2022 U.S. Congressional (and Other) Elections

[N.E. Brigand]

According to a new report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the former football player Herschel Walker, who is the Republican candidate challenging Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia, claimed in speeches in 2017-2019 that he had been an "FBI agent" and "worked in law enforcement, so I had a gun" and specifically that "I work with the Cobb County Police Department." He's also claimed to have earned a degree from the University of Georgia. None of this is true. His campaign says he attended a week of training with the FBI and that his reference to Cobb County meant only that he had been given an honorary position by that department (but the AJC thus far has been unable to get confirmation of those claims).

When I posted to encourage skepticism earlier this evening, I was not referring to this story in The Daily Beast, a legitimate news source, which I only encountered after that:



According to the story, Walker is paying child support and does send gifts to his son.

But he's still a huge hypocrite, given that he has repeatedly criticized what turns out to be his own behavior in public statements in recent years, for example saying that if a man has "a child with a woman, even if you have to leave that woman . . . you don't leave the child" and "if you got a child, hug your child every day," and much more along those lines.

[Eldy]

What a dude.

[RoseMorninStar]

I can't speak for N.E.

As for myself:
Question everything (I should do this more often). Critical thinking really should be taught in school.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
― Albert Einstein

“Avoid blind compliance. Ask questions.”
― Mimi Ikonn

[Sunsilver]

I think it was Alvin Toffler (Future Shock) who said one of the most valuable things we could have for dealing with the future would be a 100% shockproof B.S. detector!

I've sometimes though that if I were still teaching, I'd give the kids a statement as homework, and tell them to prove or disprove it, and tell me why it was right or wrong.

[RoseMorninStar]

I've sometimes though that if I were still teaching, I'd give the kids a statement as homework, and tell them to prove or disprove it, and tell me why it was right or wrong.

That would be a worthwhile assignment Sunny.

I recall having an assignment in HS to determine the 'slant' of newspapers, radio stations/programs, and publications. I recall being somewhat puzzled by it as things were no where near as partisan as they are now. It's pretty blatant these days

[N.E. Brigand]

According to a new report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the former football player Herschel Walker, who is the Republican candidate challenging Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia, claimed in speeches in 2017-2019 that he had been an "FBI agent" and "worked in law enforcement, so I had a gun" and specifically that "I work with the Cobb County Police Department." He's also claimed to have earned a degree from the University of Georgia. None of this is true. His campaign says he attended a week of training with the FBI and that his reference to Cobb County meant only that he had been given an honorary position by that department (but the AJC thus far has been unable to get confirmation of those claims).

When I posted to encourage skepticism earlier this evening, I was not referring to this story in The Daily Beast, a legitimate news source, which I only encountered after that:

Scoop: Herschel Walker Has a Secret 10-Year-Old Son, Who He Doesn't See

According to the story, Walker is paying child support and does send gifts to his son.

But he's still a huge hypocrite, given that he has repeatedly criticized what turns out to be his own behavior in public statements in recent years, for example saying that if a man has "a child with a woman, even if you have to leave that woman . . . you don't leave the child" and "if you got a child, hug your child every day," and much more along those lines.

Oh my.

Herschel Walker, Critic of Absentee Dads, Has Yet ANOTHER Secret Son—and a Daughter (The Daily Beast)

Two days ago, when The Daily Beast reported on Walker's first-known secret child, his campaign responded:

"Herschel had a child years ago when he wasn't married. He's supported the child and continues to do so. He's proud of his children. To suggest Herschel is 'hiding' the child because he hasn't used him in his political campaign is offensive and absurd."

Prior to that, Walker was only known to have one child, 22-year-old Christian Walker, who just last week mocked a celebrity for father multiple children by multiple mothers:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

A little taste of what is ahead.

New Mexico county official convicted of January 6 trespassing refuses to certify 2022 primary results based on debunked conspiracy

[RoseMorninStar]

I saw something on TV about that last night V. One of the other members on the commission scoffed and said something to the effect of, "WHat are they going to do, throw us in the pokey?" They interviewed the New Mexico Secretary of State, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, and she said yeah that could happen. They could also be removed from office for failing to do their sworn duty. Bunch of nutters. This is what happens when lies go unchallenged for so long. It festers and the infection spreads.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Clever Warnock ad.

[N.E. Brigand]

Eric Greitens, who was Missouri's governor for a year and a half in 2017-18 before resigning amid allegations he had committed assault and blackmail against a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair (the charges were dropped for lack of evidence, but earlier this year, Greitens' wife, by that time his ex-wife, filed an affidavit in which she said he had confirmed the blackmail part of the story to her -- and also that he repeatedly threatened her own safety and beat up one of their sons), is running for a U.S. Senate seat, today released a disgusting ad in which, carrying a rifle, he calls on voters to go "RINO hunting" and proceeds to follow a group of soldiers as they break into someone's house.

[RoseMorninStar]

What is the word I'm searching for.. um.. deplorables? Dangerous, sick, deplorables. It's unacceptable, suggesting the hunting of fellow Americans.

I like the Warnock ad. That's clever.

[River]

Clever ads are Warnock's thing.

[Eldy]

I was reminded of this elengil post from another thread...

I'm really wondering if there is any future that isn't the US tearing itself in half or civil war or what... rhetoric is one thing but this really feels like next level

..when I saw this Missouri Senate ad:

Eric Robert Greitens is an American politician, author, and former Navy SEAL who was the 56th governor of Missouri from January 2017 until his resignation in June 2018 amid allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance impropriety.

[RoseMorninStar]

That wording.. 'no bagging and tagging limit' doesn't refer to hunting wildlife (there is different terminology for that), it refers to body bags and toe tags. What a scum-bag. But is he being reprimanded by the GOP leadership or his colleagues? Crickets you say?
* is disgusted *

[N.E. Brigand]

Eric Greitens, who was Missouri's governor for a year and a half in 2017-18 before resigning amid allegations he had committed assault and blackmail against a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair (the charges were dropped for lack of evidence, but earlier this year, Greitens' wife, by that time his ex-wife, filed an affidavit in which she said he had confirmed the blackmail part of the story to her -- and also that he repeatedly threatened her own safety and beat up one of their sons), is running for a U.S. Senate seat, today released a disgusting ad in which, carrying a rifle, he calls on voters to go "RINO hunting" and proceeds to follow a group of soldiers as they break into someone's house.

According to new reporting in the Washington Post, other Republican contenders in Missouri have been testing anti-Greitens ads with focus groups of Republican voters, and Greitens's apparently abusive history does less damage to Greitens for those voters than the fact that he used to be a Democrat.

[Eldy]

Of a piece with the "we'll vote for someone we think attempted an unconstitutional coup so long as he keeps the Dems down" attitude towards 1/6. Anything goes, except insufficiently strong partisanship and ideological purity (except in South Dakota, apparently, where the state legislature has some extremely minimal standards).

[N.E. Brigand]

Large scale peaceful anti-Trump protests in 2017 apparently did have positive effects in 2018:



Let's see what happens now in response to Roe.

[Frelga]

Well, it is possible that overturning Roe is what will keep my parents from voting Republican in the state elections. I don't think California will go to a Republican president, but I am less sanguine about the state level.

Not that it will matter, if Republicans take Senate and institute a nationwide ban.

[Dave_LF]

Not that it will matter, if Republicans take Senate and institute a nationwide ban.

...on voting for anyone who doesn't have Sharkey's blessing

[N.E. Brigand]

Vanity Fair has a what I think is an important article for understanding the so-called "New Right" (sometimes abbreviated "NRx," which is short for "neo-reactionary"; among the other terms used are "radical young intellectuals" and "post-leftists" -- the latter acknowledging a horseshoe aspect to some of its members), a movement whose intellectual leader is a former computer programmer (and crypto-white nationalist) named Curtis Yarvin, who is friends with the billionaire tech financier Peter Thiel and two candidates for U.S. Senate that Thiel is funding: venture capitalist and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance of Ohio (of whom I've written many times) and venture capitalist Blake Masters of Arizona. Vance was just endorsed by Donald Trump (following which Thiel gave another $3.5 million to a PAC supporting Vance; Thiel had previously donated about $10 million to that cause). Trump has yet to endorse in the Arizona race, but he did appear last fall at a fundraiser for Masters.

The website of Senate candidate Blake Masters, Republican of Arizona, calls for not only Roe (1973) and Casey (1992) to be overturned (both concern abortion rights) but also for Griswold (1965) to be overturned. That's the case that makes contraception legal.

This article in the Tucson Sentinel includes video showing a 73-year-old liberal gadfly protester named Peter Jackson (!) being roughed up by attendees at an event for Republican Senate candidate, Blake Masters. As the reporter notes, Jackson's own description of what happened is somewhat exaggerated, but the video shows one woman punching him and then shows that Masters himself "lunged at Jackson, put both hands around his neck and pushed him backward".

As with Greg Gianforte of Montana, who won election to Congress in 2017 after beating up a reporter and then, after being convicted of misdemeanor assault, last year went on to be elected as that state's governor, I expect this will only help Masters in Arizona.

More on Masters at Yahoo Money: A Trump-backed Arizona Senate candidate suggests he wants to privatize Social Security.