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

[Kirby101]

The other issue is they vote in lockstep. Dems don’t and never have

The main reason the GOP holds on is the South. mostly because of racism and evangelical Christians.

And of course gerrymandering and voter suppression, especially in purple States like PA and OH.

[Mister Mets]

Dems a minority Party? Try gerrymandering.



Total votes for Senate 2016 - Dems: 53.8% Rep: 42.4%

Votes for President: Clinton: 65,844,610 Donald Trump's 62,979,636

For Congress, the total vote gap is less than 1%

The Republicans are in the minority, they just are better at gaming the system.

Gerrymandering does not explain the presidency or the Senate. It is exaggerated as an explanation for the House.

[Mister Mets]

Sad update from the family of John McCain. They have decided to discontinue treatment due to his age and the progress of the cancer.

For my money, he was the best presidential nominee of either party since Eisenhower.

[Kirby101]

Gerrymandering does not explain the presidency or the Senate. It is exaggerated as an explanation for the House.

The Senate is because of States with very small populations. the Presidency was stolen.

My point was to counter Trey saying the Dems are a minority Party. Clearly they are not.

[JCAll]

The other issue is they vote in lockstep. Dems don’t and never have

The GOP have the advantage that they're the party of the Right, while the Dems are the party of the Left and the Center. That makes the Dems the bigger party, when we can bring the party together we'll win every time but the two halves of the party rarely agree.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Michigan’s 7th District, Tim Walberg, a pastor and "family values" Republican once learned he had a staffer on his payroll who was arrested and plead guilty on child abuse charges, and yet it took six weeks from the point Walberg learned about it to give the guy a pink slip. This wacky pastor's own political resume also includes cAlling for the impeachment of President Obama over his birth certificate, making comparisons between Democrats and Joseph Stalin over birth control coverage in the Affordable Care Act, has declared gay marriage as something that puts all of society at risk, has spoken on behalf of the Almighty itself on abortion, and claimed that Americans are in a moral crsis where they are slaves to football and pornography. Walberg's voting record is, hands down, one of the most socially conservative in Congress (go figure, seeing that from a pastor). Honestly, that should be abundtantly clear, because after the Supreme Court ruled on same sex marriage, Tim Walberg released a statement making his opinion clear... he believes gay people being able to get married is a violation of HIS First Amendment rights. After winning re-election in 2016, Walberg has gone back to Washington, D.C. and made Michigan’s 7th regret that decision:

• February 16th, 2017: Walberg votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
• March 16th, 2017: Tim Walberg votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge's written order.
• March 28th, 2017: Rep. Walberg votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers' internet usage to businesses.
• May 4th, 2017: Walberg votes for the House GOP's healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), postpartum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Walberg would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
• June 8th, 2017: Tim Walberg votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
• October 3rd, 2017: Walberg votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
• December 19th, 2017: Tim Walberg votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
• February 18th, 2018: Walberg and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.

Yes, Walberg is enough of a hypocrite to pretend he cares about promoting a Christian agenda, but note that he voted for a tax plan that puts the burden upon the poorest Americans, an ACA repeal vote that would leave the sick to die, and he even voted against existing measures that are there to protect the disabled. As such, all has not been right between Rep. Walberg and his constituents. It started back on Valentine’s Day 2017, when they staged a protest at his office by dropping off 20,000 candy hearts to encourage him to have a “change of heart” on completely repealing the Affordable Care Act, and ask that he just work to fix its flaws. It would take several months before he finally would host a town hall, and on May 12th, 2017, he finally did so, being drowned out by boos on his meek statements about the actions of Donald Trump, and his vote for Trumpcare. But when climate change came up, well, that’s when it got just plain sad:

“I believe there’s climate change. I believe there’s been climate change since the beginning of time. I think there are cycles. Do I think man has some impact? Yeah, of course. Can man change the entire universe? No. Why do I believe that? Well, as a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”

So he doesn’t believe climate change is real, but if it is, no sweat, there will just be divine intervention to fix it, so we won’t do anything to prevent it…

At his second town hall of the year, Walberg actually managed to be more infuriating to his constituents, telling a constituent who commented on how inappropriate it is to see a POTUS conduct themselves the way Donald Trump does on Twitter to “GET A LIFE.” Dumbfounded, another constituent incredulously asked if Rep. Walberg just really said that, and he doubled down, saying, “I did. I did.” He then proceeded to claim there was nothing in his power he could do to change the president’s insane Twitter ramblings… but that’s really not true, there are things he could at least ATTEMPT to do, if he cared.

What it seems like Tim Walberg’s constituents in Michigan’s 7th are more likely to do rather than try to get a life, is in November, they might try to get a new representative in Congress, with the alternative being Gretchen Driskell, the former mayor of Saline, Michigan and a former two-term member of the Michigan House of Representatives. With a +7 advantage in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, Walberg has an advantage on paper, but based on the generic favorability Democrats are looking at going into 2018, that might not be enough to help him to politically survive the Blue Wave. And here’s hoping Driskell helps show him the door.

[aja_christopher]

Sad update from the family of John McCain. They have decided to discontinue treatment due to his age and the progress of the cancer.

For my money, he was the best presidential nominee of either party since Eisenhower.

"REPUBLICANS ARE 'FECKLESS COWARDS,' SAYS FORMER MCCAIN ADVISER AS HE LEAVES PARTY OVER BORDER POLICY"

"He was once the campaign manager for Senator John McCain’s 2008 bid for the White House. Now, he's left the party.

GOP strategist Steve Schmidt renounced his membership in the Republican party early Wednesday morning, saying he will now align with Democrats. Schmidt took to Twitter in a long series of tweets to make his announcement.

While the longtime Republican has not been shy about criticizing the Trump administration, the move comes as a surprise from someone who managed the campaign of a GOP presidential nominee 10 years ago.

Calling the GOP now a “danger to our democracy and values,” Schmidt said the party is corrupt, indecent and immoral, adding that it’s filled with “feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders.”

https://www.newsweek.com/former-mcca...n-party-985854

[Mister Mets]

"REPUBLICANS ARE 'FECKLESS COWARDS,' SAYS FORMER MCCAIN ADVISER AS HE LEAVES PARTY OVER BORDER POLICY

"He was once the campaign manager for Senator John McCain’s 2008 bid for the White House. Now, he's left the party.

GOP strategist Steve Schmidt renounced his membership in the Republican party early Wednesday morning, saying he will now align with Democrats. Schmidt took to Twitter in a long series of tweets to make his announcement.

While the longtime Republican has not been shy about criticizing the Trump administration, the move comes as a surprise from someone who managed the campaign of a GOP presidential nominee 10 years ago.

Calling the GOP now a “danger to our democracy and values,” Schmidt said the party is corrupt, indecent and immoral, adding that it’s filled with “feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders.”

https://www.newsweek.com/former-mcca...n-party-985854[/I]

What do you think of John McCain?

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Did this thread really get modded lol. Guess we can’t discuss things like adults if people might get uncomfortable over it.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Edit: glitchy board

[PaulBullion]

Jacob Scott Goodwin was sentenced to 8 years for his brutal assault on DeAndre Harris in Charlottesville, VA.

Goodwin had claimed he was defending himself against Harris in the Market Street Parking Garage on August 12, 2017. Video footage from last year's Unite the Right rally showed the Arkansas man dressed in militia-style gear.

Thursday, August 23, a judge sentenced Goodwin to a total of ten years, but two were suspended. He must also have 20 years of good behavior and serve probation.

http://www.nbc29.com/story/38946913/...mos-08-23-2018

[PaulBullion]

Did this thread really get modded lol. Guess we can’t discuss things like adults if people might get uncomfortable over it.

You didn't mind the blatant racism then?

[aja_christopher]

Gerrymandering does not explain the presidency or the Senate. It is exaggerated as an explanation for the House.

Every thing that you disagree with -- or choose to ignore -- seems to be exaggerated to you, while the overtly corrupt and immoral behavior of the Republican party (including that of the Republican President that is currently destroying your party from within) is repeatedly and conveniently ignored in kind.

In that respect, your word and your viewpoint is just about as trustworthy as the man your Republican peers helped put into the presidential office.

[Iron Maiden]

The GOP have the advantage that they're the party of the Right, while the Dems are the party of the Left and the Center. That makes the Dems the bigger party, when we can bring the party together we'll win every time but the two halves of the party rarely agree.

Pretty much. And it's that center that sometimes flips with some of the perhaps being fed up with the Clintons. And since the margins of victory in those six states that gave Trump the electoral college all added up to about the attendance at a typical Super Bowl, it didn't take all that many of them to push Trump over the top. I would have to think there's a lot of buyers' remorse that they put that moron in the WH and it won't happen again IF the Dems get the right person at the top of the ticket for 2020. I still really don't see a sure bet out there just yet. Some of the wild cards so far are Mark Cuban (maybe a challenge in the GOP primary though) and Michael Avenatti. If Trump could get to the top of the ticket I guess anything goes these days

[Kirby101]

Sad update from the family of John McCain. They have decided to discontinue treatment due to his age and the progress of the cancer.

For my money, he was the best presidential nominee of either party since Eisenhower.

Who picked the absolutely worse VP nominee.

Not that it isn't sad news from his family.