All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tendrin]

https://twitter.com/laurenthehough/s...397252608?s=21

BRANCH.

COVIDIANS.

Omfg.

[PaulBullion]

Where is Janet Reno when you need her?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump Urges Supporters To Rally Against Coronavirus Restrictions

“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA,” Trump said in a tweet-storm on Friday. Let's see if I've got this right: Dolt45 wants people to rally, contract COVID-19, pass it to others then die from the virus. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

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U.S. Coronavirus Crisis Takes Sharp Political Turn As Trump Blasts States

President Donald Trump lashed out at four Democratic governors over their handling of the pandemic after having conceded that states bear ultimate control in the pandemic.

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Trump Won’t Stop Undercutting His Medical Professionals In His Twitter Rants

He also pushed false information and reignited a feud with Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday. A governor said he is “fomenting domestic rebellion.”

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Washington Post Board Points Out ‘Glaring Gap’ In Donald Trump’s Coronavirus Reopening Plan

“The toll taken by leadership failure is growing by the hour,” the newspaper’s board warned in its latest column.

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Pastor Flouting Stay-At-Home Order Remains Defiant After Parishioner’s Death

His congregant died due to COVID-19, but Tony Spell still plans to keep his church open while asking for people’s stimulus checks. Short and sweet, this is fucking monstrous.

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The Stimulus Isn’t Enough

While the federal government is making big companies whole during the COVID-19 crisis, working families and small businesses will suffer.

[jetengine]

Surely this is enough for impeachment ? Like this isnt Climate science which is complex and difficult to see the effects of. You can clearly tell what is and isnt working.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Surely this is enough for impeachment ? Like this isnt Climate science which is complex and difficult to see the effects of. You can clearly tell what is and isnt working.

It'll end like the last time. The GOP are too powerful in congress right now, anything less than kicking him out is worthless.

[jetengine]

It'll end like the last time. The GOP are too powerful in congress right now, anything less than kicking him out is worthless.

True, this just seems so abashedly on the nose. I dont think I've ever heard of something like this before frankly

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Surely this is enough for impeachment ? Like this isnt Climate science which is complex and difficult to see the effects of. You can clearly tell what is and isnt working.

There's no doubt everyone can see the madness, including Republicans, but they don't dare go against Trump, partly out of fear of pissing him off as he could end their careers with one angry tweet, partly from apathy because the end game is keeping the tax cuts and judge stacking engine rolling, and they need Trump for that. I've said this more than once, it's not enough for Democrats to win back the presidency, they have to recapture the Senate in order to force out Moscow Mitch and all the deviants in the GOP.

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in 2015 that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had a profile of Kim Lehman, a former Republican National Committee member who in 2010, called for Americans to rise up in armed revolt as courts began to uphold same sex marriages. She would later also start ranting on social media about how President Obama was secretly Muslim, and when Politico reported her claims, and debunked them, she accused the media of participating in a cover up of Obama’s true faith and allegiances. The Republican Party then tried forcing her to resign prior to their 2012 National Convention, but she refused, sticking around to help write the party platform, and then bragging to the media about how she personally had made sure it included mentions of the dreaded Agenda 21, thus confirming she was a nutty conspiracy theorist, in case there was still any doubt that she deserved to be shown the door.

In 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the U.S. House Representative from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, Tom Marino. During the Bush administration back in 2007, Marino was elevated to be the U.S. Attorney in Pennsylvania’s Middle District, but he resigned while under investigation for ethics violations. After that, Marino spent three years working as a six-figure lawyer at a private practice, and then like many of the chuckleheads that we’ve covered at CSGOPOTD he was elected in 2010, in the Tea Party Wave. Maybe someone should have paid attention to the fact that Tom Marino’s as dumb as a post when it comes to a great many things. For starters, geography. You see, back in his first 90 days in office, Marino decided to criticize the Obama administration’s strategy in Libya, asking, “Is there a plan? Is the mission to take Gadhafi out? Where does it stop? Do we go into Africa next?" which indicates he’s not aware that Libya is actually in Africa. What made that statement even more sad for our country was that Marino was placed by Republican House leadership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is a great place for a guy who doesn’t know where the foreign countries actually are. Where Tom Marino really stands out, however, is how much he loved, LOVED to talk about impeachment. However, he doesn’t seem to understand how that works, or who it is that can be impeached. The first instance where he did so was back in February of 2013, when he was talking about impeaching Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for… reasons. (Where he’s a bit off…Senators don’t get impeached. They can be expelled, however, by a 2/3 majority vote.) A few months later, in July 2013, after President Obama announced he wanted to delay the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (which supposedly the GOP wanted so they could try to repeal it before it took effect), Marino again seemed to stumble with the concept of how impeachment worked, talking about indicting Obama for his decision, comparing it to Watergate. (Again, Rep. Marino is not just a lawyer, but a former U.S. Attorney, albeit a Bush administration appointee, who doesn’t seem to know that that’s in no way a crime, let alone an impeachable offense.) Marino called for the impeachment of both President Obama AND Attorney General Eric Holder in February of 2015, insisting that HE wasn’t talking about impeachment, he just kept hearing questions about it at town halls. He then proceeded to talk about how both men were “approaching impeachment” because they were not “enforcing the laws”. He gave no specific laws, that he would have a case for impeachment hearings, of course. Mind you, Marino imagined a lot of wrongdoing by Obama and Holder, though, to be sure, like when in January of 2015, when he accused them of using the Justice Department to illegally fund “activist groups”. And he of course, provided no evidence of that.

But, in our introduction to Tom Marino, we are proud to include his most partisan and cowardly moment in his three terms in office, from August of 2014. Republicans were in lockstep, campaigning hard on two issues in the mid-term elections… fears about Ebola Virus, and of course, anti-immigrant sentiment. And as debate in the House over immigration reform and how to help migrant children from South America being detained was ongoing, Tom Marino took to the House floor, and laid the blame solely on… Nancy Pelosi? It seems that in the warped mind of Marino, it was not Republicans in the House and Senate voting against immigration reform at every opportunity who were responsible for the DREAM Act not passing, nor was it House Speaker John Boehner blocking later versions of the bill from coming up for a vote for almost two years. By not getting her entire caucus to work together to pass EVERYTHING they wanted, including that legislation, she was at fault. Well, unfortunately for Rep. Marino… Nancy Pelosi was in the room, and she went right after him for invoking her name in such a manner, yelling at him and calling him a liar, as he retreated from her up the aisle like a coward. After the incident, Pelosi’s aides reported she received an apology, Marino of course denied it, and said Pelosi is “a prime example of why we need term limits”.

When last we left Rep. Tom Marino, he was sucking up to the Trump administration, hoping for an appointment to be the drug czar for it, and combat the opioid crisis. There’s just one problem with that… he withdrew his name from the running in shame after an investigation by The Washington Post and "60 Minutes” detailed his years-long efforts to pass a law that critics say allowed the drug industry to profit off people addicted to opioids. Can you believe that? Donald Trump wanted to nominate someone to a post who was revealed to have a financial interest in not just failing to do the job, but a track record of profiting by working against the mission statement of that position? THE HELL YOU SAY. (Also, the latest ethical lapse from Marino). instead, Tom Marino ran for a fifth term in Congress in 2018. He won the election with 66% of the vote, mostly because of the partisan lean gave a +11 Republican advantage. However, about two and a half weeks into the new session of Congress, Tom Marino resigned to go take a job in the public sector, likely enraged at the prospect of operating as a member of the minority party in the House. We here at CSGOPOTD would like to wish Marino our heartiest of “GOOD RIDDANCE!” greetings and we will set aside his profile and feature another kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 854-45, since this was established in July 2014.)


Hardy Billington

Welcome to what is the 854th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Hardy Billington, a member of the Missouri House of Representatives first elected in 2018, after an initial failed campaign for office in the Tea Party Wave of 2010. This was of concern to many because of Billington’s rabidly homophobic views, including his belief that “homosexuality is more dangerous to a person’s health than smoking”. That was the most striking of many statements in a 2012 newspaper ad that Billington took out, where he advised “tough love” to be used against the gay community, writing, "We are encouraging and affirming individuals into the 'gay' lifestyle. If you truly love someone, you would steer them away from self-destructive behaviors, shouldn't you? Homosexuals need our tough love, not blind love. It continued that there was "study after study" that showed a pattern where being gay cuts life expectancy by nearly three decades. The newspaper noted alongside the ad that Billington and other politicians had tied "outdated" HIV studies to the cancer risks of smoking in order to show the "gay lifestyle" was more dangerous for one's health, and it was bunk. Billington of course, also wrote a book in 2004 where he raged against the concept of same-sex marriage, including a passage where he called gays “Sodomites”, and that their “sins are much worse than other sins” because ”they cannot reproduce and thus must recruit”.

Billington has been publicly feuding with Democratic legislator Greg Razer, who is openly gay, as he continues to push for “religious freedom” legislation that in effect, is just theocratic nonsense, and also unsurprisingly has voted to ban abortion if/when Roe v. Wade is overturned in Missouri.

Hardy Billington represents District 152 of the Missouri House of Representatives, it leans highly conservative, and Missouri Republicans seem content to let this bigoted twit run for office unopposed. We’re likely going to be discussing his annual exploits until he faces term limits, which will be in… 2026? F***ing hell.

[PaulBullion]

Some GOP candidates and legislators came out for the terrorist Michigan protests, that partly locked down a hospital and kept nurses and doctors from getting to work to save lives.



https://twitter.com/Zach_J/status/12...690927105?s=20



https://twitter.com/GoatNunes/status...099054597?s=20



https://twitter.com/leesgirl9/status...967867908?s=20

Hey WBE. are these on your radar? Actual bio-terrorists in the GOP?

[worstblogever]

Hey WBE. are these on your radar? Actual bio-terrorists in the GOP?

Affirmative.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Jacksonville, FL opened one of their beaches and people were hanging out in crowds. What is wrong with these people?

[PaulBullion]

Jacksonville, FL opened one of their beaches and people were hanging out in crowds. What is wrong with these people?

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

[Mister Mets]

Surely this is enough for impeachment ? Like this isnt Climate science which is complex and difficult to see the effects of. You can clearly tell what is and isnt working.

Nancy Pelosi can call the House of Representatives to file charges, or come up with a system by which they can vote remotely to prepare for a potential impeachment during an election year where the presumptive Democratic candidate leads the polls.

This would probably be a bad idea.

To impeach, you would need to make an argument for high crimes and misdemeanors. It's not just about strongly disagreeing with a President's policy preferences or statements.

ESPECIALLY if they were black educated men not the little thugs that they somehow don't seem to harass.




You can restart the economy but with who is in the White House-cooler heads can prevail.

I mean take a company like Diamond. You can run that company 24 hours a day if you set up crew to do shifts.

One works from 5-12 Pm. At 11-that crew clean ups and disinfect everything. EVERYONE is out of that build by 1 Pm. Next crew shows up and you keep doing that.

So if one person in one crew gets sick-that group can self quarantine and business goes on.

For Malls-only open it for pick and go only. Every store should have a website with what is in stock and let folks order and pay online.

For sporting events 50% and every other row needs to be empty. With 2-3 chair space between groups and families. Use Zoom or whoever to live stream games where teh players can hear the crowd. If possible.

Do what We made this Movie guys did-they live stream online premiere with a red carpet. Then live streamed the movie.

Schools-I am at home right now. Honestly I NEED to be in my office because we did not get certain programs that could make my job easier. Kids can stay home especially the special needs ones. Pretty much staff can alternate going and continue the online learning.

There are ways to make things more social distance-friendly, although there will be complications.

Companies running in 24 hour shifts could often have increased costs with reduced customer demand.

With schools, it is difficult to have social distancing. One idea might be to have the students come in on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the other half come in Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that teachers can check their work in-person, hand them paper copies, etc.

[Tami]

Surely this is enough for impeachment ? Like this isnt Climate science which is complex and difficult to see the effects of. You can clearly tell what is and isnt working.

I suspect that, being so close to the election, they are going to see what the voters decide. There are plenty of things Trump can be impeached on, but doing it now is dicey.

[ed2962]

Dr. Phil has tremendous influence, he came into the limelight via Oprah.

It's interesting to recall that Dr Phil was a psychologist, but left that practice to move into the legal field where he advised rich people and corporations in civil suits.