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

[Tendrin]

Uh, WBE? I think I have one for you that took a swan dive into the queue, assuming he's not already there or profiled. I don't recall him.

Critics are accusing an Indiana state senator proposing to roll back the state's child labor laws of a potential conflict of interest because the lawmaker employs hundreds of minors at his business.
State Sen. Chip Perfect (R), the CEO of Perfect North Slopes ski resort, filed a Senate bill to scrap the laws that bar minors from working more than a set amount of time or late hours without parental consent.
Opponents of the bill, including educators and labor unions, say that changing the policy would allow Perfect North Slopes to employ more minors and keep them working late hours without work permits signed by parents.
The resort currently employs between 300-400 minors, Perfect told the Indy Star.

Perfect told The Washington Post that he requested a state Senate Ethics Committee ruling on conflict of interest, and said that all members on the committee did not find a conflict. He did not say why they reached that conclusion.
The chairwoman of the committee, State Sen. Liz Brown (R), said that ethics committee hearings are confidential and declined to comment on the panel’s findings to the Post. The Hill has reached out to Perfect's office for comment.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Labor told the Indy Star that Perfect’s ski resort did not have any child labor violations in its most recent inspection.
Julia Vaughn, policy director of watchdog group Common Cause Indiana, told the Star that the state’s ethics laws lack clarity to determine if the bill has a conflict of interest. The state Senate rules don’t prohibit lawmakers from filing bills that would have a positive impact on their businesses.
"Given the fact that he employs a significant number of minors, his involvement in the issue would certainly trigger a second look and extra scrutiny," Vaughn told the Star. "But it's difficult under the current Senate rules to figure out the extent of the financial impact on Senator Perfect, and therefore, we're kind of left in this vague area where it's not clear."
Perfect claims the bill would not affect his business directly, and told the Star it is “more about small businesses who cannot afford the resources to adhere to these antiquated laws.”
Supporters of the bill say it would remove some of the bureaucracy that makes it difficult for minors to obtain work permits, such as needing to get a permit signed by an in-state school district.
Another resort owner, Holiday World CEO Matt Eckert, said during a hearing that work permits are an "administrative burden" on school districts, parents and students, and argued that they "serve no purpose," according to the Star.
Businesses in Indiana would still have to adhere to federal child labor laws, but critics say those laws do not go far enough to limit work hours for older teens.
Indiana State AFL-CIO executive director Rob Henderson told the Star that the state's laws exist "for a reason."
"Just undoing them, ... I don’t understand the intent, other than just trying to be able to work minors more hours," Henderson said.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...es-conflict-of

[Ragged Maw]

This comparison would suggest the problem is severe enough that there is a significant chance it will kill a given person in the next day. Which is going overboard.

No one's saying that this proves the U.S. is just as bad for black or gay people (overall) as it was in the 50's, but, at the very least, this kind of vigilance towards these "scattered" incidents as well the as less-than-savory individuals in government who seemingly bend over backwards to handwave them off is in all likelihood warranted in order to keep the country from regressing back to that nightmare.

[worstblogever]

Focusing too much on bad things, and exaggerating their significance, isn't healthy for emotional well-being. It can lead to people thinking the country is worse than it is.

There are potential links between spending too much time absorbing media on traumatic events, and suffering stress symptoms yourself.

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/t...atic_event.asp

Well, if it's not just that someone would argue against their significance because they're just arguing in a pattern that echoes white nationalist talking points and taking these stories as "incidental"...

Law enforcement has noted statistically that these attacks are on the rise across the board, to several minority groups based on their race, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Either way, the attacks are horrific, and it would be a disservice to the health of the country to pretend that something shouldn't be done about it.

[Tami]

Schultz deletes tweet of column calling Warren 'fauxcahontas' and Harris 'shrill'

Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO who has floated an independent run at the White House, deleted a tweet Wednesday in which he praised a column that insulted other 2020 contenders.

In the now-deleted tweet, Schultz linked to a piece that called Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) “shrill” and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) “Fauxcahontas,” a reference to her claims of Native American heritage.

“Thank you @Rogerlsimon for a thoughtful analysis of what’s possible. #ReimagineUS,” Schultz tweeted, along with a link to “Howard Schultz Could Actually Win the Presidency,” from PJ Media.

“Current frontrunner Kamala Harris is far from reassuring,” Roger L. Simon writes in the column. “She’s a shrill (see the Kavanaugh hearings) quasi-socialist promising pie in the sky — Medicare-for-all, debt-free college, guaranteed pre-K, minimum basic income, confiscatory taxes — and she’s just getting started. Bernie and others will soon be following suit. Fauxcahontas already has, competing in a game of socialist one-upmanship.”

[Tami]

In a new filing in the Internet Research Agency case, Mueller's team says they've found evidence discovery documents were forged as part of a "disinformation campaign aimed (apparently) at discrediting ongoing investigations into Russian interference in the US political system."

Twitter Thread Link

[Tami]

America’s Electric Grid Has a Vulnerable Back Door—and Russia Walked Through It

A Wall Street Journal reconstruction of the worst known hack into the nation’s power system reveals attacks on hundreds of small contractors

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of David Hedrick, who appeared as a Tea Party protester on the scene in the earliest incarnations of the group in 2009, showing up at a town hall hosted by Congressman Brian Baird to yell not just about healthcare, but demand that Baird "STAY AWAY FROM MY KIDS!" After being hyped up for that tirade even further by both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, Hedrick decided to make a bid to run for Baird's seat in Washington's 3rd Congressional District. In interviews with the media after becoming a cult figure, Hedrick compared Democrats to Nazis, claiming that they were "indoctrinating our youth". He then proceeded to fundraise by writing a Christmas-themed children's book that was loaded with conservative ideology called, "The Liberal Clause", because he was that much of a hypocrite. During the GOP Primary in 2010, Hedrick got "swift-boated" by fellow Republican Jamie Herrera-Beutler over injuries he claimed he got while on a "classified mission" while a war hero the U.S military, that after some digging by the press, were revealed to have occurred while he was still a non-commissioned officer going through basic training. As his campaign started to crumble, things got worse when Hedrick was arrested for domestic violence, after which he filed a lawsuit against local law enforcement that was laughed out of court. Hedrick hasn't turned up on a ballot for over seven years now, and we’re pretty sure he won’t again at any point.



On this date in 2016, 2017, as well as in 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published its profiles of Mike Pitts, a member of member of the South Carolina House of Representatives serving District 14 who is a former police officer first elected in 2002, usually because he is allowed to run unopposed. In 2010, Pitts started getting into that “Tea Party weirdo” category, when he suggested the Palmetto State should start its own currency made of gold and silver coins and ban federal currency, justifying it by comparing the United States federal government to the German government in the 1930s or of the Soviet Union before it collapsed. Over the past few years he’s also co-sponsored unnecessary Voter ID legislation in the hopes of disenfranchising voters based on the bogeyman of “in-person voter fraud” that doesn’t statistically exist, tried pushing for amendments to the state constitution to ban same sex marriage, sponsored legislation to try and nullify the Affordable Care Act (and South Carolinians would know a thing or two about nullification), and repeatedly pushed for unconstitutional bans on abortion at 20 weeks. But where things take a definite uncomfortable turn regarding Mike Pitts comes after the tragic mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina at the AME Emanuel Church in June 2015, by a shooter who revered Confederate iconography, by instead championing the Confederate flag at every opportunity with quotes like, “I associate that with scrubbing history I associate that as the first move of a much larger movement to eliminate all things Southern. They said, 'We’ve got to raise an army. The Yankees have invaded us.' The good ol’ boys, my ancestors, said, ‘Hell, yeah,’. They grabbed their squirrel rifles and off they went to fight a war. All they knew was that the Northern states were trying to dictate to the Southern states what to do.” In January of 2016, Mike Pitts also proposed legislation that would create criminal background checks not for firearms sales... oh no... but for journalists. They would have to be a part of a mandatory registry, and if caught violating rules set, would be hit with fines or even jail time. When the media reported this shocking attack on the freedom of the press, Pitts claimed he had “punked” them and wasn’t serious, which is in no way a funny prank that anyone at any level of government should be doing unless they want to create public panic. Pitts added to his long list of legislative idiocy in 2016 as well, sponsoring legislation to attempt to nullify federal firearms laws, and also voted for South Carolina Republicans’ attempts on creating an unnecessary ban on Sharia Law.

And, our latest update on Mike Pitts? He’s still openly talking about how outraged he is over the removal of Confederate monuments, choosing of all times to squawk about it but days after the death of Heather Heyer and numerous others being injured by a Neo-Nazi who supported the same argument in Charlottesville in August of 2017:

“This is part of a larger effort to whitewash and erase all Southern heritage. If you are so sensitive that a piece of bronze or a piece of rock can cause you great amount of grief, then you’ve got bigger problems than a piece of granite, a piece of rock, a piece of marble or a piece of whatever. It’s a reminder of the bloodiest war in the history of the nation. It was Americans against Americans. You don’t gain anything by trying to erase it. You gain by sitting down, talking about the differences and finding common ground.”

Yes, common ground. Excuse us if we accuse Mike Pitts of being full of s***, because he refuses to change World War I and World War II memorials so they don’t honor men who found “common ground” to fight for the United States in those wars, and would like those war memorials to continue to segregate our fighting men into “white” and “colored” categories on the displays.

Pitts won re-election in 2018 on the benefit of being unopposed, however, he has decided to almost immediately leave office, instead hoping to run the South Carolina Conservation bank based on his experience as a cop. We’re sure that makes him totally qualified, and that story will not end with disaster of some sort. We’ll settle for him no longer making laws.

[Tendrin]

Twitter Thread Link

I'm shoced. Totes.

[Coin Biter]

Sarah Sanders: Donald Trump Is President Because God Wanted Him There

“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times,” the White House press secretary said. Sweet baby Jesus.

In fairness, there might be a role or two available in the Book of Revelation.

I attend Church myself, and I share the bewilderment of the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning those Christians that support Trump https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a8077596.html

Who are these Christians that praise unrepentent and cotinuous lying, lustfulness, envy, boasting, infidelity, and cruelty? Who cheer on open acts of hatred and contempt for those in need or want?

Look, I'm not an idiot. I realize that the history of Christians frequently represents a long record of every sin that the religion purports to decry. But most leaders who claim religious sanction at least try and maintain a hypocritical veneer (not to mention the vices that may be inherent in some aspects of religious doctrine even without personal immorality).

With Trump, though, despite his lies, it is all on show - every hateful element.

I don't understand.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In fairness, there might be a role or two available in the Book of Revelation.

I attend Church myself, and I share the bewilderment of the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning those Christians that support Trump https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a8077596.html

Who are these Christians that praise unrepentent and cotinuous lying, lustfulness, envy, boasting, infidelity, and cruelty? Who cheer on open acts of hatred and contempt for those in need or want?

Look, I'm not an idiot. I realize that the history of Christians frequently represents a long record of every sin that the religion purports to decry. But most leaders who claim religious sanction at least try and maintain a hypocritical veneer (not to mention the vices that may be inherent in some aspects of religious doctrine even without personal immorality).

With Trump, though, despite his lies, it is all on show - every hateful element.

I don't understand.

It's not that hard to understand once you peel back the layers of religious hypocrisy. Evangelicals and their lot hate abortion and have sworn to outlaw it with a jihadist fervor, so when Trump promised to kill Roe v. Wade if elected president (one of many promises the Orange Menace has so far failed to deliver on), the holy rollers wasted no time jumping in bed with him, even though he's broken most of the Ten Commandments all by himself. Hell, if Osama bin Laden were still alive and promised to make abortion illegal, bible thumpers would've unquestionably supported him. In American politics, there's no more unyielding or uncompromising a force than the single issue voter, for evangelicals, that issue is denying women the right to choose, and they obsess over that, practically to the exclusion of all else. And that's why they continue supporting Trump.

[Kirby101]

Focusing too much on bad things, and exaggerating their significance, isn't healthy for emotional well-being. It can lead to people thinking the country is worse than it is.

There are potential links between spending too much time absorbing media on traumatic events, and suffering stress symptoms yourself.

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/t...atic_event.asp

This from the person telling us that Trump's focus on undocumented immigrants as a major issue is not misguided. Oh, sure, his solutions aren't completely thought out, blah, blah, blah, but it's still a BIG, BIG issue.

Yeah, right.

[Tendrin]

This from the person telling us that Trump's focus on undocumented immigrants as a major issue is not misguided. Oh, sure, his solutions aren't completely thought out, blah, blah, blah, but it's still a BIG, BIG issue.

Yeah, right.

https://imgur.com/gallery/uZ8pp

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Saw this story on my Facebook feed. Needless to say, the stupidity of this woman burns like a million suns, then she was burned by the responses:

Anti-Vaxx Mom Asks How To Protect Her Unvaccinated 3-Year-Old From The Measles Outbreak, Internet Delivers

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Less is more? Trump out of sight as border talks play out

No televised roundtables with Cabinet secretaries. No freewheeling speeches from the Oval Office. No shouted comments on his way to Marine One.

Where's the president? While the federal government is open once again, President Donald Trump has been largely behind closed doors.

Republicans and Democrats alike seem just fine with Trump hanging back as legislators try to work out a deal to keep the government open and resolve a standoff over funding for the president's long-sought wall at the southern border. In fact, some lawmakers think less Trump might be a good thing, given his rocky relationships with legislators and open criticism of his negotiating abilities.

Over the last five days, Trump has had no public events.

**********

Meanwhile, Dolt45 has someone new to blame for not getting money for his precious wall....

Trump blames former Speaker Paul Ryan for not getting border wall funding

[worstblogever]

I was doing some CSGOPOTD research on Omar Navarro (the right-wing troll who has twice lost to Maxine Waters running for Congress in California by 50 points and plans to make it three in 2020), and noted on his Twitter account, that he's started palling around with fellow MAGA-Moron Laura Loomer.

So I tried researching more about this new confederacy of dunces, only to discover that both put on sombreros and led a bunch of right-wing trolls to try and break into the California Governor's mansion last night to "scare Gavin Newsom" (who chose not to live there). I'm trying to find a link to a website reporting on it, but it's only places like InfoWars and the Daily Caller, and I feel like CBR can use a break from folks sharing white nationalist talking points. Ah, here we go. The Sacramento Bee has these racist idjits. And here's Navarro, trying to make a point, but proving he's brain damaged by trying to indicate Newsom is a hypocrite about border security because "walls work" and the mansion has walls. Again, Newsom doesn't live there, and didn't design the building.