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

[Mister Mets]

The one you're repeating.

There. Is. No. "relationship".

I'm not even entertaining your Fox News inspired delirium.

I am unaware of anything I've said that's incorrect.

I will note you're insulting me while suggesting things that are contradicted by the evidence, like that the only time he had anything to do with her was one time they were photographed together.

I have no idea if he had a relationship with her, I know Fox News implied it might have been a close one (and she is pretty, easy story to sell). But politicians having met or been photographed with someone is the easiest thing in the world. I live in New Hampshire, I could have been photographed with any Presidential candidate in the last several decades and it would mean nothing for them if I turned out to be a Russian spy. Facebook friends? I'd imagine they each have thousands, and might know a fraction of those. As to having placed an intern, if she's a fundraiser I can see a "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" which may not look good on the surface, but how much does when you really examine the relationships politicians have with their sources of money? That's why Citizens United was such a poor decision and why most folks are turned off by politics in the first place. It's a cesspool of corruption or potential corruption. Doesn't mean you have to jump to the worst conclusion.

I've jumped to no conclusion. My comment was that he would have to explain his relationship with her, whatever it was, if there was a contentious race for leader of Democrats in the House. Incidentally, I have no idea if there was a romantic relationship. He hasn't denied it at all, or claimed that the photo taken with him was the equivalent of meeting one of thousands of random strangers.

I'm reminded right now of times when people here are pissed off that a Republican candidate or officeholder was photographed with a nutjob. In those cases, there usually is some kind of explicit claim that it was just a photo with someone they thought was a random supporter. It's interesting to compare the response to those incidents here, as well as the reaction from Swalwell.

[Kirby101]

I guess Trump being now a confirmed Russian asset isn't nearly as bad as Democrat being photographed with someone.

[worstblogever]

I guess Trump being now a confirmed Russian asset isn't nearly as bad as Democrat being photographed with someone.

THIS.


The same person who has scoffed as Trump's Russian ties kept coming up again, and again, and again...
The same person who didn't have much to say about Trump Jr. and Kushner hosting Russians in Trump tower...
The same person who was silent as Michael Flynn and Tom Barrack have been indicted for operating as foreign agents of other countries (Turkey and the UAE, respectively) while working on the Trump campaign or even trying to become National Security Advisor...
The same person who found no problem with Senator Jeff Sessions having met in secret with a Russian ambassador and not disclosing it to the public...
The same person who didn't blink when Trump's campaign manager was sharing campaign data with Russian intelligence...
The same person who assured us nothing was amiss when Rudy Giuliani got popped with Lev & Igor messing around in Ukraine...
The same person who had nothing to say about how Congressman like Devin Nunes or Ron Johnson are being fed talking points by the Kremlin...
Or that Republican fundraisers were funneling Russian money through the NRA to the Trump campaign and confirmed to have been carrying on an affair with a Russian spy...

Is alleging that Eric Swalwell is in league with a Chinese spy when HE HELPED THE FBI INVESTIGATE HER WHEN THEY CAME TO HIM ABOUT IT.

The fact that this information regarding Swalwell as the spy at all was because Donald Trump wanted to smear him for his work during the impeachment trial to malign him. Seeing someone continue that smear today, and pretend that's not exactly what he's doing while ignoring all the far more egregious things his party have been up to...

Well, there's a reason his party's acceptance of reality is constantly in question.

[Mister Mets]

I guess Trump being now a confirmed Russian asset isn't nearly as bad as Democrat being photographed with someone.

Do you have a new revelation about Trump? If so, I'm interested to read it.

But what does Trump have to do with Swalwell?

[worstblogever]

On this date in both 2014, as well as 2015, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile on Joe Walsh, the former Illinois Congressman. After news leaked that he refused to pay a six figure sum in child support to his ex-wife, threw several temper-tantrums directed at constituents, went out of his way to take part in the slut-shaming of Sandra Fluke by telling her she needed to “GET A JOB” and stop asking for birth control to be covered by her insurance, and then his disgusting attempt to attack the military service of his opponent, Purple Heart winner and multiple amputee Tammy Duckworth, he failed to get re-elected to the U.S. House in the 2012 elections. Since, Walsh has gone into, what else? Right-wing talk radio. Since taking that job, he decided to complain about African Americans “being on the government plantation” to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Then, he decided he would try and make the case for why a certain NFL team from Washington, D.C. should be allowed to keep their racist nickname by blurting out as many racial slurs, including the n-word, on air as he could, and then acted surprised when he got suspended for it. We waited a year, and then got to update Walsh’s profile to talk about how in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack, Walsh went on Twitter to rage against CNN and MSNBC for refusing to show the controversial cartoons of the prophet, Mohammed, on air, and said because they were “appeasing cowards”, he hoped that their offices would “be where the Islamists strike next”. After the mass shooting that took the lives of several Dallas police officers by a lone wolf shooter motivated by racial animas, Joe Walsh decided to get on Twitter again, and warn President Obama and Black Lives Matter that it was all out race war, because “real America” was coming for them. Oddly, these days Walsh’s shows have shown him with varying states of sanity, where one minute he’s raving about conspiracy theories and the next he’s leveling criticism at Donald Trump where it’s warranted. Seems to depend on what day you tune in, and where whatever medication he’s taking is working or not, on which Joe Walsh you get.

On this date in 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” shared our profile of Scott Jones, a Sacramento County sheriff who challenged Democratic Rep. Ami Bera for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for California's 7th Congressional District in the 2016 elections. Well... the GOP probably should have had another option. Jones registered to be on the ballot in November of 2015. Fast forward six months to May of 2016, and a lawsuit against Sacramento County Sheriff's Department awarded the plaintiffs $3.5 million dollars (which the taxpayers will have to pay). Apparently the SCSD had a pervasive environment of bias for giving preferential treatment or promotions to men, at the expense of female sheriffs, and when those women reported it, the men in the department started to retaliate by harassing them for blowing the whistle, siccing internal affairs on them in retribution, or punitively transferring them. Now, with all that happening under Jones' watchful eye, maybe the dots would be hard to connect to show he was directly responsible for a culture of misogyny. Well, forget about that... unsealed court documents have revealed a deposition from a woman not among the plaintiffs saying that he had a sexual relationship with a subordinate female deputy, who described being groped and kissed by Jones in the office repeatedly, and that he was trying to persuade her to attend conventions with him in Reno. (Jones is married with four children, like so many other Republicans representing "family values"). If that weren't enough, Sheriff Jones has also drawn the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement, who have staged protests outside his offices as part of their overall movement, and the fact that there have been two African American men killed by the SCSD the past few years. While he may not be the worst Republican, or the worst sheriff we've ever profiled, to be sure, but Scott Jones is not looking like he's going to be elected to higher office.

On this date in 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Arizona State Senator Steve Montenegro, elected to serve District 13 in that body after spending 2009-2016 working in the Arizona House of Representatives. He is a rarity among Republicans… Montenegro isn’t just a Latino Republican… he’s actually an immigrant from El Salvador. And, that made him an interesting individual to watch during the debate over Arizona’s SB 1070 a few years ago, where he voted in favor of it, and argued that a law which allowed Arizona law enforcement to racially profile suspects and detain individuals based on their own judgment if they were suspected of being an illegal immigrant wasn’t racist, in its premise. Montenegro would lamented that most of SB 1070 was overturned by the courts, and still insisted that it was meant to “target coyotes”. But, where things are getting even more interesting is that Montenegro is a is the son of a Pentacostal minister, and is ordained himself. But after he supported SB 1070, a local Christian AM radio station began to get phone calls from the Montenegro’s church, saying that they were illegal immigrants who went there, and that they had donated money towards Montenegro’s college. Montenegro, of course, claims it was “scholarships, loans, and help from his family”. Either way, a lot of the Hispanic community accuse him of being a sellout. When you factor in his background in ministry, and that he once served as an intern to the quite bats*** Evangelical Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, it should come as little surprise that he’s other full-blown GOP theocrat. After an atheist colleague gave a “prayer” to open up a session in the state legislature by thanking Carl Sagan and others, Montenegro respond by freaking out and changing the rules so that prayers within the legislature MUST mention God. And it’s only part of a sign that Montenegro isn’t so keen on the whole separation of church and state. He’s also sponsored bills so that the clergy can turn away gay couples, sponsored a “religious freedom” law so that Arizona businesses could discriminate against the LGBT community, and even tried working to prevent same sex couples from adopting children. Because heaven forbid they end up in a loving home if it’s not with straight people. Even more concerning to us is that Montenegro also changed rules for the media covering the Arizona state legislature, forcing the entire pool of reporters to first undergo background checks before having access to the legislature. When the media cleared their background checks and got to ask him why the hell he did it, he effectively played dumb and pretended he didn’t know the reason for the policy change. Montenegro also co-sponsored SB 1433, a bill aimed at trying to justify why Arizona should be allowed to nullify federal law, bills to have elective courses about the Bible taught in public high schools, voted for a bill to allow Arizona employers to refuse to provide health insurance coverage for employees’ contraception. Montenegro aslo supported bill which would allow law enforcement to make unannounced inspections of abortion facilities, as well as Arizona Republicans’ bonkers bill to have citizens start regarding gold and silver as legal tender. Steve Montenegro took a chance in the 2018 elections, and rather than run for re-election to the State Senate, he opted to run for Arizona Secretary of State, instead. And, as it turns out, Montenegro chose poorly, and lost in the GOP Primary for Arizona Secretary of State, and then in desperation, he tried running for the seat in Congress vacated by his old mentor, Trent Franks, after Franks tried adapting the Handmaid’s Tale to real life and got exposed by the #MeToo movement. Which, SURPRISE! Montengro’s a bit of a hypocrite, as text messages were uncovered between him and an aide where she sent him topless photos and he lamented not having her around (remember, “family values” ordained minister with a family, here). He is currently out of office, and may never recover from the hypocrisy of a sexting scandal as a minister.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Craig Brittain, a 2018 GOP Primary candidate for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, who was seeking the seat left by the retiring Jeff Flake. While we feel like maybe being a pornography mogul would be something that would be make someone a long shot to be a successful political candidate, we think the fact that Craig Brittain has made his living as a purveyor of REVENGE porn is what makes him utterly unfit for any office, unless if by “office” we mean “prison cell”. We’re not going to mince words, if you make money off of the victimization of women whose nude images were given to you to spread without their consent, and you only take them down if they offer you $200-$500, you belong in a jail for extortion, not the U.S. Senate. (Although, given how corrupt most Republican Senators act these days, maybe he would fit right in.) What should not come as a revelation is Brittain continues to have a generally disgusting way of talking to women, sometimes calling them unflattering c-words online, or flat-out telling them their “womanlives” are worth nothing. Because how else can you run a revenge porn site unless you think women are subhuman? Brittains’ “business” is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, which not shockingly, he wants to abolish. Also, in the interest of being a libertarian-wing Republican who takes the ideology to near anarchic levels of non-governance, he would like to also abolish the Federal Communications Commission, Internal Revenue Service, United Nations, Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Reserve, Transportation Security Administration, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As far as campaign rhetoric, Brittain claimed to want to be the biggest ally he could for Donald Trump, constantly harassed journalists on social media for not supporting his campaign in print like he would prefer, and accused Democratic Primary candidate Deedra Abboud of being “a sponsor of terror” which we’re sure had nothing to do with the fact that she’s a Muslim and he’s a deranged bigot. And that’s not an isolated event, as he has yelled at a venture capitalist on Twitter and called them “towelhead piece of s*** invader” and “raghead”. Which is even more strange because there’s no indication that the person he was screaming at is in any way Muslim, Sikh, or of any African or Asian descent. Brittain’s defense against all these incidents of abusive behavior on Twitter? “It wasn’t me, it was some messenger”. Yes, he went with the Family Circus Ghost defense. Craig Brittain’s campaign for U.S. Senate faced several challenges. The first being, he’s still Craig Brittain, bigoted revenge porn mogul. The second being is he is currently banned from Twitter, for accusing several survivors of the Parkland shooting of lying about being on campus during the rampage. He filed a lawsuit in protest of his banning, and we’re pretty sure that Twitter is going to win it based on previous precedent over their terms of use and kicking people off the site for “abusive behavior” (I mean, the slurs and misogyny are one thing, but the conspiracy theory stuff… what the?). We’re not certain his claims that he’s going to have a campaign event with a combination of white national guests like Ann Coulter, Tucker Carlson, Milo Yiannopolous, would be appearing on stage with Snoop Dogg and Run the Jewels… but it seems more likely that Brittain is just bats*** koo-koo.

[worstblogever]

On this date one year ago, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” first profiled the U.S. House Representatives from Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, Kevin Hern, a McDonald’s franchisee who won his first term in office back in 2018 after he narrowly escaped a GOP Primary with 55% of the vote, and then won in the general election with 59% against Democrat Tim Gilpin, sliding into the House seat formerly held by Jim Bridenstine.

Kevin Hern is also brazenly corrupt, as his friends’ companies back home in Oklahoma and all its McDonald’s franchise were apparently one of the first in line to snatch up every last dollar in PPP loans to line his pockets with $1-2 million in taxpayer dollars during the Covid-19 pandemic, while all the peasants in his district could wait for their $1200 pittance. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as he has refused to abstain from voting against legislation that would directly affect his businesses since being sworn in, actively campaigning against bills to affect fast food franchisees.

But it’s not always self-serving corruption for Hern, sometimes he rallies behind corruption within the White House, as when he tried defending Donald Trump from impeachment by being one of the 41 Republicans to follow Matt Gaetz into a classified hearing “protest” that the GOP was more than welcome to just participate in.

Rep. Hern also lauded Donald Trump’s stupid f***ing idea to host his first campaign rally in months in Tulsa during the Covid-19 pandemic as “a testament to the people of Oklahoma”. The predictions of health experts warning against it came true and over 500 infections occurred from that event alone… so apparently Hern wants to celebrate Trump killing people like the dumb s*** he is.

Now, let’s explore Hern’s voting record in his first term:

• October 23rd, 2019: Hern is one of 41 Republicans who, while staring down the possibility of Donald Trump being impeached, stage a ridiculous publicity stunt in response by crashing a classified impeachment inquiry hearing for a “protest”.
• December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Hern is one of 71 Republicans who votes against a resolution to disallow Russia from re-entering the G7 and makes it the G8 until it leaves Ukraine.
• December 18th, 2019: Hern ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
• March 13th, 2020: Rep. Hern votes against the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
• May 15th, 2020: Hern votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• December 10th, 2020: Hern signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
• January 6th, 2021: Kevin Hern votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Hern votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
• February 4th, 2021: Kevin Hern votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
• February 25th, 2021: Hern votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Hern votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
• March 3rd, 2021: Kevin Hern votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Hern votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
• March 17th, 2021: Rep. Hern votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 19th, 2021: Kevin Hern votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• July 22nd, 2021: Hern is one of 16 Republicans who vote against HR 3895, the Allies Act, which was passed without his support to raise the amount of visas offered and to expedite their issue to Afghan translators and their families to honor our promise to protect them against the Taliban after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, thus feeling we should go back on our word and leave them to die.
  

Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District has had a +17 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, but it will be interesting to see if it holds as such a partisan advantage after redistricting, and if enough of a significant dent can be put into it to make Kevin Hern at least sweat a little against a Democratic challenger. Maybe the fact that he got caught funneling PPP loan money to his own businesses would give them enough reason to elect someone who wasn’t so clearly out for himself.

[JackDaw]

I guess Trump being now a confirmed Russian asset isn't nearly as bad as Democrat being photographed with someone.

Lol…

If Mets made the equivalent argument wouldn’t it be called an example of “What-aboutism”?

[Tami]

We Now Know What the FBI Did With the 4,500 Kavanaugh Tips It Collected in 2018

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has spent nearly three years attempting to understand the nature of the FBI’s “supplemental investigation” of claims that emerged against Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings in the summer of 2018. The senator’s attempts to get answers from either the Trump White House or the FBI were largely unsuccessful while Trump was still in office. But Whitehouse kept trying—almost as soon as Merrick Garland was sworn in as attorney general, Whitehouse asked him to help facilitate “proper oversight” by the Senate into questions about how serious the FBI supplemental investigation really was.

Whitehouse asked Garland to explain why there was no mechanism for witnesses to report their accounts to the FBI, and why, after the FBI decided to create a “tip line,” nobody was ever told how the tips were evaluated. In his March letter to Garland, Whitehouse described that tip line as “more like a garbage chute, with everything that came down the chute consigned without review to the figurative dumpster.” Whitehouse asked Garland to explain “how, why, and at whose behest” the FBI conducted a “fake” investigation that violated standard procedures. Whitehouse also asked Garland to probe into the tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt that mysteriously vanished from Kavanaugh’s life in 2016.

And it seems he has finally gotten at least some answers. On Wednesday morning, Whitehouse’s office released a June 30 letter from FBI Assistant Director Jill C. Tyson. The letter is a response to an even older request sent by Whitehouse (and Sen. Chris Coons) asking similar questions about the supplemental background investigation—this one, sent to the FBI in August 2019. Among other revelations, Tyson’s letter indicates that the FBI’s supplemental investigation happened at the direction of the White House, that the most “relevant” of the 4,500 tips the agency received were referred back to White House lawyers in the Trump administration, and that in the days of the follow-up investigation, 10 people were interviewed (it doesn’t say this, but other reporting has confirmed that neither Christine Blasey Ford nor Kavanaugh were among these 10 people). The letter clarifies that this was a supplemental background check, not a criminal investigation because that is what was sought by the White House counsel’s office.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Republicans Stumble Trying To Show More Urgency About COVID-19 Vaccines

Several high-profile Republicans embraced the vaccine this week, but others are still stepping on the message. Some say that "urgency" comes from either the markets having tanked or fear of their unvaccinated base literally dying off from the virus.

**********

Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants Chinese Booted For COVID, But Not A Peep About Unvaxxed

Greene has continued to rail against vaccinations, which threatens public health. Ladies and gentlemen, here's the face of the Anti-Vaccine movement!

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GOP Lawmaker Tries To Shame Democrats On Vaccinations. Except They’re All Vaccinated.

Rep. Ronny Jackson was hoping to deflect attention from the huge number of Republicans who aren’t vaccinated or won’t say if they are. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Try again, moron!

**********

Director Of Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony Fired For Holocaust Joke

The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has fired the director of the opening ceremony because of a Holocaust joke he made during a comedy show in 1998. More proof the Games has become a first class dumpster fire, and not just because of the threat posed by the virus.

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Mississippi Argues Supreme Court Should Overturn Roe V. Wade

The office of Mississippi’s Republican attorney general said states should decide whether to regulate abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb. Once again for anyone who hasn't already figured it out: Outlawing abortion won't eliminate the practice. Anyone who thinks differently is an idiot.

**********

Joe Biden Predicted A GOP ‘Epiphany’ Post-Trump. It’s Nowhere In Sight.

Donald Trump has been gone for months, but Republicans are still beholden to him. And that's because Trump's psychotic base are still beholden to him, and Qpublicans desperately need that support at the polls.

[babyblob]

I hope the link works. I saw a great video on Reddit of a solid burn by Biden to a reporter. Not sure who has seen this. First time I have really seen Biden call out some of the more crazy Q theories.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreak...es_of_america/

[Kirby101]

Do you have a new revelation about Trump? If so, I'm interested to read it.

But what does Trump have to do with Swalwell?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...in-white-house

See WBE for 2nd question.

[Kirby101]

Lol…

If Mets made the equivalent argument wouldn’t it be called an example of “What-aboutism”?

Not really, if someone is concerned about foreign influence, isn't being unaware of Trump being a Russian asset while pushing an old story about a Democrat relevant?

[JackDaw]

Not really, if someone is concerned about foreign influence, isn't being unaware of Trump being a Russian asset while pushing an old story about a Democrat relevant?

But was anyone really unaware of the Donald being favoured by the Russians? ( If it went further than that and he was a “Russian asset”, which implies he was under control..I guess the present Democrat administration will arrange the appropriate prosecution for treachery.)

But to be honest I was “pulling your leg”….and I actually think what is often called “what-aboutism” on these boards is often a valid form of argument…in those cases where attention is brought to similar cases that are treated differently because of bias.

[Ragged Maw]

It'd be great if everyone would just quit giving that attention seeker what she wants.

Kind of a dilemma then: You stop giving her attention and you risk letting her rile up her base more, free from interference, maybe resulting in another "Jan 6". You give her attention and she gets more media buzz, possibly winning her new followers from the exposure.