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

[numberthirty]

I stand corrected. Forgot about Obama and Blago.

Well, it is political corruption in Illinois.

Does all kind of turn into one big blur.

[worstblogever]

Nina Turner lost in the primary in her special election attempt to get to Congress in OH-11 and replace Marcia Fudge.

Honestly, given how she has been one of the progressive voices to go "scorched earth" on her own party's big names, I'm sort of relieved.

[worstblogever]

In 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, Jim Bridenstine. We noted the first time we turned our eye to Bridenstine that he said on the floor of the House that he didn’t want to impeach the president because he felt VP Joe Biden would be more of an embarrassment. He also denies that when the Supreme Court rules something constitutional, that it actually IS then constitutional. Bridenstine’s most disgusting moment, though, was probably when he hosted a town hall and had a constituent tell him “President Obama should be executed as an enemy combatant,” and he made no attempt to dissuade her ideas, instead fueling them further by, in response, telling her the falsehoods that the Toomey-Manchin gun control bill would create a national gun registry and that the legalization of marijuana in Colorado had made the whole state overrun with organized crime. In our second look at Jim Bridenstine, we added that he has stated his desire to privatize Social Security, continues to deny the science behind climate change by saying “there’s no credible evidence CO2 levels effect the environment“,and signed onto a letter with many Congressmen demanding the GOP House work together to defund Planned Parenthood, or else they would shut down the federal government. After the 2016 elections, there was a line in the sand drawn regarding the website Breitbart News, owned by Trump campaign strategist and administration member Steve Bannon because… well, it was Alt-Right. And by Alt-Right, we mean White Nationalist. Guess who was discovered to be a paid writer at Breitbart News? Congressman Jim Bridenstine. And they say the rest of the media is “fake news”. Anyway, the Trump administration actually did, in their tradition of nominating the absolute dirt-worst people for any government post, pick Bridenstine to be the new administrator of NASA, in spite of the fact that he has an enormous track record of denying scientific facts.

On this date in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Ryan Costello, the former GOP Congressman from Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District from 2014-2018, who was sent to Washington at the ripe age of 38.While CNN and some tracking organizations heralded Costello for being “one of the more bipartisan members of the Republican caucus”, that still means he would vote outside of party lines less than 5% of the time. Costello voted for the GOP Tax Plan/Scam, voted to allow mentally ill veterans not have their firearms taken away through gun control laws, voted for several several 20-week Abortion Bans, and voted to defund Planned Parenthood. He should be credited, at least, for the fact that when foreign hackers tried to give him hacked information about his Democratic opponent in 2016, Costello’s campaign manager did what you’re supposed to, and notified the FBI. What we remember Ryan Costello for here at CSGOPOTD were the ridiculous accusations and whiny rants he went on during his second term in office. It seems the latest GOP “Young Gun” was feeling the squeeze after his prospective opponent for 2018 ended up being Democrat Chrissy Houlahan, and with the Blue Wave behind her, Costello got scared. So, his campaign came up with a unique strategy… to try to frame Houlahan for what he claimed were “two operatives” of Houlahan’s going to his home and threatening his wife. Which only raised questions like, “How did you know they were there on behalf of Houlahan?” As it turns out, the supposed trespassing individuals were simply a part of a normal weekend Planned Parenthood canvassing campaign to inform the public of the effect of proposed legislation on the Trump tax bill, and what it would mean for American healthcare. So if nothing else, Costello showed everyone how scared he really was. A month later, when the courts declared the gerrymandered Congressional map that Republicans wrote for themselves in Pennsylvania unconstitutional. Costello’s level-headed response was to call the courts’ order “political corruption”, and calling for the impeachment of the judges who ordered it. And, facing the prospect of *GASP* a fair election, Ryan Costello chickened out, and opted to not run for a third term in 2018. His seat obviously was flipped, and Chrissy Houlahan is now a Congresswoman, who is still not sending thugs to threaten anybody. We won’t be shocked if Ryan Costello re-emerges at some point when political fortunes might favor him, but for the time being.

On this date in 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Ron Curtis, a 2018 candidate for U.S. Senate who got thrashed by Sen. Mazie Hirono in the general election that year, and a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District. There’s oddly not a lot of details to be found about Curtis, other than he’s a retired former government contractor who is a fan of Ayn Rand (uh oh), and likes “historical movies” produced by Mel Gibson like Braveheart or the Patriot. Oh, and he also loves the QAnon conspiracy theory. And it’s one thing to buy into the conspiracy theory a little bit… it’s another thing to retweet the posts of Vincent Fusca, the individual that QAnon lunatics think is the late JFK Jr. (who in their alternate reality, faked his death and is coming out of hiding to serve as Donald Trump’s new VP candidate). He also has repeatedly shared videos from people taking the QAnon oath, and shared posts warning that “the QAnon movement must not become comatose.” As of July 23rd, 2020, Ron Curtis looked like he was already trying to explain what will be a likely loss by also sharing conspiracy theories about voter fraud by mail. He must believe there was a lot of it going on, because he ended up only getting 28% of the vote, and seems unlikely to ever reach office. As such, we will set aside his profile at this time to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1010-50, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Mindy Robinson
Welcome to what is the 1010th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Mindy Robinson, who was a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District looking to unseat Democratic Congresswoman Susie Lee, and is a D-List actress who has been featured more in reality shows than TV or film, while also being a love interest of former UFC star Randy Couture. That’s almost enough celebrity status to get her a leg up in Las Vegas, but she was also yet the latest in our far-too-long line of actual Republican candidates for Congress who were promoting the Qanon conspiracy theory. And it doesn’t seem like she was just trying to ride the Q movement’s insanity into office, she seems to legitimately be out of her gourd herself. We’d show you more examples from her Twitter account, but it got suspended because… well, she kept posting deranged Qanon stuff.

But Robinson went into detail about Qanon in an interview with Newsweek:

"It is not a 'conspiracy theory' to think these people exist and that it's not prevalent in Hollywood and elitist circles," Robinson said. "I'm pretty sure the whole Jeffrey Epstein sutiation proved how very real the problem was. It's also not a 'conspiracy theory' to think compromised government officials protect and cover up child sexual trafficking rings....you want to talk about how it was allowed to go on so long until Trump got into office, or how what should be the most-watched-after prisoner in the country managed to 'kill himself' while the camera magically 'malfunctions'?"

"Who's it really dangerous too? Pedos, corrupt government officials, and every degenerate Hollywood celebrity on Epstein's flight logs? Honestly, all this very specific persecution and purging of Q accounts across the platforms, only proves their point that the powers that be are indeed capable of suppressing and controlling all dissenting opinions against them," she told Newsweek.

"If the Left thinks it's only 'crazy conspiracy theorists' that don't trust the government, want to protect children from sexual trafficking, and don't want to be forced to inject some untested vaccine into them....I hate to tell you this, but that's most normal people."

Among the conspiracy theories she shared online other than the main Qanon theory:

• Linked to a Qanon video about E. Jean Carroll “falsely accusing” Donald Trump of sexual assault.
• Shared conspiracy theory posts about Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.
• Claimed Jeffrey Epstein was murdered on the orders of Hillary Clinton.
• Claimed Hillary Clinton was behind the murder of the late Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins-Smith.
• Alleged that the NSA is spying on Tucker Carlson on Facebook on 7/8/21.
• Falsely claimed hundreds of thousands of people died after being given the Covid-19 vaccine on 7/13/21.
• Repeatedly spreads conspiracy theories about election fraud and lies claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Somehow, Twitter has only flagged her posts and given her temporary bans so far (but it’s not long before they just pull the plug on her social media altogether). This in spite of her admitting she was present in Washington, D.C. during the Capitol Attack, and in its wake, as Senator Lindsey Graham offered meager disapproval towards the domestic terrorists present, she ran into his media access to call him… well, it rhymes with “piece of s***”, but she also called HIM a traitor.

Mindy Robinson ended up getting just 13% of the vote, finishing a distant third out of six candidates in the GOP Primary for this seat and losing to former WWE developmental talent and alleged domestic abuser, Daniel Rodimer, who we’ll have to profile some other time. But Robinson continues to be one of the more deranged “celebrities” on the right.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Mindy Robinson
Welcome to what is the 1010th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Mindy Robinson, who was a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District looking to unseat Democratic Congresswoman Susie Lee, and is a D-List actress who has been featured more in reality shows than TV or film, while also being a love interest of former UFC star Randy Couture. That’s almost enough celebrity status to get her a leg up in Las Vegas, but she was also yet the latest in our far-too-long line of actual Republican candidates for Congress who were promoting the Qanon conspiracy theory. And it doesn’t seem like she was just trying to ride the Q movement’s insanity into office, she seems to legitimately be out of her gourd herself. We’d show you more examples from her Twitter account, but it got suspended because… well, she kept posting deranged Qanon stuff.

But Robinson went into detail about Qanon in an interview with Newsweek:



Among the conspiracy theories she shared online other than the main Qanon theory:

• Linked to a Qanon video about E. Jean Carroll “falsely accusing” Donald Trump of sexual assault.
• Shared conspiracy theory posts about Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg.
• Claimed Jeffrey Epstein was murdered on the orders of Hillary Clinton.
• Claimed Hillary Clinton was behind the murder of the late Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins-Smith.
• Alleged that the NSA is spying on Tucker Carlson on Facebook on 7/8/21.
• Falsely claimed hundreds of thousands of people died after being given the Covid-19 vaccine on 7/13/21.
• Repeatedly spreads conspiracy theories about election fraud and lies claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Somehow, Twitter has only flagged her posts and given her temporary bans so far (but it’s not long before they just pull the plug on her social media altogether). This in spite of her admitting she was present in Washington, D.C. during the Capitol Attack, and in its wake, as Senator Lindsey Graham offered meager disapproval towards the domestic terrorists present, she ran into his media access to call him… well, it rhymes with “piece of s***”, but she also called HIM a traitor.

Mindy Robinson ended up getting just 13% of the vote, finishing a distant third out of six candidates in the GOP Primary for this seat and losing to former WWE developmental talent and alleged domestic abuser, Daniel Rodimer, who we’ll have to profile some other time. But Robinson continues to be one of the more deranged “celebrities” on the right.

She sure seems like the sort of nice girl you could take home to meet the parents, provided they were the Donald and Melania.

[InformationGeek]

Nina Turner lost in the primary in her special election attempt to get to Congress in OH-11 and replace Marcia Fudge.

Honestly, given how she has been one of the progressive voices to go "scorched earth" on her own party's big names, I'm sort of relieved.

I don't know much about Turner, but I caught her concession speech. It... was a little unhinged and complainy, blaming everything but herself. I can see why she may have lost this.

[Tendrin]

I don't know much about Turner, but I caught her concession speech. It... was a little unhinged and complainy, blaming everything but herself. I can see why she may have lost this.

They're already blaming a 'DEmocratic Majority for Israel' PAC for her losing, and she's out there talking about 'evil money'. She knows what she's doing.

She's lost every frigging election she's been in one except one, but no, it's definitely the Jews.

[Tami]

Nina Turner lost in the primary in her special election attempt to get to Congress in OH-11 and replace Marcia Fudge.

Honestly, given how she has been one of the progressive voices to go "scorched earth" on her own party's big names, I'm sort of relieved.

The actually is a Socialist Party in the US. Maybe Turner should stop trying to be a Democrat and join a party closer to her own beliefs.

[Tami]

Talk about nutz

I went on Twitter and discovered a whole lot of Fact Checking going on. Seems someone or some persons are accusing Officer Fanone of being the person who carried the Confederate Flag into the Capital during the riots.

The person who did carry a confederate flag into the Capitol is named Kevin Seefried, and he was arrested back in January.

https://www.politifact.com/factcheck...-who-stormed-/

[GindyPosts]

The actually is a Socialist Party in the US. Maybe Turner should stop trying to be a Democrat and join a party closer to her own beliefs.

There's several, depending on what flavor of socialism you want. The furthest, and most far-out, variety (the Party for Socialism and Liberation) defends countries like China and North Korea to the point they downplay human rights atrocities as long as they reach the end goals that meet the agenda & only criticize the countries for anything resembling capitalism. That's saved for the most unhinged people on the left.

It is odd Bernie Sanders would support her, given Sanders often supports democratic socialism (not to be confused with social democracy, or a system where capitalism exists but there is a strong emphasis on high wages and welfare programs to encourage people to be productive as opposed to unchecked capitalism, which is the standard model of countries like the United States), while she... doesn't seem to be for that type of compromise.

[CSTowle]

Jeez...

How quickly folks will forget when it's just that "Classic Coke..." Illinois corruption...

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/...oryId=98131296

In fairness he was new to the Presidency and it was his seat that was the "f##king golden" ticket Blagojevich was trying to sell off. He had to distance himself immediately from that situation. Look at what they did with lattes and khakis, imagine if they'd had something legitimate to tie him to like selling a Senate Seat or Cuomo's handling of the Covid pandemic and the nursing home deaths.

[Tami]

The ‘Shared Psychosis’ of Donald Trump and His Loyalists

The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building last week, incited by President Donald Trump, serves as the grimmest moment in one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history. Yet the rioters’ actions—and Trump’s own role in, and response to, them—come as little surprise to many, particularly those who have been studying the president’s mental fitness and the psychology of his most ardent followers since he took office.

One such person is Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and president of the World Mental Health Coalition.* Lee led a group of psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who questioned Trump’s mental fitness for office in a book that she edited called The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. In doing so, Lee and her colleagues strongly rejected the American Psychiatric Association’s modification of a 1970s-era guideline, known as the Goldwater rule, that discouraged psychiatrists from giving a professional opinion about public figures who they have not examined in person. “Whenever the Goldwater rule is mentioned, we should refer back to the Declaration of Geneva, which mandates that physicians speak up against destructive governments,” Lee says. “This declaration was created in response to the experience of Nazism.”

Lee recently wrote Profile of a Nation: Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul, a psychological assessment of the president against the backdrop of his supporters and the country as a whole. These insights are now taking on renewed importance as a growing number of current and former leaders call for Trump to be impeached. On January 9 Lee and her colleagues at the World Mental Health Coalition put out a statement calling for Trump’s immediate removal from office.

Scientific American asked Lee to comment on the psychology behind Trump’s destructive behavior, what drives some of his followers—and how to free people from his grip when this damaging presidency ends.

[InformationGeek]

DeSantis, never wanting to do actual work, but complain about Biden.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) complains that “Joe Biden has taken to himself to try to single out Florida over COVID.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), whose state is experiencing record COVID hospitalizations, to President Biden:

“Why don’t you do your job? Why don't you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t wanna hear a blip about COVID from you, thank you.”

[GindyPosts]

DeSantis, never wanting to do actual work, but complain about Biden.

Yes, because if there's one thing (and only one thing) that will ensure the stop of the spread of COVID, it's the border.

[Tami]

Yes, because if there's one thing (and only one thing) that will ensure the stop of the spread of COVID, it's the border.

You mean the Border between Florida and the rest of the United States? At this rate, it may come down to that and god save those who live in Florida. We might see refugee boats from Miami North to whatever state will take them.