All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Malvolio]

I believe you have the chronology right, and that's why I'm distrustful of Bloomberg who's been more of a political flip-flopper than Trump ever will. Worse, Bloomberg is an opportunist who only got into the race after Joe Biden's poll numbers took hits, and, as I've already speculated, he's in it more for self-preservation because of the threat Elizabeth Warren (a.k.a. "The Billionaire Killer") poses to Wall Street fat cats like himself and wants to stunt her progress in the campaign if he can.

As I've said before, when you have the kind of money that Bloomberg and Trump have, political parties are nothing more than a temporary convenience. Just like Trump, Bloomberg owes no loyalty to either the Republican or the Democratic Party.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

As I've said before, when you have the kind of money that Bloomberg and Trump have, political parties are nothing more than a temporary convenience. Just like Trump, Bloomberg owes no loyalty to either the Republican or the Democratic Party.

The thing with Trump is that he spent very little of his own money when he campaigned, relying on the media, led by Faux News to give him all the free publicity he needed. He was famous, a celebrity, and the media fell over him like teenage girls over Justin Bieber, and the rest was history. As for Trump choosing the GOP, he knew that Republican voters were low brow and stupid enough to fall for his bullshit, something Democrats wouldn’t accept.

[numberthirty]

Or maybe there is no Conan the dog, there never was a raid on the leader of ISIS and we're all just being played.

Might have been easier if the dog's name was Connie instead of Conan, though I can understand why they would give a male name to female dog. Mostly male soldiers might be more comfortable around a dog with a male name, and the dog doesn't know the difference.

If you're going to head into "Fox Mulder" territory, some things worth noting...

- They may simply have given the current President a false name and story with keeping the unit's details secret in mind. Since he is a known "Not A Fan..." when it comes to dogs, it's not like he was going to double-check the information.

- Let's say it was all a hustle. The guy who is supposedly dead is doing a pretty great job of playing along.

[shooshoomanjoe]

The thing with Trump is that he spent very little of his own money when he campaigned, relying on the media, led by Faux News to give him all the free publicity he needed. He was famous, a celebrity, and the media fell over him like teenage girls over Justin Bieber, and the rest was history. As for Trump choosing the GOP, he knew that Republican voters were low brow and stupid enough to fall for his bullshit, something Democrats wouldn’t accept.

I disagree. trump has used far right verbiage before he ran for office. He also has the same dislikes and likes as the far right. It's like they have no independent thinking.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Might have been easier if the dog's name was Connie instead of Conan, though I can understand why they would give a male name to female dog. Mostly male soldiers might be more comfortable around a dog with a male name, and the dog doesn't know the difference.

ABC has retracted their original statement and have confirmed Conan is a male. Apparently it's not the first time his sex has been confused.

There were conflicting reports on Conan's sex. Newsweek initially reported that the dog is female, but the magazine later issued a correction which said Conan is male. RTL Nieuws reported that Conan was trained by a company in Best, Netherlands before being transported to the United States, and a man identified as his former owner and trainer was quoted as saying: "It is a five year old male. It is a very good dog."[10] On November 25, 2019, a White House official said the dog is female before issuing a correction, saying Conan is in fact male.[11][12] The next day, defense officials confirmed with Stars and Stripes that Conan was male.[13] At the same time, a U.S. defense official disputed this and told ABC News that Conan is female, but ABC's report was retracted a short time later with multiple officials saying they had verified that Conan is male

[Jack Dracula]

As I've said before, when you have the kind of money that Bloomberg and Trump have, political parties are nothing more than a temporary convenience. Just like Trump, Bloomberg owes no loyalty to either the Republican or the Democratic Party.

Agreed. At some point these people cross a monetary threshold where the U.S. Government becomes another service they can purchase to pursue their personal interests.

[worstblogever]

ABC has retracted their original statement and have confirmed Conan is a male. Apparently it's not the first time his sex has been confused.

Only the Trump administration could be unable to tell if a dog has a **** or not.

[worstblogever]

The mystery of Donald Trump's Deutsche Bank loans might never be fully known...

The boss of Trump's personal banker, who attended the inauguration, reportedly took his own life on 11/19/19. He was expecting to testify before Congress at some point in the future regarding how the hell a debt-ridden Trump could be approved for massive loans.

[Malvolio]

The thing with Trump is that he spent very little of his own money when he campaigned, relying on the media, led by Faux News to give him all the free publicity he needed. He was famous, a celebrity, and the media fell over him like teenage girls over Justin Bieber, and the rest was history. As for Trump choosing the GOP, he knew that Republican voters were low brow and stupid enough to fall for his bullshit, something Democrats wouldn’t accept.

But remember, when Trump needed to work with Democrats in NYC government to get construction permits for his buildings, he was a registered Democrat. He even invited Bill and Hillary Clinton to his second wedding.

[Robotman]

The mystery of Donald Trump's Deutsche Bank loans might never be fully known...

The boss of Trump's personal banker, who attended the inauguration, reportedly took his own life on 11/19/19. He was expecting to testify before Congress at some point in the future regarding how the hell a debt-ridden Trump could be approved for massive loans.

Damn man. We know that Trump is beholden to Russian oligarchs by way of Putin. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone with any knowledge of these loans ends up committing “suicide”. I know that veers into conspiracy theory territory, but we are talking about Putin.

[Tami]

Damn man. We know that Trump is beholden to Russian oligarchs by way of Putin. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone with any knowledge of these loans ends up committing “suicide”. I know that veers into conspiracy theory territory, but we are talking about Putin.

Speaking of which

Apple changes Crimea map to meet Russian demands

Russian forces annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, drawing international condemnation.

The region, which has a Russian-speaking majority, is now shown as Russian territory on Apple Maps and its Weather app, when viewed from Russia.

But the apps do not show it as part of any country when viewed elsewhere.

The State Duma, the Russian parliament's lower house, said in a statement: "Crimea and Sevastopol now appear on Apple devices as Russian territory."

Russia treats the naval port city of Sevastopol as a separate region.

The BBC tested several iPhones in Moscow and it appears the change affects devices set up to use the Russian edition of Apple's App Store.

Apple had been in talks with Russia for several months over what the State Duma described as "inaccuracy" in the way Crimea was labelled.

The tech giant originally suggested it could show Crimea as undefined territory - part of neither Russia nor Ukraine.

But Vasily Piskaryov, chairman of the Duma security and anti-corruption committee, said Apple had complied with the Russian constitution.

[Tendrin]

Damn man. We know that Trump is beholden to Russian oligarchs by way of Putin. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone with any knowledge of these loans ends up committing “suicide”. I know that veers into conspiracy theory territory, but we are talking about Putin.

That's what I thought too. The bottom line is, however, that we know that Putin murders a /lot/ of people, so it's not at all out of the question that this is another instance. Not enough details to have an inkling of whether or not its true, but it's not a 'conspiracy theory' to wonder when we know for a fact that Kremlin critics are regularly killed as it is. The notion that Putin wouldn't kill to keep his investment in a destabilized United States would be naïve to say the least.

[numberthirty]

While I doubt that this will be much of an issue for anyone...

The local "NBC" affiliate ran a piece on "For Movie Use Only" faux currency making it out into the wild. While I've got no idea how widespread it is, the "For Movie Use Only..." is in the upper right side of said "Film" money.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Scott Esk, a candidate running for Oklahoma’s House of Representatives who on his campaign website, stated his support for nullification (y’know, the idea that started the American Civil War) regarding both federal laws on firearms regulation and abortion rights. Esk also refused to support any budget that contained even a penny of taxation “not in the proper role of government” and specified that he had never seen a single Oklahoma state budget he would have voted for. Esk also was determined to revisit divorce law and make it impossible to list “incompatibility” as a valid reason to request a divorce from one’s spouse. But most glaring amongst his policy stances, was his desire to enact biblical law and stone gay people to death. Esk was too extreme, even for Oklahoma, to get elected and should remain that way.

It was in both 2015, and in 2016, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted profiles of Mike Christian, an Oklahoma state legislator who attempted to push forth a bill that created a higher paying job for State Senator Debbe Leftwich if she agreed to not run for re-election, and then Christian would be able to swoop in and nab her seat. But corruption scandals aren’t the only sort of black mark on the personal political history of Mike Christian. You see, in 2014, he and several Oklahoma Republicans were outraged when the Oklahoma Supreme Court granted a stay of execution to a man named Clayton Lockett, because the state intended to use an untested drug cocktail when they were going to execute Lockett by lethal injection, and until the source of those drugs could be determined, they would not proceed. Christian had the level-headed response to file articles of impeachment against the entire Oklahoma Supreme Court, who balked under pressure, and allowed Lockett’s execution to proceed. That execution was botched, and Lockett died slowly and in excruciating pain for roughly 43 minutes, and public outcry over his death grew. Mike Christian, however, seems to only have his surname ironically, as his support for capital punishment was dedicated enough that he told the media that he “doesn’t care if inmates are killed by lethal injection, electrocution, a firing squad, a hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions”. (At least he didn’t mention crucifixion as one of the methods, I suppose.) As you also might expect, Mike Christian’s legislative history in the Oklahoma House of Representatives is a road map that covers a good swath of the conservative extremism that has pervaded the Sooner State the past several years, including voting for a patently unconstitutional resolution to make English Oklahoma’s official language, a nullification bill meant to see Oklahoma exclude itself from federal firearm laws, an attempt to pass an unnecessary ban on Sharia Law in their state, another bill to allow students to express their religious viewpoints in public schools, and he also co-sponsored SB 1848, a law that amended abortion restrictions in the state of Oklahoma to force physicians at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to be able to perform the procedure. This “Trap Law” was of course, meant to close down the majority of clinics in the state. Mike Christian is a former Oklahoma state trooper, and opted to not run for re-election to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, even though he was still four years away from being term-limited. Instead, he chose to try and run for Oklahoma County Sheriff. With current Sheriff John Whetsel mired in controversy regarding his office having an improper audit, it seemed like maybe Christian would be able to convince voters to boot him. That is, until Christian’s record as a police officer was released that included being disciplined for sneaking alcohol into the police academy, and immoral conduct with a female cadet who would become his future wife. Mike Christian was unable to spin this incident into being a good thing, as if he was Steve Guttenberg’s character from the Police Academy franchise and just a fun-lovin’ cop and lost the election.

On this date in 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Bud Pierce, a Republican who sought to become Governor of Oregon in the 2016 special election, who pestered Gov. Kate Brown after she had to step in and take over for Gov. John Kitzhaber after he resigned due to ethics concerns. He had an 86% rating from the NRA, and felt that gun control didn’t have an effect on gun violence and going into the final stretch of the campaign, during a debate, the topic of domestic violence came up and Kate Brown mentioned she was a survivor of it. Bud Pierce done f***ed up, down, and sideways while commenting on that… said, “A woman that has a great education and training and a great job is not susceptible to this kind of abuse by men, women or anyone.” Brown visibly was hurt by that remark, and turned away briefly to gather herself as the crowd immediately started booing Pierce, because WTF. A woman’s education or job status has no bearing on her ability to avoid abuse, Bud. He at least did not double down on his comments, and repeatedly apologized, but his candidacy was dead in the water from there. Pierce lost to Kate Brown, managing a still surprisng 43.5% of the vote, even after his comments. He remained in Oregon politics, trying to get a ballot initiative passed to establish term limits for state legislators, because he doesn’t have as good of a chance of unseating one of them in a blue state, so getting time on his side to help him snag a seat in the legislature is his only option.)

On this date in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Jeb Hensarling, the former U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 5th Congressional District, who served in that capacity from 2003-2018. Now, obviously at several points during his sixteen years in Congress, Hensarling was a Texas GOP Congressman, so you know his voting record was as extreme as you might find. There are Republicans who have become so radical in their obsession with “smaller government” that they started voting against disaster relief in the past few years. Normally, they do so without comment. Well, after flooding from Hurricane Harvey in September of 2017, Jeb Hensarling went and voted against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey, made himself an even more known quantity by telling his fellow Texans that they should realize that the flooding was a sign from the Heavens above, telling them, “God is telling you to move.”Go figure, he’s also a climate change denier. Hensarling’s rise to the head of the House Financial Service Committee was perhaps the highlight of his career, where he could be the lapdog for the worst ideas that Wall Street bankers could float across his desk with a paper bag of campaign donations. No, we’re not going to be shy about how tight this guy was with Wall Street… he literally went on ski vacations with Wall Street executives. There’s corrupt, and then there’s just brazenly terrible. He retired to become what else? A K Street lobbyist. Since he’s retired, we will also retire his profile at this time, and go ahead and take a look at a different kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 800-40, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Tom Patton

Welcome to what is the 800th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be discussing Tom Patton, who has bounced around the Ohio state legislature on and off since 2003. He spent his six years in the Ohio House of Representatives, and then jumped to the upper chamber in the 2008 election. The then spent eight years in the Ohio State Senate, representing that not at all pretentiously-named town of Strongsville, before making an ill-fated attempt at getting elected to Congress in 2017 in a special election to replace Jim Renacci as Ohio’s U.S. House Representative for Ohio’s 16th Congressional District. That left him out of office, but in 2018, he scrambled back into place into the Ohio House of Representatives to serve Distrcit 7.

Now, there have been two moments in the media that have brought Tom Patton to the attention of CSGOPOTD for a profile. The first was a corruption scandal, when back in 2012, during the trial of former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Joe Dimora, that J. Kevin Kelley, a distant cousin of Patton’s, who testified that Patton bribed him with $10,000 to lock in a contract for a copier firm to do business with the district during his tenure. Kelley had some strong motivations for telling the truth, given that he had to cut a deal with the FBI to turn state’s evidence and not end up in jail himself. While investigations have shown there are many ethically suspicious charges within Patton’s financials, he oddly has never been charged.

The second time we saw Tom Patton’s name to appear in the news that caused some consternation was in 2016, when after his opponent, Jennifer Herold, announced her challenge to him, he gave a radio interview that maybe showed he has some issues with the ladies in his attitude:

"The gal that's running against me is a 30-year-old, you know, mom, mother of two infants. And I don't know if anybody explained to her we've got to spend three nights a week in Columbus. So, how does that work out for you? I waited until I was 48 and my kids were raised, and at least adults, before we took the opportunity to try."

"I want to tell her, 'Hey Sweetie, I just got 27 percent of the pie in just my district, which is nine times what should have been done.’"

There might have been a way to challenge her on being politically inexperienced that didn’t sound that misogynistic and like he was practically telling her to get back in the kitchen, but Patton wasn’t about to use it. Though, why would anyone get the idea that Patton was sexist… oh just because he used his official Facebook account as a State Representative to “Like” posts from a 19 year old adult film actress and professional “party companion” in October of 2017. Interesting how he found himself looking at that account…

There’s been a link drawn between sexism and anti-choice support, and go figure, Tom Patton’s voting record fits that pattern, as well as mirroring other conservative idiocy:

• May 22nd, 2008: Patton votes for HB 477, a bill aimed at making all state business in Ohio required to be conducted in English, which would be, based on precedent set in a 1996 unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court, unconstitutional.
• June 16th, 2011: Tom Patton votes for SJR 1, an attempt by Ohio Republicans to nullify the Affordable Care Act.
• December 9th, 2014: Patton votes for HB 234, to legalize silencers on certain firearms.
• June 24th, 2015: Tom Patton votes for SB 127, an attempt to ban abortion at 20 weeks.
• January 28th, 2018: Patton votes for HB 428, a bill aimed at allowing students to make religious expressions in public school classrooms that is clearly a violation of the separation of church and state.
• December 27th, 2018: Tom Patton votes for HB 258, a fetal heartbeat bill that would effectively ban abortion at 6 weeks, a time when most women don’t even realize that they are pregnant yet.

Patton will be up for re-election in 2020, but considering the amount of shady dealings he’s already been publicly associated with, as well as some revolting quotes, we’re unsure if his constiuents will realize that they’ve got a bloated tick they might want to burn off in their state government.