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

[ouroboros]

Parties are set up to allow pretty much anyone who meets predefined standards to get the nomination. The predefined standards tend to be about age and residency requirements, rather than any political views.

The party officials have denounced the candidate, who won the nomination because no one else was interested in being a sacrificial lamb, and because this guy submitted items at the last minute.

To win an election in an unfavorable district, a party generally needs three things: a great candidate, a weak opponent and a terrific political environment. Democrats had these things and now Doug Jones is a Senator, while Conor Lamb is a Congressman.

The Nazi is running in a district that might be able to go to Republicans in a terrific political environment for the party. This does not appear to be a terrific political environment. To make up for that, the Nazi would have to be a truly impressive candidate. My understanding of the world is that he is not an impressive candidate, although if your view is that there are a lot of closet Nazis in the United States (or at least this Illinois congressional district) who typically don't vote or would otherwise vote for the Democrat, I could understand your concern that this guy has a chance of getting elected, even if I believe it to be quite misplaced.

Re: "terrific political environment"--

Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier described as a Nazi by the Illinois Republican Party, won the Republican primary on Tuesday in the state’s Third Congressional District, a heavily Democratic district that includes part of Chicago and its suburbs, according to The Associated Press... The Third Congressional District of Illinois has not been represented by a Republican since 1975, and few people, besides Mr. Jones, believe he has a chance of winning the general election in November. Daniel Lipinski, a Democrat, has represented the district in Congress since 2005, and before that it was represented by his father, Bill Lipinski, since 1993.

If as is expected he runs and is defeated, doesn't that serve the greater purpose of Americans showing their contempt for the Nazi party?

Not to let him run at all would be tantamount to saying, "we're afraid he MIGHT win, so we have to nip this in the bud."

[Mister Mets]

Re: "terrific political environment"--



If as is expected he runs and is defeated, doesn't that serve the greater purpose of Americans showing their contempt for the Nazi party?

Not to let him run at all would be tantamount to saying, "we're afraid he MIGHT win, so we have to nip this in the bud."

I'm in agreement on this. I've expressed my concern that the panic about Nazis only encourages extremist idiots. If people are acting as if we're in Germany circa 1930, no one's going to stop being a Nazi: they'll have reason to think they're on the verge of victory. Even if it is a small group in the population that is nowhere near a saturaton point.

There are also clear rules in place, about who gets to be on the ballot. If the rules are bent to keep this guy out, it allows for the rules to be bent to keep a good guy out (IE- someone who might be a plausible reformer.)

The insistence that Republicans extend resources to get a candidate for a race that won't be competitive in the general election also comes from a troublesome place. There are some liberals who want Republicans spending their effort there rather than where it would make a difference in who wins (IE- the Governor running for reelection, congressional Republicans running to replace retiring incumbents in other states) which is a bit dishonest and self-serving. There are some who would want their own party to do the same thing, although that's part of how they got Trump as the Hillary Clinton did waste resources on things that didn't matter (increasing the popular vote in New Orleans and New York City, trying to increase the electoral map) rather than what ultimately counted in the presidential election (the states that could get them to 270 electoral votes.)

They could say: We need somebody to run against him, even if that person will have little chance of winning the general.

They are.

They've announced plans to support a third-party opponent.

The Illinois Republican Party has sought to distance itself from Mr. Jones in recent weeks, blanketing the district with campaign fliers and robocalls urging voters to “stop Illinois Nazis,” according to a robocall script provided by the party. Mr. Jones said he had received three robocalls himself.

“Arthur Jones is not a real Republican — he is a Nazi whose disgusting, bigoted views have no place in our nation’s discourse,” Tim Schneider, the Illinois Republican Party chairman, said in a statement. He said the party had urged voters “to skip over his name when they go to the polls” and moving forward planned on “vehemently opposing Jones with real campaign dollars.”

A spokesman for the Illinois Republican Party said those dollars would be used to support an independent candidate in the November general election. Party leaders are in talks with several potential candidates, the spokesman said, but have not yet decided which one to endorse.

I remember reading that this Nazi had indeed been kept off the ballot before, though I'm not sure how.

They successfully contested the signatures last time.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/politic...pinski-newman/

How did this happen?

• Republicans didn’t bother to muster a credible candidate because the district is so Democratic. There is always a debate if parties should recruit candidates to run races they are highly likely to lose.

• Jones could not be knocked off the ballot.

In 2016, Jones was removed from the 3rd District GOP ballot in legal actions engineered by the Illinois Republican Party.

Records show that John Fogarty Jr., the general counsel for the Illinois GOP, handled the objections to Jones 2016 nominating petitions filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Once Jones was removed from the ballot because his petitions were faulty, Lipinski ran unopposed in the 2016 contest.

By 2018, Jones took his petitions door to door himself and took greater care to have valid signatures.

An official with the Illinois Republican Party said Fogarty was directed to determine if Jones could be thrown off the 2018 ballot.

Fogarty examined Jones’ petitions Dec. 5 and Dec. 8. This time around, Jones’ signatures appeared valid, so the Illinois GOP did not pursue legal action. Neither did anyone else.

Jerry Hurckes, the treasurer for the Lipinski campaign, looked at the petitions on Dec. 4, the records show.

Tim Mapes, Madigan’s government chief of staff and executive director of the state Democratic party, viewed Jones petitions on Dec. 6.

[Michael Watkins]

Re: "terrific political environment"--



If as is expected he runs and is defeated, doesn't that serve the greater purpose of Americans showing their contempt for the Nazi party?

Not to let him run at all would be tantamount to saying, "we're afraid he MIGHT win, so we have to nip this in the bud."

when you're dealing with Nazis, it's perfectly ok to be afraid that they might win. he's making republicans look bad. so there's that for a motivation.

[Tazirai]

In lighthearted news

John Oliver's parody children's book starring a gay rabbit outsells the Mike Pence original story.

All proceeds go to AIDs United and the Trevor Project

I bought 3 copies for my nieces and nephew

That's awesome.





In other good news. SHit just got real on Dianne Feinstein. This ad is devastating. Also the Fact that Hartson outraised Feinstein gives me hope that this is her last year in California after 50. Time to go.

https://www.facebook.com/HartsonForC...4688975819694/

[InformationGeek]

It is official, John Bolton is our new National Security Advisor. Oh boy...

[JBatmanFan05]

gives me hope that this is [Feinstein's] last year in California after 50. Time to go.

Feinstein is surprisingly reasonable on some things, but I'd like to see her go, but she'll probably win anyways.

[Gray Lensman]

That's awesome.





In other good news. SHit just got real on Dianne Feinstein. This ad is devastating. Also the Fact that Hartson outraised Feinstein gives me hope that this is her last year in California after 50. Time to go.

https://www.facebook.com/HartsonForC...4688975819694/

Don't be too sure - San Francisco is pretty liberal, but only until it affects them in a way they don't like. Anyone trying to build housing there already knows this.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Charles P Lazarus, fouder of Toys R Us dead at 94

[Gray Lensman]

Charles P Lazarus, fouder of Toys R Us dead at 94

He lived long enough to see the company he founded begin it's own death. Pretty sad when you think about it.

On a side note, buying a company, loading it with debt that has nothing to do with it, ans spinning it off into an independent entity to die (along with your own debts) should be illegal.

[worstblogever]

It is official, John Bolton is our new National Security Advisor. Oh boy...

Nothing like having a paranoid war-monger whose philosophy is to threaten to bomb any other nation to prove your strength to stabilize our global standing.

Bob Mueller can't work fast enough.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Mueller isn't going to find anything on the Idiot directly

aside from resignation, he will finish his first term

[skyvolt2000]

On a side note, buying a company, loading it with debt that has nothing to do with it, ans spinning it off into an independent entity to die (along with your own debts) should be illegal.

True but if you are those companies trying to buy Toy R Us-what choice do you have?

If they really go away-how many toy companies will have to DUMP employees?

Sure 20% of my profit made from Toy R Us might not look like much but when you look at what makes it up-you have to be concerned.

For a lot of those companies toy r us was the only place they could showcase.

Marvel alone had 4-5 section to itself here in Dallas. Lego could have been a store with it's selection.

Target & Wal-Mart don't have the space.

You don't have the space-you can't order what you want and that also means you SELECTION suffers. And who benefits? EBAY and toy scalpers.

Look at some of the prices of certain toys on Ebay.

[JCAll]

Mueller isn't going to find anything on the Idiot directly

aside from resignation, he will finish his first term

Even if he did find something, even a lot of things, the people who could punish Trump just wouldn't do it. I'm more hoping that the Mueller investigation takes down everyone around King Imbecile, and opens up an opportunity to stamp out open corruption before it happens next time.

[Kevinroc]

It is official, John Bolton is our new National Security Advisor. Oh boy...

There are people who actually argued Hillary would be more of a warhawk than Trump.

Seriously...

[JCAll]

no one in the center or on the left is advocating for a white ethnostate, or any kind of ethnostate along with sending people of different races "Back to their country of origin"

If you believe the alt-Right, the Left wants nothing less than to see all whites euthanized.
You shouldn't believe the alt-Right, naturally.