All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[worstblogever]

The most progressive senator in the country should have retired so you wouldn't have to read posts you don't like on a comic book forum.

Anti-Bernie people have the best priorities.

Yes, like trying to focus on the impeachment trial that Bernie's currently at, as opposed to impotently throwing a tantrum about how he lost in 2016.

Eyes on that. Because the Democratic impeachment managers are running circles around Trump's legal team (WHO FORGOT TO BRING THEIR VIDEO PRESENTATION BECAUSE THEY SUCK THAT MUCH).

[wjowski]

Anyone thinking of sitting out 2020 because their paragon of choice didn't get selected might as well not bother with 2024 either.

It won't matter by then.

[worstblogever]

The first day of the impeachment trial is ending with some FIRE from Rep. Jerry Nadler, and it rattled both Jay Sekulow and Pat Cipollone so bad they ended their day shrieking like common Kavanaughs.

Chief Justice Roberts actually intervened to remind them to adhere to rules of respectful discourse.

[Malvolio]

SMH. Let's get one thing clear, once and for all. Yes, the fix was in for the Democratic nomination in 2016. THE FIX HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN! They always support the most establishment candidate. In 2016, that happened to be Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders knew that going in and accepted it, but some of his supporters deluded themselves into believing it would be a level playing field, so when they found it wasn't, they cried foul. But seriously, when you agree to play a game, you ought to read up on the rules, whether or not you think they're fair.

[worstblogever]

It was on this day in both 2015, as well as 2016, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Steve Martin, a former member of the Virginia legislature from 1988, serving five years in the General Assembly before moving to the Virginia State Senate from 1993 through 2016. The more famous silver-haired Steve Martin took to social media to ask that no one ever mixed him up with the Republican politician in February 2014 after the latter took to social media to argue against abortion, and in his anti-choice rant, he referred to pregnant mothers as "hosts". That's not all from Virginia's Martin, who was so in favor of torture said that it was justified no matter how many body parts the interrogated party loses, and that "Christ himself would have advocated for torture". Martin (again, the Republican one) believes that Constitutional rights don't apply to practitioners of Islam, because their religion "requires them to kill others to get into Heaven". Yes, somehow, a man with disgusting opinions like that can serve over a quarter century in politics. He was defeated in the GOP Primary for his Virginia State Senate seat in 2015, and has yet to reemerge in another run for office, if he ever will.

On this date in 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Josh Moore, a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives who finished eighth in the general election for his seat, and voters were right that he should barely qualify for office, if at all. You see, there was debate over a public nudity bill sponsored by Josh Moore in the New Hampshire House of Representatives back in December of 2015, HB 1525, which was oddly specific about women’s nipples being an offending thing (but not men’s) and State Rep. Amanda Bouldin was one of the Democrats opposed to the bill because she thought it might potentially make public breastfeeding a crime, and she posted her frustration over it on Facebook. While all any of her fellow legislators had to do was point out that the bill actually did have a written exemption in it for breastfeeding mothers… Josh Moore decided to argue with her by taking a slightly different, and really stupid angle, writing “Who doesn’t support a mother’s right to feed? Don’t give me the liberal talking points Amanda. If it’s a woman’s natural inclination to pull her nipple out in public and you support that. Than you should have no problem with a mans inclantion [sic] to stare at it and grab it. After all... It’s ALL relative and natural, right?” So it seems Josh Moore feels that at the first sign of areola, he’s been given a free pass to grope anyone he likes. Which isn’t true, incidentally, and would actually be a form of sexual assault. Moore then closed his discussion with Amanda Bouldin by telling her, “I’ll see you on the House floor. I obviously have more respect for women and her innocence and decency than women who are support public nudity.” Yeah, that’s pretty much a response of, “I’m not a disrespectful sexist, you are for believing your nips aren’t filthy and need to be covered up.” Two off-kilter comments aren’t enough to consider someone touched in the head here at CSGOPOTD, but when we look at his voting record, we also take note of how much of an extremist he’s been while in office, what with a vote to repeal the buffer zone for protesters around abortion clinics. Y’know, so they can actually BLOCK THE DOOR. Moore also voted for SB 116, one of the many bills he’s supported to attempt to do away with the requirement of needing a license required to be able to have a concealed carry handgun, and voted against HB 1661, an attempt to ban the practice of gay conversion therapy upon minors. With the Blue Wave on the horizon in 2018, Josh Moore opted to not run for re-election, 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 825-40, since this was established in July 2014.)


Jeffrey Pierce

Welcome to what is the 825th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be profiling Jeffrey Pierce, a former member of the Maine House of Representatives from District 53 who served in office from 2015-2018. After failing to be elected in 2012, Pierce won in 2014 by about 280 votes, and proceeded to head to the capitol to prove himself dedicated loyalist of highly insane GOP Gov. Paul LePage, as evidenced by his voting record.

Where things got interesting was just prior to the 2018 elections, when Maine Democrats made it a point to note that four GOP candidates for office in the election were in possession of criminal records. And one of them was sitting state legislator Jeffrey Pierce, who was arrested for trying to sell cocaine back in 1981, earning probation and in 1983, had a felony drug trafficking conviction. Even more interesting was that somehow, Pierce owned a firearm and had a hunting license, which should have been impossible for him to own as a felon. While Pierce trying claiming that was just when he was a “stupid kid”, he apparently didn’t get much smarter, and also had DUI arrests from 2004-2006. But still, for a time, Pierce was indicted for having that hunting license fraudulently until charges were dropped.

With the momentum of the Blue Wave in 2018, Jeffrey Pierce lost to Democrat Allison Hepler, garnering just 48% of the vote. We can only hope this is the last time he ever holds office. The one thing that he had going for him? He was pardoned of all crimes on his record by Paul LePage as he bitterly left office in January of 2019, against the recommendations of the state’s clemency board. For probably no other reason than “Paul LePage is a partisan ***hole and did it just to be a spiteful s***.”

At this time, we would like to wish both Pierce and LePage our fondest of “Good Riddance” salutes.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The first day of the impeachment trial is ending with some FIRE from Rep. Jerry Nadler, and it rattled both Jay Sekulow and Pat Cipollone so bad they ended their day shrieking like common Kavanaughs.

Chief Justice Roberts actually intervened to remind them to adhere to rules of respectful discourse.

Respectful discourse? From Republicans? Good luck with that pipe dream.

Meanwhile, can we PLEASE stop regurgitating the 2016 election? Not only has that horse been long since beaten to death, it's bones have been pulverized into powder, and the powder atomized. Let's concentrate instead on how the GOP is actively flushing the Constitution down the toilet and attempting to make Donald Trump a quasi-dictator answerable to no one, not Congress, not SCOTUS, not the people, not anyone. That sort of unchecked power in the hands of any man from either party is dangerous enough, when it's in the smallish, grubby mitts of a thuggish, unstable, egomaniacal cretin like Trump, that danger is ramped up to levels too frightening to contemplate. THAT is what we have to worry about, not what happened in the last election.

[Tami]

Morning Tweets

I asked Trump why he said no Americans were hurt after Iran retaliated for the Solemaini strike even though 11 US service members were airlifted. He said he heard they had “headaches” but does not consider potential traumatic brain injuries to be serious compared to losing limbs.

Twitter Link

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Deutsche Bank's loans to Trump pushed the bank into a solvency crisis.
Who backed those loans?
Russian banks.
With DB as middleman, Trump is a debtor to Russian oligarchs.
Impeachment #2 seems inevitable.

Twitter Link

Russian Government Bank Deposited $500 Million into Deutsche Bank Subsidiary as it Lent to Trump

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Trump said he would “love” to attend his Senate trial, sit in the front row, and “stare at their corrupt faces”. When I asked who was paying for his private lawyers—him or taxpayers—he smiled but did not answer.

Twitter Link

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[jetengine]

Morning Tweet

Twitter Link

Why lie ? Seriously. He just looks like a shady ************ when he literally could say "We didnt have the information when I made that statement"

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Why lie ? Seriously. He just looks like a shady ************ when he literally could say "We didnt have the information when I made that statement"

Because his egos to small to admit he’s wrong and his supporters and sycophants in Congress won’t hold him accountable. So why not lie at that point?

[Tami]

Bezos hack: UN to address alleged Saudi hacking of Amazon boss's phone

UN investigators are poised to release a statement about the alleged hacking of Jeff Bezos’s mobile phone after the Guardian revealed details of a forensic analysis that has implicated a WhatsApp account purportedly owned by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

The astonishing disclosure prompted a Democratic lawmaker in the US to urgently demand more information about the malware that was allegedly used to infiltrate Bezos’s phone in the 2018 hack of the Amazon founder.

Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon, said in a letter to Bezos that the alleged breach of the billionaire’s phone “appears to be part of a growing trend”, citing reports that Saudi Arabia had acquired cyber-hacking capabilities from Hacking Team, based in Italy, and Israel’s NSO Group.

Wyden reacted following a Guardian story that cites sources who said the alleged “hack” occurred after Bezos apparently received a video file sent to him by Mohammed bin Salman’s WhatsApp account. Large amounts of data were allegedly exfiltrated from Bezos’s phone within hours of him receiving the video file.

David Kaye, a UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, said in a tweet that he and Agnès Callamard, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial murders, would announce further information about the alleged Bezos hack on Wednesday morning.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Morning Tweets

Twitter Link

Hmm! I'm gonna take a wild-assed guess and say the taxpayer. The notion of Trump paying his bills with his money is patently ludicrous. Everyone knows he's a skinflint and a welcher.

[zinderel]

Since your last post: Sanders has been called a liar, a story was posted where the Democratic nominee of 2016 insulted Sanders are refused to commit to endorsing him if he were become the nominee, Bernie supporters have been reduced to "bros" - a clear erasure of the most diverse base, we have been called more racist than Trump supporters, and Bernie has been called sexist and is now accused of going to lie about Klobuchar.

Then you come in and call us a cult. You don't have anything to say about any insult directed at us or our candidate but you add to those insults.

How stupid was I to think that the calls to not go negative were in good faith. It's just a way to shame Sanders supporters into not defending themselves or their candidate.

Considering that the same people keep bringing up the same arguments and whining about the same things over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...and considering that we have been forced to relitigate the 2016 election EVERY GODDAMNED DAY SINCE because of those same people not being able to let go of their cult-like obsession with Bernie?

Bernie supporters have an uphill battle here convincing most posters that they aren’t the same. Especially since a lot of us DID support Bernie, until he lost the party election, at which point we swallowed our pride and voted for the candidate who got the most popular votes, and still lost thanks to both cheating bullshit by the Republicans and an over-abundance of protest votes and abstentions that split the left and left us too fragmented to stand against a united right. And here we are, in 2020, arguing the same crap because of the same people bringing up the same stuff they did in 2016, and only some of you will GRUDGINGLY accept that if you Blessed, Sinless, Perfect, Tide Change candidate doesn’t get the nomination, incremental change is STILL better than no change at all.

So, yeah. Bernie Bros get looked down on here, because, no Bernie supporter here has, upon being challenged, managed to not end up sounding like a fanatical true believer who thinks that their path of enlightenment is the only true path, and that only one man can save us:

Saint Bernardus Immaculatus, Half-Divine, He Who Is Anointed by God and the One True Left, He Who Is Never Wrong, Only True Candidate of the People, He With Blessed Vision Unmatched by Mere Mortal Men. May he be ever honored and revered, amen.

[Superbat]

Yes, like trying to focus on the impeachment trial that Bernie's currently at, as opposed to impotently throwing a tantrum about how he lost in 2016.

Eyes on that. Because the Democratic impeachment managers are running circles around Trump's legal team (WHO FORGOT TO BRING THEIR VIDEO PRESENTATION BECAUSE THEY SUCK THAT MUCH).

You said Bernie was going to make sexist attacks against Klobuchar.

How was that focusing on the impeachment trial?

Considering that the same people keep bringing up the same arguments and whining about the same things over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...and considering that we have been forced to relitigate the 2016 election EVERY GODDAMNED DAY SINCE because of those same people not being able to let go of their cult-like obsession with Bernie?

In response to attacks on us and our candidate.

But you don't care. You think we deserve to insulted and called worse than Trump supporters.

[PwrdOn]

Considering that the same people keep bringing up the same arguments and whining about the same things over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...and considering that we have been forced to relitigate the 2016 election EVERY GODDAMNED DAY SINCE because of those same people not being able to let go of their cult-like obsession with Bernie?

Bernie supporters have an uphill battle here convincing most posters that they aren’t the same. Especially since a lot of us DID support Bernie, until he lost the party election, at which point we swallowed our pride and voted for the candidate who got the most popular votes, and still lost thanks to both cheating bullshit by the Republicans and an over-abundance of protest votes and abstentions that split the left and left us too fragmented to stand against a united right. And here we are, in 2020, arguing the same crap because of the same people bringing up the same stuff they did in 2016, and only some of you will GRUDGINGLY accept that if you Blessed, Sinless, Perfect, Tide Change candidate doesn’t get the nomination, incremental change is STILL better than no change at all.

So, yeah. Bernie Bros get looked down on here, because, no Bernie supporter here has, upon being challenged, managed to not end up sounding like a fanatical true believer who thinks that their path of enlightenment is the only true path, and that only one man can save us:

Saint Bernardus Immaculatus, Half-Divine, He Who Is Anointed by God and the One True Left, He Who Is Never Wrong, Only True Candidate of the People, He With Blessed Vision Unmatched by Mere Mortal Men. May he be ever honored and revered, amen.

Well I guess if you don't want the left to be divided again in 2020, you better make sure that Bernie is the nominee. And you make it seem like Bernie supporters are these zombie cultists just for actually liking a candidate, there are still plenty of levels between just voting for the lesser of two evils with your teeth clenched and unquestioned worship and adoration, you know. Honestly, I'm just sick and tired of all these moderates who constantly clutch their pearls at all these injustices in our society, but always fall short of backing any kind of policy that will actually do anything to solve problems. Trump is really just a symptom of all the societal ills that have gone unaddressed for far too long, getting rid of him should just be a starting point, not the end goal. Why should any decent person vote for a candidate whose only agenda is to fix the optics without doing anything to actually the underlying issues?

[Malvolio]

You said Bernie was going to make sexist attacks against Klobuchar.

How was that focusing on the impeachment trial?



In response to attacks on us and our candidate.

But you don't care. You think we deserve to insulted and called worse than Trump supporters.

Of course he cares. He just cares more about the future of our country than he cares about your feelings.