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

[JCAll]

If we are actually taking responsibility, why don't we just use our military to hand these folks safe countries rather than forcing them out of their home countries and giving them a passable immigration chance in the US?

Isn't that part of the ways we managed to screw over Central or South America in the first place?
Not to mention the middle east. And parts of Asia.
Has that ever worked? We keep trying it and it keeps biting us int he backside. Maybe we should try something else.

[numberthirty]

Isn't that part of the ways we managed to screw over Central or South America in the first place?
Not to mention the middle east. And parts of Asia.
Has that ever worked? We keep trying it and it keeps biting us int he backside. Maybe we should try something else.

You could say the exact same thing about if large groups of immigrants from South America coming North based on poverty has ever worked.

Personally, I don't really buy into that there is no potentially successful version of either situation that could happen.

In addition, I'd say that drug policy(if you can separate it from military intervention) has more to do with the current situation in Central/South America. Changes in drug policy without a military component seems like it could change things.

[zinderel]

Isn't that part of the ways we managed to screw over Central or South America in the first place?
Not to mention the middle east. And parts of Asia.
Has that ever worked? We keep trying it and it keeps biting us int he backside. Maybe we should try something else.

Pretty much my thought, too. Instead of military intervention, first we focus on the people ALREADY IN NEED. then we target the nations we destabilized. We provide them with humanitarian aid that doesn't come with a catch or a price. We empower the people to rise up and fix their OWN governments and organize them how THEY want, even if that way doesn't directly benefit our coffers, even if that way is not an economic mesh with our own broken system.

It would be nice if, in the process, we fixed our own problems...not that the current Republican controlled government would allow any changes like that, of course, but...It would just be nice if we did the RIGHT thing instead of the profitable thing.

[numberthirty]

Pretty much my thought, too. Instead of military intervention, first we focus on the people ALREADY IN NEED. then we target the nations we destabilized. We provide them with humanitarian aid that doesn't come with a catch or a price. We empower the people to rise up and fix their OWN governments and organize them how THEY want, even if that way doesn't directly benefit our coffers, even if that way is not an economic mesh with our own broken system.

It would just be nice if we did the RIGHT thing instead of the profitable thing, for once...

Honestly, I don't see any successful version of that potentially happening minus a military component.

[zinderel]

You could say the exact same thing about if large groups of immigrants from South America coming North based on poverty has ever worked.

Personally, I don't really buy into that there is no potentially successful version of either situation that could happen.

In addition, I'd say that drug policy(if you can separate it from military intervention) has more to do with the current situation in Central/South America. Changes in drug policy without a military component seems like it could change things.

I actually agree with you here, on this point. We DO need to change our drug policy, since the current policy does nothing so much as empower the worst abusers of power and the worst profiteers.

[numberthirty]

From the "Illinois" front...

Caught a bit of an Underwood/Hultgren debate on the radio. They both got incredibly serious with their answers about food labeling. While I do get the "Why" there, it was an interesting point for them both to decide to get amped.

[Tazirai]

First off, I'm number 666 to like the video. secondly. Conservatives are nuts. Totally unhinged.

[Tendrin]

This is a good article in rolling stone that includes a WBE alum!

https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...iberty-744850/

When Washington state Rep. Matt Shea looks out before him, he sees a mostly male crowd in militia T-shirts smiling back. Gathered across an expanse of suburban grass, they hold yellow Don’t Tread on Me flags. A handful carry AR-15s and are dressed in tactical camouflage vests loaded up with ammunition. It’s a hot August Saturday at a public park in Spokane, Washington. Wildfire smoke blurs the sun.
“I’m gonna speak from the heart today,” Shea says into the microphone.
Here, despite being the only one in a blazer, this state legislator is just Matt: Matt who places a hand on a man’s shoulder, Matt who bows his head in prayer moments before stepping to the mic, Matt who tells one man, “Be blessed,” as they part ways.

[worstblogever]

First off, I'm number 666 to like the video. secondly. Conservatives are nuts. Totally unhinged.

Isn't it weird how their solutions to nuanced issues often boil down to, "murder the people of color"?

Strange coincidence, that.

This is a good article in rolling stone that includes a WBE alum!

https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...iberty-744850/

I remember fond times like 3-4 years ago when a certain Republican on this forum tried hand-waving away CSGOPOTD because "I was just picking any Republican".

I look up, and see that I've spent all 4 years pointing out Matt Shea is a thing that's been happening, and I'm likely to have to mention him a fifth time. I'm not looking at folks like Dick Lugar, or say, Brian Sandoval. I was pointing out the GOP had a serious problem, and by hand-waving it away as "unfair criticism", the GOP have only enabled it to become the party norm. And that's why they have literal pimps, Neo-Nazis, militia members, and White Nationalists who write Bigfoot erotica running for office not just in state legislatures, but for Congress.

Stop. You don't have to keep doing this. Be better than this.

[worstblogever]

On this date, in 2014, in 2015, and in 2016, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of former six-term Georgia Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, , who is perhaps most famous for passionately campaigning for bills he wrote to recognize the Ten Commandments in all public schools and courtrooms (which isn’t constitutional). He was later interviewed by Stephen Colbert during his “Better Know a District” series, and was asked to name the Ten Commandments he loved so much, and could not. Rep. Westmoreland’s press secretary later claimed that the segment was edited to make him look bad, and said that he actually successfully named SEVEN of the ten. He’s also been known to be controversial on matters of race, having campaigned against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act as far back as 2006, and having referred to the first African-American president and first lady as “uppity”, only to be shocked when the media informed him that the term was racially charged. He has since had the decency to only refer to Barack Obama as “our enemy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue”, which is somehow an improvement in discourse. He’s also lambasted the media for having the nerve to report stories about Hillary Clinton and Benghazi (which he also thinks Obama should be impeached over) that indicate she committed no wrongdoing, and demanded investigations to prove that her top aide, Human Abedin, was not a secret operative for the Muslim Brotherhood. Westmoreland retired in 2016,

It was on this date in 2017 that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled A.J. Kern, a failed candidate for Congress from Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District in the 2016 elections whose career would best be described as “Monetizing Islamophobia”, as she is one of many known bigots in the state who spread as many lies as thy can about Muslims, which have led to an increase in attacks upon Somali immigrants in the state. Perhaps her most insane rant is against “female gential mutilation” being performed by Muslims, in spite of there being no edict in the Quran about such a thing. When she doesn’t do that, she claims Somali immigrants are driving up state and federal budget deficits because they somehow (she’s not clear on her math) exploit government assistance programs. Kern also agreed with Ben Carson during his 2016 presidential campaign, he stated his belief that the United States should never have a Muslim president. Apparently, she felt like Congressman Tom Emmer hadn’t hated Muslims enough, or that he was too busy being a homophobe to be a good enough Islamophobe, so A.J. Kern decided to challenge him for what was once the seat in Congress held by CSGOPOTD Hall of Famer, the bats*** Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. A.J. Kern managed to snag 26% of the vote in the GOP Primary in 2016 and 18% in 2018, which should tell you a lot about the modern Republican Party, that a person whose resume amounts to “dedicated bigot” could get over a quarter of their votes. She has returned to just giving hate speeches around Minnesota and isn’t running for elected office, thus we’ll set aside her profile to go ahead and take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 700-30, since this was established in July 2014.)


Jim Newberger

Welcome to the 700th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be discussing Jim Newberger, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota to challenge Sen. Amy Klobuchar here in 2018, who has cut his teeth in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2012. Perhaps Newberger’s most infamous moment in his six years as a state legislator was back in 2015, when Minnesota Democrats were discussing expanding their own light rail out past the St. Cloud prison (no stops in that neighborhood, we would guess), and Newberger chimed in, saying:

"Right on the edge of St. Cloud, maybe a half a mile, a quarter-mile, from the rail tracks is the St. Cloud State Prison.... Boy, wouldn't that be convenient, to have that rail line going from that prison to North Minneapolis..."

For those not in the know, Northern Minneapolis is also the most diverse community in the entire state, and is where most of the Somali immigrant population of the United States has settled. So… immediately after Newberger blurted that out, he was raucously booed by his colleagues, and immediately tried backtracking before putting out an insincere apology. And now, this guy wants to represent not just his tiny, predominantly white and rural district outside of St. Cloud, but the whole state of Minnesota in Washington. Funny, that.

And no, that’s probably not a coincidence, as during his campaign, Newberger has been calling for a block on all refugees being resettled in Minnesota, warning of the “rise of Sharia Law” and Muslim “no-go zones” in the Land of 10,000 Lakes (neither of which are happening).

But if supporting the kind of bigotry that Newberger does wasn’t off-putting enough, he is also a defender of climate change, instead offering the incorrect scientific theory that the Earth is somehow moving closer to the sun:

“Do I believe it’s man-made? No, I do not. Climate change, the No. 1 factor is the sun. We cannot change how the sun operates.”

This stupid theory is listed on NASA’s home page, suffice to say it shows a great deal of ignorance on Newberger’s part.

As does his whole voting record, which shows him consistently voting against minimum wage increases and workplace protections, supporting transphobic bathroom legislation, and voting against the legalization of same sex marriage.

Now, we’re hoping that Jim Newberger’s attempts at elevating himself to U.S. Senate are the end to his troubling career in politics after six years, and he vanishes into obscurity after 2018. Senator Klobuchar looks to have a comfortable lead, and far better embodies “Minnesota nice”, simply put.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Fox News’ Shepard Smith: Trump Campaigns On Public ‘Fear Of An Invasion Of Migrants’

The Fox News host also shut down a viewer who said the president has intel to support his claims. Smith said, “No he doesn’t. POTUS has politics.” I continue being surprised Smith hasn't been fired by Faux News for not kissing up to Trump like everyone else on the network. Meanwhile....

**********

Trump Says He Has No Proof ‘Middle Easterners’ Are Trying To Enter U.S.

“They’re not coming in. We’re going to do whatever we have to, they’re not coming in,” the president said. Yeah, right. Whatever you say, Donnie. Trump continues using fear to stoke up his base prior to the Midterms. While not an original strategy, it's still despicable.

**********

Why Donald Trump Declaring Himself A ‘Nationalist’ Is So Loaded

The president, of all people, knows the dark connotations of this word. It's not just loaded, it's fucking dangerous. Meanwhile, here's an opposing view....

**********

Tucker Carlson Defends Trump: Lincoln And Gandhi Were ‘Nationalists’ Too

The Fox News host believes being a nationalist should be a “prerequisite for running a democracy.” To quote the esteemed Bugs Bunny....wotta maroon!

**********

Former White House Lawyer Ty Cobb Says Mueller Probe Isn’t ‘A Witch Hunt’

That assessment pits Cobb against his former boss, President Donald Trump.

[Iron Maiden]

I saw that clip for Ty Cobb....leads me to believe that he couldn't bring himself to defend someone like Trump who thinks he can bully his way out of a charge, like he's done throughout his life by bringing up nuisance lawsuits.

Trump's family is German so he knows pretty well what nationalists were known as in der Fatherland......NAZIs.

I must watch Shepard Smith one day but I avoid Fox News as much as possible

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump's family is German so he knows pretty well what nationalists were known as in der Fatherland......NAZIs.

One would suspect Trump got his revolting ideas from reading Hitler's Mein Kampf, but, we all know Dolt45 doesn't read. Maybe Kid Jackboot (Stephen Miller) coached him on the whole nationalist crapola.

[worstblogever]

One would suspect Trump got his revolting ideas from reading Hitler's Mein Kampf, but, we all know Dolt45 doesn't read. Maybe Kid Jackboot (Stephen Miller) coached him on the whole nationalist crapola.

Ivana said that Donald used to sleep with a copy of Mein Kampf on his nightstand.

Presumably, one with pictures.

[Dalak]

Explosive Devices Found in Mail Sent to Hillary Clinton and Obama

Will Trump or anyone else that matters condemn this, or just go on about the radical left and democrat mobs? I think the latter.