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

[worstblogever]

On this date back in 2014, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” had a profile of Lenar Whitney, a former dance instructor who ran for office in Louisiana's 6th Congressional District in 2014, whose political heroes include Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin who once created a Youtube video titled simply "CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX!" and when the media reported her stance on the issue, immediately began declaring herself a victim of the liberal media. She also claimed that nations of the Middle East sell the United States oil to raise money to "blow us off the face of the Earth", and was pulled from the room by her aides during her interview with the Cook Political Report after she started to speculate about President Obama's birthplace only to claim the person conducting it was trying to make a "Palin-style interview".


In 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” featured profiles of U.S. Senator John Boozman of Arkansas, who has floated around Washington since 2002. Boozman has appeared at events hosted by Brigette Gabriel and ACT, an anti-Muslim hate group in Washington, D.C. is an extreme social conservative, having voted for a proposed Constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage, voting against all legislation towards LGBTQ rights including ENDA, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", and once tried to bring a bill to the floor with Ted Cruz that would force the federal government to defer to the states on same-sex marriage. He has bought into several GOP conspiracy theories, from ACORN, to the IRS Scandal, to going as far as saying Planned Parenthood has had "a role in harvesting organs from unborn babies." Boozman repeatedly has voted against equal pay for women, against the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, and to restrict reproductive rights whenever possible. He voted against the renewal of CHIP, against Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, against raising the debt ceiling, and against the Zadroga Bill. He's a ridiculously radical opponent of gun control, arguing that assault weapon bans are unnecessary because they are too “big and bulky” to be used in criminal acts, participated in a Republican filibuster of the Toomey-Manchin Firearms Background Check Act, and spoke out against banning armor-piercing ammunition, feeling that no ammunition can be banned without violating the Constitution. He's on more than one occasion, voted to protect the right to bear arms of people who end up on the "no-fly list", feeling that while we don't trust them to even get on an airplane, suspected terrorists should be allowed to stockpile guns and ammo.

Boozman won re-election in 2016 with 60% of the vote, and in his last term, he voted to approve every nominee for Donald Trump's "Cabinet of Horrors". That is EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Oh, and he voted to put Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney-Barrett on the Supreme Court. His voting record also shows that he voted for both of the Senate's attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act that would have left about 23-24 million people without health insurance, and Boozman even suggested that he was willing to repeal without a replacement. Never mind that it would mean tens of thousands more Americans would die ANNUALLY.

That's probably the reason while he's gone the coward's route, refused to attend town halls with his constituents in person, only doing telephone town halls since winning re-election. But what has us a but annoyed at the moment, was that Sen. Boozman was one of the few Republicans to make a statement after the whistle-blower scandal hit and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced House Democrats were launching an impeachment inquiry based on Donald Trump’s decision to ask the Ukrainian president to interfere on his behalf in the 2020 elections. Boozman’s take is… this is just “blatantly partisan tactics”.

"Democrats have long sought to weaken the president, appease their base and further divide the country through impeachment. This latest action demonstrates their willingness to blindly follow this obsession regardless of the facts.”

Psst… hey ***hole? The point of the inquiry is to gather facts. And the more the facts come out, the more it looks like you’re propping up a lawless fascist douche-canoe.

Which, it never was in question that the facts don’t matter to John Boozman. He voted to disallow witnesses at the impeachment trial, thus making it a “trial”, and then he voted to acquit him. Boozman is currently chomping at the bit to prove he’s a hypocrite and try to squeeze an election year Supreme Court Justice vote for Amy Coney Barrett in only four years after shafting Merrick Garland.

• January 31st, 2020: John Boozman votes against witnesses being allowed in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, effectively making it a “trial”.
• February 5th, 2020: Sen. Boozman votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump, in spite of the mountain of evidence showing that he solicited foreign assistance in the 2020 elections.
• February 25th, 2020: Boozman votes for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, an insane piece of anti-choice legislation that would ask abortion providers to try to admit aborted fetuses to a hospital if they were “alive” after the procedure, which is medically impossible given the age that abortions can be performed at.
• February 13th, 2021: John Boozman votes to acquit Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, feeling that he deserves no punishment for inciting an attack on the Capitol and jeopardizing the lives of the legislative branch of our government.
• March 6th, 2021: Sen. Boozman votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he can’t be bothered to care if people need financial assistance during a pandemic.
• September 30th, 2021: Boozman votes for an amendment to a government funding bill that would target and eliminate government aid for Afghani refugees that just fled their country after the return of the Taliban.
• December 14th, 2021: Boozman votes against raising the debt ceiling, jeopardizing the United States’ credit rating.
• February 28th, 2022: Sen. Boozman votes against the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have established a right to physicians to perform abortions to save their patients’ lives.
• March 30th, 2022: Boozman votes against putting the extremely qualified nominee, Judge Kentanji Brown-Jackson, onto the Supreme Court.
• July 27th, 2022: John Boozman votes against the PACT Act, blocking additional funding towards veterans exposed to “burn pits” while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a vote conducted out of spite that Democrats passed the Act the prior day. Several Republicans are seening shaking hands and fist bumping to celebrate screwing over the vets, while releasing a series of photos of the Senate GOP Caucus filling USO boxes and claiming they “support the military”.

John Boozman is up for re-election in a few weeks’ time, and in spite of having only a 30% approval rating, polls out of Arkansas show voters there support him over his Democratic opponent, Natalie James, by double digits. Which, given nobody seems to trust the polls going into Election Day’s accuracy, should not dissuade anyone from supporting her in her attempts at flipping this seat blue. Dare to hope Arkansas voters figure out she’s a far better alternative.

[Jack Dracula]

Doocy: "You said Biden was responsible for gas prices coming down. Is he responsible for gas prices going up?"

Jean-Pierre: "It's a lot more nuanced than that."

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/sta...g_back_up.html

If Doocy wasn’t a partisan hack he would’ve instead asked what Biden has to say about the Saudis and OPEC deeply cutting production right before the U.S. midterms.

[scourge]

The frick is going on here?

Looks like Musk is trying to avoid court for some reason...hmm....

[Jack Dracula]

The frick is going on here?

A disgustingly wealthy middle-aged white man is desperately trying to seem relevant and embarrassing himself in the process.

[Robotman]

Kanye wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt has the ring wing media absolutely giddy.

[hyped78]

This, I actually agree with. The problem might be, that some immigrants in Europe seem to be less likely in general to fully integrate into the culture and society in the country they now live in, than for example in the US. Which can pose a threat to democracy in the long term, I'm afraid. Although, we already manage to pose a threat to democracy ourselves on a regular basis, so I guess only time will tell if it gets any different.

Oh yes, Europe has, and will increasingly have, a problem with the integration of many immigrants. Are you thinking of specific countries/ regions/ cases?

[Tami]

Covid death rates are higher among Republicans than Democrats. The reason is up for debate.

A study in June published in Health Affairs similarly found that counties with a Republican majority had a greater share of Covid deaths through October 2021, relative to majority-Democratic counties.

But experts are still puzzling over why these differences exist. Are lower vaccination rates among Republicans responsible? Or did mask use and social distancing guidelines prevent more deaths in counties run by Democrats?

Uh....yeah.....

[Tami]

Two Russians flee Ukraine draft by crossing Bering Sea by boat to Alaska

Two Russians have crossed the Bering Strait by boat in order to avoid conscription to fight in Ukraine and landed on a remote Alaskan island where they have appealed for asylum, according to reports from the region.

The pair beached their small boat near Gambell, a settlement of about 600 people on St Lawrence Island, 46 miles from Siberia’s Chukotka peninsula, earlier this week.

Town clerk Curtis Silook told the Alaska’s News Source website that the men said they had sailed from the Russian town of Egvekinot, approximately 300 miles by sea. They were flown off the island on Tuesday, he said.

[mogwen]

Well, still anecdotical at the moment. It seems desertions number in the hundreds. But we must keep an eye when the conscripted will arrive to the front, I could really see the numbers blowing.

[mogwen]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...ijuana-reform/

Satement from President Biden on majiruana reform.
A important step in the right direction.

[AnakinFlair]

Covid death rates are higher among Republicans than Democrats. The reason is up for debate.

Uh....yeah.....

How about C- all of the above.

Two Russians flee Ukraine draft by crossing Bering Sea by boat to Alaska

Can't wait for Trump to say we need to build a wall around Alaska now. Or Maybe DeSantis can fly the Russians to Martha's Vineyard.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

My theory....





Well I think it's starting to become evident now that Musk was trying to bluff buying Twitter. He likely never expected the company to take his absurd offer. In his mind he likely thought....I'll offer a crazy price and they will reject it. While I get more ego stroking praise from right wing pundits. My Musk fans will really go ape **** thinking I'm the tech Messiah. Yes all for me.

Then Twitter shocked him...they accepted the deal. Now Musk thought...OK I'll go get some banks to go with me on this deal. I'm Elon Musk so they will run to me.

But then Musk hit a road block. Once the banks looked at Twitter and the projected money and worth they saw that there was little if any profit. And not what Musk was selling so he didn't have people wanting to invest in this.

Now Musk was in a pickle. He would have to put up all the money for Twiiter or most of it here. He could do this. But this was a company Musk didn't want or need. Plus will take awhile to even get his money back.

Musk needed an exit strategy here. So he came up with the most comically dumb idea. The pulling the plug on spam bots on Twitter excuse. His thought was Twitter would move on....and for the 2nd time he got fooled. They dragged him into court to either do the deal or pay break up fee.

Now a lot is ego. If it's shown Musk would have to eat the near entire Twitter deal be will look silly. So his ego in part has him still trying to get backers as we see his lawyer admit.


It's my personal theory. Just a theory...

[useridgoeshere]

The frick is going on here?

I’d guess Twitter isn’t stupid enough to call of the trial until they have the deal closed and money in hand. Musk’s decision to change his mind right before trial seems like an obvious stall tactic and he’s just as likely to change his mind again once the pressure of a trial is gone.

[BeastieRunner]

Can't wait for Trump to say we need to build a wall around Alaska now. Or Maybe DeSantis can fly the Russians to Martha's Vineyard.

They're white. Nobody will care. In fact, I bet people start helping them come to America.

[worstblogever]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...ijuana-reform/

Satement from President Biden on majiruana reform.
A important step in the right direction.

Dark Brandon just became Dank Brandon.