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

[worstblogever]

I don't think a guy who gets 1.2% is proof of anything.

Can you name a Democratic candidate for any office who's known to have shot someone accidentally or with illegal intent?

I can think of three off the top of my head.

But I guess it isn't "proof" if someone insists on burying their head in the sand and telling themselves everything's fine.

[worstblogever]

By the by... there's a special election for U.S. Congress in NC-9 tonight.

Early results coming in... 15.7% roughly in, and Democratic candidate Dan McCready has 82,409 votes, Republican Dan Bishop has 63,712...

Early ballots tend to favor the Democrats, so this will tighten up as the night goes on in a traditionally conservative district.

[Mister Mets]

Can you name a Democratic candidate for any office who's known to have shot someone accidentally or with illegal intent?

I can think of three off the top of my head.

But I guess it isn't "proof" if someone insists on burying their head in the sand and telling themselves everything's fine.

There's a candidate for state legislature who killed himself and his wife only a few months ago.

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/...rt/1751180001/

I don't think this is particularly meaningful since there are few methods to keep crazy people from running for office.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I can sleep easier knowing Bolton’s gone. **** him. He would have gotten us in a 20 year with Iran if he had his way

Honestly, I'm just glad Bolton is out. If they can manage to not replace him with someone worse I guess it's a win imo.

This. Although Bolton is so eager for a war that it should be difficult to find someone worse, even for Trump. I'm sure he can, but it will take a bit of effort, and he hates that

Honestly? Losing Bolton is probably the closest thing Trump's ever done to a smart move.

There’s a reason I called Bolton “Johnny Warhawk”, because he was so hardline about ramping up conflicts if not flat out starting wars, so he won’t be at all missed. And the world will be a safer place as a result.

[Dalak]

There's a candidate for state legislature who killed himself and his wife only a few months ago.

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/...rt/1751180001/

I don't think this is particularly meaningful since there are few methods to keep crazy people from running for office.

But as Crazy Person A got votes while Crazy Person B killed himself it does show what some republicans will vote for.

[Tendrin]

But as Crazy Person A got votes while Crazy Person B killed himself it does show what some republicans will vote for.

Besides, an actual Nazi running as a GOP member got over 20% of the votes cast.

Actual Nazis are pretty comfortable with the GOP brand these days.

[worstblogever]

By the by... there's a special election for U.S. Congress in NC-9 tonight.

Early results coming in... 15.7% roughly in, and Democratic candidate Dan McCready has 82,409 votes, Republican Dan Bishop has 63,712...

Early ballots tend to favor the Democrats, so this will tighten up as the night goes on in a traditionally conservative district.

It took over 7 million dollars dumped into the race, and a Trump rally on the eve of the special election, but the GOP only narrowly held onto a seat in the U.S. House that they've held since the 1960s.

It's hard not to feel for Dan McCready... he just spent an insane 27 straight months campaigning to just miss.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It took over 7 million dollars dumped into the race, and a Trump rally on the eve of the special election, but the GOP only narrowly held onto a seat in the U.S. House that they've held since the 1960s.

It's hard not to feel for Dan McCready... he just spent an insane 27 straight months campaigning to just miss.

Republicans shouldn't dancing in the street, having captured that seat by little over one point in a district Trump won by TWELVE in 2016.

[jetengine]

Imagine what better use the 7 million dollars could have gone too

[Tendrin]

Imagine what better use the 7 million dollars could have gone too

But hey now the Bathroom Bill guy is in the US congress. That's great!

*sigh*

[worstblogever]

But hey now the Bathroom Bill guy is in the US congress. That's great!

*sigh*

Dan Bishop, not just the HB2 sponsor, but the guy who helped keep the website Gab afloat so that Neo-Nazis could keep planning stuff together online after it almost went out of business after Charlottesville.

Why yes, I'll be profiling him.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 6th District, Joe Barton, a man most renowned for taking climate change denial to a degree that’s noteworthy even for the modern GOP, claiming that we should not invest in wind turbines because “wind is a finite resource” and that The Great Flood from the Bible was proof against humans having a role in climate change. He’s clearly in the pockets of big oil, and if there was any doubt of that, keep in mind we’re talking about a guy who when the CEO of British Petroleum was called to testify before Congress after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill… Rep. Barton had the gall to APOLOGIZE TO HIM for the “White House shakedown” of his company, that a sane person would realize was an surprisingly low fine for causing the greatest ecological disaster of our generation. Meanwhile, Barton has also talked openly about abolishing the minimum wage. In March of 2018, Joe Barton may have given any political opponents against him ammunition when he actually attended a town hall, but while a constituent began asking him about various votes he made against legislation that would prevent violence towards women, Barton received jeers from the crowd, and pointed to the man and told him to shut up. The crowd then erupted, and began shouting “You work for us” at him. So, not long after Barton confirmed that he would be running for re-election in 2018, a graphic nude photo of him began circulating online, which he claimed was taken not long after he was separated from his second wife (uh huh… this may have been why they separated). Turns out, Barton is dumb enough to think women on Facebook get turned on by seeing nudes of wrinkled-ass old Congressmen (PRO-TIP: They don’t.) And then, … Joe Barton announced he would retire, after all. As such, we will also retire 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 784-40, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Chip Roy

Welcome to the 784th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 21st Congressional District, Chip Roy, who just was elected to office for the first time in 2018, and whose prior political experience was working as a staffer for the loathsome Sen. Ted Cruz until he saw a plum GOP-leaning seat left behind by retiring Congressman Lamar Smith. And boy oh boy, is Chip Roy showing us that he’s just as much of an ***hole as his former boss.

In May of 2019, a bill cleared the Senate to approve $19.1 billion in disaster relief funding for victims of wildfires and hurricanes, which included areas of Texas damaged by Hurricane Harvey. On May 24th, 2019, it was expected to pass the House with a simple voice vote, and most of the GOP content to let it pass by a simple voice vote, provided no objections were presented by Republicans. GOP House leadership had no intention of doing so… BUT CHIP ROY is just that much of an ***hole, and he decided to hold up the needed disaster relief bill because Nancy Pelosi thought a voice vote would suffice. Remember, though, this was a bill that got fired through Mitch McConnell’s Senate, and BOTH Texas Senators voted for. But Chip Roy wasn’t gonna let Pelosi get away with… whatever she was doing that all his fellow Texas Republicans wanted.

That isn’t a one-off for how obsessive Rep. Roy is, as he’s kept members of Congress up until 4AM to try and secure money for Trump’s novelty project and all around stupid idea, the border wall… and it wasn’t just that he did that to just be a jerk to Democrats, who obviously have the majority and were gonna shoot that down… but it was that Roy ditched his own wife on their 15th wedding anniversary to do so. What a lucky gal she must be.

Meanwhile, in House Oversight Committee hearings, Roy has turned up to play defense as much as he can for the Donald Trump and his clusterf*** of an administration, including trying to insinuate during the Michael Cohen hearings that Cohen had only turned on Trump because he was bitter he didn’t get hired to work in the White House. He's been far worse during hearings questioning the actions of ICE for locking children in cages, where he claimed to have been to the border many times and never saw a child in a cage (in spite of photos showing this leaking to the public), he went on to say Democrats don’t actually care about the kids and are just attempting to “score political points”.

Motherf***er, this isn’t a game. THOSE ARE CHILDREN IN CAGES. NOBODY IS PLAYIN’ WITH THAT.


His voting record is, as you’d expect, one of the most rabidly conservative in all of the Republican Caucus:

• January 22nd, 2019: Roy votes against HR 676, which would prevent Donald Trump from doing the unthinkable and walking away from our allies in NATO to appease the Russians.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Roy voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Chip Roy 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: Roy votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Roy 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: Chip Roy 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).
• May 17th, 2019: Roy votes against the Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Roy votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Chip Roy 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”.

Here’s the thing… all of the political analysis coming out of Texas is that its partisan lean, which has been traditionally Republican for years, is swinging hard left, and that it will be a swing state in 2018. Chip Roy only won office in 2018 with 50.2% of the vote, and it’s entirely possible that if the trend of voter registration among women, Hispanics, and youths registering to vote as Democrats in Texas combined with the fact that he’s just deranged enough to block disaster funding to HIS OWN STATE that could make Chip Roy a one-term Congressman.

What should concern him even more is he will apparently have one of the most high profile challengers in that prospective race, as former Texas State Senator and women’s rights champion Wendy Davis is going to run against him, the first time she’s run for office since her 2014 loss to Gov. Greg Abbott, and its in a district that contains Austin, which has always been the blueberry in the middle of the red Texas cherry pie (but that blueberry is getting bigger).

And there is no way that having Wendy Davis in place instead of a partisan hack like Chip Roy would not be better for the people of Texas’ 21st, as well as the rest of the country. His career needs to be brought to an immediate halt before he wedges himself in place for partisan douchebaggery for the next three decades, like his predecessor.

[worstblogever]

Dave Wasserman, on Twitter:

"Republicans should feel relieved they avoided a loss, but here's why Bishop's 2% win isn't encouraging: there are 35 GOP-held House seats less Republican than #NC09, per @CookPolitical PVI."

Translation: If this is a bellweather, than the GOP isn't taking the House back. They're going to lose MORE seats. They're gonna have to dig in to not lose the Senate or White House.

But, losing the House in 2020 means that the next Congressional maps are going to be unf***ed from the damage done by the GOP with their aptly titled "REDMAP" program after the 2010 Tea Party wave. It would then seem unlikely that Republicans gain control of the House back until 2030, given the direction their popularity is trending under Trump, and their hacked system being unraveled.

[Tami]

Florida Man Smashes 20 Cars, Says 'I Did It Because Donald Trump Owes Me One Trillion Dollars'

A homeless man in Florida went on a car vandalism spree Monday, smashing at least 20 vehicles before getting tired and falling asleep on a nearby bench. When questioned by authorities, he said it happened because President Donald Trump "owes me one trillion dollars."

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office in a press release identified the man as 30-year-old Justin James Wilson, and said he damaged at least 20 cars or more that were parked at the Holiday Inn Resort on Okaloosa Island.

The sheriff's office stated Wilson faces 14 counts of felony criminal mischief and six counts of misdemeanor criminal mischief for an estimated $30,000 in damages to at least 20 cars.

When deputies located Wilson nearby, he confessed to the officers and said, "Take me to jail. I did it because Donald Trump owes me one trillion dollars and these vehicles belong to the mafia."

Aren't there days when you feel like Trump owes you, owes everyone, one trillion dollars?