So, bottom line: He knew he wasn't the president, he knew he couldn't declassify documents and he knew they were classified. If this tape is real, this pretty much proves not only intent, the most slippery slope of all, but it proves what he knew and when he knew it. As they say in tennis, Point, set and match.
Well, that's a nice fat one up the bum, eh? Loyalty for Trump is a one way street, doncha know?
Oh, those rock-ribbed, conservative Republican family values!
The unreformed Scrooge would've been considered a liberal by these assholes.
This
is getting to be an all too familiar refrain- White people getting
their First Amendment rights that are denied Black people.
So, bottom line, MAGA Nazis making $174,000 are trying to take away my $23 a month in SNAP benefits.
This
is why assholes like this are called "reactionaries". They react with
the reptilian part of their brains and rarely if ever stop to actually
think and consider.
"Why would you ask about that if you're not worried about the surveillance being there?" Exactly.
The white privilege of these assholes is breathtaking. And, in just about every case, they get it.
Lies, bullshit and innuendo is all these moral quadriplegics have because God forbid they should try exercising real morality and siding with the angels.The
statistics don't lie: Each year, we lose almost as many people to gun
violence (45,000) than we did in 14 years in Vietnam (58,000). Maybe it
would be more appropriate from now on to memorialize the needless victims of gun violence on our streets every Memorial Day.
Your Brad o' the day.It usually comes down to money and power with these right wingers. Especially in evangelical circles.It's
amusing how these right wingers seem to turn on their own at the
slightest transgression even more quickly than they turn on liberals.
It's really in their nature to eat one another.
Cartoon intermission. Oh. nice. Now she and Steven Seagall can sit around and watch each other gain weight.
Which neatly explains why so many cops shoot Black people in the back.
Again, with right wingers, it almost always comes down to money."All of these lawsuits have ended in failure." How did Einstein define insanity, again?Wah
wah. Nobody likes the debt ceiling compromise except for the two guys
who'd hashed it out, Biden and McCarthy. But the overarching rationale,
or what should've been, for coming to a tentative agreement on raising
the debt ceiling was not for one side to get as much as they could from
it but to simply prevent us from defaulting on our debt for the first
time in US history. Which, of course, would've been catastrophic not
just for our economy but the world's.It's obvious that when Trump releases a holiday message, it's never about the subjects but him using it as a cudgel against his self-perceived enemies. Look at his Mother's Day message earlier this month that didn't even mention his wife, Melania. "Y'all didn't tell me gettin' elected to Congress would involve readin'. Readin's hard." And finally... Just in case you thought Trump's Memorial Day message was as bad as it gets, note how Ron DeFascist chose to commemorate it.
Paxton tried to create his own little January 6th. He was disappointed. "(T)he Republicans can go down a generation and find plenty of talent (not least DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott and Governor Glenn Youngkin), the Democrats have a talent drought."
WTF was this idiot smoking when he wrote this? (Tip o' the tinfoil hat to Constant Reader, CC)
Trump's "legal defense" re the documents isn't a legal defense at all but a confession.Things
aren't looking good for Paxton as his impeachments heads to the Senate. He, Cruz and Trump were threatening GOP
TX lawmakers with reprisals if they didn't heel to. I live in MA and can
smell the flop sweat from up here.Like PT Barnum said, there's one born every minute.The
Texas GOP is going after Ken Paxton full bore. Not because they're
interested in the rule of law- Paxton, after all, has been under
indictment for literally eight years- but because they're afraid he'll
drag down their party with him.Laura Loomer is apparently still bitter about that pony that Daddy never got her.Sounds like Bobo has a new love interest! Bobo and racist man swinging from a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.Chuck Toddler really is kind of an idiot.
Cartoon intermission. Oh, shut the fuck up you weren't. Matt Gaetz even used the word "hostage".Like the old saying goes, elect clowns, expect a circus.Texas has for decades been a white supremacist's paradise. Now, they just made it official.Marjorie Taylor Greene declaring them political prisoners in 3, 2, 1...There
isn't much with which I agree with Sen. Lindsey Graham but I had to
laugh when he trolled the stupendously corrupt Russian government over
their ridiculous and purely symbolic arrest warrant. Yes, we're making heroes out of guys who autograph their own mug shots. What else can you expect from a piece of shit who'd ripped off a childrens' cancer charity out of $2,000,000? And finally...
You mean the "suckers" and "losers" who gave their lives when there wasn't anything in it for them?
For the first time in Texas history, a sitting Attorney General has
been impeached. The Texas House yesterday voted overwhelmingly to impeach Ken Paxton 121-23. One can only imagine the fun Molly Ivins would've had with this.
Trump vowed revenge
on any Texas Republican who voted to impeach. Paxton vowed revenge in
personal calls made to lawmakers during the impeachment process. 121
voted to impeach, anyway. Looks as if Trump and Paxton are going to be
busy.
As with the federal government, all it would've taken is one article of impeachment to send the matter to the Senate. They found 20.
Naturally, we've been hearing the usual pious bilge from
pro-impeachment Republicans in Austin about how this is for the good of
the people of Texas. This, coming from lawmakers who know damned good
and well that Paxton's been under indictment since 2015 or that strong
whiffs of corruption have been wafting off Paxton like a sewer gas leak
since he first took over as Attorney General. In fact, when cataloguing the
examples of wrong-doing, one is at a loss where to begin. On fact, one
marvels at the Texas House's ability to do just that and in such a short
space of time.
Of course, they knew exactly where to look and what to impeach him on
because they studiously turned a blind eye to Paxton's Tammany-level
corruption all these years and chose to do nothing about,
Because that's what it's all about for these assholes- Political
survival. Paxton's stinking vultures are all coming home to roost and
the Texas GOP has no wish for even one of them to turn into a rotting
albatross around their necks. They decided to take the first steps to
amputating Paxton from the party before he fell off of his own
corruption and take the party down with him. That's how they were able
to decide on what articles to impeach him. With 20 of them one is surely
bound to stick.
This suspends Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott, who'd notoriously
remained mum on this issue now has to appoint an interim AG until after
the impeachment trial in the Senate.
So, for what was Ken Paxton impeached? Let us count the ways:
Disregard of Official Duty Protection of Charitable Organization Disregard of Official Duty-Abuse of the Opinion Process Disregard of Official Duty-Abuse of the Open Records Process Disregard of Official Duty-Misuse of Official Information Disregard of Official Duty-Engagement of Cammack Disregard of Official Duty-Termination of Whistleblowers Misapplication of Public Resources- Whistleblower Investigation and Report Disregard of Official Duty-Settlement Agreement Constitutional Bribery-Paul's Employment of Mistress Constitutional Bribery- Paul's Providing Renovations to Paxton Home Obstruction of Justice-Abuse of Judicial Process Obstruction of Justice-Abuse of Judicial Process False Statements in Official Records- State Securities Board Investigation False Statements in Official Records- Personal Financial Statements False Statements in Official Records- Whistleblower Response Report Conspiracy and Attempted Conspiracy Misappropriation of Public Resources Dereliction of Duty and Unfitness for Office Abuse of Public Trust.
So, bottom line, they brought 20 articles of impeachment and impeached him on all 20 articles. And they all sound pretty serious.
In Texas, as in the US Congress, you only need a simple majority but in the Senate, you need a two thirds majority to actually convict. As you can expect, Paxton's squealing like a stuck pig and acting like a character out of a Thomas Nast cartoon.
Trump, typically, jumped in literally at the 11th hour while the legislature was hashing out the score of articles and vowing hellfire and damnation as Ted Cruz and Donnie Dumbo Jr. were trying to show their love and loyalty for Trump. But Trump, obviously, only has use for Paxton as long as he shows his loyalty, which he had by launching a score of lawsuits challenging the election results.
But, really, if the Texas Senate Republicans show as much convenient and momentary intestinal fortitude that their counterparts in the House had shown yesterday, Ken Paxton will go down for the count, will get expelled from office and barred from running for office ever again. Who knows, it may even result in a permanent disbarment.
Maybe Leo Leo will get him a law clerk position within the Federalist Society. Either way, Ken Paxton's time has come and gone and when this is all over, he'll be known as one of the most cartoonishly corrupt figures in American political history.
Surprise, surprise, the SCOTUS finally got something right.Oh, throw his red, white and blue recidivist ass back in prison. Wait
a minute, is everyone missing the real story here? If Trump instructed
his staff to move the documents the day before the search warrant was
executed, was there a leak in the FBI warning him about it? The
coincidence can't be ignored. "The Republican-led House committee said Mr. Paxton’s abuses of office rose to the level of possible crimes that warranted an impeachment vote."
Wow, if Ken Paxton ran afoul of his own party, then he really crossed the Rubicon.
"America is still in love with President Trump." Yeah, sure we are, Bobo. That's why he got 7.2 million fewer votes than Biden, right? And, speaking of Bobo... Oh, those rock-ribbed, conservative, Republican family values!We can take it as an article of faith that in Republicanworld, Chicago is a synonym for the N word.Corporations
have no guts. Instead of pulling merchandise and looking like a bunch
of wet-legged wimps, how about working with law enforcement to identify
these right wing terrorists and throwing them in jail? (Tip o' the tinfoil hat to Constant Reader, CC.) Lordie, there are tapes! Racist restaurant calls Black woman the N word then, typically, pulls the victim card.
Meme intermission.. Social media has really turned into a brutal wasteland worthy of a Mad Max movie.. Ron DeSantis declares war on Mount Parnassus. Since declaring his candidacy for president, Ron DeSantis has given us in rapid fire succession reasons not to put him in the WH. This is the latest one.We've all heard the allegations that some cops aided the J6 rioters. It seems those allegations aren't altogether untrue. OK, question: If you remove any references to the Nazi Party in THE SOUND OF MUSIC, then who the fuck are the Von Trapps running from? Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. Now she gets to vote on whether he's impeached. It's not looking good for Kenny boy. And finally... One more time, assholes: Jesus Christ and Christianity is mentioned nowhere in either the United States Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution. Period.
Imagine if Woody Allen wrote, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK.The surest sign of an innocent man- Writing a letter to the boss of the guy about to take you down.Oh,
fuck the election! If you break the law, you break the law and running for president does not nor should give you an automatic Get of Jail Free
card.100k for a used Chapstick? It's nice to know the GOP always has its priorities in order.This
is one of the saddest days in music history. Tina Turner is no longer
with us. RIP, Tina. You were one of the greatest divas of all time.As much as I hate to say it, I agree with MTG on this. This is no way to launch a presidential campaign. I mean, really. How ironic is it that #desaster chose for his campaign launch a platform run by an idiot who can't even launch half his rockets?So, this is your finest in blue, eh?You want to know what over 200 Democrats sound like when they laugh at Marjorie Taylor Greene? Wonder no more. Yes, Margie now officially has her own laugh track in Congress. Can these mendacious assclowns tell the truth about anything? The J6 Choir lost a lovely voice today. Pity.Well, she gets my vote for Mom of the Year. What about you guys? 221 Neros fiddle while Rome burns. The revolution will be televised but first, a dress rehearsal. "The Heritage Foundation was quickly triggered by being included in the bottom rung of the pyramid..." Maybe they were miffed they weren't on the top rung. Mike Pence: Like the Trump town hall, only with snoring. And finally... Oh look, a right wing Nazi. Oh, look, another right wing Nazi. Two in one day, What are the odds?
It's been a year since Uvalde. What have we learned?
Not a hell of a lot, if you take a quick look at the statistics.
As you can probably guess, American mass shootings have their own Wikipedia page. It's not an exhaustive list by any means. It tracks just the most noteworthy mass shootings since 1920. But if you were to look at the beginning of the archives, you'll note in the 1920s, there was an average of one mass shooting a year, with some years registering none.
Then, when you work your way up until you get to our generation, you'll note a rapid acceleration in mass shootings, with many of them going undocumented. Also, factor in the fact that back in the old days, many of those mass shootings were carried out by police during worker strikes or attacks by terrorist organizations like the KKK. Shootings that don't fit the profile of the latter-day mass shooter.
So, how many mass shootings have we had since Uvalde? Well, it was 365 days ago and, since we average, at bare minimum, one and a half mass shootings a day, a plausible guess would be well over 500. That should be a horrifying statistic yet, to many, it isn't.
If we're not inured to all but the deadliest and bloodiest mass shootings, then we're damned close to it. If you place a person or an entire populace into a constant state, with relentlessly recurring themes, it eventually becomes the new normal. Then it becomes the old normal. For all, that is, except the surviving victims.
A few days ago, CNN somewhat redeemed itself after that clusterfuck of a "town hall" with Donald Trump just the day after he was found liable for defamation and sexual assault in Manhattan by posting videos never before seen, ones shot on May 24, 2022, the day of the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde.
The closest they came to showing the carnage was when they aired footage of the little girl of the woman you see above. That little girl was Khloie Torres, the 10 year-old who'd called 911 while the gunman was killing her classmates and teachers.
So, again, what have we learned since Uvalde?
Well, we learned that little Khloie Torres had more guts than literally every single cop who was cowering in that hallway. She called 911 and gave them valuable real-time intelligence on what was going on in rooms 111 and 112. She offered to open the door for police and they still refused to breach. She saw to her own and her classmates' survival by telling them to be quiet and to smear the blood of the dead on themselves to fool the gunman into thinking they, too, were dead.
The transcript of the 911 call is heart-breaking. She tells the dispatcher she knows exactly what to do because her Marine father told her what to do "ever since I was a little girl". That and, "I don't want to die."
That day at Robb Elementary, little Khloie Torres was the best teacher in that building.
For 77 minutes, Khloie Torres kept her poise in what was a war zone and saved countless lives. A ten year-old child. A fourth grader.
She also showed she had more guts than the nearly 500 cops from about 20 different law enforcement agencies that were clustered in and outside the building. She showed she had more guts than just about every Republican in Texas, starting with Greg Abbott. Like a battle-hardened veteran, she counts exits to this day and always sits next to the nearest door.
Just in case.
Khloie Torres is still a lovable little girl. She loves her parents, her sibling, her pets. But she's more prepared to live in a war zone than any child that age should have to be. How many of us can say that we've survived a mass shooting in which an AR15 was involved?
But since that first documented mass shooting 103 years ago, we've turned into a country in which the mass slaughter of innocent children and young adults is a preferable alternative to even the most tepid gun control and gun safety measures. That's because many of those feckless Republicans have been bribed off with campaign contributions and A+ report cards by the NRA. Many of them are wealthy enough so that they can afford to send their kids to private schools. But, if the recent Covenant Christian school shooting is any indication, you'd think these Republicans would get a clue that charter schools and private academies are far from immune to gun violence.
The good guy with a gun theory was shot to hell with an AR15 a year ago today. When the gunman opened up on them through a door, they actually retreated while little Khloie Torres was asking the dispatcher where the police were. Because they didn't want to get shot. She could've opened the door and run out and let the police in, leaving her classmates to the mercy of the gunman. But she didn't.
She stuck it out and survived a mass shooting that claimed the lives of 21 people she knew while Republicans ran from reporters in the days after the shooting.
So, what have we learned?
We learned that a little girl has more guts than 500 cops and thousands of members of a major political party. While Republicans offer mealy-mouthed thoughts and prayers and platitudes about mental health, Greg Abbott freed up over $100,000,000 to address mental health issues that would've been better put toward actual gun control and a gun buy back program like the kind Australia offered after the 1996 Port Arthur mass shooting.
Lastly, Republicans cower in fear of not only reporters but those of us who have the guts to call them out on their cowardice. After every mass shooting, they start hollering about how the gun-grabbing liberals are coming for your guns and politicize every shooting because they're terrified you'll remember that gun control works. The 1994 assault weapons ban proved that. Australia proved that after Port Arthur.
The lives and safety of our children should never be an acceptable risk when the price is some common sense gun control laws designed to benefit the public and law enforcement. But we live in a feckless age. We keep electing feckless Republicans, stock up on guns and ammo after every mass shooting then scratch our heads when we wonder why there's so much gun violence and why it's more responsible for child deaths than anything else.
It's interesting when people die. Give us dirty laundry.Three and a half years? That's it?! We talk about white privilege but that's nothing compared to blue privilege.Typical right wing hypocrites. "For me, not for thee."So, in other words, the terrorists have won.You
want to show how macho you are, asshole? Join the Ukrainian army.
They're always looking for a few good men. Stop terrorizing little kids. (Tip o' the tinfoil hat to Constant Reader, CC) This is what television journalism is supposed to be about.These assholes are a moral cancer."They're bringing over their criminals, their rapists and some, I assume, are good people."Jack
Smith's criminal probe into Trump has officially gone international. I
expect by next month, it'll go galactic, knowing Trump's criminality.Of course he lied,. He's a right winger. That's what they do.You can always count on Donnie Dumbo to shoot himself in his cloven hoof. And yet, Fuentes claimed that he attended that dinner late last year at
Mar a Lago to set up Trump and to make him look like the douchebag he
is. Sabotage and anarchy is all these assholes have to offer. Look for that psychopath Lake to take this to the Supreme Court. Midnight in the Garden of Evil and Evil. It also doesn't explain why he has Nazi napkins in his house. Are we
supposed to believe that's also to honor victims of the Holocaust?Now, that's some professional trolling. "And I want some worms to eat!"It's always about the grift. And finally... More Jewish space lasers to start more fires in California!
The
#audiobook version of Tatterdemalion's now available on #Audible. It's narrated
by the incomparable stage, screen & TV actress Tracie Frank & is a tour
de force of the spoken word. US and UK promo codes are available upon request. #Bookboost #suspense
#histfic #thriller You can find it on Audible or on Amazon.
"Why
are they so far behind?" It's notable that Sean Handjob never once
considers that maybe Republicans aren't liked any more. Deegan was
outspent 4 to 1 and she still prevailed.
"Save the country"? She can't even save her marriage. So this makes, what, the second day in a row MTG's been laughed at?
Daniel Penny, the subway strangler, is actually much more popular than George Santos. Think about that.
They've disgorged over $160,000. That is "weird" and unusual.
Seriously, at this point, isn't anyone else surprised that Trump hasn't already been accused of armed bank robbery?
The 76 year-old suspect said if he clicked them together, he could declassify documents.
Bill
Barr always had the power and ability to pull the plug on that shit
show of an administration. Yet, he didn't. He does not get to act like
the good guy now.
Good. It'll further split the Republican vote in Michigan.
