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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020...acy-study.html

We're shocked, SHOCKED that qthere's white supremacy GOPing on in this estalbishment!

"The traditional American way of life", in other words: white men at the top of the food chain and in control of everything while women are barefoot, pregnant and chained to the stove; minorities are stuck in the back of the bus, and gays are still deep in the closet. THAT way of life.

If the electoral college has declared Biden the winner, at noon on January 20, 2021, and Trump refuses to leave, he is a trespasser in the White House. Secret service will escort him out.

If that show were on pay-per-view, I'd sure as hell watch it.

[Kirby101]

If that show were on pay-per-view, I'd sure as hell watch it.

One would hope the Secret service is fed up with Trump's behavior endangering their agents.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...rvice-1052771/

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Roy Ashburn, a former California State Senator with a long history of voting against LGBT rights legislation, as well as supporting Proposition 8 and voting against a Harvey Milk Holiday. Ashburn's career came undone when he got busted for DUI back in 2010... on his way out of a gay bar with an anonymous guy he picked up there that night. Ashburn has since vanished from the political scene.

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled North Dakota state legislator Randy Boehning, whose story hit the news wire, and caused us to sit in disbelief, and re-read the story several times to make sure it wasn’t a parody from The Onion. Randy Boehning, an anti-gay Republican state legislator, was outed as gay because he was using the Grindr App to find gay dudes to hook up with, and someone decided to expose him because he's leading a hypocritical double life by sharing his own submitted nude photos to whoever would listen. After he got outed, Randy Boehning did not made a significant vote in the North Dakota House of Representatives and opted to retire in 2018. As he seems to be done with politics, we’ll retire his profile at this time, and take a look at another kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 909-45, since this was established in July 2014.

[babyblob]

The White House is a legit fortress. If his own party won't remove him, he's only walking out of there on his own terms.

I was worried about this. I even posted a few days ago about being worried about it. But the more I think on it the more i see that is an unreasonable fear. Lets say the Secret Service does not eject him. I really dont think the military will just sit back and let him remain in power after a lawful election. No he will not stay in power long if he tries that route. He could do legal challenges and that is the biggest threat right now. His die hard supporters would take to the street maybe, but does anyone really think a few gun toting right wing nut jobs are enough of a threat to keep him in power? Even if they come out in a good number like all of these militias or whatever they would last like maybe ten minutes against a well trained military unit. The worst I see are riots, not a war.

[worstblogever]

Steve Womack

Welcome to what is the 909th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing the current U.S. House Representative from Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District, Steve Womack, who was first elected back in… what else… the 2010 Tea Party Wave. And while we didn’t hear too much from Steve Womack during his first three terms in office save for the time when as a freshman rep that he literally tried defunding President Obama’s teleprompter, since Donald Trump went and had the Russians help him steal the 2016 election, Womack has decided his foot tastes delicious and has repeatedly shoved it in his mouth since 2017.

Let’s start with his first town hall since Trump got elected, when Womack declared that people on welfare “just stay on the couch and eat potato chips”:

“We have got to a point where we are providing billions and billions and billions of dollars for people who won’t, not for people who can. We have made it really easy for people to stay on the couch, eat their potato chips, get their Section 8 housing, get their SNAP benefits, get all these other benefits. I’ve got two issues with hiring people ... first one is, they’re having a hard time finding people with the proper skillsets ... the second problem they have is, even if they can produce a skillset, they can’t pass a urine test!”

Ah yes. The classic myth that people on welfare are all just deadbeat drug addicts. Thanks for saying it out loud, Steve, so we know you’re full of s***.

So speaking of people who are full of s***, how far do you think Steve Womack is willing to go on behalf of Donald Trump? Other than trying to protect him from being impeached, we mean… well, in January of 2018, after Trump’s comments about Haiti and several other actions became public knowledge, Womack made his own bigotry a matter of public record, when he weighed in on the matter and said:

”If you’re only appealing to people from countries that are behind the times, depraved countries, if that’s the element you’re appealing to … we should make the same or a better appeal to people from other European countries that can come in here and actually fit into the society as we know it.”

Oh… appeal to people from EUROPEAN countries, not Haiti or the African ones, because they’re “depraved”. Sounds more like Trump or even Steve King, y’know?

Our third moment from Steve Womack that caused us concern came in August of 2019, when he told a town hall that the real cause of mass shootings is “too many single parents” and “Godless schools”. Not only is that not accurate, it seems as though Womack is also now showing us that he doesn’t really understand, or care that there’s a whole separation of church and state guaranteed in the Constitution.

If we weren’t already establishing that this man is an extremist, feel free to peek at his voting record:

• January 5th, 2011, Rep. Womack votes the first attempt by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He has voted for almost every attempt to do so since.
• February 18th, 2011, Steve Womack votes to defund Planned Parenthood.
• March 17th, 2011: Rep. Womack votes to cut funding to National Public Radio.
• September 15th, 2012: Rep. Womack votes for the "No More Solyndras Act".
• September 21st, 2012: Womack votes for the "Stop the War on Coal Act", even though there is no "war on coal".
• January 15th, 2013: Steve Womack votes against Disaster Relief Funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
• February 28th, 2013: Womack votes against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
• June 19th, 2013: Steve Womack votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
• September 30th, 2013: Rep. Womack votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown. When the vote came up seventeen days later to re-open the government, Womack voted to keep it closed.
• Feb 26th, 2014: Steve Womack 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: Womack votes for House Amendment 1040, to prevent the implementation of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 Treaty, that in spite of just being recommended climate change guidelines, have many conspiracy theorists within the extreme right convinced it’s a plot for global domination.
• January 22nd, 2015: Steve Womack 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.
• February 3rd, 2015: Rep. Womack votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.
• March 3rd, 2015: Womack votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
• September 11th, 2015: Womack votes against the United States' nuclear treaty with Iran.
• September 18th, 2015: Rep. Womack 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: Womack 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: Steve Womack votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).

[worstblogever]

• February 16th, 2017: Womack 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: Steve Womack 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: Womack 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 would treat pregnancy, postpartum depression, and sexual assault as "pre-existing conditions". Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Womack would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
• June 8th, 2017: Steve Womack votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
• October 3rd, 2017: Womack 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: Steve Womack 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. Womack 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 vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Womack voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Womack votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 7th, 2019: Womack votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Womack 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: Steve Womack is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 17th, 2019: Womack votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Womack votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Steve Womack 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 18th, 2019: Womack 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: Womack votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District has a +19 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and in November, he faces off against Democratic candidate Celeste Williams, who has an uphill battle ahead of her to win an upset, as his worst showing was just in 2018, but he still got well over 60% of the vote. Barring realignment of Congressional districts leaving him with less of an advantage that he has now, it could be a question of how long he’ll serve in office before he gets bored with being in the minority and just leaves.

[Tami]

I was worried about this. I even posted a few days ago about being worried about it. But the more I think on it the more i see that is an unreasonable fear. Lets say the Secret Service does not eject him. I really dont think the military will just sit back and let him remain in power after a lawful election. No he will not stay in power long if he tries that route. He could do legal challenges and that is the biggest threat right now. His die hard supporters would take to the street maybe, but does anyone really think a few gun toting right wing nut jobs are enough of a threat to keep him in power? Even if they come out in a good number like all of these militias or whatever they would last like maybe ten minutes against a well trained military unit. The worst I see are riots, not a war.

The White House doesn't make you the President, the mandate of the people (voting) makes you the President. The British burned down the White House in 1812 under the presidency of James Madison, and then there was the White House Reconstruction, post-WWII under President Truman. During times like this, the President didn't always live in the White House.

The Biden's can move in with the Harris' Vice-president residence until they can kick Trump out. If Trump isn't President anymore, then he's just a crazy person hiding out in the WH.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

One would hope the Secret service is fed up with Trump's behavior endangering their agents.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...rvice-1052771/

I'd be shocked if the Secret Service wasn't fed up and pissed off with Trump using and abusing them. You can't tell me they're not, given all the shit he's put them through over the last three plus years.

[Tami]

I'd be shocked if the Secret Service wasn't fed up and pissed off with Trump using and abusing them. You can't tell me they're not, given all the shit he's put them through over the last three plus years.

Dedication to duty and country might be all that stands between Trump and the Secret Service. As soon as they no longer have an obligation towards him, all bets ar off.

[Tami]

What really happened at Walter Reed.

[Mister Mets]

Pelosi Says Salon That Gave Her an Illicit Blowout ‘Owes Me an Apology for Setting Me Up’

It's a bad look for a legislator to claim ignorance of the law. This is a bit like someone busted for drunk driving saying the bartender told them it was fine.

[The Cool Thatguy]

It's a bad look for a legislator to claim ignorance of the law. This is a bit like someone busting for drunk driving saying the bartender told them it was fine.

No one's perfect. Call me back when Trump actually endorses masks, eh?

[worstblogever]

Nancy Pelosi went to a hairdresser without a mask, a disappointing flouting of mask restrictions that should result in a fine.

Donald Trump yesterday told supporters in North Carolina to commit felonies by trying to vote twice to "test the system".



Predictably folks on the right are unable to acknowledge their "law and order" president encouraging crimes to be committed against our democracy, and want to focus on the lady's gaffe.

[AnakinFlair]

Between Republicans defending Kyle Rittenhouse's murder of two people, and Trump encouraging supporters to commit voter fraud...

Is the GOP strategy now, "Hey, whatever. Do all the felonies. We do."?

State of your party, man. It's no wonder I can keep blogging through 2021 at this point.

"I am not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat."
-Mark Twain

[Malvolio]

Dedication to duty and country might be all that stands between Trump and the Secret Service. As soon as they no longer have an obligation towards him, all bets ar off.

The Secret Service would still have an obligation to protect Trump. Ex-Presidents are entitled to Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives. However, it would be a lesser detail of officers. So while the Presidential detail switches out to protect Biden, the new former President detail could come in and drag Trump out.