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

[Catlady in training]

It's heartbreaking to even think about.

On the other hand, this visit is looking to be quite successful. The process to start the international investigation has started and she said Ukraine has a chance to join EU. And though I have originally questioned the purpose of our PM going with her, I am now glad to see the actual reason:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...ms-to-ukraine/

In addition to U.S.-produced weapons, we have also worked to facilitate the transfer of capabilities from our Allies and partners around the world. I want to thank the Slovakian government for providing an S-300 air defense system to Ukraine, something President Zelenskyy has personally raised with me in our conversations. To enable this transfer and ensure the continued security of Slovakia, the United States will reposition a U.S. Patriot missile system to Slovakia.

It is unusual for me to feel proud of our country and government. I hope it will last.

[Johnathan]

And why not? We've ignored what China has been doing to the Uyghurs for years, and I'd assume Russia has that in view as a model. The irony of this screed for 'denazification' is its overtly fascist language and thinly veiled shots at the 'degeneracy' of the west.

This is a good point. Putin was considered an ally by the past few administrations here and by Europe as well despite growing autocracy and crackdowns on civil rights. We're fine with dictators and human rights abuses as long as it's good for business. Then our leaders act all shocked when it gets out of hand and try to pretend they were always against it. To be fair though, "we the people" that voted them into office were ready to ignore it as well or we wouldn't have voted them into office.

[Tendrin]

This is a good point. Putin was considered an ally by the past few administrations here and by Europe as well despite growing autocracy and crackdowns on civil rights. We're fine with dictators and human rights abuses as long as it's good for business. Then our leaders act all shocked when it gets out of hand and try to pretend they were always against it. To be fair though, "we the people" that voted them into office were ready to ignore it as well or we wouldn't have voted them into office.

'Ally' is probably not the word I'd use, but clearly less of an overt geopolitical foe, and the filthy Russian dollars showing up everywhere in finance and real estate surely helped smooth the way.

[Mister Mets]

It realy goes to prove all you need are a few members of the cult on the jury and this will always be the outcome. People waiting for Trump to be convicted take this lesson. Any of his cult on the jury and the same thing will happen.

Why do you think no reasonable person would make the decision these jurors did?

[Tendrin]

Ali Alexander, a key figure in the organization of pro-Trump events following the 2020 election, 'has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the attack on the Capitol last year,' according to the New York Times

Interesting.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%22Ali%...ertical=trends

[AnakinFlair]

I don't think this has been mentioned here yet:

Scores feared dead in Kramatorsk railway station strike

The gist of it is that Russia fired two rockets into a train station in Kramatorsk that was packed with civilians trying to flee the war. At least 50 people were killed.

In response, Slovakia has sent Ukraine Soviet-era air defense systems designed to shoot down ballistic missiles. In return, the US is sending Slovakia some Patriot missile batteries, along with American troops to operate them.

[Iron Maiden]

Two Acquitted In Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Plot, Jury Hung On Two More


Just…wow.

I had a sinking feeling it would go this way, knowing how much of Michigan is very red. And what's to stop people from lying when they're screened for juries?

[CaptainEurope]

The Federal Election Commission has fined Trump’s main super PAC $975k for violating a federal law on foreign nationals contributing to American political committees or campaigns.

That's a chunk of change.

[CaptainEurope]

Money is a language Trump understands.


New York attorney general wants Trump held in contempt, fined $10,000 per day

"The judge's order was crystal clear: Donald J. Trump must comply with our subpoena and turn over relevant documents to my office," James said in a statement. "Instead of obeying a court order, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it. We are seeking the court's immediate intervention because no one is above the law."

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Money is a language Trump understands.


New York attorney general wants Trump held in contempt, fined $10,000 per day

Ten grand? That's loose change under the sofa cushions for Trump. Hell, I'm sure he pays his layers much more than that to keep him out of courtrooms.

[worstblogever]

Ten grand? That's loose change under the sofa cushions for Trump. Hell, I'm sure he pays his layers much more than that to keep him out of courtrooms.

He doesn't pay his lawyers, remember?

[worstblogever]

Well, a few weeks ago, texts emerged from Mark Meadows to Sidney Powell about the Big Lie.

Last night, texts emerged where Donald Trump Jr. was contacting Mark Meadows, and these texts show Don Jr. was aware his pappy lost, but was just looking to stage a coup and get the Proud Boys to attack the Capitol to stop the Electoral Vote Count. He lays out several methods that they can subvert a peaceful transfer of power.

In other news, a federal judge in Georgia is allowing a lawsuit from voters against Marjorie Taylor-Greene to go forward to declare her ineligible to run for re-election for aiding the insurrection on Jan. 6th.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”posted profiles of Virginia State Senator Dick Black, a man whose voting record included support for welfare drug testing, statistically unnecessary voter ID laws, medically unnecessary ultrasounds for women seeking abortions, and trying to allow adoption agencies to deny gay couples the ability to adopt children based on “religious principles”. But where Black truly stands out is a series of comments through the years he’s made. Black is a former military prosecutor who has stated his feeling that rape was “as predictable as human nature”, and once argued that he wouldn’t prosecute spousal rape because women “wear nighties”. Black also has referred to birth control as “baby pesticide”, blamed the Columbine Massacre on children not being forced to respect their elders by calling them “ma’am or sir” in school, and argued against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” because he felt it would cause HIV and AIDS to spread through our military’s ranks. He’s also ranted about illegal immigrants spreading the Ebola Virus, praised Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, compared abortion to the Holocaust, and sent tiny dolls of fetuses to the entire Virginia State Assembly, asking them if they would “kill the child” he had sent them by voting against an anti-abortion bill. To put it succinctly, this guy is a friggin’ loon (there’s WAY more in that original entry).

Black made a run at a seat in Congress in 2014, trying to represent Virginia's 10th Congressional District, and failed, and going into the 2019 elections, he's probably going to be more concerned about holding onto ANY seat. Black was regrettably re-elected in the 2015 election in Virginia, with views on social issues more appropriate to 1820. This may have had a lot to do with the fact that he exploited paranoid fears over Planned Parenthood based on a certain faux "sting" video created by the Center for Medical Progress and accused his opponent, a pediatrician named Jill McCabe, of being in favor of late term abortions because she"supports late term abortions. Larger baby parts are more profitable.". That was enough of a lie to earn a "Pants on Fire" rating from Politifact, but still dragged Dick Black to the finish line, where he won with 52% of the vote.

In 2016, Black was trying to ban “sexually explicit” instructional material from public schools in Virginia, supporting HB 516, and the main offending work that outraged a parent and moved the bill forward was Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”, but critics of the bill noted that the ban could have applied to any book that included sexual themes, at all. So watch out, huffing and puffing at the door of obscenity was Dick Black, who went online to rail against “Beloved” and its scene where t “a hunchbacked older man fantasizes in detail about raping a little girl and leaving her in a pool of her own blood”, continuing, “If it's so graphic that Gwaker can't even print it for their adult readers, then parents should have the right to know.”.… but apparently attacked the wrong Toni Morrison book, discussing explicit content from her first book, “The Bluest Eye”, and misidentifying the online news site Gawker.com with a glaring typo. And Gawker was just not going to let that stand, not only correcting him, but highlighting Twitter users that point out the Bible has scenes where graphic drunken incest and prostitutes being dismembered are written about, and that’s not a problem for Dick Black.

Again, Black supported HB 516, but Gov. Terry McAuliffe was there with a veto stamp to save the day, because it was a glaring violation of our First Amendment and all that. Dick Black spent the 2016 elections to get Ted Cruz nominated as the GOP's pick for president. During that failed effort, he managed to pop off and again brazenly lie about a lady running for office. this time claiming that Hillary Clinton's immigration policy, that she supported the idea, amounted to "ethnic cleansing", ranting in particular about Muslims coming into our country from the Middle East. So you would think that railing against ethnic cleansing would mean Dick Black is disgusted by dictators who kill their own people by the thousands, right? HA! Remember, we're talking about a deranged moron who has previously praised Bashar-al-Assad. That made it a bit less surprising that in January of 2017, Black openly praised the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, for carrying out a brutal "war on drugs" that was just a cover for executing thousands of homeless people in his country. Black regarded these Duterte death squads as a good thing, because here in the U.S., we just allow people to smoke marijuana cigarettes. Almost immediately after we ran our last profile of Dick Black, he made the news in Virginia again by going out of his way to make statements about how Syrian dictator Bashar-al-Assad could not have ordered nerve gas to be used against his own people because he has “no motive” to do so: Yes, Dick Black is trying to make people believe that the poor Assad regime is just being framed by ISIS. Mercifully, Dick Black opted to not run for re-election in 2019.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, profiled Guy Reschenthaler, the U.S. House Representative from Pennsylvania’s 14th Congressional District and a former member of the Pennsylvania State Senate. Reschenthaler’s reputation as a young up-and-comer in the GOP stems from his work as serving as the defense in a military trial for a Navy SEAL accused of covering up the assault of Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi while he was being detained prior to his execution. And if there’s anything the Republican Party loves right now, it’d defending war crimes.

Anyway, Reschenthaler’s political career is somewhat miraculous given what he was doing upon returning home from Iraq… he was the co-host of a radio show with white nationalist Carl Higbie, who on-air, likes to comment about how African Americans don’t “contribute equally to society”, and that “the black race is lazier than the white race”. And Reschenthaler would like to distance himself from his old racist, sexist, homophobic buddy from conservative radio, and pretend that he barely even knows the guy… and yet he wrote the forward for Higbie’s book, which contains discussions about Hurricane Katrina survivors ("human parasites"), slavery ("I certainly don't agree with slavery, but I do think that you should play the hand you are dealt, and good physical genetics are definitely dealt to many blacks"), Puerto Ricans ("If you are so proud of your old country, then go back"), LGBTQ people ("widespread acceptance is wrong"), Muslims ("it is also my right to be suspicious" of someone wearing a turban), and undocumented immigrants (those who attempt to cross the border should be shot "dead"). When called out for it, Reschenthaler insisted he hadn’t read the book he wrote a glowing forward for.

It will not be surprising to you, then, that Guy Reschenthaler is also a huge cheerleader for Donald Trump, to the extent that it seems to be what he spends most of his energy on since he arrived in Washington, D.C. Whether is was how he rolled up his sleeves to harass Robert Mueller when he testified before Congress or spread conspiracy theories about his investigation into Donald Trump obstructing justice, or calling Trump’s impeachment “Soviet-esque” (while choosing to not attend hearings to actually try and defend the president). As late as February 12th, 2020, Reschenthaler was giddy as he went on Fox Business to declare “Donald Trump is doing better than ever!”, which lines up on the timeline of a stretch where Trump was ignoring warnings about COVID-19 while hitting the links, and on the precipice of a looming Stock Market Crash due to the looming pandemic he was ignoring.

Further evidence Reschenthaler is wrong about everything comes from his voting record:

• December 18th, 2019: Rep. Reschenthaler 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.
• May 15th, 2020: Reschenthaler votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• January 6th, 2021: Guy Reschenthaler 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. Reschenthaler 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: Guy Reschenthaler 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: Reschenthaler votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Reschenthaler 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: Guy Reschenthaler votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Reschenthaler 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. Reschenthaler is one of 172 Republicans who choose to vote 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: Rep. Rogers votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• November 5th, 2021: Mike Rogers votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Pennsylvania’s 14th Congressional District has had a +14 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, so he was obviously easily re-elected in 2020, getting 65% of the vote. Reschenthaler had designs on making a run to replace the retiring U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, while trying to play off his vote against certifying the results of the 2020 election not as “seditious” but “symbolic” but has chickened out of trying to do so after quaking in fear at the sight of the political juggernaut that is Mehmet Oz entering the race (LOL). He’s currently invoking white nationalist fear-mongering, complaining about a “border crisis” and warning the poor white folks of his district that the Biden administration is letting illegal immigrants across the southern border of our country to *gasp* come into our communities. Because of course that’s what he’s going to stoop to.

[thwhtGuardian]

Why do you think no reasonable person would make the decision these jurors did?

Because there were text messages, social media posts and evidence of a firework with pennies attached to it to act as shrapnel that predate the FBI's involvement.

Come on Mets, this wasn't a hard one, these people intended to kidnap a duly elected official they weren't some misguided kids. Like the evil anti-trans law in Texas this should have been a very easy case where you could have illustrated that there doesn't need to be a hard divide between liberals and conservatives, that this is a situation where both sides could go, "Yeah, that's wrong." but of course you'd defend this behavior and try to pretend there was a reasonable way to see it differently.