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

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who made a run at the presidency as well in 2016. In our original profile, we talked about his background as a career military reservist and lawyer who is always spoiling for a war that he never seems to give much thought as to the why or how it will be fought, just that we should ABSOLUTELY fight it. Sen. Graham also is prolifically paranoid, worrying about terror threats both foreign and domestic, from roaming gangs after a hurricane that would require the citizenry to be armed with automatic weapons, or that every nation in the Middle East from Iran, to Iraq, to Syria has developed a nuclear weapon. He also justifies the permanent detainment of people at Guantanamo Bay based off the precedent set by internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, which is a pretty dark chapter of American history to use as a guideline, while claiming that Hilary Clinton “got away with murder” during the Benghazi attacks, acting like she was in on the attack on her own friend, Ambassador Chris Stevens. Oh, and speaking of his criticism of Hillary Clinton, he tried criticizing her about her usage of an e-mail server by boasting that he had never written an e-mail. Oh, and he later compared that to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, because e-mails are like getting a blowie from an intern, apparently.

Anyway, during Graham's run for the presidency in 2016, we covered how he admirably tried defending his amigo, Sen. John McCain's service record to insults from Donald Trump, and for his trouble, he had his cell phone number given out by Trump, publicly. Sen. Graham's response was then to release a campaign video of himself destroying his cell phone with several implements (rather than just get his number changed). Graham has frequently been caught lying about facts surrounding 9/11 to shape immigration policy, and through the 2016 presidential debates (at least, the "kid's table" debate he was in because his poll numbers were that awful) continued fear-mongering, using every question about any topic to segue into a discussion of ISIS and declaring, "The world is a battlefield and radical Islam is everywhere." His response to the terror attacks in Paris, was to insist the United States send 10,000 ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, warning that "there's a 9/11 coming". A short time later, though, after Democrats produced some common sense gun legislation, that anyone who is found to be on a terror watch list during a background check should not be allowed to purchase a firearm or explosives (which they could use to carry out a terror attack)… well, Lindsey Graham loves the Second Amendment way more than he hates terrorism, as he voted against it. On two occasions.

Just when we thought that perhaps Senator Lindsey Graham might be the last Republican with a conscience after he repeatedly criticized Donald Trump and his own party throughout late 2016… well, we got too close to Graham having to defend his U.S. Senate seat in a GOP Primary in a red state like South Carolina in 2020… and his heel turn came due. And when it arrived, it was pretty f***ing hard to miss. It was in the midst of the hearings to confirm Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that Graham snapped back hard to the right, digging in on conspiracy theories, and defending an admitted drunk and alleged rapist in a sneering, near-spittle-projecting tirade playing out across live cable news broadcasts. He blew off protesters trying to relate their own experiences with sexual assault, coldly telling them, “Go to the cops” rather than stop and listen to them.

Since that day, Graham has been relentlessly partisan, and suckling at the teat of Trump whenever possible, because he’s so loyal to his old friend John McCain that he didn’t even let the body get cold before selling out. He’ll argue against gun control, claiming he needs an AR-15 to “fend off looters during a hurricane”, and spending most of the summer of 2019 lying his ass off about the Trump administration’s concentration camps that hold immigrants, saying “I don’t care if they stay for 400 days” (the legal allowed holding time for undocumented immigrants to be held per the law is 90 days) and for whatever reason, he wanted to make it easier for the Trump administration to keep children locked in cages.

The capitulation continued in 2020, as Graham voted against witnesses being allowed in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, effectively making it a “trial”, and then voted to acquit him only days later, in spite of the mountain of evidence showing that he solicited foreign assistance in the 2020 elections.

We don’t know what else to say, except that we’re also curious about the mysterious case of Lady G. Mike Rogers, a journalist with a long history of outing hypocritical gay conservatives with Anti-LGBTQ motivations (and a 100% track record of being right, at that), intimated that Graham was about to be outed. Not long before, Sean Harding, a gay porn star and Black Lives Matter activist, posted on Twitter about a “homophobic Republican Senator” who had a history of “hiring gay sex workers.” Harding referred to this individual as “Lady G”, and speculation was rampant that “Lady G” was “Lady Graham”. Still, as of this writing, nothing further has come from the rumors.

There isn’t an emptier suit in Washington, D.C. than Lindsey Graham. For all his rage and bile, deep down, he’s a coward who stands up for the worst, and inflicts harm upon the most innocent. And that will be his legacy, when all is said and done. But for now… he’s in a dead heat with his 2020 Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, in South Carolina. SOUTH CAROLINA. Harrison is raising more money than Graham, and after a quarter century of him having fits where he’ll go into a rage, before clutching his pearls and heading to his fainting couch… maybe people are tired of him?

We sure as **** know we are.

[numberthirty]

Oh I agree, but I also realize how much of an uphill battle that will be. I'm just trying to spitball solutions that could be beneficial and would be fairly easy to at least try implementing.

Exactly.

While I don't want to be super gloomy about this, I'm not even sure how many of the nation's police unions are ready to sit down and have a serious discussion about this.

Even something like "From Your Perspective, Where Are The Lines That When Crossed Absolutely Demand Accountability?" feels like it is probably a complete non-starter at this point.

[Username taken]

As a Canadian it's harder for me to get a clear perspective of the situation in the United States, because there are many things that are different, but I would say....

that officer bang bang shouldn't be employed, he should be going through re-training, or being discharged. There is no place for him in a modern police force.,and that

every officer should be officer feelings, or at least be treating the suspect like a citizen first and a suspected criminal second.

Finally, I like your idea of a non emergency line, unfortunately if a person is triggered by seeing a black person in their neighborhood, chances are they are going to phone 911 anyways. (They probably have some mental health issues of their own when I hear why some people have called into 911)

It's probably one of those things that is so systemically entrenched culturally, that sadly it will probably take more than a lifetime to fully resolve, neverthless it couldn't hurt to give it a try.

Lol...those guys and “karens” that call 911 on black people know exactly what they’re doing. It’s very painful to say but the fact is most white people KNOW that the police and black people have an uneasy relationship. The ones that call cops on black people almost always use specific language about being threatened with the hope that the situation escalates into something uglier.

And sadly, in some cases they do. Tamir Rice was just 12 when police saw him playing with a toy gun in a park and shot him dead. A 12 year old child.

[Username taken]

Hurricane Laura brings down Confederate monument a southern town recently voted to keep in place

God works in mysterious ways.

[babyblob]

Exactly.

While I don't want to be super gloomy about this, I'm not even sure how many of the nation's police unions are ready to sit down and have a serious discussion about this.

Even something like "From Your Perspective, Where Are The Lines That When Crossed Absolutely Demand Accountability?" feels like it is probably a complete non-starter at this point.

I am guessing none of them are. I mean we never hear anything about police reform until a shooting or something. Then it is all the same. We didnt know why the officer acted like this. It came out of left field. Never mind the officer has in some cases dozens of complaints against them.

Then when a bad officer does step over the line it is the same song and dance, We will look into how we can change and this will not happen again. Then three weeks later it is forgotten. Or worse happens again.

Rather then punishing the bad officers they move them. Officers jump departments all the time. An example. The county jail I was in after my arrest was controlled by the sheriff's office so sheriff deputies were the guards. There was one deputy that had 11 complaints of use of force against him in four years. He was fired. But two weeks later was hired by a cities police office in the same county. Three weeks into his new job there was an incident where he beat the hell out of a man. Still not fired. he still works in the county on his fourth department.

Edit - 11 complaints not 17

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Hurricane Laura brings down Confederate monument a southern town recently voted to keep in place

Best news I’ve heard all day. Mother Nature delivered some much needed social justice.

[The no face guy]

Lol...those guys and “karens” that call 911 on black people know exactly what they’re doing. It’s very painful to say but the fact is most white people KNOW that the police and black people have an uneasy relationship. The ones that call cops on black people almost always use specific language about being threatened with the hope that the situation escalates into something uglier.

And sadly, in some cases they do. Tamir Rice was just 12 when police saw him playing with a toy gun in a park and shot him dead. A 12 year old child.

Yes, well, if they don't feel threatened and it's straight up racism that is driving the call than that's pretty insidious and evil, and not something I can really comprehend as a Canadian.

I like KOSLOX idea of a non emergency phone line, even though I think the paranoids will call 911 anyways, it's worth a try.

Good luck to you guys on police reform, maybe a change in government will lead to some federal initiatives to put pressure on the States, it may be an uphill battle, but you can always get involved as a public citizen to petition for change.

[KOSLOX]

Lol...those guys and “karens” that call 911 on black people know exactly what they’re doing. It’s very painful to say but the fact is most white people KNOW that the police and black people have an uneasy relationship. The ones that call cops on black people almost always use specific language about being threatened with the hope that the situation escalates into something uglier.

And sadly, in some cases they do. Tamir Rice was just 12 when police saw him playing with a toy gun in a park and shot him dead. A 12 year old child.

Based on Tuesday night I wonder why they didn't let Tamir flee to Pennsylvania.

I mean if a kid sitting down minding his own business is a lethal threat you'd think a kid fleeing from a shots fired incident carrying a rifle would have at least garnered a look.

[numberthirty]

Based on Tuesday night I wonder why they didn't let Tamir flee to Pennsylvania.

I mean if a kid sitting down minding his own business is a lethal threat you'd think a kid fleeing from a shots fired incident carrying a rifle would have at least garnered a look.

On that...

I noticed that one of the cops mentioned everything being "Post-Curfew".

While I'm not going to say that he has no point, how is dealing with armed folks who are out after curfew not job one? Avoiding doing so is just asking for something unfortunate to happen.

That said, some of the reporting I have heard(no telling how solid it is...) suggests that a journalist who tried to help one of the men who died said that the man that the seventeen year old only wounded had a pistol.

[The no face guy]

On that...

I noticed that one of the cops mentioned everything being "Post-Curfew".

While I'm not going to say that he has no point, how is dealing with armed folks who are out after curfew not job one? Avoiding doing so is just asking for something unfortunate to happen.

That said, some of the reporting I have heard(no telling how solid it is...) suggests that a journalist who tried to help one of the men who died said that the man that the seventeen year old only wounded had a pistol.

The seventeen year old had no business being there in the first place. You don't drive into another state and walk into a mob carrying a semi automatic rifle with opposing views unless you are looking to start trouble.

There would be no riot if Jacob Blake had not been shot in the back several times. There would be no dead protestors if the 17 year old shooter hadn't showed up, he should have been at home playing video games. Period, end of story.

[KOSLOX]

The seventeen year old had no business being there in the first place. You don't drive into another state and walk into a mob carrying a semi automatic rifle with opposing views unless you are looking to start trouble.

There would be no riot if Jacob Blake had not been shot in the back several times. There would be no dead protestors if the 17 year old shooter hadn't showed up, he should have been at home playing video games. Period, end of story.

100% on all of that.

[Robotman]

Hurricane Laura brings down Confederate monument a southern town recently voted to keep in place

Confederate monument withstands protests

Mother Nature: "Hold my beer."

[Malvolio]

When other politicians have a scandal come out in the media, their immediate reaction is to run interference or try to cover up the specific scandal. Not Donald Trump. When a scandal involving Donald Trump leaks out in the media, what's Trump's response? Leak out another scandal. Before anyone can get to the bottom of the first scandal, they're already focusing on the next one. That's why none of these scandals seem to hurt Trump at all.

[AnakinFlair]

Yes he was being attacked in the viral video but you don’t travel across state line with an AR-15 unless you’re looking for trouble. Sounds like there was an altercation, he shot a guy, all hell broke loose, and then he just opened fire with his assault rifle. All while the police looked on.

I’m sure he’ll be celebrated as a hero by the right. Any remaining “moderate republicans” can now be considered “right leaning democrats” because the Republican Party is now the party of Trump, Q, and white nationalism.

Well, that was sadly prophetic.

Hurricane Laura brings down Confederate monument a southern town recently voted to keep in place

beautiful.jpg

[numberthirty]

The seventeen year old had no business being there in the first place. You don't drive into another state and walk into a mob carrying a semi automatic rifle with opposing views unless you are looking to start trouble.

There would be no riot if Jacob Blake had not been shot in the back several times. There would be no dead protestors if the 17 year old shooter hadn't showed up, he should have been at home playing video games. Period, end of story.

Politely, you are talking about a darn near perfect world there. I am talking about the flawed policing mechanism that is currently in place all across America and isn't going anywhere in the near future.

As for Mr. Blake, no disagreement there. That said, that it was what happened to him was fundamentally wrong doesn't create a situation where we won't have to deal with the reality of all of the things that will happen in it's wake. It's a reality where it would be wise to attempt to come up with a "Policing..." angle when it comes to that seventeen year old. It would be a blessing if he is the only time any folks lose their lives like this.

If he is not? I'd hope that someone somewhere is taking steps to avoid tragedy should this sort of thing wind up right on the verge of happening again.