All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[jetengine]

‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates
A coordinated barrage of social media attacks suggests the involvement of foreign state actors.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...attack-1176018

"Hello everyone, Is me, most trusted news providing man John Jones Vladaslov, let me give you bad news about democratic member from home here in good ol US of A. Crack open a cold bottle of Vodka comrade and we have good time"

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” ran our profile of Scott Beason, who was also a failed candidate for U.S. Senate in 2012, and a failed candidate for Congress to represent Alabama’s 6th Congressional District as well. Among Beason’s many controversial moments are the fact that he praised the Communist witch hunts of Senator Joe McCarthy, claiming that “they worked”, saying that the solution to the immigration crisis was for his party to “empty the clip and do what needs to be done”, and that he was recorded (while being aware he was recording) referring to African Americans as “Aborigines”. All those moments are bad enough to make you forget he’s also got a terrible voting record, including introducing legislation to try to ban the children of undocumented immigrants from taking part in after school activities, not just extracurricular sports or clubs… but even going to their prom. He also supported drug testing welfare recipients, TRAP laws to close all the abortion clinics in Alabama, a nullification measure to allow Alabama to ignore federal firearms laws, strict Voter ID laws, and voted against a measure that would have seen Alabama apologize to African Americans for slavery.

It was in both 2016, and in 2017, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted profiles about Isaac Latterell, who came to our attention as a reactionary, outspoken pro-life extremist after back in February of 2014 when he submitted a bill in the South Dakota state legislature that would have banned abortion at 7 weeks (in other words, a flagrantly unconstitutional bill that flew in the face of the Roe v. Wade ruling). At that time, he posted a blog to comment on the impending vote, tastefully titled, “Stop the Dismemberment of Living Children” in which, he compared abortion to “a veterinarian ripping the heads off puppies and crushing their skulls”, and gave his humble opinion that abortion doctors are more savage than “the barbarians of old”. After the talk of puppy decapitation and barbarians didn’t sway the public to his cause, and just shy of a year after his first rant about Planned Parenthood, Latterell penned a second screed, this time titled, “Planned Parenthood is worse than ISIS and Lying About It”. After being criticized for his rant, Latterell decided to back off just a tad, changing his article’s title to “Planned Parenthood is Beheading Children and Lying About It”, which is still devoid of facts. Laterrell then pitched a bill in the South Dakota House, HB 1230, that would “prohibit the beheading of certain living unborn children”, that predictably went nowhere. Now, this would be the most offensive issue that Isaac Latterell has ranted about, but just so everyone’s aware, he’s not a one-issue politician. Apparently, Latterell has some deep-seated fears about transsexuals, as he has voted for H1195, a bill that would limit a citizen’s gender identity to what is listed on their birth certificate, and in January 2016 voted for HB 1008, a transphobic bathroom cop bill to make sure that people use the bathroom designated for the gender types people are born. This is also reflected in his support through 2017 for a transphobic bathroom ban to be implemented in public schools, as well as a failed attempt at passing a “religious freedom” law to allow Christians the freedom to discriminate against same sex couples whose marriages threaten their “freedom”.

On this date in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” ran our profile of Rayne Brown, who served in the Tar Heel state’s legislature from 2011-2016. She did so as a member of ALEC, the conservative group that brainstorms all manner of insanely extreme hard-right legislation around the country backing her (and later getting her help in trying to block renewable energy laws in North Carolina), as well as by way of having her campaign and the North Carolina GOP send out fliers during her 2010 campaign for office that made the Willie Horton ads from 1988 look like a walk in the park. Because it wasn’t just that the legislator in question that she was accusing of being soft on crime, Hugh Holliman, actually was alright enough with capital punishment that he had watched his daughter’s murderer be executed for the crime, but that Henry McCollum, one of the two supposed murderers that Holliman’s “weak on crime” stance would not be executed would be released from prison was, in reality, innocent of the crime that he was convicted. And that Holliman’s support for the Racial Justice Act would have easily aided in the wrongful execution of McCollum. Well, after Rayne Brown took office and established several years’ worth of votes on some of the worst state-wide legislation in the nation (more on that in a minute), Brown also decided that it was wrong that the city of Ashville, North Carolina, could have women protesting Republicans’ policies by showing up topless, as it was legal. So she thought to remedy that with the small-government solution of making it not just a criminal offense for a woman in North Carolina to have her nipple exposed, but a FELONY OFFENSE. The bill she submitted to do so died in committee, mercifully, but not before Brown became notoriously nutty, taking out opinion editorials to scold liberals for being… y’know, liberal, and calling them “willful and petulant children deprived of a treat”. As a legislator, Brown voted f to drug test welfare recipients, for the Repeal of the Racial Justice Act, for SB 353, an extremely restrictive anti-abortion bill that was amended by the North Carolina GOP from a motorcycle safety bill into an anti-choice measure, as well as HB 465, a TRAP law aimed at creating abortion regulations so restrictive that they would effectively force the closure of all abortion clinics in the state for failing to be able to meet them. Brown also voted several “stricter Voter ID laws” North Carolina Republicans push during her tenure aimed at suppressing the vote, for SB 2, a bill to allow state officials to refuse to perform “certain marriage duties” if they have a “sincerely held” religious objection as well as for HB 2, North Carolina’s disastrous anti-LGBT law, and she voted for several bills to make it harder to remove Confederate monuments in North Carolina. Brown opted to leave the North Carolina state legislature after three terms in office, and we won’t be missing her. But, as she is no longer in office, so we will retire her profile, and go ahead and take a look at a different kooky Republican on this date instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 732-30, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Omar Navarro
Welcome to the 732nd original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing Omar Navarro, a two-time loser in attempts to get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for California’s 43rd Congressional District. Navarro, a currently unemployed former used car salesman, began being pushed out of California GOP politics in 2014 by mainstream members of the party after he started to act bizarrely and showed a poor temperament, which only made him rebrand himself as a Trump Republican that supports the border wall. This only entrenched him further in American politics, and gave him a second chance he definitely doesn’t deserve.

Especially because Navarro is the son of Mexican immigrants, and try and not let that hurt any rational part of your mind.

After losing badly to Waters in 2016, partially because Navarro was sentenced to probation, because while he was married, he illegally chose to place a tracking device on his wife’s car to track her movements, because that’s not paranoid (and is a felony in California). He was found guilty only weeks before the election and sentenced to 18 months probation and to take an anger management course. Navarro wasn’t messing around in his second go-round in 2018, when he supported white nationalists like Chuck Johnson aiding his campaign by stalking Congresswoman Waters while she slept on a plane, and being dumb enough to solicit an endorsement from Michael Flynn (who was already charged with lying to the FBI) and going with a “Lock Her Up” mentality by demanding that Waters be arrested on social media. (Again, he himself was still on probation for a felony.) Then Navarro got a visit from the FBI after releasing a fake letter that he claimed was from Maxine Waters’ Congressional office, that supposedly wanted to resettle tens of thousands of Somali immigrant refugees in her district (it’s a crime to forge a document and claim it’s from a Congressional office) So, of course, Navarro had a level-headed response to the FBI’s inquiries, to go online and compare his plight to Donald Trump’s, and claim he was also the victim of “a witch hunt”.

It’s hard to pick a “lowest moment” for someone like this as a candidate, but if we had to, it might be that video emerged of Omar Navarro hanging out with self-proclaimed “Hollywood Nazis” and white nationalists in September of 2018. Three known “Alt-Right” figures were featured, including Milo Yiannopolous’ former manager Tim Gionet, and at points, they were standing beside Navarro while he spoke, giggling as they were performing Nazi salutes. It wasn’t a one-off experience for Navarro, as only days before the election, another video emerged of him complimenting a man for an Anti-Semitic sign that read, “DA GOYIM KNOW”.

Omar Navarro was completely crushed by Maxine Waters on Election Day 2018, earning only 22% of the vote. Thus, he can impotently watch while Rep. Waters subpoenas Donald Trump’s tax returns, and all the walls come falling down around his hero. He’s changed his Twitter title to indicate he’s running against Waters again in 2020 (and will lose) passing the time, however, by palling around with other MAGA Trolls like Laura Loomer (she of the chaining herself to Twitter headquarters after being banned from the platform for Islamophobic posts) and cheering her on for trying to get herself arrested by storming the California Governor’s Mansion in sombreros to prove Gov. Gavin Newsom a hypocrite for thinking “walls don’t work” and the mansion has walls. (Please note, this doesn’t make sense, since Newsom isn’t living in the residence.)

[aja_christopher]

So it's a one sides concession anyways. I think people can vote or not vote for whoever they want. There's already a contingent of people on here who hate Bernie and I doubt some of them would vote for him.

The vast majority of people here -- including myself -- have said that they would vote for Sanders, or for anyone, to vote against Trump.

You're just making up excuses -- most people don't hate Sanders. What most people are against is the divisiveness that he brings to the Democratic party, which both you and thirty continuously put on display. For instance, Hillary was for universal health care long before Sanders even ran for Senator yet many Sanders supporters want to act is if Sanders is the one bringing these policies to the forefront, while attacking her from a position of self-righteousness and ignorance.

Attacking Kamala and Beto at will while acting as if Sanders is somehow above it all, ignoring all his faults while exaggerating those of his opponents -- it's exact the same playbook we saw with Hillary and it will be just as productive the second time around.

The GOP is effectively a white supremacist party now but I'm not surprised at this point that you don't see a real problem with that -- at least not one so critical that you would vote against it no matter who was the Democratic candidate.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Saw that on twitter. It's amazing. Tucker was not expecting to get owned so hard.

Let's not call him cucker, though.

Fine by me. I prefer "Fucker" myself.

====================

Feds: Racist ‘Domestic Terrorist’ Coast Guard Lieutenant Plotted To Kill Democrats, Reporters

Prosecutors say Christopher Hasson stockpiled weapons and wrote about creating a white homeland through violence. But, let's all worry about demonic, brown skinned migrants from south of the border coming to murder us in our beds.

**********

Jussie Smollett Charged With Filing A False Police Report About His Alleged Attack

Police say the “Empire” actor made a false report of a racist and homophobic assault in Chicago that sparked a nationwide uproar. This is NOT good. Crying wolf hurts everyone, most notably people who have legitimately faced the sort of violence Smollett appears to have faked.

**********

Pelosi Says House Will Move ‘Swiftly’ On Resolution To Stop Trump’s Wall Declaration

The House speaker said the chamber would vote on the measure Friday and aim to get it on Trump’s desk within three weeks. It'll be interesting to see where this showdown leads.

**********

Trump’s Pick To Lead Climate Panel Once Compared CO2 To Jews In Nazi Germany

William Happer will reportedly lead the new Presidential Committee on Climate Security. Jesus! Where DOES Caramel Caligula dig up these nutbags?

**********

New York Times Publisher Slams Trump’s Anti-Media Rhetoric As Tyrannical, ‘Dangerous’

A.G. Sulzberger wrote that Trump’s rhetoric is “encouraging threats and violence against journalists.”

[JCAll]

====================

Feds: Racist ‘Domestic Terrorist’ Coast Guard Lieutenant Plotted To Kill Democrats, Reporters

Prosecutors say Christopher Hasson stockpiled weapons and wrote about creating a white homeland through violence. But, let's all worry about demonic, brown skinned migrants from south of the border coming to murder us in our beds.

**********

First the MAGAbomber and now this. One of these days one of the madmen is going to succeed.

[ed2962]

By process of elimination, wouldn't she be the self-titled album or ...And Justice for All?

I mean, I'd say Booker wouldn't be St. Anger, he'd be Garage Inc. It's an album of covers that weren't as good as the original (Obama).

I'd say Biden is "Garage Inc" to Obama's "Garage Days Re-Revisted."

[ed2962]

Naw. He was legit angry and humiliated. Guys like this are thin-skinned and venal and don't expected to actually be effecetively confronted. When it happens, rage is the response. That's the narcissism.

I agree. While I do think a lot of Tucker's show is sensationalism, I think here he truly blew his lid when he didn't have a legit counter to the guy's accusations.

[4saken1]

Bernie supporters compromised for Hillary more than Hillary supporters compromised for Obama. Bernie supporters still got blamed for the outcome of the election, still got labeled sexist, and as you can see others in this thread trying to make a racial implication as well.

All of this is true, but Obama won the Election. Had he not, the Hillary supporters who voted for McCain would have similarly had their feet held to the fire. The vitriol many of them have towards Sanders is much greater than what they felt towards Obama, IMO, so I don't imagine this number going down that much in 2020 if Sanders wins the nomination.

[PwrdOn]

Saw that on twitter. It's amazing. Tucker was not expecting to get owned so hard.

Let's not call him cucker, though.

I don't see why that's a problem, only alt right types seem to think that word is somehow offensive, and I'm not concerned about upsetting them. Besides, it totally fits him because Carlson is exactly the picture of the shrill, snooty, condescending, not-terribly-masculine, quasi-intellectual TV personality whom conservatives always profess to hate but somehow is completely fine if he's saying stuff that they like.

[ZombieHavoc]

Hillary was Load, Gillibrand is ReLoad, and Booker is St. Anger.

Bernie is Master of Pupperts. Warren is Ride the Lightning.

Harris is a new album coming out and has the potential to be Death Magnetic (an imperfect but acceptable attempt at the right thing) or Lulu (an ill conceived project that's happening because **** it we are out of real ideas)

Biden is probably the Black Album. A sanitizied version that combines the good stuff you loved with some cheesy stuff you hate, but ultimately is the cleanest and easily sellable album on the market.

So who is 'Kill Em All' and 'Justice'? That's all I care about in this thread at this point.

[ZombieHavoc]

I'd like a list of these people, and links to where they are doing so.

Edit:

Come to think of it, anything that looks like potential proof that these are people that actually exist out in the physical world would also be good.

No, you can believe it or not believe it. I don't give a **** either way.

[Elmo]

Maybe someone talked about it but there's a massive bishop summit happening at the vatican where the Pope is going to address sexual assault of minors in the catholic church. I was listening to NPR and apparently it is the first time this is being seriously addressed as a worldwide issue which is crazy to me. Something needs to be done!

[TheDarman]

I think anybody can vote for whoever they want to. I just think it's a crap excuse to say "you are threatening people from voting their conscious". That's just trying to have it both ways. So I shouldn't tell you that I'm voting my concious if certain people that I don't like get nominated because it might dissaude you from voting for certain people. So it's a one sides concession anyways. I think people can vote or not vote for whoever they want. There's already a contingent of people on here who hate Bernie and I doubt some of them would vote for him. There's already been hashtags of never Bernie. So again, sympathy meter is low regardless.

Here’s the thing though, no one here has stated that. I’m not a Bernie fan. That much is clear. But I would certainly vote to put him in office over Trump if it came down to it. I just think Liberals need to be prepared to push him on social issues, where he hasn’t shown a ton of leadership. I see him as the modern day FDR, willing to sacrifice on social rights and liberties in order to pursue a progressive economic agenda. Historically, very few presidents have been good in either category and NONE have been able to successfully accomplish both of their domestic progressive policy agendas. It worries me to see the emphasis put on economic platforms above and over social liberties. Obama made concessions on progressive economic policy (though he seemed to be more moderate here to begin with) but he was the best president on social issues that this country has had since Lincoln. I would much prefer us to emulate Obama than Sanders but there is a contingent of the party who prefer populism, an ideal of which has always been to care for the “common man” often at the expense of the minorities.

However, even in spite of all of that, Trump is insulated from political pressure by liberals on either issue. Regardless of my misgivings for Sanders, it is clear HIS social policy would be better than Trump’s, just by virtue of NOT being insulated from the political pressure of liberals like myself. To allow Trump to win again would defy my responsibility to people in this country to allow a Trump even more spots to fill in our Judicial Branch. People will be hurt by the court’s reluctance to extend rights out to minorities and women. These consequences are severe. This isn’t a game here. This isn’t the Bachelor or Dancing With the Stars where if the person you like doesn’t win you can shut down and not care. You CAN still complain about the nominee even if they’re president. But at least you didn’t stick up your middle finger to the woman who might lose her life because late-term abortion isn’t an option, despite the non-viable fetus. You didn’t do that to the children permanently separated from their parents, who were just seeking a better life here in America. You didn’t do that to future generations, inheriting a warming climate very difficult for them to live in.

At least you are being consistent. And I’ll give you that. But I think it is the wrong thing to stand for. Our votes DO have power. And with that power comes a responsibility to more than ourselves. We need to be greater than the sum of our parts and exercise more than self-interest and ideology here. The primaries are times to vote for whom you most like. The General is not. The stakes are too high. So while you may deem it appropriate to vote your conscience and to screw over a whole group of people with what is effectively a temper tantrum, I will vote Sanders in the general. So to avoid any potential issue with the left wing staying home AGAIN, I guess I better start hoping for a candidate I don’t believe in to get the nomination. Because it seems it is either him or Trump for you guys.

I don't trust Booker or Gillibrand on economic policies. I just simply don't and they've given me no reason too. I have no doubt in my mind that Sanders or Warren will push economic policies and civil and personal liberties will be guarded on their watch as much as they would under most Democratic candidates. I'm not worried about that as much with the rest of the field. I think there is a far greater division in the party on economic policy. I think campaign finance is easily the most important issue that is plaguing American politics and I have no doubt in my mind that Booker and Gillibrand will do nothing on that front, if not make it worse.

I disagree whole-heartedly. Not on Booker and Gillibrand not pushing hard on the progressive economic agenda. They need a push from progressive colleagues in Congress to do that. But do you really think if legislation sponsored by their own party were to reach their desk with progressive economic policy that they’d veto it? Because that’s what Trump will do. And it’s what I doubt what they would do. And I just mentioned a slew of other important considerations. Saying you are holding out for a candidate that won’t compromise on economic issues can lead to devastating consequences. All you need to do is look at the first two years of Trump. Look at the damage he has done to our norms, to LGBTQ+ rights and liberties, and to our Court, which has been packed by Republicans as they kept open a number of vacancies from Obama for Trump to fill. There are important considerations in economic policy and equity too. But you are missing the forest for one of the trees.

So no, I absolutely view the economic angle as the differentiator amongst the Democrats. And one I find so blatantly unacceptable that I wouldn't vote for it. And if that's the path the Democratic Party wants to go down, then by all means go down it, just accept that you are going to sacrafice a contingent of voters you've been trying to cater for decades and failing for decades

See? But that’s where we differ. I don’t like Sanders, or the lack of emphasis he puts on social policy. But it would be a betrayal, and acting in total self-interest and pride, to not vote for him over Trump. Because he WILL do more damage to those very same people than Sanders will. The same IS true with Booker and Gillibrand on economic policy. They will, at the very least, not vote for more tax cuts on the rich. They will, at the very least, vote to raise the minimum wage. They will be better on the student loan crisis. To allow Trump another four years, you are enabling someone worse for the very bloc of people you are most concerned for. And that seems asinine to me.

[ZombieHavoc]

The Bernie side is all or nothing, unfortunately. They'd rather the country burn (Bern?) if they don't get exactly what they want.

It's useless to try and reason in that way. They'd rather a Trump than someone who might not have as good of economic policies as Bernie, but has better than Trump's at least.

I don't get it either.