All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[worstblogever]

On this date, in both 2014, as well as in 2015, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled Bishop Phil Gingrey, a former OBGYN who was so vehement in his dislike of healthcare reform, that on an episode of Hardball, he advised Tea Partiers to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights and bring firearms into the town halls where they were already deliberately making ugly scenes just to disrupt progress. Gingrey also defended former Rep. Todd Akin’s “Legitimate Rape” comments, which is even more sad when you consider his medical background very clearly should have told him that no, in fact, a woman’s body does not “have ways of shutting that whole thing down”. But perhaps his saddest moment as a former doctor came in 2014 when he claimed migrant children from South America were bringing the Ebola Virus across the U.S. Mexico border into the United States, which defies all logic and epidemiology. He failed at getting elected to U.S. Senate in Georgia in 2014, and has gone on to become a K Street lobbyist.


In 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, as well as in 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profile of the U.S. House Representative from Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District, Trent Kelly, a former District Attorney, who when he was presented with the opportunity to prosecute a hate crime committed against Devin Norman on federal charges, a man who was brutally beaten for being gay in March of 2015. Campaigning solely on his service to his country, Kelly won a terribly crowded GOP Primary against more challengers than can be counted on your fingers, in spite of having almost no stated stances on the issues. And the only thing he did specify is that he would like the 14th Amendment, which normally covers birthright citizenship to also cover “pre-born human beings”. For those needing a translation of what that means, it means that Kelly’s making an end-around attack on Roe v. Wade by having the 14th Amendment declare zygotes and fetuses to be fully functional human beings and not just clumps of cells, so they get the constitutional rights that would make aborting them murder.

So it probably will come as little surprise that right around the time Trent Kelly arrived in Washington, D.C., and the Republican Party was s***ting itself in fury over the Center for Medical Progress’ “sting” video of Planned Parenthood, that he signed onto a letter promising he would vote to shut down the government if Planned Parenthood was not defunded, based off of a video that experts have debunked as a fraud. During the controversy over the Trump administration’s “family separation” policy in July of 2018, Rep. Kelly went on record after touring immigrant detention centers that were imprisoning children in cages and deemed those methods “appropriate”.

Trent Kelly survived re-election in 2020 even with the FEC investigating his illegal campaign fundraising finances of accepting donations larger than the allowed limit, and is currently doing everything he can to avoid talking about how his state was one of the worst in Covid-19 vaccination rates and its medical system is being overwhelmed by the unvaccinated spreading the disease. When he gets cornered about it, he certainly is speaking out of both sides of his mouth, recommending people get vaccinated, but calling any effort to mandate people in government employ to do so “illegal and unconstitutional”.

Guess he’s only “pro-life” when the lives are still at the zygote stage.

In 2022, Kelly has furthered racist narratives against the Chinese and Chinese Americans, claiming that the Chinese have “infiltrated” American universities in an interview with The Daily Signal, a “news site” conveniently run by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. Oh, and speaking of his opinions on our geopolitical adversaries? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was actually because of “weakness” that the United States showed by leaving Afghanistan, in his opinion.

He neglects to mention, of course, that Donald Trump, the leader of his party, was the one that signed off on leaving with the Taliban, and is the real source of weakness. More importantly, he also neglects to mention Russia is in the wrong for doing it… he just lays blame.

[Tami]

This is amusing

NEW: Letter from group of Jan 6 defendants in DC jail is submitted in court. Letter alleges jail is "evisceration facility", citing meal calorie count, loss of hair, claims staff wears "Joe Biden related-attire"

Calling themselves 'political prisoners"

Letter claims Jan 6 inmates are being subjected to Critical Race Theory, racial bias... and to staff who are supportive of Vice President Harris (Though they misspell her name)

Compared to what many Prisoners in the US go through, it sounds more like a spa than a prison.

[worstblogever]

Trent Kelly won re-election in 2020 with 69% of the vote, and resumed having one of the most conservative voting records, even for most Bible Belt Republicans:

• December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Kelly votes against a resolution to disallow Russia from re-entering the G7 and makes it the G8 until it leaves Ukraine.
• December 18th, 2019: Kelly ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
• May 15th, 2020: Kelly votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• December 10th, 2020: Kelly signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
• January 7th, 2021: Trent Kelly votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Kelly votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
• February 4th, 2021: Trent Kelly votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
• February 25th, 2021: Kelly votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Kelly votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
• March 3rd, 2021: Trent Kelly votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Kelly votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
• March 17th, 2021: Rep. Kelly votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 19th, 2021: Rep. Kelly votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• May 20th, 2021: Kelly is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
• November 5th, 2021: Trent Kelly votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
• March 31st, 2022: Kelly votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Trent Kelly would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
• May 18th, 2022: Trent Kelly is one of 192 Republicans who votes against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
• May 18th, 2022: Rep. Kelly votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
• May 19th, 2022: Kelly votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
• July 15th, 2022: Trent Kelly votes against House Amendment 262, which would require the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense to publish a report on the infiltration of American law enforcement by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, offer measures to be taken to remove them from their ranks, and prevent further infiltration by others.
• July 13th, 2022: Kelly votes against the Honoring Our PACT Act, to provide healthcare to veterans affected by toxic burn pits while serving in the War on Terror that leave them more susceptible to forms of cancer.
• July 19th, 2022: Rep. Kelly is one of 157 Republicans who vote against the “Respect for Marriage Act”, which would codify same sex marriage into law nationally.
• July 21st, 2022: Kelly is one of 195 Republicans who vote against the Right to Contraception Act, which codified the right of Americans to have access to birth control.

With a conservative as a district as Mississippi’s 1st is, by escaping the primary, most prognosticators in electoral politics have Trent Kelly on the path to re-election by double digits, easily. We wish his Democratic opponent, Diane Black, the best of luck in pulling off what would be one of the biggest upsets in the history of Mississippi politics, if not national politics, and hope she can rid us of the corrupt nitwit that MS-1 has been saddled with since 2016.


 

[CaptainEurope]

"Candidate quality".

Trump-backed GOP nom Dan Cox — who tweeted "Pence is a traitor" while the US Capitol was overrun on 1/6 — losing *60-28* to Dem nominee Wes Moore in WaPo/UMD poll.

This is Maryland, which currently has a Republican governor.

[Malvolio]

Gohmert's gotta Gohmert, it seems.

Comparing the FBI offices to "Sodom and Gomorrah", is Louie's latest move. It's less of a stochastic terror trigger, but still bats*** to claim there's all sorts of sexual activity happening at the Bureau. Well, he did also compare them to the Gestapo, so there's that.

Now, now. The FBI did have a closeted gay man at its head for decades. That qualifies as Sodom and Gomorrah, right?

[Jimbi]

I have been reading Huffington Posts coverage of Hurricane Ian. I am really bothered and concerned about the amount of people saying places like FL and SC are getting what they deserve, and the world would be better off with out them because they voted for Trump.

[Tami]

I have been reading Huffington Posts coverage of Hurricane Ian. I am really bothered and concerned about the amount of people saying places like FL and SC are getting what they deserve, and the world would be better off with out them because they voted for Trump.

Who is saying that? Curious since I haven't heard anyone make those kinds of comments.

[CaptainEurope]

I have been reading Huffington Posts coverage of Hurricane Ian. I am really bothered and concerned about the amount of people saying places like FL and SC are getting what they deserve, and the world would be better off with out them because they voted for Trump.

I agree, it is outrageous and evidence that both parties are the same that elected Democratic officials would...

(checks note)

Oh, just some trolls on tik tok and twitter?

Please.

[Tami]

Party like it’s 1789! My weird, enlightening month living strictly by the US constitution

Why am I carrying around a 1795 firearm? Well, it’s because I’m deep into Project Constitution. I’ve pledged to live by the US constitution as strictly and literally as possible. I want to see what it’s like to be the ultimate originalist.

This is, in large part, because several justices adhere to a philosophy called originalism in some form or another. The main gist of originalism is that we should follow the original meaning of the constitution as it was understood when it was first implemented in 1789 (or, if the decision involves one of the constitution’s amendments, whenever that was ratified).

So I figured: what if we took this to its logical endpoint?

To be fair, there are many versions of originalism, and no originalist would go as far as I do. Originalists argue that the constitution doesn’t require you to opt for muskets over modern guns. Instead, a good originalist takes the centuries-old principles of the constitution and applies them to the current day, using history and tradition as a guide. So the right to privacy, originally meant to stop the constable banging on your door, now applies to your smartphone.

Fair enough. But it seems to me – and many other observers – that the court’s originalists can be pretty stingy when it comes to updating, especially if it involves women’s rights, gay rights or environmental regulations. “One of the dangers of originalism is that the people who practise it can easily get too frozen in history, and I think that’s what some members of the court did this term,” says Glenn Smith, a constitutional law professor at California Western School of Law. “They’ve let their hidebound sense of history overcome a reasonable originalist approach.”

So what if I try to be consistent? What if I always apply the narrowest interpretation, avoiding the hubris of assuming I know what the country’s founding fathers would have thought? What if I adhere to the strictest version of what was written in 1789 – or, in the case of the later amendments, what was written in 1791 or the 1870s? After all, I want to be prepared in case originalism gets even more extreme.

“My Month of Living Constitutionally” led me on a weird, enlightening and often deeply awkward journey. I handed out pamphlets, I fetched my own water, I annoyed my wife.

Here is the tale.

[Jimbi]

Who is saying that? Curious since I haven't heard anyone make those kinds of comments.

The comment section on the Huffington Post is absolutely full of comments like this. It was the same when over the summer with Cali burning, except with was the other side.

[Jimbi]

I agree, it is outrageous and evidence that both parties are the same that elected Democratic officials would...

(checks note)

Oh, just some trolls on tik tok and twitter?

Please.

Bro, wishing for people to drown to death because they voted for someone I don't like, when I don't know the reason why they voted they way they did. It is not cool, it is not progressive. It's disgusting if you think that way.

[Tami]

Panic, Bribes, Ditched Cars and a Dash on Foot: Portraits of Flight From Russia

DARIALI, Georgia — They are bus drivers, programmers, photographers, bankers. They have driven for hours, bribed their way through many police checkpoints — spending a month’s wages in some cases — and then waited at the border, most of them for days, in a traffic jam that stretched for miles.

Many grabbed their passports, abandoned their cars and crossed the frontier on foot, fearing that Russia would slam shut one of the last, precious routes to leave the country. The Kremlin dispatched teams to border crossings to weed out draft-eligible men and hand them conscription notices, and rumors spread on social media that it would seal the border.

Most of those who left had no idea when they would return home, if ever.

President Vladimir V. Putin last week ordered a draft of civilians to reinforce the army that has suffered tens of thousands of casualties in the war he launched against Ukraine. Since then, at least 200,000 Russians, mostly young men, have fled, squeezing through the few crossings still open.

His grandmother adores Putin. His mother hates Putin.

Vladimir thinks the Russian president is a madman who isn’t bluffing about using nuclear weapons — one reason he waited in line for 13 hours to cross the border.

“Every Russian family has someone who supports the war, and someone who’s against it,” he said. “It’s just some families fell apart because of it, and some have not.”

He went to one antiwar protest, but quickly realized both its danger and its futility, he said.

“There’s probably 10 times more police than protesters,” he said. “It’s all pointless.”

[The Cool Thatguy]

Bro, wishing for people to drown to death because they voted for someone I don't like, when I don't know the reason why they voted they way they did. It is not cool, it is not progressive. It's disgusting if you think that way.

So's most the internet, when you get right down to it.

Some @$$hole in the comments section does not an entirety make.

[Catlady in training]

I have been reading Huffington Posts coverage of Hurricane Ian. I am really bothered and concerned about the amount of people saying places like FL and SC are getting what they deserve, and the world would be better off with out them because they voted for Trump.

That does sound horrible. I admit, one of my thoughts was something like: I wonder if some people will start taking climate change more seriously now that places like Florida, full of rich white people are hit, not just places like Puerto Rico. Is that bad?

[Kirby101]

The comment section on the Huffington Post is absolutely full of comments like this. It was the same when over the summer with Cali burning, except with was the other side.

But, but , but. When it was Huricane Sandy, or the Cal wildfire, GOP officials and politicians said they shouldn't get help because they are Blue States. NO Democratic official is trying to deny aid to Fl or SC. Both sides are not the same.
Ron DeSantis, now begging for Federal Aid, voted down aid for Sandy to NY and NJ because the Federal Government should not be in the business of bailing out States.