All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[ed2962]

Sometimes I wonder what kind of deal Trump has with Kelly Ann Conway or if she's got dirt on him or what seeing as her husband is not shy about criticizing him in public. Yet Trump hasn't dumped her yet.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Sometimes I wonder what kind of deal Trump has with Kelly Ann Conway or if she's got dirt on him or what seeing as her husband is not shy about criticizing him in public. Yet Trump hasn't dumped her yet.

I suspect the situation with Kellyanne of Green Goebbels is a simple one: Trump keeps her around because she faithfully and zealously (perhaps even fanatically) defends him, and he just loves that sort of blind loyalty. So, he gives her hubby a pass, which, in itself, is highly surprising, given Trump's non-existent tolerance for criticism.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published our profile of former 2014 Illinois gubernatorial candidate Susan Atanus, the former candidate for U.S. Congress to represent Illinois’ 9th District who believes that God created things like tornadoes and autism to punish us for abortions and tolerance of gays. Oh, and if we don’t stop same-sex marriage, there’s going to be an AIDS epidemic that will weaken our military. She was insane enough that the Illinois GOP scrambled to get her off the ballot for a Congressional run even though she won the 2014 primary, and she fought tooth and nail to stay on and lose by over 30 points against Jan Schakowsky.


In 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Andy Holt, a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives who popped up in the 2010 Tea Party Wave, and back in July of 2015, bent over backwards to try to do a rewrite of history to defend the honor of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, aka the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (who even prior to leading the KKK, was accused of war crimes after the war for massacring African Americans as they attempted to surrender). Taking a look at Holt’s voting record, his affection for the Confederacy still carries over into at least his support of nullification measures, stricter Voter ID laws, and his support to keep Confederate landmarks intact with their original names. Holt also supported the Tennessee GOP’s attempt to pass the obviously unconstitutional law to declare the Bible the state book, and has voted for measures to try and get Bible studies taught in schools. Our discussion still went farther, though, in our research, we also noted that Holt also referred to the footage recorded by undercover police officers trying to bust a sex trafficking ring as “tape and rape”, which is decidedly large lack of tact. Holt, as we have noticed that he is becoming more and more of a fan of guns, if that were at all possible. While there’s nothing stopping any candidate for office from having one of those controversial giveaways of an AR-15 at one of their political rallies, as he now has done, but he’s also looking to offer free gun permits to attendees whenever possible. Man, next thing you know, Andy Holt’s going to have his own loyal army of supporters in Tennessee armed to the teeth. Is there any cause to be concerned as to why a guy who has praised the founder of the KKK and likes voting for the kinds of nullification bills that started the Civil War would do something like that?

Well, not for nothing, but while Ammon Bundy and his militia cronies decided to occupy the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, Andy Holt’s name popped up in the media, as he posted on Twitter an offer to send them support on January 4th, 2016. So we’re seeing that he now might be building his own militia, after previously allying himself with a group of domestic terrorists with vacuous plans to have an insurrection against the federal government. This is exactly the sort of behavior you don’t want to see from an elected official… right? It’s not like he’s calling on people to ignore the government or anything… oh. Oh wait. He did that too. Yes, Andy Holt recorded a video of himself burning up traffic citations he had received, and encouraged others to do the same.

Holt also has accrued a number of speeding tickets in double digits, that he doesn’t want to pay the fines on. Ten of those traffic-cam tickets are in one town alone. And it wouldn’t be a conflict of interests if he got the law overturned so he didn’t have to pay the fines, right?

And, Andy Holt has taken up the standard, level-headed crusade of trying to better censor Tennessee lottery commercials, apparently unhappy with the theme that people might get lucky if they play, and there’s no hope so quit giving that to the poor. And, when one of those lottos was Christmas-themed, Holt literally invoked the, “quit ruining Jesus’ birthday” argument. (We’re not joking.)

So it should also come as no surprise that as much of the country responded to events in Charlottesville by making the decision to push ahead and remove Confederate monuments. And Holt, unable to just accept that the city of Memphis decided to remove statues to men he holds in such regard for having fought for their right to keep slaves, needed himself a scalp to even out the imaginary racist scoreboard. He settled for voting to pull $250,000 from the budget for Memphis’ bicentennial celebration, and was one of the most vocal proponents of the bill.

You might think that Andy Holt is out on the fringe, but through most of 2018, he was considering a run for U.S. Senate to challenge Bob Corker. Once Corker retired, though, all the sharks in the GOP smelled the blood in the water, and a bigger fish named Marsha Blackburn came in and scared Holt off. He won re-election to another term in the state legislature with 72% of the vote in 2018.

He has returned to the realm of controversy almost immediately, attacking fellow Republican Jay Bush for, quite effectively, “not liking Donald Trump enough”, and harassing his colleague on Twitter by posting bizarre photos of him surrounded by hot dogs and cats, with a set of horns made of hot dogs. Because that’s normal to do that to anyone, especially people in your own party. Which, of course, means he’s infinitely s***tier to his Democratic colleagues, as exhibited back in April of 2019 when during a debate about legalizing online gambling (he seriously hates gambling with the passion of a thousand suns), Holt began comparing gambling addiction to… what else… SLAVERY. And the person he was lecturing across the aisle was, of course, African American.

We’ll continue monitoring Andy Holt, because not a year goes by where he doesn’t say something offensive.
 

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The big thing is that Conway had a lot of credibility as a GOP strategist for a long time. Her jumping on the Trump campaign gave him a lot of credibility with the GOP

[Tami]

Trump administration releases new 'public charge' rule making it easier to reject immigrants

The Trump administration released the final version of a controversial rule on Monday that dramatically increases the government's ability to reject green cards for people who are deemed likely to depend on government aid such as food stamps, housing assistance and Medicaid.

The new "public charge" rule would link a subject's immigration status to their income and their use of certain public programs.

Published in the Federal Register, the rule will officially be released Wednesday and go into effect 60 days later. Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is expected to discuss the change at a White House press briefing later on Monday morning.

The rule defines the term "public charge" in the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the DHS authority to deny applicants green cards, visas or entry into the U.S. if there is a risk they will become public charges.

The public charge term has historically meant to refer to someone who is “primarily dependent on the government for subsistence" based on their receipt of "public cash assistance."

Top immigration official Ken Cuccinelli briefs reporters — live updates

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is briefing reporters from the White House Monday, as the Trump administration announces a change to the "public charge" rule.

As the Trump administration continues to roll back safeguards for immigrants in the United States, the White House is now going one step further by rolling out an enforceable version of the so-called "public charge" rule in the coming days. The final rule is scheduled to be officially published on Wednesday and slated to go into effect in mid-October.

The change would dramatically expand the government's definition of the centuries-old term "public charge," effectively making it more difficult for certain low-income immigrants to secure permanent residency (green cards) or temporary visas.

AKA "We only want you if you are wealthy enough to play golf at Mar a Lago and grease Trump's palm with lots of cash"

[Tendrin]

… Oh WBE-EEEeeeee, Omar Navarro is in the news again for his next profile.

A perennial House candidate’s alleged harassment of his ex-girlfriend has gone so far that he apparently hired notorious conservative operative Jacob Wohl to pressure her and a former campaign worker, according to text messages and a recording reviewed by The Daily Beast.
Wohl is best known for his blundering, often comical attempts at political trickery, including failed schemes to concoct bogus sexual-assault allegations against former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. But text messages from a phone number belonging to Wohl suggest that the 21-year-old hoaxer has branched out into making death threats on behalf of his political allies, telling one woman he would “torture you so much that you end up killing yourself.”
Aug. 1 was a big day for both allies and former friends of Omar Navarro, a Republican known for his perennial failed campaigns against Donald Trump nemesis Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA). Those runs had earned him more than $1 million in campaign donations in his 2018 run, and high-powered endorsements from Trumpworld stalwarts like Herman Cain, Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and game-show host Chuck Woolery. But suddenly his career as a conservative cause célèbre was at risk.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/did-a-...women?ref=home

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump administration releases new 'public charge' rule making it easier to reject immigrants



Top immigration official Ken Cuccinelli briefs reporters — live updates





AKA "We only want you if you are wealthy enough to play golf at Mar a Lago and grease Trump's palm with lots of cash"

I find it all rather ironic since, in a loosely applied definition of the term, American farmers are currently "public charges" (as in getting cash handouts) thanks to Trump's disastrous trade war with China. At least that's how I look at the situation, however, I could be wrong. Meanwhile, would this new rule apply to immigrants of ALL races, or just those who aren't white? I think I already know the answer to that question, but I thought I'd throw that question out there anyway.

[Tami]

I find it all rather ironic since, in a loosely applied definition of the term, American farmers are currently "public charges" (as in getting cash handouts) thanks to Trump's disastrous trade war with China. At least that's how I look at the situation, however, I could be wrong. Meanwhile, would this new rule apply to immigrants of ALL races, or just those who aren't white? I think I already know the answer to that question, but I thought I'd throw that question out there anyway.

I was thinking about teh Farmers myself, the ones who are satisfied with a handout that only over half of what they normally make in crop sales just so that Trump could 'screw it' to the Chinese. of course, a tariff war only hurt Americans and the Chinese have a whole world of customers that they can trade with and they are also in a position to hurt the US since we are in debt to them in various ways.

But hey, as long as someone is waging war against China for unfair trade practices (a war that is more like let's shoot ourselves in the feet, that will make China cry)

China's Economy and Its Effect on the U.S. Economy

So we'll see who cries 'Uncle' first.

[katefan]

Killing is never heroic, even if it is necessary. We're in sin eater territory at that point.

I never said killing was heroic, but it is sometimes necessary. With no way to contain Zod what were Superman's options? He was going to burn Planet Earth to the ground to get his revenge on Supes and Jor-El.

[Tuck]

I never said killing was heroic,

Guy above you did.

[katefan]

Guy above you did.

Ah, apologies then. It was not my intention to start an argument or anything.

[Mister Mets]

I didn't hear about that. I've heard he has had temper tantrums before and is guilty of poor judgement. The man is currently being sued for tortious interference, for example.

The lawsuit is a knock against Waid only if it has merit.

[JackDaw]

Well, Mark Waid can't seem to stay out of trouble...

To be honest I can understand why Waid..or any creator....might well be irritated at some one taking a sequence from their comic and re-lettering it.

But it always baffles me why anyone in public eye gets involved in internet squabbles....that “game” is one of the few loaded against the big names.

[wjowski]

Killing is never heroic, even if it is necessary. We're in sin eater territory at that point.

That wasn't a positive remark.

[jetengine]

On the one hand Waid should be professional, on the other that Youtubes is claiming "Muh satire" when he's directly hurting a book for his own clicks.

EDIT : Just checked his YT, his videos are all just whining about "SJWs" so he's EXACTLY the kind of YT you expect who uses doctored images and goes "Oh its just a joke"