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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

And his supporters are calling him a hero for that. That's the MO anymore.

- Get rid of something people love.
- Debate that it is bad and not needed.
- Say it's too expensive.
- End up not cutting it.
- Say you were saving it from the liberals.
- Be hero worshiped by your supporters.

Yeah, brain dead supporters who don’t know any better. Meanwhile, I’ve heard talk/rumors that Trump’s son, Barron is on the spectrum, you’d think that of all people, IQ45 would best understand the importance of Special Olympics, but then, being devoid of empathy and/or compassion, his ignorance shines through.

[jetengine]

But Uranium One Guys!

https://twitter.com/cnbc/status/1111...272174594?s=21

I feel this is being ignored, if true its a MASSIVE **** up. Like WW3 level of **** up. Between the Saudis ridiculous incompetence and their hatred of their neighbours the inevitable missile technology will end up in terrorist hands or used.

[InformationGeek]

Cruelty is the point.

EXCLUSIVE: In a letter expected to be sent to Congress tonight, DHS Sec Nielsen asks for sweeping authorities to deport Central American migrant children who arrive unaccompanied, rather than placing them with sponsors and relatives in the U.S.

[Mister Mets]

The end result is feeding the prison industrial complex, and it will be by criminalizing homeless people living in their frigging cars for the sake of people 'uncomfortable' with them. ALso, your conflation of homelessness with 'junkies relieving themselves in public' is a pretty huge tell.

"Junkies relieving themselves in public" is a big part of the problem in terms of the aggressive response, and why families would prefer not to be surrounded by the homeless. You've already covered criminalizing the need to go to the bathroom.

No point in doing so -- you'll deflect, dodge, and make excuses but your party will still be racist, sexist, and homophobic regardless. As I've pointed out before, all of your rhetoric is inconsequential in the face of the horrors your party has inflicted -- and continues to inflict -- on this country.

Regardless, we've already had that discussion ("stop and frisk" and racial profiling) and the best you could offer were your "sympathies" -- which you can keep since they don't address the problem directly. More recently, you offered up a "t-shirt" as an excuse against Trump's dishonest and openly racist border wall arguments, which would almost be comical if it weren't so tragic.

"Discussing" the racist, sexist and homophobic policies of your party would do nothing to change them and is a waste of time -- I know from experience.

The same applies to Mueller report -- Trump wasn't directly interviewed by Mueller and you know it, and nothing you can say will change that fact.

I prefer to go granular rather than broad, since that covers the specific rationale for policies. "Stop and frisk" doesn't address voter disenfranchisement. Neither does racial profiling.

The point of the T-shirt was to show that someone who received the unanimous vote of the DNC to be a national spokesman for the Democratic party seemed to favor open borders. But since you bring it up again, I have questions that I never got answers to: Have prominent Democrats given an upper limit on the number of people who should be allowed into the US? If not, why not?

Shhhh... we aren't allowed to use the 'other N word'. It makes inadequate, ignorant white men mad, and that means more dead minorities at the hands of another 'lone wolf', not-at-all-a-terrorist white guy with a copy of MEIN KAMPF on his book shelf next to printouts of Alex Jones articles and Glenn Beck books, and a closet full of 'other N word' paraphernalia.

Sheesh...what ever happened to tolerance, man...?

.../s

At the very least, President Trump would be a bad Nazi for giving too much power to his Jewish son-in-law.

Meanwhile, Batty Betsy, out to starve the Special Olympics into extinction owns a $40 million dollar yacht which she flies under a foreign flag in order to avoid paying taxes:

https://www.newsweek.com/betsy-devos...merica-1061960

The overwhelming majority of Special Olympics funding comes from contributions, so whether her family has money has little to do with whether taxpayers should fund it. Since the House of Representatives controls the budget, any push to end taxpayer funding for the Special Olympics also not going to pass. White House budgets are a wish list essentially.

Personally, I've been against the Special Olympics ever since the Chairman of the Special Olympics called for a boycott of Tropic Thunder.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/...oryId=93540773

Protecting children from gun violence and reversing the damaging effects of climate change shouldn't be partisan issues. We have a clear moral imperative to address these problems.

How do we protect children from gun violence? What is the acceptable price tag for reversing the effects of climate change? How far are you willing to go, with the developing world producing more emissions?

https://www.scidev.net/global/climat...d-figures.html

The US is doing better at meeting its goals than other countries.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/o...agreement.html

Or...

It obviously has nothing to do with what is in blue and a person with money and connections was afforded a break because of money and connections.

Even more so when they are clearly trying to create a pattern of such breaks being given to regular Janes/Joes that doesn't really exist in actual reality.

Edit: As of this evening, CBS has two examples provided by the prosecutor, and one of them(I believe his name was Terrae Washington) said comparing his case to Smollett's is a joke(he had to complete fifty hours of community service while holding down two jobs).

Considering people here have different news sources and media bubbles, it's probably best to offer links whenever possible.

[Tofali]

Pennsylvania House hosts bigoted prayer before swearing in first black Muslim woman legislator



The politicians in my state stepped in it big time by allowing that miserable shrew (a Republican of course) to weaponize prayer because she had a problem with a black Muslim woman in her midst. Revolting!

every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess

Wow! That sounds like it's an inquisition.

[aja_christopher]

I prefer to go granular rather than broad, since that covers the specific rationale for policies. "Stop and frisk" doesn't address voter disenfranchisement. Neither does racial profiling.

No, Mets, I'm not saying "stop and frisk" addresses voter disenfranchisement -- I'm saying we've discussed Republican "policy" before and the best you could do was offer your "sympathies" for things like racial profiling and (often) subsequent discrimination, harassment, and outright abuse of authority.

With that in mind, it doesn't make sense to waste any more time discussing "policy" with you.

-----
"Trump calls for nationwide 'stop-and-frisk' policy" (circa 2016)

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/...d-frisk-228486

[Tendrin]

"Junkies relieving themselves in public" is a big part of the problem in terms of the aggressive response, and why families would prefer not to be surrounded by the homeless. You've already covered criminalizing the need to go to the bathroom.

Or maybe, and I'm just speculating here, repeating widely held stereotypes about homeless people being 'junkies relieving themselves in public' is part of why we get unnecessarily aggressive responses and criminalization of poverty. You don't need to criminalize living out of your car to 'solve' the problem.

[aja_christopher]

I've literally seen Mets say that making it harder to vote for people who aren't going to vote for you is just smart politics and has nothing to do with race.

If someone thinks its acceptable to lie and cheat to win, then there's really no reason to trust anything they tell you.

It does seem to be something that both the Republicans and the Russians have in common -- a disdain for democracy and integrity in politics.

[zinderel]

every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess

Wow! That sounds like it's an inquisition.

Not so much an inquisition and more like another example of the white, Christian supremacist rhetoric that makes America great!

[Tendrin]

If someone thinks its acceptable to lie and cheat to win, then there's really no reason to trust anything they tell you.

It does seem to be something that both the Republicans and the Russians have in common -- a disdain for democracy and integrity in politics.

As Frum said:

Maybe you do not much care about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy. The stability of American society depends on conservatives’ ability to find a way forward from the Trump dead end, toward a conservatism that cannot only win elections but also govern responsibly, a conservatism that is culturally modern, economically inclusive, and environmentally responsible, that upholds markets at home and U.S. leadership internationally.

The GOP made its choice long before Trump, though.

[jetengine]

As Frum said:

The GOP made its choice long before Trump, though.

Much the same in the UK.

I've often wondered what a modern conservative party would be but I frankly can't conceive it.

[Tendrin]

Much the same in the UK.

I've often wondered what a modern conservative party would be but I frankly can't conceive it.

One opposed to radical certainty, I imagine, but even that's debatable. I can't really imagine it either.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Dems Demand Mueller’s Full 300 Pages, Mock ‘Scaredy-Cat’ GOP

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Barr’s synopsis of the federal probe “condescending” and “arrogant.” So, what is the GOP afraid of, and what do they have to hide?

**********

Never Imagined A President Would Kick ‘Allies In The Ass,’ Says Former U.S. Commander

“When the president refers to the EU as an enemy of the United States, that’s a gift” to Russia and China, said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges. Damn straight!

**********

Betsy DeVos’ Proposed Education Cuts Go Way Deeper Than The Special Olympics

Advocates say a proposed end to federal funding for the Special Olympics was merely a small part of an anti-disability budget. Bottom line: If you're not perfect, you're screwed.

**********

Trump To Sean Hannity: Wind Energy Won’t Work Because Wind ‘Only Blows Sometimes’

Twitter wits are grateful the president pointed out the problem so renewable energy experts can deal with it. You CAN'T make up **** like this!

**********

Pete Buttigieg: Donald Trump’s Administration Is Radicalizing Americans

Expect Trump insult in 3...2...1... Yeah, that's coming down the road for sure.

[worstblogever]

]It was on this day in both 2015, as well as 2016, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Paul “Skip” Stam, the former Speaker Pro Tempore of the North Carolina House of Representatives who has voted to nullify the Affordable Care Act, voted for North Carolina's "Motorcycle Safety/Anti-Abortion" Law, and compulsively votes for every stricter measure to disenfranchise voters that comes up, be it Voter ID bills, or votes to reduce early voting and close polling locations in Democratic-leaning districts. He has also called for poor people from being banned from playing the state lottery, misogynistically told the North Carolina chief of schools to "stick to her own knitting", and once forcibly closed debate on the legalization of marijuana because as he admitted, he didn't want his constituents to write and call and ask him about it. Stam responded to the news that the Confederate flag was being removed from the state capitol in South Carolina by voting for a law to make it harder for Confederate monuments to be renamed or taken down in North Carolina, apparently because celebrating a failed rebellion from a century and a half ago fought over slavery should be a priority. Perhaps Stam's worst issue is LGBTQ rights, as he has on more than one occasion compared same sex marriage to bestiality, polygamy and incest, and has been caught circulating fliers with homophobic content around the North Carolina legislature to colleagues from the Christian Action League, which is classified as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He responded to the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling by voting to vote for SB 2, an attempt to allow officials to refuse to perform marriage duties based on "sincerely held" religious objections, and was the sponsor of North Carolina’s HB 2, the combination “religious freedom to discriminate against LGBT citizens” law, that also doubled as transphobic bathroom legislation. Stam chose to not run for re-election in 2016, and has yet to re-emerge onto the political scene.

On this date in 2017, as well as 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Kevin Calvey, who on two occasions (2006 and 2010) has ran for, and failed to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District, and instead has become yet another member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives whose fanaticism seems to know no bounds. How much so? Look, when someone who claims to be “Pro-Life” is threatening to set themselves on fire to protest abortion, well, we think it might be missing the point just a tad. Perhaps this would be a good time to point out that Kevin Calvey was elected to serve in the Oklahoma House of Representatives back in 2014, but back over a decade ago, in his first run through office in Oklahoma, Calvey did manage to show he’s so “Pro-Life” that he voted for the death penalty to be used on second offense sex offenders (which, we’re not fond of sex offenders, but WOW is that pretty extreme), as well as the fact that Calvey was the sponsor of Oklahoma’s version of the “Stand Your Ground” firearms law. So clearly, he’s all about things that promote life, which you can further see his commitment to by noting how he is vehemently opposed to the Affordable Care Act, and being able to afford health insurance that keeps them alive, or allows their pre-existing conditions to be covered by insurance. Calvey never did self-immolate, and was term-limited in the Oklahoma state legislature in 2018. We will retire his profile at this time and we’ll move on to profile a different wacky Republican on this date instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 740-30, since this was established in July 2014.)

Eric Porterfield

Welcome to the 740th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing Eric Porterfield, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates who was just elected in 2018 in a conservative district by advancing out of the GOP Primary as the third place finisher, making the cut ahead of the next-best vote-getter by… 8 votes. That’s right, it was a difference of EIGHT votes in his district that elected a man who’s fortunate to be blind, so he can’t have watched Legion on FX and seen how much he resembles the Shadow King’s corpulent astral form. But all kidding aside, Eric Porterfield has rocketed to the top of the CSGOPOTD queue in his freshman term in office, after only a few short weeks into his freshman term in office, he was calling a bill to prevent LGBT discrimination as “bigoted and discriminatory” (presumably towards straight people), and uttered the gay slur “f*****” on the floor of the West Virginia state legislature. When a reporter interviewed him about it, he provided one of the dumbest homophobic quotes imaginable:

”The LGBTQ is a modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods with their antics of hate.”

And by no means did Porterfield start backing down, in another West Virginia House session adding:

The LGBT is the most socialist group in this country. They do not protect gays. There are many gays they persecute if they do not line up with their social ideology.”

Porterfield faced calls to resign, claimed he had begun receiving death threats from people he said self-identified as gay, calling them “brutal monsters”, and a “terrorist group”, admitting “I am terrified of these people. They represent a socialist activist agenda. They are opponents of freedom.” When asked what he would do if he discovered his own children were gay, Porterfield seemed to indicate he might be trying to drown them, saying he would “take them fishing and see if they can swim”.

At this time, this deranged putz has not resigned, and looks to embarrass most of the GOP for the next two years in West Virginia. Which is no small feat.

[KOSLOX]

California Customer Goes Apoplectic Over ‘Mexican’ Word In Mexican Restaurant

Hmm... why aren't there ever any videos of these guys losing their **** at an Olive Garden?