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

[worstblogever]

On this date, in 2014, in 2015, and in 2016, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of former Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon, noting that Congressman Salmon was first elected to Congress back in 1994, and pledged to only serve three terms. While he did step down in 2000 and honor that promise, after a failed bid for Governor of Arizona in 2002 and a decade as a lobbyist, he broke it by running for a U.S. House seat again in 2012 and 2014. His rap sheet included producing a bill in 1999 to have Ronald Reagan's image added to Mount Rushmore for "winning the Cold War", saying that President Obama should be impeached over his executive orders on immigration, and advocating for the 2013 Government Shutdown even though he should have remembered how disastrous such things are not just for the country, but for his party, as he voted for two of them back during the Clinton administration. Rep. Salmon also visited an elementary school where he was supposed to give kids a basic lecture on civics and how bills become law and proceeded to terrify a group of second and third graders by talking about Iran getting their hands on nuclear weapons, or that ISIS is training kids their own age to be suicide bombers. Because that's the sort of thing you need keeping you up at night when you're aged 7 to 9.Matt Salmon also just doesn't have a record of voting against LGBT interests, but has a bit of personal history on getting those matters wrong, having once placed his son, currently a Log Cabin Republican, in gay reparative therapy. Salmon is now a twice-retired Congressman, and we hope he stays that way.

On this date in 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, and Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” first profiled Jeff Pogue, a member of the Missouri House of Representatives since 2012 who just was re-elected in 2018 after simply winning the GOP Primary with 75% of the vote. In the six years he’s been in office, Pogue has become one of the most radical extremists in the Missouri Republican Party, and that’s really saying something. It’s not just the bills he votes for, but the plainly unconstitutional ones he submits that have garnered our notice. In February of 2014, Pogue and a bunch of other Missouri GOP legislators filed articles of impeachment against then Governor Jay Nixon for allowing married same-sex couples to jointly file their state taxes. When a state judge ruled eight months later that Missouri must recognize same-sex couples from other states, Pogue called on any officials who recognized same-sex marriages to be removed from office as a means to “stop this Midstate crisis”. In March of 2015, we really began hearing Pogue’s name when he became one of the early supporters of transphobic bathroom bans by sponsoring not just one, but two separate bills to try and eliminate unisex public bathrooms, and to block state funding to any company that ignored that edict. This came on the heels of other anti-LGBTQ legislation from Pogue, including HB 1337, which would allow government officials to refuse to solemnize same-sex couples’ marriages if doing so violated their religious beliefs. Pogue also sponsored an abortion ban in 2017. To be clear, that’s not a ban on abortion at 20 weeks, or a ban if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, he just up and pretended that the Roe v. Wade ruling isn’t a thing and tried to criminalize abortion, declaring it first degree murder. Pogue also tried riding the coat tails of the Center for Medical Progress, attempting to ban the donation of fetal tissue to medical research laboratories based on the fraudulent “sting” videos used by conservatives to attack Planned Parenthood in 2016. Some of the more extreme bills in Missouri that Pogue has simply voted for include a constant dedication to pushing for unnecessary enhancement of Voter ID regulations to help suppress the vote, various votes against raising the minimum wage during the greatest period of income inequality in our nation in almost a century, an attempt at forcing school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance… in ENGLISH, a vote to nullify federal firearms laws, a vote to prevent “the enforcement of foreign laws” based on paranoid Islamophobes fearing a rise of Sharia Law in the United States, and a vote to prevent the implementation of the United Nations’ Agenda 21 Environmental Treaty based on the fever dreams of hard-right loons convinced it was a secret plot for global domination. Mercifully, Jeff Pogue was term-limited in 2020 and is, for the moment, out of office. As such, we will set aside his profile at this time and take a look at another kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 937-45, since this was established in July 2014.


Todd McMurtry
Welcome to what is the 937th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Todd McMurtry, a 2020 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, who was looking to upset Congressman Thomas Massie (a deranged libertarian-wing Republican ***hole in and of himself), and take over a safely red district. McMurtry’s claim to fame? He was the lawyer for Nick Sandmann, aka the grinning MAGA-Jugend who sued CNN after harassing a Native American veteran in front of the Lincoln Memorial and then portrayed himself the victim in the encounter.

Well, that would be enough to cement someone as a serious challenger in a deep red district… and Thomas Massie was already on half of Congress’ s*** lists for single-handedly holding up the original Coronavirus stimulus package by being the sole objector to a remote vote for it, forcing all members of the House to return to DC to do so. So how does someone like Massie survive the first primary challenger he’s ever faced since taking office back in 2010 when everyone from within and without his party hates his guts?

Well, as it turns out, Todd McMurtry had made some incredibly bigoted posts on Twitter. It ran the gamut of insulting Mexicans, mocking transgendered people, and overall whining about the supposed “demonization of white people.” Which is an AMAZING take from a guy who was also Nick Sandmann’s lawyer, but said a bunch of terrible things. Todd McMurtry lost the GOP Primary for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, getting only 12% of the vote.

Because being unflinchingly racist AND an ***hole will always be less appealing to the public to being vaguely racist and an ***hole, like Massie.

[Tendrin]

This article is the most terrifying thing I've read... today.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-...ist-in-florida

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So, Rudy is seeking $20,000 a day to head Trump's legal defense.

Hope he gets paid in advance.

So, who's griftiing who?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ruh-roh! Trump absolutely WON'T like this:

Biden and Netanyahu have ‘warm conversation’ and agree to meet soon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of President Donald Trump’s closest international allies, acknowledged Joe Biden as the American president-elect in a “warm conversation” on Tuesday.

According to a statement from the prime minister’s media adviser, Biden “reiterated his deep commitment to the State of Israel and its security,” while Netanyahu described the “special bond” between Israel and the United States as a “fundamental component of Israel’s security and its policy.”

[Steel Inquisitor]

Ruh-roh! Trump absolutely WON'T like this:

Biden and Netanyahu have ‘warm conversation’ and agree to meet soon

Trump is yesterday's news, which has got to hurt his ego. I'm intrigued by what Biden's going to do, because if his thoughts on Netanyahu are anything like Obama's this is going be a very frosty conversation.

[babyblob]

I know that. Just sad. I liked some movies with Voight in them like Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, Heat. James Woods likewise, even after his horrible politican turn, I liked him in Once Upon a Time in America, Videodrome, Casino, and even Hades in Hercules.

What about the episodes of Family Guy he was in. he was just over the top and over the line and I loved it.

[Amadeus Arkham]

Half of Republicans say Biden won because of a 'rigged' election: Reuters/Ipsos poll

This is what Trump does. Whether it’s casting doubt on the innocence of black and brown people wrongfully accused of rape, casting doubt that the first black president was born in the USA, to now casting doubt on the legitimacy of an election that he lost, this is what he does and does with no consideration of the consequences because - he just doesn’t care. He is a man that thrives off ignorance and stupidity. It’s arguably why he’s president now.

[Tendrin]

https://twitter.com/NYCPBA/status/1328787371056377856

Nothing to see there. Just a New York Police Union threatening an elected official. No big. <3

[Amadeus Arkham]

Pfizer reports Covid-19 vaccine is 95% effective

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Half of Republicans say Biden won because of a 'rigged' election: Reuters/Ipsos poll

This is what Trump does. Whether it’s casting doubt on the innocence of black and brown people wrongfully of accused of rape, casting doubt that the first black president was born in the USA, to now casting doubt on the legitimacy of an election that he lost, this is what he does and does with no consideration of the consequences because - he just doesn’t care. He is a man that thrives off ignorance and stupidity. It’s arguably why he’s president now.

It’s why Trump ran as a Republican because he knew Democrats wouldn’t buy his bullshit while low IQ Republicans swallowed his lies hook, line and sinker.

Pfizer reports Covid-19 vaccine is 95% effective

I find that highly encouraging.

[Joker]

It’s why Trump ran as a Republican because he knew Democrats wouldn’t buy his bullshit while low IQ Republicans swallowed his lies hook, line and sinker.

Which happens because Republicans intentionally tank the public school systems in the states they control.

[Kirby101]

After Big Thanksgiving Dinners, Plan Small Christmas Funerals, Health Experts Warn

“We don’t really want to see Mamaw at Thanksgiving and bury her by Christmas,” MSMA President Dr. Mark Horne said during the meeting, concurring with the state health officer.

[PaulBullion]

This article is the most terrifying thing I've read... today.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-...ist-in-florida

[PaulBullion]

The Trump campaign is now asking for only a partial recount in Wisconsin in

(checks note)

... the two blackest counties they could find.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Trump campaign is now asking for only a partial recount in Wisconsin in

(checks note)

... the two blackest counties they could find.

Grasping of straws aplenty.