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

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

So, I think this is being discussed over in the wrestling section, but even after UFC's parent company has backed out of a deal to have shows in Saudi Arabia, WWE is pretty much going full-steam-ahead with Crown Jewel on November 2.

And I'm enjoying the **** hitting the fan as a result.

But Vince is mr Patriotic

[wjowski]

So, I think this is being discussed over in the wrestling section, but even after UFC's parent company has backed out of a deal to have shows in Saudi Arabia, WWE is pretty much going full-steam-ahead with Crown Jewel on November 2.

And I'm enjoying the **** hitting the fan as a result.

I don't enjoy the **** hitting me at all.

**** Vince and the blood money he took for this.

[InformationGeek]

A two part story...

Part 1:

Part 2:

And the follow up to this story.

TRUMP says he will only pay 1 million dollars to charity for Warren if he can test her personally: "I will only do it if I can test her personally. That will not be something that I enjoy doing"

And since when are you an expert?

[GindyPosts]

I don't enjoy the **** hitting me at all.

**** Vince and the blood money he took for this.

It's high time he got knocked down a few pegs. I'm still a wrestling fan, but 2018 has done everything needed to make me completely tune out anything WWE does as more than half-assed. I honestly bailed right after they did the angle where Sami Zayn (a Syrian-Canadian... boy the Saudis LOVE that combination nowadays) was part of a ridiculous angle where he brought out enhancement talent in drag to pretend they were Bobby Lashley's sisters. I know that didn't sound like a reason to quit, but I saw that segment live on television and this was just off of the billion dollar deal to move SmackDown to Fox next October.

Besides, Vince is approaching this the exact same way Trump is. "On the one hand, they did kill a legal citizen of our country for calling out their human rights record. On the other hand... they got SO much money."

[Mister Mets]

Interesting twitter thread on how Sears helped African Americans bypass racist storeowners.

https://twitter.com/louishyman/statu...72178415828993

[Iron Maiden]

Well, It's much easier to get things done when you don't have an actively hostile congress obstructing you at every turn.

I pray that situation changes for him soon.



What happened to Jared Kushner's email scandal?

Not only that, it's possible he leaked classified information from a briefing meant only for the President to the Saudi Crown Prince

Jared Kushner discussed classified information from the president's daily briefing with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who bragged that he had Kushner "in his pocket," The Intercept reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source.

Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, had access to the briefing, a highly sensitive intelligence update meant to be seen by only the president and his top advisers, before being stripped of his top-secret security clearance last month.

Before losing that access, Kushner was particularly interested in information about the Middle East, The Intercept reported, citing several former White House and US government officials.

When Salman became the heir to the throne in June, the daily briefing began to focus on shifting political allegiances in Saudi Arabia and named several Saudi royals opposing the crown prince, the Intercept report said.

[Tendrin]

A Republican Senate candidate in Minnesota criticized Michelle Obama's posture when the former first lady met with the Queen of England and said the chimpanzee in the 1951 movie "Bedtime for Bonzo" had "stood up straighter," according to The Huffington Post.

Karin Housley, currently a state senator, made the comparison in a 2009 Facebook post, according to HuffPost.

OH WBE-eeeee...

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...-to-a-chimp-in

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I don't enjoy the **** hitting me at all.

**** Vince and the blood money he took for this.

This is worse because the last time they ran a show there, they were legit airing propaganda videos about how progressive Saudi Arabia was

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I don't enjoy the **** hitting me at all.

**** Vince and the blood money he took for this.

And Vince won't care when it comes to fattening the bottom line. I'd be shocked if he pulls out of Saudi Arabia, hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Trump leans on McMahon to go ahead with the show.

[worstblogever]

OH WBE-eeeee...

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...-to-a-chimp-in

Already had clocked her into the queue.

[Tendrin]

Already had clocked her into the queue.

Hahaha. I am not surprised XD

[wjowski]

And Vince won't care when it comes to fattening the bottom line. I'd be shocked if he pulls out of Saudi Arabia, hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Trump leans on McMahon to go ahead with the show.

Like he needs to.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” we looked at former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Scott Lively, who hits particularly insane levels of anti-gay rhetoric, possibly beyond any of the many terrible examples of it we have discussed in CSGOPOTD profiles. You see, Lively wrote a whole book about how the Nazi party was populated by “butch” gays who wanted to wipe out the “femmes” and all of the other undesirables in the Holocaust. Lively also runs Abiding Truth Ministries, which the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as an anti-gay hate group, and was sued in a lawsuit for his involvement in pressuring Uganda to pass their rigid anti-gay laws that criminalize homosexuality to be punishable by death. Lively also referred to President Obama the Anti-Christ, claimed he’s secretly married to a gay Pakistani man, claims that God once smote a Scores strip joint that burned down, and insists that a cadre of gay rights activists are plotting to assassinate him. For whatever reason, Lively decided to run for Governor of Massachusetts again in 2018, and proving how insane Republican voters are becoming, 36% of them voted for Scott Lively in the GOP Primary against incumbent Republican Governor Charlie Baker. Still, it remains highly unlikely that Lively will ever be elected to any office.



It was on this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, that we published our first two "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Idaho's 1st Congressional District, Raul Labrador, who pretends to support Latino voters and immigration reform, but does nothing of consequence on the issue to actually make those reforms happen. Less than nothing, really, when you consider he also has defended some of the more racist and xenophobic remarks of Iowa Congressman Steve King. Labrador also whipped up sentiment against Hillary Clinton, particularly by spreading conspiracies about the Benghazi investigation. As numerous reports from investigators surfaced to indicate the GOP were trying to direct the investigators to harangue Sec. Clinton specifically, Labrador denied any and all partisan bias the Republicans in the House Oversight Committee had. Labrador also isn’t above throwing out red meat to Republican voters, like the time he spoke at CPAC and made a Birther joke, saying he was "born in Puerto Rico, is an American citizen AND HAS THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE TO PROVE IT". Labrador has consistently moved to defund Planned Parenthood, and long before the Center for Medical Progress released their bogus "sting" video to whip up outrage, Labrador was claiming that Planned Parenthood's "main business" was abortion (when it's less than 3% of their actual budget). Rep. Labrador has appeared publicly with ACT! for America, an anti-Muslim group, at rallies where Islamophobia has been whipped up to the point of warning of Sharia Law takeovers, has made it a point to remind people on social media that Sept. 11th is also a time to "Remember Benghazi, too", and after voting for the 2013 Government Shutdown, then voting to not reopen the government, telling the astounding lie that the Republicans “never asked for a full repeal of Obamacare”. Labrador has argued against the minimum wage during the greatest era of income inequality our country has seen in almost a century, arguing that if people feel like they aren't being paid enough, they should "apply for a manager's job instead". He is, in short, awful.

Raul Labrador was re-elected in 2016 with 68% of his vote, leaving him to return to Washington and do things like this:

• February 16th, 2017: Labrador 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. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
• March 16th, 2017: Raul Labrador 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. We feel safer already.
• March 28th, 2017: Rep. Labrador votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers' internet usage to businesses. Well, so much for privacy.
• May 4th, 2017: Labrador 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 Labrador would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his 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: Raul Labrador 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.
• October 3rd, 2017: Labrador votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
• December 19th, 2017: Rep. Labrador votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
• February 18th, 2018: Labrador and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.

And, adding to his own legacy, Raul Labrador had quite possibly one of THE WORST sound bites at what few GOP town halls that have been hosted in 2017. On March 7th, Rep. Labrador was trying to quiet an already testy group of constituents who were grilling him over his vote for Trumpcare, when he gave the positively ludicrous response that “Nobody dies because they don’t have access to healthcare!” The boos. THE BOOS that drowned him out. Good lord, that was the dumbest possible thing he could have said.

And yet… Raul Labrador thought that he should move on from serving Idaho in Congress for a fifth term, and instead, announced a run for Governor of Idaho to replace the departing Butch Otter in the governor’s mansion... three days after he embarrassed himself completely. It did not pay off, as Labrador was defeated in the Republican Primary in that race by Brad Little, the Lieutenant Governor of Idaho by 9,000 votes. He thus will be out of Congress, and any other elected office come January, and we’d like to wish him the finest “Good Riddance!” that we can muster now.

[Tami]

The murder of the journalist in Turkey, watching the news and thinking how it reminds me of Lex Luther investigating The KingPin, while the Penguin cheers them both on.

[GOLGO 13]

Trump has business interests with the Saudis. He's covering murder for his masters. Nice.