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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Infrastructure talks between President Biden and Senator Capito collapse, but bipartisanship hasn’t had its day yet. Manchin is building a package with Portman, Romney, and Sinema to get something closer to what Biden may want.

I can’t help but feel this is Lucy with the Football again. It will probably a smaller package than Biden’s $1.7 trillion final offer. But because Manchin believes in bipartisanship as a process is an end in and of itself, even if the results are far less good, we are probably going to go all the way through this entire process only for McConnell to say he doesn’t support it and whip his senators to vote against it, just like they did with the ACA.

I wish we could just have it go through reconciliation. Use the last offer and push it through.

That is my concern as well. It's common knowledge that anything which helps a Democratic president and, by extension, the country, doesn't help the GQP, especially with midterms and a shot at retaking the House and/or Senate only a year away. That said, Moscow Mitch will stonewall the bill, bipartisanship is the ultimate dirty word to him, so he has zero desire of giving Biden and the other side a win.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Tom Ganley, a former used car salesman and candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Ohio’s 13th Congressional District back in 2010. The GOP named him one of their “Young Guns” despite of the fact that he had a history of his car dealerships being sued for age, race, and gender discrimination and an African American employee who won a lawsuit against him in a racial discrimination case. Five weeks before the election, a woman alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Ganley at one of his car dealerships while she was dropping her van off for repairs, while giving her $100 and telling her to buy lingerie and high-heeled shoes and to come back so he could “dominate her, parade her on a leash”, and have sex with her in front of his “play friends”. Four weeks after that, and within a week of the election, a second woman came forward to report a similar incident of Ganley acting like Jabba the Hutt. Before all was said and done, Ganley was the first (but not last) of the Republican “Young Guns” to be indicted for a crime, and that was 7 counts that included kidnapping, abduction, solicitation, and menacing by stalking. And that… is definitely a way to end a political career.

In 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted profiles of Georgia State Senator Fran Millar, who arrived in the state legislature in 1999, making the jump from the Georgia House to Georgia Senate back in the 2010 elections. In his time in office, he has voted for the death penalty to be applied even in non-unanimous jury rulings, voted for welfare drug testing, voted for a requirement that the Georgia State Capitol needed to have a monument of the Ten Commandments, voted to try and make picketing a corporation illegal, voted for bills to require English to be the official language of the state, and voted for a law to allow for Christians to legally discriminate against gay people. Pretty much, he’s supported any and all the unconstitutional ideas that conservatives have pitched in the 21st Century. But Millar arrived on CSGOPOTD’s radar a few months prior to the 2014 elections, when he decided to volunteer some interesting opinions about African Americans using their legal right to participate in early voting on Facebook when he wrote, ”Now we are to have Sunday voting at South DeKalb Mall just prior to the election. Per Jim Galloway of the AJC, this location is dominated by African American shoppers and it is near several large African American mega churches such as New Birth Missionary Baptist. Galloway also points out the Democratic Party thinks this is a wonderful idea — what a surprise. I’m sure Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter are delighted with this blatantly partisan move in DeKalb. Is it possible church buses will be used to transport people directly to the mall since the poll will open when the mall opens? If this happens, so much for the accepted principle of separation of church and state. Interim CEO May says this election decision is an administrative matter and he can unilaterally make this decision. I don’t think this is necessarily true and we are investigating if there is any way to stop this action.” When called out on trying to disenfranchise African American voters by shutting down early voting that they (and anyone else in the state) use for convenience and insinuating they were somehow violating the Constitution to do so, Fran Millar found a way to say something even worse, writing, “I would prefer more educated voters than a greater increase in the number of voters. If you don’t believe this is an efort [sic] to maximize Democratic votes pure and simple, then you are not a realist. This is a partisan stunt and I hope it can be stopped. Furthermore I don’t control where people are allowed to vote but am glad Brookhaven has been added for the last week.” So, he would prefer EDUCATED voters, and the African American ones simply can’t be educated, so they should be disqualified. Well, nothing racist about that, right? Well, let’s just say that Fran Millar doesn’t think much of the intelligence of any voter, as he was recorded on video commanding a constituent trying to ask him simple questions to sit, as if they were a dog. On April 15th, 2017, Millar gave the game away again with this quote about the special election to replace the Congressional seat vacated by Tom Price, and how Jon Ossoff was leading in the polls, admitting that the voting lines in the state were drawn to cheat Democrats out of wins. With the 2018 Blue Wave coming for him, and reports that Millar engaged in money laundering with Congressman Buddy Carter… and that was finally enough to ensure he was defeated by Democrat Sally Farrell, earning only 45% of the vote.

On this date in 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day profiled Kansas State Senator Susan Wagle, who served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1991-200, and then District 30 of the Kansas State Senate from 2001 to 2020, when she made herself a candidate for the U.S. Senate, seeking the seat being vacated by the retiring Senator Pat Roberts. In 2006, she was the Chairman of ALEC, the conservative policy think-tank that seems intent to do harm to our nation’s working class to the benefit of the wealthy. Wagle has been in the Kansas state legislator for three decades, and in a leadership role for most of the last third of that. She was one of the main reasons the Kansas GOP under Sam Brownback ran the state into the ground, including her efforts to block the Medicaid Expansion, which she now is outrageously still holding as her hostage in order to try to force anti-choice votes with the lower chamber, including a bill that would change the Kansas state constitution to claim that women don’t have a right to an abortion. And that would probably have something do with her impotent rage at the Kansas Supreme Court for overturning the bill she sponsored, the “Dismemberment Abortion Act” before it could be implemented in April of 2019. Really, her entire voting record reads like a rap sheet of conservative misanthropy. In 2018, she actually threw her support behind white nationalist Senate candidate Kris Kobach to be the next Governor of Kansas in the GOP Primary, and went so far as to have an aid post her endorsement from a computer at the capitol, a violation of ethics rules. In her current efforts to get elected to the U.S. Senate, it’s beginning to be easy to understand how Wagle could align herself as Kobach, as she has also mirrored his love of racist conspiracy theories, including that the Chinese government engineered Covid-19 and then released it on its own citizens. Wagle never managed to poll better than single digits at any point in that U.S. Senate primary, and finally dropped out of the race on May 28th, 2020 after most of her anti-abortion supporters abandoned her and rallied behind Roger Marshall, instead. She’s retiring to go run bingo halls with her husband, so we’ll set aside her profile at this time to take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 991-50, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Brandon Cook

Welcome to what is the 991st profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Brandon Cook, who was a two-time loser in his efforts to run for U.S. House of Representatives in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District in both 2018 and 2020. Cook failed to make it to the primary in either election, being disqualified from it both times. Our reason for profiling him, however, is because he is yet the latest GOP candidate for office from 2020 who was running while endorsing the Qanon conspiracy theory.

So much so, in Cook’s case, he took it seriously enough by responding to Twitter’s announcement that they would ban accounts promoting Qanon as follows:

”Well this should tell you everything you need to know. QAnon is as real as it gets people. There would absolutely no reason to censor or limit is it wasn't.”

Brandon Cook was also virulently anti-immigrant, posting about how two illegal immigrants can have a child on American soil, and that baby is considered an American citizen by declaring, “Two wrongs don’t make a right”.

Which he should probably go read the 14th Amendment, instead of Q posts.

Anyway, Brandon Cook whined about how his Twitter feed lost 5,000 followers once Qanon followers were getting banned, but still spend the summer of 2020 whining about Covid-19 mask mandates and threatening Black Lives Matter protesters out in the streets following the death of George Floyd that “armed Patriots” would “end the riots”. Go figure, this is the sort of vibe someone like Kyle Rittenhouse must have been feeling when he traveled up to Kenosha.

Brandon Cook seems to have stopped posting on Twitter at all after August of 2020, and his Facebook now makes little to mention of politics, perhaps because he realized it would be detrimental to his auto auction business.

[Mister Mets]

What's in blue...

Honestly don't care about that much.

What's in green...

Doing the right thing isn't always something you wind up getting a career out of. Doesn't change that doing the right thing is worth undertaking.

The main thing that happens if a political officeholder says controversial things in blunt ways is that they're more likely to lose and less likely to change the things they want. It mainly because an excuse for losing, so it's prudent to explain things in a way that is palpable to voters, especially on a topic where reasonable can disagree. "The United States has made some mistakes in Central America, which should be remedied" VS "The United States is the alcoholic of the American contnient"

A religious-like devotion to politics in America.




You know ... that explains a lot.

This make sense.

Politics can give people meaning and a sense of community. It becomes problem when they start looking for heretics, or treating opposition to extreme legislature as if it were a denial of religious truth.

[worstblogever]

For those keeping track of the VA Governor's race, Terry McCauliffe won the Democratic Primary for that race last night.

Meaning, Justin Fairfax's time in office is running thin, and he is not failing up under the scrutiny of claims of sexual misconduct. (Remember, there is no formal apparatus for impeaching Governors or Lt. Governors of Virginia).

Unlike say, the Republican Party, at the moment, there's accountability on the left.

[InformationGeek]

Marco Rubio has a challenger to his seat, Representative Val Demings. Of course, he has to respond as a little immature brat.

[Kirby101]

Marco Rubio has a challenger to his seat, Representative Val Demings. Of course, he has to respond as a little immature brat.

It's so sad when Rubio tries to be Trump.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's so sad when Rubio tries to be Trump.

Well, if it gets Little Ricky noticed by the Godfather of Mar-a-Lago, then it was all worth it in his mind.

[worstblogever]

It's so sad when Rubio tries to be Trump.

Hey, be fair. Marco looks just about as pathetic when scrambling for water.

[Malvolio]

Marco Rubio has a challenger to his seat, Representative Val Demings. Of course, he has to respond as a little immature brat.

Alan Grayson is running, as well.

[worstblogever]

Alan Grayson is running, as well.

That crooked wanker ain't gettin' out of the primary. He hasn't in many attempts. He couldn't in 2016, and when he tried to get his House seat back, he lost in the Democratic Primary for that.

Against Val Demings, he doesn't have a prayer.

[numberthirty]

The main thing that happens if a political officeholder says controversial things in blunt ways is that they're more likely to lose and less likely to change the things they want. It mainly because an excuse for losing, so it's prudent to explain things in a way that is palpable to voters, especially on a topic where reasonable can disagree. "The United States has made some mistakes in Central America, which should be remedied" VS "The United States is the alcoholic of the American contnient"

...

If it was only that America has made those mistakes?

There would most likely be very little to discuss.

The reality that America simply remaining the country that it is right now creates chaos from Mexico south until you run out of ground?

That is present tense.

We are the root cause of the bulk of that chaos today.

Without notable change, we will be the root cause of the bulk of that chaos in a month.

Without notable change, we will be the root cause of the bulk of that chaos in a year.

Without notable change, we will be the root cause of the bulk of that chaos a decade from now.

That Americans would rather not face up to that uncomfortable reality?

That's just an alcoholic father not wanting to face that his family is a disaster area largely because he is not even willing to take a look at himself.

It's past time that stopped.

[numberthirty]

For those keeping track of the VA Governor's race, Terry McCauliffe won the Democratic Primary for that race last night.

Meaning, Justin Fairfax's time in office is running thin, and he is not failing up under the scrutiny of claims of sexual misconduct. (Remember, there is no formal apparatus for impeaching Governors or Lt. Governors of Virginia).

Unlike say, the Republican Party, at the moment, there's accountability on the left.

As long as this is the reality(setting aside just how much this instance actually looked anything like "Accountability...")?

The idea that the left is actually for accountability is just laughable...

That one about believing them when someone shows you who they are?

Democrats(If that's what someone wants to call "The Left"...) just made exactly who they are pretty clear.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/n...l-lawsuit.html

Biden Justice Department Seeks to Defend Trump in Suit Over Rape Denial

[Ragged Maw]

As long as this is the reality(setting aside just how much this instance actually looked anything like "Accountability...")?

The idea that the left is actually for accountability is just laughable...

That one about believing them when someone shows you who they are?

Democrats(If that's what someone wants to call "The Left"...) just made exactly who they are pretty clear.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/n...l-lawsuit.html

No one’s saying they’re these shining paragons of integrity or that they’re completely immune to bad faith or any form of intellectual myopia (by GOD, they aren’t). Still, they have a noticeable degree more scruples than the GOP, as of late. At the very least, moving adjacent (not even getting in bed) with them seems less tantamount to suicide, from where I’m standing.

[BeastieRunner]

US saw biggest spike in gun violence in 50 years. Don’t panic yet.

The surge in gun violence during the pandemic has strengthened both pro- and anti-police stances. But experts – and history – indicate that a more nuanced approach is needed.

“Community gun violence – which is really what’s driving this trend – is not the intractable challenge that people think it is,” says Thomas Abt, director of the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice at the Council on Criminal Justice. “In fact, we’ve had success in reducing this kind of violence many times and in many places all around the country. The challenge has been sustaining that success.”
Are we seeing a return to 1990s-level violence?

In absolute numbers, the level of gun violence remains far below its peak in the early 1990s – after which shootings plummeted across the United States until 2014, when numbers gradually began ticking up.

I found this image of the last year rather eye opening, too.



And some solutions?

Meanwhile, research shows that things as simple as adding lighting in neighborhoods or helping high school students through algebra are, in the long term, enormously beneficial at reducing violence.