Octopus Overlords

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has suspended Jeremy Corbyn from the party over his reaction to a highly critical report on anti-Semitism.

The human rights watchdog found Labour responsible for "unlawful" harassment and discrimination during Mr Corbyn's years in charge of the party.

The investigation found evidence of 23 instances of "inappropriate involvement" by Mr Corbyn's office, included staff influencing decisions on suspensions or whether to investigate a claim.

Two right-wing fraudsters charged in an alleged robocall scheme to spread misinformation in order to intimidate Black voters in Detroit and other cities were ordered Wednesday to call back the victims and admit the messages were false and illegal.

Calling the voter-suppression scheme “electoral terror” that harks back to the days of the Ku Klux Klan, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero ordered Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to make the follow-up calls by 5 p.m. on Thursday or face contempt of court charges.
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Marrero ordered the duo “to issue a message to all recipients of the robocalls informing them about this Court’s finding that Defendants’ original message contained false statements that have had the effect of intimidating voters, and thus interfering with the upcoming presidential election, in violation of federal voting-rights laws.”

Marrero also prohibited the duo from making any more robocalls or sending text messages intended to disenfranchise voters.

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:50 pm MI

Two right-wing fraudsters charged in an alleged robocall scheme to spread misinformation in order to intimidate Black voters in Detroit and other cities were ordered Wednesday to call back the victims and admit the messages were false and illegal.

Calling the voter-suppression scheme “electoral terror” that harks back to the days of the Ku Klux Klan, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero ordered Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to make the follow-up calls by 5 p.m. on Thursday or face contempt of court charges.
...
Marrero ordered the duo “to issue a message to all recipients of the robocalls informing them about this Court’s finding that Defendants’ original message contained false statements that have had the effect of intimidating voters, and thus interfering with the upcoming presidential election, in violation of federal voting-rights laws.”

Marrero also prohibited the duo from making any more robocalls or sending text messages intended to disenfranchise voters.

In the event Defendants fail to do so, the Court will hold a hearing on Friday, October 30, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. to review the status of Defendants’ compliance with this Order and give Defendants an opportunity to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for any noncompliance the Court finds.

• Is an ideal that may look better on paper than it does in practice, like Communism. Once you get people involved, they corrupt the concept beyond redemption. Ex: It sounds great to just let businesses regulate themselves, but if you do they throw all ethics out the window in pursuit of profits. See also: Rainforests, Flint Michigan, Wells Fargo, etc.
• Is a concept that has changed drastically in the last 40 years. The Conservatives of 1980 are very different people from the Conservatives of 2020. It doesn't seem like there's any room left to actually have civil debates since we're no longer arguing policy with them, but rather seem to have shifted to personal and religious values and policy is a veneer.
• No longer fits in a world where regulations are needed to save humanity from itself. It's going to take real change at the top levels to push society towards a more sustainable model - change no one is doing willingly - and even then we're probably too late.
• Can fall apart when someone stops and does a deep dive on their core issues that keep them there. Ex: Elizabeth Warren's shift from Republican to Democrat once she delved into the bankruptcy issues she blamed people for abusing, coming back up to realize instead that companies were preying on people and driving them to it by rigging the systems. My wife's father had his own shift years ago, moving from Conservative to Independent.
• Has become the default party for intolerant and/or ignorant (Deplorable) people. This wasn't always the case, but that "base" has cemented itself there and has no where else to go - and the people who want to call themselves Conservative but aren't intolerant/ignorant aren't in great enough numbers to form their own effective party.

Paingod wrote:I welcome the thoughts and corrections of anyone who has a better understanding of what it means to be a real Conservative in today's world.

YellowKing wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:27 amHowever, in everything else I believed anyone - given the right work ethic - would achieve equal success. And why should the wealthy be punished? They earned their money. If you're not a millionaire, then it's because you haven't worked hard enough at it.

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:50 pm MI

Two right-wing fraudsters charged in an alleged robocall scheme to spread misinformation in order to intimidate Black voters in Detroit and other cities were ordered Wednesday to call back the victims and admit the messages were false and illegal.

Calling the voter-suppression scheme “electoral terror” that harks back to the days of the Ku Klux Klan, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero ordered Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to make the follow-up calls by 5 p.m. on Thursday or face contempt of court charges.
...
Marrero ordered the duo “to issue a message to all recipients of the robocalls informing them about this Court’s finding that Defendants’ original message contained false statements that have had the effect of intimidating voters, and thus interfering with the upcoming presidential election, in violation of federal voting-rights laws.”

Marrero also prohibited the duo from making any more robocalls or sending text messages intended to disenfranchise voters.

YellowKing wrote:I think the compassion and empathy is what's missing from the modern conservative party.

Smoove_B wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 11:10 am I can only imagine the insanity he's going to declare when (!!) he's a lame duck.

stessier wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 2:11 pm I really expected that to fail a fact check,. Wow.

Little Raven wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:10 pm You can't fight extremism with extremism.

A relatively short essay, well worth a read. This is something we're going to have to confront if Tuesday goes I expect. (Trump & co. get pasted)

They also become more extreme, he said, when they feel their political opponents are not just wrong, but evil—“almost the devil.”

RunningMn9 wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:06 pm

YellowKing wrote:I think the compassion and empathy is what's missing from the modern conservative party.

I think conservatives would vociferously object to that.

Within their sphere of caring, then can be incredibly compassionate, generous and empathetic.

Smoove_B wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 5:32 pm Right because it turns into "well if they didn't want to lose those kids, they shouldn't have come here illegally" or "if they weren't looting and throwing cans of soup during the protest, they wouldn't be getting gassed and beaten by the police" or "if they just didn't have sex before marriage, they wouldn't need to abort babies". It's endless. There's no empathy because there's a justification for everything.

RunningMn9 wrote: Sat Oct 31, 2020 5:27 pm YOU don’t think it’s hard to have empathy for things you don’t experience. They simply don’t have it. It doesn’t effect them in any way, which allows them to whatabout it and think that it’s not that big a deal.