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

[Tami]

Wanted to know more about this, thought some others might as well.

The Weekly Standard, conservative outlet that criticized Trump, to shut down

The Weekly Standard is shutting down, owner Clarity Media Group announced Friday, ending one of the only conservative outlets that consistently stood in opposition to the style and politics of President Donald Trump.

The magazine’s final issue, which was completed Thursday, will publish on Dec. 17, Clarity said in a news release. The decision was communicated to staff members at a 10:30 a.m. meeting.

Rumors had been swirling about The Weekly Standard since Clarity announced that its sister publication, the Washington Examiner, would expand with a weekly conservative magazine with national distribution. With the new Examiner product positioned to take over The Weekly Standard’s corner, management decided to shutter the journal, rather than sell it or allow it to exist in some other form that could create a potential competitor to the newly expanded Examiner.

One reason many observers speculated that Clarity might want to shutter The Weekly Standard rather than sell it was to permit the Examiner to make use of its subscriber list. A Clarity spokesperson confirmed Friday that subscribers to The Weekly Standard will now, in fact, receive the Washington Examiner instead. “Clarity Media Group has an obligation to fulfill all active subscriptions to The Weekly Standard. We will do so with the new, redesigned and expanded Washington Examiner that will launch on January 1,” the spokesperson said in a statement. Asked whether Weekly Standard subscribers who preferred not to receive the Examiner would be offered a refund on the remaining portion of their subscription, the spokesperson declined to answer.

Kristol, who two years ago moved from his editor-in-chief role to be an editor at large, has publicly said he intends to keep the Standard’s voice and style alive in some form. Editorial leaders from the magazine have been in discussion in recent days over what a possible successor publication might look like, two people familiar with the talks said. One possibility could be to expand a small conservative site called The Bulwark, which is published by the Defending Democracy Together Institute, a nonprofit with which Kristol is involved. He and Weekly Standard contributing editor Charlie Sykes already sit on the editorial board of the site, which currently lists just two editorial employees.

[worstblogever]

Three years ago on this date, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of the former U.S. Congressman from Indiana, Dan Burton, a former head of the House Oversight Committee who used that body to conduct witch hunts against the Clinton administration all through the 1990s, including at one point subpoenaing the entire Christmas Card list of Bill and Hillary. Burton also claimed the Clintons had former aide Vince Foster murdered, conducting a recreation of his death using a cantaloupe and handgun in his yard for assembled reporters, and further enflamed the insanity of conspiracy theorists by releasing false data about what happened at the Branch Davidian compound, in Waco, Texas, during the cult’s standoff with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. After becoming appreciably more quiet during the Bush administration, in 2009, the uglier side of Rep. Burton returned, as he started signing on to Birther Bills, making false statements about Barack Obama conducting deals to get George Soros rich, and in the middle of a Congressional hearing on autism, trying to use data gathered by disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield to prove a link between autism and vaccines. Burton finally retired in 2012, and is now in his eighties.

In both 2015, in 2016, and in 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted profiles of Ada Fisher, a highly anti-gay member of the Republican National Committee and failed political candidate from North Carolina who unsuccessfully ran for office to be a U.S. Senator in 2002 against Elizabeth Dole , then cried foul to complain that she wasn’t allowed to participate in television forums. In 2004 and 2006 she attempted to challenge Congressman Mel Watt in North Carolina’s 12th District, losing handily both times. Fisher supports the nutty idea of adopting a flat tax, and on immigration, runs to the right of even former President Bush, whose guest worker program, she classified as “amnesty”. Fisher has a few typical conservative positions like how she is opposed to gay marriage. Her argument, though, seems limited to the fact that gays should have to wait, because ”Marriage ought to be between one man and one woman at one time, and I'm still waiting.” Fisher’s tantrum after losing to Elizabeth Dole was not a run-off, but somewhat of a pattern of behavior, as she also threw a fit when a candidate other than the one she supported for the Chairman of the Republican National Committee won back in 2009. About six weeks into Michael Steele being elected, Fisher was trying to drum up support to get his resignation, in effect asking for the election to be conducted again until a result she liked occurred. The same thing happened in the 2015 GOP Primary race in Mississippi for Thad Cochran’s U.S. Senate seat, when she wanted Reince Priebus to investigate how Chris McDaniel could have lost to Cochran, volunteering herself to look into “racism” that led to Cochran’s victory. Fisher’s notorious about being so reactionary on both sides of the aisle, and if you need another example, there was the time in 2010 when she e-mailed the media a link to the following Youtube video she saw a poorly edited Youtube video that admitted to being made of “snippets” of President Obama, but Fisher seemed generally conflicted if it was legitimate, or made of out of context sound bites when her message asked, ”This tape should be investigated and verified. I am not an expert on tapes but if this isn't doctored we have a constitutional issue of humongous proportions to deal with.” That wasn’t Fisher’s only time taking shots at President Obama, by any stretch. In 2008, while campaigning for Sen. John McCain during his presidential run, Fisher tried saying that Obama should never be president because he admitted to using marijuana in his book, and that should disqualify him from the office. The media asked her how President Clinton could have held office, after his own discussions about marijuana, and all of the discussions about President Bush’s previous cocaine use, and she actually tried saying that it’s okay for a presidential candidate to have used drugs… so long as they lied about it and never admitted it. The last we heard from her, she was putting out editorials where she seemly like she was trying to convince herself that Donald Trump wouldn't keep ties to his businesses to avoid conflicts of interests (Hint: He didn’t exactly, because his children still have controlling interests in his company, and get regular updates from dad). If you were wondering to what depths of selling out Fisher might stoop to, well, in August 2017, only days after the attacks by Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists in Charlottesville, she was oddly silent about the bigotry and hatred of the Alt-Right. What she was far more concerned with, and wrote an op-ed about was seeing an African American woman but a noose around the neck of a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, and bring it down. At this point, the question isn’t if Fisher is drinking the GOP’s Kool-Aid, but whether she has drank so much that she is, at this point, the Kool-Aid Man. We’re going to set aside her profile at this time, we’ll move on to profile a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard is now 711-30, since this was established in July 2014.)


Tony Cornish
Welcome to the 711th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be talking about Tony Cornish, a former police chief, and now former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, serving District 23B from 2003 through 2017. Over the course of his last decade in office, his voting record grew more and more extreme, with four separate votes to block minimum wage increases, votes for stricter Voter ID Laws to suppress the vote, plenty of strict anti-choice legislation including bills he co-sponsored, his vote for transphobic bathroom legislation to be applied at schools, and not just a vote against legalizing same sex marriage, but his vote to ban same sex marriage completely, instead.

But that isn’t the reason why we’ve chosen to take time out to profile Tony Cornish a little over a year after he left office. No, we’re highlighting him for being a serial sexual harasser while in office, including not just a Democratic colleague, but other staffers from both sides of the aisle. After Democratic Rep. Erin Quade came forward, a lobbyist came forward and said she received a string of texts from Cornish trying to solicit sexual favor s from her. At first, Cornish denied all the accusations, but when the former Minnesota Speaker of the House came forward to say he had warned Cornish about similar behavior back in 2012, over two dozen other accusers came forward to report him for sexual harassment, and the media noticed Cornish’s ex-wife filed a protection order against him back in 1990…

Only then did Tony Cornish resign. And hopefully, the garbage truck that came for pickup that week had enough room to fit trash like him in it.

[Tami]

Climate Negotiators Reach an Overtime Deal to Keep Paris Pact Alive

KATOWICE, Poland — Diplomats from nearly 200 countries reached a deal on Saturday to keep the Paris climate agreement alive by adopting a detailed set of rules to implement the pact.

The deal, struck after an all-night bargaining session, will ultimately require every country in the world to follow a uniform set of standards for measuring their planet-warming emissions and tracking their climate policies. And it calls on countries to step up their plans to cut emissions ahead of another round of talks in 2020.

It also calls on richer countries to be clearer about the aid they intend to offer to help poorer nations install more clean energy or build resilience against natural disasters. And it builds a process in which countries that are struggling to meet their emissions goals can get help in getting back on track.

[Tami]

How McKinsey Has Helped Raise the Stature of Authoritarian Governments

This year’s McKinsey & Company retreat in China was one to remember.

Hundreds of the company’s consultants frolicked in the desert, riding camels over sand dunes and mingling in tents linked by red carpets. Meetings took place in a cavernous banquet hall that resembled a sultan’s ornate court, with a sign overhead to capture the mood.

“I can’t keep calm, I work at McKinsey & Company,” it said.

Especially remarkable was the location: Kashgar, the ancient Silk Road city in China’s far west that is experiencing a major humanitarian crisis.

About four miles from where the McKinsey consultants discussed their work, which includes advising some of China’s most important state-owned companies, a sprawling internment camp had sprung up to hold thousands of ethnic Uighurs — part of a vast archipelago of indoctrination camps where the Chinese government has locked up as many as one million people.

One week before the McKinsey event, a United Nations committee had denounced the mass detentions and urged China to stop.

[Mister Mets]

Those folks in Iowa sure love older white guys with lots of baggage.

Is this about Biden in first place, and Sanders in second in the Selzer poll?

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...at/2312541002/

BIDEN 32%
SANDERS 19%
BETO 11%
WARREN 8%
HARRIS 5%
BOOKER 4%
BLOOMBERG 3%
KLOBUCHAR 3%
DELANEY 1%
SHERROD 1%
CASTRO 1%

It is worth looking at early polls last year.

The first poll for the 2008 primary...

John Edwards 36%
Hillary Clinton 16%
Barack Obama 13%
Tom Vilsack 11%

And the first poll of the 2016 primary..

Clinton 53
Warren 10
Biden 9
Kerry 7
Sander 3

[Jack Dracula]

How McKinsey Has Helped Raise the Stature of Authoritarian Governments

Thanks for posting that Tami. The article's a little long but well worth the read.

[Malvolio]

Alarming CNN Graphic Shows Just How Many Ongoing Investigations Relate To Trump

Everything the president touches seems to turn to evidence. This is what happens when you have a thief and conman who lives for stealing and duping people in the most powerful office in the land.



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Paul Ryan Pushing Through Thousands Of Irish Visas Before Leaving Office

The House speaker previously blocked efforts to help Dreamers. But hey, lily white immigrants are just fine with Eddie Munster.

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Obamacare Will ‘Likely’ Survive Judge’s Ruling, Obama Tweets

He reassures Americans as he reminds people to sign up for the health care program before the deadline. Is it any surprise this ruling came down BEFORE Dems take control of the House in January?

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Robert Mueller Is Pressing To Interview Trump After President’s Written Answers: CNN

“The reality is everybody knows Trump can’t talk without lying,” says Van Jones on CNN. Which is why Republicans and Trump's lawyers DON'T want Dolt45 talking to Mueller.

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Twitter Users Shred Trump For ‘Celebrating’ The Weekly Standard’s Closure

Many took the opportunity to remind the president of his own failed businesses, while others questioned where he learned the word 'prognosticator'. Hmm! I wonder about that myself.

I hate to say I agree with Donald Trump, but I remember in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, etc. many on the left, myself included, would joke about how wrong the Weekly Standard was and wondered how Bill Kristol still had a job when he kept getting everything wrong in his political prognostications. If this had happened three years ago, some of us might be tweeting the same thing Trump did.

[Tami]

Giuliani: Trump interview with Mueller would happen 'over my dead body'

My husband showed me this article and joked: 'Mueller's response: 'We accept your terms''

My husband has a weird sense of humor.

[Gray Lensman]

I hate to say I agree with Donald Trump, but I remember in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, etc. many on the left, myself included, would joke about how wrong the Weekly Standard was and wondered how Bill Kristol still had a job when he kept getting everything wrong in his political prognostications. If this had happened three years ago, some of us might be tweeting the same thing Trump did.

Slate had a better take on why it closing is not a good thing, while still condemning the worst the Weekly Standard often printed.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Giuliani: Trump interview with Mueller would happen 'over my dead body'

My husband showed me this article and joked: 'Mueller's response: 'We accept your terms''

My husband has a weird sense of humor.

Heh! That was funny! Your husband has a wicked wit!

[Kevinroc]

New report on Russian disinformation, prepared for the Senate, shows the operation’s scale and sweep
The report, a draft of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is the first to study the millions of posts provided by major technology firms to the Senate Intelligence Committee

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...=.bf1af94b493d

A report prepared for the Senate that provides the most sweeping analysis yet of Russia’s disinformation campaign around the 2016 election found the operation used every major social media platform to deliver words, images and videos tailored to voters’ interests to help elect President Trump -- and worked even harder to support him while in office.

The report, a draft of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is the first to study the millions of posts provided by major technology firms to the Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), its chairman, and Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), its ranking Democrat. The bipartisan panel hasn’t said if it endorses the findings. It plans to release it publicly along with another study later this week.

The research -- by Oxford University’s Computational Propaganda Project and Graphika, a network analysis firm -- offers new details on how Russians working at the Internet Research Agency, which U.S. officials have charged with criminal offenses for meddling in the 2016 campaign, sliced Americans into key interest groups for targeted messaging. These efforts shifted over time, peaking at key political moments, such as presidential debates or party conventions, the report found.

“What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party -- and specifically Donald Trump,” the report says. “Trump is mentioned most in campaigns targeting conservatives and right-wing voters, where the messaging encouraged these groups to support his campaign. The main groups that could challenge Trump were then provided messaging that sought to confuse, distract and ultimately discourage members from voting.”

“Social media have gone from being the natural infrastructure for sharing collective grievances and coordinating civic engagement to being a computational tool for social control, manipulated by canny political consultants and available to politicians in democracies and dictatorships alike.”

[InformationGeek]

Oooof, that crap with Stephen Miller today. The only upside was seeing the pathetic attempt at covering up his balding.

[Tami]

Oooof, that crap with Stephen Miller today. The only upside was seeing the pathetic attempt at covering up his balding.

The bad hair puns just keep coming.

[Kirby101]

I hate to say I agree with Donald Trump, but I remember in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, etc. many on the left, myself included, would joke about how wrong the Weekly Standard was and wondered how Bill Kristol still had a job when he kept getting everything wrong in his political prognostications. If this had happened three years ago, some of us might be tweeting the same thing Trump did.

It's not that Kristol and the Standard were wrong about so many things. Most conservatives are wrong about most things. It's that it shows that there is no room on the Right for anyone not in the Trump camp.

[Kevinroc]

Texas ObamaCare Blunder
A judge’s ruling will be overturned and could backfire on Republicans.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-o...er-11544996418

No one opposes ObamaCare more than we do, and Democrats are now confirming that it was designed as a way-station to government-run health care. But a federal judge’s ruling Friday that the law is unconstitutional is likely to be overturned on appeal and may boomerang politically on Republicans.

Editorial from the Wall Street Journal editorial board. Even they think this decision was terrible.