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

[Mr. Mastermind]

I did not know when I was reading it because stabbing are so common with Palestinian terrorists. You edited it to add more. And “occupation?” Give me a break. Israel has claim to the land. Not a nationality coined by terrorist Yasser Arafat. As I said before, where do you think the word “Judaism” comes from?

It's totally not racist to deny the people of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, who define themselves as Palestinian (which is as legitimate as every other fictional nationality), basic self determination. No sir-ee.

In your ideal Israel, as Palestinians denied democratic rights or just cleansed from the area?

[ZombieHavoc]

Why are you guys even arguing about this when Trump let us know that Obama totally had implants on his campaign team to spy on Trump?

I feel like Trump shares the same delusion that a lot of paranoiacs did the past few years: that Obama was spying on them.

[kidfresh512]

Why are you guys even arguing about this when Trump let us know that Obama totally had implants on his campaign team to spy on Trump?

I feel like Trump shares the same delusion that a lot of paranoiacs did the past few years: that Obama was spying on them.

I love how the reporting directly links the paranoia tweets to Fox and Friends segment he was obviously watching this morning.

[Mister Ferro]

https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/sta...46286375739393

I'm not sure if that's news. I assume that's his new campaign slogan.

How despicable of the President to call members of MS-13 animals!!!!

[ZombieHavoc]

How despicable of the President too call members of MS-13 animals!!!!

Weird, I thought he was being complimentary and saying they were all members of the screamin' stompin' most excellent 60s band The Animals.

[KOSLOX]

How despicable of the President too call members of MS-13 animals!!!!

I'm surprised he didn't assume some are good people.

[ZombieHavoc]

I'm surprised he didn't assume some are good people.

Trump is known for looking for the good in all people.

Edit: all white people.

2nd edit: all white men.

3rd edit: all straight white men.

[Gray Lensman]

Trump is known for looking for the good in all people.

Edit: all white people.

2nd edit: all white men.

3rd edit: all straight white men.

4th edit: All straight white men who are supporters of Trump.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

4th edit: All straight white men who are supporters of Trump.

He’s a narccist. He only cares if you can benefit him.

[PaulBullion]

The comments section contradicts the article, but then, that’s commonplace I suppose.

Those crazy Russians.

[PaulBullion]

Just as there are a bunch of crazy right wingers here, there's a bunch of crazy right wingers there too.

Truer words have rarely been truer.

[Malvolio]

Yes. It’s absolutely execution to fire at somebody trying to stab you or someone else. Good grief.

You don't need to shoot someone coming at you with a knife. You have to be Superman to be faster than a speeding bullet. I dare say that any Israeli soldier is faster than a speeding knife.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day published profiles about Mike Ritze, who we highlighted for his sponsorship of Oklahoma’s HB 1330 law, which allowed the presentation of religious monuments on state grounds. Now, while being enough of a theocrat to push for a law similar to ones that the Supreme Court has already overturned is often enough to earn a profile here, Ritze gets special consideration for purchasing a Ten Commandments monument to put up at the state capitol that had multiple spelling errors. The monument stood for a few months until a mentally ill man crashed into it, at the cost of several thousand dollars to Ritze, personally, to build yet another one. But the monument issue gets even more hilarious… Ritze’s wording in writing HB 1330 was vague enough that it left a loophole for ANY religion to put up a monument on state grounds, so a Satanic Temple decided to troll Oklahoma’s GOP Fundamentalists by preparing a statue of Baphomet tempting children to stand on government property, as well. In the end, the Oklahoma Supreme Court made him take down his third attempt at a Ten Commandments ruling after a legal challenge, at a cost of another five thousand dollars to Ritze. Rather than quit while he was ahead, I started lying and claiming all historical landmarks with any religious significance might be taken down (that’s false), and began trying to find ways to impeach members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court for recognizing that there should be a whole separation of church and state.

Anyway, outside of this very specific comedy of errors that Ritze is responsible for, we also have one heck of a tacky voting record to single him out on, where he has been a proponent of Birther legislation, preventing the threat of the Agenda 21 Conspiracy theory, bans on Sharia Law, trying to nullify the Affordable Care Act, Trap Laws to attempt to shut down all the state’s abortion clinics, as well as 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. Mike Ritze’s newest obsession, as of March 2017, is the threat of “Blue Zones”. He warned citizens in an opinion editorial in the local papers that the group Blue Zones, LLC, was trying to restrict the lifestyle choices of Oklahomans, and to “stay vigilant”. Anyone who actually goes to the “Blue Zones” website, however, will only learn that the group tries to promote the benefits of spending quality time with family and friends, exercising, getting enough sleep, eating a more plant-based diet (fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes), or avoiding smoking. So whatever paranoid fears Ritze might have, the worst that might come of it is “Blue Zones, LLC” might convince a state legislature to invest money into healthier eating via school lunches or community orchards or marketplaces for selling organic vegetables, or maybe a ban on smoking in some public places. Clearly, global domination territory… STAY VIGILANT!

In May of 2017 Mike Ritze came up with an interesting budget plan to save money... harass 82,000 kids who speak Spanish and hand them over to ICE for interrogation! First off, YES, we have to educate non-citizens when they're children, if you ever paid attention to federal law, you muskrat-toupeed twit. But apparently Ritze still thinks there's "savings" into profiling people and just deporting them for not speaking English, rather than, y'know, provide them with an education. One where they might actually be taught English, in theory. But news flash, Mike… there are U.S. citizens who don’t speak English. Shocking, I know.

Since we last caught up with Ritze, he has left his mark on two of the bigger pieces of legislation in Oklahoma. You may have heard nationally about how Oklahoma teachers went on strike due to low salaries, and even worse funding towards the state’s education budget. Well, while most of the Republicans caved and voted to increase funding to that education budget, Mike Ritze doesn’t care if teachers are underpaid, and if kids are being taught with textbooks that are decades old and crumbling apart. We also have taken note recently about how Oklahoma state legislators managed to vote on a particularly insane piece of legislation to expand the state’s “Stand Your Ground” laws so that people could more easily shoot and kill another person, this time if they suspect they’re somehow a threat to another member of their church. Would you believe that Mike Ritze was a co-sponsor of that insane bill? He was.

The 70-year-old Ritze, and his hairpiece are up for re-election in 2018. He has two GOP Primary challengers, and three Democratic challengers waiting to try and take a crack at him in November. If he wins then, he faces term limits in 2020.

[Jackmando7]

On this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day published profiles about Mike Ritze, who we highlighted for his sponsorship of Oklahoma’s HB 1330 law, which allowed the presentation of religious monuments on state grounds. Now, while being enough of a theocrat to push for a law similar to ones that the Supreme Court has already overturned is often enough to earn a profile here, Ritze gets special consideration for purchasing a Ten Commandments monument to put up at the state capitol that had multiple spelling errors. The monument stood for a few months until a mentally ill man crashed into it, at the cost of several thousand dollars to Ritze, personally, to build yet another one. But the monument issue gets even more hilarious… Ritze’s wording in writing HB 1330 was vague enough that it left a loophole for ANY religion to put up a monument on state grounds, so a Satanic Temple decided to troll Oklahoma’s GOP Fundamentalists by preparing a statue of Baphomet tempting children to stand on government property, as well. In the end, the Oklahoma Supreme Court made him take down his third attempt at a Ten Commandments ruling after a legal challenge, at a cost of another five thousand dollars to Ritze. Rather than quit while he was ahead, I started lying and claiming all historical landmarks with any religious significance might be taken down (that’s false), and began trying to find ways to impeach members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court for recognizing that there should be a whole separation of church and state.

Anyway, outside of this very specific comedy of errors that Ritze is responsible for, we also have one heck of a tacky voting record to single him out on, where he has been a proponent of Birther legislation, preventing the threat of the Agenda 21 Conspiracy theory, bans on Sharia Law, trying to nullify the Affordable Care Act, Trap Laws to attempt to shut down all the state’s abortion clinics, as well as 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. Mike Ritze’s newest obsession, as of March 2017, is the threat of “Blue Zones”. He warned citizens in an opinion editorial in the local papers that the group Blue Zones, LLC, was trying to restrict the lifestyle choices of Oklahomans, and to “stay vigilant”. Anyone who actually goes to the “Blue Zones” website, however, will only learn that the group tries to promote the benefits of spending quality time with family and friends, exercising, getting enough sleep, eating a more plant-based diet (fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes), or avoiding smoking. So whatever paranoid fears Ritze might have, the worst that might come of it is “Blue Zones, LLC” might convince a state legislature to invest money into healthier eating via school lunches or community orchards or marketplaces for selling organic vegetables, or maybe a ban on smoking in some public places. Clearly, global domination territory… STAY VIGILANT!

In May of 2017 Mike Ritze came up with an interesting budget plan to save money... harass 82,000 kids who speak Spanish and hand them over to ICE for interrogation! First off, YES, we have to educate non-citizens when they're children, if you ever paid attention to federal law, you muskrat-toupeed twit. But apparently Ritze still thinks there's "savings" into profiling people and just deporting them for not speaking English, rather than, y'know, provide them with an education. One where they might actually be taught English, in theory. But news flash, Mike… there are U.S. citizens who don’t speak English. Shocking, I know.

Since we last caught up with Ritze, he has left his mark on two of the bigger pieces of legislation in Oklahoma. You may have heard nationally about how Oklahoma teachers went on strike due to low salaries, and even worse funding towards the state’s education budget. Well, while most of the Republicans caved and voted to increase funding to that education budget, Mike Ritze doesn’t care if teachers are underpaid, and if kids are being taught with textbooks that are decades old and crumbling apart. We also have taken note recently about how Oklahoma state legislators managed to vote on a particularly insane piece of legislation to expand the state’s “Stand Your Ground” laws so that people could more easily shoot and kill another person, this time if they suspect they’re somehow a threat to another member of their church. Would you believe that Mike Ritze was a co-sponsor of that insane bill? He was.

The 70-year-old Ritze, and his hairpiece are up for re-election in 2018. He has two GOP Primary challengers, and three Democratic challengers waiting to try and take a crack at him in November. If he wins then, he faces term limits in 2020.

Sounds about right. Good choice, America.... Like always...

[BeastieRunner]

Mueller time!

We're about to find out the scope of the investigation and what Team Mueller is looking at.

Mueller's office files unredacted memo outlining scope of Russia probe: filing.

The filing, made as part of Mueller’s criminal case against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was requested by the judge, who told prosecutors earlier this month he wanted to see an unredacted copy of an August 2017 memo written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein which fleshed out Mueller’s investigative mandate.