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

[aja_christopher]

Alot of pundits are blaming Avenatti for some of this. No offense, but his clients allegations were the least credible and most far fetched of them all and it muddied a credible Dr. Ford in with that and the Ramirez allegation (which was also significantly weaker because she herself claimed she wasn't sure who did what). So it gave Republicans the out to lump them all together as a character assassination. He basically gave them a gift. Republicans had to tip toe around Ford. They didn't around the other two. So they treated the weakest link as the bulk of the argument. I kinda wish he stayed out of this one. He didn't have enough to offer here and it brought the circus in play.

Oh come on man -- the Republicans weren't going to "investigate" the situation regardless and now you're sitting here trying to blame Avenatti for a sham hoax where the FBI didn't even talk to Ford or Kavanaugh, much less Avenatti's client.

I can't even take you seriously anymore -- all you (and 30) try to do is drag down everyone else while ignoring the real problem here -- THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

If you want to beat an enemy then focus your attacks on your enemy and not your allies -- you might think it's helpful criticism but it comes off as you being just another Sanders supporter who still hasn't gotten over the fact that he lost.

Not saying you are but it definitely seems that way.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Oh come on man -- the Republicans weren't going to "investigate" the situation regardless and now you're sitting here trying to blame Avenatti for a sham hoax where the FBI didn't talk to Ford or Kavanaugh, much less Avenatti's client.

I can't even take you seriously anymore -- all you (and 30) try to do is drag down everyone else while ignoring the real problem here -- THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

And I can't change the Republican Party. I'm not a Republican, I don't support them, and they don't count to me. The party I do support just lost the whole fucking government under an incredibly popular President. There's obviously something they can do better

[numberthirty]

Oh come on man -- the Republicans weren't going to "investigate" the situation regardless and now you're sitting here trying to blame Avenatti for a sham hoax where the FBI didn't even talk to Ford or Kavanaugh, much less Avenatti's client.

I can't even take you seriously anymore -- all you (and 30) try to do is drag down everyone else while ignoring the real problem here -- THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

He didn't blame them for that they were never going to seriously address it.

He blamed Avenatti for giving them a smoke bomb that they could toss when they did so.

Which is exactly what he did. Intentionally or not.

[aja_christopher]

He didn't blame them for that they were never going to seriously address it.

He blamed Avenatti for giving them a smoke bomb that they could toss when they did so.

That's just ridiculous -- it was a sham investigation to begin with and the fact that you're even sitting here trying to argue about it is just as nonsensical as the investigation itself.

And I can't change the Republican Party. I'm not a Republican, I don't support them, and they don't count to me. The party I do support just lost the whole fucking government under an incredibly popular President. There's obviously something they can do better

No -- there's something Americans can do better.

Vote instead of always complaining.

The policies were there under both Obama and Hillary -- many of the voters who support said policies (health care, clean energy, civil rights, etc) just didn't show up, and that's on them.

They are things that should be mentioned every ten minutes from now until doomsday.

Kinda like the fact that (non-Democrat) Sanders lost the (Democratic) primary handily but some people still can't deal with the reality of said fact over a year later and are still coming on the boards trying to attack the "Democrats" for not voting for a non-Democratic candidate.

Or the fact that you didn't even take the time to vote yet you still somehow find all the time in the world to come here and complain about the results of the election after the fact -- which is like a person who won't go to work complaining about how he's broke because others won't take care of him.

Let's mention those things every ten minutes until doomsday as well, since people like yourself not voting for the "Democrats" is the real reason the Republicans have the majority and can do as they will in Congress.

[PaulBullion]

The Dems was just handed the house and the senate.

And every law they pass, and every achievement from the past century, can be undone by the Kavanaugh Kourt Klowns.

[worstblogever]

Three years ago on this date, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had a profile of Lenar Whitney, a former dance instructor who ran for office in Louisiana's 6th Congressional District in 2014, whose political heroes include Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin who once created a Youtube video titled simply "CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX!" and when the media reported her stance on the issue, immediately began declaring herself a victim of the liberal media. She also claimed that nations of the Middle East sell the United States oil to raise money to "blow us off the face of the Earth", and was pulled from the room by her aides during her interview with the Cook Political Report after she started to speculate about President Obama's birthplace only to claim the person conducting it was trying to make a "Palin-style interview".


In 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" featured profiles of U.S. Senator John Boozman of Arkansas, who has floated around Washington since 2002, first in the House, and now, a full seven years in the Senate. Boozman has appeared at events hosted by Brigette Gabriel and ACT, an anti-Muslim hate group in Washington, D.C. is an extreme social conservative, having voted for a proposed Constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage, voting against any and all legislation towards LGBT rights including ENDA, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", and once tried to bring a bill to the floor with Ted Cruz that would force the federal government to defer to the states on same-sex marriage. He has bought into several GOP conspiracy theories, from ACORN, to the IRS Scandal, to going as far as saying Planned Parenthood has had "a role in harvesting organs from unborn babies." Boozman repeatedly has voted against equal pay for women, against the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, and to restrict reproductive rights whenever possible. He voted against the renewal of CHIP, against Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, against raising the debt ceiling, and against the Zadroga Bill. He's a ridiculously radical opponent of gun control, arguing that assault weapon bans are unnecessary because they are too “big and bulky” to be used in criminal acts, participated in a Republican filibuster of the Toomey-Manchin Firearms Background Check Act, and spoke out against banning armor-piercing ammunition, feeling that no ammunition can be banned without violating the Constitution. He's on more than one occasion, voted to protect the right to bear arms of people who end up on the "no-fly list", feeling that while we don't trust them to even get on an airplane, suspected terrorists should be allowed to stockpile guns and ammo.

Boozman won re-election in 2016 with 60% of the vote, so he won't face election again until 2022. His return to the Senate has seen him approve every nominee for Donald Trump's "Cabinet of Horrors". That is EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Oh, and he voted to put Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, and the GOP Tax Plan/Scam. His voting record also shows that he voted for both of the Senate's attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act that would have left about 23-24 million people without health insurance, and in July, Boozman even suggested that he was willing to repeal without a replacement, if that's what it took. Never mind that it would mean tens of thousands more Americans would die ANNUALLY.

That's probably the reason while he's gone the coward's route, and refused to attend town halls with his constituents in person, most of whom he's shocked... SHOCKED to learn don't actually support Donald Trump's policies once they realize they impact themselves negatively, too. You can't accuse Sen. Boozman of being heartless, though, because he didn't host any town halls during the August Congressional recess because he was having follow-up surgery on a tear in his aorta that hospitalized him in 2014. He's hoping his ticker will hold up to get him through the rest of his term, and the GOP are probably hoping that Donald Trump's lies about "Senators in the hospital" don't become true, with people they're counting on like John Boozman to even come close to the 50 votes they need to f*** over tens of millions of Americans, assuming there isn’t a filibuster going.

[Tendrin]

Next up, the ACA will be struck down with the latest set of lawsuits due to the changes in the tax code as a stealth run around to destroy it at last.

That is the goal of the lawsuits winding their way through the court now and the 5-4 conservative majority will do what it was created to do.

This means I'll probably die.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Women Let Out A Primal Scream Over Brett Kavanaugh. It Didn’t Matter.

Somehow, Republican men assumed the mantle of victimhood. Sadly, it was NEVER going to matter. And Dr. Ford immolated herself for nothing....

Ford did the best she could under those circumstances and was, by nearly all accounts, extremely credible. The most cynical Republicans had to admit that they at least believed she had been assaulted, and even Donald Trump called her a “very credible witness.” It’s just that no matter what she said or how credible she seemed, her story had no effect on their desire to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the highest court in the land. The spectacle was a pointless charade. A woman annihilated herself before the country so that a handful of Republicans could pretend they cared what she had to say.

And so women let out a collective primal scream. Women in their 50s, 60s, 70s began calling into C-SPAN — dry, sober C-SPAN — to announce to the world that they, too, had been sexually assaulted decades earlier. Rape survivors angrily confronted politicians in elevators and hallways demanding to be heard, driving one Republican senator to hide in a bathroom. The sharing of stories became so compulsive, so casual, that a cab driver of mine, a woman from Trinidad, volunteered two minutes into a ride that she had been raped twice by a diplomat.

I asked if she tried to report the assaults, and she laughed. “Please, they don’t even believe white women,” she said. “Why would they believe me?”

**********

Kavanaugh’s On His Way To The Supreme Court, But Sexual Assault Survivors Will Persist

“They think that they’re winning,” one advocate said, “but they have basically ignited a movement that’s never going to go away.” A movement the GOP will casually ignore because they don't give a shit about women or their causes.

**********

Brett Kavanaugh Is On Track To Be A Historically Unpopular Supreme Court Justice

The nominee has the votes he needs in the Senate, but he’s underwater in public opinion. Big whoop. The GOP doesn't give so much as one quarter of a fuck about the public.

**********

Chuck Grassley Says Workload May Deter Women From Joining Judiciary Committee

The chairman quickly walked back his remark by saying women in the Senate work “harder than the average man.” Why did Grassass bother recanting his words since that clearly was what that old fart knuckledragger BELIEVED?

**********

The Brett Kavanaugh Vote Was A Test Of Machismo, Not Politics

In the wake of professor Christine Blasey Ford’s account of how Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her in high school, his supporters went out of their way to discredit her credibility from before they even heard her speak. Even though evidence shows that Judge Kavanaugh lied repeatedly under oath, every Republican (with the notable exception of Sen. Lisa Murkowski) plus Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin have decided to blindly and stubbornly stand by their man.

There’s a word for that in Spanish: It’s called machismo.

Machismo is more than just sexism, chauvinism or even misogyny; it’s the belief that men are superior to women. It also refers to the culture that enforces that belief, one which protects male domination and social standing through subjugation, stereotypes and a gentlemen’s agreement to have one another’s backs.

Machismo also fuels violence against women and sustains the culture of impunity we’re witnessing today.

We in the Latino community are all too familiar with machismo and its effects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13.6 percent of Latinas are rape survivors, and 35.6 percent of Latina women have experienced sexual violence other than rape during their lifetimes. Members of our community are also less likely to report sexual assault, oftentimes because of their immigration status and fear of being deported for reporting a crime.

Yet, the reality is that machismo and the violence it breeds are not confined to the Latino community. The Me Too movement has shown us that machismo and its effects are present throughout our society — Latinos just happen to have named it.

Nearly one in three women will experience sexual assault or violence in their lifetime. Sixty percent of sexual assaults go unreported, largely due to the survivor’s reasonable fear of being shamed, retraumatized, revictimized or simply not believed.

And when it comes to our political institutions, the Senate has long been the epicenter of machismo.

[aja_christopher]

Somehow, Republican men assumed the mantle of victimhood. Sadly, it was NEVER going to matter. And Dr. Ford immolated herself for nothing....

Maybe it didn't matter to the Republican "base" but it remains to be seen how much it mattered to "independent" and other female voters and candidates in the next few elections.

With Kamala on the rise and veterans like Susan Rice potentially in play, once the Republicans lose their monopoly on Congress I have little doubt that said individuals may be even more effective at taking on Trump than politicians like Obama and Schumer -- realistically speaking, if women decided to form a solid political coalition in order to protect their rights, they'd be the most powerful voting bloc in the nation if only by virtue of population alone.

-----
"Pre-election forecasts of the 2018 midterm elections suggest the potential for the largest gender gap ever recorded. These predictions are affected by a surge in opposition to Republican President Trump, activation of women as political actors through actions such as the Women's Marches in 2017 and 2018, and increased efforts to recruit women candidates, particularly Democrats.

In addition, women tend to outvote men at higher rates in congressional than presidential elections.

The significance of the gender gap in American politics is magnified because women generally turn out to vote at higher rates than their male counterparts.
Scholars argue that this is the result of a greater sense of civic duty among women than men. In addition, due to their longer life expectancy, women also comprise a larger percentage of registered voters than men.

Thus, the effects of even small gender gaps in men's and women's vote choice can be magnified, particularly in close elections."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting..._United_States

[Tami]

Grassley: Maybe women don't join Judiciary Cmte. due to workload

He makes it sound like it's their choice, and not the effects of having being in a male dominated, misogynistic, Republican environment.

Amid all the political fallout from the Kavanaugh confirmation drama, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee made some eyebrow-raising remarks. Mara Gay & Josh Gerstein join to discuss that and more.

[InformationGeek]

More with Grassley, getting into conspiracies himself.

Maria Bartiromo asked Chuck Grassley this morning if he thinks George Soros is paying the elevator protesters. "I have heard so many people believe that. I tend to believe it," Grassley said. Trump tweeted the accusation about 80 minutes later

[Tami]

Follow this Twitter Thread:

Susan Collins pressed the button on her wall and the secret entrance slid open. She stepped forward and gingerly walked down the limestone pathway. The air grew more foul as she went deeper. Finally she arrived in the Senate's bowels. "Enter, child," Mitch McConnell said.

[Tendrin]

More with Grassley, getting into conspiracies himself.

Meanwhile, Gohmert Gohmerts himself ever lower.

Gohmert replied, "They might as well raise their forearm and raise their hands and yell 'Heil Soros' is the way they're headed."

https://crooksandliars.com/2018/10/r...i-george-soros

[PaulBullion]

Not quite sure what the context is... Looks like Laura "Sieg Heil" Ingraham and her sidekick are trying to demonstrate how harmless liking beer is and it goes horribly, hilariously wrong.

https://twitter.com/MuslimIQ/status/1048543416953528327

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

So anyone want to move to Europe with me?