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

[InformationGeek]

MTG is on a committee now and it is going as well as you think it is.

Greene: Can you tell me how much money went to CRT?
Dodaro: CRT?
Greene: It’s a racist curriculum used to teach children that somehow their white skin not equal to black skin and other things

[4saken1]

Don't read the comments.

It is amazing how much free time that some incels have to devote to disparage female Representatives, especially those of color.

[4theEarth]

Now that miserable, snot nosed punk will REALLY have something to cry about.

follow-up to our court system being a joke?

How to Deal With Litigious People and Frivolous Lawsuits
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/so-sue-me/...
WebJul 29, 2014 · Be the better person. Keep in mind that people who file frivolous lawsuits are usually lonely and angry souls with too much spare time and too few friends. It takes a level of desperation and self ...

[4theEarth]

We do want the SCOTUS to be apolitical as intended.
We do care what the facts are.
We do want people who break the law and attempt insurrection to face the consequences, whoever they are.
The person who wrote that opinion is making a lot of incorrect assumptions.

Not sure what royal we you are speaking from but a gander at the NYT & Co. suggests otherwise for cherry-picking facts, light on violent crime, heavy on political crime, look there goes an undocumented asylum seeker (illegal immigrant). plz

The people who worship at the newspaper temples are as bad as the Fox acolytes.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

A New Jersey Council Woman was shot and killed in New Jersey. Cnn said police think it was a targeted attack but police have not released a motive outside of that.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/new-jersey...ry?id=96844342

I heard about that this morning. Disturbing to say the least.

[ed2962]

AOC lets off on the hypocrisy of the GOP's vote against Omar while rewarding their most infamous Nazi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLK76RrzhYc

Somewhat related...https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...e34d83ba4c8f56

Rep. Paul Roser who spoke at one of Nick Fuentes events claims he voted against Omar cuz she's anti-semetic...

[ed2962]

follow-up to our court system being a joke?

Even if a person thinks Rittenhouse is innocent, someone died...I'd hardly suggest that these lawsuits are frivolous. It's not like suing McDonald's because you're fat.

[Jack Dracula]

Not sure what royal we you are speaking from but a gander at the NYT & Co. suggests otherwise for cherry-picking facts, light on violent crime, heavy on political crime, look there goes an undocumented asylum seeker (illegal immigrant). plz

The people who worship at the newspaper temples are as bad as the Fox acolytes.

The same "we" the author of the article you quoted was making ridiculous assumptions about.
I don't care what you believe you've extrapolated from the NY Times and no one is worshipping at "newspaper temples".

[CaptainEurope]

Damn, fleeing to Mexico to escape Putin. The majority of my family lives in a city named Jerez in Zacatecas and they say that when the sun goes down, city life is dead due to the cartel violence.

Other parts of Mexico are very touristy and probably safer than your average US city. A friend of mine just spent a great vacation there. Why would you think the guy fled to Cartel territory?

[shooshoomanjoe]

Other parts of Mexico are very touristy and probably safer than your average US city. A friend of mine just spent a great vacation there. Why would you think the guy fled to Cartel territory?

The cartels are in tourist areas too.

[Iron Maiden]

Former GOP Congressman says many MAGA Republicans are secretly hoping for Trump's "mortal demise"

SMH...none of these toadies have the stones to stand up to this guy.

Former GOP Rep. Peter Meijer said there are "a lot of folks" in the ranks of MAGA Republicans who are hoping for former President Donald Trump's "mortal demise."

"I want to be clear: I'm not in that camp. But I've heard from a lot of people who will go onstage and put on the red hat, and then give me a call the next day and say, 'I can't wait until this guy dies," Meijer told McKay Coppins, a journalist at The Atlantic.

For a recent opinion piece, Coppins spoke to a dozen anonymous sources within the GOP, including current and former Republican lawmakers and analysts. One of the people who spoke to Coppins was Meijer, a Michigan Republican who voted for Trump's impeachment and then lost his congressional seat during the 2020 GOP primaries.

Meijer did not say which Republicans told him they wished Trump was dead. Representatives for Meijer did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

According to Coppins, the Republicans he interviewed said one way to get rid of Trump would be simply to wait for him to die, considering the former president's age and fast-food heavy diet.

When asked about his opinion piece on CNN on Monday, Coppins said he was "taken aback by how often" he heard jokes about Trump's death from Republicans.

"I thought it was kind of a morbid, dark joke at first," Coppins told CNN. "But I heard it so often that it started to become clear that this was actually what a lot of Republicans believe, and it just speaks to the desperation in the party."

I have actually had the same thoughts myself and felt a bit guilty...but I got over it . He is getting up there in years and it is true about his diet and lack of exercise, which is limited to playing golf and riding in the cart to each green instead of walking the course. This is a big no-no to true golfers because the groundskeepers would have to repair the greens from the tire tracks. Naturally, Trump only plays on his own courses. There's been earlier reports on how he cheats, something he did just the last week.

Sportswriter and author Rick Reilly has criticised Donald Trump as a “cheat” after the golf-loving former president claimed victory in a competitive tournament earlier this week – despite missing the first day.

Mr Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to announce his win in the Senior Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

He declared that it was “a great honour” to have won the tournament “[at] one of the best courses in the country”.

“Competed against many fine golfers and was hitting the ball long and straight. The reason that I announce this on fabulous TRUTH is that, in a very real way, it serves as a physical exam, only MUCH tougher.”

But Mr Trump’s victory claim came despite the fact that he missed the first round of the tournament to attend the funeral of Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway, popularly known as Diamond from the vlogging duo Diamond and Silk.
Accusing the former president of “cheat[ing] like a four-year-old at Monopoly”, the journalist wrote that Mr Trump has claimed victory in 21 golf championships but “never by shooting the documented best score”.

[Gray Lensman]

Not sure what royal we you are speaking from but a gander at the NYT & Co. suggests otherwise for cherry-picking facts, light on violent crime, heavy on political crime, look there goes an undocumented asylum seeker (illegal immigrant). plz

The people who worship at the newspaper temples are as bad as the Fox acolytes.

Undocumented and asylum seeker are two words that can't go together. By claiming asylum, one puts themselves into the system, which by definition documents them.

Asylum is governed by a different set of laws than those that apply to other types of immigrant, documented or not, including international treaties. Those treaties stipulate a day in court and also specifically state that asylum seekers are not required to enter through checkpoints, so long as they actively self-report. And despite the legal hurdles, the overwhelming majority of asylum seekers actually show up for court hearings - well above 90% (probably higher, it's been a while since I checked) and if they have a lawyer to help navigate the process it's over 99% who show up in court.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Former GOP Congressman says many MAGA Republicans are secretly hoping for Trump's "mortal demise"

SMH...none of these toadies have the stones to stand up to this guy.

Of course they don't. Like most, if not all Qpublicans, they fear that mob Trump controls.

I have actually had the same thoughts myself and felt a bit guilty...but I got over it . He is getting up there in years and it is true about his diet and lack of exercise, which is limited to playing golf and riding in the cart to each green instead of walking the course. This is a big no-no to true golfers because the groundskeepers would have to repair the greens from the tire tracks. Naturally, Trump only plays on his own courses. There's been earlier reports on how he cheats, something he did just the last week.

As much as I hate Trump, I've never wished him to kick the bucket. I want that fat orange bastard to live long enough to be shuffled off to prison. It's like I've said in this thread more than once, the ONLY thing Trump fears more than losing his wealth is losing his freedom, and having that happen would be SO sweet!

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Jim DeMint, who was trying to abolish the IRS as far back as 2004, warned against same sex marriage in 2008 because of the “prevalence of certain diseases amongst homosexuals”, who he also wanted to ban schools from hiring gay teachers out of sheer homophobia. DeMint also wanted to privatize our Social Security system and let the banks handle it, but a few months after they imploded the American economy in 2007. He also blamed the Shoe Bomber on President Obama’s supposed policies of “appeasement”, and used that example as the crux of an argument against unionizing the TSA, falsely claimed on FOX News that President Obama was increasing taxes on Christmas trees out of disdain for Christians, and on another occasion, predicted that “America would not survive” if Obama was elected to a second term as president. He’s also blatantly told lies about figures on healthcare and immigration, tried to ban discussion of abortion over the internet (because that’s worth throwing out the 1st Amendment), and once claimed the federal government played no role in the freeing of the slaves, and it was the Constitution that did so (ignoring how Abraham Lincoln, the founder of his party, had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation). Since stunning Washington insiders with his resignation in 2013, DeMint has been working for the Heritage Foundation.

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Bill Otto, a former member of the Kansas House of Representatives and self-professed "ham" whose deep political thoughts inspired him to create a Youtube channel, from which he could spread his political views as an amateur comedian on the internet. This, however, did little but to spotlight what a bigoted nutter he truly is. While sometimes he would perform his own covers of “Home on the Range”, where he would alter the lyrics to justify his opposition to climate change and moving to use green energy, by October 2009 Otto’s little corner of the interwebs blew up in his face completely, after he posted a video of himself performing the “Redneck Rap”, a scathing criticism of President Obama, while wearing a hat that said, “Opossum, The Other White Meat”. In that song, he began suggesting Barack Obama take prisoners from Gitmo to the IRS to torture them there, and referred to the first African American president as "the other dark meat". Needless to say, the "Redneck Rap" wasn't exactly the soundtrack to 8 Mile. His creative endeavors were not Bill Otto's only signs of mental instability, as he once pretended to reach for his firearm when encountering a fellow state legislator, then chuckled that he was "only kidding" because he thought he was a different member of the legislature who deserved to be shot. Besides that, Otto had two conspiracy theories he floated on the floor of the Kansas state legislature, the first being the threat of the United Nations Agenda 21 conspiracy, and the other being his belief that based on the number of shots during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. Bill Otto failed to be elected in 2012 as well as in 2014, and has faded from all relevance.

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Derrick Evans, who won election for the first time in 2020, but was only a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for about forty days from December 1st, 2020- January 9th, 2021. How does one end up being forced to resign less than six full weeks into their tenure? Easy. You wake up on January 6th, 2021, and decide to not just go down to the U.S. Capitol and be a Trump-supporting seditious, fascist wanker, you just don’t climb through broken windows into the capitol wearing paramilitary fatigues and a helmet, but you film yourself doing it in a live broadcast on social media. Yes, on Facebook Live, just in cast people didn’t realize it was him, he even identified himself, screaming, “We’re in, we’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!” That’s exactly the sort of genius that made sure the coup was never going to succeed. And also, managed to be was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol Grounds. Feel free to watch the FBI’s response video, where he’s given his perp walk as his grandmother watches. He wasn’t pardoned by Trump, and is currently negotiating a plea agreement that will determine how much time he goes to prison. As he is now unlikely to ever return to office, we will set aside his profile at this time to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1071-50, since this was established in July 2014.

On this date in 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled the late Washington State Senator Doug Ericksen, who served a dozen years in the Washington House of Representatives before moving to the upper chamber in the 2010 Tea Party Wave, and in the 2018 Blue Wave year, he hung on for one more term in office by a mere 46 votes out of over 72,000 cast. During his quarter century in office, Erickson sponsored transphobic bathroom legislation, voted against bans on gay conversion therapy, and voted against legalizing same-sex marriage. He once sponsored a bill to stop protests that disrupt coal trains, or gas pipelines, referring to people exercising their First Amendment rights as “economic terrorism”. Oh, and he was also constantly supporting legislation that made it easier to kill people, be it his vote against the repeal of the death penalty, against a ban on 3D printed “ghost guns”, and of course, a vote against legislation that would limit parents’ ability to provide measles vaccine exemptions to their children as a requirement before they enter public schools. And it’s that last bit on his anti-vaccine stance that seems relevant. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Doug Erickson had criticized Washington Governor Jay Inslee at every step the way for every step he took to try and mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Be it mask mandates, or vaccine mandates. In fact, he sponsored legislation in 2021 to try and ban vaccine mandates. For reasons that are still not known (he is believed to have been monitoring a foreign election), Erickson decided to travel abroad during a pandemic he downplayed, and while in El Salvador, he contracted Covid-19, and then had his travel options greatly limited while he was being quarantined. He frantically wrote to fellow Republican legislators in Washington, seeking ways he could have a Regeneron treatment made available to him abroad, but he passed away before getting them at the age of 52.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published its first profile of Mississippi State Senator Lydia Chassaniol, a close ally of former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who was first elected to office back in the off-year elections in 2007. She has won re-election twice, in both 2011 and 2015, which is amazing because halfway through her first term in office in 2009, she was a keynote speaker at a meeting of the white supremacist group, the Council of Conservative Citizens. Of course, when confronted about her membership and appearance at the CCC's conference in 2009 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, she responded by trying to assure them the CCC was a “conservative organization.” She also wrote, “I do not consider myself racist.” Chassaniol's speech back in 2009 had the featured topic of “Cultural Heritage in Mississippi.” where she gave a brief history of the state since 1540, opined that the U.S. was in decline, citing as her evidence tributes to Michael Jackson, a “pedophile who’s being celebrated.” She encouraged members of the CCC present to join Tea Party protests, and warning that the government wanted to “take from those who have and give to those who don’t want to work for it” which sounds a lot like a racial dog whistle from where we're sitting. Chassaniol, after injecting white supremacists directly into the blood stream of the Mississippi Tea Party, continued to praise the movement thereafter.

Chassaniol's path to re-election was hardly a sure thing in 2015 after her CCC connections were dragged back to the fore after Dylann Roof's killing spree. Her district is over 27% African American, after all, and she was linked to a group that around election time, was posting eugenics studies to claim that blacks were intellectually inferior to whites. And, while that should be more than enough to display she was a terrible candidate, in January 2015, Chassaniol also led a failed effort by the Mississippi state legislature to become a shadow government that could conduct business behind closed doors. And yet... she won, mostly on the benefit of two factors... the vote was split between her Democratic and Libertarian opponents, and that she received over four times the amount of donations that her opponents did, usually from such tiny little donors as corporate giant Monsanto. (Thanks again, Citizens United decision.) As a legislator, Chassionol has supported GOP voter suppression efforts by supporting stricter Voter ID measures, voted to try and create “covenant marriages” to make it mandatory to take a year of marriage counseling before someone could be granted a divorce, and has repeatedly gone all-in on anti-abortion efforts and anti-LGBTQ legislation.

in 2018, she voted for legislation to allow the gas chamber, electric chair, and firing squad to be brought back as potential methods of execution in Mississippi, and while she seems opposed to having the LGBTQ community protected by hate crime legislation, she co-sponsored legislation that would deem targeted attacks on law enforcement as a hate crime.At least she’s consistent about being a terrible bigot. Regrettably, Chassaniol was allowed to run for re-election in 2019 unopposed, and thus gets four more years to be a not-so-subtle part of the GOP’s growing build towards being an outright white nationalist party.

Since we last checked in on Lydia Chassaniol two years ago, she has co-sponsored legislation to prohibit the teaching of “critical race theory” (which wasn’t being taught anyway), voted for a prohibition on mask and vaccine mandates that would help restrict the spread of Covid-19, and voted for a bill that was a blatant attempt at voter suppression, giving the Mississippi Secretary of State even more power to “purge vote rolls” and “audit election results”.

She will be up for re-election in November, and we hope she steps on multiple rakes while walking her path to re-election.