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

[catbellysqueezer]

I can't believe they actually banned Alex Jones. What is the likelihood they will get rid of other toxic creators like the comicsgate people?

[ZombieHavoc]

I assume the judge in the Manafort trial is in Trump's pocket.

[InformationGeek]

Oh WBE! Check out this guy...

Hardy Billington, a candidate running unopposed for the Republican nomination for a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives, wrote in a 2006 book that LGBT people “cannot reproduce—they have to recruit.” The claim that gay people have to recruit others is a lie promoted by the religious right and far right wing extremists, including Franklin Graham.

In that book, as Nico Lang at INTO reports, Billington labels same-sex marriage “counterfeit marriage,” and implies it is worse than murder.

Billington “suggested that what makes homosexuality even worse than crimes committed between individuals—say, adultery and murder—is that it harms the entire community. He cited the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, in which the ‘sin of sodomy… produced some national consequences.'”

[worstblogever]

Oh WBE! Check out this guy...

I mean, that's a nice smattering of homophobic idiocy, and enough to earn a profile. Don't know how long it will take to get to him coming up, at this point, but he's in the queue.

[worstblogever]

In 2014, 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, that "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. Senator from Utah, Mike Lee. Our quick take on Mike Lee is that every policy he doesn’t like (The Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Violence Against Women Act (!), child labor laws (!), FEMA, disaster relief (!), the Food and Drug Administration, the 14th Amendment, the 17th Amendment… etc.) he has the nasty habit declaring unconstitutional (which is the job of the Supreme Court, not a senator). Sen. Lee is also one of Sen. Ted Cruz’s few allies in the Senate and was one of the most recognizable faces seen during the 2013 Shutdown, including at the rally the weekend before it ended at the World War II memorial where a pastor demanded that President Obama “put down his Quran and come out with his hands up”, before Tea Party “patriots” started grabbing barricades to throw in front of the gates of the White House while some waved Confederate flags. Y’know… nice, healthy rhetoric worthy of the movement.

Our 2015 update on Mike Lee featured his joining the ranks of the #47 Traitors and signing his name onto a letter to the leaders of Iran meant to sabotage negotiations the Obama administration was having with Iran, his belief that the Supreme Court actually does not have the power to overturn same-sex marriage, and the fact that he submitted federal “religious freedom” law legislation to attempt to allow the legal discrimination of LGBT citizens based on someone’s “deeply held religious faith” (the bill went absolutely nowhere).

In 2016, Mike Lee defended his U.S. Senate seat against Misty Snow, the first transgendered candidate for Senate in U.S. history, and in a state as red as Utah, he not surprisingly easily won re-election to a second term in office. He was confident enough that he would be victorious that he spent far more time helping his pal Ted Cruz campaign for president, and not just remaining on the fence about Donald Trump as a prospective nominee the whole time, but calling on him to step down as their nominee in October of 2016 (presumably so Ted Cruz could take his place as the nominee).

Fast forward a couple months, though, and as an investigation was just beginning by the United States’ intellgience community into the Trump campaign and Russia potentially colluding to change the outcome of the American election, and Mike Lee was quick to declare that “I don’t see any evidence of anything happening here, so as a result, I think it’s time to move forward. It’s time to wrap this thing up and it’s time to move on.” That was in January. With every revelation that has come, Mike Lee wanted to aid the coverup into what the investigation has shown has a LOT of evidence of potential treason. But hey, the Republicans won, so quick, nobody look…

With the amount of revelations spinning out about Trump/Russia, Mike Lee could not keep his finger in the dyke forever. As of mid-July 2018, he was talking about how Donald Trump needed to “step down” to salvage any kind of legacy. And that was BEFORE Trump’s humiliation by Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, but slightly after Trump passed over Mike Lee and his brother Thomas, a Utah Supreme Court Justice for the U.S. Supreme Court, and instead chose Brett Kavanaugh (likely because Kavanaugh thinks presidents should be above the law).

More recently, though, Mike Lee has been further proof that the GOP can be their own worst enemies. Senate Republicans have been unable to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, even though they have a 52 seat majority. They’re stuck, though, because they have about three or four Senators with too much of a conscience, and a small cabal of complete ideological lunatics who aren’t satisfied with a partial repeal, they want socialized medicine completely burned to the ground, and salt poured on its ashes so nothing can ever grow there again. And Sen. Lee is one of that latter group. Don’t think for a moment, though, that Mike Lee is coming to the center, because he’s also been openly discussing eliminating all public protected government lands as a policy of the United States, because apparently rejecting the Bears’ Ears Monument in Utah wasn’t enough for him.

All we know for sure is… barring any unforeseen scandal or medical calamity, Mike Lee will remain a U.S. Senator until at least 2022. Hopefully he continues being as much of a thorn in his own party’s side because of his unflinching extremism, rather than be a complete pest and block any and all attempts at actual governance by either side of the aisle.

[worstblogever]

Double Double Posts.

[Tendrin]

I can't believe they actually banned Alex Jones. What is the likelihood they will get rid of other toxic creators like the comicsgate people?

I think the reality is that they were more concerned about the Sandy Hook lawsuit and so there was a coordinated deplatforming of Alex Jones because nobody wants to get swept up in a lawsuit being lead by the grieving parents of murdered kindergartners.

Except Alex Jones, anyway, but eff that guy.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Now the Trump administration wants to limit citizenship for legal immigrants

The Trump administration is expected to issue a proposal in coming weeks that would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens or get green cards if they have ever used a range of popular public welfare programs, including Obamacare, four sources with knowledge of the plan told NBC News.

The move, which would not need Congressional approval, is part of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller's plan to limit the number of migrants who obtain legal status in the U.S. each year.

Details of the rulemaking proposal are still being finalized, but based on a recent draft seen last week and described to NBC News, immigrants living legally in the U.S. who have ever used or whose household members have ever used Obamacare, children's health insurance, food stamps and other benefits could be hindered from obtaining legal status in the U.S.

Immigration lawyers and advocates and public health researchers say it would be the biggest change to the legal immigration system in decades and estimate that more than 20 million immigrants could be affected. They say it would fall particularly hard on immigrants working jobs that don't pay enough to support their families.

Many are like Louis Charles, a Haitian green-card holder seeking citizenship who, despite working up to 80 hours a week as a nursing assistant, has had to use public programs to support his disabled adult daughter.

Using some public benefits like Social Security Insurance has already hindered immigrants from obtaining legal status in the past, but the programs included in the recent draft plan could mean that immigrant households earning as much as 250 percent of the poverty level could be rejected.

A version of the plan has been sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget, the sources said, the final step before publishing a rule in the federal register.

Considering that Stephen Miller, a.k.a. Kid Jackboot is behind this scheme, it doesn't take much to figure out this administration wants to limit immigrants of color from gaining citizenship. I'd love for someone, anyone to prove me wrong about this, but I don't think I am.

[4saken1]

...is it just me, or does the judge not sound... impressed by this case? He seems to have a problem with Mueller's team.

Yeah, a few of his comments sound like he's already made up his mind.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

...is it just me, or does the judge not sound... impressed by this case? He seems to have a problem with Mueller's team.



Also, Alex Jones lost his Pinterest account. ...no, I don't know why he had one, but it's gone now.

He’s a judge, he shouldn’t sound impressed.

[InformationGeek]

The EPA is giving to okay to use asbestos again in building materials.

One of the most dangerous construction-related carcinogens is now legally allowed back into U.S. manufacturing under a new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Fast Company recently reported that on June 1, the EPA authorized a “SNUR” (Significant New Use Rule) which allows new products containing asbestos to be created on a case-by-case basis.

According to environmental advocates, this new rule gives chemical companies the upper hand in creating new uses for harmful products in the United States. In May, the EPA released a report detailing its new framework for evaluating the risk of its top prioritized substances. The report states that the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments.

This news comes after the EPA reviewed its first batch of 10 chemicals under the 2016 amendment to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which required the agency to continually reevaluate hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals to see whether they should face new restrictions or be removed from the market. The SNUR greenlights companies to use toxic chemicals like asbestos without consideration about how they will endanger people who are indirectly in contact with them.

Asbestos was widely used in building insulation up until it was banned in most countries in the 1970s. The U.S. is one of the only developed nations in the world that has placed significant restrictions on the substance without banning it completely. New data revealed that asbestos-related deaths now total nearly 40,000 annually, with lung cancer and mesothelioma being the most common illnesses in association with the toxin. That number could rise if new asbestos-containing products make their way into new buildings.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The EPA is giving to okay to use asbestos again in building materials.

Ohhhh can’t wait to give my dad shit about this

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The EPA is giving to okay to use asbestos again in building materials.

Good to know the EPA has our health and safely firmly in mind. I feel better already.

[PaulBullion]

For the most part, what's his name's posts, while certainly ill-informed, weren't necessarily over the line, but ugh, over and over again, it just got too much, so I got rid of him. He can go rile up folks somewhere else.

Thank you, sir.

[PaulBullion]

The EPA is giving to okay to use asbestos again in building materials.

Read on twitter (and have not double checked yet, but I'm tired) that the largest producer of asbestos is a Russian company owned by an Oligarch with strong ties to Putin.