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

[CaptainEurope]

'Defund The Police' doesn't mean completely do away with the entire concept of policing. It means take a good portion of the ridiculously over-inflated police budget and spend it on things that will prevent people getting to the stage where police intervention is deemed to be required.

Unfortunately, far too many people would rather spend $10 on punishing people for needing help than spend $1 on helping them.

The poster who started this discussion didn't ask about defunding, he asked about complete abolition.

[CaptainEurope]

George Santos Produced Broadway’s Ill-Fated Spider-Man Musical. At Least, He Claims He Did

"Yeah, so I was responsible for Broadway's biggest flop that put a whole bunch of performers in the hospital. Wanna go make out? Wanna make a donation?"

[CaptainEurope]

Of course, it's quite possible that the Spider-Man Musical stuff is being leaked to distract from a much darker story. The way that the drag pictures were leaked, conveniently, after the story about Santos defrauding a homeless veteran in a way that killed the guy's dog.

Today, I filed a police report with @CapitolPolice
and a complaint with @CongressEthics
regarding ethical violations and sexual harassment by Congressman George Santos during my time working in his office.

[Adam Allen]

Do you guys think abolition can actually be a achievable?

Minneapolis did have a vote to dissolve the Minneapolis Police Department. But you know, crime has seemed pretty elevated across the city, since the riots and Covid and all that, so -- I'm not saying there may not be some random extremists one can quote who will say "absolutely no police", but the great majority of those who did vote to dissolve the MPD (a lot did) were not imagining we would magically not need any police at all.

I mean, I think the vote failed because our essential plan was to just get rid of the police, then start from the ground up with a new Public Works or something department ... which there was no blueprint for whatsoever, so we would have been completely winging it. Note, there would still have been state police, and getting rid of the MPD doesn't dissolve St. Paul's police department, or for that matter the police of any of the inner and outer ring suburbs of Minneapolis.

Just my opinion, but I don't think it's so much that our city council literally wanted all of the MPD officers to literally just turn in their badges and guns and go away, all on one day. The city still wants officers able to respond if needed. But it is about attempting to use public funds for more than a cudgel.

Oh, and who the police are accountable to, obviously. Because a Derek Chauvin should have be stopped way before the crime he was convicted for.

[Spike-X]

The poster who started this discussion didn't ask about defunding, he asked about complete abolition.

Possibly under the misapprehension that 'defund' = 'abolish'.

[Spike-X]

Speaking of the sinister "spy balloons"...

balloon.jpg

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Speaking of balloons:

Marjorie Taylor Greene urges fans to shoot down spy balloon

Does she know the damn thing is some 11 MILES up, or is she really THAT fucking stupid?

[Tendrin]

or is she really THAT fucking stupid?

Yes

/10 char

[shooshoomanjoe]

Are there no other streets in Nashville?

Republicans Push To Rename Part Of John Lewis Way In Nashville To 'Honor' Trump

A Republican-backed bill seeks to rename part of a Tennessee street dedicated to Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the late civil rights leader, in order to “honor” former President Donald Trump.

The bill, sponsored by Tennessee state Rep. Paul Sherrell (R) and state Sen. Frank Niceley (R), would rename a portion of Nashville’s Fifth Avenue that had been named after Lewis. The section is between James Robertson Parkway and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The legislation, which calls for the stretch to be called President Donald Trump Boulevard, comes less than three years after Trump insisted that he hardly knew who Lewis was and that he couldn’t say “one way or the other” if he found him impressive.

Lewis’ lunch counter sit-ins occurred along Fifth Avenue during the civil rights movement, The Tennessean noted, and Nashville’s Metro Council renamed part of the street to recognize him following his death in 2020.

The change could give Tennessee’s state legislative office building a President Donald Trump Boulevard address, according to the newspaper.

Metro Council member Zulfat Suara (D), a mother and community organizer, questioned what her state has become in a tweet about the bill on Thursday.

“This is not how to govern. This is ridiculous. We are going to fight this. #GoodTrouble,” wrote Suara, quoting Lewis’ famous words on activism, and she noted the “cruel” timing of the bill as Black History Month begins.

[Kirby101]

Are there no other streets in Nashville?

Republicans Push To Rename Part Of John Lewis Way In Nashville To 'Honor' Trump

Pissing off the people who see Lewis as a great man is the point, not finding a street to name after Trump. Because the GOP is that mean spirited and low.

[worstblogever]

Are there no other streets in Nashville?

Republicans Push To Rename Part Of John Lewis Way In Nashville To 'Honor' Trump

Pissing off the people who see Lewis as a great man is the point, not finding a street to name after Trump. Because the GOP is that mean spirited and low.

From the same Republican-controlled state legislature that fought tooth and nail to keep a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the KKK, in the state capitol,

Almost like it's just a white nationalist party or something.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2018, and in 2019, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Ron Castorina Jr., a member of the New York Assembly since April of 2016, when he got to run for the office unopposed in a special election. He was not challenged for that seat by a Democrat in the 2016 election, either In May of 2017, he was also victorious in the race to be the new Chairman of the GOP for Staten Island. In his one term and change, he as a legislator that threw the New York State Assembly into a cacophony of disgusted shouts. The first was only two months into his career, when he referred to abortion as “African American genocide” and continued by claiming that millions of African-Americans have been "murdered" since Roe was decided. This prompted outrage from not just the defenders of a woman’s right to choose, but obviously the African American community, who would rather not have Castorina spin them into any argument. This was the first, but not last sign that his political style is just “being a racist troll”. The second, of course, would probably be when Castorina submitted a “Blue Lives Matter” bill to make attacks that target police a form of hate crime. He claimed the bill was necessary because of supposed planned attacks against police by Black Lives Matter protesters (that weren’t actually happening). If you weren’t getting the idea yet of the kind of loon we’re talking about, Castorina also touts conspiracy theories about socialism in the United States, and has a nasty habit of insinuating all sorts of evil things that happened at Benghazi on Twitter. Here’s your good news… Castorina was becoming a little too infamous, and the New York GOP opted to coax him out of running for re-election to the New York State Assembly in 2018. We’re guessing he’ll be floating around local politics in Staten Island, at worst, going forward.

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, profiled Ignacio Cruz, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 19th Congressional District and also the latest in candidates for office we’ve profiled who openly supported the Qanon conspiracy theory. Cruz kept sharing Qanon posts and using the Qanon hashtag, but that’s not the only bulls*** he shared on social media during his run for office. He also shared a “satirical” article that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar offered her condolences to deceased ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi when he was killed by U.S. forces. The question at this point is if he knew it was false and was knowingly smearing her, or stupid enough to have believed the lie. Considering the Qanon angle, it’s probably the latter. Cruz finished third in the open primary for CA-19 with 11%, missing the mark to qualify for the November general election by about 1300 votes. Had he won, he would have gotten stomped in that race by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren anyway. We are hoping the stain of “Q” on his political profile makes him unviable as a candidate in any election, going forward.

On this date in 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Amy Phan West , a 2020 Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 47th Congressional District looking to knock off Democratic Congresswoman and master of the white board, Katie Porter. That would be a tall order in a Democratic-leaning district like this one, but then there’s the fact that Amy Phan West has some pretty unique and terrible opinions she likes to share on social media about Covid-19 vaccines and mask mandates, but we’re more concerned about how she’s so spooked by the nefarious threat of “Antifa”, saying, ”Cities controlled by Dems are defunding the police. Police have been asked to stand down and allow Antifa and BLM to destroy property, steal, in some cases rape, and physically attack innocent bystanders all in the name of racial justice. Is this justice?” While under normal circumstances, the story of a woman whose parents fled a Communist country to come to the United States as immigrants might be inspiring, Amy Phan West takes it another direction completely, as she has sided with an anti-immigrant party, supports the construction of a border wall on the U.S./Mexico border, and instead, has decided that the Democratic Party’s “Squad” have plans to turn the United States into a communist country. Meanwhile, she thinks the felonious hacks at Project Veritas are “patriots” and are the ones “exposing liars and traitors”, thinks that Breitbart and the Epoch Times are actual news websites, that there’s a secret conspiracy to stifle conservative opinions online that violates their First Amendment rights (there isn’t), and seems intent on spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about George Soros. After redistricting and in a year where Democrats are trying to fend off the pattern of losing seats in the House and Senate after gaining the White House, it bears watching of if Katie Porter’s seat is actually at risk to someone, and if the someone who emerges out of a crowded primary is Amy Phan West. Should that happen, we’re guessing she’ll get a chance to embarrass herself in a debate against Porter, whether she’s allowed to bring a white board for visual aids or not.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, and in 2020, “Crazy Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, who since winning office in 2012 despite outing himself as an Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theorist, the Tar Heel State in more ways than one would think possible. Picking the biggest “screw you” he’s delivered to his constituents is hard to pick… for women, they have to deal with the anger of knowing when he was asked during the last debate for governor in 2012 about what abortion restrictions he would sign, and McCrory said, “None,” and yet, he immediately began serving as a rubber-stamp for the radically conservative, GOP-controlled state legislature, signing one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation the minute it hit his desk, and when women came to the capitol to protest that law, he tried to placate them by sending them a plate of cookies.

Minorities in North Carolina were horrified that he immediately began to execute a campaign of voter disenfranchisement, not just through Voter ID laws, but shaving a week off the number of early voting days, changing election law so young voters about to turn 18 couldn’t pre-register to vote until they WERE 18, and if that wasn’t enough, he signed the repeal of the Racial Justice Act. McCrory’s administration was a horror show of cronyism, as he slashed taxes for his rich pals while high-paying jobs to his key campaign fundraisers, and then gave them raises on top of that… all while slashing the state’s education budget by half a billion dollars, causing droves of teachers to move out of the state elsewhere for higher pay at a rate three times the national average. McCrory also shook his fist at the Obama administration, trying to refuse to resettle any Syrian refugees that the federal government might send.

But what finally sent McCrory’s approval ratings into the 30s was when he signed North Carolina’s HB 2, a “religious freedom” law that allows for the legal discrimination against LGBTQ citizens, and bans transgendered people from using public bathrooms designated by the gender of their birth. That started causing major corporations from relocating their businesses out of the state, musicians to cancel appearances, and events like the NBA All-Star Game to pull out of North Carolina, at a loss of billions of dollars in expended revenue. That’s why that even with all the voter suppression he set up in North Carolina, not at all shocking that Pat McCrory lost in the 2016 elections to Democrat Roy Cooper by around 15,000 votes.

What was shocking was the horrible way both McCrory and the North Carolina GOP reacted to this loss. Gov. McCrory stamped his foot and started crying about voter fraud for almost a full month after Election Day, without any evidence. Meanwhile, the GOP-controlled state legislature tried passing legislation to suddenly limit the powers of the governor of the state, and make Roy Cooper as toothless as possible, and before leaving office, Pat McCrory spitefully signed their undemocratic idea into law. It mercifully was blocked by a judge’s ruling after a legal challenge by Governor Cooper, so McCrory’s last effort to subvert the will of the people of the Tar Heel State was for naught. He still took time to release a video to North Carolinans as he left office where he chastised the citizenry for rejecting him and HB 2, because he wasn’t being enough of a bitter heel already.

And YET… in spite of being so loathed, Pat McCrory was hinting he would try and run to avenge his 2016 loss in 2020. Alas, as polls and public sentiment in North Carolina made is abundantly clear that in 2020, McCrory still needed to GTFO, he has decided against a run to reclaim the Governor’s Mansion. Instead, RAN for U.S. Senate in 2022, trying to claim the seat long held by Sen. Richard Burr.

Pat McCrory was now deemed a RINO by North Carolina Republicans, getting just 24.6% of the vote in the GOP Primary, as the fanatics in the party instead chose Ted Budd as their candidate.

[AnakinFlair]

Of course, it's quite possible that the Spider-Man Musical stuff is being leaked to distract from a much darker story. The way that the drag pictures were leaked, conveniently, after the story about Santos defrauding a homeless veteran in a way that killed the guy's dog.

Jesus Christ, he hasn't even been in office a month. Guess he knows he's going to be leaving early, so he's getting in all of the greatest hits before he goes.

Are there no other streets in Nashville?

Republicans Push To Rename Part Of John Lewis Way In Nashville To 'Honor' Trump

Yeah, and if that passes, see how fast those Donald Trump Blvd signs get ripped down.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Are there no other streets in Nashville?

Republicans Push To Rename Part Of John Lewis Way In Nashville To 'Honor' Trump

Of course there are. That’s the point.