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

[Malvolio]

And, much as we are loathe to report it, Thomas Massie just won a fourth term in office in the 2018 elections, earning 62% of the vote. He didn’t even get sworn in for this term in office without drawing headlines again, this time for, days after Thanksgiving, mocking progressives for wanting Healthcare for All by arguing against the idea that human beings have a right to food:


Spoiler alert, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights confirmed food was a human right. Also, Massie’s supposed influence, Jesus Christ, was rather vocal about the value of feeding the hungry, so…

His next Democratic opponent should use that. Play that clip and then answer, "Yes! Damn right basic food should be a right for all!"

[shooshoomanjoe]

I get people not liking congress and the awful things they have done but isn't this the real terrorism? Reminds us all of Another Homegrown Domestic Terrorist who has been radicalized by the left wing extremist rhetoric!

I see a lot of posts on social media making this connection. Apparently they don't know the difference between terrorism and arson.

[Malvolio]

I see a lot of posts on social media making this connection. Apparently they don't know the difference between terrorism and arson.

Yeah, from what I've heard on the radio, it was just a homeless guy trying to keep himself warm and set the tree on fire by accident.

[Tami]

I get people not liking congress and the awful things they have done but isn't this the real terrorism? Reminds us all of Another Homegrown Domestic Terrorist who has been radicalized by the left wing extremist rhetoric!

Last I heard it was a homeless man, possibly drunk, and no indication of why he did what he did. Maybe he was cold and wanted a fire to warm himself by.

[Tami]

Sanna Marin: Finland's PM sorry for clubbing after Covid contact

Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin has apologised for going clubbing after coming into close contact with a Covid-19 case.

Sanna Marin went on a night out in Helsinki on Saturday, hours after her foreign minister had tested positive.

She was initially told she did not need to isolate because she had been fully vaccinated, but later missed a text that advised her to do so.

Critics questioned her judgement for not isolating until testing negative.

The Social Democratic prime minister, 36, said the text message that advised her to avoid social contact was sent to her work phone, which she had left at home.

When she saw the text on Sunday, she urgently sought a Covid test and the result came back negative.

At first Ms Marin defended her actions, arguing that she had followed the advice of her secretary of state, who informed her about the Covid exposure.

But in a Facebook post on Monday, Ms Marin said she should have double-checked the guidance and used better judgement.

"I am very sorry for not understanding that I needed to do that,"

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Last I heard it was a homeless man, possibly drunk, and no indication of why he did what he did. Maybe he was cold and wanted a fire to warm himself by.

I just heard that report too. The guy probably had zero idea he was outside the headquarters of Faux News, or even knew what it was. Just a ridiculous case of circumstance.

[Kirby101]

A reminder.

[babyblob]

All the major issues in the country I am glad an elected official wanted to waste time on this.

Senator Bill Coleman want to rename 3 inches of a highway after Lincoln Riley. he said he would pay for the time so no tax payer money would be wasted. but how bout the time and money wasted to even introduce this in a session? And a vote?

https://kfor.com/news/local/oklahoma...lincoln-riley/

[WestPhillyPunisher]

All the major issues in the country I am glad an elected official wanted to waste time on this.

Senator Bill Coleman want to rename 3 inches of a highway after Lincoln Riley. he said he would pay for the time so no tax payer money would be wasted. but how bout the time and money wasted to even introduce this in a session? And a vote?

https://kfor.com/news/local/oklahoma...lincoln-riley/

With precious few exceptions, college football coaches are slightly more stationary than freight train hopping hobos from the first half of the 20th century, so even this small gesture would be a waste.

[JCAll]

Last I heard it was a homeless man, possibly drunk, and no indication of why he did what he did. Maybe he was cold and wanted a fire to warm himself by.

[worstblogever]

(Oddly, the second half of my Thomas Massie post seems to have gotten tripped up, so here it is.)

Here’s some of the other jackassery from Massie over the past few years, and the extent of legislation which he mindlessly opposes:

• July 12th, 2019: Massie is one of 12 Republicans who vote against the re-authorization of the Zadroga Act to provide healthcare to 9/11 First Responders.
• December 3rd, 2019: Thomas Massie is one of 71 Republicans who vote against House Resolution 546, which stated disapproval of any attempt to readmit the Russian federation back into the G7 and make it the G8.
• February 26th, 2020: Massie is one of only four members of Congress who are racist enough to vote against an anti-lynching bill.
• March 27th, 2020: Rep. Massie opposes the idea of a simple voice vote on Coronavirus stimulus and forces the entire House to return to Washington D.C. in person during the earliest stages of a pandemic.
• April 23rd, 2020: Thomas Massie is one of 4 Republicans who vote against the Coronavirus stimulus bill in the House.
• May 15th, 2020: Massie votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• May 27th, 2020: Rep. Massie is the lone vote against the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
• December 10th, 2020: Massie signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
• January 7th, 2021: Thomas Massie votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Massie votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
• February 4th, 2021: Thomas Massie votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
• February 25th, 2021: Massie votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Massie votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
• March 3rd, 2021: Thomas Massie votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Massie votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
• March 17th, 2021: Rep. Massie votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• March 17th, 2021: Massie is one of twelve Republicans who pick a side to have rooted for in the failed coup attempt on 1/6/21 and votes against awarding Congressional gold medals to members of the Capitol Police who bravely defended members of Congress during the attack.
• May 19th, 2021: Rep. Massie votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack
• May 20th, 2021: Massie is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
• June 15th, 2021: Rep. Massie is one of twenty-one Republicans who pick a side to have rooted for in the failed coup attempt on 1/6/21 and votes against awarding Congressional gold medals to members of the Capitol Police who bravely defended members of Congress during the attack.
• June 16th, 2021: Thomas Massie is one of 14 Republicans who vote against celebrating Juneteenth as a federal holiday. He claims that his reason was that people might be confused about Independence Day and think they have to choose between the two holidays, insisting he would have voted for it if the name was “Emancipation Day”.
• July 4th, 2021: Thomas Massie posts on Twitter about his belief that the Founding Fathers would have been opposed to mask and vaccine mandates, ignoring actual history, and that George Washington mandated the smallpox vaccine to troops at Valley Forge.
• July 22nd, 2021: Rep. Massie is one of 16 Republicans who vote against HR 3895, the Allies Act, which was passed without his support to raise the amount of visas offered and to expedite their issue to Afghan translators and their families to honor our promise to protect them against the Taliban after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, thus feeling we should go back on our word and leave them to die.
• August 25th, 2021: Massie posts, then deletes a post on Twitter where XXXx by showing the arm of a concentration camp victim while complaining about them.
• November 5th, 2021: Thomas Massie votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

On top of all the above moments, we’re going to link to a ThinkProgress investigation that has shown how many other times there were resolutions in Congress to criticize or punish Russia for executing its political enemies, or its annexation of Crimea, and how the only people who voted against the bills were Thomas Massie and “Putin’s favorite Congressman” of the time, Dana Rohrabacher. By default, that would mean Massie is now Putin’s favorite. And considering he was wining and dining Maria Butina prior to her arrest, and also had dinner with Alexander Torshin, maybe that should be a major concern.

But Kentucky’s 4th sent Massie forward from the 2020 GOP Primary with 80% of the vote, and on Election Day of that year, , re-elected Thomas Massie with 67% of the vote. Maybe they aren’t aware of everything we just listed, or they just like seeing someone in DC who pisses off the rest of Congress out of spite to the overall political process. Or days after a mass shooting carried out by an angry teenager whose parents seemed to enable him by putting guns in his hand as their only approval or attention to their kid… posts gleeful photos of himself and his whole family for the holidays armed to the teeth like they’re celebrating gun deaths.

Go figure, it’s a libertarian wing conservative with no f***ing empathy whatsoever. At this point, it’s a requirement of the philosophy.

[Xheight]

Last I heard it was a homeless man, possibly drunk, and no indication of why he did what he did. Maybe he was cold and wanted a fire to warm himself by.

And the homeless aren't political? I guess the lady who beat the asian woman with a hammer wasn't racist then either.

Craig Tamanaha, a 49-year-old man, who is homeless is currently held at Midtown Precinct North by the NYPD, according to a Daily Mail report citing an update provided by an NYPD spokesperson. "On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at approximately 0014 hours, a 49-year-old male was observed by Fox News Channel security climbing the Christmas tree decorated outside their office building near the corner of West 48 Street and Sixth Avenue, within the confines of the Midtown North Precinct. Upon arrival, officers observed the male running from the location and he was taken into custody without further incident. The fire within the tree was extinguished without further injury or incident by responding FDNY personnel."

Other details about Tamanaha including how long he's been staying in New York, and if he has a criminal record in other cities remain unclear at the moment. The recent arrest is Tamanaha's third brush with the NYPD, having previously been arrested on two occasions in February and March this year, both times for drugs possession. Detectives working on this case told the outlet that Tamanaha's recent alleged crime was a random act and not politically fuelled. He is expected to appear in court later on December 8 on six charges including arson, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, and disorderly conduct. The spokesperson also confirmed that a lighter was recovered from Tamanaha at the time of his arrest but authorities are still investigating if it was used to light a fire to the tree that was decorated with 10,000 ornaments and took 21 hours to be installed.

https://meaww.com/who-fox-christmas-...es-against-him

[Zauriel]

And of course, everything happened in a very civilized manner: The Social Democrats, Greens and FDP market liberals agreed on a coalition treaty and today, Olaf Scholz was voted by parliament to succeed Merkel as chancellor. The president then made it official.

Oh, and Scholz is only the 2nd German chancellor in post war history who took the oath of office without adding "so help me God." The other was Merkel's predecessor, Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder.

Yeah, I just read the news. Congratulations to the SPD. I am happy that they won.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59575773

So the Social Democrats finally took over the Bundestag, after 16 years but only with a plurality rather than a majority. That is why they had to form a coalition with the other parties intact. I hope the SPD and their allies make good on their promises to their constituents.

Bye-bye, Frau Kanzlerin Merkel. And Hello, Herr Kanzler Scholz.

By the way, Kanzler is a German word for male chancellor. Kanzlerin is German for female chancellor.

[seismic-2]

You mean this wasn't the opening conflict in Fox News' long-feared "War Against Christmas"?

[Ragged Maw]

And the homeless aren't political? I guess the lady who beat the asian woman with a hammer wasn't racist then either.

I suppose if we're going to compare vague/sketchy motives, measuring what you just mentioned against the case of that guy who left those pipe bombs after that BLM rally (mentioned a page or two earlier) would be fair game.