All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[TheDarman]

As a black man, black people like Clyburn and others are complete sellouts.
Totally agree with the brother Cornell West.

Our people have Stockholm Syndrome with the Democrats...

Yeah! John Lewis and Elijah Cummings are/were establishment shills. How long is Lewis going to ride the coat tails of protesting with MLK? No other politician would constantly refer back to their activism during the Civil Rights movement—especially if it was even less than Lewis...right?

[Kirby101]

He also lied to and abused the good will Black voters gave him to actually try and change things. and he did nothing for them.

And what is it you want a junior Democratic Senator, in the minority Party to do that would change things?

[Tazirai]

Yeah! John Lewis and Elijah Cummings are/were establishment shills. How long is Lewis going to ride the coat tails of protesting with MLK? No other politician would constantly refer back to their activism during the Civil Rights movement—especially if it was even less than Lewis...right?

Yes, they are Establishment shills. How do you people not realize that none of these people are the same as they were back then? Hows is that hard to get? I live in the black community and am a Member of DSA and Black Lives Matter NC.
William Barber is NOT an Establishment shill like those guys.

Do you think you can shame me into thinking Lewis is still progressive? Please, try harder. Lewis is a good man, but he supports the Establishment. He even lied about Bernie not marching back in the day, even though he did.

They BOTH supported and fought for Civil Rights. But on other issues, one of those people still fights for us.

[Tazirai]

And what is it you want a junior Democratic Senator, in the minority Party to do that would change things?

FIGHT...

Show me he gives a shit?

Why do you guys expect my people to constantly vote for people who give us lip service?

White moderates are the problem, not the solution. Blacks don't have time for the "Comfort" and "Civility" of Moderates while we die in the streets.

So I don't give a damn about what his EXP Level is. I want him to put out some policy that even if they fail shows me he gives a shit.

[Tazirai]

As a person who has had multiple family members actually suffer from Alzheimer’s, Biden doesn’t even symptomatically fall underneath Mild Cognitive Impairment. Maybe some memory problems all seniors have and a speech impediment to boot, but it is really insulting to me to minimize my grandparents’ experience to merely misstating facts. It is, in reality, much scarier.

The issue is that Sanders has to get 55% of the remaining delegates. Without taking a majority of Michigan, especially with Missouri and Mississippi on the same night, it could bury Sanders’ campaign before they even get to Florida. Given the only other state that votes that night that looks good for Sanders has him in a virtual tie to Biden now (Washington). I just don’t see how Michigan doesn’t end up being a bellweather for his campaign.

I worked in a Nursing home and assisted people with Cognitive disorders. I know first hand what it looked like.
Every family has people with cognitive issues. So yes, Biden does have mental incapacity issues. Even the media knows it. They knew about it last year, and are hiding it from us this year. The Issues he showed on stage last Saturday were shameful.

But I guess I'm using Russian/Trump talking points, even though I saw the video along with many others. I've posted videos of him in his prime, vs how he is now.
Biden has issues. To deny it is just covering for a shitty Centrist whose probably gonna lose to Trump.

The DNC is even changing the debate rules AGAIN to favor him so that he can sit and get questions from the audience instead of going against each other.


Here's the rub. IF Biden is the nominee Trump is gonna crush him. Trump is a moron and an idiot. But he's still got all of his faculties.

[Tazirai]

Centrists and media right now: Bernie Bros are the WORST Shittiest people ever... (Just like Obama Boys)

Also Centrists and media in November: "Look dawg, I know we've treated you guys like shit, and smeared you, and lied about you and your movement, and promoted a bad candidate, but umm... Can we get that vote? Because you know, Trump bad right?"

Also Centrists and media in November if a win: The CENTRIST COALITION WORKED, we united all the moderates and centrists and didn't need Bernies voters to win anything. We did this without them.

Also, Centrists and media in November if a loss: Black people and Progressives didn't turn out AGAIN for us. Bernie voters decided to sit out the election, or voted for Trump.


We can't win with you people.

We should really try to start another party...I think after this election, no matter how it turns out I'm done with the Democratic party.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Haha Trump is a germaphobe so he’s probably freaking out.

Maybe he’ll cancel his hate rallies for a while as the unwashed masses are covered with germs. It’ll be his germaphobia vs his narcissism.

Trump might well have met the one enemy he can’t beat. Viruses can’t be bullied, can’t be intimidated, can’t be reasoned with, can’t be negotiated with, all the tricks Trump has used to pummel the Republican Party into submission won’t work with coronavirus. If he’s even half aware of that, then yeah, it IS driving him crazy.

[Tazirai]

Well, this is disastrous...

Joe Biden's secret governing plan

Joe Biden confidants are privately discussing potential leaders and Cabinet members for his White House, including the need to name a woman or African American — perhaps both — as vice president, top sources tell "Axios on HBO."

Why it matters: Biden advisers describe a Return to Normal plan — a reversal of President Trump's unorthodox, improvisational style. Biden wants known, trusted people around him — many from the Obama years.

Several high-profile possibilities:

John Kerry would love to take a new Cabinet position devoted to climate change, or might even accept a curtain call to return as secretary of state.
Susan Rice, formerly President Obama's national security adviser, is another option for State.
Mike Bloomberg, who swiftly endorsed Biden after the former mayor's campaign collapsed, would be a top possibility to head the World Bank.
Sally Yates, the deputy attorney general under Obama who stood up to Trump and was fired, would be a leading contender for attorney general.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Treasury secretary could help unite the party.
Jamie Dimon — chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and mentioned over the years as a potential presidential candidate — would also be considered for Treasury.
Anne Finucane, vice chairman of Bank of America, is another possibility for Treasury.
Biden advisers expect Pete Buttigieg to get a prominent slot after his swift endorsement of Biden — perhaps as ambassador to the UN, or as U.S. trade representative.

Both would help credential Buttigieg for a future national campaign.

If true, it's disqualifying...

[worstblogever]

In 2015, in 2016, and in 2017, “Crazy Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of Ritch Workman, from the Florida House of Representatives, who was once featured on The Colbert Report because of his dedication to try and get the Sunshine State’s ban on dwarf-tossing lifted. He also complained that Florida’s history school textbooks featured a “pro-Islam bias” because it had 36 pages dedicated to Muslim civilizations around the world, and “sugar-coated” atrocities he feels practitioners of the religion committed that were omitted. Workman’s “smaller government” principles also have seen him vote to drug test welfare recipients and ban same sex marriage. He also would like to say he’s pro-life, which would be reflected by his extreme stance on abortion, but it’s a bit of a double standard as “pro-life” when he also supports the death penalty. Workman was busy trying to protect "family values" in 2016, by trying to prevent same-sex couples from adopting children, but his hypocrisy was exposed when he was revealed in a hack of Ashley Madison's adultery website to himself have had an account there. Mercifully, Ritch Workman came up against term limits in 2016 and is no longer in office. Rick Scott tried to appoint him to a position within the state, but then Workman was forced to withdraw because of sexual harassment accusations.

On this date in both 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” first profiled Alabama State Senator Paul Sanford, who was first elected to District 7 in a special election back in 2009 on his incredible resume of running a barbecue restaurant. Sanford, in recent years, has made quite a name for himself as an anti-choice crusader, most famously in February of 2016 when he drafted legislation to make it illegal for any abortion clinic to operate within 500 feet of a school. Critics pointed out that Republicans could thus shut down any of its five remaining abortion clinics by offering to fund a school (or more likely in the GOP’s agenda, a charter school) on the same block to force its closure, and Sanford didn’t exactly change course or tone down his rhetoric, defending the move by pointing out that the 500 foot limit is the same distance that sex offenders must remain from schools, saying, “We can put a restriction on whether a liquor store opens up across the street and make sure pedophiles stay away from schools. I just think having an abortion clinic that close to elementary-age school children that actually have to walk on the sidewalk past it is not the best thing.” Paul Sanford’s a special kind of troll on fiscal matters as well, as in 2015, when the Alabama GOP controlling the legislature passed a budget with huge tax breaks for wealthy citizens that created a budget deficit of $300 million, he mockingly created a GoFundMe page for citizens to help balance the state budget. His overall voting record outside of those moments is lockstep with most of the most fringe extremists of Alabama, including votes to see abortion banned at 20 weeks, voter suppression bills disguised as a Voter ID bills, attempts to nullify federal firearms regulations, and a bill to drug test welfare recipients. Paul Sanford was kicking around a run for governor, but oddly decided against running for re-election at all in 2018. With all the corruption we’ve seen from high-ranking members of the Alabama GOP over the past few years, we’ll just assume someone had some solid dirt on Sanford and forced him to stay at home. As such, we’ll retire his profile at this time and profile a different kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 843-40, since this was established in July 2014.)


Brian Boquist

Welcome to what is the 843rd original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Oregon State Senator Brian Boquist, who was first elected to that body back in 2008 after having served four years in the Oregon House of Representatives. For those who haven’t been following Oregon politics the past few years, Democrats hold a super-majority in both chambers of the Oregon state legislature, and what few Republicans are left are, frankly, a bunch of lunatics who are often science-denying morons, pal around with militia groups (a.k.a. in many instances domestic terrorists), or some combination of the two. And whenever Governor Kate Brown and the Democratic-controlled legislature try to pass even modest legislation to do things as simple as taking steps to combat climate change… the Oregon GOP have staged walk-outs along party lines, leaving the legislature without the 2/3 attendance by its members to have a quorum and vote on any bills on the floor.

Now, while we could profile any single member of the Oregon GOP for this level of spiteful partisan behavior, Brian Boquist is the guy who stands out as the radical amongst the radicals. Because, within the power of her office, Kate Brown can order Oregon law enforcement to please go and collect any legislator that abandons their sworn duty to serve the people of the state, and bring them to the capitol. But when she made this request in June of 2019, the Oregon GOP fled across the border into Idaho, with the armed protection of militia groups. And on Twitter, Boquist made a not-so-veiled threat to murder any officer that tried to try to take him back to do his job:

[I]“Send bachelors and come heavily armed. I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”

Boquist is an ex-member of United States Special Forces in the U.S. Army, and he may be fancying some sort of last stand like John Rambo in First Blood… but thankfully, Gov. Brown didn’t oblige him with a shootout.

For this defiance, Boquist was fined $500 a day that he chose to shirk his duties, to which he sued Senate President Peter Courtney over, while commenting that from his perspective as a Catholic that, “Courtney’s soul is completely lost now.”

A judge threw that lawsuit out of court relatively quickly, and due to his threatening remarks, he now must give 12 hours notice before he returns to work so that state troopers can prepare everyone for this violent kook’s arrival.

The entire incident was, frankly, dumb… and yet Boquist and the Oregon GOP have repeated the same theatrics only a few days ago, throwing a temper tantrum again because of the prospect of having Democrats passing a cap and trade climate bill. We’re not going to cry too much about the fact that since his first walkout, Boquist has barely even deigned to show up to work in the legislature, missing several votes, because when he was in the legislature, he would vote against minimum wage increases, against bans on gay conversion therapy, and against virtually any progressive measure in the state. Hopefully, the voters in his district realize they might want an elected official who shows up.

[worstblogever]

[Tendrin]

AOC roasting Paul Gosar on twitter made my night.

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1237186157701664768

[Tendrin]

Gohmert proving once again he's the dumbest man in Congress.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020...d-capitol.html

Republican Exposed to the Coronavirus Leads Kids Around Capitol

Republican lawmakers including Ted Cruz, Mark Meadows, Matt Gaetz, and Doug Collins have made the responsible decision to self-quarantine following exposure to a man at the Conservative Political Action Conference who later tested positive for the coronavirus — but only after the latter Gaetz and Collins made direct contact with the president. But Texas Representative Louie Gohmert, who also made contact with the coronavirus patient at CPAC, declined to self-isolate after a physician said he could return to work if he observed “proper hygiene protocols.”

[Lord Falcon]

One thing I realized today about the comparison between Bernie supporters feeling insulted and not wanting to vote on the one hand, and other voters not feeling insulted and not wanting to vote on the other: They're not the same. Bernie Bros are engaged. They're in the mix of the political process, fighting for their candidate, in theory aware of the issues and stakes. This is different from scaring off disengaged people who dislike how toxic politics can become, or disengaged moderates who see the label "socialist" and it triggers scary thoughts.

Bernie Bros should know better. They're the progressives, the people on the ground, who one would think should be counted among those fighting the good fight for the future of the United States. Yet so many are willing to burn bridges and tear down their allies before their enemies. So many are willing to sit it out after all they've don and let Trump win so they can say, "See? Told you so. You should've appeased us." That doesn't sit right with me.

[TheDarman]

Yes, they are Establishment shills. How do you people not realize that none of these people are the same as they were back then? Hows is that hard to get? I live in the black community and am a Member of DSA and Black Lives Matter NC.
William Barber is NOT an Establishment shill like those guys.

Do you think you can shame me into thinking Lewis is still progressive? Please, try harder. Lewis is a good man, but he supports the Establishment. He even lied about Bernie not marching back in the day, even though he did.

They BOTH supported and fought for Civil Rights. But on other issues, one of those people still fights for us.

I’m sorry you see it that way. But I think that it is a ludicrous statement to assert that Bernie Sanders, who got arrested during one protest and has rode that all his life while doing nothing of substance to change laws to benefit black or brown people, even as governor of Vermont, is a more sincere politician that legitimately cares for minority communities more than folks like John Lewis or the late, great, Elijah Cummings. I don’t think we’ll ever agree here.

I worked in a Nursing home and assisted people with Cognitive disorders. I know first hand what it looked like.
Every family has people with cognitive issues. So yes, Biden does have mental incapacity issues. Even the media knows it. They knew about it last year, and are hiding it from us this year. The Issues he showed on stage last Saturday were shameful.

But I guess I'm using Russian/Trump talking points, even though I saw the video along with many others. I've posted videos of him in his prime, vs how he is now.
Biden has issues. To deny it is just covering for a shitty Centrist whose probably gonna lose to Trump.

The DNC is even changing the debate rules AGAIN to favor him so that he can sit and get questions from the audience instead of going against each other.


Here's the rub. IF Biden is the nominee Trump is gonna crush him. Trump is a moron and an idiot. But he's still got all of his faculties.

What video are we talking about? The one deceptively edited to make it look like he endorsed Trump? The one where his wife and sister actually switched on him and caused momentary confusion? Honestly, these are things that are deceptively edited into out-of-context video segments that could lead one to think something might be up. But I do my research and I watch every video put out there in context. As someone has actually had close relationships with family members as they went through each stage, Biden’s performance doesn’t hit Mild Cognitive Impairment levels. If you think it does, I’d encourage you to watch the videos in context alongside the actual symptoms and monumental amounts of proof one needs to assert such a thing.

And, sorry, if you truly think Trump is “all there” any more than Biden, I have a bridge to sell you.

[Powerboy]

I think we can all agree that if Sanders doesn't shock everyone with a Michigan win tomorrow that the nomination is pretty securely in Biden's hands, right?

Biden is already solidly in the lead so, yes, if he takes Michigan, we just have to deal with the reality that the Democratic section of America just isn't ready yet for something as progressive as Bernie. Further, if the Democratic section isn't ready, the swing voters sure as hell aren't.