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

[worstblogever]

If only it were that he had developed into a partisan cheap-shot artist, and not that he also voted against the interests of the American people as a legislator:

• June 19th, 2013: Jason Smith votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
• September 30th, 2013: Rep. Smith votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown. When the vote came up seventeen days later to re-open the government, Smith voted to keep it closed.
• Feb 26th, 2014: Jason Smith goes "all in" on the faux-scandal surrounding the IRS researching SuperPACs by voting for the "Stop the Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act".
• July 10th, 2014: Smith votes for House Amendment 1040, to prevent the implementation of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 Treaty.
• January 22nd, 2015: Jason Smith votes for HR 7, an anti-abortion bill that makes even some Republicans pause before voting for it because of its language that tries to define the conditions for what “rape” is, in it. predicted.
• September 11th, 2015: Smith votes against the United States' nuclear treaty with Iran.
• September 18th, 2015: Rep. Smith votes for a bill with most House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.
• November 19th, 2015: Smith votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks.
• February 2nd, 2016: Jason Smith votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which was working better than was predicted).
• February 16th, 2017: Smith votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping.
• March 16th, 2017: Jason Smith votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge's written order.
• May 4th, 2017: Smith votes for the GOP's healthcare plan, that would allow 24,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Smith would be allowed to keep his own healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA.
• June 8th, 2017: Jason Smith votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform.
• October 3rd, 2017: Smith votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
• December 19th, 2017: Jason Smith votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
• February 18th, 2018: Rep. Smith and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and votes for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Smith voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/116-2019/h49
• January 27th, 2019: Jason Smith votes against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attack Smith our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 28th, 2019: Smith votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Smith 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.
• April 4th, 2019: Jason Smith is one of 158 Republicans who choose to against the re-authorization of the Violence Againt Women Act.
• May 17th, 2019: Smith votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Smith votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Jason Smith 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”.
• December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Smith is one of 71 Republicans who votes against a resolution to disallow Russia from re-entering the G7 and makes it the G8 until it leaves Ukraine.
• December 18th, 2019: Smith ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump.
• May 15th, 2020: Smith votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Missouri’s 8th Congressional District is the most conservative in a red state, currently with a +24 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index. Jason Smith is unlikely to be unseated in November in his race against Democrat Kathy Ellis, who lost to Smith by 50 points only two years ago. It looks like he will get a fifth term in office, and continue to embody the most extreme attitudes of the modern pretenders the GOP put in Congress.

[Jack Dracula]

Let’s not forget the likes of Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh and Faux News have contributed greatly to the dumbing down of Republicans as a whole while ramping up their paranoia and bottomless white grievance. The latter played a big part in this mess, whites see the country becoming more and more of a melting pot in terms of races, faiths and sexual orientation, none of which they can stomach, they see themselves as no longer being at the top of the societal food chain, and that frightens them, of course, as is always the case, people invariably hate what they fear. Trump tapped into all that hate and fear and rode it all the way to the Oval Office, now he’s weaponized both to use for his shot at a second term.

Though Limbaugh and company have much to answer for, I think Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have a lot to do with our current problems. Without them Russia would've had no way to disseminate misinformation to the extent they've been proven to have done.

[Tami]

Folks, this really happened.

Screenshot_2020-08-21 John Whitehouse on Twitter Folks, this really happened.jpg

Bannon talking on a Yacht off of San Tropez 'jokes' about stealing all the money from their build a wall fundraining marathon.

[Username taken]

Though Limbaugh and company have much to answer for, I think Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have a lot to do with our current problems. Without them Russia would've had no way to disseminate misinformation to the extent they've been proven to have done.

And its a problem on YouTube.

Just do a little digging on political videos and you'd be astonished at the number of bots on there.

That's aside the channels devoted to fake news, bigotry and conspiracy theories.

[Username taken]

Folks, this really happened.

Screenshot_2020-08-21 John Whitehouse on Twitter Folks, this really happened.jpg

Bannon talking on a Yacht off of San Tropez 'jokes' about stealing all the money from their build a wall fundraining marathon.

Bannon was arrested on a yacht..by postal services.

Lololol.

[The no face guy]

I dont think I am placating the forum to fit in. More often then not I stay away from this thread. I was just trying to explain that I really dont know as much as other people on here. My views are kind of all over the place because I am still learning. maybe after more research I will stay a conservative, maybe I will be more liberal, maybe somewhere in the middle. I just dont know yet. i do know that I very much dislike Trump because I feel he has ruined the party that I have been part of my whole life. THere were things I believed my whole life and have been told that I am seeing are not true, or not the way it was told to me and that is confusing. There are things I was told that I still do believe. I am just very unsure. Maybe it is odd for a 39 year old man to be so confused about this kind of stuff but for me it is pretty upsetting and I am trying to figure out just where I stand. Not trying to placte but trying to grow. There are some conservative views that I know I will not change on because I do believe in them strongly. Thee are some conservative views that are not as rock solid as I thought. I am tough on crime. I do believe in a strong police force. I support the police,change how some of the funding is used but do not cut their budget. I believe in strong well funded prisons. I dont like the idea of letting most criminals who are arrested out on no or low bail. Social programs or intervention over sentencing just arnt going to work out in most cases. Some cases yes but not most.
Things like that.

I dont mean to apologize for my views but more for my lack of understanding on the issues or for letting fake news guide my views.

First, I apologize that some of your family has disowned you for your sexuality. if you don't mind me saying so, I find that disgusting and uncivilized, there is ample evidence to suggest that homosexuality is genetic, we are still in the infancy of our neuroscience to make empirical claims on the issue, but one day we will be able to do so. There should be no room for homophobia in the Conservative or any political movement, but that unfortunately is not the case, particularly in the United States.

Thus I would recommend you check out some British scholars. You mentioned your a gay conservative with concerns about immigration, you therefore might want to check out Douglas Murray. He is a polemic gay conservative who focuses on critiquing issues like immigration. For Criminal Justice reform you could look at British journalist Peter Hitchens, but since the issue of Criminal Justice Reform is highly racialized in the United States, I would suggest Coleman Hughes, he's a brilliant young African American scholar only in his early 20's

Finally, make sure you get a balanced approach so you don't become indoctrinated, I hesitate to recommend anyone on a US news network, but Van Jones is a good representative on liberal criminal justice reform, I'm trying to think of someone on the left for immigration that's not full on hardcore SJW, it's hard because the left use to be tough on the borders until it flipped, as this use to be a right wing libertarian issue, so I would suggest Jason Riley, he's very much a right wing libertarian Republican, but he advocates for open borders.

Hope that helps, cheers.

[The no face guy]

I don't think the questions themselves are left leaning, but they are meant to provoke an emotional reaction regarding certain social values. The choices are to avoid people giving to many fence sitting answers. Which of course is the whole point I guess, to force people to choose a side.

I disagree, I find them very left leaning, though not intentionally so. Most academics in the social sciences lean quite left, particularly in the realms of sociology and political science, so I don't even think they're are aware they are doing it when they draft the questions, it's probably a case of unconscious bias. (The Pew Research test is particularly bad)

It bugs me, because I want the most accurate possible results that have not been tainted by bias. Thus I end up taking this biased right wing libertarian quiz, as I'm always guaranteed to come out progressive but more authoritarian than libertarian because I support the welfare state, which of course is a crime against freedom for Freidreich Hayek worshipers.

[babyblob]

First, I apologize that some of your family has disowned you for your sexuality. if you don't mind me saying so, I find that disgusting and uncivilized, there is ample evidence to suggest that homosexuality is genetic, we are still in the infancy of our neuroscience to make empirical claims on the issue, but one day we will be able to do so. There should be no room for homophobia in the Conservative or any political movement, but that unfortunately is not the case, particularly in the United States.

Thus I would recommend you check out some British scholars. You mentioned your a gay conservative with concerns about immigration, you therefore might want to check out Douglas Murray. He is a polemic gay conservative who focuses on critiquing issues like immigration. For Criminal Justice reform you could look at British journalist Peter Hitchens, but since the issue of Criminal Justice Reform is highly racialized in the United States, I would suggest Coleman Hughes, he's a brilliant young African American scholar only in his early 20's

Finally, make sure you get a balanced approach so you don't become indoctrinated, I hesitate to recommend anyone on a US news network, but Van Jones is a good representative on liberal criminal justice reform, I'm trying to think of someone on the left for immigration that's not full on hardcore SJW, it's hard because the left use to be tough on the borders until it flipped, as this use to be a right wing libertarian issue, so I would suggest Jason Riley, he's very much a right wing libertarian Republican, but he advocates for open borders.

Hope that helps, cheers.

This very much helps. Thank you for the information

Thank you for your thoughts regarding my family. it has been hard at times but truth be told my mom and dad very much support me that is all that matters. The rest can go fly a kite for all I care.

[Tami]

These things are so frustrating, how did I come out an anarchist when I answered that I think zombies should be killed on site???

https://fee.org/articles/quiz-can-we...ter-questions/

I tired it and it called me a Conservative.

[The no face guy]

I tired it and it called me a Conservative.

Lol, it must be a joke, or not very well thought out...you don't strike me as a Conservative

I thought I might have come out anarchist because I feared totalitarian fascists like Emperor Palpatine & Thanos the most...it would be interesting to see how they calculated the votes.

Oh well, it was fun answering monster questions.

[Hypestyle]

Looks like the Biden campaign has stumbled into a "Shirley Sherrod" moment: Palestinian activist and DNC delegate Linda Sarsour gets broadsided after a Fox-esque media outlet pushes Biden's camp on her (authorized) presence at the convention: Roland Martin interviews her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdKtG9UrUi4

[ed2962]

I tired it and it called me a Conservative.

The Monster Test called me a Socialist but the other one called me a Libertarian.

[sammy_hansen]

Actually, when the questions are asked in terms of rights and policy, and not in terms of Democrat/Republican, America is quite progressive. Even if they don't identify themselves as "liberal".

https://prospect.org/power/americans-liberal-even-know/

This is consistent with other polls I have seen over the years.

The numbers are convincing, but what’s the reality? Where’s the gun control? Healthcare? Public education? Environmental protection?

As soon as you tell Americans that social justice might cause tax increases or may threaten specific jobs then they roll back their support very, very quickly.

If you asked me to think of nation with progressive people then the USA would not be front of mind. Norway perhaps.

[numberthirty]

The numbers are convincing, but what’s the reality? Where’s the gun control? Healthcare? Public education? Environmental protection?

As soon as you tell Americans that social justice might cause tax increases or may threaten specific jobs then they roll back their support very, very quickly.

If you asked me to think of nation with progressive people then the USA would not be front of mind. Norway perhaps.

Politely...

What you are talking about has everything to do with that politicians are largely bought and paid for in the States and almost nothing to do with the political views of John/Jane Public.

Two completely different things.

Take just marijuana legalization at the Federal level.

Do you honestly buy into that policy thus far actually reflects the will of the average American citizen?

[GindyPosts]

True enough, however brief, they ran the government, this is no new con. On my Dad's side I can trace back family as far as I can and it's never outside of Indiana. That 1 in 3 sounds ominous but you gotta remember the other 2 out of the 3 were well aware of the tide of hate and most of that 1/3 had families and wife's who tended those robes and sent their kids to school spouting those lines. Without going on and on one of the oldest heirlooms I had at one time was a revolver from a great, great Uncle who owned part of a store in Marion he owned for personal protection. It took decades to fight that infestation and in most ways it just became cooled and moved to the back burner.



This plaque I pass nearly every day on my way to the hospital. This ain't ancient history, we're about a hundred years out and if one thinks that period didn't plant certain seeds, you don't wanna think of it at all.

And they don't teach anyone that in school in the Hoosier State, let me tell you. They'll happily tell you about Madame C.J. Walker, but they'll gloss over the fact one of our governors was a Grand Wizard. Considering we left a giant Confederate monument in a park on the south side of Indianapolis long after the remains of the Confederate soldiers was moved to Crown Hill Cemetery and gave them a proper burial should explain matters.