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

[JCAll]

10 bucks said he has never heard of her or never even listened to her before.

Which is funny, because every time I hear the (completely disingenuous) conservatives on Twitter say that they aren't Trump supporters but they're going to support Trump from now on because they're so mad about liberal protests, I just picture them listening to "Look What You Made Me Do" in the background.

[Mecegirl]

10 bucks said he has never heard of her or never even listened to her before.

She's a slender attractive white female celebrity. He's heard of her. He is the lecher in chief after all.

[numberthirty]

She's a slender attractive white woman. He's heard of her.

Heard of her?

She's almost half his current wife's age. He's probably scouted her as the next "Mrs. T."

[Mecegirl]

Heard of her?

She's almost half his current wife's age. He's probably scouted her as the next "Mrs. T."

Can't argue with that.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

10 bucks said he has never heard of her or never even listened to her before.

A sucker bet if I’ve ever heard one. I’ll keep what little money I have, thank you very much.

[GindyPosts]

Technically correct, AKA wrong in every way that counts.

Ah, the Broken Clock.

Doesn't matter how wrong it usually is; it's winning!

[Tami]

Heard of her?

She's almost half his current wife's age. He's probably scouted her as the next "Mrs. T."

Considering all the love letters between them, I assumed that teh next Mrs T was a Mister named Kim Jung Un.

[GindyPosts]

You know, for all the bullshit right-wingers say about the "liberal elite" and how "leftist snobs" are ruining America... you'll never see me want to hang out with rich folk just because of my political beliefs. And yet, they refuse to hold their elite accountable because they help pay for their campaigns and bank accounts.

In other words; par for the course.

[Mister Mets]

Technically correct, AKA wrong in every way that counts.

It's the obligation of the fact-checker to carefully and clearly make that distinction, rather than suggesting someone is wrong when they know what they're talking about.

[Raiders]

Democracy?
All 52 Republican U.S. Senators represent only 18% of the population.
So, 18% rules over 82% of the population.

Democrats received more votes than the Republicans for HR, but the Republicans rule HR.

Clinton received more votes than Trump, but Trump is POTUS.

Our election system needs adjusting.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump’s New NAFTA Shows What He Really Cares About

Corporate profits, not you. Show of hands if anyone's surprised.

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Mike Huckabee Dismisses Taylor Swift’s Political Endorsement Because ‘13-Year-Old Girls’ Can’t Vote

Swifties roasted the former Arkansas governor for shrugging off the singer’s support for Phil Bredesen in the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee. Never been a fan of Swift, but I'm glad her fans, more than a few of legal voting age put Fuckabee in his place. Meanwhile....

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Conservatives Are Losing Their Minds Because Taylor Swift Backs A Democrat

The pop star castigated the GOP Senate candidate in Tennessee. A predictable backlash followed, including from Donald Trump. What a bunch of whining wimps.

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GOP Senate Hopeful Kevin Cramer Calls Me Too A ‘Movement Toward Victimization’

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the North Dakota Democrat Cramer is challenging, responded by recalling her mom’s sexual assault. These GOP assholes continue being assholes. No surprise there.

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Twitter Users Erupt After Trump Apologizes To Kavanaugh ‘On Behalf Of Our Nation’

People tell the president: You don’t speak for me. Ditto!

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Tennessee's 4th Congressional District, Scott Desjarlais, an Episcopalian physician from Tennessee whose religious background would have made him the perfect Republican to push their social agenda against abortion, contraceptives, and gay rights, while also giving them a guy with the credibility to argue against the Affordable Care Act. The problem with that, though, is Desjarlais has proven to be an embarrassing hypocrite, because while he portrays himself a champion of the pro-life movement, his divorce records were unsealed, and the media discovered he protected the sanctity of marriage by cheating on his wife with four women, and pressured not only his wife (on tape, no less) into getting an abortion, but one of his mistresses. And that mistress was also apparently one of his patients (and she wasn’t the only patient he slept with)… so there went the credibility of the “doctor against the ACA” angle. Also, the “family values Republican” angle, considering he admitted sleeping with six women — including two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative — during his three-year marriage. But don’t worry, he’s assured everyone that “God has forgiven him”. Desjarlais is also a big hard-liner on immigration, what with the time he told an 11 year old girl that he was going to deport her dad, and all.

Desjarlains again survived a primary threat in 2016, winning with only 52% of the vote before going on into the general election and cruising to a victory over Democrat Steven Reynolds with 65% of the vote there. He has returned to Washington, and is believed to have joined the House Freedom Caucus. During the GOP-controlled House’s obsessive attempts to pass Trumpcare this past spring, one of its biggest defenders was Scott Desjarlais, who actually had the temerity to try and claim, against all analysis from medical organizations and the Congressional Budget office… that the American Healthcare Act would actually lower insurance premiums and “make health insurance” more affordable… than the program literally named the Affordable Care Act, that he wanted to repeal and kick 24 million people off their insurance. And that’s probably the reason why he’s been dodging facing his constituents like a coward these past few months.

His voting record sure would make it seem like that’s the case, and he’s joined the ranks of the hard right extremists:

• February 16th, 2017: Desjarlais 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: Scott Desjarlais 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. Desjarlais votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers' internet usage to businesses.
• May 4th, 2017: Desjarlais 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 Desjarlais 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: Scott Desjarlais 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. Desjarlais chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
• October 3rd, 2017: Desjarlais 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: Scott Desjarlais 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: Desjarlais 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.
• June 20th, 2018: As the Trump administration carries out its policy of separating migrant families seeking asylum in the United States along the U.S./Mexico border, effectively having immigration services kidnap their children and take them to detention centers to be locked in cages, Scott Desjarlais comes out hard in support of the family separation policy.

In explicably, even as the #MeToo movement continues, Scott Desjarlais remains in Congress, and is seeking a fifth term in office in a few weeks after winning the GOP Primary his seat, this time with 70% of the vote after several close calls the past few election cycles. His Democratic challenger is Mariah Phillips, a schoolteacher from Rutherford County who has her work cut out for her, since Desjarlais won victory by 31 points only two years ago, and Trump won the District by 41 points in 2018. All signs, however, are that given Desjarlais’ past sexual hijinks, his sudden support of locking children in cages and how much the country is souring on the Trump administration by the day that this race will be far, far closer than it’s been since the Tea Party Wave.

We’ll find out in about four weeks…

[Iron Maiden]

You know, for all the bullshit right-wingers say about the "liberal elite" and how "leftist snobs" are ruining America... you'll never see me want to hang out with rich folk just because of my political beliefs. And yet, they refuse to hold their elite accountable because they help pay for their campaigns and bank accounts.

In other words; par for the course.

Also the GOP like to throw out that protestors are paid by George Soros, which is pretty good since they fill spots at Trump rallies through Craigs List. Also, they practically have to genuflect before Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson. He's donated about 50 million this year to help in the midterms elections for the House and the Senate

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Now, we can add Moving Into A New House While Black to the list of innocuous things that can get African-Americans arrested these days:

61-Year Old Black Man Handcuffed While Trying to Move a TV Into His New House

Karle Robinson, a 61-year old African-American man from Kansas, was recently handcuffed by a police officer when he was moving into his own home, suspecting him as a burglar in his own house. Believing that the officer’s actions were racially-charged, Robinson filed a complaint against the police department.

Robinson, a retired military veteran, was reportedly moving furniture into his new home for over 12 hours in Tonganoxie, Kansas when police pulled up in front of his house at 2:30am. At that time, he was trying to carry a large television.

“I could use a hand with this,” he even told the officer who approached him with a turned on flashlight pointing on him, the Kansas City Star reports.

Little did he know that he would then be spending the next eight minutes handcuffed because the officer was suspicious and thought he was a burglar. Robinson was basically treated like a real burglar suspect as the officer waited for backup to check his story.

[Mister Mets]

Democracy?
All 52 Republican U.S. Senators represent only 18% of the population.
So, 18% rules over 82% of the population.

Democrats received more votes than the Republicans for HR, but the Republicans rule HR.

Clinton received more votes than Trump, but Trump is POTUS.

Our election system needs adjusting.

That first statistic is wrong. It neglects the impact of conservative big states (Texas, Georgia, North Carolina) and small states where Democrats do well (Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware)

In 2016, Republicans won the popular vote for the House, so that one is also wrong.