All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[InformationGeek]

So, Governor Tony Evers has put off the state election and primary for obvious reasons. It's just not safe.

HOWEVER! That ain't standing with the State Republicans, who are demanding the polls stay open and are taking it to the Wisconsin's Supreme Court, which tilts heavily in favor of Republicans. In fact, here's one of the Justice's now on the matter.

From the very beginning of this campaign, all we have wanted is an election conducted according to the law. While the Governor’s order is being challenged in court, we urge clerks, poll workers, and voters to stand ready to conduct the election tomorrow.

We can do two things at the same time: maintain the foundations of our democracy while taking reasonable precautions to keep people safe.

By the way, this fool is on the ballet for his seat. I'm thinking this isn't pretttttttttttty partisan and stupid.

OH WBE! Here's another for the list.

[Tami]

Health officials say Americans should limit grocery store and pharmacy trips or 'we can have another peak in a few weeks'

US health officials recommend that Americans avoid frequent trips to the grocery store and pharmacies in an effort to reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19 as the pandemic is predicted to worsen in parts of the country this week.

Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services made the recommendation Monday on NBC's "Today" show.

"We are all saying the same thing," Giroir told "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie. "You really need to keep your physical contact with others and with surfaces to the minimal possible."

He added: "That does not mean go without medications. If you need to go to the pharmacy to get your medications if you need to get groceries — do it. But don't go every day to the grocery store like many people do. Do it as infrequently possible."

There are at least 337,971 reported cases of COVID-19 in the US and at least 9,654 deaths from the disease, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The US has dealt with the largest outbreak of the virus worldwide.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Boris Johnson moved to intensive care.

[AnakinFlair]

Thanks, but I don't have a sewing machine. I do have some scarves that will work, so I'll manage. I don't go out that often.

So, Governor Tony Evers has put off the state election and primary for obvious reasons. It's just not safe.

HOWEVER! That ain't standing with the State Republicans, who are demanding the polls stay open and are taking it to the Wisconsin's Supreme Court, which tilts heavily in favor of Republicans. In fact, here's one of the Justice's now on the matter.





By the way, this fool is on the ballet for his seat. I'm thinking this isn't pretttttttttttty partisan and stupid.

OH WBE! Here's another for the list.

I figured the Governor waited this long to postpone the election so that the Republican legislature wouldn't have time to challenge it. I wonder if the state SC orders the election to go ahead, if the Gov appeals to the Supreme Court, could it still be postponed? Especially since they ended their session early.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

My girlfriend’s lifelong friend’s dad passed away as a result of COVID today. Stay safe and healthy everyone and make sure your loved ones know how much you care, even if it is from a distance.

That sucks man, sorry. Wish you and her the best through this

[Mister Mets]

Dammit I had the biggest lol brain fart last night when I posted this haha

You got the name of a congressional backbencher from generations ago right. It was just the wrong FDR.

[GindyPosts]

Attachment 95241



Twitter Link

Someone actually made a mock-up of a "Make America Great Again" mask, which while phony, wouldn't be something that I think would not be eventually on the campaign store given some of the apparel that is legitimately for sale.

Anyway, if it comes down to it, I got plenty of scarves and my brother has hunting hoods. I do have an MSA Millennium mask, but I just can't find a proper filter, especially right now.

[Mister Mets]

Sanders supporters have uncovered another HUGE Biden scandal:

Dr. Jessie Christiansen, a NASA research scientist, had a good response on this, noting the sexism in suggesting it's wrong for a candidate's wife to be addressed by a title she earned. "

"An important facet to the conversation about Jill Biden having the temerity to request to be addressed with the title she earned (Dr) is that women are far less likely to be given their correct title. We should not be made to feel bad for requesting equal treatment.

Meanwhile, the Bernie Sanders campaign had a video titled "Dr. Cornel West explains why Bernie beats Trump."



It's so unfortunate that he misled them into thinking he was a medical doctor.

[InformationGeek]

Wellll, f**k me, the Wisconsin Supreme Court just declared the Tony Evers cannot postpone the election stuff for a few months. They really want people to vote in person.

Guess I'm going out tomorrow to vote against Kelly then.

[worstblogever]

Got an alert that the U.S. just surpassed 10,000 coronavirus deaths, a full tenth of that number in New Jersey alone. How many of those deaths could've been prevented had Caramel Caligula taken the virus seriously weeks earlier than he had and not slow-walked the government's response because he feared how it would affect the market or his re-election chances? What's even more criminal and infuriating is that Trump will get away with his horrible actions because the GOP continues protecting him.

We're at three 9/11s and change.

By Friday, we'll be seeing a number of deaths daily equivalent to 9/11.

Just pointing out that threshold because the GOP were so nice to club it over everyone's heads for two decades, and now are contributing to something that far exceeds it because warnings were ignored and the response was botched.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Mary Sue McClurkin, a now former member of the Alabama House of Representatives, who spent years serving as a member of ALEC while also in the state legislature. Among her last few votes of note included support for the failed conservative policy of drug testing welfare recipients, trying to work around the Voting Rights Act to pass stricter Voter ID laws to combat the statistically non-existent problem of “voter fraud”, an attempt to nullify the Affordable Care Act, and a vote against expanding hate crime legislation to protect people from violence motivated by their sexual orientation. She also supported Creationism being taught in science class and placing monuments of the Ten Commandments in government buildings. Perhaps her dumbest moment, though, came from the day where she tried defending an anti-choice bill she was pushing where she condemned abortion because it “removes the largest organ from the female body”, showing a general lack of understanding of the human anatomy, and fetal development, simultaneously.

On this date in 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of John Picchiotti, a former member of the Maine House of Representatives who has served two non-consecutive terms in the Maine state legislature, who one day ranted on Facebook about Muslims and posting arguments that were linked from a white supremacist website, asking “Have you ever been to a Muslim hospital, heard a Muslim orchestra, seen a Muslim band march in a parade, know of a Muslim charity, ever seen Muslims shaking hands with a Muslim Girl Scout, or ever seen a Muslim Candy Striper volunteering in a hospital? Have you ever seen a Muslim do much of anything that contributes positively to the American way of life?” At first, Picchiotti issued an apology and tried claiming that he just missed the part of his post that was so bigoted, because he hadn’t read the whole thing before he clicked the “Share” button, but the local media followed up and noticed a whole slew of anti-Muslim and racist posts. Among them were calls to cut all aid to Muslim countries so they could “hate us for free”, a supposed quote from Benjamin Netanyahu that just so happened to link to a website that pitched a conspiracy theory that President Obama and the Catholic church were plotting an American genocide together, and posts supporting the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. And those were the ones posted before Picchiotti could lock his page before any more screen captures could be taken. Pichotti is now mercifully out of office

On this date in 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Tara Mack, a former member of the Minneosta House of Representatives who served District 21A from 2009-2016., after originally winning office by about 1000 votes. Well, Tara Mack also had some stances we find a bit alarming on social issues, in particular regarding LGBT rights. When the Minnesota GOP tried sneaking a transphobic bathroom policy into the state budget in May 2015, it was certainly questionable. But where we’re particularly focusing on Tara Mack is her dedication to being a “defender of marriage”, as she repeatedly voted for same sex marriage bans, and against authorizing same sex marriage while in office. That’s why it was incredibly hypocritical for Mack to have been caught half naked in a car at a park by a Minnesota park ranger having an affair with a fellow Republican legislator, Tim Kelly, in September of 2015.Maybe that scandal would have only gone as far as the arrest report, and maybe some hypocrisy… but as can often be the case, a desperate and sad attempt at a coverup can only magnify the outrage over the offense. For whatever reason, the duo tried claiming they were not caught in flagrante, but were just “exchanging documents” in the car. While half naked. No one bought it, and she opted to not run for re-election in 2016.

On this date in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Mark Lovell, the founder of the Delta Fair & Music Festival, and a former member of the Tennessee House of Representatives who was elected in 2016 by the merit of winning the GOP Primary against incumbent Curry Todd, who was damaged by a DUI scandal. Todd then made his chances at re-election worse by getting caught stealing Lovell’s campaign signs, and while in jail for that crime, Lovell mocked him by posting his $100 bond in a PR coup. However, Lovell did not even complete a single term in office before being forced to resign in disgrace after only about 100 days in office for sexually harassing and groping a woman while drunk. That is, one woman reported being accosted, witnesses report Lovell groped at least two women that evening while blitzed.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Jeanne Ives, who was first elected to office in the Illinois House of Representatives back in 2012 after winning the GOP Primary for her seat by about 700 votes. In 2018 she challenged Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner in the GOP Primary, and provided far more of a threat than she should have. In March of 2013 that Ives referred to same sex marriage as a “disordered relationship” on a local Christian radio show, implying gay couples with adopted kids will try to molest them, and in April of 2014, she was part of a GOP effort to block passage of a ban on gay conversion therapy in Illinois. By August of 2017, the Illinois GOP hadn’t done anything to dissuade Jeanne Ives from openly hating gays and lesbians, so she just decided that it meant it would be fine to share articles from honest-to-not-goodness hate groups online that claimed Christians were somehow victims of gay people because LGBTQ protections exist.

Now, while people were expecting maybe a little bit of homophobia or transphobia from Ives during her gubernatorial campaign, they didn’t think they would see it in the GOP Primary, where Ives ran an ad spot featuring actors thanking Gov. Rauner for a lot of things he actually didn’t do, including having minority actors in it sarcastically claiming to be able to use whatever bathroom they want, a woman proud of getting an abortion, and a proud member of a teacher’s union. When Republicans and Democrats alike called the ad “repulsive”, Ives refused to take it down, doubling down and saying “Rauner’s policies are what were really repulsive”. She topped that but at a candidate forum on Martin Luther King Day where she was asked about a solution to high gun violence statistics in Chicago, she gave the solution as “more fathers in the home”, disgusting Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy enough at her racism and ignorance that he just walked off stage. In a moment that’s terrifying to consider as the status quo for the Republican Party, the hardline bigot, Ives, still managed to get 48.3% of the vote against Bruce Rauner in the GOP Primary in the Governor’s Race. That’s far closer to sniffing the governor’s mansion than she should have ever gotten.

And while we linked to all the above stories in our previous profile, we had thought that her loss in 2018 might be the last we would hear from her… terrible Republicans from Illinois just do not go away. Jeanne Ives has decided to run for Congress in Illinois’ 6th Congressional District in 2020, winning the GOP Primary in an attempt to unseat Democrat Sean Casten. While Illinois’ 6th would technically grant a +2 Republican lean to any member of the GOP, Casten won in the 2018 Blue Wave with 53% of the vote against the long-tenured climate change denier, Peter Roskam.

Frankly, while Roskam might deny science, he’s not near the level of loon that Jeanne Ives is, and it’s unlikely that she will help Republicans flip this seat back red in 2020.

[TheDarman]

I'm sorry for your loss. I wish you and your family all the best during this time. Stay safe yourself.

Thanks. I didn’t really know her friend or her father that well, but my girlfriend is pretty torn up about it (understandably). I’m frustrated to see people still not take this seriously AND by the president’s original lackluster response. I have kept those frustrations to myself though as she vents to me. It’s tough, but we’ll make it through. Stay safe!

That sucks man, sorry. Wish you and her the best through this

Thanks man. She will be okay, but she is naturally torn up. Her friend lost her mother when she was only seven. Her father was the only parent she had left. This is devastating for my girlfriend’s friend and for her. I’m doing my best to help to her, but I honestly can only tell her I don’t really know what to say and to tell her friend that she can count on us.

[Steel Inquisitor]

The Patriot Act was passed with an overwhelming majority in the House, and only one no vote in the Senate (Russ Feingold).

If you curb civil rights, it's not mitigated by not being as mean as your political opponents are to the people you've just empowered them to step on.

That'd bending to immense popularity political will, not doing it because you thought it was a good idea in the first place. You're forgetting how strong the GOP were back then and how popular Bush was, post-9/11. The Democrats were like bugs to windshield wipers in that environment. However, it helps to ackwldge the context so it's not used to straw man arguments. There's a lot more going on in that context than PwnedOn was allowing for.

[Gray Lensman]

That'd bending to immense popularity political will, not doing it because you thought it was a good idea in the first place. You're forgetting how strong the GOP were back then and how popular Bush was, post-9/11. The Democrats were like bugs to windshield wipers in that environment. However, it helps to ackwldge the context so it's not used to straw man arguments. There's a lot more going on in that context than PwnedOn was allowing for.

There's often a tendency to try and apply both present day stances and hindsight to the past. We had a guy here a few months back who was insistent that Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was always an attempt to keep homosexuality out of the military - forgetting that the policy it replaced was basically "We WILL Ask, You WILL Tell, and if you lie, you might spend time in jail over it."