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

[CaptainEurope]

Other than wising up to the fact that the GOP is indifferent to them suffering and dying in the name of corporations profiting.

Which, the signs are 50 ft. high and in glowing neon, but hey, they appeal to their darker, bigoted instincts so they'll overlook it.

I saw CNN International interviewing "former Republican voters" now seem to be waking up. A woman who looked a little like that "dark sided!!" meme lady said she really needs the covid aid bill and is feeling betrayed by Republicans voting against it.

[Agent Z]

Samuel Paty: French schoolgirl admits lying about murdered teacher

A French schoolgirl has admitted to spreading false claims about a teacher before he was murdered last year.

Samuel Paty was beheaded in October after showing students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The girl, whose complaints sparked an online campaign against Paty, has now admitted that she was not in the class.

Mr Paty's killing stunned France and led to an outpouring of support at memorial ceremonies and marches around the country.

The 13-year-old girl, who has not been officially named, originally told her father that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave the classroom while he showed the cartoon during a class on free speech and blasphemy.

According to evidence given by the girl seen by French media she said: "I didn't see the cartoons, it was a girl in my class who showed me them."

"She lied because she felt trapped in a spiral because her classmates had asked her to be a spokesperson," her lawyer, Mbeko Tabula, told AFP news agency.

The girl's father filed a legal complaint against the teacher and began a social media campaign over the incident based on his daughter's account. He identified Paty and the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, west of Paris.

Prosecutors said shortly after the killing that there was a "direct causal link" between the online incitement against Paty and his murder.

The perpetrator, 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by police shortly after the attack.

It then emerged that the campaign against the history and geography teacher had been based on a distorted account of what had happened in class days earlier.

As he had done in similar lessons on free speech in previous years, Paty warned students that he was about to show a depiction of Muhammad. He said anyone who thought they might be offended could close their eyes.

The girl had originally claimed the teacher had asked Muslim pupils to leave the room. When she objected she was suspended from school, she said. It now appears that the girl was suspended the day before the class was given, according to Le Parisien newspaper, because of repeated absence from school.

The girl explains in her leaked testimony that she made up the story so as not to disappoint her father. He posted two videos on social media in response to the allegations.

Speaking on French radio on Tuesday, the Paty family's lawyer said the girl's family knew that she had not been in class on the day in question and why she had been suspended. "So to come and say now, sorry, I believed my daughter's lies, that's really weak," Virginie Le Roy told RTL radio.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56325254

[CSTowle]

States with Republican governors had highest Covid incidence and death rates, study finds

And in fairness to the Democratic governors they tend to be in states with a larger urban population which is where you would expect it to get out of hand quickly. Though from what I read about the Cuomo situation they definitely need to look into him. But Republicans have been defiantly/stupidly almost egging on the virus with poor decisions and a hands-off approach. Just glad they're not actively trying to influence people not to take the vaccine (though I'm sure some are, or at least trying to have it both ways).

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who was elected with next to no qualifications other than being the former deputy counsel of Mike Huckabee. Her e-mail correspondence leaked from when she last worked for the state of Arkansas, where she would share racist jokes, make sexual comments alluding to an attraction to underage minors (“If there’s grass on the field, play ball!”), make fun of domestic abuse victims, and so on. Rutledge chalks all that up to just being good old "country talk", though. She also was caught committing voter fraud by simultaneously voting in multiple states, and one of her first actions while in office was to fire two dozen attorneys at the state's attorney general office including fifteen attorneys, some of whom she attended law school with. Since taking office, Rutledge has failed in attempts to petition the Supreme Court to try and allow a ban on abortion at 12 weeks, or to reconsider their ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case, because she's still Mike Huckabee's pet project in many ways. Leslie Rutledge told numerous absurd lies and mistruths she told while trying to help Donald Trump get elected in 2016. It would have been one thing if her most grievous offense was how she attacked Hillary Clinton for not having an Arkansas accent during her four-minute speech at the RNC (which isn't really that shocking when you consider Clinton spent almost her entire youth in New York), but Rutledge had no limits to her partisan attacks during the build up to the saddest election outcome in American history. The lowest moment, by far, would have been after the first presidential debate, when Hillary Clinton mentioned Donald Trump's fat-shaming of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, and over the following days where Trump went even further and began spreading lies that Machado had a "sex tape" that everyone should "check out". Leslie Rutledge not only defended Donald Trump for his actions, and thought that she should paint not just a false equivalency, and not just blame Hillary Clinton for mentioning Alicia Machado (you see, it's HER fault that Donald Trump had to insult Machado) but claim that what Hillary Clinton had done to women was "even worse". She could provide no evidence to back this up other than one quote from a friend of Clinton's from two decades earlier about Monica Lewinsky. She finished her interview by saying that Clinton "had never created a job" and was "insulting, sad, disgusting". (This from Leslie Rutledge, who comes with a checkered resume of briefly held, low-level legal jobs including one for the state of Arkansas that her supervisor said she wasn't qualified to be rehired.)

Over the past few years, Leslie Rutledge has been working to simplify the process of executing prisoners on death row to help Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson satisfy his kill-boner. In 2018, Rutledge spoke at CPAC, and invoked passages from the Bible to justify her anti-immigration stance. (Wow. It’s not like Jesus himself was a refugee or anything, you brainless harpy.)

Leslie Rutledge was re-elected in 2018 with 61% of the vote, in spite of the fact that Democrats had filed a Freedom of Information Request to take a look at the employment record for Rutledge from her previous job with the State of Arkansas and her handling of child abuse cases, in which her performance reviews described her “gross misconduct” before she quit to try and help Mike Huckabee get elected president in 2008. But, y’know, why let that stop someone from continuing a campaign of being a corrupt tool? Or, why do your job and appoint a Democrat and person of color to a state ethics condition, and instead, stall and refuse to do it for a year?

Leslie Rutledge spent virtually all of 2020 working on the dime of Arkansas taxpayers as a campaign operative for Donald Trump. So much so, that she signed her state onto the lawsuit drafted by corrupt Texas AG Ken Paxton that baselessly claimed the election was stolen, and is currently the subject of a lawsuit by Arkansas taxpayers who aren’t thrilled their tax dollars were effectively being embezzled by Rutledge for the Trump campaign. That might cramp her style as she attempts a run for Governor of Arkansas in 2022, and with former White House Press Secretary/Professional Liar/Baghdad Bob impersonator Sarah Huckabee Sanders also throwing her hat into the ring, Rutledge is desperate to overcome any scandal like that to win. So she’s doing exactly what you would expect a Republican to do to win office… come up with fresh ideas to target a marginalized minority that isn’t rich, white, and male. Rutledge’s chosen victims of bigotry are transgender teens, as she’s trying to ban transgender girls from high school sports.

”It will create equal and fair competition by limiting girls' and women's sports to girls and women, as evidenced by an original birth certificate," Rutledge said Monday. "We don't want common sense to be shadowed by so-called political correctness.”

We’re dreading how low Rutledge and Huckabee-Sanders are going to go while trying to do the conservative limbo better than the other.

[BeastieRunner]

Beastie's Cartoons of the Week:

[Revolutionary_Jack]

New York Assembly Launches Impeachment Probe Into Andrew Cuomo

“The reports of accusations concerning the governor are serious,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said. My opinion on Cuomo can be summed up with these three words....GOTS. TO. GO.

Yeah Cuomo needs to resign or he needs to be impeached.

[Tami]

Yeah Cuomo needs to resign or he needs to be impeached.

I think what tires me most about this, are the number of Republicans, going back to Trump and working downwards, who have done similar or much worse and are, have not, received so much as a slap on the wrist.

4 years of Trump and the dozens of women who have come forward with accusations of assault or worse, and the Republicans turn a blind eye.

I'm not saying that Democrats should do the same for other Democrats, only that the imbalanced scales of justice are nearly 180 degrees vertical.

[worstblogever]

Yeah Cuomo needs to resign or he needs to be impeached.

I think he's worth mentioning in the April Fool's Day edition of my blog where I cover the s***ty Democrats, to be sure.

[CaptainEurope]

Samuel Paty: French schoolgirl admits lying about murdered teacher



https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56325254

A tragic chain reaction from truancy to a witch hunt to a terrorist murder.

And people tried to cancel Kamala Harris for being tough on truants.

[worstblogever]

I think what tires me most about this, are the number of Republicans, going back to Trump and working downwards, who have done similar or much worse and are, have not, received so much as a slap on the wrist.

4 years of Trump and the dozens of women who have come forward with accusations of assault or worse, and the Republicans turn a blind eye.

I'm not saying that Democrats should do the same for other Democrats, only that the imbalanced scales of justice are nearly 180 degrees vertical.

There's a difference. Modern Democrats don't play lip service to their stuff, and have spent the past few years being unafraid to get better by holding their own accountable. It's a rarity where a Democrat doesn't just resign when this happens, and ends up dragging out the accusation. (Andrew Cuomo and Justin Fairfax are the exceptions when people like Al Franken, Ruben Kihuen, John Conyers and more at the state legislature level were shown the door).

Republicans have grown to the point where accountability for their actions is anathema to their cause. They lost a few folks throughout Congress like Blake Farenthold, Trent Franks, and Tim Murphy... but the Kavanaugh hearings? THAT WAS THE LINE. They dug in on those and from that point forward were never going to cave to MeToo again. Overall, they've been pushing back against responsibility in messaging, actions, and policy because that's the choice they were left with during the Trump administration. To exist was to defend the worst of Trump. It boiled down to the point where they're incapable of any sort of responsible governance, because they'd rather waste time arguing about "cancel culture" on Mr. Potato Head or Dr. Seuss... when the free market itself is not receiving any outrage, they're just rebranding to move forward with the majority's attitudes on subjects after decades. They're so hung up on glorifying a past history that often never really existed, they're terrified of any change... even if it's for the better. Like, y'know, holding sexual predators that use power and privilege to victimize others accountable. (Provided they are registered as Republicans of course.)

The GOP are losing the culture wars they're trying to start up while the other side is governing, though... because they're just arguing about the dumbest f***ing things, and not even conceding the simplest of points.

So Democrats? Continue to be on the right side of history right now. Hold s***ty men accountable, especially if they show no regret for s***ty behavior like Gov. Cuomo doesn't.

Oh yeah, also the nursing home deaths thing. F*** him for that, too.


The most important thing for Democrats is

[SquirrelMan]

You may remember that one of my weirder hobbies is monitoring right wing twitter and ... well, they're not really into the whole Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato head outrage that the GOP is selling. There are barely any tweets about it from the usual suspects that drive trends and right-wing narratives.

They don't really have a clear story. It's all very weak sauce. Election fraud. Antifa. Immigrants. AOC. Biden's mental state. Evil mask mandates.

Old tunes that nobody wants to dance to anymore.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I suspect Qpublicans believe if they hold their members responsible for being shitheads and sent them packing, that would "give Democrats a win" and other such assorted nonsense. They'd rather circle the wagons and protect irredeemable turds like Marjorie Trashy Greene rather than bounce her out on her ass. Democrats have to hold the feet of bad actors in their ranks to the fire and jettison them, especially Cuomo who has two strikes against him with the sexual harassment claims and the fudging of numbers of nursing home deaths from COVID which is the far worse and more heinous offense.

[worstblogever]

You may remember that one of my weirder hobbies is monitoring right wing twitter and ... well, they're not really into the whole Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato head outrage that the GOP is selling. There are barely any tweets about it from the usual suspects that drive trends and right-wing narratives.

They don't really have a clear story. It's all very weak sauce. Election fraud. Antifa. Immigrants. AOC. Biden's mental state. Evil mask mandates.

Old tunes that nobody wants to dance to anymore.

Social media engagement shows they're losing the narrative right now, and in a substantial, tangible way. Saw an article up that Axios noted Trump stories in the weeks after he left office, on a scale to 1-100 for engagement, he was at a 51, down from when he was making headlines when he had Twitter at his disposal. After the impeachment hearings, the past few weeks, the number has dwindled to 21. His star is fading, and the only reason there were that many headlines was discussion of his CPAC speech. Trump is fading.

Newsmax has lost 3/4 of its audience. Fox News is seeing its ratings shrink while they actively try and not cover good news that Democrats can solely take credit for. People are tired of seeing Hannity, Carlson, and Ingraham flail about in outrage, after seeing them defend the worst of Trump for four years. Messaging from the Biden White House and Democrats has been, "We want everyone to survive, and thrive after the pandemic." Whereas Fox News and conservative outlets are going with the "culture war" approach of, "LIBERALS ARE RAPING YOUR CHILDHOOD!" with defenses of Mr. Potato Head's gender identity, Pepe LePew being totally fine and not rape culture, and Dr. Seuss' 80 year old racial caricatures. And no one is buying it.

But yet, Republicans are still in cahoots with Fox News' programming. They're one identity. So where Fox News goes, the GOP goes. And Fox goes with them. So while they could have been supporting legislation that 3/4 of the country supports and even 59% of Republicans support, they've f***ed about for the past two weeks and been petty little s**ts. They're in lockstep, they have no empathy, care nothing about the American people, and are attacking the Democrats for, y'know, being the opposite of that.

And this is while the FBI is investigating ties between members of the GOP House and Senate for aiding domestic terrorists' coup attempt. And there's still going to be minimum wage bills, voting rights bills, immigration bills, and possibly gun control bills that the majority of the country support (While I support gun control, I think that might be the third rail that the GOP can successfully manufacture outrage over, and they should wait until after the mid-terms to do it in 2023). And their votes on them will be noted.

History shows that a new president's party is supposed to lose seats in the mid-term elections, but if the Republican Party doesn't manage to stick a narrative to President Biden to manufacture outrage to him, they're f***ed. Because he's an old white guy, and their base is old white guys who seem like they're unsure of what's so bad about him.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I think what tires me most about this, are the number of Republicans, going back to Trump and working downwards, who have done similar or much worse and are, have not, received so much as a slap on the wrist.

4 years of Trump and the dozens of women who have come forward with accusations of assault or worse, and the Republicans turn a blind eye.

I'm not saying that Democrats should do the same for other Democrats, only that the imbalanced scales of justice are nearly 180 degrees vertical.

A party holding itself to account will always be of value and service, in and of itself.

There are of course degrees. Like that senate candidate who got caught having an affair in the 2020 Election when he was competitive...that was a minor thing to have a fuss about when the Republicans tolerate and legitimate a multi-allegation president who was caught bragging about sexual assault.

In the case of Cuomo, he's a Governor of a blue state, the last election netted the Dems a Supermajority in NYS, he's always been controversial, a machine politician who doesn't respect the party mandate, and NYS has Chuck Schumer as Sen. Maj. aka the guy who controls the purse strings to have money flowing into NY, so politically there's a lot more to gain holding Cuomo to task. In fact I'd argue that if the Dems don't hold Cuomo to account they are gonna suffer a bigger setback in 2022 midterms in NYS. Cuomo has a history of being an all-purpose jerk, then we find out he lied about the nursing home deaths (for literally no reason), and then these women calling him out for being creepy.

Gotta be honest, when I saw Cuomo ascend to National Stardom during the early months of the Lockdown I thought "The Giuliani of the Dems": Giuliani became a hero with 9/11 just like Cuomo became with COVID-19, and in both cases both men used the favor they found as a way to escape and sweep aside the rough edges of their past. Luckily, people wised up to Cuomo on the quick unlike Giuliani.

I think he's worth mentioning in the April Fool's Day edition of my blog where I cover the s***ty Democrats, to be sure.

I look forward to that.

[Malvolio]

It's not just the midterms in 2022. Cuomo himself will be up for re-election if he doesn't resign or get impeached. So whoever the Republicans nominate will have quite a bit to put in some negative campaign ads.