The Politics Thread

[Vee]

This is not cute.

 

 

[Khan]

The only thing Dale Peck and I agree on is how weird it is that Buttigieg married the first guy he dated.  (Like, really?  The very first guy, Pete?)

[DRW50]

This piece is a great example of why so many gay men hate themselves, feel isolated, and end up losing everything to drugs and body mutilation. It's not because they came out at a late age and didn't get to "grow up," it's because they feel even more rejected in a community that was supposed to understand them than they did with the friends and family they left behind. 

 

If you read those lines you'll see that his viciousness is not about Pete Buttigieg (who is, to me, a vanity candidate and more than deserving of criticism on his record and vacuousness - things that this piece barely seems to cover), but about any gay man who did not have the appropriate experience of debauchery. If you haven't been tricking and haven't been exploited by older men then you're dangerous, you're unreliable, you're inferior to straight men. 

 

I'm reminded of that Queer as Folk episode from the first season where they made a production of having wooden twink Justin at the mall with his mother, luring older men into the toilets as she stood outside the bathroom and looked on in bewilderment. The material represented the winking to two worlds that a piece like this represents - straight viewers were supposed to be horrified, while gay men were supposed to understand and enjoy that this was the true, shameless life of the homosexual male.

 

I often hear straight people say that only gay voters support Buttigieg. When I hear that I respond that they are generally the last to support him, and pieces like this are a good example of why. Buttigieg represents "respectability politics," which many gay activists resent, but he also represents a world that doesn't have all gay men defined as depraved or damned. This is taken as a personal affront by men who wallow in this world and tell themselves they just have to be this way because that's what being gay is about. 

 

I do believe that someone who has lived the sheltered life Buttigieg lived stands a chance of spinning out of control once he gets on such a level of fame, but that's true of anyone, gay or straight. A straight white man would never have a piece like that written about him. 

 

I'm disgusted that this man has written books for children. I'm disgusted that the New Republic would casually print words about 15-year old boys going off with 50 year old men and treat them as a rite of passage and as the everyday acceptable reality for gay men, rather than what it often was - activities of desperation and abuse that left deep scars. And I'm disgusted that I can't even be surprised that such virulent homophobia is still so normal, most of all in the gay community, because I know if I go on Twitter I will find all sorts of gay men praising this sicko to the hilt. 

 

I think this quote sums him up better than anything I can say. 

 

https://twitter.com/ColinMylrea/status/1149804792652488704

Edited July 13, 2019 by DRW50

[marceline]

 

I think that, barring something dramatic, this is the beginning of AOC's flameout. I'm seeing people who love her start saying, "I like her energy but..."  Nothing about this made her look good to anyone but her cult. The whining and complaining and "playing the race card" (an expression I hate). How do you serve in the same body with John Lewis, Elijah Cummings and Maxine Waters and compare them to the people who supported the Klan?

 

I think it's fitting that the Congressional Black Caucus finally decided to take the gloves off and I think it's only going to get saltier.

[DRW50]

 

I saw her complaining about being put on committees, saying that she is, in so many words, being given busy work to distract her. No, that's her job. That's what she ran to do. I think she was naive enough, as many on the left are, to believe that she could go in and just make huge changes, the way extremists on the right do. It was never going to be that simple. 

 

I think Pelosi has made a mistake in being so free with the press about her issues with AOC and the other new Congresswomen tied to her, but otherwise much of the anger toward her seems to be a complete lack of awareness of the limitations Democrats face in Congress. Shouting "do something" on Twitter isn't going to lead to impeachment. And the idea that we need to impeach so that it will show the public how tough Democrats are misreads the public attitude. 

 

So many people don't get that Trump is much more popular than media coverage or common sense would suggest. 

[Khan]

I'm still so worried that the press and progressives will push the House Democrats into pursuing articles of impeachment against Trump; and that if/when their efforts fail, the press and progressives will blame the House Democrats for losing a fight they never wanted to pick in the first place.  The press, the progressives and the GOP all want the "establishment Dems" and centrists to burn.

 

 

God, I hope so.  I hope the CBC and every other POC in Congress who thinks this is b.s. does whatever they must to see that AOC is one-and-done.  God love her, but she had no business running for office.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

By the way, this is being done to terrorize not just undocumented but immigrants who are in the U.S. legally as well. My mother told me of a church sister of hers who called her worried, even though this woman has a green card.

 

[marceline]

 

My friend's mom is a Swedish immigrant who has been in this country for more than 50 years. More than once she's been harassed by people who have heard her accent and told her to "go back where [she] came from." This is a white woman from SWEDEN who spent her life here working as a nurse. She's exactly the kind of immigrant the MAGAts claim to want. She just recently did exactly what they told her to do: she moved back to Sweden along with her husband, my friend's father. Nobody is safe from these people.

[Chris B]

On the subject of AOC, I found her line about the committees to be disappointing. I felt that meant you were IMPORTANT by being on those committees. They're allowing you the time and space to really be heard by being on those committees. I feel Kamala Harris benefited tremendously by being on those committees and I also am thankful for her (and others) based on things they've gotten people to admit when questioning them. That's incredibly important work so it shocked me she felt that was busy work. She should be greatful that she was given such high profile assignments as a newbie. Also, as much as she wants to change things and introduce new ideas, she needs to recognize she IS new and inexperienced. It's a learning curve, so I wish she were more open to acknowledging when she does say or do the wrong thing. It's like the Joe Biden thing, just own certain things so you can grow from them. 

[Vee]

[DramatistDreamer]

 

When I was studying abroad in London, one of my next door neighbors was a young woman (about my age) from Finland. One of the reasons why she loved London was because of the many people from different ethnic backgrounds.  "We don't have much diversity in Finland" she once told me. 

 

So, it's absolutely stupid if Trump and those of his ilk think that having a mostly white country is going to bring people to the U.S. from Nordic countries.  People from countries like Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden come to the U.S. specifically because they can interact more with people who do not look like them. Countries like Norway have made efforts to actually bring in people from other countries, particularly African and Middle Eastern (which has triggered a racist backlash) and Sweden has had a significant Ethiopian descended population for decades now.

 

Trump is likely turning off potential migrants from the very countries he claims to want to attract but we all know he can't see anything except his insatiable greed and stupidity.

[Khan]

 

But you ARE, Blanche!  You ARE important by serving on those committees!

 

AOC is someone who wants all the credit for doing half or none of the work.  Pure and simple.  She is an empty-headed, self-entitled brat; and I want her gone from Congress like yesterday.

 

 

It's for the best, though, since we clearly don't have our acts together anymore.  I'm just sorry that those who need desperately to leave their countries due to impoverished conditions or religious or other persecution now have one less place to run to for sanctuary.

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

Many are skeptical that these protests will lead to a true reckoning as Ethiopian-Israelis, who are a small minority, have little to no political power.

 

[DRW50]

The main people who are pushing Trump, like Miller, don't want any immigration - at this point I'd say they don't even want rich white people, as those people can just as easily stay where they are and bring over cash and kickbacks. I no longer believe there is any unintended consequence with this administration.

 

Sadly more and more 'developed' countries are facing this type of backlash. I remember hearing about the harassment and abuse immigrants have faced in the UK post-Brexit. 

[Vee]

As I said, he just did them a favor: