The Republican Party Has Flat Out Lost Its Mind

[LFC]

Rand Paul is dumb as a brick. He's competing with Ron Johnson and Tommy Tuberville to be the dumbest member of the U.S. Senate. I think RonJohn still has the lead but the competition is heating up.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) says the NYPD's 2014 killing of an unarmed Black man, Eric Garner, by suffocation, was because of "exorbitant taxes."

Garner had quit his job as a horticulturalist for health reasons, and police were in the process of starting to arrest him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes without a tax stamp on a package.

"In fact the death of Eric Garner, the sad death of Eric Garner being choked to death in New York City, had to do with taxes," the Kentucky Republican Senator claimed on the floor of the Senate Friday morning.

"And some people are offended by this, oh, 'it's police brutality.' Of course it was. But it was police brutality based on exorbitant taxes that caused this man to be selling cigarettes. loose cigarettes, in order to try to make a living," Paul said.

Garner wasn't selling loose cigarettes because taxes were too high. If anything, the lack of access to health care is far more to blame for Garner being forced to quit his job for health reasons and taking to the streets to try to make money selling cigarettes than taxes.

[Deleted]

I think Rand's on to something. Rich tax dodgers get choked to death outside their homes and workplaces. Happens all the time. You don't hear about it because those poor souls are rich. Rich = white; white = life has no value; no value = media silence; media silence = liberal media conspiracy; reverse racism!

[pnwguy]

May 29, 2021 13:33:09 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

I think Rand's on to something. Rich tax dodgers get choked to death outside their homes and workplaces. Happens all the time. You don't hear about it because those poor souls are rich. Rich = white; white = life has no value; no value = media silence; media silence = liberal media conspiracy; reverse racism!

And you forgot -- we are being REPLACED!!!

[LFC]

Anti-vax AND anti-semitic, all in one!

Major hat brands cut ties with a Nashville shop over the weekend, continuing fallout after the store announced on social media that it was selling yellow Star of David-shaped patches emblazoned with the all-caps message: NOT VACCINATED.

The Tennessee Holler flagged the original social media post on Friday.

By Saturday, the outrage had grown loud enough that major hat brands decided to jump ship.

“As a result of the offensive content and opinions shared by HatWRKS in Nashville, Stetson and our distribution partners will cease the sale of all Stetson products,” the company wrote on Twitter. “We thank you for your continued support and patience.”

“Due to the recent offensive content shared by Hatwrks in Nashville, Goorin Bros. has ended their distribution with this business effective immediately,” the hatmaker said on Instagram, adding: “Goorin Bros is horrified by the display and selling of the Jewish badge by HatWRKS, a store in Nashville Tennessee, that sells some of our hats.”

The HatWRKS instagram account posted a first-person apology on Saturday, seemingly from store owner Gigi Gaskins.

“In NO WAY did i intend to trivialize the Star of David or disrespect what happened to millions of people,” it read. “My hope was to share my genuine concern & fear, and to do all that i can to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again.”

Thanks for that, Gigi. Now go f*** yourself.

[goldenvalley]

May 31, 2021 22:45:32 GMT LFC said:

Anti-vax AND anti-semitic, all in one!

Major hat brands cut ties with a Nashville shop over the weekend, continuing fallout after the store announced on social media that it was selling yellow Star of David-shaped patches emblazoned with the all-caps message: NOT VACCINATED.

The Tennessee Holler flagged the original social media post on Friday.

By Saturday, the outrage had grown loud enough that major hat brands decided to jump ship.

“As a result of the offensive content and opinions shared by HatWRKS in Nashville, Stetson and our distribution partners will cease the sale of all Stetson products,” the company wrote on Twitter. “We thank you for your continued support and patience.”

“Due to the recent offensive content shared by Hatwrks in Nashville, Goorin Bros. has ended their distribution with this business effective immediately,” the hatmaker said on Instagram, adding: “Goorin Bros is horrified by the display and selling of the Jewish badge by HatWRKS, a store in Nashville Tennessee, that sells some of our hats.”

The HatWRKS instagram account posted a first-person apology on Saturday, seemingly from store owner Gigi Gaskins.

“In NO WAY did i intend to trivialize the Star of David or disrespect what happened to millions of people,” it read. “My hope was to share my genuine concern & fear, and to do all that i can to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again.”

Thanks for that, Gigi. Now go f*** yourself.

I'm sure she thought she was being bold and edgy with that.  And you know what, the people who agree with her will just cry cancel culture. No one will stop to say, "marking people because of who they are is different from asking people to show they are vaccinated."

[LFC]

Utter nutter, Q quoter, and Texas GOP Chair Allen West abruptly quit. Looking at his track record laid out in this piece my guess is that he's received a juicy offer from somewhere in the right-wingnut media machine.

Allen West, the chair of the Texas Republican party who branded the party with a QAnon-sounding slogan, announced his resignation suddenly on Friday.

“Lt. Col. Allen West will take this opportunity to prayerfully reflect on a new chapter in his already distinguished career,” read a release from the party. “We know that wherever he goes next, he will continue to be a bulwark against progressive socialism and a champion for the principles of Texas and our American Republic.”

He will remain at the helm of the party until July 11th when a new chair will be chosen, the release added.

West took over the chairmanship about a year ago, after making his political name in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tea Party politics and inflammatory comments including calling former President Barack Obama a “low-level Socialist agitator” and accusing vast swaths of the Democratic party of being communists.

I'd also like to note that this guy was a Lt. Colonel. I know that's not as bad as Flynn making it to 3-stars but it really does illustrate the type of mentally damaged people who are part of the upper echelons of the military. Flynn is far from a one-off. Hopefully the sane ones outnumber and outrank the dangerous ones.

[LFC]

May 27, 2021 18:51:07 GMT LFC said:

Extremists, including the Proud Boys, are taking over local GOPs from the bottom up and they're not remotely averse to using threats and physical obstruction to keep the people they view as RINOs out of meetings.

More details on how the Proud Boys are operating in Washington.

The story in Multnomah County, which is home to both Democrat-dominated Portland and a strong contingent of right-wing militia types, started with anger and frustration over Lloyd’s effort to make the party “open to everyone,” including with more public-facing meetings.

To some, that was simply too much. In early May, a faction of the party scheduled a recall vote.

“The Chairman should promote the Party Platform, and not state [that] ‘Diversity is an extremely important part of society and diversity of ideas is what we should be striving for,’” the recall petition read.

The petition cited the supposed danger posed by local anti-fascist activists, asserting, “We dare not announce where and when we are meeting in the city of the original Antifa group, Rose City Antifa, which continues to actively hurt people and damage property nightly in Portland!”

But the May 6 recall vote was unusual.

For one thing, its location, a Portland church, was not publicized ahead of time, WW reported. More suspicious still, an associate of the Proud Boys, Daniel Tooze Sr., provided volunteer security at the door as his associates roamed around the neighborhood.

Ball told TPM the meeting included an unfamiliar crowd that he eventually heard were Proud Boys.

“We showed up at the recall meeting, and it was odd to see these people that I didn’t recognize in their 20s and 30s, big beards, black jackets, and it was pretty clear that they had firearms under their jackets,” he recalled.

Ball said he didn’t want to pick a fight with people he believed were armed, but that he was upset about the group’s presence.

“Openly associating with these guys is not something the party should be doing,” he said.

[snip]

The vote to recall Lloyd, Ball said on a podcast with the ousted chair published May 15, was 47-36.

Insanely a second meeting was held but actual Republicans were blocked from entering by the Proud Boys "security." This is as fascist as it gets.

But the intra-party friction didn’t end there. At a subsequent county GOP meeting on May 17, several party members were not allowed into the venue, another church in town. Ball and others said they saw Proud Boy associates providing security for this meeting, as well, though Tooze told WW that he attended as a member of the party, not security.

“The second time, at the May 17 meeting, they were physically keeping people out of the meeting,” Ball told TPM. “Which, again you just can’t do that.”

“I overheard one of them even saying that he’s not even a Republican,” he added. “So that guy in particular– Proud Boy, yes, but Republican, no. He was not there to be involved. He was there to be intimidating.”

Undeterred, Ball and nearly 20 others held a meeting in the parking lot — and voted to reelect Lloyd party chair.

To them, that parking lot meeting was the scene of the real Multnomah County GOP meeting.

TPM’s email to the acting chair of the other party, Alan Conner, went unanswered.

But an email from the address “MCRP_Truth” asserted to WW that Lloyd’s recall was done legally — in contrast with the parking lot meeting, which the emailer said was “not legal, not correct and won’t stand.”

“Fact: We are not ashamed of our security provided,” the email added. “Fact: Being ‘associated’ with something doesn’t make it wrong or evil.”

Now the county has two party committees claiming to be the real one and the state GOP is going to have to choose one. We'll soon see just how fascist the Oregon Republican Party has become.

It shouldn't shock anybody but the threads about Republicans losing their minds, the Republican war on facts, the Republican war on voting rights, the sickness of Christian politics, right-wing domestic terrorism, and the Republican march towards fascism are all coming together to define just what the GOP "stands for." It sure as s*** ain't American democracy. That's what they're desperately trying to destroy.

[LFC]

Oh look! Another Republican nutjob in Congress!

With Republicans recently blaming the rise of antisemitic attacks on progressives’ criticism of Israel, one GOP congresswoman took it to a whole new level on Thursday night.

According to Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), if you happen to be a socialist or communist, then you are, by default, anti-Jewish.

[pnwguy]

Jun 4, 2021 17:05:06 GMT LFC said:

According to Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), if you happen to be a socialist or communist, then you are, by default, anti-Jewish.

That goes right along with this thinking. "If you happen to be a Democrat, then you are, by default, anti-Christian, and anti-American too"

[goldenvalley]

Jun 4, 2021 17:05:06 GMT LFC said:

Oh look! Another Republican nutjob in Congress!

With Republicans recently blaming the rise of antisemitic attacks on progressives’ criticism of Israel, one GOP congresswoman took it to a whole new level on Thursday night.

According to Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), if you happen to be a socialist or communist, then you are, by default, anti-Jewish.

That's funny.  It used to be that Jews were suspect because they were thought to be socialists at least and probably communists too.  They kept trying to organize unions...that put them on the bad list.    Up is down and down is up.  

[LFC]

Blood May be Thicker Than Water But It's Not Thicker Than Kool-Aid.

[andydp]

Jun 4, 2021 17:49:43 GMT goldenvalley said:

Jun 4, 2021 17:05:06 GMT LFC said:

Oh look! Another Republican nutjob in Congress!

That's funny.  It used to be that Jews were suspect because they were thought to be socialists at least and probably communists too.  They kept trying to organize unions...that put them on the bad list.    Up is down and down is up.  

Basically, that's what a Kibbutz was: a commune based on Marxism.  (Very simlistic but close) If memory serves me right Zionism was usually equated to Communism.

[LFC]

The wingnuts are now on about the New Federal State of China? WTF? The rest of the article is traitor Mike Flynn speaking more about an armed insurrection. He's a disgrace to the military.

When Mike Flynn took the stage on Wednesday at the World Trade Center, he took the opportunity to extol two things that did not exist: one is Trump’s victory in last year’s election, and the other is an unborn country called the New Federal State of China.

“It took a lot of strategic thought to get to this place,” Flynn said, referring to the nonexistent nation before gesturing towards himself. “Who are your partners? Who are your allies? I can tell you, you’re looking at an ally. This guy personally will ally with you.” The former general added that the nation was on the verge of “a big revival, a big reformation.”

Flynn’s remarks occurred at a one-year anniversary celebration for the fledgling and fictive state, announced last year by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and former Trump campaign chairman Stephen K. Bannon.

It was a rambling, 12-hour event held on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center, per Mother Jones reporter Dan Friedman, who was in attendance.

Guo and Bannon have been working on the New Federal State of China for at least a year. After Bannon’s arrest on Guo’s yacht last year, he thanked supporters of the country for their support.

The project aims to create a government-in-exile that may one day supplant the Chinese Communist Party’s control over China.

In addition to Bannon and Flynn, in attendance were Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO and election myth promoter Mike Lindell.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 5, 2021 3:02:05 GMT LFC said:

The wingnuts are now on about the New Federal State of China? WTF? The rest of the article is traitor Mike Flynn speaking more about an armed insurrection. He's a disgrace to the military.

When Mike Flynn took the stage on Wednesday at the World Trade Center, he took the opportunity to extol two things that did not exist: one is Trump’s victory in last year’s election, and the other is an unborn country called the New Federal State of China.

“It took a lot of strategic thought to get to this place,” Flynn said, referring to the nonexistent nation before gesturing towards himself. “Who are your partners? Who are your allies? I can tell you, you’re looking at an ally. This guy personally will ally with you.” The former general added that the nation was on the verge of “a big revival, a big reformation.”

Flynn’s remarks occurred at a one-year anniversary celebration for the fledgling and fictive state, announced last year by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and former Trump campaign chairman Stephen K. Bannon.

It was a rambling, 12-hour event held on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center, per Mother Jones reporter Dan Friedman, who was in attendance.

Guo and Bannon have been working on the New Federal State of China for at least a year. After Bannon’s arrest on Guo’s yacht last year, he thanked supporters of the country for their support.

The project aims to create a government-in-exile that may one day supplant the Chinese Communist Party’s control over China.

In addition to Bannon and Flynn, in attendance were Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO and election myth promoter Mike Lindell.

At least events like these bring all the insane people in one place so we can see them clearly.  If only Trump could have bought Greenland...we'd put them there and say "here's your country" and then mine all harbors and blow up the landing strips and airports.

[LFC]

The FBI is predicting that some of the QAnon crazies might be running out of steam due to the continually lengthening list of predictions that Q has gotten wrong.

The FBI has released an unclassified intelligence assessment that predicts that some QAnon adherents will soon decide they can no longer “trust the plan” after so many Q predictions have come up short and resort to acts of violence.

You can read the key part of the document here.

I always try to remind myself that we shouldn’t read too much of a crystal ball into these assessments. Especially with domestic developments where many of the key players are operating semi-publicly and in a language we all understand, we’re also able to make commonsense judgments about where these movements are headed. But these folks do this for a living. So it’s worth taking note of what they see.

Their prediction follows the pattern of many cult-like movements. When the key predictions don’t pan out or the motivating crisis ebbs, most just drift away. But for a segment of the group this deepens their commitment or leads them to take steps to take the matter into their own hands.

I thought about this and compared it to Faux News where so many viewers have never run out of steam but then I realized that Faux was smarter in their approach. They trade in outrage rather than prediction. They can lie and then move on to the next lie with no requirement for ever proving they're right. The memory hole is their friend. In fact it's a requirement. All you need to do is leave behind the fact free feeling of outrage.

[andydp]

Good news !!  Pres Trump's inaguration tickets have come on sale.  For $1,200USD each you can have prime seats to the inaguration with special musical guests Kid Rock and Ted Nugent. 

 No, there isn't going to be a 'second inauguration' for Donald Trump this summer and you can't buy tickets


While Joe Biden decisively won the 2020 presidential election, online users are still sharing a viral image of tickets for sale to the second inauguration of former President Donald Trump, without evidence Trump actually won the election.

The two tickets are marked on sale for $1,200 each, and Kid Rock and Ted Nugent are listed as headliners for the event.

Further on...

According to the event website from the U.S. Capitol, there isn’t an event scheduled on August 15. There are no events listed on the website or social media accounts for Donald Trump.

On Ted Nugent’s tour website, on August 15 the singer will be performing at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, New York. Kid Rock will be at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan’s Soaring Eagle Casino on August 15.


www.khou.com/article/news/verify/government-verify/no-second-inauguration-or-tickets-for-donald-trump/536-d0ea7de5-b38b-48bf-b912-21cea31c362b

[RichTBikkies]

Jun 15, 2021 14:09:53 GMT LFC said:

I thought about this and compared it to Faux News where so many viewers have never run out of steam but then I realized that Faux was smarter in their approach. They trade in outrage rather than prediction. They can lie and then move on to the next lie with no requirement for ever proving they're right. The memory hole is their friend. In fact it's a requirement. All you need to do is leave behind the fact free feeling of outrage.

Nailed it. One thousand Likes.

[LFC]

Tom Cotton goes full metal Gohmert.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) recently faced blowback for his remarks suggesting China may collect the DNA of U.S athletes who participate in the upcoming Winter Olympics.

"In 2022, thousands of world-class athletes will gather to compete in China," The Arkansas senator said. "Their DNA will present an irresistible target for the [Chinese Communist Party]."

He added, "Thus, we should expect that the Chinese government will attempt to collect genetic samples of Olympians at the Games, perhaps disguised as testing for illegal drugs or COVID-19."

[LFC]

The Cotton story is more insane than first reported.

In the letter, Cotton warns Biden that Beijing plans on using the 2022 Winter Olympics as a giant funnel for precious American DNA, harvesting the nation’s fittest and finest for their genomic information as part of a plan to achieve military dominance.

Written in the language of a Cold War-era B-movie and filled with a mixture of sci-fi scheming, eugenics, and stentorian warning, Cotton demands that Biden withdraw American participation from the 2022 winter Olympics absent guarantees from China that it will not collect the data or DNA of visiting American olympians.

“In 2022, thousands of world-class athletes will gather to compete in China,” the letter reads. “Their DNA will present an irresistible target for the CCP.”

He added that, “thus, we should expect that the Chinese government will attempt to collect genetic samples of Olympians at the Games, perhaps disguised as testing for illegal drugs or COVID-19.”

Why, you, the White House, or unsuspecting internationally ranked snowboarders may ask, would the Chinese government wish to do this?

The answer, Cotton wrote, is simple: supersoldiers.

“The CCP has reportedly conducted tests to develop biologically-enhanced soldiers and intends to use DNA data to catapult Chinese biotechnology companies to global market dominance,” Cotton wrote, citing a column written by Trump-era Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.

[goldenvalley]

I'm hearing Twilight Zone theme music as I read the Cotton statement.  I thought he was ambitious and willing to say anything to get what he wants, but now I'm thinking he's just plain Flynn level nuts.

[LFC]

Jun 16, 2021 22:20:07 GMT goldenvalley said:

I'm hearing Twilight Zone theme music as I read the Cotton statement.  I thought he was ambitious and willing to say anything to get what he wants, but now I'm thinking he's just plain Flynn level nuts.

Isn't it always the case? Remember how Ryan, Rubio, Hawley, and Cotton (and I'm probably missing a few) were supposed to be "serious" Republicans? They all turned out to be total dipshits. I don't know that there's actually a serious Republican in all of Congress. And no, after her torture apologetics Liz Cheney is not one.

[LFC]

How sick and cowardly can they get? This sick and cowardly.

Michael Fanone, a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, took aim at Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) on Wednesday night after the GOP lawmaker snubbed him.

Appearing on CNN, Fanone — who was beaten unconscious and suffered a concussion as well as a mild heart attack after voluntarily responding to the breaching of the Capitol on Jan. 6 — expressed his dismay over what he called “disgusting” behavior from Clyde upon encountering the GOP lawmaker outside of an elevator at the Capitol.

Fanone said he was “very cordial” to Clyde. The officer claimed Clyde gave him the cold shoulder.

“I extended my hand to shake his hand. He just stared at me. I asked if he was going to shake my hand, and he told me that he didn’t who know I was,” Fanone said.

Fanone recalled introducing himself to Clyde, explaining that he was a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6. Fanone told Clyde that he was severely beaten, suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as a heart attack after having been tased numerous times during the Capitol attack.

Fanone said that Clyde then simply “turned away” from him, and that once the elevator doors opened, the GOP lawmaker “ran as quickly as he could, like a coward.”

[LFC]

Florid-duh.

In a very strange excuse this week, Florida Republican Party Executive Director Helen Aguirre Ferré claimed there was a "typo" to blame for her accusation that all 2022 Democrats in her state were anti-Semitic, Politico reported.

"While @govrondesantis works on policies and signs legislation in support of Florida's Jewish communities, Pelosi calls an anti semitic, @charliecrist, a valued leader. Crist, @valdemings & @nikkifried won't stand up to Pelosi doing nothing to defend Florida's Jewish community," (sic) the now-deleted tweet said.

In the video attacking Pelosi, Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is Jewish. It also specifically calls out Charlie Crist, who has overwhelming support from pro-Israel groups.
Enjoy Raw Story? Don't sit on the
sidelines. Learn about membership.

"It was a total mistake, human error," claimed Florida GOP spokesperson Alia Faraj-Johnson. She claimed she meant to say that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was anti-Semitic, not Fried or Crist. It's unclear how the Republicans accidentally typed Nikki Fried and Charlie Crist instead of Ilhan Omar. The names don't appear to feature similar letters.

"It picked up the wrong name at the wrong place," the spokesperson said.

It was Ferré who called it a "typo."

[pnwguy]

The library app, Libby, has now been ported to iOS. I've used it on my Android tablet before. Besides letting you manage and check things out from your local library account, if your library system handles eBooks or audiobooks, you can read or listen to them in the app.

All that was to say that I listened to 5 & 1/2 hours of Stuart Stevens book, It Was All A Lie. It was published before the 2020 election, but the stories he tells are just as relevant today, about the disintegration and false narratives the GOP has used to dupe the public -- including him. He was a GOP campaign operative for decades, like most of the Lincoln Project founders. But he pulls no punches in his mea culpa.

Highly recommended.

[LFC]

These people are deranged snowflakes who ever play the victim. And they're in office.

A Washington state lawmaker wore a yellow Star of David patch on his shirt at a speech to conservative activists to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates, The Seattle Times reports. State Rep. Jim Walsh appeared with the symbol, notoriously used by the Nazis to identify Jews during the Holocaust, at an event that was livestreamed on his Facebook page. “It’s an echo from history,” Walsh wrote in a Facebook post showing a video of the event, which was spotted by the Times. “In the current context, we’re all Jews.” In an interview with The Seattle Times on Tuesday, Walsh would not say whether or not he believed that wearing the star was offensive. “Some people are offended by having to provide vaccine documentation at their work,” Walsh said. “I can’t control who is offended by what.” The comments mark a continued series of remarks by public officials comparing COVID-19 restrictions and vaccines to events during the Holocaust. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) recently apologized for comparing Congress’ mask rules to the Holocaust after widespread condemnation and her visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

Read it at The Seattle Times