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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Hmmmmmm, I thought Mexico was paying for this?

How do you spell Mexico? P-E-N-T-A-G-O-N. I’m sure the Joint Chiefs must be all kinds of thrilled about this.

[worstblogever]

The number of Republican women in the House continues to dwindle to minute levels... Alabama Congresswoman Martha Roby will retire at the end of this term.

I've profiled her for several years, so I can't say I'm sad to be seeing her go.

[InformationGeek]

Well, I can't say that I'm not suspicious of this and how bad this will turn out.

Today, President Trump announced a safe third country agreement with Guatemala that will put human smugglers out of business and provide safety for legitimate asylum seekers.

[worstblogever]

On this date, in both 2014, as well as in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Allen West, the former Tea Party Congressman from Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, who was forced into retirement by the United States Army for detaining an Iraqi policeman and using advanced interrogation techniques like threatening to shoot him in the head, and firing the gun next to his ear, causing him to lose half his hearing. Attempting forced confessions in this matter is frowned upon in most rational circles, because we don’t live in the universe of Jack Bauer, you see. In his one term in Congress, Allen West said things like, “Joseph Goebbels would be proud of the Democratic Party”, “take your message of equality of achievement and take it to Europe, to the bottom of the sea, to the North Pole, but get it out of the United States of America”, that people with Obama bumper stickers were “a threat to the gene pool”, that the Democratic Party is “a 21st Century plantation”, that there were “78 to 81 communists in the Democratic Party”, that “George Bush got snookered into going into some mosque, taking his shoes off, and saying Islam was a religion of peace”, and chastised the Pentagon for saying “tolerance and inclusion” were a key to mission success. Allen West backed a military strike in Benghazi, over a year after the attack on the diplomatic compound there, as if the perpetrators were still holed up and waiting. He’s also convinced the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government, that President Obama is a secret “Islamist”, and that any Muslim advocacy group is secretly a terrorist organization. Oh, and illegal immigrants are being used to spread diseases through the population as a biological warfare experiment by the Obama administration, that gay marriage will lead to a civil war, and complained when the state of South Carolina moved to take down the Confederate flag at the state capitol, blaming it on “Islamofascists and socialists” who were attempting to re-write history “just like ISIS and the Taliban”. He is, for lack of a better term, a goddamn lunatic. While Allen West has been booted from office for half a decade, yet he still has a following in Tea Party circles, who bizarrely think he’s telling it as it is. West has gone on to start his own “journalism” site online, that exists simply as a platform for West to editorialize world events through his own paranoid, deranged prism. There have been growing rumors that West may run for Congress in Texas in 2020, but that is unconfirmed at this time.

[worstblogever]

In 2016, 2017, as well as in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from North Carolina’s 6TH Congessional District, Mark Walker, who has already caught our attention while serving in his freshman term in office. As some of our more extreme GOP House members seem to be, Mark Walker was a newcomer to politics, only formerly serving as a pastor before jumping into politics in 2014, where he has deeply concerned for his psychological stability. At a town hall, he derided Islam, saying, “You can’t have a religion of peace when you’ve got nearly a billion” – that’s with a “b” – “people chopping off heads all over the country.” He also talked of impeaching President Obama for things he never did and will never do, like refusing to leave office, instituting Sharia Law, and “spending billions on vacations” (Obama spent less time on vacation than any president in decades). Walker also casually discussed going to war with Mexico to stop border crossings (because that wouldn’t make more people flee there), saying the military along the border could "laser or blitz somebody with a couple of fighter jets". He felt war with Mexico would be okay because "We've done it before." Ah, a pastor willing to go to war over immigration, just like Jesus would have wanted. Walker also made a threat to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding, and his belief that any criticism of North Carolina’s HB2 law is “bullying” (which is precisely backwards) and perpetuating the myth that transgendered citizens are assaulting women in public bathrooms. Walker’s outlook on climate change from his website isn’t just denial, but a partisan attack on Democrats, or as he called them, the “secular left”, who he accuses of using the issue to get rich. Anyway, during the GOP Primary in 2014, Pastor Walker, not surprisingly, stated his absolute dedication to being pro-life, without exceptions. Once he got to the general election of course, he suddenly DID believe in exceptions for rape and incest. His voting record once he got to office indicates his primary stance was his true one.

On June 21st, 2016, as House Democrats staged a sit-in on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives after the largest mass shooting in modern history in Orlando, trying to force Speaker Paul Ryan and Republicans to vote on legislation to make sure that those on the no-fly-list for being suspected terrorists could also not by firearms to carry out terror attacks…Paul Ryan attempted to hide the GOP's embarrassment by cutting C-SPAN cameras filming the sit-in, only to discover Democrats were filming it on Periscope, and providing live-feeds on the internet. Mark Walker wasn't going to take the protest in stride, and got on Twitter to shame the Democrats for their gun control support, by comparing their move to the REAL masters of the sit-in, who fought during the Civil Rights era:

"Calling this a sit-in is a disgrace to Woolworth's. They sat-in for rights. Dems are 'sitting-in' to strip them away."

There was just one humungous problem with that line of attack... one of the leaders of the Democratic sit-in was Georgia Congressman John Lewis. As in, civil rights hero John Lewis, who crossed the bridge in Selma only to be clubbed in the head by police, and actually SAT at the Woolworth's lunch counter that Mark Walker was referencing during his social media white-splaining. There's barking up the wrong tree, and then there's putting on a dog suit and yapping at a cactus until you get poked in the nose. Walker had done the latter.

Mark Walker was torched by his constituents in a town hall he hosted in March 2017, where many were turned away from attending, and only eleven… ELEVEN people were allowed to ask questions. The less than a dozen who did so, though, were concerned about the AHCA and its potential effects, and called out Rep. Walker on several attempts to lie or deflect to justify his vote for that god-awful legislation. We will finish our update by pointing out that with such relevant issues happening in our country such as Russia hacking into our election systems, or how we could better protect those voting systems… Mark Walker likes to get on social media to focus on other, more pressing issues. Like to complain about “government waste” evidenced by the installation of small ramps near the reflecting pool in our nation’s capitol so that ducklings can get in and out without drowning.

Mark Walker, ladies and gentleman. A soul so compassionate, he’d rather see dead baby animals on his way to work than have any solution created with taxpayer dollars. A man who is only pro-life as it applies to fetuses, and not any living being.

Walker’s fanaticism has even angered his own Republican colleagues, including during the brief search for a new House chaplain in April 2018, when Walker requested candidates have “adult children and wives”. That ended up having him being forced to leave the committee to pick the next chaplain because he just effectively admitted he wanted to disqualify anyone who was Catholic, off hand, given their vows of chastity making the whole “wife or kid” prerequisite impossible. Apparently he’s only tolerant of fellow Baptists, at this point.

North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District still has a +9 Republican lean that Walker has in the Cook Partisan Voting Index. That allowed him to win re-election with 56% of the vote, and be sent back to Washington, to work against the interests of 99% of Americans:

• January 27th, 2019: Mark Walker couldn’t be arsed to vote on 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.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Walker voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Mark Walker votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 7th, 2019: Walker votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Walker 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: Mark Walker 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: Walker votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Walker is one of 187 Republicans who vote against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.

We’re not certain if Mark Walker will exactly be able to coast to victory in 2020, as he’s been implicated in a corruption probe by federal investigators. He is believed to have acceptedd $150,000 for his campaign in a bribery scheme to force North Carolia Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey to replace his deputy.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...rolina-1249335
Even if Walker avoids indictment, he’s going to spend the next several months under scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee (which is now controlled by Democrats, so good luck with that, Mark).

[Spike-X]

Antifa violently attacking anyone that doesn't agree with the extreme left. If it was just Neo Nazi's that would be one thing but now Nazi has become anyone who isn't fringe left. You also see Antifa violently attacking reporters for the crime of just being present during confrontations and recording them.

Black Lives matter supporters murdering cops. Two officers assassinated in New York City, 5 in Dallas by a BLM supporter, 3 in Lousiana not long after. Many others shot or killed since. All by those radicalized by of the lies of the left that would have you believe that cops are gunning down unarmed black men on a daily basis when in reality nationwide it was a total of 20 in 2017 and 15 in 2018. And most of them were clearly justified when facts came out - for instance here are a couple of the 2017 cases: 1) The unarmed black man was violently beating the cop to death including repeatedly smashing the cop's head over and over into the concrete ground, 2) A black man with a bomb strapped to his chest who had taken hostages and was threatening to blow himself and the hostages up. A sniper shot him before he could but later they found the bomb was a fake so he got labelled an "unarmed" black man. Most end up being like this.

For every instance of violence you can cite on the right I can cite one back at you from Antifa or unhinged BLM supporters. Its disappointing that Trump won't wholly disavow the Neo Nazi groups on the right but its equally disappointing that the left wont disavow Antifa or the BLM elements that are inciting the attacks and murder of police officers. Just this week there have been numerous attacks against NYPD where people are throwing water on officers just trying to do their job. Some will go "its just water" but mark my words this is going to end badly because its going to escalate into more than water and will soon end up being bleach or something else caustic or deadly. Where's AOC condeming this kind of attack or behavior seeing as its happening right there in her town?

Liar .

[kjn]

If republicans and Fox News are going to continue to call Democrats Communist then the left needs to start labeling Trump, McConnell and co. as fascists. It’s far closer to the truth.

While it is far closer to the truth, the word "fascist" has been misused by various groups for so long it's become troublesome as a label.

Far more important is realising that right now, the democratic forces in the USA has to realise they deal with a fascist movement and are in the beginning of a possible fascist takeover, and craft their political strategy accordingly. That might include public labels, but they are arguably only a small part of the whole.

ETA: Note that fighting a strongly surging fascist movement is really hard, and we don't really have any good examples of fighting back one when it gains a real foothold. However, one positive for the US here is that the US fascist movement isn't that organised and hasn't built their own militia groups, and instead largely depends on the established law enforcement.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

House Judiciary Committee Is Investigating Possible Impeachment Of Donald Trump

“We’re crossing a threshold,” one House Democrat said. No kidding. Well, as Larry the Cable Guy was fond of saying....git 'r done!

**********

Trump Deflects Mueller Testimony By Suggesting A Probe Into Obama’s Book Deal

The president complained about the former special counsel’s investigation and said people should be looking into Barack Obama’s book deal instead. Hmmm! Sounds like jealousy to me since Trump couldn't write one coherent paragraph, never mind and entire damn book. And to any Trump lovers out there, don't waste your time mentioning 'The Art of the Deal' which, as everyone knows, was ghost written.

**********

Boris Johnson and Donald Trump Are Peak White Male Privilege

We’ve known for a long time that men — especially rich white men — are held to different standards than everyone else, but never has the difference been so nakedly clear.

There are now two court jesters leading two of the world’s major democracies: Boris Johnson, a known fabulist considered charming for running late and having mussy hair, just became the prime minister of Great Britain. And here in the U.S., President Donald Trump is a former reality TV star, accused sexual assaulter and known scam artist.

Could you imagine a woman or man of color getting away with any of that?

Female politicians can’t make mistakes ― with their emails, DNA tests or knowledge of world affairs or economics. A black male politician couldn’t even wear a tan suit or hoist a latte without turning heads. None of these people can lie repeatedly and get away with it.

But here we are, supposedly in an era of progress when it comes to gender and race, watching these buffoons land the highest offices in the world.

**********

Virginia’s November Elections May Finally Cement Its Status As A Blue State

And Democrats controlling the Virginia state legislature in 2020 would have long-lasting effects for the party nationwide. I'm sure Dolt45 and the GOP won't like that. GOOD!

**********

Trump Lashes Out At Fox News For Poll Showing Him Trailing Biden: ‘NO WAY’

It’s one of several attacks Trump has waged against the outlet and its polling, which has shown the former vice president ahead. Awwww! Widdle Donnie is upset because his personal propaganda network presented an inconvenient truth.

[worstblogever]

In 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Blake Farenthold, the four-term U.S. House Representative from Texas' 27th Congressional District, who originally won office in 2010 by only 799 votes, and then had his district gerrymandered into being far more conservative, guaranteeing him victories in future elections as long as he did not face a primary opponent. Farenthold was elected despite being photographed at a “campaign fundraiser” prior to his arrival in the Tea Party Wave at a gentlemen's club with one of the ladies who was "featured entertainment" while wearing a set of rubber ducky pajamas. It comes as little surprise, then, that Farenthold was sued by his former Communications Director for sexual harassment shortly after winning election to his third term in 2014, in the form telling her he had “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” about her, and that there were occasions where he’d joke about her having semen on her skirt, or show her nipples to get along better with his chief of staff.. Through his career, Farenthold repeatedly showed himself to be one of the most rock-stupid members of Congress when he would go on cable news, where he would openly identify himself as a Birther or exhibit to the public that he doesn’t understand how the debt ceiling works. He gleefully voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown in October of 2016 after the Access Hollywood tape was revealed where Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women, with Farenthold dismissed it as “all locker room talk”, before saying of Trump, "Until he does something so bad to make him worse than Hillary , I'm still in.” Chris Hayes of MSNBC asked a follow-up hypothetical question of if a tape also emerged of Donald Trump literally saying, “I like to rape women”, if Farenthold would still support him then, and Farenthold actually answered, "That would be bad. I would have to consider it." In his final term in office, Farenthold was one of six Republicans who led the charge to try and defund the Office of Congressional Ethics, because he held a personal grudge against them for, y’know, enforcing ethics. Which included the sexual harassment case filed against him by his former Communcations Director a few years back. In May of 2017, he went on CNN, and while being asked about the Trump/Russia investigation, he tried to deflect to claim that instead of investigating that breach of our democracy, federal investigators should instead take a look at how the DNC hack by Russia was actually an “inside job”, referencing the sort of partisan garbage that was coming out of Sean Hannity at the time, and Farenthold acknowledging parts of the conspiracy theory surrounding the deceased DNC staffer, Seth Rich. When called out for how irresponsible Farenthold’s comments were by CNN anchors Poppy Harlow and John Berman, Farenthold shrugged it off, because of “there’s stuff circulating on the internet”. In July of 2018, Farenthold was lamenting that the Senate GOP kept failing to pass an Obamacare repeal, and he didn’t just blame it on the ladies of the Senate and call them “repugnant”, he said that if they were men, he would challenge them to a duel to solve the impasse. After it was discovered that Farenthold used $84,000 of taxpayer money to pay off the woman he sexually harassed, it took a full three months of criticism and calls for his resignation, before he mercifully relented and did resign. He has gone on to become a lobbyist, arguably not following the law in his hire, and insisting he would not be repaying the taxpayers for sexually harassing staffers, and we’re all on the hook for $84,000 grand from this scumbag. In any event, we’re thrilled he’s no longer in office, and highly unlikely to return. As such, we’re going to 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 769-40, since this was established in July 2014.)


Jason Priest

Welcome to the 769th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing former Montana State Senator Jason Priest, who was first elected in… what else? The 2010 Tea Party Wave. We’re going to make this brief… the above photos of Priest are his mugshot, as he was arrested for domestic assault in February of 2014. As the story goes, Priest’s estranged wife was out on a date with her new boyfriend, and at home and enraged about that fact, he ordered his daughter to call his wife so she would answer, and demanded she “pick her daughter up”. His wife and her new fella had the good sense to contact the police to meet them at the residence, which ended up being the right call. By the time Priest’s wife arrived, he had already physically abused his teenage daughter, and then attacked his wife and her boyfriend on the porch. The police then rolled up to the scene, and took Priest into custody. He initially plead not guilty, and was looking at up to five years in prison. He ended up pleading to a lesser charge, and was given a deferred prison sentence.

Jason Priest obviously, at that point, knew his re-election campaign in 2014 wasn’t going to go so well, and focused on his legal woes. Which meant he couldn’t stay in office to continue his agenda to assure the death penalty didn’t get overturned, that federal firearms laws would be ignored in Montana, and trying to nullify the Affordable Care Act. On all levels, Montana is better off without him in office.

[InformationGeek]

So, more updates about the woman trying to challenge Ilhan Omar to her seat. Here she is trying to give a speech.

This is Daniella Stella, she’s a Republican running against Ilhan Omar in 2020.

It looks like @IlhanMN may have a tough time beating her based on this very coherent speech.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So, more updates about the woman trying to challenge Ilhan Omar to her seat. Here she is trying to give a speech.

By the by, Ms. Stella has a record, and I don’t mean vinyl:

Trump-loving Republican challenging Ilhan Omar faces felony theft charges from shoplifting arrests

[JCAll]

Liar .

You need a reaction image, let me help.

[Tami]

So, more updates about the woman trying to challenge Ilhan Omar to her seat. Here she is trying to give a speech.

Woah, not only is she illiterate and incoherent, that dress can only impress men like Trump and Epstein (if you know what I mean). She looks like she's running for porn star of the year, not political office.

[Tami]

What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News
By Luke O'Neil

It was somewhere around the 100th response that my brain turned to mush.

Last week, I devoted an installment of my newsletter Welcome to Hell World to a dozen stories from people who, like me, had close relationships that had been strained or ruined by family members who’d become obsessed with Fox News.

No matter where the stories came from they all featured a few familiar beats: A loved one seemed to have changed over time. Maybe that person was already somewhat conservative to start. Maybe they were apolitical. But at one point or another, they sat down in front of Fox News, found some kind of deep, addictive comfort in the anger and paranoia, and became a different person — someone difficult, if not impossible, to spend time with. The fallout led to failed marriages and estranged parental relationships. For at least one person, it marks the final memory he’ll ever have of his father: “When I found my dad dead in his armchair, fucking Fox News was on the TV,” this reader told me. “It’s likely the last thing he saw. I hate what that channel and conservative talk radio did to my funny, compassionate dad. He spent the last years of his life increasingly angry, bigoted, and paranoid.”

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Woah, not only is she illiterate and incoherent, that dress can only impress men like Trump and Epstein (if you know what I mean). She looks like she's running for porn star of the year, not political office.

Five will get you ten she lifted that dress. I tried listening to her ramblings, but gave up after only ten seconds. Drunks stumbling out of bars at three a.m. sound more coherent.

What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News
By Luke O'Neil

Faux News is the next best (or worst) thing to actual brainwashing. Sure, some of the “victims” may have already been predisposed to brandish the sort of hate that channel spews, but Rupert Murdoch’s monster amplified that ugliness tenfold.