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

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, profiled Daniel Wood, who as a 2020 Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, hoping to unseat Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva in a blue-leaning district. Daniel Wood is, however, the latest in a long line of promoters of the Qanon conspiracy theory who ran for office on the GOP ticket in 2020, repeatedly using Qanon hashtags, sharing Q-related videos, and interacting on Twitter with Qanon accounts. When asked about it by AZ GOP Chair Kelli Ward (who yes, we’ve profiled before for being a nutter herself), Wood explained his affection for other followers of Q, he was impressed by the “evidence” they present, and later on Facebook said Qanon supporters “believe in bringing power back to the people.” Daniel Wood lost to Raul Grijalva, getting only 35% of the vote in the general election in November. Wood apparently is a glutton for punishment, though, as he’s added his names to lawsuits by Trump supporters claiming “election fraud” without evidence in the 2020 election, and also not only has continued to stand by his support of Qanon, but defend those who follow the conspiracy theory while running for Congress again in 2022. Expect him to lose yet again.



On this date one year ago, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled the sitting U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 2nd Congressional District, Dan Crenshaw, who was first elected to office in the 2018 elections after having his profile boosted for several years by appearances on Fox News as a military analyst, cashing in on his prior career as a Navy Seal. He ran to replace Ted Poe for his seat in Congress in 2018, barely winning the GOP Primary by 155 votes over Kathaleen Wall, an absolute loon nominated by Ted Cruz.

Now, we’re not going to follow in the footsteps of an idjit like Pete Davidson and mock Crenshaw for losing an eye as part of his military service (seriously, you’re not helping, Pete), because frankly, he seems to make quite a mockery of himself, like when he made a political ad to support Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in their Senate runoffs that looked like it was a rejected trailer for a Steven Seagal movie with himself photoshopped in (and clearly, it helped Loeffler and Perdue out a ton, LOL).

Instead, we would like to point out that if Crenshaw truly believes that veterans deserve respect once they return from their service, maybe he should practice what he preaches. Because, y’know, he was implicated in a campaign to feed false information to the former Director of Veterans’ Affairs, Robert Wilkie, to discredit the allegations of a Navy veteran and House staff member who alleged she was sexually assaulted at a VA Clinic in Washington, D.C. in September of 2019. Two months later, Crenshaw allegedly began approaching Sec. Wilkie to claim the accuser was a fraud, and when Crenshaw faced a potential ethics investigation for his attempts to silence an accuser, of course he pretended to be the real victim and act like he’d done nothing wrong.

But that isn’t the only time Crenshaw did his fellow veterans dirty, like say this moment in September of 2019 where he fled from two fellow veterans, one a Purple Heart member, for supporting Donald Trump during his first impeachment, and he ran and hid in an elevator to avoid discussing it with them.

Truly brave, Dan.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dan Crenshaw repeatedly refused to wear a mask in public, and kept attacking Democrats for trying to do anything to mitigate the spread of the disease, insisting they were “exaggerating the threat”, because clearly, it’s not a deadly virus that would rack up a body count of over a million Americans so far or anything.

Crenshaw frequently voices support for some of the worst causes on the right, including encouraging Kyle Rittenhouse to sue the media for reporting on him having killed two people, and literally offering the Canadian truckers who protested mask mandates in their country by parking trucks by asking them to apply to emigrate to the United States and get trucking jobs here (presumably so they could try and shut down the American government the same way).

His disdain for science, though, is something to behold, as he has asked for Americans to consider “both sides” of the argument against climate change, even though one side is 98-99% of those scientists, and the side he wants to give equal time to is a small minority. Oh, and he deems solar and wind power as “silly solutions” to providing energy, because OF COURSE any Republican from Texas would say that.

Not only did Crenshaw support Roe v. Wade being overturned, and that he felt “abortion should be decided by the states”, but he is also a Personhood supporter who believes life begins at conception, so good luck getting birth control if he gets his way, ladies!

[worstblogever]

Crenshaw’s Congressional voting record looks like you would expect:

• December 18th, 2019: Rep. Crenshaw 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.
• December 10th, 2020: Crenshaw 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 13th, 2021: Rep. Crenshaw 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 25th, 2021: Crenshaw votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Crenshaw 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: Dan Crenshaw votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Crenshaw 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. Crenshaw 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: Dan Crenshaw votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• March 31st, 2022: Crenshaw votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Dan Crenshaw would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
• May 18th, 2022: Dan Crenshaw is one of 192 Republicans who vote against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
• May 18th, 2022: Rep. Crenshaw votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
• May 19th, 2022: Crenshaw votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
• July 13th, 2022: Crenshaw votes against the Honoring Our PACT Act, to provide healthcare to veterans affected by toxic burn pits while serving in the War on Terror that leave them more susceptible to forms of cancer.
• July 15th, 2022: Dan Crenshaw votes against House Amendment 262, which would require the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense to publish a report on the infiltration of American law enforcement by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, offer measures to be taken to remove them from their ranks, and prevent further infiltration by others.
• July 19th, 2022: Rep. Crenshaw votes against the “Respect for Marriage Act”, which would codify same sex marriage into law nationally.
• July 21st, 2022: Crenshaw is one of 195 Republicans who vote against the Right to Contraception Act, which codified the right of Americans to have access to birth control.
• September 29th, 2022: Dan Crenshaw is one of 49 Republicans who vote against HR 8888, the Food Security for All Veterans Act.
• December 6th, 2022: Crenshaw, embracing the GOP’s white nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment votes against HR 7946, which was meant to honor the promise to grant citizenship to immigrants who served in the United States Armed Forces.
• June 23rd, 2023: As the global media covers the story of the OceanGate Titan submersible suffering catastrophic hull collapse near the site of the Titanic wreckage, Dan Crenshaw goes on Fox News to blame the submarine’s sinking and the deaths of the five civilians on board on the Biden administration and its “failure of leadership”, even though it was a civilian vessel whose owner ignored all oversight and scientific data that consultants gave him to warn him of the dangers.

Now, here’s the thing… in January of 2022, Crenshaw’s luck in conservative circles started taking a turn for the worse. First, it was at a Tea Party event where he threw a fit because he was directly quoted as having said Jesus was a fictional character (RUH ROH for Texas conservatives). Throughout most of his second term in Congress, he was fighting with Marjorie Taylor-Greene in social media, who goes full nuclear LARGE MARJE when he shows any support for Ukraine and doesn’t show proper fealty to daddy Putin like Trump Republicans do.

June of 2022, shortly after white nationalist Tucker Carlson followed up on MTG’s insanity, and on his daily White Power-Power Hour on Fox News, referred to Rep. Crenshaw as “Eyepatch McCain” because he voted for that funding bill to support Ukraine in their war with Russia, Dan Crenshaw and his staffers were confronted Boys at the Texas Republican Party convention and harassed by members of the Proud Boys, and people were shouting that he was a “Globalist RINO”. What could be irking the hardcore fascist wing of the party about Dan-O?

In “no true Scotsman” form, Dan Crenshaw has said things publicly like “Donald Trump isn’t the Devil, but he isn’t Jesus, either”, voiced his displeasure with the House Freedom Caucus, and after the attack on the Capitol, was openly critical of Republicans who stoked the fires to lead the attack, while still being a vocal supporter of Adam Kinzinger for his impeachment vote and joining the Jan. 6th committee.

Yet, he still voted against impeaching Trump, because is would “cause division” in the country. He’s only brave enough to talk out of both sides of his mouth.

Dan Crenshaw, based on all that we’ve listed, is far from a “moderate”, he’s just not “as overtly a deranged **hole” as his counterparts, and that’s the only reason they seem like they might be searching high and low for someone to challenge him to the right in 2024. Had he drawn the ire of Carlson and the Proud Boys prior to his 2022 GOP Primary in March, but survived both a primary challenge and won re-election with 65% of the vote what with his district being gerrymandered to offer him a +15 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index.

[Ragged Maw]

Those countries have far-right parties either in the current government or with high voting %s. Not sure if they can still be viewed in the same light as they were some years ago.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/europe/art...00299_143.html
https://euobserver.com/green-economy/157104
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65926194
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...on-finns-party

Even the left wing nordic parties have veered markedly more to the right:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/13/...-forced-return
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows...on-immigration

I personally prefer more parties but there are also downsides, e.g. it’s harder to form stable governments, governments tend to not be able to complete their full terms, snap elections, political instability, smaller parties ending up in government with more power vs. their share of the vote, the most voted party not forming government, etc. Strange bedfellows in government (e.g. Germany right now). Multiple examples here in Europe of all of the above.

Though the more successful examples of ones we do have I think warrant looking into further as a potential model to emulate. Cause what's currently going on in the places like the U.S. and U.K. might only get worse over time. But I also know that can be easier said than done given cultural and political inertia, plus the regions having markedly different histories contributing to such.

[hyped78]

Speaking about smaller parties:

https://youtu.be/LaaE-uwz3lg

CNN - Poll shows why Biden should be "a little concerned" about Cornel West

[hyped78]

Though the more successful examples of ones we do have I think warrant looking into further as a potential model to emulate. Cause what's currently going on in the places like the U.S. and U.K. might only get worse over time. But I also know that can be easier said than done given cultural and political inertia, plus the regions having markedly different histories contributing to such.

Each country in Europe has a different system, it's actually quite fascinating - e.g. in Spain there are regional independentist parties that represent a % of the vote that can tip the scales, in Greece there are multiple parties but the system allows for a second round where the most voted parties get a boost in the number of seats, etc. I think the barriers to entry have lowered considerably in the last few years, where you have new smaller parties popping up everywhere, with varying degrees of success (e.g. Ciudadanos in Spain has seemingly imploded but parties like the 5 Stars Movement in Italy have thrived).

[Mister Mets]

I think this is something people are forgetting all of a sudden regarding Twitter vs. Threads. Facebook/ Meta isn't exactly a model of corporate transparency:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/u...l-fallout.html

"I honestly just wish we could get rid of the billionaires period" - that I don't agree with at all. They create jobs and many of them donate to, and champion, charitable causes, like Bill Gates.

An advantage with billionaires is that this is a power center outside the government, military, church or other institutions. There's an argument that billionaires hinder progress, but I'm more of an incrementalist anyway.

There are potential concerns against corruption, although that can be addressed by law.

As markets are more globalized, we are going to have some people who are absurdly wealthy because their products can be sold all over the world. Like you, I'm cool with that.

Each country in Europe has a different system, it's actually quite fascinating - e.g. in Spain there are regional independentist parties that represent a % of the vote that can tip the scales, in Greece there are multiple parties but the system allows for a second round where the most voted parties get a boost in the number of seats, etc. I think the barriers to entry have lowered considerably in the last few years, where you have new smaller parties popping up everywhere, with varying degrees of success (e.g. Ciudadanos in Spain has seemingly imploded but parties like the 5 Stars Movement in Italy have thrived).

There are some parliaments where you don't vote for the individual but you vote for the party, and the party allocations are based on the vote (IE- In a 100 seat legislature, a party with roughly 40% of the votes gets 40 seats and a party with 2% gets 2 seats.)

I've heard arguments for setting this up in the US, although it does seem incompatible with the primary system where individual candidates matter very much. The reality is that most voters in the US are straight-ticket partisans, but I don't think that's something to lean into.

In America, there may be some ways to increase the roles of third parties like ranked choice voting, although partisans in charge of the process would prefer to keep the arguments about the lesser of two evils.

[skyvolt2000]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ei=12#comments

New York Post reporter Caitlin Doornbos came right out and asked an awkward question at Friday’s briefing that appeared to annoy the White House press secretary.

“Sorry to bring up cocaine again,” Doornbos said, “But there was a question yesterday during a press gaggle with Andrew Bates that, I guess, he said that he was avoiding it because of the Hatch Act. I’m just asking again, can you just say once and for all whether or not the cocaine belonged to the Biden family?”

[Tami]

Nothing about Moms for Liberty is new. That’s why it's effective.

The members of Moms for Liberty who invaded Philadelphia on the weekend before the July Fourth holiday called their gathering the Joyful Warriors National Summit, but as a scholar who attended the conference to get a look at the organization, I can report that its definition of joy isn’t the textbook one. It’s more like the joy that comes from cruelty. Its members are true culture warriors who see themselves as such, and Philadelphia was their big training ground to fight the “woke" public educational system and by extension, the United States.

As a professor who has written for over 20 years about conservatives and women, it’s clear to me that Moms for Liberty isn’t just another flash-in-the-pan organization. It’s only existed since 2021, but in that short time, the group has quickly grown its membership and amassed clout within the Republican Party and the conservative ecosystem. Moms for Liberty has fashioned itself into the tip of the spear of the Republican Party’s culture wars, and its members may have already been raising hell at a school board meeting near you.

But that’s just a part of it. The group aims not to just take over school boards, ban books and help elect conservative candidates on the local and state level. No, as the visits to the convention from Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Hayley, Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy demonstrate, Moms for Liberty intends to play a major role in choosing the Republican who runs for president in 2024.

And it likely will.

The group Moms for Liberty may be new, but its strategy is not. Education has always been a valuable culture war and wedge issue, one that often attracts allies across class, race and gender lines. Capturing school boards was a tactic religious right conservatives used to oppose progressive ideas such as sex education in the 1960s.

[babyblob]

The new Biden controversy of giving Ukraine Cluster bombs has at least shut most people up about the cocaine in the West Wing.

[Mister Mets]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ei=12#comments

I did not like Pierre's response. It seems a valid thing to clarify.

The new Biden controversy of giving Ukraine Cluster bombs has at least shut most people up about the cocaine in the West Wing.

This is a weird controversy in that it's not on traditional partisan lines. There are plenty of conservatives who wanted Ukraine to have cluster bombs, and there's opposition from some Democrats concerned about the human rights implications. Obviously there are plenty of Democrats who think it's unfortunate but necessary, as well as Republicans who talk about concerns of escalation.

[Gray Lensman]

This is a weird controversy in that it's not on traditional partisan lines. There are plenty of conservatives who wanted Ukraine to have cluster bombs, and there's opposition from some Democrats concerned about the human rights implications. Obviously there are plenty of Democrats who think it's unfortunate but necessary, as well as Republicans who talk about concerns of escalation.

That's where I sit on that issue. Concerns about escalation don't bother me - first of all Russia has been using cluster munitions from the start of the war, and second, they whine incessantly about anything new sent to Ukraine and rattle the nuclear saber. Russia doesn't like it, they can return their soldiers back to Russia.

[AnakinFlair]

I did not like Pierre's response. It seems a valid thing to clarify.

It's been clarified. Ad nauseum. The Biden's weren't even there, and there may be no way to even determine whose cocaine it was. It was found in a high-traffic area that's accessed by both the public and White House personnel. It could have been a staffer, it could have been a tourist, it could have been a disguised James O'Keef, it could have been a leftover from Don Jr.'s stash.

[Mister Mets]

It's been clarified. Ad nauseum. The Biden's weren't even there, and there may be no way to even determine whose cocaine it was. It was found in a high-traffic area that's accessed by both the public and White House personnel. It could have been a staffer, it could have been a tourist, it could have been a disguised James O'Keef, it could have been a leftover from Don Jr.'s stash.

Was there an official statement prior that they are confident it was not Hunter Biden?

One thing that's a bit annoying is the jokes about the Trumps in comparison to uncomfortable truths about the Bidens.

We know for sure Hunter Biden went on a bender and has abused cocaine and crack. He seems to be in recovery, and has been for years, and that's a good thing. But we know worse things about him here (and frankly worse things about Ashley Biden) than we know about Don Jr.

[Dalak]

It's been clarified. Ad nauseum. The Biden's weren't even there, and there may be no way to even determine whose cocaine it was. It was found in a high-traffic area that's accessed by both the public and White House personnel. It could have been a staffer, it could have been a tourist, it could have been a disguised James O'Keef, it could have been a leftover from Don Jr.'s stash.

This whole thing is a nothingburger, but it is revealing. When cocaine found in a public area of the White House matters more than Nazi Memorabilia displayed for guests in a private home, it's clear what one's judgement is worth.

[Vakanai]

I watched the new Indiana Jones movie earlier, and I loved it! But it gave me a couple thoughts - one, the only time I want to see Nazis and swastikas is in Indiana Jones or similar movies, not in real life were people are waving it, wearing it, or got it tattooed on themselves proudly; and 2, the villain seeking to time travel to win the war for the nazis (not spoilering that because every trailer interview and so one points out that's the bad guy goal, be like spoilering that the nazis were after the Lost Ark in Raiders, even when new people knew that going in) honestly would do better if he'd been interested coming to 2023 rather than the 1930s/40s if he wants the nazis to win - feels like they're closer to victory now than they were back then, ****.