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  1. Comment on Pam Bondi ousted as US attorney general in ~society

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    They don’t want to blame Trump for anything directly, they need to protect his status, so they come up with any reason for him not to bear the responsibility of his actions. MAGA-land will see...

    They don’t want to blame Trump for anything directly, they need to protect his status, so they come up with any reason for him not to bear the responsibility of his actions. MAGA-land will see something they don’t like being done by this administration, they will become upset, and then they will inevitably fall back into their ‘Trump must be getting bad information’ coping mechanism. This excuse also conveniently serves their belief that Trump only appoints people based on merit, because him firing everyone holds the appearance to MAGA of an ‘exacting but fair’ father/boss archetype who is willing to give people a chance, but whose standards are destined to be disappointed. It’s nonsense, but plenty of people believe it.

    Also… anecdotally speaking, but one of the defining characteristics of any authoritarian culture is its absurdly episodic nature. The world begins to take on the qualities of sitcom logic: Yes, that tragedy did just happen last episode, but this is a new episode, so act accordingly; we now have villains of the week. Memory becomes fragmented and staggered, to a point. Hijinks ensue. There is nothing further to consider.

    There was an article posted about Trump understanding the dynamics of wrestling very well, and gravitating towards them. It’s around here somewhere, and it’s probably the best read on both Trump and his base supporters. It’s all entertainment.

    And I cannot stress this enough, but: Trump disrupts the status quo enough for any nobody to believe they might become a star. Alex Jones was a precursor to this particular brand of thinking when he introduced the idea that Sandy Hook was a performance put on by crisis actors.

    Honestly, discussing such things always feels hopelessly useless. The people who believe these things need help, big time. And yes, proportionate consequences consistently and directly linked to their idiotic to malicious actions are a form of helping.

    4 votes

  3. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 16 in ~society

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    Tom Homan confirms ICE to be at airports starting Monday

    Tom Homan confirms ICE to be at airports starting Monday

    The partial government shutdown has led to TSA staffing shortages, causing hours-long wait times at some airports around the nation.

    Homan on Sunday said DHS should send agents to locations with the longest wait times.

    “I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine because they’re not trained in that, but there are certain parts of security that TSA is doing that we can move them off those jobs and put them into specialized jobs, help move those lines,” Homan said.

    Agents will also be conducting immigration enforcement while at the airports, something they already do “all the time,” Homan said.

    4 votes

  4. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 16 in ~society

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    Tennessee: GOP lawmakers want to create a statewide list of trans people based on medical information …

    Tennessee: GOP lawmakers want to create a statewide list of trans people based on medical information

    Unlike the Texas and Utah laws, however, H.B. 754 also mandates that healthcare providers “report statistics regarding all gender transition procedures” to the Tennessee Department of Health and for that data to be made available in a “comprehensive annual statistical report” on the department’s website.

    Gender-affirming care providers would have to report the date on which patients received a “transition procedure,” their age and “biological sex,” their state and county of residence, their doctor’s name and contact information, information on neurological, behavioral, or mental health conditions with which they’ve been diagnosed, and information about the specific prescription or procedure they received.

    …

    According to the Department of Health and Human Services, under HIPAA, “individually identifiable health information” includes a patient’s county of residence and the exact dates they were admitted and discharged. But as Vaca notes, HIPAA also includes exceptions when disclosing protected health information is required by state law.

    Under H.B. 754, providers who do not report trans people’s private medical information could have their medical licenses suspended for a minimum of six months, and their employers could be fined up to $150,000.

    Vaca warns that bad actors could potentially identify trans people by the information required in the publicly available “comprehensive annual statistical report.”

    7 votes

  5. Comment on The women leaving the new right in ~society

  9. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 9 in ~society

  11. Comment on What's an obscure book/series that you've read that you would like to recommend? in ~books

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    Thursbitch by Alan Garner I’d never heard of this book or this author before randomly stumbling across this description of it. Needless to say, I was immediately hooked.

    Thursbitch by Alan Garner

    He was pointing at the most desolate, remote, hemmed in by packed contours, bleakest farm of all, far from any track. By it was the word, “Thursbitch”. The elements are Old English þyrs and bæch: “demon”; “valley”. “Thursbitch” is first recorded in 1384, a time when names were descriptive only. This was no Romantic conceit. For the people of those hills in the fourteenth century that valley was frequented by a þyrs: a demon.

    I’d never heard of this book or this author before randomly stumbling across this description of it. Needless to say, I was immediately hooked.

    1 vote