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

[GindyPosts]

This chilling NRA ad calls on its members to save America by fighting liberals

I won't be surprised if the most devoted NRA supporters would like to hang the heads of liberals as game trophies.

Just because we don't want morons to have guns.

[Tami]

Tillerson blows up at top White House aide

The secretary of state, frustrated by negative press coverage and delays in appointing staff, unleashed his anger in front of Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner and others.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s frustrations with the White House have been building for months. Last Friday, they exploded.

The normally laconic Texan unloaded on Johnny DeStefano, the head of the presidential personnel office, for torpedoing proposed nominees to senior State Department posts and for questioning his judgment.

[Malvolio]

It's his racism that fuels the obsession, a black man comes out of nowhere and becomes president. The people love him, famous folks love him. He's got a reserved seat at the cool kids table.
Trump has been trying to get that for years.

I almost feel sorry for him in a way. Almost, maybe he didn't get enough hugs as a child or something. He doesn't really have any friends, his wife can't stand him, and so he lashes out at the world.

Bingo! Trump is the way he is because when he was a kid, the only time anyone ever told him "no" was when he asked his father for a hug.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I totally believe it's this. When he can't lie his way out of a situation, he tries to flip the discussion, "But look at Obama! What about Hilary?!"

Exactly. Thinks of it this way. For a good two weeks Democrats were screaming about fake news and that was becoming something of a buzzword that was catching on and gaining traction. So Trump just took the term and applied it to news outlets who criticized him. Now the term is associated more with him labeling reporters fake news than what it was originally used for. He has a talent for changing and dictating a narrative that way. He's a complete ass for it, but it works. Even if it's transparent, we start talking about something else.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I won't be surprised if the most devoted NRA supporters would like to hang the heads of liberals as game trophies.

Just because we don't want morons to have guns.

And if those NRA zealots could bag the heads of black liberals, Mexicans and Muslims, all the better. A president devoted to unifying the country and keeping the peace would've come out against such a repugnant ad in the strongest possible terms, sadly, Trump has no such moral compass, hell, he probably cheered that ad.

Tillerson blows up at top White House aide

Makes you wonder how long before Tillerson says "Fuck this shit!" and hands in his resignation?

[Judge Dredd]

Exactly. Thinks of it this way. For a good two weeks Democrats were screaming about fake news and that was becoming something of a buzzword that was catching on and gaining traction. So Trump just took the term and applied it to news outlets who criticized him. Now the term is associated more with him labeling reporters fake news than what it was originally used for. He has a talent for changing and dictating a narrative that way. He's a complete ass for it, but it works. Even if it's transparent, we start talking about something else.

Yes and his supporters love to jump to Obama and Hilary doing all the same things he did, but some how he deserves a pass because they did it also, but need to be in jail for it. It is really backwards way of thinking if they are all doing the same thing then it should apply across the board. Instead of addressing any issues it is always deflected to fake news or something about Hilary and Obama. Who are now out of power, but so many on the right still want to focus on them well telling everyone else to get over it and that Hilary lost. They do not seem to get they are the only ones still hung up on her well everyone else moved on to what is happening currently in the world.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The media on both sides are horrible to much focus on personal or corporate agenda and not enough just reporting on the news. The 24 hour news stations have way to much time to fill and that leads to a lot of editorial and opinion shows that people take as news because they are on a news station.

It would be nice if they used that time effectively and did economic analysis and kept us to date on the geopolitical climate in all the countries our troops are engaged in conflict with. You know instead of a 24/7 "Trump did this, he said that, his press secretary did this, Donald tweeted that".

[Judge Dredd]

It would be nice if they used that time effectively and did economic analysis and kept us to date on the geopolitical climate in all the countries our troops are engaged in conflict with. You know instead of a 24/7 "Trump did this, he said that, his press secretary did this, Donald tweeted that".

Yeah they have so much time and they all just waste it with gossip and fighting. I would love for some non political reports and actual information on economics and employment in the US. Instead you just get GOP wants to kill you and the left is just liars, and whatever side you are on you call the other stupid instead of actually working together on issues. It just keeps getting worse and worse and is now much about how much mud you can sling at the other side.

[Carabas]

Exactly. Thinks of it this way. For a good two weeks Democrats were screaming about fake news and that was becoming something of a buzzword that was catching on and gaining traction. So Trump just took the term and applied it to news outlets who criticized him. Now the term is associated more with him labeling reporters fake news than what it was originally used for. He has a talent for changing and dictating a narrative that way. He's a complete ass for it, but it works. Even if it's transparent, we start talking about something else.

Isn't that really more a Republican thing in general than specifically a Trump thing?

Republicans have always excelled at abusing language to make them look better.

[PaulBullion]

Until someone has the cojones to usher big insurance to the door and give them the boot, all healthcare bills are going to suck. Fighting symptoms of a hopelessly broken system.

Playing "both sides" when one party passed a law that saved lives and livelihoods, while the other side is willing to let thousands of people die over tax cuts for the rich is... Well... not making you look very respectable.

[JBatmanFan05]

ISIS close to a signficant loss?
The liberation of Mosul from ISIS is 'imminent,' US-led coalition says

Iraqi forces are locked in an intense battle for the final few blocks of western Mosul still under ISIS control.

Mosul's liberation is "imminent," but the battle "still remains ... a difficult fight," with days -- rather than weeks -- left to go, coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon said Thursday from Baghdad, confirming Iraqi forces had seized the remains of an iconic mosque and minaret.

The recapture of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri -- where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the ISIS caliphate in 2014 -- marks a major stride in the eight-month battle to seize the city from the terrorist group.

By securing the city, Iraq would be able to address the humanitarian crisis there and ease the flow of refugees into neighboring countries and beyond. But defeating ISIS in Mosul is only half the battle; Baghdad must keep ISIS at bay, rebuild the city's infrastructure, and govern it effectively.

[BeastieRunner]

Money Trail Ties Trey Gowdy to Bribes to Investigate Hillary, Then Later to Protect Trump

If true, this would not surprise me.

Huh. Ethics report filed and everything. I wonder if Gowdy would also be forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation in House Oversight hearings, because of this obvious conflict of interests.

So Manafort is foreign agent and Gowdy took bribes. Another banner week for Trump and his basket.

[worstblogever]

It was two years ago we shared our original "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile of Charlotte O’Hara, a member of the Kansas House of Representatives who once filed pro-life legislation that would requite a woman seeking an abortion to sign a document that they were "terminating the life of a whole living being". She also tried starting a Tea Party mutiny against Gov. Sam Brownback, telling supporters "peasants with pitchforks are needed to get the attention of the Topkea elite". O'Hara also warned against the threat of the Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theory, and tried comparing a rival State Senator's support of state bonds as "communism", leading to her downfall in elections in both 2012 and 2014.


It was one year ago today that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Georgia’s 12th Congressional District, Rick Allen, who after being elected for the first time in the 2014 elections, quickly made himself infamous in Washington for an outburst he made that pissed off even his fellow Republicans back in May of this year, when a week after Democrats cried foul after Republicans flipped their votes in support of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prevented government contractors from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, a second version passed with 43 Republicans actually supporting the idea. In the wake of that vote, Speaker Paul Ryan tried to gather many members of the GOP House, where Rick Allen pulled out his Bible, and read Scripture to those present, specifically passages from Romans 1:18-32, and Revelations 22:18-19, that in effect read that gays are sinners “worthy of death”. At that point, several of his colleagues stormed out, disgusted (and they should be).

Well, Rick Allen went viral because after the tragic shooting in Orlando just days later, as some were calling for some action, ANY action on gun control, the GOP offered their usual support to victims… their thoughts and prayers. In this instance, that came off as a lot of hollow bulls*** in particular because Rick Allen was one such person who got on social media to let those mourning know he was thinking and praying about it. To which, some of the victims had to wonder, “So what, are you praying that more of us die, then?” Allen was asked if he regretted or wanted to apologize for his remarks about the gays being “worthy of death”, and surprise… he didn’t regret them at all and stood by his decision to read them at that Republican meeting.

So it should come as little surprise that Rep. Allen spent his first term in office voting for anti-choice legislation without exceptions for rape and incest, attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and the bill to attempt to halt the resettling of Syrian refugees in the United States. But when you come from a conservative district in Georgia, the voters won’t pay attention to any of that or sweat that or the fact that you quoted Bible verses about gays being worthy of death, and they’ll re-elect you with 62% of the vote. His second term in office, is already starting to look like the first:

• February 16th, 2017: Allen 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: Rick Allen 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. Allen 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: Allen votes for the House 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-partem depression, and sexual assault as "pre-existing conditions". Oh, and a provision in the Rick would make sure that Allen 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: Rick Allen 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.

Rick Allen’s recent actions have him running from constituents, who are regularly protesting outside his office that they can’t reach him and their phone calls are pre-screened. He’s still kept his head down, for the most part, since his interesting choice of Bible verse, and that ability to run and hide might be the only thing that keeps him around past 2018. 

[Len Ikari145]

Ana Navarro Goes Off On CNN, Rips Spineless Republicans And Calls Trump A Crazy Lunatic Man Baby.

Wow, two women on the news calling him a lunatic on the same day, though Ana digs deeper by calling out her fellow Republicans for enabling Trump like cowards. Wonder how he's gonna respond to that?

[JBatmanFan05]

Navarro is a great example of what it takes to be "Republican" or "conservative" and get regular air time on CNN along with McCain, Graham, and Kasich.