1. #38881

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    Sarah Stephens

    Welcome to what is the 1063rd original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Sarah Stephens, who one of dozens of people who threw their hat in the ring in the 2021 recall election to replace Gavin Newsom in the attempted California gubernatorial recall election. At first, you read her resume where she’s a pastor, wife of a former San Diego PD officer, a mother of five, and you’re thinking she might fall into the traditional GOP Evangelical candidate profile, but then there’s the red flag on it that she served as the getaway driver for one of the Proud Boys, Aaron Simmons, after he assaulted a documentary filmmaker with a lead pipe at an protest on July anti-mask 3rd, 2021. She’s turned up at several anti-mask protests against what she calls “fascism”, or as levelheaded people call it, “doing the bare minimum to protect public health by wearing a piece of cloth on your face”.

    So, if that wasn’t already disqualifying enough, being an accessory to an assault by a member of a hate group, she’s also a Qanon conspiracy supporter, making multiple social media posts with the Qanon motto as a hashtag, and goes in on the part about secret pedophile dungeons under the guise of “SAVE OUR CHILDREN”.

    Gavin Newsom easily held onto office in the recall attempt, and Sarah Stephens somehow got over 10,000 votes, or 33rd among the recall candidates and over 3.5 million behind Larry Elder, and 25,000 fewer than pseudo-celebrity Angelyne.

    We also think Angelyne would have been a far better governor.
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  2. #38882
    Astonishing Member JackDaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    The families of a few million dead Iraqis would like a word with you for a start. Being less racist than Trump isn't a high bar, tbh, and George W. says some of the right things, as he should. But saying the right things is a far cry from actually doing the right thing, and he gladly utilized the politics of white supremacy to his advantage as every GOP candidate has. You absolutely can draw a line from the campaigns or Reagan to W to Trump to show the decline of the GOP.
    A few million?

    Its not a numbers game…but highest estimate of all deaths..direct and indirect fall well short of a million. But…more to the point, if foreign people dying as a result of Presidential decisions is proof of racism…then every American president in last 100 years stands indicted, without exception.

  3. #38883
    Ultimate Member Tendrin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JackDaw View Post
    A few million?
    The second survey[2][3][4] published on 11 October 2006, estimated 654,965 excess deaths related to the warr, or 2.5% of the population, through the end of June 2006. The new study applied similar methods and involved surveys between 20 May and 10 July 2006.[4] More households were surveyed, allowing for a 95% confidence interval of 392,979 to 942,636 excess Iraqi deaths. 601,027 deaths (range of 426,369 to 793,663 using a 95% confidence interval) were due to violence. 31% (186,318) of those were attributed to the US-led Coalition, 24% (144,246) to others, and 46% (276,472) unknown. The causes of violent deaths were gunshot (56% or 336,575), car bomb (13% or 78,133), other explosion/ordnance (14%), air strike (13% or 78,133), accident (2% or 12,020), and unknown (2%).
    Many do dispute Lancet's findings, but excess deaths are a far better measure of the actual impact of the war, just as we are finding from the way deaths are tallied with regards to covid in some locale as to the true costs of the pandemic. I'm arguing that the true cost, up to now, is likely vastly higher than the numbers we can tabulate that only count violent deaths. That said, I did overspeak when I said a 'few million'. I should have said, and honestly should have said, "the families of a whole lot of dead Iraqis would beg to differ with you'.

    But…more to the point, if foreign people dying as a result of Presidential decisions is proof of racism…then every American president in last 100 years stands indicted, without exception.
    Well, Jack, foreign people dying when you invade and topple their government with a policy rooted in racist priors, such as:

    every now and again the United States has to pick up a crappy little country and throw it against a wall just to prove we are serious.
    ...makes it a racist thing. And yes, every U.S. president has been racist or had or backed racist policies without exception.
    Last edited by Tendrin; 01-16-2022 at 08:41 AM.

  4. #38884
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    Quote Originally Posted by JackDaw View Post
    Specifically why?

    Did he pass any legislation that blatantly discriminated against minority groups? Did he use racist language?

    On the surface…I can’t see any obvious reason why he’d be regarded as racist..but my knowledge of US politics is very weak, of course.

    (I can remember him using language about the people of Pakistan that Brits regard as an offensive term…but assumed at the time he genuinely didn’t regard it as such…that it was just a mistake based on not knowing the terms implications rather than through ill intent.)
    Again, that is a good point. There is possibly strong circumstantial evidence that he could be racist, but overtly he maintained a very mainstream view on race in his public speeches and actions. His family has strong business connections and personal relationships with the Saudi Arabs so it would certainly not have been in his interest to express or support any direct anti-Arab or anti-Muslim sentiment though he basically destabilized the region.

    However, at the same time, Obama possibly inadvertently accelerated the breakdown in the Near East and Islamic North Africa with his support of the overthrow of Gaddafi leading to the Libyan civil war and the same support for Syrian rebels culminating in the refugee catastrophe. The "Arab Spring" turned bad quickly for many of the same reasons that the Iraq and Afghan wars bogged down. The leaders in the West simply do not understand the culture or project their own preconceptions on it.

    Domestically, Bush seemed very pro-Immigration which is certainly in the interest of Southern businesses where he grew up from oil to agriculture, and his opinions on race relations were very middle of the road supporting the historically positive view of the Civil Rights movement and desegregation while at the same time, when he was governor, he certainly didn't slow down on executions. Of course, Bill Clinton was also controversial in this regard with Ricky Ray Rector.

    However, a president's racism or lack of racism often doesn't reflect in their presidency. It would be hard to claim that Ronald Reagan was more racist than Lyndon B Johnson, but he opposed taking action against South African Apartheid while Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Acts through a very opposed Congress.

  5. #38885
    Invincible Member Kirby101's Avatar
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    My point when I started this, is even if you say G W Bush was racist, he still signed the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. So clearly both Parties at the time saw it as needed. Roberts decided it wasn't needed and let today's White Supremacist GOP have their way with Voter Suppression. The GOP has gone in a little more than a decade from the appearance of being for Civil Rights to full on KKK.
    But hey, we can pretend otherwise and let them end Democracy because "bipartisan".
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    Frankly, I find it hard to believe Bush Jr. was racist, given all that we've seen of him.

    But I don't think that redeems anything about his presidency. It doesn't make his invasion of Iraq any less devastating, among other things.

  7. #38887
    BANNED Xheight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/st...85756387778566

    Asha Rangappa is a former FBI agent. In this thread, she outlines by the means that the Trump administration was trying to overturn the election. Yes, it was an attempted coup.
    A plan to hold open the determination of the election and conduct an investigation is not a coup but rather an attempt to prevent one based on the existing Electoral Count Act of 1887. Ranggappa is editorializing
    when she says "STEP 3: DOJ, meanwhile, submits letters to each state, indicating (falsely) that they have reason to believe that there has been election fraud."

    Especially true if one believes that the the Mail-in votes were illegitimate and forced on the process. Separation of powers allows for the DOJ as much as the Courts to hold up the process and if needed re-determine the electors according to the real voters. Any new legislation on ECA should ensure that there is a process and where the power sits to hold up the transfer of power to conduct and investigation. The alternative is delegitimizing the whole process and the divide we have now. I do not believe Biden is our rightful president, and millions do as well, and court's forcing us to accept ballots as real votes is not the way to engender lawfulness.
    Last edited by Xheight; 01-16-2022 at 09:02 AM.

  8. #38888
    Ultimate Member Gray Lensman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Cool Thatguy View Post
    Frankly, I find it hard to believe Bush Jr. was racist, given all that we've seen of him.

    But I don't think that redeems anything about his presidency. It doesn't make his invasion of Iraq any less devastating, among other things.
    That was basically what I was trying to say.
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  9. #38889
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CaptainEurope View Post
    I think Bush Jr. is a weak person who is very much influenced by the person he is with. Which is why he seems nice when he hangs out with Michelle Obama. Kind of makes me wonder what his presidency would have been liked with a different VP. Say, Bob Dole.
    This made me laugh.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    The families of a few million dead Iraqis would like a word with you for a start. Being less racist than Trump isn't a high bar, tbh, and George W. says some of the right things, as he should. But saying the right things is a far cry from actually doing the right thing, and he gladly utilized the politics of white supremacy to his advantage as every GOP candidate has. You absolutely can draw a line from the campaigns or Reagan to W to Trump to show the decline of the GOP.
    Does anyone think Bush believed he would make things worse for the Iraqis.

    There are also white supremacist arguments against the Iraq war. Plenty of racists would believe brown Muslims weren't ready for democracy and the world was better off with a dictator in charge.
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    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirby101 View Post
    My point when I started this, is even if you say G W Bush was racist, he still signed the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. So clearly both Parties at the time saw it as needed. Roberts decided it wasn't needed and let today's White Supremacist GOP have their way with Voter Suppression. The GOP has gone in a little more than a decade from the appearance of being for Civil Rights to full on KKK.
    But hey, we can pretend otherwise and let them end Democracy because "bipartisan".
    There was more to the voting rights act than the specific provision that some states and localities should be treated differently because of racist policies generation's ago. Things have changed since then.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    It was a specious argument then too.
    How so?
    Sincerely,
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  11. #38891
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tendrin View Post
    https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/st...85756387778566

    Asha Rangappa is a former FBI agent. In this thread, she outlines by the means that the Trump administration was trying to overturn the election. Yes, it was an attempted coup.
    There are often people with some credentials willing to express opinions on the secret plans of the people they disagree with politically. It doesn't mean they're right.

    The main argument in the conspiracy theory is that prominent Republicans knew in advance that the capitol would be attacked. That's kind of necessary for Step 6 of her theory. It has yet to be established so it remains an unproven conspiracy theory.

    Quote Originally Posted by CaptainEurope View Post
    But I was told that because some of the people who stormed the Capitol were cosplaying and losing their purses, this was clearly never going to happen!
    You may be conflating arguments.
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  12. #38892
    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    Russia Issues Subtle Threats More Far-Reaching Than a Ukraine Invasion

    VIENNA — No one expected much progress from this past week’s diplomatic marathon to defuse the security crisis Russia has ignited in Eastern Europe by surrounding Ukraine on three sides with 100,000 troops and then, by the White House’s accounting, sending in saboteurs to create a pretext for invasion.

    But as the Biden administration and NATO conduct tabletop simulations about how the next few months could unfold, they are increasingly wary of another set of options for President Vladimir V. Putin, steps that are more far-reaching than simply rolling his troops and armor over Ukraine’s border.

    Mr. Putin wants to extend Russia’s sphere of influence to Eastern Europe and secure written commitments that NATO will never again enlarge. If he is frustrated in reaching that goal, some of his aides suggested on the sidelines of the negotiations last week, then he would pursue Russia’s security interests with results that would be felt acutely in Europe and the United States.

    There were hints, never quite spelled out, that nuclear weapons could be shifted to places — perhaps not far from the United States coastline — that would reduce warning times after a launch to as little as five minutes, potentially igniting a confrontation with echoes of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

    “A hypothetical Russian invasion of Ukraine would not undermine the security of the United States,” said Dmitry Suslov, an analyst in Moscow who gave a closed-door presentation on the standoff to Russian lawmakers last month. “The overall logic of Russian actions is that it is the U.S. and NATO that must pay a high price.”
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  13. #38893
    Extraordinary Member CaptainEurope's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Mets View Post


    You may be conflating arguments.
    Or you may have been overlooking the bigger picture.

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    Ultimate Member Malvolio's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tami View Post
    Someone on Twitter commented on how Trump, in his rally in AZ, told his followers that they were being discriminated against by not being allowed to get the vaccine. How whites were being forced to the end of the line.

    It just hit me, he's tapping into their psychology to convince them to get vaccinated by framing it as a White Grievance. Can't say if this is intentional or not, but if it disarms the antivaxxers and convinces more people to get the vaccine.. .

    I'm curious to see how Faux News covers it.
    Yet another example of Trump being right for the wrong reason.
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  15. #38895
    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malvolio View Post
    Yet another example of Trump being right for the wrong reason.
    I could be wrong about this, but it sounds like someone close to him, maybe Ivanka, reminded him that Biden is getting all the praise for the vaccines instead of Trump. It's possible that his ego couldn't handle it so now he's pushing the Vaccines so that he can have his name associated with them.

    Maybe.
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