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

[Jack Dracula]

The unqualified guys don't seem to come from the Federalist society. They seem to have connections to the White House Counsel (one was the husband of the Counsel's chief of staff.)

http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...s-married-to-a

One unqualified nominee was associated with the office of the White House Counsel. That doesn't significantly reduce the role the Federalists are playing in shaping our judicial system.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The "popular verdict"? Her father is literally on tape admitting he has been a sexual predator in the past. And that is just what we have heard publicly ourselves. That isn't "deep state" or "fake news". The way he goes after women and attacks them as enemies, journalists, anyone he sees as an enemy. There is no excuse for a "defender of women" as she claims to be to be so quiet when she WORKS in the White house.

That excuse just doesn't fly. Same with Melania. They are enablers and people calling them out for utter hypocrisy every time they dare talk about this stuff is completely justified.

It's her dad. The vast majority of people in the world would sing a different tune if it was their father or a close male figure they knew. Hell any women who was remotely close to Weinstein turned a blind eye to his transgressions for years until they couldn't any longer. Streep and many actresses STILL turn a blind eye to Polanski. If she was just some White House aide that would be one thing, but it's Ivanka's father and Melanie's husband. Most people are going to believe their close family over everything else.

I mean it's easy to call her out for hypocrisy, but half the actresses in the room were enabling Weinstein and people like him for years until it became public and now they are playing face. I feel like this is one of those things where you take the win where you can because even if there is some hypocrisy to it, having someone on your side on the other side is better than just having a pure enemy or isolating them. People always talk about purity tests, then it becomes something they care about and then you can't be pure enough. Take the win and move on. The whole imperfect ally thing.

[Mister Mets]

One unqualified nominee was associated with the office of the White House Counsel. That doesn't significantly reduce the role the Federalists are playing in shaping our judicial system.

The Federalist Society is playing a major role, but they do seem to be shepherding through people with conventional qualifications.

http://beta.latimes.com/opinion/opin...120-story.html

They're very conservative people, but they're usually qualified.

[kidfresh512]

It's her dad. The vast majority of people in the world would sing a different tune if it was their father or a close male figure they knew. Hell any women who was remotely close to Weinstein turned a blind eye to his transgressions for years until they couldn't any longer. Streep and many actresses STILL turn a blind eye to Polanski. If she was just some White House aide that would be one thing, but it's Ivanka's father and Melanie's husband. Most people are going to believe their close family over everything else.

I mean it's easy to call her out for hypocrisy, but half the actresses in the room were enabling Weinstein and people like him for years until it became public and now they are playing face. I feel like this is one of those things where you take the win where you can because even if there is some hypocrisy to it, having someone on your side on the other side is better than just having a pure enemy or isolating them. People always talk about purity tests, then it becomes something they care about and then you can't be pure enough. Take the win and move on. The whole imperfect ally thing.

Who cares if its her dad? You know your dad is an *******. It isn't a secret. You heard the same tapes we did. She actually knows more than we do about how he is. She knows he needs constant coddling and sucking up too to keep him from going postal.

The difference with Weinstein is HE WAS FINALLY held accountable. He actually was called out. Her father is still being coddled and all his accusers are liars. He was elected president with people knowing full well he was an admitted sexual predator who thinks its just fine grabbing women because hes a celbrity. Which is completely against the #metoo movement shes now tweeting so gushy about. Oprah was talking about HER father attacking the media. So yes she's a hypocrite. And she's fake. Their products are made in overseas sweatshops and they somehow convince their base they are for regular Americans.

[kmeyers]

Man, remember when everyone was talking about how scary "President" Bannon was?

Yes. That's why we find it so amusing they're trying to pretend that wasn't a thing now...again. It's their go to move. Deny reality in the face of facts. Create alternate history. Repeat.

[Tazirai]

Federal Court Strikes Down North Carolina Congressional Map As Unconstitutional
The map in question was ruled to have violated multiple constitutional amendments.

Republicans in my state have not learned anything. The raw attempt at grabbing power is astounding. They refuse to go into the future.

But this is indeed some good news. NC will be Blue permanently in the next five years.

[Tendrin]

..welp.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...cid=spartandhp

former Republican state lawmaker from Idaho who was facing a sexual abuse investigation has shot and killed himself, authorities said Tuesday.
Brandon Hixon was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in his home early Tuesday, Canyon County Coroner Vicki DeGeus-Morris said. A family member discovered his body.
Officials have released no details about the criminal investigation into Hixon, 36, except that it was related to possible sexual abuse.

Records obtained by The Associated Press show that he was previously the focus of a separate police investigation in 2014 after being accused of inappropriate touching.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration To Keep DACA In Place

A lawsuit has derailed the White House plan to rescind protections for young immigrants, for now. Good news indeed for DREAMers.

**********

Jaylen Brown: Donald Trump’s Made It ‘More Acceptable For Racists To Speak Their Minds’

“I’ve had people come to basketball games dressed in monkey suits with a jersey on.” Talk about repugnant. But that's what Trump has wrought with his words and actions.

**********

Ryan Zinke Removes Florida Waters From Offshore Drilling Plan

The Interior secretary’s move was immediately slammed as a political favor for Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Not to mention Trump since Mar-A-Lago is located in the Sunshine State.

**********

Trump Named The World’s No. 1 Oppressor Of Press Freedom

A journalism group named the president among repressive leaders who “have gone out of their way to attack the press” and undermine free speech. Can't say I find that at all surprising. When you have a horribly thinskinned autocrat for president who's unable to tolerate ANY sort of criticism from the press and attacks them ruthlessly for doing their job, you get madness like what Trump's been responsible for.

**********

Democratic congressman introduces "Stable Genius Act"

Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle is unveiling a bill called the "Stable Genius Act" that would require all presidential candidates to undergo a medical exam and publicly disclose the results before the election.

The Stable Genius Act is an acronym for the Standardizing Testing and Accountability Before Large Elections Giving Electors Necessary Information for Unobstructed Selection Act.

Boyle's measure would require nominees of each political party to file a report with the Federal Election Commission certifying that he or she underwent a medical exam by the Secretary of the Navy, which he said must contain the exam's results.

"The President believes he is a 'stable genius.' I do not," Boyle said in a statement. "Before voting for the highest office in the land, Americans have a right to know whether an individual has the physical and mental fitness to serve as President of the United States. While it is necessary to take the current President's concerning behavior seriously and I support legislation to address these ongoing concerns, I believe we must also be proactive and do all we can to ensure a situation like this does not arise again."

This is bound to drive Trump, ahem, crazy!

[Robotman]

Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration To Keep DACA In Place

A lawsuit has derailed the White House plan to rescind protections for young immigrants, for now. Good news indeed for DREAMers.

**********

Jaylen Brown: Donald Trump’s Made It ‘More Acceptable For Racists To Speak Their Minds’

“I’ve had people come to basketball games dressed in monkey suits with a jersey on.” Talk about repugnant. But that's what Trump has wrought with his words and actions.

**********

Ryan Zinke Removes Florida Waters From Offshore Drilling Plan

The Interior secretary’s move was immediately slammed as a political favor for Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Not to mention Trump since Mar-A-Lago is located in the Sunshine State.

**********

Democratic congressman introduces "Stable Genius Act"



This is bound to drive Trump, ahem, crazy!

The Stable Genius Act! That’s freakin hilarious. And it’s actually a good idea.

[worstblogever]

..welp.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...cid=spartandhp

But both sides are just as bad. I'm sure there are two Democratic state legislators who have killed themselves in the past month for molesting underage girls, right?

No? Just Republicans Brandon Hixon from Idaho and Dan Johnson in Kentucky?

Huh. Strange. It's almost as if that argument is full of s***, and the GOP have serious problems with women.

[worstblogever]

Two years ago on this date, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of Steve Southerland, whose career prior to joining Congress included working as a mortician and funeral home director, and felt he was qualified to serve in our government because he was “a grief expert”. Southerland was quoted as once saying his $174,000 Congressional salary was “not much money”, yet still managed to get drunk on the clock and go skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee with several Republicans on a trip to Israel back in 2012. He also was “shocked” and “insulted” by comments by President Obama at the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast after the president heralded the United States’ proud history of respecting the religious freedoms of others, for whatever reason. Southerland also drew criticism for hosting a “Men Only” fundraiser in March 2014, that on its flier advised to “tell the misses not to wait up”, and then tried defending it later by saying his primary opponent, Gwen Graham, probably had hosted lingerie parties and not invited men, so there was nothing wrong with it. Because that doesn’t sound misogynistic at all. Steve Southerland lost in the 2014 elections to Graham in the GOP Primary for his seat, and already announced he will not try to avenge that loss in the 2016 election cycle. His political career is seemingly over already.


One year ago today, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” posted a profile of Steve Katz, a former veterinarian, who was accused of illegally disposing of the remains of a German shepherd, and another time, attacking a Chihuahua in his care (because go figure, Katz was not a dog person) yet somehow managed to get elected to the New York Assembly in the Tea Party Wave in 2010. In spite of Katz being on the York Assembly’s Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, and voting against a bill in 2012 that would have legalized medical marijuana… he was arrested while, you guessed it, in possession of marijuana. Katz decided against running for re-election in 2016.

[worstblogever]

It was one year ago today that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had its first profile of the U.S. House Representative from Florida’s 1st Congressional District Matt Gaetz, now serving in his freshman term. Gaetz schlepped his way onto the political scene back in the Tea Party wave in 2010, where he was elected to three terms in the Florida state legislature through the benefit of not facing a primary challenger or general election opponent, EVER. He was, of course, following in the footsteps of his daddy, in the sort of political nepotism that seems to be the norm in the GOP far too often. And with his daddy’s help and a lot of campaign financing, Gaetz won a crowded GOP primary in a conservative-leaning district in 2016 over six other challengers, and coasted to victory over Democrat Steven Specht in the general election.

Gaetz’s own campaign site touts his fanatical defense of the 2nd Amendment, including fighting to maintain Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” Laws (even after the death of Trayvon Martin), his deranged obsession with abortion that sees him try to force women to undergo medically unnecessary ultrasounds before getting one and his desire to defund Planned Parenthood, his pride in supporting legislation that makes life harder for all illegal immigrants. His voting record backs all that up, and more, as it includes opposition to same-sex marriage, support for stricter Voter ID laws to combat the statistically non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud at the cost of disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters, and drug testing welfare recipients, which has been a failed conservative policy every time it’s implemented until judges throw the law off the books for being unconstitutional. From the point he announced his campaign, Gaetz was hyping Donald Trump as president, and ranting about immigrants and Muslim terrorists, which is the sort of rhetoric that plays in a district in the Florida panhandle that borders Alabama, sadly.

Well, setting all of his xenophobia and conservative extremism aside, we actually took notice of Matt Gaetz because of what we can only summarize as a “total dick move” that he pulled on the morning of September 25th, 2016. The sports world was shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic death of young Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez at that time… and for whatever reason, Matt Gaetz decided to politicize it for all that it was worth like an opportunistic douchebag, and turn it into a criticism of those who were kneeling during the national anthem to protest police violence.

”To all who will kneel during the anthem today - just remember how Jose Fernandez risked his life just for the chance to stand for it.”

The criticism for exploiting a tragedy for political gain was fast, and sharp, but not enough to overcome the sheer amount of money Gaetz dumped into his Congressional run.

CSGOPOTD was not wrong to train our eyes on this little weasel. On February 16th, 2017, he introduced modest legislation to… oh… y’know, just abolish the entire Environmental Protection Agency. Gaetz didn’t even flinch about what a disgrace this attempt was, planning to attend all his town halls, albeit his idea to curtail dissent at them? Have militia groups loyal to him show up to provide a sense of “security”.

If you were wondering how “in deep” with the hard right Matt Gaetz has become, look no further than House Resolution 477, a bill that Matt Gaetz sponsored that was written by one of his top aides, who went on Reddit to ask a sub-forum dedicated to Donald Trump and white nationalism, that often has open discussions of Neo-Nazi ideals, Islamophobia and white supremacy. THAT is where the Congressman’s ideas are coming from, and surprise, the bill itself was written to investigate former FBI Director James Comey and… yup, Hilary Clinton.

The rest of his legislative career is already revolting:

• February 16th, 2017: Gaetz 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: Matt Gaetz 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. Gaetz 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: Gaetz votes for the House GOP's healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), post-partum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Gaetz 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: Matt Gaetz 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.
• September 8th, 2017: Rep. Gaetz chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
• October 3rd, 2017: Gaetz votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
• December 19th, 2017: Matt Gaetz votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
• December 29th, 2017: Rep. Gaetz becomes the sole member of Congress to vote against an anti-human trafficking bill, because he’s apparently okay with the practice of slavery and sex slavery.

It’s curious to see that as his first year in office was coming to a close, Matt Gaetz has been desperately flailing about trying to protect Donald Trump from Special Counsel Robert Mueller at every opportunity. Whether it’s going on Fox News to say, "If Bob Mueller were any more biased, we'd have to give him credentials for the mainstream media," or meeting with Trump and then telling the media that the Mueller investigation is “infected with bias” (remember, Mueller is a life-long Republican), Gaetz seems determined to handcuff himself to Trump to his own peril. Why, that might be, is intriguing, considering it has recently been revealed that the Mueller investigation has now expanded to include the Republican National Committee, and the possibility that Russian bots may have been used to aide down-ballot candidates. It wouldn’t be shocking to find out that Gaetz factors in that equation.

In the meantime, he already has a GOP Primary challenger making a mockery of him, and if Gaetz survives that, he’s going to face a Democrat in a general election with a lot of Blue Wave momentum behind them. Odds are starting to look like he might only be a one term Congressman.

[aja_christopher]

But both sides are just as bad. I'm sure there are two Democratic state legislators who have killed themselves in the past month for molesting underage girls, right?

No? Just Republicans Brandon Hixon from Idaho and Dan Johnson in Kentucky?

Huh. Strange. It's almost as if that argument is full of s***, and the GOP have serious problems with women.

They have issues with criminal behavior in general.



Trump is no exception.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

They have issues with criminal behavior in general.



Trump is no exception.

Cheeto Jesus has a ways to go before he catches up to the likes of Dubya, Reagan and especially Nixon. Meanwhile, right wingers, conservatives and Faux News talking heads will look at that chart and scoff, saying the numbers don't mean a thing, and that Democrats are better at covering up their nefarious crimes than Republicans.

[ed2962]

Catherine Deneuve's take on #MeToo.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ha...ed-men-n836361

It's odd, she seems to be conflating courtship with coercion. And while I understand the concern over not wanting to see the whole thing turn into a witch-hunt, the idea that the movement is anti-men is disappointing.