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

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of Matthew Hill, a seven-term member of the Tennessee House of Representatives and host of the "Bible Buddies" conservative radio talk show, who has tried to criminalize the death of a fetus or embryo in the Volunteer State, and also tried passing legislation to ignore how patient confidentiality laws work by drafting legislation to disclose the addresses of not just doctors who perform abortions, but any woman seeking out the procedure (because it's not like there's a history of terrorism against those individuals). He also tried to go out of his way to legalize the Ten Commandments being displayed in government buildings, make English the official language of his state, make the Bible the official state book, and ban UN poll-watchers from observing American elections. Matthew Hill is also a Birther, who hosted Orly Taitz on his radio show and he agreed with her that President Obama never released his birth certificate and is clearing "hiding something". In 2016, he also co-sponsored a bill created to try and prevent anyone from potentially changing the name of Confederate landmarks in the state, because honoring a failed rebellion fought over slavery and opposing anyone who doesn’t feel we should be glorifying it is always a top legislative priority as well as voting for a bill written to, and this is no joke… authorize people to keep skunks as pets. In Matthew Hill has still found new levels of s***ness to stoop to, as he filed legislation to make it more difficult for peaceful protesters who get run over by their political opponents to be able to sue their terrorist attackers. That’s right, Hill considers that what the Neo-Nazi in Charlottesville did to Heather Heyer should be a protected form of expression.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, you can officially declare his opinions as a Christian bulls***, and wonder to yourself how he’s now coasted to victory in eight straight elections, this time winning in 2018 with 66% of the vote. He started off 2019 by putting far more energy towards honoring the Confederacy, again sponsoring legislation to punishing communities that change or alter Confederate monuments, than he is actually protecting the living, breathing citizens of Tennessee. But Hill figured that would be enough to cement him in place as the next potential Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Well, not quite. Matthew Hill decided to win the votes of his fellow legislators for the job by cutting $1,000 checks towards their own re-election campaigns. If that sounds like a bribe, it kind of is… but a legal one. Anyway, Hill’s transparent corruption didn’t win over his fellow legislators, and he was eliminated from the final three candidates for the job. But elevating his profile and demonstrating how devoid of ethical principles he was only made reporters at the capitol suddenly start digging into Matthew Hill’s campaign finances, and they discovered he was self-dealing, with his own campaign funneling $36,000 towards a consulting firm… that he owns. Again, it’s a legal gray area, but Matthew Hill is pocketing campaign funds by running them into a business he owns. Are you getting the idea that he’s a grifter yet?

Well, then sit tight, because he’s now being investigated because he is also the owner of Dock Haley Gospel Magic, a shop that sells “Christian-themed magic supplies”, which… already seems like a lot of Evangelical hypocrisy, just on the surface. But Matthew Hill never registered the company as a business, and the tax collectors in Tennessee seem were suddenly interested in how much income Hill might be pulling down on the venture (Hill of course insists none). (His books are still a mystery on the funding of this business, but a lot of folks around Tennessee are getting curious how Hill had a house in foreclosure and then suddenly had the cash at the last minute.)
All of that controversy, brought about by his own indifference to doing things on the level, may have factored into how, in 2020, Matthew Hill was defeated in the GOP Primary for his seat in the Tennessee state legislator by Rebecca Alexander in the 2020 elections.

We would now like to wish him our finest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salutes, and watch him hopefully f*** off into the sunset.

[Tami]

Trump calls Georgia Senate runoffs 'both illegal and invalid' in New Year's tweets

President Trump on Friday evening tweeted that next week's Georgia Senate runoff elections are “both illegal and invalid,” even as he has been seeking to convince voters to throw their support behind the GOP senators seeking reelection.

Trump began his series of tweets by reiterating his unsubstantiated claims of “massive corruption which took place in the 2020 Election, which gives us far more votes than is necessary to win all of the Swing States.”

The president specifically noted a Georgia consent decree that he claimed was “unconstitutional,” which he then claimed made both the two Senate races, as well as his own loss in the Peach State to President-elect Joe Biden, invalid.

If you were a Republican Trump supporter, would you even bother voting after reading this Trump Tweet?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump calls Georgia Senate runoffs 'both illegal and invalid' in New Year's tweets




If you were a Republican Trump supporter, would you even bother voting after reading this Trump Tweet?

At this point, is it even worth paying attention to Trump anymore? In just eighteen days, he’s history, so why bother?

[Tami]

At this point, is it even worth paying attention to Trump anymore? In just eighteen days, he’s history, so why bother?

Well, for us, I agree. But as long as Trump Supporters belive this, and decide not to vote, it increases the odds of Ossoff and Warnock winning on Jan 5th.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Well, for us, I agree. But as long as Trump Supporters belive this, and decide not to vote, it increases the odds of Ossoff and Warner winning on Jan 5th.

But, will that really happen? Say what you will about Republican voters, but their hive mind mentality is damn hard to overcome, and you can bet Moscow Mitch and GOP bigwigs will be encouraging the rank and file to hit their polling places.

[JackDaw]

But, will that really happen? Say what you will about Republican voters, but their hive mind mentality is damn hard to overcome, and you can bet Moscow Mitch and GOP bigwigs will be encouraging the rank and file to hit their polling places.

I don’t think it will...always thought extent of personal support for Trump has been massively over-stated.

But maybe I feel that way because that’s the way UK politics work...large majority vote the party ticket rather than a specific person. Certainly that’s what I do in national elections...in local elections I have sometimes voted for a specific person.

[Kirby101]

Since Republicans think Democrats and Democratic policy is so bad for the country, they should give the Senate to the Democrats. That way, by the next election, things will be so bad the GOP will be a shoe in. (Just don't tell them that things are always better under Democrats)

[Mister Mets]

sOMe PEopLe sAy

In this case, I gave links and another possibility (a guy whose former coworkers say claimed to be the second coming of Christ is just a lunatic.)

Let's not. Because at this point, you're starting to peddle conspiracy theories about conspiracy theorists themselves, and pretending it's a legitimate inquiry that bears watching.

Do you disagree that the goalpost you set up when you decided to discuss me and not the topic was that the idea that anyone has thought that Lin Wood is a Democrat is so ridiculous that it must be made in bad faith, and that someone should be called for it personally?

If there was a progressive activist, who had donated to Trump and Republican candidates for office, and been registered to vote in Republican primaries, suggesting things that Democrats throw an important election, would you think it's in bad faith to refer to speculation that he might want Republicans to win?

I think Loeffler did know about the guy's past and figured that the photo would play well with her base. As so often happens in situations such as these, she probably didn't figure on anyone on the other side of the aisle ever seeing the photo.

Does this make sense?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/31/polit...eck/index.html

From your perspective, Loeffler or her staff would recognize this guy at a campaign event and make a conscious decision to have a photo taken with him, knowing of his membership in the KKK and Neonazi groups as well as his previous conviction for assaulting an African-American man, because they figured photographic evidence of the encounter would only stay in alt-right circles? And then this backfired because the photo came out, and they were forced to immediately repudiate the man, which would likely piss off the people they were trying to impress? It seems likelier that she took a photo with someone at a campaign stop, something candidates for Senate do a lot, thinking he was a generic supporter.

Since Republicans think Democrats and Democratic policy is so bad for the country, they should give the Senate to the Democrats. That way, by the next election, things will be so bad the GOP will be a shoe in. (Just don't tell them that things are always better under Democrats)

From the perspective of Republicans, that would require Democrats being a in a position to harm the country.

[shooshoomanjoe]

This is Trump’s revenge on the GOP for not fully falling in line and following his lead about that ongoing whine about the election having been stolen from him. Just like in Frankenstein, Republicans created the monster that is now fracturing, if not destroying them.

They likely thought trump was going to see 8 years that would appease trump supporters. It looks like they didn't plan on trump losing.

[Kirby101]

I

From the perspective of Republicans, that would require Democrats being a in a position to harm the country.

So let the Democrats win Georgia and sit back while the Democrats ruin everything.

[Gray Lensman]

From the perspective of Republicans, that would require Democrats being a in a position to harm the country.

According to my far right relatives, as long even a single Democrat is working in the government, they are in a position to cause irreparable harm to the country. With the implications being that that threat might still exist as long as they are still alive.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I see pro trump attorney Lin Wood is now claiming that the Republicans helped steal the 2020 election. Won't be long until trump supporters parrot the same nonsense.

[Kirby101]

I see pro trump attorney Lin Wood is now claiming that the Republicans helped steal the 2020 election. Won't be long until trump supporters parrot the same nonsense.

And as Winston Smith said in 1984, they won't just say 2+2=5, they must believe it.

[Jack Dracula]

If you wanna try to get both sides to work together, just ask Abe Lincoln for advice.

Abe was a Republican but he appointed several Democrats including Andrew Johnson as military governor of Tennessee and later VP.

Lincoln immediately regretted it and after the assassination, Johnson proved to be as incompetent as he was erratic, irascible, and openly racist.
It could be legitimately argued the results of Lincolns' decision haunt us to this day.

I think they do.

It just looks differently from the outside because they, unlike the GOP, take the job of running the country very seriously, and most of them will not use, say, shutting down the government as leverage to get their way. But they don't compromise because they trust Republicans, they compromise because they don't want people to be evicted.

Sometimes I think the Dem leadership has been too long in Washington and so is too close to the problem. Seeing the same members of the opposition at most of the same state functions and in the gym and their kid's school events I wonder if they forget how much of an impact those same people's crazy rhetoric and grandstanding bs has on the rest of the nation.

[Kirby101]

Lincoln immediately regretted it and after the assassination, Johnson proved to be as incompetent as he was erratic, irascible, and prejudice.
It could be argued the results of Lincolns' decision haunt us to this day.

And why is it always asked of Democrats to reach across. You never hear about the need for Republican Administrations to appoint Democrats. Not with Reagan or either Bush and especially not with Trump. And that is with two of them losing the popular vote. But the idea they had a "mandate" to rule as they wish was not challenged. But Clinton, Obama and now Biden, must heal a nation the GOP divided.