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

[hyped78]

Memphis police warn residents as they search for man after multiple shootings

Senseless. They've caught the guy; he had been released from jail less than six months ago.

Memphis is going through a rough patch, also with the murder of Eliza Fletcher.

[CSTowle]

Who suggested a confession is necessary, or that a lack of confession dismisses ill intent? You could have ill intent without Trump ordering people to attack the capitol. If he were to order an attack on the capitol that could come out in ways other than his confession (someone he paid to commit crimes coming forward, leaks, etc.)

Fat Donny is more like an organized crime boss in that he knows where the line is to skirt it. He'd never have the balls to say, "get in there and attack". Instead he riled them up and sent them there and hoped something would happen. If you believe Trump had the best of intentions, that's fine. I can't for the life of me understand what such a belief would be based upon, certainly not his entire life history whether it be actions or words.

Do I think he had a schematic up on a board and went over it with a fine-tooth comb to make sure everything went off without a hitch? Of course not. I do think he was winging it and was hoping for something like what happened and almost certainly worse than what happened. I do base that off of his history, and I feel extremely confident of that. Neither of us are likely to be proven right or wrong, but I think even his supporters would tell you (when they weren't saying it was Antifa when they experience moments of shame) that they should have done more.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

There's also some video footage that seems to show that Mastriano was very close to the Capitol riot:

https://whyy.org/articles/new-video-...-than-he-said/

No surprise since he’s a proponent of Trump’s “Big Lie”. Mastriano is a dumpster fire I want NOWHERE near the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg.

[worstblogever]

Yo, WBE! You might want to keep an eye on Mastriano because he’s deranged enough to warrant your attention.

Had him in the queue for like two years now. Haven't gotten to him yet, but rest assured, it's happening.

[CaptainEurope]

Looks like Queen Elizabeth II's health has taken a turn for the worse. Family rushing to Balmoral to say goodbye.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of former Arizona Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the man who has embodied a bigoted, corrupt, and aberrant image of "justice" for Maricopa County for decades. During his lengthy tenure, Arpaio oversaw a prolific amount of inmate deaths in Arizona’s prisons, looked the other way and not investigated hundreds of rapes and child molestation cases in the town of El Mirage, buddied up to xenophobic militia groups and illegal immigrant patrols (travelling down to the border and far outside his jurisdiction to do so) and has been investigated by the Department of Justice and been discovered to have pervasive racism throughout his department. The self-proclaimed “America’s Toughest Sheriff” prides himself on cruelty, bigotry, and ignorance, trying to overcome the $140 million in lawsuits (you read that right, $140 MILLION) that have been filed against him, including for letting actor Steven Seagal drive a SWAT tank into a residence on a reality TV show and killing the homeowners’ puppy, through publicity stunts to appease his more racist constituents, like an “investigation” into President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. His persona of being "tough on crime" is more important to him than actually serving and protecting the populace he is elected to, and he has vindictively battled against any political figure who has even dared to suggest that more oversight or transparency into his department is needed (he won't disclose what taxpayer dollars are actually spent on in the MCSO). Arpaio was found guilty of racial profiling after the Department of Justice investigation into his department, had deputies testify that he ordered them to defy the orders of federal judges and continue racist policies, and after being found guilty, was caught during the appeal process hiring private investigators to shadow the judge’s wife and try to find something he might be able to blackmail him with. He admitted doing this under oath, but Sheriff Joe had the audacity to try and declare that now the judge was “biased” and should be taken off the case a month later. Shortly after Donald Trump made his announcement for president and said that Mexicans coming across the U.S. border were “criminals and rapists”, Joe Arpaio came to his defense, and said that criticism of Trump amounted to “violating his First Amendment rights”… which isn't how freedom of speech works, Sheriff, but hey, what can you expect from a man who once arrested the publishers of the Phoenix New Times for writing stories about corruption in his department that he didn’t like? Now, some people might have wondered why FRED has focused on a county sheriff on a yearly basis. Well, let's put it this way... not only has Arpaio been a bane on civil rights, and embraced racial profiling as standard policy during his tenure... he's been hailed a conservative hero for it, primarily because his target is often non-whites. Is he influential in Arizona politics? Absolutely, every GOP candidate in the state seeks his endorsement to claim they're "Tough on immigration". And it's not just Arizona. This dithering xenophobic methuselah endorsed Donald Trump for president and was granted a speaking slot at the 2016 Republican National Convention while it was still being considered whether or not Sheriff Arpaio would face criminal charges for contempt of court. His remarks were delivered only a day after a federal judge stripped Arpaio of having oversight over his own Internal Affairs Department. Furthermore, when people talk about Republicans who “keep bringing back the specter of racism”, Joe Arpaio has waved it like a battle flag for all of his 88 years on this earth. He’s the proof that it never really went away. Somehow, nobody ever batted an eye about the fact that he's a county sheriff who can amass an election war chest of $11.3 MILLION dollars. Stop and think about that... being an octogenarian, openly racist, criminal, overtly fascist, taxpayer-paying lawsuit-magnet was not enough to have stopped Republicans from donating $11.3 million in money to his re-election in 2016. There was at least, good news that Democrats managed to have retired Phoenix police officer Paul Penzone elected as County Sheriff, looking to end a quarter-century of racial bigotry from law enforcement in Arizona’s most populous county. The news would get even better… On July 31st, 2017, Joe Arpaio was found guilty upon appeal. He was scheduled to be sentenced on October 5th, 2017, and while his sentence could have carried up to a six-month jail sentence, the most common belief was that he would get house arrest for his crimes, because… well, cops don’t do well in prison if they’re sent there. There’s no way an 85 year old man who spent decades tormenting his own constituents would manage to avoid harassment from fellow inmates, right? Well, long story short, Donald Trump is an ***hole. After a poorly-attended rally in Phoenix, Arizona, where roughly 4,000 people came to see him speak, and 10,000 protesters showed up… Donald Trump followed up his heinous response to Charlottesville that White Nationalists interpreted as his blessing by talking about a pardon for a man who ignored the Constitutional rights of minorities for 24 years. His rabid supporters applauded, and that was enough for Trump to give a pardon to Arpaio as Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, because you have to prioritize helping out fellow racist fascists over saving people from flooding the likes of which the nation has never seen. And he did it before Arpaio was EVER SENTENCED. Now, this was while Donald Trump was feuding with Arizona’s U.S. Senators. Not just John McCain, but in particular, Jeff Flake, who he promised in 2016 he would sponsor a primary challenger against. Most thought Trump was going to back former Arizona State Senator Kelli Ward, a former FRED who once hosted a town hall on Chemtrails and pals around with people who talk about black helicopters doing all sorts of government conspiracies to the good people… but in January of 2018, Joe Arpaio announced he was running for U.S. Senate at the age of 86. The “specter of racism” will never leave Arizona as long as Joe Arpaio can soil its politics, as he seems insistent upon. Arpaio mercifully finished third in the GOP Primary for his seat in that race, getting just shy of 19% of the vote. And… we were hoping that 2020 would be the first year on this date that we wouldn’t have to talk about Joe Arpaio, and Arizona might have removed a bigoted stain upon the tapestry of its long, sordid, state history for the last time… BUT NO, NOT YET. Joe Arpaio decided he would run for Maricopa County Sheriff again at the age of 88… yes EIGHTY-EIGHT, in an attempt to avenge his 2016 loss to Paul Penzone. He remained as racist as ever, because when he was asked what he might do court Hispanic voters back to his side, he responded that he would “go where the good Mexican restaurants are.” Alas, Joe Arpaio’s comeback failed in a big way, and he narrowly lost to his own former subordinate, Jerry Sheridan, in the GOP Primary for sheriff. There’s nothing good we’ll ever be able to say about this man until he’s dead in the ground, and at least serving as good fertilizer. He’s approaching the age of 90 in the year of our lord 2022, so that might not be far off.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Josh Barnett, a 2020 candidate for U.S. House of Representatives Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, hoping to unseat Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego in his Phoenix/Tempe district. While he got through the GOP Primary in that race unopposed, folks paying attention to Qanon supporters running for office in 2020 immediately added him to the list of Republicans running for Congress who fit that description. After seeing an NBC News story covering Twitter’s plans to take action against Qanon accounts on its site, Barnett posted “Weird to be so paranoid about something that is not real, right?” Meanwhile, all over Facebook and Instagram, Barnett was tagging his posts with Qanon hashtags, but as he got called out for propagating the spread of Qanon, Barnett threw red-pilled folks under the bus, saying QAnon is “not even a real thing” and claiming his repeated use of hashtags was because he was “retweeting the article” (which wouldn’t be true on Facebook and Instagram posts). His campaign page has an interesting focus on “Child Sex Trafficking” and he frequently rants about “The Deep State” on Twitter to this day, so… it doesn’t seem like he hasn’t let go if his focus on “Q”, on the surface. On Twitter, Barnett has a habit of reposting content from Jack Posobiec, and continually shares other conspiracy theories, including about Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, as well as making various posts featuring misinformation about Covid-19 treatments. Oh, and Barnett supported the disastrous “audit/fraudit” upon Maricopa County’s 2020 election that only existed to support Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” and calling for a second one to be done for Arizona’s Pima county, as well. Josh Barnett got stomped in the 2020 election by Ruben Gallego in AZ-7, and his website indicates that in 2022, he attempted a primary challenge to David Schweikert in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District and finished third with only 22% of the vote. As he seems to be only a “perennial candidate”, we’ll set aside his profile at this time to cover another wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 1134-55, since this was established in July 2014.


Vince Leach
Welcome to what is the 1134th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Arizona State Senator Vince Leach, who moved to the upper chamber of the Arizona state legislature in the 2018 elections after having served two terms in the Arizona House of Representatives. Three of his most revolting bills that he sponsored, perhaps, was an attempt to pass a bill in 2018 that would fine striking teachers $5000 for making “a political action”, like say, for demanding a fair wage for their work, a homophobic “smaller government” solution of placing a ban on anyone under the age of 18 from attending a performance where someone is performing in drag, as well as a bill that would ban all counties and municipal governments below the state government from placing bans on gay conversion therapy, in response to Pima County having done so.

But don’t worry, there is some form of discrimination he won’t allow, and that’s proved by his co-sponsorship of a bill to prevent businesses from discriminating against those born as “firearm entities”.

Yeah. Guns over people. Because of course, he’s an Arizona Republican.

Showing his true fascist colors, in 2022, Leach sponsored a bill to allow Arizona’s Republican-controlled state legislature to overturn the results of a presidential election and award the electoral votes to whomever they please.Which certainly doesn’t sound like an attempt to subvert American democracy and help set up Donald Trump as dictator-for-life in 2024.

None of that voting record is as much of a concern to us as to the fact that in September of 2020, Leach was spreading Qanon conspiracy theory propaganda on his social media feeds, including a now deleted post where he shared a cartoon of Donald Trump, disgraced General Michael Flynn, and a third man with a “Q” on his head standing on top of of three cowering people labeled “globalists”, “Marxists”, and “traitors”. So not just Qanon bulls***, but with a definite anti-Semitic flair.

The good news? Vince Leach’s rise to power came to a screeching halt in the 2022 Arizona GOP Primary, where he lost by about four thousand votes to the even more bats*** crazy Justine Wadsack, who is sadly just a DIFFERENT Qanon conspiracy theorist who we hoped would just go away when we originally profiled her.

Alas, even the "alternative candidates" in the GOP these days have gone into different flavors of the same conspiracy theorists.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Looks like Queen Elizabeth II's health has taken a turn for the worse. Family rushing to Balmoral to say goodbye.

Oh, wow. That’s too bad. Still, she led a full life in service to England.

[mogwen]

https://us.yahoo.com/news/bannon-exp...051632582.html

Steve Bannon surrenders in NY court in wall donor case
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon surrendered Thursday to face fresh charges that he duped donors who gave money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

You can't be pardoned for state charges, Steve!

[babyblob]

https://us.yahoo.com/news/bannon-exp...051632582.html

Steve Bannon surrenders in NY court in wall donor case
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon surrendered Thursday to face fresh charges that he duped donors who gave money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

You can't be pardoned for state charges, Steve!

I have lost count on how many Trump allies and close workers have been busted for crimes. Trump the great judge of character keeps hiring criminals? What?

[mogwen]

I have lost count on how many Trump allies and close workers have been busted for crimes. Trump the great judge of character keeps hiring criminals? What?

But they're all going down, one at a time.

[hyped78]

Looks like Queen Elizabeth II's health has taken a turn for the worse. Family rushing to Balmoral to say goodbye.

Looking at the signs (BBC presenters have changed their clothes and are now wearing black suits and ties, changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace has been halted, Liz Truss and Keir Starmer have been given briefings in the Commons, etc.), I'd say she's either already dead or very close to it, with all of this being preparation for the announcement.

I hope I'm wrong!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I have lost count on how many Trump allies and close workers have been busted for crimes. Trump the great judge of character keeps hiring criminals? What?

Well, when you’re a crook and have been surrounded by crooks all your life, it wouldn’t make sense to break from tradition and hire honest people.

[hyped78]

I have lost count on how many Trump allies and close workers have been busted for crimes. Trump the great judge of character keeps hiring criminals? What?

Insufficient CV screening and lack of a robust interview process

[Tami]

Looks like Queen Elizabeth II's health has taken a turn for the worse. Family rushing to Balmoral to say goodbye.

Considering her age....still, very sad.