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

[Tendrin]

He's not paranoid (well, not completely).

He made the announcement to try and pressure the New York DA's office to NOT indict him. He's hoping that by his supporters causing riots in the streets (and apparently calling in bomb threats now), that they will be too scared to do their jobs. It's the same with the House announcing all of these new investigations into the investigations. It's pressure, delay, and demonize the other side. And his base will eat it up.

This is what my gut told me, too It's a win win for him. Say they didn't arrest him on Tuesday. Trump will paint it as a 'delay caused by fear of his supporters', which makes them feel stronger. Someone once said that Trump's supporters are so loyal because they feel they're part of the narrative and the setory and that gives them/makes them feel powerful. Trump definitely knows how to juice them.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

This is what my gut told me, too It's a win win for him. Say they didn't arrest him on Tuesday. Trump will paint it as a 'delay caused by fear of his supporters', which makes them feel stronger. Someone once said that Trump's supporters are so loyal because they feel they're part of the narrative and the setory and that gives them/makes them feel powerful. Trump definitely knows how to juice them.

I've been of the opinion Trump's supporters are unfailingly loyal to him because he hates the same people they do (minorities, gays, immigrants, non-Christians), but, what you said makes sense too. Trump tapped into that bubbling cauldron of white grievance like a keg of beer at a frat party and stoked fears that whites are becoming marginalized, if not endangered, and, as Star Wars has taught us, fear inevitably leads to hate.

[worstblogever]

On this date in both 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled John Becker, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives who prior to taking office, spent two decades working as an anti-abortion crusader who was originally spurred into that role after he was “horrified” by the election of Bill Clinton in 1992. Becker has already sponsored legislation that would ban insurance companies from covering “abortion”, but his definition of that term was so poorly worded that it would have blocked funding from IUDs. When confronted with that fact, Becker’s excuse was to say, “Well, I’m not a doctor.” as well as fetal heartbeat bills. He has also voted to defund all Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio, and has written newspaper editorial to argue that since schools are “gun free zones”, that there should also be “condom free zones”. On LGBTQ rights… he is also an abysmal human being, comparing gay marriage to bestiality and polygamy, calling for the impeachment of judges who rule in favor of the widowed spouses of gays to honor the benefits they would be given by departed spouses on death certificates, and has called for Massachusetts to be kicked out of the United States for having been the first state to legalize gay marriage (incidentally, he also once stated that Alaska should be expelled from the union over oil drilling rights). Becker also wrote in his own political magazine, The Becker Report in August of 2015, that the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling was "a national flipping of the middle finger at God." Becker has sponsored multiple Voter ID bills, and claimed that he broke down in tears when he heard guns that confiscated by law enforcement are sometimes melted down and destroyed. Becker has also argued that it’s the protesters of police violence in cases like that of Michael Brown in Ferguson, or Tamir Rice in Cleveland… it’s the protesters who are the real racists. In 2016, Becker made headlines with his support of transphobic bathroom legislation, and while he flailed about, paranoid about the transgendered using the bathroom of their choice, he also decided to lambast Target stores for respecting their bathroom choices. In 2018, Becker suddenly became quite the apologist for police brutality, defending a Cincinnatti police officer after he used a taser on an 11 year old girl, saying he would be “shocked and embarrassed” if it happened to his daughter because “it would mean she resisted arrest”. In the days that followed, he doubled down, saying, "'I've about had it with all of the finger pointing at law enforcement officers after shooting a punk in self-defense." (Remember, this ***hole claims to believe in a right to life.) What wasn’t new, though, was his anti-choice fervor, as we saw him vote for a fetal heartbeat bill that would effectively have outlawed abortion at six weeks, had it been signed by Gov. John Kasich. Becker won re-election comfortably with 66.6% of the vote in 2018, and went back to work showing he had no understanding of female reproductive science when he tried to claim ectopic pregnancies could be re-implanted in the uterus of a woman having them removed, against all logic. He also made headlines in May of 2019 after showing a “humorous” image of a shotgun propped up near a sleeping bag, and indicating he would be preventing his daughter and her fiancée from sleeping in the same room with it. Because of course this guy is fantasizing about murdering someone who might have sex with his daughter. Of course he is. John Becker spent most of 2021 trying to undermine the authority of Gov. Mike DeWine, including a botched attempt at impeaching him over DeWine’s, for once, wise decision to impose mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic (broken clocks and all that). He probably had all that spare time because he wasn’t allowed to run for re-election due to term limits. Yes, this desiccated husk dried out from lack of human empathy left office at the end of 2020. We hope that whatever tools there are to bar him from reaching office again, they redouble those efforts. And they’ll need to because he wants to be the chairman of the Ohio GOP. He seems to have been removed from elected office for the forseeable future.



On this date in 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled Jason Ravnsborg, who is, against all logic, still currently the sitting Attorney General for the state of South Dakota, who was first elected to that office in 2018. Ravnsborg had a failed attempt at getting elected to the U.S. Senate back in 2014, as well. On September 12, 2020, Ravnsborg struck and killed 55-year-old pedestrian Joseph Boever while driving home from a South Dakota GOP fundraiser about 110 miles from his home. He called 911 to report the collision, but made no mention that he had struck a person, saying he exited his car to survey the damage (but again, somehow “missed” that he had struck a person. Sheriff Mike Volek inspected Ravnsborg's car at the scene, which was too damaged to drive, and then because of course white privilege, lent Ravnsborg his personal vehicle so Ravnsborg could drive himself home without looking too hard for whatever Ravnsborg had struck. Subsequent investigations revealed that Ravnsborg, who has a history of dangerous driving violations, was looking at internet news stories trying to falsely link Joe Biden to deranged conspiracies with China... while driving.

The next day, Ravnsborg began texting others, afraid of what consequences he might face, and a political consultant replied, “Well, at least the guy was a Democrat.” Because Republicans at this point are no longer pretending they aren’t fascists who want their political opposition exterminated. Ravnsborg tried telling law enforcement he had no idea he had hit a person, and thought he had hit a deer or other large animal, to which investigators pointed out, “his face was in your windshield” and that Joe Boever’s glasses were found INSIDE the car. So unless the “deer” he hit had corrective lenses… WTF.

He eventually would be found guilty on two charges in court, and because there’s a hell of a lot of white privilege involved, avoided jail time. Because Ravnsborg’s refused to resign, is meant he had the opportunity to remain in office and had the opportunity to have joined corrupt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s fruitless and seditious lawsuit to challenge the counting of the electoral votes that would make Joe Biden president.

At the rate the South Dakota GOP running the state legislature are moving in regards to his impeachment, he looked like he would serve out the rest of his term by the time they have impeachment hearings and boot him from office. Because hey, “he only killed a Democrat”, so it’s not like he killed a real person, anyway, right?

Vehicular manslaughter is still illegal, though, if you commit it against anyone, regardless of party, and he was finally convicted and forced out of office in June of 2022. Feel free to write him in prison to tell him he sucks.
 

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Readying for takeoff: Tim Scott takes next steps in leadup to presidential announcement

The South Carolina Republican is dipping his toes back into those 2024 waters, with a donor confab and some conspicuous early state visits. Along with Mike Pence and Nimrata Haley, here's another delusional clown who won't garner so much as one percent of the vote. The GQP's chief token is kidding himself, thinking he has even a snowball's chance in hell of winning as there's no way in hell racist right wingers and conservatives will cast their lot with a black man for president.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Readying for takeoff: Tim Scott takes next steps in leadup to presidential announcement

The South Carolina Republican is dipping his toes back into those 2024 waters, with a donor confab and some conspicuous early state visits. Along with Mike Pence and Nimrata Haley, here's another delusional clown who won't garner so much as one percent of the vote. The GQP's chief token is kidding himself, thinking he has even a snowball's chance in hell of winning as there's no way in hell racist right wingers and conservatives will cast their lot with a black man for president.

But it is hilarious that he'd try, imo.

[useridgoeshere]

Readying for takeoff: Tim Scott takes next steps in leadup to presidential announcement

The South Carolina Republican is dipping his toes back into those 2024 waters, with a donor confab and some conspicuous early state visits. Along with Mike Pence and Nimrata Haley, here's another delusional clown who won't garner so much as one percent of the vote. The GQP's chief token is kidding himself, thinking he has even a snowball's chance in hell of winning as there's no way in hell racist right wingers and conservatives will cast their lot with a black man for president.

Giving the party cover is the reason he'll get some money to do this. They did it with Herman Cain and Ben Carson. I remember Hannity saying that Carson was leading a FoxNews poll (at like 10% of something) and that proved Republicans weren't racist. Being a Black Republican is a profitable grift, if you have the stomach for it.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Giving the party cover is the reason he'll get some money to do this. They did it with Herman Cain and Ben Carson. I remember Hannity saying that Carson was leading a FoxNews poll (at like 10% of something) and that proved Republicans weren't racist. Being a Black Republican is a profitable grift, if you have the stomach for it.

I’m sure Scott has just that. He sold what passed for his soul to stay on the GQP plantation long ago, so, why not grift like his lily white brethren? As for that poll Hamhocks mentioned, like everything else spewed on Faux News, it was probably a lie.

[Jack Dracula]

I've been of the opinion Trump's supporters are unfailingly loyal to him because he hates the same people they do (minorities, gays, immigrants, non-Christians), but, what you said makes sense too. Trump tapped into that bubbling cauldron of white grievance like a keg of beer at a frat party and stoked fears that whites are becoming marginalized, if not endangered, and, as Star Wars has taught us, fear inevitably leads to hate.

I wonder if Trump actually cares enough about other people to hate them. If they aren’t related or useful to him they don’t matter.

[CaptainEurope]

NY grand jury hearing on Trump hush money case delayed

US media reported that the grand jury will not meet as planned on Wednesday, citing law enforcement sources.

A Manhattan prosecutor may charge Mr Trump over how he declared a payment to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

It would be the first criminal case brought against a former US president.

It is unclear why the grand jury - which is set up by a prosecutor to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a prosecution - was asked not to reconvene.

It is scheduled to next meet on Thursday but law enforcement sources told US media that it is unlikely there will be a vote on whether to indict him by the end of the week.

[Dalak]

NY grand jury hearing on Trump hush money case delayed

This is why I didn't get my hopes up.

[shooshoomanjoe]

They should go after trump for Jan 6, not because he got horny and falsified business records to keep a porn star quiet about it.

[Dalak]

They should go after trump for Jan 6, not because he got horny and falsified business records to keep a porn star quiet about it.

They should go after Trump for every crime he committed, period.

[Gray Lensman]

They should go after trump for Jan 6, not because he got horny and falsified business records to keep a porn star quiet about it.

Remember they didn't get Al Capone for violating prohibition laws, for bribing public officials, or all the murders (both the ones he ordered and the ones he did himself), but for cheating on his taxes.

After everything Trump has done and skirted away from without consequences, I'm not going to complain about him being charged with the wrong thing. Besides, there are still other cases pending, meaning there is still a chance for the "right" charges to be made.

[Username taken]

Is it true that lawmakers in Florida are considering banning teaching about mensuration in elementary schools until the 6th grade or something?

That's....bizarre. Mensuration isn't sexual nature and some girls actually do start seeing their periods before the 6th grade.

Personally, I think there should be more discussion on this with young girls and not less. I mean, this is something that most girls are going to experience, so why the "hush-up"?

[Dalak]

Is it true that lawmakers in Florida are considering banning teaching about mensuration in elementary schools until the 6th grade or something?

That's....bizarre. Mensuration isn't sexual nature and some girls actually do start seeing their periods before the 6th grade.

Personally, I think there should be more discussion on this with young girls and not less. I mean, this is something that most girls are going to experience, so why the "hush-up"?

Apparently they are. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida...entary-school/