All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Tendrin]

Do you have a link? I can't find anything on Google.

https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/st...99980609769475

He's tried to walk it back, but he essentially said 'if it helps fix our democracy I don't need to know about the things I disagree with them on'.

He definitely doesn't want to alienate his long-standing alt-right fans.

Obviously, his position here is deeply flawed.

[Tami]

Yang's base of support had a lot of red-brown types. He was quoted the other day saying he'd accept the backing of white supremacists, actually.

I had to look up the term Red-Brown, and yeah I'm not surprised. I think Sanders may have attracted some of them as well, though not intentionally. I think they are seeking someone to be their face-guy, in case Trump doesn't work out.

[Kirby101]

https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/st...99980609769475

He's tried to walk it back, but he essentially said 'if it helps fix our democracy I don't need to know about the things I disagree with them on'.

He definitely doesn't want to alienate his long-standing alt-right fans.

Obviously, his position here is deeply flawed.

Yeah, "not being a politician" can often lead to untenable positions politically.

[Tendrin]

I had to look up the term Red-Brown, and yeah I'm not surprised. I think Sanders may have attracted some of them as well, though not intentionally. I think they are seeking someone to be their face-guy, in case Trump doesn't work out.

Sanders absolutely had some red-brown style support, yeah.

[JackDaw]

I disagree on that.

Internet trolls, partly paid for by foreign powers, are affecting American politics, they influenced the Brexit debate, trying to influence politics in France, Germany, etc. We need to talk about trolling.

How are you defining “trolling”?

For me, its when some one pretends to have a view other than their true one just to irritate other people…I wouldn’t include other governments using various means (e.g. paid agitators) as trolling…it (organised external government interference) is more sinister.

But honestly don’t think either trolling or foreign interference had any significant impact on result of Brexit…David Cameron’s complacency was a much more significant factor, and that EU wasn’t that enthusiastic to actually keep UK in.

[Tami]

Sanders absolutely had some red-brown style support, yeah.

Like I said, they are 'Shopping Around', looking for anyone that can give them the validation they need to go from fringe to mainstream. Trump is doing that for them, however, there is a cost. Seeing as how many of them are in legal trouble. They need someone who can let them get away with anything. Trump nearly did, but then he was sidelined by the election of Biden.

I can only assume that they are also trying to drag the Democrats down the same way they did the Republicans.

[Tami]

How are you defining “trolling”?

For me, its when some one pretends to have a view other than their true one just to irritate other people…I wouldn’t include other governments using various means (e.g. paid agitators) as trolling…it (organised external government interference) is more sinister.

But honestly don’t think either trolling or foreign interference had any significant impact on result of Brexit…David Cameron’s complacency was a much more significant factor, and that EU wasn’t that enthusiastic to actually keep UK in.

I have a friend who is my polical opposite. Sometimes on Twitter we get into 'arguments'. Once, another person joined in and accused him of being a Troll and threatened to report him to the Twitter Admin. I had to quickly defend him, explain that he isn't a Troll and that he isn't bothering me. That it's just the way we talk politics to each other.

[Kirby101]

How are you defining “trolling”?

For me, its when some one pretends to have a view other than their true one just to irritate other people…I wouldn’t include other governments using various means (e.g. paid agitators) as trolling…it (organised external government interference) is more sinister.

But honestly don’t think either trolling or foreign interference had any significant impact on result of Brexit…David Cameron’s complacency was a much more significant factor, and that EU wasn’t that enthusiastic to actually keep UK in.

On a vote that close, Russian Troll Farms and (correction) Cambridge Analytica could have just enough impact to swing the vote. As it did in the 2016 American election.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Yang's base of support had a lot of red-brown types. He was quoted the other day saying he'd accept the backing of white supremacists, actually.

Would white supremacists want to back him?

[Tendrin]

Would white supremacists want to back him?

They have, they do.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics...han-alt-right/

White supremacists have little issue with voting for candidates of color who's policies can be used to buttress white supremacy. Frequnetly, those candidates just want to be seen as 'one of the good ones'.

[JackDaw]

On a vote that close, Russian Troll Farms and Oxford Analytics could have just enough impact to swing the vote. As it did in the 2016 American election.

It’s not impossible. But trolling and foreign interference existed on both sides of the debate…President Obama, for example, made it clear he wanted UK to stay in EU.

I think that stuff just has an effect at the margins, and the inept and low-key way the “Stay in” campaign was run was much more a factor…the mood of the country was totally mis-read, it felt like 99.9 percent of our senior politicians on stay side felt all that was needed was to avoid massive campaign errors.

And deep down, have very similar feeling on 2016 American election.

[Kirby101]

It’s not impossible. But trolling and foreign interference existed on both sides of the debate…President Obama, for example, made it clear he wanted UK to stay in EU.

I think that stuff just has an effect at the margins, and the inept and low-key way the “Stay in” campaign was run was much more a factor…the mood of the country was totally mis-read, it felt like 99.9 percent of our senior politicians on stay side felt all that was needed was to avoid massive campaign errors.

And deep down, have very similar feeling on 2016 American election.

The Russian interference definitely had an effect here in 2016. Remember, Clinton won the majority vote and Trump got 3 States by a margin that would barely fill Wembly to take the Presidency.
I am sure you are right about the Stay politicians blowing it, but on such a close vote, the interference had an impact.
I also would not compare Obama making a public statement with Putin's troll farms and compromat.

[JB]

Two cases of new variant Omicron detected in UK
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59445388

Sajid Javid said the cases in Brentwood, Essex, and Nottingham were confirmed by the UK Health Security Agency after genomic sequencing.

They are linked and connected to travel in southern Africa, and both cases and their households were self-isolating.

The new variant has also been identified in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.

[Malvolio]

Maybe someone whispered in her ear that she was causing too much trouble.

Probably a lawyer on her team told her that she could be sued for libel or slander if she didn't give at least an "If I offended anyone..." apology.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted profiles of the U.S. House Representative from California’s 50th Congressional District, Duncan Hunter, the current U.S. House Representative for California's 50th District, who has a prolific record of voting against women's interests, like against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act or renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, defunding Planned Parenthood back in 2011, and voting for measures like the Blunt Amendment and Personhood bills that would criminalize even some forms of birth control, let alone abortion. On gay rights, he has been opposed, even voting against the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and claiming "the homosexual lobby" was trying to take over our military. Hunter has also been a hard-liner against immigration, calling for an end to birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, praising Arizona's SB 1070 law that allows racial profiling by law enforcement to catch illegal immigrants, and making outrageous charges that people were bringing the Ebola Virus across the U.S./Mexico border, or that 10 member of ISIS were caught attempting to cross it into the United States (which our nation's intelligence community completely rebuffed). Duncan Hunter is also a huge war hawk, having once listed nuclear war as an alternative to the treaty being forged with Iran, and playing the demagogue to President Obama on Syria, alternating stances from wanting intervention, to voting against it, to saying Obama should be impeached for ordering air strikes against ISIS there. His thoughts on the military are, as well, backwards and exist, as in a Armed Services hearing in January of 2016, he told Navy Secretary Ray Mabus he was “a greater threat to the Marine Corps than ISIS” for putting women in combat roles. In 2017, Hunter supported a Declaration of War on North Korea that didn’t exist, and expressed his support for Donald Trump by giving him the ringing endorsement of, “He’s an ***hole, but he’s our ***hole.” Rep. Hunter, also voiced his support for a GOP tax plan, in spite of both Republicans, Democrats, and in particular, Californians being opposed to it. He was actually quoted in an interview in late October of 2017, saying he would support such an unpopular piece of legislation, saying, “Why punish the rest of the nation because California is stupid?” The younger Duncan Hunter also has been a dedicated ally of the tobacco lobby, frequently doing everything he can to improve access to cheaper tobacco products on U.S. military bases, because our combat efficiency will be greatly improved with our troops being chain smokers. In 2016, Rep. Hunter showed how far his allegiance to the tobacco lobby (who have funneled tens of thousands of dollars towards him) went while in a Congressional hearing, he was arguing against laws that would ban vaping on airplanes, and decided to show his solidary for users of e-cigarettes by honest-to-goodness vaping in the middle of a Congressional hearing, dramatically puffing vapor out to prove his point. Hunter has interesting ethical problems arising from other hobbies he’s interested in, including video games which he illegally paid for using campaign money in 2015. He responded to that by starting off the new session of Congress at the beginning of 2017 by being one of a handful of Republicans attempting to gut funding to the Office of Congressional Ethics. If you’re wondering why it is that Hunter would be so terrified of facing the music over his children sneaking a credit card to pay for video games… oh, the rabbit hole kept going deeper. And literally, it involves a rabbit. It seems Rep. Hunter also used campaign money to have his family’s pet rabbit flown on a plane from California to Virginia… but that isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. The extent of him violating campaign finance laws was egregious enough to garner the attention of the FBI, and sparked a criminal investigation, because the Hunter family was using campaign money to pay for several personal purchases and utilities. Keep in mind, the honorable Congressman has already tried blaming this on his wife, and has recently forced the resignation of his campaign chief of staff, whom he has employed since 2014, and seems to want to take the fall for him. There’s one problem with that attempt at accepting responsibility for the crime… these abuses of Hunter’s campaign money that mysteriously benefit his household and his children have apparently been occurring since 2010, four years before that chief of staff was hired. Among the other things the Hunters charged to taxpayers? Trips to Costco, Riverdance tickets, shots at bachelor parties, and hotel rooms which he was using to screw mistresses behind his wife’s back (that would be the same wife he tried blaming all the illegal spending on). All told, he and his wife were indicted on 60 corruption charges. Now, we’d like to think the people of California’s 50th Congressional District are, at this point, just voting “Hunter” on their ballot for a man under indictment and who literally called Californians stupid within the current term of Congress because they haven’t noticed he isn’t his father who retired yet. So, in order to make sure he could hold onto power, he opted to go with full on bigotry in his campaign ads, claiming his opponent, Anmar Campa-Najjar, a former Obama White House staffer, was actually a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who changed his name to avoid being linked to terrorism. While the pending trial for his alleged crimes isn’t enough to prevent his re-election campaign for 2020… Hunter is still stubbornly trying to hang on to his Congressional seat but was unseated in the GOP Primary by fellow Republican Darrell Issa, who decided to carpet-bag his way over to California’s 50th to unseat his embattled colleague rather than try to take back his old district.

On this date in 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Reba Sherill, a 2020 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida’s 21st Congressional District, who is the latest in a long line of Republicans we’ve had to profile who snagged that red pill and embraced the deranged Qanon conspiracy theory. Sherill was interviewed by a supporter and openly admitted attending a “Great Awakening” rally, taking a hipster’s approach to the nuttery by claiming she had “been following Q since the beginning”. When that interview was posted, she deliberately misspelled her “ThanQ you” back at her interviewer. Sherill rambled about a “new world order”, “globalism”, and fearmongered about the “sex trafficking” being done in underground cults (per the conspiracy theory), and burned through $350,000 of her own money during her campaign. That sum of cash translated to Sherill effectively spending $350 per vote she got, and amounted to all of 3% of the primary vote. It’s even more sad when you realize she finished with 1/14 of the votes by the winner… fellow conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. As Sherill has about no chance to ever reach office, we’re going to set aside our profile of Steve Scheffler for the moment to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1047-50, since this was established in July 2014.