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

[numberthirty]

A couple of recent pieces on Flint...

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...ent-over-water

Judge rules Flint residents can sue federal government over water crisis

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/201...er-crisis.html

‘Shark Tank’ funds water filter made to address Flint water crisis

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Sri Lanka Arrests 40 Suspects After Deadly Easter Bombings

Officials said the death toll from Sunday’s attacks had risen to 310.

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Democrats Running For President In 2020 Remain Divided On Impeaching Trump

Some candidates are ready to launch the proceedings while others worry doing so would only aid the president in the next election. And that sort of division is just what Turtle Boy McConnell and the GOP wants, and I fear Pelosi, now leaning towards impeachment herself, won't be able to wrangle this bunch into any sort of united platform. I'm on the don't impeach side of the street, mainly because it won't matter worth a damn with the election only a year away, and that such a resolution would die a quick and messy death in the Republican controlled Senate that remains under strict orders to protect Trump at all cost.

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Kamala Harris Wants To Wield Presidential Powers To Tackle Gun Violence

The Democratic candidate plans to release a four-point gun safety proposal on Tuesday. Good! By the by, this was why Republicans were leery on Trump calling a national emergency on his imaginary crisis at the border, one he's done jack **** about since his declaration.

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Donald Trump On Reports That Staff Ignored His Directives: ‘Nobody Disobeys My Orders’

Robert Mueller’s report laid out at least 11 instances in which Trump aides and allies, including his former counsel Don McGahn, refused to carry out orders. Trump's bloated ego won't allow him to accept or even admit that he HAD been disobeyed, even though those mutinous moments by said aides most likely saved his presidency. What's more, Trump will NEVER thank those people who pulled his orange ass out of the fire, if anything, he'll throw them under the nearest bus instead. That's just how he rolls.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham Says Lying President Should Quit — But Not THAT Lying President

“He encouraged people to lie for him. He lied. I think he obstructed justice,” said the GOP senator — about Bill Clinton. Try getting Grouchy Graham to say that about Trump. I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

[wjowski]

WTF do these people calling for impeachment think they're going to accomplish? Mitch McConnel's got the Senate locked up, that ****'s not going anywhere.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Basil Marceaux, who while simultaneously running for Governor of Tennessee and for Congress to represent Tennessee’s 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives, put out a political ad online that made him a viral sensation, getting him notoriety enough to be reported on by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report. Marceaux, who is missing several teeth that give him a cartoonish and funny speech impediment, still champions on as a public speaker in his ad, where he promised to "immune you from all state crimes for the rest of you life!" and stated his desire that "everyone carry guns", eloquently warning, “Voters like my gun views. I want everyone to have a gun. If I think that someone doesn't have one, maybe I'll fine them $10." Marceaux also claims to be an agent of the Freedman’s Bureau, an organization that assisted freed slaves in 1866 and had been defunct for… oh, more than a century. But his role as an agent with them makes him immune to all crimes. While judges who have seen Marceaux in court for speeding tickets disagree with that logic, they do tend to find him guilty for reason of insanity, instead. (Yes, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Tennessee was too insane to be found guilty of a crime.) Other Marceaux campaign planks included planting grass or vegetation "across the state on any vacant lot and sell it for gas so we can use it for our expenses”, which would in no way generate revenue and to "remove all gold-finch flags and fly the real flag with the three stripes” and to “stop traffic stops." Since Basil has no chance of ever being elected to Congress, Governor, President, or frankly, anything else.



In 2016, 2017, and as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of Gary Glenn, who represents District 98 in the Michigan House of Representatives, and who previously made a living working as an anti-gay conservative activist, specifically with the American Family Association as the president of their Michigan chapter, which the Southern Poverty Law Center still classifies the AFA as an anti-gay hate group. Prior to running for office, Glenn had already directed a variety of disgusting comments towards the LGBT community publicly, not limited to his call to criminalize homosexuality as recently as February of 2010, the fact that he signed on to a lawsuit against the federal government because he felt the via the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 “elevates people with deviant sexual behaviors to a special, protected class”, his comparison between comparison between homosexuality and smoking, and in a July 2011 interview where he shared his belief that businesses should not hire gay employees because they “are not the best and brightest employees” because they take “health risks”, by which he expounded included a “dramatically higher risk of mental illness and substance abuse and AIDS and cancer and hepatitis.” voters balked a bit at all that when Glenn appeared as a candidate in the 2012 elections for U.S. Senate to challenge for the seat held by Debbie Stabenow, attacking her pro-choice stance on abortion while supporting not just the defunding of Planned Parenthood, but to create a Personhood amendment and ban abortion. Alas, after losing that year in the GOP Primary, Glenn did not give up his political aspirations, instead choosing to run for the Michigan House of Representatives in the 2014 mid-term election to replace Jim Stamas, who was up against term limits, winning office with the endorsement of disgraced Michigan Republican Party Committee member, Dave Agema, and taking the Republican primary for his seat by about 300 votes, and then winning the general election with 55% over Democrat Joan Brausch. Since winning office, Glenn has not mellowed out in the least, sending out an “agenda alert” warning on social media in March 2015 when he heard that a local newspaper had hired an openly gay news editor, and decided to claim a bias against the Midland Daily News before the editor had even started the job. A couple months later, in June of 2015, Glenn was calling for a school to be held criminally liable if a student ever contracted an STD from homosexual activity after being taught it existed in sex education class. (Y’know, the sort of smaller government the GOP touts these days.) When you look at his voting record, this is going to come as a big shock, I know… you can see Gary Glenn is laser-focused on limiting LGBT rights, co-sponsoring and voting for not one, not two, but three separate bills to allow adoption agencies to refuse to allow children to be placed in adoptive families based on their religious beliefs (i.e., same sex couples can’t adopt). It’s almost an after-thought that he also has voted for extreme anti-abortion legislation to try and prevent women in Michigan from even hearing abortion is an option if they’ve been sexually assaulted, by claiming it’s “prevention of coercion into having an abortion”. In 2017, Glenn putzed around and wasted the people’s time by sponsoring a fetal heartbeat abortion bill that even if it passes the Michigan State House and Senate, is still likely to be repealed by Gov. Rick Snyder, and even if it isn’t, it’s going to be overturned by the courts because it’s a flagrant break from precedent set by Roe v. Wade.

Gary Glenn was looking to try to move into the Michigan State Senate’s District 31 in 2018, so that he can continue to support extreme conservative legislation that has no chance of passing, let alone being held up in place by the courts. Like, just for example, how in response to the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Glenn was working on two bills to allow more guns in classrooms. He ended up getting beat in the GOP Primary, and is mercifully now out of office.

[worstblogever]

Trump's approval rating in the Politico/Morning Consult poll has dropped 5 points since the Mueller report was released on Thursday. He now ties his all-time low of 39%, the lowest it has been since his remarks about "both sides" after Charlottesville.

Gonna go lower as subpoenas start getting served, people start testifying, and House Oversight gets his tax returns.

[Mister Mets]

Bernie Sanders said in a CNN town hall that incarcerated felons, including the Boston marathon bomber, should be allowed to vote.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) argued Monday that all prisoners, including domestic terrorists such as the Boston Marathon bomber, should have the right to vote while they are incarcerated.

Speaking at a CNN town hall, Sanders was asked if he believes the right to vote should extend to serious criminals, such as Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in prison and has been sentenced to death.

“If somebody commits a serious crime, sexual assault, murder, they’re going to be punished,” Sanders said. “They may be in jail for 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, their whole lives. That’s what happens when you commit a serious crime."

"But I think the right to vote is inherent to our democracy," he continued. "Yes, even for terrible people, because once you start chipping away ... you’re running down a slippery slope. ... I do believe that even if they are in jail, they’re paying their price to society, but that should not take away their inherent American right to participate in our democracy.”

Kamala Harris said we should have a conversation about that.

LEMON: But people who are in -- convicted, in prison, like the Boston Marathon bomber, on death row, people who are convicted of sexual assault, they should be able to vote?

HARRIS: I think we should have that conversation.

Pete Buttigieg had a different response.

Buttigieg aces the Boston bomber/voting question. “No.”

To loud applause.

This does highlight one problem with abolishing the electoral college. At the moment, states can determine various regulations on voting and it won't affect the outcome in another state. With a popular vote, there are going to be equal access arguments should a white nationalist murderer serving a life sentence in one state be allowed to contribute to the vote for President, and a white nationalist murderer serving a life sentence in another state not be allowed to do the same.

There is also the question of whether a national vote would push states in a particular direction on voting regulations (the flipside of the argument would be the view that this would be a great thing if every state made it as easy to vote as possible.)

[KOSLOX]

While incarcerated they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Upon release, having served their debt to society, voting rights should immediately be restored.

[Kusanagi]

While incarcerated they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Upon release, having served their debt to society, voting rights should immediately be restored.

That is my take on it as well, once they've paid their debt to society they're still American Citizens and should have the right to vote.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

While incarcerated they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Upon release, having served their debt to society, voting rights should immediately be restored.

I agree with that stance fully.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

WTF do these people calling for impeachment think they're going to accomplish? Mitch McConnel's got the Senate locked up, that ****'s not going anywhere.

Political spectacle. It’s really not about whether it’s a worthwhile cause. They want a point made

[Tendrin]

having paid their debt to society can't change the fact they broke the law. Those who broke the law should not be able to elect the ones who make the laws. What if a a convicted felon wants to vote for a lawmaker who will enact a law that gives more leniency to convicted felons?

I think they should be allowed to vote again, if they are pardoned. So they need to petition for a pardon from state or federal government.

Pardons can restore the felons' voting rights.

You need to reevaluate your stance on this.

[Tendrin]

Political spectacle. It’s really not about whether it’s a worthwhile cause. They want a point made

Do you believe Trump has comitted offenses in office that are deserving of impeachment?

[KOSLOX]

If the convicted felons should be allowed to vote, then they should also be allowed to legally possess firearms. After all they paid their debt to society after serving time until release.

Sure. I'm fine with that too.

[Tendrin]

If the convicted felons should be allowed to vote, then they should also be allowed to legally possess firearms. After all they paid their debt to society after serving time until release.

I'm not shocked you don't see the difference here but, you know, if they have concluded all restitution, their sentence, and everything else? Then, yeah. That's something to consider too. You shouldn't permanently lose your rights outside of convictions for violence.

And frankly, only in America would we be worried about the rights of felons voting because we want to keep minorities in jail and then keep them from voting once we deign to let them out. The new jim crow indeed.

Let's make it so that the communities most effected by, say, police impunity and overpolicing have a proprotionally harder time acting against that.

[KOSLOX]

You need to reevaluate your stance on this.

It's a suggestion that's so unrealistic that we're all dumber for having read it.

There are tens of millions of currently and formerly convicted people in America. So here's a "good" idea, lets waste time and resources reviewing and sorting pardons for EVERY offense committed to see if they meet whatever metric is deemed appropriate for restoration of voting rights.

That is insane.