All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[JackDaw]

Predictable, yeah, I'm really not surprised by anything anymore. Maybe I'm just being gloomy though, maybe your new government won't royally screw up the border dispute, alienate sizable chunks of the population, and gut everything they can to stuff their own pockets. It's what the GOP would do, but I'm just making assumption about how things work in the UK.

It’s hard not being gloomy. I’m certainly not immune from that...I think for most people it “goes with the territory” once past the age of 30.

I think in this case whoever won would have alienated large chunks of population...both main parties made a strategic decision to move away from the middle ground.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Mitch McConnell Brags About Blocking Obama For 2 Years, Then Laughs About It

The Senate majority leader boasts about stacking the courts with conservative judges under Trump. Even if Dems reclaim the White House AND the Senate, it could all be for naught as the country might already be screwed, thanks to Moscow Mitch's unconsciable fuckery.

**********

House Judiciary Republicans Tried To Protect Nixon Too, And Got Crushed For It

Yet today’s House Republicans are not likely to break with Trump in impeachment votes. Yeah, the GOP is all in with Trump and will die with him should he lose, either the impeachment battle or next year's election.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar Fires Sass At ‘Conservative Squad’ After Fox News Announcement

Four Republican women running for Congress in a so-called conservative squad were mocked by Rep. Ilhan Omar and some Twitter critics. How's the old saying go? Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Looking the Fantastic Four Floozies, I can't help but laugh.

**********

Anti-Defamation League CEO Skewers Fox News For Spewing Anti-Semitic Tropes

“Sentiments being expressed on Fox, both subtle and blunt, contribute to anti-Semitism being normalized in our society,” warned ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt. One can't help but wonder if those sentiments on Faux News might've spurred the Jersey City shooting.

**********

Fox News Host: We Must Impeach The Next Democratic President

Mark Levin demanded Democrats be “slammed down” and “slammed down now” in an off-the-rails rant. Does this presuppose Trump will lose next year and a Democrat retakes the White House? Things that make you go hmmmmmm!

[worstblogever]

Fox News Host: We Must Impeach The Next Democratic President

Mark Levin demanded Democrats be “slammed down” and “slammed down now” in an off-the-rails rant. Does this presuppose Trump will lose next year and a Democrat retakes the White House? Things that make you go hmmmmmm!

Did he forget the GOP spent about six to eight years calling for Obama's impeachment from 2009-2016? They just, y'know, didn't have evidence of a crime? ANY crime, let alone a high crime mentioned in the Constitution like bribery?

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, as well as 2017 “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 21st Congressional District, Lamar Smith, a 15 term Congressman who specifically said that “the greatest threat to America is not a recession or terrorist attack, but a liberal media bias”, aided Hobby Lobby in filing their lawsuit with the Supreme Court over birth control being covered on medical insurance, railed against the national parks being closed during the 2013 Government Shutdown that he voted for, called immigrants earning citizenship through military service “President Obama aiding and abetting an immigrant crime spree”, and wrote the legislation that would limit what kinds of science the EPA can use to set environmental standards. In March of 2016, Smith was proud to announce that a published article from climate change scientists had declared that they had “confirmed the halt in global warming”. The problem with that? The actual article that Rep. Smith was citing said the exact opposite, and we quote, “we do not believe global warming has ceased”. By December of 2016, Lamar Smith used the Twitter account of the House Science Committee to link to the White Nationalist news site Breitbart News, and their article titled, “Global Temperatures Plunge. Icy Silence from Climate Alarmists”. The article amounted to telling the public that global warming cannot exist because, and this might surprise you… it’s actually getting colder outside. Y’know, in DECEMBER, go figure. Lamar Smith, the ignorant twit that he is, decided to not run for re-election in 2018, and skulk away into retirement.

On this date in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Matt Rinaldi, a former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 115 who was elected to office in both 2014 and 2016. From the jump, it was pretty clear Rinaldi was going to position himself to be one of the biggest extremists in the Lone Star State, as he filed a lawsuit claiming that white people were having their voting rights racially discriminated against in Dallas County. The case seemed particularly baseless and partisan, considering the people unfairly discriminating against whites… were white. There seemed to be no issue in the Texas state legislature over the past four years that Matt Rinaldi didn’t insert himself into and take the hardest of hardline stances. It wasn’t enough that he co-sponsored legislation so that religious organizations could discriminate against gay people trying to get married, he tried using their “religious freedom” to also give them the impetus to deny same-sex couples from adopting children. So of course, he also was involved in Texas Republicans’ efforts to try and pass transphobic bathroom legislation, based on the myth that non-existent transgendered attackers were assaulting women in public bathrooms. If he really cared about women being sexually assaulted, though, maybe Matt Rinaldi would have not been one of two members of the state legislature to vote against a bill to prevent sex trafficking, only five members of the Texas state legislature, (all Republican) who voted against a bill to extend the statute of limitations on rape cases. Or maybe Rinaldi shouldn’t have immediately come to the defense of fellow Republican Jonathon Stickland after he made “jokes” about how there was no such thing as marital rape. But Rinaldi went as far to comment on women coming forward with stories of sexual assault overall, musing that they were ”crazy opportunistic political attacks”. In May of 2017, he completely cemented himself in our queue during debate over Texas anti-immigrant bil, SB 4. When pro-immigration protesters arrived in the capitol to express their displeasure with SB 4, Matt Rinaldi didn’t just personally go down to yell in their faces, but he called ICE to come and arrest the largely Latino (but decidedly American) protesters for being illegal immigrants. Because you can’t support immigration unless you’re an illegal immigrant, in his warped mind. And how warped is it? Enough that per some Democratic protesters, Rinaldi was threatening to “put a bullet in the head” of a Democratic legislator who defended the protesters. As the 2018 Blue Wave election approached, Rinaldi knew he was in trouble, having made himself too infamous in a reasonably less red part of Texas than most. He tried to score points with gun-lovin’ Fundamentalists by sponsoring legislation to allow churches to provide their own armed security teams. Meanwhile, Matt Rinaldi was given a scathing condemnation from Texas law enforcement because of his seeming disdain for them in several laws he supported. Rinaldi’s predecessor for District 115, Bennett Ratliff, even endorsed Democrat Julie Johnson, and called out Rinaldi’s terrible record on women’s issues going into the final run-up to the election. And the Blue Wave delivered, with Julie Johnson beating Rinaldi by over 8,000 votes. He is now out of office, and we will set aside his profile at this time to go ahead and take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 807-40, since this was established in July 2014.)


Lisa Luby Ryan

Welcome to what is the 807th original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be discussing Lisa Luby Ryan, a 2018 candidate to represent District 114 in the Texas House of Representatives who is an anti-abortion crusader who admits she’s had three abortions performed on her. Now that she’s in her late fifties, and probably won’t need to be getting a fourth, she’d like to stop women from being able to get one. She is also a survior of sexual assault who claimed Christine Blasey Ford was not a credible witness because she could not revall evey detail of the night Brett Kavanaugh attacked her three decades ago.

Ryan, was recruited as a candidate by Texas Vaccine Choice, and anti-vaxxer group that believes in the false link between vaccines and autism (and Ryan has an autistic son). She gained the support of lunatic Texas Republicans like Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who overlooked her eccentricities because she was unflinching on gun rights and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Luby had to beat the incumbent in the GOP Primary, Jason Villalba, who she attacked for having the nerve to support gun control after the mass shooting at Southerland Springs, but insisting that she would support no such thing, fighting it to “her last breath” because her autistic son was once attacked by “three black thugs”, and making a gun shooting gesture at Villalba’s head during their debate.

”My son, who is autistic, was robbed by three black thugs. He wouldn’t give them the money and they beat him up.”

Classy.

While she won that primary, she went on to lose in the general election, pulling down only 44% if the vote to Democrat John Turner. We’re hoping she remains nothing more than an interior designer and backwater version of Martha Stewart.

[jetengine]

I'm pretty pissed off today

Corbyns biggest problems were 3 things.

1. Brexit. Its an absolute **** show and distorts everything around it. Because he tried taking a neutral/leans toward remain stance he lost remain voters to Lib Dems (who voted mostly for tory stuff anyway and got annihilated in this vote).

2. He had no media control. Now the MSM in the UK is mostly right leaning frankly which is already an uphill battle for a leftwing socialist but he practically let them take control of the narrative with endless claims of his anti-semetism, pro IRA stance and not dragging out the countless failures of the Tory party. Its also been considered one of the dirtiest votes in British history with 88% of Tory ads being lies compared to labours 0% and reprehensible **** like sending out fake twitter screenshots of Corbyn being sad over the death of the London Bridge terrorist.

3. People are fucking stupid. You think the USA is politically ignorant? You've got nothing on us. People legitimately are voting to hurt themselves because "They just dont like corbyn" or recognise easily debunked bs.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Honestly since Trump tries to do terrible power plays , let the next Democrat storm in and file an Executive order to replace the judges stacked in the courts. I would love to see McConnell's head explode. "Those judges you approved , the ones not suited for office , I am ORDERING THEIR REMOVAL !" Drag the Republican party straight into the same hell they seem to brag that their causing. Eventually some may quit as their lack of qualifications come out .

And if they get mad , if they go insane. Just tell em , "You seemed to support Donald Trump's actions. Hows it feel to have this happening on your side."

[Tami]

Peculiar New Hampshire Trump supporters are taking a hard look at voting for Tulsi Gabbard

According to a report from CNN, long-shot Democratic presidential nominee Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is getting an unexpected bump in the polls in early primary state New Hampshire by drawing out Gabbard-curious supporters of Donald Trump.

As CNN’s Dan Merica reports, “Voters asking questions at Democratic presidential campaign events don’t often profess their love for Donald Trump or privately weigh whether to support a Democrat or the President in 2020. But most Democratic events are not like Tulsi Gabbard‘s town halls.”

While Gabbard has been floundering at the polls and recently announced she would not attend the next Democratic debate if she qualified, her support in New Hampshire has grown above her national polling average and some of that can be attributed to her “outsider” appeal that also drove voters to flock to the Republican president.

“Gabbard’s unique candidacy centered on New Hampshire, where she is actively reaching out to a broad coalition of devout liberals, dismayed independents and questioning Republicans,” Merica writes. “She regularly attacks both Democratic and Republican orthodoxy, particularly on foreign policy, and casts herself as someone who understands the system but wants to disrupt it, an argument that drew voters to Trump four years ago. The congresswoman decries the tenor of politics — ‘hyper partisan divisiveness getting in the way of progress,’ she said this week — and, when asked about impeaching Trump, Gabbard expressed skepticism.”

[KOSLOX]

Peculiar New Hampshire Trump supporters are taking a hard look at voting for Tulsi Gabbard

People who frequent media filled with disinformation and Russian propoganda are curious about Tulsi Gabbard?

I'm shocked. SHOCKED!

[Tami]

House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach Trump, capping damaging testimony

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee, voting along party lines, on Friday approved articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, charging he abused his power and obstructed Congress.

Both measures will be voted on by the full House, likely on Wednesday, and come after weeks of damaging testimony against Trump.

The votes follow 14 hours on Thursday debating the articles and amendments offered by Republicans that sought to gut resolutions. There was no further discussion of the impeachment articles on Friday morning before the two quick historic roll call votes lasting only a few minutes.

Lawmakers had expected to cast votes on the measures lat Thursday night, but Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., abruptly recessed committee meeting shortly after 11 p.m. ET, catching Republicans off-guard, who expressed outrage at the surprise move.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Army-Navy Game is here in Philly tomorrow afternoon, and, word has it Dolt45 will be in town for the event. I'm guessing protesters will show up too, so it figures to be a tad chaotic at Lincoln Financial Field.

[Tami]

Bernie Sanders endorses a Californian who defends crude sex ratings of women

Bernie Sanders endorsed a California congressional candidate Thursday with a long history of making crude and degrading comments about women and provocative statements about Jews, Muslims and other groups.

The Democratic presidential candidate said Cenk Uygur, founder and co-host of “The Young Turks” online talk show, is “a voice that we desperately need in Congress” to fill the seat of former Rep. Katie Hill of Santa Clarita.

In one episode in 2013, Uygur ranked women on a scale of 1 to 10 on how likely men would be to let them perform oral sex on them.

Uygur also defended the Harvard University men’s soccer team in 2016 for ranking the sexual appeal of female students on a scale of 1 to 10 on a widely shared “scouting report,” including explicit descriptions of potential sex acts with the women.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Bernie Sanders endorses a Californian who defends crude sex ratings of women

Seriously? You'd think Bernie would know better, and people in this forum wonder why we keep Sanders at arm's length. I find Uygur barely a step above incel status, a voice like his isn't fit for the local bar, never mind Congress. I'm sure female voters in California would be eager as hell to vote for that knuckledragger.

[Moon Ronin]

Honestly since Trump tries to do terrible power plays , let the next Democrat storm in and file an Executive order to replace the judges stacked in the courts. I would love to see McConnell's head explode. "Those judges you approved , the ones not suited for office , I am ORDERING THEIR REMOVAL !" Drag the Republican party straight into the same hell they seem to brag that their causing. Eventually some may quit as their lack of qualifications come out .

And if they get mad , if they go insane. Just tell em , "You seemed to support Donald Trump's actions. Hows it feel to have this happening on your side."

The only way to remove a federal judge is by impeachment, The president cannot make an executive order to remove and/or replace them. A replacement for any judgeship that has on open office (retired, resigned or impeached) will have to be approved by the Senate. The president only has the power to place a candidate for the position to go before the Senate. It is set up that so that judges do not serve at the pleasure of the president. Judge G Thomas was the last federal judge to get impeached 2010, on charges of accepting bribes and making false statements under penalty of perjury.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Honestly since Trump tries to do terrible power plays , let the next Democrat storm in and file an Executive order to replace the judges stacked in the courts. I would love to see McConnell's head explode. "Those judges you approved , the ones not suited for office , I am ORDERING THEIR REMOVAL !" Drag the Republican party straight into the same hell they seem to brag that their causing. Eventually some may quit as their lack of qualifications come out .

And if they get mad , if they go insane. Just tell em , "You seemed to support Donald Trump's actions. Hows it feel to have this happening on your side."

As always the big fear with Dems pulling power plays like this is they are fucking terrible at marketing and selling themselves, it's very easy to see a situation where the Republicans turn that to an advantage and things just get worse. Being a good politician is one thing, however getting to the show is about framing and perception. You can't do that, doesn't matter how good you are. Most people would agree that Obama was a good President, that the ACA saved a lot of people, and that the economy recovered under him. But the next President was a birther who hated Obama, beat someone from his administration running as being his third term, who took credit (and receives it) for the economy and Obama pretty much spent the last 6 years in office trying to fight off how the Republicans made the ACA politically toxic and it cost him an abundance of capital.

Until Democrats can show they can win in the arena of public perception, they have to be careful in pulling anything like that off. You can't give Republicans wins

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Seriously? You'd think Bernie would know better, and people in this forum wonder why we keep Sanders at arm's length. I find Uygur barely a step above incel status, a voice like his isn't fit for the local bar, never mind Congress. I'm sure female voters in California would be eager as hell to vote for that knuckledragger.

Regardless of what people in this particular forum think, Bernie supporting Cenk should surprise nobody (for the record Warren and Yang also showed up on his show and interviewed with him). He has as much cred as anybody amongst progressives and was pretty much certain to be deemed the most progressive candidate in the race. I have serious issues with Cenk's past too, but that's just the reality of where he stands in the political zeitgeist. The progressives were all going to support each other on ideological grounds.

That was always going to happen.

It's not really surprising that the progressive endorsed the progressive. And quite frankly, you guys on this forum forgive alot more from other candidates that you like, so..... it's a little self serving to take something everyone kind of understands and use it as just another reason to go "see look how bad Sanders is".