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

[Adam Allen]

Just saw trump's tweets saying Biden, Obama and Clinton need to be arrested for the alleged coup against him. Someone needs to tell him America doesn't arrest political opponents.

Getting people to talk about his nonsense, even if just to explain how it is nonsense, has been Trump's (unfortunately winning) political strategy from day one.

Let's not continue falling for it?

[JCAll]

America doesn’t arrest anyone, not anyone poor, without due process and explicit charges. And Trump doesn’t have the right to arrest anyone. It’s up to DOJ, FBI to lead an investigation and push charges.

The president is either medicated out of his mind, or he officially dgaf anymore and is just trying to get someone hurt. Or both.

[worstblogever]

Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal is now confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19. He had been quarantining after finding out he had been exposed to someone who also was running around like an ***hole despite their positive Covid-19 diagnosis.

I'll give you a hint, the individual that got Rep. Carbajal sick has a name that rhymes with "Senator Mike Lee".

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal is now confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19. He had been quarantining after finding out he had been exposed to someone who also was running around like an ***hole despite their positive Covid-19 diagnosis.

I'll give you a hint, the individual that got Rep. Carbajal sick has a name that rhymes with "Senator Mike Lee".

So they got a Dem infected. A—holes.

[babyblob]

Well there is one Trumper who is not voting. My aunt whom I talk about alot. She missed the voter deadline. I have been reminding her ever week for the past five weeks. She kept saying she will take care of it. Today she is running around the house ranting that she did not remember to register and how it is bullshit all the illegal Mexicans and Muslims can vote for Biden but she can not vote for Trump when she was born here.

[babyblob]

Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal is now confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19. He had been quarantining after finding out he had been exposed to someone who also was running around like an ***hole despite their positive Covid-19 diagnosis.

I'll give you a hint, the individual that got Rep. Carbajal sick has a name that rhymes with "Senator Mike Lee".

Fox is running with this. If masks and scoical distancing work then how did Salud catch it in the first place?

[worstblogever]

On this date, in both 2014, as well as in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of former Texas Congressman Steve Stockman, a raving lunatic conspiracy theorist who was booted from Congress after one terrifyingly insane term back from 1995-1997 who inexplicably found his way back into the Capitol building eighteen years later, getting back in from 2013-2015. Over the years Stockman has come up with ideas like forcing all members of Congress to live in dorms, posed wild accusations about “the truth about what happened in the Koresh compound”, and apparently was keeping correspondence with some militia groups who tried warn him about the Oklahoma City bombing before it happened, and for whatever reason, he forwarded their fax to the NRA before the FBI. He has also defended the Liberty Lobby, a right-wing radio show that claims the Holocaust is a hoax against charges that they might be anti-Semitic, and called for all sex education to be removed from public schools. And that was in his FIRST term. In his second term these past few years, Rep. Stockman called for the impeachment of President Obama for using executive orders on gun control, compared Obama to Saddam Hussein, said Obama’s birth certificate is faked, and because he was born in Kenya he can’t be president, but while Ted Cruz’s birth certificate says he was born in Canada, he’s legit. Stockman showed an astounding level of ignorance about transgendered citizens by even being able to define even what the term “transgender” is, and distributed bumper stickers that said (and this is 100% true), “If babies had guns they wouldn’t be aborted”.

On this date in 2016, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" featured a profile of David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who through the years, has run for both Governor of Louisiana, and, in 2016, the Alt-Right movement and Donald Trump’s presidential run inspired him to run for U.S. Senate. Now, we’re not going to get into the details of every ugly thing David Duke has said over the past four decades, because we would be here all day... but suffice to say, there is no individual that has been so dedicated to hate that we can think of in American politics. Whether it’s for African Americans, Jews, immigrants, or the gay community, David Duke has been disparaging them since the 1970s in the name of white supremacy. We hope and pray David Duke is never a serious candidate, ever again until the day he dies.

On this date in 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" featured a profile of Bryce Marlatt, a former Oklahoma State Senator who served for almost a decade , chalking up a voting record to suppress to combat statistically non-existent cases of in-person voter fraud via stricter Voter ID laws meant to suppress the vote, voting to try and nullify federal firearms laws and the Affordable Care Act, a ban on Sharia Law, voting for a law to strip doctors that perform abortions of their medical license, and a vote for a Personhood bill. Where Marlatt was truly noteworthy was how after he was lucky enough to survive a DUI scandal back in 2014, when the police found him passed out behind the wheel of his parked vehicle, and when they asked him how many beers he had, he told them, “No more than anybody else. I had what you would call a bourbon and coke.” Based on how bloodshot his eyes were in the mugshot, it must have been in a very large glass, if not a bucket. Anyway, we’re guessing that Marlatt learned his lesson after this incident, and made it a point to always take a cab, or call an Uber to come pick him up after a night of hard drinking. But perhaps the Uber route wasn’t the way to go, because Bryce has such poor self-control that when he was picked up by a female Uber driver in July 2017, he went and sexually assaulted the poor woman, grabbing her forcefully and starting to kiss her on the neck while she was trying to drive. Why, would you believe that a “family values” Republican who’s a husband and father of four would act in such a way? On September 6th, 2017, Bryce Marlatt was officially charged in the case, and he resigned six days later. As it stands, Bryce Marlatt is going to be real busy trying to keep himself out of jail, if not off of any sex offenders’ lists. And that’s not exactly the sort of thing that would be good on a resume of someone seeking higher office, which he would have to do because he’d be term-limited in the Oklahoma state legislature.

It was on this date in 2018, and in 2019, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” first profiled former Pennsylvania State Senator Scott Wagner, who mounted a run to try to become the next Governor of Pennsylvania in the 2018 mid-term elections, running against Democratic incumbent Tom Wolf. As a legislator, Wagner has served since 2014, and is considers himself 100% Pro-Life, which is hard to argue as he supports even fetal heartbeat bills that effectively ban abortion at 6 weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant, and sponsored a bill to outlaw D&E abortions prior to 20 weeks. His campaign for governor kicked off in a less-than-inspiring manner, as while addressing a country club crowd, Wagner realized that he was being filmed by a progressive activist… so he threatened to confiscate their camera (which, he has no legal right to do), and then backed that threat up, snatching it away. The activist then wisely pulled out their cell phone and began recording with that, demanding that Wagner return their actual camera, at which point, Wagner physically assaulted them in an effort to get the phone away. So… that’s nuts, right? Like, you would think he would have an aide or staffer handle this sort of thing and be subtle about it, but nope. As the GOP Primary went on, at one point Scott Wagner argued that “teachers are overpaid”, which runs contrary to most of the grassroots movements for raises for teachers that have spawned in the past 18 months or so, and is incredibly hard to justify based on the actual math involved. Not that the math matters to Wagner, though, because he overstated the average teacher’s salary by roughly $18,000 a year. Anyway, even with some serious red flags popping up along the way, Scott Wagner won the GOP nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania with 44% of the vote in a three way primary. He then resigned from the Pennsylvania State Senate to focus full time on his gubernatorial campaign, and honestly, based on what we’re about to talk about, it might be better if he’d focused on being a State Senator, and campaigned saying how important that job is. There’s people who deny the existence of climate change, and then there’s crackpots with cockamamie junk scientific explanations for why it’s not a thing. Scott Wagner is decidedly in the latter category, as he has not only addressed increasing temperatures by falsely claiming that the Earth is getting closer to the sun, but that some of the warming we’re seeing is from “body heat” from rising populations. In March of 2018, at a town hall, a potential voter asked him how he could be so clueless about the environment, as she had grave concerns as to what the Earth might be like if something wasn’t done to halt climate change, and Wagner just decided to go with condescension in his reply, telling her, “You’re real young and naïve.” On LGBTQ issues, Wagner came out in support of a ban on same sex marriage that would, of course, be unconstitutional via the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, and in August 2018, he was recorded voicing his support for transphobic bathroom bans, citing people’s “plumbing” to justify his bigotry. Now, if you think that was a gaffe, there is also the fact that Wagner was the only candidate in the race to refuse to release his tax returns, and his reason was that union employees at his private business might use that information to squeeze a higher salary out of him. In September 2018, Wagner decided to share with potential voters his thoughts on immigrants and Muslims, and… well… he lifted his talking points from InfoWars, and compared immigrants and Muslims to raccoons in a racist diatribe. You’re probably thinking that doing something that racist almost certainly would be the dumbest thing a candidate can say as the elections… but Wagner still wasn’t done. Now trailing far behind Gov. Tom Wolf in polls, he thought he would joke about the deficit by saying “Russia will help me with Tom Wolf,” and “I’ll call Paul Manafort if I have to.” (Manafort, of course, had already been found guilty on several counts of fraud, and was in the process of flipping and pleading guilty to a myriad of other crimes in the Mueller investigation.) Wagner’s last ditch campaign ad was to embody Judge Smails from Caddyshack, and threaten to stop on Tom Wolf’s face wearing golf spikes. Seriously. Suffice to say, Scott Wagner lost in his match-up against Tom Wolf, getting 40.7% of the vote. He is now out of office, and it seems like he’s called it a career so we will set aside her profile at this time, and take a look at another kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 924-45, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Brian Mast
Welcome to what is the 924th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Brian Mast, who has served as the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida’s 18th Congressional District since 2016, based on his honorable service in the U.S. Army working in explosive ordinance and disposal, and we’ll salute him for her service to our nation in the role that cost him the use of his legs…

And that’s about our limit for saying nice things about Brian Mast. During his first run for office in 2016, Mast was briefly linked with World Patent Marketing, a company that today no longer exists because the Federal Trade Commission shut it down because it was an invention promotion scam. World Patent Marketing donated a bunch of money to Mast's campaign fund and said in a press release that he sat on their advisory board. Mast has some convenient amnesia about his association with a professional scam outlet, saying he has no knowledge of being given a position on the board and said he only had a couple encounters with members of the company, at all.

So that’s shady. But that’s not even as “shady as hell” as our next item…

Back in 2018, Anthony Bustamante, a campaign consultant who worked on Mast's 2016 campaign, told The Wall Street Journal that as a member of the Mast campaign, had used data hacked from the Democratic National Committee by Guccifer 2.0, a front for Russia's GRU military intelligence service, to adjust Mast's campaign strategy. The hacked data had been leaked by Guccifer 2.0 to the HelloFLA blog, just to help Brian Mast win election to Congress. (This would seem to be the member of Congress who solicited help in the 2016 election from Russia that was mentioned in the Mueller Report.) And, not for nothing, but in 2019, Brian Mast was pressured into returning campaign donation that he accepted from the quite dubious source that is Igor Fruman, as in the second half of “Lev and lgor the Russian guys arrested while trying to flee the country. Again, not a good look, and clearly got enough ties to Russia to be worn around Vladimir Putin’s neck.

Now, after the Pulse Shooting and then the Parkland Shooting, most of the Florida Republican caucus has been careful regarding statements they have made about the massive uptick in gun violence in our country, because when that many people have died in mass shootings, it’s practically personal for most of the state… however Brian Mast isn’t that smart, and only two days after Parkland, he blamed the rampage on “video games and violent movies”.

But we’re still not done with this creep. And we emphasize he’s a creep, especially given his idea of “humor”. Two “jokes” that turned up on Brian Mast’s Facebook page are particularly telling. Back in February of 2009, Rocco LeDonni, who is now Mast’s campaign manager, posted photos of himself in a bar in South Africa, and Mast commented, “im so proud of you... i hope you hook up with at least fifteen 15 year olds over there.... its legel there right.”

Yes, he just encouraged his campaign manager to commit statutory rape.

Two years later, in May of 2011, LeDonni posted, “Anyone have any good pick up lines for this weekend considering according to the crazy christian radio guy the world may end on Sunday?” And Mast responded that LeDonni should tell the target of his affections:

“How about don’t turn this rape into a murder.”

It got more disgusting than even that, and we know, that shouldn’t be possible, but in Mast’s “apology”, he Mast blamed his poor attempt on humor on his injuries in combat, and his campaign claimed the comments were posted while Mast was drugged up with “morphine, oxycodone, sleep sedatives, anti-inflammatories and anti-depressants” and therefore he wasn’t in his right mind when he made the comments … except he made the inappropriate “jokes” a year before he got his Purple Heart. So now he’s an outright liar, too…

[skyvolt2000]

https://www.chron.com/politics/artic...r-15627853.php

The uproar over Netflix's "Cuties" has emerged into a new battle in Texas.

The streaming giant Netflix has been indicted on a criminal charge from a Texas grand jury, alleging that it promoted "lewd visual material" of a child with the release of the film, "Cuties." The Tyler County grand jury indicted the company, not its executives, on the charges carrying a state jail felony, according to The Texas Tribune's Jolie McCullough and Stacy Fernandez.

Texas lawmakers didn't waste any time in recognizing the indictment.

"Netflix, Inc. indicted by grand jury in Tyler Co., Tx for promoting material in Cuties film which depicts lewd exhibition of pubic area of clothed or partially clothed child was younger than 18 years of are which appeals to the prurient interest in sex," Texas Representative Matt Shaefer wrote on Twitter.

According to The Hill's Juliegrace Brufke, more than 30 GOP House lawmakers have asked for Netflix executives to be prosecuted over the release of the controversial film.

[worstblogever]

Anyway, if anyone’s curious, Brian Mast also has a revolting voting record:

• February 16th, 2017: Mast 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. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
• March 16th, 2017: Brian Mast 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: Mast 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, post-partum depression, and sexual assault as "pre-existing conditions". Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Mast 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: Brian Mast 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: Mast 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: Brian Mast 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. Mast 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. (Just a reminder… he himself is a disabled veteran.)
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Mast 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: Brian Mast can’t be bothered to vote for HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attack Mast our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 28th, 2019: Mast 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. Mast 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: Brian Mast 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: Mast votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Mast votes against the Dreamers Act, because she’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 16th, 2019: Brian Mast 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”.
• October 17th, 2019: Mast is one of 60 Republicans who vote against HJ Res 77, which opposed Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to abandon Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria to the mercies of a Turkish invasion.
• December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Mast 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: Mast 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: Mast votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Florida’s 18th Congressional District has only a +5 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, And that might be a big problem for Brian Mast, as generic Democratic Candidates are polling at about a +9 advantage in this year’s election over their generic Republican counterparts. But Brian Mast is hardly generic. His opponent, Pam Keith, is herself a former Navy officer, and is making sure that Mast’s jokes about rape and sex with underage girls are foremost in the minds of voters in this part of Florida.

We’re very big on Pam Keith here at CSGOPOTD, including her takedowns of Donald Trump for calling our nation’s veterans and soldiers “losers and suckers”, and nothing would tickle us more than to find out she’s flipped this district and sent Brian Mast out of Washington, D.C. before he can grift any more or cut deals with foreign adversaries for political favors.

[Mister Mets]

Tonight's debate will be interesting. I think it's going to be much more important for Pence than Harris. Harris would have to do disastrously badly to not be considered the frontrunner for the next Democratic presidential nomination, or to dent Biden's chances of winning against Trump. If she were to tank, she would have years to recover in a high-profile position.

In 2024, Pence might have to compete in a Republican primary with someone who has the last name Trump, as well as figures not weighed down by Trump administration baggage, and it would be helpful for him to point to a clear debate win over the likely Democratic nominee.

Well there is one Trumper who is not voting. My aunt whom I talk about alot. She missed the voter deadline. I have been reminding her ever week for the past five weeks. She kept saying she will take care of it. Today she is running around the house ranting that she did not remember to register and how it is bullshit all the illegal Mexicans and Muslims can vote for Biden but she can not vote for Trump when she was born here.

She didn't vote in '16?

Trump IS spreading the virus.

Quite obviously, he and Pence are hoping to infect Biden and Harris. Pence's team refused to allow a second Plexiglass to shield Pence, that way Pence's droplets go towards Harris' shield (and obviously all shields have a crack somewhere and nothing is impenetrable).

Steroid boy is actively presiding over a cluster and it's his aim and interest to pass the bug to his opponents which he is in position to do.

I'm pretty sure Pence and Trump aren't trying to infect Biden and Harris. Among other problems, it would be a really bad headline.

[Adam Allen]

Well there is one Trumper who is not voting. My aunt whom I talk about alot. She missed the voter deadline. I have been reminding her ever week for the past five weeks. She kept saying she will take care of it. Today she is running around the house ranting that she did not remember to register and how it is bullshit all the illegal Mexicans and Muslims can vote for Biden but she can not vote for Trump when she was born here.

... if she can't vote illegally, how does she think they are?

[worstblogever]

Fox News dropped a national poll today that has Biden up 10 points on Trump.
Rasmussen's poll has Biden's lead extended to 12 points in their poll. RASMUSSEN.

When these two polls have Biden up double digits... Trump looks right f***ed. He's going to lose by more than McCain did. In the popular vote, and the electoral college.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I'm pretty sure Pence and Trump aren't trying to infect Biden and Harris. Among other problems, it would be a really bad headline.

Yes we all know how worried these two gents are about reputation.

But how can you be pretty sure they aren’t trying to infect Biden and Harris? What evidence do you have for that claim?

[babyblob]

She didn't vote in '16?
.

She did but she was living in another state. In the two years she has lived in Ohio she somehow never found time to register. And now it is everyone elses fault.