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

[JCAll]

Guys, I used to think the GOP consisted of crazy nutjobs, but then I saw this video and maybe they're not so bad after all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iff7mNsGK50

People understand that Republicans are people. Republicans need to learn that people who are not Republican are still people.

[Malvolio]

I'm sorry, Clark, but complaining about opinions and entertainment in the media and then complaining that reporters have become stenographers is contradictory. Either you want the color of viewpoint or you don't.

It also places the blame in the wrong places. There are a lot of great reporters out there that would love to do more serious investigative journalism. It's the people that hold the purse strings that refuse to fund it, the lazy readers and viewers who pass it over for a reblogged Gawker story about Kim Kardashian's vagina that consign it to irrelevancy. Another problem is the "get it first and right now" attitude caused by the internet. When I started out as a reporter, we did enterprise reporting. That meant we'd investigate a topic for a long, detailed story that wasn't generated by a news event or an announcement. Could be a week, could be a month, could be longer. There's just not time for that in most newsrooms now.

The problem is that today's reporters take what a politician says as if it were fact and then give their opinion on it, when what they should be doing is investigating what the politician said, to determine if it in fact, is actually true. If one side bases their argument on facts and the other side bases their argument on bullshit, it is not a violation of objectivity to point out where the bullshit lies.

[7thangel]

some **** doesn't even need to be investigated because it so obvious that it's bullshit, but the msm will still regurgitate with a 'he said/she said' or "some people say". perfect example was the death panel itching to kill your granny bs

[Dr. Kusa San]

A police officer being fired for shooting a civilian without cause? That DOES blow my mind.

In SC no doubt!

[worstblogever]

It's our latest reminder of what a crock the statement "Nuh uh. Both parties are just as bad," actually is...

It’s Your Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day!

(Those who those who really felt the "Both Parties are Just as Bad" statement were challenged to write your own essays each day, to keep pace with me, if it's actually "just as bad". Keep in mind, they had to pick someone from politics who has either ran for, held office within the past 5 years, and have multiple verifiable news sources to any quotes/beliefs they might have to build a solid, established track record of stupid that clearly isn't a fluke. Hell, we'll even accept people who help write party platforms within that time frame. Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 70-2, since this was established on 7-18-14)


Sam Brownback

Sam Brownback has just about done it all in American politics. He’s served in the House, the Senate (where he once pushed for a bill to block stem cell research for fear people would create human/animal hybrids!), and even made a brief run for president in 2008, before dropping out of the race and endorsing John McCain. But it’s the job he’s done as the Governor of Kansas (being elected in spite of being revealed to have ties to Lou Engle, a minister calling for gays to be killed in Uganda during the campaign) that shows the current Republican economic plan of stimulating an economy by slashing taxes to record lows is foolhardy, at least, and disastrous, at worst. It places him deep into the “stupid” category, more than the “crazy”. This hard right ideologue was thought to be a poster-child for the modern GOP with his zealous execution of Republican talking points, and it’s only now that the rest of the party is realizing that perhaps that might not be a good thing.
Let’s start by looking at his work in trying to prevent every abortion in his state…

• Brownback is a key player at the state level in the “War on Women”, signing 3 anti-abortion bills in his first year in office as governor in 2011, attempted to defund Planned Parenthood in the state budget (which was blocked by a judge who ruled they were being unfairly targeted).
• In 2012, Brownback signed the Healthcare Rights of Conscience Act, which allows pharmacists to refuse to provide drugs for patients if they believe they are being used for abortions (which means anyone who decides birth control is murder can refuse the morning after pill to a rape victim, or what have you). Theoretically, a pharmacist could reject anything based on “belief”. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, the party of “smaller government” at work.
• In April 2013, Brownback got carried away enough to sign a bill that declared that life begins at fertilization, but the law is still written to defer to the Supreme Court decisions that obviously contradict that.
• As of October 2013, lawsuits filed over the various anti-abortion measures Brownback’s leadership had pushed for had cost the state almost a million dollars (it’s now likely upwards of $1 million).
• Brownback equates his crusade against abortion to that of the not-at-all-similar debate against slavery.
  

  "I see it as the lead moral issue of our day, just like slavery was the lead moral issue 150 years ago.

• Just in case you think that above quote is along the lines of “he misspoke”… well, you’d be wrong. He gave a 2014 speech that continued to compare the anti-abortion movement to abolitionists.
• Among the anti-abortion protests Brownback has championed include the “Summer of Mercy” 1991 and 2001 protests, where pro-life extremists from groups like Operation Rescue railed against abortion providers including Dr. George Tiller. Many attribute the rhetoric within those as having eventually led to Tiller being assassinated in his church by Scott Roeder in 2009. But after all this time, surely there’s no link between Brownback and extremists like that, right?
  
  Wrong. Brownback named the group’s lawyer to serve on the Kansas Board of Healing Arts. Meaning, he had the right to issue, or revoke licenses to medical doctors, physical therapists, and other health care workers.

Brownback’s been trying to boot all moderate Republicans out of any statewide office he can, and his quest for power even includes thumbing his nose at the federal government, including signing a gun bill that would attempt to nullify federal gun laws (which also caused his state to be sued).

When he hasn’t been defending his state from people using Sharia Law in the courts (which has never, and apparently had no chance of ever happening, anyway), he’s been using his office (but not state resources) to promote prayer events he’s speaking out, while censoring artists for criticizing him, and even siccing his staff on high school students who post bad things about him on Twitter (really).

But how is he on the economy? (Hint: Not so good.)

• Gov. Brownback’s state budget faced a deficit of less than $70 million annually when he took office, and his plan to reduce it? CUT TAXES TO THE RICH, of course! While increasing sales taxes which hinders the poor!
  
  I mean, sure, he was going to offset that by cutting all state funding for the arts, and to add deep cuts to high school education (that were ruled unconstitutional), to offset it right? Not even close.
  
  All he would need is to create 600,000 jobs in a state of 3 million people that each paid $50,000 a year (Uh oh.) Under that brilliant economic plan, Kansas now faces an estimated $700 million annual shortfall in its budget, a number that led to the state having its credit rating downgraded and is so astronomically astounding it would be funny if it wasn’t sad.
• Maybe it would have not been quite a deficit if Brownback had been able to throw 20,000 unemployed people off of food stamp programs for not being able to find jobs (it still wouldn’t have been close, but that’s a heartless d*** move, right there.)
• So now facing an even worse economic shortfall, what is Sam Brownback’s plan? “HIT THE ACCELERATOR ON TAX BREAKS! DOUBLE DOWN!” That’s right, he’s promised he’s going to fix the problem by digging the hole even far, far deeper if he’s re-elected. So what if all the economic predictions showed his plan wouldn't work, and actually implementing it proved it? Let's just keep jamming a square peg into a round hole!

Now, if the near three quarter of a billion dollar budget shortfall isn’t an indicator of Sam Brownback’s phenomenal incompetence, perhaps it’s the fact that his administration has become so desperate for money that they’ve started auctioning off sex toys seized from companies in tax settlements. That’s right, the “Family Values” Republican is wheeling and dealing to recoup whatever funds he can on furry handcuffs and vibrators to solve that budget shortfall (and still won’t even come close to doing so).

He’s such a colossal f***-up that over 100 members of his own party from Kansas actually endorsed his Democratic opponent for governor this year.

And that story gives me hope. That there are still actual moderate Republicans out there who will turn on idiots like Brownback rather than follow them into a ditch like a bunch of stupid lemmings, blinded by partisan politics. And the last time I checked, he’s trailing Paul Davis by 4 points, on the average, in all polls. Hopefully for the people of Kansas, that holds, and he’ll be relegated to being a laughingstock, like he deserves.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'm surprised Brownback is only trailing by 4 points after his economic policies, straight from the GOP "Cut Taxes On The Rich & Increase Them Out The Ass On Everybody Else" playbook wrecked his state. I can't understand how Kansas residents still support this fool who basically slit their throats while taking money out of their pockets. Here in Pennsylvania, Tepid Tom Corbett, despite not having done anything THAT incredibly stupid (unless you count his kissing up to the fracking industry by not taxing them while strangling state school budgets, especially in Philadelphia) trails Democrat Tom Wolf by somewhere around 24 points when last I checked. I'm sure Corbett will join Brownback as ex-governors.

[Tendrin]

I'm surprised Brownback is only trailing by 4 points after his economic policies, straight from the GOP "Cut Taxes On The Rich & Increase Them Out The Ass On Everybody Else" playbook wrecked his state. I can't understand how Kansas residents still support this fool who basically slit their throats while taking money out of their pockets. Here in Pennsylvania, Tepid Tom Corbett, despite not having done anything THAT incredibly stupid (unless you count his kissing up to the fracking industry by not taxing them while strangling state school budgets, especially in Philadelphia) trails Democrat Tom Wolf by somewhere around 24 points when last I checked. I'm sure Corbett will join Brownback as ex-governors.

What's the matter with Kansas indeed.

[worstblogever]

What's the matter with Kansas indeed.

A few people in my Facebook feed are currently discussing buying out Kansas' sex toy cache at bargain basement prices.

[JCAll]

What's the matter with Kansas indeed.

Time for a mass emigration to OZ.

[worstblogever]

Remember a little over a week ago when the C/SGOPOTD was Doug Lamborn?

Well, it seems we have an update.

In spite of the fact that the United States is currently gearing up an offensive against the terrorist group ISIS/ISIL in Syria and Iraq... Lamborn just pitched the traitorous idea that American military generals should resign to protest President Obama's foreign policy. While it is a violation of their oath of office to carry out the orders of the chief executive in the interests of the state unless it is illegal... Lamborn would have them quit their posts over his own partisan agenda.

In the middle of a campaign against terrorists. Because Obama won't go "full tilt" and is limiting it to bombing raids at the moment. He wants these generals to be able to go all out, or do nothing to show how unhappy they might be about how the war's being carried out.

What. A. Nut.

[thespianphryne]

Insults? Tsk, tsk.

[Darrell D.]

Whoa, something happened, huh?

[Spike-X]

Brownback sounds like something that happens when Santorum gets out of control.

[Darrell D.]

Brownback sounds like something that happens when Santorum gets out of control.

Ba-dum dum, Tish

[worstblogever]

It's our latest reminder of what a crock the statement "Nuh uh. Both parties are just as bad," actually is...

It’s Your Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day!

(And please, for those who those who really felt the "Both Parties are Just as Bad" statement is defensible, remember, I'm still challenging you to write your own essays each day, to keep pace with me, if it's actually "just as bad". Keep in mind, you have to pick someone from politics who has either ran for, held office within the past 5 years, and have multiple verifiable news sources to any quotes/beliefs they might have to build a solid, established track record of stupid that clearly isn't a fluke. Hell, we'll even accept people who help write party platforms within that time frame. Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 71-2, since this was established on 7-18-14)


Steve King

If you’re going to be reading this, I suggest you take a moment to find a comfortable chair, and get a beverage and/or snack. This is a bit of a long read, because Steve King, from Iowa’s 4th district is a real “variety pack” kind of nutter, who most would place on the “Crazy Republican” Top 3 medal stand with Michelle Bachmann and Louis Gohmert. I’ll give you a moment to prepare.

Okay, ready?

• 2005- Rep. King declares his passionate admiration for Sen. Joe McCarthy, calling him an “American Hero”.
• October 16th, 2007- King claims the media overreacted to the Abu Ghraib scandal, blaming them for the outrage. By 2008, he downplayed the scandal, saying the prisoner abuses amounted to little more than just “hazing”. and compared violence against American contractors to that scandal in… the most bizarre of ways.
  

  "The dismembered and charred corpses of American contractors dangling over the Euphrates River in comparison to the abuse committed by a few soldiers at Abu Ghraib are like the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer compared to those of Heidi Fleiss,"

• June 2006, Rep. King claims that his wife would be less safe as a citizen in D.C., than the average civilian in Iraq.
• July 13th, 2006- King introduces a plan to help with illegal immigration. Not just a border fence… and electrified border fence, explaining his plan on how to properly construct it with a model. He concludes his description with, “We do this with livestock all the time.” Hispanic groups took umbrage at Mexican illegal immigrants being compared to livestock.
• 2007- Steve King opposed a bill that would seek stronger punishments against those who participate in dog fighting and cockfighting… because animal fighting is a wedge issue?
  In 2012, it proved not to be a misunderstanding, when King came out fully in defense of dogfighting, with this amazingly stupid quote.
  

  What I've said is that we need to respect humans more than we do animals. Whenever we start elevating animals up to, to above that of humans, we've crossed a moral line. For example, if there's a sexual predator out there who has impregnated a young girl, say a 13 year old girl, and it happens in America more times than you and I like to think, that sexual predator can pick that girl off the playground at the middle school and haul her across the state line and force her to get an abortion to eradicate the evidence of his crime, and bring her back and drop her off at the swing set, and that's not against the law in the United States of America. I have told Wayne Pacelle and the people who believe we should focus all of our efforts on the, on anything they can bring that limits activity around animals, that we need to respect and revere human life first, animal life second.

  (Please note: You can’t abduct non-pregnant girls, get them instantly pregnant, and force them to have abortions before setting them back on a swing like nothing ever happened. It’s just not scientifically possible to perpetuate this sort of crime. And even if it was, it sure as f*** is against the law.)
• December 2007, Rep. King decides to become a front line soldier in the Fox News-manufactured “War on Christmas”, introducing legislation that would recognize the importance of the Christmas holiday, to help protect it from “secularists who want to eradicate Christ from Christmas”.
• March 7, 2008- King goes on record to claim that if Barack HUSSEIN Obama is elected, it will be a victory for radical Islamists.
  

  I don't want to disparage anyone because of their race, their ethnicity, their name - whatever their religion their father might have been, I'll just say this: When you think about the optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected President of the United States -- I mean, what does this look like to the rest of the world? What does it look like to the world of Islam? I will tell you that, if he is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror. Additionally, his middle name (Hussein) does matter. It matters because they read a meaning into that in the rest of the world. [...] If he were strong on national defense and said "I'm going to go over there and we're going to fight and we're going to win, we'll come home with a victory," that's different. But that's not what he said. They will be dancing in the streets if he's elected president. That has a chilling aspect on how difficult it will be to ever win this Global War on Terror.

• April 3rd, 2009- King claimed that legalizing gay marriage would make Iowa “the Gay-Marriage Mecca”, and went on to compare homosexuals to “unicorns and leprechauns”.
• June 15th, 2009- On G. Gordon Liddy's nationally syndicated radio talk show, .
  

  "I'm offended by Eric Holder and the president also, their posture," King said. "It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race. The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race on the side that favors the black person in the case of professor Gates and officer Crowley."

• July 1st. 2009- Steve King describes the process of immigration as a “slow motion terrorist attack”. No word on if he tried having the Statue of Liberty taken into custody and thrown in Gitmo for welcoming terrorists to our shores.
• July 8th, 2009- Steve King casts the lone vote against acknowledging publicly that slaves played a role in the construction of the Capitol building,
  claiming he did so to protect “Judeo-Christian heritage”.
• September 15h, 2009- During the Sept. 9th State of the Union speech, given by President Obama, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina infamously shouted, “YOU LIE!” at the president. Steve King not only said, “God bless him, he said what we were thinking,” in the aftermath, but claimed it was actually Obama’s fault for somehow “throwing the first punch”.
• September 23rd, 2009- King claimed that gay marriage was a “purely socialist concept”. Last time I checked, gays don’t go to China to get hitched.
• October 9TH, 2009- Rep. King assailed hate crime legislation for “defending sexual idiosynchcrasies” and referring to it as a “protection for pedophiles”, while adding that new information showed the murder of Matthew Shepherd was not a hate crime, and not because the killers were motivated to do so because he was gay (which is a lie).
• October 29th, 2009- In a Congressional hearing, King demands NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell apologize to Rush Limbaugh for refusing his bid to buy the St. Louis Rams.

(Oh, there's more coming...)