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

[GOLGO 13]

Lol. I'll never understand why minorities are republicans.

Some minorities hate being considered a minority. Especially, those that came from another country where they were considered the "elite". Then when they get here they get that brutally rude awakening that Republicans barely even consider them human. Yet, they don't want to be associated with the...undesirables. Add, in those minorities that HATE other minorities and voila...Republican it is!


For some others it's all about the money. Successful, rich minorities are just like regular rich folk. They really only want to associate with other rich folks. Green is their preferred "color".

[worstblogever]

In 2015, in 2016, and in 2017, “Crazy Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of Randy Forbes, the U.S. House Representative for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District and the founder of the Republican Prayer Caucus shortly after taking office back in 2001. We noted that Forbes’ religious fervor is problematic, especially because he’s a big ally of David Barton, the exposed fraud who posits an alternative history of the United States where our Founding Fathers created the country as a Christian nation. Forbes is always quick to waste Congress’ time on meaningless resolution to reaffirm the national motto as “In God We Trust”, and when the American Humanist Association sent letters to members of Congress asking them to honor the separation of church and state guaranteed in our Constitution back in 2012, Forbes declared it a violation of HIS 1st Amendment rights that they would even ask, and that they were trying to censor how he talks about his faith. As you might expect from a modern Republican, Forbes’ Christian faith seems to be greatly diminished whenever bills come up regarding helping the sick or poor, like Jesus actually talked about, but he certainly is a zealot when it social issues like abortion or gay rights are up for discussion, trying to deny both whenever possible. On the latter, Forbes argued against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, was one of the first Republicans in 2004 to talk about a Constitutional amendment for a same sex marriage ban, and insisted on getting in the last word on the floor of the House to argue against ENDA, so that gays could continue to be discriminated against in the workplace. Not surprisingly, he now also supports measures that would allow Christian businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQ community based on their “religious faith”. Forbes’ paranoia and Christian victimization continued in the past year since we talked about him, most notably in October of 2015 when he spoke at a prayer rally at his home church in Chesapeake, Virginia, and he told the gathered throng about a massive conspiracy under way where funding was being funneled to systematically aim at “killing and destroying faith in America”. That of course, isn’t the only conspiracy theory he’ll beat to death, as even after four years over hearings over Benghazi hearings, Rep. Forbes was still campaigning on the “scandal”, and posting a survey on social media to his constituents if more taxpayer dollars needed to be spent investigating the non-story. And now… some good news. Due to redistricting in Virginia, in the 2016 elections, Forbes didn’t think he had a prayer of winning office in Virginia’s 4th, as it would lean far more to the left than it did previously. So instead, he chose to take a crack at challenging fellow GOP Congressman Scott Taylor over in Virginia’s 2nd District. Taylor won out with 53% of the vote, and as such, Randy Forbes was left without a place in Congress for the first time in 16 years. Frankly, we’re wondering what took so long.

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in both 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Mary Franson, who was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in, yup, you guessed it, in the 2010 Tea Party Wave. Had we to sum her up in but a few words, we would sum it up with “off-brand Michele Bachmann”. Her voting record represents that, what with votes across the board for any anti-choice legislation, a vote for a transphobic bathroom ban, votes against same sex marriage, and votes against raising the minimum wage during the greatest period of income inequality in our nation in at least a century. It isn’t just a matter of Franson being homophobic like Bachmann, either, she’s fine with outright hating all sorts of people who disagree with her… Democrats, mass shooting survivors, the poor… in fact, the only quote we can find about her sticking up for another person is Roy Moore, who she sees as a victim and not a racist old pedophile (more on that in a moment). So brace yourselves, and get ready for the deranged roller coaster that is Mary Franson…

• March 2nd, 2012: Franson sits down for a delightful video recording where she compares people being allowed to receive food stamps to “feeding wild animals”.
• April 5th, 2012: It’s one thing to be a Republican who doesn’t care much for environmental protection. It’s a whole other thing to be Mary Franson, and to make the ridiculous statement that “Earth Day is a pagan holiday”.
• July 18th, 2012: While at one point, Mary Franson apologized for her earlier remarks about people on food stamps being like “wild animals”. It must not have been a sincere apology, because on this date, she repeated the same statement.
• September 24th, 2012: With Minnesota about to vote to change the state constitution to legalize same sex marriage, Mary Franson loses her damned mind, and begins not only rambling about the consequences it would have on public education (?), but rambles on enough to say that “homosexuality is not normal behavior”.
• January 31st, 2013: Franson begins her second term in office with a bang, beginning to spout insane and easiily-disproved conspiracies about links between vaccines and autism.
• April 9th, 2014: In a hearing over a bill that would offer anti-bullying protections to LGBTQ youth in schools, Mary Franson declares it “fascism”. Because fascist regimes have such a wonderful track record of supporting LGBTQ youth, right?
• November 8th, 2017: The 2017 off-year election went very well for Democrats, and a lot of history was made around the country, including several transgender candidates reaching office. One of them was Danica Roem, who became the first transgender member of the Virginia state legislature. Well, Mary Franson couldn’t resist getting on Twitter to weigh in, saying, “A guy who thinks he’s a girl is still a guy with a mental health condition.” Transphobia at its finest, to be sure.
• December 18th, 2017: There’s paranoid, and then there’s Mary Franson. A group of school students for Alexandria Area High School reached out to her on Twitter, to get her to meet with them, and she refused, saying, “It’s not a legislator’s duty to meet with a proudly partisan Democrat group.” Yes, she admits she refuses to talk face to face with a Democrat, even if they’re still her constituent.
• December 19th, 2017: I gets even wilder, after she took heat for this stance, she tried claiming her reason for not meeting with the kids would be that they would “falsely” accuse her of sexual assault, just like people did to Roy Moore to sabotage his campaign for U.S. Senate in Alabama:
  

  “A man’s life was destroyed in AL. 40 years ago he met with minors alone and they recently accused him of horrendous actions. In the world of we must believe every sexual harassment claim, I would think my approach is beyond reasonable. All it takes is one perceived action and my life is destroyed. The life of my family is destroyed. That is a risk I will not take.”

  Oh yeah, she’s nuts.
• March 28th, 2018: Just when you think Mary Franson couldn’t get any more disgusting, she decided to attack the survivors of the mass shooting at Parkland High School, and compare them to the Hitler Youth. Her history is wrong, as Germany did not enact massive gun control, that’s a right-wing myth… but it’s revolting that she attacked the victims of a mass shooting so callously.
• November 15th, 2019: Franson begins spreading lies about drag queen storytelling sessions at children’s libraries, claiming that there is pervasive pornographic content by such performers and drug use that make them “inappropriate” candidates to read to children.
• December 10th, 2020: Mary Franson spent most of the Covid-19 pandemic raging against mask mandates set in place by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, and she turned some heads on this date for shaming the Governor for supposedly “holding meetings without a mask”. Fact-checkers noted, however, that it was just the latest example of her being a dishonest twit, as the photo was taken in December of 2019, weeks before the first Covid-19 case was even in the United States.
• January 10th, 2021: After participating in several “Stop the Steal” rallies in Minnesota, and the results of The Big Lie that Mary Franson actively participated in resulted in the deaths of Capitol Police officers, and very nearly the deaths of members of Congress, she waited another four days to post a meme to joke about the riot she helped incite, like the grotesque harpy she is.

And yet, in spite of all that, Republicans felt no need to have anyone run against Mary in the primary for her seat in the state legislature, and because of the conservative make-up of that district, she still coasted to victory with 68% of the vote. We can only end this post by posting the link again to the time Franson released a video on Facebook Live where a gust of wind blew the campaign sign she was holding around so it spun and smacked her in the face.

It’s the little things that help.

[numberthirty]

The youngest state legislator in Michigan screwed up.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...jones-whitmer/

He was pulled over for driving drunk, and threatened to call the governor on the cops who found his car in a ditch.

The 911 calls came pouring in as the black Chevy Tahoe sped down a Michigan highway.

For almost 50 miles, witnesses reported, the vehicle with the vanity plate “ELECTED” was driving so recklessly earlier this month that at least one person saw the car go the wrong way before it rolled into a ditch.

Inside the SUV, state police found state Rep. Jewell Jones (D), whose blood alcohol level was allegedly more than double the legal limit. In the cupholder behind him was a loaded handgun.

“If you hit me, it’s going to be very bad for you. I’ll call Governor [Gretchen] Whitmer right now,” Jones told the officers on April 6, according to a police report. “When I call Gretchen,” he allegedly continued, they would have to hand over their “IDs, badge numbers, everything.”

News of that interaction marks the latest twist in a stunning case for Jones, who turned 26 just days after the incident and is the youngest-ever member of the Michigan state House of Representatives. The police report detailing his comments was first obtained by the Detroit Free Press.

Carolyn Henry, the chief assistant prosecutor in Livingston County, Mich., confirmed to The Washington Post that the third-term lawmaker is facing eight charges, including four counts of resisting police and one for operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of more than 0.17.

When I heard about that on the radio earlier this week, I thought for sure that it had to be some kind of a late April Fool's bit.

So much for that.

If even half of what was in the radio piece is anything like what actually took place, it is a "Wait, Seriously?..." moment.

[numberthirty]

Meanwhile...

Democrats are still not making an example out of this guy. You have to wonder exactly what line his is going to have to cross before they start thinking about actually doing so.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...floyd-n1263289

Va. Lt. Gov. Fairfax says he was treated like George Floyd, Emmett Till over sexual assault allegations

Toward the end of the hour-long televised debate at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va., Fairfax answered a question about the future of policing in the state with a broadside against former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is running for the office again.

“The murder of George Floyd was horrific," Fairfax said. "But it recalls a history in Virginia and in our nation where African Americans, in particular African American men, are presumed to be guilty, are treated inhumanely, are given no due process and have their lives impacted, in some cases taken away in an instant.”

Fairfax, who is Black, then raised the example of the allegations in 2019, saying he was “falsely accused” of sexual assault. Fairfax specifically singled out McAuliffe’s response when the allegations surfaced. The other candidates had also called for his resignation following the allegations.

“Everyone here on the stage called for my immediate resignation, including Terry McAuliffe three minutes after a press release came out," Fairfax said. "He treated me like George Floyd; he treated me like Emmett Till — no due process, immediately assumed my guilt. I have a son and a daughter. I don't ever want my daughter to be assaulted, I don't want my son to be falsely accused. And yet this is the real world that we live in."

[worstblogever]

Meanwhile...

Democrats are still not making an example out of this guy.

Well, that's a poorly timed-lie. There's no method for investigating or impeaching a Lieutenant Governor in Virginia. The same reason they didn't impeach Gov. Bob McDonnell during his corruption scandal, and law enforcement had to handle it. It had to be left to the police to investigate, and THEY have chosen not to. Democrats have been calling on Fairfax to resign for some time, and he refuses to.

As far as Fairfax's remarks and the timing, they're likely a reflection of the fact that he just read that he's polling in single digits in the Democratic primary in his desire to get elected Governor of Virginia.

Which, would be Democrats holding him accountable soon enough when they're given the first opportunity to.

Nice try, though.

[numberthirty]

Well, that's a poorly timed-lie. There's no method for investigating or impeaching a Lieutenant Governor in Virginia. The same reason they didn't impeach Gov. Bob McDonnell during his corruption scandal, and law enforcement had to handle it. It had to be left to the police to investigate, and THEY have chosen not to. Democrats have been calling on Fairfax to resign for some time, and he refuses to.

As far as Fairfax's remarks and the timing, they're likely a reflection of the fact that he just read that he's polling in single digits in the Democratic primary in his desire to get elected Governor of Virginia.

Which, would be Democrats holding him accountable soon enough when they're given the first opportunity to.

Nice try, though.

Here's the thing...

Nobody said anything about "Holding Him Accountable..."

This guy is lumping himself in with George Floyd/Emmett Till even though he was credibly accused of rape.

Most folks get that doing so puts you out past the point where the voters simply deciding not to elect you is not enough of a response to someone doing such a thing.

Meanwhile?

Elected Democrats ain't saying much of anything at all.

Making an example out of someone taking it further than just letting the voters sort out what you(as a party...) don't really seem to have enough backbone to do. Letting it be known that a guy running for office as a member of your party will not be allowed to just try to use those two men for cover with no consequences and no one stepping forward to address that he has.

If there was ever an instance where the kind of backbone needed to make an example out of a guy was called for?

This is most likely one of those times.

Don't really expect that it will happen, but it doesn't really change that reality.

[Mister Mets]

Meanwhile...

Democrats are still not making an example out of this guy. You have to wonder exactly what line his is going to have to cross before they start thinking about actually doing so.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...floyd-n1263289

I think Democrats see Fairfax as a nobody about to lose the gubernatorial primary to former Governor/ DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

That's probably not the right attitude, considering that two women independently accused Fairfax of sexual harassment and rape, and had made very specific allegations privately before Fairfax's profile rose when it looked like Northam might resign as Governor. Fairfax is still a heartbeat away from being Governor, as well as remaining a statewide officeholder in Virginia. His decision to compare himself to George Floyd and Emmett Till is insulting considering that he was accused by two African-American women, one of whom is active in the party.

A law firm and a college were able to push him out, so it's weird that Democrats haven't tried harder.

Even worse, a congressman was aware of the allegations against Fairfax while pushing for Northam to resign.

https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-co...ry?id=60898781

There is stuff the party could do. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee warned that vendors and strategists who work for primary challengers of incumbents will be blacklisted. They could do the same for anyone who works for Fairfax. They chose not to, which shows their priorities.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...democracy.html

[numberthirty]

I think Democrats see Fairfax as a nobody about to lose the gubernatorial primary to former Governor/ DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

That's probably not the right attitude, considering that two women independently accused Fairfax of sexual harassment and rape, and had made very specific allegations privately before Fairfax's profile rose when it looked like Northam might resign as Governor. Fairfax is still a heartbeat away from being Governor, as well as remaining a statewide officeholder in Virginia. His decision to compare himself to George Floyd and Emmett Till is insulting considering that he was accused by two African-American women, one of whom is active in the party.

A law firm and a college were able to push him out, so it's weird that Democrats haven't tried harder.

Even worse, a congressman was aware of the allegations against Fairfax while pushing for Northam to resign.

https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-co...ry?id=60898781

There is stuff the party could do. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee warned that vendors and strategists who work for primary challengers of incumbents will be blacklisted. They could do the same for anyone who works for Fairfax. They chose not to, which shows their priorities.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...democracy.html

You're saying tried like they have actually done something.

They haven't.

[Tendrin]

Elected Democrats ain't saying much of anything at all.

Fairfax condemned fellow Democrats for calling for his resignation in 2019 when two women claimed that he sexually assaulted them in separate incidents in the early 2000s. No criminal investigation was ever conducted, and Fairfax denied the charges and refused to step down.

State Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan (Richmond), who is seeking to become the first Black woman elected governor, called Fairfax's comparison "shocking, unseemly and insensitive."

And, of course, there's the context: he was accusing *McAuliffe* of treating him that way. McAuliffe seems like the primary target here.

At a debate for Virginia governor, Mr. Fairfax, the state's lieutenant governor, denounced Mr. McAuliffe for urging him to resign after women ..

But sure, 30, you go on and tell us how 'silent' the Democrats are over something that happened as a result of them previously telling this guy to GTFO. Whether or not they did 'enough' to force him out or could have introduced new rules (that, let's remember, would be able to be used by the GOP) is a different question over 'silence'.

[numberthirty]

A couple of folks at the state level are actually doing something like the right thing.

Gimme a minute while I try to figure out if that is actually making an example out of this guy over what he just pulled.

No.

Still not that.

Is someone at a level higher than "State..."(or a number of folks at the "State" level...) going to really take a run at the guy over that he pulled something as unacceptable as that?

Could happen. Not about to rule that possibility out.

Just should have happened by now. Never mind in "A Day..."/"A Week..."/"If It Happens At All..."

[worstblogever]

Here's the thing....

The thing is you ignored the articles I posted that contradicted what you were saying to continue to lie about it.

This is the first opportunity Democrats will have to hold him accountable, in this election. And the signs indicate they are going to do that exact thing.

This is the part where people who live in reality and don't twist it to substitute their own over it would drop it.

Again, nice try.

[numberthirty]

The thing is you ignored the articles I posted that contradicted what you were saying to continue to lie about it.

This is the first opportunity Democrats will have to hold him accountable, in this election. And the signs indicate they are going to do that exact thing.

This is the part where people who live in reality and don't twist it to substitute their own over it would drop it.

Again, nice try.

Again...

No one is talking about something as "Can We Just Change The Subject?..." as that.

What this guy just pulled demands a serious figurative smack across the back of the head just because he thought that he could run as a Democrat and get away with having said it.

Someone should not even have to point that out.

[seismic-2]

Note what Lt. Gov. Fairfax is complaining about - the top Democrats in Virginia all did immediately call on him to resign. That's what's he's comparing to a "lynching", so you can't say that no one spoke out. Unfortunately, calling upon him to resign is about all that they could do, since there's no actual way to remove him from office. He is currently so unpopular among Democratic party leaders and among the voters in his party that he is having to make these attention-grabbing claims just to get noticed in his monumentally unsuccessful bid to win the nomination for Governor. Normally, if a Lt. Governor makes a bid to move up to the top office, he gets a lot of support from party officials for the nomination, and more often than not he is picked as his party's candidate. Here he is being treated as a pariah, not just for the (credible) rape charges but for his comments in which he affectively claims to be a martyr. Isn't that treatment pretty much a "slap in the back of the head" from the Ddemocratic establishment? The party officials can't make him resign (although they called on him to do so), but they can treat him as a non-person within the party, and that's just what they're doing.

[numberthirty]

Note what Lt. Gov. Fairfax is complaining about - the top Democrats in Virginia all did immediately call on him to resign. That's what's he's comparing to a "lynching", so you can't say that no one spoke out. Unfortunately, calling upon him to resign is about all that they could do, since there's no actual way to remove him from office. He is currently so unpopular among Democratic party leaders and among the voters in his party that he is having to make these attention-grabbing claims just to get noticed in his monumentally unsuccessful bid to win the nomination for Governor. Normally, if a Lt. Governor makes a bid to move up to the top office, he gets a lot of support from party officials for the nomination, and more often than not he is picked as his party's candidate. Here he is being treated as a pariah, not just for the (credible) rape charges but for his comments in which he affectively claims to be a martyr. Isn't that treatment pretty much a "slap in the back of the head" from the Ddemocratic establishment? The party officials can't make him resign (although they called on him to do so), but they can treat him as a non-person within the party, and that's just what they're doing.

To me?

Not even close.

This is the sort of garbage that you make somebody famous over.

Past that...

The initial call on the guy to step aside at the state level?

Even if I personally feel like it was not enough, that does not somehow magically make it into a reaction to Fairfax's reaction to it.

The "A..." instance was already damning. The "B..." instance that just took place?

It is a separate thing. Never mind being a separate instance that should have resulted in the gloves coming off.