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

[babyblob]

And those Trump loyalists they elect to office are fixing the process so it will take absolute Democratic landslides in every election to keep our Democracy intact. I doubt anyone here believes that Democratic voters are reliable enough to pull that off every two years. Biden hasn’t even been President for a full year and his approval rating is falling.
My hope is that the Jan 6 investigation will turn something up that will put a stake in the heart of Trumps chances for re-election.

As much a i support the Jan 6th investigation. There will be nothing new there that really changes anything. Any evidence they come up with will be considered fake and lies by the GOP and Trumpers. While the Dems will just think that they have confirmation of what they already suspect. The only thing that would come of it that would hurt Trump is if there are charges that will be filled against him from it.

But right now the witnesses they call dont show up making the Commission go through the process of trying to get them charge with contempt, Trump and his pals file law suits to keep papers and records from being released. They are trying to drag it out so that if the GOP does win the house in 2022 they can just shut the commission down.

I mean it has been going on this long and there has not been one bit of real news or revelations to come from it that has hurt Trump or any GOP member.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

And now there are arson threats over vaccine mandates. Someone made both an in-person threat (wearing a ski mask) and left a threatening note on a couple of businesses.



https://www.ktvu.com/news/bar-fitnes...n-marin-county

I was just up in Marin County a couple of weeks ago. The entire Bay Area is pretty strict on the mask requirements, etc. And I know there is a healthy mix of political views around the bay. But crap, some people are losing their heads.

I don’t know about you, but to me, this was a prime example of domestic terrorism, and it’s all so senseless. If you’re against masking and vaccine requirements at a business, go someplace else, don’t level threats because your panties are in a bunch over requirements in place to keep people safe. I hope this shitstain is found, arrested and tried to the fullest extent of the law.

[kidfresh512]

As much a i support the Jan 6th investigation. There will be nothing new there that really changes anything. Any evidence they come up with will be considered fake and lies by the GOP and Trumpers. While the Dems will just think that they have confirmation of what they already suspect. The only thing that would come of it that would hurt Trump is if there are charges that will be filled against him from it.

But right now the witnesses they call dont show up making the Commission go through the process of trying to get them charge with contempt, Trump and his pals file law suits to keep papers and records from being released. They are trying to drag it out so that if the GOP does win the house in 2022 they can just shut the commission down.

I mean it has been going on this long and there has not been one bit of real news or revelations to come from it that has hurt Trump or any GOP member.

Yup, it is already "baked in". "Partisan witch hunt", blah blah. The evidence will be good for history, but it won't convince these people that are living outside reality right now.

[Zauriel]

Actor Jussie Smollett found guilty of lying to police in hate crime hoax
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/09/us/ju...ons/index.html
.

A disorderly conduct charge for a false crime report is a Class 4 felony and punishable by up to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

a $25,000 fine? the hoax cost the city taxpayers $130,000. Instead of a $25,000 fine, he needs to pay back $130K.

[babyblob]

a $25,000 fine? the hoax cost the city taxpayers $130,000. Instead of a $25,000 fine, he needs to pay back $130K.

The City filed a law suit to recoup what it cost. I dont know if that went any where though.

[Zauriel]

The City filed a law suit to recoup what it cost. I dont know if that went any where though.

I see. Chicago also needs to make him pay them for all the legal fees from the lawsuit, if Chicago wins the lawsuit.

[Tendrin]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/202...-union-workers

As covered by The Daily Dot, a post in the Reddit community r/antiwork has made some serious traction in encouraging folks to submit fake applications for new hires to come in and replace those who are on strike. Because applications are accepted online, it’s apparently pretty easy to fill them out and clog the system. Tens of thousands of users have upvoted the post, which perhaps isn’t surprising given that the community has more than one million members.

Solidarity.

[4saken1]

As much a i support the Jan 6th investigation. There will be nothing new there that really changes anything. Any evidence they come up with will be considered fake and lies by the GOP and Trumpers. While the Dems will just think that they have confirmation of what they already suspect. The only thing that would come of it that would hurt Trump is if there are charges that will be filled against him from it.

I don't think charges against Trump will hurt him in the least. He was impeached twice, but that still didn't stop a record number of Americans from coming out and voting for him in 2020 (highest ever for a Republican candidate). I doubt that his impeachment was even in the top 5 reasons why those who voted against him did so. The bar for how scummy a Republican needs to be to not get elected is much different than that of a Democrat.

[Zauriel]

Yeah he ruined his career, the show he was on trajectory.

He had his day in court and now getting what he deserves.

His acting carrer may be over. He is probably going to jail unless his lawyers will put a successful appeal. So he better look for a new job, if he is lucky to avoid jail time. Maybe he can enter politics. There is one problem. He is a terrible liar. Successful politicians are good liars but a bad liar can't succeed as a politician. besides, once convicted, he may not win an election.

[CaptainEurope]

As much a i support the Jan 6th investigation. There will be nothing new there that really changes anything. Any evidence they come up with will be considered fake and lies by the GOP and Trumpers. While the Dems will just think that they have confirmation of what they already suspect. The only thing that would come of it that would hurt Trump is if there are charges that will be filled against him from it.

But right now the witnesses they call dont show up making the Commission go through the process of trying to get them charge with contempt, Trump and his pals file law suits to keep papers and records from being released. They are trying to drag it out so that if the GOP does win the house in 2022 they can just shut the commission down.

I mean it has been going on this long and there has not been one bit of real news or revelations to come from it that has hurt Trump or any GOP member.

Even if Trump himself will not go to jail over this, if enough of the people who supported him on this hurt, he will have less supporters (not voters, but people like Giuliani, Bannon etc) in the future.

[worstblogever]

On this day in 2014, "Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day" ran a profile of former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, a man who responded to the Columbine shooting by saying he felt that bazookas should be legal, who fretted over the gay community "infiltrating" centers of power in America to push for more abortions in 2004 (since gay people cause so many pregnancies in the first place), and advocated for the death penalty for abortion doctors (even though abortion is legal). Coburn also was involved in the attempted coverup in former Sen. John Ensign's affair in 2008, denied climate change by claiming Earth was entering a "mini ice age", and moved unilaterally to try and block the Zadroga Bill to provide healthcare assistance for 9/11 First Responders. He also helped add fuel to the conspiracy theory that the government was trying to "buy up all the ammunition", terrifying gun lovers in 2013, voted against disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy (even though he constantly asks for relief aid for tornadoes in Oklahoma), and complained about NBC airing "Schindler's List" on television because it had too much violence and sex in it. Sen. Coburn retired this past year, to battle prostate cancer, and we continue to wish him well in his recovery, even in spite of all of the valid criticisms we have with his politics.

It was on this date in 2015 that Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day posted profiles of Chris Buttars, a former Utah State Senator who found his calling working for fifteen years as executive director and fundraising consultant for Utah Boy Ranch, a place where parents who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints send their "troubled youth" who are thinking of leaving the church to teach them a lesson, that's known in many circles as "The Mormon Gulag". And according to many accounts, the Utah Boy Ranch was an environment where children were forced into backbreaking labor, and sexual abuse was not unheard of among the charges, and Buttars even admitted to a reporter once that the ranch should not be funded, for fear of government oversight actually getting eyes upon the camp's practices.Outside of that, as a legislator, Buttars co-sponsored a bill to ban all student organizations that support alternative lifestyles taking to the floor of the Utah State Senate to say that organizations were "recruitment tools for gays" and would "tear down the moral pillars of society", tried to vote to allow corporate water systems to refuse to fluoridate their water supplies (John Birch Society territory), argued against evolution being taught in schools unless intelligent design was also allowed to be discussed, and he supported legislation which would allow for gold and silver coins to be accepted as legal tender in Utah. But Buttars drew our attention because he was an equal opportunity bigot, on different occasions making a variety of vile comments about gays, minorities, and Muslims, including arguing that gays cannot actually be discriminated against, stating his belief that the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling was “wrong”, claiming that Islam had completely been taken over by “the radical side”, and referring to homosexuality as “sexual perversion”, or “pig sex”. Buttars retired for health reasons in 2011, hinting he’d written a memoir that will not be published after his death, because he’s self-aware enough to know all his ugly opinions in it will face criticism he’d rather not deal with.

On this date in 2016, "Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day" profiled Anthony Cappola, a candidate for New Jersey State Assembly in 2015 whose resume was that he ran a company that provides DJs, videographers, and other entertainers at weddings. Well, he also was an amateur author, and someone got their hands on his 2003 book, “Outrageous”, in which he provided his thoughts on gays, Asians, senior citizens, blacks, public breastfeeding, andeven singled out Pope John Paul II and John Tesch for other criticism. It is, quite simply, a string of 223 pages of slurs and graphic sexual discussion chock full of spelling and grammatical errors. Now, here’s the kicker… Cappola did apologize, and withdrew from the public eye when he was “found out”, but he declined to leave the race for the Assembly seat. The New Jersey GOP only let him remain on the ballot because it would have cost $200,000 to have his name removed from the ballot as they wished. Cappola stayed in until the bitter end, insisting his book was supposed to come off like a cross between “Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern”, but insisted his book was just satire and that he wasn’t a sexist bigot because he “cherishes the relationships I have with my friends who are gay, bisexual, black and Hispanic and the Korean community that I’m a part of.” Ah yes. The classic, “I can’t be racist because I have minority friends” defense. That clears it all up, right? Yeah… not so much. Cappola ended up losing the race for his seat, and even dragged down Mark DiPisa, the Republican he was bracketed with on the ballot. Cappola’s political career is apparently over.


It was on this day in 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, that “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled Randy Voepel, a former mayor of Santee, California, who had the good fortune of running for a seat in the California State Assembly in 2016 without being challenged by a Democrat. Specifically, our issue with Randy Voepel begins with his views on climate change, which somehow also becomes how to weaponize it against faiths other than his own. Voepel thinks the planet actually is getting warmer… but he feels like that is a good thing because as he explained in an interview back in 2007, “our enemies are on the equator” and a hotter climate would harm them. He still feels this way today, giving an interview to the Los Angeles Times where he explained, “Most of the Muslim nations are in the hot areas of the world”.

It’s hardly just Muslims in the Middle East that Voepel has issues with, however, as he also have some unfortunate opinions about both the Asian people. He responded to a Chinese citizen who wanted his autograph for a collection he keeps by writing them in e-mail in which he stated:

”I respectfully decline to cooperate in any way with what I consider to be an enemy of the United States. The People's Republic of China is a repressive and evil communist regime that runs a Police State. I fought in Vietnam to stop communism and will fight communism until the day I die. Please accept me as a very determined enemy, as I assume you to be to me.”

He also once gave a paranoid rant about the Vietnamese supposedly stripping a local mine, saying, “I served two tours in Vietnam. And I’m getting attacked here by the Viet Cong, stealing my copper, and I don’t like it.”

There’s a lot to unpack there… does Voepel think there’s no difference between Vietnamese Americans and the Viet Cong he fought over forty years ago?

Needless to say, Voepel is probably not the kind of person you’d want to serve as an ambassador. Or as a legislator. Or as any kind of government employee. And yet… and yet he won re-election even in 2020 with 59% of the vote. He thus will remain ignorant, and in office, until at least 2022.

Which, frankly, maybe it would be better to have a legislator who didn’t support domestic terrorists staging an attack on the U.S. Capitol by referring to it in such heroic terms, as Randy Voepel did three days after the failed coup attempt was carried out by Donald Trump supporters, on January 9th, 2021? His actual quote:

”This is Lexington and Concord. First shots fired against tyranny.”

Once Voepel had people calling for his expulsion from the California State Assembly based on that statement, he tried backpedaling and saying he didn’t support the violence, but then flipped again to try and giving a pathetic “both sides” criticism of “crazies” from the right and left in this country… which might have made sense if the left had ever attacked Congress to try and subvert American democracy.

Hopefully in a year’s time, we can report on someone bouncing Randy Voepel from office because of his support of sedition.

 

[numberthirty]

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...7590b2c23.html

Amazon warehouse collapses outside Edwardsville as powerful storms, likely tornadoes hit region

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I don't think charges against Trump will hurt him in the least. He was impeached twice, but that still didn't stop a record number of Americans from coming out and voting for him in 2020 (highest ever for a Republican candidate).

Hell, that might've been the reason people voted for him. They saw Trump as having been persecuted by those fiendish Democrats, so they got back at the left by trying to get him reelected.

For Republicans: Trump's presidency gave them a honey sweet taste of authoritarian rule under the GOP, something they would never have enjoyed from any of the other candidates who ran against him in 2016, and the party wants more of that nectar, even if it's at the cost of destroying democracy.

For right wingers: Having Trump in the White House gave them free rein to hate, and they loved that freedom with a passion. The racists, white supremacists and xenophobes finally had a hero who carried their banner and weren't about to go back under their rocks, thus the insurrection at the Capitol.

If Trump runs again, and it's likely he will, the country literally will come undone. All Republicans care about is power, and they don't give a **** how they achieve it, and right wingers want to continue their campaign of hate, and Democrats would keep them in check if they hold the presidency. Short and sweet, it's madness.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Well this dropped yesterday...Trump's former Chief of Staff turned over notes etc.

Its quite literally looking like Trump attempted to stage a coup. I think were hitting a new phase where Donny actually could face some justice.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...capitol-attack

[achilles]

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...7590b2c23.html

Looks very bad...many killed supposedly, though that information isn't firm just yet, as the situation is still evolving.