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

[Darkspellmaster]

You know who I've always said needs to make a comeback? Al Jolson. You really had to be there to see that the Mammy music craze really wasn't so bad.
I mean, sure, looking back from 2018 it looks horrible, but that's a 2010s kind of horrible. When it reality, it was a completely different 1930s kind of horrible, which is just charming and quaint.

Can I just point out that it's better to get a view point of an actor of the time period. Kyle's essay on it covers a over looked view point of actors of the period.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FFdsT5roD4Y

[Darkspellmaster]

If there's a Bill Cosby cover of that song, it's gonna be creepy as f***.

South park did it already.

[worstblogever]

Three years ago on this date, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Charles Bishop, a former Alabama State Senator who lost his damned mind in the middle of the state senate and straight up went Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out on State Senator Lowell Barron, only regretting later that he didn’t take the fight outside and finish it. Bishop also regularly spoke in front of the white nationalist organization the Council of Conservative Citizens and was proud to oppose Alabama’s resolution to apologize to African Americans for slavery because “atonement equals reparations”. Bishop lost way back in the 2010 GOP Primary and hasn’t resurfaced in politics.


In 2015, 2016, and 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted profiles of Vice President Mike Pence, who for a while, was considered to be an early establishment candidate for president that the Republican Party thought they would be able to rally behind in the 2016 elections. He was a sitting six-term Congressman from 2001 through 2012, establishing conservative bona fides without any scandals or major gaffes while winning elections comfortably. He actually won a 2010 Straw Poll at the Value Voters Summit where they thought he was their best choice to run against Barack Obama in 2012, but Pence opted instead to run for re-election as Governor of Indiana, and bide his time for what was to be a run in 2016. Then Gov. Pence, the insane true believer in the American culture wars that he is, went and signed Indiana's "religious freedom" law to allow for the legal discrimination of the LGBT community, then denied that the point of the bill was allowing discrimination (and making many send him the literal definition of "discrimination" since he seemed unable to understand it) and claiming he was incapable of discrimination because he once participated in an anniversary walk in Selma, Alabama. That only made critics note that during his time in the U.S. House, he actually campaigned on an agenda to "oppose any effort to recognize homosexual's as a 'discreet and insular minority' entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to women and ethnic minorities" or that he called for “an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus" and instead, "Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior". If you’re unclear as to what that means, it’s that Pence wanted money redirected towards gay conversion therapy, which doesn’t actually work, and is considered a human rights violation. But that’s not all. Pence responded to the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Act by making the ludicrous claim that it would allow intimidation towards or even charges to be filed against pastors who expressed a Biblical worldview critical to homosexuality, and also tried arguing that the 2010 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would, in his words, “weaken unit cohesion” of our military, and once voted for a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as only between one man and one woman. Factor in the time Pence is awful enough to women that he voted against all equal pay legislation including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, railed against the Disney cartoon Mulan for implying that women might be able to honorably serve in the military, and actually had an Indiana woman arrested for having a miscarriage because his obsession with cracking down on reproductive rights is that over-the-top insane. We're talking that he voted for for the Terry Schiavo Incapacitated Persons Protection Bill extreme, here. We're saying that he was a sponsor of the legislation that tried to defund Planned Parenthood back in 2011, and his "evidence" of wrongdoing was a DIFFERENT doctored fraud of a video produced by friends of Breitbart News hacks like James O'Keefe. Pence also compared the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act to 9/11, and in early 2015 decided state taxpayer dollars should be allocated towards “JustIN’, a state-run news service with two employees being paid $100,000 salaries to present a point of view where Mike Pence could do no wrong (cancelled after taxpayers called him out on wasting their money on him lying to them). Pence denied a link between smoking an cancer as late as 2001 (he was accepting money from the big tobacco lobby, of course), and denies climate change is a thing to this day.

So after Donald Trump decided that Mike Pence should be his running mate on the 2016 GOP ticket as his vice president. Although, he apparently tried reneging on the offer at the last minute. And then Trump botched the announcement and roll out to get the GOP hyped. And then the campaign logo for the new ticket was openly mocked because THIS is what Trump's idea men came up with:


Pence spent most of the VP debate pretending Donald Trump didn't actually say all of the wildly deranged things he says out loud, and on social media, which was far better than the forgettable speech he gave at the RNC (he was clearly overshadowed by Ted Cruz telling people to "vote their conscience"). Maybe Pence's speech would have been better if he wasn't distracted by the inclusion of AIDS Activists in the proceedings.

And what a great campaigner Pence wasn't. When he couldn't help look like he was mildly aroused by the thought of, as he put it,
sending Roe v. Wade to the "ash heap of history". Hell, he even managed to take on some of Donald Trump's worst habits... like falling all over himself to not say disparaging things about white supremacist David Duke, or praising Vladimir Putin. Heck, trying to defend Donald Trump isn't easy, like say when you have to spin how he isn't a fascist for talking about jailing his opponent during a presidential debate, but Pence was kept on his toes by girls as young as eleven years old trying to make excuses for Trump around the time the tape of him talking about "grabbing women by the p***y" hit.

And, in spite of Donald Trump being Trump, and Mike Pence being the coalesced nightmares of the LGBT community and women everywhere, they defied all the odds, and all the polling, and inexplicably won office. And then, suddenly, everyone finally got properly scared that with a Republican president, Republican House, and Republican Senate, that things like gay marriage, or reproductive rights would be fair game. Oh, and then they remembered that Mike Pence also has talked about wrecking Social Security, too. Or that he casually can talk about resuming a torture program at Guantanamo Bay Prison.

[worstblogever]

So maybe that's why we don't feel bad for Mike Pence when people donate to Planned Parenthood in his name (and still are), or the fact that he’s so afraid of women he won’t have dinner alone with one unless his wife is there (who he calls “Mother”), or when he showed up at a performance of Hamilton, and acts surprised when the audience boos him, or that he gets a lecture from a cast of minorities, gays, and even an HIV Positive lead actor to remind him that he's spent his whole career making legislative and executive decisions to slight anyone who wasn't a straight rich white male.

And then, our nightmare of 2017 continued to happen, and Mike Pence continued to be a witless turd throughout it. Where do we even begin with Pence? Let’s just hit the big points… by the end of the first month of the Trump administration, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was fired, after several FBI investigations into the fact that he had been illegally operating was a foreign agent of other countries came to light. The official story about Flynn’s firing kept changing rapidly, including that Acting Attorney General Sally Yates got fired after hearing Mike Pence go on Fox News and give a story that seemed to indicate he wasn’t aware of Michael Flynn’s activities. Also, he assured the public that no one in the Trump campaign was talking to Russians. Well, as of December 1st, 2017, we know Mike Pence was just deliberately lying, as he is prone to doing, and he knew about Michael Flynn talking to Russians under the radar. In fact, per Flynn’s testimony to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Pence and Jared Kushner directed Gen. Flynn to do that specifically. This would be similar to how back in October of 2016, Mike Pence went over to Fox News for an interview/tongue bath and scoffed at the idea that the Trump campaign had any communication with anyone from Wikileaks. Except, y’know, we now know that for almost the entire campaign, Donald Trump, Jr. and others within the Trump campaign were talking to Wikileaks, and was even getting advice on which of their stories the Trump campaign should share more on social media.

This isn’t to say that all Mike Pence did was alternate between lying and hiding since becoming vice-president. He still surfaces to waste taxpayer dollars to do things like try to defeat Kim Jong Un’s regime by impotently staring angrily at the Korean DMZ, to lick Donald Trump’s boots in televised Cabinet meetings, or the time he attended a Colts game with the intention of angrily leaving if anyone protested by kneeling during the national anthem. (He was going to leave just after kickoff, whether they did or not.)

We have watched over the past year, aghast, as Pence has gone on to praise disgraced former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, defended the Trump White House for banning CNN reporters from covering events (because what’s the big deal about the First Amendment, right?), cited false statistics about how people from the Middle East were sneaking across the U.S./Mexico border with refugees from Central America, or appeared with a fake rabbi who claims Jews who don’t accept Jesus go to hell at an event to honor Jews slain by a Neo-Nazi in Pittsburgh.

We could go on forever, but frankly, Mike Pence is, simply, a disingenuous shite who we’re feeling more and more relieved that will not end up taking the place of Donald Trump as president when he’s inevitably impeached… Pence is going to get flushed out with him.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

By the by, on the "Why do people say the GOP is becoming a white nationalist party?" front...

Texas Republican who helped draft the Tea Party Platform has proudly declared himself a white nationalist.

To quote the esteemed Bugs Bunny....wotta maroon!

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Mueller: Michael Flynn Cooperated In Russia Probe, Shouldn’t Serve Prison Time

The special counsel’s latest filing includes new revelations about the former Trump national security adviser’s dealings with Russia. Most interesting!

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GOP Rep. Chris Stewart On Khashoggi Killing: ‘Journalists Disappear All Over The Country’

“We have to have a relationship with some players that we don’t agree with,” Stewart said of a continued U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. Oh, WBEEEEEEEE....!

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What Bribery Experts Say About The Trump Organization’s Plan To Give Putin A Penthouse

It’s a shady-sounding idea, but does it break the law? A good question, one that needs to be answered.

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Internet Goes Off On ‘Tariff Man’ Donald Trump: ‘The Worst Superhero Ever’

Late night hosts Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee and James Corden all chimed in online – as did former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine. Trump is more like a super villain, a very bad one.

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Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Goes On Lengthy Rant About Immigrants Replacing Americans

“I’m not against the immigrants. I’m just, I’m for Americans. Nobody cares about them. It’s like, ‘shut up, you’re dying, we’re gonna replace you.’” Oy vey!

[worstblogever]

GOP Rep. Chris Stewart On Khashoggi Killing: ‘Journalists Disappear All Over The Country’

“We have to have a relationship with some players that we don’t agree with,” Stewart said of a continued U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. Oh, WBEEEEEEEE....!

Chris Stewart is already in my queue for having once warned the public that Donald Trump acted like Mussolini, but a week before the election, said he would "vote for him anyway". Excusing fascism is par for the course with that idjit.

[jetengine]

Instead of demonizing immigrants Carlson should be demonizing his corporate overlords who lobby for this kind of shit.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Makes you wonder why Republicans consider themselves the party of family values. Or why they promote their religion so much if their actions go against the teachings of Christ.

[Ragged Maw]

Makes you wonder why Republicans consider themselves the party of family values. Or why they promote their religion so much if their actions go against the teachings of Christ.

"Hero of one's own story" taken to an irrational extent via herd mentality. Story of humanity when you think about it.

[PwrdOn]

Makes you wonder why Republicans consider themselves the party of family values. Or why they promote their religion so much if their actions go against the teachings of Christ.

To be fair, the sayings of Jesus were really just nice sounding talking points that Christians rarely tried to actually implement. The church has always been reliant on secular elites to maintain its influence and prestige and thus manages to find ways to twist its theology to perfectly suit the needs of the ruling class, whatever they might be. No matter how far back you go, you'll always be hard pressed to find Christians who care more about following the example of Jesus than they do about using scripture as a cudgel to beat down their enemies.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Makes you wonder why Republicans consider themselves the party of family values. Or why they promote their religion so much if their actions go against the teachings of Christ.

Evangelicals....

When you are part of a denomination thatvreverse engineers everything to make the outcomes what they want and as easy as possible you get Republicans.

[Mecegirl]

Yeah, but the line 'what's in this drink?' was a common joke used to pass off some behavior or another as 'Oh, my drink must be alcoholic'. It wouldn't have been thought of as a date-rape thing as people jump to now.

Never said it did tho. Just that the idea that there was no way to trick someone via drink back then isn't accurate.

[Tendrin]

Never said it did tho. Just that the idea that there was no way to trick someone via drink back then isn't accurate.

Fair, and agreed.

[Kirby101]

The term Slipping a Mickey is from the the early 1900s.

[SuperiorIronman]

Makes you wonder why Republicans consider themselves the party of family values. Or why they promote their religion so much if their actions go against the teachings of Christ.

Because they haven't stopped to think about it nor have many of them actually read it.
Then you need to consider the age of a lot of them being that they either come from an earlier era, or that they had been raised by those who did and more racist or secular philosophies having bled into the religious teachings.

Keep in mind that a lot of them come out of an era where it was deemed acceptable to kill opponents of a differing philosophical background or race. Segregation was not that long ago (and the right to bear arms has origins in owning slaves), the southern religious types have family values skewed more toward racism due to a loss in the Civil War which also all things considered wasn't that long ago.

Consider World War 2 with the Nazi's still influencing people long after Hitler's death and America encouraging unity in the fight against a common threat. This made worse by the Cold War. Said era produced a lot of what is typically associated with Republicans; white picket fences, defending against the god-less, going to church on Sundays. People went to church mind you, but this is how it got ingrained in American culture.

Then after that you have the 80's which is a whole bucket of worms where the evangelicals who at this point are already loosing their minds then feel the need to overcompensate.

The Satanic Panic was real and judging by the modern day, few actually know what a Satanist is, and I assure you it doesn't involve a literal Satan. But that didn't matter because the mind-set was put in place and they had rowdy young Americans to reign in and by this point they've basically stopped looking at the bible. So by today you have a bunch of people who haven't read it, cherry picking scripture, don't know what they're talking about, have been raised on or are raising their kids this way, and are too busy fighting an enemy that doesn't exist or if it does it's only because the evangelicals in that regard are out-dated.

They are a people that really just don't know any better.