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

[Kirby101]

So, while everyone is saying how awesome far left Dems are and how rotten Republicans are:

1. Russia/Ukraine: Is it endgame for Ukraine or do they still have a chance? What will it mean if Russia wins this? If Ukraine gets on top, what will it mean if they join the UN?

2. Honduras switches allegiances from Taiwan to PRC China

3. China/Russia/Ukraine peace talks and what is going on also with China's alliance with NK?

4. Will someone please check Russia and China and keep them in their corners?

Who do you consider a "far left Dem"? are there any in Federal office now?

[Adam Allen]

The main way to prove she's not telling the truth would be to demonstrate that she's saying things that are untrue, to contrast her claims with documentation.

This isn't always possible. She may make vague claims that are hard to disprove (if two doctors say that her descriptions do not match their patients, she can claim she's talking about someone else) especially since most of the information is confidential. If no one comes forward to corroborate her claims, that would imply she's lying.

Singal's relevant to the discussion, because he broke the story, so some of the questions are about his ethics. Some of the posts on this thread suggested that we should dismiss the story because he's unreliable. You quoted me as referring to "a claim that an article is false" which would suggest that the author matters.

The specific question was why someone would think she might be telling the truth. That's a different standard.

I am not sure where Singal comes in, but it looks like Reed published her claims more than a month ago, on February 9?

https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-...ing-trans-kids

Missouri's Attorney General called for a moratorium on treatment for kids the next day. The clinic has continued its practices uninterrupted.

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/wa...orney-general/

I mean, Reed made some pretty specific claims of unethical and illegal behavior. Not only are all of the doctors, nurses, therapists etc who work there licensed, and able to lose licenses and be sued for malpractice and things like that, but hospitals and clinics have laws and licenses regulating how they function, as well.

The AG has been investigating these incendiary claims for over a month.

How long would they need to not find anything to support her claims, before you would doubt her?

[4saken1]

Who do you consider a "far left Dem"? are there any in Federal office now?

Aside from Sanders, I imagine such a list being primarily women in Congress with the audacity to speak their minds.

[Kirby101]

Aside from Sanders, I imagine such a list being primarily women in Congress with the audacity to speak their minds.

Sanders is an independent.

[Tami]

Florida Scoured Math Textbooks for ‘Prohibited Topics.’ Next Up: Social Studies.









I mean this is just dumb. The companies trying to cater to idiocy to get their books sold to be used by students is a mess. Those Rosa Parks edits are laughable. History happened. A lot of it was absolutely horrible that humans could do such things to one another. I should make us all feel bad and want to do better and never repeat these things.

There is nothing wrong with clearly explaining the issues of segregation.

[Mister Mets]

I am not sure where Singal comes in, but it looks like Reed published her claims more than a month ago, on February 9?

https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-...ing-trans-kids

Missouri's Attorney General called for a moratorium on treatment for kids the next day. The clinic has continued its practices uninterrupted.

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/wa...orney-general/

I mean, Reed made some pretty specific claims of unethical and illegal behavior. Not only are all of the doctors, nurses, therapists etc who work there licensed, and able to lose licenses and be sued for malpractice and things like that, but hospitals and clinics have laws and licenses regulating how they function, as well.

The AG has been investigating these incendiary claims for over a month.

How long would they need to not find anything to support her claims, before you would doubt her?

I think we'll know in a few months. If you want a specific date, let's go with June 16.

If nothing major comes out by then, we could assume Jamie Reed is lying.

Sanders is an independent.

They don't run anyone against him, and let him chair major committees.

[Adam Allen]

I think we'll know in a few months. If you want a specific date, let's go with June 16.

If nothing major comes out by then, we could assume Jamie Reed is lying.

They don't run anyone against him, and let him chair major committees.

It isn't that I'm looking for a specific date, but that you said, "The main way to prove she's not telling the truth would be to demonstrate that she's saying things that are untrue, to contrast her claims with documentation."

What documentation would change between now and June 16, or any other arbitrarily chosen date?

Or I guess, what would you imagine would happen between now and this future date, that has not happened in the past month? Particularly given the AG was convinced they should stop what they're doing, over a month ago?

[Iron Maiden]

Sanders is an independent.

I think it's fair to say he's going to align himself with the views of the Democrats. I can't see him throwing in with the party that has embraced lunatics like MTG and Boebert.

[Mister Mets]

It isn't that I'm looking for a specific date, but that you said, "The main way to prove she's not telling the truth would be to demonstrate that she's saying things that are untrue, to contrast her claims with documentation."

What documentation would change between now and June 16, or any other arbitrarily chosen date?

Or I guess, what would you imagine would happen between now and this future date, that has not happened in the past month? Particularly given the AG was convinced they should stop what they're doing, over a month ago?

I also said "If no one comes forward to corroborate her claims, that would imply she's lying."

The documentation can take several forms, from evidence in a criminal proceeding to corroborating testimony from other witnesses. If several stories come out showing serious problems at the hospital, it would suggest she's telling the truth. That would imply some kind of systemic failure. And if nothing serious-enough comes out, that would indicate her version of events is unreliable.

I'm thinking several months is a good time-frame, because it allows journalists and prosecutors time to vet claims and allocate necessary resources, and allows for the possibility of unanticipated delays somewhere in the process. Looking at timelines of scandals, sometimes stories with multiple sources/ witnesses take that long to unfold.

[Tendrin]

De Santis is just absurd.

Gov. DeSantis calls COVID a 'woke virus,' praises Florida for avoiding 'Faucian dystopia'

A woke virus, folks.

[Adam Allen]

I also said "If no one comes forward to corroborate her claims, that would imply she's lying."

The documentation can take several forms, from evidence in a criminal proceeding to corroborating testimony from other witnesses. If several stories come out showing serious problems at the hospital, it would suggest she's telling the truth. That would imply some kind of systemic failure. And if nothing serious-enough comes out, that would indicate her version of events is unreliable.

I'm thinking several months is a good time-frame, because it allows journalists and prosecutors time to vet claims and allocate necessary resources, and allows for the possibility of unanticipated delays somewhere in the process. Looking at timelines of scandals, sometimes stories with multiple sources/ witnesses take that long to unfold.

I wasn't emphasizing this part, because it seems like you're not applying it, as yet? No one has come forward to corroborate her claims, in over a month's time. But that implies nothing?

And if the documentation of court proceedings is required, or else her claims should be taken as true? That's kind of a high bar. Does that mean that if there never are any charges that come from her claims -- you will assume she was always telling the truth?

As far as I'm aware, the AG called for the moratorium like a month ago, but there haven't been charges of any kind, I don't think? And again, the clinic continues on with their work daily.

Are you suggesting they are continuing to break the law, while under investigation by the AG and in the media for accusations of wrongdoing? Or more that they have been busy trying to cover their tracks for the last month, and ... despite the ongoing investigation and media attention, they've just been getting away with it, so far?

Because you've said if nothing serious comes out supporting her claims, but has there been anything?

[CaptainEurope]

EXCLUSIVE: Dozens of Mar-a-Lago staff, from servers to aides, are subpoenaed in classified documents probe

Smith has sought testimony from a range of people close to Trump – from his own attorneys who represent him in the matter to staffers who work on the grounds of Mar-a-Lago, including a housekeeper and restaurant servers, sources said.

The staffers are of interest to investigators because of what they may have seen or heard while on their daily duties around the estate, including whether they saw boxes or documents in Trump’s office suite or elsewhere.

“They’re casting an extremely wide net – anyone and everyone who might have seen something,” said one source familiar with the Justice Department’s efforts.

For instance, federal investigators have talked to a Mar-a-Lago staff member seen on security camera footage moving boxes from a storage room with Trump aide Walt Nauta, who has already spoken with investigators.

Meanwhile, Smith continues to pursue Trump defense lawyer Evan Corcoran. In an earlier appearance before the grand jury, Corcoran declined to answer questions about his conversations with Trump related to the classified documents, citing attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors are asking a judge to find that he must answer because the conversations may have been part of advancing a crime or fraud.

A ruling is expected from the DC District Court on Corcoran as early as this week.

[CaptainEurope]

In a major blow to the MAGA noise machine, the DOJ arrested Steven Bannon's main financer, Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui in a billion dollar fraud case. Possibly to destroy evidence, his apartment burned out completely yesterday.

Guo also seems to have been the driving force behind manufacturing a Hunter Biden scandal.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

De Santis is just absurd.



A woke virus, folks.

To the survivors of almost 87,000 people who failed to avoid that Faucian dystopia, they would disagree.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” ran a profile of Clifton Johnson, a candidate for U.S. Senate from Nebraska in the 2014 elections. Johnson’s best, and possibly only qualification for elected office was the fact that he bore a striking resemblance to our first president, George Washington. He tried to parlay that uncanny likeness into framing himself to be the candidate in the race who would best serve the principles of our Founding Fathers (like his idea to abolish the IRS and establish a “consumption tax”, where you would be taxed not on what you earn, but what you spend), and thus ride to victory on the strength of the Tea Party movement. Unfortunately, Johnson’s actual message was an incoherent mess, including an immigration policy that would have 8 U.S. Soldiers placed at every mile marker along the U.S./Mexico border. He refused to do press interviews, which is understandable because the recurring statements he would make seemed to only be that “George Washington is back, and he’s upset.” Johnson only won 2% of the Republican vote in the primary in that election and has disappeared from the political scene since.

On this date in 2016, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” posted a profile of Elbert Guillory, who In the 2015 elections, gave up his seat in the Louisiana State Senate to make a run for Governor of Louisiana, finishing a distant fourth, with only about 8% of the vote. Guillory likes to work on behalf of Republicans to perpetuate the myth that Republican policies actually do better by African Americans, by declaring that he was “leaving the plantation”, and that Democrats are the “Party of Jim Crow”. This, of course, fails to recognize the fact that the Southern Democrats who favored Jim Crow left the Democratic Party over the passage of the Civil Rights Act and switched to the same Republican Party that Guillory finds himself in. Y’know, the one whose party platform advocates for strict Voter ID Laws that serve as a 21st Century Jim Crow. But anyway, that’s just the tip of the iceberg with Guillory. In May 2015, he actually argued in defense of a law on the books in Louisiana that allows teachers to promote Creationism or other unscientific theories as an alternative to teaching evolution by claiming there was a time when scientists thought the world was flat, and when religious people tried telling them it was round, it was the religious people who were burned at the stake for their heretical stance against science. Unless Elbert Guillory was born on Bizarro World, I have no idea what his problem is. Maybe it’s just that he’s worried what the voodoo houngans might think. (No, we’re serious. When that law for teaching Creationism popped up originally he argued in favor of it by referencing voodoo.) But back to Elbert Guillory commenting on race… When you’re talking about political discourse in this country being at its most polarized point… Guillory sure does his part. Take his starring in a campaign ad in North Carolina in the 2014 elections to take shots at Sen. Kay Hagan in her bid for re-election where he said that Democrats were “limousine liberals who have become our new overseers”. Or how prior to the 2015 election in Louisiana, when he ran an ad to campaign against Kip Holden, a Democrat running for lieutenant governor, by running an ad where he just straight up looked in the camera and used the N-Word. Guillory’s inflammatory racial rhetoric is far from his only controversial issue, as one of his biggest legislative efforts since taking office was to push hard for the legalization of “chicken boxing”, which he insists should not be cast aside because it’s a whole different, classy sport and unrelated cockfighting (the non-sport that’s actually animal abuse). And his passion for chicken boxing got Guillory noticed by Steven Colbert, who ran a segment on him in April of 2014. As recently as January of 2016, Guillory was still putting out videos to attack Democrats that were mired in conservative fantasy-land, including one about how, in Guillory’s warped mind, President Obama is tougher on American gun owners than he is ISIS (last I checked, Wayne LaPierre wasn’t the target of a drone strike, so…) In the 2016 elections, Guillory tried to get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District, but managed to finish a distant fifth in the primary, earning about 8% of the vote.


On this date in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, as well as 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Bob McDermott, who has served in the Hawaii House of Representatives since winning office since 2012 (after several years away), who moved to the Aloha State from Pennsylvania and quickly rose in the ranks of the GOP there for his brazen opposition to LGBTQ rights. Bob McDermott was trying to ban gay marriage in Hawaii as far back as 1998, when he served two terms in office before disappearing from the Hawaiian political scene for a decade. In 2014, was trying to still filibuster attempts at legalizing same sex marriage in the state, and falsely claim that Hawaiian citizens voted to ban same sex marriage in ’98. Among the bills he’s introduced include an amendment to the state constitution to “reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples” (that would be immediately overturned as unconstitutional via the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling), a bill to redefine the term “place of public accommodation” to allow religiously-affiliated organizations including hotels, restaurants, movie theatres, hospitals (!), retail stores, and mortuaries to deny services to LGBTQ people. How self-righteously stupid is it to try something like that in Hawaii? Let’s put it this way…Neither of those McDermott bills has even a single co-sponsor. McDermott has also proposed a bill focused on limiting the Department of Education’s ability to implement sexual health education programs which he hopes will eliminate all mention of LGBTQ people in public classrooms, and is also currently at the forefront of the Hawaii’s GOP’s attempts to prevent their Democratic counterparts from a bill to ban public school teachers from promoting ‘gay conversion therapy,’ a practice discredited by all leading national medical and psychological authorities because it is ineffective, risky, and can be harmful. If you ask McDermott, though, it’s the “gay cure”, which would then mean yes, he views homosexuality as a disease. The bigoted rhetoric for him knows no boundaries for taste, either. In January of 2014, Bob McDermott hosted a press conference where he decried gay sex in a long rant, that featured a big focus on anuses. No, really, he spoke, “The anus is presented as genitalia, just another sex organ. This is another example of forced ‘equality’ by ignoring the natural function of the rectum and anus. Therefore ‘political’ correctness dictates that the male rectum and the female vagina are ‘equal’ in terms of being sexual organs. This totally ignores the obvious facts of human biology and reproduction.”

Of late, Bob McDermott’s fanaticism has begun to even carry over to what few colleagues he has in the state legislature. In early February 2017, the Hawaii GOP voted to oust their own House Minority Leader, Beth Fukumoto, for the grievous offense of having attended a women’s march to protest the presidency of Donald Trump the day after his inauguration. McDermott chastised her for this on the floor of the Hawaii House, saying, “You are speaking not for yourself anymore. It is a high-level responsibility.” At that point, Fukumoto took stock of her party, rallying around a misogynistic orange bigot, and with her main ally being a deranged wild-eyed homophobe obsessed with anuses only slightly less than the mad scientist from the film Human Centipede and opted to switch to the Democratic Party.

McDermott continued in his anti-LGBTQ extremism in 2019, voting against a ban on gay conversion therapy and voted against a bill that would establish a non-binary gender option on state IDs.

For whatever reason, he thought he had a chance of winning a statewide election in 2022, and became a challenger to Democratic Senator Brian Schatz. He was, predictably, curbstomped in a statewide election, getting just 23% of the vote, and is now out of office. We hope he stays out of office, and will give him our heartiest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salutes at this time.