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

[Tami]

The billionaire cofounder of Home Depot plans on donating up to 90% of his $5.9 billion fortune, and Trump's 2020 campaign will be one of the beneficiaries

Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus has a plan for how to spend his fortune, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After the 90-year-old billionaire dies, 80 to 90% of his total wealth will go to his foundation to build centers to help veterans with disabilities around the country, fund medical research, and provide care for children with autism.

Aside from philanthropy, Marcus is also a major political donor: He supported, and intends to again support, Donald Trump's presidential bid.

The Atlanta-based billionaire has a net worth of $5.9 billion, down from its peak of $10 billion in September 2018, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The billionaire cofounder of Home Depot plans on donating up to 90% of his $5.9 billion fortune, and Trump's 2020 campaign will be one of the beneficiaries

Which is why I go to Lowe’s for all my home improvement needs.

[worstblogever]

Yeah, its ridiculously hypocritical, but if they dont care it takes nothing from trigger's point.

Guns and abortions create powerful single issue voters. They will forgive any amount of evil and stupid in other areas to get what they want.

But they only care about the babies being born. They don't seem to give a damn about feeding or clothing those babies or providing proper shelter for them once the umbilical cord is cut.

Exactly. How well are those babies going to do in a world where climate change means there's famine and drought? Are we keeping them alive so they can be locked in cages, and the libertarian GOP can do away with child labor laws? Or that they can be killed in a volley of bullets?

All because Democrats believe a woman should have the choice to end a pregnancy if it's a health risk that could jeopardize her own life, and to make that choice with her doctor. OMG, what a bunch of monsters.

[Tendrin]

Voting for a Democrat gives the party control of one of the three branches of the government, as well as the capacity to nominate judges to the Federal Court and Supreme Court, so it is a pretty big deal to back someone you disagree with on key issues for President.

Merrick Garland and a lot of empty federal judgeships say hi. I realize an easily obstructed democratic president would be preferable to someone who exposes your party for what it is by saying all the quiet parts loud, though.

[Gray Lensman]

The ironic part of the equation is that these very same pro life fanatics, obsessed with protecting those helpless zygotes also, in most cases, support the death penalty. And, without fail, these people don’t see or comprehend their own hypocrisy.

That part is easier for me to understand - the unborn child is innocent, the person sentenced to the death penalty supposedly isn't.

What makes it all fall apart for me is the twofold problems of

One - why don't they care about the child after birth?

Two - the sheer number of people sentenced to die that were actually innocent.

[Gray Lensman]

Which is why I go to Lowe’s for all my home improvement needs.

I didn't until I learned this, but Home Depot was more convenient at the time. Well, Lowe's it is from now on.

[SquirrelMan]

Jeffrey Epstein arrested on sex trafficking charges

Around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, about a dozen federal agents broke down the door to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse to execute search warrants, witnesses and sources said.

“We heard the loud banging and we walked over and saw all these FBI agents just pounding down the door,” a witness told the Herald.

Epstein, 66, is expected to be arraigned in federal court in New York on Monday on charges that he molested dozens of underage girls in New York and in Florida, the sources said. His arrest, first reported by the Daily Beast, comes nearly two weeks after the Justice Department announced that it would not throw out his 2008 non-prosecution agreement, even though a federal judge ruled it was illegal.
...
Last November, the Miami Herald published a series of stories, titled Perversion of Justice, that described the ways in which the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alexander Acosta, worked in conjunction with Epstein’s lawyers to engineer the non-prosecution agreement — and keep it secret from Epstein’s victims, so they could not object. Acosta is now President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/sta...#storylink=cpy

Interesting.

[Tendrin]

Very interesting, given Epstein's ties to a LOT of famous and powerful people who aren't known for having great control of their sexual appetites. (Trump, Clinton, Dershowitz...)

[SquirrelMan]

Very interesting, given Epstein's ties to a LOT of famous and powerful people who aren't known for having great control of their sexual appetites. (Trump, Clinton, Dershowitz...)

Trump put the guy who kept Epstein out of jail in charge of fighting human trafficking. Think about that.

[SquirrelMan]

Something to make Acosta and Trump nervous:

“The case is being handled by the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York, with assistance from the district's human-trafficking officials and the FBI.”

[BeastieRunner]

FYI:

We're experiencing a shortage of ingredients to make tortillas.

Just like in Idiotcracy.

[Dalak]

FYI:

We're experiencing a shortage of ingredients to make tortillas.

Just like in Idiotcracy.

Seriously?

As an aside, I make 'burrito fillins' thanks to that movie.

[worstblogever]

Something to make Acosta and Trump nervous:

“The case is being handled by the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York, with assistance from the district's human-trafficking officials and the FBI.”

If Epstein starts dropping dimes and flips like Cohen...

Oh man. We're about to see how much of a cult the GOP is. They elected Trump on a minority vote via the electoral college after he boasted about sexually assaulting women... but would they do it if we found out he solicited sex from girls?

[worstblogever]

In both 2015, as well as 2016, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Christopher Shank, a former Maryland State Senator who in his time in the Maryland State Assembly, opposed LGBT rights in every way, shape, and form, fighting against authorizing same sex marriages for years, even to the extent that he wanted same sex partners banned from being allowed to visit their loved ones in the hospital or be allowed decision making into their loved ones' well being. What got him special notice was arguing against a transgender discrimination bill because while he did acknowledge they were discriminated against... he thought that minority groups that faced discrimination would then start coming forward, and also want to be protected. He also voted numerous times over the past several years against minimum wage increases, and even voted against the repeal of an outdated part of the Maryland state Constitution that barred atheists from holding public office, saying that it was "a little offensive" him as a Christian to even suggest doing so. When we last reported on Shank, he was serving in Gov. Larry Hogan's administration in the Office of Crime Control and Prevention and has not yet shown any sign that he will be running for an elected office in the near future, mercifully.



On this date in 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of Clay Higgins, the U.S. House Representative from Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District after an improbable win in the 2016 elections where he finished second in the “jungle primary”, but came from behind to defeat fellow Republican Scott Angelle with 56% of the vote. That won Higgins, a guy nicknamed “the Cajun John Wayne”, the right to go to Washington, D.C. and replace Congressman Charles Boustany, (whose own bid for U.S. Senate failed, due to the unsavory rumors about him soliciting prostitutes that popped up).

Anyway, when we say that Clay Higgins’ victory in the 2016 elections was improbable, we aren’t joking around. Scott Angelle was considered a favorite in that race for months, and as of February of 2016, Higgins was still serving as a sheriff in St. Landry Parish, making appearances on the “Crime Stoppers” show where he would not just ask the community for help in finding felons, but would start berating and mocking them in segments on the show. That got him some notoriety, particularly from the right, because over time, Higgins’ rants started to get… well, a little alarming, and kind of racist. So, of course he had a few guest spots on Fox and Friends in 2015. But as Higgins continued to get more and more over-the-top in his segments on Crime Stoppers, he went viral when he asked for help with “The Gremlins gang”, seventeen individuals who just so happened to be African Americans who he referred to as “heathens”, “thugs” and “animals” while threatening them to turn themselves in with a contingent of officers in SWAT gear and with rifles because, "You will be hunted, you will be tracked. And if you raise your weapon to a man like me, we'll return fire with superior fire."

Making things even more troubling was that the seventeen men had their annoyed families come forward to wonder why the hell the Cajun John Wayne was threatening their loved ones, because they weren’t even aware of their family being in any “Gremlins” gang, saying that it may have been referring to an attempt by some of them to start a rap group years earlier. Higgins tried defending the police’s information on the “gang” by saying his department had “read it on the internet”, which sounds a lot like Donald Trump, come to think of it. Oh, he also insisted his video wasn’t racist because each of the officers in it also was standing near an African American community leader (similar to the “we have black friends” defense). Well, after his boss let Higgins know he’d gone too far, he gave a public resignation, saying he “don’t do well reined in” and that he would “rather die” than sacrifice his principles by… I guess conducting himself professionally? Fox and Friends and other right-wing allies began to rally around poor, poor Clay Higgins for having his free speech quelled (even though the First Amendment doesn’t allow you the right to speak without punishment from your employer on television while representing them). He parlayed the criticism against him into being the victim and started his campaign for Congress instead.

And then, once Clay Higgins advanced to the final two in the GOP Primary, partially due to receiving a large contribution from fellow fascist-lunatic and former Congressman Allen West, the local media started doing its job, and digging at the sudden political star that could end up in Washington, D.C. They noted that back in 2007, Clay Higgins previously had resigned from the Opelousas Police Department to avoid receiving disciplinary measures after he was accused of using excessive force, and giving false statements in the ensuing investigation. But even more damning was when a public records request was made with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office that discovered Higgins wasn’t just dismissed because of the “Gremlins Gang” video… his superiors had become appalled at how Higgins had begun trying to exploit his appearances on Crime Stoppers as a new means of getting revenue, using government e-mail to sell mugs and t-shirts with his likeness to fans of the show, and book himself on whatever talk shows would have him on to appear… as long as they paid him in cash. The “cash preferred” nature of his bookings was because Higgins had the IRS garnishing money from his wages to pay back taxes and keeping payments off the books would prevent the IRS from getting their hands on it. Higgins even had dreams of appearing on his own reality show called “American Justice” where they would carry out SWAT raids, with him leading the charge, and talking trash to the crooks as they brought them in.

Okay… so that’s a month before the election. There’s Scott Angelle, a moderate Republican, and Clay Higgins, an arguably pretty racist, over-aggressive, fame-seeking, wannabe-fascist nut who seems to want to evade paying taxes. In 2016… that’s the same formula that got Donald Trump elected, and Louisiana’s 3rd followed suit when presented with the same kind of candidate to represent them in the U.S. House of Representatives. Higgins’ website featured issue stances that were a hot bed of crazy, including an argument against all gun control because it didn’t really exist prior to the 1960s (it did, and a need from rifles available to the public tending more towards the semi-automatic and automatic), and referring to the Affordable Care Act as follows:

”2,800 pages of unintelligible psychobabble. It’s the most egregious seizure of power and treasure from the American people in history. It’s the worst idea in an elaborate history of bad ideas. It’s a book of lies, based on lies, sold by liars. Obamacare must be repealed. Period.”

Now, here’s the thing… the “Gremlins gang” video was a pretty clear indicator that Clay Higgins might be a bit of a bigot, and that he would overreact to threats. Well, if anyone had any doubts of if that was a fluke, we can be pretty sure it isn’t now, because after a terror attack in London in June 2017, Clay Higgins responded a day later by calling for Christendom to go to war against “Radical Islam”, and giving the level-headed assessment that we should just “kill them all”.

"The free world... all of Christendom... is at war with Islamic horror. Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals. Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter. Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identity them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all."

[worstblogever]

Rep. Higgins made no apologies after people were shocked, and blamed the negativity on his comments on “political correctness”. Because of course he did. He’s still wasn't done, though. He then drew the ire of Jewish groups by filming a political video in the Auschwitz gas chambers without the permission of the museum, using the symbol of the Holocaust as a prop to defend his desire to increase United States military spending. Jewish leaders are, predictably, not pleased. On the upside, for all their long-standing grievances, at least Muslims and Jews can come together and agree, Clay Higgins is an ***hole.

Higgins has also outed himself as a climate change denier in August of 2017, abd has yet to learn his lesson about making ridiculous and inappropriate comparisons to World War II (as if the Auschwitz video wasn’t enough of a teaching moment), deciding to announce in the middle of a hearing on immigration where Democrats were grilling Kirjsten Nielsen for her family separation policy by declaring that “We have D-Day every month on our southern border”.

That was slightly a better job than Higgins did than in the Michael Cohen hearing, when he tried to snare Cohen in a “gotcha” moment and only snagged his own ass for about ten minutes straight, obsessively asking Cohen “WHAR BOXES?” in regards to evidence Cohen had returned to him by federal investigators that he brought documents before the House Intelligence Committee for. (And thus making us all ask if Clay Higgins has been placed on the House Intelligence Committee ironically.)Higgins was of course, more apoplectic about the location of these boxes than the fact that what was contained in them detailed a series of financial crimes by Donald Trump, because of course he was.

Which isn’t to say Higgins, the “Cajun John Wayne” has been on top of crimes committed by people within his own party, or even his own orbit. He was apparently unaware that one of his top aides liked to frequent massage parlors where victims of human trafficking were prostituting themselves for sexual favors. No word on if Higgins is planning an episode of Crime Stoppers for the rest of his staff.

Anyway, his voting record is equally as embarrassing thus far in this term of Congress:

• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Higgins voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• January 27th, 2019: Clay Higgins voted against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attacking our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 28th, 2019: Clay Higgins 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. Higgins 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: Clay Higgins 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: Higgins votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.

We’re going to continue to monitor Clay Higgins going forward, because he’s utterly bats***, but regrettably, just famous enough that we think Louisiana’s 3rd District are going to keep him in Washington for years to come.