"Sphincter Politicians on Parade”

[LFC]

Rudy crawled to Mar-a-Lago to beg Trump for his money. I wonder if he enjoys the taste of his multiple humiliations.

With his attorney in tow, Rudy Giuliani traveled to Mar-a-Lago in recent months on a mission to make a personal and desperate appeal to former President Donald Trump to pay his legal bills. By going in person, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, Giuliani and his lawyer Robert Costello believed they could explain face-to-face why Trump needed to assist his former attorney with his ballooning legal bills.

Giuliani and Costello traveled to Florida in late April where they had two meetings with Trump to discuss Giuliani’s seven-figure legal fees, making several pitches about how paying Giuliani’s bills was ultimately in Trump’s best interest.

But the former president, who is notoriously strict about dipping into his own coffers, didn’t seem very interested. After Costello made his pitch, Trump verbally agreed to help with some of Giuliani’s legal bills without committing to any specific amount or timeline.

Trump also agreed to stop by two fundraisers for Giuliani, a separate source said.

Another source told CNN that Trump only agreed to cover a small fee from a data vendor hosting Giuliani’s records. And months later, Trump’s Save America PAC paid $340,000 to that vendor, Trustpoint, federal campaign filings show. CNN has now confirmed the payment was intended to settle Giuliani’s outstanding bill with the company.

Another attorney for Giuliani referenced that payment in court Wednesday, telling a New York state judge at a hearing that the former New York mayor does not have the money to pay additional legal costs to produce the records in a defamation lawsuit brought by voting technology company Smartmatic, claiming financial hardship.

The attorney also referenced the one-time payment from Trump’s Save America PAC, and a source confirmed Giuliani has not received any additional payments since then. (Smartmatic has sued Giuliani over the 2020 election lies he peddled on Fox News and other right-wing networks.)

Giuliani’s trip to Mar-a-Lago, which has not been previously reported, indicates the level of financial stress that he has been facing for months, as his legal troubles have continued to pile up.

I dunno' about these things, but allowing Rudy (who has always been good about looking out for himself) to go bust and unable to afford solid legal counsel seems like a great way to have him look at flipping as the safest, cheapest alternative in upcoming trials.

[LFC]

Ken Paxton, "American conservative."

New revelations have emerged about impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his relationship with indicted Austin developer Nate Paul, who contributed $25,000 to his campaign.

The details come less than three weeks before Paxton faces his impeachment trial in the Texas Senate. They accuse him of using a fake Uber account so he could visit his mistress, and using burner phones and secret personal email accounts as well.

Paxton, who remains suspended without pay after being impeached in late May, is accused of abusing his power as attorney general to benefit himself and Paul. The documents, filed by the House impeachment managers, state Paul hired Paxton's reported mistress at his Austin firm so Paxton could see her more easily, rather than traveling to San Antonio where she once lived.

The House impeachment managers said Paul paid for renovations at Paxton's house in McKinney. Paxton is also accused of using the power of his office to interfere with a federal investigation into Paul, and helping Paul avoid foreclosures of his properties.

They're pushing back on Paxton's motion to dismiss the 20 articles of impeachment against him and his claims voters knew all of the allegations before they re-elected him in 2022.

They said, "Paxton's denials, half-truths, and downright lies enabled him to conceal the truth from the public."

In response, Paxton's lawyers issued a statement Wednesday, Aug. 16, describing the claims as, "nothing but a sham and it should end now."

Paxton has been under federal investigation since October 2020, when seven of his top hand-picked lieutenants went to the FBI with allegations of bribery and other potential crimes. He is the third state official to ever be impeached in Texas.

Aside from being under federal investigation, Paxton is also facing state securities fraud charges that date back to 2015.

[andydp]

P.T. Barnum once said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”.  Looks like someone is trying to prove that.  The House of Representatives' favorite loose cannon gets a bit more that 15 minutes.  I have highlighted some interesting facts about her date.


Lauren Boebert Caught Fondling Date’s Genitals During Family-Friendly Musical: Video

Newly released security camera footage appears to show Rep. Lauren Boebert, the far-right Republican congresswoman known for her strong stance against drag queens and transgender people, claiming their mere existence “sexualizes” spaces, engaging in inappropriate behavior during a family-friendly musical at a packed theater. Boebert and her companion were asked to leave the show due to their disruptive actions during a performance of the musical Beetlejuice.

In the video, Boebert's companion, identified by multiple news sources as 46-year-old Quinn Gallagher (a Democrat who owns a bar at which drag shows have occurred), is seen touching Boebert's chest during the show. Boebert, in response, appears to place her hand near his crotch and whispers something to him, Mediaite reports.

The suggested age for Beetlejuice is 10 and over.

This footage of the public mutual groping went viral on social media, leading to widespread outrage.


Note:  The are kinks to related stories below. Besides the groping, there was vaping and a "do you know who I am" moment.  Added factoid: Her divorce is not final.



news.yahoo.com/lauren-boebert-caught-fondling-date-232043134.html?soc_src=social-sh&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sLmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANyHw7w3dp6J8WkMvrCG4N-EJPIxG_54-U1ikpQ2ApcyR1zdcIMNS1Hos1RZkIPEM-cg0dSDHELeniXVTirEPjuPUH12XTh6b0kpBS2JCGzHwT6kYe7tbPYMfIi2YIbH8snZhdLEQXqy3StibYM4hRyxDmrrdB_PKAf1c_GwL7CH

[goldenvalley]

Sept 17, 2023 16:24:26 GMT andydp said:

P.T. Barnum once said, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”.  Looks like someone is trying to prove that.  The House of Representatives' favorite loose cannon gets a bit more that 15 minutes.  I have highlighted some interesting facts about her date.


Lauren Boebert Caught Fondling Date’s Genitals During Family-Friendly Musical: Video


Note:  The are kinks to related stories below. Besides the groping, there was vaping and a "do you know who I am" moment.  Added factoid: Her divorce is not final.

She has always reminded me of a bratty teenager. I guess she is a bratty sort of adult.  

[goldenvalley]

Finally, a headline that really explains what is happening in the House of Representatives....this isn't "Congress in disarray" or it's Biden's fault somehow this is:
‘It’s A S**tshow’: House GOP In Open War With ‘Weak’ Speaker Kevin McCarthy

Sometimes the Huffington Post offers the real info in its headlines.  I'd break out the popcorn but I really don't want to see how these folks mud wrestle us into a shutdown of the government.  

[AnBr]

Jim Wright
9 hours ago ·

When Ted Cruz writes his memoir, I certainly hope it includes a chapter on his heroic wartime experience with lines like: "I quickly tweeted back..."
Talk about uncommon valor, this guy is a regular Audie Murphy.

[AnBr]

[goldenvalley]

It's time to add new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to the list.  This is astounding:

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that House Republicans are blurring the faces of those who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 before releasing more security footage in order to protect them from retaliation by the Department of Justice.

“We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day because we don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ and to have other concerns and problems,” Johnson said in a press conference on Tuesday.

“We’re working steadily on it. And we’ve hired additional personnel to do that,” Johnson said. “And all of those tapes, ultimately at the end, will be out so everybody can see them.”

oops well then Johnson's communications guy came to put a spin on it...

After Johnson’s remarks, his deputy chief for communications clarified that the blurring would be done to prevent all forms of retaliation, and that Justice already had access to raw footage.

“Faces are to be blurred from public viewing room footage to prevent all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors. The Department of Justice already has access to raw footage from January 6, 2021,” Deputy Chief for Communications Raj Shah wrote in a tweet.

We are told that Johnson is smart guy.  You'd think the point made by his Comms Guy would be at the front of his mind while making his statement.  And you'd think that he realizes the DOJ probably has identified all the people they can from those tapes and that it has copies of the video. Can we call what he said a Freudian slip?  

Maybe a House member is on the videos who hasn't been charged...yet?  So candidates opposing sitting House members can't find their opponents in the tape? Maybe he wants people to have plenty of time to examine the camera angles to figure out where the surveillance cameras are in part of a planning process for another assault on the building.

[goldenvalley]

McCarthy is leaving his House seat at the end of this year. No word on what his future plans are but I assume he has a lobbying job lined up or is going to "work" for one of the Republican donors in his Rolodex. He must be pretty angry that Speaker Johnson cut the same deal with Democrats on a continuing resolution that he got ousted over in October. There seems to be no sign of ousting Johnson.  Cozying up to the former president in Jan 2021 didn't help McCarthy much at all.

[AnBr]

Then there is always reich-wing disinformation, like with Faux or OAN.