All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[jetengine]

Twitter Link with Video

I'd like to know as well.

With all due respect, as a non American it could be either. You guys are fucking crazy. But I suspect its a parody not helped by how ludicrous some ads are

[Panfoot]

Well, I guess we know how good you have to be at a sport to ignore the whole rapist issue now at least.

[ed2962]

Whether he is compromising values is sorta the nexus of the debate. Or, at least, compromising the values he professes to share with the people he is appealing to.

I'm not pretending anything, I've stated my thoughts on the Sanders/Rogan thing and they are perfectly consistent. My beef with the Sanders people is if Rogan had endorsed Biden, anyone foolish enough to claim that the Sanders supporters wouldn't have pounced on that raw meat with serious vitriol is god damn delusional.

If you are a rare Sanders supporter who would've said "Hey, nothing wrong with Biden winning over the opposition,etc" - then kudos to you. You'd also be in the vast minority.

Sure if Rogan endorsed Biden, there's be some Sanders supporters who would have jumped all over it. That's kind of my point. While there are some folks who simply hate Rogan and don't want Bernie to be associated with him, I think there's more people who don't want Sanders to be the candidate and this sudden concern about Rogan's comments are just a stick to beat him with. They had no comment on Clinton's TERF-like statements recently or the number of gaffs that Biden has made over the months. Some dumb alt-righters mis-understood some points Andrew Yang made, and thought he was their guy. And while some folks gave Yang the side-eye, you didn't have the same level of "outrage" form certain parts of the party.

I don't place Sanders or any of the people running on a pedestal. They are all imperfect. I just find this latest "outrage" a bit disengenous.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Hey, Tami! Dolt45 will be in Wildwood tonight for one of his "Look at how great I am/Everybody is against me/Let me bitch about my enemies" rallies. Oh, yeah, newly installed Republican and Trump bootlicker (pretty much the same thing these days) Jeff Van Drew will be there to suckle at the almighty orange teat. Should be more fun than a barrel of rabid ferrets.

[ed2962]

Rogan and his fans aren't really political in the sense of actually having a coherent ideology, if you ever listen to his show he basically parrots the opinion of his guests whoever they might happen to be and whatever they might be saying, and I doubt there is any hard introspection or attempt at forming a rigorous and consistent set of beliefs there. And that description probably fits a significant chunk of young voters, particularly those living outside of large cities or who aren't peer pressured into subscribing to liberal orthodoxy. These people tend to lean right not so much because they love free markets or traditional values, but because they dislike how mealy mouthed and wishy washy the left can be sometimes, and conservative internet personalities easily exploit this by bombarding them with propaganda that appeals to their macho sensibilities. Of course, some of them have bought into this alt right nonsense wholesale and are beyond saving, but there are plenty that could potentially be swung to the left if we promote our agenda in a forceful and decisive manner, which many progressives would agree is exactly what we need right now. This isn't to say that courting the Rogan demographic will be easy or won't cost us some votes among other blocs, but frankly Democrats have tried over and over to build the big tent party by appealing to everyone, which ends up satisfying no one. And as long as we aren't compromising our own principles and pandering to their backwards views, but rather getting them to subscribe to our views and understanding how our agenda might benefit them as well, I really don't see what the problem is.

Exactly this.

[Steel Inquisitor]

What you just posted does exactly nothing to change what Biden said.

I'm not disputing Biden's horrible statement, I'm saying that it is a double standard when Bernie's campaign's aligns itself with conservatives with similar views who support them. Rogan's said some very horrible statements, my link shows a tiny portion of what's he's said that's controversial. As well as the fact there are other surrogates with bad histories of their own, like Killer Mike. He was bought back into the fold in '20, despite having backlash over sexist comments in '16.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...s-jane-elliott

Where's the line in the sand for Sanders' campaign?

Sanders doesn't seem to be boosting Rogan. It's the other way around, in terms of reach and messaging (it allows the Sanders campaign to brand itself as left-wing but not part of the unpopular cancel culture.)

Bernie Sanders boosted Rogan by going on his program, it was an event which provided Rogan which more eyes on his podcast and for Sanders he got a boost among Rogan's audience. The second boost Sanders' campaign gave Rogan was with a tweet.

https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/st...45820505546755

“I think I'll probably vote for Bernie... He’s been insanely consistent his entire life. He’s basically been saying the same thing, been for the same thing his whole life. And that in and of itself is a very powerful structure to operate from.” -Joe Rogan

That's where the conflict comes in, since this doesn't push back on Rogan's audiences horrible views, they welcome them into the coalition and expect total loyalty without doing years of work to earn it. They think they did all the work already, when all they got was an interview with Bernie and Rogan's endorsement. Appealing to voting blocs requires immense trust gaining, which can take years and involves many acts on both sides to show tangible affects and this signalling endangers alienating the various demographics who would be discriminated by those very same people Rogan relies on. Which includes the Alt-Right.

Rogan isn't Leftist, he's a Libertarian. He might like some ideas Bernie has but as soon as he sees Trump offering something better he's jumping ship and so will his audience.

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in 2015 that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of Jack Whitley, the former Chairman of the Big Stone County Republican Party in Minnesota whose bigotry went into overload in November 2014 and compelled him to post on Facebook to say Islam is a form of witchcraft, all Muslims must accept Jesus or leave the United States, that the First Amendment in regards to Freedom of Religion does not apply to them, that practitioners of Islam are "parasites" and Satan has infiltrated most “supposedly religious” industries like Christian music, and the church needs to get more militantly anti-gay and anti-abortion to prove to him they’re serious about it. That got his Facebook account deleted, and since he was fired not just from his position as Big Stone County Chairman of the GOP, but even the hardware store where he worked

On this date in 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of Eric Turner, a man who served twelve terms in office over three decades in the Indiana House of Representatives until he resigned in November of 2014 for killing legislation that would have halted new nursing home construction in Indiana and could have potentially harmed his family's nursing home development business. Other than this major ethical lapse, we also noted that Turner kept trying to add amendments to Indiana's state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, voted to drug test welfare recipients (but voted to block a bill that would have forced state legislators to do the same) and defund Indiana Planned Parenthood clinics. Turner didn't just resign in disgrace and retire from politics, he left the state of Indiana altogether.

On this date in both 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who after taking office, had thea Republican-controlled state legislature abuse the procedure of "immediate effect" votes to repeatedly pass legislation by a voice vote determined as "won/lost" by the Republican acting as Speaker of the House at the time to grant Snyder a rubber-stamp to do things like cut funding from public school classrooms to pay for retirement funds for school employees when a much more prudent use of taxpayer money to solve that crisis would not have been to give $1.7 billion in corporate tax breaks while also raising taxes on lower class families. Snyder also made Michigan a right-to-work state, with false promises of job creation that never arrived and the only real result was to reduce membership in unions. He also repeatedly attempted to get legislation passed to start drug-testing welfare recipients, only to watch predictably as the program cost a fortune and drug testing and found statistically no significant drug use. As in, NONE. But perhaps the most controversial of the legislation signed by Gov. Snyder was Michigan's new emergency manager laws, which would allow a city's local officials to place a lone individual in charge after an "emergency", which in Detroit, was meant to be the city declaring bankruptcy. This was despite the measure being placed on the ballot in November of 2012 and rejected, so a new version was hastily thrown together by the Michigan GOP. And, it's that emergency manager law that allowed Governor Snyder to place Michael Brown as Emergency Manager of Flint, Michigan on November 29th, 2011. Dennis Rick Snyder's chief of staff then began insisting the city's water supply be provided by the Flint River, known for being particularly corrosive, because hey, let's save a couple hundred dollars a year on cheaper ideas. Well, the switch came in spite of repeated warnings from, y'know, smart water engineers, and in April of 2014, and the lake water began corroding the old lead pipes leading into the city... meaning those lead particles were actually in people's drinking water, and poisoning them. Children were drinking the water, which slows their development, as well. Six months later, General Motors stopped using the water in their Flint plants, as it was too corrosive to touch engine parts. As the contamination began to be bad enough that residents could actually visibly SEE the iron and lead in water that was clearly brown over several months... the Snyder administration lied and told people the water was still safe. Internal e-mails however, show they KNEW they had a major city drinking poisoned water for months, and their attempts at a coverup meant people were still drinking it. The Snyder administration actually tried arguing with the findings of the scientists who were trying to survey the damage that was done. The damage to the pipes would take YEARS to fix (and still isn’t, as of this posting as he just left office). Gov. Snyder's response to the crisis (that he helped create) was tepid, and in the meantime, an outbreak of Legionairre's disease occurred from the river water, leading to at least nine attributed deaths. His promise to bring in an independent investigator in to investigate how bad his administration botched things was also quickly broken when Snyder's own campaign donor became the "independent investigator". Rick Snyder was called before Congress to be raked over the coals about Flint, is still likely to get called to be grilled about potentially obstructing the federal investigation into his incompetence now that Democrats have control of that body again. The only reason Snyder was not impeached for his incompetence is that Michigan, hhas a nearly impossible process for removing a governor from office. What really pisses us off here at CSGOPOTD, though, is because of Rick Snyder's incompetence... Flint, Michigan still does not have clean drinking water, 69 months after this crisis began (YES, that’s almost SIX YEARS NOW). In any event, Snyder’s reign of terror poisoning his citizenry is now over.

On this date in 2019 "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Allen Quist, a former Minnesota state legislator who served four terms there back in the 1980s, twice ran for Governor of Minnesota in both 1994 and 1998, made two runs for Congress to serve Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District in 2010 and 2012, and tried to get back into the Minnesota state legislature unsuccessfully in a special election in 2013. Now, we want to point out that Allen Quist is a political mentor to another CSGOPOTD alumni here, Michelle Bachmann, and if you know anything about politics, you know you had best buckle up for a lot of crazy. Some of the more insane things Allen Quist has said, done, and believes:

• As a Minnesota State Senator, Allen Quist “went undercover” at a gay bookstore to see if people were having gay sex there in the bathroom. Quist denied this in 2012, but finally admitted it after the interview where he confessed to it in the 1990s was unearthed by reporters.
• In 1986, when Quist’s first wife was tragically killed in a car accident while six months pregnant, he had her fetus placed in her arms at her open casket funeral. (Quist has been quoted as saying that he believes abortion should be classified as a first degree homicide.)
• In 1988, Quist argued against having a gay counseling center at the University of Minnesota-Mankato, comparing it to building a center to support the Ku Klux Klan.
• In 1993, while campaigning for Governor of Minnesota, Quist called for mandatory AIDS testing to be done on anyone seeking a marriage license.
• In a 1994 interview, Allen Quist argued that men have a “genetic predisposition to lead the family”. He repeatedly denied making this statement during his 2012 campaign, until audio emerged.
• In 2010, Quist cited his desire to go to Congress because he considered defeating liberals to be a more important battle than defeating terrorism:
• Allen Quist argued that “human beings lived alongside stegosaurs” citing an artist’s image from a 12th Century Cambodian temple as proof.

Quist is now into his late seventies, and unlikely to win political office, , and as such we will set aside his profile at this time and profile a different kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 829-40, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Kent Lambert

Welcome to what is the 829th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be taking a look at former Colorado State Senator Kent Lambert, who served in office from 2011-2018 after spending the prior four years to that in the Colorado House of Representatives. He earned himself a day under CSGOPOTD’s radar because of his twelve year career of homophobia, including how during the 2007 session when he filed a formal ethics complaint against the Colorado Education Association for sending emails making claims Lambert disagreed with (it was dismissed by the Colorado Legislative Council’s Executive Committee) and his attempt to ban adoption by same-sex couples. In 2010, he went “all in” to by badmouthing Matthew Shephard, the victim of a hate crime, when the foundation named for him was to be centered in Denver:

”What Hickenlooper did was compare people in rural Colorado to terrorists and murderers because of the homosexual up in Wyoming that was assaulted.”

By 2013, as the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling approached, Lambert grew incensed enough with state governments around the country, including his own, trying to legalize gay marriage that Lambert referred to just civil unions for gay and lesbian couples as “mind control”.

We’ll keep this profile very brief, and note that in 2010, Lambert also sponsored anti-immigrant legislation based on Arizona’s SB 1070 to Colorado, sponsored a bill to attempt to change the meaning of a “person” in the legal definition of murder to include fetuses to outlaw abortion, and sponsored legislation to remove background checks on firearm transfers.

After coming up against term limits in the Colorado state legislature in 2018, Kent Lambert was forced to retire, and we would like to give him our finest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salute at this time.

[numberthirty]

I'm not disputing Biden's horrible statement, I'm saying that it is a double standard when Bernie's campaign's aligns itself with conservatives with similar views who support them. Rogan's said some very horrible statements, my link shows a tiny portion of what's he's said that's controversial. As well as the fact there are other surrogates with bad histories of their own, like Killer Mike. He was bought back into the fold in '20, despite having backlash over sexist comments in '16.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...s-jane-elliott

Where's the line in the sand for Sanders' campaign?

To put it simply...

Someone brought up something supposedly "Horrible..." that Sanders had said about the nineties crime bill that was anything but. Contrast that with what Biden said in that speech. The only saving grace in that nonsense that came out of Biden's mouth was that he happened to admit that society had culpability in it.

Otherwise, it could be something Tucker Carlson said last week.

"Nineties" versus "Nineties"? It ain't even a contest. Biden's speech is a near complete train wreck.

[Michael Watkins]

Washington Post journalist suspended after tweeting link to 2016 story on Kobe Bryant’s rape case hours after his death

What’s the consensus here? Is it fair game to remind people lauding a dead celebrity of the things that are less laudable?

sure. as long as it's not selective. did they talk about Babe Routh's infidelity when he died? would it be inappropriate to bring up Elvis' crappy treatment of women while thousands mourn him? i just want it to be across the board. i for one can't wait to bring up Tom Brady's practice of kissing his 11 year old son on the lips the moment that he kicks the bucket.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Washington Post journalist suspended after tweeting link to 2016 story on Kobe Bryant’s rape case hours after his death



What’s the consensus here? Is it fair game to remind people lauding a dead celebrity of the things that are less laudable? Does the fact that his daughter died too make this less acceptable than if only he had died? Does she deserve to potentially lose her job for this?

I ask because this is far from the first time I’ve seen negative news about a Star who recently died. When Bowie died, we all got reminded that he had sex with an underage groupie, for example. But I haven’t seen a reporter get put on LEAVE while they decide if the reporter crossed some line...

This whole thing is happening because humans don’t like to process complex situations. They just want to say he was either a bad guy who we should hate and ignore or a massive influential figure who we should praise. People don’t like to think that someone can be an overall good person who impacted the lives of many for the better might also have done something terrible on one day in his life. To simplify it is a way to avoid dealing with things.

Beyond that nobody knows exactly what happened that day besides the people there. I don’t know if it’s worth trying to wave that in people’s faces while they are in pain. It’s like that bitter person at a funeral who pisses everyone off because they have to remind everyone of that time the deceased did something unsavory. When people are grieving they need space.

Furthermore, in the space of all that uncertainty, even if we take the worst case scenario of what happened as a given no reasonable person is going to say “okay you’re guilty, the deserved punishment is for you and your daughter to die in a helicopter crash coming back from a basketball with 7 other people”.

He did a lot of good, he impacted many, he just died tragically, a lot of people are grieving (going to be honest this is hitting me a lot harder than I would have ever thought) and most people are just trying to process it. And during that time people need there space to do so. There’s a time in place to figure out how he’ll be remembered for the rest of the history. It doesn’t need to be the days after his death where people were deeply impacted by his loss and the loss of his daughter.

[Tami]

Hey, Tami! Dolt45 will be in Wildwood tonight for one of his "Look at how great I am/Everybody is against me/Let me bitch about my enemies" rallies. Oh, yeah, newly installed Republican and Trump bootlicker (pretty much the same thing these days) Jeff Van Drew will be there to suckle at the almighty orange teat. Should be more fun than a barrel of rabid ferrets.

Thank god I don't live in that area. Still, Wildwood isn't that far from Atlantic City, the place Trump nearly trashed with his series of casino bankruptcies. The overall area may lean heavily red, but the AC area isn't. I'm sure there will be some negative response to having one of his rallies there.

[aja_christopher]

They just want to say he was either a bad guy who we should hate and ignore or a massive influential figure who we should praise.

Why do you keep lying about this?

I've repeatedly asked questions about Sanders' campaign that have nothing to do with hatred, and none of you have given any answers based in fact -- only in reverence, as if facts don't matter at all when discussing his campaign and policies.

This is why people don't see you as reasonable -- because you will lie about those you disagree with and refuse to discuss things reasonably.

Even if you finally made the concession to do so at this point, tomorrow or next week you will be right back to claiming that it's all about "hate" for Sanders.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Why do you keep lying about this?

I've repeatedly asked questions about Sanders' campaign that have nothing to do with hatred, and none of you have given any answers based in fact -- only in reverence, as if facts don't matter at all when discussing his campaign and policies.

This is why people don't see you as reasonable -- because you will lie about those you disagree with and refuse to discuss things reasonably.

Even if you finally made the concession to do so at this point, tomorrow or next week you will be right back to claiming that it's all about "hate" for Sanders.

You know why we find you unreasonable? Because you’re too obsessed with trying to win on a message board to read what I was replying to and know that I’m talking about Kobe Bryant.

Jesus Christ. This just confirms what I always thought. You don’t read other peoples post, you aren’t here to have an honest discussion, and you just want to rush in and push your agenda.

It’s not all about you. You don’t even know what you are talking about here. Go waste other peoples time writing a giant post and not even knowing the subject matter.

This is what we have to deal with on here.

[Mister Mets]

Kobe's infidelity is the 800 pound gorilla in the room, and while that sordid aspect of his past can't be ignored or swept under the rug (nor should it), for that reporter to bring it up mere hours after his death, while the wound of his passing was open and raw for his legion of fans was perhaps a case of poor judgment on her part. She should've known fans who loved Kobe would react irrationally, and if she didn't, she's an idiot, plain and simple. She could've waited a few days before bringing up Kobe's affair, it's not like she needed to scoop a rival news organization, those facts are already on the record. If social media existed forty years ago when John Lennon was murdered, and a reporter reminded fans via a tweet about his having walked out on Cynthia hours after he had been shot, would people have exhibited the same sort of vitriol like with Kobe? Meanwhile, should the reporter lose her job? Absolutely not, as for the suspension, again, her lack of decorum was as good a reason as any I suppose.

Should reporters be expected to take into account that fans may act irrationally? I'd prefer all in the media take a stand against the heckler's veto.

There is a distinction between discussing infidelity and discussing allegations of sexual assault.