2026 Mid-Term Elections

[Derec]

Seeing the GOP en massse are stepping away from just about all of our allies, it seems odd you are concentrating on one candidate to be Senator and how he might feel about one of our allies.

That doesn't mean that we should not discuss problems with Democratic candidates.

As a reminder, the GOP has a populist in the White House currently.

Yes.

The Democrats, if they win in '28 will likely have a US Senator or US State Governor, none of which who are populist.

It remains to be seen whom Democrats nominate. I hope that it won't be some DSA or DSA-adjacent disaster.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Vivek Ramaswamy has decided to go scorched earth regarding decency and published an ad with Amy Acton's mother in it, saying Amy Acton is a liar about her childhood. A childhood that involved that mother losing custody of Amy and her brother due to neglect and abuse. I always felt Ramaswamy was a bad person, but this just goes way beyond any tiny limit of minimal civility.

Seeing the GOP en massse are stepping away from just about all of our allies, it seems odd you are concentrating on one candidate to be Senator and how he might feel about one of our allies.

That doesn't mean that we should not discuss problems with Democratic candidates.

As a reminder, the GOP has a populist in the White House currently.

Yes.

The Democrats, if they win in '28 will likely have a US Senator or US State Governor, none of which who are populist.

It remains to be seen whom Democrats nominate. I hope that it won't be some DSA or DSA-adjacent disaster.

Yeah, it is great you keep referencing the DSA in every fucking post, almost like you are gaslighting. Well, not almost like.

Also, how in the heck is a DSA nominee getting the money needed to compete nationally? Never mind the tiny issue of the lack of electability nationally. Democrats have Newsom, Shapiro, Pritzker as the top dogs, Beshear as a "dark horse" as well as Whitmer and Kelly. Dem's have got Cooper, Ossoff in the minors. Democrat is leading in Iowa for Governor. Blue Dogs are making a comeback. And Blue Dogs are moderates.

 

[laughing dog]

Something is a smear when it is irrelevant.

That is not part of the definition of "smear":

5. (transitive, derogatory) To damage someone's reputation by slandering, misrepresenting, or otherwise making false accusations about them, their statements, or their actions.
Synonyms: badmouth, besmirch, defame, sully, vilify; see also Thesaurus:defame
The opposition party attempted to smear the candidate by spreading incorrect and unverifiable rumors about their personal behavior.

"Slander", "misrepresenting" and "false accusations" all require a statement to be false in order for it to be smearing. Whether or not laughing dog considers it "relevant" is nowhere to be found.

If you are going to use pedantry, at least read your own definition. Misrepresenting does not require a statement to be false. Using irrelevant information to describe someone can be misrepresenting.

And I do think it is relevant, as it sets the stage for his MB FIL funding his campaign and AES speaking at the Islamist conference that the FIL is affiliated with.

The fact you "think" something does not exonerate your attempt at a smear. You are trying to paint this candidate in an unfair light using fear mongering innuendo. This candidate is not his father-in-law. Using his in laws ideology to paint him as some hidden Islamist is desperate bigotry on your part.

So?

You do not find him speaking at an Islamist conference a problem? A conference where other speakers made pro-terrorism statements?

I said dodgy. Do try to keep up.

It is really amazing to see how far off the deep end the western Left has gone that you are quite openly embracing Islamism.

I understand that straw man is derived from your poor reading comprehension (see above) and blinded by bigotry.

They were leading the push for change against a repressive regime. As I understand it he did not support them for forming a gov’t.

He urged Obama to abandon Mubarak and support his overthrow. He is not an idiot - he knew that MB was in the strongest position to take power in such an event. Which is why he spent much of his HuffPo piece arguing that an MB-ruled Egypt would not be so bad. And btw, MB did take over Egypt with Mohammed Morsi, but it was rather short lived. And AES relativizing the dangers posed by MB must not be isolated from the fact that his family, including his mother and his father in law, are strong MB supporters.

You do realize that any thinking person would not equate the bolded part with supporting a MB rule.

Neo-Nazis are equivalent to the Muslim Brotherhood? Are you serious or just desperate to justify your bigotry?

Are you at all familiar with that group? It is not "bigotry" to be opposed to Islamist extremists.

No it is not. But either you missed the point or are shifting the goal posts.

His action is getting funded by Islamists affiliated with MB and speaking at an Islamist conference with MB ties.

So what.

So what? It means that he is affiliated with Islamism, i.e. the doctrine that Islamic principles should determine how a state is run.

No, it doesn't. It means Dr El-Sayed accepted funds from Islamists.

Lookit you with the identity politics with idiotic “your ilk” and regurgitation of GOP propaganda. Your fear/hatred of Muslims is pitiable.

Islamism is a real threat to western societies. That is a fact. And reasonable fear is an evolved mechanism that is essential for survival. An animal that does not have a fear response to danger quickly becomes some predator's lunch.

"Reasonable fear" is not misrepresenting a candidate based on his father-in-law's ideology. Really,

I don’t care one jot about this candidate.

Then why do you bother posting about him? Especially when you are so woefully uninformed?

If pointing out nasty fear-mongering is being woefully uninformed, I plead guilty. And it is disingenuous to leave out the part about that he is not a Magatard. I don't really care about Dr El-Sayed but he would help alleviate the damage President Trump inflicts on the USA and the world.

I respond to your misrepresentations in the historically unfounded hope that it might alter your perspective. If you wish to convince readers of Dr El-Sayed's unsuitability instead of your bigotry, focus on what he says and his policy proposals, not on his in laws.

 

[Patooka]

You've made it abundantly clear that unless Dr

"Dr". I was wondering about that. Whatsherface was mercilessly skewered for calling herself a "lawyer" when she graduated law school but had not passed the bar. MB Abdulrahman graduated med school, but never went to residency, which means that he is not licensed to practice medicine. Why isn't he hounded out of public life for calling himself a "doctor"?

El-Sayed personally beheads the leader of Hamas, you will always think he is a terrorist apologist.

Now you are just being ridiculous for the sake of being ridiculous. There is a large expanse between that and speaking at an Islamist conference. Or saying that US should not give Israel any support when attacked by AES' Islamist buddies.

Don't worry, son. Everyone knows what you are all about.

 

[ZiprHead]

Black MAGA Influencer Says She Was Thrown Out of Ken Paxton Rally

Thelma Louise says the Paxton campaign threw her out of the event after she drove hours to attend.

newrepublic.com

A Black MAGA influencer says she was booted from a Ken Paxton rally in Texas on Sunday.

Thelma Louise runs a large TikTok account in which she makes pro-Trump content, particularly from her perspective as a Black female conservative. On Sunday, she was excitedly documenting her experience at Paxton’s rally for his upcoming Senate race—before she was asked to leave without cause.

“And there’s no one that I can talk to about this?” Louise asks as she appears to be escorted out. “Wow. Oh my gosh. I cannot believe this.… Someone just came up to me and said that Ken Paxton’s campaign manager wanted me to leave. I am just—my mouth is wide open right now. I really can’t believe this.”

“I was just asked to leave this event, and I did nothing wrong,” she continued. “I was told that Paxton’s campaign manager didn’t want me here. I’m not making any of this up.… I have done nothing but support everyone on the Republican side, and this is how I get treated? I cannot believe the disrespect that I was just given. I left the Democratic Party two years ago, I have volunteered for President Trump’s campaign, and I have worked very hard promoting members of the Republican Party. I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but to be walked out of a room full of people and isolated as if I’d done something wrong—I cannot believe it.”

 

[ZiprHead]

"Dr". I was wondering about that. Whatsherface was mercilessly skewered for calling herself a "lawyer" when she graduated law school but had not passed the bar. MB Abdulrahman graduated med school, but never went to residency, which means that he is not licensed to practice medicine. Why isn't he hounded out of public life for calling himself a "doctor"?

"Whatsherface" can call herself a doctor because she earned a JD but she cannot call herself a lawyer. Same with El Sayed. He earned a doctorate of medicine therefore can call himself a doctor.

 

[Shadowy Man]

"Dr". I was wondering about that. Whatsherface was mercilessly skewered for calling herself a "lawyer" when she graduated law school but had not passed the bar. MB Abdulrahman graduated med school, but never went to residency, which means that he is not licensed to practice medicine. Why isn't he hounded out of public life for calling himself a "doctor"?

"Whatsherface" can call herself a doctor because she earned a JD but she cannot call herself a lawyer. Same with El Sayed. He earned a doctorate of medicine therefore can call himself a doctor.

doesn’t he also have a PhD? That earns one title of doctor. Many people don’t realize that it seems.

ETA: From his Wikipedia page:

As a second-year medical student, El-Sayed received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oriel College, Oxford, where he completed a Doctor of Philosophy in public health in 2011.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Conservatives don’t seem to want to refer to peoples’ titles of “doctor” if they don’t respect the person. Recall the whole Dr Jill Biden kerfuffle. Part of their whole anti-intellectual shtick.

 

[Patooka]

You've made it abundantly clear that unless Dr

"Dr". I was wondering about that. Whatsherface was mercilessly skewered for calling herself a "lawyer" when she graduated law school but had not passed the bar. MB Abdulrahman graduated med school, but never went to residency, which means that he is not licensed to practice medicine. Why isn't he hounded out of public life for calling himself a "doctor"?

El-Sayed personally beheads the leader of Hamas, you will always think he is a terrorist apologist.

Now you are just being ridiculous for the sake of being ridiculous. There is a large expanse between that and speaking at an Islamist conference. Or saying that US should not give Israel any support when attacked by AES' Islamist buddies.

Thank you for proving my point. We all know what you are selling. no one is buying . All you have is your usual suspects.

 

[Patooka]

You've made it abundantly clear that unless Dr

"Dr". I was wondering about that. Whatsherface was mercilessly skewered for calling herself a "lawyer" when she graduated law school but had not passed the bar. MB Abdulrahman graduated med school, but never went to residency, which means that he is not licensed to practice medicine. Why isn't he hounded out of public life for calling himself a "doctor"?

El-Sayed personally beheads the leader of Hamas, you will always think he is a terrorist apologist.

Now you are just being ridiculous for the sake of being ridiculous. There is a large expanse between that and speaking at an Islamist conference. Or saying that US should not give Israel any support when attacked by AES' Islamist buddies.

Stop trying so hard. We already know what you are about. Just say you hate hate all muzzrats and be done with it,

 

[Elixir]

You've made it abundantly clear that unless Dr

"Dr". I was wondering about that. Whatsherface was mercilessly skewered for calling herself a "lawyer" when she graduated law school but had not passed the bar. MB Abdulrahman graduated med school, but never went to residency, which means that he is not licensed to practice medicine. Why isn't he hounded out of public life for calling himself a "doctor"?

El-Sayed personally beheads the leader of Hamas, you will always think he is a terrorist apologist.

Now you are just being ridiculous for the sake of being ridiculous. There is a large expanse between that and speaking at an Islamist conference. Or saying that US should not give Israel any support when attacked by AES' Islamist buddies.

Stop trying so hard. We already know what you are about. Just say you hate hate all muzzrats and be done with it,

When someone won’t admit it to themself, they are unlikely to state it to you.

 

[Toni]

Why do you see Hamawy as an Islamist or a terrorist sympathizer?

We talked about that Islamist months ago, and yet you always forget.
Leading N.J. Dem congressional candidate Adam Hamawy volunteered with Al-Qaida-tied group in Bosnia

Adam Hamawy’s past relationship with terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman has loomed over his rapid rise in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).

Their relationship spanned a 1991 road trip the two took together to Detroit, Hamawy’s service as the sheikh’s translator for a press conference in which Abdel-Rahman denied any role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and Hamawy’s testimony on the sheikh’s behalf at his 1995 trial, where the Islamist leader was convicted of plotting to carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks in New York City.

But just one year before Hamawy took the witness stand to describe his travels with Abdel-Rahman, the now-Congressional candidate made a different journey with another party entangled in terrorist conspiracies: to Bosnia, with a group subsequently shut down for providing “logistical support” to Al-Qaida.

The "road trip ... to Detroit" was a 13 hour drive to an Islamist conference where he spoke about "conquering the land of the infidels".
Btw, I guess Detroit was the beachhead for Islamist colonization even back in the 1990s.

These days, he is spewing hatred of Israel. For example, he joined Hasan Piker on his stream, and was talking about how he does not want Israel to have the Iron Dome so that rockets shot by Hamas etc. can terrorize Israeli civilians better.

Sigh. I love you Derec but I don’t remember all of our interactions.

The first group of people from the Middle East who settled in the Detroit area came in the 1870’s, from Lebanon.

Here’s the Wiki Link re: History of Arab immigration in Detroit:

History of Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I’m not certain how you define Arab vs Muslim vs ‘Islamist.’ As I’ve written before I know/have know a lot of people from Arab countries or whose family came from Arab countries. Some were Muslim, some were Christian, some atheist.

As we’ve discussed before, it’s extremely common for immigrants to settle near people with similar or the same country -even region of a country-near one another. This is not dependent upon race, religion, ethnicity, etc. I understand why. It is hard to be an immigrant. It is hard to leave your country of origin and to settle somewhere else especially if your skin color or race or ethnicity or religion and language is different than your new home. Even if you are pretty fluent in the dominant language of your adopted country, you will likely never feel as smart, as funny, as comfortable as in the land/community of your birth. I have nothing but respect for people who choose—or are forced to choose a different country as home.

I am not fond of some of the associations of these two men but I can understand how they may have come to be.

I think that it is a mistake to condemn someone who acted as a translator for someone else on that fact alone. I think it is a mistake to assume that members of any group are a monolith.

I’m not fond of anti-Israel rhetoric either but in recent years, Israel has not helped itself.

Make no mistake: I believe in Israel’s right to exist. I do not agree with stigmatizing other groups within Israel and while I think that Israel is very wrong in their part in the current climate, they are far from the only bad actors here. Releasing hostages in a timely manner could have saved thousands of lives.

So could some moderation of Israel’s response.

 

[Playball40]

You've made it abundantly clear that unless Dr

"Dr". I was wondering about that. Whatsherface was mercilessly skewered for calling herself a "lawyer" when she graduated law school but had not passed the bar. MB Abdulrahman graduated med school, but never went to residency, which means that he is not licensed to practice medicine. Why isn't he hounded out of public life for calling himself a "doctor"?

El-Sayed personally beheads the leader of Hamas, you will always think he is a terrorist apologist.

Now you are just being ridiculous for the sake of being ridiculous. There is a large expanse between that and speaking at an Islamist conference. Or saying that US should not give Israel any support when attacked by AES' Islamist buddies.

Don't worry, son. Everyone knows what you are all about.

completely different. "Doctor" does not mean physician. It means graduating with a 'doctorate degree'. Now if he called himself a Physician, it would be different. If whatsherface used J.D. it would have been accurate (graduating from law school) - not calling herself a Lawyer or Attorney, which require passing the state bar.

 

[crazyfingers]

Vance demonstraged how despicable he is.

He's outraged that some Republicans are voicing criticism of Ramaswamy's despicable ad calling his opponent a liar for claiming that she was sexually abused when she was 12 years old.

https://apnews.com/article/election-2026-ohio-governor-ramaswamy-acton-mother-93ab182c3e0a95d25ddb409ec0628231