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

[aja_christopher]

"It’s no coincidence the synagogue shooter posted about the ‘red pill movement’

"The man charged in connection with a deadly synagogue shooting over the weekend referred to a male supremacist ideology in an 8chan post before the attack, according to authorities. The suspect, John Earnest, a self-described white supremacist and anti-Semite, has been charged with murder and attempted murder for the Saturday attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue in southern California, in which one person was killed and three others injured. He also associated himself with a male supremacist ideology.

Authorities believe Earnest posted a manifesto on the online message board 8chan before the attack, in which he mentions the red pill movement, a group associated with anti-feminist and misogynist views, men’s rights activists, and “incels,” or involuntary celibates. Keegan Hankes, a research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said misogyny plays a big role in radicalizing people and attracting them to some of the most extreme, racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic parts of the internet that often embrace violent rhetoric.

“The men’s rights movement and misogyny plays a tremendous role in getting people involved in much more hardcore racist communities and it really does not get the lip service it deserves in the part it plays in the path down extremism,” Hankes said.

There is a clear link between the embrace of this type of misogynistic rhetoric, as well as records of violence and abuse against women and girls.Earnest reportedly wrote in his manifesto that he drew inspiration from last year’s Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, who harassed a female anti-fascist activist and regularly made misogynistic remarks about her on Gab, a social media website favored by white supremacists and misogynists.

Regardless of whether shooters express white supremacist beliefs, they often show misogynistic tendencies and a record of violence against women.

Last year, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student at a Sante Fe, Texas, high school shot and killed 10 people, including a girl who rejected his advances. Scott P. Beierle opened fire on a yoga studio in Florida last November and killed two women and injured five other people. Beierle made misogynistic and racist online videos and complained about women who rejected him. He also had been accused of sexual assault and harassment by several women.

Also in 2018, Alek Minassian killed 10 people and wounded 14, most of them women, in Toronto after he drove a van down a busy street. Minassian identified with a group of people who identify themselves as “incels,” men who display a hatred for women and think they are victims because women they find attractive won’t sleep with them. Minassian admired Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 people in California in 2014. Rodger made a video about a “war on women,” in which he said, “I will punish all females for the crime of depriving me of sex.”

The list goes on. In 2017, James Alex Fields Jr., a neo-Nazi, drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, and killed a woman, Heather Heyer. In 2010, his mother called 911 after he hit her and put his hands over her mouth. On other occasions, he spit in her face and took out a knife. Omar Mateen, the man who killed 49 people and injured many others at a gay nightclub in Orlando in 2016, also perpetrated violence against his ex-wife. Robert Dear, who shot and killed three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood in 2015, had a history of domestic violence and leering. There are many, many more.

Misogynist and racist communities are often deeply connected. According to a 2017 Data and Society report on what is referred to as “the alt-right,” even though men’s rights activists, white nationalists, and other far-right groups may disagree with each other on some beliefs, their online tactics are similar and they “converge on common issues.”

Hankes said of Earnest and 8chan specifically, “Rampant misogyny of the type that has come to characterize certain parts of the alt-right and obviously had a big impact on broader white supremacism depending on the rhetoric. If [Earnest’s] post is authentic, then he was radicalized on that site within 18 months. It’s really staggering how fast that is. You can’t tell me he didn’t come into contact with violent misogyny, particularly because of the /pol/politically incorrect part [of 8chan].”


https://thinkprogress.org/no-coincid...-aa46b31c01ad/

[JCAll]

A resolution was unanimously signed by an entire county Republican Party calling for a Austrian white nationalist with ties to the New Zealand mosque mass shooter to be allowed to emigrate to the United States.

This individual has already been investigated in his home country for criminal activity, has been banned from the U.K., but the Republican Party would like to inject his bile and venom into our country's politics.

But the GOP hasn't become a white nationalist party. Nope.

Well at least we know who the GOP will be running in 2024.

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in 2015 that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had a profile of [B]Joan Farr Heffington[B], a former candidate for Governor of Kansas who somehow, don’t ask me how, actually tried running to the right of Sam Brownback. Heffington insisted that as governor, any law that she signed would have had to had a constitutional or biblical justification for her to sign it and advocated for schools to teach students Creationism in class. That’s not even the crazy part. You see, Heffington is a big conspiracy theory fan, spreading tales of Agenda 21 leading to global domination, covert government operatives infiltrating Kansas hospitals to conduct biological and chemical warfare experiments on unwitting patients, unwilling citizens being implanted with mind control microchips (which she considers to be an apocalyptic possibility, interpreting this microchipping as “the Mark of the Beast”), the H1N1 Flu Virus being spread via pen injection into a 22 year old man who learned to much about a secret program to sneak prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay Prison, and that the CIA was running Kansas based on French laws from the 1950s that let them use citizens as guinea pigs. Ironically, she is the chief executive of an advocacy group she named the Association of Honest Attorneys, and she listed God as a board member of it, alongside herself. When a stiff opposition to gay marriage, support for Personhood legislation, and hanging out with a pastor who’s convinced President Obama is a secret Muslim are the LEAST crazy things in someone’s CGSOPOTD profile, you know they’re nuts. In any event, Heffington hasn’t run for office since 2012.



In 2016, 2017, and 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District, Lou Barletta, who while he was still mayor of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, Barletta made a name for himself back in 2006 by passing a city ordinance to curb illegal immigration, the draconian "Illegal Immigration Relief Act". He immediately defended charges of the law being racist by saying, "This isn't racial, because 'illegal' and 'legal' don't have a race.” Of course, it's hard to believe that when you consider Barletta was proudly touting the measure’s "success" by the most interesting measurables... bankrupting Mexican restaurants, adding, "I see illegal immigrants picking up and leaving -- some Mexican restaurants say business is off 75 percent. The message is out there." Well, racist or not (it's racist), within less than a year, the courts overturned the law as unconstitutional, to Barletta's chagrin. He did not, however, cease to demonize undocumented workers to advance his political career, and rode anti-immigrant fever into Congress in a mining town that was ironically built by Italian and Irish immigrants into a hub a century ago. He has cemented an alliance with the Federation of American Immigration Reform, whose idea of reform is actually "kick 'em all out" and has earned itself the attention of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who classify FAIR as a hate group. In April of 2014, FAIR was hosting their "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" event in Washington, D.C., where they invite conservative radio hosts to the capitol to interview members of Congress, and push for extreme actions to be taken against undocumented workers. Lou Barletta was more than happy to give interviews to the most radical and xenophobic of loons. Perhaps the most disturbing quotes included his discussion with the rabidly anti-Islamic activist, Frank Gaffney, where he called Barack Obama a "dictator", his chat with Lars Larson to say that "Sanctuary Cities are making us a Third World Country" and his chat with former chief of staff to Allen West, Joyce Kauffman, where Barletta compared undocumented workers to the terrorists who hijacked planes on 9/11. Pretty disgusting examples, right? Well, Barletta doesn't have much self-awareness for cause and effect, as he has also managed to whine about how the GOP cannot win over Latino voters. He really has no idea why they can't get behind a Republican Party that demonizes Latinos as much as they do, and probably doesn't help them make any more headway like when he refers to them as "not skilled" or "not having high school diplomas", and their eagerness to just take government handouts. Which, he assumes would make them Democrats, so why push for immigration reform, when they're just going to join the opposing party, right? Lou Barletta is against any and all actions involving immigrants short of a boot to their ass that he began actively talking about impeaching President Obama for his executive orders on immigration in June of 2014, insisting that House Republicans had the votes to successfully do so (they didn’t, not that it was an impeachable offense, anyway).

Outside of being a xenophobic bigot, what else is there to know about Lou Barletta? In his last debate against Paul Kanjorski, back in 2010, Barletta denied climate change science. He has twice already voted to defund Planned Parenthood, as well as having been a consistent vote on anti-choice measures, has repeatedly voted to try and repeal the Affordable Care Act, has voted against raising the Debt Ceiling limit, and voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown. Barletta was also one of the first Republicans to endorse Donald Trump for president and was a part of his transition team. (no word on whether or not he had secret conversations with Russian envoys before or after the election… yet.) l

For whatever stupid reason, in a Blue Wave election year, Lou Barletta challenged popular U.S. Senator Bob Casey for his seat representing Pennsylvania. Republicans barely won back Sen. Pat Toomey’s seat in 2016, only squeaking him back to a second term by 1% of the vote… and Barletta? He… is not popular in Pennsylvania. What, with being a screaming racist and all. His track record of bigotry still has ugly quotes and interviews dropping into the public eye like proverbial skeletons falling out of a closet, like the fact that he gave an anti-immigrant interview back in 2006 to a fringe publication that promotes Holocaust denial and headlined a rally where a political activist and musician who has questioned the Holocaust and promoted conspiracies about the September 11, 2001 attacks also spoke and performed. Lou’s spokesman deployed a very brave tactic when confronted about this… playing dumb.

Now, this isn’t to say Congressman Barletta is hiding what a xenophobic prick he is… he’s still embracing it. In February of 2018, he sent out a mailer that said the United States is “at war” with illegal immigrants, calling them "violent criminal aliens" and "radical terrorists". Which, quite predictably was also around the same time he earned the endorsement of Donald Trump (On Twitter, because of course). Polls in the Lou Barletta vs. Bob Casey race showed him trailing Sen. Casey by well into double digits. Barletta ended up losing by 13 points, and presumably will use the free time to return to his hobby of polishing his veneers.

We wish him the finest of GOOD RIDDANCE.

[worstblogever]

Well at least we know who the GOP will be running in 2024.

At this point, the way Republicans are starting to froth at the mouth, I'm thinking this guy will be deemed a "RINO" who's "too far to the left" by 2024.

[The Overlord]

Well at least we know who the GOP will be running in 2024.

I thought they would be running Freddy Kruger at that point.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Well at least we know who the GOP will be running in 2024.

I'm sure our White Nationalist Matchmaker-in-Chief will pull some strings at the State Department to see to it that those charming Nazi lovebirds get to spend their days spreading hate and virulent right wing bullshit here in America. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure that Sellner chap would like it here, too many Blacks, Latinos, Muslims and Jews, that wouldn't at all sit well with him.

[Michael Watkins]

I thought they would be running Freddy Kruger at that point.

original or rebooted?

[Tendrin]

original or rebooted?

Rebooted. He has to talk slowly enough for the fox news audience to keep up.

Scratch that: they'd never elect Kreuger. He doesn't ONLY target brown kids.

[Kusanagi]

Rebooted. He has to talk slowly enough for the fox news audience to keep up.

Scratch that: they'd never elect Kreuger. He doesn't ONLY target brown kids.

Have you seen how many upper class suburban white kids he's bumped off? It's class warfare, Krueger's a no good commie.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Rebooted. He has to talk slowly enough for the fox news audience to keep up.

Scratch that: they'd never elect Kreuger. He doesn't ONLY target brown kids.

He does? Pretty sure most of them are white.

[ZombieHavoc]

Exactly she only complained about it when she lost, which nullifies any complaints she made about it, it makes her sound like a sore loser, rather taking a principled stance.

I think the Electoral College is a bad thing at this point if you have to be against it, right out the gate, for your complaints to mean something and one has to realize that getting rid of it would be tricky. I do think gerrymandering and the type of abuses we saw in Georgia Election are easier targets to deal with right away, the Electoral College would be a long fight and I think gerrymandering and abuses by state officials are worse than the Electoral College.

Wasn't Trump implying he would not accept the outcome of the vote because he was already claiming the whole thing was being rigged against him? That's different. I mean, Trump did criticize the EC back when Obama was re-elected (though Obama won the popular vote then too, right? Not that Trump functions on logic). But either way, preemptively claiming the election is being rigged and thus you will not accept the outcome is different than saying the EC is an outdated and broken system and should be done away with because it does not represent the will of the people.

Also, not saying you do this, because I don't know--but I think it's funny that the majority of people who criticize Hillary or her ardent supporters whenever they mention the specious outcome of the 2016 general or the EC being broken or whatever...those same people are typically the ones who yell the loudest about how Hillary went into every polling booth across the US in the primaries and personally changed votes from Bernie to her because it was her turn to be president, and how Biden, the DNC, Kamala, Cory Booker, CNN, the MSM or whoever, will be rigging the primaries against Bernie again.

[ZombieHavoc]

He does? Pretty sure most of them are white.

Right, that's why he said they would never elect him.

I can only think of three non-white kids off the top of my head that he killed in the franchise.

[Xheight]

please stop posting this bloated and free associating hate the haters stuff. I am not a fan of nazi sympathizers but this crap gives the left a bad name.

Southern Poverty Law Center, who classify FAIR as a hate group. In April of 2014, FAIR was hosting their "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" event in Washington, D.C., where they invite conservative radio hosts to the capitol to interview members of Congress, and push for extreme actions to be taken against undocumented workers. Lou Barletta was more than happy to give interviews to the most radical and xenophobic of loons. Perhaps the most disturbing quotes included his discussion with the rabidly anti-Islamic activist, Frank Gaffney, where he called Barack Obama a "dictator"

the leaps of logic here are exactly why 'hysterical SJW' is appropriate labeling and people walk away from political discussions.

[ZombieHavoc]

please stop posting this bloated and free associating hate the haters stuff. I am not a fan of nazi sympathizers but this crap gives the left a bad name.


the leaps of logic here are exactly why 'hysterical SJW' is appropriate labeling and people walk away from political discussions.

Disagreed.

[Tendrin]

He does? Pretty sure most of them are white.

Right. If he exclusively targeted brown kids they'd love him