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

[Tami]

I mean, what would you do?

There are only a few choices (and I really don't know all of them). What I do know is that, one choice is to treat the Republicans like everything is normal (which feels kind of like what Biden is doing). Taking this approach is placing full responsibility on the voters, expecting that the next election will return the government back tot he Democrats simply because the Democrats are acting like the mature, reasonable, adults in the room.

As things are now, that might be expecting too much. So much can go wrong, and elections are as often full of surprises as they are full of predictability.

Another choice is more difficult (and risky), and that is getting tough with the Republicans. Stop negotiating and start undermining them whenever possible. Stop being the nice guys and play dirty if needed. Whatever it takes to keep them from getting getting away with anything they try to do. Give American voters proof that it is possible for the Federal government to protect them. Make some kind of progress that is clear and hopeful. People are scared, they are afraid, and they need help.

[Tami]

Uhhhh.......no....no....uh huh....nope....don't do it.....not on your life.....please don't......(the most embarrassing NJ Governor ever).

Opinion - The Chris Christie Scenario

If Republicans are serious about dislodging Mr. Trump, this race needs a jolt. Soon. No one knows exactly what might do the trick, but those weary of groveling before him would do well to start experimenting — for the sake of the party more than even their own ambitions. At the very least, someone needs to climb into the ring with the willingness and disposition to throw a direct punch. Metaphorically, of course.

Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, has been making noises as if he wants to be that guy. In a recent interview with Politico, he vowed that if he runs, he will tackle Mr. Trump’s weaknesses head-on, from the character troubles to the record of losing. (So much losing.) “I don’t believe that Republican voters penalize people who criticize Trump,” he asserted.

To pull this off, Mr. Christie would need to go all in on his no-nonsense, in-your-face, Jersey tough-guy shtick — the one where he yells at people to sit down and shut up — and quash the sycophantic streak that had him smooching Mr. Trump’s backside for years. If he could go bully-a-bully with the former president, things could get interesting for the first time in forever. In 2016, no Republicans went hard at Mr. Trump because no one took him seriously. This time, most are too afraid of him. They are still hoping to find some magical way to woo his voters without his noticing or fighting back.

Good luck with that.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Uhhhh.......no....no....uh huh....nope....don't do it.....not on your life.....please don't......(the most embarrassing NJ Governor ever).

Opinion - The Chris Christie Scenario

The Outlaw Jersey Whale versus Caramel Caligula? Can you imagine those blubbery blowhards yelling at each other during a debate while Wretched Ronnie D stands in a corner watching the chaos? That would certainly be amusing. Now THAT would make for must see TV! But seriously, I doubt Christie has what it takes to knock Trump off his throne, but, it would be interesting to see him try.

[Panfoot]

Do you ever get the feeling that Democrats aren't doing enough?

Of course, at best we can expect little more than the Democrat equivalent of "thoughts and prayers". It's not the whole of Democrats, but naturally being the 2 party system we are and the 2 parties being Evangelical terrorists and then everyone else, the other guys diluted thanks to it being anybody with any shred of sanity left. That's what makes a lot of these recent events sting all the bit more, even if say after the next election the Democrats managed to hold the presidency and get a super majority in both chambers, they still won't be able to agree on fixing a lot of this ****.

[4saken1]

Uhhhh.......no....no....uh huh....nope....don't do it.....not on your life.....please don't......(the most embarrassing NJ Governor ever).

Opinion - The Chris Christie Scenario

Honestly, I don't think Christie has a chance in hell at winning the nomination. Still, if I had to choose among the Republican contenders - I'd pick Christie over most of the other choices! #notanendorsement

[worstblogever]

Smugness being the most empathetic response, of course!

But hey, when you're right, you're right. Honestly, it rather pains me when others speak of empathy as if it is some sort of cudgel.

Okay, for our conservative friends: empathy is not some kind of box that gets checked off, and once you have it, it's all good. It's not like ... I mean, consider it less a noun, than a verb, kind of? It's less something you have and more something you do ... as for an example, I do practice empathy when interacting with and even thinking of my few random conservative friends/acquaintances. I even have really old friends who support Trump. Having empathy for that is a continual process.

I don't know, I kind of can't think of a better example, because these folks support politicians and policies which ... well, ffs, as people have shown over and over on this thread, MAGA=white nationalism, and as both a POC and gender/sexual minority ... I mean yeah, I would love to "insist" that they understand they're supporting a political party that wants me meek and disempowered at best, and literally dead at worst. I mean, I honestly have no idea how they're able to ignore all the violence; or to somehow buy that "Antifa" or Black Lives Matter are somehow greater threats.

But whatever, again just for the right-leaning: please, please consider the possibility that use of empathy is actually an unambiguous good. That shouldn't be controversial in the slightest. How best to practice empathy is again a continual process, but we seriously have to at least start at a point of understanding that empathy is not ... like an evil philosophy or something?

Republicans have been treating empathy like it's a weakness for decades.

Which, having empathy is the truest strength of someone's character.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Niger Innis, a former Congressional candidate for Nevada's 3rd District who is a frequent quest on FOX News and the national spokesman of the one-time civil rights group CORE, that Niger's dad Roy Innis turned into a black nationalist group that bizarrely would support the re-election of Richard Nixon, and has aligned itself with Republican conservatives and big business for the past 40 years to speak on their behalf and explain why they're totally not racist, against all evidence to the contrary (selling out big for paychecks). Say for example, during the 2012 presidential campaign, Niger Innis claimed that CNN and MSNBC were racist for reporting Herman Cain's long track record of sexual harassment and portraying him as a "oversexed Mandingo". On behalf of energy comapnies at speaking engagments, Innis has claimed the "War on the Poor" is actually being led by environmentalists, and not industry, and has simultaneously attacked food stamps being issued to the needy because it's akin to "the scraps from Massa's table". Innis also defended the racist remarks of Cliven Bundy in 2014, and has declared all gun control measures racist in their motivation. After the deaths of several young African American men in recent years by police officers in highly publicized incidents often caught on video, downplayed a system rife with police brutality and instead said the real problem was "black on black crime". After only receiving 33% of the vote in the 2014 GOP Primary for the U.S. House seat he was running for, he immediately began crying foul due to election fraud, and demanded a complete audit of the election. We're going to go ahead and guess Niger Innis won't be winning office any time soon, even if he runs again.

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Mike Pape, a candidate for the U.S. House seat for Kentucky's 1st Congressional District being vacated by the retiring Rep. Ed Whitfield in 2016. Pape's first campaign ad which showed three supposed Mexican illegal immigrants bumbling across the border, but stopping to talk, in English, about how they needed to do whatever they could to stop Mike Pape from winning office, because he'd help build a wall between Mexico and the United States, and make life too tough for them. Pape didnt' limit his xenophobia to Mexicans, though, as he not only embraced Trump's ideas for the border wall, but called for a halt to accepting Syrian refugees. Scratch that, he called to a halt completely from immigrants from "countries who sponsor terror", which we're pretty sure would only apply to Muslim countries and forget about Ireland's past. Pape's issue stances also include support for mandatory minimum sentencing for crimes and the death penalty while being staunchly "pro-life", his opposition to same-sex marriage, repealing the Affordable Care Act, and other conservative staples. The only thing that could ever be considered in any way moderate about him is that he acknowledges climate change is man-made, but he still didn't want any regulation to prevent it from getting worse). Pape ended up losing spectacularly in the primary for Kentucky's 1st District on May 17th, pulling down but 23% of the vote. He has not re-emerged since.

On this date in 2017, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Robert Bentley, who was forced to resign from office in disgrace when Bentley fired the top cop in Alabama, who dropped a dime to the media about Bentley cheating on his wife of 50 years on his way out the door, saying he was near Bentley once when he dropped his phone, and it had a sexually explicit text on it directed towards a Governor’s aide on it. Audio quickly surfaced of Gov. Bentley making sexual comments on the phone towards his mistress... and that recording was made by Mrs. Bentley, who confronted the governor about the affair in front of their adult children before filing for divorce. It's only a surprise that it took SO LONG for news of the affair to come out, after all, Bentley would answer the door to his hotel rooms while travelling in his boxers, expecting the aide to be on the other side, only to give random unfortunate souls and eyeful. It would not simply remain a family matter, because in an added twist, Bentley used government resources to carry out the affair and cover it up, which is grounds for impeachment, which opportunistic Republicans in Alabama were more than willing to do. The Alabama state Attorney General, Luther Strange, was in charge of the investigation into any wrongdoing during that time, but in a brazen bit of corruption, Bentley appointed him to be the next Senator from Alabama once Sen. Jeff Sessions was narrowly appointed to be the next U.S. Attorney General. Anyway, on April 9th, 2017, Bentley resigned in disgrace after taking a plea deal to accept punishment of only misdemeanors and refunding money to the state to avoid jail time. Bentley's actual time as governor was filled with several embarrassing moments, such as the time he gave a speech on MLK Day in 2011, always a great opportunity for Alabama Governors to distance themselves from the shameful past it had during the era of George Wallace. Well, for whatever reason, Bentley used the speech to downplay racial division, but chose to try to start religious divisions by saying, "So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother." On immigration? Well, in September of 2011, Bentley signed HB 56 one of the more draconian anti-immigration bills in the country into law, sparking a Justice Department review... and only after a Mercedes-Benz executive got arrested under that piece of legislation did Bentley and Alabama Republicans scramble back to the drawing board to amend it to prevent it from infringing upon immigrants who weren't... y'know... not white. Bentley was staunchly anti-abortion signing harsh anti-choice legislation that aimed at closing the majority of, if not all of the abortion clinics in Alabama. Gov. Bentley was also part of the GOP's efforts to disenfranchise voters with stricter Voter ID requirements, and even moved to close DMV offices where new IDs could be acquired... predominantly in parts of Alabama where the population leans... y'know, the not-white parts of the state. Bentley’s legacy is tainted, and his career is over.

[worstblogever]

On this date in both 2018, and 2019, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Georgia State Senator Michael E. Williams, who was elected to his first term in office back in 2014. After being the first Republican politician in Georgia to endorse uber-racist presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 elections, in the 2018 elections, Williams has opted to not run for a second term in the Georgia State Senate, instead opting to aim much higher early in his career, thinking he had a crack at becoming the Governor of Georgia in 2018. Williams drew headlines four times Michael Williams during his campaign for governor. The first time he distinguished himself as being a concern was in June of 2017, when he appeared at an anti-Sharia Law rally being held in the name of paranoid Islamophobia by the anti-Muslim hate group, ACT for America, where he was more than willing to pose with the Georgia Security Force 3% Militia, who just so happen to be a hate group with dual interests, intersecting as not just rabid anti-Islamic nuts who infamously protested a mosque being built in Newton County, and also were not long prior holding a in defense of Confederate monuments. They’re a nice intersection of hate, and Williams was more than happy to pose with them for a photo where they were flashing white supremacist signs. It was only after the Southern Poverty Law Center and the media took note of their friendly little meeting that Williams’ spokesman gave the meager defense that he thought the militant racists were just “pro-gun supporters”. So Williams went to an Anti-Islam rally and hung out with Neo-Confederates… but it’s not like he’s staunchly defending Confederate monuments himself or anyth- oh, whoops, he has, on live television, such as in August of 2017 when he was outraged at the thought of monuments being defaced, blaming it on Antifa, and falling all over himself in outrage that anyone would want to blast the face off of Stone Mountain Georgia. As you might expect, a guy who was comfortable chilling out with a militia group packing assault rifles might be, Williams also has quite the hard-on for guns, himself. Enough so that only a few weeks after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, that was carried out by way of using bump stocks to make the guns used fully automatic, that Michael Williams announced that he would be raffling off bump stocks at one of his campaign rallies. And then Williams went on CNN to defend his criticisms of Delta Airlines, after it decided to end a discount partnership with the NRA following the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. Williams began outright lying around this time to say that Delta was still clearly acting on partisan lines because it offered discounts to employees of Planned Parenthood. On air, anchor Brianna Keilar called him out for making an untrue statement, and he doubled down, defending his lie because he and other GOP State Senators in Georgia “looked it up on Google” and then spent a couple days arguing with Keilar on Twitter, claiming that he’d defended his statement. He then began touting his idea to solve our immigration crisis with a “deportation bus” that would catch, per the painted on sign on its windows, “murderers, rapists, kidnappers, child molestors, and other criminals”. Yes, because this bigot also can’t spell. And doesn’t understand that buses are quite large, slow, and would be easy for any suspected illegal immigrants to evade, but “YEEHAW, he’s gonna catch ‘em all like they’re the Pokey-mon.” The end result of the ad was… Williams got banned from Youtube for violating their terms of service because he was sharing super racist views. Michael Williams ended up finishing fourth on the GOP Primary in his quest to become the next Governor of Georgia. But it was what happened AFTER the election that we found far more satisfying… it seems that Williams fell victim to a break-in at his own campaign offices, and then filed a fraudulent insurance claim that estimated the value of the computers stolen at almost thirty times their actual worth. Williams ended up giving a guilty plea to a lesser charge and got four years of probation for the crime.

On this date in 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Ted Crockett, the former Shelby County Commissioner who was a 2018 candidate for the Alabama House of Representatives from District 45. Ted Crockett is the former spokesman for Roy Mooreduring his ill-fated attempt to get elected to the Senate, Crockett defended the worst of Moore’s racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and yes, all the accusations of him spending his 30s sexually pursuing underage girls. In the process, Crockett taught us all a lot about him, as well, including his belief that homosexuality should be a crime. Only a year later, Ted Crockett was running for the Alabama House of Representatives, and continued being a theocratic loon, including insisting that Muslims should not be allowed to run for public office, because they refuse to swear on a Bible… which Jake Tapper had to point out to him that the law does not necessitate the book in question being a Bible, and it is chosen by the political figure. Upon learning this fact, Crockett was just completely befuddled. Alarmingly, Crockett only missed being elected in the GOP Primary by about 700 votes, even after showing himself to be some sort of younger clone of Roy Moore so we will set aside his profile at this time to take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 989-50, since this was established in July 2014.

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Jo Rae Perkins, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. House of Representatives in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District in 2014, 2016, and 2018, losing each time to the also bats*** Republican Art Robinson in the GOP Primary for that seat. She has run afoul of the law before, having been charged with harassment and hindering prosecution in 2005, and twice filed for personal bankruptcy, in 1997 and 2009. But recently, she was a 2020 Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Oregon candidate who yes, is the latest in a far too line of folks we’ve profiled who ran for office while being supporters of the Qanon Conspiracy theory. Just in case you think she might not actually believe in something so stupid, and was just milking the hype for potential votes, she swore an oath to Qanon online, promising to be a “digital soldier” for them, and specifically mentioned them in her victory speech after the GOP Primary. When CNN went to interview her about her reprehensible belief in it, she was bewildered to see the reporters who showed up were wearing masks during the Covid-19 pandemic and let them know they “didn’t work”. Joe Rae Perkins got a far too high total of 39% of the vote in the 2020 election. She made another run for U.S. Senate again in 2022, looking to unseat Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, but her path to victory looks pretty much blocked given that she has posted video of herself in attendance at the January 6th rally that devolved into a violent coup attempt being carried out on behalf of Donald Trump. To give you an idea of how extremely conservative the eastern portion of a blue state like Oregon is, they still voted for her in 2020, and she one a third of the counties in the state.

[worstblogever]

On this date one year ago, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled Will Dismukes, a member of the Alabama House of Representatives for District 88 since first winning office back in 2018, and has aspirations for higher office, evidenced by his brief run in the GOP Primary in 2020 to see if he could get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District.

Where do we even begin with Will Dismukes? Well, let’s start with how he seems like he’s a fan of the Ku Klux Klan, what with publicly appearing at events to celebrate the date of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s birthday, hosted by a speaker named Pat Godwin who, definitely makes the proceedings quite the little hate rally. Dismukes’ appearance at this event in 2020 was also when Alabama was busy laying former Congressman and Civil Rights hero John Lewis to rest in his native Alabama, the state where he also almost died crossing a bridge in his struggle for voting rights, but hey, Will Dismukes had to honor the founder of the Klan, PRIORITIES. When asked by the local media to look at his life, and look at his choices, Dismukes of course, played the victim:

”I guess, with the anti-Southern sentiment and all, and the things that we have going on in the world today, there's a lot of people that are seeming to be more and more offended, We live in a time where we literally are going through cancel culture from all different areas and people are even more sensitive on different issues and different subjects. This was just one of those times that it didn't quite go the way I expected, and I never intended to bring hurt to anyone, especially my own family with everything that's been said.”

Ah yes. Classic “anti-Southern sentiment” like, “The KKK is a hate group and no good person should attend their events, nor honor anyone who ever was a member of the Klan.” Truly, cancel culture gone OUT OF CONTROL not celebrating a Confederate war criminal’s birthday.

There were calls for Dismukes to resign, but of course he didn’t. He’s only thirty, and has decades of being a s***lord in the Yellowhammer state to get to. He did resign from being a pastor at his local branch of the Baptist church, but as it would turn out, that little schism with his church wouldn’t have had anything to do with his fan for hate group founders, but that he was alleged to have stolen money from his former employer, which is, again, a church.

Starting to get the feeling that this isn’t a nice person we’re profiling, you know?

So now we’ll mention that Dismuke was then arrested AGAIN and charged with felony theft AGAIN for stealing money from a flooring company where he worked.

We’ve established over seveal entries through the past several years not just that there’s a lot of right-wing extremism down in Alabama, but that the state is rife with corruption. You would think a guy twice indicted on felony theft charges who shows up to honor Klan leaders might be forced out of office and call it a career, right? Well, Dismukes made his move to hope people would overlook his illegal activities if he co-sponsored and voted for legislation to make it a felony to give gender-affirming therapy to minors, ban transgender kids from youth sports, anti-choice legislation, and voter suppression bills.

The ploy did not work, as he lost in the GOP Primary in 2022 for his seat with just 38% of the vote. We would like to wish him our deepest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salutes at this time.

[Tami]

Honestly, I don't think Christie has a chance in hell at winning the nomination. Still, if I had to choose among the Republican contenders - I'd pick Christie over most of the other choices! #notanendorsement

Don't. Trust me, he's not worth it. Find someone else for your protest vote.

[Tami]

The Outlaw Jersey Whale versus Caramel Caligula? Can you imagine those blubbery blowhards yelling at each other during a debate while Wretched Ronnie D stands in a corner watching the chaos? That would certainly be amusing. Now THAT would make for must see TV! But seriously, I doubt Christie has what it takes to knock Trump off his throne, but, it would be interesting to see him try.

Trump would tie him in knots and have CC begging for mercy in front of the nation. Not a pretty sight.

[Ragged Maw]

Republicans have been treating empathy like it's a weakness for decades.

Which, having empathy is the truest strength of someone's character.

Though I can understand how one would come to undervalue it, as illustrated by Malcolm in The Middle:

Hal: "Reese, do you know what empathy is?"

Reese: "No."

Hal: "Well, empathy is putting yourself in other people's shoes so you can feel what they do. If you hurt someone, empathy makes you hurt as well."

Reese: "Then why would you want empathy?"

.......To sum up, one may see a fetter where another sees a means of understanding.

[Deathstroke]

Florida Mom...who challenged Amanda Gorman's book apparently only read parts of the book. And her statement is so full of bullshit that it's amazing you can't smell the stench through the computer screen.

This is public school not private. So anyone putting forth this parental rights fuckery should forever and ever be told if they want to do that, they can homeschool their spawn from now on.

Article Link

[4saken1]

Don't. Trust me, he's not worth it. Find someone else for your protest vote.

I will definitely not be voting for any Republican and find protest votes to be ineffectual (and often harmful). I was merely stating that most of the other Republican candidates are far worse than Christie.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I will definitely not be voting for any Republican and find protest votes to be ineffectual (and often harmful). I was merely stating that most of the other Republican candidates are far worse than Christie.

Well, the rest of the field after Trump, DeSantis and maybe Christie isn’t all that inspiring for the GQP rank and file, that being Tim “The Token” Scott and Nimrata Randhawa, a.k.a., Nikki Haley. Be still, my beating heart.