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

[Catlady in training]

Could they be more dumb?

Russian soldiers who seized the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster drove unprotected through a highly toxic zone called the “Red Forest”, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust, Chernobyl workers said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...08d422c5d5f3ea

The soldiers drove their armoured vehicles without any anti-radiation gear, according to two sources who spoke to Reuters. Both were on duty when Russian tanks entered Chernobyl on 24 February and took control of the site.

The two Chernobyl employees said they had witnessed Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles moving through the Red Forest, which is the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl.

One of the Chernobyl employees said it was “suicidal” for the soldiers because the radioactive dust they inhaled was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.
A vast area around Chernobyl is off-limits to anyone who does not work there or have special permission, but the Red Forest is considered so highly contaminated that even the nuclear plant workers are not allowed to go there.

The Russian military convoy went through the zone, the two sources said. One of them said it used an abandoned road.

One of the sources said:

"A big convoy of military vehicles drove along a road right behind our facility and this road goes past the Red Forest.
The convoy kicked up a big column of dust. Many radiation safety sensors showed exceeded levels."

Reuters could not independently verify their accounts. Asked about the accounts from Chernobyl staff, Russia’s defence ministry did not respond.

[achilles]

Could they be more dumb?

Russian soldiers who seized the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster drove unprotected through a highly toxic zone called the “Red Forest”, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust, Chernobyl workers said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...08d422c5d5f3ea

Sounds like a problem that will solve itself in a few weeks...

Multiple Darwin Award winners!

[achilles]

I agree. it doesnt kill my enjoyment of the movie. I just dont look up to him as a person.

Naw, I don't either, and I've heard a lot of other stories about him, since he's local. Which is perhaps why I was never surprised about those unfortunate aspects of his character. That said, I do like a fair amount of his movies, and his walk and other mannerisms were cribbed from Earp, so you know he's probably got the most accurate depiction of a gunfighter sort around, outside of Tom Mix.

[achilles]

Agreed. John Wayne's behavior, from all accounts, was beyond the pale. I'm not even shocked that he had to be restrained from assaulting a woman

Don't know about that, but given what I've heard, I wonder what Bruce Dern would say about him. I won't relate the story, but...it didn't reflect well on Wayne, who quite frankly could be a bit of a bully, from all accounts. I'd also like Ron Howard's take on him.

[babyblob]

Tucker is on one tonight.

Biden saying "For God's Sake This Man Can Not Remain in Power." Now means the USA wants to kill Putin. Which of course means that one of the 6000 nukes that Russia has will end up in the hands of Anti American Islamic Terrorists and used on Citizens.

Man the fear mongering.

This of course all stems from Bidens anger issues that have us on the verge with a nuclear power.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I recalled hearing about John Wayne needing to be restrained by 6 security guards over getting offended over a Native American woman Sacheen Littlefeather speaking up for indigenous portrayal in movies and persecutions. Clint Eastwood making a dumb joke, while she was had to have bodyguards escort her.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/ne...n-1973-317550/

My favorite movie of all time is a John Wayne Western. But I cant deny the man was less then pc in his beliefs.

Ironically, my favorite John Wayne film is McQ where he plays a Dirty Harry clone.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” ran a profile of Aaron Schock, Schock had just shocked the Beltway by resigning in disgrace after the one time "Young Gun" of the GOP, and the youngest person ever elected to Congress was discovered to have remodeled his office to look like the set of Downtown Abbey, and taxpayers were left with a $35,000 bill for the redecorating efforts. Schock also missed 5.5% of the potential votes on the House floor, one of the poorest attendance records in Congress, and one of the easiest explanations for that was he was always posting Instagram photos from exotic vacations he was taking, rather than doing a job that already offers a ridiculous amount of days off for a six-figure salary. Schock also got caught reporting he had driven more miles than the truck he was driving had in its total mileage, but wanted to be reimbursed for $90,000. After the media started reporting on all these inconsistencies, the FBI and Justice Department began ones of their own (they're still trying to determine if Schock will face charges). With all that graft going on, it's easy to forget that Schock's voting record included votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform, Hurricane Sandy Relief Aid, and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, while voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act incessantly, the 2013 Government Shutdown, and to attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. Schock spent several years trying to avoid prison time, and there began to be rumors of him attempting a comeback that were cut short by the anti-LGBTQ Congressman being caught on film fondling another man down the front of his pants at Coachella, shortly before sexts from his secret Grindr account were uncovered. Alas, the GOP will not back a candidate once they’re out of the closet, corrupt or not, so it seems like his career really is over.

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Janice Fountaine, a 2014 Maryland State Senate and self-described "prophet of God" who warned that homosexuality and masturbation were created by Satan as a strategy in "evil end-time warfare". Fountaine's foreign policy stance is also that America is the "World Police, whether we like it or not". She was an embarrassing candidate who only ran because she saw no other Republicans on the ballot, and it seems like the Maryland GOP would like to not be embarrassed by her again.

On this date in 2019, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Frank Hoffman, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who has served in that body from 2007-2020. We’re going to be up front, and just be clear about our opinion that Hoffman is one of the more bats*** crazy anti-choice Republicans we’ve taken note of in some time, as in 2016, he actually submitted an anti-abortion bill that claimed the procedure was “reversible”. Big surprise, he has a 100% rating from the Louisiana Right to Life Foundation,and he also used to run the First Baptist Church’s Cable Access Network, so it’s no wonder he’s asking for scientists to come forward to prove his assertions about abortion, based on flawed research. It should come as little surprise then, that Hoffman has been a sponsor or co-sponsor of some of the Louisiana GOP’s most extreme anti-choice legislation over the years, including when he sponsored a bill to require any tissue removed during an abortion to be buried or cremated. On the same day he argued against sex education in schools, which would probably do more to prevent unwanted pregnancies than any nutty ideas rattling around in his misogynist skull. Really, his entire legislative record reads like a book written by Pat Robertson, as he co-sponsored a TRAP law to try and force the closure of all abortion clinics in Louisiana by creating harsh restrictions upon the hospitals that perform them, he co-sponsored a bill to nullify federal firearm laws, voted for one of those disastrous attempts by Republicans to require welfare recipients to be drug tested to receive government assistance, voted to prevent the removal of “military memorials” that is aimed at protecting Confederate monuments, and even voted against a repeal of archaic legislation still on the books in Louisiana that considers some sex acts (y’know, the gay ones) “crimes against nature”. Frank Hoffman was term-limited in 2019, and could not run for his seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives after a dozen years bumbling about the joint.

On this date in 2017, 2018, as well as 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Arthur “Art” Jones, who we kind of thought would be a “one and done” focus for us, what with him being a motherf***ing straight-up Nazi and all. We aren’t speaking in hyperbole here, Jones was a three-time failed Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois 3rd Congressional District in the 2012 who ran for Congress in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District in 2016 even though he marched with Nazis in Chicago in 1978, and who denies the Holocaust ever happened. In the Oak Lawn Patch on February 29, 2012, Jones commented, "the Holocaust is nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews. It's the blackest lie in history. Millions of dollars are being made by Jews telling this tale of woe and misfortune in books, movies, plays and TV.” Jones' 2016 campaign website contained a section called "Holocaust?" (yes, with a question mark) featuring write-ups and newspaper clippings supporting his belief that the Holocaust is "mythical." Jones cited tax benefits received by Holocaust survivors as a possible motivation for their upholding of the narrative and further added that Kosher food labels are "another Jewish racket, pure and simple to extort money out of the food manufacturers at a hefty fee, which is then passed on to all non-Jewish customers in the retail price paid each time we shop." As you would expect, Jones was echoing Donald Trump’s anti-immigration platform in 2016, though he also had plenty of venom focused against marriage equality as well. In his warped mind, homosexuals, or as he calls them “the lying Pink Crusader Rabbits” are working to “seek[s] to uproot, and overthrow all the moral teachings of the Christian religion on which all our laws are based.” Jones was also ranting about something he called the “Neighbourhood Amendment”, which apparently sought to let citizens who decided clean up their neighborhood and assure it would be white and Christian would have the legal means to do so. In 2012, Art Jones finished third in the GOP Primary with 11% of the vote, which is far more than you’d hope a Neo-Nazi Holocaust denier would ever get. And, to our chagrin. at 70 years old, was allowed to run for Congress AGAIN by the Illinois GOP in 2018, and they couldn’t be bothered to even run a candidate against him in the primary. Which means, yes, Art Jones, an actual Nazi running around three quarters of a century after the Nazis were defeated in World War II, went into the general election with a chance of becoming a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Illinois’ 3rd District. Proving that Republicans are brainwashed morons, Jones actually still won 26% of the vote because he has an “R” next to his name. In 2020, he ran for the seat again, and even with Republican voters being more than aware he’s a Nazi, he still got 10% of the vote. We are pretty sure he’s going to keep running for office until he drops dead. |

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Tim Fazenbaker, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District hoping to unseat the long-tenured Democratic Congressman Dutch Ruppensberger in what would be a huge upset in a left-leaning district. Fazenbaker was another Republican in a long line of folks we’ve been profiling who are in the center of the Venn diagram that is made of the circles that read, “2020 GOP candidate for Congress” and “Qanon conspiracy theorist”, having ended many posts on Twitter with the Qanon hashtag. Fazenbaker’s strategy was to win the GOP Primary by attacking his state’s own Republican governor for establishing mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic as early as the middle of May of 2020, campaigning hard against the Black Lives Matter movement, and to instead push the #WalkAway movement that encouraged Democrats to abandon their Party and join the Republican one. Neither effort was successful, as Tim Fazenbaker finished third out of a possible seven candidates in the GOP Primary, and the #WalkAway movement was laughed at for moving absolutely no one to the GOP. We’re not going to be shocked if he runs for office as a perennial losing candidate, and if the Republican Party still trucks on not realizing they have a extremist conspiracy theorist they need to keep away from the spotlight. We’ll set aside his profile at this time to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1085-50, since this was established in July 2014.

[skyvolt2000]

If an organization makes a claim about someone's character/ behavior, they should have the receipts. The onus is on them to back up anything they day about her publicly, especially since it does seem likely that in the world of LGBT publishing allegations of a troubling hostility towards trans people and their allies is toxic for one's reputation.

Okay so answer everyone there this...

Why can't the Republicans show PROOF that CRT and all this other boogeyman crap they are making laws against?

I am TIRED of hearing about this stuff like CRT being done in public schools and NOBODY can show any proof.

Proof being a lesson plan, the name of the teacher, the dean or assistant principal that approves the lesson plan.

Along with PROOF that teaching sex to K-5 is in the curriculum of any STATE-because that is public information and at least looking through Texas-sex doesn't get mention until 7th grade.

Along with PROOF parents rights are being denied ANYWHERE. If they READ the student code of conduct they would know they already have rights to look at instructional material and library books.

And then show PROOF that all these books they want banned in school because some KAREN wants to be den mother to everyone else that they have CRT in them. Because as OWNER of a few of those books like Jerry Craft's New Kid-I don't see it.

I TIRE of some set of folks see a black person or LGBTQA+ person and they got a problem and start making stuff up.


So where are the receipts???

[worstblogever]

Lora Reinbold

Welcome to what is the 1086th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Alaska State Senator Lora Reinbold, who was first elected to office in District G of that body back in 2018, and is coming up for re-election this fall. Prior to her time in the Alaska State Senate, she served six years in the Alaska House of Representatives. She has, quite simply, become infamous in the state legislature since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic for being a complete Covidiot.

Reinbold was a wellspring of endless terrible advice about coronavirus, from questioning the efficacy of vaccines, to calling the modest response by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to “living under martial law”. Perhaps her lowest of many low moments was when she told those infected with Covid-19 that they could “loosen their chest congestion” by using a vibrator against their own chest. We are not making that up.

After months of spreading Covid-19 misinformation, the Alaska GOP and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy let her know she was already going to be cut off from party support for wantonly and ignorantly telling the public lies over the first year of the pandemic. They began slowly removing her from all committees as a result. She responded in a calm, reasonable manner, by claiming that her First Amendment rights were being violated by everyone. Two months later, Reinbold was banned from flying on Alaska Airlines for fighting with their in-flight staff over their Covid-19 mask policy.

Once she couldn’t fly from Eagle River to the state capitol on the state’s dime, she started asking to be excused from serving in the State Senate (and voters are likely to agree). Not shockingly, on October 13th, 2021, Reinbold took to Facebook to report the not-at-all surprising news that she tested positive for Covid-19. Her social media post about it, of course, included her rambling incoherently about all the different medications she claimed to be taking to cure herself (including the horse dewormer ivermectin), none of which actually do much to fight the disease. She recovered, but alas, her mental capacity has yet to improve.

She is now finishing out the final ten months of her term, and will not be running for re-election in 2022. Alaska will be better off without her.

[Robotman]

Okay so answer everyone there this...

Why can't the Republicans show PROOF that CRT and all this other boogeyman crap they are making laws against?

I am TIRED of hearing about this stuff like CRT being done in public schools and NOBODY can show any proof.

Proof being a lesson plan, the name of the teacher, the dean or assistant principal that approves the lesson plan.

Along with PROOF that teaching sex to K-5 is in the curriculum of any STATE-because that is public information and at least looking through Texas-sex doesn't get mention until 7th grade.

Along with PROOF parents rights are being denied ANYWHERE. If they READ the student code of conduct they would know they already have rights to look at instructional material and library books.

And then show PROOF that all these books they want banned in school because some KAREN wants to be den mother to everyone else that they have CRT in them. Because as OWNER of a few of those books like Jerry Craft's New Kid-I don't see it.

I TIRE of some set of folks see a black person or LGBTQA+ person and they got a problem and start making stuff up.


So where are the receipts???

You can find them in the basement of Hillary Clinton's pizza parlor/child sex dungeon, right next to all the illegal Biden votes he used to steal the election. But be careful because JFK is using Hunter Biden's laptop to create an impenetrable forcefield to block all true believers from entering.

[InformationGeek]

Oh WBE, again, Republicans with the furry fear mongering.

Nebraska State Sen. Bostelman (R) falsely says that school children are being encouraged to identify as cats: "If you don't know what furries are, it's when kids dress up as cats or dogs, during the school day... Schools are wanting to put litter boxes in... for kids to use." https://t.co/MeQ9wiMVRw

[worstblogever]

Oh WBE, again, Republicans with the furry fear mongering.

Why can't they be more like Kelly Townsend in AZ?

Oh, wait, she's open to furries, but awful.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Okay so answer everyone there this...

Why can't the Republicans show PROOF that CRT and all this other boogeyman crap they are making laws against?

I am TIRED of hearing about this stuff like CRT being done in public schools and NOBODY can show any proof.

Proof being a lesson plan, the name of the teacher, the dean or assistant principal that approves the lesson plan.

Along with PROOF that teaching sex to K-5 is in the curriculum of any STATE-because that is public information and at least looking through Texas-sex doesn't get mention until 7th grade.

Along with PROOF parents rights are being denied ANYWHERE. If they READ the student code of conduct they would know they already have rights to look at instructional material and library books.

And then show PROOF that all these books they want banned in school because some KAREN wants to be den mother to everyone else that they have CRT in them. Because as OWNER of a few of those books like Jerry Craft's New Kid-I don't see it.

I TIRE of some set of folks see a black person or LGBTQA+ person and they got a problem and start making stuff up.


So where are the receipts???

There aren't any receipts, never have been, it's all about Qpublicans stirring up their ignorant, dumbed down base with unfounded claims to keep them good and angry. That's the GQP standard operating procedure.

[Tendrin]

Since we've talked a lot about trans issues lately for obvious reasons, I thought I'd link this book, since it has some key insights into trans youth and the intersection with autism.
https://www.amazon.com/Supporting-Tr.../dp/1785928031
transautism.jpg

The underlined stuff is especially relevant.

Gosh, it's almost like the *real* 'trend' is cis-heteronormative conformity. <3

Here's more:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32770077/


https://www.autismspeaks.org/science...ic-individuals

hese data sets confirmed what researchers expected to find, including their participants feeling they had been misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed for autism. They also confirmed previous findings of higher rates of other psychiatric conditions among transgender and gender-diverse individuals like schizophrenia, ADHD and depression. Previous studies have also estimated that about 30 to 50 percent of transgender teens attempt suicide, underscoring the need to screen for these risk factors in transgender, gender-diverse and autistic teens.

Almost 70 percent of autistic individuals who also identify as transgender and gender diverse said they needed gender identity related medical care but could not get appropriate care due to their autism diagnosis. In study published in June 2020, more than 35 percent of autistic LGBTQ adults surveyed said they were refused services by a medical provider, despite this group having greater health care needs overall.

Researchers concluded that current medical and mental health care for transgender and gender-diverse autistic people is inadequate.

Gasp! Inadequate trans health care? But I thought we were just throwing HRT at people who asked and that's why we need to ban it?! We better do something before there's irreversible damage to our trans kids. <3

[Dalak]

On loaded questions, there is also the question of how third parties view it.

If I'm asked something and I say it's a loaded question, there are multiple responses from whoever asked me a question. They could rephrase it. They could argue that it's not loaded and that I'm dodging. But there are also other commentators, who could point out something that two people arguing in good faith may be missing.

We should still strive to avoid loaded questions. By their nature, they're not meant to be answered. If someone knows what they're doing, it's a sketchy rhetorical strategy. If they don't know what they're doing, they may have a poor understanding of the views of people who disagree with them. It's best to ask questions for clarity, rather than to try to score points.

I'll let you know for future reference, if I ask a question I don't intend to be answered I'll go on to immediately answer it myself. Otherwise I genuinely want my questions answered, and if they are loaded it isn't intentional though I cannot promise not to be biased.

The New Yorker article covered some of the pushback against Rufo.

Barely. Any counter-commentary was pretty much confined to 2 paragraphs, and the rest was clearly supportive and accepting of everything Rufo presented as gospel when even by then there were multiple reports of his misinformation and lies.

I get the argument that it's important to treat others as equals, but what exactly does that mean? Does it mean there's no hint of an obligation to make any accommodation for the other person? What are the proposed laws involve spending of taxpayer money? Platitudes are not policy.

I don't understand any of what you are asking here. What sort of accommodation is there to be had with "That person is Trans, treat them with respect like anyone else."? I'm pretty sure our Justice System frowns in general on the freedom to discriminate against marginalized people. And considering the only laws being made are ones weaponized against Transgender people it seems the money is being wasted on being hateful and investigating people using bathrooms or doctors and parents helping their child come to grips with who they are.

I usually but not always vote for Republicans. My congresswoman is Grace Meng, if that helps anyone ascertain what candidates for Congress, or local office I might have the option of voting for.

I would have assumed you'd give the name of her opponent if you voted republican, because this is vague enough to mean that you voted for her and I'd like to clarify it. I was asking who you voted for other than Biden after all, specifically to see who will earn your vote.

The US' low birthrate is relevant in the difficulties people will have adopting. It's an interesting point about whether transitioning can be more like a fad for some people (I get you're summarizing your understanding of a counterargument rather than expressing your own views here.) I really wouldn't know how many people that's the case for. If it's ten percent, that would still represent a major policy problem.

One of the main difficulties in people adopting (Especially LGBT) is the religious organizations who won't let well balanced adults raise a child in a loving home. I'm not saying everyone who goes to adopt a child is capable, but that capable parents are being rejected due to more discrimination. As for your response to the Fad question it seems you do believe that it is one, though please correct me if I am wrong.

We are seeing Lia Thomas dominate her sport. When competing against men, her numbers were worse. There would be a variety of reasons for why trans athletes aren't dominating multiple sports, including age (sports is dominated by younger people who have trained for a while) and culture.

As it was not a loaded question, I'm sure you understand that 1 or 2 athletes is not a dominated sport. This is not a change of meaning, a few dominating in a sport is not a sport dominated by trans athletes.

In March 2022, Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport, after winning the women's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:33.24; Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant was second with a time 1.75 seconds behind Thomas.[21][22][23] Thomas was 9.18 seconds short of Katie Ledecky’s NCAA record of 4:24.06.[24] In the preliminaries for the 200 freestyle, Thomas finished second. In the final for the 200 freestyle, Thomas placed fifth with a time of 1:43.50. In the preliminaries for the 100 freestyle, Thomas finished tenth. In the finals for the 100 freestyle, Thomas placed eighth out of eight competitors in 48.18 seconds, finishing last.[25]

And if she were dominating, those would all be first and/or second place.

If someone goes on an anti-capitalism rant it seems fair to respond in kind.

If I'd mentioned that Socialism or Communism actually eased selfishness in people (Hint: It doesn't) then you could have considered it a rant against capitalism and not selfishness and apathy like I've gone on about for several posts now.

Braun's view that the states should have decided seems to justified from a flawed understanding of the civil rights act, and the fourteenth amendment. He did correct himself pretty quickly. A big question is what the policy should be for all lawmakers. I completely understand having an ungenerous take on what Braun said, but that would also allow Republicans to have an ungenerous take if a Democrat says something misguided and corrects themselves in a few hours. If the argument is that Braun shouldn't be able to do that, it means the next time a Democrat says something dumb, that should define the party, even if the Democrat quickly clarifies themselves.

An individual's screw ups define them alone, those who choose to defend them (And worse) are causing that to define the party. I'm fine with that standard applied across the board.