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

[Michael Watkins]

I'm more bothered by her slurring Bernie Sanders.

[Tazirai]

Well, this is interesting...

http://ew.com/tv/2017/12/03/joy-reid...posts-apology/

Joy reid, is an amazing person.





Just not in a good way.


Not anymore.

[Tazirai]

<THREAD> Good morning, peeps. Two of the last major stories are emerging. The corruption at FBI, and Bernie Sanders, agent of Russian influence. We start with Bernie.

Interesting

Not at all actually.

Oh no, despite all Bernie is doing it seems some still consider him bad for dems.

Because those people, even some here, need someone to take out their frustrations with the party on.

because he spent most of his career crapping on the Dems

he can take a walk

That's a lie and you know it.
We get that you hate Bernie, but stop with him crapping on Dems, when He voted with them more than those Corporate hacks with D's by their names.
Eric garland despises Bernie, yet offers no solutions to the Democrats actual corruption or problems.

Thaere's nothing wrong with SHITTING on democrats. They're not beyond criticism, overlooking their problematic flaws is dangerous.

Especially when they haven't truly been "RESISTING" the Republican efforts to murder the world.

Resist to Pelosi and Schumer = Bow your head Progressives!

[wjowski]

Bernie has every reason in the world to criticize the current Democratic party. Compromised, corrupt, and contemptibly weak.

The only good thing about them is that they're not Republicans.

[Dalak]

There is certainly a divide on the left between those who think that Trump is uniquely dangerous and those who think his main problem is that he's a Republican. That's obviously not a view I agree with, although one that I appreciate seeing openly expressed.

I think it's a little of both. He's clearly a unique phenomenon destabilizing not only our economic system & government but sending ripples of chaos across the globe, but Republican politicians have thrown in with him whole hog at this point making him theirs 100% regardless of what % of the primary vote he got. That's the problem with voting for 'good' republican politicians that tow the party line rather than what's actually best for their constituents, defend their party members regardless of evidence simply because they have a R next to their names, and are more motivated by that R than any hate they spew, misinformation they spread, or crime they are guilty of.

I don't think it's a controversial position to say that someone who votes for good members of a party is better than someone who votes for the worst members. I'm curious to hear the opposing view.

I do stuff to call out bad behavior., and discuss it in public forums. If a Republican candidate is terrible, I often vote for someone else. When there are stronger candidates, I sometimes volunteer for them, give donations and vote for them in primaries/ general elections.

As it seems you are working to make things better I will apologize for how far I went, but defending your party in defiance of reality on the Tax Bill is still a step or 2 too far to give yourself the moral high ground here. Even 'good' Republicans who held back the health bill were willing to throw all that out the window when they voted for the tax bill that included everything they claimed to be voting against, and that's the reason we are where we are today.

How did your congresspersons vote on it/the Health Bill stack up with your views and beliefs?

[Kevinroc]

I don't support individual crazy Republicans. I didn't vote for Trump in the primary or the General Election. If I were in Alabama, I would either vote for Doug Jones or the conservative write-in candidate.

To leave the Republican party, I would have to prefer that another party win. Currently, that's not the case. It's also misguided to suggest that people leave a party if it's taken over by crazies because the current political system really punishes independent candidates, and makes it easy for outsiders like Trump and Sanders to take over the presidential nomination, so someone who doesn't like elected Republicans but prefers Republicans in the abstract to Democrats is better off staying a Republican in order to be able to influence the primaries that tend to have low voter turnout.

It doesn't matter if you don't support "individual crazy Republicans." Trump is the President. He is the de facto leader of the Republican Party. He defines the party. Trump endorsed Moore, and the RNC is back in Alabama.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rnc-res...a-senate-race/

I have this friend. He's been my friend since we were in Elementary School. I consider him to be a pretty sharp guy. He's a conservative guy living out in liberal California. He dislikes a lot of how this state is run.

He left the Republican Party when Trump won the GOP nomination. Didn't want to be associated with that party. He's still a conservative. He's still a member of the NRA. And I'm sure he could someday return to the GOP. But he didn't want to be associated with what the GOP is today.

[Dalak]

Bow your head!

I've been inspired to make my next D&D/Pathfinder character a Human Ranger named 'Bowyer Heed' with a racial hatred against Humans in your honor, I bow my head to you!

[zinderel]

From what I have read here, you are a registered Republican and a relatively conservative person, yes? Based on your defense of Republican politicians, tactics, and beliefs, I think it's safe to make that assumption, but please, correct me if I am wrong.

There is certainly a divide on the left between those who think that Trump is uniquely dangerous and those who think his main problem is that he's a Republican. That's obviously not a view I agree with, although one that I appreciate seeing openly expressed.

That is a mighty fine strawman of the Left's arguments against Trump that you erect there, Mets. However, speaking as a leftie who associates with many others, I know of no one 'on the left' who dislikes Trump SOLELY because of his political affiliation. EVERY leftie I know, read, watch or listen to agrees that Trump is a unique, unprecedented danger to America's security and standing in the world. We ALSO recognize that he would never have come to power without the Republican Party selling out to - and in the process, becoming the party of - racists, homophobes, misogynists, rapists, domestic abusers, Christian terrorists, thieves, liars and now, apparently, child molesters. Only one modern party would have - and did - given a bloviating racist 'billionaire' who bragged about sexual assault a platform, much less the presidency. Only one party would - and did - welcome the Christian Taliban into their ranks with open arms. Only one party would - and did - fight against any and all regulations on corporations. Only one party would - and did - openly and proudly align itself with the elite who would drain the world dry and watch it burn if it meant making another grubby dollar.

Your party.

It literally does not matter that you, personally, say that you didn't vote for him and do not support him or other 'bad' Republicans. It's WONDERFUL that you recognize that he is a threat. But you STILL align yourself with a party that routinely apologizes for or defends literal Nazis. You STILL align yourself with a party that blatantly pushes bills that LITERALLY steal money out of hard working American's hands to give it to the people who least need more money. You STILL align yourself with a party that repeatedly shows a belief that women are a commodity, and not a particularly valuable one at that. You STILL align yourself with a party that views LGBT+ people and people of color as 'less than' and does everything in it's power to make the country straight, white, and Christian at the expense of everyone else.

I don't think it's a controversial position to say that someone who votes for good members of a party is better than someone who votes for the worst members. I'm curious to hear the opposing view.

Whether or not you support individual Republican politicians (and, despite the overall tone of my reply, I hope you know that I appreciate what you do to prevent the worst of the worst of the (R) from getting power), if you continue supporting a party that sees nothing wrong with stealing from workers, demeaning women who come forward about assault, dehumanizing Muslim/Black/Latinx/LGBT+ people, then you support the party when they do those things. It doesn't matter if you yourself support mocking, threatening and belittling rape victims, your party does. It doesn't matter if you yourself don't like seeing people forced to choose between feeding their kids or paying for their kids' health care, your party does. You support a party that is demonstrably corrupt at the core, and has a leadership that BRAGS ABOUT IT. You cannot be a Republican, but turn around and say 'Well, I give them my time/money/vote; I spend time online defending them and their policies, but they don't represent me!!' when you feel like it! As long as you associate with a party that knowingly and deliberately covers for child molesters, neo-nazis, and Christian terrorism, then you will bear their stink on you, no matter how you try to deny it's there.

I do stuff to call out bad behavior., and discuss it in public forums. If a Republican candidate is terrible, I often vote for someone else. When there are stronger candidates, I sometimes volunteer for them, give donations and vote for them in primaries/ general elections.

There is no rescuing the soul of the Republican party. If there is any hope for genuine conservatism to survive, it has to divest itself of the (R) and allow the Republican Party to die the undignified death it has earned. You say that people like Trump and Roy Moore and countless others brought up here don't represent you? Then stop aligning with the Republican party, get your friends and family to stop aligning with them. Start over and show your fellow Americans (You know, those gross, poor liberals) that your claims of moral integrity means something by ACTUALLY TAKING A STAND against the monstrous actions your party has been part of for DECADES, not just the last year. Because right now, no one will believe you, not when you carry the stink of the vile horrors your party calls it's base. Guilty by association, Mets. Who you associate with colors peoples perceptions of who you are. You don't have to like it, but that's how it is.

[InformationGeek]

Meanwhile, while all you people are complaining and moaning about that stuff, the Republicans have reinstated their support for Roy Moore. Just, you know, FYI and so you don't get distracted.


Meanwhile, rape apologist and man who thinks semen cures depression (no seriously), Mike Cernovich got Sam Seder of MSNBC canned.

MSNBC has decided not to renew its contract with contributor Sam Seder after an old tweet emerged in which Seder joked about Roman Polanski raping his daughter, TheWrap has learned.

Seder’s contract ends in February and he has no scheduled appearances between now and then, a spokesperson for MSNBC told TheWrap.

“Don’t care re Polanski, but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/a great sense of mise en scene,” wrote Seder in the now deleted tweet from 2009.

A person familiar with the situation said the decision to sever ties with Seder was directly related to the Polanski matter.

“Internally there was disgust over the tweet,” said the individual.

The tweet was first brought to wide attention last month by the pro-Trump journalist and activist Mike Cernovich.

Multiple efforts to reach Seder were unsuccessful, but in a segment of his podcast, “The Majority Report with Sam Seder,” last week, he addressed the matter and accused Cernovich of a smear campaign to take him off the air.

“This smear involves the willful misinterpretation of a tweet that I posted in 2009,” said Seder, who said Cernovich and his allies were deliberately misrepresenting him to silence his criticism of Roy Moore and President Trump. “I will never be ashamed of criticizing those who would excuse the predation of women or girls. And I certainly won’t be quiet about Roy Moore or a conservative movement that which would defend his actions so they could get his vote in the Senate.”

Seder said the tweet was satirical and was intended to show his disgust with liberals at the time who were attempting to apologize for Polanksi’s past behavior.

Funny how all of this stuff is happening around the same time, ain't it?

[InformationGeek]

Also, just a couple of "classic quotes" from Cernovich so you know what kind of person he is for those unaware:

A whore will let her friend ruin your life with a false rape case. So why should I care when women are raped?

Fat/ugly women seek out dominant men to abuse them. Then they seek sympathy from others.

How to tell if someone is a true player? There's a 100% chance he's had a pregnancy scare, and a 25% chance he's had a false rape scare.

It's also anti-rape game. After abusing a girl, I always immediately send a text and save her reply.

The hotter the sex, the more closely it resembles rape.

Have you guys ever tried "raping" a girl without using force? Try it. It's basically impossible. Date rape does not exist.

When is the last time women organized to support a men's rights issue? Stop being sticks. Who cares about breast cancer and rape? Not me.

The only rape culture is Muslim rape culture.

[Tendrin]

When the GOP is so incompetent it can't even pay off its corporate donors properly.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...eductions.html

This screwup — like most of the tax plan’s oddest features — was born of a math problem. Due to arcane Senate rules, the Trump tax cuts can only add $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Last Thursday, the Senate tax bill already cost about that sum, and then McConnell started making expensive promises to his few holdouts. Susan Collins wanted a $10,000 property tax deduction for Americans in high-tax states; Ron Johnson wanted a 23 percent business-income deduction for the company that his family owns. This left the Senate Majority Leader searching under the tax code’s couch cushions for new sources of revenue.
Eventually, he came upon the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT). At present, most corporations face a 35 percent (statutory) rate on their income. But by availing themselves of various tax credits and deductions, most companies can get their actual rates down far below that figure. To put a limit on just how far, the corporate AMT prevents companies from paying any less than 20 percent on their profits (or, more precisely, on the profits that they fail to hide overseas).
The GOP had originally intended to abolish the AMT. But on Friday, with the clock running out — and money running short — Senate Republicans put the AMT back into their bill. Unfortunately for McConnell, they forgot to lower the AMT after doing so.
This is a big problem. The Senate bill brings the normal corporate rate down to 20 percent — while leaving the alternative minimum rate at … 20 percent. The legislation would still allow corporations to claim a wide variety of tax credits and deductions — it just renders all them completely worthless. Companies can either take no deductions, and pay a 20 percent rate — or take lots of deductions … and pay a 20 percent rate.

They'll try to claim they totally did this on purpose and then change it in reconciliation if they can.

Also, there's an important bit in the article for WBE's Ron Johnson update that I've bolded.

[Tendrin]

I've been inspired to make my next D&D/Pathfinder character a Human Ranger named 'Bowyer Heed' with a racial hatred against Humans in your honor, I bow my head to you!

...so stealing this for my Pathfinder game.

[Tazirai]

I've been inspired to make my next D&D/Pathfinder character a Human Ranger named 'Bowyer Heed' with a racial hatred against Humans in your honor, I bow my head to you!

I'm dead! You killed me. HAHAHAHAHA!!

[BeastieRunner]

So ... Kushner was working for Israel, Flynn was working for Turkey, Manafort was working for Ukraine, and Trump was working for Russia.

But hey, America First, right?

[Tazirai]

Meanwhile, while all you people are complaining and moaning about that stuff, the Republicans have reinstated their support for Roy Moore. Just, you know, FYI and so you don't get distracted.


Meanwhile, rape apologist and man who thinks semen cures depression (no seriously), Mike Cernovich got Sam Seder of MSNBC canned.



Funny how all of this stuff is happening around the same time, ain't it?

I just heard about the Sam Seder issue.

This is what I mean to the Left. The Left ALWAYS bows their heads to Conservatives for the littlest controversies. We DON'T defend our own.

Sam did nothng Wrong and Hayes didn't defend his friend AT ALL!