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

[MindofShadow]

Trump needs to get off 4chan and Reddit rekt threads.

The cartels are animals. They are also a tiny population of the illegals and legal immigrants crossing the southern border.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I keep getting those, though not as much as I got the Trump wants to protect our border commercial during 2016. So annoying.



Also, this is trouble. An actual, published article from the White House.



Going all in on calling them animals.

I’m sure there’s a stat out there that says many more Americans have been killed over that same time span by a scant few unstable homegrown white nutbags than by all of MS-13. But does the White House address that situation? Of course not.

[SuperiorIronman]

Why would the White House go after people with guns? Ignoring the obvious payments by the NRA; Who are these people? What kinds of people shouldn't have guns? What statistics qualify them (The White House) getting involved? I'm not surprised they aren't doing anything. Because despite the touting at the state of the union with a building initiative across the country, they won't do it because they don't have the funding.

Because in reality it's just easier to go after a "known" threat and its spinoffs than it is to enforce a restriction on guns. Gang Violence, Cartels, and shooters whom the police already handle is just easier. It also appeals to the base because at the end of the day we don't wanna get told what to do, and we don't want a crisis "nobody" knew about. That is to say that they don't want to get involved in stopping kids from acquiring firearms or harder background checks because not only is that an open ended always getting harder mission, that's also particularly hard to enforce and it's not like we can discriminate for people having guns because we have an amendment for it.

That being said they could focus efforts on making schools harder to break into, better screening of technology to alert officers, placing officers on site, creating technology to physically protect students, or even provide medical centers and stations nearby to educate and protect students. Why don't we do that? Budget. Whose paying for this? We can barely pay teachers and we are going to renovate schools across America? Sure we can do that, but whose paying for it? The Government gets their money from us, and so there is a bunch of people who don't want to pay higher taxes even if it means protecting their kids. So this gets push back. Not to mention the Republican tax bill and the efforts to build (and I'm not kidding to anybody new) a physical wall along the border of Mexico with patrols. So the current administration is a bit tied up on it's own agenda. Their is no money in the government (state and federal) in policing schools. The Government's job is to make sure things work and they can't just dump money onto security for something that may or may not work, and or be obsolete in a few years.

The easiest solution is to take guns away, but you'd have to redo sections of the law and that's a massive process that can cost a politician their job. I'm not only not surprised, I'm positive the government (state or federal) is never going to do a damn thing about it.

[numberthirty]

This means that HRC is headed for that "Special Place In Hell", no?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ion/629269002/

Hillary Clinton to endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo at New York Democratic convention

Clinton's support comes as Cuomo faces a Democratic primary from Cynthia Nixon, the Sex and the City star.

Nixon, who endorsed Clinton for president in 2016, said Monday she too will attend the Democratic convention, despite party leaders being largely behind Cuomo.

Nixon is running to Cuomo's left in the primary, and she has knocked him for not being a more progressive Democrat.

[Tazirai]

I'm done with Bill Maher and his shitty show. Bari Weiss is always nasty so she and Bill can go both bite a big one...

[Tazirai]

The only way to stop a good guy with a bomb is a bad guy with a bomb.

[Malvolio]

I'm done with Bill Maher and his shitty show. Bari Weiss is always nasty so she and Bill can go both bite a big one...

This is why I only watch Bill Maher's monologue and New Rules at the end of the show. I skip over everything else.

[Tendrin]

Welcome aboard the 'No, actually, Bill Maher is bad' wagon. xD

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Garry Kasparov: Donald Trump Has More Russian Connections Than Aeroflot

The chess champ and dissident sounds the gong again on Vladimir Putin’s manipulation of U.S. democracy. Mr. Kasparov is not alone in sounding that particular alarm.

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Blake Farenthold May Have Been Hired Illegally At His New Lobbyist Job

A Texas newspaper filed a lawsuit alleging the Calhoun Port Authority hired the disgraced former lawmaker without public notice, in violation of state law. Fatty Arbuckle continues making headlines, and not in a good way.

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Lawmaker Introduces Crowdfunding Bill To Pay For Trump’s Border Wall

So Mexico’s not paying for it? I guess not. Hey, if Trumpanzees want to foot the bill, have at it, folks!

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Cops Accused Of Racism After Detaining Black Man Over ‘Vegetation’

“If you want to see a video of racial profiling, this is the poster child right here,” an attorney said. Now we have Driving With Tree Stuff On Your Car While Black. This vulgar **** just gets crazier all the time. Meanwhile....

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‘This Isn’t Pakistan, Bitch’: Video Captures Driver’s Racist Rant

A case of road rage in Texas quickly escalated into a hateful and xenophobic diatribe. More of the fruits of Donald Trump's xenophobia. I wouldn't be surprised if that fat fuckwad had a MAGA hat at home.

[ZombieHavoc]

For the moment, our government doesn't just allow a new president to jail his political opponents (although we are creeping steadily towards that). Trump is really working hard to circumvent that.

If only it had been apparent before Trump was elected that he had an outspoken vendetta towards Obama. If only Trump had done or said something previously that let us know his actual motivations? A platform where he could run his mouth non-stop so we all know exactly the kind of contempt and bias he held against the last president.

Ah well. RIP 2020.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

For the moment, our government doesn't just allow a new president to jail his political opponents (although we are creeping steadily towards that). Trump is really working hard to circumvent that.

If only it had been apparent before Trump was elected that he had an outspoken vendetta towards Obama. If only Trump had done or said something previously that let us know his actual motivations? A platform where he could run his mouth non-stop so we all know exactly the kind of contempt and bias he held against the last president.

Ah well. RIP 2020.

I beg to differ, it WAS apparent, at least to me anyway, and it all goes back to the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner when Obama made fun of the thin-skinned orange ignoramus. Trump's relentless jihad today as president in regard to overturning every last motherfucking legislation Obama put into law while destroying the legacy of the nation's first black Commander-in-Chief is driven by an obsession to get back at his predecessor for that night of laughs at Dolt45's expense. If there's any other reason for why Sunkist Satan has acted the way he has since the election, I'd love to hear it, but I'll go to my grave believing petty revenge for being made the butt of jokes seven years ago was the reason for all this madness.

[Tami]

I beg to differ, it WAS apparent, at least to me anyway, and it all goes back to the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner when Obama made fun of the thin-skinned orange ignoramus. Trump's relentless jihad today as president in regard to overturning every last motherfucking legislation Obama put into law while destroying the legacy of the nation's first black Commander-in-Chief is driven by an obsession to get back at his predecessor for that night of laughs at Dolt45's expense. If there's any other reason for why Sunkist Satan has acted the way he has since the election, I'd love to hear it, but I'll go to my grave believing petty revenge for being made the butt of jokes seven years ago was the reason for all this madness.

I think it went back even further. The very idea that someone who wasn't white could actually become President sent Trump into a tailspin. Trump gets' jealous very easily. He either needs to be part of the In-Crowd or he get's jealous and takes it out on the source of his enmity. Trump's the kind of guy who, if we use the analogy of the kids in the playground, if the other kids wouldn't let Trump play, he'd spread a rumor that they were all part of a street gang and try to get the kids arrested.

If those kids woulnd't let Trump play and instead they allowed a Non-white kid to play, trump would not only try to get them arrested, but he'd pay off an older kid to beat up the Non-white kid.

Trump overreacts to the slightest slight and he over compensates for the slightest negativity and his over reaction increases exponentially when the slight involves someone who Trump sees as 'Not-like-him', as another. His racism is so obvious he wears it like a long red tie.

[ZombieHavoc]

I beg to differ, it WAS apparent...

Oh I know I was being sarcastic.

Like, we let a dude who led a movement to challenge a sitting president's citizenship based on his race become president. Like the dude wasn't gonna use his position to go after the last dude, who he had been going after for 8 years as a private citizen.

[worstblogever]

It was three years ago “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of John Ludlow, the Clackamas County Chairman of the GOP who has literally asked the question, "Do you want a piece of me?" while bullying colleagues on county board, and without a vote, trying to throw people off it without a second thought. He also has a tendency to comment on the record when tragedies happen to blame them on a minority group, like when he declared the Boston Marathon bombing was the "work of an A-rab", or asking a police officer about a recent shooting and telling him it was his "bet they were Mexicans". Ludlow also makes inappropriate sexual comments, like when he volunteered his opinion about a female legislator receiving an appointment because "she shoves her perky titties in people's faces". Not surprisingly, Ludlow’s ascent into GOP politics was halted, the more his name made the papers.

Two years ago today, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of Dennis Hedke, a former member of the Kansas House of Representatives who prior to taking office, was geophysicist who worked for oil and gas companies, and his main focus in Kansas politics was centered around climate change denial. Hedke doesn't just possess your regular brand of climate change denial, oh no, he takes it to a whole other level. Dennis Hedke wasn't content to be the only one questioning the science of climate change, but he wanted all public school teachers to do so as part of their curriculum, and filed legislation to try and make that happen. If we're not being plain enough... Hedke wanted to disseminate lies to young, impressionable minds, to agree with his own worldview. In February of 2013, Dennis Hedke led the charge in Kansas to produce a bill to prohibit the implementation of the United Nations' Agenda 21 environmental treaty. When it failed, he instead targeted environmental sustainability itself, submitting legislation to prohibit the use of public funds to promote sustainable development. When critics pointed out that his long-established ties to the oil and gas industry might be causing a conflict of interest for him, Hedke played dumb, and said "the possibility never crossed his mind". But we can't say that Dennis Hedke is just a kook based on his voting record and his will to ignore scientific evidence about the dangers of climate change. No, he's also delightfully Islamophobic as well, as was evidenced when he raised a stink about the Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet School having an educational display which included the Five Pillars of Islam. Never mind the fact that the school also has displays to give the basic tenets of Christianity (including a painting of the Last Supper), Buddhism, Judaism, and Hinduism, because their history department liked to teach a history of those five religions and their impact on the world. Just the one for the Islamic faith seemed "appalling" in Dennis Hedke's mind. Hedke chose not to run for re-election in 2016, and has faded from view.



It was one year ago today that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day published its original profile of Corey Stewart, a former Trump 2016 campaign staffer who ran for office to be the Governor of Virginia as a Republican here in 2017. That's honestly a pretty surprising development, though, considering Corey Stewart went off the reservation in his role with the Trump campaign, and posted some staggering race-baiting online to "support" his candidate that was beyond the pale. And yet, Stewart still wasn't held accountable for any of that, and got fired in October of 2016 from the Trump campaign after he took part in a protest by Trump voters outside the Republican National Party headquarters, angry at the perception that the GOP wasn't doing enough to prop up Donald Trump after the "Access Hollywood" tape surfaced. To give you an idea of how much acrimony Corey Stewart had/has for his own party, this was his explanation for joining that protest was “I called them establishment pukes because that’s how they make everybody feel." So, Corey Stewart hates the GOP establishment, that's pretty clear. Well, when long time Bush administration and former RNC head Ed Gillespie entered the campaign to be the next Governor of Virginia when the election would be held in 2017... Corey Stewart threw his hat into the ring to challenge the stalwart in the Republican primary. So how does one paint themselves as a true conservative when they're running against a former RNC Chairman? Well, in an AMA thread on Reddit that he was hosting, Corey Stewart decided to outright call Gillespie a "cuckservative" to win the Alt-Right, Pepe-Lovin' demographic, and "RINO" is apparently too nice of a thing to say. Stewart of course, panders to racists and xenophobes as much as possible, including not just on his staunch anti-immigration views, but in the key issue in his campaign to differentiate himself from Gillespie... he LOVES the Confederate flag. Bizarrely, Stewart, who grew up in Minnesota, has made Confederate heritage the cornerstone of his campaign. The strategy helped Stewart get the backing of White Nationalists and Neo-Confederates, as if that's supposed to be a good thing. And, that nearly was enough, as Stewart came within 5,000 votes of winning the GOP nomination for Governor of Virginia.

We had thought that Corey Stewart getting narrowly beaten would be the end of our profiles of him, and he’d quickly fade from view… however, he inexplicably turned around and filed for office again in 2018, this time hoping to knock of Senator Tim Kaine in his bid to be re-elected to U.S. Senate. And if defending the Confederate flag and calling his opponent a “cuckservative” the last time he ran for office a year ago nearly got him the nomination, what do you think Stewart has been up to?

Well, for starters, he’s decided to revive the Birther Conspiracy about Barack Obama not actually having been a citizen of the United States. Now, why would he go and bring a thing like that up? Well, he did it in a Tweet while defending noted racist pedophile Roy Moore, claiming that the girls Moore was trying to prey on when he signed their high school yearbook while in his thirties and trying to date them was a forgery.

“@TheDemocrats got cocky forging @BarackObama birth certificate. Thought they could slip phony #AllredYearbookFraud by on @MooreSenate. Sad!!”

And yes, it seems he’s pathetic enough to punctuate his Tweets the same way Donald Trump does.

In February 2018, Stewart rallied outside the Virginia State House of Delegates, outraged that the Virginia GOP worked with Democrats to pass the expansion of Medicaid in the state. Of course, Stewart could not voice his grievances tastefully, instead waving around a roll of toilet paper and attacking the virility of his fellow Republicans, calling them “garbage”, “flaccid”, and saying he “felt sorry for their wives”.

Inside, Republican Delegate Glenn Davis decried Stewart’s remarks, calling him a “charlatan” and saying “I’m done with Minnesotans who pretend to be Southern gentlemen. I’m done with phonies who think they’re Donald Trump because they can tweet. And I’m done with holier-than-thou politicians who want to preach about ethics and fiscal responsibility when they have demonstrated that they possess neither.” That takedown of Corey Stewart earned a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle.

Now while it’s refreshing to see the Virginia GOP beginning to reject a Trump disciple and his White Nationalist background, the primary for this U.S. Senate seat is hardly decided. Stewart is also running against the super-kooky CSGOPOTD alumni E.W. Jackson and Nick Freitas, a current member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Yes, Freitas is the least bigoted and deranged of the three of them, but we’re obviously in the tank for Senator Kaine. All we know for sure is, we hope after 2018, Corey Stewart takes a hint and f***s right off and stops trying to get elected anywhere.

[ZombieHavoc]

One of my favorite things is people who feel compelled to comment on Bruce Springsteen's FB page about how they were fans for 30 or 40 or however long years, but can now never listen to another note.

I know Bruce's lyrics aren't always as cut and dry as Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue", but nothing has changed in the past few decades regarding The Boss.