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

[Dalak]

Where did I say that people should not vote if Biden gets the nom? Are you going to continue to put words in my mouth? Do you think someone like Donnie Deutsch should be taken to task when he says he would not vote if Bernie got the nom?

I do not have a list of people who are worst then Trump who could become President, but people thought that Trump did not have a chance and he won. Never assume no one worst then Trump can win if the system does change, people assumed Trump could not win and he did.

If Biden wins then what? Everyone goes back to sleep and the system that created Trump gets worse? Trump being President means the system itself is sick, he would not be President in a healthy system. Defeating Trump wins a battle, but it does not win the war.

You go on about my putting words in your mouth when I was careful to show I wasn't talking about you specifically, then go on to put words in my mouth about how I assume no one worse than Trump can be elected. You also ignore how The System wasn't the only thing that caused Trump's win in order to make your point, and assume everyone will forget all the craven assholes who were willing to bend over backwards to enable Trump or those that wholeheartedly endorsed him.

Abstract non-personalized statement: You can do more than just Voting to help things change, but I'm stressing that Voting is the bare minimum you can do and that you shouldn't let things not being perfect stop you from voting.

To me saying go out and vote is not enough. In Georgia they rigged things to keep the GOP in power. Something like gerrymandering takes away the power of your vote. Doing away with gerrymandering would do a lot to make voting more important, get rid of gerrymandering and your vote does mean more. That is something you can do to make the system better.

Could you explain to me how to get rid of gerrymandering without voting for people who are willing to do something about it (Aka not the GoP)? No amount of pressure (Marches, Petitions, or Town Hall talking) is going to stop the GoP who's willing to completely upset The System if they lose to shut down the processes of government and/or strip the incoming Dems of all power and authority they can.

But no, we should just 'do away with' gerrymandering like it's that easy.

[GindyPosts]

So, anyone interested in what's going on in the city of Baltimore with the mayor?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Let's talk about people with decency for a change.

Those 3 churches that were burned down by a racist raised $90,000.
Hillary Clinton quietly donated enough to make it $2 million.

And, as far as I know, STILL not so much as one goddamn word from Trump about the bombings while he whined about the French not using tanker planes to dump water on Notre Dame when it burned.

[Tami]

So, anyone interested in what's going on in the city of Baltimore with the mayor?

Tell us, what's going on in Baltimore?

[Gray Lensman]

Right. He's definitely better than Trump.

To be worse than Trump you have to find someone with close to his amount of malice, but pair it with a higher degree of competence. President Mitchocrite O'Connell would be worse than Trump.

[GindyPosts]

Tell us, what's going on in Baltimore?

Oh, nothing much. Just the mayor being raided by the FBI after apparent misappropriations regarding her series of early-childhood fitness and nutrition books, and the University of Maryland's wheelings and dealings with its own board members. Just another Tuesday in Baltimore City.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...rygallery.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/25/polit...yor/index.html

The downside to all this is that while there is incompetence and some semblance of corruption (par for the course in Baltimore's history), the fact that a Republican is charging for the Democratic mayor to resign is more politically charged than it is ethically charged. If the mayor was also Republican, Larry Hogan would most likely be calling this a "witch hunt" by the FBI.

I think the Baltimore mayor should resign or be impeached. I wonder how many Democrats are willing to let catherine pugh remain in office? Another democrat, Megan Barry resigned as Mayor of Nashville.

Unless it's a Democrat who's career aspirations are at stake (as is currently going on in Virginia), generally Democrats will torch a Democrat that does dirty, as we have seen with people like Anthony Weiner and Al Franken. Republicans tend to defend themselves at all costs, regardless of how ethically broken the Republican who breaks the law is.

[Dalak]

I think the Baltimore mayor should resign or be impeached. I wonder how many Democrats are willing to let catherine pugh remain in office? Another democrat, Megan Barry resigned as Mayor of Nashville.

Eric Greitens, a Republican, resigned as governor of Missouri after being embroiled in a scandal as bad as that of the former Mayor Barry's or Mayor Pugh's.

Waaaaaaaait, I thought you were a self-professed Leftie. That couldn't have been a mischaracterization could it?

[Gray Lensman]

Eric Greitens, a Republican, resigned as governor of Missouri after being embroiled in a scandal as bad as that of the former Mayor Barry's or Mayor Pugh's.

Would this be the exception that proves the rule?

[JCAll]

In Trump's defense though: Doesn't the existence of somebody like Trump, and the carefree life he's lived, pretty much conclusively prove that there is no God?

No, it just proves that he hates us.
Which is fair, I hate us too.

[worstblogever]

Eric Greitens, a Republican, resigned as governor of Missouri after being embroiled in a scandal as bad as that of the former Mayor Barry's or Mayor Pugh's.

You're comparing duct-taping a woman in a basement to exercise equipment, sexually assaulting her, and extorting her by taking nude photos without her consent to misappropriation of funds?

Well, that's awful.

[JCAll]

You're comparing duct-taping a woman in a basement to exercise equipment, sexually assaulting her, and extorting her by taking nude photos without her consent to misappropriation of funds?

Well, that's awful.

Greitens should have been out of office day damn one after that, but he still held on like a cocklebur.

[Gray Lensman]

You're comparing duct-taping a woman in a basement to exercise equipment, sexually assaulting her, and extorting her by taking nude photos without her consent to misappropriation of funds?

Well, that's awful.

That's not a scandal, that's one letter shy of BTK. The guy should have been kicked out of office so fast that heads would have spun.

[PwrdOn]

For a Rhodes Scholar with a PhD degree, Mr. Greitens wasn't smart enough to avoid getting caught. Bill Clinton was also a Rhodes Scholar.

Greitens was also a Navy SEAL. During his active duty career, he was deployed four times, to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia. He was the commander of a joint special operations task unit, commander of a Mark V Special Operations Craft detachment, and commander of an al Qaeda targeting cell. Some of his military awards are the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and the Combat Action Ribbon

I thought SEALS were supposed to be men of honor.

SEALS are good fighters but make terrible politicians like Ryan Zinke.

There is such a large segment of America eager to put special forces soldiers on a pedestal and worship their honorable and self-sacrificing badassery, that you can hardly be surprised that a few of them let it go to their heads. Ultimately these guys are human beings like anyone else, you can't expect that showering them with money, fame, and political power won't turn at least some of them rotten.

[Tendrin]

I just want to remind people who 'like Gabbard's Foreign Policy', that she's big on India's Modi and BJP. The BJP, which is a Hindu nationalist organization, has put up for election for parliament a dude who is literally accused of terrorism. The BJP, which forments violence against Muslims, is pretty fascist.

Stop thinking Gabbard is good on foreign policy. She's not. And her ties to the BJP and Modi aren't going to magically appear any better anytime soon. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about Fox News' favorite 'Democrat' getting out of the Democratic primary for president.

https://qz.com/india/1601064/narendr...for-elections/

CRACKS IN THE SYSTEM
Modi’s BJP now has a candidate accused of terrorism. Here’s why that’s a serious problem
By Samar HalarnkarApril 22, 2019

The Hindu ascetic Pragya Singh Thakur—who is out on bail, supposedly because of “health issues”—is due to stand trial on numerous grounds, including murder, criminal conspiracy and promoting enmity between communities. These are not unusual charges for an Indian politician, who sometimes uses involvement in such crimes as a badge of honour.
What is unique, however, is that, for the first time in Indian history, a political party (and the prime minister, who clearly made the choice) has chosen as a parliamentary candidate a person accused of terrorism.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

NRA In Chaos As Wayne LaPierre Is Reportedly Asked To Resign

The confrontation between the gun rights group’s longtime leader and its recently installed president coincides with the NRA’s annual meeting. Oh, good! Seeing the NRA in chaos makes me happy.

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Driver In Bay Area Crash May Have Been Targeting Muslims, Police Say

There’s evidence the driver intentionally drove his car into a crowd of people he thought might be Muslim, Sunnyvale police said.

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Trump’s Federal Reserve Pick Said The Working Poor Aren’t Taxed Enough

Stephen Moore also once noted that income inequality is a problem — and the solution is more billionaires. Remember folks, this shitstain was chosen by Trump, a "man of the people" which includes all the desperate, fearful, dumbass midwestern knuckleheads who put their brains on pause long enough to vote for him.

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Starr Report Veteran Says Trump’s Crimes Are ‘Thousandfold’ Worse

“My view is that there’s ample reason right now for the House Judiciary Committee to begin an impeachment inquiry.” Doesn't matter, such inquiries would die a quick death in the Republican controlled Senate which remains under orders to protect Trump at all cost.

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Trump Has Changed White Evangelicals’ Views On Morality In One Major Way

White evangelical Christians used to care deeply about politicians’ moral failings. That has changed dramatically since they started backing Trump, a study finds. Yeah, white bible thumpers, disgusted that a black man spent eight years as president turned their backs on morality to support Caramel Caligula.