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

[Tendrin]

Did we report Joey Salads is running for congress?

You know, this guy?


salads.JPG

[aja_christopher]

Democrats are able to at any point disavow anyone who supports abolishing ICE, or open borders, with the vigor they reserve for anyone who dressed in blackface in the 1980s and would be replaced by someone who hasn't been accused of sexual assault. They don't quite do that.

I'll answer politely worded questions, but not intellectually dishonest questions. For example, you seem to assume I'm echoing Trump, that I came across a point of his, and made a conscious point to repeat it. My points on open borders aren't made because of anything Trump (a guy I didn't vote for last time, and don't intend to vote for next time) said, but because of arguments I've come across elsewhere (the main source being Ezra Klein's podcast interviews). I suspect a reason Trump brings up open borders is that he recognizes this is a topic that makes Democrats uncomfortable, because they are unwilling to define clear preferred limits on legal immigration.

You are echoing Trump -- whether intentionally or otherwise -- if you're saying exactly the same thing he is and you are being dishonest when you still argue that Democrats are for "open borders" and "abolishing ICE" when I provide factual evidence that isn't the case -- pointing out the truth is not a personal attack unless you are so engaged in the lie that you can't separate yourself from it.

Moreover, I'm not being "impolite" -- I'm just not allowing you to frame the argument so that you can debate using a false accusation steeped in biased "inference" rather than actual fact. Nearly every here has pointed out how intellectually insulting your "T-shirt" argument is, yet you still persist in trying to act as if it is something that others should take seriously -- more seriously than actual Democratic policy, in fact, because that's the only way you can distract from your party's inherent corruption (i.e. The Mueller Report, gerrymandering, the Trump presidency, etc).

There's nothing impolite about asking why you support a party that you know frequently engages in lying, corruption, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and fiscal irresponsibility -- in reality, it's you who is uncomfortable dealing with the facts about your party, not the Democrats.

[Dalak]

Do you disagree with any point made earlier?

Well the one where when you start screwing with kids you still have the right to have people defend you because the verbiage isn't quite right. In court those sorts of distinctions matter and technicalities can get the most guilty off scott free - but the real world isn't a court of law.

Pedophile, kiddy diddler, age-based predator, whatever term suits the person bringing Moore up is suitable as far as I'm concerned.

[Tendrin]

Well the one where when you start screwing with kids you still have the right to have people defend you because the verbiage isn't quite right. In court those sorts of distinctions matter and technicalities can get the most guilty off scott free - but the real world isn't a court of law.

Pedophile, kiddy diddler, age-based predator, whatever term suits the person bringing Moore up is suitable as far as I'm concerned.

Everyone knows what is meant by it, yes, except people who like to play 'gotcha' games. It's not dissimilar to the 'We're not a democracy, we're a republic!' bull we see trotted out frequently.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Far-Right Activists Are Taking Their Message To Gen Z On TikTok

The video-sharing app has let hate speech flourish as a growing number of users, many of them young, flock to TikTok. The only thing worse than far right shitstains influencing young minds are the people running TikTok refusing to eliminate hate speech.

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Trump Vetoes Bill To End U.S. Support For Saudis In Yemen War

The bill passed with bipartisan support in the House and Senate. This was all about Trump sucking up to Saudis by killing that bill. Disgustingly predictable.

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'May God Rest Their Soul': Trump Ripped Over Creepy Tweet About 2020 Rivals

The president used a morbid phrase in a tweet about Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. What the **** is wrong with that man?

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Trump ‘Scared Of Our Campaign,’ Says Sanders As President Tweetbombs About ‘Crazy Bernie’

The president has mentioned “Crazy Bernie Sanders” four times in less than 12 hours. Which means Bernie has the full attention of Trump who, like all bullies, hate what they fear.

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Sean Hannity Guest Falsely Claims Ilhan Omar Is ‘Infatuated’ With Terrorism

The Muslim congresswoman has received death threats because conservative media took her comments about 9/11 out of context. Revolting!

[worstblogever]

Trump ‘Scared Of Our Campaign,’ Says Sanders As President Tweetbombs About ‘Crazy Bernie’

The president has mentioned “Crazy Bernie Sanders” four times in less than 12 hours. Which means Bernie has the full attention of Trump who, like all bullies, hate what they fear.

Of course he did. Bernie went on Fox News, Trump's last bastion of unfiltered echo chamber is state television. He probably almost had a stroke.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, Walter Jones, whose biggest claim to fame is that during the build up to the Iraq War, when France refused to join the United States in invading, he responded by submitting a resolution to have French Fries in the Capitol cafeteria renamed "Freedom Fries". He was also a big supporter of Ilario Pantano, a U.S. Soldier from Iraq who was placed on military trial for killing two Iraqi citizens and displaying their corpses with a sign saying, "No better friend, no worse enemy." Of course, Jones seems rather fine with anti-Muslim measures himself, considering he's publicly complained about community colleges in his district spending money on copies of textbooks on Islam or Muslim culture, called for defunding the Obama administration to stop the resettlement of Muslim refugees, and has tried to get classified information about 9/11 declassified, claiming that Saudi Arabia would be secretly revealed to have funded the attacks. He has also discussed impeaching President Obama for his executive orders on immigration, and going on the conservative news network Newsmax to be interviewed by former Congressman J.D. Hayworth to say he felt Republicans have a “Constitutional duty to impeach President Obama”. As late as June of 2015, Rep. Jones was repeating lies about how the Affordable Care Act would create “death panels”, over a half-decade after it was named Politifact’s “Lie of the Year”. Walter Jones also is a repeated guest of Alex Jones' InfoWars, agreeing with the host on one episode that "abortion is a curse upon America", and that if it was stopped, the curse would be lifted.

Walter Jones has been sabotaging the Republican Party’s biggest establishment names for the past few years. We discussed in our original profile of Jones that he recanted his belief that the War on Iraq was justified (that’s right, even the Freedom Fries guy has hindsight). By the end of the Bush administration, Jones was more than willing to throw Dubya under the bus, and lay blame with him for the deaths of thousands of American troops in a conflict we stared because of selectively presented evidence against the Hussein regime. And that guilt and resentment over his Iraq War vote carried over to the rest of the Bush family, it seems, because while Jeb Bush was trying his damnedest to make some headway in the 2016 Presidential Primary, Walter Jones was right there to chuck Jeb under the bus over it, as well, going on Alex Jones’ InfoWars (again) in August 2015 to do so, saying, “If my brother had sent 4,000 Americans to die in an unnecessary war, I don’t believe I’d be making those statements. We never had to go into Iraq. It was manufactured intelligence. We had no business going into Iraq, taking out Saddam is part of the problem that we’ve got with the Middle East right now.”

And he still wasn’t done. Through most of the summer and early fall of 2015, Walter Jones was working with the House Freedom Caucus, a group of the most obstinate, pigheaded, and deranged Republicans in all of Congress, to push for the resignation of House Speaker John Boehner, who they no longer trusted because they felt he compromised with Democrats too much. (Think about that for a second… John Boehner compromised too much in his mind.) Rep. Kevin McCarthy was fast-tracked to be John Boehner’s replacement as House Speaker, and while McCarthy certainly did botch his step into the media spotlight for the job, it certainly didn’t help that Walter Jones sent out a letter to Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers than implied Rep. McCarthy was having an affair with another woman, who many speculated was fellow Congresswoman Renee Ellmers.

Walter Jones survived three consecutive attempts by the national Republican Party to bounce him from office in a primary election, winning another term in 2018. He would not, however, survive his own health, though, as only a month after he announced he would retire from office in 2020, Jones suddenly passed away at the age of 76, leaving behind one of the most bizarre, all-over-the-road political legacies of any modern Republican.

[Tendrin]

Sean Hannity Guest Falsely Claims Ilhan Omar Is ‘Infatuated’ With Terrorism

The Muslim congresswoman has received death threats because conservative media took her comments about 9/11 out of context. Revolting!

The guest in question is, in fact, Bernard Kerik. Yes, /that/ Bernard Kerik. Former NY police commissioner. Convicted criminal. That Bernard Kerik.

[Malvolio]

Do you disagree with any point made earlier?


Promises often become policies.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...heir-promises/



Immigration is one of the most important issues, and a major conflict between parties. If it was a solvable issue, it would have been addressed.

Really? So it couldn't have been Republicans deliberately acting in bad faith in order to keep it as a "border crisis," and therefore, a valid campaign issue?

[TheDarman]

Woman inspired by Columbine flies to Colorado, buys pump action shotgun and ammunition, regardless of the fact that she was actively being watched by the FBI.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Really? So it couldn't have been Republicans deliberately acting in bad faith in order to keep it as a "border crisis," and therefore, a valid campaign issue?

Hell, Republicans never even had the border front and center as a problem to be dealt with, the White House damn sure didn't feel that way. For two years while the GOP had full control of the House and Senate, Trump never once considered immigration as a crisis or emergency, it was only after Republicans lost the House in November did Dolt45 suddenly start worrying over the border, leading to all the stupid **** he's done since then, including the Christmastime government shutdown over funding for his precious fucking wall a month later. Oh, yeah, Caramel Caligula and the GOP are using innocent lives as pawns in their sick games.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Woman inspired by Columbine flies to Colorado, buys pump action shotgun and ammunition, regardless of the fact that she was actively being watched by the FBI.

And the 20th anniversary of Columbine is this Saturday. God only knows if other deranged, and, perhaps, armed nutbags like Sol Pais might crawl out from under their rocks to do god only knows what.

[TheDarman]

And the 20th anniversary of Columbine is this Saturday. God only knows if other deranged, and, perhaps, armed nutbags like Sol Pais might crawl out from under their rocks to do god only knows what.

Crazy people doing crazy things isn’t abnormal, even among the “civilized” world. The issue is that the American culture around and about guns only aids those who wish to do harm. These are common sense reforms—people under watch by the FBI should, at least, have to wait to get that cleared up before being able to purchase a gun...especially a pump-action shotgun.

[Kirby101]

Hell, Republicans never even had the border front and center as a problem to be dealt with, the White House damn sure didn't feel that way. For two years while the GOP had full control of the House and Senate, Trump never once considered immigration as a crisis or emergency, it was only after Republicans lost the House in November did Dolt45 suddenly start worrying over the border, leading to all the stupid **** he's done since then, including the Christmastime government shutdown over funding for his precious fucking wall a month later. Oh, yeah, Caramel Caligula and the GOP are using innocent lives as pawns in their sick games.

Oh no, ask Mets. Immigration has ALWAYS been the top issue and the Dems ALWAYS on the wrong side. Wanting to flood the country with brown people and all.

[TheDarman]

Oh no, ask Mets. Immigration has ALWAYS been the top issue and the Dems ALWAYS on the wrong side. Wanting to flood the country with brown people and all.

Apparently it isn’t a clear limiting principle to state that Visa limits will remain intact but they need to be better informed because we’ve seen industries actually beg for migrant workers. If you don’t say “we will only allow X amount of people from your ‘shithole’ country” and “you’re a white country, so we’ll let more of you in” and put an explicit and unbreachable limit year over year, regardless of economic or structural changes, you are for “open borders” and are going to cause an apocalypse worse than creating an environment where there are shootings perpetrated against gay night clubs.