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

[PaulBullion]

Is our children learning?

Guy who says dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark tapped to review Arizona's evolution standards

(witty facepalm gif here)

[WestPhillyPunisher]

‘New Norm’: This Town Florence Is Flooding Was Last Underwater Just 2 Years Ago

The worst flooding “is yet to come” for parts of the Carolinas, the National Weather Service said Saturday night.

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GOP Donor Les Wexner Announces Departure From Republican Party After Obama Visit

The L Brands CEO had previously condemned Donald Trump’s response to Charlottesville in a speech to employees. A GOP donor with a conscience. Yes, they DO exist.

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Trump Couldn’t Get Mexico To Pay For His Wall. Now Americans Won’t Pay Either.

The fight over funding for the border wall is being postponed until after the elections — when Democrats are almost certain to have more influence. To Caramel Caligula, I have this to say----WOMP WOMP!

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Gubernatorial Nominees Discuss Running For Office While Black

In their first appearance together since winning their primaries, Stacey Abrams, Andrew Gillum and Ben Jealous spent 10 minutes talking about the racist attacks on them and their campaigns. This sort of nonsense shouldn't happen in America, but, sadly, it does.

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George Bush Stumping For GOP Candidates, But Not Ted Cruz

“I just don’t like the guy,” former president reportedly said about senator in 2015. Heh! You're not alone, Dubya.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, that "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Tennesssee’s 7th Congressional District, Marsha Blackburn, who has voted against equal pay for women multiple times, insisting that “women don’t want it”. She’s also a co-sponsor of the “Birther Bill”, denies that Mitt Romney ever passed a healthcare program in Massachusetts, and gave an infamous interview where she falsely claimed that the Affordable Care Act (which she also was a part of the “lie of the year” at Polifiact, predicting it would lead to death panels) was a violation of HIPAA, and when asked repeatedly to explain how that’s even possible, she just kept repeating the same falsehood robotically without actually providing any logical answer. She was also a big proponent of the 2013 Government Shutdown, and on the day it began, went on FOX and Friends to optimistically predict that it would actually teach ordinary Americans about all the “big government” ideas that were being defunded that they can do without (which the opposite actually happened over the 16 day stretch). Our update on Blackburn continued covering her hyper-conservative voting record, as well as the fact that she spoke at the South Carolina Freedom Summit and claimed Christians were a persecuted minority in the United States. When reporters followed up on her remarks and asked her to name an example of such persecution, she failed to be able to cite a single one. Marsha Blackburn was also particularly awful during the GOP's witch hunt after the Center for Medical Progress released their deceitful smear of Planned Parenthood, insisting that after all investigations had been concluded that Planned Parenthood had still been caught "selling baby body parts", and during the paranoia around the affair, attempted to use the House Intelligence Committee's investigation as a means to demand a complete list of every medical students, residents, or other medical personnel around the country who have ever participated in an abortion, because there's no way that such a thing would enable domestic terrorists in the radical anti-choice movement to assassinate those people (when they already have done so).

Blackburn’s district is, wouldn’t you know it, one of the most conservative in all of a red state like Tennessee, and she coasted to an eighth term in office in the 2016 elections with 72% of the vote. She’s continued to make the rounds on cable news and with the media, where she can do things like insinuate that James Comey is a liar to help provide cover for Donald Trump while he’s investigated for accepting help from the Russians to get elected in exchange for dropping sanctions against them, or when she can be one of the few politicians who actually defended Donald Trump’s spur of the moment decision to ban transgendered soldiers from the military before he ever consulted the Pentagon about what kind of impact that might have. Make no mistake, she’s “all-in” on the Trump administration, and with any luck, she might get swept away with it at some point.

So, with all of these shining moments over the past eight months, Marsha Blackburn has actually been catching some serious hell at her town halls, where she’s been raucously booed and openly been accused of lying. She also responded to that treatment by going on CNN a week later to claim that the people who booed her weren’t actually from her district, which even the usually passive Wolf Blitzer fact-checked her on, pointing out that people had to show ID to prove they were from her district to get into the building in the first place.

And then, there’s her voting record:

• February 16th, 2017: Blackburn votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping.
• March 16th, 2017: Marsha Blackburn votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge's written order.
• March 28th, 2017: Rep. Blackburn votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers' internet usage to businesses.
• May 4th, 2017: Blackburn votes for the House GOP's healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), postpartum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Blackburn would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. She and her Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
• June 8th, 2017: Marsha Blackburn votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
• September 8th, 2017: Rep. Blackburn chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
• January 20th, 2018: Blackburn sponsors the in-no-way-based-in reality Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would make it a crime for any doctor to not try to revive a fetus that survives an abortion. Note, that by definition, abortions can only be performed at a point where fetuses CANNOT SURVIVE OUTSIDE THE WOMB. Sorry, we had to put that in all caps, because we would like to shout it in Marsha Blackburn’s ignorant, gaslighting face.

For those not aware… a partisan nut like Marsha Blackburn has advanced to win the nomination for U.S. Senate to replace the retiring Sen. Bob Corker. In the general election she will face off against former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who we’re holding out hope that he can hang on to the lead he’s got in polls through election day, which holy s***, a Democrat is winning in a state as red as Tennessee right now? It’s like people started to notice Blackburn’s a crazy person or something! Or maybe it’s that she’s been found out as a link between the Russians who infiltrated the NRA… Hmm…

Just lose Marsha. LOSE.

[Tami]

Kansas woman told birth certificate wasn’t enough to prove citizenship for passport

Barbara had been issued a U.S. passport before, but this time around, Barbara was told her birth certificate wasn’t good enough to prove her citizenship.

“It’s like they’re retroactively declaring that I was never a citizen,” Barbara said.

Barbara was born in a farmhouse in the 1970s in Leavenworth County. She had a birth certificate. Her father went to the courthouse days after she was born to certify her birth -- raised seal and all.

The local passport agency accepted her documentation as satisfactory for her passport application. Days later, she received a letter from the federal division of the U.S. Passport Agency out of Houston, TX, telling her the application was denied and required further documentation.

“I have a birth certificate it was accepted before, why wouldn’t it be accepted again?” Barbara explained.

The letter stated, because her birth certificate was not issued at a institution or hospital, it was not considered proof enough of her citizenship.

She received a letter asking her to submit any number of the listed additional documents.

“Border crossing card or green card for your parents issued prior to your birth? My parents were born in the United States….Early religious records? We don’t have any. Family Bible? They won’t accept a birth certificate but they will accept a family Bible?” Barbara said.

[Tami]

FEMA to test 'Presidential Alert' system next week

Experts expressed little concern that the wireless emergency alerts could be used for political purposes.

President Donald Trump may soon be communicating with you directly on your phone — even if you don't follow him on Twitter.

Next Thursday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will do its first test of a system that allows the president to send a message to most U.S. cellphones.

More than 100 mobile carriers, including all the major wireless firms, are participating in the roll out, FEMA stated in a message on its website posted Thursday.

"The EAS [Emergency Alert System] is a national public warning system that provides the President with the communications capability to address the nation during a national emergency," FEMA said.

The test message will have a header that reads "Presidential Alert," according to the agency.

Users whose phones are on will twice hear a tone and vibration and then see an English-only (for now) message: "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

The wireless emergency alerts (WEA) system was authorized by Congress in 2015 under a law that states the "system shall not be used to transmit a message that does not relate to a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster or threat to public safety."

Experts didn't appear to be too concerned that Trump, known to use his smartphone to blast opponents, berate subordinates and take shots at the news media on Twitter, could abuse WEA.

Guess, what? Now everyone gets to hear Trump's inane prattle whether they like it or not.

Oh, and if you are wondering if you can block it

[norj]

Kansas woman told birth certificate wasn’t enough to prove citizenship for passport

Non american here, what is a family bible and how does it prove citizenship?

[Tami]

Non american here, what is a family bible and how does it prove citizenship?

I had to look it up myself: Family Bible

A family Bible is a Bible handed down through a family, with each successive generation recording information about the family's history inside it. Typically, this information consists of births, deaths, baptisms, confirmations and marriages. Other items, such as letters, newspaper cuttings and photographs, might also be placed inside a Family Bible. In the United Kingdom, they were common in the Victorian period, and are also found in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. They are often used as sources for genealogical research.

[Arachne]

In the past, people would list births, marriages and deaths in a Bible. Basically, it was a family tree. How it could be considered a legal document, I don't know, but I'm not American, either.

Edit: ninjaed

[Kirby101]

Non american here, what is a family bible and how does it prove citizenship?

Some families have a special Bible they keep for generations, they not important events like Births and weddings in the front or back of it.

Make no mistake, What Trump is trying to do here is illegal, unconstitutional and unAmerican.

[Tami]

In the past, people would list births, marriages and deaths in a Bible. Basically, it was a family tree. How it could be considered a legal document, I don't know, but I'm not American, either.

Some families may have one, if their family's history in the U.S. began before the Civil War. But it is an artifact of the past. Few families would still be using them, would have any reason to be using them. It's pretty dumb to have it on the list, unless the applicant is 90 y.o.

[SuperiorIronman]

A family bible is not a legal document. It if anything it would be used to cite marriage records but other than that they are not proof of citizenship either. A family bible is not some magical form of I.D, if anything it is a family tree used to help somebody figure out genealogy.
The problem with this is that a lot of people don't have those records or have them on hand. You are not even expected to know your own parents and plenty enough people don't. At a state level, none of them care, just remember that at the Federal level we are still missing 500 kids and various victims of disasters in our own country.

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Also I'm sorry but I just got the "blue screen of death" or at least the human equivalent.

So dinosaurs are now believed to have roamed the Earth but they believe they roamed it with humans.... alright. How does that explain anything about the fossil record? If humans roamed with dinosaurs then shouldn't we have some sort of record of that? And also what geological period was that proposed to have been in? Triassic? Jurassic? Cretaceous? Because if we know that then I'll gladly fund some biblical paleontologists to go to some fossil beds and see if they can find a hominid there in the ancient rock. Also you'd think somebody would've recorded something resembling a dinosaur that we can match to the fossil record for evidence. Scientists have actually done that to I.D what is now extinct species revealing that humans and certain large forms of birds or even lizards walked the Earth alongside ancient human or even the "modern" explorer (though neither of which are dinosaur). So you'd think we'd have some evidence for it.

I appreciate that dinosaurs are being taught to the religious morons out there, but it's only just short of making sense. Pretty much what happens when you hire a creationist.

[Gray Lensman]

In the past, people would list births, marriages and deaths in a Bible. Basically, it was a family tree. How it could be considered a legal document, I don't know, but I'm not American, either.

Edit: ninjaed

I could see it still being used as supporting documentation, but not as a primary source. Certainly not in place of a birth certificate with a raised seal.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

FEMA to test 'Presidential Alert' system next week





Guess, what? Now everyone gets to hear Trump's inane prattle whether they like it or not.

Oh, and if you are wondering if you can block it

I don’t like this one damn bit. And don’t think Caramel Caligula won’t abuse this the first chance he gets.

[Malvolio]

I don’t like this one damn bit. And don’t think Caramel Caligula won’t abuse this the first chance he gets.

Presidential Alert: Someone's making fun of me on Comedy Central. If you see Trevor Noah, do not approach him. He's dangerous. Just call the DOJ.

[Tendrin]

Did we all miss Larry Kilgore? The name isn't familiar and I don't think WBE has profiled him yet, or at least my quick google check didn't think so.

but this popped up on my twitter timeline today: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/12/...ll-gay-people/

A Republican candidate for Texas governor has expressed a desire to murder gay people, as well as those who commit adultery and bestiality.

“I’d gladly execute a convicted adulterer, sodomite or bestialiter. Biblical law is a blessin,” Larry Kilgore wrote in a since deleted Facebook post, sharing a story about so-called “bestiality brothels” in Germany.