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

[AnakinFlair]

Well, it's official: Senate Qpublicans blocked the formation of the bipartisan 1/6 commission, the vote being 54-35.

So Democrats can now form a Select Committee, right? Go at it on their own?

Sure, the Republican's will cry foul. But if they can hold 30+ hearings on Benghazi, then I expect the Democrats to hold at least on on 1/6. And if McConnell wants it to go away, he will be disappointed when it just... keeps... going.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I'm not sure just what spot of bother Justice Thomas would be in. After all, Supreme Court Justices don't have to run for re-election. Anyway, his wife (who is a private citizen) could make the point that she was just helping bring people to attend the pro-Trump rally (as misguided and stupid as that was) and not to attack the Capitol (which, in fact, the majority of the rally-goers didn't do).

You can impeach a Justice. Also if it goes on congressional record it is a legacy thing

[Malvolio]

On this date in both 2018, and 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Georgia State Senator Michael E. Williams, who was elected to his first term in office back in 2014. After being the first Republican politician in Georgia to endorse uber-racist presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 elections, in the 2018 elections, Williams has opted to not run for a second term in the Georgia State Senate, instead opting to aim much higher early in his career, thinking he had a crack at becoming the Governor of Georgia in 2018. Williams drew headlines four times Michael Williams during his campaign for governor. The first time he distinguished himself as being a concern was in June of 2017, when he appeared at an anti-Sharia Law rally being held in the name of paranoid Islamophobia by the anti-Muslim hate group, ACT for America, where he was more than willing to pose with the Georgia Security Force 3% Militia, who just so happen to be a hate group with dual interests, intersecting as not just rabid anti-Islamic nuts who infamously protested a mosque being built in Newton County, and also were not long prior holding a in defense of Confederate monuments. They’re a nice intersection of hate, and Williams was more than happy to pose with them for a photo where they were flashing white supremacist signs. It was only after the Southern Poverty Law Center and the media took note of their friendly little meeting that Williams’ spokesman gave the meager defense that he thought the militant racists were just “pro-gun supporters”. So Williams went to an Anti-Islam rally and hung out with Neo-Confederates… but it’s not like he’s staunchly defending Confederate monuments himself or anyth- oh, whoops, he has, on live television, such as in August of 2017 when he was outraged at the thought of monuments being defaced, blaming it on Antifa, and falling all over himself in outrage that anyone would want to blast the face off of Stone Mountain Georgia. Enough so that only a few weeks after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, that was carried out by way of using bump stocks to make the guns used fully automatic, that Michael Williams announced that he would be raffling off bump stocks at one of his campaign rallies. And then Williams went on CNN to defend his criticisms of Delta Airlines, after it decided to end a discount partnership with the NRA following the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. Williams began outright lying around this time to say that Delta was still clearly acting on partisan lines because it offered discounts to employees of Planned Parenthood. On air, anchor Brianna Keilar called him out for making an untrue statement, and he doubled down, defending his lie because he and other GOP State Senators in Georgia “looked it up on Google” and then spent a couple days arguing with Keilar on Twitter, claiming that he’d defended his statement. He then began touting his idea to solve our immigration crisis with a “deportation bus” that would catch, per the painted on sign on its windows, “murderers, rapists, kidnappers, child molestors, and other criminals”. Yes, because this bigot also can’t spell. The end result of the ad was… Williams got banned from Youtube for violating their terms of service because he was sharing super racist views. Michael Williams ended up finishing fourth on the GOP Primary in his quest to become the next Governor of Georgia. But it was what happened AFTER the election that we found far more satisfying… it seems that Williams fell victim to a break-in at his own campaign offices, and then filed a fraudulent insurance claim that estimated the value of the computers stolen at almost thirty times their actual worth. Williams ended up giving a guilty plea to a lesser charge and got four years of probation for the crime.

On this date in 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Ted Crockett, the former Shelby County Commissioner who was a 2018 candidate for the Alabama House of Representatives from District 45. Ted Crockett is the former spokesman for Roy Mooreduring his ill-fated attempt to get elected to the Senate, Crockett defended the worst of Moore’s racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and yes, all the accusations of him spending his 30s sexually pursuing underage girls. In the process, Crockett taught us all a lot about him, as well, including his belief that homosexuality should be a crime. Only a year later, Ted Crockett was running for the Alabama House of Representatives, and continued being a theocratic loon, including insisting that Muslims should not be allowed to run for public office, because they refuse to swear on a Bible… which Jake Tapper had to point out to him that the law does not necessitate the book in question being a Bible, and it is chosen by the political figure. Upon learning this fact, Crockett was just completely befuddled. Alarmingly, Crockett only missed being elected in the GOP Primary by about 700 votes, even after showing himself to be some sort of younger clone of Roy Moore so we will set aside his profile at this time to take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 989-50, since this was established in July 2014.


Jo Rae Perkins

Welcome to what is the 989th profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Jo Rae Perkins, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. House of Representatives in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District in 2014, 2016, and 2018, losing each time to the also bats*** Republican Art Robinson in the GOP Primary for that seat. She has run afoul of the law before, having been charged with harassment and hindering prosecution in 2005, and twice filed for personal bankruptcy, in 1997 and 2009. But recently, she was a 2020 Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Oregon candidate who yes, is the latest in a far too line of folks we’ve profiled who ran for office while being supporters of the Qanon Conspiracy theory.

Just in case you think she might not actually believe in something so stupid, and was just milking the hype for potential votes, she swore an oath to Qanon online, promising to be a “digital soldier” for them, and specifically mentioned them in her victory speech after the GOP Primary:



When CNN went to interview her about her reprehensible belief in it, she was bewildered to see the reporters who showed up were wearing masks during the Covid-19 pandemic and let them know they “didn’t work”:



Joe Rae Perkins got a far too high total of 39% of the vote in the 2020 election. She since has announced she will run for U.S. Senate again in 2022, looking to unseat Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, but her path to victory looks pretty much blocked given that she has posted video of herself in attendance at the January 6th rally that devolved into a violent coup attempt being carried out on behalf of Donald Trump.

To give you an idea of how extremely conservative the eastern portion of a blue state like Oregon is, they still voted for her in 2020, and she one a third of the counties in the state. Should she win the GOP Primary somehow in 2022, we would expect a repeat of her performance, if not a worse showing.

She ought to wear a mask just to cover up that grin that makes it look she was injected with Joker venom.

[Malvolio]

Well, it's official: Senate Qpublicans blocked the formation of the bipartisan 1/6 commission, the vote being 54-35.

So who were the 4 Republicans who voted for the commission? I'm guessing Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, but I'm not sure who the fourth one would be.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Also Sinema skipped the vote. So useful

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So Democrats can now form a Select Committee, right? Go at it on their own?

Sure, the Republican's will cry foul. But if they can hold 30+ hearings on Benghazi, then I expect the Democrats to hold at least on on 1/6. And if McConnell wants it to go away, he will be disappointed when it just... keeps... going.

Exactly that. I'm sure Qpublicans didn't want that commission stretching into next year, jeopardizing their chances at retaking the House during midterms. But, hey, not my problem.

So who were the 4 Republicans who voted for the commission? I'm guessing Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, but I'm not sure who the fourth one would be.

I'm not sure, but I think Pat Toomey was the fourth.

[Panfoot]

GQP yes votes were by Romney, Collins, Cassidy, Portman, Murkowski, and Sasse, 2 Democracts didn't vote(though I can't seem to find who yet) along with 9 GQP who also didn't vote

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

So who were the 4 Republicans who voted for the commission? I'm guessing Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, but I'm not sure who the fourth one would be.

6 Republicans. Sinema and one Democrat didn’t show up

[worstblogever]

GQP yes votes were by Romney, Collins, Cassidy, Portman, Murkowski, and Sasse, 2 Democracts didn't vote(though I can't seem to find who yet) along with 9 GQP who also didn't vote

I'm guessing Manchin and Sinema are the absentee Dems.

[Tami]

6 Republicans. Sinema and one Democrat didn’t show up

Sinema is becoming a real pain the *bleep* for Democrats, even more so than Manchin since Manchin at least seems to be kinda trying to do something instead of just complaining.

[Tami]

I'm guessing Manchin and Sinema are the absentee Dems.

No, it looks like he was there.

These 11 senators skipped the Jan. 6 commission vote

These are the 11 senators who didn’t vote on the bill:

Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri
Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana
Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina
Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota
Republican Sen. James Risch of Idaho
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama
Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania

I can't figure out why Murray was AWOL.

Edit: Twitter talk is saying that Murray had a family emergency. If so, bad timing but otherwise these things happen. Though she could have, possibly, asked someone to vote in her place.

[Tendrin]

Oh my god.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/missou...en-report-says

A Missouri state legislator allegedly used his previous position as a sheriff’s deputy to get “sexual favors from a teenage girl while on duty,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, citing an internal report the newspaper obtained through an open records request. Rep. Chad Perkins, a Republican, also stands accused of attempting to obstruct an investigation into the accusation during his run for the statehouse last year.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Sinema is becoming a real pain the *bleep* for Democrats, even more so than Manchin since Manchin at least seems to be kinda trying to do something instead of just complaining.

Sinema is infinitly worse. Say what you want about Manchin (and there is a lot to say), but he ran as he was and his state is going red if he was even a little more to the left. Sinema ran as a liberal and pretty much abandoned all of her campaign promises once she got donor money and she's now deeply unpopular in her state over it. She's a net negative.

[Tami]

For Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, being in the majority puts her maverick instincts to the test

PHOENIX —

Steve May can still picture the moment he was introduced to Kyrsten Sinema, nearly 20 years ago. He was then serving in the Arizona House of Representatives. She was a Green Party activist waging her first bid to win elected office — and she refused to shake his hand.

“All she knew about me was that I was a Republican member of the House,” May recalled. “She flipped around, her skirt whirled around and she just walked right away from me.”

Within a few years, she was a state legislator driving all across Arizona with May, as they worked to successfully thwart a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage. Their partnership was a milestone in a transformation that has taken Sinema from a tutu-wearing antiwar activist to a conservative Democratic U.S. senator.

PHOENIX —

Steve May can still picture the moment he was introduced to Kyrsten Sinema, nearly 20 years ago. He was then serving in the Arizona House of Representatives. She was a Green Party activist waging her first bid to win elected office — and she refused to shake his hand.

“All she knew about me was that I was a Republican member of the House,” May recalled. “She flipped around, her skirt whirled around and she just walked right away from me.”

Within a few years, she was a state legislator driving all across Arizona with May, as they worked to successfully thwart a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage. Their partnership was a milestone in a transformation that has taken Sinema from a tutu-wearing antiwar activist to a conservative Democratic U.S. senator.

Indeed, Sinema, 44, defies easy characterization. She is known for bold fashion choices (she has worn candy-colored wigs to make up for missed dye jobs at the salon during the pandemic) and punishing workout regimens (she has competed in the Ironman triathlon and teaches cycling classes). A lawyer and social worker by training, she earned a PhD while running for Congress and still teaches classes at Arizona State University. Despite being relatively new to the partisan-gridlocked Senate, she evokes the chamber’s bygone days of cross-party cooperation to defend the filibuster rule.

I don't know....she seems like a real loose cannon.

[Tami]

Sinema is infinitly worse. Say what you want about Manchin (and there is a lot to say), but he ran as he was and his state is going red if he was even a little more to the left. Sinema ran as a liberal and pretty much abandoned all of her campaign promises once she got donor money and she's now deeply unpopular in her state over it. She's a net negative.

She reminds me of Greene in a way. Not quite as crazy, but for a Democrat, Sinema is pretty out-there.