Political WTFuckingtosh

GRtak

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Because random doesn't do these sorts of things justice.


And to start it off properly:

Michigan Lawmaker Reportedly Concocted Fake Scandal To Cover Up A Real One


The Detroit News reports that a prominent Tea Party-inspired state representative in Michigan sought to cover up an affair with a female lawmaker by spreading a rumor about himself that he had engaged in a public sex act with a male prostitute.

In an audio recording obtained by the newspaper, House aide Ben Graham and state Rep. Todd Courser, who is a married father of four, are allegedly heard discussing an affair between the lawmaker and Rep. Cindy Gamrat. The News says Courser has acknowledged that it is his voice in the audio but that he declined to elaborate. However, he disputed the legality of the recording, according to the News.

In the audio, apparently secretly recorded by Graham, Courser reads an email that the aide is meant to surreptitiously send to rank-and-file Republicans. The newspaper says the email provides fabricated details of a homosexual tryst between Courser and another man "outside a prominent Lansing nightclub."

The lawmaker says in the audio that Republicans will dismiss the email as part of a "complete smear campaign" and that it would "inoculate" him against the scandal of the (actual) affair with Gamrat, who is married with three children.

The email calls Courser "a bisexual, porn-addicted sexual deviant."

Courser concedes to Graham: "It is ridiculous. I need it to be over the top."

"In a controlled burn, you do a little bit of truth mixed in with a lot of lies," the lawmaker says in the May 19 conversation.

Courser says it will "inoculate the herd" and "make anything else that comes out after that ? that isn't a video ? mundane, tame by comparison."

Graham, who reportedly declined to send the email, was fired weeks later, though it was not immediately clear whether the two things were connected.

Courser and Gamrat, both freshman, "rose from the ranks of Tea Party activism, battled establishment Republicans to win seats in the House last year and formed their own legislative coalition," according to the News.

Mlive.com, a Michigan news website, reports that Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter has ordered an investigation into the allegations that the two lawmakers used their offices and staff to cover up their relationship.

The website quotes Joan Fabiano of the Tea Party organization Grassroots in Michigan as saying, "I was shocked, extremely disappointed." But, she added, "I think the whole phenomena of picking out one or two individuals by the media and calling them the face of the Tea Party is erroneous. They're two people in the Tea Party, they don't represent the totality of the Michigan Tea Parties."


And here is the audio from the Detroit News article.
 
Well shit. How do you even top that?
 
Have faith in The Donald...
 
I didn't even see the thread and read about the story. What gets me is that the blackmail sounds more like people just started to catch on to their relationship. That precipitated being kicked off a committee assignment and then he needed a reason why to out the affair. To out the affair to his aide he invents the blackmail asking the aid to invent the gay scandal to "inoculate the herd" with a sex story. I don't know if the way he terms things like the "Lansing Mafia" he actually believes that his "enemies" are in smoke filled back rooms but it sounds like he's got trouble with reality.
 
I have not followed this that closely, but it seems to me that if he was getting blackmailed, he could have called the State Police or the FBI and just revealed the affair. He instead creates a huge lie and wants others to lie for him to cover the truth which will only last a short while anyway..., to what end? I am sure he has violated several "Ethics Rules" and he could be ousted from office if anyone was really that interested in getting him out, but he will not get re-elected in his area (fairly religious) anyway. The Lansing Mafia is just a way for him to blame others for his incompetence and continue his delusions.
 
His claim is that he created the lie about blowing gay prostitutes to "sting" the blackmailers. I don't know how...

The recording of him talking to his aid are priceless because you can hear the aid "il probably go... away". Like hes putting together an investigation will bring all of this to light and he would be the fall guy in jail.

If he was blackmailed your right simply go to the police you get a free ride because the blackmail is actually a crime not having a bad marriage. You say violated ethics rules but small potatoes in a very big soup if the blackmail was how he describes.

The Lansing Mafia sounds suspiciously like Ted Cruz's "Washington Cartel"
 
The Lansing Mafia is an offshoot of the Washington Cartel, but don't tell anyone. :shifty:
 
So, Alabama is currently following the latest trend of Republican-led states facing massive budget shortfalls. To fix this, State Sen. Paul Sanford set up a GoFundMe page to fund the state government, the idea being that anyone could donate what they want, as well as determine what it's spent on, all without resorting to that awful tactic of raising taxes a bit. Yeah.

As of this writing, they've raised ~$1000. They're asking for at least $300 million.

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/08/all_we_need_is_for_every_alaba.html

(Apparently, Sanford still thinks he's making some grand point about about how taxes are bad, rather than proving exactly why they're needed, and why voluntary donations alone aren't enough)
 
Hmm. I wonder where the money is being allocated by the donors.
 
Hmm. I wonder where the money is being allocated by the donors.

You can see it in the donation messages.
"Please use this money to fund abortions."
"Please use this money for black lives matter"
"Admit that Georgia is a better state than Alabama."
"Just a friendly Canadian trying to help."
"Please use this money for cab fare to your local library and check out any economics text book by Friedrich Hayek"
"From the Gay Confederate Flag Burning Society of Alabama! Please earmark for rainbow flags atop all government buildings."
"Earmark this for a state official to take Budgeting 101."
..and there's more! It's quite telling that most donations are the minimum $5.
 
So, Alabama is currently following the latest trend of Republican-led states facing massive budget shortfalls.
But, but, Reaganomics! Trickle down! Lower taxes = more tax revenue! :cry:
 
You can see it in the donation messages.
"Please use this money to fund abortions."
"Please use this money for black lives matter"
"Admit that Georgia is a better state than Alabama."
"Just a friendly Canadian trying to help."
"Please use this money for cab fare to your local library and check out any economics text book by Friedrich Hayek"
"From the Gay Confederate Flag Burning Society of Alabama! Please earmark for rainbow flags atop all government buildings."
"Earmark this for a state official to take Budgeting 101."
..and there's more! It's quite telling that most donations are the minimum $5.


:lol:
 
Because random doesn't do these sorts of things justice.


And to start it off properly:

Michigan Lawmaker Reportedly Concocted Fake Scandal To Cover Up A Real One


And here is the audio from the Detroit News article.



Back to where this thread began. I took a bit of a step back away from politics and news and here is some I missed in regards to this. This is a program that is about State level politics, and they covered this in the last two episodes. Apparently the plot thickens as there is a claim that a Private Investigator was hired and knows who the Blackmailer is...

First video starts off about 1:20 in and runs for about 8 minutes.

http://video.wkar.org/video/2365545297/


Next video starts about 10 minutes in and runs 4.5 minutes. There is another segment that starts about the 23 minute mark that is with another State Representative.

http://video.wkar.org/video/2365549829/
 
Iowa GOP Kingmaker Has a Slavery Proposal for Immigration

He's hosted nearly all the Republican candidates, and he thinks the solution to illegal immigration is slavery.

"What's wrong with slavery?"

That was the response that Jan Mickelson, a conservative Iowa radio host, had for a listener on Monday who called in to discuss the premise of his plan to crack down on illegal immigration.

The caller was concerned that Mickelson?s prescribed policy would, to many, sound an awful lot like a revival of state-sanctioned enslavement?because that is precisely what the plan sounds like.

?If you are here without our permission, and we have given you two months to leave, and you're still here, and we find that you're still here after we we've given you the deadline to leave, then you become property of the State of Iowa,? Mickelson modestly proposed. ?And we have a job for you. And we start using compelled labor, the people who are here illegally would therefore be owned by the state and become an asset of the state rather than a liability and we start inventing jobs for them to do.?

One of the potential gigs? For those caught farther down south, they?ll be building that long wall along the Mexican border that right-wingers love to talk about constructing one of these days.

?We?re going to invite the illegal Mexicans and illegal aliens to build it,? he continued. ?If you have come across the border illegally, again give them another 60-day guideline, you need to go home and leave this jurisdiction, and if you don?t you become property of the United States, and guess what? You will be building a wall. We will compel your labor. You would belong to these United States. You show up without an invitation, you get to be an asset. You get to be a construction worker. Cool!?

You may be tempted to say that Mickelson was kidding. Mickelson was not kidding. And his controversial pronouncements aren?t limited to undocumented immigrants. For instance, he is anti-gay to the point where he has actually endorsed former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?s views on the matter.

But this isn?t just some random, on-air extremist openly fantasizing about slavery or a bleakly reactionary America?this guy is a genuinely influential figure in the Republican primary process.

He has already hosted 2016 hopefuls Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal. That?s because he has quite the reach with Iowa?s Republican caucus voters, who themselves have significant influence over who eventually becomes the GOP presidential nominee. He hosts one of the top talk-radio programs in the state, and has held an audience of roughly 350,000 Iowans per week.

?Having high-profile personalities in Iowa?well, we?re kinda halfway used to it and we think we?re qualified to vet them,? Mickelson told Dave Weigel in a Bloomberg piece on Iowa talk-show personalities who are ?some of the most powerful Republicans you?ve never heard of??a handful of the state?s radio ?gatekeepers? who Republican presidential contenders simply cannot ignore.

?I?m like a public utility, like the light company or water company,? Mickelson said. ?I have a pragmatic use, and even if listeners don?t agree with me they know I will ask the right questions.?
 
Jerry Bance, Conservative caught peeing in mug, no longer candidate, party says

'I deeply regret my actions': Appliance repair technician caught on CBC Marketplace hidden camera in 2012


A service technician caught on hidden camera urinating into a coffee mug during a 2012 house call to repair a leaky sink before he became a Conservative election candidate is no longer running, the Tories said today.

Jerry Bance "is no longer a candidate," said Conservative spokesman Stephen Lecce in a brief email to CBC News on Monday.

Lecce later confirmed to CBC News that Bance was dropped for not being truthful during the candidate screening process.

Lecce did not provide any further details, such as who might replace Bance as Conservative candidate in the Toronto-area battleground riding of Scarborough?Rouge Park.

Bance was filmed during an episode of CBC-TV's investigative series Marketplace. He is seen peeing into a coffee cup before dumping its contents into the sink he was supposed to be fixing.

A service technician for the last 25 years, he had been called to the home as part of a sting operation to catch and confront repairmen overcharging homeowners for simple repairs to home appliances. Hidden cameras captured the incident, which occurred while a Marketplace producer posing as a homeowner was in the next room.


Bance had also run as a Conservative in 2006 and 2008. Jason Kenney, the high-profile Conservative minister and candidate from Alberta, helped him kick off his current campaign last week.

The original Marketplace episode had referred to Bance ? who owns and operates XPress Appliance Service, an appliance repair company in the Greater Toronto Area ? only as "Jerry." A tip received by CBC News late Sunday night pointed out Jerry is Bance.

The Tories' split with Bance was followed just hours later by news that the party had dropped another Toronto candidate, Tim Dutaud, after YouTube videos surfaced of Dutaud making prank phone calls that included derogatory comments about people with disabilities.

Speaking during a campaign stop in Toronto Monday afternoon, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper faced questions from media about both candidates but offered little in response.

"What this says is that we keep the highest standards for candidates and that these two individuals are no longer candidates," he said.

In a statement released Sunday evening, Bance said "the footage from that day does not reflect who I am as a professional or a person.

"I deeply regret my actions on that day."

Response to the story on social media sites was nearly instantaneous. The hashtag "peegate" was soon trending on Twitter, as Twitter buzzed with disparaging jokes, comments and bad puns targeting Bance and the Conservative Party.

The Conservatives' political rivals took the opportunity to make a few jokes at Bance's expense.

"I guess that this was one mugshot that Canadians weren't expecting from the Conservatives," said NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.

Mulcair was speaking to reporters at the annual Labour Day parade in Toronto, where he's spending the day campaigning for the Oct. 19 vote.

"This must be someone who's adept at Stephen Harper's trickle-down theory of economics," Mulcair said smirking. "Any other questions?"

Speaking Monday evening at a campaign event in Summerside, P.E.I., Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said the incidents show Harper is out of touch and "didn't bother" to find out the past of two of his candidates.

"And he lost them today," Trudeau said of the candidates, before slipping in a barb to the local crowd over suspended Senator Mike Duffy's residency troubles.

"But really, is that something so surprising from a man who still believes Mike Duffy is a Prince Edward Islander?"
 
It is over. The two from Michigan were forced out.


Michigan Lawmaker Quits, Another Is Expelled Over Bizarre Sex Scandal

Two tea party Republican lawmakers in Michigan are gone today ? one resigned, another expelled ? after their alleged extramarital affair and a botched cover-up became national news last month.

Michigan state Rep. Todd Courser announced his resignation at 3:12 a.m. today after hours of debate in the state legislature over whether to force him out of the body.

"I felt it was the appropriate thing to do," Courser said. "I put everybody through a whole bunch, my family, constituents and the people in this room," he said.

Rep. Cindy Gamrat, with whom Courser allegedly had the affair, was expelled from the legislature by a 91-12 vote.

"I firmly believe in restoration and redemption," she said after the vote. "I have done everything I can to redeem this situation and I'm sincerely sorry for what this has caused. I still believe my actions warrant censure, but not expulsion."

Michigan Public Radio's Rick Pluta writes: "Many hours of floor debate, cajoling, and, finally, a standoff that lasted through the night ended with Courser walking to the front of the House chamber to hand the clerk a brief letter of resignation. Courser then walked back to his desk, collected his things and was escorted out of the chamber by three red-coated sergeant-at-arms, who confiscated his key cards that got him into the parking lot, the House Office Building, and the state Capitol."

The Associated Press says Gamrat "declined comment as she left the Capitol with her teen son, her sister and her attorney at the end of a drama-filled, marathon 16-hour session."

That is about half the article. But I just want to say, Buh bye to these two. I am willing to bet that both will run again as soon as they can.
 
The video must have been really something too...

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/29/state-rep-jud-mcmillin-resigns/73040942/
Rep. Jud McMillin, a rising star in the state's Republican Party, abruptly resigned Tuesday.

The Indianapolis Star has learned that the surprise resignation came after a sexually explicit video was sent via text message from McMillin's cellphone. It's unclear who sent the text or how broadly it was distributed.

The Brookville Republican sent a separate text message apologizing to his contacts for "anything offensive" they may have received after he said he lost control of his cellphone.

McMillin, whose Facebook page says he is married, did not respond to messages from The Star seeking comment. He said in an emailed statement only that he has "decided the time is right for me to pass the torch and spend more time with my family."

"Now I want to focus all of my attention on making my family's world a better place," he said.

McMillin said in a text message last week, "My phone was stolen in Canada and out of my control for about 24 hours. I have just been able to reactivate it under my control. Please disregard any messages you received recently. I am truly sorry for anything offensive you may have received."

McMillin was elected to the District 68 seat in southeastern Indiana in 2010. He quickly rose through the ranks to become majority floor leader and was widely considered one of the more ambitious lawmakers in the House Republican caucus.

"Our caucus is thankful for Representative McMillin's service to our state, and we fully support his decision to step down in order to focus on his family,"

I don't know what does spending more time with your family do to curb your sex video making desires?
 
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Whoops.

And a note about the Michigan duo. They have both signed up for the special election to replace themselves.
 
The Michigan duo failed, but it is still not all over yet. There is a lawsuit by some of the former employees against the House Of Representatives over it all.



But this post is really about this rant at a local town council meeting. The good stuff starts about 24:50 in.


 
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