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

[BeastieRunner]

The NFL is moving forward on an owner-led vote for assessing a series of 15 yard penalties to teams that have players that kneel during the anthem.

[Tazirai]

Some things are still dawning on me about the reality-glitch we had regarding November predictions yesterday. A reminder:

• Trump's disapproval rating sits in the high fifties.
• Voters polled say if their health insurance premiums go up, they're blaming Republicans.
• Whatever temporary tax refund swayed some voters opinions now while they're getting slightly better refunds than usual, will have faded by October and November. The hardliners know that won't be enough, and that's why they want to force an anti-immigration vote before November... they want to soak up even more racism to get their base out to vote.
• Mueller investigation is continuing.
• All the GOP's current policies seem to be rooted in no other agenda other than sadism towards anything that isn't white, male, and rich.
• That includes the fact that a U.S. Senator just came out in defense of a mass murderer who's actually a "good boy", who was "mistreated at school". Remember, his "mistreatment" includes girls telling him to leave them the f*** alone, and not being romantically interested in him. Sen. Cornyn just defended what amounts to the latest incel terrorist.
• The GOP have, no s***, multiple Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists on the ballot. Little in California, Art Jones in Illinois, Corey Stewart in Virginia, Paul Nehlen in Wisconsin...

It's ridiculous to see all that, then point to a poll six months out and going, "Oh yeah, we got this..." Even if Republicans in office weren't fleeing for the exits in droves... that is not a pretty picture about what the next six months hold. The one thing the GOP have going for them is, their registered voters seem to get off on voting for the worst people simple to say "F*** you" to the dreaded liberals. 48% to 49% of the people in Alabama were willing to vote for a racist pedophile with an utter disregard for the rule of law. That's not an exaggeration.

I think as election day approaches, well, all the people who registered to vote in really, really high numbers the past year and a half are sitting there, motivated because Trump's election freaked them out. And what the Republican Party has decided to shape it self has is an ugly, vile, and disgusting view of America. Democrats running on an anti-corruption platform is a smart grab, because those in power are about to be painted as traitors by Mueller, if not just creatures abusing power. They are left to either own that they are corrupt, or try and lie and pretend that all the stories of rampant corruption are just made up. Which is tough, because the receipts are there.

The Key this year is for Democrats and Independents to get voters excited abotu voting for them.

Thanks to William Barber and Senator Sanders Last visit here in NC, our Governor is now pushing for 15 an hour, Teacher Pay raises, and Medicare for all.

Going left is working. There's a LOT of excitement here in NC for this fall. Even our Progressive leaders are moving more left, because they feel the pulse. Even many of the Repulicans I know personally are now on board with Teacher Raises ad Medicare, even if they think 15 is too much right now.

[Tazirai]

A Reuters tracking poll shows Republicans with a one point lead in the generic congressional ballot.

https://politicalwire.com/2018/05/22...term-election/

Due to the way the party benefits from geographic sorting, Democrats pretty much need to win by several points in order to take back the House.

I was going to say Geographic sorting??

fixed it for you.

But Kirby fixed it for ya.


Establishment shill and Hack "Journalist" Edward Isaac Dovere is already going after Progressives. Why can't the Democrats accept that Progressives exist and they need us to win?

You lose the House, Senate, Supreme Court, White House, Majority of Governorships and yet you think Being Progressive is a bad thing, and want to reach Trump Voters and ignore your diverse base.

Republicans bad sad is not going to cut it. Running another Doug Jones and Manchin is not going to cut it.

Get your base behind you Dems and Indies.

Also Our Revolution is FAR from being in disarray.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...ts-2018-599331


Mary Wilson

Dems are terrible.
IN TEXAS RUNOFF, NATIONAL DEMOCRATS BACK FORMER REPUBLICAN OVER GRASSROOTS MATH TEACHER


No record of him voting for Democrats as he said.

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC support for Kopser, who has expressed his admiration for Ronald Reagan, could be explained by the fact that the district leans heavily Republican. In 2016, GOP Rep. Lamar Smith easily carried the district with 57 percent of the vote; his retirement as a longtime incumbent may weaken the party’s chances in the district, but few would describe it as anything other than conservative. Cook Political Report ranks the district as “likely Republican.”

But Wilson proved to be a formidable opponent in the first round of voting in March. Of five candidates, she led the field with 30.93 percent of the vote, to Kopser’s 28.98 percent. She did this despite having only a fraction of Kopser’s resources. Wilson spent around $39,000 to Kopser’s more than $600,000 prior to the first round of voting. That means she spent nearly two and a half bucks for every vote she earned, while Kopser spent over $40 per vote. The surprising strength of Wilson’s campaign may show that the district is becoming more progressive.

In early April, Kopser’s campaign dealt with complaints after it field-tested messaging that referred to Wilson’s sexuality. The San Antonio Express-News summarized the poll as so:

Poll respondents were presented with a glittering narrative about Kopser. They were asked if they agreed that it would be important for Democrats to have a candidate who is a 20-year military veteran and has been described by former President Barack Obama as a champion of change.

When it came to Wilson, the poll profiled her as a lesbian minister and asked if Democrats should vote for her in the runoff whether they think she can win in November.

Kopser’s campaign told the paper that it was not seeking to make the poll an attack on Wilson’s campaign. “We have great respect for Mary and wanted to understand the extent to which the electorate finds her profile and message compelling,” the campaign said in a statement.

[Tazirai]

Guess who the Democrats are supporting...?

Even though the Progressive polls AHEAD of Hunter, They are going for the guy who used to have a R next to his name.


Internal Poll Shows Campa-Najjar Best Positioned Against Hunter


They even ran a "Your Grandfather was a Terrorist hit piece against another DEMOCRAT!" But Bernie isn't a Democrat and Nina Turner is a white Bernie Bro. But they want unity?

Grandson of Munich Massacre Terrorist Is Running for Congress – Sounding a Peaceful Tone on Israel
Ammar Campa-Najjar’s grandfather was in the terrorist organization Black September in the 1970s, but the Democratic candidate in California strongly rejects violence as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue

FORTY EIGHT YEARS AGO!!!!!! He's 28. He wasn't even a twinkle in ANYBODIES eyes lt alone even considered to be born. Da Fuck is wrong with Democrats supporting this bullshit?

I get it, When you don't toe the line and challenge them that's when the Letter next to your name matters, not your voting record.

[InformationGeek]

Zinke really has it out for bears. Also, again, Trump hates Obama.

The Trump administration has proposed rescinding Obama-era rules barring sport hunters from using bait to lure and kill grizzly bears in Alaska’s national preserves, as is allowed in other parts of the state, the National Park Service said on Monday.

The plan, pushed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and assailed by environmentalists as inhumane, would give state wildlife managers the discretion to decide what kinds of bear-hunting methods are permitted across 20 million acres (8 million hectares) of national preserve lands in Alaska.

Alaska in 2005 began allowing grizzly-baiting for the first time since statehood as part of a predator-control program to boost populations of big-game animals popular with hunters such as moose in the state’s vast interior.

The practice of using anything from stale doughnuts and lard to honey-drenched dog food to attract grizzlies into the open for hunters to more easily shoot them was banned in Alaska’s preserves in 2015 by the Park Service under then-President Barack Obama.
The agency determined then that bear-baiting was biologically unsound, potentially unsafe and “inconsistent with federal law authorizing sport hunting in national preserves in Alaska.”

The 2015 rule also prohibited sport hunters, for similar reasons, from using artificial lighting to enter black bear dens as a way of surprising adult animals and their cubs inside, and barred the trapping of gray wolves during their denning season.

The Zinke proposal would likewise lift those restrictions to allow the state Department of Fish and Game to set hunting and trapping rules as its deems appropriate within national preserves, according to Park Service spokesman Peter Christian.

Grizzly bears are believed to number about 30,000 throughout Alaska, while an estimated 100,000 black bears roam the state, according to Fish and Game data.

Alaska officials have said that increased killing of predators such as grizzlies was necessary to increase opportunities for successful hunting of moose and other game creatures favored by sportsmen.

Environmental groups denounced the proposal as unethical and cruel, and said the hunting and trapping practices at issue are also disruptive to the natural predator-prey dynamic.

“The Department of Interior under Secretary Zinke is enabling Alaska’s war on bears and wolves in national preserves,” said Jim Adams of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Veteran hunting guide Thor Stacey, director of government affairs for the Alaska Professional Hunter Association, said his group strongly backs the move to abolish existing restrictions.

“This was a case of the federal government overstepping and trying to usurp the state’s authority to manage its wildlife,” Stacey said.

[Malvolio]

He hates Muslims. He says it himself out of his own mouth by the topics and dismissals of the concerns of Muslisms as NOT being terrorists. I mean I can post video after video of Him out of his own mouth spouting his nonsense. He's in the same camp as that other Atheist nonsense racist Sam Harris. Harris and Maher HATE Muslims.




Same here. I'm done with the likes of Maher and Harris...

We may be Atheists but those two are terrible human beings.

"Like Hillary Clinton would have a cabinet with Betsy DeVos and fucking Rick Perry. They wouldn't have a Muslim ban, they wouldn't be feuding with everyone in the world, they wouldn't be doing this shit in Russia." That's a quote from Bill Maher from last year. Wouldn't someone who hates all Muslims defend Trump's Muslim ban, rather than make the argument that Hillary Clinton would not have done it?

[Malvolio]

The NFL is moving forward on an owner-led vote for assessing a series of 15 yard penalties to teams that have players that kneel during the anthem.

So what happens if both teams have players kneeling? Would the penalties offset?

[JCAll]

The NFL is moving forward on an owner-led vote for assessing a series of 15 yard penalties to teams that have players that kneel during the anthem.

How about dropping your pants during the anthem?

[Michael Watkins]

You might want to fill in the blanks.

maybe it's about the $10 million judgment against his law firm.

[Tendrin]

"Like Hillary Clinton would have a cabinet with Betsy DeVos and fucking Rick Perry. They wouldn't have a Muslim ban, they wouldn't be feuding with everyone in the world, they wouldn't be doing this shit in Russia." That's a quote from Bill Maher from last year. Wouldn't someone who hates all Muslims defend Trump's Muslim ban, rather than make the argument that Hillary Clinton would not have done it?

You can be right about some things. You can be left wing. You can still be a misogynist. You can still be a bigot.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

You can be right about some things. You can be left wing. You can still be a misogynist. You can still be a bigot.

If he's a bigot he's also a bigot against Christians and Jews. If anything I think half his Muslim stuff is that it pisses him off that he can go torched on Earth other religons but the minute he says something about Muslims it becomes a controversy.

[InformationGeek]

If he's a bigot he's also a bigot against Christians and Jews. If anything I think half his Muslim stuff is that it pisses him off that he can go torched on Earth other religons but the minute he says something about Muslims it becomes a controversy.

Well, if you don't need that, you could always dislike him for anti-vax side.

[Tendrin]

If he's a bigot he's also a bigot against Christians and Jews. If anything I think half his Muslim stuff is that it pisses him off that he can go torched on Earth other religons but the minute he says something about Muslims it becomes a controversy.

Oh, he's definitely every conservative's idea of a smarmy, limousine liberal who hates on Religion.

It's why they love him being a face of liberalism.

[Mecegirl]

All the thoughtful people out there who could be the standard bearer for liberalism and we are supposed to be content with Maher? Dude has white liberal syndrome something fierce. His head is constantly up his ass.

[Tami]

maybe it's about the $10 million judgment against his law firm.

First time I heard about it. That doesn't mean he can't contusion to practice law.