All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[InformationGeek]

And here's Doug Collins, reminding us he is still an *******.

Doug Collins: Democrats are "in love with terrorists, we see that they mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our gold star families." https://t.co/hUIZVl2t3h

[Kevinroc]

I don't see how other countries make any kind of deal with the US, even if the Democrats win in 2020. Doesn't matter if it's Biden, Sanders, or Warren.

Trump has sunk our reputation among our allies and enemies that will take ages to recover, if it ever does.

[Tendrin]

https://twitter.com/RepRutherfordFL/...25810668736515

I was in the same briefing as you,
@RepJayapal
, and this is absolutely false. You and your squad of Ayatollah sympathizers are spreading propaganda that divides our nation and strengthens our enemies. #Iran

Representative Rutherford does a racism. Oh WBE-EeeEEeeee….

[Jim Kelly]

In case anyone didn't catch the news

Iran crash: Ukraine Boeing with 176 onboard comes down near Tehran

How much coverage is this getting in the USA? Here in Canada, it's the number one news item.

[numberthirty]

How much coverage is this getting in the USA? Here in Canada, it's the number one news item.

While it's not the first thing being covered, it is getting coverage.

[Malvolio]

And here's Doug Collins, reminding us he is still an *******.

Gold star families? You mean the same gold star families that Trump regularly insults if they dare to disagree with him?

[worstblogever]

And here's Doug Collins, reminding us he is still an *******.

https://twitter.com/RepRutherfordFL/...25810668736515



Representative Rutherford does a racism. Oh WBE-EeeEEeeee….

If I didn't know any better, I'd think these ***holes have been waiting for 10 years to scream, "If you don't ________, you're supporting the terrorists!"

Because that's the last time Republicans felt like they actually had the moral high ground.

Problem is, they're forgetting that nobody wants a war right now, we AREN'T AT WAR WITH IRAN RIGHT NOW, and they haven't forgotten Trump's attacks on soldiers the past few years. Kinda hard to hit Democrats on their position right now, which is, "You shouldn't be assassinating foreign generals, and sending us into unnecessary wars that will cost lives."

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of U.S. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, whose influence behind the scenes in Republican politics began back during the Bush administration, as he kept getting appointments and promotions that smelled of the good ol' boy nepotism that Dubya's time in the White House was known for. With some help from a big endorsement from conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin, Sasse stormed to the head of the GOP Primary, and easily won office in a mid-term election year in 2014. This in spite of the fact that he wants to ban all abortion and most forms of birth control, because life begins at conception and is not just, as he puts it, "a blob of cells", that he believes that "if the Affordable Care Act lives, America as we know it will die", that he believes the "religious beliefs" of an organization like Hobby Lobby should not be violated so they can make healthcare decisions or citizens, that we should ban same sex marriage, and in his weirdest belief, that the U.S. Capitol should be moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. Since taking office, Sen. Sasse has spent his time trying to defend the 2nd Amendment rights of suspected terrorists that we don't even trust to get on a plane, trying to strip funding from Planned Parenthood over the fake "sting" video produced by the anti-abortion group the Center for Medical Progress, and undermining U.S. diplomacy by being one of the "#47 Traitors" who sent a letter to the leaders of Iran, hoping to sabotage the nuclear treaty being negotiated by the Obama administration.

Now, over the past few years, Sen. Sasse seems like one of the more sane members of the GOP, what with how he announced he would not be attending the 2016 Republican National Convention by saying he would "rather take his kids to watch some dumpster fires", and repeatedly criticizing Donald Trump throughout his administration, we’ll note that Sasse still voted for every single member of the Trump “Cabinet of Horrors”, voted to put Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, voted for the “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act, and voted for the atrocious GOP tax plan.

It’s not words that count, Senator, it’s actions. And what we’re seeing is you’re consistently acting against the interests of the American people. We’ll continue monitoring the young Senator, and eagerly await the moment where he starts voting like the moderate he pretends to be. He’s even been called out for his hypocrisy on things as simple as a government employee (say Ivanka Trump versus Hillary Clinton) using a private e-mail for government business when he blunders onto the Late Show with Stephen Colbert (who is a canny interviewer, frankly). And that’s the sort of thing that matters, because Sen. Sasse is up for re-election in 2020. We were wondering what this might mean for a Republican who was thought of as one of Donald Trump’s last GOP critics… and… he’s sold out. By September of this year, Sen. Sasse started folding like a cheap lawn chair, presumably because he wanted to avoid a primary challenger being able to boot him for “not being loyal enough” to a commander-in-chief who seems to only be loyal to the Kremlin himself.

Expect Ben Sasse to get motion sickness in the coming months from how much he’s going to talk himself in circles during the impeachment trial, as evidenced in his comments when the transcript of Trump’s call with President Zelensky of Ukraine was released.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

And here's Doug Collins, reminding us he is still an *******.

https://twitter.com/RepRutherfordFL/...25810668736515



Representative Rutherford does a racism. Oh WBE-EeeEEeeee….

Anything, and I do mean ANYTHING to kiss up to the Orange Menace. Pathetic!

[Tami]

Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump ‘knew they were lying’ over ploy to sell condos, book claims

Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump took part in a fraudulent scheme to sell units in a luxury New York condominium-hotel and “knew they were lying”, according to a new book that explores how the current US president built his business empire.

Questions have long surrounded a criminal investigation into the Trump family’s dealings around the Trump SoHo that was dropped in 2011. Public disclosure of email correspondence revealed that Don Jr and Ivanka knowingly used figures that exaggerated how well the condos were selling in a ploy to lure more buyers.

The episode is re-examined with fresh reporting by the journalist Andrea Bernstein in her book American Oligarchs: The Kushners, The Trumps And The Marriage Of Money And Power, a copy of which was obtained by the Guardian.

[Tami]

Mayor Pete’s Invisible Black Police

In January 2012, Pete Buttigieg stepped into the South Bend, Ind., mayor’s office after winning the city’s first open mayoral election in 24 years. South Bend had three African Americans in visible high level and public leadership positions: Mayor’s Assistant Lynn Coleman; Fire Chief Howard Buchanon and Police Chief Darryl Boykins.

Within three months, all three would be gone.

Boykins had served as a police officer in South Bend for 27 years before he was appointed as the city’s first (and to date, only) black police chief in 2007. In 2011, after the city’s police telephone recording system crashed, SBPD Communications Director Karen DePaepe discovered recordings of white officers allegedly using racist rhetoric and concocting a way to get rid of Boykins with the help of top donors to Buttigieg’s then-ongoing mayoral campaign. DePaepe made five cassette tapes of the most egregious remarks and described them in legal documents the city has had for years. One officer allegedly said: “It will be a fun time when all white people are in charge.”

Soon after Buttigieg took office, word got out about the tapes and the officers complained that the recordings violated the Federal Wiretap Act. Even though the recording system had been in place for more than a decade, its existence somehow became the black guy’s fault.

According to Boykins’ eventual racial-discrimination lawsuit, Buttigieg’s chief of staff, Mike Schmuhl, “with Buttigieg’s full and conspiratorial agreement,” told Boykins the feds were investigating him and the only way for Boykins to avoid prosecution was to resign as South Bend police chief.

That was not true.

Two months after Buttigieg demoted Boykins, the U.S. attorney wrote to the city, explaining that before Boykins was demoted, “We advised [the city] that our primary concern was that the SBPD practices comply with federal law.” The phone calls, the top prosecutor wrote, were “mistakenly recorded.”

[Tami]

Sandusky, Ohio, Makes Election Day A Paid Holiday — By Swapping Out Columbus Day

But last week city leaders took steps that could make Sandusky known as a leader of democracy, too: They declared Election Day a paid holiday – by swapping out Columbus Day.

"A lot's happened in the last three years that had us thinking a lot about voter access and democracy, and so we thought it was a really natural switch," Sandusky City Manager Eric Wobser tells NPR. The move was first reported by the Sandusky Register.

In a national political climate where so much is fiercely contentious, was the holiday swap really as easy as that?

Wobser says it was, and it wasn't.

In 2014 negotiations with the unions that represent police, firefighters, and municipal workers, the city suggested dropping Columbus Day, but giving up a paid holiday was a non-starter, Wobser says. So when negotiations for 2019-2021 started up last year, the city had a new proposal: replacing Columbus Day with Election Day.

The unions agreed.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Mayor Pete’s Invisible Black Police

To say the least that article certainly casts Mayor Pete in a less than flattering light.

[Mister Mets]

Sandusky, Ohio, Makes Election Day A Paid Holiday — By Swapping Out Columbus Day

I wrote this a few weeks ago, but making election day a paid holiday seems to be more about partisan advantage than meaningful civic participation.

The first question is whether it's worthwhile to have one less day of productivity so that people can do something that usually takes about an hour, and that a good chunk of them do anyway.

But more importantly, the majority of elections are not determined on election day. In most congressional districts, and maybe even most Senate races, the truly competitive race is the primary. Hell, even presidential races tend to come down to the country' mood. The 2008 election was decided in the Democratic primary and if a general election is actually competitive, it's often because primary voters chose a weak candidate (Would Democrats have even had a shot in 2016 against Rubio or Kasich?)

If the goal is to make it easier to vote only when it's Republicans VS Democrats rather than when it actually matters for who will represent people in Congress and even the White House when it's clear which party will win, it suggests that it's all about perceived partisan advantage rather than increasing meaningful participation.

[David Walton]

I wrote this a few weeks ago, but making election day a paid holiday seems to be more about partisan advantage than meaningful civic participation.

The first question is whether it's worthwhile to have one less day of productivity so that people can do something that usually takes about an hour, and that a good chunk of them do anyway.

But the majority of elections are not determined on election day. In most congressional districts, and maybe even most Senate races, the truly competitive race is the primary.

If the goal is to make it easier to vote only when it's Republicans VS Democrats rather than when it actually matters for who will represent people in Congress and even the White House when it's clear which party will win, it suggests that it's all about perceived partisan advantage rather than increasing meaningful participation.

It's not a question of partisan advantage. There are plenty of well-intentioned potential voters who don't get off work until right before the polls close and they're exhausted. So while yes, technically they're not kept from voting by their job, they are at a disadvantage when compared to, say, salaried workers with more flexible schedules. It's not a level playing field.