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

[MajorHoy]

“Legitimate political discourse”. Alrighty then. Well, it’s pretty much official, the Republican Party is now the Trumpublican Party. There is absolutely NO denying that, not after this nonsense from the RNC, or rather, the TNC.

Now we just have to see if any other Republicans publicly call out the RNC on this crap. After all, not all Republicans are Trump-lickers (but there do seem to be too many of that type).

[Tendrin]

Joe Rogan's audience seems to have declined while he's been exclusively on Spotify, so anyone trying to get him removed from the service (which will likely result in a massive payout) might actually help him expand his reach.

https://www.theverge.com/22632213/jo...audience-reach

Yeah, I posted that earlier at a different point in the thread, suggesting his popularity has peaked. However, this isn't just about popularity, it's about the way Sanders squandered the credibility of his movement boosting the endorsement of a racist transphobe. Once given, credibility is hard to get back and it demonstrated the weakness of Sanders' 'class first' politics.

The main argument for a Democratic politician going on Rogan's show is to persuade people who aren't guaranteed to vote for the Democratic party that they should vote for Sanders, or for the people he supports. The 2020 election was rather close, which shows the necessity of these efforts.

There was an argument on a left-wing podcast that covered the Rogan Neil Young flap that one of the problems with the show is that he doesn't invite enough serious people. On the other hand, if serious people face criticism for the left from being on the show, they're less likely to want to be on it, which means a heterodox audience is not going to hear their perspective.

Going *on* Rogan's show was fine, though he absolutely should have challenged him on his viewpoints to advocate for democratic policies. To my understanding, he did not do that as part of courting the endorsement he got. By all means, *go on shows inclined to opposition*. Don't misunderstand me on that, go in prepared and do your thing. Where I take issue was that Sanders /boosted Rogan/ more than Rogan boosted Sanders, and that was a colossal mistake. We now have a guy pining to his audience about how black people shouldn't really call themselves 'black' unless they're 'really black' to an audience of 11,000,000, repeating debunked transphobic nonsense and more. This is the exact kind of thinking that led to Bernie struggling with voters of color in the ways that he did, fueling their rightful skepticism that he'd chase the endorsement of racist clowns like Rogan over courting black voters. This is a *problem*, and he should never have had the credibility lent to his viewpoints that he has. Sanders played a role in that, people warned about it at the time, and now people are dying from covid misinformation he's helping to spread.

Rogan isn't the be all end all, but he's a point that who you boost in your campaign will have consequences that outlast it and so we should take care who we grant the credibility on our way up and on our way down.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” ran a profile of John Johnston, who was a former Marine and member of the NSA who was a candidate for District 10 of the Indiana State Senate in 2014. At first, it seemed like he might be a good challenger to incumbent Democrat Chuck Mosely... until Johnston went on social media to rant about America's social safety net, and how he wanted to cut it, lamenting that in dealing with the poor, that "no one has the guts to just let them wither and die". The media asked him if he would like to retract that statement, and instead, Johnston doubled down, comparing the downtrodden on welfare to "like training a child". Predictably, he lost the election after that, and has not made a run for office since.

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Tim Donnelly, a former two terms member of California State Assembly from 2011-2015, in spite of the fact that Donnelly was featured as an anti-immigrant goon trying to "fix the fence" on the Colbert Report back in 2006. During his 2010 campaign, he was speaking at Cal State University at Fresno, and called for the resignation of the student body president because he was an undocumented immigrant on the school's dean list (which only made the crowd gathered heckle Donnelly) and made it a personal quest once in office to see them kicked out of the country. If nothing else, though, Tim Donnelly had great aspirations, and felt like his place in the California legislature wasn't enough, getting ballsy enough to run for Governor of California in the hopes that he could win the GOP nomination to challenge the legendary Jerry Brown in the 2014 elections. However, Los Angeles times uncovered a speech delivered by Donnelly in 2006 when he was running around with the Minutemen militia, and he compared illegal immigration to warfare, with some proud reflections on our ancestors killing Mexicans. Somehow, though, Donnelly got even more xenophobic in May, getting on social media to link to an article by radical anti-Muslim commentator Frank Gaffney, that claimed his primary opponent Neel Kashkari, a former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Financial Stability, who worked on helping the American economy recover from the 2007-2008 banking crisis, and a Hindu... was part of a secret plot to institute Sharia Law upon the American financial system. In spite of being a politician in California, Donnelly campaigned against the ban of the sale of the Confederate flag in state-owned souvenir shops. At this point, Donnelly only floats around the fringe of California politics from outside the legislature, trying to prevent people from being required to give their kids their vaccinations before they go to public school. Donnelly actually ran for U.S. House to represent California’s 8th Congressional District in 2016, but finished third in the primary with only 21% of the vote, far behind Rep. Paul Cook.

On this date in 2017, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Clayton Fiscus, a now former member of the Montana House of Representatives from 2013 through 2017, who prior to ever being elected, stated his desire to try and pass a bill to have intelligent design taught in public school classrooms, in spite of the fact that repeatedly, such legislation has always been overturned as a violation of the separation of church and state. Shortly after his re-election in 2014, Fiscus tried yet again to strike a blow for Creationists, with a bill to allow students to challenge the theories of evolutionary biology, under the guise of “critical thinking skills”, without any irony. But let’s not let that one issue be the only thing in Fiscus’ voting record we take exception to. The rest of it has some equally frustrating stances, like in February of 2013, when he voted for HB 384, a bill that would have made it legal for children to bring their guns to school. (Hell of a way to respond to the Newtown Massacre, only a few weeks earlier, right?) Or his vote against SB 107, which would repeal Montana’s law that any sexual contact between two individuals of the same sex should be considered “deviate sexual relations” (Yeah, effectively, he was standing for homosexuality still being a crime.) Fiscus introduced a bill to begin drug testing welfare recipients in Montana (that old failed conservative policy chestnut), and voted for HB 245, one of those bizarre Republican efforts to legalize the sale of raw milk. Fiscus abruptly decided to not run for re-election in 2016.

On this date in 2018, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Alan Harper, a man who was first elected to office in the Alabama House of Representatives back in 2006 as a Democrat, but switched his party affiliation to Republican in 2012, partly to preserve his own career after the rest of the GOP redrew his district, but it’s not hard to understand why, when you hear some of the ideas he’s floated the past several years. Alan Harper earned his share of infamy on November 30th, 2015, when he got on Facebook, and posted a screed asking people to take care to only shop at American (Christian) businesses, claiming that non-Christian businesses send the money back to home countries to fund terrorism. After facing well-earned criticism for his nativist, ill-informed rant (which included not just an opinion editorial in his local newspaper, but a denouncement from the Alabama Republican Party), Alan Harper took what passes for the high road in Republican politics by choosing to not apologize and said he was, what else, double down on his claims and say he was “being taken out of context”. The Daily Beast, while filing report, took a look back only a few weeks early and noted that Harper also expressed support for a police officer in a news story where he dragged an African American girl student of their classroom in South Carolina. Harper’s voting record included support for a Constitutional amendment to Alabama’s state constitution to allow for a monument to the Ten Commandments to be placed on state property, for “fetal heartbeat” anti-abortion bills, support for legislation to begin drug testing welfare recipients in Alabama, a bill aimed at denying gay couples the ability to adopt by giving adoption agencies the “religious freedom” to decide to reject adoption applicants as they see fit, and supported a bill meant to preserve Confederate monuments in Alabama. We are glad to report, however, that after twelve years as a state legislator, and now that he’s started delving into bigotry unabashedly, Alan Harper did not run for re-election in 2018.

[worstblogever]

On this date in both 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled Heather Scott, a member of the Idaho House of Representatives first elected in 2014 based on her qualifications of owning a gun store, and who has quickly made a name for herself as a kook, even among the Idaho GOP.

Her position stances on issues are, like you’d expect, hard to the right, including her support for fetal heartbeat abortion bills, the Castle Doctrine and “Stand Your Ground” laws, and how she has co-sponsored legislation to have the Bible taught in public schools. While that might seem like we’re off to a great start with this profile, if you’re thinking that isn’t quite “out there” enough, in 2015, she chose to wave a Confederate flag around in a local parade (because Idaho’s south of the Mason-Dixon, right?). But even that is only the tip of the iceberg with Scott.

In 2017, Scott was stripped of all of her committee assignments within the state legislature after taunting another female lawmaker that the only reason they could advance and be given leadership positions in the legislature as a woman was if they “spread their legs”. Other legislators, at the time, also reported on how Scott often complains about the building being bugged with listening devices, and one reported that they witnessed her once smash a fire sensor to disarm the “recording device” within (Spoiler Alert: She’s imagining things like Michael Shannon in the movie Bug).

More so, she has called for emergency sessions of the state legislature to put a stop to Sharia Law in the United States, (she voted for a bill to try and prevent it) and Scott made it a point to travel to Oregon to check up on the domestic terrorists who were occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, where she collected a “petition of grievances” from them. Because that’s exactly the sort of thing you want your state representative doing… legitimizing militia lunatics a state away rather than making policies to help you at home.

About that last detail… We here at FRED have often profiled Washington state legislator Matt Shea, who was in the national news when a report from federal investigators said that his activities associating with militia groups were actually tantamount to him participating in domestic terrorism in the United States. Fun detail a lot of folks missed about that story… Heather Scott is also named in that report twelve times, and has the codename “greenbean”, and was tasked with identifying “Patriot bail bondsmen”.

Even though Heather Scott has been linked to domestic terrorism, the Idaho GOP could not be bothered to try and find someone to give her a primary challenge in 2020, and thus, she coasted to re-election with 68% of the vote in the general election.

You would think they might have considered trying to push her out the door not just for the whole “linked to terrorism” thing, but because she also started referring to Idaho Gov. Brad Little as “Little Hitler” after he wisely called for a “stay at home” order in April 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. She has gone on to host several mask-burning rallies around Idaho, getting militia lunatics frothed up full of anti-government sentiment even though she is an elected member of the state legislature.


Since our last update, Scott drew headlines for railing against the teaching of “Critical Race Theory” in schools, and her example of a text that qualified was that high schools read “To Kill a Mockingbird” where the lesson in the story, in her mind, is teaching that “white people are bad, black people are innocent victims”. As a Democratic colleague pointed out, however, the secondhand information Scott was using wouldn’t have included the lesson plans for the school year, and if that book was even being read as part of the syllabus. Another pointed out that teachers are a little busy having had to handle virtual lessons and haven’t had time for revamping our education system to even teach such a thing (which isn’t a thing, and isn’t even being taught).

Well, that and she involved herself in the incident we’ve reported on about fellow Idaho state legislature Aaron von Ehlinger being accused of raping an intern, because Heather Scott actively tried to have the police report of the incident made public so she could doxx the victim and allow her to be harassed by Republican fanatics around the state.

There are updates to profiles we write that leave us dumbfounded as to “how do these stupid motherf***ers keep getting re-elected”, and we’re going to have to say that Heather Scott certainly meets that standard of befuddlement. Please excuse us while we find a stiff drink.

[CaptainEurope]

On Rogan...

He is like Maher.

He has an audience because those views already existed.

If a magic wand could be waved and Rogan went away?

The cherry would be removed from the top of an "Anti-..."(fill in the issue...) sundae. The whipped cream/chocolate syrup/ice cream/banana would not go anywhere.

Worldstarhiphop would still have anti-trans content.

Dude is an incredibly small part of the problem.

Those on the frontlines disagree. The problem is a lot less abstract than "views that already existed."

[CaptainEurope]

Joe Rogan's audience seems to have declined while he's been exclusively on Spotify, so anyone trying to get him removed from the service (which will likely result in a massive payout) might actually help him expand his reach.

https://www.theverge.com/22632213/jo...audience-reach

Yes. I am sure leaving Spotify with a much reduced stock market value and a badly tarnished reputation would make other platforms very eager to throw money at Rogan.

[numberthirty]

Those on the frontlines disagree. The problem is a lot less abstract than "views that already existed."

First, wasn't primarily about that particular angle(felt like "Anti-Trans/Worldstarhiphop" laid that out rather clearly...)

Second?

Unless this guy somehow managed to treat every Covid patient in the US?

He'd still most likely be a part of a problem that already existed.

The idea that Jenny McCarthy was never a thing, and distrust of vaccination is something that somehow started with Rogan?

It's a "Blockhead..." angle. At best.

Even taking it back to being a thing that starts at McCarthy would be pretty "Blockhead..."

[CaptainEurope]

First, wasn't primarily about that particular angle(felt like "Anti-Trans/Worldstarhiphop" laid that out rather clearly...)

Second?

Unless this guy somehow managed to treat every Covid patient in the US?

He'd still most likely be a part of a problem that already existed.

The idea that Jenny McCarthy was never a thing, and distrust of vaccination is something that somehow started with Rogan?

It's a "Blockhead..." angle. At best.

Even taking it back to being a thing that starts at McCarthy would be pretty "Blockhead..."

The entire Spotify boycotts started because of the vaccine disinformation. Read up on Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, two famous Canadians.

[CaptainEurope]

So I am guessing Trump/Pence 2024 will not be a thing.

[numberthirty]

The entire Spotify boycotts started because of the vaccine disinformation. Read up on Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, two famous Canadians.

Politely?

That is like taking a long, hard look at things and still insisting that Greta Van Fleet came up with all of the Led Zeppelin stuff that they are lifting.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-heal...s-anti-vaxxers

Minnesota's measles outbreak is what happens when anti-vaxxers target immigrants

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Legitimate Political Discourse Shaman:



Legitimate Political Discourse Lynching Kit:

[numberthirty]

https://www.kxly.com/unvaccinated-st...umps-outbreak/

Unvaccinated students forced to stay home due to mumps outbreak

Dozens of unvaccinated students will be forced to leave school this week, and if these cases continue to pop up, these students may be out of school for months.

About 20 kids at Rogers High School and 20 more students at Regal Elementary School will be spending at least the next month home.

These students are excluded either because they have not received 2 doses of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, or have not proven their immunity through a blood test.

[numberthirty]

There's just a notable streak of "Anti-Vaccine..." sentiment in the States that goes back a ways.

While Rogan is not helping, trying to put it squarely on his shoulders just does not make much sense. It was around before him, and will still be around even if he gets muzzled.

[Tendrin]

There's just a notable streak of "Anti-Vaccine..." sentiment in the States that goes back a ways.

While Rogan is not helping, trying to put it squarely on his shoulders just does not make much sense. It was around before him, and will still be around even if he gets muzzled.

Good thing no one is putting it squarely on his shoulders alone! He's just a very big mouthpiece, further boosting it into a giant audience. Glad we can all be in agreement that it isn't solely on him, which is not an argument that anyone here has advanced. We wouldn't want to go putting words in people's mouths, after all.

[numberthirty]

Good thing no one is putting it squarely on his shoulders alone! He's just a very big mouthpiece, further boosting it into a giant audience. Glad we can all be in agreement that it isn't solely on him, which is not an argument that anyone here has advanced. We wouldn't want to go putting words in people's mouths, after all.

An audience who were all most likely already pretty well aware of McCarthy and her thoughts on vaccines and what they might have done.

People are talking like the guy is getting to virgin ears who had never even heard of vaccines potentially posing a threat to the folks that take them.

Which is just incredibly unlikely.