All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[SquirrelMan]

Dude...

That's not really what happened.

"Largely Disowned..."? Sure.

"Disowned Completely..." Not exactly. Think about his run for mayor.

Didn't that happen in between sex scandals, though? He was disowned completely after the last one.

Do it to me once, can't shame me again.

[SquirrelMan]

There was some kind of "Impeach Trump" ad on CNN.

My mom saw it, and she's upset.

She didn't think the ad did a good job identifying the steps she could take to support it.

Your mom sounds cool.

I'm hoping you'll outgrow your rebellious phase sooner rather than later.

[SquirrelMan]

It never should have made it to a second round.

Not one Democrat should have spoke up in his favor during his run for mayor.

Oh come on, it's 2017. Sending out dick pics is as common as complaining about the Clintons.

[numberthirty]

On the off chance folks might believe that a news article that is a bit older might mean there isn't much of a problem "Now"...

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/18...-headquarters/

Half-dozen women allege sexual harassment at union, Orange County Democratic Party headquarters

In one instance, in 2015, at Democratic Party headquarters, one of the men allegedly touched a woman’s thigh, prompting her to flee to safety in a supply closet where he cornered her, Serbin said.

In other incidents, the same man allegedly pushed his body against the woman and reached under her skirt and tried to remove her underwear, Serbin added.

The woman, who isn’t being identified because she may be a victim of sexual assault, told the Register that she didn’t notify Democratic Party officials or file a criminal complaint because she felt powerless to do so.

“I was advised by friends and mentors in Orange County politics (that) no one would take action and no one would care,” the woman said.

“I also felt like it was my fault because I didn’t do anything to report it.”

The woman doesn’t plan to file a criminal complaint, she added, because she fears it could affect her current employment.

[SquirrelMan]

So many celebrities are being acuse of sexual harrasment, from Louis CK to George Takei.

The allegations against Takei are the most heartbreaking yet. It also sounds like he may have slipped his date a mickey.

[numberthirty]

Didn't that happen in between sex scandals, though? He was disowned completely after the last one.

Do it to me once, can't shame me again.

Once the guy was a complete liability? Yes. He was shown the door.

Should not have taken that long.

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

It is pretty bad when one party can achieve in seven years of perversion what took their opposition twenty. The obvious question is: Why are so many republican politicians such debauched horn dogs? I'm really shocked that their creationism-based beliefs, supported by an abstinence-only approach to sexual education with an emphasis on heterosexual marital fidelity has somehow failed these people.

Really. Just. Shocking. Maybe they aren't cloistering hard enough?

[SquirrelMan]

You are again factually incorrect. Reviewing that timeline I already posted, Weiner was gone for treatment from June 2011 until his mayoral run was announced in May 2013.

You're missing the point, WBE! Weiner was gone from the public eye for years... bot never from #30's mind, not even for a minute.

He and his dick pics were always there. Alongside pictures of Hillary giving speeches and speechifying and speaking.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, as well as 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 14th Congressional District, Randy Weber, the current U.S. House Representative from Texas' 14th Congressional District, which is also the former Congressional seat held by Ron Paul, whom Weber replaced. Weber has become a particularly surly member of the Texas Congressional delegation and House Freedom Caucus who reacted to the Supreme Court overturning the Defense of Marriage Act by claiming they were “colluding” with the White House, and then tried to write a series of bill phrased to try and circumvent or nullify that decision that all stalled. H also called President Obama the “Kommandant-in-Chief”, compared President Obama's visit to Paris to the one Hitler made in World War II, talked about impeaching him for reasons he couldn’t put into words, and claimed that he couldn’t be trusted to fight ISIS or an Ebola outbreak because people died in Benghazi. But epidemics are something which Rep. Weber seems to have a fascination with, as he’s falsely attributed the spread of tuberculosis and H1N1 to having been spread by illegal immigrants crossing our Southern border. He’s quite the charmer, you see.

Weber coasted to victory in the GOP Primary for his seat with 86% of the vote. He went on to face Democrat Michael Cole (not the WWE announcer) in the 2016 elections, where he won a third term in office. And boy howdy, has Rep. Weber not kept his mouth shut during the new session of Congress. Right at it was beginning back in January of 2017, Donald Trump was still president-elect, and had one of those kinds of press conferences where he attacks journalists, responding to CNN’s Jim Acosta’s questions by declaring him “Fake News”. While most reasonable observers would have stepped up and criticized the president for trying to attack the fourth estate and act like the sort of fascist dictators that Randy Weber spent the Obama administration comparing Barack Obama to, and wetting himself in terror. Instead, Rep. Weber chose to get on Twitter to say that Acosta was “disruptive” and “should be fired”:

“The CNN reporter who was disruptive to the press briefing, & disrespectful to Trump-should be fired & prohibited from any press briefings.”

It would only take about another three months for Randy Weber to shoot his mouth off again, this time it was in a speech at the sixth annual “Washington- A Man of Prayer” event where he literally broke into tears, sobbing as he begged the forgiveness of God because abortion and same sex marriage are legal. These are the sorts of crocodile tears you only see from televangelists while they’re decrying sin, not a member of Congress with the cameras rolling… but then again, his district is the one that kept electing Ron Paul for years and years.

Weber’s voting record remains as partisan as you’ll find in Congress:

• February 16th, 2017: Weber 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: Randy Weber 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.
• March 28th, 2017: Rep. Weber votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers' internet usage to businesses. Well, so much for privacy.
• May 4th, 2017: Weber votes for the House GOP's healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), postpartum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Weber 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: Randy Weber 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: Weber 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).

Texas' 14th District has a +12 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, so it will be interesting to see if Randy Weber gets a real challenge in 2018 or not, given his highly partisan streak, but he already has a primary challenger in the form of the relatively well-connected Bill Sargent, as well as three Democratic challengers. Things could get messy for him in a Blue Wave year, if he chooses to run for re-election.

[SquirrelMan]

[Darkspellmaster]

The allegations against Takei are the most heartbreaking yet. It also sounds like he may have slipped his date a mickey.

That's what it sounds like to me. Best case is that the model passed out after drinking due to a slightly more dehydrated and exhausted emotional state due to a really bad break up (Which was the reason he went to see George in the first place, for a friend to talk to), and George read the situation wrong. Worst case, he slipped the guy something and intended to do this to him from the start. Either case he was clearly acting without the consent of the young man, which is a dirty creepy thing to do in the first place.

Hell, how is it that a YouTube comedy show about a bunch of teens that curse like no tomorrow and played by barbie dolls managed to get the whole, not able to consent its a no go, right and real people can't seem to. How hard is it for someone to back off when some one says, no?

Show by the way is called the most popular hits in school.

[Darkspellmaster]

Hey WEB, on your list of republicans a page ago, maybe I missed it but I'm kind of surprised that Former Speaker Dennis Haster wasn't on there for the molestation scandal.

Mark Kirk, while he did say to give up the donations, he also said that Denny was a good person. This, as I recall was noted by others, and some were saying it was to discredit Haster, not to Mention Fox playing the Victim blame game.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

This is what worries me. With so many people coming forward with their stories of sexual assault, I hate to say it, but there are probably going to be a few unscrupulous people who make up stories of famous people sexually assaulting them. These unscrupulous people will do it for fame or money or both, but they will not only ruin the lives of those they accuse, but once they are found out as frauds, they will make it harder for true victims to be believed.

Which is why victims are often so hesitant to come forward with stories of abuse, especially when the perpetrators are people of wealth, power, status, celebrity or all of the above. And yeah, vermin looking to literally cash in on the flood of abuse claims will be crawling out of the woodwork.

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Military Faces Growing Scrutiny Over How It Reports Domestic Violence Convictions

HuffPost asked government agencies to explain how the Texas church shooter fell through the cracks. The answers were baffling — and worrying.

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2 GOP Senators Drop Endorsements Of Roy Moore

Sens. Steve Daines (Mont.) and Mike Lee (Utah) announced their decision Friday evening. The rats are starting to bail on Moore. Good. Meanwhile....

GOP Strategist Says Lincoln Is Rolling In His Grave Over Roy Moore’s Defenders

The Excuses Men Are Making For Roy Moore

Mitt Romney Tells Roy Moore To Step Aside: ‘I Believe Leigh Corfman’

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Chuck Schumer Warns Moderate Democrats Of The Perils Of Voting For GOP Tax Bill

Will the Democratic Senate leader be able to keep his caucus together on taxes? If he can't, then he needs to step aside.

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Robert Mueller Is Moving Toward Donald Trump

Last week’s indictments are just the tip of the iceberg. Ooooooooh! Exciting!

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To Honor Our Nation’s 18 Million Veterans This Veteran’s Day, Fight To Expand Social Security

If politicians truly wish to support veterans, they should protect and expand the government programs that serve them.

[Mister Mets]

those ads are run by Tom Steyer

he's a very wealthy Democrat donor, has dropped about 10-20 million to put these ads everywhere

Yeah, it's Tom Steyer's organization, and it seems that he was collecting signatures for a petition for needtoimpeach.com

The ad doesn't really identify who Steyer is, and weirdly doesn't put the ".com" part of the web address when it's on the screen.

It never should have made it to a second round.

Not one Democrat should have spoke up in his favor during his run for mayor.

Did any?

I can't recall any establishment Democrat not married to him advocating in any way for his mayoral campaign at any stage of it.

I don't know them all by name but apparently they equate to 46% of the state's population presently supporting Moore's run. Soooo, most of them?

Backing him over a member of a political party they disagree with isn't necessarily strong support.

Oh come on, it's 2017. Sending out dick pics is as common as complaining about the Clintons.

Speaking of which...

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/stat...09422684692487

Your mom sounds cool.

I'm hoping you'll outgrow your rebellious phase sooner rather than later.

We actually agree a lot politically. She comes from a country that was taken over by the Soviet Union for decades so she's a bit more sensitive to official friendliness towards Russia. And she's more willing to use the mechanisms of a particular legal process at this stage.

Neither of us likes Trump or Putin.

I'm really going to have to make a supercut of all the Republicans who committed sex crimes or adultery from the past decade from CSGOPOTD profiles to underline the point, aren't I?

That doesn't prove anything about a comparison, though.

[Tendrin]

Hey WEB, on your list of republicans a page ago, maybe I missed it but I'm kind of surprised that Former Speaker Dennis Haster wasn't on there for the molestation scandal.

Mark Kirk, while he did say to give up the donations, he also said that Denny was a good person. This, as I recall was noted by others, and some were saying it was to discredit Haster, not to Mention Fox playing the Victim blame game.

Hastert has been out of the game for too long for WBE, I think.