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

[worstblogever]

John Duncan, Jr.
Welcome to the 733rd original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing the former U.S. House Representative from Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District, John Duncan, Jr, who is pictured in the above photo where his grin makes him look like he’s auditioning to be a scheming mad scientist in a 1950s horror movie. Now, John Duncan Jr. is another GOP political legacy, as his father held office or Tennessee’s 2nd District from 1964 through 1988. Immediately after his father’s death that year, Duncan Jr. was elected in a special election to hold a seat that’s been Republican since 1859. Duncan would frequently not even face a challenger for his seat, getting pushed back into office at one point for four consecutive election cycles from 1994-2000 unopposed. Duncan wasn’t someone we rushed to profile, because every now and then, Duncan would go off the reservation and reject the agenda of the main Republican Party, like how he was one of the few Republicans to vote against the Iraq War resolution, or how he voted against the bailouts for Wall Street in 2007.

But really, when we really dig, there’s more to learn about Jimmy Duncan Jr. to take exception to. You don’t get to be a Congressman for 30 years and not say or do something stupid in that role. He tended to identify with the Libertarian wing of the GOP, and we didn’t notice at first, that in 2013, Rep. Duncan floated the idea that Ron Paul kept regurgitating, to return the United States to the gold standard. (Which economists estimate would crash not just the American economy, but the global economy.) He also refers to climate change as “the greatest scam in history” and cites five so-called scientists who disprove what ALL the other climate change scientists say is definitely happening.

There were also several years in Congress where Duncan did vote along party lines enough that he was the most conservative member of the Tennessee Congressional Caucus, which when we’re talking about a group that includes people like Marsha Blackburn, Scott Desjarlais, or Diane Black, that’s saying something.

We mean, look at this voting record:

• July 12th, 1996: John Duncan votes for the Defense of Marriage Act.
• March 21st, 2005: Rep. Duncan 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: Duncan co-sponsors and votes for a resolution towards creating a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
• December 6th, 2006: Rep. Duncan co-sponsors and votes for the "Abortion Pain Bill", which would create an unconstitutional ban on abortion at 20 weeks.
• July 31st, 2007: John Duncan votes against the Equal Pay Bill.
• November 7th, 2007: John Duncan votes against ENDA, allowing the continued discrimination of LGBTQ citizens based on their sexual identity in the workplace.
• July 24th, 2008: Rep. Duncan votes against funding for the prevention of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
• January 9th, 2009: Duncan votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
• April 29th, 2009: John Duncan 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 John Duncan 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. Duncan is apparently alright with ecological disasters continuing in the future, as he votes against it.
• December 8th, 2010: Rep. Duncan votes against the DREAM Act.
• December 15th, 2010: Duncan votes against the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".
• On January 5th, 2011, Rep. Duncan votes the first attempt by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
• On February 18th, 2011, John Duncan votes to defund Planned Parenthood.
• March 17th, 2011: Rep. Duncan votes to cut funding to National Public Radio.
• September 15th, 2012: Rep. Duncan votes for the "No More Solyndras Act".
• September 21st, 2012: Duncan co-sponsors and votes for the "Stop the War on Coal Act".
• January 15th, 2013: John Duncan votes against Disaster Relief Funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

[worstblogever]

• February 28th, 2013: Duncan votes against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
• June 19th, 2013: John Duncan votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
• September 30th, 2013: Rep. Duncan votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown. When the vote came up seventeen days later to re-open the government, Duncan voted to keep it closed.
• Feb 26th, 2014: John Duncan goes "all in" on the faux-scandal surrounding the IRS researching SuperPACs by co-sponsoring and voting for the "Stop the Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act".
• July 10th, 2014: Duncan votes for House Amendment 1040, to prevent the implementation of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 Treaty, that in spite of just being recommended climate change guidelines, have many conspiracy theorists within the extreme right convinced it’s a plot for global domination.
• January 22nd, 2015: John Duncan votes for HR 7, an anti-abortion bill that makes even some Republicans pause before voting for it because of its language that tries to define the conditions for what “rape” is, in it.
• February 3rd, 2015: Rep. Duncan votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.
• March 3rd, 2015: Duncan votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
• September 11th, 2015: Duncan votes against the United States' nuclear treaty with Iran.
• September 18th, 2015: Rep. Duncan co-sponsors and votes for a bill with most House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.
• November 19th, 2015: Duncan votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks.
• February 2nd, 2016: John Duncan votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).
• February 16th, 2017: Duncan 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 Duncan 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.
• May 4th, 2017: Duncan votes for the GOP's healthcare plan, that would allow 24,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions, and would treat pregnancy, post-partum depression, and sexual assault as "pre-existing conditions". Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Duncan 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 Duncan 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: Duncan 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 Duncan 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: Rep. Duncan 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.

Shortly after the election of Donald Trump, in February of 2017, after Duncan had seen the rage from Democratic activists the day after the inauguration, and at the Women’s March, as well as other protests, he rejected call to host a town hall with his constituents. Where he definitely screwed up is when he publicly admitted it was because he felt that doing this entirely normal part of a representative’s job amounted to showing up for "shouting opportunities for extremists, kooks and radicals."

Still, Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District has a +20 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Index, and the Duncan family name has been a rubber-stamp for re-election since the Beatles were putting out albums. That seat would belong to John Duncan, Jr. as long as he wanted it, which presumably, he then would try and make his son, John Duncan III, a Knox County Trustee, the shoe-in to be his successor. Well… funny thing about that. Apparently John Duncan Jr. became the target of an ethics investigation for misusing campaign funds for taking personal vacations, to a sum of about $100,000. Meanwhile, his son, John III, was charged with a crime because he worked on his father’s campaign, and the “work” amounted to “do nothing, shut up, and take $300,000”.

This news broke probably not coincidentally around the time Duncan opted to not run for re-election in 2018, and thus, for the first time in over a half century, there is not a Duncan in Congress representing Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District. It seems unlikely that the criminal investigation into him allegedly illegally paying his son with campaign funds would aid any other member of his family from continuing their political dynasty, at least for a generation. And we are perfectly fine with that, and wish Mr. Duncan the finest of “good riddance” greetings.

[ZombieHavoc]

and of course the 'War on Christmas'.

I love the War on Christmas.

I remember once an Trump-lovin' ex-friend asked me, in all seriousness, if I celebrated Christmas. When I told him I loved Christmas, he seemed surprised because all the anti-American lefties hated Christmas and were trying to get it abolished.

What weirdos...

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I love the War on Christmas.

I remember once an Trump-lovin' ex-friend asked me, in all seriousness, if I celebrated Christmas. When I told him I loved Christmas, he seemed surprised because all the anti-American lefties hated Christmas and were trying to get it abolished.

What weirdos...

You have to realize Fox News is a bubble for conservatives who don’t want to hear anything but things that reinforce their viewpoint

[ZombieHavoc]

You have to realize Fox News is a bubble for conservatives who don’t want to hear anything but things that reinforce their viewpoint

Oh I get it. The dude began a steady diet of Limbaugh in college, graduated to Ann Coulter and Fox News, became a Tea Partier, went insane when Trump got the nom and tries to claim he's some sort of moderate free-thinker because he references Ben Shapiro all the time. Which is probably the worst part of it.

Still a weirdo though.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

You have to realize Fox News is a bubble for conservatives who don’t want to hear anything but things that reinforce their viewpoint

FAUX News is first class brainwashing on a national scale, feeding right wingers and conservatives the pablum they need on a daily basis. Hell, it's what Caramel Caligula lives for since he occasionally shapes policy based on bullshit he gets from the likes of Fox & Fiends, Sean Hamhocks, Fucker Carlson, Laura Ignoramus and other knuckleheads on that channel.

[PaulBullion]

Cable news talking head Nomiki Konst is running for political office, which leads Politico to ask:

Who is Nomiki Konst?

Reading this makes me think she should have stuck to tv gigs. She might not enjoy being vetted.

Her campaign depicts her as one in a movement of millennial women finding their voices. But for someone campaigning for a job to keep fellow city leaders honest, her own personal history is hard to pin down.


...
Konst says she attended the University of Arizona but declined to say if she graduated. Inquiries to the university were not returned.

...

By 2011, the organization was describing itself as “a DC non-profit corporation.” POLITICO has been unable to find evidence that the organization registered as a nonprofit.

...

“We don't have any records of [that job] ever existing,” said another Truman Center spokesperson

...

She describes herself on her campaign website as an “award-winning investigative journalist.” Asked to specify, her campaign said she participated in a Citizens Union panel entitled, “Recognizing New York Journalists Who Make Democracy Work,” after which she and other panelists were awarded glass apples with their names on them.

Yikes.

[Mister Mets]

Abortion kills zygotes and fetuses. Trump is responsible for the deaths of actual babies. And locking them in cages, tearing them from their mothers.

What actions has Trump taken that make the deaths of children inevitable?

And what is the appropriate course of action with the asylum seekers, considering that it can be dangerous to have incentives for people to bring malnourished children on risky journeys, and that while a majority of applicants are determined to have enough cause to make an asylum claim and stay until it is processed, a majority of claims are eventually rejected?

Funny how Dems associate gay and woman bashing with conservatives...yet pay the utmost respect to the Islamic culture. Where gays are routinely tossed from rooftops and women are made to wear pitch black outfits from head to toe in the sweltering Middle East and can be stoned to death in the middle of the street for leaving the house without a male guardian.

Kinda ironic

There is also the weirdness of all the criticism of Israel.

And she was. Did Hillary rip off thousands of workers and lie to them ? Did Hillary cheat on her husband and have numerous affairs ? Sure she's no angel and no one is. But the only comedy is from you conservatives who continue to do this insane horse **** act over Hillary Clinton and avoid anything to discuss Trump.

POT ...MEET....KETTLE. The very guy you helped elect basically had his charity shut down. Has had numerous investigations into his activities in comedy fashion. Yet ...your like , Hillary is the main villain.



CLAP...CLAP....bravo on your vote to spite the libs. You should be proud , you didn't vote for him on any policies but to spite folks. I have no words for the amount of silliness this post is. Its mind boggling. "I voted because the folks on the left established victim culture". WOW...



Newsflash , idiots have proclaimed Barack Obama a socialist since 2008. Did people care ? Nope.

The issue wasn't just whether Hillary was more corrupt than Trump, but whether she was bad enough that it became a more typical election.

2020 ELECTIONS

‘He is not going to be the nominee’: Dems slam Sanders over Maduro stance
The just-announced 2020 contender declines to say whether the socialist Venezuelan dictator should go.

CIA chief hints agency is working to change Venezuelan government
The US has a long and bloody history of meddling in Latin America's affairs- July 2017

U.S. government breaking international law with ‘interference’ in Venezuelan politics

What is the right course of action in Venezuela where the legislature declared the President illegitimate, and where there appears to be a humanitarian crisis?

[Mister Mets]

So wait...if all the Bernie voters and all the Hillary voters all voted for Hillary, how would Bernie have won 2016 when Hillary didn't? That's the same number of people.

No one claimed every Bernie voter went for Hillary, but that a greater percentage supported Hillary in 2016 than the number of Hillary 2008 supporters who backed Obama in that election.

A significant percentage of voters don't vote in primaries, so the argument could be that more of them would have been up for grabs if Bernie were the nominee.

Oh my bad. I didn't relize that that made him not an old white dude.

This may mark a problem with focus on race, gender and age. You lose sight of what makes candidates interesting, and the struggles they've faced.

Joe Biden has buried two children. He spent twelve years as chair of important Senate committees.

Cory Booker still has his residence in Newark.

Kamala Harris has spent decades as a prosecutor.

Supreme Court will decide census citizenship question
Decision could affect congressional delegations and appropriations

This is a thorny question. Should people who are in the country illegally count in terms of representation?

Instead of someone as old as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, the Democrats need to nominate someone as young as John F. Kennedy or even William Jennings Bryan who was only 36 years old when he ran in the 1896 presidential election. He was the the youngest major party presidential nominee in U.S. history.

Bryan ended up losing three times.

The Democrats also have a limited number of potential nominees as young as JFK. I don't think they want Tulsi Gabbard.

Obama had a comfortable margin over Romney so he had enough to win the states that would give him the lead in the electoral college.

Obama electoral votes = 332 vs Romney's 206
Obama popular vote = 65,915,795 (51.1 %) vs Romney 60,933,504 (47.2%)

Hillary's 2012 totals almost match Obama's 2016 total of 65,446,032

Remember what lost the election for Clinton was the electoral college. It boiled down to the Cook Political Report has shown that just three counties, representing 77,759 voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, determined the outcome of the election.

The Forbes article also shows how in many states, Clinton's totals don't match Obama's. It's hard to say if these were Bernie voters that didn't vote or it could even have been a gender bias. This country has shown a history of being unable to support candidates who are women. IMO there's no reason why we shouldn't have had a woman President by now. Great Britain has a had a couple of women as PM's, we have Angela Merkel in Germany, etc.

The lack of female Presidents is more due to the weak bench in previous generations.

There were eight female Senators in 1997.
There are 25 now, which does suggest that if the next President were a Senator, odds are 1 in 4 the person would be a woman.

[ZombieHavoc]

No one claimed every Bernie voter went for Hillary, but that a greater percentage supported Hillary in 2016 than the number of Hillary 2008 supporters who backed Obama in that election.

A significant percentage of voters don't vote in primaries, so the argument could be that more of them would have been up for grabs if Bernie were the nominee.

I already said I was being sarcastic.

Why are you even commenting on that anyway, because we now know that Bernie is the only candidate who will ever or should ever win an election anyway.

I don't even know why we are still pretending we're gonna have primaries or a general election.

It's Bernie's turn.

[PaulBullion]

What actions has Trump taken that make the deaths of children inevitable?

His policy led to children dying that, most likely, would not have died otherwise.

The buck stops with the guy that pulled the trigger. Mets.

[TheDarman]

I already said I was being sarcastic.

Why are you even commenting on that anyway, because we now know that Bernie is the only candidate who will ever or should ever win an election anyway.

I don't even know why we are still pretending we're gonna have primaries or a general election.

It's Bernie's turn.

Evidently, it can also be Warren. That would be acceptable.

Otherwise, we can get four more years of Trump ruining the normative structure of our body politic. Those are just the terms of the agreement. If we don't uphold our end by giving them the nominee that they want, we get what we deserve and women and minorities are damned.

[PaulBullion]

Has somebody mentioned that there will be a do-over election in NC because a whole bunch of Republicans cheated to change the outcome of several races?

[BeastieRunner]

Mueller Update:

With the shredded Epstein deal, news of Robert Kraft getting nailed for sex-trafficking, and the break that the kompromat was child sex-trafficking en lieu of debts in the Steele Dossier, there was a suggestion the American company involved with the SCOTUS during the Mueller investigation was actually a sporting organization or owner of a team.

Holy friggin' crap ... What is the Mueller Report gonna look like?

[TheDarman]

Has somebody mentioned that there will be a do-over election in NC because a whole bunch of Republicans cheated to change the outcome of several races?

This by the same party that launched an investigation into voter "fraud" of three million "illegal" votes in order to coax the president's ego.