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

[numberthirty]

Getting to where you literally could not make this stuff up...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/polit...ana/index.html

Gaetz probe includes scrutiny of potential public corruption tied to medical marijuana industry

Details about the marijuana-related pay-to-play aspect of the probe provide a fresh perspective on the investigation, which has been conducted largely in secret since last year. Reports that federal agents seized Gaetz's phone and that of a former girlfriend this winter are indicative of the seriousness of the government's pursuit of evidence.

[numberthirty]

Took a quick look back through the thread. Don't believe anyone has linked to this interview. It's worth the read.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...ng-plan-483971

POLITICO Pro Q&A: Sen. Elizabeth Warren on her IRS funding plan

[WestPhillyPunisher]

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.

Sorry, #30, but you lack credibility in my eyes when you fail to call Qpublicans to task for all the horrid things they've done, most of their offenses being FAR worse than anything Democrats have done.

[Tendrin]

Sorry, #30, but you lack credibility in my eyes when you fail to call Qpublicans to task for all the horrid things they've done, most of their offenses being FAR worse than anything Democrats have done.

The guy who cried 'don't blackmail me with the supreme court!' now gets to watch a six-three majority back handing down life sentences to juvenile offenders with no need for explanation thanks to the Supreme Court he said we shouldn't worry about all the while frothing at the mouth about 'superpredators'.

30 has lacked credibility for actual years.

[numberthirty]

Sorry, #30, but you lack credibility in my eyes when you fail to call Qpublicans to task for all the horrid things they've done, most of their offenses being FAR worse than anything Democrats have done.

The guy who cried 'don't blackmail me with the supreme court!' now gets to watch a six-three majority back handing down life sentences to juvenile offenders with no need for explanation thanks to the Supreme Court he said we shouldn't worry about all the while frothing at the mouth about 'superpredators'.

30 has lacked credibility for actual years.

Here's the obvious issue with making this about me...

The guy is saying that he is in the same boat as George Floyd/Emmett Till.

There is only "Is It Right For A Party To Let That Slide When Someone Is Running As A Member Of That Party?..."

Not "Well, Is That As Bad As What Republicans Have Done?..."


"We'll Let Calling Out A Credibly Accused Rapist Ducking Behind Floyd/Till Slide..." ain't what one should settle for being the party of.

[Tendrin]

Here's the obvious issue with making this about me...

The guy is saying that he is in the same boat as George Floyd/Emmett Till.

There is only "Is It Right For A Party To Let That Slide When Someone Is Running As A Member Of That Party?..."

Not "Well, Is That As Bad As What Republicans Have Done?..."


"We'll Let Calling Out A Credibly Accused Rapist Ducking Behind Floyd/Till Slide..." ain't what one should settle for being the party of.

We aren't making this 'about you'. That's thinking far too highly of yourself. You offered an argument that was manifestly untrue as a club to beat Democrats for lack of purity, something you've indulged in on this board for years, and as always when called on it, shifted the goal posts to claim that it's 'not enough'. You can always claim 'not enough' as a way out of a bad argument so as to pretend towards a moral stance -- but that moral stance and that judgment ring hollow when compared to your lengthy history of posting *only* about Democrats, even as Republicans secured the six-three majority we all warned you of all the way back in 2015-2016. We are now getting exactly what we warned you about happening and there is, of course, not a single peep out of you about any of it. You'd think for the guy who harangued Clinton for years for 'locking up black kids' would have a bone to pick with the Supreme Court over their recent ruling, but to the surprise of exactly no one, you've been silent.

[numberthirty]

We aren't making this 'about you'. That's thinking far too highly of yourself. You offered an argument that was manifestly untrue as a club to beat Democrats for lack of purity, something you've indulged in on this board for years, and as always when called on it, shifted the goal posts to claim that it's 'not enough'. You can always claim 'not enough' as a way out of a bad argument so as to pretend towards a moral stance -- but that moral stance and that judgment ring hollow when compared to your lengthy history of posting *only* about Democrats, even as Republicans secured the six-three majority we all warned you of all the way back in 2015-2016. We are now getting exactly what we warned you about happening and there is, of course, not a single peep out of you about any of it. You'd think for the guy who harangued Clinton for years for 'locking up black kids' would have a bone to pick with the Supreme Court over their recent ruling, but to the surprise of exactly no one, you've been silent.

The obvious issue there is that no one is discussing "Purity..."

It's more like being decent/upstanding on an incredibly basic level.

There is stuff that rises to a level where everyone in a party should be lining up at microphone to call it out.

What the guy just pulled clears that bar by about a couple of thousand feet.

[Gray Lensman]

We aren't making this 'about you'. That's thinking far too highly of yourself. You offered an argument that was manifestly untrue as a club to beat Democrats for lack of purity, something you've indulged in on this board for years, and as always when called on it, shifted the goal posts to claim that it's 'not enough'. You can always claim 'not enough' as a way out of a bad argument so as to pretend towards a moral stance -- but that moral stance and that judgment ring hollow when compared to your lengthy history of posting *only* about Democrats, even as Republicans secured the six-three majority we all warned you of all the way back in 2015-2016. We are now getting exactly what we warned you about happening and there is, of course, not a single peep out of you about any of it. You'd think for the guy who harangued Clinton for years for 'locking up black kids' would have a bone to pick with the Supreme Court over their recent ruling, but to the surprise of exactly no one, you've been silent.

Or to sum up, he's indulging in more whatabouts than Sean Hannity.

[Tendrin]

The obvious issue there is that no one is discussing "Purity..."

It's more like being decent/upstanding on an incredibly basic level.

There is stuff that rises to a level where everyone in a party should be lining up at microphone to call it out.

What the guy just pulled clears that bar by about a couple of thousand feet.

The one person you need to comment on it, Jennifer L. McClellan, did. And she said what needed to be said. Any more than that is speaking over a voice that is better heard than anyone else's.

Your moral puffery aside, the voters will soon be rightfully condemning Fairfax to the political oblivion he richly deserves.

[CaptainEurope]

The guy who cried 'don't blackmail me with the supreme court!' now gets to watch a six-three majority back handing down life sentences to juvenile offenders with no need for explanation thanks to the Supreme Court he said we shouldn't worry about all the while frothing at the mouth about 'superpredators'.

30 has lacked credibility for actual years.

You know, the least thing Democrats could do would be to threaten to throw Nancy Pelosi into a shark tank if Farifax will not resign. That will show him.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of [B]Basil Marceaux/B], who while simultaneously running for Governor of Tennessee and for Congress to represent Tennessee’s 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives, put out a political ad online that made him a viral sensation, getting him notoriety enough to be reported on by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report. Marceaux, who is missing several teeth that give him a cartoonish and funny speech impediment, still champions on as a public speaker in his ad, where he promised to "immune you from all state crimes for the rest of you life!" and stated his desire that "everyone carry guns", eloquently warning, “Voters "like my gun views. I want everyone to have a gun. If I think that someone doesn't have one, maybe I'll fine them $10." Marceaux also claims to be an agent of the Freedman’s Bureau, an organization that assisted freed slaves in 1866 and had been defunct for… oh, more than a century. But his role as an agent with them makes him immune to all crimes. While judges who have seen Marceaux in court for speeding tickets disagree with that logic, they do tend to find him guilty for reason of insanity, instead. (Yes, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Tennessee was too insane to be found guilty of a crime.) Other Marceaux campaign planks included planting grass or vegetation "across the state on any vacant lot and sell it for gas so we can use it for our expenses”, which would in no way generate revenue and to "remove all gold-finch flags and fly the real flag with the three stripes” and to “stop traffic stops." Since Basil has no chance of ever being elected to Congress, Governor, President, or frankly, anything else.

In 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of Gary Glenn, from District 98 in the Michigan House of Representatives, and who previously made a living working as an anti-gay conservative activist, specifically with the American Family Association as the president of their Michigan chapter, which the Southern Poverty Law Center still classifies the AFA as an anti-gay hate group. Prior to running for office, Glenn had already directed a variety of disgusting comments towards the LGBTQ community publicly, not limited to his call to criminalize homosexuality as recently as February of 2010, the fact that he signed on to a lawsuit against the federal government because he felt the via the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 “elevates people with deviant sexual behaviors to a special, protected class”, his comparison between comparison between homosexuality and smoking, and in a July 2011 interview where he shared his belief that businesses should not hire gay employees because they “are not the best and brightest employees” because they take “health risks”, by which he expounded included a “dramatically higher risk of mental illness and substance abuse and AIDS and cancer and hepatitis.” voters balked a bit at all that when Glenn appeared as a candidate in the 2012 elections for U.S. Senate to challenge for the seat held by Debbie Stabenow, attacking her pro-choice stance on abortion while supporting not just the defunding of Planned Parenthood, but to create a Personhood amendment and ban abortion. Alas, after losing that year in the GOP Primary, Glenn did not give up his political aspirations, instead choosing to run for the Michigan House of Representatives in the 2014 mid-term election to replace Jim Stamas, who was up against term limits, winning office with the endorsement of disgraced Michigan Republican Party Committee member, Dave Agema, and taking the Republican primary for his seat by about 300 votes, and then winning the general election with 55% over Democrat Joan Brausch. Since winning office, Glenn has not mellowed out in the least, sending out an “agenda alert” warning on social media in March 2015 when he heard that a local newspaper had hired an openly gay news editor, and decided to claim a bias against the Midland Daily News before the editor had even started the job. A couple months later, in June of 2015, Glenn was calling for a school to be held criminally liable if a student ever contracted an STD from homosexual activity after being taught it existed in sex education class. (Y’know, the sort of smaller government the GOP touts these days.) When you look at his voting record, this is going to come as a big shock, I know… you can see Gary Glenn is laser-focused on limiting LGBTQ rights, co-sponsoring and voting for not one, not two, but three separate bills to allow adoption agencies to refuse to allow children to be placed in adoptive families based on their religious beliefs (i.e., same sex couples can’t adopt). It’s almost an after-thought that he also has voted for extreme anti-abortion legislation to try and prevent women in Michigan from even hearing abortion is an option if they’ve been sexually assaulted, by claiming it’s “prevention of coercion into having an abortion”. In 2017, Glenn putzed around and wasted the people’s time by sponsoring a fetal heartbeat abortion bill that even if it passes the Michigan State House and Senate, is still likely to be repealed by Gov. Rick Snyder, and even if it isn’t, it’s going to be overturned by the courts because it’s a flagrant break from precedent set by Roe v. Wade. Gary Glenn was looking to try to move into the Michigan State Senate’s District 31 in 2018, so that he can continue to support extreme conservative legislation that has no chance of passing, let alone being held up in place by the courts. However, we are thrilled to report that Gary Glenn did not even advance out of the GOP Primary, and is now a former Michigan state legislator.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Tim Eyman, a 2020 Republican candidate to try and become the next Governor of Washington state. Eyman graduated from Washington State University at Pullman in 1988 with a Bachelor’s Degree in business after a career as a collegiate wrestler. For ten years out of college, Eyman didn’t turn up much in the news, but after a decade of trying to make a living as a watch salesman (now there’s a niche market that’s gone by the wayside in the digital age), he emerged as what can only be described as a professional ballot initiative lobbyist. With cartoonish glee, at different points he’s dressed up as a gorilla or even Darth Vader (yes, the enforcer of Emperor Palpatine who’s one of the biggest bad guys in film history) as has made a living overseeing these political ventures, and has managed over the past 22 years to get 17 initiatives on the ballot. Of those, 11 have been voted to be approved… but 8 of that 11 have been completely or partially overturned by courts as unconstitutional (at this time). Which would probably be something to consider before you lobby for it… Unless you’re financial well-being is centered around working to get anything on the ballot, regardless of whether it’s a good idea or not. Now, Eyman’s political affiliation has traditionally been more of an “independent conservative populist” that if you squint, you would identify as somewhat libertarian, given his overall distaste for taxation of any kind, but there also seems to be a pattern of him wanting to place ballot initiatives in place to eliminate workplace protections for the LGBTQ community that perhaps would indicate a pattern of homophobia in his “small government” focus. As early as 2002, however, experienced political wonks in Washington noticed a pattern in Eyman’s activities… he frequently diverted campaign money into his own pockets. When caught, the state would fine him, and ban him from serving as a treasurer on any political campaign, and… that’s about it. But yet, he stuck around, and kept making a living with more and more filings. And thus he was a nuisance for another thirteen years… That is, until 2015, when an investigation by the state (that Eyman fought every step of the way) found that again, Tim Eyman was self-dealing. That allowed Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to file a $2.1 million lawsuit against Eyman in 2017, And those legal woes meant Eyman would be facing more fines and be forced to pay back money he illegally procured… which of course, he was spending hand over fist. To the tune of $24,000 a month. Forced to pay those large sums, including up to $77,000 in legal fees, he was now going to be forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. His wife soon left him. Judges have upheld the state’s filings, and he was still looking at massive debt. Now, you’re probably thinking this would be the end of his story, and wondering how someone who never ran for public office got a CSGOPOTD profile… And this is where we remind you how insane the Republican Party and its candidates are these days. Because Tim Eyman decided all of his legal woes could be solved if he mounted a run and could win election to be the next Governor of Washington as a Republican in 2020. Go figure, the guy who turned around and filed for bankruptcy and thus would be asking taxpayers to already pay for his idiocy would be a long-shot if trying to run as a populist, but Eyman was going to try. Could a man with so little to show for over two decades of political activity except illegal personal enrichment win the governor’s race and use the power of the office to sole all his problems? Any hope of that happening probably fell by the wayside on March 14th, 2020, when after an executive order by Washington Governor Jay Inslee to ban gatherings of more than 250 people (quite reasonable for the moment) to stop the spread of Covid-19. Tim Eyman chose to respond like a douchebag on “The Price is Right” by putting out a press release that he would be hosting a campaign event where 251, we repeat TWO-HUNDRED AND FIFTY ONE people were invited, and he would be serving Corona beers to them. That… was a choice. As more and more people were dying from Covid-19 every day than died on 9-11. Eyman’s corruption and Covid-19 stupidity ended up getting him a fourth place finish in the open primary, to the tune of 6.4% of the vote. As she is now out of office, we will set aside her profile at this time to take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 979-50, since this was established in July 2014.


Larry Norman

Welcome to what is the 979th profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Larry Norman, who was a 2020 candidate for District 18 of the North Carolina House of Representatives. Perhaps the campaign issue that was most troubling to everyone regarding Norman was his unique stance on abortion. Unlike most Republicans, Norman was fine with children getting sex education that included discussions of contraceptives, but he also volunteered another option to prevent pregnancies… STERILIZATION.

”We must do more to encourage people who are not willing to support and raise children, not to have them. I am opposed to abortion, but I am not opposed to better education for children to learn to prevent pregnancies through contraceptives or sterilization.”

For those not in the know, North Carolina has a revolting history of eugenics and sterilization being used against minorities, so this isn’t a good thing to just casually bring up as a solution. Then again, we can’t be shocked that a guy would be racially insensitive like that when his political role model is Jesse Helms and says “liberals and progressives want to take God out of our Schools”.

Larry Norman lost in the general election, getting only 44.4% of the vote. We hope this is the first and last time he ever runs for office.

[Tami]

Demings ‘seriously considering’ challenging DeSantis or Rubio

Florida Rep. Val Demings said she’s “seriously considering” a statewide bid against Sen. Marco Rubio or Gov. Ron DeSantis, boosting Democratic hopes in a battleground state that’s growing increasingly red.

Demings, a former Orlando police chief, rose to national prominence as a House impeachment manager and as a possible running mate for Joe Biden last year. State and national Democrats have urged her to challenge either DeSantis or Rubio, but she was relatively non-committal until she was asked Thursday about her potential candidacy.

"I've received so many calls and texts and emails, and have been stopped when I'm out and about by people who are asking me that very same question. Matter of fact, they think I should run for statewide office and maybe challenge the governor, or challenge Sen. Rubio next year,” she told POLITICO Thursday. “I'm seriously considering a statewide run. And we'll see what happens."

Though Demings didn’t mention DeSantis by name, those familiar with her thinking say she has been increasingly disturbed with his hard-right style of governance, including an anti-protest bill he recently signed into law.

As a former top police officer and a Black woman, Demings occupies a unique space in the nation’s political dialogue over race and policing, an issue that was brought into sharp focus Tuesday when Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) interrupted her as she criticized Republicans for pretending to support law enforcement when they tried to amend a hate crimes bill to prevent police departments from being defunded.

[worstblogever]

Demings ‘seriously considering’ challenging DeSantis or Rubio

Senate plz. DeSantis may be a fascist, incompetent twit, but Rubio's been there for over a decade pretending to be doing anything. That guy's gotta go.

I still think someone else could knock DeSantis out fairly easily as well.

[Kirby101]

Senate plz. DeSantis may be a fascist, incompetent twit, but Rubio's been there for over a decade pretending to be doing anything. That guy's gotta go.

I still think someone else could knock DeSantis out fairly easily as well.

It's Florida. They win not by getting more votes, but by making sure their opponents get less votes.