All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[norj]

Theres some talk on the more anti corporate sides of the web that HK isnt something to actually give a **** about compared to chile. Now I dont know enough to agree or disagree but their general idea is something like this....

The law HK is protesting against was being used on a guy who murdered someone, HK itself is a vice den of greed, corruption and weird capitalist shenanigans that force many into debt but are useful for the elites, the protests were organized by the CIA. Chile on the otherhand has (again) the CIA ousting another left leaning latin ametican leader.

If the CIA was going to start something in China they would arm the Uighur.

[Kusanagi]

There's probably some shady reason why Trump is supporting the Hong Kong protesters. Like a blind squirrel finding an acorn, Trump occasionally does the right thing, usually for the wrong reason.

Is he even supporting them? He was debating vetoing it, or not signing it, earlier this week. Someone probably told him it had veto proof support in congress and he might as well take an easy PR win.

[Kirby101]

Why should Trump get any credit for signing a bill he had nothing to do with.
Sometimes Presidents work with Congress to develop legislations. But when it is a bill that simply ends on his desk, I don't see why he should be praised as if he did something.

[Tendrin]

*facepalms*

https://twitter.com/TeamTrump/status...47798176010241

[PwrdOn]

There's probably some shady reason why Trump is supporting the Hong Kong protesters. Like a blind squirrel finding an acorn, Trump occasionally does the right thing, usually for the wrong reason.

The Hong Kong protests are largely motivated by the same kind of nativist populism that gave us Trump and Brexit. The Chinese government has been extremely hands off with Hong Kong since the handover, more for the sake of good PR than genuine concern, but still, so it's hard to really pinpoint how exactly they're being oppressed. And if you compare what's going on in HK, where the protesters are responsible for the only fatality so far, with all of the other protests going on around the world that are seeing people getting gunned down by the hundreds yet get practically no media coverage, you have to really wonder what the true purpose really is.

[Tendrin]

The Hong Kong protests are largely motivated by the same kind of nativist populism that gave us Trump and Brexit. The Chinese government has been extremely hands off with Hong Kong since the handover, more for the sake of good PR than genuine concern, but still, so it's hard to really pinpoint how exactly they're being oppressed. And if you compare what's going on in HK, where the protesters are responsible for the only fatality so far, with all of the other protests going on around the world that are seeing people getting gunned down by the hundreds yet get practically no media coverage, you have to really wonder what the true purpose really is.

Oh brother. There's a /vast/ underclass in Hong Kong and the protestors are not a unified group. To claim that they are 'largely motivated by nativist populism' seems wrong-headed, given that the protests cut across Hong Kong's political spectrums in support. It isn't ALL 'Hong Kong Indigenous'. I'd argue that, say, the 28 month increase in housing prices would have more to do with it being so broad in the first place. Hong Kong indigenous never got /this/ kind of support, and it started in 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-de...mp_(Hong_Kong)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Indigenous

(For those curious on some of the social factions that are involved in the protests.

Bear in mind:

"In the 2019 Hong Kong local elections, The pro-democracy camp achieved its biggest landslide victory in the history of Hong Kong, gaining control of 17 of the 18 District Councils and tripling their seats from around 124 to about 388. "

[zinderel]

*facepalms*

https://twitter.com/TeamTrump/status...47798176010241

‘Without evidence’...

Jesus. I hope this is just some troll account, and not something ‘official’.

But knowing Trump and his sycophants...

[numberthirty]

After Mitch McConnell Named WholeFoods Magazine's Man of the Year, Twitter Users Call for Boycott of Supermarket Company

You keep up the good work, Twitter Peeps...

[Tendrin]

‘Without evidence’...

Jesus. I hope this is just some troll account, and not something ‘official’.

But knowing Trump and his sycophants...

They're just trolling but it's still dumb.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of of Adam Kwasman, who had just recently lost his 2014 bid to be elected to U.S. Congress to represent Arizona’s 1st District. That may have not have had as much to do with Kwasman’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act, which he calls a “monstrosity”, or his distaste for healthcare spanning as far as wanting to get rid of Medicaid, as well. No, what actually seemed to badly damage Kwasman’s candidacy was when he heard there was a bus of migrant children from Central America moving through his district, and joined a crowd of xenophobic anti-immigration protesters to scream epithets at the bus, then bragged about seeing the terrified looks on the children’s faces, as if that’s heroic. This attempt to paint himself as the toughest man in the GOP Primary field against illegal immigration backfired, though, when the local news had to tell him that the bus he screamed at with his rabid pals was actually filled with children who were U.S. citizens headed to YMCA camp. This spectacularly embarrassing gaffe sent Adam Kwasman into a political tail spin that he never pulled out of, and it looks like he won’t be taking a second shot at running for Congress in the 2016 elections.

On this date in 2015, we published our original "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile of Richard Mack, a former Arizona Navajo County Sheriff who has twice tried to be elected to Congress, once in Arizona in 2006, and once in Texas in 2012. Sheriff Mack, as it seems, has been riding the fame and credibility he received from groups like the National Rifle Association for being one of the plaintiffs in the 1997 Supreme Court battle against the Brady Bill back in the 1990s to become one of the leading voices of armed right-wing militias, the John Birch Society, and white nationalist groups throughout the country. Mack is also a Birther who has appeared on Alex Jones’ Alt-Right show, InfoWars, where he has claimed that the Oklahoma City bombing was a “false flag” attack carried out by the government. During the standoff between militia groups and the Bureau of Land Management on the ranch owned by noteworthy tax scofflaw and budding domestic terrorist Cliven Bundy, Mack compared him to Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks and was one of the more noteworthy people at the scene, encouraging the Oathkeepers to hide behind women being used as human shields so that the Bureau of Land Management would have to shoot them first if they opened fire. Mack has not simply gone away, mounting a 2016 run for sheriff of Navajo County, where he hoped to establish a “constitutional haven” while speaking at length to several right-wing media outlets throughout the spring of 2015 to warn them of the threat of Jade Helm 15, threatening to arrest former IRS employee Lois Lerner if she came to his county( even though she’s not been indicted or charged with a crime), has suggested Arizona and other states “nullify” federal income tax, called for law enforcement and county commissioners to refuse to recognize the Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage (ironic for a “Constitutional Sheriff” to ignore the body that decides what’s constitutional, isn’t it?), and appeared at an event with Stuart Rhodes, the head of the Oath Keepers, where Rhodes called for the public hanging of Arizona Sen. John McCain. Luckily, Richard Mack dropped out of the race in 2016, and had a lunatic proxy take his place on the ballot instead. In 2018, he actually tried running for Congress again, this time in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, and finished in a distant eighth in the GOP Primary for that seat while getting only 1.4% of the vote. That may have been because Mack decided to comment on the survivors of the Parkland shooting by noting that in his mind, the kids sounded like “Hitler” to him. (Ah yes. Lord knows we could hear the thick German accent on Emma Gonzalez. Get bent, Mack, and keep losing.)

On this date in 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile about Dawn Wilson, a private investigator and candidate for Arizona Navajo County Sheriff as Richard Mack’s proxy on the ballot in the 2016 elections. Dawn Wilson wanted everyone to know during the primary elections for the sheriff’s seat in Navajo County that if she won, Richard Mack was going to serve with her as her Undersheriff. And Dawn Wilson, it seems, was not ignorant of Sheriff Mack’s background, at all, and actually wanted to enact his plan for a “constitutional county”, and to have Navajo County, Arizona, set up barriers and act outside the jurisdiction of the federal government. In a radio interview, she offered to “train our officers on the Constitution, train our citizens to know their rights, and then I want to build a barrier between the citizens of Navajo County and the federal government to keep them out. They don’t need to be coming into our county and harassing us, they don’t need to be calling for gun control. The sheriff needs to stand up and put their foot down and say, ‘No, it’s not going to happen here.’” And, mercifully, the residents of Navajo County avoided this armed rebellion against the federal government when Dawn Wilson lost in the primary, but here’s the scary part… she still got 38% of the vote in the Republican Primary, running on that platform. Sometimes, I don’t know if I’m more scared of the CSGOPOTD politicians, or the people who vote for them.

[worstblogever]

On this date in both 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Arizona State Senator Sonny Borrelli, who as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2013-2017, established quite clearly that he does not get along with any Republicans unless they are as rabidly conservative as he is. Remember when CSGOPOTD would talk about former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, the lady who claimed that illegal immigrants were leaving the bodies of decapitated murder victims in Arizona’s deserts? She seemed like she was an insane conservative, right? Well, Borrelli was in the state legislature when Jan Brewer made a rare good call as a governor, and decided Arizona shouldn’t block the Medicaid expansion because why turn down all the federal money that the state could use? His response was to join the lawsuit of three dozen Republican officials against Gov. Brewer to try and prevent Arizona from expanding Medicaid (and full disclosure, the Arizona Supreme Court just tossed out that lawsuit earlier in the week).

It wasn’t just Jan Brewer that Sonny Borrelli would go on quixotic endeavors to battle, he also voted for a bill to try and prevent Arizona from enforcing the Affordable Care Act (you can’t nullify federal legislation, Sonny), as well as the fact that he co-sponsored a deranged bill to make gold and silver legal tender in Arizona.

But alas, this sort of arch-conservative mentality is not an outlier for Arizona Republicans. So what brought Sonny Borrelli to our attention? Well, there’s the fact that he was arrested on domestic violence charges back in 2001 for repeatedly punching his wife at the time.

Still, in spite of just being lucky to have won one election, Borrelli decided to make a move at winning a seat on the Arizona State Senate in 2016, challenging Ron Gould in Arizona’s District 5. Well, not so much the challenge, but that Borrelli was caught on tape calling anyone who would bacjk Gould a “c***sucking idiot”:

“If these ignorant, c***sucking idiots want to vote for that f***ing phony, lying piece of s***, they can get what they deserve. Another f***ing senator, a senator that did absolutely nothing for this district except piss everybody off in Phoenix, to include the f***ing governor. And now how is he going to act when he goes back to Phoenix with a f***ing governor that he’s already called a f***ing RINO and a liberal?”

Now, while it’s not shocking to imagine this is how politicians might feel about their opponents in an election, they probably don’t want it going public.

And yet… in spite of being a lunatic wife-beater who curses like a sailor, Borrelli defeated Gould in that GOP Primary with 53% of the vote. Democrats did not enter a candidate in the general election, and thus, Sonny Borrelli became a state senator.

Thus, he’s been able to use his new place in the state government to sponsor legislation to redefine “rioting” as a form of racketeering (?) vote for legislation to try and eliminate all background checks on firearm purchases (again, you can’t nullify federal law, Sonny) and vote for a bill to try and force physicians performing an abortion to try and revive the fetus if it is viable after the abortion (which, fetuses aren’t viable at 24 weeks, so this one is just a head-scratcher).

Sonny Borrelli even won re-election in 2018, getting to run unopposed in the GOP Primary for his seat, and winning his highly conservative district with 75% of the vote, and the Arizona GOP has decided that a former domestic abuser and hot-tempered lunatic is exactly who they want to serve as the Majority Whip in the Arizona State Senate. And that should tell you everything you need to know about the modern Republican Party.

As Borelli’s career as a State Senator has begun, he has defied any kind of logic in priorities… in the current term, he voted for a bill to declare pornography a “public health crisis”… while simultaneously voting against HIV prevention education. How… how can viewing porn be a threat, but a literal terminal, sexually transmitted disease not be?

Well, that’s not the only interesting priorities Sonny Borelli has… he made sure to increase the amount of stipends he could collect for himself.

In summary… the man is a joke.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Why We Will Never Know Exactly How Many Immigrant Families Were Separated

A new report shows the Trump administration was prepared to separate 26,000 children from their parents, despite knowing it couldn’t keep track of them. THIS, boys and girls, is evil, one hundred percent, Grade-A, unadulterated EVIL! And I'm certain Stephen Miller is behind that madness.

**********

‘Cruel And Appalling’: Democrats Decry ICE Arrests At Fake University

Democratic lawmakers including Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lambasted what they described as a corrupt scheme to entrap immigrants. A good defense lawyer could shred what ICE had done to ribbons.

**********

Twitter Bans GOP Rival Of Rep. Ilhan Omar Who Called For Her Lynching

Candidate Danielle Stella, a Trump supporter, said Omar should be tried and hanged if she’s found guilty of treason. In a perfect world, that bitch would see her political career ended, but she'll probably pick up support from racists slurping Trump.

**********

Kim Jong Un Has ‘Great Satisfaction’ After North Korea’s Thanksgiving Rocket Test

The projectile launch was largely seen as a Thanksgiving message reminding the United States of the year-end deadline to restart diplomatic talks. Or maybe that was Kim giving Trump a pudgy middle finger.

**********

Ex-GOP House Member Reveals What Republican Lawmakers Say About Donald Trump In Private

Former Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania lifted the lid on what many of his ex-colleagues are saying — and explained why they won’t yet speak out against Trump. I got two words to describe them: GUTLESS. MOTHERFUCKERS.

[PwrdOn]

Oh brother. There's a /vast/ underclass in Hong Kong and the protestors are not a unified group. To claim that they are 'largely motivated by nativist populism' seems wrong-headed, given that the protests cut across Hong Kong's political spectrums in support. It isn't ALL 'Hong Kong Indigenous'. I'd argue that, say, the 28 month increase in housing prices would have more to do with it being so broad in the first place. Hong Kong indigenous never got /this/ kind of support, and it started in 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-de...mp_(Hong_Kong)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Indigenous

(For those curious on some of the social factions that are involved in the protests.

Bear in mind:

"In the 2019 Hong Kong local elections, The pro-democracy camp achieved its biggest landslide victory in the history of Hong Kong, gaining control of 17 of the 18 District Councils and tripling their seats from around 124 to about 388. "

Just about the only thing that everyone in Hong Kong can agree on is that they don't like mainland China, and they're not exactly shy about pointing out that it's not just the government but the people that they dislike, and that pretty much all of the problems in the city are caused by mainlanders who buy up housing, take the jobs, etc. It's pretty obvious that the actual solutions to their problems involve more redistributive and egalitarian policies, but that of course would be socialism, and socialism is Chinese and therefore bad in their eyes.

And it's not hard to see why Trump would support them, they asked him to.

[Tami]

Just about the only thing that everyone in Hong Kong can agree on is that they don't like mainland China, and they're not exactly shy about pointing out that it's not just the government but the people that they dislike, and that pretty much all of the problems in the city are caused by mainlanders who buy up housing, take the jobs, etc. It's pretty obvious that the actual solutions to their problems involve more redistributive and egalitarian policies, but that of course would be socialism, and socialism is Chinese and therefore bad in their eyes.

I'm no expert, but I'd say this was more about having a say in their own lives. Mainland Chinese are slowly losing their rights and freedoms, even if it's insidious and they don't know it. Those in HK do know it, and that is probably what underlies most of this.

Democracy isn't always about economics or social issues, as much as it is about everyone having a say in their government. The people in HK want a Democracy, not an autocracy like on Mainland China.

[PwrdOn]

I'm no expert, but I'd say this was more about having a say in their own lives. Mainland Chinese are slowly losing their rights and freedoms, even if it's insidious and they don't know it. Those in HK do know it, and that is probably what underlies most of this.

Democracy isn't always about economics or social issues, as much as it is about everyone having a say in their government. The people in HK want a Democracy, not an autocracy like on Mainland China.

Hong Kong already has more autonomy than any other sub-national entity in the world. They pay no taxes to the Chinese government and enforce border controls with China as if they were a separate country. Now I'm sure that some people there would argue that this isn't enough and that they need to be independent, but as they are effectively just an offshore financial hub with no industry to speak of, they'd never actually be able to survive on their own. Just like Trump voters, they just like to blame people they consider to be "other" for all of their problems, while conveniently ignoring how much of their livelihoods depend on the people they hate.

And maybe this is just me, but HK is pretty much the only place in the world where that "white savior" narrative is actually reciprocated, and it's just cringey af. Seems like what they are really protesting is the fact of them being Chinese, and no amount of freedom or democracy will let you vote THAT away.