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

[worstblogever]

In 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, Jim Bridenstine. We noted the first time we turned our eye to Bridenstine that he said on the floor of the House that he didn’t want to impeach the president because he felt VP Joe Biden would be more of an embarrassment. He also denies that when the Supreme Court rules something constitutional, that it actually IS then constitutional. Bridenstine’s most disgusting moment, though, was probably when he hosted a town hall and had a constituent tell him “President Obama should be executed as an enemy combatant,” and he made no attempt to dissuade her ideas, instead fueling them further by, in response, telling her the falsehoods that the Toomey-Manchin gun control bill would create a national gun registry and that the legalization of marijuana in Colorado had made the whole state overrun with organized crime. In our second look at Jim Bridenstine, we added that he has stated his desire to privatize Social Security, continues to deny the science behind climate change by saying “there’s no credible evidence CO2 levels effect the environment“, and signed onto a letter with many Congressmen demanding the GOP House work together to defund Planned Parenthood, or else they would shut down the federal government. After the 2016 elections, there was a line in the sand drawn regarding the website Breitbart News, owned by Trump campaign strategist and administration member Steve Bannon because… well, it was Alt-Right. And by Alt-Right, we mean White Nationalist. Guess who was discovered to be a paid writer at Breitbart News? Congressman Jim Bridenstine. And they say the rest of the media is “fake news”. Anyway, the Trump administration actually did, in their tradition of nominating the absolute dirt-worst people for any government post, pick Bridenstine to be the new administrator of NASA, in spite of the fact that he has an enormous track record of denying scientific facts. we’ll set aside his profile at this time and go ahead and take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 771-40, since this was established in July 2014.)


Ryan Costello

Welcome to the 771st original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing Ryan Costello, the former GOP Congressman from Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District from 2014-2018, sending him to Washington at the ripe age of 38. While CNN and some tracking organizations heralded Costello for being “one of the more bipartisan members of the Republican caucus, that still means he would vote outside of party lines less than 5% of the time. Costello voted for the GOP Tax Plan/Scam, voted to allow mentally ill veterans not have their firearms taken away through gun control laws, voted for several several 20-week Abortion Bans, and voted to defund Planned Parenthood.

He should be credited, at least, for the fact that when foreign hackers tried to give him hacked information about his Democratic opponent in 2016, Costello’s campaign manager did what you’re supposed to, and notified the FBI.

But come on, are we setting the bar for Republican decency as “be better than Trump and don't break the law”? Hell no. That’s a low, low bar that keeps getting lower.

Anyway, what we remember Ryan Costello for here at CSGOPOTD were the ridiculous accusations and whiny rants he went on during his second term in office. It seems the latest GOP “Young Gun” was feeling the squeeze after his prospective opponent for 2018 ended up being Democrat Chrissy Houlahan, and with the Blue Wave behind her, Costello got scared. So, his campaign came up with a unique strategy… to try to frame Houlahan for what he claimed were “two operatives” of Houlahan’s going to his home and threatening his wife. Which only raised questions like, “How did you know they were there on behalf of Houlahan?” As it turns out, the supposed trespassing individuals were simply a part of a normal weekend Planned Parenthood canvassing campaign to inform the public of the effect of proposed legislation on the Trump tax bill, and what it would mean for American healthcare. So if nothing else, Costello showed everyone how scared he really was.

A month later, when the courts declared the gerrymandered Congressional map that Republicans wrote for themselves in Pennsylania unconstitutional. Costello’s level-headed response was to call the courts’ order “political corruption”, and calling for the impeachment of the judges who ordered it.

And, facing the prospect of *GASP* a fair election, Ryan Costello chickened out, and opted to not run for a third term in 2018. His seat obviously was flipped, and Chrissy Houlahan is now a Congresswoman, who is still not sending thugs to threaten anybody. We won’t be shocked if Ryan Costello re-emerges at some point when political fortunes might favor him, but for the time being, we’re more than happy to give him our finest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salute.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Because he's not white and was saving non-white people, I don't expect Trump to invite him to the White House to give him a medal.

Pretty much. That’s not how Trump rolls, and the white supremacist shitstains who support him would throw an ungodly fit if he did.

[master of read]

really? blaming video games again?

[SUPERECWFAN1]

really? blaming video games again?

He took off just as quick because I think he realized how his trying to deny actual evidence left by the latest shooter made his excuse fall flat. Just literally fell flat given what the shooter himself posted.

[Wakeneuron]

People are being killed in a horrible way by AK 47 by people with little emotion. Something in the social sphere has got to be contributing to this. If not video games then what?

We all know that companies like google and facebook have been invading peoples privacy through AI machines like Suri and Amazon's Echo. Why is it so inconceivable that these video game companies are doing the same thing? Who knows. They might be intentionally making video game zombies. We don't know because government oversite in this sector and in this ever changing technology is practically none existent. Why not be sure and have someone look into it. As I posted before according to futurist Ray Kurzweil their will be computers next year that simulate the human brain. There is no way technology can get this advanced without doing human experiments.

[InformationGeek]

People are being killed in a horrible way by AK 47 by people with little emotion. Something in the social sphere is got to be contributing to this. If not video games then what?

I dunno. Seems like white supremacy comes up a lot. Maybe it's that like in their goddamn manifestos.

[Tendrin]

People are being killed in a horrible way by AK 47 by people with little emotion. Something in the social sphere is got to be contributing to this. If not video games then what?

At this point, I have to believe you're just trolling.

[Dalak]

At this point, I have to believe you're just trolling.

Constant typos, refusal to actually engage, doesn't read responses before posting more inflammatory & false info, ignoring all reports about tragedies to continue posting such falsehoods . . . No doubt in my mind this is trolling.

[Wakeneuron]

Of course he's a racist but obviously technology is/was a huge part of his life in isolation since he was active online.

I'm not diminishing the fact that he's a racist but it just seems that lately people are being desensitized. Overnight 10 more people got killed in Ohio. Also we do know that some members of Isis used video games for training so I don't know how anyone can say that the idea of video games or something else in the public sphere can't be a contributing factor.

[jetengine]

People are being killed in a horrible way by AK 47 by people with little emotion. Something in the social sphere has got to be contributing to this. If not video games then what?

We all know that companies like google and facebook have been invading peoples privacy through AI machines like Suri and Amazon's Echo. Why is it so inconceivable that these video game companies are doing the same thing? Who knows. They might be intentionally making video game zombies. We don't know because government oversite in this sector and in this ever changing technology is practically none existent. Why not be sure and have someone look into it. As I posted before according to futurist Ray Kurzweil their will be computers next year that simulate the human brain. There is no way technology can get this advanced without doing human experiments.

So does Putin give you the rubles in cash or cheque form ?

[Vegan Daddy]

Blaming video games for mass shootings? That’s so 90s

[InformationGeek]

Watching the mayor's press conference. Guy has .223 high-capacity gun with multiple magazines and body armor. Man sounds like he was prepared for war and a shootout himself.

[Tendrin]

Of course he's a racist but obviously technology is/was a huge part of his life in isolation since he was active online.

I'm not diminishing the fact that he's a racist but it just seems that lately people are being desensitized. Overnight 10 more people got killed in Ohio. Also we do know that some members of Isis used video games for training so I don't know how anyone can say that the idea of video games or something else in the public sphere can't be a contributing factor.

We get it. You want to talk about anything other than what actually drove him to commit mass murder.

[numberthirty]

Of course he's a racist but obviously technology is/was a huge part of his life in isolation since he was active online.

I'm not diminishing the fact that he's a racist but it just seems that lately people are being desensitized. Overnight 10 more people got killed in Ohio. Also we do know that some members of Isis used video games for training so I don't know how anyone can say that the idea of video games or something else in the public sphere can't be a contributing factor.

If you are already a member of Isis, any discussion of how large of a contributing factor video games you are playing are in if you are somehow desensitized/possibly mentally ill/whatever is a discussion that is wasted breath.

[aja_christopher]

Blaming video games for mass shootings? That’s so 90s