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

[Panfoot]

https://news.yahoo.com/matt-gaetz-sa...040843516.html
"Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said he thought Kyle Rittenhouse would make a good congressional intern and said he may contact him to make the job offer happen if he's "interested."

A pedophile hiring a killer, it's like Gaetz is trying to make his office the real life Legion of Doom.

[Gray Lensman]

I know the right hate her and like to make her the boogie man of all lefty evils. But, in what world do people defending this live in? What jobs do people currently have where you could do anything similar without HR coming down on you or getting fired?

Could you post up a picture in your breakroom of you fake stabbing a coworker and then turning on your boss because you hate them?

It is very simple ethical proposition that most companies will have. And why would we expect any less of elected officials in Congress.

Especially given the fact that we have already seen how the GOP base will act on January 6. Gosar and others can't claim "joke" or oh he deleted it what's the big deal. When you KNOW there are a scary number of your base that legit tried to hunt down your coworkers and killed officers trying to get to them.

If AOC is so bad at her job, her policies so wrong, why do the opposition resort to the most base childish attacks? Debate her bad policies with yours. Tweet that! They never do it because they don't have any.

I was pointing out that in Attack on Titan, the side we start of thinking are the heroes turn out to be the villains. Something that Gosar seems unaware of.

[worstblogever]

https://news.yahoo.com/matt-gaetz-sa...040843516.html
"Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said he thought Kyle Rittenhouse would make a good congressional intern and said he may contact him to make the job offer happen if he's "interested."

A pedophile hiring a killer, it's like Gaetz is trying to make his office the real life Legion of Doom.

And with Gosar's antics being just the prelu\de, Gaetz ups the ante by declaring his intention to invite a known mass-killer who ignores the law at every opportunity into the Congressional workplace.

The GOP is resorting to terror threats.

[CSTowle]

https://news.yahoo.com/matt-gaetz-sa...040843516.html
"Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said he thought Kyle Rittenhouse would make a good congressional intern and said he may contact him to make the job offer happen if he's "interested."

A pedophile hiring a killer, it's like Gaetz is trying to make his office the real life Legion of Doom.

In fairness he probably just saw a headline mentioning a 17 year old and crossing state lines and got excited.

[kidfresh512]

I was pointing out that in Attack on Titan, the side we start of thinking are the heroes turn out to be the villains. Something that Gosar seems unaware of.

I understood, I only replied to continue the subject not critique you

[Tami]

It's been pointed out that there is irony in Gosar comparing himself ot Alexander Hamilton, considering that Hamilton lost the Duel to Aaron Burr.

[shooshoomanjoe]

video threatening harm to AOC? Perhaps making light of harm to her but threating? Hyperbole.

Also, don't forget about the conservative terrorists that plotted to Kidnap governor Whitmer to put her on their own crazy trial.

[worstblogever]

In fairness he probably just saw a headline mentioning a 17 year old and crossing state lines and got excited.

[Gray Lensman]

I understood, I only replied to continue the subject not critique you

That's what I get for speed reading on a tiny phone screen while at work...

[kidfresh512]

Say goodbye to swing districts. Lawmakers are drawing easy wins in dozens of states.

When most voters go to the polls to elect members of Congress next year, the general election will essentially be meaningless. That’s because winners are being determined right now, by a small number of party officials who are surgically ensuring preordained victories in the majority of the nation’s congressional districts.

The current redistricting cycle is garnering more interest and scrutiny than ever because the power of the process has become so clear: When politicians control redistricting, they have the tools to render most or even all of the congressional districts in a state solid red or solid blue for years to come.

Yes, some of the most apocalyptic redistricting predictions of recent years have been found wanting — many Democrats said they’d never win the House again until they got new maps after 2020; then along came Donald Trump. But the last decade of election results shows just how powerfully redistricting shapes the House of Representatives, especially when the parties control the process through their representatives in state legislatures, who can work in concert with incumbents in Washington to draw favorable maps.

In Texas, for example, the GOP delegation presented to the state Legislature a proposal that would give Republicans at least 25 of the state’s 38 districts.

“We were able to get all the members together around a unified map and then submit it to the state Legislature,” said GOP Rep. Michael McCaul. “And they were pleased to have our input.”

All these reports of the new maps having the GOP controlling the House from the new districts alone. The only reason some of the earlier apocalyptic predictions didnt come true as the article suggests is the turnout for elections has ramped up and up.

[worstblogever]

On this date, in 2014, in 2015, and in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of former Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon, noting that Congressman Salmon was first elected to Congress back in 1994, and pledged to only serve three terms. While he did step down in 2000 and honor that promise, after a failed bid for Governor of Arizona in 2002 and a decade as a lobbyist, he broke it by running for a U.S. House seat again in 2012 and 2014. His rap sheet included producing a bill in 1999 to have Ronald Reagan's image added to Mount Rushmore for "winning the Cold War", saying that President Obama should be impeached over his executive orders on immigration, and advocating for the 2013 Government Shutdown even though he should have remembered how disastrous such things are not just for the country, but for his party, as he voted for two of them back during the Clinton administration. Rep. Salmon also visited an elementary school where he was supposed to give kids a basic lecture on civics and how bills become law and proceeded to terrify a group of second and third graders by talking about Iran getting their hands on nuclear weapons, or that ISIS is training kids their own age to be suicide bombers. Because that's the sort of thing you need keeping you up at night when you're aged 7 to 9.Matt Salmon also just doesn't have a record of voting against LGBT interests, but has a bit of personal history on getting those matters wrong, having once placed his son, currently a Log Cabin Republican, in gay reparative therapy. Salmon is now a twice-retired Congressman, but is rumored to be planning a run for Governor of Arizona in 2022.


On this date in 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, and “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled Jeff Pogue, a member of the Missouri House of Representatives since 2012 who just was re-elected in 2018 after simply winning the GOP Primary with 75% of the vote. In the six years he’s been in office, Pogue has become one of the most radical extremists in the Missouri Republican Party, and that’s really saying something. It’s not just the bills he votes for, but the plainly unconstitutional ones he submits that have garnered our notice. In February of 2014, Pogue and a bunch of other Missouri GOP legislators filed articles of impeachment against then Governor Jay Nixon for allowing married same-sex couples to jointly file their state taxes. When a state judge ruled eight months later that Missouri must recognize same-sex couples from other states, Pogue called on any officials who recognized same-sex marriages to be removed from office as a means to “stop this Midstate crisis”. In March of 2015, we really began hearing Pogue’s name when he became one of the early supporters of transphobic bathroom bans by sponsoring not just one, but two separate bills to try and eliminate unisex public bathrooms, and to block state funding to any company that ignored that edict. This came on the heels of other anti-LGBTQ legislation from Pogue, including HB 1337, which would allow government officials to refuse to solemnize same-sex couples’ marriages if doing so violated their religious beliefs. Pogue also sponsored an abortion ban in 2017. To be clear, that’s not a ban on abortion at 20 weeks, or a ban if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, he just up and pretended that the Roe v. Wade ruling isn’t a thing and tried to criminalize abortion, declaring it first degree murder. Pogue also tried riding the coat tails of the Center for Medical Progress, attempting to ban the donation of fetal tissue to medical research laboratories based on the fraudulent “sting” videos used by conservatives to attack Planned Parenthood in 2016. Some of the more extreme bills in Missouri that Pogue has simply voted for include a constant dedication to pushing for unnecessary enhancement of Voter ID regulations to help suppress the vote, various votes against raising the minimum wage during the greatest period of income inequality in our nation in almost a century, an attempt at forcing school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance… in ENGLISH, a vote to nullify federal firearms laws, a vote to prevent “the enforcement of foreign laws” based on paranoid Islamophobes fearing a rise of Sharia Law in the United States, and a vote to prevent the implementation of the United Nations’ Agenda 21 Environmental Treaty based on the fever dreams of hard-right loons convinced it was a secret plot for global domination. Mercifully, Jeff Pogue was term-limited in 2020.

On this date in 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Todd McMurtry, a 2020 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, who was looking to upset Congressman Thomas Massie (a deranged libertarian-wing Republican ***hole in and of himself), and take over a safely red district. McMurtry’s claim to fame? He was the lawyer for Nick Sandmann, aka the grinning MAGA-Jugend who sued CNN after harassing a Native American in front of the Lincoln Memorial and then portrayed himself the victim in the encounter. That was enough to cement him as a serious challenger for a Congressional seat in a deep red district… and Thomas Massie was already on half of Congress’ s*** lists for single-handedly holding up the original Coronavirus stimulus package by being the sole objector to a remote vote for it, forcing all members of the House to return to DC to do so. So how does someone like Massie survive the first primary challenger he’s ever faced since taking office back in 2010 when everyone from within and without his party hates his guts? Well, as it turns out, Todd McMurtry had made some incredibly bigoted posts on Twitter. It ran the gamut of insulting Mexicans, mocking transgendered people, and overall whining about the supposed “demonization of white people.” Which is an AMAZING take from a guy who was also Nick Sandmann’s lawyer, but said a bunch of terrible things. Todd McMurtry lost the GOP Primary for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, getting only 12% of the vote. As he is not currently in office, we will set aside his profile at this time to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1044-50, since this was established in July 2014.


Jennifer Fielder

Welcome to what is the 1044th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling former Montana State Senator Jennifer Fielder, who served District 7 of that body from 2013-2021. Fielder is also the chief executive of the "American Lands Council," a Koch Enterprises funded group whose goals are to transfer federal lands to state and local governments, who then can see them sold to the highest bidder (almost assuredly the Koch family). And, in her work to do so, she of course has been opposed by Native American tribes, which has led her to often be found speaking at hate group rallies for organizations who oppose indigenous rights. Which, she tried denying she spoke in front of Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, or that they are, in fact, a hate group.

Fielder also is a fan of domestic terrorists, having hosted Cliven Bundy to come up to Montana to speak about whatever it is racist old tax scofflaws want to yell about in front of an audience. She considers it fine to appear in public with someone like that, and yet, was bleating about “Antifa” coming to Montana to support the Black Lives Matter movement throughout 2020, which… there… wasn’t a lot of reason for them to head to that state. Reporters noted as a result, a mob armed with assault rifles turned up to chase off “Antifa” based on Fielder’s warnings and… they just started harassing whoever was present where she said “Antifa” would be.

Jennifer Fielder left office in the Montana State Senate after being term-limited in the 2020 elections, and now serves as a member of the Montana Public Service Commission, presumably still doing the bidding of Koch Enterprises. People should stop finding positions for her to be elected to, honestly.
 

[Xheight]

Also, don't forget about the conservative terrorists that plotted to Kidnap governor Whitmer to put her on their own crazy trial.

Leaping from congress videos to militias, is that some sort of liberal logic or just old fashioned paranoia that sees threats everywhere? Here is my favorite tangent -

On October 28, an unsealed search warrant revealed that some of the defendants had discussed South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster as another possible target during the early stages of planning in March. The warrant also revealed that, in late June, Croft had posted on Facebook a hit-list of politicians that he said he wanted to hang. The list included the names of McMaster, President Trump, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, other Democratic and Republican elected officials, liberals, Muslims, and "all anti-Americans".[50][65]

All I am seeing is shared anger at the Democratic regime and its ideology. Prompts a Goose and gander whataboutism - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congre...eball_shooting. Bernie supporter?

Not that I have a problem with direct action so it really isn't an argument on my part. Not that instigated or anything

A total of twelve informants were ultimately involved in the investigation, according to a federal court filing obtained by BuzzFeed News.[76][77] Starting at that point, the FBI began compiling photographs, video footage, telephone calls, and encrypted messages made by the suspects and storing them as evidence on a USB flash drive. The content, said to consist of "hundreds of hours of undercover audio recordings and more than 13,000 pages of encrypted text messages", was released by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan on October 16.[78][79]

[Tami]

Watching some of the Arbery murder trial, and the prosecutor is questioning one of the men who shot him. I suddenly saw myself in Aubrey shoes in a sense.

I gew up in the City. When I was a teenager, twice I found myself being followed (and I wasn't just being paranoid).

I used to walk to stores, the library, and so on.

Once I was followed on foot, and I manged to make it to a store, where I ducked inside until I felt it was safe to leave.

Another time, I was walking on the street and a car followed behind me. I quickly crossed the street and headed back towards home.

If you are out on the street and a stranger in a car approaches you, you are going to have to make a choice, stay or run. Especially if the car comes in close and the person inside sounds hostile.

[Xheight]

Did you call Kathy Griffin’s asinine stunt with the bloody Trump mask “hyperbole”, or did you go ballistic like Qpublicans did back in 2017?

guess I didn't since I have no idea what you are referencing.

[worstblogever]

Leaping from congress videos to militias, is that some sort of liberal logic or just old fashioned paranoia that sees threats everywhere?

The GOP isn't just cavorting around with domestic terrorists... they have reached the point where they have domestic terrorists from the Proud Boys, to members of the Oathkeepers, to members of the 3% Militia literally running for office.

So no, it's not a leap at all.