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

[Tazirai]

‘Sickening’ new photo emerges of Indiana high school boys giving Nazi salute

[Tazirai]

Support For Palestinian Rights Should Be A Mainstream Idea, Not Suppressed

As a Lebanese-American born to immigrant parents, I’ve long been well-versed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and am passionate about both Palestinian justice and a peaceful end to this decadeslong conflict. So I’ve been troubled by recent efforts to silence Palestinian supporters like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, activist Angela Davis and journalist Marc Lamont Hill (which aim to stifle an important part of the national conversation on the issue) and by the spate of laws and proposed legislation against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (which violate Americans’ constitutional right to free speech).

BDS has three main demands for Israel: end its occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Syrian Golan Heights; grant Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel full equality under the law; and establish a right-of-return policy for Palestinian refugees. Until that happens, BDS aims to pressure the Israeli government through boycotts, divestment and sanctions.

[zinderel]

There’s Nothing Wrong With Open Borders

Imagine not just opposing President Trump’s wall but also opposing the nation’s cruel and expensive immigration and border-security apparatus in its entirety. Imagine radically shifting our stance toward outsiders from one of suspicion to one of warm embrace. Imagine that if you passed a minimal background check, you’d be free to live, work, pay taxes and die in the United States. Imagine moving from Nigeria to Nebraska as freely as one might move from Massachusetts to Maine.

[Tendrin]

Tell me, have you guys ever heard of these political and comic book sites before?

The Four Color Media Monitor
Douglas Ernst Blog
Shawn James, Black Freelance Writer
The Colossus of Rhodey
The Original Marvel Universe
The Fantastic Four: The Great American Novel
A conservative blog for peace

I've heard of Douglas Ernst's blog given that he relentlessly stalked Dan Slott.

[Iron Maiden]

Tell me, have you guys ever heard of these political and comic book sites before?

The Four Color Media Monitor
Douglas Ernst Blog
Shawn James, Black Freelance Writer
The Colossus of Rhodey
The Original Marvel Universe
The Fantastic Four: The Great American Novel
A conservative blog for peace

I know of the Fantastic Four: The Great American Novel site. It's focus is just on the Fantastic Four and how all the issues, the characters, etc. can be woven into one huge novel. I've read a number of the essays on that site over the years and it's mostly about comparing Stan and Jack's contributions/writing styles, theories about Franklin's powers and the sliding timeline of the Marvel Universe and so forth. I don't think it has been updated since 2017.

I know the owner of the Fantastic Four one. The others are new to me.

I know the owner only by his posts on the Fantastic Four Message board but he's not posted there in a while. I think he was musing whether or not to shut down the site since it took up so much of his time. I think it has a wealth of info and theories about the Fantastic Four and it's cast of supporting characters. I've read quite few of the essays on those subjects

[numberthirty]

From the "Illinois" corner of things...

At a forum for mayoral candidates, Toni Preckwinkle pointed out that a former Governor will probably wind up doing more prison time that a former CPD officer convicted of second degree murder.

While it is worth noting that he will do any time, this was obviously not a huge step in the right direction. Not a huge shock, but still disappointing.

[Malvolio]

Support For Palestinian Rights Should Be A Mainstream Idea, Not Suppressed

See, while I don't agree with the sentiment here, I don't see how some can define it as antisemitism. They're not saying that they hate all Jews. They're not saying that Israel has no right to exist as a nation or a homeland for the Jewish people. They're saying that they demand that the Israeli government change a few of their key policies. While that is quite a big deal, it does not amount to antisemitism.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the current U.S. House Representative for North Carolina’s 8th District, Richard Hudson, who is one of the Birthers among the Republican caucus, having once told an assembled crowd that “President Obama is hiding something about his birth certificate”, and called for legislation to investigate it. Hudson also not only voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown, but when the vote came to reopen the government, he voted to keep it closed. He also took part in the 2014 GOP efforts to stir up fears over Ebola, calling for both a travel ban, and writing an official letter to blame the outbreak on President Obama. Hudson also voted against the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, and during debate about the SNAP food stamp program, called for drug testing on welfare recipients to be implemented nationally (since it’s done so well failing as a practice at the state level). Richard Hudson has been quite the conspiracy theory lover in his first few years in the House, already demanding answers about Benghazi, the non-scandal that was the “IRS Scandal”, and trying to cut funding towards the implementation of the United Nations’ Agenda 21 treaty. During the GOP's faux-outrage over the Planned Parenthood "sting" videos supplied by the Center for Medical Progress that were proven to be edited to mislead the public, Hudson not only voted to defund the organization, but boldly proclaimed himself as believing that life begins at conception. While Congress was mostly quiet through a tumultuous 2016 election campaign (and with some of the fewest working days in Congressional history), Rep. Hudson spent most of the year demonizing the Environmental Protection Agency, including trying to block any restrictions they might place on Motorsports events, playing up this fight to the folks in his district whose passion for NASCAR surpass the needs of the planet itself. In July when he decided to target employees of the EPA by filing an amendment into their funding that would prevent any of their employees from flying on an airplane as a part of their job (like to places to conduct investigations of wrongdoing by anyone, y'know, ignoring EPA standards and polluting) as well as restricting any of these criminal enforcement employees from owning a gun they might need to do their jobs.

Our update for 2019 on Richard Hudson will include simply this moment… one of his first votes in Congress back in 2013 was to vote against Disaster Relief for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. We thought at the time that it seemed like there would be some hypocrisy coming on that vote, because after all, North Carolina, where Rep. Hudson is from, frequently is impacted by hurricane damage. And so it was that after Hurricane Florence this year, that he quite predictably wrote letters to Donald Trump to beg for him to allocate disaster relief to his district. Because of course this hypocritical little s*** did.

Richard Hudson has failed to host a single town hall since the 2016 elections with his constituents, but has made time to have several closed-door meetings with donors. With a +8 advantage his district gives him, he managed to win re-election with 55% of the vote in 2018. We'll have to see if perhaps 2020 is the year it all falls apart for him.

[PaulBullion]

While I just caught a bit of this on the news, it looks like a spokesperson for Mueller's office might have called "Bunk..." on that Buzzfeed piece. Hard to tell to what degree they are doing so.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/18/polit...eed/index.html



Edit: From Ronan Farrow's Twitter account earlier this evening. It's interesting, to say the very least...

- https://twitter.com/RonanFarrow/stat...25618802241536

- https://twitter.com/RonanFarrow/stat...34635003895810

It's interesting because this is such an unprecedented move for Mueller, who has not issued any kind of statement before.

On the other hand:

"BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate," said Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller's office, in a statement.

sounds like very careful wording. They could have just come out and said "we have not seen any evidence that Trump directed Cohen to lie." They're complaining about the minutiae of the Buzzfeed report instead.

[Tendrin]

It's interesting because this is such an unprecedented move for Mueller, who has not issued any kind of statement before.

On the other hand:



sounds like very careful wording. They could have just come out and said "we have not seen any evidence that Trump directed Cohen to lie." They're complaining about the minutiae of the Buzzfeed report instead.

Yeah, this was my take too.

[jetengine]

See, while I don't agree with the sentiment here, I don't see how some can define it as antisemitism. They're not saying that they hate all Jews. They're not saying that Israel has no right to exist as a nation or a homeland for the Jewish people. They're saying that they demand that the Israeli government change a few of their key policies. While that is quite a big deal, it does not amount to antisemitism.

The problem is White Supremacists/Alt Right/Neo Nazis have heavily used the "We're not anti-semites, we've just got a problem with Israel" line so often its become a dogwhistle.

The whole thing is a **** show however and I'm of the opinion that the west as a whole should give no one aid militarily.

[numberthirty]

It's interesting because this is such an unprecedented move for Mueller, who has not issued any kind of statement before.

On the other hand:

"BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate," said Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller's office, in a statement.

sounds like very careful wording. They could have just come out and said "we have not seen any evidence that Trump directed Cohen to lie." They're complaining about the minutiae of the Buzzfeed report instead.

Yeah, this was my take too.

That's a possibility. That said, I can't see them tipping any of their hand to say what you mentioned. Leaves an opening for no good reason that the folks that they are investigating could run with.

The Ronan Farrow component was the wrinkle.

The picture looks one way when it's just Carr's statement after Thursday night. It starts to get more interesting once that pair of comments from Farrow happen.

If it's just a picture that looks that one way, why would Farrow feel the need to mention any of that?

[PwrdOn]

The problem is White Supremacists/Alt Right/Neo Nazis have heavily used the "We're not anti-semites, we've just got a problem with Israel" line so often its become a dogwhistle.

The whole thing is a **** show however and I'm of the opinion that the west as a whole should give no one aid militarily.

There's no point in trying to address the Israel-Palestine conflict at this point, because the events of the last few years have shown that it was just really a proxy for the wider conflict between nationalists and pluralists all along. The mind boggling support that the otherwise rabidly anti-semitic white supremacists show for Israel can only be explained by the fact that in their minds, Israel is sort of like the last bastion of European colonialism and must be preserved if the West is to reverse the tide. On the other hand, left wingers tend to project the struggles of minority groups at home onto the Palestinians, even though the ideologies put forth by Palestinian groups would be rightfully deemed revolting. For decades, Palestine has been a useful hot spot for the two sides to air out their grievances, but ever since the election of Trump there has been no need to use the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a conduit to channel these emotions anymore.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump Teases ‘Major’ Shutdown Announcement For Saturday

Trump didn’t provide details on what he will announce, but previously raised the possibility of declaring a national emergency to fund his proposed border wall. If Dolt45 is dumb enough to go there, he'll open the door for future Democratic presidents to make similar declarations on REAL emergencies like gun violence, health insurance or climate change. Have it, Donnie!

**********

Nancy Pelosi Cancels Afghanistan Trip After Accusing Trump Of Leaking Travel Plans

The House speaker cited “the grave threats caused by the President’s action.” Trump put the safety of Speaker Pelosi and her delegation at risk just so he could get back at her for suggesting he cancel his State of the Union speech. Talk about petty as hell.

**********

Shep Smith Fact-Checks Fellow Fox News Host Chris Wallace To His Face Over Shutdown

Wallace said “both sides” were to blame for the government shutdown. Smith vehemently disagreed. Nothing better than a Faux News cat fight!

**********

Former Coast Guard Officers Slam Washington As ‘Derelict’ In Not Ending Shutdown

Service members “don’t deserve to have their pay held hostage by their own government leadership,” the ex-master chiefs wrote. I'll second that emotion.

**********

George Conway Tweets One Bit Of Advice For ‘Pathological Liar’ Trump

Kellyanne Conway’s husband fired back at Trump’s attack on the “fake news” media.

[zinderel]

I was on another forum and had someone, a 'concerned citizen' who dislikes the idea of confronting - and punching, if need be - Nazis where they gather, tell me that if we keep provoking neo-Nazis and punching them when they spout their garbage, eventually, one of them will snap and throw acid in our faces or take us to their murder dungeon and torture us to death.

You could end up punching someone and end up hospitalized, paralyzed, have acid thrown in your face, dead, kidnapped, tortured, etc. Is it really worth it to take those kinds of risks?

Am...am I crazy, or is "You might wind up in a murder dungeon" like...the single WORST reason to not confront bigots where they gather...? Is that not just the most...cowardly **** you have ever seen?

"Welp, if you keep fighting for equality, eventually, Garuda will descend from the heavens and devour you alive. So you better stop making a ruckus, lefties...!"

LOL. I mean, seriously...