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

[Tami]

States are starting to open up. Trump is probably giddy with excitement. Problem is, this virus isn't just going to magically vanish. It might slow down during the summer, maybe, possibly, though uncertain, but it will be back.

This fall, October, November, December, it will be back with a vengeance.

[worstblogever]

Feel free to peruse his whole voting record, if you aren’t getting the idea:

• February 16th, 2017: Biggs 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: Andy Biggs 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. We feel safer already.
• May 4th, 2017: Biggs 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bill would make sure that Biggs would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country.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: Andy Biggs 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: Biggs 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: Andy Biggs 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. Biggs 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 he votes for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
• January 22nd, 2019: Biggs votes against HR 676, which would prevent Donald Trump from doing the unthinkable and walking away from our allies in NATO to appease the Russians.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Biggs voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• January 27th, 2019: Andy Biggs votes against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attack Biggs our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
• February 28th, 2019: Biggs 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: Biggs votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Biggs 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: Andy Biggs 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: Biggs votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
• June 4th, 2019: Rep. Biggs votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
• July 12th, 2019: Biggs is one of 12 Republicans who vote against the re-authorization of the Zadroga Act to provide healthcare to 9/11 First Responders.
• July 16th, 2019: Andy Biggs 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: Biggs 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.
• October 23rd, 2019: Biggs is one of 41 Republicans who, while staring down the possibility of Donald Trump being impeached, stage a ridiculous publicity stunt in response by crashing a classified impeachment inquiry hearing for a “protest”.
• December 19th, 2019: Andy Biggs votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump, in spite of glaring evidence of abuse of power.

Arizona’s 5th Congressional District currently has a +15 Republican lean, and wouldn’t you know it, the Republican Party in no way find Andy Biggs to be someone who they might want to have a primary challenger for in 2020. There are three Democrats vying in their primary to take him on, but their work will be cut out for them to pull an upset and deny him a third term in office, barring any glaring scandal that would make him too toxic (not that Republican voters have any discretion to not put anyone in office based on being insane anymore).

[The Cool Thatguy]

Everybody would have rallied around him.

Speaking of, Trump would have probably liked to have boasted about how no terror attacks have occurred on his watch, by ignoring all the white supremacist ones...
Well, seems like that claim would be out the door, as of Al Qaeda being confirmed as having radicalized two mass shooters, one this week, and one a few years ago who we just learned was in contact with the group.

He is thoroughly incompetent. In every measurable.

Everyone would have had to rally behind him, all things considered. The Feds could have instituted national testing, helped focus the lockdowns where they might do some good, etc.

His unwillingness to step up has slowed everything

[aja_christopher]

For all the talk about Joe Biden being moderate, there is much to the argument that he would be the most left-wing President ever, partly due to societal needs during and after COVID-19, but largely because the Democratic party has moved more to the left.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...ar-will-he-go/

Just in time to recover from right-wing Republican incompetence.

Again.

If we're lucky.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Because it's not a myth... literally everyone I know who's a big Trump fan is working class. Everyone I know who's a Biden fan is middle class and college/university educated in cushy white-collar jobs.

You need to expand your horizons. While I'm a Biden supporter, I'm (barely) middle class, but not college/university educated as I toil away in a less than cushy government job.

States are starting to open up. Trump is probably giddy with excitement. Problem is, this virus isn't just going to magically vanish. It might slow down during the summer, maybe, possibly, though uncertain, but it will be back.

This fall, October, November, December, it will be back with a vengeance.

The Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer season will be a big test, especially here in Philly with people champing at the bit to go down to the Jersey shore. Heck, the Mayor, our health commissioner, even the Governor all but pleaded with Philly residents to stay put rather than leave town and run the risk of bringing back a nasty surprise. Meanwhile, yeah, the fear is that coronavirus is here to stay, that it'll wax and wane with the season like the flu but not completely go away.

[Tami]

The latest Twitter Diagnosis for Trump: Frontotemporal dementia

Twitter Link 1

Twitter Link 2

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The latest Twitter Diagnosis for Trump: Frontotemporal dementia

Twitter Link 1

Twitter Link 2

Well, Donnie Dementia certainly has these traits down pat:

• Increasingly inappropriate social behavior
• Loss of empathy and other interpersonal skills, such as having sensitivity to another's feelings
• Lack of judgment
• Loss of inhibition
• Lack of interest (apathy), which can be mistaken for depression
• Changes in eating habits, usually overeating or developing a preference for sweets and carbohydrates
• Increasing difficulty in using and understanding written and spoken language, such as having trouble finding the right word to use in speech or naming objects
• Trouble naming things, possibly replacing a specific word with a more general word such as "it" for pen
• No longer knowing word meanings
• Having hesitant speech that may sound telegraphic
• Making mistakes in sentence construction

Things that make you go "HMMMMMMMMMM!"

[The Cool Thatguy]

Well, Donnie Dementia certainly has these traits down pat:

• Increasingly inappropriate social behavior
• Loss of empathy and other interpersonal skills, such as having sensitivity to another's feelings
• Lack of judgment
• Loss of inhibition
• Lack of interest (apathy), which can be mistaken for depression
• Changes in eating habits, usually overeating or developing a preference for sweets and carbohydrates
• Increasing difficulty in using and understanding written and spoken language, such as having trouble finding the right word to use in speech or naming objects
• Trouble naming things, possibly replacing a specific word with a more general word such as "it" for pen
• No longer knowing word meanings
• Having hesitant speech that may sound telegraphic
• Making mistakes in sentence construction

Things that make you go "HMMMMMMMMMM!"

Yeah, but he's always had that.

All things considered, yeah, he's almost certainly mentally unfit.

God, I remember an old movie, 'Absolute Power', where the President couldn't get treatment for a shallow stab wound because the public would have to be notified of what the doctor found. Now we have a president who has doctors outright lying for him.

[Kirby101]

Because it's not a myth... literally everyone I know who's a big Trump fan is working class. Everyone I know who's a Biden fan is middle class and college/university educated in cushy white-collar jobs.

Anecdotal information is just that, anecdotal. I would like to see what statistically verified poll numbers say.

[InformationGeek]

Good update on Briggs WBE, but I think I missed seeing him blocking a bill against texting while driving.

[Tendrin]

Tara Reade and her attorney have parted ways.

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...e-as-a-client/

Seems like we're about done here.

[Spidey5640]

https://www.newsweek.com/biden-says-...-black-1505982

Keep talkin' Joe, showing your true character.

[Amadeus Arkham]

As a black person, I’m pretty offended, while I think some may say he was joking that isn’t a good look. Makes it seem like he’s taking the black vote for granted. I’ll still vote for Biden come November, but I’m much more unenthusiastic about doing so than
before(and I thought that wasn’t possible for me to be even more unexcited about voting for Biden than before ). Biden has proved me wrong on that front.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

https://www.newsweek.com/biden-says-...-black-1505982

Keep talkin' Joe, showing your true character.

That was stupid, I won't deny that, but Biden still has my vote come November.

[MacrossPlus]

We're in a real tight spot here, because While Biden is not the best choice at all, we can't afford another 4 years of Trump. Even Biden loses, but Democrats take back the senate, I'm afraid Trump's gonna use scorched earths tactics as a way to make democrats's lives a living hell. We Have to beat him.