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

[worstblogever]

I read MARCH. A great read, which should be required reading in high school American history classes.

Seconded.

This man... is one of the best people that the universe ever deemed to put upon this Earth. I'm... I was literally going to plan a visit to DC when everything blows over to try and meet this man, and thank him for all he's done with his life. Like, literally, that was the plan. No sightseeing tour, no nothing, I just wanted to tell this guy thank you in person.

Gonna need some time on this.

[Kuro no Shinigami]

This is as close to "smoldering crater" as one can realistically get in 4 years. Stop downplaying the threat your party's candidate poses to this country, and this planet.

You are exaggerating. It will take more than Donald Trump to destroy this country and the ideals it represents, let alone this planet.

No, he is not the one who will destroy the United States of America, but the American people can, since they forgot the teachings of the founding fathers and do not respect each other's political views. Instead they are shoving their beliefs down each other's throats, thinking that their beliefs are better than the others. That is why we have the Divided States of America. Trump may not have started the Great Divide but he has encouraged the division among the American people.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published a profile on Jeremy Durham, a former House Majority Whip of the Tennessee House of Representatives, and, for lack of a better term, a colossal, skeevy f***-up. The first scandal that broke about Jeremy Durham back in December of 2015 seemed like something that a legislator might survive politically if they just kept a low profile… news leaded that back in 2013, Durham was accused of potential prescription drug fraud, having supposedly altered it in an attempt to get more Adderall. No charges were filed, no big deal, right? Well, a few days later, the media in Tennessee were digging more into Durham’s background, and saw that he had gone out of his way to ask a judge for leniency in the case of a youth pastor who had been caught in an improper relationship with a 16 year old, and while the cops were looking into that, the pastor was also found to be in possession of child pornography. Really interesting that this was the charity case Durham took up, huh? (More on this in a minute…) Well, then a few days after that, the Tennessean ran a story about an ongoing sexual harassment claim against Jeremy Durham, and the next thing you knew, ladies in the state legislature started coming forward stories about uncomfortable encounters where they were similarly harassed by Durham, and one of the common threads seemed to be that he was trying to get them alone, or into an encounter where they’d partake in some alcohol. Over the course of several months, a ton of women were producing evidence in the form of sexually-suggestive text messages from Durham (often apparently while he was under the influence of alcohol), as well, and a state Attorney General’s investigation came to the conclusion that he was, quite frankly, a creepy bastard. The funny part of all this, though, is that Jeremy Durham had been one of the loudest voices calling for one of those transphobic bathroom bills a lot of state legislators around the country are calling for, based on the idea that there were men pretending to be women and rolling up on them in public restrooms to assault them (which actually isn’t happening).

But Durham was pervy enough that the Tennessee state legislature literally banned him to his own separate building, because he’s too much of a pervert to be trusted around the opposite sex. We wish we could share all of the details of Durham’s shenanigans to further embarrass him, but alas, Durham and his attorney are fighting to keep them legally sealed, even as the state Attorney General is trying to disclose them to the media, who sure want the dirt. A vote was held to officially expel him from the state legislature, and we’re going to guess that means his career in politics is mercifully over.


Back in 2014, 2015, and after a one year hiatus from us covering him, again in 2017, 2018, and then in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of Mississippi State Senator Chris McDaniel, the Tea Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Mississippi who you might remember as the guy who considers any compromise to be a "surrender", and attends meetings of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. When he gets caught speaking to people who think the Antebellum South was keen, or cash donations from lawyers for the KKK, he frequently, gets caught lying about it, too. But McDaniel was the challenger to Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, who sent operatives into the nursing home where Cochran's wife was convalescing to have pictures of her taken laid up in bed to try and portray Cochran as some heartless monster who doesn't care about her. One of his aides committed suicide after being caught in the disgusting scandal, which McDaniel, not entirely convincingly, claimed he had no knowledge of. After many failed lawsuits stemming from his 2014 election loss to Thad Cochran (he was furious Cochran had Democrats vote in the open primary on the Republican ticket, and select Cochran, since he was less extreme of an option), McDaniel’s career as a Mississippi State Senator is beginning to stall, as well, as every piece of legislation he has written throughout his time in office thus far has died in committee. McDaniel remains an all-around heel, responding to the hugely attended Women’s March on Washington, D.C., the day after the Trump inauguration by trolling on Facebook, referring to the crowd as "a group of unhappy liberal women" and asking how they "can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, when they want us to pay for their birth control?"

Well, that was akin to kicking a hornet’s nest. He was far from apologetic the next day, ranting that "no amount of liberal hell raising" would ever make him change his opinion about "free abortions" (This is the guy who considers any kind of compromise to be “surrender” of course), and laughing off the disgust at his remarks, because he felt that "literally 99 percent of you are not from MS. Perfect. It's nice to know I'm in your heads."

See? You can be an ***hole to the majority of the country… just make sure none of them are from your state, and no one will notice!

We noticed, Chris. We also noticed that as Sen. Thad Cochran announced his impending retirement in 2018, that Chris McDaniel was not content to sit and watch Missouri Gov. Phil Bryant appoint Cindy Hyde-Smith to the U.S. Senate, and McDaniel enterED the special election to fill out the remainder of Cochran’s term that ends in 2020, to avenge his 2014 loss.

During the primary for that race, polling showed Mike Espy and Cindy Hyde-Smith in a virtual tie at about 33%, and McDaniel trailing in a distant third, with about 12%. Although, McDaniel insisted that such numbers are from a “fake poll”, and just a “dirty trick” because of course he did. As the election advanced further, McDaniel tried to stir up support online among the Neo-Confederate crowd by first calling Conderate General Robert E. Lee a “hero” and posting a survey on his Twitter whether or not people should consider Robert E. Lee agreed. Let us us describe the response McDaniel received as “ratio’ed”.

Chris McDaniel ended up losing in the primary in the race for U.S. Senate, finishing third with only 16% of the vote. He was up for re-election in 2019 for his seat in the Mississippi State Senate, and will be re-elected on the basis that no one bothered to run against him. He thus will remain in office until 2023, where he will continue to vote against such modest suggestions for improving society as guaranteeing equal pay for women, and voting against removing the Confederate iconography from the Mississippi state flag, even under threat of sports and tourism boycotts if the state did not. McDaniel was quoted as saying “WHAT’S THE RUSH?” about taking something off the flag celebrating a failed rebellion over keeping human slaves from 160 years ago.

Simply put, he remains a racist tool.

[worstblogever]

You are exaggerating. It will take more than Donald Trump to destroy this country and the ideals it represents, let alone this planet.

Counterpoint: The dumb f***er wanted to nuke a hurricane, buy Greenland, and sell Puerto Rico and currently has mercenaries kidnapping people off the streets in Portland.

[Tendrin]

You are exaggerating. It will take more than Donald Trump to destroy this country and the ideals it represents, let alone this planet.

Tell that to the climate.

[PaulBullion]

You are exaggerating. It will take more than Donald Trump to destroy this country and the ideals it represents, let alone this planet.

No, he is not the one who will destroy the United States of America, but the American people can, since they forgot the teachings of the founding fathers and do not respect each other's political views. Instead they are shoving their beliefs down each other's throats, thinking that their beliefs are better than the others. That is why we have the Divided States of America. Trump may not have started the Great Divide but he has encouraged the division among the American people.

That's really not it, KnS.

[PaulBullion]

Counterpoint: The dumb f***er wanted to nuke a hurricane, buy Greenland, and sell Puerto Rico and currently has mercenaries kidnapping people off the streets in Portland.

... and wants to fight a pandemic by injecting bleach and reducing tests.

[Gray Lensman]

Counterpoint: The dumb f***er wanted to nuke a hurricane, buy Greenland, and sell Puerto Rico and currently has mercenaries kidnapping people off the streets in Portland.

I think the point is that Agolf Twittler needs his enablers. Those who refuse to hold him accountable, those who gleefully jump at the chance to be his personal Stasi, those who happily withhold allotted funds on his say so, those who try and find ways to enact the agenda the voices in his head want, and those who eagerly swallow his lies. He may be at the head of it all, but he can't do these things alone. Millions of people in this country will one day have to face facts and realize that to find the ones to blame they need look no further than a mirror.

[Kirby101]

Trump might be the pit bull that is running around tearing up everyone's stuff and biting whoever it can. But it is Mitch McConnell who is keeping him off the leash. Who stopped this rabid animal from being put down right before we fell into this devastating crisis. Metaphorically speaking.

[PaulBullion]

Trump might be the pit bull that is running around tearing up everyone's stuff and biting whoever it can. But it is Mitch McConnell who is keeping him off the leash. Who stopped this rabid animal from being put down right before we fell into this devastating crisis. Metaphorically speaking.

They probably share the same short-sighted, hair-raising attitude shown by Mr. Meds here: they think they'll be able to fix things after 8 years of Trump, and all they care about is having decades of an anti-abortion, pro-corporation, homophobic judiciary.

[Kirby101]

They probably share the same short-sighted, hair-raising attitude shown by Mr. Meds here: they think they'll be able to fix things after 8 years of Trump, and all they care about is having decades of an anti-abortion, pro-corporation, homophobic judiciary.

Actually, all Mitch cares about is rich people getting richer and not paying any taxes.

[batnbreakfast]

You are exaggerating. It will take more than Donald Trump to destroy this country and the ideals it represents, let alone this planet.

No, he is not the one who will destroy the United States of America, but the American people can, since they forgot the teachings of the founding fathers and do not respect each other's political views. Instead they are shoving their beliefs down each other's throats, thinking that their beliefs are better than the others. That is why we have the Divided States of America. Trump may not have started the Great Divide but he has encouraged the division among the American people.

What if he gets drunk and decides to put his nuclear arsenal to good use?

[The Cool Thatguy]

What if he gets drunk and decides to put his nuclear arsenal to good use?

Trump actually doesn't drink. His perhaps only non vice.

[Kirby101]

Unfortunately he doesn't need to be drunk to want to nuke someone.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Unfortunately he doesn't need to be drunk to want to nuke someone.

True, but in all seriousness, I think he has enough people around him to dissuade him from doing anything too stupid. He's not a complete toddler...just mostly