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

[Kieran_Frost]

The UK on its own has given more to COVAX...around 600 million Euros at current exchange rates. So I don’t think it’s completely unfair to argue that at least some vaccines arriving in poorer countries were funded by UK government.

But in general..I’m not sure what to make of overall Western response to “vaccine saga” so far. Partly it’s a joyous saga, the widespread sharing of scientific and technological expertise to develop use-able vaccines so quickly. But part of me is depressed by knowing distribution is so unfair.

This whole banning/barring/interfering with vaccine exports... uncomfortable implications. Let's watch this space, maybe it'll all turn out okay?

[OopsIdiditagain]

Trump's into green architecture?

[Gray Lensman]

Renew! Renew!

[Kirby101]

Renew! Renew!

It was so Republican, promising people one thing, while just exploiting and killing them.

[PwrdOn]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/27/w...iran-deal.html

The sanctions are working guys, I can feel the freedom and democracy coming any day now!

[Kirby101]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/27/w...iran-deal.html

The sanctions are working guys, I can feel the freedom and democracy coming any day now!

The Obama Iran Deal was working. Trump fucked it up.

[Gray Lensman]

The Obama Iran Deal was working. Trump fucked it up.

Not to mention it wasn't about freedom and democracy, but about curtailing nuclear ambitions. And it had been working until the Fanta Menace decided to abandon the deal despite the fact that Iran had been sticking to it. Now, they have no incentive to go back, since the can no longer count on the US to hold up its end of any bargain.

[Tendrin]

Not to mention it wasn't about freedom and democracy, but about curtailing nuclear ambitions. And it had been working until the Fanta Menace decided to abandon the deal despite the fact that Iran had been sticking to it. Now, they have no incentive to go back, since the can no longer count on the US to hold up its end of any bargain.

Abandoned it and murdered a general who was considering reapproachment with the USA.

[worstblogever]

Way too much islamaphobia on this thread.

And a lack of respect for simple human rights.

[Tendrin]

And a lack of respect for simple human rights.

It makes me angry.

[Jack Dracula]

The Obama Iran Deal was working. Trump fucked it up.

I suspect at the behest of Saudi Arabia.
A Middle-East afraid of Iran helps the Saudis solidify their influence over their neighbors through the Gulf Cooperation Council.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Aaron Schock, Schock had just shocked the Beltway by resigning in disgrace after the one time "Young Gun" of the GOP, and the youngest person ever elected to Congress was discovered to have remodeled his office to look like the set of Downtown Abbey, and taxpayers were left with a $35,000 bill for the redecorating efforts. Schock also missed 5.5% of the potential votes on the House floor, one of the poorest attendance records in Congress, and one of the easiest explanations for that was he was always posting Instagram photos from exotic vacations he was taking, rather than doing a job that already offers a ridiculous amount of days off for a six-figure salary. Schock also got caught reporting he had driven more miles than the truck he was driving had in its total mileage, but wanted to be reimbursed for $90,000. After the media started reporting on all these inconsistencies, the FBI and Justice Department began ones of their own (they're still trying to determine if Schock will face charges). With all that graft going on, it's easy to forget that Schock's voting record included votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform, Hurricane Sandy Relief Aid, and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, while voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act incessantly, the 2013 Government Shutdown, and to attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. Schock spent several years trying to avoid prison time, and there began to be rumors of him attempting a comeback that were cut short by the anti-LGBTQ Congressman being caught on film fondling another man down the front of his pants at Coachella, shortly before sexts from his secret Grindr account were uncovered. Alas, the GOP will not back a candidate once they’re out of the closet, corrupt or not, so it seems like his career really is over.

On this date in 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of Janice Fountaine, a 2014 Maryland State Senate and self-described "prophet of God" who warned that homosexuality and masturbation were created by Satan as a strategy in "evil end-time warfare". Fountaine's foreign policy stance is also that America is the "World Police, whether we like it or not". She was an embarrassing candidate who only ran because she saw no other Republicans on the ballot, and it seems like the Maryland GOP would like to not be embarrassed by her again.

On this date in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Frank Hoffman, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who served in that body from 2007-2020. We’re going to be up front, and just be clear about our opinion that Hoffman is one of the more bats*** crazy anti-choice Republicans we’ve taken note of in some time, as in 2016, he actually submitted an anti-abortion bill that claimed the procedure was “reversible”. Big surprise, he has a 100% rating from the Louisiana Right to Life Foundation,and he also used to run the First Baptist Church’s Cable Access Network, so it’s no wonder he’s asking for scientists to come forward to prove his assertions about abortion, based on flawed research. It should come as little surprise then, that Hoffman has been a sponsor or co-sponsor of some of the Louisiana GOP’s most extreme anti-choice legislation over the years, including when he sponsored a bill to require any tissue removed during an abortion to be buried or cremated. On the same day he argued against sex education in schools, which would probably do more to prevent unwanted pregnancies than any nutty ideas rattling around in his misogynist skull. Really, his entire legislative record reads like a book written by Pat Robertson, as he co-sponsored a TRAP law to try and force the closure of all abortion clinics in Louisiana by creating harsh restrictions upon the hospitals that perform them, he co-sponsored a bill to nullify federal firearm laws, voted for one of those disastrous attempts by Republicans to require welfare recipients to be drug tested to receive government assistance, voted to prevent the removal of “military memorials” that is aimed at protecting Confederate monuments, and even voted against a repeal of archaic legislation still on the books in Louisiana that considers some sex acts (y’know, the gay ones) “crimes against nature”. Frank Hoffman was term-limited in 2019, and could not run for his seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives after a dozen years bumbling about the joint.

On this date in 2017, 2018, as well as 2020,"Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Arthur “Art” Jones, who we kind of thought would be a “one and done” focus for us, what with him being a motherf***ing straight-up Nazi and all. We aren’t speaking in hyperbole here, Jones was a three-time failed Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois 3rd Congressional District in the 2012 who ran for Congress in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District in 2016 even though he marched with Nazis in Chicago in 1978, and who denies the Holocaust ever happened. In the Oak Lawn Patch on February 29, 2012, Jones commented, "the Holocaust is nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews. It's the blackest lie in history. Millions of dollars are being made by Jews telling this tale of woe and misfortune in books, movies, plays and TV.” Jones' 2016 campaign website contained a section called "Holocaust?" (yes, with a question mark) featuring write-ups and newspaper clippings supporting his belief that the Holocaust is "mythical." Jones cited tax benefits received by Holocaust survivors as a possible motivation for their upholding of the narrative and further added that Kosher food labels are "another Jewish racket, pure and simple to extort money out of the food manufacturers at a hefty fee, which is then passed on to all non-Jewish customers in the retail price paid each time we shop." As you would expect, Jones was echoing Donald Trump’s anti-immigration platform in 2016, though he also had plenty of venom focused against marriage equality as well. In his warped mind, homosexuals, or as he calls them “the lying Pink Crusader Rabbits” are working to “seek[s] to uproot, and overthrow all the moral teachings of the Christian religion on which all our laws are based.” Jones was also ranting about something he called the “Neighbourhood Amendment”, which apparently sought to let citizens who decided clean up their neighborhood and assure it would be white and Christian would have the legal means to do so. In 2012, Art Jones finished third in the GOP Primary with 11% of the vote, which is far more than you’d hope a Neo-Nazi Holocaust denier would ever get. And, to our chagrin. at 70 years old, was allowed to run for Congress AGAIN by the Illinois GOP in 2018, and they couldn’t be bothered to even run a candidate against him in the primary. Which means, yes, Art Jones, an actual Nazi running around three quarters of a century after the Nazis were defeated in World War II, went into the general election with a chance of becoming a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois’ 3rd District. Proving that Republicans are brainwashed morons, Jones actually still won 26% of the vote because he has an “R” next to his name. In 2020, he ran for the seat again, and even with Republican voters being more than aware he’s a Nazi, he still got 10% of the vote. We are pretty sure he’s going to keep running for office until he drops dead. As he is unlikely to ever reach office, we’ll set aside his profile to take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 974-45, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Tim Fazenbaker

Welcome to what is the 974th profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Tim Fazenbaker, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District hoping to unseat the long-tenured Democratic Congressman Dutch Ruppensberger in what would be a huge upset in a left-leaning district. Fazenbaker is yet the latest in a long line of folks we’ve been profiling who are in the center of the Venn diagram that is made of the circles that read, “2020 GOP candidate for Congress” and “Qanon conspiracy theorist”, having ended many posts on Twitter with the Qanon hashtag.

Fazenbaker’s strategy was to win the GOP Primary by attacking his state’s own Republican governor for establishing mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic as early as the middle of May, campaigning hard against the Black Lives Matter movement, and to instead push the #WalkAway movement that encouraged Democrats to abandon their Party and join the Republican one. Neither effort was successful, as Tim Fazenbaker finished third out of a possible seven candidates in the GOP Primary, and the #WalkAway movement was laughed at for moving absolutely no one to the GOP.

We’re not going to be shocked if he runs for office as a perennial losing candidate, and if the Republican Party still trucks on not realizing they have a extremist conspiracy theorist they need to keep away from the spotlight. Because, y’know, they’re not seeming to notice or care that it’s a pattern at the moment.

[Agent Z]

St. Louis police officers on trial for beating Black undercover detective during protest

St. Louis police detective Luther Hall was brutally beaten while working undercover at a protest against police brutality in September 2017. Now three fellow officers are on trial for the assault, which they claim was a case of mistaken identify. One of the officers already pleaded guilty and admitted to lying on the stand. Lauren Trager, an investigative reporter with CBS affiliate KMOV-TV, joins CBSN AM's Anne-Marie Green to discuss the case.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/st-lou...ver-detective/

[CaptainEurope]

It makes me angry.

Yet, as long as he POLITELY advocates for severe human rights abuses, he won't get banned I guess.