member state (UK) against the explicit wishes and ignoring the deep concerns of a continuing member: Ireland.

5) Both the EU and the PM signed up to a guarantee to protect the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. If either the U.K. or EU can leave the backstop unilaterally then this clearly is no longer a guarantee.
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Timothy Anderson
Timothy Anderson
@AndersonBooz
1/ A Short Thread About Civility and Calling Politicians Liars.

Nice people are sometimes uncomfortable that I call some politicians "liar". And I don't apologize for it.

But I don't call every politician "liar". Only the ones who deliberately tell provable lies and do so

2/ repeatedly. A lie is different from an accidental misstatement. For example, when @michaelaglasgo lied about her church's carbon tax, it could have been a genuine mistake. But she doubled down by telling other lies. And has since been caught in more.

#cdnpoli #abpoli #ableg

3/ When @KayceeMaduYEG is caught lying, he doesn't do the right thing. He just plows ahead. As if lying doesn't matter.

So which is more uncivil: calling out people who lie a lot OR being in a position of public trust and lying to people in the first place?

4/ I think it's important that once a politician is found to lie repeatedly, like @jkenney , we never forget that anything they say could be a lie. We need to always weigh it. Look for lies of omission.

Civil discourse cannot survive if politicians lie all the time. It can't.

5/ So as rude as it might be, when members of @UCPCaucus tell lies, we should be calling them "liar" every time. As long as they think they're getting away with it, they won't stop. So shame them.

If the politician is a lawyer, report their behaviour to the Law Society.
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Jennifer Cohn \u270d\U0001f3fb \U0001f4e2
Jennifer Cohn ✍🏻 📢...
@jennycohn1
Rs made gains in state legislatures in 2020. Even where manual audits are conducted, they rarely include state races. 😢

“Ds spent big to take control of state legislatures but lost their key targets. Now they’ll be on the sidelines as new maps are drawn”

I reported on the sorry state of election auditing laws in the US in this pre-election piece for @NYRDaily. This must change. #RobustManualAuditsNOW
1/

2/ “Earlier this year, ... Republicans blocked federal legislation, the SAFE Act, which would have required such [manual] audits for most federal races.”

3/ “America’s preeminent election-auditing expert, Philip Stark, a professor of statistics at...UCB, told me a few weeks ago that “only a few jurisdictions currently audit elections in a way that has a good chance of catching and correcting wrong reported outcomes.” @philipbstark

4/ “That requires a trustworthy paper trail—primarily hand-marked paper ballots kept demonstrably secure throughout the election and the audit—and [what is known as] a risk-limiting audit using that paper trail.” #HandMarkedPaperBallots
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Some thoughts on episode 54 of #Hercai

If you ever cross the distance and come to me, come with love that blooms in your heart.
~ Şems-i Tebrizi

#Reyyan #Miran #ReyMir #EbruŞahin #AkınAkınözü
#HercaiThoughts


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I have to make a note before writing about this episode. I was the person (still am) who thinks that bringing back D. was a bad idea. I repeat it that for me the writing of S1 and S2 is like tossed into the bin with that plot evolution, but they had to invent something+
#Hercai

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+ to be able to continue to prolong the general story after Aslan’s story did not work out. All the suffering of M., all the crying seems for “nothing” for two seasons and we viewers are also kind of fed up in seeing him cry all the time when with the upcoming episodes+
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+he is justified the most to cry. With her resurrection now the attention shifts back to Miran’s storyline and I don’t know if I like this to be honest. This said, Dilsha is here and we have to deal with her.
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So, my comments are going to be how I find they wrote her into the story, the details we get to know, the flashbacks we get to see, the way it was filmed and directed, with leaving out if I agree on it or not but describing along the way what I saw.
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To people who are under the impression that you can get rich quickly by working on an app, here are the stats for https://t.co/az8F12pf02

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I have spent 1.5 months on this app. You can make more $ in 2 days.

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1/People I know on the Right tend to be obsessed with the idea of "crimethink", taboos, and the (supposedly) oppressive, omnipresent enforcement of liberal cultural norms.

Why?

My new theory: A lot of it is guilt.

2/It's true that in some circles - the media, universities, many big corporations - liberal norms *are* enforced to some degree, and the enforcement has probably gotten stronger in recent years.

But I don't think this explains all of the Right's obsession.

3/The stereotype is that people on the Right tend to be more threat-sensitive. That would help explain the perception that liberal norm-enforcers are lurking everywhere, ready to pounce and anathematize anyone who makes a misstep.

But I don't think that's all of it either.

4/And of course, it's always fun - whether you're on the Right or the Left, or playing a video game, or whatever - to style yourself as the brave iconoclastic rebel fighting against the oppressive forces of blah blah blah.

But I don't think this is all of it, either.

5/The reason I think it's more than these things is that even *in private*, people on the Right express their "crimethink" ideas very gingerly and hesitantly.

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