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

[Gray Lensman]

I was reminded this morning while working on forthcoming profile updates that there's literally a GOP Congressman from Georgia, Rick Allen, who quoted an Old Testament line in the Bible about putting gay people to death, and guess what? GOP LEADERSHIP DID NOTHING, AND HE'S STILL IN OFFICE YEARS LATER.

This is who they are.

Just a reminder, this is the issue where the GQP has finally decided to stand up to Trump - because he wasn't bigoted enough for them.

[Dalak]

I'll as in my voice to those giving sympathies. My wife and I lost one of our cats a couple of months ago - he was an adopted feral we had for 10 years almost to the day. We went out onto the porch and he had just died suddenly, we think from asthma related complications.

In about 3 hours we are picking up a pair of half-siamese kittens so I have to do the last steps of kitten proofing the house before they arrive. We haven't had a kitten (much less 2) in about 20 years, so it will be a bit of relearning.

Thank you. I wish the place I was in could be safe for kittens but with 2 of my roomie's adult cats with bad attitudes for interacting with smaller cats I'll have to wait.

[numberthirty]

While I don't think that anything particularly noteworthy will wind up coming of this, it is probably worth taking note of that it even happened.

https://deadline.com/2022/06/matthew...gs-1235047936/

Uvalde Native Matthew McConaughey Meets With Biden, Manchin, Pelosi & Lindsey Graham And Says, “The Solution Must Come From Both Sides”

[Gray Lensman]

Thank you. I wish the place I was in could be safe for kittens but with 2 of my roomie's adult cats with bad attitudes for interacting with smaller cats I'll have to wait.

Our surviving adult doesn't seem too happy with the new arrivals, but so far she has only growled, hissed, and tried multiple times to eat their food. She has left the vicinity rather than attacking, but we are watching. The playpen arrives Wednesday, and after that they are going to get food at the same time, on opposite sides of the enclosure.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

While I don't think that anything particularly noteworthy will wind up coming of this, it is probably worth taking note of that it even happened.

https://deadline.com/2022/06/matthew...gs-1235047936/

An admirable sentiment, though ultimately futile since Qpublicans will never put guns ahead of the safety of the public.

[CaptainEurope]

Disgusting! I reported that asswipe a couple of hours ago. God knows there too much violence, too many shootings in the country now without this scumbag adding fuel to the fire.

Twitter and FB took the violent ad down, so now, of course, Greitens apologized and saw the error in his judgment... I'm kidding. He is doubling down and screaming "bich tech censorship!!1!!"

[worstblogever]

Twitter and FB took the violent ad down, so now, of course, Greitens apologized and saw the error in his judgment... I'm kidding. He is doubling down and screaming "bich tech censorship!!1!!"

There's a whole history established where Greitens doesn't like when people say "no" to him.

I am reminding everyone he is an accused rapist.

[Tendrin]

There's a whole history established where Greitens doesn't like when people say "no" to him.

I am reminding everyone he is an accused rapist.

But WBE! I thought both parties were just as bad!

[worstblogever]

But WBE! I thought both parties were just as bad!

One party fought to put an alleged attempted rapist on the Supreme Court, and now wants to put another alleged rapist on the Senate, while defending the alleged multiple rapist/sexual predator who staged a coup at every turn.

Another party is not doing that... so suffice to say, I don't think both are the same right now.

[JackDaw]

There’s an article on Lynn Fitch on the BBC website today, concentrating on the challenge to Roe v Wade.

I almost had to rub my eyes in disbelief in some of the arguments she was putting forward: effectively that abolishing the right to abortion completely is now justified because “women could have it all, a good job, beautiful children, etc with just the right mindset of positivity”. The article noted that this argument was heavily influenced by her own struggles as a single mother.

The article didn’t delve into her family background much…but it mention her father owned a 8000 acre ranch, and had poured heavy money into one of her early political campaigns. So I’m “guessing” rich, well educated, etc, etc.

Nothing wrong with that….but unless she is totally thick she must realise it’s not the norm, and many women are facing a completely different set of challenges and life opportunities. I’m struggling to convince myself that she’s not being deliberately dishonest…but failing in that struggle for now.

[worstblogever]

There’s an article on Lynn Fitch on the BBC website today, concentrating on the challenge to Roe v Wade.

I almost had to rub my eyes in disbelief in some of the arguments she was putting forward: effectively that abolishing the right to abortion completely is now justified because “women could have it all, a good job, beautiful children, etc with just the right mindset of positivity”. The article noted that this argument was heavily influenced by her own struggles as a single mother.

The article didn’t delve into her family background much…but it mention her father owned a 8000 acre ranch, and had poured heavy money into one of her early political campaigns. So I’m “guessing” rich, well educated, etc, etc.

Nothing wrong with that….but unless she is totally thick she must realise it’s not the norm, and many women are facing a completely different set of challenges and life opportunities. I’m struggling to convince myself that she’s not being deliberately dishonest…but failing in that struggle for now.

An anti-abortion activist making a case in bad faith?

I FOR ONE AM SHOCKED.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published its profile of Steve Vaillancourt, a Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives who in 2012, protested being told his time at the podium is up by saluting, “SIEG HEIL!” at New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O’Brien. He also shot his mouth off in 2014, when he said Republican Congressional candidate Marilinda Garcia would win because her Democratic opponent, Anne Kuster, was “ugly as sin” and “looked like a drag queen”. Vaillancourt thus managed to not only tick off female voters with his misogynistic assessment, but insulted the drag queen community, as well. But that’s hardly the biggest beef the LGBTQ community has with Vaillancourt, who in spite of him being openly gay, has towed the party line and voted multiple times against same-sex marriage, and voted for a “religious freedom” bill that would allow individuals to refuse to provide services for marriage based on their own “religious conscience”. Vaillancourt lost his 2014 re-election bid by 89 votes, and apparently decided to sit out the 2016 elections. He probably should stay seated.


In 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” presented profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from New York’s 1st Congressional District, Lee Zeldin, who barely won his first term in office in 2014 with 53% of the vote. Way back in 2008, Zeldin made a first disastrous attempt at getting elected to Congress, and instead, with the winds of the Tea Party Hot-Air machine blowing at his back, he did manage to get elected as a New York State Senator in 2010. And what makes Zeldin stand out in particular is his vomit-inducing levels of partisanship, as relates to his military record (we’re grateful for his service, but not his attitude). Zeldin’s taken up the sort of banner once waved by former Congressman Allen West, where he’s the first person in Congress to puff out his chest and accuse Democrats of not supporting the troops enough, to attack them for not caring enough about national security in fighting the war on terror, or to take care of veterans when they get home. He’s also great about running off onto Fox News to do so, and talk a big talk about how the Obama administration’s strategies were counterproductive to defeating ISIS, in particular, his belief that we should ban Syrian refugees from entering the United States, already fear-mongering scenarios where those refugees strap on suicide vests to attack people on the floor of the House.

There’s just one problem…. The New York Post noticed that Rep. Zeldin has a nasty habit of missing half the meetings of the House Foreign Affairs committee that would have been keeping him abreast on the subject, and two thirds of the meetings that he could have attended in relation to ISIS and Syria. So perhaps folks should be taking his “expert” opinion on these matters with a grain of salt. Well, that and that he’s better than his counterparts across the aisle on national security, because if he was, he wouldn’t have a vote against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a petty vote to thumb his nose at the Obama administration’s immigration policy (see below for more details). He also was part of a GOP effort to even block debate back in December of 2015 regarding Democratic efforts to deny gun sales to people on the “no fly list” for suspicion of terrorism, so there’s that to factor in.

Rep. Zeldin was one of the first people in Congress to offer an endorsement to Donald Trump for president, and while most Congressman have gone out of their way to avoid talking to the press about the big bad bigoted cheeto puff, Zeldin didn’t have the good sense to say, “No comment” and get the heck out of dodge. Instead, after Trump attacked Gonzalo Curiel, the judge in the Trump University case, as being biased because he was of Mexican heritage, Zeldin was on CNN to try and defend the Donald from what many Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan, begrudgingly admitted to be the textbook definition of racism. Plus, Zeldin done goofed his riposte. Not only did Zeldin voice his disappointment with PAUL RYAN and not Trump, he refused to withdraw his support for Trump, and instead tried countering that he thought you could “easily argue that President Obama is racist with his policies and rhetoric”.

On November 2nd, 2016 when all the polls showed his hero the Gropenfuhrer was going to be losing to Hillary Clinton on election Day, Lee Zeldin even released a statement that the Clinton Foundation was “the largest white collar crime in America”. Which, given the allegations around Trump’s own charitable organization, was pretty ballsy of Zeldin to say.

His entire voting record reeks with that sort of one-sided fanaticism, with votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act or defund Planned Parenthood, and that was just as a Congressional freshman. Rep. Zeldin was one of Donald Trump’s “favorites” in Washington, and getting invited to private dinners with him. He obviously understands that between his voting record and that, he’s going to be really unpopular back in his home district. And he understands enough that he cancelled all in-person town halls (in 2018, prior to the pandemic having been an excuse as to why someone would do that), and instead, host “telephone town halls” in their place. You know, so his aides can screen calls for people who will actually complain, and mitigate what audio gets released.

[worstblogever]

Back in Washington in 2020 after another narrow re-election win, he has returned to piling up one of the biggest mountains of bulls*** in his voting record:

• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Zeldin voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Lee Zeldin votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 7th, 2019: Zeldin votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Zeldin votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• June 4th, 2019: Zeldin votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Lee Zeldin votes against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
• October 23rd, 2019: Zeldin is one of 41 Republicans who, while staring down the possibility of Donald Trump being impeached, stage a ridiculous publicity stunt in response by crashing a classified impeachment inquiry hearing for a “protest”.
• December 18th, 2019: Rep. Zeldin 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: Zeldin votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• December 10th, 2020: Zeldin 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: Lee Zeldin votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Zeldin votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
• February 4th, 2021: Lee Zeldin 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: Zeldin votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Zeldin 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: Lee Zeldin votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Zeldin 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. Zeldin 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: Lee Zeldin votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• November 5th, 2021: Lee Zeldin votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
• March 31st, 2022: Zeldin votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Lee Zeldin would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
• May 18th, 2022: Lee Zeldin is one of 192 Republicans who vote against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
• May 18th, 2022: Rep. Zeldin votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
• May 19th, 2022: Zeldin votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.

Perhaps our least favorite new thing to report about Lee Zeldin is that he finds one of his top priorities in Congress to just be an outright Islamophobic bigot to fellow Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who he named as his reason for voting against Congress’ condemnation of anti-Semitism because it didn’t single her out by name, and whom a few weeks later in April of 2019, he accused of “targeting Jewish people” after she voiced criticism of Trump administration official and all-around hatemonger Stephen Miller. Rep. Omar has brilliantly responded to that line of attack by ignoring him and joining a new Black-Jewish Caucus with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Brenda Lawrence.

Still, Zeldin has not relented, and has claimed her intent is to “poison” the new group.

Zeldin also was a cheerleader for Donald Trump from the very start of the impeachment inquiry into his illegal withholding of military aid for Ukraine, trying to pretend that Trump wasn’t leveraging the President of Ukraine into beginning a sham investigation into Hunter and Joe Biden (when there’s goddamn transcript of it), calling the effort to impeach a “charade”, while effectively shoving his fingers in his ears and yelling, “LALALALA” as a defense of the worst occupant of the Oval Office in our nation’s history.

And of course, Lee Zeldin was just as much as a sea-worthy douche-canoe when Trump’s attempts to steal the 2020 election went down, not just in Zeldin’s support of the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit, nor his vote against confirming the election results, but that when literal audio emerged of Trump calling Georgia Secretary of State Brad Rafffensperger to “find” Trump enough votes to win the state, who did Lee Zeldin condemn? THE MEDIA, FOR REPORTING IT!

Y’know, like a fascist would.

So it is with a great deal of consternation that we have to report Lee Zeldin is the front-runner for the GOP nomination to be their candidate for the next Governor of New York, having gone into his debate against businessman Harry Wilson by just lashing out and trying to label him a “Never Trumper”, which, given the January 6th hearings, in a sane world would have blown up in Zeldin’s face.

Alas, the Republican Party and its voters insist on not living in a sane world.

[Tendrin]

An anti-abortion activist making a case in bad faith?

I FOR ONE AM SHOCKED.

Meawhile, conservatives are now moving onto their real goal: how to punish and control women.
https://twitter.com/jamisonfoser/sta...41619969241089

[Malvolio]

So it is with a great deal of consternation that we have to report Lee Zeldin is the front-runner for the GOP nomination to be their candidate for the next Governor of New York, having gone into his debate against businessman Harry Wilson by just lashing out and trying to label him a “Never Trumper”, which, given the January 6th hearings, in a sane world would have blown up in Zeldin’s face.

Alas, the Republican Party and its voters insist on not living in a sane world.

Living here in upstate NY, I've seen commercials for both Zeldin and Wilson. Funny thing about the Wilson ads. They keep hammering at the point that Zeldin sided with Governor Andrew Cuomo on several occasions. I can see that as a reason for both Republicans and Democrats to NOT vote for Zeldin.