All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[numberthirty]

Of course you do, because you support Sanders.

And I have my doubts about a progressive who lost by almost four million votes on the left to what Sanders' supporters call a terrible candidate.

At the end of the day, let the votes decide and stop attacking the candidate that has the best statistical chance to win the election.

Negative.

It's because I just saw this sort of thing play a role in blowing what should have been a "Gimme..." General Election, and now a version of it is happening again.

Never mind that a lot of folks also shrugged off that this sort of thing was even an actual issue last time it went off like an Acme kit.

Heck, Biden is getting right back in a guy's face to accuse him of backing Sanders when he apparently wasn't.

Never mind that the issue the guy brought up(gas/oil pipelines) is one where not everyone on the "Democratic"/"Left" side is on the same page.

There's no realistic scenario where any of that is good.

[aja_christopher]

Negative.

It's because I just saw this sort of thing play a role in blowing what should have been a "Gimme..." General Election, and now a version of it is happening again.

The last election was not a "gimme" -- especially given Hillary's history and the issues of emails (which you bought into) and election interference.

And your chosen candidate still lost to her by nearly four million votes.

Let's not go through this again -- you're more than welcome to your delusions regarding 2016 but it's not the only election in history that matters.

You dodge the other elections where "moderates" have won for obvious reasons, so there's no reason to even pretend you're being objective.

[numberthirty]

The last election was not a "gimme" -- especially given Hillary's history and the issues of emails (which you bought into) and election interference.

And your chosen candidate still lost to her by nearly four million votes.

Let's not go through this again -- you're more than welcome to your delusions regarding 2016 but it's not the only election in history that matters.

You dodge the other elections where "moderates" have won for obvious reasons, so there's no reason to even pretend you're being objective.

Sure, it's just the one where we have a pretty good idea what did and did not work.

And, a "Moderate..." Democrat picking a fight?

It did not work. To say the very least.

As for "This Is Actually About Sanders...", that is simple to easily disprove.

Let's say that Sanders decides to leave the race after Iowa...

None of my concerns about Biden go away with Sanders. Biden is still going to be running in a nomination process where Warren/Sanders have easily been able to compete while running on a largely different platform than Biden.

So far, I don't know that Biden is ready to handle that disconnect more capably than it was handled in 2016. Nothing I've seen so far really points to it being even remotely the case.

[Malvolio]

Daaaamn, Liz Warren completely owned Chief Justice Roberts.

https://mobile.twitter.com/advodude/...509467136?s=19

It's when Roberts gets to the word "witnesses," that he begins to realize just how much shade Warren is throwing him.

[BruceWayneJr.]

It looks our republican friends have successfully turned the presidency into a monarchy. Our christian friends finally have a king. Congratulations all.

[Mecegirl]

It looks our republican friends have successfully turned the presidency into a monarchy. Our christian friends finally have a king. Congratulations all.

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day."

1 Samuel 8:10-18

[worstblogever]

God I can't wait for the primary to be over. Maybe then this thread will get back on track.

Haven't heard anyone say that about a Democratic primary since... oh... 2016.

(Spoiler alert: It really didn't. Folks whined about the primary result through the convention, and all the way up until the election, despite being told to please stop before Trump got elected.)

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of David Hedrick, who appeared as a Tea Party protester on the scene in the earliest incarnations of the group in 2009, showing up at a town hall hosted by Congressman Brian Baird to yell not just about healthcare, but demand that Baird "STAY AWAY FROM MY KIDS!" After being hyped up for that tirade even further by both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, Hedrick decided to make a bid to run for Baird's seat in Washington's 3rd Congressional District. In interviews with the media after becoming a cult figure, Hedrick compared Democrats to Nazis, claiming that they were "indoctrinating our youth". He then proceeded to fundraise by writing a Christmas-themed children's book that was loaded with conservative ideology called, "The Liberal Clause", because he was that much of a hypocrite. During the GOP Primary in 2010, Hedrick got "swift-boated" by fellow Republican Jamie Herrera-Beutler over injuries he claimed he got while on a "classified mission" while a war hero the U.S military, that after some digging by the press, were revealed to have occurred while he was still a non-commissioned officer going through basic training. As his campaign started to crumble, things got worse when Hedrick was arrested for domestic violence, after which he filed a lawsuit against local law enforcement that was laughed out of court. Hedrick hasn't turned up on a ballot for over seven years now, and we’re pretty sure he won’t again at any point.

On this date in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published its profiles of Mike Pitts, a member of member of the South Carolina House of Representatives serving District 14 who is a former police officer first elected in 2002, usually because he is allowed to run unopposed. In 2010, Pitts started getting into that “Tea Party weirdo” category, when he suggested the Palmetto State should start its own currency made of gold and silver coins and ban federal currency, justifying it by comparing the United States federal government to the German government in the 1930s or of the Soviet Union before it collapsed. Over the past few years he’s also co-sponsored unnecessary Voter ID legislation in the hopes of disenfranchising voters based on the bogeyman of “in-person voter fraud” that doesn’t statistically exist, tried pushing for amendments to the state constitution to ban same sex marriage, sponsored legislation to try and nullify the Affordable Care Act (and South Carolinians would know a thing or two about nullification), and repeatedly pushed for unconstitutional bans on abortion at 20 weeks. But where things take a definite uncomfortable turn regarding Mike Pitts comes after the tragic mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina at the AME Emanuel Church in June 2015, by a shooter who revered Confederate iconography, by instead championing the Confederate flag at every opportunity with quotes like, “I associate that with scrubbing history I associate that as the first move of a much larger movement to eliminate all things Southern. They said, 'We’ve got to raise an army. The Yankees have invaded us.' The good ol’ boys, my ancestors, said, ‘Hell, yeah,’. They grabbed their squirrel rifles and off they went to fight a war. All they knew was that the Northern states were trying to dictate to the Southern states what to do.” In January of 2016, Mike Pitts also proposed legislation that would create criminal background checks not for firearms sales... oh no... but for journalists. They would have to be a part of a mandatory registry, and if caught violating rules set, would be hit with fines or even jail time. When the media reported this shocking attack on the freedom of the press, Pitts claimed he had “punked” them and wasn’t serious, which is in no way a funny prank that anyone at any level of government should be doing unless they want to create public panic. Pitts added to his long list of legislative idiocy in 2016 as well, sponsoring legislation to attempt to nullify federal firearms laws, and also voted for South Carolina Republicans’ attempts on creating an unnecessary ban on Sharia Law. Mike Pitts is so dedicated to the Confederacy that he chose to even squawk about it but days after the death of Heather Heyer and numerous others being injured by a Neo-Nazi who supported the same argument in Charlottesville in August of 2017, saying that the counter-protesters needed to “find common ground” With the murderous white nationalists who staged a riot. Pitts left office in 2019, instead hoping to run the South Carolina Conservation Bank. We will set aside his profile at this time and profile a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 830-40, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Keith Kempenich

Welcome to what is the 830th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be profiling Keith Kempenich, a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives from District 39, and Ron White impersonator who first came to office back in 1992. Straight up, Kempenich is a man whose profile we have been a bit slow to get around to writing for a while, but is definitely deserved after what he tried pulling in 2017.

You see, after a few years where the United States saw an uptick in social activism from civil rights groups like Black Lives Matter, or in Kempenich’s part of the country, the protesters at Standing Rock who were voicing their opposition towards the Keystone Pipeline. And Kempenich, the owner of a trucking company, was talking to his mother-in-law about how the protesters allegedly jumped in front of her car, and he was moved to submit HB 1203, a bill that would exempt drivers from liability should they choose to hit a civil protester in the road. And sure, Kempenich insisted he didn’t want to legalize vehicular manslaughter, but he sure seemed intent on removing at least some penalties for anyone looking to plow through human beings in a civil protest.

If you might be wondering why this all sounds familiar, it’s because Kempenich was the first of several Republican state legislators around the country who tried backing up conservatives looking to just run over vocal opponents and face less consequences, which may have been sending the wrong message to say, the motherf***er who drove his car into counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killed Heather Heyer and injured a score more people.

And even after that happened only months after Kempenich sponsored his bill, this merry little fascist hasn’t backed off of these sorts of ideas, still supporting a ban on protesters wearing masks, as well as voting for a bill to literally increase penalties for protesting oil pipelines, specifically (even after the Keystone pipeline leaked, as experts predicted it would).

As a legislator outside of his attacks upon the First Amendment, Keith Kempenich has sponsored bills to try and repeal the Affordable Care Act (because he’s a moron that doesn’t understand state governments can’t repeal federal laws), sponsored mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients (even though such bills are only temporary before a judge overturns them as violations of the 4th Amendment, and while they’re in place, they find statistically less drug use than the national average), has voted against bills to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, support anti-choice legislation as extreme as fetal heartbeat bills, while being hypocritically being “pro-life” enough to vote for concealed firearms to be allowed in public schools.

Needless to say, we’re looking forward to seeing if someone can knock off Kempenich in 2020, as he only hung onto office in 2018 by about 200 votes. Clearly, however, he’s proven to show himself the sort of extremist who is only emboldening the worst our country has to offer.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

According to a report I heard on my local all-news radio station this morning, an estimated 15,000 people showed up to Trump's "Me First/America Second" rally in Wildwood, NJ Tuesday night, said to be a Democratic bastion. This was just another example of why Republicans are hellbent on keeping the Orange Menace in office by any means necessary, if Mike Pence were president, he wouldn't have drawn a tenth as many people, more proof of the blind devotion Trumpanzees have for their Pied Piper of a leader, and why the GOP needs him if they're to maintain power. It's as I've said, without the support of Trump's lemmings, the Republicans will be rendered null and void as a political party come November.

[Tendrin]

According to a report I heard on my local all-news radio station this morning, an estimated 15,000 people showed up to Trump's "Me First/America Second" rally in Wildwood, NJ Tuesday night, said to be a Democratic bastion. This was just another example of why Republicans are hellbent on keeping the Orange Menace in office by any means necessary, if Mike Pence were president, he wouldn't have drawn a tenth as many people, more proof of the blind devotion Trumpanzees have for their Pied Piper of a leader, and why the GOP needs him if they're to maintain power. It's as I've said, without the support of Trump's lemmings, the Republicans will be rendered null and void as a political party come November.

Apparently, a good number of them drove from other states. He's got his cult, that's for sure.

[kidfresh512]

Apparently, a good number of them drove from other states. He's got his cult, that's for sure.

That happens with most of his rallies. The die hards travel. Still it adds to how fervent the crazed base is. They won't need to be convinced to vote they have their messiah and will get right in line. All of us who want this madness to end better do the same.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Apparently, a good number of them drove from other states. He's got his cult, that's for sure.

Which is why Republicans fell in line and are willing to torch the Constitution and democracy itself to keep Trump in office. Not because they're afraid of him, rather they're afraid of his base, I've also said this numerous times: Trump's supporters are more loyal to him than they are the party, without him, the GOP has nothing.

[Tami]

It's depressing, though nor surprising that Trump is getting away with what he is doing. That the Senate won't convict him.

Perhaps the Republicans are doing this, in part, because the Democrats wouldn't let them remove Clinton [which is petty and silly].

Perhaps they are all cowards.

[Michael Watkins]

What do you think, Sanders supporters?

If you really want people to support Sanders as you do, slandering Biden is one of the most ineffective ways possible to do so as it only reflects badly on his campaign. You need to tell us not what Sanders did fifty years ago, but what he is doing now

^argue with him