Republicans: continued

[Tero]

[Svartalf]

so true...

[L'Emmerdeur]

It's legitimate to put a lot of the weight of the US's failure in dealing with the Thing on President Trump's administration, but all over the country there are others (most often in the Republican Party) who demonstrate that Trump can't do it all on his own.

These shining lights in Idaho don't think that health districts (local government health policy bodies) should be allowed to interfere in the decision to re-open in-person schooling. The people running the health districts are appointed rather than elected, and just because they have medical knowledge they're trying to tell people what they should do, but people didn't vote for them and shouldn't be forced to listen to them! Beware the elitist approach!

'Legislative Working Group Wants to Change School Closure Authority'

Legislators warned of abuses of power and concerns about totalitarianism Monday as a legislative working group pushed to take away health districts’ ability to close schools.

...

During a hybrid in-person/remote meeting Monday, House Education Committee Vice Chairman Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth, pushed a draft proposal that would make it so school boards have the authority to close schools and public health districts play an advisory role.

Kerby said school administrators want to be able to make decisions without somebody else “looking over their shoulder.”

Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, made a motion to delete a section from Kerby’s proposal that would have still allowed heath districts to quarantine or close schools to prevent the spread of an infectious disease.

Several legislators were concerned public health boards are appointed; they are not elected by voters.

Senate Education Committee Vice Chairman Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, said he is worried about “letting a few fearful people control the lives of those of us that are not fearful.”

“What’s happening is we’re having a standardized approach by people saying we need to listen to the experts,” Thayn said. “Listing to the experts to set policy is an elitist approach. I’m fearful of an elitist approach. I am also fearful it leads to totalitarianism, especially when you say ‘We are doing it for the public good.’”

Under the proposal, school boards, the governor and the State Board of Education would have the authority to close schools to prevent the spread of disease, but public health districts would not.

A divided House/Senate Education Working Group approved Boyle’s motion.

[L'Emmerdeur]

The investigation of Joe Biden ('conflicts of interest and corruption in the Obama administration') by Senator Ron Johnson must be pleasing Trump's buddies in the Kremlin. Johnson, in an attempt to make the Ukraine bullshit relevant and influence the presidential election, is making heavy use of known Russian puppets to help him flesh out the lies.

'How Sen. Ron Johnson’s Investigation Became an Enabler of Russian Disinformation: Part I'

Senator Ron Johnson’s investigations involving Ukraine have become a conduit of Russian disinformation.

Earlier this month, Johnson defended himself on a local Wisconsin news station saying, “What have I published, what have I reported on, that is not true, that is any form of Russian disinformation? There has been nothing.” Similarly, in his 11-page letter, Johnson asserted, “It is neither me, Chairman Grassley, nor our committees that are being used to disseminate Russian disinformation.”

The senator surely knows better, and his 11-page defense of his actions reveals it. Published on Monday, Aug. 10, the letter itself contains apparent products of Russian disinformation. And while Johnson denies taking information directly from two specific Ukrainians linked to Russia and its disinformation efforts, he makes no mention of his staff taking information directly from one of those individuals’ principal collaborators, which reportedly occurred over the course of several months.

Fellow Republican Senators — including the previous and current Chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee Sens. Richard Burr and Marco Rubio — have warned Senators Johnson and Chuck Grassley that their Ukraine investigations could aid the Kremlin. Johnson and Grassley appear committed to going further down that path regardless, taking some of their Republican colleagues down with him.

...

There are three channels of Russian disinformation that have apparently affected Sen. Johnson’s Ukraine-related investigations.

Channel 1. Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives communicating directly with Sen. Johnson and his staff.

Channel 2. Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives spreading disinformation via media outlets, which have been picked up and expressly relied upon by Sen. Johnson.

Channel 3. Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives providing information via “Team [Rudy] Giuliani.”

[L'Emmerdeur]

When you're a member of the US Senate, you're not supposed to publicly admit that an investigation you're conducting is politically motivated (after all, it's a blatant abuse of the power of the office) but that's not a consideration that a Trumpist gives much weight to, apparently.

'Besieged on all sides, Ron Johnson says his probe "would certainly" help Trump win reelection'

Sen. Ron Johnson this week said his probe of Obama-era intelligence agencies would help President Donald Trump win reelection, igniting fury from Democrats who say it was an explicit admission he’s using his committee to damage Joe Biden's candidacy for president.

"The more that we expose of the corruption of the transition process between Obama and Trump, the more we expose of the corruption within those agencies, I would think it would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden," Johnson said in a little-noticed Tuesday interview with Minneapolis-based radio hosts Jon Justice and Drew Lee.

Democrats compared the remark to comments made in 2015 by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who boasted that the Republican-led Benghazi investigation was successful because it had helped tank Hillary Clinton's poll numbers. Facing sharp criticism, McCarthy later walked back those comments.

Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, similarly said during another radio interview this week that the evidence his committee had uncovered was so "outrageous" that "it should completely disqualify Biden from president."

The Biden campaign called the comments explicit proof of what Democrats have been claiming all along: that Johnson's probe of corruption allegations against the intelligence community and Biden's diplomatic efforts in Ukraine were thinly veiled efforts to weaponize the powerful Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to damage the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

[Seabass]

So Laura Loomer has been nominated to run for Congress in 2020. Laura fucking Loomer. For those unfamiliar with Laura Loomer, I suppose you can think of her as a sort of female Alex Jones.

So in 2020, the Republican party is sending at least two Qanon people and possibly Laura Loomer to Congress. These people are legit loonies. This is the Republican party in 2020.



Far-right activist Laura Loomer wins Florida GOP House primary
https://www.axios.com/laura-loomer-flor ... 18fd3.html

Far-right candidate Laura Loomer wins GOP primary for district that covers Mar-a-Lago
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/conspiracy ... ar-a-lago/

[Svartalf]

Are we surprised to be surprised and/or apalled? I mean, the gop has been on this slope for like 40 years.

[Brian Peacock]

Gopshites!

[pErvinalia]

Seems like something they'd do. It really is a nutbag party.

[Seabass]

A sitting US congressman:

[JimC]

Not even Lak...

[Svartalf]

I should have come up with that one... yeah, she should fire the people responsible for her look and makeup. She'll have the diehard repugs, but not anybody who needs to look at or listen to her to make their choices.

[Scot Dutchy]

Not even Lak...

A paper bag does wonders.

[JimC]

2 paper bags. One for her, and one for you just in case hers comes off...

[Brian Peacock]

A sitting US congressman:

At least one of her eyes is smiling, though neither of his are.