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

[Postmania]

So, does anybody know why Ezra Miller posted a video suggesting members of the North Carolina KKK should kill themselves with their own guns, otherwise we will do it for them?

Not that I'm sympathizing with the KKK, but I certainly didn't have this on my bingo card for the year.

Yeah he really just became that LTG meme outta nowhere lol

[Mister Mets]

Personally, I think it's still way too early to even be predicting what will happen in 2024. Ask someone in 2013 who would be the Republican front runner in 2016, and no one would have said Trump.

Though there is no harm in speculative talk.

To be fair, Trump did lead in a poll of 2012 contenders (It was 15% in a crowded field) and he had been discussed so often a Simpsons episode set in the future had a joke about the Trump administration.

I think most Presidents make sense in retrospect, but you can also make a counterargument that they shattered precedents.

Bill Clinton was reflective of an era when Democrats won by electing southern governors. Alternatively, no small-state Governor had won the presidency until he did it.

George W Bush was a big-state Governor who had his father's connections and his own inroads to the evangelical community. Alternatively, no President's son had won the White House since John Quincy Adams.

Barack Obama was an exciting youngish Senator from the big state next to a key primary who could rival primary frontrunner Hillary Clinton as a historic first. Alternatively, no black man had won a presidential nomination, and he hadn't even completed his first term in the Senate.

Trump is very sui generis, but he also mixed celebrity with a reputation as a businessman. Looking at the support for Steve Forbes and Herman Cain in Republican primaries, you could see a precedent for Trump, but you have to squint at it.

Biden is a former Vice President with rust belt ties, at a time when that became the important swing region. He had high approval ratings among African Americans because of his willingness to be the #2 to a younger black President. He stayed out of 2016 for an unobjectionable reason, because his son died of cancer. He was also a white guy older than any previous President ever on day one, which doesn't match the expectations for Democratic nominees. And he's the second man in over 120 years to defeat an incumbent President when the other party has only held the White House for one term.

Sanders' strong showing in 2016 and 2020 makes some sense in retrospect. An outsider from a neighboring state to New Hampshire could do well in uncertain times, especially if the first time around there's pressure to keep out talented opponents, and the second time around he has name recognition in a crowded field. But it wasn't always expected.

It is worth noting some predictions about presidential primaries work out well.

Plenty of Republican candidates who were flashes in the pan burned out. People could predict that Pete Buttigieg would not have support among African-American voters, and that he didn't have the resources to scale up when the primary got serious.

There's no harm in speculation, but there would still be the question of how a candidate can win the primary.

[worstblogever]

62%/38% is not a narrow victory.

Thank you for bringing the numbers, because I about did a double take on that comment as well.

[Gray Lensman]

Tucker Carlson: ‘Of course I’m not an agent of Russia’

Well of course Tuckyo Rose is going to deny that.

[CSTowle]

If Joe Biden nominates Andrew Cuomo for a seat on the Supreme Court, the Fox news will have a field day and the Republicans' massive tweets will overload and crash the twitter website.

Of course I have read the Conservatives' and Republicans' tweets aout Joe Biden announcement of a Black female judge. Especially the black Conservatives. If you haven't read Candace Owens' or Diamond and Silk's reactions on twitter, then you should.

Couple of things. 1. Where, anywhere, has anyone of serious standing even suggested putting forward Andrew Cuomo as a Supreme Court nominee? There's right-wing propaganda/wishlist and then there's just utter absurdity (in fairness, often hard to tell the two apart in the past couple of decades). Taking anything Candace Owens or "Diamond & Silk" say seriously is about on the same level as worrying about public perception of an Andrew Cuomo nomination. Ridiculous.

What was that about liberals wanting to cancel everything?

https://www.cbr.com/tennessee-school-board-bans-maus/

You didn't even bother to read the article did you. The article doesn't cite anything about liberals but it does cite books that conservatives banned.

Pretty sure that was her point.

On "top 10 Democratic Candidates to replace Biden", like that Sanders didn't even make the honorable mentions list. Pretty sure that's how it'd pan out if Biden dies/retires. Also like that Klobuchar is dinged for not gaining much support, but Harris (who dropped out before voting began for not being able to poll near Klobuchar) is #1.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”posted profiles of Jodie Laubenberg, of the Texas House of Representatives, who for over a decade, has shown amazing hypocrisy on her supposed pro-life stance. She can push for legislation that would close all abortion clinics in Texas, but at other times, screamed at Democrats on the floor over the Texas House when debate over health insurance covering pre-natal care comes up and she wants children's health insurance and pre-natal insurance to go unfunded because "there's no money for it". She also once argued against an anti-abortion bill having exceptions for rape and incest in it because "the emergency rooms they have what’s called rape kits, that the woman can get cleaned out, basically like a D and C.” Politifact gave that statement that rape kits end pregnancies its own rare "Pants of Fire" rating, because yes, it's that ridiculous. Laubenberg has also compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis eugenics scientists. Laubenberg retired after 16 years of trying to criminalize abortion and harass the LGBTQ community, she faded away into retirement.



It was on this date in 2019, as well as 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Kyle Biedermann, a member of the Texas House of Representatives representing District 73 who is the fella on the right in the above photo dressed up for Halloween as “Gay Hitler”. Now, we’re already off to a great start for this profile, just based on that image, but even Biedermann’s explanation as to why he had a photo of himself dressed up as the Flamboyant Fuhrer for Halloween on his Facebook page during his first run for office back in 2016 is… bothersome. He responded to this first controversy by saying he was “not gay and never have been. Don’t know anything about Swingers Clubs and no desire to find out.”

We are going to point out that Biedermann neglected to deny being a Nazi in that non-apology (which is the far more offensive thing to go and dress up as)… so…

Now, at this point, Kyle Biedermann as a political outsider rushing into Texas politics might seem like he’d be a long shot on the ballot… and then word also came out regarding his history of mental instability. Court documents from Biedermann’s divorce detailed several incidents where he verbally and physically abused his wife, and was negligent as a father, trying to avoid taking his daughter to the hospital when she broke both her wrists because he didn’t want to pay for any medical bills. The judge ordered him to stay away from his wife and not to contact his daughters by telephone…

Somehow, Biederman survived in the GOP Primary, getting 40% in the initial round of voting. In the final primary vote, he got 55% over incumbent Texas state legislator Doug Miller, and went on to raise hell at the state capitol, immediately joining the Texas House Freedom Caucus, with such luminaries as FRED alumni like Jonathan Stickland and Tony Tinderholt. How, based off of the “Gay Hitler” photo and being a documented domestic abuser that this guy could still find his way into office… well, there are reasons we have to pause from writing this blog sometimes to pour out a stiff drink, and Kyle Biedermann sure is one of them.

Now, when we say that Kyle Biedermann joined the Texas House Freedom caucus and started raising hell, rest assured, we’re not saying he’s subtle. Only a few weeks into his freshman term in the state legislature, he sent out a deliberately offensive “survey” on Texas Muslim Day at the state capitol to mosques statewide that demanded a response from Muslim leaders about their beliefs in Shariah law, their opinions about if the Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as a terrorist organization, and about ideological organizations that claim to oppose Islamic extremism.

If that weren’t enough to show he’s a bit intolerant, there’s also Biedermann’s obsession with ending the Texas Dream Act, which would effectively end in-state tuition for any student who came to the United States illegally (obviously not intending to exclude those who were brought here as children whether they were willing or not). And, we’ll add that Biedermann co-sponsored HB 3859, a bill to allow adoption agencies in Texas to refuse to place children with same-sex parents, because you just knew that “Gay Hitler” thing wasn’t a one-off of homophobia. It’s like he’s playing to bigots across the board, or something…

Case in point, in 2019, Biedermann filed legislation to protect Confederate monuments, and pretending there’s a slippery slope where people will tear down the Alamo or World War II memorials, of which, there are zero calls for.

Biedermann has also been caught using Facebook to anonymously manipulate public opinion in his favor, even on issues as simplistic as nixing money that would have been spent on the construction of sports fields for youths to play on in the city of Fredericksburg.

Kyle Biedermann managed to be re-elected in 2020, coasting to victory in November with 75% of the vote. However, he promptly went completely bats***. In December, he sponsored legislation to have Texas secede from the United States and return to being its own independent nation. He was just warming up. Biedermann might not be remaining in the Texas state legislature for long, as he has been identified as having taken part in the seditious activities in Washington, D.C. on January 6th. Both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have called on him to resign, because while those two nitwits spent weeks spreading election fraud conspiracy theories, actually believing the lies and running around the capitol is a bridge too far, even for them.

And no, Biedermann did not have much in the way of regrets for his actions in the capitol on 1/6, because only two days later, he was still grousing about the election results, and calling for #Texit, where Texas would leave the union rather than be governed by a Democratic president.

We will note in this update that Kyle Biedermann has refused requests from reporters seeking his e-mails leading up to January 6th, and he likely has been refusing to cooperate with any official investigators who were looking into them, as well. He has no remorse regarding what happened that day, given his comments in August 2021, and that he sponsored a bill in the Texas state legislature to try and get the state to secede from the United States during the current session.

We hope that this will be the final time we ever mention Kyle Biedermann, because the seditious motherf***er has announced he will not be running for re-election in 2022 in November. While he technically still has a little under a year left in office, we will wish him our finest “GOOD RIDDANCE and f*** off into the sunset and keep f***ing off” salutes at this time.

[Tami]

'Marvel' actor Evangeline Lilly shares that she attended anti-vaccine mandate rally

Actor Evangeline Lilly revealed she attended the Defeat the Mandates rally in Washington D.C., the same event where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came under fire for his comments comparing U.S. vaccination policies to the Holocaust.

Lilly, who plays Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp in Marvel's "Ant-Man" films, posted photos from the rally to her personal Instagram account on Thursday.

In the post, she said she doesn't someone should be "forced to inject their body with anything, against their will." One photo in Lilly’s post includes a person holding a sign that reads “vaxxed democrat for medical freedom.”

"This is not healthy. This is not love," Lilly wrote. "I understand the world is in fear, but I don’t believe that answering fear with force will fix our problems."

[Tendrin]

'Marvel' actor Evangeline Lilly shares that she attended anti-vaccine mandate rally

*weary sigh*

[AnakinFlair]

'Marvel' actor Evangeline Lilly shares that she attended anti-vaccine mandate rally

Well, I think they wrapped on Quantummania, so this may be the last we see of Wasp. Or they just recast her.

[Zauriel]

Any links to those reactions? I don't see how keeping one promise saves his presidency though but it is his choice.

Well, you could have read them on their twitter profiles. But here this is the link.

https://newsone.com/4282162/candace-...justice-tweet/

[CaptainEurope]

Gotta ask yourself what could be worse...

- Things going up for grabs?

- Pelosi potentially being at the helm for a second noteworthy loss of House seats before doing whatever she will wind up doing?

The majority of American voters do not consider who will lead the Democratic party in the House when they cast their votes. They will look at the actual candidates.

[Malvolio]

Jimmy Kimmel had an interesting pick for the Supreme Court. I'd actually like to see it happen.

[numberthirty]

Jimmy Kimmel had an interesting pick for the Supreme Court. I'd actually like to see it happen.

Nah...

If you want to actually go for the tune up?

You just cut right through the nonsense, and nominate a former First Lady whose last name is Obama.

[numberthirty]

The majority of American voters do not consider who will lead the Democratic party in the House when they cast their votes. They will look at the actual candidates.

Not really about the voters...

It is about which political call is going to make even remotely capable representation a heavy lift.

Should Pelosi actually be leading during a second noteworthy loss of House seats(which, fingers crossed, might not happen...)?

Makes it quite a bit harder to do.

[numberthirty]

Never mind her being around if the clown car gets to start investigating things.