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

[PwrdOn]

What I've always found odd is how America gets lumped in as a colonizer even though most of our deepest problems also stem from being a colony. Yet, strangely, our criticism of America rarely offers the same benefit of the doubt as other places.

Chances are just about any country you name has a healthy share of self created evil and a history of evil inflicted upon it. A genuine instance of the truth lying in the middle.

Usually we think of the victims of colonialism as the people whose lands were stolen and resources appropriated for the benefit of foreign rulers, not the people descended from the colonizers.

Our hands are plenty dirty for sure. The conversation on India earlier struck me as the kind of blame deflecting America would never be granted even though some is warranted. (And other times full blame is warranted)

India is no different.

America has hundreds of military bases around the globe and exerts some degree of influence on practically every country on the planet. India occupies Kashmir, which it considers to be part of its own territory as part of a dispute that will likely not be resolved any time soon, and....that's it. And any history book will show that Indians are far more likely to be the victims of atrocities than the perpetrators, though of course there are some dark chapters in their story as well. So if we're expecting some type of fascist regime to rise up and take over the planet sometime in the near future, we probably shouldn't be looking to India.

[wjowski]

Trump seems to be admitting he's gonna get Impeached and knows Democrats in House have the votes it appears. Now its gonna turn to Moscow Mitch and the Senate. If the Republicans back this , what stops a Democrat when they get office in doing the same act ? They better realize they could be in a position where the Democratic President can do the same act and force them to back him.

Gonna be fun to see Mitch's head explode as he has to debate , is it better in short term to back this guy or is he a long term thinker because it could backfire down the line.

The only heads exploding will be on these forums when Mitch freezes things to a standstill as he usually does.

Nothing will change.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had a profile of Ben Quayle, The son of former Vice-President Dan Quayle who managed to be elected to a single term in Congress in Arizona's 6th District who in campaign ads but a year into the Obama presidency, declared him the worst president in our history and that he'd go to Washington D.C. and "knock the hell out of the place". Quayle was elected in spite of working as a writer at the website "The Dirty" where he'd make sexist remarks to caption photos of women at Scottsdale nightclubs, and while in office, accomplished little except embarrassing our country as part of a delegation that went to Israel, got wasted in a bar on the taxpayers' dime, and then went skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee. Quayle's Congressional career came to a crashing halt after redistricting left him facing off against fellow Republican David Schweikert in one of the ugliest primaries in politics, and he has not resurfaced in a run for office yet, apparently choosing the life of a lobbyist instead.

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled of the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 2nd Congressional District, Ted Poe, who when he served as a Texas judge, and made the controversial decision (which was thankfully appealed by prosecutors and overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals) to permit the PBS documentary show Frontline to record a jury deliberating a capital murder case thinking that it wouldn't somehow skew the outcome. Ted Poe is also a Birther conspiracy theorist, who on the floor of the House, once quoted Nathan Bedford Forrest by saying, “Get there firstest with the mostest”, then acting surprised when people were offended that he cited the wisdom of the founder of the KKK. Poe also once tried forcing all VA funerals to be Christian by default, and when the maneuver was shut down, tried accusing the Obama administration of having changed the funerals away from Christians (as if he were a secret Muslim, or something). His voting record includes supporting a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, voting against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Violence Against Women Act, opposing Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, and voting for the 2013 Government Shutdown then voting not to reopen the government. Perhaps his greatest hypocrisy was to vote against disaster relief funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy, and then to whine and complain when additional disaster relief funding was not send to West, Texas, when a fertilizer factory caught fire and exploded (when some had already been sent, and that's sort of not an act of nature, but malfeasance). Ted Poe also made a statement about Syrian refugees, saying that the Obama Administration “won’t take care of our veterans” but would “open the doors to people we don’t even know.” adding that President Obama was only allowing Syrian refugees to be brought into the United States because "It’s a political maneuver on the part of the president just to get more people in the U.S. so they’ll support the Democratic Party, I think it’s a long-term goal." He also had some ideas about African American outreach efforts being made by Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying that her plan to win over African American voters was “-to keep people more on government dependence because then she assumes she’ll get their vote.” Ah, the myth that all African Americans are dying to live free off of welfare. Classic racist dog whistle, I'm sure that will play wonderfully down in Poe's part of Texas. In January of 2017, Poe announced that the leukemia he was battling through the 2016 campaign was in remission, leaving him able to try and strip the medical insurance of millions of Americans so they couldn't do the same. Ted Poe did fight hard for more resources to be pulled into hurricane relief for his own district, but this is only four years after he voted against disaster relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy. He quit the House Freedom Caucus back in May of 2017, and then announced he was retiring from Congress only five months later in November of 2017. We will retire profile at this time, and go ahead and take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 789-40, since this was established in July 2014.)


Beverly Goldstein

Welcome to what is the 789th original profile on the “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” blog, where we’ll be profiling Beverly Goldstein, a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District in both 2016 and 2018. who is a die-hard MAGA Republican. Let it come as no surprise, then, that her campaign strategy in 2018 was to campaign hard against LGBTQ rights, and get on Twitter to claim the only reason her district supported them was because:

“If CCC (Cuyahoga County Council) had LITERATE inner-city church-attending Black voters following this issue=entirely opposite outcome.”

Ah yes. Endear yourself to African American voters in the district by saying they’re too stupid to read and support your agenda. That’s an incredible cocktail of bigotry Ms. Goldstein. She was unavailable to the press to explain this post, and instead, her husband/campaign manager responded by doubling down and going on a transphobic rant about the non-existent threat of transgender people attacking ladies in public restrooms.

”If most of them understood that this ordinance would allow transgender males, or sex offenders who masquerade as transgender males, to use women’s bathrooms regularly used by mothers and daughters, thereby endangering the safety of girls and women, they probably would have brought pressure to bear on their elected county representatives not to bring the resolution in the first place. But those who cannot read cannot be expected to know about the negative effects of the resolution.”

A few days later, Beverly Goldstein posted a photo of herself with four African American security guards as “proof” she wasn’t racist… which is somehow even worse than the “I have a black friend” card some Republicans play in these moments. Goldstein had barely advanced out of the Republican primary, but once she got into the general election against Democratic Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, she got utterly obliterated, and only pulled down 18% of the vote.

We’re hoping she stays home in 2020.

[Michael Watkins]

People like that should self-exile for the good of humanity

[worstblogever]

Americans now support impeachment 51% to 39% against in a new YouGov poll. If Senate Republicans ignore that majority and do not give the 2/3 necessary to impeach and the public is forced to wait until the 2020 election, the same poll also notes that Americans favor a generic Democrat over Trump by 11 points.

[Theleviathan]

Usually we think of the victims of colonialism as the people whose lands were stolen and resources appropriated for the benefit of foreign rulers, not the people descended from the colonizers.

Weird that we use so many caveats for this kind of victim only as it pertains to America. I doubt we'd do that with victims in nearly any other situation. The truth is, many of the ideas brought with the colonizers of Europe still haunt us today. America has made many mistakes on it's own as well. The truth is not as black and white and (maybe you didn't intend this) but it came across that way in your responses.

I'm over these arguments that come down to some form of 'Merica vs. *Shakes fist* AMERICA!!!! India can act better than it is in many, many ways without excuse making for them. Just like America. They aren't saints, they aren't evil. Anywhere you find humans, you'll find plenty of both.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The only heads exploding will be on these forums when Mitch freezes things to a standstill as he usually does.

Nothing will change.

A distinct possibility, if not probability. Trump survived the Mueller Report, and he’ll tiptoe past this minefield as well. The ONLY way to get rid of the Orange Menace will be at the voting booth next year.

[Tami]

Posting it here, since it's kinda news. Rachel Maddow just said she has a voice role in the next epoisode of the CW's Batwoman.

Rachel Maddow Joins The CW's 'Batwoman' (Exclusive)

This is wild.

Batwoman: Cast, Trailer, Release Date, Episodes, Costume, Villain, and News

Just two days before the premiere of Batwoman, The Hollywood Reporter has unveiled another surprise cast member for the show. MSNBC commentator and host of The Rachel Maddow Show, Rachel Maddow will be a part of Batwoman. Maddow will play Vesper Fairchild, a radio personality and host, who also has a romantic relationship with Batman in the comics. Maddow will lend her voice to the character and never actually appear onscreen. A romantic relationship with Batman is probably out of the question since Batman skipped town and more importantly: she's just a voice.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Got an alert confirming what most people already suspected....Bernie Sanders had a heart attack:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/polit...tal/index.html

[Tami]

Got an alert confirming what most people already suspected....Bernie Sanders had a heart attack:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/polit...tal/index.html

Yeah, I heard. Obviously it was about as minor as such things can be, but still. The stress of being on the campaign trail can trigger things like that.

[wjowski]

...Well one thing you can't say about Bernie is that he's bad about staying on message.

[InformationGeek]

Posting it here, since it's kinda news. Rachel Maddow just said she has a voice role in the next epoisode of the CW's Batwoman.

Rachel Maddow Joins The CW's 'Batwoman' (Exclusive)

This is wild.

Batwoman: Cast, Trailer, Release Date, Episodes, Costume, Villain, and News

Maddow did an introduction for the Batwoman Deluxe Edition back in the day, so it seems fitting she pop up there in the show.

[Celgress]

Americans now support impeachment 51% to 39% against in a new YouGov poll. If Senate Republicans ignore that majority and do not give the 2/3 necessary to impeach and the public is forced to wait until the 2020 election, the same poll also notes that Americans favor a generic Democrat over Trump by 11 points.

What matters to them is the individual constituency polls, not the national average. Plus, it is always better to use an aggregate than any single poll to gauge public feeling about various issues (which is why I typically consultant Politico).

[Celgress]

September unemployment rate falls to 3.5%, a 50-year low, as payrolls rise by 136,000

Source CNBC -

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/04/jobs...mber-2019.html

[Malvolio]

What matters to them is the individual constituency polls, not the national average. Plus, it is always better to use an aggregate than any single poll to gauge public feeling about various issues (which is why I typically consultant Politico).

True. That national average only applies to the popular vote, not the Electoral College. And I don't think I need to remind anyone of the difference between the two.