President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

@Neutral Corner channelling his inner Bruce Yandle is a surprising sight indeed.

 

Sooooooooo, can we round them all up in a windmill and set it on fire?

 

If I take a look around a store and have the slightest hint I am around the crustacean variety, the Vader mask goes on.
The joke in archaeology is that when you can't explain it, it's ritual.
Works for me.

 

There is nothing particularly academic about that observation. I have lived in and visited dry counties all my life, places that were dry long after it became unusual due to societal changes. Certain dynamics were common in keeping a county dry, and that political alliance was one of them. Another was that it was common for bootleggers and shothouses to exist with a certain impunity because payoffs were made to the county sheriff or to someone with similar local control over law enforcement, so there were members of government who found it in their financial interest for an alcohol ban to stay in place..

I first lived in Alabama for a little more than a year in 1978-9. Not only were there blue laws with regard to alcohol, but most stores were closed on Sundays by law. Over time and generally because of lawsuits this changed, but 26 of the state's 67 counties are still dry today. The only legal gambling in the state is dog racing, horse racing (all but non-existent now within the state, but bets can be placed on races out of state), and a couple of Indian Casinos which do not have table gaming, only slot machines couched as variants of electronic bingo. The alliance that keeps this ban in place are the local preachers and gambling interests in adjoining states, notably Mississippi. There is no lottery, no Powerball, again largely due to the efforts of the local clergy and in this case social worker types concerned about poverty due to gambling by those least able to afford it. A coalition of the casino owners in adjoining states and the Poarch Creek Indians who own the two or three casinos in state in state pour millions into seeing that there is no further expansion of gaming in Alabama that might cut into their income. The most profitable lottery stations in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee are just across the border from Alabama. Tour buses routinely run charters full of seniors from local retirement homes to the Mississippi casinos.

Probably the highest profile instance here currently would be the ban on sports betting, even though it is indisputable that hundreds of millions of dollars routinely change hands during football season, untaxed and unregulated. Again, the influence of the local churches/SJWs along with illegal gambling interests and local law enforcement who enjoy a substantial salary enhancement via turning a blind eye.

This is all pretty much common knowledge requiring no great academic training and study to see.

 

It's hot here at night
Lonely incel and loud
On a hot summer night
You're afraid
Of the world they made
On a hot summer night

'Cause when a baggy dope walks by
Yeah you can see a crazy look in his eye
Then you know that there's a
Plot in the city, plot in the city tonight
Tonight
Plot in the city, plot in the city tonight
Tonight

For all the dreams and schemes
People are as they seem
On a hot summer night
Don't be a good citizen
Don't forget you're right
On a hot summer night

A good person you're not
Don't wait to show them what you got
'Cause you know that there's a
Plot in the city, plot in the city tonight
Tonight
Alright
Plot in the city, Plot in the city tonight
Tonight

Well you wait for the other shoe to drop
You're online and you're hateful
Yeah, cool right down now
And you'll fight until your shield breaks
And a-walkin' 'til your brain pops
You will move with the tweet now
With a hand around a bomb

 

One of my good friends is the daughter of a Walker County bookie. I would have through Mississippi opening sports books and Tennessee opening up via app would have crashed his business, but supposedly he’s doing better than ever.

 

-- Covering baseball, you always had to plan ahead for those Sunday afternoon games in Chicago, then a quick flight to St. Louis, which didn't sell alcohol on Sundays.

-- I always suggested drinking heavily when you were sick because alcohol kills germs. But I don't know if it works on viruses.

 

It still works, it just might not kill the viruses.

 

Given that their masks feature a molded plastic nose piece instead of a metal bend-to-shape piece...

 

Student loans: A 'teacher penalty' is crushing generations of educators with debt

Some teachers dared to ask for college loan forgiveness. Just posting this here so some of the banned can lose their shit over it.

 

"I'm David McCollough. In tonight's episode of Ken Burns' series "Rogue Elephant: the Republican Party in the Time of Trump," we will examine the GOP outrage over the Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan--which was based on a deal created by their leader. The outrage stands in stark contrast to the bland acceptance of the hundreds of thousands of dead from COVID which resulted from that same leader's misconduct. This stands as a terrible reminder that the party would accept any number of terrible events as long as they happened during a Republican administration. As Donald J. Trump himself once said "Bing bing bong bong bing bing.""