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

[worstblogever]

In 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, delving into his entire history as a politician going all the way back to his days as a student at Marquette University (where he left school in 1990 to avoid disciplinary action for attempting to have his student body president campaign staff round up as many campus newspapers as they could to destroy them because they endorsed his opponent), to his run for the White House. Walker, as we noted, has a tendency to tell really terrible lies, like union workers surrounding his car and attempting to flip it over, or that his rapidly developing bald spot isn't actually male pattern baldness, but just a scar from a time he bumped his head on a table. In his time as Governor of Wisconsin, he has given huge tax breaks for the top income bracket, while cutting more money to teachers than any governor in the country (and any shortcomings in student performance, he blames on the teachers who are operating without real budgets). Walker has demonized union workers, wiped out government oversight offices, and has had repeated criminal investigations launched against his staff for illegal use of state resources to further their own partisan agenda.

And that doesn't even begin to cover what a boob he looked like while campaigning for president in 2016. Gov. Walker was hell bent on winning Iowa, pandering to locals, and trying to establish himself as the frontrunner for the GOP early on, in the process, neglecting his own state. And that presidential run showed him to be, as some GOP pundits delicately put it, "Kind of a Dumbass". While visiting London, Walker denied the science behind evolution. He found himself in the midst of being considered a Birther for saying in two separate campaign stops that he "wasn't sure if President Obama is a Christian", and that he could not confirm that "Barack Obama loves America". He tried claiming he could stop ISIS because he "stopped 100,000 union protesters back home", changed his stance on immigration no less than four times (claiming this wasn't flip-flopping because he never had cast a vote on the issue), denied that a woman's medical history regarding abortions should remain between her and her doctor, tried pretending that mandatory intra-vaginal ultrasounds were "a cool thing", refused to answer when asked if he thought being gay was a choice or not, sued the federal government for the right to drug test welfare recipients, and promised to bomb Iran on the first day of his presidency. To name just a few gaffes. As Gov. Walker began to see his lead in Iowa polls faltering, he thought he could energize his base the same way Donald Trump was, by attacking immigrants. As such, Walker started wavering on birthright citizenship, eventually saying he supported a repeal of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and then tried to one-up Trump by saying he wouldn't stop at a border wall along the U.S./Mexico border, that he would build one along the U.S. Canada border, as well. By the end of September 2016, Walker’s campaign had already folded its tents, and he returned to Wisconsin with record low approval ratings, after only 71 days on the campaign trail.

Gov. Walker would then work to sign legislation to dissolve the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, a non-partisan panel of judges that guarantees government ethics, and fairness in elections out of spite because the GAB had previously investigated a myriad of wrongdoing by Walker. In March 2016 he nominated Rebecca Bradley to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which proved controversial since she once wrote opinion editorials at Marquette University (where Walker went to school) where she repeatedly called gay people "queers", and said that they deserved no sympathy for dying from AIDS. In one such column, Bradley wrote that it was “their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior.” Walker's nomination, once confirmed, got Bradley a 10 year term on the Court.

And, while Walker may not have been on the ballot when the 2016 elections rolled around, he still got a few surprises in September and October of 2016. Like how The Guardian got a hold of the content of a lot of the John Doe Investigation into Walker’s staff using government e-mail for partisan purposes… in those e-mails, Walker staffers discuss their strategy to survive the recall effort against the governor… His main fundraiser, Kate Doner, laid out their plan as,

”Corporations. Go heavy after them to give. Take Koch’s money. Get on a plane to Vegas and sit down with Sheldon Adelson. Ask for $1m now.”

Feeling like the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was a bad idea yet? Well, guess what? That wasn’t all that The Guardian uncovered in all those e-mails. They also found written proof that while Scott Walker might try justifying all his voter suppression techniques as a way of “curtailing voter fraud”, his own people don’t believe it exists, know they’re claiming it’s “widespread” without proof, and know they’re just using it as an excuse to subvert our democracy so the outcome is they win:

“Do we need to start messaging ‘widespread reports of election fraud’ so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number? I obviously think we should,” said a lobbyist and former GOP legislative staffer, to a group of associates.

“Yes. Anything fishy should be highlighted. Stories should be solicited by talk radio hosts.”

Walker loves to hear his own voice, though. He spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention after pretending he wasn’t going for months upon months, and threw red meat to the crowd by his assessment that Hillary Clinton “belongs in prison”, but, y’know, without actually having a crime to throw her in for other than being a Democrat and a lady running for president. And that’s amazing, because while he feels Hillary should be behind bars, he’s got no problem with all the treasonous actions done by the Trump camapign by colluding with Russia. He’s attempted to downplay Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, claiming that their hacking the Democratic National Committee and into voter registration systems in 39 states is no worse than the Scottish Prime Minister giving an endorsement of Hillary Clinton. No s*** HE SAID THAT.

Scott Walker's abysmal 2016 presidential run has left him vulnerable for a potential third term in 2018. He faced the humiliating political defeat of trying to prevent special elections in Wisconsin in 2018 after panicking after several upsets in traditionally Republican areas, he got on Twitter to panic in January, posting a “WAKE UP CALL” to his fellow members of the GOP. He then tried to drag his feet on holding special elections to replace elected officials until November, and was successfully sued by Wisconsin Democrats, with the judge ordering the state to carry them out. And lo and behold, Democrats did pull another upset on that ballot, to Walker’s chagrin.

Walker’s approval ratings dropped into the 30s in polls, among the reasons not repairing the state's roads, suspending a program to pick up dead deer from the highways, instead leaving them to rot, and his attempt at running for president left him with a meager campaign war chest. What is certain, though, is Scott Walker, for being a man who talks so much about being part of the party of responsibility, accepts none for his own terrible leadership. Instead, he blamed his low approval ratings on "bad headlines" from the media, “unfairly” turning people against him. It also likely didn’t help that he was caught hanging around with Russian spy Maria Butina and members of the NRA, and tried using the “don’t know her” excuse when, ta da, there are photos.

And ALL of that… is why in 2018, the Blue Wave came to Wisconsin, and still swept over all the voter suppression tactics of the Walker regime to take him out of office, with Democrat Tony Evers sending him packing by a margin of just under 30,000 votes. We’re not only going to give our “Good Riddance” send off to Scott Walker, but we’ll go ahead and give him a full, “Good Riddance, and don’t just f*** off, but keep f***ing off until you’re over the horizon, never to return” salute.

[Tendrin]

Showing that the UK wants Boris Johnson to be the /last/ PM of the UK, they've decided to go ahead with him as Prime minister.

The UK is completely screwed.

I think it very likely we see a second Scottish referendum and secession once Boris pushes through the worst possible deal and sells out the UK to American business interests in an effort to dismantle the NHS.

[InformationGeek]

In 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, delving into his entire history as a politician going all the way back to his days as a student at Marquette University (where he left school in 1990 to avoid disciplinary action for attempting to have his student body president campaign staff round up as many campus newspapers as they could to destroy them because they endorsed his opponent), to his run for the White House. Walker, as we noted, has a tendency to tell really terrible lies, like union workers surrounding his car and attempting to flip it over, or that his rapidly developing bald spot isn't actually male pattern baldness, but just a scar from a time he bumped his head on a table. In his time as Governor of Wisconsin, he has given huge tax breaks for the top income bracket, while cutting more money to teachers than any governor in the country (and any shortcomings in student performance, he blames on the teachers who are operating without real budgets). Walker has demonized union workers, wiped out government oversight offices, and has had repeated criminal investigations launched against his staff for illegal use of state resources to further their own partisan agenda.

And that doesn't even begin to cover what a boob he looked like while campaigning for president in 2016. Gov. Walker was hell bent on winning Iowa, pandering to locals, and trying to establish himself as the frontrunner for the GOP early on, in the process, neglecting his own state. And that presidential run showed him to be, as some GOP pundits delicately put it, "Kind of a Dumbass". While visiting London, Walker denied the science behind evolution. He found himself in the midst of being considered a Birther for saying in two separate campaign stops that he "wasn't sure if President Obama is a Christian", and that he could not confirm that "Barack Obama loves America". He tried claiming he could stop ISIS because he "stopped 100,000 union protesters back home", changed his stance on immigration no less than four times (claiming this wasn't flip-flopping because he never had cast a vote on the issue), denied that a woman's medical history regarding abortions should remain between her and her doctor, tried pretending that mandatory intra-vaginal ultrasounds were "a cool thing", refused to answer when asked if he thought being gay was a choice or not, sued the federal government for the right to drug test welfare recipients, and promised to bomb Iran on the first day of his presidency. To name just a few gaffes. As Gov. Walker began to see his lead in Iowa polls faltering, he thought he could energize his base the same way Donald Trump was, by attacking immigrants. As such, Walker started wavering on birthright citizenship, eventually saying he supported a repeal of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution and then tried to one-up Trump by saying he wouldn't stop at a border wall along the U.S./Mexico border, that he would build one along the U.S. Canada border, as well. By the end of September 2016, Walker’s campaign had already folded its tents, and he returned to Wisconsin with record low approval ratings, after only 71 days on the campaign trail.

Gov. Walker would then work to sign legislation to dissolve the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, a non-partisan panel of judges that guarantees government ethics, and fairness in elections out of spite because the GAB had previously investigated a myriad of wrongdoing by Walker. In March 2016 he nominated Rebecca Bradley to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which proved controversial since she once wrote opinion editorials at Marquette University (where Walker went to school) where she repeatedly called gay people "queers", and said that they deserved no sympathy for dying from AIDS. In one such column, Bradley wrote that it was “their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior.” Walker's nomination, once confirmed, got Bradley a 10 year term on the Court.

And, while Walker may not have been on the ballot when the 2016 elections rolled around, he still got a few surprises in September and October of 2016. Like how The Guardian got a hold of the content of a lot of the John Doe Investigation into Walker’s staff using government e-mail for partisan purposes… in those e-mails, Walker staffers discuss their strategy to survive the recall effort against the governor… His main fundraiser, Kate Doner, laid out their plan as,



Feeling like the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was a bad idea yet? Well, guess what? That wasn’t all that The Guardian uncovered in all those e-mails. They also found written proof that while Scott Walker might try justifying all his voter suppression techniques as a way of “curtailing voter fraud”, his own people don’t believe it exists, know they’re claiming it’s “widespread” without proof, and know they’re just using it as an excuse to subvert our democracy so the outcome is they win:



Walker loves to hear his own voice, though. He spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention after pretending he wasn’t going for months upon months, and threw red meat to the crowd by his assessment that Hillary Clinton “belongs in prison”, but, y’know, without actually having a crime to throw her in for other than being a Democrat and a lady running for president. And that’s amazing, because while he feels Hillary should be behind bars, he’s got no problem with all the treasonous actions done by the Trump camapign by colluding with Russia. He’s attempted to downplay Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, claiming that their hacking the Democratic National Committee and into voter registration systems in 39 states is no worse than the Scottish Prime Minister giving an endorsement of Hillary Clinton. No s*** HE SAID THAT.

Scott Walker's abysmal 2016 presidential run has left him vulnerable for a potential third term in 2018. He faced the humiliating political defeat of trying to prevent special elections in Wisconsin in 2018 after panicking after several upsets in traditionally Republican areas, he got on Twitter to panic in January, posting a “WAKE UP CALL” to his fellow members of the GOP. He then tried to drag his feet on holding special elections to replace elected officials until November, and was successfully sued by Wisconsin Democrats, with the judge ordering the state to carry them out. And lo and behold, Democrats did pull another upset on that ballot, to Walker’s chagrin.

Walker’s approval ratings dropped into the 30s in polls, among the reasons not repairing the state's roads, suspending a program to pick up dead deer from the highways, instead leaving them to rot, and his attempt at running for president left him with a meager campaign war chest. What is certain, though, is Scott Walker, for being a man who talks so much about being part of the party of responsibility, accepts none for his own terrible leadership. Instead, he blamed his low approval ratings on "bad headlines" from the media, “unfairly” turning people against him. It also likely didn’t help that he was caught hanging around with Russian spy Maria Butina and members of the NRA, and tried using the “don’t know her” excuse when, ta da, there are photos.

And ALL of that… is why in 2018, the Blue Wave came to Wisconsin, and still swept over all the voter suppression tactics of the Walker regime to take him out of office, with Democrat Tony Evers sending him packing by a margin of just under 30,000 votes. We’re not only going to give our “Good Riddance” send off to Scott Walker, but we’ll go ahead and give him a full, “Good Riddance, and don’t just f*** off, but keep f***ing off until you’re over the horizon, never to return” salute.

I think what amuses me most is Walker passed a law that would prevent people from challenging election results if they fall within a certain range. SURPRISE! He played himself in the end.

[PwrdOn]

Showing that the UK wants Boris Johnson to be the /last/ PM of the UK, they've decided to go ahead with him as Prime minister.

The UK is completely screwed.

I think it very likely we see a second Scottish referendum and secession once Boris pushes through the worst possible deal and sells out the UK to American business interests in an effort to dismantle the NHS.

I can't help but think that there is poetic justice in the UK falling victim to the same divide and conquer tactics that they applied in so many of their colonies that have caused so much damage over the years.

[Kirby101]

Forget Al Franken.

The Democrats need more figures like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. Dinosaurs like Franken have no place in the future of the party.

Says someone who has no idea how effective Franken was in the Senate. Or how long he was in office, what his policies were, or why he was targeted by the GOP.

[Kirby101]

Showing that the UK wants Boris Johnson to be the /last/ PM of the UK, they've decided to go ahead with him as Prime minister.

The UK is completely screwed.

I think it very likely we see a second Scottish referendum and secession once Boris pushes through the worst possible deal and sells out the UK to American business interests in an effort to dismantle the NHS.

To be fair, it is only the Conservative Party that is picking him. He remains unpopular throughout the UK. But he is still going to have a few years to muck things up until the next General election.
https://www.businessinsider.com/poll...ov-hunt-2019-6

I think you are right about Scotland.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The only good thing about the Al Frankenstein fiasco is that it made Gillibrand unelectable

[Mister Mets]

I think what amuses me most is Walker passed a law that would prevent people from challenging election results if they fall within a certain range. SURPRISE! He played himself in the end.

There's not much of a chance that he would have overcome a difference of one percent/ 29,227 votes.

But not nearly as much as from the Republicans and you know that.

Your false equivalency isn't fooling anyone, and the "civility" of your party is on full display with Trump, no matter what you say here on these forums.

I don't really know that Democrats were better during the 2012 election.

What do you think of the Democratic leader in the Senate lying about Romney's tax returns, and justifying it later by saying "We won the election, didn't we?" If this is the norm, a lot of stuff is justified in the names of winning.

Does he realise that saying "Send them back" is a hate crime ?

In the US?

The Case of Al Franken





I am formerly petitioning WBE to retract his blog post about Al Franken and take him off of his April 1st list.

So, should he substituted with the Democratic officeholders who called for his resignation?

[JackDaw]

To be fair, it is only the Conservative Party that is picking him. He remains unpopular throughout the UK. But he is still going to have a few years to muck things up until the next General election.
https://www.businessinsider.com/poll...ov-hunt-2019-6

I think you are right about Scotland.

I know it’s an unpopular view on this forum, but the Scottish Independence campaign had similar strengths and weaknesses to the EU exit campaign.

The main strength (of both) campaigns as I see it is that bigger is not necessarily better...deep down I believe small scale democracy can be more responsive to people’s needs. To me this is very important.

Against that there were similar weaknesses in both. To some extent Brits distrust foreigners...to some extent the Scots distrust the English.

In the EU exit campaign some unprovable assumptions were made on how easy it would be to split off. It takes an overpowering bias to not realise exactly the same happened in the Scottish independence campaign ( laughably over optimistic assumptions were made by the SNP. Examples include continued use of pound as the Scottish currency, no acceptance of any part of accumulated national debt, inflated estimate of oil revenues after split. There were several others.)

[Mister Mets]

Legitimate non trolling question.

What has modern conservatism done thats any good ? Because here in the west it seems to be a non stop tirade of naked attempts at embezzlement, cutting services to the poor and starting pointless military conflicts whilst promoting hate as patriotism and nationalism.

The most popular Governors in the US are Republicans, so you could look at what they've done.

As something on a larger scale, George W Bush has been credited with the single greatest humanitarian program of the last few decades (his efforts against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa.)

https://thinkprogress.org/five-most-...an-presidents/

If you're legitimately interested in what conservatives have done well, this might not be the best forum to ask given the large number of posters who are to the left. You could find the answers in conservative news sources like the National Review.

You are simply wrong about this. Why isn't the problem about whether it exists? The GOP denies Climate Change, there can be no discussion of working solutions while your Party leader tries to increase coal use while attacking alternative energy. Or wants to end Obamacare (based on conservative ideas) with no replacement that would bring healthcare to people.
Every other modern country on Earth has Universal Healthcare. Pick any of them you like for us here. But instead your Party just screams "Socialism" at the mention of Universal Healthcare.

More mincing of words without addressing that your Party doesn't even want to try to deal with these problems. No Your Party has made immigration, not an issue that can be dealt with, but a full blown crisis that is the biggest problem we face.

One more question Mr Fiscal Conservative? How do you feel now about the giant Tax Cut your Party gave to the Rich (which you supported) that numerous studies have shown had little effect on the economy, but have lead to the largest deficits in history.

I think the portions that helped the middle class were good, but the portions that helped the rich were unnecessary. There are some arguments that it did help the economy.

Universal healthcare is difficult in the United States because healthcare is much more expensive here than in the rest of the world for a variety of reasons, including the costs of research & development, and expectations of a high level of care (which includes some unnecessary defensive medicine.) We need to get the costs down.

Republican officeholders are generally on board with the idea that climate change exists; the main problem is the policy alternatives.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/...ate-change.cnn
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...climate-change

Democrats do also tend to object to alternatives like fracking and nuclear power.

Immigration is one of the most important issues, given the larger number of people affected. It would be easier to fix if Democrats weren't getting in the way with various policies to protect those who came here illegally (IE- sanctuary cities.)

[JCAll]

To be fair, it is only the Conservative Party that is picking him. He remains unpopular throughout the UK. But he is still going to have a few years to muck things up until the next General election.
https://www.businessinsider.com/poll...ov-hunt-2019-6

I think you are right about Scotland.

Don't forger Northern Ireland. That could turn into a whole thing.

[Kirby101]

Don't forger Northern Ireland. That could turn into a whole thing.

Absolutely. If Scotland goes and NI has a hard border because Boris does a no deal Brexit, I think they would follow.

[Kirby101]

I know it’s an unpopular view on this forum, but the Scottish Independence campaign had similar strengths and weaknesses to the EU exit campaign.

The main strength (of both) campaigns as I see it is that bigger is not necessarily better...deep down I believe small scale democracy can be more responsive to people’s needs. To me this is very important.

Against that there were similar weaknesses in both. To some extent Brits distrust foreigners...to some extent the Scots distrust the English.

In the EU exit campaign some unprovable assumptions were made on how easy it would be to split off. It takes an overpowering bias to not realise exactly the same happened in the Scottish independence campaign ( laughably over optimistic assumptions were made by the SNP. Examples include continued use of pound as the Scottish currency, no acceptance of any part of accumulated national debt, inflated estimate of oil revenues after split. There were several others.)

One of the main reasons the Scotland referendum failed is there was no guarantee of staying in the EU. When Boris goes ahead with Brexit, the very reason for staying in the UK is gone. I think the EU will welcome Scotland and make assurances before another vote.

[Kirby101]

I think the portions that helped the middle class were good, but the portions that helped the rich were unnecessary. There are some arguments that it did help the economy.

Universal healthcare is difficult in the United States because healthcare is much more expensive here than in the rest of the world for a variety of reasons, including the costs of research & development, and expectations of a high level of care (which includes some unnecessary defensive medicine.) We need to get the costs down.

Republican officeholders are generally on board with the idea that climate change exists; the main problem is the policy alternatives.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/...ate-change.cnn
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...climate-change

Democrats do also tend to object to alternatives like fracking and nuclear power.

Immigration is one of the most important issues, given the larger number of people affected. It would be easier to fix if Democrats weren't getting in the way with

A very small percentage went to the middle class, it was a tax cut for the Rich. Saying that 5% of it was good is BS.
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/19/57175...e-middle-class.
And there was minimal effect on the economy, but if you don't mind soaring deficits, I guess it helps you to not be against it.
Trump tax cuts did little to boost economic growth in 2018, study says

Expenses are higher than the rest of the world BECAUSE we don't have Universal healthcare. We have a purely for-profit system. Have you ever asked yourself why America is the ONLY country that can't do this?

BS about Republicans being on board for Climate Change. They still deny it, including your Party leader. And they are actively trying to stop any solutions. One or two rebel Senators is not the Party Platform.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...e-plan-1598987
https://time.com/5622374/donald-trum...ge-hoax-event/

Democrats in the way? So you are supporting what Trump is doing? And you agree how bad immigrants are for the country?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy...he-u-s-economy

In the end you are another Susan Collins, measured response but in the end, just staying in line with the GOP.

[Kusanagi]

I think if there's no deal Brexit Scotland will absolutely have referendum on independence. Whether they would vote to leave or not, I can't say. I will say one of the best arguments of 'Better Together' last time was leaving the UK meant leaving the EU without the certainty of being allowed back in. That argument is now completely off the table and will likely swing some votes.

Northern Ireland, if there's a hard border, will see some nasty and divisive times and yeah I could see leaving on the table.