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

[Kirby101]

And, more importantly, to hurt Biden when he’s inevitably blamed for supply hiccups on March 1st and beyond.

QFT. This is a dark money organized faux protest with useful idiot truckers. The reason for it is to screw up the economy so people blame Biden and vote Republican in November. Putin has taught the GOP well.

[Zauriel]

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." — John F. Kennedy.

I hope it doesn't apply to the Canadian truckers protest which has been largely peaceful up to now. I have yet to hear news about a violent clash between the truckers and the government forces.

[Tendrin]

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." — John F. Kennedy.

I hope it doesn't apply to the Canadian truckers protest which has been largely peaceful up to now. I have yet to hear news about a violent clash between the truckers and the government forces.

They have not in fact been peaceful.

[Wildling]

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." — John F. Kennedy.

I hope it doesn't apply to the Canadian truckers protest which has been largely peaceful up to now. I have yet to hear news about a violent clash between the truckers and the government forces.

Sounds rather desensitized to me. If you want to see blood running in the streets before you think things are too out of hand, hoo boy.

[Tendrin]

Well this is ... masterful campaigning.

https://twitter.com/ariehkovler/stat...218928642?s=21

Kandinsky Taylor knows her audience I guess.

[worstblogever]

In 2015, in 2016, and in 2017, “Crazy Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the former candidate for the U.S. Senate from Iowa, Sam Clovis, the runner up in the 2014 GOP Primary for the U.S. Senate seat from Iowa, placing second behind Joni Ernst, on the strength of her hog-castrating platform. Clovis’ own campaign web page accused the Obama administration of strengthening America’s enemies, as well as the age-old lie that the Affordable Cart Act has brought about “healthcare rationing”. Clovis promised to, if elected, block any judicial candidate that did not follow “Biblical law”, and claimed that the American government was “destroying our churches”. He also expressed his commitment to “finding out the truth about Benghazi” repeatedly, eventually going as far as to say that the only reason President Obama had not been impeached over it was that he wasn’t white. We noted in our second look at Clovis that he was one of the first campaign cuts by Rick Perry’s 2016 campaign, and Clovis jumped to the 2016 Donald Trump campaign, instead. E-mails leaked from Clovis’ time in the Perry campaign, where he was praising the former Texas governor for saying Trump was “a cancer on conservatism”, indicating that his big fat mouth still continues to get him in trouble. And with the Trump campaign, Clovis continues to be a bumbler, stumbling his way through a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper by saying he was “disappointed” that Cooper had brought up instances of Trump flip-flopping on the record on issues, which disappointment seems to the only alternative to irrational babbling that Trump pundits show when the media calls them on their bulls***. The biggest lie (but far from the only one) Clovis told while working on the Trump campaign (admittedly, he was overshadowed by ladies like Katrina Pierson, Scotty Neil Hughes, and Kellyanne Conway) included a ludicrous claims that Donald Trump's tax plan would create, and we quote... "a 7 trillion dollar budget surplus" (Experts actually think it will ADD 1-2 trillion to the deficit, ANNUALLY), and he defended the comments from the Access Hollywood tape of Donald Trump boasting about committing sexual assault by saying that they occurred "before he made his recent faith journey". Honestly, we can't tell if Sam Clovis is constantly squinting or if his facial features are shrinking like he's some sort of Dick Tracy villain.
http://dicktracy.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Face
For his service to his orange overlord, Clovis was offered a high-paying government job working in the USDA, which if you're paying attention to any Trump appointment, he was almost completely unqualified for. However, that job opportunity fell by the wayside once Clovis became a cooperating witness after ending up to his eyeballs in federal investigators for all of the colluding he may have done as a member of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy team back in 2016.

On this date in both 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Stephen Humphrey, a member of the Colorado House of Representatives since first being elected back in 2012. Humphrey is a conservative in the mold of Ted Cruz, by which, we mean he’s as wanted as most kinds of fungus. Humphrey is constantly trying to undo most of the gun control measures that help keep Colorado safer in the wake of the Aurora Massacre, opposes same sex marriage, and keeps sponsoring not just “religious freedom” laws to allow for discrimination against the LGBTQ community, but also sponsors Personhood regulation on the regular in Colorado, as well as laws to attempt to let a man have a say in a woman’s choice to have an abortion. If you’re still unclear on how much of a fanatical God-fearing Christian we’re talking about when we give Humphrey a profile, look no further than his first term in office, when he sponsored an “academic freedom” bill that was specifically worded so that Colorado’s schools could have political discussion about evolution, global warming, and human cloning. He actually tried lying and claiming his bill was in any way political, but there wasn’t a soul in Colorado to believe him. Meanwhile, he would also like you to believe that the government is hostile towards his religion as a Christian, and supports those “religious freedom” bills to allow him the right to discriminate against gay people. And before you stop and wonder if that’s the only proof he’s comfortable harassing the LGBTQ community, keep in mind we’re talking about a brain donor who also voted against a ban on “gay conversion therapy” on minors in Colorado. Currently, he’s even pushing a bill inspired by the anti-gay bakery in Colorado what wants to refuse to sell cake for gay weddings, because his priorities for the state are that out of whack. He’s continued his mad homophobic quest into 2018, still sponsoring “religious freedom” legislation as Colorado continues to become more LGBTQ-friendly, and other pro-bigotry measures that have zero chance of passing, but allow him to impotently rage at same sex couples. In 2018, he disparaged Senator John McCain for not killing the Affordable Care Act. He’s feudied with his fellow Republicans if they flinched from even the most conservative positions, like when he posted a flier of women being assaulted on the streets and claimed a GOP colleague, Cole Wist was fine with it happening because his stance on firearms was not completely to the right. That may have helped lead to Wist’s loss in 2018. In 2020, his career was mercifully brought to an end by term limits.

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Ted Howze, a Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives for California’s 10th Congressional District in the 2020 elections, and the GOP were hoping he could flip the seat held by Democratic Congressman Josh Harder back red for them. There was just one problem… Howze was an extremely complete sack of racist, sexist, intolerant garbage. His entire social media page… well, a smarter candidate may have scrubbed the sorts of comments Howze made, that included but were not limited to:

• Accusing Congresswoman Maxine Waters of “hitting the crack pipe too hard”.
  https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...urvivor-241429
• Calling the prophet Mohammed a rapist and pedophile and saying Islam was a “death cult”.
  https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...urvivor-241429
• Mocking David Hogg, a Parkland Survivor, for having the nerve to want reasonable gun control after nearly being murdered, by claiming that anyone who has been “in a squirt gun fight” has seen more violence than him.
  https://www.modbee.com/news/local/article242567741.html
• Sharing the Seth Rich conspiracy theory, about the former Hillary Clinton staffer.
  https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...urvivor-241429

At first, Howze tried claiming all these social media posts were somehow made by “someone else” and insinuated he must have been hacked, but he eventually gave a meager, insincere apology for it. Howze lost the election by 11 points in a district with no partisan lean. As he seems unlikely to ever reach office, we will set aside his profile at this time to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1077-50, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

James Bradley

Welcome to what is the 1077th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing James Bradley, a 2022 candidate for U.S. Senate in California, who previously lost in an attempt to unseat Sen. Diane Feinstein in 2018, and in 2020, failed in an attempt to flip Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu’s seat in the House. We’re reasonably certain Sen. Alex Padilla doesn’t have a lot to worry about, given… who James Bradley is.

The first time we were aware of him was during the 2020 campaign when he decided to

“Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure. Their new ‘song’ The #WAP which i heard accidentally) made me want to pour holy water in my ears and I feel sorry for future girls if this is their role model!”

… pouring… pouring holy water in one’s ears because you hear women singing about their excited lady parts is… definitely A campaign strategy. Not a winning one, by any stretch. Turning yourself into the living embodiment of the “Smithers at the Strip Joint” meme, isn’t going to land you votes.

Anyway, Bradley responded to his latest election loss by filing a lawsuit trying to sue the state of California for allowing absentee voting and ballot harvesting, neither of which is illegal or a source of voter fraud. But hey, why not join the GOP’s voter suppression efforts and push the narrative of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie”, if you don’t have a chance of winning a statewide election.

James Bradley is currently campaigning by posting lazy defenses of Joe Rogan for spreading Covid-19 misinformation on his podcast, because THAT’s going to change his fortunes.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In GOP embrace of truckers, some see racist double standard

Former President Donald Trump, who repeatedly called Black Lives Matter protesters “thugs” and “anarchists,” said there's “a lot of respect” for the overwhelmingly white truckers who blocked streets in the Canadian capital and shut down border crossings with the U.S. to oppose COVID-19 restrictions.

To Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, the truckers who parked bumper to bumper are “heroes” fighting for a righteous cause. Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity sent “solidarity, love and support” to the drivers, who also defied police orders to clear Ottawa’s streets and ignored a court order forbidding them from blaring their horns. GOP Sen. Rand Paul encouraged them to head south and “clog” streets in the U.S.

The embrace of the truckers by some of the nation's most prominent conservative voices has drawn new accusations of hypocrisy and allegations that GOP leaders apply a racist double standard to large protests, including the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol involving a mostly white crowd of Trump supporters.

Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee called the Jan. 6 attack “legitimate political discourse.” But only months before the insurrection, Trump, Cruz and other conservatives excoriated protests against police brutality and racial injustice that were largely peaceful, with some instances of looting and unrest.

“This shows again that there is just an unequal right to express dissent in the United States,” said Karen Pita Loor, a professor at Boston University’s School of Law. She called conservatives' support “two-faced,” saying that conservatives appear to support a white, conservative rights movement, but "when you have Black Lives Matter protesters on the street that are ‘thugs,’ they scare you."

[worstblogever]

I'll note that Rand Paul is vehemently anti-immigrant when said immigrants are non-white migrant refugees trying to survive.

When they're white Canadian ***holes who just don't want to get a vaccine or wear a mask, he's inviting those foreigners across our border to raise hell here.

So forgive me if I don't buy it the next time he wets his pants about a migrant caravan coming north.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I'll note that Rand Paul is vehemently anti-immigrant when said immigrants are non-white migrant refugees trying to survive.

When they're white Canadian ***holes who just don't want to get a vaccine or wear a mask, he's inviting those foreigners across our border to raise hell here.

So forgive me if I don't buy it the next time he wets his pants about a migrant caravan coming north.

I dunno, I imagine that he is genuinely terrified of the thought of having empathy for people who are only trying to eke out a living.

But sticking it to 'The Man' for no reason? That no doubt gets him hard.

[JB]

Separatist leader in eastern Ukraine announces evacuation of residents
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/st...hildren-russia

A Russian-backed separatist leader in eastern Ukraine announced the evacuation of his breakaway region's residents to southeast Russia on Friday after an increase in shelling.

Announcing the move on social media, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said Russia had agreed to provide accommodation for people leaving and that women, children and the elderly should be prioritised.

There was no immediate commment from Russian officials or from Kyiv, and a Reuters witness in the region's capital of Donetsk said there were no signs yet of an evacuation.

"As of today, Feb. 18, a mass centralised evacuation of the population to the Russian Federation has been organised," Pushilin said. "Women, children and the elderly are to be evacuated first," he said.

[Kirby101]

Zero Hedge is a pro-Russia propaganda site.

[JB]

Zero Hedge is a pro-Russia propaganda site.

There's a link to Pushilin's official site and a transcript of his statement made on television. They are reporting his announcement and I don't care about their opinions of it.
A plan to remove women and children is a good idea.

NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/e...text-rcna16773
Russian-backed separatists announce civilian evacuation from eastern Ukraine as escalation stokes invasion fears

AXIOS
https://www.axios.com/russia-ukraine...fa1a4d494.html
Civilians evacuated from eastern Ukraine as pro-Russia separatists warn of war

Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...etext-invasion
Pro-Russian separatists order mass evacuation of eastern Ukraine

AP
https://apnews.com/article/russia-uk...b140d2a6dc1d57
Ukrainian rebels evacuate civilians to Russia amid crisis

[Gray Lensman]

Zero Hedge is a pro-Russia propaganda site.

Even so, that tells us what the Russians are saying at least. Still stoking the war fears and likely planning some kind of false flag in order to justify seizing more territory.

[seismic-2]

The Russians can use the excuse that people are fleeing across the border as "proof" that Ukraine is waging war against the population of the Russian-speaking areas, and they can use that "proof" as an excuse for saying that they need to come to that area's defense militarily.