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

[InformationGeek]

Meanwhile, over in Tennessee, there's probably going to be an HIV outbreak.

The Tennessee Dept. of Health says it will no longer accept federal grant money to prevent or treat HIV. Experts worry the state is setting itself up for a major outbreak.

[Kirby101]

Meanwhile, over in Tennessee, there's probably going to be an HIV outbreak.

Owning the libs is more important than people's lives. Besides, it's only Gays and Trans people who get HIV.

[Tami]

Meanwhile, over in Tennessee, there's probably going to be an HIV outbreak.

Why? What are they thinking?

HIV data and statistics

U.S. Statistics

Fast Facts

• Approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S.a have HIV. About 13 percent of them don’t know it and need testing.
• HIV continues to have a disproportionate impact on certain populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities and gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.
• In 2019, an estimated 34,800 new HIV infections occurred in the U.S.
• New HIV infections declined 8% from 37,800 in 2015 to 34,800 in 2019, after a period of general stability.
• In 2020, 30,635 people received an HIV diagnosis in the U.S. and 6 dependent areas—a 17% decrease from the prior year, likely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV prevention, testing, and care-related services.b
• HIV diagnoses are not evenly distributed across states and regions. The highest rates of new diagnoses continue to occur in the South.

HIV incidence declined 8% from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, the estimated number of HIV infections in the U.S. was 34,800 and the rate was 12.6 (per 100,000 people).

By age group, the annual number of HIV infections in 2019, compared with 2015, decreased among persons aged 13–24 and persons aged 45-54, but remained stable among all other age groups. In 2019, the rate was highest for persons aged 25-34 (30.1), followed by the rate for persons aged 35-44 (16.5).

By race/ethnicity, the annual number of HIV infections in 2019, compared with 2015, decreased among persons of multiple races, but remained stable for persons of all other races/ethnicities. In 2019, the highest rate was for Blacks/African American persons (42.1), followed by Hispanic/Latino persons (21.7) and persons of multiple races (18.4).

By sex at birth, the annual number of new HIV infections in 2019, as compared to 2015, decreased among males, but remained stable among females. In 2019, the rate for males (21.0) was 5 times the rate for females (4.5).

By HIV transmission category, the annual number of HIV infections in 2019, compared with 2015, decreased among males with transmission attributed to male-to-male sexual contact, but remained stable among all other transmission categories. In 2019, the largest percentages of HIV infections were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact (66% overall and 81% among males.) In 2019, among females, the largest percentage of HIV infection was attributed to heterosexual contact (83%).

[babyblob]

Why? What are they thinking?

HIV data and statistics

U.S. Statistics

Thank you Tami for taking the time to look up and post these stats.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Owning the libs is more important than people's lives. Besides, it's only Gays and Trans people who get HIV.

Yup, all of that, and more.

[Tami]

Thank you Tami for taking the time to look up and post these stats.

My pleasure.

[Spike-X]

Why? What are they thinking?

Same thing they thought in the 80s - that the people getting HIV/AIDS "deserve" it in some fashion.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

A memorial service for Cut Glass of Cut Glass and Burlap fame was held yesterday. Predictably, the whole business went off the rails with nonsense like this:

Trump gives a heartwarming and emotional tribute to Diamond at her funeral, saying countries are emptying out their prisons and mental institutions into the US, talking about gas prices, inflation, the federal budget and various other things.

Next up at Trump’s memorial service for Diamond is her father, who opened with this: “I thank God this afternoon, especially for our president of these United States being in our midst. Donald Trump, I would kiss you, but I’ve never kissed a man.”

Next up at Trump’s memorial service for Diamond of Diamond & Silk is Mike Lindell, who opens with a prayer thanking God for delivering Donald Trump to the nation to fight this epic battle of good and evil for us. Amen.

With Trump in attendance, Pastor Mark Burns gives the opening prayer at the memorial for Diamond of Diamond & Silk: “Diamond is talking to Jesus, and she is saying JESUS! PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT DONALD J, TRUMP IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!”

A speaker at Diamond’s funeral said Donald Trump was her boyfriend and Mike Lindell was her “side piece.”

Talk about an utter **** show.

[CaptainEurope]

Meanwhile, over in Tennessee, there's probably going to be an HIV outbreak.

Elections have lethal consequences.
But I'm sure the Democratic candidates had given a speech at a bank somewhere so both sides were the same.

[worstblogever]

It was on this day in both 2015, as well as 2016, that “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Steve Martin, a former member of the Virginia legislature from 1988, serving five years in the General Assembly before moving to the Virginia State Senate from 1993 through 2016. The more famous silver-haired Steve Martin took to social media to ask that no one ever mixed him up with the Republican politician in February 2014 after the latter took to social media to argue against abortion, and in his anti-choice rant, he referred to pregnant mothers as "hosts". That's not all from Virginia's Martin, who was so in favor of torture said that it was justified no matter how many body parts the interrogated party loses, and that "Christ himself would have advocated for torture". Martin (again, the Republican one) believes that Constitutional rights don't apply to practitioners of Islam, because their religion "requires them to kill others to get into Heaven". Yes, somehow, a man with disgusting opinions like that can serve over a quarter century in politics. He was defeated in the GOP Primary for his Virginia State Senate seat in 2015, and has yet to reemerge in another run for office, if he ever will.

On this date in 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of Josh Moore, a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives who finished eighth in the general election for his seat, and voters were right that he should barely qualify for office, if at all. You see, there was debate over a public nudity bill sponsored by Josh Moore in the New Hampshire House of Representatives back in December of 2015, HB 1525, which was oddly specific about women’s nipples being an offending thing (but not men’s) and State Rep. Amanda Bouldin was one of the Democrats opposed to the bill because she thought it might potentially make public breastfeeding a crime, and she posted her frustration over it on Facebook. While all any of her fellow legislators had to do was point out that the bill actually did have a written exemption in it for breastfeeding mothers… Josh Moore decided to argue with her by taking a slightly different, and really stupid angle, writing “Who doesn’t support a mother’s right to feed? Don’t give me the liberal talking points Amanda. If it’s a woman’s natural inclination to pull her nipple out in public and you support that. Than you should have no problem with a mans inclantion [sic] to stare at it and grab it. After all... It’s ALL relative and natural, right?” So it seems Josh Moore feels that at the first sign of areola, he’s been given a free pass to grope anyone he likes. Which isn’t true, incidentally, and would actually be a form of sexual assault. Moore then closed his discussion with Amanda Bouldin by telling her, “I’ll see you on the House floor. I obviously have more respect for women and her innocence and decency than women who are support public nudity.” Yeah, that’s pretty much a response of, “I’m not a disrespectful sexist, you are for believing your nips aren’t filthy and need to be covered up.” Two off-kilter comments aren’t enough to consider someone touched in the head here at FRED, but when we look at his voting record, we also take note of how much of an extremist he’s been while in office, what with a vote to repeal the buffer zone for protesters around abortion clinics. Y’know, so they can actually BLOCK THE DOOR. Moore also voted for SB 116, one of the many bills he’s supported to attempt to do away with the requirement of needing a license required to be able to have a concealed carry handgun, and voted against HB 1661, an attempt to ban the practice of gay conversion therapy upon minors. With the Blue Wave on the horizon in 2018, Josh Moore opted to not run for re-election.

On this date in 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Jeffrey Pierce, a former member of the Maine House of Representatives from District 53 who served in office from 2015-2018. After failing to be elected in 2012, Pierce won in 2014 by about 280 votes, and proceeded to head to the capitol to prove himself dedicated loyalist of highly insane GOP Gov. Paul LePage, as evidenced by his voting record. Where things got interesting was just prior to the 2018 elections, when Maine Democrats made it a point to note that four GOP candidates for office in the election were in possession of criminal records. And one of them was sitting state legislator Jeffrey Pierce, who was arrested for trying to sell cocaine back in 1981, earning probation and in 1983, had a felony drug trafficking conviction. Even more interesting was that somehow, Pierce owned a firearm and had a hunting license, which should have been impossible for him to own as a felon. While Pierce trying claiming that was just when he was a “stupid kid”, he apparently didn’t get much smarter, and also had DUI arrests from 2004-2006. But still, for a time, Pierce was indicted for having that hunting license fraudulently until charges were dropped. With the momentum of the Blue Wave in 2018, Jeffrey Pierce lost to Democrat Allison Hepler, garnering just 48% of the vote. He attempted to avenge that loss in 2020, but again lost with only 48% of the vote. The one thing that he had going for him? He was pardoned of all crimes on his record by Paul LePage as he bitterly left office in January of 2019, against the recommendations of the state’s clemency board.

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Patrice Kimbler, a failed 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 36th Congressional District, who wanted to challenge Rep. Raul Ruiz but was probably undone by the fact that she’s a kook who believes in the Qanon conspiracy theory while running for Congress. Her Twitter account posted the Qanon hashtag and motto, but because as we approached the insurrection in the capitol on 1/6 and the inauguration of Joe Biden, she was warning about the “demonic forces of the Deep State”, raving about “Obamagate” (with no concept of what it was), accusing Hillary Clinton of “suiciding” people (likely a reference to the Vince Foster conspiracy), and outright accused the incoming president of molesting children, per the conspiracy theory. Feel free to further scan her Twitter feed for other conspiracy theory nonsense and slander of the BlackLivesMatter movement supposedly invading churches, if you want to go down the rabbit hole of this kook. Patrice Kimbler finished fourth in the open primary for the seat, getting just 7.6% of the vote. She went mostly silent after the failed coup attempt by Donald Trump and his conspiracy theory-obsessed ilk and Joe Biden was sworn in as president.

On this date in 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Joe Collins, who was a 2020 candidate fpr U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 43rd Congressional District, hoping to upset legendary Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a frequent target of ire during the Trump era in particular. Collins gives the impression he will line up on any party’s ticket for any office for campaign contributions, considering he was originally a 2020 presidential candidate running for the Green Party nomination. By switching his party affiliation to the GOP and challenging Waters, he started getting way more campaign cash to play with, much of which he spent funneling back into the same Trump businesses who were helping promote him in his doomed campaign. What definitely confirmed suspicions that Joe Collins was never going to win in a highly Democratic district was when Collins responded to the death of George Floyd by claiming that “Democratic policies killed George Floyd”, and not, y’know, Derek Chauvin putting his knee on his neck until he was choked to death. In the wake of the killing of Dijon Kizzee getting shot 20 times by LAPD officers and camera footage at the scene not at all jibing with the deputies’ stories… well, that’s in the district Collins was running for, so he came out and blamed “outside influences” for protests after the LAPD’s attempted coverup of the incident resulted in protests. Joe Collins only beat absolute kook and convicted felon Omar Navarro in the GOP Primary by 250 votes, and got 28% of the vote in the general election, because Auntie Maxine is no joke and he definitely is. We expect him to run troll campaigns for money every two years going forward, but we will set aside his profile at this time to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1178-55, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Richard Martin
Welcome to what is the 1178th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’re profiling Richard Martin, a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from District 40 who was first elected to office back in 2016, and whose voting record we’ll sum up as terrible, what with his co-sponsorship of a fetal heartbeat bill, the hypocritical “pro-life” spice to that of voting against the repeal of the death penalty in the state, and that he’s so “pro-life” he also voted to declare churches an “essential service” during the Covid-19 pandemic so people could go on Sunday to sit indoors and catch a preventable virus that could get them killed.

While we’re pointing out the hypocrisy of that, it’s really the overall hypocrisy of Republicans that led us to profile Richard Martin. Hearing Republicans bang on endlessly about “groomers” over the past few years, it’s a frequent occurrence that the news breaks of one of their own being caught being creepy with minors. And lo, so it also has developed with Richard Martin, who was originally just reported for providing alcohol for his teenage foster daughter while his wife was out of town, but tried using his position as a legislator to insolate himself from inquiry… and perhaps it’s easy to understand why he was trying to wield whatever power he had to cover-up that investigation, as the police report states his sixteen-year-old foster daughter blacked out and woke up with soreness that indicated she may sexually assaulted while unconscious. The text messages to his foster daughter where he referred to his penis as a shrimp followed by numerous times he texted her shrimp emojis were also some big red flags.

Richard Martin never resigned in spite of all of his legal woes, but finished third in the GOP Primary for his seat behind the only two other challengers, because with a bar being as low as “be better than the guy who tried to allegedly get his foster daughter drunk to creep on her”, he was going to be vulnerable. We can only hope he ends up in jail, and/or on a sex offenders list after he serves his time for being a predatory monster.

[babyblob]

Another mass shooting. This one in a park outside of LA. 10 killed 10 injured. I remember when mass shootings were the top story on the news. Now they are so common this shooting was the 6th story on my morning news.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-mass-shooting

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Another mass shooting. This one in a park outside of LA. 10 killed 10 injured. I remember when mass shootings were the top story on the news. Now they are so common this shooting was the 6th story on my morning news.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-mass-shooting

Here in Philly, almost twenty minutes went by on the 6 a.m. news before the shooting was mentioned. I suppose last night’s Eagles win over the Giants played a part in that programming.

[babyblob]

Here in Philly, almost twenty minutes went by on the 6 a.m. news before the shooting was mentioned. I suppose last night’s Eagles win over the Giants played a part in that programming.

The Bengals of course have a big game today. And a lot of coverage was focused on that. But I think it is a damn shame when the coverage of a football game goes well ahead of a mass shooting where 10 people lost their lives. Because of how commonplace these shootings have become.

[CaptainEurope]

This is heart breaking video.

12-year-old Sasha from the temporarily occupied Mariupol told how Russians took him from his mother and sent him for adoption to Russia.