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

[worstblogever]

On this date in both 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” first profiled the sitting U.S. House Representative from Florida’s 6th Congressional District, Michael Waltz, who is now serving in his second term in office after being re-elected in the 2020 elections to replace former Congressman, consistent racist, and current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Now Rep. Waltz, who is the first Green Beret ever elected to Congress, cut his teeth in politics working as a senior adviser for Dick Cheney regarding South Asia during the Bush administration, and also advised Dubya on counterterrorism. We’re relieved to see him, however, throwing cold water on other conservatives who want war at times, and he was a vocal critic of Donald Trump’s decision to let Turkish forces attack our Kurdish allies in Syria as well as when he was pushing back against talk of war with Iran…

But on the other hand, his opposition against Donald Trump’s deranged and terrifying foreign policy might just be empty words, because during the House Impeachment Inquiry, Michael Waltz marched like a stupid little lemming into Congressman Matt Gaetz’s “protest” against the impeachment process, supports Trump’s stupid goddamned idea for a border wall along the U.S./Mexico border, and is still willing to run back onto his old stomping grounds at Fox News to advocate for Trump’s Space Force. Hell, we can’t give him credit for trying to be one of the people who wanted Trump to put the brakes on going to war with Iran, because Waltz is the same dumbass who as a candidate went onto Fox News to cheerlead for Trump to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement in the first place.

Nothing like bringing one of the people who helped oversee the Iraq War want to do another one, y’know? And we’re not joking, in August of 2021 as President Biden was pulling U.S. forces out of Afghanistan to end our war there (thanks to Donald Trump, who signed an agreement to reinstall the Taliban in control of the country)… Michael Waltz insisted the United States should invade Afghanistan ALL OVER AGAIN.

We shouldn’t be surprised that this is what his voting record looks like:

• December 18th, 2019: Rep. Waltz ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
• May 15th, 2020: Waltz votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• December 10th, 2020: Waltz signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
• January 6th, 2021: After a group of Trump-supporting, fascist domestic terrorists spend a day terrorizing the Capitol Building, upset over the results that Trump lost the election, Michael Waltz votes against certifying the electoral college results.
• January 13th, 2021: Waltz votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, Because accountability is anathema to the GOP.
• February 4th, 2021: Michael Waltz votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
• February 25th, 2021: Waltz votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Waltz votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
• March 3rd, 2021: Michael Waltz votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Waltz votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
• March 17th, 2021: Rep. Waltz votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
  *]May 19th, 2021: Rep. Waltz votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• November 5th, 2021: Michael Waltz votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Michael Waltz’s vote on December 10th to show he no longer cared about American democracy and wanted the 2020 election overturned was enough to spur the Orlando Sentinel to post an apology for having endorsed him prior to the November elections. Hopefully in 2022, his streak of elections can be overturned, at least.

[JackDaw]

Given his connections to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, I can’t say I blame him. If Andrew wasn’t a Royal, he’d be looking at some serious jail time, so he’s lucky in a sense.

There’s a lot of unanswered questions.

He’s still not retracted the contention that he’s never met Virginia Giuffre…but is paying over millions of dollars (I assume).

Does he really believe any one believes him??

There’s also the critical point of where the money is coming from….most people believe he exhausted his own in paying his lawyers.

If there’s any chance of the money coming from the public purse, I think the outrage would accelerate the end of the British monarchy. But to be honest, pretty sure the queen will realise that and will make sure private funds are used.

[JCAll]

It's no secret Qpublicans would rather ban books than ban guns. In their small minds, knowledge is more dangerous than bullets.

Don't worry, I'm sure the GOP is working hard to protect children from vaccines and learning that Black or LGBT people exist.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

There’s a lot of unanswered questions.

He’s still not retracted the contention that he’s never met Virginia Giuffre…but is paying over millions of dollars (I assume).

Does he really believe any one believes him??

There’s also the critical point of where the money is coming from….most people believe he exhausted his own in paying his lawyers.

If there’s any chance of the money coming from the public purse, I think the outrage would accelerate the end of the British monarchy. But to be honest, pretty sure the queen will realise that and will make sure private funds are used.

Stevie Wonder could see the money for Andrew's defense came from the Royal bank account, and thus, from the taxpayers. As for outrage ending the monarchy, if the mess with Edward VII and Wallis Simpson 80 or so years ago didn't bring it all down, this won't either.

[achilles]

Geeze, this one's horrible, straight out of the movie Jaws. Same situation, crowded beach in Sydney, swimmer...bitten in half by what witnesses describe as a 14 foot great white shark. The responders...and I'm damn glad I'm not one...found half a body.

It was the first shark attack fatality in Sydney since 1963.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/hum...K46ZN53VRSUW4/

[JackDaw]

Walking back from town pondered the latest Winter Olympics fiasco, whereby practically everyone knows Russia is still systematically doping their young athletes, but it all carries on regardless.

Seriously what’s the point of the big vanity games…such as the Olympics, the football World Cup,etc… in the modern world?

Apart from anything else, it’s not very green…a small number of privileged people jetting all over the world consuming scarce resources all in the nebulous cause of “glory”.

It’s better than open warfare, I suppose…but practically anything is okay by that standard!

[JackDaw]

Stevie Wonder could see the money for Andrew's defense came from the Royal bank account, and thus, from the taxpayers. As for outrage ending the monarchy, if the mess with Edward VII and Wallis Simpson 80 or so years ago didn't bring it all down, this won't either.

The cover story is that he sold some chateau he owned to pay off the bills to date.

I’m actually less sure about the long term future of the Royal Family than yourself.

Even I (very anti-royalist) concedes the present Queen has done a good job (and wouldn’t want to see changes in her lifetime)….but replace the Queen with a less personable monarch, and I think public toleration of basically a very questionable set-up could be quickly lost in todays world.

[Xheight]

So for you, protecting the right to own a gun is more important than keeping kids safe in schools? Good to know.

As if the keeping kids safe from guns is only possible by disarming americans. LoL Kid safety is a trojan horse issue like public safety to attack the availability of guns for the everyday citizen and access to lethal force.

Things like the Remington deal only harden hearts against the Anti-gun lobby. Just so you know.

[thwhtGuardian]

As if the keeping kids safe from guns is only possible by disarming americans. LoL Kid safety is a trojan horse issue like public safety to attack the availability of guns for the everyday citizen and access to lethal force.

Things like the Remington deal only harden hearts against the Anti-gun lobby. Just so you know.

I mean, disarming has worked in every other nation that's done it...but yeah, it'd totally lead to lawlessness and evil here in the US.

[Tendrin]

Twenty people died at Sandy Hook, most of them kids. I think XHeight's heart was already sufficiently hard that we don't really need to worry about his opinion on the settlement.

[Kirby101]

As if the keeping kids safe from guns is only possible by disarming americans. LoL Kid safety is a trojan horse issue like public safety to attack the availability of guns for the everyday citizen and access to lethal force.

Things like the Remington deal only harden hearts against the Anti-gun lobby. Just so you know.

Things like the Voting Rights Act only harden hearts against the Civil Rights lobby.
Things like Roe v Wade just harden hearts against the Women Rights lobby.
Just so we know.

[Xheight]

I mean, disarming has worked in every other nation that's done it...but yeah, it'd totally lead to lawlessness and evil here in the US.

yawn, not another one of those false comparisons to Europe that, I hope, but maybe you are thinking of rightwing countries like Japan or Korean not say Finland. A country with no gun control while at the same time, it is one of the countries with the lowest crime rates in the world. State control does amazing things for public safety and trains...until you have a problem with the government that is.

China has a similar approach, permitting only sportsmen's clubs and a few ethnic minorities to own firearms and prohibiting private gun ownership in all other cases. Djibouti prohibits all firearms possession except in cases in which the Head of State grants an exception.
In other countries, the law does not necessarily dictate the reality. In the Central African Republic, for instance, only members of Parliament are permitted to own firearms of any kind. However, this law is widely unenforced and a healthy illicit gun market exists. Similarly, Somalia has a total ban on the import, sale, and possession of firearms, but it is commonly ignored.

The problem with kids getting guns to solve their issues is not about guns but about our system of mental health just the same with suicide by gun. Lawlessness and evil abide here regardless of guns or haven't you been on our country's roads or heard of DSAUSA?

[Tendrin]

yawn, not another one of those false comparisons to Europe that, I hope, but maybe you are thinking of rightwing countries like Japan or Korean not say Finland. A country with no gun control while at the same time, it is one of the countries with the lowest crime rates in the world. State control does amazing things for public safety and trains...until you have a problem with the government that is.

This is, of course, a lie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firear...0and%20Germany.

Legal firearms in Finland must be registered and licensed on a per-gun basis. There are approximately 1.5 million registered small firearms in the country. Out of those, 226,000 are short firearms (pistols, revolvers) with the rest being long firearms (rifles, shotguns).[6] There are approximately 650,000 people with at least one permit, which means 12% of Finns own a firearm.[7] Overall, legal gun ownership rate is similar to countries such as Sweden, France, Canada and Germany. Estimates place the number of illegal, unregistered firearms between some tens of thousands and upwards of a million.[8][9] A large portion of these are thought to be weapons hidden during the aftermath of World War II.

The current Firearms Act of 1998 is a near full rewrite of the earlier, 1933 law. The law was revised to comply with the European Firearms Directive after Finland joined the European Union.[10] Following the school shooting incidents in 2007 and 2008 in which the perpetrators used .22 caliber semi-automatic pistols, legislation regarding short firearms was considerably tightened in 2011. Nevertheless, no types of firearms are outright banned, and in principle a person can apply for a licence for any type of gun.

But since lying is kind of your thing why should we be surprised?

[Malvolio]

yawn, not another one of those false comparisons to Europe that, I hope, but maybe you are thinking of rightwing countries like Japan or Korean not say Finland. A country with no gun control while at the same time, it is one of the countries with the lowest crime rates in the world. State control does amazing things for public safety and trains...until you have a problem with the government that is.



The problem with kids getting guns to solve their issues is not about guns but about our system of mental health just the same with suicide by gun. Lawlessness and evil abide here regardless of guns or haven't you been on our country's roads or heard of DSAUSA?

Ah yes, the mental health argument. Of course, whenever we want to do anything about that problem, conservatives always find some excuse to continue to do nothing.

[Jack Dracula]

As if the keeping kids safe from guns is only possible by disarming americans. LoL Kid safety is a trojan horse issue like public safety to attack the availability of guns for the everyday citizen and access to lethal force.

Things like the Remington deal only harden hearts against the Anti-gun lobby. Just so you know.

You’re an Anarchist correct?