All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[InformationGeek]

Oh god, Trump attendee the Israeli American Council. This did not go well.

Trump, speaking to the Israeli American Council: "We have to get the people of our country, of this country, to love Israel more ... because you have people that are Jewish people, that are great people -- they don't love Israel enough. You know that."

Trump, speaking to the Israeli American Council: "You're not nice people at all, but you have to vote for me. You have no choice. You're not going to vote for Pocahontas, I can tell you that. You're not going to vote for the wealth tax!"

[Gray Lensman]

Mike Bloomberg’s money buys him a very different kind of campaign. And it’s a big one.

One thing to remember is that Bloomberg is very successful when it comes to spending his political cash. Candidates he has given to win the election something close to 90% of the time. Whether you like him or not, if he thinks he has a chance at the nomination we should take him seriously.

[Kirby101]

One thing to remember is that Bloomberg is very successful when it comes to spending his political cash. Candidates he has given to win the election something close to 90% of the time. Whether you like him or not, if he thinks he has a chance at the nomination we should take him seriously.

Or he mainly gives to incumbents, who have around a 90% re-election rate.

[Tami]

Pardoned soldiers are Trump’s special guests at closed-door fundraiser in Aventura

President Donald Trump, speaking during a closed-door speech to Republican Party of Florida donors at the state party’s annual Statesman’s Dinner, was in “rare form” Saturday night.

The dinner, which raised $3.5 million for the state party, was met with unusual secrecy. The 1,000 attendees were required to check their cell phones into individual locked cases before they entered the unmarked ballroom at the south end of the resort. Reporters were not allowed to attend.

But the secrecy was key to Trump’s performance, which attendees called “hilarious.”

He also pulled an unusual move, bringing on stage Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance and Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who Trump pardoned last month for cases involving war crimes. Lorance was serving a 19-year sentence for ordering his soldiers shoot at unarmed men in Afghanistan, and Golsteyn was to stand trial for the 2010 extrajudicial killing of a suspected bomb maker.

The president spoke for over an hour, doing impressions of Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and joking about the slim physique of Ohio congressman — and former wrestler — Jim Jordan, who was in attendance. He also introduced his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, and North Florida Congressman Mike Waltz.

Trump spent a large part of the speech, attendees told the Herald, praising Florida Republicans for their work in the state.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/pol...#storylink=cpy

[Mister Mets]

Quite some time ago, one of the conservative posters on here ask if Climate Change means so much to the Democrats are they willing to trade Gay Rights to the GOP to get it.
Since that happened, I haven't believed in compromise either.

Not that Democrats are interested in it, but it would probably be difficult to trade away gay rights at a time of increasing public support.

This does show one of the difficulties of compromising. Each side will think their big issues are too important to trade, and that they have a greater chance of getting things done after a wave election gives them the presidency and both house of Congress.

[Tami]

Pentagon Concerned Russia Cultivating Sympathy Among US Troops

WASHINGTON - Russian efforts to weaken the West through a relentless campaign of information warfare may be starting to pay off, cracking a key bastion of the U.S. line of defense: the military.

While most Americans still see Moscow as a key U.S. adversary, new polling suggests that view is changing, most notably among the households of military members.

The second annual Reagan National Defense Survey, completed in late October, found nearly half of armed services households questioned, 46%, said they viewed Russia as ally.

Overall, the survey found 28% of Americans identified Russia as an ally, up from 19% the previous year.

Generally, the pollsters found the positive views of Russia seemed to be “predominantly driven by Republicans who have responded to positive cues from [U.S.] President [Donald] Trump about Russia,” according to an executive summary accompanying the results.

While a majority, 71% of all Americans and 53% of military households, still views Russia as an enemy, the spike in pro-Russian sentiment has defense officials concerned.

“There is an effort, on the part of Russia, to flood the media with disinformation to sow doubt and confusion,” Defense Department spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Carla Gleason told VOA.

“This is not only through discordant and inflammatory dialogue but through false narratives designed to illicit sympathetic views,” she said, adding, “we are actively working to expose and counter Russian disinformation whenever possible.”

[Tami]

Republican: You Can’t Impeach Trump for a Crime He Does ‘All the Time’

Yesterday, Representative Mac Thornberry appeared on ABC’s This Week to elucidate the Republican case against impeaching President Trump. To say that his appearance did not go well would understate the case considerably.

“It is inappropriate for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival,” Thornberry conceded. Nonetheless, he argued for acquittal. Leaning hard into Republican objections to the impeachment process, Thornberry argued that the entire impeachment proceeding is null and void, however damning the evidence may be. Batting away a question about his focus on “process,” Thornberry replied: “And process — you know, you all always want to say substance, not process. There’s a reason we let murderers and robbers and rapists go free when their due process rights have been violated.”

Trump is not a murderer or a robber (the latter involves the use of force, whereas Trump traditionally steals money in non-forcible ways). He has been credibly accused as a rapist. Thornberry is invoking these other crimes as a metaphor Republicans have erroneously used to claim that the evidence against Trump was obtained improperly, and therefore he must be set free. In fact, all the evidence was obtained properly, and an impeachment proceeding is not a criminal trial anyway.

Other than that, sure, “We let murderers and robbers and rapists go free, why not Trump?” could be a fun slogan for Republicans to use.

Even more amazingly, Thornberry proceeded to argue that Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is not impeachable because there is also so much other public evidence:

[Kirby101]

Not that Democrats are interested in it, but it would probably be difficult to trade away gay rights at a time of increasing public support.

This does show one of the difficulties of compromising. Each side will think their big issues are too important to trade, and that they have a greater chance of getting things done after a wave election gives them the presidency and both house of Congress.

Or maybe it is because Republicans are on the wrong side of both. This isn't Dems agreeing to tax cuts for something. This is Republicans agreeing to something that the rational world knows is a profound threat in exchange for the Dems compromising on what should be inalienable Rights.

[worstblogever]

The president has dementia.



https://twitter.com/NTarnopolsky/sta...35271611650048

I know Republicans are all about forcing women to stay pregnant but...

Republicans only care about the unborn. If you're born, then you're going to expect help from the government.

Therefore, the best thing is if we all just remain fetuses permanently and don't come out ever.

#GOPLogic

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, Thomas Massie, who you would expect to be reasonably intelligent, what with a successful tech company with two dozen patents to his credit and a Master’s Degree from MIT. Sadly, though, Massie at some point became a disciple of Ron Paul, even apparently trying to emulate Rand Paul’s awful hairstyle so he can blend in as a member of the family.

Massie’s dedication to libertarian smaller government to an extent that you wonder if he’s doing it in the hopes that it’s some sort of magic ritual to get Ayn Rand to rise from the grave. But three weeks after the Newtown shootings, and as the new session of Congress began after it, Massie had the unmitigated gall to submit a bill to allow guns in school zones, by repealing a law passed by the first Bush administration and supported by the NRA at its passage. He also shrugged and claimed that the nine victims of Dylann Roof at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina were to blame for their own deaths because the church had "disallowed guns". He has voted against the new version of the Violence Against Women Act, Hurricane Sandy Relief, and is one of only 3 people in Congress to have voted against the Stolen Valor Act, all because he thinks the government should instead do NOTHING. And he’s unafraid of being the one lone vote against any and all legislation, like when he was the lone vote against naming Israel as a strategic partner of the United States. He voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown and called the compromise over the fiscal cliff as “a really big turd sandwich without the bread”.

But on top over everything else, we noted Massie has the quality of his hero Ron Paul where he hitches his caboose onto anti-government conspiracy theories, including falsely claiming the military gave a “stand down” order during the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi and alluding to “knowing the truth” about 9/11 and wanting the 28 page report about it declassified completely. Meanwhile, he’s the same moron who in April of 2017 who went on CNN to push back against reports that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people again, saying, “I don’t think he could have done that.” In February of 2017, Rep. Massie co-sponsored legislation to attempt to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency completely, and on October 10th, 2017 only days after a shooter in Las Vegas uses bump stocks in semi-automatic firearms to make them fully-automatic weapons and mass murder 58 people… Rep. Massie argued in favor of legalizing bump stocks nationwide, because apparently not enough people died in Vegas to appease his twisted libertarian worldview.

How are things looking for Thomas Massie in Kentucky? Do they love him there? Well, let’s put it this way, after that very libertarian vote he made against disaster relief aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce literally called him a “piece of s***” on Twitter. That’s not some random liberal we’re talking about… a friggin’ Chamber of Commerce went with that. He’s been defending international dictators and endorsing pedophiles like Roy Moore for Senate.

And, much as we are loathe to report it, Thomas Massie just won a fourth term in office in the 2018 elections, earning 62% of the vote. Before being sworn in for this term, he was mocking progressives for wanting Healthcare for All by arguing against the idea that human beings have a right to food:

”How long until someone runs on the platform of #FoodStampsForAll? If healthcare is a right, is food as well?”

Spoiler alert, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights confirmed food was a human right. Also, Massie’s supposed influence, Jesus Christ, was rather vocal about the value of feeding the hungry, so…

This past year, Thomas Massie also embarrassed himself when he showed a lack of understanding about how Bachelor’s Degrees work as he bizarrely interrogated former Secretary fo State John Kerry about it in a Congressional hearing in regards to climate change. For a painful stretch of minutes, Massie kept conflating social sciences with natural sciences, as everyone in the room, particularly Kerry, wondered what the hell he was getting at.

Here’s some of the other jackassery from Massie over the past few years, and the extent of legislation which he mindlessly opposes:

• January 22nd, 2019: Massie 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. Massie voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• January 27th, 2019: Thomas Massie can’t be arsed to bother to vote against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attack Massie our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 28th, 2019: Massie 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: Massie votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
• April 4th, 2019: Thomas Massie 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: Massie votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Massie votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 12th, 2019: Massie is one of 12 Republicans who vote against the re-authorization of the Zadroga Act to provide healthcare to 9/11 First Responders.
• July 16th, 2019: Thomas Massie votes 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”.
• October 17th, 2019: Massie is one of 60 Republicans who vote against HJ Res 77, which opposed Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to abandon Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria to the mercies of a Turkish invasion.
• December 3rd, 2019: Thomas Massie is one of 71 Republicans who vote against House Resolution 546, which stated disapproval of any attempt to readmit the Russian federation back into the G7 and make it the G8.

On top of all the above moments, we’re going to link to a ThinkProgress investigation that has shown how many other times there were resolutions in Congress to criticize or punish Russia for executing its political enemies, or its annexation of Crimea, and how the only people who voted against the bills were Thomas Massie and “Putin’s favorite Congressman” of the time, Dana Rohrabacher. By default, that would mean Massie is now Putin’s favorite. And considering he was wining and dining Maria Butina prior to her arrest, and also had dinner with Alexander Torshin, maybe that should be a major concern.

Thomas Massie has proven himself so unreliable and bats*** crazy that the national GOP has begun looking for primary challengers to him. Being “too crazy” for today’s GOP is truly a feat, and yet he manages.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Pardoned soldiers are Trump’s special guests at closed-door fundraiser in Aventura

What happened to Eddie Gallagher? Wasn’t he invited, or was his reservation lost in the mail? Anyhoo, those guys might as well hang out with Caramel Caligula, because, in my opinion, they have no place in the military in which they served after the crimes they committed.

[Mister Mets]

Or maybe it is because Republicans are on the wrong side of both. This isn't Dems agreeing to tax cuts for something. This is Republicans agreeing to something that the rational world knows is a profound threat in exchange for the Dems compromising on what should be inalienable Rights.

I suspect JCAll misremembered the original post about trading away gay rights for climate change legislation, so there's no talk of a tradeoff like that.

Every side will argue that their big issues benefit everyone, so it shouldn't be compromised.

[Tami]

WATCH: @SenTedCruz
says he believes Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. #MTP #IfItsSunday

Twitter Link with video

Does Ted Cruz know how idiotic he sounds? Watch the video.

[Malvolio]

Mike Bloomberg’s money buys him a very different kind of campaign. And it’s a big one.

"You're supposed to laugh at that, folks." Reminds me of something. What was it?



Oh yeah, that.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Twitter Link with video

Does Ted Cruz know how idiotic he sounds? Watch the video.

Doesn’t matter, Cruz is just following orders from his puppet master Bad Vlad Putin.