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

[Tendrin]

https://twitter.com/theappeal/status...72090653184000

BREAKING: Police have arrested a 23-year-old White man, Holden Matthews, in connection with the fires that destroyed three Black churches in Louisiana in the last two weeks. Matthews is the son of a St. Landry sheriff's deputy & has neo-Nazi ties.

But remember, they totally weren't gonna be arson, guys.

[TheDarman]

Never mind that trying to frame that as someone finding one thing to try to go after someone on ignores obvious reality...

https://afropunk.com/2019/01/kamala-...ple-not-crime/





Edit:

Also worth noting about this specific instance(heck, the entire article is worth reading through)...

https://splinternews.com/why-oppose-...man-1832816713

This, again, is a criticism that could be applied to virtually every prosecutor because of the way the law is enforced by police departments. This is going to find it’s way up to prosecutors whose job it is to prosecute people for criminal acts. So, again, I disagree with the principle that Harris is disqualified based on the position that she had before. But, if that’s how you feel, there is no less validity to it. Nor are you incorrect to critique prosecutors role in this racially biased system of criminal justice. I just don’t think that applying blame to any one actor is appropriate because, frankly, that will put everyone involved, including people who have done nothing or even voted for past war on crime legislation, like Bernie Sanders, at a permanent excession from the political process. I think people learn from their experiences and I’ve seen nothing from Harris to indicate that she saw nothing wrong with what she experienced in her time as a prosecutor. But, again, to each his own.

[numberthirty]

This, again, is a criticism that could be applied to virtually every prosecutor because of the way the law is enforced by police departments. This is going to find it’s way up to prosecutors whose job it is to prosecute people for criminal acts. So, again, I disagree with the principle that Harris is disqualified based on the position that she had before. But, if that’s how you feel, there is no less validity to it. Nor are you incorrect to critique prosecutors role in this racially biased system of criminal justice. I just don’t think that applying blame to any one actor is appropriate because, frankly, that will put everyone involved, including people who have done nothing or even voted for past war on crime legislation, like Bernie Sanders, at a permanent excession from the political process. I think people learn from their experiences and I’ve seen nothing from Harris to indicate that she saw nothing wrong with what she experienced in her time as a prosecutor. But, again, to each his own.

Put simply, we can easily prove that this is not the case.

Here, we have a concrete example of a man who was being kept in jail for years on a paper filing after a Federal Judge had ordered his release.

In addition, we have a concrete example of someone where DNA testing should have happened.

If you are going to reasonably assert that it could be applied to virtually ever prosecutor, you are going to need actual equivalent concrete examples for each of those prosecutors.

If you do not, it is simply an attempt to minimize what happened while Harris was in office.

That she was a part of that arm of government is not the issue. It was the specific things done while she was a part of that arm of government.

[Tendrin]

Put simply, we can easily prove that this is not the case.

You're wrong. Procedural things like that happen /all the time/ and are almost always thrown out. It's a problem but it's not unique to Harris and you're willfully blind if you don't wanna see that because flogging this incident is useful to your anti-Harris crusade. Darman is, unfortuantely, 100% correct. And I will remind once again that the actual prosecutor in the case was not Kamala Harris.


And to clarify, Harris isn't my top choice at all due to her choices on trans rights.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled of Sue Lowden, a former candidate for U.S. Senate from Nevada who offered an alternate suggestion to healthcare reform to the Affordable Care Act… people should go back to the good old days when they bartered with their doctor in goods and services for medical care (really). She also had several ethical complaints registered against her for illegal campaign financing, and was even widely reported to have stiffed a large portion of her paid media consultants on fees owed after the election. Lowden had previously, in the 2008 election, angered Ron Paul for President supporters by shutting down their insurrection at the state’s primary convention and awarding its delegates to John McCain, and not Paul, so they hounded her wherever she went, throwing their support behind fellow CSGOPOTD Sharron Angle, instead. Lowden has faded from relevance in politics.



In 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the U.S. House Representative from Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District, Steve Russell, as pictured, former frequent guest on Fox News. And it’s easy to understand why the propaganda wing of the Republican Party being run by Roger Ailes would find this guy to be a media darling… he was a part of the military team that helped yank Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein out of his spider-hole back in 2003, and he detailed that story in his memoir, the aptly named “We Got Him!” Russell has quickly parlayed that into a career in Oklahoma politics, serving in the state legislature from 2008-2012, before seizing the opportunity that presented itself to leap to higher office when fellow CSGOPOTD almuni, Congressman James Lankford decided to take a shot at elevating himself to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Sen. Tom Coburn. Now, this blog will always be perfectly clear about something… we respect our nation’s military, the honorable service they provide to keep our country safe, and represent its values in uniform. That will never, ever change. And the same respect is extended to a veteran like Rep. Russell. We would like to extend our thanks to him for his service. That being said, we find some of his statements in the realm of “military expertise” since he left the service to be highly suspect, and enough to have been the red flags that have so quickly earned him one of our profiles. You see, Steve Russell is one of those conservatives living on an alternate earth where ideology matters more than facts. As such, his version of the history of the Iraq War is one where the United States Armed Forces actually found not just Saddam Hussein, as his unit did… but he claims we also found the active program of Saddam Hussein’s regime that was attempting to build Weapons of Mass Destruction. Russell has, on multiple occasions, spoken publicly that he has been told by others in the military who found the WMDs, but “the story was completely buried by the press”. Of course, maybe Russell just says things like this because he’s being completely partisan, but we’d have no reason to suspect that… except for when after President Obama recorded a Back-To-School message for public school students in 2009, much the way previous presidents had going back to Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, that Russell decided to make the classy decision to compare Obama to some of the world’s worst dictators, including Kim Jong Il and the man he helped catch in Iraq, Saddam Hussein.

Splendid. Now, getting back to Russell’s opinions on the military… there was an inspiring news story that came out in August of 2015, where Captain Kristen Griest and Lieutenant Shayne Haver became the first two women to successfully graduate from Army Ranger training school. Now, while most people would hear that news and salute those two service members for their achievement, as well as acknowledge a great moment in women’s history… Steve Russell called for an investigation because obviously they only completed their training because they must have received some sort of preferential treatment. Keep in mind, Steve Russell’s “sources” also tell him that a guy heard from another guy we found Saddam’s WMDs, so yeah, it’s just another wad of bulls***. And it’s spectacular that he would question a fellow service member’s commitment, ability, or integrity, isn’t it?

Prior to getting to Congress, while he was still serving in the Oklahoma state legislature, he drafted legislation to try to get Oklahoma to opt out of the Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd Hate Crimes Act, because it’s worth nullifying federal law to let people kill other people for being gay, apparently. His justification? It would violate the potential homophobic murderer’s “freedom of speech”. Of course, that was hardly his only extreme piece of legislation, considering he also co-sponsored legislation to try to define life at conception, supported Birther legislation regarding the birth certificates of presidential candidates, voted for stricter Voter ID laws to combat the statistically non-existent problem of “in-person voter fraud” at the cost of disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters,
tried to nullify the Affordable Care Act, and voted for Oklahoma Republicans’ paranoid, Islamophobic idea to place a ban on Sharia Law in the state. Since hitting Washington, D.C., on July 30th, 2015, during a Congressional hearing, Steve Russell accused Matt Duss of the Foundation for Middle East peace of having “Anti-Semantic ties” because his father and brother were previously known to be critical of Israeli policies. Of course, what Russell meant to say was “Anti-Semitic”, and even that was a reach. He is, top to bottom, a kook.


Now, in 2016, Steve Russell coasted to re-election in 2016 by over 20 points, what with his district having a +12 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index. However, we have some outstanding news… in the 2018 Blue Wave election, and after a contentious town hall where Russell refused to say whether or not the media was “the enemy” like Donald Trump had, Steve Russell was defeated by 3,000 votes by Kendra Horn, and bounced out of office in one of the bigger upsets of the 2018 elections.

We now would whole-heartedly like to wish him our heartiest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salutes, and hope he never darkens the door of American politics again.

[TriggerWarning]

I welcome Democrats making the argument that letting immigrants in in larger numbers will result in a severe drop in the quality of life for many Americans.

Open borders and unchecked immigration worked out great for the Native Americans in the US, Aboriginees in Australia, Africans in South Africa (I'm not sure if there is a term for them), etc as iilegal immigrants (aka Europeans) flooded their countries and destroyed their cultures.

We can't go back in time and fix the atrocities that were done but we can sure as heck learn the lessons from it by limiting illegal immigration.

[Tendrin]

Open borders and unchecked immigration worked out great for the Native Americans in the US, Aboriginees in Australia, Africans in South Africa (I'm not sure if there is a term for them), etc as iilegal immigrants (aka Europeans) flooded their countries and destroyed their cultures.

We can't go back in time and fix the atrocities that were done but we can sure as heck learn the lessons from it by limiting illegal immigration.

The idea that these things are in any way comparable is absurd.

[numberthirty]

You're wrong. Procedural things like that happen /all the time/ and are almost always thrown out. It's a problem but it's not unique to Harris and you're willfully blind if you don't wanna see that because flogging this incident is useful to your anti-Harris crusade. Darman is, unfortuantely, 100% correct. And I will remind once again that the actual prosecutor in the case was not Kamala Harris.


And to clarify, Harris isn't my top choice at all due to her choices on trans rights.

You're framing an intentional exploitation of a paperwork issue being used to keep a guy in prison for two years after he should have been released as a "Procedural Thing".

That's not just the usual nonsense that needs to go. That was an intentional move.

I doubt that even the bulk of prosecutors have one of those in their background.

[numberthirty]

Matter of fact, let's just look at another AG...

https://www.michiganadvance.com/blog...l-convictions/

AG forms investigative unit to examine wrongful criminal convictions

“We have a duty to ensure those convicted of state crimes by county prosecutors and our office are in fact guilty of those crimes,” Nessel said in a statement. “By establishing this unit, we will work to make certain those ethical and legal obligations are met while providing justice to those wrongfully imprisoned and keeping dangerous offenders out of Michigan communities.”

[numberthirty]

So, yeah...

The idea that the arm that Harris' was in charge of keeping an innocent man in jail for years after he should have been released is just "Business As Usual" stuff doesn't feel like it actually tracks.

[numberthirty]

One other quick thing...

Has someone actually mentioned that Eric Swalwell is running for President?

'Cause it didn't feel like it made much of a splash.

[Tendrin]

It actually does track, 30, but we know if we go dig into all the data on the thigns that happen in the criminal justice system, you'll just busily move the goal posts again, as usual. Moreover, I am not 'framing' anything. I am acknowledging the reality of our deeply flawed criminal justice system and will once again point out that Harris' office is what your complaints are directed at. You've never once mentioned the name oft he actual prosecutor involved in the case.

[numberthirty]

Ruh Roh...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/uk/ju...ntl/index.html

Julian Assange has been arrested

[Tendrin]

Another LONG overdue event. Good.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ruh Roh...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/uk/ju...ntl/index.html

About goddamn time.