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

[Carabas]

Well, it's like they say: Underneath every bully's skin, you'll find a coward.

I don't think that is universally true, but in this case... He isn't called Cadet Bonespurs for nothing.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

President Who Loves Making False Accusations Suddenly Pleads ‘Due Process’

Where to begin? The Coward-in-Chief is clearly feeling the heat, and it's making him uncomfortable. Good! Meanwhile....

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Dan Rather Calls Trump’s Defense Of Porter A ‘Heat-Seeking Missile’

Rather wrote in a Facebook post that Trump, too, has been “credibly accused of assault.”

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Trump Complains About ‘Very Political And Long’ Democratic Memo

Trump said the memo must be “heavily redacted” before it could be released. But Dolt45 had to problem with the Republican memo which he HADN'T EVEN READ before rubber stamping it's release. Partisan attitude? You betcha!

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Congress Is About To Show Whether It Really Wants To Protect Dreamers

The strategy of pairing Dreamer protections to government funding didn’t work. So what’s next? I'm curious about that myself.

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Community Rallies Around Asian Couple Facing Deportation After Decades In U.S.

“Give me time to give my children a beautiful life.” I'm waiting for those bastards from ICE to demand that a WHITE immigrant leave the country. Yeah, I know, I'm in for a long wait.

[numberthirty]

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Congress Is About To Show Whether It Really Wants To Protect Dreamers

The strategy of pairing Dreamer protections to government funding didn’t work. So what’s next? I'm curious about that myself.

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To say the very least.

For all the talk of Pelosi being a leader and there not being any rifts among Dems, over seventy Dems voted in favor of the funding deal.

[worstblogever]

Three years ago, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" ran a profile of Dave Daubenmire, a former candidate for U.S. Congress in 2010 for Ohio’s 18th Congressional District who’s also a rabidly homophobic former high school football coach who was fired after repeatedly coercing players to participate in prayers and lost a lawsuit filed by the ACLU by several students and their families back in 2004. Daubenmire falsely claims he won that lawsuit as one of many instances where he bears false witness, despite of the fact that his self-righteousness motivated him to found “Pass the Salt” Ministries. Among the many, many patently deranged things Daubenmire has said through the years are that he wasn’t content to run for office, but wanted to “lead a revolution against those who oppose his ideals”, claiming that the hunt for the Tsarnaev brothers in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing was the government “doing a dry run to see how martial law would work”, that Chemtrails are a thing and are chemical weapons sprayed on the populace to cause cancer and autism, and that President Obama is “either mentally ill or demonically possessed” and that all Democrats are “Children of Lucifer”. While you probably find all those statements enough to merit him certifiably insane, again, this guy’s a grade A bigot towards the LGBT community, having said that LGBT adults are “better off dead” and “homosexuals are gobbling up our kids”, declared “the most dangerous lifestyle in America today is homosexual behavior”, that Hillary Clinton “screams lesbian”, longs for the good old days “when being gay was a mental illness”, and has whined about how he’s tired of being “sodomized by the left”, and that gays have “stolen his manhood”.The less said about the bottomless pit of intolerance that is Dave Daubenmire, the better.

In both 2016, and in 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of Rick Morris, a three-term member of the Virginia House of Delegates who was a big supporter of the anti-abortion fanaticism of former Gov. Bob McDonnell and former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, such as Virginia’s mandatory ultrasound bill, but also a Personhood bill that would have claimed life starts at conception. He cares so much about the human right to life that he also voted for legislation return the electric chair to a list of acceptable means to execute prisoners. He's also voted against not just gay marriage, but even adoptions by LGBT couples. In 2017 because Morris took to the floor of the Virgina State Legislature to compare abortion to slavery... and it seems that Rick Morris was arrested in September of 2016 on 11 separate charges of domestic abuse and child abuse, after he decided to go medieval on his 11 year old stepson with a belt, and trying to force him to stand in a corner for... oh, three days at a clip. Morris refused to resign, but at least had the sense to not run for re-election in the 2017 Virginia elections. He is now out of office, and we’ll set aside his CSGOPOTD profile at this time and go ahead and take a look at a different kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 646-25, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Patrick Meehan

Today, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” is proud to present its 646th original profile, and in it, we’re going to be discussing the U.S. House Representative from Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, Patrick Meehan, who you might not have realized was a Congressman since he was elected in the Tea Party Wave of 2010, and you might not have heard about how his district was gerrymandered by Republicans to guarantee his re-election several times.

What you may have heard about lately in the news as the guy who sexually harassed a woman about four decades his junior because he thought she was his “soul mate”, and then after she won her case against him, he used taxpayer money to settle the case and tried to keep the whole thing hushed up. Obviously, when we heard the news that this creep wouldn’t be running for re-election a couple weeks back, we were relieved. Although, we had to laugh that he tried blaming his predatory behavior on the stress he was enduring because the Affordable Care Act continued to exist (really, he said that).

But now, we will look at Meehan’s incredibly long, partisan record.

• On January 5th, 2011, Rep. Meehan votes the first attempt by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He has voted for almost every attempt to do so since.
• On February 18th, 2011, Patrick Bartett votes to defund Planned Parenthood.
• March 17th, 2011: Rep. Meehan votes to cut funding to National Public Radio.
• September 15th, 2012: Rep. Meehan votes for the "No More Solyndras Act".
• September 21st, 2012: Meehan co-sponsors and votes for the "Stop the War on Coal Act".
• January 15th, 2013: Patrick Meehan votes against Disaster Relief Funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
• June 19th, 2013: Patrick Meehan votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
• September 30th, 2013: Rep. Meehan votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown.
• Feb 26th, 2014: Patrick Meehan 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: Meehan 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: Patrick Meehan 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. Meehan 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: Meehan 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: Meehan votes against the United States' nuclear treaty with Iran.
• September 18th, 2015: Rep. Meehan co-sponsors and 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: Meehan 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: Patrick Meehan votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).
• February 16th, 2017: Meehan 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: Patrick Meehan 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. Meehan 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: Meehan 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 Meehan 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: Patrick Meehan 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: Meehan 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: Patrick Meehan 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.

Alas, Patrick Meehan was not near the front of our cue until all the talk surrounding him stalking his “soul mate” came forward, and using taxpayer money to settle that sexual harassment case. Current events led us here at CSGOPOTD to write him a fitting send-off. We're excited for 2019, where he no longer darkens the doors of Congress, a year that cannot come soon enough.

[heretic]

Speaking of tweets...



You wrecked it in the first place.

<contemplates actual date DACA was started up, along with when the Republicans took the House>

Once more, he either cannot be bothered to find out what he is talking about or he lying to everyone's face.

[_Feely_]

Trumps recent tweet about due process is currently one of my faves considering his involvement with the Central Park Five.

[PaulBullion]

Speaking of tweets...



You wrecked it in the first place.

He also doesn't seem to know what the "three branches of government" are. The Democrats never "had" the Supreme Court.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

<contemplates actual date DACA was started up, along with when the Republicans took the House>

Once more, he either cannot be bothered to find out what he is talking about or he lying to everyone's face.

How about both. It’s common knowledge that Trump doesn’t bother reading information he’s given, so he accepts whatever bullshit he’s told by the henchmen in his cabinet of horrors, and when that’s not enough, he’ll take to Twitter and lie his orange ass off. The man is a menace, plain and simple.

[Mister Mets]

I get that not everything you post reflects your views, but since much of it tends to run along the same lines of "conservative" thought that you often express here on the boards, then I also feel that it's okay to speak in general terms when replying, as it's always not clear where your opinion lies when you are citing outside sources.

And I understand the "view" that you are talking about -- but my reply is that ignorance of the facts doesn't change the facts, especially when said ignorance is often selective.

Even in your statement, you are saying that the general belief is that "white working class people" shouldn't complain, when that's never been the issue at hand: no one reasonably ever argues that white people have no right to complain just because they have white skin. Moreover, the problem with that kind of thinking is that it just further reflects how the individuals in question are more concerned with a perceived injustice (to "white people") than the real injustices that people of color often face in this country just because they are not white.

Trying to make the argument about how "white people" are the ones being attacked when discussing racism in this country is a just a convenient way of avoiding having a real discussion about the subject at hand, whether intentionally or otherwise.

I took your comment "Must be nice just to feel "alienated" by the concept of white privilege, rather than actually having to suffer the effects of it -- not to mention actually benefiting from it even as you continue to argue it's irrelevance." to be a potential dig at the concerns of working class white voters.

As for ignorance of the facts (in this case, a technical definition of a sociological concept) it is largely a distinction without a difference. White privilege can technically refer to things that would apply regardless of social, political, or economic circumstances. It is not always used exclusively in that context by the media, and that can create the impression that a group that is suffering serious problems (high unemployment, less economic opportunity than earlier generations, and a declining life expectancy) is the privileged, and that addressing their concerns (and they are about 40 percent of the American population) is not a top priority

Multiple workplace relationships in a short time has always been disturbing when I encountered it in my workplaces.

Why is that?

Since his polling among Republicans did not go down after the tape. And since his supporters don't seem to care what he does now, even when he embraces child molesters, Nazis and wife beaters, i would say no, it would not have made a difference.

His polling numbers did go down significantly after the October 7 release of the tape.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep...491.html#polls

It is also worth noting that the tape of things he said in 2006 wasn't released until he had been the nominee for two months. In the General Election, support for a candidate is less elastic because there are more significant differences between the two choices. The policy differences between Hillary and Trump were more significant than those between Trump and Cruz or Hillary and Sanders.

[Gray Lensman]

[

Community Rallies Around Asian Couple Facing Deportation After Decades In U.S.

“Give me time to give my children a beautiful life.” I'm waiting for those bastards from ICE to demand that a WHITE immigrant leave the country. Yeah, I know, I'm in for a long wait.

Not as long as you think.

I think ICE may be motivated more by being drunk on the power they have (and any restrictions being lifted) than by country of origin. Doesn't make it any less of a travesty.

[ed2962]

Ok, so...like I'm watching Meet The Press this mourning and they have Peggy Noonan on and they're talking about General Kelly perhaps leaving over his handling of the Porter situation. She said something every close to, "There's actually a lot of good people in Washington, but they're hesitant to work in this White House because they don't want to get the cooties on them."

I just about died.

[Iron Maiden]

Joe Biden at his worst, THEN he goes hard left to his best. Chris Cuomo is a moron. Centrism doesn't win Chris... Not anymore.

Biden said FREE COLLEGE, that's how you win. Solutions, not platitudes and cliches.

LOL. the Daddy Emperor Overlord sure describes how the GOP kowtows to Trump.

[TheInvisibleMan]

its why career workers in DC are leaving, its why they can't find replacements

working for this administration will negatively affect your future

[Jack Dracula]

Fearing a Democratic wave in 2018, the Koch Bros and their network of super rich a-holes pledge to spend over $400,000,000 to protect Republican majorities in Congress.

The Koch network, meeting for its annual winter donor conference near Palm Springs, Calif., said the investment would also focus on promoting conservative policies and was equal to a 60 percent increase over what it spent in the 2016 presidential election. The campaign was set to include a $20 million expenditure to promote the Republican tax overhaul passed and signed into law late last year.

Because why would they want to donate that money to improve the lives of the poor and hopeless?

If anyone actually needs a "good reason" to vote in the midterms this year, this is probably it.
If your argument is that "both sides are just as bad" or you don't feel like your're being represented as much as you'd like, remember that there is a huge pack of rich, entitled pricks who are more than happy to hijack the democratic process for their own personal gain.