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

[worstblogever]

On this date, in both 2014, as well as in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of former Texas Congressman Steve Stockman, a raving lunatic conspiracy theorist who was booted from Congress after one terrifyingly insane term back from 1995-1997 who inexplicably found his way back into the Capitol building eighteen years later, getting back in from 2013-2015. Over the years Stockman has come up with ideas like forcing all members of Congress to live in dorms, posed wild accusations about “the truth about what happened in the Koresh compound”, and apparently was contacting with some militia groups who tried warn him about the Oklahoma City bombing before it happened, and for whatever reason, he forwarded their fax to the NRA before the FBI. He has also defended the Liberty Lobby, a right-wing radio show that claims the Holocaust is a hoax against charges that they might be anti-Semitic, and called for all sex education to be removed from public schools. And that was in his FIRST term. In his second term these past few years, Rep. Stockman called for the impeachment of President Obama for using executive orders on gun control, compared Obama to Saddam Hussein, said Obama’s birth certificate is faked, and because he was born in Kenya he can’t be president, but while Ted Cruz’s birth certificate says he was born in Canada, he’s legit. Stockman showed an astounding level of ignorance about transgendered citizens by even being able to define even what the term “transgender” is, and distributed bumper stickers that said (and this is 100% true), “If babies had guns they wouldn’t be aborted”.

On this date in 2016, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" featured a profile of David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who through the years, has run for both Governor of Louisiana, and, in 2016, the Alt-Right movement and Donald Trump’s presidential run inspired him to run for U.S. Senate. Now, we’re not going to get into the details of every ugly thing David Duke has said over the past four decades, because we would be here all day... but suffice to say, there is no individual that has been so dedicated to hate that we can think of in American politics. Whether it’s for African Americans, Jews, immigrants, or the gay community, David Duke has been disparaging them since the 1970s in the name of white supremacy. We hope and pray David Duke is never a serious candidate, ever again until the day he dies.

On this date in 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" featured a profile of Bryce Marlatt, a former Oklahoma State Senator who served for almost a decade , chalking up a voting record to suppress to combat statistically non-existent cases of in-person voter fraud via stricter Voter ID laws meant to suppress the vote, voting to try and nullify federal firearms laws and the Affordable Care Act, a ban on Sharia Law, voting for a law to strip doctors that perform abortions of their medical license, and a vote for a Personhood bill. Where Marlatt was truly noteworthy was how after he was lucky enough to survive a DUI scandal back in 2014, when the police found him passed out behind the wheel of his parked vehicle, and when they asked him how many beers he had, he told them, “No more than anybody else. I had what you would call a bourbon and coke.” Based on how bloodshot his eyes were in the mugshot, it must have been in a very large glass, if not a bucket. Anyway, we’re guessing that Marlatt learned his lesson after this incident, and made it a point to always take a cab, or call an Uber to come pick him up after a night of hard drinking. But perhaps the Uber route wasn’t the way to go, because Bryce has such poor self-control that when he was picked up by a female Uber driver in July 2017, he went and sexually assaulted the poor woman, grabbing her forcefully and starting to kiss her on the neck while she was trying to drive. Why, would you believe that a “family values” Republican who’s a husband and father of four would act in such a way? On September 6th, 2017, Bryce Marlatt was officially charged in the case, and he resigned six days later. As it stands, Bryce Marlatt is going to be real busy trying to keep himself out of jail, if not off of any sex offenders’ lists. And that’s not exactly the sort of thing that would be good on a resume of someone seeking higher office, which he would have to do because he’d be term-limited in the Oklahoma state legislature. Odds are, this guy’s career is good and over, so we'll set aside his profile to go ahead and take a look at a different kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 695-30, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Scott Wagner
Welcome to the 695th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we'll actually be talking about Pennsylvania State Senator Scott Wagner, who has mounted a run to try to become the next Governor of Pennsylvania here in the 2018 mid-term elections, running against Democratic incumbent Tom Wolf. As a legislator, Wagner has served since 2014, and is considers himself 100% Pro-Life, which is hard to argue as he supports even fetal heartbeat bills that effectively ban abortion at 6 weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant, and sponsored a bill to outlaw D&E abortions prior to 20 weeks. His fanaticism about a woman’s right to choose, however, is far from the only reason we’re highlighting him today.

Let’s start with how his campaign kicked off in a less-than-inspiring manner, as while addressing a country club crowd, Wagner realized that he was being filmed by a progressive activist… so he threatened to confiscate their camera (which, he has no legal right to do), and then backed that threat up, snatching it away. The activist then wisely pulled out their cell phone and began recording with that, demanding that Wagner return their actual camera, at which point, Wagner physically assaulted them in an effort to get the phone away.

So… that’s nuts, right? Like, you would think he would have an aide or staffer handle this sort of thing and be subtle about it, but nope. And we’re just warming up.

As the GOP Primary went on, at one point Scott Wagner argued that “teachers are overpaid”, which runs contrary to most of the grassroots movements for raises for teachers that have spawned in the past 18 months or so, and is incredibly hard to justify based on the actual math involved. Not that the math matters to Wagner, though, because he overstated the average teacher’s salary by roughly $18,000 a year.

Anyway, even with some serious red flags popping up along the way, Scott Wagner won the GOP nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania with 44% of the vote in a three way primary. He then resigned from the Pennsylvania State Senate to focus full time on his gubernatorial campaign, and honestly, based on what we’re about to talk about, it might be better if he’d focused on being a State Senator, and campaigned saying how important that job is.

There’s people who deny the existence of climate change, and then there’s crackpots with cockamamie junk scientific explanations for why it’s not a thing. Scott Wagner is decidedly in the latter category, as he has not only addressed increasing temperatures by falsely claiming that the Earth is getting closer to the sun, but that some of the warming we’re seeing is from “body heat” from rising populations. In March of 2018, at a town hall, a potential voter asked him how he could be so clueless about the environment, as she had grave concerns as to what the Earth might be like if something wasn’t done to halt climate change, and Wagner just decided to go with condescension in his reply, telling her, “You’re real young and naïve.”

Wondering how Wagner is on LGBTQ issues? Well, for a time, there were claims out there that Scott Wagner might actually be a bit moderate when it came to folks from alternative lifestyles, but then he came out in support of a ban on same sex marriage that would, of course, be unconstitutional via the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, and in August 2018, he was recorded voicing his support for transphobic bathroom bans, citing people’s “plumbing” to justify his bigotry:

"It’s real simple. If you’re born with male plumbing, you use the men’s room. If you’re born with female plumbing, you use the ladies’ room. Period.”

Now, if you think that was a gaffe, there is also the fact that Wagner was the only candidate in the race to refuse to release his tax returns, and his reason was that union employees at his private business might use that information to squeeze a higher salary out of him:

"If I make money or don't make money that's my business. And you know what? If I disclose those tax returns, union representatives get a hold of my tax returns, go around to my employees' homes at night and say, 'Hey Mrs. Jones, how much does your husband make?' She goes, 'Well he makes this.' 'Well this guy makes a lot more.'"

Instead, he just comes off as a Trump Republican, following the lead of Mango Mussolini on tax returns. And, not just on his taxes. Because in September 2018, Wagner decided to share with potential voters his thoughts on immigrants and Muslims, and… well… he lifted his talking points from InfoWars, and compared immigrants and Muslims to raccoons in a racist diatribe.

You’re probably thinking that doing something that racist almost certainly would be the dumbest thing a candidate can say as the elections… but Wagner still wasn’t done. Now trailing far behind Gov. Tom Wolf in polls, he thought he would "joke" about the deficit by saying “Russia will help me with Tom Wolf,” and “I’ll call Paul Manafort if I have to.” (Manafort, of course, had already been found guilty on several counts of fraud, and was in the process of flipping and pleading guilty to a myriad of other crimes in the Muller investigation.)

Suffice to say, Scott Wagner seems like a longshot on November 6th at this point. We hope he doesn’t run for any office in 2020, and just goes the f*** away.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Last I heard, Wagner was trailing Wolf by double digits, so the chances of my state getting a Republican in the Governor’s Office are pretty damn slim.

[Hypestyle]

She seems nice:

uh, what? who is she?

[Kevinroc]

The Republicans morphed into the party of the bad guys of every 1980s film so quickly that I don't think some people have even noticed it yet.

[Carabas]

uh, what? who is she?

It says "Russia Today DC Correspondent in the small print.

[zinderel]

The Republicans morphed into the party of the bad guys of every 1980s film so quickly that I don't think some people have even noticed it yet.

Basically, you name a Captain Planet villain, and I can name a Republican who is that character.

[JCAll]

Basically, you name a Captain Planet villain, and I can name a Republican who is that character.

Now there's a fun party game!
Trump is Captain Pollution, obviously. They have the same awful tan.
I can't think of anyone for Dr. Blight, Republicans don't trust science.
No one for Duke Nukem either, he has too much style.

[Tami]

On the Left, Eyeing More Radical Ways to Fight Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON — The bitter partisan fury that engulfed Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation was the fiercest battle in a political war over the judiciary that has been steadily intensifying since the Senate rejected Judge Robert H. Bork in 1987.

But an even greater conflagration may be coming.

“This confirmation vote will not necessarily be the last word on Brett Kavanaugh serving a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court,” said Brian Fallon, executive director of the liberal group Demand Justice and the top spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Facing a Supreme Court controlled by five solidly conservative justices, liberals have already started to attack the legitimacy of the majority bloc and discussed ways to eventually undo its power without waiting for one of its members to retire or die.

Some have gone as far as proposing — if Democrats were to retake control of Congress and the White House in 2020 or after — expanding the number of justices on the court to pack it with liberals or trying to impeach, remove and replace Justice Kavanaugh.

[Mister Mets]

They would have had hearings and then an up or down vote. Got anything else?

Thanks to engaging with the question (same to Carabas.) I do want to push a bit on this. Do you think the hearings would be largely pro forma (IE- Democrats would know that they disagree with the person politically, so they'll vote against him/ her, but they'll still go through the motions?) or would Democrats be more persuadable to support someone conventionally qualified and center-right replacing one of their most reliable votes on the court?

On the Left, Eyeing More Radical Ways to Fight Kavanaugh

The idea of expanding the court has been mentioned a few times. It does seem dumb to talk about this while Republicans hold the White House and the Senate.

Impeachment will be hard, requiring a US House majority and two-thirds of the Senate.

https://www.vox.com/2018/9/27/179105...rett-kavanaugh

Judges who have been impeached tend to have committed criminal wrongdoing (falsifying tax returns, accepting bribes from mobsters in exchange for lighter sentences.)

[zinderel]

Now there's a fun party game!
Trump is Captain Pollution, obviously. They have the same awful tan.
I can't think of anyone for Dr. Blight, Republicans don't trust science.
No one for Duke Nukem either, he has too much style.

Believe it or not, I have read an article earlier this year positing Scott Pruitt as the Trump admin's Dr. Blight analog. As for Duke Nukem, I would say that any politician pushing for looser restrictions on radioactive waste - or who aligns with a scientist like Edward Calabrese, who argued that smaller exposures of cell-damaging radiation and other carcinogens can serve as stressors that activate the body's repair mechanisms and can make people healthier - fit that bill, in terms of motive, if not style.

[Carabas]

Thanks to engaging with the question (same to Carabas.) I do want to push a bit on this. Do you think the hearings would be largely pro forma (IE- Democrats would know that they disagree with the person politically, so they'll vote against him/ her, but they'll still go through the motions?) or would Democrats be more persuadable to support someone conventionally qualified and center-right replacing one of their most reliable votes on the court?

I think that as long as it wasn't an obvious monster, or didn't make little booboos like admitting he thought the basic contraceptive pill was a form of abortion, or otherwise gave indications he'd be unable to judge fairly (i.e. do his job), he'd get confirmed.

[InformationGeek]

Dear god, Graham is really trying to destroy every molecule of credibility possible.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham continued going further in his defense of Brett Kavanaugh than most of his Republican colleagues, dismissing out of hand any suggestion that sexual assault victims would be more reluctant to speak out because of the confirmation. Turns out, according to Graham, the real victim of the whole process was Kavanaugh. “I think the roles were reversed: The slut whore drunk was Kavanaugh,” Graham said shortly after the Senate voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Graham insisted that his experience in the judicial system as a prosecutor and defense attorney has allowed him to look at the whole confirmation battle with an eye toward history. “I’ve tried to look at this thing through a process that stood the test of time—some standards, some presumptions, some evidentiary requirements,” Graham said. “All I can say is that seldom do you advance justice by creating an injustice, and I think it would have been unjust for Judge Kavanaugh to have his life ruined based on the allegations that were presented.”

Although certain accusations against Kavanaugh were “outrageous” and “making no sense,” Graham also suggested he was doing a favor to all men in public office by raising the standard of what kind of accusations would be believed by the establishment. “We’ve got to have some verifications, some sense of balance, because if that’s enough, just the mere accusation, then you’re going to unleash Pandora’s Box here. Because those of us in public service, you should be scrutinized but you don’t want to set a standard where you just take anybody out by accusing them,” Graham said after characterizing Christine Blasey Ford as a “victim of a process.”

Graham said he had “never been more pissed in my life” than during the Kavanaugh confirmation process. “I’m happy because the effort to humiliate and railroad a man I’ve known for 20 years, who’s never been banned from a mall, unlike Roy Moore, failed,” Graham said on Fox News Sunday. “I’m happy that those that tried to destroy his life fell short.”

[Gray Lensman]

It says "Russia Today DC Correspondent in the small print.

Someone who is being paid to destroy America - not that we aren't doing a bang up job of that on our own.

[Malvolio]

Now there's a fun party game!
Trump is Captain Pollution, obviously. They have the same awful tan.
I can't think of anyone for Dr. Blight, Republicans don't trust science.
No one for Duke Nukem either, he has too much style.

Rand Paul is a doctor, even if his degree is from a non-accredited school.