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

[worstblogever]

Ex-astronaut Mark Kelly announces run for McCain Senate seat


Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who became a prominent gun-control advocate after his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he will run to finish John McCain's last term in the U.S. Senate.

John McCain would have been probably chagrined to know that his successor will be Mark Kelly

Well, then you don't know John McCain or Mark Kelly very well. They had a great deal of mutual respect for each other.
Kelly called McCain one of his heroes on the USS Midway last year, and
Kelly and his wife Gabby Giffords wished him well during his battle with brain cancer.

McCain spoke well of Giffords before and after she was shot, and repeatedly met with both Giffords in Washington, D.C., after her recovery to discuss reasonable gun control measures that could possibly be made in the Senate (can't do much with the other 40-50 GOP stooges in there and the filibuster, though).

Not everything needs to be so partisan. McCain got that. Most Republicans nowadays don't.

[Tuck]

Her first tweet was saying "It's all about the Benjamins baby." 'All' is a pretty string indicator she believes McCarthy is being motivated by being being.

That's a phrase people have been using for a long while now. You're imposing too much meaning on it.

I see the issue with Congressperson Ilhan Omar, the reaction to it, more of a lesson in diplomacy.

There are a lot of people in Congress who hold strong views over one thing or another, over one group of people or another, but to survive long term in Congress and be effective without constantly generating controversy, you need to learn to be diplomatic.

I honestly think, after seeing her thoughtful responses to this and her previous tweet, that she is unaware of some of the specifics of the history of antisemitism. It's unique in a few ways, but one of the big ones is that Jews are an abstraction to probably the majority of humanity. There are only about 14 million Jews on the planet. About 6 and change are in Israel, and another 5 here in the US (and then they're not spread evenly across the country).

So, it's not just a matter of diplomacy, because I don't think she knew she was anywhere near a danger zone. (Now, the same could be said of an American southerner, but I think there's enough education out there about these things for people who grew up here their whole lives to not be able to claim unfamiliarity with antisemitic tropes.)

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the current U.S. House Representative for Oklahoma’s 2nd District, Markwayne Mullin, who we noted was a Birther conspiracy theorist, having entertained the ramblings of a constituent about President Obama’s birth certificate at a town hall, saying he agreed with them that it was fraudulent, but didn’t feel anything could be done about it. Mullin is also noteworthy for voting against disaster relief funding for Hurricane Sandy while having the double standard of wanting federal aid whenever a tornado hits Oklahoma. Mullin also claims America’s food stamp program has widespread fraud because he has personally witnessed “physically fit people using food stamps”. Mullin has not only voted against every opportunity to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but has also directly lied to constituents by telling them the healthcare exchanges had not opened, when they were. Lastly, Mullin has also been one of the GOP’s members on the Benghazi Select Committee, having called for numerous investigations into the attacks, never being satisfied with previous ones that have all concluded there was no malfeasance of culpability by the Obama administration. Rep. Mullin has voted to defund Planned Parenthood, tried to pass legislation to prevent the acceptance of Muslim refugees, and when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was allowed to speak before Congress, Mullin went on Twitter to post a misspelled message of support, “God Bless Isreal”.

In 2017, Mullin has had some tense standoffs with constituents, including a town hall where he declared the anger he faced was “bullcrap” and whining that his appearance was a “service” because “no one paid him to be there”.

This of course negates the fact that those constituents’ taxpayers do, in fact, pay him an annual salary that requires him to engage and listen to them. With Oklahoma’s 2nd is sitting at a +24 Republican lean, it still helped him get re-elected with 65% of the vote. This even though only three months before the election, he was found guilty of campaign finance violations after an ethics investigation and forced to pay back $40,000, and is being investigated for investing in the same businesses that Rep. Chris Collins did and led to him being indicted for insider trading. Did we also mention that a week before the election, Mullin, who himself is of Native American heritage, mocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her own, and then insinuated that the Trail of Tears was actually a “volunteer walk”?

Markwayne Mullin may have remained a Congressman, but more importantly to us, he remains out of his goddamned mind.

[Tami]

That's a phrase people have been using for a long while now. You're imposing too much meaning on it.



I honestly think, after seeing her thoughtful responses to this and her previous tweet, that she is unaware of some of the specifics of the history of antisemitism. It's unique in a few ways, but one of the big ones is that Jews are an abstraction to probably the majority of humanity. There are only about 14 million Jews on the planet. About 6 and change are in Israel, and another 5 here in the US (and then they're not spread evenly across the country).

So, it's not just a matter of diplomacy, because I don't think she knew she was anywhere near a danger zone. (Now, the same could be said of an American southerner, but I think there's enough education out there about these things for people who grew up here their whole lives to not be able to claim unfamiliarity with antisemitic tropes.)

By diplomacy, I didn't mean it in the Big 'D' context that Ambassadors and other professional diplomats use. I meant it in the sense that, even a low level politician needs to watch the words they choose and the message they send out to the public.

She probably has had limited exposure to those of the Jewish faith, those who are Jewish by heritage, culture, history, as well as religion. However, smart people know enough to hold their tongue, rather then to speak in ignorance. She has a lot to learn, but Nancy Pelosi is a good teacher.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump undecided on whether to support deal to avert another shutdown

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has yet to decide whether to support an agreement reached by congressional negotiators to avert another partial government shutdown that includes no funds for his promised U.S.-Mexican border wall.

"I have to study it. I'm not happy about it," Trump told reporters at the White House about the funding deal that would need to be passed by the Democratic-led House and Republican-controlled Senate and signed by him.

Congressional Republicans have shown little appetite for another shutdown after taking heavy criticism over the prior one. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's comments on the Senate floor touting the tentative agreement reached on Monday night left little doubt that the top Republican in Congress wants Trump to support it.

Meanwhile....

**********

The irrelevance of Trump

President Trump went to El Paso, Texas on Monday to once again make the case for a border wall, headlining yet another rally filled with boasting about crowd size, ugly hyperbole about immigrants, invective against Democrats, and the usual dollop of irrelevantpresidentialpreening. It was all familiar and, by now, even kind of tedious.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, lawmakers made an agreement on border security.

"I think everyone will say 'Good work,'" said Congresswoman Kay Granger, a Texas Republican who was part of the negotiations.

Was it a coincidence that progress was made on the most intractable issue of the Trump Era as soon as the president left town? It didn't seem that way. The symbolism of the moment was unmistakable: Without Trump around to gum up the works — to approve an agreement, say, then backtrack in the face of conservative criticism — bipartisan action became a lot easier to achieve.

In other words, Trump suddenly appeared to be the thing he hates most: irrelevant.

Now that a deal is on the table, it's pretty easy to see why lawmakers attempted to work things out among themselves after the last shutdown. Progress was impossible as long as Trump was central to negotiations: Recall his televised meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in which he proclaimed he would be "proud" to take responsibility for a shutdown. It was no better when cameras were absent: Trump stormed out of another so-called negotiating session. It seems Trump himself is an obstruction on the road to progress.

We don't know yet what exactly is in the new agreement. According to The Washington Post, the deal funds the government through the fall, and includes just $1.375 billion to install barriers along the southern border, rather than the $5.7 billion the president has demanded. Trump could veto the agreement, shut down the government again, and force everybody back to the drawing board. Or he could accept the agreement, declare a national emergency, and try to appropriate funds for the wall on his own authority.

The problem for Trump is that such efforts to prove his standing could actually make him look weak. He ended the recent record-breaking shutdown, after all, because a growing number of Republicans in Congress were signalling their readiness to jump ship rather than be dragged down by the issue. It's not likely that those same members of Congress have developed a new appetite for government closure. So if Trump uses his veto, he faces a real possibility that the legislative branch will humiliate him with an override.

And for sure right wing nutjobs like Coulter and Limbaugh along with the toxic talking heads on Faux News will scream bloody murder about the amount being far less than what Trump demanded, and it was their squawking that led to IQ45 scuttling the bipartisan deal which led to the shutdown. Short and sweet, Trump is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't.

[InformationGeek]

Keep digging that grave lady. It can get deeper.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a supporter of abortion rights who cast a critical vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said in an interview with CNN that despite his vote in a recent abortion access case, she did not believe Kavanaugh would ultimately vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

"I have always been concerned about preserving Roe v. Wade" Collins said Monday, adding that Kavanaugh had given her assurances during his confirmation process that the landmark opinion was safe.

"He said under oath many times, as well as to me personally many times, that he considers Roe to be 'precedent upon precedent' because it had been reaffirmed in the Casey v Planned Parenthood case," Collins added, dismissing any criticism of her as partisan politics.

Her comments came after Kavanaugh dissented last Thursday from the court's decision to put a Louisiana law on hold pending appeal. The law, similar to one in Texas that the court previously struck down, would require abortion providers to obtain admitting privileges in a nearby hospital, something critics say would severely limit access to abortions.

In his dissent, Kavanaugh argued the move to block the law was premature. He noted that Louisiana had said that if the law were to go into effect, the state would commence a 45-day review to see how it would impact existing clinics. No provider, the state promised, would be forced to immediately suspend abortion services. After 45 days, he wrote, if the challengers still felt the law imposed an undue burden, they could bring their challenge at that time.

Collins said she does not believe Roe is in jeopardy, but can't predict how Kavanaugh would vote in every single case.

"To say that this case, this most recent case, in which he wrote a very careful dissent, tells you that he's going to repeal Roe v Wade I think is absurd," she said.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Keep digging that grave lady. It can get deeper.

Susie-Q is either naïve or rock bottom stupid to think Judge Kegger won't do all he can to either cripple or kill Roe v. Wade. That's why Trump picked him in the first place.

[Malvolio]

Trump undecided on whether to support deal to avert another shutdown





Meanwhile....

**********

The irrelevance of Trump









And for sure right wing nutjobs like Coulter and Limbaugh along with the toxic talking heads on Faux News will scream bloody murder about the amount being far less than what Trump demanded, and it was their squawking that led to IQ45 scuttling the bipartisan deal which led to the shutdown. Short and sweet, Trump is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't.

"I have to study it." Seriously? If Trump studies this deal, it will be the first time he studies anything.

[Malvolio]

Susie-Q is either naïve or rock bottom stupid to think Judge Kegger won't do all he can to either cripple or kill Roe v. Wade. That's why Trump picked him in the first place.

Esmeralda's magic never works right. That's why she always had to ask Samantha to bail her out.

[Gray Lensman]

Katy Perry’s ‘Blackface’ Shoes Pulled From Dillard’s Amid Backlash

The shoes, which resemble blackface caricatures, are no longer available on the store’s website. When will idiots like this pop tart get the hint that anything even remotely resembling blackface is NOT COOL?

My first thought when seeing those was to wonder which Katy Perry was behind those. Fun trivia fact - there is a Katie Perry who is an Australian fashion designer, and she was in the news a few years ago due to an IP fight with the singer over the rights to her own name.

[Jack Dracula]

Hillary lived the first 18 years (1947-1965) in Chicago, Illinois, studied four years (1965-1969) in Wellesley, Massachusetts, studied further 4 years (1969-1973) at Yale in Connecticut. She lived with Bill Clinton for 20 years in Arkansas from 1973 to 1993. She represented New York in the Senate for 8 years. She has been residing in New York for 18 years.


The longest she spent time was in Arkansas. She resided in Arkansas longer than any other state.

So the 20 years she spent in Arkansas are what define her character, whereas the 42 years spent elsewhere (including her childood in Illinois) have no bearing what so ever.
Your bias is showing...

[Michael Watkins]

My first thought when seeing those was to wonder which Katy Perry was behind those. Fun trivia fact - there is a Katie Perry who is an Australian fashion designer, and she was in the news a few years ago due to an IP fight with the singer over the rights to her own name.

hasn't the singer had her own racial insensitivity issues? i seem to remember something about that a while back. it was more than just the usual cultural appropiation stuff (like her made up like a geisha or the braids). she seems like a bit of a dumb dumb.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/enter...oke/index.html

[Jack Dracula]

"I have to study it." Seriously? If Trump studies this deal, it will be the first time he studies anything.

" I have to study it" meaning watch Fox News and see what Ingrahm, Hannity and Deucey are saying about it.

[Gray Lensman]

hasn't the singer had her own racial insensitivity issues? i seem to remember something about that a while back. it was more than just the usual cultural appropiation stuff (like her made up like a geisha or the braids). she seems like a bit of a dumb dumb.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/enter...oke/index.html

An angry and bitter dumb dumb - she once stopped a concert (for a few minutes)to insult a guy in the audience for turning her down in high school.

[Michael Watkins]

An angry and bitter dumb dumb - she once stopped a concert (for a few minutes)to insult a guy in the audience for turning her down in high school.

wow. that must have been one clumsy rejection. but i guess she wouldn't be the first artist to be driven by insecurity.