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

[skyvolt2000]

You haven't answered my question. Please, give an example of Republicans being okay with a public school curriculum proposal that goes in depth on the realities of slavery in America.

The funny thing is while Republicans seem hell bent in keeping that out of public schools. That info is NOT being kept out of colleges.

I have seen books unload info. I mean they can't censor it. It's already out there and most kids are going to pull that info out on their own.

I mean most of the pushback has targets kids who did projects on their own. If a teacher says do an assignment on slavery and offers no restrictions-guess what happens.

[Mister Mets]

You haven't answered my question. Please, give an example of Republicans being okay with a public school curriculum proposal that goes in depth on the realities of slavery in America.

As one random example, the Florida Commissioner of Education's African American History Task Force has a series of lessons on David Walker's Appeal, a famed call for action.

https://afroamfl.org/news/grade-6-8-...alkers-appeal/

It's not about slavery but a recent bill signed by Governor DeSantis is calling for the inclusion of the Ocoee Massacre of 1920 (when a small town near Orlando was burned to the ground by the white mobs, and dozens of African Americans were murdered because they wanted to vote) to social studies curricula.

https://www.aahtfevents.com/ocoeemasasacre

According to a bill passed by DeSantis and a Republican legislature, required instruction includes "The history of African Americans, including the history of African peoples before the political conflicts that led to the development of slavery, the passage to America, the enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions of African Americans to society. Instructional materials shall include the contributions of African Americans to American society."
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/...s/1003.42.html

[Kirby101]

DeSantis also wants the political views of all University teachers and students to be publically stated.

[worstblogever]

"Topic" was much more narrow in this particular discussion. Tendrin was talking about a specific news item in Salon. He was also focused on what conservatives were not talking about.

As for the previous argument, two years ago someone in this public forum suggested that Stephen Miller called for flags to be on half-mast on August 8 2019 as a reference to Hitler.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...=1#post4500746

I believed at the time it was unlikely. You criticized me for that.

I still believe it is unlikely, and that absurd theories like that hinder criticism of Stephen Miller and his boss at the time.

We've learned more since then about how people who are very online can come to have really weird and ungenerous appearances about the actions of others.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/b...?smid=tw-share

So goalposts are being adjusted so that we're expected to accept any or all commentary on white nationalism, white supremacy, or race, and that the terrible direction your party has been headed since Trump came down the escalator that you've repeatedly twisted yourself in knots to try to polish the image of things while we've seen such moments as "s***hole countries", Charlottesville, telling the Squad to "go back to where you came from" or "kids in cages"...

People are not goldfish. It's not unreasonable to remember a pattern of behavior, even if the person exhibiting it doesn't see the forest through the trees when it comes to a dark direction a political party might be taking them.

Especially when, on multiple occasions, the choice has been presented to just stop defending that party for completely indefensible things. Like misconstruing the content of a children's book rather than just support the idea of children being taught to be better on issues of race.

If someone doesn't break with a party going to these dark places, they get bent to become a reflection of those values themselves.

It would be a sad thing to see.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile on Richard Mourdock, the candidate for U.S. Senate from Indiana back in 2012 who famously said, “Children conceived through rape are part of God’s plan”, and then, for whatever reason, convinced himself that this statement HELPED his chances of winning office. In 2014, Mourdock resurfaced one last time to say the United States under the Obama administratiob was about to become just like Nazi Germany.

It was on this date in 2015 that "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled former perennial Kristia Cavere, a former Tea Party Congressional candidate for New York's 19th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cavere, a Fundamentalist, loathed the idea of same-sex marriage and is an anti-Feminist, who claims that there is a “War on Boyhood”. Most of those views come from her online blog writings, which include her claim that in 2009, the Chicago Hilton Hotel hosted an “Islamic terror conference”. Cavere also often tried giving credit for anything positive that has ever happened in the United States to the Republican Party, and her most staggering historical rewrite is that “The Republicans are the ones who liberated Europe in World War II” which apparently neglects that the two presidents during the war were Democrats, or, y'know, that the boys fighting were probably from both parties. Ironically, Cavere thinks the real problem for Republicans in elections is that they are just "bad communicators", as if she's the pinnacle of messaging. Cavere's most ridiculous claim was that the Obama administration put diplomats in danger in Baghdad in 2009 by having a costume party at the embassy with drag queens in attendance, which was only a slightly less terrible lie than the ones she told her own party about her fundraising. Cavere claimed she had raised $400,000 to use in the election, but as her campaign staff would sheepishly admit, it was more like $5000, and she soon dropped out of the race and soon disappeared completely from politics.

On this date in 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile about Rick Green, a two-time candidate for the Texas Supreme Court, failing to reach office in both 2010 and 2016. Even with the endorsements of Chuck Norris, Mat Staver (another theocratic fanatic), and another CSGOPOTD alum, Warren Chisum. Green's got it in his head that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, which has a lot to do with the fact that he's best pals with former legendary CSGOPOTD David Barton, a man long since exposed by a fraud with a theocratic agenda by actual historians who Green still bills on their radio show as "America's premier historian" even though he's a laughingstock. But Green has got Barton's back from the naysayers, whom he accuses of being involved in a massive communist conspiracy that would "disenfranchise Christians", and compares those criticisms of Barton to the Holocaust, and his critics to Hitler. Now, one of the key principles of the 1st Amendment of our Constitution is that there should be a separation of church and state, but if you ask Rick Green, having one (which he insists we don't) leads to "communism and crime". However, he would rather invoke its existence for his own ideology when convenient, like say, when he tries to apply it to same sex marriage and claim that the government allowing gays and lesbians to be married is a violation of separation of church and state. Green, of course, did not take the Obergefell v Hodges ruling by the Supreme Court very well, instead trying to defeat the "#lovewins" movement by arguing that "love and sex aren't the same thing", citing "prostitution" as an example. Rick Green also has an interesting theory behind a rise of school shootings in America... no, not that it's terribly easy for a kid to get access to a gun lying around, but instead the cause is an absence of forced religious education and of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Because no god-fearing Christian would ever purposefully or accidentally shoot anybody, you see.

On this date in 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had its first profile of the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 11th Congressional District, Mike Conaway, a former accountant and longtime toady of the Bush family who first won office way back in the 2004 elections. As mostly anonymous as Conaway has been compared to some of his compatriots, that changed after California Congressman Devin Nunes went and f***ed up meddling in the Trump/Russia investigation by running to the White House to warn them about how the FBI had picked up their conversations with Russian agents during the 2016 elections. The GOP had to abruptly find someone else to take over trying to quash the inquiries into whether or not the Trump campaign was doing all the treason and colluding with a foreign power to get their help in winning the presidency in the 2016 election, and picked Rep. Conaway to be the guy, although for Nunes’ supposed “recusal”, he’s still been repeatedly caught with his thumb on the scales a handful of times. Anyway, yeah, Rep. Conaway’s dozen years of anonymity went out the window, because he was overseeing the House’s Trump/Russia investigation until Democrats took back control of the House. Conaway expressed doubt in hearings with James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers as to whether or not Russia even interfered in the 2016 election (meanwhile all the U.S. intelligence agencies agree, they totally did). Instead, Rep. Conaway would rather spend time scoring points in hearings that should be serving as a way to preserve the integrity of American elections from a foreign power by instead, talking about the rivalry between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns (Look, we love college football as much as the next guy, but F***ING PRIORITIES, MIKE. JESUS.) and declare the whole fact that a presidential candidate colluded with a foreign power to sway an election in his favor a case of “move along, nothing to see here”. It would be a shame if there were some sort of evidence within Mike Conaway’s voting record to indicate that he’s fine with elections being stacked in the favor of the Republican Party, regardless of the cost… OH WAIT, THERE IS. Back in 2006, when the Voting Rights Act was up for renewal in the House, Mike Conaway was one of 33 members of the GOP who shamed themselves by voting against it. Even though the perception is that Conaway is somehow the most trustworthy member of the Republican House they could have placed to oversee the House’s version of the Trump/Russia investigation, we’re still talking about a guy who’s posed for photos in a “MAGA” hat who as late as January of 2017 was comparing the hacking done by Russian hackers during the 2017 election as much of a severe and unprecedented manipulation upon the outcome to the fact that Hillary Clinton hired a Mariachi band to appear at one of her campaign events. And we’re also talking about a guy who has blocked inquiries into finding out how much all of Donald Trump’s weekly trips down to Mar-A-Lago on Air Force One, to stay at his own resort and charge the Secret Service for room nights there actually are costing taxpayers. His actual defense into blocking the inquiry was hardly inspiring, saying, "This is the House Armed Services Committee. We don't oversee the federal bureau of ethics. " Rep. Conaway’s lack of concern about ethics might explain why he and his wife have chosen to ignore the rules set in place by the Stock Act, and started purchasing shares in health insurance companies while knowing they would profit from those shares even more if the GOP successfully repeal the Affordable Care Act. Which yes, led to investigations into him possibly committing insider trading. His voting record includes that he co-sponsored and voted for a resolution towards creating a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage back in 2006, has on several occasions votes for bans on abortion at 20 weeks twice voted to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, votes against equal pay for women and minimum wage increases, votes against any and all legislation that would increase LGBTQ rights including ENDA and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the fact that he voted against the DREAM Act, voted against the Zadroga Bill, to provide healthcare for first responders from 9/11, and in 2011, even voted against raising the Debt Ceiling limit, which if not lifted, economists warned could have led to the collapse of not just the American economy, but the global economy. Mike Conaway voted against Disaster Relief Funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy, but last year was more than content to vote for Hurricane Harvey disaster relief, but only because he isn’t stupid enough to turn down funding to his own district. Mike Conaway announced in July of 2019 that he would be calling it a career and not running for re-election in 2020. As he is now retired, we will we also retire his profile to take a look at another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1002-50, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Joe Walz

Welcome to what is the 1002nd original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Joe Walz, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives for Texas’ 22nd Congressional District to try and snag the seat being vacated by the retiring Pete Olson. Walz is yet the latest Republican we’ve profiled who ran for Congress that year while also being a fan of the Qanon Concpiracy Theory. Yes, Walz repeatedly punctuated posts with the “WWG1WGA” hashtag, and generally posted paranoid misinformation to his followers, including other conspiracy theories about Iran.

Joe Walz finished seventh out of a possible ten candidates in the GOP Primary for Texas’ 22nd District, earning just 1.4% of the vote. Walz spent New Year’s on Twitter spreading the Big Lie, and trying to convince people that Donald Trump could still be president if Mike Pence just didn’t certify the electoral vote. He is regrettably still seeking elected office, trying to be elected as a county judge in Texas, without any legal background, based on his resume of being good at shooting hogs from a helicopter, and with the endorsement of conservative propaganda network Newsmax. He is currently spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about his Democratic opponent, KP George, claiming that he is funded by George Soros. We hope he fails in his second attempt to reach office, and badly.

[Robotman]

DeSantis also wants the political views of all University teachers and students to be publically stated.

The other candidate vying for the position of first dictator of America.

[Mister Mets]

So goalposts are being adjusted so that we're expected to accept any or all commentary on white nationalism, white supremacy, or race, and that the terrible direction your party has been headed since Trump came down the escalator that you've repeatedly twisted yourself in knots to try to polish the image of things while we've seen such moments as "s***hole countries", Charlottesville, telling the Squad to "go back to where you came from" or "kids in cages"...

People are not goldfish. It's not unreasonable to remember a pattern of behavior, even if the person exhibiting it doesn't see the forest through the trees when it comes to a dark direction a political party might be taking them.

Especially when, on multiple occasions, the choice has been presented to just stop defending that party for completely indefensible things. Like misconstruing the content of a children's book rather than just support the idea of children being taught to be better on issues of race.

If someone doesn't break with a party going to these dark places, they get bent to become a reflection of those values themselves.

It would be a sad thing to see.

This isn't about goalposts being changed. In the context of the discussion, the topic was much narrower than racism or white supremacy.

This is a factual matter that can be cleared up with a review of the posts.

I think what you did is called equivocation, where you change the definition.

There's a good video that I recommend for everyone here that covers a lot of logical fallacies. It can help people identify names for things that you may notice other people doing.



She covers equivocation from 3:32-3:50. Some that are relevant in earlier posts are Appeal to Emotion (2:34-2:47), and Genetic Fallacy (1:49-1:56)

No one's demonstrated that I've misconstrued a children's book.



If it's misconstrued, this is something where someone with an awareness of the facts can provide a satisfactory explanation. My view is that it seems like a bad idea to encourage toddlers to confess racist ideas. A question I asked is a practical matter, what does it look like to have a toddler confessing their own racist feelings? I haven't gotten any answer on that one, just the view expressed by three posters here that parents who are concerned have to be racist.

DeSantis also wants the political views of all University teachers and students to be publically stated.

And even that guy signs legislation calling for social studies classes to cover the development of slavery, the enslavement experience, and abolition.

[Kirby101]

Yes he did. So you have no problem with him demanding the political views of all University personal and students be known?

This is not a problem for you?

[Tendrin]

Yeah, how unlike Mets to brush aside the real problem with the bills DeSantis has signed, or what the likely impact of on the teaching of subjects like slavery is going to be on a local level with the backing of Florida's government.

[Spike-X]

An American Kingdom:
A new and rapidly growing Christian movement is openly political, wants a nation under God’s authority, and is central to Donald Trump’s GOP

And every single person convinced that they're five minutes away from Sharia Law will be clamouring for this, becaused they're too blinded by hate and ignorance to realise it's the exact same thing.

:sigh: Religion is a tool, it can be used to guide people's lives, give comfort, and make their lives better. Religion is a weapon, it can be used to justify and/or advocate violence, death, destruction, and war.

Faith and belief can be of great benefit and comfort to people's lives. Religion is poison, turning neighbour against neighbour, dividing families, and causing untold trauma and misery to countless human beings.

[Spike-X]

Republicans are willing to allow a lot of stuff in public schools.

Guns, bibles, fake history, false science, and 'sex education' that is worse than useless, mostly.

[Spike-X]

No one's demonstrated that I've misconstrued a children's book.

Maybe not you personally, but you've been happy to quote the words of others who seem eager to make fools of themselves by doing exactly that.

[worstblogever]

Maybe not you personally, but you've been happy to quote the words of others who seem eager to make fools of themselves by doing exactly that.

While pretending that's not exactly what is being done while repeatedly posting images from the book to rehash the same argument.

Somehow, that's "misconstruing the posts".

*shrugs*

[worstblogever]

Oh, I think it was just the other day Madison Cawthorn's name came up, and I criticized him one more time for vacationing at Hitler's old summer home.


Not for nothing, but he went after Black Lives Matter on Twitter yesterday, and someone on his PR team made him take it down... because Cawthorn posted a picture that he claimed was BLM but was a Neo-Nazi leading a child around in a Swastika t-shirt.