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

[babyblob]

This kind of seemed like it slipped under the radar. Dc is Suing the Proud Boys and Oath keepers. Good for them. Take them for everything!

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/14/10641...-jan-6-capitol

[Mister Mets]

How many times has Trump waved the 'Big News' flag in front of reporters and his base like the promise of a huge slab of red meat to a starving lion, only to have it be a BigMac that he's eating with french fries? He's done that so many times, it's become a meme. That's how he keeps his name in the news, by making big promises that he never follows through with.

I hope you and babyblob recognize that I don't believe Trump about this, or about most stuff. "Big if true" is a sarcastic response to outlandish claims.

If Trump had the balls to be interviewed by someone critical, it'd be fun to challenge him on his claim. It's understandable that he doesn't want to make a premature announcement, but to reassure his supporters that there's a major report coming soon, he should be challenged to write down what's in the report and who is responsible for it, seal the paper and hand it to someone who could be trusted to hold on to it for a few months (October 2022 seems like a fair time to release it.) It would have to be someone trusted by Trump folks not to leak the news early and by Trump critics to not to change the report to help Trump later. Someone like Joe Rogan may fit the bill.

[Tami]

I hope you and babyblob recognize that I don't believe Trump about this, or about most stuff. "Big if true" is a sarcastic response to outlandish claims.

If Trump had the balls to be interviewed by someone critical, it'd be fun to challenge him on his claim. It's understandable that he doesn't want to make a premature announcement, but to reassure his supporters that there's a major report coming soon, he should be challenged to write down what's in the report and who is responsible for it, seal the paper and hand it to someone who could be trusted to hold on to it for a few months (October 2022 seems like a fair time to release it.) It would have to be someone trusted by Trump folks not to leak the news early and by Trump critics to not to change the report to help Trump later. Someone like Joe Rogan may fit the bill.

In my experience, if there is any uncertainty that my comments typed online are intended to be sarcastic, I usually add something to indicate it. It's hard to tell sometimes from text alone.

[worstblogever]

It was on this day in both 2014, as well as 2015, that we published our original "Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day" profiles of former Michigan Congressman Dan Benishek, a three term Congressman who has repeatedly come under investigation for FEC violations during his three campaigns for office. He caught plenty of heat in for trying to continue to accept his Congressional paychecks during the 2013 Government Shutdown, only caving after a week of complaints from his district, and is one of the many Republicans who voted against relief aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Benishek is also a prolific denier of climate change, trying to claim he was a climate change scientist, himself, because he had taken biology courses in college, and denying any peer-reviewed evidence of man-made climate change exists (in spite of 97% of peer reviews saying it does). Since Benishek reluctantly retired after promising to do so after serving three terms in Congress.

In both 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted profiles of Marty Knollenberg, a member of the Michigan State Senate since 2014, after he elevated himself from the Michigan House of Representatives after serving on that body from 2007 through 2013. Back in December of 2015, where a discussion was being held about educational disparities between different demographics in the state when it was noted that the date showed students who were struggling were students of color (whose predominantly minority school districts are coincidentally also provided less funding), Marty Knollenberg shrugged it off, saying "You mention why these schools districts fail, and you mention economically disadvantaged and non-white population are contributors to that. And we can’t fix that. We can’t make an African-American white. That’s just, it is what it is.” Knollenberg, after facing widespread criticism for saying something that racist, went with the typical and lazy response that his comments were taken out of context (even though there is video of his entire statement), and giving an even more pathetic defense against racism of the "I have a black friend" vein, noting that he had an African-American employee. Because, y'know, you just can't be racist if you actually pay a minority for work they actually do. Knollenberg then made headlines less than three months later when he was accused of assaulting an Oakland County clerk after a "State of the County" address, grabbing her arm and squeezing after she tried walking away from him. As a legislator, Knollenberg voted to begin drug testing welfare recipients, voted for law enforcement to conduct roadside saliva drug tests if they feel, in their judgment, a driver might be under the influence of drugs (Nevermind the Fourth Amendment implications), voted for stricter Voter ID laws in Michigan, to combat the statistically nonexistent problem of "in person voter fraud", for stricter regulations on abortion clinics that would shut down most, if not all of the abortion clinics in Michigan, and drafted legislation to handle the truly important issues, like trying to commission special license plates that say “Chose Life” on them. (Even Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed that stupid idea.) In 2018, the Blue Wave mercifully swept away the career of the younger Knollenberg, whose career seems to be over, at least for now.

On this date in 2019, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Austin Petersen, a 2018 Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri whose educational background is a degree in musical theater In politics. Petersen got his start working on the 2008 and 2012 political campaigns of Ron Paul and in 2016, Petersen was actually running for president on the Libertarian ticket, eventually losing to all-around weirdo Gary Johnson. Like many “Libertarian wing” Republicans, Petersen’s passion for “smaller government” delves into utter lunacy. When you look at what little he has spoken about issue positions, he managed to come out in support of a 15% flat tax plan (the kind of one economists think would tank the economy), and advocated for a completely isolationist foreign policy. But where Petersen really went off the rails was when he tried winning the nomination for U.S. Senate in 2018 by wooing Republican voters by showing how much he loved guns and hated any restriction on the 2nd amendment. Keep in mind, he was doing this as mass shootings were on the rise nationwide. For a brief time, Austin Peterson got banned from Facebook for using the platform to organize AR-15 giveaways to potential voters, but spun that ban into conservative martyrdom by having Fox News start whining about it until it got lifted. As criticism over his AR-15 giveaways continued, especially because they were the weapon used only months prior in the Parkland shooting, Petersen upped the ante by announcing he would be giving away a 3D printer that was specifically designed to print untraceable “ghost guns”. The entire stunt’s motivation was pretty clear, as Petersen acknowledged he was just trying to impress Republicans by “triggering liberals”, saying, “I think the new prize may trigger a few more liberals and mainstream media than it did last time. This technology has the potential to send gun control into the ash heap of history. The government’s ability to control or ban guns will be obsolete.” Petersen’s viral fame for being a libertarian gun-humper who “triggered liberals” managed to earn him 8.3% of the vote, enough to place him third in the GOP Primary.

On this date in 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Johnny Rice, a 2018 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, thinking he could knock off Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. However, it was not in Maryland where we first saw Rice turn up in the news and garner our attention. It was at Donald Trump’s legendary Waterloo at his Tulsa Rally in Oklahoma back in June 2020. Amazingly, Rice was a Republican candidate ready to criticize Donald Trump. Sadly, it’s because he’s so bats*** crazy that he was launching conspiracy theories at everyone he could imagine regarding Covid-19. We quote: "I don't support him [Trump]... not exposing [Bill] Gates financing it with Soros. The money going to Wuhan Lab. Fauci, as the leader of the NIH, sending the money to the Wuhan Lab as a biological weapons scientist who has the patent to HIV & that HIV was in the COVID-19." And it didn’t stop there. Rice continued… "You don't need to wear the mask. It doesn't block the COVID-19... It's a nanotech bioweapon... It's all about shutting us up. 'Don't Talk. Put the mask on. Stay in your houses.'" If you need more evidence, just scan his Twitter feed and see his unfaltering affection for Alex Jones and InfoWars, conspiracy theorists and a “who’s who” of conservative nutjobs we’ve profiled in general, spiced in with some religious fanaticism. Unbelievably, this extremely disturbed loon got 42% of the vote in the GOP Primary, losing by less than 3,000 votes. As that will probably be as close as he ever comes to even winning a primary, let alone office, we’re going to set aside his profile to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1054-50, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Elizabeth Bangert

Welcome to what is the 1053rd original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discusisng Elizabeth Bangert, a 2020 candidate for District 19 of the Minnesota State Senate who was noteworthy for being very deliberate about lobbying state legislators for years to make her day job as the head of a child care center easier, and after watching Republicans lose seats in the 2018 elections so that her hopes of less regulation on her personal business might happen, she filed to run as a Republican, herself. The main problems with her as a candidate were not just that her motivation for running for office was to alter the law for her own benefit, but her dedication towards spreading the Qanon conspiracy theory.

Her campaign strategy was to post videos recorded from inside her own SUV to Facebook and to post as many links as she could to support of QAnon and “the great awakening”. Over a fifth of the accounts she followed on Twitter were QAnon accounts, and in many of her online videos she raved about unproven conspiracies around human trafficking. Specifically, she was one of the absolute loons that accused the furniture company Wayfair of enabling child trafficking:

“I’m going to go ahead and tell you that if you think that some form of T-R-A-F-F-I-C-K-I-N-G isn’t happening in America or hasn’t been concealed for decades if not longer, then you’ve been duped. .”

Bangert, who again, is tasked with keeping track of other people’s children, is also an anti-vaxxer and against masks as a method of preventing the spread of Covid-19. In other videos she’s posted, she’s discussed the Operation Lockstep Theory, which claims that COVID-19 is a plot by global elites to control the population. And set up a police state after unleashing a manufactured virus.

At another point, she responded to Congressman Tim Walz on Twitter on July 5th, telling him, “You will be removed from office for your treasonous acts, for our safety.” She never said what this treason was, of course.

Elizabeth Bangert got far closer to reaching office than she ever should have had a chance to, getting 40% of the vote in 2020. We hope this is the first and last time we ever have to mention her.

[Malvolio]

Elizabeth Bangert

Welcome to what is the 1053rd original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discusisng Elizabeth Bangert, a 2020 candidate for District 19 of the Minnesota State Senate who was noteworthy for being very deliberate about lobbying state legislators for years to make her day job as the head of a child care center easier, and after watching Republicans lose seats in the 2018 elections so that her hopes of less regulation on her personal business might happen, she filed to run as a Republican, herself. The main problems with her as a candidate were not just that her motivation for running for office was to alter the law for her own benefit, but her dedication towards spreading the Qanon conspiracy theory.

Her campaign strategy was to post videos recorded from inside her own SUV to Facebook and to post as many links as she could to support of QAnon and “the great awakening”. Over a fifth of the accounts she followed on Twitter were QAnon accounts, and in many of her online videos she raved about unproven conspiracies around human trafficking. Specifically, she was one of the absolute loons that accused the furniture company Wayfair of enabling child trafficking:


Bangert, who again, is tasked with keeping track of other people’s children, is also an anti-vaxxer and against masks as a method of preventing the spread of Covid-19. In other videos she’s posted, she’s discussed the Operation Lockstep Theory, which claims that COVID-19 is a plot by global elites to control the population. And set up a police state after unleashing a manufactured virus.

At another point, she responded to Congressman Tim Walz on Twitter on July 5th, telling him, “You will be removed from office for your treasonous acts, for our safety.” She never said what this treason was, of course.

Elizabeth Bangert got far closer to reaching office than she ever should have had a chance to, getting 40% of the vote in 2020. We hope this is the first and last time we ever have to mention her.

She looks like a writer for a late night show, posing as a Q-Anon candidate in a sketch.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Associated Press has done an exhaustive investigation into allegations of voter fraud, and they've found evidence of it.

475 cases of fraud!

However, this is nowhere close enough to tip the election to Trump, or to suggest that allegations of a stolen election have merit.

https://apnews.com/article/voter-fra...&utm_medium=AP



Trump promises explosive news to come.



Big if true.

C'mon, man! You know that's bullshit like everyone else here. The irony here was that scores of people chose mail voting to avoid being in crowded polling places during the height of the pandemic, what with no vaccine available (I was one of those people), and that it was Trump's inaction on the virus that resulted in COVID running rampant at the time. Like baby blob said, this was just more of Trump throwing red meat to his unbalanced followers to keep them riled up.

[Tendrin]

C'mon, man! You know that's bullshit like everyone else here. The irony here was that scores of people chose mail voting to avoid being in crowded polling places during the height of the pandemic, what with no vaccine available (I was one of those people), and that it was Trump's inaction on the virus that resulted in COVID running rampant at the time. Like baby blob said, this was just more of Trump throwing red meat to his unbalanced followers to keep them riled up.

In fairness to Mets, I don't think he believes in any of it. I know we're all worn down, however. xD

Meanwhile, in 'lies about elections are a real danger to innocent people'...

https://twitter.com/HoustonChron/sta...76190139367428

A grand jury indicted an ex-
@houstonpolice
captain after he was accused of running a man off the road and pointing to a gun to his head because he thought he was committing voter fraud in the run-up to the 2020 election.

But, yeah, sure, we have to continue to humor people like this.

[babyblob]

I hope you and babyblob recognize that I don't believe Trump about this, or about most stuff. "Big if true" is a sarcastic response to outlandish claims.

There was nothing in your post that said you believed it so I didnt assume you did as you didnt say you did. I was just pointing out that this was a pattern with Trump. Drop hints and talk about fake evidence and keep the base riled up. I think that is what Tami was going with as well in her post. So yep didnt think you bought into it.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In fairness to Mets, I don't think he believes in any of it. I know we're all worn down, however. xD

Yeah, you're right. But, stuff like this just grinds my gears. I guess i just jumped to a conclusion.

Meanwhile, in 'lies about elections are a real danger to innocent people'...

https://twitter.com/HoustonChron/sta...76190139367428



But, yeah, sure, we have to continue to humor people like this.

There was no mention of this on Twitter, and clicking on the Houston Chronicle link took me to a paywall, so, I have to ask: was the man that ex-cop ran off the road black? Perhaps it's wrong or unfair for me to view everything through the prism of race when cops harass citizens they've sworn to serve and protect, but, after George Floyd and all the atrocities against people of color that's followed, that's just the reality of the situation, so I don't think my question is at all unreasonable.

[Tami]

There is a lot of bizarre in the trials of the Jan 6th'ers

Per footnotes in new court filing from defendant accused of wearing tactical gear & coordinating movement of mob on Jan 6.... the defendant was recently offered a job at a DC-area elementary school

But school "retracted"... "for fear of generating controversy"

[Tami]

Opinion: Manchin’s effort to kill the expanded child tax credit is getting more absurd

The fate of the Build Back Better bill suddenly looks very precarious, now that Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) has offered up new objections to it. But this time, the arguments coming from the West Virginia Democrat’s camp are so dubious that you have to ask whether he’s actually trying to kill BBB by slow-walking it to death.

Manchin’s latest objections center on the expanded child tax credit (CTC). This policy has been sending checks of up to $300 to most American families, phasing it down at higher incomes, after the covid-19 rescue package expanded the original version.

The expanded CTC is set to expire at the end of this year, and the BBB would extend the expanded CTC for another year, through 2022. In its current form it has already slashed child poverty and would continue doing so if extended.

Manchin’s objection now, as The Post reports, is to this fact — that the expanded CTC sunsets after one year. His opposition isn’t to the CTC specifically. It’s that Manchin sees the sunsetting of the CTC — and the other BBB policies, which also sunset at various times to keep BBB’s cost down — as artificial budget gimmickry.

Instead, Manchin reportedly believes, we should presume the programs will last 10 years, in keeping with the bill’s time window as part of the Senate reconciliation process. Once we do that, Manchin fears, with the expanded CTC the cost of BBB would balloon far beyond his $1.75 trillion limit.

Manchin’s objection now, as The Post reports, is to this fact — that the expanded CTC sunsets after one year. His opposition isn’t to the CTC specifically. It’s that Manchin sees the sunsetting of the CTC — and the other BBB policies, which also sunset at various times to keep BBB’s cost down — as artificial budget gimmickry.

Instead, Manchin reportedly believes, we should presume the programs will last 10 years, in keeping with the bill’s time window as part of the Senate reconciliation process. Once we do that, Manchin fears, with the expanded CTC the cost of BBB would balloon far beyond his $1.75 trillion limit.

So the limiting of it to one year was done to make Manchin happy. And it seemed at the time that this had satisfied Manchin’s concerns. Now it’s the source of another one of his objections.

[Tami]

In Trump country, a willingness to set aside politics as Biden visits

MAYFIELD, Ky. — Cliff Giambrone most certainly didn’t vote for President Biden and, in fact, was outside the U.S. Capitol protesting the election results on Jan. 6. On the trailer hitch on the back of his van, he usually uses two 10-foot poles to fly a flag with a derogatory message aimed at Biden: “Let’s Go Brandon.”

But when the 67-year-old retired construction worker drove from his home in Hamburg, Pa., to help the recovery effort here, he made a conscious decision to leave that flag at home, bringing an American flag instead. “Believe me, part of me wants to wave that flag and smile when he looks at it,” he said. “But I don’t want to be that guy.”

Pausing in his search for a lost photo album in the rubble of a home, Giambrone added, “I am political, but there are times you have to set that aside. This is one of those moments. I hope it’s not temporary. I didn’t vote for him, but he’s still my president. I want to support him.”

[Xheight]

There is a lot of bizarre in the trials of the Jan 6th'ers

controversy or just more intolerance of political pluralism. I wouldn't be surprised if the Teacher's union tried to strip him of certification. 出る釘は打たれる

[4saken1]

The Associated Press has done an exhaustive investigation into allegations of voter fraud, and they've found evidence of it.

475 cases of fraud!

However, this is nowhere close enough to tip the election to Trump, or to suggest that allegations of a stolen election have merit.

Another laughable assumption by these conspiracy theorists is that all or the majority of these scant fraudulent votes are being cast for the Democratic candidate.