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

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, that "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, Doug Lamborn, who first won office in 2007 by gay-baiting and claiming his primary opponent “supported the homosexual agenda” (which wasn’t the case). Lamborn was also named the most conservative member of Congress in 2010 by the National Journal, which makes sense when you realize he was one of the original member of the GOP to push legislation fueled by FOX News’ “War on Christmas”, as well as being the guy the guy who co-sponsored a bill to try to defund National Public Radio. Long before Mitt Romney ever talked about defunding PBS and speaking ill of Big Bird, Rep. Lamborn did it first. Lamborn even once gave an interview where he described being associated with President Obama “like touching a tar baby”, which he defended by saying he had no idea “tar baby” was a racial slur. That may be part of the reason that he once called for American generals to resign to protest President Obama's foreign policy or the time he made a spectacle of himself back in 2012 by announcing that he was boycotting President Obama's State of the Union Address, then complaining when the media actually reported it, and saying he was being "unfairly singled out". Lamborn also took to claiming President Obama was doing nothing to prevent Christian persecution around the globe because he was too busy supporting LGBTQ causes.

Doug Lamborn was implicated as someone who benefited from stock advice from fellow Congressman Chris Collins, whose stock advice really amounts to insider trading, although unlike Collins, Lamborn avoided being directly indicted. He managed to survive the scandal of fraudulent signatures to get on the ballot to win re-election in 2018.

Now in his 7th term in office, Lamborn has continued his feud with PBS, complaining not just about Sesame Street and Big Bird, but getting his knickers in a twist and trying to defund PBS because the teacher on the cartoon Arthur had the titular character’s teacher, Mr. Ratburn, married to another man (anthropomorphic animal man, but GASP, A MAN!). Lamborn’s fury, as follows:

”A case in point is PBS—the Public Broadcasting Service—which recently aired a surprising episode of the children’s show “Arthur” titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone.” In this episode, PBS writers deemed it appropriate to preach their liberal views on same-sex marriage to America’s young children: The episode featured—and celebrated—a same-sex wedding.
After the episode, many conservatives, including Rev. Franklin Graham and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, came out in opposition. Even the state of Alabama opted against airing the program and instead barred the episode from Alabama Public Television. When confronted with criticism, Marc Brown, the creator of “Arthur,” explained: ‘That’s not the kind of world we want to live in, and we want children educated so they can see there’s not just one type of family.’
Taxpayers now know with complete certainty that the goal of the PBS cartoon is to impart social liberalism to children… “

… Get bent, Lamborn. And stop whining all the time about the Green New Deal without seeming to even know what it IS, and labeling everything you don’t like “socialism”.

Anyway, it’s probably not a shock to anyone that Lamborn, now in his eighth term in office after winning re-election in 2020 with 58% of the vote, continues to rack up a highly conservative voting record, now in the minority:

• December 18th, 2019: Lamborn ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
• May 15th, 2020: Lamborn votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• December 10th, 2020: Lamborn signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
• January 7th, 2021: Doug Lamborn votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Lamborn votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because he doesn't feel Trump should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
• February 4th, 2021: Doug Lamborn 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).
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Lamborn 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: Doug Lamborn votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Lamborn 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. Lamborn 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).
• May 19th, 2021: Rep. Lamborn votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• July 28th, 2021: Doug Lamborn rages on the floor of the House against mask mandates for members of Congress as advised by the attending physician for the House, saying that if he is required to wear one, instead, all of Congress should just be “adjourned and shut this place down”. He continued rambling and publicly questioning the efficacy of vaccines, while he was at it. More on him not wanting any legislative business to happen below…

Colorado’s 5th Congressional District still has a +14 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and remains the most conservative district in the state. That means Doug Lamborn be incredibly hard to pry from office, even what with news that his own staffers are getting fired for taking precautions during the Covid-19 pandemic and allegedly being told by Lamborn that Covid-19 is a “hoax fabricated to derail Donald Trump’s reelection bid”. Further e-mails between staffers indicate Lamborn will also be facing an ethics investigation for allegedly having Congressional staff run errands for his wife, against Congressional rules. In a sane world, where people understand science and don’t adhere to conspiracy theories, he’d already have been toast years ago. Alas, that’s not the direction this country, in particular his district has trended.

[babyblob]

The whole Trump starting a nuclear war with China thing. I have to read more about what Milley did with Afghanistan before I can comment.

Okay. To be honest that is what I thought you meant but I didnt want to debate with out making sure. i dont want to debate and get mad over a misunderstanding. That point I will give you.

[Xheight]

Step 1: Whitewash the past.
Step 2: Invoke the ‘Bootstraps’ myth.
Step 3: Blame the current generation.

“Land of opportunity” illusion maintained!

Tell that to the Haitians waiting at the border. In fact ask any number of immigrants who are "POC" like my own family and opportunity has been here and the current gen is making out just fine (except for the quotas keeping us out of Ivy Leagues, Thanks SCOTUS)

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

When the president is a massive security risk I say yes it's perfectly fine to feed them misinformation.

It's still a problem. You can't have unelected generals usurping the authority of the elected President to make unilateral decisions for the country unless they can later prove good cause. I'm not saying good cause didn't exist, but Milley does have a high standard to meet that Trump was on the verge of doing something so over the pale that he had to step in. In which case, then we have to look at why Trump's cabinet didn't invoke the 25th if something like that was happening.

That said it sounds like what Milley did was with the go ahead from the Secretary of Defense and he was following the normal chain of commands.

[Xheight]

PwrdOn
Japan-Korea relations are pretty much at an all time low right now, which is all the more telling given that under the present circumstances they really should be patching things up and present a united front against China. The problem, as always, is that regardless of what Koreans want, the Japanese don’t actually want to move on, because they still look back with pride on a time when Japan was a rising power and ruled over subject peoples following in the mold of the European empires they admired so much.

There is something in that which most people don't get about Japan being to this day a very racial culture. Their loss of empire not as much by my estimation of friends that live there.

[Jack Dracula]

Does it? Are we supposed to believe all four star generals are models of sanity and rectitude? Perhaps another one now is contemplating similar action because he regards Joe B is mentally frail because of his age. Would that really be acceptable??

What a lot of people seem to be ignoring is the disinformation campaign run with the deliberate aim of stalling the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, in the hopes that Joe B would be more tractable than the Donald and might be persuaded to abort withdrawal.

Here was a democratically elected President seeking to pursue a popular policy (the large majority of people on this thread support it, I think, while having perhaps having reservations about how it was planned) who was deliberately mis-fed wrong gen.

How is that defendable? That has nothing to do with the Donald pursuing an immediately dangerous policy, so the argument “The Donald was about to do something incredibly dangerous” can not be trotted out.

Seriously if the allegations in the Bob Woodward book have any credibility (I assume they have), I think there is an overpowering case for court martial procedure. I do not see how anyone Democrat or Republican can be comfortable with the idea of a general working against the President.

If circumstances were so exceptional that it was justified, then that needs to be established in open court.

But I guess, given the nature of politics this issue will be divided along party lines. Every Republican will act outraged even if they are not, every Democrat will pretend it is all okay, even if they feel really concerned and uneasy.

I was commenting on Milley working to secure the protocols regarding orders from the office of the President to launch an attack against a foreign power. What Milley did was go to each of his staff and confirm they would follow the chain of command and clear any such orders through him. That's within his power to do. I believe he had good reason based on the events of Jan 6.
As to China, see my previous post. The fact he felt it necessary should tell us something about the circumstances in the White House at the time.
If Biden suddenly started behaving as erratically as Trump was after the election I'd prefer to have someone looking out for the nation while everyone else in his orbit was busy stroking his ego and feeding his paranoia like Trump's advisers were. My being a Democrat has nothing to do with it.

[Jack Dracula]

Tell that to the Haitians waiting at the border. In fact ask any number of immigrants who are "POC" like my own family and opportunity has been here and the current gen is making out just fine (except for the quotas keeping us out of Ivy Leagues, Thanks SCOTUS)

I'm not a person of color but I'm basing my comments on documented evidence collected and reported by responsible journalists and researchers many of whom are people of color.
If you're a person of color denying systemic racism I don't think it's my place to argue with you about it, but I suspect over time you'll come to see things differently.

[AnakinFlair]

Giving misinformation on Afghanistan so that he could try and play Biden into staying, and saying he would give info to the Chinese is not defending the construction in anyway. Misleading the president and talking about giving info to a country everyone says is a threat is not at all defending the American Constitution!

The first has nothing at all to do with the 6th. I dont see how the second does either.

I hate Trump and I hate the role he played on the 6th. But one has nothing to do with the other.

I could make an excuse for taking steps to make sure Trump doesnt order a nuke attack or something. but the other two? No way.

Okay, maybe I missed this in the news dump. Where was it said that the Generals were feeding Trump misinformation on Afghanistan? I thought that was just a hypothetical someone on the board was saying.

[worstblogever]

Okay, maybe I missed this in the news dump. Where was it said that the Generals were feeding Trump misinformation on Afghanistan? I thought that was just a hypothetical someone on the board was saying.

It seems to be originating from Bob Woodward's next book excerpts, so it's a bit soon for Trump supporters to have, y'know, been declaring General Milley guilty of treason.

There's some scrutiny on Woodward's secondhand interpretation of things going on, there's always going to justifiably be scrutiny on any member of the Trump administration's side of the story, what with all the certifiably insane lies they tell.

The truth will not be in the middle, but it's not necessarily that Woodward's got 100% accuracy on what he's putting together. Enough to at least avoid libel.

[Reviresco]

I'm sure the people who told us we have nothing to worry about with voter suppression laws in Georgia and that the problems with them were merely 'overstated' will tell us this is okay too.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger threatened to remove Fulton County's entire elections board after a new leader was appointed in spite of his opposition, the Associated Press reported.

The Fulton County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday voted to make Cathy Woolard, a former Atlanta City Council president, chair for the county's Board of Registration and Elections.

Raffensperger called Woolard's instatement a "blatantly political appointment" since she had enrolled as a lobbyist for the Fair Fight Action group started by Democrat Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost a race for governor against Republican Brian Kemp in 2018. He said in a press release that he would attempt to remove the elections board by invoking a provision in a new Georgia election law.

"Fulton County needs to think again before appointing someone who is bought and paid for by Stacey Abrams to run elections in Fulton County," Raffensperger said in the release, adding that it would "do incredible damage to the already terrible reputation Fulton has for running




And why wasn't this guy screaming about "incredible damage" when Secretary of State Brian Kemp was running the Governor's election, while running as a candidate for Governor???

So much blatant hypocrisy.

[Tendrin]

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger threatened to remove Fulton County's entire elections board after a new leader was appointed in spite of his opposition, the Associated Press reported.

The Fulton County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday voted to make Cathy Woolard, a former Atlanta City Council president, chair for the county's Board of Registration and Elections.

Raffensperger called Woolard's instatement a "blatantly political appointment" since she had enrolled as a lobbyist for the Fair Fight Action group started by Democrat Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost a race for governor against Republican Brian Kemp in 2018. He said in a press release that he would attempt to remove the elections board by invoking a provision in a new Georgia election law.

"Fulton County needs to think again before appointing someone who is bought and paid for by Stacey Abrams to run elections in Fulton County," Raffensperger said in the release, adding that it would "do incredible damage to the already terrible reputation Fulton has for running




And why wasn't this guy screaming about "incredible damage" when Secretary of State Brian Kemp was running the Governor's election, while running as a candidate for Governor???

So much blatant hypocrisy.

IOKIYAR, you know.

[CaptainEurope]

Here is the bulk of why you are not seeing that kind of attitude from them.

They are actually "Left..." Americans who have been living here, and actually keeping track of what he has done.

Take a minute. Think about this next one really hard, and do a quick bit of research as needed.

When, exactly, have you heard Biden actually bring up getting card check done since he took office?

He was probably doing whatever "Forcing Debate..." on card check was back when he and former President Obama were running for office.

Those Americans that you mentioned know exactly where that went, and seemingly, where it will stay.

That reality most likely informs their attitude on what that fellow was in awe of.

A lot of the things he already has done did not happen in Europe, and weren't even discussed, like the child credit and the temporary moratorium on evictions. I don't think ANY European country even considered telling landlords that they could not kick people out for falling behind on their rent.

As for the rest: it's still fairly early in his presidency. Having the conversation now seems like a necessary first step, one that his not being taken by the European left.

[Starter Set]

I don't think ANY European country even considered telling landlords that they could not kick people out for falling behind on their rent

You can't kick out people, for ANY reason, during winter time where i live. (and i'm pretty sure it's in Europe lol)

[CaptainEurope]

You can't kick out people, for ANY reason, during winter time where i live. (and i'm pretty sure it's in Europe lol)

I meant because of the covid crisis. But that is an interesting rule, where in Europe are you?

[numberthirty]

A lot of the things he already has done did not happen in Europe, and weren't even discussed, like the child credit and the temporary moratorium on evictions. I don't think ANY European country even considered telling landlords that they could not kick people out for falling behind on their rent.

As for the rest: it's still fairly early in his presidency. Having the conversation now seems like a necessary first step, one that his not being taken by the European left.

You do realize that there was a moratorium in place last year, right?