Greg Abbott is Still Greg Abbotting

 

You can go ahead and click to embiggen the above screencap, but the main takeaway is that Greg Abbott, Christian, can't even acknowledge the victims of a senseless and horrendous crime without pointing out that they were "illegal aliens". The eight-year-old dead child. The two women who died covering their children to try to save them from bullets. This after his appalling failure to even recognize the mass shooting earlier. 

This is Greg Abbott, Abbotting. This is the guy who didn't understand why the federal government would go so far as to feed babies in US custody if there was a formula shortage and who wanted (or still wants--don't even know!) to pardon a man who drove into a crowd of BLM protesters and then conveniently shot one who was lawfully open-carrying. 

It once again looks like Greg Abbott feels like there are mitigating circumstances to murder--if he agrees with who the victims were. But also, too, the murderer was an "illegal," so. There's a reward for his capture. 

I have to wonder if they were shot up by a white guy, would he try and commission a medal? Because that's the vibe I'm getting. 

The Un-Woke Mind Virus

 

Consider if you will, unwoke Ron De Santis--the bland Florida man at war with Disney and Dylan Mulvaney. (Do I need to tap the scoreboard on old Ron?) making his pitch to the American people and the world he's ready to fight for them because...he's mad at Disney and mad at Bud Light, and mad transgender people exist and also still mad about CRT which has never been taught at K-12 and probably mad that Gitmo prisoners both threw up on him and remember his face. He's cautioning against the "woke mind virus."

Who knows if he actually gives a fuck about any of that--the bandwagon exists and the man has feet. I didn't know who Dylan was myself until the Bud Light kerfuffle and now want to protect her like she was my own daughter. If someone thinks it's okay to demonize someone just trying to live their life and be enthused by stuff, surprise--you are the weirdo. Hating someone for their gender expression makes you the hater. That's how it works. Supporting Dylan, or supporting so-called "wokeness" isn't a virus, it's basic decency. I share a planet with other people and we need to coexist. It costs me exactly nothing to respect someone else's pronouns, and it actually enriches me to know that human experience is diverse. 

Just the other evening, Elon Musk sat down with Bill Maher and they talked about the "woke mind virus."

SCOTUS Focus

 

I don't love that I'm revisiting this again so soon, but the entire Supreme Court has an ethics problem, as in they don't think they've got an ethics problem and they actually should be the first to see it. Their unanimous joint statement of clarity is pretty clear--who is supposed to check them?  

But what if every indicator suggests these mere mortals are not exactly reliably self-checking?

We are called to mind again of the genuine likelihood of conflicts of interest via spousal income--this time in the form of Chief Justice Roberts' wife's $10 million from making job placements with lawyers to assorted law firms. The kind of firms that are going to be heard in her husband's court? Well, yeah, Obviously. 

The sordid story regarding Justice Kavanaugh's 2018 confirmation hearing was also once again revisited today, with the report that his Senate investigation, just like his FBI investigation, was faulty. The GOP Senate never wanted to know the real story with regards to Kavanaugh because it never mattered to them, 

And of course Sam Alito was heard from, because he won't be ignored. He thinks he knows that the Dobbs leaker was definitely not a conservative. Also, he still claims the leak could have gotten him killed.

TWGB: It's Him. He's the Problem.

 

The thing with Trump is, he doesn't ever stop his dumb mouth. Even though his lawyers probably told him this already, the Judge in the civil defamation/sexual assault trial against Trump needed to comment on Trump's social media commentary. What Trump was trying, and always is about, is making his case to the public. He seems to believe that if you're a really popular guy, maybe the rules don't matter. If you are a star, you get away with things. 

And in Trump's world, he is a supernova. His gravity bends time and space. Why wouldn't his continued invective against the woman who accused him be fine and dandy?

Um, because this is a defamation case, and that shit right there was more defamation? This is where I say a little prayer for all the people who still think Trump is smart and want him to be president, because if you see him do that shit, and still think he is smart--my god. The daily life you lead. The struggles you face. The afterschool special that is you. The entire cautionary tale of your mislead existence. How you don't drown in the pouring rain with your whole mouth agape mystifies me, but go on doing you, I guess. 

Anyway, Alvin Bragg might try to gag his mouth separately and for all the same reasons. Lawyers always remind their clients they can shut the hell up and help their case. Trump has that right but fails to demonstrate the ability. 

Anyway, his issues with respect to his legal woes have a lot to do with him--I suspect it was his choice that Tacopina is the guy he wanted to question E. Jean Carroll. The big dude who looks like a mob enforcer. Not one of his lady attorneys. So this big dude is asking a slight older woman why she didn't scream in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. When so many of us women would entirely understand why. The irony that the exact trauma you would want to be saved from is the exact highly degrading position you don't want to be seen in. The shock of being moved on and the adult-think responsibility of thinking this is the thing you, and you alone, have to save yourself from. 

Ron DeSantis is Not Your Challenger

 

This is a man about to get reamed by the House of Mouse. and their case is pretty good because the petty Napoleon who started the fight between the tourist main event in his state basically telegraphed why Disney was being singled out.  He is unannounced as a challenger for the 2024 GOP nomination--I think not. Nothing that is happening right now says that Ron DeSantis is in contention. Oh he can run. He just isn't going to be really in contention.

He is on a book tour while Ft Lauderdale has been under water. He's cruising around various countries getting a first class experience of VIP -dom while his state is being left behind--underinsured and overcharged. He's this guy:

Prepared to do anything but actually run for the office he probably very much wants.  Because he's a prickly pudding fingers and is not actually a great governor.

I think he's bad for Florida, but if Florida thinks he's okay by them, I am still not seeing it for the rest of us. 

UPDATE: I was supposed to get to this last night, but his surgeon general apparently personally committed a fraud regarding COVID-19 findings.  This matters, because Ron DeSantis picked this guy specifically because he wanted to be a culture warrior about masks and vaccines and when you do that, you have to accept shoddy science. This fraud is a Qanon guy  and DeSantis knew that was what he was going for. 

UPDATE: 

Aw shit. The above hat is real swag existing in the world and since DeSantis is as-yet unannounced, this better not be connected to him, because Disney is already fixing to sue his ass and they are really, really protective of their intellectual property. They will build an animatronic display of "Bitch you tried it" over the sandy wasteland Ron disappears into. 

UPDATE: In Jersusalem, Ron DeSantis takes credit for Trump's moving the embassy there and is typically GOP-style wrong about the JCPOA because he's a) a Republican and b) doesn't know shit about foreign policy. He expects no blowback from either thing. Also his voice goes waaaay up when asked about GITMO so that's obviously a great experience for him. 

Ron DeSantis had a complete meltdown when asked about a former Guantanamo detainee who said DeSantis observed his torture. Ron DeSantis for too long has been the boy in the bubble. Shielded from constituents and press in safe spaces within Florida. pic.twitter.com/BZLagMS0r6

— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) April 27, 2023

He isn't ready and he isn't gonna get ready.  And unlike Haley or whoever else, Trump is fixing to run as Florida Man, so DeSantis is disqualified from running as VP. Also too, this man will not be more viable in 2028, either. Sorry to this man. But not really. 

Climate Sunday 2: Stop Electing Ron Johnson!

 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) says climate change will be good for the U.S. because it will be less cold: "Global warming will actually be beneficial ... Why wouldn't we take comfort in that? ... Y'know, concerned if you're in the hot region of Africa ... but we're in good shape." pic.twitter.com/gJifCUhFnT

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) April 26, 2023

I explained my problem with no-nothing babble-on dipshits just a few nights ago, but the rationale still holds: this man has not the least idea what he's talking about, nor the wit or imagination to appreciate the human misery that follows-through from any of the things that climate change portends. On one hand, less people will freeze to death but counterpoint: people will die in heat waves. There will be forest fires. There will be desertification of formerly arable land. There will be water shortages. There is a limit to the benefit of CO2 increase on plant growth. Crops can easily be wiped out by flooding, hail, mudslides. Whole cities can be devastated by increased cyclonic activity. Changes in the jet stream broadly affect planting schedules in a way we can't yet anticipate, and climate changes affect where planting crops is most effective. 

And the result of these changes will be mass human migration and local conflicts over water rights and international conflicts over human rights-- like who gets to eat. Like who can live in the zones that remain livable, when areas formerly safe are no longer capable of supporting life. 

This dumb, dumb man represents too many people who cannot appreciate the knock-on effects of the changes in our atmosphere and the weather it produces already occurring. Johnson is exactly the kind of dumb-dumb we need to stop having because this! My figurative god in a literal existential conundrum--WTF is this kind of happy-ass thinking?  And is he really saying, yeah well, if it's really hot in Africa, the right sort of people will get it? Because that's sort of how I'm hearing it.

He doesn't realize a town in Canada got incinerated because of a heat bubble not two years ago? Climate disasters aren't far away and other folk. It's all of us, and why in the hell aren't African folks also your concern, supposed Christian? 

All of what he says is too dumb and out of touch. I don't understand how someone like this got so recently re-elected, when he is obviously paint chip-eating dumb. 

TWGB: The Man They Lied For

 

EXCLUSIVE: At the RNC Spring Retreat, Cleta Mitchell, a Trump atty working to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, told donors she never saw any proof that there was voter fraud with the voting machines:

"I'm ready for somebody to bring me the proof. And I haven't had that." pic.twitter.com/hsmsPnzYME

— Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) April 26, 2023

Cleta Mitchell, who was on Trump's "perfect" Georgia call looking for 11K+ votes and who is currently tooling around the country talking up the prospects of voter suppression, is on tape admitting that she never saw any proof of voter fraud. This doesn't surprise me. Giuliani and Powell never had any, and to the extent Lindell thought he had any, he was mistaken, too. 

Or was it even a mistake? I mean, they all worked so hard to try and reverse the election results with no proof of the alleged voter fraud, and also, it looks like Very Smart Senators like Ted Cruz thought maybe they should just have a commission that awarded the election to Trump based on Serious Concerns. 

Not proof exactly. Just, you know. Vibes. 

If the commission “found credible evidence of fraud that undermines confidence in the electoral results in any given state,” Cruz said, it would be able to recertify the results. 

Notably, in a November 2020 call with Bartiromo that MSNBC aired last week, Cruz suggested Trump’s team of lawyers lacked “actual evidence” of electoral fraud that would hold up in court. 

On the same day as his call with Bartiromo, Cruz and 10 other Senate Republicans unveiled a plan to reject the certification of results in states where Trump contested his defeat unless an “emergency 10-day [congressional] audit” of results was completed.

See, I know Cruz can complain that he was very public about this plan, but the thing is--there was no proof, just the allegation of an inveterate liar.  Cruz himself was called out by Trump for imaginary vote-rigging in the 2016 Iowa primary, so he knows what Trump is full of. The proposed commission would be a farce based on nothing at all--so why do it, if not to set up a "steal"? 

I was prepared to do a post this evening about the opening statements on Trump's civil trial for defamation and sexual assault, because this is the nature of the man so many Republicans went to so much trouble to keep on as their president. 

But it isn't about just Trump-- there are many Republicans who just don't care if he's guilty of any crime at all. Two thirds of Republicans would support Trump for president even if he was guilty of a crime. 

Rape? Fraud? Tax evasion? Insurrection? Treason? Because they all look to be on the table. And these Republicans who don't care if he was guilty of a crime--doesn't that suggest what they might be willing to do for him? Even crimes, themselves?

Sometimes, even when you know something intellectually, you see it and it stuns you, knocking the bottom out of your world, and it feels like brand new information. Yeah. The family values party who lords their alleged faith and morality about was prepared to destroy this country to keep a lowlife predator in office because they truly nakedly stand for nothing but power, however obtained. And his moral unfitness doesn't seem to worry them at all.

After all he's done. 

Anyway Jack Smith will be looking into Ted Cruz's commission and the other recordings Abby Grossberg formerly of Fox News might have. Once again, the Fox News/Dominion matter, settled, but not over. 

It's still serving.

Who Checks and Balances the Court?

 After so much reporting of Justice Clarence Thomas' relationship with Harlan Crow, not to mention his wife's openly partisan political activity, we now have news of a troubling real estate transaction taking place between Neil Gorsuch and the CEO of Greenberg Traurig, a law firm that regularly brings cases before the Court. A property that was up for sale for two years suddenly was purchased nine days after Gorsuch was confirmed. 

Sure, Gorsuch can say he doesn't know the man or never met him, but the thing of it is--doesn't that make "how to deliver a bribe" seem so effortless? Use cut-outs. Hell, do favors for family. Be linked in all kinds of ways, some obvious, some not. 

Is the problem that people are making the insinuation, or is the problem the cozy relationships that make the insinuations extraordinarily probable? And isn't it even more of a problem when the Chief of one of our main branches of government offers absolute hogwash when asked to discuss court ethics with another branch of government?

If the members of the Supreme Court are in the least concerned about the reputation of that body, they should think of the historical example of the wife of Caesar. In low-level positions of government, ethics rules limit so much as the acceptance of a free lunch. And yet it appears that Supreme Court justices can accept anything their hearts desire--because who is going to check them? 

Despite the call on the left to restore the balance of the Court by expanding it, there has been no move to do so. At the bare minimum, Congress should feel empowered to at least act as a check on whether these parties are ethical stewards of their charge to uphold the law especially because they represent it.  And yes, that should even extend to impeachment if bribery/influence can be demonstrated. 

That means that yes--the member of the Court should be subject to questions. Confirmation shouldn't be the last word between the members of the court and Congress. And if all is kosher, why not both ensure that there are clear guidelines and be willing to communicate that they are followed? 

Look, not all weird financial things to do with SCOTUS are necessarily signs of corruption. But there should be some aim for transparency, and leaving important details off of disclosure forms does open up questions--it's kind of natural. 

Fox, Untucked

 

You know, the sweetest thing about Tucker Carlson getting the axe was he didn't even seem to know he was on the block. He closed out Friday's show clearly expecting to be back on Monday, and apparently only found out he was going, going, gone ten minutes before Fox News officially announced it. So as far as the mutual agreement to part ways goes, it sounds like Fox wanted him to depart and Tucker Calrson wasn't starting it with the security taking his shit out of the building. 

So what makes a huuuuugggge cable media company part with their most recognizable figure? Oh, let me count the ways--wait a minute, how about I don't, but just suggest that the ledger, even if it suggested losing Carlson was a big loss, was nothing compared to his potential liability. The Dominion settlement was a big hit, the Smartmatic one promises to be even bigger, Carlson's former booker is suing, and Ray Epps already sent a cease and desist letter. 

Climate Sunday: We Need To Stop Electing Stupid People

 

From the staggering intellect that brought us "Jewish Space Lasers", we now have the super-genius observation that climate change is a hoax because the planet is spinning. No climate change scientist in the history of ever knew about that, Marge. Thanks for your Nobel Prize-level contribution to the fucking dialog. We'll be sending you a participation trophy tout suite for that fucking revelation that no one ever knew before. The Earth spins and revolves around the sun. 

Wow. The tides go in and the tides go out. How does that fucking work? 

Now you know, and I know, this is "speaking jive."  She doesn't know how climate change works or even care. She just wants to fill up the empty space in her and her followers' heads with words that sort of make climate change not seem real. In the meanwhile, she doesn't realize that climate change is happening all around her and threating national security and food security and so much else. 

Now, it might feel like I'm picking on Rep. Greene, and I totally am! She is a dumbass who does not know what she does not know, and also says disgraceful and disgusting things because she really doesn't care what is or is not true. But she isn't alone in being a climate dumbass who never should have been elected to office because she doesn't know her ass from an adding machine. These dipshits are everywhere. 

If we want to save the planet, we need to stop electing stupid people. By we, I mean the people who elect the stupids. And I also get that stupid people are probably elected by people way more ignorant than they ought to be. And I am sick of the way we act like this choice is anything to be proud about, and yes, ignorance is a choice. (Yeah, I'm bagging on the astroturf freedom-mommies again because once again, no one called them on being a bunch of self-satisfied and dark money funded weirdo busybodies who are executing the freedom to parent other folks' children.)  Anyone who wants to deny alternative POV's and restrict the capacity for critical thinking is no one's friend. 

Voters--educate yourselves against the babble-ons. People like MTG should be figuratively pilloried for this level of shameless nonsense-peddling. And also too, should not be allowed to stay in office--should be recognized before getting into office and be just all the hell stopped ideally--but wow. When they are this dumb, how do they stay? 

TWGB: The Truth Has a Way

 

A funny old thing just happened--Mike Lindell lost in arbitration a stupid claim that he would pay $5 million to someone who proved his stolen election data wrong. Of course it was proven to be bullshit. Trump lost. He just did. He didn't win the popular vote the first time around, and in 2020 he massively lost the popular vote and didn't win the electoral either. He lost it by too much to plausibly even steal it. His whole ass got kicked in by Joe Biden. 

I get that people like Pete Navarro think that Trump had a path to victory via state legislatures doing the most. This is of course stealing and a fraud. It's funny he cops to that in order to slag "The Kraken"--Sidney Powell. She was operating at the time as a whole soldier though--she was probably instrumental in acquiring the breached data that TrumpWorld was going to use to challenge Georgia's vote--you know, the vote interference that Fani Willis and Special Counsel Jack Smith are both looking into. 

Powell's stupid conspiracy theories were bad and looked bad. The line Navarro wants to use is--why screw about with theories as to why the vote totals don't work out in Trump's favor when state legislatures can just overrule them anyway? 

The theories are dumb--the steal is smart. 

The War at Home

 

Tonight on ⁦@11thHour⁩ with ⁦@SRuhle⁩: Kansas City shooter was “…fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line”. Grandson says Andrew Lester influenced by conservative media | The Kansas City Star ⁦@MSNBC⁩ https://t.co/IJivWs9Yxx

— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) April 21, 2023

A kid was shot because he knocked on the wrong door.  A girl got shot because she turned into the wrong driveway.  Cheerleaders were shot because they approached the wrong car. A little girl and her family were shot at because a ball rolled into the wrong lawn. 

I try to not just blame the guns--our violence problem is exacerbated by the availability of guns, but that isn't the whole problem. There is a synergy between some kind of overly defensive mindset, some kind of near-paranoia, and the access to weaponry, that is the problem. Something has gone terribly wrong with the basic American brain that it looks for enemies everywhere.

Our gun-related violence statistics are something to behold. The grandson of Andrew Lester talks about the viewpoint of his grandfather and you almost wonder how such shootings aren't more prevalent. 

Even while I understand how the AR-15 became a fetish for certain people, I don't blame the weapons--not entirely, even though I think we should keep them out of the hands of people who have previous assault charges, domestic violence, and restraining orders against them. That just seems logical to me. But we have a whole narrative, an NRA/gun lobby voice, saying having guns is your masculinity and your freedom. It's a solution to problems. The rhetoric isn't just home defense--it's payback and civil war. 

The fixation on violence as a front line tactic is disgraceful and damaging to civil peace. The gunhumpers who facilitated this POV need to understand their bullshit is why so many progressives want to ban various weapons. 

I get that the thing (any long gun, automated or not, any handgun, anything that goes boom and fires a projectile) is just a tool. But the rhetoric of gun nuts has weaponized the people for the sake of selling guns. 

And the people go off, hurting people and sometimes killing them. And that is not acceptable. 

Things You See on Twitter About Foreign Policy

 

I just screen capped a thing you can click to embiggen, which is pretty much the state of the stupid horseshoe fringe--Ann Coulter re-tweeting Max Blumenthal fluffing RFK Jr. because he's excoriating US policy supporting Ukraine's self-defense against the Russian invasion, because of course Kennedy is wrong because he's full of himself and of course Blumenthal is a useful idiot who spouts Russian propaganda anymore and Ann Coulter is, and always has been, an utter bitch. 

I used to wonder what happened to Max Blumenthal. Did he experience a conversion experience because he wanted in Rania Khalek's pants or WTF? I used to speculate. How do you hate Israel apartheid and also think maybe Bashar Al-Assad is misunderstood? He was a good journalist for a whole minute. But look at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He used to be a credible-ish environmentalist. Now he's an anti-science crackpot who sucks up to the dictators of petrostates and basically has the worst opinions in existence. 

RFK Jr. talks in front of cultists who think maybe his cousin JFK Jr, is a five o'clock shadow dipshit with a porkpie hat who has no resemblance other than white and brown haired. This does not seem to faze him. 

I have never wondered what happened to Ann Coulter. Oh, no. I never, ever, ever have. She's her own thing, all daddy issues and GOP manly hero-worship aside. If she has a Putin fetish I would not wonder at it for a second. 

Anyway, Ann Coulter, Max Blumenthal, and RFK, Jr, and for what it's worth Dennis Kucinich, can all go autocopulate until they are desperately chafed. Their weird fringe "bold" controversial, contrarian opinions are only relevant to their wankery, not to anything happening in the actual world we live in, where Russia is trying to commit genocide and Ukraine is fighting against that because of course they are, and being a democratic nation that has some kind of morals, the US should oppose that. 

People who don't understand that basic calculus flunk my tolerance right now. If you don't know Russia is the bad guy and more than diplomacy is required (like making Russia bleed because bullies only know that language) you are wasting our time with wishful thinking. There is no negotiation that is not some degree of surrender, and a pass for future violence.  Fuck off Tinkerbells. Ask not for who I clap, it is not the entire fuck for you. Who have shitty opinions with no stake at all, at all. 

Settled, But Not Over

 

Of course, I gasped with a bit of disappointment when we were just about to hear the opening arguments in the Dominion defamation case against Fox News, and then the delay...and then the news of a settlement. I know, $787,500,000 is not chump change, and Fox News definitely settled because they did not want the trial to go on but, but...

The dragging! Where was the great, beautiful Fox News dragging? I wanted to see Fox News hosting hoisting themselves on their own petard. Where's the spectacle? Where's the schadenfreude? 

It was, perhaps, never to be in this case. Here are the details: 

Dominion's legal team pursued a "to the pain" strategy, intending to inflict maximum discomfort for Fox and its proprietors in order to secure as big a payout and as public an apology from Fox News as possible. For Fox and its controlling owners, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, it was worth the cost to pay for the spectacle to go away. 

For Fox, what evidence dribbled out in court hearings and court documents piled embarrassment upon embarrassment upon disgrace: 

Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott warned her colleagues against running fact-checking segments by the network's own reporters debunking lies about election fraud, even as it gave such bogus claims acres of prime real estate.

The payout was a business decision between businesspeople, not a retribution against Fox News by the Avenging Spirit of Informed Democracy.  The thing that pisses me off isn't that they settled for a Very Interesting Sum, but that Fox News wasn't expected to make things right with respects to broadcasting the truth, on their own airwaves, in various timeslots, to correct the false impression they had created. 

And yet, the SOB thing about the Fox model, and right-wing media in general, is even the correction would be seen as something being "forced down their throats" by the liberal establishment, because this is the exact kind of fuckery they did on the brains of their loyal watchers. Faith, as in the belief in things unseen, and the ability to unhear what they never wanted to know. The Fox News watchers know what they want to believe and expect Fox to give it to them.

I really feel like only an exquisite dragging of the liars and jackasses who read "news" for Fox would have really done the necessary business.

Dominion says they will go on to make suit against other malefactors, and well, good luck to them. Maybe they will financially ruin some smaller outfit than Fox (OAN? Newsmax?) but undoing a lie is like trying to get toothpaste back in the tube. 

Now, Smartmatic says they are going to finish the job. I love that for them, and us, and Fox, if that's true. I still say Fox is in trouble--because I can't convince myself the bubble has yet been created that can't eventually be pierced, and I think the docs that Fox was hiding with respect to Rupert Murdoch must be very not great for them to have been hidden. 

But perhaps I should by now know to keep my hopes lower in the stratosphere. 

UPDATE: I find it interesting that investors are concerned that the business model has some real liabilities regarding coming onto contact with the truth. 

TWGB: Credibility Gaps

 

Imagine being Fox News, in the midst of trying to settle a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit while still retaining some credibility as a news organization, even to the extent of running a full-page ad in the New York Times trying to bolster their reputation (which is bullshit, actually) while the ratings cash cow they fraudulently supported keeps mooing at them to go and lie some more.

Their bum steer has them on the horns of a dilemma, one might say? 

Probably not. I've been saying this regarding the GOP and Fox alike--your Trump problem is you made him, but you also can destroy him. He's a Golem--rub out the magic words that got him moving and fear him no more. The GOP has stuck themselves to him such that other potential 2024 primary candidates are disadvantaged in trying to challenge him (an imaginary box created by the delusion he can't be criticized or called on his bullshit in any way) and so has right-wing media. 

And yet, Trump exists because of attention--he's trying to have all his trials be made in the court of public opinion. This isn't how anything works--for example, his bid to have his defamation/sexual assault case delayed because of all the unwanted attention following his Manhattan indictment has been rebuffed for the simple reason that he is the one who keeps calling attention to all his trials, and also, there are so many trials he's got going on a delay isn't doing him or the courts any favors. 

Tempest in a Very Peculiar Teapot

 

The discussion of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas' benefactor's unusual collection of Nazi memorabilia amongst his other bits of art are probably most charitably described as tacky and eccentric. Amusingly, he received vociferous support from a variety of conservative pundits, who he had also cultivated and collected over the years. 

In the words of Upton Sinclair, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."  If that doesn't describe a lot of right-wing media, I don't know what does. 

When I was a kid, I had an uncle who got me interested in numismatics, and I collected things like buffalo nickels and Mercury dimes. The little coin shop where I poured over affordable collectibles sometimes had antiques--small historical artifacts, like medals and patches from someone's grandaddy's old footlocker. Anyway, I remember one time there was a patch with a swastika, and I just wanted to see it for a minute. 

The owner asked me did I know where it was from, and I was all of ten or eleven and I knew. Would I like to buy it?  And I decided it was interesting, but I didn't want to own a part of what it was. I was fascinated that I could touch it and handle a symbol I knew was associated with a great evil. But actually bringing it into my parents' house would have felt like doing something wrong to me. I knew what it was; that was enough. 

Oh! I Think I Get it Now!

 

It has come to my attention that Tucker Carlson is at it, again, and laying it on rather thick about how poor Jack Texeira is a TRUTHTELLER! Being MARTYRED! For giving us the actual ugly truth about the war in Ukraine.  

Carlson loves grievance. It's his thing. And he seems to love Putin. And Here's the amusing bit--the truth-telling that Carlson is running with? Is a lie. The figures he cites on his show from the leaked docs are doctored. 

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday rattled off seemingly made-up casualty figures from "leaked intelligence" to argue that Ukraine is losing the war with Russia.

But the actual leaked classified United States documents show that more than twice as many Russian soldiers as Ukrainian troops have been killed. 

During his "Tucker Carlson Tonight" broadcast, the Fox News star said that the leaked documents show "Ukraine is in fact losing the war."

So it looks like he's doing two things here: making Texeira out to be a hero in the mode of Rittenhouse, Perry, Zimmerman and Babbit, while also promoting Putin's propaganda. But actually, there's a third thing he might be doing here--see, after telling us mishandling classified information is bad, actually, when Reality Winner does it, there's someone else who seems to have mishandled classified information lately:

Trump, who is likely to be charged under the Espionage Act. So I think the ground for pretending what Trump did is just fine is a part of this messaging as well. 

God, Fox News sucks, and Carlson sucks harder. 

The Dangers of Vice-Signaling

 

I wrote very recently about Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas' determination to pardon a convicted killer because Tucker Carlson told him to, and the publication of former Sgt. Daniel Perry's prior social media history highlights how very, very, ill-advised it would be to pardon someone like this. 

The documents released Thursday were filed on March 27, when prosecutors announced their intent to introduce messages and posts they'd gathered from Perry's cellphone. Some of Perry’s messages were presented during his trial, including a May 31, 2020, social media post where he said he might have to kill people. But the newly unsealed filing contains dozens of other posts and messages that weren’t presented publicly. 

Each piece of evidence is listed separately in the 76 pages. They include Internet searches for news about George Floyd-related protests, posts of memes that appear to encourage or rationalize shooting protests, and Perry's own messages in which he talks about being angry and scared over the protests or writes about committing violence.

More documentation of Perry's social media history is here.  And to be fair, I might have searched many of the same things he did--because I write about movements like Black Lives Matter being in favor of them and I write about extremist violence being very much against. 

Fox News is in Deep Shit

 

So, let me preface this with the obvious caveat: I am not a lawyer, and I don't have the gall to play one on the blog. But when I say it looks to me like Fox News is pretty fucked based on all the news I've been reading today--I mean, I don't think you actually have to be a lawyer to recognize their position is basically in deep shit. Today, their lawyers got told off for withholding information because they wanted to screw about regarding whether Rupert Murdoch was considered an executive at Fox News or just Fox Corp. or whatever. 

That was pretty dumb. And then there were the tapes: a Fox News producer recorded conversations where Trump campaign officials and Elite Strike Farce lawyers alike admitted they didn't really have a basis for what they were doing. They were just cynically pretending there was election fraud because they didn't want the election to be over for whatever (maybe monetary, maybe not) reasons. MSNBC got hold of these recordings, and yeah, this is very problematic for Fox--and for Trump. I can see it being of interest not just in this Dominion case and maybe the Smartmatic case, but also of interest in Trump's Georgia case and of interest to Jack Smith's investigation, because it connects Fox News lying about the election with January 6.

Jim Jordan is Defending Putin's Puppet

 

"I could see that he loved it" -- Trump on what Putin said to him about Ukraine in private discussions pic.twitter.com/bn6Frny9Al

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 12, 2023

Donald Trump has always just been a tool for Putin, just a dopey, underinformed somewhat ineffectual businessman who has been handled because of his wealth by foreign influence from the beginning. There is credible reason to believe that if Trump won a second term instead of massively losing, he would have finally "winked" at Putin to do his damnedest with respects to Ukraine.

I don't know why GOP Representative Jim Jordan thinks he needs to protect Donald Trump from all threats as if he was his very own smol bean--but Jordan is a sketchy guy himself. Maybe Trump has dirt on him, maybe not. Maybe he seriously does believe Trump is his smol bean. I never succumbed to whatever charisma Trump is supposed to have, but maybe this is his influence on his supporters, they see him as their hero and also as a small baby who needs to be protected.

MAGA doesn't want us to fool around with their sweetheart, Donald J. Trump. Because he puts America first? Heh! While he's talking up the dictators in China and Russia we are supposed to believe he's strong on. He says the US radicals are the greatest threat--to the whole country, or just to his political future? Anyway, Jordan hasn't got any right to interfere in New York business, and Bragg isn't about to let him.

Alivin Bragg is suing Jim Jordan for using federal US dollars to fuck around with state business to prevent a lawful investigation into a one-time NY citizen. In the meanwhile, Trump's support is cratering because America is tired of his act. 

I'd love to see Trump's dogged supporters go down with their Titanic leader. They seem dead set on putting him, not this country, first.

TWGB: April is the Cruelest Month

 

I guess Trump's indictment cherry having been popped, he has no reason to expect the rest of this month to be great, but wow--I don't think it's going to be good for The Donald! For one thing, just this Thursday, he's sitting down again with Leticia James and her crew regarding his NYC civil case over his business practices, and since he repeatedly pled the 5th the first time around, this time isn't going to go any better. See, the thing is, in civil trials there's a thing called adverse inference which means what it says on the label: if someone is pleading the 5th because their testimony might incriminate them, take it at face value that the truth would not set them free. 

He's also facing the E. Jean Carroll civil suit in NYC over his defamation of self-described rape victim E. Jean Carroll. The judge in this case has agreed to anonymity for the jury based on Trump's already egregious behavior regarding judges, prosecutors, witnesses, you name it.  Because he acts like a mafioso. As with the Bragg case in Manhattan, this case highlights how horrific he is to women. 

I really wish people were more aware of this. 

Anyway, there is still the potential for indictments to drop in either the Georgia grand jury case, where racketeering and a broad cast of characters being looked at for indictment figure, and the obviously bad Mar-A-Lago documents case. I am not actually crouching on a case of champagne waiting for those things, but it would be neat, right? 

And then there's the odd thing about Trump filing to block Mike Pence's testimony to the Special Counsel regarding J6--why? Is there a problem with the very honest man Trump had as his Vice-President testifying about what might had led up to that day? And if so why? 

Enquiring minds would like to know. After all, it always has struck me as strange that Trump's impulse is always to obstruct or delay the release of facts about whatever it is he's been up to while he claims he's a pure as the driven snow, and his little fan club hasn't yet caught on and said: "Put up or shut up." 

Anyway, I think it's already been demonstrated that executive privilege appeals are going to fizzle. And with interesting results. I know Trump wants to plead all his cases to the Supreme Court because he picked a third of them, but OTOH, has he offered any really good vacations lately? (I mean really!) 

Anyways, it is starting to look like the season of finding out for Donald Trump, and the season of fucking around is going to have to stop (I know that Trump is loving the idea of courting a gag order re: his running down the DA and judge in his Manhattan case, and I bet his attorneys would LOVE THAT FOR HIM. Also he kinda is earning it.)  

And in other weird news, why hasn't he filed his financial disclosure  yet? (Truth Social is a bit of a struggle-launch, isn't it?)  He's going to be like this the whole election, isn't he? His supporters better start asking the questions that are logically piling up. And just deal with the reality that they don't really know if they are funding a campaign for president, or just the legal fees for a serial criminal. 

Governor Abbott is Who He Is

 

I could write rather a lot about what pardoning a man who said he was thinking of killing people on his way to work, who did plow into a crowd of peaceful protesters who were exercising their 1st Amendment rights, and then fatally shot someone in the crowd who was lawfully exercising his 2nd Amendment writes would mean: the sanctioning of murder based on whether you agreed with the choice of victims--

But let's face it, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas choosing to do just that based on Fox News and the opinions of no less an intellect and subject matter expert on this than Kyle Rittenhouse is very, very on brand, And saying more just feels like a waste of words, in a way. 

Cops Killed Jesus

 

In addition to Easter Sunday it is also the 125th Anniversary of Paul Robeson's birth. So in honor of the man who once said, “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth," here's a message from an Asheville, NC graffiti artist. pic.twitter.com/A8YMxYYbyX

— Daryle Lamont Jenkins (@DLamontJenkins) April 9, 2023

I've been saying for some time that the things no Christian should be about are blasphemy laws and the death penalty. The trumped-up charge against Jesus of Nazareth was that he played at being king of the Jews, which was an office that could only be bestowed by Rome. He claimed a moral right to the children of Israel that he politically could not claim. But he wasn't saying he was the King of the Jews, only his presence as a preacher against the princes of this world existed as a problem for them. 

His sentence was death, and before his death was carried out, he suffered police brutality in the form of a crown of thorns. In custody, he was mocked and stripped naked. His judge, Pilate, didn't seem to think he was guilty, but "washed his hands and sealed his fate". Because someone had to be made an example of. 

Call me, the atheist, a Holy Saturday Christian, because I see the Christ in the downtrodden and persecuted, in the wronged and derailed, in the fucked up and failed people around me. I don't know that the fallen rise, but I want to believe we can all get lifted by understanding one another and helping ourselves up from failure bit by bit. I have no proof for my faith, I just think it would be great. 

Justice Thomas has Very Dear Friends

 

The owlish device of Bohemian Grove says" Weaving spiders come not here" and this is the crux of the story--weaving spiders be everywhere when a Supreme Court Justice is accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from politically involved billionaires.  Why, yes, that story was from 2011. Clarence Thomas has told on himself when he admits his dear friendship with Harlan Crow has been for something on the order of 25 plus years, when he has been on SCOTUS for nearly 32 years. 

Did he get endeared by this very good friend after having become a SCOTUS? and wouldn't any one of you find the lavishing of multi-million-dollar trips and so on very endearing? Of course, you are dear friends--now. 

Now, where this stands in the current court, where a leak was probably covered up, shouldn't we worry? Don't we respect this court though, all warts and blemishes aside?

Tennessee Republicans Practice Confederate Values: UPDATED

 

It's one thing for MS Gov. Tate Reeves to declare April Confederate Heritage Month, but it's a whole other thing for the majority Republican State House in Tennessee to expel two young Black lawmakers for, get this, siding with their constituents on a matter of vital local importance, namely, gun control in the wake of another national tragedy, gun violence at one of our schools. 

Whew--see, that's actually showing some Confederate values, right there.

The legislators who were expelled exercised their freedom of speech, and represented the people who brought them to office. Whether you agree with them or not, it's hard to say that what they had done was on the same plane as what some previous office-holders were distinctly not expelled for, such as pedophilia and corruption. A White legislator, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who had stood with them, was not expelled, and gave a transparent answer as to why: it's skin color. 

Above, I selected a picture of Rep. Justin Jones being arrested protesting the bust of KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest being on display in the State House. It looks to me like there are people who can not distinguish the difference between causing good and bad trouble on the moral plane, but this young man gets it. 

A lot of young people get it, which is probably why states like Florida don't want "getting it" being taught in the schools and deride "wokeness" and CRT. I think the Tennessee GOP's actions here were execrable, and they will be hearing from the vox populi on this next election time. 

UPDATE: The GOP-led leg promises to be economic terrorists if their bête noire is reinstated, which seems very fascist indeed.  Among other, obviously derogatory descriptors. Also, too, our VP Kamala Harris came in support of these Democratic heroes. 

We Can Figure Out this Kennedy Conspiracy

 

RFK Jr. has filed to run in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary. He is an anti-vax loon. He talks at events where neo-Nazis are in attendance. Maybe someone is hoping his name recognition is a threat in Democratic circles?

Sigh. You can see what's up with this. I can see what's up with this. But they are trying it.

UPDATE: Well, exactly--Steve Bannon apparently pushed for a long while to get RFK Jr. to do this dumb thing because he might be useful as a chaos agent to spread anti-vax memes. Is Steve Bannon actually like a billion viruses in three shirts and a jacket? Because he's behaving exactly like a billion viruses in three suits and a jacket, or maybe like a guy working closely with or for an actual CCP agent who is just trying to fuck up the US. 

I don't actually think all the anti-vax, friends with Flynn, Stone and Bannon, and talking in fornt of neo-Nazis and such will win him friends on our side, even though I once admired his environmentalism. Anyway, I used to like Ralph Nader, until he ran third party in 2000 like a dude who was too Ralph Nader to just buy a sports car for his mid-life crisis. Anyways, get back to me when Robert's son Conor wants to run for office. 

Also, a funny thing that would come up for RFK Jr. is how he, the environmentalist horked onto Hugo Chavez, the leader of a petrostate, the way his dad was associated with actually good labor leader Cesar Chavez. 

Anyway, that's funny as heck to me now because of the whole Smartmatic/Dominion connection to deceased Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez thing. My sense of humor hasn't been right since like, 2000 or so. 

So, I thought you all might appreciate it. 

Kansas Institutes the Pee Parts Police

 

Kansas Republicans just overrode the Democratic governor’s veto, enacting a new law that allows for forced genital inspections of children to make sure they’re not transgender. https://t.co/7Zx1nVQc1y

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 5, 2023

The trans panic that somehow, exposure to the existence of people who did not identify with their birth gender assignment will "contaminate" others has now resulted in something ghoulish and perverted that affects all kids who want to do sports in Kansas--they have to subject their genitalia to someone's review. 

Kansas decided to be the pee parts police and go totally weird. The Powers That Be decided to become genital inspectors to decide who can do sports.  Wow. People want to be the deciders of genital correctness. Trans athletes in k-12 education are probably less than 1% of candidates to participate in school sports, but here is Kansas, deciding to physically humiliate any children. Any children at all*. Who just want to do sports. And should not have their genitals subjected to some weird review. No one should!  These legislators do not care who it humiliates, who it hurts, how it is offensive and does not affect the non-trans people in anyway. They just have their scapegoat and here they are--goat scaping. 

The idea that anyone should be the pee parts police is just ridiculously intrusive. We don't think people should search a house or a car without some reasonable pretext--why body parts? This isn't conservatism--it's a perversion. Why are so-called GOP family values conservatives so interested in underage genitals? It is sick and should be treated like a sickness. 

UPDATE: For any who are confused when I say "any", when the law is supposed to focus on trans students, all students are going to be suspect, I mean, the concept of what is feminine or masculine is subjective, and human anatomy doesn't necessarily agree with social parameters. So you get a Caster Semanya. She is no man. She is just XX with high androgens. But other athletes can get challenged about their gender because of their skill. 

There's no reason to think trans people are going to change their gender just to participate in sports--that's a whole lot for any human to center their lives, loves, and legal documents around just to excel at some participatory meritocracy thing. So what I think is going to happen, sadly, is snitch culture will challenge the genitalia of really good athletes who aren't trans at all and kill women's sports specifically. Because trans rights are human rights, but are also rights feminists need to be attuned to. 

Trump Acts Like a Mafioso

 

as @Acyn notes, Trump also brought up Bragg's wife in this clip. This comes on the same day as Trumpworld figures posted photos of the judge's daughter. Terrorist stuff. https://t.co/9xjja1pzNp

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 5, 2023

He directly talks about people who have the goods on him like a mafioso who wants to suggest someone should do a hit.  He has attacked judges before.  He has attacked witnesses in his impeachment trials and after. He and his family are thugs because they do this on automatic. You can say what you want about whether Alvin Bragg has a good case, but what you are not going to do, and still be a good person, is pretend threatening lawyers and judges makes you not the bad guy, because why? If you thought you had an easy case? Why not just face the trial, be open and honest, and deal with it?

Trump is resorting to bullying and intimidation because he knows what he did.  He would prefer we all still did not know what he did. And he doesn't care who gets hurt in that process. 

This is who he is. 

TWGB: Arraignment Eve

 

Exclusive: Trump to be formally arrested and charged with 34 Class E felonies for falsification of business records tomorrow. But he will not be handcuffed, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot, per a source debriefed on Tuesday's procedures. https://t.co/3cqbNJD8VS

— Michael Isikoff (@Isikoff) April 4, 2023

It's a wild thing to consider in TrumpWorld: Is it better to surrender oneself and not have the mugshot. or is losing the mugshot losing an opportunity to have Trump mugshot-branded swag? On one hand, a mugshot is very bad because a president shouldn't be a felon. On the other hand, the market is there. And it would be the manliest mugshot the world has seen. (Lie: that would be the mugshot of Francis Albert Sinatra who was booked for the charge of seduction--and his hair was perfect.) 

This Holy Week, the transit of Stunato Mundi is truly a representation of the Stations of the Ass and It's Foal he rode in on and no one's palms are clean. Between you, me, and the whole entire internet, I am going to be sick that the arraignment of Trump on April 4th will give Christianist Doomsday heads some Maranatha energy and lets total racist assholes make MLK analogies. People are seriously covering his willing surrender in NYC (his hometown) as if it was notable that he didn't, I dunno, abscond to Argentina. It's for the drama. Trump is a thirsty bitch who lives for the drama. He could have done this by Zoom.  He wanted a display of pretend martyrdom.

MAGAS: Donald Trump is not your bridegroom, Gurl. Just drop that like it's hellfire hot. He's also not a martyr for any damn cause and isn't being denied going to the mountaintop of a second term. He's a twice-impeached pussy-grabbing, mafia-adjacent, seditionist who is wildly earning all the indictments. Get a whole grip on reality. The man looks bad right now because he's been bad forever and never got good. 

His campaign boasts that he's raised $7 million or so since the indictment. If I believe that: good. That money could have gone to actually viable Republican candidates instead of this guy. That money is several $$$ less in MAGA hands. 

60 Minutes: Ugly is as Ugly Does (UPDATED)

 

Still reputable CBS news program 60 Minutes did a spot on second term Congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene, noting that she has amassed considerable political heft in a short time, and almost but not quite conveyed what is wrong about her. She is a conspiracy theorist who behaves in hostile and disruptive ways, often does not know what she is talking about, and simply does not care to do any better. But this is what they did: they let an extremist blow off her more radical statements (but by far, not the worst) and get soft-focused as she worked out and talked about her political journey. 

Lesley Stahl, a veteran interviewer, should have understood that 60 Minutes is a platform in this instance, a megaphone (or a MAGAphone), not the actual lab where a political character like Greene should be properly examined. She did bring up Greene's shameful ambush and stalking of James Hogg and staggering claim that the Parkwood shooting was a false flag, but she also allowed it to be blown off. She expressed wonderment at MTG's insistence that liberals are pedophiles, which she should have fucking expected, and had a follow-up for.  She also had nothing to say re: MTG's insistence that the 2020 election was stolen.

By not being able to press back, she let MTG air those lies in a way that lets them be validated for her fanbase. They see her say those things without pushback, and assume it is Stahl who tried a "gotcha" and failed. And the reason Stahl is unable is because she doesn't understand what Greene is: not a person guided by facts and reason, graced with the solemnity of a political office for merits we have yet to understand. 

The Spirit of 2016 and the Illegal Meme

 

For some people, it's never stopped being 2020, and for the immuno-suppressed and their families, I get that. For me, it's never stopped being 2016, when begun, the meme wars were. The 2016 presidential election had an extraordinary amount to do with digital presence, and I don't think we've yet absorbed all of the lessons from how foreign influencers and Pepe-heads took over the conversation and suppressed part of the vote or rendered the importance of the franchise to "vibes". 

I have talked about the Brad Parscale/Internet Research Agency dual strategies at targeted voter suppression a few times in the course of TrumpWorld Grab-Bags because the similarities in tactics were tandem and synergetic. The Trump campaign in 2016 deliberately worked to target Black voters and peel them off of from the Democratic candidate. The same thing was done with the IRA. 

So if we take a look at recently convicted Douglass Mackey, who created voter suppression memes during 2016 as part of his online "Ricky Vaughn" persona, we see an individual not necessarily directly associated with a campaign or foreign influence, who nonetheless tried to influence an election through fraud. The text message, the option to vote via text, was inauthentic. The line was real, if not a valid way to vote.