Republican Assault on Democracy and March Towards Fascism

[goldenvalley]

May 1, 2023 18:10:57 GMT LFC said:

DeStalinist's attack on actual education continues.

A longtime top University of Florida official is out in what is President Ben Sasse's first major leadership shakeup since taking office.

Sasse sent out an email late Friday evening announcing that longtime Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Charlie Lane is no longer with the university. The abrupt departure comes just two months after Sasse took the helm at the flagship university.

Lane, who has been with the university for nearly a decade, has been responsible for overseeing numerous university-wide functions, including information technology, human resources, audits, business and real estate. He was also the leader in bridging a relationship between the school and city of Gainesville.

"I want to let you know that we've made a change in the leadership of UF's operation," the former Republican Nebraska senator wrote late Friday. "Effective today, Charlie Lane, chief operating officer, is no longer with the University of Florida."

Sasse went on to say that the university over the next few weeks will begin a "strategic review" and launch a national search for a replacement. In the interim, UF's Vice President for Business Affairs Curtis Reynolds and Associate Vice President for Enterprise Projects Colt Little will split the duties that Lane was responsible for.

Maybe Falwell, Jr. is still available. 

[LFC]

DeSatanist's board of hacks voted to counter sue Disney for ... well, something! [insert white booted foot stomping here] I was wondering what dregs of humanity he put on that board. At least two are real beauts.

The Insider reports:

A district board appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis passed a motion Monday during an emergency meeting to counter-sue Disney.

The lawsuit will be filed in central Florida, Martin Garcia, chairman of the board for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, said. It was not immediately clear from Monday’s meeting what the basis of the lawsuit would be.

Disney sued the governor and the board last week, alleging that DeSantis and his office have engaged in “a targeted campaign of government retaliation” against Disney that was “orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech.”

Read the full article.

Aside from Garcia, other members of the board include a Moms For Liberty ally and an anti-LGBTQ hate pastor who says that drinking tap water can turn people gay because the water contains estrogen from the urine of women on birth control.

[LFC]

More fascism. "One set of laws for thee and another for me" or how to use the law to single out your political enemies and punish them for not agreeing with you.

A Nation Within A Nation?

I’m a fan of Ron Brownstein’s framing of red states’ soft secession as a “nation within a nation.” But there’s a related corollary about the war red states are waging against their own bluer urban centers. We did a story last week on the GOP-controlled Texas statehouse targeting Harris County (Houston). Here’s another particularly egregious example (emphasis mine):

The Louisiana House on Thursday approved a bill to make some juvenile criminal records public, an effort that would apply to three of the state’s most-populous and majority-Black parishes.

[LFC]

Durham released his final report. It's Faux News Lite(tm), full of ranting and light on facts. TPM's first take.

Durham Justifies Spending Four Years With Nothing To Show

It all looks like a giant exercise in self-justification.

Much of the report appears to re-up or outright repeat allegations that have floated around since 2018 and 2019, mostly going to suggestions that the FBI had nothing on which to base its Trump-Russia investigation when it began in July 2016.

Durham bemoans at one point how “costly” federal investigations of Trump and Russia have been, “including the instant investigation.”

He then criticizes the Trump-Russia investigation for not beginning at its end point, opining that investigators did not possess “any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”

Second take.

Rinse, Wash, Repeat

Durham concludes with the premise that he started with: that the FBI should not have opened the Trump-Russia investigation. It’s the same idea that Attorney General Bill Bar cited as the reason for why he wanted to be Trump’s attorney general, and for appointing Durham in the first place.

“We conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,” the report reads.

The rest flows from there. The report repeats many of the same allegations that have been discredited in various fora, including at trial.

For example, Durham rehashes his allegations against Michael Sussmann, the then-Perkins Coie attorney who was accused of lying to an FBI official to get the bureau to open an investigation. Sussmann was acquitted and doubt was cast at trial what role his meeting played in sparking the FBI probe, but Durham claims undeterred that Sussmann prompted the case’s opening.

Look who wants to promote Durham's nothing-burgers. Gym has been planning on this, I'm sure.

Jim Jordan Wants Durham Before Congress Next Week

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that he wants to bring Special Counsel John Durham to testify before Congress next week.

In some ways, Jordan and Durham have the same job.

Jordan’s current portfolio, including the “weaponization subcommittee,” is at the core of what Durham was doing in helping to parry the various investigations into Trump: claiming abuse among the investigators.

[goldenvalley]

May 15, 2023 20:59:41 GMT LFC said:

Durham released his final report. It's Faux News Lite(tm), full of ranting and light on facts. TPM's first take.

Jim Jordan Wants Durham Before Congress Next Week

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that he wants to bring Special Counsel John Durham to testify before Congress next week.

In some ways, Jordan and Durham have the same job.

Jordan’s current portfolio, including the “weaponization subcommittee,” is at the core of what Durham was doing in helping to parry the various investigations into Trump: claiming abuse among the investigators.

I'll bet there are a number of Democrats who would love to ask Durham questions.  Like what happened to the information that Italy provided about Trump financial issues...hmmm

[LFC]

Yes, the red states are hellbent on destroying American democracy.

America’s Becoming a Suicide Pact
How Do You Have a Functioning Democracy With…Red States?

Right about now, America’s Red States are fast on their way to becoming…dystopias. “Open carry” laws have led to dramatic…wait for it…open…violence. Women are second class citizens. Basic freedoms are going up in smoke. Teachers are criminalized. Kids are demonized. The LGBTQ are smeared as groomers — and then attacked legislatively. Books, banned.

The fanatics have taken over.

What does the future hold for America’s Red States? I won’t mince words, it’s not going to be pretty, and it’s a warning to the world. A world which is turning to its own Red-State-America-style demagogues and fanatics for a measure of security in a troubled world. It’s — emphatically — not worth it.

What happens as Red States begin to erase modernity itself? As they become places that resemble “third world countries”? As their polities, hijacked by extremists, theocrats, lunatics, turn authoritarian? And they go on a crusade to simply annihilate anyone they regard as inferior, first rhetorically, then legislatively, and then by inciting and licensing maniacs with guns? Giving those kinds of people badges and titles? Perhaps you’ve already forgotten the last massacre. I haven’t.

The classical vicious cycle of self-inflicted ruin is what’s already beginning to happen.

There’s an open secret about Red States. They’re broke. They take in more from the federal government than they collect. That’s not true for every Red State…but it will be soon.

7 of the 10 states most dependent on the federal government were Republican-voting, with the average red state receiving $1.05 per dollar spent.

The notable exceptions are, for example, Florida and Texas. And you can already see what’s happening there. Ron DeSantis has begun to politically attack…Disney. The State’s most historic employer. Disney just pulled out of a billion dollar investment package. Pretty simple, right?

What tends to happen as societies collapse is what we economists call “capital flight.” America’s Red States didn’t have much capital to begin with. And where that capital is still in Red States, it’s already beginning to flee. If DeSantis continues his crusade against Disney, how long do you think it’ll take before Disney just…packs up…and moves? You can see the theme writ large in that example, and it’s an illustration of the larger effect.

Why does capital flight take place? Well, picture yourself as an investor. Maybe even just…I don’t know…buying a home. Would you want to live in a Red State, if you had a choice? Probably not. That’s because you’d take on all kinds of risk. The risk of…being shot by some violent maniac with a gun. The risk of having a gay kid, and them being persecuted. Your straight kid getting in trouble for…reading books. You getting in trouble for “aiding and abetting” a woman. That’s all leaving aside the emotional climate of intolerance and rage. All those forms of risk are very real.

They’re even larger for investors. Who knows when a government that’s turned authoritarian is going to…attack your company? Your investment? For God knows what? Maybe one of your execs is gay. What a crime. Maybe your CEO gets pictured on a plane reading the wrong book. Maybe your latest ad campaign says everyone’s a person. Bang. They start to attack you. They pass whole new laws and appoint “oversight committees” to start political witch hunts. Sane money avoids political instability for a very good reason: it carries with significant, usually lethal, amounts of risk.

[LFC]

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZzhole) is one of the GOP's premier fascists. With the amount of Republican fascism going on, that's a high (or low) bar to cross.

Earlier this month, Talking Points Memo identified a chain of evidence that strongly suggested Rep. Paul Gosar’s (R-AZ) digital director, Wade Searle, was involved with an interlinked group of social media profiles that were deeply enmeshed with white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes’ viciously antisemitic “Groyper” movement. Details highlighted the accounts’ professed loyalty to the hierarchical hate group and their dedication to Fuentes, who referred to the accounts’ administrator as one of the “strongest soldiers” in his “movement.” The news had some impact: Gosar faced condemnation from President Joe Biden, Congressional Black Caucus chairman Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), and multiple Jewish advocacy groups, including the Republican Jewish Coalition. Some have called for an investigation into the report, though Gosar remains, perhaps predictably, silent.

I was a source for TPM on the story, contributing research that I’ve independently collected over years of tracking the far-right in Arizona. And while the revelations in the story were significant, they weren’t necessarily surprising. The Groypers are deeply hateful and grotesque, but Gosar has never been shy in his flirtation with various factions of the fascist far-right, including the Groypers’ leader, Fuentes.

Or, as Gosar himself has bragged in the past: “I’m considered the most dangerous man in Congress.”

Over the last decade, Gosar has curated a national and international constituency that goes beyond the residents of his western Arizona district: the vanguard of the national and international far right. He has spent his time in office traversing the country and the globe, offering his support to fringe movements. In 2014, he caravaned down to Bunkerville, Nevada in support of Cliven Bundy and his armed militia wannabes as they took on the federal government for their “right” to illegally graze where they chose in a modern “war for the West.” In 2018, he flew out to London to stand in solidarity with Islamophobic bigot and English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon). In his speech, which was condemned by the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Gosar vilified Muslim immigrants as rapists and “disgusting and depraved individuals.”

Earlier this month, Gosar was a speaker at a CPAC Hungary event titled “Nations First,” appearing alongside the chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria, a party founded by Nazi SS officers. In his speech, Gosar praised authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Hungary as a “beacon in the West” for its strict anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ laws. The nationalist rhetoric continues in Gosar’s own office as he calls for a total ban on all immigration to the United States and demands widespread militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Gosar has lent his support to a broad coalition of far-right bigots and Christian supremacists: from the shitposting Groyper neo-Nazis to the camo-clad LARPers and hate groups to the suit-wearing, ultranationalist political elites at home and abroad. He’ll rile up the Arizona chapter of the Oath Keepers, telling them that the United States is already in a Civil War, “we just haven’t started shooting yet,” then repeat the same line in an interview with a well-documented neo-Nazi. He’ll even associate with the conspiratorial (and often ridiculous) QAnon movement, tweeting out references to Q-drops (Gosar later said the tweet was sarcastic, though the tweet remains up to this day) and appearing at Q-friendly rallies.

This all reached a boiling point during the “Stop the Steal” era and leading up to the January 6 insurrection when the many factions of the paranoid, conspiratorial and violent far-right came together to rally around Donald Trump and against American democracy. Gosar was, of course, in the center of it all.

By the night after the 2020 election, Gosar was already rallying alongside armed Trump voters and Mike “Pizzagate” Cernovich to question the legitimacy of the votes. He’d continue to appear at Stop the Steal rallies throughout Arizona to prepare the angry base for what was coming. After the insurrection, he was among the very first elected officials to lie about “Antifa” causing the chaos of January 6, and soon joined insurrection apologists in lionizing Ashli Babbitt and J6 arrestees as martyrs.

It was not long after the insurrection that Gosar also began courting Nick Fuentes and the Groypers.

There may have been a time when it would have been obscene for a politician to affiliate so openly with a predatory neo-Nazi like Fuentes, but Gosar has provided Fuentes’ Christofascist youth movement with more political credibility than any other elected official.

“As the Right continues to radicalize, figures like Gosar may calculate they have more to gain from keeping these movements like the Groypers at hand rather than pushing them aside,” explained Ben Lorber, a senior research analyst for Political Research Associates with a focus on Fuentes and the Groypers. “Doing so would alienate the Gen-Z white nationalist base that provides him ground support in Arizona, and loyal praise online.”

In February 2021, Gosar surprised Fuentes’ mostly young, mostly male audience as the keynote speaker at the second America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC). The next year, Gosar would appear by video at the third AFPAC alongside his fellow far-right Arizonans, including former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio and state senator Wendy Rogers. Gosar’s Freedom Caucus colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene, also made a surprise in-person appearance at the same white supremacist rally, where Fuentes praised the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the January 6 insurrection, and Adolf Hilter.

[LFC]

White supremacist Nazi says what?

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) does not want to be described as a “Nazi” or a “white supremacist.”

That complaint came in an issue of the congressman’s weekly newsletter that was published on Sunday. His description of being “smeared” came about two weeks after TPM published a report detailing substantial evidence of links between a member of Gosar’s staff and neo-Nazi leader Nick Fuentes. Later in the newsletter where Gosar argued that he is not a “white supremacist,” he linked to a website that has a history of publishing virulently racist content, including pieces that railed against the “Negro problem” and attacked abolitionists for criticizing slaveowners.

“Bear this in mind: you will see conservatives like me and Ron Desantis [sic] and President Trump called defamatory names like ‘neo-NazI’ or ‘white supremacist,’” Gosar wrote. “Know that this is the leftist media working in tandem with the Biden regime to attack us.”

Gosar’s comments were ostensibly pegged to a report from the Media Research Center, a conservative group that has for decades levied charges of liberal bias at institutions and the media. In this case, MRC was attacking the Department of Homeland Security’s “Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program.” MRC’s report was largely based on a chart shared by a professor at an event sponsored by a university that was one of the program’s grantees. The professor’s chart identified mainstream conservative organizations like Fox News, the National Rifle Association, and the Heritage Foundation as playing a role in the “Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization.” MRC described this and other statements made by professors from institutions that received grants from the DHS program as evidence the Biden administration is engaged in “efforts to target conservatives, Christians and the Republican Party going forward.”

In his newsletter, Gosar took MRC’s conclusions several steps further, describing “a secret government program under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whereby Christians, Republicans and conservatives are deemed ‘Nazis’ and ‘white supremacists.’” (Contrary to Gosar’s claims, the grant program is not remotely secret and the terms he attributed to the program were not directly used by anyone quoted in the MRC report.)

After this hyperbolic description of the TVTP grants, Gosar tied the issue to his own political problems.

“This comes as no surprise to me,” Gosar wrote. “Despite my vehement opposition to the ongoing support of actual Nazi brigades in Ukraine by our country using taxpayer money (not approved by Congress) and in spite of my 12-year record supporting Israel and Jewish causes, I frequently get labeled and smeared as a ‘Nazi’ or a ‘supremacist’ or ‘anti-Semite.’”

Gosar went on to attribute these criticisms of him to what he suggested were falsehoods promulgated by “leftists” and the press.

“I can’t do anything about this according to the courts,” Gosar said. “We’ve been told we have no legal remedies and the media can simply lie. So they do, often. I can only share the truth here.”

Hah! Like Gosar has ever had even a passing association with the truth.

[Bact PhD]

Later in the newsletter where Gosar argued that he is not a “white supremacist,” he linked to a website that has a history of publishing virulently racist content, including pieces that railed against the “Negro problem” and attacked abolitionists for criticizing slaveowners.

“If it WALKS like a DUCK, and QUACKS like a DUCK…”

[LFC]

Iowa fascism.

Iowa’s governor, Republican Kim Reynolds, signed a new law on Thursday evening that will significantly restrict the ability of the state auditor — Iowa’s top watchdog — to perform his duties. State Auditor Rob Sand (D) responded with a blistering statement describing the legislation as “the worst pro-corruption bill in Iowa history.”

“It will allow insiders to play fast and loose with Iowans’ tax dollars because those very same people will be able to deny the Auditor’s Office access to the records necessary to expose them,” said Sand. “As Assistant Attorney General, I prosecuted criminal cases for seven years. This is akin to letting the defendant decide what evidence the judge and jury are allowed to see.”

In the weeks before Reynolds signed the bill, Sand barnstormed the state drumming up opposition to the bill. And, in an interview with TPM earlier this week, he described it as an assault on values “essential to our Constitution” that would make Iowa “an outlier by far” in terms of transparency. Sand also warned it is part of a troubling undemocratic trend that can be seen nationwide.

“This is a fundamentally American thing. Some people had this crazy idea a couple hundred years ago that we didn’t need a king or a queen telling us what to do and, in fact, that was too much power for one person,” he added. “So, we should have checks and balances and here they are removing them. That should be alarming to everybody.”

Critics have cast the measure as an attempt to muzzle Sand, who is the only Democratic statewide elected official and widely discussed as a potential future gubernatorial candidate. Sand has also conducted aggressive investigations of Reynolds’ office. However, rather than a partisan or personal matter, Sand sees the legislation as coming in conjunction with a broader assault on transparency and good governance as Iowa has shifted to the right in the Trump era.

Remember when they screeched about transparency? Yep, right up until the moment it's more politically expedient to get rid of it. DeStealist is doing the same in Floriduh.

[LFC]

Oklahoma, ranked 49th in education. Gee. I wonder why.

Oklahoma schools rank 49th in the nation, so you might assume the official in charge of running them would have more pressing concerns than issuing a completely bonkers statement regarding Donald Trump’s arraignment in Miami federal court.

“Joe Biden Leading a Banana Republic Coup Against American Justice,” announced the press release from Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters on Monday.

The accompanying statement has nothing to do with education and proved that the dunce elected last year to supervise the schooling of 700,000 kids is either a result or a perpetuator of far right indoctrination—possibly both.

“We are seeing the most profound unwinding of the U.S. Constitution that our country has ever experienced since the Civil War,” Walters’ statement begins. “The impending arrest of former President Donald Trump is Joe Biden wielding power that one would find in a third-world dictator attempting to end his opponent’s political campaign.”

Walters, who is 38, then proceeds from falsehood to conspiracy theory.

“The investigation is a highly coordinated trap by the DOJ, and the entire Democratic establishment promoting these actions.”

Walters ends by saying, “These are illegal actions by Biden as part of a banana republic coup on the entire judicial system and the Constitution.”

[AnBr]

In a move against fascism Illinois outlaws book bans in libraries

U.S.
Illinois becomes first state in U.S. to outlaw book bans in libraries: "Regimes ban books, not democracies"

June 13, 2023 / 6:28 AM / CBS/AP

Illinois became the first state in the U.S. to outlaw book bans, after Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday signed legislation that would cut off state funding for any Illinois library that tries to ban books, CBS Chicago reports.

The new law comes as predominantly Republican-led states continue to restrict books some consider offensive in schools and libraries across the country.

"Book bans are about censorship; marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes ban books, not democracies," Pritzker said before signing the legislation Monday.

Illinois public libraries that restrict or ban materials because of "partisan or doctrinal" disapproval will be ineligible for state funding as of Jan. 1, 2024, when the new law goes into effect.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 14, 2023 22:46:31 GMT AnBr said:

In a move against fascism Illinois outlaws book bans in libraries

U.S.
Illinois becomes first state in U.S. to outlaw book bans in libraries: "Regimes ban books, not democracies"

June 13, 2023 / 6:28 AM / CBS/AP

Illinois became the first state in the U.S. to outlaw book bans, after Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday signed legislation that would cut off state funding for any Illinois library that tries to ban books, CBS Chicago reports.

The new law comes as predominantly Republican-led states continue to restrict books some consider offensive in schools and libraries across the country.

"Book bans are about censorship; marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes ban books, not democracies," Pritzker said before signing the legislation Monday.

Illinois public libraries that restrict or ban materials because of "partisan or doctrinal" disapproval will be ineligible for state funding as of Jan. 1, 2024, when the new law goes into effect.

Oh the downstate Illinoians will be so pissed.  Evil Chicago legislators did this!

[AnBr]

It is all to indoctrinate groom their children.

[LFC]

More "constitutional" folks who don't understand and therefore violate the Constitution.

Declaring its community a “constitutional county” on May 23, 2023, the Board of County Commissioners in Ottawa County, Michigan, voted 9-1 not to enforce any law or rule that “restricts the rights of any law-abiding citizen affirmed by the United States Constitution.”

Nor will the county provide aid or resources to any state or federal agency that county officials judge to be infringing on or restricting those rights.

Ottawa is not the first county in Michigan to declare itself a refuge from what its leaders say are anti- or unconstitutional actions undertaken by an overzealous state or federal authority.

Livingston County, also in Michigan, passed a similar resolution in April 2023.

It is not clear how many there are, exactly, but there are also self-designated constitutional counties in Virginia, Texas, Nevada and New York. As a scholar of constitutional theory, I believe more will follow, especially in the roughly 1,100 counties of the nation’s 3,200 counties that have already declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries.

But where Second Amendment sanctuaries aim to create havens for gun rights allegedly under siege, the constitutional county movement has a broader agenda.

[LFC]

THIS is fascism. I wonder if Comer and Gym Jordan are going to "investigate" this blatant "weaponization" of government.

[indy]

Jun 20, 2023 18:07:34 GMT LFC said:

More "constitutional" folks who don't understand and therefore violate the Constitution.

Declaring its community a “constitutional county” on May 23, 2023, the Board of County Commissioners in Ottawa County, Michigan, voted 9-1 not to enforce any law or rule that “restricts the rights of any law-abiding citizen affirmed by the United States Constitution.”

Nor will the county provide aid or resources to any state or federal agency that county officials judge to be infringing on or restricting those rights.

Ottawa is not the first county in Michigan to declare itself a refuge from what its leaders say are anti- or unconstitutional actions undertaken by an overzealous state or federal authority.

Livingston County, also in Michigan, passed a similar resolution in April 2023.

It is not clear how many there are, exactly, but there are also self-designated constitutional counties in Virginia, Texas, Nevada and New York. As a scholar of constitutional theory, I believe more will follow, especially in the roughly 1,100 counties of the nation’s 3,200 counties that have already declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries.

But where Second Amendment sanctuaries aim to create havens for gun rights allegedly under siege, the constitutional county movement has a broader agenda.

It should come as no shock given the reading comprehension of the bible and other books exhibited by many of the same folks. "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."

[LFC]

Twitter, where death threats are now "free speech." Well, at least if they're right-wing death threats.

[LFC]

Republican drive another knife into the heart of democracy.

In a a rare move, the House passed a censure resolution along party lines on Wednesday night against Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. -- punishing one of the chamber's own members and inflaming rhetoric on both sides of the aisle.

The vote was 213-209, with Republicans voting yes, Democrats voting no and six GOP lawmakers voting present.

Schiff, a former intel committee chair, was censured over comments he made years ago during investigations into former President Donald Trump and the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, which interfered in the 2016 election to aid Trump, special counsel Robert Mueller found.

The censure resolution rebukes Schiff for what it calls his "misleading the American public and for conduct unbecoming of an elected Member of the House of Representatives."

Schiff previously called the criticism "nonsense."

The resolution also directed the House Ethics Committee to investigate Schiff's actions.

After the vote on Wednesday, members could be heard chanting as Schiff moved toward the well, where he stood as Speaker Kevin McCarthy read the adopted resolution aloud.

The heckling included shouts of "shame! shame!" while McCarthy repeatedly paused until there was quiet, at one point saying he had time to be there all night.

As the speaker read the censure resolution on the floor, the banging of his gavel could barely be heard over Democrats yelling that the move was a "disgrace" and more.

As the vote was called, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said, "It's pathetic you're doing this. Pathetic."

"The House is in disorder," Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., shouted.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 22, 2023 15:53:22 GMT LFC said:

Republican drive another knife into the heart of democracy.

*****
The censure resolution rebukes Schiff for what it calls his "misleading the American public and for conduct unbecoming of an elected Member of the House of Representatives."

*****

Speaking of conduct unbecoming an elected Member of the House:

The messy feud between two of MAGA world’s biggest stars burst into public view on Wednesday, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) a “little bitch” to her face on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The angry exchange came as the two lawmakers have been swiping at each other over their competing resolutions to impeach President Joe Biden. But tensions came to a head on Wednesday after Boebert leveraged a procedural tool to force a vote on her own impeachment resolution within days—undercutting Greene, who had offered her own resolution, but not with the procedural advantages of forcing a vote.

Greene apparently cursed out Boebert while the House was voting Wednesday afternoon, as the two spoke in a center aisle of the House floor; part of their interaction was captured on C-SPAN’s cameras.

According to two sources that saw the exchange and a third familiar with the matter, the back and forth began when Boebert approached Greene—then seated in the chamber—and confronted her over “statements you made about me publicly.” All three of the sources said Greene called Boebert a “bitch.” One of the sources said Greene called her “a little bitch.”

According to two of the sources, Greene then stood up and alleged that Boebert “copied my articles of impeachment,” to which the Colorado lawmaker fired back that she hadn’t even read Greene’s resolution.

“I’ve donated to you, I’ve defended you. But you’ve been nothing but a little bitch to me,” Greene told Boebert, according to a source who witnessed the exchange. “And you copied my articles of impeachment after I asked you to cosponsor them.”

The name-calling was confirmed by another GOP lawmaker and another source who witnessed the exchange.

“I heard Marjorie call Boebert a bitch right to her face,” one GOP lawmaker said, granted anonymity by The Daily Beast to speak freely about the argument.

“OK, Marjorie, we’re through,” Boebert then said, shrugging her shoulders.

With Boebert’s back turned, ​​Greene responded: “We were never together.”

Reached for comment about the exchange, Boebert didn’t deny the back and forth.

“Marjorie is not my enemy. I came here to protect our children and their posterity. Joe Biden and the Democrats are destroying our country,” she told The Daily Beast. “My priorities are to correct their bad policies and save America.”

Boebert subsequently told CNN: “Like I said, I’m not in middle school.”

As for her part, when asked about their exchange, Greene told The Daily Beast: “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.”

Earlier in the day, Greene said she has long championed articles of impeachment against Biden—and strongly suggested Boebert is late to a push that she herself already owns.

Hmm middle school....

[andydp]

Jun 22, 2023 17:04:21 GMT goldenvalley said:

.

Hmm middle school....



When do we get to the “pistols at ten paces” part ?

I bet a lot of those reps would pay money for a cat fight scenario. Maybe as a fundraiser for the “Previous Guy”.

[Bact PhD]

Jun 22, 2023 21:08:01 GMT andydp said:

Jun 22, 2023 17:04:21 GMT goldenvalley said:

.

Hmm middle school....



When do we get to the “pistols at ten paces” part ?

I bet a lot of those reps would pay money for a cat fight scenario. Maybe as a fundraiser for the “Previous Guy”.

What went through my mind was the famous scene in “Dynasty” where Blake Carrington’s current and former wives go at it around and in the swimming pool.

Alternatively, there’s mud wrestling…

[pnwguy]

Jun 22, 2023 21:08:01 GMT andydp said:

When do we get to the “pistols at ten paces” part ?

Pretty please!  But to be fair, they should both have AR-15s, not pistols. And bump stocks!  

[LFC]

John Durham's "investigation" and subsequent failed attempts at prosecution were a classic example of the weaponization of the DOJ for political purposes. He found nothing and he had nothing, but refused to admit it because that didn't help his party. He just stepped in front of the House Committee and walked face first into Adam Schiff. Is it any wonder Republicans censured him? He's smart, he's honest, he's sharp, and he's effective. They hate that shit.

Durham is just one more example of Bill Barr's rot, though you have to love how Barr is suddenly being honest about Trump is a desperate move to whitewash his own history. Nice try, Bill, but Durham is a reminder of the stain of an enabler you were as Attorney General.

[goldenvalley]

The Trump cult is not impressed with Schiff's pointing out that Durham hasn't read the Mueller Report.  That Report is irrelevant because it's the product of the evil that Durham was investigating...that the FBI improperly started an investigation of Trump before Mueller was ever commissioned to do anything. They're not impressed with anything about Schiff but his evilness.

And they won't care that Durham said that the FBI should have opened a preliminary investigation instead of a full investigation and they really won't even hear that Durham essentially found nothing that contradicted the Inspector General report on the same issues. It just doesn't matter to them.  I have to wonder if they would care that he found there was a conspiracy...it seems more fun to speculate and imagine wrongdoing than it is to find out for sure.  

As to Barr...he commissioned Durham to do this and had a fine time going to Italy with him and sharing Scotch and cigars with him. The result of the investigation never mattered to him.  He was keeping the conspiracy alive.