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

[Malvolio]

How does this bill not have unanimous support? I'd really like to hear the excuse from any Senator or Congressional Representative voting against this bill.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Before we go back and start focusing on the gravity of everything where numbers are meaningless and that we need to hammer home a campaign to unseat Trump considering that's one of the reasons why Hillary lost in 2016 (people got confident and didn't vote), let's appreciate the way people are reacting to this on Twitter by commenting on what is beating Trump.

I agree that it's way too early to focus on numbers with the election a year and a half away. And it's not just the presidency everyone should focus on, Democrats need to retake the Senate in order to stop Turtle Boy McConnell and his shameless obstruction games.

How does this bill not have unanimous support? I'd really like to hear the excuse from any Senator or Congressional Representative voting against this bill.

I'm guessing some, if not most of those assholes, REPUBLICAN assholes either flat out don't give a ****, or grumble that it's too costly to maintain while eager to give Trump funds for his goddamn wall.

[worstblogever]

How does this bill not have unanimous support? I'd really like to hear the excuse from any Senator or Congressional Representative voting against this bill.

Conservatives would rather stall and let a lot of them die before doing it so they never have to pay a dime to them. They're a lot less loud about wanting healthcare when they can't complain anymore.

I wish I was joking, but that's been the GOP on the Zadroga Act for years, dragging their feet kicking and screaming. And when it does come up for a vote, Democrats are all for it, while the GOP are a mixed bag of nuts.

[worstblogever]

Before we go back and start focusing on the gravity of everything where numbers are meaningless and that we need to hammer home a campaign to unseat Trump considering that's one of the reasons why Hillary lost in 2016 (people got confident and didn't vote), let's appreciate the way people are reacting to this on Twitter by commenting on what is beating Trump.

100% agree.

[worstblogever]

It was three years ago we shared our original "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile of Troy Mader, a former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives who after being appointed to his position, garnered the attention of the media after he complained too much about “dangerous” animals on the endangered species list, and they found essays he wrote online where he compared environmentalists to Hitler wanting to commit genocide. A few other reporters noted that his own country and music CD featured a rant in the insert where most give thanks to their bandmates featured complaints about how society has too much tolerance nowadays, and before long, reporters dug up a copy of a book Mader wrote back in 1987 where he reported false information about the spread of HIV and AIDS, and claimed that homosexuals willfully spread the HIV virus and want to have sex with children. Not surprisingly, in his first primary campaign to win office, Mader was defeated, and rebuffed by the voters of his district.


In both 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the current U.S. House Representative from Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District, Blaine Luetkemeyer, who has sponsored legislation to try and deregulate community banks altogether, and to enable the payday loan industry to undertake some of the most predatory practices outside of the mafia, in terms of radical loan interest rates. Hell, he introduced legislation back in 2014 that would have made it easier for payday lenders to launder money (Gee, call me crazy, but I don’t think the average voter in his district wanted him to put effort towards something like that). And for most of his four terms in office, Rep. Luetkemeyer kept his mouth shut, his head down, and didn’t make much in the way of headlines. He broke that streak in a big way, though, in March 2016, when he chimed in about Senator Elizabeth Warren, a notorious thorn in the side of Wall Street executives, in less-than-flattering, terms that show he has trouble using simile and metaphor. You see, he referred to Sen. Warren as “the Darth Vader of the financial services world”, and added that Wall Street should “find a way to neuter her”. All right, first off, someone who stands up to big banks is hardly a Darth Vader, as he was all about crushing a rebellion, not the empire. Second, she’s a lady, and ladies don’t get neutered, look it up if you’re having trouble with female anatomy, Blaine. Third, I don’t need to defend Elizabeth Warren, because she responded and sufficiently handed Luetkemeyer his own ass on a plate, with her kindest remark being that the former bank regulator (who didn’t regulate banks so well) was “a Wall Street Yes-man”. Elizabeth Warren is not the only female lawmaker who Luetkemeyer has ever taken issue with, though, as he was frequently seen campaigning with “Fire Pelosi” signs during the Tea Party Wave in 2010. (It’s almost like he has a problem with women in authority, or something.)

So other than Blaine Luetkemeyer having a huge hard-on for big money interests and seems turned off by the idea of women having equal rights. But his whole voting record is pretty much garbage, including votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, for bans on abortion at 20 weeks (including ones without exceptions for rape or incest), two votes to defund Planned Parenthood, votes against Dodd-Frank or regulations upon the oil industry after the Deepwater Horizon spill, votes against raising the debt ceiling (which would have collapsed the global economy), voting for not just the 2013 Government Shutdown, but voted to keep it closed rather than reopen it, votes against LGBT rights such as hate crime protections or anti-discrimination protections, and oh yeah… a vote for every attempt to repeal the successful Affordable Care Act.

For whatever reason, Luetkemeyer does not seem to ever develop a reputation as a stooge for the 1%, and his district s re-elected him in the 2018 elections with 65% of the vote over Democrat Keith Miller. That’s probably because in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, Missouri’s 3rd District has a +13 Republican lean. Back in Washington for a sixth term, Luetkemeyer has jumped right back on the leash his corporate banking supporters keep him on:

• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Luetkemeyer voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Blaine Luetkemeyer votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Luetkemeyer votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Blaine Luetkemeyer is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• June 4th, 2019: Luetkemeyer votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.

Blaine Luetkemeyer is at least now in the minority party in Congress, which means he can do less damage on the House Financial Services Committee than he has over the past eight years. We’ll continue to monitor him headed into 2020, and see if he threaten’s Elizabeth Warren’s non-existent testicles again as she continues gaining momentum in the Democratic Presidential Primary, and makes him start panicking on behalf of his masters on Wall Street.

[aja_christopher]

At least until someone separates himself/herself from the pack and becomes enough of a threat to Trump that he orders the Republican smear machine turned on the challenger. It’s been said that a second term as president is the only thing keeping Trump from a trial and maybe prison from all his nefarious dealings, so he’s gonna do all he can to get himself re-elected.

"Kamala Harris: Justice Dept. has ‘no choice’ but to charge Trump if he loses in 2020"

"Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said the Justice Department would have “no choice” but to charge President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice if he finished his term without being impeached.

Speaking with NPR’s Scott Detrow in an interview published Wednesday, Harris said special counsel Robert Mueller essentially set the stage for criminal charges against Trump with his investigation into the 2016 election. Longstanding Justice Department policy says that a sitting president cannot be indicted, and Harris said that was essentially the only reason Mueller did not charge Trump.

All that would change in 2021 if the Democratic presidential hopeful were in the White House and the Justice Department were under her watch, she said.

“I believe that they would have no choice, and that they should,” Harris said of the Justice Department’s charging Trump with obstruction. “I believe there should be accountability. Everyone should be held accountable. And the president is not above the law.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...uction-1361467

[InformationGeek]

Just an old news piece from CNN years ago. Just amusing looking back on it.

[Michael Watkins]

how insecure do you have to be to pretend to read? being an anti-intellectual endears him to his base.

[GindyPosts]

how insecure do you have to be to pretend to read? being an anti-intellectual endears him to his base.

To his supporters, being "book smart" makes you a weakling. You gotta have muscles and a killer instinct, boy!

It ultimately works like this for his followers; they didn't bother with any of that learnin' stuff in school, so they look into any politician who practically embodies (despite missing the point entirely as the song is part of an album that tells a whole story of a person's descent into isolationism and that the portion of the song focuses on the rigidness of boarding school in England, though the video made an effort to address the fallacies of education in general pigeonholing students into premade industrial careers) the guy who goes "We don't need no education" in Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall".

Please don't make me feel sorry for Britt... please don't make me feel sorry for Britt...

Co-star Tyrus kicked off of Fox Nation show "Un-PC" after accusations of sexual harassment

This is just one of those "you don't want to support one of the individuals" type of deals considering what assholes both are in this scenario since Britt McHenry is Britt McHenry by default.

[Iron Maiden]

Just to add something that was on Lawrence O'Donnell's show last night about the hearing in Congress with the 9/11 First Responders. Besides Jon Stewart's impassioned testimony and that of retired NYPD detective Luis Alvarez, who was going to his 69th chemotherapy treatment the next day, there was also the statement of retired FDNY firefighter Michael O'Connell, who was still in training on that day. I can't find a clip of it but to sum up: He responded with the rest of the crew to ground zero and gave this eerie testimony on how the firefighters had this monitoring device that would go off in case they needed to be found in case of an emergency situation while fighting a fire. The air was full of perhaps hundreds of these devices going off coming from beneath the rubble, signalling how many of their fellow firemen were buried underneath.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

To his supporters, being "book smart" makes you a weakling. You gotta have muscles and a killer instinct, boy!

It ultimately works like this for his followers; they didn't bother with any of that learnin' stuff in school, so they look into any politician who practically embodies (despite missing the point entirely as the song is part of an album that tells a whole story of a person's descent into isolationism and that the portion of the song focuses on the rigidness of boarding school in England, though the video made an effort to address the fallacies of education in general pigeonholing students into premade industrial careers) the guy who goes "We don't need no education" in Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall".

Agreed. Trump being unread and dumb as the proverbial post greatly appeals to his followers who are, of course, unread and dumb as the proverbial post. If anything, in the eyes of those dunces, being educated paints you as a "liberal elite", something they hate and mistrust, mostly because they had been programmed that way by the talking heads on Faux News.

[Robotman]

"Kamala Harris: Justice Dept. has ‘no choice’ but to charge Trump if he loses in 2020"

"Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said the Justice Department would have “no choice” but to charge President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice if he finished his term without being impeached.

Speaking with NPR’s Scott Detrow in an interview published Wednesday, Harris said special counsel Robert Mueller essentially set the stage for criminal charges against Trump with his investigation into the 2016 election. Longstanding Justice Department policy says that a sitting president cannot be indicted, and Harris said that was essentially the only reason Mueller did not charge Trump.

All that would change in 2021 if the Democratic presidential hopeful were in the White House and the Justice Department were under her watch, she said.

“I believe that they would have no choice, and that they should,” Harris said of the Justice Department’s charging Trump with obstruction. “I believe there should be accountability. Everyone should be held accountable. And the president is not above the law.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...uction-1361467

Being president is the only thing keeping him out of prison. That’s a big reason why many people believe that he won’t leave even if he loses. Either way it’s going to be an ugly scene.

Agreed. Trump being unread and dumb as the proverbial post greatly appeals to his followers who are, of course, unread and dumb as the proverbial post. If anything, in the eyes of those dunces, being educated paints you as a "liberal elite", something they hate and mistrust, mostly because they had been programmed that way by the talking heads on Faux News.

We saw this with George W. Bush. Republicans voters liked him because “he seemed like a guy you’d want to have a beer with.” Which of course is an excellent way to choose the leader of the free world. A majority of the American populace is very anti-intellectual. A lot of it is by design. How do you keep the commoners passive? Keep ‘em dumb.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Biden won’t prosecute him. 100% guaranteed

[GindyPosts]

We saw this with George W. Bush. Republicans voters liked him because “he seemed like a guy you’d want to have a beer with.” Which of course is an excellent way to choose the leader of the free world. A majority of the American populace is very anti-intellectual. A lot of it is by design. How do you keep the commoners passive? Keep ‘em dumb.

We do live in a society that discourages knowledge and the pursuit of intellect. After all, that's why so many people call colleges "ivory towers" and only care about if the football program makes it to the College Football Playoff. The funny thing (but not "funny ha-ha") is that all the careers that don't require all that fancy education (i.e. manufacturing) are fading and that even jobs in fields that are in high demand but have low volume as far as turnover (such as your "legacy" trade jobs, like plumbing and electrical work) require some sort of education with trade school and apprenticeship. Heck, even those ads you hear on the weekend when listening to sports radio that talk about getting into "the exciting field of I.T." fail to get the big picture, as the promise of getting a quick certification won't help you much in the job market as companies are more interested in somebody having far more in line with a full education; typically a Bachelor's degree in information technology or informatics, although some companies are okay with an Associate's. And all of the jobs that are often in plentiful supply that require little to no education are often given (often underhandedly by companies who take advantage of) to immigrants that these same people rally against and scapegoat as the scourge of all of America's woes since they don't want to bother with them due to the fact that they pay so poorly given the work conditions and hourly rates in order to have a sustainability factor to survive.

That's one reason why they rally behind Republican leaders, and especially politicians who speak the rhetoric of Trump; those people promise that they'll keep their well-paying factory jobs that don't require a college education, or keep oil and coal in operation in spite of the environmental and logistical issues. But, then again, those same politicians also work with the companies that outsource those factory jobs to other countries that pay less and don't have to give employees benefits in exchange for getting campaign funds and kickbacks, but like I've always said; the average American voter doesn't do their homework as they want their information spoon-fed and kept to the basic bullet points based on their preset political alignment.

[Billy Batson]

Told Biden we need someone stronger on reproductive justice, and after his reversal on the Hyde Amendment, we asked him to protect assault survivors. He said “nobody has spoken about it, done more, or changed more than I have”. I told him we deserve better.

https://twitter.com/thelocalmaniac8/...75498437681153