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

[numberthirty]

Caught that Heather Nauert bowed out of consideration for replacing previous U.N. Ambassador.

[numberthirty]

Well...

Local newscasts have been saying that Chicago Police are now investigating if Smollett orchestrated the whole thing, and that the two brothers questioned are now cooperating with that investigation.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert, serving District 35 there. We noted in our profiles that while Rapert is a member of the Holy Ghost Ministry that does missionary work in Ghana and Uganda, the darker side of that group is that it has pushed for Uganda’s draconian laws to criminalize homosexuality with a death sentence, and Rapert himself has praised Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for the attempt purge on Uganda’s LGBT citizens. However, that’s not his only theocratic action… Jason Rapert has also tried passing bans on same sex marriage in Arkansas, as well as tried to pass an unconstitutional ban on abortion as early as when a fetal heartbeat is detected, at 12 weeks, and uses the Book of John to justify dropping nuclear weapons on all of Iraq and Syria to rid us of the “barbarians” in the region, while lamenting that the United States can’t be more like Saudi Arabia and handle gays more harshly. Rapert has also outed himself as a Birther, complaining about “minorities running the country” and suggested that President Obama had committed treason by allowing Ebola victims to be treated inside the United States under quarantine. His legislative stances also include support for Voter ID, drug testing welfare recipients, and putting concealed firearms in both churches and on college campuses. Rapert also declared war on Wikipedia in the past few years, publicly declaring any and all negative stories in the media listed against him as “false and libelous”, and responded to a constituent meeting him in public and asking him by policy by refusing to answer to a “smartypants” like them and fleeing in his truck. Rapert then got on social media and posted a vague threat for no constituent to ever approach him again, threatening, “Not smart to come up and harass somebody in a parking lot who’s carrying a handgun. Better be glad you decided to walk away.”

Ah, good democracy, where our elected leaders answer to simple questions from the populace by threatening to put a bullet in them. Wonderful. That’s exactly the sort of lesson I’m sure Holy Ghost Ministries has taught him to express fine Christian values. Speaking of that, you really have to wonder considering after all Jesus spoke about being kind to refugees (and growing up as one, himself), how Jason Rapert could ignore that message and call for all Muslims from being banned entry into the United States in November 2015. He justified that reaction by falsely claiming Islam calls for the death of anyone who refuses to be converted to their religion. Oh, but Rapert also voted for Arkansas’ HB 1228, their own “religious freedom law” to allow for his fellow Christians to legally discriminate against LGBT citizens, and chalk it up to their faith telling them to be intolerant, and their deeply held beliefs supposedly cannot be violated.

And Rapert’s still an all-around bigot, as he proved when he called for the removal of a black Arkansas judge who disagreed with the judge working on the Tamir Rice case, who felt that charges were not necessary against the law enforcement that gunned him down in two seconds. Rapert insisted Judge Wendell Griffin was not just writing “racially motivated hatred and anti-law enforcement remarks”, but imagined somehow that his comments were also “inappropriate sexual references” that he imagined where in Griffin’s comments. Of course, Rapert’s grudge with Griffin goes back some time, asking the church to also strip the judge of his title as a minister, and when former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel weighed in to defend Griffin, Jason Rapert made the level-headed decision to tell McDonald he is an “abortion pimp”. And since we last discussed Jason Rapert here at CSGOPOTD, he has not mellowed out much. Heck, we even missed the time he got on Facebook and advocated for using nuclear weapons against the Islamic State. Sure, there are only a few thousand of those Jihadists left, and it's not like millions wouldn't also die in the fallout if we just nuked them, right? Or that the multiple countries like Syria and Iraq that they're operating in, or their allies wouldn't be pissed at us for that?

Look, we've pretty well established that Jason Rapert is a fanatical ***hole in our previous posts about him. But just when you think you've seen the worst he has to offer, he proves you wrong. Rapert was at the 2016 RNC to support Donald Trump, because of course he was. And Jason Rapert was really mad at the "Never Trump" Republicans present, who were rallying behind Sen. Ted Cruz for refusing to endorse Trump. And so it was that Jason Rapert clashed with future CSGOPOTD Lori Saine, accusing her of not being a "good Christian" because she would not support Trump. We repeat, he attacked her for not being a "good Christian" because she would not support a racist, sexist, thrice married billionaire willing to have affairs with porn stars, boasts about committing sexual assault, denies feeling the need to ask God for forgiveness for anything, lies about his charitable giving, covets wealth above all else and has not just appeared on the cover of pornographic magazines, but in multiple pornographic films. But hey, Trump having an affair? No big deal. But Bill Clinton having an affair? That’s SERIOUS BUSINESS to Jason Rapert, who wasted the public’s time and money when filed legislation in Arkansas aimed at renaming the Little Rock airport after anything that isn’t the former president, and citing his affair as the reason why.

That isn’t even the craziest thing Jason Rapert did in the past year since we updated his profile. Over the summer of 2017, he got on the bandwagon started by notable pedophile Roy Moore, and had a monument of the Ten Commandments built in the state capitol. The ACLU filed a lawsuit to have it removed (which they will obviously win based on precedents set with Roy Moore), but it wasn’t even up for 24 hours when a man with a history of mental illness turned up to crash into it and destroy it anyway. And then, who could have predicted that Rapert’s religious monument would have opened the door for the Satanic Temple to make the case for their own statue of Baphomet to be displayed alongside the Ten Commandments one. Maybe because it’s exactly the same thing that happened when Fundamentalist Republicans tried the same stupid thing in Oklahoma only a few years ago.

Jason Rapert’s attacks upon his own constituents’ access to him have also escalated, as in October, he became the target of lawsuits for banning atheists he represents on Twitter for having the nerve to remind him there’s a separation of church and state. (And based on recent legal rulings regarding Donald Trump trying to block his critics, they probably have a good case to win.) Which seems to be only one social media battle that Rapert is losing, considering in December of 2018 the Council for American-Islamic Relations have called for his censure based on social media posts he made, and only days later, Twitter took notice, and temporarily suspended his account for his flagrant bigotry. (And that’s no small feat.)

Arkansas’ District 35 might could have avoided re-electing Rapert to a third term in office in 2018… but chose instead to keep this fanatic around for another four years to watch him try and pass unconstitutional laws that will cost the state a small fortune in easily lost lawsuits. We’ll continue to monitor his activities in the meantime.

[wjowski]

‘Bring back our #ChildHoodDiseases,’ White House official’s wife says as she criticizes vaccines

Every day these people find a new way for me to fucking hate them.

[PaulBullion]

He's wiped off some of his bronzer in this shot. He's half made up and half not. It's... bizarre. Like the man.

I am assuming he sweated profusely from his fat face.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The only emergency is if Trump doesn't get bacon with his omelet.

If that picture wasn't photoshopped to make Donnie Doughboy look thinner than he usually is, I'm Denzel Washington! 243 pounds my ebony posterior!

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Mike Pence Brought Greetings From Trump To Munich And No One Applauded

The Trump administration is not popular with Munich Security Conference attendees. No applause? Hmm! I wonder why?

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Trump Claims Japanese Prime Minister Nominated Him For A Nobel Peace Prize

The president was also nominated in 2017 and 2018, but officials determined that both nominations were forged. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say this nomination was bogus too.

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Stephen King Offers $10,000 For A Trump Border Wall Debate

Fellow writer Don Winslow has challenged the president to a debate to prove Trump’s “narrative” is a “flat-out lie.” Don't hold your breath waiting for IQ45 to agree to such a debate, because that ain't happening. Trump does have the balls to accept such a challenge.

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CBS Ditches Trump Speech For ‘The Price Is Right’

The network cut off the president only 20 minutes into his national emergency declaration announcement. Oh, that's rich! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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Michael Che Says He Wants To See Trump’s ‘Dumbass Wall’

Now that the president has declared a national emergency in his effort to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, “Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update” co-anchor Michael Che says he’s “so tired of telling Donald Trump jokes.”

“We’ve been making fun of this dude and his dumbass wall for so long, I gotta be honest, now I kind of want to see the wall,” Che said. “I mean, I’ve never seen anybody so confident about such a bad idea. It’s almost charming.”

He added: “I just want to see exactly what Trump thinks is going to happen when a Mexican cartel sees a wall. What do think, they’ll just shake their fists and walk home?”

[jetengine]

If the Smollet thing IS true then....

A. He's fucking insane.
B. He's never working in any acting gig again since who wants that kind of lunacy.
C. He's actively harming the LGBTQ commumity.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

If the Smollet thing IS true then....

A. He's fucking insane.
B. He's never working in any acting gig again since who wants that kind of lunacy.
C. He's actively harming the LGBTQ commumity.

On top of that, he fed into Trump’s “fake news” narrative after saying he had been attacked by MAGA Maggots. Right wingers will jump on that with both feet. I’m hoping this wasn’t a hoax, but questions are out there now.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Reading about all these people that have to pay out taxes for 2018 is making me depress for when I do my taxes next month.

[Tami]

How a Trans Soldier Took On the Jail That Denied Her Medication, and Won

When the testosterone started to flow through her system, Jessica Sunderland felt the changes immediately.

“I had to do stuff to deal with the anger,” she said. “Working out and meditating, and trying to breathe. I did anything to try to not focus on the anger.”

She was an army veteran who had served in Iraq, but at that moment, in the fall of 2012, she was in the Suffolk County Correctional Facility on charges of burglary, kept in a cell 21 hours per day, in a body at war with her conception of who she was.

She wanted medication to make it stop, and she wasn’t getting it.

On a recent afternoon in her lawyer’s office, Ms. Sunderland presented a new phase of her life, including life as a blonde, with long braided hair extensions that she flicked away from her face. She had two prescription medications to lower her testosterone and another to provide estrogen.

And she had a court ruling against two doctors at the Suffolk County jail for denying her hormone therapy, causing her to start what her lawyer described as an involuntary sex change. The jury found that the doctors had violated her constitutional right to necessary medical care and awarded her $355,000 in damages, plus a slightly larger sum that went to her lawyers.

Advocates for transgender rights say it is the first time a jury has awarded punitive damages in such a case.

For Ms. Sunderland, 32, who filed the original complaint under her given name, Jeremy, it was vindication for a long, often solitary battle.

“I started the lawsuit back in 2013, and in the beginning it was just me by myself,” she said. “Just hearing the verdict, it means that I got what I had to say across. It shows that they can’t do what they’ve been doing without some kind of punishment.

“It makes me think there are people who understand what happened and that it was wrong.”

[Mister Mets]

Unsurprisingly, there are people who assume this is a false flag as the left "has a history of making up hate crimes".

The bigger clue was that from a left wing perspective, the story was too good to be true. The hoaxes tend to be these kinds of extreme situations.

There is NO exaggerating the significance of an incident where a man is ruthlessly attacked for being both black AND gay, especially by assholes who said "This is MAGA country"! That might be THE most offensive thing you've said.

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Extreme Weather Is Already Breaking Records Around The World In 2019

Temperatures dipped to -38 degrees in Minnesota as Australia battled a heat wave that topped 115 degrees. And 2019 is only a month old. Food for thought. Meanwhile....

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Al Roker Rips ‘Nitwit’ Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin For Comments On Extreme Cold

“I’m glad you’re not a teacher!” the weatherman said. By the way, Bevin is a Republican which explains his stupidity from these comments after schools in the Midwest were closed from the dangerous cold:



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A Former Pastor Of Trump’s Church Says He Never Saw Him There

“He was not an active and visible member of the church, no,” Pastor David Lewicki recalled. Why am I NOT surprised? Funny thing is, I thought the New York Stock Exchange was Trump's "church". Meanwhile....

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Sarah Sanders: Donald Trump Is President Because God Wanted Him There

“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times,” the White House press secretary said. Sweet baby Jesus.

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Mitch McConnell: Democrats’ Voting Rights Bill Just A ‘Political Power Grab’

The Senate majority leader said the For The People Act, proposed by Democrats, doesn’t “pass the laugh test.” So, a bill that would allow more people to vote is a "power grab", eh? Would that be because said people would be more inclined to vote Democrat and not for a party that not only embraced but bearhugged hate, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny and rampant greed?

Do you still think there's no exaggerating the significance of the Smollett situation? I'm sure there are many in the right who will be glad to argue about how this is representative of bigotry and race relations.

[Malvolio]

CBS Ditches Trump Speech For ‘The Price Is Right’

The network cut off the president only 20 minutes into his national emergency declaration announcement. Oh, that's rich! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

**********

I believe this is the appropriate response:

[Robotman]

Well...

Local newscasts have been saying that Chicago Police are now investigating if Smollett orchestrated the whole thing, and that the two brothers questioned are now cooperating with that investigation.

If he did orchestrate this he is a total asshole. People who have actually been victims of hate crimes and abuses have to deal with accusations of fabricating the incidents. Some never come forward for fear of these accusations. This guy may have made it so much easier for right wing pundits to brush aside claims of hate and discrimination.

[Tami]

Lindsey Graham goes all-in on Trump talking points: ‘It’s better’ for kids to have a border wall than new schools

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argued on Sunday that it is “better” for children in Kentucky to have a border wall than it is for them to have new schools.

During an interview on Face the Nation, host Margaret Brennan explained that $3.6 billion of the funds for President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to build a border wall could come from military funds “including construction of a middle school in Kentucky.”

Graham, however, told Brennan that the children of Kentucky need a border wall more than they need new schools.

“The president will have to make a decision on where he gets the money,” Graham agreed. “Let’s just say for a minute that he took some money out of the military construction budget.”

“I would say it’s better for the middle school kids in Kentucky to have a secure border,” he continued. “We’ll get them the school they need, but right now, we’ve got a national emergency on our hands.”

Why is it that every time Graham speaks, I envision an alien mind-control scenario.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Lindsey Graham goes all-in on Trump talking points: ‘It’s better’ for kids to have a border wall than new schools





Why is it that every time Graham speaks, I envision an alien mind-control scenario.

Jesus Christ, the man’s done lost his mind. I don’t think anyone in the GOP is slurping Trump harder than Grouchy Graham. But then, his comments about the wall over schools sticks to Trump’s mantra about how he loves the poorly educated, mainly because they aren’t smart enough to know any better and would willingly follow the Orange Menace without question.