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

[Malvolio]

Look, she is right about it being serious enough that the public should have known.

There is no real way to do that and leave the woman involved out of it completely.

Sure you can. When William Kennedy Smith was on trial for rape in 1991, they covered the victim's face with a big blue dot on television when she testified. With today's technology, you could easily keep Kavanaugh's accuser's identity hidden from the public.

[numberthirty]

Sure you can. When William Kennedy Smith was on trial for rape in 1991, they covered the victim's face with a big blue dot on television when she testified. With today's technology, you could easily keep Kavanaugh's accuser's identity hidden from the public.

Seems like I might not have been "Crystal" clear there.

We are living in the internet age. If it came out at any time, someone can probably try to piece together who the woman in question is.

That being the case, I can't see not bringing it up during hearings if you intended on making it public at some point. Never mind that it looks like there is a reasonable possibility that Republicans were aware of this going in. Once that's the case, there's a lot more to it than just the accusation.

[BeastieRunner]

Florence already has 5 reported dead, 8 missing.

Worst part hasn't even started.

[InformationGeek]

“They say all these people died in the storm in Puerto Rico, yet 70% of the power was out before the storm. So when did people start dying? At what point do you recognize that what they are doing is a political agenda couched in the nice language of journalism?” @GeraldoRivera

My god, he's doubling down.


Also, holy s**t, this is terrifying. China is trying to rid existence of one of its biggest actresses.

Fan Bingbing is arguably the most famous actress in China, a prolific star who has made the leap to international fame with roles in the “Iron Man” and “X-Men” franchises. She appeared in Cannes in May to promote a coming spy blockbuster with Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o.

She has more than 62 million followers on China’s equivalent of Twitter, Weibo, and appears in ads for products around the world — from vitamins in Australia to lipstick by Guerlain, the watches of Montblanc and the diamonds of De Beers.

Now she is missing.

Ms. Fan, who turns 37 on Sunday, has dropped out of public view for more than three months — the victim of a sudden and precipitous fall from grace.

Her disappearance has been greeted with concern among fans and fear among her counterparts in the industry. It has fueled a flurry of rumors of personal rivalries and political intrigue, even at the pinnacles of power in Beijing, though few concrete facts.

That so little is known about someone so famous in China — even whether she is in detention, or in hiding — says much about the murky intersection of politics and business, entertainment and celebrity.

“She’s like collateral damage,” Hung Huang, a critic and publisher, said.

Ms. Fan’s disappearance appears to be related to a government investigation into tax evasion in the film business, but she has not been charged with any crime, and no officials have confirmed that she is even under investigation. Few who know her, or the industry, believe it is simply a matter of paying taxes, though. And the damage to her reputation — and perhaps her livelihood — has already been done.

Her name was abruptly removed from the posters for a Chinese production starring Bruce Willis, known in English as “Unbreakable Spirit,” about the Japanese bombing of China’s wartime capital, Chongqing, from 1938 to 1943.

The film’s release, originally scheduled for August, has also been delayed until October, though whether that is linked to her situation remains unclear. (The name in Chinese is “Da Hong Zha,” which, inauspiciously for any movie, can mean “The Big Bomb.”)

Another film in which she had a role, a sequel of an animated motion-capture film, also was delayed in June and has not yet been rescheduled. Raymond Zhou, an independent film critic, claimed in an interview that Ms. Fan’s role had been edited out.

Several of the brands she represents also have distanced themselves from her. They include Swisse Wellness, an Australian company, which announced it was suspending use of her name, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Wednesday. A duty free store in Thailand did the same.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Beijing Normal University published a survey ranking “social responsibility” among 100 celebrities last week and put Ms. Fan last.

A promotional video Ms. Fan recorded for De Beers, posted on YouTube on May 24, amounts to one of her last public appearances.

[4saken1]

Florence already has 5 reported dead, 8 missing.

Worst part hasn't even started.

Fake news!

[Tami]

Texas board votes to eliminate Hillary Clinton, Helen Keller from history curriculum

AUSTIN — History curriculum in Texas remembers the Alamo, but could soon forget Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller.

As part of an effort to "streamline" the social studies curriculum in Texas, the State Board of Education voted on Friday to change what students in every grade are required to learn in the classroom. They approved the removal of several historical figures, including Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller.

The board also voted to add back into the curriculum a reference to the "heroism" of the defenders of the Alamo, which had been recommended for elimination, as well as Moses' influence on the writing of the founding documents, multiple references to "Judeo-Christian" values and a requirement that students explain how the "Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict" in the Middle East.

The vote Friday was preliminary. The board can amend the curriculum changes further before taking a final vote in November.

Barbara Cargill, a Republican board member from Houston and former chairwoman, said work groups recommended removing Clinton and Keller, and the board agreed.

"In speaking to teachers and testifiers, they did not mention these specific deletions," she said.

High schoolers have been required to learn about Clinton, who was the first woman to win a major political party's presidential nomination, in history class. She was included in the curriculum under a section about citizenship, where students were required to "evaluate the contributions of significant political and social leaders in the United States," including Andrew Carnegie, Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O'Connor.

Barry Goldwater was also removed from this teaching requirement. A work group tasked with the streamlining recommended axing American evangelist and Baptist pastor Billy Graham, but the state board added him back this week.

Third-grade social studies teachers have also been required to educate kids about the life of Keller, who despite being deaf and blind, went on to college and a life of activism and authorship. But Keller did not make the work group's cut, and students in other grades aren't required to learn about her life.

[aja_christopher]

Texas board votes to eliminate Hillary Clinton, Helen Keller from history curriculum

Two of the most influential biographies I remember reading in grade school were of Helen Keller and Anne Frank.

Helen because of how she overcame adversity and Anne because of how she never had the opportunity to do so.

[Kirby101]

Texas board votes to eliminate Hillary Clinton, Helen Keller from history curriculum

WTF, Moses is a fictional character. And of course we know it was the Enlightment and the movement from religion that gave us the founding documents. Texas is a boil on Americas ass.

[Tami]

WTF, Moses is a fictional character. And of course we know it was the Enlightment and the movement from religion that gave us the founding documents. Texas is a boil on Americas ass.

There is another article mentioned where I got this one from that says that most U.S. Textbooks are written in Texas.

[Tendrin]

There is another article mentioned where I got this one from that says that most U.S. Textbooks are written in Texas.

It's a huge problem.

[worstblogever]

In 2014, and in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Joe Miller, a former U.S. Senate candidate from Alaska who believes that the minimum wage and unemployment benefits are unconstitutional, wanted the 17th Amendment of the Constitution repealed, opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest, paid campaign consultants who were involved in gay conversion therapy clinics, allied himself with militia groups who marched to support his campaign with assault rifles, and had his own security team try and arrest journalists for asking questions he didn’t like. He also was later revealed to have been paranoid enough to wear a bulletproof vest on the campaign trail, and spent the next four years complaining about Democrats in ways to further establish that, including by saying President Obama was in league with the Muslim Brotherhood. Miller has moved on to become a conservative radio talk show host in Alaska who gives a platform to some of the nuttiest kooks in hard-right politics to come on his show. Whether it's anti-immigrant lies from Joe Arpaio and Kris Kobach, anti-Muslim conspiracy theories from Walid Shoebat, or anti-gay propaganda from any number of representatives of the Family Research Council, Miller is there to not only fail to challenge any insane claim made on his show, but to add more fuel to the fires of hatred. Joe Miller did not run for office in 2016, and may finally have given up his dreams for elected office.

On this date in 2016, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" featured a profiled Carlos Beruff, a candidate for U.S. Senate from Florida summed up as "The Little Trump of Florida". His candidacy was a comedy of errors, frankly. While Beruff is believed to be a U.S. citizen born to immigrant parents in Florida, a voter registration form from his home in Manatee County, Florida surfaced where he entered that he was born in Cuba. So only six weeks or so into his campaign, Beruff's got to discuss how that was all just an honest mistake, and he didn't willfully misreport information on a voter registration form because hey... that's a third-degree felony and punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and five years in prison. The Trump comparisons really came because Beruff was notoriously brash, and furiously anti-immigrant (even though his parents were immigrants) and called for a ban for ANY entry by ANYONE from the Middle East into the United States, at all. The point w here Carlos Beruff crossed a line even Trump hadn't, though, is when he called President Obama an "animal", repeatedly in a speech at a county GOP meeting in April of 2016, and claimed that Obama had "destroyed our country and our military". And wouldn't you know it? Beruff refused to apologize for those remarks, at all. In fact, when Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy called upon Beruff to apologize for that, and his other bigotry, Beruff practically tripled down, when he didn't just refuse to say he was sorry, but demand Murphy apologize for "aiding Barack Obama in making America weaker". Beruff was a terrible candidate to an extent that the Florida GOP begged Marco Rubio to renege on his promise to not run for re-election, and against Rubio, managed to get all of 18% of the vote in the primary.

On this date in 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" featured a profiled Todd Wilcox, a former CIA Operative and Green Beret, multi-millionaire, and candidate for U.S. Senate in Florida in 2016. At first, Todd Wilcox seemed like an intriguing candidate in the race to replace Marco Rubio, while he was running for president in 2016, and he was even endorsed by a key advisor to the Donald Trump presidential campaign, General Michael Flynn (which these days isn't as much of a proud endorsement). But there were some pretty big flaws about Wilcox as a candidate, and not just in some of the misdemeanor criminal activity he committed in his youth. You see, Todd Wilcox was more known in the CIA during the Bush administration, and he was rather set in his ways about policies that were being used at the time. Frankly, Todd Wilcox flat out believed that waterboarding works. This is contradictory to the reports released from within the CIA that "enhanced interrogation" techniques garnered no actionable intelligence that were read by people in the U.S. Senate during the Obama administration, and that those findings were released to the public. Wilcox gave his humble opinion that "Social Security is a Ponzi scheme", and talked about getting rid of it. Which, of all the states to play that card… FLORIDA? Wilcox is still floating around on the periphery for the time being, so we'll set aside his profile to go ahead and take a look at a different kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 691-30, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Adam Putnam

Welcome to the 691st original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be discussing Adam Putnam, the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services since winning office back in 2010, and he formerly a two-term member of the Florida House of Representatives before he was a five-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 12th Congressional District from 2001 through 2010 after being first sworn in back at the age of 26. who thought of himself as a potential future Governor of Florida in 2018, to follow Voldemort’s stunt double himself, Gov. Rick Scott in that role. After all, he learned a lot from Scott, like how to violate the state’s transparency laws and having to settle out of court for doing so.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and first discuss Putnam’s career as a legislator… as a member of the Florida state legislature in 1999, Adam Putnam just happened to sponsor legislation that made himself and his family’s citrus farm somewhere in the range of $25 million over several years. Once he got to Congress… during his decade long tenure, Putnam managed to miss more than double the average amount of votes. And when you look back upon some of the worst bits of policy from the Bush years, and first two years of the Obama administration, he’s right there leaving his mark on some of the most detrimental ideas conservatives could come up with:

• October 10th, 2002: Adam Putnam votes for the Iraq War Resolution.
• March 21st, 2005: Rep. Putnam votes for the Terry Schiavo Incapacitated Persons Protection Bill. This despite the fact that a large majority of the country polled at the time felt that the government preventing a person's plan to die with dignity was an overreach.
• July 18th, 2006: Putnam votes for a resolution towards creating a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
• December 6th, 2006: Rep. Putnam votes for the "Abortion Pain Bill", which would create an unconstitutional ban on abortion at 20 weeks.
• July 31st, 2007: Adam Putnam votes against the Equal Pay Bill.
• November 7th, 2007: Adam Putnam votes against ENDA, allowing the continued discrimination of LGBT citizens based on their sexual identity in the workplace.
• July 24th, 2008: Rep. Putnam votes against funding for the prevention of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
• January 9th, 2009: Putnam votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
• April 29th, 2009: Rep. Putnam votes against the Hate Crimes Expansion that would provide protections to LGBT citizens.
• June 30th, 2010: After Wall Street bankers taking unnecessary risks nearly imploded the global economy in 2007, legislation finally comes forward to prevent the same behaviors from being permitted in the future. The signature piece of legislation to prevent another financial meltdown was Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, which Adam Putnam voted against.
• July 30th, 2010: Months after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a bill comes to the floor to better regulate off-shore drilling. Putnam is apparently alright with ecological disasters continuing in the future, as he votes against it.
• December 8th, 2010: Rep. Putnam votes against the DREAM Act.
• December 15th, 2010: Putnam votes against the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".
• December 22nd, 2010: Adam Putnam fails to show up to vote for the Zadroga Bill, to provide healthcare for first responders from 9/11, even though he politically had nothing to lose in doing so.

Now, why is it that someone like Adam Putnam would take a step back from a career in Washington, D.C. to return to Florida and take a job working as Florida’s Secretary of Agriculture? Well, there are two answers to that, and both involve suspected corruption. Yes, apparently trying to pass laws to enrich his family wasn’t a habit Rep. Putnam broke after going to Washington, as in 2010, around the time he opted to not run for re-election to his Congressional seat, the Florida Independent was reporting on an ethics scandal where Putnam was earmarking $100,000 in funds towards an abscission chemical that would again benefit his family’s citrus farm. With Putnam gone from DC, he wouldn’t face any sort of punishment for that, or any other ethical lapses, and he could benefit his family business with his new shiny spot at Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, and use his connections to hide the fact that his family’s business was violating labor laws (for about seven-and-a-half years, anyway).

Well, that bit of scandal was something biting Adam Putnam on the arse after he announced his gubernatorial campaign, but then, a far more egregious one broke… One of the focal points of Putnam’s office as Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services is… consumer services includes gun sales. And a responsibility of Putnam’s offices was to perform the mandatory background checks for gun permits. And wouldn’t you know it… for a 13 month period, nary a single background checks on firearm permits was performed, and Putnam and company just handed them out willy-nilly because FLORIDA.

Okay, the excuse wasn’t actually “FLORIDA”. The excuse was that the one employee who worked for Putnam in charge of processing the background checks forgot his password to log onto the FBI’s crime database.

We would laugh, but the idea that hundreds of guns went into the hands of people who may or may not be criminal psychopaths is just terrifying enough to make it not funny. Also, that story about the guy forgetting his password MIGHT be bulls***, because the actual whistleblower who reported Putnam wasn’t doing his due diligence and performing background checks in the interests of public safety was told back in 2013 that “she worked for the NRA” and was tasked with pushing through 75 gun permits DAILY. She sued, and the state of Florida settled for $10,000, plus another $20,000 for her legal fees.

Okay, so trying to blame deliberate negligence on one employee forgetting his password and never bothering to call the FBI and get it reset… that wasn’t plausible. So how did Adam Putnam correct the record? He started admitting he was an “NRA Sellout”, and started campaigning as if that was a GOOD thing. We’re serious.

The good news we have at the end of this story is, Adam Putnam lost the primary, and will not be the next Governor of Florida. The bad news is he lost to Ron DeSantis, who still potentially could win that race.

Goddamn it. Gillum, for the love of all that's good and right with the world, vote Gillum.

[PaulBullion]

Also, holy s**t, this is terrifying. China is trying to rid existence of one of its biggest actresses.

That kind of thing could never happen here!

Texas board votes to eliminate Hillary Clinton, Helen Keller from history curriculum

Oops.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Some Republicans Stick By Brett Kavanaugh In Face Of Attempted Sexual Assault Accusation

Sens. Chuck Grassley and John Cornyn, two members of the Judiciary Committee, leaped to defend the Supreme Court nominee. Of course they did. They don't dare risk angering Trump if they don't confirm Bob 'n' Weave Brett. Meanwhile....

**********

How Little Has Changed Since Anita Hill Spoke Out Against Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Court justice is once again on track to be confirmed despite facing sexual misconduct allegations. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

**********

Hurricane Florence Flooding: Torrential Rains Continue In The Carolinas

Five people have died in a storm that could drop 18 trillion gallons of water on the region. Meanwhile....

**********

Donald Trump’s Hurricane Florence ‘Rumor Control Page’ Retweet Backfires

Trump shared a link to a FEMA page that busts fake news about the storm, and many people noted the hypocrisy of the falsehood-spreading president. What the hell was THAT all about?

**********

Racist Driver To Asian Woman: ‘You’re Illegals Crossing The Border’

“She’s Asian, she can’t see ― that’s why she can’t drive,” the driver allegedly also said. More of Trump's xenophobia at work.

[InformationGeek]

Oh WBE! Got something for next year's update on John Becker.

A Cincinatti cop who suspected an 11-year-old girl of shoplifting is in trouble, after video of him tasering the girl was released by police. Still, the officer has his defenders.

On Friday, the Appeal reported that GOP Representative John Becker praised the officer’s actions, citing his own child as an example.

“I’d be ashamed and embarrassed that she did something stupid enough to get herself tased,” he said about his own daughter in a newsletter.

Becker further elaborated that if his child were shot by police, “rather than blaming the cop, I’d be blaming myself and endlessly soul searching to figure out how I failed as a parent and why my kid grew up to be a punk.” Furthermore, “Based on the evidence of what I see on television, it often times appears to me that justice was delivered to the dead punk.”

How pleasant.