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

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of John Shimkus, the U.S. House Representative from Illinois’ 15th Congressional District, one of the dumbest deniers of climate change on Capitol Hill, who actually cites a promise that God made to Noah in the Book of Genesis as proof against the phenomenon, and wants to eliminate carbon dioxide restrictions from the EPA, viewing it as “taking away plant food from the atmosphere”. He also compared IRS commissioner Lois Lerner to “the Republic of Korea”, which is actually SOUTH Korea while grilling her in hearings about the IRS scandal. John Shimkus is such a class act that he got up and walked out in the middle of President Obama speaking to a joint session of Congress about healthcare reform back in 2009, but sadly, came back to work after that.

Shimkus returned to the House in 2016 after defeating fellow CSGOPOTD Kyle McCarter in the Republican primary for his seat, and then didn’t have to face a Democrat in the general election. He made some headlines during the current session of Congress back in March of 2017, when during debate on a potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act, he decided to dig in and complain about why men should be required to pay for prenatal care on insurance plans. Credit to Democratic Rep. Michael Doyle, for responding, "There's no such thing as a-la-carte insurance, John”, with the right amount of subtext that indicated Congressman Shimkus was being a misogynistic douche without actually saying it.

• February 16th, 2017: Shimkus 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: John Shimkus 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. Shimkus votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers' internet usage to businesses.
• May 4th, 2017: Shimkus 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), post-partum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Shimkus 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: John Shimkus 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. Shimkus chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
• October 3rd, 2017: Shimkus 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: John Shimkus 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: Shimkus 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.

Shimkus hasn’t hosted a town hall since his re-election, and is presumably still spending money from his political PAC on wine tastings, while in a time when any myriad of more pressing issues should be dealt with, discussing a matter important to only the wealthiest of Americans… repealing the estate tax (while our deficit is already in the $20 trillion range). His district remains far and away the most conservative in all of Illinois, with a +21 Republican lean, and his opponent this fall is Kevin Gaither, and we’d like to wish him the best of luck in pulling the upset.

[Tendrin]

WASHINGTON - Newly seated Justice Brett Kavanaugh spoke up Wednesday in defense of the Trump administration's view that legal immigrants with criminal records must be arrested and held for deportation, even years after they were convicted and completed their sentences.

At issue is a federal law that calls for mandatory detention and possible deportation for "criminal aliens," including legal immigrants convicted of crimes ranging from violent felonies to simple drug possession. The law says the Homeland Security secretary "shall take into custody any alien" with a criminal record that could lead to deportation "when the alien is released."

Inhumane and evil.

[Iron Maiden]

Of course Kavanaugh is going to agree with Trump's policies. He owes his seat on the Supreme Court to him.

[Tendrin]

Of course Kavanaugh is going to agree with Trump's policies. He owes his seat on the Supreme Court to him.

Yeah. It's not surprising. Meanwhile, deported parents are having their children adopted out to US families but something something both parties are just as bad.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I take back about 60% of the bad things I said about W.

Trump is a stooge.

These gentlemen would vehemently disagree:

Of course Kavanaugh is going to agree with Trump's policies. He owes his seat on the Supreme Court to him.

Bingo! Something everyone NOT in the Republican Party feared from jump street. Meanwhile....

**********

Trump mocks the #MeToo movement at a rally, again

President Donald Trump mocked the #MeToo movement again at his rally in Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, citing the "rules of MeToo" as the reason he wasn't "allowed" to use an expression.

When talking about winning the state in the 2016 presidential election Trump said, "Pennsylvania hasn't been won for many years by Republicans, but every Republican thinks they're going to win Pennsylvania. ... I used an expression -- you know, there's an expression but under the rules of MeToo I'm not allowed to use that expression anymore. I can't do it."

"It's the person that got away," Trump continued. "See, in the old days, it was a little different," the President added, laughing as a rally attendee told him from the crowd to "do it anyway."

"I would do it, except for these people up there," Trump said, pointing at the cameras and press at the rally. "They would say, did you hear what President Trump said?"

He continued, "So there is an expression, but we'll change the expression: Pennsylvania was always the person who got away, that's pretty good, right, the person that got away?"

It's another shot at the movement that began following the publication of sexual harassment and assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017. The revelation of the allegations against the powerful Weinstein inspired many women to reveal their own stories of sexual assault, but Trump has recently taken shots at the #MeToo movement by expressing concern for men who are accused of sexual assault or harassment and saying, "Women are doing great."

I for one would love to know what Melania thinks about her husband mocking #MeToo which, in turns, mocks women standing up to sexual abuse. But, she's too busy playing Bwana Colonialist over in Africa.

[Tami]

Ted Lieu, Democrat Fighting for Future of American West, on November Stakes

California will play an outsized role in Democratic efforts to recapture the House in November. And the man accountable for delivering a blue wave in the Golden State — and across the West — is Rep. Ted Lieu, a rising star in the Democratic party.

In a strategic shift for 2018, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee decentralized power from Washington D.C. — delegating authority to regional generals. Lieu, who represents Santa Monica in Congress, commands DCCC West. “We moved the entire western region out to California because there’s so many seats in California that Hillary won,” he says, referring to seven seats that Clinton carried in 2016, but which narrowly elected GOP Representatives.

Lieu’s purview is broader than just California, including, he recites, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Nevada, Alaska, “and importantly, Guam. Can’t forget Guam.” (Guam has no congressional representation.)

Anyone who follows Lieu on Twitter knows he has a dry sense of humor — but also a killer instinct. You can see it in Lieu’s management of congressional races: To keep Democrats candidates from getting shut out in California’s “jungle primary” system — in which the top two vote getters advance regardless of party — the DCCC deployed Rovian tactics, including sandbagging a star GOP candidate by running ads promoting an also-ran Republican rival — who later groused the DCCC had brought “tricks from the swamp in Washington to the shores of Orange County.”

[ed2962]

**********

Trump mocks the #MeToo movement at a rally, again



I for one would love to know what Melania thinks about her husband mocking #MeToo which, in turns, mocks women standing up to sexual abuse. But, she's too busy playing Bwana Colonialist over in Africa.

I saw that...the word he's talking about is "gal". #MeToo is about sexual harrassment. Not policing old words. No one would care if he said "gal". And if he had a problem with cameras, why is he holding a public rally in the first place?

[aja_christopher]

I saw that...the word he's talking about is "gal". #MeToo is about sexual harrassment. Not policing old words. No one would care if he said "gal". And if he had a problem with cameras, why is he holding a public rally in the first place?

[Tami]

McConnell urges Dems not to investigate Trump after midterms

Congress’ Republican majority has shown no interest in conducting oversight of Donald Trump’s presidency, despite its many scandals and controversies. GOP leaders realize that if Democrats gain any power at all on Capitol Hill after next month’s midterm elections, the White House will face the kind of scrutiny it’s been able to avoid for two years.

And Republicans aren’t making much of an effort to hide their fears about the possible consequences.

In May, for example, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) warned that Democrats might try to hold the president accountable, complete with hearings and subpoenas. In August, Axios published a list “that’s circulated through Republican circles,” which meticulously previewed “the investigations Democrats will likely launch if they flip the House.” It included, among other things, scrutiny of Trump’s tax returns.

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) added his voice to the chorus during a lengthy interview with Associated Press reporters. When a reporter asked about possible Democratic scrutiny of the president’s controversial finances, and whether that’s “a legitimate line of inquiry,” the GOP leader responded:

“I think it’ll help the president get re-elected…. This business of presidential harassment may or may not quite be the winner they think it is.”

It’s an important look into the Senate majority leader’s perspective. A fair amount of evidence recently emerged suggesting Trump committed tax fraud and spent much of his life benefiting from illegal handouts. If Congress were to explore the president’s alleged misdeeds, however, Mitch McConnell would characterize it as “harassment.”

When another reporter at the same event asked if there’s anything that McConnell would consider a “legitimate” investigation into the Trump administration,” the senator didn’t answer directly, but he did say, “I do think as a matter of political tactics … it would not be smart.”

Or put another way, as far as the Senate’s top Republican is concerned, the “smart” thing for lawmakers to do is to continue to look the other way when confronted with possible evidence of corruption.

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent explained yesterday, “The basic bargain Republicans have made with the president is that he will keep delivering them right-wing judges and signing bills slashing taxes on the rich and eviscerating the social safety net, so long as Republicans maintain fortress-like protection of Trump from oversight and accountability…. McConnell is once again confirming that if voters keep Republicans in charge of Congress, they’ll continue delivering on their side of this bargain.”

Quite right. The amusing aspect to this, of course, is that McConnell isn’t just eager to maintain an accountability-free bubble around the White House, he’s also begun offering Democrats strategic advice on the matter – as if the Kentucky Republican has sincere concerns about what’s best for the opposition party.

Oversight, McConnell said yesterday, will “help the president get re-elected.” It would “not be smart,” he added, for a Democratic-led chamber to exercise its oversight authority.

[Tami]

Another article I'm reading this morning

Why are U.S. media companies partnering with a Saudi conference?

he headline on a recent story in The Post confirms the enormity of the ongoing international crisis for Saudi Arabia: “Saudis are said to have lain in wait for Jamal Khashoggi.” The allegations chill one’s blood: On Oct. 2, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and hasn’t been seen since. Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi, a contributor to The Post, was killed inside the consulate. A “squad of men” flew into Istanbul that morning, The Post reported, and a 15-member crew departed the country later that day. “Saudi Arabia must immediately answer: Who were these 15 officials? What happened, precisely, inside the consulate?” The Post’s editorial board wrote.

Meanwhile, several U.S. media outlets — Bloomberg, New York Times, CNBC, Fox Business Network and CNN — are listed as “media partners” in an investment conference in Saudi Arabia. The Future Investment Initiative (FII), which is in its second year, is slated to take place in Riyadh from Oct. 23-25. Per its website, the Future Investment Initiative is “powered” by the Public Investment Fund, established in 1971 by royal decree. It finances “key projects” and provides support for “projects of strategic importance to the national economy.”

[Tami]

Trump’s “Rule of the Mob” Panic

Conservative supporters of Brett Kavanaugh have a new talking point: Those who fought against his nomination to the Supreme Court are nothing more than an angry “mob.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee members Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch all used the word in recent days to refer to peaceful protesters who organized to block Kavanaugh amid credible allegations of sexual assault against him. A vote for Kavanaugh, Grassley, the committee chair, said Friday, is a vote to “say no to mob rule.”

President Trump, as so often, went further, using the term to tar the entire opposing party. “In their quest for power, the radical Democrats have turned into an angry mob,” he told a rally on Saturday in Kansas. “Republicans believe in the rule of law, not the rule of the mob.”

It’s not hard to see the political strategy here: Ahead of the midterms, gin up fears among conservative voters about vengeful progressives hungering to send every white male who ever told a dirty joke to the guillotine. But the right’s sudden embrace of the “mob” epithet is much more dangerous than politics as usual.

In fact, the fear of the mob reflects a strain of antidemocratic thinking that, since the Founding, has helped thwart efforts to ensure political equality among all Americans. It’s fitting that today it’s being reinserted into the public debate by a political movement that’s fighting across the board to restrict democracy and the First Amendment and to hold back majority rule.

Many of the Founders openly expressed alarm about the prospect of extremist mob rule — which they often conflated with popular rule itself. “Democracies,” James Madison wrote in 1787, “have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention.” Alexander Hamilton, speaking at the Constitutional Convention the same year, pushed for a system that would resist radical change pushed by “the many,” and thereby “check the imprudence of democracy.” As the Heritage Foundation, the most powerful conservative think tank in Washington, has explained: “The Framers founded a republic [not a pure democracy] because they recognized that mob rule could be just as great a threat to liberty as the rule of a king.” No surprise, then, that the Constitution that emerged contained several antidemocratic features — the Electoral College, no right to vote — that continue to cause problems to this day.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

McConnell urges Dems not to investigate Trump after midterms

In terms of corruption and dirty dealings, Trump tops Nixon a dozen times over, and yet Republicans are not only looking the other way, they're bending over backwards to protect Caramel Caligula as long as he gives them what they want----money and power. But if a Democrat was in the Oval Office and was accused of committing so much as a fraction of the sneaky **** Trump has done, those very same Republicans would be screaming bloody murder for impeachment 24/7. The GOP made Bill Clinton's ill-conceived and foolish dalliance with Monica Lewinsky look like high crimes and treason, and yet, Trump's endless grifting and fraud doesn't get so much as a rise out of those unscrupulous bastards. Hypocrisy, yo.

[Iron Maiden]

McConnell urges Dems not to investigate Trump after midterms

Pretty rich coming from McConnell. I doubt he would advocate for this were the positions be reversed and the GOP was the minority during the administration of a President that is a Democrat

[Tami]

Pretty rich coming from McConnell. I doubt he would advocate for this were the positions be reversed and the GOP was the minority during the administration of a President that is a Democrat

Not Advocate? He wouldn't even give warning, he'd just jump right in...'emails', 'Bengazi'

If roles were reversed and *god forbid* Trump was a Democrat, they would investigate the incident with the toilet paper on his shoe.....nothing is above them if it brings down their opponents.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

In terms of corruption and dirty dealings, Trump tops Nixon a dozen times over, and yet Republicans are not only looking the other way, they're bending over backwards to protect Caramel Caligula as long as he gives them what they want----money and power. But if a Democrat was in the Oval Office and was accused of committing so much as a fraction of the sneaky **** Trump has done, those very same Republicans would be screaming bloody murder for impeachment 24/7. The GOP made Bill Clinton's ill-conceived and foolish dalliance with Monica Lewinsky look like high crimes and treason, and yet, Trump's endless grifting and fraud doesn't get so much as a rise out of those unscrupulous bastards. Hypocrisy, yo.

I need to strongly urge you to stop insulting caramel. Caramel is delicious flavor that is great on top of ice cream and is fantastic ingredient in other treats. In addition, I don’t think Caligula is too happy about this either. He’s been dead for awhile, let him rest.