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

[Tami]

I’m guessing he’s a true believer who sincerely believes he’s fighting for the country’s future (if this level of personal sacrifice is anything to go by).

Yeah, he is a conspiracy fanatic who believes in what he is shoveling.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

He is a former crack addict who believes he can see into the future though his dreams and sees his business success as a sign that he is a chosen one (kind of like an apostle, only dangerously crazy). He believes that he was given proof that China rigged the election and that he has set August 10 as the date to release this information that supposedly would turn the country upside down and return Trump tot he Presidency and return White Christian People to power in the US.

Jesus! Seriously? I had no idea Lindell was THAT far gone. And what happens when next Tuesday comes and goes and Trump is still holding court at Mar-a-Lago instead of the Oval Office? Does Lindell move back the goalposts like most fanatics do and pulls another date out of his ass?

[The Cool Thatguy]

Jesus! Seriously? I had no idea Lindell was THAT far gone. And what happens when next Tuesday comes and goes and Trump is still holding court at Mar-a-Lago instead of the Oval Office? Does Lindell move back the goalposts like most fanatics do and pulls another date out of his ass?

Couldn't they at least have had the decency to use 8/13 as the date? Come on!

[Tami]

Couldn't they at least have had the decency to use 8/13 as the date? Come on!

8/13 is the supposed date fro Trump's return to the Presidency. 8/10 is the date Lindell is going to release his 'world changing' proof that China rigged the election in favor of Biden (though Lindell refused to explain why China would support Biden over Trump. Though I could speculate on a dozen racist reasons he might use).

I don't think Friday the 13th is going to be a good day for Lindell, Trump, or any of the other Trumpkins.

[Tami]

Litigation Tracker: Pending Criminal and Civil Cases Against Donald Trump

On both the criminal and civil litigation fronts, former President Donald Trump faces a bevy of lawsuits and investigations, with more cases likely to follow. Some are civil suits stemming from his pre-presidential business dealings. Others are defamation claims from women he allegedly assaulted. More still are criminal probes and civil actions that scrutinize his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Chart below tracks all these cases. It will be continually updated as major legal developments occur.

These cases bear on two pressing questions. First, will Trump maintain his long streak of eluding legal liability in the face of so many lawsuits? Second, if Trump is held to account for illegal conduct, what impact will such a development have on his—and his family’s—political and business fortunes?

[Amadeus Arkham]

If anyone cares(which I have to suspect must be very few here) Lindsay Graham has tweeted out he tested positive for Covid-19 even after being fully vaccinated.

[Tami]

If anyone cares(which I have to suspect must be very few here) Lindsay Graham has tweeted out he tested positive for Covid-19 even after being fully vaccinated.

The only thing interesting about that is how he admitted that he would have been much sicker if he hadn't been vaccinated.

Now why doesn't he go back home and tell the people there to get vaccinated?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

If anyone cares(which I have to suspect must be very few here) Lindsay Graham has tweeted out he tested positive for Covid-19 even after being fully vaccinated.

Just heard about that on my local all-news radio station. I was surprised Graham came out and said he'd be up ****'s creek if he hadn't gotten the vaccine. I'm sure that must've been an admission that was hard for a Qpublican to make.

[JCAll]

Jesus! Seriously? I had no idea Lindell was THAT far gone. And what happens when next Tuesday comes and goes and Trump is still holding court at Mar-a-Lago instead of the Oval Office? Does Lindell move back the goalposts like most fanatics do and pulls another date out of his ass?

I read a few years ago that Lindell once spent a lot of money funding one of those zero budget Christian propaganda films just so he could show up and drive a bulldozer though an abortion clinic. So, yeah, he's pretty far gone.

[Tami]

Hey WBE,

I was wondering if you have Jack Ciattarelli on your list? He's running against Gov Murphy.

[worstblogever]

Hey WBE,

I was wondering if you have Jack Ciattarelli on your list? He's running against Gov Murphy.

*does a cursory search*

*finds he is a "Stop the Steal" guy*

*find he hangs out with the Oath Keepers & Proud Boys, even after 1/6*

Verdict:

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile on Stephen Broden, an old pal of Texas Gov. Rick Perry who accuses Planned Parenthood of committing "black genocide", that President Obama deliberately orchestrated the economic crash of 2007 (which would be amazing for him to have done from the Senate), and calling for armed revolution if he was not elected to office. He continues to speak publicly with radical views (including support for "religious freedom" to discriminate against the LGBTQ community).

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Scott Renfroe, a former Colorado State Senator and Personhood supporter who went on to declare during a debate in the state legislature about providing benefits for same-sex partners of state employees, started to volunteer his opinion that homosexual behavior was an “abomination” and began comparing homosexuality to straight up MURDER, after quoting the Book of Leviticus from the Bible. Which is amazing, because even Old Testament fans know murder is one of the Ten Commandments from the Book of Exodus, so Renfroe maybe needed some more Bible study on top of being given some sensitivity training to help him be just a functional human being. Still, Renfroe was re-elected during the 2010 Tea Party Wave, and went on to call for the National Guard to be tasked with sorting through protesters in the state capitol calling for the legalization of marijuana to find the ones with legalized medical marijuana cards, and confiscate them for their actions (note: the National Guard did not come). Renfroe also complained that cutting back on the number of hours of education in physics would somehow lead to the “feminization” of the boys. As you would expect, Renfroe’s voting record was awful, including a vote against a bill to provide emergency contraception for sexual assault survivors, votes against allowing Medicaid to pay for family planning, and a vote to avoid Colorado from adopting the United Nations Convention Against the Discrimination of Women. Renfroe made a bid for Congress in 2014, losing out to Ken Buck while running for the seat to represent Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is only 50 years old at the time of this post, so we’re expecting he’ll resurface and run for office somewhere, at some point.

On this date in 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile of Pete Nielsen, a former member of the Idaho House of Representatives from 2002-2016 who was enough of an extremist that the Idaho Republican Party still thought he was unfit to be trusted to do much of anything, and in the fourteen years he served in the state legislature, Nielsen was never appointed to oversee a legislative committee nor won a legislative leadership position. What brought Pete Nielsen to our attention was that in February 2016, he was engaged in debate over a bill that would require mandatory intra-vaginal ultrasound bill for women seeking abortions, without exceptions for rape or incest, and Nielsen decided to state his belief that you can’t get pregnant from rape, and later clarifying to the media, "I'm convinced because of the trauma it would not be like it was with consensual sex." Sounds like yet another Republican who went to the Todd Akin school of f***ed up science facts, eh? A few days later, likely after Republican Party leaders cornered Nielsen and shook the holy f*** out of him for repeating one of the same mistakes that doomed them only four years earlier in the 2012 elections, he changed his tune, saying that he had once read medical journals that made him believe what he was saying was true, but that upon reviewing the facts, he was wrong, and a woman can get pregnant if she is raped. However, he wasn’t about to allow for the exception in the bill for rape or incest victims, in spite of his new revelation. Nielsen’s voting record also included GOP voter suppression efforts with Voter ID bill, a vote to attempt at nullify the Affordable Care Act, a vote for HJM 4, a resolution to seek the impeachment of any member of the judiciary who rules in favor of same sex marriage, a vote to try to have the Bible taught in public schools, and a vote against raising the minimum wage during one of the worst eras for economic inequity in our country in a century. Now, we would like to say that Nielsen didn’t run for re-election in 2016 because of that gaffe, but he was 78, so maybe he just felt it was time to call it a career. Or maybe, he felt he would have also been marred by his January 2016 arrest on the charges of illegally poaching an elk. The important thing is he’s out of office.

On this date in 2016, 2018, as well as in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile about Michael Folk, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates who on July 15th, 2016, decided to get on Twitter to share his thoughts about former Secretary of State, First Lady, and current Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, posting “@HillaryClinton You should be tried for treason, murder, and crimes against the US Constitution… then hung on the Mall in Washington, DC”. After receiving widespread criticism, Folk tried justifying his mindset, sending out a second message that read, “Sorry, I don’t mince words… read this story & watch this video & maybe you’ll understand. Hillary supporters coming out of the woodwork this morning…” The video he linked to was about Hillary Clinton’s e-mails. Which was not, and is apparently not worthy of prosecution per then FBI Director James Comey or anyone in that role since, but if you ask Michael Folk, amateur judge, jury, and executioner, someone should be prepping a noose for a public hanging. Anyway, United Airlines suspended Michael Folk while they investigated the matter, and he also was obviously given an audience with the Secret Service. As for what sort of legislator Michael Folk is… a quick glance at his voting record showed he’s a fan of stricter Voter ID laws to combat statistically non-existent in-person voter fraud at the cost of disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters, his vote for concealed carry of firearms without a permit, that he supported one of those conservative “religious freedom” laws that’s an end-around attempt to side-step the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage, a ban on abortion at 20 weeks, and a not at all inflammatory piece of legislation to ban a “dismemberment abortion”, which we can only assume is based on the sort of information someone would get from a fraudulent organization like the Center for Medical Progress. Michael Folk did win re-election in 2016, and in spite of his troubling comments, he actually thought he was worthy of a promotion onto the West Virginia State Senate, planning a challenge to incumbent Democrat John Unger and facing no opposition to doing so in the GOP Primary. Meanwhile, he was also trying to raise his profile by circulating a petition to try and impeach West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice because… he doesn’t live inside the state capitol? Yeah… feeling like you have to do a little better than that, Mike. Some people actually commit treason with Russia and folks aren’t hustling to impeach them… also, those same people don’t get you calling on them to be tried and executed, so there’s that. Anyway, Michael Folk failed to get elected to the West Virginia State Senate, losing by just over 1500 votes. He declared himself as a gubernatorial candidate to challenge Gov. Jim Justice in 2020, continuing to refer to him as “Traitor Jim”. He ended up losing by about 50 points, getting only 12.4% while finishing third in the GOP primary out of seven possible candidates

[BeastieRunner]

Hey WBE,

I was wondering if you have Jack Ciattarelli on your list? He's running against Gov Murphy.

*does a cursory search*

*finds he is a "Stop the Steal" guy*

*find he hangs out with the Oath Keepers & Proud Boys, even after 1/6*

Verdict:

A current x-ray of WBE's liver:

[Mister Mets]

Yeah, he is a conspiracy fanatic who believes in what he is shoveling.

The best explanation I’ve heard is he’s getting ripped off by advisors taking advantage of his ignorance of election process.

[Tami]

The best explanation I’ve heard is he’s getting ripped off by advisors taking advantage of his ignorance of election process.

The answer to ignorance is knowledge. Knowledge is not that hard to find, if you are smart enough to do so. I would not give him a pat on the hand for being too obtuse and obsessive to neglect checking the facts and doing proper research.